Help me choose a Chinese name from a list of ideas My English name does not transliterate well to Mandarin, so I'm choosing a Chinese name. I want it to evoke wisdom, inner strength, peace, beautiful and serene elements of nature, and poetry.

I'm new to Chinese. I'm positive my clumsy attempts at a name will reflect that. After some research, I've put together this list that I think sound beautiful and have fascinating meanings.

Could you tell me if these words are recognizable as Chinese names? Would they sound overly unusual for a female? Are any incorrect or have confusing alternate meanings? What would be a native speaker's perception of these names?

Surname is 谷

送慧 Songhui - "bearing wisdom." I hope this doesn't sound pretentious, but I like names that honor wisdom, and I think it sounds lovely.
秋月Qiuyue - autumn moon. I was born at night in the autumn.
和凤 Fènghé - gentle Phoenix. The Chinese Phoenix is majestic and generally a symbol of female ideals / yin / the empress. The double meaning lies in the fact that the Phoenix is sometimes used for my zodiac, the rooster.
智慧 Zhìhuì - resourcefulness, wisdom, cleverness. I LOVE the series 天盛长歌 (Rise of Phoenixes on Netflix) where the main character is named 凤知微 (Feng Zhiwei). This name echoes that character I admire and contains the admirable qualities I aspire to have.
美惠 Meihui -  beautiful wisdom. Is this a common name?
凤智 Fèngzhì -  wise Phoenix. I'm concerned of being conceited here too, but the symbolism is beautiful. This name also reminds me of Feng Zhiwei, at least phonetically.
Zhìfèng 智凤 wise Phoenix. Reverse of above.

Am I being clumsy with the language? Are any of these names acceptable and beautiful to a native speaker?

谷送慧 - "bearing wisdom."

'送' means 'send'. as a verb, it doesn't go well with a noun 慧 (wisdom)

谷秋月 - autumn moon.

Although '秋' and '月' are commonly used in female names, the name '秋月' itself is quite unisex. I meant '秋月' as a man's name is totally acceptable. (remind me of 張淡月 in 鹿鼎記) It is a good choice nonetheless.

谷和凤 - gentle Phoenix.

和 could mean 'and' ; 谷和凤 doesn't sound like a name but a phrase 'valley and Phoenix'

谷智慧 - resourcefulness, wisdom, cleverness

智慧 is a common compound word noun. It is quite unusual to be used as a name. Generally, people tend to avoid common nouns like 努力，勇敢 or 正義 when picking a name

谷美惠  - beautiful wisdom.

It sounds Japanese

谷凤智 - wise Phoenix.
谷智凤 wise Phoenix. Reverse of above.

Both sound  masculine, and reminds people of 庞统, whose nickname was 凤雏.

I want it to evoke wisdom, inner strength, peace, beautiful and serene elements of nature

I suggest 谷秋月
'月'(moon) associates with 'peace, beautiful and serene elements of nature.


The Shi Shi Shi Shi Shi poem? A while ago I came across this:

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

Very interesting.

I wonder if there's any more homophonic poems like this? Or even is there a genre?

The other answers seem to have mistaken what you are looking for...

Wikipedia has a page of 同音文章 (one-syllable articles or homophonic poems (as you called it)): here

(in case they get deleted here's what they have below)

侄治痔

  　　《侄治痔》

  　　芝之稚侄郅，至智，知制纸，知织帜。

  　　芝痔，炙痔，痔殖，郅至芝址，知之，知芷汁治痔，至芷址执芷枝，豸至，踯，郅执直枝掷之，枝至豸趾，豸止。

  　　郅执芷枝致芝，芝执芷治痔，痔止。

  　　芝炙脂雉肢致郅。

羿裔熠

  羿裔熠，邑彝，义医，艺诣。熠姨遗一裔伊，伊仪迤，衣旖，异奕矣。熠意伊矣，易衣以贻伊，伊遗衣，衣异衣以意异熠，熠抑矣。伊驿邑，弋一翳，弈毅，毅仪奕，诣弈，衣异，意逸。毅诣伊，益伊，伊怡，已臆毅矣，毅亦怡伊。翌，伊亦弈毅。毅以蜴贻伊，伊亦贻衣以毅。伊疫，呓毅，癔异矣，倚椅咿咿，毅亦咿咿。毅诣熠，意以熠，议熠医伊，熠懿毅，意役毅逸。毅以熠宜伊，翼逸。熠驿邑以医伊，疑伊胰痍，以蚁医伊，伊遗异，溢，伊咦。熠移伊，刈薏以医，伊益矣。伊忆毅，亦呓毅矣，熠意伊毅已逸，熠意役伊。伊异，噫，缢。熠癔，亦缢。

遗镒疑医

  伊姨殪，遗亿镒。伊诣邑，意医姨疫，一医医伊姨。翌，亿镒遗，疑医，以议医。医以伊疑，缢，以移伊疑。伊倚椅以忆，忆以亿镒遗，以议伊医，亦缢。噫！亦异矣！

易姨医胰

  《易姨医胰》 易姨悒悒，依议诣夷医。医疑胰疫，遗意易姨倚椅，以异仪移姨胰，弋异蚁一亿，胰液溢，蚁殪，胰以医。易胰怡怡，贻医一夷衣。医衣夷衣，怡怡奕奕。噫！以蚁医胰，异矣！以夷衣贻夷医亦宜矣！

于瑜欲渔

  于瑜欲渔，遇余于寓。语余：“余欲渔于渝淤，与余渔渝欤？”余语与瑜：“余欲鬻玉，俞禹欲玉，余欲遇俞于俞寓。”余与于瑜遇俞禹于俞寓，逾俞隅，欲鬻玉于俞，遇雨，雨逾俞宇。余语于瑜：“余欲渔于渝淤，遇雨俞寓，雨逾俞宇，欲渔欤？鬻玉欤？” 于瑜与余御雨于俞寓，俞鬻玉于余禹，雨愈，余与于瑜踽踽逾俞宇，渔于渝淤。

熙戏犀

  西溪犀，喜嬉戏。席熙夕夕携犀徙，席熙细细习洗犀。犀吸溪，戏袭熙。席熙嘻嘻希息戏。惜犀嘶嘶喜袭熙。

饥鸡集矶记

  唧唧鸡，鸡唧唧。几鸡挤挤集矶脊。机极疾，鸡饥极，鸡冀己技击及鲫。机既济蓟畿，鸡计疾机激几鲫。机疾极，鲫极悸，急急挤集矶级际。继即鲫迹极寂寂，继即几鸡既饥，即唧唧。

狮食豕史

  狮识豕，豕识狮。始，狮嗜舐豕；豕适。豕时侍狮食柿，狮适。时逝，狮始试豕势。狮舐豕时，适时试噬豕。狮嗜豕时，豕试噬狮。狮嗜豕时，豕适示狮。豕噬狮 时，狮奭。豕始识狮势实势。豕蓍筮，筮示：狮实誓噬弑豕。豕饰失势，事事适狮。时时侍狮。师事狮。试使狮释豕。 是时，豕视虱噬狮，狮拭虱，狮实失适。豕舐狮时，噬虱示狮。豕时时噬虱示狮，使狮适。狮视豕噬虱，狮释。狮始识豕势实是噬虱，豕失势。狮始矢誓弑豕。适 时，豕适噬虱示狮，狮示豕：豕噬虱失实，豕实是试弑狮。狮始施狮式示豕。豕视狮式，豕失屎。狮始噬弑豕。 狮噬食豕势，豕失势，豕逝世。

  适时，十豕驶适。十豕视豕尸，奭。十豕誓师，誓使狮释豕尸事实。狮释：狮食实是柿，食豕是失实。狮视豕是‘士’，豕视狮是‘师’。狮事事适豕，豕失识世事。豕时拭狮豕屎；时施矢石弑狮。适时狮驶，豕施矢石弑狮失事，豕弑豕，豕逝世。狮饰弑豕事实，十豕释，驶逝。

  豕逝世，狮失豕侍。狮食失柿。狮始试食豕尸。狮食豕尸实适。狮始识豕尸实适狮食。是始，狮时时弑豕，嗜食豕尸。

  始，狮视十豕势似狮。时逝，狮始识，十豕势实似豕。视十豕是十尸。适时，狮视十豕适，狮施狮式示十豕。狮恃势噬弑豕。十豕失是豕，十豕驶逝。 狮拾豕尸适市。使絁饰豕尸。狮视市，示市：狮是豕师，豕师事狮。豕视师失食，豕矢誓使师食豕。豕逝世，侍师食豕尸，豕实是‘士’。狮食豕，狮失‘士’，实 狮蚀。是使狮谥豕：‘豕氏’。谥豕‘仕’。狮示市：十豕师事‘豕士’。

  狮时适市，施狮式示市。诗《狮食豕史诗〉示市：

  狮食实是豕，豕食实是柿。时时狮食豕，世世豕食柿。

  事实是事实，实事是实事。世视狮食豕，实是事实事。

Baidu baike also listed some others: here

《对联》

  上联：齐妻起棋，齐欺妻气，妻弃七棋。

  下联：伊姨移椅，伊倚姨疑，姨遗一椅。

【吏李立莅】

  吏李立莅，赲逦屴岦峛沥俚黎，立艃漓里叕鲤礼黎，罹沴厉离，俚黎蛎鹂历呖。

《季姬击鸡记》

  季姬寂，集鸡，鸡即棘鸡。棘鸡饥叽，季姬及箕稷济鸡。鸡既济，跻姬笈，季姬忌，急咭鸡，鸡急，继圾几，季姬急，即籍箕击鸡，箕疾击几伎，即齑，鸡叽集几基，季姬急极屐击鸡，鸡既殛，季姬激，即记《季姬击鸡记》。


What language is this, Simplified Chinese, or...? I'm adding a Chinese translation to my [videos], 2 and I want to know if this translation is Simplified Chinese or what? Here's an image:

Simplified Chinese.
But to me this doesn't sound like nice spoken language, maybe because it's translated from bable or somewhere else.


Can a single consonant (辅音) ever be used in transliteration? Listening to Kylian Mbappé’s Chinese surname:

  姆巴佩

Always makes me wonder why 姆 is even part of his name.

The English (read: French) pronunciation seems a lot closer to something like:

  呣

A single consonant (辅音) pronounced in different tones of:

  m

Would it ever be acceptable to put a single consonant into a transliteration?

I’ve never come across such a case, so I wouldn’t imagine that it is okay. But how come?

No.

A normal syllable always has a vowel inside. The syllables like 'n', 'ng', 'm' are very special and have very limited use. They would not appear in transliteration.


What should I call a capacitive touchscreen stylus in Standard Chinese? I'm in China and would like to buy a stylus for the tablet I aquired a week ago.

I tried to explain to several stalls at a secondhand electonics market in Guangzhou today what I needed and nobody understood.

I know the word for 'stylus' in the sense used with touchscreens is 触控笔 (chùkòngbǐ) but there are different kind of styli for use with different kinds of touchscreen and the wrong type will not work.

How would I ask a seller if they sell the type of stylus I want to use with a capacitive touchscreen device? (The kind of screen an iPhone uses.)

In Taiwan it's called a 電容式觸控筆; maybe if you tell them you need i-phone 專用的觸控筆 they might get the idea.


A Scroll which appears to be from 2004 signed 包德和 包德和 Bāo dé hé      Longevity Scroll
Which I think reads something like '50 Things to buy for an Emperor'
Unfortunately I am still learning Chinese characters.

Who is the Caligraphy Writer?

Who is the Calligraphy Writer?

You said it, it was signed by "包德和". logically thinking -- "包德和" must had written it.

