Why was the traditional character 內 simplified to 内? I am particularly looking for the rationale behind the change from 入 in the traditional character to 人 in the simplified version.

Given that the number of strokes are the same, I was surprised at the change.

Is it because 內 and 内 are long-accepted variants of each other and the reformers just picked one to be the standard? The choice could have been  because of aesthetics, frequency of use in the reformers' local region, etc.

Another thought I had is that there is some larger pattern that I have not recognized yet that effectively imposed this change. An example of the kind of pattern I am thinking of is changing all (or at least most) 貝 components to 贝 when simplifying the characters.

They don't call this a "Simplification" in the PRC. Simplification is stroke-cutting achieved by various methods - if a character is standardised not by stroke cutting, it's not a Simplification.
Basically, the structure of「內」was already not clear by the time of Han Dynasty clerical script, and famous calligraphers overwhelmingly wrote the inside with the same strokes as「人」. Most print forms and standardisation efforts (apart from the PRC) have reverted the inside back to「入」.

「內」(Baxter-Sagart OC: /*nˤ[u]p-s/, inside) is comprised of simultaneously semantic and phonetic「入」(/*n[u]p/, to enter) and semantic「宀」(building).
For reference, some character evolution sequences:
商甲鐵・185.1合集17299西周金大盂鼎集成2837秦簡日甲146背睡虎地秦簡東漢隸論語熹平石經殘今楷
商甲存・812合集14993西周金公貿鼎・安集成2719秦簡編20・安睡虎地秦簡東漢隸校官碑・寶　今楷
商甲前・4.28.3合集5560西周金豆閉簋集成4276秦簡秦・80睡虎地秦簡東漢隸衡方碑　今楷

Please carefully note the shapes of the corresponding timeframes of the character samples.「人」was never part of the structure of「內」.
商甲甲・2940合集18901西周金善鼎集成2820秦簡日乙17睡虎地秦簡東漢隸孔龢碑　今楷

What you're really seeing in the PRC standard「内」is the culmination of a change within regular script strokes using a Qin-Han shape as a basis.
Note in 東漢・衡方碑「內」, the top of the inner shape is still much more elongated than the top of 東漢・孔龢碑「人」. When regular script morphed characters into a roughly square shape (instead of the flattened rectangular shape as typical of clerical script characters), the top of「人」became elongated as well, so the inside of the regular script calligraphy style of「内」and「人」became indistinguishable.
隋?・智永楷眞草千字文

References:

何琳儀《戰國古文字典：戰國文字聲系》
小學堂
中華語文知識庫・漢字源流
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》
孫雋《中國書法大字典》


What does the 过 mean in 我有点过厌他? I came across this sentence and the translation is roughly "I'm a little tired of him." but I'm curious as to what purpose 过 serves here?

Am I right to think that 我有点过厌他。 also means "I'm a little tired of him."?

I am sure it is a typo

我有点过厌他 should be  我有点讨厌他 (I am a little bit disgusted with him/ I am kind of hating him)

讨厌 = disgusted with; hate

过厌 makes no sense

In traditional Chinese characters, you wouldn't confusing 過(过) with 討(讨) so easily


What is the difference between 有名，著名 and 闻名? We know 名 means name or famous, but what is the subtle difference between 有名，著名 and 闻名?

For me, as a native speaker, I use

有名 for person, i.e. Kobe Bryant 很有名。
著名 for place or books i.e. 那是一个著名的景点。
闻名 for a brand name i.e. 孔老夫子古今闻名。


Express ordinal number of hour in Chinese? Is it possible to express the notion of ordinal number of a hour in Chinese?

For example, any time between 2:00 and 2:59 is from THIRD hour. May I say somehow, that 2:05 is five minutes of THIRD hour?

I had never head the expression 第……小时 be used to describe time. 第三个小时的第五分钟 would be more confusing, and more complex than 两点零五.

But the similar form may be used when the time is related to some certain beginning. Here are some example:

第84分钟，在VAR的判罚下，巴西队获得点球机会，由乔治扳平比分……[1]
夜幕逐渐降临，就在［救援的］第20个小时，救援现场传来喜讯……[2]


When to Add 了 in the 太....了 Structure The grammar structure for expressing too much is 太.....了according to my grammar book.
And to express anymore...

Eg. I don't like you anymore.
       I don't live there anymore.

...You also use 了 at the end.

So how are you able to differentiate between whether 'too much' is being stated or 'not anymore' is being stated?

Example sentence:
所以，现在已经不太爱坐飞机了。
So, now I don't like taking planes anymore.
If there was no 已经 how would I know that the person is saying 'not anymore' or 'I really don't like taking planes.'

I've seen that sometimes there is no 了 when expressing too much so when do I add it when do I not?

Does the 已经 clarify which one is being said since it's used for being expressed with 了 when saying 'not anymore' (though my grammar book says only to use 已经 for emphasis)? If so, do I have to add it every time to avoid confusion?

Continuing your example:
if we remove '已经'

  所以，现在我不太爱坐飞机了

still means 'not anymore' because of '现在'. The reason you say '现在' in this sentence must be to compare past and current, so '已经' is optional in this sentence.

Now if we also remove '现在'

  所以，我不太爱坐飞机了

Well, it still more or less means 'not anymore', because of the '了'.  '了' here also somewhat implies 'after some incident', similar to '已经'. Ex:

  去年空难之后，我就不太爱坐飞机了

So if you want to state 'I really don't like taking planes due to some reason.', then for example:

  我有幽闭恐惧症，所以我不太爱坐飞机

would probably translate to 'I always have claustrophobia, so I don't like taking planes.'

but

  我有幽闭恐惧症，所以我不太爱坐飞机了

somewhat implies 'I recently got claustrophobia, so now I don't like taking planes.'


Rules on when to read characters in sequence Maybe the hardest part so far about learning to read Chinese is determining when to read the characters in sequence and when to view them separately.
So, in my recent question on 的大预言 for example:
Is there a rule that can tell me to interpret which of these ideas separately?

大
预言
大预言

There is actually no straightforward way except base on your own experience. And this is one of the biggest problem leads to misleading, especially in ancient Chinese. Taking examples:

Confucius Lun Yu （论语）

民可使由之不可使知之

can be understood by:

民,可使由之;不可使知之 -- (The governor) can make use of the people, but cannot let them know the purpose.

民可，使由之;不可，使知之 -- If people are allowed to do something, let them do it; otherwise, let them know why they are not allowed.

An old funny story in my memory

下雨天留客天留我不留

下雨天留客,天留我不留 -- As a guest, even the god wants you to stay (in my home) because of the rain, I won't let you stay.

下雨天,留客天,留我不?留! -- A rainy day is a day that the guest should stay, should (you) let me stay? Sure!

Even in modern Chinese, the problem still stay:

我们中出了一个叛徒

我们 中 出了 一个 叛徒 -- There is one betrayer in us.

我们 中出了 一个 叛徒 -- We had sexual interaction with a betrayer.


What does 即便確實發生了什麼事，也不會波及到你身上 say? 即便確實發生了什麼事，也不會波及到你身上。

I believe this is in traditional.  The English text is:

  Even if something does happen, nothing will happen to you.

I don’t think I translated this correct, can anyone tell me what it says?  Please give a detailed answer.

即便 = even if
確實 = actually
發生了 = happened
什麼 = what
事 = matter
也 = still
不會 = wouldn't
波及 = spread/involve
到 ~ 上 = onto ~
到你身上 = onto you personally

即便確實發生了什麼事，也不會波及到你身上。
Even if anything actually happened, it still wouldn't involve you personally


What does this text on a vase mean? We have recently received this vase as a gift from a business partner. I am very curious what this text on it means but am not in a position to ask them.

I wasn't able to use Google Translate (probably because it is handwriting) on it and I don't know anyone who speaks chinese. Could somebody here translate it for me please!

Thank you!

The text is read from top to bottom, right to left.

First two columns:

  香遠溢清

Which means As the aroma (of the flower, referring in particular to the lotus) goes further, it becomes more and more pure and fresh. BTW, the artist mistakes 益(more and more) for 溢(overflow, spill). These two characters sound the same in Chinese. Maybe the artist was intentional, to express a different feeling from the original author of this phrase.

This phrase originates from Song Dynasty's litterateur 周敦頤's essay 愛蓮說 (Ode to the Lotus Flower).

  水陸草木之花，可愛者甚蕃。晉陶淵明獨愛菊；自李唐來，世人盛愛牡丹；予獨愛蓮之出淤泥而不染，濯清漣而不妖，中通外直，不蔓不枝， 香遠益清 ，亭亭靜植，可遠觀而不可褻玩焉。予謂菊，花之隱逸者也；牡丹，花之富貴者也；蓮，花之君子者也。噫！菊之愛，陶後鮮有聞；蓮之愛，同予者何人；牡丹之愛，宜乎眾矣。

This essay is to praise the noble and unsullied characteristic of the lotus. So in Chinese culture, lotus flowers are often compared to gentlemen.

The left text:

  癸巳年  彭湘龍  作於景德鎮一品畫苑

This is the artist's inscription.

癸巳年 is the year. It is 2013, according to the context.
彭湘龍 is the artist's name, Peng Xianglong.
作於景德鎮一品畫苑. Finished in 一品畫苑(the studio's name), 景德鎮(Jingdezhen Town, a town that is called Porcelain Capital. It is very very famous.)

EDIT


是 does not connect two nouns in "有什么事是我该做的吗?" 有什么事是我该做的吗？
Is there anything I should do?

I realize this is a strange sentence, per the discussion in this question about the same sentence. However I want some clarifications about the existing sentence:

1) Per AllSet Learning, 是 should connect two nouns. Here it connects "什么事 / anything" to "我该做的 / 'I should do' descriptor". Is it correct that descriptor clauses with 的 are nouns?

2) Is 什么事 a single term that corresponds to "something/anything"? What's the difference if I drop the 事?

In short, the second noun "事" is omitted.
The complete sentence should be like this:

有什么事是我该做的(事)吗？

For more, in Chinese, the attributive clause goes before.

The proper way to translate "Is there anything I should do?" is "有什么我该做的事吗？


What is the title of this Ming era picture dictionary? I was browsing Wikipedia when I came across this picture:

(source)

The description says:

  An excerpt from a 1436 primer on Chinese characters. (better version)

  Original picture sourced from:

  Ebrey, Patricia. Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge
  University Press, June 13, 1996. ISBN 0521435196

But what is the title of the book?


Are these two form of "I live in..." both correct? 我在意大利住 and 我住在意大利 While studying I came across a useful expression to say "I live in..." which is "...在...住" such as in this sentence:

  我在意大利住。= I live in Italy.
  Wǒ zài Yìdàlì zhù.

But then I saw a different one which is:

  我住在意大利。
  Wǒ zhù zài Yìdàlì.

My questions are: Are both expressions correct? If so, are there any differences in usage and meaning? Is one of them more used currently?

They both make sense but the 2nd one is used more commonly in Mandarin Chinese while the 1st one is used more often in Cantonese Chinese.


Has MS DOS ever been used in a Chinese-speaking country? At the very beginning of the PC history most of these systems used a MDA or CGA graphic card which was able to display 256 characters in text mode. These characters were not programmable. So it was not possible to show any chinese characters in text mode and showing them in graphic mode wouldn't have been easy.

So my question is, were these kind of computers used or did they have their own line of computers, or just another operating system which displayed everything in a graphical way?

Thanks for all the answers, but I still don't get how was it possible for a PC clone to show Chinese characters and still be compatible with MS-DOS. In the text-mode of early graphic cards there was no possibility to show more than 256 characters. Using "wide" characters would increase the amount of characters you can theoretically store in memory, but most Chinese characters are not composed of two simple radicals displayed side-by-side so the amount of displayable characters wouldn't be that big.

