Modern loanwords in Chinese I've noticed that in modern Chinese there's a lot of loanwords that are translated in multiple ways:

  激光 vs 雷射

  互联网 vs 因特网

Generally one version will sound similar to the English pronunciation and one uses native words to mean the same thing as the original word. In my experience, the native word is usually preferred/more prestigious. This is very unusual in comparison to Japanese, which heavily prefers using the English/foreign loanword instead of the native equivalent.

Is there any reason for this? Or maybe this is just my imagination?

互联网 and 因特网 may be different things - "internet" vs "Internet".

Coming up with loanwords isn't a standardised practice; in the beginning you'll have separate groups coming up with different words, but over time the need to communicate will encourage people to start using the same one. Take LASER for example; since it was invented in the US, there were many Chinese loanwords - some out of use ones include 光的受激辐射放大器, 光量子放大器, 莱塞. In this case, Qian Xuesen came up with the 激光 word, and since he was so well respected in PRC, everyone there used that. Due to the political situation at the time, Taiwan continued to use 雷射.

These days it's more likely that loanwords will converge quickly, since science and commerce are so open and interconnected. But earlier in history, this process could take a long time. One notable example is the Qing-dynasty loanwords for the US president. The concept was very foreign, of a supreme leader that is elected by peers for a limited term; historian Jonathan Spence counted up to 100 different versions, with words like 伯理玺天地.


Differences between 读 and 阅读? If I am not wrong then both of them means read. So what are the difference between them?

读 = read ; read out. (it can read refer to reading a whole book, or just a single word)

阅读 = read (refer to reading of a book, a publication, or even a single sheet flyer-- something that contains meaningful context)


Quotation Marks ("") and Angle Quotation Marks (《》) Based on my recent observation, most people use "" to enclose a quote and use 《》 to enclose the name of a book (or a movie?). However, since I began my Chinese study, I have been learning to use 「」 as the quotation marks and ﹏﹏ as the mark to enclose the name of a book (I do not know what the mark is called or how to find an example of it). As I remember, the textbooks I used were from Hong Kong, and all the texts use 「」 and ﹏﹏ in place of "" and 《》, respectively. I have also read/studied some texts which use 〖〗 for book name.

As such, which style is correct in an academic/professional writing? Or is it merely different practices for Traditional and Simplified Chinese?

In mainland:

Both are correct.

They are just two styles： ‘’ “” ,「」『』.

The former are borrowed from western countries, the usages in Chinese are identical with English.

The latter,「」 and 『』 are from Japanese. Although they are not so often used as the former, but they are definitely acceptable. In fact, Some people claims we should only use 「」『』 for quotation, because they are more suitable for Chinese character. They mean visual effects.

﹏﹏ is used in ancient texts acting likes 《》, they are for books, movies,songs and other specified names.

To 〖〗 ,don't know it.

The names of frequently used marks：

“” 引号，‘’ is 单引号，“” is 双引号。

「」 is called 直引号。

《》 书名号，专名号。

——  破折号。

；分号。

…… 省略号。

， 逗号。

。 句号。

？ 问号。

！ 感叹号 or 惊叹号。

You may find that in some technical writings, the 。 is  replaced by .


道德經 (Dao De Jing): 「五味令人口爽」 translation From Dao De Jing (道德經), part 12:

五色令人目盲 // Five colors make a man blind
五音令人耳聾 // Five notes make a man deaf
五味令人口爽

I have a problem with translation of the third line:

  Five flavours make the mouth feel well.

It seems proper, but it doesn't make sense, and moreover, on ctext.org it is translated contrary. The third line should also be negative. Where am I wrong?

The overall meaning of the three is to suggest that the emperor shall not bathe in the wealth he possess and neglect the voice of his suffering people.

EDIT:
As mentioned in @huotuichang's comment below, this phrase does not only apply to emperors, although it might have originally been used to refer to emperors.

I'll explain each with their literal translation and connotation.

五色令人目盲
"Five colors blind your eyes."

Five colors refer to the treasures and jewelries. The various colors of luxuries shine to blind the eyes.

五音令人耳聾
"Five notes make one deaf."

Five notes refer to the pleasing music pieces. While one enjoys the melodies being played, he is not able to hear the crying of his people.

五味令人口爽
"Five flavors make one loses taste."

Five flavors refer to the tasteful foods and drinks. 口爽 means losing one's taste. If one eats such foods daily, he will eventually lose his taste and will not be able to swallow the foods of the poor.


Which of "她睡觉的时候...", "她在睡觉的时候...", "她睡觉时候...", and "她在睡觉时候..." are grammatically correct and do they all have the same meaning? In class, we learned this sentence:

  她睡觉的时候，她的朋友正在上网。
  Tā shuìjiào de shíhòu. Tāde péngyǒu zhèngzài shàngwǎng.

My question is about the following three variants.  For the first, we add in a 在 (zài):

  她在睡觉的时候，她的朋友正在上网。

For the second we omit the 的 (de):

  她睡觉时候，她的朋友正在上网。

And for the third we add in a 在 (zài) and omit the 的 (de):

  她在睡觉时候，她的朋友正在上网。

Question: Which of these are grammatically correct and do they all have the same meaning?

I feel the first variant is correct, YouDao.com gives an example "当她在睡觉的时候笑了..." which seems similar (but the 在 might be part of a different grammar construct here: 在[x]笑了).  The latter two examples might be wrong as most examples I've found include the 的, but I'm not sure, as I found "...但在睡觉时候..." on YouDao.com.

她在睡觉的时候，她的朋友正在上网。
  她睡觉时候，她的朋友正在上网。

  3.她在睡觉时候，她的朋友正在上网。

The first one is the most natural way to say it, grammatically and formally.

The second one is ok in colloquial contexts with omitting both 在 and 的.

The third one is a bit odd because it adds 在, I may expect the interlocutor to say the full version. Otherwise, I expect they say the shorten version like the second one.

But, in practice, especially when you speak fast, it really doesn't matter. These sentences are all ok, though the first one is preferable. There are no problems for understanding. They all could sound natural if you have a good command of Chinese speaking.


Email salutations for mother / father Wikipedia lists many honorifics for one's own family, but I don't see any for one's own (living) mother or father. How would an adult write the equivalent of "Dear Mom" or "Dear Dad" in an email? Does "亲爱的妈妈" sound childish?

You are always a child in mother's eyes,So ... childish is acceptable .

You can also use it to your close friend :

亲爱的苏：

亲爱的阳：


Other meaning of 一顿 besides relating to meals I have the following sentence:
老师把学生批评了一顿
Google's only translation of 一顿 on its own returns 'A meal' or 'a spanking' which is the meaning discussed in other posts.
Here it seems like it means a little bit, or slightly, but can anyone offer a clearer picture?
For references, I took it from Peking Uni Youtube class for HSK5 (5:22)

In Taiwan, according to dictionary owned by Ministry of Education.
一頓 means:

表示數量，一次、一回。

(Denote quantity, one session.)


Say go team in Chinese? Normally I would say 加油. On my city's news page this morning, they asked 10 people how to say "Go Syracuse (雪城)". There's a video of two men debating what to say, and then they say something like 雪城 __. I'm not sure what the other 2 words are. BiXue?

Can anyone tell me what the characters are?

Is this something more popular in China? In Taiwan, I always used 加油.

Here's the link (it's in the middle and right at the end):
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/03/what_does_lets_go_orange_sound_like_in_10_different_languages.html#incart_river_default

At Chinese mainland, we use 必胜 or 加油, they are both OK.

And, no, there are no phrase more popular than those two phrases, at least in my experience.


Why 250 is a rude word in Chinese? In mordern Chinese, why is the number 250(二百五) a rude word? Why do people use this number for stupid person?

Since it's purely colloquial, there are several possible origins exist.
One source claims that it comes from Paijiu (a gambling game). there are 二板 (four) and 幺五 (six, one plus five). They're the weakest combination in this game. Therefore, 二板五 was invented to call people who accomplish nothing. 二百五 (250) pronounces similarly to 二板五.
Another source says 二百五 comes from literatures in early 20th Century. In Bizarre Happenings Eyewitnessed over Two Decades by Wu Jianren, there is: "...(He) bought a tongzhi(official) with 250 (silver liang), and wanders everyday in the world. " In 1913, a short film (《二百五白相城隍庙》, Fools in Shanghai) depicted a peasant who was in his first visit to Shanghai. He didn't know the etiquettes in cities and made many troubles. Since he was called 二百五, it soon became a popular word indicating stupid people.


Is ㄙㄨㄚˋ (sua4) for the character 嘴 from another Chinese dialect or language? In my explorations of my area of Taichung today I noticed this sign with Zhuyin Fuhao and took a photo to look it up when I got home:

And it seems that ㄙㄨㄚˋ (sua4) is not even an existing syllable in Mandarin, let alone a pronunciation of 嘴, which is pronounced "zui3".

Sometimes a Taiwanese (Hokkien, Minnan) pronunciation is used in some contexts here instead of the Mandarin one, but in this case it doesn't match the Taiwanese or even the Hakka or any other Chinese variety I can find.

Does anybody have a theory where this sound might originate?

Perhaps a Taiwanese word that people don't know the character for, and they just used it with this other character for some reason?

紲喙 (suà-tshuì)

  合口味。
  Palatable

  形容東西合胃口、好吃，一口接一口，愈吃愈想吃。
  The term describes that the food is so delicious that you want to eat more.

紲 is a substitute character (替代字) and means "continue".

source: 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典


What is the best way to teach a child Mandarin? My son is almost 8 weeks old.  I don't speak Mandarin (yet, currently in progress) and am looking for ways to start him on learning Mandarin early, maybe at about 1 year of age.  What is the best way to go about doing this?

It would be worthwhile for you to read over what people say in this question: Would it be bad to only speak to a child in a language in which you are not completely fluent?

It raises some interesting points.

The top answer from Javid Jamae provides the following points:

Spend as much time as you can around native speakers (family, friends, church, temple, cultural organizations, etc.)
Make a concerted effort to improve your language skills by learning vocabulary that is pertinent to common dialog you have with your children (focus on commands, household objects, animals, etc.)
Keep a notebook near you and every time you can't remember a word you want to use with your child, write it down. Go ahead and use the English (or other language) word so you can complete your thought with your child. Then, after you learn the Mandarin word, make sure you use it from them on.
Find a list of most commonly used conversational words in Mandarin and make sure you know the first 300-500.
Put your child in language classes as soon as they're old enough (5-6 yo).
Play "What is this?" with your child. Point to things and have your child tell you what they are. Using flashcards works well too. I'm sure you can buy Chinese flashcards online.
Get some Chinese-language kids TV shows and cartoons that you can play for you child when he gets a little older.
Make a commitment to your spouse that you will only speak Mandarin in front of your child. Struggle through it and you guys will notice that you're getting better.


How did 漢 come to represent the Han people and civilization? It appears that this character consists of a meaning part and a sound part: a water radical (i.e. section header for water in Kangxi dictionary) for meaning, and the character  for sound.
Radical - Meaning Element
If the original "meaning" part of this character was meant to concern water, what does that have to do with Han people, culture, civilization, etc.? Is this possibly related to the original Han civilization beginning in a river location?
Sound Element
If 口 and 夫 can be considered decomposition components of , did either play a role in giving the sound hàn?
Chinese Etymology notes:
"compound 漢, older  ... 氵shuǐ and (rem- 堇 jǐn) from phonetic difficult (难)難 nán".
Wikipedia notes:
The Han people were named after a dynasty of the same name dynasty of the same name. Another Wikipedia page states that the Han dynasty was named after the fiefdom of "Hanzhong... [which was] named after its location on the Han River (in modern southwest Shaanxi)". Another page says of Hanzhong: "From 900 BC, the area has been called Nanzheng (Chinese: 南鄭; lit. 'southern Zheng')"*
If Wikipedia is correct, then it seems clear why we would have the "radical" for water.
However, I am wondering if either of the above sources is correct in noting the origin of the sound element "hàn" - or if there is some other source.

