What's the role of 曾经 in 他曾经在北京学过两年汉语? In this sentence:

  他曾经在北京学过两年汉语。

what's the role of 曾经? I understand that 过 already implies that the action happened in the past.

曾经 is more equivalent to "once" in English as in the sentence

Once we were the best friends.

It is used to:

express the fact the sentence is talking about happened in the past.

if the predicate verb is a durative verb*, express that fact can't be experienced(经=experience) by the speaker(doesn't last) any more.
, the speaker implies that the status is different now. In this case, it means "used to" as in the sentence "I used to be a kind man(implies now I am not)." For your example, the speaker implies that he is not studying Chinese in Bejing now.

*By "durative verb", I mean the action expreesed by that verb can last for a long time. For example, "study, like, look, be, work,feed, etc.". These verbs can be used in the progress tense in English(-ing form). Some other verbs can not, such as "hear of, see, kick, etc." You can't say " I am hearing of a terrible story", while you can say" I am listening to a terrible story".
Can someone tell me the right grammar term if I am wrong?


How do I translate these criticisms about Australia by Chinese netizens? E.g., 我实名不满澳大利亚，狗腿子一个！还有脸说没听过。 It seems by birth country (Australia) and adopted country (China) are having a bit of a spat at the moment.  I'm sure it'll pass soon enough, but anyway...

Spokesperson 耿爽 says ...你上中国的网络，看看中国普通民众对当前中澳关系、对澳大利亚方面最近的一些言行的反应和评论 which means "...you go on China's web, look at how Chinese ordinary people are reacting and commenting on China-Australia relations, and Australian words and behavior."  So... I accept your challenge!

I went on Weibo and found the following top 5 comments, but they're kind of hard to understand.

  我实名不满澳大利亚，狗腿子一个！还有脸说没听过。 [1116 likes]
  My attempt:  I really am unsatisfied with Australia; they are a dog leg!  Still have face to speak, but didn't listen.

Here I think 实名 ("real name") is a typo for 实在 ("real").  And "dog leg" seems to be slang for "one who follows a villain" (USA?).

  批评中国网络不开放的原因是在他的脑子里认为网上言论都是假的，真他娘无懈可击，澳洲水井里来的吗 [430 likes]
  My attempt:  The reason for criticizing China's web as not open is he believes online views are fake, really fucking invulnerable, is it from the Australian well?

I have no idea what the well is referring to.  I think 无懈可击 "invulnerable" refers to a kind of "unassailable viewpoint".  (Oddly, I recognize 无懈可击 as one of the cards in 三国杀.)

  怒斥想搞大新闻的澳洲记者[并不简单] [385 likes]
  My attempt:  Australian journalists angrily creating big news. [not at all simple]

I feel 想搞 suggests it's made-up or manufactured.  I don't know why 并不简单 is there.

  我们都是机器人，中国人早就被冠状病毒杀了很多了 [234 likes]
  My attempt:  We are all robots; many Chinese people earlier were killed from coronavirus.

Wait what?  Robots?

  从未见过如此厚颜无耻之记者。。 [131 likes]
  My attempt: Never before encountered such shameless journalists.

They're really quite challenging to translate; not anything like my textbooks and formal speech.

Question: How do I translate these criticisms about Australia by Chinese netizens?

Well, usually this kind of disputes passes very soon (e.g. Japan-China), and I hope it's the case here. The comments in these contexts can be genuine or simply agitators looking to get likes by exploiting the situation.

实名不满/实名反对/实名举报 is not a typo. It means to express dissatification/opposition or raise complaint "openly with real name". 实名举报 came first as a complaint with real name is considered stronger than an anonymous one; and it can be dangerous, especially under a less transparent/democratic government and government censorship.

It can be used even if you are using a pseudoname online as a generic emphasizer in saying that you are not an astroturf account; this is your real opinion; you are unshamed and unafraid to have this opinion.

狗腿子 is close in meaning to 走狗 running dog.
The well is referring to the tale of a frog in a well (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kupamanduka), meaning a person (the frog) has narrow perspectives since they can only see the world from the opening of the well (as they are at the bottom of the well).

The use of 无懈可击 here is sarcastic, saying the reasoning of the previous sentence (by Australians presumably) is so "strong" (akin to "I can't even argue with this logic!!").

I think the poster was trying to say the logic for "The reason for criticizing China's web as not open is he believes online views are fake" is kind of circular. But I'm having trouble to comprehend the sentence (I can understand the semantics but not the logic).
It is a reference to Jiang Zemin (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toad_worship, not an ideal article, but good enough for overview; most English articles on Chinese online subcultures are too ideologically driven, it's better to just participate in Chinese online communities and learn by immersion):

  In the first video, Jiang lashed out at Hong Kong journalist Sharon Cheung in Zhongnanhai when he met with Chee-hwa Tung, Chief Executive of Hong Kong at that time. Ms. Cheung asked if Jiang supported Tung's campaign for Chief Executive, which Jiang affirmed. Cheung then asked if it meant the Chinese government had already decided internally to re-appoint Tung. This made Jiang very upset, and criticized her for twisting his words to "make big news." Jiang then continued to criticize the Hong Kong media on the whole, claiming that they need to learn to ask more meaningful questions, even stating that "Mike Wallace of the US is at a much higher level than you are."

Here is the Chinese Wikipedia article on the incident. The original quote from Jiang was:

  你们啊，不要想……喜欢……这…欸弄个大新闻，说现在已经钦定了，再把我批判一番。
  You guys...Don't...[You guys] Like to make a big news, saying [the choice of Chief Executive] is already decided [by the Central government], and then [you will again] criticize me.

The poster is criticizing the Australian journalists are trying to "make a big news (out of nothing)". I think [并不简单] is an emoji transcription (?) not meaningful without the actual emoticon. (After all,  is sometimes just transcribed as "joy", which doesn't capture the full meaning)
"Robots" as in astroturfing accounts. Consider the fictionary (but based on a thread I actually read) following exchange on Twitter:

  A: I support Bernie Sanders, don't vote for Joe Biden!!
  B: You are a Russian bot!!!
  A: Sure I am a Russian bot, no Amercian ever likes universal public healthcare.

This is what the poster was trying to do here. I'm not sure what this kind of "arguing" technique is called.
I think your translation works, or just "[I] have never seen such a shameless journalist."


What is the function of 所 in 聽吾所說心中所以? What is the function of 所 in these two positions here 聽吾所說心中所以? Is this indicating a passive construction?

聽吾所說心中所以

"所以" is reason (#4 definition in the below link).
http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cbdic/gsweb.cgi?o=dcbdic&searchid=Z00000145637
roughly, i would interpret this verse as:
please listen to (聽) what i say (吾所說)
the reason (所以) in my heart (心中)
edited, in lieu of long comment.
the context is set, in 雜阿含經卷第二十三 [0168b13]
http://tripitaka.cbeta.org/ko/T02n0099_023

時﹒諸臣白王言﹒何故於此布施供養皆悉勝前﹒王曰﹒聽吾所說心中所以

at that time (時), statesmen asked the king (諸臣白王言) "why (何故 ) donate (布施供養) more than before (皆悉勝前)?". the king replied (王曰) . . .
so, "所以" in this context should be interpret as reason. :)

therefore, listen with your heart to what I say

in english, this verse is ok. but, "聽吾所說心中所以" can't be. in literary chinese, such english verse would be:
故﹒汝當諦聽吾言
汝當諦聽 --> listen with your heart
吾言 --> what I say
故, 遂  --> as conjunction "therefore"
edited again, in lieu of comment.
well, one need to read from preceding paragraphs:

[0167c25]　時﹒王生大歡喜﹒捨十萬兩珍寶﹒供養其塔﹒而說偈言 . . .
[0168a08]　時﹒王捨十萬兩珍寶﹒供養此塔﹒以偈讚曰 . . .
[0168a19]　時﹒王捨十萬兩珍寶﹒供養是塔﹒以偈讚曰 . . .
[0168a22] 　. . . 王曰：『以一錢供養。』. . .

then, for 阿難塔 [0168b04] :

[0168b13]　王即捨百億兩珍寶﹒而供養其塔。

十萬兩 is $100,000, while 百億兩 is $10,000,000,000; see the difference?
immediately next, is the sentence of our interest:

時﹒諸臣白王言﹒何故於此布施供養皆悉勝前

at that time (時), statesmen asked the king (諸臣白王言) :  "why (何故 ) donate (布施供養) to this one (於此) more than before (皆悉勝前)?".
the king donated difference amount of money to various stupas (塔), ranged from 一錢 to 百億兩 ($10,000,000,000). those statesmen (諸臣) wanted to know why the king donate 百億兩 to 阿難塔 (the stupa of Ānanda), which was significantly more than other donations.
in english, "donate + to" is grammatically correct; so, "於此", is roughly "to this one".

王曰﹒聽吾所說心中所以

the king replied (王曰) : "please listen to (聽) what i say (吾所說), the reason (所以) in my heart (心中)"
the scenario is, statesmen asked why, the king replied, revealing the reason in his heart (mind).
about the suggested "literally translation":

"king say: 'listen i that which speaks heart in reason'"

unfortunately, based on my experience, i would say nope. such suggestion is ignoring the context; and, well, un-literary-chinese, maybe un-chinese interpretation.
have fun :)


What is the meaning of 左右着 here? How would you translate 左右着他们 here? What other phrase could I substitute for 左右着他们 here?

在古代的时候，科学水平还没那么高，人们对自然的认识也是有限的。因此，碰见灾难的时候，就会认为后神灵在左右着他们，所以人们祈求于神灵。

就会认为后神灵在左右着他们，
then they might believe the Gods/spirits are ???

左右着他们
stopping them
punishing them
near them
ruling them
guiding them
around them

佐 means 'assist' ; 佑 means 'protect'. "佐佑"(to assist and protect) is different from "左右" (to make someone go left or right = "to influence")

左右 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/332/
[v] influence; master; control

In your sentence, 左右着他们 would mean: "influence them" or "control them"
More example:
左右朝政 (exert influence/control over the government's policy; influence the government)
大企業以財力左右政局 (Large enterprises use financial resources to influence/ control politics)
左右局勢 (exert influence/control over the situation; influence/control the situation)
憑他一人之力是無法左右大局的 (With his power alone, he can’t influence/ control the big picture)
左右(to influence) might or might not had been evolved from 佐佑(to assist and protect). In any case, its meaning in modern Chinese is completely different from 佐佑
左右 = to make go right or left = to influence; to control
佐佑= 佐助 (to assist) 庇佑(protect)


How to say "Exactly" in Chinese? This isn't just a simple translation question--I've already run "exactly" through Google translate, but it didn't give me quite the usage I'm looking for.

Hypothetically, let'ts say I have a friend who posts on Facebook that he got engaged every year on April Fool's Day.

In our (theoretical) scenario, if I wanted to say "It's like you got married to her exactly a year ago!", I would say something like "好像你一年前已經訂婚了" However, in my vocabulary, the "一年前" denotes "roughly one year ago", instead of "Exactly one year to the day ago."

How would I best communicate that he (potentially) pulled the same prank one year ago to the day?

In your scenario, I would say "今天正好是你订婚一周年"

正好
Exactly, and you can also say 正正好好 'absolutely exactly'(don't know how to say it)

This is a common word which can be proved by

李同志依了好婆的话去做,果然,正正好好的到了头。(文匯月刊, 第 111-115 卷 第25页)

太晚了人家也要怪的,五分钟正正好好, (新华文摘 第 7-12 期 第86页)

正正好好戴在唐僧的脑袋上 (另眼看四大名著: 西遊記、水滸傳、三國演義、紅樓夢
作者：馬亞麗)


How can I type 吗 in Pinyin keyboard setup? My Mac has a "Pinyin - Traditional" keyboard mapping that shows the most frequently used Chinese characters for the sound typed (i.e. "m" or "a") so I can select the Chinese character I want. This works well for very frequently used words.

But oddly enough, even though "ma" (the question particle) is (I think) very often used, it is not in the frequent list of "m".

Is it not so often used as I think? Is there an easy way to type it using the Pinyin-Traditional keyboard mapping?

As you are using the "Pinyin - Traditional" input method, maybe what you can see will only be the traditional character "嗎". To convert it into simplified Chinese, try this tool by pasting it into the blank and click the second button.

By the way, sometimes we also use "麼" (or "么" in simplified form) at the end of a question. And the corresponding Pinyin should be "me", although most Chinese may pronounce it as "mo".


How should I translate "找你两块“？ I understand that 两块 here means two yuan.

But how should I translate “找你两块”？ Thank you!

To take a step back, a more complete exchange between the cashier and the customer could look something like this:

Customer: 這包餅乾多少錢？

Cashier: 這包餅乾8元。

Customer: 好，這裡10元。

Cashier: 謝謝，收你10元，找你2元。

Cashier takes $10 and gives back $2 in change.