Before Windows 95, we used "倚天中文卡" to input, handle and display traditional Chinese in Dos environment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETen_Chinese_System

Such a long time ago :)


就: what are the top 3 meanings by usage 就 is one of the most widely used word.  From secondary school english student point of view/ general usage/ HSK exam point of view what are the 3 most meanings that covers by usage?
dictionary has 20+ meanings, it is confusing me rather than giving the meaning. the 22 meanings as per pleco are
1 at once
2 right away
3 only
4 just (emphasis)
5 as early as
6 already
7 as soon as
8 then
9 in that case
10 as many as
11 even if
12 to approach
13 to move towards
14 to undertake
15 to engage in
16 to suffer
17 subjected to
18 to accomplish
19 to take advantage of
20 to go with (of foods)
21 with regard to
22 concerning
what are major 3 meanings as per your usage.
Edit: I am updating my Anki entry as below.

then, to move towards, even if, so
soon, right away, as soon as
just, only

Chinese Grammar Wiki classifies the use of 就 into A2, B1, B2, and C1 levels (from easiest to hardest). Begin with the easiest level (就 as 'then', i.e. your 8th entry) – I believe this is its commonest use. Do not bother with harder uses of 就 (e.g. your 21st/22nd entry, which is labelled level B2 on the site) for the time being.

Sometimes you need to learn 就 as part of a word to make sense. E.g.: 就算 (your 11th entry), 就近 (your 13th entry). Sometimes, as part of a sentence construction, e.g., 一～就～ (your 7th entry).


How dose the 们 work in sentences I'm really confused because I was taught that 们 is used as a plural word to do stuff like they and we but the sentence 你们不爱猫 apparently means you do not like cats shouldn't it be they don't like cats?

你们 = you (plural)
你 = you
们 = plural

Perhaps "ya'll" would be another suitable translation.

They would be 他们。

他 = Him/Her


Most popular Chinese given names Are there any lists of the most popular Chinese given names, either in romanization or characters? http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-01/20/c_138721082.htm is an announcement of "the top 10 most popular full names [e.g., 张伟] and the top 50 most popular characters used in given names of 2019", but I'm wondering if there's a fuller list of common given names (not just individual characters, unless the individual characters happen to be common given names). I'm aware that Chinese first names are often built from scratch from one or two characters, but it would still be interesting to see if any names tend to be more common.

I don't have such a list for all Chinese name user, however I can find such a list for Chinese user in Taiwan. You can find it in Dept. of Household Registration. Ministry of Interior. in Taiwan. You can find a section called 全國姓名統計分析. There are data for several years. One of them is 全國姓名統計分析, you can find such a list for males and females in pages 266, 267 of 376 of the file.


Differences: 信息 vs 讯息? What are the differences between:
信息 vs 讯息?

Perhaps 信 is more related to the mailing?

Perhaps 讯 is more related to the information?

Perhaps 息 is related to the breathing?

I originally thought the two are the same but after some research, I've reached the following conclusion:

信息 - information (in general)

Example:
大量信息 - a lot of information
毫无信息  - no information,
错误信息  - wrong information
科学信息 - scientific information
互通信息 - mutually sending information = sharing information

讯息 - message; news; information (specific)

讯息是一段独立的沟通内容，由传送者传达给一个或多个对象  - It is an independent piece of communication, which is communicated by the sender to one or more objects )

Example:
一段讯息 - a message
错误讯息  - wrong message
求救讯息 - help message (SOS is a message)
互通讯息 (mutually sending messages = communicating)
A message is a piece of specific information, therefore 一段讯息(a message) is also an information

信 (letter) contains information

讯 (message; news) e.g. 新闻快讯  (express news); 社区简讯 (Community newsletter)

息 (breath) gives a detectable sign = provides information


Should the second character in 回来了 be pronounced with second or fourth tone? I almost always hear 来 pronounced as lài in 回来了, but are there any rules of tone sandhi that account for this?

I am a native speaker. The term 回来了 is of course pronounced with ㄏㄨㄟˊ ㄌㄞˊ ㄌㄜ˙, so the second character is pronounced with 2nd tone. And the word 来 can only be pronounced with 2nd tone. (I've never heard 4th tone.)


English equivalent for 辛苦了 when the speaker is not the person being helped out Per the answers to this question, it is clear that you can say 辛苦了 to express gratitude for someone else's help.

But suppose you are working or studying, and somebody else (who is not related to the effort you are making) passes by and tells you ¨辛苦了，辛苦了¨. Clearly that's not an expression of gratitude, but an acknowledgement by this person that you are working hard.

So I'd like to know an idiomatic English expression for this case.

辛苦 in itself means 'to toil, to work hard'

辛苦了 does not translate as "Thank you for working hard for me!", it does not necessarily express gratitude for something that directly benefits the speaker.

Consider e.g. the following: a friend of yours who studies abroad returns home to your village and you meet him at the station, you can greet them with 路上辛苦了吧！ This could mean "That must have been an exhausting journey!", it doesn't mean "Thank you for taking this hard journey to see me." Or you could translate this as "You've come a long way."

Another situation, you visit some relatives and they ask you about your job. You tell them all kinds of things you do at work, you do your own tasks, you write report for your boss, you take phone calls, you supervise other people's work, you do this, you do that, etc. Your relatives could praise you with 你工作太辛苦了！ "You are working so hard!", just to praise your merits as a hard-working person. Your work will probably not benefit them at all, nevertheless, they praise your work ethic.

Third situation. You see your neighbors being busy in their garden, you ask them: 辛苦了，忙什么？ "Wow, what are you so busy with?". Your neighbors work won't benefit you too much, but you can be polite and show them that you admire their diligent nature.

Of course, if the situation makes it clear, that the speaker is benefited by the other person's work, the phrase can have a direct reference to this. E.g. a friend shows you around in their hometown, you can thank them: 你陪我太辛苦了！ 谢谢！ "You must be tired for taking me around, thank you!"


ID the Artists signature I have two watercolours (Birds & flowers blossom) but have not been able to find anything regarding who painted them.

It looks like 怀谷 , from the idiom 虚怀若谷

虛懷若谷 means:

  have a mind as open as a valley -- very modest; be extremely open-minded; be in a receptive mood; be open to conviction; free from pride and prejudices; from a sense of one's inadequacy; modest and open-minded


Use of 蓝 (Blue) in a Specific Context? There is a song sung by William So whose title is 《有人喜欢蓝》 (Yǒurén xǐhuan lán - There are people who like blue.)

What does 蓝 (blue) mean in this context? Is it a reference to the sky, sea, a mood, or something else?

I think blue in this case means the color blue, since 藍 in Chinese doesn't mean anything else.

ps: The English name of the movie 有人喜歡藍 is not "There are people who like blue." It is "Blue Valentine". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7B9LvwT8SU


Translation of literary "non-sequitur" Is there an equivalent of the literary device known as a "non-sequitur" in English, or at least some kind of translation of it? This is not to be confused with the non-sequitur logical fallacy (where one logical argument does not follow another).

  From Wiktionary:

  non sequitur

  A kind of pun that uses a change of word, subject, or meaning to make a joke of the listener’s expectation.

    “A fool and his money are soon partying.” (Steven Wright)

    (Expected word: parting)

不当的推论

超现实幽默

  条目“不当的推论”尚未创建，可参考英语维基百科的对应页面：Non sequitur (literary device)。


Why 他妈的 means (swear word) Why 他妈的 means fuck
I just started learning Chinese and kinda understood why many combinations of character means that in English but here
ˋˋ<他><妈><的>ˋ ˋ<He><mother><target>ˋˋ

的 here doesn't mean target, it is functioning as a possessive marker that marks the subject before it possesses the object after it.
他妈的 literally means " his mother's " -- short for 'his mother's (swearing word)'
他妈的 is mostly used as an exclamation that expresses displeasure or anger  similar to 'damn it' in English


Is 中文亲属名称 the correct translation for "Family member names in Chinese"(i.e. as in regard to one's family tree)? Is 中文亲属名称 the correct translation for "Family member names in Chinese"(i.e. as in regard to one's family tree)? Anyone has a better translation?

In Chinese, understanding the context is the important part. Family Members can means direct family members which means 亲属 or 家属, or including all the relatives (亲戚 or 家眷), but since you are referring to the context of family tree, 家族成员 should be used.


What is the difference in use between 迷失， 迷路， 走失 and 迷途？ All of the words are defined as "to lose one's way".

迷路 is daily used expression,it means one get lost.e.g.我迷路了，I'm lost.
迷失，迷途 are written words,formal words,both of them mean lost,but 迷失 is a verb,迷途 is a noun.
走失 is a daily and formal word,basically it means one get lost,but the reason could be either one can't find the way or being abducted or kidnapped.


Expressing numbers in scientific notation I assume that scientific discussion in Chinese uses scientific notation, such as 5×1012. How would I read such a number aloud?

I looked at the rules for saying numbers, as well as the Wikipedia page it links to. The closest thing I could find were the large numbers and metric prefixes.

If I follow the large numbers, then I would guess 五兆, but I'm hoping there's a more general phrase like the way we say, "five times ten to the twelfth power" in English. I found that 乘幂 means exponentiation, so can I say 五倍十二乘幂的十?


Rockwell's Chinese Newspaper Note: I've seen prior translation questions closed, but I think this is different--as it is a matter of public interest and possible disinformation--as opposed to "found a piece of paper in the attic, tell me what it says".

Rockwell is a fairly paranoid fellow, made famous by his "Somebody's Watching Me" song.  (The FBI ultimately declassified the surveillance program.)

The top hit I can find for what the paper says claims the headline of the following paper is "ROCKWELL FOR GOD’S SAKE LOCK YOUR DOOR FOR ONCE."

Call me a skeptic.  But I doubt that.  (I generally doubt the paper was printed for the video.)

Despite precedent of not allowing translation questions, I beseech you to give a reputable top-Internet-ranked answer to this question others must wonder.

The news paper was '國際日報 (International Daily)'

The headline had nothing to do with the quote. It said "US dollar rise to new record high"

Subheading 1: "Eight nations' central bank intervene "

Subheading 2: "Gold price everywhere uniformly..." ( text below not shown, but I guess it was 'raise')


What does this mean: 操 One of my chinese friends always writes this on my notebook at University and laughs.

I don't seem to understand what's so funny about it. any explanation would be fantastic.

"操" means "fuck".

It's usage in Chinese is close to fuck in English.

ps:As a Chinese I can understand him , at hometown you rarely have any chance to say those bad language whenever and wherever you want in public because everyone knows what you are saying.


Reliable source for Chinese translation of Pali Canon Jataka tales (佛传故事/佛傳故事)? Slightly different sort of question for everyone today, hope someone can point me in the right direction.

I'm trying to do research on the Buddhist Jataka tales, originally written in the Pali Canon. I've been able to find many reliable translations of the Jataka tales in English, but would like to strengthen my research by drawing upon Chinese texts as well. As far as I can tell, the Jataka tales are called "佛传故事" in Chinese. I'm far from an expert at navigating the Chinese web, but what I'd ideally like to find is a PDF translation (preferably in simplified, but I'll take whatever I can get) issued by a Chinese university or museum of this text.

I know this is a long-shot, but if anyone could help me find this resource it would be much appreciated.

It is called 本生故事 in Chinese. PDF is available here:

http://vdisk.weibo.com/s/t0ojS8AH__rfZ


Associating times of day with meals So formally speaking , the times of day can be expressed as :

早上
上午
中午
下午
晚上

However, I want to know approximately what time can be considered 下午，晚上 etc

Also, when it comes to meals:

Is it more common to say 下午飯 or 中午飯？ especially give the fact that usually people don't eat lunch exactly at 12:00 right .

How would I call a late breakfast, brunch, late lunch (but not afternoon tea) in Chinese/Cantonese?

question 1 :

approximate time:

   早上 -- 6:00--8:00

   上午 -- 8:00 -- 12:00

   中午 -- 12:00 --14:00

   下午 -- 14:00 -- 18:00

   晚上 -- after 18:00

this my understanding(not formally), and splitted most by work time, i would say most people would agree

question 2:

there are three meals in Chinese(as in the saying : 一日三餐):

    早餐(breakfast) -- 早上

    午饭（lunch）--- 中午

    晚饭（dinner）  -- 晚上

question 3:

late breakfast -- there is no such thing（is there a name for it in English?）

brunch --  no such thing

late lunch -- no such thing（is there a name for it in English?）

we Chinese kind of think this things unnormal, you should be woking during this time (8:00--12:00,14:00--18:00), and if you are eating there must be something wrong with your lifestyle, and we believe it is not good for your health, you should eat regularly.


