Radical names and stroke names Sometimes a character component has one pronunciation as a Kangxi radical, another one as a stroke, and perhaps even more:

一: yī / héng
丨: gǔn / shù
丶: zhǔ / diǎn
亅: jué / shùgōu
乙: yǐ / héngxiéwāngōu / zhé
乚: yǐ / shùwāngōu / yà
乛: yǐ / hénggōu / zhé

Which names are used in practice and understandable? Should I learn all the variants or only one of them?

Actually we only use the name ( the second ones in your question) which describes the shape of the radical. It's how teachers call these radicals in classroom.
Many radicals,  like 丶, are not treated as charterers. Although they may have a pronunciation, most Chinese don't know that.
Even for these radicals which happen to be characters, we still incline to use the name referring to the radical, rather than its own pronunciation. It would sound ridiculous when you describe the strokes of a character, say 王 this way: 三个一，一竖. Instead, native speakers would say: 三横一竖.


The slang(?) phrase "乾掉了" As I remember, the phrase was used in response to a certain scenario. Unfortunately, as I tried to look it up on Google, all I find is drying out, which is certainly not the meaning I am looking for. Thus, my take is that this phrase is probably a slang.

Besides, I am not familiar with Simplified Chinese so I could be wrong, but this slang phrase seems to exist only in Traditional Chinese. Among the search results in Simplified Chinese, all I see is 干掉, which means to kill/eliminate, but as far as I know, 乾 means dry.

That said, I assume it is a slang phrase used in colloquial context. But apart from the drying out definition, what could it mean?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT:

I think it might be in response to some joke. The context was something like:

  uh...乾掉了...

That's all I could remember... Any help is appreciated.

EDIT2:

According to @sonyuanyao's comment, this phrase is often used in Taiwanese TV show and possibly means not funny or embarrassing.

I think is a slang in Taiwan

乾掉了 mean something is turning into boring(usually use after someone say a not funny joke) or the situation that people don't know what to say or react to it

ex1:

You just meet someone new to you

after greeting, you don't know what to say to him, and so does he

this embarrassed situation can be said "乾掉了"

ex2:

you are holding a show and after talking a joke

you are waiting crowd to laught

but there's no one laughing, and a embarrassed silence appear

you can say "this show 乾掉了"


Is there a list on the web where I can find Cantonese special characters and their meaning? The characters below belong only to Cantonese:

嚟, 咁, 哋, 畀, 佢, 唔, 睇 or 冇.

Is there a list on the web where I can find all these characters and their meaning?

You can check out wikipedia's page for Written Cantonese which contains a lot of information like borrowed characters, marked phonetic loans and workarounds but the page I'm guessing you're looking, mostly, for is derived characters which contains things like:

冇 móuh (v. not have). Originally 無. Standard written Mandarin: 沒有
係 haih (v. be). Standard written Mandarin: 是
佢 kéuih (pron. he/she/it). Originally 渠. Standard written Mandarin: 他, 她, 它, 牠, 祂
乜 māt (pron. what) often followed by 嘢 to form 乜嘢. Originally 物也. Standard written Mandarin: 什麼


比 comparison structures: positive adjectives? In some textbook materials, I read that comparisons in Chinese should be used with "positive adjectives". For example:

This is correct: 我比他高。
This is said to be incorrect: 他比我矮。
It should be: 他没有我高。

But I sometimes see sentences with supposedly "negative" adjectives (with 小 instead of 大, 矮 instead of 高, 瘦 instead of 胖...) such as the second sentence.

So, I am a bit puzzled about it. What exactly is meant by positive adjectives and what is the intuition for using them in comparative sentences? What are examples of "negative" adjectives that cannot be used in comparative sentences?

Personally, I've never heard about this as a strict grammar rule. You can say both versions of the same sentence as:

他比我高 vs
他比我矮
or
他比我富有 vs
他比我穷

and they would be equally correct, even though I can confirm the first ones FEEL better to me. I guess it has to do with the tendency of Chinese culture to point out positive qualities, or qualities perceived as such. As in the example, it's better to be tall than short. It's better to be rich than poor.

The negation is also performed on the positive quality.
The same behavior can be found in western languages. It's always nicer to speak in euphemisms even if you're not making comparisons. "He's not so handsome", as opposed to "he's ugly". It's a sign of politeness.

If you want a more philosophical-sounding analysis, you can think that it's easier to speak about the presence of a quality, instead of its absence. What you first notice about a tall person is that she's tall, and not that she's not short.

As for your question, what are these "positive" qualities?
Well, it all comes down to what defines a socially successful person: tall, rich, nice, handsome, smart are all good examples.
You can apply the same intuitive principle to things and concepts, even though the boundary is more blurred here: is expensive better than cheap?
It depends. By looking at what kind of comparisons people make, you can also get a few hints about their personality and social status.


How do I say "我不是太喜欢旅游." in English? The translator gives the translation is

  I don't like traveling very much.

But it sounds like I hate traveling. But I'm just not a traveling enthusiast. If my family need a traveling, I can go with them. I don't initiatively plan to travel.

Try a slightly different expression:
I don't like travelling that much.


What's the deeper meaning of 配跑? I don't understand this dialog at 59:56 in Miss H.K. 2020. Patrick Lam (林溥來) asks contestant #7 Ceci Mak (麥詩晴)

除了你自己，你觉得邊個佳麗同你_跑?

My translation — Besides yourself, which other contestant do you think _跑 with you?

I don't know how to write pui in pui pao...陪 or 配?

Mak answers

Roxanne [Ho (何孟珊)], 因为我觉得佢会跑赢.

— Roxanne, because I think she will run win.

Lam then comments

佢明明咩意思。

— She understood the meaning.

What's deeper meaning does Patrick Lam allude?

It was "陪跑" = "also-run" (to accompany the one who will win in a competition,  with little chance of winning herself)
It came from a Chinese saying 陪太子讀書 (to accompany the prince in studying) meaning 'you are just there to take part, not expecting to win - your role is to make the prince (winner) look good'
The question: "Besides yourself, which contestant do you consider come here to be your also-ran?". The host wanted to ask if she considers herself should win, who will be the runners-up? but "陪跑" might not be a very accurate term to describe the runners-up. If someone ends up being the runner-up, she did have a chance of winning

also-ran: a contestant that does not win

The comment was "佢明唔明咩意思?" (does she understand what it means?) When saying 明唔明/ming4 m4 ming4/ too quickly the /m4/ sound might merge with the beginning of the second /ming4/ and the phrase would sound like /ming(mm)ing(4)/


Is there a difference in connotation between questions ending in 吗 vs. X 不 X Is there any difference in connotation/region/modernity/etc. between questions ending in 吗 and affirmative/negative questions?
For example, does:

你很累吗？

connote something different than:

你累不累？

And does the following have a third connotation?: 你很累没有？

There's also 嘛 and 吗. Practically, there is little difference between the two, aside from the pronunciation.

吗 is most used in questions where speaker is usually neutral about the question.

嘛, although not applicable in your given example, it can be used to question or affirm. I.e., used with to express emotional context (positive or negative given the context) (e.g., 你这是干吗？ = questioning, vs.  你这是干嘛？ = complaining) or to express certainty with something (e.g. 很贵嘛! or 不错嘛！)

In terms of connotation, "你累不累?" is the same as "你很累吗?" They both mean to ask if the person is tired or not, in a neutral tone.

你很累没有 seems a bit awkward grammatically. The way it's structured implies a statement rather than a question. You are probably looking to use 吧 in this case. E.g., 你很累吧 (You're pretty tired, huh/right/aren't you?), would be more appropriate here. 吧 is used at the end of a sentence when you are uncertain of something you can say.

There is also 呢, which is often used at the end of an interrogative sentence. e.g., 为什么...呢? 怎么...呢? Take note that 呢 is NOT interchangeable with 吗.


Where can I find word-for-word translation for "Beijing Huan Ying Ni" song? I'm trying to learn Chinese by listening to music, and I've been listening to the Olympic song "Beijing Huan Ying Ni." But I don't know what the words mean. All the translations online are approximate translations that don't actually translate word for word. Does anyone know where I can find a word for word translation by chance?

(This is the best I can do in Chinese: Wǒ xiǎng xué pǔtōnghuà, suǒyǐ wǒ tīng "Běijīng huānyíng nǐ." Kěshì wǒ bù zhīdào zì shénme yìsi. Word for word translation zài nǎr?)

Original post is here, also check this.

接另一个晨曦 带来全新空气

气息改变情味不变 茶香飘满情谊

我家大门常打开 开放怀抱等你

拥抱过就有了默契 你会爱上这里

不管远近都是客人请不用客气

相约好了在一起 我们欢迎你

Dawning of another morning filled with refreshing air

The air has changed; but emotion scents like green tea

My doors are always open, ready to embrace you with a hug

A hug to know you better, you'll love this place

Wherever you're from you'll be our guest so just be at home

We have agreed to meet here, we'd like to welcome you.

我家种著万年青 开放每段传奇

为传统的土壤播种 为你留下回忆

陌生熟悉都是客人请不用拘礼

第几次来没关系 有太多话题

The Everygreen at my place is quite legendary

Sown on the old Soil to record your memory

Strangers, old pals are our guests, so just be at home

Whether you're newcomers or revisitors, we've lots to chat

北京欢迎你 为你开天辟地

流动中的魅力充满著朝气

北京欢迎你 在太阳下分享呼吸

在黄土地刷新成绩

Welcome to Beijing, we built these all for you

The charm is flowing, fresh spirit's everywhere.

Welcome to Beijing, have some fresh air under the sun

Let's set our new records on this Soil

我家大门常打开 开怀容纳天地

岁月绽放青春笑容 迎接这个日期

天大地大都是朋友请不用客气

画意诗情带笑意 只为等待你

My doors are always open, we've space for the world

Time flies with youthful smiles, we all wait for this day

Under the sky, everyone be our guest, so just be at home

Nice scenary with smiling faces, all awaiting there for you

北京欢迎你 像音乐感动你

让我们都加油去超越自己

北京欢迎你 有梦想谁都了不起

有勇气就会有奇迹

Welcome to Beijing, we're reaching you like this melody

Let's excel and try our best

Welcome to Beijing, dreamers are forerunners

Miracles are for those daring to try.

北京欢迎你 为你开天辟地

流动中的魅力充满著朝气

北京欢迎你 在太阳下分享呼吸

在黄土地刷新成绩

Welcome to Beijing, we built these all for you

The charm is flowing, fresh spirit's everywhere.

Welcome to Beijing, have some fresh air under the sun

Let's set our new records on this Soil

北京欢迎你 像音乐感动你

让我们都加油去超越自己

北京欢迎你 有梦想谁都了不起

有勇气就会有奇迹

Welcome to Beijing, we're reaching you like this melody

Let's excel and try our best

Welcome to Beijing, dreamers are forerunners

Miracles are for those daring to try.

------- 京戏 -------

我家大门常打开 开放怀抱等你

拥抱过就有了默契 你会爱上这里

不管远近都是客人请不用客气

相约好了在一起 我们欢迎你

My doors are always open, ready to embrace you with a hug

A hug to know you better, you'll love this place

Wherever you're from you'll be our guest so just be at home

We have agreed to meet here, we'd like to welcome you.

北京欢迎你 为你开天辟地

流动中的魅力充满著朝气

北京欢迎你 在太阳下分享呼吸

在黄土地刷新成绩

Welcome to Beijing, we built these all for you

The charm is flowing, fresh spirit's everywhere.

Welcome to Beijing, have some fresh air under the sun

Let's set our new records on this Soil

我家大门常打开 开怀容纳天地

岁月绽放青春笑容 迎接这个日期

天大地大都是朋友请不用客气

画意诗情带笑意 只为等待你

My doors are always open, we've space for the universe

Time flies with youthful smiles, we all wait for this day

Under the sky, everyone's our guest, so just be at home

Nice scenary with smiling faces, all awaiting there for you

北京欢迎你 像音乐感动你

让我们都加油去超越自己

北京欢迎你 有梦想谁都了不起

有勇气就会有奇迹

Welcome to Beijing, we're reaching you like this melody

Let's try to excel ourselves

Welcome to Beijing, dreamers are forerunners.

Miracles are for those daring to try.

北京欢迎你 为你开天辟地

流动中的魅力充满著朝气

北京欢迎你 在太阳下分享呼吸

在黄土地刷新成绩

Welcome to Beijing, we built these all for you

The charm is flowing, fresh spirit's everywhere.

