Other than 秘密，are there two-syllable words in Chinese where each syllable is a different character with the same pronunciation? 秘密 is a curious word because both characters are pronounced mì yet they are different from each other. Given that there are so many homophonous characters in Chinese, I'm curious if there's any other combinations of them into words, and if not why did 秘密 become the exception?

I've come across words like this a couple of times.
逝世 shìshì
致志 zhìzhì
世事 shìshì
Alliteration (双声) seems to be quite common in Putonghua, and this is an extreme form of alliteration.
It's interesting how all these examples use the fourth tone.
There are more words like this but they tend to be less commonly used or literary words (书面语). Eg: 幽忧 yōuyōu
Edit: Mou某 gave two other good examples: 屈曲 qūqū; 实时 shíshí. And these aren't fourth tone, which is nice.
Edit 2: 全权 quánquán (from Becky 李蓓 's comment)
Edit 3: 意义 yìyì; 意译 yìyì; 异议 yìyì (from Olle Linge's comment)


Can Chinese words start with a vowel? I've been searching around for random words. Dragon = long, green = lǜsè, river = he... I can't seem to find any words that start with a vowel.

Do any Chinese words start with a vowel?

There are some Mandarin Chinese Pinyin sequences which consistently start with a vowel. As mentioned in the comments, these have a Pinyin representation which starts with y or w:

義, Pinyin yì, IPA /i⁵¹/ (starts off with /i/, the close front unrounded vowel)
完, Pinyin wán, IPA /u̯a̠n³⁵/ (starts off with a dipthong containing /u/, the close back rounded vowel)

The others which many people think start with a vowel but don't really except in certain (albeit extremely common) circumstances start off with a Pinyin letter a, e, or o. Pronounced in isolation or after the end of a pause, these do not start off with a vowel, but a glottal stop, which is a consonant that requires you to block airflow through the glottis.

For example, consciously take caution of the difference in how you pronounce 餓 in the following:

餓 (in isolation)
我餓了

In (1), 餓 must start with the glottal stop consonant (take notice of what you're doing in your chest area when pronouncing this), while not ordinarily in (2), although you can use a glottal stop there sometimes for emphasis.

Without this consonant, you cannot pronounce sequences like 諤諤 or 阿娥 properly (although these sequences aren't common at all). An English example would be the word uh-oh!, which must have the glottal stop at the beginning of the second syllable, else it would sound incomprehensible.


Is there a difference between 教训 and 论点 ？ I'm taking a history class in Chinese and my teacher brought up 四五运动的两个教训 。 Then later on he talked about 启蒙的两个论点 。 I know that roughly 教训 is translated as "lessons" and 论点 is a bit more like "thesis, or arguments" -  but could someone make this distinction a bit more clear? Or are they relatively interchangeable when talking about history?

教训  [Lesson;Moral]：指从错误或挫折中得到的经验,

lessons learned from past failures and mistakes. It emphasizes the empirical aspect of the origin.
Source: http://baike.baidu.com/view/777967.htm

论点 [argument; proposition] 论述中的确定性意见及论证意见的理由。

It does not have to be empirical. It can be anything straight off the dome.
Source: http://baike.baidu.com/view/562734.htm


What is the meaning of 怼回去? I came across a comment:

巴西柔术被误以为女子防身术, 怎么怼回去

What is the meaning of 怎么怼回去?

怼 is fairly new internet slang.
MDBG defines it as:

怼
duǐ
(Internet slang) to attack verbally / to publicly criticize / to call out

notice: it is read in the third tone here and basically means to lay into.
With the rise of popularity of 怼, many new words came out and have started popping up everywhere.
Not to get off topic too much, but another common new word is 怒怼.
MDBG:

怒怼
nùduǐ
(Internet slang) to chastise / to angrily denounce

This hopefully gives a better overall view of what 怼 actually means.
Another new word, that would answer your question more clearly, that has come out is 回怼:
MDBG

回怼
huíduǐ
to retaliate verbally / to hit back (at critics)

So back to your question:

怎么怼回去?

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has been attacked and now they’re asking how to retaliate or how to hit back at their attackers.


Is the use of a conjunction between the second-last and last word in a list (A、B和C) a natural Chinese construction? Is the use of a conjunction between the second-last and last word in a list a natural Chinese construction?

Sometimes the construction feels like an Anglicism: I do not hear it in daily speech that often and, I have a feeling, it appears more often in translated texts or in modern texts.

Often the conjunction is used, e.g.

現在我兼任總經理、技術官和財務官。

However, isn't a rephrasing without the conjunction more "natural"?  Something like this:

現在我身兼數職：總經理、技術官、財務官。

現在我身兼數職 will make people feel you are so proud, so people don't use it a lot.

現在我兼任..seems like you are  taking responsibility for your stressful work, it's more modest than above.

Forgive my grammar mistakes, I am a college student of China and learning English now.


Whats the difference between the usage of 个, 只, 张, and 条 Whats the difference between the usage of 个, 只, 张, and 条? I know that 个 is used for counting fruits and 只 is for counting animals but what should each counting word be applied?

Roughly speaking, the "role" of the quantifiers such as "個" or "張" in Chinese resembles that of the prepositions in English. Therefore, like learning prepositions in English requires one to naturalize oneself to all the variants, to properly manipulating Chinese quantifiers requires no more than developing a "feeling", possibly by listening and speaking with careful observation.

In general, "個" can be regarded as a generic quantifier, which means that you need not worry about that saying "個" will lead to any confusion. Saying "個" would just sound unnatural to a native ear. Thus, if you are unsure of which quantifier is a correct one, then you may just happily use "個".

We use "隻" in a context such as "一隻牛 (a cow)" or "一隻狗 (a dog)". And yes, "隻" is usually followed by the name of a certain sort of animals.

We use "張" in a context such as "一張紙 (a piece of paper)" or "一張餅 (a pancake)". This quantifier is for most of the time followed by the name of a thin object.

We use "條" in a context such as "一條定理 (a theorem)" or "一條蟲 (a worm)". It is usually reserved for describing an object of a thin, long form.


Idiom, common phrase crossword puzzle challenge 2 Please solve this puzzle

A famous Chinese general with a red face

Too greedy; take on more than one can handle

Extremely insightful

Going back on one's words

Soul flying out of the sky

Undefeated

Detailedly explain the pro and con

Homeland destroyed

Return an item to the owner

Fly straight to the sky

Tiny profit

Like crying, like lamenting

Unstoppable momentum

A. die
B. 'So that's the reason'
C. A verse from 木蘭辭 (Mulan Poem); travel a great distance quickly
D. Homeless
E. Unexpected
F. Sneak pass
G. Intense situation
H. Cheerful mood, happy spirit
I. All harms and no benefit
J. Not leaving home
K. Come back to win
L. Unable to revive
If the blank puzzle is too hard for you, you can try the one with additional hints below

Not 5 minutes this time - but more than 5 hours, and I don't know is my answer all correct.

I finished 90% before hints appearing, but those 10%, I can't fill them at all until I see the hints because I heard those words really rarely.


What would 黑著臉 mean? 黑著臉, Directly translating it, it would be "blacking his face", so is it something like "his face went dark" (Not even sure if that means anything or is proper in english).

Could it also be something like "his face was replaced with a scowl" or something similar?

It means someone is not happy about things that are going on, it can be a disapprove to the decision other people made, anger about people's comment, behavior.
黑 in this phrase describes a negative mood in one's face, as if someone is so mad at something, his/her heart begin beating faster, his/her face turns into a dark color than usual. Similarly you may see红着脸(flushed with fever or success or pride)， 绿着脸(bad stock market or unhappiness)，青着脸(angry or discontent about something). Other than color, there are also 板着脸，绷着脸，拉着脸，蒙着脸 etc.


Romance of the Three Kingdoms English translation with Pinyin names? Are there any English translations of Romance of the Three Kingdoms that use Pinyin (including tone marks) for person and place names?

There's official English version of The Romance of Three Kingdoms

To find out the names of characters and places in Chinese characters, you can just input them in Google search, for example  "Cao Cao", and you'll find entries listed the Chinese characters of this name Cáo Cāo (曹操; 155 – March 15, 220)

At Google translate:

Input 曹操 in the request field (translate from Chinese)

the pinyin Cáocāo would appear under it

And the English translation "Cao Cao" will appears on the result field (translate to English)

You can find out the pinyin of all the characters and places' names this way, as long as you know the Chinese characters for them

Books are not dictionaries, they don't list pinyin for characters


What is the meaning of 关心种子? I was watching a YouTube video, and the guy in the very beginning said "关心种子" means: a type of species desperate for attention. Is that true?
Here is the video for reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv_WYLb_WMY

It's an Internet Language. This is a good explanation.

“在博取关注的方面是种子选手”→“关心种子”→“关种”

I think you know what it means by seeing the YouTube Video.


Translating "for", as in "with" In mathematics, when we introduce variables in expressions we might say, for example, "F=ma, for m the mass and a the acceleration." How would you translate the "for" here? Equivalently we could say "with m the mass...".
I was considering 以 or 为, with "F=ma,以质量m..." or "F=ma,质量为m...". If neither of these is appropriate, what is appropriate here?

'for' in your sentence functions more like 'about' than 'with'.

F=ma

for 'm' the mass and (for) 'a' the acceleration = about 'm', it refers to mass; about 'a', it refers to 'the acceleration'

至于'm', 指的是质量, 至于'a', 指的是加速度 --> 'm', 指的是质量, 'a' 指的是加速度 (omit 至于 in this sentence make it sound more natural in Chinese)

If you want to use 'with' instead, your sentence would become

F=ma

with 'm' (as) the mass and with 'a' (as) the acceleration

以'm'(为)质量, 以'a'(为)加速度

I think the sentence below is easier to translate

F=ma

'm' represents the mass and 'a' represents the acceleration

'm' 代表质量，'a' 代表加速度


How to translate “when there’s a gold rush, sell pickaxes and shovels"? What's the Chengyu 成語 for this financial investing idiom, “don’t buy gold/mine for gold in a gold rush; sell shovels and pickaxes”?
Google Translate output “當淘金熱時，賣鎬和鐵鍬。” But I got no idea if this makes sense in Chinese. "The first is, obviously, not to translate the idiom literally if it makes no sense in the target language. The translator should also keep in mind that a wordplay in one language might not be translatable into another wordplay in a different language.".
Here's the context. When There’s A Gold Rush Sell Picks and Shovels | Hatch

Sometime in my young adult life, I heard some advice that has stuck with me. I don’t really remember who said it, where I heard it, or why it came up. I do remember the message though because it was so important to an entrepreneurial mindset. The saying goes “when there’s a gold rush sell pickaxes and shovels.”
During the California gold rush, thousands of entrepreneurs and land speculators ventured out west to try and strike it rich. The truth is that most of them never struck it rich and were victim to a lot of hype and a crowded and competitive market. Gold was the glamorous business, the shiny get-rich-quick strategy. Gold was actually an incredibly risky venture because it involved buying expensive land with slim chances of it holding gold.  The entrepreneurs who made the most off of the gold rush didn’t go down that path. The ones who built great businesses were selling pickaxes, shovels, and everything else that those thousands of gold rush dreamers needed. Levi Strauss, Samuel Brannan, and John Studebaker were among the entrepreneurs who built incredible business off the gold rush, but not gold.
This advice doesn’t just apply to the gold rush. There are always going to be hot industries hot products, and glamorous opportunities that everyone and their mothers chase after. Don’t buy into all the hype. Instead find the opportunities just outside of the hype. Sell complementary goods and services instead. When demand is skyrocketing for gold, demand will also be skyrocketing for pickaxes and shovels, but (hopefully) much fewer people will be chasing those markets.

