What is "Black tie optional" in Chinese I'm writing a wedding invitation in both Chinese and English.  In English, the dress code is "black tie optional", which means guests are given the option to either wear a tuxedo or a proper dark coloured suit.  What would the equivalent of this be in Chinese?

Candidates I have so far are

正裝
禮服

Neither seem to accurately capture the equivalent of "black tie optional".  Any other suggestions?  If it matters, this invite will mostly be sent to people in Hong Kong.


What is the meaning of 心理活动 here? I have this sentence at the beginning of a short 听力练习。

就一般心理活动而言，人们并非总是喜欢被别人称赞的。

心理 = mental, psychological 活动 = activity, action

Together 心理活动 just means 'mental movements'? = thoughts? Is that the meaning?

就一般心理活动而言， = My general thoughts on this matter are,

You are right about 心理 and 活动 and 心理活动.

The key to understand this sentence is 就...而言, which means with regards to/in terms of/based on.

  就一般心理活动而言 = With regards to the general psychological process, ...

The verbiage is not very precise in Chinese. My understanding is 'general' here refers to people in normal mental state.

The whole sentence means 'From psychological standpoint, (normal) people are not accepting praise at all time'.


Does the word '县子‘ exist？ I wonder if the word "县子" colloquially exists in the Chinese language.
I’ve probably heard this word before, and I‘m not exactly sure, but I blurrily remember it was from a conversation between my grandparents.
I suppose this is like an infrequently used dialectical term in Chinese and the infrequency of its usage, and perhaps to a certain extent, its uncommonness makes it only conversationally and dialectically correct and particularly not acceptable in formal situations.
句子有：
她们几个去那儿的县子了。
Thank you in advance.

Thank you very much for your help!

子 in words like 筷子, 裤子 is a padding to make single character words fit into modern Chinese which favours double character words. Most Chinese people picked them up as they build vocabulary and aren't taught any rule on formulating these.
However, if you want a rough rule, then 子 is like the English suffix '-let' which only fits on nouns that can be seen as small.
In Chinese thinking, only 村/village is small enough to be called 村子.
--
However, to avoid the awkwardness of using the single-character geographical words 省/城/县/乡/镇/etc, other suffixes like "里" are used instead.
For example, 看这个病得去省里/城里/县里/乡里/镇里 (This disease can only be treated in the [nearest] provincial [capital]/city/county/township/town).
"里" obviously means inside, which is more fitting for larger geographical areas.


What is the real original of 微妙在智，触类而长 ，玄通阴了， 巧夺造化 I was trying, in my poor way, to make sense of these old 4 character stanzas from 郭璞《葬经》.

微妙在智，触类而长 ，玄通阴了， 巧夺造化

An American told me, this is not correct, I should look up the original first. It should be:

微妙在智，触类而长 ，玄通阴阳， 巧夺造化

This was written a long time ago. The 'original' most probably does not exist. How can I know what is the original?

I find both versions on baidu.

the 四庫全書 (imperial collection of four), 文淵閣 version,  had the book 葬書. the author was marked as "郭璞" of 晉 dynasty.

my mistake here, as another comment indicated, the last fourth character is "功", not "巧".

there are two occurrences of the verse "微妙在智﹒觸類而長", both of them is followed by "玄通陰陽﹒功奪造化".

one of them is the text, another one is remark.

secondly, based on my experience, the verse "玄通陰了" is non-sense, in literary chinese.

btw, the internet archive has a copy of "葬經箋註"

https://archive.org/details/02094303.cn

lastly, imo, any text that's earlier than 1911, you must do the research in traditional chinese.

then, no baidu, use google.


Function of 令 in 你日日喺我耳邊唱歌令我好壓抑 (cantonese) 你日日喺我耳邊唱歌令我好壓抑。

In this statement, what is the function of 令？ and why is it not 對？ I was kind of expecting to see a “對” somewhere here.

令 has the meaning of "make"

你日日喺我耳邊唱歌[令]我好壓抑
You sing by my ear side everyday [make] me very depress

對 means "to"

你日日喺我耳邊唱歌, [對]我是一种折磨
You sing by my ear side everyday, [to] me is a kind of torture
You sing by my ear side everyday is a kind of torture [to] me

Notice: "令"(make) is a verb. "對" (to) is a preposition


How to understand 美人只配强者拥有? I know its meaning. But I can't understand it in grammar.
And does that means when it becomes an adage or 梗, we don't need to care about the grammar?

"美人只配(被)强者拥有" is  a [(topic) + (comment/ opinion)] sentence.
(this phrase diminish the value of beauties)

It is not an adage

Topic: 美人 (beautiful women)

Comment: 只配被强者拥有 (only worthy of being owned by the strong ones)

美人 (beautiful women)
只配 (only worthy of)
被(by) omitted
强者(the strong one)
拥有 (to own)
The sentence above means "Beautiful women only deserve to be owned by the strong ones"
Substitute the topic and comment:

木棒只配給材民作武器
Topic: 木棒 (Wooden stick)
Comment: 只配給村民作武器 (only worthy of used as weapon by villagers)

~

聖劍只有英雄才配揮舞
Topic: :聖劍 (Holy sword)
Comment: 只有英雄才配揮舞 (only hero deserve to swing it)

"美人只配(被)强者拥有" is different from "只有强者才配拥有美人" (only the strong ones deserve to own beautiful women). Which is a [SVO] sentence

只有强者才配拥有美人 (only the strong ones deserve  to own beautiful women)
(this phrase elevate the status of the strong ones)

[S] = 强者 (the strong ones)
[V] = 拥有 (own)
[O] = 美人 (beautiful women)
只有 ~ 才 ~ is a conjunction  (only)
配 (worthy of) is an adverb for the verb 拥有 (own)


Is there a Chinese idiom that involves a "Creator"? Background
This recently retracted article on the scientific journal PlosOne was retracted (amongst other reasons) due to concerns that the authors were adherents to the pseudoscientific theory of "intelligent design".
However, one blog post regarding the article makes the (unsupported) claim that the retraction is racist, and the scientifically unacceptable phrases are actually mistranslations due to the poor command of English by the authors.

So by now you probably know that PLOSONE retracted a paper about the mechanics of the hand for including phrases about "the mystery of the creator's design". Which sounds like an intelligent design argument sneaking into a scientific publication.
Except it wasn't. It was a poor translation of a Chinese idiom, which the author states would have been better translated as "nature".

Question:
Is there any idiom in Chinese that translates to any of the two following phrases used in English?

1: Hand coordination should indicate the mystery of the Creator’s invention.
2: The explicit functional link indicates that the
biomechanical characteristic of tendinous connective architecture between muscles and articulations is the proper design by the Creator to perform a multitude of daily tasks in a comfortable way.

The authors's claim seems likely true.  Of course among the several authors and the editor who passed the article on, some may have had a different idea than others.

Victor Mair at http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=24360 was right to say "no matter what the authors may have meant if they were thinking of a Chinese term, or even if they weren't thinking of a particular Chinese term, paper was written in English for consumption by the international community of scientists, and ... conveys the wrong message for a scientific paper."  Really the paper should not have been printed this way.

But historically there has been huge debate over how ancient, or classical, or later Chinese, ideas of 天 relate to western religious ideas.  Does 天 mean God, or god, or heaven, or just sky as a metaphor for the grandest most stable aspect of existence?  Even within the 论语/Analects some occurrences seem quite materialistic, so that it would mean overall nature, and others more anthropomorphic suggesting a God with personal intentions.  Many other characters have similar ambiguity and there is every reason to suppose that through history different Chinese people have meant different things by this.

I have not found a source giving the original Chinese from this paper.  But the website http://wap.sciencenet.cn/info.aspx?mod=news&id=339768 discusses this case and offers several idioms, which they claim would not seem religious to most Chinese people but would to many westerners:

相信很多母语为中文的朋友都会理解，“造物主” “神奇的造物主” “上帝之手”……当初赵忠祥在《动物世界》里不都是这么讲的吗？在我们眼里这样的表达和“大自然”无异，也并不会有任何宗教相关的意识和概念。但是当这些东西放到英文环境下，其含义往往会丰富起来。

At first I was not clear on the phrase 赵忠祥, but March Ho's comment led me to find it is the name of the narrator of a TV show  《动物世界》 (Animal World).

Certainly those idioms can be religious in Chinese.  But "上帝" is also used for what some western physicists call the "God Particle"--the Higgs boson, and that is never understood religiously.

Mair goes on to say:

  Even if they were unaware that "the Creator" — especially when
  capitalized, as it always is in the paper under consideration —
  generally refers to the Judeo-Christian God, at least Le Xiong must
  have been aware that the Latin suffix -or indicates one who performs a
  specified action.  Thus "the Creator" (not "a creator") is a very
  different proposition from "creation".

But within the English language many creationists say just as indignantly that everyone should know the suffix "tion" in words like option, election, creation, indicates that someone has opted, or elected, or created something, so they insist "Creator" is not a different proposition from "creation."  I am not willing to blame the authors for ignoring Latin etymology.

As to the article, yes it should not have appeared this way.  As to what the authors meant, as Stan well says,  the authors don't believe in creationism, and they didn't mean it.


Can I replace 给 with 替 or 为？ Below are just 2 example sentences for the general format '[phrase]地给[noun][verb][phrase]'.

他十分坦率地给我讲了他的故事.
他很不情愿地给了我帮助.

This type of sentence is very common in Chinese. I would like to know if, generally speaking, it is acceptable in Chinese to replace '给' with '替' or '为'.  If you are Chinese, would you find that acceptable in most, if not all, cases?

No. The words have different meanings.

Let's look at your first sentence:
他十分坦率地[给]我讲了他的故事 : He openly told me his story.

If we were to replace 给 with 替:
他十分坦率地[替]我讲了他的故事: He openly told his story for me (implying that I was supposed to be the one telling the story).

If we were to replace 给 with 为:
他十分坦率地[为]我讲了他的故事: He openly told his story to me for my sake.

In general I'm not too sure how you got the idea that they are interchangeable.


Is there any university in Scandinavia where one can study Traditional Chinese (繁體字)? My question is short:

Is there any university in Scandinavia where one can study the Chinese language using Traditional Chinese characters (繁體字)?

If you want to learn  Traditional Chinese characters (繁體字), go to Taiwan.
If you want to learn  Simplified Chinese characters (简体字), go to China Mainland.
And MS office can easily convert those two types of characters for your comparison.
Taiwanese accent sounds pretty the same as PUTONGHUA(Chinese mandarin)


Is the word 感觉 not redundant? 感觉 means to feel; however, both 感 and 觉 both mean to feel by themselves. Why does the word 感觉 exist then? I've noticed that a lot of words are redundant.

"感", more objective, the feeling that surroundings impose on you. "冷感", "热感"
"觉", more subjective, the feeling from your heart (/mind/senses) about surroundings. "味觉", "视觉"
Yes, they are quite similar, and in some cases, they both mean "feel/feeling".
But in some other cases, you can find the difference by comparing "感到" and "觉得".
"我感到房子在摇动", I have a feeling that the house is shaking.
"我觉得房子在摇动", I think the house is shaking (maybe not, actually).
In fact, there are quite a lot of chinese words made of characters with similar meaning, like 奔跑/游泳/旋转/图画/增加. Two of the reasons I know:

it can avoid ambiguity with the same pronunciation (which reminds me of the different characters with same pronunciation in Japanese).
it improves the symmetry and fluency of a sentence, as most words in chinese are made of two characters.


“他演讲得很精彩”, is this sentence grammatically correct? I want to ask, “他演讲得很精彩”, is this sentence correct or not?
Is “演讲”  a verb or a noun?

他演讲得很精彩 sounds unnatural because we mainly use 演讲 as a noun
for 'speech'. It is also possible to use it as a verb for 'to make a speech' in some context, e.g. 明天要上台演讲 (have to go on stage to make a speech tomorrow)

Use 演讲 as a noun and say "他的演讲很精彩" is the most natural way to phrase it.

If you must use 演讲 as a verb, it is more natural to say 他演讲讲得很精彩 or simply "(這次演讲 - implied topic)他讲得很精彩"

In most cases, the verb 演讲 can be reduced to just 讲

Example:
明天要上台演讲黑暗物質的理論 --> 明天要上台讲黑暗物質的理論 (when you speak on a stage, it is giving a lecture/ speech)


What is the pattern for 'instead of x, y...' For example, how would I say, 'instead of x, we should do y'?
I find it hard to balance the sentence correctly in chinese.