找錢 means to give change, specifically, change owed given the difference in amount tendered and amount owing.


Meaning of 翼 in 不翼而飞 The Chinese idiom " 不翼而飞" contains the character 翼 meaning wings, but how could one fly without wings?

Here 不翼 = 无翼 ？ I'm confused.

I am aware of the fact that the saying means "vanish into the air or disappear without trace".

Thanks.

It means something disappeared as if it had flown away, and that something probably doesn't have wings.

It originally means words because words spread across the world without wings. Now it just means something disappearing into thin air.


Difference between 谦虚 and 虚心? In my Chinese textbook, 谦虚好学 is used, and 虚心求教 is used as well. They both mean modest, so when should I use each one?

謙虛好學 means be modest and loves learning. 虛心求教 means be modest and appeals others to teach. To verified this you can search 謙虛 in dictionary owned by Ministry of education in Taiwan. It shows the description 虛心謙讓不自滿。(modest). In the dictionary 好學 described as 喜歡學習。(love learning). In the dictionary 虛心 described as 謙退容物，心不自滿。(modest). In the dictionary 求教 described as 懇請他人指教。(appeal others to teach).

Use quotation marks you can find tons of example on google for example: "謙虛好學" and "虛心求教" google search engine do show you that how much data it found. If there are so many people use this way it is more reliable. You can determine the reliability of usages.


How would I say £10.50? I'm not sure if it is simply said, "10 英镑 50"？
In the UK we often drop the pence at the end and just state the decimal amount (10 pounds 50), but not sure if in Chinese it works the same.
Any help appreciated.

The standard way of stating this would be: 十英镑五十便士. Of course, as you might have suspected, there are other informal/colloquial ways of saying it. Here are some that I personally would not find odd:

十镑五/十块五
十块五毛 (based on the fact the pound/penny uses the same decimalized system as renminbi)
十点五(英)镑
十磅半/十块半

If anyone has any other suggestions, don't hesitate to leave a comment.


What are popular Chinese songs for toddlers? I am trying to teach my daughter Chinese.
Since she loves to sing songs in English, I believe that teaching her to sing Chinese songs will help her to learn more Chinese.
Unfortunately, because I did not grow up singing Chinese songs, I don't know what songs parents sing to their toddlers in China/Taiwan.

Question: What are popular Chinese songs for toddlers?

Quite a lot of:
1）小兔子乖乖
2）数鸭子
3）马兰花
4）找朋友
For more, please refer to：儿童歌曲列表


How to address a teacher one knows well (in conversation and emails). Is 亲爱 "dear" ever appropriate? Can one use 亲爱 "dear" in a letter to a teacher one knows well?

In the specific case that triggered this question, the student, who is a male student in his late 20s, is being addressed 亲爱的[name]兄弟 by a female teacher who is about 10 years older. They have known each other for several years, and cooperate on a research project.

The student (as far as I know) always addresses her as [Surname]+老师, but since they get along very well, he is wondering if one could find a "warmer" way of addressing her.

Two questions:
 1. Is it possible for him to address her in emails as 亲爱的[Surname]老师 without invoking any undesired connotations (notably without suggesting anything beyond respectful friendship).
 2. Is there any alternative to 老师 in conversation? My guess is that there really isn't (except for more formal options, such as 先生, 教授 etc.), but perhaps I am wrong? Could one use, say, [Surname]+姐?

I think 敬爱的X老师 is good. 亲爱的 is mostly used to family member in China. 敬爱的 means 受人尊敬和喜爱的 and it is good for teacher and professor.


How to Say the "something" in the phrase "Do something" I was trying to explain the meaning of the phrase "hang out" to a Chinese friend, and the first thing that came to mind was 一起做什么了, with me intending 什么了 to mean "something". He seemed to understand what I was trying to say, but I'm pretty sure I didn't speak correctly.

This turn of phrase came to mind because I'm pretty sure I have heard someone say 什么什么了 as a placeholder to mean "whatever" or "something", signifying that the speaker doesn't care what the actual thing is.

Is this expression correct?

First you were right by using 什么 to mean "something" in Chinese.

However, 了 is a past tense indicator, which was not supposed to be there because you didn't hang out yet.

The correct way to say “Do something together” in Chinese is:

一起做些什么

or

一起做点什么


What semantic notions underlie 吳 (shouting) with 夨 (man with tilted head)? Reading 誤's etymology spurred me to read 吳's etymology. Shouting doesn't require you to tilt your head, so why was 夨  used? Why not just use 人?

  Glyph origin

  Ideogrammic compound (會意): 口 (“mouth”) + 夨 (“man with tilted head”) – to speak loudly.

  Definitions

  † to speak loudly; to shout
  † big
  (historical) (～國) one of the Warring States
  (historical) (～國) Eastern Wu, one of the Three Kingdoms
  the territory those states held, around the Yangtze delta
  Wu; the Chinese dialects of that territory, including Suzhounese and Shanghainese

  ⇒ 吳語
  A surname.

  吳作棟 / 吴作栋 [Min Nan]  ―  Gô͘ Chok-tòng [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  Goh Chok Tong (Singapore's second Prime Minister; currently Emeritus Senior Minister)
  (～港) a harbor in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan

This question is actually a good example of why Ancient Chinese scribes cannot keep on drawing pictures to represent words. They can avoid similar-looking or similar-meaning character components to a degree to distinguish between different words, but at some stage, it will become easier to incorporate a component which refers to the sound of a word rather purely relying on the meaning of a word.

Person (人) + mouth (口) has already been used for the character 「兄」.

商甲甲2292合集20014今楷

Front view of a person (大, no tilted head) + mouth (口) has already been used for the following character:

商甲後2.18.7合集3028隸定


What is 被 doing in sentence "这种病在三十年前就被根除了"? I understand that the sentence means something like "This disease was eradicated 30 years ago", but I have no idea what role does 被 have in it?

Is the sentence okay if we remove it? Does it convey any special meaning when present?

被 + verb = passive form

根除 = eradicate

被根除 = be eradicated

Some verbs have active form with passive meaning. 根除 is one of them. So it's fine to remove 被 from this sentence.

(These verbs are very similar to ergative verbs in English but mainstream Chinese grammar doesn't interpret them as ergative verbs.)


How do we trade-off succinctness for accuracy in 每当我爸忙的时侯他就让我吃? I'm having trouble with one part of this answer from Tang Ho relating to the story Writing critique request: Zhou Ziwang was fat when she was young:

  我爸忙时就让我吃， --> (每当)我爸忙(的)时(侯)(他)就让我吃，
  When my father was busy, he would let me eat ...

(On the left is my writing, and on the right is Tang Ho's suggestions/corrections.  The mental image I have is a father busy working on a computer, ignoring his daughter and distracting her with junk food.)

In my writing, I was trying to be succinct.  I certainly feel like adding 每当 is an improvement (it's a new word for me) and conveys the idea that it happens repeatedly.  But maybe the other additions are unnecessary (?); I've seen these things omitted in writing previously.

Question: How do we trade-off succinctness for accuracy in 每当我爸忙的时侯他就让我吃?

我爸忙时(他)就让我吃 is a correct translation for When my father was busy, he would let me eat ....

But I guess your intended meaning is probably: When my father was busy, he would not forbid me from eating ..., 我爸忙时(他)就不管我吃东西


无奈我爱你，How to use 无奈 and 有奈? The hardest part of Chinese is that one Chinese word has so many definitions. Now take that countless possibilities and combine them into a component word, and the meaning will be impossible to comprehend. First of all, what exactly do 无奈 and 有奈 mean?

To my understanding, 无奈 can be translated into "helpless" or "nothing anyone can do", and I believe 奈 is a verb here, which has a meaning of "deal with", so 无奈 can be translated into "No deal with" or "can't deal with", which is sort of like "helpless". For example, 奈何天 simple means "how to deal with God" or "can't deal with God" (天 has the meaning of God in Chinese). 无奈我爱你 can be accepted as "I can't help to love you"? Correct me if I am wrong.

Then what about 有奈？ Google didn't show a lot of example for it. I think 有耐 can be considered "being very capable" or "helpful"

Last but not least, what is the meaning to "无可奈何"? Again, I believe it's also interpreted simply as "helpless", but why added 可 and 何， when 无奈 does the job just fine？

《說文解字》似乎並無「奈」之條目。
It seems that 《說文解字》 does not have the entry of 奈.

「奈」由「柰」衍生而來，可能是新造字，也可能是誤寫。「柰」的本義是「果名」，借用為「柰何」，猶言「如何」。後來，分成「柰」表「果名」，而「奈」則專用在「奈何」之類的字詞。
奈 was derived from 柰. It might be a new word, or due to miswriting. The original meaning of 柰 is the name of a fruit. 柰 is then borrowed and used in 柰何, which means 如何 (how; what; what way). Later, in most cases, 柰 represents the fruit name, and 奈 is dedicated in 奈何 and the like words.

  《古汉语常用字字典》

  奈 nài
  ① <副> 无奈。 (however; how can one help; how to handle it)
  ② <动> 通“耐”。禁得起；受得住。 (to stand; to bear; to endure)
  ③ <动> 处置；对付。 (to deal with)

According to this, the 奈 of 无奈 is an adverb, and means "how to handle it" or "with means". Then, 无奈 means "not to know how to handle it" or "without methods".

  《汉语大词典》

  无奈，亦作“无柰”。
  ① 谓无可奈何。 (cannot help it; to have no alternative; to have no choic)
  ② 犹无比。 (incomparable; matchless)
  ③ 犹可惜。 (unfortunately; It's a pity.)

无奈 may mean 无可奈何 or others. That is why we have two phrases instead of only 无奈. We also prefer different words/phrases to prevent repeats.

  《汉语大词典》

  奈何
  ① 怎么，为何。 (why)
  ② 怎么样；怎么办。 (how; how to do)
  ③ 犹言办法。 (method; means; way)
  ④ 谓采取手段、办法整治对方。 (to adopt means or methods to handle others; to do something to others)

Depending on the context, 奈何 may be an adverb (① and ②), a noun (③) or a verb (④).

If 无可奈何 is a brief term of 不知道该怎么办或不知道如何处理 (do not know how to handle it)，奈何 is ② an adverb phrase.

If 无可奈何 is a brief term of 没有可以用的办法 (there is no way to use it), 奈何 is ③ a noun.

If 无可奈何 is a brief term of 没有办法可以奈何得了他／它 (there is no way to treat him/it...), 奈何 is ④ a verb phrase.

无奈我爱你 cannot be accepted as "I can't help to love you".

"I can't help to love you" means 我不能帮着爱你.

"I can't help loving you" means 我不能不爱着你, 我没有办法停止爱你 or 我禁不住地爱着你.

无奈我爱你 may mean 没有办法（改变），我就是爱你 ((there is) no way (to change), I just love you).

Although it is not so common, we can still use 有奈. 有奈 is intentionally used as the antonym of 無奈. Thus, they are often used together. Otherwise, many people do not know what 有奈 means.

「有奈無奈，赤腳跑到五寨」是清朝 康熙年間，雲南 鶴麗鎮 總兵 郝偉（1653—1718）的發跡故事 (the story of 郝偉)。

「变无奈为有奈，化奈何为何奈」是一篇文章的標題 (the title of an article)。

「因為無奈 台灣現在能有奈嗎？」是一則新聞的標題 (a news title)。


What do Chinese write on a condolence card? I was wondering what Chinese people would write when they write a condolence card. Is it just a translation from the English or are there specific sentences?

The link user6065 gave is somewhat misleading. Chinese do not have the tradition of writing a condolence CARD. The wiki how page provided seems to be a machine translation of the English wiki how. So it doesn't mean anything if you want to write its counterpart in Chinese. The second link is about 唁电/唁函, which is a very formal letter or message you write personally after someone's death, to express condolence to the family and friends of the dead. It's not very similar to a condolence card in English context. Only if having very important relationship with the dead, and not able to mourn for the dead in person, can you write a 唁电/唁函. It's weird to write one for the death of a pet, or your neighbor you don't know much about.

To write a well-composed 唁电/唁函, one needs to 遣詞雅正 用語沉肅 不枝詞蔓語 賣弄文采 亦不因陋就簡 有失鄭重.

Knowing all these above, let's talk about how to write a 唁电/唁函.

Start with addressing the person or collective you write to:

-No other words needed.

敬爱的陈旭师母：（incorrect）

陈旭师母：（correct）

Main body

-Main body comprises 4 parts:

-Express your deep sorrow at the news

-Exalt the dead for his good qualities and good deeds, from your memories.

-Express gratitude, for how the dead helped you during lifetime. And you will always remember the dead and his spirit.

-Comfort the family/friends, encourage them.

Appropriate closing

-There are many standard opts for this part.

