Why does 哆啦A梦 use an alphabet instead of an equivalent Chinese character? Doraemon is represented as 哆啦A梦 in Chinese. It includes an alphabet ‘A’.

But I wonder why it uses the alphabet. Why not simply use a word equivalent for ‘A’, such as:

  哆啦欸梦

I haven’t seen such words, that use an alphabet instead of Chinese characters. Is this an exception or common among foreign loanwords?

And why does 哆啦A梦 use the alphabet to begin with?

Why is the use of Chinese characters and letters mixed in the rare translation of Doraemon? This is a set of katakana and hiragana shuffling from the original text.

So, why is the original name of the original text half of the katakana (ドラ) half of the hiragana (えもん)? According to Fang Kuangyang's second book, "Encyclopedic Encyclopedia (Supervisor/ Fujiko Fujio)", Volume 1, page 107, the names of the original Doraemon were all written in katakana (ドラエモン), but they were finished in the factory. When the robot was registered, Doraemon finished writing the first part of the name and couldn't remember how to write the katakana in the latter part (it really was a bad product (-_-;)) and had to write hiragana.

Hey. So Doraemon's name is half a half of a pseudonym and half a pseudonym. The translation of the Chinese version of "Dream A Dream" uses half a half Chinese characters, which actually reflects this setting very faithfully.


疯狂的 "crazy" meaning "unconventional"? In English the word "crazy" apart from "being mentally ill" may have a less negative meaning of "being strange/weird/unconventional". Does chinese word 疯狂的 also have this connotation?
If not, what is the best chinese equivalent to it?

Yes the terms 疯狂的(adv/adj); 疯狂(adj/adv); 狂(adj/adv) has other connotations beside being mentally ill.

  recklessly / beyond imagination / out of the word (unrealistic)

  Example:

  疯狂的计划 / 疯狂计划 (crazy plan; reckless plan ; plan beyond imagination  )

~

  uncontrollably / earnestly / enthusiastically

  Example:

  疯狂地殴打 / 狂殴 ( crazily beat someone; uncontrollably beat someone)

  疯狂购物 / 狂购  (shop crazily ; shop uncontrollably; shop enthusiastically)

~

  strange / weird

  Example:

  疯狂科学家 (crazy scientist/ weird scientist)


What's the difference between 部件, 零件, and 配件？ What's the difference between 部件, 零件, and 配件？

I'm trying to translate the English sentence "Manage parts & accessories retail operations" and am having difficulty finding the right words for "parts" and "accessories".

Also, not sure if I should throw in 辅助品 for "accessories" rather than one of the above options.

FYI, this translation is for a vehicle manufacturer.

零件 (parts) and 配件 (accessory) would suffice, in Traditional Chinese.


What word could you use to approach your friend in Chinese with? Either close friends, family friends or fun/casual friends. E.g. "hey ... (close/family/fun friend), what are you up to?" I am looking for a word to replace the "close/family/fun friend" with.

Words you could use to approach your friends in Chinese with are:

老爸 (lao ba) for a dad or 老妈 (lao ma) for a mom. 老兄 (lao xiong) and 老哥 (lao ge) for older male persons and 老姐 (lao jie) for an older female person. 老弟 (lao di) for a younger male person and 老妹 (lao mei) for a younger female person.
In all of the mentioned examples, 老 (lao) doesn't mean old. Its closest English equivalent might be "dear". As in "dear ((younger)(fe)male) friend", "dear mother" etc.

Another way for approaching a good friend with whom one shares a lot of interests is 好小子 (hao xiao zi), which is an expression used irrespective of age.


Handwritten script on two scroll paintings Could someone help translate what’s written on these two scroll paintings please?

Seal decipherment

I think this actually might be a character, which is 「夒」.

Glyph evolution of 「夒」:
商甲甲2336合集35269商甲甲2043合集24963春秋・秦金秦子簋故宮05.6三國・魏隸魏上尊號奏秦漢魏晉篆今楷

張ＸＸ印 (Other characters are too faded out)

追摹古人出新意

干（城）

（志）⿱龸子（學）茟（筆）印


Does 汉语书 (Hànyǔ shū) "Chinese book" only mean "a book for learning Chinese", or can it also mean "a book in Chinese"? In English, a Chinese book could mean either:

a book for learning Chinese, or
a book which is in Chinese,

but (without additional context) we'd ordinarily consider the former interpretation as more likely.  I wonder if it's the same in Chinese.  A Baidu Image search for 汉语书 (Hànyǔ shū) suggests it only means "a book for learning Chinese".

Question: Does 汉语书 only mean "a book for learning Chinese", or can it also mean "a book in Chinese"?

In China a _____ is a :

____ 语文书：Chinese book for Chinese kids to learn Chinese reading and writing
____ 数学书: maths book
____ 英语书：book for Chinese kids to learn English

一本汉语书 = 一本中文书

'汉语书'更多用于学习汉语的书，
'Chinese book' is mainly used to refer to  a book for studying Chinese, (language)

但是根据'汉语书'的字面意思，
but the literal meaning of 'Chinese book'

可以理解为'汉字书籍'，
can be understood as 'Chinese character book'

也就是“book written in Chinese”.
i.e. “book written in Chinese”.

中文书则更多用于“book written in Chinese”.

As you so rightly said, the context will reveal all!


What podcasts/movie/music is good to improve my listening? Most other skills are improving steadily, but my listening is lagging (far) behind. Are there any movies, music or podcasts that can help me with this?

One suggestion is to listen to some old stuff because too many slangs, especially Internet slangs in nowadays movies, TV shows and something else. Even senior native speakers in China cannot understand them.

I used to listen to 成语故事 when I was a kid. I believe you can find tons of them online.


Is 拿 only used to take "thing" and not "person"? I recently took a Chinese test on EasyMandarin website. One of the question is the following:

  明天晚上我___你吃饭。

They ask me to pick up a word that is suitable to the blank area, and I picked up 拿.

However, the correct answer was 请. I found it sounds a better term.

However, is 拿 also suitable here? I meant the sentence is "Tomorrow evening I would take you to eat dinner.".

Is 拿 only used to take a "thing", or can I use it also to take "person"?

I cannot imagine a situation where "拿" would take a human object. Daniel has already explained the etymology of the character, however "拿" not only takes physical objects, but can also be used metaphorically such as in the phrase "拿主意" (to brainstorm), which literally translated means "to grab ideas".
I'd also like to point out that the main reason "拿" would not fit into that sentence is because it cannot be used in the same way "take" would be used in english. It should only be used in a picking-up-and-holding kind of way.

Example sentences that cannot take (heh) "拿"

I will take the car to work. (you aren't picking up the car)
I will take a break. (can't really pick up a "break", either)

As a general rule of thumb, anything too big to pick up shouldn't use 拿.

A.N.
To use the word "拿" in that sentence would actually be quite comical. Since "拿" also means "with" as in "to use", it would actually mean "Tomorrow night I will use you to eat dinner". In fact, in the above situation, even if the object was not human, you shouldn't use "拿" at all.
Even if you wished to say: "I will take my purse to dinner", opt for something like "帶", which means "to bring". Otherwise people people might misunderstand it as you are literally using your purse to eat your food.


Resources for learning Shanghainese I'm surprised a question like this hasn't been asked yet. It seems Shanghainese is a dying language and it's rarely spoken. I'd like to know about resources and ways to learn the language by myself.

Anybody know of good resources that teach Shanghainese? This could range from either actual video lessons to even Chinese-subbed Shanghainese dramas.

When I was in Jiangsu province (and later, Shanghai), I was interested in learning Shanghainese and other Wu dialects. Unfortunately, there aren't that many resources, and a lot of the ones that do exist are low quality (No IPA, crazy made up romanizations, pronunciations indicated with characters, etc.) Here are a few things I found and my thoughts on them (Disclaimer--I can't claim to have succeeded in learning Shanghainese):

Chinese Pod has a few lessons in Shanghainese. They have no romanization, they choose characters sometimes based on meaning and other times based on similarity of pronunciation (when read in Mandarin), and overall, it's really unsystematic. But they do have some great audio, and it's phrase-book kind of stuff, which is good for starting off learning a language.
M and MX is another podcast site aimed at foreigners in China, and they have some Shanghainese. Again, not systematic, but there's audio, and it's useful in a phrasebook sort of way.
The Annals of Wu is a Sinoglot spinoff blog (BTW, Sinoglot is an awesome blog for Chinese language learners, especially if you're into linguistics). It's updated infrequently, but if you want some linguistically accurate musings on Wu dialects, it's absolutely killer.
Wu-Chinese is a Chinese language site focused on the Wu dialects. Their dictionary (linked) is pretty excellent, and their resources explaining Wu phonology are decent, but the site in general is kind of a mess with lots of broken links and terrible navigation.
Jon from Sinosplice keeps a (long but infrequently updated) list of Shanghainese learning books and his opinions of them. Worth checking out. There are lots of great books, but many of them are impossible to find unless you're in China, and even then...
Dict.cn has Shanghainese content (with audio!). Unfortunately, the written forms are sort of a mashup of etymologically correct character choices and phonetic-via-Mandarin character choices.

Good luck!


How do you translate: she's very fancy Fancy as she dresses well, fashionable or is good decorating, etc.

fancy adj. not simple or ordinary 复杂的；花巧的；精致的(From "Oxford Elementary Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary, 4th Edition")
So the translation should be:
她打扮得很精致。
or
她穿着很华丽。


How do you use the phrase 留宿 （liu2su4） （i.e. “To stay over at someone's house") I've been trying to figure in what contexts it is appropriate to use the term 留宿。
Is it simply staying at another person's house for the night (like in english "crashing at someone's place") or is it a bit more formal than that?
For example, could I casually tell someone in a new city I am in.

"今天我打算在李雷家留宿？“

Yeah it's kind of formal and "old-fashioned".

Expressing 今天我打算在李雷家留宿 more naturally can be 今天我打算住李雷家 or 今晚我打算住李雷家.

