Why is the Pinyin for 波 bo1 not buo1? And why is 多 duo1 instead of do1? Recently I started to learn Pinyin. The system is relatively easy to follow but some ambiguity does exist. For example, I found the usage of finals o and uo confusing: why the Pinyin for 波 is bo1, not buo1? and 多 is duo1 instead of do1? Would appreciate if someone could give the reason for such usage.

For all practical purposes, you can think of this as a spelling convention. The finals are pronounced the same, even if all finals are to some extent influenced by the preceding initial.
In Pinyin, there is (almost) no overlap between these two spellings, so any given initial that can be followed by -uo can never be followed by -o and vice versa.
The actual pronunciation is arguably also identical, even though this always sparks emotional arguments when mentioned to native speakers with no training in phonetics (they typically claim that there's an obvious difference). This could be either because they are influenced by orthography (the way the word is spelt influences how they perceive it) or that the coarticulation going on with the preceding syllable in combination with the spelling makes them take note of the difference more than they otherwise would have. The phenomenon that spelling influences how native speakers pronounce words is not uncommon, see for example this list on Wikipedia for examples when this happens in English.
In many narrow transcriptions of Mandarin syllables (such as the one in Duanmu San's The Phonology of Chinese (2007) or Lin Yen-Hwei's The Sounds of Chinese (2007), the -uo and -o finals are transcribed exactly the same way: [ᵂoo], e.g. [pᵂoo] for bo and [tᵂoo] for duo.
This means that the sound is treated as a glide, which in one case gets its own letter in Pinyin, but in the other cases (after b, p, m and f) is merely implied.
I don't know the historical reason for this, though. If you listen to the syllables spelt with only -o, there's a clear glide in there, which is also easy to see if you look at spectrograms in e.g. Praat.
Finally, I said at the beginning that there is almost no overlap between these finals. That's because we do have both wo (which could be thought of as uo) and o, which are clearly different sounds. Since none of these have a normal initial, maybe you could say there's overlap, even though they are spelt differently.
However, while the first is very common (e.g. 我), the second is very rare and could be argued to not be a standard syllable at all. It's normally only used for modal particles like 喔.
I have done several projects that involve recording native speaker audio for all possible syllables in Mandarin, and most recorders (educated native speakers) don't know what to do with o or simply read it as wo, further hinting that this is not a normal syllable.
For a clear distinction, check the Pinyin chart over at Chinese Pronunciation Wiki.
Possibly, lo also follows this pattern, which would create an overlap with luo, but then again, lo is used in a similar way to o and not really as a full syllable. It should be abundantly clear that bo, po, mo, fo are not pronounced as lo or o, further indicating that it's mostly about spelling.
I have answered several similar questions here and have collected other potential tricky Pinyin issues here: A guide to Pinyin traps and pitfalls: Learn Mandarin pronunciation.
References:

Duanmu, S. (2007). The phonology of standard Chinese. Oxford University Press.
Lin, Y. H. (2007). The Sounds of Chinese. Cambridge University Press.


Is there a standard for how wildcards are dealt with in dictionaries? 《广安方言与民俗词典》has the following entry:

  【老+姓氏】

  生活中常以姓氏加“老”字进行称呼，是为尊称，如“老李”、“老王”、“老杨”等。旧时，民间还对某些姓氏有雅称、戏称、讳称等，如：老牌—指王姓。为讳称“帝王”之王，而从“王牌”的牌谐音排，故称之为“老牌”。又因“王”字有三横，“横”、“恒”同音，故又称为老恒。老乱—指李姓。因方言中有“理乱”一词，意为乱七八糟，又“理”、“李”同音，故称姓李者为“老乱”。老推—指宋姓。因方言中“宋”与“耸”同音，耸有推之意，故讳称为“老推”。老跳—指张姓。因“张”与“獐”同音，獐子爱跳，故称之为老跳。老顺—指刘姓。因方言中“刘”与“流”同音，流有二流、下流之意，故取“流水顺江河”之褒义，称之为“老顺”。老摆—指余姓。因“余”、“鱼”同音，叫“老余”会误会为“老鱼”或“牢狱”，四川方言中称鱼为“鱼摆摆”，故称姓余的为“老摆”或“摆尾子”。老拱—指朱姓。因“猪”、“朱”同音，为避免称别人“老朱”误听成“老猪”而不敬，故称之为“老拱”或“老甩”。因为猪常用嘴拱东西，猪尾老是甩动。老弯—指龚姓。因“公”、“龚”同音，如喊“老龚”，会误会为“老公”，自己觉得吃亏。又因“龚”与“弓”同音，方言中“弓”与“弯”同义，如弓腰驼背，故叫姓龚者为“老弯”。老威—指邓姓。四川方言中“邓”、“炖”同音，炖是煨的意思，又“煨”、“威”同音，故称姓邓的为“老威”。老硬<èn>—指石姓。因石头较硬，故称老硬。老咸—指颜姓。因“颜”、“盐”同音，盐是咸的，故称为老咸。老焦—指胡姓。因“胡”、“煳”同音，“煳”与“焦”同义，四川方言中有“焦煳”一词，故称姓胡的为“老焦”。老粉—指白姓。因方言中“白”、“伯”同音，叫“老白”会误听为“老伯”，觉得自己吃亏，于是称之为“老粉”。老凋—指谢姓。因“凋谢”一词，故称老谢为“老凋”。又因花会凋谢，故又称谢姓人为“老花”。老混—指孟姓。因“孟”、“梦”同音，梦总是昏昏然，故讳“梦”而称老孟为“老混”。老猫—指虎姓。四川人常将虎称为猫，叫人为“老虎”显得太凶煞，故讳“虎”而叫“老猫”。老耍—指龙姓。龙灯是用来耍的，故讳“老龙”或“牢笼”而称之为“老耍”。老补—指冯姓。因“冯”、“缝”同音，缝补常连用，故称之为“老补”。老叉—指任姓。因称之为“老任”会误为“老人”，被人占便宜，而“叉叉”表“某某”，故称姓任为“老叉”。老传—指傅姓。因叫“老傅”与“老父”同音，被人占便宜。又因“傅”与“傳”形相近，师傅是传道授业的，转而称呼为“老傳”。传为傳的简化字。老软—指何姓。因“何”、“河”同音，河水是软的，故名。老浮—指陈姓。因“陈”与“沉”同音，船工特别忌讳，反其意而用之，称之为“老浮”。

I'm wondering if there's an official/standard way to take care of wildcards in dictionaries?

老+姓氏 is okay in theory - but perhaps there is a better alternative (老X姓氏、老*姓氏、老N姓氏...etc).

The plus sign "+" is not a wildcard character. "姓氏" is.

"老" is literal in this context. "+" is a concatenation operator. "姓氏" is a variable, and is supposed to be replaced with an actual family name.  Therefor “老+姓氏” may refer to "老张", "老李", "老王", ..., but not "老blahblah姓氏"

Unfortunately not all dictionary writers learn programming, so concepts like "variables" would be foreign to them.  Even programming books in English struggle to typeset literals and variables differently.  I guess the book 《广安方言与民俗词典》 covers a much wider range of knowledge than barely syntactic patterns, thus the author may not make too much effort typesetting wildcards nicely, as long as the reader can understand what he/she means from the context.


What does 前方高能 mean? I think 能 might be misspelled, it might have been 熊, otherwise it doesn't make sense. But still "There is a tall bear ahead" is not good enough to get across, what does it really mean?

https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%89%8D%E6%96%B9%E9%AB%98%E8%83%BD

前方高能一般认为最早出自《机动战士高达》系列。指宇宙舰队在太空行军过程中为了安全，会时刻对前方的宇宙空间进行能量侦测。若有高能量反应，则及时规避。
而在各ACGN弹幕网的视频弹幕中经常会出现“前方高能”之类的弹幕，则是预示接下来会出现激烈的内容或画面。

It is apparently a Japanese phrase commonly seen in Japanese anime.

"Front high-energy" is generally considered the earliest from the "Mobile Suit Gundam" series. Refers to the space battle ships (or mobile suits) travel in space, for safety reason, will always sweep for high energy reactions. If detected a high energy reaction, The pilot can decide to take evasive action or prepare to engage enemy.
In the videos from ACGN network.  The message  "前方高能" (High energy reaction detected in front) would often appear on screen. Whenever it does, the two enemies are in a collision course, intense battle will begin shortly.

Nowadays, they also use this phrase to announce upcoming exciting sequence of all kinds, not just for battle


What is the name of this tonal marking system? What is the name of this tonal marking system?

please do not try to explain the picture - the picture is clear enough itself.

It's called 发圈法.
《内江市志 方言》：

here it says:

标调用传统的四角发圈法

so we have (四角)发圈法
百度百科：发圈法

发圈法
发圈法，是指一种标记声调的方法。
能够独立区别意义的调值的类别称为调类。调类可以从共时角度编号并命名，也可以参考历时因素命名。
汉语方言的调类系统大多与中古汉语的平、上、去、入四声系统和声母的清浊系统有对应关系，通常根据这种历时对应关系来定调名：与平上去入四声对应的调类，今调名仍称平上去入；与中古清声母对应的调类今称阴调，与中古浊声母对应的调类今称阳调。

and
百度互动百科 says:

标记声调的一种方法。
能够独立区别意义的调值的类别称为调类。调类可以从共时角度编号并命名，也可以参考历时因素命名。汉语方言的调类系统大多与中古汉语的平、上、去、入四声系统和声母的清浊系统有对应关系，通常根据这种历时对应关系来定调名：与平上去入四声对应的调类，今调名仍称平上去入；与中古清声母对应的调类今称阴调，与中古浊声母对应的调类今称阳调。
用这种命名法命名的调类系统可以用发圈法标记，中国传统语音学是用附加在汉字的四角的四个半圆来表示；如果因古声母清浊影响而产生了声调分化，则在因受古浊声母影响而形成的调类号下加短横，这样，四个声调就变成八个。具体方法是：在音节或汉字的四角用带缺口的小圈标记，从左下角开始，按顺时针方向依次为阴平、阴上、阴去、阴入，相应的阳调则在小圈下加短横线表示。例如：
阴平: 【半圆在左下】（诗 阴上: 【半圆在左上】（使 阴去: 试）【半圆在右上】 阴入: 识）【半圆在右下】


How do I answer 这是哪儿? I'm confused about answering 这是哪儿. Should I answer directly and say that this is a restaurant, or if I should give a general answer and say this is Utica, if someone asks me that question？

It really should depend on the context. Note that "Where am I?" has similar ambiguity in English.

For instance, if I'm at a shop and speaking to someone on the phone who wants to know where I am, and I ask the shopkeeper 这是哪里？, it's expected for the name of the shop (or its location) to be given. This might also hold if I am on the street.

Comparatively, in some cases, I might want less specific information. If someone is bringing me into an unfamiliar store, I might instead expect the answer to indicate what type of store I am in. If I have been driving long distances and have just stopped, I might expect 这是哪里？ (if asked by a passenger I am carrying) to be about what town I am in, not what road I am on.


Tone of 竟 and 境 in Mandarin and Cantonese 竟 and 境 are both read ging2 in Cantonese, which usually corresponds to a third tone syllable in Mandarin (as is the case for 警, which is ging2 in Cantonese and jing3 in Mandarin).

However, both of them end up as jing4 in Mandarin. This table which gives sound correspondences from the Middle Chinese tones indicates it should be in tone class 3, but the Mandarin reflex is not third tone as expected.

點解呢? (为什么呢?)

As your linked table indicates, the Middle Chinese 陰上 tone generally corresponds to Cantonese tone 2 and Mandarin tone 3, so it is indeed curious that you see both words having tone 4 in Mandarin, which typically corresponds to Middle Chinese 去 tones or 陽上 tones where the syllable onset is an obstruent (全濁聲母).

Looking up the characters in the Kangxi Dictionary 《康熙字典》 appears to hint at a possible explanation:

  竟

  【廣韻】【韻會】【正韻】居慶切，音敬。窮也，終也。

  From the Guangyun, Yunhui, and Zhengyun: Initial of 居; final and tone of 慶; pronounced 敬. Means limit, final.

  【集韻】舉影切，音景。與境同，界也。

  From the Jiyun: Initial of 舉; final and tone of 影; pronounced 景. Means the same as 境, boundary.

  境

  【唐韻】【正韻】居影切。

  From the Tangyun and Zhengyun: Initial of 居; final and tone of 影.