The seal wrote: 長樂 (always/ forever happy)

The part of the scroll you posted wrote "鵬飛王五十壽辰"

鵬飛王 = Peng Fei Wang (may be a person's name, but can also be a brand name. 3rd January 2020 was Apple's 44th Birthday)
五十 = 50(th)
壽辰 = birthday


Chinese Idiom puzzle 4 Please solve the following puzzle

The country is peaceful, citizens are happy. - 出自宋·吴自牧《梦梁录·山川神》

A talented man and a pretty lady (a good match) - 出自唐·李隐《潇湘录·呼延冀》。

Heros show themselves when the world is in chaos

Have great literary talent - 出自南朝·宋·无名氏《释常谈·斗之才》

Do not judge someone's worthiness by his success or failure 出自《庄子*盗跖》

Confucius' philosophy on education - 語出《論語.衛靈公第十五》

Smart people think alike - 語本《三國志·蜀書·龐統傳》裴松之注引《江表傳》

Unsung Hero

The meaning of 武《左傳·宣公十二年》

A truly wise man would seem like a fool in common people's eyes - 出自《贺欧阳少师致仕启》

Great grace - 語出. 明·冯梦龙《醒世恒言》第十七卷

Near the end of time - 出自唐·李贺《致酒行》

Step into a trap 語出. 《三俠五義．第五五回》

wish someone to get unexpected wealth - 常見暉春字句

There's always a higher mountain  - 民间俗语

Upstand gentleman 出自《舊唐書·崔胤傳》

Know the law and still break the law - 出自清·吴敬梓《儒林外史》

Of indomitable　spirit 出自:宋·釋普濟《五燈會元·道場無庵法全禪師

A. A man of both civil and military ability 出自《舊五代史·和凝傳》
B. No one would pick up and keep someone else's lost item 《韓非子·外儲說左上》
C. A huge army can do 《晉書．卷一一四．苻堅載記下》
D. A match made in heaven; Congratulations on a happy marriage
E. A mind like still water - 出自《祭李侍郎文》
F. Lament the difficulties of the times, pity people's pain - 出自《争臣论》
G. Although the net of heaven is wide and sparse, it will never let bad guys get away - 語出《老子．第七三章》
H. Although people have talents, they have no chance to use them. 《資治通鑑．卷六五．漢紀五十七．獻帝建安十三年》
I. To save people by practicing medicine
J. The true color of a hero - 出自.明方汝浩《禅真逸史》第三十四回
K. Know heroes, respect hero
L. Summary execution - 見 .清·吴趼人《二十年目睹之怪现状》第六十五回
M. Fully reveal your ability
N. Everyone has their own opinions on the same thing
O. Outstanding talent and strategy - 出自. 唐．王勃〈三國論〉
P. A foolish old man wanted to move the mountain (it is a metaphor of unremitting efforts, not afraid of hardships, and self-achieving) 見《列子．湯問》
Q. Taishan Mountain and the Big Dipper (It is a metaphor for people who have high morals, high reputation, or outstanding achievements and are admired by everyone) - 出自. 《新唐書·韓愈傳贊》
R. Pillar that supports the sky - 見《唐大詔令集．卷六四．大臣．鐵券．賜陳敬瑄鐵券文》
S. Describe a grace that is heavy like a mountain - 出自. 宋·陆游《删定官供职谢启》
T. Unmatched in the world - 見. 英烈傳˙第七十回
More Hints below:

The answers are: (in both simplified and traditional)

 1. 国泰民安 國泰民安   2. 才子佳人 才子佳人  3. 乱世出英雄 亂世出英雄  4. 才高八斗 才高八斗  5. 不以成败论英雄 不以成敗論英雄  6. 有教无类 有教無類  7. 英雄所见略同 英雄所見略同  8. 无名英雄 無名英雄  9. 止戈为武 止戈為武 10. 大智若愚 大智若愚 11. 大恩大德 大恩大德 12. 天荒地老 天荒地老 13. 自投罗网 自投羅網 14. 横财就手 横财就手 15. 一山更比一山高 一山更比一山高 16. 正人君子 正人君子 17. 知法犯法 知法犯法 18. 顶天立地 頂天立地 A. 文武全才 文武全才 B. 路不拾遗 路不拾遺 C. 投鞭断流 投鞭斷流 D. 佳偶天成 佳偶天成 E. 心如止水 心如止水 F. 悲天悯人 悲天憫人 G. 天网恢恢疏而不漏 天網恢恢疏而不漏 H. 英雄无用武之地 英雄無用武之地 I. 悬壶济世 懸壺濟世 J. 英雄本色 英雄本色 K. 识英雄重英雄 識英雄重英雄 L. 就地正法 就地正法 M. 大展身手 大展身手 N. 见仁见智 見仁見智 O. 雄才大略 雄才大略 P. 愚公移山 愚公移山 Q. 泰山北斗 泰山北斗 R. 一柱擎天 一柱擎天 S. 恩重如山 恩重如山 T. 举世无双 舉世無雙

As a secondary hint, there are a lot of

 英雄


Is there a way to respond to 你做什么工作？starting with 我做...？ For many questions in Chinese, it's best to respond by repeating the verb.  Here's a few I just made up:

Q: 你是哪儿国人？ A: 我是中国人。
Q: 刘老师找什么？ A: 刘老师找她的老公。
Q: 她有老公吗？ A: 对，她有老公。
Q: 小王怕什么？ A: 小王怕狗。

And I can think of many others (你想吃什么？ 你在看什么？你在学什么？你的牙疼吗?).  But this one breaks the rules:

Q: 你做什么工作？
A: 我是医生

Or we might respond 我是老师 or 我是校长, or 我是职员, etc., depending on our job.
Question: Is there a way to respond to 你做什么工作？ starting with 我做...？
Perhaps there's something inherently wrong with answering the question starting with 我做....

Because 医生 is what you are, not what you do.

You can respond with 我教英语, 我卖面包, 我开出租车, if you want.

In most cases, 我是XX sounds more natural if your job has a simple and direct name, such as 医生, 教师, 司机, 厨师, etc. The other pattern is more likely to be used when you want to specifically describe what you do.


Why is tofu used in 心急吃不了热豆腐？ Why is tofu, among all foods that can be enjoyed hot, used in the expression "心急吃不了热豆腐"? Why not "心急吃不了热饭" or "心急吃不了热牛肉"？

After tofu is made ready to eat, it is very hot. And even the outer part of the tofu get cooled down, the inner part is still very hot. It someone tries to eat it in a hurry, he will be hurt by the high temperature inside.

Rice or beef or some others cannot keep the inner part at a high temperature while the outer part is cooled down.

PS. When you try to eat tofu, please be careful.

PS2. sorry for the English, feel free to correct me.


Mandarin vs. Cantonese: 令 vs 讓 for making something happen In Cantonese, it's common to hear someone say 令 when referring to making something happen.

Example: 妳咁做令我開心 (You make me happy when you do this.)

Some friends claimed Mandarin doesn't use 令 this way and uses 讓 instead， making the equivalent sentence 妳這樣做讓我開心。

However, Pleco lists 令人難忘 as "creating an unforgettable impression." This suggests 令 can be used like this in Mandarin.

1) Is the use of 令 different in Canto vs Mandarin? Is 妳這樣做令我開心 not proper Mandarin grammar?

2) If there is a difference, when do you use 令 and when do you use 讓?

For the meaning of 'to make/ to cause',  the usage of 令 in colloquial Cantonese  cover the usage of 令(force/make), 使(cause/make) and 讓(allow/make) in Mandarin

Example:

令人唔開心 (Cantonese) = 令人不高興/ 使人不高興/ 讓人不高興 (Mandarin)

The difference between 令 使 and 讓 is in 'degree of emphasis'; colloquial Cantonese typically use final particles for emphasis

  In literal Cantonese (SWC- Standard written Chinese) It is the same as Mandarin

Example:

令人不高興/ 使人不高興/ 讓人不高興 (Mandarin) = 令人不高興/ 使人不高興/ 讓人不高興 (SWC)

  Cantonese do not use 讓 (make/ cause) colloquially at all. However, there's a word we use in colloquial Cantonese for 'make/ cause'  that is not used by Mandarin. This word is '等', but it has to be used with a 'cause'

Example:

"(等)佢熟透" = "(wait) for it to be cooked completely"

"加猛火(等)佢快啲熟透" = "use high heat (to make) it cooked completely faster"

In Mandarin, it would be "加猛火(讓)它快點熟透"

One more note: Cantonese do use the compound words 使到 and 令到 colloquially. The same as Mandarin


What is the significance of 吃秋葵时过世? I found this on nciku.cn and after searching around I could find no other references or even mention. Is this a translation error or some sort of dictionary blip?
I asked a few Chinese friends but they had never heard of it nor any idea to what it could signify aside from one's death.

It seems that that at some time dweg (or died while eating gumbo) has been used in English by some people. Although I can't find many references to it. The definition for dweg can be found on this website: http://www.abbrt.com/dweg

For some reason this ended up in the Comprehensive English-Chinese Dictionary which is one of the sources of Nciku. Nciku also has the definition for dweg and 吃秋葵时过世 is their tranlation of died while eating gumbo.

It is definitely not a Chinese expression and not something that is worthwhile learning.


Status of a sandhi "rule" for 2nd tone I came across a sandhi rule - described here (point number 6):

  A 2nd tone preceded by a 1st or 2nd tone and followed by another tone becomes a 1st tone

I never heard of this rule before so I was wondering if it is well known.
I found one other reference for it here:
Is there a tone sandhi for 2nd-tone-2nd-tone names?, where it's described differently:

  In a trisyllabic expression, if (a) the first syllable is T1 or T2,
  (b) the middle syllable is T2, and (c) the final syllable is not weak,
  then the middle T2 can change to T1 in conversational speed.

Is this rule commonly known? Is it commonly accepted? Are there any other references for it?

Thanks

I asked the author of the blog eastasiastudent.net about it and he told me it was probably a mistake. Given the comments from @fefe and @JasonSwift, my conclusion is that the author of the first link was trying to describe a real phenomenon in spoken Chinese (i.e. the phenomenon described in the accepted answer of the referenced SE question) but made a few mistakes in the description.


How gender specific in writing is the character 他 A couple of years ago I wrote this comment below an answer:

  On mainland China 他 is used for both male and female. I've only seen 她
  used as a stylistic thing for advertising and some old formal writing.

Since I wrote that comment I have had a few people ask about whether or not this is true. When I think about it today I am not sure what my original thinking was and I am doubting myself over whether or not this is a true statement.

I haven't been back to China in 3 years (going in September, yay!) and I haven't picked up a newspaper in a while. What I do recall is seeing 她 used in social media (微信 posts) which has only become mainstream in the past few years.

Here is what Wikipedia says on the subject:

  In 1917, the Old Chinese graph tā (她, from nǚ 女, "woman") was borrowed
  into the written language to specifically represent "she" by Liu
  Bannong. As a result, the old character tā (他), which previously also
  meant "she" in written texts, is sometimes restricted to meaning "he"
  only. In contrast to most Chinese characters coined to represent
  specifically male concepts, the character tā is formed with the
  ungendered character for person rén (人), rather than the character for
  male nán (男)."

So how correct is my original statement and has social media and the internet caused an increase in the use of 她?

In my experience, when referring to a single subject, I have never seen 他 used as a female pronoun. 她 is used for females, and 它 used for non-gendered or non-human subjects.

Do note that 他 has meanings outside pronouns; it can have the meaning of "other". In these cases, 他 is used and never 她. Examples include 他人 (other people), 他乡 (a place far away from home), 他日 (future).

There are two interesting cases for the 他/她 question though: in the group pronouns 他们/她们 and when the gender is unknown.

For 他们/她们, 他们 is indeed the gender-neutral term. Use this when referring to a group of people (other than yourself and your subject, i.e. "they" or "them"), where their genders are either mixed or not relevant. If you are specifically referring to a group of females though, use 她们. Here's some discussion on this matter. This is in contrast to English which has no gendered "they" or "them".

When gender is unknown, it is more proper to use 他. This is similar to older English style which considered generic he proper usage. Use 他 when in English you would have used "he / she". Note that some people use "他/她" which is perfectly understandable but less proper.

So to summarise:

他 is gender neutral, except in two cases where you would use 她 instead:
When referring to a single female of known gender
When referring to a group of females


What is this modified version of Hanyu Pinyin called? I am new to Chinese, have been studying it for almost a year or so. I noticed that a lot of Chinese music videos have subtitles in a modified version of pinyin that has many distinct features from commonly used Hanyu Pinyin. Some of these features include:

Initial consonants that would be voiced in English (which represent unvoiced, unaspirated consonants in Mandarin) are replaced with their unvoiced counterparts. (Ex. 'b-' --> 'p-', 'd-' --> 't-', 'g-' --> 'k-')
Those that are already aspirated are followed by an h (Ex. 'p-' --> 'ph-', 'c-' --> 'ch-')
In many cases, the initial 'r-' is changed (Ex. 如 ru --> lu, 讓 rang --> jang)
'-ng' endings sometimes change to '-n' (Ex. 冷 leng --> len while 窗 chuang stays the same)
'x-' and 'sh-' become 's-', and 'zh-', 'z-' and 'j-' become 'c-'. Some of these initials are followed by an i (Ex. 上 shang --> siang)
'-ao' becomes '-au', and other vowel final changes (Ex. 時 shi --> se, 麼 me --> mo, 自 zi --> ce)

Here is a video which has subtitles in this modified version of Hanyu Pinyin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qunYXMXn5oo

I have researched different Mandarin romanization methods, but this does not come up. Does anyone know what this version is called and where it is used in the world, as well as important features I missed? If so, please respond.

Isn't this just an informal romanisation method to make it easier for Malay/Indonesian speakers?

In those languages:

c is pronounced /c/, so it can be used to approximate z/zh
k/t/p are unaspirated, so h needs to be added to indicate aspiration
au is /aw/, same as mandarin ao
There isn't /ɨ/ as in Mandarin but /ə/ which sounds close to it, and /ə/ is written e.

This is probably just the work of one person transcribing the music for an Indonesian audience. Pinyin has some weird spelling conventions so these adjustments help Indonesian speakers sing Mandarin songs better.

