The use of '的', please explain to me what is the difference between '自由翱翔' and '自由的翱翔'? Are the literal translations of the two phrases the same?

If they have the same meaning, why would people use '的' in a phrase like this? Would it make a phrase more polite or beautiful?

If translated literally, your two phrases would be fly freely and freedom's flying. In this case (the way I'm interpreting it), the 的 functions as a bit of a possessive. If you meant 地, which in this case would turn the 自由 into an adverb (freely instead of free or freedom), then there isn't much of a difference in meaning. However, the four letter phrase is a common trend in Chinese and is often associated with more poetic and metaphorical statements, so would be more beautiful, yes.

(If you are confused about the finer details of the 的、得、地 grammatical construct, in general 得 is used between adverb and verb when the verb is first, and 地 in the reverse situation, while 的 is usually between adjective and noun.)


What is "一" doing in "事情一开始进展得很顺利，但后来我们遇到了困难"? 事情一开始进展得很顺利，但后来我们遇到了困难

I understand the meaning of the sentence, but I don't understand what is "一" doing in there? Could it be dropped? Would it change the meaning? Is it a part of the "一开始" as a phrase?

一 in this construction has the meaning of ”once”.

Once the business got started it was very successful, but later on we encountered difficulties.

Another example: 一看他的样子就知道他是个骗子。


Which one out of these two sentences is the most natural? “我们一起去海滩吧！” or “让我们一起去海滩”???
*** I asked a native speaker about this the other day and he told me that using "让" sounds "too serious". But then today when I asked another native speaker about this, he told me that it'd be just natural and fine to use "让" to express "Let's...". Could someone please explain to me about the usage of 让? Is it really natural to use 让 to invite/persuade other to do something?

让我们... means let us... So, yes, it is a way to give suggestion. Of course you can use it but we do not use it as frequently as 我们一起去海滩吧！normally in verbal. Though they are both verbal ways, I will choose the first sentence. You can just think it omit 让.


What Possible Pronunciations of 也 exist in Suzhou Dialect? I was looking at old Kunqu opera the other day and was interested by the fact that the singers seemed to be pronouncing 也 as "yi" instead of "ye", for example in http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/sAj9FgdRmK8:

好天气也 (00:12)
好困人也 (14:50)

Both instances sound like yi, not "ye3" as in Mandarin (it also struck me as such in a different recording, which I can't find online right now).  Since the pronunciation in Kunqu is supposed to be based on an old form of Suzhou dialect, I'm curious whether 也 can still be pronounced like "yi" in more modern forms of that dialect, and if so - does Suzhou dialect include some sound like "yi" that happens to be used as a termination particle?

If so, it might be an intriguing case of a supposed signature of Classical Chinese - using 也 to terminate a clause -  being present in vernacular Chinese as well.  Of course, I might simply not hearing that it's actual "ye3" in the above, in which case apologies.

Zhang Jiqing singing Kunqu, always a pleasure to listen to.

The 也 here is the sentence final particle.  It's used quite differently in vernacular literature in the Ming-Qing than it is in classical literature, where it's almost like a copula. The references from 漢語大辭典 are talking about the use of 也 as a loan character for 匜, which is pronounced yi.  This is common in bronze inscriptions ca. 500 BC or earlier, and has nothing to do with the 也 here.

As for pronunciation, after listening to the 2 examples several times, I'd have to say that it's still diphthongized, just like in standard Mandarin. The Kunqu pronunciation is not actually Suzhou 土話. It's like the pronunciation in Peking opera, in the sense that it preserves older facets of Mandarin, but has a definite southern flavor to it. One part of this flavor is that a number of diphthongs are much less like two vowels and are more like a single vowel with a coda, so that the -e coming after i- is less conspicuous; this is strengthened by the fact that its a sentence final particle.  Anyway, I'm sure that its a 也 in these two places. The subtitles are accurate, just copied from the libretto.


Pronunciation and etymology of 啱 I was reading the Wikipedia page on hypercorrection, and I noticed this particle section on Cantonese:

  In Cantonese, some speakers omit the initial [ŋ]. For instance, the character 牙 (Jyutping: ngaa4, meaning "tooth"), ends up being pronounced "aa4". Prescriptivists tend to consider these changes as substandard and denounce them for being "lazy sounds" (Chinese: 懶音; Jyutping: laan5 jam1). However, in a case of hypercorrection, some speakers have started pronouncing words that should have a null initial using an initial [ŋ], even though according to historical Chinese phonology, only words with light tones (which correspond to tones 4, 5, and 6 in Jyutping) had voiced initials (which includes [ŋ]). Because of this hypercorrection, words such as 愛 (Jyutping: oi3, meaning "love"), which has a dark tone, are pronounced by speakers with an [ŋ] initial, "ngoi3".

This lead to me to think about the pronunciation of 啱. Looking at the entry on Wiktionary, it only has one pronunciation (ngaam1). It is in the first tone, but still has an ng- initial, and is the only counter-example I could find to the above paragraph. How accurate is the above paragraph from Wikipedia? If it is accurate, why is it that only tones 4, 5, and 6 that have ng- initials, and why does 啱 not follow that rule? I am also hoping that the etymology of 啱 will help explain this. I am assuming that 啱 is not the "original character", and is a newly invented character due to uncertain origins. The Wiktionary entry does have some speculations, but I also am wondering if other (possibly definitive) theories exist.

So it is a general rule of thumb that any Cantonese syllable with the voiced initial consonants ng-, n-, l-, m- plus tones 1/2/3 is not "Classical", as it violates the defining voicing-based tone split of the four tones that happened in the transition from Middle Chinese to Modern Chinese.

This means that 啱 is either not derived from Middle Chinese (so from a Tai-Kadai or an Austroasiatic or other non-Sinitic source), or it has gone through a more complex history that means it's only indirectly traceable to a Old or Middle Chinese lexeme (it thus might have a regular Old/Middle Chinese complement, which is often considered its 本字).

In the world of Chinese word etymology, things have very seldom been certain. A lack of good corpus data and earliest attestations for these dialectal characters is a major reason for the current state of affairs. Not much can be said "definitively" at all, though we do know it is not in the Kangxi Dictionary.

The theories on English Wiktionary seem possible, perhaps even reasonable (though unsourced at this point; I have found a source that points to the connection with 諳 deriving from a certain Mr 楊子靜, perhaps through his 廣州話分韻詞林), but that is all that can be said about them really.

The other colloquial word that comes to mind with ng- with tones 1/2/3 is 奀, although that has a variant with the null initial too.


Reduplication of adverb in Adv. + V1 + Adv. + V2 structure...? I was watching We Bare Bears on Netflix with Chinese subs and encountered this sentence:

请轻拿轻放

Which translated into “Please be careful (with this).”
I wonder what structure/grammar it is. Could someone please break it down? Is it some kind of reduplication? I have never seen such reduplication though. If yes, what does it imply? And can I replace 拿 with other words?
Thank you.

This is a form of reduplication. However, the general form of reduplication depends on the word.
轻拿轻放 means someone picks up an item, and puts it down. The emphasis is on the gentleness of the action.
You could replace the 拿 with something else, but the 放 also needs to be replaced with something that is related to your substitute word. You could say “他轻手轻脚地走进房间。” 轻手轻脚 means that the person is trying to be quiet (i.e. gentle) when he enters the room.
The reduplication as mentioned above is ABAC. It can also be ACBC, for example. 大吃特吃 means “to eat voraciously”; this time, “eating” is emphasised, while 大 and 特 are used to “show” how the food is devoured.


Safe to always use 之後 instead of 以後, and 之前 instead of 以前? According to this grammar page, it appears like 之後 can always replace 以後, whereas 以後 cannot always replace 之後. However, these grammar pages are not always reliable.

1) For simplicity, is it safe to always use 之後 instead of 以後?

2) Is the same true of 之前 and 以前?

https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Comparing_%22yihou%22_and_%22zhihou%22

In the three example sentences of 以后 in your link, 以后 cannot be replaced by 之后.

(1)以后 再 也 不 来 这里 吃饭 了 ， 又 贵 又 难吃 。
(2)以后 我 可能 会 去 国外 上 大学 。
(3)以后 的 事情 以后 再 说 吧 。

(Actually you can use 之后 in (2), but need a context before that. E.g. 我打算高中毕业之后去北京工作两年;之后我可能会去国外上大学。)

Similarly 之前 and 以前 cannot always replace each other.


What is "⿰糹"? (Some variant of 级?) Saw this at a store the other day:

I believe the middle character's components can be broken down like:

⿰糹

I'm assuming it's just some variant of 级 but I can't find any evidence to support that. Where is this used? The product is from Thailand but they don't use Chinese characters in Thailand.
Maybe it's just fanti 級 stretched out - making it harder to recognize.
Ideas?

The right hand side is not 「」, it is the standard Taiwanese and Korean shape of 「及」. Maybe you're accustomed to seeing one of the other locale shapes.


Talking future tense: 将，要，将要， 会， 将会 I have been looking at various explanations and definitions all over the Internet, but they seem mutually exclusive and quite chaotic.

One explanation I got is that 要 generally means “going to”, or that something may or may not happen, while 将要 means that something is “about to” or “bound to” happen (making it similar to English “will”). Some sources, however, say that you can just use 将 instead of 将要 – yet another one indicates you can shorten 将要 into just 要. Some people on forums have suggested this is just a difference in register or formality. And then there's 会 and 将会.

So, what is the difference (if there is any) between all of those?

将 + [v] = will [v]/ will [v] soon

  Example: 将死 = will die/ will die soon

~

  要 + [v] =  need to [v]

  要 + [v] =  about to [v]

  Example: 要死 = need to die

  Example: 快要死了/ 要死了 = about to die

~

  会 + [v] =   would [v]/ could [v]

  Example: 如果这样做的话，你会死 = if you do that, you would die /could die

~

  将要 = will happen (inevitably)/ on the verge of

  Example: 将要取胜 = on the verge of winning

A general wrote in his war report saying: '将要取胜', it means he is on the verge of victory (it is inevitable).

~

  将会 = will happen (most likely)/ would happen/ could happen

  Example: 将会取胜 = will win/ would win/ could win

A general wrote in his war report saying: '将会取胜'. It either means the general has confidence that he will win the war, or the general predicts a victory (suggests it is highly possible).


phrase + 给 + target + verb In the link below, the wiki page talks about 给 in this structure.

Subj. + 给 + Target + [Verb Phrase]

https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Verbs_preceded_by_%22gei%22

But I don't understand 晚饭妈妈做了面条给我们吃。

The part before 给 is not a subject. Rather, it's a complete sentence. How would you explain this grammar?

Thanks.

It is a [topic + comment/ opinion] grammar structure

晚饭 (dinner) is a topic

妈妈做了面条给我们吃。(mother made noodle for us to eat)  is a comment

The comment here is a basic [Subject +V + object]

You can replace the topic, e.g. Change 晚饭 to 午餐 and write "午餐妈妈做了面条" = "(for) lunch, mom made noodle"
You can replace the comment, e.g. Change 面条 to 饺子 and "晚饭妈妈做了饺子" = "(for) dinner, mom made dumplings"

Similar example:

Topic: 工作 (works)

Comment: 很难找到 (very hard to find)

Topic + comment sentence: 工作很难找到 (works are very hard to find )
SVO sentence: 很难找到工作 (it is hard to find works)

Using [topic + comment sentence] emphasize the topic


What does the underscore (_) mean in Chinese? Some examples of Google search:

风中的树_新浪博客
历史转折中的邓小平_电视剧_央视网

https://www.google.com.co/search?q=%E4%B8%AD%E7%9A%84&oq=%E4%B8%AD%E7%9A%84&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.534j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=0&ie=UTF-8

What is the meaning?

I guess it becomes popular on Internet due to web technology favor. Most of web servers are built on Unix(or similar, like Linux) OS. Underscore is widely used as space replacement since space it's not allowed for variable name in most of the programming languages. Also, web pages usually in a hierarchical structure, and web page title usually contains the hierarchical information for SEO purpose. Thus the underscore symbol is introduced into web pages as a separator, although some programmers may choose the minus symbol instead of underscore.

As a conclusion, the underscore is nothing with Chinese, but a web stuff.