  【集韻】【韻會】舉影切，音景。

  From the Jiyun and Yunhui: Initial of 舉; final and tone of 影; and pronounced 景.

  [BTW, if you're wondering what  is, it's a variant of 並.]

The entry for 境 indicates that it has a 上 tone (since 影 and 景 both have 上 tones), as expected; however, it also indicates that the pronunciation of 竟 in its primary meaning has a 去 tone (since 慶 and 敬 both have 去 tones).  Only when 竟 is used as a substitute for 境 is it pronounced with a 上 tone.

From this, we should expect that 竟 is pronounced ging3 in Cantonese and jing4 in Mandarin and that 境 is pronounced ging2 in Cantonese and jing3 in Mandarin; however, because 竟 can be used as a substitute for 境, perhaps their tones ended up getting mixed up, with Cantonese settling on ging2 and Mandarin settling on jing4 for both characters?  This is purely speculation on my part, but I haven't found any other sources that explain this.


How to pronounce the “的” in “他妈的”? How usually native chinese speaker pronounce the “的” orally in “他妈的”? Is it "Ta Ma De" or "Ta Ma Di"?

The only correct answer is "TA MA DE".

This is the equivalent version of "F**K" in Chinese. I never hear people pronounce as "Di".

Thinking it in other way, it will be too soft and feminine if it's pronounced as "Di". It supposed to be strong and speak with hatred.


When do the tones change? Sometimes, in certain combinations of tones or words, the tones change. Where can I find a complete list of all tone changes that occur in Mandarin?

Complete rule of tones change is not a simple subject which can be understood just b a list. But there is a simple one I think might be suitable for you. http://www.trinity.edu/sfield/chin1501/ToneChange.html

Plus, if you are a foreigner who want learn Chinese without academic purpose, I think it's enough since many Chinese cannot use tones change complete correctly.


Translation Exercise Unit 1 - Part 1 [Basic Spoken Chinese Practice Essentials] I am trying to learn mandarin and I am using the Basic Spoken Chinese Practice Essentials Workbook. Unfortunately there is no answer key to that book. Would be great if someone could check if I translated correctly.

Where is Ke Leien going?

Kē Léi'ēn dào nǎr qù?
Kē Léi'ēn dào nǎr qù a?

I'm going to the cafeteria. How about you?

Wǒ qù shítáng. Nǐ ne?
Wǒ dào shítáng qù. Nǐ ne?

Wang Jingsheng is going back to the dorm.

Wáng Jīngshēng huí sùshè.

Ke Leien is going to take care of some things.

Kē Léi'ēn qù bàn yìdiǎnr shìr.

You're going to the library; I also am going to the library.

Nǐ qù túshūguǎn. Wǒ yě qù.
Nǐ dào túshūguǎn qù. Wǒ yě qù.

Your translations are basically correct, the only improvement I can talk about is to show the present continuous tense

  Where is Ke Leien going?

Can be translated to

  Kē Léi'ēn yao qu na?

And the second one

  I'm going to the cafeteria. How about you?

Can be translated to

  Wǒ yao qù shítáng. Nǐ ne?

And the third one

  Wang Jingsheng is going back to the dorm.

Can be translated to

  Wáng Jīngshēng yao huí sùshè.

And the fourth one

  Ke Leien is going to take care of some things.

Can be translated to

  Kē Léi'ēn yao qù bàn yìdiǎnr shìr.

Lastly

  You're going to the library, I also am going to the library.

Can be translated to

  Nǐ yao qù túshūguǎn. Wǒ yě yao qù.

By the way, how did you type pinyin with tune on it?


Various ways to say "nice to meet you" When I first started learning Chinese I knew the in order to say "Nice to meet you" or "Pleased to meet you," I had to use the following expression:

  很高兴见到您。

But recently I've come across other expressions to say the same thing:

  认识你，我很高兴。
  or
  很高兴认识你。

My questions are the following: Are there any differences in style and "situation" between those two? Which ones is used when? And finally, are there other expressions to express the same thing?

很高兴见到您。

means glad to see you. It's usually used if you know (or heard of) someone for a long time, but haven't seen him/her for sometime(first time in case of heard of). For example, you would use 很高兴见到您 to greet someone you know from the internet. It's a bit weird to say 很高兴见到您 to someone you know very well or see everyday.

If it's the first time you meet/know someone, I think

  认识你，我很高兴。

is more suitable, which means I'm glad to know(meet) you.
you can also say

  我很高兴认识你。

same meaning as above.

you can also say

  幸会

which means "glad to meet you", and is usually used when the first time you meet someone. Usually it's used twice together, so you would say 幸会,幸会 rather than just one 幸会.

  久仰大名

means "I've heard about you for a long time"

  见到您感到很荣幸

means "It's an honor to meet(see) you". Or

  认识您感到很荣幸

means "It's an honor to know you."

  初次见面,请多关照

It's originally from Japanese and often used in Taiwan. It means "It's the first time meeting you, please be kind."


Is it necessary to use 在？ Could you please explain me, is it necessary to use 在?

As I understand the meaning of these questions are:
你做什么？what do you do?
你在做什么？what are you doing?

But is it possible to ask about what another person is doing without 在 or is it obligatory? Is the meaning of 你做什么？ of doing in general or could be understood as doing right now?

Thank you very much for helping! :)

Here's my explanation:
“你在做什么？” = “你正在做什么？”

在 can be normally used as abbreviation for 正在, which latter only means "right now". Therefore, 在 can be constitutive for the present continuous tense.

你做什么？could have different meanings or tense in different contexts, for example:
1. 你做什么（工作）？
2. 你（刚刚）做什么？
3. 你（这些天）做什么？
4. 你（打算）做什么？
5. 你（在）做什么？

When you add 在/正在, then You give a semantic restriction; the sentence can only mean: What are you doing? -- In this sense, it is necessary to add 在.


Translate Zimbabwe to Chinese: 辛巴威 or 津巴布韦? Zimbabwe is a country. Which one is its Chinese translation: 辛巴威 or 津巴布韦?
Could it be possible that Chinese in Taiwan call it 辛巴威?

Another country is Zambia. 尚比亞 or 赞比亚?


How to use 以 in Literary Chinese? For example:

  差之毫厘，谬以千里

I understand the overall meaning of this saying, but if I wanted to just be able to define 以 as it is used here, how could I do so?

以 = as; using; taking.

差之毫厘，谬以千里 = to miss by a hair is as wrong as (to miss by a) thousand li, or more to the point: miss by a hair, but (still) be off a mile.


HSK6的第101题（缩写）请求反馈：富有爸爸和会花钱的儿子 我在练习HSK6里的第101题：缩写。我用了这个过去的考卷练习，而下面是我的写作（原始版）。我不可以用电脑、词典什么的，也作文400字数限制。据这个课程里的评论，我必须包括分段。
关于下面的写作，我请求反馈，想知道我最重要的缺点。我特别想知道前HSK6的学生的建议。（据我目前的知识，没有网站提供正确答案的例子。）

儿子只有自由才能成功
有钱的父亲担心他粗心花钱的儿子，虽然他劝儿子该负责自己，而不总是靠爸爸的富财，儿子还享受他生活方式。因此父亲告诉儿子他被破产了。儿子发现了他没有自己的能力、朋友和当时的女朋友都只喜欢他的钱。这令儿子惊牙，他甚至式企自杀不过父亲阻止他，又劝他成为自由的人。
这次儿子听爸爸，所以他去在爸爸好友的公司工作，那个人是林先生。在林先生的训教下，儿子逐渐取得成功，交到了新朋友以及娶得尊重他的妻子。
他老爸去去世以前脸上有可见的满足感，他也给儿子一封信告诉儿子他不是真的破产，而其实他不得已用这种方法使儿子更了解自由的价值。他父爱绝对相信自由的儿子能一辈子中获得成功。

我自己已经发现一些错误：（1）“自由”应该换成“独立”、（2）是“财富”不是“富财“，而且我“财”写的不对、（3）是“惊讶”不是“惊牙”、（4）“式企”应该是“企图”、（5）“训教”应该是“指导”、（6）我应该加一个“被”和两个“了”（看图片）。

我没有参加过这类考试, 且离开学校很久了, 所以我的建议未必适合你, 不过这是我的看法, 供参考.
题目要求不能有自己的观点
所以--儿子只有自由才能成功--这个观点应该删掉: , 这个句子的语法也有问题, 应该把"儿子"删掉, 只有自由才能成功, 否则会有父亲就不需要自由嘛这种感觉. 这个观点本身也有争议, 可能有人在监狱里关了一辈子, 但仍然成功了, 所以不能加上"只有".
下面是我改的

有钱的父亲担心他儿子乱花钱，常劝儿子该为自己负责，而不能总是靠爸爸的财富。有一天, 父亲告诉儿子他破产了。
这次儿子听了父亲的话，去了他父亲好友的公司，那个人是林先生。在林先生的训教下，儿子当上了总经理，娶了贤惠的妻子。
他老爸临终时脸上浮现了欣慰的样子，他留给儿子一封信, 告诉儿子他不是真的破产，而是用这种方法激励儿子.

下面我写的, 希望有帮助.

一个父亲是赚钱高手, 他总担心他的儿子花钱大手大脚，因此常常劝他. 儿子却听不进去. 直到有一天, 父亲告诉儿子他破产了. 儿子不得不自力更生.

父亲介绍儿子去了朋友--林先生的公司. 工作很辛苦, 不过儿子还是坚持了下来, 他当上了总经理, 还娶了一个贤惠的太太.

突然, 父亲病倒了. 儿子从父亲的律师那里知道, 父亲原来没有破产. 父亲的遗嘱里写到, 他的一半财产给林先生,条件是林先生要培养儿子成才, 另一半留给儿子.

儿子还收到父亲的一封信, 信里父亲告诉儿子, 他要用他全部家当换儿子成才.


What are the rules for the order of time adverbs? I have some doubts about the sentence order for time adverbs.
Note: Time adverbs tell us when an action happened, but also for how long, and how often.
English examples:

When: today, yesterday, later, now, last year.
For how long: all day, not long, for a while, since last year.
How often: sometimes, frequently, never, often, yearly.

I know the usual sentence order in Mandarin is:

S + Time + VP

But when we want to put emphasis on the Time, this structure is also allowed:

Time + S + VP

However, structure 2 does not seem to apply for all adverbs of time. I know time adverbs expressing frequency and duration follow a different pattern. But here I am thinking of time adverbs indicating habitual actions such as 经常 (often), 总是 (always) or 一般 (usually). For example, in  here they explain we can not say structure 2:

 经常他不吃早饭
Jīngcháng tā bù chī zǎo fàn.

But only structure 1:

他经常不吃早饭
Tā jīngcháng  bù chī zǎo fàn.
He often skips breakfast.

On the other hand, I have seen some other examples of time adverbs indicating habitual actions following structure 2 with "每 + Time + S + 都", such as:

每天我都运动。
Měitiān wǒ dōu yùndòng.
Everyday I do exercise.

Q1: Which adverbs of time can follow structure 2?

Q2: When there are several adverbs of time, is there a rule indicating their order?
For example, can we rewrite the following examples:

周末我经常去学校。
Zhōumò wǒ jīngcháng qù xuéxiào.
I often go to school on weekends.

(with time adverbs: 周末, 经常), such as:

我周末经常去学校。?

Or:

我经常周末去学校。？

我一般12点睡觉。
Wǒ yībān 12 diǎn shuìjiào.
I usually go to bed at 12 o'clock.

(with time adverbs: 一般, 12点), such as:

我12点一般睡觉。？

You said:

"However, structure 2. does not seem to apply for all adverbs of time,
in particular for some time adverbs indicating habitual actions such
as 经常 (often), 总是 (always) or 一般 (usually). "

You probably mixed up time words with frequency words. Those are quotes from your links on "ChineseGrammarWiki":

Remembering where to put the time words, such as "yesterday,"
"tomorrow," "this week," etc. in a sentence is really important in
order to speak Chinese correctly.
Time words can appear in one of two positions in the sentence in Chinese: either > at the beginning of the sentence (before the subject), or directly after the
subject. The structures are:
Time + Subj. + Verb + Obj.
Subj. + Time + Verb + Obj.
From Time words and word order

"...常常 and 经常 both can be used to express frequency..."
From Comparing changchang and jingchang

So, that answers Q1:
"Which adverbs of time can follow structure 2?"
In this case, the answer would be "none", since the words mentioned in the Wiki that relate to time, are proper nouns (They are names identifying different parts of time), not adverbs.
Let's look at your sample sentences given in the "examples" section of "Q2":

周末我经常去学校
我一般12点睡觉

When we remove the last section from the sentences for simplicity, then identify the role of each word, we get this:

"周末我经常"

"周末": proper noun of time
"我": proper noun of subject
"经常": adverb of frequency

"我一般12点"

"我": proper noun of subject
"一般": adverb of frequency
"12点": proper noun of time

Because those 2 formats are accepted, without changing the meaning of the sentence, and because frequency words cannot be located at the beginning of a sentence (As mentioned in Q1), therefore, the answer to Q2:
"When there are several adverbs of time, is there a rule indicating their order?"
is "Yes".