You can see this a lot with Cantonese/Hokkien songs. Mandarin is much much better in this regard.


照顾 vs 安慰 zhaogu vs anwei Anyone know the difference between these two verbs? Both seem to mean 'to care for'. Google image search seems to show more Mother/children/illness care for 照顾, but 安慰 also seems to be largely person based (as opposed to caring for a sofa by not leaving dirty plates on it!).

安慰 (anwei) is used for mental care, similar in meaning to "comfort/consolation".
照顾 (zhaogu) is used for daily care, like that of parents towards kids, nanny towards a baby, nurse towards patients, etc.

Typical use:
他生气了，我安慰他。(He's upset, so I comfort him.)
他生病了，我照顾他。(He's sick, so I took care of him.)


What is this character? How to identify it? Came across this etching in a ABAC pattern as the A:

The more complicated ones were easier to identify, but this one is kind of tricky.

One guess was that it was the character for 今, but that doesn't check out because it would probably look more like this:

Any ideas what this is? How to go about identifying it?

The character is the Shuowen seal form of「克」.

「克」was originally a compound of「由」(a helmet, top part of「冑」) and a reduced form of「皮」(an animal being skinned for its hide, with the action being represented by the hand「又」;「又」is not present in the original forms of「克」):

Illustrative purposes only; this may not be strictly how the character changed over the years.

Compare:


讷 as nò, an exclamation meaning "Here you go" Encountered this in the Pimsleur transcript:

  Nánrén: Wô gêi nî yìdiânr Rénmínbì. Nò.
  Shí jiû kuài Rénmínbì. Xiànzài nî yôu
  duöshâo qián?

  男人：我给你一点儿人民币。讷。 十九
  块人民币。现在你有多少钱？

  Man: I’ll give you some Renminbi. Here you
  go. 14 Renminbi. Now you have how much
  money?

They use it many times and always in the context of someone giving money or an item in a business transaction.  The translation is always "here you go" or "here you are".

I can't find any other uses of this word in this way, or any dictionary mentioning this meaning.  Is this a common expression?  Is it regional?

Is this the same thing as 喏 / nuò?

I think the correct character might be

吶 na4 used as an auxiliary word 语助词

We say 吶 na4 sometimes when giving someone something, so saying 吶 + the gesture of giving the thing away does translate to "here you go". The way I have heard it the most is "呐，这个给你".

However, I'd only use 吶 in informal speech with family or friends. It's quite casual and I don't think it's appropriate for professional settings, including business transactions.

  Reference Notes

In the Zdic entry of 吶, it lists 讷 as interchangeable with 吶 when pronounced ne4 which means slow of speech or to speak with a stammer (讲话迟钝或口吃). I'm guessing this might be where typo stems from.
From the same Zdic entry mentioned above, one of the meanings of 吶 is 表示提醒注意 to get someone's attention. I think this "getting attention" + "the gesture of handing over something" combined implies the meaning of "here you go".
As an auxiliary word 語助詞, you can use 吶 in other cases without the meaning "here you go", for example "天吶" equivalent to "天啊" which is an exclamation similar to "Gee" or "Yikes" or "Oh".
吶 is commonly seen as part of the word 吶喊 which means to shout / cry out.


Is 猪肉饭 the actual name of a specific Chinese dish or is it merely a description of any pork-and-rice meal? I know there's a dish named luroufan but in another forum (Duolingo) there's mention of "zhuroufan".

So obviously zhurou is pork and fan is rice but can also I suppose just mean "meal".

What I'm not sure about is whether this refers to a specific dish in Chinese as the names of Chinese dishes are very often quite concise or idiomatic anyway.

There is no such word, at least few people say it, in Taiwan. However, we might call a bowl of rice and some slices of roasted pork as "燒(roasted)肉飯"、"燒肉丼(a kind of Japanese famous dishes)".


What is the usage of 物 here? From Daodejing 25:

  有物混成，先天地生。寂兮寥兮，獨立不改，周行而不殆，可以為天下母。

I have seen this translated as both:

  "There is a being, wonderful, perfect; It existed before heaven and
  earth. How quiet it is! How spiritual it is! It stands alone and it
  does not change. It moves around and around, but does not on this
  account suffer. All life comes from it."

and

  "There was something undefined and complete, coming into existence
  before Heaven and Earth. How still it was and formless, standing
  alone, and undergoing no change, reaching everywhere and in no danger
  (of being exhausted)! It may be regarded as the Mother of all things."

What is 物 here precisely? And what does 混成 mean in relation to 物?

I think that "the thing" can't be explianted precisely. We can't give it a name because"名可名，非常名".
When it comes to the relationship between "混成" and"物".It's naturally to say  that "混成" is the adverbial of "物".
"混成" have several meanings at the same time.
1： 混杂而成：Everything is contained in "the thing".
2： 混然一体：However,"the thing" can't be separated as it makes no sense—— just like "ok" is not a part of "book" although "o" and "k" is 2 letters of the word "book".
3： 自然形成："自然" is more suitable to be explained as"by itself" than "naturally" here. The orign and reason of "the thing" is itself so it's a perfect thing.


part-of-speech of 只有 I am not sure what are the possible part-of-speeches of 只有

What are the part-of-speeches of 只有 in these sentences?

水深也'只有'十二米
'只有'通过学者的社区考验过的思想，才有活力

只有 can mean 'only/ just/ merely' in the first example

  水深也'只有'十二米 = "The water depth is only/ just/ merely 12M"

  '也' before '只有' is a modal word that put emphasis on the 'not substantial' aspect in the term 'only/ just/ merely', if '只有' means 'only', '也只有' would mean 'just only'

  只(only) is an adverb for the verb 有 (has)  '十二米' here

~

  只有 can only mean 'only' in the second example, because there is a "才有" (can then have) in the second part of the sentence.

  '只有'通过学者的社区考验过的思想，才有活力 = "Only through scholars' socially experimented thinking, can then have life (be alive).."

  '才有' in the second part indicates the statement in the first part is a requirement'

  只有 (only) is an adverb for the verb 通过 (thought) here


才vs 先: When to use each one in Mandarin? In Cantonese, you use 先 to mean "first." For example:

  Eat first => 先食

In Mandarin, most people use 才 so it becomes:

  才吃

But sometimes people also use 先 even with Mandarin, so what are the guidelines in Mandarin for using 才vs 先?

才 and 先 are both very common words in Mandarin. Like you said, 先 means first in Cantonese, but it is the same in Mandarin.

先 means first or previous in time(or order), or means earlier than ..., or means in advance, or means before ..., the opposite word is 后(means later).
examples: 早先,先前 both mean previously(or in the past). 先人 means ancestor

她比我们先到了那里——She got there before us.
才 has two kinds of character.

When it's used as noun it means
ability or talent or gift. (example:你真有才——you really have talent! 多才多艺——be gifted in many ways.)

When it's used as adv, it
means just now (example:刚才——just now, 才开始——just start),

or means
things happen or finish so late (example:你怎么才来——Why are you so late!,
他昨天才走——He doesn't leave until yesterday).

or means short in
number (example:你才十八岁——you are only 18 years old!)

or means only
...when (example: Only when you try hard, you can get good
results——努力才有好结果),

or mean emphasize (example: I'm not buying what you
said at all——我才不信你说的呢)

this is all I know, hope it helps


链接, 连接, 连结, 联接, 联结 - lianjie - is it a joke and if not, what's the difference? Amongst 链接, 连接, 连结, 联接, 联结 - which one is the most correct to use in which situation? Is one more formal than others? Maybe the meanings are different? Please, write as much as possible about differences between these words which mean "link, connect".

There is a story.

There is a Japanese cellphone game called “Princess Connect! Re:Dive” (プリンセスコネクト! Re:Dive). Before it was officially released in China, people are discussing which is the correct translation of the name, because in the context all these words have almost the same meaning "connected". But when it is released the official name 公主连结 is the least discussed, as if the company is trying to avoid people's expectation. Any way, folks are calling it 公主焊接(princess weld) now.

Beyond the story:

break the words:

链: originally means a chain, but now more refer to a internet link
连: physical connection (from distance)
联: abstract connection
接: connect by touching
结: knot

The words:

链接: link to, internet related word
连接: connect, more physically, but can infer abstract connect
连结: physically tie the knot, metaphor for spiritual connection.
联接: abstract connection between people
联结: a combination of 联接 and 连结, spiritually tie the knot, same as spiritual connection.

Usage:

链接 is almost always used under internet context
连接 can be physical or abstract, but usually not between people
连结, 联接 and 联结 are usually abstract, where 连结 and 联结 are mostly for people relationships.

In Chinese, verbs can be used as nouns. Here is the case.


Learn the characters at the same time as the language? Should I learn Mandarin basics first through pinyin and worry about the characters later, or should I learn them together? Pros and cons?

There is a key difference between learning the language as a native speaker, and learning the language as a second language. Native speakers of all languages invariably learn speaking and listening skills first, and only start to learn reading and writing at school, after the age of about 3 or 4. Learning a language as a second language, reading and writing have more prominence and can expedite some of the learning, but this also depends on a person's 'learning style'. Generally, combining all four communication skills is better.

To clarify what I am trying to say, my own experience of learning Chinese (and other languages) mixes all four modalities (reading, writing, speaking, listening). I find that learning the characters sometimes gives insight into the relationships between words (the semantics), that are not obvious from how they are said. Sometimes the process works the other way, as I see patterns in the written characters that are reflected in the sound.


Character: “Kei” For “To Go” (去) In Sichuanese 怎么在四川说话居然还会听不懂了

  宜宾话和很多四川其他地方的话有代沟的，比如去字，宜宾读kei成都以南大多读ji以北读qi网上读qie

  广安人表示也都kei

  呵呵，就是，克耍。有些字眼他们真的不懂了

宜宾方言

  出克：外出

克 seems to be the substitute character for kei but is there a REAL character for this word?

As Claw says, 去 is the historical character for it. This could come from 文白异读, that is, literary/colloquial readings. That would make sense, because colloquial readings are often either more innovative, or are a throwback.

Another option would be borrowing it from another variety, e.g. Cantonese keoi.


Complements of degree that aren't extreme? I'm not sure if anyone has thought about this before, but there seems to be something missing in terms of Chinese complements of degree for adjectives：

高兴得 不得了 / 坏了 / 极了 / 死了

These all take the adjective to the extreme - extremely, amazingly, wonderfully happy.

Are there adjectival complements of degree which are just a little bit happy, so... 高兴得一点儿 or 高兴得未免?

Is there an obvious reason why adjectival complements of degree only seem to be in the extreme range?!

Let's take a look of the first example:

  高兴得不得了

The first 得 is a structure of emphasis. It can be translated into English structure "So A that B": "So 高兴 that 不得了（了）". Literal meaning of “不得了” is some extraordinary thing happens. For example "不得了了，房子着火了" (House is under fire). So the literal translation of 高兴得不得了 is "So happy that the happiness is extraordinary". And "so x that x" in English is never used for mild extend, instead it is for extreme extends.

Other adjectival complements are similar. You might only want to express your happiness, when the level of 高兴 exceed some kind threshold. If it is not significant, you might not even bother saying you are happy.

I will try to give you another example. Say you are dragged to a party by your roommate, but you don't want to go at all. You expect it to be super boring, but when you actually arrived there, you feel a little happy. You are surprised by this feeling: it is not what you expected. Now you want to say you are 'a little happy'. You can say "我居然有一点高兴。" Now that "有一点" makes sense. If you want to decorate the sentence to show more ironic emotion, you can say "我居然有那么一点小高兴".


What does dian gui bu mean? I've tracked 點鬼簿 as far as 張鷟《朝野僉載》. I thought it was something like 'augmenting the records of the dead', but I don't really understand it?

It's a derogatory word.
It's used to mock poems which abused name of the ancients and historical stories.


Translation: 'Overwhelm' Overwhelm is a difficult word to deal with.
I've seen 难不倒 translated as wouldn't have overwhelmed and XX 劳力 大 as something's power being overwhelming.
Oxford has

难以忍受的 (heat, pressure)
难以抑制的 (feeling, sorrow, interest)

These two sound very much like direct English translations than proper Chinese, and not very accurate either.
难以忍受 sounds more like unbearable than overwhelming, while 难以抑制 sounds more like uncontrollable.
Let's take these three examples:

It was a bit overwhelming to say the least.

The work seemed very overwhelming at first.

The situation made me feel overwhelmed.

How can we translate overwhelming here in a nice colloquial way?

As a native Chinese speaker who is learning English, I have the same problem. And I don't think there is word in Chinese similar to overwhelming. The solution I came to is change the expression completely depending on the context. So here are my tries for the examples:

It was a bit overwhelming to say the least.

  再怎么说，这也有点太多/过分/严格了

  This translation really depends on what the subject is. If it is something too much, use 太多, if it is something too went too far use 过分, if it is some overwhelming requirement use 太严格.

