Job Discussion Forums

[viovio]

I am planning to go to China with my "husband" but we're not legally married - Shall I refer to him as husband when asking for a job? or would Chinese people consider that a lie? Here in Chile if you live with someone long enough you start calling this person your "marido" even you are not really married. Will that be a problem?

[tw]

There are many FT couples in China who are not legally married. I don't think it's an issue at all. My feeling is that employers love having couples because they need a single apartment and not two.

[Steppenwolf]

Call him "fiance" and your Chinese opposite numbers will be struggling for the next 2 years with the exact meaning of this term - enough time for the two of you to enjoy yourselves here semi-legally.

[Gregor]

Strictly speaking, I don't know what the law is. But the authorities couldn't care less, especially for foreigners. Oh, they don't care about it for the Chinese, either (though their families might), and they don't even care (this came as rather a surprise) about mixed couples. But two laowei??

By the way,
lao gong (老公) is husband. (BTW, there is another Chinese word for husband. I don't know what it is, and I seem to tend towards old-fashioned words somehow, but "laogong" leaves no room for doubt, in any case)

airen (爱人) is lover, maybe married, not necessarily, maybe engaged (not as provocative as it is in English, though romance and, I think, sex, is involved)(the characters are "love" "person")

nanpengyou (男朋友) is boyfriend. (lit. "male friend")

So. If you want to be totally safe and leave nothing at all to chance, you can say "airen" and if later someone were to give you grief, you can still say that you are married, without having a contradiction.

But, seriously, don't worry about it.

Oh, yeah. As long as I'm here, the female versions:

airen (爱人) is the same for both.

nupengyou (女朋友) is girlfriend.

laopo (老婆) is wife.

[no_exit]

You can actually use the Chinese word 老公 (laogong) to talk about a boyfriend. It is common to hear young, unmarried couples refer to each other as laogong and laopo, even if they aren't married yet, just like what you experienced in Chile. In any case, getting hired as a couple shouldn't be a problem, even unmarried, as many schools do indeed prefer to hire couples, as you get two teachers but only need one apartment and couples are often thought of as more stable (that is, less likely to be boozers or skirt chasers).

[tw]

Other terms:

对象 (dui4 xiang4) = partner
丈夫 (zhang4 fu1) = husband
妻子 (qi1 zi3) = wife

[daodejing]

TW and others,

The 2nd syllables of zhangfu and qizi are pronounced with no tone; when they appear in other words they may carry their original tone. I think those are the most formal, textbook words for saying husband and wife.

[viovio]

Thank you all
I think I'll go for "fiance".