Hope this helps. If not, correct me.


Can someone break down the sentence structure for the following I have another question about 玩儿 since you guys have been so helpful!
你在北京玩儿得高兴吗？ - Did you have a good time in 北京
Can someone explain the sentence structure here? I'm hoping it can answer these questions:
Why is 得 used instead of 很
Why do we need 得高兴, can I just say 你在北京玩儿了吗？
Do I need 了 in this sentence?

- 你在北京玩儿得高兴吗？ Why is 得 used instead of 很?
"得" is the adverb marker in this sentence. 玩儿得高兴 literally "play happily".
Some other examples of the V+得 structure:
走得快  to walk fast
吃得小心 to eat carefully
很 can be added before the adjective to increase the degree of the adjective.
走得很快  to walk very fast
吃得很小心 to eat very carefully
In your example the tense is probably past, as in "Did you have a good time in Beijing?" It can also be present, if you are, for example, talking on the phone. "Are you having a good time in Beijing?"
- Can I just say 你在北京玩儿了吗？
Yes, you can. It means "Did you travel for leisure in Beijing?" Literally, "Did you play in Beijing?"
- Do I need 了 in this sentence?
It depends on what you want to say.
"你在北京玩儿吗？" Are you having a leisure trip in Beijing? sounds like you're asking this question on the phone or via any instant communication device. The addition of "了" indicates that you are asking about a past action.


What does "(卐)" as part of 两分字元 mean? The site zisea likes to give a two-part component breakdown of every character.
One of their classifications comes with a (卐) next to it.
For instance:
敢 is split up like:

两分字元：耳(卐) 攵

殷 is split up like:

两分字元：厂(卐) 殳

橐 is split up like:

两分字元：十(卐) 木

The entry for the character 卐 itself doesn't allude to this usage:

拼音wan4
古代印度宗教的吉祥标志。显现金光，如来佛胸前有卐字。中国唐代武则天定音为【万】。义为“吉祥万德之所集”。佛经中又写作【卍】。

What does "(卐)" as part of 两分字元 mean?

On http://zisea.com/zslf.htm# you can see this:

  卐=难拆字元

So it is just a "symbol" used on the site to represent parts that are hard to identify.

It is not universal.


"To give someone space" I was looking for the equal word of "to give someone space" in Chinese and found this :

  给我一点空间。

I'm not sure if 空间 is the correct word though. 空间 means "space" but I think it refers to a visible one.

While the "space" that I mean here is like giving someone some me-time, giving them time to be just alone, or letting them do whatever they like without us being too clingy.

Now, can I still use 空间 to refer to that kind of space?

Sure, the expression you had is correct and indeed used in daily life. There are however, some alternatives which you could use

请给我一点自由空间
请给他一些自由
给我一些自己的时间


How to refer to someone if he is younger than I (but not knowing his name)? Here is the message I just sent out to my friend:

  酒吧的哥哥也期待你再来。

I referred to the bartender as 哥哥, but the bartender saw my WeChat, and said the following (the exact sentence might not be same):

  哥哥不行！我比你小呀！

He is a bit younger than I (he is around 20 I think). And since I'm older than he, he said it is not correct to say 哥哥.

However, I asked then if it is OK to say 弟弟, but he said it is not OK in China to imply another person younger (which is insulting I think). So I asked again then what I should call you in the conversation with my friend, and he said he also seemed not to know the correct word.

He eventually said 朋友, though I asked again, the what I should if the bar is what I go to for the first time. He yet again seemed to struggle to answer my question.

Eventually, I asked if then it is OK to refer to him as 小哥哥, and then he said "随便你".

So my question is, in such situations where I must refer to someone who I know that is younger, how should I refer to him in the conversation with another person? Is 小哥哥 the correct word or is there possibly better word?

A bartender is basically a stranger, calling him 兄弟 is a bit too close

'小哥' would be more suitable (not 小哥哥, that's for kids), you are not saying he is your older brother, you are saying he is a big brother of someone.

'姐姐' mean older sister, but you still call woman who is younger than you
'小姐'

Calling a kid 小哥哥 (litter big brother) or 小姐姐  (little big sister) is also acceptable, you are not saying he or she is your big brother or big sister, you are stating they are someone's big brother or big sister.

In Cantonese, we can also call people much younger than you '姐姐仔' or '哥哥仔',  (a way people from older generation show affection to people from younger generation)

If a ten years old boy takes his four years old sister to a candy store, it is perfectly fine for the store owner calling the boy 哥哥仔(小哥哥)


Is the character 跌 (to trip) a deliberate combination of 足 (foot) and 失 (to lose)? The character

跌 (diē) = "to trip", etc.

is composed of two parts

on the left there is 足 (zú) = "foot", and
on the right there is 失 (shī) = "to lose", etc.

And indeed 失足 means "to lose one's footing".  It feels like the components of 跌 are not just a coincidence.  However, Chinese hanzi tend to have long histories so it can be hard to tell.

Question: Is the character 跌 (to trip) a deliberate combination of 足 (foot) and 失 (to lose)?

Yes, it is a deliberate combination. But 「失」 is also a sound hint!
「跌」 (Baxter-Sagart OC: /*lˤi[t]/, to fall, stumble) is comprised of semantic 「足」 (foot) and simultaneously semantic and phonetic 「失」 (/*l̥i[t]/, to lose).

Compare several other characters in the phonetic series:


What 莲 means? does it has a "social" meaning, if it's used in everyday life? I think that '莲' literally means "lotus" but I heard some people saying that it also has a bad meaning, if somebody calls you like that you should be offended. Can someone explain me why? Thank you so much.

i'm afraid there's no such bad meaning with 莲 in chinese,actually it's not a common word in daily life as it is not commonly seen.
however i'd say there's indeed a bad meaning if you insisted,莲 as a component of 白莲花 has two completely different senses of bitch and pure girl.the former  implies someone pretending and trying to make others believe her a pure one.
in other way you can also take it as homonym in 不要逼脸 which transform to 不要碧莲 that actually means 不要脸 or merely a joking phrase。


How to translate "blouse" to Chinese? I'm researching names for many different clothes in Chinese, and when I reached the word blouse, seems like I've reached a dead end and, consequently, a need of an explanation. Just to make myself crystal clear, I meant women blouse in particular.
This Wikipedia article on blouse still makes me doubt if the translation is right in there.
Two different frequent words I've found in the dictionaries for this word are 女衬衫 and 女短衫. Both give similar search results picture-wise, so maybe there is a different word meaning blouse and only blouse.
Thanks for any clue or help.

In Paris, a very slovenly, loose, drawn frock, with most capacious
sleeves, had been introduced called a blouse. Some of our priestesses
of the toilet seemed emulous of copying this deshabille, with some
slight alterations, but we never wish to see it on the symmetrical
form of a British lady. ["Summary of Fashion for 1822," in Museum of
Foreign Literature and Science, Jan.-June 1823]

British Ladies, Beware the Blouse upon thy form!
blouse: 女士衬衫
smock: 罩衫
frock: 连衣裙


What does 神功 shén gōng mean? What does 神功 shén gōng mean? Most chinese dictionaries say it means miracle; remarkable feat but is that really it? This term is mentioned in a cultivation novel, so I want to know.

there's no such word in English, and it's old word only show on traditional novel

神 god, 功 maybe you may seem as kind of Konfu(功夫)

in old novel, a very mighty Konfu only few people can master it, maybe you can name it as XX神功

just a kidding, if someone is good at cheating, maybe he will tell you "I'll show you my "cheating"神功 on tomorrow exam"

or for Thor, you can name his skill as hammer神功 or lightning神功


How to use correctly 只要? I want to ask if this sentence is acceptable:

  只要我还头疼，就不能去上课。

As I only saw sentences with 只要 in which the condition brings about a result (poisitive) but here the result is negative. Is it a correct sentence?

Yes, it is acceptable.

For example,

只要有人在说话，就不要插嘴。
As long as someone is talking, do not intervene.

只要下雨，我们就不去了。
As long as it rains, we will not go.

只要客户不满意，我们就不会停止服务。
If customers are not satisfied, we will not stop the service.


Dictionary for Vietnamese to Chinese characters I wanted to know if there are dictionaries (online or books) indicating the equivalent of Vietnamese syllables into Chinese characters. I do not search for Vietnamese to Chinese translations, but rather a cross-reference between Vietnamese quốc ngữ and Vietnamese chữ nôm.
Well, it's not really Chinese specific but I'm not sure where to put this question

Wiktionary lists the vietnamese pronunciations for every chinese character they have info on (at the bottom of every page under the "Vietnamese" heading).

Other than that, the Nom Foundation database is good for converting vietnamese words to chu nom by sound, though you'll need to know enough characters to know what you're picking, which you also gave reference to yourself. It's a good resource, but limiting if you're trying to input into a computer.

Not all Chu nom are in unicode, though, so finding them can be challenging. The Nom foundation gets around it by using images, and is probably your best resource, but isn't as detailed on things such as meaning and usage (for which wiktionary has an advantage).


Usage of 去 and 來 : is "context switching" allowed? I am often confused with the use of 來 and 去.
I made a picture synthesizing my current understanding of 來 and 去:

去 is used in the context when someone is going far away from A.
來 is used in the context when someone is approaching a place (B in the picture).

But how to use this when A is talking to B about this? He could say « 我明天去B找妳 ».

But is context switching allowed? Is A allowed to pretend the reference is B and therefore say « 我明天來 »?

Whenever I've tried this, the other one (native Chinese speaker) told me that it was not correct and that I should rather use 去.

So, in my two sentences above (in gray), who is this "someone"? Is it always the one who is talking? Or is « context switching » allowed?

If you are at my place and you want to come to my place tomorrow, you should say 我明天来。Because you are right there where you are talking about. If we are at your place and you want to come to my place, you say 我明天去。Because it's where you are not currently at. Use 来 and 去 based on where you are and where you refer to.


How does someone train using 了 correctly? I'm really bad at 了ing: Nankai students say I'm bad at this.  My teacher says I'm bad at this.  Even Tang Ho mentioned my abuse of 了.  Moreover, I'm sure I'm not the only one who is really bad at 了ing: e.g. To 了 or not to 了.

Question: How does someone train using 了 correctly?

To make this clear...

Not relevant: Where does 了 goes in one particular sentence.
Relevant: Where does the 了 go in these 100 training sentences?

I.e., training, drills, repetition, etc.  Keep doing it until I get it right without thinking.  Maybe there's an app or book that gives you where does the 了 go? exercises.  Or maybe there's a way to generate my own exercises.

Example

To illustrate why this is so difficult...

(Note: putting 了s in the following example sentence does not answer the question---that's not the point!  That's "give a man a fish" not "teach a man to fish".).

In theory... I've read about completion 了 (post-verb) and change-of-state 了 (end of sentence).  Aside from 太...了 which is easy, that covers most 了s (as I understand).  I'm aware there's a lot of other cases I have no idea about yet.

In practice... I'll want to say something very simple like:

  I gave my friend a phone call
  我给朋友打个电话 [without any 了s]

So I think:

the phone call is complete, so it needs a completion 了 (but do I put it after the verb 给 or after the verb 打?); and
at some point, the state changed from

(1) me having not given my friend a phone call, to
(2) me having given my friend a phone call,

so it also needs a change-of-state 了.

At this point I'll give up and copy/paste the sentence into Baidu 我给朋友打个电话 and just copy what someone else has done.  In this case, it seems like no 了 is needed, despite me thinking there's a reasonable argument for adding three different 了s.

   But there's one sound mode that no one knows...
   What Where does the fox say 了 go?

It is a tough question I would give it a try...

