What is the meaning of 的 in "有一天你会明白的"? From Why is 的 used in 你是哪一天出生的 and 我们什么时候开始的 and 前天你什么时候来的这里?, I understand 的 at the end of a sentence describes an event that happened in the past.
However, I am not sure whether I understand the meaning of 的 at the end of this sentence correctly:

有一天你会明白的。

This sentence emphasizes an event that might happen in the future. So 的 here is not describing an event that happened in the past. Correct?
Why does it have 的 at the end? Is it because 它 = it has been omitted? Such as:

有一天你会明白的它 = one day you will understand it.

In Taiwan, According to dictionary owned by Ministry of Education.
的 can mean:

句尾助詞：置於句尾，表示肯定或加強的語氣。

(助詞 at end of the sentence denoting affirmation, or intensify tone.)
有一天你會明白的它 is not correct. You put 它 at wrong position. 有一天你會明白它的 can be better.


Why did they write a comma here? I think I understand this sentence correctly, but the 4th comma puzzles me. Is it necessary??

在当当网，“创新”是全方位，而俞渝就像心脏一样，源源不断地把创新的血液，输送到企业每一个环节。
I think this is:

在当当网，“创新”是全方位，而俞渝就像心脏一样，源源不断地输送创新的血液到企业每一个环节。

In your first sentence, the 4th comma is indeed unnecessary. This is what I would write:

在当当网，“创新”是全方位，而俞渝就像心脏一样，源源不断地把创新的血液输送到企业每一个环节。

Your second sentence is grammatically correct, but using the 把 construction is much more natural.


What is the difference between 賺錢 and 掙錢？ Today I went to a language exchange and a nice lady from Beijing told me to use 掙錢 instead of 賺錢。 I asked whether the latter was 口語 and she replied 賺錢 was something one said “just like that”. So now I am confused.

For 掙錢 pleco defines: earn (or make) money
For 賺錢 make money (or a profit)

The first one does sound a bit more like involving work, but I cannot really be sure of the distinction.

I'd like to make a supplement based upon previous answers:

Usually, 挣钱 and 赚钱 are exactly the same. But in some special cases, 挣钱 could reflect a scenario of hard working, since making money is not easy, while 赚钱 could mean that making money is easy, compared with 挣钱.

Here, the verb 挣 sounds like you have to make great effort to, you can see the verb 挣扎, which means struggle. The verb 赚 means making a profit, it can also be used as an adjective.

So we have the following phrases: 努力挣钱，working hard to make money (though 努力赚钱 is also possible) and 躺着赚钱, making money while lying on the bed.


What does the Twitter hashtag #壕 mean? I'm guessing it's slang and it looks like it has a positive connotation. Like 加油? Or maybe it sounds like 好, it means good? The dictionary says it means air-raid shelter / trench.

Here are some Tweets that use it:

https://twitter.com/search?q=%23%E5%A3%95&src=hash&f=realtime

It is a currently popular Internet slang in mainland China.

壕 => short for 土豪 noun => "local tyrant", someone who has much money.

壕/土豪 is used in a joking occasion, it doesn't mean the person it describes should actually have much money.
Example

A: 我昨天买到了iPhone 5S！ I bought iPhone 5S yesterday!
B: 土豪土豪我们做朋友吧！ Tuhao tuhao, let's make friends! (Note: A and B are already friends. That B says so is just to make fun. It is like another expression "你真有钱啊！". But it doesn't mean B really thinks A has much money.)

EDIT
百度百科【土豪】 has well summarized this word:

指“暴发户”。It means "nouveau riche".

指网络上无脑消费的人，也可以引申到其他领域（网络游戏、电子设备、动漫ACG等）。如某网络游戏中的人民币玩家被称为“土豪”，有时也会简化为“壕”。 It means someone who spends money mindlessly on the Internet. And its meaning can extend to other areas ([mindlessly spending money on] online games, electrical devices, or Animation/Comic/Game etc). For example, in an online game, the P4W (pay-for-win) players are called 土豪, sometimes using the short form "壕".

用于讽刺那些有钱又很喜欢炫耀的人，尤其是通过装穷来炫耀自己有钱的人。该意义衍生出“土豪，我们做朋友吧”等句子。 It is used to satirize those who have much money but like showing off -- especially those showing off by pretending to be poor. For example, "土豪，我们做朋友吧".

土豪的思想境界文化水平一般都不高，知识面却异常宽泛，但都是了解皮毛之辈。 Generally, 土豪 have low ideological and educational level, but broad scope of knowledge.

有些人把比自己肯花钱的人都称之为“土豪”。 Some would call those who are more willing to spend money than themselves "土豪".

土豪说简单点就是很土的富豪。 In short, 土豪 is rustic but rich people.

As an Internet slang, 壕/土豪 is very informal and its definition cannot be rigorously stated. So it's better to use it only in spoken language or on the Internet.


How Cantonese and Mandarin writing can be identical Forgive any ignorance on my part - I am a beginner, studying Mandarin.

If "Apple" in Mandarin is "苹果" (píngguǒ), then I guess in Cantonese it is also "苹果", though no doubt pronounced completely differently. In Mandarin, two characters normally means a two-syllable word. Is this the case in Cantonese? Does every Cantonese word have the same number of syllables as its corresponding Mandarin word?

Thanks for any insight...

Steven@Montreal

First, Cantonese is rarely written. In the few places where Written Cantonese is used, yes, each syllable is always one character (though for some words, like 乜嘢、唔好、即係, people often say multiple characters together so fast that it may sound like one syllable).

Each Chinese character has a defined pronunciation in Cantonese (sometimes a character has multiple pronunciations in different contexts), and there are often certain predictable patterns between the Cantonese and Mandarin pronunciations of the same character. And the pronunciation of a word is simply the pronunciation of each character concatenated. That means that if you take a word written in Mandarin, and read it literally in Cantonese, it will be pronounced with the same number of syllables as in Mandarin, and moreover the pronunciation will be based on the Cantonese pronunciation of each character, which is often somewhat related to the Mandarin pronunciation.

However, that may not be the way that that thing is usually said in Cantonese. In such cases, the way that people usually say that thing in Cantonese is considered a different word, and in Written Cantonese is written with different characters (which may or may not be the same number of characters that Mandarin uses). These are basically vocabulary differences between Mandarin and Cantonese.

Many commonly-used verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, will have different vocabulary between Mandarin and Cantonese. But if you consider all words overall, the number of differences is small, and most words will be the same in Mandarin and Cantonese (as in written with the same characters, though the pronunciation of those characters will still be different). The vocabulary for "apple" is not different between Mandarin and Cantonese.


What does 而在此前 mean? In the following sentence:

  据上海迪士尼乐园度假区方面消息，从2017年11月15日起，上海迪士尼乐园对游客须知进行调整，禁止游客携带食品和酒精饮料入园，非酒精饮料容量不得超过600毫升。而在此前，迪士尼乐园允许未拆封的食品入园。

I understand the meaning of 此前, which means "before this" or "until this".

However, what is the meaning of 而在此前, specifically 而在? I feel that 而在 were to be omitted, the sentence would make sense.

So is the 而在 needed here? And if so, what is the meaning and how does it function grammartically in the sentence?

而在此前 means "Before this".

In this context, that means before this date (2017年11月15日) or before this rule became effective.

而 = 然而 (conjunction 連詞)
在 = at / on / in (preposition 前置介詞)
此 = this (this date / this rule became effective)
前 = before

This phrase can be expanded to:

  然而，在此之前


How do you say an event will be casual? Google translate tells me casual/unceremonious  = "随便"
But I always thought "随便" meant "whatever"

I want to say "You can come over whenever, it will be casual"

In Chinese, "随便" has a lot of meanings.

It can be used to represent words ending with '-ever', like whatever, whenever, like what you thought.
It can be used also as an adjective, and in this way it means 'don't care much about details'
It can be used as an adverb, which means 'freely' or 'do as one's will'

But I think maybe "随便" is not very suitable in your example. "不正式", which means not formal, or "随意", which is used to describe someone or something without many constraints, may be more appropriate. But actually, they don't differ a lot :)


Why does the shopkeeper say 要不了 (yào bùliǎo) after the customer proposes a too-low price? A Mandarin Corner YouTube video shows a woman haggling over a scarf in Hong Kong.

A snippet from their dialogue:

这个六十块钱，可以吧？
Zhège liùshí kuài qián, kěyǐ ba?
六十块，要不了。
Liùshí kuài, yào bùliǎo.
要不了啊？
Yào bùliǎo a?
对啊。
Duì a.
我觉得一百五也太贵了！算了，算了。那我们就再看一下吧。
Wǒ juédé yībǎi wǔ yě tài guìle! Suànle, suànle. Nà wǒmen jiù zài kàn yīxià ba.

(She eventually gets the shopkeeper down to 65 yuan!  Impressive.)
I don't understand what 要不了 (yào bùliǎo) means here.  It turns up in various sentences in Jukuu.com (e.g. 要不了多久 (yào bùliǎo duōjiǔ) seems to mean "it won't take much time", and this was raised in another question) which doesn't seem relevant to the dialogue above.  Youdao gives "otherwise the", which doesn't make sense.
Question: What does 要不了 in the above dialogue mean?

'要不了' in this context simply means "can't take" (can't accept).

In English, it would be "I can't take $60 HKD (for this merchandise)"

The shopkeeper refused to take the $60 HKD in exchange of that particular merchandise

要了那六十块就要交出商品了 (if she took that $60 HKD, she would have to hand over the merchandise)


Translation of oracle bone《甲骨文合集》11503 Relating to my Oracle Bone Question on the History Stack, and using this link droooze provided, can someone please translate these for me (keeping the brackets and the "..."):

11503.正
癸 囗 [ 卜 囗 貞 ] 。。。丙 。 。 。  。 。 。
癸 丑 卜 爭 [ 貞 ] 。 。 。 [ 嬄 ] 。 。 。
11503.反
。 。 。 七 日 己 巳 夕  。 。 。 㞢 新 大 晶 竝 火 。 。 。
。 。 。 [ 㞢 ] 求 其 㞢 來 嬄 。 。 。 不 吉

Am I correct in thinking 正 means the top of the bone and 反 means the underside?
Can it be speculated what the missing characters that would fill the "..." should be or could be?

Images added for those who - like me - cannot see all the  characters on their phone:

正 :

反 :

This website writes: "The inscriptions include the oldest observation of a nova (1300BCE) ‘A great new star appeared in company with 心宿二 xīn xiù èr (Antares, in Scorpio)’ is recorded on the bones."

Also, out of interest, does anyone know which bone it is from the Ox's skeleton? Sacrum? Scapula?

I won't claim expertise, but the following is my interpretation. Corrections welcome!

  Format:

  Transcription given in 《甲骨文合集》

  How it should be read using more modern characters

  English translation

《合集》11503 正

ＡＢ〔卜〕(1)Ｃ貞〔旬亡〕

ＡＢ卜Ｃ貞旬無禍

Divination (卜) on heavenly stem A(2), earthly branch B(3): C(4) asks (貞): [Will we have] ten days (旬) without (亡(5)) calamity ((6))?
癸Ｂ〔卜〕Ｃ〔貞〕……丙……

(same)

Divination on heavenly stem 癸, earthly branch B: C asks: ……(7)丙(8)……(9)
癸丑卜爭〔貞〕……〔㛸〕……

癸丑卜爭貞……艱……

Divination on heavenly stem 癸, earthly branch 丑: 爭(10) asks: ……difficulty/danger/hardship (㛸(11))……

《合集》11503 反

……七日己巳夕……㞢新大晶竝火……

……七日己巳夕Ｄ(12)……有新大星竝火……

……Day (日) seven (七), the evening (夕) of the day of 己巳……appeared(13) (㞢(14)) [a] new (新) great (大) star (晶(15)) next to (竝) Antares(16) (火(17))……
……〔㞢〕求其㞢來嬄……不吉

……有咎其有來艱……不吉

……has calamity (求(18)), also(19) (其) there comes (來) difficulty/danger/hardship……ominous (不吉)

  Notes:

  I think parentheses〔〕indicate a filled-in character that may not be immediately obvious on the bone fragment.
  「Ａ」is a placeholder for a hypothesised/unknown heavenly stem.
  「Ｂ」is a placeholder for a hypothesised/unknown earthly branch.
  「Ｃ」is a placeholder for a hypothesised/unknown name of the oracle doing the divination.