When do people use a one-character given name alone? I live in the US but have friends I see in China, some of whom have one-character given names (that is "first" name in English usage, "second" name in Chinese usage).  I know that often people avoid using a one-character given name by itself since it lacks weight, as said by monalisa at How should a professor address a woman student?.  So where a close friend might call 曾國藩 just 國藩, an equally close friend would call  张扬 by the full name.

But it seems that sometimes in conversations and in e-mails, Chinese people do call a friend by a one-character given name.  Am I mistaken to believe that?  Or is it just because the people I know have mostly worked and studied some in the west and they often use English in their work? Or is it something that only very close friends would do?

You can duplicate that character (if you are really familiar to him/her). Even you can do that the same with three-char names. For example, 曾國藩, you can just call her 藩藩. You can find it if one's name have a char that pronounces the 1st, 2nd or 4nd tone, you can do duplication. For example, 张扬: 扬扬.

Note 1: Some pronunciation should be changed, otherwise it will be weird for locals:

2nd tone: The second char should pronounce as the 4th tone.

3rd tone: Won't be used in general.

4th tone: The second char should pronounce as a lower tone than the first one.

Note 2: Some Pinyin combination won't be used to duplicate.

3rd tone: Won't be used in general.

Note 3: Never be confused with the meaning of the duplicated word, you will never write them onto the formal papers right? or, you can find for some char with positive meanings to replace them.

Maybe you should ask to your friends first, they may be interested in it, LOL.


What is the concept of 华夏? This paper talks about the concept of 华夏:

At the core of this traditional Chinese identity is the concept of hua-hsia. By invoking a sense of Chineseness (hua) that is rooted in the shared civilization of the first (mythical) dynasty (hsia), hua-hsia is, in essence, a code word for both political legitimacy and historical destiny.

It does explain it slightly above but it doesn't really go into detail. Dictionaries just mention words like "China," "Cathay" and even "Han."
What further concepts are linked to 华夏, as mentioned in the quote above?

According to the Chinese language wiki, the word 华夏 is just an Ancient word for 夏人, or the people of the Xia dynasty.

夏朝在上古為中央大國[2]，但“夏人”一般是指夏朝遺民[3]。而“華夏”僅為漢朝之前的代名詞[4]

In Early Old Chinese, the Xia dynasty was the central power, but "夏人" was generally used to refer to the descendants of the Xia dynasty. "華夏" is simply a synonym that was used before the Han dynasty.

The text goes on to explain that in the early Qin dynasty it was used to also classify people in the Zhou dynasty. It looks like this is an example of using the word to affirm political legitimacy-- they used this terminology to affirm that anyone who followed Zhou Li of the Zhou dynasty was a descendant of the even older (and therefore more legitimate?) Xia dynasty by saying they were 華夏, but that people who did not follow Zhou Li were barbarians, even if they belonged to the Zhou family.

在先秦時代，華夏僅為周王朝的代稱[8]，同時凡遵周禮、守义之諸侯國人，也稱為華人、夏人，通稱為諸華、諸夏，不遵守周禮、不尊重周天子、非周「王母弟甥舅」的諸侯國則被視為「蠻夷戎狄」[9][10]，縱使是周王族的吳國，不守周禮[11]及稱王的舉動，一樣被視為「蠻夷戎狄」。

This article does note that some historians believe that in Early Old Chinese "Hua" and "Xia" were pronounced the same, and originally just one character. They also give an example in the Zuo Zhuan where the two are interchangeable.

一些歷史學家認為華、夏兩字上古同音，本一字。《左傳》“裔不謀夏，夷不亂華”一語，華、夏同義反復，華即是夏。

Tl;DR If the paper you are using predates the Han dynasty, it's possible that it is saying this word with purpose, to intentionally claim a longer and more honorable lineage for the group of people it is referring to, but if it was written after the Han dynasty the word choice was probably just for style as at that point the word is interchangeable with 华人.


Phrases to acknowledge being corrected in Mandarin When I lived in China, I was often corrected for using grammar improperly or translating too literally. I don't think I ever learned a good response to this. I usually wanted to be courteous and convey that I understood and would use the correction in the future.

My response was usually "喔，知道了!" which I think of as "Got it!" but I think this feels a little brisk and unappreciative of what the person is saying. If I interpreted it literally, I would definitely think saying something like “I know!" is a little rude in English and might even indicate I'm disinterested in learning how to speak Mandarin properly. Does that phrase have any of that connotation for native speakers or is that just English?

I've also thought about saying "是这样吗?" or “是那样吗?" but I actually have no basis in knowing whether Chinese people say anything like this other than people in my family's dialect (Taishanese) saying this to roughly express "Oh really? That's how it is, huh?" Thinking back to my time in China, I almost feel that "是这样吗?" is a little skeptical and would be taking the person's correction for granted. On a grammatical basis, I am also not sure if the 吗 is needed or if I should even add "这样的" to the phrase.

Then later, I saw a video on the internet that used "原来如此" but the context was a comedy video so I don't even know if this is something people actually say in normal situations. It was translated as "So that's how it is" which is actually rather perfect for what I want to convey. Can anybody tell me how that phrase is usually used? I have learned 原来 before but I'ven ever seen 如此 and I have a hunch that it's derived from classical words/definitions, but I really don't know.

Basically I'm looking for a phrase that conveys these feelings:
1. "Thanks for correcting me, I appreciate it"
2. "Oh, I didn't know that before, I'll try to use it like that from now on"
3. Emphasizing the recent REALIZATION aspect of it, so that I might continue to mess up because I may not grasp their correction instantly -- again, I got the feeling people thought I was not at all conscientious about correcting myself, but I basically had a hard time showing people that I was still TRYING -- which is why 知道了！doesn't sound good to me because that sounds like I'm declaring INSTANT grasp of a correction.

I would simply add 謝謝你 at the end to soften the tone.

我明白了，謝謝你。 I understand now, thank you.

原來如此，謝謝你。 Ah, so that's how it is, thank you.

"喔，知道了" can sound a little brisk and abrupt depending on your tone of voice. Adding 謝謝你 helps, but I would altogether use a different verb 明白, which is closer in meaning to "I understand now".


Meaning and use of ideograms around "language" : 说，话，语 I just arrived in this warm community and am glad to find a stackexchange about Chinese language. I merely began to learning Chinese and find it really exciting, yet many of uses and conventions are neither so clear to me, nor really explained -- or even underlined -- in my learning books and websites.

So here is my question: I feel a bit confused concerning the different sinograms relatives to the language and the speech. Here is what I induce from tremendously few examples and a lot of mystical extrapolations:

说 (shuo1) means "to talk, to speak, to say" (i.e. talking in a general, theoretical way, referring to the idea/potentiality of speaking)
话 (hua4) means "dialect, spoken word" (i.e. talking in a practical, pragmatic way, referring to the act/practical skill of speaking)
语 (yu3) means "language" (i.e. the abstract building which is a language, endowed with its rules and theories)

Here I compared the three with two probable bias:

I assume sinograms to have a proper meaning by itself, which seems to rarely be the case
I propose the translations treating them sometimes as nouns, sometimes as verbs, even if it seems to be an irrelevant distinction in Chinese

Thus I add two more general questions about the Chinese language:

Are sinograms really used sometimes by themselves and understood like that, or do they only carry a meaning when cristalized in a "word" ? (That is to say : is my question relevant or is it more a meta-question for linguists and language anthropologists ?)
Do those three have "preferred" grammatical functions ? That 说 more often used as a verb and 语 more as a noun ? Or is my comparison of significations meaningful ?

谢谢 and sorry for the possible lack of precision :)

All Chinese character has its meaning or meanings. Some can be used as a word on its own,

For example:

Noun:

人(person(/ people/ human)
火(fire)
山(hill/ mountain)

Verb:

殺(kill)
跑(run)
吃(eat)

Adjective:

大(big)
小(small)
好(good)

However, the majority of Chinese words are composed of two characters.

For example:

正確(correct)
討論(discuss/ discussion)
明白(understand)

*See reference here

As for your question:

說 is mostly a verb for "speak" or "talk" but it can combine with other characters to form more specific words. For example: 演說 (lecture/ public speech), 說服(convince/ persuade), 說明(explain)
話 is mostly a noun for "spoken words" but it can combine with other characters to form more specific words, for example: 謊話(lie), 說話(speak/ talk) , 對話(conversation)
語 is mostly a noun for "language" but it can combine with other characters to form more specific words, for example: 語言(language), 英語 (English), 語音(speech tone)

Many characters' original meaning had became obsolete. These characters only become meaningful when they are a part of a "two characters word" or a part of a "four characters phrase". One good example would be "黷" in "窮兵黷武" . The character: "黷" itself originally meant "act wantonly" but today, no one would use this character on its own except in the idiom 窮兵黷武.


How to (hand) write Chinese characters faster Are there any resources / how-to sources about how to write Chinese characters faster than normal while still being readable? It took me forever to take notes while in class.

In restaurants (茶餐廳) in Hong Kong, the "waiters" also face this problem because writing in a formal and clear way takes too much time. They developed methods so that they can take orders faster:

Write words with other words that has the same pronunciation.
For example, instead of writing the word 「飯」(faan6), they would write 「反」(faan2) because they both have similar pronunciations.
Draw symbols instead of words.
Instead of writing 「叉燒」, writing 「╳燒」takes less time and is still readable.
Try to write with less strokes. Instead of writing a stroke by another, try this:

Use a mixture of Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese: (applies to people who are outside of mainland China, mainly for users of Traditional Chinese)
Eg: 我是一個好学生。


When to use counters with 这 and 那 I'm having trouble locating a grammatical rule that explains if I should use counters in certain situations, I'll give you some examples

这个是什么 (What is this?)

Do I need the counter in that sentence? Would it be grammatical without it?

那是我的自行车 (That is my bicycle)

Does this sentence make sense even though there is no counter?

Can anyone explain this rule for me?

You don't necessarily need a counter or classifier in that case.
這個是什麼 is ok, it's like "What is this thing?"
這是什麼 is also ok, probably more common. "What is this?"

那是我的自行車 is perfectly fine, just a generic "that's my bicycle"
那個是我的自行車 is like "that one is my bicycle." (Not this one or those other ones)
The counter word just emphasizes that you're talking about that particular thing.

It's not mandatory here because there is already 我的 that classifies the bicycle.

It's also unnecessary if you're talking about a general class of object, rather than a particular object. 這是什麼？這是自行車. Or 我要買自行車 "I want to buy a bicycle" (not any specific one, just one in general)

If you said something like 給我那個自行車, then the classifier would be mandatory, because you're talking about a particular one, so you need to specify it. But 給我你的自行車 has 你的, so it doesn't need a counter word.


What does 利口耳丝耳 and 利口丝久 mean? Here's a screenshot from the 1point3acres forums:

it says:

  利口耳丝耳
  利口丝久

What does this mean? Is it a transliteration from English?

You can also find phrases like:

  利口 斯尔
  利口 丝丝久

on the site.

Any ideas?

Edit: they seem to be "interview question types"

Uber ATG failed interview:

  一道利口斯尔，一道利口散灵思

startup Element, Inc. failed interview:

  利口散灵思->这个不是算每个点到(0,0) square 的 sum 相减么。。还有啥最优解？莫非是Segment tree 或者 binary indexed tree?

I believe 利口 is the Chinese for:
Leet Code

[a] platform to help you enhance your skills, expand your knowledge and prepare for technical interviews.

and the rest are just numbers:

耳丝耳 = 242
丝久 = 49
斯尔 = 12
散灵思 = 304
丝丝久 = 449

Although there might be some mistakes in the numbers there.

If we take 利口散灵思 for example that gives us: LeetCode 304 which is a question about:

Range Sum Query 2D - Immutable（Python）

Now back to the question at hand:

Leetcode 22. Generate Parentheses
LeetCode 19. Remove Nth Node From End of List

p.s.: the offical name for Leet Code in Chinese seems to be:

力扣

maybe the alternative translation adds to the code.

Leet Code has a list of articles here ordered by number.


條 or 個 as classifier for road (路) in Cantonese? I usually hear 路 used with 條 as the classifier, but sometimes people also use 個. in cantonese, which is the correct classifier? are both correct?

"條" is the correct one. I speak Cantonese and never heard of "個" in this case.


Does 道上的人物 represent anything special? xxx 也是道上的人物...

Does "道上" mean something like "a good and legal path" while "道下" (not sure if even this is a word) means "the illegal ways"?

