Is there such thing as Chinese spelling alphabet? Is there such thing as Chinese spelling alphabet, like the NATO phonetic alphabet, or the Japanese radiotelephony alphabet?
When I am to spell alphabets via a phone, I use appropriate spelling alphabets, depending on the language or the script. For example, I once spelled "CMTH" as "C as in Charlie, M as in Mike, T as in Tango, H as in Hotel." I actually memorized English, German, Russian, Korean, and Japanese spelling alphabets. But I haven't found such thing as Chinese spelling alphabet anywhere on Internet.
I imagine such spelling alphabet is assigned to each of Bopomofo, and it's hard to believe such thing doesn't exist because military officers should have them anyway. So:

Is there such thing as Chinese spelling alphabet?

If so, do China and Taiwan have different spelling alphabets? Or is there different spelling alphabets for different dialects of Chinese?

The idea of a "spelling alphabet" of course assumes the concepts of "spelling" and "alphabet", which does not apply to Chinese characters.
That is not to say that radiotelephony procedure is unimportant. The need for a standard English in international aviation is so important that there is much research in China into teaching ICAO English standards, and their standards are to be adhered to in aviation environments.
Instead of spelling words, Chinese speakers in general explain the characters in terms of other words, a kind of 解说. Chinese speakers do quite a lot of this when encountering names, much like many English speakers ask the spelling of the name (or have various shortcuts). These are very far from standard in the way that NATO or ICAO are, and there are plenty of ad hoc cultural variants; but generally they use high-frequency disyllabic words. If the character is rare enough not to have such words, then other ad hoc explanations are required.
One must then go back to the reason for a spelling alphabet in alphabet- and syllabary-using language systems: when the technology of audio transfer causes the risk of information loss to be large enough to impede communication. It is a form of disambiguation.
This was true in late 1890s Britain, which resulted in the 1904 British Army Regulations, is still true in aviation contexts, and is also true of the Sinosphere. But since the information being lost is encoded slightly differently in the written script, the actions developed to compensate are different.
The disambiguation aspect is particularly obvious with numbers in Mandarin Chinese. The exact same vowel and tone shared by the numbers 1 and 7 mean that they are very easily confused over a poor line, so much so that in civilian conversation when enunciating numbers, 幺 is the usual substitution for 一 when reading phone numbers and other long strings of numbers (as well as other specific examples). The Chinese Wikipedia gives a few more examples of the numbers substituted in technical contexts.


Difference between 不了 and 不到 This question focuses on the differences between 了and 到.

What's the difference between verb + 不了 and verb + 不到?
Do the differences also apply to Cantonese?

Examples:

收不到 vs 收不了
幫不到 vs 幫不了
來不到 vs 來不了

The differences are contextual. I do agree it is very subtle.

到 is used when the verb, (action), produces a response from a purely physical perspective. Whereas, 了 is from a non-physical moral, legal, ethical standpoint.

So, in 收不到 vs 收不了, the former connotes the physical impossibility of receiving whatever is sent, perhaps it was physically destroyed in an air accident; hence 不到, (physically not arrive) The latter connotes the non-physical inability or refusal to accept for some moral, legal, ethical reason; perhaps it was seen as a corrupt bribe, hence 不了, (can't)

Here is an example to illustrate the point further:-

(a) 起不了 vs (b) 了不起

The former is physically impossible to rise up.

The latter means something amazing or superlative.


How to say related term in Chinese I want to say

  Today I discovered that 得 has a related term 不得不 which is used to emphasize somebody had to do something they didn't want to.

In fact I'm not even sure what to call that relationship in English。


What is the Mandarin equivalent of 唔夾 in Cantonese (i.e., not complementary)? In Cantonese, you can say 唔夾 to say A and B are not complementary. What's the equivalent in Mandarin?

不合 or 不搭?

'People being incompatible' is 唔夾 or 合唔來 in Cantonese and  合不來 or 不合 in Mandarin

These two people have always been incompatible with each other
佢哋兩個一向唔夾 (Cantonese)
他們二人一向合不來 (Mandarin)
他們二人向來不合 (Mandarin)

'Things being incompatible' in Cantonese can also be 唔夾, and 不般配 in Mandarin.

Chinese medicine and Western medicine are incompatible
中藥同西藥唔夾 (Cantonese)
中藥跟西藥不般配 (Mandarin)


What are the characters on this image, and what do they translate to? Here is the image in question: http://i.imgur.com/e4bPJv6.gif

Thank you for your time!

it is 隔岸觀火(隔岸观火).

It means (比喻见有危难不加援助而采取看热闹的态度）watch a fire from the other side [from the opposite bank] of the river -- look on at sb.'s trouble with indifference; adopt a “wait-and-see” attitude; look on (without sympathy); Praise the sea, but keep on land.; show utter unconcern; watch the fire from the other side of the river -- not interested in sb.'s success or failure. (from http://www.iciba.com/%E9%9A%94%E5%B2%B8%E8%A7%82%E7%81%AB)


Do the Chinese have a (potentially politically incorrect) way of imitating English speakers? I do not mean to cause offence with this question; I ask only to potentially become better acquainted with Chinese vernacular, and, I must admit, a little out of curiosity.

A politically incorrect and borderline racist way for an English speaker to stereotype the sound of spoken Chinese is "ching chong ching chong" or variant thereof.

Do the Chinese have an equivalent standard gibberish for impersonating English speakers or other westerners?

Maybe it is difficult for English speakers to learn the four tones of Mandarin.
When you read Chinese characters in a sentence all with a high level tone or falling tone, it sounds like a foreigner who has not mastered oral Mandarin. This phenomenon of imitating foreigners' accents always occurs in Chinese films and TV series.


Can 余 (more than) go after the measure word? I've just learned a new formal word 余 and I'm trying to understand it's placement. I know that roughly it means 多 but in a more formal way. If for example, I was saying "more than 500 people" I think I could say both

五百多人，
and
五百人多 （correct me if I'm wrong on this one)

However, could I say

五百余人？
五百人余？

五百多人 is correct and colloquial.
五百余人 is correct and formal.
五百人多 is not correct.
五百人余 is not grammatical in modern Mandarin but contextually valid in ancient Chinese. It may appear a lot in ancient stories written in vernacular language.


What's the difference between 房子 and 屋? It seems like "house" is usually translated as 房子 (fáng zi) in standard Chinese, although 屋 (wū) is also a common translation, especially in Cantonese.

Is there a difference between the two? When should I use one over the other (in Standard Chinese)?

屋:

In standard Mandarin, 屋 is not commonly used as a noun by itself. Though, 房屋 is a common word, which is very similar to real estate in English. e.g. 房屋中介 = Real estate agency.

Another common usage of 屋 is in forming a name of a special kind of house. In such usage, it normally has a quite cozy feeling, e.g. 小屋 is a hut, 淑女屋 is a female clothing brand name.

I get feeling that the use of 屋 was may be introduced from Japan in modern times. Just a wild guess because 屋 seems much more common in Japanese.

房子:

It is quite widely used, and is very similar to the English word "house".
E.g. 我有一幢房子 = I have a house. 老房子 = Old house, etc.

In general, 屋 is not as widely used in Mandarin as 房子. And 屋 is used in a more formal fashion compared with 房子.


What the meaning of 线上引流？ This is from here.

公司大力发展线上与线下相结合，共同为服务商引流销售。

I also have:

具体来说，就是线上选（手）机， 线下体验，或者说是线上引流、线下交易。

引流：依靠吸引力或重力从一个体腔或伤口抽取液体的行为、过程和办法 = drain or drainage (medicine)
Maybe they mean "吸引 顾客 流量" and they just left 2 thirds of the words out??
Or is there another explanation?

线上: online
引: attract guests
流: customer flow
线上引流: attract customer online with various strategy to increase customer flow


Translation of 档案专业人员 I found this string 档案专业人员 in a Chinese resume. Google translated it as "file professional" but I don't know what the proper word in English for it would be. I'd like to know which are the main duties of a File Professional or File Manager.

What kind of job is it? Is there any alternative translation?
Thanks!


Why is 有 (yǒu) the only verb that requires 没 while other verbs can use 不? To negate something, we use 不 (bù) before the verb, such as in this short dialogue:

  A: 你是老师吗？= Are you a teacher?
  B: 不是。= I'm not.

However, the verb 有 (yǒu) is the only one that requires 没 (méi) = 不是，不来，不忙, etc. vs 没有.

First of all, is this correct? If so, are there any social or historical (or other) reasons for this? What other uses does 没 have?

The Story of 没

As other commenters have noted, looking for logic in language is almost always futile. No natural language is logical. But there is a historical logic to language development; even if the existence of a phrase is a historical accident, it's sometimes interesting to see when that "accident" took place, and why.

Such is the case with 没. One interesting fact I learned from all this that contradicts what some others have said in their answers: 没 is not a contraction or shortening of 没有, at least not originally. MarkDBlackwell is right to point this out in his answer. The development of both words is slightly more complicated.

(All of the following comes from Xu Shiyi's excellent paper "否定词‘没’‘没有’的来源和语法化过程". To save time, I will not differentiate between places where I am quoting, summarizing, and expanding the original text. Apologies to the author; all errors are my own.)

The History of Negatives in Chinese

Before beginning, it's important to distinguish between two different categories of negative words: negative adverbs (否定副词) and negative verbs (否定动词). For our purposes, the former category is any word that can be put before a verb to negate its sense; the word 不 in modern Chinese is a good example. Negative verbs can stand alone at the "center" of a predicate (谓语). The word 没 is sometimes used in this way in modern Chinese. For example, in the sentence,

  屋子里没人.
  wūzi li méi rén
  There is no one in the room.

没 is acting as a verb, not an adverb modifying another main verb. (The use of the word adverb is not exactly right here, by the way, because the category 副词 doesn't exactly correspond to the English category of adverbs, though it's pretty close.)

I'll also be making a distinction between the use of 没 as a "full-fledged verb" (corresponding to its reading "mò" today,meaning "to sink, to be covered") and its use as a negative verb.

Previously (in the oracle bone inscription days), Chinese had many negative adverbs, such as 不 、弗 、勿 and 毋, and later (during the Zhou and Qin dyansty period) added several more, like  非 、匪 、微 、无 、蔑  and 未. Both 无 and 蔑 were themselves negative verbs also, and both had the same meaning as 没有 does today.

没 on the Scene

The first textual evidence for the existence of 没 (as a verb meaning to sink/submerge) is in the Tang dynasty, but various pieces of evidence which I will not repeat here imply that 没 was already being used as a negative verb (not a negative adverb) before the Tang period.

The use of 没 as a verb meaning to sink into water gradually extended until 没 meant to disappear or lose. From a phonetic perspective, though, there is no link between the use of 没 as a full-fledged verb and its use as a negative. (Recall that two different pronunciations of 没 exist today which enforce precisely this difference.) Indeed, many experts have assumed that 没 originated as a negative word because it sounded the same as 未 (wèi, which is still used as a negative adverb today to mean "has not yet").

The author of this work, though, prefers to trace the connection between 没 and 无, which, as I pointed out above, has long had the same meaning as modern "没有."

Phonetic History of 没 and 无

Our knowledge of the phonology of middle Chinese comes mostly from a Song work called <广韵> Guangyun, which listed characters according to rimes [sic]. To indicate the pronunciation of a word, the dictionaries of those days used something called the 反切 method, which split a character up into two other characters, one representing the syllable onset and one representing the rime (rest of the syllable). Wikipedia's article on Fanqie quotes an example from Gari Ledyard of how such a system might work in English: we could encode the pronunciation of the word sough by using the two words sun and now, to show that the word starts with an "s" and ends with the same sound as the word "now." (I am omitting many details.)