There's an article on Zhihu with the title:
淘金先富卖铲人
The paper talks about the exact phenomenon that you mention above.

Xueqiu also ran an article mentioning this adage:

有句俗话叫“淘金先富卖铲人”，出自这样的典故：当初美国西部出现淘金热时，真正能在山沟里淘到黄金的人不多，倒是向淘金者出售铲子、牛仔裤等装备器材的商家更容易发财。

It is the exact phrase that you are looking for. It isn't widely known, though, and may take the correct context to make it well understood depending on your audience.

Some other variants:

宁做卖铲人勿做挖金人

“卖铲人”

挖金子不如卖铲子

xx如同淘金客，xx人如同卖铲人 (e.g.: 游人如同淘金客，卖耙人如同卖铲人)

淘金潮里的卖铲人

淘金热中的“卖铲人”

It is quite interesting that "卖铲人" has become a sort of a phrase in and of itself to talk about those people who make money off of other people's pursuits.


What is the difference between 情势, 局势, 形势, 情形, 情况 and 状况? < 情势 situation; trend of events; circumstances:

局势 situation; state (of affairs)

形势 situation; circumstance; condition; state of affairs >

< 情形 circumstances; situation

情况 circumstances; situation >

状况 condition; state; situation

Very confused. They obviously have a subtle difference as with all the analogous words in English, but I can't get the handle of it.

情势 (situation) = 情 (details) + 势 (formations /form)= the form and details

  you look at a situation as an object. The form of it tells you what kind of situation you are looking at.

  Example: 情势危急 (situation is critical) * the form and the details tells us the situation is critical

~

  局势 (situation) = 局面 (board surface)+ 势 (formations /form) = The formations on the board surface

  Metaphorizing a situation as a chess game. The formations of the chess pieces on the board tell us what is going on in the game (situation)

  Example: 局势危急 (situation is critical) * the formations on the chess board indicates the game(situation) is in a critical state

~

  形势(situation) = 形(shape) + 势(formations/ form) = shape and form

  a 'shape and form' description can apply to an actual object; or metaphorically, to a state of affairs.

  Example: 形势危急 (situation is critical) * the shape and form indicates the situation is in a critical state.

~

  情形 (situation) = 情(details)+ 形(shape)= shape and details

  shape and details forms a 'situation'.

  Example:看情形他不会来 (looks like he won't come)

  The thing that's being looked at is details of the situation, which indicate he won't come

~

  情况 (situation) = 情(details)+ 况(appearance) = appearance and details

  appearance and details = 'circumstance'(situation).

  Example:看情况决定 (make the decision depend on the situation)
  )

  see the appearance and situation then decide

~

  状况 (situation) = 状態(status) + 况 (appearance) = appearance and status

  'appearance and status' = 'condition' (situation).

  这状况不能持续 (this situation cannot be maintained)


How did 葉 (leaf as in vegetation) become 叶 when it was simplified? This is a spin-off question from this one "Determine radicals for simplified characters that lost their traditional form completely" where radicals for simplified characters were discussed.

Now, the question is, how were some characters simplified, sometimes so simplified they lost their original intention and form completely?

One example is:

葉 (leaf) became 叶, where 叶 is basically a mouth (口) and a ten (十) put together.

What's the rationale behind this??
And why were some complex characters not simplified at all?

For example:

(traditional : simplified : meaning)

單 : 单 : single, also a family name
嚴 : 严 : strict, also a family name
嚼 : 嚼 : to chew (here traditional and simplified are identical and yet it's complicated to write)

Note that the two 口 on the top of 單 and 嚴 were transformed into different forms when simplified.

At the beginning, I want to say that I am a native speaker and love Chinese, but I am not on a research level. It is welcomed that anyone can make comments and supply more info to my answer.
Introduction
First, Wikipedia (see the link provided by Krazer) is good start to get some background knowledge why we have simplified characters. After the found of the new China (People's Republic of China, P.R.C), the country was out of turmoils and wars and the government decided to simplify the characters (note that before P.R.C, there were some proposals and pratices on simplification). I think one main reason was to allow more people to get well educated, since simplified characters were easier to learn. However, the government didn't make a long-term preparation and thus some characters were not simplified in a "logic" or "scientific" way.
Main Text
“叶” is a typical example of a character that was not simplified "properly". So how did characters get simplified? As far as I know, unfortunately, the government didn't issue any official document to explain this. I searched this topic on the internet and I found some useful info, one of them is a blog, which I think has logic and acceptable explanations.
I will explain more with my own knowledge:

古 (the original characters):  One example is "从" and "從". In 《说文》(a famous old dictionary),"从" is explained to be the orignal form of “從". "从" means "to follow" and it's intuitive (one 人 – person – follows another) so "从" is selected.

俗 (the informal characters). In ancient times, few people got well educated and of course, characters were developing too, so there were some "informal" characters, which were popular among not-well-educated people. Two examples are "泪" and "淚". In 《字彙》(a dictionary written in Ming Dynasty), "泪" is explained as the informal form of "淚". "泪" is intuitive, because the left part refers to water, "目" means the eye, and "泪" means tears. It's "reasonable" to use “泪" as the simplified form.

异体字 (characters with the same sound and meaning, but different shape). Example: "凶" and "兇". Both have the same pinyin (xiōng) and same meaning (danger), so "凶" is selected because it has less strokes. Also, "凶" is intuitive: isn't it like a man dropped in a trap?

闲置的旧字 (characters used under very rare conditions; they won't appear in most cases). This is how "叶" is simplified. Actually, even now, "叶" has another pronunciation and meaning, if you consult it in a dictionary (higher-level) and this is actually the original “叶” in classic chinese. It's "叶 (xié)" as in the word "叶韵" (yùn), which means that some characters have similar or the same vowel so the pronunciations of them sound harmonious ( when rhyming). You can find this phenomenon in classic poems and modern lyrics.
However, this meaning is very very rarely used and we would say “押(yā)韵" rather than “叶韵" nowadays. 叶 (xié) sounds similar with 葉 (yè) — remember this happened in ancient times —, so some not-well-educated people used 叶 instead of 葉 by mistake, and this mistake was "admitted" in simplification. Another example is "听" and "聽"(tīng) which means "to hear". "听" (yīn) means "laugh" as in "听然" in Classic Chinese originally, but this meaning is generally expressed by other words like "哂" or "莞尔" in classic Chinese, so this character is borrowed to express "聽" because of similar sound, even "to hear" has nothing to do with the radical "口" in "听".

草书楷化 (simplification from Cao to Kai). This will explain how "单" and "严" came out. "草书" is a hand-writing font. Have you heard of Chinese Calligraphy? 草(草率) implies that characters are written very casually, so characters are difficult to read but fast to write.楷(kăi, paragon）书 is another font in formal writing. This principle is used to simplify a character so that the shape looks like its shape in 草书. Below are some pictures to show.

Characters are 单, 书, 为, 学, 严, 专 in traditional form, from left to right and the traditional forms are: 單, 書, 為, 學, 嚴, 專. (Remember that 草书 has several schools so the shapes vary somehow. Examples below are based on the font of 黎凡草书 installed on my PC):

同音字 (characters with the same pronunciation). Select a character with the same pronunciation to replace a complex one. Example: "后" and "後". "后" is really a character used in Classic Chinese, meaning “the queen" or "the formal wife of the emperor", and “後" means "to be after something, some time point". "后" is selected as the simplified version of "後" and thus has the meaning "after". This also brings problems: when people want to use traditonal characters in some cases, they may use wrong characters. E.g. the year of 2009 was roughly the year of “己丑" in Chinese Lunar Calendar (known as "Sexagenary cycle").
During the spring festival of that year, I found "己醜年" in a website. I understood the site stuff wanted to express the year in a classic way, but they were absolutely wrong. "醜" means “ugly, not beautiful” and was simplified into “丑“. "丑" is really a character used in classic Chinese as an element of the Sexagenary cycle.After the simplificaion, “丑" got two meanings, that's right in simplified chinese. However, you can only write "己丑" in traditional form, and "醜" is incorrect.

Ok, there are some other cases, but I think it's enough now, because this answer is not written as research paper. It's time consuming because I have to consult some characters in 《康熙字典》(a very prestigious dictionary written under the order of the emperor ”康熙" in Qing Dynasty).
At last, I want to say that language is not like Math or Physics, and it's hard to find "proof" or "theory" for some phenomena. Perhaps I can't explain why we speak that way, however, it's the way we speak. Take it easy.
Hope this helps.


What does 饭圈类 ("rice-ring kind") indicate in 生产这些饭圈类产品? 口号手环、贴纸、小旗子、手幅、胸章……义乌的大小作坊，为4年一度的美国大选，生产这些饭圈类产品，正规名称是总统竞选产品。
义乌再次判定：特朗普连任，2020年04月30日

The above article discusses Trump-themed merchandise and its manufacture in Yiwu (义乌), comparing the 2016 and 2020 US elections.  I'm struggling with the part in bold:

[My translation:] Slogan bracelets, stickers, small flags, placards (?), broaches, …… Yiwu's big and small wordshops, for the once-every-four-years US election, produces these 饭圈类 products.  According to regulations [they are] called president election products.

In the above, I don't understand why 饭圈类 ("cooked-rice-roll kind") is used here (Google Translate gives "rice ring products").  It appears to be used metaphorically.
Question: What does 饭圈类 ("rice-ring kind") indicate in 生产这些饭圈类产品?
(I found the answer while researching this question.  I thought it was interesting, so I'll self-answer.  I welcome further answers.)

Searching for 饭圈类 in Baidu, I stumbled upon a Baidu Zhidao artcle, which gives an explanation.  The second answer is simpler:

饭圈类似粉丝会，大家有共同喜欢的东西，组成了一个圈子。
[My translation:] 饭圈 is similar to "fan group" [粉丝会], everyone has something they commonly like, the group forms a social circle [圈子].

In particular, 饭 in this context does not mean "cooked rice", but is used because the English word "fan" is written in the same way as the (untoned) pinyin for 饭 (fàn).  Thus, 饭圈 is a "circle of fans".  And in the article about Trump, it refers to products produced for Trump's circle of fans (or Trump's supporters).


Character and meaning for the 四川话 sentence-ending particle 'ga'? Scholars of Chinese will have a lot of work to do in the next 100-200 years, because eventually academics will take notice and want to document the self-emergent standardization of orthography for regional Chinese words (many of them particles) that never had them, which people are now using every time they chat online to other people from their region. (So, I figure, why not start today?)

what about the sentence-ending particle 'ga' in Sichuan?

How do you write it, and what does it mean exactly? (If memory serves, it marks a sort of friendly assertion. Ie, you are sick, you should have some soup, ga.)

There are many different dialects in China, for many special words in dialects, the "correct" character may not be found (the character has been abandoned in Mandarin), or may be a character but with a different pronunciation from Mandarin, or even can't be found. In fact, the average Chinese person can't tell you what the "correct" character in the dialect is in many cases. We don't care about it when speaking, while in formal writing, we will use another character or words in Mandarin to express the same meaning. Only linguists would be interested in them.
I searched the "ga" on the internet and didn't find a good answer to the correct character. Generally, we will use a character with the same or similar pronunciation to represent it (in informal writing). On the TV here, I find "嘎" is used for "ga". Please note that "嘎" is not the correct character, just for the pronunciation.
What does it mean? Well, your guess is basically right: assertion. More precisely, I would like to say, it is used when:

  you think something (the sentence before "ga") should be right (you are confident about it), but you are not very very sure of it, you need the confirmation from the listener. The answer from the listener is expected to be "Yes!" by you. It is used like "right" as in "we are the best friends, right?"