Do I need to use, 反而 or 而且? Or is there some better method?

反而 is mostly used when something is contrary to expectations.
An example: Suppose it is predicted that there would be no wind, but there is a lot of wind, and after a while it starts to blow even harder you can say:

风不但没停，反而越刮越大了
    the wind not only hasn't stopped, but blowing harder and harder

而且 is used to give some extra information and is typically translated as "*and also; besides; and what's more; but also".

You can use "而不是". For example:

我们需要的是能力强的职工，而不是吃干饭的
    What we need are people with great capabilities, instead of those who live off others.

You can also use 与其..., 不如... which is translated as rather than ... , you'd better ....
An example:
    与其少买，不如不买
        I'd rather not buy anything at all than buy just a few.

Often Chinese wouldn't use a conjunction at all. For example (these 2 examples come from Nciku)

中国人不习惯用刀叉，更喜欢用筷子
    Chinese people prefer to use chopsticks instead of a knife and fork.

我想上场，不想在余下的比赛中做替补。
    I want to play instead of spend the rest of the match on this bench.


What's the most usual way to say "hand sanitizer" in Chinese? I'm finding in the non-touristy places in China where I'm spending my time in cheaper places etc that there's often no place to wash your hands, or it's dirty, or there's no soap.

I've been recommended to buy some hand sanitizer, but the Wikipedia page doesn't link to a Chinese equivalent and Wiktionary doesn't even include an entry for hand sanitizer.

I've never been one to use it before so I'm not an expert, but I think the key things about hand sanitizer that make it different to liquid soap is that 1) it is alcohol-based and does not require water, and 2) doesn't just clean but disinfects, so is better than soap for preventing spread of diseases such as the common cold.

Google Translate offers several alternatives though:

洗手液 xǐshǒu yè
洗手 xǐshǒu
免洗洗手液 miǎn xǐ xǐshǒu yè
消毒洗手液 xiāodú xǐshǒu yè
的洗手液 de xǐshǒu yè

Of these, I don't trust 2. and 5. - the first because it translated back as "wash your hands" and the second because starting with the character 的 doesn't seem right for a noun phrase.

So on the face of it, 1. looks most versatile with 3. and 4. just being alternative long equivalents. But is it so simple in reality.

(For me right now the term most useful in Hebei province is probably what I want.)

If you want to say hand soap (not necessarily for sanitation), you can use 洗手液. To specifically ask for hand sanitizer (for disinfection/sterilization), you may want to use 消毒洗手液. Below is an analysis for the options you've listed.

  洗手液 xǐshǒu yè

(Liquid) hand soap. Here soap is in general sense, could be sanitizer, scented soap, skin smoother, etc.

  洗手 xǐshǒu

(Verb phrase) to wash hand

  免洗洗手液 miǎn xǐ xǐshǒu yè

Waterless hand soap. Though not explicitly stated in the name, the waterless hand soap products are mostly sanitizers.

  消毒洗手液 xiāodú xǐshǒu yè

Hand sanitizer. (消毒 means to sterilize.)

  ___的洗手液 de xǐshǒu yè

(Incomplete phrase) hand soap of _


What distinguishes 各位 (gèwèi) from 大家 (dàjiā)? From dict.cn:

各位 (gèwèi) = everybody
大家 (dàjiā) = everyone

So they seem closely related, but I don't think they're identical. Today is Teacher's Day and messages like "祝各位老师节日快乐" are popping up in my WeChat feed, and I don't think we can just swap 各位 with 大家 here without changing the meaning.

Question: What distinguishes 各位 (gèwèi) from 大家 (dàjiā)?

中文

“各位”和“大家”单独使用的时候基本没有区别。它们的主要区别在于“各位”可以接其他名词，而“大家”不能：

  各位家长、同学们
  大家家长、同学们

同时，“各位”可以用于宾格，但“大家”听起来不太对：

  以后怎么做就要看在座的各位了
  以后怎么做就要看在座的大家了

另外，在使用中，“各位”比较正式，常用于称呼及正式场合；而“大家”则显得比较随意，在日常中一般都使用“大家”。

还有一些习惯用法的不同：

  大家好！
  各位好！

English

"各位" and "大家" make little difference when used alone. Their primary difference is that "各位" can precede other nouns, whereas "大家" can't:

  各位家长、同学们
  大家家长、同学们 (Wrong)

Meanwhile, "各位" can be used as object, while "大家" sounds strange if used like that:

  以后怎么做就要看在座的各位了
  以后怎么做就要看在座的大家了

Besides, in practice, "各位" tends to be a little formal and is often used in serious appellations and formal scenarios, while "大家" tends to be more casual and is more prevalent in daily spoken Chinese.

There's also some difference in usual practice:

  大家好！
  各位好！ (We don't really call people like this even in formal scenarios, even if it's grammatically correct.)


Why are titles sometimes placed in the middle of a newspaper article? In a newspaper I'm reading (环球时报), there are multiple articles in which the title appears somewhere in the middle of the text.  One example is:

(click for unannotated version; other examples: 美人员现身台雷达站威胁有多大 (newspaper; online) and 全球确诊超四千万，欧美疫情恶劣 and 英国放狼话逼欧盟妥协 (newspaper; not found online))

As we see in the article above, the title 菅义伟首次外访为何选东南亚 and author name 陈友骏 appear in the middle of the text, while the text starts at the top-left corner beginning with 日本…….  (The electronic version is here where the title is at the top.)
I don't understand the logic behind this at all: it has taken me a long time to realize that this happens.  I don't recall ever seeing this in an English-language newspaper, which makes me think there is some rationale which I'm unaware of.
Question: Why are titles sometimes placed in the middle of a newspaper article?

Perhaps Chinese press is just more flexible in this particular respect. I searched and found the following from a book:

标题可以插在文字中间,也可以对角设置,或放在文尾,或分散在文中等。但是，要注意标题与文章不能分离或错位。为了使标题既能突出又能活跃版面，在同一版面中应为不同的稿件设置标题的多种排列形式。

Another article says:

Ⅰ 直题：报纸版面以直题为主。
Ⅱ 横题：用以调节版面，通常至于四角，不宜横于版面中央
Ⅲ 叠字题：可分直题横排和横题直排。
Ⅳ 横直题：横直运用，即是运用眉题。
Ⅴ 对角题：新闻集锦或花絮的标题，多方右上角及左下角。
Ⅵ 包中题：标题放在文章中央，可避免顶题及调节版面均衡。
Ⅶ 分题：新闻内容长，非一个标题所能概括时，需要分题。
Ⅷ 插题：即小标题。

It seems that titles can be put in a variety of places. They can even be put at the end of articles. People also try to apply different styles for titles on the same page, in order to avoid repetition, boost readability and get more balanced typography.
In particular 包中题 is given as the name for titles in the middle of articles. However, I searched and could not find much reference for this term, so I don't know how popular the term is.


Chinese Idiom puzzle 11 (中文填字遊戲) 李白名詩: 「舉頭望明月, ?????」

Hate the social status quo and the state of the world

Grammar mistake

The peach blossom is the same but the missed person is nowhere to be seen

Go between and put things together

Very stable

Feel Congenial the first time meeting someone

For a just cause, not looking back

Always accompany each other

「黃山、廬山、雁蕩山」 + 「泰山、華山、衡山、嵩山、恆山」

Realize the difficulty is too great and retreat

A lesson without using words

Reason

Lovers separate

Long history

The legend of how 宋太祖 (Song Taizu) was championed as emperor

Lamenting that people today have lost the loyal and honest heart of the ancients.

God of Wealth

「學無前後」 下句

distract the enemy and attack where they don't expected

Defraud or forcefully seize

「鳥之將死，其鳴也哀」 下句

A. Those who pass the imperial examination in the rural examination (first pass)
B. Determine expenses based on income
C. Improper measures or useless waste of energy and no results
D. appear and disappear unpredictablely
E. The hope is extremely ardent (similar to 望穿秋水)
F. Metaphor for 'comments are profound and pertinent or the performance is vivid'
G. It is a metaphor for the sharp opposition between the actions and words of the two sides.
H. Career advance in great speed and reach great height
I. Coincidence
J. Deep regret
K. Be the first to overwhelm others with momentum
L. Using retreat as a means to advance
M. The story of 劉関張 became sworn brothers
N. There's nothing one won't do
O. Continuous without end
P. Angry and dissatisfied
Q. 「儒、釋、道」+「帝王、文士、官吏、醫卜、僧道、士兵、農民、工匠、商賈」
R. The truth words from deepest part of one's heart.
S. Stable, unshakable like a mountain
T. The long narrative poem by 白居易 about the story of 唐玄宗 and 楊貴妃
U. Folk sayings
V. The place where 諸葛亮 died
W. The more the better
X. Sickness reached the late stage, the chance of recovery is slim
Y. Unexpectedly benefited from one's own personal disaster

Tips: 博学网 has a function called 指定位置搜索, which is very useful for the word puzzle.


Dragonfly translation If you were using ‘dragonfly’ in a Mandarin brandname (traditional products for hair & skin), would you use 蜻蜓 or only 蜻?
In general, shorter 2-syllable brand names are better and apparently 蜻 can be used for 蜻蜓:
https://qr.ae/pN9BFQ
For example, 'Dragonfly Valley' could be either 蜻蜓谷 or 蜻谷:
https://fanyi.baidu.com/#zh/en/蜻蜓谷
https://fanyi.baidu.com/#zh/en/蜻谷
Which would be better, more natural sounding in a brand name?

Well...
Your reference (https://qr.ae/pN9BFQ) is good, but I rarely hear people use "蜻" instead of "蜻蜓". People just don't say like that. When you split a Chinese word, it usually turn into many individual words, but sometimes it's meanless. When people look at a word like "蜻", they won't think about the dragonfly, they will feel like it's a bug because the "虫" part. "蜻" itself may have some legendary magic feelings. If you want to convey that kind of feeling to you brand, you can do it.


Asking "how many cousins do you have?" What is a collective term for first cousins?

Everywhere I've looked it is emphasized that the correct term for "cousin" depends on age, sex and whether the cousin is on father's or mother's side. But that's for individual cousins. And the closer I've found to a collective term is 堂兄弟，堂姊妹，表兄弟，表姊妹, which still is four terms for different types of cousins, so it isn't exactly what I'm looking for.

So, how would you ask a question such as "how many cousins do you have?" in Chinese?

I would suggest asking separately: 你有多少个堂兄弟姐妹 and 你有多少个表兄弟姐妹,
because China is a patrilineal society traditionally, relatives of father's side are more closer naturally.

Of course, things are changing rapidly in China nowadays, this might not be true to every individual any more.


Formality of "悲哀" as opposed to "悲傷" and "哀傷" From what I have learned, or I remember I have learned, 悲哀, 悲傷, and 哀傷 all mean sadness and are interchangeable. However, as I remember, I have read 悲傷 and 哀傷 in academic/professional writings, but not the word 悲哀. On the other hand, I have barely seen 悲傷 or 哀傷 used in colloquial context, such as on social networking sites.

Is it the case that 悲哀 is preferred in colloquial context; while 悲傷 and 哀傷 are preferred in formal context? Or, if I was wrong, do they actually have different meanings?

Thanks in advance!

“哀伤” is usually a noun, while “悲伤” and “悲哀” are usually adjective.
“哀伤”, “悲伤” both could mean severe sadness, and are often used in the context that one has lost someone he loved or something he valued.

任何语言都无法形容他失去亲人的哀伤。
No words could describe the sorrow of losing his family.
刚刚失去亲人的他看起来十分悲伤。
Having lost his family, he looks very sad.

Though “悲哀” could mean sadness in some context (like on a funeral), it mostly means “pitiful”, and is more often used to describe things rather than emotion.

人，失去了梦想，是多么悲哀的事情。
How pitiful it is, when one loses his dreams.
你为了金钱丧失了尊严，我真为你感到悲哀！
You lost your honor for money. I feel sorry for you.


untranslated characters and their meaning I recently saw a movie where this appeared and unfortunately, this was the only part that wasn’t translated. Could anyone tell me what it says?

Though I am not quite familiar with the Holy Bible, as far as I can tell, it says it is quoted from Luke 1:26, while the text actually says

  Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

Of course, this is actually Hebrews 1:14, which disagrees with what is referenced.

Thanks to @user3528438, whose comment helped me find the actual quotation.


What is the difference between 后父 and 继父? What is the difference between 后父 and 继父? Is one more formal? Is it the same with 后母 and 继母? My Mandarin textbook says 后父 is used to address your 继父.