Your signature, time and date


what is the translation for 或啁之曰 ? A random phrase from Lun-Heng begins with 或啁之曰,

as far as I understand its parts mean:

或 someone
啁 to chirp, to twitter
之 objectpronoun "it,him,her" as in "I like him, I talk about it"
曰 to say (stands right before a verbatim quotation)**

rendered into one sentence:

someone twittered it saying: "..."

I do not understand how 啁 to twitter fits into it, because if one twitters one makes sounds of a bird and does not speak to convey a contend.

Here 啁 is a phonetic loan for 嘲, 'to mock', as in 嘲笑, so the phrase 或啁之曰could be translated "Someone mocked him, saying..." Using one character for another because they are pronounced similarly is common in older works.  You could compare it to the situation in earlier English works where the same word is often spelled different ways, even in the same sentence.

I doubt there is any regular semantic relationship between 啁 in the sense of 嘲, and 啁 in the sense of 'noisy'. As the comment by nee.wong notes, although phonetically similar, they are still pronounced differently. In fact, 啁 meaning 'noisy' usually occurs only in onomatopoeic phrases such as 啁啾 zhoujiu or 啁哳 zhouzha.


Phrases with most popular characters? I found a table of characters (about 3000) in which most popular characters go first.
Here are first 20:

我的 高的 是的 目的 的确 不    不是 人    在   有   他   这 中 大   来 上 国 自个    到   说 道 子 为 和

and I would like to learn them is this sort/order but I know that it's better to learn a language by phrase examples not just by lonely words.

So my question is: are there sources for phrase sets in which list of phrases itself sorted by frequency of usage of the characters used? Thank you.

The simple answer is: yes.

For a language learning aspect, this way(remembering words) may be boring and result in giving up unless you learn for an important test/exam. If find this boring, try a textbook or an app that let you learn it like a first language.

Update:
The links below contains lists for frequently used Chinese word.

The official Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese(2500+1000), this is published in 1988 and discontinued in 2013, since it has only 2500 characters, it may be still useful(covers 99.48% characters in daily use):
http://hanyu.iciba.com/zt/3500.html

The official General Standard Chinese Characters(8105):
http://xh.5156edu.com/page/z6211m4474j19255.html

The official Commonly Used Hanja(1800), selected by South Korea:
http://wenku.baidu.com/view/e1e306649b6648d7c1c74636

The commonly used characters list for elementary school grade 1-6 students, selected by New Oriental, the largest education group in China:

from grade 1 to 6

http://xiaoxue.xdf.cn/ynj/201203/1159876.html

http://xiaoxue.xdf.cn/enj/201203/1159917.html

http://xiaoxue.xdf.cn/snj/201203/1159916.html

http://xiaoxue.xdf.cn/inj/201203/1159915.html

http://xiaoxue.xdf.cn/wnj/201203/1159914.html

http://xiaoxue.xdf.cn/lnj/201203/1159913.html


How to say "tricks" in Chinese? As in "Snowboarding Tricks"? I looked it up and a lot of words that mean "trick" come back so I'm sure which is the right one.

Question Overflow made a good point.

招式 is often used for 'tricks' in sports like skateboarding - so in theory it should work with snowboarding just the same. You can even shorten it to just 招 if you'd like -- might sound a bit kung-foo-y though...

edit: some extra info:

see this article

the article talks, mainly, about ski + snowboard tricks the article features the word 招式 a lot：
等你熟练起跳跟着陆之后，可以开始最基本的招式。

在雪地上尝试招式前，你可以先在干地上练习。

etc etc


Is there a word to describe "more demand than offer"? Is there a word which is used to describe the situation when demand for some goods are so high that sellers cannot satisfy it. It usually leads to rapid growth of prices and crowds in shops, even up to fights among buyers, 好像，抢购、轰涌对吗？In Russian, it is ажиотаж.

供不應求 - literally 'supply/not/satisfied/demand'

僧多粥少 - idiom, not enough congee for the monks


What does the sentence 该视频随即被上传至网络，转发量过万 translate to? I can't fully parse this sentence from a news article (warning: article describes violence):

  该视频随即被上传至网络，转发量过万。
  Gāi shìpín suíjí bèi shàngchuán zhì wǎngluò, zhuǎnfā liàngguò wàn.

This directly translates to something like:

  The above-mentioned video immediately [被 bèi (?)] upload to the Internet, and transmit to [more than 10,000 (?)]

I don't know why 被 is there; in the sentence it looks like it almost means "was".  And I'm not clear on what 量过万 means precisely (literally it's something like: "quantity exceed 10,000").

Question: What does this sentence translate to?

The video was mentioned earlier in the article 录像中显示。。。, so I believe that 该 here means "the above-mentioned" (it doesn't make sense to mean "should").

Considering the context of the article, I would translate this as:

  该....视频.................随即.........被上传....至....网络，......转发量...过万
  the video (was) immediately uploaded to the internet (and) the number of shares/retweets/reposts (is) over 10k

该 indeed means "the above-mentioned" but in most contexts you can just translate is as "the". In normal spoken conversation we'd say 这个/那个.

被 is a passive marker, indicating that the subject is the receiver of the verb rather than the do-er, i.e. the video did not "upload", rather it "was uploaded".

至 just means 到 (to). It's the formal character, common in news etc, but in normal conversation we would say 到.

The character 量 means "quantity" and can be added after a noun. For example "转发" is "forward/share/retweet" and "转发量" is "the number of forwards/shares/retweets".

过万 simply means "over 10000".


Traditional: 菸 vs. 煙? My IME always suggests both 菸 and 煙 for traditional 烟, which makes me think that they're interchangeable. Characters usually are not just simply exchangeable between themselves though.

What nuances exist between 菸 and 煙?

As @YuiTo Cheng 's link

煙:

The gas produced when a substance burns. Examples: cooking smoke,soot.
The black ash condensed by the smoke produced by the burning of things which is often used to make ink.
Moisture, like water between mountains and rivers. Examples : clouds,  smoke.
Especially opium. Examples: opium smoke.

菸:

A plant name. Solanaceae, an annual herb. Its leaf is the material for making cigarettes.

Conclusion:

    Related to tobacco, use "菸"

    Such as: cigarettes, tobacco, tobacco leaves, tobacco wine. "香菸、菸草、菸葉、菸酒"

    Related to opium and drugs, or burning something without cigarette, use "煙"

    Such as: smoking halls, smoke ghosts, smoke poisons, clouds.
"煙館、煙鬼、煙毒、雲煙"


Is 菜心 used in Mandarin? Is the vegetable 菜心 (Choy Sum - English rendering of Cantonese) called 菜心 in Mandarin? Is it pronounced "cài xīn" or is it pronounced as it would be in Cantonese?

When I spoke Mandarin in Guangzhou, I -- and the people I was talking to -- called it 菜心, càixīn. Outside of Guangzhou, I heard it called 广东菜心, Guàngdōng càixīn.


丼: why is "well" also "bowl of food"? 丼 is an ancient variant of 井, which means "well" (as in the water kind). What's curious is that the former seems to also mean "bowl of food", at least in some dictionaries:
汉典:

English
bowl of food; well

Wiktionary:

Noun

variant of '井'

bowl of food

well

Sound of something falling in a well. Ref: 《集韻》：「丼：投物井中聲。」

Throwing or littering something to lower position.

Also, this definition survives in Japanese, where 丼 is pronounced "don".
How did the character get such a seemingly-unrelated definition?

This guy gdfsljz made a post in the zdic forums I think it quite enlightening 丼 ［汉字资料］:

  粤方言中，此字则解释为粤语中dump的正字。贵州苗族中，有格丼（bong）一地，是苗语中圣地的意思。由于丼字是冷僻字，为了便于宣传，当地政府已将其改为格凸。字典解释[编辑本段]辞海：其一念 jǐng/ㄐㄧㄥˇ，即井字的古字；其二念 dǎn/ㄉㄢˇ，即东西投到井里的声音。语源由来辞典（日本）：丼とは、食物を盛る茶碗より厚手で深い陶制の钵。どんぶり钵。また、どんぶり钵に入れた料理。（大意为：盖饭、比盛食物的碗更深的陶制钵。 丼钵，丼另外放进丼钵的菜。）字源考究[编辑本段]中文丼字来源篆体，因华北平原土厚井深，站在井口俯视，黑洞幽邃，唯见天光投影，圆圆一点。若无这个亮点，那就是没水的涸井，丼了。 日文里，丼字是来源江戸时代，说「悭贪屋（けんどんや）」是一家充满着单份的饮食东西的店，这里使用的钵叫做「悭贪振り钵（けんどんぶりばち）」，于是就把这种钵简称为され「どんぶり钵」（比盛食物的碗更深的陶制钵）。悭贪指吝啬，贪得无厌的的这种意思，所以在「悭贪屋（けんどんや）」吃「どんぶり钵」，可以引申指那些为人又吝啬又欲望深的家伙。日文字典中同样解释说：汉字「丼」是「井」的本字，字面意思为向深井中投入物体时产生的拟音词，日文中采用「丼」作为どんぶり的中文写发更进一步表示了「大碗钵」（的深）。丼与井[编辑本段]《说文解字注》第五篇下的「丼」字小篆，中间有一点，显示《说文》认为「丼」 为井字的初形。《说文》对  的解释为 ：「八家为一  ，象构韩形。…古者伯益初作井 。」， 并认为中间那一点  「象罋」。然而，在李孝定(1965)编纂的《甲骨文字集释》内 ，甲骨文皆作「井」，中间没有一点。在已知的卜辞中，此字皆用于「井方」、「帚井」等处，都没有用来指涉水井。至于周代的金文，根据周法高(1982)编纂的《金文诂林》与 《金文诂林补》，就区分为「井」与「丼」两形。井字在很多地方可以通假作「刑」或 「型」，也用来作为地名或人名。「井」和「丼」两字截然有别，但都找不到一种用法是指涉「水井」的。根据全广镇(1989) 《两周金文通假字研究》（页205 ）与吴其昌(1991) 《金文世族谱》（卷二页五至六、卷一页十八至十九），中间有一点的「丼」，皆与姜姓之奠 (郑)    氏有关 ，例如  壶之「丼公」、  鼎之「丼叔」。中间无一点的井字，与「邢」字相通 ，受封者是周公之后，为姬姓 ，例如麦鼎之「井侯」。虽然在甲骨文卜辞与钟鼎铭文中，都找不到作为水井之用的井字，但是《说文》也确指「丼」字是「井」字的初形。我们还不知道 ，究竟是在周代分化为二字，或是水井的「丼」在甲骨文里本来中间就有一点 ，只是因没有用在地名或人名上，所以才未在卜辞中留下记录。如果是后者，那有可能「井」字的原义就是「效法」或「规范」 ，并由此引申出「阱」、「刑」、「型」等字。 丼字如果是从井字衍申而来，本来或许是写作「丼」，从水从井。此字见于甲骨文，但不见于《说文》，在后来的《集韵》与《玉篇》中，此字解作「小水」，或假借作「阱」。可能是再由「丼」简化作「丼」，中间那一点并非如《说文》所说的是「象罋」。这只是个猜想，目前还没有直接的证据来证实或否证。 日本盖饭的来历[编辑本段]曼谷王朝自1728年在湄南河东岸另辟新都建朝至今，湄南河曼谷西岸一段就被统称为吞武里（Thonburi ）地区，就像上海的浦东一样。曼谷王朝之前，泰国处于有着中国血统的郑王（King Taksin）统治下的吞武里王国时代。据说那个时候，吞武里王国出口了很多瓷器到日本。盛盖浇饭用的盖碗往往来自吞武里王国，所以日本人就把盖碗饭叫成了Thonburi饭。由于日语人发音常常T、D不分的缘故，Thonburi 在日本人口中成了Donburi，后来又简称为Don了

As it comes from Japanese, the Japanese meaning of the character was, seemingly, originally to do with food.

Quite a messy history, really.


Writing in Chinese - What rules are there for handwriting vs printed I've recently found out that I've been incorrectly writing a lot of Chinese characters

Examples:

  口日目

I've been writing them with the little feet (not sure of a better name for them) but have been told that they are written without them. Other examples would be:

  了字好

As I've been writing the line from from the centre to the bottom straight but have been told it needs to be curved.

Looking at @congliu's answer to another question the above holds true but that was regarding a different topic and didn't cover this topic

Excluding speed writing and calligraphy how would you know what to write(By hand) based off printed text?

黑体 is the font you are using and talking about, it is usually set as default Simplified Chinese font, but 楷体 or 楷书 is the font that more similar to the handwriting Chinese, if you want to learn handwriting from printing Chinese, you'd better download this font, you may need some books that teach you how to write every stroke and their order, every Chinese kid learn this before trying to write the first character.