You example may be good, I think, when "should" shows your mood of guess (I am not an English expert. I know should can show that mood, or show the mood of "order". I think "will" could be more proper here). At last, I want to say that when using "ga", you should have an obvious stop before it. Your example is good in this sense because you have a comma.


What is the meaning of these seals? What is the meaning of these seals?

They are two names:

（汪）寅仙
張守（智）

They are the names of two (apparently) well-known Yíxīng ware artisans, who have jointly designed some pottery sets.
You can use Google image search to get an idea of their products.


Is there a Chinese word for liberation? When I studied Mandarin Chinese in the early 1990's my teacher told me that there is no word for "liberation" because it is not a concept in Chinese culture. She thought for a minute, tried a few Chinese possible words [ I have forgotten them] and said "no, it's not a concept in China". I think that we were talking about mainly political liberation rather than other types.

Was that true then? Is it the case now?

Your teacher was probably not very good.

The typical Chinese word for "liberation" is 解放, and it has been used in the same sense of political liberation for many years. Apart from its use in Communist Chinese apparatus (i.e. People's Liberation Army), you also have examples like:

婦女解放運動 - women's liberation movement
奴隸解放運動 - slavery abolitionism
民族解放運動 - national liberation movement
巴勒斯坦解放組織 - Palestinian Liberation Organisation

Alternatively, "liberation" can, and has, sometimes been translated using 自由 ("freedom"), depending on the context. Examples include the French newspaper Libération, which has occasionally been translated as 自由報 or 自由人報. Similarly, the video game Assassin's Creed III: Liberation has been translated in Taiwan as 刺客教條3：自由使命.

This might be because the word 解放 may be perceived as carrying revolutionary connotations (which some might want to avoid), which is not altogether dissimilar from the situation in English. This works because often the meaning of "liberation" can be expressed as 爭取自由/平等 or equivalent.


What is the correct pronunciation of 辫发？ Google Translate and 查查在线词典 both say 辫发 ought to be biànfǎ, but Baidu says biànfā. What is correct?

According to Xinhua Zidian, the only admitted standard pronounciation currently for 发 (in Mainland) is

fā, various meanings e.g. "to send out, to dispatch", "to start", "to grow, to expand", "to open, to reveal, to invent", "to show", "to produce, to happen"; and
fà, meaning "hair".

As 发 in 辫发 refers to hair, it should be pronounced biànfà in Mainland China. This is also how I pronounce the word (native speaker).

In Taiwan, as indicated by the other answer, fǎ is correct.


Future perfect tense sentences in Chinese (eg. "Next month I will have been married 3 years" I have a few English sentences I'm struggling to translate to Chinese, although I'm HSK5 level. Here they are, along with my attempted translations (please be strict and critical cos I want to know the most natural way of expressing these things):

You'll know when you get to Beijing 你到了北京就会知道的

Next month I'll have been married for 3 years 等到下个月我就结婚三整年了

Next year I'll have been to Beijing (and left) 等到明年我就去过北京的

I will have learned English for 12 years before I graduate from university … don't know how to translate this one :(

After I've gone to Beijing, I'll plan where to go next 我去了北京以后就打算后面去哪里 (can I use 打算 like this? Meaning "the act of planning" rather than talking about a specific plan)

I'll have finished by that time 那时候我已经做完了 (is the 了 right here even though I'm talking about the future?)

Any help on better understanding how to deal with translating English future perfect sentences to Chinese, or examples of such sentence translations, or corrections/alterations to my example sentences would all be hugely appreciated.

Thanks 哥们儿s

You'll know when you get to Beijing 你到了北京就会知道的
You'll know when you get to Beijing 你到北京就会知道了

的 is not the right choice of final particle here.
Edit:
就会知道 = will then know
in 就会知道(的), '的' is a final particle that emphasizes the verb, stating it is in an existing state', that contradicts 就会(will then).  You can say "他是知道的" (he knows/ he knew) but not "他將是知道的 (he will knows/knew)
in 就会知道(了), '了' is a final particle that indicates completion of the verb. Meaning 知道了 indicates the verb 知道 will be 'completed'. Since '了' is an 'aspect marker' not a 'tense marker', it can be used in any tense.

Next month I'll have been married for 3 years 等到下个月我就结婚三整年了
Next month I'll have been married for 3 years 下个月我就结婚整整三年了

It is [整整 X year (X years no more no less)], not [整 X year]
Your English sentence didn't state 'wait until' so you shouldn't write '等到' In your Chinese translation

Next year I'll have been to Beijing (and left) 等到明年就去过北京的
Next year I'll have been to Beijing (and left) 明年我就会去过北京一趟了

From the context, we know you've never been in Beijing, therefore "去过北京(一趟)" can make it more clear that you mean 'go and leave Beijing (been in Beijing)'
But it is English-Chinese, Native Chinese would phrase it as "明年我会去北京一趟"  - "I will take a trip to Beijing next year (and leave)"

After I've gone to Beijing, I'll plan where to go next 我去了北京以后就打算后面去哪里
After I've gone to Beijing, I'll plan where to go next 去过北京之后我才再想下次要去哪里

You said: " After I've gone to Beijing" meaning " After you had been in Beijing and back" (去过北京之后)

(then) I'll plan where to go next

才 = "only then" (you won't make plan for the next destination until you finished visiting Beijing)
打算 means "intend to" But you already intended to go somewhere else after the Beijing trip, so you should either use 计划 (to plan) or simply use 想 (think about/plan)

I'll have finished by that time 那时候我已经做完了 (is the 了 right here even though I'm talking about the future?)
I'll have finished (my traveling plan) by that time 那时候我就完成了我的旅行计划了

'完成了' (completed) already indicate the action is completed, no need to add '已经' (have been already)
了 is an aspect marker that indicates 'completion of an action' it can be used in any tense.


Should I center a headline written in Traditional Chinese? I'm putting together an email campaign and have a headline in Traditional Chinese. In terms of formatting, is it acceptable to center the headline? Thank you!


很多的 + noun vs 很多 + noun What is the difference between 很多的 and 很多? Here are some examples:

他们在这个乌代布尔地区做了很多的调查
比如说攒很多的钱买一个LV的包
为什么有时候人会在人很多的地方觉得自己很寂寞？

Is 的 needed in all three sentences?

Basically, 的 can always be omitted for a simple adjective.
But for emphasis of the adjective, 的 is added (so omit it if not).
For the omission of 的, check this link, kind of CN quora (if it is fine to read).
The third sentence is an exception of your description. 很多 comes after 人, so it is (人很多)的地方 and 的 cannot be omitted here to avoid ambiguity.


How should I rewrite 我昨天卖了我的电脑给他 using 把 and 了? The goal is to re-write the sentences using 把.
Example 1
那个字，他写错了。
Rewrite: 他把那个字写错了。
Example 2
你的学生证，你没有给我。
Rewrite: 你没有把你的学生证给我。
Question
我昨天卖了我的电脑给他。
Rewrite: ?

Should it be 我把我昨天卖了我的电脑给他? It seems like strange to say 了 in '天卖了我的'?

把 is used to denote thing have been done something to.
To use 把.
First, find out what exactly is the thing have been done something to. In your example, 我昨天賣了我的電腦給他. The thing(我的電腦) had been done something(賣了) to.
Second, put the thing after 把. 把我的電腦
Third, try to refill the semantics you have lost. 把我的電腦 is not complete to express what original sentence(我昨天賣了我的電腦給他) means. 我把我的電腦 我昨天把我的電腦 我昨天把我的電腦賣了 我昨天把我的電腦賣給了他.


吃 Vs. 喝 in this sentence: 既然敬酒不吃那就吃罚酒 So I watched a movie, in this sentence why did they use 吃 rather than 喝?

"Drink" is one possible meaning of 吃. From the Taiwan Ministry of Education dictionary definition for 吃
(emphasis added):

口中咀嚼食物後嚥下。有時吸、飲液體亦稱為「吃」。如：「吃飯」、「吃茶」、「吃藥」。

It also has an entry specifically for 吃酒.


What is the difference between 利润， 利益，盈利？ I have noticed that all of them mean benefit or profit in English.

Can someone help me understand when to use each word?

“利润” is the spread between interest and paid, and is always used in economy.

“利益” is the benefit that people gain from what they are doing or are going to do.

“盈利” is similar to “利润”. But "利润" usually be used as a noun,“盈利” can be used a noun, an adjective and a verb.

For example:

1.公司今年的利润是10,000,000，明年目标是盈利100,000,000。

Translate into English：

The company's profits is 10,000,000 this year, and their goal is gain 100,000,000 next year.

“利润” is used as a noun, and “盈利” is used as a verb in this sentence.

2.苹果是去年唯一一家盈利的公司。

Apple is the only profitable company last year.

“盈利” is used as an adjective here.

3.盈利对一家上市公司来说很重要。

Profits is important to the listed company.

“盈利” is used as a noun in this sentence.


Is it ok to omit "也" in responce 我也很好? Is it ok to omit "也" in responce 我也很好?

Dialog (3rd line):

-- 你好吗?

-- [ 我 ] 很好! 你好吗?

-- 我 [ 也 ] 很好!

And if it is ok to omit 也 in third line, is it ok to add 我 in the second line?

Seriously I think people only say 我也很好 when the situation is a bit awkward.

It's like adding to the meaninglessness of your answer by stressing the similarity to another one's meaningless answer.

actually when you ask 你好吗 in Chinese it already starts to get awkward. At least you can ask more specifically e.g. 最近怎么样？ (how're u doing lately?) than asking a question which neither contains any information nor fits language convention.


给我站住: Idiom or common meaning 给我站住

I assume this means something like "wait for me!". But I still have a couple of questions.

Google translate gives the meaning "Nothing to say" which implies that 给我站住 may be an idiom.
If 给我站住 does mean "wait for me", is this the normal way of saying it? How does it differ from something like “等我”

"给我" is usually interpreted as a command or an order to do something for the speaker.

"站住" means to halt or to stand still.

"给我站住" is not an idiom, but a command to stop a person from walking away. In this case, Google Translate got it wrong. "给我站住" is usually spoken when someone has done something bad and you want that person to stop walking away from the "crime" scene:

  你给我站住！

"等我" is to ask someone to wait for you. Therefore, the two do not share the same meaning at all.


What's the best way to phrase "没事是......做什么?" in english? I found that that form of phrase is used quite often.
I thought it could be read as "What are you being .... for?".
But I'm still confused about the use of '没事' here and how to properly put it in English.

Do you mean “没事…做什?" If it is the case, then  没事 is short for '没事要做 (without thing that has to be done); or 没事發生(nothing has happened)

  没事 means 'for no reason' or 'with no purpose' in this structure.

For example:

"没事回來做什?" (for no reason, come back for what?/ why come back for no reason?)

"没事去看醫生做什?" (for no reason, go to see the doctor for what?/ why go see the doctor for no reason?)

  It should be' 没事...作什', but '没事...做什?' is also valid because 做 is the modern counterpart of 作 in classical writting for the verb 'to do'


What does the first part of 它一把拉着我跳回了家，我成了兔子，而它成了我的模样 mean? I've taken to reading short essays written by grade-five children (五年纪作文).  In 沙发上的兔子 (Rabbit on the Sofa), there's an image of a rabbit on the sofa, and when the child falls asleep, the child turns into a rabbit, and the rabbit becomes the child.
However, I don't understand the first part of this sentence:

它一把拉着我跳回了家，我成了兔子，而它成了我的模样

Question: What does 它一把拉着我跳回了家 mean?
I'd guess something in the ballpark of "it pulled me back home", but don't really know what this means.
Google Translate and YouDao respectively give:

It pulled me back home, I became a rabbit, and it became my appearance.
He grabbed me and jumped back home. I became a rabbit, and he became me.