No difference. 后X is a dialect, informal, oral word, 继X is standard, formal words.
后父 is rare, usually, you will see 后爹, 后妈, 继父, 继母.


Is '明天你都六点起床不起床？' a correct question? I want to ask: Will you wake at 6:00 tomorrow?

"明天你都六点起床不起床？" is not a valid sentence in Chinese.
If we remove 都, and make it "明天你六点起床不起床？", it is valid but a little awkward. Because we usually don't say things like "起床不起床?", "吃饭不吃饭?", "睡觉不睡觉?", "学习不学习?" etc. when asking questions. The point here is that we normally don't repeat the whole word before and after 不 in questions, instead we simplify it.
Note: It is ok to repeat the whole word before and after 不 in declarative statements, like 老师喜欢不喜欢你，我真的觉得不是什么问题. While it can also been simpified as 老师喜不喜欢你，我真的觉得不是什么问题.
Here is the natual way to say it in Chinese:

起床不? or 起不起床?
吃饭不? or 吃不吃饭不?
睡觉不? or 睡不睡觉?
学习不? or 学不学习?

Back to your question, "明天你都六点起床不起床？" is not correct.
If you are asking a person of his/her get-up time in the moring, you would say:

你早上6点起床嘛? or 你早上6点起来嘛?

If the listener usually gets up at 7 o'clock, and you want to know if that person plans to get up at 6 o'clock tommorow morning, then you can say:

明早你六点起床不? or 你明天早上六点起来吗?


How does 稱's 2021 meanings appertain to its semantic component 禾? CUHK doesn't expound the semantic shift from 禾. I   underlined definition 4 below in green, because I know that rice and grains may need to be weighed. But I don't understand how  definition 4 relates to the other definitions. When you weigh something, you're reporting a rational number. Weighing something differs from calling, naming, commend, praising something.    Yellowbridge.

ABC Chinese–English Comprehensive Dictionary 2003 edn. p 104.

How does 稱's 2021 meanings appertain to its semantic component 禾?

The meanings which aren't related to weighing are not really related to 「禾」 - these meanings were actually held by 「爯」. 「稱」 and 「爯」 are related by the following:

「稱」 is a complexification of 「爯」.
「爯」 originally meant to lift up. This was eventually semantically extended to to commend, to praise, then to call, to name.
「爯」 later acquired the meaning to weigh.
「爯」 has now been totally replaced by 「稱」, so 「稱」 has acquired most/all senses of what was originally represented by 「爯」.

時期字體
字形
參考資料

商甲

鐵102.2合集7395

西周金

裘衛盉集成9456

戰國・楚金

者⿰水尸鎛集成123

篆

冓部說文解字

楷

「爯」 depicts a hand 「爫・爪」 grabbing a fish 「魚」 upwards (e.g. out of the water), indicating the original meaning to lift up, to raise up. Occasionally, 「爯」 was complexified with extra components, which don't survive today.

The meaning to lift up, to raise up is given in e.g. 《甲骨文合集》32420:

丁戼（卯）鼎（貞）：「／
王（其）爯（琡），／
尞（燎）三，／
戼（劉）...... 牢？／
」
Divination on the day of dīngmǎo, it is asked: "Shall the king offer up a ceremonial jade weapon, conduct a burning ritual with three penned sheep, and perform a slaughtering ritual......penned cattle?"

Very early on, 「爯」 or its variations started also acquiring the meaning to weigh. From the Late Warring States State of Jìn artefact 信安君鼎《殷周金文集成》2773:

⿰言身（信）安君厶（私）官／
（容）⿱八斗（㪵）／
⿱罒氏（視）叓（事）欨、⿰⿱冫火刂（冶）癐／
十二秊（年）／
⿱爯又（稱・秤）二益（鎰）六釿／
[DǏNG VESSEL] OF THE BUTLER FOR THE LORD OF XÌN'ĀN
Vessel capacity: half a dǒu
Officer on duty: 欨
Vessel bronzesmith: 癐
[Date:] Year 12
Vessel weight: 2 yì and 6 jīn

Since 「爯」 had taken up too many meanings, semantic components were sometimes piled on to the character to disambiguate the uses:

「偁」 was created emphasise the meaning to lift, raise > to praise, by drawing a person 「人」 behind the hand 「爫・爪」:
商金偁缶作且癸集成3601西周金戜者鼎集成2662篆人部說文解字楷

「稱」 was created by adding semantic 「禾」 (crops), as weighing crops and grain from harvest was a common and important activity in Ancient China.

Unfortunately, the character 「偁」 fell into disuse, so 「稱」 in turn also became overloaded. This was probably the major reason for the creation of 「秤」, which is only used for meanings to do with weighing, balance, scales, and not used for the overloaded meanings to raise, to praise, to call that 「稱」 had taken on.

References:

漢語多功能字庫
季旭昇《說文新證》
何琳儀《戰國古文字典：戰國文字聲系》
陳劍《說殷墟甲骨文中的「玉戚」》
小學堂

字形演變
甲骨文
金文
異體字表

國學大師

郭沫若《甲骨文合集》
中國社會科學院考古研究所《殷周金文集成》

中國哲學書電子化計劃

宋・徐鉉等奉敕校定　漢・許慎《說文解字》


What are the rules for this grammatical construction: 我去听他的演讲去晚了 I'm going through an anki deck and have come across the following sentence: 我去听他的演讲去晚了

The verb is mentioned twice, the first time to describe the goal (听他的演讲) and secondly to describe the verb, like an adverb (she went late).

NOTE: I've only ever seen adverbs using 地 or 得

Can I do this with any verb?  e.g. 我吃古老肉吃快了？

What about two character verbs?

Two clauses compressed to one by reintroducing the verb. The first instance is descriptive (I am going to listen to his lecture). The second instance describes the result of the action (I came late).

You need to reintroduce the verb to give 晚 the proper context. Without it, 晚 would refer to 演讲.

Sometimes you can omit one instance of the verb: 你（说）汉语说得很流利。

Sometimes you really have no choice: 你说汉语比我说汉语说得好。


How can express a sentence containing relative pronoun in Chinese? I wanted to say "Then I no longer have to listen to the native speaker whose pronunciation I can refer to", but then I realized that I had no idea how to express that sentence in Chinese.

How should I translate this in Chinese? I couldn't make up a sentence better than this" 那么, 我不必听到外国人, 这个人的发音我可以参考. But this sentence sounds a little awkward to me, since it consists of two different clauses, while the English sentence doesn't. Is there any more adequate or sound way to convey this sentence in Chinese?

Actually,

我不用再去参考[那些][中文]母语人士的发音了

would also make sense, since "refer to pronunciation" implies that you would "listen to those native speakers".

If you want to save all words in your sentence, you may translate the attributive clause like this:

我不必再听那些可用来参考的母语人士的发音了。


了解 vs 明白 vs 知道 - what is the difference, and when should I use each one? 了解, 明白, and 知道 seem to be fairly synonymous in Mandarin, but there does seem to be some subtle differences between them.

What exactly is the difference? When should I use each one? Could you give me an example sentence to show when each of these terms would be the most appropriate?

知道 means you just know something, you don't need to understand it.
了解, you understand it.
明白, you understand something, and have a clear idea of what it is about.

I think the order of them is: 知道<了解<=明白

for 了解, it can also means 'to investigate'. e.g 小白, 你去了解一下这事情怎么发生的.


谁 as relative pronoun? 至少今天她都不想再见到聂离了，谁让聂离骗了她。这是对聂离的惩罚！

Can 谁 here be translated as the relative pronoun who?

My literal translation would be:

  At least for today she, who has let Nieli to deceive her, doesn't want to see him.

However I searched in this same site and it says that there shouldn't exist a relative pronoun: Are there relative pronouns in Chinese

Chinese does not have relative pronouns. In the case of the sentence that you gave, it would probably be best translated using "因为" (because):

至少今天她都不想再见到聂离了, 因为她让聂离骗了她 or in English:

At least for today, she doesn't want to see Nieli again, because she let Nieli deceive her.

EDIT:

In Chinese, instead of using relative clauses, particles like 的 are used instead. For example:

The man, who learns Chinese, is here.

学汉语的人在这儿。

In the above case, we use the fact that the person learns Chinese to describe said person, instead of having a relative clause.


How does 还 function in 快下雪了，我还以为今天是好天气? I am reading a textbook and I already understand that 还 （hai) is used to indicate continuation or in addition to something, but for the following sentence it is not exactly clear. When I read the following sentence I see three meanings:

快下雪了，我还以为今天是好天气

It will snow soon, I also thought today is good weather.
It will snow soon, I thought today is good weather.
It will snow soon, I still thought today is good weather.

How does "hai" function in this sentence and why is the translation correct for .2 but not .1?

Thank You.

It implies that I had been thinking today is a good day, until I noticed that it would snow soon. 还 means 本来 here, it indicates a continuation of original thought. For no. 3, I wouldn't say it's wrong, but it sounds very Chinglish to me.

It couldn't be "also", because 快下雪 means bad weather, which is opposite to good weather.


Can someone translate these Seal Characters to Mandarin? (Characters identified: 五世) Can anyone help me translate these Seal Characters into classical/modern Chinese characters?  They are on my neighbor's furniture brought from the Philippines. I have 12 more pictures, but this site seems to just allow one picture.
Thanks!!

The characters are 五世 (Five generations?)


Is 香气袭人 only ever used for a good smell? I was reading about 雪莲。 It says “雪莲花香袭人，”

I'm pretty sure that ’香气袭人‘ is used to indicate a good smell, not a stench. Is that correct?

However, 袭 seems to mean 'attack, assail'.

In English, if a smell 'assailed my nostrils,' that would indicate a foul, nasty smell.

'Attack' or 'assail' also have negative connotations.

zdic has a meaning for 袭: (14) 盖 [cover], but that does not really mean a smell is good or bad.

Can ’香气袭人‘ ever indicate a bad smell? Why does a good smell '袭人’？

袭 in 袭人 is referring to 'to rush '

"袭人" means "rush upon people"

Example:

一阵阵恶臭袭人而來 - waves of horrible stench come rushing upon people

一阵阵花香袭人而來 - waves of floral fragrant come rushing upon people

強烈硫黃味袭人鼻腔 - a strong sulfur smell rush upon people's nasal cavities

花香 is a popular topic for poets and "花香袭人" (floral fragrant rush upon people)sound poetic but not any other smell. Phrases like "肉香袭人，酒气袭人，屍臭袭人" all sound unnatural because these smell are not popular topic for poets

Meanwhile,  "扑鼻" (rush into nose) is as literary as "袭人" but less poetic sounding. "花香扑鼻，肉香扑鼻，酒气扑鼻，尸臭扑鼻" are all natural sounding literary phrases.


看图说成语: What chengyu do these sketches refer to (from a grade-3 语文 textbook)? This chengyu puzzle is on page 66 of a grade-3 语文 textbook (上册).

I'm fairly sure I can get the top-left one, and the middle-right one, but not the others.
I present this as a chengyu puzzle (a relatively easy one).
Question: What chengyu do these sketches refer to?

1 2
3 4
5 6

1. 開門見山
2. 大材小用
3. 一舉兩得
4. 三長兩短
5. 小題大做
6. 百發百中


What does the song lyric 一等就是一年多 mean? This is from a song, I can´t figure out what it means:

  一等就是一年多

Google translate says: "One year is more than a year", which I think is wrong. 等 is "wait", 就是 is "exactly" (I think), but I don't get what it means in it´s entirety, some help would be awesome.

I googled it and found a forum on Baidu about waiting forever for what looks like a video game to be released. The unhappy camper in the forum writes a lyric verse or two to express his frustration:

  你说过两天来看我
  一等就是一年多
  三百六十五个日子不好过
  你心里根本没有我
  把我的爱情还给我

Translation (not accounting for poetic style):

  You said you'd come to visit in two days
  But I've been waiting more than a year
  ...

In this context, it means he's already been waiting for more than a year.
This also uses a sentence pattern
一（V）就（V）, which generally describes something which is done right after another thing, e.g. "我一到家就要睡了" (I'm going to bed as soon as I get home).

In this context, he is using that sentence pattern to stress how long he has waited.


Does an Alarm clock 吵醒 or 叫醒？ I'm trying to figure out whether an alarm clock 吵醒我， or 叫醒我。
I'd like to say the sentence
my alarm clock woke me up at 5:30 today
my translation so far is
今天早上五点半， 我手机的闹钟叫醒了我。
Can 叫醒 be done by inanimate objects? Is this construction used in chinese?