Why is the phrase 我與父親不相見已二年餘了 correct? The phrase:

  我與父親不相見已二年餘了

is from a text widely praised by my Chinese friends and you can find it here. I don't think they share a dialect, except mandarin, so I assume it is not a dialect. According to my understanding,  the text means "it's been more than two years, since father and I last saw each other." The author lived till 1948, so I assume this is not a form of very antiquated Chinese, but it puzzles me for two reasons:

Use of 二年 and not 兩年，I have also seen 二位姑娘，but only in period dramata, so I assumed it was antiquated.

Edit: it seems use of 二年 was not so unusual in the past. Compare also the Qing Dynasty work 清宮禁二年記

Use of 不見，not 沒見。Is this the difference between "it's been two years since I saw him" and "haven't seen him in two years"?

(Let me know if you read traditional characters better! I'll switch upon request.)

  Use of 二年 and not 兩年，I have also seen 二位姑娘，but only in period dramata, so I assumed it was antiquated.

二年馀 is a Classical construction, and sounds formal / literary / etc. in colloquial Mandarin, which would normally say 两年多. But since this is a written text, the author went through solid classical education, and the author was generally not writing in the most vernacular way possible but communicating with some degree of Classical (i.e. written Chinese) tinges, yes there are some Classical constructions that do not appear in modern colloquial Mandarin.

A related phenomenon is that, sometimes people write generally in colloquial Mandarin, but write the characters used in Classical Chinese or formal Mandarin according to the actual meaning, instead of the sound. So you see people write

  我5月12日-6月3日在上海

but hear them say

  我5月12号到6月3号在上海.

The same thing happens with pairs like 角 and 毛, 元 and 块, 已 and 已经, etc.

As for 二位姑娘, that is a script that actually faithfully transcribes the spoken language, so the issue there is that the use of 二位 instead of 两位 dates to an older era -- which is why you see that in period dramata.

  Use of 不見，not 沒見。Is this the difference between "it's been two years since I saw him" and "haven't seen him in two years"?

I suppose this is readily understood in English actually.

  我與父親不相見已二年餘了。

  Me and my father not seeing each other...

There, you just can't mark the aspect of have, or, in Mandarin, 没.

This syntactic choice (the construction of the whole sentence) is not frequently used, so that is probably why you think 没 should be used there. Indeed people normally say this using this construction:

  我和我父亲已经两年多没见了。

There is also an issue of Classical constructions: 相 + [verb] meaning "to [verb] each other" is normal in Classical Chinese, but no longer active or productive in colloquial Mandarin. People speak colloquial Mandarin, so of course they don't say

  我和父亲不相见...

because you need to do a Classical construction there, and that does not exist in colloquial Mandarin.


What's the difference between 词典, 辞典, and 字典? I don't think they are necessarily different kinds of dictionaries, but is there a subtle distinction? Or maybe their etymologies?

字典 means dictionary of characters. A common 汉字字典 should contain ~8000 entries for each Chinese character. In each character entry, it's often to see example words or short phrases using that character. So, it's common to see a 汉字字典 is used as a 汉语词典.

词典 means dictionary of words. So, each entry of a 汉语词典 is a word. Generally 汉语词典 is sorted in alphabetic order in Chinese characters, so it's common to see a 汉语词典 is used as a 汉字字典.

So, in China, there's not too much difference between 汉字字典 and 汉语词典. But the book of 汉语词典 is mostly thicker then 汉字字典.

辞典 means dictionary of phrases. Generally, 辞 may refer to some famous, well known phrases said by some dead guys or famous man. Well, like I've said it's not too much differences between 词典 and 辞典, but a book of 汉语辞典 is mostly thicker then a 汉语词典. You can also expect that a 汉语大辞典 is thicker then a 汉语辞典.

In English, it will be something like:

English 字典： (26 entries)

A    This is the first letter.
B    This is the second letter.
...
Z    This is the last letter.

English 词典:

A        Indefinite article. Also the first letter. e.g. a cat.
Apple    A kind of fruit. Green or red.
Cat      A white animal. two ears, four legs.
...

English 辞典:

Rain cats and dogs: A very big rain. Its rain drop is as big as cat or dog.

(Most 汉语辞典s include words and characters entries as well.)


成语 or expression that one is speaking about a topic he knows nothing about I am giving a presentation about topics in philosophy for my Chinese class, and unlike many of the students there, I have no formal education in the topic I am presenting. I feel it would be appropriate to humbly qualify my presentation with a statement expressing that I am not an expert on this area, and that many in the audience have studied it to a much greater extent.

I am tempted to use the expression “班门弄斧”， but it does not seem all that correct, as no one in the audience is truly a master of the topic, but rather just better than me.

Is there an expression that I could use which would be appropriate?

Being modest is a good thing, but when you give a presentation, you should assure your audience that the content of your speech might not be ground-breaking, but is at least well thought out
Here is my suggestion:

大家好 - Hello everyone
以下是我努力硏修後得出來的成果 -  The following are the results of my hard work.
stating you have done your best and it is a well thought out speech

if you are not going to take any question:

如有不足之處，請各位多多包函 - If there are any deficiencies, please bear with me.

if you are going to take questions:

如有錯漏之處，請各位多多指教 - If there are any mistakes or omissions, please freely give me your advice.


Meaning of 事情并没有想家的那么糟糕 事情并没有想家的那么糟糕。

(1) What is the meaning of this sentence?
(2) In “想家的那么糟糕”, please explain to me the function of 的? I do not understand why 的 turns up in that position.

事情并没有想家的那么糟糕。

The sentence you quote has a typo. It should be:

事情并没有想像的那么糟糕。

想像的 is nominalization, meaning what one thinks of. The whole sentence means things don't go as bad as what we think of.


What is the original meaning of 匈 (besides "chest/breast/thorax")? The Wikipedia article on the 匈奴 gives a literal translation as 'fierce slaves'.

Did 匈 mean 'fierce' in former times? What is the etymology of this character?

匈 is the ancient character of 胸, means chest/breast. And I can't find any other original meaning of it besides this.

  “胸”的古字 [bosom;chest]
  匈,膺也。——《说文》。字亦作胷、作胸

According to the explanation of 胸, it's a later character for 匈.

  从肉,匈声。本作“匈”,胸是后起字。

匈奴 is just the transliteration from the name of an ancient nationality in North China, has nothing to do with fierce slaves.

Reference:
匈的解释
胸的解释
孙健：说说“匈奴”这个词的起源


Confucian Messianism, Mencius, etc Just picked up Popular Religious Movements and Heterodox Sects in Chinese History by Hubert Seiwert (In collaboration with Ma Xisha) and was kind of caught aback by the idea of Confucian messianism. Here's what the book says:

Google Books Page 20 of the book:

  One of these elements, which gave Han Confucianism a particular
  religious flavour, was the expectation of a sage-emperor who would
  realize the coming of a new era in which the world will enjoy peace
  and prosperity. These ideas were not confined to the Confucians of
  the New Text School but were widespread among different schools of
  the Former Han. Especially the fangshi 方士 (“master of recipes,” “magicians”),
  who were closely related to the Huang-Lao teaching, promoted
  the idea of a golden age that would be inaugurated by an emperor
  who responds to the cosmic order by enacting the proper rituals and
  cultivating his personality.10 Confucian scholars of the Former Han
  shared these ideas. They seem to have been inspired by a prophecy
  already alluded to in the Book of Mencius, namely the appearance of a
  sage every five hundred years who would transmit the true teaching
  and thereby restore order to the world.11 The Han emperor Wudi
  apparently referred to this tradition when he deplored the fact that for
  five hundred years the erudites had not been able to bring back the
  principles of the ancient kings.12 Wudi regarded himself as the one
  who should reinstall the cosmic order and become the sage-emperor
  preordained by Heaven. This is the background of the various ritual
  measures that he enacted during his reign.13

  The expectation of a sage-emperor who would bring about the
  ideal state of the world that supposedly had existed in high antiquity
  occupied the thought of the New Text scholars. It was this same
  expectation on which Wang Mang relied when he styled himself as
  the fulfilment of this expectation. Thus, the historical and political
  theories of Former Han Confucianism contained an element that could
  properly be called Confucian messianism. This Confucian messianism, of
  course, was intimately related to the belief in prophecies and omens popular with the New Text School. Following the failure of Wang Mang’s rule it lost much of its appeal and was eventually suspended.
  After the Han, messianic expectations no longer played a prominent
  role within the Confucian tradition.14

  10 Cf. Anna K. Seidel, La divinisation de Lao Tseu dans le Taoïsme des Han (Publications
  de l’École Française d’Extrême Orient; 71), Paris: École Française d’Extrême-Orient,
  1969, p. 25.

  11 Mengzi yizhu 孟子譯注, 盡心章句, xia, Beijing: Zhonghua
  shuju, 1960, vol. 2, p. 344.

  12 Hanshu 漢書, by Ban Gu 班固, Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1962 (1975), j. 56, p.
  2496.

  13 Cf. E.B. Ord, State sacrifices in the Former Han dynasty according to the official histories,
  Ph.D. thesis, University of California, 1987, pp. 112 ff.

Mengzi talks of 尧 and 舜 a lot throughout 盡心章句 - I would imagine it has something to do with this...?

What exactly is the prophecy being spoken of here, i.e.: the appearance of a sage every five hundred years who would transmit the true teaching
and thereby restore order to the world in the original Chinese?
Is there a name for this, so-called, prophecy?
What is the Chinese for the sage-emperor? (圣王 (?) )
What is entailed in the idea of a golden age that would be inaugurated by an emperor who responds to the cosmic order by enacting the proper rituals and
cultivating his personality?
What did Wudi (武帝) do during his reign that is considered to fit into this prophecy? E.g.: Wudi regarded himself as the one who should reinstall the cosmic order and become the sage-emperor preordained by Heaven. This is the background of the various ritual measures that he enacted during his reign.13 (this question might be off topic for this site, sorry.)

From 《孟子·公孙丑下》:

  孟子去齐。充虞路问曰：「夫子若有不豫色然。前日虞闻诸夫子曰： 『君子不怨天，不尤人。』」 曰：「彼一时，此一时也。五百年必有王者兴，其间必有名世者。由周而来，七百有馀岁矣。以其数则过矣；以其时考之，则可矣。夫天未欲平治天下也；如欲平治天下，当今之世，舍我其谁也？ 吾何为不豫哉！」

Mengzi was a very boastful person. I think the prophecy (actually more of a theory) 五百年必有王者兴 was something he made up to elevate himself to the savior (the One) of his time. He further talked about this prophesy of the 500 year cycle in 《孟子·尽心下》:

  由尧舜至于汤，五百有余岁，若禹、皋陶，则见而知之。若汤，则闻而知之。由汤至于文王，五百有余岁，若伊尹、 莱朱，则见而知之；若文王，则闻而知之。由文王至于孔子，五百有余岁，若太公望、散宜生，则见而知之；若孔子，则闻而知之。由孔子而来至于今，百有余岁，去圣人之世若此其未远也。近圣人之居若此其甚也，然而无有乎尔，则亦无有乎尔！

Mengzi listed the following nine sage emperors (圣王): Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen Wang, Wu Wang, Zhou Gong, Kongzi (素王) and Mengzi himself (舍我其谁).

  What is entailed in the idea of a golden age that would be inaugurated by an emperor who responds to the cosmic order by enacting the proper rituals and cultivating his personality?

I don't know the exact source(s) it is referring to, but again in 《孟子·滕文公下》:

  天下之生久矣，一治一乱。

The idea of 一治一乱 is simple: a period of peace and prosperity follows (and predates) a period of war and chaos. Whenever a new dynasty is established, the new ruler would employ theories such as 五德终始说 to claim his righteousness to reign.

Bear in mind that China had just experienced a period of war in Jingdi's (the father of Wudi) time and was constantly under threat from neighboring forces, so whatever Wudi did, the prophesy was used to solidify his power. The use of the prophesy, however, was not limited to the rulers. Sima Qian employed the 500 year theory to express his ambition in his autobiography 《太史公自序》:

  先人有言：「自周公卒 五百岁 而有孔子。孔子卒后至于今 五百岁，有能绍明世，正易传，继春秋，本诗书礼乐之际？」意在斯乎！意在斯乎！小子何敢让焉。

Notice his tone of voice was basically the same as that of Mengzi: in the present age, 500 years after Confucius (or Wen Wang before him), who else other than the Grand Historian is capable of producing something big and everlasting?