There's some kind of magic going on here, so I'm not sure what's going on.

Reading the story, "它" in "它一把拉着我跳回了家" is referring to the rabbit. --> "It (the rabbit) pulling me along and hopped back home"

As for the function of "一把", you can reference my answer to this question:

  It is a description of a manner which implies "abruptly with no hesitation"
  There are similar adverbial phrases:

  一手 (with one move of one's hand)

  一手搶過我手中的香煙 (with one move of his hand, he grabs the cigarette off my hand = he takes the cigarette off my hand with one move of his hand)

它拉着我跳回了家 = he pulling me hopped back home
它(一把)拉着我跳回了家 = he (with one swift grab) pulling me hopped back home

  我成了兔子，而它成了我的模样

  I turned into a rabbit, and it (the rabbit) turned into my appearance.

  Notice the phrase "it hopped home", which mean before they got home, the rabbit was still a rabbit.  Once arrived home, the rabbit turned into the child; and the child turned into a rabbit (obviously a dream)


How did 涉 semantically shift to mean 'to experience, be involved'? What semantic notions underlie definition 1 below with 2 and 3? Do the Chinese customarily "experience" ford streams? I can't imagine how "ford streams" would attract tourists.
I can't even guess how 1 relates to 3.
涉 - Wiktionary

Ideogrammic compound (會意): 水 (“water”) + 步 (“walk”) – to wade across.
Its oracle bone script and bronze inscription were composed of a 水 and two 止 (“foot”), depicting two feet on both sides of the water. Two forms, however, were given in Shuowen, with the first one consisting of a 步 sandwiched between two 水, and the second a 水 to the left of a 步, the predecessor of the current form.
Definitions

ford stream; wade across
to experience
to be involved

Great question. The original meaning of "涉" is that stepping into and wading across the stream by my feet. (The phrases "涉水"、"涉江" are specific examples of the original meaning.)

In my opinion, "涉", to some extent, can be regarded as "step into".(Not very exact)

And if I stepped into something dangerous yesterday, it also means that I experienced something dangerous yesterday. (The phrase "涉猎" is the specific example of the second meaning. )

And if something "stepped into" me, it also means that I was involved in something. ("涉及"、 "涉外". To some extent, you can understand "涉" as "about". )

Examples：

1、我一路跋山涉水。
explanation: I've been trekking all the way. (跋山涉水: trekking. And "涉" means that I wade across the rivers.)

2、涉险事故。
explanation：Misadventure. (The accident("事故" means something bad) about("涉") dangerousness(险))

3、他涉猎广泛。
explanation：He has a wide range of interests. (He step into("涉") and hunt("猎") a lot of things.)


The two pronunciations of 粘 粘 can be read as either "nian" or "zhan", but in both way it can be translated as "sticky", so what is the difference?
In other words what should I take in mind, when reading a text , in order to understand which pronunciation I should use?

Originally, you had two separate characters (zdic links):

粘 = zhan1 = (v.) to stick
黏 = nian2 = (adj.) sticky

The usage distinction still remains, but it is now acceptable to use 粘 for either word. Unihan lists the characters as semantic variants.


Translate the characters in this sign I have tried to find the characters in this sign in order to translate them but with no luck for the 2nd character.

This restaurant's French name is "Le bonheur" which in English is roughly "Happiness". I'm just curious if the Chinese characters translate to "happiness" and if so, is there any nuance.

Can anyone find the Chinese characters (specifically the second)?
Can anyone translate?
Is there a robust general way for
searching for characters? (I've tried some OCR, stroke matching and
searching by radical, but I have not found the second character).

thanks.

The character is「囍」, which means double happiness (2×「喜」). The script is cursive, so it may be a bit hard to recognise.

You can either read it as xǐ or shuāngxǐ (雙喜).

BTW, Pleco's handwriting recognition tool turns it up as the first result, even with messy handwriting.


Meaning of 依 in 大凉山失依孤儿 The phrase in question is a title of an article on news.qq.com.

Both 大凉山失依孤儿 and 大凉山失孤儿 translate to "Daliangshan's lost orphans" in Google Translator. Using dictionary was no use as well, since I'm not sure how translation "to depend" fits into this title.

What's the significance of 依 in this sentence and how is 大凉山失依孤儿 different from 大凉山失孤儿?

失依 is actually 失去依靠, in english this means "lost dependence", or specifically those orphan who cannot find anyone to help them get on with their lives, probably because the basic welfare and rescuing  system is broken there. If there is only one character 失, then the title does not make sense semantically indeed [or one might understand it as "Daliangshan lost orphans", but this is weird]. Google translator might simply ignore the character 依 and just translate 失 into "lost". Better translations could be

  The orphans who have no one to depend in Daliangshan Mountain

here the name of the place would be incorrect, but this seems not influence the meaning.


Please correct me for this '人多就是非多' I'm a bit confused with '非' here.

Does it mean:

1.'not': which the sentence then would mean the numbers of people wouldn't change anything

2.'mistake': 'a lot of people = A lot of mistakes'

or, from the example I found:

'过节人多，人多就是非多，请问各地警力有保障吗？愿大家都高高兴兴出门，平平安安回家！'

Either 'trash' or 'criminal'?

Note that 是非 should be interpreted as an unbroken word here, it means

  (2) [discord]∶口舌;纠纷

So "人多就是非多" should be interpreted as

人多 (when/if) there're many people
就 then
是非 discord (would be)
多 much


Why do so many people pronounce "馄饨" as hún dùn? According to dictionaries, the correct pronunciation of "馄饨" is hún tún, but I have never heard any native speakers pronounce the word this way; instead, almost all native speakers say hún dùn. Why?

Because native speakers don't actually know the tone without being taught it.

Northern Mandarin pronounces it as húntun ~ húndun, with the second syllable having the light tone (轻声). The morpheme 饨 is not used anywhere else, so it only appears in native speech without a tone.

It's not rare for native speakers to reinterpret this syllable as "originally having the 4th tone" because of the acoustic similarity when pronouncing it with the light tone (there's a slight phonetic fall particularly as it follows a 2nd tone syllable). So when they try to shake off the light tone accent which is associated with being regional vernacular, they arrive at húndùn.

Note: Pronouncing t as d is unusual. It may be a sporadic change. The only other word I can think of, where the initial (声母) may be lenited in a light tone, is 糊涂 hútu ~ húdu. Many people do "correct" the pronunciation incorrectly to húdù, but this problem here is less severe because, unlike 饨, 涂 is widely used elsewhere with the known pronunciation of tú. Hence when speakers (especially literate ones) try to enunciate it, they arrive at hútú correctly.


Can 把握 mean "self control"? I'm trying to figure out what ”把握“ actually means （it seems to have a number of meanings that don't align with any translation in english). One sentence, that I thought was interesting was "她的把握全失去了" (referring to an instance where a girl is beginning to have an affair with a guy. What does it mean in this sentence? Does it mean self-control?

Another sentence that was used at the end was “可是她现在不同了，她现在是个自主、有把握的女人。
“

把握 means seize; grasp; hold. It's rarely used in its literal sense but the metaphorical sense is just that.

把握住今天。Seize today.
他对成功很有把握。Success is within his seize.

To have 把握 in something you need both confidence and ability, although when people say 有把握/没有把握/失去把握 they are actually emphasizing on the confidence side, e.g.

我有把握拿满分。I have confidence in getting full marks in the exam.

失去把握 can also mean lose control, though not necessary 'lose control over oneself'.
In your first sentence, "她的把握全失去了", there are two possible interpretations.

She lost her 'seize' (confidence or leverage) in the affair.
She lost her 'seize' (control) over herself.

From the limited context in your question I am unable to tell which one is it. In addition to the plot, it also has a lot to do with the author's language style.
Similarly, the second sentence has two possible meanings "她现在是个自主、有把握的女人。"

She has become a woman of determination and confidence (she has general confidence in her own actions and decisions).
She has become a woman of determination and means (she has a lot of levers/maneuvers in the things she does).

That again depends on more context to nail down.


How does 添's 2021 meanings appertain to its semantic component 水? This feels like the opposite of 减/減 (Reduce/Subtract/Decrease/Diminish): What's it got to do with water?. I read 演 ＝ 氵+ 寅 but what's it got to do with water!? How did it get its modern meanings?. I screenshot Yellowbridge.

Please explain definitions 4-5 from Wiktionary, as they differ from the standard definitions 1-3.

(Cantonese) Modal particle expressing emphasis.
(Taishanese) need to (do something); have to

添 is related to water because 添 is mostly referred to adding/refilling of liquid' e.g. 添酒，添水，添油 (add wine, add water, add oil)
酒 and 油 are not 水 but all characters related to liquid use 氵 as its radical, and 添 is too -- The most common and easy thing to add is liquid
添 = add --> also -->futhermore
Cantonese uses 添 as a modal particle expressing emphasis, which implies  'just remember/  be reminded'
Example:
唔記得買米 = forgot to buy rice
唔記得買米(添) = (oh/ouch/ just remember) forgot to buy rice
冇米點煮飯？ = how can dinner be cooked with no rice
冇米(添)！點煮飯？ = (oh/ouch/ just remember) there is no rice, how can dinner be cooked?
仲唔記得買米 = still/ also forgot to buy rice
仲唔記得買米(添)/ 仲(添)唔記得買米 = (furthermore), also forgot to buy rice

(Taishanese) need to (do something); have to

Taishanese user please answer this part


Do this for me and then we'll be even I'm trying to convey "If you do x, we'll call it even."
So my sentence is:

我们可以互相学习，我教你滑雪，作为回报你可以教我什么呢？
We can both learn from each other... I'll teach you to ski... and in return what can you teach me?

She said:

我没有什么特长
I don't have any specialties.

So I was going to say:

How about you cook for me and we'll call it even?

How would I say that?

you might say:
你给我做饭如何？这样我们就扯平了


What is the difference between 鸡蛋 and 鸟蛋? I am learning Chinese with Rosetta Stone software and it is based on guessing the sense of words by pictures.

And I can't guess the difference between various types of "eggs".

When I see normal, probably hen's egg, they write

一个鸡蛋

but when I see some other types of eggs, they can write

一个鸟蛋

In these cases eggs are probably from different birds, not hens.

So what is the difference? Only bird genus or something else?

鸡蛋 is a specific term.
鸟蛋 is a general term.

When we know what kind of bird it is, we use a specific term.
Otherwise, we use a general term.

For example, we call the eggs of 鸭 (duck), 鸽子 (dove), or 鹌鹑 (quail) as 鸭蛋, 鸽子蛋, or 鹌鹑蛋.


What does 翻了个儿 mean? In the following sentence:

  可毒瘾一发作，他就不停地流眼泪，流口水，哈欠连天就，接着便浑身冒冷汗，颤抖，肌肉疼，骨头疼，心呀、肝呀、肺呀什么的，全都翻了个儿，真是求生不得，求死无门。

In this sentence, what does 全都翻了个儿 mean? The words before that all mean the bad deseaces caused by drugs, so 全都 mean all of these symptons. But then what does 翻了个儿 mean?

In my understanding, 翻 here means "turn over" something like that, not "translate" or "double" I think. But then what does the 个儿 mean? 了 is the completion partice, right?

可毒瘾一发作，他就不停地流眼泪，流口水，哈欠连天就，接着便浑身冒冷汗，颤抖，肌肉疼，骨头疼，{心呀、肝呀、肺呀什么的，全都翻了个儿}，真是求生不得，求死无门。

全都 refers to 心呀、肝呀、肺呀什么的, not all the symptoms.