The little feet are always there, you should write like this, it is part of this character not just "serifs" for beauty. The two feet are different in the bottom, the left foot is a longer 竖（the straight line）, the right foot is called 竖钩, you must write a little angle to left after the straight line, if the angle is to right it will be called 竖提, the last stroke is the bottom bar(横), connect the left straight line（竖）and the line with angle（竖钩）with the little bar(横), importantly, don't start from the end of the left line(竖), leave a little foot there.

The curve in 了字好 is also important, you may see the curve in 楷体 font.

If you want to learn more about strokes I suggest you read this in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroke_(CJKV_character)


How to say "That looks delicious" In company, or at someone's house, how might I say "That dish looks delicious?" or "That looks good"?

My inclination is to say 那看起来好吃, or maybe 那看地好吃, but both seem like too much of a direct translation. How might a Chinese person express that thought?

这桌菜看样子很好吃。The food served ("tableful of food") looks delicious.

食物看起来很不错。The food looks great.

Actually there is nothing wrong with 看起来 and 好吃.
If you would like to show off your skills, use a chengyu, here's a list.


Mandarin Neutral Tone: Tone Value? One of my dialectical dictionaries takes tone value 21 and compares it to Mandarin's neutral tone.

The same tone, coincidentally enough, had been described in the same way to me by a local native speaker (i.e.: tone value 21 - Mandarin's neutral tone).

While it's logical to me, it does seem like a little bit of a stretch.

Cantonese's fourth tone (at least according to jyutping) is also tone value 21, think 唔 m4 (meaning 不).

I can't seem to find any information talking about tone values with the neutral tone, I guess because it's not considered a tone to begin with.

does Mandarins neutral tone have any tone values associated with it?
if so, does it differ by region?
is it reasonable at all to say that tone value 21 is equivalent to Mandarins neutral tone?

The neutral tone doesn't have a fixed value; it's phonetic realization is largely determined by the preceding tone:

Also called fifth tone or zeroth tone (in Chinese 轻声 [輕聲] qīng shēng, literal meaning: "light tone"), neutral tone is sometimes thought of as a lack of tone. It is associated with weak syllables, and thus usually comes at the end of a word or phrase, and is pronounced in a light and short manner. The pitch of the neutral tone depends almost entirely on the tone of the preceding syllable. [...]
First ˥   ˨ 2 玻璃  bōli    glass   ˥.˨
Second ˧˥ ˧ 3 伯伯  bóbo    uncle   ˧˥.˧
Third ˨˩  ˦ 4 喇叭  lǎba    horn    ˨˩.˦
Fourth ˥˩ ˩ 1 兔子  tùzi    rabbit  ˥˩.˩


What does 是 mean/indicate in sentences such as 虽然有些人吃素是因为宗教的关系，但小林不一样? I'm a beginner in Chinese and I'd like to ask you something about these sentences below :

  虽然有些人吃素是因为宗教的关系，但小林不一样。

and

  ...小林不太喜欢吃肉食，是因为有些肉食有很多骨头，让他麻烦死了。

What does 是 in those sentences mean/indicate? I've tried to look for the explanation of why 是 is placed before 因为 but I couldn't find anything except this structure : "之所以...是因为". But still, I don't think that the "之所以...是因为" structure is the one being used here.

The others are :

  有些肉食是没有骨头的。

and

  在印尼，很多种菜是要直接用他自己的手指吃的。

For this one, I'm quite sure 是…的 here is that one 是…的 structure which is used to emphasize (like time, place, or manner). But the thing is, I don't know whether or not the 是…的 structure can be used to emphasize something like 没有 or 要.

Could you please explain to me? Thank you in advance.

「是」因爲 translates to 「is」because of or 「is」due to. There's an implicit phrase that's omitted in these sentences, which is (the reason behind)...「is」due to....

  雖然有些人吃素「是」因爲宗教的關係，但小林不一樣。

  Even though (the reasons behind) some people eating vegetarian「is」due to religious considerations, 小林 is different.

  小林不太喜歡吃肉食，「是」因爲有些肉食有很多骨頭，讓他麻煩死了。

  (The reason for) 小林 disliking meat「is」because some meaty foods contain a lot of bones which greatly inconveniences him.

Like the English equivalent of these sentences, the phrase the reason behind is omitted. The English equivalent, however, will also omit「is」for grammatical reasons:

  Even though some people eat vegetarian due to religious considerations, 小林 is different. 小林 dislikes meat because some meaty foods contain a lot of bones which greatly inconveniences him.

Please note that in Chinese, the omission of the reason behind is necessary in this case; we don't say ...的原因是因爲..., especially in written materials, as this is highly redundant.


Internet user - 网民? 互联网用户? The question is simple – do these two terms mean the same thing? I have seen the first one translated as a "netizen" once, but do they principally mean the same thing? Thanks in advance!

We usually use the term 网民 to describe  "people who use the internet frequently".  The literal translation of 网民 is " web resident"

互联网用户 just means "internet user". If you have access to the internet, even if you check your email once a week, you are still an internet user.


How are 连绵词 used in modern Chinese? A concise definition of 连绵词 I found is

  an alliterative and echotic biome

e.g. ：

窈窕
徘徊
孜孜

Is this group perceived as sth. distinctive with unique rules how or under which circumstances to use them?
How are they perceived in terms of aesthetics, e.g. do they convey a poetic or archaic connotation?

聯綿詞

聯綿詞 is a terminology in Chinese phonology. They are still functional 詞(compound words).

  do they convey a poetic or archaic connotation?

Some 聯綿詞 adjective and verb do sound poetic or archaic (e.g 玲瓏, 翩翩, 叮嚀,  拮据).

Some 聯綿詞 adjective and verb had become common day-to-day words (e.g. 荒唐, 嘮叨, 累贅, 凌厲)

Almost all 聯綿詞 noun are common day-to-day words (e.g. 琵琶, 橄欖, 鞦韆, 蝴蝶)


How much faster is it to write Simplified over Traditional? Speed of writing is cited as an advantage of simplified Chinese over traditional, which is especially important for schoolchildren, but are there any studies or measurements to this effect? How much faster is it really to write simplified, given similar skill levels?

I'm referring to writing all the strokes, by hand. Of course the differences disappear if people are writing cursive, or electronically using IMEs.

How much faster is it really to write simplified, given similar skill levels?

Basically, writing simplified characters (SC) can be faster than traditional characters (TC).

SC comes into stage primarily because of its handy characteristics. Some people really want to boost up the writing speed, among other personal reasons, and there's no such awesome typing machine like notebook today, so what can they do is fairly predictable, such as scribbling around, or just dropping some elements.
Speed of writing is cited as an advantage of simplified Chinese over traditional, which is especially important for schoolchildren, but are there any studies or measurements to this effect?

Provide you with my own experiment result here. I've timed and written the above Wiki page with its first two paragraphs in the introduction part, both SC version and TC version. There're 306 characters. It took me:

14 minutes 43 seconds (883 seconds) to write up the SC version or 2.9 seconds per character on average, and
21 minutes 36 seconds (1296 seconds) to write up the TC version or 4.2 seconds per character on average.

Didn't write pretty well, just everyday performance.

The scan of my writing

SC version script

汉字简化争论是一个讨论汉字之正式字体的话题。由于中国大陆、香港、台湾的使用习惯、文化认同及意识形态不同，而持续被提出来争论。汉字文化圈其他国家如日本、越南则较少关注这一争论。1这里所谓的“汉字简化”，主要针对的是中华人民共和国所推行的简化字，台湾和香港地区并不采用，并有普遍的激烈批评。本条目中的“繁体字”是中国大陆对传统汉字字体的称呼，在香港、澳门等地区也较常使用此名称，中华民国（台湾）官方称之为“正体字”[2][3][4]。现行中国大陆的简体字属于毛泽东时代下，为响应苏联国际化语言而推动汉字拉丁化（废除汉字）的政治性产物。简体字仅是废除汉字前的过渡性措施。[5][6]1985年12月，国务院决定将中国文字改革委员会改名为国家语言文字工作委员会，强调国家语委要“促进语言文字的规范化、标准化”，这表明拼音化道路已被放弃。[7]

TC version script

漢字簡化爭論是一個討論漢字之正式字體的話題。由於中國大陸、香港、台灣的使用習慣、文化認同及意識形態不同，而持續被提出來爭論。漢字文化圈其他國家如日本、越南則較少關注這一爭論。1這裡所謂的「漢字簡化」，主要針對的是中華人民共和國所推行的簡化字，台灣和香港地區並不採用，並有普遍的激烈批評。本條目中的「繁體字」是中國大陸對傳統漢字字體的稱呼，在香港、澳門等地區也較常使用此名稱，中華民國（台灣）官方稱之為「正體字」[2][3][4]。現行中國大陸的簡體字屬於毛澤東時代下，為響應蘇聯國際化語言而推動漢字拉丁化（廢除漢字）的政治性產物。簡體字僅是廢除漢字前的過渡性措施。[5][6]1985年12月，國務院決定將中國文字改革委員會改名為國家語言文字工作委員會，強調國家語委要「促進語言文字的規範化、標準化」，這表明拼音化道路已被放棄。[7]


Can 一会儿～一会儿 be replaced with 有时候～有时候? 有时候 and 一会儿 seem to be close in meaning, and in the following example sentences:

老王这个人哪，一会儿明白，一会儿糊涂。
晚会上，大家一会儿唱歌，一会儿跳舞，玩儿得很开心。
他一会儿嫌时间过得慢，一会儿又感到他跑得太快了。
王大妈一会儿摇头，一会儿叹气，不知是什么事使得老人如此发怒。

In all the example sentences above, I feel like 一会儿 can be replaced with 有时候.
So, is my understanding that 一会儿 can be replaced with 有时候 correct? If not, how should I classify them according to their rules?

EDIT
Sorry if it might lead to confusion, but my question here is the comparison of 一会儿～一会儿 and 有时候～有时候, not including the case they are used alone.

No, they cannot. 一會兒 has two meanings:

Expressing that an action will be done soon. E.g. 我一會兒去圖書館, I will go to the library in a short while.
Sometimes, but in the sense of someone being unable to make up their mind about something, or about a lively/chaotic situation which can't be described clearly, as in your examples given in the question.

有時候 cannot be used in your examples. The meaning sometimes for 有時候 is more in the sense of occasionally rather than your examples. Compare the following two:

他有時候打籃球，有時候踢足球 (He plays basketball and soccer, literally He sometimes plays basketball and sometimes plays soccer, typical sentence which describes someone's varied weekly activities)
他一會兒打籃球，一會兒踢足球 (figuratively He plays basketball one week, and goes and plays soccer the next; but still literally He sometimes plays basketball and sometimes plays soccer, typical sentence which describes someone (1) being unable to commit to an activity, or (2) being extremely busy and not stopping to take a break)


What does 什么每天 mean? The excerpt is from the top answer on 知乎:

  再加上「真假TV」里爆出来的，什么每天用老公的牙刷刷马桶，把排泄物混到料理里微笑着看他吃下去之类的，可以拿去回答「人性到底可以有多阴暗」了。

According to MDBG dictionary:

  什么 what? / who? / something / anything

I guess the 什么 here means "what the hell" or something like that. So the meaning of the entire sentence is something like the following:

  How can she use her husband's toothbrush to brush a toilet every day

But is my understanding correct here? What is the meaning of 什么 here and can it be used as such? Maybe more explanations about the usage in general would be helpful.

In the usage of "什么...之类的" or "什么...啊，什么...啊", 什么 is used for citing examples, with the connotation that there're so many such kind of things.

  ⑦用在几个并列成分前面，表示列举不尽：～送个信儿啊，跑个腿儿啊，他都干得了。

(used before several parataxises, expressing can't list all of them)

For this sentence it could be translated as

  such as 每天用老公的牙刷刷马桶，and 把排泄物混到料理里微笑着看他吃下去 etc，可以拿去回答「人性到底可以有多阴暗」了。


What does 狗改不了吃屎 mean? What does 狗改不了吃屎 mean? I think it is a proverb. Something do to with god?

In my research, is it similar to 江山易改，本性难移?

Yes, similar to 江山易改，本性难移.
It refers to someone who cannot change their bad habits, like dog cannot change their behaviour to eat shit.

For example, you can say a thief commit a thievery again and again, then you can say: 這小偷老是偷東西，真是狗改不了吃屎。

It is used more often in a colloquial language, and less severe than 江山易改，本性难移. When someone uses 江山易改，本性难移 to another person, it is often with the emotion that they have been let down massively, and may even be angry/disappointed with the person. Whereas 狗改不了吃屎 often may just be complaining, but don't really care if they change or not.


What's the role of 一 in 听百灵鸟这么一说，她明白了? I know it's a grammatical role that 一 plays in such sentences, but unfortunately I didn't find it on Chinese Grammar Wiki. So what's the meaning of 一 in this sentence?