Yes, that is fine; it is quite common to use 叫醒 with alarms.

In fact you can use both 吵醒 and 叫醒 here, although there's a small difference in connotations. It isn't a very strong distinction though, so you needn't be overly concerned.

Anyway, 叫醒 normally means the action was intended to wake you. In contrast 吵醒 carries the sense that being woken up is unplanned or unwanted, i.e. some noise woke you (implying you aren't happy about it). For example, if your neighbours' alarm woke you, you'd normally use 吵醒. If the hotel's morning call woke you, that's normally 叫醒.


What does this mean 什么时候我也会看到你们受这份罪的，你们两个? I don't understand this sentence:

什么时候我也会看到你们受这份罪的，你们两个。
I'll be seeing you some time, you two.
(玛帝尔达 (Matilda), page 127; English version pdf page 111)

It doesn't seem too well matched to the English text:

When [什么时候] I [我] also [也] will [会] see [看到] you (plural) [你们] ??? [受这份罪的]，you both [你们两个].

Perhaps 什么时候我也 combines to mean something like "I always...".
Question: What does this sentence mean?

[什么时候] - Some day
[我也会] - I too will
[看到] - see
[你们受] - you suffer
[这份罪的]- this pain/ suffering
罪 in 受罪 doesn't mean "crime". It is referring to "pain/ suffering" and 受罪(suffer - like being punished) is a synonym of 受苦 (suffer- pain)
[你们两个] - the two of you (The speaker add this as a declaimer to make sure his target take notice how serious he is)

"什么时候我也会看到你们受这份罪的,你们两个!"
"Some day, I will see you suffer this pain too, the two of you"

Similar example: "You will pay for this! All of you will pay!" (你們會為此付出代價! 你們所有人都會付出代價!)


What is important to consider while building an adverbial phrase? As far as I know, in Chinese, the adverbial phrase is put right in front of the verb and its purpose is to describe the verb.
Sentence pattern: S adverbialphrase V O

What are the rules to put a grammatically correct adverbial phrase together?
How long can a complex adverbial phrase become?
Can a chinese sentence contain more than one adverbial phrase?

It seems that you like rules, but soon you'll find that exceptions are the norm. Don't consider the following as rules. They are just examples.
How to put them together?
It is indeed very flexible, as it is in English:

轻轻的我走了。 Quietly I left.
我轻轻的走了。 I quietly left.
我走了，轻轻的。 I left quietly.

The 2nd is the most common form, but the other two forms give the sentences a poetic touch.
Notice in the last example you put a comma before the adverb, because Chinese is mostly a left branching language. This is how you make a right branch feel natural.
[rant]Someone may want to criticize my use of 的 and say that I should use 地 or 得 instead. In fact 的地得 is totally indistinguishable in speech, why bother distinguishing them in writing? My example is from the famous romantic poet 徐志摩. I'll listen to you if you write something better than him. Also stop being a grammar communist OK? [/rant]
There is another form of positioning, V + 得 + adverb:

跑得快，有糖吃；跑得慢，没糖吃。
Run fast and you get candy; run slow and you get candy wrappers.

How long and how complex can it be?
As long as you like. This is how you stick many adverbs together:

我非常非常非常非常非常非常非常非常非常非常非常非常(gasp)非常非常非常非常非常非常非常非常非常非常非常(gasp)非常非常非常非常非常非常非常非常非常喜欢你。

This looks like cheating, but you can have this:

我们要以十八大提出的解放思想、实事求是、与时俱进、求真务实的精神办好这件事情。
We should complete the task with the spirits of the Eighteenth National People's Congress meeting, which includes liberation of the mind, faithfulness to the truth, advancement with the times, and emphasis on pragmatism.

Still this is but one colossal adverb phrase, not exactly "many" phrases.
How to do more than one adverb phrase?
From 阿桑's song (who died of breast cancer in 2009):

你听寂寞在唱歌，轻轻的，狠狠的。
Listen you to the loneliness singing, quietly and ruthlessly.

Here is another example, with three adverbial phrases:

乌龟又慢又稳地，一步一步地爬到了树顶上。
Slowly but surely, step by step, the turtle climbed up to the treetop.


How do I say "It didn't help that.." In english, we often use the transition "it didn't help that" to indicate that something bad had happened, and that there was another factor that potentially made it even worse.

Ex. He was already very sick from the fever, so it didn't help that he refused to drink soup.

Could I say,
他已经因为发烧了感到很弱。 更坏他不让别人给他汤喝？

“It didn't help that..” could be translated to "更糟的是" （Literally means worse is）

他已经发烧发到很虚弱了，更糟的是不肯喝汤。


Difference between 大兄弟 and 小伙子 Difference between 大兄弟 and 小伙子.

Under which condition should we use one of them?

小伙子 is young guy. It's a generic term to address a young man.

大兄弟 is used in north, which sounds pretty folksy. It's used to address a man and is said by some older people. Sometimes, we make a joke to address a guy as 大兄弟.


Proper way to use sentence-final particles (like 啦 or 喽) in spoken Chinese I know it's very common for Chinese speakers to add special particles to the end of their sentences to enhance the tone a little bit, such as adding 啊 to show excitement or 啦 to sound cute.

Just to show a few examples, I've heard native speakers say:

我们去吃饭吧 (The proper way of saying it)

我们去吃饭啦

我们去吃饭喽

我们去吃饭耶

Besides just throwing any random particle at the end of sentences for fun, is there a more proper explanation of how and when they should be used?

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_exclamative_particles

But use of exclamative particles is highly informal, and it is advised that they not be used in formal documents or academic papers, unless it is specifically required to do so (such as the case of narrative telling). Some common examples are shown below.

了   le  modal particle intensifying preceding clause / completed action marker
呢   ne  question particle for subjects already mentioned
吧   ba  modal particle indicating polite suggestion / ...right? / ...OK?
哦   ó   oh
啊   a   modal particle ending sentence, showing affirmation, approval, or consent
啦   la  sentence-final particle, contraction of "了啊" / follows after each item in a list of examples
呀   ya  "softening" particle used in questions; may also be used like 啊 after a vowel, expressing surprise or doubt
嗎/吗 ma  question tag / not for open-ended questions

I should add that each of these characters, with the exception of 了, have the 口 radical. This suggests that they should only be used with the mouth (oral communication) and are informal. They are not generally used in formal papers/documents.

So, in summary, there isn't a "proper time" for when they should be used in colloquial conversation, just only when you think it will give that added emphasis you're looking for... whether it be cute (我们一起吃饭啦！) or demanding（你跟我吃饭嘛...)。 Just like in English how there aren't really specified times you should be using aww you guys are so cute, or pfft that was lame, or gee could ya take any longer??, it's just there to add some flavor.


演唱会 vs 音乐会 difference Based on the dictionary, it seems that both 演唱会 & 音乐会 means concert. I did further research and read somewhere that 演唱会 = concert (outdoor & indoor) with many ppl and lots of shouting and cheering while 音乐会 = choir or those indoor concerts where there are fewer ppl and just clap but no loud cheering. Is this true?

演(perform)
唱 (singing)
会 (gathering)
演唱会  = (singing) concert

The key word is '唱'. No matter it is a solo or a group concert, the performer(s) will sing songs.
Sometimes instrumental music might be inserted in the program, but the majority of the show is about singing

演奏 (perform musical instrument)
演奏会 = (instrumental) concert

The key word is '奏'. In a instrumental music concert, the performer(s) will perform instrumental music.
Some singing performance might be added as bonus, but the main draw is the instrumental music

音乐 (music)
音乐会 (music) concert

A music concert can be a mix of singing and instrumental music.
演唱会 and 演奏会 mostly refer to concerts performed by professional singers or musicians and you have to buy ticket to attend
However, free events with amateur performers can still call themselves 演唱会 or 演奏会
Commercial 音乐会 (music concert) are relatively rare compare to commercial 演唱会 (singing concert) and commercial 演奏会 (instrumental concert)


Why should I change the subject in this situation? (V的V, V的V sentence structure) My teacher has recently asked the class to make a sentence with the V的V, V的V sentence structure. I have submitted the following sentence:

我的爸爸做事的做事，打字的打字，打电话的打电话，真的很忙。

But my teacher said that the sentence would be better if I changed "我的爸爸" to "公司的人". I don't really understand why such a change improves my sentence, if it actually does. The only difference I can see is that "我的爸爸" is singular, while "公司的人" is plural.

The only difference I can see is that "我的爸爸" is singular, while "公司的人" is plural.

That is the reason.
[V 的 V] = [the one who v, does v] e.g. "敵兵逃的逃，降的降" = "the enemy soldiers who run, do run; the enemy soldiers who surrender, do surrender". Which means 'some soldiers run, some soldiers surrender'.
打字的打字，打电话的打电话 = the ones who type are typing; the ones who make phone calls are making phone calls = 'some people are typing, some people are making phone calls'

[the enemy soldiers who run] is the subject; The second [run] is the verb

[打电话的(人)] is the subject; the second [打电话] is the verb

The reason for the second '打字' in '打字的打字' is '打字的' is a noun that means 'the one who type'. It doesn't mean he is currently typing until you add the verb '打字' after the noun.
Please see this similar question Grammar: verb + 的 + verb


Do 衣服 and 衣饰 carry different connotations or are they synonyms? 衣服 and 衣饰 both mean "clothing"; but are they truly synonymous or is the use of each term confined to its own specific context?

Or is it simply a difference between colloquial and formal speech or between the spoken the written language?

The former refers to clothes in general, while the latter refers to clothing ornaments/decorations (such as embroidery, patterns, etc).


When not to split up the VO verb? 虽然是坑爹了，但是认错态度很好。
(He got his father in trouble, but it's good for him to admit his bad attitude.)

I see the verb 认错 a VO verb(verb-object).

So shouldn't it be something like this as follow?

虽然是坑爹了，但是认他的态度的错很好。（认 Object(his bad attitude) 错）

I gave my Chinese friend this sentence with the verb separated, but she said that sounds a  little weird.

I'd like to know what I am missing here.

Thank you so much in advance.

First, I think that the sentence should be:

虽然是坑爹了，但是认错态度很好。
(He made some mistake, but he had good attitude for admitting his mistake.)

坑爹 means did something wrong, it's none of his father's business,or you can say 他做了不靠谱的事，但是认错态度很好。

Second, 认错态度 means has a good attitude for admitting one's mistake.

Such as:

对于历史，日本没有好的认错态度。
（For history, Japan do not has a good attitude for admitting its mistake ）


What is the meaning of 方 in 方向？ Below was a question about the role of 方 in 貽笑大方.  I'm sure our learnéd friends correctly advised. Just as a gut reaction, I would have said 大方 meant 'everywhere'.

I would like to know about 方 in 方向。

方 seems to mean square. Its etymology is a bit uncertain I think. I read it shows two ships tied together, or it shows a plough, or it shows that ancient punishment tool, a wooden square fixed around someone's neck.

In方向，meaning 'direction, orientation' does this 方 mean 'facing'?  In English we can say, "The two opponents squared off," basically meaning 'they directly faced each other.'

Is 方向 a contraction of a longer phrase? Maybe 地区，地方 + 走向？

圣诞节快乐！

「方」 originally meant side, surroundings > surrounding area. Before compass directions were invented, one of the ways to refer to a direction was through nearby landmarks or surrounding villages/states, and hence 「方」 also carries the meaning direction, now surviving in words like 「東方」, 「西方」, etc.

You can therefore treat 「方向」 as a word where both characters carry roughly the same meaning (as is common in Chinese).

商甲鐵122.3合集8667西周金毛公鼎集成2841秦簡秦131睡虎地秦簡今楷

「方」 (Baxter-Sagart OC: /*paŋ/) is a derivative of 「亡」 (/*maŋ/, blade tip, now written as 「鋩」). Both 「方」 and 「亡」 come from an additional mark drawn on 「刀」 (picture of a knife/blade/weapon). The meaning side, surroundings is either a phonetic loan (rebus) or semantic extension;
 compare 「劃」, which uses a knife 「刀」 to draw boundaries 「畫」.

「方」 extensively appears in Shang Dynasty oracle bones as part of state names surrounding the Shang state, and these state mentions serve as an invaluable record of Ancient Chinese interstate relations. Collectively, these states are called 「方國」.

