Is there a difference in meaning between 那年夏天 and 那个夏天 I asked a native speaker whether these phrases were equivalent in meaning and she said no (although agreeing that they both ultimately do "point" to the same concept). I asked if 年 here is basically a measure word and she said no. Is that right?

年 is not measure word. It is noun.

那年夏天: the summer of that year
那个夏天: that summer

They both refer to a specific summer, but the first one leaves the context on the year, while the second one solely focuses on the summer. To demonstrate the difference with follow-up questions:
Conversation 1:

那年夏天特别热。It was extremely hot in the summer of that year.
哪一年？Which year?
北京奥运那一年。The year Olympics was held in Beijing.

Conversation 2:

那个夏天特别热。It was extremely hot in that summer.
哪个夏天？Which summer?
咱们一起去海边的那个夏天。The summer when you and I went to the seaside together.


"did not come": 没来 vs 没来了 I translated "The student did not come" as "学生没来了" but the answer was "学生没来" (i.e. 了 is omitted). This answer confuses me because it doesn't contain any indication of past action; i.e. I would translate "The student is not coming" to "学生没来".

Why is it that "了" is not required in this case?
Is my answer acceptable? What is the difference?
How would you distinguish "The student did not come" with "The student is not coming" in Chinese?

We don't say 学生没来了. I think it's because 没 itself has already addressed the tense. 学生没(有)来 is The fact of students coming is non-existent, namely Students didn't come or Students haven't come. So, we don't need 了 and 学生没来 just does the trick.

However, when you use 不 for negation, either 学生不来 or 学生不来了 is correct but with different meanings. 学生不来 implies that students refused to come, 学生不来了 students won't come(the reason is unaddressed, it's factual rather than subjective/emotional).

Note: To translate "The student did not come", we should consider the context you put the sentence into. It could be simply 学生没来. But it's worth noting that Chinese isn't necessary to embrace the tense in a sentence and sometimes the tense is implied. We usually deduce the tense according to contexts.


Meaning/pronuncation of 祢 祢

Google says it means "you" and is pronounced "mí"

Wiktionary says it is "you" but only for deity and pronounced “nǐ”

My pinyin input method offers it for "mi" or "ni"

CEDICT makes it a "memorial tablet in a temple commemorating a deceased father"（or a surname) and pronounced "mǐ"

I'm guessing all three meanings are correct, but that would mean at least one of the pronunciations is wrong (since Google and Wiktionary give it the same meaning with different sounds).

新华字典 only gives mí, meaning the temple of one's deceased father, an ancient word.

Also in some Christian texts, 祢 is used as a variant of 你 to address the god, I'm not sure but I think it's because the character 祢 happens to be 神 and 你 combined. In this case, of course, it's pronounced same as 你.

Neither meaning is widely used today. In fact, the most possible place where you may still see this charactor is 祢衡, name of a Chinese historical figure.


How do you say a "quote" as in a "quote from a author" Does anyone know how to say "a quote" as in a quote from an author/book/piece of writing?
Do people say 引号， 引文， 引用？

Thanks so much！

引号  quotation mark

引文  quoted passage (usually in written format, rather than verbal format)

引用  to quote from some place

As a result, "quote from an author" should be "作者的引文", which is the only grammatically correct choice among the three words. However, it seems to be very unnatural for native Chinese speaker. The more native expression should be "作者曾说过" (the author has said).


What is the meaning of 喜欢是喜欢? In the following sentence:

  保龄球我喜欢是喜欢，不过打得不好。

Why does this sentence use two 喜欢 and what is the verb in this sentence?

I understand that "the speaker likes bowling" and "the speaker nonetheless are bad at bowling". But I don't understand how 喜欢是喜欢 works grammartically...

喜欢= like to; love to

欢喜= happy

  保龄球我喜欢是喜欢，不过打得不好-- (As for bowling, It is true that I like it, but I am not very good at it.)

[Subject XX 是 XX]= [granted/ It is true that subject is XX]

Example:

"他贪心是贪心, 但他不会为了钱做违法的事情"= "他贪心是真的, 但他不会为了钱做违法的事情" (It is true that he is greedy, but he wouldn't do any illegal thing for money)

  能夠打保龄我是很欢喜，但我必须先完成作业-- (I am very happy for able to go bowling but I must finish my homework first.)


Words and characters that do not appear on HSK lists I have just posted a question about HSK characters list not matching the most common characters list, but I think this question here is a bit different.

I also wonder why do HSK tests have so many words on them that do not appear on any of the level lists (like a 呗 that I saw on an HSK 5 and it's not even at the level 6 list) or words that do appear in a given level, but are advanced compared to the level they appear (like a 公共汽车 appearing on level 1 even if it's only a level 2 word).

Questions:
1. Why don't the people that prepare the exams follow their own lists?
2. How should a student study for HSK with such a chaotic list situation?

Thanks!

Well...firstly thank you for loving (or pretending to love) Chinese language.
I know quite a lot of examples that the students passed HSK Level 6 but still have a terrible level of conversation. Yes. As a commentator said, HSK doesn't include oral test. Further more, its scope doesn't necessarily match the scope of the most commonly used Chinese vocabulary. Therefore, a word list for a particular test is restricted to this test only.
Also, it's a bad idea to look for a frequency table in order to figure out what should you learn. Think about how you learn your mother tongue. Is the most frequent word learned first? Come on, ignore that frequency list.
Finally, If passing HSK is your top priority, use HSK's vocabulary. It limits the scope of words and expressions you need to pass it.
One last comment: Don't forget to talk and learn more from the Chinese people themselves. They are the real ones that master the language.


Can I use a verb+的 construction to imply an item/noun? I'm often don't which noun to use, but I can think of a verb to describe it.

I know that 吃的 (to eat + 的) means food, so I was wondering if I can use it with other verbs as well, like 洗澡的 (to bathe + 的）can mean bath?

I think most of these verb+的 noun are all following a law that the verb must be a transitive verb.

吃的 喝的
means something can be eaten or drunk

However for intransitive verbs, they are not able to construct verb+的 nouns, for the reason that there are no passive structures.

洗澡的 is a really strange usage. Though it can be used as a transitive verb, the passive structures for bathe is not common to used in daily life.

Besides, verb+的 is a very informal usage that they are mostly only used in oral Chinese. For more formal ways, there are some other words that can be used, like 食物 饮品 for food and drinks.


什么事 vs 什么: what’s the difference Both 什么事 and 什么 seem to mean “what” (well, maybe literally 什么事 means “what thing”). So why is it that in this sentence we employ 什么事？

发生了什么事？
What happened?

Is it incorrect to write instead:

发生了什么？

Any difference?

发生了什么事？

事 refers to 事情(affair, matter, thing, etc). 什么事情 is specific - what thing. 发生了什么 is generic.  They can be interchangeable in most of context, in which we take  发生了什么 as the shorthand for 发生了什么事.

However, 发生了什么 could also be shorthand for 发生了什么现象，发生了什么反应，发生了什么变化，etc.

E.g. 这两种物质混在一起会发生什么？== 这两种物质混在一起会发生什么现象/变化？

In the case above, 这两种物质混在一起会发生什么事 is not something 这两种物质混在一起会发生什么 is trying to convey.


Origin of transliteration of ~j/sw to ~r in Mandarin In Malaysia/Singapore, “Raja” is often transliterated to 拉惹，although Wikipedia uses 拉者as the name for its article on the title.
e.g. Ayer Rajah 亚逸拉惹
Perlis’s Raja 玻璃市拉惹（https://zh.m.wikipedia.org/zh-sg/%E7%8E%BB%E7%92%83%E5%B8%82%E6%8B%89%E6%83%B9）

拉惹勒南 Rajaratnam
惹兰 (Jalan) also frequently appears in street names. Why is 惹 used to transliterate ~ja other languages?

On a perhaps unrelated note, why is 瑞 in 瑞士 and 瑞典used to transliterate the ~sw/su in Swiss or Sweden?

Were 瑞/惹 read something like sw/ja respectively in a more popular dialect of Chinese when such transliterations were standardised? Are there other examples of transliterations into Chinese reflecting dialectal pronunciations (e.g. 麦当劳 McDonald’s?)

Yes.

瑞 is seoi6 (IPA: /sɵy̯²²/) in Cantonese, and sūi (IPA: /sui²²/) in Hokkien, so is a fairly close match to the French word Suisse and the English name for Sweden. The origin of a lot of translations for smaller Western countries came from the Chinese varieties of the southern ports of Guangzhou (Canton) and Xiamen (Amoy) amongst others.

惹 in some varieties of Hokkien (specifically Zhangzhou, which gave rise to Penang's variety) is pronounced jiá (IPA: /d͡ʑia⁵³/), which again is a closer match to the voiced affricate of -ja ज in Sanskrit-derived Indo-Aryan languages.

The 者 version is one option that Mandarin has (being an affricate, and in right area of the mouth), and also has the right semantic connotations (representing a person).

Although it is not a general phenomenon, topolectally-divergent transliteration is still a thing. Compare how Mainland Chinese, Malaysians and Singaporeans transliterate David Beckham's surname (貝克漢姆, simpl. 贝克汉姆) with how Hong Kongers/Macanese do so (碧咸), with how Taiwanese do so (貝克漢).


What does 的 mean in 表示对某人某事的亲近和关心? In the following sentence which explains the usage of ～长～短 phrase:

  中间嵌入两个相同的名词，表示对某人某事的亲近和关心。

I don't understand what the 的 here means. Does it refer to "of ~" but what should be after 的 is omitted here? So without any omission, it should be:

  表示对某人某事的东西亲近和关心。

Or does it modify the noun after that (亲近和关心)? In that case, I don't understand then what is the object of 表示, since the whole phrase is now under a preposition (对).

Or am I missing something here and possibly neither is correct?

表示 (v) = to indicate /to show / to express
对某人某事 = toward some person or something
"对某人某事(的)" = "(of) toward some person or something"
的 functions as an adjectival suffix here. The whole phrase "对某人某事的" is now an adjectival phrase for the object "亲近和关心" (fondness and concern)

[表示] [对某人某事的] [亲近和关心。]
[to express ] [the fondness and concern] [toward some person or something]


What is the difference between 保持, 维持 and 维护? I know you can say 维持治安, but not ie. 保持治安, yet other examples seem to be very similar in terms of use—is that a collocation issue or different meaning?

Sources so far:

https://hinative.com/zh-CN/questions/150380

https://hinative.com/zh-CN/questions/150380

保 = maintain; guarantee; 持 = hold ; [保持 = to maintain; to keep ]
维 = maintain; safeguard; 持 = hold ; [维持 = to maintain; to keep ; to safeguard]
维 = maintain; safeguard; 护 = protect; [维护 = to protect]

When it means "maintain" or "keep" 保持 and 维持 are interchangeable

Example:

保持良好治安 = 维持良好治安 (maintain good level of public order)

保持平衡 = 维持平衡 (maintain balance)

  I know you can say 维持治安, but not ie. 保持治安

It is because 治安 only means "level of public order" It can be good or bad. "保持治安" (maintain level of public order) doesn't specify what level of public order is being maintained; while "维持" has the meaning of "to safeguard" therefore "维持治安" (to safeguard level of public order) strongly implies   the level of public order is being safeguarded is high -- We safeguard the level of public order only when it is high.

As my examples indicated, if the level of public order is specifically stated, e.g. "良好" (good) then you can use either 保持 or 维持

Also indicated in my example, 维护  means "to protect"  "维护治安" doesn't need to specify what level of public order is being protected --  We protect the level of public order only when it is high.