Welcome to Beijing, have some fresh air under the sun

Let set our new records on this Soil

北京欢迎你 像音乐感动你

让我们都加油去超越自己

北京欢迎你 有梦想谁都了不起

有勇气就会有奇迹

Welcome to Beijing, we're reaching you like this melody

Let's try to excel ourselves

Welcome to Beijing, dreamers are forerunners.

Miracles are for those daring to try.

北京欢迎你 有梦想谁都了不起

有勇气就会有奇迹

北京欢迎你 有梦想谁都了不起

有勇气就会有奇迹

Welcome to Beijing, dreamers are forerunners.

Miracle is for those daring to try.

Welcome to Beijing, dreamers are forerunners.

Miracles are for those daring to try.


Chinese-Chinese dictionary definitions re-using characters from the word I see Chinese-Chinese definitions which re-use the characters of the word.  For example, 领导 defined as 动：带领并引导大家开展工作. If I already knew 带领 and 引导 then I probably could guess 领导, so it's not very helpful.  In English, the "rule" is that you never use the word in the definition. Are there any rules or features of Chinese-Chinese dictionaries that can help me in situations like these? Should I be looking up the individual characters?

带(lead) + 领(lead) = 带领: to lead

引(guide) + 导(guide) = 引导: " to guide"

领(lead)+ 导(guide) = 领导: "to lead and guide"

领导 contains the meanings of both  带领 and 引导, I don't see anything wrong with the definition using 带领 and 引导. Yes, both 带领 and 引导 repeated one character from 领导, but they are unique compound words on their own.

It is ok. as long as the dictionary doesn't use the exact compound word in the definition like 领导(v): 领导

It is unavoidable for many different compound words to have a common character among them, you have to look at the whole compound word instead of looking at the two characters individually

The examples below all contain '正' (correct, positive, straight, upright....) but each compound word containing '正' would have very different meaning to each others

正直 = honest
正確 = correct
正常 = normal

One more thing:

  领导(动)：带领并引导大家开展工作

The definition should just be: "带领并引导" (to lead and guide)

领导大家开展工作 would be a good example sentence


Ways to politely insult somebody's intelligence in Mandarin? I know of many words to insult people and call them stupid, but a majority of them are incredibly offensive. There are more polite phrases, such as 真笨, which I've seen used within families (as a plain 真笨啊！）, but nothing which seems the right level of formality for the context in question.

In English, the nearest equivalent of what I'm looking for would be along the lines of "fool", but not quite as strong as "imbecile". Something you can use in a formal situation, but something that won't incredibly offend the listener; more a "silly you" with a higher register of formality.

I'm not sure which words match this closely, if any exist. What words are closest to this meaning?

I don't know if there is a way to politely insult someone's intellect, that almost seems like an oxymoron to me.

糊涂 (silly) is the only expression I can think of that doesn't stigmatize the addressee too much. But I would under no circumstance apply it to my boss or my in-laws or a teacher or anyone with whom one has to be respectful.

E.g. 你这么糊涂! How silly of you!
Also: 糊涂虫

傻 is still somewhere between 'silly' and 'fool'. A mother could reply to the naive questions of her child with 傻孩子！ (Silly kid!).
别犯傻！ (Don't be silly) is another way to use it.

傻瓜 would a bit stronger, but between peers could be still acceptable, but I would only use it if it is clear that I am not really meaning it.

胡说！ can used if you think someones says something stupid.

By contrast 混蛋 and 笨蛋 are more verbal and far more insulting. You can see and hear movie protagonists spitting and yelling this at each other.

UPDATE: 二货 is another non-offensive way to call someone silly, e.g. 二货朋友 a silly friend.


What are appropriate objects of 制作? My dictionary, along with many websites I've checked translates 制作 as:

to make
to manufacture

What sorts of things may I 制作?

The second definition of "manufacture" leads me to believe that, for example, "I made new flash cards." /「我制作了新的词卡。」, is too small-scale a thing to be 制作'ed. I haven't found any examples at Chinese-Tools or Mandarin Tools or in my dictionary.

After going through a few online examples, I think this is what 制作 actually means:

To make something physically that requires a level of skill or artistry, such as, a movie, a cake, a greeting card or a toy. Example:

  韩国制作巨型巧克力高跟鞋迎接情人节 (South Korea has made a gigantic pair of chocolate stilettos to welcome Valentine's Day)

Since 制造 is also mentioned, to provide disambiguation, 制造 means to manufacture or mass-produce something (both physical and non-physical). Example:

  这AK-47是前苏联制造的 (This AK-47 was made in the former USSR)
  制造垃圾 (churning out rubbish)
  制造欢乐气氛 (creating a joyous atmosphere)

To build or construct something, usually big, we can use the word 建造. For example:

  建造楼房 (construct a building)
  建造卫星导航系统 (build a satellite navigation system)


Chinese verb 'to become' I've found no leads as to this on the internet, and also have been unable to ask my teacher about this sentence struture. So, I hope this isn't a duplicate!

I was wondering, how do I say become in Mandarin?

For example:

Since high school started, RE became boring.

If you don't exercise, you won't become fit.

If you keep practicing the piano, you'll become much more skilled.

I don't know if I'm a total idiot, asking this question. I legitimately just can't find the answer, not even in my dictionary. No internet search has yielded any leads either.

For "become + adjective" it would be "變得+ adjective"

「自高校開學以來，RE 就變得沈悶 」 - "Since high school started, RE became boring."
「如果你不運動，你就不會變得健美 」 - "If you don't exercise, you won't become fit."
「如果你繼續練習鋼琴，你將會變得更有技巧 」 - "If you keep practicing the piano, you'll become much more skilled."

For " become + noun" it would be "成為 + noun"

「我想成為一個醫生 」 - "I want to become a doctor."
「她想成為偶像歌手 」 - "she wants to become an idol singer."

Google Translate:
自高校开学以来，RE 就变得沉闷
如果你不运动，你就不会变得健美
如果你继续练习钢琴，你将会变得更有技巧
我想成为一个医生
她想成为偶像歌手


How to say 'moved to [place]' or 'enrolled at [place] I want to either say last year I moved to Leeds or last year I started studying at Leeds University.

去年 (last year) 我 (I) 搬 (moved) 到 (to) ... (name of place)。

Qùnián wǒ bān dào ...

去年 (last year) 我 (I) 开始 (started) 在 (at) ... (name of university) 读书 (study)。

Qùnián wǒ kāishǐ zài ... dúshū

去年 (last year) 我 (I) 被 (by) ....(name of university) 录取 (enrolled) 了。

Qùnián wǒ bèi ... lùqǔle.


What does this calligraphy say? who is it by? I can't seem to find it anywhere, I was told it was by a famous Beijing lecturer (?). Thanks!

The words are "天行健，君子以自强不息。地势坤，君子以厚德载物" from 《周易》。

君子以自强不息 means one(君子) should keep on hard working and self-improvement.

君子以厚德载物 means one should take responsibilities and be open-minded.

This is a motto of man's behavior. "天行健" and “地势坤” are terminologies of 八卦, a kind of divination. The way of man's life is extended from the result of divination.

Although many people do not believe in 八卦, this motto still motivates people to improve their ways of life.


-uan pinyin pronunciation It seems to me that in Mandarin, two different vowel sounds are used for words whose pinyin ends with -uan.

In some words, like 全 (quán) and 元 (yuán), the vowel sounds like "oo-en" (the nucleus/coda are "ɛn" in IPA, rhymes with English "hen").

In other words, like 換/换 (huàn) and 亂/乱 (luàn), the vowel sounds like "oo-an" (the nucleus/coda are "an" in IPA, rhymes with Mandarin "安").

Does this difference really exist, or an I imagining it? If there is a distinction, what's the rule for which pronunciation to use? It seems related to the tone and the initial consonant, but I'm not sure there is a definite pattern.

There are several cases in Mandarin of multiple sounds sharing the same symbols in Pinyin, such as -uan as you've noticed, as well as -i which has multiple sounds associated with it. In the case of -uan, this final behaves differently when prefaced with the initials y-, j-, q-, and x-. As a general rule, -u, -ue, -uan, and -un behave differently when prefaced with those 4 initials and you'll see them separated  out on any pinyin chart:

The u in these cases is actually a ü which does not exist in English and is something I struggle with myself so I'll just redirect you here.


In 吃完晚饭后，我们去了维多利亚海港看烟花, why is 了 after 去 and not after 看? In my chinese book I saw the following sentence.

6年初二晚上他们一家人去看了烟花 。

That has sense with the following grammar point for verbs in series with 去
9.5   Two verbs: One indicating purpose When a simple sentence has two verbs and the second verb indicates the purpose of the first verb, such as 来 (lái), 去 (qù) and 用 (yòng), the perfective aspect particle 了 follows the second verb if it is a past event. 下午我去超级市场买了一些水果和面包。 Xiàwǔ wǒ qù chāojíshìchǎng mǎi le yìxiē shuǐguō hé miànbāo. I went to the supermarket to buy some fruit and bread in the afternoon. (Incorrect: 下午我去了超级市场买一些水果和面包。 ) 我用手机给我妈妈发了一个短信 , 告诉她我不能回家吃饭。
But later in  book i saw this one.

吃完晚饭后，我们去了维多利亚海港看烟花。

Why is 了 after 去 and not after 看? Is it because is a subordinate sentence?

It's an exception.
With verbs in series, when the object of the first verb is a proper noun, the aspectual 了 is placed after the first verb.
So the construction becomes: "Subj. + V1 + ASP 了 + proper noun + V2"
In your example, you indeed have a proper noun after the first verb:

吃完晚饭后，我们去了维多利亚海港 (Victoria Harbor) 看烟花

Another example:

我去了北京找我的朋友 —— (北京 proper noun: V1 + ASP 了 + V2)
我去图书馆借了一本书 —— (图书馆 common noun: V1 + Obj. + V2 + ASP 了）


Is it common to learn individual characters before two-characters words? 'Characters frequency lists' and 'words frequency lists' are not mutually inclusive.
Most words are composed of two characters. For instance, 我們, 可以, 自己, etc.
Is learning characters individually first the most common way to go about it?

I can tell you about my experience, I typically follow a mixed approach learning at the same time multiple characters words and its individual components. I learn Chinese doing lessons following the HSK exam levels (currently I am doing the HSK level 3). In every lesson, they introduce new words given by the HSK level. The order in which the words are introduced correspond approximately to their usage frequency; I believe learning the most used words and grammar structures is the optimal way for learning to communicate in Chinese (note, for example, the top 500 characters are used the 79.2% / 72.1% of times).
So my main goal is learning the words in this order. However, I find very useful for multiple character words to look for the meaning of their individual characters. Some of them are very general and abstract and they are not helpful, but in other cases they have clear meanings and help you understand and remember the multiple character word, such as 飞机 (flying machine: plane), 照相机 (machine for taking pictures: camera), 头疼 (head hurts: headache), etc.
In conclusion, if your aim is to communicate in Chinese, I would suggest to focus on learning the most frequent words. However, to understand multiple character words, it can be useful to look for the meaning of each character and on the way, sometimes learn these.


In 祝贺你喜得贵子, is 喜得 a typo? I came across this example sentence translation in Pleco:

祝贺你喜得贵子
Congratulations on your newborn baby!

I think 喜（得） may be a typo for the following reasons:

the English translation specifies that the baby is newborn.  喜 does not convey this information, but 新 does.
新的 could very easily be mistyped as 喜得

I believe the sentence should be:

祝贺你新的贵子！

Does this seem correct?

No, it isn't a typo.

喜得 roughly means obtained by good fortune, so 祝賀你喜得貴子 is a congratulatory message meaning something like congratulations on being blessed with a son.


How does 雅's 2021 meanings appertain to 隹? I don't understand how 隹 relates to definitions A-C below.
Definition A.1. Are short-tailed birds standard in China? I'm no ornithologist.
Definition A.2. Again, I don't deal with birds. I'm indifferent to them.  Short-tailed birds don't look elegant to me. Did the Chinese think they are elegant?
Definition C. Are short-tailed birds unusual in China?

Above is Yellowbridge. Below is Oxford Chinese Dictionary (2010) p 857.

雅 and 鸦 are most likely the same in olden times with 雅 being the variant form for 鸦 meaning crow. It's current meanings are probably borrowed when 鸦 became the standard character for crow, and all the current meanings for 雅 no longer have anything to do with birds.
https://www.zdic.net/hans/%E9%9B%85


What is the etymology of 放我一马？ I've heard this a couple times now and most recently in a movie "钢的琴". It's an idiom that means "cut me some slack"; "let me off the hook". I couldn't make sense of the Baidu encyclopedia so I'm asking here.

