Take the 2-minute tour ×  I recently heard, 如果你不介意 (literally:
"if you do not mind."). Is the literal translation from English
also a correct, native one? Or is there a more common way to
prefix such a question?  share|improve this question Where did
you hear it? You mean the Chinese version is a translation from
English? –  fefe Nov 27 '12 at 9:50 This is one of the phrases
that maps almost exactly to the English counterpart and is
idiomatic. –  deutschZuid Nov 27 '12 at 20:53 @ash consider
accepting an answer? –  Growler Nov 28 '12 at 13:58 @Growler,
yes, in time. –  ash Nov 29 '12 at 5:54 add comment  5 Answers
up vote 2 down vote accepted  Only very very polite person would
say "如果你不介意 (if you don't mind)", probably this person is very
well educated which is rare in China (school/parents simply
never teach you this phrase). But interestingly, from my
experience I sometimes speak this kind of language to my close
friends, to make fun of him/her, in this context, when I say
"如果你不介意", what I really mean is