How does one ingredient 扒 another ingredient in a dish? I don't understand the use of 扒 in 腿絲扒芥膽, see below. Other examples are 腿絲桂花膠扒菜苗, 碧綠扒三菇, 皇子菇扒豆苗. CUHK translates as

None of these English verbs fit! All the Chinese I know comes from Chinese restaurant menus. I would've picked 配 like 腿絲配芥膽, 北菇配菜膽, 蟹肉配雙蔬. I asked at least 7 Chinese waiters this, and they all replied they never heard 配 used like this.

Top. Middle. Bottom. Another pic not shown.

Why didn't "Rake up; gather up" make sense to you?
腿絲(扒)芥膽 = Shredded Ham (raked up/ gathered up on)  Mustard
北菇(扒)菜膽 = Northern Mushroom (raked up/ gathered up on) Vegetable
蟹肉(扒)雙蔬 = Crab Meat (raked up/ gathered up on) Double Vegetables

扒 (on top) --  one ingredient laid on the top of another ingredient and the two do not mix (this way, one doesn't affect the taste of the other too much. You can mix them as much or as little as you like)

炒 (stir mix) -- all ingredients are stirred and mixed together (you can enjoy everything in every bite)

配 (aside) -- a side dish is placed beside the main dish (you can choose to eat them separately or together)

蟹肉扒豆苗

通菜炒牛肉

咖喱牛腩配麫包


Hong Kong Cantonese variations I am interested to learn whether the changes in Hong Kong pronunciation of Cantonese came about, was it because the English in Hong Kong had difficulty understanding the Cantonese?

For instance, I have started to learn Cantonese from CDs and found that the word for "I" which I thought to be pronounced something like "gnaw," always sounded like "no" to me and in my mind set up an expectation of a negative expression; and then I would have to reverse my thinking that it was not.

I guess see where a lot of misunderstanding between English speakers in Hong Kong and the Cantonese speakers might lead the native speakers to alter their speech to be better understood?

Since I am not a linguist, any answer using terms unique to linguistics will not be helpful to me.

I don't really have much experience in this area myself but a similar question has been asked on 百度知道 before, which was answered as follows:

  香港的粤语不是最正宗的粤语. 毫无疑问,岭南文
  化中心在广州,最正宗的粤语还是在广州! 香港的
  粤语有点英语腔.

  香港居民说的是粤语,不过里面很多词都掺到很多
  英文.

  反正哪里都一样,基本也没多少差别.

  回答楼主,香港的粤语和广东话是一样的,只是前
  者略带英腔而己,而且话中多多少少有些英语相掺.

  香港本地居民说的就是粤语.

Which says: basically HK-Cantonese isn't much different from Guangdong Cantonese apart from sounding slightly like British accented Cantonese and using lots of English words.

So the changes are more accental and in loan words (or direct usage of English over Chinese) rather than appeasing the British.


Recommendations for novels written in colloquial Chinese Like many language learners, I enjoy reading Chinese novels as a way of learning new vocabulary and practicing my reading skills. Nevertheless, in the process of muddling through Chinese fiction, I often find myself learning a lot of literary words and structures which are too rare to be useful (at least at my current level of Chinese). Ideally, I'd like to find an exciting book which, for the most part, avoids excessively flowery prose in favor of fresh, colloquial descriptions of characters and events.

To give you an example of what I don't want: I've read several novels and short stories by 余华, which are colloquial enough but still end up teaching me a lot of lovely phrases that I rarely get a chance to use.

An ideal answer would be a novel which is

Exciting: mystery, suspense, or thriller novels would be especially welcome, but really anything that's hard to put down.
Colloquial, full of modern, or even slangy, words and phrases.
Reasonably popular: I need a book that's easy to find in the United States. I have access to several Chinese bookstores and a Chinese library, but the book needs to be popular enough that I might find it in stock.

Young-adult books would be fine as long as they still might be stimulating to an adult reader.

You said "I need a book that's easy to find in the United States."

I don't know what kind of book is easy to find in the US.Let me give you some suggestions.

As for mystery, suspense, or thriller：

  蔡骏的小说：荒村公寓，荒村归来，天机，猫眼等等

I like novels written by 蔡骏。

As for Colloquial, full of modern, or even slangy, words and phrases：

  当年明月：明朝那些事

明朝那些事 is a history book of Ming dynasty.It's very easy to understand and full of Chinese wisdom.

I don't know whether you can buy these books in the US or not.If you don't mind the issues of copyright,all of these books are easy to download from the Internet.Especially 明朝那些事，It comes from a personal blog -----当年明月的博客
。

In fact, the best way to learn a foreign language is to involve in the culture.All novels are written in the past time,they can't provide you the most fashioned words and phrases in the other culture.If you can't live in China ,you should try to communicate with Chinese through the Internet.Registering in the weibo.cn(twitter),renren.com(facebook) is a good idea.


Why the long-short romanization system (长短音) for Chinese dialects? Most Chinese dialectical/topolectical dictionaries use the long-short romanization system (长短音) to write out pronunciations.

Wikipedia mostly just mentions Shanghai, Wu and Suzhou for using the long-short romanization system. 李荣, though, seems to use this system for the entire 现代汉语方言大词典 which covers 40-odd dialects/topolects.

What are the advantages of using this long-short romanization system as opposed to using any other system, i.e.: ipa, etc.?

This is a bit off topic from the category of Chinese, but most languages that have never been written before (i.e. they were spoken languages with no writing systems) do not choose the IPA or even the most common writing system used in their area (often seen as the alphabet/language of the colonizer, which may be the sentiment reflected in China on a low-level with the Mandarin-speaking Han representing the colonizers) to transcribe their language for the first time. Often, they use something distinct in order for readers to know in which language it is to be pronounced (in the case of Chinese) and to proudly display their distinct heritage.

If you want more information about this, there are many linguistics papers on the topic of the choice of alphabet for Haitian Creole, which is currently being debated at the national level in Haiti. Long story short, the choice of alphabet has more to do with heritage and aesthetics than logic and science... those dictionaries are using 长短音 to differentiate themselves from ones for more established dialects.


is the sentence 她做练习做的很多 correct? I've been practicing on my mandarin Chinese grammar workbook about the use of the 得 particle.
One of the last sentences is "她做练习做的很多", but I'm a bit perplexed because if I were to use 的, I would say " 她做练习的很多", whether with 得 I would say "她做练习做得很多" or "她练习做得很多".
Am I missing something?
Could someone also please explain to me the different meanings that 的 and 得  give to the sentence?

她做练习做得很多 is grammatical. 得 (degree particle) should be followed by a degree and 很多 is indeed a degree.
Strictly speaking, 得， 的 and 地 have different functions, and should not be confused,  however, it has become a common practice for many Mandarin speakers to use them all interchangeably, so 她做练习做的很多 or 她练习做的很多 is also acceptable because 的 here is not a noun modifier but a replacement of 得 (verb modifier)


When do you use 所有， 全部， 整个, 完整? I have a hard time wrapping about these specific words.

As far as I know 所有 is most similar to "all of the..." like “所有的人”.
While 全部 is more or less like 所有 except you don't need 的 between it and the object like “全部时间".

Meanwhile, 整个 is most similar to "the whole..." "整个下午"

But 完整 is very similar to 整个 like "完整的句子.

So can I ask how their specific usages differ? Are there times you should only use a certain one while other times it's fine to interchange?

That's an interesting question. The answer basically boils down to differences in grammatical role of these words:

所有 “all (of the)”, refers to all entities pertaining to a certain context. Given the meaning of 所 and 有 alone you can effectively think of it as meaning "all (things) that are here". It is mainly used with 的 before a noun or in a relative sentence and it often comes with a 都 "all".

  我们家被偷了，所有的在保险柜里的钱也被偷了 Our house was robbed, all (of the) money that was in the safe was stolen too.
  我所有认识的人都念过大学 All the people (that) I know went to university.

In general 全部 means "everything, all" and refers to one single entity in its entirety. So for instance it can't be used to refer to a group of things, unless you use a collective noun.

  他说什么，我没听到全部 I didn't hear everything he said
  这本小说，我还没全部看完 I haven't finished this book yet (haven't read it in its entirety)
  这群人我并不认识全部 I don't know everyone in this group of people

整个 "whole“ is used in place of a number (actually 一 "one" can be omitted) and before a classifier to mean "one whole thing" (obviously you can change the number to say N whole things):

  她吃掉了一整桶冰淇淋 She ate a whole bucket of ice cream.
  一整天不够讲完这个故事 A whole day isn't enough to tell this story

完整 "complete". You often use it as an adjective in noun phrases with 的, as:

  一个完整的句子 a complete sentence
  一个完整的解决方案 a complete solution


API for transliterating a traditional character (writing the pinyin)? I was wondering if anyone here is aware of an API out there on the net anywhere that can receive a traditional character and send back the pinyin for it in JSON?

There are several libraries for converting Chinese characters to pinyin. If you are comfortable with programming languages (which you probably are if you are asking for an API), your choice will depend on the programming languages you know, the quality of the library and the licence under which it is available. If you need a user interface, you should probably first look at pinyin4j and ZDT.

pinyin4net: C# library that supports both simplified and traditional Chinese characters. Output is hanyu pinyin. Licence: MIT.
PinYin4Objc: Objective-C library (with some Ruby) that supports both simplified and traditional Chinese characters and most popular pinyin systems. Licence: Apache License 2.0.
HanziPinyin: Swift library that supports both simplified and traditional Chinese characters. Licence: MIT License.
PiPinyin: Java library for Android for converting Chinese characters to pinyin. I assume it supports simplified characters but could not find out if it also supports traditional characters. (The older pinyin4android library, on which PiPinyin is based, appears to have no documentation.) Licence: Apache License 2.0.
pinyin4cpp: C++ library. Licence: Apache License 2.0. (Possibly inspired by pinyin4j, below.)
pinyin4j: Java library for conversion "between Chinese characters and most popular Pinyin systems". Can also ouput Wade-Giles, Yale and Gwoyeu Romatzyh! Licence: GPL v2.
Unihanconver: a Perl library "to convert between Traditional/Simplified Chinese directly in Unicode (not GB/Big5 conversion)". It can be used through a Gtk2+ Interface and from the console. (See also the developer site.) Licence: GPL 2.
ZDT (Zhongwen Development Tool), written in Java, "is an easy to use, open-source Mandarin Chinese flashcard application that can help you learn Chinese". One of its features is conversion between Chinese charactes and pinyin. (Developer site.) Licence: Eclipse Public License.
zh2tone / Chinese Word to ZuYin Code: a tool to convert Chinese characters/words to zhuyin fuhao (bopomofo). The tool has not been updated since 2012, has no licence, ...

Notes:

I have not checked the quality of these libraries (alpha/beta/production-ready, test coverage, etc.) nor their completeness (how many characters they support etc.).
If you need such a library for professional use, I would steer clear of libraries that have no licence. Software available under Apache 2.0, MIT or BSD can be reused both in open source and commercial applications. Libraries available under a GPL licence ("GNU General Public Licence") can only be used in other GPL code.


Writing critique request: Zhou Ziwang's father takes her to the "doctor" Continuing from part 2 (see also part 1):

  我妈注意到我当时变胖了，她想要帮我减肥但是长期以来的饮食习惯改不掉。难道说 ，我已经患有饮食失调了吗？我妈终于要求我总是忙于工作的爸爸帮我的忙，因此我爸带我去看医生。虽然我说“医生”，但即使到现在我也不确认。我问道，“老爸，我们去看医生吗？妈妈已经带我去看过了，但是没用”。我爸犹豫地答道，“噢，这位医生不一样”。那么神秘的一句话！怎么“不一样”呢？现在我对那情况了解得更清楚，但是当时我才是小女孩。我经常去看医生，也相信我爸，没想到那件事影响我那么久。

Please critique my writing.  Words with links are new for me.

Basically the idea is what Tang Ho said: "Write more, get corrected more and analyze why a sentence you wrote is being corrected."  I've eventually concluded that it's not possible to learn Chinese without making many, many mistakes.

I feel totally blind a lot of the time: someone rewrites a sentence of mine and I'll feel is massively better, like I've been taken out of Plato's cave.