These books also come with a table of rimes so that we know basically how the various consonants and vowels were articulated in those days. There were two different syllable onsets (called 明母 and 微母) which sounded similar (the former corresponds to modern initial "m", the latter variously to "w", "v" or "m"): 没 was 明母 (cf. modern méi), and 无 was 微母 (cf. modern wú). Various historical clues allow the author to conclude that the popular pronunciation of those two words (as opposed to the possibly literary pronunciation in the Guangyun) was the same. At that time, 无 also had the meaning of "to lose" when used as a full-fledged verb. This similarity, combined with the at-least similarity in sound, led to an eventual mixing of the uses of 没 and 无. By the Song dynasty, these two words were being used interchangeably. By the Yuan/Ming period, the process was completed, and 没 had replaced 无 as the negative verb meaning "没有."

But what about 没有?

The uses described above all still involve 没 as a negative verb. In fact, the above change also influenced the development of 没 as a negative adverb. 无 could always be used as a negative adverb in addition to being a negative verb, and the compound 无有 had always existed because 无 was viewed as being the direct negative of 有. As 没 gradually replaced 无, so too did 没有 replace 无有. (The form 不有 is attested, but was gradually superseded by 没有 as Chinese negative adverbs consolidated over time.)

There's more to be said about the process by which 没 and 没有 became fully gramaticalized, but I'm out of time and will have to come back later. Will be happy to post more if you're interested.


What is a polite or neutral way to ask for someone to step out of your way? In English I would say "excuse me". Some possibilities that come to mind are 请让，对不起，不好意思. I believe I have heard someone say "让!" before. Is that considered impolite?

The most polite way is to use:

借过

  excuse me
  -ABC

If you want to sound politer you can add a 一下 on the end: 借过一下.

让 is not super polite, with or without a 一下 but you could still get away using it.

A simple 不好意思 would also suffice but is not as polite as 借过.


What is the real etymology of "China"? What is the current theory and has there been a reliable answer?

The most celebrated theory that it derives from 秦 (Qin, as in the first dynasty, or the preceding state) I find a bit suspect. In contemporaneous times, it was pronounced something like [dzjin]. Are there examples of foreign transliterations that retained the voiced initial? Moreover, 汉 (Han) [xans] was certainly the more enduring dynasty of note from that period, and 楚 (Chu) [tshrjaʔ] the state before that. It is odd that the lineage would trace to 秦 and not to 汉 or 楚.

Of course, this isn't unprecedented. The Russosphere still knows China by the Khitans, whose state isn't even in the orthodox dynastic historiography †, but that is one data point in favor of a northwestern state being in good position to transmit its name to Eurasia. Still, what is the evidence that we can trace back China to 秦?

From Wikipedia:

  It is generally thought that Chīna, Sīna and Thīna are variants that ultimately derived from Qin, which was the westernmost state in China that eventually formed the Qin Dynasty.[46] There are however other opinions on its etymology (See section on China above). Henry Yule thought that this term may have come to Europe through the Arabs, who made the China of the farther east into Sin, and perhaps sometimes into Thin.[59]

There is Latin Sina and Ancient Greek Thina [th-], but it's not clear what these refer to.

  The existence of the word Cīna in ancient Hindu texts was noted by the Sanskrit scholar Hermann Jacobi who pointed out its use in the Book 2 of Arthashastra with reference to silk and woven cloth produced by the country of Cīna.

There is Sanskrit Cīna (how is this pronounced?), which the continuation says may refer to some other geographic area like Tibet or Burma, from India's vantage point.

  The English name for "China" itself is derived from Middle Persian (Chīnī چین). This modern word "China" was first used by Europeans starting with Portuguese explorers of the 16th century – it was first recorded in 1516 in the journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa.[47][48] The journal was translated and published in England in 1555.[49]

There is Middle Persian Chīnī. While it would make sense for Persian speakers to transmit the name of a western-most state, since they were the ones in direct contact, it is odd that Middle Persian has palatalized the initial and aspirated it. Does this correspond to something closer in Old Persian to which 秦 the state was contemporaneous?

Any other thoughts welcome.

† This is badly worded, see comments for clarification. The main point is to highlight the peripheral nature of the Khitan 辽 (Liao) state in analogy to the 秦 state.

Update, I think I misunderstood, the question is about the word "China" in English while I was talking about the word "China" in Chinese.

This is a question which has no exact answer to. The most popular answer is, it comes from the pronunciation of "秦" in English, which is "chin". Other answers think it may come from how Indians call Chinese, which is "chini". There are many other answers and each has its own explanation. It you are interested, please check out 百度百科。

I will answer this question to the best of my knowledge, in Chinese, 抛砖引玉，如有不到的地方，还请见谅。

Since this is a complicated subject and it would be hard to give explanation of 中华 in English, this answer will be in Chinese.

题注所言“秦”或“汉”皆是封地之名，如“汉”，就是由水流之声而得名的。而“中华”，则与前两者不同，“中”的意思是中央，也即中央之地，而“华”的意思是美好。是汉初河南因文化美好、社会昌平而得名的，后来成为整个中华王朝的名称。

而“汉”，则成为了中华民族的名称，“唐”，另一个繁盛的中华王朝，则成为了海外华人称呼自身聚居地的名词，即唐人街。

中国历史上，不少统一王朝的名称都来源于之前藩王的封地名称，如“汉”来自于刘邦的封地，“唐”来源于李渊的封地等。

中国历史上还有一些类似的王朝名称后来被引作它用的例子，如，相传，农历是夏朝时发明的，所以，农历曾经也叫夏历，还有，商朝人善做生意，所以做生意的人叫做商人等等。


Is 说 in 听说 a resultative compliment? My assignment is:
Fill in the blanks with the proper resultative complements.
我听__ 老师走路的声音，大家快进教室。
(I heard that the teacher is walking, …)
Can the answer be 说, or is that not a resultative compliment, in which case it can only be 过 or 到？

'到' is the correct resultative complement for indicating the verb '听' is successfully carried out (听 = to hear; 听到 = have heard/ successfully hear)
听 and 说 in  "听说" are both verbs.
[听说] = [听 (indefinite object. e.g. 別人; 有人; 某人) 说] with the indefinite object omitted
You can use 听到 for any sound, but you can only use 听说 for human speech


tone sandhi represented in Pinyin According to Wiedenhof's A Grammar of Mandarin, page 25,

  When following a frst or a second tone, and simultaneously preceding a
  non-neutral tone, a second tone is pronounced with a high level pitch
  55 (high to high), i.e. as a frst tone. This diference can be represented in  Pinyin: ānmián yào ~ ānmiān yào ‘sleeping pills’.

Does "represent" here mean that, instead of the citation/lexical tones, the new tones after tone sandhi can be used as well?

No, this is not standard Pinyin, if this form of tone sandhi is written out. The author is simply trying to convey what it would look like if written out (instead of retranscribing it with Chao-style tone letters).

This type of sandhi ("Mandarin T2 Sandhi", for Tone 2 Sandhi), is mentioned only rarely, because it is a "prosodic-driven process", i.e. it happens because the syllable is not in a strong position in the overall 'rhythm and melody' ( = prosody) of the utterance.

However, T2 sandhi is not an ingrained feature of standard Mandarin or even any one dialect of Mandarin (unlike T3 sandhi), but a "variation", and one that is far from universal.


Help me understand/translate "不留到晚自习就写完多好" (context supplied) I'm struggling to understand this sentence. It's in an answere here, about halfway down the page. I've copied the context below:

  一部分是课代表。我是语文课代表 也很喜欢语文老师 他忘了留作业的话 我就在座位用口型告诉他 作业。然后他就
  噢今天的作业啊，巴拉巴拉。这样可以避免我去办公室问作业 作业总是要有的啊。 一部分单纯热心。而且想提前写作业 不留到晚自习就写完多好。
  最少的一部分是自己从来不写作业 但不能让别人没有作业。这种可能很小。

Anyone able to help me out with this? I'm HSK5 so I know the general meaning of the characters in the sentence but I can't figure out the overall meaning. Thanks in advance.

Because there is some uncommon term that OP don't understand.

课代表 so call "class/course representative", is in fact, a helper/assistant roles appointed by the tutor/teacher.  So the author is a "helper" .

这样可以避免我去办公室问作业  : So as a helper, he/she may need to go to the teahcer office to ask about home work for the student if the teacher forget about it.

而且想提前写作业 不留到晚自习就写完多好. What the author mean the he/she are able to do the home work immediately during those spare time between the class, rather than leaving it overnight.


A good English equivalent for "不過如此"? I am aiming to have a short translation, so it would be preferred that it isn't too long.

I have "Merely so" right now, but it doesn't sound too right in English and the meaning doesn't seem to be sent across as well either.

I know that a translation could be "So you are only like this" but I would like to have a shorter translation.

There is no 100% 1:1 translation, so how you translate this expression will heavily depend on the context.

Some examples:

You want to fly abroad on holiday, but the airport is closed. You can express your discontent with 坐飞机去旅游原来不过如此。"So much for taking the plane to go on holiday!".

There is a ...也不过如此 form, that is used often. E.g.
 最多再有几分钟, 也不过如此. "Only a matter of a few more minutes, that's all."

But this can also have the meaning "like a ....!"
皇宫也不过如此吧！ "It's like a palace!" (lit. Even the imperial palace can not keep up with this).


Why the surname 유 (Yoo) is translated as 刘 instead of 余 or 于？ 유창혁 (Yoo Changhyuk) is translated as 刘昌赫 in Chinese. Is there any reason that 유 is translated as 刘 instead of 余 or 于?

I don't think it is translated as much as it is that every Korean family actually has their own Hanja.

According to Wikipedia's List of South Korean surnames by prevalence

  유

can be one of four Chinese characters:

  柳, 劉, 兪, 庾

Most Koreans have Hanja names & they would certainly know which their surname is.

If you check out Wikipedia's Appendix:Korean surnames you can see that

  여

is the Southern Korean equivalent of

  余

while

  우

equates to

  于, 禹


你不敢吃我 What's the meaning of this? 你不敢吃我

What's the meaning of this?

Is it something like don't fool me?

This 吃 means to take.

Example 1: Chess game 西洋棋

  你吃我的騎士，我就吃你的王后。
  If you take (attack) my knight, I will take (attack) your queen.

Example 2: Go game 圍棋

  諒你不敢你吃我那一子，否則我就吃你整片地。
  I dare you to take (capture) that stone, otherwise I will take (capture) your whole piece of stones.

Example 3: Business competition 商業競爭

  你應該不敢吃下我的公司，不然我會讓你吃官司，讓你破產。
  You should not dare to take (occupy) my company, or I will sue you and make you bankrupt.

Example 4: underworld 黑道

  黑吃黑
  double cross; stealing from thieves; dog eats dog

Therefore, we can treat 我 in 你不敢吃我 as a pronoun.
It means my stuff, 我的某樣東西.
The real object of this sentence is the stuff, 某樣東西.

Check your context, and you should be able to find the real object, which is not 我 (me).

You dare not take my stuff.

Another possibility is to bully, 欺壓 or 欺負.

你不敢吃我。
你不敢欺負我。
I dare you to bully me.


What does this phrase mean? 有你真好。 After exchanging thank you and your welcome for doing something nice that I did for someone I received this phrase 有你真好。on WeChat. Google translate says “nice to have you” What does this mean? How should I respond?

It means things get easier with your help and they appreciate, or it's nice to have you there because you could help.  You don't really have to response to it. I would just response with a smile in this situation.


Is the description for components of 条 correct? During studying 条 character in one of the dictionaries I have found decomposition of this character to two components:

夂 zhǐ: to go
木 mù: tree; wood (Kangxi radical 75)

I see the 夂 component but I am not sure of 木. Should it not be 小 or something similar instead to 木? When I've enlarged the font it resembles 小 without the horizontal stroke.

That decomposition is incorrect.

