Chinese idiom puzzle 9 (中文填字遊戲) Please solve the puzzle below

Hints:

Use the power of others to dominate

Like bathing in the spring breeze

Rock breaking shock the sky

It's like disappearing all at once

A very long distance

Earthmoving, mountains shaking

An unfair treaty signed under the threat of force

Describe the peril and suffering of the people

Swear in the name of heaven and the sun

Come and go as will

burn books and bury scholars

Counterfeiting

Albatross

Useless person

Offense one's superior

accompany the sovereign is like accompanying a tiger

When seeing a virtuous man, can't help but want to imitate

Lest all under heaven are not in chaos and disorder,
(motivated by a desire to see the world in chaos)

Arrogantly overestimate oneself

Continuously Day and night

Selectively blessed by Heaven

In a hurry, can't wait

Sing the praises of someone

A. Mutual destruction
B. Unexpected disaster
C. Like a fish in the water
D. The sky collapse, the earth crack
E. One of the 戰國四公子
F. Only I on top (Describes people who are arrogant and look down on others)
G. Like the sun at noon (at the highest point of prosperity)
H. Describe a deserted place with harsh natural conditions
I. Once riding on the back of a tiger, it is dangerous to get off (a metaphor for facing a dilemma)
J. Play with fire and get burned
K. Not too fast, not too slow (study pace)
L. Describe one's air of magnificence and awesomeness
M. 俠以武作亂 (originally 俠以武犯禁)
N. 儒以文犯法 (originally 儒以文亂法)
O. Expecting to be soon
P. The entire country is in turmoil
Q. Oath between two lovers
R. Clear insights
S. Party every night
T. Wind is cool, water is cold (cool and comfortable)
U. Feeling or mentally poor and not thinking about food.
V. The self-proclaimed title of 孫悟空

Answered in simplified Chinese. And agree with tsh.


权力的游戏 - Game of Thrones names - latest episode - SPOILERS So I'm practicing by reading Game of Throne tweets and it's the names and naming that gets me. Here's the tweet and 5 questions on names and naming conventions.

权力的游戏S04E08。野人袭击鼹鼠村；拉姆斯夺下卡林湾，得到波顿家族合法子嗣的地位；珊莎撒谎消除贵族对莱莎之死的怀疑，小指头提出让罗宾出巡领地；猎狗和艾雅到达艾林谷，却被告知莱莎已去世；乔拉的身份曝光，龙女命令其永远离开；奥柏伦在比武中重创魔山，但魔山笑到最后，小恶魔被判死刑。

https://twitter.com/alexchen4836/status/473504458500882432

小指头 - Littlefinger. Why not 小指?

拉姆斯 - Ramsey? How does this sound like Ramsey Bolton?

猎狗 - The Hound. How do people come up with this translation?

艾林谷 - Eyrie Valley? How does this sound like Eyrie?

小恶魔 - Tyrion. Again, how do people come up with this translation?

EDIT: My bad: 艾林谷 is Arryn Valley. It's the Vale of Arryn.

============================================================

野人 - Wildlings

鼹鼠村 - Mole town

卡林湾 - Moat Calin

波顿家族 - THe Boltons

珊莎 - Sansa

莱莎 - Lysa (of the Vale)

罗宾 - Robin

艾雅 - Arya

乔拉 - Jorah

龙女 - Mother of dragons

奥柏伦 - Oberyn

First of all, I'm Chinese and I'm a big fan of the Game of Thrones. I've read both the English and Chinese version of the novel.

For Ramsey and Eyrie:

Ra-m-sey,  to mimic the "Ra" sound, because there is no such sound in Chinese, we use 拉（La1) instead. Actually a funny story is that there are a lot Chinese dialects in which people pronounce "R" as "L". One of my friend from Fujian always say 热死了(re4 si3 le1) as le4 si3 le1. This works for the "m" too. Chinese is a monosyllabic language. Almost every word is pronounced as "consonant+vowel"(耳 and other er sound words are the exceptions). So when we meet a single "m" in a name, we always translate it as 姆(mu3）. There is also no sound like "sey" in Chinese. So we translate it into 斯(si1).

Eyrie follow the same rule because there is no sound like "rie" in Chinese.

For Tyrion, he is translated as 提利昂(a translation for the closest sound in Chinese). The "小恶魔" is a translation for his nickname "the Imp" actually.

Actually, as a Chinese, I think the translation for the name of characters in the Game of Thrones are pretty good. My favorite translations in the books are the names of the bastards.

River: 河文
Snow: 雪诺
Flower: 花佛
Stone: 石东

In these Chinese name, the first character is the meaning of the name and the second word is a sound mimic. And they read great in Chinese.

And also, what do you think is a better translation for the Hound？


Write date and time using 文言? I have been wondering how did they wrote date and time with 文言 ?
Like how would you translate "我周日通常醒早，八点半钟起床。" ?

Regards.

Some disagreements with above.

Though '七曜' did exist in Chinese philosophy and literature from the very beginning, it is almost certain that the practice of using '七曜' to notate the seven days of a week came from the western world via India around the Tang Dynasty.

In spite of this, it was not until the dawn of the Chinese dynasties that Chinese people did really start to get accustomed to the idea of having in their life 'weeks' made up of seven days as Christianity began its spread in China, and finally with the foundation of the Chinese Republic 'weeks' became official in Chinese people's life. In China, people use numbers (星期一, 二, ...)to mark different days of a week except Sunday (星期日). It's now the Japanese practice to use '七曜' (金曜日, 火曜日, ...)to name different days.

Thus it's hardly noticeable in ancient Chinese language to use any terms related to the concept of 'week'. Most of the time, it suffices to state the year and the date.

There are two common systems of counting the days in ancient China. One is the Regnal Year (年号), according to different emperors, together with a cardinal number, e.g. 顺治二年. Sometimes the regnal year was so much used and the regnal names for the years became even much more famous than the actual names of the emperors so people directly use the regnal names for the emperors. In fact when people talk about emperors of Qing Dynasty 康熙，乾隆，顺治... they are actually using their regnal names for the years as a substitute of their long and tricky foreign names ('foreign' in regard to Han People).

Another system is 干支 (Ganzhi), which is the combination of ten heavenly stems '天干' (甲、乙、丙、丁、戊、己、庚、辛、壬、癸) and twelve earthly branches '地支' (子、丑、寅、卯、辰、巳、午、未、申、酉、戌、亥). This system is cyclic with a period of sixty years. This system is still in use today.

Next is the date. Lunar years were used in ancient Chinese (they are still used widely today). In every month there're thirty or twenty-nine days called by 初一, 初二...初十, 十一...十九, 二十, 廿一...廿九, 三十. It was also common to use the phase of the moon to state which day it is in a month (朔，望，晦).

Some examples：

永和九年(ninth year of Yonghe)，岁在癸丑(Ganzhi)，暮春之初 (at the beginning of the late spring). ——王羲之 Wangxizhi 《兰亭序》

壬戌之秋 (the autumn of Renxu (Ganzhi)), 七月既望 (the seventh month, the day after the day of the full moon). ——苏轼 Sushi 《赤壁赋》

About the hour of the day, it is absolutely ambiguous in ancient Chinese. Most of the time people just talked about the position of the sun or moon, whether it was morning or noon or afternoon and that was enough.

More precisely, people would use twelve Digan (地支), which I mentioned above, to divide a day into twelve intervals, which are called '时辰'.

Also people use '五更' to mark the five '时辰' of the night from seven
o'clock till five of the next morning, such as in the idiom '三更半夜' (around midnight).

So your sentence could be possibly translated as
每至休沐，吾犹日出而兴. (Every rest day, I still wake up as the sun rises).


How is【的、得、地】pronunced when talking about the difference in usages of 的·地·得? When discussing the differences between 的·地·得 usage I've only know the following pronunciation:

  的、地、得
  die、di、de

I can't find a lot to back this up. But, I did find one Tianya forum thread that that mentions:

  我周围的老一辈人，只要有小学文化，这几个字都不会弄错。因为用家乡话（吴语区）说，这三个字读法完全不一样，“的、地、得”分别念“DIE、DI、DE”。

I also found this comment on a thread on 19lou

  我们小时候不说普通话，这三个字发音分别是：的（die）、得（de）、地（di）,从来不会搞错。一定是一些北方人，在和当时的少数民族交融的时候，搞不清楚，给混为同一个发音了，给现今的孩子们带来这么多麻烦，唉。

The idea is the same, but the order is different.

Is:

  的·地·得
  die·di·de

the correct pronunciation when talking about Mandarin? If not, how is the 的·得·地 phenomenon vocalized in Modern Standard Mandarin?

I think I misunderstood what the original poster meant, here is an update.

In distinguishing 的地得 in Mandarin, you would say

  dē dì dé

In Mandarin, in practice, they all have the same pronunciation de in first tone. They are used differently though, 地 is used after 状语 and before 动词，like 高兴地说，得 is used after 动词，like 跳得高，and 的 is used for other cases.

Indeed, it is nice to distinguish those in order not to cause ambiguity. For example

  看得出来，你家的地得好好地打扫了。

There is a good article in zhihu which people could look at.

There is one more point I would like to make, in some of the articles you referred to, it is claimed that people should stick to their dialects instead of trying to learn the obscure Mandarin. I disagree with this point.

I come from Shaanxi province and we do have out dialect, but I grew up speaking Mandarin with my parents and classmates, because the people in our area come from different parts of China and speak different dialects. What dialects do you require people to learn? I assume not a single dialect could persuade everyone to study it. In this case, we of could Mandarin!

Some people were saying, I do not want to learn to speak another language! I would like to stick to my own language! Well, first, dialects are called dialects because they are not language, they are dialects! Second, you have the right to stick to your own dialect, but it would eventually prevent you from communicating with people from other parts of China who speak Mandarin in order to communicate!

So, please learn Mandarin first and then, if you have the kind of interest and time, learn other dialects.

Language is first a tool for communication, then a culture, so are dialects.


Textual Examples of Honorifics used (contemporary/historical） Could anyone recommend some texts or videos where Chinese honorifics are used? I have a list of types of Chinese honorifics but not any textual examples.

Give me some honorifics that you wanna know about. I can give you some daily life examples.
For example, the most simple honorific in Chinese is 您, which means you. You can use it to anyone to whom you want to show respect. Usually it's to strangers, somebody older than you or someone at higher position than you (in a professional environment).


Meaning of 所 in "有所..." As far as I know, 所 has the following meanings:

a place, as in 派出所 (police office).
a counter, as in 一所科學中心 (a science center).
a passive voice indicator that pairs up with 被（為）, as in 被（為）愛所糾纏 (tangled by love).
a conjunction, as in 所熟悉的環境 (environment that I am familiar with).

EDIT: as Master Sparkles mentioned in the comments, 所 in the third and fourth context above also intensifies the association between the preceding noun and the verb that follows it.
However, in the following sentence,

希望我的回答能有所幫助（貢獻）。
Hopefully, my answer can be of some help/contribution.

none of the above meanings is appropriate. Besides, I thought that the sentence would be the same without 所, as in,

希望我的回答能有幫助（貢獻）。

As such, what is the meaning of 所 in the "有所..." construct? Or is it simply redundant?
Thanks in advance!

As you had said, 所 is not redundant. But to me, "有帮助" and "有所帮助" doesn't have that much differences, especially when you are in an oral conversation with Chinese people.

As for your explanation for "有所謂", the translation for "这件案子有所谓" is "This case matters." You are correct. But I don't think that it has the meaning of "has something that it says". Yes, "謂 = 說". However, the literal meaning of this is not strong when you say "有所谓". When hearing about "有所谓", please just take it as "matters", and just forget about its literal meaning.


Tone sandhi before a toneless final syllable In the name Kongzi, 孔子, it seems to me that people often pronounce Kong with third tone (low-falling form) and zi with no tone, like a lot of final syllables.  Officially both syllables are third tone.  So is the rule for sandhi with successive third tones inactive when the second of the syllables is pronounced toneless?

The answer to How does tone sandhi apply in people's names? suggests it should be pronounced by the general rule so Kong gets rising tone and zi falling-rising as suits a third tone in final position.  Maybe just my ear is bad for tones.  It is pretty bad. Or maybe my friends are getting it wrong.   So I thought I'd ask here.

This rule is not so strict, as in my specification, we never pronounce 甲苯（methylbenzene）,乙苯(ethylbenzene), 苯甲酸(acetic acid) in that fashion, though no ambiguity is produced, it is just weird and funny to pronounce so.

However, for familiar words like 奶奶，姐姐, the other extreme is present, which is they are always pronounced as 21-5. (In my opinion, this is an abbreviation of 3rd tones (214) rather than sandhi, as sandhi actually refers to the change of nasal sound between [n] & [m] according to the consonant after it.) This may be due to the level of serenity of words.