English version:

  My mother noticed I was getting fat, and she wanted to help me but a long-term eating habit is hard to break.  Perhaps I already have an eating disorder?  My mother eventually asked my father, who was always busy working, to help, so he took me to see a doctor.  While I say "doctor", to this day I'm still not sure.  I asked "Father, are we going to see the doctor? Mother already took me to see the doctor and it didn't work."  My father hesitantly replied "oh, this doctor is not the same."  What a mysterious sentence!  How are they "not the same"?  These days I have a clearer understanding of the situation, but back then I was just a little girl.  I would often go to the doctor, and I trusted my father, I wouldn't have thought it has such a long-term impact on my life.

Here is my edition. Some are real grammar mistakes, some are more native way of phrasing. You can study it first, to see what you can discover on your own, and then ask specific questions on items you can't figure out

我妈注意到我当时变胖了，她想要帮我减肥但是长期以来的饮食习惯改不掉。
(当时)我妈注意到我变胖了，想要帮我减肥，但(我)(始終)改不掉长期以来的饮食习惯。

~

难道说 ，我已经患有饮食失调了吗？我妈终于要求我总是忙于工作的爸爸帮我的忙，因此我爸带我去看医生。
难道说 ，我已经患有饮食失调了吗？(最后)我妈终于要求我(那个)总是忙于工作的爸爸帮忙。 (就这样)，我爸带(了)我去看医生。

~

虽然我说“医生”，但即使到现在我也不确认。
虽然说(是)“医生”，但到现在我也(不敢肯定)(那人真的是医生。)

~

我问道，“老爸，我们去看医生吗？妈妈已经带我去看过了，但是没用”。
我问道: “老爸，我们去看医生吗？妈妈已经带我去看过了，但是没用”。

~

我爸犹豫地答道，“噢，这位医生不一样” 。 那么神秘的一句话！怎么“不一样”呢？ 现在我对那情况了解得更清楚，
我爸犹豫地答道: “噢，这位医生不一样”。 (当时我心想): "(真是)神秘的一句话！怎么'不一样'呢？" (到了)现在我(才)更(清楚了解)(当时的)情况，

~

但是当时我才是小女孩。我经常去看医生，也相信我爸， 没想到那件事影响我那么久。
但当时我(還)小。(而且)经常去看医生，也相信我爸， 没想到那件事(對我的)影响(會)那么(深)。


Describing Characters: AB的A/B When trying to describe what specific character one is talking about, people often use the following method:

  AB的A/B

For instance:

包: 书包的包

宇: 宇宙的宇

My questions:

What is this thing (method(?)) called?
How can one know what the most common word is for a certain character? (i.e.: if I want to tell someone that the charcater I'm talking about is 冰, how can I know what word (perhaps even chengyu) is clearest to describe it?)
Are there any lists that contain these types of combinations? Preferably the most common?
How can people learn to know these for when others are describing their own names or other things?

"defining character by common compound word"
there are frequency lists for both words and characters
Wenlin, http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Mandarin_Frequency_lists 等等
In practice, one just uses a common and distinct word, not necessarily the most common word (书记 in the case of 书)


Curious structure with 的 in conversation Above is an exchange taken from qiushibaike.com. As far as I can understand, it goes like this (trying to keep translation literal for example's sake):

  Son: Mom, our teacher's a liar!

  Mom: Why would you say that your teacher's a liar, did he cheat you or what?

  Son: I asked the teacher a question and he actually said that he doesn't
  know! How can he know if I do it correctly or not if he doesn't know it?

  Mom: Well, son, when did you ask him that question?

  Son: ...During the test.

Now, the problematic sentence is this one:

  妈妈： 那儿子你是在什么时候问老师问题的？

My gripes:

  I would have said it: 『那儿子你什么时候问老师问题？』. Would that be correct? (do I need 在 before 什么时候 in there?)
  The sentence has 是 in it, which normally takes a noun phrase afterwards. Furthermore, to my knowledge, the possessive marker 的 is tacked at the end of a noun phrase. Is there a noun phrase in there, then? Is it 在什么时候问老师问题的？ If so, could you help me break down the sentence to understand its structure?
  If the sentence in (1) is correct, is the 在 in 在什么时候 always optional, or is it necessitated by the structure of the original sentence?

The link you attached has well explained 是....的 structure.

Basically, 是......的 structure connotes past tense when used in the interrogative sentence.

Say 你什么时候去？ vs 你是什么时候去的: the former means when will you go? The latter means when did you go? or when have you been (there)?

A side note: sometimes 是 can be omitted in colloquial contexts. For example,  你什么时候去的， which is the same as 你是什么时候去的.

Hope this could make it more clear to you.


What is na4zi4pang2 (pinyin) in the decomposition of na4 (那)? The New Practical Chinese Reader introduces the following decomposition: na4 (那) = na4zi4pang2 + yi4 (阝).

I understand that 阝 represents radical 163 (yi4).

Na4zi4pang2 (pinyin) looks close to radical 74 (yue4, 月), but only close. It apparently is not a proper Chinese word or phrase that can be looked up in a dictionary.

My current guess that it is an arbitrary construct for a situation where one of the basic constituents of a composite character is not another basic character nor a radical, yet something that is also made up of strokes, and that the pinyin name is the concatenation of stroke names.

Could an expert and/or native speaker please confirm or otherwise clarify. I'm especially interested whether such constructs have Unicode font representations (and what the Unicode representation U+xxxx of na4zi4pang2 would then be).

There is no  radical, but the left part of 那 can be

冄 rǎn (the same as 冉)
U+5184
Seal Script

That's because in the seal script, 那 is written as

The left part is 冄, and the right part (radical) is 邑. So in 說文解字, it is described as

从邑，冄聲。

But it is better not to call 冄 a "radical", because modern dictionaries and older dictionaries haven't listed it as a radical.
It is interesting in 康熙字典, 那 has these interchangeable characters:

But they are obsolete now, you should not use them.


Is there a meassure word missing in 在这河里游泳危险 In the next sentence is the meassure word 条 after 这 missing? I have seen the  phares on a hsk game page in the  internet.  在这河里游泳危险

Thanks

If you break down "在这河里游泳危险" you can see a verb is missing.

"Swimming in this river (is) dangerous"
It should be either "在这河里游泳(有)危险" or "在这河里游泳(很)危险"

The classifier 条 is optional. when we are not counting the number of river. 这 (this) already indicated it is only one particular river

"这河/ 这条河"  = "this river" - You can omit the classifier 条 because there is no counting word

"这一条河" = "this one river" - You cannot omit the classifier 条 and write "这一河" because there is a counting word 一 here

"这三条河" = "these three rivers" - You cannot omit the classifier 条 and write "这三河" because there is a counting word 三 here


How does '一勿' Compound to mean sundial? Etymology [of 腸]
Ideogrammic compound (會意): 日 (“sun”) + 一 + 勿   The rays of the sun.
[ From chineseetymology.org: ]
Primitive pictograph 昜. From sun日 (rays) on a sun dial (一勿). Meaning bright.

My research of the etymology of 腸 motivated this question. I know that 一 means one, and that 勿 means 'not' or 'do not' (ie: negation).

勿 as in "not" is originally a logograph of a signaling flag. It is not the same logograph as the rays depicted in 昜 (which is 日 rì over  yáng).

It is not uncommon for Chinese characters to have merged similar logographs into one single abstract unit, in the latter case 旦 over 勿.

Take for example 易 (yì), which is unrelated to 昜, although its modern components are 日 and 勿. It is derived from the logograph of a chameleon.


When to use ’啦‘ and "嘛‘？ I've learned two question ending: 吗 in 你好吗? and 呢 in 你呢?

But my question is When to use ’啦" and "嘛"？They seem to be question ending also, are they common in Chinese?

啦 is not truly a question ending. Actually 了 is.
 E.g. 你刚才去哪了？ Where did you go just now?
 However Chinese people do like to use 啦 instead of 了 to ask questions. Maybe it sounds cuter? So the example becomes
 你刚才去哪啦？It's just a verbal use.

In question sentences, 嘛 can be used to substitute 什么 as a question ending. E.g. 你在干嘛？What are you doing now? instead of 你在干什么？I cannot think of any question else that ends with 嘛.

 BTW these two characters are also widely used for acting cute...
E.g. 好了啦！ 干嘛啦！common in girlish talks.


Chinese weather periods The only time I have traveled to Beijing a taxi driver told me I had come at the worst and hottest time of year. He explained to me that the year was divided up in periods of roughly 16 days and the period I had come at was the hottest (a fact I wasn't going to disagree with considering the temperature outside the taxi).

What are the Chinese names and a brief description of these periods?

In researching to find this answer I came across this blog post which is in English and describes 24 periods in a year but it doesn't include the Chinese characters for each of the periods.

Can someone please provide further detail to the blog post and provide the Chinese names (characters) of each of the periods.

立春 Lìchūn "Beginning of spring"
雨水 Yǔshuǐ "Rain Water"
惊蛰 Jīngzhé "Awakening of insects"
春分 Chūnfēn "Mid spring"
清明 Qīngmíng "Clear and bright"
谷雨 Gǔyǔ "Rain for the grains"
立夏 Lìxià "Beginning of summer"
小满 Xiǎomǎn "Partially filled grains"
芒种 Mángzhòng "seed sowing"
夏至 Xiàzhì "Summer Solstice"
小暑 Xiǎoshǔ "Slight Heat"
大暑 Dàshǔ "Great Heat"
立秋 Lìqiū "Beginning of autumn"
处暑 Chǔshǔ "End of heat"
白露 Báilù "White dew"
秋分 Qiūfēn "Autumn Equinox"
寒露 Hánlù "Cold dew"
霜降 Shuāngjiàng "Frost descends"
立冬 Lìdōng "Beginning of winter"
小雪 Xiǎoxuě "Slight snow"
大雪 Dàxuě "Big snow"
冬至 Dōngzhì "Winter solstice"
小寒 Xiǎohán "Slight cold"
大寒 Dàhán "Extreme cold"

What you have mentioned in your question, the hottest period, I think it is 大暑, end of July, the hottest time in Northern hemisphere.


How do you say "I mean", as in "that is not what I mean" ? As in "You have misunderstood, what I mean is that...."

Actually,there is not a statement of 'I mean' in 'That is not what I mean'.

In Chinese, 'That is not what I mean.' is '那不是我的意思。'.

So, '我的意思' is just 'what I mean'.


What is the correct way to say: "I thought you were somebody else." In English if you mistake someone for another person it is common to say "I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else".

How should this be said in Chinese?

噢，不好意思，我认错人了。

This is what I usually say in a real conversation.


Looking for Pinyin/Traditional Characters eBooks I am hoping that someone here can point me in the right direction. I am looking for some reading material so that I can practice my pronunciation. What I would like to find is the following:

A Reading Material that has the following features:

Is an eBook or Kindle book
Uses Pinyin and Traditional characters in alternating rows
Is novel length or at least a collection of short
stories

I do not care if it has English translation or not, really. It is not for vocab building so much as having a substantial reading source that will allow me to read out loud to my wife and have her correct my pronunciation. Also, having the Pinyin and traditional characters one above the other in alternating rows will allow for a little bit of character recognition training.

Please let me know if there is anything like this that you know of anywhere. Thanks!

Update:  Searching Amazon I have found many books that combine pinyin and traditional characters, but they all have some flaw:  either the pinyin is on a separate page (not alternating rows) or it is not an ebook.  The search continues.

Update: I also found one app that alternates rows of pinyin and trad chars on the iPhone app store but it is subscription based and rather expensive.

Your request of Pinyin and Traditional characters are in itself an oxymoron.

Pinyin is the system used in China and focuses on simplified characters. This system allows foreigners to learn Chinese a lot easier.
Traditional Chinese characters use ㄅㄆㄇㄈ. A system that is only used in Taiwan.
Currently there's not much casual medium (novels, movies) that combines Traditional and Pinyin together. More educational mediums consists of text books provided by National Taiwan University. I believe they teach Chinese using the ㄅㄆㄇ system. The Bible and church hymns (if you are religious) occasionally has pinyin, but sometimes this type of pinyin is written in Wade-Giles and pronounced as Taiwanese (the dialect)


Email as noun and verb Could you guys and gals clarify how you use Email as noun and verb please?

My textbook uses 电子邮件 as a noun and 发电子邮件 as a verb (send an Email). I have also found 伊妹儿 in a dictionary, which looks like transliteration.