翻个, turn over, defined in baidu baike:

翻个
fān gè
翻过来；颠倒过来：场上晒的麦子该～了。

了, in 翻了个儿, denotes a completion, as you know. 儿 is erhua.


What does this name mean in pinyin/english? i'd appreciate it a lot if someone could tell me!
id like to know what this name means in pinyin, as well as english.

It's a person's name, written in Traditional Chinese:

陳苡瑄

Chén Yǐxuān


Mandarin Equivalent: "duh!" "duh!"

Advanced English Dictionary

  duh

  Disdainful indication that something is obvious.

  "It’s hot in the desert. - Well, duh!"

Is there a Mandarin equivalent of 'duh!'?

Yes, there is:

  废话

Example:

A: You know what, a banana without the skin is more tasteful!
B: 废话。

废话 is not a good word for kids to imitate, though. And it is rarely used between strangers or to your parents, as it may be impolite/offensive.


What 'nostril's hair move' have to do with fear? (嚇到鼻哥窿都冇肉) 嚇到鼻哥窿都冇肉 literally means 'Scared to the point of even nostrils have no flesh'
I was wondering what 'nostrils have no flesh' have to do with fear, so I did some search and found the following article:

【粵語講呢啲】

舊時廣東人在感受到極度驚嚇時多會說這句話。究竟這與「鼻孔有沒有肉」何干呢？人在此時，反應就是廣東人所講的「嚇到震晒」（身體顫抖不已）；誇張點說，就連鼻這部位都會抖震。鼻震動，鼻孔內的毛隨之而震動，所以「嚇到鼻哥窿『都冇肉』」原來指「嚇到鼻哥窿『啲毛喐』」，難怪人們聽後不明所以了。

It said 都冇肉 /dou1 mou5 juk6/ (have no flesh) was a mispronunciation of 啲毛喐 /di1 mou4 juk1/ (the hair move)
Now, I am wondering, What is the logic behind this idea.

Wayne Cheah wrote:

You are so struck with fear that your whole body trembles right to the nostril hairs, with the heavy breathing and all? Perhaps with less emphasis on personal male grooming in the old days, nostril hairs were allowed to grow much longer than now, and you could even see someone's nostril hairs tremble in fear?

Good thinking. If you have a full beard that covers your entire lower face,  most of the beard would shake when you are tumbling due to fear, but the bread under your nostril is closer to the root and tighter to your skin, therefore won't tumble and move like the rest of the bread. However, when you are extremely scared, your breathing will become heavy and the air you exhale would move that part of the bread that normally wouldn't move.
Similar logic behind 怒得吹鬚睩眼 (So angry that your bread is being blown to move and your eyes grow big)


When is it appropriate to use 亲爱的? In English it perfectly fine in a business context and for someone you have never met before to use Dear XXXX at the beginning of a letter or email.

This causes some difficulty when moving to another language because 亲爱的 may have a slightly different connotation to the English "dear".

Rather than having answers that say "yes you can" or "no you can't", I would appreciate if you could split into the following:

When is it definitely OK
When should I use my own judgement as to whether its appropriate
When is it definitely not OK

Yes, "亲爱的" does indeed has a slightly different connotation to the English "Dear". It is not used as liberally in Chinese letters and emails. "亲爱的" expresses a closer relationship than "Dear" does. The following are situations where you may or may not use it:

When is it definitely OK:
you writing to your spouse
you writing to your lover
you writing to your parent(s)
you writing to your colleagues
an organization writing to its customers or patrons
an institution writing to its students
When should I use my own judgement as to whether its appropriate:
male writing to a male friend
male writing to a female friend
female writing to a male friend
male student writing to a female teacher (depending on relative age)
male apprentice writing to a female mentor (depending on relative age)
you writing to complete strangers
When is it definitely NOT OK:
male writing to a female acquaintance
male writing to a female colleague
job seeker writing to the human resource department of a company
anyone writing to higher authority

In business letters (公函), salutations (修饰词) such as "亲爱的" are seldom used as it is quite informal and personal. Instead, "尊敬的" may be used if the letter is addressed to a higher authority. However it is often dropped, sufficing with just a title to address the person:

  XXX先生

  XXX经理

For informal letters, "亲爱的" is appropriate if it is used to express closeness in a relationship. It could be written by an organisation. However, on a personal level, care has to be taken to avoid misunderstandings especially when the addressee is from the opposite sex.


How does 雲 + 朵 compound to mean 'your letter'? Neither compoud means 'your' or 'letter'. 雲 means 'cloud'. 朵's semantic field is:

Etymology 1
“Hanging from a tree” > “flower” > classifier for flowers.
Probably from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(d/n)waj (“to hang from; to cling to; creeper”), whence Burmese တွယ် (twai, “to cling”). May be related to 垂 (OC *djol, “to hang down”), 橢 (OC *l̥ʰoːlʔ, “oblong; oval”) (Schuessler, 2007; STEDT).
Also compare Proto-Mon-Khmer *kt₂uur (“ear”) (Schuessler, 2007).

朵雲 - Wiktionary

(literary, honorific) your letter

雲朵 - Wiktionary

cloud; cloud mass
(literary, honorific) your letter

In Chinese, 「朵」 is a measure word for both flowers and clouds; this measure word does not have an equivalent in English. 「朵」 is (for example) analogous to cup in cup of coffee; a phrase like 「五朵雲」 is translated idiomatically to English as five clouds, but broken down as

  five 「朵」 of clouds

just like

  five cups of coffee

「朵雲」 refers to the personal signature of a Tang Dynasty duke named 韋陟, son of 韋安石. It is said that when the duke signed off his letters, he wrote his personal name, 「陟」, with an elegant flourish that made it appear as if it was drawn as five clouds.

This signature was admired so much by the duke's contemporaries, that 「朵雲」 became a fancy dub, or an elevated or honorary way of saying, your letter; that is,

  your letter is so elegant and beautiful that it's as if it was signed off by 韋陟 himself, complete with the flourishing five-cloud signature.

See the 《漢語大詞典》 entry on 「朵雲」 and 「郇公五雲體」.


What's the subject of 好像找到了? I found a short sentence on tatoeba.org and I'm not exactly sure what it means.

  好像找到了。

My best guess is that it means, "Seems like you found it." Is that right?

This sentence has no subject. In Chinese, it's sometimes acceptable to leave out the subject if it's obvious from the context (some sentences are better analysed without using the concept of subject altogether, but that's a bit out of topic). So, in this case, it's difficult to translate directly to English since the English version would need a subject. In this case, I would say it's very likely that the subject is "我“ simply because "我好像找到了" makes more sense than other alternatives.


What is the motivation for the use of 把 or 将？ Chinese is a language without case markings on words, but it does make some steps in that direction. It sometimes marks what in some languages would be an accusative or oblique case noun with 把/将 and leaves it in front of the verb. What is the motivation for this? Speech rhythm? Effect? Emphasis? I believed all such sentences could be rewritten without 把, but maybe this one can't?

那时戏剧界有一种很不好地风气，就是把戏剧当成一种时髦。

As far as I know, 当成 means  'regard as, treat as, consider as' if a person is mentioned, or 'regarded as, treated as, considered as' if a person is not mentioned, which implies a third party regarding 1 object as something else, here '戏剧‘ as ‘时髦’

Therefore, '，就是把戏剧当成一种时髦。' is a passive construction, neither '戏剧‘ nor '时髦‘ are regarding anything, a person is doing that.

Theatre was regarded as a vogue.

Why would you say 1.'，就是把戏剧当成一种时髦。' rather than 2.‘，就是戏剧当成一种时髦。‘ We know 'theatre' cannot regard things, people do that.

Is 2. wrong?
 Can I rewrite 3. 你把我当成什么人? as '你当成我（为）什么人？ In 3. we see the 'regarder', 你， whereas in 1. the 'regarder' is not mentioned.

It is said that 把 marks the 'object' of a verb, in which case ，'把戏剧当成一种时髦' has 2 objects and no subject, so to speak, namely '戏剧‘ and '时髦‘。 The person or persons 'regarding' it are not mentioned.

However, even for me as a 老外， ‘就是当成戏剧一种时髦’ sounds terrible.
Maybe '就是人们当成戏剧为一种时髦‘ is acceptable.

Rule: When the regarder is not mentioned, fill the gap before the verb with 把X， where X is the thing regarded.

Does that account for this syntax??

it's a simulation of english grammar, after may fourth movement.

就是把戲劇當成一種時髦 is roughly:

that's, (就是) to treat (把) drama (戲劇) as (當成) a (一種) trendy things (時髦)

imo, modern days 白話文 is un-xxxx-able; using western (english?) grammar to write, or analyse written chinese is, well .... i'm not dare to say it openly.

personally, i read & write literary chinese as far as i can.

edited.

那時戲劇界有一種很不好地風氣，就是把戲劇當成一種時髦。

this sentence in literary chinese, it could be (there're ways to express the idea, here's just one of the attempt) written as:

時風澆薄﹒以戲為髦

that, the structure of "把 a 當成 b" is represented as "以ａ為ｂ"; so, the character "把" was seldom used in such situation.

But this use of 把 is not found in old Chinese texts from say 1000 years ago?

no, 把 was not used in such situation in the past; based on my experience.


日 and 月: Transition from pictographs to hanzi I've read an article discussing transition of pictographs for Sun and Moon to hanzi. It raised following questions, but left them unanswered:

Original pictographs for Sun is a circle with point in the center. What is the meaning of the point?
There were added two horizontal lines (splitting it approximately in thirds) during the transition of Moon pictograph to hanzi. What is the meaning of those two lines?

I've searched through web and I have found some explanations, but they don't seem authoritative enough to me (not to mention doubts I have). For the Sun, the only explanation I've found is that the point means sun spot. As for the Moon, explanation stated that those lines mean cloud covering the Moon.

Could someone give me an explanation or recommend a book covering this problems?

I'm afraid that an explanation in any book is probably just speculation. The two characters in question have probably been around as long as Chinese characters themselves.

This site (chineseetymology.org) is a very useful resource for tracing the history of Chinese characters. In particular, it appears that both 日 and 月 were sometimes also written without the extra line, as one would expect from a pictogram:

http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterImages/Oracle/J10000/j15800/j15869.gif
http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterImages/Oracle/J10000/j15800/j15887.gif

with line http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterImages/Oracle/J10000/j16400/j16449.gif
without line http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterImages/Oracle/J10000/j16400/j16459.gif

although 日 without the line is rare. (Check the entries of 日 and 月 for many more pictures. The history of these characters starts at least some 3000 years ago with the oracle bone script found at the bottom of the page.)

As for interpreting these pictures, 新漢和大辞典 writes the following

  月

  象形。三日月を描いたもので、まるくえぐったように、中が欠けていく月。
  Pictogram. A drawing of a crescent moon, waning as though being hollowed out.

  日

  象形。太陽の姿を描いたもの。
  Pictogram. A drawing of the shape of the sun.

In particular, no word about the line in 日.