Here 道 means 黑道, 黑社会 (underworld). So xxx 也是道上的人物 means xxx is the member of some underworld organization.

道下 is not a word.


What are the characters for punctuation in older literature? I'd like to be able to identify punctuation marks in older literature (to be aware of where sentences end basically), such as this exerpt from Chuanshan yishu quanji:

"易之言曰敬以直內義以方外誥之言曰以義制事以禮制心故曰先聖後聖其揆
一也今夫事興人之相接也不接於吾之耳目口體者不可謂事也何也不接
於吾之耳目口體天下非無事也而非吾之所得制非吾之所得制則大台內外
固有不論不諉者矣則固非吾事矣不發而之於視聽言動者不可謂必也何也
不發而之於視聽言動吾亦非無必也而無所施其制無所制則人生以上固有"

This transcribed version probably isn't very accurate, however thanks in advance for your efforts.

there're no punctuations in classical chinese. one must learn to chop the verse since childhood, before about 1911. such ability is called 句讀
http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cbdic/gsweb.cgi?o=dcbdic&searchid=Z00000096985
briefly, people used pattern, particles and pronunciation to help to chop the verse, the provided text would be:

易之言曰．敬以直內．義以方外
誥之言曰．以義制事．以禮制心
故曰先聖後聖．其揆一也．今夫事興．人之相接也．不接於吾之耳目口體者．不可謂事也．何也
不接於吾之耳目口體．天下非無事也．而非吾之所得制．非吾之所得制．則大台內外．固有不論不諉者矣．則固非吾事矣．不發而之於視聽言動者．不可謂必也．何也
不發而之於視聽言動．吾亦非無必也．而無所施其制．無所制．則人生以上固有 . . .


When is 的 needed to express "of"? Consider the following two sentences:

早晨的太阳为什么是红色的
中午太阳又变白了

For the first sentence: the second 的 is because 红色 is 区别词 and the first 的 expresses alienable possession (i.e. no close possession).

But in the second sentence: there is no "的" after "中午" as I would expect. Why?

I also found the following sentence: 你还得提高教育质量. In English, I would say "quality of education" and not "quality education". Hence, I would also expect a "的".

Another difficult case is "科学模型" vs "科学的模型".

Can somebody clarify how to use "的" to express "of"?

早晨的太阳为什么是红色的
中午太阳又变白了

中午的太阳又变白了 is a correct sentence. But, if you put that 的, you'd change the parsing:

[中午的太阳][又变白了] vs [中午][太阳又变白了]

The original sentence uses 中午 adverbially, which is for the effect of contrast: Why the sun in the morning is red, while at noon(when it comes to noon) it becomes white.(I'm curious how come).
中午的太阳又变白了 would reduce that effect dramatically.
So, the question here is not about grammar but the way people express their ideas.
P.S. I might think to add a comma after 中午 would probably be a little bit improvement? Maybe, not everyone would agree with that.

早晨的太阳为什么是红色的
中午, 太阳又变白了


Confusions with third-tone reading I came across a text. It is about shopping at a 商场. In Taiwan, I believe it's shang1 chang2, but in Mainland China, it's shang1 chang3, and I want to go with that one, however, it is causing me confusion.

(1) So there was this phrase "商场里", as in "自选商场里的东西真多"; the pinyin annotation was shang1 chang3 li3; now, I know that there are full third-tone （which I'll refer to as full-3) and half-third tone (which I'll refer to as half-3), so when I read, or when I teach someone to read, is it (A) shang1 chang(half-3）li(half-3) or (B) shang1 chang(2) li(half-3)? Or is it something else?

(2) And then there's this sentence: 收款的阿姨用电脑很快算出了要付的钱。“用电脑很快” is the part I am having trouble with. The pinyin annotation was yong4 dian4 nao3 hen3 kuai4, so is it (A) yong4 dian4 nao(half-3) hen(half-3) kuai4 or (B) yong4 dian4 nao2 hen(half-3）kuai4? I suspect (B) is wrong in this case, but I have a hard time justifying to myself why (A) is right. I believe (A) is right because you can separate the sentence like this, 收款的阿姨用电脑 // 很快算出了要付的钱, so because 脑 is part of 电脑 and 很 is part of 很快, both can be read in half-3 tone. Does this argument hold?

(3) Speaking of which, it has been a very long time since I have been in weekend Chinese school, and weekend Chinese school is different Western schools' Chinese course (which I have never attended) in terms of teaching styles and materials, so I am wondering, now in Chinese education, when students see a 3-tone character by itself or at the end of a binome consisting of 2 3-tone characters, are they taught to read AND speak in half-3, or are they taught to read in full-3 and speak in half-3?

This is a very common tone sandhi pattern in Mandarin. When two "rising" tone (上聲), i.e. tone 3 in Standard Mandarin, characters follow each other in a word, the first character is changed into "light rising" (陽平), i.e. tone two.

So, 商場裏 is pronounced shang1 chang2 li3. However, (2) is a bit contendable, since this sentence should be broken down into 用電腦/很快. Some people would say yong4 dian4 nao3 hen3 kuai4, and some would go with yong4 dian4 nao2 hen3 kuai4. I find myself using the latter most of the time, but either way should be comprehensible.

No, native Mandarin speakers don't usually recognize the difference between half-3 and full-3. I find myself pronouncing words with half-3 most of the time, but sometimes full-3, without myself recognizing it at the time.


The meaning of "宝藏"? I know that "宝藏" can mean "underground mineral deposits", but it can also mean "treasures".

My question is this: In addition to the two definitions above, can "宝藏" also mean a location that stores treasures, such as a "treasure trove"? Or is that definition only restricted for something like "宝库"?

The reason being is that since "宝" is treasure, and "藏" is hide, I get the feeling that it is "hiding the treasure", aka. a place to hide treasure, meaning a treasure trove. Or perhaps it just means "the treasure that should be hid"? Quite unsure on this.

藏 has two meanings:

as a verb (cáng), it can mean to hide, to conceal, etc.
as a noun (zàng), it can mean depository, such as 宝藏 (bǎozàng).

Of course the two meanings are related.

To get an impression what this word means, search for 宝藏 on Google Image search or Baidu Image search.


Visual puns and phrases Some characters are visual puns: 尜 (小大小), 尖 (小大); others are a phrase written as a single character: 膥 (未成肉), 籴 (入米), 汆 (入水), 奀 (不大).

What are some other characters which fit into these categories?

These are called ideogrammatic compounds. I remember my teacher said about 10% of Chinese characters are ideogrammic compounds, which means there are more than 5,000 of them.

This Wiktionary page lists 270 of them.

This lesson took from an elementary school book analyzes about 10 characters whose original forms were ideogrammic compounds.

You can find some other information on Baidu Baike .


Does 少数民族 exclusively refer to the 55 Chinese ethnic minorities? The term 少数民族 is typically used to describe the 55 (non-Han) Chinese ethnic minorities, as in the illustration below:

(Image source; click image to enlarge.)

I'm not sure if 少数民族 can only refer to these 55 Chinese ethnic minorities, or if it can be used for other ethnic minorities (e.g. in other countries).  The Baidu Baike page suggests it is exclusive to these 55 Chinese ethnic minorities, but I'm not sure if that's limited to that webpage.
Question: Does 少数民族 exclusively refer to the 55 Chinese ethnic minorities?

From your link, 少数民族 = 多民族国家中除主体民族以外的民族, so that term applies to other countries as well. However, 中国少数民族 designates exclusively Chinese ethnic minorities. Keep in mind that there are 中国未识别民族（Unrecognized ethnic groups in China）, i.e. ethnic groups too hard to identify due to strong similarity with other ones or ethnic groups influenced too much by Hans.


What does 雄于 in 少年雄于地球，则国雄于地球 (from a Liang Qichao quote) mean? As I understand, 梁启超 (Liáng Qǐchāo) is a famous Chinese patriot, who opposed imperialism and European influence prior to and during World War I.  My teacher mentioned a quote from him (少年强则中国强), so I looked it up and found this:

  少年强则国强，少年智则国智，少年富则国富，少年独立则国独立，少年自由则国自由，少年进步则国进步，少年胜于欧洲，则国胜于欧洲，少年雄于地球，则国雄于地球。
  梁启超 (source)

Each part of this quote has a similar structure, e.g., 少年强则国强, which means something along the lines of "strong youth leads to strong country".

However, I don't understand 雄于 in this quote.  I've only ever encountered 雄 previously in 英雄 ("hero").  I didn't find anything meaningful on YouDao or Jukuu, so I'd guess 雄于 is particular to this quote.

Question: What does 雄于 in 少年雄于地球，则国雄于地球 mean?

雄 as a verb has the meaning of 'be dominant'

少年雄于地球 = (If our) youths are dominant on Earth

则国雄于地球 = Then (our) nation will be dominant on Earth


What's a suitable CC-EDICT definition for 各司其职? I encountered 各司其职 in my textbook 发展汉语，高级口语（I） on page 19, so I'm attempting to whip up a CC-EDICT definition.

Question: What's a suitable CC-EDICT definition for 各司其职?

The definition the textbook gives is:

  每个人尽自己的职责，做好所承担的工作。

This translates to something like:

  Everyone to the extent of their duty, performs well all undertaken work.

Based on this, my teacher's verbal descriptions, and Wiktionary and Baidu Baike, this is my attempt at a CC-EDICT definition:

各司其職 各司其职 [ge4 si1 qi2 zhi2] /each performs their own function or duty/

I'm hoping for a for a critique and improvements on this.

I'm not sure if "function" is a good choice here (but it's what Baidu Baike uses).  I'm also unsure of this is just limited to humans, but could also refer to e.g. machinery (with each component performing its role).

CC-EDICT definitions and need to be high-quality (they're used in dictionaries all over the world).  The whole dictionary is free to download.  Submissions are reviewed prior to modifying the database.  They have a specific syntax, e.g.:

中國 中国 [Zhong1 guo2] /China/Middle Kingdom/

In Modern Chinese Dictionary 7ed (《现代汉语词典》第七版）

各司其职【gèsī-qízhí】
各自管好、做好自己的本职工作（司：执掌，主管）。
也说各尽其职、各司其事。

I would put it as

各司其職 各司其职 [ge4 si1 qi2 zhi2] /manages and performs one's own job respectively/

Hope my answer helps.


The concept of presumptuousness Is there any word or short phrase in Chinese that expresses the concept of 'presumptuous' as in 'arrogantly making assumptions about the beliefs or preferences of another person without regard to the possibility of being wrong'.

If you can provide any written examples, even if it is a full paragraph, of authentic articles or literature which uses the concept, it would be most welcome.

The idea I'd like to translate is: "If I was only allowed to use one word to describe my experience with Chinese, I'm afraid it would have to be 'presumptuous'. I've encountered so many Chinese people who not only assume anyone with white skin automatically would like to have a conversation with them in English, but also that the conversation partner won't mind the conversation being one-sided. Whenever I've been in such a situation, the Chinese English learner tends not only to miss all the important points I wish to express, but also to pretend he did understand them, leaving me no opportunity to clarify. This leaves me feeling very incontent, used, and exhausted by the end. "

I've only provided such a long sample of text to be precise, I'm not looking for a translation of a paragraph, only the means of expressing this one  concept. Unless you'd like to translate! Finally please don't make unwarranted assumptions about me or take offense to this question. It's absolutely not meant to insult anyone!

The concept of 'presumptuous' as in 'arrogantly making assumptions about the beliefs or preferences of another person without regard to the possibility of being wrong'.

The words that fit those descriptions would be 自以为是 (literally 'regard oneself as infallible') or 自作主张 (literally 'presumingly assert/decide'). 自以为是 would work perfectly for translating your paragraph. There is also a colloquial word with similar meaning 想当然 (literally 'assume sth. as a matter of course').

If you consider some similar but different concepts, you'll have more word choices. E.g. prejudice (偏见), stereotype (成见), ignorance (无知/愚昧), etc.


Is there more than one way to pronounce "knee" in Chinese? My daughter's preschool has a Mandarin language immersion program and the teacher (from Fuzhou, Fujian province) seems to pronounce "knee" (膝盖) as qīgài instead of xīgài.

Is qīgài a correct alternative pronunciation, or is her own dialect incorrectly corrupting her Mandarin pronunciation? If the latter, what other pronunciation errors is she likely to make?