今天 in this sentence implicitly means 今晚 (tonight).


How to say "the fish's home is the water" I was wondering if the following sentence and translation match up with each other:

鱼的家是水。

The fish's home is the water。

The sentence seems quite crude to me even though the point might get across. Does the sentence sound juvenile or awkward to a Chinese speaker? And is "家“ understood to be home, or can it be mixed up with family?

yes, 鱼的家是水。is juvenile and awkward,

but still need associate specific context，

it's ok if in story of children，or just express thought，

in Chinese will say fish live in water


Characters' original forms that have no independent usage I came across this entry for 囗 in 季旭昇's《說文新證》:

釋義：城邑。圍的初文。《說文》釋爲「回也」，不可從。
釋形：古文字未見單獨出現的囗字，但在偏旁中多見，學者都釋爲城邑的象形，可從。《說文》釋爲「象回帀之形」，不可從。

He mentions that 囗 is the original form of 圍, but 囗 was never seen as an individual character. If that's the case, I'm not too clear on how this conclusion was drawn. How did scholars conclude that 囗 was the original form of what is represented by 圍?

Generally speaking, it is quite difficult to determine the pronunciation of characters which are pictograms or ideograms without resorting to deduction, inference, or secondary evidence. 《說文新證》 does not go into detail what it means by

  古文字未見單獨出現的囗字

but we can refer to its entry of 「丁」

  甲骨文丁字，或謂象釘形、或謂象城邑、金鉼、人顛頂。以「正」字甲文多从「囗」、金文多从「丁」來看，丁、囗實爲一字，皆城圍之象。

to deduce that the text probably means that there is no independent usage of 「囗」 which refers to the word 「圍」; the independent usage of the original shape 「囗」 is now written as 「丁」, originally referring to a word now written as 「城」 (Baxter-Sagart OC: /*[d]eŋ/) with fourth heavenly stem (/*tˤeŋ/) as a phonetic loan.

I wouldn't think too much of the pronunciation 「圍」 (/*[ɢ]ʷə[j]/) for 「囗」, which does not appear to have any direct evidence in ancient inscriptions; rather, 「囗」 (walled city) as a component has been associated with both the word city walls 「城」 and the meaning to surround, to enclose (concretely realised as the word 「圍」) for a very long time, with the only clear difference being whether it has a direct sense of surround (e.g. 囿) or a direct sense of city (e.g. 邑). Once we have a dictionary like 《說文》

  囗，回 (/*[ɢ]ʷˤəj/) 也。象回帀之形。

also directly making a etymological connection between 「囗」 and 「回」, then we have a deduced assumption of what kind of word 「囗」 may have represented, if it ever existed independently and was not referring to 「丁」 or 「城」.

Characters' original forms that have no independent usage may not have the same explanation behind them, with conclusions being drawn from educated guesswork. Check out 《說文新證》's entries for 「夊」 and 「夅」.


Where can I find "A Course of Lessons in Spoken Mandarin" ( 《华英联珠分类集成》)? 孔夫子旧书网 is selling "A Course of Lessons in Spoken Mandarin" ( 《华英联珠分类集成》) for 13000.00元.

I'm not sure who has that kind of dough to drop on a book, but it's certainly not me.

Some have used it to write papers:

文焕章《华英联珠分类集成》分析
传教士西南官话文献的罗马字拼音方案府

This is usually the sort of material that can be found on archive.org, but, alas, it isn't there.

Apparently it is in the Toronto Public Library and SOAS University of London.

Is there a digital version available that is somehow eluding me?

Thanks for the up vote, got me back into looking for this and I found it:
《华英联珠分类集成》/ pdf, for anyone looking for it.


What does the phrase 豪华名贵 mean in Dave Wong's song "爱不起"? Cross-post notice

Here is another Quora cross-post, this one 21 days old and marked as needing to be in English. Quora post.

Question

At the end of 爱不起, there is the sentence "越是迷住我 豪华名贵 越是发现爱不起". The first and third segments are "The more you are fascinated with me" and "the more I discover I cannot love you", unless I'm much mistaken. The middle segment is a set phrase I cannot figure out the meaning of in this sentence. So I ask:

  In the Chinese song in the source, titled 爱不起, what is the meaning of 豪华名贵 in the final phrase “The more you're fascinated with me, [haohua minggui], the more I find I can’t love you”?

"豪華名貴" roughly is luxury & precious goods & lifestyles

the theme of the song is a poor male like / love a rich female. so, there's the lyric "而能力上永遠付不起" (can't never pay); which accord with the song title.

"愛不起" is caused by "付不起" :(


What musical instrument does "敫" refer to? I found the character 敫 whose definition apparently is "ancient musical instrument" according to Wiktionary.

However, the English Wikipedia's List of Chinese musical instruments doesn't seem to include either it or an instrument whose name includes that character. The closest name (by pinyin) includes "角".

I found a Baidu Encyclopedia page and a Chinese Wiktionary page, but I can't understand them (and Google translate doesn't help) or the information isn't there.

Does anyone know what instrument or class of instruments "敫" refers to?

「敫」 does not have a solid basis for the meaning ancient musical instrument, but it looks like that meaning was derived from a transcription or translation error for a word which really did represent an ancient wind instrument. I'll present two interpretations as to where I think this translation originated from, and actually either interpretation arrives at the same conclusion.

First interpretation: this is a mistranslation of the Shuowen Jiezi definition.

《說文》：“敫，光景流也。从白，从放，讀若龠。”
「敫」: flowing sunlight. From semantic 「白」 and semantic 「放」. Read like 「龠」.

The ancient musical instrument definition is given at Unicode, and interprets the last sentence 讀若龠 as imparting both meaning and sound of 「龠」 (original character of 「籥」, as specified at the Wikipedia page as a kind of ancient flute), implying that 「敫」 (Zhengzhang OC: /*kleːwɢs/) is a rebus of 「龠」 (/*lowɢ/).
Actually, no such usage of 「敫」 as 「龠」 (籥) seems to be recorded in literature, so 讀若龠 should be interpreted as having a similar/same sound to 「龠」 rather than is a rebus of 「龠」. I would conclude that Unicode's English definition is wrong.

讀若Ｘ is a bit controversial in its interpretation, so there's probably more misunderstandings in some of Unicode's definitions.

For reference, Shuowen's definition of flowing sunlight is a phonetic loan, and its character analysis is incorrect. This definition probably refers to a word cognate to or the same as 「耀」 (/*lewɢs/) instead.
戰國・秦石刻詛楚文・淵湫　秦朝簡日書乙種36睡虎地秦簡西漢簡孫臏兵法銀雀山漢簡今楷
「敫」 is constructed from semantic 「皃」 (appearance, here representing something/someone else) and semantic 「攴・攵」 (to hit), indicating the meaning to strike/hit something or someone else. The bottom part of 「皃」 (儿・人) was later corrupted into 「方」.
「敫」 is the original character of 「撽」, and is a similar or the same word as 「敲」.

Second interpretation: 「敫」 was misidentified as 「㰾」 during data entry (they kind of look similar), which Unicode also gives a definition of

a kind of music instrument in ancient times

Thankfully, this definition has a more solid basis. From Zhengzitong:

《正字通》：“今樂器壎箎之屬有㰾子...”
Today (time of authorship of Zhengzitong), there are instruments of the type 「壎」 and 「箎」 (ancient wind instruments) called 「㰾子」...

References:

季旭昇《說文新證》
小學堂


Translation/Meaning: 棒棒机 What exactly is a 棒棒机?

I know it's a simple, ordinary kind of cell phone.

Is it the same as the English: burner?

What constitutes a 棒棒机?
What equivalent phrases do we have in English?

Burner is not equivalent to, and not related to, 棒棒机.

棒棒机 implies the form of the mobile phone – a phone that takes the shape of a cuboid, usually with rounded corners and/or edges.
Burner implies the use case of the mobile phone – a phone quickly disposed (burned) and replaced.

The English equivalent you are looking for is a bar/candybar/slab/block phone.

For more information, you can refer to this wiki page.


Character Gaps On Comic Conversation : 6 I am reading a comic book to learn more Chinese. I have some problems with seeing some characters in this older copy of a book (the Chinese character is sometimes too dark to distinguish strokes and scanning doesn't help).Thank you for any help finding the missing characters (I don't need the translations, per se but just seeing a clear copy of the character would be helpful).
There are multiple questions because I want to show the work in context. I could break these up into smaller questions but that would not be helpful to other learners (learning conversation) and would unnecessarily clog the website.
Pane 2 ( ? ➜ missing character )

这是什么？：What is this?
（？）（？）：

Pane 3 ( ? ➜ missing character )

一定很好吃!: (It is) Certainly delicious!
（？）: Not sure about the repeated character on the side but guessing its a sound?

Pane 4 ( ? ➜ missing character )

我（？）一次吃这裡（？）西。：

Pane 5 ( ? ➜ missing character )

谢谢你的（？）（？）: Thank you for...

UPDATE
First to restate, thank you to everyone for helping me learn more Mandarin! I hope that asking about unrecognized characters is okay on this site. I am adding the new characters and meanings to my phrase book.
Below are the accepted answers:
Pane 2：
麻薯：potato? ok, I saw a picture and it looks like roasted rice cakes (aka Mochi or yakimochi)

(Turns out this was not so simple. The meaning is a reference to yakimochi - i.e. roasted rice cake. Which is funny in this context. It's a hidden joke by the author ! )

Pane 3:
咔咔：you are right, is a sound like kaka
Pane 4:
我头一次吃这种东西：It is my very first time eat something like this.
Pane 5:
谢谢你的招待：Thanks for your hospitality.

partial answer： pane ３：咔 [kā]，pane ４ 我頭（头）一次吃这種（种）東(东)西 pane ５： 谢谢你的招待


Why 你在笑什么？, why not 你笑在什么？ In English, you say

What are you laughing at?
I'm laughing at this situation.