  AB refers to the timekeeping system called the Sexagenary cycle.
  The structure AB卜C貞… means Divination on heavenly stem A, earthly branch B, oracle C asks…

  「亡」is used to mean without in oracle bone inscriptions, written as「無」now.「亡」(Proto-Sino-Tibetan: /*maŋ/, comprised of /*ma/ + termative suffix /ŋ/) is cognate to「無」(/*ma/).
  「」has several interpretations, among them「憂」,「咎」, and「禍」; I don't know which one is correct, but I think「憂」means worry, and both「咎」and「禍」mean disaster/calamity, so the interpretation shouldn't vary too greatly.
  Unknown inscriptions, if any. Might be faded out from the bone.
  I don't know how to interpret this without more context.
  「」is the name of a hostile tribe neighbouring the Shang Dynasty.
  「爭」, in this context, is the name of an oracle.
  「㛸」is commonly interpreted in oracle bone scripts as「艱」.
  「」here has far too many conflicting interpretations. I'm not even sure of the correctness of this transcription, so I used the placeholder「Ｄ」.
  「有」literally means there exists, so depending on the context it can be seen as there appeared, or has, or just there.
  「㞢」is an oracle bone variant of「有」or「又」. Do not interpret this as「之」, which much later also became the shape of「㞢」.
  「晶」originally meant star, now written as「星」. The current meaning of「晶」is sparkling/crystal/radiant, which is a semantic extension of the original meaning. For reference, the glyph evolution of「星」:

  商甲後2.9.1合集11503商甲前7.26.3合集11501西周金麓伯星父簋　秦簡睡・日乙41　今楷

  The second form above changes the number of stars「日」and adds phonetic「生」. The third form shifts all the stars to the top. The fourth form simplifies all the stars down to one star, and forms the basis of the modern shape「星」.
  The nova interpretation hinges on「火」being interpreted as Antares or its other astronomical meaning Mars, rather than its basic meaning fire.  There is no explicit inscription of「心宿二」, which is the full name of Antares. The good news is that there appeared a new great star next to the fire doesn't really make sense, but we're lacking the rest of the text (if any) to confirm anything.
  「火」(oracle bone sample view) is frequently confused with「山」(mountain; oracle bone sample view) in oracle bone texts. YMMV on this interpretation.
  「求」is used as a phonetic loan for「咎」in oracle bone script. It is a picture of a multi-legged insect, and was the original character for「蛷」.
  Many possible interpretations for「其」.


What is the rule for forming chinese names diminutives? In alphabetical languages, diminutives are easily made by adding a suffix (e.g. -ito, -ino, -ine, which belong to some Romance languages) and sometimes contemporaneously changing the ending of the original name.

Japanese uses a sort of appending naming, such as "-chan", "-kun", etc.

But what about Chinese? Are there rules when forming diminutives, or what's the usual way?

I'm interested in:

what characters for diminutives exist;
who can they be used with
when not to use them.

As you might have noticed, I am not talking about nicknames, but rather about diminutives.

EDIT: Like Szabolcs said, I'm not asking for honorifics but rather about those changes in names that show affection, intimacy or close relation. Please, read this page on Wikipedia in your language so you understand what is meant by Diminutive.

This is a broad question. You will use different words depending on different situations.

To call someone that you are familiar with (note: this is the premise). There are several different cases.

For kids: In general, the parents will give their kids a diminutive, besides the formal name.The diminutive may have different forms so that you can't find a rule.

  I have a niece with the diminutive of "小鱼儿 (literally means: little fish)". This name has nothing to do with her given name, but it is related (I think) to her surname "余 (has the same pronunciation with 鱼)"

  One of my friends has "俊" as the last character of his given name, so his grandpa calls him "俊俊". This "XX" form is very common. Note, his grandpa(from a grandpa's view, he is always a kid) can call him this way while I should not(for me, he is an adult, not a kid).

For adults. user334's answer is good (point 1 and 2). However, there are some details I want to point out.

If the listener is very old (60 above, very rough, no precise definition), and you are young. It's not polite to call him "老+surname". You would:

  call him "surname+叔" or "surname+叔叔" for a man.

  call her "surname+姨" pr "surname+阿姨" for a man.

...when they are in the same generation as your parents. Or,

  call him "surname+爷爷" for a man

  call him "surname+奶奶" for a woman

...when they are in the same generation as your grandparents.

Besides, you could call an old (in the same generation as your grandparents) man or woman "surname + 老" to show your high respect. This form is very formal and not used usually.
For adult in the same generation as you:

"阿+surname" or "阿+last character of the given name" are often used. Yes, my friends would call me 阿黄, but not all of them call me this way (just call me with the full name).

"小+last character of the given name" could also be used(less common).

“仔" as in user334's answer, is popular in Guangdong, Fujian provinces and HongKong, Macau and Taiwan, I think. More presicesly, it's popular in the 粤 and 闽 dialects.

You could also use "surname+兄" to call a man older than you. Ok, you could call me "黄兄" :D

You could use "given name" to call a man if his given name contains two characters.

Also, among familiar friends, they generally would call each other with nicknames to make things funny. When I was in the university, some of my classmates called me "大黄". Oh, that's not a good name, but funny, because "大黄" is a kind of Chinese herbal medicine.


How do I practise grouping characters into words? At which stage of learning should one expect to be good at this? I just got the following sentence in a newsletter:

  请问我可以跟你借支笔吗？

Being a beginner that I am, I read it as "Can I please get one pay-check in advance?" because I saw this in my dictionary:

借支 = "to get an advance on one's pay"; and
笔 = "classifier for sums of money, deals"

Of course, the newsletter corrected me with the correct translation "Could I borrow your pen, please?". Only then I realized it was 借 + 支笔.

I've noticed this happens to me a lot with new texts/sentences, and this is probably the most extreme example (because I already knew the 借支笔 characters).

Is there anything I can do to eliminate this issue? Or should I simply continue to learn and everything will "fit into place" eventually?

Additionally, do native speakers encounter ambiguities like this one in spoken Chinese? (Well, maybe not exactly like this one..) How are they resolved/avoided?

As a native speaker, I'm trying to introspect my understanding process:
借支 is not a common term. Even in the right context (the money business), it may take a while for a native speaker to realize these two characters are meant to be a word. 笔 isn't really ambiguous as its position in the sentence dictated it has to be a noun, so 支 is the measure word and 借 is the single-character verb 'to borrow'. 借支笔 sounds right, just like the other phrases with a similar pattern that bump into my head when I read this sentence: 借张纸, 借本书, etc.
As you can see, the key knowledge here is the contextual usage and the idiomatic patterns, which is something that really takes many years to build up and comprehend. Most native speakers learn it in elementary and middle school years in both explicit (textbook) and implicit (daily conversation) ways, hardened by a lot of repetitions, homework and examinations. For example, we were taught to differentiate the two possibilities of 把手 in 3-4 grade in elementary school (at age 8-9):

把手坏了 The door handle (把手) is broken.
把手拿开 Move your hand away.

Or 球拍:

球拍 卖 完了 The racket (球拍) is sold out.
球 拍卖 完了 The auction (拍卖) for balls is over.

And our language development comes to a stage that we can say and resolve most of these ambiguous phrases smoothly, generally at age 14-15.
There is a lot of freedom in Chinese grammar and a lot of mix-and-match combinations in the vocabulary, accordingly there are a lot of idiomatic patterns to know before you can segmentate a sentence with ease.
How native speakers deal with it? If there is only one way to make sense of the sentence, other possible segmentations don't really make sense, then there is no ambiguity and nothing to avoid. If it's really ambiguous, the speaker may become aware as soon as he says it and then adds something to clarify, or the audience asks a question or just repeats the sentence in a confused tone to seek elaboration. These methods are no different from any other language.
And yes, there are things that is totally ambiguous, even native speaker couldn't tell. Like 南京市长江大桥, without context you never know which of the two it means:

南京市 长江 大桥 The Yangtze River bridge in Nanjing city
南京 市长 江大桥 The major of Nanjing - Jiang Da Qiao


Use of 真的 as adverb: are 我真要走了 and 我真的要走了 equally correct? I came across the sentence: "我真的要走了".

I am wondering why it has the 的. I didn't know 真 needed a 的 to be an adverb, or that it was even ok.

Is it equally correct to say "我真要走了"? Or is "我真的要走了" better?

"我真要走了" and "我真的要走了" are both good expressions. They are in fact no different at all. "真" and "真的" are both adverbs here.


Idiomatic Translation: Guilty Pleasure jDictionary Advanced English Dictionary defines guilty pleasure as:

guilty pleasure
(idiomatic) Something that brings pleasure but is considered taboo, unadvisable or lowbrow. "For the renowned sushi chef, eating fish sticks drowned in tartar sauce was a guilty pleasure."

Not looking for things like: 罪恶的快感.
Hoping there's something more idiomatic.

How about 恶趣味? Literally "an evil interest".
For your example,

For the renowned sushi chef, eating fish sticks drowned in tartar sauce was a guilty pleasure.
对于一位有名望的寿司师傅，吃着配上塔塔酱的鱼柳条是种恶趣味。

Some other interesting translations include:

罪快乐. It takes the pronunciation of 最快乐 (happiest) to imply that it's the happiest, yet a "crime".
罪乐感. It derives from 罪恶感 (guilt) to imply that it's a guilt which makes one "happy".


Is 医好了 outdated in favour of 治好了? I have been working through a grammar book with exercises where one of the solutions is "医生把病人医好了." My language partner said that 医好了 is unusual and that it is better to say 治好了 instead. Is this correct or is ti still OK to use 医好了? (I suspect that the main author of the grammar book is over 80; the book itself is less than 10 years old.)

医好了, to me, is more often used in old times, that's why it's totally ok to say that in HongKong, considering HK is still using traditional Chinese. In modern Chinese, 治好了 is more natural, but in some formal occasion we can use 医 and 治 together as one verb, i.e. 医治

examples:

张医生医好了无数病人。(it's ok, but less used in daily communication, I would use it in a composition, or in HK maybe? I don't know since I didn't go there)

张医生医治了无数病人。(sounds formal, I would use it in a report)

张医生治好了无数病人。(sounds more familiar and nature, I use it in my daily life)


What's the most accessible translation for 修仙 or 修真? Can I use xiuxian?
It means taking pills of immortality and cultivate oneself to become an immortal, short for cultivate immortality, can you understand the latter easily if it suddenly appears in English article?

修仙 = cultivate oneself to become an immortal
after become 神仙 or 仙 , one can live outside of the mundane world 吸風飲露，不食五穀 (able to exist and function by using the energy from nature, no need to eat)

~

修真 = cultivate oneself to achieve spiritual enlightenment
修真者，借假修真也。道教中，学道修行，求得真我，去伪存真 (remove the fault and keep the truth) 为“修真”。

Edit:
Scripps wrote:

Is there any noun to represent that?

修仙 short for 修練成仙之法 (study and train oneself to become an immortal)
修真 short for 修硏尋得真我之法 (Study and learn to find one's truth self)
If you must use simple terms to describe them, you can call '修仙' as 'immortality seeking' and '修真' as 'truth seeking'


Do Chinese people not use "和"? I'm currently taking a Chinese class with native speakers, and one criticism I've gotten a lot on my writing is that I use “和” way too much. I understand that Americans say "and" more than would be culturally appropriate in China, but my teacher has recommended I take out all ands, including in lists (eg. 这家餐馆有水饺、米饭，和面条 --> 这家有餐馆水饺、米饭、面条。). It sounds strange to me not to use "and" at al, but again, not a native speaker. Should I just use something like 而且 instead and avoid 和，or just try as hard as I can never to use "and", even in lists? Or do Chinese people use "和“ more than my teacher seems to indicate? Also, is there a difference between writing and speaking in the matter?

EDIT: feel free to add a Chinese translation! I wasn't sure on quite a few words and phrases and figured it'd be better to call in some outside help on this one.

和 comes from old verb "to mix two things into one". From "to mix" 和 developed meaning "with" and "and". But the old meaning still lingers there, that's why 和 can't be used in some situations.

  老板喜欢咖啡和茶。

works like charm cause you literally can "mix" coffe and tee.

  今天和明天都可以吗？

the same here.
but

  *我去了超市和买了水果

-- not good. WHat are you "mixing"? "market" and "buying"? Noun and verb?

about而且:

且 means 'further'. It was used as a future tense marker in old Chinese, just like 'will' is used in English.
而 is a subordinate conjunction. That is, it serves functions of 'but, and, where, who, when ect.' thus subordinating one sentence clause to the other. But how one should translate 而 is unknown (to me at least), it's quite volatile in it's meaning.
而且 means "further than this", 'but more' or 'even more'.

So 而且(even more) and 和 (to mix) are quite different in their meaning.


All the cases where 的 (de) can be used I have learned 3 cases:
1. 的: possession
我的家
2. 的: adjective + de + noun
我喜欢红色的杯子。
3. 的: after adjective
我的头发长长的。

Are there any other cases?