A few points to start off:

Characters are not made up of radicals (which are strictly dictionary section headers); elements of characters which give meaning are called semantic components.

The phonetic part of 「漢」 is currently written as 「⿱廿⿻口夫」.

For brevity, this character will be referred to as 「」, but note that 「」 is actually a Japanese shape, with 「艹」 and not 「廿」 on the top, and writing it this way is incorrect in Chinese.

Chinese Etymology is wrong - there is no 「堇」 in 「漢」, and no 「難」 in 「漢」. This statement probably comes from older literature now known to be incorrect;  both 「堇」 and 「難」 contain phonetic 「」, but most older dictionaries do not contain a definition of 「」, and so may make up character composition definitions based on circular logic.

「難」 (Baxter-Sagart OC: /*nˤar/) did not originally sound like 「南」 (/*nˤ[ə]m/), so the name Nanzheng (南鄭) is not relevant.

Meaning of 「漢」
「漢」 indeed originally was the name of a river. From the Spring and Autumn Period artefact 《敬事天王鐘》（《殷周金文集成》７３、７４）:

隹（唯）王㱏（正）月初吉（庚）（申）// (...) （自）（作）永（詠）命（鈴），（其）// ⿵⿶⿱冖月頁（眉）（壽）（無）疆，（敬）事天 // 王，（至）于父⿰兄⿱土（兄），㠯（以）樂（君）// 子，江漢（之）陰陽，// 百歲外，㠯大行。
'Tis the day of gēngshēn of the first week of the first month of the King's reign*, (...)† self-cast this ceremonial bell. Wishing for boundless longevity, respectfully serving the King and the Elders, letting the noblemen rejoice, across both sides of the Yangtze and Hàn Rivers; and beyond one's years, with this bell, setting off on the Grand Journey‡.
*This timekeeping record isn't necessarily from the start of the King's reign.
†Inscription is faded out; this is expected to be someone's name.
‡Refers to the journey to/in the afterlife (death).

「漢」 was not originally associated with Chinese civilisation or ethnicity; rather, the first emperor of the Hàn Dynasty decided to name the dynasty after the river, simultaneously causing the entire unified nation to adopt the name of the 「漢」 ethnic group which originally resided around the river. Chinese civilisation, if it could be said to have a beginning, would have originated around Zhōngyuán (中原) rather than the Hàn River, and it is 「中原」 which gave rise to the name 「中或」 (central regions) >「中國」 (Middle Kingdom).
As one of the most prosperous dynasties in Chinese history, the adoption of the name 「漢」 eventually caused most long-standing notions of tribal boundaries and ethnic groups which have persisted all the way from the Shāng Dynasty to fade away, such that 「漢」 is now synonymous with Chinese.

Phonetic component of 「漢」

時期字體
字形
參考資料

商甲

鐵17.1合集12524

西周金

堇鼎集成2703

戰國・晉金

「難」中山王謱鼎集成2840

戰國・秦金

「堇」漢中守戈集成11367

西漢隸

「漢」屯戍9.4流沙墜簡

楷

「」 is made up of 「黑」 (picture of a person with criminal facial tattoos) with the addition of an exaggeratedly-drawn mouth 「口」 on top, depicting a sighing criminal, indicating related meanings of bearing hardship, suffering (now written 艱、難), to sigh (e.g. out of grief, lamentation, suffering, or desperation) (now written 嘆), and punishment (e.g. 熯, punishment by fire).
The bottom portion of 「」 was often corrupted into 「火」 or 「炎」, leading to extra marks in today's shape which causes the bottom of 「」 to look like 「夫」.
In addition to its meaning role, 「黑」 may also serve as a phonetic hint for 「」, but generally, characters should only be decomposed at a surface level, and so it is inappropriate to decompose 「」 to see what kind of hints the resulting components provide to 「漢」.
Please note that 「」 merely plays a phonetic role in 「漢」, not a semantic (meaning) role.

References:

漢語多功能字庫
季旭昇《說文新證》
何琳儀《戰國古文字典：戰國文字聲系》
小學堂

異體字表
字形演變

國學大師

郭沫若《甲骨文合集》
中國社會科學院考古研究所《殷周金文集成》


Sentence structure "I'm [doing something] because [reason]"? I am familiar with the sentence structure "因为。。。所以。。。," but what is the correct way to say "I am [doing something] because [reason]"?

For example, "I am asking this question because I am clueless."

Does "因为。。。所以。。。" still apply in this case?

I think “因为。。。所以。。。” still applies in this case. Or you could say “我。。。是因为。。。”

For example:

  我吃蛋糕是因为我饿了。= I am eating the cake because I am hungry.
  Wǒ chī dàn gāo shì yīn wèi wǒ è le


Can I use 完 after any verb to indicate the completion of activities? Is it okay if I want to say 做完 (finish working)? I have come across 吃完 (finish eating). Is it possible to say finish [doing bla bla] by writing ...完?
... can be filled with 做 or 写, etc...

Yeah totally.
KEY

finish (the action of the preceding verb)

Tuttle Learners

finish, end
电影什么时候完？
Diànyǐng shénme shíhou wán?
When will the movie end?
吃完
chīwán
finish eating, eat up
我吃完饭就去开会。
Wǒ chīwán fàn jiù qù kāihuì.
I'm going to a meeting as soon as I finish my meal.
看完
kànwán
finish reading/watching
我昨天看完电视已经十二点了。
Wǒ zuótiān kànwán diànshì yǐjīng shí'èr diǎn le.
It was already twelve o'clock when I finished watching TV last night.
做完
zuòwán
finish doing
你什么时候可以做完作业？
Nǐ shénme shíhou kěyǐ zuòwán zuòyè?
When can you finish your homework?
用完
yòngwán
use up
我的钱用完了, 我要到银行去取钱。
Wǒ de qián yòngwán le, wǒ yào dào yínháng qu qǔ qián.
I've used up my money. I'll go to the bank to get some cash.

Just add it to the end of any verb.


I visited shanghai a few years ago and bought a necklace. Unfortunately, I don't remember what the necklace says. Can someone help me translate? Please help me translate this! (https://i.stack.imgur.com/6Ok5z.jpg)

It is“想得美”,means "like your wish"or "don't be naive";)


How do you refer to multiple people with the same surname? I was wondering if Chinese people ever get confused addressing multiple people with the same last name.
For example, let's say you are at a gathering and you meet many people who are from the same family, so everyone's last name is 林. You are only acquaintances with these people so you cannot use their full name/given name/nickname. Or maybe they are all older than you so using their given name is disrespectful.
But in either case, there would be so many people called 林先生 (or another 林+title) that nobody knows who you are referring to anymore. Then how would you make it clear which person you are talking to/talking about?
In English there is less of this problem because we can use first names for acquaintances and older people but Chinese is different.

When I worked at Nankai, we had multiple 李老师s.  If there was ambiguity involved, the students would just say the teacher's full name then put 老师 at the end.  E.g. 李忠伟老师.


Stamped Chinese characters on a banknote I cannot translate, it would be great if you guys could. It's a stamp on a Hong Kong banknote from 1941.

Read right to left, top to bottom.

富行揀選
樣券

富行 was short for 雲南富滇銀行 (The Yunnan "Fu-Tien" Bank), 揀選 meant "select, pick".
樣券 means "banknote sample".

PS: Welcome to Chinese.SE. However, this kind of question is off-topic. Because

Questions asking for translations are off-topic unless prior research effort is clearly indicated; we're here to help you learn, not provide a bulk translation service.


"Baby" vs "宝贝" - coincidence? I am interested if the phonetic similarity between the English "baby" and the Chinese "宝贝" (baobei) is purely coincidental.

Interesting, but this is a coincidence.

Baby comes from a reduplicated Proto-Germanic root *bō-, which is cognate to English boy, appended with a diminutive suffix -y.

寶貝 comes from the meaning rare/precious seashells; this usage is attested at least since the Han dynasty. As a term of endearment, this started appearing as early as in the novel Dream of the Red Chamber, written in the 18th century.


What does 个 mean in 感觉这像**个**文盲一样 In the following sentence from an answer on 知乎:

  我们四个人没有一个会说西班牙语，感觉这像个文盲一样。

What does 个 mean in this context and how does it function grammatically? Is it safe to assume it is an abbreviation of 我感觉这像一个文盲的人一样...?

Also, if it is an abbreviation of 一个, then why does the former clause use 一个 while the latter doesn't?

文盲 (illiterate) can be a noun on its own, no need to add 的人

  illiterate

  an illiterate person (noun)

"我们四个人(之中)没有一个" = "no one (among) the four of us"

"会说西班牙语"=  "can speak Spanish"

  "感觉这像个文盲一样。" = "Felt like an illiterate"

  There are many problems with this sentence, Since the subject is not mentioned, it can either be "all four of us" or "I".

If the subject was "all four of us" then the singular "一个文盲" (an illiterate) would have to be changed to "一群文盲" (a group of illiterates)
If the subject was "I", it should not be omitted because people would get confused  by "我们四个" (we four) at the beginning.
"我感觉像个文盲一样" (I felt like an illiterate) lacks an object after the verb, therefore we should add

(1) "自己" (myself) as the object to clarify "I myself" is the object that I felt like an illiterate -- The sentence would then become "我感觉自己像个文盲一样"

(2) "我们" (we) as the object to clarify "we four" is the object that I felt like a group of illiterates-- The sentence would then become "我感觉我们像群文盲一样"

We can replace 感觉(feel) with 觉得(feel), because  感觉 can also be a noun, but 觉得 is clearly a verb

The sentence should then become "我觉得自己像个文盲一样" (I felt I was like an illiterate) or "我觉得我们像群文盲一样" (I felt we were like a group of illiterates)


How can I write my cat's name, TK-421, in Chinese? TK-421 (pronounced Teekay four two one) is the serial number of a character in a science fiction movie (and also my charming cat). What would be the most natural way to write this down?

TK-四二一?

TK-四百二十一?

Should anything be done with the letters?

TK-421, as a serial number, is ok in Chinese. But pronounce differently from English.


Help me translate the red signature seal on this picture? I inherited these pictures from my grandmother who bought them in China in 1980-81. I have had a difficult time trying to translate the red artist signature seals. I have tried image translator app, I looked on several different Asian artists signature websites and poured through pictures to try and find something similar. Pleco wasn't as helpful as I had hoped. I also tried ibiblio.org, which alerted me to the fact that the red deal was in fact a signature. I would also love to know the translation of the rest of the characters that are written on each one. I really want to have a clear understanding of what I've got and after 3 hours of searching I am no closer.  I am just starting to learn about this so for now, the simpler the explanation the better. Please help!!!

Chinese Etching

Chinese Silk Embroidery Panel

Chinese Silk embroidery Panel

i agreed with @droooze that, the 2nd & 3rd seal is "湘綉":

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

綉 (u+7d89) is a variant of 繡 (u+7d61), which means embroider

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

then, the 1st seal, i recognised it as "石氏"

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

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

in which "石" is the surname, matched the "writer"'s name "石鍾璵"

the text of the 2nd picture is "活潑玲瓏", roughly vivacious & exquisite

the text of the 3rd picture is "活潑天真", roughly lively & artless

need to explain text of the first one?

have fun :)


How to say "What was your favourite subject" and "tell me something interesting about you" I want to know how to say "What was your favourite subject" (i.e. school subject when younger) and "tell me something interesting about you" in Mandarin.
Would it be something like: 你最喜欢的科目是什么 and the when younger is implicitly implied?
Google translates the second phrase as: 告诉我一些关于你自己的有趣的事情 I'm not sure if this is a natural way to say ask the phrase?
Thanks.

Here are causal ways:

What was your favorite subject?