For 孔子 and 老子, who are generally regarded 圣贤 and widely respected, it is just improper to do so. (By the way, in the case of 老子, pronouncing it in 21-5 literally means "your father", which is "I" in a very rude way, contrary to 小子, also pronounced 21-5) The only people I have ever know was my professor of classical Chinese, maybe to add some humor to the classroom or just because he himself is "familiar" with them， being old friends in books for him.

两个三声(214)碰在一起合为21-5这一规则并不是强制性的。在化学当中，“甲苯”、“乙苯”、“苯甲酸”这些名词永远也不会用这种方式合韵，这样虽然不会产生歧义，但是怪得很！

但是“姐姐”、“奶奶”这些常用名词就一定要合韵。这种差别可能在于语境的高低。

孔子、老子是古代的圣贤，并且被广泛地尊重，所以用21-5的调子去读很不严肃。（顺带一提，“老子”用21-5来读，字面上变为“你父亲”，实际是“我”的意思，是很没有教养的表达方式，与“小子”相对。）实际上，我长那么大唯一一次听到别人这么说的，是我的古汉语老师。但是他那是为了给课堂增加幽默气氛，并且，老子和孔子对于他而言是在书本当中熟识的老朋友。


Why does 兴奋 (excitement) not mean what I think it means? I wrote this:

  我觉得小夏后悔过去的比赛，小夏回忆没进球也也许让一个好机会错过。所以小夏在房间里老坐着。马克想帮助小夏带他去足球比赛再体验足球的兴奋，让小夏高兴点儿。

My teacher made the following corrections (my question relates to the 5-th item below):

she deleted the first "也",
she said I should change 老 to 一直 in writing,
she added 参加 after 去,
she underlined 体验, suggesting it's not the best choice of word (I think 经历 was preferred in conversation, but I don't recall exactly), and
she said 兴奋 is incorrect, and it should be 乐趣.

(Please assume anything I said wrong above is my misunderstanding, not my teacher's mistake.)

I don't really understand what's wrong with my usage of 兴奋 here.  It seems there's a difference between the English and Chinese words here.  It's not the first time she's marked my use of 兴奋 as incorrect.

Question: Why does 兴奋 not mean what I think it means?

The major reason is that 兴奋 is generally used of people, and most commonly in the phrase 令人兴奋 lìng rén xīngfèn. It can also be used of other biological entities in a scientific context, closer to English excitation  (and the original derivation of the English word excited).

The original sentence has 足球的兴奋, which sounds odd because of 足球 not being a "person" of any kind. Not strictly incorrect, but definitely odd enough to merit correction.

Another possible, but more minor, reason is that 兴奋 is strongly associated with the word for "doping" (兴奋剂 xīngfènjì, literally "stimulant/excitatory chemical") in the sports context. Perceived in a very negative light of course.

乐趣 is a lot more appropriate for this: it is not necessarily as "childish" as the English word "fun", and can include the feeling of "excitement".


为什么 “也” 发音为 "ye" 但是 “他”发音为"ta"？？？ Oh great. I have to ask in English to get it past StackExchange filters.
Characters with radicals typically have pronunciations close to the bare character.
For example: "韦“ (wei) versus "伟“ (wei) or "敢“ (gan) versus "憨“ (han)
But "也" (ye) and "他“ (ta) are very much exceptions. Why?

有部首旁的汉字的发音通常按照没有部首旁的字。 例如 “韦”/”伟“、 “清”/“青”、 “敢”/“憨”等。

但是 “也”/“他” 根本在例外。为什么？

Please refer to Old Chinese reconstructions when analysing phonetic components of characters.

他 - Baxter-Sagart OC: /*l̥ˤaj/ > MC: /tʰɑ/ > Mandarin Pinyin: tā

也 - Baxter-Sagart OC: /*lAjʔ/ > MC: /jiaX/ > Mandarin Pinyin: yě

  有部首旁的汉字的发音通常按照没有部首旁的字。

You should probably learn that 部首 is a dictionary indexing tool, and has nothing to do with the functions of character components.


What is 建设 in ...以期更好地展现我国航天建设的辉煌成就...? This is from an interview with 航天员杨利伟。

  今天的访谈我想和他聊聊他的这段奇妙的太空经历，以期更好地展现我国航天建设的辉煌成就，....

建设 normally means 'build'. Do you 'build or construct (建设） accomplishments （成就）' in Chinese?

'我国航天建设的辉煌成就'  'China's space flight project's glorious accomplishments'

I think I could replace this 建设 with 项目 here, so I have 'space flight (航天） project （建设， 项目）。

Does this use of 建设 here seem strange at all?

In mainland China, 建设 can have the meaning of "cause", similar to 事业. It is often said that

  在社会主义建设的道路上…
  On the road of the construction (cause) of the socialism society...

From a random online dictionary from Google:

  建设 — 创建新事业或增加新设施
  (Construct new causes or add new equipments)

So in your case, 我国航天建设 is an elliptical phrase, where 事业 is omitted, which should look like

  我国航天事业的建设
  The construction of our cause for spaceflight

In practice, you can translate 建设 into "cause" or "the construction of xxx project" (我国航天工程) depending on the context.


What font size for reading simplified characters on screen? I realize this sounds like a very subjective question, so I will try to ask it very carefully:

I'm learning to speak, read, and write Mandarin. A lot of times (particularly on the web or in e-mail) I read or write text that has English and simplified Mandarin characters intertwined. It seems to me that the font size that is comfortable for reading English is too small for reading Mandarin. I'm not sure if this is because I'm still learning, but it seems to me that Mandarin characters have far more complexity than English characters. I end up jacking up the font size so that I can visually resolve the detail in the Chinese characters.

My question is: in the US, a "default" font size in many cases is 11pt or 12pt. (E.g., if you start up Word, it's "body" style is around 11pt or 12pt.) Do Chinese readers use the same font sizes by default? If I start a Chinese version of Word, will the characters be in the 11-12pt range?

The default font size in MS Word(or other soft) is 12pt, and that's quite ok to be read.

If you want to make it easier, 14pt is quite acceptable.


Antique Chinese painting Before I ask I'd like to say how much I admire Chinese culture and art. Hence I always dig in antique shops for something from China. A few years ago I bought these beautiful twin paintings (not prints) and they look at least 100 years old, signed by the same artist. Sadly I cannot connect these painting with an artist and I've done some research. My last bit of hope lies in you, would you be able to help me to translate signature and seal. I will be very very grateful.

well the signature is (read top to bottom):

李 (u+674e)：http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=李

徯 (u+5faf)：http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=徯

then, the seal is the same (read right to left)

if you goggle, there's a 日本篆刻家協会会報,

www.n-tenkoku.jp/download/vol9.pdf

in page 10, there's the same seal, with info:

李徯　河井荃廬

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/河井せん廬

he's a japanese seal craving artist (篆刻家); so, i guess that this seal "李徯" was made by him. further, it's reasonable guess that the painting is "made-by-japanese".

if you need further info, i would suggest you post the pictures in japanese language stack exchange :)

https://japanese.stackexchange.com


What’s the difference between 费解 vs 难懂? What’s the difference between 费解 vs 难懂? I know they both mean “hard to understand” but can they be used interchangeably? When should you use one over the other and why?
Are these sentences right?
Correct these sentences if they are wrong please
1.这句话让我很费解。  这句话让我很难懂。
2.这真令人费解。  这真令人难懂。
3.他的一番莫名其妙的话让我费解。    他的一番莫名其妙的话让我难懂。
4.这本书比较难懂。  这本书比较费解。

费解 = have difficulty understanding (You can't think of any reason for that to happen)
令人费解 (make people have difficulty understanding) = incomprehensible
Example:

Your friendly dog suddenly attacks you is an incomprehensible event (you cannot think of any reason for that to happen)

Ignoring more guns lead to more gun violence  is an incomprehensible act (you cannot think of any reason for anyone to think like that)

难懂 = difficult to understand (something is too complex or confusing to be understood)
Example:

The Mandarin he speaks is difficult to understand because of his heavy Cantonese accent (you get confused)

Calculation of rocket trajectory to the moon is difficult to understand (too complex for a layman)

1.这句话让我很费解。 这句话让我很难懂。

这句话很让人费解。 这句话很难懂。

Better use 让人费解 (make everyone have  difficulty understanding) instead of 让我费解 (make only I have difficulty understanding) to express 'incomprehensible'

2.这真令人费解。 这真令人难懂。

这真令人费解。 这真难懂。

3.他的一番莫名其妙的话让我费解。 他的一番莫名其妙的话让我难懂。

他的一番莫名其妙的话让人费解。 他的一番莫名其妙的话十分难懂。

4.这本书比较难懂。 这本书比较费解。

这本书比较难懂(O)。 这本书比较费解 (X)。

费解 (have difficulty understanding) is rarely used alone, It is always 令人费解 (make people have difficulty understanding = incomprehensible)

令我难懂/令人难懂 (make me/ people difficult to understand) is not grammatical-- 令人 is a verb, 难懂 is an adjective


Can someone explain the meaning of 都 in 我都說? I'm studying this video, and the speaker starting around 0:38 uses 我都 a number of times (我都覺得，我都說。。。）

I don't really understand this use of 都. Can someone clarify what is going on here and what this means?

Thanks

The speaker you're referring to has these subtitles following his speech:

  所以说真的, 我们每次学的时候, 难怪我都觉得说, 人家看我怪怪的。 我都说(something in Japanese),
  可是那个(something in Japanese)是女生的, 对不对？

What I'm actually hearing (I've double checked with speed 0.25) is this:

  所以说真的, 我每次学的时候, 难怪我都觉得人家看我的时候怪怪。 我都说(something in Japanese),
  可是那个(something in Japanese)是女生的, 对不对？

He speaks at a fast pace, which results in being not completely 标准 (standard), similar to English natives saying 'wanna' instead of want to.

What I hear might also be different from what he actually says, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Answer to your question:

The 都 in '我都说' (which is your question), means 'always'. The speaker doesn't say 每次, but that is exactly what he means. See here for expressing 'always' with 每次...都.

In addition to this, I would like to add to the answer of songyuanyao (I don't have enough reputation to comment).

都 means already, only in the structure: 都...了. See here for further explanation.


Why do Chinese "extend" the last word when speaking? I've hear on many occasions that Chinese prolong the last word in a sentence, for example:

  ni hao ma ?

becomes

  ni hao maaaaa ?

(I'm not sure that's clear enough but can't think of a better way to describe)

What is the purpose of this? Does it have any cultural meaning? What does it convey?

Edit: Perhaps I misunderstood, maybe it's 你好吗啊？ with the 啊 being longer than usual?

This kind of case is usually occurs on these occasions:

When you are standing at top of the mountain, you feel very exciting, and shout out with prolonging the each word(like niiiiiii haooooooo maaaaaaa) or just the last word(like ni hao maaaaaaa). Mum, so exciting! :p
It usually occurs in young people, especially the female. Some cute girls will often prolong the word in front of her boyfriend. 你好吗~~~(ni hao maaaa), 想我吗~~~(xiang wo maaaaaaa), etc. This is often described as 嗲(dia3) in Chinese. When chatting via Internet, ~/'/. characters will often used as the word prolonged.
Sometimes, wife will do like this in front of her husband. Just like the case No.2. :)

And for your last question: you did not misunderstand. :)


Informal asian signs for numbers Some years ago in Manchester I was attending a English class for foreigners. While waiting for the teacher a Korean or Chinese girl was jotting down some symbols on her notebook. I asked what was she drawing. She answered me that she was just writing the numbers one to nine. She added that it was a popular and informal way for writing numbers in Asia.It was something similar to the west way: I II III but in asian style. The first number was just a stroke, and any new number was formed adding a new stroke. Anybody can show me this informal system? I looked for in the net without any success.

i suspected it's "花碼"

https://zh-yue.wikipedia.org/wiki/花碼

the unicode has these :)

1 - 〡 (u+3021)

2 - 〢 (u+3022)

3 - 〣 (u+3023)

4 - 〤 (u+3024)

5 - 〥 (u+3025)

6 - 〦 (u+3026)

7 - 〧 (u+3027)

8 - 〨 (u+3028)

9 - 〩 (u+3029)

for zero ( 0 ), just write anything like an "0" (u+0030) or "O" (u+004f), or "o" (u+006f)

these type of "number" is actively used in hong kong till recent decades.

some pages talked about it's usage:

https://zh-cn.facebook.com/tcsince1915/photos/a.1657230367749275/2146011468871160/?type=3&eid=ARB5I3SCgyyKt9eNdUmCHpbrVbKlbG6wAjwaAYlK3tJF3VbjrZteYQhdBIEjQc79qIQcHQOQMrx-G0z0&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARDOTg8CJGB0m-KfLsD4V4t0tU_Dkm-CRGdo7aIL3c9ujZ0Z7PMaCQveHHDUD0OfIC2RRXCia1w39TXjMsJOSRaz8ArswIHmfgIzkFVB81LH52iYD_fk_evIxWof-Ao6HKvC-jd1BFRdudkl0q8oTVBtC41Aw47wngbfZXHLEEY9gqP3mtCdlE_G_c9Ivq33JCJ_IVNsSIEtvH73Kq4hUfQqPHgXVIXljzXeUX6YhHfsRFt9XzExpKjBjnkH0PCB2qu7gEIffNcNwqRPQdWD4JAfeiZzTbQSeGhscdj1Pmhl8_FiKF90c7QfPG-4YumkLbaBtj0wcSqO1Wudu0D2B8Rfrjnx&__tn__=EHH-R

https://www.hk01.com/熱爆話題/52311/紅van集體回憶-〤〥-花碼價錢牌-你知落車俾幾錢

https://lihkg.com/thread/328698/page/1

when i was young, studying in primary school, i needed to learn 0-9 in english, roman numerals, chinese numerals (大寫),   and 花碼,  at the same time :(


What does 一个赛一个不讲理的 mean? Does the 的 determine its meaning? 一个赛一个不讲理的

Does it mean 'one competition, one unreasonable' or 'one is more unreasonable than the one before'?