It is also used for constructing relative clause, such as, 那个穿白衣服的人是老板。我喜欢妈妈做的菜。


What is the suggested pattern on paper to learn handwriting? What is the suggested pattern on paper to learn handwriting?
On the web, I've found many kind of paper, such as those named 九宫格 jiǔgōnggé, 米字格 mǐzìgé, 田字格 tiánzìgé, etc.
I've got a book of chinese characters in which some characters are displayed on a 九宫格 jiǔgōnggé pattern while other characters are on a 米字格 mǐzìgé pattern.
I wonder which one should be preferred (if any), or if different characters suit better on certain patterns. Which paper is used by children at school, for example?

I would suggest go ahead try them all by yourself, it vary from people to people. But same as @Stan said it is just helping you to have a better sense of positioning each stroke.

But I want to mention that it only works well if you have a sample showed in a similar pattern and you try to make it looks the same way.

Think about what you would do to an English handwriting practice paper for English, it's actually the same idea. You need to firstly actually know where you should write on it, and then practice. And the eventual goal is no longer need it.


Better ways to translate 积极? Alright before I get a bunch of crappy answers saying things like:

> postive
> active
> energetic
> vigorous
> proactive

I just want to say these are not the words -or- phrases I'm looking for.

I feel like 积极 is very versatile and clear but I always have a hard time translating it back to English or finding a good equivalent to express the same thing in English.

For the following contexts what English word or phrase would you use to express 积极?

他在课堂上举手发言不是很积极
他做事很都积极

I want to use something like enthusiastic but it doesn't quite express it for me...any ideas?

i think proactive and enthusiastic are pretty good translations. you typically use 積極 to describe such qualities in a younger person who's eager to learn or do something but still humble to listen to advice, so it's not used a lot to comment on older people, though you can also use it to describe someone who's new to a role and wants to do a good job. e.g. a newly elected president (who's never been a president before). maybe that's what you feel is missing from the english words?

same thing for the opposite adjective 消極, which also lends itself better to describe younger people IMHO.


What are some well-known, online news sources that are worthy of language study? I'm fluent in Chinese already. I just want to further my reading and writing skills.

I'm thinking along the lines of

NPR - has both (audio) news and talk radio that can be accessed online
Time Magazine, The Economist - current events and issues, etc
New York Times - daily newspaper

But all in Chinese (either for China, Taiwan or any other Chinese population)

Based on your demand, here are my picks. They're locally famous.
China mainland

南方人物周刊, a featured weekly on influencing people, with some exclusive interviews.

南方周末, a weekly on politics, economics, culture, and especially recent (past week) controversial topics.

新京报, a daily with Beijing (or China) features. Founded in 2003.

财经网, a good source for financial and business news.

腾讯网, a major Internet portal.

三联生活周刊, a major life style magazine.

FT中文网, Chinese version of Financial Times, also with many Chinese columnists.

China Daily 中文版, famous for its English version, a major English daily.

财新网, another good source for financial and business news.

优酷网, the biggest video portal, YouTube's copycat, even from its name.

重庆晨报, for those who wanna have PDF version of newspaper, this one's for you.

第一财经周刊, a reader-friendly financial weekly.

外滩画报, full of featured stories with pictures.

Hong Kong

亞洲周刊, a weekly on politics, economics and culture.

明報, founded by Louis Cha Leung-yung, a renowned novel writer, and his co-founder in 1959.

文匯報, a left (pro-) newspaper. Founded in 1948.

大公報, another left newspaper. Founded in 1902.

星島日報, yet another left newspaper. Founded 1938.

鳳凰網, semi-official CCTV like channel in Hong Kong.

TVB無線新聞, famous TV channel.

壹週刊, a sibling of Taiwanese 蘋果日報, quite popular and entertaining.

Taiwan

中央社, a major news agency in Taiwan. Quite official. Founded in 1924.

蘋果日報, a major daily. Good at entertaining people. I like its 3D video news.

自由時報, as its name suggests, it's somewhat Pan-Green. Founded in 1980.

聯合報, a conservative major daily founded in 1951.

中國時報, a major daily. Founded in 1950.

中央日報, used to be official newspaper of the Kuomintang, founded in 1928.

天下, a financial-oriented magazine founded in 1981.

商業周刊中文版, Taiwanese version of Businessweek, with some local stories too.


Can 斋戒 vs. 禁食 which one is used for "Fasting for ramadan" Yesterday, I celebrated Ramadan with a couple of friends and I was trying to explain what the celebration entailed in my diary. Could I use the term 斋戒 - the translation I found for "to fast" or is 禁食 more appropriate?

For example could I say,
"每逢Ramadan大家都要从早上四点斋戒到晚上六点左右“

or would it be "从早上到晚上都要禁食”？

禁食 - Forbidden to eat or drink. i.e. fasting.
斋戒 - This word can have a different meaning according to different religions. For example:

Islam - no food or drinks at all
Christianity - no meat from warmblooded (i.e. fish / shrimps are allowed)
Chinese Buddhism - no meat / alcohol and certain types of vegetable

Therefore, it depends on the situation where you will use the words.


Should I use modal (语气) "了" in: 我去抽烟 vs. 我去抽烟了? If I say "I'm going to smoke" I would say "我去抽烟", right? Or would I say "我去抽烟了"?

In this case, 了 represents a change, so I suppose 我去抽烟了 makes sense. Any difference in nuance between the two?

我去抽烟 is the standard way to express "I am going to have a cigarette". You don't need a "了" at all. Adding a "了" emphasizes the fact that you are about to do it RIGHT NOW. Sometimes, it implies that you are asking for others' opinions. For example, “如果没什么事，我去抽烟了.” （If you don't have anything else for me, I am going to have a cigarette now(outside).)


What does 在 mean in "你在吗"? I just saw the phrase "你在吗" for the first time on Discord, I asked how this was grammatically correct (it looks like an incomplete sentence) and they insisted that 在 means "here". I don't agree with that at all, 在 is a coverb and not a single dictionary I've looked in (online or otherwise) lists that as a definition. I could understand if the sentence omits 这里 since it's redundant, I could also understand if the sentence was the equivalent of "Are you in?" in English, but I do not agree with "在 means here"

在 in 你在吗? means 'is present'
大考时你在这里吗? = Were you here during the final exam?
大考时你在那里吗? = Were you there during the final exam?
大考时你在(学校)吗? = Were you at the school during the final exam?
大考时你在吗? = Were you present during the final exam? (It doesn't mention where the final exam took place, so you can use 'were present' or 'were there')
Similarly:
他犯案时你在現場吗? = Were you at the scene when he committed the crime?
他犯案时你在吗? = Were you present/ there when he committed the crime?


”变成“ vs “变成为” 有什么不同？ 我不清楚 ”为“ 对 像 ”变成“ ”改造“ 这样的词的影响是什么。比方说，“变成为”，“改造为” 跟 “变成” “改造“ 有什么不同的地方。如果一个词是改变的意思，总是可以加 “为” 吗？

I am not sure what the impact of "为" is on verbs that indicate change. For instance, "变成“ vs "变成为“ or "改造" vs. "改造为". In addition, I am not sure whether "为" can be added to all verbs that indicate change or just a few specific ones.

"变成为" is kind of redundant. It is the same as "变成".

Here the "stem" of verb is "变", while "成" and "为" are two "suffixes" that have similar meaning.

"改造" and "改造为" are totally different. "改造" means to change something. "改造为" means to change into (become) something.


Please help to identify the character My hobby is to collect the wind chimes and the one I have recently bought had a pretty complex character on its pendant. I've tried to look it up by the radical 辵/辶, but to no avail.

At first I thought the upper part of the character is "family"/家, but now I am rather unsure... As for the other elements I believe I can identify bird/隹 and shellfish/貝. The one on the far right is probably 拓 (?)

If my guesses are right, this character consists of around 33 strokes. zdic.net/z/zxjs gives some interesting characters with 辶 radical, but with maximum strokes count of 25... I've also tried Google Translate recognition, but the app crashes each time I try to upload the pic. Too much magic in the air :D

This was my trail of thoughts which didn't bring me to desired result. So,
 my question is if anyone finds this character familiar and can help me to find out its meaning.

Another question I have is concerned more with the traditions but is related through the above-mentioned wind chime. When I bought it the plate with this character was hanged upside down. I read somewhere that the Chinese hang characters like 福 upside down to attract luck. However, I am suspicious the shop workers might have turned it over accidently. How to hang it properly?

I would be very grateful to those who answer.

I have answered a very similar question before. Please refer to the following:

An unknown Traditional Chinese character on a decorative piece for Lunar New Year

As to the proper way to hang this, I have never seen this hung upside down, unlike the character "福", which is often hung upside down because of a play on the words "福到" (blessings arrive) and "福倒" (blessings upside down).


Why can't I say "我的腰不好” My teacher said it wasn't a good thing to say - why? For example, my back really hurt - is this not what I should have said?

How do I express that my lower back hurts?

腰 or 腰子 is slang for kidney. In traditional Chinese medicine theory, kidney is responsible for producing and storing sperms. Thus 腰不好 becomes a slang implying weakness in bed.

It takes a cheeky friend to twist 腰不好 towards sex; In a lot of situations saying 腰不好 is fine. If you are unsure, it is always OK to say 腰疼 or 腰痛.


吗 and 吧 at the end of a question I heard that ba (吧) can be used at the end of a sentence just like ma (吗). Per my understanding, it's not interchangeable with ma (吗) but a more playful way of asking the same question. (Some girl said I should use 吧 when asking her if she wants to go to lunch, idk what that means.)

So, when do you use each of these words? What are the connotations of each?

Firstly, you are correct... both can be used at the end of a sentence, but they do not have the same meanings.

吗 ma = question particle

吧 ba = suggestive particle

Here's some examples:

你还好吗？(Nǐ hái hǎo ma) Are you okay?

你还好吧。(Nǐ hái hǎo ba) Come on, you're okay, right? (suggesting that they're okay)

Or, In many cases 吧 is in response to 吗:

Person A: 好吗？Okay?
Person B: 好吧。 Fine...

That girl said you should use ba because she thought you should be more suggestive

我们一起吃饭吧！（Wǒmen yīqǐ chīfàn ba）sounds more assertive than 你想跟我一起吃饭吗？（Nǐ xiǎng gēn wǒ yīqǐ chīfàn ma?）


Translation Resources: Star/Constellation Names What resources are available for translations (well English equivalents) of Chinese 星官 (constellations) 星名 (stars)?

For example:

宦者

  3 星官名。

How -or- where can I find the English equivalent for this constellation?

皇位

  2 指星名。

How -or- where can I find the English equivalent for this constellation?

An (extremely comprehensive) star/constellation dictionary would be awesome.

What resources are available?

中西星名对照表 on wikipedia has ~1000 star names and is good enough for common astrophiles.

I haven't read the book but it is said 《中西对照·恒星图表1950.0》 has more than 3000 star names, which might be the extremely comprehensive dictionary you're looking for.


What is the meaning and function of 幸 in "则幸分我一杯羹"? What is the meaning and function of "幸" in the following sentence?

  吾翁即若翁。必欲烹而翁，则幸分我一杯羹

幸 in this context means to hope for.

  吾翁即若翁。必欲烹爾翁，則幸分我一杯羹

  My old man is your old man. If you want to boil your old man alive, then I hope that you’ll share a portion of the soup with me.

As far as I can find, the original text says 必欲烹「而」翁 rather than 必欲烹「爾」翁, but the interpretation is the same.


The name of the California high school fraternity, Hi Tow Tong Honor societies and fraternities are a fixture in U.S. colleges. Most often they use Greek letters for their names, and some have names in English. However, the men's honor society of Santa Cruz High School (Santa Cruz, California) is called "Hi Tow Tong".

The word "Tong" is well explained as a neighborhood hall or benevolent association. In light of the origins of most of the Chinese in California at the time, I suspect, but am not sure, that the spelling is a Wade-Giles spelling of Cantonese. There are lots of other local tongs (not high school clubs) listed in Wikipedia's article on the Tong Wars.

According to a blog post containing much later text from the school student newspaper,

  Hi Tow Tong Men’s Honor Society was organized in 1910. The first initiation ceremonies were adopted embracing the sentiments of Confucius, Jesus and other world leaders to emphasize the thought that leadership ability carries with it the responsibility to serve.

What does "Hi Tow" mean? Are several readings possible?

"tow tong" means "道堂", without doubt. e.g.:

堂 (u+5802) should be interpreted as "association"

道 (u+9053) means "tao", the proper way.

about the first character "hi", my best guess is, in sequence:

凱 (u+51f1) roughy means "victory", that "hi tow tong" would be "the association of the tao of victory"

second is 開 (u+958b) roughy means beginning, that "hi tow tong" would be "the association of the tao of beginning"

have fun :)


Does 意大利 ever get read as 意太利? I have heard 意大利 read 意太利, as a sort of half-joke half-honest pronunciation. This is funny because some dialects do read 大 as /t‘ai/ (think: Gan, Hakka, Min Nan, etc.).
《现代汉语方言音库 • 成都话音档》also has an entry showing:

大 t‘ai⁵³ (白读音) 又ta²¹³

Some compound words with 大 can even be read /t‘ai/.
It dawned on me, though, that the /t‘/ pronunciation does seem to match the Western pronunciation of Italy much closer than, what we might call, the initial D sound (/t/) in 大.
It's true, this could be another Holmes (福尔摩斯) translation - transliteration via topolect. I haven't been able to find much information on the Chinese origin of the word Italy though.
Does 意大利 ever get read as 意太利?