了
(1) [aspect marker] indicating completed action
(2) [final particle] indicating change of situation

Let's use a shorter sentence.

I go to see the flower (我去看花)

If you want to state the verb 去 (go) is complete, the sentence would be (我去了看花)

If you want to state the verb 看 (see) is complete, the sentence would be "我看了花" (I've seen the flower)

if you want to indicate the verb phrase 去看花 (go to see flower) are completed action the sentence would be "我去看花了" (I've gone to see the flower).

if you want to indicate the situation has changed, the sentence would also be "我去看花了". You would say that if the context is Q: "去看花沒? A: "我去看花了" (situation changed from 'haven't gone to see the flower' to 'have gone to see flower')

if you want to emphasize the action "去看花" then sentence would again, be  "我去看花了". You would say that if the context is : "老闆，工作做完(現在)我去看花了" (Hey, boss, the job is done, I am going to see the flower now)

我去看花了 can has three different meanings in different context, deciding where to put 了 in a sentence without other context is not easy indeed.
Conclusion:
To use 了 correctly, you have to:

Identify which action is completed and which situation has changed, just think about what your sentence would be like in English, and you will find some clues.

Consider what you want to express by filling in context in your mind, like in my "我去看花" example.


How do I express "I follow my GPS's instructions"? I'm accustomed to sentences like 我听我老公 which literally states "I listen to my husband", but it implies something like "I do what my husband says".  I'm sure I've said 我听你的 to my teacher at some point, implying I'll just follow her advice.

So, when I wanted to express that I do whatever my GPS says, I wrote this:

  我就听我的GPS

intending to mean

  I follow my GPS's instructions

This was in the context of avoiding getting flustered during traffic jams: following the GPS's instructions helps me relax.  However, my teacher indicated this is a weird thing to say.

If it's relevant, I've somewhat anthropomorphized my GPS, and her name is Lucy.

Question: How do I express "I follow my GPS's instructions"?

Maybe a literal translation would be along the lines:

  我按照我GPS的说明那样开车。

How about:

  跟着导航走

Short, concise and simple.

跟着 = follow
导航 = gps
走 = go

You could even tell a lost taxi driver the same phrase to let them know to follow the gps.


Correct/natural way to say "在我的咖啡可以加糖吗？" I'm wodering about the correct, or natural, way to say "could you please add some sugar to my coffee?"

My unnatural-sounding way would be 在我的咖啡可以加糖吗, but I feel like a Chinese speaker is unlikely to use 可以 in that direct of a way, and it seems like I need some word to indicate that I actually want it in my coffee. Any advice would be apprciated!

It would be more natural to say 「請幫我的咖啡加點糖。」or more directly 「請幫我加點糖。」(if you're pointing at your coffee, it'll be more natural)。 If you say 「在我的咖啡可以加糖吗？」, it sounds like you're asking if it is suitable to add sugar to your coffee. As a native Chinese speaker, this is my advice.
e.g. Could you please add more salt to this dish? Thank you.
     幫我把這道菜加點鹽，謝謝。


Translation of 'I do not need what I think I need' Google Translate gives 我不需要我认为我需要的东西 as a translation of 'I do not need what I think I need'.

Is that accurate?

Is 的东西 necessary or is 我不需要我认为我需要 sufficient to convey the meaning?

First,

  我不需要我认为我需要的东西

Is okay.

Next:

  Is 的东西 necessary or is 我不需要我认为我需要 sufficient to convey the meaning?

If anything 东西 is unnecessary. 的 on the other hand is essential.

的 has the function to turn verbs into nouns.

需要 means “to need,” 的 turns to need (需要) into 需要的 and means into something more like - what (I) need -or- the things (I) need.

So 我不需要我认为我需要的东西 could be better phrased as 我不需要我认为我需要的.

It might be more natural to put it in a flipped order though (i.e.: what I think I need - I don’t (actually) need).


Are pleonasms like 尷尬 common, where at least two compounds share the same semantic component? 尷尬 feels like a pleonasm, for it shares 尢 as the semantic component. Why wasn't just one character, either 尷 or 尬, used to signify the meaning of 尷尬?

How common are such pleonasms? What are the reasons for them?

Actually the second character 尬 can be used alone.

和我老婆讨论这种事情真的很尬 = It's really awkward to discuss this thing with my wife

In the example above using 尬 instead of 尴尬 gives basically the same meaning.
The word derives from the pronunciation of 间界 in Chinese Wu, which is "gāngà" (note that tones in Wu are not 100% identical to Mandarin). It appears also in the Mandarin chengyu 半间不界, which dictionaries will list with the pinyin "bàngānbùgà", meaning "不深刻，肤浅不彻底".
Then in Wu, the word apparently had shifted in meaning and signifies also abnormality, deviation, etc. and awkwardness.
In Mandarin the characters 尴尬 have been used to represent those sounds (attested as early as the 说文解字) with a better semantical effect, as the semantic component 尢 depicts a person with a limp leg.
In conclusion, even if it appears pleonastic today, the etymology seems to be pointing in a different direction.

As for other words composed of two characters with the same semantic compound and similar in meaning, there's several. A few that come to mind:

坍塌 to collapse (坍 and 塌 both meaning "to collapse")

忐忑 nervous (忐 and 忑 actually not used alone)

惆怅 melancholy (惆 and 怅 both with the meaning "depressed")

魑魅 and the chengyu 魑魅魍魉 chīmèiwǎngliǎng, demons and monsters (literally a bunch of 鬼)


How to transliterate and pronounce English letters in Chinese? I would like to know the following.

I would like to know how to pronounce (and perhaps also spell with Chinese characters) the standalone letters of the English alphabet in Chinese. I am particularly concerned about letters appearing in vitamins. For example, how would I pronounce something like vitamin "B3" (other vitamins take other letters), without recurring to its scientific name, if at all possible?
I tend to see the same characters used for transliterating personal and place names, but there seem to be quite a lot of them and I cannot find a list anywhere. In this case, I would like to know whether there is a list of English/foreign language syllables, and what the mapping for transliterating these into Chinese characters/syllable is, if such a fixed transliteration mapping exist.

Thanks.

For the transliteration of each letter into Mandarin Chinese, just follow the list below, written in pinyin with Chinese characters where possible. Some pinyin combinations may not exist in Mandarin at all though, so I will give approximate IPA or English transliterations.

A : ei 诶 /ei/ A
B : bi 比 /pi/
C*: xi 西 /ɕi/ or /si/ || "sei" /sei/ say
D*: di 弟 /ti/ || dei /tei/
E : yi 一 /ji/
F : "e-fu" /efu/ where the "u" is often only pronounced lightly producing a pronunciation of approximately /ef/ as pronounced in English. Note that the "fu" is most often pronounced with the neutral(zeroth/fifth/light) tone
G : ji 计/鸡 /t͡si/ similar to Z
H : ei-chi /eit͡sʰɨ/ where the "ɨ" is often only pronounced lightly producing a pronunciation of approximately /eit͡sʰ/ "age" as pronounced in English
I : ai 哀 /ai/ I
J : "zhei" /t͡sei/
K : "kei" /kʰei/ K
L : /el/ L note that this letter is most often pronounced with the second(rising) tone
M : em /em/ M
N : en 恩 /ən/
O : ou 欧 /oʊ/
P*: pi 批 /pʰi/ || pei 胚 /pʰei/ pay
Q : "ki-ou" /kʰiou/
R : /aɻ/ R note that this letter is most often pronounced with the second(rising) tone
S : "e-si" /esɨ/ where the "i" is often only pronounced lightly producing a pronunciation of approximately /es/ "as" as pronounced in English
T*: ti 梯 /tʰi/ || "tei" /tʰei/
U : you 优 /joʊ/ yo
V : wei 微 /wei/ way
W : da-bo-liu 大播柳 /tapuo'lioʊ/ I do not know how to describe the tone for this.
X : "eg-si" /eksɨ/ where the "i" is often only pronounced lightly producing a pronunciation of approximately /eks/ "ax" as pronounced in English
Y : wai 歪 /wai/
Z : ji 计/鸡 /t͡si/ similar to G

Except where noted, the tone is either the first(high) tone or the fourth(falling) tone.

Indeed many words are transliterated from a small set of Chinese characters. However, there is not rule for transliterating any word and thus all those you have seen are just a convention which can be learned by experience, i.e. you'll just have to read more of those words in order to guess a more probably (and never exactly) correct transliteration of a word. Here's a tip: technical fields aside, most transliterations choose more "pleasant" sounding characters, e.g. 德 "virtue"(positive) over 得 "obtain"(neutral) and 布 "cloth"(neutral) over 不 "no"(negative) and 怖 "terror"(negative).


What's the difference between classifiers and measure words? The terms classifier and measure word are often used interchangeably, with the latter being (reportedly) more common in language courses.
They both translate to 量词 (literally "measure word") and their grammatical function is essentially the same.
So is there any actual difference between classifiers and measure words in Mandarin, or do the two terms identify the exact same thing?

Yes, there is a slight difference (although it appears there's no complete consensus on this).
A classifier, in linguistics (not just in Mandarin), is a word or morpheme used to express that a countable noun belongs to a semantic class. Here "semantic class" means a category of referents with some common traits; if we think about how classifiers work in Chinese, this is easy to understand.
For example, the classifier 条 is used for long, narrow and flexible objects. So when we say:

一条鱼

we are implying that the fish belongs to a class of things that, more or less, share the same properties: long, narrow and flexible. That is the semantic class, and that's why the classifier is called classifier.
Therefore, by using a different classifier, we offer a different classification of that object. When we say:

一群鱼

we are conveying that fish belongs to the category, or class, of things that go in "groups" (in "schools" actually!!!).
Now, English does have measure words: these are mostly nouns with their own meaning that work as units of measurement for mass nouns, which are not countable. They come in the form a something of <noun>. Let's consider the word water. In English we can't count it ("one water", "two waters"). So when we need to quantify a certain amount of water, we have to use a word that describes a precise unit of measurement, for example:

a drop of water
a liter of water
an ocean of water

This definition of measure words works in Chinese too. The difference being that in Chinese there are classifiers proper and measure words. So what's actually the difference?

Classifiers are not standalone words, they don't have meaning on their own; and as in English, they still can't accompany mass nouns (consider 两个水 vs 两升水)

Measure words are words with a precise meaning, which can also work as units of measurement; and they can accompany mass nouns.

Her and Hsieh, On the Semantic Distinction between Classifiers and
Measure Words in Chinese propose also the following definitions, based on tests to appraise whether a certain counter word is a classifier or a measure word:

Classifiers classify or categorize nouns by highlighting some salient or inherent properties of the noun and thus contribute no additional meaning.
Measure words, on the other hand, play a substantive role in denoting the quantity of the entity named by the noun.

So, saying 一条鱼 does not add new information to what we already know about a fish. A fish is inherently a long and flexible object (mostly; an inflated puffer fish maybe is not "long"). Hence, 条 is a classifier proper. Whereas saying 一箱鱼 does add new information, we are saying that the fish comes in crates, where fish, in itself, doesn't inherently come in crates. Hence, in this example 箱 is a measure word.
In conclusion, classifiers proper stress the existence of an essential feature of the counted noun, whereas measure words stress a transient, not inherent (accidental) numerical feature.


Meaning of seal and engraved characters on teapot I came across an old teapot with inscriptions, but since I don’t speak Chinese, I have no means to know what is written on it.

There are two columns of five characters (four columns with twenty characters in total) on each side of the pot, and there is a seal on the bottom.

Could you please help me translate the inscriptions?

For the seal identification portion, as mentioned elsewhere, the characters are 汪寅仙製 (meaning made by 汪寅仙, a very famous Chinese ceramics artist who passed away earlier this year; whether it's really made by 汪寅仙 is another story, as many of these pieces are actually fakes).

「寅」is fairly recognisable in this carving, so I'll provide a breakdown of the other three characters.

This carved seal is slightly more difficult to read than normal, because of the characters being squashed into a circular shape, causing some components to be slightly distorted.

汪

  「汪」is a description of a body of water meaning vast and deep, and is comprised of

  「氵/水」, a semantic component;
  「㞷」simplified to「王」, a phonetic component.

  「水」originally depicted flowing water:

  This directly leads to the seal script form

  Note that the modern component form「氵」is a drastically simplified version, and ancient scripts did not write this component in this manner for a long time.