Does the word '的' important in sentence like this?

赛 is the same as 比 in this case.

一个赛一个不讲理的
　　　↓
一个比一个不讲理的
　　　↓
一个比一个不讲理
　　　↓
One is more unreasonable than another is.

The word '的' is not important, and can be removed.


Help choosing a Chinese name among a few shortlisted ones (I'm not actually certain my request fits here, as I'm looking for specific advice rather than answers to an abstract question. I'm sorry if it doesn't.)

I'm going to study in China for two years. In the next weeks, I'll have to fill out the university documents with my Chinese name – already the definitive one, that will also eventually figure in the diploma. Because of that, I'm attaching great importance to finding the right name.

I've already settled on a 姓氏: 孙. Choosing the right 名字, however, has proven to be too challenging for my unseasoned Chinese skills. As a guiding principle, I’m trying to find Chinese names that bear some phonetic resemblance to my name – Paulo – without resorting to transliterations such as 保罗.

Below I've listed some options I've gathered in a book on 'auspicious and elegant Chinese names', along with the reasons why I like them.

The problem is that I really don't have a clue as to which of these names sound good or just plain odd to the native (and the non-native expert) ear. Do any of the names strike you as particularly beautiful or prohibitively strange? Please tell me.

宝禄: Phonetically as close as it can get. I’m afraid, however, that its meaning may come across as too “shallow” or “materialistic”.
百禄: A variation on 宝禄.
宝林: I gravitate towards names with characters that signify, and especially depict, nature. It also sounds like the affectionate name my family calls me.
葩武: Fragility and might - seems beautiful to me. Combined with the family name 孙, however, I think it doesn’t sound so well.
布令: I like this very much, but I’m not sure if its meaning is transparent. It comes from a sentence of the 礼记 that reads as follows: “布得和令，行庆惠施“. In the translation I’ve seen: “Spread the policy of benevolence, holding ceremony, sharing generosity”. I’m also not sure in which tone 令 should be read here.
博良: Or maybe some variation such as 博禄, 博伦 or even–who knows–博柳?
柏伦: I think this may be too offbeat, but, as I said, I’m drawn to nature-related characters.
若水: This one is the exception, as it doesn’t sound at all like my original name. I’ve included it among the contenders because I just like it very much. If I come to abandon the principle of phonetic similarity, I guess that would be my choice.

Thank you all for the invaluable and very timely help!

Any answer would be very subjective

In my opinion, 孙博良 is the best choice. Not only it sounds similar to  Paulo, the characters also are common in native Chinese names and with positive meanings.

「博」 as in 「知識淵博」(widely knowledgeable), 「博學多才」 (knowledgeable and talented)

「良」 as in 「善良」(kind-hearted), 「良好」 (good; fine)

When people ask you how your name is written, you can quote: 「博學的博, 善良的良」

Most importantly, this name has 書生氣 (sounds like a scholar's name)


Which is better for "undo" in computing: 撤消 or 撤销 I first learned that 撤销 was the word for undo in computing terminology, for example to undo a database change or to undo a Git commit. However I've also encountered 撤消 for this same purpose.

According to cedict, 撤消 is a "variant of 撤销". Does that imply that 撤销 is the proper way and 撤消 is perhaps a common misspelling?

Are they both acceptable? Is one of them preferred?

the standard form is 撤销 according to 现代汉语规范词典第3版

销 has the meaning to destroy, 撤销 is to destroy the current changes
消 has a passive meaning. Since 撤消 is an active action, 撤销 is more proper


Is '我还需要多加练习' okay as a dance video caption? I want to upload a video of me learning a dance but I make several mistakes so I want to say something like 'I need more practice' or 'more practice needed'. is  我还需要多加练习 a natural way of saying this or would I need change it?

我还需要多练习 (I still need to practice more) already expressed what you wanted to say, but the statement seem plain, and in a matter of fact tone.

我还需要多加练习 (I still need to increase practice more) .  emphasize the keenness in your intention.

'加' in '我需要多加' (+ verb without object), just like your caption, is short for '增加' (increase)

If there was an object, then '加' would be short for '施加'  or '加以' (apply to), for example,  对你的孩子多加管教 (apply more discipline to your child)

  is 我还需要多加练习 a natural way of saying this or would I need change it?

It is very natural, nothing wrong at all.


Why is 本人 inappropriate in an objective text? I know that in everyday life I should use 我。But I was under the impression that, when I am writing an impersonal text with some distance from the reader it was okay to use 本人。Below I wrote a text on why the 29th of May is considered unlucky in Greek superstition. I guess this kind of seriously unlucky, ominous day does not fit the definition of 倒霉。 But I don’t understand why my teacher marked 本人, 吾國 and (on other pages) 該日 as wrong.

Edit: if my language capacity was high enough, would the topic be appropriate for expressions like 本人，該日，吾國？ The topic is the sack of the city of Constantinople , as well as the behaviour of some good and bad rulers of the Ottoman Empire toward the Greek people. This is a very sensitive topic and in my native languages I would use most formal language, so as to keep myself to some objectivity.

本人 means 我, I in the formal circumstances, which is used to make a serious statement/declaration, such as in an allegation. For example, 本人郑重声明: 此事与本人没有任何关系！If you use this sense of 本人 in non formal settings, that would sound either pretentious or a bit joking. For example, 本人今天要去买东西 sounds pretentiously funny because 买东西 is really a very casual thing and people don't expect you to mess it up with such a formal word 本人, which add some taste of funny.
In casual speech, 本人 means in person, oneself. See these examples:

这照片是你本人吗？// are you the very person who is in the picture? Or is the person in the picture yourself?
你是Ludi本人吗？// are you Ludi himself?
你本人能(亲自)来吗？// could you come in person?

吾國 and 該日 are old fashioned and we don't usually use these words in modern Chinese, especially within the mainland China.


Teaching Pinyin and Characters together vs Teaching Pinyin then Characters I'm designing a curriculum to teach middle school students elementary Chinese. When I started learning, I began with Traditional Chinese characters and pinyin together on day one. I'm not so sure the typical student would like getting thrown into having to remember both pinyin and characters.

That being said, I was going to start off teaching basic grammatical structures and vocabulary using pinyin only. Have them practice those words and get used to pinyin as its own entity. Once they're very familiar with pronunciation of pinyin along with the tones, I will later introduce characters (which would force me to reintroduce the pinyin as they learn the basic characters).

But I'm debating if it would be better to just start off with both?

What are your thoughts on learning? Did any of you start off learning pinyin, then phase in to characters later on?

Thanks!

When I was first learning Chinese, we were using the New Practical Chinese Reader series of books. In them:

Dialogues and vocabulary are presented with both characters and pinyin.
You were only expected to memorize a subset of the characters used in a given chapter (e.g., in the first dialogue, you only had to learn how to write 你, 好, and 吗 or something like that).
Eventually you get weaned off pinyin for the dialogues and in some of the vocabulary parts.


What is 死間 in English and is there a second way in English that could describe this? What is 死間 in English and the second way of describing this?

All I know it is a type of spy. Is the English word kind of technical?

The term 死間 (doomed spies) came from the last chapter of 《孫子兵法》(The Art of War)

13: 用間 - The Use of Spies

  http://ctext.org/art-of-war/use-of-spies

  用間:
  故用間有五：有鄉間、有內間、有反間、有死間、有生間。五間俱起，莫知其道，是謂神紀，人君之寶也。鄉間者，因其鄉人而用之。內間者，因其官人而用之。反間者，因其敵間而用之。死間者，為誑事于外，令吾間知之，而傳于敵。生間者，反報也。

  Hence the use of spies, of whom there are five classes: (1) Local spies; (2) inward spies; (3) converted spies; (4) doomed spies; (5) surviving spies. When these five kinds of spy are all at work, none can discover the secret system.

  Having doomed spies, doing certain things openly for purposes of deception, and allowing our spies to know of them and report them to the enemy.

In modern term, 死間 (doomed spies) are basically "deception / sabotage agents" Their actions are visible. In contrast to 生間 (surviving spies) , whose main function are to secretly gather and report information to their own state.


Clipping the Emperor’s wings Background

In Liang Qichao‘s 戊戌政變記 (pdf) pretty much at the beginning of the second chapter (pp. 129 and 130 of the linked pdf) mention is made of the Emperor trying to promote several able people of his own and thereby incurring ill feeling of Cixi. Then a figure named An Weileng emerges who writes forthrightly to the Emperor and suggests, since regency was given to His Majesty, that the Dowager abstain from interfering with His matters and (so to speak)  „pulling his sleeve“. Thereupon an edict is cited, ostensibly penned by the Emperor, which - if I understand correctly - claims to heed the suggestion of the Dowager. Therein An is accused of fabricating tales to estrange Their Majesties from each other and exiled to Zhangjiakou as a warning to others.

Question

Liang presents the Edict and than says:

  實西后翦除皇上羽翼第一事也/ roughly: (This) constitutes the first clipping of His Majesties wings by the Western Palace Dowager.

But now I am unsure whether 翦除羽翼 means „clipping wings“ as used f.e. in the Greek tradition (limiting, oppressing) or whether 羽翼 means “supporter” as in “ 羽翼漸成”. Should I translate „clipping wings“ or „removing supporters“? Or is it inherently ambiguous?

Context

翦除羽翼 (Clipping one's wings) is a metaphor for "remove one's power base (assistants and supporters)"

A bird cannot fly without wings  ; an emperor cannot rule without able assistants

羽翼 itself is a metaphor for "power base"

羽翼漸豐  (power base is growing stronger and stronger)


How to translate 'Computer Support Person'? The following seem either incorrect or unprofessional:

电脑支持人
电脑服务员
IT男

What is a common term used in business for 'Computer Support Person'?

Do you mean the person who provides assistance for others on computer-related things? I think it could simply be called 技术支持人员. But the problem with this translation is that 技术支持 is a little general rather than focusing on computer. In some companies people may say IT 人员.


What are nonstandard forms of written words called? Normal characters are (汉)字 and nonstandard characters are 俗子.

Wrongly written words or nonstandard forms of written words can be referred to by using 俗作.

For instance, the entry for 耳食 in《南充方言词语考释》says:

  “耳食”俗作“耳屎”、“耳视”等。

What are these types of words called?

异形词 is an, obvious, option. I would like to be more specific noting that it is a 俗 problem.

俗词 would just talk about current terms or expressions, vulgarities or familiar language.

What is the proper term for nonstandard forms of written words?

异形词 is the broad term.

A more specific, albeit obscure and probably not widely accepted term would be: 俗体词.

Usage of 俗体词 can be found on this Zhihu question: 英译中里俗体词和异音词如何处理？

  俗体词（比如错音错意、用词不当等）

Although it is talking about English, it should be clear enough to be understood in Chinese as well.


Is it true that the tones of some of the most common words are glossed over in regular speech/turn into neutral tone? Examples include:
是、去、在、要、就、但、没有、如果
Not sure how to back up this question, except to mention that I've received feedback from natives that I tend to overdo these words' pronunciations (especially 是）. I've also seen 是 labelled as shi0 instead of shi4 in a few textbooks. Also, when I listen to native speech, I am under the impression that a handful of words in a sentence are naturally (perhaps automatically) glossed over/sped up in order to stress the more important words in a sentence (and, for natives, this I imagine is done for the sake of convenience too).
From these observations, I've surmised that the tones of common words in daily speech are usually glided over more rapidly than other words that are not as common (particularly in situations where it is clear which word is intended e.g. 我是学生 cannot be interpreted as *我时学生 etc).
Is there any credit to this hypothesis? Is it okay to do the same as a learner i.e. to glide over some of the more commonly spoken words in a regular conversation?
Similar posts: What difference(s) does it make to use the citation tone instead of the neutral tone, for the tail character in these words?
words where it is important to distinguish between the neutral tone and the citation tone especially @L Parker's point number 5 on quasi-neutral tones

I discussed quasi-neutral tones in the fifth point of my answer to another question here. Salient points include:

Usually, a stress is placed elsewhere in the sentence. Such words (edit: usually frequent words / function words, i.e. 虛詞) are therefore weakened in their presence. See the three examples in my orginal answer for more details.
The tone sandhi is facultative (i.e. the citation tone and quasi-neutral tone coexist), not obligate.