So my questions are:

Is transliterated version used only as a noun or as a verb as well?
Which one of them is used in general?

I guess you should avoid 伊妹儿 (that almost looks like a girls' name or person name). 电子邮件 is the preferred and widely used term.

If you need a verb to express 'to send an e-mail', use 发 with 电子邮件:

E.g. 请给我发个电子邮件。 Please send me an e-mail.


我可不觉得 - agree or disagree? I worked with dialogue of two persons:

A: 外边下雨. 挺有意思.
B: 我可不觉得. 上个星期我穿了新衣服出门, 忽然倾盆大雨. 我的衣服报废了.

可不 - vocabulary translation gives "1) that's just the way it is. 2) exactly".
But here Person B is complaining about the rain and spoiled clothes. So does Person B agree with A?
Or may be "可不觉得" here is a short form of "可是 不觉得"?

The same as "I don't think so".

我 **可**(means emphasize) 不觉得
我不觉得
不觉得
不

When it's a single word "可不", as you post, it is an interjection often used when spoken; it means "exactly" or "you're right".

For example:

你真帅
那可不

And there won't be any usage of this meaning in the form of "我" + "可不",  especially when they are two characters behind "可不".
Just remember the usage scenarios of oral language like this (a sentence only has 3 characters).

And why can this negative word be used to represent approval?
This is called 反诘 ("rhetorical question").


Does anyone know what these letters mean? I have seen these letters written in a particular way and I would like to know their meaning.
I don't know if they are in the correct position so I sent 2 possible positions.

This answer is two months late; I hope you still need the information.
The position in your first image seems right. I still can't figure out what the first character is, but the second character is quite undoubtedly 妙 (Wiktionary) in a kind of seal script (篆书), though it looks a bit wonky.
Variation of character forms in seal scripts can be considerable, but I have an example for you - you can see it in the top right corner of this seal:

["妙吉羊菴" by San'geng Xu (徐三庚)]
The left halves of them aren't exactly the same (one more stroke in the image you provide), but I'm inclined to think that's due to a misinterpretation of one long stroke as two separate strokes.


Can I use 现代汉语词典 outside of the paper dictionary? 现代汉语词典 seems to be the de facto standard for Chinese dictionaries. Some users here use it as well. But it seems only possible for the paper version.

But I might miss something. Is it possible to use it outside of its paper version, such as online or app? I searched for it on the App Store, but seems that there are too many results and I don't know which is the correct one (actually all of them don't seem to be official ones...). Also I really hate it if I purchase an app but later found some words are missing.

Or is it only available on the paper-version?

You can buy it as an in-app purchase in the Pleco app. It costs 19.99 USD at the moment. For Android devices and also for iPhone /iPad. Reference: http://www.pleco.com/products/pleco-for-iphone-ipad/pricing-bundles/ in the section "Individual Add-ons /dictionaries ". If you install Pleco for free with just the 现代汉语词典 as an extra it should just cost 19.99 USD.


How to use the expression 一個上年 My book, among other expressions we should read out, lists 一個上年 without explanation. Now, I have heard 上年 as a variant of 去年，but I can't guess the meaning of 一個上年！ I can't imagine when you would want to use this, since "last year" is unambiguous. There are no choices.

Most likely, 年 here was a typo of 午 in your book.

一個上午 (a morning) make sense; 一個上年(a last year ) doesn't make sense.

'A year' can be any unspecific year
'Last year' is a specific year in the context of the speech.
The phrase '一個上年' (a last year) contradicts itself.

Another explanation for '一個上年' to exist could be: '上年' here doesn't mean 'last year', but 'good year'( 上 as in 上等 - high quality). That is also unlikely, because '一個好年'is much more common way to describe a 'good year'

If 一個上年 was not a typo, then it can only mean '上年'(last year) was a special year that was marked as a particular reference.

For example: "再来一個上年, 公司就要破產 "-- "one more (year like) last year, the company will bankrupt"


What is the difference of 犯不着 用不着 and 犯不上？ why in this sentence is 犯不着?
e.g.
犯不着为这点小事生气。
when you use it? why not “用不着”“犯不上”?
it's idiomatic ?
can you give me example sentences?
THANK YOU

[犯不着/犯不上]为这点小事生气。 oral chinese
用不着为这点小事生气。mostly we use this way in written.
they are all ok. and the meanings of 犯不着/犯不上/用不着 are almost the same. it's up to you.


Could someone translate this poster for me? I've had a few friends take a look and they had very differing opinions.

the picture is part of a bigger poster of 狗神樂隊 (a rock & roll band) in shanghai, their web site is here:

https://goushen.bandcamp.com/album/-

the three big black character is "不易滚". two small red characters in the "seal" is "狗" (dog) and an inverted "神" (god).

滚 (u+6eda) is a variant character of 滾 (u+6efe)

rock & roll in chinese is 搖滾樂.

need more elaboration?


Are 耳光 and 巴掌 the same? There is this sentence in this story 沙漠里的朋友: 今天我的好朋友打了我一巴掌.

Here, can I replace 巴掌 with 耳光?

耳光
ABC

N.
box on the ears; slap on the face

巴掌

N.
palm of the hand

While they are inherently different, 打…巴掌 and 打…耳光 are roughly the same.
Consider these two example sentences from A Chinese-English Dictionary

打他一巴掌
dǎ tā yī bāzhang
give him a slap

打耳光
dǎ ěrguāng
slap sb.'s face; box sb.'s ears

The only difference might be is that 耳光 could alude to a specific hit/slap/punch to the ears.


Help with the confusions around 了 So I am having a bit of a confusion with the use of 了. So the teacher gave me a sentence which is this:
我买了两个苹果。
She said that V+了+object requires the object to have specified quantity. After that she gave this sentence:
我买了苹果了
She said that if the object have no specified quantity or information there need to be a 了 after it. I ask her if “我买苹果了” is correct or not and she said it is true colloquially which really baffled me.
Can someone tell me where to put 了 in a sentence that have objects but have unspecified quantity (like the one above)

V+了+object requires the object to have specified quantity

No, it is wrong.

The following sentences are all legitimate:

我买了苹果 = I bought apple (not mentioning how many)

我买了两个苹果 = I bought two apples (stating the quantity)

我买了酒 = I bought alcoholic drink (not mentioning how much, not even what kind)

我买了三瓶白酒 = (I bought three bottles of white wine)

  http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/460/

  [1] [aspect marker] indicating completed action

  [2] [final particle] indicating change of situation

  In all the examples above, 了 is a aspect marker that indicates the action (verb) is completed

~

我买了苹果了 = I bought apple

我买了两个苹果了 = I bought two apples

我买了酒了 = I bought alcoholic drink (not mentioning how much, not even what kind)

我买了三瓶白酒了 = I bought three bottles of white wine

  In all four examples above, the second 了 at the end is a final particle. It serves to emphasize the fact and stress an affirmative tone.

  Your teacher said it is colloquial because we do use final particles mainly in speech, but it doesn't mean we don't use it in writing.

~

我去买苹果(了) = I go to buy apple

我去买酒(了)  = I go to buy wine

*You can add final particle 了 to the two examples above (了 stress an affirmative tone - seriously, I am going to buy apple/ wine)*

~

我买两个苹果 = I buy two apples

我买三瓶白酒 = I buy three bottles of wine

You shouldn't add final particle 了 to the two examples above because they are plain factual statements


Turning tables in restaurants What are those turning tables called, that you often find in restaurants in China, that are used to hand around the dishes? We used them a lot when in China, but I can't seem to remember we ever talked about this specific piece of furniture. Can you just call it 转台 or 转桌 or something like that? I don't even know what to call them in another language, so it's pretty hard to find the right term.

There are some similar names.

餐桌旋转盘

旋转餐盘

转盘


What are these 2 的s doing here? I have 2 的s in my text which are confusing.

"可以明确的是实习生与企业间不是劳动关系，。。。“
"我九月份进的这家公司，老板说前面几个月是作为实习期的。“

In 1. I think '的‘ nominalizes, but I'm not sure what it nominalizes. Maybe there is a ‘所’ understood and unspoken, '(所）可以明确的‘ = （that which） （we) can be sure of'。I don't really think '明确的‘ or '可以明确的‘ are nouns, neither in English nor in Chinese.

In 2. I can't see what 的 does. Nothing? Or is there a missing 是 ‘我是九月份进的这家公司’？Or is it just for the rhythm of speech? Or can I rewrite as '这家我九月份进的公司，‘? That doesn't seem right! Maybe '这家我九月份进的公司的老板说，‘

1 - 可以明确的(matter) - (the matter) that one can see clear is...
2 - 我（是）九月份进的 (it's part of a 是...的 structure) - I entered on September...


How does a body with no arms mean finished? 了子 Reading Henry's question about 了 below, I thought I would look up 了。

http://www.fantizi5.com/ziyuan/

You will have to enter 了。

了是象形字。

To my mind, a child with no arms, or its arms cut off, is 'unfinished' or 'incomplete' not '完成'.

How did 了 acquire a meaning of 完成?

（東漢）許慎《說文解字》

  了，尦也。从子，無臂。象形。凡「了」之屬，皆从「了」。盧鳥切。

（清）段玉裁《說文解字注》

    了，尦也。

了 means 尦 [ ㄌㄧㄠˋ | liào ].

      尦，行，脛相交也。

「尦」的意思是，行走時，小腿相互交叉。
尦 means the shanks cross each other while walking.
Sometimes female models walk in this way.

      牛行，腳相交爲尦。

牛在行走的時候，後腳相互交叉稱為「尦」。
尦 means the rear shanks cross each other when an ox is walking.

      凡物二股或一股結糾紾縳不直伸者，曰「了戾」。

一個物品的一股或兩股糾結不直的樣子，稱為「了戾」。
了戾 means one or two strands of a matter are twined, bound and not straight.

紾 [ ㄓㄣˇ | zhěn ]：扭轉；拗折。 to twist; to bend.
縳 [ ㄓㄨㄢˋ | zhuàn ]：捲；束。 to wrap; to roll up; to bind; to tie up.
戾 [ ㄌㄧˋ | lì ]：這裡是「彎曲」的意思。crooked; curved.

    从子，無臂。

（清）徐灝《說文解字注箋》

      「从子，無臂」謂無左右曲筆。此釋字形，非謂人有是形也。

There is not the left-right stroke, which represents two arms, of 子. It interprets the shape of the character, not of the baby.

    象形。

      象其足「了戾」之形。

描繪兩腳糾結的樣子。
It depicts the twined and bound shape of two feet.

    凡「了」之屬，皆从「了」。

凡是「了」這一類的字，都由「了」衍生而來。
The characters of 了 class are derived from 了.
For example, 、孒、孑、孓.

《說文解字注箋》也提到：

    凡「收束」謂之「結」，故曰：「了結」。《廣雅》曰：「了，訖也。」

凡是「收合束縛」都稱為「結」，所以有「了結」一詞。《廣雅》解釋：「了」是「訖」的意思。
Everything related to "collect and bind" is called 結.
That is why we have the term, 了結.
《廣雅》 interprets 了 as "finish, end, stop, complete, etc.".

由以上的資料可知，「了」的本義是「尦」；而「尦」的意思是，行走時，小腿相互交叉。
這兩腳糾結的形狀，類似「收束」的樣子，因而被歸為「結」，由此才延伸出「了結」一詞。
而「結」有「終」、「止」、「成」之義，所以，「了」便有「結束、停止、完成」的意思。
From the above information, we can see that the original meaning of 了 is 尦.
And, 尦 means that the legs cross each other when walking.
The tangled shape of the two feet is similar to the appearance of 收束.
It is thus classified as 結, and then extended to the word, 了結.
Furthermore, 結 also means 終, 止 or 成, so 了 may mean "ended, stoped or complete".

簡單講，「了」的原義是「走路時兩腳交叉」，而「結束、完成」是它的延伸義。
In short, the original meaning of 了 is "to cross the legs when walking", and "finished or complete" is its extended meaning.

可能是我的搜尋能力太差，這是我找到「了」和「結束」有關係的唯一古文。
Due to my poor search skills, this is the only classical article I found, which connects 了 to 結束.

至於現代人所編的解釋，有下面這些資料：
The following information is made by the modern people.