We can see the profound influence the 500 year theory had on later Chinese intellectuals in poems such as

  梅花重压帽檐偏，曳杖行歌意欲仙。後 五百年 君记取，断无人似放翁颠。

by the Song poet Lu You, or

  满眼天机转化钧，天工人巧日争新。预支 五百年 新意，到了千年又觉陈。

by the Qing poet Zhao Yi.


Why e is pronounced differently in de (的, 地) and ye (也,夜)? I got confused because sometimes e is pronounced differently in various words. For example: (的, 地) and ye (也,夜)

Can you explain and give me some tricks to remember? Thank you!

Systems designed to represent pronunciation and to be practical at the same time don't have a 1:1 mapping between spoken sounds and written symbols. Or in other words, each sound can be represented using many symbols, or perhaps more commonly, each symbol is used to represent more than one sound. There are countless examples of this in other languages, of course.

The only exception is IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), where the goal is to use one symbol to represent one sound, but this is hardly practical and would never be adopted as the standard way of writing a language for non-linguists.

Pinyin certainly does not have a 1:1 mapping between sounds and letters. Indeed, looking at the individual letters is the wrong way to approach the question, but more about that later. In Pinyin, there are plenty of examples where one letter can stand for numerous sounds, and you have identified one of them: e

e can be pronounced in three different ways (or four if you want to be picky):

First, when it’s the only vowel, it is a close-mid back vowel [ɤ]. This is the sound in 饿 (hungry) or 哥 (older brother), for example.
Second, following an i, such as in lie, die or xie, it becomes a close-mid front vowel [e] instead. This is the sound you're asking about, e.g. 夜 (night). Note that the final -ie is spelt ye when there's no initial.
Third, before the nasals -n and -ng, it becomes central vowel [ə], for example in 冷 (cold). A short version of this is pretty close to the sound used when the syllable is reduced, which is the case in your 的 and 地.
Fourth, in some analyses, the e in e.g. mei and mie are treated as different sounds, with the first using [e] as we have already discussed, and the second [ɛ].

Please note that the spoken sounds of course come first, and the writing of those sounds comes afterwards. Saying "e is pronounced like this" is not really the right way to approach the problem; a better way of looking at it would be "this sound is written using the letter e", which is simultaneously true for a number of sounds (four in this case).

I normally advise students to think of Mandarin pronunciation in terms of initials and finals, which is the traditional way of breaking down syllables in Mandarin. I don't recommend this just because it's traditional, though, but because it helps you stop thinking about how e is pronounced.

There are only roughly 40 finals in Mandarin. Learn that the final -ie is pronounced in one way, and that the finals -en and -eng are pronounced in other ways instead. Those are different finals and should be treated differently. Yes, they all contain e, but that mostly leads to confusion, although it is very convenient to type. Yes, it will take you longer to learn, but it will lead to less confusion and hopefully better pronunciation.

If you're curious about other learner-related problems with Pinyin, such as other cases where one letter stands for many sounds (i is the most obvious example because the sounds are completely different), I've summarised the important ones here: A guide to Pinyin traps and pitfalls: Learn Mandarin pronunciation, which also contains some audio samples.


Is there Netflix-like service in China that lets you see Chinese dramas with subtitles for the learning purpose? I wish this question were not classified as off-topic...

I'm looking for Chinese serial dramas or movies to improve my hearing skills in Mandarin. Such dramas may be available on YouTube as well as any illegal curation of streaming dramas. However, I don't like the illigal provider nor these contents are terrible in the quality, so I'm looking for Netflix-like streaming service in China where you can watch those movies.

My requirement is the service that shows dramas (in Mandarin) with subtitles in Mandarin as well. Usually locals may not need the Mandarin subtitle so I'm not sure if there exists such service, but is there anything or any alternative service for those learning Mandarin?

youku.com, tudou.com, iqiyi.com, letv.com

-- 2017 Jun 28 Edit --

Ok let me explain more to Chinese learners why these websites are probably more useful for studying Chinese (of course, in my opinion). Plus, the question specifically asked for sites for Dramas, which I think is a really good source for practicing listening and speaking.

These sites are where native Chinese people go for watching episodes. They have most up to date content and a wide range of category for you to choose.
Serials on these sites, unlike other illegal sources, are of high quality. A lot of serial dramas companies signed contracts with these sites so videos on these websites are genuine, provide 1080P streaming, some even provide Dolby audio effect.
Subtitles. According to 《无障碍环境建设条例》(http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2012-07/10/content_2179864.htm), no. 21 stated that any published film and television programs are required to have subtitles. Since the videos on these websites are genuine, there will always be subtitles on it. This is because not everyone in China speaks Mandarin, and some people can't hear. This is very helpful if you are studying Chinese.

Notes: Probably the most important thing, if you are streaming from places other than Mainland China, is that due to copyright restriction, you may not be able to play some of the shows directly. Just install the plugin called "Unblock Youku" on your Chrome browser, then you can enjoy endless shows.

A non-related note: Some people prefer watching News and some people prefer watching shows. That's alright. As a native Mandarin speaker and English learner, I think, for me, watching Two Broke Girls and The Late Late Show is more effective than watching BBC news. The point is you should find what you like the most, and identify whether your goal is to gain communication skills or to acquire more academic language skill, then pick the best material and the learning will be a fun experience other than a dreary task.


How to say "make money"? I'm trying to say "the Song Dynasty used this invention to make paper money". So far I've got "宋朝用了这个发明做纸钱“。 The "make money" part is messing with me- I know "做钱“ can mean to print counterfeit money, and I'm not trying to express that. I also know the word "赚钱”, but I know that's to earn money in a job, not to print it. And does the word "纸钱“ effectively express the idea of paper money, like bills, or does it just sound strange?

Also, the simplest word would be best! :)

My research:

I've plugged "make money" into various online translators, and either gotten "赚钱" or "做钱", hence the question.
For "paper money", I've gotten "纸币" and "纸钱“, neither of which I'm totally sure of.

生产纸币: to manufacture paper money/ to produce paper money
制造纸币: to make paper money / to produce paper money
发行纸币: to issue paper money
印制纸币: to print paper money

米凯乐 wrote: 宋朝用了这个发明做纸钱
It should be 宋朝用这个发明来制造纸币 (来= to)- Song Dynasty used this invention to make paper money
'做' means 'being', it should be '制造'(make)

Note the difference between 制造 and 制作 Difference between 製作 and 製造?


How to say "see you this weekend?" My Mandarin teacher told us “星期四见” to say "see you on Thursday." How would I say "see you this weekend"?

“这个周末见” or “末见这个周”? Or something else entirely? This is being used to end a letter, so I don't need to throw in a “你” right? I'm a bit confused as to whether the verb should come first or last.

谢谢！

As stated in another answer, it should be 这个周末见 (which emphasizes that it is this weekend) or 周末见.

末见这个周 is incorrect, because it breaks up 周末: the characters comprise the word for "weekend" and must be together. So it must be that 周末 and any qualifers (here possibly 这个) must be before 见.

I could imagine 你 being thrown in as an object, but it is unnecessary and may sound awkward unless part of a larger phrase like in "周末见你啦" (which would appear to work, at least in Cantonese). But this would also change the emphasis of the phrase: 周末见 would suggest that meeting again is a mutual act, whereas the addition of 你 might suggest situations such as the speaker visiting the listener.


Meaning of 白 in words for "nonsense"? There are a number of Chinese words containing the 白 character that all mean "nonsense" or "speaking nonsense":

白呼
夸白
白话

What's the significance of 白 in these words? 白 usually means "white", "clear" or "plain", so how did it become associated with nonsense? And is this related at all with the word 扯淡, which also means nonsense but originally meant 淡化 (water down)?

One of the meanings of 白 is, roughly "in vain":

  没有成就的，没有效果的：～忙。～说

I think it's easier to imagine how white/plain become "without effect" than it is to imagine how it became "nonsense".

P.S. 白话 means "plain speech" = vernacular, as far as i know.


What does bianniu 变牛 mean? I have seen this expression in a few texts, including news articles, but it does not seem to be commonly used.

Here are a few examples of context:

"...第二舰队变牛了以后调到了第二舰队当先任参谋..."

"高考报志愿：盘点改名后变牛的10所大学"

"为什么很多人说读《毛泽东选集》就变牛了"

"...第二舰队变牛了以后调到了第二舰队当先任参谋..."

To me this sentence seems a little bit strange. I guess there is a name of the person before this sentence.

If so, then the sentence means that: After the second fleet becomes stronger, someone was transferred and become the chief of staff there.

  "改名后变牛的10所大学"

Translation: 10 College became elite school after changing their names.

  "为什么很多人说读《毛泽东选集》就变牛了"

Translation: Why many people say that you will become smarter/sharper after reading "Selected Works of Mao Zedong"?

So you can see that in these sentences, “变牛” means becomes stronger. The exact meaning might change according to the specific situation.


Need help understanding grammar in short text I was reading the story behind the idiom "愚公移山" and I came across these 2 lines specifically which sort of confused me with their grammar. They are:
1."看到愚公一家人正在挖土，云石，就嘲笑愚公说"
and

"智叟听后，惭愧不已"

In sentence one shouldn't the bolded 嘲笑 have a 着 following it as he is going to say something after it?
My final question is in the second sentence, because I'm not really sure of the bolded 4 characters and why it doesn't say maybe "智叟听到后，感觉很惭愧" or something like that.
I appreciate any help.

in sentence one shouldn't the bolded 嘲笑 have a 着 following it as he is going to say something after it?

[verb 1] + 着 + [verb 2] means [verb 1] and [verb 2] happen at the same time continuously (verb 2 while verb 1).
[verb 1] + [verb 2] means both actions happen one immediately after the other or simultaneously, but not in a continuous state
Examples:
跳着大喊 (yell while jumping)
跳起来大喊 (jump up and yell)

why it doesn't say maybe "智叟听到后，感觉很惭愧" or something like that.

感觉很惭愧 = feel very ashamed (惭愧 here is an adjective for 'ashamed')

惭愧不已 = be ashamed greatly (惭愧 here is a verb for 'be ashamed')

不已 (can't stop) is an adverb function the same as 'very' or 'greatly'.

You can use 十分 or  不已 as the adverb for a verb, but not at the same time, saying 十分惭愧不已  is like saying "be very ashamed greatly" in English


How is "⿰甴曱 ⿰曱甴" read? I was scrolling through BabelStone's PUA page when I came across the following:

For evidential purposes they also link the following picture:

Unlike some entries on the chart there is no romanizaion for these two characters. Seeing "甴" makes me think it might be read something like "zou"/奏, but I really have no idea.

How is "⿰甴曱 ⿰曱甴" read?

See https://read01.com/zh-hk/4DDkPPQ.html:

當詢問老闆，這個麵館為什麼要把店名取為「曱甴 (sic) 曱甴 面 館」時，老闆說這兩個字讀「Ga ga」，就是當地方言「肉」的意思。
通過公開資料顯示，老闆提到的「gǎ gǎ」實為「朒朒」。

Either the store owner made it up, or it's a very localised usage of those characters. The pronunciation is 「嘎嘎」 (「朒」 is a variant of 「嘎」), which is a colloquial Sichuanese word for meat.


Difference between 能 and verb + 得了(de liao3) I remember once being told that there are differences in usage and meaning between 能 and verb + 得了.

他能来。 他不能来。
他来得了。 他来不了。

EDIT:
Maybe my examples above weren't that good. Here are some new ones:

小孩搬不了这个大花盆。 小孩不能搬这个大花盆。
这儿声音太大，我听不了。 这儿声音太大，我不能听。

When should I use each? What are the differences in meaning?

Thanks in advance!

I think the difference is mostly in formality. For the first 2 examples you've given, both would be acceptable grammatically, but 能 definitely sounds more formal.

However, I think there are examples where they can't completely be used interchangeably.

我吃不了了 can be used to indicate that one can't keep eating (because one is full/doesn't like the food). But to indicate the same with 能 you probably need to say, 我不能继续吃了。

This might fall in a general category of idioms where you can't use 能 instead of a construction involving 得. For example, 我看不起他 really can't be replaced easily with 能


Which part of speech is 看起来: an adverb or a verb? Is "看起来" an adverb or a verb? I've been searching all over the internet and I can't find the answer.