What are the mandarin words for these Chinese altars? I saw some various types of Chinese altars in some chinese countries:

Altar that hanging on wall (I suppose this is altar for sky god): https://www.flickr.com/photos/ripi/3969597088/in/set-72157622488573560
Earth deity altar (usually put on ground level): http://thaiworldview.com/hongkong/newterritories/jpg/img733.jpg
Table altar: http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Okyt6PnpVYg/UTNTRH3kmBI/AAAAAAAAFbc/9bg9ZsX4CrE/IMG_1667_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800

I would like to know the mandarin words for those kind of altars if they are any.

Generally, you can call all of them as 神位 which means place of god.

If you are referring to the facilities offering the places,

  Altar that hanging on wall (I suppose this is altar for sky god):

龛 as @user3306356 mentioned, means small box used as altar. you describe them as  神龛，佛龛 ..

  2.Earth deity altar (usually put on ground level):

personally , 龛 is also suitable for this , thought they are of different size.

  3.Table altar:

供桌 a table for offering sacrifices.


What topolects distingish between 娘 and 孃? Why? In MSM 娘 and 孃 are usually considered one and the same, where 孃 is Traditional and 娘 is simplified. These two characters can practically be used interchangeably.  In Southwestern Mandarin, however, a split has been maintained.

It should be a little something like this:

娘 = 阳平 = mom
嬢 = 阴平 = woman

I'm not sure if this a special feature of SWM or a remnant of something else. Do other topolects do this? Is there a reason for this split?

孃 usually is used by people who live in southwest China, to refer women who are in the middle age. People in southwest China use it to call their older female relatives, or female strangers who seemed like in the middle age.

娘 means mom, but it usually used by people who live in North China. In South China, people call their mom as 妈妈

I'm a Chinese, and these are my experiences in using Chinese. Hope it helps.


What would be the shortest translation for 'Home Delivery' on a restaurant flyer? 送饭上门 is what I have now, but for aesthetic reasons I would like to have a 2 character word. Is 送饭 enough on a restaurant flyer (that's the context I am working with) or do I need the whole four character expression?

If you are working for a eatery, "外卖" is more native because you need to get out of the building to bring your customers food.

"送餐" usually appears in hotels or somewhere else like that. It's a bit formal because the food is prepared by advanced chefs and they are finely laid out but they are just sent to your room.

"送饭" is the worst, I suppose.


What is the difference between 乾 and 幹? I know that dry is "乾燥", but according to Google Translate:

dried apples = 蘋果乾
dried apricots = 杏乾
dried mangosteens = 山竹果乾
dried durians = 榴蓮幹
dried yeast = 幹酵母
dried chickpeas = 幹鷹嘴豆
dried cranberries = 蔓越莓幹

What is the difference between 乾 and 幹?

「乾」 (Baxter-Sagart OC: /*[k]ˤar/) is the original character meaning dry. Using 「幹」 for dry was sometimes found in history, but in Modern Chinese this should be considered a spelling mistake.

「幹」 is a corruption of 「榦」. 「榦」 is comprised of semantic 「木」 and phonetic 「倝」, indicating the meaning tree trunk, extended to mean main body > main organisation, cadre, framework > to conduct, to do. 「木」 was sometimes corrupted into 「干」 to give an additional sound hint, producing 「幹」, and this is the variant that the Taiwan and Hong Kong standards use.

「干」 depicts a two-pronged weapon, but this meaning is no longer used. Most other meanings you find with this character are phonetic loans; it is now most commonly used for the Heavenly Stems (天干地支), unless you're learning Simplified Chinese.

「乾」 is sometimes pronounced qián (OC: /*[ɡ](r)ar/), meaning sky, heaven. This is a phonetic loan.


Chinese Translation With Sentences Including 像。。。一样，各种各样，。。。以上 I had these sentences I needed to translate.
I was wondering if anyone could check if they were correct or not.
Thank you very much.

I don't see any problem for the first four translations, but for the last one, you used 會 to translate 'can', which is problematic: while English does not make the distinction between ability and permission when using 'can', Chinese does.

When you say 會, as in 我會游泳 (I can swim), you are indicating ability (I am able to swim).

When you say 可/可以, as in 你可以在這裡游泳 (You can swim here), you are indicating permission (You are permitted to swim here). The fifth sentence is such a case. Being over 18 years old is a prerequisite in obtaining the permission to work here. So better say 十八歲以上的人可（以）為我們工作. Using 會 for ability does not make sense.


What is the difference between 裡, 裏 and 里? I grew up learning simplified Chinese characters,
but we are now living in Hong Kong,
and so I need to teach my children traditional Chinese characters.

I can't seem to figure out the difference between these three characters 裡, 裏 and 里.
In traditional Chinese book I see 裡,
and in another traditional Chinese book I see 裏.
Is there any difference, and is one of them "right"?

Short Answer:

For the meaning "inside", 裏 or 裡 is the traditional form (as @Ringil has pointed out, 裏 is the proper form in the standard of Mainland/Hong Kong and 裡 is treated as a variant; but in Taiwan the situation is reversed), and 里 is the simplified form.

For the meaning "mile, kilometer, li (Chinese unit of distance)", 里 is the only correct form in both traditional and simplified Chinese. So be careful: 公里, 里程 cannot be written as 公裏(裡), 裏(裡)程 – That's wrong, wrong, wrong.

A few more comments
Duan Yucai's Commentary on Shuowen Jiezi wrote

(裏) 衣內也。引伸爲凡在內之偁。从衣。里聲。良止切。
The layer inside clothes. And the meaning is extended to generally "inside". The radical is 衣. Sounds 里. Consonant like 良 and vowel like 止.

So basically speaking, 裏 and 裡 both comprise 衣(礻) and 里. There's no difference between these two characters – if any, in my opinion, 裏 is a more "proper" form to exhibit the ideogram of the ancient scripts.

居也。从田从土。凡里之屬皆从里。良止切。Dwell. With radicals 田 and 土. In the category of 里 all characters have 里 as the radical. Consonant like 良 and vowel like 止.

In modern Chinese, 里 is generally related to the distance unit li, kilometer or mile (sometimes it's written as 英哩 or just 哩). However in ancient Chinese, it has various meanings such as dwell, alley, lane, community, village, li (Chinese unit of distance), and hometown. Just note that in these cases, it should never be written as 裏 or 裡.


When writing pin yin, should you use a question mark in sentences using "ma"? 你想吃饭吗？
   Ni xiang chi fan ma ?

Is it redundant to use ma and a question mark? Doesn't ma make it a question in of itself? I am unclear on the correct approach here.

For correctness, question marks are always required.

Are they redundant? Perhaps. If so, they are probably also redundant in English. (eg. "how are you." is clearly intended as a question even without the question mark)

"Ma" turns statements into questions. Think about "ma?" as being similar to "correct?" in English. (eg. "you like coffee, correct?")


Does Chinese have an adage saying “It is better to hit to kill than to hit and injure”? In "Driven to Kill - Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit", it's claimed that there's an adage in Chinese of “It is better to hit to kill than to hit and injure.”

Does this adage exist, and in what contexts is it typically used (that is, is it used in the context of driving, or mainly in other contexts)?

Not sure if this is directly translated from the English or not but:

  撞死比撞伤强

And

  宁撞死毋撞伤

Or

  宁撞死 勿撞伤

I would go with the last one.

There's this Sina article from '06

交通肇事潜规则：宁撞死毋撞伤？
http://news.sina.com.cn/s/2006-12-24/123010849978s.shtml?from=wap

Talking all about it.

As for context, like the title of the article says above its really just a "unwritten" traffic "rule". I haven't seen it used in other contexts but I'm sure you could draw an illustration, especially just by tacking a -般 on the end.


Why are traditional and simplified different in such small manner? Well, I decided to tattoo myself a sentence in kanji.
However, the good ol' google translator shows two slightly different things in the results, and I'd like to know why and which version to choose:

traditional: 更強的每重生

simplified: 更强的每重生

(and if this is wrong, I know it's against the rules, but what is the correct translation of "Stronger with every rebirth" ? :) )

Thank you

Kanji is the Japanese word for 漢字 (Chinese character). It is "hanzi" in Chinese. And only hanzi has tranditional and simplified forms. Kanji is also simplified, but kanji has only one official form in Japan.

Chinese Simplified is the official writing system in mainland China, Chinese Traditional is the official writing system in Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan. Mainland China also use Chinese Traditional in some special situation, for example, in calligraphy, in trademarks.

Not all traditional Chinese characters are simplified, so some simplified Chinese characters are identical to their traditional counterparts, for example, 更(simplified) and 更 (traditional).
Some are slightly different, for example, 强(simplified) and 強(traditional).
Some are very different, for example, 龙(simplified) and 龍(traditional).

As I just said, traditional Chinese characters are still used in mainland China for calligraphy. That's because many traditional Chinese characters look more balanced in structure than their simplified form.
Here is some example:

Simplified    Traditional
汉            漢
龙            龍
华            華
灵            靈
广            廣
书            書

So if you want to use Chinese characters for tattoo, I would suggest traditional Chinese characters, because they are more balanced in structure and more good-looking.

Coincidentally, the simplified version of the "愈挫愈勇" suggested by @bfrguci is identical to their traditional counterparts.

@sazarando suggests grass script for tattoo. I'd like to remind you that Chinese characters written in grass script is hard to recognize even for native speakers of Chinese language, so I personally don't think it a good choice.  I suggest you choose from clerical script, regular script, semi-cursive script. All these three scripts are widely used for handwritten Chinese characters, both simplified and traditional, in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. But just as @sazarando said, avoid fonts for print if you could.

@greglow give a an article comparing traditional and simplified Chinese. I skimmed through this article and found some of its arguments very controversial and misleading. I'll explain what I mean in detail.

1, "The traditional Chinese, most of them are hieroglyphic. It conveys more significant than simplified Chinese." This is incorrect. You can refer to Chinese character classification in Wikipedia. Chinese characters are roughly classified into six categories based on the rules they are formed, that is, pictographs, simple ideograph, compound ideographs, phono-semantic compounds, rebus, transformed cognates. There is no accurate number, but it's estimated that about 90% of Chinese characters, traditional or simplified, are phono-semantic compounds. Pictographs, or hieroglyphic, comprise only 4% of all Chinese characters. That's because pictograph is only suitable for concrete things, for example, sun (日), moon (月), eye (目), mountain (山), rain (雨), elephant (象) and so on. It's hard to depict abstract concepts using only pictographs, in which case the other five formation rules come into play.

2, The article gave some examples to demonstrate that "traditional Chinese character conveys more significant than simplified Chinese". But the examples it used are not very persuasive. It claimed 愛 (traditional) is better than 爱(simplified, means love) because 愛 (traditional) has a 心(heart) as its component so it conveys the meaning that we love with heart. But I can also argue that 爱(simplified) is better because it has a 友 (friend) in the mid of the word, so it convey a broader feeling of love than 愛 (traditional). I can even give some other examples in favor of simplified Chinese. I argue that 党 (simplified, means party as in Democratic Party) is better than 黨 (traditional), because 党 contains a 兄(brother) while 黨 a 黑 (black), so 党 conveys that our Party love its members as brothers and no dirty(black) politics. It's obvious that this kind of arguments is too far-fetched, and it just remind me of something like astrology.

3, "After characters simplified, lots of Chinese people cannot read the ancient classical literature." This is incorrect. In fact, an average literate people in mainland China can read both simplified and traditional Chinese characters without any difficulty, because traditional Chinese characters are still very common in everyday lives. In mainland China, traditional Chinese characters are not banned. Instead, they are allowed to be used for some special situations. According to 《中华人民共和国国家通用语言文字法(Law of the People's Republic of China on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language)》, Chinese government, educational organizations, public service organizations, public TV and broadcasting should use standard(simplified) Chinese characters. And according to Article 17, there are six situations in which traditional Chinese characters can be used publicly and lawfully:

第十七条　本章有关规定中，有下列情形的，可以保留或使用繁体字、异体字：
Article 17: traditional Chinese characters and other variant Chinese characters can be preserved or used in the following situations:
(一)文物古迹；
(1) cultural relics and historical sites
(二)姓氏中的异体字；
(2) in family name
(三)书法、篆刻等艺术作品；
(3) art works, such as calligraphy and seal carving
(四)题词和招牌的手书字；
(4) handwritten characters used in dedication and signboard
(五)出版、教学、研究中需要使用的；
(5) if there is necessity to use traditional Chinese characters for publishing, teaching, researching.
(六)经国务院有关部门批准的特殊情况。
(6) some other special situations approved by relevant department of State Council of the People's Republic of China.