It is a non-standard pronunciation, but it is reasonably common. It is not in any way associated with the Fuzhou dialect specifically — even some northerners say qigai. Here's an interesting blog post and discussion about the free variation of the pronunciations of knee.


How do you say 'I hope you got to know a little more about me' For a self introduction speech in my chinese class.

P.s. please make it in "easy wording" with pinyin, thank you in advance. (not too complication)

希望 (hope) 你们 (you) 对我 (to me) 有了 (have) 更多的 (more) 了解 (understanding)

xī wàng nǐ men duì wǒ yǒu le gèng duō de liǎo jiě


What does the last `点` mean in `玩得开心点`? I've read the following phrases:

A: 妈妈，我可以和新邻居一起玩吗？
B: 可以，玩得开心点。

In the two sentences above, what does the 点 mean?

I think this is something like the following:

A: Mam, can I play together with those who moved recently?
B: Yes, you can. Have a good time.

点 or 一点 means some or a bit.

Just like we often use 很 (very) before adjectives and 些 (some) before nouns, we often need 点 just to make the sentence grammatical.

If you omit 点 saying 玩得开心, it sounds like a declarative sentence, rather than an imperative one.

Similarly, we say

快点 hurry up
小心点 be careful
慢点 take it easy

点 somehow functions like a sentence final particle like 吧, 了, etc. It is just used in certain types of sentences.


Games to learn Chinese with? I’ve been looking online for the bigger part of a day in search of roleplaying games in Chinese for helping me learn it more efficiently.

I also asked my girlfriend (Chinese) to help me find a game like that, but the only game we found was only available on iOS on the Chinese App Store.

Do you guys know of any rpg’s that I can get in Chinese?

Edit: I’m a (total) beginner at Chinese. I also only have apple products and a ps4.

You can search for "御龙在天" in the major Android application market, such as Huawei application market, Xiaomi application market, 360 mobile assistant, tappap, etc.


How Formal is 为期 (wei2qi1)－ to last？ In a recent podcast I've been listening to - imandarinpod - the term 为期 was mentioned. It was loosely explained to mean "to last" as in for a period of time.
I know that we can say something like "回忆为期三天“ - which makes sense. But, in all of the examples of 为期 I've seen it looks like it has been for "intentional periods of time". Could I say something in the past tense that wasn't expected like

"战争为期十年“?

Also, how formal is 为期？ Could it ever be used in a regular conversation?

Could I say something in the past tense that wasn't expected like "战争为期十年“?

Yes you can.

为期 is originally a V-O phrase, literally,

为: as, being
期: period, deadline

Putting them together, 为期 means (to be done) by/within (a certain period), which implies the limit is intentionally set. E.g.

  我等你，三年为期。 I'll wait for you for 3 years.

However, the phrase 为期 as a whole can also be used as a verb, and with that usage the sense of 'intentionally set time limit' is dimmed. It merely means to last. E.g.

  为期三年的等待。A waiting that lasted for 3 years.

战争为期十年 is another example for this usage.

How formal is 为期？ Could it ever be used in a regular conversation?

It sounds formal, but it could be used in regular conversation.

In spoken language, the shorter the sentence is, the more people tend to avoid using formal words. So if 战争为期十年 is the whole sentence, it sounds more casual to say 战争持续了十年 or even more colloquially 战争打了十年.

In a long sentence though, it is okay to use formal words if they can shorten the sentence or simplify sentence structure. Because 为期 is shorter than 持续了, 在一场为期十年的战争里，... doesn't sound too much more serious than 在一场持续了十年的战争里, .... This rule applies to other formal/informal phrases too.


How do I understand 的 in 因为广州的雨季下的那个雨真的是特别的大? So I am trying to understand the 的 in this sentence which came from a native speaker.
因为广州的雨季下的那个雨真的是特别的大。

Can any of the 的 (by itself) be eliminated without modifying the meaning of this sentence?
下的那:  If only these three words were removed, will the sentence still grammatically correct and retain its original meaning?
真的: If only these two words were removed, will the sentence still grammatically correct and retain its original meaning?
的大:  Is the 的 necessary?

因为 广州的 雨季 下的 那个 雨 真的 是 特别的 大。

Only the 的 of 下的 can not be removed.
No. Because the 个 must be with 那. You can remove 那个 ,  or replace 下的那个 with a single 的.
Yes. 真的 means trully.
No. But you should know that the 的 is belong to 特别.


How does the grammar of 拿把伞 work? This sentence is taken from lesson 2 of HSK3 and apparently it means "get an umbrella".

The full sentence is 我下楼去给你拿把伞 which should mean "I will go downstairs to get you an umbrella".

My IME is always suggesting 那把伞, which obviously means "that umbrella", which makes me think this construction might not be as common ... ?

So my question is if this "拿把伞" really is 拿(verb) 把(measureword) 伞(noun). Because I have never seen a measure word attached to a verb in this way, at least not in Chinese. Can all transitive verbs do this? Are there other verbs that behave in this way?

帶把槍 bring a gun.
切條魚 cut a fish.
吃碗麵 eat a bowl of noodles.
裝盒餅乾 pack a box of cookies.

Here measure words (better see them as classifiers) are 把, 條, 碗, 盒 where the number of one is usually omitted. If it's more than one, the number 2, 3, 4... would not be left unsaid or unwritten. (And interestingly 把, 條, 碗 imply singular and 盒 implies a group which might be plural.)

As for your questions in the comment however, when the classifiers are put at the beginning of a sentence, the number is always present even if it's singular. People don't leave classifiers at the start of a sentence without a numeral.

一盒餅乾在桌上 a box of cookies is on the table.
兩碗飯盛好了 two bowls of rice has been filled / prepared.
三條魚跳出水面 three fishes jumped out of the water.
四把槍在門口 four guns were at the gate.

Again even all of the above examples are singular. The number of "one" would always be described because the classifier is at the beginning.


Can anyone identify these characters? (Characters identified: 照菜科) Can anyone help me identify these characters, I'm having a difficult time even finding the radicals due to the photo quality. Thanks!

The characters look like 照菜科. I’m unable to make sense of that without more context.


What do 即 (jí) and 已 (yǐ) do in the sentence 病征在成年早期即已显露 ("symptoms become visible at early adulthood")? In a document about 边缘性人格障碍 (biānyuán xìng réngé zhàng'ài) = "Borderline Personality Disorder", we have the following sentence:

  病征在成年早期即已显露，但随年龄增长趋于缓和或稳定。
  Bìngzhēng zài chéngnián zǎoqí jí yǐ xiǎnlù, dàn suí niánlíng zēngzhǎng qū yú huǎnhé huò wěndìng.

I translate this to:

  Symptoms become visible at early adulthood, but with age they have an increasing tendency to alleviate or stabilize.

I think it's a reasonably accurate translation.  (Google Translate gives a translation that's much the same: "Symptoms are revealed early in adulthood, but tend to ease or stabilize with age.")

What I'm confused about is the use of

即 (jí), which means something like "namely" (also mentioned in What does 即 mean in this sentence?), but I don't think that makes sense here, and
已 (yǐ), which means something like "already".

Neither of these makes sense to me in this context.

Question: What do 即 and 已 do in the sentence 病征在成年早期即已显露?

There's a few examples of 即已 used together on YouDao, but I don't see how they help.

病征在成年早期即已显露

即 here means 就. It means this sense:

So, 病征在成年早期即已显露 is equal to say 病征在成年早期就已显露.


What is the definition of 外省? In the following answer in 知乎, the respondent said the following to a question asking how much it costs to live in Paris:

  外省7-8万，巴黎10W+

I would like to know what 外省 means here. 省 means province so it is clear enough for me that 外省 at least doesn't express the metropolitan place like in Paris.

However, what kind of areas or districts 外省 mean? Is it a suburban or rural? If you relate it to Paris, does it point to somewhere except the central of Paris but in the il-de-france region, or outside of the il-de-france but still in Paris, or totally outside of the Paris?

外省(outside provinces / other provinces) refers to all provinces other than 本省(own province) - the province you are currently residing. In this case, 外省 means any province other than Île-de-France where Paris is located in.

Paris is a city, so "巴黎10W+" refers to the living cost in Paris only. The quote also mentioned cost outside of Île-de-France "外省7-8万" but did not mention the cost to live in Île-de-France itself.

Either the writer presumed the cost to live in Île-de-France is the same as in Paris, or he thought Paris is a province.


Graded Mandarin Chinese podcasts or e-books Are there any resources for students of Mandarin Chinese that allow them to listen or read Chinese news or literature in simple versions, preferably in podcast or e-book format respectively?

By that I do not mean Simplified Chinese as used in Mainland China, but rather what is known e.g. as Français facile in the case of French, i.e. resources that employ only well-defined, limited sets of words to support students in their initial encounters.

Resources aligned with the HSK levels would be most valuable for me at this time. I am currently aware of the Graded Chinese Readers mentioned here, but of no other material. What I'd like best is a simple/graded podcast from the BBC World Service, say ...

小王子 (Xiao3 Wang3 zi: Little Prince), 还游世界八十天 (huan2 you2 shi4 jie4 ba shi2 tian: Around the World in 80 Days) by 企鹅 (qi3 e2: Penguin) books were pretty interesting books.

They aren't too packed with useless ChengYu (idioms), and tell a nice story (They also have some pictures... Which I find really helpful in pairing with Chinese to remember). You can download them on your smart phone and read them there.

If you have Android, download the Hanping Pro for like $.99... will help you with any characters you don't understand.

I'd also recommend you read some 漫画 (man4 hua4：Manga)... The pictures along with the words are great for learning.


What is the literal translation of the first line of the Tao Te Ching? You see this:
道可道非常道
dào kě dào fēicháng dào

Often translated as "The Dao that can be told is not the eternal and unchanging Dao". What is the literal translation?
What's missing is, we have dào kě dào, a mirroring, which isn't present in English, and the NOT in english, where is that in the Chinese?

The Dao that can be told is not the eternal and unchanging Dao is already a literal translation.

道可道非常道

[The] Dao (道) [that] can (可) [be] told (道) [is] not (非) [the] eternal/unchanging (常) Dao (道)

A text that is written almost deliberately to be interpreted in multiple ways does not have a "the literal translation".


What's the difference between 慢慢 and 渐渐？ what's the difference between 慢慢 and 渐渐？

For example why can you use 慢慢 here，but not 渐渐？
ex） 你慢慢吃吧，别着急！

慢慢means slowly, 渐渐 means gradually.

you said 你可以慢慢吃 = you can eat slowly.
but not 你可以渐渐吃 = you can eat gradually.


What does 之 mean in 邓小平之所以推动改革开放...? In the following sentence:

  三十年前，邓小平之所以推动改革开放，一来是为了提高人民的生活水平，二来是为了让中国经济从计划经济转变到市场经济。

I found that 邓小平 is a name for a person. But I don't understand what 之 works for here. So what is the meaning of it and how does it function here grammatically?

Also, is it required to use 之 here, or if you omit it, does the sentence change into a different meaning?

所以 means 'because' but it can also be used as a noun for "reason" , as in "不明所以" (don't understand the reason)

邓小平 is a noun,  之=(的),  所以=reason
邓小平(之)所以 = Deng Xiaoping('s) reason (for)

推动改革开放 (promote reform and opening up) is the action that the reason resulted in.

一来是为了提高人民的生活水平，二来是为了让中国经济从计划经济转变到市场经济。 is the description of the reasons

'之所以' is a common phrase for 'the reason why'; 'therefore' because it is so commonly used in literary form.
Example:
"(The reason why) he resigns" = "他(之所以)辭職"
"(The reason why) he ran away" = "他(之所以)逃跑"
The two examples above must be followed by the description of the reason


How is it decided as to which character is used on the tech terminology? Usually the technological terminology is mapped to an equivalent word in Chinese. For example:

Deep Learning: 深度学习
Linear Algebra: 线性代数
Web Server: 服务器

However, 深层学习 may also be a valid choice. In fact Japanese people use 层 on the term (i.e. 深層学習).

So how is which characters are used decided and by who? Is there any organization that lays it down?

'深度學習' = 'in-depth learning'
'深層学習' = 'deep level learning'

As you mentioned, Japanese use '深層學習' instead of '深度學習' for 'deep learning'

(深層學習 is the preferred translation of 'Deep learning' in Hong Kong too)

Different countries and regions have different translations of some technological terms from foreign language. Hard to say which is better.