Here, the preposition "at" refers to "this situation" and "what", respectively. In German it's more clear, since the preposition "über" is always before its target:

Über was lachst du?
Ich lache über die Situation.

Same in French:

De quoi ris-tu?
Je ris de la situation.

In Chinese, the same question would be (according to Duolingo and Google Translate):

你在笑什么？

To me, this sounds like

You about laugh what?
Du über lachst was?
Tu de ris quoi?

instead of

You laugh about what?
Du lachst über was?
Tu ris de quoi?

Why is the 在 before the 笑, instead of before the 什么? Is that just "because it is", or am I missing an important point here?

「在」in「你在笑什麽」is not equivalent to English at in what are you laughing at?. To demonstrate by analogy:

你在吃什麽 - what are you eating?
你在做什麽 - what are you doing?

「在」is actually equivalent to the suffix -ing in laughing, eating, doing. It is English which grammatically requires something as a target for the verb laughing; this requirement is redundant in Chinese.

  你在笑什麽

  Literally: You (你) [action in progress / -ing] (在) laugh (笑) what (什麽)?

Perhaps it is easier to see what's being omitted in English.

你在笑什麽 - about/at what are you laughing?
你在吃什麽 - what [food] are you eating?
你在做什麽 - what [action] are you doing?


What is the subtle difference between 志愿, 意愿, and 心愿? I noticed many Chinese words have the same or similar meanings but they are not exchangeable. In many cases it is hard to decide which one to choose. Can anyone tell the subtle difference between 志愿, 意愿, and 心愿?

For example, I never heard anyone say "你的生日意愿是什么". Usually you heard "你的生日心愿是什么". But both 意愿 and 心愿 are "wish" in English.

Consider, in English, a single word can have more than one meaning, and two different words may have a function overlapped.
For example:

'Goal' can be replaced by 'wish' in some instances - e.g. "My Goal(wish) is to become a doctor"

'Dream' can be replaced by 'wish' in some instances - e.g. " My Dream(wish) is to become a doctor"

'Will' can be replaced by 'wish' in some instances - e.g. " To become a doctor is my will(wish)"

As for the difference between 志愿, 意愿 and 心愿

志愿 mainly mean: Goal; Dream

意愿 mainly mean: Will; Desire

心愿 mainly mean: Desire; Wish

All three above can mean 'Wish'

我的志愿（愿望）是成为一名医生 - My goal (wish) is to become a doctor
我的意愿（愿望）是成为一名医生 - My will (wish) is to become a doctor
我的心愿（愿望）是成为一名医生 - My desire (wish) is to become a doctor

The important thing is, it all depends on the context.
The best term for "Wish" in "What is your birthday wish?" is '愿望'  As in "你的生日愿望是什么"
Yes, 愿望 mainly mean 'wish' (n) but in some instances, you can translate it to 'desire, hope or dream'
Some more tips:

Use 志愿 if the wish is also an achievable goal (志 means goal, 志愿 = a wish you aim to achieve)
Use 意愿 if the wish is a determined one (意 means mind, 意愿 = a wish you have made up your mind to fulfill)
Use 心愿 if the wish is also a deep desire or a life long dream (心 means heart, 心愿 = a wish comes from your heart)


What do you call a 成语 made up of three words instead of four? What do you call a 成语 or expression made up of 3 words instead of 4? For example, 夜猫子, 绊脚石, or 避风头.

No surprise here, they are called 三字成语 (three-letter 成语).  However the words in your question are usually not considered 成语, they are 俗语.  三字成语 do exist, though, such as 破天荒, 莫须有, and 闭门羹.


Etymology of phrases 靜雞雞 and 靜靜雞. Are both correct, and is there any difference in meaning? 靜 means "quiet" and "雞" means "chicken". Put together as 靜雞雞 or 靜靜雞 the meaning is "quietly" or "steathily". What is the etymology of 靜雞雞 and 靜靜雞?

I've heard both 靜雞雞 and 靜靜雞. Are both correct? Is there any difference in meaning?

Both 靜雞雞 and 靜靜雞 means 'quietly' and/or 'stealthily'
The minor difference are on the emphasis

靜雞雞 emphasize on the 'stealthily' part
靜雞雞喺外面收埋個二奶 = "quietly and stealthily hiding a mistress outside" (Since the main point is the secrecy, the 'stealthily' aspect is more prominent than the 'quietly' aspect)

~

靜靜雞 emphasize on the 'quietly' part
e.g. 靜靜雞企埋一邊 = "quietly and stealthily step aside" (Since everyone can see you step aside, it is not very stealthily, therefore, the 'quietly' aspect is more prominent than the 'stealthily' aspect

~

靜靜雞喺外面收埋個二奶 would emphasize on the 'keep quite' aspect
靜雞雞企埋一邊 would emphasize on the 'inconspicuous manner' aspect

靜雞雞 is listed in the Cantonese dictionary CantoDict

靜靜雞 is not listed. It seems to be a variant of 靜雞雞 by popularity (enough people say 靜靜雞  instead of 靜雞雞 made it a legit phrase)

Edit:
Base on some Cantonese coined unique reduplicated adjective, I think 靜雞雞 is the standard one
儍更更 (adj)
烏啄啄 (adj)
懵盛盛 (adj)
黑麻麻 (adj)
白雪雪 (adj)
The common form of reduplication that both Cantonese and Mandarin use:
靜 (adj) --> 靜靜 (adj); 靜靜噉/ 靜靜地 (adv)
好 (adj) --> 好好 (adj); 好好噉/ 好好地 (adv)

I believe 靜靜雞 came from mixing of 靜靜噉 and 靜雞雞


Why does 身体 mean both "body" and "health"? I've seen a curious Chinese word 身体. At first, I have discovered that it means 'body' and is a word with a broader meaning in comparison to 身材 or 体格. But I never understood why it means 'body' or, yet another meaning, 'health'. There is a question 《 你身体好吗？》which literally means 'How is your health?'. While trying to seek for etymology, I turned out to be stuck because searching engines gave me no proper result about it.
Thanks for any help in finding the answer.

身体 doesn't mean health, it just means 'body'.
你身体好吗？ (is your body fine) =  how is your body.
If your body is fine (身体很好), then you are healthy
If your body is not fine (身体不好), then you are not healthy
We have a word for health and it is 健康

How is your health = 你的健康如何？

Are you healthy? = 你健康吗?

Is your body healthy? = 你的身体健康吗?

体格 means 'physique' (the form, size, and development of a person's body) = The condition of one's body, e.g. 体格強建， 体格孱弱 (Strong physique, weak physique)
体格不佳， (one's physique is not great) doesn't mean 身体不好 (one's body is not fine/ not healthy), it just means one's physique is weak e.g. too short, too thin, lack strength, and so on
Edit:
身体健康 (the body's health) doesn't include mental health, which is called 精神健康.
For the health of both body and mind, it is 身心健康 (the health of the mind and body)
Since 健康 can be an adjective or noun 身体健康 can mean 'the body's health' or 'one's body is healthy'


Uncommon (Unorthodox?!) Pinyin: What are these? I find this sort of uncommon, unorthodox, whatever you wanna call it, pinyin very fascinating. These are the ones that I know of already - that, apparently, are still considered to be Mandarin. What I'm wondering is, are there others? What other wild, bizarre pinyin(s) exist in Mandarin and what characters go along with them?

·cěi
·cèi
覅
·fiào
黁
·nún

·biāng

I think I know one.

扥
dèn

This means "pull with a little brutal force".


Why does "拒不" mean "to refuse to do something"? http://adm21.cmu.edu.tw/news_detail.php?sn=1572 :

不聽勸告即請其出場，該科成績以零分計；拒不出場，情節重大者，取消其考試資格，並報請有關機關處理。

http://ssdo.gov.taipei/ct.asp?xItem=6344506&ctNode=46432&mp=124011 :

如拒不參加全民健康保險，是否會受到處罰？

In the above examples, I can see that "拒不" means "to refuse to do something".

However, if I look at the words individually,
拒 = refuse
不 = not
If one uses "拒不", shouldn't it be a double negative, i.e. refuse not to do something?  If it is just to emphasize the meaning, wouldn't “堅拒” be a better choice?

It seems that there are some teachers in school think the same as you do.

This also shows that there may be still debate in Chinese academia about how to explain this, so there might be not a definite answer.

Also, 拒不 is still not considered a word. But as it is used more and more frequently, it is becoming one.

Another article on CNKI might shed some light on how to understand it, (but I cannot access the full article, only the abstract) which lists some similar phrases:

拒不VV
拒而不V
拒绝不VV

(a little hard to decipher the symbols in the abstract without the full article) The author seems to be claiming that it is two negative sentences "mixed" together.


Writing critique request: Upgrading your DNA is like upgrading software on your computer Continuing from parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7:

  我们不知道谁在互联网上泄露了这个发明，但是以后，几乎每个电子公司开始提供廉价的适配器。有的人认为免费开源（FOSS）社区发挥了作用。如果拥有电脑，像把软件更新一样，现在你可以在网上更新自己的DNA。

  社会的态度完全改变了：起初，没人想要编辑自己的DNA，但很快发现了“DNA优化人”有许多巨大的竞争优势。如果你不愿意维护最新自己的DNA，就找不到工作、做什么事都比别人慢、交恋人也很难等。总之，人们不得不接受大家需要一直安装更新，否则不会成功。

Please critique my writing. New words for me are in links. I'm at the early stages of HSK5-level Chinese. The narrative is from a person in the present (Zhou Ziwang 周子望) with an unusual past.

Comments:

The 适配器 refers to a (fictional) device installable in a human body which allows you to edit your DNA via a computer [like in The Matrix, but for editing DNA].  I'm not sure if 适配器 is the best term here.
更新 is new for me, and I'm not completely comfortable with it; it might not even be the right word.

  有的人认为免费开源（FOSS）社区发挥了作用。
  Some people believe [the] free-and-open-source community played a role.