《汉字字源》

《字源》

《说文解字今释》

《汉字字源－当代新说文解字》

依我個人的觀點，如果不是依據古文而來的解釋，其可信度較低。
In my opinion, the credibility is lower if it is not explained based on the classical text.


How do you say "rock a baby to sleep" in Chinese? 当一个小儿子在哭泣而妈妈为了让他睡觉就拿他上来而用胳膊轻轻的动他,这用汉语叫什么？

When a young child is crying and the mother in order to make him sleep takes him up and gently move him with her arms, what do you call that in Chinese?

PS If there is anything to improve in the Chinese version, please tell me. I know the title should be informative but to make it more informative I would practically have had to put the question in the title, or cause ambiguities with English translations like "rock".

Tentative answer: 搖
The question is not very clear to me. It seems that the request is for a word which unambiguously indicates that the mother is holding the baby in her arms and rocking it.  I don't think there is such a word in Chinese.  My first choice for the action of rocking a baby would be 搖, but like English 'rock' this is ambiguous as to how the rocking is done. Here are English and Chinese examples:

媽媽輕輕地搖著寶寶。
The mother gently rocked her baby.

In both the English and Chinese examples, the baby could be in the mother's arms, or in a cradle. I think the only way to clarify this in Chinese is to add a descriptive phrase. One possibility is to add the word 抱; this is the standard word for holding something in one's arms. If you use this, you will need to think a bit about how babies are held.  If you have the baby in front with its head resting against your chest, this is called 抱在懷裡. If you hold the baby with its head resting on your shoulder and one arm under its bottom, this is probably just 抱, so for example:

媽媽抱著寶寶輕輕地搖著.  The mother gently rocked her baby, (its head resting on her shoulder)
媽媽把抱寶寶抱在懷裡輕輕地搖著.  The mother cradled the baby in her arms, gently rocking it.

If you are trying to fit words to a song, try verb reduplication. 抱啊抱, 搖啊搖, etc. This how people actually talk to babies when they are trying to get them to sleep, or anyway this is how I did it.
A caution for interpreting
One thing to be careful about: English 'rock' refers to a semi-circular motion; Chinese 搖 is not limited to this, and sometimes just means 'to shake'. However, in English, to shake a baby is usually taken as crossing a very dangerous line, and might even be taken to mean that one is unfit to care for a child. If you ever interpret in a court case involving something like this, be careful!! You cannot take the word 搖 to automatically mean 'shake vigorously'!  You must explain to the court participants how the Chinese works and specifically ask in Chinese how the child was held and what degree of force was used; do not unfairly prejudice the judge or jury against the Chinese speaker.
My own feeling is that Chinese takes as conventional the sense that 搖 is appropriate for the baby.  Sometimes inexperienced children do it with too much enthusiasm, and the usual correction is 搖輕一點!


A shorter translation of 举案齐眉 举案齐眉 - 汉英大词典

  A wife lifts the tray to a level with her eyebrows to show great
  respect for her husband

Are there any shorter translations?

PS: Why do people still admire such kind of marriage?

举案齐眉 https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E4%B8%BE%E6%A1%88%E9%BD%90%E7%9C%89
是指送饭时把托盘举得跟眉毛一样高。形容夫妻间互相敬重。
Describe the mutual respect between husband and wife

The act of 举案齐眉 indicates the married couple treating each other respectfully and pleasantly as treating a guest,
Another idiom 相敬如宾 (mutually respect each other like a guest) stated it even more clearly.
The literal translation of 举案齐眉 and 相敬如宾 are different, but the metaphorical meanings are the same, therefore, you can translate both idioms as: "mutually respect" (between husband and wife) or more descriptively: "having a harmonious relationship" (in marriage)
Example sentence:
夫妻倆三十年來举案齐眉，相敬如宾 (In the past 30 years, husband and wife show great respect to each other, having a harmonious relationship)
One of the problem in long marriage is losing respect between spouses. Taking the relationship for granted, they forgot their spouse is still an individual being who expectes to be treated politely and respectfully. You still need to say thank you to your wife when she put your dinner in front of you. you still need to respect your husband's opinion even it is an idiotic one and not laugh at him. Just like you wouldn't do that to an important guest (you can still disagree and debate with him politely)


理由的理: specify a character by context This method is often used to clarify which exact character of a certain pronunciation is meant, for example when saying one's name:

  我叫王立：不是力量的力，是成立的立。

It is used so frequently that I assume there is a word for it (like a historical method to describe a character's pronunciation was called fanqie 反切).

What is this method called?

I would call it 釐清 (to clarify)

釐清 這個 'li' 是 理由的理, 不是 里程的里
to clarify this 'li'  is 理 for 理由, not 里 for 里程

or
闡明 (to clarify )

闡明 這個 'li' 是理由的理, 不是 里程的里
to clarify this 'li' is 理 for 理由, not 里 for 里程

神秘德里克 wrote:

提问人问专门的词，这两个词也不是说专门表示这件事情。应该是没有什么专门的词专门表达这件事情。

I agree there is no specific term for 'specify a character by context' .
'specify a character by context' is an act of '釐清' or '闡明' a character

"你叫 Huáng Yuán? 請問是那一個 Yuán?" (Your name is Huáng Yuán? May I ask which yuán is that?)

"To clarify (釐清/闡明) which 'Yuán' is in his name, 黃源 said: 'it is the 源 in 水源"


What does 倒 mean in 现在也倒没有透露我们到底为哪个峰会准备这个午宴? Can this 倒 be omitted in this sentence? Does it work together with 也？ Is it some kind of passive marker?

(Edit: This was the previous sentence:
如果我们的主席也正好在华盛顿的话，我想他会感觉到非常自豪的，能有这么好的中午餐提供给华盛顿这些首脑。)

  现在我们也倒没有透露我们到底为哪个峰会准备这个午宴。

Made a mistake copying; it should be:

  现在也倒没有透露我们到底为哪个峰会准备这个午宴。

I would translate '也倒没有透露' as 'we still don't know', although it is really more like '(they) still have not revealed to us' which is passive as far as '我们' are concerned.

倒 is such a tricky word! I don't think(at least from I know) we have an English equivalent for it. The closest translation to English I think is "Well, (that one is different) ..."

Think about this dialogue:

  A: 可以吸烟吗？

  B: 不可以。

  A: 可以喝酒吗？

  B: 不可以

  A: 那吃东西也不行了？

  B: 这个倒没有限制。(Well, that might be ok.)

As you can see, 倒没有 is usually used, when a serial of questions has been asked/talked about, and at some point the questioner asks the very question which he would expect the same kind of answer but the replier knows it would be a bit surprise(to the questioner) because his answer would be reverse(倒) from those answers he had given previously.

For this case,

  现在我们也倒没有透露我们到底为哪个峰会准备这个午宴。

There could be some other things that have been discussed in the previous context. After they have confirmed (or answered yes to) those things, and when comes to this one, they reversed the tone(倒没有) because they want to give a heads-up that this answer would be different from those previous ones.

So, I would think 倒 in this context is expressing the idea "heads-up! the tone/answer is reversed". Or compared with the previous answers, this one is reversed(倒过来了).

The more tricky part is 也 in the sentence, implying there could be another previous question which has a reversed answer already. So, this one is the second one and that's why 也 is being used.

Updates after thinking a bit deeper(which I think this question deserves):

This word 倒 is used when the speaker feel it's necessary to reverse the tone. This could be because of following reasons:

the tone is consistent for the preceding questions and at some point it changes. This is like the virtual example above.
the speaker feels his answer would be the exact reversed from what his listeners expect. The OP's example could fall into this reason. 现在也倒没有透露我们到底为哪个峰会准备这个午宴。It implies that the speakers feel that normally people would think they've already revealed 我们到底为哪个峰会准备这个午宴, but reversely they have not. This reason could just be the speaker's assumption(Maybe, it doesn't matter if it's true).
It could be a matter of idiolect. Some would use it casually without thinking that deep of the usage, especially in spoken.


Chinese Verse: Is "Broaden One's Horizons" a Translation That Makes Sense? Here's the verse in question, the last verse of a Chines language poem:
"如再宽阔些便可知千里阵云怎么写了"
My current translation:
"If you broaden your horizons, you can learn how to write about vast formations of clouds."
Is "broaden horizons" a good way to translate "如再宽阔些便可知..."?

You have: 如再宽阔些便可知千里阵云怎么写了
This is similar to yours, (maybe yours is a reference??):
念去去⑦，千里烟波，暮霭沉沉楚天阔⑧。
Memories wander, 10000 leagues of mist covered water, (here) dense evening mists (but in) Chu skies are clear
⑦去去：重复“去”字，表示行程遥远。
⑧“暮霭”句：傍晚的云雾笼罩着南天，
muai phrase: evening mists shroud the southern sky,
深厚广阔，
deep and wide,
不知尽头。
seemingly boundless.
暮霭（ǎi）：
muai:
傍晚的云雾。沈沈：即“沉沉”，
evening mists deep deep: namely "(lie) heavy",
深厚的样子。楚天：指南方楚地的天空。
appearing profound.
楚天：指南方楚地的天空。
Chu sky: refers to the clear skies of the Southern Chu Province


"to slice or cut (a finger)" in Traditional Chinese / Spoken Cantonese? Haven't managed to find a usage that speaks specifically to cut or slice open a body part.

Also seeing contradictions (or perhaps information gaps) between CantoDict and Pleco.

Some notes:

CantoDict says '開面' means 'slice open' while Pleco describes this as a face-painting technique for Cantonese opera.
'切片' seems like it could apply, though Pleco suggests more of a Medical context.

How many variants can you make of "I sliced my finger" in Traditional Chinese / verbal Cantonese (slang)?

I would say that "開面" as "to slice open" in cantodict is wrong. Have a look at 國語辭典, these two terms are listed:

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cbdic/gsweb.cgi?o=dcbdic&searchid=Z00000076573

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cbdic/gsweb.cgi?o=dcbdic&searchid=Z00000099591

About "I sliced my finger", you may consider:  (u+20779). I guess that your computer / tablet needs to have a suitable font in order to display it.

Usage:
Your colleague asked "What happened to your finger?"

Answer: "比張紙親" (Click each character for its sound file :)

Roughly, "比張紙" is "by a piece of paper"; "親" is "sliced".

Be careful :)

Edited.

Of course you can :)

"比" (u+6bd4), or "俾" (u+4ffe) are equal in this context, you can use either one, I quoted "比" just because it's simpler, has fewer strokes.

Now, here's another one: "畀" (u+7540), which is the ancestor of the above two. It existed since oracle bone script, used commonly in literatures of yore. Unfortunately, nowadays this original character is not well recognised; that's why people are using "比" or "俾" most of the time.


What is the difference between 绿 and 青? What is the difference between 绿 and 青? Do they refer to different shades of green? I know 青 can be used in many more contexts; it can be used to mean 'young' or 'immature'. I find it boggling how 青 can mean blue too. Do the Chinese differentiate between blue and green? Or does 青 mean blue+green?

I am Chinese and I don't think 青色 is the same as 绿色 or 蓝色. For me, 青色 is more of a kind of blue. Personally, blue and 蓝色 also cover different shades of blue color.

This is a very common proverb:

  青,出于蓝,而胜于蓝

literally it means 青色 and comes from blue, but better than blue. Or more straightforward, 青色 is extracted from the blue plant(indigo), but is bluer than the plant. The next part is "冰，水为之，而寒于水"(ice comes from water but is colder than water). This proverb is often used to describe how students can achieve more than their teachers, or the younger ones can eventually do better. I think that is why 青 occurs in words other than color, like 青春，青涩，青年, to describe a young, inexperienced stage just like the green used in "green hand".

There is a common color name in Chinese, 靛青，which is a kind of dark blue.

check the wikipedia link about the color.
青色 is the colors like Lapis lazuli, Salvia blue, Wedgwood blue or Slate blue. The screenshot below from wiki describes the difference between 青色 and 蓝色.

For other use of "青" besides color and the implicit meaning of young， I don't know.


What is the difference between 激动 and 冲动? What is the difference between "激动" and "冲动"?