  「㞷」was the original character for「往」, and was a compound of

  「之」(to go), a semantic component, itself a compound of

  「止」(a depiction of a foot), a semantic component, and
  「一」(an abstraction of the ground), a semantic component

  「土」(a depiction of a lump of earth on the ground, meaning soil), a semantic component.

  The total form emphasises the meaning to go (by travelling on foot covering ground distance).

  「之」originally looked like

  and an ancestral variant of「之」looked like「㞢」; the following is a few samples of the shape to provide an idea of the relation between the shapes:

  「土」originally looked like

  but it was subject to some shape changes:

  A similar change actually happened to「十」, which morphed almost exactly like the top part of「土」. Note that these are not strictly how the character evolved, so don't over-interpret these sequences.

  The original forms lead to the combination

  and the shape of「㞷」should be seen as coming directly from「㞢」and「土」. This directly leads on to the seal script shape

  Note that the top-right part of this component in the original image is cut off to fit inside the circle.

仙

  「仙」is comprised of

  「亻/人」, a semantic component;
  「山」, a phonetic component.

  「人」is a side view of a standing person:

  This directly leads on to the seal script shape

  Note that the left side of this component is distorted to fit inside the circle.

  「山」was originally a depiction of mountain peaks:

  The side peaks eventually simplified into vertical lines, leaving the middle peak in seal script:

製

  「製」is comprised of

  「制」(originally to chop wood), both a semantic and phonetic component, itself comprised of

  「未」(the fragrant smell of a blooming tree (now written「味」)), a semantic component;
  「刂/刀」(a blade, indicating the meaning to cut), a semantic component.

  「衣」(clothes), a semantic component.

  「未」originally depicted a tree「木」with extra branches, representing blooming, and by extension the fragrance of blooming trees:

  For stylistic reasons, the bottom of「未」(and similarly 木, 本, ...) morphed into something resembling「巾」, leading to the seal script form

  Extras:

  In modern regular script, the bottom of 木 and 本 didn't retain「巾」, while「制」did retain this shape.
  In「制」,「未」is just used for its shape as a tree, not its meaning of「味」(fragrance).

  「刀」was originally a picture of a knife or blade:

  This directly leads on to the seal script form

  「衣」was originally a picture of clothing:

  This directly leads on to the seal script form

To summarise:


What is the grammatical analysis of 信得过? 信 = to believe.
得过 = ???

Is this construction a sentence, a phrase, a verbalphrase or maybe sth. different?

信得过 means 'can be trusted/believed/depended upon'. I would actually classify it as a verbal phrase as there are usually more formal ways to express it in writing, such as 可靠 (dependable) or 可信 (believable).

I would say “他的话是信得过的！” if I wanted to say "His word could be trusted!"


(女 vs 女): Unicode points U+5973 vs U+F981 I wonder if this is even the right place to ask this question but I couldn't figure another place so here I am. What is the difference between these two characters? If none, then why are there two different unicode code points?

Astoundingly, while there are explanations as to why these events happen in general, there is none concerning the actual symbol under question.

U+F981 exists for the reason of Korean standard KS X 1001, the primary Korean standard. It has a peculiar feature: it has multiple actual duplicate characters. For some reason, the standard decided: if a character has N Korean readings, it will be encoded N times, in locations corresponding to all readings.

女 was encoded twice, due to the process of N-erosion in Korean: once, as Row 50 Character 19, with the other starting with [n], for the reading nyeo, another time as Row 69 Character 92, with other the other starting with [yeo], for the reading yeo. Hence, for a backwards compatibility with this standard, Unicode encoded the character once – but added another codepoint at U+F981, to guarantee that the Korean texts typed in some environment where the difference was vital (I don’t know, perhaps to make readings recoverable?), then the Row 50 character goes to the normal one, and the Row 69 one maps to the compatibility one.

There is lots of stuff in Unicode made for backwards compatibility, deal with it.


English equivalent of "令牌"? I have "commanding badge", but it doesn't sound too well. It there a specific name for the actual "令牌"?

EDIT: In the context of history/novels

This '令牌敲响‘ is confusing. Possibly, the author was thinking of, or referring to a metal plate similar to a cymbal, maybe hanging on a string, which could be hit with a stick to produce a sound. The old guy hit it to drive out the demons. Sure would drive me crazy! 'Out out damn spot!'

I would translate '令牌‘ as 'badge of authority', or maybe here 'cymbal of authority'.


How many peaches in 桃是水果? How do we know if there is only one peach or multiple peaches in the sentence
桃是水果?
How do we know in general? With the use of measure words?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_grammar

Plurals
Chinese nouns and other parts of speech are not generally marked for number, meaning that plural forms are mostly the same as the singular. However, there is a plural marker 们 [們] men, which has limited usage. It is used with personal pronouns, as in 我们 [我們] wǒmen, meaning "we" or "us" (from 我 wǒ, "I, me"), and can be used with nouns representing humans, most commonly those with two syllables, like in 朋友们 [朋友們] péngyoumén "friends" (from 朋友 péngyou "friend"). Its use in such cases is optional.[13] It is never used when the noun has indefinite reference, or when it is qualified by a numeral.[14]
The demonstrative pronouns 这 [這] zhè "this" and 那 nà "that" may be optionally pluralized by the addition of 些 xiē, making 这些 [這些] zhèxiē "these" and 那些 nàxiē "those".

Since Chinese nouns usually do not have plural form, we have to use plural markers to indicate plural like the Wiki article stated, you can also indicate a noun is singular or plural with measure words like 一個(a /one), 兩個 (two); or predeterminer like 所有(all) 有些(some)

In the case of " 桃是水果" we can deduct from the context that we are talking about "all peaches" , because 一個桃是水果 (a peach is fruit) doesn't make sense.

In 桃都是水果, 所有 is implied


How to translate and answer the question? I make my homework, but I am not sure in translating of a sentence and would be glad to become an answer from native speakers. The task is to write an answer to a question. The question is: 学经济的人多不多？ I understand it so: Do many people study Economics? And this is the answer, I had written down:学经济多的人。(Many people study Economics.)

Is it possible to answer this way or the meaning is another? Or the meaning of the question is totally another? I would be grateful for your help! Thank you!

Your answer is incorrect.
The subject of your sentence is 学经济的人 （people studying economics, "study-economics-people") and your predicate is 多 (many). So putting it altogether:

学经济的人(很)多。 (positive) or 学经济的人不多。 (negative answer).


Semantic radical and dictionary header for 将 The Unihan standard, just like virtually every online dictionary, lists 寸 as the 部首 for 将.

The 部首归部 reference published in 2009 (http://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s230/201001/75593.html), however, lists 将 under the (simplified equivalent of) 爿 header (page 34, section 45, bottom of page)

Which header should one working on a simplified dictionary include 将 under?

Etymologically speaking, Richard Sears and Wiktionary both analyse 將 as a phono-semantic compound, with phonetic 爿, and semantic ⺼ (meat) + 寸 (hand), without quoting reference works. On the other hand, this book explains that the character didn't originally have the 寸 part, and suggests that it was only later added :

  “将”是个会意兼形声字，本义是将肉放在案上。甲骨文的“将”字，左边是个竖起来的桌案形状，两个桌腿朝左，右边是“肉”字，代表将肉放置在桌案上面。金文的“将”，在右方“肉”字的下方又加上了两个“手”形，表示用手拿着肉，将它放在桌上。现在，“将”有“将来”、“将要”之义，还指“将军”。“将”是多音字，还读作 jiàng，如“将领”，泛指高级军官。

In that case, can one really say that 爿 is phonetic in 將? Why would ⺼ + 寸 be considered the semantic part? Do you know other sources regarding the origin of this character?

Before answering of which radical 将 should be, let me introduce some authoritative reference books.

For traditional Chinese: 康熙字典 (compiled in Qing Dynasty) and 說文解字 (compiled in Eastern Han Dynasty by Xu Shen). The online dictionary I highly recommend is 漢典.
For simplified Chinese: 新华字典. Its online version is 在线新华字典. However, I find the online version is not well edited to include all information of the print published version.

So, of which radical 将 should be?

康熙字典 lists 將 as 寸 radical.

  【寅集上】【寸字部】〔古文〕《廣韻》卽良切《集韻》《韻會》《正韻》資良切，音漿。《說文》本將帥字。一曰有漸之辭。《蘇林曰》將，甫始之辭。《易·繫辭》是以君子將有爲也，將有行也。

說文解字 lists 將 as 寸 radical.

  【卷三】【寸部】將 帥也。从寸，省聲。卽諒切。

新华字典(10th Ed.) lists 将 as 寸 radical or 丬 radical.

Thus, a very safe answer to this question is the radical of 将 is 寸. But there's another question: the ancient Chinese academic authorities thought the radical of 將 should be 寸, why now the new standard considers 丬? My personal answer to this one, is

  It is because the motivation of radicals is, to classify Chinese characters and then people can search them easily in a dictionary. 将 is a left-right structured character, so if having not learnt the etymology of 将, nowadays, very possibly one native Chinese would consider its radical is just 丬. In order to meet this language intuition, the government made such a standard to include 丬 as one radical candidate for 将.

For your second question: can one really say that 爿 is phonetic in 將? The answer is no. As said in 說文解字, the phonetic part of 将 is

  省聲

So it should be 酱 ( is the variant character of 酱, now is seldom seen), i.e., 爿+⺼. Maybe I should explain what "Y is X省声/省聲" means, it is a terminology used by Xu Shen, the ancient Chinese academic authority in Eastern Han Dynasty, to describe the phonetic part of Y is a simplified form of the character X. BTW, 爿 sounds pán in Mandarin Chinese.

For your third question: why would ⺼ + 寸 be considered the semantic part?

The definition of the phono-semantic compound character (see wiki) is

  a character with approximately the correct pronunciation (the phonetic element, similar to a phonetic complement) with one of a limited number of determinative characters which supplied an element of meaning (the semantic element, called a "radical", which centuries later would be used to organize characters in a dictionary).

So, the parts which supplied an element of meaning can be considered as the semantic parts in a phono-semantic compound character. However, the case of 将 is a little special. 爿(table), ⺼(meat), 寸(hand), they all supply meaning elements to form the final meaning. Thus, they should be all considered as semantic parts (and 爿+⺼, i.e. 酱, is either the semantic part or the phonetic part) -- that's the reason why 将 is not only a phono-semantic compound character but also an ideogrammatic compound character.

PS: I think you've asked a brilliant question :)

EDIT 1
As the terminology radical is a little ambiguous, all "radical"s I mention in this answer mean the section header of a Chinese dictionary.

EDIT 2
You may still wonder why the ancient Chinese authority thought the radical of 将 is 寸. Qing Dynasty's scholar, Duan Yucai's book 說文解字注 ("Notes on 說文解字") said

  將 [...] 从寸。必有法度而後可以主之先之。故從寸。

Which means "The radical of 將 is 寸. There must be laws first, and then [將] can rule people, and exceed people in status. Thus, the radical of 將 is 寸". Ah, I should also explain why 寸 is related to law: in 康熙字典.

  寸者，忖也，有法度可忖也。凡法度字皆从寸。

which means "寸, implies 忖(it sounds like 寸, and means deliberate), and then implies there are laws to be deliberated. Thus, all characters about laws are related to 寸". So, it's the reason.

EDIT 3 One may argue that, "WTF is the phonetic part 爿⺼?! It's not like a character at all. Writing 酱 for that is weird!" If you unluckily ran into such a question, just show the questioner a seal script of 酱 (generally, there are many kinds of seal scripts corresponding to one character we use today, this is only one of them):

Then it's perfectly composed only by 爿 and ⺼.


What is the meaning of the character 打 in 打坐? How did the two-part compound 打坐 come to mean "seated meditation"?
What is the function of the character 打 in that compound?

According to the 《佛光大辭典》,

打坐
指跏趺而坐 (to sit cross-legged)，使心入定 (to settle the mind)。
即指坐禪 (za-zen, to meditate)。
「打」，動作行為之意 (means to do or to act)。

According to the 《汉语大词典》,

打 (36)
谓从事某种工作 (to do some kind of work) 或做出某种行为 (to make some kind of behavior)。

Therefore, the 打 in 打坐 means "to do", and 打坐 is "to do the 靜坐" (to sit still with a peaceful mind).
Since the purpose of 打坐 is to settle the mind, it refers to meditation.
(dan chose 打(38) in the 《汉语大词典》.)