References:

季旭昇《說文新證》
小學堂
國學大師

郭沫若《甲骨文合集》
中國社會科學院考古研究所《殷周金文集成》


What does 的 mean in 电影展示在盲人面前的不只是一时的多彩 In the following sentence:

  电影展示在盲人面前的不只是一时的多彩，电影改变着每一个听电影的盲人的人生。

It uses 的 after 面前, and the sentence would mean something like the following:

  The theater shows not only the splendid view temporarily in front of the blind person, but also changes the life of each blind person who is listening to the movie.

But what does 的 mean in this sentence? I understand that sometimes things after 的 is omitted if it refers to people and is obvious, but in this case it seems to be not people and not obvious.

So why is 的 used here and what does it mean?

「的」in that context means that which is....

電影展示在盲人面前「的」不衹是一時的多彩，電影改變着每一個聽電影的盲人的人生。
That which movies exhibit to visually-impaired people are not just fleeting displays of magnificence; for those people that listen, movies change their whole life.

Compare:

紅車 (Red car)
紅「的」是車 (That which is red is the car)

Grammatically, what's being cut out here is something like 東西 or 事情. The full expression of the above example might be something like 紅的東西是車 (The red thing is the car > That which is red is the car).


What is etymology for 沙龙? I've noticed that hairdressing shops are usually called 沙龙 [shā-lóng].
Obviously, it's not a "sand dragon", but a direct transliteration of English "salon" instead.

What is the reason for using a loanword instead of something containing 发 [fà] within?

It's the transliteration of the French word salon. It is equivalent to the English word saloon or salon (alternative spellings). The French word probably is derived from the Italian word salone meaning a large living area in the house or more generally a place where people gather to socialize. In China, the hairdresser's is often an unofficial social gathering place for especially neighbours, so it's not surprising that the word has been extended to mean hairdresser's in Chinese.

Note that 沙龙 doesn't always have to refer to a hairdresser's. It is also used in the way salon is used in English and French, i.e. a gathering place for socialization. For example, a 英语沙龙 is a place for people to gather and practise their English. No hairdressing involved there!

As to why people would borrow a term from a different language when there is already an existing one in the source language, there could be many reasons - fashion, western influence and convenience are just some of them. A good example is the word for a (train/subway) station in Japanese. The Japanese term for it is 駅 (えき, eki), but there are many places, even on official maps, where it is replaced by ステーション (sutēshon). I can't tell you the exact reason without doing some major research into the phenomenon.


Is there any mnemonic to remember 支 and 技? I am using Flashcards to remember vocabulary,  but could not remember the meanings for these 2 words. If you have any easy mnemonic, image or story, please advise. thanks

支 zhī disperse, pay, support, branch
技 jì skill

支 is a hand 又 holding a bamboo branch (half of 竹, or 个). Initial meaning is branch, which became 枝; later on 支 meaning was changed to support/assist possibly because those small branches and sticks were used to help prop up against bigger objects to prevent them from collapsing or falling over.
支 is the phonetic component of 技. Unlikely there is any actual link to meaning of 技, but if you want a sort of mnemonic, you can think of it as this:
A hand holding a bamboo branch and can be manipulated skillfully, and the hand can craft many things with bamboo --> skill, craft.


Verbal or transitive arguments to 对 Apparently, the argument to 对 may be a verb, which I found surprising.

a) 对听音乐感兴趣
b) 对音乐感兴趣
c) 对听感兴趣

d) 对游泳感兴趣
e) 对泳感兴趣
f) 对游感兴趣

g) 对学汉语感兴趣
h) 对汉语感兴趣

From what I can tell, d) is grammatically better than e) or f), but b) is grammatically better than a), but g) and h) are both okay. Is that right? If so, why?

b) is not necessarily better than a). They represent different things.

a), 對聼音樂感興趣, means that you have an interest in listening to music.

b), 對音樂感興趣, means that you have an interest in music generally. It could be composing music, playing a musical instrument, or singing.

In this case, it depends on what you are trying to say. If you like listening to music, a) is correct. If you like music generally, b) is correct. None of them is grammatically better than the other.

Again, g) and h) are both correct, depending on what you say.

g), 對學漢語感興趣, means that you have an interest in learning Chinese.

h), 對漢語感興趣, just means that you have an interest in Chinese generally.

There's a totally different case for your last example involving answers d), e), and f).

d), 對游泳感興趣, is correct. You have an interest in swimming.

e) and f), 對游/泳感興趣, do not make sense at all. 游 and 泳 must be used together to form a term. If you use only one word (in this case), it wouldn't make sense. If you were saying "I threw a snowball", you wouldn't say "I threw a snow" or "I threw a ball".


Why 『衛護』's 『護』 is 言部？ 護《說文》：『救視也』。但『擭』非同字，《說文》：『搫擭也。一曰布擭也，一曰握也』。

我覺得『衛護』的『護』寫作『擭』更好。如題問，『護』為什麼是言部？

我想"衛護(wèi hù)"的"護(hù)"是由"辨護(biàn hù)"演变而来的。I think "護" in "衛護" is derived from "辨護" (verbally defend) and hence the 言 radical. This is what I found on 汉典:

  清代段玉裁『說文解字注』

  救視也。尚書中握河紀。堯受河圖。伯禹進迎。舜契陪位。稷辨護。注云。辨護者，供時用相禮儀。周禮注亦云辨護。蕭何世家。數以吏事護高祖。从言。蒦聲。胡故切。五部。

(Sorry, I can't decipher the full text for you. Maybe someone else can help to explain what it all means.)

"衛護(wèi hù)" means to protect or defend, so you are right to point out that 言 radical should be changed to ⺘radical instead. This is reflected in the new 简体字 "卫护".

"擭(huò)" wasn't used as it possesses the meaning of capture:

  清代段玉裁『說文解字注』

  搫擭也。从手。蒦聲。一虢切。古音在五部。一曰布擭也。此卽今之布濩字也。劉逵注吳都賦曰。布濩，遍滿皃。一曰握也。握者，搤持也。西京賦。擭獑猢。薛云。擭謂握取之也。今本握譌掘。玄應不誤。


Hakka equivalent of 把 I was wondering if there is any Hakka word that functions the same as Mandarin 把, that is, marks the direct object when it is placed before a verb. For example:

  我把我的电脑放在桌子上了。

Hakka:

  涯__涯个电脑放在桌上忒
  Ngâi __ ngâi kài thiàn-náu piòng tshoi tsok shòng thet.

Note: The romanization system is my version of Phak-fa-sii, meaning that, w.r.t that system:

I write "ch" and "chh" as "c" and "ch" respectively;
I switch the uninputable u with umlaut below with "ii", which I can input;
I replace the uninputable vertical line above with a dot above, which I can input.

The spelling rules are described here.

Converting @user3306356's comments into an answer here.

One possibility is 摎 | lau. This is reported by moedict and Minhakka as only 和/跟, but maybe it can be used (@user…) seems to think so) the way I asked for. He reported the following examples:

  工人用石鏨摎字刻在石碑頂。
  Kung-nyin yung shȧk-tshàm lau sìi khat tshoi shȧk-pi tang.
  工人用鑿石的工具把字刻在石碑上。
  Workers carve characters on steles with carving tools.

  今晡日下班以前，一定愛摎天光日開會个資料準備好勢。
  Kim-pu-nyit hà-pan yi-tshiên, yit-thin òi lau thien-kwong-nyit khoi-fù kài tsii-liàu cún-phì háu-shè.
  今天下班以前，一定要把明天開會的資料準備好。
  Before I stop working today, I will surely prepare the resources with which I'll attend a meeting tomorrow.

This use is confirmed by both the above-mentioned dictionaries for his "better bet" 將 | tsiong, which is used this way in Mandarin too.

I will ask confirmation from Hakka speakers on the Facebook group Hakka Verse about these usages.

Update

@user... commented on this answer with this, which has one of his example. Weird that the same dictionary giving this as an example for another word fails to mention the usage of lau in said example in the article about lau. Anyways, I guess that is confirmation of the usage. Hakka Verse hasn't responded yet.


When breaking down a character, what do you do for parts where no radical exists? For example, 留. 刀 and 田 are obvious, but the top left? 匚 厶 come close but no match. Pleco says 卯, but I don't see this in many radical charts.

Actually if you can look at the traditional form of this character. The upper part is "丣".“丣” work as a phonetic radical here because it is pronounced you3.

A lot of characters have been simplified in Mandarin in main land China. This make it harder for us to break down a character.

You can find more information here: 汉典解释

So the first thing to do when breaking down a character is to find its traditional version.


How do we correctly translate the XKCD comic snippet "Good News: You recently had close contact with someone who has not tested positive for COVID"? I feel this XKCD comic:

Good News: You recently had close contact with someone who has not tested positive for COVID.
cropped from XKCD comic 2342: Exposure Notification

is incorrectly translated:

好消息：您最近并未与任何确诊新冠肺炎的患者密切接触。
cropped from XKCD comic 2342 translation: Exposure Notification

As I understand this translation means:

Good News: You recently had no close contact with anyone who has tested positive for COVID.

which ruins the joke.  The user should have had close contact with people who have not tested positive.  And each message should refer to an individual (unidentified) person.
Question: How do we correctly translate this snippet from the XKCD comic into Chinese?
My attempt:

好消息：您最近与某个无确诊新冠肺炎的人密切接触。

Although I'm not 100% comfortable with this, as it sounds like the person has "undiagnosed COVID", and using 确诊 (instead of 诊断) indicates a formal confirmation of a diagnosis, whereas the person may not have even been tested.

I would translate it as such:

好消息：你最近密切接触到测试新冠肺炎未测出阳性的人

Using 接触到 removes the need to introduce other complements with 与 / 和 / 跟， which reduce fluency of the joke. It also removes the negation from the main verb, just as in the English original.
未测出阳性 renders more literally "not tested positive" instead of 无确诊, which doesn't sound very grammatical to me (better with 未, by the way)
I wouldn't use 确诊 anyway, because it literally means "confirmed (case)", as in 确认诊断，and the joke is more about the test result, not the diagnosis.
新冠肺炎 in your attempt, is accurate, as it identifies the pulmonary inflammation, i.e. the disease, whereas other frequently encountered terms as 新冠病毒 refer to literally the "new coronavirus", i.e. the vector.
某个～人：this term 某 as in 某人 / 某个人 does translate to "someone" according to dictionaries. However in my experience, the usage of 某 is slightly different than that. I think the most accurate translation is "a certain person". So yes, it's an unnamed person, a "someone", but it implies that you choose to not disclose their identity. An example can be found in newspaper articles, when referring to someone involved in a crime. The perpetrator or the victim can be referred to as "Surname + 某", e.g. 张某, literally "a certain Zhang". I'm not fully sure the "someone" in the XKCD cartoon is actually this kind of "someone". If it is, then 某个人 might be appropriate. Otherwise just 人 also works.

With all that said, I'm afraid this won't sound equally humorous in Chinese... but that's my personal opinion.


Where is the right place of the 的 in this sentence I am not sure where I have to put the 的 in this sentence, if someone could explain me

我的西班牙语只学了半年
or
我只学了半年的西班牙语

我的西班牙语只学了半年 or 我只学了半年的西班牙语

我的= my (the 的 after 我 denote possessive)

半年的 = half year of (the 的 after 半年 is an adjectival suffix that turn 半年 into a relative phrase of 学~西班牙语 )


Why is 指 repeated twice in 他指了指墙上的画? I found a sentence from a short story which goes:
"他指了指墙上的画。“
I know that 指 means to point, by why is it repeated twice in the sentence? Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you

I'm surprised this hasn't been covered before here, I'm sure there must be a link somewhere that I was unable to find.
This is the V + 了 + V structure.