你上学的时候最喜欢什么课？

你上学的时候：time indicator
什么课："subject" 科目 would be the same as "course" 课 for a student. "课" is more casual than "科目"

Tell me something interesting about you.

你有没有什么有意思的特点？说来听听。

有意思：causal version of 有趣
特点：characteristic of a person
说来听听：causal way to say "tell me"
This question is rarely asked by Chinese, as far as I know. We usually don't advertise ourselves by attaching interesting things and features to ourselves. Instead, we usually ask/talk about experiences, like "tell me an interesting experience of you." 你有没有什么有趣的经历？说来听听。


Characters used to specify low/standard/medium/high quality/definition in video sharing websites I wonder what are the most common characters used in video sharing websites to specify options for the vide reproduction quality, in particular for this one.

For streaming video, it is common to say:

低清 (under 480p = 480 horizontal lines)
標清 (DVD resolution: 480p/576p)
高清 (720p or above)

Downloadable videos are sometimes marked as "超高清", which may mean 1080p (or even 4K), or simply a high bitrate 720p encode having excellent quality.


What is the grammatical outline of 你英语说得很好 你英语说得很好

How exactly does this phrase function grammatically? I want to say it is topic-comment but I have struggled a lot with identifying such a structure. If it is indeed TC, then how does this translate to "you speak English very well"?
My workbook would say to construct it like 你說英語説話得很好
Thank you for any help!

This is very common in Chinese/Mandarin: Re-/Pre- position the object.
1: to emphasize object while subject is omitted (understood).  I call this fake subject: 北京到了。 Beijing can not "arrive".  "We" arrive at Beijing.
2: subject unknown:  前面来了一辆车。Car doesn't "come", somebody drives it to come.  There is alternative: 有人开了一辆车从前面来了。 which is not as neat as first one. "shorter and to the point" is always the trend of languages.
3: subject unknown but unique to Chinese (not polite to use "someone" as the implication is small potato): "得" complement 这个鱼烧得不错。vs 有人烧这个鱼烧得不错。 Chef or some housewife is not just "有人".
4: similar with "得" complement but subject known (like 1, emphasizing object): 他说汉语说得很好。 vs 他汉语说得很好。 not just neat，you even save repeating the verb.
5 subject known or unknown, the object is a long and complicated phrase:  昨天我刚从上海买回来的新书今天早上在学校弄丢了。 alternative: use "被“ but not as neat and also subject must be known.
6 the most special one is that I want to emphasize both the subject and the object at the same time and it's not "得" complement:  original: 今天早上在学校他弄丢了我昨天刚从上海买回来的新书。 --> weird: 今天早上在学校他我昨天刚从上海买回来的新书弄丢了。 Ah, the wisdom of Chinese: solution "把”  今天早上在学校他把我昨天刚从上海买回来的新书弄丢了。 Perfect:  It's "he" and it's "my new book", both emphasized in equal way.
As I like to believe: language is "alive".  It evolves and mutates daily.  Grammar must do the same to follow, but looks like it will never catch up.  Why must find grammatical explanation for all the expressions used and understood?


Literal meaning of 無奇不有 The correct meaning of 無奇不有 would be: full of extraordinary/bizarre things. But why don't the individual characters not add up to the intended meaning?
This is not the only idiom that I found difficulty in understanding the word per word meaning.

無 - no
奇 - strange (thing)
不 - not
有 - exist
無奇不有 = no strange thing does not exist (nothing is too strange to exist)


What does 软文 and 小号 mean in internet slang? Just like the title says, what does 软文 and 小号 mean in internet slang?

For example:

  还有就是严禁那些动不动就说是软文或小号的人发言

On the Internet, 軟文 means an article intended as advertisement but disguised as ordinary posts. 小號 means the auxiliary accounts, referring to the usual practice of cyber forum participants maintaining multiple accounts so that his or her posts can be bumped up or appeared as if well received.


Is 得弄 one word or two in 首先得弄清楚我们需要什么? I have 首先得弄清楚我们需要什么。

I see 得弄清楚 is a fairly common combination of words. Is 得弄 one word or 2 words here? Should I read de nong or dei nong?

Should I translate the sentence to

'First we need to find out what we need.', or rather
'First we should be clear about what we need.', or
'First we should make clear about what we need.'

Which of 1,2 or 3 do you prefer, or would you rather suggest something else?

I found this sentence: 希尔得弄个清楚。= Hill had to find out for certain.

得 : got to / must / have to ABC must / need / should be
弄清楚 : ABC make clear; figure out

得 is read děi when it means must/have to/need to.

I would translate 首先得弄清楚我们需要什么。 as:

We first need to figure out what we need.


How to say grandparents (as in the collective group) rather than the specific individual? I feel like there must be an answer to this question. I know each of the individual titles

  外公，外婆，爷爷，奶奶

but I can't seem to find how to say a collective title 'grandparents' as we would use in English, nor will my dictionary turn up a good answer.

Can anyone tell me if there is a proper way to say grandparents in Chinese?

祖父母

  祖父母是指父亲的父母亲，又称“爷爷、嫲嫲”、“爷爷、奶奶”。母亲的父母称为外祖父母，在中国南方称为外公、外婆，在中国北方则称为姥姥（或姥娘）、姥爷。自己则分别是祖父母和外祖父母的孙儿或孙女、外孙或外孙女。

It also links to the English page for Grandparent.

National Grandparents Day is also translated as:

  祖父母节


How to translate “就这么着吧”？ 普通话口语里常用。语境：

女性跟闺蜜抱怨丈夫：「虽然我跟你这么抱怨，但真要和他离婚也不现实，唉，就这么着吧！」（带着点无奈，日子凑合过的味道）
论坛网友：「反正不管我再发布多少次，网站都会给我删除的，所以就这么着吧，我也没辙」（虽然不接受，但是也无可奈何的意思：不然我能咋办呢？）

网上搜到一些翻译，感觉味道不太对：例如Alright，如果没有音调的辅助，只凭文字传达，Alright没有“就这么着吧”里面的无奈感吧？

所以，怎么翻译好呢？

Edit: In this context, 就这么着吧 means 1) we disagree or dont want sth in heart or at first, 2) but have to accept it in reality or now, because we have no choice and nothing more we can do.

so be it

  used for saying that you accept a situation in which something has
  been decided or is necessary, although you are not happy about it

https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/so-be-it


Learn Chinese Step 3: Vocabulary Building. Is it the same way to memorize Chinese vocabulary as it is to memorize English vocabulary? Many Mandarin Chinese teachers claim that the step 3 for Learning Chinese is: Vocabulary Building.

Is it the same way(s) to memorize Chinese vocabulary as it is to memorize English vocabulary? Or are there any good tips to memorize Chinese vocabulary?

Similar to learning prefix/suffix and transformation of words in Latin derived languages, it's quite important to break down a Chinese character (in Traditional Chinese, 繁體字) into different components.

You will find most of the characters are constructed according to 六書 principles. Also Google for other resources on 六書.

For example, in 葉(leaf) 碟(disk) 蝶(butterfly) the common 枼 component provides for the pronunciation and meaning (thin and flat) for the character.
The 廾，石，虫 indicates the word relates to plants, something hard, insects respectively.
Knowing these rules helps you to learn these three words with less effort.


Word function and back translating '今天难得工作轻松些‘ For me as a non-Chinese, I often find Chinese quite cryptic, which I admire, but that makes it hard for me to get the meaning. Like this morning, looking at this:
（should have written 经历， keyu gan is right)

上班族常常会有这样的经历：今天难得工作轻松些，但是一整天待在办公室里，往往不明原因地感到头晕、心烦，注意力不集中。出现这些情况，往往与办公室噪音有关。

At first I thought: 'Nowadays it is difficult to find and easy job' but then I looked more carefully at what followed and changed my mind. I think it goes like this:

今天  难得  工作  轻松些, 但是 。。。
Today   rare    work    easier, but ...
Today (is one of those) rare easy days at work, but ...
Today (is one of those) rare easier workdays, but ...
Today is / was a rare easier workday, but ....

I think the structure is:
今天  noun        难得  adjective   工作    noun  轻松些   adjective

Would you agree?

If I gave you "Today is one of those rare easy days at work," to translate into Chinese, would you arrive at '今天难得工作轻松些，'?

My attempt at back-translating: 今天是一个那种稀有的轻松些的工作日，但是 ....

Congratulations! You got the exact meaning of what the sentence wants to express.

At the very begining, 难得 means hard (难) to come by (得), e.g. 难得的机会 means a chance that is hard to acquire; 这场考试难得高分 means It is difficult to get a high score in this exam. Here, it is an adjective (or a verb), obviously.

Later, 难得 is used to modify a sentence. From my point of view, 今天难得工作轻松些 leaves out the subject 我(I), which should be [(我)今天(难得)工作轻松些] (难得 as an inserted component) / [今天]难得[(我)工作轻松些] (难得 as a sentence adverb). And it can be understood as Today is a rare day when I am easy with work. My opinion can be validated from the point that all the following senetences don't have a subject.

Besides, in the first sentence 上班族常常会有这样的精力, 精力 (spirit, energy) should be 经历 (experience) here. I guess it's a typo.

And it is more natural to say 这些情况往往与办公室噪音有关。 instead of 出现这些情况，往往与办公室噪音有关。


Is it ever ambiguous if 几 means "how many?" or "a few"? I'm confused about hao to know if 几 is asking a question (how many) or making a statement (a few). If I heard the following sentence (not read), is there a way to hear the difference?

从上海到东京坐飞机要几个小时

It depends on your tone and context.

If the statement itself does not have any prior or future statements, then it would likely be a question.
Here are the possible context：

从上海到东京坐飞机要几个小时 ？ In this case, you are asking a question， your tone would also be in an inquiring manner, to make it clear its a question

从上海到东京坐飞机要几个小时, 你总不能要我每天来回吧？ In this case its a statement (It takes a couple hours from Shanghai to Tokyo, you can't expect me to travel between them everyday ?）


How to proceed after forgetting to include time-when/location/adverb phrase before main verb? In English (and other languages), I commonly do this in conversations: I'll say a short + simple sentence (subject-verb-object), but moments later, I'll want to add a detail to the statement.

Examples:

  I'm living in Chicago (pause) Well only currently.

How would you, after saying 我住在芝加哥， clarify so as to say only 目前？ My 語法書 says that adverbs come before the main verb, so how could I remedy the sentence after originally forgetting to say the adverb?

  We're watching TV (pause) At my grandmother's house, that is.

Same with location coming before the verb. How could I specify after saying the verb + object （看電視） that we're doing so 在奶奶家?

  I donated some chairs (pause) Which was yesterday actually.

Again with time-when. How could I stress that the donating occurred 昨天？

Obviously the best practice would be to train myself to insert the time-when/location/adverbial phrases before stating the verb. But just wondering if in the meantime while I continue to (frustratingly) make this error, how may I go about correcting myself naturally?

It's totally valid and common to add adverbial modifiers after your main clause.

In conversation, rules are breakable. In writing, there is 倒裝句(Inversion), yeah, that means putting adverbial modifiers at the end of the sentence is grammatically correct, if you follow the inversion rule.

  I'm living in Chicago (pause) Well only currently.

我住在芝加哥, 呃, 只是目前

  We're watching TV (pause) At my grandmother's house, that is.

我們正在看電視, 在我奶奶家.

  I donated some chairs (pause) Which was yesterday actually.

我捐了些椅子, 昨天捐的.

People usually say something like this in my hometown:

你做什麽了, 昨天?

What were you doing, yesterday?


How is this commode style toilet seat called in Chinese? As I am disabled, I thought, in case my Appartment doesn't have a western style toilet, I might want to buy one of these:

So I wonder what they are called and where one could hope to buy them. If the university provides free Appartments I thought it impolite to insist on a Western style toilet.

坐便椅 can be the name you want, in a decent way.