So for example, what is the difference between:

  先别激动，冷静一下。

and

  先别冲动，冷静一下。

i would translate 激動 to "intensely emotional", where the emotion can be any sort of emotion, positive or negative (e.g. sorrow, anger, happiness). so it's very useful word because it can mean many things (despair, rage, ecstatic). and 衝動 means recklessness or impulsiveness driven by strong emotions, again any kind of emotion will do. typically the type of emotion is implied or from context.

when describing a person, 激動 is more of a mental state, where as 衝動 implies the person is physically getting ready for action (larger and more violent actions).

激動 examples： 他激動到哭出來。他激動到說不出話來。 (he is so emotional he starts to cry. he is so emotional he couldn't speak.) i used these examples intentionally to demonstrate that even though crying is an action, it's not big enough of an action so you can't use 衝動。

衝動 examples: 他一時衝動，把車窗打破。他衝動的跑去找上司理論。(he became reckless and broke the car window. he recklessly went to argue with the boss.) here the person is driven by the emotion (rage, displeasure or whatever) to do something reckless or impulsive.

衝動 can also be used to describe an action, where as 激動 only works on people.
eg. 衝動的舉動，衝動的行為 (reckless actions).

so to answer your question, the first sentence implies the person should calm down in order to think clearly (or not have a mental break down), and the second sentence means the person should calm down and not do what he is about to do.

another usage you might find useful: 我這樣做會不會太衝動？ (would it be reckless if i did this?) for asking people's opinion when you feel like you're about to do something you might regret.


When did the usage of "N" to indicate some unspecified quantity come up? I have heard a number of Cantonese speakers use N (pronounced like the English letter) to designate some sort of unspecified quantity, for instance:

  我 N 年前去过。(Approximately "I went there some years ago.")

When did such a usage first come up? Does it have anything to do with the standard mathematical usage of n, and does it also appear in other languages?

As you suspected, it is thought to come from the mathematical usage:

为什么“N”可以代表“很多”的意思?例如N多次,N多个
Why can "N" have the meaning "a lot"? For instance, N-times, N-of-them
因为数学上的数列一般都用第N项代表任一项,可知无穷大的一项.
Because in math, sequences usually use "the nth term" to represent any term, including unboundedly large ones.

Another (perhaps more reputable) source

...n在代数中表示很多，如从1开始到2,到3,..., 到n。因此在口语中n经常用来表示特别多，例如“买了n多电话卡”...
...in algebra, "N" signifies "a lot", as in "from 1, 2, 3, up to N". Because of this, in colloquial speech, "N" often is used to express "very many", as in "to buy sooo many telephone cards"...


Can you please help me translate this title and signature? I am trying to translate this signature from a watercolor painting I bought many years ago at a thrift store.  I've tried google translate along with searching Asian artist seals, but no luck.

The translation of 水鄉 is "water town". In China, "水鄉" usually refers to "江南水鄉", which are the villages/ town in the Yangtze River Delta (e.g. Suzhou Zhouzhuang Water Town). "鐵" is iron.
According to Kangxi Dictionary, "堃" means compliance, obedience, female and is the variant of "坤". "坤" is one of the Bagua("八卦" or the eight trigrams) and it represents "地" (earth/ground/floor).  "寫" is writing or painting.


What is the difference between 认为 and 以为? They both mean "to think" or "to consider". Is there a usage difference between the two?

以为 carries with it the nuance of thinking or considering something mistakenly.

  我以为你们已经分手了。 - I thought you had already broken up (but it seems you're still together.)

认为 doesn't have any such connotation and can be used generally to mean "to think," "to consider."

  我认为他是我最重要的朋友。 - I consider him to be my most important friend.


What's the general word for '样‘ in '这样，那样’，‘小样’, ‘怎样', ‘好样的’? It is hard for me to find out one general or exactly English word for '样' in different contexts, it is so common in Chinese.

样 means 模样 or 样子 (manner/way; appearance/ look)

这样 = this way/ like this

那样 = that way/ like that

怎样 = what way/ like what/ how

小样的 = small looking one (mock people for being small minded or undignified)

好样的 = good looking one (use in positive way to praise someone looking good by doing something or use in ironic way to mock someone looking bad by doing something)


Breaking a sentence into grammatical structures There's a very robust deck of Anki flash cards I've been using to build vocabulary. But sometimes I get stuck when new grammatical constructs are shown.

The deck says 你想走的时候就走吧。 is translated "Go when you want, ok?" which clause is 时候 part of?
"Whenever you want to go, immediately go okay?" or "You want to go, whenever immediately go, okay?"

Also, what resource(s) is best for building familiarity with these various transformations (or grammatical structures)?

Thanks!

的时候 is an interesting way to construct time markers in Chinese, it means "when (something happens...)".

In your example, the whole 6 characters in 你想走的时候 are part of the ...的时候 construct, which matches your first translation, i.e. Whenever you wish to go, just go. or Anytime you want to go, just go.

Well, the best resource to train your "parser" is just reading a lot, text books for the most part. And sometimes breaking up a sentence can be hard, that's normal, but the more experience you have, the better you will be at it.


Different pronunciation for the number 'one'? I was talking to my friend (native Chinese) the other day and when she read out a phone number she said "yao" for all the "ones" in the phone number.
However, as far as I remember, for all other cases she says it normally - eg. "yi ge" when counting etc.
Also, as far as I know, people from Taiwan don't use "yao" but stay with "yi" for all cases of uses of the number "one".
Does anyone know why "yao" is used instead of "yi"?

In the mainland of China (I don't know how people in Taiwan use this character, sorry), people usually use "yao" when reading numerical serial numbers, digit by digit. One typical application is the phone number. In almost all other cases, only "yi" should be used.

Why can it mean "one"?

The character for "yao" is "幺". Which originally (in classic Chinese) means "young,little". Especially this meaning is used (still used nowadays, very popular here in Chengdu) to refer to the youngest child in a family.

I believe the meaning "one" extends from this meaning, since 1 is the "youngest" element in natural number family (without 0).

Why is it used as "one"?

As Bathrobe pointed out, once this was very popular in military actions, to avoid the misunderstanding as 七, to express the numbers more clearly.


Is this Udemy course in Mandarin, are Mandarin and Chinese very related, and would Mandarin have any use in Hong Kong? Before moving to Hong Kong in 2 months, I want to learn Chinese and when considering Udemy, I came across a course Chinese Made Easy L1: Understand 65% of Chinese in 10 hours.

However the description says "Chinese (Mandarin)". Does this mean that it is a Mandarin course? Are Mandarin and Chinese very related?

If this course is teaching Mandarin, and if Mandarin is a way different language than Chinese, would it have any use in Hong Kong?

I checked the website.  Yes, it teaches Mandarin.

Mandarin is the formal language used in Taiwan and mainland China (including Guangdong).  Mandarin is written using simplified Chinese in mainland China, while written using traditional Chinese in Taiwan.

Cantonese is used in Hong Kong and Guangdong, written using traditional Chinese in Hong Kong.

"Chinese" includes Mandarin and dialects used in some cities.  Among them, Cantonese is significantly different from Mandarin, and most of movies released in Hong Kong need to be dubbed so audiences from Taiwan and mainland China can watch them.


How to use 得 without single-character verbs (e.g. 我旅行得很快)? I've been taught that ‘得’ can be used in situations such as, “我打篮球打得很好”, to describe the "degree" that the action has. But I've also been told that ‘得’ only works with single character verbs-- so rather than saying, “我游泳得很快”, I would say, “我游得很快”, instead.

This is all fine and well for verbs like ‘游泳’ which can be replaced by ‘游’ but for other verbs whose individual characters don't mean anything on their own, I'm not sure what to do.

I am unable to say, "I travel very fast," because I can't say “我旅行得很快”. What is the solution to this?

I would say that "A得B"(述语+补语) form does not add constraint on the number of characters of either A or B. But if encountering a choice between "学得快" and "学习得快" in oral language, most native speakers would select the former one since it's shorter, although both of them are correct from the view of grammar.

For the case of "旅行得很快", I don't think it's incorrect in grammar. If you have a reasonable context, it can also appear in oral language, although people would prefer saying "旅游" or "玩" to "旅行" (which sound too formal, like written language). Since people would not often talking about how fast their travelling is, many people may think this odd.

Moreover, although "学" and "学习" can be used as both noun and verb. In most cases orally, "学" uses as verb and "学习" as noun.

Some more examples of "A得B" form with more than one character in A:

这个项目计划得很周密。

This project plans thoroughly.
他高兴得眼泪都流出来了。

He is happy into tears.
这首歌要好听得多。

This song is much better.


Why does 政治核心盘 (lit. "political core plate") seem to mean "political base"? 《纽约时报》的文章说，他们获得的相关财务文件和法律文件，提供了迄今为止特朗普商业帝国最详细的资料。特朗普凭借在电视真人秀节目《学徒》中的出色表现塑造了自己“亿万富翁”的形象，并从《学徒》中挣得4.27亿美元。这一形象帮助他入主白宫，并巩固了自己的政治核心盘。但是，现在公开的文件对他的财务状况提供了一幅扭曲的画面。例如，2018年特朗普披露自己“至少赚了4.349亿美元”，而税务记录却提供了一个完全不同的结果：4740万美元的亏损。
纳税风波冲击特朗普选情，环球时报，2020年09月29日

The above article discusses the recent reveal of details of US president Trump's tax return by the New York Times, which is at odds with his image as a successful businessman.  As I understand, the sentence in bold means:

这一形象帮助他入主白宫，并巩固了自己的政治核心盘。
This persona helped him enter the White House, and consolidate his political base.

What I don't understand is why 政治核心盘 seems to mean "political base" (or otherwise translated "political core").  We have 政治 = "political", 核心 = "core", and 盘 = "plate", among a bunch of other things:

plate / dish / tray / board / hard drive (computing) / to build / to coil / to check / to examine / to transfer (property) / to make over / classifier for food: dish, helping / to coil / classifier for coils of wire / classifier for games of chess

Question: Why does 政治核心盘 seem to mean "political base"?
It seems like 盘 here means something not listed above (or maybe something metaphorical).

I think 盘 here refers to 地盘.  地盘 is territory under one's control.
政治核心盘: core political territory. (just to explain, not sure if it's correct English).


What does 他得经历九九八十一难 refer to? I was watching a 西游记 adaptation from Little Fox Chinese and I've come across a sentence with numbers I can't quite understand. I read the translation but yet it doesn't make sense:

"观音菩萨吃惊地看着信使。“是什么问题？”观音菩萨问。
“是关于唐僧的。”信使说，

“为了成佛，他得经历九九八十一难。我刚才看了一下他经历的劫难。<<<<

Guanyin looked at the messenger in surprise. "What is the problem?"
she asked.
"It's about the Tang Monk," said the messenger.
"To become a buddha,he needs to face 81 challenges. I was just looking at the list of
challenges he's faced."

This sentence 他得经历九九八十一难 doesn't make any sense to me, even worse when I look at the translation.
九九八十一 for me it looks like > 99811
How did it become "81" ??? (as seen in the translation)

It is from 'Multiplier table'

Normally, saying 81 days is enough, saying 九九八十一  emphasize nine circles of nine days periods
The most commonly quoted Multiplier table phrase is 七七四十九日 (7x7=49). emphasize seven circles of seven days periods. Because  traditionally Chinese believe after a person died, his soul would go through a procedure every seventh day, until the seventh seventh day. After that, the fate of his soul is determined and the mourning period is over
As for the nine days cycles, Nine is a significant number for Chinese, it represent 'infinity' among other things

为了成佛，他得经历(九九)八十一难
In order to become a Buddha, he had to go through (nine sets of nine) eighty one catastrophes/ challenges

I presume each set of nine is harder than the previous set of nine
Another commonly quoted one is .三七二十一 (3x7=21) As in "不管三七二十一" (meaning 'no matter what')
Also there is a saying :三三不盡六六無窮 (3x3 and 6x6 represent 'endless, infinite')


What's the difference between 逼, 迫, and 逼迫? Do 逼, 迫, and 逼迫 all carry the same connotation of "to force"? Is there a difference?

If there's a difference, when should you use each one?

Which is the most common to use in speaking and writing?