They are not glided over when, e.g.:

There is pragmatical reason to place stress on them. You emphasise 是 in 我是學生 when e.g., someone is doubting your identity as a student. Interestingly, 學生 may become relatively toneless in the presence of a stressed 是, especially in rapid speech.

There is contextual reason to place stress on them, e.g., when you are delivering a speech (especially the 朗誦 kind that values intonation, more so than 演講). Otherwise, in oral exams, if you are expected to be conversational, gliding over is permissible, even more natural.


Can you help translate my Korean name (Kim Hee-Joon) into a Mandarin/Traditional name? Need help translating my name Hee Joon Kim into Mandarin symbols for a name chop. In Korea, we spell our last name first when writing our name, so I am looking for a translation of " Kim Hee Joon ". Thank you very much.

I don't know Korean but I found a K-pop star named Moon Hee-joon who's official translation is 文熙俊. So, your name's translation is probably 金熙俊。


Confused by 的 and 地 in 掉的那么地刺耳 I'm perplexed by the line 掉的那么地刺耳 of the song 过不去. Doesn't the 的 demand a noun to go after it? Is the 刺耳 a verb or a noun? And what's the meaning of the entire line? My highly insecure guess would be "falling so shrill" (???).

I think there's a mistake in the lyrics, IMO it should be 掉[得]那么地刺耳 since 刺耳 is an adverb for the verb 掉 here. So the lyrics basically says (tears) are dropping so harshly.

BTW there are tons of grammar errors in Chinese pop lyrics.


Written Cantonese Pronunciation I recently attended a Cantonese reading class in Hong Kong and discovered that pronunciation of the spoken form of written Cantonese can be very different from normal speech.

The teacher was not able to provide an reasonable explanation as why this is the case and whether this is unique to Hong Kong.

Can anyone here provide some insight to this?

Your title should rather be "Cantonese Pronunciation of Written (Standard) Chinese". What you are talking about is not really Cantonese, rather it's (mostly) Mandarin, that, if you read out loud, will be pronounced with the Cantonese pronunciation of the characters. It's more or less the same as asking a Korean or Japanese to read out a text written in Chinese -- the characters will sound very different to Mandarin, but the reader would still be speaking out a Mandarin text. Hence the 給 vs 俾 example: 給 is Standard Chinese, 俾 is Cantonese.

Cantonese can be (and is) written, with all the "right" characters (係, 唔, 俾, etc) and grammar. You can see many examples of this in ads, in trains and buses for example, especially from the government and local companies, when they want to "talk" to the public.

As for Guangdong people not knowing that 給 is kap1 that's not the case -- there are plenty of words used in Cantonese that have the word 給 is it, including more recent creations like the net slang expression "給力".


What is the difference between Chinese simplified and Chinese traditional? I'm Indian. I'm trying to learn Chinese. I searched Google translate, it's showing Chinese simplified or Chinese traditional.

What is the difference between Chinese simplified and Chinese traditional?

Which is better for understanding? How to use both?

I  checked one word in google translate  工作 simplified  and traditional there is no change in output 工作. and I checked another word in google translate 什麼 in traditional and same word in simplified 什么 How to use these two words.

Simplified is used in mainland China. Traditional is used in other areas, like Hongkong, Macau, Taiwan, etc...
Simplified, no surprise, simplified some (not all) of the characters from traditional.
e.g.
What are some good movies recently?
最近有什麼好看的電影? (Traditional)
最近有什么好看的电影? (Simplified)
That is all, they have same pronunciation, grammar, vocabularies in standard Chinese.
Note: The 'standard' could be argued.
Edited: Some words (not too many) have different pronunciation, but I think that is a topic about dialect or oral Chinese, and has nothing to do with the simplified/traditional characters.


Can you explain the differences between the following sentences? 冬天：能穿多少穿多少；夏天：能穿多少穿多少。
剩女产生的原因有两个:一是谁都看不上；二是谁都看不上。
女孩给男朋友打电话：如果你到了，我还没到，你就等着吧；如果我到了，你还没到，你就等着吧。
单身的原因:原来是喜欢一个人，现在是喜欢一个人。
男人对一个女人有好感的原因:一是喜欢上这个女人；二是喜欢上这个女人。
男人约会迟到的原因:一是睡过了；二是睡过了。

Thanks.

They're puns.

1: Winter: wear as much as possible, summer: wear as little as possible.
多少 means "how much", but could be read as 多+x "how very x", with x here being 少 （little).
2: 看不上 is ambiguous. She won't give anybody a thought. or Nobody gives her a thought.
3: "... then you just keep waiting." vs. "... then you can wait for your punishment."
4: 喜欢一个人 can mean "to like a person", can also mean "to like to be alone" (a verb like 生活 is implied, 一个人 is an adverb here).
5: 喜欢上 can be read as "started to like" vs. "would like to fuck" with 上 being read differently.
6: 睡过了: "he overslept" vs. "has slept (with her) before".


Ingredients of zongzi Chinese friends brought us zongzi from China. I copied ingredients from two packs:

Pack 1

桃豆蜜枣粽

糯米，饮用水，蜜枣，鹰嘴豆，白砂糖，食品植物油。

红枣桂圆粽

糯米，饮用水，花生，红枣，桂圆，白砂糖。

Pack 2

蛋黄鲜肉粽

糯米，饮用水，猪肉，咸鸭蛋黄，酿造酱油（含焦糖色），白砂糖，食用盐，白酒，味精（含谷氨酸钠）

红绕排骨粽

糯米，饮用水，猪排骨，猪肉，酿造酱油（含焦糖色），白砂糖，红绕调科［味精（含谷氨酸钠）白砂糖，酱油，食用盐，麦芽糊精，乳糖，水解植物蛋白，食用香科，酵母抽提物，香辛科，食品添加剂（焦糖色，阿斯巴甜（含苯丙氨酸），红曲红）］食用盐，白酒，味精（含谷氨酸钠）

First of all, why are there two lists of ingredient on each pack? I though those plastic bags contained one dumpling each, yet there are two ingredient lists. Anyway, supposing (but not granting) I copied the characters correctly, I have problems translating this. Here's my attempt:

Pack 1

Chickpea candied date dumplings

Glutinous rice, drinkwater, candied dates, chickpeas, white sugar, edible vegetable oil (is this right?).

Red date and dragon eye dumbplings

Glutinous rice, drinkwater, peanuts, red dates, dragon eyes, white sugar.

Pack 2

Yolk and fresh meat dumplings

Glutinous rice, drinkwater, pig meat, salted duck yolk, fermented soy sauce (contains caramel color - that right?), white sugar, edible salt, white wine, MSG (contains MSG).

Hongrao (?) pork chops dumplings

Glutinous rice, drinkwater, pork ribs (are there actually bones in here?), pork, fermented soy sauce (contains caramel color - that right?), white sugar, hongrao diaoke [MSG (contains MSG), white sugar, soy sauce, edible salt, maltodextrin, lactose, hydrolyzed plant proteins, edible aromas (right?), yeast choutiwu, xiangxinke, food additives (caramel color, aspartame (contains phenilalanine), hongquhong)], edible salt, white wine, MSG (contains MSG).

Apart from «is this right?», my points are:

What is that 食品植物油? More precisely, what does that "shípǐn" add to the vegetable oil?
What is 焦糖色? "jiàotáng" would be "caramel", but "sè"?
What is the difference between 味精 and 谷氨酸钠? In particular, it seems like wèijīng is not actually "monosodium glutamate" but some kind of more general term.
What is 红绕? Is it a toponym?
Why is 排骨 translated to "pork ribs" if it means only "ribs"? And does this mean there are actually bones in the dumplings or just the meat off the ribs?
What are 食用香科?
What does 调科 mean? Does it exist on its own or is it just some food name together with 红绕, i.e. 红绕调科 is some food often shortened to just 红绕?
What does 抽提物 mean?
What are 香辛科?
红曲 would mean "red food dye", but what's with that extra 红 at the end? What does this mean?

First of all, why are there two lists of ingredient on each pack?

I have no clue. It doesn't make sense if there is only 1 zongzi in each pack.

  What is that 食品植物油? More precisely, what does that "shípǐn" add to the vegetable oil?

It should be 食用 (edible).

  What is 焦糖色? "jiàotáng" would be "caramel", but "sè"?

色 means color/pigment/dye. 酿造酱油（含焦糖色）can be interpreted as 'fermented soy sauce (caramel-colored)'.

  What is the difference between 味精 and 谷氨酸钠? In particular, it seems like wèijīng is not actually "monosodium glutamate" but some kind of more general term.

MSG is the main ingredient for 味精 but not necessarily the only ingredient.

  What is 红绕? Is it a toponym?

It should be 红烧 (red-braised).

  Why is 排骨 translated to "pork ribs" if it means only "ribs"? And does this mean there are actually bones in the dumplings or just the meat off the ribs?

In Chinese the 'default' meat is pork. Most 'body part' words like 排骨 (ribs), 肘子 (elbow), 口条 (tongue) refer to those of pork if the type of meat is not explicitly called out. In the detail ingredient list, however, you can see 猪排骨 is used for clarity.

From the description alone it is unclear whether the bones are excluded. Usually it is stated more clearly, something like 猪排骨肉 (meat from pork ribs) or 猪排骨(去骨) (pork ribs(without bones)).

  What are 食用香科?

It should be 食用香料 (edible flavors).

  What does 调科 mean? Does it exist on its own or is it just some food name together with 红绕, i.e. 红绕调科 is some food often shortened to just 红绕?

It should be 调料 (seasoning/condiment).

  What does 抽提物 mean?

Extract/essence.

  What are 香辛科?

It should be 香辛料 (spices).

  红曲 would mean "red food dye", but what's with that extra 红 at the end? What does this mean?

红曲 refers to the mold (monascus purpureus) and 红曲红 (monascus red) refers to the red dye extracted from the mold.

  Is the translation right?

Apart from the open issues above, the translation is generally right. One thing is in English you don't need to say 'edible' in a food ingredient list.


What is the difference between 实质 and 本质? I looked up a dictionary and

实质 and 本质 are all translated as "essence" or "core".

Anyone who can explain the difference?

I think when used as nouns, they have the same meaning. (But in the phrase "现象与本质", often we don't use “实质” to replace “本质”.)
When used as adjectives 实质 means "substantive" or "actual", 本质 means "essential".

  本质区别、本质原因
  实质进展、实质性证据


Errors and Unnatural Language in a Translation Challenge I was recently challenged to translate the following sentence from English into Chinese:

You should stay away from that bar. A friend of mine went there before, and he ended up in the hospital after one drink. We think they put fertilizer in the margarita mix to save costs.

I provided two translations:

你不要去那个酒吧啊！我朋友以前去过一次，才喝一杯酒就被送到医院去了。我们认为酒保为了省钱就把肥料放进玛格丽特混合物里！
你最好别去那个酒吧！我的朋友去过一次，喝了一杯酒就必须住院。我们想酒保因为要省钱的，所以就把肥料放进玛格丽特里。

Question (Request): I'm wondering if a native Chinese speaker could do the following: (a) correct grammatical errors in each of the above translations; (b) make the translations sound more natural; (c) provide your own translation of the challenge sentence.

If you could explain your thinking behind the corrections (i.e., what was the grammatical error; what sounded unnatural; why did you choose to translate as you did) that would be even better. Feel free to write this explanation in Chinese or English; I can read Chinese far more easily than I can write it.

Also, please do not hold back with your criticisms/corrections.

Overall both translations are fine and fluent, with some small issues below:

Grammatical/Syntactic issues:

I think there is only one issue, in (2) 我们想酒保因为要省钱的. Either use 要省钱 as verb (i.e. remove 的), or use 要省钱的 as adjective (i.e. add 是 before 要).

Semantic issues:

In (1), margarita mix is translated into 玛格丽特混合物. In Chinese, people don't refer food/drink mix as 混合物. You can either just say 玛格丽特, or use the uncommon but well-understood word 混饮.

In (2), "ended up in the hospital" is translated into 住院. 住院 means hospitalization (overnight), while "ended up in the hospital" might be just seeing the doctor. It's fine if 住院 is deduced from contexts not shown in the question.

In both sentences, 酒保因为要省钱，所以... sounds a little weird, because 因为..所以 not only states causality, but also has a weak implication that the reason is valid, as if "if the bartender is poor, it is right for him to adulterate the drink." Using 为了 is much more idiomatic, e.g. 奸商为了赚钱，良心都不要了。

Also "they" in the last sentence is referring to the bar as a whole, not just the bartender, so 酒吧 would be more accurate than 酒保.