At the same time, almost all official dictionary of Chinese characters give both simplified and traditional form of a character. Usually the the traditional form of a character is placed in a pair of parentheses immediately after the simplified form. Here is an example from 《新华字典，第11版 (Xinhua Dictionary, 11th Edition (Chinese Edition)》
, the best-selling and most widely used Chinese dictionary in China.

You can see that both 爱(simplified) and 愛 (traditional) are given out, and the traditional form 愛 is placed in parentheses immediately after the simplified form 爱.

Some examples:

An inscription in traditional Chinese at Mount Tai. 五嶽獨尊 (simplified version: 五岳独尊) and 昂頭天外 (simplified version: 昂头天外). An average literate person in mainland China can read it without any difficulty.

Maybe the most famous calligraphy work in China, Lantingji Xu(simplified Chinese: 兰亭集序; traditional Chinese: 蘭亭集序). It's written in semi-cursive script. Again, an average literate person in mainland China can read it without any difficulty.

The four red characters in the upper-left corner is the name of Xinhua Daily written in traditional Chinese characters. 新華日報(simplified version: 新华日报)

A grandpa exercising his calligraphy at some park in mainland China. This is  a kind of outdoor recreation popular among the elderly (thought mainly male) in mainland China. He is writing traditional Chinese characters.


What is the difference between 吾 and 我 in 文言文？ For instance, in the phrase 「我善养吾浩然之气」

I notice both 我 and 吾 are used. Is there a reason for this?

The first thing to point out is that「吾」(Baxter-Sagart: /*ŋˤa/) and「我」(Baxter-Sagart: /*ŋˤajʔ/) are cognate. They mean exactly the same thing, and were interchangeable to a very large degree; as the comment pointed out, the use of one over the other is due to either personal preference, emulation of ancient texts, or to avoid repetition.

Specifically in the pre-Qin era, there was some difference in their usage that eventually disappeared by Middle Chinese.「吾」could not be used in the pre-Qin era as an object after a verb. Quote from Zhuangzi:

  《莊子・齊物論》子綦曰：「偃，不亦善乎而問之也！今者吾喪我，汝知之乎？」

  子綦 said: "偃, it is very good that you asked this question! I had just lost myself now, but how should you know the answer?"

「吾喪我」could not be written as「我喪吾」in this era.


What’s the difference between a jianli 简历 and a lülibiao 履历表? The terms jianli 简历 and lülibiao 履历表 are both translated as CV (curriculum vitae) or résumé in English, but what’s the difference between them?

This question has previously been asked on Baidu Zhidao, but the answer wasn’t very clear:
it basically said a jianli is what you hand in to your potential employer when you apply for a job, and that it should be designed to get you into the next phase of the application, namely an interview, whereas a lülibiao should contain your qualifications and previous job stations.

This is what the Hanyu da cidian and the Longman Advanced Chinese Dictionary say about the two terms:

  汉语大词典
  履历表：记载个人社会经历的表格
  简历：个人简要的履历

  Longman Advanced Chinese Dictionary
  履歷表：記載姓名、年籍、通訊、學歷、經歷等資料的表件。多作爲求職之用。
  簡歷：簡要的履歷

These definitions look very similar, if not the same.
So, what’s the difference between the two terms? Is it just regional?

As the dictionary said, 简历 is perceived as 简要的(brief) 履历.

Based on this difference, 简历 is used more in the context of resume used for job search; it's used to impress the interviewer within a short time, so it's usually terse, brief, summary, with key point emphasized.

履历 is used more generally. Comparing with 简历 it usually contains more details, and is complete.


Glyph origins of 倒 (fall, collapse) Can anyone tell me the glyph origins for 倒 ?
I searched for it in one of the books but I couldn't find anything.

「倒」 (Mandarin: dǎo, dào; to collapse/fall over, upside-down/inverted) is comprised of semantic 「人・亻」 (person, "person falling over") and phonetic 「到」 (dào).


What is the term for these piles of tiles on top of a roof? What is the term for these piles of tiles on top of a roof?

It's a kind of roof ornament. I can't tell what exactly it is from your photo, but most of them are 吻兽. It is a common roof ornament in ancient Chinese architectural.


Place to convert English sentence to interlinear gloss with Chinese sentence I'm wondering if there is any free online tool that offers the ability to type in a sentence and have it provide a literal "interlinear gloss" of the original English text in the translated Chinese. So for example you would type in:

  It wasn't very hot last night.

And instead of just getting this:

  昨晚不是很热。

...which is nice, but it's not enough. It would be nice if it divided it into individual words and put there literal meaning next to it, sort of like:

[昨]   [晚]   [不]       [是]   [很热]
last   night  not       very   hot

I'm not sure if that is correct, but something like that. That would make it easier to learn.

I wish I had seen this question sooner since this is exactly what I use Yabla for:


Can I express the numbers at more than one decimal point using 成? I know that if you want to express "X-tenth(s)", you can use 成. For example:

增产三成
上座率有九成。

However, these only express the figure at one decimal point. If you want to express any figure at two or more decimal points, can you still use 成? For example:

黄金周五成北京市民选择的是4至6天的行程。 # one-decimal point (0.5)
黄金周五十五成北京市民选择的是4至6天的行程。 # two-decimal points (0.55)

Or if you can't, how can you express the figure usually?

Well, you could say 五成五 for 0.55 or 55%. 99% could be 九成九.

For example, 九成九的人会参加这会议, meaning 99% of people will attend the meeting.

Usually, people won't put that accurate. They may just say 大约五成, meaning 50% or so. But 几成几 is a normal expression.


Why does the Chinese language have so many characters? There are more than 50,000 characters in Chinese languages. What is the reason behind it? Are all 50,000 characters in use?

Chinese may have many characters, but many are not in use such as some 甲骨文 and such. Many (pretty much all) Chinese characters are from drawings, with the exception of new ones such as 'biang' . Your average Chinese adult that graduated college only needs to know around ~3000 and experts know ~5000 or ~7000 if you are really good. Some characters become redundant as they can be formed by others.


How to translate "range from X to Y"? In English I would write something such as

  Low paying jobs range from working at McDonald's to driving a bus.

Or another way to put it

  Low paying jobs include anything from working at McDonald's to driving a bus.

What is the best way to replicate this in Chinese?

(No offense implied to anyone working such jobs.)

Depends on the situation, you might want to say:

  低收入职业的种类很多，从麦当劳员工到公交车司机不一而足。

You can substitute 不一而足 with 都是 or 应有尽有 or anything that helps to complete the sentence. Examples are abundant in @S.Rhee's link. Or you can somehow reverse it:

  从麦当劳员工到公交车司机，这些都属于低收入职业。

Funny thing is logically 麦当劳员工 and 公交车司机 don't represent a range. They aren't both end of a continuum, are they? So let's put it another way:

  低收入职业包括快餐店员工，公交车司机等很多类型。

If you do want to represent a range, you can do:

  低收入职业包括从快餐店员工到公交车司机的很多类型。

I feel less than comfortable about the last one. I can't tell why, maybe it's because the sentence is too fat and there is no punctuation..


Benefits of Learning a Chinese Dialect in Addition to Standardized Mandarin Edit: This is now cross-posted to linguistics.

Studies have shown that learning more than one language helps people of all ages learn each one of the languages. For a nice mainstream media piece on this, see this New York Times opinion article.

The studies have focused on distinct languages, such as English and Spanish, but my question is whether there are relevant studies with regard to learning Mandarin and an additional Chinese dialect.

To summarize the aforelinked opinion piece, the previous paradigm was the following: exposure to multiple languages presents us with cognitive challenges that interfere with our language learning.

The new paradigm is that these cognitive challenges, rather than interfering with our language learning, force us to reconcile them in ways that are beneficial to learning each of the languages.

Anecdotally, I have certainly found this to be the case as I learned Mandarin and Nanjing's dialect while living in the city of Nanjing for about 15 months. On an even smaller scale, I found my Spanish quickly improving while visiting Galicia, a region of Spain where a language closer to Portuguese is spoken.

Re-stating my question succinctly: are there studies on the learning outcomes for non-native Chinese speakers who learn Mandarin in conjunction with an additional Chinese dialect?

If not, I would also welcome general feedback or comments concerning my question. Thanks!

While I am not aware of any studies, I would add this:

From my own experience of trying to learn other dialects beyond Mandarin (Taiwanese, Cantonese), as well as simplified along with traditional characters, I'd tend to agree with the previous paradigm.

The reason is that there is so much to learn in a single dialect that starting on another one would only get you to two "good" levels of a language, rather than one near-native level. I found that I was learning the same things in different dialects, but never really improving any one dialect beyond my current strongest (if that makes sense).

So, unless you've already learned everything there is to know in your chosen dialect, or your preferences are to get to a certain level on mulitple dialects, I'd focus on one and make it awesome. Since you're a PhD student, I'm sure you can understand what I mean by "focus".

btw, interesting study that you posted.


What is the difference between 形成, 构成, 组成, 养成? According to the dictionary, 成 has meanings of to become or to form, what is the subtle difference between 形成, 构成, 组成 and 养成?

You can look up a dictionary first, as they are quite different, except for 组成 and 构成. Compared with 组成, 构成 sometimes emphasize the interaction between constituents, but they are very similar in most cases.


Where can I find a dataset for Chinese characters to back an app I want to write? I've been spending a lot of time learning chinese, and have some ideas for apps that would make this complicated process easier.

I'm looking for datasets (ideally free) that I can use to back an app I want to write.

The dataset should have definitions, character ranks, frequency data, radical composition data etc.

An example of an existing app is http://www.hanzicraft.com/character/%E5%AE%89

Where does one obtain such data?

Any ideas?

Thanks

Here are some free databases that may be useful to you:

CC-CEDICT: high quality user-created  dictionary released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License
SUBTLEX-CH: Chinese word and character frequencies based on film and television show subtitles
Wikimedia Commons Chinese character decomposition database


What does 风轻发自然 mean here? At the beginning of this video, there is an introduction to the story of the singer, Lin Zijun. Here it is:

客家新流行乐创作歌手
2007［天黑黑］获苗栗客家音乐歌唱比赛    第三名
2006［匍背］获台湾创音乐大赛    客语首奖
2001全国丝竹比赛全国第一名

因为弱视的关系
小的时候只能听电视
或听鸟叫蟲鸣的声音
所以声音对资君来说    是全部也是生命

而她的音乐曲风轻发自然
让人忍不住细听着
她的生活故事

资君希望自己能够永远站在舞台上
用歌声抚慰所有的人
感动自己也感动别人
直到发禿齿搖的那一天

New popular Hakka music singer-songwriter
The 2007 song "Sky's so dark" (天黑黑) won the Miaoli Hakka music singing contest:    third place
The 2006 song "Support" (匍背) won the Taiwan big composition contest    Hakka-language first prize
In 2001 she won national first place in the national string-and-woodwind music contest

Because of amblyopia,
When she was young, she could only listen to TV
Or listen to the sounds of birds and insects
So sounds for Zijun    are everything and are her life

And the 风轻发自然 (??) in her songs and music
Make people unable to avoid carefully listening
To her life story

Zijun hopes she can forever stand on the stage
And comfort all people with her singing voice
Moving herself and moving others
Till the day her hair is stripped out and her teeth shake

What does the phrase "风轻发自然", which I failed to translate, mean here?