It should be 放我一马. 马 here refers to the rider rather than the horse itself. It's from 三国演义.

  出自三国演义。赤壁之战，曹操大败，欲从华容道逃走，被关羽逮个正着，立马堵住去路。关羽念及往日旧恩，让开马位，使曹操得以逃脱。“放你一马”，比喻手下留情。即出于此。

Source: http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/2156078.html

English version of the story (wikipedia)


Can "比" go without a subject? Take a look at this sentence.

  比那刘姥姥进了大观园，还要土里土气

For some reason I translate this sentence as "Compared to A, B is more ...", though this doesn't make any sense to me.

Although I found this sentence in a song (which I think could be incorrect), I'm curious if this is a correct and valid sentence. Is this a correct sentence? If it is correct, what nouns are being referred to? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[比 (object)，还要 (adjective)] = [ more (adjective), compare to (object)]

比[那刘姥姥进了大观园]，还要[土里土气]
那刘姥姥进了大观园 is  the object phrase
土里土气 is the adjective phrase

The subject is omitted in this sentence, but it is there.

You have to have a subject to compare to an object: "Subject' (omitted) 比 [那刘姥姥进了大观园]，还要 [土里土气]"

The subject can be a noun, or another phrase


Does 丢 mean "discard" as well as "throw" and "lose"? On a Chinese teaching site they are translating 丢 as "throw away" but Pleco, English Wiktionary, and Google Translate do not include "throw away" as a translation of 丢 or include 丢 as a translation for "throw away" or "discard".

Are these resources missing this common sense of 丢? Or Has the common non-native English confusion of "throw" and "throw away" influenced the site?

丟主要有兩個意思：

(1)扔、拋棄(throw)。如：「丟球」、「丟垃圾」。

(2)遺失、失去(lose)。如：「丟臉」、「丟飯碗」。


What is the meaning and usage of 于之 and its contraction 焉 in classical Chinese? I've read 于 was a preposition, but there were many unrelated translations for it. 之 is as far as I know an object pronoun, like for instance him, her, them but can also mean somthing different.

How is this expression actually used in classical Chinese? What is its verbatim meaning? Why does the contraction 焉 sound so much different than the two characters?

My teacher told me that 焉 equals to 于(at) + 之(a kind of pronoun).

与 usually equals to "and".

But in 与君共饮, the 与 means do sth with sb or do sth together.

陈涉少时，尝与人佣耕： (work) for.

吾孰与徐公美： Compare with someone/sth else.

朝过夕改，君子与之： Agree with ...

I haven't all of the uses of 与 because these are common. It's not good for you to have a study about all the uses of one word though some of them are not common because they will confuse you.

I hope these will help you.


Why is "cult movies" translated as 邪典电(電)影? Does anyone know why the word "cult" (cult film) is translated as "邪典" (邪典电影) ? Thank you for your help in advance !

Fully translated, 邪典電影 is cult classic movie:

邪 = cult-ish/heterodox, c.f. 邪教 (religious cult)
典 = classic, c.f. 經典 (classics, classical)

In English, cult movie is really just short for cult classic movie.


What is this 所 here? This is the sad story of a little piece of gold that wants to shine but can't, so it 哭泣着。

小石头也想：“是金子在哪儿都发光。” 于是他日夜吸收天地之精华，把自己沖涤得闪闪发亮，终究又被脏东西所掩盖。

终究又被脏东西所掩盖。in the end by dirty things 所 covered up

What should I do with 所 here？？ Just ignore it? Maybe it means 'all covered up'??

http://www.zdic.net/z/1a/xs/6240.htm

  ◎ 所 suǒ

  〈助〉

  (1) 表示结构 [used before a verb or a V-C construction together with 被 or
  为 to indicate the passive voice]

For translation, you could just ignore it:

In the end covered up by dirty things again.


Can I substitute 合适 in place of 量身打造？ 5万元左右的经济型小车，无疑是为广大工薪阶层量身打造的代步车。

Costing roughly 50 thousand Yuan, a small, economical car is, without a doubt, the most suitable vehicle for the salaried classes

I think I could write 最合适的代步车 instead of 量身打造的代步车， is that correct?

As lots of the comments have said, Yes, you can make the substitution, but that probably doesn't mean that you should.

The context is obviously an advertisement. It has psychology meanings between the lines. Using words like "Only for you" meant to make the targeted audience felt that they are special.  Of course, we do not really think a 50K RMB car is ONLY made for a special one, neither a $100K customised Tesla, unless it's the so-called Golden Rolls Royce (2.85 billion RMB). But everyone wanted to feel like being THE ONE, and that's why you probably should not replace 量身打造 with 最合适的代步车.


What is the equivalent in Chinese for निताइ (Sanskrit)? The निताइ Sanskrit Shape (English: Nitaai) is used to practice visualization based meditation with origins in ancient India.

Can someone kindly share the Chinese equivalent to be able to write Nitaai in Chinese yet be pronounced in the same manner. I tried Google translate but it changes the pronunciation of 't' to 'th' and 'Ni' to 'Nii'

Pronunciation Guide:
“Ni” in “Nitaai” is pronounced like “ni” in “omni”. “taai” is pronounced like “tie” but with a soft “t” like in Spanish, without curling our tongue like we do for pronouncing “t” in “tie” and instead pronouncing it by touching our straight tongue to the inside back of our top front teeth.

The below Nitaai Resonation track is the exact pronunciation for निताइ
Resonating Nitaai Meditation

The word is ni-taa-i in ITRANS notation.

The IAST notation is nitāi.

The meaning is to enter the nature or 進入自然／进入自然 in Chinese.


Mixing of 你 and 您 a stylistic device? I found this text on the ubuntu.com website. There are what seems to be 2 different levels of politeness mixed together. Or is this a stylistic device?

  下载并安装Ubuntu桌面操作系统，你 只需要一张空白的光盘或U盘。无论 您 当前的操作系统是Windows 或 Mac OS，您 都可以用 Ubuntu 取代它们，亦可以选择让 Ubuntu 与它们并存。

Mixing 您 and 你 is a bad practice. I am not aware of any fashionable usage of the mix, not even in net-speak. Your example is just loosely reviewed.
One rare case where you may see both words in one dialog is when the speaker uses 您 for the listener while uses 你 as a reference to a general 2nd person (similar to "one" in English). In this case 您 and 你 refer to different persons and the mix is not about style. E.g.

“他9点才来。这么重要的事，你怎么能迟到两个钟头呢？您觉得呢？”
"He didn't show up until 9. How could one be late for 2 hours for such an important event?! What do you say?"


What is the difference between 夸张 and 过分 I often hear both used to describe a person or a person's action. The direct translations aren't the same, but from my experience, when used in context, I can't tell when to use one over the other. What are the differences?

夸张 (kuāzhāng) simply means Hyperbole, Exaggeration.

As in, your friend told a story that was too 夸张...

你朋友的故事太夸张了 - your friend's story is a bit exaggerated...

Or if someone is acting ridiculous, crazy, or flamboyant (in a funny way, not in a mean way), you could say they're acting 夸张.

过分 (guòfèn), as you can tell from the two characters 过 (overstep), 分 (portion, point)... that they've overstepped their points/ or overstepped their boundaries.

你朋友干吗打我？ 他太过分了。。。 - Why did your friend hit me? He went a bit overboard...

Something helpful for me...

When the translations of words are similar (in the case of 夸张 and 过分), it always helps to break the word into parts as I described above. That helps for two reasons:

It gets you familiar with the individual meanings of characters
Makes you more self-sufficient with learning the language as you can dissect each meaning when given ambiguous translations


Can you apply 男子汉 and 女汉子 to non-Chinese? The term 汉奸 probably only works for Han Chinese traitors, but what about other '汉's?

男子汉 means a manly guy, a strong man, or a courageous fighter.

The grammar doesn't seem natural in Chinese. It actually originated in a foreign language and borrowed to Chinese. Here is some text about its origin:

据考证称呼成年男子为男子汉起源于汉武帝时代，众所周知自汉高祖刘邦白登被围后，西汉政权对北主的匈奴一直采取的和亲战略，因此匈奴人对汉人十分瞧不起，到武帝时期经过前几代皇帝的休养生息，西汉国力强盛，士卒训练有素，在汉武帝的命令下，西汉军队在卫青、霍去病两位将军的带领下，与北方的匈奴展开了激烈的战争，经过数次大战终于打败了强大的匈奴，当时的汉朝军队士兵战斗力强悍，在对战中经常以一敌二或敌三，死战不退，一扫有汉以来匈奴人对汉人的蔑视态度，因此从那时起匈奴人对汉朝士兵的称呼即为“汉儿”、“男儿汉”，此称呼后来传回中原，风靡一时，后来人们逐渐对成年男子即用男子汉称呼。

It can be used for people of any ethnicity in China (not just 汉族，but also 满族、蒙古族, etc). So foreigners can also use the word without any problem.


How can I say "Available in Chinese" about a product I'm making a marketing image for a product, and the logo is in English. I want to add in Simplified Chinese under the logo the sentence "Available in Chinese" so that people who see it understand that the product itself has a Chinese version.
I found the following options but am unsure which is best for this scenario, or if any are good at all:

可用中文
在中国语文
用中文（表达

In your case, 支持中文 (literally "supports Chinese) is the most idiomatic way afaik. (I read Chinese game websites every day.)  有中文 (literally "has Chinese) is another casual way. Unlike the other answer states, you need to use a verb here in Chinese. (Actually it is English that does not use a verb here: English uses the adjective "available")
中文版本, or 中文版, means "Chinese version". If you have a link that points to the Chinese version, you can use the phrase as the link text.


How can I use 其 properly? I wonder how I should use 其. To express possessive pronoun, you can use 他的，它的，他们的，etc.

So when should I use 其? Can it function as just a replacement for these possessive pronouns?

(And I just found that it is also used as a subjective pronoun...)

其, in ancient Chinese, is used as a personal pronoun: he, she, it, his, her, its. nowadays, in Chinese, we partially inherited its usage. That means it will only make sense in some fixing words, phrases and sentences. besides examples by haksayng, there are more (which are commonly used in my quotidian world): 以其人之道，还治其人之身 （meaning "fight fire with fire" or "tit for tat"）, 有其父必有其子 （meaning "like father, like son"）, etc...


Is "JJ" slang for "penis" in Chinese? Reading the comments to the news article 巴西女排变性球星将竞选国会议员 已瞄准东京奥运 about a Brazilian volleyballer who is transgender and wants to play in the Olympics, we have two comments:

Both use this term "JJ".

男队员割了JJ就可以参加女队的比赛？真是天下大乱了！
Can a male player cut a JJ to participate in a women's team? It’s really a mess! (Google Translate)
隔了jj就可以参加女性的比赛，这对女性体育运动公平吗？
You can participate in women's competitions after jj. Is this fair for women's sports? (Google Translate)

Here we have "割了JJ" (gēle JJ; "cut JJ") and "隔了jj" (géle JJ; "separate JJ"), which suggests it's most likely that JJ refers to "penis", but I'm not sure, so...
Question: Is "JJ" slang for "penis" in Chinese?

In Mandarin 雞巴/Jībā/ is slang for 'penis', And it is often further nicknamed 雞雞/jī jī/ or 小雞雞/Xiǎo Jī Jī/

JJ is a shorthand for 雞雞/Jī Jī/

~

A possibility for Cantonese to also use jj for penis:

In Cantonese, we call children's (or small) penis 賓周
Since 周 sounded like 啫, we also call it 啫啫 or 啫啫仔
JJ sounded like 啫啫, therefore is used instead in some casual Cantonese publication, mostly entertainment news or gossip column.

As for adult (or big) penis, there are several different names for it.


Does the word 透露 ("leak") only refer to something undesirable? 透露 (tòulù)
CC-CEDICT: to leak out / to divulge / to reveal

I see 透露 a lot in newspapers, and I only ever recall seeing it refer to something bad, e.g. leaked information.  Moreover, examples such as at Jukuu generally suggest that 透露 mostly (exclusively (?)) refers to something undesirable or bad (or, at least, not particularly good).
I'm not sure if this is always the case.  In English, "reveal" (one of the above definitions) can be a positive thing, e.g., chipping away at this rock revealed a fossil.  But I don't think 透露 works this way.
Question: Does 透露 only refer to something undesirable?

Question: Does 透露 only refer to something undesirable?