Idiomatic/Naturalness issues:

In both translations, 我们认为酒保.../我们想酒保... 认为 sounds too formal; 想 sounds unnatural since 我们想 usually means "we want to...". 我们觉得 or 我们猜 are better options.

My version:

你最好别去那个酒吧。我朋友以前去过一次，喝了一杯酒就去医院了。我们觉得酒吧为了赚钱，在酒里掺了化肥。

Notes on word choices:

最好 is optional. With it the tone is softer and more suggestive.
别 vs 不要: people tend to use 别 in Northern China and 不要 in Southern China. Both are correct and natural.
省钱 vs 节约成本 vs 降低成本 vs 赚钱: 省钱 is fine but a bit strange (what money is being saved and why, the ultimate goal is actually 赚钱 not 省钱); 节约成本 is a commendatory word so inappropriate (not a problem if you say it automatically in colloquial language); 降低成本 is clear but too neutral to condemn the misbehavior; 赚钱 is the best fit and indeed the most common word to describe a profiteer's motivation.
酒 vs 玛格丽特/玛格丽特酒: 玛格丽特 seems redundant because it is irrelevant to the point. The line sounds more fluent without it.
把A放进B vs 在B里掺了A: former seems to imply intentional poisoning; latter is a common phrase to describe adulterated product especially food/drink.
肥料 vs 化肥: they are essentially the same, but when put side by side, 肥料 focuses on nutrition value while 化肥 focuses on chemical ingredients, hence 化肥 sounds more inedible and toxic.


How to distinguish between homophone words 再 and 在 zài I wonder how one can distinguish in an oral conversation between homophone words: 再 and 在, as both have the same pronunciation zài.

For example, in the sentence

Wǒ zài kàn diànyǐng.

how one can identify which of the following possibilities the speaker is referring to:

我在看电影。 - I'm watching a movie.
我再看电影。 - I watch again the movie.

When zài followed by a noun, it can only mean 在

When zài followed by a verb, you have to check the context. -- 我在看电影 (I am watching movies) is a complete sentence. 我再看电影 (I watch movie again) doesn't sound like a complete sentence (need more context)

More example:

我在钓鱼 = I am fishing (complete sentence)

我再钓鱼 = I fishing again  (seems incomplete)

下次我再钓鱼, 会记得确认是不是钓鱼季节 = Next time I go fishing again, I would remember to confirm it is the fishing season or not (it is a complete sentence)


Do all 汉字 components (radicals and non-radicals) have names? I would like to know, so all radicals and non-radicals that make up Chinese character have names?

If so, then where can I find a radical and non-radical Chinese character component dictionary?

I was thinking, that if someone was teaching, they may want to use name (and perhaps also 的-descriptions, for disambiguation), when teaching them.

This would also have the advantage, of, adding visually impaired people understand, the various components a character was made up of, which might help explain its meaning, a pronunciation clue, or even, which I think would be very nice, a story related to the parts that make up a character.

In theory, it would be nice to have a Braille system, where a long sequence of Braille characters, told the user on a Braille device (which could also speak), the exact components and layout of these radical and non-radical components.

After all, blind users may be curious.

http://www.zdic.net/z/jbs/

try this website, it's helped me when i see a character but don't know how to pronounce it. it tells you what the radical and non-radical is called as well. hope it helps you.


Can 吧 be used right after every other verb to indicate that one can go ahead and do that? I know 你去吧 means that you can go ahead and leave the place where you are standing in. Thus I think 去吧 is also correct to cut off the word 你. Like instead of saying the meaning You can go, you just want to say yeah, go ahead.
Can 吧 be used right after every other verb to indicate that one can go ahead and do that? Such as:
吃吧 (to indicate that you can of course start eating, no need to wait or to be scared)
看吧 (to indicate that you can of course watch/look at something, it is allowed)
说吧 (to indicate that you can of course say something you wanted to say, it is not wrong)
坐吧 (to indicate that you can of course sit down, don't be afraid, do like your own house).

看吧 is more complex than your expression.
看吧 is often used on the context of showing "After all, What I did/told/spoke/said is right."
e.g.
看吧~~~往東邊才是對的。 (lengthen the sound of 吧)
看吧！就跟你說車子壞了。


How do you describe the “growth／improvement” of “rights" (i.e. 权利）? How do we describe the growth of “rights” （or more colloquially in English the "extension of rights' (e.g. the extension of women's rights, etc.)? Is it 女性权利的:

发展？
增加？
提高？
扩大？

Let me know what you think is best for the situation! Cheers.

Google is your friend. Here are the number of results:

"权利的增加" 939,000
"权利的扩大" 539,000
"权利的提高" 333,000
"权利的发展" 91,900


Why is "xiang4" in 摄像 and 照相 different from each other? Why is "xiang4" in 摄像 and 照相 different from each other?

Other similar words are:

  相片、相框、录像、影像、相机、摄像机

The xiang in each word seems have same meaning but with different form.

Is that because 像 refers to the animated one and 相 refers to still images？

A minor correction, it should be xiang4 instead of xiang2.

When we are talking about photography, 相 typically refers specifically to a photo, while 像 usually refers to visual representations in general (be it still, like 图像, or moving, like 录像).

摄 translates to "capture", and therefore 摄像机 is a device that capture images (that aren't necessarily photos). On the other hand, 照相 can only refer to taking photos. So 相机 (the abbreviation of 照相机) is a device that takes photos. The choice of words here mainly describes the main function that the device is designed for.


When is 我 pronounced ě? Grand Ricci

我

  wǒ (or ě)

When is 我 pronounced as ě?

Haven't even able to find any examples.

As others have explained, ě is currently used in certain nonstandard dialects. You might be interested to know that ě is the expected pronunciation based on the regular sound changes that connect Mandarin to the Middle Chinese pronunciations recorded in rhyming dictionaries. Compare these words:

我: Mand. wǒ, MC nga, rising tone,
   餓: Mand. è, MC nga, departing tone,
   蛾: Mand. é, MC nga, level tone,

which had the same initial and vowel but different tones. The pronunciation wǒ is not expected purely from the historical evidence of old dictionaries. I'm not certain where it came from, but it could have been influenced by words such as

吾: Mand. wú, MC ngu, level tone.

What I've written so far isn't enough to prove anything, but hopefully it provides more context. Another interesting question might be "Why is 我 pronounced wǒ?" It appears to be a slang usage that became standardized because of the political and economic power of the regions it's used in.


Need help with Classical Chinese I'm a postcrosser and deltiologist. A few days ago, I received a postcard from China. There was some Chinese text along with the artwork on the front side of the card:

I tried the Google Instant Translate and this was the result I received:

So I asked the sender, whether he could translate it for me. And he told me that he is able to read it but don't know the meaning since it is written in Classical Chinese!

Could someone tell me the meaning of what's written there?

the post card is a replication of a painting, which is in the palace museum (故宫博物院). imo, the quality is, unacceptable. here's a better image of the painting:

about the text, traditionally, one read from top to bottom, right to left. so, the rightest text are:

南刻京喬
宋畫口柯
諸之山急
公跡樓澗
皆為待唐
拜之風解
牀一觀元
下變六有
　洗如此
惲其卷景
壽勾筆因
平砍墨倣
　煥靈其
　然逸意
　神李
　明唐
　當
　使

it was written by the painter 惲壽平, as a "preface". the meaning of it, roughly is:

  喬柯急澗

tall and bent (喬) branch [of tree] (柯), torrential (急) stream (澗)

used as the subject of the painting.

  唐解元有此景因倣其意

"解元", "六如居士" were referred to 唐寅, a painter of ming dynasty.

mr 唐 (唐解元) had (有) this (此) scene (景, --> similar painting of 喬柯急澗), therefore (因) [ i ] simulate (倣) his (其) ideas (意)

  京口山樓待風．觀六如卷

in 京口 (a place name), on a tower / building (樓) in the hills (山); waiting for (待) wind (風) [--> to cool off], read (觀) mr 唐's (六如) scroll (卷)

  筆墨靈逸．李唐刻畫之跡．為之一變．洗其勾砍．煥然神明

the strokes (筆墨) were deft (靈), with leisure (逸). the trace (跡) of (之) stubborn (刻畫) of mr 李 (李唐, a painter of 宋 dynasty), changed significantly (為之一變). removed (洗) his (其) "strike out" (勾) [and] chop (砍); changed to (煥然) outstanding  & bright (神明)

  當使南宋諸公皆拜牀下

[which] should (當) make (使) painters (諸公) of the southern song dynasty (南宋), all (皆)  bow (拜) under (下) [his] stand (牀, a variant of 床, which should be interpret as 安放器物的架子, not bed).

  惲壽平

the painter's full name

then, the text on the left, was a poem written by the emperor 乾隆 :(

it was recorded in 御製詩三集　卷九十四, page 82:

https://archive.org/stream/06078952.cn#page/n81/mode/1up

即設澗喬
今使水柯
誰不籦嶰
識經籠壑
馬裁潄臨
融作趾急
才笛哀澗

well, poem should be interpret by oneself :)

have fun :)

anyone want to decipher the seals?


Poem source and English translation - 愿无岁月可回头，且敬往事一杯酒 I am interested in this poem (shown below). Unfortunately I don't know much about where it originates. It seems to be posted frequently online but the original author / source is omitted.

Mostly I've read this using translation tools but if a proper English translation exists, I'd love to read it.

愿无岁月可回头，且敬往事一杯酒
看流年似水，往事不可追
愿你
每天那么忙
做的都是自己喜欢的
此后做的每一个选择都是为了自己
少一些何必当初，多一些暗自庆幸
以后的所有泪水，都是喜极而泣
昨天已经过去
无论怎样忧伤，都无济于事
时间不会倒流，光阴不会倒转
明天尚未到来，无论怎样期待
最终能否如愿，都是个未知数
只有今天才真正属于自己
有些路，走下去
会很累，但是不走，会后悔
人生没有对错，只有选择后的坚持
不后悔，走下去，就是对的
喜欢一句诗，走着走着，花就开了
人生就像坐火车一样
过去的景色那样美，让你流连不舍
可是你总是需要前进，会离开
然后你告诉自己，没关系
我以后一定还会再来看
可其实，往往你再也不会回去
流逝的时间，退后的风景
邂逅的人，终究是渐行渐远
亲爱的自己
不要抓住过去不放
断了线的风筝让它飞
放过它，更是放过自己
你的孤独，虽败犹荣
愿无岁月可回头，且敬往事一杯酒

Of course you can't find an author. Frequently these articles are created by the internet PR business, or what we call 营销号. They steal materials from various sources and stitch them together to create click-baits.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but this piece is far from good literature. You find much better verses in Reader's Digest. But still, it took me some minutes to do the translation. Please ignore the rough edges because I only had 15 minutes for it:

看流年似水，往事不可追
Watching the seasons pass like a river. What's happened cannot be undone.
愿你
Wish you
每天那么忙
Busy everyday
做的都是自己喜欢的
doing what you love to do
此后做的每一个选择都是为了自己
Every choice you make from now on, are made for yourself
少一些何必当初，多一些暗自庆幸
Fewer regrets, more secret rejoice
以后的所有泪水，都是喜极而泣
From now on, all your tears are tears of happiness.
昨天已经过去
Yesterday has passed
无论怎样忧伤，都无济于事
However sad you are, it wouldn't help
时间不会倒流，光阴不会倒转
Time don't flow backwards, day and night don't reverse themselves
明天尚未到来，无论怎样期待
Tomorrow is yet to come, whatever you expect
最终能否如愿，都是个未知数
may or may not come true, nobody knows
只有今天才真正属于自己
What you really have is today
有些路，走下去
Some roads, if you walk on
会很累，但是不走，会后悔
you will be exhausted, but if you dont, you will regret
人生没有对错，只有选择后的坚持
There is no right or wrong in life, only stick to your chice
不后悔，走下去，就是对的
Don't regret, keep on, that's it
喜欢一句诗，走着走着，花就开了
There is a line I like: You walk on and on, then the flowers begin to bloom.
人生就像坐火车一样
Life is like a journey on a train
过去的景色那样美，让你流连不舍
You see beautiful scenes, you don't want to let go
可是你总是需要前进，会离开
But you have to move forward, have to leave,
然后你告诉自己，没关系
Then you tell yourself: it's OK,
我以后一定还会再来看
I'll be back someday
可其实，往往你再也不会回去
But in fact, the chances are you will never be back
流逝的时间，退后的风景
Time passes, scenes retreat
邂逅的人，终究是渐行渐远
Whoever you get to know, will eventually part their ways
亲爱的自己
Dear self:
不要抓住过去不放
Don't cling to the past
断了线的风筝让它飞
Let the loose kite fly away
放过它，更是放过自己
Let it go, moreover, let go of yourself
你的孤独，虽败犹荣
Your loneliness, though defeated, is not without glory
愿无岁月可回头，且敬往事一杯酒
May there be no years and months worthy of going back, and let's raise the glasses for what happened in the past.