「条」is shorthand for「條」(Pinyin: tiáo, Baxter-Sagart Old Chinese: /*[l]ˤiw/, /*lˤiw/), which is composed of phonetic「攸」(Pinyin: yōu, Baxter-Sagart Old Chinese: /*liw/) and semantic「木」(wood).「木」sometimes looks like「ホ」when written on the bottom of characters; exact shapes vary between the standards of different regions.

The appearance of「夂」is a writing convention;「夂」doesn't contribute any semantic or phonetic function in「条」. At most, it can be seen as an abbreviation of「攸」.


Starting a sentence with "actually..." I'm wondering how to express a certain function of "actually" in Chinese. Up to now I've always used 其实。But I'm not sure this is right for what I want to express.

How would you translate this: A: 北京冬天天气冷不冷? B: Well, actually I went to Beijing last year and it was very cold.

Would you say: 其实，去年我去了北京，太冷啊！

Thanks very much in advance, I would really love to know the answer to this!

It is true that a lot of words in an English conversation such as 'basically', 'well...', 'actually' don't have good one-to-one translation mappings to the Chinese language. 其实has a negating connotation to the context you are trying to convey. I am going to give it a shot and say, here 'actually' could be replaced by 'in fact', which then can be translated to '实际上'.

The whole sentence would now read: ‘实际上，我去年去了北京，很冷啊！’


的-地-得, when do you use which? So the age old question of 的-地-得, when do you use which? When spoken, it all sounds the same, but on paper it depends on if it's a verb, noun, adjective. But I don't quite remember if that is all that matters or which applies to which.

Can someone refresh my memory?

The usage of “的” is in possessive or adjectival context.  E.g., (posessive) “我的狗”, or (adjectival) “真正的生意人”.  Generally a noun is modified, so a noun follows it, unless it doesn't, such as “有点儿不足是难免的”, (some insufficiency is unavoidable) which is still an adjectival modifier (unavoidable), even though it modifies the noun (insufficiency) in front of it.

“地” is used usually as an adverbial modifier, following the modifier and preceding the verb.  For example, in “她伤心地说” (she said sadly).

The last one, “得”, is distinct, because it's a potential complement, not a modifier.  It follows a verb to show the result.  So the structure is VERB + 得 + RESULT.  One of the things I found confusing about this, coming from English, is that it leads to some structures that have bit of repetition.  So to say "she speaks Chinese very well", you use something like "she speaks Chinese, speaks very well", i.e., “她说中文说得很好”.

Since both “得” and “地” come between a verb and something else, they can be easy to confuse.  But just remember that if "de" functions as an adverb, the verb comes after it and “地” is appropriate, but if you are trying to complement or completes the verb that precedes it, then use “得”, even in weird cases like “好得很”!

For short, just remember: “地” usually appears before the verb while “得” appears after the verb. eg. “这件事漂亮地完成了。” and “这件事完成得漂亮。”  these two sentences are correct in grammar, although they have slight differences in emotion.


What is the difference between 钱 and 金钱 (and 款)? 金钱 is just 钱 with an added 金 but both mean "money". Are there any semantics or grammar differences between the two? Also, 款 seems to also mean money. I know 款 is usually used after 贷 but can it also be used similarly to the other two (节约款/时间就是款/有款的人)?

In terms of usage here are the common use for those words.

金钱 = Usually represent wealth in writing.

時間就是金錢 (time is money)
我的金錢 (my wealth)

钱 = Money
Most common form of money

多少钱 (how much)

款 usually means fund (in terms of money)

for example:
(款)
信用卡还款 -- credit card transferring (funds)
退款- refund

钱 is more informal than the other two. (In general if there is a single character form and a two character form, the two character form is more formal.)

款 is also used in 贷款, which means loan. Generally 款 does not imply money that you have so much as simply money that you are using. 款 can in some situations have a negative connotation while 钱 is neutral.


The grammatical component of 来 in this sentence In this sentence:

  经常有人问“一天应该吃几个鸡蛋”，其实这个没有固定答案，要根据自己的饮食结构来整体分析。

I feel the sentence means something like the following:

  People often ask "How many eggs should people eat a day?", but actually it doesn't have a fixed answer. The answer must be analyzed by each person's eating habits.

Regarding the last sentence:

  要根据自己的饮食结构来整体分析。

I feel the verb here is 来 (or maybe 要 or 分析...?). But I don't understand how it functions grammatically here and hence what it means. Is this use of 来 something special on the grammatical aspect? Is this what is treated as a dummy verb?

Any link to the explanation of the use of 来 in this case shall be welcomed as well...

agreed with Dan's answer, “来“should be a preposition here, its function is to denote an intention / express going to do sth.


What's the best way to improve Chinese after mastering the fundamentals? I think to learn a language including Chinese, you would need to first learn the fundamentals, such as the vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar. After that, native speakers go their own way to develop into a more proficient speaker/writer/communicator.

This process takes time and results are uncertain (maybe). Any suggestions about more effective ways to improve Chinese for beginner and intermediate levels?

Thanks for everyone's comments. I think I got some answer to this question.

To improve Chinese beyond intermediate level, one can "use the language in context".

Single-person activities include

Reading Chinese in cartoon book with a topic you are interested in or familiar with
Watch Chinese drama/movies or translated drama/movies with Chinese voice/subtitles
Play Chinese RPG games in which you would see how the language is used in practice, and how people with different social status address each other.
Switch your phone or computer to Chinese language, and you can learn some new words and sentences. (though I think this one is intermediate level).

Multi-person activities:

Talk and interact with other learners or native speakers.


What do you call grinds in Chinese? I'm not sure if this word exists in the states or even in the UK but in Ireland we call extra tuition outside of school grinds. I give maths and physics grinds to a number of students.
I am aware of the term 家教 but it just doesn't feel right in the context that I want to use it.
How would I say for example :

I give maths grinds to 3 students.

I offered free grinds to my students.

Giving grinds is good money.

Thank you all.

If grinds mean tutoring/ tuition in this context, we can just simply translate grinds as 补习.
If you need to specific, you can say 校外补习  (outside school tutoring) or 私人补习  (private tutoring)

I give maths grinds to 3 students. - 我给3名学生做数学补习。

I offered free grinds to my students. - 我向学生提供免费补习。

Giving grinds is good money. - 给人补习的收入不错

Usually, 给人补习 (give tuition) is a job for 家庭教师 (private teacher), but anyone qualified can offer tuition to anyone who needs it.


Why is 遞 = (辶 + (厂 + 虎))? 遞 is most commonly used, nowadays, to mean "to pass" -or- "to give".
Here's the definition of its simplified counterpart 递 given on zisea:

①传送，传达：传～。投～。～送。～交。～眼色（以目示意）。呈～国书。
②顺着次序：～补。～变。～增。～减。～升。～降。
③古代指驿车。

I can only see 遞 (辶 + (厂 + 虎)) as the walking tiger factory, which I'm sure is quite absurd, but even 虒 is defined, on zisea, again, as

“委～”古书上说的一种似虎有角的兽。

in which case we have 遞 = 辶 + 虒, or the moving sī...

Why is 遞 (meaning to give, to pass) = (辶 + (厂 + 虎))?

Etymology?

说文解字：更易也。从辵虒聲。

Actually, 遞=辵+虒, it's a pictophonetic character which original meaning is "to alternate".

The meaning radical(形旁) 辵 carries the basic meaning "to walk one moment and stop the next".

The sound radical(声旁) 虒 only indicates the pronunciation of 遞(dì).


Usage of 对峙 in colloquial Chinese. Since I have recently seen 对峙 used a few times in the Chinese shows that I watch, I decided to look it up and Baidu.com says it means"两山相对耸立" (two mountains standing and facing each other or at a stalemate) and I also used Jukuu.com and it said the meaning was "to face off". So I am wondering how do native Chinese speakers use this word because most examples of this word only talk about mountains facing each other and in the shows I watch they are usually not discussing mountains.

对峙 means "confrontation; stand-off" (be locked in a confrontation or face-off, with neither side attacking or retreating)

It is a metaphor that means "two sides standing still like two mountains facing each other; neither one would back down nor could they advance."

  So I am wondering how do native Chinese speakers use this word

Some example:

两军对峙多日 - the two armies stood-off with each other for days (对峙 as a verb)

两军的对峙已经持续多日 - The stand-off between the two armies has been going on for several days (对峙 as a noun)

示威者与警方对峙 - the demonstrators stand-off with the police (对峙 as a verb)

示威者与警方的对峙最后以暴力结束 - the stand-off between the demonstrators and the police ended in violence. (对峙 as a noun)


How do you say Symbol in a literary sense? Could someone clarify the different ways of how to say "Something symbolizes something else"? (In a literary sense).
I know that we could say

”白色象征纯洁。“
But could we use 象征 as a noun？

ex。 “作者用“白色” 来做象征“  （or is it 比喻？）

I Hope the question is clear. My man goal is to figure out the proper way to describe symbology in literature in Chinese!

basically 象征 has lots of meanings, in which you have mentioned two important.

象征 can be used as a verb, and means symbolize or signify. In this case, 象征 uses some concrete things to describe some abstract concepts. In 白色象征纯洁, 白色 is concrete, and 纯洁 is abstract. Another example can be "白鸽象征和平" (The white dove symbolizes peace).
象征 can also be used as a noun, and means symbol. For example, 青鸟是快乐的象征 (the bluebird is the symbol of happiness). And 作者用“白色”来做象征 usually doesn't appear individually. In common cases, the writer will firstly describe something, at last he will use that sentence. For example, 她的最大特点就是纯洁,而作者用“白色”来做象征. (And here 比喻 cannot be used.)

I don't know if I have answered your question...


How do I use “一般” in this context? 比如，

一般上，这个生词是这样用的：。。。
“一般来说，early/low 等于 20-23, mid 等于 24-26, high/upper 等于 27-29, 可是这不是固定的” (see here)

这些用法都对吗？

Yes it's fine.

一 = over, across all.
般 = kind, sort.
一般 = general(ly), usual(ly), normal(ly)


Is there a chengyu to describe small-time thieves or scoundrels with a playful connotation? I'm looking for a chengyu or an idiom to colloquially describe small-time criminals, but without excessive negative connotation.
There are already words both in Chinese and English that come close:

坏蛋 scoundrel
贱人 cheap skate (colloquially)

But what I'm really thinking of when I say this is the Beagle Boys.

The Beagle Boys are criminals, but they are naive and unlucky to the point of being cute. So even when you see the Beagle Boys pulling off a robbery and splitting the take, the reaction they elicit in the reader is more of pity and ridicule, than awe and dread.
So in English, when I say: "You guys look like the Beagle Boys!" it's easy to take this as a joke — provided my interlocutor is familiar with Scrooge McDuck comics —, as the Beagle Boys are funny, before being obnoxious.
Now, I suspect that in Chinese I can't say: "你们啊，你们跟庀兄弟一样贱" to a similar effect...
I already know 狐朋狗友, but it's not really a playful description.
Is there an equivalent popular character, or some other chengyu or idiom to describe petty thieves and scumbags with a playful connotation?

鼠窃狗偷 (small-time thieves):
Remember the YouTube video that showed a rat pulling a pizza? That's cute; If you have a dog, does he steal your food when you are not looking? Mine did. And it was cute
毛贼 (small thieves):
A thief as small-time as a hair, how much damage can it cause?
笨贼 (dumb thieves/ dumb criminals):
There are many hilarious stories of dumb criminals doing stupid things during the crime. It fits The Beagle Boys' image
If you google '笨贼个案' or 'cases of dumb criminals', you will find a lot of examples
笨贼 is doubly funny for me because it sounds like "stupid dicks" in Cantonese


Origins and usage of '襨' I remember once reading about a Chinese character in Unicode that noone knew its meaning and purpose, and after some googling, I found 襨. Aside from basic character databases like Wiktionary or Unihan, I wasn't able to find any sources about this character in English.

So, does this character have a meaning? How was this character introduced in Unicode? Are there other such "mysterious" characters?