听百灵鸟这么一说，她明白了

I suspect it's "have just", but I want to understand it 100% correctly.

Talking skylarks?? Where are we??
I think you can understand this 一 as 'once' or 'as soon as'
听百灵鸟这么一说，她明白了。
As soon as she heard the skylark speak, she understood.
Once she heard the skylark speak, she understood.
You can also not translate it: Hearing the skylark speak thus, she understood.
Or, to borrow Tang Ho's example:
二人向来不睦，一见面就打架。
Those two are always at odds, as soon as they see each other, they start fighting.


What is the difference among many "if" words? In Mandarin, there are too many words to express "if". Here is a brief list of such words, as far as I recall:

如果
如
假如
只要
即便
要说

Some words such as 尽管 have different meanings, such as "although". In these cases I understand the difference.

But if these words just mean "if" in English, is there any difference on the usage and context where some of these words are appropriate while others are not?

如果: simply means 'if'. For example, 如果我知道，我就会告诉你。 If I knew it, I    would tell you.
  如： is short for 例如, meaning 'for example', 'like' or 'as'. It's used    when you give some examples. For example (如)： 手字可以和很多字组词，如：手机.
  假如: supposing or in case. For example: 假如生活欺骗了你, in case/supposing    life deceived you.
  只要: only if or as long as. For example: 只要你做完工作就可以走了。You could go as long as you finish the work.
  即便: even if/even though. For example: 即便是老板，我也不怕。 Even though he is    the boss, I wouldn't fear.
  要说: as for; want to say something; For example, 要说他这个人，没人知道。As for    this person, no one knows. 我没有什么要说。 There is nothing I want to say.


What is the usage of 所 here? 「我於五受陰觀察非我、非我所，而非阿羅漢者，我於我慢、我欲、我使，未斷、未知、未離、未吐。」

The above is translated by a Ven. Anālayo as "‘I examine these five aggregates of clinging as not self and not belonging to the self, yet I am not an arahant, with the influxes being eradicated. I have not yet abandoned the ‘I am’ conceit, the desire [related to the notion] ‘I am’, and the underlying tendency towards ‘I am’, have not yet [fully] understood it, not yet become separated from it, not yet vomited it out.’”

If possible, I would like to know how 所 in 非我所 implies "and not belonging to the self"?

According to Wikipedia:

我所包括我的财富资产、我的眷属(父母、伴侣、子女、亲友)、我的成就、我的世间智慧能力、我的名声等。
我所：意指“我的所有”。

我所 means 我的所有 or my everything or anything that belongs to me.
非 means not, thus 非我所 implies not belonging to me


Anyone heard a saying about marriage being like cooking rice? This was a question here which has a link to here "Chinesische Weisheiten" = Chinese wisdom.

I don't really believe there is such a saying. I think it is "Quatsch", which is German for "rubbish, nonsense", but I'd like to ask you.

  Eine gute Ehe ist ein Reisgericht, das man mit kaltem Wasser ansetzt
  und behutsam zum Kochen bringt.

  A good marriage is like a rice dish, one should begin with cold water
  and slowly bring it to the boil.

Anybody know a saying like this??

There is an expression "米已成炊" (rice is cooked) It describes "既成事實" (a realized fact)

When raw rice is cooked, it cannot be changed back to raw again. Old Chinese thinking considered marriage is permanent, must be treated with caution. If a man and a woman get married, it is like raw rice boiled to be cooked rice--  It is permanent, cannot be undone. The only option is to eat it, meaning accept it

This quote is not the same as the original Chinese one, just borrowed the concept of "marriage is like cooked rice"

In the past, if a man and a woman had sex, they had no choice but to get marry. "米已成炊" can also describe this fact.

The quote from your link said: "一個美好的婚姻是用冷水準備並輕輕煮沸的米飯" (a beautiful marriage is like rice cooked from cold water and slowly boiled) implies "to ensure the marriage is a happy one, you should take time to prepare and not rush to commit."

The Cantonese version is "生米煮成熟飯" (raw rice cooked to become cooked-rice)


Is the construction 连A带B meaning "both A and B" a general construction or limited to fixed expressions? The Pleco dictionary mentions the construction 连A带B meaning "both A and B" in the definition of 连, but I can't find any other discussion of this structure.
I see it in fixed expressions like 连滚带爬 (lit "both rolling and crawling", but figuratively "frantically trying to escape") and 连踢带打 (lit "to kick and hit").

Can it be used to link anything together, or is it only used in fixed expressions?
In fixed expressions A and B are both verbs. Does it only work for verbs?
I've found what appear to be examples of 连A带B带C to connect 3 things together. Does it work for as many things as you want?
Does it add any emphasis or other flavor to A+B? Simultaneity? Intensity?

Can it be used to link anything together, or is it only used in fixed
expressions?

Using [連 verb A 带 verb B] create mostly idiomatic phrases when the verbs are related e.g. 消打, 哄骗, 滚爬
连消带打, 连哄带骗 and 连滚带爬 are considered fixed expressions because they are commonly spoken in day-to-day speech.
But A and B in [连 noun A 带 noun B] can be anything related or not

In fixed expressions A and B are both verbs. Does it only work for verbs?

It can be nouns, e.g. 连人带马一起翻落山坡; 连店带货一起顶让给别人

I've found what appear to be examples of 连A带B带C to connect 3 things together. Does it work for as many things as you want?

The common structure is (连)A(带)B(与及/外加/再加上)C. e.g. 连人带马与及军旗一起翻落山坡; 连店带货再加上招牌一起顶让给别人; 連哄帶騙外加小許威迫

Does it add any emphasis or other flavor to A+B? Simultaneity? Intensity?

连A带B indicates 'also' or 'both'.

verb A and verb B happen at the same time or alternately.

noun A and noun B are both the objects

Emphasis is on 'about equal in importance'


What's the difference between 受到 and 产生 when used with 影响, 兴趣, etc So, I'm struggling to see the difference between these two verb-noun collocations.
In your opinion, is there are a difference between:

受到影响 and 产生影响 to (be) influenced

受到兴趣 and 产生兴趣 to (become) interested??

I feel like there should be a difference, but I'm at a loss to see what it could be... maybe active/passive?!

受到影响 = to be influenced

受到A的影响 = to be influenced by A

产生影响 = to have an influence

对A产生影响 = to have an influence on A

受到兴趣: no such expression

产生兴趣 = to become interested

对A产生兴趣 = to become interested in A


How to translate “路人缘” or “观众缘” in English In this context,

缘 = potential relationships, connection
路人 = average Joe, random person, total stranger
观众 = audience, viewer

路人缘 （路人緣）and 观众缘 (觀眾緣) pretty much means the same thing.
They are used to describe if an actor/character has a feel which naturally appeal the first time viewer/stranger (similar to Love at first sight).

They are like an attribute. So good “观众缘” means this person is popular/in favor.

I crossed out TV friendly from the list, because it means something else.
I thought about congenial feel, affinity for audience, feel which naturally appeal audience..........but nothing sound right

Edit:

  After reading my take on the comments, I have convinced myself that 观众缘 means audience appeal

人缘(n) = popularity

路人缘 = general appeal /popularity among common folks

观众缘 = audience appeal / popularity among viewers/ audience

有人缘 = popular

有观众缘 = popular among viewers/ audience

~

Since there's a lively discussion in the comments section arguing about the definition of 人缘, 观众缘, I would give my two cents here.

缘 is something like a 'fated connection',  The chance of any two people in different parts of the world would meet is extremely tiny, but somehow people from different part of the world do meet. We called this connection between them  有缘.

when we say someone 有人缘, we are saying this person seemingly fated to connect with many many people, in other words, he is popular among people. People seemingly draw to him by fate.

有观众缘 just replace 人缘 with 观众缘, meaning audience seemingly draw to that person with no apparent reason.

We would not say a super star 有观众缘, because he is so good that people love him for his talent, but we often say a new artist or second string performer 有观众缘-- the audience just like him, as if fate decided so

May be the reason for some audience to like a performer is actually his looks, personality or demeanor. It all seems mysterious to the other audience who can't see anything attractive about the same performer


How important are tones in comparison with vowels or consonants in Mandarin? Tones are of course essential to distinguish meaning in Mandarin. However, how important are they if you compare with vowels or consonants?

For example, to a native, what sounds "more wrong" - to mispronounce a vowel or a tone? And to what degree?

Mispronunciation of tones sounds "more wrong", probably not because it is more wrong, but rather more random and so, harder to determine what the speaker means to say. Mispronunciation of sounds tends to be systematic, e.g. consistently mispronouncing "zh" as "z", etc. This is called an accent.
Every language that we know of has consonant and vowel sounds. When one tries to learn a foreign language with unfamiliar sounds, one may substitute, thus resulting in an accent. Most people can understand someone who speaks with an accent because as I said above, it is a systematic substitution of one sound for another.

Tones, however, presents quite a different problem for learners whose native language does not have tones. The mistakes are likely more random, and so, harder for the hearer to decipher what the intended tone is. And because of this, it sounds "more wrong".

Having said this, however, for learners whose native language has tones, for instance, a Cantonese speaker learning Mandarin, or the other way around, then the mistake will again likely be more systematic.

A person who is learning Chinese should really think of the consonant/vowel/tone as a packaged deal. All components are essential to pronouncing a word correctly.

Happy learning!


At what age is it inappropriate to call people 小李, 小王, 小刘, etc.? And is it different for males and females? It's common for children to be referred to as 小李, 小王, 小刘, etc. in Chinese (basically 小[姓], where [姓] is the family name).

I expect there is a certain age where it's no longer appropriate to call someone 小李, etc.  I also guess it's more likely that 小李 (sounding kind of cute) remains suitable for females longer than for males.

Question: At what age is it inappropriate to call people 小李, 小王, 小刘, etc.?  And is it different for males and females?

It is not about the person's age, it is about is the person older or younger than you, and what kind of relationship between you and that person.

If someone is about your age, and you two are close friends or at lease having a friendly relationship, it is OK. to call him 小李 or 老李

If someone close to you is much older than you, it is OK. to call him 老李 but not 小李

If someone close to you is much younger than you, it is OK. to call him 小李 but not 老李

Chinese men don't usually call a female friend 老李, 小李, 老王, 小王 .etc.  (it implies she is one of us guys)

If you are 80 years old, you still can call a 79 years old friend 老李, 小李, 老王, 小王 .etc.


Why is 尊重 considered 不礼貌 in this context? I asked my proficient friend if this sentence was 病句 or not:

  我尊重中国的工程公司。

He replied：
Someone like a President could say this, and it would be OK.  Were a normal person (仆人？） to say this, it'd be considered 不礼貌.  Why is this?

I asked him (we were speaking in Chinese) but I think I missed his point, so I'm asking the kind community here on StackOverflow.

The usage examples on Youdao have what seem to be similar sentences.  For example:

  在我们国家中工会受到人们的尊重。

  Labour unions are respectified in our country.

Is the difference the inclusion of 我？

谢谢！

First you have to know the difference between 尊敬 (respect) and 尊重(respect)
尊敬 is respect with admiration. For example, "I respect my teacher"; "I respect scientists"
尊重 is respect with acceptance or tolerance, mostly treat as equal. For example, "the court respect the defendant's right to remain silent" ; I respect your opinion (although I think it is stupid); I respect women's right (although I think men are superior)

I would not go as far as saying it is impolite to use 尊重 when you should use 尊敬; it is just not respectful enough

Beside 尊重 is not 尊敬, the problem with the sentence "我尊重中国的工程公司" is that we don't know in what aspect you respect Chinese engineering companies. Is it their reputation? If it is their reputation, then what kind of reputation you are referring to?
The topic: 'Chinese engineering companies' is just too general to pinpoint what is the respectable element, we need something specific, for example, "I respect Chinese engineering companies' innovative thinking"

"在我们国家中工会受到人们的尊重" implies people respect the union; not unlike the way you respect your neighbors
"在我们国家中工会受到人们的尊敬" implies people respect and admire the union. We all know the union's reputation is protecting labor's right against big companies' unfair treatment of their workers

Note:
尊敬/ 敬佩 = respect and admire; 敬重= respect and value; 佩服 = admire; 尊重 = respect (as equal)


Is 晚 a verb or an adjective in the sentence 我 晚了一 个半小? In the sentence below the is word 晚 a verb or an adjective? In the Pleco and other dictionaries says that it is an adjective but I have not seen an adjective with 了 and a duration in any grammar book. Is there a 莱 before understood but not written? Is this a frequently used sentence or better 迟到一个半小时. Here there is no problem since 到 is a verb.

她叫我 十一 以前 到家， 但是我 晚了一个半小?

晚 in "我晚了一个半小时" is an adjective.