The work seemed very overwhelming at first.

  一开始这个工作可能有点难以应付/这个工作可能压力很大。

The situation made me feel overwhelmed.

  这情况让我压力很大。

P.S:

Similar as overwhelming, I couldn't find the word in English for 过分 in sentence like 你太过分了!.

It means "you went too far!" or "you are way cross the line here!" but both of them seemed too civilised for the original tone since the Chinese one can be yelled out at a raging scolding tone and contains strong personal opinion but both the English version seem to be too fact based.


Subordination in Chinese Linguists claim that subordination is universal across the world languages.

Subordination in English looks can be understood by looking into these examples:

I know a person who has a dog

I know a person who has a dog which barks at a cat

I know a person who has a dog which barks at a cat which lives in a house

I know a person who has a dog which barks at a cat which lives in a house which is located in a city which ....

You get the idea...

I would like to know how could we translate the longest English sentence from the examples into Chinese (with preserving the subordination), that is, leave everything in one sentence.
like:

我知道一个的人。

我知道一个有狗的人。

I am no Chinese nor English native speaker, but my intuition is telling me that this sentence, however unnatural, sounds more naturally in English than in Chinese, is that the case?

I even have doubts if subordination really exists in Chinese...

If I extrapolate what you are doing, it actually becomes "unnatural" to me, because the subordinate clause is inserted in front of the noun that is being modified, but after the original verb. Your examples can be translated like the following:

I know a person.
我認識某個人

I know a person who has a dog.
我認識某位有養狗的人

I know a person who has a dog which barks at a cat.
我認識某位養有會對貓吠的狗的人

I know a person who has a dog which barks at a cat which lives in a house.
我認識某位養有會對那隻住在屋裡的貓吠的狗的人

I briefly add/tweak some charaters so that it makes more sense to me.... I'll leave it up to you to see if you can just "get the idea". :)

If I "naturally" say these, it'll probably not be all subornate clause but shorter SVO phrases:

I know a person
我認識某個人

I know a person who has a dog
我認識某個人，有養狗

I know a person who has a dog which barks at a cat
我認識某個人，養的狗會對貓吠

I know a person who has a dog which barks at a cat which lives in a house
我認識某個人，那人養的狗會對貓吠，那貓還住在房子裡


Problem with Windows 10 Chinese Input Disclaimer: I started to learn chinese a few weeks ago..

I just installed the Chinese Simplified input method on my Windows 10 laptop and started doing some tests with pinyin and Microsoft Word. However, something seems to be wrong or (more likely) I am missing something:

when I try to type "girl" in pinyin I got the wrong characters completed. That is, I enter nuhai I got this: 奴孩  is this the correct character for girl?

In Chinese , you should press "nv" instead of "nu". "v" here means "ü" in pronunciation.

For more about Pinyin, you can see this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyin


Which of 法国, 法兰西, and 法兰斯 is the most common word for France? I saw these 3 and now I'm confused. Which one is more common? Where are and what for are they used?

  法国
  法兰西
  法兰斯

For your question, as a native Chinese speaker, I use 法國。

(For illustration purposes, I have below pronunciations in Mandarin for your references. P: Pinyin, I: IPA)

There seems to be some categories of way we name countries:

Sound and meaning transcription.

e.g. 新西蘭 (New Zealand)

新 means new
西蘭 is the sound transcription

美利堅合衆國 (USA)

美利堅 is the sound transcription of America
合衆國 corresponds to the meaning of "United States".

Sound transcription

e.g. 紐西蘭 (New Zealand)
意大利 (Italy)
澳大利亞 (Australia)
俄羅斯 (Russia), but the sound transcription may have come from the Mongolian transcription, but there isn't concrete proof, since similar transcriptions may have existed > 650 years.

Shortened transcription (1 character + 國)

e.g. 美國 (USA)

Sometimes, we may name some countries with more than one way using rules above.

法國、俄國、英國、美國. These short forms are the most commonly used names for the countries: France, Russia, UK, USA. This may only work if the country's name can be represented with only 1 Chinese character (since Chinese love disyllabic words more than monosyllabic words). Otherwise, we would use rules below.

From personal experience, we don't usually say the full form of names if a short form is commonly used, perhaps except for 俄羅斯 (Russia).

Here are some we don't extract the first character + 國. For example, 意大利 (Italy), 新加坡/星加坡 (Singapore). Singapore may be called 星洲/星島 (Singapore Island). 澳大利亞 may be shortened to 澳洲 (Australia Island). If the sound transcription of the name is already 2 syllables, then we never shorten it.

I have no conclusive answer for the reason of the pattern though.

Pronunciations:

新西蘭 (P: xin1xi1lan2 I: /ɕɪn55.ɕi55.lan35/)
美利堅 (P: mei3li4jian1 I: /meɪ21.li51.tɕjɛn55/)
合衆國 (P: he2zhong4guo2 I: /xɤ35.ʈʂʊŋ51.kuɔ35/)
紐西蘭 (P: niu3xi1lan2 I: /njoʊ21.ɕi55.lan35/)
意大利 (P: yi4da4li4 I: /i51.ta51.li51/)
澳大利亞 (P: ao4da4li4ya4 I: /ɑʊ51.ta51.li51.ja51/)
俄羅斯 (P: e2luo2si1 I: /ɤ35.luɔ35.sɯ55/)
星加坡 (P: xing1jia1po1 I: /ɕɪŋ55.tɕja55.pʰɔ55/)
澳洲 (P: ao4zhou1 I: /ɑʊ51.ʈʂoʊ55/)


Parsing and understanding 吃 in 对不断变化的模式无法继续追加观察，而吃了经由茧利在纳贾库普身体中...? I am trying to improve my reading comprehension and I was curious about something I have read in Japanese to Chinese translation of a manga light novel:

  实际上，对不断变化的模式无法继续追加观察，而吃了经由茧利在纳贾库普身体中设置的装置产生的电气刺激。full context.

I want to understand why does it say "吃" here? What is the target of 吃 if it is meaning "eating?" / Who is doing the "吃"?

If someone can break the sentence down and help me understand and parse it, I will be thankful!

The text you posted is extended from a simple sentence

  " Subject (omitted) 吃了 (took) 电气刺激 (an electric shock)

  from the simple sentence above, additional relative clauses are added to give more information:

  "对不断变化的模式无法继续追加观察" stating the cause of the subject took an electric shock, was the subject couldn't track and observe the continually changing mode (of an object, which is also omitted)

  "经由茧利在纳贾库普身体中设置的装置产生的" is a adjectival clause for the noun "电气刺激". It describes the origin of the electric shock (which was generated by the device that 茧利 implanted in 纳贾库普's body)

  '吃' in '吃了' doesn't mean 'to eat' , it means 'took' as in  'took a left hook' (吃了一记左钩拳)

[实际上，] "In fact" (opening proclamation)

[subject] (omitted)

[对不断变化的模式无法继续追加观察，] (relative clause, stating the cause)

[而] "Therefore"

[吃了] " took"

[经由茧利在纳贾库普身体中设置的装置产生的] (relative clause, adds details information on the following noun

[电气刺激。] electric shock (noun)

[吃了电气刺激。] "took an electric shock" (result)


What does 其 mean in 授予其创意改变世界和影响今天所有人类的人? In the following sentence:

  计算机历史博物馆从1987年起每年颁发会员奖，授予其创意改变世界和影响今天所有人类的人。

The meaning would be something like the following:

  The computer history museum issues the prize from 1987, giving it to people who changed the world and made an influence on all the people.

However, I don't understand what 其 here refers to. According to a dictionary, it means "that" or "it" or "theirs" or any such demonstrative pronouns, but in this case:

其 here refers to 会员奖 and 创意 is a verb, making the sentence 授予(V)会员奖(O)人(O)
创意 is a noun, and 其 modifies 创意, making the sentence 授予(V)其创意(O)人(O)
Or anything others that I missed

Which is the correct decomposition of grammar in this sentence? And generally how should 其 be used in these cases?

其 means 他/她的 (his/her), it modifies 创意, so 其创意 means "his/her 创意".

The structure of the whole sentence is V+O, i.e. 授予(verb) + 人(object). "其创意改变世界和影响今天所有人类的" is a long modifier which modifies "人". The museum award the prize to "people", what kind of people they are? The people "whose 创意改变世界和影响今天所有人类".


What does 专门用来找工作 mean? In the following sentence:

  来自西北民族大学的小郑也选择到北京找工作，她问记者展示了她的“求职基金”，“我在研二时获得了国家奖学金，除去学费还剩1万多元，这些钱我存在了一张卡里，专门用来找工作。

I understand the meaning before the bold part, which tells a student stocked money for job searching. But what does the bold part mean and how can I breat down the components grammatically? 专门 likely means the speciality of jobs, but then the sentence doesn't make sense for me...

专门 - specially
用 - use ("used" here)
来 - for
找工作 - job searching/seeking

So the whole sentence means "(the stocked money) is used for job searching specially".


How are the two versions of 別 / 别 used? I've noticed that 別 / 别 have two slightly different variations.

Is there any difference in how the respective variations are used?

They are just variants of the same character.

别 is the one chosen in the standard of China Mainland.

別 is the one chosen in the standards of Hong Kong, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam.


What kinship terms to use for spouses of aunts and uncles in same-sex relationships? In Chinese, the terms for aunts and uncles are pretty specific, depending on the exact relationship:

Father's older brother's wife: 伯娘
Father's younger brother's wife: 嬸嬸
Father's sister's husband: 姑丈
Mother's brother's wife: 舅母
Mother's sister's husband: 姨丈

But what terms should be used for spouses of aunts and uncles in same-sex relationships?  (I assume that neologisms are required for these "novel" concepts.)

Same sex marriage is a relatively new concept to Chinese. Different people may address the same sex partners of their aunts and uncles differently. Most likely people would call them by the general term 姨姨 and 叔叔 like they would call a stranger who is close to their father's age.
I would suggest:

Your (mother's sister) aunt's partner is also your aunt (姨姨) To tell them apart, you can add the last name before 'aunt' If your aunt married a woman whose last name was Chan. you would call her 'Aunt Chan' (陳姨姨)
Your (father's brother) uncle's partner is also your uncle (叔叔). You also call them 'last name + uncle' (e.g. 陳叔叔)

~

Your father's sister is your 姑姑, and you can call her partner '(last name)+姨姨'
Your mother's brother is your 舅舅, and you can call his partner '(last name)+叔叔'


A question about use of 为止 辣椒对我们饮食的影响是否就到此为止呢?

The use of "wei zhi" in this sentence puzzles me. In some contexts it means "until," but I think the sentence basically means, "Does the influence of hot peppers on our diet end here?" I think the author intends a rhetorical question--to convey the idea that the influence of spicy foods is growing.

Does this seem right? Thanks for any insights.

It is better to learn "到此为止" as one compound word.  For example, 今天的会议就到此为止吧. The meeting of today ends right now. "到此为止" implies that there may be more issues but will be handled next time. It is somehow different from 今天的会议开完了. The meeting of today completed now.

Also it is better to learn "是否就到此为止呢?" also as a whole phrase. This question implies its answer, such as, "显然不是!" Instead of a question, it is a way to emphasize the answer. In English, "Are these all of the problems? No, definitely not."

You also mentioned "until". That is a different usage. Such as "直到...为止. For example, "我们不能回家，直到把这个题目做完为止. We will not go home until the project is completed.


Differences between 谁都, 哪儿都, 什么都? Differences between 谁都, 哪儿都, 什么都?

Am I making the following sentences right?

Everyone knows what he does on the weekend.
谁都知道他在周末做什么.

Everywhere he goes he’s trouble.
他去哪儿都是麻烦.

I don’t have anything.
我什么都没有.

Your sentences are correct. 谁都 has something to do with people, and therefore everyone. 哪儿都 has something to do with locations, and therefore everywhere. 什么都 has something to do with things, and therefore everything.

Although you have your sentences correct, I have to say be careful with the affirmative and the negative versions. If you use 谁都+没, then it should beno one. If you use 哪儿都+没, then it should be nowhere. If you use 什么都+没, then it should be nothing or anything.


Is 不要在厨房里留下任何废物 the correct way of saying "do not leave any waste in the kitchen"? Is 不要在厨房里留下任何废物 the correct way of saying "do not leave any waste in the kitchen"?

Background: I'm living in an apartment building in Taipei and there is a common kitchen on the first floor that I often use. Unfortunately, the other folks from the building who use the kitchen sometimes leave the trash in the kitchen after they're done instead of taking it out. I am thinking of sticking a small note on the refrigerator just to let them know not to leave waste in the kitchen. So my question is: Is 不要在厨房里留下任何废物 the correct way of saying "do not leave any waste in the kitchen"? Because that's what I got from google translate.

不要在廚房裡留下任何廢物

It is an acceptable translation of "do not leave any waste in the kitchen", you can use it just fine.