Is there a difference between Cantonese and Mandarin?

http://xh.5156edu.com/html3/4820.html

  逼,近也。——《说文新附》

  逼, means 'to approach and get close to'

~

  http://xh.5156edu.com/html3/4732.html

  迫: 用强力压制 (use force to press)

~

  http://xh.5156edu.com/html5/z32m80j144802.html

  逼迫: to force;to compel;to press

逼迫(approach and forcefully press) = 'to force/ to compel/ to press'

It is a compound word

逼 and 迫 are very similar, but there are subtle difference

逼: by approach extremely close, you are in effect pressing the object
迫: by forcefully pressing, you are extremely close to the object

In my experience, many people use 逼 and 迫 interchangeably

I have no problem with people using 逼 or 迫 for 'press' as in '逼切/'迫切 (pressingly close = urgent)

But I object using 迫 instead of 逼 for 'approach' as in '颱風逼近' (typhoon approaching)

  Do they all carry the same connotation of “to force?”

迫 and 逼迫 mean 'to force' directly
逼 means 'to force' by extended meaning  (approaching --> pressing --> forcing)

Cantonese only use 迫 or 逼 for 'to force'.
We do not use the term 逼迫


How do you explain the "祖" in "祖国"? As you know, "藉贯”means the birthplace of oneself but "祖藉" means the place of living of one's ancestors, so when someone says “我的祖国”, does he mean the country of his ancestors or the country of his own (for example, he is an American Chinese born and living in the US)?

The latest edition of 新华字典 says that 祖国 is the country of one's own(对自己国家的亲切称呼）（Page 674,新华字典第11版，商务印书馆，2012）, so it is very confusing, what does 祖 here mean?

祖 generally means ancestor, 祖国 means someone's own country and MAY have the implication that his/her ancestors lived in the same country as well, although it doesn't always have to be the case. I think 祖国 is similar to "motherland" in English, an expression to imply close relation. As an analogy, although "mother" and "land" give you a feeling what the word "motherland" means, being really serious about the meaning of "mother" itself won't help much here.

P.S. As a Chinese, I usually perceive Chinese words as a whole rather than separating every character and studying them, but I'm not sure if this is the best way for learning Chinese as a foreign language.


What words are used to express the sincerity when texting your friends in festival period, such as the Spring Festival? In the Chinese New Year period, many people will send text messages to their friends on the phone(via the SMS). I will also do that. When writing English letters, you may use "Yours," or "Sincerely," before your name, to show your sincerity.
So in Chinese, how can we express this meaning? I mean, when you say " I wish you [...]," what special words will be used to show your sincerity?

I received (and sent) several of these messages. I copied down some phrases to use later:

祝您事业兴旺！ = May your career be prosperous!
祝您福寿绵长！ = I wish you a long & happy life!
祝您龙年大吉！ = I wish you a very lucky Dragon Year!
祝您万事如意！ = May everything be exactly as you wish it to be!

From what I can tell, Chinese often string many different phrases together with commas, so you might get something like:
祝您龙年快乐，事业兴旺，福寿绵长，万事如意！


Why should someone learning Chinese as a second language learn 成语 idioms? I was discussing 成语 (a type of Chinese idiom) with my teacher, and she seemed to indicate that around the HSK5 level, there is a sharp increase in the number of 成语 that the student is required to learn.  She also indicated that it was a common complaint by students that 成语 are difficult and tedious to learn, and somewhat boring.

I'm not sure if the following is accurate, but it seems like 成语 are seldom used outside of literature:

  ...by their nature, formal/literary constructions and so are not commonly used in conversation (unless you want to sound highly educated). Thus this stuff is most useful for diary entries, stories, websites and other written documents.
  20 Actually Useful Chengyu (成语)

Hence my question:

Question: Why should someone learning Chinese as a second language learn 成语 idioms?

I gather there's a reason beyond "we like 成语" since there's an emphasis on them in the HSKs.  Maybe it'll help me find motivation to study them.

Idioms and classical phrases are important because they are parts of the modern Chinese.
The obvious benefit of using idioms, is it can greatly reduce the length of our sentences
Look at the following example:
跟他做交易真是[與虎謀皮 ]
The idiom 與虎謀皮 in this sentence, expresess several ideas

It is dangerous to deal with him

He is untrustworthy

He is a vicious character

It is foolish to expect good result

If you don't use the idiom 與虎謀皮, you have to use extra words to express all the ideas above. The sentence would become something like this: "他不講信義，手段兇狠, 跟他做交易是一個十分危險而且愚蠢的行為" (He is vicious and untrustworthy, dealing with him is a very dangerous and foolish act)
Just from reading  the four characters 與虎謀皮 , we know the person you are dealing with is 不講信義(can't be trusted)，手段兇狠 (vicious) and the deal itself is 危險 (dangerous) and  愚蠢 (foolish)
I would say learning idioms is as important as learning anything else in one's study of Chinese. Idioms are refined short cuts to express complex ideas in simple and comprehensive way
Origin of 與虎謀皮: http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/phorum/read.php?14,131767,131767#msg-131767


Why do the Chinese characters on my phone and computer look weird? The Chinese characters appear so strange after I've typed them on my computer and on one of my Chinese apps on my phone. For example, 十分 is different on the photo I've attached than what I am typing just now. I think it happened after I changed the language settings on my phone to Chinese and then back to English. It seems like my google account, which is connected to my phone and computer when I'm surfing, has noticed.

Any ideas for a solution to this problem?

You're looking at shapes according to the Kangxi dictionary form, a variant of Ming typeface. Both 「八」 and 「丷」 shapes will end up looking like

as part of other characters. It's better to try to get your font to display a regular script font (e.g. 標楷體) instead of a Ming typeface font when you're learning.

Print shapes that you see for 「关」 are normally consistent with the right hand side of 「朕」. 「关」 itself is a shape rather than a true character or character component; the shape is variously a handwriting corruption of the right hand side of 「」, a corruption of 「」, an abbreviation of the inner part of 「關」, among others. Because 「关」 is not really a character with a firm historical basis, it will be subject to various unrecognisable shape changes across regions and fonts - most regions simply don’t even use/recognise it as a character.


Difference between location nouns and place/position nouns, 方位词 vs 处所词 There are supposedly 4 categories of nouns in Chinese, according to Chinese Grammar Wiki:

Proper nouns and common nouns
Position nouns
Location nouns
Time nouns

The links to Position and Location nouns from the website are empty, and the titles say Location noun and Location Nouns respectively.

Are they the same thing? Perhaps this is just a mistake. I wasn't able to find a definition of position/location nouns on the site or a similar concept on Wikipedia's Nouns page.

It's quite hard to find anything on position and place nouns perhaps because search engines assume I am trying to figure out the correct position in a sentence to place a noun.

Also, what are either of the definitions?

Would any of the following in Chinese be position or place nouns and if so which ones:

here
there
up
down
nearby
home
hospital
work
right
left
north
south

方位次 are directions and positions with respect to something and include

relative directions

up/down - 上/下
left/right - 左/右
front/back - 前/后
in/out - 里/外

cardinal directions

north/south - 北/南
east/west - 东/西

which can prefix words like face, side, and corner to produce further position nouns.

处所词 are both places and proper nouns such as 上海.

They can be placed into 到。。。去 with nothing else and be grammatically correct such as 到上海去 and 到美国去, whereas general nouns, like 桌子, are not 处所词 as the sentence 到桌子去 is grammatically incorrect, although if 桌子那儿 is used instead of 桌子, this can be used as a place noun.

At least that is my general understanding of user6065's comment

  实用汉语语法＂４。３。２ 处所词 lg. place word。处所词的语法特点是：能做＂在＂＂到＂的宾语，能放在＂到。。。去＂的格式中。例如：在上海，到上海去。一般名词不能放在＂到。。。去＂的格式中。不能说＂到桌子去＂，＂到老张去＂，除非加上＂那儿＂使之成为处所短语，如＂到桌子那儿去＂，到老张那儿去＂。 所有的地名都是处所词，如：美国、亚洲、北京、天安门、颐和园，等等。＂邮局、宿舍、图书馆＂等既是名词，又是处所词。 ４。３。４ 方位词 noun of locality。方位词的语法特点基本上跟处所词相同。汉语共有１４个单音方位词：上、下、前、后、里、外、内、中、左、右、东、西、南、北。单音方位词加上＂边、面、头＂组成合成方位词。如：上边、后头、外边、左面、东头。所谓方位，既指空间，又指时间。＂屋前＂、＂屋后＂的＂前＂、＂后＂指处所，＂饭前＂、＂饭后＂的＂前＂、＂后＂指时间。名词加单方位词可以构成处所短语或时间短语。方位词不受数量短语的修饰，但是并不绝对排斥副词的修饰。例如：＂太前＂、＂太后＂；＂最前＂、＂最后＂。这中特点接近于形容词。单音方位词是一种黏着词，单用的能力很差；合成方位词比单音方位词要自由得多

  user6065

but my Chinese isn't good enough to be sure that I understood the comment correctly.


What are 因 and 而 doing in the sentence 他因受到热烈欢迎而高兴? A dict.cn example sentence for 热烈 is:

他因受到热烈欢迎而高兴
tā yīn shòudào rèliè huānyíng ér gāoxìng
He was pleased by the warmth of his welcome.

The translation is mostly straightforward:

他 (tā) = he
受到 (shòudào) = received
热烈 (rèliè) = warm
欢迎 (huānyíng) = welcome
高兴 (gāoxìng) = happy

But I don't understand what these two are doing in the sentence:

因 (yīn) = reason (part of 因为 = because)
而 (ér) = and

Question: What are 因 and 而 doing in the sentence 他因受到热烈欢迎而高兴?
I would probably phrase it like 他很高兴因为他受到热烈的欢迎.

[因 A 而 B] = [because of A, therefore B]

[因 A (受到热烈欢迎) 而 B (高兴)]
[Because of A (受到热烈欢迎), Therefore B (高兴)]

or

[B because of A] ; [B for A]
[B (高兴) because of A (受到热烈欢迎)]
[B (高兴) for A (受到热烈欢迎)]

When A is a reason; B is an action
When A is a cause; B is a result


Appearance should be 現象, 跡象, or 表面？ This dictionary page lists many options for appearance: http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/scripts/wordsearch.php?level=0

現象, 跡象, and 表面 all seem like good candidates.

1) Which one is the most common one to use when translating appearance in Mandarin?

2) Which one is the best for Cantonese?

3) Which one is the best for Don't judge things by their appearance? 看事情不要看現象? This one seems common, but doesn't 現象 translate more into phenomenon? Wouldn't 看事情不要看表面 be better?

There’s a common idiom that expresses not judging people by their appearances:

人不可貌相

Oxford defines this as:

  don't judge by appearances

and gives the full phrase as its example sentence:

  人不可貌相, 海水不可斗量。
  As the sea cannot be measured with a bushel, so people cannot be judged by their appearances.

——

The sentence you gave: 看事情不要看表面 is a good sentence and it concisely expresses what you want to say. 现象 can also mean appearance, for example ABC gives the sample sentence:

  光凭现象做判断
  guāng píng xiànxiàng zuò pànduàn
  judge according to appearance only

but phenomenon is still the most common usage.

——

Another word you might want to know is: 长相, which explicitly refers to one’s physical appearance, looks and features.


Is there a trick to find out the intensity of words with similar meanings? I know that the intensity for the Chinese "but" is 不过》可是》但是》却 and I know that there are other words like this, but I wonder if there is a way to recognise which one has the stronger meaning, without having to memorise it.

Just to clarify, I already know about the "but" words in Chinese. I'm looking for a general rule that applies to words that have the same meaning, but a different intensity/strength.

Who told you there is an intensity difference there?

你觉得它们不一样，不过我不这么认为。
你觉得它们不一样，可是我不这么认为。
你觉得它们不一样，但是我不这么认为。
你觉得它们不一样，然而我不这么认为。
你觉得它们不一样，而我却不这么认为。

They sound absolutely the same to my ears. You use different words only because you want it to sound slightly more colorful.

Update: I might be wrong. See discussions in the comments.

Anyway it is easy to remember:

不 in 不过: 4 strokes
可 in 可是: 5 strokes
但 in 但是: 7 strokes

See? The intensity goes up with the strokes.

却 is a different beast and shouldn't be compared with these three.


What is the difference between 挣扎 and 奋斗? When I search both online I get the same definition of
to struggle.

What is the different use of them then if the meaning is the same?

奋斗：to make a great effort to achieve something, usually striving to be successful. It's a positive word, because you have a target to achieve.