When 马 is used as the left component (e.g. in 骑), does the 一 héng stroke change to ㇀ tí? I am thinking about the 马 character. I know that when you use 土 and 车 on the left in a composed character (like 地，场... and  较，辆 ...) the 3rd stroke in 土， and the 4th in 车 change from 一 héng to ㇀ tí.
My question is: does that change also apply to the 马 character when used as the left component, as in e.g. 骑?
Is there any website where the strokes are identified correctly in accordance with Chinese standards?
edited :  I finally found a website that gives the nature of strokes : https://www.archchinese.com/chinese_english_dictionary.html?find=%E9%A1%B9

According to 《通用规范汉字表》("General Standard Chinese Character Table"), "左部件或左上部件末笔为横的，应该变形为提"(The end stroke of the left part or the upper left part is horizontal character stroke(横), it should be changed upwards character stroke(提)). "骑" meets this condition. "马" is its lest part, the last stroke is horizontal character stroke. Other examples: 蛩, 柴, 鹭, 盐, 瞽.
Also, 左右都有其他构字单位的部件，因处在相对左侧的位置，其末笔为横的，也应变为提(if there are components of other character-forming units on the left and right, due to it's on the relatively left side, the last stroke is horizontal character stroke, so they should also be changed upwards character stroke, such as "鸿, 潋, 鼓, 街, 御"


What is the difference between 乘 and 坐? I'm confused about how or when to use 乘 and 坐 when discussing vehicles. It seems like you can say:

坐火车 or 乘火车
坐巴士 or 乘巴士
坐出租车 or 乘出租车

If these are interchangeable, what is the difference between the two, and when should you use them?

乘 = to board
坐= to sit (in)

坐火车= sit in a train (take seat on train )
乘火车= board a train
坐巴士= sit in a bus (take seat on bus)
乘巴士= board a bus
You can use '乘' , '坐' or '乘坐' when you take or ride any transportation that you can board and has seats.
~~
We use 騎 (mount/ ride) when the transportation has a saddle instead of seats. For example, horse and motorcycle.
騎馬 (mount/ ride horse)
騎摩托車 (mount/ ride motorcycle)


How does Rosa Lee's 0614 song relate to hyperbolas? I don't fathom why this popular Hong Kong mathematics author is discussing hyperbolas and the song lyrics discussed. How do they relate?

The song is called 0614 by Rosa Lee Ka Yee. My Chinese is too rudimentary, but I'm guessing that the song smacks of relationship and romance and longing for a partner?

The book is 數。妳。by W. L. LEE. I have pp 49-52 as shown below.

The hyperbola is probably related to a previous song mentioned in the text but not screen-captured.

The author is trying to talk about songs whose lyrics are related to mathematical concepts.


Is 请扫我的 an appropriate way ask the cashier to scan my phone for payment? In China nowadays, we mostly pay with things using our phones through 微信 (Wēixìn) = WeChat and 支付宝 (Zhīfùbǎo) = Alipay.  I often go to the shop, and get them to scan my phone for payment, whence I say:

  请扫我的
  qǐng sǎo wǒ de

I intend to mean "please scan my [phone]", leaving off 手机 (shǒujī) = phone for succinctness.  I want to check if this is suitable, and if not, what an appropriate alternative would be.

Question: Is 请扫我的 an appropriate way ask the cashier to scan my phone for payment?

Edit: corrected a typo (the original version had 清 instead of 请).

清扫我的
  qīng sǎo wǒ de

Has a few issues.

please is 请 qǐng and not 清 qīng
的 de is unnecessary here

请扫我 is okay but you're mostly likely leaving out essential information for the other person involved.

The person in charge of ringing you up usually wants to know if it is WeChat or Alipay that you are using. I believe they need to key something in on their registers before scanning you, I'm not totally sure but it always looks that way. The better way to aid the interaction would be for you to directly tell them method of payment you will be using. After they tell you the amount owed you can just say something like

好，支付宝哈
好，微信哈

Or you can change 哈 to whatever modal is popular in your vicinity.


Connotation of "May you live in interesting times" "May you live in interesting times" is well-known to be a Chinese curse (and this may even be true).

The English translation is interesting because, at least in the culture I was raised in, 'interesting' usually has a positive connotation, and so the phrase sounds like a blessing if you don't know what it's getting at.

I'm curious if the same is true in the original Chinese.

For those unfamiliar with the phrase, "interesting times" are times where interesting things happen like war, famine, unrest, et cetera.

I am a native chinese,and I had never ever heard or read this before you typed it.I cant get it...what does it mean?I mean there is on chinese would say that,it make no sense at all


Which pronunciation of 云 (yun) is correct? Google Translate has a different pronunciation of 云 (yun) than this website: https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/pronunciation/Yun

The Google Translate one sounds like more the Cantonese pronunciation of "far" whereas the other one is more like "yween".

Google Translate: https://translate.google.com/#en/zh-CN/cloud

Which is correct?

You can go to 汉典 to listen the sound files.

Both 拼音 and 注音 pronounce the same sound.

This is the correct one.


What is the original Mandarin translation for this proverb: "The wise man and the tortoise travel but never leave their home." I've seen the proverb "the wise man and the tortoise travel but never leave their home" online on quite a few websites:

https://www.kalimaquotes.com/quotes/10008/the-wise-man-and-the
https://www.wiseoldsayings.com/leaving-home-quotes/
http://www.listofproverbs.com/source/c/chinese_proverb/83267.htm

The proverb is attributed to being Chinese, but I can't find it on Baidu!
Does anyone know what the original Chinese for this lovely proverb?

“The wise man and the tortoise travel but never leave their home

There's no such proverb in Chinese.
The only one remotely similar to this 'proverb' in Chinese is 秀才不出門，能知天下事 (A talented person can know the world without going out)
I suspect whoever coined this 'proverb', heard it somewhere that there's a Chinese idiom expressing "a wise man doesn't need to leave home" and tried to be creative, made up a proverb comparing a wise man to a tortoise because both of them don't need to leave home.
The author missed the fact that it is 'a wise man doesn't need to leave home', not 'like a tortoise, a wise man doesn't leave his home'. A tortoise doesn't leave his home because he is carrying it at all times. The author didn't care a wise man doesn't carry his home with him, as long as they both don't leave home, they are comparable in his mind.
Another possible source of that 'proverb' maybe the Chinese idiom 運籌帷幄， 決勝千里 (strategizing in one's tent can win battles thousands of miles away). Which describes a wise commander who doesn't need to go outside to win a war.


What are the common phrases in sports when you win the score? Sportsmen use some phrases to encourage themselves during the game.

So what do Chinese sportsmen usually say when they win the score?

For example, in this video at 5:40, Ma Lin cried something like: "chu!... fa!"

Sometimes I hear 'dui' which I suppose most likely corresponds to "对！", is it also used to encourage themselves?

Either saying 加油 or 加油加油 in a faster speed is a way to express the encouragement to oneself or the others. Also 哈（hà）, 耶（ye, Enligh word Yeah）, 呵（hè） can express the excitement when you win the score.

Actually, "chu" and "fa" are just sound and no specific Chinese characters for the meaning you want.


Which radicals are used mostly just as phonetic? Some radicals do not seem to be commonly in use for their meaning, but only to convey pronunciation, as an answer to this question and many websearches revealed.
Is that true for many radicals?
Could you share a list, noting which radicals are no longer or rarely used for their original meaning, but just to convey a sound?

This is an interesting question.

Before I say anything I should warn you that I am not a linguist and some of my terminology could be off. Just to share some of my insight as a native Chinese speaker and hopefully you will find it helpful.

I think there's some information lost in translation.

There're two related, similar but not interchangeable concepts called 偏旁(偏 means partial, 旁 means on the side) and 部首(literally means "section header"). However they are both translated as "radical".

While they are both components of Chinese characters, there are differences. From their literal meaning, you can loosely think 偏旁 as a partially-formed 部首 placing on one side of a character. With that in mind, 部首s are mostly used for classification purpose (as in a dictionary) and 偏旁 are mostly used when talking about character structure and composition (as in this question). But don't worry about that too much, since many native Chinese speakers couldn't tell the difference all the time either.

Take 阜 and 阝for example, you can see right away that 阝is a simplified version of 阜, hence it's a partial (偏) form of 阜. You can put it on the left side of a character, as in 阴, 阳. As well as on the right side, as in 邓, 都, 部 (though in this case, 阝is short for 邑 instead). In both situations, they have no contributions to the characters pronunciation.

Some other examples:

水 and 氵
心 and 忄
金 and 钅

To sum it up, 偏旁s almost never convey phonetic information, while 部首s (in the context of character composition, not for classification) sometimes do. 偏旁s almost always have something directly to do with characters meaning, while 部首s only sometimes and indirectly do. So it's not an exact science.


六一 and short date format In a calendar I saw this in reference to the Children's Day:

  快乐“六一”
  Happy Children's Day!

I guess 六一 is a shorter form of 6月1日.

Is that form of writing dates only used for special dates? How widespread is that usage?

This form of abbreviation is only reserved for special dates. Some popular Chinese holidays take this abbreviated form:

六一 == 儿童节
十一 == 国庆节
五一 == 劳动节

Any date can potentially become "special" following a major event or incident that occurred on that date or for a short period of time surrounding the said date. The abbreviated form is, therefore, used to identify the event:

四一二讲话 the speech made on April 12th or the April 12th speech

This is predicated on the fact that the listener is fully aware of both the date and the event in question. The abbreviated form would be meaningless otherwise.

A dot, "·", may be added between the month and the day in writing, especially when there is a possible ambiguity:

一·二四 January 24th
一二·四 December 4th

The reading stays the same, however.


Is 在我们村里有一所中学 incorrect? My question is as the title. The English equivalent is: There is a middle school in our village.

I know the correct one is "我们村里有一所中学". But I think adding 在 at the beginning is also okay. So I am surprised when someone told me "在" shouldn't be there. Can anyone explain why?

Actually, "在我们村里有一所中学" is the equivalent Chinese expression of "There is a middle school in our village."

And the equivalent English expression of "我们村里有一所中学" should be "Our village have a middle school."

"在我们村里有一所中学" often used in written language, if you mean spoken language, "我们村里有一所中学" is more often used than "在我们村里有一所中学".


Sentence structure: V 还 V 不来 呢 I have come across this 还-based sentence structure and don't know what it implies. Here is an example:

中文：有人请你玩儿你还不去？ 这样的好事我盼还盼不来呢

英语：Somebody invited you over and you're not going?! Such a good offer, I... wouldn't imagine hoping for?

Not sure what V 还 V 不来呢 means. Also, I'm not sure if 来 belongs to the sentence structure, or if it is a separation of 盼来。 All 还 sentence structures I can find involve 还 V or 还 Adj, not a verb on both sides. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

V 还 V 不来呢 can mean out of someone's mind or out of someone's ability.

"有人" = someone

"請" can translate to invite , which means someone think you are capable to do or you are a great candidate.

Under the respondent assessment(feeling), he does not think this way, or respondent think chance just wont happen on himself.


The Phrase 朋友 vs 朋友们 Since Chinese nouns can be both singular and plural depending on context (i.e. 牙齿), what is the difference between 朋友 and 朋友们.
Example:

我有很多朋友
我给我的朋友们说
我给我的朋友说

朋友们 is always being plural, while 朋友 can be either plural or singular depending on the context.

我给我的朋友说 doesn't indicate if there is/are one/many friend(s).


What’s the difference between 円 and 月 as character components? What’s the difference between 円 and 月 as character components?

If we look at 青 and 靑.

The bottom of 青 is:

  月

and if we look at 靑, it's bottom is:

  円

靑 is said to be an 异体字 of 青 and zisea says that

  拼音qing1【青】的旧字型

just old form.

What’s the difference between 円 and 月 as character components?

円 and 月 are both graphical corruptions. The original form of the character did not have those components.

靑/青 was originally comprised of 屮 (sprouting plant) and 井, which gave the sound. The bronze script form looked like

In ancient scripts, 井 as a component was frequently interchanged with 丹. The graphical form of 丹 originated as 井 plus a small horizontal stroke in the middle. See, for example, the oracle bone forms

井:

丹:

In 靑/青, this happened as well:

On the bottom part, the form which came from 井 morphed to 月, while the form which came from 丹 morphed to 円.