However, if you want to be a little more formal, you can write "please don't leave garbage in the kitchen" (請勿在厨房留下垃圾)

you don't need '裡' in '在廚房裡' ;  '在' alone in '在厨房' already covered the meaning of 'in'

you can remove '任何' in '任何垃圾' ;  just like 'dog' in 'no dog allowed' already meant 'all / any dog'

Shorter note get the point across better. Just like '不准泊車' is better than '各位先生女士，在任何時間內都千萬不要在這個地點停泊任何車輛，包括摩托車及電動輪椅' (you can google translate this sentence) -- No one would read it.


How can I say "caps" in Chinese? I am thinking of something like "screen caps" term in English. I mean the movie part with a subtitle, as a photo. How can I say "screen caps" / "movie caps" in Chinese?

Generic screen caps in Chinese is 截圖 / 截图. If you really want to specify it is from a movie, you can add "movies" in front, i.e. 電影截圖, or for videos in general 影片截圖 or 視訊截圖. Usually that is not very necessary.


Basic sentence: "I have lost my... (camera/keys etc" I wanted to write "I have lost my camera", and looked this up on google translate, which gave 我失去了我的相机.

Google translte also gives 丢失 as equivalent to 失去 and meaning 'to lose'. So I suppose one could also write 我丢失了我的相机.

This sentence structure is very similar to English, so would be easy to use. However looking on line dictionary, there were no such example sentences of the same form expressing loss. Instead there was 我把钥匙丢了, as in 'I lost my keys', so I presume from this we would say 我把相机丢了. Looking at the definition of 把, it seems this means more like 'I have lost hold of my keys', or more literally 'my hold on my keys is gone'.

Which might be the more natural way to say this, if both are acceptable?

我丢失了我的相机 is the formal way to say I lost my camera, whilst 我把相机丢了 or 我把相机弄丢了 is more colloquial.

There are some differences between 丢失 and 失去.

丢失 means you lost something.

失去 means you can not keep something precious(often abstract things, like your love, someone's trust and kindness, etc.) any more because of some reason behind. For example, 你失去了你的爱人，meaning you can not get the hold of your lover. There should be some reason why she left you. It might be she wouldn't love you any more.

In short, 丢失 means you lost something you don't know where it has gone, whilst 失去 most of time you know where it has gone and also the reason why.


What is the most common word in use to describe 'DVD' and what is its measure word I've heard the Chinese are fine to use the English word DVD, rather than the chinese word.  What is more common, and what measure word do they use with it?

I had always used guanng pan (光盘) with ge (个), however I am told that it would be better to use pan (盘) or zhang (张). DVD is commonly used as is die pian (碟片) with the measure word bu (部) or zhang (张).

According to my Chinese friend DVD is most commonly used.

You will also hear wu（五 or jiu（九）after DVD if you're in a shop to signify the type of DVD (DVD 5 or DVD 9).


Children's room in Chinese I have a homework to describe my apartment. How do you call a children's room in Chinese? Is it common to have a room for kids in China? Looking through possible combinations of 孩子，房间，and 间 in the dictionary I couldn't come up with something decent.

A children's room would be called 儿童房(er2 tong2 fang2), and if you happen to want to say nursery, if the word nursery happens to fit the use of the room, it would be 保育室 (bao3 yu4 shi4).


What is the function of 乃 in 子甫至乃去乎 ? i understand:
子甫至 - you just arrived a moment ago.
去 - go.
乎 - character that makes the sentence a question.

What is the role of 乃 in this sentence?

乃, also means 就, which means "about to" in your sentence.

You arrived just a moment ago, and about to go just like that?


How to determine if a personal name is feminine or masculine? Sometimes when working with Chinese names it is not evidently clear whether the person in question is male or female.

Besides using pure, fallible, intuition - what other methods are there to tell if a name is feminine or a masculine?

There are no general rules. Here are some rough guidelines:

Some characters are used almost exclusively for one gender. For example, almost any character containing 女 will generally only be found in women's names.
This is particularly true for names like 娟娟, where the 女 radical is part of the meaning. Common characters like 安 or 好 can appear in male names just as easily, despite the fact that they have the 女 radical.

Names that reference flowers, precious stones or beauty, as well as "cute" names are more likely to be women's names. Names that sound grandiose or political are more likely to be men's names. Some characters that strongly point towards a feminine name are 玲 (líng, a word relating to jewelry), 瑩 (yíng, a precious stone), 蓉 (róng, hibiscus flower), as well as 彤 (tóng, red), 美, 麗, 佳, and 艷, all of which mean "beautiful". Conversely, some male-specific characters are 宇 (yú, space), 勇 (brave), 昊 (hào, vast) as well as 囯, 大, 東 and 平.

Once you get used to hearing Chinese men's and women's names, you will become better at guessing which is which. Some sounds and combinations of sounds are more common in one than the other, although that would be too complex to list here.

However, in Chinese there are no formal rules about names, and any family can name their child whatever they like, even if the name does not match the child's gender. So there is no definitive way to identify a person's gender from their name -- not even for Chinese people themselves.


Mandarin: when do you use 那麼 vs 這麼? In Mandarin, when do you use 那麼 vs 這麼? In Cantonese, there isn't this issue since you just use 噉.

那麼/ 這麼 is the Mandarin counterpart of 噉 in Cantonese.

Example: 那麼辦好嗎? (is it okay to do it like that?) = 噉做好咩?

Example: 這麼辦好嗎? (is it okay to do it like this?) = 噉做好咩?

The difference between 那麼 and 這麼 is the proximity. We use '這' when the object is near you; and use '那' when the object is not near you.

'噉' in Cantonese doesn't make this distinction.

You can point at something right in front of you and say "噉?" which is from the point of your own perspective.
You can point at something in a distance and say "噉?" which is from the object's point of perspective.


How do I use 着呢 correctly? So 着呢, from the book I am currently studying (汉语教程) says it uses it at the end of a sentence to express “very”. However, my teacher said this is incorrect and said 着呢 is used to express something is happening. So which one is right in this situation with 着呢 (because I heard the 着 is a verb complement, indicating the current state of action).

The book is correct and your teacher is correct with their other suggested meaning.
KEY defines 着呢 as:

1 {colloquial} quite (intensifying particle following an adjective, e.g., yuǎnzhene 遠著呢/远着呢)
2 (following an action verb, stresses the action is ongoing [and unfinished]) ‖ (pronounced "zhine" in Beijing colloquial)

So if you see 着呢 after an adjective it probably means “very,” or “quite.” But, if you see it after a verb it’s most likely telling you that something is still ongoing.


How to correctly translate 为达目的不择手段 in English? I have a lot of context that I want to use this phrase to describe a certain type of people. I tried to translate it as "Not being ashamed of using evil methods to accomplish goals". But I think my translation is still a little bit redundant and not formal enough. Can someone help me make it less redundant and more accurate?

Update

Sometimes the context might not be "by immoral means", it also encapsulated a context of "by unusual means". For ex, someone has solved an engineering problem by extremely brutal force which violated existing engineering standard and regulations, it works, but it also makes it way harder to integrate his solution into a more comprehensive system. Colleagues might think he's too achievement-oriented that breaks certain rules and conditions that other people have maintained.

Generally speaking, I encourage you to check out the meaning in Chinese when you encounter 成语. It took me a while to finally get to know that it is hard to understand what a given 成语 means in English but is clear enough once I read the explanation in Chinese (this holds true of any words but especially so in the case of 成语, which is closely related to the culture).
Back to the topic, 不择手段 means:

指为达到某种目的，什么样的手段都可以使出来。

In English, the word means:

In order to achieve a goal, a person uses whatever he or she could (including anything considered immoral or dishonest by others).

Don't try to understand it by an English dictionary as the listed meaning is quite awkward and hard to grasp. For example, in the case of 不择手段:

unscrupulously

by fair means or foul

These explanations sound less redundant, but seems to me the loss of original meaning.


Can someone please translate this for me? http://i.solidfiles.net/690a5c4a8c.jpg

I really need it as fast as I can, sorry if it's not appropiate to request translations like this, but it's for a relative of mine who really needs it. It's from an age preventing drug, I need to know what it contains, how should it be taken, etc. Thanks to anyone who'll try to help.

黄芪: the root of membranous milk vetch (Astragalus membranaceus)

刺五加: manyprickle (Acanthopanax senticosus)

山药: dioscorea [rhizome]; also called Chinese yam.

淫羊藿: epimedium

Need to see the instructions inside on how to take it.

Edit: says it also contains saponin and crude polysaccharide and it's not good for children.


Can an adverb modify another adverb in Chinese? I was wondering if an adverb in Chinese can be used to modify another adverb. I looked some resources but I could not find it. For example, in Adverb in resources.allsetlearning, they just say "Adverbs are words that modify verbs and adjectives.".
In particular, I was thinking in English you can say You speak too fast, where too is an adverb that modifies the adverb fast.
In Chinese, I know 快 can either be an adjective or an adverb.

We could translate the previous English sentence to Chinese as:

你说得太快。
Nǐ shuō de tài kuài.
You speak too fast.

But here, 快 works as an adjective as it follows the structure Verb + 得 + 太 + Adj.

Moreover, I think you can also say:

你快说。
Nǐ kuài shuō.
You speak fast.

Here 快 is an adverb.

I was wondering if it is also possible to say:

你太快说。
Nǐ tài kuài shuō.
You speak too fast.

Where both 太 and 快 would be adverbs.

we don't say 你太快说

你说得太快

means you speak too fast

你快说

expresses that I want you to speak faster, it's like a request.
你快说 can be used on informal occasions (with your friends or your family). We don't say it to people you are not familiar with, they would think you are being impolite and inpatient.
You can say "你可不可以快点说？“ This sentence is better than 你快说. It's more polite and good attitude.


What is the difference between 大学的二年级学生 and 大学二年级的学生? My mom says 大学二年级的学生 is correct, but I don't understand how the other one is wrong. I believe both convey the same meaning. Is one wrong because of syntax?

The 的 in the two sentences have different functions

[大学的] + [二年级学生] --> [of the university] + [the second-year students] = "the second-year students of the university" (的 here is a possessive marker that indicates the university possess the second-year students)

[大学二年级的] + [学生]--> [of the second-year class in the university] + [students] = "the students of the second-year class in the university" (的 here is an adjective marker that marks 'the second-year class' as an adjectival phrase that describes the students. It can be reduced to '大学二年级学生' because unlike the possessive 的, the adjectival 的 is often omitted

Example sentence:
我們大学的二年级学生有一半是外國人 (Half of the second-year students in our university are foreigners)
小張是一名大学二年级(的)学生 (Xiao Zhang is a second-year university student)


What is the difference between the measure words 面 vs 张 Apparently both are measure words for flat objects, are they interchangeable or is there a difference to the types of flat objects they are used for?

张 (zhang1) is used for different objects, that may or may not be related with each other, e.g. sheets and flat furniture. If we really want to find a common denominator, I think that would be objects that are spread open [1]:

纸 paper (一张纸 a sheet of paper)
地图 map
照片 photo, picture
桌子 table
床 bed
木板 plank
脸 face （一张脸）
嘴 mouth （一张嘴）
弓 (gong1) bow （一张弓）

面 (mian4) is used for flat objects with a face or a surface:

镜子 mirror
旗子 flag
墙、墙壁 wall
鼓 drum
锣 （luo2) gong
盾 (dun4) shield

[1] that's not a dictionary definition. It's personal advice that hopefully makes enough sense to you to work as a reasonable rule of thumb.


how to translate "何如" in 呂氏春秋? this question is made, and answer provided; in response to a comment in another question:

How to translate the phrase 利而物利章 in context?

cause, my explanation is too long to put in the comment area; sorry about that.

so, let's start: how to translate "何如", particularly in the book 呂氏春秋?

there're 7 occurrences of "何如" in 呂氏春秋:

http://ctext.org/lv-shi-chun-qiu/zh?searchu=何如

translate "何如" as "how" is appropriate, in some of them.

１　季冬紀﹒不侵　http://ctext.org/lv-shi-chun-qiu/bu-qin/zh?searchu=何如&searchmode=showall#result

  孟嘗君之好士何如

何如 is how --> how is (何如) mr maang (孟嘗君) fond of (好) gentlemen? (士)

２　審應覽﹒應言　http://ctext.org/lv-shi-chun-qiu/ying-yan/zh?searchu=何如&searchmode=showall#result

  公之事何如

何如 is how --> how (何如) is your (公之) business (事)?

３　離俗覽﹒離俗　http://ctext.org/lv-shi-chun-qiu/li-su/zh?searchu=何如&searchmode=showall#result

  伊尹何如

何如 is how --> how (何如) about mr yi (伊尹)?