#Grammar 2. 动词的重叠 Reduplication of Verbs (II): V了V
Some verbs can be reduplicated in the form V了V structure to indicate that

the action takes only a short amount of time and/or
the action is done only for a limited amount of times
the action has already been done

The V了V structure is usually used for narration.
☑ See also 动词的重叠 Reduplication of Verbs (I): VV and V一V.
For the V了V structure , the verbs are duplicated in the following ways:
单音节词 (Dānyínjí Cí ▸ One-character Verb)

听 - 听了听
想 - 想了想
笑 - 笑了笑

双音节词 (Shuāngyínjí Cí ▸ Two-character Verb)

介绍 - 介绍了介绍
练习 - 练习了练习
休息 - 休息了休息

离合词 (Líhé Cí ▸ Two-character Detachable Compound Verbs)

唱歌 - 唱了唱歌
散步 - 散了散步
游泳 - 游了游泳

Below are example sentences to study Reduplication of Verbs - V了V:
Yéye xiào le xiào, duì wǒ shuō: “Wǒ xiāngxìn nǐ!”
爷爷笑了笑，对我说：“我相信你！”
Grandpa smiled “really quick”, (and) said to me , “I trust you!”
Yè Jīnglǐ tīng le tīng wǒmen de jièshào, méiyǒu shuō bù, yě méiyǒu shuō hǎo.
叶经理听了听我们的介绍，没有说不，也没有说好。
Manager Ye listened to our introduction “really quick”, (they did) not say no, (did) not say yes either.
Nǎinai zuò zài yǐzi shang xiūixi le xiūxi.
奶奶坐在椅子上休息了休息。
Grandma sat on (the) chair (and) rested "really quick".
Wǒ yǐqián chéngjì bù hǎo, jīnnián nǔ le nǔlì, kǎo de búcuò.
我以前成绩不好，今年努了努力，考得不错。
Before my score (was) not good, this year (I) worked hard “for a little bit”, (I) took (the) test not bad.


Mandarin in Hunan Province In Hunan Province, how common in standard Mandarin? Or, more generally, where regional dialects are spoken, how common is Mandarin?

If I were to pass HSK 3 and be fairly competent at that level, would I be able to get by in Hunan Province? I.e. would I likely be able to read signs, menus, speak to random people on the street, etc.? If I understand correctly, everyone is taught standard Mandarin in school, and that it is the standard language everywhere, for example, in University environments.

Does anyone have any references for the regional dialect (Hunanese/Xiang)? I just can't find anything online.

Please let me know if this question is ill-suited for this forum. 谢谢。

According to some sources citing the Ministry of Education, diffusion of Putonghua （普通话）in the country has reached 70% in 2015.

The biggest issue that you might face in Hunan (and in almost any other province) is not that people would talk to you in dialect, but that they would talk to you in Mandarin with accent.

Hunanese accent has a few distinctive traits, some of which in common with other southern speaks:

  zh/ch/sh become z/c/s: 诚 sounds like 层
  eng/ong --> en/on： 朋 sounds like 盆
  n --> l (el)：里 sounds like 你

and as others have pointed out:

  h --> f: 湖 sounds like 服

That's not a small hurdle for new learners. How quick you'll get used to it depends mainly on your proficiency level. With an HSK3 you might have some hard time at first. Especially the n --> l change is tough for Mandarin students.

One last note: asking for references to learning resources is somewhat discouraged here as it is difficult to maintain lists and links. I believe that you can find something by querying for 湘语 on Baidu. Good luck!


What is the ancient Chinese one-character name for woman like '子’ means man? 青青子衿，悠悠我心。但为君故，沉吟至今

Here:

子，对对方的尊称

子 implicitly implies the poem is addressing a man. The poem talks about how a lady misses a man. I just wonder if there is a corresponding word for Chinese. (i.e. what would you replace 子 by, if it were talking about a woman?

The equivalent of 子 for women is also 子.

  【清·張自烈·正字通】子部：女子亦稱子

Examples from Old Chinese texts:

  【孟子·告子下】逾東家牆而摟其處子，則得妻，不摟，則不得妻，則將摟之乎？

The Works of Mencius: "Breaking into your landlord's house and harass the virgin girl gets you a wife; refrain from harassing and you don't get a wife. Does that mean you would do it?"

  【詩經·國風·周南·桃夭】桃之夭夭，灼灼其華；之子于歸，宜其室家!

The Classic of Poetry: "Forests are green and flowers are red; a girl is marrying, and she'll make her new family happy."

In ancient Chinese, 女 either meant "unmarried woman" or "you". The character for the latter usage became 汝, but is still printed as 女 in many modern publications of ancient works.


HSK form machine readability I understand this is not strictly related to Chinese Language but may be helpful for people taking the HSK.

Here is what the test form looks like. The first part contains the personal info. The second part the answers to the test. Additionally, you will have a booklet with the questions (and that you will have to return). You will need to have a pencil to mark the right boxes.

The form will be read and evaluated by a machine. What is the most appropriate way to mark the boxes?

Using 4B pencil, mark the whole box with solid black. (For me, 2B is not dark enough and 4B+ is too soft, green 中华牌铅笔 is the best.)

Sharp your pencil with a knife (don't use pencil sharpener) and make sure the pencil top can cover the whole box with a single stroke, this can save your time.

Prepare 2 or more pencil for the test and protect your pencil top, also prepare a good eraser.

Print out or buy sample answer sheet and do some practice.

Normally this sheet will give to you before the real test paper, immediately mark your personal information at this stage will save some time and double check your information is correct.

Here is a Chinese Version Guide


Where can I find Chinese IPA transcriptions? Since I have some experience of using IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), I thought Standard Chinese transcriptions could be a good resource for practicing my pronunciation. Is such a resource available?

As you probably know, in China they use pinyin to describe the pronunciation. Dictionaries will normally always mention the pinyin for the characters.

Here you can find the link between pinyin and IPA:

http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp052_chinese_ipa.pdf
http://talkbank.org/pinyin/Trad_chart_IPA.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_Mandarin

This is a website that will generate both Pinyin and IPA for a certain text:
https://code.google.com/p/transcripa/wiki/Mandarin

In Chinese tones change depending on the context, but the pronunciation itself much less so. Especially if you take what is considered as Standard Chinese (what they speak on CCTV), this is not expected to happen.

In my humble option, it is best that you learn Pinyin as it will help you in the long run.

Although it is not what you are asking for this website might also be very interesting for you: http://lost-theory.org/chinese/phonetics/

For every possible pinyin you can hear the pronunciation.


Is `方法是通过xxx` a correct sentence? i.e. 中文中,介宾结构能作为名词(宾语)使用吗 The phrase often appears in english-chinese translation.

For example:

  If you want to become a better photographer, the only way is through repetition.
  如果您想成为一名较好的摄影师，惟一的方法是通过反复练习。

  The third way is through free and conscious decision

  第三种方法就是通过自由、有意识的决定

The english version is correct, but I think the Chinese version is wrong grammatically. Because 通过xxx is a 介宾结构, 介宾结构 can't be used as 主语. I also don't think it can be used as 宾语.

For me, the tranlate version is acceptable, but I am not sure if it's correct. Still, I don't know how to search it quickly online, when I search it, I always find English grammar. Plz show me authoritative books or other resourses or common grammar rules not a simple yes or no.

In addition, If the answer is not, how to translate that.

'through' implies 'going through' and  通过 is the correct translation for it. There's nothing wrong with the first sentence
When you 'going through' something to get somewhere, that something must have a length for you to go through (you have to spend a period of time)

通过反复练习  (through repetition) sounds right because 'repetition' requests a considerable length of time

通过自由、有意识的决定 (through free and conscious decision) doesn't sound right because 决定 (decision) happens in an instant.

The more reasonable sentence would be:

The third way is through free and conscious consideration
第三种方法就是通过自由、有意识的考虑
通过考虑 (through consideration)

or

The third way is to trust free and conscious decisions
第三种方法就是信赖自由、有意识的决定
信赖一个决定 (trust a decision)


translating in english 转发两个，会有久违的惊喜 can someone please give me an exact translation of 转发两个，会有久违的惊喜 in english. it is about a book story of a girl and a guy who have not contacted in a week.
can someone also tell me if the girl is missing the guy.

I quote from @dan from the comments: "Forward these two pieces of messages, you would get long-waited surprise". This may have nothing to do with the main story.

And I will also add some background which I guess would be relevant here:

Now, in China, in some (many) social media, like WeChat, Weibo, etc., there are always posts/articles that encourage a reader to re-post it. (I would treat most of such posts as spam though.) So you will often see a message like "you will get a reward if you re-post it twice" or something like that, which is unrelated to the content of the post. Most of the time the said reward/surprise in the message is not real (you will not get such reward/surprise even if you re-post). (And you may even see messages like "you will get cursed if you read but do not re-post".)

I do not know if this phenomenon also exists in other parts of the world.


What is the meaning of 为零 here？ I had the question: 1994 到 2004 年间，不能自理的老年人怎么样？

2 answer choices were:

  B. 比例下降
  D. 比例为零

I see that 零 can mean 'wither and fall'. In English we can say e.g. 'The numbers have withered.' to mean a fairly drastic reduction in numbers of something.

My question is then: are B and D the same answer using different words, or does 为零 mean 'nearly zero, as zero'?

为= being / is

零= zero

Answer D: 比例为零 (proportion is zero) means the proportion of elderly people who can't take care of themselves in the population is zero. (no more elderly people who can't take care of themselves) . That makes no sense.

The writer of the question might had phrased it wrong, or the answer is just obviously incorrect.

Answer D should had been 比例增减为零(proportion increase or decrease is zero) which mean 'no change'

When 零 means 'wither and fall'(凋零), it only refers to flower petals or leaves, and is mostly used in a poetic sense; When 零 means 'drop and shatter' as in (零落), it is mostly used in a poetic sense also. For example: "tears drop and shatter(涕零)"


What is the difference between 欢喜 and 快乐 The 4 types of human emotion, 喜怒哀乐， seem to be 3. What difference do you see between 欢喜 and 快乐？

欢喜：欢乐心喜
快乐：欢乐。指感到高兴或满意

喜 delight; pleasure
樂 happiness; joy

If you do not know the difference between 喜 and 樂, you can realize it from their antonyms.

It is pretty often to use two opposite words together in a Chinese phrase.
For example, (天地)玄黃, (天地)良心, (陰陽)怪氣, (陰陽)交錯, (緩急)(輕重), (緩急)相濟.

It is the same case in 喜怒哀樂.
There are two pairs of words here, which are 喜怒 and 哀樂.
Since the question mentioned 喜 and 樂 of 喜怒哀樂, let's just focus on this phrase. The antonym of 喜 is 怒 (anger), and 哀 (sorrow) is the opposite of 樂.

I think you certainly know the difference between anger and sorrow, then you should know the difference between 喜 and 樂.

「喜怒哀樂」的出處：《禮記·中庸》

  天命之謂性，率性之謂道，修道之謂教。道者也，不可須臾離也；可離，非道也。是故，君子戒慎乎其所不睹，恐懼乎其所不聞。莫見乎隱，莫顯乎微，故君子慎其獨也。 喜怒哀樂 之未發，謂之中；發而皆中節，謂之和。中也者，天下之大本也；和也者，天下之達道也。致中和，天地位焉，萬物育焉。

《中庸》第一章

上天賦於人的氣稟叫做性，順著本性去做叫做道，修明道的本末無偏私，就是教化。這個道是片刻不可離開的啊！如果可以離開，那就不是正道了。所以，君子在人看不到的地方也要警戒謹慎，在人聽不到的地方也常惶恐畏懼。沒有比隱暗處更顯現的，也沒有比細微處更顯著的，所以君子在獨處時特別謹慎。喜怒哀樂的感情在沒有發動前，叫做中；如果情感發出後都合乎節度，叫做和。中，是天下事物自然的本體；和，是天下人人共行的道路。能夠完全達到中和的地步，天地便可安居正位，萬物便可順遂生長了。


What does the following phrase mean “士不可不弘毅, 任重而道遠”? I know it's a Confucian saying but I'd like to know the meaning behind it.  Anyone have a clue?:)

It comes from 《论语·泰伯章》:

Chapter 7
　　曾子曰：“士不可以不弘毅，任重而道遠。仁以爲己任，不亦重乎？死而後已，不亦遠乎？”
The necessity to the officer of compass and vigor of mind

The philosopher Tsang said, "The officer may not be without breadth of mind and vigorous endurance. His burden is heavy and his course is
long.

"Perfect virtue is the burden which he considers it is his to sustain;-- is it not heavy? Only with death does his course stop;-- is
it not long?

Another version from baidu:

An educated gentleman cannot but be resolute and broad-minded, for he has taken up a heavy responsibility and a long course. Is it not a heavy responsibility, which is to practice benevolence? Is it not a long course, which will end only with his death?


What is this 让 in this text? A strange old 听力 from a bygone era it seems, but this 通过让座者时 is holding me up, I can't get a handle on it. How is it meant?

到电影院看电影，观众应尽早入座。如果自己的作为在中间，应当有礼貌地向已就座者示意，请其让自己通过。通过让座者时要与之正面相对，切勿让自己的臀部正对着人家的脸，这是很失礼的。

请其让自己通过。 ask him let self/one pass

This next bit, I can't quite fathom how it is meant in Chinese. Is 让 here 'let' or 'by' or both? Is the 座者 the person seated, or the one who wants to get to his seat? The more I listen, the more confused I get! Help!