Is 噷 a common way to express thinking? I'm looking for a way to express "hmmn" as in "hmnn... what should I do?" when I stumbled upon 噷. In wikipedia, it says that it is a way to 'indicate thinking' but in baidu, it doesn't appear to have that kind of meaning but rather conveys a sense of dissatisfaction or in a joking manner.

Is 噷 a common way to express the act of thinking or is there a better choice? Something like: [  ]..., 这该怎么办呢？

噷 is not the one you are looking for.

In Chinese, we usually say 嗯.


Translation help needed I am doing some DIY and stumbled upon blog that should aid me in figuring out details of some obscure electronic PCB.

Google translate was useful for most of the text but I am not able to translate image part with it.

I would be grateful for any help in translating text on this image (esp. parts 1 and 2):

The blog post itself (for context).

2) One of the two must be "Filter capacitor"(滤波电容), Look which one has a side that connects to "GND" well, the other side of it must be "VCC".

1) "crystal oscillator"(晶震) , in the middle of it is "GND".

3) Because it is "Analog output device"(模拟输出设备), it is very likely that the 4 corners are "VCC","GND","X","Y", Based on this, check with above to make sure.


Why 给我钱 and not 把钱给我? I read and listen a lot of people say “给我钱”. I had no problem with that for quite a long time until I learned about 把. I started to wonder why people said 给我钱 and not 把钱给我 when there’s disposal to the the object. Was my understanding wrong? Could someone please explain to me?

给我钱 = give me money (indefinite- some money; any money)
把钱给我  = give me the money (definite - the money, that money)
给我一些钱 = give me some money
把那笔钱交给我= give me that money
把 is a disposal marker that marks the object to be disposed of. It emphasizes the object and makes it definite


Where to look for history and etymology of Chinese characters? For example 工 Is there a website where I can look for history and etymology of Chinese characters? For example 工.

It can be a Chinese website (I am VERY new to Chinese). But better in English.

Please also drop any useful links you regularly used when starting to learn.

Or let's say, how do Chinese understand this: 极 [jí] (extreme)?

http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterEtymology.aspx?characterInput=%E8%BB%8A&submitButton1=Etymology

This website gives origins for many characters, as well as pictures of some earlier forms (e.g., from Oracle bones). Keep in mind that the structure of most characters is a phonetic and a semantic component put together (形声字). Most characters aren't pictograms (象形字), ideograms (指事字), or semantic combinations of other characters (会意字); although these types of characters have most captured the western imagination.

Also, etymology is a bit of a misnomer, as that would be for morphemes and words, not their graphical representation. It is, however, commonly called this.


Is there a usage for  as "rèn"? Is there a usage for   as "rèn" ? I cannot find examples with this pronunciation.
I understand the usages as yáng, jiāng, & qiāng, as explained by  dROOOze and others in what-is-the-top-part-of-姜.... However, the unicode pronunciation for  U+2634C is given as rèn, and WIKIPEDIA includes rèn without examples  Etymology 2)
re: [⺷ U+2EB7 /  U+2634C]

[added] I found one reference / usage here, "补字如甚切音姙..."  but I have no skill to read it and understand if it is using  or discussing it as 'suspicious'. The site notes that the text was OCR'd and is unedited.

No.
「」 has no usage examples as the reading rèn (Bopomofo: ㄖㄣˋ). Note that many ancient dictionaries make definitions up out of thin air, which is why quotes from character usage in literature is so important.

At least one dictionary author, smelling something fishy was going on, said

《字彙補》
...疑「」字之譌

Suspected to be a corruption of 「」 (rěn).

So it might come from 「」 with a horizontal line added to the bottom.

Further reading
See the reference given by Wiktionary: Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A03215-002


The difference between 执著 and 固执 I had this sentence: 麦当劳一直执著地坚持着浓浓的美式风格。

I would translate '执著地坚持着‘ as 'stubbornly persist in'

I was told, '执着‘ has a positive sense, whereas '固执‘ has more of a negative sense of 'persisting even though you know it is wrong to do so'.

Would you agree?

He/She is right. 执着 is more positive,like "persistent" or "Never give up,never surrender!"
While 固执 stands for "stubborn",you can use it to describe annoying kids who just refuse to eat carrots...something like that.
 However,sometimes (less commonly) 固执 can have positive meaning too. It really depends on the situation.


What does 打着饱嗝 and 嫌缸沿脏 and 踩上去蹲在上面 mean in the novel 活着 p.7? I've started reading 活着 which is supposedly a good book for new readers.  However, I'm having trouble understanding this part on page 7 (my translation).  [Warning: it's about poop.]

我爹走到了城里，城里人见了都叫他先生。我爹是很有身份的人，可他拉屎时就像个穷人了。他不爱在屋里床边的马桶上拉屎，跟牲畜似的喜欢到野地里去拉屎。...
My father goes to the city, where city-folk meet him and call him "Mister".  My father is a very esteemed person, but when he poops he's just like a poor person.  He does not like to poop in the toilet in his room.  Like livestock, he likes to go into the wilderness to poop.
... 每天到了傍晚的时候，我爹打着饱嗝，那声响和青蛙叫唤差不多，走出屋去，慢吞吞地朝村口的粪缸走去。
Every day at dusk, my father [eats a lot and burps (??)], and it sounds like a frog's croak.  Leaving his room, he goes very slowly towards village entrance manure vat.
走到了粪缸旁，他嫌缸沿脏，就抬脚踩上去蹲在上面。我爹年纪大了，屎也跟着老了，出来不容易，那时候我们全家人都会听到他在村口嗷嗷叫着。
After reaching the manure vat, he [dislike vat dirtiness (??)], raises his foot, steps over and [crouches on top of it (??)].  My dad is elderly, and his poop is also old, and it doesn't come out easily.  At that time, our family members can all hear him at the village entrance shout "ao ao".

Question: What does 打着饱嗝 and 嫌缸沿脏 and 踩上去蹲在上面 mean?
I translated 村口 to "village entrance", but I'm not so sure about that too.

打饱嗝 = let out a (after full meal) belch

打着饱嗝 = letting out a (after full meal) belch

~

嫌 = dislike

缸沿 = edge of the (opening of) crock

脏 = dirty

嫌缸沿脏 = disgusted by the edge of the opening of the crock being dirty

~

踩上去 = step upon

蹲在上面 = crouch on top of

踩上去蹲在上面 = step upon and crouch on top of

  He was disgusted by the edge of the crock opening being dirty, didn't want to sit on it, so he stepped upon the edge of the crock and crouched on top of it (to take a dump)


Why is 是 in 这件事情到底是解决了? Can someone help me understand why 是 is in this sentence?

这件事情到底是解决了

I can't figure out what role it plays, and I think I usually see such a sentence without it. Does it form the passive or something? Thanks!

Simply put, it's for emphasis. In English you might say "has in fact been resolved".


How to describe the state of a locked door I have a question about the grammar behind saying what seems like a simple thing, but is proving to be hard for me. "The door is locked." In English it's an expression of state using an adjective.

However, research on  鎖 has not been very fruitful as it is apparently just a noun (actually it can act as a verb, my bad). The most consistent examples of "the door is locked" I have been able to understand from Jukuu have indicated this structure:

門上了鎖。

First, is this correct? If so, what is the grammatical breakdown? I haven't run across a structure like this before, it doesn't fit a result complement or any other complement structure I know.

It seems like 上 is the verb. Is this the same sense as its use in 上廁所？  I'm also confused by the 了。Is it indicating change? Completion?

‘门上了锁’ is correct.

I think you can best understand '上' here as 'put, set'.

Here there are 16 different definitions for 上：
8，11，13 and 14 approach the meaning here.

门上了锁 door set lock = the door has been locked = the door is locked

If there is a padlock on a door, it is also locked. (padlock is 挂锁）

'门上了锁。' could mean 'There is a padlock on the door.' or 'The door is locked.' or 'The door has been locked.' or even '(someone) put a padlock on the door.' depending on context.

'房门上锁是为了防盗。' was translated: 'The doors were padlocked to prevent theft.'

都可以：

门锁了。The door is locked. / There is a padlock on the door.
门被锁了.
门上了锁。
门锁上了。
门（被）上锁了。

*门（被）锁了上。 【不好】


How do you parse 我觉得你说的是真的。 I came across the sentence 我觉得你说的是真的 in my studies, which I was told translates to "I think what you say is true". I'm not sure how you parse this sentence though. In particular, what function do each of the 的 serve?

我觉得你说的是真的

'我' (I) is the 'subject'

'觉得' (think) is the 'verb'

'你说的(话)' (the words you said) is the 'object'

'是' (is/was) is 'auxiliary verb'

'真的' (true) adjective

'你说的' is shortened from '你说的话', which is the object

  I think the words you said were true.


Translations of "共欢新故岁，迎送一宵中" by Li Shimin? The poem 守岁 by 李世民 ends with the following line:

共欢新故岁，迎送一宵中。

It's apparently a well-known line and even Chairman Xi used it in one of his speeches:

“共欢新故岁，迎送一宵中。”忙碌了一年，一家人一起吃年夜饭，一起守岁，享受的是天伦之乐、生活之美。在家尽孝、为国尽忠是中华民族的优良传统。没有国家繁荣发展，就没有家庭幸福美满。同样，没有千千万万家庭幸福美满，就没有国家繁荣发展。
　　——习近平在2019年春节团拜会上的讲话（2019年2月3日）

There doesn't seem to be a lot of English translations though. Here are two I found:
Two poems for guarding the year (one for Taizong, and the other for Dazhou)

We celebrate the new year and the old,
and welcome each other for a night.

【中国诗文外译（特刊）】春节║总第8期

All people celebrate the turn of old and new year,
Greeting and Seeing-off one night with good cheer;

Do other translations not exist? (Published translations would be preferable.)

I think the translations you provided does not accurately reflect the literal Chinese meanings. Although I do not know other published translation, I can explain the poem word by word, so that you can have a better understanding of its meaning.
In the first part "共欢新故岁": "共" means "together". "欢" means "happy" or in this case "celebrate". "新" means "new". "故" means "old" and in this case, it means "the past". "岁" means "age" in modern Chinese, but here in ancient Chinese, it also means "year".
In the second part "迎送一宵中": "迎" means "welcome". "送" means "send" or "farewell". "一" means "one". "宵" means "night". "中" means "within" in this case.
So the poem should mean "Together we celebrate the new and old year. The welcoming of the new year and the farewell to the old year are both within this night."
What I wrote is just a literal translation. There might be other translations as Chinese and English are culturally different and it is very hard to translate literature works. Also, ancient Chinese often have multiple meanings so it is also very difficult to interpret poems using modern Chinese. Hence, different people will definitely have different interpretations.


What is the function of "一" in the sentence 要上山，只有这一条路? I came across this sentence:

要上山，只有这一条路

Is there a rule when to throw in a 一?
In detail:

What exactly is the function of 一 in this sentence ?
Could I also simply say 要上山，只有这条路 ?

Sometimes I come across some unexpected 一 like in this sentence:

人的一生中，究竟什么是最重要的？

Many thanks!!

要上山，只有这一条路。
To go up the mountain, there is only this 1 road.

Here, 一 is the number 1.  一条路 = "one road" (wherein 条 is a measure word).  So we could change it to any other number, e.g.:

要上山，只有这六条路。
To go up the mountain, there are only these 6 roads.

Replacing 这一条路 with 这条路 above is fine: with the number omitted, the default quantity is 1.
In 人的一生中, the 一 is part of the word:

一生 (yīshēng)
CC-CEDICT: all one's life / throughout one's life

If we delete the 一 from the word 一生, we'd obtain 生 which is a completely different word.  So we can't delete the 一 here.
More generally:

There are a bunch of words and idioms containing the character 一 (e.g. 一生, 一起, 一样, 一叶障目): by deleting the 一 from within a word, we'll almost always end up with nonsense.

There are a number of grammar structures that also use 一, such as 一……就…….  Occasionally it's okay to omit the 一, such as how 一边……一边…… is sometimes written 边……边…….  However, I'd guess for most grammar structures involving 一, it won't be okay to omit the 一.

It's often okay to omit the 一 before a measure word: 她是一个孩子 = 她是个孩子 but I don't think it's always okay to omit it: I wouldn't start a sentence with a measure word (e.g. I wouldn't write 一匹马在吃草 as just 匹马在吃草), and omitting it in 一个人 might result in confusion with the word 个人.


Letters for chinese wedding invitation I'm looking for the (traditional) Chinese letters for 'he fu tong qing' (pin yin transcription), which should mean something like 'the whole family invited' in the context of a wedding invitation.