Blaszard wrote:

  I didn't ask which is better or what meaning each word exactly has; I asked how it is determined and by who.

When a new terminology is coined in foreign language, different medias and publications  may have trouble deciding on an unified translation.

Eventually, they will follow the lead of the authority in that particular field. If the Science journal in China translates 'Deep learning' as 深度学習, the news would adopt it and the general public will follow.  Finally, dictionaries would make it official by listing it.


What do the /pf/ & /pfʰ/ initials sound like in Central Plains Mandarin? I was flipping through the Xi'an dialect volume of the Great Dictionary of Modern Chinese Dialects.
On p. 206 I came across:

and on p. 207 there is:

There is the /pf/ initial and the aspirated consonant /pf‘/.
I'm quite curious to see what these sound like, especially since /pf/ seems like a topolectical equivalent of zh in MSM and /pf‘/ one of ch.
What do the /pf/ & /pfʰ/ initials sound like in Central Plains Mandarin?

I live near Xi'an and I can confirm /pf/ & /pfʰ/ are accurate. It's literally p + f. It's like pronouncing /p/ while having your teeth on the lips for /f/, so when your mouth opens, it's a natural /f/.
edit: I think it should be mentioned this is Xi'an-only. Xi'an dialect belongs to 中原官话关中片 (Central Plains Mandarin in the region of Guanzhong), but other dialects in the same subcategory doesn't have /pf/, let alone the broader category Central Plains Mandarin.


Tamen dou1 hen3 hao3 As I am reading the New Practical Chinese Reader

From:

Resources for learning Mandarin Chinese

And I got to the translation of Tamen dou hen hao and I was wondering something.

The translation of "Tamen dou hen hao" is: "They are both fine"

Now I dont understand what they mean with "They are both fine" in this case since in english it can mean 2 things.

They are both DOING fine, as  a response to "How are they?"
They are both fine, as in a choice between 2 things. Like would you have a coke or water?

I was wondering wether it means the 1st meaning or the 2nd or even both.

Most likely it's the first meaning.  I would give the second as 都可以 'dou1 ke3yi3' in the sense of 'both are possible'.  Dou1 actually means 'all', but obviously it can refer to two items as well.  Anyway isn't the sentence in context in the book?

It's nice to indicate the tones too when you write pinyin, it might help others identify the words.


What is the best way to render 胸怀 in 据说鲁肃这个人胸怀文韬武略...? What is the best way to render 胸怀？

据说鲁肃这个人胸怀文韬武略，
It is/was said, Lu Su this man has/had great knowledge of military matters
而且老谋深算，孙权特别看重他。
moreover  is/was very astute, Sun Quan holds/held him in great esteem.

I have these definitions for 胸怀, but really, I just want to write 'has or had' for 胸怀.

心中、心里头
思想境界，指志趣、气度、抱负等
心里怀著

'胸' is metaphor for "one's mind (brain)"
[胸怀 (verb) mind contains= possess]
[文韬武略 (object) theoretical and practical military knowledge]

据说鲁肃这个人胸怀文韬武略
It was said that this man, Lu Su, possessed great military knowledge

胸怀 in other context can also mean 'have ~ within one's heart/ mind'
Example:

胸怀大志 (possess great ambition/ have great ambition within one's heart/ mind )


What does the `里` mean in `这些狗里有一只穿红色的毛衣`? In the following sentence:

这些狗里有一只穿红色的毛衣

What does the 里 mean? I think the sentence means something like The dogs wear red sweaters. But why does it require 里 there and what meaning does it add?

I'm learning about simplified mandarin language, but would like to know if it differs from the traditional in how it is used.

It means one of these dogs wears a red sweater. ...里 literally means in/among ..., and it is followed by 有一只, which means there is one. Hence the whole sentence translates literally as Among these dogs there is one wearing a red sweater.


Lai Fa - beautiful flower? My girlfriend is adopted into a Chinese family and they gave her the middle name "Lai Fa". Her mother is Cantonese and says it means beautiful flower.

But when we google the words online nothing comes up. Is there an origin of this term?

麗  http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/1152/

  lai6   (jyutping)

  (1) [adj] beautiful; magnificent; elegant

~

  花 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/32/

  faa1   (jyutping)

  (1) [n] flower; blossom

Your girlfriend's middle name is 麗花 (lai6 faa1 in Cantonese jyutping)

if you want to search Cantonese words, CantoDict is the place to go


What’s the difference between 你去干嘛 and 你去吗 I found that means the same but don’t know when use each one

They don't mean the same.

"你去干嘛?" means "What are you going to do?" or maybe "Why are you going?" depending on the context.

"你去吗?" means "Are you going?"

Examples:

A: 我出去一会 = I'm leaving for a while. B: 你去干嘛? = What are you going to do?
A: 我去开会了 = I'm going to attend the meeting. B: 这会是给经理开的, 你去干嘛? = The meeting is intended for managers. Why are you going?
A: 我要去吃午饭, 你去吗 = I'm leaving for lunch. Are you going (with me)?


Good Transliteration of the name "Chloe" I'm trying to translate the name Chloe into Chinese that would be meaningful and sound the same as it does in English.

  The name Chloe is a Greek baby name. In Greek the meaning of the name
  Chloe is: Green shoot. Fresh blooming.

I have come up with "草怡". Does that work as a transliteration of the name or does that name not seem right? I don't want to pick anything that would have a negative colloquialism.

The "Hit Girl" actress is 克蘿伊 --

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A7%91%E6%B4%9B%C2%B7%E8%8E%AB%E7%91%9E%E5%85%B9

   克蘿伊·格雷丝·摩蕾茲 （英语：Chloë Grace Moretz，1997年2月10日－），美國女演員，.......

This page https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloe shows others with the same 克蘿伊, which seems the most common Chinese rendering of the name.

 克蘿伊‧安格紐，愛爾蘭歌手，女性合唱團體天使女伶（Celtic Woman）的最年輕成員。
 克蘿伊·布莉姬（Chloe Bridges），美國女演員、歌手。
 克蘿伊·瓊斯（Chloe Jones），美國女性色情演員。
 克蘿伊·馬歇爾（Chloe Marshall），英國大尺碼模特兒，2008年薩里小姐冠軍，英國小姐亞軍


What is the difference between 走路, 行走, and 步行? Are these words perfectly synonymous, or are there rules to distinguish them? Google Ngram shows that they're all used with about the same frequency.

I don't like it when several different words have the same meaning because I'm forced to learn each of them if I don't wanna look stupid when someone uses the one I don't know.

走路, 行走, and 步行 all mean 'walk'

走路 emphasizes the 'traveling a distance on foot' aspect. e.g. 走路去要十分鐘 (traveling on foot need 10 minutes)

行走 emphasizes the 'moving' aspect. e.g. 御前待衞可以在禁宮行走 (Royal guards could walk (move) around within the Forbidden City); 電動車充一次電祇能行走五十公里 (Electric vehicles can only run for (move) 50 kilometers on one charge)

步行 emphasizes 'the act of walking (use of legs/ by foot)' aspect. e.g. 病臥床上，不能步行 (sick on bed, can no longer walk)

If you walk a distance to a destination, you should use 走路 or 步行
If you are walking (moving around) in an area, you should use 行走
If you are doing the action of walking (a few steps attempt or a few miles travel) you should use 步行

More examples:

走路上京 (go to the capital on foot)

行走江湖 (traveling around the country)

步行健身 (walking for fitness)

You cannot say 行走上京，走路江湖， 步行江湖， 走路健身，行走健身

步行上京 (go to the capital by foot) is acceptable, but 上京 implies a long distance travel, it is better to use 走路 in this instance. Meanwhile 步行到街口 is better than 走路到街口


Looking for chinese R/C car remote instructions translated I got my son a R/C car that has the instructions to pair the remote in the Chinese language. I tried many online tools to scan and translate the image, but to no success. Can anyone help?

I'll just translate from @user6065's transcript:
２.４G 遥控器使用说明  首次使用需对码，本产品有记忆功能，以后换电池无须再对码 （１）长按＂M＂键３秒以上，直到第一颗LED闪烁 （２）打开车身电源，第一颗LED变为长亮，对码成功 （３）遥控器10秒钟无操作自动待机按任意键唤醒 （４）按键说明：△前进▽后退◁左转▷右转S调速P刹车 按"S"键设定车速，前进时１颗灯为低速，２颗灯为中速，３颗灯为高速，倒车时仅有中速一个档位  按"P"键保持刹车状态，指示灯全闪，再次按刹车键解除刹车

Translation:
2.4G Remote Control Instructions
You need to pair it the first time you use it, the product has a memory function, it is not necessary to pair it again even if the batteries are changed
(1) Press and hold the "M" key for at least 3 seconds, until the first LED lights up.
(2) Open the car battery compartment, if the first LED is lit up the pairing was successful
(3) If the remote control is not used for 10 seconds it will go into standby mode, press any key to wake
(4) △ = Forwards, ▽ = Reverse, ◁ = Left, ▷ = Right, "S" = Change speed, "P" = Brake
Press "S" key to set speed, the first light is low speed, the second light is medium speed, and the third light is high speed; there is only medium speed when reversing
Press "P" key to maintain braking, when braking all lights will be lit, press "P" key again to release brake

Hope this helps!


What is the missing character on the seal? 跟進此問題，題中之印

共收六字，其中五字無疑，作爲

後皇漢裔帝Ｘ

Ｘ是何字，解之有難。僅看字形，個人釋之爲「亘」，而@水巷孑蠻釋之爲「亙」，因漢朝既無「亘帝」也無「亙帝」，二解都有問題。

先說說「亘」與「亙」二字的字源。二者在秦漢之後已經就被混淆了，甚至到今世多釋之爲繁簡或異體關係，非也。

  「亘」字本義是環繞、迴旋，很可能跟「還」、「漩」等類似的詞有同源關係，但初期竝無「亘」字而以「回」字當之，然後世「亘」字从「回」字分化。「回」是象形字，像迴旋流水，本義今作「洄」。

  商甲甲903合集34165楚簡新3.294　秦簡睡ㆍ秦148　現代楷

  在「回」字上或重複「回」字、或加幾筆橫畫，迺成「亘」。例：

  西周金史墻盤「」集成10175西周金虢季子白盤「」集成10173

  今「亘」字是傳承以「回」字上加兩筆橫畫竝無重複的結構，其中「回」部件後來變成了「日」形：

  篆說文解字　現代楷

  「亙」字來源完全不同。「亙」迺「恆」，「㮓」二者的初文，二者是以「亙」上加義符而分化出來的字。「亙」也是象形字，像半月在天地之間。

  商甲鐵199.3合集14764西周金亙鼎集成2380　現代楷

在今世收集的通用字沒有从「亘」作爲義符的字，而有以「亘」（須緣切）當聲符的字，例如「桓」、「宣」等（「恆」類似以胡登切「亙」部件作爲聲符的字，不以俗體「恒」等當之，免得迷惑）。

漢代無「亘帝」、「亙帝」，但確有

漢文帝　劉恆
漢宣帝　劉病已
漢桓帝　劉志

印璽如果不是完全瞎製的一個玩具，我認爲Ｘ是上面粗體三者其中的一位假借字。查了劉煇《古文字通假字典》（722頁）之後，個人還是覺得Ｘ是「亘」字。

  亘

  4885（元心 xuan）讀為桓（元匣 huan），叠韻

  岣嶁碑：＂唯王二年六月丁酉，承嗣越臣憲亘朱句。＂曹錦炎《岣嶁碑研究》云＂憲亘＂即＂憲桓＂，乃＂朱句＂自諡之詞。又馬王堆帛書《春秋事話ㆍ齊桓公與蔡夫人乘舟章》：＂齊亘公與蔡夫人乘周（舟），夫人湯（蕩）周，禁之，不可，怒而歸之......亘公帀（師）以侵蔡，蔡人遂潰。＂＂亘公＂即＂桓公＂，《左傳ㆍ僖公三年》曾記此事，＂齊亘公＂作＂齊侯＂，魯僖公三年即齊桓公二十九年。

但是，我竝沒搜到有＂漢Ｘ帝＂而以Ｘ作爲通假字的記錄；證據不夠堅强，不可判斷在此印中Ｘ到底是甚麽字。

讀者如何？

跟進此問題，題中之印

圖略

  Ｘ是何字，解之有難。僅看字形，個人釋之爲「亘」，而@水巷孑蠻釋之爲「亙」，因漢朝既無「亘帝」也無「亙帝」，二解都有問題。

nice try, just some corners of vernacular chinese. practise more, you can master the writing of literary chinese :)

may i suggest:

緣前題雖解．而一疑尚存．固起此問求真

斯印存六字．其五已釋．惟漢後皇前之刻．亘乎．亙乎．眾說紛紜．未審孰是孰非．再者．漢世無亘．亙之諡．益添困惑

back to basic, a seal is for authentication, to make a stamping that other can recognised the stamped document as authentic, from a individual, or an entity.

the seal in question just declare "descendent of a particular emperor of 漢 dynasty".

any mr 劉 can make such claim, so?

next, the text "漢ｘ皇帝後裔" is redundant & ugly. "漢室宗親"; 4 characters are enough for this purpose.

last, 亙 (u+4e99) is suggested, well, because the 漢語多功能字庫 do not has 亘 (u+4e98)

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

and, the 國語辭典 claimed 亘 (u+4e98) as variant of 亙 (u+4e99)

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cbdic/gsweb.cgi?o=dcbdic&searchid=W00000070331

i need to read more, before making any sound judgement :(

last, relax, treat it as a "hello kitty stamp" :)

what i want to say is, hello kitty is based on a cat, it does not have a line to represent a mouth, and, it's "tail" is a circle only.