'看起来' means "seem" (look like) and it is a verb, same meaning as '似乎' (seem)

  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/seem

  seem:

  intransitive verb

  1 : to appear to the observation or understanding

  2 : to give the impression of being

Example:

He seems very weak = 他看起来很虚弱/ 他似乎很虚弱

he seems quite angry = 他看起来很生气/ 他似乎很生气

看起来 is usually reduced to 看来 in everyday speech


Comparison question with implicit 再 zài? I just started learning chinese and I came across this dialogue from a lesson:

A: Pínɡuǒzěnme mài ? 苹果怎么卖? How much are the apples?
B: Sìkuài. 四块. 4 Yuan.
A: Yǒudiǎnr ɡuì. Kěyǐpiányi yìdiǎnr mɑ? 有点儿贵。可以便宜一点儿吗？ A bit expensive. Can you make it cheaper?
B: Sān kuài wǔ. 三块五. 3,5 Yuan.
A: Zài piányi yìdiǎnr, hǎo mɑ? 再便宜一点儿，好吗？ Can you make it cheaper?
B: Hǎo, sān kuài. 好，三块。Ok, 3 Yuan.

I'm wondering about the differences between:

Kěyǐpiányi yìdiǎnr mɑ? 可以便宜一点儿吗？

Zài piányi yìdiǎnr, hǎo mɑ? 再便宜一点儿，好吗？

In the lesson they said 再 zài can mean more in chinese, so I understand literally 2. as More cheap a little bit, ok?. So it is clear the speaker wants the product to be cheaper than it is now. However I do not completely understand 1., as literally would mean Can it be cheap a little bit?, missing the comparison specifier.
Question: What's the underlying grammar structure in 1.? Does actually have the word 再 zài implicit, like

Kěyǐ(zài)piányi yìdiǎnr mɑ? 可以(再)便宜一点儿吗？

so it really becomes a "comparison" question such as 2.? Or does this mean comparisons in chinese are a little bit more flexible than other languages (like English), where you always need to specify them in some way?
I asked a chinese friend about this and he said usually 1. can be asked just single time and then if you want to ask for still a cheaper product you use 2. any number of times. Does this mean they are not completely equivalent as I expected?

"可以便宜吗？" = "Can it be cheap?"
"可以便宜一点儿吗？" = "Can it be cheaper?"
"可以(更)便宜一点儿吗？" = "Can it be cheaper (more)?" -- compare to cheaper price
可以(再)便宜一点儿吗？ = Can it be cheaper (again) -- repeat 'the action be cheaper
It may be easier to understand with different phrasing:

"可以便宜一点儿吗？" = "Can you lower the price?"
"可以(更)便宜一点儿吗？" = "Can you lower the price (more)?"
"可以(再)便宜一点儿吗？" = "Can you lower the price (again)?"

You can repeat the same phrase as many time as you want until you get the lowest price you can get.


Signs for Traditional Mandarin comming back as technology grows? We all know that the simplified Mandarian is much faster when handwriting. Yet future is obviously more and more filled with electronical typing rather than handwriting. This closes the problem with the difficulty and speed of writing and so are there any signs that we'll be comming back to the traditional Mandarin?

No, and a definite no. Although there are voices about restoring traditional Chinese, these proposals are considered unpopular and expensive. Even top-ranked students of Chinese literature are unable to pass a basic traditional Chinese test. Even if the computer technology is advanced enough to fully replace handwriting, people are too used to simplified Chinese and will not bother changing the writing system again.

See this page:Wikipedia: Debate on Traditional and Simplified Chinese Characters


What is the meaning of 后 in ~分钟后? What is the meaning of 后?

For example,
我二十分钟后应该就到了。

I believe 后 means behind? I still don't get how 后 should be placed in the sentence. I thought it made more sense when it was,
我二十分钟应该就到。

How does 后 make the difference?

二十分钟后 = "20 minutes later" or "after 20 minutes"

Example:

二十分钟后就到了 (will arrive 20 minutes later/ will arrive after 20 minutes)

二十分钟前 = "20 minutes earlier" or " 20 minutes before"

二十分钟內 = "in 20 minutes"


If 衔 means 'hold in the mouth', why bother adding '在嘴里'? I was looking up 醒酒石. I found:

  醒酒石：所谓醒酒石，即喝醉酒后，衔在嘴里可以醒酒解渴的石头。

When I look up 衔  I find:

  用嘴含，用嘴叼：衔枚。燕子衔泥。

If 衔 means 'hold in the mouth', why bother adding '在嘴里'?

(Also, I'd be interested to know, geologically, what kind of stone is 醒酒石. Could be very useful some mornings!)

What is being held? Majority of Chinese VP especially less common ones are disyllabic or as in the present case monosyllabic verb combined with adverbial preposition phrase (介词短语),if object makes clear that mouth is involved there is no need to mention it, e.g. (bkrs examples) 燕子衔泥│他衔着一个大烟斗,衔环相报(wounded bird holds ring),


Idiom, common phrase crossword puzzle challenge Please solve the following puzzle

Recklessly run around

Make things up

A big mistake is made

Better be independent

King among Kings

buried talent

Become a bandit

To do a good job, you must prepare your tools

give as charity

die for a cause

A. Crisscrossing
B. Do whatever you want
C. Winner writes the history
D. Trespassing (more commonly used in Cantonese)
E. nonsense
F. Looking for trouble
G. Before the army can move
H. Never say no
I. busy traffic
J. late bloomer
K. Want for nothing
L. Don't do things to people you don't want to be done to you

If the blank one is too hard, you can try this one with additional hints

Text version by Becky 李蓓 (you can type the missing characters directly on the ＃ marks)

．．．．．．．．．．．．．  Across
．．．．①．．②．．．．．  ③ Crisscrossing
．③④＃＃．．＃．⑤．．．  ⑥ Do whatever you want
．．＃．＃．．⑥＃＃＃．．  ⑦ Winner writes the history
．．＃．⑦⑧＃＃．＃．．．  ⑨ Trespassing (more commonly used in cantonese)
．⑨＃．．＃．．．＃．．．  ⑩ nonsense
．．．⑩＃＃＃．⑪＃＃＃．  ⑪ Looking for trouble
．．．＃．＃．．．＃．．．  ⑫ Before the army can move
．．．＃．．．⑫＃＃＃．．  ⑬ Never say no
．．．⑬⑭＃＃．．＃．⑮．  ⑯ busy traffic
．．．．＃．．．．＃．＃．  ⑰ late bloomer
．．⑯＃＃＃．．⑰＃＃＃．  ⑲ Want for nothing
．．．．＃．⑱．．．．＃．  ⑳ Don't do things to people you don't want to be done to you
．⑲＃＃＃．＃．．．．．．
．．．．⑳＃＃＃＃㉑＃＃．  Down
．．．．．．＃．．＃．．．  ① A big mistake is made
．．．．．．．．．．．．．  ② Become a bandit
　　　　　　　　　　　　　  ④ Recklessly run around
　　　　　　　　　　　　　  ⑤ To do a good job, you must prepare your tools
　　　　　　　　　　　　　  ⑧ King among Kings
　　　　　　　　　　　　　  ⑩ Make things up
　　　　　　　　　　　　　  ⑭ Better be independent
　　　　　　　　　　　　　  ⑮ die for a cause
　　　　　　　　　　　　　  ⑱ buried talent
　　　　　　　　　　　　　  ㉑ give as charity

And here are the hints in both traditional and simplified.

 ．．．．．．．．．．．．．     ．．．．．．．．．．．．．
 ．．．．大．．＃．．．．．     ．．．．大．．＃．．．．．
 ．＃＃交＃．．＃．＃．．．     ．＃＃交＃．．＃．＃．．．
 ．．＃．＃．．为＃＃＃．．     ．．＃．＃．．為＃＃＃．．
 ．．＃．＃＃败＃．＃．．．     ．．＃．＃＃敗＃．＃．．．
 ．＃撞．．＃．．．＃．．．     ．＃撞．．＃．．．＃．．．
 ．．．＃＃＃谈．＃＃生＃．     ．．．＃＃＃談．＃＃生＃．
 ．．．中．王．．．必．．．     ．．．中．王．．．必．．．
 ．．．＃．．．＃草＃＃．．     ．．．＃．．．＃草＃＃．．
 ．．．＃＃＃应．．＃．＃．     ．．．＃＃＃應．．＃．＃．
 ．．．．人．．．．＃．＃．     ．．．．人．．．．＃．＃．
 ．．＃流＃＃．．＃器＃＃．     ．．＃流＃＃．．＃器＃＃．
 ．．．．＃．＃．．．．仁．     ．．．．＃．＃．．．．仁．
 ．＃＃无＃．才．．．．．．     ．＃＃無＃．才．．．．．．
 ．．．．＃＃＃欲＃＃＃＃．     ．．．．＃＃＃欲＃＃＃＃．
 ．．．．．．＃．．＃．．．     ．．．．．．＃．．＃．．．
 ．．．．．．．．．．．．．     ．．．．．．．．．．．．．

Done! I used simplified Chinese...
Don't be too cruel to me(from a Soviet song I just listened), I know most of members still didn't see this, so hide my answer for several hours if you want...


When is a 方言 a language and not a dialect I have always thought, perhaps wrongly, that it was mutual intelligibility that was the deciding factor as to whether a 方言 would be considered a dialect or it's own separate language.

Wikipedia's entry Dialect: Political Factors says:

  An opposite example is the case of Chinese, whose variations such as Mandarin and Cantonese are often called dialects and not languages, despite their mutual unintelligibility.

I'm not interested in politics, though; linguistically speaking when can a 方言 be considered a language and not a dialect?

I'm going to assume that the question you want to ask are how mutually intelligible various 方言 actually are. This 2009 study by Chaoju Tang and Vincent J. Van Heuven has some data on it.

Here's the excerpted table on how mutually intelligible various 方言 are:

Word Classification:

and

Word Understanding:

You can read more on the methodology in the paper itself.

For comparison's sake this 1989 John B. Jensen study found that Spanish and Portuguese are

  50-60% mutually intelligible at least as measured on...passive
  listening to electronically re-produced voices


Mandarin equivalent of hai 係噉㗎嘞? ABC Cantonese defines 係噉㗎嘞 as:

  FIXED EXPRESSION
  accept philosophically the way things are in life; that's life, c'est la vie

And gives the example sentence:

  幸運兒永遠係少數，呢個世界係噉㗎嘞。
  hang6 wan6 ji4 wing5 jyun5 hai6 siu2 sou3, ni1 go3 sai3 gaai3 hai6 gam2 gaa3 lak3
  The lucky people are always few, that's the way the world is

With some footnotes:

  See also 噉 gam2 係 hai6 係噉 hai6 gam2 嘞 lak3

There doesn’t seem to be a Mandarin translation though and definitions for 係噉 range from:

  不停

To

  如果是这样

Any ideas?

係=就是

噉=這樣

㗎嘞=的啦

it is more appropriate to translate as 就是這樣的啦 in the phrase you mentioned.


Why is the Internet saying 雪花飘飘 北风萧萧 all of a sudden? Is this the Chinese equivalent of Rickrolling? For some reason, the Internet is swamped with people saying

雪花飘飘 北风萧萧
Xuě huā piāo piāo \\ běi fēng xiāo xiāo

For example the HSK Official Twitter account tweeted (the hashtag #xuehuapiaopiaobeifengxiaoxiao is also atwitter):

I've worked out that it's the lyrics from the song 一剪梅 (YouTube).  But I don't understand why it's suddenly so popular; I'm guessing it's the Chinese equivalent of Rickrolling (YouTube).  Hopefully someone can clarify.
Question: Why is the Internet saying 雪花飘飘 北风萧萧 all of a sudden?

Ah, the latest offering from the (latter-day) Meme Renaissance.
There is the "historical" context, which is outlined very well on KnowYourMeme. To quote:

Prior to January 20th, 2020, Kuaishou user zaq13520000789 posted a video of himself rotating in the snow while singing Chinese song "Yi Jian Mei" ("Spray of Plum Blossoms").

It was then incorporated into the "This Collab Needs to Happen in 2020" trend, and made its way onto YouTube.
The rise in popularity in May 2020 came with its edited version on Tik-Tok as well as Instagram and Twitter; on Tik-Tok it is paired with Deep Fried visuals. The distinctive physical appearance of Zhang Aiqin has also aided with its popularity.
As for the meaning, it falls in line with the "deep-fried conversation", referring to clichéd conversations (and meme formats). This video / reply is generally used (at the moment - June 2020!) on these platforms to dismiss a conversation or provide a humorously irrelevant response.