Chinese traditional singing To my American ears, traditional high pitched Chinese singing sounds strange. Also, in the movie 活着 when the protagonist Fugui sings in his puppet troupe he sounds so weird/funny to me, but it doesn't seem like his audience in the film thinks it sounds weird. Do native Chinese people view traditional singing as beautiful, such as the high pitched opera songs? Do they think some American/European music like Italian opera or others sound strange, while Americans/Europeans think it sounds beautiful? If so, what would be an example?

Do native Chinese people view traditional singing as beautiful, such
  as the high pitched opera songs?

It's beautiful, not it's hard to be popular. The young generation is not favoring opera songs, but they might love the songs that perform opera songs in a modern/popular way.

  Do they think some American/European music like Italian opera or
  others sound strange, while Americans/Europeans think it sounds
  beautiful? If so, what would be an example?

Not strange if the ACG use opera as BGM. And the fan of opera/classical song is not large. Most of the people love listening to these songs(mostly edited to 5,6 minutes version) from radio, but they might not go to a theater to listen to hour-long opera. Although the number of the audience is increasing, but it's still too small to call a mainstream culture.

Claims: 26-year-old Native Chinese, Now living in America.


What to mix 会 and 没有 to say "We won't have any problems."? I'm now chating with a host over AirBnB. She seems to NOT speak English, so she replyed to me the following:

你好，我不会英语，你介意吗

So I tried to reply the following:

你好。我会看得懂中文少一点，可是我不会说。如果我们用信息，我们会没有问题。

However, I now wonder if the last sentence is correct or not. Specifially, I think there are some expressions occurred on me:

我们会没有问题
我们不会有问题
我们会没问题

Is the sentence I used correct? Or is there a better expression here?

By the way is 我不会英语 the correct in grammar or does she just omit it since it is obvious in context?

Is the sentence I used correct? Or is there a better expression here?

1.我们会没有问题 - 我们 (we) | 会 (will) | 没有 (not have) | 问题 (problem)

2.我们不会有问题 - 我们 (we) | 不会 (will not) | 有 (have) | 问题 (problem)

我们会没问题 (just #1 omitted 有)

Both #1 and #2 are correct.

没有 (not have) acts on the noun "问题 "(problem)
不会 (will not) modify the verb "有" (have)

  By the way is 我不会英语  correct in grammar or does she just omit it since it is obvious in context?

我不会英语 means " I don't know English" (don't understand, can't speak, read or write)  or it is "我不会說英语" but omitted the verb "說"
我不会說英语 means " I can't speak English"

我不会英语 on its own is grammatically correct. Since she understood what you wrote in English, she was actually saying "我不会說英语" but omitted the verb "說"


在 in front of the nouns like tomorrow or exact dates and time Do we need to put 在 before 明天 三点钟 星期五 in such sentences like 早在八月我们就开发了一个愿型，or 我是在1997年喜欢上汉语 or 我在八月到的上海?

Yes, you can put 在 in your examples. And...

Pay attention to words like today/tomorrow, you can only add 在 when the time goes as a noun rather an adverb.
希望就在明天
明天会更美好: do not put 在 before.

In particular, for the first example, 在 must be added, check the differences below.
早在八月...: since August.
早八月...: error.
（在）八月初...:  in early August.


How do you say 'dates back to' in Mandarin? What is the best way of expressing 'dates back to' in Mandarin? e.g. the family's lineage dates back to 1720..etc

'Dates back to' is usually translated into '追溯到', which literally means 'trace back to'.
When used in a sentence, people usually add 可以 (can/may) or 要 (have to) before 追溯到, for example:

这个城堡要追溯到罗马时代。
(The history of) this castle dates back to Roman times.
这个家族的历史可以追溯到十七世纪。This family can trace its history back to the 17th century.


Translating 2 subtitles (TV drama 03:31 and 03:39) below find dialog of ２ druglords and the brother of one of them 江东和江南兄弟 and  林力华 at the start of part 8 of TV drama 国家形象,
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTA2MDgwNDQw.html

03:31 includes 拿手 （adjective，adept; expert; good at），

０３：３９ has 有一手 （
很有一手 highly skilled 手 measure word for abilities）

context and gestures might suggest something like indicated translations. Dialog suggests play on word
手.

国家形象：第8集
两名毒枭，江东与林力华和江冻的弟弟江南之间的对话：

０２：１０：江东：我江东是什么人早晚你会知道的

０２：１４：现在我们是把买卖做成

０２：１７：靠你来操作你做不成 对吧

０２：３４：提到诚意 我对你有诚意

０２：３８：我想看到你的诚意

０２：４１：想看到你真正想加入红动集团的诚意

０２：４５：林力华：我们是合作

０２：４６：江东：是 是 是

０２：４７：合作也罢  假如也罢 不过是个字眼

０２：５２：我想看到你的诚意

０３：０２：林力华：大哥 我再让一步

０３：０５：你定地点我定时间

０３：１０：江东：好（江东同林力华握手）

０３：１２：林力华：我先走了（江东拍林力华的背）

０３：２２：江东：江南

０３：２５：打击一个人的自尊心让人变的软弱

０３：２９：有什么方法最有效

０３：３１：江南：这我拿手 哥（am I supposed to be an expert on that, is this in my line of expertise，am I supposed to know ?)

０３：３３: 按照道上的规矩把他脚筋挑了

０３：３９：江东：不对  你还有一手 (wrong, do you have another way)

（江东开始大笑并打了江南脸上微微一巴掌，看起来这就让江南有些困惑，他挠了挠自己上唇上的地方）

拿手，
means good at， skillful.

literally means i am very familiar with doing so (just like using my hand).

不对，你还有一手。
You are better than that.

Alternative, 江东 is expecting 江南 think outside the box. 江南 didn't realize that and show confusing expression.


Does this placement of 已經 alter the meaning? My professor teaches that duration of non action should come before the verb. For instance:

我三天沒來上課了。

On the other hand, native speakers have said both these sentences containing 已經 are correct：

我沒吃飯已經兩天了。
我已經兩天沒吃飯了。

Is there a difference of meaning between the last two? Or else why can 已經 render the rule my professor teaches nought? Or is the rule wrong?
EDIT: I asked the same question inside my weixin group - there sentence one was labelled 2 and vice versa! Opinions diverged greatly. Some of the longer comments are the following. Unfortunately, I don't understand them completely, because they are in Chinese:
Commentator A:
结果一样是三天无饭，但两句意思隐藏了无饭的选择关系有主动与被动，不知陆迪兄弟能否get 到.
Commentator B:
第一个含义我很饿。第二个含义我可能吃了其它食物或我还可以继续不吃饭。
EDIT 2:
Two native speakers claimed that one of them emphasised time, the other not eating. But they disagree as to which is which.

I think the rule is not correct. It should be fine to say

  我沒來上課三天了。

Comparing to 我三天沒來上課了。, the meaning is same but the former puts more emphasis on the duration, i.e. 三天.

Then about the last 2 sentences, 已经 doesn't change the meaning; it's used for emphasizing the duration further.


Proper use of 吧 in questions I am trying to better understand the use of 吧 in a sentence where I am asking a question. For example, could the particle be used in the following way:

这是你的咖啡吧？

My understanding is that the particle would imply that the person asking the question already assumes that the coffee belongs to the person he is asking, and so the question is not entirely open-ended. Something like, "This is your coffee, right?"

Is my understanding correct here? Also, does this construction affect the politeness of the phrasing?

Yes 吧 is used at the end of a question when you already assume the statement to be true.

吧
(modal particle indicating suggestion or surmise)

Whereas had you ended the question with ma (t: 嗎, s: 吗) then it is just a question, no assumption behind it, you are asking because you honestly have no clue.
References: http://cdict.net/?q=吧,嗎
As for the politeness level of 吧, while it is certainly non-formal, it is not inherently impolite.  Even in English, This is yours, right? is not necessarily offensive or impolite, probably depends on the situation. For example

positive: someone may have been looking for their misplaced coffee and would be delighted to hear you bring their coffee and say This is yours, right?
negative: On the other hand if I point to an unwanted piece of litter on the ground and say to you This is yours, right?, I'm accusing you of being a litterbug, so it is a slightly different story.

Recommendation
It's not particularly impolite, but if for some reason conveying that you assume something, will somehow come across as rudeness on your part, then instead of ba, use ma (t: 嗎, s: 吗)


What does 乐助 (yuè zhù) mean? I think we've got some music biz jargon here:
【我们恋爱吧 第二季】EP12 @ ～20:09

The sentence:

我们的那个乐助说了

The person speaking often speaks of his band, so it is likely that 乐 is short for: 乐队. Of course, less specifically it could just be short for 音乐.
助 is a little more ambiguous. It could be 助唱, 助理 or something else.
It doesn't seem like a very common word. There aren't a lot of query hits for it online.
Ideas?

It is an abbreviation of the "musical assistant", 音乐, or 音效助理 at a music production studio.


Why did my friend write 发发发 on her note? Today I went to an ice-cream shop with my Chinese friend, and we wrote notes to stick on the wall.  My friend wrote:

开心、健康、平安、发发发
kāixīn, jiànkāng, píng'ān, fā fā fā

The first three items are ordinary well wishes, but I have no idea why she would write 发发发.  I asked her about it, but she couldn't explain it to me.
Question: Why did my friend write 发发发 on her note?
Searing for 发发发 at YouDao gives inappropriate suggestions, and it's not listed at Dict.cn, nor Line Dict, nor 小马词典.

发：Short for 发财，make a fortune，become rich。

Chinese people like to use reiterative locution to emphasize the strong meaning or wish. Other cases like: 好好好、 旺旺旺、棒棒棒、赞赞赞。
Sometimes you will also see 888 instead of 发发发，because 888(bababa) has similar pronunciation with 发发发(fafafa) and much easier to write/type.


What is the translation for "generic brand"? How does one translate "generic" brand. I've come across several translations: 通用牌子， 一般的牌子，杂牌。 But none of them really demonstrate a generic brand. The first one just means common, the second one implies average, and the last one means inferior. In the United States, for example, you have a brand name product, and often a generic product branded under a store's name. Another example would be generic brand prescription drugs.

What is the proper translation?

Here's the translated definition of "generic" in Oxford Advanced Leaner's English-Chinese Dictionary  (7th Edition).

  1 shared by, including or typical of a whole group of things; not
  specific 一般的；普通的；通用的: ·‘Vine fruit’ is the generic term for currants
  and raisins. * vine fruit是有核和无核葡萄干的通称。 2 (of a product, especially a
  drug 产品，尤指药物) not using the name of the company that made it
  无厂家商标的；无商标的: ·The doctor offered me a choice of a branded or a generic
  drug. 医生让我选择用有商标的还是没有商标的药物。

According to the second meaning, maybe "generic brand" can be translated as “无商标的品牌”, but it sounds a little weird.


Is it a pun intended here in the lyrics? When I surfed the internet to find such an interesting or funny lingistic problem, which I don't think I can have clear idea, so I'd draw your attention to it if you could give a hand.

Personally, I do not see a pun here. The lyrics does not contain the meaning of "make love".

It just means when we loved each other, we were at that place.


How to translate 因為所以科學道理? I heard this from native speakers but am confused about its meaning. I understand every word but this phrase itself does not make much sense to me.

I remember the the full slang was like
因为所以
科学道理
国家机密
干嘛告你
which was used when this person does not want to explain something, so he/she explains it with nonsense instead.
But it was a really old slang we used in primary school in 2000s.


Meaning of 则 in 欲速则不达？ What is the meaning of 则 in 欲速则不达? Does it mean fortune, wealth, success? I couldn't figure out out.

欲 －－ willing, want

速 －－ speedy, quick

则 －－ then, but

不 －－ not, negative

达 －－ arrive, done

If you want to finish it quicker, then you probably can't get it done (correctly).


What is the meaning of the Chinese word translated to English as "sincerity" Particularly, in the context of morality and citizenship. I am working on a project on China's proposed social credit system, and the term "sincerity" comes up frequently as a desired social good.

One example

  Strengthen sincerity management and education among civil servants. Establish civil servant sincerity dossiers, enter civil servants’ personal credit information concerning reports on events, records of sincerity and cleanliness in government aairs, the results of annual evaluations, acts violating laws, disciplines and contract into their les, and make civil servants’ sincerity records into an important basis for assessment, employment and rewards. Deeply launch education concerning sincerity, abiding by the law and morality among civil servants, strengthen study of legal knowledge and credit knowledge, compile civil servants’ sincerity manuals, strengthen the legal and sincerity consciousness of civil servants, establish a line of civil servant teams that abide by the law and by sincerity, are highly efficient and clean.