４　先識覽﹒悔過　http://ctext.org/lv-shi-chun-qiu/hui-guo/zh?searchu=何如&searchmode=showall#result

  寡人興師，未知何如

this 何如 can be shortcut to result, or outcome; from "what's the result", or, "how's the outcome"

i (寡人 is a specialised first person pronoun used by sovereign) send the troop, unknown (未知) the outcome (何如)

５　貴直論﹒過理　http://ctext.org/lv-shi-chun-qiu/guo-li/zh?searchu=何如&searchmode=showall#result

  我何如主也

this "何如" should be "what" --> what type (何如) of sovereign (主) am i (我)?

to be balance, treat "何如" as "how" is also possible:

how do (何如) you think about me (我), as a sovereign (主)?

６　審分覽﹒審分　http://ctext.org/lv-shi-chun-qiu/shen-fen/zh?searchu=何如&searchmode=showall#result

  其轡何如

this "何如" should be "what" --> what's (何如) his (其) means (轡)

轡 (u+8f61) means bridle, a gear for a rider to "control" his horse. it was used here as a metaphor of sovereign's means to employ his officials. (有道之主﹒其所以使群臣者亦有轡)

then, last one:

７　恃君覽﹒恃君　http://ctext.org/lv-shi-chun-qiu/shi-jun/zh?searchu=何如&searchmode=showall#result

  君道何如

"how should a ruler rules" is good, in english. however, as a translation, it's not.

"何如" --> "how should, it's ok; but the remaining, "君道" --> "a ruler rules", well, improper.

cause, "君道" as a noun here, is an entity, which is the same, in verses before this one:

  而君道不廢者

and (而), the principles of sovereign (君道) is not (不) discarded (廢)

  而立其行君道者

and (而), support (立) the one who (其) carry out (行) [according to] the principles of sovereign (君道)

briefly, "何如" can be translated to "how", in most occurrences in the book 呂氏春秋. sometime, it's better to translate it as "what".

about "君道", it's an entity. divide it into subject + verb; well, would be betrayal :)


Why do Malaysians have Cantonese surnames? I vaguely know that Cantonese is quite widely spoken in Kuala Lumpur and the peninsular area of Malaysia.

Is this the reasons why many Malaysian colleagues have surnames that are common in Hong Kong? (i.e Khoo Boo Leung)

Fong is also a surname used in Malaysia (Fung would be the Cantonese variant).

Historically, there were waves of emigrants from Southern China to Southeast Asia since 明 dynasty (1368-1644). So, their descendants shared the same Cantonese, Hokkien surnames with people in Southern China.

Then, the British empire acquired Hong Kong & Malaysia in the 18th century. Both governments used the same / similar romanisation scheme to register people's names in English. That's why Malaysians with Chinese origin would have a Cantonese / hokkien surname, as those in Hong Kong.

As far as I know, there are subtle differences:

陳 - Chan (hk), Tan (my)

黃 - Wong (hk), Ong (my)

Edited, adding info:

Several books, in literary Chinese, had info about Southeast Asia & China:

東西洋考

西洋番國誌

瀛涯勝覽

星槎勝覽

Read between the lines, you'll grasp the ideas :)


How to say "I can't help but..." From a lesson in a Chinese text book was the following sentence:

  他不由得哭 (Tā bùyóude kū)

He could not help but cry

I've never heard 不由得 used in a sentence, and I want to know if it is common and if not, what is typically used.

The sentence I was hoping to say is:

  "I can't help but blame you"

Google translate offers the following:

  我不禁责怪你

In particular I want spoken Chinese rather than written if there is a difference.

There are actually two meanings of "can't help but" here, with a rather subtle distinction. In your first example, the guy cannot control the fact that he wants to cry - he simply let go of his emotions. In your second example, you can control your behavior, and in fact you're very determined to do it.

In the first example, an equivalent phrase would be:

  不由自主地 (did something without control)

In the second example, an equivalent phrase would be

  没有办法不[责怪你]  (have no choice but to [blame you]).

You're right that the phrase 不由得 is rarely used. In fact, when it is used, it usually has a different meaning: telling another person "You have no choice", e.g.

  这件事情不由得你 = You have no say in this matter


At what situations should I leave out 话 in "~的话" In the following sentence:

  国籍的图片是来自于EmojiOne数据集，有兴趣的可以去看看了解一下。题目有奥运会奖牌，本次用国旗与国家联系起来。

This sentence seems to use "~的话，..." phrase, but omit the 话. (Let me know if I'm wrong but I proceed with the assumption that it is correct).

However, on these types of sentences I'm struggling to decide when to leave it in or out. How can I use them apart correctly? Is there any clue?

The above sentence should be fine if I rewrite it as following:

  国籍的图片是来自于EmojiOne数据集，你有兴趣的话就可以去看看了解一下。题目有奥运会奖牌，本次用国旗与国家联系起来。

Or is it OK to always use the brief form as far as the meaning is clear enough in the context? I learned here that it is usually considered better to make the sentence simpler in Chinese, as far as it is clear...

NOTE

One of the answer here writes the following but my question is about 话, not 的话 (I agree without 的话 it sounds an incomplete sentence). Also my question doesn't necessarily indicate 如果 or 要是.

  Without 的话, it sounds quite abrupt, although it does work if you leave it out, in most cases.

This sentence seems to use "~的话，..." phrase, but omit the 话. (Let me know if I'm wrong but I proceed with the assumption that it is correct).

I think it omits 人 here; i.e. 有兴趣的 refers to 有兴趣的人 (people who are interested in). Using 人 makes the sentence more formal and polite, without it makes the sentence simpler and the meaning is still clear enough.

BTW ~的 is a common structure used instead of the referred people or things.

  〈代〉 pron. 附着在词或短语之后,构成“的”字结构,代替所指的人或物。如:卖菜的;吃的


Is the “的” not always required when prefacing a noun with an adjective? I've decided to brute-force my way through a novel written in Mandarin as a means of expanding my vocabulary and bettering my understanding of Chinese grammar, and suffice to say my horizons have been broadened. I've come across the following sentence, “至少两千具不死骷髅像潮水一样涌过” and I am befuddled. Broken down I take this sentence to mean:

至少　　-　at least
两千具　-　2 thousand (dead things)
不死　　-　undead
骷髅　　-　(human) skeletons
像　　　---------------⬎
潮水　　-　a tide 　 |--------⤍　resembling
一样　　---------------⬏
涌过　　- rushed forth

Put together in English, "At least 2 thousand undead skeletons resembling a tide rushed forth." The confusion is, 不死 (undead) is an adjective modifying the noun 骷髅 (skeleton). Shouldn't a "的" be inserted between the two? I've been led to believe that "不死的骷髅" is grammatically correct while "不死骷髅" is not. Am I wrong or is the author of this sentence wrong?

不死骷髅 = the "undead", or Zombies, (a fantastical possibility)

不死的骷髅 = skeletons or skulls that are actually alive, (a natural impossibility)

So, 至少两千具不死骷髅像潮水一样涌过:-

At least 2ooo Zombies went passed like the tide.

There is therefore no adjective modifying the noun in 不死骷髅 as it is read as a single item,like "Zombie", which if broken down would read "a dead body that has the capacity to move like a living being", in other words, 不死骷髅.


Are we allowed to omit 载 when it's clear what we download? 下载 means "to download".
But there's this line in a story that I read :

  "啊，是不是因为我在下电影？”

Here, it just used "下" and "载" seems to be omitted.

My questions are :

1) Are 下 and 载 separable? I mean, are they kind of "verb+object" word?

2) Can we omit "载" if the thing we download is clear enough to the listener?
For example, can I simply say : 下照片/下视频?

3) If no. 2 isn't the case, then is there any specific rules/conditions of when we are allowed to omit "载" and when we are not?

Thank you ^_^

1) Are 下 and 载 separable? I mean, are they kind of "verb+object" word?

No, '下载' is a compound word verb, you need both characters for the specific meaning of 'to download'

  (向)下 = downward

  载 = to load onto

  下载 = to download (from upstream server to local storage device )

~

  (向)上 = upward

  上载 = to upload (from local storage device to upstream server)- It is also a compound word verb

~

  2) Can we omit "载"  if the thing we download is clear enough to the listener? For example, can I simply say : 下照片/下视频?

Yes, just like you can omit 'drink' in 'drink down' and write 'down a bottle of wine', presume the listener could reliably guess what the omitted word is.

We don't "吃下" (eat down) a bottle of wine, only "喝下" (drink down) a bottle of wine.

However, you should always use the whole word 下载 or 上载 to avoid confusion. Because without other context, 下照片 could be interpreted as '把照片下架' (take down the photo) and 上视频 could be interpreted as '把视频上架' (post the video)

  3) If no. 2 isn't the case, then is there any specific rules/conditions of when we are allowed to omit "载" and when we are not?

You can omit "载" or any character in a compound word if you think the listener could reliably guess what the omitted word is; You cannot omit it if you think the listener could not reliably guess what the omitted word is

  omit 下 and write 载照片 or 载视频 only create more confusion. ('载 upward' or '载 downward' ?)


What is 吐槽? How should I translate it? I am having a hard time explaining the concept of 吐槽 to a foreigner. How can I explain the nature of 吐槽? I tried something like this but it doesn't seem to convey the art of 吐槽 in full:

  吐槽 is the act of making a random, half-serious comment on something, usually not relevant to the point of that "something".

I feel like this explanation is not good enough. Is there a better way to explain it?

MDBG:吐槽

(slang) to roast
to ridicule

I'd also opt for to make fun of sth/sb.


Radical Pronunciation - Helpful to Learn? I'm in the process of memorizing the radicals for the purpose of character recognition. I've been making an effort to memorize the pronunciation of them as well.

While some of the tones are dead on, it seems that some of the others don't seem to correspond to what's used more often (plus some of them have three different pronunciations). As an example: spirit 示 does not correspond to any of the entries for spirit in mdbg.net.

Are the radical pronunciations really valuable to memorize?

To answer your question, I think the answer is no.

Learning radicals is indeed a good idea to improve your character recognition (and also remember them better, for writing).

For example, knowing that the character 想 is composed of three radicals (tree, eye and heart) is useful if you study its etymology/origin or if you want to create your own mnemonic to remember this character.
It makes more sense than remembering the strokes individually.

However, knowing how to pronounce those radicals does not help to achieve this goal. And as you've mentioned, their pronunciation is sometimes tricky. I think you're just find with remembering the radicals by their actual meaning.

That being said, any knowledge is still valuable, and knowing the pronunciation of radicals has the advantage to allow you to have conversations about radicals with Chinese speakers.
I personally never learnt those pronunciation, and my level in Chinese is very close to native speaker. And every time I ask details about a character to Chinese friends, I'm struggling when they tell me that it's composed of radicals X or Y!

Hope that answers your question!
Wish you pleasure and success in your studies.


Meaning of 嫑 and its middle radical The entire character 嫑 seems to be pronounced or translated to "bao". What does this character 嫑 mean?

Specifically, I'd really like to know the meaning of the middle symbol on its own as well. The top one is bù 不 (no, not, negative) and the bottom is nǚ 女 (female, woman).

The closest thing I could find was xī 西 (west, western). Without the "bu" on top we get 要 yào (to want, etc.).

I'm quite new to Mandarin Chinese, but am quite familiar with the basics so far. (I've complete about half-way through some popular apps.) I am very interested in how the symbols combine into new characters and change meanings.

The old character shows hands pulling a head from a woman, which I presume means helping her to have a baby rather than pulling her head off! The middle part is the head and the hands. The fact that the hands only have 3 fingers is proof positive that aliens kidnapped Chinese babies a long time ago. Everyone knows only aliens have 3 fingers!
This from zdic.

http://www.zdic.net/z/24/zy/8981.htm


hanzis used on their own, hanzis exclusively used in words i know that a few hanzis cannot be used alone, on their own, in Chinese.

i am looking for a list where i can find them.

someone can help ? just for the most frequent :-)

is it allowed to use 爸 alone or only in 爸爸 ？what about 把 with handle meaning : is it allowed to use alone for that meaning ? confusing with measure word and preposition used in 把字句 baziju structures...

there is also the case 白 ：is it allowed to use alone for " white " ? or white can only be translated by 白色 ？
a list of characters not used on their own should be welcome, a great help for learners :-)

To understand this problem, you need to understand the linguistic concepts of 'bound' and 'free'.  To understand the concepts of bound and free, you have to understand the idea of a morpheme. A morpheme is an abstract linguistic unit that everyone knows how to use, but no one really knows how to define: 'dog' is an English morpheme; so is un-, or -ly.  Dog can be used in a wide variety of places in a sentence; un- and -ly cannot.  These two types of morphemes are thus called 'free' and 'bound'. Chinese morphology is similar to English in this basic sense. Of course there are important differences too. There are a number of books that discuss this, I recommend Jerry Norman's 1988 book, Chinese.