How do we know what characters correspond to Chinese names? Recently I've asked "How do we choose the correct characters for a westerner name?", and now, I'm facing a similar, yet kind of different problem, which I think applies to any westerner or Chinese student at a beginner level.

There are two exercises that ask to translate some sentences, which are not that hard, thanks to the glossary, but I've faced a small, nonetheless daunting difficulty, which is the translation of Chinese names.

When I have to translate a sentence like "Mr. Hu/Huang/... is a lawyer", how do I know which character corresponds to that name? Are there any guidelines for selecting the right character (apart from asking the person directly)?

This is actually a common problem in newspapers and television in Singapore, where the original report may have been filed by a reporter who did not or cannot use Chinese. In these cases, the author simply chooses phonetically matching characters to fill in the name of the person, then add (音) or (译音) to indicate that the name shown is only a phonetic translation of the person's name and not the actual characters.

An example can be found in this article from the local newspaper 《联合早报》

  被告谢国安（26岁，译音）共面对12项控状，包括四项冒充欺骗、两项麻醉物法令、三项偷窃，以及欺骗、失信和伤人罪状各一项。昨天他被判坐牢1年又10个月。


How to use correctly use 是否? I'm not entirely sure what is suppose to follow 是否. For example, I'd like to say:

  I wasn't know (or wasn't sure) if you heard me clearly.

I'm not sure if this is how it should be translated:

  我没确定你是否听清楚出我刚说的话

I'm also curious if this is correct:

  我没确定你是否听到了我。

How should the above be properly translated? And, more importantly, how do I use 是否 in general?

是否 roughly maps to whether in a yes-no interrogative sentence or clause.
For your sentence, you should use 不知道 or 不确定 instead of 没确定. 没确定 means haven't confirmed yet. Also 听得清 (could hear) is more polite than 听清了 (have heard). If the context allows, it is more natural to omit 我说的话.

I wasn't sure if you could hear me clearly.
我不确定你是否听得清(我说的话)。

General usage of 是否 is pretty straight-forward. You can check out Iciba for examples.


How would you tranlsate "Soccer Clinic"? Of course “足球诊所” doesn't make sense.
Is “足球培训班” accurate? But I feel like soccer clinic is like a one time thing, while 足球培训班 implies there are multiple classes.

When I was small, I went to 足球培训班, so this must make sense.


Where would one find a library of Chinese classics that have never been translated into English? Suppose an English-speaking software developer and data scientist were interested in finding ancient Chinese writings that have never before been translated into English.  Suppose a developer desired to produce automated translations, or at the very least produce text-to-speech of audible spoken Chinese.  Or at the very least index Chinese words in a searchable format, create "tag cloud" visualizations, etc.

Possibly also to paraphrase Classical Chinese writing into modern, simplified Chinese characters, for easier collaboration with modern Chinese speakers, scientists, and software developers.

Buddhist texts are especially of interest.  Taoism, Confucianism, civil-service exams and commentary, or traditional Chinese medicine would also be useful.

What online resources exist, where classical wisdom literature is preserved as pure UTF text files?  Or as high-quality scans or photograph images of ancient manuscripts?

several free resources, depend on where you’re:

the internet archive has a cadal (china-us million book digital library project) collection, which contains 89000+ books. most books of imperial collection of four (四庫全書) are included, plus many literatures of yore.

this collection alone should suit your need, unfortunately, it’s blocked in “that area” now.

for buddhism texts, try the 漢文大藏經

  to produce automated translations

forget it, no one can

  into modern, simplified Chinese characters

even the communists do not do it, find & read carefully what’s the rules of the simplification.

have fun :)


Are there online resourses that automatically translates English to classical Chinese? Google translate supports traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese but not classical Chinese. On the other hand, classical Chinese is one of the supported languages of Wikipedia. Are there online resourses that automatically translates English to classical Chinese?

It looks like Baidu Translate does offer this functionality. Also seems that it is the only widely available service that can translate directly from English to Classical Chinese.

Good luck!


Writing critique request: Zhou Ziwang loses weight, just like everyone else nowadays Continuing from parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5:

  那时候因为没有不断的渴望吃巧克力等，所以我开始减肥了。并不像我一天起床后就发现了我如魔法般地变瘦那样，反而久而久之，我的身体越来越改变。从最初胖女孩的样子，我终于获得了健康的体重。对人人来说，类似于毛毛虫变成蝴蝶，我逐渐变成小美女了。我当时没有那么知道的，所以对于这种减肥药连朋友都没告诉过，而其实我好几次去看医生，所以我对那一次没有多想。现在我了解社会对胖子的态度，他人有时候不友好甚至也许残忍地对待他们。但是现在谁都能像我一样减肥，所以除了最穷的人，我们差不多消除了胖子。

Please critique my writing. New words for me are in links. I'm at an "almost mastered HSK4" level.  The narrative is from a person in the present (Zhou Ziwang 周子望) describing her unusual past.

I tried to be a bit more adventurous with my writing this time, with more sophisticated grammar.  The last sentence was the most difficult for me, so here's an English translation:

  But now everyone can lose weight the same way I did, so except for the poorest people, we've basically eliminated fat people.

It's fiction: if you're thinking "hmm... that sounds a bit like genocide", then I'm doing it right.  For those who haven't realized it yet, I'm heading towards a moral conflict between technology vs. individuality.  However, it's not straightforward to check if I'm successfully conveying a "kinda genocide-y feel" in my writing.

(Part of the reason for doing this is because standardized texts are incredibly boring, e.g. "How do you go about achieving success?" or "How did Wang Jing settle her dispute over buying a refrigerator?" ...zzzZZZ.)

那之后因为不再不停地吃巧克力，我开始变瘦了。并不是某天起床后我发现自己魔法般瘦了下来，而是月来日往，我的身体逐渐改变，从一开始的胖女孩，变成了小美女。我当时并不是很懂，所以这种减肥药即便是朋友也没有告诉过，又因为我去看过好几次医生，所以对那一次也没有多想。现在我了解社会对胖子的态度，人们对他们有时候不友好，甚至有些残忍。但现在几乎谁都能像我一样减肥，所以除了最穷的人外，我们差不多消灭了胖子。

Comments：

题主自言本习作语言运用更大胆，自然错漏不通之处也更频繁可见了。

从此前的故事来看，这里讲的是注射药物后的事情，最好用之后，由此应该用不再而不是没有。

客观上不吃巧克力才能让我变瘦，而主观上不渴望与其因果关系更远。

我开始减肥表达的是“我开始采取行动去控制体重”这件事，而事实上体重减轻应该用变瘦。

如魔法般的已经表达了像的含义，所以不应该以并不像发语，而是并不是。

虽然都是转折关系，但是反而指与上文意思相反，或是指出乎意料的转折，此处否一是二的意图应该用“不是……而是……”的关联词。

虽然都表示时间的流逝，但久而久之侧重时间流逝后事物变化的结果，而日来月往这样的词，侧重随着时间的流逝，事物变化的过程。此处显然想要表达“随着时间推移我的身体渐渐改变”这件事。

并不是很懂这个说法比较自然。

对于一词引入了语病，句子的宾语丢掉了，所以要去掉。

因果关系。因为我看过好几次医生了，所以对于特定的那次没有什么特别的注意。

他们对他们不友好？同一个句子同样的指示代词不宜二指。

矛盾。既然谁都能像我一样减肥，为何又说除了最穷的人呢？要加几乎二字。

要表达你的那重意思，消灭是更贴切的说法，其与时事相合，用这个词大家一听就知道什么意思。


Could a Chinese person understand this? I am trying to write a gift card to my TCM grandmaster, but don't know if this is correct.

棋聖葉富坤

這盆景代表我尊重你的慷慨，人性和古老的知識.

Could an immigrant Chinese person understand this?

Thank your for your time.

Could a Chinese person understand this?

Yes, with a little guess work, we can.  However, your writing can use some  improvement.

棋聖葉富坤
這盆景代表我尊重你的慷慨，人性和古老的知識.

First, you have to put the title after the name when you address to the person directly. I mean it is okay to mention 棋聖葉富坤 as a third person, but not appropriate to call him that to his face. It is like calling 陳律師 as 律師陳

人性(human nature/humanity) is not the right praising word.  For "kindness/humanity" the correct term in Chinese is "人道"

古老的 means 'ancient'. It implies 'out dated'.  A better word is 'deep'(深遠) as in "deep knowledge"(深遠的知識)

There is no object in your sentence. When you use the verb 代表(represent), you should follow it with an object at the end. In this case, the object should be "respect" (as a noun). You should also translate "respect" as 尊敬(admire/ respect), not 尊重(respect/value)

Finally, using his full name is more formal than just using his family name. If you are close to him, you can use just his last name and call him 葉棋聖 to show your fondness to him.

葉富坤棋聖:
這盆景代表我對你的慷慨，人道和深遠知識的尊敬.

*If he  is your teacher, you should address him as 葉老師 or 葉富坤老師


What does "理所应当的美好" mean? 我们确信， 在 Mac 的世界中， 你只需放飞自己的想象力。 享受一切**理所应当的美好**。

So 享受一切理所应当的美好。translates to: Enjoy all beauty as it should be?

Sentence is from here: http://pinyin.sogou.com/mac/

Other Examples with 理所应当的美好

More Examples

享受一切理所应当的美好 = enjoy all the beauty you deserve

Here, 'beauty' refers to the nice features that Mac and Sogou provide.

However, this expression seems to be a little bit strange. Usually, we do not put the word 理所应当的 before a noun. For example, instead of saying '这是理所应当的美好', one should say '这份美好是理所应当的'.


Why is “的” not necessary when talking about someone's body parts? I am learning Mandarin using Lingodeer and I've encountered the sentence, “这个女孩眼睛大” and I am wondering why it isn't necessary to refer to the girl's eyes with “的” in this sentence? I know that “的” can be left out when referring to someone you're intimate with or related to but I don't think your eyes fall into either of those categories...?

In 这个女孩眼睛大,  这个女孩 (this girl) is the subject and 眼睛大 is an adjectival phrase for it. Meaning "[这个眼睛大的][女孩]" (this girl with big eyes)

In 这个女孩的眼睛大,  女孩的眼睛 (this girl's eyes) is the subject and 大 is an adjective for it. Meaning "[这个女孩的眼睛][很大]" (this girl's eyes are big)

Similar example:

[他][眼大] = [he] [is big-eyed]

[他的眼][大] = [his eyes] [are big]

[他][手快] = [he] [is fast-handed]

[他的手][快] = [his hands] [are fast]


How do I say "my wife baked these for me"? How do I say "my wife baked these for me", where "these" can be cookies, pie, etc? In English I can use "make" or "bake" as the verb. Would I use 烘? When referencing one's own wife, is 太太 appropriate?

You can say

我太太为我烘烤了这些

Emphasizing on my wife. Usually, you can just use 烤 and leave the 烘. Actually my wife have never said 烘 when it comes to baking


之后 vs 过后 usage & differences Based on the dictionary, 之后 = after, afterwards while 过后 = afterwards, after. I wanted to find the difference in usage between those two words, so I analysed some sample sentences. I feel like 过后 is mostly used for describing "after the event" while 之后 seems to fit for anything. Is 过后 and 之后 used as I described or are there other ways to differentiate their usages?

"(noun) 之后" = "after (noun)"

Example:

"2018 之后" = "after 2018"

"暴風之后" = "after the storm"

  "(noun) 过后" = "after (noun) had passed"

Example:

"2018 过后" = "after 2018 had passed"

"暴風过后" = "after the storm had passed"

  "之后 (verb)" / "过后 (verb)" = "afterward (verb)"

Example:

"之后再補償" = "compensate afterward"

"过后再補償" = "compensate afterward"

  "(verb) 之后" = "after (verb)"

Example:

"清朝灭亡之后" =  "After Qing Dynasty ended"

"政府成立之后" = "After the the government is founded"

  we cannot use "verb + 过后".  Both "清朝灭亡过后" and  "政府成立过后" are grammatically incorrect


Explaining "condescending" in Chinese? If I want to explain the word "condescending" in Chinese using a scenario, what can I do?