I'm worried about this: in this idiomatic expression, the Chinese seems too similar to the English.
I'm not sure if 很难等 would be mistaken for "difficult to wait" rather than "difficult, and so on".

I hope it's not too bad; I'm blind to any mistakes here.

我们不知道谁在互联网上泄露了这个发明，**但是以后， **几乎每个电子公司开始提供廉价的适配器。

但是以后: But later on (xxxxx), you don't need a comma between.

  我们不知道谁在互联网上泄露了这个发明，但是以后几乎每个电子公司开始提供廉价的适配器。

有的人认为免费开源（FOSS）社区发挥了作用。

有的人: some of the people, usually you are referring to a group of people you have mentioned before but you didn't here, use 有人 instead

有人: someone

  有人认为免费开源（FOSS）社区发挥了作用。

如果拥有电脑，像把软件更新一样，现在你可以在网上更新自己的DNA。

  就像电脑软件更新，现在你可以在网上更新自己的DNA。

社会的态度完全改变了：

社会的态度 : the attitude of society

社会态度 : the society's attitude

  社会态度完全改变了：

起初没人想要编辑自己的DNA，但很快发现了“DNA优化人”有许多巨大的竞争优势。

想要: apply to objects, e.g. 我想要你 (I want to have you)

想: apply to actions, e.g.  我想你 (I want you/ I miss you)

  起初没人想编辑自己的DNA，但很快发现了“DNA优化人”有许多巨大的竞争优势。

如果你不愿意维护最新自己的DNA，就找不到工作、做什么事都比别人慢、交恋人也很难等。

维护: means repair/fix use 维持 instead

维持: maintain

很难等: if you need to list out examples, you need to provide the category of your examples, like 困扰 (worries).

就会有.....等困扰: you will have worries such as ....

  如果你不愿意维持最新自己的DNA，就会有找不到工作、做什么事都比别人慢、交恋人也很难等困扰。

总之，人们不得不接受大家需要一直安装更新，否则不会成功。

安装更新: install updates ,更新 can be use as a verb already, you can just say 更新DNA: update DNA

不会成功: you are missing the subject of this bit, what kind of things won't work/succeed?

  总之，人们不得不接受大家需要一直更新DNA，否则生活不会成功。


Tang inscription translation (Characters identified: 大唐年製) Can anyone assist with translation of the characters as shown. They are incised into the underside of a Tang sancai figure of a resting camel

大唐年製 (Made in the era of the Tang Dynasty)


的 with nouns which classify other nouns Should the particle 的 be omitted among nouns that refer to other nouns, such as phrases like "the plot of the film", "the head of a giraffe", etc.?

The particle 的 ties two nouns closely. For instance, 電影的情節 (the plot of the film) emphasizes the plot of a film but that 電影情節 is about the plot and the film which is loosely connected and the meaning of each noun is stressed.


Is this translation English to Chinese translation correct or close? An unprecedented look into the food and culture of ice, from Iceland's premier chef and the owner of Reykjavik's Restaurant Dill.

一个史无前例的食物和冰岛的文化，从冰岛总理厨师和雷克雅未克的所有者迪尔餐厅。

An unprecedented (一个前所未有的)

look into  (探讨)

the food and culture of Iceland (冰岛的食品与文化)

from Iceland's premier chef and the owner of Reykjavik's Restaurant Dill (从冰岛顶级厨师兼雷克雅未克区的迪尔餐厅老板)

Chinese grammar:
从冰岛顶级厨师兼雷克雅未克区的迪尔餐厅老板(的角度), (去作)  一个前所未有的, (对)冰岛食品与文化的探讨
from Iceland's premier chef and the owner of Reykjavik's Restaurant Dill ('s point of view) (to take ) an unprecedented look into the food and culture of Iceland

'premier' is not a noun here, it is an adjective for "leading"
The guy is a leading chef and he is also a restaurant owner
史无前例 usually referring to ground breaking/ historic event. A look into the food and culture of Iceland doesn't seem to fit the requirement. If America elected a gay or female president, that would qualify as 史无前例


What is the meaning of 之 and 当 in the phrase "比之当初战火蔓延的速度有过之而无不及"? The sentence looks like this:

  乱葬岗大围剿刚刚结束，未及第二日，这个消息便插翅一般飞遍了整个修真界，比之当初战火蔓延的速度有过之而无不及。

I do not understand the meaning of 之 here and also do not know how to read 当 in this context (and what is the meaning of it here). Is it dang4 or dang1 in this case? What does it mean? Is it a separate word here or part of 当初, because I even not sure how to separate 当初战火 into separate words because I can't figure out the role of 当 here. I would be grateful if anyone could be able to explain this in the manner that I would be able to use similar sentence pattern in the future myself. As of now I'm out of ideas after a long time of research.

之 is acting like a pronoun for the first statement here
[A] = [乱葬岗大围剿刚刚结束，未及第二日，这个消息便插翅一般飞遍了整个修真界]
[比] = [(verb): compare]
[之] = [(pronounce for) [A]: it]
[to] (implied)
[B] = [当初战火蔓延的速度]
[有过之而无不及] = [conclusion]
This sentences are comparing 'the speed it spread' of [A] to [B] and the conclusion is [有过之而无不及] (can only be faster, not slower)

[A] [比] [之] (to) [B] + [conclusion]
[A] [compare] [it] (to) [B] + [conclusion]

A shorter example:
[A] = [違者 (the ones who violate the rule)]
[B] = [斬 (execute)]

違者斬(之) = the ones who violate the rule,  execute (him)
之 here is a acting like a pronounce "him" for 違者

I said 之 is acting like a pronounce because it is also acting like a  preposition 'to' for the verb
"違者斬(之)" can be interpreted as "(to) execute the ones who violate the rule"
You can omit '之'  and say "違者斬", just like you can omit 'to' and say "execute the ones who violate the rule"


What exactly does 硬 mean here? 红孩儿 thinks 唐僧 tastes nice. He wants to eat him, but 孙悟空 is onto him. Leaving aside the important question of how he knows 唐僧的味道好, what does this 硬 mean?

看来，硬捉是不行的，不如换个方法！

I'd like to translate: 硬捉 directly grab him, just grab him，but I don't find these meanings for 硬。

硬：hard, strong, tough, firm, obstinate.

Is there another Chinese word which could replace 硬 here?

硬 here connotes forcefully, without any tactics and etc.

硬捉 means to capture/seize/catch merely by force, without any tactics.

So,

  看来，硬捉是不行的，不如换个方法！

  Looks like, the way of capturing forcefully (without any tactics) wouldn't work, so we might as well change/turn to another way.

The synonym of 硬 in this context can be 强.


What does 别把这天的彩虹, 放在明天的天空 mean? I was reading this in an online dictionary.

别把这天的彩虹, 放在明天的天空

I can translate it word by word but is it a saying/quote?

别把这天的彩虹放在明天的天空

Don't take today's rainbow and put it on tomorrow's sky.

It should mean something like:

If you are happy now, it doesn't mean you will still be happy in the future.
If things are good now, it doesn't mean they will still be in the future.

Or simply:
Things change.


Is there a rule that tells what characters can be omitted? I have a habit of using too many characters when I speak and write.

For example:

  我回我的家。

我的 is not needed, and we can simply say 我回家。

Is there a grammar rule for when to cut characters? A more generic example:

AB + CD = AD.  (A, B, C, D are characters and AB is one word and CD is another word). For example:

  啰哩啰嗦 is said as 啰嗦

This is an interesting question. As other commenters have noted, the answer may depend on convention (e.g., "回家") or grammar (possession vs. adverbial modification). It also may depend on the rules for Chinese prosody, which is what I will focus on here.

Tang Dynasty poetry was based on disyllabic (grouped into two syllables), trochaic (grouped into pairs having the form STRESSED unstressed, or, as I'll write it below, Xx) rhythms. Modern Chinese speech follows this basic pattern. Generally, Chinese utterances start with a stressed syllable (though a single unstressed introductory syllable may be used) and follow an alternating stressed/unstressed pattern. (One or two unstressed syllables may be used between stressed syllables, but having two adjacent stressed syllables is rare.)

Yip Po-Ching and Don Rimmington's Chinese: A Comprehensive Grammar gives the following example:

  我想再买一杯酒.
  I'd like to buy another glass of wine.

This can be analyzed as 我想 // 再买 // 一杯 // 酒, with stress pattern Xx // Xx // Xx // X.

If the speaker wanted to add the word 去, the rhythm is disturbed:

  我想再去买一杯酒.

The most natural option is to parse this as 我想 // 再去 // 买 // 一杯 // 酒, but this is rhythmically unsatisfactory, since it leads to a stress pattern of  Xx // Xx // X // Xx // X. Both 再 and 买 should be stressed if the sentence is to maintain its emphasis on "buy" and "another", but this is not possible within the trochaic rhythm.

The solution is to delete the syllable 一 and say,

  我想再去买杯酒.

This pairs up nicely into stressed/unstressed trochees: 我想 // 再去 // 买杯 // 酒; Xx // Xx // Xx // X.

Chinese speakers naturally add and delete words like 的 or 一 to fit the basic stressed/unstressed rhythm. The subject is complicated, and I'm not sure how well its completely understood. The difficulty for language speakers who aren't attuned to rhythmic variations is that it seems like the deletions are random, when in fact they're often manifestations of underlying rhythmical rules.


Difference between 位于, 处在, 地处 and 处于？ They are the same, they all mean “be located in (at)...”
Is there any difference between 位于, 处在, 地处 and 处于? Are they interchangeable?

位于 = located at (refers to the location of people, objects, or places)
地处: geographically located at. e.g. 'XX鎮地处華北' (XX Town is geographically located in northern China)
处于 = at/ in [mostly refers to a situation or status.  e.g. 处于緊張狀態 (in a tense stage)]
处在 is an uncommon variant (almost no one use it) of 处于


Let and Make, how to differentiate the two in Chinese "Mama! Papa don't let me watch TV, he's making me do house chores first"

Both are translated as 让 in Chinese, e.g.,

I even added more context on the sentence, with the hope that Google might be able to infer the proper translation of let and make to Chinese based on one's willingness/non-willingness to do something :) But then it's still 让

How to differentiate let and make in Chinese?