襨 U+8968

國語發音: dù  ㄉㄨˋ

The first entry in 原典出處:

  《金陵秋·第四章鄂變》：  計革人既潛漢口，而武昌中襨伏必多。

襨伏 means 埋伏. Thus, I guess 襨 means something related to 埋 (bury, secrete, conceal)。


Vocab problem: 肥 vs 胖 vs 肥胖 Do all of these mean just "fat, obese"? Dictionaries seem to indicate that these characters mean that separately. Is there a reason to use them both? Is this one of the cases where two characters just remove ambiguity?

Is this one of the cases where two characters just remove ambiguity?

Yes, Since each Chinese character has its own meaning or meanings. A single character, usually cannot clearly express a specific meaning, therefore two characters would combine into a specific word, and two words may combine into one specific phase.(see my other post How to determine if character can be used separetely?)
In the case of 肥 and 胖. both can be an adjective for "fat", however 肥 also has other meanings:

肥 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/188/
[1] [adj] fat; plump; chubby | [antonym] 瘦
[2] [adj] greasy; oily; fatty
[3] [adj] fertile; rich; luxuriant
[4] [n] fertilizer; manure
[5] [adj] profitable; lucrative; affluent

Combine 肥 and 胖 into 肥胖 make it a specific term for "fat /obese ". Since it is a specific term, it is also more formal.
Beside being an adjective for "fat",  肥胖 can also be a noun for "obesity"


Outside of Chinese class, do people ask 你家有几口人？ Among one of the earliest questions people learn to answer when studying Chinese is

你家有几口人？
How many people are in your household?

However, despite living in China for years, I don't recall a Chinese person actually asking this question outside of Chinese class.  In fact, if we Google "你家有几口人？", virtually all of the hits are lessons for non-native Chinese speakers (except for one Bilibili video).
Question: Outside of Chinese class, do people ask 你家有几口人？
For proof of concept, 你好吗？ is commonly taught in Chinese class, yet seldom used (see e.g. YouTube video), so these things exist.

Actually, very very seldom.  If (not when) people start asking me question like that, I would ask back: "You FBI?"
As a matter of fact, family information is usually voluntarily revealed, not asked, unless for certain reason, and even that, very specific, not generally.
If you want to get to know a person better, there is only one way:  lots of exchanging information thru chatting.  Family particulars, obviously, are included.  You accumulate this scattered information to form the big picture about the family.


Why is "這麼些" at the end of the sentence, "開會的人來了這麼些" ? Is it a quantity complement? I got it from a textbook awhile reading about demonstrative pronouns. The textbook translate the sentence as "So many people have come to attend the meeting." Can someone explain why "這麼些" isn't at the front of the sentence, "開會的人來了這麼些"? Is it because it's a quantity complement(I'm new to complements)? Does all sentences containing "這麼些" have it after the verb or at the end of the sentence?

There's also the sentence "工作已经做了那麼些", which the textbook translated it as "Much (A lot of) work has been done." Again, I have the same questions about "那麼些" as I have for about "這麼些".

這麼些 can be directly translated to this many/much, 那麼些 is that many/much, and like it is in English, it doesn't necessarily mean "a lot":

A: How much pizza did you eat?
B: This much.
A: I can see why you are so slim.

If you do want to say "many", you want to use 這麼多 or 那麼多.
Back to the original sentence, of course they can be put to the front.
So many people have come to attend the meeting. should be translated to 這麼多人來開會了.
Much (A lot of) work has been done. should be translated to 很多工作已经做了.
By the way, if you use a a quantity complement in Chinese, it usually indicates that you have something else to say:

This meeting only attracts this many people. Is it organized by baboons? //会议只来了这么些人，组织会议的是狒狒吧？
That much work has been done. If you change the plan I'll eat you alive. //工作已经完成了那么多，你要是再改计划我就把你生剥了吃掉。

To sum up, "開會的人來了這麼些" and "工作已经做了那麼些" are not accurate translations. Your book is weird.


What does 到 mean in 哪里可以买到正版的这本书? Does 买到 here serve as a verb-object word? What does 到 mean in this sentence :

哪里可以买到正版的这本书？

Does 买到 here serve as a verb-object word? I doubt it though.

「到」(literally to arrive) is a verb complement to show whether an action has or can be completed (“arrived at the finished state”).

Since「到」is not actually necessary in this sentence to express the same meaning, it is easier to demonstrate the meaning of「到」with a complementary sentence:

  那裏買不到正版的這本書

  The proper version of this book can’t be bought there.

X「到」means the action X can be completed, X「不到」means it cannot be completed.


When should I exchange nouns to pronouns?Is there a obvious rule in it? 父亲今年65岁了,他以前是一名律师。父亲的爱好是旅行，经常去旅行。

This sentence is strange to me.

First, 父亲

Second,他

Third,父亲

I often hear that the English speakers avoid the duplications of noun.
Is it also in Chinese?

父亲的爱好是旅行 →　他的爱好是旅行 ( I thought it was right.)

I refer to a textbook and this is a solution for the quiz.
What is the purpose of this expression?

Why  dare the author to use 父亲 again?

I solved the quiz , often wrote "他的爱好是旅行" , checked the answer and it was not right.

When should I exchange nouns to pronouns?Is there obvious rules in it?

There is no rules, but Chinese is also try to avoid duplication

父亲今年65岁了,他以前是一名律师。他的爱好是旅行，所以他经常去旅行. is totally OK.

Sometimes you can't, then try to avoid continuous duplication.

父亲今年65岁了,他以前是一名律师。父亲的爱好是旅行，所以他经常去旅行.

Author prefer synonym to eliminate duplication.

父亲今年65岁了,他以前是一名律师。老爷子的爱好是旅行，所以他老人家经常去旅行.


Examples of correct and incorrect pinyin Where to find an authoritative and/or verified list of examples for correct (and incorrect) Chinese to Pinyin conversions for words and sentences?
I am specifically looking for corner cases when automated Chinese (simplified/traditional) conversion to pinyin might fail so that I can build a test case to verify correctness.
For example, the character 呢 could be translated to pinyin as any of ne5,ni2,na4, or ne4 and it looks like some libraries are getting it wrong in certain contexts.

An idea coming from here suggests to take the HSK vocabulary list annotated with pinyin and put the words list to Google translate. The post's author found 11% of words incorrectly converted for HSK level 1-3 words.
The issue is that the official HSK website provides only a words-list without pinyin in an excel format. However, you can find respectively here and here words-lists annotated with pinyin in a pdf or on a website which you can later programmatically convert in a suitable format.
EDIT, in comments:

HSK wordlist with pinyin in tab-separated values


Zhuyin IME setting to make tones optional When I type Chinese via a Pinyin IME, I can write "nihao" to get "你好". Writing out "ni3hao3" is not required.

But when I try to write "ㄋㄧㄏㄠ", the IME interprets this as "ㄏㄧㄠ". Basically I'm forced to type out the tone for every single character: "ㄋㄧˇㄏㄠˇ" before the IME will give me "你好", and I find this too cumbersome.

Is there some kind of setting to change this IME behaviour? If there's an IME for Windows that supports this, I be happy to learn about it.

Side note: I know that Linux Zhuyin IMEs support this "optional tone" behaviour, and I was quite surprised to find that Windows Zhuyin IMEs are so pedantic by default.

At least on Windows 7 you can configure the New Phonetic IME to not require tones, although you will still need to press the space bar to separate characters.

Go to Control Panel - Region and Language - Keyboards and Languages - Change Keyboards
Choose the New Phonetic IME and click Properties
On the Advanced tab, switch the "Toneless" option to ON


What is the difference between zhèng and zhēng in 挣? I just found that 挣 has two variants of pronunciation - zhèng and zhēng. However, both seem to express "struggle" in English.
Some words express different meanings depending on the pronunciation - e.g. my recent question on 只.
Well, it might be slightly different, since according to MBDG dictionary:

挣 zhēng: see 掙扎｜挣扎
挣 zhèng: to struggle to get free / to strive to acquire / to make (money)

So zhēng is equivalent only to 掙扎 or 挣扎, but these two words also mean "struggle". So I don't understand how you can decide whether the 挣 you see in a sentence is zhèng or zhēng.
So if you see 挣 in a sentence, how can you discern which pronunciation is correct? Also, does it make any difference regarding the two words (e.g. on usage)?

I think you already got the point.

  挣 zhēng: see 掙扎｜挣扎
  挣 zhèng: to struggle to get free / to strive to acquire / to make (money)

挣 will only be pronounced as 'zhēng' in 挣扎 and 'zhèng' for the rest.


Are any of these honorifics still in use today? 愚, 鄙, 敝, 卑, 窃, 仆, 婢, 妾, 在下, 贱妾, 小人, 小女, 草民, 民女, 奴才, 奴婢, 奴家 Are any of these honorifics still in use today? If not, might they be used and understood (as a joke) by regular Chinese in, say, a period film, much as English speakers would recognize someone using Thine holiness, etc?

For self-deprecating humbleness, commoners or people with lower status
愚   yú  I, the unintelligent
鄙   bǐ  I, the lowly/less educated
敝   bì  I, the unrefined
卑   bēi I, from a lower class
窃   qiè I, who did not give you proper notice
仆   pú  I, your servant (male)
婢   bì  I, your servant (female)
妾   qiè I, your concubine
在下  zàixià  I, who am humbler and lower than you
贱妾  jiànqiè I, who am humbler and lower than you (female)
小人  xiăorén I, the insignificant (male)
小女  xiăonǚ  I, the insignificant (female)
草民  cǎomín  I, the worthless commoner (male)
民女  mínnǚ   I, the worthless commoner (female)
奴才  núcai   I, your slave/servant (male)
奴婢  núbì    I, your slave/servant (female)
奴家  nújiā   I, your wife and servant (female)

Betty's answer is great. Here's some complement: Since almost every Chinese can understand these words, we use them in spoken lang occasionally, usually expressing some kind of mood or feelings.

For example, if someone adopts an arrogant and impolite attitude to you, you can use one of the honorifics to express a scatching satire to strike back.

And sometimes we use 草民 or some other worse words like 屁民 to deliver the helplessness about the status of common people in mainland. (There is even a word made for this: shitizen)

Also, there's something interesting too. We can call the company we working for 敝司, just in order to express our sense of humour. This may not be easy understood by a foreigner.


How to write "Some more prominent figures who have led the protests are ..." In Mandarin as used in Taiwan, how to say

  Some more prominent figures who have led the protests are ...

“領導這次抗議活動的傑出知名人物還有：”

還有 implies 'besides' to interpret 'some more';

prominent figures: 傑出(知名)人物; I think putting 知名 here is ok, because prominent figures are often well-known persons. You can remove it based on your considerations.

who have led the protests: 領導這次抗議活動的


Original English Freud quote, “words and magic” I have this quote that I’m looking for the original English of (although it may very well have not originally been in English even)

  词构成了精神治疗的本质性的工具。外行人很难理解精神与身体上的病理性躁动怎样能被简单的词所消解。他有一种被要求去相信巫术的感觉，如果真的如此，则他离真理不太远，因为我们日常所使用的词并非其它的东西、仅仅是弱化了的巫术。

Freud has a famous quote about words and magic and this is certainly part of it, but I’m having trouble locating the matiching beginning part.

Any ideas?

In Freud's essay "Psychical (Or Mental) Treatment (1890)". I found the quote below with Google's help:

  Foremost among such measures is the use of words; and words are the essential tool of mental treatment. A layman will no
      doubt find it hard to understand how pathological disorders of the body and mind can be eliminated by ‘mere’ words. He will
      feel that he is being asked to believe in magic. And he will not be so very wrong, for the words which we use in our everyday
      speech are nothing other than watered-down magic.


Is there a difference between 你无意之中流露出来 and 你无意流露出来? In a casual conversation, one person didn't know he unwittingly revealed he doesn't like whatever, ice cream. The other person says...
你无意之中流露出来 which translates to roughly to "You let it slip." I think.
So does 你无意流露出来 mean the same thing? The only difference I see compared to the above is the above explicitly references to the subject, ice cream, they're talking about?