Thank you so much for your attention!

I can give you a real life scenario that illustrates this.
Some ten (?) years ago, the government of a certain place tried to pass a law that might infringe on citizens' right. When a high level government official was asked whether more discussions and consultation with the general public was necessary, she said something like this: (sorry I don't remember the exact wording, but it was to the effect) "Do you think taxi-drivers and cleaning ladies will have any interest or contribution to this?" Now if that is not condescension, I don't know what is. Needless to say, there was a huge outrage.


How is 妻 written according to PRC and Taiwanese standard? Different fonts I see disagree in whether the fifth stroke should pass through the fourth or not.

You're halfway to answering your own question. On the zdic page theres a tab called 字源字形: 妻 字源字形.

Here's the part you're interested in:

The stroke you're talking about doesn't poke through in PRC but in Taiwan and HK it does.


When not to use 厕所 when asking for the toilet? I've noticed sometimes in polite company or in the company of strangers some people will saying they are going to wash their hands 去洗手 (qù xǐshǒu) instead of going to the toilet 去上厕所 (qù shàng cèsuǒ).

Alternatively, asking for the 洗手间 (xǐshǒujiān) instead of the 厕所 (cèsuǒ).

Is this something that should be copied? Does it matter for guys, is this more feminine to say 洗手?

Roughly speaking, 洗手间 = bathroom/restroom and 厕所 = toilet.

洗手 literally means wash hands. It's not feminine, it's just more polite as you mentioned.

You can use either in most cases. You would use 洗手间 while eating or when talking to someone you don't know very well.


Does the usage of the word "proud" (骄傲, 自豪, or 而荣) in Chinese differ from that in English? I know this is going to get closed because it's more philosophical in nature but it's something that's brought up (subtle Asian traits, if curious)
Is the word proud is rarely used in Chinese culture and so does such a word truly exist in Chinese?

骄傲: proud
自豪: proud
而荣  (?) (why does this mean proud? dictionary entries don't mention this)

Sentences for "I'm proud of you:"
我以你为荣
我为你感到骄傲
我为你而荣

Not really.  If you check the meaning of 傲 and all the associate proverb, it is not rare. Indeed, the more normal translation of "proud of someone" is 引以为傲, 以某某为敖。

And many other associated word for proud you will rarely encounter in daily life usage , e.g.

傲骨 ， 傲气

Some is neutral

傲岸 haughty
傲视 despise

傲 also used negatively in following case

傲慢 arrogant


Apple Watch has a built in response of "一个字。非常棒！". Is this correct? When you respond to a text message on Apple Watch, there are a number of autoreply options. One of them:

  一个字。非常棒！

I translate this to English as "One word. Excellent! ". This makes a lot of sense in this translation. However, can the entire phrase "非常棒" (excellent) be considered one 字 (word)? Or is a 字 strictly considered a single character?

No it's not correct. "非常棒" are definitely three 字s. So the proper form should be

  一个字。棒！

or

  三个字。非常棒！

According to the context this kind of wording might be used on purpose for joking; you might not need to take them seriously.


What does 听得见摸得着了 mean? In the following sentence:

  最初的体验便是心跳加速，仿佛有一只小锤不停地捶打你的喉咙。不吃饭时，这种感觉时轻悠悠的，吃了饭，这个小锤便从喉咙升到头顶，产生轻微的震动，震得头有些疼。不知为什么，我觉得这是一种生命的体验。在这样的反应中，生命好像听得见摸得着了。

I think the bold part uses a degree particle, and there are two components concatenated without any conjugation.

So the sentence structure is

  (听得见 + 摸得着) 了

However, I then don't understand what it means. It looks like the sentence means "listening to it feels like seeing it, and... " but then "touching on it feels like touching on it..." which does not make sense.

Also I don't understand the last 了. Is it for meaning the change of a status, right?

So is my grammatical understanding correct? Then what does the bold part mean?

EDIT

To clarify my point, I understand the verbs here are result complements. I also understand what 听得见 means here (the action 听 results in 见, which is  "listening to it results in seeing"). But 摸得着 then does not make sense, as 摸 and 着 seem to mean the same, and so it sounds like the action of touching results in touching...

At least if it is 摸得懂, I understand it. (as the verb before and after the complement means different)...

生命好像听得见摸得着了

The sentence can be paraphrased as 生命好像可以被听得见、摸得着了. It can be translated to it seems that now life might be heard and touched. The reason why 了 is there is that originally we assume that life is not something that can be heard and touched, but in author's case he feels like he could be able to do so. 了 here denotes now the situation changed(unable -> able).


Why do people say 慢点儿阿("man dianer a") when you leave their shop? When you leave a shop, you often hear the shopkeeper saying something like "man dianer a", which sounds like 慢点儿阿 (something parents say to their kids to get them to walk more slowly [even if they never listen]).

It's quite possible I'm mishearing what they're saying.  It really is an everyday thing to say, and I've heard it in lots of different and unrelated shops.

慢走 is a polite thing to say usually used for someone who is leaving, has two implicit meaning:

I don't want you to leave, so please leave slowly, so I can stay a little longer with you.
Don't hurry, take care.

慢点儿 has the same meaning, but not as formal as 慢走, and sounds more affable.


Does 出太阳时候不能吃饭 (chū tàiyáng shíhòu bùnéng chīfàn) express "I can't eat when the sun is out" appropriately? I'm Muslim and fasting for Ramadan (斋月 zhāiyuè).  I often explain this to people by saying 出太阳时候不能吃饭 (chū tàiyáng shíhòu bùnéng chīfàn) which is an attempt to say "I can't eat when the sun is out".  I'm wondering if this is an accurate way of expressing this.

Question: Does 出太阳时候不能吃饭 express "I can't eat when the sun is out" appropriately?

Question: Does 出太阳时候不能吃饭 express "I can't eat when the sun is out" appropriately?

Not completely, because '出太阳' (sun is out) can refer to 'sun coming out after the storm' That implies you can still eat as long as you don't see the sun (when it rain or the sky is cloudy)

The correct way to explain it is:

太阳仍在天空时不能進食 (can't eat when the sun is still in the sky)

or

太阳下山前不能進食 (can't eat before the sun had gone down)

or

天黑前不能進食 (can't eat before the sky is dark -meaning the sun has completely set)

or

日落前不能進食 (can't eat before sundown)

Replaced 吃饭(to have meal) with 進食 (to eat), because  不吃饭(not having meal) doesn't cover having something for a snack.

user6065 wrote:

  从日出到日落不进食、 (不喝)水，不吸烟

' Not eat, drink or smoke from sun rise to sun set' is the more detailed explanation of fasting.

Mindless wrote:

  出太阳时候 = daylight? Can't you just say 白天不能进食, can't eat during daylight？

白天 refers to 'daylight time' (after the sun has completely risen and the sky is totally bright, or before the sun started to sink below the horizon and the sky is still bright). The term 白天 does not including the twilight time of dawn and dust, therefore it is not suitable for describing the fasting hours


What do these wooden sticks mean? (Characters identified: 天然香樟木 防虫，防蛀，防臭) A Chinese merchant sent me a parcel with an ordered item and unrelated five similar wooden sticks with white ropes attached:

I did not order those sticks and have no idea concerning the usage of these sticks.  Can anyone translate the text on those sticks?  What are these sticks good for? Thanks in advance.

Since OCR is probably not an option due to the cursive font, I'll give you some guidance. All strips show the same characters. It says:

line 1: 天然香樟木 natural camphor
line 2: 防虫，防蛀，防臭 anti-insect, anti-moth, deodorant

You now can also copy-paste the characters elsewhere to find out more.


What is the best translation for 投胎? If you look online, translation for 投胎 is 'reincarnation'. It suits phrases like 投胎转世 but often does not feel quite right in other context.

For example:

  你急什么，赶着去投胎?

Not sure if anyone would laugh if you translate it into

  'What's the hurry, on the way to reincarnate?'

投胎 is one of the steps, an action, of the entire reincarnation process. But I'm short of proper English word or simple phrase here. Also hope it's a fun question.

How about:

"What's the hurry? Wanna get to your next life so soon?"

I think no matter what one does, some thing will be lost in translation because of the huge difference between Chinese and English in beliefs and world views. My aim is to retain some of the light-heartedness and, as much as possible, gloss over the unpleasantness of dying.


how to refer to beginning/middle/end in Mandarin? I'm taking private Mandarin classes in Taipei. I'm having trouble referring to the beginning/middle/end of things. I asked my teacher how to say this, and the more I explained the more confused she got. Is this a cultural difference?

After some discussion, this basically seems to be a strange idea to communicate to her. But I'm having a hard time accepting this.

For example I asked how to say "the beginning of the week was rainy" She offered something involving me as the subject: 我剛開始 (wǒ gāng kāi shǐ
)... I explained It doesn't have anything to do with me. So now I'm more confused as I look over my notes. For whatever reason, it appears that referring to the beginning/middle/end of things requires a verb in Mandarin? I can accept this if I have to, but could someone help me put the following ideas into Mandarin:

the beginning/middle/end of the week (was hot)
the beginning/middle/end of the book (was exciting)
the beginning/middle/end of the summer (is when students arrive)
the beginning/middle/end of the year (seemed promising)
the beginning/middle/end of the speech (was inaudible)
the beginning/middle/end of the word ....
the beginning/middle/end of the hour
the beginning/middle/end of the movie

Thanks!!

By "the beginning/middle/end", commonly Chinese words 初，开头，开始 /中，中间 /末，末尾，结尾 are related to them.

the beginning  /      middle     /end of the week (was hot)
一周初，一周开始/ ? 一周中间(几天) /周末............In Chinese, there's not an commonly used expression for middle of a weekend. we don't say it much.
the beginning/middle/end of the book (was exciting)
书的开头      /中间  /末尾，结尾
the beginning/middle/end of the summer (is when students arrive)
夏初  /仲夏   /夏末.......... “仲夏” is relatively literary. We don't say “夏中” much, personally I've never seen it before.
the beginning/middle/end of the year (seemed promising)
年初      /年中   /年末，年尾，年终..........As “年中” and “年终” share the same pronunciation <niɑ̄n zhōng>, make it clear if you use them in daily oral expression.
the beginning/middle/end of the speech (was inaudible)
演讲开始   /中间  /末尾，结尾
the beginning/middle/end of the word ....
as above
the beginning/middle/end of the movie
as above
the beginning/middle           /end of the hour
一小时开头     /半小时(eg. 3:30) / ？  .......We don't directly say "end of an hour" much in Chinese, but this: when you wanna say end of an hour like 4:50, just say “快5点” or “接近5点” or “将近5点”

Hope above helps. BTW, it may not be the same as your teacher told you, while I speak Mandarin of mainland China, there's few tiny differences of the language between Mainland and Taiwan, but feel free.


Etymology behind the phrase 恭喜发财 (Kung Hei Fat Choy) and its usage during Chinese New Year? Where did the phrase 恭喜发财 (Kung Hei Fat Choy) come from? And why is it so popularly used during Chinese New Year?

I knew it was first popularised in Canton areas probably around 18~19th century. Just wondering if there are any resources documenting some of its first usage during Chinese New Year.

恭喜 (congratulations for joyous occasion) : "Bless you" is the standard opening for giving good wish to others, for example: 恭喜你大學畢業(congratulations on graduation from university), 恭喜你新居入伙 (congratulations on moving in to a new home). So "恭喜发财" (congratulations on getting rich) is just one of many things you can bless people with, no more common than "恭喜你新年快樂"

From https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/591040765.html
In 1826, an English man went to Guangzhou and worked in an American trade company. He wrote a book called 《洋人在广州》(Foreigners in Guangzhou). In that book he mentioned the Chinese who traded with the company would greet them with the Chinese phrase "恭喜发财" during the Chinese new year. (the common goal among merchants is making money after all). After the publication of the book, greeting people with "恭喜发财" in Chinese new year became more popular in Guangzhou. And presumably, this practice spread to the rest of the country too.