Assuming make = force, then it would look like this:

Let = 让
Make = 逼

Let me sing = 让我唱
Make (force) me (to) sing = 逼我唱

p.s. in case anyone is confused about make = force, OP @MichaelBuen wrote the following in his comments on this page:

  My teacher make me sing my hated song", the kid is complaining to her mama that her teacher is forcing her to sing a song she don't want to sing.

  The word "make" means the same as “"force" or "cause to happen / cause to feel something."


Why do some overseas Chinese restaurants translate broccoli as "芥蘭"? I have seen 芥蘭 listed in overseas Chinese restaurants several times as a translation of "broccoli".

This has generally struck me as odd, as I have always referred to broccoli, at least in Cantonese, as 西蘭花. (Wikipedia suggests that this is also common usage in Mandarin.) How common is the first usage? Is this usage possibly linked to regional variation, and if so, which ones in particular?

For what it is worth, I have seen 芥蘭 referred to as "Chinese broccoli". Moreover, I ran Google searches for exact matches (using quotation marks) for all of the other variant names listed in the Wikipedia article for broccoli, and 西蘭花 (both traditional and simplified forms) was the most common result.

Apparently they categorise 芥蘭 and 西蘭花 as the same species… of different cultivar groups… although they do not at all taste in any way similar. For Chinese 芥蘭 and 西蘭花 are two completely different vegetables.

西蘭花 is broccoli, and I think it is okay to call 芥蘭 kailan.


Can someone please check this piece of writing? I don't know if this is the right place to ask for a correction, but I will try. Can someone please check this piece of writing and tell me if there are any mistakes? Thank you so much for the help.

我的城市

我出生在里米尼。因为我在这里住了二十年了,所以我是一个里米尼通。
在我的城市中心有几个很有名的教堂和博物馆。每年有很多游客从世界各地来里米尼游览古迹。
里米尼人也很喜欢去中心买东西,散步,见朋友。在里米尼有很多有意思的地方。凯沃尔广场是一个特别精美的地方。在这儿有一个大喷泉和一个真漂亮雕塑。广场对面还有许多非常好的餐厅和酒吧。"日餐厅"做饭做得很好吃,它是我最喜欢的餐厅。
里米尼是一个海边城市, 所以夏天我跟我的男朋友一起去海滩。附近有一家多厅电影院。我很喜欢去这里看电影。
我爱我的城市。

It's pretty fine, just to make it more natural:

我的城市

我出生在里米尼。因为我在这里住了二十年了,所以我是一个里米尼通。 在我的城市中心有几个很有名的教堂和博物馆。每年有很多游客从世界各地来里米尼游览古迹。 里米尼人也很喜欢去市中心买东西,散步,见朋友。在里米尼有很多有意思的地方。凯沃尔广场是一个特别精美的地方。，在这那儿有一个大喷泉和一个真特别漂亮的雕塑。广场对面还有许多非常好的餐厅和酒吧。"日餐厅"做饭做得很好吃,它是我最喜欢的餐厅。 里米尼是一个海边城市, 所以夏天我跟我的男朋友一起去海滩。附近有一家多厅电影院。，我很喜欢去这那里看电影。 我爱我的城市。


Is 涼台 not used anymore and does it differ from 陽台？ In Chinese literature there are four poems:

春林花多媚，春鳥意多哀；春風復多情，吹我羅裳開。
朝登涼台上，夕宿蘭池裡。乘風采芙蓉，夜夜得蓮子。
自從別歡來，何日不相思？常恐秋葉零，無復連條時。
淵冰厚三尺，素雪覆千里。我心如松柏，君情復何似？

As you can see, the word 涼台 occurs. I used to live in a very hot country, so the idea of 涼台 seems much more natural than 陽台。But lately native speakers from both China and Taiwan tell me to use 陽台. Is 涼台 limited to ancient Chinese, or does it carry a different meaning?

Both 陽台 and 涼台 can be translated as 'veranda, balcony and deck'

I suppose 陽台 refers to a deck you can sit on to enjoy sunshine, and 涼台 is a deck you sit on for cooling down. Which means the location of this deck determines how you call it.

陽台 should locate in an area that is open and have access to plenty of sunshine. While 涼台 should locate in an area with shade. surrounded by tree, or near water.

陽台 is a more common term because most people live in cities don't have a backyard to build a deck for cooling, but most apartment buildings do have balconies.


Syntax of 'Number Number MeasureWord' What are the rules governing expressions such as 七八成 (seventy or eighty percent) or 一两个 (one or two)? Must the numerals be monosyllables? What are the restrictions on the measure words? Can there be at most two numerals?

Must the numerals be monosyllables?
In my opinion, you can use multi-sllable numbers, like:

十五六公里 (fifteen or sixteen kilometers)
百八十个 (one hundred or eighty)
三十七八岁 (thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old)

Restrictions on the measure words?
No, I have no idea.
Can there be at most two numerals?
Yes, I have never seen more than 2 numbers used in such a pattern. This pattern is used to express an estimation, an approximation.


Forming sentences with resultative and directional complements When studying Chinese, I've often found that there are different ways to say the same thing, for example using a verb with a directional complement rather than a verb with resultative complement or a simple sentence structure.

I was told that the choice (prefering a directional complement over a base sentence structure) is due to a change in focus, thus with a directional complement the main event within the sentence is a movement taking place.

So, if I have these sentences:

(说话人在上海)
1. 我妹妹到上海来了. [using the directional complement]
2. 我妹妹来上海了. [using the simple sentence structure]
3. 我妹妹来到上海. [using the resultative complement]

Are there any differences between these three sentences?

Also, I was told that the third one is wrong, but why exactly is it? Couldn't it be interpreted as a resultative complement where 来 is the main verb and 到 indicates the result of arriving at a place?

Thank you.

Yes, there are indeed differences. I will mostly give a discussion of in the example you gave since I'm really not competent enough to talk about the complements.

In (3), we have 来到, which means that 我妹妹 must have arrived (or is arriving). (Notice that the lack of a 了 means that without more context, I cannot infer whether or not this is in the past tense.) In any case, there's a slight difference between this and "my sister came to Shanghai": we can still mean "arrived" by "come", but the connotations should be noted.
In (2), we have 来 ... 了, which merely indicates to me that 我妹妹 must have come to Shanghai. There could also be connotations of arrival, again dependent on context. There could also be connotations, because of the 了, that 我妹妹 has now left 上海. (As an aside: I would group 了 with the verb, instead of separating them.)
Like (2), (1) feels ambiguous. I could read 到上海来了 as "has come to Shanghai", and like in (2) it could be that the sister has just come to Shanghai (so has arrived), or merely "she has come to Shanghai" in a more general sense. However, unlike the other two, (1) gives me the sense that Shanghai isn't just some intermediary stop for 我妹妹 because of the placement of 到. The other two can be slightly ambiguous in this respect.


Is 实验动物中心 (experimental animal center) ambiguous in that it could mean either "experimenting on animals" or "experimentally creating animals"? On our campus (Nankai University, Jinnan campus), we have this building:

  实验动物中心
  Shíyàn dòngwù zhōngxīn
  Experimental animal center

The English is ambiguous, and it could mean:

experimenting on animals, such as testing medicines on laboratory mice (although technically this is not what it says); or
creating "experimental animals", such as through genetic engineering, cloning, and so on.

Perhaps pedantically, in English it could also mean that the "animal center" is experimental.  (If you ignore context, this would be the correct meaning.)

The translation from Chinese to English is direct and literal (实验 = to experiment; 动物 = animals; 中心 = center), which makes me think the same ambiguity could occur in Chinese also.  However, maybe the Chinese grammar excludes one of these possibilities.

Question: Is 实验动物中心 (experimental animal center) ambiguous in that it could mean either "experimenting on animals" or "experimentally creating animals"?

Update: It seems the English name on this building has changed:

实验动物中心 sounds more like a place where they raise and offer animals for experiments, the keyword here is 动物.

If this is where animal experiments take place, then 动物实验中心 would be a better name, I think, because the keyword is 实验.

As for the meaning "experimentally creating animals" you mentioned, no, I will never think that way, nothing in this name suggests "creating".


Is 呆 just a casual description or a medically-related thing I'm not too sure about 呆. If you say 这个孩子有一点儿呆， does that translate as this child is a bit stupid (just slightly offensive opinion, like 笨), or is it more like 'this child has a learning difficulty' (medical condition)?

呆  mean "dumb" or "stupefied".

"呆" in "这个孩子有一点儿呆" modifies a noun, therefore, it is an adjective for "dumb" or "silly"

"this child has a learning difficulty" means  "这个孩子有一点学习障碍" which is a medical term for such condition

Example of 呆 as "dumb": "呆子" (dumb person); "呆頭呆腦" (dumb looking)

Example of 呆 as "stupefied": 呆了一呆 (stupefied for a moment)


CCTV News: 海外观察：英国华人抗疫进行时: please correct my transcription I'm working with my teacher to improve my listening skills, so I transcribed a short CCTV News video (below; also on YouTube), dated Apr 18, 2020 (2 minutes 31 seconds).  It's about ethnic Chinese people in England during the pandemic.