通过让座者时 = pass let seated (person) time =

OR

通过让座者时 = pass by seated person time = as you pass by the seated people, (show 'em your face and not your arse,)

Maybe this '通过让座者时' can be written '通过让的座者的时‘？？

Could one of you perhaps rewrite it in a clearer fashion?

I believe this usage of 让座者 is very inaccurate. It is referring to the people who lets you past.

However I couldn't think of a clear and succinct phrase for the same meaning. None of 让位, 让路, etc. sounds right. If rewrite the phrase I would simply go with 其他观众.

  通过其他观众时要与之正面相对，……


Mandarin equivalent of "stir crazy" Is there a concise way to express "stir crazy" in Mandarin, or is a long explanation needed?

I don't know about this phrase very much, does it mean "drive somebody crazy"? If so, I think this one is ok:

  逼疯了
  bī fēng le


How are 我们把那张画儿挂上去吧。and 我们挂上去那幅画吧。 different? On the German Chinese web page here there is a question about the use of 把
in 我们把那张画儿挂上去吧。So I thought, just rearrange to 我们挂上去那幅画吧。to try to explain.

However, my friend, 晓云, immediately said: 笨蛋的老外，这样不行！

I asked why, she immediately said, "我们把那张画儿挂上去吧。is how we say it."

"But if I don't use 把？" I asked?

She said, " 我们挂上那幅画吧。is OK.

Now I would like to know what you think and if possible, why  我们挂上去那幅画吧。with 上去 is not acceptable, but, if I leave out the 去， 我们挂上那幅画吧。is acceptable. How are they different?

[1. 我们] [2. 挂] [3. 上去] [4. 那幅画] [5. 吧]
[1. subject] [2. verb] [3. directional (verb) complement] [4. object] [5. final particle]

The problem here is, in Chinese grammar, the object should be inserted between the 'verb' and the 'directional complement'
The following is the correct structure:

[1. 我们] [2. 挂] [3. 那幅画] [4. 上去] [5. 吧]
[1. subject] [2. verb] [3. object] [4. directional (verb) complement] [5. final particle]

~

why 我们挂上去那幅画吧。with 上去 is not acceptable, but, if I leave out the 去， 我们挂上那幅画吧。is acceptable. How are they different?

The reason why "我们挂上去那幅画吧" is not acceptable has been explained above.

"我们挂上那幅画吧" is not technically incorrect, but the meaning is ambitious. Since the indirect object is omitted, it could mean "我们(在身上)挂上那幅画吧" or "我们(在墙上)挂上那幅画吧"

In summary:

Both "我们把那张画儿挂上去吧" and "我们挂那幅画上去吧" are clear and correct

我们挂上去那幅画吧 is grammatically incorrect

我们挂上那幅画吧  is too ambitious, it needs an indirect object

我们挂那幅画吧 actually removed the ambiguity, because '挂上' is equally applicable for 'on person' and 'on the wall', while '挂' strongly implied  'to hang (on the wall)'

Example of [verb]+ [direct object] +[indirect object]

In " I give you a toy",  'you' is the indirect object, and 'toy' is the direct object
similarly, in "我们(在墙上)挂上那幅画吧", '那幅画' is the direct object, '墙'is the indirect object


How do the words in 让我不断想不敢再忘记你 piece together (from the song Mouse Loves Rice, 老鼠爱大米)? In the song 老鼠爱大米 (Lǎoshǔ Ài Dàmǐ; YouTube; see also Mouse Loves Rice on Wikipedia) we have the following lyrics (English translation from the YouTube link):

我听见你的声音
Wǒ tīngjiàn nǐ de shēngyīn
Whenever I hear your voice
有种特别的感觉
yǒu zhǒng tèbié de gǎnjué
There's a kind of special feeling
让我不断想不敢再忘记你
Ràng wǒ bùduàn xiǎng bù gǎn zài wàngjì nǐ
That makes me think I'll never forget you

The first two sentences translate literally into English, but I'm puzzled how the last sentence pieces together.
Question: How do the words in 让我不断想不敢再忘记你 piece together?
Breaking it down:

让我 (ràng wǒ) = let me, but in this context it means "makes me" (or "causes me")
不断 (bùduàn) = uninterrupted
想 (xiǎng) = to think
不敢 (bù gǎn) = dare not
再 (zài) = again
忘记 (wàngjì) = forget
你 (nǐ) = you

I'm particularly confused about (a) what 不断 applies to (it looks like 不断想 meaning something like "uninterrupted thinking", which doesn't make much sense), and (b) why it's 再忘记你 ("forget you again"), which suggests the person who it's being sung to was forgotten once before.

Maybe you could break them down like such to get a better understanding:

  让我不断想, 不敢再忘记你

In the first clause, “不斷” is an adverb, meaning "continuously; without stopping", that applies to “想”. That leaves us a meaning of "continuously thinking (of you)".

In the second clause, you forgot to include “不敢” here, so the meaning should be "not dare to forget you again".


木木 is there anything linked to a Chinese superstition with this double character? Is there anything linked to a Chineses superstition with this double
character?

I am "going to" start learning Chinese because I met a lady etc.
Her Chat has 木木 (may) her American name. I asked about it -
we mostly correspond through google translate.
She said it's 'different'. Then she said it has superstition, and
she doesn't know how to explain it to me.

I have googled and googled; all I get trees and wood.

So I ask Stack Exchange... is there anything linked to a Chineses superstition with this double character?

Thank you for your thoughts.
Well turns out it wasn't some Chinese superstition; it was sort of her own; this is how she explained it finally:
"There is a superstition in China. People want to know his own destiny and what his life is. For example, some are fire, some are water, and some are wood. This is based on his birth date. People who look at their destiny are called  Fortune teller, the fortune teller said that my life is short of wood, so I thought of a name called wood wood, this is superstition This is a kind of superstition in China, similar to a belief In other words, my name is Mumu, which is helpful for my good luck


When would one use 临时 versus 及时? Recently I read the following dialogue:

A: 今天有转校生要来吗？
B: 听说是这样，好象是临时决定的，所以才没有及时通知我们。

As I was trying to make out what they were saying, I noticed that 临时 and 及时 have similar meanings. The former seems to mean "at the instant something happens" or "ad hoc" while the latter seems to mean "promptly" or "without delay."
I have a feeling that in the second sentence, replacing "好象是临时决定的" with "好象是及时决定的" would also work.
What's the difference between them, and when should I use one over the other?

When you use "临时", your point is "wasn't part of the plan".

When you use "及时", your point is "rapidly/promptly".

So if you replacing "好象是临时决定的" with "好象是及时决定的", it also works but the point will become to "They made the decision promptly" from "They made the decision that wasn't the part of the plan (of the meeting)".

Of cource "临时" has other meanings, such as "temporarily", which means a temporary solution which will be replaced by the formal one later on.


Are "好饱了" and "好包了" both correct? "好饱了" and "好包了" both seem to be used to mean "I'm full".

I'm pretty sure that "好饱了" is definitely correct but they both get lots of Google hits and if I combine the search with the English "full" they are about equally popular.

So is "好包了" also correct or is it a common spelling mistake?

Actually, "好包了" does not mean "I'm full".

You may see "...打好包了..." in the Google hits. It refers to "have made something into a package.

If your friend say "这顿饭我包了". That means your friend will get the bill, and you don't pay the bill.

You will see "7天包退" on some goods's package, that means "7 days to cancel purchase for non-faulty goods".

And "他们的村庄被敌人包围了" refers to "Their village was surround by the enemy."


Help to decipher Russian names written in Chinese characters I am researching Chinese plant scientists in the 1950s. A friend sent a text translated from Mandarin with names of two Russian scientists transliterated from the Mandarin characters for me.  Neither he, nor I can guess what the original Russian names would be.
The Russian names were given as the characters:
Kuo Fei Er Ge
and
Rein Fei Er Ge
Grateful for anyone who could hazard a guess at the Russian names.
The scientists visited China in 1952 to advise on a citrus disease, but I cannot find publications or conference attendee lists from that period.

the link provided in the 3rd comment has two russian name mentioned:
“華西列夫”, which would be “vasilev”, “vasilyev”, “vasiliev” or “vassiliev”
another one is “闊菲爾格”
the place they visited was “黃岩”, the trees was “citrus”
https://baike.sogou.com/v141878.htm
http://www.05760576.com/2006/11/23/133442357.html
one more russian expert’s name: “柯魯索夫”
have fun :)


What is the difference between different words of "note" - 便条，笔记，备忘录? In Mandarin, there exist similar words to express "note" - 便条，笔记，备忘录.

At least I understand that 注释 is a different word from them, as it means an annotation, not an entire post.

How can I use them properly? For example, if I create an article that takes note of programming tips in order to refer to sometimes in the future, which word fits the best?

便条 (note; scrip)  mostly refers to a 'short informal handwritten note' that is written in very short time to deliver a simple message- usually contains no more than a sentence or two, sometimes even just one word.

A note on the table that said: "Back at ten, dinner in the fridge. - Mom" is a typical 便条. A stranger handed you a piece of paper that said "RUN!" is also a 便条

笔记 (note; notes) as a noun can be short for '笔记本'(notebook). The most typical one is school notebooks where students write down summaries of lectures, main points of a lesson or any useful information that can help them study later.

Notes written on loose paper can also be called 笔记. For example, copy of written text on blackboard, notes took from a speech are all 笔记

The act of taking notes is 做笔记

备忘录 (memorandum; memo) mostly refers to a document that serves as a  'reminder'.  It can be personal or official; hand written or printed; in single sheet of paper or a whole book long.

  How can I use them properly? For example, if I create an article that takes note of programming tips in order to refer to sometimes in the future, which word fits the best?

That would be your 'personal notebook' (个人笔记)


Which online resources (preferably open source / cc) does contain info on which Chinese verbs is separable? Some Chinese verbs are separable (also called verb-object compounds), that is:

  他今天上三個鐘頭的課　(He/she had three hours of class today)

Where 上課 is a separable verb.

As there is no rules on which verbs are separable and not, I'm looking for an online resource where I can look that up. For example, does CC-CEDICT contain info about which verbs is separable and not?

The Pleco app contains this information. It was actually confusing me for a while, but the //'s in the pinyin indicate verb separability. Pleco includes some free dictionaries, but it also allows you to download others for a price. I'm not sure if the verb-separation indications are tied to any particular dictionary.


How to Find Characters in a Dictionary? In English we would look words based on their alphabetical order.

But how are Chinese dictionaries ordered to allow you to find what you are looking for - is it based on the radicals, number of strokes, or something else?

Modern Chinese dictionaries include several methods for the user to look up a character.

Radicals: This is useful when you don't know how to pronounce a character;
Pinyin in alphabet: This is useful when you don't know how to write a character while you know its sound;
Number for strokes: Based on my own experience, this only shown some characters that are difficult to find the right radical, i.e "承";
The "Four Corner" method (四角号码): It's a method to enumerate every character in 5 digits max, according to the writing of the character. This is useful for someone who doesn't know Pinyin and I have never used it.


Does this 去 mean reduce? Does this 去 mean reduce?
煤炭企业面临多方面的压力：
The coal industry faces many kinds pressure
（1） 去产能压力。
（1） reduce production capacity pressure

去 in this context means " to remove".

去 never directly mean "to reduce". You thought it does, because logically thinking, you know 'if you keep reducing something, it will eventually be all gone (removed).'

Therefore you can say: "keep reducing until all gone" is one of the methods to remove(去). But 去 itself doesn't mean "to reduce"

If you hang(吊) someone by the neck, you are  killing him. but 吊 (hang) itself doesn't mean " to kill".


Translate "feature" as a verb to Chinese How would one translate "feature" as verb to Chinese?
e.g
This album features all the new artist from NYC.
or
This frying pan features all new design allows the user to cook in their sleep
..

You can say 以xxx为特色/特点/重点. (or 由xxx主演 for movie etc)

  This album features all the new artist from NYC.

该专辑以来自纽约市的所有新艺术家为特色。

Or use xxx的特色在于 for same meaning, sometimes make the sentence more natural.

  This frying pan features all new design allows the user to cook in their sleep.

该平底煎锅的特色在于全新设计允许用户在睡眠中进行烹饪。


How to read this talisman (符)? I came across this talisman (符) the other day:

I can recognize some characters in there, but mostly I'm just stumped by the entire thing. How are talisman supposed to be read? How can I read this one?