In addition you can find it in Aliexpress. Some big pharmacies also offer these.


Trust/Believe : “信任” vs “相信” How is the usage of 信任 and 相信 different ？ According to my understanding the scope of 信任 is more than the scope of 相信 . For example if we are talking about a person or a few people , we might say 我相信你 but for countries we might use it as 美国信任韩国. Is that correct or are there other usages ?

I'm not a native Chinese speaker but I've always used 相信 to mean believe (related to truth/falsity) and 信任 to mean trust/confidence (related to success/failure).
我相信你 I believe you. I believe what you just said. I think you are telling the truth. I don't think you are lying.
我信任你 I trust you. I trust in your ability. I have faith in you. You won't let me or yourself down. I am confident that you will succeed. I am confident that you will not fail.


I'm currently walking (mostly) around Taiwan. When telling locals this, which of the many words for "walk" is the best to use? I'm currently walking around Taiwan. Well mostly I'm walking, but I'm also interspersing some hitchhiking.

EDIT: By "walking around" I don't mean "here and there", I mean literally "around" the whole island, mostly following 環島1號線, but sometimes on other highways or smaller roads.

When telling locals in Chinese what I'm doing, which word for "walk" is the best to use?

Here are some of the words for "to walk" in Mandarin that I've come across so far:

步行 (bùxíng)
健行 (jiànxíng)
散步 (sànbù)
徒步旅行 (túbù lǚxíng)
遠足 / 远足(yuǎnzú)
走 (zǒu)
行走 (xíngzǒu)
走路 (zǒulù)

If the preferred word varies by region, I'd want the one most appropriate in Taiwan. But just in Mandarin since I haven't learned any Taiwanese.

"徒步環島" or "環島步行" is most appropriate for "walking around taiwan".

"環島" is around the island.

great activity, how many days you need? and where're you now?

have fun :)


Grammar/meaning of 好 in ”怎么才能唱好歌?“ ？ I came across this sentence and I assume the meaning is "how can I (learn to) sing well?". What I don't fully understand is the grammar of 唱好歌.

I know that 好 can be used as a result complement like 我做好作业了 I've finished my homework. The meaning I've learned for 好 when used this way is "finished to a satisfactory standard".

I assume that 唱好歌 is simply 唱歌 with 好 inserted in the middle because 唱 is the verb and 歌 is the object.

My first question is - is this the normal grammar for asking this type of question, or is there an alternative structure? For example, if I want to ask how can I (learn to) cook well, is 我怎么才能做好饭 correct?

Second question - does the above sentence carry a meaning of "how can I cook (this specific meal) well" or "how can I generally cook well"? Or can it be either depending on context?

Third question - I've learned that I can insert 得 or 不 between a verb and complement to make a potential complement structure. Therefore, if I want to say "I can't sing well" is it 我唱不好歌? If not, why not? If yes, what's the difference between this and 我唱歌长得不好?

Thanks very much in advance to anyone who can help!

I think, for Western ears, 怎么才能唱好歌 is ambiguous, whereas, for Chinese ears, it just means 'How can I sing well?'

Does it mean 'sing a good song', or 'sing well'? I asked a Chinese friend, she immediately said, "All songs are good."

You could write 怎么才能把歌唱（得）好。

Q1 Yes, fairly normal grammar
Q2 我怎么才能做好饭 How can I learn to / cook well / be a good cook.

For a specific dish: 我怎么才能做好[name of dish]

Q3 我唱歌唱得不好。 or 我不会唱歌。

Do you remember an old song, 'Killing me softly'? In that song, it says, "I heard he sang a good song." There is no sense in this that he only sings one song well.

It means 'He sings well.' 他唱歌唱得很好。

Similarly, 'She bakes a mean cake.' says: 'She bakes well.' not: her cake is somehow unpleasant.


What is the difference between 发财 and 致富? Between 发财 and 致富, which one is more commonly used? Or is there any difference in emphasis.

发财 is informal, vulgar sometimes, simply means you get a lot of money.

致富 is formal, largely used by CCP media, no one use it in conversation.


In traditional Chinese, when should one write 台灣 and when should one write 臺灣? I have seen both even in the same context. For example:

May I know the difference and when should one use which?
Thank you!

The spelling 「台灣」 is not official in Taiwan, and receives no entries in the Republic of China's Ministry of Education dictionaries (萌典, 教育部重編國語辭典修訂本, 教育部國語辭典簡編本).

Its prevalence in online media is most likely due to IMEs listing 「台灣」 before 「臺灣」 in Taiwanese phonetic input systems when typing "taiwan" or "ㄊㄞㄨㄢ" on a computer.* This has nothing to do with handwritten simplifications, as things like 「身體」, 「學習」, etc. do not appear as 「身体」 or 「学習」 in Traditional Chinese websites.

Even though one "shouldn't" use the spelling 「台灣」, everyone recognises what 「台灣」 is supposed to be, and this spelling is overwhelmingly prevalent in Taiwan itself, so it doesn't really matter (except when referring to governmental agencies). I would just be cautious in its usage, as the overwhelming (and erroneous) prevalence of 「台」 for the name Taiwan has led people to forget that 「台」 is properly pronounced in the first tone as tāi when used in proper nouns and never as tái.

*This is true from personal experience. Ironically, using a PRC input system set to Traditional Chinese will only list 「臺灣」 and not 「台灣」 when one types "taiwan".


Can I use 又 to give more than two properties of something? Can I use 又 to express more than two properties that something has?

I know this is ok:

  這個貓又快又好看。　(This cat is fast and good looking.)

But can I write?:

  這個貓又快又好看又很高興。 (This cat is fast, good looking and very happy.)

Or should I rather use write it with comma?:

  這個貓快、好看也很高興

There is a set phrase in Cantonese which goes:
又平又靓又正
ABC Canto defines it as:

STATIVE VERB
(for goods or services) to be not only cheap and attractive, but also good-quality; to be not only cheap and nice-looking, but also reliable

and gives the examples:

其實呢度都幾好買,啲衫又平又靚又正
kei4 sat6 ni1 dou6 dou1 gei2 hou2 maai5, di1 saam1 jau6 peng4 jau6 leng3 jau6 zeng3
In fact buying here is quite good, the clothes are not only cheap and attractive, but also good-quality
大陸人好鍾意嚟香港買嘢,係因為啲嘢又平又靚又正㗎
daai6 luk6 jan4 hou2 zung1 ji3 lai4 hoeng1 gong2 maai5 je5, hai6 jan1 wai6 di1 je5 jau6 peng4 jau6 leng3 jau6 zeng3 gaa3
China-mainlanders like to come to Hong Kong to buy things, it's because the things are not only cheap and nice-looking, but also reliable

Which should go to show that more than two 又s is okay.
——
The issue you have with your example sentence that people are trying to correct you on is that the descriptors surrounded by the 又s need to go together.
Fast and good looking is lacking any sort of logical connection.
You could say: fast and nimble or good looking and cute.
——
Slightly unrelated but you might want to know:
There’s also the new expression:
又双叒叕
you4 shuang1 ruo4 zhuo2 -or- you4 you4 you4 you4 you4 you4 you4 you4 you4 you4
To express that somethings happened yet again.
Here’s a headline from the recent news:

Windows10免费升级又双叒叕延期了


What's the logic behind the word 从事? Usually Chinese words are not made up of random characters, but instead have some kind of underlying logic.  Moreover, understanding this logic makes it easier to remember and use the word.  However, one common-ish (HSK5-level) word causes me issues:

从事 (cóngshì)
CC-CEDICT: to go for / to engage in / to undertake / to deal with / to handle / to do

So it's yet another way of saying "do" (I'll add it to the list: 做, 干, 搞, 弄, etc.) but it's perhaps more formal and encountered in a business/workplace setting.
It literally translates to something like "from matter/affair", which seems detached from "to do":

从 (cóng)
CC-CEDICT: from / through / via / to follow / to obey / to engage in (an activity) / never (in negative sentence) / (Taiwan pr. [zong4]) retainer / assistant / auxiliary / subordinate / related by common paternal grandfather or earlier ancestor
事 (shì)
CC-CEDICT: matter / thing / item / work / affair

I don't get the logic here, and why this word is even needed.
Question: What's the logic behind the word 从事?

事 can also be a verb  for 'to serve; to work for' e.g. 忠臣不事二主 (a loyal vassal does not serve/ work for two masters)
Since 从 itself has many different meanings, just say 从 is not specific enough. Adding a similar verb 事 and form the compound word 从事 make it a specific term for 'to engage in' (a field/ industry)
从政 = to undertake a political career
从商 = to engage in the business world
从影 = to work in the films industry (refers to the on-screen personnel only )
从軍 = to join/ to serve the military

从 - engage; join

事 - serve; work for

从事 = to engage in (a field/ industry)

Example:
从事环保工作 - Engage in environmental protection work
从事出入口行业 - Engage in the import and export industry


Need help in identifying the last character in this image I have a license plate from the Heliongijang province. I would like to know what is the last character in this image and how is it pronounced. Also, I have seen many license plates which have this character in the end. So, I would also like to know is this a character that represents the city or is it something else?

挂车 seems to mean a "trailer". Searching for "挂车号牌" brings up images of trailers, most of which have number plates that end in "挂" (see below). My Chinese is not that great but according to this document (page 15, item 5.10), trailer number plates are distinguished using the character "挂".


Difference Between 加 and 添 Do they both mean "to add", or is there some other context that I don't understand?

Thank you in advance!

You drive to a gas station to "加油".  We don't say "添油".

If you add some firewood to a campfire, we usually say "添柴".  If you say "加柴", if still makes good sense, but does not sound as natural as "添柴".

Otherwise, the character "添" is usually used with other characters, like "增添".

Although ""增添" and "增加" have the same meaning, they're not fully interchangeable.


The ever changing names of places in chinese One of the first things i learnt when studying chinese was the names of different places around the world. Most of the names from places are simply transliterations of their current forms. This means that some chinese characters used to name a place might be replaced with a different one but similar in sound and tone. This is all well acceptable and reasonable.
In the Asia, however, especially in areas where influences and interactions with the chinese are part of a shared and overlapping history, how do “official names” in chinese suddenly change?
I am particularly referring to “Seoul”, from South Korea. I remember particularly well from airport arrivals/destination boards it was once called 漢城, City of Hans. Since when did it change to 首爾？ I believe the latter is a transliteration to the name.
Is there an official committee that decides on these things? (Like how do you name british names like “stratford upon Avon”?)

漢城 became 首爾 was the decision of the Korean government.
北京 was transliterated as 'Peking', but the government decided it should be 'Beijing'
Basically, the place itself or the government that rules the place has the final say on how its name will be translated or transliterated.
Currently, Chinese transliterated Singapore as 新加坡, but it was transliterated as 星加坡 in Cantonese, eventually, the Cantonese transliteration followed the Mandarin one. Since Mandarin is one of the official languages of Singapore, its government demanded 星加坡 be changed to 新加坡. However, a Cantonese dish named after Singapore is still called 星洲炒米 (Singapore stir-fried rice noodle) instead of 新洲炒米
Take Stratford for example, The Mandarin and Cantonese transliterations are different, only if Stratford itself clarified how it should be transliterated, the different areas would transliterate it differently
Unless Trump declares how his name should be transliterated  川普 and 特朗普 would be used in different areas


"Please hold the handrail during the whole journey" in Chinese/Cantonese? (As heard in Hong Kong airport trains) I have rode this automated people mover inside Hong Kong airport and the voice always says "Please hold the handrail during the whole journey" everytime when the train starts to move and after announcing the next stop. How do you write it in Chinese (or maybe even in Cantonese)?

  If you don't know what I mean, here is the link to it:
  https://youtu.be/-CgqmrWGIEY?t=54

  (P.S. That is not my YouTube video, just an example)

Thank you very much in advance to those who answer.