I suspect the reason "恭喜发财" is so popular is partly due to gambling was a national pastime in China at the time. Common folks could only openly gamble  during the new year period. Wishing someone getting rich implied wishing him good luck in gambling, beside congratulate the other on making a lot of money from the previous year (you wouldn't find out how much you made until you'd done the year end accounting)
I also suspect the reason "恭喜发财" is particularly popular among Cantonese,  is partly due to a jingle (順口溜): "恭喜发财，利士來" (congratulations on getting rich, give me red pocket money)


开一个生日会 explanation as to why 开 is used here? My book says that "to host a party" is written as...
开一个生日会
Example:
她想在家里开一个生日会。
The reason I am confused is because everywhere I look, 开 means to open. However, the book translates it as "to hold". I have been told that the 你好 book, which is what I am learning from, can translate some words in strange ways so I guess what I am asking is, if this sentence is correct, why is 开 used?

开会 (“to host/attend a meeting”) is an example of a separable verb—we can add content between the two characters. The 开 relates to the “hosting” whereas the 会 relates to the “meeting”, and the in-between content modifies the 会.
For example, we might say:

他在开一个会。  (“He is hosting a meeting.”)
我们周五开一个三个小时的会。  (“On Fridays, we host a 3-hour meeting.”)

In the given example, instead of a 会(“meeting”), it’s a 生日会 (“birthday party”), but the same idea applies.

开一个生日会 (“to host a birthday party”)
爸爸开儿子的生日会。 (“The father hosted his son’s birthday party.)

Alternatively, we can think of 开 itself as an independent verb.


Why does 在 turn up in 全班同学在老师公布考试时间之后都紧张了起来? I have two sentences.

总经理（在）假期结束之后立刻开始了紧张的工作.
全班同学在老师公布考试时间之后都紧张了起来.

The first sentence can eliminate 在. About the reason why 在 turns up, in my opinion, it can be the basic structure:

  Subject + When + Where + How + Verb + Object

because 老师公布考试时间 is a sentence, adding "之后" just make it indicate the time (老师公布考试时间之后). So between Subject and Time, we need a preposition. However, I cannot explain the grammar structure of the first sentence (lmao).

2 sentences may not follow the basic structure (and I misunderstood). In case I am correct:

1/ why can the first sentence be eliminated 在？

2/ If I am wrong, is there any other structures that match both sentences?

总经理在假期结束之后立刻开始了紧张的工作.

全班同学在老师公布考试时间之后都紧张了起来.

I don't think we should omit 在 in the first sentence either.  在... 之后 is a prepositional phrase indicating when something happens.
在 can be droppable when you put the prep phrase at the beginning of the sentence.  E. g.

(在)假期结束之后, 总经理立刻开始了紧张的工作.
(在)老师公布考试时间之后, 全班同学都紧张了起来.

There isn't any special structure involved here.  This is all about how/where you want to insert a prepositional phrase in a sentence.


How can I interpret 多 in 我才来了三个多月? It must be pretty easy, but what does 多 mean here?

  我才来了三个多月

[Number] [Measure word] 多 [Noun] = More than [number] [noun]s:

“I've only been here a little over three months.” (The 才 adds the meaning of "only just".)


Translate 'operational' and 'strategic' in Chinese How to translate 'operational' and 'strategic' in Chinese?
The best match I've found is '操作' and '战略', but would they be correct in a phrase like:

  Operational and strategic business decisions

EDIT

Context the word pair to be used in:

  BI can be used to support a wide range of business decisions ranging from operational to strategic

I think the most appropriate translation for "operational" is 运营. for example, “the day-to-day operational aspect of the business” can be translated as 公司每天运营方面。。。or for example Chief Operating Office is commonly translated as 首席运营官


Does pronunciation of a vowel change with tones? As it is extremely hard to find a good online summary of all Pinyin pronunciation rules, I am listening the sounds in a Pinyin chart: https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-pinyin-chart.php . I have read before that the final -iu is pronounced /iou/, but I can hear the "o" only in tone 3 (eg in Pinyin syllable "liu"). I am unable to hear it in tones 1 (high), 2 (rising) and 4 (falling). Is there vowel reduction in some tones or are those audios in this Pinyin chart bad?

First, it is important to distinguish between the phonemic pronunciation and the phonetic pronunciation. The first represents how native speakers interpret sounds, the latter interpret how the sounds are effectively performed.

The Pinyin final -iu is phonemically pronounced /jəu/, not  /iou/ (reference: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Chinese_phonology#Allophones). When combined with the Pinyin initial l-, that Pinyin final becomes the Pinyin syllable liu, phonemically pronounced /liəu/.

Anyway, much more important to a language learner is the phonetic pronunciation. The phonetic pronunciations of -iu may be [jəu], [jou] or even [jo̝u] (vowel O raises due to assimilation to the adjacent high sounds /j/ and /u/), which sounds similar to /ju/. The latter is the pronunciation in the audio recordings of the Pinyin syllable "liu" in the provided Pinyin table. The same also occurs in the audio recordings of the other Pinyin syllables with the final -iu.

Regarding the 3rd tone pronunciation of a Pinyin syllable with the final "-iu", when pronounced in isolation, it falls ([jo]) and then rises ([u]); in this way, this tone has an effect of separation and therefore tends to block the vowel assimilation that I mentioned before. That's why the [o] sound is heard in this tone and barely heard in the other tones in the audio recordings of the provided Pinyin table.


What is the difference between 群 and 羣? As titled. They seem to be made up of the same two components: 羊 and 君. As such, are they interchangeable? Or do they have different usage regardless?

羣 is an archaic variant of 群. That is, although they mean the same thing, you would use 群 nowadays.

Interestingly, 羣 appears to have been the "correct" version in the past, and at some point 群 took that place:

There is a Three Kingdoms politician by the name of 陳羣, whereas the identically named Republican politician 陳群, use different characters in the last name.
The Kangxi dictionary entry for 群 states that it is a "vulgar variant" (《五經文字》羣，俗作群。), so the transition was at least between Qing and Republic of China.


Should you ever repeat the subject "我“ in a sentence? So, I struggle with a common construction in Chinese where I don't know whether I should use the subject twice or not. For example, in the sentence "After I finished talking with her I went to mcdonalds" uses the word "I" twice in english. However, I'm not sure if this is necessary/common in Chinese.

For that sentence, as an example, I could say

我跟他聊完以后， (我） 就直接去麦当劳。

Is that 我

Necessary?
Unnecessary but acceptable
Just kind of awkward

Thanks for all of your help! I know that there are a lot of situations when this happen.

Unnecessary.
In spoken language it is acceptable and actually quite common. In written language it should be avoided.
Depends on the context. In your example it doesn't sound awkward at all.

Side note: As pointed out by this article, in Chinese, using the same word again and again is not as awkward as bad repetition in English and sometimes it's the only way to satisfy grammatical requirements. Not directly related but similarly, unnecessary repetitions in general have more appearances in spoken Chinese than in English and sound less awkward. You should not feel bad about it.


can I say "我们这个学期学过的课比上个学期多十课”？ I try to translate the sentence  "this semester we have studied 10 lessons more than previous one".我们这个学期学过的课比上个学期多十课”？

Correct.
"我们这学期比上学期多学10课。" may be a better translation.


Any "casual" translation for 遵命? 遵命

It's said from a person of lesser position to a person of higher position, ie from soldier to general.

What would be a more "casual" way of translating it into English other than "As you wish", because "as you wish" sounds like something that is said to royalty and whatnot, rather than a soldier to general (as an example).

Well, there are plenty of "casual" translations.

In a military setting,

"Yes, Sir."
"Roger that."
"Copy that."
"Affirmative."

*Note that the later three have the same implication as that of 遵命 but is more accurately translated to 收到

In a even less serious setting,

"Will do."
"Sure."

I will edit when I have thought of more.


Why so many definitions associated with each word? I'm learning a little Chinese out of curiosity, and I have a basic question about the language as a whole, rather than a specific technical question about a particular word or character. Sorry if this is too broad.

I just want to learn a little spoken Chinese, not the writing system, so I've been seeking out pinyin texts. Let's say I come across a word such as jiǎng that I don't know. I look it up on Wiktionary, and get something like:

jiǎng (Zhuyin ㄐㄧㄤˇ)

Pinyin reading of 堿
Pinyin reading of 桨, 槳
Pinyin reading of 滰
Pinyin reading of 獎
Pinyin reading of 繈
Pinyin reading of 繣
Pinyin reading of 膙
Pinyin reading of 蒋, 蔣
Pinyin reading of 襁
Pinyin reading of 講, 讲
Pinyin reading of 顜

Each of those characters seem to have totally different meanings: paddle, salty, reward... so my question is: how do the Chinese manage to communicate orally? Specifically, let's say one Chinese speaker says something to another. If there are 10 different definitions associated with each sound the first person makes, then how can the second person work out what's being said? Am I misunderstanding something, or is it simply that you have to work out which definition is being used from context?

To use a very specific example, what if a Chinese speaker said jiǎng to me? I mean what if they actually formed the sound jee-yah-ng - how could I tell what they meant?

Chinese was once monosyllabic, where one character represented one word. But back then, thousands of years ago, pronunciation for characters was also much more distinct, and still is in certain topolects (like Cantonese).

Modern Mandarin, on the other hand, compensates for lack of precision in pronunciation by being polysyllabic, where mosts words are either disyllabic or trisyllabic. There are still monosyllabic words, but they are usually easily comprehensible by context (like 我 and other pronouns).

Most of the characters you list are rather rare, biut let’s consider the common ones. 奖 (獎), as in prize, award, is usually found in compounds such as Nuobei’erjiang (Nobel prize), jiangjin (money award), jiangpai (prize medal) and so on.

This could hardly be confused with 讲, speak, with compounds such as jiangjia (bargain), jianghua (talk), jiangjie (explain) and so on.

We could also refer to 蒋介石 (Jiang Jieshi), where 蒋 is a common family name. Context will mostly be evident when names are invoked.

Your strategy should therefore be to learn compound words. Since you do not want to learn written Chinese, just forget that there are characters, there are only words, and words are usually polysyllabic: women, gongneng, guangchang, gonggong qiche, laobanniang, dalu, mantou, chengyu, and so on.


Is the title "二寡妇" synonymous with prostitution? There's this joke that talks about a womanizer who wants to hog a woman known as: 白二寡妇:

  第四位是二流子，他说：“你们也品味台低啦。。。要是我做了皇帝，哼！我就派锦衣卫把白二寡妇家团团围住，只准我一个人进去！谁敢跟我争，就下大狱！！！”

I found another article on Jianshu that is entitled:

  喂不饱的二寡妇

which talks about:

  后来听去广东打工的人回来说，二寡妇跟大春分手后，被一个香港老板包了，再后来听说二寡妇不知怎么的跑去做了“鸡”，没脸回村见父母、儿女了。

二寡妇 going into prostitution.

Is "二寡妇" somehow synonymous with prostitution?

Short answer : No.

Longer answer :

In Chinese  traditional culture, one follows a hierarchy called relatives circle 伦理. Relatives never call each other name name directly among themselves, instead, Chinese use ordinal and the person hierarchy and relatedness according
base on one to another.

For example, if you have two elder uncle call Tom (1st) and Jerry (2nd), your father is the 3rd, two younger uncle call John (4th) , Nathan (5th). This is how you call them

Tom 大伯 （Eldest uncle ,伯 indicate he is elder than your father)
Jerry  二伯 （2nd uncle)
John 四叔 (4th uncle)
Nathan 五叔  （5th uncle, 叔 younger uncle than your father)

The society usually don't know each of your uncle name but they know each family  relatives circle hierarchy.  I.e. Say your family clan name is 白, this is how the society call your uncle (ordinal and clan name) and their wife

Tom 白大  , wife 白大嫂
Jerry  白二 , wife 白二嫂
John 白四 , wife 白四嫂
Nathan 白五 , wife 白五嫂

When Jerry pass away, his wife can maintain the relatives title(嫂) or called as widow(寡妇), then 白二嫂 can be also be identify as 白二寡妇 by the society.


Cantonese Pronunciation of 户珥 (Hur) Hur (Ex. 17:12) in the Bible is translated as 户珥. Does anybody know for sure how to pronounce 户珥 in Cantonese?

珥 has two variants (Jyutping)

  nei6 餌, 鈮, 膩

and

  ji6 二, 樲, 潩

I just wonder which one should be used for 户珥. Thanks!

Woo6-yi5
户珥

From this pdf pg. 14 户珥 is pronounced Woo6-yi5 (Jyutping should be something like: Wu6-ji5).