No, the things that got 透露 (revealed) are undisclosed information, Both 'reveal' and 'information' are neutral term
The correct term for 'to leak out (dark secret)' is '洩露 (黑暗的秘密)', Using 透露 would be too neutral
Similarly, we say 洩露醜聞 (leak out scandal), not 透露醜聞 (reveal scandal)
If you look at the following sentence "美國總統在談話中透露/洩露出他發動戰爭的意向" (The President of the United States revealed his intention to wage war in his conversation), you can see even '發動戰爭的意向' is not always negative because you can use either 透露 or 洩露
Meanwhile, 洩露 cannot be replaced by 透露 in "美國總統在談話中洩露了他貪污的秘密" (The President of the United States revealed/ give away the secert of his corruption in his conversation)


How do I ask for a refill for my acrylic nails? I like having pretty acrylic nails:

Roughly once a month, I need to get a refill.  (Basically, they take the color off, and fill in the part of the nail where it's grown out, and paint them again.)

In my last visit to China, I attempted to get a refill, except (a) my Chinese didn't seem up to the task (I typically listen to intermediate level on ChinesePod, but this is a specialized topic), and (b) the lady didn't seem to have the appropriate equipment.  I managed to get my nails done, but it wasn't the same as what I've had previously in Western countries (instead, they just painted over them).

Question: How can I ask for a nail refill?

I've just learned the words 假指甲 (fake nails) and 美甲 (manicure).  But I suspect a translation of "refill" will not give me what I'm after.

Refill 修补

Saw this talking about gel nails, but the concept should be the same:

H.K. Gel Nails F&Q

  ...要注意在啫喱甲Refill(修补)过程中...

Edit: I have a hunch that acrylic nails are called 水晶甲 but I could very well be wrong....


Looking for very common dialect words that have no Standard Mandarin Chinese hanzi characters I'm basing this question on several assumptions, so if they are wrong please say so as an answer:

Written Chinese is mainly used for Standard (Mandarin) Chinese.
Mostly other Chinese languages and/or dialects are mainly spoken and not written.
Cantonese is probably the other language/dialect most written after Mandarin, and dialect words in Taiwan probably next most.
Most other Chinese languages and/or dialects have at least a few words which have no established related word in Mandarin. (This means related by etymology, not just the same meaning.)

I know in Cantonese there are quite a few characters with the mouth radical, which are used for "dialect" words and not really used in Mandarin.

I know there are a few English letters used in some "dialect" words. I've seen "Q" used in Taiwan, "C" and "O" for types of coffee in Singapore, and there's a type of cabbage or vegetable often written "A菜".

If these assumptions are right, here is my question:

Where can I find some of the most common terms from any other Chinese (Sinitic) languages and/or dialects which do not have a standard hanzi character?

I'd prefer to find links to lists that already exist, but if that's not possible I could convert this to a community wiki to build a list right here.

It is probably not the languages/dialects that don't have a corresponding Chinese character, but rather regional slang. The A菜 you see is actually 萵仔菜, or ue-á-tshài in Hokkien. That became became e-á-tshài which led it to be transcribed back into Chinese as A仔菜 and eventually A菜.

There is actually a word for Q, but I am not aware of how to type that out on a computer. So have a picture of it instead:  (EDIT: This has apparently made it into Unicode as U+296A8, "")

Owing to the dominance of Standard Chinese, characters not in common use in that language tend not to make it into a common computer encoding. So in a sense, the dialectal words indeed do not have a corresponding standard Chinese character. On the other hand, that's more of an issue with the way Chinese works on computers.

In any case, this phenomenon tends to happen in cases where Sinitic languages/dialect retain words from Old Chinese rather than the more fashionable new words that have taken over in Standard Mandarin. A couple more examples from Hokkien:

 gâu, meaning "good at, skilled at, prone to"
 lān, meaning "male genitalia"
 in, meaning "them, her/his"
 tsi̍p, meaning "a taste, to treat to a casual meal"
 peh, meaning "to climb"

There are likely hundreds if not thousands of such characters in common use. There might not be a list per se, but such characters can be found in dictionaries that caters to a specific language/dialect.

EDIT: I have a massive blindspot for Taiwanese loanwords.

Due to being under Japanese rule for five decades at a time of rapid change, Taiwanese had a rather unique opportunity at absorbing Japanese terms. Now, I don't know if we can say such words have no Chinese characters per se. Some of them came with kanji characters already. And naturally, they all have Mandarin equivalents, including some which are transcribed into Chinese from the same ultimate (Western) source. Examples:

Aspirin: a33 sir55 phi55 lin51 - Chinese 阿斯匹林, Japanese アスピリン (asupirin)
Clear-cut: at3 sa55 lih3 - Chinese 阿莎力, Japanese あっさり (assari)
Miso: mi55 sooh3 - Chinese 味噌, Japanese 味噌 (miso)
Tempura: thian35 pu55 lah3 - Chinese 甜不辣, Japanese 天麩羅 (tempura)

With Aspirin, both Chinese and Japanese (and hence Taiwanese) loaned the same word by transcribing its sound. The word for "clear-cut", on the other hand, it is a Japanese word that has been adopted in Chinese by transcribing its pronunciation - same as for Taiwanese.

Tempura and Miso are both Japanese words that had kanji. But whereas Chinese adopted Miso, it transcribed Tempura in other Chinese characters. And in both cases, Taiwanese follows the Japanese pronunciation.

Whether or not one considers them to be Taiwanese words without Chinese characters might be a matter of personal opinion. Compare and contrast with the following Taiwanese terms, which don't have such relationships to their equivalents in Chinese characters:

Apron: e33 pu55 long51 - Chinese 圍裙, from エプロン
Butter: ba55 tah3 - Chinese 奶油, from バタ－
Bra: bu33 la51 jia11 - Chinese 胸罩, from ブラジャ－
Condom: sak5 khuh3 - Chinese 保險套 from サック
Gasolin: 29 ga33 soo55 lin51 - Chinese 汽油, from ガソリン
Ice Cream: ai55 sirh3 khu33 lin51 mu11 - Chinese 冰淇淋, from アイスクリ－ム
Bread: phang51 - Chinese 麵包, from パン
Stainless Steel: sir33 ten55 le51 su11 - Chinese 不鏽鋼, from ステンレス

It's possible that this is mirrored in some other dialects/languages. Hong Kong Cantonese comes to mind.

EDIT2:

After some more research I've learnt of a few Taiwanese words where the proper Chinese character was unknown or disputed or perhaps non-existent. This, combined with long term marginalisation of Taiwanese, resulted in some chaos in terms of how some words were written.

As I suspected in the comments, however any words that didn't have a character have been matched with one nonetheless. And in 2009 the government made an effort to standardise the writing system. In some cases, supposedly new characters were created; but so far I haven't found truly new ones.

In any case, here are some words that apparently had no universally agreed upon correct character (prior to 2009, at least:

bē/buē: officially 袂, was/is written as , 未
gâu: officially , was/is written as 賢, 爻
buaih: officially 勿愛 squished together, was/is written as 無愛, 覅
suí: officially 媠, was/is written as 美, 水
tsia̍h: officially 食, was/is written as 噍, 吃
phah: officially 拍, was/is written as 打, 扑
beh/bueh: officially 欲, was/is written as 要, 卜
kah: officially 佮, was/is written as 及, 甲, 合
m̄: officially 毋, was/is written as 不, 呣, 唔
tshù: officially 厝, was/is written as 茨、戍


"A pair of mandarin oranges" as a homophone of "the gold" image courtesy of

Today, when Chinese people celebrate the New Year, there's a tradition to offer each other Mandarin oranges. As many sources say, the Mandarin oranges should be offered in pairs, since the phrase "a pair of Mandarin oranges" is a homophone to "the gold".

Obviously, 柑桔 [gan1 ju2] or 瓯柑 [ou1 gan1] are not homophones to 金 [jin1].

Some sources say that 柑 [gan1] is a homophone (or close) to Cantonese 金 [gam1], which does not sound very convincing for me.

So I suppose there's some older/dialectal pronunciation of one of these phrases (or both) that makes a closer match.

So the question is: What are the exact words of the phrase "a pair of Mandarin oranges" which form a homophone to "the gold"?

Actually 金 and 柑 are both pronounced gam1 in Cantonese, according to Rita Mei-Wah Choy’s ‘Read and Write Chinese’.

While it may be better to refer to Shantou as Chaozhou (潮州), I think CA55CE37 is onto something here.  Indeed, in chaozhouhua 大橘/桔 (orange) and 大吉 (great luck) are apparently near homophones.  A Thai source I have mentions this as well and asserts that oranges are given out at weddings for this reason.  In Thailand, people from the Chaozhou region are dominant in the Chinese community, as you probably know.  And oranges are given for the New Year holiday too (we live in Bangkok and received two oranges from our Thai-Chinese neighbors just yesterday, as it happens.)  It may be simply that two is an even number and thus auspicious.

So, there are various words for orange/tangerine (there is also 橙) and various rationalizations for giving people fruit during holidays, depending on local dialect and local tradition.  I wouldn’t be surprised to learn of more wordplay of this nature, for instance the link between pomelos and ‘to have’.


How would one say "my computer died"? I know 关掉  to mean "turn off" but it doesn't seem to convey the sudden-ness or unwelcome connotation of "died". 突然关掉 is more precise but still seems to lack the negitivity. Also, as this is a common occurance, there must be a more colloquial way.

If it hangs (not responding to any input), you could say

  我的电脑死机了。

If the screen blacks out, you could say

  我的电脑黑屏了。

If it doesn't turn on, you could say

  我的电脑不亮了。

or

  我的电脑打不开了。

If it is completely broken and needs major repair, you could say

  我的电脑坏了。

or

  我的电脑完蛋了。

Note: All above are used in Mainland China. I know they're expressed differently in other Chinese-speaking regions (e.g. Taiwan) but I don't know what they should become.


Meaning of repeated "什么" I'm genuinely confused about this. Does repeated "什么" have special meaning? Or are they just wordplay?

I've read something like this "那什么什么" but I can't comprehend it at all. I tried looking for similar phrases and found them to be even more incomprehensible.

There was no context to this "那什么什么" I read, hence my confusion.

什么什么 can be used as a filler like "blabla". In Japanese the pedant is used (何). Good translations would be "and so on" or "blabla", imo.

Example, when trying to explain how "As soon as" works in Chinese:

  "他一什么什么，他就做什么什么。。。"

--> This is the generic version of the usage of "as soon as".

I would translate this with

  "As soon as he [...], he makes/does [...]"

whereas the [...] is filled by 什么什么 and in English this could be "blablabla":

  "As soon as he blablabla, he makes/does blablabla".

Source: My own experience as a non native speaker and my wife (who is a native speaker and whom I am going to ask today evening to confirm my answer)

EDIT: I asked her, she can confirm my answer. But there also is another usage of repeated 什么:
Your question refers to "那什么什么" - which is used as a substitution, in  case you forget a word during a conversation. So instead of saying the name of the thing you use "那什么什么".

Interestingly, a similar concept exists for persons/names. If you forgot a person's name or do not want to use the name the substitute "那谁" would be used.


Do Mandarin people use 補鑊 as slang to represent fence-mending or damage control? Cantonese people often use 補鑊 to mean fence-mending or damage control.

Do Mandarin people use this phrase as well? If not, what phrase would be the Mandarin equivalent?

補鑊
fence-mending; damage control; get a problem fixed
This term is used in Cantonese, not Mandarin/Standard written Chinese

補救 (remedy) can be used in both Mandarin and Cantonese
Example:
事發後才去補救已經太遅了 (Mandarin)
事發後先至去補救已經太遅啦 (Cantonese)
事發後先至去補鑊已經太遅啦 (Cantonese)
~
現在補救還來得及 (Mandarin)
而家補救仲趕得切 (Cantonese)
而家補鑊仲趕得切 (Cantonese)
補鑊 and 補救 are mostly interchangeable in Cantonese


What is the meaning of 大专? I notice that in the recent evaluation of first-rate universities and disciplines in China, no colleges of vocational education are granted the honor. But I learn from other sources that such colleges are the integral part of higher education of this country, which have outnumbered the traditional colleges that offer four-year long undergraduate education.

They say such colleges were changed from the former secondary schools of vocation, so that they are simply 大专, not 本科. But I understand that all colleges are known in Chinese as 大专院校, so what is the difference?

Your understanding of "大专院校" is probably right.

But "大专" used alone is different from "大专院校". It is probably the short form of "大学专科", and is a kind of education after secondary schools but has shorter terms (usually 2~3 years) and does not provide a bachelor's degree. On the contrary, "大本", or "大学本科" usually takes 4~5 years and will provide a bachelor's degree.


How to parse and translate 必须要有? Edit: typo, wrote '必需‘ instead of '必须’.