英国有近八十万的华侨华人群体，也是全球重要的留学目的地，又二十二万的中国留学生，疫情之下在英华人的生活中[huang3(?)]怎么样？华生的[qing3ying3(?)]又受到了哪些的冲击，来看欧洲时报，英国负责人离长的观察。
疫情的确给在英的华人带来了方方面面的影响。有些华人表示呢？TA们收到了歧视。英国中小学关闭，大学停课呢。使的很都留学生打乱了学习计划，财业和[liu2(?)]业都使在英华人的[止住(?)]产业，也是说我们自己[xing2(?)]影响最大的行业。
疫情的持续蔓延的也比降[shi4(?)]的很多华人的收入打的折扣。以伦敦的唐人街为例，这是最近的景象，只有华人超市还在正常经营，大量的餐厅已经停业。少数的餐厅呢？这在提供外卖服务，但是整个街区呢？非常的冷清。伦敦的唐人街呢？路是中心非常核心的位置，平时的正流量非常的大。这是朋友[拍手(?)]两个月前，伦敦的唐人街的景象。和今天的冷清，[xing2(?)]成了[xian4(?)]面的对[pi(?)]。
面对疫情特别是[dai4(?)]早期，在英华人的比，英国民中有着更亲情的认识。我们很早了就带上了口罩。面对英国政府出台的全民居家、隔离政策。在英华人的群体呢？也更自觉的相应和支持，不仅如此呢，英国的华人还积极地向英国医疗机构，捐款[juan3(?)]物。
面对疫情呢？在英华人的群体，[卫生(?)]去了很多值得[qing4(?)]陪的[shen4yi4(?)]。在英的中英师门，自发的组织了。英国中医志愿抗疫行动，为大家提供原厂医治，并为大家寄送抗疫中药。在英化人成为了志愿之组织，为有困难的桥包，和留学生朋友提供帮助。
这是我今天在朋友群看到的，以为十三岁的华人小留学生选择在超市给老人的可订购时段。在超市门口呢？免费为英国的老人发放口罩。
病毒是可怕的，但是我相信找大家保持乐观、共同努力一定可以取得这场抗疫战争的胜利。

Would it be possible to proofread this transcription please?
I realize this is a bit of a big ask.  If it saves time, feel free to omit an explanation (I can figure it out).  I don't really need a translation either.

Succinct summary: Many Chinese people/students are in England.  Reports of discrimination; schools etc. are closed; study plans in chaos; industries are suffering; incomes are dropping; only one shop open in London's Chinatown.  [Chinatown video: now vs. 2 months ago.]  Chinese people responded to coronavirus early; English government now has a policy.  Chinese and English experts formed a volunteer group sending Chinese medicine.  Chinese people are supplying elderly English with free facemasks.  [Journalist encourages cooperation.]

Sorry I couldn't add comments to existing answers, while being pretty good, there are some small mistakes within the existing answer, so I'll post the entire transcript below, feel free to ask me any questions in the comment:

英国有近八十万的华侨华人群体，也是全球重要的留学目的地，有二十二万的中国留学生。疫情之下，在英华人的生活状况怎么样，华商的经营又受到了哪些冲击，来看欧洲时报英国负责人李强的观察。

疫情的确给在英的华人带来了方方面面的影响。有些华人表示，他们受到了歧视；英国中小学关闭、大学停课呢，使得很多留学生打乱了学习计划；餐饮业和旅游业，都是在英华人的支柱产业，也是受本次疫情影响最大的行业。疫情的持续蔓延也必将使得很多的华人的收入大打折扣。以伦敦的唐人街为例，这是最近的景象，只有华人超市还在正常经营，大量的餐厅已经停业，少数的餐厅呢还在提供外卖服务，但是整个街区非常的冷清。伦敦的唐人街位于市中心非常核心的位置，平时的人流量非常的大。这是朋友拍摄的两个月前伦敦的唐人街的景象，和今天的冷清形成了鲜明的对比。

面对疫情，特别是在早期，在英华人比英国民众有着更清晰的认识，我们很早就戴上了口罩。面对英国政府出台的全民居家隔离政策，在英的华人群体也更自觉地响应和支持。不仅如此，英国的华人还积极地向英国医疗机构捐款捐物。

面对疫情，在英的华人群体涌现出了很多值得敬佩的身影。在英的中医师们，自发地组织了“英国中医志愿抗疫行动”，为大家提供远程义诊，并为大家寄送抗疫中药；在英华人成立了志愿者组织，为有困难的侨胞和留学生朋友提供帮助。这是我今天在朋友圈看到的，一位十三岁的华人小留学生，选择在超市给老人的特定购物时段，在超市门口免费为英国的老人发放口罩。

病毒是可怕的，但是我相信只要大家保持乐观、共同努力，一定可以取得这场抗疫战争的胜利。

Edit: suggested edit trimmed down some punctuations, dropped several "呢" from the reporter's sentences, making the paragraph smoother to read, gratefully accepted :)


What is "kao se" in Taiwanese for "挖苦"? Heard "kao se" on Taiwanese TV where the subtitles read: "挖苦".

It's probably a Hokkien word but what can it be?

I'm not finding anything when searching

"kao se" and "挖苦" in Baidu.

剾洗

剾洗
khau‑sé
又
khau‑sué
ㄎㄠ　ㄙㄨㆤˋ
動
諷刺、挖苦人家。
伊誠共人剾洗。
ㄧㄐㄧㆩˊㆣㄠˊㄍㄚ˫ㄌㄤˊㄎㄠㄙㆤˋ
他很會諷刺人家。

The proper spelling would be khau‑sé and not kao se unfortunately.


Where does the phrase 镜中花，水中月 come from? I was helping a friend from Pakistan to improve his English translation for a long, complicated assignment. He had the sentence below. I'd like to know where '镜中花，水中月' comes from. I just translated it as 'illusions'.

如果没有切实可行的行动方案和具体有效的执行措施，
If we do not have a feasible plan of action and specific, effective measures (to achieve our goals),
再美好的目标都将是镜中花，水中月，难以实现。
however admirable our goals, they will remain unachievable illusions.

It comes from an idiom 镜花水月（jìng huā shuǐ yuè）

  For example: 《说岳全传》第六一回：“阿弥陀佛，为人在世，原是镜花水月。”《白雪遗音·玉蜻蜓·游庵》：“我和你镜花水月闲消遣，何必名贤胜地逢。”

镜子里的花；水中的月亮。  Flowers in the mirror, moon in the water. I think the translation illusion is proper in your case. You can also translate it as unpractical, unrealistic.

  Provenance:
  唐·裴休《唐故左街僧录内供奉三教谈论引驾大德安国寺上座赐紫方袍大达法师元秘塔碑铭》：“峥嵘栋梁，一旦而摧。水月镜像，无心去来。”


Does anyone know the translation of this character? What does this symbol mean? Does it even exist?

It does exist. Mandarin pinyin pronunciation: kāng. It's a common surname, also means healthy.


The list of official Chinese names for common vegetables Common vegetables list:

Kale
Water cress
Collards/collard greens
Brussels sprouts
Leeks
Artichokes

Other vegetables are, of course, welcomed. The more the merrier.

UPDATED:
Yes, i am aware that all these can be found via online translation or some other sources. But the point is to treat this post as some kind of master list or quick list, in which we have all the names in one place. That way, i will be easier for other people who are looking for the same information, since, you know, they are now collected under one post.

Kale - 羽衣甘蓝
Water cress - 水田芥；豆瓣菜（别名为西洋菜）
Collards/collard greens - 宽叶羽衣甘蓝
Brussels sprouts - 球芽甘蓝
Leeks - 韭葱
Artichokes - 洋蓟


How to explain usage of 照得上 站得下 could you explain, please, why we use 上 with some verbs? and with some 下？does it depends on the verb? 广场上停得下10辆车 10 cars can be placed here. 天安门照得上吗？Can you take picture of Tiananmen?

停得下 = [停 verb]+[得 potential particle]+[下 directional particle]

照得上 = [照 verb]+[得 potential particle]+[上 directional particle]

In 广场上停得下:

停 is the verb for "to stop / to park"
得 is the potential particle for "able to"
下 is the directional particle for "down"

  广场上停得下=  able to park down on the square

In 天安门照得上:

照 is the verb for "to take picture"
得 is the potential particle for "able to"
上 is the directional particle for "onto"

  天安门照得上 =  able to take picture of Tiananmen Square onto(the camera)

There are only two potential particles. They are "得" and "不" , so it is easy to remember. You potentially, either able to, or unable to preform an action (verb)

There are many more directional particles such as " up, down, in, out, "
we choose different directional particle depend on how a verb act on an object.

For example:

放上 (lay upon) - 放得上 / 放不上 (able/unable to lay it upon )

丢下 (drop down) - 丢得下 / 丢不下 (able/unable to drop it down)

插入 (insert in)- 插得入 / 插不入 (able/unable to insert it in)

取出 (take out) - 取得出 / 取不出 (able/unable to take it out)

*There are too many particles to explain them one by one. You just have to memorize each of them.


"Speak Greek" in Chinese In English, when someone says something incomprehensible, one can say they "spoke Greek". In Italian, the equivalente is "parlare Arabo" (lit. speak Arabic). What about Chinese? Is there a similar idiom?

说天书/听天书 would be proper one in my opinion.

It means one talks about the book from the heaven and no one would actually understand it.

For example, 他讲的话， 我就像听天书一样。 我听物理课像听天书。 他在说天书。


被 (bèi) vs. 叫 (jiào) vs. 让 (ràng): regional difference? formality difference? I know that with a 被 (bèi) sentence, you are allowed omit the object: S + 被 + (O) + Other elements, e.g. 河里的鱼都被毒死了 (Hé lǐ de yú dōu bèi dú sǐ le) whereas, when using 叫 (jiào) or 让 (ràng,) the object cannot be omitted, it must be included, so:

我的自行车被小偷偷走了。 (Wǒ de zìxíngchē bèi xiǎotōu tōu zǒu le.) -- OK
我的自行车被偷走了。 (Wǒ de zìxíngchē bèi tōu zǒu le.) -- ALSO OK
我的自行车叫小偷偷走了。 (Wǒ de zìxíngchē jiào xiǎotōu tōu zǒu le.) -- OK
我的自行车叫偷走了。 (Wǒ de zìxíngchē jiào tōu zǒu le.) -- NOT OK
我的自行车让小偷偷走了。 (Wǒ de zìxíngchē ràng xiǎotōu tōu zǒu le.) -- OK
我的自行车让偷走了。 (Wǒ de zìxíngchē ràng tōu zǒu le.) -- NOT OK

What I want to know is, are 叫 (jiào) and 让 (ràng) more colloquial, more spoken, less formal, more Northern, more Southern, or anything different (besides what I just outlined)?
If possible, does anybody know what the reason is they exist? Why these variants exist, and why they're slightly different to 被 (bèi)?
Cheers

Good question.