What is the meaning of 提提大家？ What is the meaning and usage of 提提大家？please give an example sentence or phrase.
I have seen that the meaning of 提提 is to keep calm, but putting these two in google translate gives me “mention everyone”.

This question's answer will address two things.

the advantage of compound words (specific) over the single character words (general)

the function of the reduplicated verbs

提 as a single character verb can mean:

提起，提及 (mention)

提醒 (remind)

提示 (prompt)

提起 (lift; pick up)

Example:
別再提他了 = 別再提起他了 (Let's don't mention him again)
記得提他吃藥 = 記得提醒他吃藥 (remember to remind him to take medicine)
別提他，讓他自己想 = 別提示他，讓他自己想 (don't prompt him, let him think for himself)
提刀斬人 = 提起刀斬人 (pick up a blade and hack people)
It would be much more precise to use compound words 提起，提醒 and 提示 than using the single character verb 提.
A single character verb can be reduplicated to indicate 'briefly; in a slight degree or in a casual manner'
Example:
試學廣東話 = try to learn Cantonese
試試學廣東話 = try to learn Cantonese a little (briefly; in a slight degree or in a casual manner)
看電影，吃飯 = watch movies, eat dinner
看看電影， 吃吃飯 = watch some movies, eat some  dinner (indicate a casual manner)

提提大家 = (slightly; briefly) remind everyone

Example sentence:

提提大家，集會時間是晚上九時 = (slightly; briefly) remind everyone, the gathering time is 9:00 pm

It is the same as 稍為提醒大家，集會時間是晚上九時


Chinese characters picture dictionary / mnemonics? Are there any commonly used dictionaries of picture (mnemonic) representation of chinese characters?

I mean dictionary to convert SINGLE character to a picture, not a picture to a word (i.e. not just illustrated dictionary).

Chineasy
(Not a complete dictionary, per-se, though)
Dezeen did a pretty interesting review of it here:

Chineasy illustrated characters designed to make learning Chinese easy
This system of illustrated characters and animations was developed to help people learn to read Chinese, and is one of the 76 projects nominated for Designs of the Year 2014 (+ slideshow).

Tree
Taiwan-born entrepreneur ShaoLan first began developing the Chineasy characters as a way to teach her own English-speaking children to read traditional Mandarin Chinese, by creating a visual connection to the words.

Woman
Having struggled to find a straightforward way to negotiate the huge number and complexity of Chinese characters, she teamed up with graphic artist Noma Bar to develop a system of shapes representing some of the most commonly occurring symbols, which can be combined to create more complex phrases.

Fire
"I created a methodology that breaks down thousands of Chinese characters into a few hundred base building blocks," explained ShaoLan. "When these building blocks are combined, they form compounds that can in turn be combined to create phrases. Through this method learners can quickly build a large vocabulary of characters with very little effort."

Mouth
As well as providing users with a memorable way to understand the characters, Chineasy aims to offer those living in the West an insight into Chinese culture in a visual format.

Water tap
"It is educational, social, cultural, and I hope, inspirational," said ShaoLan. "I am demonstrating the beauty of this deep and ancient culture with a modern interpretation through sleek modern design."

Moon
The entrepreneur spent her evenings selecting and sketching suitable characters to form the building blocks of the Chineasy system, which she then modelled on her computer and refined to create contemporary graphic representations that could easily be understood by Westerners.

Roof
Having presented the initial idea at a conference organised by innovation forum TED that was published online in May 2013, the interest she received encouraged ShaoLan to begin working on a book and launch a Chineasy website and Facebook page.

King
A campaign launched on crowdfunding site Kickstarter exceeded its goal of £75000, eventually achieving £197626 of backing that was used to publish the first Chineasy books.

Mountain
The books are now being published by Thames & Hudson. An ebook has been released and an app is in development to illustrate how to write and correct stroke order through simple animations and give tips on pronunciation.

Door
Chineasy was nominated in the Graphics category of the Design Museum's shortlist for Designs of the Year and features in an exhibition at the museum until 25 August.

There's books/flashcards/notebooks/workbooks and a memory game using this method.
Here's some links/info:
Chineasy: Chineasy site with news/videos/products/faq
TED: ShaoLan:Learn to read Chinese ... with ease!
TED: ShaoLan: The Chinese zodiac, explained
Here's a project description from ShaoLan:

Chineasy
Chineasy's aim is to bridge the gap between the East and the West. I want to give the west a real understanding of China and an appreciation of Chinese culture through their own eyes rather than layers of packaging and manipulation.

The method - compounds
It is evident that people are hungry to learn about China. People are keen to be able to communicate with the 1.3 billion people. Tet there is not much out there to enable them to do so. Whilst the entire Chinese population is learning English, the west is struggling to comprehend this complex economy and society with their own eyes and judgment. Knowing their language is the key towards true understanding.
Chineasy will become the first step for anyone in the world who wants to understand China, Chinese culture and its language. It is educational, social, cultural and inspirational. I am demonstrating the beauty of this deep and broad culture through a modern interpretation using sleek and simple design.

method - the Phrases
Chineasy's goal is to allow people to learn to read Chinese easily by recognizing characters through simple illustrations. The magical power of the Chineasy method is that by learning one small set of building blocks, students can build many new words, characters, and phrases.

You can check out a video they put out on youtube:
ShaoLan's Chineasy: Lesson 1
The book has more explanations like:

Pinyin: 日 ri4
日 The current version of this ancient building block is quite interesting. It looks just like a window, which is quite handy for us learning Chinese, but why doesn’t this character look like a sun? I mean, it’s not especially hard to draw a sun, right? Well, it used to look a lot more like that burning star in the sky, but the Chinese language has been evolving for thousands of years and most characters have changed a lot. It’s just like “old English”, “middle English”, and “modern English”. The oldest form of Chinese that ...


Difference between 兴趣 vs 意思? 我对养宠物没有兴趣.

养宠物没有意思.

When to use one over the other? Don't they mean the same thing?

兴趣 definition is

  Interest (directed towards, not inherent in something).

What does that even mean?

In this context

没有兴趣 means "has no interest"  or "not interested" (not something you like to do or care about)
没有意思 means "meaningless", if something is meaningless to you, it is a given that you are not interested in it.

The implied meaning in the sentence "养宠物没有意思" is  "对我來説, 养宠物没有什么意思." (To me, keeping pet is meaningless)

Look at it the other way:

这玩意很有趣 This stuff is very interesting

我对这玩意很有兴趣 I am very interested in this stuff

这玩意很有意思 This stuff is very meaningful (therefore, your are interested in it)

  When to use one over the other?

When you say "没有兴趣" (I am not interested), you are expressing your personal preference about a topic, e.g. 'you may not like fishing, but you are not saying fishing is boring'
When you say "没有意思" (meaningless to me), you are giving your low opinion on the topic, e.g. 'you really think fishing is waste of time'


In 脱衣, can I put an adjective between it? Can I use it into 脱我的衣 脱黄衣 脱这衣 although it's 离合词 and 衣 can't stand alone?

脱衣 seems to be a set, not a 离合词.

But 见面 is a 离合词. You could say 见上一面（meet once）；连面也没见(even unable to meet once)；


Is there a distinction between 肉夹馍 (ròujiāmó) and 馍夹肉 (mójiāròu)? I saw both 肉夹馍 (ròujiāmó) and 馍夹肉 (mójiāròu) being used in Shanxi province (photos below; neighbouring shops, with the same graphic).  It seems both refer to the same food item (what's sometimes described as a "Chinese hamburger").

In this context, the hanzi are:

肉 = meat (ordinarily pork)
夹 = to place in between
馍 = small bread

Question: Is there a distinction between 肉夹馍 and 馍夹肉?

I discussed this with my friends when we noticed this, but we couldn't identify any reason there's two different phrasings.  I think 馍夹肉 is incorrect, but I'm unsure since native Chinese speakers write 馍夹肉.

Update: Here's another photo I took of 馍夹肉 being used in Shanxi:

The shop 二丫头馍夹肉 is listed at DianPing, along with reviews writing e.g. "店里馍夹肉真不错" and "馍夹肉的馍不错".  It could still be a right-to-left writing style, but this makes me unsure.

The second is just right-to-left writing.  See  Horizontal_and_vertical_writing_in_East_Asian_scripts .
Historically, Chinese was written in vertical columns, with columns progressing from right to left.  In the 20th century a shift was made so that most writing is in rows, from left to right.

  Today, the left-to-right direction is dominant in [Chinese, Japanese,
  and Korean] ... However, right-to-left horizontal writing is still
  seen in these scripts, in such places as signs [and]  stands selling
  food at festivals.

Think of the right to left horizontal writing as showing just a top character in each of a series of columns from right to left.


What does 而 mean in 因森发·加计学院问题而曝光率增高的? In the following sentence:

  因森发·加计学院问题而曝光率增高的「sontaku」一词，也已经成为了日常用语。

I know the use of 而 as "and", but I feel it doesn't make sense here to use 而, since I don't understand what it connects.

So how does 而 work here? Also, is my understanding correct that 而 here doesn't express "and"?

而 is not used as and here, but as a result;with the result that;thus.

因A而B is a common usage; 因 is used to emphasize that A is the cause, 而 is used to represent that B is the result.

You can also use 因为 or 由于 instead of 因 in this usage.


What's Baidu doing with all these crazy characters everywhere? What's Baidu doing with all these crazy characters everywhere?

Seems kind of meaningless to me.

That's a web development technique, the icon font

What you see is meaningless text. This is actually a web development technique. They are attempting the use a custom designed "font" to display icons instead of the weird characters. However, when the icon font failed to load, your browser then attempts to display the "text" with a fallback font, generally: "Arial", "Times New Roman", "PMingLiU", etc.

So instead of 梜, you should see an chevron to the right. That's because they filled the font with icons.

Here's an example of such font: Font Awesome

Can I use icon fonts to write a passage?

Icon fonts are only meant for graphical displays, not readable font. You cannot type a paragraph with the icon font, they would probably all be icons (for you to decipher ;) ).

Why did they use icon font, why not pictures?

That is because modern font is vector graphical. That means you can scale they up or down and they will not get pixelized. That is great for devices with high quality displays. Also, because loading a font means you can change its color and the pack will still be smaller than an image pack.


live poultry for sale? Is there a specific term that is usually used to describe live poultry, or live chickens, or any type of live animal, which is for sale in a market and which the customer takes home alive to butcher later?  I wondered if there is a term to distinguish between poultry which is taken home alive, versus poultry which is alive when the customer selects it, but which is prepared for eating at the market and taken home already plucked, gutted, etc.

compare: 活禽

KEY

  {agriculture} live poultry

vs.

鸡肉

KEY

  chicken (as food), chicken meat

鸭肉

ABC

  duck meat


Purpose of the reduplication in 一步一步地往上爬 （A）别着急，一步一步地往上爬，爬不动的时候就休息一会儿。
（B）我请田芳一句一句地给我纠正。
I learned about the reduplication of Measure words (e.g:个个，天天  ) but these sentences use a different structure.
（1）What is the purpose of this reduplication? Can I write "一步步" or "步步"?
（2）Is the meaning of 一个一个 different from 一个个, 个个?
（3）Can all classifiers use this structure "一...一..."?