阖府统请 (Simplified Chinese)

闔府統請 (Traditional Chinese)


Why does the construction of 要是…的话 mean "if"? I know other words like 如果 also mean "if", but why would 要是...的话 mean "if"?
An example sentence:

要是你喜欢汉语（的话），你该听中国的音乐。
If you like Chinese, you should listen to Chinese music.

If you find these kinds of things puzzling, I suggest you try and download 现代汉语八百词. It gives meanings and uses of a lot of these constructions. As Huang says, these constructions mean just what they mean.

On page 594 of 现代汉语八百词 it says (the page number will depend on the edition you download):

要是 yào.shi

［连］表示假设；如果。

a) 用于前一小句。

～看见《汉英词典》，替我买一本 | ～他不去，你去吗？

b) ‘要是...’后可加‘的话’。‘要是...的话’可用在后一小句。

～有人问的话，说我在老马家 ｜ 坐船去好，～来得及的话

c) 要是 ＋ 名。

～别人（＝如果换了别人），这事不一定能办成 | 老同学聚会真不容易，～去年，咱们还聚不齐呢！

Meaning is roughly:

yào.shi

[Conjunction] expresses hypothesis; if.

a) used in first clause.

If you see a "Chinese-English Dictionary", buy one for me | If he doesn’t go, will you go?

b) 的话 can be added after 要是. '要是…的话' can be used in the second clause.

If anyone asks, tell them I’m at Ma’s place | It’s good to go by boat, if you can make it.

c) 要是 + noun.
If someone else (= if it were someone else), this matter could not necessarily be accomplished | It’s not easy for old classmates to get together, if [it were] last year, we couldn’t have done it!


Difference between 几岁了 and 多大了 I googled a bit on it and found different explanations. Some says it just depends on the region and dialect. But my text book explains that as a rule of thumb 几岁了 should be used for kids before 10 years old, and for other cases 多大了 is Ok. Could you please provide some more explanation on it?

Your textbook is right. But usage might vary. 几 generally means few, the convention that its maximum is 10, that's why you can not ask someone looking older than 10 你几岁？

Of course you could ask a little boy or girl 你多大？, that's not wrong, but do not ask an adult 你几岁/您几岁？, this wouldn't be appropriate.

The only context when 几岁 could apply to adults is 50几岁 (fifty something of age) and, of course, 30几岁,40几岁 and so on. Here 几 only refers to the 'something', the unknown few years someone is older than 50, etc.


What is the antonym of 不如? What is the antonym of 不如? E.g.:

  今年我旅游很少, 不如去年 (situation is worse than last year)

And I need a word for the reverse situation:

  今年我旅游很多, ???去年 (situation is better than last year)

不如 has a negative meaning so it does not suit here, as far as I know.

Use 超过 or 胜过(more positive)

  今年我旅游很多, 超过去年


What is this 给 doing in this sentence? 一个农民工请了一个他不认识的女人代收他女儿要寄给他的月饼包裹。

女人说：“这个忙好帮，您不怕我把收到的月饼给吃了？”
The woman said, "That's easy, but aren't you afraid that I might eat the cakes?"

她在这句话用的‘给’是什么意思？ 如果写“您不怕我把收到的月饼吃了”有区别吗？

給 6

  用於動詞前，表示加強「被動」或「處置」等語氣。

在這裡是「加強處置的語氣」。
沒有「給」，也可以，但是語氣較弱。

Used before a verb, to enhance the "passive" or "to deal with" and other tones.

It is the tone of "to deal with" here (in your example).
It is OK without 給, but the tone is weaker.


Glyph origin or any mnemonic for 況 and 状? Does any one have good glyph origin theory about those HanZi?

My take:

状 - fence + dog inside  ~ then this mutated to a "situation or
disposition" meaning.
状 - remnant of 壮 + dog = huge dog. how this ended in the present
meaning of 状 i don't know.
況 - water + a man with a big mouth (speaking). Meaning of "describing water" or describing a phenomenon. Water and "moreover" meaning play good together but "situation" meaning doesn't click for me.

have a look of this page:

http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=狀

狀(u+72c0)﹒犬形也(form, appearance of dog)﹒从犬﹒爿聲(爿 is sound component)

爿(u+723f) is a main component of chinese character:

http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/bronzePiece.php?piece=爿

況(u+6cc1)﹒寒水也(cold water)﹒从水﹒兄聲(兄 is sound component)﹒

http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=況

i would think that all your takes is, . . . ,well, try again :)

edited, additional info added.

my brief checking, that the term "狀況" in modern usage; the earliest one is in page 102 of 御製詩四集﹒卷七十九, by emperor 乾隆 of 清 dynasty:

https://archive.org/details/06054264.cn

the last 4 & 3 characters at the bottom of left most column.

in early 20th century, it's frequency in old hk newspaper:

1900s (8)
1910s (20)
1920s (190)
1930s (505)
1940s (217)

have fun :)


Is the meaning of 卖 the original meaning in 卖力，卖萌，卖国，卖傻，卖弄? 卖 means to sell. But in the above five phrases, it is very difficult to get the point. If 国 can be sold to some extent，as a piece of land are illegally sold by the authorities to foreigners for personal gains, the other fours look ridiculous, as nobody would sell his or others' stupidity or foolishness?

「貝」(shell) in ancient China was used as a currency. The original meaning of 「買」was 'take money to the market to trade for goods (to buy)'  The top part of 「買」was originally representing 'goods displayed in the market' ; the character 「賣」 added a hand behind the goods to represent 'handing out goods at the market to trade for money (to sell)'

「買賣」means 'to trade' (include the buyer and seller).

The character 「賣」was originated in an 'market activity' namely 'to display and sell' therefore, it can be used as a verb for 'to display; to show; to promote'

「賣力」 means 'show off one's hard labor to impress' = 'work very hard (to impress)'
「賣萌」means 'show off one's cuteness'
「賣傻」 (display dumbness) means 'play dumb'
「賣」in  「賣國」short for 「出賣」which means "to betray" (to betray someone like you are selling him like goods)
「弄」in 「賣弄」means 'to handle', 「賣弄」(display and handle) means 'to show something off'


我很喜歡你呀 in a specific context It may be somewhat inappropriate, but I have to talk about this short story （在明孝陵乘涼 by 魏微）at a seminar:
Link to original
I have been taught "我喜歡你", when said between people of opposite sexes, usually means a romantic kind of fondness. In this story it seems the girl likes her brother in a not so innocent kind of way. Is this clear to the brother, when she uses

炯，我很喜歡你呀！ ;

or is there enough room to interpret it as innocent fondness among siblings?

"我很喜欢你" has the almost same usage with "I like you" in English, depending on the scenario, could be treated as "I love you" but again, it's rare.

In daily case, we(native Chinese) rarely use(or used?) this sentence because comparing to the western people, Chinese usually are regarded as a group people who are shy, barely express emotion orally.

But in this case, the author seems like depicture a little girl who has a crush on her brother. It's unethical but also natural considering their age. And it's far from incest since it's just an emotional activity.


Are 南瓜小米粥 (nánguā xiǎomǐ zhōu) and 小米南瓜粥 (xiǎomǐ nánguā zhōu) the same thing? I've had both 南瓜小米粥 (nánguā xiǎomǐ zhōu; pumpkin and millet congee) and 小米南瓜粥 (xiǎomǐ nánguā zhōu; millet and pumpkin congee) in China.  They were different; the first one I've had many times and it usually (always?) has chunks of pumpkin, whereas the second one I've had once and it was more of a pumpkin puree.  I'm not sure if this is just a difference in shops where I bought it.

In fact, when I bought 小米南瓜粥, I asked for 南瓜小米粥 as that is what I'm accustomed to asking for.  The lady at the counter corrected me, calling it 小米南瓜粥.

So my question is...

Q: Are 南瓜小米粥 and 小米南瓜粥 the same thing?

I think they're different.

南瓜小米粥 is 小米粥 with 南瓜: as you said, it's millet congee with chunks of pumpkin in genaral.

小米南瓜粥 is 南瓜粥 with 小米; it's more like pumpkin puree, with millet grains.

Of course what the name means indeed largely depends on the restaurant.


What's the difference between 特色 and 特点? What's the difference between 特色 and 特点? When should I use 特色 and when 特点? Please give me some examples. Thank you!

特色 distinguishing feature; quality; characteristic
特点 unique/ special feature; quality; characteristic

特色 is the distinguishing characteristics of something

Example: 鋪榻榻米是和室的特色 -  using tatami mats is a distinguishing characteristic of Japanese style rooms
the use of tatami mats indicate it is Japanese style

特点 is the special features of something

Example: 鋪榻榻米是和室的特点 - using tatami mats is a special characteristic of Japanese style rooms
tatami mats is a unique feature of Japanese style rooms


Neutral tone and erhua (儿化) working as a word distinguisher I know there are some words in which the use of neutral tone distinguish them the word from their non neutral equivalent, like：

东西 - dong1xi1 - from east to west
东西 - dong1xi - thing

虾子 - xia1zi3 - shrimp hatch
虾子 - xia1zi - shrimp

I also know erhua most of the time is just an accent thing and doesn't make much difference on the word's meaning. But are there any erhua-ed words that have a different meaning from the "erhualess" word?

Is there any list with these neutral/non-neutral and erhua/non-erhua (if they do exist) pairs?

Are there any erhua-ed words that has a different meaning from the not "erhualess" word?

Yes, many, categorized as follows:

Nominalization (convert to noun), e.g. 盖 (to cover) -> 盖儿 (lid), 尖 (pointy) -> 尖儿 (tip)
Generalization, e.g. 眼 (eye) -> 眼儿 (hole),
Derivation, e.g. 白面 (white flour) -> 白面儿 (drug)
Word simplification by replacing the last character with 儿, e.g. 把手 -> 把儿 (handle), which is different from 把 (to hold).
Changing tone, e.g. 脸蛋 (cheek, neutral tone) -> 脸蛋儿 (cheek, loving tone)

  Is there any list with these neutral/non-neutral and erhua/non-erhua (if they do exist) pairs?

Not aware of any. I am curious to see a comprehensive one, too.


Are there some free fonts for the small seal, large seal, and even oracle bone script styles? I'm very interested in the old forms of Chinese characters that you still see in many contexts including historical, artistic, and design contexts.

So I'm wondering if there are free fonts for these old script styles:

Large Seal script or Great Seal script (大篆, Dàzhuàn) - from before the Qin dynasty
 is the large seal script style for 龍
Small Seal Script (小篆, xiǎozhuàn), also known as Seal Script, Lesser Seal Script and Qin Script (秦篆, Qínzhuàn), from the Qin dynasty
 is the small seal script style for 龍
Oracle bone script (甲骨文, jiǎgǔwén) - the earliest version of Chinese script. I'm expecting this is less plausible since there were surely far fewer characters back then.
 is the oracle bone script style for 龍

I really only want free fonts that I can use in web pages or in open source projects, or even edit. Modern font formats such as OTF / TTF that are supported on all modern operating systems.

Here is some chinese font including small seal scripts, but I haven't tried it myself. Might be useful for u.


Chinese Idiom puzzle 5 Please solve the following puzzle

You are not a gentleman if you don't take revenge for a wrong against you - 見:《施公案》六四回

People in the world are all brothers - 出自:先秦·孔子《論語·顏淵》

Give no quarters

Reply other's hatred with kindness - 出自:《論語·憲問》

The opposite bank of the river - 出自:《詩經·國風·秦風》的《蒹葭》

Perfect - 出自:《雪月梅傳》《周禮·天官冢宰下·醫師》

One call and hundreds respond - 出自: 明·天然癡叟《石魚頭》

Contribution cannot be uncredited - 見:《清史稿．卷三八七．列傳．陳孚恩》

Stick to the old, refuse to make any change 語本:《禮記．王制》

Eliminate the rebellious ministers around the monarch

Chivalrous bone,  red heart

humane

Chinese emperor's self-address

When faced with a crisis, can deal with it calmly without panic

Drink poison to quench thirst (A metaphor for only solves the immediate difficulties and ignores future disasters.)

Make an unrealistic request (usu with an evil person); make deal with dangerous people; courting disaster [literal] ask a tiger for its skin - 語本《太平御覽》

Dangers are hidden everywhere

The imperial edict. It is a kind of self-criticism issued by ancient Chinese monarchs.