I think it should be 轻快  instead of 轻发
轻快自然 (lively and natural) make more sense than 轻发自然 (come out lightly and nature)
Beside, '轻发' could mean  '轻举妄动' (act rashly)

轻发则多败
轻发：轻举妄动

I suspect the author thought '轻发'(lightly come out) and '轻快'(lively) mean the same


How do you say something is "very alcoholic"? I'm continuously confused on how to best say something is alcoholic. For example, I have heard
酒精很强， 很有酒精 , But I've also heard "酒量很高“ or ”酒量很大”

Could someone clarify which of these is the most common/which might be bad translations?

Per my understanding, alcoholic has two meanings in English:

(Something) contains or is related to alcohol.
(Someone) is addicted to alcohol or is affected by alcoholism.

For the first meaning, in Chinese we say 含有酒精的 or 酒精含量高的. E.g.

  Alcoholic drink 含酒精的饮品 or simply 酒精饮品

For the second, we use the word 酗酒(成性) (adj.) or 酗酒者/酒鬼 (noun).

  He is an alcoholic. 他酗酒成性 or 他是个酒鬼。

Regarding the Chinese phrases in your question,

酒精很强，很有酒精 means #1 but don't sound natural without context.

"酒量很高“ or ”酒量很大” means someone is good at drinking. 酒量 is not the short form of 酒精含量, but one word meaning 'the ability of a person to hold liquor'.


Can people carry on a conversation with each side speaking a different form of Chinese, like in some movies? For example, in the movie Ip Man, the "northerner" martial arts fighter who comes to Foshan to challenge the local martial arts fighters always talks in Mandarin, while everybody he talks to (the local citizens, fighters, Ip Man himself, factory workers, etc.) always speak to him in Cantonese. This is repeated throughout the movie. The conversations are carried on fine with both sides seeming to understand the other perfectly, and both sides assuming that the other side understands them, even though Mandarin and Cantonese are not mutually intelligible. Neither side tries to change to the other side's language, and neither side is annoyed that the other side continues to speak the other language. This seems really odd to me.

Is this realistic?

People can carry on a conversation speaking whatever language they are comfortable with, if they can understand each other's language. This happens ALL the time in immigrant families all over the world. A typical situation is: Parents move from country A to country B, and are native speakers of A but have a good understanding of B. Their children, growing up in country B, acquire B with native fluency and understand A as their home language. In these families, parents and children carry on conversations in two different languages pretty much all the time. I don't see anything unrealistic about it.


What does 有节奏地 mean? I search it on web and it means rhythmically.

I thought that 地 always comes after an adjective to make it an adverb but 节奏 is a noun.

Yes 节奏 is a noun, adding 有 making it adjective, i.e. 有节奏的 (rhythmical). And 有节奏地 (rhythmically) is an adverb.

There are other examples like

有身份(的) (respectable)
有目的(的) (purposeful / purposive)
有人气(的) (popular)


Is the "shi" in "jin tian shi ji hao" optional, and can I ask "jin tian ji ri?" I learnt to ask weekday as

  Jin tian xing qi ji?

with an optional "shi" after jin tian.

I want to know if the shi in "Jin tian shi ji hao?" is also optional. Also, can I say, "Jin tian ji ri?" using ri for date?

These are correct expressions:

今天是星期几？
今天星期几？
今天是几号？
今天几号？

是 is omissible. Interesting enough that we don't usually say 今天几日.  If you say 今天几日，I would probably have to digest it a little bit internally to figure out what you mean.


When do you use 知道 vs 認識 when discussing when you know someone or some thing? When you meet someone you're supposed to use 認識 as in 很高興知道你, but someone said you can also use 知道 when talking about people or places.

For example, "I know that place" or "I know that person."

When discussing whether you know some person or some place (e.g., restaurant), what are the rules governing when you should use 知道 or 認識?

Normally we use 认识 when we say: I know this person.
And we use 知道 when we say: I know this place.
知道 vs 认识:

About "people":

知道: Emphasis unilateral;
认识: Emphasis bilateral.

知道 can always be used about knowledge or information.

You can check this Hanbridge Chinese video about how to differentiate the 知道 and 认识.


Are 平常 and 通常 essentially interchangeable? In a few of my entries on Lang-8.com, several of my Chinese friends have changed 平常 into 通常 and vice versa without providing additional explanation. It it just a matter of personal taste?

The two words share the same character "常“(common, usual,eternal), so the meanings overlap somewhat. Both of them can mean "commonly, usually", however, they are not exactly the same.
"平常“ means (notice 平 means "plain，commonplace" here）

[adj]ordinary, casual/informal
[adv]ordinarily,in a casual/informal way

"通常" means

[adj]common,usual
[adv]in general, generally, in most cases

When something is ordinary, usually you could say it's the most possible case or it's common, that's how the two words have the similar meaning.
Examples:

我平常坐公交车去上班。 Usually I go to work by bus ( in my ordinary life).
我通常坐公交车去上班。 Usually I go to work by bus ( in most cases).
通常情况下，伤口的血液会自动凝固。 Generally, the blood from the wound coagulates automatically.
平常情况下，伤口的血液会自动凝固。 Sounds weird to me.
真理通常掌握在少数人手中。 The truth are held in few people in general.
真理平常掌握在少数人手中。 Sounds weird to me.
我平常叫他老王，但是在公司里我通常叫他王经理。 I call him Lao Wang ordinarily(casually), but I would usually call him Manager Wang in the company(because this is a serious situation).  Not interchangeable in this case.
我只想回到平常的生活。 I just want to return to a common\normal(in a style that average people have) life. Here, 通常 is not acceptable.


Why is 语 used so much when describing the language media is presented in? It seems that the "language" descriptor on a movie, tv show, or comic is always listed using 语 instead of 文. (国语, 英语, 德语, etc) instead of 英文.  This is common even when listing the subtitles (although with subtitles I also see 文).

Why is it that 语 is used so much in this context?

I think 语 refers more specifically to spoken language, which is what you find in a movie, as opposed to written language, 文


Is this dictionary Chinese, Japanese or both? this might sound like a strange question, but I have found a technical dictionary on the Internet that was described as "English–Chinese/Japanese". Being a complete novice in Chinese and having no practical knowledge in Japanese, I am not sure how's that supposed to work.

I understand many characters are the same in both languages and there are borrowings, but could somebody tell me what's the structure of this dictionary? Google translate is schizophrenic about this, but I also see Japanese syllabaries here. Can it be in both at the same time? Please take a look at these excerpts:

abandonment of cargo        放弃货载
abandonment of claim        放弃索赔
abandonment of water rights     放弃水权
abandonment value       废弃价值
ABAP, Advanced Business Application Programming     アバップ,R/3などSAPシステムの製作やアドオン開発に用いられる高級言語
abat-vent       通风帽,通气帽,障风装置,挡风装置
abatement and exemption from penalty        免除刑罚
abatement cost      消除有害事物的成本
abatement of smoke and dust     消烟除尘
...
hydraulically controlled plow       液压控制犁
hydraulically controlled reel       液压操纵拔禾轮
hydraulically coupled power plants      連接水系,一つの水系に複数の調整池があり,この水を利用して発電する連接水系では上流の発電所で使用した水を下流の発電所で再度利用できる。
hydraulically cushioned protection      液压减震的防护
...
pivotal line        枢轴线
pivotal member      中枢メンバー
pivotal method      要法
pivotal moment      重要な瞬間
pivotal player      中心人物
pivotal point       转折点
pivotal port        枢纽港
pivotal value       枢轴值

Thanks in advance for any comments on that.

Definitely a English to Japanese Dictionary. You can think of it as a English to Japanese Dictionary (with 漢字 for kanji)

pivotal method -> 要法 has no meaning at all in chinese. But the japanese words ようほう gives it a much better meaning.

Other words such as 消除有害事物的成本 has meaning in Chinese, but looks translatable to japanese.


成语 for expressing that a couple was meant for eachother I seem to recall there being a 成语 to the effect of, "Heaven brought them together," or something like that.  It expresses that the couple was truly meant for one another.  Do you know which 成语 I am thinking of?

佳偶天成 (a perfect couple that's made by heaven)

天生一對 (born to be a perfect couple)

天造地設 (a perfect couple created by heaven)

天賜良緣 (a perfect marriage that was grant by the Heaven )

The_Anomaly wrote:

  ...which of these are perhaps more commonly used than the others?

佳偶天成, 天賜良緣, and 天作之合 are very literary phrases-- you usually find them in written form; and you only hear them commonly in wedding speeches.

天生一對 and 天造地設 can also be heard in wedding speeches, but they are more applicable in day-to-day conversations. They can describe something other than 'perfect couple'

天生一對 can refer to persons or things being extremely comparable or alike. For example: "你們倆一個是瘋子，一個是狂人, 真是天生一對." (one crazy, one mad; you two really are born to be a pair)
天造地設 can refer to persons or things being perfectly matched or perfectly suited in an arrangement. For example: "這是個天造地設的安排" (this is a perfect arrangement)


Conventional meaning of (你)耳朵生翅膀(了) 虹影 饥饿的女儿
Hong Ying, "Daughter of the River" has this sentence: "不行，这样也不对，你耳朵生翅膀了，总听不见我的话？"

Translated by Howard Goldblatt (ISBN 0-8021-1637-X) as:
"No，that's not right either. Do you have wings on your ears? Is that why you never listen to me?"

Question is about meaning of 耳朵生翅膀了 "have wings on one's ears," i.e. how do these wings prevent Daughter of the River/ 饥饿的女儿 from listening
to her mother, do they block the sound? One user suggested that wings on ears make them (the ears) fly away, which of course would also affect listening.

As far as is known to this user "having wings on one's ears" does not seem to be a common expression with some conventional meaning in English, does 耳朵生翅膀
have some conventional meaning in Chinese?

This user can only think of one common expression, 不翼而飞 involving wings and flying referring to disappearance without leaving a trace.

本问题是关于 ＂你耳朵生翅膀了＂ 这句话的意思。更准确来说如何该翅膀会防止女儿听妈妈说话的（使她听不见其母亲的话）。指的是遮住（屏蔽）声音吗？按某使用者看讨论中的翅膀可能使耳朵飞走去的而飞走的耳朵当然是听不见妈妈说什么话的。＂你耳朵生翅膀了＂有没有什么传统（习惯）的意思能说明妈妈对女儿的责备呢？

It's saying fly away, of course.

Chinese also contains similar expressions such as: 长(了)腿 (grew legs) or 长(了)脚  (grew feet) to mean 跑了 (ran away) like:

垃圾总是不翼而飞,难道自己长了脚?
垃圾跑进墙缝中 难道长了脚?
难道鞋子长脚了吗?

I would imagine the author was going for the same idea here and is just substituting 生翅膀 for 长脚 (because ears can't exactly 'run away'(?), if that makes any sense at all...)


Difference between 只,之, and 支? I'm a native speaker but I don't know the first thing about writing Chinese, on Rosetta stone we were shown 一支笔 and 一只狗, whats the difference and where and when do you use each one?

只 is the measure word for boats, birds, some animals, some containers, and one of certain paired things, e.g. 一只船 [yī zhī chuán,] 两只老虎 [liǎng zhī lǎohǔ,] 两只手 [liǎng zhī shǒu.] 只 is also the character for the adverb only/just/merely, when pronounced as [zhǐ.]

支 is the measure word for long, thin, inflexible objects, e.g. 一支香烟 [yī zhī xiāngyān,] 两支笔 [liǎng zhī bǐ.]