The original word for the English translation sincerity is: 诚信.

I believe this is the exact original text from the English you quoted above:

  加强公务员诚信管理和教育。建立公务员诚信档案，依法依规将公务员个人有关事项报告、廉政记录、年度考核结果、相关违法违纪违约行为等信用信息纳入档案，将公务员诚信记录作为干部考核、任用和奖惩的重要依据。深入开展公务员诚信、守法和道德教育，加强法律知识和信用知识学习，编制公务员诚信手册，增强公务员法律和诚信意识，建立一支守法守信、高效廉洁的公务员队伍。

Sincerity records are known as: 诚信档案.

MDBG defines this as:

  genuine / honest / in good faith / honesty / integrity


The correct meaning for '要多讽刺就有多讽刺' “最具社会责任教育家”开除患癌教师，要多讽刺就有多讽刺

Does '要多讽刺就有多讽刺' here mean 'you have to be as ironic as you need to be' (which i think quite weird here, but i'm not sure) or does it mean 'it's very ironic'?

It means "as ironic as you could imagine". It implies to the largest extent (as you could possibly imagine) .


what's the difference between 会, 可以, and 能? Are they used interchangeably or do they really have separate uses? I keep getting confused between the three.

They have pretty similar meaning and almost interchangeable in daily conversation but there are subtle differences between these three words.

可以 means you can do something
能 is used when you want to emphasise you have the ability to do something
会 means you are not only able to do it but do it proficiently

There are a few examples:

我可以说中文 I can speak Chinese (probably not very well and maybe not willing to speak Chinese)
我能说中文 I am able to speak Chinese (I'm not those people who completely don't understand Chinese)
我会说中文 I can speak Chinese proficiently (probably you can speak Chinese fluently and you're willing to speak Chinese)

I hope this will be helpful.


Where to write a diary in Chinese? Practicing Chinese is hard when you are not following regular lectures or if you do not know anyone with who talk.

Beyond practicing everyday following a book or an app, I would like to write regularly something on my own, like a mini-blog or a Tweeter. This would keep motivation flowing from the fact that other people can read you, and learning from the words and syntax rules you need to check each time.

However, is there a typical place where to do so, where competent people can read and correct you?

If you are interested in writing AND having native speakers correct what you write, then you should definitely try out lang-8.com. The website allows you to do exactly that.

Technically it's not a (micro-)blogging platform, but if your goal is to improve your Chinese, that might be a reasonable compromise. And nobody will stop you from writing diary-like posts if you like.


What is the translation of 熱鬧? I came across this word 熱鬧 (In this case, it means very crowded, noisy, lively) in an exercise and it tells me to change it into English. But I can't really find a suitable and precise word to describe this (the three meanings combined).

Example sentence: 這個熱鬧、繁華的城市背後，是一大群生活在貧窮線之下的人。

According to 21 Century renao is an English word borrowed from the Chinese 熱鬧:

  n. “热闹”；(文娱、体育、业余爱好等)热闹有趣的活动 [借用汉语拼音 rènào(热闹)]

so that should fit exactly what you're looking for but....

If that's not satisfactory enough consider:

lively
bustling
busy
thrilling
exciting (excitement)
noisy


"The people" translation? I'm trying to express the idea of a government shifting to democracy. The sentence I'm trying to say is "that forced the government to listen to the people", and I can translate it all except "the people". I know the words 人  and 人类 for that sort of thing, but 人 seems too informal and like it's missing something, and 人类 I've learned means humanity, which isn't really the sense I'm trying to get at here. How would I translate "the people"?

To emphasise the social or citizen aspect of the people, you should use「民眾」or「人民」, or in a combining word, just「民」.

「人類」is not correct, that has the same meaning as English humans. You use it to emphasise the biological species aspect to contrast it with e.g.「犬類」(canines).


How to translate "hump" or "humping"? I hope this isn't inappropriate, but neither of my two dictionaries had a proper translation. The closest one was 性交, but to my understanding, that's the same meaning as 上床. I'm looking for a word that will describe the physical action, whether sexual or not. For example

He celebrated by humping the air
The guy at the club kept humping my leg on the dance floor.

thrust as in hip thrust is often translated as:

  冲刺

Hip thrust for instance can be translated as 臀部冲刺. A movement that is pretty similar to the “humping the air”.

Dog humping their owners can be translated as 爬. Which might be more appropriate for the guy at the club.


What is the function of 是 in this sentence: 你是怎么学习英语的？ Am I right to assume that the question is about the other person's personal method of studying English? And would omitting the 是 make the question more general?

(Is this an example for the topic-comment structure:
http://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Topic-comment_sentences)

是的 constructs are for emphasizing.

你是怎么学习英语的？ = How did you learn English?

你是什么时候来的？ = When did you come here?

我是来看病的 = I have come to get a medical exam (as opposed to a social visit).


角/毛 (10 cents) for money: why? from: List of historical Chinese currency terms

  角 (litterally a corner / a horn of an animal) = 毛 (litterally "a feather of a bird") = 1/10 the main unit.

Why use 角 and 毛 for, what we might call in American English, 10-cents?

角 came from 銀角, which was historically a currency that represented a fraction of the silver coin (銀元). 元 came from 圓, a description of the coin's circular shape. A theory for 角's use is that since the basic meaning of 角 is a horn; by extension it came to be used to describe "things that looks like horns". And from there, "corners" 角落, "angles" 角度, etc. Dividing a circle up like pizza slices creates a "角"; hence, the divisions of one 元 (圓) came to be called a 角.

As Carmelos said, 毛 came from a simplification of 毫 - it is the bottom radical of the latter. 毫 in turn comes from one of the traditional Chinese unit for small numbers: 分 厘 毫 絲, corresponding to the modern 10-3 (it is still used for millimetres, 毫米/公厘). A theory is that 毛钱 was a type of coinage in the Song dynasty that had very small values, as its name suggests. The term persisted in that meaning of a "small denomination coin", and thus became synonymous with the modern small 角 coins.


Why is 保证 in 价格还可以，就是不知道质量有没有保证? Among the (artificial) dialogues in the HSK4上 book (page 53) is:

  价格还可以，就是不知道质量有没有保证。

I translate this to

  The price is okay, it's just that I don't know if the quality is guaranteed.

I don't understand why 保证 is used here.  It seems like it could just be 质量好不好 instead.  It's possible that 保证 was added simply because the author was required to use the word 保证, not because it's normal to do so.  The seller does not go on to offer a "guarantee", but just gives assurances of the quality.

But I'm not sure, as the usage might be different to what I'm accustomed to "guarantee" meaning (this book does that a lot---uses grammar and meanings that don't have English parallels).

Question: Why is 保证 in 价格还可以，就是不知道质量有没有保证?

I found this online which uses similar language, and one of the responses talks about 质保期30天, i.e., a 30-day "guarantee period".  It talks about a literal guarantee, not just honey words.

价格还可以，就是不知道质量有没有保证。

I think 质量有没有保证 in the context checks on two aspects:

quality. (whether the quality is good or not)
guarantee. (E.g. one-year, two-year, etc.)

It would probably be clearer to write: 价格还可以，就是不知道质量怎么样，有没有质保。


Are "身份证" and "身分证" totally interchangeable? When wanting to learn the word for "ID card" I seem to find both "身份证" and "身分证".

They both have the same pronunciation "shēnfèn zhèng".

I don't think they differ by being traditional vs simplified?

What exactly is the difference? Can I use either one? Is it maybe regional?

The character 分 has two different readings. As fen1, it has a range of meanings.  As fen4, it can mean a role or part played by a person, a more general part or portion of something, or a component.  Fen4 can also be written 份, and dictionaries I consulted from both Taiwan and the mainland don’t seem to differ here.

The Far East Chinese-English Dictionary, pretty much the standard bilingual dictionary in Taiwan, has the following: 身分證  or  身份證 shēnfènzhèng ‘ID card’.

The Chinese-English Dictionary from the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press is a mainland publication.  It has 身分证  or 身份证  shēnfenzhèng ‘ID card’.  This dictionary does one thing a bit differently – it divides the meanings of fen4 into those which can be written with either character and those which use only 分.  In the latter category is 分外  ‘especially’.  But this doesn’t affect the term for ID card.

There may be some cross-strait difference in actual usage between分 and 份 in this word, but as I have shown here, according to dictionaries both forms are acceptable wherever you are!


What does "悠" mean in "悠久"? "悠久" is often used to describe a period of history (I read it from ), and I wonder how does the adv "悠" work in "悠久".

I've searched, the complete word means,

  悠久，汉语词汇，形容词（褒义）。
  拼音：yōu jiǔ
  词义：长久；久远。

But I can't figure out what does "悠" mean.

悠 has the same meaning as 久 in this case.

It is a kind of word making method in Chinese, which combines two synonymic characters together. Perhaps the terminology tautology can be used here.

For example: 亲吻 拥抱 战斗 早晨 林木


What does 狸猫换太子 mean? I came across this in a Chinese television show where someone says: "咱们狸猫换太子的计划".

I can't figure out what "狸猫换太子" could mean. To my knowledge this means: "Leopard exchange for Crown Prince". Which makes no sense in the context of the television show.

Can someone help me understand this?

It means exchanging sth slinkingly.

狸猫换太子 is a famous legend story supposed happened in Song dynasty.

  戲曲劇目。宋代故事戲。敘述宋真宗妃劉妃因妒李妃產子趙稹，以貍貓偷換太子，誣李妃產妖，使其貶入冷宮，劉妃得以冊立為后。後又火燒冷宮，李妃在逃出後流落民間。李妃原命人將趙稹投入河中，幸經太監搭救，送往八賢王府，長成繼帝位為宋仁宗。後包拯巧遇雙目失明的李妃，得知實情，乃大力審案，終使真相大白。劉妃被打入冷宮，迎李妃入宮，故事圓滿結束。

Here's an explanation of the story on wikipedia.

  Wild Cat Exchanged for Crown Prince (狸貓換太子): Bao Zheng met a woman
  claiming to be the mother of the current Emperor Renzong. Dozens of
  years ago, she had been Consort Li, an imperial concubine of Emperor
  Zhenzong's, before falling out of favour for supposedly giving birth
  to a bloody dead wild cat. What really happened was a jealous Consort
  Liu plotting with eunuch Guo Huai (郭槐) to secretly swap Li's infant
  with a skinned wild cat minutes after birth and order palace maid Kou
  Zhu (寇珠) to kill the baby. But Kou gave the baby to chief eunuch Chen
  Lin (陳琳) who secretly brought the child to the Eighth Prince, a
  younger brother of Emperor Zhenzong. Kou was later tortured to death
  by Guo when Consort Liu began to suspect about the fate of the baby
  child. The child was raised by the Eighth Prince as his own son and
  was subsequently selected to ascend to the throne as Emperor Renzong
  after Emperor Zhenzong died without an heir. Due to the passage of
  time, getting evidence presented a challenge. With the help of a woman
  dressed as Kou's ghost, Bao dressed himself as the hell overlord Yama
  and used Guo's fear of the supernatural and guilt to extract his
  confession. When the verdict was out, the emperor was reluctant to
  accept Consort Li. Bao then admonished the emperor and ordered a set
  of beatings for him for lack of filial piety. The emperor's Dragon
  Robe was beaten instead. Emperor Renzong eventually accepted his
  mother and elevated her as the new empress dowager.


What is the meaning behind 5000萬「袋住先」and D7689!@#? On a poster referring to the umbrella protests in Hong Kong, there is a Chinese politician depicted in the way of the picture "the scream" by Edward Munch. Next to him is a humanoid banana with googles screaming "D7689!@#". Above him is another oval shaped yellow humanoid like creature with googles parachuting using an umbrella. The lower part of the poster is a black bar with the text: 5000萬「袋住先」.

I only know that this is an allusion, that the humanoid creature with googles is a depiction of Jiang Zemin and that the number represents some Chinese sentence that remotely resembles its pronunciation.

The pronunciation of "D"-"7" is similar to a Cantonese foul phrase (something similar to  fxxking hard).

689 is a common way to refer to the current Chief Executive (CE) of Hong Kong, because he won the election in 2012 by having 689 electoral votes out of the 1200-person Election Committee.