What dROOOze wrote is correct.  一步一步 is like step by step in English.  It can be shortened as 一步步，but it will lose the cadence and some effect.
You can probably apply this structure for every measure word, e. g.  一个一个，一升一升，一条一条，etc.
Well, unlike 一个个 or 一个一个,  个个 denotes the sense of every.  E. g.  我们班同学个个学习好 // Every student in our class studies well.


What does 尽 mean and what tone does it have in 对我父母也极尽照顾? This question is about 尽 in this snippet:

  不仅对我好，对我父母也极尽照顾，。。。
  Bùjǐn duì wǒ hǎo, duì wǒ fùmǔ yě jí [jìn/jǐn] zhàogù, ...
  嫁给离婚带孩子的男人 我的生活只剩下两个字, guaixun.com

I translate this to something like:

  Not only did he treat me well, he did his extreme utmost to look after my parents, ...

Here 尽 means something like "exhaust" or "utmost", but there appears to be a different meaning depending on the tone.  The Perapera Chinese Popup Dictionary shows the following:

Both of these seem to make sense in this context.

Question: What does 尽 mean and what tone does it have in 对我父母也极尽照顾?

Many dictionaries have a single entry for 极尽.
All with the pronunciation:

jíjìn

ABC

V.
use to the utmost

KEY

V
1 exhaust (one's ability, etc.), try one's best within the limits of
2 perform/fulfil to the utmost (a duty, etc.)
3 (before an adjective:) extremely, to the utmost

PLC

VERB
do one's utmost
极尽所能
jíjìn suǒnéng
do one’s best


Is 老鸽 (lit. "old pigeon") slang? I've seen some cases (in stories, on the internet) where people call each other '老鸽'. As the literal meaning 'old pigeon' doesn't make much sense, I think it's slang but I haven't been able to find out the meaning.

So what exactly does '老鸽' mean?

老鸽 is an intentional typo.  鸽(Pigeon) can mean "get stood up"(被鸽了，被放鸽子) or "stood sb. up"（放某人鸽子）.  So this is the combination of both 'bro' and 'a guy that often does not show up in appointments'.


How to translate "(surname)老板“ in English how does one translate '(surname)老板' from Chinese to English?
I understand that the word '老板' means boss/shopkeeper/shop owner/chief, but when a surname is added in front of their position, how exactly can i translate it so it sounds grammatically correct?
For instance, let's say I want to translate ‘张老板' into English. So ‘张老板' would become 'Boss Zhang/Shopkeeper Zhang' when used in a sentence. But it sounds so odd and awkward somehow?

You don't translate that. Just say Mr Zhang.

Such obsequiousness is more a Chinese thing.

I call strangers on the street 老板 or 师傅.

在中国， 你真正的老板是你的女朋友！（别忘了！）


Is 熵 in any way part of the spoken language? In my own language (Dutch) I can (jokingly) point at something that is decaying (or perhaps my tea getting cold, or my desk being disorderly) and utter the single word: ‘entropy’. Or I can, out of the blue, say (again, jokingly): ‘I hate entropy’.

Considering that ‘entropy’ is simply  shāng in Chinese, which, apart from  熵, can also be 商, 傷 or 墒, is either of these statements  that I can make in Dutch, also possible in the Chinese spoken language (without being unintelligible)? (Pointing and saying shāng, or perhaps wǒ tǎoyàn shāng.) If not, would there be a work-around that still involves the concept of entropy, or is 熵  restricted to a physics class and/or the written language?

As a Chinese, I saw 熵 only in my Chemistry class. Don't use that in your daily life, or people get confused by what you say. If you are talking with a people with low education, he or she won't even know this word.


干 / 做 / 作 / 办/ 弄/ 搞 / what are the differences and how are they properly used in a sentence? For the first four sentences I think these words are interchangeable, except for the second sentences i think ^^
小明在家里（ ）作业。（做 作 弄 ）
我刚（ ）好了一个手艺品。（做 搞 ）
我要把这件事（ ）明白。（弄 搞 办 干）
你事情（ ）好了吗？（办 弄 做 搞 干 作 ）
假期（ ）喜欢（ ）的事。（做 作 干 搞 弄 办）
我喜欢学习汉语，以后（  ）什么还没想好。（做 作 干 办 搞 弄）

Each of the six characters 办 弄 做 搞 干 作 has more than one meaning and usage. And some are overlapping e.g. both 做 and 干 contains the meaning of 'to do'

你事情（ ）好了吗？（办 弄 做 搞 干 作 ）

The role of the verb in ( ) is to bond with the adverb 好 to form a [serial verb] that means [complete/ finish]
好 here as an adverb means 'completely; properly'

办好 - complete/ finish (through following a series of procedures)

弄好 - complete/ finish (through manipulating)

做好 - complete/ finish (through actions)

搞好 - same as 弄好 (but more colloquial)

干好 - same as 做好 (but more colloquisl)

作好 would mean 'finished creating/writing a story' It would be a simple [v + adv] phrase, not a serial verb like the other
As for the overlapping meaning of 'to do'
办大事 = do important things (through following a series of procedures)
做大事 = do important things (through actions)
干大事 same as 做大事 (but more colloquial)
We don't say 弄大事 (sound small) or 搞大事 (means making trouble) for this context

弄 in 弄晚餐 (make dinner) means 'make' not 'do'

搞 in 搞聚會 (organize party) means 'organize' not 'do'


Artist seal and meaning I am trying to identify the artist that this seal belongs too. The closest I could find was either Chen Hongshou or Yang Jin but both are different stylistically from the picture that bears this seal.

I am unable to make out what it reads due to my limited language knowledge.

Would anyone have a little bit more details on who it belongs to and/or what the seal reads?

Updated image

it's 羅綺, in traditional chinese, in Small Seal Script (小篆)

the left character is 羅

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

the right one is 綺

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

1st, it's in vertical writing, you need to read from top to bottom, from right to left

羅庚香色　⒓⒐⒌⒈
綺申似凝　⒔⒑⒍⒉
寫春玉瓊　⒕⒒⒎⒊
　　京樹　　　⒏⒋

characters 1-8 are in traditional chinese, in 隸書:

香色
似凝
玉瓊
京樹

"色凝瓊樹﹒香似玉京" is derived from a 劉禹錫 (a poet of 唐 dynasty)'s poem 和令狐相公詠梔子花

蜀國花已盡﹒越桃今已開﹒色凝瓊樹倚﹒香似玉京來

且賞同心處﹒那憂別葉催﹒佳人如擬詠﹒何必待寒梅

characters 9-14 are in traditional chinese, in 行書:

羅庚
綺申
寫春

庚申 is one of sexagenary cycle, used to record time, day, month & year; 春 is spring; together, it's either spring of 1920, or 1980.

last, "羅綺" is the name of author; "寫" is write.

have fun :)


Website or tools that puts pinyin on top or bottom of the characters automatically Are there any websites or tools that will put pinyin on top or bottom of the characters automatically?

I have never looked for this kind of a tool before - good idea! I just ran a search using  and came across an online tool that will do what you ask:

http://zhongwenzhuanpinyin.51240.com/

If you can read a little bit of Chinese, I would recommend trying this one. It will convert your Chinese characters to pinyin and show tones.

I have read on many Chinese website that there is a way to do all of this with Word but I am not familiar enough with this. You can get the basic idea here:

http://office.wps.cn/wpsword/21508-2013-04-10-16-44-20-302.html

Hopefully someone else will be able to explain how that works in more detail.

Good luck!


How do mainland Chinese and non-mainland Chinese people refer to China? With the recent coronavirus outbreak, there has been a lot of information being conveyed in both traditional and simplified Chinese. This is allowing some useful comparative analysis of the tone of voice plus writing style.

I saw something that indicated a direct (Google) translation using software applications or dictionaries, but was wondering if it was a correct usage.

On the traditional Chinese version of the text it said:

  以下建議針對在過去14天內去過中國的人 所有旅行者：

  去過中國大陸的人士必須在離開中國後進行自我隔離14天。

And on the simplified Chinese version of the text it said:

  以下建议针对在过去14天内去过中国的人 All travellers所有旅行者：

  去过中国大陆的人士必须在离开中国后进行自我隔离14天。

Obviously there is some problem with the translation, but my question is specifically about the use of the term 中國大陸/中国大陆 for both traditional and simplified Chinese as I am sure that there are some issues with this. I believe that there are similar questions in the past, but it would be good if someone is able to clarify this.

How do mainland Chinese and non-mainland Chinese people refer to China?, ...about the use of the term 中國大陸/中国大陆...

Let me first relate an interesting experience.

Many decades ago I was visiting the US via Hawaii. At the Hawaiian airport Immigration counter the officer asked where I was headed, (meaning my ultimate port of call), I answered "the United States" Whoa!, she gave a semi-angry stare and said, "This is the United States"

Being blessedly born with a nimble mind, I casually answered, "I meant the mainland" This seemed to avoid an unpleasant march to the "briefing room" She stamped my passport and I was on my way to the United States.

Now if this had happened in say, British Hong Kong before "unification", and I said I was on my way to "中國", I don't think the Hong Kong immigration officer would have bated an eyelid. But what if it happens now after unification when, politically, (using this term loosely), Hong Kong is part of 中國 just as Hawaii is part of the United States?

I tell this incident to highlight the fact that such questions and answers could potentially cause misunderstandings.

Having said that, and as for myself, being a member of the Worldwide Chinese diaspora, I couldn't refer to China as 大陸, which simply means "mainland", just as Continental United States is the Mainland for Hawaii, simply because I am not a citizen of the People's Republic of China living on any number of Chinese territorial islands, like Hong Kong for which mainland China is 大陸, "the Mainland"

So, for people like me, of Chinese descend whose ancestors left China for Nanyang, (the Southern Seas), generations ago, would simply refer to China as 中国, just like someone from any other country would.

Of course anyone, including non-Chinese citizens, could refer to the People's Republic of China as 中國大陸/中国大陆 and no one would bate an eyelid, perhaps not even Chinese immigration officers; but I could be wrong of course, depending on the level of "political" understanding of such officers.


"Topic-comment" structure Can someone help me with these? I don't quite understand the topic-comment structure, and I have been trying to look it up but I can't find any good explanation with examples.

I have to change the following sentences so that they reflect the “topic-comment” structure. Can someone help me with these or just explain and send me on the right track?

Thanks in advance!

3.1 你复习昨天的语法了吗？

3.2 你买飞机票了吗？

3.3 你们都喜欢喝中国茶吗？

3.4 瑞典人都喜欢去日本吗？

3.5 你不习惯这儿的天气吗？

In short, the topic-comment structure puts the topic you want to focus on in the beginning of a sentence, optionally followed by a comma, and the comment you want to make about the topic right after.
As Dejavision has mentioned, in all of your examples, the topic can be the object. (see note below) Thus, moving the object to the beginning would change the structure to topic-comment.

昨天的语法，你复习了吗？
飞机票，你买了吗？
中国茶，你们都喜欢喝吗？
日本，瑞典人都喜欢去吗？
这儿的天气，你不习惯吗？

Note

This trick does not always apply. The topic can surely be a subject as well.

Consider the following example:

這隻筆，顏色很好看。
As for this pen, the color is good-looking.

這隻筆 is both the subject and the topic.

Depending on the context, the same sentence may have more than one potential topic.

Consider the following example with possible context in parentheses:

（我知道美国大家都喜欢去。至于）日本，瑞典人都喜欢去吗？
(I know that everyone likes going to the States.) As for Japan, do all Swedish like going there?

and

（我知道很多亚洲人喜欢去日本。至于）瑞典人，都喜欢去日本吗？
(I know that many Asians like going to Japan.) As for Swedish, do all of them like going to Japan?

The two questions have different topics, thus different context, but are asking the same thing.


Chinese Verse about Mountains and Water I'm translating a collection of Chinese poems, and one of them opens with these three lines:
"山水之间，是说不完的话 / 那山总是高于这山 / 那水又总是低于这水 ."
My current translation goes like this:
"When it comes to landscapes, there’s a lot to talk about / How there's always a bigger mountain / and always a deeper body of water."
I tried to keep this translation from being too literal, but have I taken too many liberties?