之 is the one that doesn't fit here, because it's not a measure word/classifier, it is the literary equivalent of 的 [de], as well as some other things, usually in a formal context (so you'll find it in 成语 [chéng yǔ,] used in place of an objective noun or pronoun, etc.)

See Wikipedia for a pretty big list of classifiers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_classifiers


多大 or 多少？Which should be used when and where? 多大 or 多少？
Could these two terms be used interchangeably, and if not what is the difference between them? When should they be used?

多大 is about the size (how big, how old)
多少 is about the quantity (how many, how much)
(1) 他的年齡有多大？
(2) 他多少歲？
In (1), the question is asked from the point of view of the accumulation.
In (2), it is asked from the point of view of the precise number solely.
Could these two terms be used interchangeably? No, because even if they do are used in the same linguistic context, the meaning of the sentences won't be the same.
(3) 他給你提供的幫助有多大？
(4) 他給你提供的幫助有多少？
In (3), it is about the importance of the help (thus it is more subjective).
In (4), it is solely about the number (from an already expected amount).


Exactly how bad is it to call a family member by their given name? I hear it is taboo to call any family member by their given name, especially if you are speaking to an older relative. Or if not taboo, then at the very least it is extremely rude. Do people ever call their mom/grandmother/aunt by their given name to disrespect them on purpose? Like in movies or something? Or does nobody ever do it at all?
In English I have heard kids call their parents by their name as a joke, or if they are feeling very hateful and bitter towards their parents. I also know someone who calls their aunt by name (just Kim, not Aunt Kim) because they are not close at all, basically like strangers. I wonder if you can do the same in Chinese or if it is more offensive than in English.

Calling a family member of the older generation by the first name only is taboo. You must address your parents and grandparents with appropriate honorific or pet name e.g. /爸爸，媽媽/ 公公，奶奶
Calling a family member in your generation who is older than your (e.g. older brother, older cousin) by the first name is also not natural.
For uncles and aunts, you can use their first names but must add their titles at the end. e.g. 二叔/ 志強叔，三叔/ 國強叔
You are free to call any family member in your generation who is younger than you by the first name, except if one of your uncles is younger than you, you still have to treat him as your senior.
You are free to call any family member of the younger generation by the first name. However, it is considered too formal. Most people use pet names to call the younger family members. e.g. 小明 instead of 家明


Which one to choose: 赶紧 or 快? What's the difference between those two? For instance, in a sentence like "你们赶紧/快走吧" can I use both indiscriminately? What are the particular conditions that make me prefer one rather than the other?

In the usage of the sentence “你们赶紧/快走吧”

Yes you can use both indiscriminately.

The only different between “赶紧” and “快” in the sentence above is the number of words.

赶紧 means you have to do it now
快 got other usage but one of them is same as 赶紧

In my opinion, if I have to use 快 in the above sentence it would be like I'm shouting 快走吧！！ shorten the number of sounds I have to pronounce.

Then I will use 赶紧 in the above sentence it would be like I'm talking gently 你们赶紧走吧


Word order in a sentence with 跟 and 在 I am not sure if I should put 跟 before 在 or the other way round. For example:

我跟朋友（一起）在饭馆吃饭
or
我在饭馆跟朋友（一起）吃饭

Can I use both, but the meaning is slightly different?

跟:with (who)

跟朋友 with friends

跟家人 with family

在 : in (where)

在饭馆 in the restaurant

The order of 跟朋友 and 在飯館 is not important in Chinese.


can I use （女）孩子 even if the person in question is an adult? I only want to point out the family relation and asking a parents about their daughter (who is ~40 years old herself). Still not sure whether using 孩子 is appropriate here. is it?

as a chinese.I can tell you,yes you can use the word 孩子 to describe their duaghter,like 您的孩子/您们的孩子,or use the word 子女,it is more official,no matter their son or duaghter is or not a adult.or if you want to point out the sex,you can use the word 女儿 to describe their duaghter,or more literarily,use the word 千金,as you can describe their son with 儿子 or the literarily word 公子.if we use 公子 or 千金,we dont say 您的公子/您的千金,we say 您家公子/您家千金.
but we dont use 女孩子 to describe one's 40 years old duaghter,if she is about 20 to 25 and still have not been a mom,you can use 女孩子 to describe her.cause in our culture,if you have or had a son or duaghter you are not a kid anymore.and if you have not had a 孩子 and you are young,you may still be a kid in your parents' opinion.young women like to be called as 女孩子 cuase it sounds they younger.but just young women.I dont think 40 is young,so if you use 女孩子,it may sounds like you are satirizing.
my english is not good.hope you can understand what I write and hope this help


English translations for the operatic terms 二流 and 倒板? There are two Chinese operatic terms that I'm looking at at the moment:

二流
倒板

Neither of these terms show up in any dictionary that I have gone through.

I have seen both translated just phonetically:

erliu
daoban

I'm not sure if there are better English equivalents for these terms though?

Any ideas?

I would argue that it is wisest to simply transliterate (with Pinyin) with the Chinese characters included. As both these are specific terms with no equivalent in Western culture, transliteration with some explanation is best. For example:

  erliu (二六, a medium tempo xipi tune)

  daoban (倒板, literally "lead-in meter")

However, academic studies have provided standard translations:

  二六 = two-six meter

  倒板 = lead-in meter


Is there a chengyu to mean "walk with one's own legs" I'm looking for a chengyu （成语） or a proverb or a phrase that can elegantly express "to walk with one's own legs", which is used to say that someone has learnt enough and doesn't need a master any more.

As an example:

  I taught you all what I know, now  it's time you walk with your own legs.

I collect the following phrases that have the meaning of "independent".

出道
出师
自立
自立门户
自作门户
独当一面
独立自主
自食其力

self-reliant
self-supporting
support oneself
support oneself by one's own labor
earn one's salt
earn one's own living
live by the sweat of one's brow
live by one's own labor
live on one's toil
live on the earnings of one's own work
stand on one's own feet

I think 自食其力 is closest to "to walk with one's own legs".


Where to place 了 when using an auxiliary verb? In general when using auxiliary verbs, where the auxiliary verb is in the past tense while the main verb isn't. An example:

Because I like to read Chinese books, I began teaching myself Mandarin.
因为我喜欢读中国书，所以我开始了自学汉语。

Is my placement of 了 correct? If not, what would be the appropriate way to convey this?

I think it's OK with or without 了

因为我喜欢读中文书，所以我开始了自学汉语。

因为我喜欢读中文书，所以我开始自学汉语。

The problem, as I see it, is: How can you know you like to read Chinese books before you have studied Chinese?? You cannot have read any! Kind of grates on logic!

为了能够看懂中文，我开始了自学汉语。
In order to be able to read Chinese, I began to study the Chinese language.


Are there Chinese approximations for the colloquial/slang English terms "snot rocket" or "bushman's blow"? In English I know of two colourful terms for blowing your nose without use of a handkerchief or tissue by holding one nostril closed and expelling mucus from the other:

bushman's blow [1][2]
snot rocket [1][2]

(There are other terms too that I've learned since starting this question: farmer's blow, farmers handkerchief, bushman's hanky, warehouse blow...)

In English we would never use the plain turn of phrase to blow one's nose for this act, even if we didn't know the slang/jocular terms I listed above we would use some circumlocution to describe the (to us) irregular method of nose blowing.

Yesterday morning I saw a nice young lady perform this manoeuvre in the street outside my hotel in a town outside Chengdu, Sichuan. This cemented the notion I already had that this act is not stigmatized in Chinese culture. But I'm not sure whether it's considered a normal or plain way to blow one's nose using the usual Chinese expression for nose blowing.

Is there a slang, jocular, or colloquial term (or any other kind of term) for this act in Chinese? (I'm most interested in Mandarin but other varieties of Chinese are also interesting.)

From the comments it seems like we've already established that blowing your nose is accurately translated as "擤鼻涕". As far as I can tell (from experience and further online research), there is no popular slang for doing so. The closest way to easily describe such action would be something like "不用纸擤鼻涕".

However, I should point out that this action is in fact pretty stigmatized in the Chinese culture, especially in more developed regions. Chinese people are simply less self-conscious about what others might think of their actions, which is why you'll still see people doing it.


Is there a comprehensive list of vocabulary differences between 台湾国语 and 大陆普通话？ I've found many articles about differences in certain sentence structures regarding 台湾国语 and 大陆普通话, but does anyone have a large list of commonly-used vocabulary that are different? I spend a lot of time on the mainland and Taiwan, and sometimes I get blank stares when I say "滑鼠" in Shanghai or "垃圾桶” in Kaohsiung.

Please note, when I refer to 台湾国语, I mean differences in word choice and sentence structure, not pronunciation.

Here's a list of books from Taiwan on this topic:

兩岸現代漢語常用詞典
普通話vs.國語--兩岸對話一本就通
最新兩岸用詞差異對照手冊
最新兩岸用語速查1600
兩岸常用詞語對照手冊：兩岸交流即時通
兩岸詞語即時通
兩岸用語快譯通


What is the story or reason of how 龙 came from 龍? I'm just beginning to learn Mandarin and I have an excellent teacher. She tells me a lot of stories of how the characters came to be. Today we talked about the character for dragon, but she doesn't know how it changed so drastically from the traditional version to the simplified version. I'm very curious because the two characters are not at all alike.

TL;DR

Long Answer

From the oracle script to the seal script, character 龍 evolved from simple to complex. The seal script was already very similar to 龍.

However later, variants (there were too many!)  and 尨 appeared:

  Dictionary 集韻 (1037 AD)

    古作[...](帝+尨).

    The ancient forms for 龍 are [...] (帝+尨) [...].

  Dictionary 金石文字辨異 (1810 AD)

    尨: 隋龍藏寺碑

    尨: appeared in the inscription of Longzang Temple (Sui Dynasty, 581–618 AD).

And after the establishment of the PRC, 尨 was further simplified to 龙.


Are there any online dictionaries that supply IPA transcriptions for Mandarin? I tried this thread but it answered only with Pinyin suggestions, and not IPA.

You are unlikely to find such a resource. For languages that already have an unambiguous standard notation for pronunciation (which pinyin is), it's uncommon to find dictionaries that indicate pronunciation in IPA. Heck, it's even hard to find dictionaries with IPA for languages with incredibly complex orthography/pronunciation mappings!

Instead, as the comments on your question suggest, you should find a resource that provides pinyin to IPA mappings, and then you can mechanically derive IPA from pinyin if you so desire.


For a student studying Chinese as a second language, is there any practical difference between the radicals 匚 and 匸? At the LTL Mandarin office in Beijing, there is a poster of the Chinese radicals, in which we find the 匚 and 匸 radicals:

Until seeing this poster, I didn't realize these were different.  This leads me to the question...
Question: For a student studying Chinese as a second language, is there any practical difference between the radicals 匚 and 匸?
They are so similar that perhaps only a calligrapher might consider it worthwhile splitting this hair.  But maybe there is some situation where this distinction is important.