The first one is straightforward - it means showing one's intent unwittingly. The second one is a bit tricky to interpret. It does mean the same thing in the examples you quoted. However, "无意之中" and "无意" are not the same. For example, I can say "他无意上学" (he doesn't intend to go to school) but it is wrong to say that "他无意之中上学". Note that "他" makes no attempt to hide his intent here. "上学" (going to school) simply doesn't cross his mind.

Also, "之中" means "in the midst of doing someting". Grammatically, it's present continuous or past continuous.


What is a comfortable English translation of 姐夫 My soon-to-be sister-in-law is Chinese. My future wife is her older sister, so she doesn't feel comfortable calling me by my given name. In Chinese she would call be 姐夫, for which the nearest English translation seems to be "brother in law" or "husband of older sister", which is a bit of a mouthful to say the least. Even just "brother in law" is a bit much.

Is there are more appropriate term in English that I can suggest? I don't want her to feel uncomfortable.

The Chinese word 姐夫 is both a referent term and an address term. You can refer to someone as your 姐夫 (e.g. 我姐夫是中國人）as well as call him 姐夫 （e.g. 姐夫，你好嗎？）.

The English equivalent "brother-in-law", however, is only a referent term. You can say "Peter is my brother-in-law" or "my brother-in-law is Chinese" etc., but I have never heard of anyone using "brother-in-law" as an address term (as in: How are you, Brother-in-law?)

Here you are looking for an equivalent of 姐夫 as a direct address. I suppose the best way is for her to use whatever a normal English speaker would use to address his/her brother-in-law. In my understanding, this would be his given name or some kind of nick name that the brother-in-law would like to be called by. Addressing somebody as "Brother-in-law" would sound odd, IMO.


What is the difference sound between zi and ze? I am currently learning the difference between zi and ze sound, and it is so hard for me to learn this.

Could somebody tell the difference between them ?
How to distinguish between zi and ze sound ?
Please hear this recording (https://soundcloud.com/reinard-wu/zi-or-ze) and tell me this sound zi2 or ze2 ?

Adding to Colins's answer, in IPA, zi is /t͡sz̩/ (basically tszzz), and ze is /t͡sɤ/ (tse).


Is there one complete list showing Traditional characters in Simplified? Or are there really that many that I'm asking a dumb question?

I've started learning traditional characters first and once I gather the knowledge of around 2000-3000 characters I was thinking of learning the simplified versions of the words I know, and in order to make an Anki list I was wondering if there's one comprehensive list with all the different words/characters.

謝謝!


How should I acknowledge Chinese Stack Exchange in my story? I'm making the final touches to my first story, and I intend to upload it to my webpage afterwards.  I want to add an acknowledgement that I received some assistance from Chinese Stack Exchange.

Question: How should I acknowledge Chinese Stack Exchange in my story?

In English I'd write:

  I acknowledge the use of the online forum Chinese Stack Exchange (chinese.stackexchange.com) for assistance writing a few sentences.

I translate this to:

  我承认使用网络论坛《Chinese Stack Exchange》（chinese.stackexchange.com）帮助写一些句子。

I'm not keen on 承认 which seems more like "admit" (or "confess") than "acknowledge".

If I write it in Traditional Chinese I will write that 我感謝網路論壇 Chinese Stack Exchange (chinese.stackexchange.com)，協助我完成一些句子。


Is syaku an ancient Chinese unit of measurement (Suanfa tong zong)? According to multiple sources the following problem would be found in Suanfa tong zong (like on cut-the-knot)

Two reeds of equal height project 3 syaku above the surface of a pond.
If we draw the top of one reed 9 syaku in the direction of the shore
so that the top is just touching the surface of the water, find the
depth of the pond.

(Cut-the-knot claims the book contains the illustration, but another source claims the illustration is Japanese)
Anyhow: I assume Syaku would be an ancient Chinese unit of measurement. But I couldn't retrieve any information on this unit. How is it defined, how much would 1 syaku be in modern units of measurement?
I tried digging up the original problem, but when searching for the original (or any later reprints) I get stuck on the Chinese symbols. Could anyone help me out?
Not sure if "Chinese Language" is the right place for this question. I've been thinking about or "History of Science and Mathematics", but I think the probability of someone owning "Suanfa tong zong" would be the greatest here (?)

I believe this is the original text:

今有葭二莖生池中，並根杪齊，出水三尺，即葭一莖斜去至岸九尺，與水適平，問水深若干？

It also comes with the following, hard to read, illustration:

This is the measure word you're asking about:
尺
MDBG:

chǐ
a Chinese foot / one-third of a meter / a ruler / a tape-measure / one of the three acupoints for measuring pulse in Chinese medicine / CL: 支, 把

Wiktionary

1 chi; Chinese foot (a traditional Chinese unit of distance based on the human forearm and equal to 10 cun (寸) or 1/10 zhang (丈))
2 (Mainland China) mainland chi; Chinese foot, standardized in 1984 as 1/3 meter
3 (Taiwan) Taiwanese foot, standardized as 10/33 meter and identical to the Japanese shaku
4 (Hong Kong) chek; Hong Kong foot, standardized as 0.371475 meters
5 (informal) imperial foot
6 ruler (straightedge) (Classifier: 把)
7 tape measure

Japanese Shaku is also:

10/33 meter


Can anybody identify these chop markings or calligraphy please (Characters identified: 季康長壽 寧復畫記) I have been given a scroll not sure if it is chinese or Japanese but I know it is over fifty years old.  I am trying to find out more about it such as the artist and what the writing says.

the text is, my best guess:
每為惜花無曉夜・教人甚處不銷魂
two verses of a poem of 宋 dynasty
己亥 (1959 +-60i, i is integer)
季康 (the name of the author) 寫 (written)


Meaning of 对拆 (對拆) in 套路 names There are different sequences of movements in martial arts (套路 - forms) all having their names. Some of these names are quite clear but some are hard to understand for me. For example a double hand form is called:

工字伏虎拳對拆 (工字伏虎拳对拆)

This form name comes from 洪家拳 system which is well-known in southern China  (Guangdong province). So the names of forms are in Cantonese dialect.

The part of the name 伏虎拳 is clear for me but I can't find anywhere the meaning of 對拆. It should mean something like 'sparring set' or 'versus' but only 對 (对) can mean 'versus'.  Is 對拆 some kind of a regional Cantonese word? Also, an additional question: how could 工字 be translated (if it can)?

Also I wonder: can I write/say 對拆套路 by analogy to 武器套路 or 拳術套路 (拳术套路)?

Here 拆 means 拆解，dismantle something into basic component, so as to understand and apply it to handle complex combination.


Any english equivalent for "前輩" or "晚輩"? It's used in respect for talking to a superior and respectfully, so is there even an english equivalent for it or is it just a special title used for Chinese?

I believe there is no English equivalent, but there are some equivalents that I know of.

Senior/Junior

older/younger in age or higher/lower in rank.

Examples:

  Bob is the senior developer in our team.

Bob 是我們團隊裡最資深的程序員。

  James is 5 years my junior.

James 比我小五歲。

  Being a senior, I shall take the duty.

作為最資深的人，我應該要拿下這份職務。

Predecessor

person who has a job/position prior to another.

Examples:

  Larry, the new coach of Mickey (I made this up), is way more experienced than his predecessors.

米奇隊的新教練Larry比他的前輩（之前的教練）有經驗多了。

Note the subtle difference between predecessor and senior – predecessor has to be someone that pre-existed in the setting, whereas senior is someone that co-exists in the setting.


Does 外行的想法 mean "rookie mistake"? I found this sentence and its translation on tatoeba.org. Is there a better way to translate it into English?

這是外行的想法。
That's a layman's idea.

I looked up 外行, and it does mean amateur or layman, but I've never heard anybody use the phrase "layman's idea" in English. Perhaps a better translation would be as simple as, "That's a dumb idea." Or does the Chinese phrase emphasize that it's a bad idea because the person is inexperienced? If so, perhaps it would be best to translate as, "That's a rookie mistake."

English is not my mother tongue, but I would translate 外行的想法 as "unprofessional opinion" or "amateurish opinion".
外行 is the opposite of 内行, which means expert, adept, experienced, an expert, a professional, so the emphasis is as you mentioned on the fact that the person is not experienced.


What is the verb for "hacking" (as in computing) in Chinese? Using my dictionary and some research, I've found that there seems to be three words for "hacker" in Chinese. 黑客，骇客，and 红客. The first two look to just mean "hacker," while the third is a word for the implicitly state-supported private citizen in the PRC who hacks foreign enterprise out of nationalism. But does anyone know how to describe the verb for what these people do? My dictionary says to simply use 黑 or 骇, but what of the specific grammar cases when I need a two-syllable verb? Surely there's a better verb.

EDIT: After further searching, perhaps 侵入 would work? It seems to be a word with military connotations for "invade," but apparently can also mean to "gain unauthorized access."

Thanks.

黑 is the verb you are looking for.
被黑了 is the common phrase form of "been hacked".
If you feel 黑 is too ambiguous you can add an object behind it to turn it into a VO (verb object) phrase: 黑电脑, etc.
Alternatively Oxford suggests:

5 COMPUTING, COLLOQUIAL
窃取
to hack secret data from computers
从计算机里窃取机密资料

Personally I would just go with 黑 in this day and age.


How do form this sentence "I want (object) to (verb/be) that..." in Chinese? I want (object) to (verb/be) that...

For examples :

I want you to know that you are not alone anymore
I want her to be my wife
I want my brother to help me with my homework
I want you to be mine

Etc.

我想要(object)(verb/be)……

e.g.

我想要你知道你不再孤独
我想要她成为我的妻子
我想要我哥哥帮我做作业
我想要你成为我的


Missionary Romanization? I'm interested in the romanization system, or similar systems to, the one that produced translations such as "Confucius" and "Mencius". These names are very easy for non-Chinese speakers to pronounce. I've read that these came from very early romanization work by "various missionaries", but there's very little information about them. If anyone knows of good resources or books, that would be great.

In my case, I'm mainly interested in Mandarin romanizations that sound "familiar" and are easy to pronounce by English speakers, which sometimes means sacrificing consistency, accuracy or precision. For this purpose, I don't like Pinyin because some letters are pronounced much differently than in English, nor do I like Wade-Giles because it uses diacritics which are very foreign to English speakers.

Confucius is a latin transliteration as opposed to an English one. Etymology might be a good starting point: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Confucius

This article is probably highly relevant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesuit_China_missions

Further reading: http://www.amazon.com/WINDOWS-INTO-CHINA-JESUITS-1580-1730/dp/B000ID3EIE


A city is located east/north/west/south of a country; what is the correct Chinese grammar for that? For example:
I want to say that Freiburg (in Germany) is located east of France.

My sentence was this:
弗莱堡在法国的东边。

This is also how we did it in class. But I'm starting to worry this sounds like it's IN THE east of France, since a Chinese friend of mine was very confused by it.
What woule be correct here?

A在B的东边 has two meanings，one meaning is that A is inside of B, another could be outside of B.

The first one can be stated more clearly as: A在B的东部，and the second one as A在B的东边上（也可用：A在B的东面）。

However, if you say A在B的东边，most Chinese will judge which mean by the context or by further questions. So you do not need worry too much


What is the verbatim translation for "都什么时候了" ? "什么时候" means verbatim "what time"

But, when i add 都 (adverb meaning "all") and 了(particle indicating either change of state or completion), i can not grasp what meaning is conveyed by this phrase.

Is there a sentence structure "都。。。。。了", that would shed some light on the semantics or some other explanation ?

都。。。了 indicates past/completion of an event with an emphasis on time, and sometimes it's equivalent of  don't you see

都（下午2点）了，你还没吃午饭呐？
You didn't have your lunch yet? Don't you see it's 2 PM already?