Is '必须要有‘ 2 or 3 words? What does it mean? It seems to say 'must have (必需） must （要） have （有）

人必需要有自己的追求，

In English we use 'needs must', for example, often heard in 'Needs must when the devil drives', although it is somewhat old-fashioned, but not archaic. It is still heard.

Is ’必需要有‘ 'needs must'?

人必需要有自己的追求， 'a person needs must have a pursuit'

Cf: Shakespeare's 'All’s Well that Ends Well': The Clown says to the Countess: “My poor body, madam, requires it: I am driven on by the flesh; and he must needs go that the devil drives”.

ABC dictionary defines 要有 as

V.
need; require

giving the example:

开箱子要有钥匙。
Kāi xiāngzi yàoyǒu yàoshi.
One needs the key to open the suitcase.

必需 you can think of as essential, indispensable or necessary.

Your translation:
人必需要有自己的追求， 'a person needs must have a pursuit'
while not wrong - could probably be better thought of as definitely necessary instead.


What's the difference between 战略 and 策略？ What's the difference between 战略 and 策略？

The word I am looking to translate from English is "strategy." I vaguely remember a Chinese teacher once explaining 战略 as more of high level strategy and 策略 as department-based tactics.

I've found an article on the Chinese MBAlib explaining "pricing strategy" as 价格策略.   MBAlib Link

战略
  1.指导战争全局的计划和策略。对战术而言。 （战术: tactic）
  洪深《戏剧导演的初步知识》：“兵书上说得好：战略与战术乃二个全异之行动。战术是关于战斗诸种行动之指导法，战略乃连系配合各种战斗之谓。战略为作战之根源，即创意定计；战术乃实行战略所要求之手段。”
  2.有关战争全局的。
  由战略防御转入战略进攻。
  3.比喻在一定历史时期指导全局的方略。
  邓小平《高级干部要带头发扬党的优良传统》：“我们一定要认识到，认真选好接班人，这是一个战略问题。”

  战略，是一种从全局考虑谋划实现全局目标的规划，战术只为实现战略的手段之一。实现战略胜利，往往有时候要牺牲部分利益，去获得战略胜利。战略是一种长远的规划，是远大的目标，往往规划战略、制定战略、用于实现战略的目标的时间是比较长的。
  争一时之长短，用战术就可以达到！如果是“争一世之雌雄”，就需要从全局出发去规划，这就是战略！

战略 and 策略 may not be directly mapping to English as strategy and tactic. But for sure, 战略 is something that think bigger, long term, comprehensive and high level one. From Chinese to English, the mapping English word for 战略 is strategy. But from English to Chinese, the word for strategy can be 战略 or 策略. It depends.
Why is 策略 here for Pricing Strategy? I think this is because 战略 is more comprehensive, globally, something bigger than only pricing. It may consider all the aspects the corporation should care about. Sometimes, 战略 could be more abstract than 策略. Pricing is just one aspect, specific and detail topic here. If you search 经营策略 in that site, you will find many words about 经营战略. Because 企业经营（running business） is more strategy and bigger topic than pricing.

And another thing is that 战略 is now widely used in many competitive context, not only about military and war.


Effect of 在 and 着 on verbs. What are the best single word translations? Was wondering about ZAI and ZHE markers and their meaning.
So we know that:

在穿 - dressing. In other words we are in the process of obtaining\realizing the state of being dressed.
穿着 - wearing. In other words we are in the state of being dressed which was obtained\realized.

but what are the best single word translations for:

在想 -？
想着 -？
在雨 -？
雨着 -？
门在开 - The door is opening.
门开着 - The door is open.
在坐 - Taking a seat.
坐着 - Sitting.

P.S. I would welcome anyone to append similar "pairs" to the list.

The nuance between "在穿" and "穿着" is that the former emphasizes on my action and the latter on my status with clothing.

So "在穿" is associated with time.
- "可以走了吗？"            Are we ready to go now?
- "等一下，我还在穿衣服"     One sec, I am still putting clothing on.

While "穿着" indicates the status quo of with clothing on
- 不懂为啥会着凉，我明明穿着很厚的衣服   Not quite sure why I got cold, I got lots of clothing on.

Also, baware of "穿着" indicates dress code as well, and 着 is pronounced as zhuo / 2nd tone rather than zhe.


Which expressions should I choose to say “thanks for your help”? If I want to say "Thanks for your help", which sentence is correct and which one is more commonly used?

  谢谢你的帮忙
  谢谢你的帮助

It seems that the first one is more uncommon but I'm not really sure.

In my opinion, 帮忙 and 帮助 are different.

  帮忙: [verb]to help some do something .This word itself has declared its object[忙] already. I think the phrase "do sb a favor" is a more appropriate equivalent in English.

  帮助: [verb]to help. [noun]help. This word needs an object

You would say,

  你可以来帮忙吗？ Could you come and help?

  你可以帮助*我*一下吗？Could you help me?

  我帮不上忙。 I am not able to help.

  我无法帮助*你*。(Actually, 我帮不了你 is more common) I am not able to help.

Imagine that you are going to prepare a meal in your house,to entertain your friends, but you have a lot of work(buying, washing, cutting, cooking...) to do
, so you ask me for help. You would say,

  Huang,明早你可以来帮忙吗？Could you please come and help(do me a favor) tomorrow morning?  By using 帮忙, you should not express its object, and that doesn't matter, because in the context, I understand what I can help you. I say,

  没问题。我能帮助你什么呢？=没问题，我能帮什么忙呢？No problem! What can I help you?

  你可以帮助我去超市买菜。 You can help me buy the foods in the supermarket. Here, you won't say 帮忙, because you have to express the object explicitly.

Now, for your question, I think the 2nd sentence is more common, though the first one could be understood. I guess you would not say "Thanks for your doing me a favor" in English, would you?

You can also say other words to express this meaning,

  谢谢(or 谢了 if you are familiar with the interlocutor)
  辛苦你了
  辛苦了
  麻烦你了
  麻烦了


What is the difference between 抗拒 and 抵御? These two words seem to be the same for me. Both mean "resist".

According to 百度词典:

抗拒：抵抗并拒绝
抵御：抵挡;抗御

At least 抵抗 and 反抗 seems to be different in that it is used to counter "attack".

抵抗：用力量制止对方的进攻、抗击外来的武装侵略或敌军进攻

So regarding 抗拒 and 抵御, how can I use them apart?

抗拒：1. 抵抗, resist; 2. 拒绝, refuse;

抵御：1. 抵挡, 抵抗, resist; 2. 抵御, 预防, protect from;

So, there is an overlap in meaning (sense 1) between these two words. For example, 无法抗拒==无法抵御; 抗拒诱惑==抵御诱惑;

Also, there is a different usage(sense 2) between the two. For example,  抗拒搜查 means you fight against police in order to resist their searching in your home;well,  抵御搜查 would mean that you hide your evidence to protect it to be found out by police; another example is 抵御疾病 means you could wear more to protect you from the disease like a cold; well, there is no direct way that you can fight with diseases, so 抗拒疾病 seems not to make any sense. You can't literally refuse the diseases when they come.


What does this mean? It is on the bottom of a strange coffee mug Please let me know if you can tell me what this means. I posted a pic of the mug too.

The characters are "悠游三国喜神方". Proof link here.

三国 (Three Kingdoms) refers to the story of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

悠游三国 (leisurely visit the Three Kingdoms) is an online game.

喜神方 (happiness god's way) is a concept from old Chinese's belief in luck. When the almanac says one shouldn't travel, there are methods to find "happiness god's way" following which one may travel without getting the ill luck. I believe in your phrase, 喜神方 refers to that method (maybe it's a ceremony in the game).

Put them together, 悠游三国喜神方 means 'the method to understand happiness god's way (so one may travel without getting bad luck) in the online game You You Three Kingdoms'.


translations of praise and worship in Chinese I've posted a question at Stackexchange, but I've deleted.

https://chinese.stackexchange.com/q/36809/20407
(It's visible for users whose reputation is larger than 10K? Maybe.)

and I think I've got the answer already.

praise and worship

The question is:

  Everybody had to praise Stalin, all the time.

Can I translate it into:

  任何人都要在任何时候歌颂斯大林.

and

  whole Soviet people worship Stalin.

into

  全苏联人都要崇拜斯大林.

Everybody had to praise Stalin, all the time.
人们必须每天都称颂斯大林。

All Soviet people worship Stalin.
所有的苏维埃人民都崇拜斯大林。

如果有人不这么做，他们将立即送去古拉格！


Should the second 你 in 你的身体会告诉你应该做什么 actually be 你你? A YouDao.com example sentence:

  你的身体会告诉你应该做什么
  Your body will tell you what to do
  Nǐ de shēntǐ huì gàosù nǐ yīnggāi zuò shénme

The sentence makes sense to me, except that:

会告诉你 = will tell you,
你应该做什么 = what you should do

but the sentence only contains one 你 in 会告诉你应该做什么.

So it seems like it should be written:

  你的身体会告诉你你应该做什么

Question: Should the second 你 in 你的身体会告诉你应该做什么 actually be 你你?

I'm not sure if this is a mistake, some kind of abbreviation (or something more suitable in spoken Chinese), or perhaps we can conclude from context that 应该做什么 means 你应该做什么.  Or maybe something else.

I see we don't have two "you"s in the English, so perhaps an alternative translation is:

  Your body will tell you what should be done.

But this doesn't clarify if two 你s are better than one.  In English, it (arguably) sounds better as:

  Your body will tell you what you should do

which has two "you"s.

"你的身体会告诉你 (Your body will tell you) '你应该做什么' (what should you do)" is indeed grammatically correct. However, consider three '你' in one sentence, especially two '你' back to back just look weird.

A better writer would rephrase it to make reading easier, for example:  "你的身体会讓你知道 (your body will let you know) 你应该做什么 (what you should do)"

or

" '你应该做什么'(topic), 你的身体会告诉你(comment)"

Note:

"有人告诉你你很漂亮" (the first 你 is the object, the second 你 is the subject of the relative clause)

"父親告訴我我出生時的事" (the first 我 is the object, the second 我 is the subject of the relative clause)


Why I cannot say "他坐着在沙发上看报纸“？ 他坐着在沙发上看报纸. He is sitting on the sofa and reading newspaper.

A friend tells me it should be

(1) 他坐在沙发上看报纸.

(2) 他坐在沙发上看着报纸.

(3) 他在沙发上坐着看报纸.

Can anyone explain to me why the original one is wrong?

着 is a strong termination mark for an adverbial clause.

  他坐着吃饭 = 他 / 坐着 / 看书

  他笑着回答 = 他 / 笑着 / 回答

  他哭着跑开 = 他 / 哭着 / 跑开

着 here terminate the whole adverbial clauses.

  你哭着 you crying + 你对我说 you say to me = 你哭着对我说 you say to me in tears

One can easily separate out 哭着 because it's a whole.

Back to your original question, 着 has to be at the end of the clause, and hence 在沙发上坐着 (not 坐着在沙发上). It will be understood as

  他 / 在沙发上坐着 / 看报纸。

However, the sentence is also grammatically correct if you add a comma after 着. It will sound like there are two predicates rather than one (modified by an adverbial clause).

  他坐着，在沙发上看报纸。

  He is sitting, and reading newspapers on the sofa.

In general, anything that belongs to an adverbial clause should go before 着.

One exception though is when the verb is transitive.

  孩子 / 抱着妈妈 / 哭了起来。 Hugging his mother, the child started to cry.

In this case, the object can be put after 着.


Does anyone know this Chinese poem? My friend gave an English translation of this Chinese poem to me long time ago. It was a long poem and it was about two men, talking by the river and enjoying the moon. It contained a phrase, "Have you seen the moon and the water?" They talk about some things always changing and yet always there, like the moon and the river. I don't remember who wrote it, but I just remember it was beautiful. Does anybody know what this poem is??
Thanks in advance.

The poem you are quoting is 前赤壁赋 by 苏轼，and indeed, it is one of the best 赋 in Chinese history.

The part you have in the post is

  客亦知夫水与月乎？逝者如斯，而未尝往也，盈虚者如彼，而卒莫消长也。盖将自其变者而观之，则天地曾不能以一瞬，自其不变者而观之，则物与我皆无尽也，而又何羡乎？且夫天地之间，物各有主，苟非吾之所有，虽一毫而莫取。惟江上之清风，与山间之明月，耳得之而为声，目遇之而成色，取之无禁，用之不竭，是造物者无尽臧也，而吾与子之所共适。


What is the difference beteween 并 and 和 in sentence (S. V. and V.)? What is the difference beteween 并 and 和 in sentence (S. V. and V.)? Which one is correct. E.g.:

  我们在一起跑步(并/和)参加了铁人三项赛

We don't usually use 并/和 to interpret (S. V. and V.) in English if two actions are not really relevant. Instead, we can use 又...又...