Mountains and Waters, as between them,
And speaking of which, there is no end;
High is a mountain, another one higher, always,
Deep waters there is, one deeper still, always.
Something like:-
天外有天，一山还比一山高


What good resources are available to assist first-time travellers to learn basic Chinese? I'm moving back to China again in a few weeks, and I've already got a few friends planning visits - this brings me to my problem: I can't always be around to translate, and I find people have a more enjoyable experience when they have even a few words to express themselves.

What sites/sources/books etc should I recommend to them so they can have even a little foundation when they arrive? Does anyone have any particular phrase books that they would recommend? What have you suggested for friends and family traveling to China for the first time?

I would suggest a short intensive course in Chinese done through Comprehensible Input (that's a theoretical framework for language acquisition). You can also search for TPRS-based courses or teachers of Chinese -- that's the name of the language teaching method that uses this approach. Problem is, there aren't that many out there yet.

The problem with a phrasebook is that it's just that -- a book of phrases. It doesn't build the ability to understand or create with the language. Doing a CI-based course, even a very short one, will give your visitors a lot more flexibility with the language. I've had people go to China after 8-10 hours and get along quite comfortably (able to buy things, eat, talk about themselves, and so on.) They're not going to be UN interpreters the next day but this kind of preparation goes a lot farther than memorization.

Traditional lessons or textbooks also fall short for short-term classes because they are not really much different from a phrase book. The student focuses on one "pattern" or a dialogue for a couple of hours, and doesn't develop much ability to use the language within the time they would have to devote to Chinese study before their trip.

In the US, Albany Language Learning or Fluency Fast do this sort of course. These are both Western-student-oriented organizations in the US, and will focus on the highest-frequency words and structures in the language. Full disclosure: I work for Albany Language Learning. But if I knew more sources I'd point you to them. People just get a lot farther in a shorter time when preparing for travel in this way.


What is the translation for 以后还得了? So I came across seeing this post and I find that I can't translate "以后还得了" to English.
But based on my knowledge, this post is saying that her daughter would be very clever if she knows how to program in Python right?

不 = not
得 = able to
了 = end --> be contained

不得了 (can't be contained): desperately serious; disastrous; extremely; exceedingly

Example:
乱堆的木材一着火就不得了 = Once the messily piled up timber caught fire, it (can't be contained) will be disastrous
他的快球这么强，再学会曲线球 就不得了 = His fastball is so strong if he learned curveball he will be (can't be contained) unstoppable

以后还得了? (in the future, how can he still be contained?) is a rhetorical question. It actually means 以后会不得了 (he can't be contained in the future). In other words, 'he will be extremely (outstanding/ extraordinary/ unstoppable) in the future'

Rhetorical question: "How can he still be stoppable (containable) in the future?"

Actual statement: "He will be unstoppable (uncontainable) in the future"

I would translate '以后还得了?' as "How extraordinary will he be in the future?".  Meaning:  "he will be great in the future"


What does the phrase '痞痞的' mean? I tried to find out but I found that '痞' means constipation which I think would be highly unlikely in cases like this:

'痞痞的小小姐' or '痞痞的小家伙'

痞 means bad, eg, 痞子 is like the English word "rogue". I have seldom seen the phrase "痞痞的", but i think it would mean somebody is naughty, like a scamp maybe.


Fast-written forms of 草书 characters Are they frequently used? Which one of the three is applied more often: is it the 章草, the 今草 or the 狂草?

Are they different in comparison with the 行書?

Are there any online resourses to learn more about the most frequently used style (except the Wiki)?

Among the handwriting styles 章草, 今草 and 狂草, 今草 is the most frequently used. However, compared with 今草, 行书 is even more popular.

That's because:

章草 is the rapid writing of 隶书. Currently, Chinese teachers don't teach 隶书 in primary schools for its old style. Only calligraphy amateurs and experts would learn 隶书 so as 章草.
今草 is based on 楷书 -- 楷书 is formally taught in primary schools -- but 今草 is seldom used by young people, as it's hard to recognize. (Well, I mean the rigorous 今草, but not squiggles at random.) 狂草 is an even faster handwriting of 今草, now I can just see that in calligraphy art works, doctors' prescriptions, and some old educated persons' handwritings.
行书(行楷) takes both the identifiability and the efficiency into account, so it's the most popular.

I don't know whether there's any statistical research work about the most frequently used handwriting style. Now less and less people need to write something by hand, as computers and the internet are occupying our life :( So a person with good handwriting is less seen now.

The most frequently used Chinese computer font should be 宋体, most characters in newspapers and official documents and books are printed in 宋体.

If you want to learn something about the most frequently used handwriting. You can search 行书字帖 in Google, and then you can find many. Because I am not sure about whether they are infringement of copyright, I don't leave any links here :)

By the way, I don't recommend using the computer font 华文行楷 as the handwriting model for practice. Because it's just designed for printing -- and personally, one of my friends, a professional graphic artist, says that font is making people feel visual fatigue.

EDIT

In fact, 章草 consists of seven types:

  原始型, 简章型, 标准型, 章今型, 今章型, 正章型, and 章篆型

The most typical 章草 is 标准型 (standard type, the name has suggested that). 急就章 by Song Ke in Ming Dynasty is one master work of 章草:

As you can find in some characters, some 隶书's styles -- like 燕尾 (swallow's tail) -- still persist. (Note: according to some references, the first character on the top-right is controversial. In the resource providing by Taiwan National Palace Museum, it's 賣; According to 急就篇, it is said to be 洞 or . In this picture, it should be .)

Master work of 今草: 冠军帖 by Zhang Zhi, in Han Dynasty. It's more fluent than 章草.

Master work of 狂草: 古诗四帖 by Zhang Xu, in Tang Dynasty.

Which says

  东明九芝盖，北烛五云车。飘飖入倒景，出没上烟霞。春泉下玉溜，青鸟向金华。汉帝看桃核，齐侯问棘花。应逐上元酒，同来访蔡家。

狂草 is the most casual-like works, and written at an as-fast-as-possible speed. Notice that, casual-like is not casual, it doesn't mean you can freely write something very fast and then call it 狂草 (though, we sometimes make fun to call that kind of handwriting "狂草", with quotation marks). In fact, one needs to learn much about 楷书, experience the laws and spirit of Chinese calligraphy, and then they can write good 狂草 works with a rigorous but casual attitude. It's not easy.
Master work of 行书: 兰亭集序 by Wang Xizhi, in Eastern Jin Dynasty.

This is the most famous Chinese calligraphy works ever. (Yes, I didn't say one of the most.) High school students in China are required to recite the paragraphs of 兰亭集序. This is also considered as a paragon for 行书 learners.


Translation of "go from ... to ..." / 从 ... 到 Cinderella went from rags to riches, but when you are already at the
top, fate is more than happy to kick you down.

辛德瑞拉(灰姑娘)从穷到富..., 可以这样翻译吗？"从"是动词吗？或者went怎样翻译？

从不是动词。
从是副词，到是动词。went还可以翻译成变，变成等等


How to use 要想 and 要 and 想 So here is a riddle for you.

A friend of mine asked me: 你想要我改正你的汉语?

To which I (with glee) responded: 一定想要

To this, he said that I can only say 一定想 or 一定要 but not 一定想要.

So, why can he use 想要 in the question, but I can't use it in my answer?

Are there other verbs where this happens?

Your thoughts please :-)

Because 一定想要 is hard to be present alone. 一定想要 typically exist with other things. For example, 他人不一定想要, 這樣發朋友圈的女生一定想要男人, 他們到不一定想要馬上定下來或進入婚姻, and tones of example can be found with google with "一定想要" on search bar. These example shows that people use 一定想要 with other things together. It is hard to found 一定想要 exist along. Therefore, your friend can do it in his question but not in your reply. Your friends question have 你 before 想要. while your reply only have 一定想要 exist alone. You can remove 一定 so that you can use 想要 too.


Why do characters for "opposites" often have very different frequencies on frequency tables? For instance, on Jun Da's table. 高 (tall) is listed at 134, while 矮 (short) is listed at 2027, 新 (new) is listed at 161, and 旧 (old) is listed at 915. It's worth noting that 老 (old) is listed at 179.

An exceptions to the rule includes 近 (near) and 远 (far) (374 and 386 respectively). You might also consider 大 (17)  小 (83) an exception; they are only 66 slots apart.

Is this because of a Chinese preference for the more positive quality, even though in theory, they should be "symmetrical?"

It's an interesting statistics.
I think the reason is that those words also have multiple other meanings.
For example, 高(134) vs 矮(2027),
高 could mean:

　1. 由下到上距离大的，与“低”相对：～峰。～空。～踞。～原。～耸。～山流水（喻知己、知音或乐曲高妙）。～屋建瓴（形容居高临下的形势）。～瞻远瞩。
　2. 高度：他身～一米八。
　3. 等级在上的：～级。～考。
　4. 在一般标准或平均程度之上：～质量。～消费。～价。～档。～手。～能物理。
　5. 声音响亮：引吭～歌。
　6. 敬辞，称别人的事物：～见。～就。～论。～寿。～堂。～徒。
　7. 热烈、盛大：～昂。兴～采烈。
　8. 显贵，道德水平高：崇～。清～。～风亮节。～尚。～雅。～洁。
　9. 宗族中最在上之称：～祖。
　10. 酸根或化合物中比标准酸根多含一个氧原子的：～锰酸钾。
　11. 姓。

矮 could mean:

　1. 人的身材短：～人。～矬。～个儿。～墩墩。
　2. 高度小：～林。～墙。～屋。
　3. 等级地位低：工资他比我～一级。

As you can see, 高 has much more meanings than 矮, 11 vs 3. So, it's no surprise to see 高 holds the position of 134, while 矮 just 2027.


How can I say "a class in Chinese" (and not "a Chinese class")? As far as I know 汉语课 (along with 中文课) means only "Chinese class" = "a class for learning Chinese" (and it may be in English, Chinese, or any other language).  I'm wondering how to succinctly say "a class in Chinese", where the class is not about the Chinese language, it's e.g. about computer science.

I was thinking 汉语说的课, but this sounds like the class (not the teacher) speaks Chinese, which is nonsense.  Another possibility is 用汉语的课, and Google Translate seems to like this, but putting it into Baidu gives far too few hits for it to be widely used.

It came up in a WeChat discussion, and I eventually wrote:

  新学生需要参加ＨＳＫ４考试，因为老师用汉语教他们的课

with the intention of meaning

  New students need to sit the HSK4 exam, because the teachers use Chinese to teach their classes.

But it seems too wordy.

Question: How can I say "a class in Chinese" (and not "a Chinese class")?

This is related to my previous question about 汉语书, but the answers there don't resolve this question.

The succinct way to express this can be: 中文授课. Put it into a sentence: 本课程用中文授课。This curriculum was taught in Chinese.

This is a class in Chinese can be: 这门课用中文讲述 or 这门课用中文授课.

  New students need to sit the HSK4 exam, because the teachers use Chinese to teach their classes.

It can be translated to 新学生需要参加ＨＳＫ４考试，因为老师(们)用汉语授课。their can be implied in this case because every body would know it's their classes.

Colloquially, you can replace 授课 with 教课 or 上课. So, 汉语教课 and 汉语上课 are also fit and succinct.


What does "kwukyel" mean in regards to Chinese language characters? My Pleco always tells me two little hashes on the top of 汉字 such as.

兑

are "kwukyel".

Can anyone point me to a reference that explains this term as it relates to Chinese language?

ps --  I already know the explanation about older Korean. That is not the question.

I'm asking about why this is in my Chinese language dictionaries (at least two).

[ -- this premise is not quite correct ----
 I don't believe these dictionaries are intended to be abstract Hanzi references.]

They are Chinese language dictionaries.

Is there any good reference that explains the mapping to "kwukyel"
for Chinese language is wrong?
If the term "kwukyel" is not meaningful for Chinese language, what definition should the marks be mapped to?

If the answer is "nothing", please provide some evidence/references so I can give credit to your answer. :-)

kwukyel or gugyeol is a Korean system to write Chinese characters phonetically that predates Hangul. As for 丷 itself, to quote from Wiktionary:

  This is a kwukyel note. Kwukyel was a system formerly used in Korea whereby correct interpretation of texts written in Classical Chinese was aided by small interspersed notes such as this one. The notes represent Korean morphemes but were only used within Chinese text.