Although I am a native chinese speaker, it is difficult for me to answer your
questions.

Generally, when talking about formality difference, 被 is more formal than the other two, 叫 and 让. However, it is still very often for us to use 被 in some oral conversation. But I don't know which one among these three is more northern or more southern. I live in the north part of China and personally, I use 让 more often.

About the difference among these three, I think one important point is that 叫 and 让 are more often used when you know who or what is the objective. Just as the examples you give above, we would often say: 我的自行车被偷走了 but rarely say 我的自行车叫小偷偷走了 nor 我的自行车让小偷偷走了, because actually we do not know who is the thief. But when we want to express that some specific person borrows my bike, we would say: 我的自行车让Mike借走了. All in all, there are only slight differences among them in terms of meaning and you can try to use any one in daily life.

One more word is that you can also use 给 to express similar meaning, such as 我的自行车给小偷偷走了.


Chinese/English/Pinyin Books For Young Adult Readers I'm looking for some medium level Chinese books to read. Most of the books I can find in Chinese are aimed at more fluent speakers or for the very beginners but I'd like somewhere in between. Ideally the book would have Chinese and Pinyin, or English as well, but any recommendations are welcome! Thank you! :)

Kindle books in Chinese, and Clavis Sinica texts, already have pinyin and English available as electronic look-up.   Both formats have a good variety of things already available.

Furthermore, even a low-tech computer user like me can learn to make Kindle files, or Clavis Sinica files, from pretty much any Chinese text you find on-line.  So you can use this to read classic poets, or 20th century works now in the public domain like The True Story of Ah Q, or any number of things archived on various sites on line.

You can make such a book, or shorter article, out of pretty much any Chinese text on-line.  Note this kind of file conversion is legal when the text itself free to reproduce.  Pirated texts of works under copyright are another matter.


Gender and age neutral word for partner (not married) in Mandarin? I'm looking for a gender neutral word for a person that you are in a romantic relationship with, but not married to. Similar to "partner" in English.

I also want it to be fairly neutral regarding age and to work in formal settings.

Which word can I use?

恋人 perfectly fits your need, its gender and age neutral, and can be used in formal settings.

情人 somehow fits your need, but is not as good, because it could also mean an extramarital lover, which may cause misunderstanding.

爱人 is also gender neutral, but usually refers to partner in marriage.


How to translate the phrase "just because . . . it doesn't mean that..."? I want to be able to say something along the line of:

"just because she has a boyfriend doesn't mean she can't focus in school."

This is a translation close enough for your purposes probably:
她有了男朋友不代表她上课不专心


Is this the character 良? Someone sent me this picture and asked me if I knew what it was:

I had a couple of hunches and browsed through Pleco's Small Seal Script Chinese character font. The small seal script for 良 looks very similar:

But I'm not expert & there might be some rookie mistake I'm making here.

Is it the picture actually the character 良 -or- have I somehow lost the plot here on this one?

Yes, it is「良」.

That's just a minor shape variation, probably influenced by Qin bamboo or Han clerical brush writing.

  In small seal script, the bottom of「良」is corrupted into「亾」(「亡」), so as long as you see something resembling「亾」then that's a positive identification.


What is the difference between 满足 and 满意? I learned both of these words recently. I asked a Chinese friend what is the difference, and she told me they are "almost the same". I'm wondering how strong the "almost" is here. How interchangeable are 满意 and 满足?

满 = to fulfill; to satisfy
意 = mind; intend; desire; idea
满意 = be satisfied (of a desire); happy with

Example:
希望我們的服務能使你感到满意 = Hope our service can make you feel satisfied  (happy/ satisfied in your mind)
我們已經給你最好的服務，還不满意? = We have given you the best service and you are still not satisfied? (unhappy/ not satisfied in your mind)
我們已經給你最好的服務，還不满足? = We have given you the best service and you are still not satisfied? (still want more)
~

足 = enough
满足 = 1. to satisfy (a need) 2.  be satisfied  (of one's need)

Example:
每小時十五美元的工資無法满足生活需求 = A wage of fifteen dollars per hour cannot satisfy/ meet the cost of living
非法民工有七美元一小時的工資就很满足了 = Illegal migrant workers are satisfied/ content with a salary of seven dollars an hour (a need is satisfied/ don't feel needing more)
非法民工有七美元一小時的工資就很满意了 = Illegal migrant workers are satisfied /happy with a salary of seven dollars an hour (a desire is satisfied/fulfilled)


I need help translating >how< a word would be spoken I am trying to find someone that will help me take words that are spoken in Spanish, such as Hola, and represent the sounds made by hola in Chinese Pinyin so someone who doesn't speak Spanish could speak a few words of greeting etc.

I would also like to have some help doing the same from English into Pinyin and Pinyin into English.

I can help you with this.  This process is called "transliteration".

For example.  "Hola" would be "哦啦"


Are 我听不清你说了的 and 我听不见你说了的 both correct? I want to say:
I did not hear what you said.
Is it 我听不见你说了的 correct?
I did not hear clearly what you said.
Is it 我听不清你说了的 correct?

听不见 and 听不清 mean different things.

听不见 = can't hear/ didn't hear (didn't know you spoke)

听不清 = can't clearly hear (unsure what you are saying)

Use '听不见你说的話' [didn't hear the words you said] or '听不见你说了什么 [didn't hear what you have said] instead of '听不见你说了的' [didn't hear that you have said] (object missing)
'听不见你(剛)说了的(話)' is also acceptable, but kind of wordy.


Function of「果」in (folk, written) Cantonese? I've started going through《男人唔可以窮》.
In Chapter 1 there is the following paragraph:

阿爸佢教我好多野，放假會同我去睇精工對南華，去彭福公園睇人放風箏，直到我十六歲果年，有一日醫院打黎，話老豆於行動中，由四樓跌左落一個天井度，送去醫院果時，左腳腳底仲係插住一支八吋既生鐵釘。

I'm quite confused by the usage of「果」in these two instances here:

直到我十六歲果年

送去醫院果時

I'm not sure how faithful the copy of the novel on 紙言 is to the original -or- if it is the folk/colloquial nature of the writings, but「果」doesn't seem to have any definitions that fit the context.
Words.HK only gives the definitions:

1 fruit
2 result/consequence

CC-Canto's defintions:

1 fruit
2 result
3 resolute
4 indeed
5 if really

The jyutping gwo2 and even just gwo don't really pull up many other options even. It's all a bit confusing - any ideas?

Here's another example of「果」in context from chapter one of the book:

阿爸話佢改我呢個名果時

Here, 果 is just an alternative representation of go2 (meaning that, more commonly written as 嗰, functioning similarly to Mandarin 那), since some variations of Cantonese pronounce Jyutping kw- and gw- as k- and g- (notably under the influence of phonetic changes known as 懶音).


Asking for a small business favor (whom and how) Let's say my current job requires me to contact a certain hardware manufacturer in China and request technical documentation. But they don't speak English and I don't speak Chinese. Hiring a commercial translator would be impractical due to the number of reasons.

Which of the ways of dealing with the situation would be more (culturally) appropriate?

Asking one of my known business contacts to do this for me.

In this case, what should I offer in return - a similar favor or a small amount of $?

Using machine translation.

Which could lead to prolonged and tediously unproductive conversation, wasting the manufacturer's time.

Making acquaintance with someone speaking both English and Chinese remotely (like in a chat or language exchange group) and asking them for a favor on the same terms as in pt. 1

Which is fine in my country, but I'm not sure if it wouldn't look weird or insulting elsewhere.

I think something is left out of the question and I have problem understanding why there is a problem in the first place. If you need/want to contact someone with whom you don't share a common language, the obvious solution is to hire a translator. What exactly are the reasons that make hiring a translator impractical?

Whether you want to pay fair compensation to hire a qualified person to represent your business, or you'd rather ask someone to do it for free (or for a small gift), or use machine, or simply grab some stranger in an internet chat group, is entirely up to you. It depends on how you wish to present your company to your contact and how much control you wish to have over the situation.

You also said that getting someone over the net to do it for you is fine in your country. I don't think there is anything cultural about that. If that's who you'd rather have to represent your company, it's absolutely your choice. I am simply curious what country you are from.


Dictating Chinese text on Windows Is there any program for Microsoft Windows for dictating Chinese text, that is more accurate than the built-in Microsoft Speech Recognition?
I am aware that there exist some online solution, such as Google dictation in Google Documents, but as far as I know it only allows to dictate within the browser. Dragon NaturallySpeaking doesn't support Chinese.

If you're dual booting into Windows as your primary operating system from Mac OS, you might have more luck with Siri on Mac, which works well for me personally.


Difference: 帘 vs. 帷? Came across the character 帷 for the first time the other day, in the word 窗帷.

Oxford, KEY and Adstrotrans define 帷, simply, as:

  curtain

ABC and A Chinese-English Dictionary define it as a:

  bed-curtain

which doesn't really mean much to me.

What's the difference between 帷 and 帘?

I'll assume you mean 帘 as in the simplified Chinese for 簾. In which case, strictly speaking:

帘 / 簾 is a cover for windows woven from bamboo slips (hence the traditional top radical) or fabric
帷 is curtains, in the sense of sides a tent woven from fabrics.

In practice, they both mean some sort of fabric material that obscures sight, and therefore usages have become mixed up. In this case, the 窗 in the word 窗帷 specifies its a window curtain, making it the same as 帘 / 簾.

Traditionally, 帘 is actually a different character from 簾. It meant "a banner (of an inn or tavern)", and was flown outside such establishments.