"我(是)晚了一个半小时" = "I (am) late for one and half hour"

The verb 'be' (是) is omitted in Chinese

The verb 'be' cannot be omitted in English. "I was late for one and half hour" cannot be reduced to "I late for one and half hour".

In "我去晚了一个半小时", '去' is a verb and '晚' is an adverb


What's the grammatical structure of 这是你第一次来中国吗？ I am confused about the sentence 这是你第一次来中国吗？
I think I know the correct translation: "Is this the first time you go to China?"
However, I am confused about the grammatical structure of the sentence.

I would expect that when the structure 这是 (something) 吗？is present, then (something) is a noun phrase. For example:

这是你要的吗？(Is this what you want?)
这是你点的菜吗？(Is this the dish you ordered?)

你要的 (what you want) and 你点的菜 (the dish you ordered) are noun phrases (right?). However, I can't identify 你第一次来中国 as a noun phrase.

If 你第一次来中国 is a noun phrase: What is the structure that makes it a noun phrase? Why does it not say 你的第一次来中国? Isn't 次 a measure word? Why can it be followed by a verb?

If 你第一次来中国 is not a noun phrase, how can it be used with 这是 (something) 吗？?

Simply put. There is always S V O structure in Chinese.

In this case, 这(this) is the S, 是(is) is the V, 你第一次来中国 (your first time coming to China) is the object phrase.

PS 你第一次来中国 = 你的第一次来中国. (The 的 in the first sentence got dropped)


Need help understanding: "人生要就不忍，不然就請你一忍到底。" I'm working through this video and am having trouble understanding the sentence the speaker says at 9:31:

人生要就不忍，不然就請你一忍到底。

My best guess is this means "in life you don't want to have to restrain yourself, but if you have to you should do it to the very end." The second half of the sentence (不然就請你一忍到底) is fairly clear, but the phrase 要就不忍 doesn't make sense to me, in particular the use of 就 in this context.

The context is that he is talking about the story of Zhang Liang meeting Huang Shigong, who asks him to retrieve his fallen shoes and then help him put them on. The speaker says that Huang Shigong does this to teach him a moral lesson, namely the above sentence.

The next sentence or two are also difficult for me to follow. The speaker goes on to say:

非凡之人做事要就不做，
要做就必要做到乾淨漂亮。
忍耐就不要忍個半吊子，
既然已經幫人撿了鞋子，
也決定幫人穿上，
何不索興長跪履之？

The last three clauses of this make sense: "since you've already helped him retrieve his shoes and have decided to help put them on, then why not do it with a long kneel?"

However the first phares of it (非凡之人做事要就不做) is confusing to me, perhaps because of the reappearance of the phrase "要就不". Any help would appreciated!

"要就(X )不然就(Y)"  means "either (X) otherwise/ or (Y)"
(X) and (Y) are the two options for you to choose.

"要就(X = 不忍)，不然就(Y = 請你一忍到底)"
"you either not restrain yourself (option X), otherwise please restrain to the very end (option Y)."

非凡之人做事(要就)不做, (一但) (要做) 就必要做到乾淨漂亮

Exceptional person (either) not act, (once)(decided to act) then  he must do it cleanly and beautifully
一但(once) is omitted
"一但要做" (once decided to act) presents a different option than the first one, therefore the meaning of "otherwise" is implied. The sentence could then be interpreted as "exceptional person either not act, otherwise, he must do it cleanly and beautifully"
The two options are "不做" (not do it) and "做到乾淨漂亮" (do it cleanly and beautifully)


What is the difference between 華誕 and 誕辰? Both 華誕 and 誕辰 are more respectful ways of saying 生日 (birthday).

For 華誕, I have seen: "最高元首華誕", "蘇丹華誕", "日本皇華誕".

For 誕辰, I have seen: "國父誕辰", "先知默罕默德誕辰".

Sometimes, within a text, I see 華誕 being consistently used for the birthday of a particular person, and 誕辰 being used exclusively for the birthday of another person. So I wonder: is there a convention for selecting one over the other for particular "types" of people, or is selection completely arbitrary and always interchangeable?

都是一个意思，一般华诞表示国家的生日，是很美妙的事件。诞辰没有华诞那么宏大美好，但也有赞美的意思。


主要 as adverb?? or is it a sub+pred as subjet phrase In the following sentence:

  补习老师主要帮她练习什么?

主要 is before a verb. In the dictionary it says it is an adjective and the uses I've seen is as an adjective like: 主要的问题, the main problem.

Can it also be an adverb? Or is it that 帮 is a noun on is own and 补习老师主要帮 is a subject+predicate, but then I don't understand the meaning of the sentence.

Fix #1

'Mainly' = '主要是'. The 是 is omitted

补习老师[主要是]帮她练习什么?

(What does the tutor [mainly] help her practice?)

Also, it would be more specific to use "补习老师的工作" or "补习老师的責任" as the subject instead of just  "补习老师"

  Q: "What is the tutor's job mainly help her practice?" (补习老师的工作主要是帮她练习什么?)

  A: "The tutor's job is mainly help her practice English." (补习老師的工作主要是幫她練習英語)

Fix #2

Using 主要 as an adjective:

  补习老师的主要工作是帮她练习什么?

  补习老師的主要工作是幫她練習英語

In this case, 主要(main) would be the adjective for the noun 工作 (job) and you have to add 的 after 补习老師 to indicate possessive


What is the 以 in 给人以？ ‘给人以’ is a common phrase. I think this ’以‘ works like ’而‘ to give a sense of 'cause'. Can I replace ’以‘ with ’而‘ in 1.:

给人以诚恳、自信的印象

浴室给人以明亮通风之感。
这座桥无法给人以美的享受。

为某事而受苦
因某事而出名

zdic 6. 文言连词，与“而”用法相同：梦寐～求。

以 here works like 'with', not 'cause'.

In your examples, these '以' can't be replaced with '而', but can be ommited.


"醡" and "炸" in "醡醬麵" and "炸醬麵" I've just noticed that the English Wikipedia gives these spellings for "Zhajiangmian":

Simplified Chinese    炸酱面
Traditional Chinese   醡醬麵

Whereas the English Wiktionary gives these:

炸酱面 (simplified, Pinyin zhájiàngmiàn, traditional 炸醬麵)

I'm in Taipei and have a menu from a restaurant at the local night market. The spelling on the menu is "醡醬麵" as in Wikipedia.

Now Wiktionary does not list "炸" and "醡" as the simplified and traditional variants of the same characters!

So what's going on here? Is one a Taiwanese spelling rather than a simplified vs traditional spelling? Are the two any kind of variants of each other or is it just a quirk of this single word? Are they fully interchangeable? Also is this related to the two pinyin spellings with the differing tones on the first syllable?

醡醬麵 and 炸醬麵

炸醬麵 can work as it means "noodles with fried sauce"

醡醬麵 is "noodles with extracted sauce (e.g. extracting oil)"

炸 fried (火 fire radical + phonetic 乍 zhà)
醡 extract (酉 container + 窄 narrow; from 穴 hole and 乍) Archaic character for 榨 (tool for extraction process. 木 wood used to refer to tools in this case)
醬 sauce
麵 noodles

Alternatively, 酢醬麵 is also used. The Koreans have used this but it's now written 炸醬麵. I guess the difference is 醡 is a much older usage which is now replaced with 炸 in modern times. Taiwan tends to retain older usage.


this mughal jade cup, it's "瓜瓣瓢" or "瓜辨瓢"? this week, the christie's have an auction of this jade cup:

i suspected this one is the object of emperor 乾隆's poem 痕都斯坦玉羊頭瓜辨瓢歌

my question is:
the poem title is 玉羊頭瓜辨瓢
is it an typo of 瓣?
cause, in the poem, the 5th verse mentioned 瓜分數瓣

鹿臺嘉産来遐陬
彼中良工細雕鎪
式異漢盃及商卣
瓢飲一具琢羙球
瓜分數瓣花葉浮
曲柄廻顧為羊頭
匪夷所思用意周
其脂非逺其性柔
東陵闗内伊誰候

any ideas?

Looks like it should be 瓜瓣瓢.

瓜瓣瓢 probably means a 瓢 made from 瓜瓣. In contrast, 瓜辨 is not a word (AFAIK).
See a printed version of 清・金士松《喬羽書巢詩集》 (https://ctext.org/library.pl?if=en&file=105725&page=51). Since your screenshot looks like it's from a handwritten version of 《御製詩四集》, I suspect that it's a handwriting error. Well, printing is less likely to introduce errors :)


Idiom/chengyu meaning: 小葱拌豆腐一清二白 I recently came across 小葱拌豆腐一清二白 as a dictionary submission, but the explanation of the submitter was unclear. I have had mixed/little luck searching for the expression (or parts of it), and I also had no luck trying to obtain clarification from a native speaker.

Is this even one single expression? 一清二白 also appears to be a chengyu on its own.
What is the meaning/interpretation of 小葱拌豆腐一清二白 and/or  一清二白?

一清二白 is a very common idiom. It's well defined in this dictionary:

◎ 一清二白 yī qīng èr bái
(1) [be perfectly spotless]∶非常清白 e.g. 素来一清二白
(2) [be perfectly clear; as
clear as daylight]∶ 同“一清二楚” e.g. 记得一清二白

小葱拌豆腐一清二白 is 歇后语 as the other answer indicated. 歇后语 usually have two parts. The first part describes a way how the second part is generated.
In this case, 小葱拌豆腐 is a type of Chinese dish, which only consists of 小葱 and 豆腐. 青 and 白 refers to colors. 拌(stir) is the way the dish is made. 豆腐 is white(白). 葱 is cyan or green(青).
So, when you look at the dish, you would easily tell 小葱 from 豆腐（and vice versa） because their colors are very distinctive. One is 青(一青), and the other is 白（二白）. That's how 一青二白 forms. 一青二白 and 一清二白 are homophones. In spoken, you wouldn't hear any difference.
歇后语 is kind of word play in my view and usually used when one tries to make some funny/humorous effect, impress his listeners, etc. E.g. 做人要像小葱拌豆腐一样，一清二白.


What means Nanfu? (Characters identified: 阿難) A friend of mine bought that stone a while ago

With the help of a friend, we were about to determine that the words in small seal script means (from left to right) 難 (difficult) and 阜 (plentiful).
Combine together, it seems to go with Nanfu.
What does it mean at the time and is there still a meaning today?

first of all, read from right to left.
the right character, the left component is (阜, ⻖) is easy to recognise. the right component is a 口 (mouth) with surrounding stroke, so, it’s also easy to guess that it’s 阿 (u+963f)
then, confirm the guess with 漢語多功能字庫
http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=阿
the left character, well, it’s also “easy” to find that it’s 難 (u+96e3)
http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=難
put them together, the word is “阿難” ananda, one of the ten principle disciple of buddha.
further, judging from the photo provided, i think the characters are inscribed on a stone plinth, of a statue; that’s why i ask in the comment.
have fun :)


How should I understand 虱子多了不咬，债多了不愁 ("lice much stop biting, debt much ignored")? After describing various urgent or overdue matters I should be dealing with yet ignore, my teacher said this:

  虱子多了不咬，债多了不愁。
  Shīzi duō le bù yǎo, zhài duō le bù chóu.

I think she used it to mean that I've become desensitized to this level of pressure, and in order to cope, I've lost all sense of urgency.  But I don't clearly understand what it means.

It literally translates to something like:

  Lice much stop biting, debt much ignored.

I don't think it means "the more lice stop biting, the more debt is ignored" (or "the squeaky wheel gets the grease"), but rather it refers to desensitization.

Question: How should I understand 虱子多了不咬，债多了不愁?

虱子多了不咬，债多了不愁

Have been numb by large amount of animal that bites. And have owed too much, because people cannot pay back so people don't care about it.

It means people do not worry about somethings, because it seems too hard to solve or they have give up, so they don't care about it.


Two contrasts between 文 and 武, culture and war There are two sayings available on-line, each with various explanations.  One is:

文无第一 武无第二 (in culture there is no first, in war there is no second)

And one is:

文无第二武无第一  (in culture there is no second, in war there is no first)

Does one of these have an earlier origin?

As a native Chinese speaker, I knew "文无第一 武无第二" when I was very young. However, I have never heard of "文无第二 武无第一".


What tense is 你会不会怕我? "你会不会怕我" example

What tense is this sentence? It seems like future tense, but if you watch the video the person talking (the dad) is talking to his daughter. But, that makes me think it is current tense. So, then what does 会 mean in this context?

The usage here is like 'would' in English. 'Would' can be either past tense, or present tense with subjunctive mood. 会 can be either future tense, or present tense with subjunctive mood.

I believe this usage is influenced by Taiwanese Mandarin where there's a common pattern to turn simple V+O structure into 有没有/会不会 + (V+O as O) to soften the tone. This is considered redundant and borderline ungrammatical in the schools in mainland China, but in daily spoken language it's very common.