挣扎：try to struggle (to get free), usually we say someone is trapped by something bad, and try to struggle from it. It's much more passive feeling, because you have to struggle in order to escape from something bad to you.

See these expressions:

我们要迎难而上，努力奋斗，争取获得技术突破。

你们已经被包围了，赶快投降，不要做无谓的挣扎。


Is there a distinction between 禁止 (jìnzhǐ) and 严禁 (yánjìn), which both mean "forbid"? I see both 禁止 (jìnzhǐ) and 严禁 (yánjìn) being used to mean "forbid", and I don't really understand what the difference is between them.

Question: Is there a distinction between 禁止 (jìnzhǐ) and 严禁 (yánjìn)?

Online definitions give: (a) 禁止 = ban; forbid; prohibit (Bing dictionary) and (b) 严禁 = strictly forbid [prohibit] (Bing dictionary).  So it maybe that's all there is to it (严禁 is stricter than 禁止), in which case this question is asking for confirmation.

(Or maybe that's what it says in dictionaries, but in everyday use there's almost no distinction.  Or maybe there's some distinction in usage.)

Here are some examples I've come across. This is from some elevator instructions:

This Contains both:

严禁撞击 = yánjìn zhuàngjī = no fighting
禁止吸烟 = jìnzhǐ xīyān = no smoking

Another example:

contains

严禁挪动石墩 = yánjìn nuódòng shídūn = no moving the stone bollard

严禁 is short for 严格禁止，which means strictly forbid.
禁止 is kinda suggestive，严禁 indicates something is obliged not to do by the rules or law.
Actually in everyday use, there is no obvious distinction between them.


What does 我们已经帮您踩过了 mean in this peculiarly translated escalator sticker? I have this funny image which I believe says:

  这块位置
  我们已经帮您踩过了！

I took this photo in Tianjin, nearby an escalator.  Google Translate says it means:

  This location.  We've helped you step over!

However, the second sentence is unclear to me.

Question: What does 我们已经帮您踩过了 mean in this peculiarly translated escalator sticker?

I don't understand what 已经 and 踩过 implies here.  I know 已经 = "already" and 踩 = "stamp" and 过 = "pass", but this doesn't help much.

Please allow me to give you some background about this sticker.
On July 26th, 2015, one piece of plate, where the sticker is sitting, on an escalator turned over leaving a young women dead in Hubei China. This accident caused public in China worried about the safety of escalators, stepping onto a plate of an escalator may not safe.

Shortly after that, these stickers came out, stating that "We had already stepped onto this area", which indicate to the public, the escalator is safe.

Similar pictures can be found here: http://www.xdwy2001.com/a/kantianxia/2015/1229/5062.html


How do new Chinese characters get added to the language? For example there are characters such as 熵 which as far as I know only means one thing - in this case entropy - and which have to have been deliberately added by some person or organization. An earlier example is the character 逛, which according to evidence in manuscripts of Dream of the Red Chamber was added to the language fairly recently, in the 18th century.

My question is: who / what at presently decides what new characters get added to the language? If we were to petition some one or thing to get the 招財進寶 rebus added to the language as an actual character, who would we petition? And do new characters added to the language have to have a pronunciation?

国务院, or the State council, decides formally on official characters, for example characters for new chemical elements (like 钐), species (like 鳤) or physical properties, like your example 熵.

But the decisions in China are made just like they are in the rest of the world, that is, they adapt to actual usage. Some characters go, some come.

If a character becomes popular, the government will most likely incorporate it into the 通用规范汉字表 (see http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2013-08/19/content_2469793.htm for the last edition of 8105 characters).

Names like 喆 (Zhé) and 淼 (Miǎo) are now part of the official standard, although they have of course existed all the time. There is also the classical example of premier 朱镕基, where 镕 was not part of the standard. This is fairly common in China, as odd name characters exist in abundance.

Sometimes existing characters are modified to contemporary usage, like 囧, but is mostly slang and will often not make a permanent mark in dictionaries.


How would you say 悲凉 in English? How would you say 悲凉 in English? For example,

  每当想起自己的经历，心里就阵阵悲凉。

悲 means sad and 凉 means cold. So you feel both sad and cold. You can translate it as desolate or dismal.

Some definitions from different dictionaries:

According to 《现代汉语规范词典》 悲凄  is 悲伤+凄凉 and 悲伤 means sad, sorrowful and 凄凉 means desolate, cold and lonely.
According to 《现代汉语词典》 悲凄 is 悲哀+凄凉 and 悲哀 means grieved, sorrowful, sad and 凄凉 means desolate, cold and lonely.
Comprehensive Chinese-English Dictionary has sad and cold
MDBG has sorrowful, dismal

I would translate your sentence as Every time he recalled his own experiences, he felt sad and cold in his heart for a while.


How to translate 哪有农村热闹？ 北京城里禁止随便放鞭炮，城里人过春节越来越简单， 哪有农村热闹？

I don't understand the last part of this sentence, marked in bold. I guess it's a rhetorical question?

My attempt:

Beijing City banned setting off fireworks, so the city dwellers' celebration of the Spring Festival has become more and more simple. The city is not as lively as the countryside?

I can provide more of the dialogue if necessary.

Yes, it is a rhetorical question, the emphasis is on the lively and noisy fashion the village dwellers can celebrate compared to Beijingers. It is a good way to contrast difference. I would translate it (second sentence only) as 'How can you compare that to the lively manner of celebration in the countryside!'

PS. My English is not the best, native speakers can put it right, but I think the idea is clear.


How to say "all the usual X" in Chinese? How do I say "all the usual ..." in Chinese, for example."

  "At my school we play all the usual school sports."

  "The pharmacy had all the usual junk."

If you want to emphasise the 'all' (and so you want to keep the 都/全):

The 'all' and 'the usual X' are normally treated separately [rather than both being stacked adjectives in English], and are usually structured as follows:

[一般的、普通的] [X] [都/全].

A casual glance might be misleading though, because 都/全 is acting as an adverb before the verb here, and so is generally followed directly by the verb. Hence you might have the subject of the verb being inserted before [都/全], depending on the sense of the sentence (especially when X is actually the object in the sentence).

[一般的、普通的] [X] [SUBJECT] [都/全] [VERB]

Otherwise, where "all the usual" is exactly the same as "the usual", the 全/都 is dropped, resulting in just the adjective coming before [X].


Most common words in Cantonese? There are many resources documenting the most common words for Mandarin, but none for Cantonese. Is there a list of the most common 500/1000/2000 words in Cantonese? Thanks!

I am working on some tiny SMT project at the moment and I was looking for this too, the only one I could find is this word list from this corpus of mid-20th century Hong Kong Cantonese, It might not be great if you are using them for learning Chinese, as it's mid-20 century's.


What does 一样 mean in "适度的睡眠时间与合理饮食，积极运动一样"? In the following sentence:

  研究成果认为，适度的睡眠时间与合理饮食、积极运动一样，能为人体补充能量，调节各项生理功能，降低患上心血管疾病的风险。

一样 usually means "like" or "the same as". However, I don't understand the meaning here.

I feel I understand the two points below correctly:

Since it is an enumeration comma (、), 合理饮食 and 积极运动 can be concatenated.
与 then concatenates 适度的睡眠时间 and 合理饮食、积极运动.

However, then my questions are:

How does the 一样 work here? Does it modify "合理饮食、积极运动" or just "积极运动" or the entire "适度的睡眠时间与合理饮食、积极运动"?
What is the meaning of 一样 in this sentence?

I feel that "A 与 B、C 一样" mean "A, and B and C as well", but am not sure...

适度的睡眠时间与合理饮食、积极运动一样

适度的睡眠时间 is the same as '合理饮食 and 积极运动'


Chinese version of the idiom "The word on the street" "The word on the street" is an English idiom that basically means "rumors".

  The word on the street is that Bob's going to be fired.

I was wondering if there was a similar Chinese idiom.

"流言" (liú yán)

  一时间 流言 四起,亚洲陷入困境,资金加速流出,这些国家的本土银行纷纷倒闭。

  Once the rumor got started that Asia was in trouble, these people started withdrawing their money faster and faster and it caused failures of domestic banks in these countries.

"谣言" (yáo yán)

  布莱尔，如果你真的,编造了丹·汉弗瑞和那个老师的 谣言 ，她可以告你诽谤。

  Blair,if you started that rumor About Dan Humphrey and the teacher, She has a legitimate case for slander.

"小道消息" (xiǎo dào xiāo xī)

  这些 小道消息 被当作一派胡言而一笑置之。

  These rumors are regarded as nonsense and laugh at them.


Help translating artist names and signatures I have a few pieces of art my grandmother brought from China in the 1980s. She and my grandfather were part of a group to canoe the yellow river and fell in love with the amazing country and culture. Any help would be appreciated.

The first one is 師任堂 which corresponds to the art name (號) of a female Korean artist in the 16th century. By identifying the corner, we can see that is a copy of this painting.


What’s wrong with 我们八点快要上课了？ The wrong sentence is “我们八点快要上课了。”

There are 2 answers for this sentence (in my Chinese textbook):

  (1) 我们八点要上课了。
  (2) 我们八点就要上课了。

I think that 快要...了 is equivalent to 要...了 (both mean “is about to do sth.”).

So can anyone explain to me why the answer uses 要...了？

is equivalent to 要...了

You can say that 我們星期一要上課了(We will attend the class on Monday) or 我們明天要上課了(We will attend the class tomorrow.) but you cannot say that 我們星期一快要上課了 or 我們明天快要上課了。 because when people use 快要, they don't add time to modify somethings in a sentence or component.

In this situation, 要...了 is not about to do something.


What does 唰 (shua1) mean? I met the word 唰 shua1 in a Xi Yang Yang book as the sound 唰唰 one character makes while eating.  Two sources agree it is "onomat. quick slick up."  I don't know the English "quick slick up."  Google translate makes a plausible but unclear suggestion of shabu shabu for 唰唰.

What is this word?

Here is the context.  Lazy lamb is enjoying a snack.  The panel caption tells us this is outside of the sheep village school, with a light breeze blowing (羊村“教室外,风儿轻轻吹过).

baike.com describes it as "swiftly" or "swish"... I believe it is indeed onomatopoeia.

唰 <形> - Adverb

形容迅速的样子 【swiftly】。如:唰地一下跳上墙;唰溜溜(形容极其迅速);唰啦(形容迅疾)

Describes "swiftly" or "quickly" doing something. Like to "swiftly" jump on the wall.

唰 <象> - Adjective for sound

形容迅速擦过去的声音 【swish】。如:唰唰;唰喇喇

Or describes a sound, to "swish" by something.


How to translate "很不起眼儿" in English What's the best (传神) translation of "很不起眼儿" in English?

例句：

  不认识他的人觉得他很不起眼儿，认识他的人觉得他很优秀。

辨析：

A more formal term that related to "很不起眼儿" is "其貌不扬", but
"其貌不扬" will normally be "很不起眼儿", yet "很不起眼儿" does not necessarily means "其貌不扬". So the side question is,

How to translate "其貌不扬"?

UPDATE

Thank you for the answers, by 传神 translation, I meant to ask what people would say in their daily expressions...

"他很不起眼儿", my closest English translation is "He's quite a normal Joe", but "很不起眼儿" is a bit stronger than that

my preference: "很不起眼儿" can be translated into “unimpressive”,while "其貌不扬" into "unimpressive-looking". The reason is that "unimpressive" can refer to many aspects such as his appearance, his achievement, and etc. Compared with"很不起眼儿", ""其貌不扬"is more specific to the appearance, so "looking" is added to "unimpressive".


What is the difference (and english translation) between 风浪 and 涌浪? As far as I can tell, 风浪 is waves created by wind, and 涌浪 would be waves created by tidal movements or surge waves. However, this is a very bulky way to describe them. What is the English for this difference, besides just "wave"?

Google translate offers the alternative options of 风浪: wind and waves, storm; for  涌浪: swell, surge
English has "storm surge", but that's not really helping.

According to this webpage from the Ocean University of China, '风浪'='wind wave', and '涌浪'='swell'.
That webpage also gives the following definitions:
风浪(wind wave): They are generated by the wind, restored by gravity, and progress in a particular direction.
涌浪(swell):When the waves move out of the storm center, forced waves become free waves moving at speeds due to their periods and wavelengths. Once away from the storm these long-period, uniform waves are called swell.