Yes. And sometimes, for an ironic/sarcastic vibe (not necessarily negative) and under a very informal situation, people would write 意呆利/意呆梨. As the transliteration comes mainly from English，where in the Italy the æ vowel doesn't exist in Chinese pronunciation, and 太 seems to be closer to the English word Italy.
And again, in formal, even the slightest sense, it is only correct and proper to use 意大利。


What if you learn all the stroke orders in the wrong order? I started learning Chinese a few months back by myself but stopped as soon as I realized that stroke order was important part of learning the Chinese language
I don't want to go for coaching and want to continue learning
But I don't want to unlearn every thing after I have reached a level of HSK1 or farther
What should I do?

Is coaching really necessary? If it is I can do that as well.

I don't want to make mistakes.

You don't need a teacher to learn stroke order properly, you just need to learn the basic rules and make a habit of looking up the stroke order for new characters you learn. This will feel like an additional burden for a while, but you'll soon learn the rules and you will find that you can often guess the right stroke order, even for a character you have never seen before.

If your goal is to write neat, beautiful characters, then you do need input from a human, but to learn basic handwriting and stroke order, you don't have to have a teacher, as long as you look things up.

Some suggested resources:

Pleco or Hanping for looking things up on your phone
ArchChinese or MDBG for looking things up in your webb browser
Looking things up in printed books is a pain, especially if you're a beginner
Many apps teach you stroke order: Skritter, Pleco, TOFU learn.

Stroke order might feel like a big hurdle for you at the moment, but it really isn't that hard. Compared to learning any other aspect of Chinese; stroke order will only end up taking up a very small proportion of the time you invest. Just look things up as you learn new characters and after learning a few hundred characters, you'll wonder why you thought it was so intimidating when you first started out.


Is 了 a pictogram (象形字)? 當我看 Hinen 的答案時，看到近代書將「了」分為象形字。
大概是因為《說文解字》曾提及「象形」二字如下：

  了，尦也。从子，無臂。象形。

作者許慎的意思應該是將「了」判為象形字。

《說文解字》的序文有象形字的定義：

  象形者，畫成其物，隨體詰詘，日月是也。

象形字是依物體的彎曲樣子將它的形狀畫出來，譬如，日和月。
也就是說，象形字是直接描繪該物體。

但是，段玉裁的《說文解字注》將許慎的「象形」二字解釋為：象「其足了戾」之形，而不是解為：象「子無臂」之形。
也就是說，段玉裁認為「了」是畫「兩腳糾結」之形，而不是直接畫「子無臂」之形。
段玉裁會如此解釋，大概是因為「了」的本義是「尦」。
（依 Hinen 的答案，「尦」的意思是，行走時，小腿相互交叉。）

但這就暗示「了」不是象形字，因為不是直接描繪該物體。

是段玉裁解錯了嗎？還是許慎判錯了？

「了」是象形字嗎？如果不是，那是哪一種字？

When I look at Hinen's answer, I see that 了 is a pictograph in the modern books.
It is probably due to that there are two characters, 象形, in the 《說文解字》 as follows.

  了，尦也。从子，無臂。象形。

The author, 許慎, should mean that 了 is a pictograph.

There is a definition of pictographs in the preface of 《說文解字》.

  象形者，畫成其物，隨體詰詘，日月是也。
  A pictograph is drawn by following the curved shape of an object, such as 日 (sun) and 月 (moon).

That is, a pictographic word is made by drawing the object DIRECTLY.

However, in the 《說文解字注》, 段玉裁 interpreted 許慎's 象形 as 象「其足了戾」之形 rather than 象「子無臂」之形。
In other words, 段玉裁 thought that 了 was made by depicting the twined and bound shape of two feet, rather than by DIRECTLY depicting the shape of "a baby without arms".
This is probably because the original meaning of 了 is 尦.
(According to Hinen's answer, 尦 means that the shanks cross each other while walking.）

However, this implies that 了 is not a pictograph because it is not made by DIRECTLY drawing the object.

Was the interpretation made by 段玉裁 wrong?

Or

Did 許慎 make a wrong judgment?

Is 了 a pictograph?
If not, what category does it belong to?

「了」是象形字嗎？  Is 了 a pictograph?

丁福保所編的《說文解字詁林》收集了（清）王筠《說文句讀》中關於「了」的解釋。
丁福保's 《說文解字詁林》 collected (Qing Dynasty) 王筠's 《說文句讀》, which has explained 了.

筠 [ ㄩㄣˊ | yún ]
句讀 [ ㄐㄩˋ ㄉㄡˋ | jù dòu ]

圖一

  《集韻》引，無「象」字。然，「象形」二字竝當删。
  （完整文見圖三藍線）

竝 ＝ 並 [ ㄅ〡ㄥˋ | bìng ]

意思是：《集韻》在引用《說文解字》的「从子無臂象形」時，沒有包括「象」這個字。
也就是：「从子，無臂形」。
而王筠認為應該連「形」字都不取。
亦即：「从子，無臂」。
It means that when 《集韻》 quoted 从子無臂象形 from 《說文解字》, 象 was excluded.
That is 从子，無臂形.
王筠 thought that 形 should be removed too.
That is 从子，無臂.

註：《集韻》是北宋時，仁宗命丁度等人編寫的官方韻書。
Note: 《集韻》 was an official rhyme book compiled by 丁度 and others under the 仁宗's order during the Northern Song Dynasty.

朱駿聲的《說文通訓定聲》也沒有包括「象」字。
朱駿聲 also excluded 象 in his 《說文通訓定聲》.

圖二

為什麼有這麼多的學者專家都删掉「象（形）」字？
Why did such many experts and scholars delete 象（形）?

大概只有一個解釋，就是他們不認為「了」是象形字。
The only explanation might be that they did not consider 了 as a pictograph.

那是哪一種字？  What category does it belong to?

再看《說文句讀》後文。
Let's look at the subsequent contents in the 《說文句讀》.

圖三

  《後漢書˙孔融傳》曰：「小而了了」，則「了」字屬事，不屬物，安得有形可象？許說「了，尦」，亦是事也。

尦 [ ㄌㄧㄠˋ | liào ]

意思是：「了了」是指很聰明這件事，不屬於物體，根本沒有形體可以描繪。
許慎所說的「了，尦也」，也是指小腿交叉這件事。
It means that 了了 refers to "very clever", which is not an object, so there is not a physical shape to depict at all.
了，尦也 mentioned by 許慎 also refers to the thing or affair of crossing the shanks.

再看《說文通訓定聲》後文。
Let's look at the 《說文通訓定聲》 again.

圖四

  手之攣，曰「了」，脛之縶，曰「尦」。从子無臂，指事。
  （轉注）凡物結糾紾縳不伸者，曰「了戾」。
  （叚借）為憭。

攣 [ ㄌㄨㄢˊ | luán ]
縶 [ ㄓˊ | zhí ]
紾 [ ㄓㄣˇ | zhěn ]
縳 [ ㄓㄨㄢˋ | zhuàn ]
叚 [ ㄐ〡ㄚˇ ｜ jiă ] ＝ 假
憭 [ ㄌ〡ㄠˇ | liăo ] ＝ 瞭
縛 [ ㄈㄨˊ | fú ] 大陸可能讀四聲

束縛手臂稱為「了」，束縛小腿稱為「尦」。
「了」是從「子無臂」而來，屬指事字。
又被轉用來解釋物體糾結不直的樣子，稱為「了戾」。
也被「瞭」借用為「明白」的意思。
To bind arms is called 了. To bind shanks is called 尦.
了 is derived from 子 by removing the left-right stroke, and is one of the simple indicatives (ideograms).
了 is also transfered to explain the twined and bound appearance of an object, said 了戾.
In addition, 了 is borrowed by 瞭 that means "to understand" or "clear".

《說文解字詁林》也收集了饒炯的《說文解字部首訂》。
《說文解字詁林》 also collected 饒炯's 《說文解字部首訂》。

圖五

  指事......
  以尦說了，蓋因類爲釋。......是以，朱駿聲說：「手之攣，曰『了』，足之縶，曰『尦』；从子無臂，指事」，是也。
  若从段玉裁說「象其足了戾之形」，其事屬足，而篆省反在手，何能見其爲足之了戾乎？

此文就說得很明顯了，一開始就直接定義是指事字。
The statement is very clear, which directly defines 了 as one of the indicatives at the beginning.

用「尦」來解釋「了」，是用類似的形狀來解釋。
所以，朱駿聲會有如此說法，是這個緣故。
To explain 了 with 尦 is based on the similar shape.
Therefore, this is the reason 朱駿聲 explained it as above.

如果是依段玉裁的說法「象其足了戾之形」，這是在說足。
然而篆文省去的卻是手。
段玉裁怎能知道它是足之糾結呢？
If it is in accordance with 段玉裁's statement, 象其足了戾之形, this talks about the LEGS.
However, the ARMS are omitted in the seal character.
How could 段玉裁 know that it was the twined and bound appearance of the LEGS?

意思是說，如果是象形字而不是指事字，段玉裁不能用足之糾結來解釋臂之省略。
It means that if it is a pictograph rather than an indicative, 段玉裁 could not explain the omission of the ARMS with the bound appearance of the LEGS.

所以，這些學者認為「了」應該是指事字。
Therefore, these scholars believed that 了 should be one of the indicatives.


In Taiwanese, what can the erhwa be replaced with when it means something? For example, in Chinese, the erhwa changes a verb into a noun : 吃儿 (something to eat), 喝儿 (something to drink).

In Taiwanese, except for disyllabic words like 饮食 and 食物, how can I express something to eat maintaining the word 吃? Maybe 吃物?

In my experience 儿 doesn't really perform the role you mention about changing a verb into a noun, it just reinforces that something is a noun when it's ambiguous. For example 画 is 'to paint' or a painting, so if you mean a painting you say 画儿 to be clear you don't mean 'to paint'. But 吃 doesn't mean food, it means 'to eat', so 吃儿 doesn't need to exist to distinguish the two.

In Beijing I've found that most of the words with extra 儿's at the end are nouns that sound like other words. Adding the 儿 reduces the ambiguity when speaking by reducing the entropy of the language. That being said, there are lots of exceptions, 玩儿， 那儿， 这儿 etc.


How do you say "I'll be a little late"? I've learned that 来不及 means that I can't make something at a specific time. I've most often seen it used in the sense that "I can't make the appointment at all". How do you indicate to someone that you won't be able to make the appointment at the prescribed time, but you still want to meet and will be just a little later?

My best guess would be: "我晚一点到吧。"

There are many ways you can say this. Some examples:

我会迟到一点
我要来得晚些
我会晚来一会儿
我会晚一点到达

You can also say it your way. It is not really necessarily, but I would add 要 or 会. I also wouldn't use the 吧 in this sentence. So something like

我要晚一点到
我会晚一点到


How did 綿蠻 come to mean "(the chirping of) a small bird"? This word exists in Japanese as well as 綿蛮, but as far as I can tell the compound just carries the meaning of "cotton barbarian". I am completely stumped as to how this in any way means "a small bird" or "chirping". Does anyone know what's going on?

From Shijing:

  《詩・小雅・綿蠻》

  綿蠻黃鳥，止於丘阿。道之雲遠，我勞如何。飲之食之，教之誨之。命彼後車，謂之載之。

  綿蠻黃鳥，止於丘隅。豈敢憚行，畏不能趨。飲之食之，教之誨之。命彼後車，謂之載之。

  綿蠻黃鳥，止於丘側。豈敢憚行，畏不能極。飲之食之，教之誨之。命彼後車，謂之載之。

Firstly, some conceptual advice on interpreting characters: Please keep in mind that characters are not words; they only represent words. Character phonology is very important when interpreting pre-Qin texts, of which the Shijing is one.

You should always be mindful that a character has both meaning and sound, and sometimes, characters are only used for sound.

  If you're a Japanese learner, you should be aware of ateji, which is based on the same principle.

Character definitions

  《說文》：“緜（綿），聯微也。从糸，从帛。”

「綿」(Zhengzhang OC: /*men/, thin, fine threads) is comprised of semantic「糸」(silk threads) and semantic「帛」(silk/fabric).

  《說文》：“蠻，南蠻，蛇穜。从虫，䜌聲。”

「蠻」(/*mroːn/, Southern ethnic tribes) is comprised of semantic「虫」(poisonous snake, now written「虺」, the cultural symbol of some ancient Southeastern Tribes) and phonetic「䜌」(/*b·roːn/).「閩」( /*mrɯn/, /*mɯn/, Min ethnicity), with the same semantic「虫」, is almost certainly cognate to「蠻」.