For example,

We sing and dance： 我们又唱又跳。 Not 我们唱 并/和 跳.
We eat and drink. = 我们又吃又喝。 not 我们吃 并/和 喝.

However, we use 和(not 并) to interpret (S. and S. + V.) and (S + V + O. and O.).

For example,

他和我去买东西。： he and I go shopping.
我吃苹果和香蕉。： I eat apple and banana.

并 is short for 并且, and could be used as conjunction, meaning 'and'. It often connects the two sentences or clauses. It could also connect two verbs if the two actions are logically relevant. (S. + V. and V. + O. )

For example,

我完全赞成并乐于接受这一安排。 I fully agree to the arrangement and take it delightfully. // connecting two clauses.
我赞同并接受这个决定。 I agree and accept the decision. // The two actions are relevant in this case.

In your case, 并 should be used as a conjunction for two clauses.

  我们在一起跑并参加了铁人三项赛.


Is There A Chinese Version of Urban Slang Dictionary? Many questions on this site concern various modern slang/dialect usages that require fairly extensive (and sometimes still unsuccessful) searches through the web.  Every time I think about these questions, I wonder about whether, if I were a Chinese person dealing with similar weirdnesses in English, I would find the Urban Dictionary very useful (I find it useful even as an English-speaking person dealing with all the weirdnesses of English).

Does such a crowdsourced "database" of colloquial Chinese usages exist on the Internet?  Is there any such good one-stop online place to do searches on Chinese slang?

there is a Chinese version of UD: zh.urbandictionary.com && China Smack's glossary: www.chinasmack.com/glossary

China Digital Times also has a list, I'll update with that later.

CDT: Sensitive Words Series


Is there any difference between 办 and 申请？ From what I can tell, they seem to be pretty interchangable, you can do both for a visa, passport, etc. Just wondering whether you can 办 something but not 申请 it, or vice versa?

"申请护照" means "to apply for a passport" It describes the action of file an application for obtaining passport

"办护照" means "make arrangement to obtain a passport" It describes the whole procedure of obtaining passport


What does it mean to 按时收听? I've been listening to a great mandarin podcast recently called "imandarinpod". At the beginning of every podcast the host says something like this
"谢谢大家按时收听我们的节目“。 I've looked up the translation of 按时 （an4shi2） and it comes out to be something like "On Time". However, I'm not entirely sure if that makes sense in this context (especially since it is a podcast).

Can anyone give me an idea of what 按时收听 really means?

An example of 按时's usage will be like:
按时服药 - take medicine on time

Where 按时 refers to being on time periodically.  In your case, the podcast might be on-air every night at certain time, thus using 按时.  However a better translation for will be:
"谢谢大家准时收听我们的节目"


Is this translation correct? I was just looking at 吾， found in 语 so I looked for some example sentences in iciba.com and found this. I guess it's correct, but it is a bit cryptic, so I'd like to check, probably from an old book or such.

Maybe a literal translation: 莫吾知也夫! no I knows also this (I)

莫吾知也夫! Alas, no one understands me! (iciba)
莫： there is no one
吾： I，we
知： know
也： also
夫： this (person?), me

because given the English translation, I would write something different, perhaps:

唉，没有人了解我！

Unfortunately your interpretation is not quite correct.

This sentence is in ancient Chinese. 也 means nothing but to indicate the end of a phrase or sentence, and 夫 here indicates an exclamation. There were originally no punctuations in an ancient Chinese article, and these are just like punctuations. Using more than one such word (也夫) indicates stronger exclamation.

莫: no one, 吾: me, 知: understand, 也夫: exclamation, may be translated 'Alas!'

So putting together,

Alas, no one understands me!

or

唉，没有人了解我！


Difference between V+着+V and 一边+V+一边+V Is there any difference between:

他们说着话吃饭。
他们一边说话一边吃饭。

他骑着自行车听音乐。
他一边骑自行车一边听音乐。

Thx

Off the top of my head, the emphasis appears to be different in these two forms. If I use verb1 + 着 + [verb1 complement] + verb2 + [verb2 complement], the second verb is to me a more important action. For example, I would interpret 你不应该听着音乐做功课 as "You mustn't listen to music while doing homework" and 你不应该做着功课听音乐 as "You mustn't do homework while listening to music". These are not the same. If I want to tell someone that to focus on her homework, I use the first sentence. If I want someone to focus on the music we are listening to (so as to better appreciate it), I would use the second sentence.

In comparison, if I use 一边 + verb1 + 一边 + verb2, there is less of an implicit emphasis on either action. If I see 你不应该一边等巴士，一边拍照, my interpretation is that it does not matter whether the person addressed stops taking photographs and waits for the bus, or gives up waiting for the bus and takes more photographs.


Possessive and plural: usage of 们 and 的 This is a very basic question about a simple topic that is not really clear to me (curiously, my book doesn't address it, or, more probably, I don't get it).

There are rules to:

to pluralize personal pronouns: just add "们" (e.g.: 我 [I] -> 我们 [we])
to make possessive adjective from personal pronouns: just add "的" (e.g.: 我 [I] -> 我的 [my])

Can these rules be combined to make possessive adjective for plural pronouns (e.g.: 我 [I] -> 我们的 [our])?

Thanks!

According to Stan (see first comment in the question) and sotondolphin (see other answer), the answer is: Yes.
So:

我们的 -> our
你们的 -> your
他们的 -> their
她们的 -> their
它们的 -> their


What is the etymologically correct character for the Min-Nan words for meat (bah)? In both the teoswa and hokkien, the common word for meat is pronounced something like /baʔ/. I.e., it has a voiced initial stop (not like pinyin "b") and a glottal final.
This doesn't seem like the expected Southern Min reflex of 肉 from Middle Chinese (where it was pronounced like /ȵiuk̚/). I would at the very least expect the pronunciation to end in a final /k/ (since these dialects preserve final /k/). The initial could be an /n/ or something else, but it should follow from some systematic set of sound changes.
For instance, wiktionary gives the following (presumably colloquial = 白) readings for 肉 in Southern Min:

Xiamen: /liɔk̚⁵/ and /hik̚⁵/
Shantou: /nek̚⁵/

These all seem plausible as being regular derivations of the Middle Chinese. The final /k/ is present in all of them. The /ȵ/ initial either turned to /n/ (which in some dialects is merged with /l/) or it turns to h before front vowels. The latter is a rule Norman claims to hold for some dialects, and it seems to hold in Xiamen dialect for 耳 (/hi/).
So where does /baʔ/ come from, if not the Middle Chinese word 肉 = /ȵiuk̚/?

The Austronesian hypothesis for the origin of Min Nan bah (as quoted on English Wiktionary, as of June 2020), comes from Deng Xiaohua's 1994 paper 〈南方漢語中的古南島語成分〉 ("Proto-Austronesian in Southern Chinese Languages"). I have attached an image here from a secondary source:

I see that the 16/17th century (Zhangzhou / Philippine) Hokkien-Spanish dictionaries are reported to have already had 肉 pronounced as bah (in their romanisation, bâ'). Hence this orthographic convention has had a relatively long time-depth compared to the other characters used for it.
What makes the connection harder is the lack of available cognates in other Min branches like Min Dong, Min Bei. If we believe Schuessler's link with 脢, which according to the 說文解字 means "back meat", that wouldn't necessarily rule out an Austronesian connection.


How to reply to a recruiter ‘thanks for reaching out, I'd like to hear more’? A recruiter wrote me over Linkedin and I'd like to ask for more details, but my Chinese is completely rusty. Linkedin's predefined answer is "您好，感谢与我联系！我希望了解更多信息。". I would like to use another one, if there is any suitable, plus this one sounds a bit too 'canned'.

How about "您好，谢谢你发给我的消息，请你解释一下"？

Perhaps better not to mix up 您 and 你. Stay with one of them.

First part is ok. "您好，谢谢您发给我的消息，

My suggestion for the second part is:

Could you please give me more details?
您是否能够给我更多的详细信息？


what is 以及与? is it "and + and", if so why use such a thing? I've been reading a book and stumbled upon what looks like a double conjunction 以及与:

  他们惊讶地发现，虽然属于不同的时代，但那些动植物相互之间，以及与现代生物之间都有许多相似之处.

Is this a mistake? If not, then surely author differenciates between 以及 and 与, he gives them different functions. What are those functions?

Is there an alternative way to form such a sentence?

他们惊讶地发现，虽然属于不同的时代，但那些动植物相互之间，以及与现代生物之间都有许多相似之处.

'以及' means "and also";

"与"  means "and".

Let's break the sentence apart and see what's missing:

那些动植物相互之间 (between those animals and plants themselves)
以及 (and also)
between (subject omitted) 与 (and) 现代生物之间 (modern living things)
都有许多相似之处. (all have many similarities)

The author wanted to say:

Those (ancient) animals and plants had many similarities between themselves; and also have many similarities between them and modern living things

It would be more clear if he didn't omit the repeated subject

[那些动植物相互之间]，[以及] [(那些动植物)与现代生物之间] [都有许多相似之处]

[between those animals and plants themselves]，[and also] [between (those animals and plants) and modern living things] [all have many similarities ]

the repeated subject (那些动植物) was omitted


How do current Mandarin speakers usually pronounce 阿Ｑ正传? This is the story named in English "The true story of Ah Q."  Author Lu Xun transliterates the pronunciation of Q as Quei, and suggests that the Q could stand for 桂, or 贵, which are today pinyin Gui4.  I think Lu Xun grew up speaking a Wu dialect, but I am not sure of that.  Anyway I am less concerned to know how he pronounced it.

Answers to the question How do native speakers of Chinese pronounce Latin characters? suggest it could be pronounced by the name of the Latin letter, kiùr.

How is it said today by Mandarin speakers in China?

Generally speaking, in modern practice, Chinese speakers pronouce mixed English letters as is. for example:

  5A级景区

is pronouced as "wu3 ei1 ji2 jing3 qu1"

阿Q正传 is somehow different, because the author had explicitely mentioned in this novelette that Q should be pronounced as 桂 or 贵. (Note that back in the era of this novelette Chinese people were just starting to get familiar with western cultures so there was no established rules as how to incorporate English letter pronouciations in Chinese context.)

What I have experienced, when famous theatre companies present the play of 阿Q正传, they were always faithful to the original novelette and pronouced "gui4" in the play. However in daily speech, people sometimes just follow common practice and forget that this should be a special case.


How did 孬 become pronounced "nāo"? 孬 is an interesting character.

MDBG mentions that 孬 is a:

  (contraction of 不 and 好)

From it's structure it is also quite clear that 孬 is a combination of 不 and 好. From an phonetic angle though nāo, doesn't make a lot of sense, especially in relation to Modern Standard Chinese.

In other dialects I've seen 包 work as a contraction of 不 and 好, which makes more sense phonetically.

How did 孬 become pronounced "nāo"?

Firstly: 孬 is a fairly old character, attested in the Kangxi dictionary. However, the pronunciation there is given as:

  呼怪切，歪去聲。

...which implies modern Pinyin: huài (Zhuyin: ㄏㄨㄞˋ).

Even back then it was known as a dialectal character.

In Cantonese, the character is pronounced as a straightforward liaison, with initial of the first and the final (including the tone) of the last:

  不 bat1 + 好 hou2 = 孬 bou2

But that can't account for the n- initial; rather the pronounciation naau1 was borrowed back from Standard Mandarin, and only in pronouncing phrases from the standard language.

So, we have to look to another form of Chinese, possibly one of the Mandarin dialects. But we get inconsistent answers from the Internet commnuity: 河南方言, 东北方言, possibly others.

It is also attested in Shanghainese, and I personally think this is the most likely place that the expression originated; on the interface of Jianghuai Mandarin and Northern Wu, possibly where the local cognate of the tag question 好不好 has nasalised.

Just goes to show, contracted expressions are sometimes lost in the mists of time.


To express surprise with disappointment, if 卧槽 is vulgar, is 苦也 considered a decent alternative? Many people say 卧槽 when something unpleasant happens surprisingly. However, this word is considered as vulgar. So how to express such feelings decently without using offensive words? Is 苦也 a good choice?