According to the Wikipedia definition of Swell (ocean), the swells are
"These series of surface gravity waves are not generated by the immediate local wind, instead by distant weather systems, where wind blows for a duration of time over a fetch of water. This is the primary definition of a swell as opposed to a locally generated wind wave, which is still under the influence of the mechanisms that created it e.g. Wind blowing over a puddle."

To my understanding, '风浪' has two meanings. The broader meaning refers to all waves generated by wind blowing; the narrower meaning refers to "a locally generated wind wave, which is still under the influence of the mechanisms that created it", to distinguish from '涌浪'.


What examples highlight the distinction between 产生 and 生产, both meaning "to produce"? 产生 (chǎnshēng)

病毒是怎样产生的?[src]
How are viruses produced
导体中就会产生电流[src]
[The] conductor will produce electric current.

生产 (shēngchǎn)

操作人员对自己生产的产品要做到自检[src]
workers regarding their own produced goods need to perform self-checks
巧克力可用于生产时增加体力，红糖是产后补血之用[src]
chocolate can be used to produce increased during labor to increase physical strength, brown sugar is used postnatally to increase blood

(I originally mistranslated the above sentence; see fefe's answer.)
They are both verbs meaning "to produce" or something like this.  However, I can barely find a difference.  My impression is that 产生 is bit more general than 生产, where 生产 is better used for factories and companies.
I feel fairly sure there's some distinction here I'm missing...
Question: What examples highlight the distinction between 产生 and 生产?
I'm looking not just for random examples, but examples where switching from 产生 to 生产 makes a meaningful difference.

生产 refers to human kind activities; i.e. to produce / manufacture / make / create (as the effect of human subject will).

产生 refers to natural activities; i.e. generate / come into being (as the effect of some kind process).

As a side note 生产 could mean parturition too.

As the examples you've showed,

  病毒是怎样产生的?
  导体中就会产生电流

Both 产生 are used for the context not containing subjective initiative, especially the intent of to make / create.

  操作人员对自己生产的产品要做到自检

生产 is used for the intent of human kind activities, i.e. manufactured by the operator.

  巧克力可用于生产时增加体力，红糖是产后补血之用

生产 means parturition here.


Is "那些你很冒險的夢" a common expression or just a song title? Also is there a simple translation of it into English? As far as I can tell it says "those you very adventurous dreams", but this doesn't really make any sense.

It's a song title for singer JJ and it's better translation for

  Those Adventurous Dreams of Yours

because it's written for the writer's girlfreind , and he want to complete the dreams with the girl.

ps. there's no one will say 那些你很冒險的夢 in real life.


What is the role of 和 in “很高兴和您见面” I am fairly new in learning Mandarin, and I am having a bit of trouble understanding the role of 和 in "很高兴和您见面" . From my understanding, 和 means "and" or "together with";
Directly translating this sentence:

很高兴 (happy)
和 (and/with)
您 (you) 见面 (meet).

Is it to connect 高兴 and 您 ？

和 can also mean 'with'

[1.很高兴][2.和您][3.见面]

[1. very glad][3.to meet] [2.with you]

You can also use 跟 or 與 for 'with'


References: north-eastern Mandarin: xier meaning 'great/awesome/excellent' Looking for any references here:

North-eastern Mandarin has the word xier (perhaps: xuer) usage is same as:

  太棒了

i.e.: 太xier了

As usual everyone thinks that it cannot be written & that there is no character for it.

So please any references to this word / character are requested.

edit: I did come across this:

  血，读作 xie3，非常、十分的意思，与胶东东部方言对应词汇的发音、含义完全相同

on wikipedia - perhaps it is 太血儿了.

Could the word be 玄 （xuán)? In Beijing, it means "improbable" or "unbelievable", "out there". If spoken with a Beijing "er" attached, it sounds like xuán-er.


What is the translation of "attached to X"? For example:

"He is too attached to his money and wealth".
"He is very attached to his house"

Note: the meaning of "attached to" is closer to the feeling of very hard to letting go of something.

I would like to know chinese colloquial translation for "attached to" ?

Checking from google translate, here are some possibilities of the translation:

重视
贴着 / 贴在
附着
执着
依恋
爱惜

I'm not sure which one is more common used for daily conversation, I guess it is either 1 or 5.

My best guess would be: 迷恋 (mí liàn). There are some other ways to translate attachment (as an emotional affection, not a physical one), but in many cases this attachment is related to a person, not objects, and those translations would be inadequate.

他十分迷恋财富与货币.

Probably not a perfect translation, I hope others will improve it.


Why use 碰头 (pèngtóu) to mean "meet" instead of say 见, 见面, or 看见? (In e.g. 过两分钟我们在外面碰头) In the Chinese translation of Matilda (p. 195), we have:

  “好，你把东西收拾一下，过两分钟我们在外面碰头。”
  "Good.  Gather up your things and I'll meet you outside in a couple of minutes."

and on the next page:

  亨尼小姐在校门外和玛帝尔达碰头，两人一起默默地穿过村子的大街。
  Miss Honey joined Matilda outside the school gates and the two of them walked in silence through the village High Street.

I don't understand why 碰头 is used here, instead of say something like  见, 见面, or 看见.  I'm thinking it is perhaps more casual.

Question Why use 碰头 to mean "meet"?

Actually, the 碰 itself can mean to meet. E.g. 我们周六再碰一下吧。// let's meet again on Saturday.

It can form the words: 碰头, 碰见, 碰面. The dictionary definition of 碰头 is 会面；短时间地聚会(short meeting). The question 'why' in any language is hard to answer and sometimes even unanswerable. For this case, we can only imagine two people run into each other and figuratively it implies they 'meet'. Usually, 碰 happens in brief time(they bump into each other and then split immediately), which reflects that the meeting is short. That could somehow explain why 碰头 can mean "short meetings".

My two cents.


Why use combined characters that have the same meaning? (rèn shí ) both characters means ( to know)and when combined it still have the same meaning.
So why can't I use only one of them ?

Mandarin has a lot of two-character words, where both of the characters mean almost the same thing. This seems surprising, but makes sense when you see how the language developed over time. Old Chinese (spoken over two thousand years ago) had a lot more sounds than Modern Mandarin, and over time, many sounds were lost. This isn't obvious from Chinese characters (which don't record individual sounds), but this fact has been established based on ancient Chinese dictionaries (often called "rime books"), as well as modern linguistic research. However, after the sounds were lost, many syllables which used to sound different ended up sounding the same. To avoid confusion, people starting combining two syllables, to make themselves clear.

For example, rènshi (simplified: 认识, traditional: 認識) is composed of two syllables, both of which come from Old Chinese. They were pronounced something like "nəns" and "ək" (where "ə" is like the "a" in "comma"). We can compare this with other characters that are pronounced the same in Modern Mandarin. For example, 任 is also pronounced "rèn", but in Old Chinese, it was pronounced "nəms", not "nəns". Meanwhile, 十 is also pronounced "shí", but in Old Chinese, it was pronounced "gip", not "ək". By combining the two syllables, rènshi is easier to understand, because it can't be confused with other words. These two-character words have now been used for centuries, and in some cases, the individual characters would not be used on their own.

As a second example (from this question), we can look at shuìjiào (simplified: 睡觉, traditional: 睡覺). Both characters come from Old Chinese, and were pronounced "doih" and "krûks". In contrast, 税/稅 is also pronounced "shuì", but in Old Chinese, it was "lhots", not "doih". Similarly, 较/較 is also pronounced "jiào", but in Old Chinese, it was "krâuk", not "krûks".

I have taken these pronunciations from the ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese. If you want to search for other words, click "All" underneath "ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese", type your words in the box at the top (in traditional characters), and then click the "Display Phonetics" button on the left. If a character didn't exist in Old Chinese, it won't come up! For example, 苹果/蘋果 comes from Sanskrit, and came into Chinese around the same time as Buddhism came into China.

If you would like to read more about how Chinese has developed two-syllable words, you can have a look at this academic paper, which was linked in this answer.


What is this 会 doing in 当初为什么会转行呢？ I can't see what 会 is doing in this sentence. Maybe nothing, could it just be omitted??

  当初为什么会转行呢

Which I would translate as: 'Back then, why did you change your profession?'

会 here simply means "would"

"当初为什转行呢？" =  "Why did you change job back then?"

"当初为什么会转行呢？" = "Why would you change job back then?"

more example:

"你為何同意？" = "Why do you agree?"

"你為何會同意？" = "Why would you agree?"

Yes, you can omit it, However "would" in the sentence does emphasize an inquisitive tone. Imply "you should not had."


Are characters divided into meaning part and phonetic part, with no overlapping? Following the question below about 认识 and 知道 and coobit's analyses of the characters, I am wondering, if a character contains a meaning part and a phonetic part, is there complete separation of the 2, or does the phonetic part also contribute in some way to the meaning?

Someone once must have written each character for the first time. I often wonder how they came to the decision to draw them that way. What thoughts went through their minds? They presumably already had a sound for the word, a spoken word, they just had to find a way of representing that sound.

According to 六書 : six categories of Chinese Characters (象形,指事,形聲,會意,轉注,假借)

四、形聲 phonogram
a. [meaning + phonic] combination character (with original forms of both components intact)
b. 形聲 (Phonogram) express both meaning and phonic. Different from 會意 (associative compounds) which can only express meaning.

~

三、會意 (associative compounds)：
c. associative compounds including phonic component：
Example: '婢' = '女'(female)+ '卑'(humble); '卑' is also the phonic component

The character 婢 belong to one type of 會意字, which both components contribute meanings to the character, and one of the components is also the phonic component.
My conclusion is, phonic part in 形聲字 (Phonogram) may or may not contribute meaning. For example: 江(river) =(river + 工 phonic); 聞 (listen) = (ear on the door with 門 phonic)
If one of the two meaningful parts in  會意字 (associative compounds) does contribute phonic element to the character, then it is a type c 會意字='會意形聲字'(associative compounds including phonic component)


Where to practice speaking Chinese? Living in Utah, I find it quite difficult to find places to practice speaking Chinese, especially Cantonese.  Apart from accosting people in stores and other public places when I happen to hear them speaking Chinese and bugging servers in Chinese restaurants, the only other Chinese I get is to try and hone my (admittedly very poor) Mandarin with a couple of my coworkers.  Where do you folks go to get practice speaking Chinese?  Is there somewhere I can find others in my area with whom to practice?

Search online to try and find sites that provide language exchange. These are a good opportunity to have regular lessons and give at the same time as receiving.
Try and find or organise meet-ups in your area. I know a friend who is learning at the moment and he catches up every Saturday morning with about 3 or 4 others. This was organised by putting up a couple of posters at a local colleges that teaches different languages to adults.
Young Chinese people like to do a kind of "chat roulette" on Skype and QQ. I don't know specific details, but if you are brave!
If you have a China town district sit on a bench and wait. This may sound impractical, but it all depends on your area. Our local shopping district has a high Chinese population and a limited number of public chairs/tables. I can often find someone to chat to while my wife goes to buy meat.
If you live close to a university you will find they have societies and other social groups which have a high number of overseas students such as "Chinese student friendship association" or something similar. Try and get connected with students via your local campus. There are plenty of students looking to share and make friends.
Attend Chinese community social activities. Tree planting, New Years celebrations whatever.


What is the meaning of the phrase 铁血丹心 ? This is the title of a famous wuxia-novel, whose full title is 射鵰英雄傳之鐵血丹心, it is also a the name of a Cantonese song.

I have searched for an explanation of this phrase.
I thought,  maybe it is a chengyu, an expression in classical Chinese, or a quotation from some text, but I did not found any clue for being so. Maybe the author itself invented this phrase.

I would like to understand the meaning of this  phrase,
by this I mean its  grammatical structure, cultural significance or any other annotation that  helps to shed some light onto this phrase.

Although it looks like an idiom expression (chengyu), I believe it is actually a coined phrase, specifically for the TV adaptation of the Wuxia novel (射鵰英雄傳, 1983 TVB Hongkong) you mentioned.

Literally, 鐵血丹心 can translate to "Iron blood scarlet heart". There is the connotation of the conflict between love and patriotism and such, but its a bit far fetched IMO.