Wu dialect children's learning materials Are there any good resources for teaching our child Wu dialect. I'm looking for games / music / toys that have spoken songs or dialog so he can listen. He is 19 months and we have been speaking English, Mandarin and Wu with him but I think Wu has the least resources to support his education.

Wu music in bilibili:

吴语乐坛
吴语微信平台

dialog:

真纪

Wu in forvo


Ancient forms of characters According to Wiktionary, "This character, 朙, is an ancient form of 明".

I'd like to know what exactly ancient forms are and their current role in the language together with some academic reference, as well as where I can find a list of them.

Yet, a different term shown on this page seems to refer to the same concept, namely 'alternative forms'.

Lastly, the difference between these terms and 'traditional forms' should be clarified.

I'm afraid different people may use these terms in slightly different ways. But the way I understand it,

standard form 標準體 is one of several ways of writing a character, chosen as standard in a particular place and time (there are different standards: standard mainland forms, standard Taiwanese forms, standard Hong Kong forms, standard Kangxi forms, etc.),
variant form 異體字 is a non-standard form of the character, that nevertheless is or was in use at some point,
archaic/ancient/old form 古字 is a form that was used in the past, but is not anymore,
simplified form 簡體字 (in the narrow sense) is a form that has undergone simplification in mainland China,
inherited form 傳承字 is a form that hasn't undergone simplification, but is regarded as standard in mainland China,
simplified form 簡體字 (in the wide sense) is a simplified form or an inherited form,
traditional form 繁體字 (in the narrow sense) is a form of a simplified character before the simplification,
traditional form 繁體字 (in the wide sense) is basically any form that has been used to write Chinese, other than the simplified form in the narrow sense,
orthodox form 正字 is a form that was regarded as standard in the past, especially in the influential Kangxi dictionary (another term which refers to something similar is 舊字形),
vulgar form 俗字, 俗體字 is a non-orthodox form of the character.
I don't think alternative form is a well-defined term with a very specific meaning. In Wiktionary it seems to refer to different ways of writing the same characters in different languages (e.g. in Chinese and in Japanese), or to variant forms, when used in the context of a specific language. There are some Wiktionary editors here on Chinese SE, perhaps they can clarify this.

But as I said, these terms may vary. For example, 正字 sometimes means the same thing as 標準繁體字 (standard traditional form), and there are also contexts where it means 楷書 (regular script, one of the calligraphic styles).

And in case you are interested in the development of 明 and other ways it was written (such as 朙 and 眀), going all the way back to the earliest forms, such as , Chen Zhiqun wrote a whole chapter about 明 (chapter 5).

For a list of 古字, you can search for "old variant of", "archaic variant of", "ancient variant of" and "classical variant of" in the MDBG dictionary. I'm not sure whether “old”, “archaic”, “ancient” and “classical” are understood in different ways in MDBG.

For something more academic, you may want to take a look at the Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants, which contains over 100,000 variants, mostly ancient. But note that the dictionary is Chinese-only and has a terrible user interface.


What is the difference between 网上 and 在线? Both 网上 and 在线 mean "online".
What is the difference between 网上 and 在线?

Specifically, although “网上” and “在线” can be both translated as "oline", “网上” actually means "on the internet", “在线” means "online".

Here are some examples

  我在网上找到了这篇文章。

It means, I found this article online.

  我的 QQ 是在线的。

This means, the status of my QQ is online.

Although they were both translated to "online", I bet you can see the difference there with actual examples.


What semantic notions underlie 氵(left radcial for water) with 沮 (to prevent; to ruin; disheartened)? Is weeping the underlying semantic notion? Doubtless weeping involves water (tears), and usually follows gloom.   Unusually CUHK blazons no etymology. Yellowbridge.

汉字源流字典 (first picture) says its original meaning was muddy wetland.
王力古漢語字典 (second picture) also lists this meaning (but does not explicitly say whether it's the original meaning). There is also an example sentence where both 阻 and 沮 are used: 不知山林险阻沮泽之形也，不能行军。My understanding is that 阻 and 沮 are very similar but not exactly the same, with 沮 being water-related obstacles (swamps) and 阻 being mountain-related obstacles (the radical 阝 is usually related to hill or mountain).


Does "simplification" relation reflect "traditionalization" relation in Unihan? It is said many words here http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr38/#SCTC about kSimplifiedVariant and kTraditionalVariant field cases (5 cases). But I didn't understand, if these two relations reflect each other? For example if A is simplified version of B, then does it mean that B is traditional version of A?

Let me summarize the cases and try to answer your question (TC = Traditional Chinese character set, SC = Simplified Chinese character set).

Some characters were never simplified. For example, 井 U+4E95 is in TC and in SC (and for that matter, most characters). In the Unihan database, codepoints like these have neither a kSimplifiedVariant nor a kTranditionalVariant (both fields are empty).

There is a traditional version of the character, only present in TC. For example, 書 U+66F8 is in TC (and not in SC).  The kSimplifiedVariant of 書 is 书.

The is a simplified version of the character, only present in SC. For example, 书 U+4E66 is in SC (and not in TC). The kTraditionalVariant of 书 is 書.

The character is used in both character sets depending on context. This is a bit of a mess, and I've written more about it here

The relations should "reflect each other", but they're not a bijection
It should be the case that if X.kTraditionalVariant includes Y, then Y.kSimplifiedVariant includes X. When I last checked the data about a year ago, there was at least one bug where that wasn't the case.
This does not mean that the relation is one-to-one or onto. There are some cases that are truly bizarre; check this out here for all of the weird cases


What does 白沾 mean here? In Liang Qichao‘s 新民說 there is the chapter 公德，wherein he cauterizes the ostensible tendency of the Chinese to disregard collective virtue (公德) and only cultivate personal virtue (私德).

  那些只顾自己闷头做好人的人，强调自己虽然没为集体带来利益，但也没带来祸害。这是什么话？难道不知道对集体没好处的人就是有坏处的人吗？为啥这样说呢？因为集体能给我带来利益，而我却不能给集体带来利益，这就等于是我白沾集体的光，丝毫没对集体予以回报。

Rough meaning:

  Those who only mind themselves, pondering how to be a good person emphasize that, whilst they have brought no merit to the collective, they also haven’t contributed to its detriment. What kind of talk is this? Because, that the collective can bring advantage to me, but I cannot bring gains to it, amounts to 我白沾集体的光，丝毫没对集体予以回报。

沾便宜 is a variant of 佔便宜, in this case, »take unfair advantage of someone«.
In that sense, 沾光 means »to bask in the light of someone«.
I'd read 白 as »free« or »for nothing« here.
So the part of the sentence reads:

  而我却不能给集体带来利益，这就等于是我白沾集体的光，丝毫没对集体予以回报。
  So, if I can't give any advantage to the community, it means that I take its advantages for free, without giving anything back.


What's a mnemonic for remembering the characters in 建议 and 意见? This is a little bit embarrassing, considering I'm currently studying HSK6-level content, but I cannot memorize how to write the HSK4 words:

建议 (jiànyì)
CC-CEDICT: to propose / to suggest / to recommend / proposal / suggestion / recommendation / CL: 個｜个, 點｜点
意见 (yìjiàn)
CC-CEDICT: idea / opinion / suggestion / objection / complaint / CL: 點｜点, 條｜条

So...
Question: What's a mnemonic for remembering the characters in 建议 and 意见?

Just remember:
建立 - erect
议論 - theory
建议 (raise theories) --> to suggest (v) --> suggestion (n)
~
意 - mind
见 - see
意见 (mind see) --> idea ; opinion
Just associate the single characters in these compound words with other related compound words. In short, cross reference them
Also see 认识 vs 知道 based on glyph origins


Use of 以 in 臣以弑君、可謂仁呼 I'm not sure what this sentence means. My dictionary lists 以 as having an adverb-like function of indicating purpose or result so my best guess in translation would be "A vassal intending to kill/having killed his lord, can this be called 仁?"

Is this even remotely correct? Is there any way to disambiguate purpose and result without further context?

Also, what is the relationship of this 以 to the other 以 in a sentence like 王以舟去國, "The king left the state on a boat". Are they etymologically related or two different words pronounced similarly or unknown?

EDIT: I didn't realize that there were typos in the quotation:

  The original one should be 臣 以臣弑君、可謂仁乎 呼

I suppose 臣以弑君 might be an uncommon variant, but it is still grammatical.

臣以弑君 = 以臣弑君  killing his lord as a vassal.

以 is used as a preposition “as” but the word order is reversed, making it looks like a post-position. The sentence structure is similar to 以下犯上 and 以弱胜强

You can also think this 以 means “and”, so 臣以弑君 meaning “being a vassal but killing his lord”. Although it's common to see 以 be used as “and”, I cannot think of any examples of using 以 as “but”. When I wrote this, I just thought 以 and 而 are sometimes interchangeable. e.g. 臣而弑君 sounds fine to me, which is similar to “人而不仁”, “人而无信”, “君而知礼” ... But 人以无信, etc. do not sound good.

I think either interpretation doesn't make much difference.

以 originally meant  “take” or “use” and was later used as a preposition meaning “by”, “through”, “via”, “with” “because”, etc. e.g.

王以舟去國 (by the way, where does this sentence come from?)

It's also common to put the object before it, e.g.

仁以為己任 = 以仁為己任, take 仁 as one's responsibility

However, 何以 and 是以 almost never become 以何 and 以是.

Sometimes the object 是 (this) or 之 (it) does not appear at all, which makes 以 look like a conjunction meaning “in this way”, “because of this”, “in order to” or “then”.

溫故而知新，可以為師矣

Sometimes, the original meaning of 以 becomes totally lost and 以 becomes a pure conjunction meaning “and”, which is similar to 而.

夫夷以近，則遊者眾；險以遠，則至者少。


poems/phrases/quotes/sayings/idioms/stories/allegories: evil vs. good Evil vs. good is the theme of most (slightly exaggerated) works.
The list of works I have only contain things like:

天下乌鸦一般黑
老鼠过街，人人喊打
臭味相投
狼狈为奸

but these are all mostly just talking about evil itself and not comparing/contrasting the two.
Any stories/allegories or poems and phrases/quotes/sayings about the evil vs. good would be most welcomed.
edit: 邪不能胜正 is good...

to contrast the good & evil, i would suggest the pairs of "君子" vs "小人" & "善" vs "惡".

論語﹒述而

君子坦蕩蕩﹒小人長戚戚

莊子﹒山木

君子之交淡若水﹒小人之交甘若醴

國語﹒周語下

從善如登﹒從惡如崩

公羊傳﹒昭公二十年

君子之善善也長﹒惡惡也短﹒惡惡止其身﹒善善及子孫


What is the difference between 公分 and 厘米? What is the difference between 公分and 厘米?

As far as I searched both of them mean centimeter, but which of them is correct in using centimeter in terms of size?

In 1928, the government of the Republic of China introduced the metric system to China (read more). It translated "centimeter" into 「公分」.

Later in 1959, the government of the People's Republic of China standardized the measurement unit in mainland China (read more). It translated "centimeter" into 「厘米」.

So currently some elder people in mainland China still use 「公分」(like my grandparents on both sides), and the younger generation tends to use 「厘米」. For the same reason, Taiwanese would more often use 「公分」.

My advice is to use 「厘米」when you communicate with people from mainland China, and use 「公分」 with Taiwanese (Usually they can understand「釐米」, but it sometimes is confusing and ambiguous thanks to 「公厘」).


How would I say "beauty"? I'm doing a project for my Mandarin class, and we're designing a mall. One of the components I want to include is a level for health and beauty, like makeup, etc. I've looked up translations of "beauty", but they all seem to be referring to a person, like a woman who is beautiful.

How would you say "beauty" in the context above?