A forced peace treaty, (signed when the enemy’s army is threatening the capital)

After leaving Yangguan West Road, there are no more old friends. 出自:王維 《陽關三疊》

A. It is used to describe the life of primitive people who can't use fire and eat meat raw and bloody. 出自:《礼记·礼运》
B. Generally, it means that the male and female both love each other or one loves the other, but cannot be together for various reasons.
C. Unity; of one mind
D. Dig a well to get water when you are thirsty (meaning it is too late to find a solution when the matter is already urgent.)
E. Stay firm and unwavering, not subject to changes due to the complexity of the external environment
F. A gentleman doesn't stand on the side of a dangerous wall (meaning a gentleman must stay away from dangerous places) - 出處:《孟子·盡心》
G. Wait ten years to take revenge is not too late for a gentleman (Means that people need not be impatient to avenge, wait for the opportunity to do it) - 見:《兒女風塵記》
H. No one noticed you spent ten years studying (下一句是: 一舉成名天下知) - 出自: 元·劉祁《歸潛志》第七卷
I. Inner beauty
J. A tiger left the mountain and fell into the flat ground to be trapped - 出自:清·錢彩《說岳全傳》
K. A general's victory comes with the price of having thousands of soldiers die 出自:《己亥歲感事》唐·曹松
L. Round inside, square outside (refers to a person whose appearance is upright, but his heart is smooth.
M. One's mind is clear and tranquil, have very few desire
N. The ideal relationship between brothers 見:《史記．卷一．五帝本紀》
O. Means to put yourself in consideration for others -《論語·衛靈公》：“己所不欲，勿施於人”朱熹集注
More hints below

I'm back!
"君子不立危墙下" and "与虎谋皮" is a little difficult for me, and "有仇不报非君子".


What does '根筋' in '一根筋' and '少根筋' mean? The phrase I'm trying to understand is in fact '没那根筋', but I can't find the description for '根筋' in any dictionary.

The search result only came up with '一根筋' and '少根筋'.

If '一根筋' means one-track mind and '少根筋' means stupid (or perhaps lack of common sense), does '根筋' roughly mean idea/thought?

筋 means muscle or tendon. The 筋 in these phrases is short for 脑筋, which literally means "brain tendon", but is used to mean "(line of) thought" or "idea".

You can see examples of this word, in phrases like

动脑筋: literally: "to move one's brain tendons", means: "to think hard"
伤脑筋: literally: "to hurt one's brain tendons", means: "a headache" (in the sense of difficult to think about)


What does the word 绑架 mean in these contexts? (not "kidnap") For example here are a couple of topic titles from 知乎:

如何看待道德绑架行为？
我不想让我的女儿继续经历现在的「审美绑架」

And a comment I found on a youtube video:

现在的共产党使用的统治方式和封建时代的中国没什么两样，就是用国家主义绑架中国老百姓。按理说，其他的民族也没那么容易被统治者绑架，但中国老百姓偏偏容易被绑架，因为从一开始就被绑架了，一直没有明白过来。

Obviously in these sentences it does not mean "kidnap". So what does it mean? How can I translate it, and how do I use it?

Thanks in advance.

Here 绑架 means "force sb. into doing sth.".

  道德绑架

force (your) moral beliefs on others

  审美绑架

force (your) aesthetic beliefs on others

  被绑架

being forced to others' belief.


How do I parse 真的发展成男女朋友玩的来聊的开那还是要过个一年半载才能确定的 into English? The offending sentence (haha) is in bold below. Can't for the life of me figure out what is going on with it.

  许多妹子都觉得刚失恋去找别的男人不太好，其实无所谓啦，真的发展成男女朋友玩的来聊的开那还是要过个一年半载才能确定的，先随便聊聊么，认识认识，没到考试的时候也可以在生活里多个出勤率，哪里跌倒就从哪里爬起来，越是被男人甩了越用自己的趣味和大方去和其他男人聊聊，对自己恢复（男女关系方面的）信心也没啥坏处。

许多妹子都觉得刚失恋去找别的男人不太好，
Many girls think looking for a new man just after breaking up is not a good idea,
其实无所谓啦，
actually, it doesn't matter
真的发展成男女朋友[玩得来聊得开]那还是要过个一年半载才能确定的，
to really become girlfriend and boyfriend, [have fun and chat openly], that will take about a year before you have a rapport,
先随便聊聊么，
first just chat,
认识认识，
get to know each other,
没到考试的时候也可以在生活里多个出勤率，
it's not exam time yet, you can also concentrate more on your life,
哪里跌倒就从哪里爬起来，
get up from where you have fallen down,
越是被男人甩了越用自己的趣味和大方去和其他男人聊聊，
the more you are rejected the more you should use your personality and magnanimity to talk with other men
对自己恢复（男女关系方面的）信心也没啥坏处。
this will help you recover your confidence (in male female relationships) and won't do you any harm.

Reader's Digest philosophy??


Unusual looking characters at a temple in Hong Kong? (source)

It's from the Tsz Shan Monastery in the New Territories in Hong Kong.  And I reading it up-down, left-right, or simply left to right on both levels?  Many thanks to whoever can help.

一生補處

故“一生補處”，乃階地不退轉，功德不斷增長至成佛道之意。
Therefore 'one life make up' means 'accumulate your good deed and merit in this stage (alive as a human) of existence, and eventually achieve enlightenment'


Confucius quote: what's the original? The man who moves a mountain starts by carrying away small stones.

This is (reportedly) a quote from the Analects of Confucius. I have tried looking for 山 in the whole Wikisource text and found the following occurrences:

季氏旅於泰山。子謂冉有曰：「女弗能救歟？」對曰：「不能。」子曰：「嗚呼！曾謂泰山不如林放乎？」三之七
子曰：「臧文仲，居蔡，山節藻梲。何如其知也。」
子謂仲弓曰：「犁牛之子，騂且角；雖欲勿用，山川其舍諸？」
子曰：「知者樂水，仁者樂山。知者動，仁者靜。知者樂，仁者壽。」
子曰：「譬如為山，未成一簣，止，吾止也！譬如平地，雖覆一簣，進，吾往也！」
色斯舉矣，翔而後集。曰：「山梁雌雉，時哉時哉！」子路共之，三嗅而作。
公山弗擾以費畔，召，子欲往。子路不悅，曰：「末之也已，何必公山氏之之也。」子曰：「夫召我者，而豈徒哉？如有用我者，吾其為東周乎！」

None of these seems to match the given translation. So what is this quote? Is it a fake? Or is it really from Confucius, and if so, what is the original? And as an extra, what do these quotes mean?

譬如为山未成一篑 is talking about making a mountain rather than moving a mountain. It tells about the importance of perseverance.

Another Confucian classic, 《荀子》 has 积土成山风雨兴焉 in the article 劝学 meaning you accumulate earth and make a mountain then the local climate will change. Again, the same moral, but not told by Confucius himself.

Yet another classic but is about Taoism, 《列子》, has an article talking about a silly old ram thought he could punch a hole in a dam -- A silly old man thought he could move a mountain with a 1000 year plan, and eventually he did in his life span, because the Sky God helped his clan. This is, again, all about the same thing, perseverance.

So yes, it is probably fake. At least we can tell it's not from the Analects.

About the meanings of these quotes, you can find the Chinese translation of 论语 here. For more detailed explanations of each quote, google is your friend. Search one of the quotes and you'll get plenty of answers.


Is there a difference between 杀害 and 杀死? I have tried browsing examples, but the only potential difference I see is that you can say "它也会杀死庄稼", but I am not sure if 杀害 also refers to plants.

害 in 杀害 (kill; murder) means 'victimize'. You can only victimize creatures that have emotion, capable of feeling pain. '杀害' mostly refer to murder of human; And only killing of human can be deemed 'murder'

Note: only human intentionally killing other human is called 'murder' . A tiger killing a human is not a murder, but a killing

杀死 (kill someone/ something dead) can apply to any living organism, from single cell bacteria to human


What is the difference between 刚刚 and 刚才 in Mandarin? Both words express the meaning "just" or "just now" in time. For example,

我刚刚回家了。
我刚刚吃饭了。

In these cases, should I use 刚刚 or 刚才? Is there any difference and/or which one sounds more natural?

Both means the same, but which one sounds more natural depends on what the questioner uses.

if they ask:

你刚刚去哪了？

you answer with:

我刚刚回家了。

if they ask:

你刚才去哪了？

you answer with:

我刚才回家了。

Of course, it's not wrong to answer 刚刚 with 刚才, it's not that big of a deal, both works, just a matter of preference really.


What is the meaning of 奴 this poem from 红楼梦？ Poetry is never easy to understand. 奴 is used twice in this poem. I think this 奴 means I or me, in a sense of 'me, this poor slave'.

怪奴底事倍伤神？半为怜春半恼春。
怜春忽至恼忽去，至又无言去不闻。

昨宵庭外悲歌发，知是花魂与鸟魂。
花魂鸟魂总难留，鸟自无言花自羞。

愿奴胁下生双翼，随花飞落天尽头。
天尽头，何处有香丘？

It is kind of 谦称 of a woman in ancient China, there are others of course

妾 or 妾身 or 奴婢 for you being the wife
奴 or 奴家 for you being the wife or general cases
小女子 for general cases
老身 for older ladies

And for men of course, their 谦称 could be

小人 for you being the servant
鄙人 for general but unofficial use
在下 for you being in a relatively lower social hierarchy
晚生 if you are younger to your friend
不才 for proposing suggestions
不肖 for referring yourself with respect to your older relatives
愚弟 or 愚兄 for closer relationship


Why 给 is used in 我的手被虫子给咬了? I saw this in the subtitles of a TV show:

  我的手被虫子给咬了。

Why 给 is used in that sentence?

Without considering 给, I've translated it to:

  My hand was bitten by an insect.

给 is part of the passive structure of the sentence you've cited. It can be used before the verb either with or without another passive marker (like the neutral 被 or the colloquial 让 or 叫). It doesn't change the meaning of the sentence though, as dacongy mentioned, it can add emphasis.
Here are some example sentences:

衣服［让］他给弄脏了。
The clothes were dirtied by him.
这个杯子［叫］我给打碎了。
The glass was broken by me.

Confusingly, 给, like 叫 and 让, can also be used as a passive marker by itself in sentences like the following

门给风吹开了。
The door was blown open by the wind.
孩子给妈妈打了一顿。
The children were given a beating by their mother.

In the above sentences, 给 could be replaced with 叫, 让, or 被 with no change in meaning. (The register and regional flavor will be slightly different.)
This paper, "北京话“给”字被动句的地位及其历史发展 (PDF)", which I haven't yet had a chance to read, analyzes the use of 给 in passive sentences (被动句) in Beijing dialect. I skimmed the abstract and it seemed like it might be illuminating.


What does 所 mean in 正如我们之前所说? In the following sentence:

正如我们之前所说，Alphabet在企业投资者中似乎有些另类。

I assumed the usage of 所 in this case is, according to Pleco:

[as a noun without 的, esp. when the verb is monosyllabic]
据你所说

But in this sentence there is no preposition such as 据. The whole sentence would work fine even without 所 I think.
So what does the 所 work for and what meaning does it have, compared to the case where 所 is not used?

正如我们之前(说)= Just as we (said) previously- 说 is a verb here

正如我们之前(所说)= Just as (the words) we (said ) previously

"我们所说" is short for "我们(所)说的話" = "the words (that) we said"

therefore, "我们所说(的話)" is a noun

When you say "正如我们之前(说)" you have to follow it with a quote of what was said

When you say "正如我们之前(所说)" you can follow it with a quote of what was said or omit it and presume it is known


Difference between 消防车 and 救火车 Is there a difference between when to use one or the other? Both translate directly to fire truck.

This is an issue about 书面语(words that are used for writing articles) and 口语 (words that are usually used in oral Chinese)

The two words have the same meaning. However, 消防车 is more formal, it's used in most of the written materials. 救火车, on the other hand, is usually used in spoken Chinese, it's rarely used in formal documents.

As an example, 妻子 and 老婆 are both Chinese words for "wife". 妻子 is 书面语 while 老婆 is 口语.


How do I say "It doesn't matter if..." E.g. It doesn't matter if you are ugly (or not)

你丑不丑都没关系 or something similar?

"你丑不丑都没关系" is good and sounds native. You could say "你丑不丑都无所谓" as well.


“The X you asked me to Y” (cantonese) I am not so familiar with how you say this in english grammar. But how do you say this pattern in cantonese?

For example: the bag you asked me to buy.

What is the syntax when translating to cantonese ?

“The (n) you asked me to (v)”

  你叫我(v)嗰個(n)

Example:

“The (bag) you asked me to (buy)” = "你叫我(買)嗰個(袋)"

“The (person) you asked me to (kill)” = "你叫我(殺)嗰個(人)"

  嗰個你叫我(v)嘅(n)

Example:

“The (bag) you asked me to (buy)” = "嗰個你叫我(買)嘅(袋)"

“The (person) you asked me to (kill)” = "嗰個你叫我(殺)嘅(人)"

  個 is the classifier for the noun, replace 個 with other classifier when necessary

For example:

你叫我做嗰(件)(事)

嗰(件)你叫我做嘅(事)

The classifier for  '事' is '件', not '個'

  In many cases, you cannot transfer English grammar directly into Chinese  sentence, this is one of them "嗰個袋(that bag) 你叫我買 (you asked me to buy)" is not grammatical in Chinese