Note that the top has actually been written with several similar components; you may find 青 variously written with 屮/生/木 on the top in ancient times. For clarification, the bronze script forms shown here actually contains 生, but 生 ultimately comes from 屮 with the addition of two horizontal strokes.


How do you say 直播 In English? As eveyone knows that 直播 is Live.
But in this sentence:
What are you doing tonight?
看直播.(Watch Live)

I think it's a little strange.

PS:I watch online live, such as douyu.

Most often, we use the term "stream" -- as in "I am going to watch Sccc's stream playing Dota 2 online" -> "我要看Sccc在网上的Dota 2 直播"

Broadcast is a more formal term used when the contents are broadcast onto a television or radio.


Why is 坑爹 such a popular word, and what exactly does it mean? Yes, it has to do with swindling; cheating. But why? What is the imagery or story behind this word, 坑爹?

坑-爹,literally, means 'to trap your father'. As a slang, it means 'to deceive someone'. Thus, if you speak, "这个手机很坑爹 'this phone very 坑爹'", that means 'this phone is of low quality'. It is very possible that you could have been deceived by a seller or producer. By so speaking, you treat the producer (liar) of this low-quality phone as your son, then you turn to become its father. In normal usage, the sex is in fact irrelevant even if 爹'father' canonically should be male. 爹 here can refer to any one who suffer from being deceived. As a result, 坑-爹 implies a cursing attitude towards someone. After all, to play someone's father implies to dominate or control it. No one likes to have extra fathers except for that physiologic father. So, 坑爹 should be cautiously used. Of note, this inference has become very weak.


Why is there both 另外 and 别 in the sentence 你还是另外找别人吧, and why does 另外 come before 找? The following example sentence is from the book 标准教程 HSK 4上 (p.32):

  最近小雨太忙了，没时间帮你，你还是[另外/另]找别人吧。

It means something to the effect of Recently Little Yu is too busy and has no time to help you, you had better find someone else.  It's an example of where either 另外 and 另 can be used.

However, I don't understand why 另外 (or 另) comes before 找 (are we searching again for help?), and I don't understand why we need both 另外 (or 另) and 别, which both mean another.

Question: Why is there both 另外 and 别 in this sentence, and why does 另外 come before 找?

It's a very hamfisted example of what the book is trying to illustrate -- that 另外 and 另 can both be used to modify a verb, but that 另 is restricted to modify only monosyllabic verbs.

To answer the first part of your question: 另外/另 before 找 because it is specifically modifying the verb 找 using 另外/另 (note that you cannot use 另 for non-monosyllabic words according to the book).

The second part of your question involves the meaning of 别, which here, I believe you should take into account that 别 attaches to 人， so that you have 别人 as one word meaning "another person" (or more specifically "a person that is not already been mentioned")

In that case, 另外 is modifying 找, emphasizing that it is an additional and different task to be done, whereas 别人 mentions another person. I feel like it means something along the lines of "you should rather (do the additional task of) finding another person"


Origin of word / term - 怪獸? While I understand the meaning of 怪獸 - Monster, it does not seems to be a word used in ancient time.  Moreover, it seems to be related to Japanese culture (kaij).  Is this term originate from Japan?

Although the current usage of 怪兽 is dominated by the Japanese 'kaiju' concept, the word is probably not a Japanese creation.

Sima Xiangru (司马相如) used it in one of his works, 封禅文 (2nd century BC):

  然后囿驺虞之珍群，徼麋鹿之怪兽，䆃一茎六穗于庖，牺双觡共抵之兽，获周馀珍、放龟于岐，招翠黄、乘龙于沼。

The modern word 怪兽 was probably reintroduced into Chinese by Japanese filmmaking, as this word only shows up in Chinese after the late 1930s, which coincides with the emergence of the Japanese kaiju movies.

Google Ngram and Wikipedia:


Is there a way to differentiate Kanji and Hanzi? eg 後樂園 is completely kanji but I thought it was a place in Taiwan until I looked it up and it was in Japan. Also what about reading it in the Chinese reading (hou le yuan) instead of the actual Japanese reading (korakuen)? I’m confused on cultural notes such as these

You can only differentiate Kanji and Hanzi by looking into the context. Most Japanese Kanji look exactly like Chinese Hanzi because they were copied from  Hanzi.

There are few unique Kanji that's coined by Japanese and not in use in Chinese. Those are called Kokuji. Kokuji are inspired by Hanzi, but not copied from, they can be easily identified as Japanese

Also, some Japanese characters are simplified different from the Mainland China's simplied Hanzi, but the non-simplified Kanji all look the same as traditional Chinese


What dialect/topolect is 凉薯 a part of? 《现代汉语大词典》defines 凉薯 as:

  方言。即豆薯。有的地方也叫地瓜。藤本植物, 花色浅蓝或白色, 结荚, 种子有毒, 块根像甘薯, 可食。

It was the 方言 part that threw me off here.

Baidu Baike just calls it a

  别称

other resources also just say something like:

  又名

I figured 凉薯 was just MSM but apparently it isn't.

What dialect/topolect is 凉薯 a part of? (if not Modern Standard Mandarin.)

According to Wiktionary:

柳州話 (Liuzhou Mandarin)
萍鄉話 (Pingxiang Gan)
南寧話 (Nanning Pinghua)
長沙話 (Changsha Xiang)
婁底話 (Loudi Xiang)

These topolects correspond to the areas highlighted in the light green circles above.


This string of characters: 如力士屈申臂頃 I'm looking through a text (SA 593, Buddhist scripture) and I encountered an absolutely puzzling string of characters:

作是念已，如力士屈申臂頃，於兜率天沒，現於佛前，稽首佛足

This is my best attempt (I am a nonprofessional amateur learner):
"Creating this [a?] view thereafter, thus warrior bend extend arm qing (a qing is a (small?) unit of measurement?), in/at/to/from Tuṣita deva end, manifest to [the] Buddha [in] front, prostrate [to] Buddha feet"

The line 如力士屈申臂頃 is very very strange, I think it almost definitely has a foreign loanword in it rendered phonetically into Chinese characters irrespective of their Chinese meaning, but I do not yet know what this loanword would be.

EDIT: the context to this is someone deciding to visit the Buddha.

作是念已，如力士屈申臂頃，於兜率天沒，現於佛前，稽首佛足

他有了這個想法後，有如壯漢彎曲再伸直手臂的頃刻，在兜率天隱沒，並出現於佛陀之前，頂禮佛足。

After he had this thought, as fast as a strong man bent and straightened the arm, disappeared in Tuṣita Heaven, appeared in front of the Buddha, and bowed the Buddha's feet.

如力士屈申臂頃 describes the speed is very fast or the period is very short.
屈 and 申(伸) are two different movements.
屈臂 means to bend the arm.
伸臂 is to straighten the arm.
A strong man does not need much time to do these movements.
Therefore, 如力士屈申臂頃 can be interpreted as "as fast as a strong man bent and straightened the arm".


Mandarin equivalent of 返 in Cantonese? Is it 回? In Cantonese, one of the ways 返 is used is to express "return" or "back". What word in Mandarin is the best equivalent to it? Would it be 回?

Here are the examples - not sure if the translation is correct.

Ex. 我要還返本書俾佢 -> 我要还回本书给他 (I need to return a book to him)

Ex. 走之前記住攞返鎖匙 -> 走之前记住拿回钥匙 (before you leave, remember to get your keys)

Thanks for any help.

As a verb particle, the Mandarin equivalent of 返 in Cantonese is indeed 回

俾返你一啲好處(C) = 給回你一點好處 (M) = give you back some benefit

Edit:

First, the term 還返 is uniquely Cantonese, "我要還返本書俾佢" in Mandarin would just be "我要还本书给他".
Second, 本 is a classifier without determiner or count word, it  is normal in Cantonese, but in Mandarin, you should not omit the determiner or count word; you should write "我要还(這)本书给他" or "我要还(一)本书给他"
Finally, you can omit the classifier along with the determiner and write "我要還書俾佢" / "我要还书给他


"真的" vs "真地" to mean "really" "真的太可爱了" has 3,930,000 results on Google. "真地太可爱了" has only 17,500. Why do we use 真的 instead of 真得? I thought that 地 is used to connect an adjective and connect it with a verb, while 的 is only used for connecting a noun with an adjective or another noun. Is it possible that "真的太可爱了" is more common just because that it what is suggested by input methods?
https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/2156/ has a comment "An interesting phenomenon, many 地 are replaced by 的 in China, TV, book, newspaper, everywhere"
I took a look at https://www.guancha.cn/DuZheZhiSheng/2013_04_18_139488.shtml and was still quite confused about the matter.

As the others' answers and comments have pointed out, the most common written form of this phrase is 真的, even when it is used as an adverb. 真地 is rarely seen, and may even be considered "weird" or "incorrect".
Wiktionary lists 真的 (with this particular written form) as both an adverb and an adjective (真的 - Wiktionary), and doesn't have a page for 真地.
In 《现代汉语八百词》(Eight Hundred Words in Modern Chinese), editor-in-chief 吕叔湘(Lü Shuxiang), the entry of 真 is as follows:

...

c) 修饰动词、形容词以带‘的’为常。（我真的要走，不骗你 | 他真的不想去 | 你真的有意见？ | 事情真的很顺利 | 昨天来的真是老李吗？）
d) ‘真的’修饰全句，可用在主语前，后面有停顿。（真的，手术后恢复的比别人都快 | 真的，我们厂今年提前两个月完成了全年计划）

...

c) Usually with "的" when modifying verbs or adjectives. (I'm really going to go, no kidding | He really doesn't want to go | Do you seriously have an opinion on this? | things went really well | Was it really Li who came yesterday?)
d) "真的" can modify the whole sentence. It can be used before the subjective with a following pause. (Really, [dropped subjective] recovered faster than all the other people after the operation | I'm serious! Our factory accomplished our annual goal two weeks before the year ends this year)

The use of 真的 but not 真地 as an adverb is (almost) uncontroversial, but also, on the surface, a blatant outlier of the usual 得-的-地 distinction rules taught in schools. So try and consider this a convention that doesn't conform to these rules. musialmi's comment is right: it can be considered as a two-character adverb that happens to contain the character 的. 真地, on the other hand, is not used, or even if it used, it was probably because of hyper-correction influenced by 得-的-地.

[I'll digress a little in this paragraph and talk about another issue that musialmi brought forth in their comment. Probably not all people will agree with musialmi on 十分的. Words like 十分, 非常, 相当 are adverbs of degree; it is yet universally agreed upon whether it should be 的 or 地 when you want to add a de modifier after them. Both 非常地 and 非常的, for example, can be seen in literary works. In this case, if you don't want to be nitpicked by grammar police, sticking with 地 would be a safer approach, because "地 for adverbials" is agreed by mostly everyone (again, there are exceptions like 真的太可爱了). But more natural will be not putting a de modifier after an adverb of degree at all (十分地/的有趣 → 十分有趣), because words like 十分 or 相当 don't need one.]


Resource request: Hainanese dictionaries What are the available Hainanese (海南話) dictionaries? In particular, dictionaries of the Wenchang (文昌) dialect. If those are not available, dictionaries of the Haikou (海口) dialect are also fine.

If not mistaken, the government in Guangdong once published a series of dictionaries of the languages of Guangdong, including Cantonese, Hakka, and Hainanese. However, I don't remember the name of the series. (EDIT: I was mistaken. I was thinking about Guangdong Romanization (廣東拼音方案) for Cantonese, Hakka, Hainanese, and Teochew)

The 海口方言词典 (Haikou Topolect Dictionary) is the go-to for Hainanese dictionaries. Part of the venerable 现代汉语方言大词典 (Great Dictionary of Modern Chinese Dialects) series, it was published in 1996, and can be accessed in libraries around the world. The transcription of sounds is done in IPA with Chao tone letters.