美妝would be the all encompassing term. It's a general term for beauty and cosmetics, with beauty being things like hair accessories, makeup applicators, etc.
If it is a department store you're designing, you'd likely break it down into more specific categories such as cosmetics, hair care, and so forth.


Pronunciation of the vowel "i" in Pinyin si What is the pronunciation of the vowel I in Pinyin si? /ɪ/, /ɘ/ or /ɨ/ ? Each website I read describe it differently.

Please answer using IPA symbols.

The closest is /ɨ/, at least in Taiwan where the accent is very free-flowing. In Beijing it's more like the /z/ in the comments above.


Authoritative source for translators For translators, is there an authoritative source they go to where they can check translations are accurate?

For example say there was a political conference and someone wasn't sure if the word should be "distraught" or "upset" when quoting a Chinese diplomat. Is there anywhere they can go (an offical body, a book etc.) to get some sort of official information or where they can challenge a current translation of a word?

I've seen articles written in newspapers where the translation doesn't quite fit or they use a word that is archaic and I wonder if that is an agreed upon translation or it is just a dictionary look-up.

We (professional translators) generally check accepted sources such as official government publications from the government involved. We may take versions in a language that is not the native or strongest language for that country with a grain of salt, but often we have to accept them even if they sound bad. Remember that a translation being "official" has nothing to do with it being accurate!  Many official English translations of Chinese-language speeches or documents are really poor English, but we use the awkward sounding English formulations because they are the official version.

There are usually commonly-used formulaic utterances in Chinese (for example) that are accepted as having a particular meaning in English for diplomatic purposes. Again, that would be determined by referring to the small circle of official translators at high levels, or reference to published bilingual editions of speeches that come from official sources. Just because Johnny No-name says the word should be translated "X" and not "Y" doesn't make his version official (and, as has been said, just because the official version says "Y" and not "X" doesn't make that correct.)

Things get more interesting when you are interpreting in a court situation. At that time, there tends to be a lot of he-said, she-said going on as both sides challenge the exact wording chosen by the interpreter or translator whose work is being dissected. Of course both sides simply want their point of view to prevail. The fact is that language is not simple, and there's generally no absolute correct answer for what is the "correct" way to say something in another language unless the original statement is unbelievably simple. Even when it is, if a witness (or a government official!) wants to be non-responsive, the interpreter is left looking silly as he accurately interprets the response. I was in a court case once in a local court where the witness was asked how long the leash on a dog was (it was a dog attack case) and the witness actually answered "The leash was red." That's not an accuracy issue per se, but often if the audience doesn't understand the second language, it seems like it is a problem with the interpreter's accuracy.


Translation from English to Chinese of the song "The Final Countdown" I've tried to translate the first part of the song The final countdown, can you correct me?

We're leaving together
我們離開一起。
But still it's farewell
但是，還有告別。
And maybe we'll come back
可能我們來到這兒一邊
To earth, who can tell
在世界，誰知道
I guess there is no one to blame
我想沒有怪一個人
We're leaving ground (leaving ground)
 我們起飛 （起飛）
Will things ever be the same again
東西可以是就像以前？
It's the final countdown...
這是最後倒計時
The final countdown
最後倒計時
Ooh oh
噢噢
We're heading for Venus (Venus)
我們去到金星（金星）
And still we stand tall
我們仍然在站
Cause maybe they've seen us
因為可能這個人看看我們
And welcome us all (yeah)
而歡迎我
With so many light years to go
有多光年
And things to be found (to be found)
找多東西
I'm sure that we'll all miss her so
我知道我們想念她
It's the final countdown...
這是最後倒計時

Since your own translation is in Traditional Chinese, I used the same.
Besides, my translation is context-based (or I tried to make it that way), so some words are not literally translated. In case you want to learn more, further explanation is provided below.

We're leaving together
我們（要）一起離開
But still it's farewell
但這依然是離別
And maybe we'll come back
或許我們會再回來
To earth, who can tell
到地球上，誰能預料到？
I guess there is no one to blame
我想不該怪誰
We're leaving ground (leaving ground)
我們（將要）離開地面（離開地面）
Will things ever be the same again
一切還會像以前一樣嗎
It's the final countdown...
最後的倒數開始了...
The final countdown
最後的倒數
Ooh oh
噢噢
We're heading for Venus (Venus)
我們正往金星前進（金星）
And still we stand tall
而我們仍然堅挺
Cause maybe they've seen us
因為或許他們已經看到我們
And welcome us all (yeah)
且歡迎我們（是啊）
With so many light years to go
儘管有這麼多光年要走過
And things to be found (to be found)
還有這麼多事物去探索（去探索）
I'm sure that we'll all miss her so
我相信我們都會這麼想著它
It's the final countdown...
最後的倒數開始了...

  我們（將要）一起離開

將要 is added to better visualize the moment.

  誰能預料

The literal translation is 誰能告訴, but such translation does not make sense in Chinese. Besides, in this context, tell translates to 預料.

  一切還會像以前一樣嗎

Things = 東西, but in this context, the meaning is probably (every)thing, which translates to 一切. Using 東西 itself as the subject does not make sense anyway.

  最後的倒數開始了...

It's the final countdown here implies that the countdown has started, hence the phrase 開始了.

  而我們仍然堅挺

Stand tall does not literally mean standing tall but rather being brave and proud. As such, 堅挺 or 堅強 or 挺立 are some more appropriate words here.

  還有這麼多事物去探索

to be found literally means 被找到, but, in my opinion, it's probably more natural to say 去探索 or to seek/search for.

  我相信我們都會這麼想著它

sure, in this context, means 相信; her(female) translates to 它(nonliving) because in Chinese, people usually don't use her to refer to, say, Earth, country, etc.


What semantic notions underlie "to think; to contemplate", with "but; however; nevertheless" with "only"? I know that meaning 3 originates from  忄 used here as the semantic component (Yellowbridge exhibits this more clearly below). But how did 3 semantically shift to 1, 2? Their lexical categories all differ!
Please answer separately for 1 and 2, because even in English, 1 and 2 don't mean the same.
Their lexical categories all differ!

but; however; nevertheless
only
to think; to contemplate
† Alternative form of 唯 (wéi, “to be”).

Their lexical categories all differ!

That is common in Chinese, especially in Classical Chinese.

How did 3 semantically shift to 1, 2?

Sometimes the different meanings of a character are not evolved from the same origin. In ancient times, people often designated a character with a certain meaning merely for the reason that it shares the sound of the oral language of that meaning, and so is the case.
By the way, meaning 1 & 2 were fixed over 2200 years ago (before Qin Dynasty), and there are some other characters that is interchageable with 惟 under certain meanings (listed in bold font).
Let me list a relatively comprehensive entry of 惟（meanings still common in modern Chinese will be intalicized）：
Original meaning:
v.
维：凡思（to think），即浮泛之思，寻常之思。
e.g. 惟念圣意，谛听民声。
为：是（be）
e.g. 不变惟何？《天演论》
唯：顺遂，听从（to obey, to submit）
e.g. 惟惟诺诺=唯唯诺诺
希望，愿请（hope sb. to do sth.）
e.g. 万惟留心！《英烈传》
在于（lie in）
刑惟善察，谋惟善断。
adv.
唯，维：只有，单（only）
e.g. 惟吾德馨《陋室铭》
唯，维：发语词，希望（wish）
e.g. 先王无流连之乐，荒亡之行，惟君所行也。《孟子》
conj.
即使，虽然（even if，though）
e.g. 惟信亦为大王不如也。《史记》


What do these 将 and 为 mean? 警方将小印度一带规划为受管制区，不许任何人在管制区内公共场所喝酒。

Not sure how these 将 and 为 are used grammar-wise. If I were to break it down:

(警方)（将）（小印度一带）（规划）（为）（受管制区）

（police）（towards/把？）(little india) (plans) (???) (area under surveillance)

As a whole I understand that the police plans to put little India under surveillance. Could someone explain the grammar please?

"为" is "as" here. "Subject + 将 + object + verb" is equal to "subject + verb + object".

So  警方将小印度一带规划为受管制区 is equal to 警方规划小印度一带为受管制区


我(也)很好 and tone sandhi What are the (resultant) tones in those sentences, where all the words in isolation have 3rd tone?

  我很好。
  我也很好。

Reading tone shandhi rules on Wikipedia, there is no explanation about tree or four single-syllable words with 3rd tones.

Looking at 我很好 this falls into the "When there are three 3rd tones in a row"

The 我 is one syllable so it falls into this part:

  If the first word is one syllable, and the second word is two
  syllables, the first syllable becomes half-3rd tone (˨˩), the second
  syllable becomes 2nd tone, and the last syllable stays 3rd tone

For this 我也很好 this is logically split like this (我也) and (很好) which would result in two lots of

  the first syllable becomes 2nd tone (˧˥), and the second syllable
  becomes a half-3rd tone (˨˩)

At least that's what the rules say. As per my comment above, don't bother memorizing this. It is more likely an incidental phenomenon as a result of regular use of the language. In other words, you will pick it up by learning to speak it fluently rather than trying to learn it from paper.


In 立下了汗马功劳, how should I understand 立下了 ("set up") 汗马功劳 ("war exploits")? In many example sentences for the chengyu

汗马功劳
hànmǎgōngláo
war exploits; (fig.) heroic contribution[src]

we see 立下了汗马功劳, e.g.:

他参加过许多战役, 立下了汗马功劳, 但他仍然很谦虚。

I don't understand this because 立下 = "to set up; to establish"[src].  It doesn't make sense to me how someone can "set up war exploits", etc.  I'm sure I'm misunderstanding something here.
Question: How should I understand 立下了 ("set up") 汗马功劳 ("war exploits")?

立下 can be understood in a more smooth manner. It can represent set up as you said, when trying to express set up a contract or so. Examples include 立下誓言。
But in general it can also generalize to mean create, or make something happen. 立下誓言=make the 誓言 happen，立下汗马功劳=make the 汗马功劳 happen，etc。
Also, as Ho pointed out in the answer, 立功 is a common collocation, as earn credits for one's contribution. However I disagree with his understanding on properly usage of the 汗马功劳. Your example is completely correct in modern Chinese, and holds even in its original meaning (which specifies on military contributions).


Does (western) humor exist in Chinese culture? How do you use the language to make friends with Chinese? Some Chinese, especially those in China, have no concpets of western humor and their interpretation could be unexpected. Satire can be interpreted as personal attack and self mocking can be interpreted as some crazyness.

How do you use the language to make some jokes that are considered okay and actually make them laugh?

Is making jokes the wrong approach to make friends with Chinese? How do you make friends with Chinese using the language?

A difficult question! In China, people of different ages, doing different jobs, having different hobbies may all find their own senses of humor. Many that the young finds laughable may not sound funny at all in an elder's ears.

There is, however, cultural gap between China and the West in the sense of humor.

We don't think clumsiness, backfiring, trouble making, etc. are funny, as in many 'try not to laugh challenge' on YouTube. On the contrary, they are boring even annoying.
We sense humor in quick wit response, contradiction of words and action (in a funny way), unexpected turning of a story, etc. We call a piece of organized passage aiming at making people laugh 段子. 段子 are often based on something heated on the Internet, which is called 梗 (originating from 哏). People will laugh when you cleverly use a 梗, which is called 玩梗, but they are short lived, once they lost popularity, you seem silly to 玩老梗 (using an old fashioned 梗 to make a joke). And netizens will banter you with something like: “日本投降矣！” “北京申奥成功了！” “你也在网上冲浪？” (They are all very old events or old fashioned wording.)

It s not easy to define the criteria of funny or not. Arhh, it has been so long since I last laughed at mere text. Nowadays jokes are all in the forms of pics, gifs, and videos mixed with texts. In daily life, people don't talk jokes to ease the atmosphere, instead they talk about funny things they experienced, or funny news they heard.