Stringing the above together,  you get a reading which is approximately /*men mroːn/, where「蠻」is almost definitely only used to represent sound.

How did 綿蠻 /*men mroːn/ come to mean “(the chirping of) a small bird”?

Two interpretations, which may be related to each other:

綿蠻 (/*men mroːn/) is short for 綿綿蠻蠻, where

綿綿 means fine, delicate.

  《淮南子・繆稱訓》：“福之萌也綿綿，禍之生也分分，福禍之始萌微，故民嫚之。”

蠻蠻 (/*mroːn mroːn/) is the topolectical name of a bird.

  《山海經・西次三經》之首，曰崇吾之山，在河之南，北望冡遂，南望䍃之澤，西望帝之搏、獸之丘，東望䗡淵。有木焉，員葉而白柎，赤華而黑理，其實如枳，食之宜子孫。有獸焉，其狀如禺而文臂，豹虎而善投，名曰舉父。有鳥焉，其狀如鳧，而一翼一目，相得乃飛，名曰蠻蠻，見則天下大水。

Together, this forms delicate > small + bird, i.e. small bird, extended to mean chirps of a small bird.
綿蠻 (/*men mroːn/) is a phonologically-shifted reduplication of「微」(微微, /*mɯl mɯl/).「微」means tiny, slight.

  王國維《觀堂集林・爾雅草木蟲魚鳥獸名釋例下》：“蟲之小者曰蠛蠓 (/*meːd  moːŋ|moːŋʔ/)，鳥之小者亦曰綿蠻，殆皆微字之音轉。”

  Small insects are called 蠛蠓 (/*meːd  moːŋ|moːŋʔ/), small birds are called 綿蠻 (/*men mroːn/), they are both phonological shifts from「微」(/*mɯl/).

Contextually, the reduplicated word meaning small was only used to describe birds, hence it became associated with birds to get small birds > chirping of small birds.

References:

《王力古漢語字典》
《漢語大詞典》


What's the word for 'human quality'? For example when someone jumps the queue, I might tell them they lack good manners / human quality, what's the word in Chinese (Mandarin)?

You could try:

你没有礼貌！

...in a nice way of course


How are the terms for "male/female" and "man/woman" divided exactly? I know that daughter in Chinese is 女儿, and son is 儿子. A little side-question: Why isn't "son" 男儿?

My main question is this one though: apart from son and daughter stated above, what are the corresponding words (specifically or in common, please make sure to explain this) for these terms? And are there rules worth to be mentioned about their use?

Man;
Woman;
Male;
Female;

It's hard for average Chinese to answer the etymology of the words, I think. Why isn't "son" 男儿? For me, I would say because "男儿" has another meaning in both classic and modern Chinese.

男儿 young man,  vital man.
男儿何不带吴钩，收取关山五十州. By the poet 李贺 in 唐 Dynasty
nán ér hé bù dài wú gōu ,shōu qŭ guān shān wŭ shí zhōu.
As a man, why not I take the sharp swords to retrieve the lost lands?

In classic Chinese,

子 infant, child
儿 teenager, son
女 daughter, female(gender)

In modern chinese(actually, in vernacular Chinese from 宋 dynasty), 子 and 儿 are common suffix words. I believe this is how 女儿 and 儿子 evovle.


Is there a difference between 一共 and 总共? Is there a difference between the use of these two? In my book, a sentence says '木屋里总共只有两个房间和一张床' - could you say 一共 here instead of 总共?

could you say 一共 here instead of 总共?

Edit:
Yes you can, '总共两个房间和一张床' means "two rooms and one bed in total" room and bed are grouped as features in the house, therefore '一共两个房间和一张床' (altogether) is also correct"
However, it would be weird to say "一共一张床" because "一共" should apply to more than one item (which you add them up together)

总共 = in total
"我们这里总共有十个房间" = "we have ten rooms here in total"
"我们总共十个人" = "we have ten people in total"

~

一共 = altogether
"我们这里一共有十个房间" = "we have ten rooms here altogether "
"我们一共十个人" = "we have ten people altogether "

The only difference between 总共 and 一共 is 总共 can be used to describe a single item but 一共 cannot. We say "总共只有一人" , but not "一共只有一人"
Notice: you can say "一共一元" because a dollar is one hundred cents add up together.
"一共一元" means "合共一元" ($1 altogether)


What does 套 mean in ...绝对没有一个规则套在这里...? This is 俞敏洪 speaking:

  这个问题两说，我建议想清楚了一件事情以后再去做，只要想清楚了，你就要不断往前， 只要资源允许，时间，能力没问题，你都要坚持去做。 这就和战争一样总是要看到当时当地的情况才能下决定，绝对没有一个规则套在这里，大家以后就不用去思考。

绝对没有一个规则[套]在这里
(there is) absolutely no rule/principle [hidden] in this,
(there is) absolutely no rule/principle [one can follow] here,
(there is) absolutely no rule/principle [applicable] here,

I know of：
套用规则：apply a rule
自动套用：auto format

What does this 套 mean here?

My understanding is that 套 is short for 套用 here, meaning "apply mechanically".

Basically, the author conveys there isn't such a rule/principle that could work for all the circumstances, so that we don't have to worry once applying it.

With that in mind, I gather you should be able to wording it much better than I do as an English native.

This is my shot:
(there is) absolutely no rule/principle fixing(or being applied) here, so we don't have to worry about it any more.

On top of that, if the sentence is written as 绝对没有一个规则被套用在这里, would it be more understandable to you? In fact, it's a passive voice sentence with some omissions.


Was there ever any mixing up of 阙 and 缺 for the meaning of 'lack' or 'short of'? 阙 in 现代汉语大词典 says

quē
[....]
4 缺乏；稀少。

with the excerpt:

鲁迅《狂人日记》
分隔多年, 消息渐阙。

Which seems strikingly similar to the pronunciation and meaning of:
缺:

quē
[....]
3 短少。
鲁迅《牺牲谟》
现在什么‘欧化’‘美化’的邪说横行, 人们的眼睛只看见物质, 所缺的就是你老兄似的模范人物。

The two characters pronunciation in Cantonese seem to be the same (kyut3) and Middle Chinese reconstructed pronunciations also seem to be the same (khwet).
Is it possible that there was ever any sort of mixing up of 阙 and 缺 for the meaning of 'lack' or 'short of'?

They were definitely context-dependent variant representations of a single word and interchangeable to a large degree. According to various dictionaries that Pleco references in its entry to「闕」:

Pleco Chinese-English (PLC): Variant of 缺
CC-CEDICT (CC): Used in place of 缺 (old)
Cross-Straits (LAC): 脫漏。通「缺」。
MOEDict (MOE): 脫漏的。闕字有二音，音ㄑㄩㄝ時義同「缺」。但使用習慣上仍見分別，如「拾遺補闕」、「疑闕」、「闕文」專詞多作「闕」，少用「缺」。

The last definition describes the modern usage differences between the two.

Note that to lack is unlikely to be the original meaning of either「闕」or「缺」:

闕, 門觀也。从門，欮聲。〔去月切〕(Basically,「闕」is a watchtower on a city wall; this is the Shuowen definition and AFAIK there's no evidence contradicting this.)
「缺」：從「缶」，「夬」聲。本義是器物破損。〔傾雪切〕

To lack could be interpreted as an extension of the original meaning of「缺」, and sometimes authors used「闕」for this meaning instead as a phonetic loan. Later on, the usage of「闕」and「缺」somewhat became differentiated.


Is there a tone sandhi rule that "4 3" changes to "4 0"? This is a followup to my earlier question about the tones in the word "豆腐":

On their own "豆" and "腐" have the tones 4 and 3: dòu, fǔ

As a two-syllable / two-character word, "豆腐" has tone 4 but "fu" has tone 0 / tone 5 / neutral tone: dòufu. At least according to the English Wiktionary and Google Translate.

Is this a normal tone sandhi rule that fourth tone followed by third tone becomes fourth tone followed by neutral tone?

Simply put, there are no tone sandhi rules for when words change from their citation tone to the neutral tone. The appearance of the neutral tone is morphologically motivated, not phonologically motivated — in other words, the tone change is not governed by the sounds of the surrounding words. Because the definition of sandhi is phonologically-motivated sound changes, the appearance of the neutral tone is not tone sandhi.

Certain words simply have the neutral tone because that is how their speakers have become used to saying them; for instance, many words that are pronounced with the neutral tone in Mandarin as spoken on the Mainland are not pronounced with the neutral tone in Mandarin as spoken in Taiwan. One example is 东西, which is typically pronounced as dōngxī in Taiwain rather than dōngxi. The phenomenon and its unpredictability is similar to the appearance of erhua (儿化) in Mandarin.


Understanding 了: difference between 她上个月去了北京 and 上个月我去台湾了? This grammar page tries to explain when to use 了 after a verb and when to use 了 after an object.

It claims when the time is specified, it's acceptable to use 了 after a verb and before the object as in 她上个月去了北京.

However, it provides another example where the time is specified yet 了 comes after the object (上个月我去台湾了).

When the time is specified, where does 了 go? After the verb or after the object?
How does the different 了 placement change the meaning/correctness of these two examples: (a) 上个月我去台湾了 and (b) 她上个月去了北京.

了 indicates 'completion of an action'

In "上个月我去了台湾" the action of "去" is completed, meaning you had gone there but it doesn't say you are still there or have already came back

In "上个月我去台湾了",  '了' is a final particle for the emphasis (stress in tone) of the whole sentence

You can see the different by compare the two structure with other context:

"下个月我去了台湾" is nonsensical, you can't already gone there when you say 'next month'
'了' in "下个月我去台湾了"  is a final particle for emphasis, and this sentence does make sense


Chinese names for Lunar Features? Are there names in Chinese for craters and other features on the Moon? Or are English/International names used instead?

If you are talking about the name of the craters on the moon, I would say international names are used, just like the naming of the stars.
By the way, some craters are named after Chinese people, like 万户撞击坑 and so on.
If you are talking about the features in general, we do have names for them

陨石坑 - crater
月海 - lunar mare
月相 - lunar phase


Translations: 'Crack' as in 'Crack Knuckles' How to translate 'crack'?

As in:

To crack ones knuckles?

To crack ones fingers?

and other joints/bones/etc?

(Supposedly in 四川话 it's 'pi' - I don't know the character, hopefully @Huang can let us know).

This depends on the method used to generate the sound. The actual "cracking" is not generally mentioned when speaking about this phenomena in Chinese. Instead, the act that you perform to get the sound is the focus of the phrase.

For example, "cracking your knuckles" would become something like "squeezing your fingers", which is "捏手指", 捏 being "to pinch". As a direct translation, "pinch" doesn't make much sense in English, but just imagine the action of squeezing when pinching two pieces of skin together.

Chinese people don't always use this method of cracking fingers, however. Many people choose, instead, to twist their their individual fingers one by one. This has a different term: "掰手指", "掰" being something like "to twist".


How to say "here you go" when giving a gift? I believe you can informally say "gěi" when handing something over like the soy sauce during dinner, right?

But what can you say when you give a gift? Like "Here you go" instead of just "Here". Or maybe "This is for you". Something simple and short, please. :)

When you are handing over a gift:

送给你。("A gift for you."), or
给你。 ("For you."), or
这是给你的。("This is for you.")

You can expand it, like:

这是给你的...。 ("This is a/some ... for you."), or
这本书是送给你的。("This book is a gift for you.")

Don't forget that in some cases, you have to use 您 instead of 你.

You can make it more polite by saying: 请收下 ("Please accept it.") or if you are accepting a gift and your partner makes some polite comment about the gift and/or the occasion you can say: "谢谢，我收下了。" ("Thank you, I accept it.")


What does 降维攻击 mean? The idiom 降维攻击 is quite popular in Chinese chatting rooms.
Interestingly, it's used almost in any context. What's the origin and meaning of it?

降维攻击 or 降维打击 is from 刘慈欣 (Liu Cixin)'s famous sci-fi novel 三体 (The Three-Body Problem).
It means that an advanced civilization uses a dimension reduction weapon 二向箔 to destroy a low-grade civilization by crushing their stellar system into a 2D plane.
If someone is not familiar with young netizen's culture or fashion, he won't know this idiom.
As you mentioned, this so called idiom can derive to any meaning and apply to any context, it doesn't need to express an exact meaning. Instead, it can express any relative meaning depending on its context. If we talk about this idiom, we should first talk about not only its context, but also its users.


How to translate "thread" to Chinese？ I found this word in Github guide, and I don't know how to translate it to Chinese.It is used in this context:

  Muted threads won’t show up as unread again until you are specifically @mentioned again. This makes muting a great strategy for threads that you have little interest in (perhaps a sub-system that you aren’t familiar with). If you mark an issue as read, it will stay that way until someone comments on the thread again.