I think I see this:

會 會
敕 敕
地 押
神 百
助 煞
財 氣
通 罡
捷
令
罡

I am not certain on my choice of "會", it could be "金母", if it is a name of a deity or something.

In that case, it would be this:

金 金
母 母
敕 敕
地 押
神 百
助 煞
財 氣
通 罡
捷
令
罡


Hi! Can You tell me what this Word is (is it a brand? I  think this might be a brand name .
I have this little charm and I’m dying
To find where iit comes from. Or how to buy more.
Thank you INCREDIBLY for your help.

It's Japanese and it says:

Guriko (Glico) グリコ

Kafeore (Café au lait) カフェオーレ

Glico is a food brand and Kafeore is one of its product lines: http://www.cafeore.jp/info/


How do you refer to continents in the abstract? I've been trying to figure out how to refer to continents as a concept as opposed to specific continents themselves. For example, I know that the continent of Europe would be translated as 欧洲大陆, or 非洲大陆.

But how do I refer to continents as a whole, countable thing. Like "He went to five continents this summer?"

这个夏天他去了五个洲。(闲聊天)/这个夏天他去了五大洲（较官方）。


What meaning does ** (double asterisk) have in chinese? I'm reading some web novels, and I noticed that once in a while there's ** double asterisk in the middle of a sentence, but I have no idea what they represent.

For example:

 **的挑釁

Just as in the prude American culture, it is a kind of abominable censorship of certain expletives, like 狗日的 (fucking), 他妈的 (fucking), 我肏 (fuck), 我靠 (fuck) etc.


Reference: （彝语）杀只鸡，你死了我开心 I recently found out that there is a phrase in 彝语 (Yi) which equates to:

  杀只鸡，你死了我开心

I tried finding some references to this online, but to no avail.

If the original Yi phrase is available I would like to see it too.

"Slaughter a chicken as an offering to thanks gods" is a common expression in Chinese, meaning: "something to celebrate for; something to thanks gods for"

In Cantonese, it is 要劏雞還神

Example: 如果你死咗，我就要劏雞還神 ( if you died，I will have to celebrate / thanks the gods )

The wording differs from dialect to dialect. For example,  要劏雞還神 in Mandarin would be 要殺雞酬神 and in other dialects, including Yi,  屠 or 宰 may replace 劏 or 殺; other animal may replace chicken, but the basic premise would not be too far apart in writing.


Pronunciation of "轧" in 富顺(县)? 《富顺方言》has an entry that reads:

  【轧】
  读音：ōā（连读）
  释义：碾压，轧扎。
  举例：1、小心车子轧斗人！
  2、有一道菜叫“轧海椒”，下饭安逸得板。

The thing that is confusing me is the:

  读音：ōā（连读）

I've checked in the actual print edition of the book and actually it seems that the Kindle edition gives more information the book only prints:

  读音：oa（连读）

without any diacritics.

What would ōā（连读） even sound like? It seems more likely to be a mistake than anything else. Any ideas on the pronunciation of "轧" in 富顺(县)?

A tentative hypothesis:

It seems like there is a 挖 vs 蛙 split, which the dictionary has tried to notate. There is some kind of difference between the /w/ of 挖 and /ʋ/ of 蛙.

The fortition of /w/ to [ʋ] is attested across all of northern Mandarin, and is particularly prevalent in Beijing and the Northeast. This dictionary seems to suggest that this process is incomplete.

I think that the pinyin orthography used by the book has "w" representing /ʋ/, and the "o" representing /w/ instead.

My evidence for this is 娃儿 being transcribed as "wáer (连读)" whilst still having 轧 as "ōā (连读)" in the dictionary.


How do I translate this description of the Spanish Queen's dress style? 西班牙王后做造型真省事：连续两年裙子配饰完全不变参加同一活动 The title of this article about the Spanish Queen Letizia Ortiz's dress style is:

  西班牙王后做造型真省事：连续两年裙子配饰完全不变参加同一活动

To give a mental picture, here's a reduced-quality image from that article:

Breaking the title apart, we have:

  Spain [西班牙] queen [王后] (???) [做] appearance (?) [造型] really [真] simplifies matters [省事]: [for] two years [两年] in a row [连续] dress [裙子] and accessories [配饰] completely [完全] unvarying [不变], participating in [参加] the same [同一] (???) activities [活动].

So my rough approximation is:

  Spain's queen appearance is really simplistic: for two years in a row, her dress and accessories are completely unvarying, and she participates in the same activities

I'm a bit worried about a few grammar points here: (a) I don't see what 做 is doing, (b) I'm not sure if 不变 applies to her dress and accessories, or her activities.  Also the article is dated 2012, whereas Wikipedia says she was coronated 19 June 2014.  So it's possible I misunderstand 王后 too.

Question: How do I translate this description of the Spanish Queen's dress style?

Literally, 做：do; 造型：mould, model, style;

做造型 in the context means the style she dressed herself.

不变 applies to her dress and accessories.

A rough translation:

  西班牙王后做造型真省事: The style the Spanish queen dressed herself is really
  simplistic.

  连续两年裙子配饰完全不变参加同一活动: For two years in a row, she participated in the
  same activities with her dress and accessories completely
  unvarying.


Chinese caligraphy character recognition (three characters only) I am curious what the sign in the following picture says.

I am at total loss when it comes to caligraphic recognition, so I thought I would ask this forum for help.
Thanks!

The banner is written from right to left (Chinese format)
豐 = abundant
澤 = blessing (gift)
寺 = temple
豐澤寺/ 丰泽寺 [fēng zé sì]: Temple of Abundant Blessing (gift)


When does evening, 晚上， begin in China? This is from a little text about 俞伯牙弹琴。 Travelling on a boat, they stop to wait for the wind and waves to calm down.

晚上，风浪渐渐平息，天气晴朗，江水清澈，景色十分迷人。 望着空中的明月，俞伯牙来了兴致，拿出琴弹了起来，一会儿他酒沉醉在了音乐之中。

zdic.net: 晴朗： 阳光充足,没有云雾

晴朗： sunny, fine and cloudless

He gazed at the bright moon on this evening and played his zither.
(Reminds me of Alice Through the Looking Glass: "The moon was shining sulkily, because she thought the sun, had got no business to be there, after the day was done.")

Even in ancient China, the sun did not shine at night, did it??

well, you're reading a bad example of written vernacular chinese, trying to pretend it has a classical chinese origin, with invented details.

  天氣晴朗

it's an error. the possible choice of word is 清朗 or 澄朗; both means clear, crisp sky.

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cbdic/gsweb.cgi?o=dcbdic&searchid=Z00000102154

about the starting time of evening, in ancient; it's 1900 hrs.

one night (一夜) is divided into 5 night-watches (五更); midnight is 三更,

戌時 (1900 - 2100 hrs) is 一更

子時 (2300 - 0100 hrs) is 三更, that's why we've "三更半夜"

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cbdic/gsweb.cgi?o=dcbdic&searchid=Z00000144495


What's the opposite of 儿化？非儿化？ I'm looking for the way to express the opposite of 儿化 in Chinese.
Let's assume 老头儿（lǎotóur）is the standard and it's rarely ever without an 儿. 老头 in this instance would be an exception. I want to express this by saying it's the opposite of 儿化.
规范 seems to express this in a few ways:

口语中多儿化
在口语中常读儿化音
口语中一般儿化

Which is okay.
I'd be happier with something like:

老头是老头儿的非儿化。

I'm not sure that any such terminology exists.

I cannot think of a term that exactly refers to the version without erization corresponding to the same word with erization.
「非儿化」 refers to the property of the sound:

「头儿」 is 「儿化的 / 儿化音」.
「头」 is 「非儿化的 / 非儿化音」.

「去儿化」 refers to the process in which the erization is removed:
↑ 「去儿化」 is to 「儿化」 as "decentralize" is to "centralize"

「老头儿」去儿化之后得到「老头」。
「老头」是「老头儿」去儿化之后的结果。


Chinese Pronunciation App I am curious whether there is some good app or a website for practicing pronunciation of Chinese tones.
There is a way to practice pronunciation on HelloChinese but I find the tone recognition quite inaccurate. For instance, I can say an entire sentence with the same tone, which is clearly wrong, and still the app would show half of the tones as correctly pronounced.

I highly doubt it's a good idea to rely on such apps. Try to mimic high quality recordings or even record yourself for comparison purposes.

Forvo is good for words and phrases, textbooks with an audio CD like Integrated Chinese, Učebnice čínské konverzace and such for whole sentences.

You can also try if some machine translators will get what you're saying by voice, but only for the lulz.


What money is being exchanged here? In this sentence:

  他换了1，000美元。

Did he use dollars to exchange for another money or did he use another money and got dollars as a result?

EDIT:
What about:

  他换了1，000美元的人民币。

“他换了1，000美元” is not clear; which denomination became what?

他用人民币换了1，000美元。（He changed RMB, bought $ 1000)

他把1000美元换成了人民币。（He changed $ 1000, bought RMB)


Chinese? Seal Need help with translating and more information on this scroll (Characters identified: 鄧紹新印） I have searched and searched but cannot find what this means.  Can anyone help with translating this seal, or pointing me in the right direction? Thank you!

Thank you for the help. One of the translations show Shao Xin Deng Yin.
Is Deng Saoxin another way to translate this name?

It shows 鄧紹新印.
I guess it is someone's name.


Difference between 到处 and 处处 Apparently 到处 and 处处 means everywhere in English. May I know if both words can be used interchangeably or there are some differences in usage?

From Dictionary:

everywhere:
(adverb): in or to all places.
e.g. "I've looked everywhere"
(noun): all places or directions.
e.g. "everywhere was in darkness"

~

When 到处 and 处处 are used as a noun, they are interchangeable

Example:
到处都有特价 = 处处都有特价 = everywhere has discount
到处都有人 = 处处都有人 = everywhere has people
到处都有老鼠 = 处处都有老鼠 = everywhere has mice
'到处' and '处处' here are nouns with the same meaning

When it is used as an adverb, 到處 and 處處 have different meanings.

到处 = everywhere; in all place (adv)

处处 = in all aspect; in all directions; in all angles (adv)

Example:
到处查询 (ask everywhere) You go place to place and ask people there
处处查询 (ask in all aspects) You inquire all aspect of the object, e.g. Where you live? Where you work? What school you went to?
到处受阻挠 (be obstructed everywhere) e.g. Everywhere you go, you are obstructed
处处受阻挠 (be obstructed in all aspects) e.g. You want to see the boss and they say no. You try to check the bill and they refuse. You apply to transfer and it is denied
到处挑剔别人 (pick on people everywhere) e.g. you go place to place to pick on people
处处挑剔别人 (pick on people in all aspects) e.g. you complain about the coffee shop staffs work too slow. You point out someone has bad teeth. You told someone the reason of he being poor is because of his laziness
'到处' and '处处' here are adverbs with different meanings


How are ambiguous “brother” and “sister” typically translated into Chinese? Like several other languages, Standard Chinese has different words for "older brother" (哥哥), "younger brother" (弟弟), "older sister" (姐姐) and "younger sister" (妹妹). However, many languages don't express this type of age relationship by means of nouns only, but by means of optional adjectives. Examples include English, German, French and Dutch.

So when translating words such as "brother" and "sister" (in the singular form!) in texts from the latter category of languages into Chinese and when there is no context that indicates the age difference, what do Chinese translators do? As far as I know, words such as 兄弟 ("brother") and 兄弟姐妹 ("brothers and sisters")) aren't used to refer to a single sibling and wouldn't be correct as translation for, e.g., (singular) "brother".

Note: I hope it is clear that this is not a simple "translate-this-for-me" question, but a question of how translators deal with this.

I translate professionally, and teach translation as well, and I have no comfortable solution.  It is one of those cross-cultural conundrums that cannot be resolved satisfactorily with even a short equivalent, as family ranking is so precise to the Chinese, but if I must, then here's my squirm-my-way-through solution:

"Brother" and "sister" are not so bad, because at least one can translate them into Chinese as 哥哥/弟弟, 姐姐/妹妹, and hope to get away with it.  Not ideal, but doable, if clunky.

The really impossible ones are the other relatives: 2 hoops to go through for uncle / aunt (paternal side or maternal? older or younger than parent?); even more hoops to go through for cousins (male or female? paternal side or maternal? older or younger than speaker or reference person?).

What I do, if the context allows such vagueness in the Chinese and I have no way of verifying further details for the "uncle/aunt/cousin", is to go for "亲戚 qīnqi / relative" (or 亲人).  (Or turn the job down...)