"袋住先" is also a common Cantonese saying.  "袋" here means the action to put something in your pocket, as analogous to "acceptance".  "袋住先" is to accept something at the time being, with a implicit promise that something better will be offered later.

Hong Kong would probably be having an electoral reform to adopt universal suffrage in 2016 CE election according to the Basic Law (supplemented by elaborated explanations from the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China).  The HK Government is promoting its Beijing-blessed proposal and many famous people are telling the citizens to "袋住先".  (This is IMO somehow self-contradictory because the proposal is advertised as "universal suffrage" and the Basic Law does not mention any improvement beyond "universal suffrage".)

As for "5000萬", please refer to http://www.theage.com.au/business/world-business/hong-kong-chief-executive-cy-leung-faces-questions-over-secret-7m-payout-from-australian-firm-20141008-1134yv.html


How do you use 附近的 in a sentence? Also, 所有的？ I am learning Chinese, and I was confused on how to use the previously mentioned phrases in a sentence. Is it possible that someone could put them into a basic sentence so I could get a basic understanding of the two phrases? Thanks!

Also, what is the difference between: 比, 比较, and 较?  How would you use them in a sentence?

I do not have a certain context in mind, anything works! (It would be nice to have the sentences short, since it would be a lot easier for me to understand.

Thank you very much!
谢谢！

附近的 , 所有的 are adjectives.

附近的 common usage: 附近的+{Object} , means {Object} is near.
所有的 common usage: 所有的+{Object} , means all {Object}.

Example：

  *附近的*建筑非常漂亮。
  Nearby buildings are very beautiful.

  附近*所有的*建筑都非常漂亮。
  All nearby buildings are very beautiful.

比，比较，较 they all have the meaning To compare,To contrast . Their usage are very complex. Let me just show some examples.

  我比你高
  I am taller than you.

  和你家比较，我家更大。
  To compare with your house, my house is bigger.


What is the 门 in 厦门 and 澳门？ Are there other Chinese cities besides 厦门 and 澳门 which end in 门 and what does 门 mean in this context?

A place's name ended with 门 (gate/door) is usually an entry point of a city, providence or region.

The first part of the name may not even necessary be the providence's name. For example, 鲤鱼门 (Lei Yue Mun) is the east gate of Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, but it isn't called Victoria Harbour Gate, because  the name Victoria Harbour didn't exist 200 years ago.

As for why it is called 鲤鱼门 (Lei Yue Mun), no one know for sure. May be it came from the legend of 鯉躍龍門 (A carp that can jump over the top of Dragon Gate Fall would turn into a dragon), maybe it's because the terrain there looked like a 鲤鱼 (carp), or may be it was famous for carp fishing.


How to get started learning Chinese? I'm new on this website and my only objective is to get some answers. But the main question I have is: How and where to start learning Chinese? How to begin?

Learn Chinese

I could just assume you mean that you want to learn to speak Mandarin Chinese, but I'd like you to take a moment to share what you mean by "learn chinese."  Since it will likely be the hardest thing you've ever tried to do, I'd recommend you consider the following:

Mandarin is the most popular dialect and the official language spoken
throughout China (but many variants exist)
Do you want to learn to read and write as well? (this can help
comprehension)
Do you have anyone you can practice with or would you need to partner
with someone who speaks the dialect you want to speak? (See italki.com)
Assuming you are not in China, you should Google your local Chinese
community to learn a bit about a "china town" near you (visiting a
local sit down Chinese restaurant and speaking with Chinese staff may
be a good way to get some interactive Chinese - let them know you want to learn, most Chinese people are pretty good about helping language learners practice)

Overview

You will likely want to review music, texts, and conversations. A common method of getting started is use of tourist books/apps/websites that focus on the most important phrases one needs. You can try to immerse yourself or take things very slowly. Eventually you will want to understand spoken Chinese in order to engage in a conversation. Without knowing your budget it would be hard to provide a precise plan. Generally, if you are looking for free help/products then you will be able to find these online by searching (just keep in mind that some of the resources may be hard to navigate). If your budget allows, you can look at buying a book or getting an introductory personal lesson (if you are near a big city or one with a large Chinatown).

Getting Started

Many of the questions/answers on this site actually end up providing good references to online resources. I suggest you start by reviewing this site for references to other online sites that have audio, visual, spoken, and written materials. Here's one such question. I recommend you review each answer and bookmark the websites. Many of the resources are free. You can also do a Google search. A used book on Reading & Writing Chinese can help, see my answer here for a good cheap source. You might also:

Review Tutorials on Youtube
Check out Chinese Music Videos on Youtube (Here's a mix of some
modern Chinese music or some amazing singers from a popular show)
Review iTunes University for Chinese Material (if you have iTunes or
an iProduct, will also work just fine from browser as this example)
Check free mobile apps for your phone
Bookmark many external sites mentioned in answers on this website (Here is a link that holds Mandarin Sounds and Phonetics)
Start collecting language notes (you might try using Google Docs for this)

Books

I believe in getting the right book and would encourage you to look for a book that is well organised. As an example, the book I mentioned earlier for Reading & Writing Chinese, introduces characters in a very logical order (with each character building on the next one). The result of this is that you will learn multiple characters that look similar at points where it is easy to see the relationships between them.

A quick example:

McNaughton & Li (1999), p. 35, presents these characters in sequence:

冂，囗，十， 田，厶 followed on p. 36 by

幺，八，小， 糹，累

The right book can ease the learning experience if well-ordered.

Common Grammar Points

Chinese and English are both basically Subject Verb Object (SVO) languages so you will find many consistencies between the languages. This means one can take a basic sentence and simply replace with a Chinese synonym to have the same meaning. This is of course not always the case (meaning there are many variations) but I want to assure you that learning Mandarin is not only possible but can be easier if you think in grammatical terms.

A quick example:

  I am American (person)
  wǒ shì měi guó rén
  我是美国人
  (more on Mandarin Grammar Word Order and English Sentence Structure)

Free Mac OSX Chinese English Language Guide

I have a Mac OSX Guide which details how to setup a Mac OSX system to enable Mandarin, Cantonese, and English speech, Pinyin Conversion, Chinese Writing, and Chinese-English Dictionaries (please check my profile for the links). Sorry that I don't have this for Windows but I've made everything one needs to get started for free. If I get a lot of requests for Windows setup then I'll pull together the material.

Video Demo of MCE Tools

Final Thoughts

If you need more help, please edit your question further and I can refine this answer. I encourage you to jump right in and enjoy the journey.


What is the etymology of 斥 Learning the word 斥 chì to blame,to reprimand, to expel, (of territory) to expand. What is the etymology and how it is to blame?

「斥」 (Baxter-Sagart OC: /*tʰAk/) was originally a character formed by modifying 「宅」 (/*m-tˤak/, dwelling). The modern meaning either originated as a phonetic loan or semantic extension (expand one's dwelling > expand territory > to expel (enemies) > to reprimand > to blame).

時期字體
字形
參考資料

商甲

乙2256合集14206

西周金

尊集成6014

戰國・晉古幣

81古幣文編

戰國・楚簡

190包山楚簡

戰國・楚簡

109望山楚簡1

秦簡

8.11睡虎地秦簡

東漢隸

陰魯峻碑

楷

First, an internal sequence of developments in 「宅」 caused 「宀」 to sometimes be corrupted into 「厂」 or 「广」, forming 「厇」 or 「㡯」, respectively.

Next, the inside was phonetically corrupted into 「屰」 (/*ŋrak/).

Further corruptions caused the shape to morph into something that looked identical to 「厈」, then eventually changing into 「斥」.

References:

季旭昇《說文新證》
漢語多功能字庫
小學堂字形演變
國學大師

郭沫若《甲骨文合集》
中國社會科學院考古研究所《殷周金文集成》


Why 又 is used there instead of 再? In this dialogue:

  A: 现在恢复得怎么样了？
  B: 没问题了，又可以爬山了。

Why is 又 used there and not 再?

As far as I know (I might be wrong), both 再 and 又 are used for describing recurring actions, but 又 refers to actions that took place in the past and 再 refers to future actions. So in the example, 可以爬山 (I can climb mountains) seems a future event (needs to go to a mountain first).

In my opinion,

再 foresees the future, as  in 再见.
又 emphasis 'once more', as in "又可以爬山了"


Do any good topolect maps exist for Chinese? I've been rummaging through English dialect maps. Here's an example of one on Twitter:

And an American one for good measure:

Do any good topolect maps exist for Chinese?

I am not sure if this is what you were looking for, but there is a book that does this kind of study 中国语言地图集.

You can refer to 知乎 for some examples.


How do I translate, "by pretending that something is real?" Just as the title says. I really have no idea how to translate the word "by" in this sense. It's just a form of grammar I've never even been exposed to, so I wouldn't know where to start. Anyone know how?

通过假装...是真的的方式

By pretending the dinner is real, Peter and his friends forgot about hunger.
通过假装晚餐是真的的方式， 潘和他的朋友们忘掉了饥饿。

Or you can take a little liberty:

通过假装用晚餐的方式， 潘和他的朋友们忘掉了饥饿。


Help translate these two sentences with 也未必 and 更何况 有时就连你的父亲也未必信得过，更何况是陌生人。
有时连陌生人你也可以相信，更何况是你的父亲。

The challenging parts for me are 也未必 and 连…更何况.

有时就连你的父亲也未必信得过，更何况是陌生人。

Sometimes you can't even trust your father, not to mention a stranger.

  有时连陌生人你也可以相信，更何况是你的父亲。

Sometimes you can even trust a stranger, not to mention your father.

I think even...not to mention would be a proper translation for 连...更何况, 也未必 is just a word indicate that the sentence is negative.


Can 吃 be used for liquids? I was confused by the lyrics of the children's song 三个和尚:

  一个和尚挑水吃
  两个和尚抬水吃
  三个和尚没水吃呀
  三个和尚没水吃
  没水吃呀

I've seen other versions of the song that use 喝 instead of 吃, which makes more sense to me. Can 吃 be used to mean "drink" as well as "eat"?

Well you can 吃酒，or 吃喜酒 at a wedding, but that involves eating and drinking.

zdic has: (4) 饮;喝 [drink]。如:吃血(饮血酒);吃茶(喝茶)

A song about human nature.

一个和尚挑水吃 When you're alone you have to help yourself.
两个和尚抬水吃  2 people can cooperate
三个和尚没水吃呀  when there are 3 people, each thinks, 'Why should I do it? Let them do it.'
三个和尚没水吃
没水吃呀

Edit: thinking about oil, which is a liquid，I was just reading an article about 副食品:

食用油大战，使人们吃上了精炼洁净的瓶装油。


How to determine if character can be used separetely? This question might be weird, but I haven't been able to find an answer to this.

Some characters seem to be used only in combination with other characters. For instance, I believe 儿 cannot be used for a child unless you make expressions such as 奴儿, 儿子, 儿童 etc. But how to know this?

When translating words into Chinese, dictionaries I know only state it's a Kangxi radical or not, but I haven't seen any information explicitly stating "this character is not a stand-alone one". Is there a way to find this information for Mandarin?

Unlike alphabets in English, each Chinese character has its own meaning or meanings. A single character, usually cannot clearly express a specific meaning, therefore two characters would combine into a specific word, and two words may combine into one specific phase,

For example, 明 contains the following meanings:

[1] bright; light; brilliant

[2] clear; understandable; [v] clarify; understand; obvious; evident

[3] intelligent; clever

[4] eyesight; seeing faculty

[5] day; daybreak; dawn

[6] [v] state; show; assert

[7] next (day or year)

[8] the Ming dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.)

[9] a Chinese family name

With only one character, it is too general to know which meaning it is referred to, therefore we need to add a second character to form a specific term :

[1] 光(light) + 明(bright) = 光明(bright)

[2] 明(clear) + 白(plain) = 明白(understand)

[3] 聰(clever) + 明(intelligent) = 聰明(intelligent)

[4] 復(recover) + 明 (eyesight) = 復明(regain eyesight)

[5] 天(sky) + 明(daybreak)= 天明(daybreak)

[6] 聲(voice) + 明(state)= 聲明(announce)

[7] 明(next) + 天(day) = 明天(tomorrow)

[8] 明(Ming) + 朝(dynasty)= 明朝(Ming dynasty)

[9] 明(Ming) + 先生(Mr.) = 明先生(Mr. Ming)

In some instances, the context would indicate which meaning of a character is referred, therefore using one character is possible; in other instances, a character only contains one single meaning, therefore is possible to be used alone.