楼主： OP

沙发: first answerer

二楼: second answerer

三楼: third answerer

在这个部分,我们邀请每个人用英语来回答和沟通. Here we have ‘thread' as 部分


whole text translation and grammar point of 的and给 i need a simple translation and a couple of questions

1.小白兔回到家里，种上了菜籽
兔给白菜浇水
please translate the whole text and please tell me what does 给 in the second line above mean and what exactly 种上了 mean

2.兔把山羊送的白菜拿回家里
translate above please and what does 拿 and 的 in the above mean

3.他天天不干活儿，饿了就吃山羊送的白菜，白菜很快就吃完了
simple clear translation please
thanks

The 1st sentence really looks like consisting of 3 parts.

小白兔回到家里，The white bunny returned home,
种上了菜籽 grew vegetables
兔给白菜浇水 The bunny watered the plants.

给 in itself means to give, but in many cases, just as here, it is used as a "preposition" that marks the benefited person of an action. E.g.

我给你看看。 I show you/I let you have a look. ("I give you a look. ")
我给你带来了一本书。I brought you a book. ("I brought a book to give it to you.")

2nd sentence:

兔把山羊送的白菜拿回家里。To understand this sentence, you need to take it apart.

山羊送的白菜 means the cabbage that is/was presented by the goat as a present. It is a structure that has 4 parts:

(1) 山羊 the goat
(2) 送 to give (as a present) or to send
(3) 的 attribute particle
(4) 白菜 cabbage

The whole structure is constructed like this: WHO + ACTION + PARTICLE + OBJECT (affected by the action). E.g. 姐姐买的茶 the tea that was bought by elder sister.

拿回 is another thing you need to learn, it is a verb with directional complement, it means take and return (home). A verb is essentially complemented by another verb to show the direction of the movement/action.

There is really no point learning these particles and complements the hard way. Get a grammar reference and work yourself through the examples and the drills. It is a lot easier than trying to translate some easy looking sentence with a dictionary. It is too confusing the way you are trying to do this.

3rd sentence:

他天天不干活儿，饿了就吃山羊送的白菜，白菜很快就吃完了。

He idled his days away, when he was hungry, he just dined on the cabbage given to him by the goat, and soon the cabbage was all eaten up.

There was a wrong character in the 3rd sentence, I suppose it is 饿 not 饯.


How to translate "连环夺宝", the name of a game from China LotSynergy? "连环夺宝" is a popular game operated by China Welfare Lottery.
It can be seen in this video: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjkyNDczNDI4.html .

I've heard it referred to as "Precious Stones" in English, but this doesn't seem correct.

Google Translate suggests "Indiana" for "夺宝", which I assume is via the movie Raiders Of The Lost Ark, and the concept is about hunting, or raiding, or acquisition?

"连环" presumably refers to sequences of symbols, or chains, or connections?

What would be an appropriate English translation of the game name?

"夺宝" should be translated separately.
"夺" means win / capture.
"宝" means treasure.
"连环" means again and again here. "连环" can also mean chain but not applicable here.
All together is "Win the treasure again and again".

Google translate suggests that "夺宝" = "Indiana" which is wrong.
I believe it's because "Indiana Jones" was translated into "夺宝奇兵" in China which the translated name is not a direct translation.


how to use 受欢迎 in the past tense? I'm a bit confused on how to use A受的欢迎  in the past tense.
Would you say
"可是这家餐厅已经受了所有外国人的欢迎。
or
这家餐厅已经收到了所有外国人的欢迎？

Thanks for any help in advance!

you can also use “从前”，“过去”，“曾经” to indicate the past time, but both imply that the current situation is opposite of the previous.

This restaurant used to be popular among foreigners(,but now is not that popular).

这家餐厅从前很受外国人的欢迎（，但现在已经不那么受欢迎了）。
这家餐厅过去很受外国人的欢迎（，但现在已经不那么受欢迎了）。
这家餐厅曾经很受外国人的欢迎（，但现在已经不那么受欢迎了）。

if you want to use "已经" to express "have been", you can say:

This restaurant has been (very) popular among foreigners.

这家餐厅已经很受外国人的欢迎了。


What is the difference between 讲课 and 演讲? What is the difference? 演讲, according to my dictionary, is either a speech (in general, like a politician would give) or a lecture (at a university or so), while 讲课 is just the lecture, as in a lesson. Is that the correct way to distinguish the two?

讲课

is strictly a verb meaning:

  to teach/to give lessons (in ....)

演讲

can be a noun meaning

  speech

or a verb meaning

  to give a speech

Both could be translated as: lecture, if you wanted.

The biggest difference is the 课 in 讲课 - meaning class or course.


Would it be appropriate to translate a Chinese New Year Greeting(s) In Taiwan, on January 1st, for every new year, at Taipei 101 or Kaohsiung Dream Mall they often have singers and other popular actor/actress say new year greetings.

Why are New year greetings are never translated (both creatively and literally). Here is an example of nba player Jeremy Lin in the New Years commercial using the phrase 猴年賀歲. Is it cultural? or are some things just better left untranslated since it is just a "greeting" and can be expressed with Happy New Years or  Happy Year of the Monkey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LEJKHc-f3c

Why translate? It's a Chinese new year. Leaving it untranslated adds the Chinese "taste" of this event.
However, translating this is not inappropriate. It depends on the choice of the event host.


What is the status of 什么来的 and 什么来着 in standard and colloquial Mandarin Chinese? When I first moved to the south of China, I was surprised to hear the phrase "什么来的" used to mean "what," as in

  　这是什么来的？: "What is this?"

As far as I could tell, in many cases there was no question of motion or origin. (I.e., the question was not "where did this come from?"). The "来的" had been completely grammaticalized and did not carry its original meaning. At the time, I (probably wrongly) assumed that this was due to the influence of the Cantonese construction "係乜嘢嚟嘅" ("what is it?").

Fast forward several years, when I was speaking to a friend from the North who is studying to get his degree in teaching Chinese as a foreign language. He said that the phrase "什么来的" does not exist, and that the correct phrase is "什么来着." He even intimated that I may have been mishearing 来着 as 来的 all this time.

Nevertheless, a Google search gives ample evidence for both phrases, and even seems to indicate that 来的 is more prevalent!

So, my questions: (and here I'm looking especially for responses from native speakers)

Do you personally say "什么来的"? "什么来着"? Both? Neither?
Which of these phrases strikes you as more standard? Does either one evoke Chinese spoken in a particular region?
If you use both phrases (or have heard both phrases used), do you maintain a distinction in meaning between the two?
Are there analogous phrases in your native dialect? Do those phrases influence your usage in Mandarin?

I agree with your friend. I think the correct version is "什么来着". You can find the word"来着",but you can't find the word"来的“ in the dictionary.
I think it's popular in northern area(such as 北京，天津，河北，辽宁). I have heard of "什么来着" on the TV and I can understand it, though I have never used "什么来着", either in mandarin or in my dialect.
(Not applicable)
Of course the dialect will influce the way you speak mandarin Chinese, both in pronunciation and words. Examples from one of my roommates when I was in the university, he came from 浙江 province(in south China), and his mother tongue is a subclass of 吴 dialect.He likes to use words below and confused me at the first time when I met him, though he speaks in mandarin(not very standard).

  纸头 paper  In mandarin, we use 纸 or 纸张
  烧饭 to cook In mandarin, we use 做饭
  A structure "不要太[an adj]". He means "very, quite [adj]", but in mandarin, it means "don't be so [adj]".

At last, I want to make a clarification that, when I searched "什么来着" as keyword with Google, on the first page, I saw 10 results, each of which contains the complete "什么来着";however,when I searched "什么来的”, I saw 11 results on the first page, only 4 of which contains the complete "什么来的“. Also, you could see "什么来的" as in "他是冲什么来的？(what does he come for?)”,but that's another story.


Which translation is best for 'quid pro quo'? There should always be a quid pro quo.
总是应该有个？？？（条件：Maybe I need 条件： condition）

quid pro quo: 抵偿物； 补偿物； 相等物； 代用品; 对价

"quid pro quo " means "a favor or advantage granted or expected in return of something". A literal translation would be 对等交换 (equal exchange)

There are some Chinese idioms similar to it

有來有往 (things go both way)

投桃报李 (repay favor with favor)

礼尚往来 (repay in kind)

  There should always be a quid pro quo. 总是应该有个 ? ? ?

总是应该有个"对等交换" (literal)

总是应该有个"礼尚往来" (idiomatic)


What is the best Chinese equivalent for "passion" or "to be passionate about something"? In English, it is common to say you are "passionate about something" or "something is your passion" (e.g. My passion is rockclimbing).

This use of 'passion' is different to 'passion' as in relationships/emotions etc.

What Chinese expression would be suitable to indicate 'passion' in the sense of "My passion is rockclimbing"?

In your case, passion could be translated into "热情"(zeal),"激情"(deep love), or "爱好"(hobby). Note that "激情" could also mean "passion" as in romantic relationships.

I would like to describe the pattern for this word. In general, you would say "对X的热情/激情/爱好" to mean "passion for X".

And for your example "My passion is rockclimbing", you could say "我的爱好是攀岩", or “我对攀岩富有热情/激情", but I would like to express it in a simple way,

  我酷爱攀岩。

"酷爱" means "to love something deep" as a verb here.


How can I find where a dialect word come from? I often come across words like this in a dictionary:

  肚皮 <方> 腹部; 肚子 (dù·zi)。

I would like to know if there's a way (a website or a dictionary or whatever other way instead of asking someone) where I can search what 方言 the word came from and what is its relevance to putonghua (if it's used at all and its acceptance, etc).

There ARE dialect dictionaries available in this country, for example:
现代汉语方言大词典
But it includes 41(!) volumes and may cost you more than $300.


What is the difference between 小路，小道？I normally use 小路, as in 从小路走。 I hear them a lot in conversational Chinese, but I can't pick out the difference in meaning.
What does “小径” mean used in the sentence below ? Why is it used?
从这条小径走过去。

小路 is a narrow alley or footpath off the main streets. It is usually located in a congested urban area. (崎嶇小路)
小道 and 小径 both are narrow pathways in the wild. 小径 was the product of people's foot traffics in an undeveloped area. At the ancient time in the grassy wild, people had to follow and walk over the footprints left by the people before him to maintain direction to the destination. Or, in a remote rural area, a 小径 was formed by farmers walking through it daily from home to the farmland, and to the adjacent neighbors, stores, etc. 小径 is usually not wide enough for mobile traffic. (羊腸小径)
小道 can be a widened 小径 between villages in the rural areas, or a pathway constructed purposely for the commercial and military uses. For the latter, it was usually located in the wooded mountain terrain, and/or along the edge of rough/rugged maintains adjacent to the cliff. In general, 小道 is wider and longer than 小径 and is characterized with difficulty and danger in both construction and use. (截道)
Finally, I shall address that, modern speaking usually does not distinguish the difference between 小路 and 小道, they are interchangeable. However, 小径 shall be reserved for the rural or urban narrow pathways that allow for foot traffic only.


Which regions use 计算机 for computer? Where is 计算机 used for "computer", and where does it mean "calculator". In regions where it means "calculator" what is the word for "supercomputer" (assuming that 超级计算机 is not used there)?

计算机 is often used for computer in written language in mainland China. And 电脑 usually means Desktop computer in oral language.
Calculator is 计算器 not 计算机 just as @StarCub said.
And for laptop, it's 手提电脑, 笔记本电脑, or just called 笔记本(not the notebook here).
Usually, 超级计算机 is used for supercomputer. But generally speaking, supercomputer often has its own name, just like 天河一号(Thiahe-1A).


I looked for it “until” I found it How do I say “I looked for it until I found it“ or “I looked for (something) until I found it” what is the word that i use for “until”?

Ok, I believe these are the colloquial expressions that you are looking for:

我找了一找才找到。
我找了半天才找到。
我找了好久才找到。

The key word is 才, which is the closest to the English words "until" / "till".

No. 1 is perhaps the best match. "找了一找" simply means "looked for" or "searched", without any indication of time frame.


Do 饶舌 and 说唱 mean the same thing in Chinese? Google translate gives "Rap" for "饶舌" and "说唱" for "Rap"
Do 饶舌 and 说唱 mean the same thing in Chinese?
Is it about spoken vs. written?

饶舌 and 说唱 do have the same meaning in Chinese when you are talking about music.
Taiwan hiphop singers translate rap to 饶舌.
Mainland ones translate rap to 说唱.
As an example:

mc_hotdog (from Taiwan) uses 饶舌 to refer to rap in his lyrics.

kindergarten killer（from the mainland）uses 说唱 to refer to rap in his lyrics.