In the video the Mandarin is:

請沿途緊握扶手

This Google webcache also says:

九巴的勸喻，貼在車廂扶手左右：「 上 車 後 請 沿 途 緊 握 扶 手 」，英 語「 Please hold the handrail during the whole journey. 」為 九 巴 的 愛 心 ，我 不 能 不 長 嘆，釋放善意。

It seems like a common saying on public transportation in HK.


Please help me identify the characters on the seal (Characters identified: 知惠子) Please help me identify the characters of the seal (again).
My friend identified one of the characters as ’和’ but she's not sure with it.

The characters are 知惠子, which point to a Japanese name probably pronounced as Chieko (ちえこ).

You should visit the chat rooms in japanese.stackexchange.com to confirm this.


Translation of "Thank you for your attention" I'm looking for an equivalent of "Thank you for your attention", to be said/shown at the end of a conference presentation.

Is 感谢您的关注 adequate in this situation?

This question was also asked on italki in 2011. A native speaker of Chinese (from Taiwan) pointed out that (with my editorial corrections and added emphasis):

  At the end of a presentation, we say "Thank you for your attention!" for the end. But in Chinese we say, "Thanks for your time" / "感謝諸位的時間". The Chinese are a polite people. (It means that that we did NOT point out that you paid attention to my speech, so we only say, "Thank you for for your time". FYR)

The suggested expression in simplified Chinese characters is then 感谢诸位的时间 (gǎnxiè zhūweìde shíjian̄).


Why do HSK lists differ from character frequency lists? I have been wondering how come the HSK list be so different from the list of the most used Chinese characters.
The only list I know about character frequency is Jun Da's list. On the first 2635 most common characters of the list (I picked 2635, because it's the total number of the HSK characters), there are exactly 305 characters that are not listed on any HSK.
On the rest of Jun Da's list (a total of 7000 characters) there are another 304 characters that are on the HSK list, but are way way farther than the most used characters (the last two rank at #4527 and #4771).
Questions:

What are the criteria for the character choice on HSK?
Why is the HSK list so different from the most used characters list?

Additional comments are very welcome.

To answer your second question:

From a mathematical perspective, it will depend on the texts that are sampled to compile any list and the variances associated with those samples. Languages evolve and there is no true character frequency, only an approximation. Spoken Chinese will have a different character frequency to written Chinese because the spoken language has a high entropy. It is likely that the HSK test had a panel of experts select characters based on what they deemed to be suitable, whereas the list you referenced was mass sampled by some kind of web crawler.

It is inconceivable that every single electronic Chinese character on the internet has been sampled, and if it was that would be very biased as that would ignore all of the written works not uploaded to the internet. Depending on the format of the inputs there will be a huge difference, if lots of text was taken from 微薄, then the character 哈 might rank as common, purely from comments that are like "hahahaha" for example. If classical Chinese was sampled heavily then characters like 曰 might feature much more frequently than 说.

Some of the HSK 5 and 6 words are very political and business oriented, but there are not many scientific words.


What are some common Chinese terms used when playing soccer I regularly play soccer with a group of Chinese guys and wanted to share terms that I've learnt over the years.

I would appreciate if anyone can fill in any gaps (or correct me if I'm wrong).

Red Card: 红牌 hóngpái

Yellow card: 黄牌 huángpái

Shoot: 射 (射门) shè (shèmén)

Pass: 传 (传球) chuán (chuán qiú)

Goal: 门 （球门) mén (qiú mén)

Referee: 裁判 cáipàn

Half time: 半场 bàn chǎng

Full time: 全场 quán chǎng or 结束了 or 踢好了

Team: 队 （蓝队， 白队 etc.) duì

The ball has gone out: 出界

Did the ball go in?: 球进了没有?

Are you injured?: （受）伤了没有？

Kick off: 开球

Pitch: 球场

Substitution: 换人

Score: 比分

1:0 (one to zero) :  一比零

Offside: 越位

Penalty area: 禁区

Overtime: 加时

Golden goal: 金球

Silver goal: 银球

Front-field: 前场

Midfield: 中场

Backfield: 后场

Handball: 手球

Header: 头球

Foul: 犯规

Preliminary match: 预赛

Eighth-final: 八分之一决赛

Quarter-final: 四分之一决赛

Semi-final: 半决赛

Final: 决赛


Are there different English words for the two types of caterpillar 毛虫 and 肉虫? 毛虫，肉虫，２ kinds of caterpillar， Wikipedia and 百度百科 both state that larvae of butterflies come in two varieties, 肉虫 and 毛虫 (in that order: 幼虫的形状多样，有肉虫，也有毛虫。), and there are plenty of pictures of both types, but 肉虫
cannot be found in any online dictionary and is not even in 现代汉语词典，also while Wikipedia has an entry for 毛虫, there is none for 肉虫, 百度百科 has a very short one not even mentioning that 肉虫 are larvae of certain adult forms of animal (butterflies), in fact the editors are aware of the shortcomings of their article and call for assistance in writing up a more complete article. Any explanation for the above? Wikipedia's article on butterflies mentions only one type of larvae, caterpillar, are there different English words for the two types?

It's quite easy to distinguish between 毛虫 and 肉虫. 毛 means furry, and 肉 means meaty. If a caterpillar looks "furry", it's 毛虫. Otherwise, it's a 肉虫.

This one is a 毛虫:

And this one is 肉虫:


The use of the particle "de" Is there anybody who can help me, please?..

I have studied that in this setence: "Zhongguo de youpiao"  zhongguo characterizes youpiao e that's why we use the particle "de", but I found this sentence: "Zhongguo cha" where the word Zhongguo seems to characterize the word "cha", so why don't we use the particle "de" in this case?

非常感谢你的帮助!

It's the same case as Engligh right? We can also say in English: China Tea, or Chinese Tea. As long as omitting "de" does not introduce ambiguity, it's fine. However, it will sounds more like a proper noun instead of adj.+noun.


Using a verb as a habitual thing vs Chinese I have noticed perhaps that in English we could say a sentence like ‘you think I sleep?’ And it could be referring to (in a comical way of course) that fact of me not sleeping in general or at all.

If I were to make a primitive translation, I’d probably say

  你覺得我睡覺（嗎）［哈哈哈］

In my experience, I tend to think this is incorrect, and does not convey the same meaning given above. Certainly, I could add words like ‘in general’ or ‘even’ to clarify, but What is the proper way to express these types of verbs?

"you think I sleep?" in Chinese should be "你以為我睡觉吗?"

以為 imply 'mistakenly presume"

The other answers and comments already pointed out the fact that everyone sleep. the sentence "you think I sleep?" need a lot of clarification-- (Why you don't need to sleep? How can you do it?)

Let's use more logical examples:

"you think I care?" =  "你以為我在乎吗?"

"you think I lie?" = "你以为我撒谎吗？"

"you think I forgot?" = “你以为我忘了吗？”

if you don't like 以為 (thought/ mistakenly presume), you can use 覺得 (think/ feel) or 认为 (consider/ think). But 以為 is the best choice here because this type of short retort imply whatever idea the other person has is wrong.
吗 can be omitted


Does 「你的中文是在哪里学的？」mean "How did you study Chinese?" or "Where did you study Chinese?" Recently I left the following post on social media:
中国人：你的中文是在哪里学的？
我：在北京语言大学学的。
Just to clarify, I wrote both those sentences to express a regular conversation that I have with Chinese people.
There is no more context. If it helps then let's say that the Chinese person heard me speak Chinese for the first time and I have pretty good Chinese.
A Chinese friend then commented:
他问的是 how 你回答的是 where.
Could it be that 在哪里 can not be used to mean 在什么地方 and can only be used to express 怎么?
If you saw the question 你的中文是在哪里学的？ would you interpret that as 你的中文是在哪个地方学的？ or as 你的中文是怎么学的？ or both, depending on context?
My main issue is this: I created the scenario so there is no more context to be given. One person asks 你的中文是在哪里学的 and the response is 在北京学的。If the question can be interpreted both ways i.e. where/how then the commenter was not justified in saying that the question meant ''how''. She could have pointed out that that question doesn't always mean literally ''where'' but she couldn't say that it doesn't mean ''literal where''.
If the question 你的中文是在哪里学的 does mean ''literal where'' in some contexts then that answers my question. She was not justified in making that comment. The answer was not ''incorrect'' as it is correct in some contexts and we do not know the context.
The following images were added later after a conversation I had with a new Chinese friend where they actually asked me this exact question and I questioned them on it.
Also, I presented this to the Chinese person who originally stated that 你的中文是在哪里学的 is a ''how'' question and they agreed that there was actually nothing wrong with my original dialogue after all.
I conclude that 你的中文是在哪里学的 means ''where'' in general, but depending on the context it can mean ''how''.

中国人：你的中文是在哪里学的？
我：在北京语言大学学的。

Without other context, this dialogue indicates a normal conversation sequence. '在哪里' just means 'where'.
In some context, 你的中文是在哪里学的？ could be used as a rhetorical question.  The underlying meaning is 你的中文是在哪里学的？ (怎么这么差！)  In English, it could be something like from where have you learned such awful Chinese? In this case, they may not want you to answer it literally. And I guess you don't want to answer it at all.
Out of that specific context, 你的中文是在哪里学的？ is just a normal sentence and your answer is a proper one.
To me, 在哪里(where) doesn't mean 怎么(how) in any case. And your Chinese friend might say it out of certain context, in which you should use 怎么 other than 在哪里，otherwise he is plain wrong.
Edit:
Context is the key here.  你的中文是在哪里学的？could also imply someone's Chinese is very good and they want to know where they have learnt it.  But standing alone, we can't make any assumption about the context.  We should take it literally instead, unless OP can provide more context for analysis.


What is the difference between 星期日 and 周日? I know the definition of both of these words are Sunday but in what context are they used?

周日 is formal(on TV news) and oral, 星期天 is mostly oral. 星期日 is what Cantonese use orally(Hongkong, Canton), mandarin hardly.
We also use 礼拜天(mandarin)礼拜日(Cantonese) orally a lot.
Most possible combination of is above. btw There is no 周天.


Etymology of 奴隶 (Slave) I vaguely remember hearing somebody make observations about the word 奴隶 (slave). I would like to verify the impressions of the person who was speaking as being factual or just his impressions.
What is the Cultural etymology of the word 奴隶 (Slave). More specifically I would like to know more about the use of the female character in the radical of 奴 (Nú). The observation I had encountered was that in the past women had no rights and were regarded as 'property' or if not property then working hands for the household of the husband. I am wondering if this 'servitude' was the basis of using the female character as a radical for this word, or if there is some other link between the two words.

A personal experience, most etymology explanations of characters are not definitive. Explanations can be derived from theoretic work or maybe just personal imagination.

That been said, I searched in google and found:

Figures on how 奴 as written in ancient and modern times. Link from hkbu.edu.hk. Now, please look at the figure below, which is 奴 in its 小篆 form (the character written form standardized when China was first united in Qin Dynasty after 221BC).

As described in the same page, 奴 --> 女 + 又 --> 静坐的女性(Female seating courteously) + 手的象征 (Symbol of hands) --> Female who work with her hands (hope you can get this point from the figure below).

To go further, this explanation links 奴 to one of its main meanings -- 奴婢/奴仆/奴才, which is similar as servant or maid in English.

Here, there is nothing about the 'servitude'. But, of course, one can explain 奴 from another main meaning -- 奴隶\奴役, which means slaves or servitude.

This is really a side-proof that etymology of characters are open to ones' empirical/theoretical research or even imagination.


黃中 = being employed as an imperial government official/having a career in the imperial government? Many Chinese clans have a "昭穆", a kind of poem from which each generation of the clan picks a successive character as a prefix to given names, so we can easily identify people from one generation to another. For instance, I am of the "性" generation according to my clan's "昭穆". Now, the "昭穆" contains this sentence:

  黃中元吉迪，青簡大名留。

According to this page, "黃中" would mean "being employed as an imperial government official" or "having a career in the imperial government" ("在朝為官"). However, I have been unable to find further reference to back up that interpretation. I have even looked up the character "黃" in the 《古漢語常用字字典》 and the closest thing I get is "[matters] related to the Emperor", with no direct mention of "government" or "officials".