What is the difference between 赞成 and 赞同? 赞成
to approve;
to endorse;
(literary) to assist

赞同
to approve of;
to endorse;
(vote) in favor

There is a forum where a native speaker suggests that 赞成 has an added meaning of 'help' (as in the definitions) and 赞同 is associated with participation

Another response suggests that 赞成 is used with plans and proposals and 赞同 is used with ideas and methods

Both 赞成 and 赞同 mean: 'approve / support/ agree'

But there's a subtle difference:

[赞同] = [赞成(agree/support) + 同意(agree/have the same idea)] * Therefore, 赞同 has the added meaning of 'be convinced'

When you 赞成 (approve / support) an idea, you may or may not be totally convinced. For example, you can vote 赞成 on an issue because most people in your group have voted 赞成 already.
When you say you 赞同 an idea, that indicates you have been convinced (to have the same idea as the other's).
you can 'reluctantly agree' (勉强赞成); you cannot 'reluctantly agree and be convinced' (勉强赞同)
There can be 投票赞成 (vote to support) ; There can't be 投票赞同 (vote to support and agree)


About pronunciation of 大家 Can 大家 be pronounced like dà a ? I heard lots of Chinese'd pronounced just like that. Who can help me with this?

This phenomenon is called 懒音. And it can be very common in casual spoken language and it's really a personal habit varies for different people. In the case of 大家, the consonant of 家 is omitted for an easier pronunciation, since the vowel of 大 and 家 are both open vowel /a/, and /ʨ/ in the center is somewhat hard to articulate. Therefore, it becomes something like /ta a/.


Difference between 更好 and 比较好? I'm confused about the difference between 更好 and 比较好. Since both seem to mean "better", how are these used differently? In what cases would you use them?

Here's my take on it.

更好 = "even better." For example, X很好。Y更好。= "X is good. Y is even better." This comparison could be over time too: X已经很好，现在更好了 = "X was already good, now it's even better."

比较好 = "better", without an implication that the object of comparison was/is already good. So, it's acceptable to say X不怎么样，Y比较好。= "X kind of sucks, Y is better"

For more example sentences, check out Allset's grammar wiki: 更 geng and 比较 bijiao.


Please sign in to send a message How would I translate the phrase, "Please sign in to send the message".

I would think it's something like, "Qing 登录 fa xin" -- is that correct?

If you mean to say "To send the message, please first sign in", then “发送信息前请先登录” may sound more natural and clearer.


When a sentence ends with '来了', is it the aspectual or modal particle 了? I understand the differences between aspectual and modal particle, but I have some confusion about when a sentence ends with a 了 and at the same time with a verb, like 来了. So it is aspectual or modal?

“来” is an action. So it is aspectual. It indicates the action has ended.

“来” is not a situation. Although a situation that "I am here" can be inferred from the fact that the action of coming (来) has ended. So it is not an indication of new situation.

You can say "我在了", in which the "了" is modal. "在" here indicates a (new) situation.


Does '到现在' imply a recent change? Chinese-to-English dictionaries seem to translate '到现在' as 'up to now' or 'until now'. In English this often implies a recent change in conditions rather than a continuation of conditions; however, in Chinese I don't seem to see this same implication.
Is this correct, that does '到现在' not imply a recent change? can it ever imply this by itself? If not, how would I convey the English logic (implied recent change) in Chinese?
Examples in English:

We haven't heard from him until now.
Up to now, we hadn't heard from him.

Both imply we just heard from him today or very recently.

No, it does not imply a recent change.

「到現在」does literally translate to until now, but their usage is different, as you've already noted (a continuation of conditions).

In English, until now means practically the same thing as until recently.
In Chinese,「到現在」means something like up to this very day in English.「到現在我還在...」means up to this very day, I'm still...
To say the equivalent of English until now (that is, implying a change in condition), you should say something similar to「到目前爲止...」.「爲止」is an explicit statement that stops the otherwise implied continuation.


Are there any good reverse transliteration strategies? So I've been watching a lot of international news in chinese. I find that I have problems putting things in context because there are a whole lot of names of people and places which I don't know the Chinese transliteration for. I can remember country names and places and famous people to a certain extent but I can only memorize so much - plus there's a continous amount of new people on the news from congressmens to rockstars to murder suspects etc.

Sometimes I'm able to guess (eg. obama's chinese name sound similar, spain not so much) but it's not always immediately obviously.

Is there some sort of official method of translate names/ places into chinese? Is there some sort of easy way to reverse back to English?

Names of persons

This answer explains that there are semi-official, conventional methods of transliterating foreign names to Chinese, and sometimes they are not the closest to the English pronunciation, even for English names. According to this answer, transliterations are sometimes done for different Chinese "dialects" - e.g. Mandarin or Cantonese - and, confusingly, sometimes they get mixed up, e.g. a Cantonese transliteration is pronounced using Mandarin, yielding an even more inaccurate pronunciation. For example, Taxi was transliterated using Cantonese as 的士 (Dīksíh) which is pronounced in Mandarin as di1 shi4.

Names of places

For place names, transliteration often uses the native pronunciation of the place name. This may not be obvious, but English transliterations are sometimes inaccurate too, for various reasons. For example, this question asks why Germany was translated as 德国 (de2 guo2) (the answer is the German name for Germany - Deutschland). Same goes for your example of Spain - 西班牙 (xi1 ban1 ya2) - España. For a truly confusing example, see how Japan's English and Japanese names have the same origin, but are so dissimilar: Nihon (Japanese) - Cipangu (Marco Polo, from Wu Chinese) - Jepang (Old Malay) - Giapan (via Portuguese) - Japan (English).

So in conclusion, there are reasons for the transliterations, it's not completely random, but it's very hard to learn because it's quite complex, so it may be easier to remember by rote.


老氏讀易得間 Help me understand this, not homework My question is about the phrase 老氏讀易得間 which I have seen translated as "Laozi's school read between the lines of the I Jing."  I am having trouble getting my reading of it to the point where that makes sense.  Can anyone guide me?  I'm open to that translation being wrong, no investment on my part, just trying to get it right and understand it.  Thanks!

老氏讀易得間

老氏：即老子 Laozi。

讀易：研讀《易經》 to study 《I Jing》，《Book of Changes》

得間： ㄉㄜˊ ㄐㄧㄢˋ , dé jiàn

得：得到 to get, to find, to obtain

間：是「間隙、孔竅」的意思，引申為「竅門、訣竅」。
間 means "the gaps, orifices, openings or holes", and is extended to "the tips, tricks or know-how".

得間：找到訣竅，了解其義。
To discover the tricks and understand the meanings.

老氏讀易得間
When Laozi studied the 《I Jing》, he figured out the knacks.

得間 also means 有隙可乘 or 得到機會, to get a chance.


Why the pinyin of 鱼 is yú instead of ǘ? Two observations：

It should be fine for the pinyin of a character to contain no initials such as 阿(ā)，哦(ò) and 噩(è).
The bopomofo equivalent is ㄩˊ, which is ǘ in pinyin.

Then why the pinyin of 鱼 is yú instead of ǘ?

Under the section Pronunciation of initials for the pinyin page on Wikipedia there is the following:

  Note on y and w

  Y and w are equivalent to the semivowel medials i, u, and ü (see below). They are spelled differently when there is no initial consonant in order to mark a new syllable: fanguan is fan-guan, while fangwan is fang-wan (and equivalent to *fang-uan). With this convention, an apostrophe only needs to be used to mark an initial a, e, or o: Xi'an (two syllables: [ɕi.an]) vs. xian (one syllable: [ɕi̯ɛn]). In addition, y and w are added to fully vocalic i, u, and ü when these occur without an initial consonant, so that they are written yi, wu, and yu. Some Mandarin speakers do pronounce a [j] or [w] sound at the beginning of such words—that is, yi [i] or [ji], wu [u] or [wu], yu [y] or [ɥy],—so this is an intuitive convention. See below for a few finals which are abbreviated after a consonant plus w/u or y/i medial: wen → C+un, wei → C+ui, weng → C+ong, and you → C+iu.

Also under letters for the orthographic rules of pinyin it says:

  Syllables starting with i are written as y in place of i (e.g., *ian is written as yan). Standalone i is written as yi.
  Syllables starting with ü are written as yu in place of ü (e.g., *üe is written as yue).


How to say things are different from one another Lately I have been confused on how to say different in Mandarin. I learned 不同 and 不一样 but am not confident on their usage. I am also unsure of the grammar. I found 与众不同 but this seems to also have the meaning of a grade above, or unusual in a good way.

Should I use 跟、和、像 or 与？ What is the difference?

Are there other ways to say something is different?

Is 没有人想跟同辈不同 an accurate translation of "No one likes to be different from their peers"？

"众" stands for everything/everyone. 跟、和、像 or 与 are prepositions. 与众不同 means diff from everything/everyone. There are several ways to say "be diff from something" in Mandarin, for examples: 与something不同/和something不一样/跟something不一样(substitute "something" with the one you want to say in Mandarin). These sentences have the same meaning. However, 像 is seldom used with "不同" or "不一样". "异" also has the meaning of "different/difference", but usually used in a differently way. For your last question, I assume you might mistype one thing, since a more appropriate way to translate would be "没有人想跟同辈不同".


how to use 对此 in a sentence? What do you think should be done about it?
你觉得对此该做什么？

this is the translation online I found for this English sentence. The translation makes some sense, but I'm not quite sure what the point of "对此" is. I know it means "towards this" but I don't know why it's used here.

What 什么
you 你
think 觉得
should 该
done 做
about 对
it 此

So, 对此 is used because of "about it".


Explain the concepts 沙雕 and 沙雕图 I came across these two words recently.

Literally they mean sand sculpture and sand sculpture image.

They are now internet slang for unrelated concepts seemingly.

My understanding is that they are used to refer to some kind of meme, but I'm not quite sure what kind.

Memes where someone is doing something silly or foolish.

The word may have been chosen as the pronunciation is similar to 傻屌 so there may be some connection there.

Can anyone provide more detail into these two internet slang terms ?

In addition to meanings explained by other answers, 傻屌 are much more offensive and vulgar than沙雕.

沙雕 is generally used humourously to describe weird or stupid but funny behaviours or lame jokes, as with a lot of memes. It is still vulgar but I would not call it offensive (unless it is directed to a person as an insult and used to avoid censorship of 傻屌). You will see mainstream websites use 沙雕 (e.g. 沙雕网友) liberally (not in serious news, though).


Writing critique request: Zhou Ziwang was fat when she was young Continuing on from part 1:

当我是女孩时，世界上最重要的是吃巧克力和其它甜食。我爱吃麦当劳、我爱吃比萨、我爱吃巧克力蛋糕。我爸忙时就让我吃，如此我不打扰他，而他经常在电脑上工作。并不奇怪的是，我当时很胖。
虽然我很小，但不得不注意到了别人不同的对待我，使我感到对自己的身体不满意，而我变得越来越难过了。我渴望变瘦了，或者至少不那么胖。那时候我知道吃热量高的食物让人长胖，可是甚至成年人遇到控制体重的困难，仅仅少吃不够减肥。吃巧克力使我心里感到很满足。

Please critique my writing.  Probably the bit I'm most uncomfortable with is "可是甚至成年人遇到控制体重的困难" but I'm not sure how else to write this.
I spoke with my teacher about this, and she mentioned I should point out my level: I've nearly finished studying HSK4.
I've tried to incorporate feedback from the last part, e.g. I use 如此 here which arose last time, and even 我当时很胖 as a result of this question.  I've tried to be more careful choosing words, and be a bit more succinct in my writing (neither of which is easy).  The passage is a bit shorter, but I feel if it's too short, it wouldn't be useful.
Part of the reason for doing this is because standard Chinese language texts are incredibly boring.  There's no story, just isolated sentences without meaning.
I'm hoping not for a word-for-word correction to perfect Chinese, but more a critique: mostly just identifying the major issues (that I might be totally blind to).  Alternatively rewriting the passage in your own style is also very helpful; afterwards, I'll compare our word and grammar choices.

English version:

When I was a little girl, the most important thing in the world was chocolate and other junk food.  I loved eating McDonalds, pizza, and chocolate cake.  When my father was busy, he would let me eat so I wouldn't disturb him.  And he was often on his computer working.  Unsurprisingly, I became fat.
Although I was young, I couldn't help be notice people treated me differently, and it made me feel unhappy with my body, and I slowly became sad.  I wanted to be skinny, or at least not so fat.  At that time I knew eating fatty foods causes people to become fat, but even adults struggle to control their weight, I can't just simply not eat and lose weight.  Eating chocolate made me feel content inside.

Check ambiguity.

Writers should read his or her own writing, try to see if there are other possible  interpretations for certain phrases.