Compare the following:

  ……只觉重门叠户之内，如处隐伏甲兵。李思永叫声卧槽，流星锤舞得呼呼风响，把一扇门板打碎，……

and

  ……只觉重门叠户之内，如处隐伏甲兵。李思永叫声苦也，流星锤舞得呼呼风响，把一扇门板打碎，……

Are they basically mean the same thing? The second one seems more polite to me.

卧槽 (我操) is mostly used as an exclamation, It can be any phrase as long as it expresses the emotion the speaker intended to express. Like 'rage, surprise, displease' and so on.

Some examples:

可惡 (rage/ anger/ displease)

可怒也 (rage/ anger/ displease)

糟糕 (surprise, worry, fear)

不好; 不妙(surprise, worry)

管他 (dismissive/ self-abandon )

豈有此理 (anger, displease)

弊了 (surprise, worry, fear)

In your example, either 可怒也 or 可惡 would be a good choice

  ……只觉重门叠户之内，如处隐伏甲兵。李思永叫声可惡，流星锤舞得呼呼风响，把一扇门板打碎，…… (he was angry about being ambushed)

But other exclamations can be chosen too, depend on what emotion the author wanted the character to express

  苦也 express 'despair' or 'disparate', it does fit in the example too, but the emotion would be different from other exclamations I listed


Clarifying usage and definition of 怀疑 怀疑 means (1) to doubt, and (2) to suspect. This seems to lead to some confusing translations. For example:

  我怀疑这张百元钞票是假的

could have two very different translations. If I use "to doubt", then it would translate to

  I doubt this 100 yuan bill is fake

Meaning that you think it's real. On the other hand, if I use suspect, it would translate to

  I suspect this 100 yuan bill is fake

Meaning you think it's most likely fake. These are nearly complete opposite meanings!

I don't believe my understanding of the word is wrong b/c I've heard it used in both contexts (though I may indeed be wrong), but how am I to know when definition is being applied?

First we will deal with the origin (English):

doubt is, in a sense, questioning something
suspect is, on the other hands, distrusting something

back to your example, you can identify the 2 sentences like this:

  I doubt (this 100 yuan bill is fake)

thus you are questioning the bill's..."fake-ness" which implies you think it's real

  I suspect (this 100 yuan bill) is fake

thus you are distrusting this bill, thinking it's fake.

Now, to the translation:
我怀疑这张百元钞票是假的
is definitly the second explanation - I suspect this 100 yuan bill is fake.

The way to express I doubt this 100 yuan bill is fake would be:
我对这张百元钞票是假的有怀疑

Hope this gives you an idea.


Do you write every character? I have been studying Chinese for a few months now. I am using some software to test my knowledge of the characters. Sometimes I do not recognize every character of a word but I can still derive the meaning based on the character I do know. My Chinese wife thinks this is not such a good idea and I should be more demanding to myself.
Also, sometimes the differences between the characters is rather subtle and I make a mistake: when typing on the computer the first character the computer suggests is often the right one and I feel I depend too much on that.
I do notice when I study by writing down each character I pay much more attention and those characters are much 'deeper' in my brain, maybe this is the only good way to do it ? On the other hand, it feels like quite time consuming...

What are your experiences ?

This is my personal experience:

You will remember and learn much more by writing things down than by using a computer
Chinese writing is notoriously hard and that's why schooling in China is much more full on and you will struggle if you don't push yourself as hard as a Chinese school student
Learning to write helps with learning to read. However, unless you are practicing regularly, you will forget how to write after a while. A quote from one of my Chinese friends yesterday: "Most of us have forgotten how to write. If someone asked me to write a letter today, I'd be lost."
I've seen many a demanding Chinese wife. Make yourself a level playing field and start asking for hand written 1k word essays once a week.


Chinese seal identification Please help me identify the calligraphy and seal on this silk painting

From right to left

花香鳥語 (Flower's Fragrance, birds' songs)

庚子歳 仲春 in the middle of Spring in the year of 庚子

"歳" means "year"(年); "仲" means "middle of"; "春" means "Spring"

The last 庚子年 was 1960; the next 庚子年 is 2020

志航寫 = wrote by Zhi Hang (志航 is the author)


What's the difference between "大衣" (dàyī), "外套" (wàitào), and "外衣" (wàiyī) - which can all be translated to "coat"? As I need to buy some cold weather clothes now that I'm heading further north than Xi'an I tried to look up the word for "coat".

I found there are at least these three terms:

大衣 (dàyī)
外套 (wàitào)
外衣 (wàiyī)

What's the differences between them? Are all terms still in use? Do some of them only refer to items of clothing not really worn any more?

"大衣" usually refers to a specific type of garment, it should be longer and more formal, something you will certainly take off when you stay indoors. No one would call a tracksuit top("运动外套") "大衣", but you can definitely call it "外套" or "外衣". I think a better translation for "大衣" is "overcoat" or "topcoat".

"外套" and "外衣" are pretty much the same, if anything, "外套" might refer to something heavier than "外衣". For example, it might be a bit odd to call a cardigan("开衫") "外套", but it's ok to call it "外衣" as long as you wear it on top. These words are more general, both refer to the outfit you wear on top. From where I come from, the "外" in "外套" and "外衣" means 'on top of', not 'outdoors'. "大衣" is just a kind of "外套"/"外衣", so is blazer("西装外套"), trenchcoat("风衣"), .etc.

And yes, people still use these terms, and they are something we still wear.

Google some images and you will have a better idea of what they are.

Also, If you are shopping online, "外衣" might not be a good keyword for searching since it's too general to put in product names(I haven't seen any shop owner put it in the title), but "外套" is ok, so is "大衣" if you are looking for that kind of garment.


How to translate "minister for loneliness" Recently, I learned that the UK established a "minister for loneliness".

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42708507

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

I thought of "孤獨大臣", which simulates "minister for finance" (財務大臣); or,

"孤獨部長", which simulates "defence minister" (國防部長). But neither suit the needs. Any ideas about how to imply "cope with" into this title in Chinese?

I think you're right:

“孤独大臣”

SoHu

  你是否也是一只孤独的"旅行青蛙"｜英国设部级孤独大臣的社会责任启示

and

  为解决这一问题，最近英国政府史无前例地创设了“孤独大臣”（Minister for Loneliness）这一部长级职位，由体育大臣特蕾西·克劳奇兼任。

百家号

  英国人太寂寞？政府任命“孤独大臣”，帮民众解决孤独寂寞冷

and

  这个职位，就叫做“孤独大臣”(Minister for Loneliness)。

If you wanted to get cope with into the title probably something like

抗孤大臣
抗寂大臣
抗寞大臣

would be more appropriate.


Is there a difference between 夂 and 夊, radicals 34 and 35 and 攵, Kangxi 66? The excellent Olle Linge asked the similar question "Is there a difference between 夂 and 夊?" about seven years ago.  The learned answers at that time missed the fact that 攵 appears more commonly in contemporary characters.

Yes. There is a difference.

There is a fine discussion elsewhere of Kangxi radicals 34 and 35, 夂 zhi3, "walk slowly" and 夊, sui1, "go."

It is incorrect to say that they are variants. They are modern descendants of different characters and their appearances today are far easier to confuse than they have ever been in the past. Whether "walk slowly" and "go" are similar or different in meaning is a matter only of opinion, and the plausibility of any arguments made would depend upon the contexts summoned.

The most common radical resembling these is Kangxi #66,攵 or 攴, both   pu1, "tap." Hanzi which need walking or going in their make-up are much more likely to use 彳, chi4, or 廴, yin3, I would have thought, but this is my uninformed opinion and I would love to see some of the good statistical work going around.

The "tap" radical, Kangxi 66, is different in both meaning and history from the two above, much as it resembles them in handwriting. It descends from 攴, pu1, and even in handwriting it should but doesn't differ from 34 and 35 in that its modern form is four brushstrokes, not their three. (Dian-heng-pie-na vs. Dian-wan-na, is it? The 永-based theory of the brush strokes would have it that they're all four strokes, but they obviously aren't.)

The differing ancestries of all three become clear in two different ways. Wikipedia and Wiktionary conveniently offer the Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese uses of all three and they are clearly distinct. Within the various Chinese orthographies and authorities, the similarities of handwriting are demolished by the utterly different Cangjie inputs.

Wikispaces, sadly, is gone now. It was closed down to a mere marker toward the end of 2018 after a brief but very fine run.

"Canjie" deserves a capital C in all these sources since it is an adjectival form that stems from a personal name. The eponymous 倉頡,    Cāngjié, was nominally the inventor of the Chinese characters. He is said to have done this in 2650 BCE but this date is clearly approximate, among other things because the date of Jesus of Nazareth's birth is not known exactly.


How did the abbreviations 520 and 521 arise? This article explains that

520 = 我愛你
521 = 我願意

Many such abbreviations are somewhat intuitive from the mandarin pronunciation:

  5918 = wu3jiu4yao1ba1 ~ 吾就要發

But I can see no connection between 2 and 願 or 2 and 愛 or 0 and 你！

Yeah, I'm with you on this one, the connection is very hard to hear.
Ninchanese wrote a blog post about it that mentions [emphasis my own]:

How did 5.20 come to equal a Chinese love word that says I love you?
Talking about this special event, you may wonder why it occurs on this day and not another one in Chinese. The answer is quite simple. It’s all about the sounds. When you write May 20th in numbers, it’s written 5.20. When you pronounce the numbers 5. 2. 0 in Chinese, 五二零 wǔ èr líng, they sound very close to the words 我爱你 wǒ ài nǐ. See? They don’t sound exactly the same, but they sound quite similar, and that’s enough! The Chinese love plays on homophonic words and numbers with hidden meanings.
520 originally started as a slang word used by the Chinese online as a shortcut to say I love you in Chinese, like ILY in English. It then came to be associated with the date May 20th (5.20), which therefore became a very romantic day!

They even admit that it doesn't sound totally the same. It, seems, to makes more sense that 20 sounds like 爱你, rather than 2 = 爱 and 0 = 你 - a lot of things said together quickly are easily confused with other things.


Can 下次 mean "again"? I found a sentence on tatoeba that isn't quite the translation I would expect.

  I will not do it again.

Is translated as...

  下次我不做了。

I checked mdbg.net to be sure, and 下次 is only translated as "next time", not "again". Is there another shade of meaning that I'm missing, or would this be significantly better?

我不再做。

Does 了 have any effect on my question, or is it just signifying a change in state?

The strict answer is no.

下次 is a shorten form of 下一次 which means next time.
下 carries the meaning of subsequent, the following or the next.
一次 carries the meaning of one time or once.

So, taken together, it means the next time.

But, for the next time to occur, the same or similar situation has to repeat itself (again). Therefore, you are not wrong to translate in the manner you have quoted above.

  I will not do it again.

is equivalent to

  I will not do it the next time.

Or it can be written redundantly as:

  I will not do it again the next time.

In Chinese, you can also write the three sentences above to mean the same thing:

  我不再做就是了。

  下次我不做了。

  下次我不再做就是了。

Although the words don't necessary have the same meaning, they can be written to mean the same thing.

The second part of your question is quite difficult to explain. My opinion is that 了 is used to indicate the closure or completion of an expression. I am not a language expert but I believe that the term perfective aspect may be useful.


welcoming a chinese delegation My girlfriend has to welcome and accompany a chinese delegation from different governmental institutions and companies, she wants to know if there are any common phrases for welcoming these guests in Mandarin Chinese.

I think it better to use "欢迎您的来访！", it does matter how many people are coming for visit. And can be reused for next time.


Which Qing Dynasty Poem/Prose is this? From A Concise History of Chinese Literature by Yuming Luo, Chapter 18 (Poetry and Prose of the Qing Dynasty), pg. 836, I found this piece of poetry/prose. I don't know if that is the first line or if it continues back into page 835, which is not in the preview. I can't find who wrote it from google. Shortly after it talks about the 1898 Reform and Qiu Tingliang (author of "On the Venacular as the Foundation of Reform") and Hu Shi.

  The red sun has just risen, shining in its great light.
  The Yellow River emerges from the undercurrent and pouts into the vast sea.
  The hidden dragon soars from the deep pool with its scales and claws in the air.
  The milk-secreting tiger roads in the valley, inspiring awe in all beasts.
  Eagles and hawks spread their wings sending dust up in the wind.
  The exotic flower bursts in its first bloom: how lush and beautiful!
  The great sword-maker sharpens his work on the whetstone: how it sparkles!
  The sky hovers above in its blue serene; the earth lies down in its yellowness.
  In history we have a thousand ages; in land we run to the eight poles.
  Our road ahead is as wide as the sea; we have all the time before us.
  How beautiful is our China in youth; she, like Heaven, will never get old!
  How strong are the youths of China who, like our nation, know no limits!