Would somebody with good knowledge in classical Chinese be able to enlighten me?

黃中 means the emperor, not the employment, and 黃中元吉迪 means the emperor along with the nation becomes better and better.

It is the result, and via this the sentence would express the idea that it's a pleasure of your contributions to the nation.

So it concludes that the person is a government employee.


Difference between 捞 and 拿？ So， recently I bumped into the word “捞” － which， as I've seen translated － means “to grab from a liquid。 （Somewhat similar to “ladel") I  thought this looked like a really useful verb, but I wanted to clarify a little.
Is 捞 only used for grabbing something out of liquids？
If you are grabbing something out of the water is there a difference between 捞 and 拿？ （Does 捞 imply a bowl like structure like “Ladel”？）

Is 捞 only used for grabbing something out of liquids？

It could also be used metaphorically. You can 捞好处, 捞钱, 捞名声, 捞官职, etc. In this usage, 捞 implies selfishness.

  If you are grabbing something out of the water is there a difference between 捞 and 拿？

It's common to see a foreign language having specific words for something that's not so specific in your native tongue. In English you "wage war", but in Latin and other languages you simply "do war". Like "wage" for wars, 捞 is more colloquial when it comes to grabbing from water.

  （Does 捞 imply a bowl like structure like “Ladel”？）

Any tool could be possible, a bowl, a fishing net, or even bare hands, as long as it does the job. 捞 doesn't imply anything specific.


Translation of "conscius" [sic] on stamp (Characters identified: 自覚的) We got this stamp as a gift. What does the Chinese characters translate to? It seems too long to just translate to "conscius" [sic].

自觉的, just "self-conscious".

Note that, 覚 is seldom used today. It's an interchangeable character for 觉(simplified Chinese) or 覺(traditional Chinese), which means sense/feel.

PS: I think the one who made the stamp maybe didn't know Chinese. He or She might search conscius in an electronic dictionary and found the Chinese meaning 自觉的. However the translation can be greatly refined :)


阿: when is it pronunced 'a' when is it pronunced 'e'? 阿 sometimes pronounced 'a' sometimes pronounced 'e'.

I've noticed specific instances for both.

Are there any rules as to how to pronounce 阿 in different circumstances/contexts?

Yes, there are rules - it is not irregular at all.

The two different pronunciations of 阿 actually reflect different usages. The original Old Chinese pronunciation of ē is for using the character as a verb or noun, which is what the character 阿 originally meant. In contrast, the later pronunciation of ā emerged as a particle with completely different meanings.

Unfortunately most people have became unfamiliar with the older usage, so that the ē form is usually only seen in set phrases (成語).

阿 ē

verb, meaning:

to pander to
to (unjustly) side with (someone in a dispute)

noun (archaic), meaning:

a hill
a (geographical) twist/turn
a building

A surname

阿 ā

prefix for names or familial titles, originally meaningless but can carry connotations of:

familiarity
endearment

particle (archaic, superseded by 啊) indicating:

surprise
doubt

As the above shows, the two different pronunciations do not overlap in their usage.


Dealing with expressions in classical Chinese letters: 月日 and 惶恐百拜 Are there standard translations for phrases like 月日 and 惶恐百拜, used in correspondence in premodern times? 'A day of a month' and 'I cower fearfully and bow a hundred times' don't really...y'know...WORK in English... -_-;

However, different meanings in different contexts.

According to Baidu Baike，there are four meanings about "月日". But in my opinion, it would be explained in five ways.

1)moon and son
It is understood easily and Literally.

2)the day you choose

  辑五瑞，择吉月日，见四岳诸牧，还瑞。

Translate into English:
Shun collected the Wurui. Then he chose a good day to meet the offcials and return the Wurui.

"五瑞(Wurui)" is a thing that offcials would like to wear in ancient.

3)a couple of days

  伏念臣自蒙恩，改授京官，到今七年，除持服月日外，亦以四年馀两个月。——《求追赠考妣状》

Translate into English：
Under grace, I have appointed as government official for seven years now. Apart from the time of observe mourning, there are four years and two months。

4)one month

  自史太公死后，又早过了三四个月日。——《水浒传》

Translate into English：
It has been three or four months, when Shi was dead.

Old man is referred to "太公" in ancient.

5)describe time is short

  羣小无知，，故求全月日之命耳。——《魏书·王建传》

Translate into English:
We are weak, and afraid that we will be killed like the people of Canhepo. So we just want to save our short lifes.

Speaking of "惶恐百拜", the phrase was usually divided into two phrases "惶恐" and "百拜", and was used to show your respect for recipient in letter. You can check this article 《上海图书馆藏明代尺牍》书信用语研究, and also could find "顿首百拜" in many questions.

"惶恐" shows you feel anxious because you afraid of disturbing the recipient.

"百拜" doesn't mean "bow a hundred times" anyway. It looks like "Yours sincerely" and "Best regards" in letter in English. It shows your respect for recipient in the end of the letter.


Why is 跟他一起去不去 wrong but 跟不跟他一起去 right I am confused about the Chinese equivalent of "Do you go with him". The sentence is a so-called yes/no question by many textbooks and grammar books. Using the VA-not-VA(Verb Adjective) to compose this question, I think it should be 你跟他一起去不去？But native Chinese people say: 你跟不跟他一起去？

The "跟" is a preposition, not a verb or adjective. Why is the VA-not-VA also applicable to preposition?

Also, why is 你跟他一起去不去 wrong?

Most Chinese prepositions are also verbs. For example:
在: to be (at) (verb), at (preposition)
跟: to follow (verb), with (preposition)
给: to give (verb), to, for (preposition)
etc.

For that reason, they do carry their verb features even when acting as prepositions. And for what I've seen since I started studying Chinese, the first verb is always the one that's negated and that's inserted in the V/A-not-V/A structure. Some examples:

你在不在中国学中文？/我不在中国学中文。
他跟不跟妈妈一起吃饭？/他不跟妈妈吃饭。
你给没给女朋友打电话？/我没给女朋友打电话。
他想不想去看电影？/他不想去看电影。
你比不比他高？/我不比他高。
你把没把书带来？/我没把书带来。
(if there are any mistakes in my examples, I'd appreciate if a native speaker could point them out)

As you can see, the "prepositions" are always negated.

You may negate other parts of the sentence, but the "neutral" negation is always negating the first verb in Chinese.

Hope this helps. Cheers


What does 膝盖 mean in this context? The following is a title of a post over 人民网.

  15岁女孩出版6万字英文小说！不就膝盖吗？拿去！

Source: http://m.jy1377.com/a/100/32674.html

My dictionary (Pleco) only has "knee" as the meaning. The same is true of MDBG.

But it doesn't make sense to have "knee" there. So what is the meaning in this context?

It comes from a net slang "给你跪下了"(I'm kneeling down to you) or "给跪" for short, to show one's admiration when something is far beyond his ability.

你能吃六碗饭？我给你跪下了！
你微积分考试得了满分？给跪了。

And this has variants like "献上我的膝盖", "给你我的膝盖" or "膝盖给你", where "give you my knees" just means "kneel to you". So basically you can take 膝盖 as a metaphor for admiration, e.g.请收下我的膝盖


How to say 'what's the difference between' in Cantonese? I'm just wondering how to say 'what's the difference between X and X?' in Cantonese

Any help (Jyutping or characters!) would be really appreciated!
Thanks!

what's the difference between X and Y

Cantonese:

"(X) 同 (Y) 有乜嘢唔同" [(X) tung4 (Y) jau5 me1 je5 m4 tung4]
"(X) 同 (Y) 有乜嘢分別" [(X) tung4 (Y) jau5 me1 je5 fan1 bit6]

Mandarin:

"(X) 跟 (Y) 有甚麼不同" [(X) gen1 (Y) you3 shen2 me5 bu4 tong2]
"(X) 跟 (Y) 有甚麼分別" [(X) gen1 (Y) you3 shen2 me5 fen1 bie2]


I need help with the translation of 长和能力 I'm working with Chinese resumes and I've found 长和能力 as a section title. I tried to translate it using the Google Translate and it says it means "Length and capacity". Is there any alternative translation, maybe more appropiate taking into account the context?

Thank you.

You've asked something "more appropriate taking into account the context?".

Taking consideration that this being coming from a resume, I hold that this "长和能力" is very likely to be missing a character that would have formed a word with "长". It is likely to be “长处” （"merit", "strength" or "advantage; lit. where it's long), making the whole “长处和能力” (Strength and Abilities), which would make sense for a resume section title.

The bad news is that this person misspelled in his resume and you might now like it; but the good news is, I will tell you that “长处” is a very tacit euphemism for a body part.


Is the sentence "我们要怎么去机场？" ambiguous? 我们要怎么去机场？

The translation given is "How do we get to the airport?", but since 怎么 can also mean "why", can this sentence also be translated as "Why are we going to the airport?"

I'm probably missing something which makes this a silly question.

I am a native Chinese speaker.  This sentence is not ambiguous to me at all.  Here the "怎么" clearly means "how" to me.

But if you switch "要" and "怎么"，then the sentence will be like:

我们怎么要去机场？

Here "怎么" means "why".  This sentence sounds to me like that you have a guest coming by train but your boss asks you to go to the airport to pick him up.

Hope this helps.


Is 学长/学兄 gender specific？ So the word 学姐 is gender specific to woman so what about 学长? Is it only use for male? And if so is 学兄 for all gender?

From my experience, 学兄, for male only, is understandable, but is rarely used.

学姐 is used more than 学兄.

学长 is common and gender neutral, although it's more common among men than women.

I also heard of 学弟，学妹.


How to translate "take Catholic orders"? To become a Buddhist "monk" or "nun" is called chūjiā 出家. What is it called to take Catholic orders, other than dāng shénfù 當神父, etc.?

Edit (after reading some comments): A former Dominican novice told me that 出家 is sometimes used in the case of taking monastic orders. I'd be especially interested to hear from other people who have first-hand experience with this calling in a Chinese-language context.

Holy orders
Oxford

圣秩
to take holy orders
领受圣秩

21st Century

1 圣职受任仪式
2 牧师职位
3 牧师的品位等级

KEY, ABC, A Chinese-English Dictionary, Grand Ricci all call this:

神品

Liang-An also calls it 神品 saying:

也作［圣品］、［圣秩］


How do you say 学霸 in English? Is there a word for 学霸 in English?
霸 comes from 霸王， which is an attribute people gave to a super warlord in ancient China who is invincible even when he was just fighting along against an entire army. And they would use this term for people who are academically dominant.

學霸 describes an extremely academically proficient student. The best translation is probably straight-A or top student. Brainiac is very similar, but more generically implies a very academically clever person.

There are other words suggesting similar ideas, but some of them overlaps in meaning with 書呆子 (e.g. studyholic) and others describe a kind of 霸 that is not necessarily to do with 學習 (e.g. high/overachiever).


Pronunciation of final -o According to Wiedenhof's A Grammar of Mandarin, page 43,

  The final spelled as -o is only combined with the initials b-, p-,
  m-, f-. This vowel matches the vowel part of the final -uo [wɔ].

However in page 45, the author states

  The fnal -uo [wɔ] is spelled as -o before the labial initials, b-,
  p-, m-, f-.

Can somebody clarify the apparent contradiction?

There is no contradiction; both of the statements are saying the same thing.

There is a final in Chinese that is pronounced [wɔ].
This is the final in syllables "luo", "ruo", "wo", "bo", etc.
It is sometimes spelled "uo" (as in "luo") and sometimes spelled "o" (as in "bo").
Specifically, it is always and only spelled as "o" following  b-, p-, m-, and f-.