Sort of in a rush here so just some hints. First, I'd say the suggestion that 'their pinyin is different, so they must be kept apart' is, well, not wrong and not right. Neither of the two box/enclosure characters is used by itself in the modern language, so the situation never arises. There are also artificial radicals that were never used by themselves and were only stipulated to explain the formation of characters and/or serve as dictionary headings. These may well be ones, and I suspect that when you go and study the small seal forms of modern characters you will find a more pronounced difference in shapes than is visible in the modern forms. This is analogous to what happened to 月 which is the modern conflation of at least: 月 moon, 舟 boat, and 肉 meat/flesh. There have been numerous attempts in history to undo these and other conflations, mostly by requiring people to observe minuscule variations in how the strokes are put together. None of these attempts was ever widely followed, and the conflations have stuck.
One practical way to decide whether I or you should care about the 'box' radical being different from the 'enclosure' radical would be to glance over the historical record of how calligraphers treated these; for example, by looking at http://www.guoxuedashi.com/zidian/531A.html and http://www.guoxuedashi.com/zidian/5338.html you can already tell that at least this source gives almost identical details for both radicals. I'd then recommend to look at what's listed in 书法 section of that site for a number of characters that are sorted under both radicals and see whether historically people have made any discernible difference between the two. If not, I'd say you're free to do the same.
Edit Comparing 匣 Rad. 22 and 區 Rad. 23 makes it, IMO, clear that (1) there's no very clear distinction between the two made even in the early forms; (2) conversely, a number of stroke order and stroke shapes is used for either radical, some writers preferring to write top, inside, then left-bottom, others using top, left, inside, bottom order.
Edit 2 I just counter-checked with 《新書源》（二玄社，東京，2009, 2013, pp114ff） and I'd go even one step further here. I could not locate any source that has the distinction the 說文解字 makes between the two radicals, namely, the straight end of the bottom line for rad. 22, and the drooping end of the same for rad. 23. There are a few forms predating the 說文 but none has a drooping line. Based on this evidence I suspect that 許慎 Xu Shen is responsible for introducing this distinction, and it wouldn't be the only time that there are allegedly authentic seal forms that are somehow only represented by this single dictionary. It is also known that a few character forms that we today regularly distinguish were kept apart only by the late Han and used indistinctly before that, an example being 人 and 入, which are likewise only separated by the tiniest of hints (and observe that 入 violates a principle of 楷書 calligraphy, so even this may be an artificial distinction, albeit one that gained currency).
Xu Shen may have had good reason to separate 匚 and 匸, his work being more of a student's rote memo book than a work of epigraphy or etymology proper. Maybe in his day it was part of being an educated man to be aware of a difference although both looked identical. Be that as it may, the distinction never caught on, and seeing how very few characters are grouped under either of these two radicals, I think one can best ignore the distinction for all practical matters.


Can I use 我的腿累了 for "My legs are tired"? I play soccer with a bunch of Chinese friends regularly and I want to say "my legs are tired".

I already know 我跑不动了 and 我的腿很酸, but I'm not sure what is the best fit for the Chinese equivelant of "my legs are tired" in English.

Google translate gives me 我的腿累了 and there are plenty of search results where this is used, but this sound doesn't sound right to me, kind of like something a Westerner would say in Chinese. Maybe I'm wrong!

我的腿累了 is not as good as 我的腿好累
The former one seems to suggest your leg tires on its own accord and sounds unnatural, where the latter one just states that the legs are tired (a condition). As a comparison, 我的手累了 is quite normal, where the hand seems to be a more active body part.

While other alternatives have subtle differences:

我的腿无力  = My legs are weak. (Maybe from hunger)
我跑不动 = I can't run (Maybe need to catch a breath / or guy is too fat)
我的腿很酸 = My legs are sore. (Maybe from sitting too long in a wrong posture)


Asking the Parents of Small Children to be Quiet in Public Areas I have three very lovely, yet very loud Chinese children living next door to me in my condominium.  Two of the children are quite young, and I do realize children by their very nature are loud; without exception -- and at all hours -- they leave their apartment with their mother and are screaming.  This can be loud, happy singing, or it can be frustrated crying.  I am disabled and sleep quite a bit, mostly due to severe pain.  The parents' English is not good; they are new here.  How can I very politely (in writing) ask the parents that they please try to keep their children quiet in our common spaces, like hallways?  They are very loud and noise travels far in our building.  Thank you!

"希望您能多照顾一下您的孩子，他们经常吵闹，影响我们生活和休息。" (Please take good care of your kids, because they are so noisy and badly influenced our lives.)

Try not use "大叫" on your note, because that sounds like a bad comment on their kids, which may make them unhappy. Better use "我们" to show that you are a "general neighbor" like the others, instead of someone who cannot fall asleep due to your own reason (medical/phycological maybe, who knows). This politely tells them it is their fault, not yours.

Also, having both Chinese and English would also help, as is suggested in the comments you got.


What is the meaning of Confucius' 一以貫之 What is the meaning of Confucius' 一以貫之 yī yǐ guàn zhī
Literary Chinese :孔子 禮記 論語 請問何謂孔子吾道一以貫之？曾子曰：唯；夫子之道忠恕而已矣。

The expression can be a verb, meaning using a principle to handle all kinds of affairs.


Can someone explain 衣锦尚炯 character by character? Can someone explain 衣锦尚炯 character by character? I tried wiktionary but to no avail
This is supposed to mean "She covered her brocade gown with a plain robe."
Source: http://www.acmuller.net/con-dao/docofmean.html

You probably mean 衣錦尚絅 here.
衣：to wear
锦：brocade (clothes)
尚：to add
絅：unlined outer garment, usually made from linen
Literally the phrase means "To wear brocade inside, and add linen overall robe outside"
The phrase was originally from 诗经 as in “碩人其頎，衣錦褧衣。” where 褧 is a interchangeable character to 絅. And 中庸 as in 詩曰：『衣錦尚絅，惡其文之著也。』
The phrase is a metaphor that real noble people would hide their virtues under humbleness.


Why do you say 我没有错 instead of 我不错 to say "I'm not wrong"? When should I use 没有? I'm trying to understand when 没有 should be used instead of 不 when negating a sentence.

Consider the example "I'm not wrong."

Why is it 没有错?

How can I know when to use 没有 when negating a sentence?

谢谢

This particular example is completely idiomatic. 不错 is an adjective meaning 'not bad', the negation of 错 as verb 'to wrong; to mistake' is '没有错'.
Generally 没有 is used in past tense or perfect tense to falsify a statement of fact; 不 is used in present or future tense to express (un)willingness.
没有：

你吃饭了么？Have you eaten?
我没有吃。I haven't.

不：

你吃饭么？Are you going to eat something?
我不吃。No I am not.

Another example to compare the two as answers to the same question:

Q: 他说了么？Did he tell you?
A1: 他没有说。He didn't.
A2: 他不说。He wouldn't tell me.


The real meaning of "傲嬌" Until recently, I have known the meaning of this word as described on the wiki page. I thought it is used to refer to people, particularly female, who are cold on the outside and hot, as in intimate, on the inside; I assumed that it is a compliment. Then, I read it in the following context and was confused:

  一定要傲嬌炫富？xxx看看那些溫良恭儉讓的貴婦

The negative connotation of word is pretty obvious and probably does not have the meaning described in the wiki page. What does this word mean then?

By the way, is this a formal word? I supposed it is only used in colloquial context, but I have seen it various times on the news.

Thanks in advance!

傲嬌 is a word from Japanese animation and just used in the Internet.

傲娇指的是这样一种性格：
表面上对陌生人/喜欢的人很冷淡或趾高气昂，即展现出“傲”的一面，而一旦关系突破某一好感度/耻度界限后，或者遭遇某种契机(特殊事件)的时候，就会突然变得害羞、娇俏可人，即表现出“娇”的一面。

ref : http://zh.moegirl.org/傲娇
At most time, a person who is 傲嬌, means he/she is 傲 at first and then 嬌 when he/she met someone he/she link.
For your context, I think it's a not standard usage of this word and may just means 傲 only.


"Still better than" informal translation -- X 还是比 Y 好 abbreviation I want to say "X is still better than Y :)" in a kind of joking/offhand manner. This is just a simple text message, so I would further like to abbreviate it like: "still better than Y :)"

My understanding is I can express the original like:

AllenNlp 还是比 FairSeq 好 :）

Is the abbreviated version
还是比 FairSeq 好 :）?

Are there any general rules for "texting" chinese?

还是比 FairSeq 好 It's a correct using.

And it can also using like:

AllenNlp 比較好 (AllenNlp  is better)


What is wrong with how I wrote 你也不会呢 in 20年来，没有人相信我。你也不会呢？ I've been using LangCorrect recently to get feedback on my writing.  Recently, I wrote this:

我的话让老妈失望地叹了口气，说：“20年来，没有人相信我。你也不会呢？我不是在撒谎！我不是在骗你！”那时，老妈站了起来，开始收拾东西准备走。

I received three corrections, one marked the sentence as correct, and the two others corrected 你也不会呢？  One just deleted this part, and the other changed it to 你也不相信我吗？  I'm not clear on what the problem is here.  One person commented I should use 吗 instead of 呢.
Question: What is wrong with how I wrote 你也不会呢？
I realize that as my writing has improved, corrections are less about correct vs. incorrect, and more about "this sounds more natural".  But here, I'm not sure where the problem lies.

20年来，没有人相信我。你也不信吗？
Two changes:

"会" - "信"
"会" is normally used for something that happens later.
Compare these two:

20年来，没有人相信我，你也不会！(No one believes, you won't either)
20年来，没有人相信我，你也不信！(No one believes, you don't/didn't either)

Second one is better, as the son said "这不可能" in the previous answer.
And keep the same verb for better coherency.

"呢" - "吗"
"呢" is normally used in a special interrogative sentence (特殊疑问句).
"吗" is used in a closed-ended question (一般疑问句), or a rhetorical question (反问句).
As mom is not waiting for the his response, I suggest having a rhetorical question here.

To check if a rhetorical question is correct, just remove the sentence-final particle (吗)
and replace the question mark with a exclamatory mark ("?" - "!").

Edited to add a "你也不会" example.
母：“20年来，没有人相信我，你也不会（相信）。”
子：“是什么，告诉我。”
母：“你没有老爸。”
子：“这不可能！”

When she hasn't told her son, it is ok to use "你也不会", but better to say "你也不会相信".


History/usage: 耦 vs. 偶? According to the ABC dictionary 耦 means:

  a couple

as a noun and

  to couple

as a verb.

Think of words like:

  去耦

meaning decouple.

But, 配偶 can also be written: 配耦.

What is the history and usage of 耦 vs. 偶?

In terms of historical usage, the word meaning likeness, couple (Zhengzhang: /*ŋoːʔ/) was first written as「禺」as a phonetic loan, then

Had「亻」added to it to differentiate this meaning from the other meanings written「禺」;
Had「耒」added to it to specifically indicate the meaning two people plowing fields.

My speculations: Since the word represented by「耦」is related to「偶」(in fact, identical, just written with a different glyph for a specialised circumstance), they became interchangeable to a very large degree.「耦」was even used for the word idol:

木耦
土耦
耦人

The current spelling would then be just dictated by educational committees, as historically they were the same word written with two different glyphs and frequently mixed up in usage.


Meaning of the elements of 爵 (baron) The 4 elements of this character are well known (claw/plectrum; net; north-east; short measurement), but I cannot see any connection between them that might result in the concept of 'baron'.  Can anyone shed some light on this mystery?

The 4 elements of this kanji are well known (claw/plectrum; net; north-east; short measurement)

Unfortunately, this way of interpreting Chinese character components is not correct. As part of other characters, for the vast majority of the time, character components represent either meaning or sound of the word they originally were created for.

「爪・爫」and「寸」are both pictures of hands (see https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/65190/what-is-the-meaning-of-the-radical-%e6%89%8b-as-a-part-of-character);

「罒」only means net when it is an abbreviation of「网」(and since you haven't established that「爵」has had the same character components and structure since its inception, you can't make any assumptions about the character components);

「艮」doesn't mean north-east; in this case it is an abbreviation of「皀」which is a picture of a food basket and forms the bottom part of「食」(to eat); see https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/65804/what-is-the-etymology-of-the-kanji-%e9%a3%9f. The abbreviation of「皀」into「艮」has a different origin to「艮」itself.

Not that any of this matters for this particular character, because every component you've listed (apart from arguably「寸」) is a result of graphical corruption.