What does 为 do in 鸦片战争后，天津开放为通商口岸? 鸦片战争后，天津开放为通商口岸。
  Jukuu

I'm confused about 为 in this example sentence from Jukuu.  I think the sentence means:

  After the Opium Wars, Tianjin opened "treaty ports".

I understand these refer to foreign-run treaty ports, as part of the unequal treaties.  So my guess is that 为 is short for 作为 = "to act as", but I'm unsure.

Question: What does 为 do in 鸦片战争后，天津开放为通商口岸?

为 means 变成 / 成为 here.

  (7) 变成，成为 [become]

  何遽不为福。——《淮南子·人间训》

  不能为祸。

  终为忠臣。——《世说新语·自新》

  而改为入。——宋· 洪迈《容斋续笔》

The sentence means Tianjin (was) opened and became treaty port.


How can I say "孤陋寡闻" in English? In a situation like:

My friend: 你知道StackExchange吗?
Me: 不知道啊, 孤陋寡闻了.

how can I properly translate 孤陋寡闻了 here? "I am being ignorant"?

你知道 StackExchange吗?
You know StackExchange?

不知道啊, 孤陋寡闻了。
Nope, I'm so out of touch.


Help with chinese letters Hi I own a printing company and a client submitted the following documents so that I recreate for him following stamps

https://imgur.com/a/VnMvuX6

https://imgur.com/a/i2HakSJ

I have no idea what these stamps are and what is written there, my questions

1) Is it legally ok for the stamps to be recreated?

2) If yes, could someone be so nice and type for me the letters which are within the red circles.

Thank you

it's stamps of p.r.c. governmental office.

don't do it

counterfeiting government stamp is an serious offence; in most of places in this world, it's criminal activities.

again, don't do it

edited.

@john frazer, CL is not an "underground / dark" site. imo, your comments are inappropriate. encouraging others to "recreate a stamp", may i ask, what's the moral?

about "what law in what jurisdiction prohibits that", here're:

provided by @frenzy li. in mainland china, the 中華人民共和國刑法　第二百八十條

  偽造、變造、買賣或者盜竊、搶奪、毀滅國家機關的公文、證件、印章的，處三年以下有期徒刑、拘役、管制或者剝奪政治權利，並處罰金；情節嚴重的，處三年以上十年以下有期徒刑，並處罰金。

https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hant/中华人民共和国刑法

in colonial era, there's a "forgery ordinance" in hong kong, which mentioned:

  forge or counterfeit the stamp or impression of ariy of the seals

http://oelawhk.lib.hku.hk/items/show/206

i hope that, this should provide enough info for you, to stop the thinking of "make a stamp that looks like an official stamp".

again, such act is an offence, don't do it.


Why is 在 translated as "during" in this sentence rather then "at"? This sentence
中国人喜欢在端午节吃粽子。
is translated as,
Chinese People like to eat Zongzi during the Dragon Boat Festival.
Why is 在 translated as "during" rather then "at".

Don't use 'at the Dragon Boat Festival', that suggests to me a festival in a specific geographical location or place.
You could say 'at 5 o'clock' or 'at midnight', because those are specific times. 'At Christmas time' designates a specific time in the year.
在端午节这天，人们都喜欢吃粽子。
During the Dragon Boat Festival, everybody likes munching Zongzi.
or
On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, everybody likes munching Zongzi.


What is the difference between 做番 vs. 做返? A friend (Mainland Chinese, living in Hong Kong) recently posted the following sentence on Facebook:

  聖誕節買禮物?做番中國人啦!

As I had never seen the "做番" construction before, I asked if perhaps she had mistyped the phrase, and had wanted to use "做返" instead, seeing as the pinyin would be the same for both.

She responded that, in this case, both were OK.

Is her assessment accurate? Why would one use "做番" instead of "做返"? Is there a subtle difference in meaning?

Both 做番 and 做返 are used to represent the Cantonese expression, jouh fāan.

There is a reason why some people choose to write 番 and others write 返.  Etymologically speaking, 返 is the correct character to use.  However, because the traditional literary pronunciation of 返 is fáan (2nd tone) instead of fāan (1st tone), some people will write 番 instead to make it explicitly clear that the 1st tone reading is intended (even though the original usage of 番 has nothing to do with 返).

Because written Cantonese is not standardized, both characters are typically seen; so your friend is not wrong when she said that both are okay.

BTW, the reason why 返 came to be pronounced in the 1st tone rather than its traditional 2nd tone is most likely due to changed tones, a phenomenon that affects various words in Cantonese (this phenomenon somewhat analogous to how erhua affects various words in Mandarin).


Beyond 习惯 a general “framework” desired for 得's uses in “主语”“动词” 得是什么?, “主语” “动词” 得是鸟语，“主语” “动词” 得 “名词,” et cetera Concerning the use of 得, which in my text below is to always be pronounced using the pinyin romanization “de,” after a verb I am familiar with the structures

A: “Subject verb 得 (adjective transformed to adverb)” like 他跑得快 and

B: “Subject verb 得很 (adjective transformed to adverb)” like 他跑得很快,

as well as potential complements like

C: 听得懂 and

D: 办得了 (bàndeliǎo).

But the following structures E-H using 得 don't match more general forms of any of the above structures A-D. --Please consider them.

E:  她说得不是, in which 不是 （bùshi) in this case is a noun with a different pronunciation from búshì that one might expect if 是 (shì) were otherwise far more commonly used as a verb.

F: 讥笑听话的人不懂对方说得是什么。 (http://digchinese.com/en/saying?page=2635 on the Internet).  After talking with a native Mandarin Chinese speaker I think the meaning of this sentence could be more obvious for a Westerner learning the Mandarin Chinese language with a good Mandarin Chinese-language dictionary if it would instead be written as （某人）讥笑听话的特定人不懂对方说得是什么 or   （某人）讥笑听话的那个人不懂对方说得是什么 or（某人）讥笑听话的人，他不懂对方说得是什么 or （某人）讥笑听话的人。---他不懂对方说得是什么。

G.  …..或是说得是鸟语 (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCsQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.zhangxinxu.com%2Fwordpress%2F2012%2F05%2Fhtml5-speech-x-webkit-grammar%2F&ei=xMlKVKvvA5S3yASP34KIBQ&usg=AFQjCNFdv1IUDPNtUUcugEhhTFyA069k4Q&bvm=bv.77880786,d.aWw), with help from a native Mandarin Chinese speaker meaning “perhaps what (he or she?) says is bird's language,” so is nonsense for human beings.  (I understood from a native Mandarin Chinese speaker that this would be very impolite speech because it would be talking about a human being like he is a bird, which he or she is not!)

H.  你说得是什么？ With help from a native Mandarin Chinese speaker I think this means something like “You say what?” or “What do you say?”.  I think this is a very commonly used interrogatory statement among native speakers of the Mandarin Chinese language.  So I think it could be a good, yet short example of the sort of sentence structure I want to discuss here.  Note the difference between this question and the question using 的 instead of 得of 你说的话是什么？.  I suppose that 你说得是什么？and 你说的话是什么？would have the same meanings.

Question 1: May I regard the above structures E-H as more general forms of the above structures A and B in which a noun or the pronoun （代词）什么following “verb 得”can replace an adverb (副词)  following “verb 得”?  If so, this might be the simplest way for me to accept an understandable “framework” for structures of the forms of A, B, and E-H.

Question 2: May I consider all of the structures A-H generally as complements (补语) with the cases C and D considered as particular types of complements called potential complements?

@user58955 is correct. Example E to H are wrong usages of 得, they all should be 的 instead.

E. 她说的不是。 What she said is not. (This is a bad example. As you can see in the English translation, something is missing here.)
F. 不懂对方说的是什么。 Doesn't understand what the opponent says.
G. 你说的是鸟语。 What you said is lingua avis.
H. 你说的是什么？ What is it that you said?

The pattern is obvious.

Now let's take a look at example A to D:

A. 他跑得快。 He runs fast.
B. 他跑得很快。 He runs very fast.
C. 听得懂。 Listen get understood.
D. 办得了。 Do get done.

Notice in these 4 examples, 得 acts as a connecting device between the verb and the status or result of the verb. Also notice that the weight of the sentence is on the status or result, 快, 懂, or 了. This is how you use 得 to form complements. In a sense A, B are only slightly different from C, D in there specific purposes, but the major function is the same.

Example A and B -- You wouldn't call the English counterparts complements, do you? But remember I talked about the weights. If the weight is on the modifier, the modifier would be considered as a complement. If you want a non-complementary adverb, you need to use this form:

他飞快地跑。 He quickly runs.

Now the weight is on the verb 跑, and 飞快地 acts 状语 instead of 补语.
Example C and D -- There just isn't an English counterpart. This might be why it's confusing you and making you think it's special. It's not. You just have to think the Chinese way.


Official Pinyin of 《卜》 in 《卜姓》： "Bǒ", "Bo" or "Bǔ"? I've chosen a family for my Chinese name. I derived it from "Булыгин" in Russian. So of course there are no relatives to explain it to me.

This family is rare, and in the English Wikipedia I can see no page for it. Also, all families there are without Pinyin marks, and I have impression that they are not just Pinyin without marks, but romanization, "o" changes to "u" there, and 《卜》 becomes "Bu", like in Russian. In text to speach engines it indeed sounds like "Bu". Google Translate interpretes 《卜姓》 as "Bo xìng", with zero tone, and in another sources I have found that when being a family it should be "Bǒ" in the third one. Baike gives error 500 if I try to click 《卜》 in 《百家姓》 。 Japanese Wikipedia has a dedicated page, and Pinyin is stated to be "Bǔ" there. I'm lost. Where is the truth?

This family name is very rare. I personally don't know anyone around me with this family name. The authoritative dictionary "新华字典" lists Bǔ as the correct pronunciation for the family name.

The pronunciation "Bo" (neutral tone) is only used in the word 萝卜, which is a plant (radish), and we even have 胡萝卜(carrot).


What is this handwritten character? I'm trying to identify the first character in this image:

If it helps, the pronunciation is meant to be "pong" (the whole phrase is Cantonese "pong hau kei"). I've tried looking through some Jyutping dictionaries for "pong" but I can't figure out if any of the characters match – the right-hand side seems to be significantly simplified in the handwritten version.

I believe the following two characters are "口棋", and the whole phrase is the name of a simple game.

I have found this word. Please refer to: Simplified -- Traditional

Simplified as [䦁] while Traditional as []

粵語：bong1, not "pong"
English Meaning: a broad hoe, a mattock


Has 咖啡色 replaced 茶色 in everyday use for "brown", or can I use both? I've learned that 咖啡色 now is the most common way of saying "brown". Does that mean that saying 茶色 now is outdated, and not used any more, or are both words still used?

Would also be interesting to know if these are considered to be the same color, or if there is indeed a difference between what shade of brown they are used to describe.

Their colors are similar and close. Usually, 茶色 is short of 茶叶色(color of red tea) and used for glass. For example, 茶色玻璃.  Well, 咖啡色 is usually used for other objects. Like, 咖啡色皮夹克. But it's not wrong if replace one with the other in any case.


Is 你是哪个人 the correct way to ask where you are from in China? I saw one of my friends used "你是哪个人" to ask where you are from in China. I thought it is the valid expression to date.

However, I just used it to a Chinese people and she didn't understand it. So I wonder whether it is a correct way to ask where she is from in China.

My question:

Is 你是哪个人 the valid sentence?
If it is not, what is the correct way of asking "Where are you from (in China)?"? I know 你是哪国人 is what you use to ask where she is from, country-wise. Maybe 你是哪里人 is close to it but is it correct? Otherwise what is the best way to ask where a person is from within a country, without a chance of getting an answer as "中国"?

No, "你是哪个人" doesn't make much sense here. It translates into "Which one you are?".

Instead, you shall say "你是哪里人" as you have put.

If you are looking at the picture and you cannot recognize which one is your friend. You will probably ask "哪个人是你" literally means "Which one (in the picture) is you?"