How to kept Chinese character in mind? Hi I'm new to Chinese language and i'm getting hard to kept Chinese character.

Every time i learn new character I forgot the previous one. One of my friend advice me to learn the origine of every character.

Please can someone share a method that helped to do so. Maybe good books or videos.
thank you.

Start with basic characters. Complex characters are consisting of the basic ones.
I found it it very helpful to learn the Japanese kanji kentei level 10 characters first (without reading/pronunciation of course)
Repeat drawing them and stick to the stroke order. 90% of the success is practise. I do not mean one time 2hr practise , but consistent practise over months and years. Every week two or three times is much more efficient, after all you are learning in the long term.
Make up your own mnemonics (using the basic characters)
I like to draw the characters in a rather high quality notebook instead of using scrape paper because I can see the progress and how the book becomes full, fills me with pride. A good occasion imo is while watching a movie.


Are there any resources for learners of Chinese dialects that are close to Mandarin? I've lived in Henan provice for around 8 years and have never seen any texts for learners of the Henanese dialect. There are considerable variations in dialect within Henan between people from different cities and even different districts within the same city. I am able to understand much of what is spoken, but can't figure out which tones are being used because they are so inconsistent. So the only way I know of learning Henanese is to memorize the pronunciation of phrases.

Henanese is much closer to Mandarin than dialects like Cantonese, Wenzhounese, etc. That may explain the lack of teaching material.

I know of foreigners who have picked up the local dialect, but I'm more of a visual learner. It would be far more efficient to look at a written guide. Are there any such resources for Henanese or other Chinese dialects?

There is not much of this available even at bookstores within China. There is even much less for non-background speakers in English.

I personally have been lucky enough to get a book from Peking University Press titled "Practical Suzhou Dialect" which also includes English. I tried searching online however this appears to be a one-off. However, you could try contacting one of the major universities or even going to a university in Henan to see if they have resources available.

There is also this book listed on Amazon Henan dialect of Luoshan but this is not a text book. I have tried seeing if I could find the contents of this online, but only found a site listing an index of what is inside.

I also suggest asking on Chinese social media sites to see if anyone can help.


Are there any sentences where if you skip one (or more) characters from the beginning, it's correct but has entirely different meaning? I noticed that Chinese language uses very little punctuation, especially missing out spaces between words. Because of this feature, is it possible to build sentences where if you skip one (or more) characters from the beginning, you get entirely different meaning? Are there any popular examples?

EDIT: I keep getting answers which are not what I mean. I expected to find out whether there are sentences that start with a multi-character word that after removing the first character, make a new multi-character word, shifting the meaning completely. So, for example, with spaces added, AB CD EF would become BC DE F.

How about these:

"(美國人)對大麻合化意見不一" -- "(Americans) have different opinions on the legalization of marijuana"

"(國人)對大麻合化意見不 一" -- "(Citizens of this country) have different opinions on the legalization of marijuana"

~

"(德意志)崩潰" -- "(German) collapse"

"(意志)崩潰" -- "(will/ spirit) collapse"

~

"(從)[馬上]下來" -- "come down (from) [the horse back]"

"[馬上] 下來" -- "come down [immediately]"

~

"(從來就)有免費飯" -- "There's (always been) free meal"

"(來)[就]有免費飯" -- "There's free meal [whenever] you (come)"


What is the difference between 写完 and 写得完 ? According to my textbook 简明汉语语法 the parts after the verb 写 are so called complements, they are strictly differentiated from adverbs.

both complements are called:

complement of result 完
complement of possibility 得完

I assume the meaning of 写完 is "to write (and it is completed)".
However, i can not find out myself what the difference to 写得完 is?

写得完: possible to complete writing

  写完: complete writing

Beginners often learn 能+verb first, but in many cases, verb+得+complement sounds much more natural when they want to express can/be able to + verb.

I'm aware of some languages, e.g. Japanese and sometimes English, that don't always strictly distinguish these two kinds of expressions, but Chinese does. Always keep in mind that 写得完 is stative while 写完 is dynamic.


What do these kanji mean: 吉庆有余 Can someone please tell me what it means? I don't understand the 2nd kanji and can't find it online.

吉, short for 吉祥, lucky, auspicious, propitious
庆, short for 喜庆, joyful, happy event, to celebrate
有余, to have enough and to spare, to have a surplus

to have a lot of happy things

In some Chinese traditional paintings, you may see a plump child holding a halberd(戟, ji3, similar with 吉), a chime stone(磬, qing4, same with 庆) and a fish(鱼, yu2, same with 余), usually a cyprinoid, sometimes only a fish and a lotus flower, which indicates 吉庆有余.


How does word order affect the meaning of a sentence A foreign friend of mine asked me the following questions and I cannot explain to him very well. So I am looking for help here.

Context:

I said to him: it's ok to say a sentence in different word order, let's say,

你昨天付了钱吗
昨天钱你付了吗
昨天钱付了吗你

But he questioned: Isn't there any difference?

I considered and said yes, and made up 3 scenes for each one:

（普通夫妻）

昨天晚上小李请我吃的饭。
你昨天付了钱吗？
没有，都是他埋的单。

comment: Here is a plain question on whether I paid for (anything) yesterday.

（中年男子和停车场收费大爷）

师傅麻烦抬一下收费杆
昨天钱你付了吗？
不好意思忘记了，我连今天的一起给了吧

comment: Here the toll collector is definite that I haven't paid parking fee for yesterday, and he is not very happy, and he is asking for it. So I do not answer whether I paid yesterday but say sorry.

（穷人与小旅馆老板娘）

再让我歇一晚上吧……
笑话！昨天钱付了吗你！赶紧挪窝让别人进来！

comment: Here the landlady is furious, and she doesn't care whether or not the poor guy will make up the room rate, and all she want to do is get rid of him.

I said each of the sentence is the best choice under these circumstances, thus not exchangeable (if we want to express the emotion of each character).

He asked if there is a guideline to understand these sentences and how to compose a sentence in best word order. I answered something but felt it not very well-rounded.

Arh so I post this question on almighty forum~

I think different word orders put emphasis on different topics. 你昨天付了钱吗 is a normal sentence so I don't think there is a particular emphasis on anything.

昨天钱你付了吗, however, put the object in front, so it's emphasizing the object and the verb rather than the subject.

I think 昨天钱付了吗你 is the same as 昨天钱你付了吗, but using a 倒装 to, still, put an emphasis on the verb-object information.


What are the most popular new year greetings in Cantonese? Lots of sites highlight the most popular new year greetings in Mandarin. What are the most popular ones for Cantonese, ideally categorized by usage (e.g., family, business, health, kids, parents, seniors)?

What are the most popular ones for the year of the sheep/ram/goat?

In Hong Kong, the two most popular greetings in Cantonese are

恭喜發財
新年快樂

I am not sure about other Cantonese-speaking areas.


Purpose of 就...了 in 这套房子下午就没有阳光了吧？ The conversation is:

A: 这套房子下午就没有阳光了吧？
B: 是的。

Can you guys tell me the purpose of 就...了 in that question? Thank you a lot.

You can see component in your sentence 下午就没有阳光了(There has been no sunlight on afternoon) as [particular situation]就[other situation]. It denote [other situation] occurred after [particular situation]. In this component [particular situation] is 下午 and [other situation] is 没有阳光了. So 没有阳光了 occurred after 下午 has begun.

You can see component in your sentence 没有阳光了(There has been no sunlight) as [situation]了. It denote [situation] has happened. In this component [situation] is 没有阳光 so 没有阳光 has happened.


What is the meaning of 忚 and how is it pronounced? -- (a logical argument) What is the meaning of 忚 and how is it pronounced?

I have the complete Confucius 論語 -- Is the character used in it (論語)?

(How old is this dictionary?) http://www.kangxizidian.com/kangxi/0377.gif

Also, (optionally) could you comment on if the following argument is commonly expressed by Chinese people, e.g., by teen-agers ?  (It seems like something that teen-agers might say.)     Thank you.

The following is a logical argument.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%BB%96

Chinese has had 他 (Mandarin) = [he; him; she; her] (originally gender-neutral; nowadays usually referring to males)

because (nowadays for females) 她 is used for she/her.

祂 is used for He (deity).

牠 is used for it (animal).

Now, therefore, the only (or most) logical meaning of  忚  is [he/she/it] for children and babies. Q.E.D.

忚 (u+5fda) is rarely used in the past, it did appear in several books.

the latest one, with english explanation, was in early 18th century, in robert morrison's "a dictionary of the chinese language", volume ii, part i (page 139 of pdf file):

㦒(u+3992)忚: insultingly neglectful

https://archive.org/details/p1dictionaryofch02morruoft

then, its' earliest appearance in literatures of yore, was in 輶軒使者絕代語釋別國方言　卷十, by 揚雄, of 漢 dynasty (page 79 of pdf file):

眠娗﹒脉蜴﹒賜施﹒茭媞﹒譠謾﹒㦒忚﹒皆欺謾之語也﹒楚郢以南﹒東揚之郊通語也

"欺謾" is roughly deceive, disrespectful

https://archive.org/details/06050580.cn

its' next appearance was in 廣韻　上平聲　卷第一﹒齊韻第十二 (page 31):

忚　欺謾之皃 (貌)

https://www.digital.archives.go.jp/DAS/pickup/view/category/categoryArchives/0500000000/0511000000/00

back to your question, i don't think that this character was used in 論語.

康熙字典 was published in 1716; so it's about 300 years old :)

about the argument:

Now, therefore, the only (or most) logical meaning
of 忚 is [he/she/it] for children and babies.

well, it's not. i would say that

他　he 也﹒從人﹒也聲
她　she 也﹒從女﹒也聲
祂　god 也﹒從示﹒也聲
牠　it 也﹒從牛﹒也聲

so, these four are 形聲字.

lastly, i think that most 小學類　字書 had the character "忚", and, explained it; though in literary chinese, and printed in traditional script.


English translation of Su Shi's "Cold Food Observance" I have obtained a copy of Su Shi's "Cold Food Observance". I would like to find a good English translation of the 129 characters, preferably with standard (kaishu) characters alongside so that I can check it to the cursive characters of the original. I have not been able to find anything online, even trying Su Dongpo in search terms. Can someone offer a direction to find this? Thanks very much.

Here are three translations for you to muse over.
Miao Guang's translation:

Ever since my arrival in Huangzhou,
Three Cold-Food Festivals* have come and gone;
Despite my intention to cherish each Spring,
Yet the passing Spring allows no such dream.
This year, there is once again bitter rain,
Two months of miserable autumn-like days;
Smelling the scents of crab-apple flowers in bed,
By muddy soil the blushing snow is stained.
Being stolen out in the dark,
Obviously it was midnight's strong men;
What difference is from an ill young man,
Upon recovery, the hairs have already gone grey.
The spring river about to flood my place,
With the drenching rain not ready to cease;
My small hut is like a fishing boat,
Amid the fog and water it is afloat.
In the empty kitchen I cook cold vegetables,
Burning damp reeds beneath a broken stove;
How was I to know it was Cold-Food Festival Day?
From the paper-money ravens collect.
The emperor's gate is nine-layers deep,
While tombs are ten-thousand miles away;
I would cry over having come upon the road's end,
But, like dead ashes, my heart'll never kindle again.