The relation between 饶舌（Taiwan) and 说唱（Mainland）is just like the one between graduate (U.S.) and postgraduate (U.K.).
But when you are not just talking about music, 饶舌 have a wider definition, just as Raynoceros said.


Is 受得了 the Mandarin equivalent of 頂得住 in Cantonese? Is 受得了 the Mandarin equivalent of 頂得住 (cannot stand this) in Cantonese?

If not, what is?

They are similar in meaning of withstanding the suffering.

The difference is, 受得了 can be referring more to long term withstanding of suffering, while 顶得住 is more referring to short term, very high intense withstanding of suffering.

Also, 受得了 is more passive while 顶得住 is more initiative.


A unified theory of 就 meaning 就 always bothered me. I couldn't (and maybe still can't) get a hold of its meaning.
By looking at many examples of the usage I came to realization that 就 marks a process of becoming a subject to or beaing subjected to someone, something, some situatuion
Words:

就你 - (I'm) a subject to your wishes. (As you wish!)
就學 - To be a subject to a learning. (Go to school)
就伴 - to become a subject of a companion. (Act as a companion).
就范 - to be subjected to a molding, forming. (To yield, to give in).
就木 - to be subject of wooden cascket (to die).
就算 - to be subjected to a calculation (Suppose ...)
就是 - to be a subject of truth\reality (Indeed ...)
就诊,就医 - to be subjected to a medical examination (to see a doctor)
就餐 - to be a subject of food eating process. (to dine, to eat)
就位 - to be subjected to a place (to take a place)
就义 - to be subjected to a fair split (义 depiction of a splitting of
a goat). (to die as a martyr)
就擒 - to be a subject of a capturing.
就近 - to be a subject of proximity. (to use the situation of being
in close to somethig to your advantage)
就歼 - to be a subject of annihilation. (be annihilated)
就着菜吃飯  - to be a subject to a flavoring. (to flavor, add somethign
to food)
就事论事 - facts(事) are subjects(就) or this discussion(论事) or "Subject is 事 and we discuss (only) 事."
就可 - a subject to possibility (will be able to)
就能 - a subject to ability (will be able to)
就会 - a subject to ability (will)
就正  -to be subjected to a correction (ask for correction, to take a right path, ask for right guidance, to correct)

then-constructions:

Verb+了, 就+Verb. 吃完了午飯就走. - When eating have taken it's place, to be subjected to leaving.

若不快去, 就趕不上了 - If we don't hurry then we a subjects to lateness. :)

About/considering-constructions:

就这个问题,我们再来谈谈 can be understood as "Regarding to this problem, let's talk about it again". Here again 就 marks 这个问题 as a slave/subject of the main sentence part 我们再来谈谈.

slave to X constructions:
User "Atmega 328" provides example of 就你 usage。There are 2 totally different meanings to this simple sentence.

A)I will do anything to suit your need; (比例： 妹说：哥哥，我要。 哥说：好的，就你。)

B)In a negative way, questioning your ability. (比例：
哥说：我是最好学生。妹说：就你？)

emphasis-function:
Here 就 acts as a passive marker (close to subject marker). Example is provided by user "ltux".

就他一个人知道这事 vs 他一个人知道这事

Proper translation in the light of my model would be something like this:

"He is being the only person to know it." vs simple statement: "he
is the only person to know it."
Here we can see that a stressing of the fact that 他 is "a subject to being the one".

a measure word:
By the way 就 can serve as a measure word for wrappings of a coil or a thread: 繁纓七就. Can any one explain why? Is this function a new construction or an ancient one?
marking something as a subject of actions:"
在深夜发出的电邮里，奥巴马总统或许会,就他阅读的备忘录, 提出措辞尖锐的问题
Obama's night-time emails with questions, subject to what he read before, are sharp and super smart.
etymology:
Now that's a question! Why the hell "tall building + very" became "to become a subject"?! One guy said: 请教：三窟已就的“窟”是高层建筑？是不是和莫高窟一样的. So I've looked at the 莫高窟. Well, it looks like this:

and this really looks like an ancient way of writing 就:

according to humanum. Why this super tall building means to become a subject? Maybe this meaning comes from being a "subject to God"?
Any info about the subject :) will be appreciated. I would also love to hear natives opinion on my idea.
P.S. 就就 meaning remains a riddle for me. Can any one explain why this thing means what it means?

reference: 现代汉语词典，第6版 (Contemporary Chinese Dictionary, 6th Edition).

This dictionary gives 8 basic meaning items for 就.

approach, get close to
get to, begin to do
passive, -ed by
finish, become
eat something (side dish) together with other thing (main course)
[preposition] a: by, at somebody's convenience, take advantage of. b: about, concerning, with regard to
[adverb] 8 sub items listed, about time or for emphesis
[conjugation] represent assumed concession, even if

Figure. meaning of 就 in 现代汉语词典, 第6版, page 697

Besides the meaning items of the character itself, the dictionary also listed 32 words beginning with 就. I didn't list all of them.

Figure. meaning of some words beginning with 就 in 现代汉语词典, 第6版, page 697

Based on my own interpretation, I can't find the very one base-meaning from which all other meanings derive. But it seems that compilers(and the sholars behind them) of Contemporary Chinese Dictionary, 6th Edition think all the modern meanings of 就 come from one common origin, though they didn't tell us what the one common origin is and how the other meanings derive from that origin. About this point, you can refer to @congliu's answer to 足: why is “foot” also “enough”? for detail. I copy a sentence from his answer: "Those whose form or pronunciation are the same but no relation between their meaning, basically will be in given different entries, with superscripts on their upper right corner. For example, '耳1' and '耳2', '安1', '安2' and '安3' ". This is a rule followed by all authoritative Chinese dictionary, including Contemporary Chinese Dictionary, 6th Edition of course. But as we have seen, all the 8 meaning items is listed under only one entry of 就, no superscrpts, no separate entries. So we can infer that the 8 meaning items are related and come from one common origin. Of course, there exist other possibilities. Maybe there are several distint roots of the meanings of 就 but the scholars haven't reached agreement on this topic now. No matter what the fact is, we can always make our own guess and try to find some formula for mnemonics.

In the following contents, whenever I mention the classification of or relation between the meaning items of 就, it's all based on my own interpretation and may be subjective.

Some of its 8 meaning items seem related to each other, some not. I'm inclined to classify item 1,2,4 to one univeral category, meaning approach / get to / become. Most of the 32 words begin with 就 can be classified into this catetory. When 就 is used to make up a word in which 就 is followed by a noun, you can usually reason that the meaning of 就 falls into this category. For example, 就位(take one's place)，就业(take up an occupation)，就寝(go to sleep)，就学(go to school)，就范(submit to control, give in)，就木(get to wooden cascket, to die)，就医(go see the doctor)，就餐(go to eat)，就义(get to righteousness, to die as martyr).

Item 3 seems unrelated to any other ones. If 就 is used to make up a word in which 就 is followed by a verb, then you can reason that 就 means passive. For example, 就歼(annihilated)，就擒(captured).

Item 5 seems unrelated to any other ones. (就着菜吃饭. Eat dinner together with vegetables.)

Item 6 seems unrelated to any other ones. (a: 就近 do something in the neighbourhood/without having to go far for convenience, 就便 at somebody's convenience/while you are at it. b: 就我所知 so far as I know.  就目前的情况看来 in the light of present situation)

Item 8 seems unrelated to any other ones. It says it's same with 就是(3). I'll talk about 就是 in more details later.

Item 7 contains 8 sub items.

Sub item a,b,c,d seems related to each other, all have the meaning about time/sequence.

a. in short time, at once, right away. (我就来. I will come right away)
b. things begin or end as early as, long since. (风早上就停了. The wind has already subsided in the morning.)
c. as soon as, right after, one thing happened immediately after another. (吃完了午饭就走. leave as soon as lunch is finished.)
d. something is the natural consequense of some condition. (若不快去, 就赶不上了. If you don't hurry up, you will be late. Be late is the natural consequence of not hurrying up)

Sub item e seems unrelated to the other ones.

e. used as comparision, meaning bigger/longer/more and so on. (他三天才来一次，你一天就来三次. He comes once every three days, you come three times in one day.)

Sub item f seems unrelated to the other ones.

f. 就 is put in between two identical component to represent "tolerate" or "don't care about something", X就X吧. (丢了就丢了吧，以后小心点. If it's lost, it's lost. Just be more careful from now on.[means you don't care about the fact that it's lost / though you are unhappy that it's lost, you finally decide to accept the fact and make do without it.]  大点就大点吧，买下算了. Though it's bigger (than the right size), I decide to buy it and make do with it. [You like the skirt's colour, its sytle, and so on. But its size is a little bigger. You hesitate for a while and decide to accept it. You say: "大点就大点吧，买下算了."])

Sub item g seems unrelated to the other ones.

g. only, just. (就他一个人知道这事 He is the only person who knows this / Only he himself knows this. 就三个人来开会 Only three people showed up to the meeting.)

Sub item h seems unrelated to the other ones.

h. for positive emphesis. (我就不信我学不会. I just refuse to believe that I can't grasp that.[means "I will work harder to grasp that"])

About 就是：
就是 as a word has three meaning items.

[auxiliary] used at the end of a sentence for affirmation. (我一定办到，你放心就是了. I will get it done, just trust me / rest your heart.)
[adverb] used alone to express agreement. (就是，就是，您的话很对. Yes, yes, what you said is right.)
[conjugation] even if. represent assumed concession, usually used together with 也. Example: 为了祖国，我可以献出一切，就是生命也不吝惜. For my country, I can sacrifice anything, even if it's my life, I will not stint on it.)

Figure. meaning of 就是 in 现代汉语词典, 第6版, page 698

Something more about 就是: in the phrase 就是他(Who broke the window? It is him! [pointing to him])， 就是 is not deemed to be a word, and can't be explained by any of the three meaning item of 就是. Instead, here 就，是，他 are three seperate word. 就 falls into meaning item 8 sub item h. That is, 就 means emphesis. We can just say "他!(Who broke the window? Him!)", or "是他(It's him!)", or "就是他(It is him!)". We can also say "就他!". In this case, it's legitimate to use 就他 in place of 就是他.

With regard to 就他(follow his wishes) and 就你(As you wish!), I guess 就 means 迁就(accommodate oneself to, yield to, give in to) here. But 迁就 is a word as a whole and can't be abbreviated to 就. I can't find any example using 就他 as "follow his wishes" or 就你 as "as you wish".

About 迁就: This word means accommodate oneself to, yield to, give in to. 迁 means move, 就 means approach (Item 1). A迁就B literally means "A moves himself to approach B (at B's convenience)", and extends to mean  "A accommodate himself to B" / "A yields to B".

About 就 in 繁纓七就:
繁纓七就 comes from Book of Rites(Simplified Chinese: 礼记. Traditional Chinese: 禮記), a collection of Chinese classic texts dating back to Zhou dynasty (1050–771 BC) in China. So obviously this meaning is an ancient one, and no longer used today, or it will be listed in Contemporary Chinese Dictionary, 6th Edition.

About 就就：I didn't find any other exmaple of 就就 meaning "intact,whole" outside of www.zdic.net, and zdic.net doesn't give any reference for this usage. Maybe it's from a certain dialect. I can find an exmaple of 就就 from Lüshi Chunqiu(吕氏春秋), 《吕氏春秋•下贤》：“确乎其节之不庳也，就就乎其不肯自是，鹄乎其羞用智虑也，假乎其轻俗诽誉也。” But here 就就 means "a look of hesitation".


How to ask in Chinese Mandarin: What do you want me to say? When someone tells me to say something and I don't know what to say, I want to ask that person "What do you want me to say?"
How can I ask that question in Chinese Mandarin? Below is what I come up with, not sure if they are correct.
你想我说什么？
or
是什么你想我说?

The first one sounds just fine. The "what" part is the object of the sentence. In forming a question in Chinese, the general position of the SVO doesn't change. The second one looks like using Chinese words to fit into an English word order.
Affirmative sentence: 你想我说 "XYZ" .
Question: 你想我说什么？ - Question word "什么" replaces "XYZ" .