Here are two examples that illustrate the properties of bound and free in Chinese. First is the character 椅. This is a typical Chinese bound morpheme. Any Chinese-English dictionary will tell you it means 'chair'; what they usually don't tell you is that you can't just say 買一張椅. 椅 is bound; to use it as an independent word you have to at least use the compound form 椅子.  Note it does not require the suffix 子. It can be used in other compounds perfectly well without this, both on the right side: 躺椅, 藤椅, 電椅, and on the left side 椅墊, 椅背, 椅套.  This means 椅 is not like English affixes, such as un- and -ly.

Compare this with 床 'bed'. Unlike 椅, 床 is used by itself: 買一張床 is a perfectly good sentence. It can also be used in compounds: 吊床, 單人床, 床墊, 床頭, etc.  床 is free; it can be used as an independent word.

How do you know which characters (morphemes) are free and which are bound? This is what I think the OP really wants to know.  I don't completely agree that the difference between free and bound is a continuous spectrum. In different dialects, a morpheme may have a different status: a bound morpheme in dialect A may be a free morpheme in dialect B. A morpheme's status may also change; many morphemes that were free in early texts are now bound in modern Chinese.  But the Mandarin dialects are largely consistent in what is free and what is bound, so free and bound are well worth learning for a foreign student.

Absurdly, there is NO modern dictionary that marks characters (morphemes) as bound and free.  There WAS one which you might be able to find if you are near a large library: The Dictionary of Spoken Chinese, published by Yale University's Institute of Far Eastern Languages in 1966.  This was based on an earlier work by Chao Yuen-ren and several colleagues, compiled during WWII.  Although very old, for the common words that bother every student, it is a great resource for serious students.

I agree that sometimes the free-bound distinction can be tricky. Going back to the question, 爸 can be used by itself, but mostly as a vocative form (when you are talking to Dad); otherwise it can be odd: 他是我的爸 is odd for many people, 他是我的爸爸 is normal for everyone. The status of 爸 as a free morpheme is limited; you are best treating it as a bound form, except in talking to Dad.

白 is free, but only with the meaning of 'white'.  In the adverbial sense of 'without paying' or 'in vain', it is like all Chinese adverbs: bound.

把 bǎ has several meanings. As a structural particle it is bound, but a special kind of bound.

As a morpheme meaning 'handle' it is emphatically bound. Be careful, there are actually two morphemes meaning 'handle': bǎ, as in 把手, and bà as in 刀把. This is probably a historical change, there are some forms where there are two pronunciations: eg 把子 can be bǎzi, or it can be bàzi. I've heard both. What I haven't heard is 買一個把.  So for standard Mandarin, 把 is bound.


How to prepare for HSK3? I have passed HSK2 already. Now my new target is HSK3. How is it different from HSK2 from your experience? What should I pay attention to? What about HSK4?

You can review the vocabulary differences here:

HSK2 vs HSK3

This article also describes what a HSK 3 level should be able to achieve.


What is the missing word What could be a correct word to replace "x" in the question?

你要换这个东西 "X" 那个吗？
(Do you want to exchange this for that?)

I am come from Taiwan.
我來自台灣
In traditional,If the clerk want to check your request that you want to replace!
They always said:"請問你要把"A"換成"B"嗎?"
傳統上,如果店員要確認你換貨的需求.他們會說:"請問你要把"A"換成"B"嗎?"

Do you want to exchange this for that?
(你想要把這個東西和那個東西(交換/取代)嗎?)
你要换这个东西 "X" 那个吗？
參考答案:
你要换这个东西 "成為" 那个吗？


A line from a song lyric: "人理所当然的忘记" This is a part of lyrics from the song 小幸运 by 田馥甄:

也许当时忙着微笑和哭泣
忙着追逐天空中的流星
人理所当然的忘记
是谁风里雨里一直默默守护在原地

I would like to know how the third sentence works out, in terms of grammatical structure. The surrounding lines are for context. Here's my progress:

也许(maybe) 当时(at that time) 忙着(busy) 微笑和哭泣(laughing & crying)
忙着(busy) 追逐(chasing) 天空中的流星(falling stars in the sky);

The two sentences above is like an adverb (i.e. is separable; does not affect the following sentence grammatically), I suppose?

人理所(???) 当然的(something that is required) 忘记(forget)
是(is) 谁(someone who,) 风里雨里(in hard times) 一直默默 守护在原地(kept one's place without saying anything)

I think 人理 is used here to convey such as "a decent person should not forget (someone who's so devoted)". How does it work?

人 - people (subject)

理所当然的 - naturally (adverbial phrase)

忘记 - forget (verb)

理 (logic)

理所 (according to logic)

当然 (of course; certainly)

理所当然 = naturally; of course

理所当然的 = naturally; of course


What's the joke about Guanhua in Ticklish Tales Contiuned by Xiaoshi Daoren? Chinese History: A New Manual, Fifth Edition by Endymion Wilkinson has a little note that says:

  For a longer joke about a junior official with poor guanhua skills, see Xitan xulu 嘻談續錄 (Ticklish tales, continued). Xiaoshi daoren 小石道人, comp. eighteenth century; Columbia anthology (§30.7) 667.

§30.7 is a section entitled Guides & Research Tools, where the only thing that seems to match the title is this entry:

  Mair, Victor H. ed. 1994. The Columbia anthology of traditional Chinese literature. ColUP. Four hundred translations by many hands. Canonical works of literature are well represented, but what makes this an unusually rich feast for browsing is that almost anything written in Chinese during the last 3,200 years is also sampled from divination records to philosophical texts to anonymous folk ballads and the marginal doodles of a copyist.

Which seems to be this book:

The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature Edited by Victor H. Mair

Google Books doesn't seem to have a scanned version and I can't find any other digital version online at the moment.

There seems to be a chapter of Jokes that being on page 658 and run to page 670.

Does anyone know the joke that is listed on page 667 of the book?

It seems that the The Shorter Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature Edited by Victor H. Mair also contains the same joke.
It begins on Page 437:

and continue on page 438

The original Chinese would need to be dug up to make any sense of this translation though.

Conversation Between a Senior Official and His Subordinate
from Sequel to Ticklish Tales
Man of the Way from Smallstone
A District duty officer who had obtained his position through purchase did not understand Mandarin.10 After he took office, he paid a courtesy call upon a regional official who asked him, "What are the customs like in your honorable district?"
"People don't cuss much there are there aren't many toms either."
"How are the fingerlings this year?"
"Finger rings cost two hundred and eighty cash."
"Are there many contributions of gentry grain?"
"Your servants teeth gently gleam."
"How are the commoners getting on"
"We only have a couple of cummin bushes, but there are lots of cinnamon trees."
"I was asking about the populace."
"We've got lots of poplars, but they don't produce much timber."
"I wasn't asking you about threes and such. What I am trying to find out about is the condition of the citizens."
Standing up hurriedly, the duty officer replied, "I regret to inform you, sir, that I have a face full of zits and an arse full of wens."
10. Mandarin (< Sanskrit mantrin [“counselor”]) quite literally means “language of the officials.” The Mandarin equivalent of this word is kuan-hua (official speech). Mandarin was the vernacular language employed by members of the Chinese bureaucracy who hailed from different parts of the country and, as such, spoke a variety of more or less mutually unintelligible native languages and topolects. Mandarin was based upon—but not entirely equivalent to—the language of the capital, being a somewhat refined version of the latter. This joke, which is challenging to render in English, reveals the difficulties inherent in forging a national bureaucracy from a multilingual constituency.

Apparently the original story in《嘻談續錄》is called《堂屬問答》and goes like this:

一捐班不懂官話，到任後，謁見各憲上司，問曰：「貴治風土何如？」答曰：「並無大風，更少塵土。」又問：「春花何如？」答曰：「今春棉花每斤二百八。」又問：「紳糧何如？」答曰：「卑職身量，足穿三尺六。」又問：「百姓何如？」答曰：「白杏只有兩棵，紅杏不少。」上憲曰：「我問的是黎庶。」答曰：「梨樹甚多，結果子甚小。」上憲曰：「我不是問什麼梨杏，我是問你的小民。」官忙站起來答曰：「卑職小名狗兒。」


Why did they write "这是人的智慧" here? This text is about 'big data'.

Why did they write "这是人的智慧"? What does that mean here? How does it fit into this context?

It seems to mean something like 'this is common knowledge' or 'everyone knows that'. What does it really mean here?

什么是大数据？枯燥的名词解释会让“科盲”们更加摸不着头脑，有学者以通俗的例子这样告诉我们，“每个人乘飞机时，都是自己选择航线，这是人的智慧，当人们的选择结果反映到具体的航程中来，就会有大量的数据被记录下来。我们根据这些原始的、堆积如山的记录梳理出的航程设计方案，将是最卓越的。这就是大数据的方法。“

It looks like some of this comes from an August 2014 news story that Xinhua ran about big data, but I believe that there is probably an English original somewhere behind this. Perhaps 人的智慧 was an (odd) attempt to translate "human intelligence" (as opposed to artificial inteligence).

最卓越 is also odd, the August 2014 Xinhua story had a very similar sentence that used 最优 "optimal".

“科盲”们 is even odder, an attempt to translate "science illiterates." The Xinhua story used 技术盲, not quite as odd, since it doesn't try to make it plural. A lot of very perplexing Chinese originates from bad translations of English. Perhaps others will feel that none of this is very odd, though. This is how languages change.


Is it okay to use stative verbs in Topic-Comment? In the topic-comment structure, I notice that action verbs and adjectival verbs often appear in the comment part. This makes sense because the topic is typically an object: with action-verbs, you can comment on the topic in a performative manner (I watched it, I read it, He arrived etc); with adjectival verbs, likewise you can describe the object with adjectives (very good, a lot of, very fast etc).
Curiously, I don't see many stative verbs (like 喜歡，需要，希望，想，覺得）used in the comment. For example:

我喜歡這個人

Would it also be okay to say: 這個人我喜歡
Other examples:

我需要買汽車 Or: 買汽車我需要
春捲我想要 Or: 我想要春捲
她奶奶我想念 Or: 我想念她奶奶

Are there potential differences in meaning between the two formats?

In a 'topic-comment structure', the topic and the comment cannot swap places. If they can, the sentence would not be a topic-comment structure. It is just a 'object placed before verb' sentence

Examples

  這個人(object) 我喜歡 (subject + verb) [O]

  我喜歡(subject + verb) 這個人 (object) [O]

  這個人 (topic)  不是好人 (comment) [O]

  不是好人(comment) 這個人(topic) [X]

More examples:

  我去过(subject + V) 中国 (object) [O]

  中国 (object) 我去过(subject + V) [O]

  攻擊中國 (topic) 對美國沒有好處 (comment) [O]

  對美國沒有好處 (comment) 攻擊中國 (topic) [X]

Now look at your other examples:

  我需要買(subject +v) 汽車(object) [O]

  汽車(object) 我需要買(subject +v) [O]

  她奶奶(object)  我很想念(subject + verb)[O]

  我很想念(subject + verb) 她奶奶(object) [O]

None of the above is 'topic-comment' sentences

Example of stative verbs in comment

  攻擊中國 (topic) 大家都[覺得]對美國沒有好處 (comment)

  美國攻擊中國 (topic) 我[希望]只是一個謠言 (comment)


How would I ask for a fade haircut plus a little bit off the top in chinese? In the US I usually ask for the following:

A #2 (top) to #1 (bottom) fade on the sides and neck

The neckline grows way too low so I ask them to cut that to a certain length

Half an inch off the top

Cut the sideburns to a certain point

I really don't know how to ask for this in China, and I searched online and the answers are rather inconsistent. Any ideas?

"The neckline grows way too low so I ask them to cut that to a certain
  length",

Try 把后面的头发往上剪 or 把后面的头发往上剃一些

  Cut the sideburns to a certain point

Try 把鬓角往上剃一些.


Indefinite article vs numeral: use of "一" (yī) Sometimes, when the English has an indefinite article ("a", "an"), the Chinese translation has a numeral ("一", yī).
So, for example, "I want to buy a ticket" sounds like "I want to buy one ticket".
Sometimes the article in Chinese is just dropped.

So, is there a distinction between a singular indefinite article and a unity numeral?

Is there a way to distinguish between a "vague" quantity (e.g.: "I want an ice cream", meaning that "I feel like having something fresh to heat") and an exact quantity (e.g.: "I want one ice cream", in the sense that "I want one and exactly one ice cream")?

When the article and/or the numeral should be omitted?

Thanks!

I think ice cream is probably not the best example to demonstrate this, since it comes in many forms and some are counted as one ice cream (e.g. those that are attached to a stick), others as some ice cream (those that come in a huge platic box and you need to create portions and serve them to your family members). So I'll use a different example, something that is fully countable, 毛衣 (sweater or pullover).

If you want to say that you would like to buy a sweater, in Chinese you have three options.

我想买毛衣。No classifier/measure word, no number, just the bare noun. In this case the number of the sweaters is fully indefinite.
我想买件毛衣。No number, only the measure word + noun. Here 一 is dropped for the sake of brevity, but tacitly you always mean one item. This is the best way to use if you would like to say "a sweater".
我想买一件毛衣。Number + measure word + noun. This corresponds the best to "one sweater".