商甲乙4508合集22067商甲前5.5.2合集3409西周金爵父癸卣蓋集成4988
「爵」was originally a picture of an alcohol vessel. As seen in the top two illustrations, the vessel was of various shapes, sometimes with three legs, sometimes with a few columns near the top, and sometimes with a long handle. This is reflected in the character shape variations.
西周金伯公父勺集成9935秦簡秦律雜抄37睡虎地秦簡今楷
Keeping the columns and the handle,

The body and legs of the character were later semantically corrupted into or replaced with「鬯」, then corrupted into「皀」and finally abbreviated into「艮」.
The handle was later replaced with「又」, then「寸」.
The columns near the top were corrupted into「爪・爫」.
The area near the mouth of the vessel was corrupted into「罒」.

「鬯」depicts another kind of wine vessel.
商甲京都1264合集23127西周金夨令方彝集成9901篆鬯部說文解字今楷

The meaning to do with feudal title of an official ("baron") is either a phonetic loan or semantic extension (wine ceremonies were usually conducted by people who can afford them, most commonly officials).

References:

季旭昇《說文新證》
小學堂
國學大師

郭沫若《甲骨文合集》
中國社會科學院考古研究所《殷周金文集成》

中國哲學書電子化計劃

宋・徐鉉等奉敕校定　漢・許慎《說文解字》


Are there multiple translations for 不上边? Trying to translate this: 始终是碰不上边的...

From the beginning, not able to meet (in agreement) with those above?

I searched on "不上边" in 百度 and it seems there are multiple ways to interpret it - position-wise and for example, this: 世界杯与穷人沾不上边. Here top is not top as in position, but priority? Does 不上边 have different meanings?

Here's the context for the first phrase:

Connie:     龃龉，我们看它的汉字。这两个字呢，都有一个，牙齿的齿… …它的左边。

徐州:     那跟牙齿有关系。

Connie:     啊，有关系。龃龉呢是说，牙齒上下，对不起。

徐州:     啊…

Connie:     嗯，就是它对不上，就是很错乱的。

徐州:     啊…唉…

Connie:     看起来很难看吧。

徐州:     对的。

Connie:     啊， 所以它用来比喻呢，啊， 双方的意见不和。

徐州:     嗯。观念啊、关点啊、始终是碰*不上边*的。

Connie:     嗯，对。

徐州:     好。

Connie:     所以我们会说龃龉不断或者发生龃龉。就是两个人产生意见不和你可以说发生龃龉。

There's two things going on; a verb (碰边 or 沾边) and an auxiliary verb (不上) inserted in the middle.

碰边, 沾边 literally mean "to touch the edge", which is a metaphor for relationship. 不上 means "unable to" in this context (similar to 不到 or 不得). So altogether, 碰不上边 means "unrelated".


Do people in China say 新年快乐 at Spring Festival? The questions Is there a traditional Chinese New Year greeting? and Which expression do native speakers actually use: Chinese New Year or Spring Festival (or other)? describe various greetings for this time of year.   But they do not specifically address  新年快乐.

Chinese people in the US often say this to me at this time of year, but I think it is really not said in China.  Is that true?   I have never been in China for this festival.

Yes. 新年=New Year, while it does not specify whether it's the new year of the Chinese calendar(农历) or the Gregorian calendar(公历).

So it's ok to say 新年快乐 in both cases. And normally we'll interpret it based on the context. If you wish to be more specific, you can use 元旦 for 公历新年 and 春节 for 农历新年.

Edit:

My personal opinion about the usage of 快乐 in greetings (as a native speaker myself):

Generally, 新年快乐 seems more formal to me while 新年好 seems more casual.
新年快乐 is mostly used with other greetings/blessings, starting with 祝(你). eg. 祝你新年快乐，万事如意，心想事成. Thus, it's better used in written language, where you'd use one long sentence to express your best wishes to someone.
Both can be used when people meet during the Spring Festival, but you'd use multiple short phrases instead of one long sentence in the oral language, so 新年好 probably better suit the case.


What does 骑在 someone's 头上 mean? I saw this on Jukuu.com:

我并不否认，你姐姐老是象个暴君似的骑在我们头上。
I don't deny that your sister comes the mogul over us, now and then.
Wǒ bìng bù fǒurèn, nǐ jiějiě lǎo shì xiàng gè bàojūn shì de qí zài wǒmen tóu shàng.

It seems an unusual usage of 骑 (qí; to ride).  Usually, we e.g. 骑马 (qí mǎ; ride a horse) or 骑自行车 (qí zìxíngchē; ride a bicycle), but in the above example, someone "rides on our heads" or "rides above our heads".  It sounds metaphorical.
Question: What does 骑在 someone's 头上 mean?
I found other examples:

天津：江苏骑在我们头上打。 (link)
Tiānjīn: Jiāngsū qí zài wǒmen tóu shàng dǎ.
小羊骑在你头上打一字。 (link)
Xiǎoyáng qí zài nǐ tóu shàng dǎ yī zì.
骑在你头上真好玩。 (link)
Qí zài nǐ tóu shàng zhēn hǎowán.

I also found this (我老公喜欢让我骑在他头上...) which sounds literal and sexual (among other examples).

The figurative meaning  of 骑在~头上 (ride on top of someone) is not 'to bully ~' , It is 'to dominate/ to rule over' For example: "Mr.A graduated one year before you(have been your senior schoolmate for all your college life); entered the same company one year before you and has always been your boss." -- You can say Mr.A  一直骑在你的头上 (always ride on top of you) meaning he's always been your boss or having authority over you.

If one day, you got promoted to higher position than Mr.A, then you are in fact 反过来骑在他头上 ( turn around and ride on top of him)

One more example: "他一直被妻子骑在头上" (he has been ridden on top by his wife) meaning his wife is the head on the household over him.

As long as she always at the top of the family, no matter how well she treats him, the fact that she's riding on top of him remains.


How to distinguish between rat and mouse in Chinese? I know there are two words here: 老鼠 and 鼠. However, the dictionary states that 老鼠 (rat) can also mean mouse; how do you specify rat?

I imagine that 仓鼠 (hamster) and 沙鼠 (gerbil) are often abbreviated to 鼠???

If so how does one specify that you mean mouse, rather than rat, hamster or gerbil?

P.s. maybe someone could also drop in a comment about whether or not these animals are common house pets in China / HK / TW?

Actually, in ordinary life, Chinese don't distinguish mice and rats(Frankly speaking, when I was a student, studying English and met the two words, I was also wondering why there are two words in English?). We just call that dirty animal that often appears in the houses "老鼠" or "耗子"(oral word,common in dialects).When we see a mouse(rat?) in a field, we may call it "田鼠"(田 means the field).

仓鼠 is a kind of pet(one of my friends raise two). Wiki tells me rat is "大家鼠" and "mouse" is “小鼠", but I and people around me don't care this.

Of course, in scientific circle, academical researchers will adopt the Binomial Nomenclature(in Chinese, 二名法) system to distinguish them.


Linguistic Gloss (literal translation) of long English verb phrases into Mandarin Chinese I am wondering how Chinese grammar handles complex verb phrases. Like in English you can have up to 4 (from what I've seen) verbs chained together. I wanted to post some examples of these verb phrases here and see how they are translated into Chinese, and then what the literal linguistic gloss is of the Chinese translation.

So for example,

  They would have been eating dinner.

Google translate (I know...) gives:

  他们本来要吃晚饭
  Tāmen běnlái yào chī wǎnfàn

What does this look like in pieces / in a linguistic gloss?

  他们-本来-要-吃-晚饭
  they-originally-to-eat-dinner

I just hacked the string of chinese characters into parts, so don't use my translation lol. But this is what I'm looking for.

This will show me how Chinese handles complex verb phrases. The examples I am hoping to get answered are:

  They would have been eating dinner
  They would have kept being able to eat dinner
  They would have not been eating dinner
  They would have not been able to keep eating dinner

I don't think that you have complex verb phrases here. All I can see is a single verb phrase (V-O eat dinner). In English, you can attach different grammatical units to a verb to indicate, among other things, the time the action takes place (past/ present/ future ...), the mood (indicative, subjunctive ... ), the aspect (continuous, completed ...) and so on.
"Would have been eating" is not a string of 4 verbs, but rather, a single verb "eat". "-ing" tells me that it is a continuous action; "would have" indicates that the "eating" is actually not occurring, meaning they are not actually eating, but eating was their original plan. For some reason not expressed in this sentence, they changed their plan and are not eating. In English, all this complex meaning can be expressed using grammatical units such as "would have", "been -ing".
Chinese, however, expresses these ideas differently. Semantic units, rather than grammatical units, are employed. Hence the word "originally" used by Google Translate. Actually, I think Google is doing a pretty good job here. It is able to decipher the grammatical unit "would have" as implying a change in the original plan, and employs a semantic unit "本来" for the job.
Here's how I would translate the sentences, without knowing the context. In context, I might do it differently.
They would have been eating dinner.
他們本來應該在吃晚飯。
他們 they
本來 originally
應該 should
在 *indicates continuous action
吃 eat
晚飯 evening meal
They would have kept being able to eat dinner.
他們本來應該可以繼續吃晚飯。
他們 they
本來 originally
應該 should
可以 be able to
繼續 keep on, continue to
吃 eat
晚飯 evening meal
They would have not been eating dinner.
I would prefer "They would not have been eating dinner."
他們本來不應該在吃晚飯。
他們 they
本來 originally
不 not
應該 should
在 *indicates continuous action
吃 eat
晚飯 evening meal
They would have not been able to keep eating dinner.
I would prefer "They would not have been able to keep eating dinner."
他們本來不應該可以繼續吃晚飯。
他們 they
本來 originally
不 not
應該 should
可以 be able to
繼續 keep on, continue to
吃 eat
晚飯 evening meal

Note that 在 has multiple meanings depending on context.


Where can I find a collection of samples of Mandarin spoken words, annotated with pinyin and tones? I recently built the following app that lets you listen to a Chinese word and asks tests your tone hearing ability:

https://tones.strokes.ovh/

I'd like to extend it, but in order to get there I need a collection of Chinese sound samples, annotated with pinyin and tones - and ideally, also Chinese characters related to the sample.

Where could I find such a collection?

Some websites or apps you may need:

https://www.chineasy.com/ All you need. Looks like the best one.

https://www.chinesecharacterart.com/ No audio is a shortcoming

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hanzi-oracle/id736544977?mt=8
IOS app, not test.
Hope it's helpful


Lowest pixel resolution needed to support Chinese? We are creating a product which has an small embedded OLED display (64 x 48 pixels). We would love to support Chinese in this product and wonder what is that smallest resolution that would be needed to support Chinese writing?

I assume simplified Chinese would give the best result?

Currently in our product, which supports English only, our smallest font size is 5 x 7. I'm pretty sure Chinese symbols will need more resolution.

8x8: Lowest necessary resolution for Chinese characters

As far as I know, the recognizable lowest resolution for Chinese characters, is about 8x8 pixels. The following paragraphs are rendered by the Special SimSun font's smallest 8x8 bitmap glyphs (Note: "Before Revision" is rendered by the Windows Vista's default simsun.ttc; "After Revision" shows how Special Simsun improves the quality). I believe native speakers are able to read these 8x8 resolution characters within the context, though a few are difficult to be recognized individually.

  "The Special SimSun font is revised based on simsun.ttc and mingliu.ttc contained in Windows Vista: First, it replaces ugly bitmap glyphs of Windows Vista's simsun.ttc with those of Windows XP's, and adds a few other bitmap glyphs; Second, it completes the bitmap glyphs in CJK EXT A (6852 characters), and supports the GB18030 character set (27533 characters) – especially, some low-resolution bitmap glyphs are included so that characters can be rendered in the bitmap way under 6pt–21pt for 96dpi; Finally, all bitmap glyphs are revised one by one, so the rendering quality is improved." — By the author of this font

It would be remiss of me not to mention the 7x7 resolution font: 超宋体 (Super Song) made by 夏夏@bbs.themex.net. However, this font is simplified Chinese only, and we can imagine it will be even more difficult to read than 8x8 resolution characters, so my conclusion for OP's question is "about 8x8".