Bor-hua Wang's translation:

Since coming to Huangzhou,
Three Cold-Food Festivals have come and gone.
Each year I wish to linger with spring,
But spring admits no delay for departure.
This year, I again suffer from bitter rain,
Two months of autumn-like dreary weather.
Lying in bed, I smell the crab-apple blossoms;
Mud smudges their rouge and snow.
In darkness, they were carried off;
Truly, there must be a strong man [stealing them away]
in the middle of the night.
How does it differ from a sickly youth,
upon leaving his sickbed, finding his hair already
Spring flood is coming up to my door,
But the rain shows no sign of letting up.
My small hut is like a fishing boat,
Blurred in misty water and clouds.
Prepared in my empty kitchen are only cold vegetables,
The cracked stove has only burnt wet reeds.
How did I know it is the Cold-Food festival?
I see scraps of paper money picked up by crows.
The sovereign’s gates are far above nine levels [of
Heaven];
Tombs [of my ancestors] are ten-thousand miles away.
I would weep [for my misery] at the end of the road,
Only [my heart] is like dead ashes that cannot be
rekindled.74

Patrick Siu's translation:

Ever since I came to Huangzhou, three Hanshi (Cold Food Festivals) have passed by.
Each year I wish the springtime can be prolonged but Spring departs without lingering.
This year again we suffer the rain, two months of dreary, autumn like weather.
Lying in bed, I listen to rains falling heavily on the crabapple blossoms.
The fallen red petals and white petals are splattered in the mud.
Spring is stolen as if by a strong figure in the middle of the night,
It’s no different from a sick young man who rising from his sickbed found his hair has turned white.
The spring river wants to flood the house. The force of the rain is unrelenting.
My small house is like a fishing boat in the midst of fog and water.
In an empty kitchen I boil cold vegetables in a broken stove burning damp reeds.
How could I know that today is the Hanshi Festival, except that I see crows carrying ghost money from graveyards?
The emperor’s gates are nine layers deep; the family tombs ten thousand miles away.
Will I in the manner of Juan Chi (阮籍) weeping that the road is at an end?
Dead ashes, blown, will not rekindle. (Feelings of despair and abandonment.)


What was the idea behind simplification, given 行書 existed? Efforts of simplification of Chinese Characters predate the Communists by decades. I assume that all these native Chinese people in favour of simplification were infinitely  better educated than I am. While I use traditional characters, I have always thought it was obvious, why one might want some form of simplification: speed.

I further assumed it was clear why none of the existing scripts was chosen: we don't want to destroy the countability of strokes, that form the basis of the radical system!

Now, I looked a little bit into 行書 and was amazed! It appears faster on average than 簡體楷書  (perhaps this information is wrong?) and I can see  it has discernible strokes and radicals! Am I wrong? Why did people not promote 行書 instead of inventing a new 楷書-行書 mix?

Or was the goal memorability? I have tried learning both and found traditional characters more memorable. I started with simplified ones, so it definitely wasn't habit.

Or are there too many short radicals, making it hard to categorise them?

I am not proficient, so I can not use myself as the basis for comparing speeds. Today I even wrote an exam in 簡體  at half the speed of 繁體字，because I constantly had to stop the hand from writing 繁體字

Simplified Chinese is much simpler than 行書, involving less strokes overall. Two reasons:

Many simplified characters were already derived from cursive forms (草書楷化). Examples include 書 → 书, 車 → 车, 興 → 兴. 草書 is much less strokes than 行書.
Simplification involved many different techniques, including removing entire radicals or portions of a character, like 習 → 习, or even reconstructing the character based on new radicals, like 響 → 响. Therefore there's many more ways to reduce strokes than relying on cursive forms alone.

So 行書 wasn't used because it's not simple enough. There was an attempt to go even simpler during the Cultural Revolution, but it failed due to being too radical.

YMMV of course; it's possible that 行書 is genuinely faster for you than Simplified, but on average less strokes = faster handwriting, and Simplified is generally faster to hand-write than 行書. See also: How much faster is it to write Simplified over Traditional?


Can’t identify this character I have tried a usually effective OCR on it, and tried imitating the appearance in a handwriting recognizer, but neither gives anything that seems possibly correct.  If context helps, it is preceded by  樂.  The editing was to hide confusing background from the OCR.


Can I make statements with structure like "我这个“老外”这么喜欢看京剧"? My textbook has this sentence.

  我这个“老外”这么喜欢看京剧，老师当然感到很惊讶。

I notice it has a a bit different structure.

  我这个“老外”这么喜欢看京剧
  = I,a foreigner, really like watch Peking Opera = Subject + Subject description + Do something.

So can I make any statements with this structure?

E.g: 我妹妹，一个漂亮的女孩，很喜欢买衣服。
     他爸爸，一个老师，教我学书法。

You can. And people can understand what you me. When I read from left to right 我妹妹，一個漂亮的女孩 I can understand 一個漂亮的女孩 is used to describe 我妹妹 since the context and only ， between them.

I think if you want to make it more clear, you can use 是個 or 是一個 to substitute 一個 because it help to link them together. 是 is used to denote things that is other things. So A is B in traditional Chinese is A是B. So you use 是 or 是一個 can help to link 我妹妹 with 漂亮的女孩 and 他爸爸 with 一個老師 together.


What is the difference between 看到 and 看过? I've learned them in Chinese class, but still a bit confused,

看 means see, but what is the difference between 看到 and 看过?

I think it's easier if you think of 看 as look rather than see (e.g. 给我看一下: let me have a look.) It does not mean the verb resulted, because you can also not see (it, anything, etc.): 看不到
Then you can think of 看到 or 看见 as see (as in, you're looking and you can see it. The 到/见 is resultative, you have achieved your goal.) e.g. 我看到你的钥匙在桌子上: I saw your keys on the table.)
看过 is simply that you have looked in the past, like you have read a book previously (我看过那本书)
Another 结果补语 (resultative complement) is 完 (finished looking [reading]) like 我昨晚看完这本书 (Last night I finished reading this book.)
Another example of the 完 resultative complement is in 吃完了 (finished eating.)
You can see how these resultative complements work with other things, too, like 听:

听: to listen (but you might not be hearing anything, you're listening out for something)
听到/听见: to hear (you can actually hear something)
听不到: cannot hear

You can research 结果补语 (resultative complement) for more information (there are many forms.)


Where -and- how does 郭先生 mean dildo? ABC

郭先生
Guō xiānsheng
N.

Mr. Guo

(slang) dildo

Is this correct?

Aside from an Almaany dictionary entry:

Translation and Meaning of 郭先生 in Almaany English-Chinese Dictionary
dildo
郭先生 ( 女子手淫用的人造男性生殖器 ), 振动器 , ( 为性欢愉的 ) 人造阳具

I'm not really finding any corroborating evidence.

And, if 郭先生 really does mean dildo how did it get it's name?

From what I could find,

「郭先生」is a Southern Chinese topolect word for「角先生」; I suppose that's believable as「郭」and「角」sound more similar in Southern topolects than northern ones (and they appear to be identically pronounced in Hakka). This makes「郭」a euphemism for「角」.
Folk etymology has「角」relating to dildo due to either

Dildos being originally made of animal horns, hence「角」;
Dildos being literally called ramming devices (觸器), and character explanations for「觸」are something like 从角蜀聲.

「郭」sounding like cock is probably a coincidence. Although the expression「角先生」seems to have arisen (or become more widespread) during the latter half of the Qing dynasty and according to dictionaries English was using cock as a slang for penis by that time, dildos existed for centuries before that, and it is unlikely that a word for dildo would come from British slang but wasn't first introduced by the British.

See also the Baidu article; CAUTION: NSFW, has a picture of a dildo on the top (all other sites trying to describe this seem to use the same explanations).


In Sichuanese does 日本人 mean “fuck me”? I found a very interesting entry on Pleco:

日本人
(Sichuanese expletive) fuck me (日 here means cào [肏])

I have never heard it but is this explanation correct? What is the etymology of this usage and when did it start to be used as such? Does this have any connection with the historical issue with Japan?
And also, in what kind of sentences is it used? Since Pleco doesn’t have any sample sentences, it would be highly appreciated if you could show me some.

I am a native Sichuanese and have been living in Sichuan for decades.
I personally have never heard of anyone using this phrase and don't think I ever will.
Instead of a everyday phrase, this is more like a joke playing a pun on the character “日”(used both as a noun and a verb in Sichuanese) that you may find on some sites online. And I don't recommend using it in your daily conversations with anyone, because a)it sounds extremely awkward to me and b)it's very rude (and racist) to talk like this.
As for the slangy use of “日” as an exclamation, yeah, you can hear it here like every day. An equivalent in English would be "shit" or the F word. But still, it sounds rude. I would not recommend this usage to people you are not familiar with.


What's the Difference Between 吹风 and 刮风? In both word choice, and use, what is the difference between 吹风 and 刮风? Can I say "今天刮风很大“ but not say ”今天吹风很大“？

"今天吹风很大" is a wrong sentence, which should be replaced with "今天刮风很大".

According to Baidu Dictionary(the interpretations from baidu dictionary)the term "吹风" has following meaning:

1) makes gas through some instrument.

2) let wind blow

3) use blower to dry one's hair

4) let somebody know something in advance

However, the term "刮风" has absolutely different meaning from term "吹风" because it describes as a natural phenomenon, i.e. the horizontal component motion of the air. (According to Baidu Encyclopedia!)


Difference between 余 and 多; the use of 岁 and 年 1. If I want to say "more than a hundred years", which one is correct?
a. 百余年
b. 一百多年
One of the example in ichacha "五十余年: fifty odd years" makes me wonder why 余 is used instead of 多. So, when should we use 余 and 多?
2. In almost every online dictionary I've checked, aside from being classifier for age ('years old'), 岁 can also mean 'year'. Is there any example of it being used to say 'year' but not age?

Both are fine but there is a subtle difference.

百余年 is rather formal and literary, and sounds like something from transcript of a documentary / speech / piece of writing. You would rarely say 百余年 in daily conversations.

一百多年 can also be used in writing but people also use it in colloquial situations.


Whats the difference between 毁灭，销毁，和烧毁？ I know they all mean to Destroy to some extent, but was told 烧毁 is specifically to use fire. What are the different contexts or situations you would use them in?

Thanks!

毁灭 is the general term for 'to destroy'

销毁 also means destroy, but it is more specific.

To 销毁 something, you have to have possession of it. If you delete the data in your computer, you can claim it is 销毁数据 (or 毁灭数据), but if you hack in someone else's computer and delete data there, you can only say you are 毁灭数据.
To 销毁 something, you have to have legitimate right to do it. Destroying the opium in China's standpoint was a legal act of 销毁違法商品 (destroy illegal goods); but in the British's eyes. it was an act of 非法毁灭私有財物 (illegal destruction of private property)
To 销毁 something, that something must have physical form. You cannot 销毁 a dream, an ideal or a reputation.
销毁 has to be a human's act. We can say a natural fire  毁灭了一万棵树 (destroyed ten thousand trees) , but not 销毁了一万棵树

You can 毁灭 something that you do not have possession of. The object doesn't need to have physical form, for example: ideal, dream or enemy, and the act need not to be legal; Of course you can also legal or legally destroy (毁灭) physical things like city or building

烧毁 is the verb 烧(to burn) plus its result complement 毁 (destroy), it means "burn and destroy" or "destroy with fire"


When to use 世界 and when to use 国际 These two terms are broadly speaking translations of "world" (世界), and "international" (国际). Recently, I've been reminded that "international" in English can be used to mean "many nations" rather than "every nation", such as in the case of the EU, which is an international body.

In making a database of information on various countries in Chinese, I've been unsure when to list data under 世界 and when to list it under 国际. For instance, if I were to have a map of GDP country by country, which would that be? If I were to instead have a global average of poverty across all countries as a single number, would that simply be under 世界?

It seems like a simple question, but I'd like to clear up the difference in nuance between these two words in my mind. Also, what differences are there between 国际's  meaning, and the English nuances behind "international", if any?

I guess you just use them the same way as in English.
Look at e.g. this list:
Everything that uses 国际 translates as 'international'. Similarly in this list everything that is 世界 translates as 'world'.

A map that shows all the countries and their GDP (as a choropleth) would be:

  世界GDP分布图

In the case of a poverty average, I think you would rather use global poverty or 全球减贫 in Chinese.