For Wenchang specifically, there is the 方言 chapter of the 文昌县志 (Wenchang Annals, I suppose), published in 2000 and also found in libraries. The related dialect of Qionghai is also recorded in part 25 of its Annals (琼海县志).

Otherwise you will have to glean vocabulary items from scientific journals and websites. E.g. the 海南闽语的语音研究, a study from 2006.


What is 前源? If not the 'spring ahead'? Here are some random sentences

海上画派的前源是以董其昌为代表的松江画派。
他在师从鲁风老师的同时，亦在不停的上溯花鸟画艺术的前源，寻找滋养，丰盈自我素养，这就使其花鸟画作品逐步凸显出章法的大开大合，用笔则更加强化了 ...
... 也就是说，商代后期的殷墟文化应当另有其本土前源。

I'm thinking it is some art term that I'm not familiar with.
It certainly is not the same as the 前源 that appears in《望梅止渴》, which just means the spring ahead...
so what is it?

In this sentence:

前源 = original source/source ahead

so it translates to ...originated from...

前源 in 望梅止渴 doesn't necessarily mean spring ahead, because 源 in 望梅止渴 is 水源(water source). So 前源 in 望梅止渴 means 前面的水源(water source ahead), where source is the definition of 源.

It could be anything, for example Japanese Kanji的前源是Chinese Hanzi.


How can I use 这么/那么 properly? Both 这么 and 那么 mean "so" or "such" (among other meanings). For example:

  你这么高，你这个男朋友是不是矮了点儿?

In these contexts, is there any difference if you replace 这么 with 那么?

Also, generally is there any difference between 这么 and 那么, and how can I use it properly?

[这么 + adjective] = [this + adjective] referring to something close by

[那么 + adjective] = [that + adjective] referring to something that is not close by

你这么高，means "you are this tall" (talk about here and now)
你那么高，means "you are that tall" (talk about a situation not in the present)

For example, the reason you were accepted into the basketball team is because you were that tall

你这个男朋友是不是矮了点儿? "Isn't this boyfriend of yours a little bit too short?" (the boyfriend is either right there with them or they are referring him as the object of discussion in front of them)
你那个男朋友是不是矮了点儿? "Isn't that boyfriend of yours a little bit too short?" (the boyfriend is not right there with them)

'this tall'  and 'that tall' can be replaced by 'so tall'


What does 怎么不是司机不是娃呢 mean? The literal meaning seems to be :

How could it not be a driver not a baby ?

I presume it has another meaning.

Any ideas ?

It all comes to how Russian names (and maybe names in Slavic languages in general?) often end with 斯基(-sky) for males and 娃(-va) for females in their Chinese translations. For example:

Tchaikovsky 柴可夫斯基
Sharapova 莎拉波娃

and I'm sure you can find other similar names, either that of real-life persons or fictional characters.

And so it becomes a somewhat well-known wordplay/pun that there are only two types of people in Russia - 司机 (drivers) since it's a homophone of 斯基, both pronounce as sījī (si1 ji1), and 小孩 (kids) since it's basically what 娃 means in Chinese. And when you put it that way, it's kind of funny, so people remember this joke.

Now back to the original question, 怎么不是司机不是娃呢, it means: How could someone neither be a -sky nor a -va? But of course, if translated this way, the humor in it is lost.

By the way, I imagine playing jokes with other people's name can be disrespectful in the eye of some people/culture. However, it's unlikely the speaker had any bad intention. If you find this rude or if it makes you uncomfortable, you should respectfully tell the speaker to stop making this kind of joke, and tell them how you feel. We can all be careless sometimes when interacting with a person from a different cultural background. I'm sure any respectable person will be more careful upon your request (or, at the very least, you will see the kind of person they are).

If you are not a Russian or you don't mind though, feel free to ignore this section.


Useful sites/services/resources/tools for learning Chinese As discussed on Meta, I think it would be great to have a collection of sites and resources for learning Chinese, so that we can all benefit from the sites, services and resources that other members find.

Please feel free to add any site or resource you think would be of value to all members of the site.

And also, to any of the mods, please turn this question into a community wiki. Thanks!

Singchinesesongs.com

Sing Chinese Songs is a site where you can listen to Chinese music, hovering over the characters of the lyrics you can see the corresponding pinyin/meaning (as shown in the image).


What is the difference between 很, 十分 and 非常? What is the difference between 很, 十分 and 非常? Or do they have the same meaning?

很 = very

很 謝謝 你 = Thank you very much
你 很 厲害 = You are very good.

非常 = 十分 = extremely

十分/非常 謝謝 你
你 十分/非常 厲害

Word by word:

非-常 = extra-ordinary, ab-normal
十分 = 100 percent


Are there other similar Mandarin Chinese radio plays? I used to listened to this Buddhist stories radio play (空中结缘） some time ago. It's aired weekly by RTHK/香港电台 and apart from the recitations from Buddhist scriptures, I think the dialog parts are pretty good for learners of Chinese, the stories are entertaining and there are plenty of them, so I thought I would share the feed link with you:

http://podcast.rthk.hk/podcast/pchances.xml

(It also has a Cantonese version, in case someone is interested).

There was another radio play podcast broadcast by a Singaporean radio station running under the title 麻达一郎 (Mada Yilang, a Japanese name), which was about a Japanese criminal police investigation, also a nice one. Unfortunately it seems to be completely removed from the website (xin.msn.com). Has anyone by any chance heard of it or knows where to download it from again? I would highly recommend it those who are intermediate learners of Mandarin， if only I still knew where the files are hosted.
Are there any good quality Mandarin language radio plays you know of and would recommend it to practice Chinese?

**

Try 新闻酸菜馆

For some reasons, mainland Chinese do not have much existence on podcast, but you can find tons of fine broadcasts on another app, 荔枝FM (you have to search in Chinese with that though.).


Chinese equivalent of "I can honestly say..." Is there a Chinese equivalent of "I can honestly say".

It's a rather colloquial expression, and I was wondering if there were something equivalent in Chinese to convey the same earnestness of the expression, "I can honestly say..."

  I can honestly say I did my best.

I could try for a literal translation, but I want something that a native speaker would say, not Chinglish (or whatever the Chinese equivalent is called :P please comment if you know!).

Below all are fine.

(1)坦白說,...
(2)老實說,...
(3)坦白講,...
(4)老實講,...
(5)說[老]實話...
(6)說真心話...
(7)[我]打從心底說...
(8)[我]敞開心房[向你]傾訴 (more literal, less colloquial)

+我已經盡[全]力了

or

+我已經做到最佳(表現,etc).

If you are writing a formal letter or convey in a more literal way, you may say,

我已付諸全力(+以赴).


Using 当然 as an exclamation? I'm wondering...

To answer someone's question as to whether something is so or not, can you simply reply, "of course it is!" just as we do in English?

Example:
Can you swim？ (你会游泳吗？）
Of course I can swim! (As in, that's a ridiculous question). (当然啊！）

Thanks in advance!

Yes.
In fact, you can use any word as an exclamation, especially in speech. I'm not aware of any language where this is ungrammatical. Example:

Q: What's your favourite Chinese word?
A: 当然！


Capitalization in Chinese Many languages have uppercase and lowercase forms. English for example has lowercase a and uppercase A. Letters written in uppercase are known as being capitalized. Chinese, also, does have a form of "capitalization".

Numbers for example are considered to have lowercase and uppercase, uppercase numbers zero to ten including the following common characters:

  零、壹、贰、叁、肆、伍、陆、柒、捌、玖、拾

What other forms of capitalization, or uppercase, exist in Chinese?

Those are numerical variant characters used on checks and similar document in order to prevent falsification.

There is no such thing as cased characters in Chinese, although case of course occurs when using Pinyin for transliteration.

You should also realize that ”uppercase” is the original form of Roman characters, whereas the minuscules were later added for easier reading. The term case comes from the literal cases where the printed types were stored: majuscules in the upper, minuscules in the lower.


How to understand “有理数贯逼近实数”？ In this article, the phrase “有理数贯逼近实数” is used (see the second last paragraph). How to understand this phrase?

"有理数" = rational numbers
"数贯" = (numerical) sequence (obsolete, the more conventional term nowadays is "数列")
"逼近" = literally, "to approach", "to get close to"； mathematically, "to approximate"
"实数" = real numbers

Therefore, "有理数贯逼近实数" means "using a sequence of rationals to approximate (a) real", so this sounds like something similar to a Cauchy sequence.

In context of this article, it is probably that Hua Loo-Keng was giving a lecture on the construction of real numbers using Cauchy sequences (likely in a real analysis course), and he introduced continued fractions (连分数) in the context of that.

Disclaimer: I am a native Chinese (Mandarin) speaker with a reasonable amount of knowledge of mathematics (but I am not a professional mathematician).


When does 木 as a character component get detached legs? Is there any discernible rule concerning whether 木 as a component of a character has attached legs (as in 李) or has detached legs (as in 新)? Worse, this seems to vary from country to country.

To start off,「木」is not supposed to have detached legs and end up looking like「朩」. In one of the most stringent glyph standards, Kangxi Dictionary style Ming (Serif), if the Shuowen small seal shape contains「木」, then it does not have detached legs.

This is for glyph shape fidelity reasons, and conversely, if it has detached legs, you can be certain that, at the very least, the Kangxi Dictionary didn't think that it came from the component「木」.

Of course, this sometimes doesn't turn out correctly, as with ancient characters which were no longer used, such as「亲」and characters which use it as a component.

For reference,「亲」(hazel tree) is a variation of「」, and is constructed from semantic「木」and phonetic「辛」. This word is now written as「榛」.
西周金中伯壺集成9668篆木部說文解字臺標楷　臺標隸定

Detached legs on「木」are strictly an invention from calligraphy, and overwhelmingly occur on the bottom of characters:

Thus, all character shapes directly affected by calligraphy, including those set by government standards, will have a chance of containing「木」appearing with detached legs. This is purely a shape phenomenon - it has nothing to do with the language.

Characters which are affected by calligraphy are:
(1) The Taiwanese MoE standard, which actively prescribes writing「木」on the bottom as「朩」, and this effect has bled into their print fonts.

(2) PRC's regularised cursive shapes

But I guess it is arguable whether regularised cursive is appropriate for any kind of character shape analysis.


Historical Question, Possible Wade-Giles, Sichuan river name I am currently reading an entomologists diaries from the late 19th Century - A.E. Pratt. He travelled Sichuan Province and published his journal, To the Snows of Tibet through China, in 1892. Pratt keeps referring to the Tung River; however, I can find no corresponding river, today.

There are a couple of problems, the first being that names change frequently throughout the frontier's particularly turbulent pre-modern history.

Pratt mentions Fu-lin (which I am assuming is modern day Fuling which he also mentions). Pratt mentions the Yangtse by name, so the Tung is not the Yangtse on which Fuling sits.

So, here is my question: assuming Pratt was using somthing akin to Wade-Gile's system of romanization, what would the pinyin equivalent be, i.e. I can't remember what "T" is in Wade-Giles? Is anyone aware of the Tung?

Tung river is the translation of 銅河, it's called 大渡河 (Dadu river) now.

On page 127 of the "to the snows of tibet through china", it was written:

  . . . Lu-ting-chiao, which is built on both banks of the Tung River, . . .

Well, Lu-ting-chiao is 瀘定橋.

BTW, there's a map on page 353, you may compare it with other source :)

Another interesting book about tibet, thanks :)