For example: When you chose "女孩" in "当我是女孩时" you were thinking "girl" as a female child, but both "女孩" in Chinese and "girl" in English can refer to " young female".

To remove ambiguity in "当我是女孩时" you can add  "小" before "女孩" and write "当我是(小)女孩时" to clarify  "girl"  refers to "female child" not "young female"

  Remember Chinese verbs have no tense

Since Chinese verbs do not have tense, The tense of this sentence "Although I was very small" (虽然我很小) need to be clarified by other means

e.g. "虽然我(那時還)很小" - "Although I was very small (at that time)"

It is just a single example, you should check your sentence to see if tense is needed or not, because in many instances the context already indicate the verb is in the pass tense or present tense.

For example: "(十年前)当我(還)是女孩时" clearly implies:

a. The verb "是" is in past tense.

b. 女孩 (girl) refers to "female child" not "young female"

  abuse of 了

"了" indicate "completion" or change of "state" . You have to check if "了" is needed in a sentence. Take: "我渴望变瘦了" (I hope to get thin) for example.

了 in "我渴望变瘦了" implies "I begin to hope to get thin" (change of state)
了 cannot modify 变瘦 to indicate the verb 变瘦 is completed because  the main verb "hope" indicated you were not thin already

If you didn't mean "I begin to hope to get thin", you should just write "我渴望变瘦"

I can only point out some of  the bad habits I noticed. There are a lot of areas can be improved in your writing, but that involves more in-depth study on your part. Write more, get corrected more and analyze why a sentence you wrote is being corrected. Eventually you too can notice what mistakes you often make and learn not to make it again. Or discover the better way to express your thought by noticing how people edit your text to a more native style.

I am sure other people can point out more of your mistakes and provide solutions.

You can compare your text with my editing to see if you can notice something:

当我是女孩时，--> 当我(还)是(小)女孩时，

世界上最重要的是吃巧克力和其它甜食。--> (对我来说)世界上最重要的是吃巧克力和其它甜食。

我爱吃麦当劳、我爱吃比萨、我爱吃巧克力蛋糕。

我爸忙时就让我吃， --> (每当)我爸忙(的)时(侯)就让我吃，

如此我不打扰他，而他经常在电脑上工作。--> (这样)我(就)不(会)打扰他在电脑上工作。

并不奇怪的是，我当时很胖。--> (难怪)我当时(会那么)胖。

虽然我很小，但不得不注意到了别人不同的对待我，--> 虽然我(那时还)很小，但(已)不得不注意到别人(对我)(与别不同)的(态度)，

使我感到对自己的身体不满意， --> 使我对自己的身体(感到)不满意，

而我变得越来越难过了。我渴望变瘦了，--> 我变得越来越难。我渴望变瘦。

或者至少不那么胖。那时候我知道吃热量高的食物让人长胖， --> 至少以能瘦一点。那时候我(已)知道吃热量高的食物(会)让人(变)胖，

可是甚至成年人遇到控制体重的困难，--> 可是(连)成年人(都会)遇到控制体重的困难，(何况,是我这个小女孩？)

仅仅少吃不够减肥。--> 仅仅少吃(是)不(足以)减肥(的)。

吃巧克力使我心里感到很满足。--> (加上)吃巧克力(能)使我心里感到很满足，(减重就更困难了)。

(the last two sentences are disjointed)


Are there any circumstances in which 弈 (yì) could be mistaken for 野 (yě)? I understand the sounds and inflections are distinct, and that the only commonality is the initial consonant.  But what if it were a conversation between two speakers with different native dialects, where wine has been drunk, and the person speaking has a speech impediment, and the person mishearing is very old and hard of hearing. (In other words, this question is about mistakes in communication and records as opposed to accuracy.)

This is not a serious question, per se, but more of a fun question for literary purposes, playfully looking for a speculative (non-materialist) connection between the game of Yi, mentioned in the Zuo Zhuan and Analects, and the Battle of Muye.

It may be possible if we say only one word, 奕 or 野, quickly and ambiguously.

When they are combined with other words, we have these words to judge it.

牧野 is the name of a place, and we always use this term as a whole.

奕 usually goes with 博 or 對 to form 博奕 or 對奕 for games.

Even somebody mixes 奕 with 野. It is not so easy to mix 博奕 (Bó yì) or 對奕 (Duì yì) with 牧野 (Mù yě).


What does 尽信书不如无书 mean? After pointing out the many bugs in an online Chinese "how to give a presentation in English" webpage, one of my colleagues wrote this on WeChat:

  尽信书不如无书
  Jìn xìn shū bùrú wú shū

Question: What does 尽信书不如无书 mean?

Breaking this down:

尽 (jìn) = "exhausted"
信 (xìn) = "evidence" (maybe (?))
书 (shū) = "book"
不如 (bùrú) = "not as good as"
无 (wú) = "no" (in the sense of "the absence of")
书 (shū), as above.

My closest guess is "a book of misinformation is worse than no book".  One of the (Chinese) students said "sort of" when I asked if this was okay.

尽 (jìn) = "completely"
信 (xìn) = "believe in"
书 (shū) = "book"
不如 (bùrú) = "better off"
无 (wú) = "without"
书 (shū) = "book"
"尽信书不如无书" mean "It is better to have no book at all than blindly believe in everything in the books"

Prejudice is worse than ignorance; wrong information is worse than no information
prejudice: preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience.
ignorance: lack of knowledge or information

The phrase is not telling you not to read. It is telling you to also think for yourself when you read.


meaning of 從 in 必操几杖以從之 In the following sentence, what does 從 mean? What is the implicit subject of 從之?

謀於長者，必操几杖以從之。

I'd appreciate your help.

the verse in the book of rites (禮記), chapter 曲禮上:

謀於長者・必操几杖以從之

i would interpret it as:
[in situation of | if | when] seeking advice (謀) from (於) an elder (長者)・[one] must (必) hold (操) [readily] the “arm rest” & staff (a strong stick or pole) (几杖 —> 憑几 & 手杖); for the purpose of (以) attending to (從之)
https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=gb&id=9489
so, “從之” refer back to the “elder” that one’s seeking advice from.
btw, an “arm rest” (憑几) is a tool, when people is sitting on a mat, on floor, for putting their arms on it for resting, something like this:

have fun :)


What's the difference between 后 and 以后? I was taught that so as to say "after" in Chinese one should use 以后, like this:

  吃饭以后

Today I came across a bare 后, like this:

  15分钟后

What's the difference between these two words?

后= after

Examples:

吃饭后 = after eating dinner

15分钟后 = after 15 minutes

  以后 = after

以后 (after) emphasizes on 'time after a specific event or action'

Examples:

吃过那顿晚饭以后 = after eating that dinner (a specific dinner is emphasized)

15分钟的沉默以后 = after 15 minutes of silence (the event- 15 minutes of silence is emphasized)

  以后 = 此后 (hereafter); 其后 (thereafter) ; 以来(since)

Example: 自二战以后 = 自二战以来 = since WWII

  以后 = 今后 (from now on)

Example:

我以后不再和你说话 = I won't talk to you from now on


What is the correct way to ask "How do I get to your school" in Mandarin? Here my focus is to understand the correct usage of 怎么走 and 到.

The English sentence is, "How do I get to your school". This is in terms of asking the directions to reach the school.

I found three possibilities to ask the question in Chinese :

1. 到你的学校怎么走

2. 怎么走到你的学校

3. 你的学校怎么走

I know the individual meaning of these words/phrases but don't know which of the above sentence conveys the meaning in the best sense.

It would be great if someone could explain how do these words go with each other (generally) when asking for directions and even if there is a better way to put this sentence!

All of the three sentences work. People can know what you want to express without problem occurred.


Is it true that a word 航空母舰 (lit. "an aircraft carrier") can be used as an euphemism or a joke for a "woman with big breasts" or "plump woman"? I've seen such a weird translation of a word 航空母舰 in an online dictionary but could not find any actual usage of the word in the described context. Was it a mistake or a kind of a joke?

No, there shouldn't be such relation. I can guess where you might see this weird relation between aircraft carriers and women with large breasts. This connection often appears in warship personification animations/drawings/games, among which the Japanese game KanColle (舰队Collection) is probably the most famous one around the world.

The reason behind is that authors of animes/drawings often relate the tonnage of a warship (not only aircraft carriers, but also battleships and sometimes even heavy cruisers) to their breast sizes. In a warship personification game, if an aircraft carrier character is designed/drawn with flat breasts, she will probably become a popular topic among players for a long time. For example, among games developed in China, the Saratoga aircraft carrier in the game Azur Lane (碧蓝航线) and Hood battlecruiser in the game Warship Girls (战舰少女) are those who break the breast-tonnage rule.

As a summary, please do NOT try to use this word to describe anyone in real life. Among warship games players, they might understand what you are referring to. But for most people outside this group, they probably get confused, or even worse, treat this as impolite or offensive. We can make fun of game characters in some cases, but never of a true person.


How to display CJK Extension F? The CJK F block is displayed on the wikipedia page CJK Unified Ideographs Extension F:
I've tried updating Babel Han but they themselves say:

Total Coverage
Characters / Percentage
CJK Unified Ideographs Extension F 1,141 / 7,473   15.3%

So, only fifteen percent of Extension F characters are covered in Babel Han.
Hanazono hasn't been updated in a while and only supports up to Extension E.
How can I display the CJK Extension F block in my browser?

天珩字库

【字海(叶典)】软件下载 has a file called:

天珩全字库V2.0.2(TH-Tshyn) (direct link) its description reads:

  目前字符数量最全的字体支持包，其中汉字部分支持大约12万汉字，主要设计为大陆风格，扩展EF主要为日本风格。另外本字库有Unicode10.0以内的几乎所有字符，包括表情符号(黑白色)。

It contains almost all characters in Unicode 10!

When installed you will be able to display all Ext. F characters, have a look at a sample:


What is the difference between 傻瓜 and 笨蛋? May sound like a silly question, but is there a difference between 傻瓜 and 笨蛋?

Literally 笨蛋 and 傻瓜 mean stupid and silly respectively. I would say, as a native speaker,  笨蛋 is used as a negative adjective for others while 傻瓜 is more teasing especially for the the speakers themselves. Also, it depends on the status of the speaker and listener, for example, we will call the kids 笨蛋, but call the wife 傻瓜 when they make the same mistake.


What is the difference between 阅读, 读, and 看? What is the difference between the three read verbs, 阅读，读，and 看? A casual googling gets you some explanations but as I still can't get it correctly and it has not been posted here, I wish someone could clarify it.

I understand the difference of the three verbs from 念; 念 is used when you speak it out, sometimes loudly.

But as to the three verbs, 看 is used in more general while 阅读 is used when you concentrate on the action of reading...right?

And then I don't know the difference between 阅读 and 读.

Also, does 阅读 (or 读) is only used when you read words or sentences? For example, I'm now at Starbucks and see a trash bin outside, around 10m ahead. Is it awkward to say 请阅读那个垃圾桶?

In most books I used I saw 看 is most often used, but during my current stay in China (too short yet), I have seen 阅读 far more often than 看...

看 could mean see, look, watch and read, but 阅读 does not mean see, look or watch. 阅读 only means read. Examples:

我在看书。(I'm reading a book.)
我在读书。(I'm reading a book.)
我在阅读。(I'm doing some reading.)(Normally we don't say 我在阅读书; see below.)
WRONG SENTENCE: 请阅读那个垃圾桶。(Please read that trash bin.)
请看那个垃圾桶。(Please look at that trash bin.)

阅读 is more like an intransitive verb, or a noun in English, while 读 is more like a transitive verb. Examples:

我喜欢阅读。(I like reading.)
UNNATURAL: 我喜欢阅读书。(I like reading books.)(Although in English it is very good, it sounds weird in Chinese, because a one-syllable word is combined with a two-syllable word.)
RATHER FORMAL: 我喜欢阅读书籍。(I like reading books.)(This sounds formal rather than weird because two two-syllable words are put together.)


If you have vs if you had Is there a way to say

  if you had come to the meeting... ,

in other words the untrue condition, as opposed to :

  if you have come to the meeting... ,

the mere if clause? I used to think it was 假如, but dictionary examples suggest otherwise. For example:

  假如有這必要, 就這麼幹吧。

EDIT:

If you use context to express this difference, please provide examples!
I would really appreciate an explanation in English (apart from the examples). My Chinese is basic and if I have to translate I only get the basics.

you may consider "倘若", "假如", or "假使"

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cbdic/gsweb.cgi?o=dcbdic&searchid=Z00000051670

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cbdic/gsweb.cgi?o=dcbdic&searchid=Z00000089761

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cbdic/gsweb.cgi?o=dcbdic&searchid=Z00000089751

but, the chinese language is "fuzzy", these terms do not absolutely indicate an untrue condition in the clause; they just merely imply such.