What does 「產」 in 「資產」 actually mean? This question stems from some thoughts I've been having while reading Robert Kiyosaki's "Rich Dad Poor Dad".
In the book, Kiyosaki defines "asset" as something that puts money in your pocket. Many English speakers on the internet would point out that that definition is incompatible with accounting standards, where an "asset" is basically defined as "something you have, which can be liquidated if necessary". A little research suggests that the ultimate origin of the English word "asset" comes from Latin "ad satis", which roughly refers to the "thing" being used to satisfy settlement of debt.
On the Chinese (and Japanese) side, the usual translation for "asset" is 「資產」.
What I'm curious about is what the word actually means from the etymological point of view. Chinese being Chinese, each of the individual characters carries some meaning. 「資」can be a verb - "to finance"/"to fund" - and also a noun - "capital"; similarly, 「產」 can both be a verb - "to produce" - or a noun - "product" or "produce" (as in some wine being labelled "Produce of France"). Furthermore, when the characters are used in this composite way, it's not entirely clear whether the verb is meant to be active or passive.
I believe that 「資」 within the context of 「資產」 is pretty unambiguous. Whether I take it as the verb "to finance" or the noun "capital" doesn't really make a difference. After all, the purpose of "capital" is to finance something. And it makes no sense to think of 「資產」 as something that "is financed" (note the passive voice).
However, I find 「產」 to be problematic. I've tried looking up the character 「產」 in both 《現代漢語詞典》 and 《古漢語常用字字典》, the explanations in both dictionaries basically circle back to 「物產」, 「產品」, 「生產」, 「產業」, 「財產」, and 「出產」. So within the context of 「資產」, I could take 「產」 to mean either "something used to produce wealth" (because of 「產業」), or "the result of production" (because of 「出產」 and 「產品」). I believe that whether 「產」 takes one meaning or the other might make a cultural difference in the perception of "assets" by the Chinese people. If 「產」 means "something used to produce wealth", then it would really be like Kiyosaki says, "something that puts money in your pocket". It would be something to be valued and cherished, not something that one should easily handover "to satisfy the settlement of debt". On the other hand, if 「產」 is taken to mean the "result of production", then it would really be like a thing that has no other value than for settling debt.

When we say 個人資產 (personal assets) we are referring to all the money and property owned by a person, in other words, 'one's worth' or 'one's wealth'
資 - 資金 (capital)
產 - 產業 (estate; property) e.g. 房地產 (real estate)
資產 - asset (all the money and property owned by someone) including 可流動資金 (liquid funds) and  不動產 (immovable property)


phrase for "It happened just as you finished talking about it" I was pointing at a thundercloud and saying that lightning may strike, and my Chinese friend said a 4-syllable phrase that meant that it happened just as I finished talking about it.

Do you know this phrase?

In Cantonese, it is "話口未完" wa6 hau2 mei6 yun4.

In Mandarin, perhaps "話還沒說完”，hua4 hai2 mei2 shuo1 wan2, but then it is five syllable, not four.


At what rate can native speakers of Mandarin Chinese read? This study found that Chinese native speakers read aloud at an average rate of 255 characters per minute (CPM) with a standard deviation of 29 CPM. Presumably this rate is significantly slower than if the test participants read silently.

Are there any studies that had test participants read a text silently, and then tested their comprehension of that text to make sure they weren't just blindly skimming?

This study initially seemed promising, but they don't present enough data (specifically, the length of the texts used in characters) to calculate a reading rate in CPM. I have contacted the authors of this study, and will report back here if they reply.

300-500CPM. This data is from a Chinese search engine.


How can I translate "To all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting"? I'm attempting to translate a notarial certificate to Chinese, but it contains this curious sentence at the start:

To all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting

According to ELU, this is basically a fancy salutation, like "to whom it may concern", but because this is so formal, and possibly carrying legal weight, I'm reluctant to translate it simply. Is there a suitably proper Chinese translation of this phrase?
Just for fun, I tried Google and Baidu's machine translations, which were so hilarious I had to share:

Google: 要所有人都为之这些礼物要来，问候
Baidu: 给所有这些礼物的人，问候

This sentence construction has roots in Common Law, and indeed some care should be taken when translating it in full. For example, one of the answers in the ELU link notes that these presents is a legal term for "this document".

As for the phrase itself, Chinese Wikipedia has a handy footnote about the phrase:

  这两句都有两个to而且合乎文法，关系代名词whom前面写to是老式文法，现代英文关系代名词一般直接接在all后面，to移至动词come后方，“To all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting”即“To all whom these presents shall come to, Greeting”，come to意为‘涉及’，presents意为‘文件’，“To all whom these presents shall come to, Greeting”意为‘致本文件所涉及之诸位，各位好：’；‘致本文件相关各方，大家好：’

So you can translate using:

致本文件所涉及之诸位，各位好
or
致本文件相关各方，大家好


Is there a logical explanation why 非得不 and 非得 means must? I understand that 非 and 不 have negative meanings by themselves, and 得 means "must"
by itself. So with a double negative, which means affirmative positive. So far so good.

But 非得 by itself is also "must". Single negative. Also positive. Why?

非得 itself is always negative. The sentence contains only 非得 could be positive when there is a 2nd negative (most likely 不可) being omitted. This omission is common in colloquial language but not as common in written language or formal speeches.

Reference #1 below is a semantic analysis for the pattern 非..不可. It mentions the fact that 不可 can be omitted.

Reference #2 contains a lot of literature/publication citations where the 2nd negative of a double negative sentence is omitted.

In reference #3 the writer thinks the omission is grammatically wrong and is due to people not treating the language seriously.

References:

1. “非……不可”句式在对外汉语教学中的研究

2. 无可无不可的“不可”

3. 肯定、否定、否定之否定


list of Chinese language country name abbreviations In watching CCTV-4 news, I frequently see country names abbreviated but miss the leading character before I can look it up carefully (I know the major ones).  Is there a list anywhere  of those standard abbreviations (most of the form X国)?

I think this is a fairly exhaustive list of currently existing countries. This does not encompass unabbreviated country names that end with 国 (e.g., 孟加拉国):

Common

中国 (Zhōngguó) - P. R. China or R. O. China depending on context
法国 (Fǎguó) - France
德国 (Déguó) - Germany
泰国 (Tàiguó) - Thailand
英国 (Yīngguó) - England / UK
美国 (Měiguó) - USA
韩国 (Hánguó) - South Korea
俄国 (Éguó) - Russia
寮国 (Liáoguó) - Laos (chiefly Taiwan, the term is dated in mainland China. Use 老挝 (Lǎowō).)

Rare

奥国 (Àoguó) - Austria
葡国 (Púguó) - Portugal
墨国 (Mòguó) - Mexico
加国 (Jiāguó) - Canada


How is 之 used in these sentences? 不能实现梦想的人都有一个共通之处，那就是：想要一样东西，却怎么也不愿意为之付出

I do not understand the usage of 之 here. What does 之处 and 为之付出 mean? Thank you.

The former 之 is equivalent to 的, but more often used than 的 when followed by a single character that would otherwise be expressed in a two-character word. In this case, it is followed by 处, which means “place” 地方 and by extension “aspect” 特征. Thus, the first part of the sentence means word-by-word "People who cannot realize their dreams are the same in one aspect(characteristic)," or more in more appropriate English "Those who fail to realize their dreams have one thing in common,"

The latter 之 has a different meaning, as is common in classical Chinese (文言). It is the third person pronoun in the objective case, meaning that it should only be used in place of 他/她/它 when the thing in question is the object of the sentence, much like "him" instead of "he" in English. Therefore, 为之付出 means to "pay effort for it".

More examples of 之 as a third person objective pronoun

授之以渔 (classical) "Teach them with fishing" = "Teach them the art of fishing."
将之磨碎 “grind it into chunks/powder/etc", equivalent to 把它磨碎， note that 将 is always used instead of 把 before 之.
有过则改之 (proverb) "Have a fault, then change it" = "If you made a fault, mend it".
投我以桃，报之以李 (proverb) "Give me with peaches, return them with plums" = "They give me peaches, I return them the favor with plums."


translate "percent" in chinese 百分之 or 百分比? is there one by the two words above usually used for " percent " ?

or is it usual  to use any of them ?

wenlin software  gives 百分比 as percent.

mdbg dictionary on line gives 百分之   :-)

Matter of taste. You want prefix style, use 百分比, as in 五个百分比. Suffix style, use 百分之, as in 百分之五.

百分之 is a sentence pattern, and requires a number. 百分比 is a noun, and also means percentage on its own.


Standard tone for 面 (mian4 or mian5) when used in words like 后面, 前面, 对面? I noticed that CC-CEDICT uses a mixture. For example:

mian4: 前面, 对面, 里面
mian5: 后面, 上面, 下面, 外面

ABC is similar except:

mian4: 后面 (but also has mian5 as a less common pronunciation)
mian5: 前面

Is there any standard for these? Is it reasonable that the same dictionary would have a mixture like these do?

Baidu Dict has all 面 as 4th tone.

Sorry I can't tell the strict grammar rule (about the tone of 面 when used for the meaning of "side, aspect") as a native Chinese. I tried some research, but can't find any uniform and convincing explanation about it. So I tried to summarize it by myself as follows:

light tone only:

  上面, 下面

For 上面 and 下面, without special context, when pronounced with the 4th tone 面 tends to be considered as noodle.
4th tone only:

  对面

For 对面, 面 can't be pronounced with the light tone, it's just weird.
both light tone and 4th tone:

  前面, 后面, 里面, 外面, 左面, 右面

In these cases 面 is pronounced by light tone more commonly.


Whats the amount of money in 你明天带着两万两前去天琴城，买我赢得第一? 你明天带着两万两前去天琴城，买我赢得第一。

Google says 220,000 taels, but I’m not really sure. Could someone clarify?

it means 20000 两, the first 两 means 2, the second 两 is a unit.


Help with a better translation for 展示着它罕见和珍稀。 The subject is '滇南红河的哀牢山‘ terraced fields.
话题是哈尼梯田。

1300多年，山民们用汗水，用心血，用日复一日的辛勤劳动完成了山脉上的雕刻，任何困难也阻拦不了它们。这幅画卷以其宝贵的生态、文化和审美价值，展示着它罕见和珍稀。

罕见：rarely seen
珍稀：rare, precious

展示着它罕见和珍稀。
reveals its rareness and preciousness.
reveals its rare and precious nature.
shows its uniqueness.

reveal= 展露/显露 (展示 means 'display')

rareness= 罕有性 or 罕有 (罕见 means 'rarely seen')

preciousness= 珍贵性 or 珍贵 (珍稀 means 'precious and rare' )

uniqueness= 独特性 or 独特

(you can omit 性)

reveals its rareness and preciousness
展露着它的罕有性和珍贵性
展露着它的罕有和珍贵

~ 'rareness'(罕有性) and 'preciousness'(珍贵性) are nouns

reveals its rare and precious nature.
展露着它罕有和珍贵的本质

~ 'rare'(罕有的) and 'precious'(珍贵的) are adjectives

shows its uniqueness.
显示它的独特性


Loanwords with Chinese Equivalents How many loanwords in Chinese have Chinese equivalents?

Example:
三文鱼 is a loanword, borrowed from English, meaning salmon, but Chinese also has the word 鲑鱼 meaning salmon.

Are there a lot of these kinds of word-sets?

I'm not sure where you could get an accurate count for how many there are. Considering that loanwords have been coming into Chinese for thousands of years, it definitely won't be a trivial task.

There is certainly quite a few, however, not all of which is current/widespread/universal. I'll list some here, and edit more in if I think of any later:

Angel: 安琪兒 = 天使
Bacon: 培根 = 煙肉
Blog: 博客 / 部落格 = 網誌
Boycott: 杯葛 = 抵制
Bus: 巴士 = 公共汽車
Bye-Bye: 掰掰 = 再見
Camera: 開麥拉 / 卡麥拉 = 照相機
Cheese: 芝士 / 起司 / 起士 = 奶酪 / 乳酪
Cream: 克林姆 = 奶油
Copy: 拷貝 = 複製
Daddy: 爹地 = 爸爸
E-mail: 伊媚兒 / 依妹兒 = 電子郵件
Engine: 引擎 = 發動機 / 動力機 / 機
Fillet: 菲力 = 柳
Gas: 瓦斯 = 天然氣
(House) Party: 轟趴 = 聚會
Index: 引得 = 索引 / 檢目 / 總檢
Laser: 雷射 = 激光
Logic: 邏輯 = 理則
Mommy: 媽咪 = 媽媽
Motel: 摩鐵 = 汽車旅館
Mini: 迷你 = 小
Party: 派對 = 舞會 / 聚會 / 聯歡會
Polish: 泡立水 = 蟲膠清漆 / 酒精清漆
Rifle: 來福槍 = 步槍
Romantic: 羅曼蒂克 = 浪漫
Sardine: 沙丁魚 = 鰛 / 鰯
Sauce: 沙司 = 醬
Sauna: 桑拿 = 蒸氣浴
Scooter: 速可達 = 輕機車
Shampoo: 香波 = 洗髮精
Shopping: 血拼 = 逛街購物
Show: 秀 = 節目
Tank: 坦克 = 戰車
Taxi:  的士 = 計程車 / 出租車
Tobacco: 淡巴菰 = 菸草
Typhoon: 颱風 = 颶風
Quduq: 胡同 / 衚衕 = 小巷
おばさん: 歐巴桑 = 老太婆
おじさん: 歐吉桑 = 老頭子
パチンコ: 柏青哥 / 扒金宫 = 彈珠機
たたみ: 塌塌米 = 疊蓆