12x12 would be moderate

The following paragraphs are rendered by the 方正像素12 font with its 12x12 resolution glyphs. Almost every character can be recognized without context. Of course, compared with the 16x16 resolution, it has to lose strokes even for many simplified characters; however, yes, native speakers may feel relaxed to read them now.


Prefacing questions with 请问 When I ask a stranger for directions or other information I begin with 请问.  It is especially important for me to use some opening phrase since people do not expect a foreigner to speak Chinese to them, and my accent is far from great.  But I wonder if many Chinese speakers actually use this themselves.  Is it polite? formal? old-fashioned?

Would something else be better?

Before I want to ask a stranger, I will try to get their attention first.

Saying 您好/你好 (Hello/Hi) before starting my question, then 对不起打扰了,请问 or just 请问 (Excuse Me) and followed by the question.

您好,请问附近的医院是往哪个方向？
嘿，打扰了，请问附近的医院是往哪个方向？


How do I use 深深 in a sentence? I recently came across a sentence with 深深感动 in it. Can 深深 be an adverb without 地？
For example:
让顾客和所有参与者都深深感动

figure out the difference between 的，地，得（all are pronounce de but with different tone)
they are fixed expressions.
chinese adj + 的 + noun.
adj + 地 + verb.
adj + 得 + degree verb.
so in this case, 深深的 is an adjective, 深深地 is an adverb.
打 means to hit which is a verb, so 用力地打 is to hit hard.
and you can say 用力打 without 地 for it is a fixed expression.
for those words/phrases can either be a verb or an adjective, you could still speak without 的/地 in most cases ‘cause we can figure out whether it is an adv + verb phrase or an adj + noun phrase according to the context.
take 打击, which means blow, for example
此次行动 对 敌人 造成了 沉重(的)打击。=> this action has made a great blow on the enemies.
此次行动 沉重(地)打击了 敌人。=> this action greatly hit the enemies.


"Light reflects off mirror" in Chinese Light reflects off mirror.

镜子反射光 or 光反射镜子, which is correct?

镜子反射光 is supporsed to be right. But it sounds strangely for me. How do you think about it?

When light, heat, or other rays reflect off a surface or when a
  surface reflects them, they are sent back FROM the surface and do not
  pass through it.

“Light reflects off mirror.” means 光线从镜子反射出来/过来/回来/开来. "Off" denotes the sense of 'from' in this case.

Compared to this sentence:

  The sun reflected off the snow-covered mountains. // 阳光从被雪覆盖的山峦反射回来。

As a sidenote, from English perspective, maybe it's better to put:

  Light reflects off mirrors. Or, Light reflects off the/that mirror.

But I am not a native English speaker. It's all opinion-based. Hope some English native speakers can correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks!


How much is 三百文钱 today? I'm going over this sentence here:

  剃头匠不愿招惹麻烦，只得赔偿三百文钱。

I'm curious to know how much 三百文钱 would be worth today.

汉语大辞典 has an entry for 文钱 but all it says is:

  钱。因钱有文字，故称。

How much was 300 wen worth during the Ming Dynasty?

This should be a question for history not Chinese language.

For the language part:
In ancient China, multiple kinds of currency are used like gold, silver, copper coin and even cloth. 文 is the unit for copper coin like this Ming dynasty coinage
For the history part:
During Ming dynasty, 1000 文 ≈ 1 两 silver which can buy 2 石 rice = 188.8 kilogram rice = 416.2 pound rice. So 300 文 is about 124.9 pound rice.


If 蓝天 means "blue sky", does 青天 mean "cyan sky"? Peole use both 蓝天 and 青天 and I am wondering if there is any difference. While 蓝 means blue, 青 means cyan, right?

Why do people say 蓝天白云 often but seldom 青天白云 (though 青天白日 is sometimes used)?

蓝天白云 and 青天白日 are idioms, so they cannot be changed.

蓝色 means blue, but 青色 is arguable.

In the colour printing technology, the jargon term 青色 is defined to be cyan. However, if you are not talking about the colour printing technology, 青色 can mean blue, cyan, green, or even black.

  青天白日 blue sky and white sun

  绿水青山 green water and green mountains

  山青水秀 the mountain is in green, and the water is beautiful

  青，取之于蓝，而青于蓝。
  Cyan, is made from blue, but cyaner than blue.

  雪青色 violet colour (lit. bluish snow colour)

  青草 green grass

  青衣 black clothes

  青布 black cloth

When does 青 mean blue? When does 青 mean green? When does 青 mean black? There are no rules and no logic for it, just idiomatic. For example, many people use 青草 for “green grass” and therefore 青草 becomes the idiom of “green grass”.


What kind of typology does ancient Chinese belong to? Modern Chinese belongs to the group of languages are isolating, just like English, but even purer. English once was not isolating but possessed flection.

Is the situation with English similar to that of ancient Chinese or the oldest version of Chinese ever known?

There are two kinds of morphology:  inflectional and derivational.  The first is like English –ed or –s, or case endings in languages like German or Latin.  Adding an inflectional morpheme doesn’t make a new word, but it changes the grammatical function.
Derivational morphology, on the other hand, does make a new word.  It might be a different part of speech, like sing > sing-er (verb to noun – person that verbs).  Or it might change the meaning in some other way, like call > re-call.
Linguists who study this believe that Old Chinese did not have inflectional morphology, but it did have derivational morphology.  Here is just one example from Laurent Sagart’s book The Roots of Old Chinese:

*s- prefix changing noun to verb:
帚  zhou3 (*tuʔ) a broom →
掃  sao3 (*s-tuʔ)  to sweep

There were suffixes, too, such as *-s, but when the tones developed many of these disappeared and were preserved only in a tonal change.  This can explain some tonal differences like the two pronunciations of 好  (tone 3 vs. tone 4 – the tone 4 one originally had an –s suffix.)
This is really advanced stuff, and I’m not sure if there’s a lot of agreement among the handful of linguists that study it as to exactly what prefixes and suffixes existed in Old Chinese, and what uses they had.  If you’re curious, there’s an exciting new book that just came out on this topic.  It’s called Old Chinese: A New Reconstruction by William Baxter and Laurent Sagart.


Why is there such a difference between "first name" and "last name"? I'm learning how to translate "What's your last/first name?" with Duolingo and Google Translate. Both apps indicate that the correct translations are

你的姓是什么?

and

你叫什么名字

There are many differences here. The first one has a 的 (de) and a 是 (shì), which the latter does not have. The second one has a 叫 (jiào), and 什么 comes before 名字 and not at the end of the phrase.

Why is there such a difference?

你的姓是什么? is not a common way to ask someone's last name.

The more common way is :

"Title +贵姓?"
"你姓什么?" (the noun '姓' here is acting like a verb (is family-named)

  In the past, most people in high society would have a 姓(family name), a 名 (given name) and a 字 (Courtesy name)

For example:

  曹操 Cao Cao

  姓:曹 (is last-named: Cao)

  名:操 (is first-named:Cao)

  字:孟德 (is courtesy-named: Meng Deo)

  You can call Cao Cao's 姓名, which is 曹操 (Cao Cao) and it is a formal address

  You can call Cao Cao's 姓 and 字, which is 曹孟德 (Cao Meng Deo) if you were close to him

In modern time, 名 and 字 are consolidated into 名字 for the meaning of 'name' . Few people, if any are using 字 nowadays

We only use 名字 as a noun, therefore we need a verb '是'(is) or '叫'(called) when asking what is someone's name. e.g. "你的名字是什么" or "你的名字叫什么"

Actually,  姓名 is almost interchangeable with 名字 in modern time

When someone ask "你的名字是什么?" It is more common to state your full name (全名) than just your given name

Example:

  If Cao Cao was here , and someone asked him : "你叫什么名字?"(what is your name called), the following answers would all be correct:

  "我名叫曹操" ( he is stating his 姓名, which is the most common way to answer)

  "我名叫曹孟德" (he wants you to address him by his courtesy name)

  (名 can be omitted in the two answers above)

  "我姓曹, 名操, 字孟德" (classical speech -- in this case, 姓, 名 and 字 all act like verb)


How to say "Because it was predicted that the typhoon would pass over PLACE-X on DATE-Y"? How to say

Because it was predicted that the typhoon would pass over PLACE-X on DATE-Y?

A probably very problematic translation could be:

因為預計DATE-Y颱風來PLACE-X

In particular, I would like to ask if the sentence should be re-ordered, as well as what is a more specific word to use in this case, instead of the generic 來. Lastly I am not sure at all whether or not it is OK to use 預計.

Because it was predicted that the typhoon would pass over PLACE-X on DATE-Y
因為預計颱風會在 Y月Y日 吹襲 X市

Do you really need '因為'(because) in this sentence? If you use 'because' to start a sentence, you have to use '所以' (therefore) to end the sentence
"因為預計颱風會在 Y月Y日 吹襲 X市" is an incomplete sentence
"預計颱風會在 Y月Y日 吹襲 X市" is a complete sentence
When describe a 颱風 hitting a place, we use the term '吹襲'


Tones in Cantonese: 6 or 9? Wikipedia has a tone contour chart for Cantonese with only 6 tones, but the table just below has 9. In fact, the table states 7=1, 8=3 and 9=6. From a historical point of view, there are 9 tone classes in Cantonese. From a practical point of view, does it make sense to distinguish the checked tones or is the only difference between them and their flat equivalents the fact they are carried by syllables with stop codas whereas the equivalents are carried by syllables with other types of codas (none, semivowel /j/ and /w/, nasal codas)?

From a practical learner's point of view, treating the checked "tones" as shorter, closed syllables that carry the same tone as as tones 1, 3, 6 (and 2 in changed tone) would be enough. In modern Cantonese of the Pearl River Delta, there appears to be little to no difference in pitch between the non-checked and checked.

In Taishanese, one of the checked tones matches to a different tone to standard Yuehai Cantonese. Also in some other non-Yue varieties, checked tones in tone sandhi behave very differently to non-checked tones, even if they have the same contour in isolation (e.g. Xiamen/Amoy Min Nan). So it is possible for checked syllables to have different patterns: it's just not a feature of standard Cantonese.


For 敨, what semantic notions underlie 'rap, tap' with 'to open; to unravel; to breathe; to rest'? Doubtless, humans must open or unravel their mouths to breathe. But how does unrolling or untying semantically relate to resting?

How did 攴 ('rap, tap') semantically shift to mean these definitions?

I couldn't find 敨 on CUHK or Taiwan MOE, and I don't know what other Cantonese homophone to attempt. Wikipedia  romanizes as tǒu  in Pinyin, but p 951 on ABC Chinese–English Comprehensive Dictionary (2003) purportedly hasn't listed some of the other meanings.

Yellowbridge isn't befitting my browser, and I can't screenshot the entirety of its character decomposition.

I think you're overcomplicating this.

咅 = tǒu = provides the sound
攵 = general movement/action = provides the meaning.

The components of 敨 basically just tell you that it is that verb pronounced tǒu. Seeing that it is used widely in dialects it is even more likely that it is just borrowed for its sound (and meaning of general movement) and used to fit where ever it seems rational.
I have seen other variants of this character in Sichuanese, like: 㪗 and ⿰咅支. I'm not sure if there is an accepted standard set character as many resources disagree.


In Cantonese, which is correct: 淨係 or 剩係? Both phrases are listed in CantoDict (http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/3497/).

It seems like 剩係 makes more sense, but which is actually correct?

They are both correct but I would say 淨係 is better than 剩係.

淨 means "pure, clean", while 剩 means "leftover, remains".
The original pronunciation of 剩 is sing6, not jing6.