Yeah on page 835 the prose is introduced by the following paragraph:

  Newspaper,  as  a  brand-new  and  popular  form  of  mass  media,  sprang  up  vigorously  around  the  1898  Reform,  which  exerted  a  powerful  impact  on  the  changing  prose  style.  Liang  Qichao  was  a  representative  figure  in  advocating  this  kind  of  “journalistic  style,”  also  called  the  “new  prose  style.”  At  first,  he  served  as  the  chief  commentator  of  the  Current  Affairs  Gazette,  the  most  influential  newspaper  at  the  time,  giving  publicity  to  his  ideas  on  the  Reform.  During  his  exile in Japan, he continued to write articles for the Pure Talk Gazette and  the  New  People’s  Series,  discussing  political  affairs  and  disseminating  knowledge  of  Western  scholarship  and  culture.  Articles  of  this  kind  still  fell  under  the  range  of  classical  language,  but  they  already  contained  more  elements  of  the  vernacular.  In  his  Introduction  to  the  Academic  Research  of  the  Qing  Dynasty,  Liang  pointed  out  the  special  features  of  such  writings,  saying  that  they  “tried  their  best  to  be  plain  and  smooth,  sometimes  incorporating  slang,  rhyme,  and  syntax  of  foreign  languages,  running  free  and  uninhibited.  .  .  .  These  writings  were  neatly  organized,  often  emotional  between  the  lines;  they  held  a  charm  of  their  own  to  the  reader.”  While  writings  of  the  “new  prose  style”  were  primarily  propaganda  rather  than  literature  in  nature,  at  the time they completely broke free from the restrictions of traditional classical  prose,  and  helped  to  accelerate  the  birth  of  the  new  type  of  prose. Some of such writings also displayed much of literary grace. In the  following  we  shall  cite,  as  an  example,  the  closure  of  “On  China  in  Youth”:

Apparently it is Liang  Qichao's “On  China  in  Youth.”

I believe the original (梁启超《中国少年说》) may look something like this, but I'm not totally sure:

  红日初升，其道大光；
  河出伏流，一泻汪洋；
  潜龙腾渊，鳞爪飞扬；
  乳虎啸谷，百兽震惶；
  鹰隼试翼，风尘吸张；
  奇花初胎，矞矞皇皇；
  干将发硎，有作其芒；
  天戴其苍，地履其黄；
  纵有千古，横有八荒；
  前途似海，来日方长。
  美哉，我少年中国，与天不老！
  壮哉，我中国少年，与国无疆！


代表你的猴山; why can it be used in this way? In the show I am watching the protagonist asked a person with the surname 猴：

  你是代表你的猴山還是代表最高反貪總局？

Obviously, he means

  Are you expressing your private opinion, or the order of the supreme anti corruption office?

But why can the opinion of someone named 猴 be called 猴山？ none of mydictionaries list this！

猴山 is the metaphor for his interest group, his friends are treated as monkeys, his group are treated as a mountain.


Using 有 vs 是 to describe an object I created a sentence earlier today stating "他是一点儿严厉," but I was told that it was better if I say "他有一点儿严厉”。They didn't really know why, but just that it made more sense - could someone elaborate when to use 有 vs 是 in the sense of describing objects with adjectives? Hopefully what I'm saying makes sense :)

有(一)点 as a set can use to mean "a little too...". See this Chinese Grammar Wiki page.
Some examples from the page:

我 有点 饿 。
I'm a little hungry.
这个 菜 有点 辣 。
This dish is a little too spicy.
昨天 有一点 热 。
Yesterday it was a little too hot.

是 does not have this usage, so 他是一点儿严厉 is wrong.
However, you can say 他是有一点儿严厉, where 是 is used for emphasis.


How do I say "who" as in "I have a few friends who are in that class"? Question: How do I say "who" as in "I have a few friends who are in that class"?
Basically, I want to write this sentence, but I can't figure out how to.
This seems fine:

我有一些朋友
I have a few friends
Wǒ yǒu yīxiē péngyǒu
参加那个班
Attend that class
Cānjiā nàgè bān

But I don't understand how to combine them to mean "I have a few friends who are in that class".
Some guesses:

Just stick them together: 我有一些朋友参加那个班.  Chinese grammar can be flexible, so this might work.
Use a 是...的 grammar construction: 我有一些是参加那个班的朋友.  Seems a bit unnatural to me, but this might just be because we don't often use an adjective-made-from-a-phrase grammar style in English.
We could rewrite the sentence: 在那个班，我有一些朋友参加 meaning "in that class, I have a few friends who attend" (although, we still have the same "who" problem).

Use '的' to make the second phrase an adjective phrase for the object noun(朋友).

我有一些朋友 (I have some friends)
参加那个班 (attend that class)
我有一些(参加那个班的)朋友 = I have some friends (who attend that class)

More example:

我那个哥哥 (That older brother of mine)
踢足球 (play football)
我(踢足球的)那个哥哥 = (That older brother of mine who plays football)


Addressing women as "小姐" in Northern China I heard that it is not appropriate to call women or girls "小姐" in northern China. That it is considered rough and has a meaning close to "hooker".

So I never address girls or women as "小姐" in the north and even when I am in Shanghai or even further south.

But is it really an issue? And if it is, what should I use instead?
Right now I always use 姐 or 大姐 just to be sure I don't "hurt" someone.

Yes. It is an issue. But 姐 or 大姐 is not very appropriate sometimes.

You can use 姐 or 大姐 to call a lady who is elder than you. But they'd better be not very young.
To call a young lady, 美女 is popular now in cities, though maybe they are not really very beautiful.
If there is some context, like to call a waitress, just use 服务员 or other address expressing their jobs.
And at last, 女士, literal translation of lady, is always a choice.

Edited: It is an issue not because the meaning is used by everyone. But there are too many use cases, nobody wants to be misunderstood. Ironic, this is something like Gresham's Law.


Resources for the Chinese section of the Gaokao? The entrance examination for universities in mainland China includes a Chinese section. I'm looking for three things about this.

1) A source for questions that have been asked in previous years. For my purposes, the older the questions the better.

2) An official source describing the structure of the exam, including number and types of questions, and scoring methodologies, (machine scoring, hand scoring, who does scoring, under what conditions). I'm especially interested in guidelines for scoring composition questions.

3) results on the Chinese section, including scoring percentiles, and minimum for acceptance at various schools; especially interested in seeing these broken down by province.

Hope this doesn't get shot down as overly broad! Thanks for any help you can give.

2015年高考真题：http://wenku.baidu.com/topic/2015gaokao_zhenti 不过需要下载分。
2015年高考真题、答案和其它资源：http://www.eol.cn/html/g/gkst/ 可以直接下载，但是需要在论坛里多找找。
历年高考作文：http://www.gaokao.com/guangdong/gdgkzw/
另外，请善用百度站内的搜索（百度文库禁止GoogleBot访问）：http://wenku.baidu.com/search?word=2015%B8%DF%BF%BC+%CA%FD%D1%A7+%BA%FE%B1%B1

附部分题目：
2015 Essay Prompt Guangdong: 2015年广东卷作文题

  阅读下面的文字，根据要求作文。

  　　看天光云影，能测阴晴雨雪，但难逾目力所及；打开电视，可知全球天气，缺少了静观云卷云舒的乐趣。

  　　漫步林间，常看草长莺飞、枝叶枯荣，但未必能细说花鸟之名、树木之性；轻点鼠标，可知生物的纲目属种、迁徙演化，却无法嗅到花果清香、丛林气息。

  　　从不同的途径去感知自然，自然似乎很“近”，又似乎很“远”。

  　　要求：1，自选角度，确定立意，自拟标题，文体不限

  　　2，不要脱离材料内容及含义的范围

  　　3，不少于800字

  　　4，不得套作，不得抄袭

2014 Essay Prompt Guangdong: 2014年广东卷作文题

  阅读下面的文字，根据要求作文。

  　　黑白胶片的时代，照片很少，只记录下人生的几个瞬间，在家人一次次的翻看中，它能唤起许多永不褪色的记忆。但照片渐渐泛黄，日益模糊。

  　　数码科技的时代，照片很多，记录着日常生活的点点滴滴，可以随时上传到网络与人分享。它从不泛黄，永不模糊，但在快速浏览与频繁更新中，值得珍惜的“点滴”也可能被稀释。

  　　要求：

  　　1、自选角度，确定立意，自拟标题，文体不限。

  　　2、不要脱离材料内容及含义的范围。

  　　3、不少于800字。

  　　4、不得套作，不得抄袭。

2015 Math Hubei 2015年湖北数学卷 出自《九章算术·卷第五　商功》第（一五）题

  今有阳马，广五尺，袤七尺，高八尺。问︰积几何？

Discussion: http://www.guokr.com/question/605347/


What is the meaning of 晦 in the phrase 韬光养晦? I find the phrase 韬光养晦 in a context,and I look up it in the dictionary,it means hidden talents, do not make the leakage.But I still don't know the meaning of 晦.

晦 means some place which is dark.

韬光养晦 means hide one's talent and keep a low profile


In 很高兴认识你 is there an implied 我 at the front or is 很高兴 modifying 认识 as in "happily meet"? I know that I'm asking about an expression which doesn't have to follow the normal rules of grammar.  But if it makes sense to ask, I'd like to understand if that sentence is literally structured as "happily meeting you" or if it's "(I) am happy meeting you".

Or to put it another way, am I good or is the meeting good?  Is it "我很好了，认识你" or "(我)(很高兴认识)你"

很高兴认识你 is a general greeting, which is used when you meet a person for the first time. The literal translation is "Very glad to know you!". In practice, It's like saying "Nice to meet you!" in English. Nice to meet you! is shorthand for It's nice to meet you! in my opinion.

很高兴认识你 can be paraphrased as: 我很高兴认识你 (I'm happy to meet you.)or 认识你是(一件很让人）高兴的事情 (it's a very nice thing that I can meet you). Pulling 很高兴 ahead has some effect of emphasis. You can also say 认识你很高兴. With 我 implied, it sounds more like a generic formal greeting, rather than a personal one.

If you say 认识你我很高兴， that doesn't sound like a generic business meet, but rather personal(may have some romantic implication sometimes). It implies that you are  impressed by the person you meet, you are kind of person I want to meet, and those kind of ideas.


What Chinese characters are rare in modern but common in classical Chinese? I browsed randomly through texts written in classical Chinese, and I noticed there were a lot of Chinese characters that were frequent in classical Chinese but never or rarely being present in modern Chinese.
Some examples:
吾，爾，而，谐，虞，乎,乃，伊，卿，叟，孰，弥 。。。

Could you provide further examples, especially characters which are used lexically?

There are people studying this.

Classical Chinese Character Frequency List

Modern Chinese Character Frequency List

Now do your own comparisons because I'm lazy.

Update -- I feel less lazy today so I'll give it a shot.

For obvious purposes, let't take the first 1000 characters in the classical list and see where they go in the trend. I can't do scripts so I'll do excel. Anyway, here are words that are falling out of favor:

Ancient date and time system: 甲乙丙丁, 子丑寅卯, etc
Ancient bureaucracy: 丞, 诏, 诛, 朕, 卿, 吏, 郡, etc.
Some daily words are also fading away: 吾, 汝, 焉, 哉, 勿, 曰, etc.
Moral concepts: 孝, 贤, 贞, etc.
Hard to categorize: 骸, 淮, 朔, etc. Either the concepts are no longer popular, or there are substitutes that is becoming popular....


Was "jih pun"- an origin of "Japan", came from Cantonese? Looking up the origin of pun, I came across this for the origin of Japan. I suspect jih pun must be Cantonese. Tang Ho, as resident Cantonese expert, is that so??

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=pun

Japan: 1570s, via Portuguese Japao, Dutch Japan, acquired in Malacca from Malay Japang, from Chinese jih pun, literally "sunrise" (equivalent of Japanese Nippon), from jih "sun" + pun "origin." Japan lies to the east of China. Earliest form in Europe was Marco Polo's Chipangu.

日 means "Sun"

本 means "origin"

  http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/410/

  日本 Japan

  jat6 bun2   (jyutping)

  ri4 ben3, lv4 ben3   (pinyin)

Japanese pronunciation of 日本 is /ni pon/ (Nippon),

Chinese use the Japanese Kanji 日本 and pronounce it as Chinese characters.

Cantonese pronounce it as /jat6 bun2/
Mandarin pronounce it as /ri4 ben3/ or / lv4 ben3/

The Cantonese pronunciation of 日本 is in deed more similar to /jih pun/ than the Mandarin pronunciation does.