Is "光轮" for "Nimbus" as in "Nimbus 2000 broomstick" just a transliteration? In a translation of the second Harry Potter book:

"All Harry's spellbooks, wand, cauldron and top-of-the-range Nimbus 2000 broomstick had been locked in a cupboard under the stairs by Uncle Vernon the instant Harry had come home."

哈利刚一到家，弗农姨父就把他的咒语书、魔杖、长袍、坩埚和最高级的光轮2000锁进了楼梯下那又小又暗 的柜子里

It seems like this translation is well accepted: http://zh.harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/%E5%85%89%E8%BD%AE2000?variant=zh

Google Translate's answer of 'light wheel' is unhelpful.

Is "光轮" just a transliteration or does it have extra meaning?

光轮 is not a transliteration, it is a translation

Halo (religious iconography)
A halo (from Greek ἅλως, halōs;1 also known as a nimbus, aureole

The round thing behind Buddha's head on that page is a 光轮 or 光环


Why is 他 put after 出 in 认出他来 in 女大夫很快认出他来? In the following sentence:

  他正往楼上走，徐廖正碰见那位女大夫。女大夫很快认出他来。就这样，他被扭送到派出所。

I wonder why 他 is put after 出. 认 is a verb consisted of the single word, not 离散动词. (If it is 离散动词, 他 should be put between them, right?)

All the sentence I have seen puts 他 before 出, IIRC. So the sentence is 大夫很快认他出来。

So my questions are:

Why is 他 put after 出, not before it, and it is grammartically correct? Or is 认他出来 grammartically NOT correct?
If there is a difference between the two pattern, what is the difference? Or are they just synonysm?

认 (recognize/identify) is the verb and  出 is its result complement

认 = to recognize

认出 = to recognize (and success)

We cannot insert the object between a verb and its result complement

Examples:

We cannot insert the object between '看见' and say '看(他)见' , we can only say '看见(他)'
we cannot insert the object between '听到' and say '听(声音)到' , we can only say '听到(声音)'
we cannot insert the object between '认出' and say '认(他)出' , we can only say '认出(他)'

I think the confusion come from the presence of '来' at the end

If it was just '女大夫很快(认出他)', we can clearly see '女大夫很快(认他出)' is grammatically incorrect

But in '女大夫很快(认出他来)' '认' would be a single character verb and 出来(out) would be a preposition (away from inside)

[认][他][出来] = [verb] + [object] +[preposition (out)] which would be grammatically correct -- That's why you think '他' should be placed before '出', but the fact is, 他 could only be placed before '出来' , not '出' (see example #3 above)
[认出他][来] = [verb + result complement+ object] + [final particle 来 (indicates an outcome)] which would also be grammatically correct - It is what we see in the sentence in question

More examples of  出来 as a preposition (out):

推(出来) = push (out)

拉(出来) = pull (out)

For the above two examples, you have to insert the object between the verb and 出来, as in "推(他)出来" = "push (him) out" ; "拉(他)出来" = "push (him) out"


What's the meaning of the first part of: 他爱怎么想就怎么想，我才不在乎呢 I'm not sure I understand the first part of this sentence:

他爱怎么想就怎么想，我才不在乎呢。

I found it in the Pleco C-E dictionary (Pleco is a an app on my Android) as a sample sentence for 在乎. The given translation is: “I don't care what he thinks”. Any pointers on how to understand the first part of the sentence would be welcome. Is there a general rule for X怎么Y就怎么Y? Is this some subtle usage of 就?

This would be best translated into:
He thinks however he wants to think, I don't care.

This sentence structure is often used with 什么.

如：你想吃什么就吃什么。

Word by word: You want to eat whatever, just eat whatever.

...which really means: Eat whatever you want.

This structure can work with any normal question pronoun

(哪里/哪儿，什么，怎么，谁，什么时候，为什么。。。）.

(wherever, whatever, however, whoever, whenever, for whatever...)

Here, 就 is pretty much equivalent to 'just', as in 'just do it'. It's not absolutely required here, but it's used very often.

You could write this type of sentence in Chinese more similarly to English:
你就吃你想吃的 (You just eat what you want to eat).

I think a native speaker would more inclined to use the xxxx什么就xxxx什么 structure, however.

See if you can wrap your head around this:

你们想去哪里玩就去哪里玩，反正我都不去了。


Does 石 have two dissimilar pronunciations? From CEDict:

MBP-WWG:~ Admin$ egrep "\t石\t" /Users/Admin/Downloads/cedict_1_0_ts_utf-8_mdbg.txt
石   石   Shi2    surname Shi
石   石   dan4    dry measure for grain equal to ten dou 斗
ten pecks
one hundred liters
石   石   shi2    rock
stone
stone inscription
one of the eight ancient musical instruments 八音[ba1 yin1]

Is the second one an error?

Is this what is meant by "variant readings" in  How many Chinese characters have multiple readings/pronunciations in Mandarin? ?

Of course it's not an error.

Any respectable dictionary will have

石   shi2

and

石   dan4

Variant readings refer to when one character has more than one pronunciation - based, usually, on different meanings.

Taking 石 for instance: when we're talking about rocks and stones - it is pronounced shi2; when we're talking about a specific measurement unit it is pronounced dan4.


What is the function of 的 in the sentence below? 在有形的以太

It should mean "here in tangible ether" but I don't understand the function of 的.

Can't I say the exact same thing writing it like that: 在有形以太
?

Between an adjective and a noun, you can add a 的 if you like.

美麗的姑娘 beautiful girl
好玩的游戲 entertaining game
複雜的語法 complicated grammar

Adding the 的 is the norm if the adjective has two characters. But it's possible to leave it out:

黑暗森林 dark forest
意外事故 unexpected accident
美好時光 happy time

Why did the poet use 的 here? Some possibilities:
- 以太 is an unusual word, putting a 的 before it makes the sentence easier to understand.
- The poet may have liked the flow of the sentence better with 的.
- Using 的 here is more normal than not using it.


Difference between 水果 and 果实 HSK 5 translates 果实 as 'fruit'. I always refer to fruit as 水果 and so would like to know the difference between 果实 and 水果. My teacher has told me that 水果 is a 果实 but not all 果实 are 水果. Fruits that consist of water should be referred to as 水果 or either 果实, but fruits that do not consist of water should be only referred to as 果实. However, all fruits consist water right?

Main question: what is the difference between 果实 and 水果

「果實」matches the botanical definition of fruit, and「水果」refers to the colloquial usage. The Wikipedia article sums it up nicely:

  In common language usage (水果), "fruit" normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of a plant that are sweet or sour, and edible in the raw state, such as apples, bananas, grapes, lemons, oranges, and strawberries. On the other hand, in botanical usage (果實), "fruit" includes many structures that are not commonly called "fruits", such as bean pods, corn kernels, tomatoes, and wheat grains.


How do I say “he loves his mother more than his wife”? So I watched a movie.  There was a situation where the main character had to make a decision between his mother and his wife.  And he chose his mother.  So if I want to express that “He loves his mother more than his wife”.  Which of the following would be appropriate.  Or there is another way to say it?

他爱他的母亲胜过爱他的妻子.
他比妻子更爱他的母亲.

他比妻子更爱他的母亲  (he compare to his wife, he loves his mother more) means "he loves his mother more than his wife does" and it is not what the English sentence means.
他爱他的母亲胜过爱他的妻子 is correct but wordy, you can reduce it to 他爱(他的)母亲胜过爱(他的)妻子 --> 他爱母亲胜过爱妻子

Replace 胜过 (better than) with 多过 (more than) --> 他爱母亲多过爱妻子


意饺: English Translation? I've seen 意饺 translated as ravioli.

Obviously 意饺 = 意大利 + 饺子, but does it only refer to ravioli? There's a lot of different kinds of Italian "dumplings", no? Can it refer to other things besides ravioli or not?!

edit:

other stuffed Italian pastas that look like 饺子 have a look: here

agnolotti
cappelletti
pansotti
ravioli
tortelli (anolini)
tortellini
tortelloni

Far as I know, names such as 意饺 really don't refer to any specifics - instead, they are simply names given to foreign foods that resemble their "chinese counterparts."

饺子 refers to boiled dumplings (note, dumplings alone refers to, ambiguously, 粽子, 饺子, and 包子) - where a stuffing is wrapped in a layer of dough and boiled in water.

Thus, 意大利 饺子 really refers to any food originating in Italy and resembling Chinese boiled dumplings. So far, the only Italian food I think resembles boiled dumplings is ravioli. So yes, 意饺 does refer to just ravioli - until some new Italian food is invented that also resembles Chinese boiled dumplings.

Lastly, I want to note that terms such as 意饺 really originate from big food industries trying to introduce fancy foreign-ish flavors into the Chinese market, labelling them with fancy names for "marketing" purposes.

EDIT: Many of the foods in this link, pointed out by user330506, could also thus be referred to as 意饺 - far as I know, that is.


How to ask what personality traits do you like in Mandarin How would one ask "What personality traits do you like?" in Mandarin? I've seen it translated as:
你喜欢什么个性特征  but isn't 性特征 sexual characteristics?
So I wasn't sure if it would be better to use 人格特质 in place of 性特征?
Thanks

I've seen it translated as: 你喜欢什么个性特征 but isn't 性特征 sexual characteristics?

Here 个性 as personality, 特征 as traits
There is actually a difference

你喜欢什么东西? - Which thing do you like.
你喜欢什么个东西? - Why do you like it.
你喜欢个什么东西? - Same as 1.

In 0, you don't know what they like and you want to know.
However, in 1. or 2. you know what they like but don't understand why, and likely  because you don't like it. But sometime 1,2 means the same as 0, it still depends on the context.

So I wasn't sure if it would be better to use 人格特质 in place of 性特征?

It really read as 什么(个性)(特征), not 什么个(性特征), so we can change 个性特征 to
人格特质 or just 个性 in short to avoid the confusion.

How to ask what personality traits do you like in Mandarin

你喜欢什么性格


What is the true pinyin pronunciation for this radical? I'm trying to learn a new method for learning and understanding chinese characters. So, I decided to start with memorizing every chinese radical. I'm use two different source but both wrote two different pinyin. Which one is right?

The glyph「丨」is called gǔn as a dictionary radical, and appears in most dictionaries including the Kangxi Dictionary, Xinhua Zidian, and Xiandai Hanyu Cidian. It is a homograph of the character stroke shù, which just means vertical (line), but this name is not the proper one used when referring to the radical.

The pronunciation of「丨」can be verified in e.g. the Kangxi Dictionary:

  「丨」, Jiyun: Fanqie initial gǔ and rime běn.

Characters which are grouped under「丨」commonly are done so because they couldn't be easily grouped under something else. The vast majority of these characters have a vertical stroke as a prominent feature in the character, and this is about all that they share.

The following are the only commonly used characters which are grouped under「丨」:

个, 丫, 中, 丰, 串, 临

As @dan mentioned, many people wouldn't understand what exactly this radical is (myself included, before I looked this up), because in general, radicals are not an intrinsic feature of Chinese characters. The most meaningful radicals also happen to be useful phonetic or semantic indicators, but not all radicals are, and there are a few "leftover" radicals that were created for the sake of grouping characters which can't be grouped under other radicals, such as「丨」,「丶」(zhǔ) and「丿」(piě).

To reiterate, these radicals are just shapes, and don't really mean or sound like anything to do with the characters that are grouped under them.


“哩勒公蝦毀” what does this mean? What does “哩勒公蝦毀” mean? A Taiwanese guy said that to me after I had, accidently, mistyped two words in an idiom I used on him.

He also used an expression of surprise (I presume) which went like “蛤？！” (after I said he seemed like a guy whom a conversation would get easily boring with) What does that mean too?

哩勒公蝦毀

This sentence refers to the pronunciation of "What did you say?" in Min-Nan

哩(ㄌㄧ): You
勒(ㄌㄟ): an auxiliary verb
公(ㄍㄨㄥ): say
蝦毀(ㄒㄧㄚ ㄏㄨㄟˇ): what

蛤？！

This word equals to "Huh? Could you speak up?". Taiwanese use this word commonly on the Internet because it's the first word choice in Bopomofo input method of "ㄏㄚˊ"


Is the phrase "on a scale of 1 to 10" used often if at all? Just wondering since it does seem to me like a more western phrase, in Google translate it comes out as 上规模的1到10, I'm just wondering if there is a more common way to ask someone to rate a particular thing or person in Chinese.

To rate something, I would say:

(要)在十分內打個分數，(我會給六分)
On a scale of 1 to 10, (I would give it a 6.)

在十分內 = Under a score of 10, 要 is just optional.

Other ways of saying are:

若要评分，我会给...(To give a score, I would give...)
如果要我给分数，我会给...(If I have to rate it, I would give...)

It is not frequent in Chinese to say something like this, comparing to English. That Google translate is definitely wrong.