  《唐·鄭谷·旅寓洛南村舍》

  　村落清明近，秋千稚女誇。春陰妨柳絮，月黑見梨花。

  　白鳥窺魚網，青帘認酒家。幽棲雖自適，交友在京華。

Because 帘 also happens to be the simplified Chinese character for 簾, this difference is not noticeable in a majority of online resources anymore.

Historically, 簾 is what court officials use while 帷 is what common folks use. This is Ancient China historical.

  《禮緯》 天子外屛，諸侯內屛，大夫以簾，士以帷


What's the difference between 我是老师 or 我当老师? Sometimes when I take a 滴滴打车 taxi to the university campus, the driver asks me if I'm a student, and I reply something along the lines of:

  我是老师
  I'm a teacher
  Wǒ shì lǎoshī

As far as I can tell, this is grammatically correct.  However, more than once, the driver replied:

  你当老师
  You're a teacher
  Nǐ dāng lǎoshī

It feels almost like they're correcting me, but I don't really understand why.  It's possible 我是老师 sounds more along the lines of what a child might say as it's very simple.  (It's also possible I simply misheard them.)

Question: What's the difference between 我是老师 or 我当老师?

Among the zillions of meanings of 当, one is "to act as", so maybe 我当老师 has a meaning closer to "I perform the role of a teacher".  But I still see no concrete reason that 我是老师 is wrong or inferior.

我是老师 = I am a teacher" It is completely correct

当 is a verb that means 'to be/ working as/ take on the role or position of'

你当老师= you being a teacher

你来当老师 = you'll be a teacher

你去当老师 = you go and be a teacher

你当上了老师 = you've became a teacher

  The driver's question "你当老师?" (you being a teacher?) was a rhetorical one. That imply "It is hard to believe people as young as you would be a teacher." He could had asked "你是老师?" and the meaning would be the same.


Does 从来 translate to "always"? Does anyone know if 从来 translates to "always"? And if it is, is it used in the same way?
For example if I want to say: "I always buy oranges", would that be “我从来买橘子”？

Without 都, 从来 does not mean always. 从来 actually means from (从) past till present (来). It is obvious where the always come from by looking at the example given by NS.X:

  他每天一起床就喝咖啡，从来都是这样。

Everyday, he drinks coffee when he wakes up. From past till present, it has always been like this.

每天      他  喝    咖啡   就      一起床     从           来           都     是   这样

See grammar usage here.

If you want to say "I always buy oranges", you can try using 向来都 instead. For example:

  我向来都是买橘子的。

向来 means all along.
都 makes it always.


Can someone please tell me what 工艺鞋 are？ 工艺鞋

I think this refers to some kind of decorative shoes which are actually never worn, but I'm not sure. Why would you want to buy shoes you never wear?

Well, to be frank, I am afraid you can not find this "工艺鞋" directly in Chinese dictionaries, so you can take this word as a definition which is not very clearly defined. I have searched on line I can show you several pics, they are all called "工艺鞋". However, as you can see, slippers, sandal, boots.... and from manmade to machine made.....  so you can imagine "工艺鞋" basically they are 'shoes'. If you wanna define it more precisely, they are  artistic temperamental shoes. I hope this can help you. I am not an English native speaker, but I tried my best. cheers.


Is this sentence grammatically wrong? 我刚来了中国的时候，不会说中文。 我上大学了的时候，认识了我女朋友。 can anyone point out why this sentence is wrong?

  我刚来了中国的时候，不会说中文。 我上大学了的时候，认识了我女朋友。

Thank you so much!

"我刚来(了)中国的时候，不会说中文。"
"了" here is a verb particle indicates the verb 来 is completed. But "的时候" (the time when) already indicate the event is in the past.  Therefore, "了" is redundant. Just "我刚来中国的时候不会说中文。" is enough.

~

我上大学(了)的时候，认识了我女朋友。
"了" here is also verb particle indicates the verb phrase "上大学" is completed.And "的时候" (the time when) also indicates the event is in the past. Therefore, "了" is redundant. Just "我上大学的时候认识了我女朋友。" is enough

~

"我刚来了中国" and "我上大学了" are grammatically correct
"我刚来了中国的时候" and "我上大学了的时候" are not grammatically correct


Is it grammatically correct to say 西南人? The phrase 东北人  has been widely used by native speakers but 西南人 is not as common.

Is it not equally correct to say 西南人?

As a 西南人, I have to say that it is rare to hear. 南方人 (Southerner) is okay.

If someone is from the south side of the Huanghe River, they would let you know which province they are literally from, like Sichuan, Yunnan or Guizhou.

I suppose the reason is dialect, which so different in southern China.

But 西北人 (Northwestern) is commonly heard.


Is Classical Chinese the shortest language? Generally speaking, when a lengthy document or a book is translated into different languages, will the classical Chinese be the shortest translation?

To put in another way, if the same book is printed in different languages with basically the same font size, will the classical Chinese one be the shortest?

For example, for Psalm 119 from the Old Testament:

English (King James Version): 2,598 words.
German (Hoffnung für Alle): 3,050 words.
French (La Bible du Semeur): 2,574 words.
Japanese (聖書新改訳): 7,348 characters.
Korean: (현대인의성경): 7,099 characters.
Classical Chinese (文理和合)：3,417 characters. Since "each 1000 Chinese characters will usually be translated into about 600-700 English words", this is roughly 2,000 English words.

it depends on the topic; style of writing, and translation.

[for alphabetic language, one word might contain numerous characters, while for ideographic language, one word = one character]

when classical chinese is longer

"traduttore, traditore" (to translate is to betray) - 迻譯即背叛　⋯　2 vs 5 words

nautical terms, such as cutter, ketch, schooner; in which, one can grep its meaning and form an mental image directly.

in classical chinese, the word is longer

cutter - 雙頭帆小船　⋯　1 vs 5 words

ketch - 高前桅雙桅帆船　⋯　1 vs 7 words

schooner - 高後桅雙桅帆船　⋯　1 vs 7 words

or, buddhism terms, such as:

अनुत्तरा सम्यक् सम्बोधि (anuttarā samyak sambodhi)
- 阿耨多羅三藐三菩提　⋯　3 vs 9 words

bhūtânityatā - 諸行無常　⋯　1 vs 4 words

bhūtânātmatā - 諸法無我　⋯　1 vs 4 words

śāntaṃnirvâṇam - 涅槃寂靜　⋯　1 vs 4 words

http://cbeta.kepan.org/sahant/7

http://cbeta.kepan.org/sahant/37

when classical chinese is shorter

well, chinese poem should be the shortest, amongst any languages.

taoism related text is, also. e.g. in 周易參同契:

金伐木榮．三五與一

cutting down by metal, the wood prosperous; three, five and one. (frankly, i don't think this book is "translatable"; i just give a word-to-word translation here, omitting background knowledges, assumptions; and implications)

https://ctext.org/library.pl?if=gb&file=99940&page=59

now, 8 classical chinese word vs 11 english words.

  when a lengthy document or a book is translated into different languages, will the classical Chinese be the shortest translation

imo, again, it depends on the topic; style of writing, and translation.

have fun :)


What is the difference between 人民 and 民族？ What is the difference between 人民 and 民族, for example in 中华人民 vs. 中华民族?

人民 is translated as "(the) people". You can find it in popular expressions like:

  人民共和国 = People's Republic; as Huang said in the comments, if we include China it becomes "中华人民共和国"
  人民币 = Renminbi (the Chinese currency. 币 means "money, coins, currency".)
  人民日报 = "People's Daily" (a newspaper)

民族 means "ethnic group, nationality", for example:

  中央民族大学 Central University for Nationalities

All of the examples have been taken from the CEDICT dictionary.


What does this artwork say? (Characters identified: 湖岩) I'd like to ask you for help me to identify this sign and stample. It should be painting on silk.

In Chinese, 湖岩 means seaside cliff.  湖岩 also seems to be the name of a Nobel-esque award for ethnic Koreans: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho-Am_Prize


Which grammatical rule is being used here? I thought it’d be easy to say “I didn’t do well on my exam/I did poorly on my exam” but turned out it’s not an easy one.
I have tried to translate it multiple times and here’s what I got (I’ve tried to look for each of these following sentences in Google and all of them exist, even being spoken by native) :

a. 考试考得不好
b. 考试考不好
c. 考试没考好
d. 考试差了

I won’t be asking about each of them here though. My questions are :

In sentence a (考试考得不好), what does 得 here indicate?

Is it “potential complement” or a simple “得 particle (that’s usually being explained along with the other two de > 的, 地)”?
I mean, how do native Chinese speakers see “didn’t do well on an exam”?
Do they see it as one’s inability to achieve something (which means I most likely should use potential complement), or,
Do they see it simply as an adverb to show how one does something > didn’t do well on an exam/did poorly on an exam (which means I can simply use 得 as a particle instead of complement)

If potential complement turns out to be the case here... Based on what’s written in >

https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/potential_complement :

The only difference between the affirmative and negative forms is swapping a 得 for a 不.

Then why does sentence a (考试考得不好) exist whereas we don’t need 得 to make a negative form in potential complement?
I know Chinese grammar isn’t as strict as English but just... Why? ㅠㅠ
That’s all for now.
Sorry if this question sounds stupid and that maybe it’s just me because anyone else finds it just easy to express such thing in Chinese. I don’t find it easy though.

"得" in "考试考得不好" is a "degree/result complement" that indicates 'the degree' of a verb, or 'the result' of a verb

考试考得不好 = [考试(to take exam) - 考得 take exam to the result of - 不好(not good)]

or

考试考得不好 = [考试(to take exam) - 考得 take exam to the level of - 不好(not good)]

More detailed example:

考试考得不好，祇得到  D 平均 - the result of the verb was bad)
考试考得很吃力 - the degree of the verb 'taking exam' is at the degree of 很吃力 (laborious level)

Side note: 得/不 as potential complement:
考得好试 = able to take exam well
考不好试 = unable to take exam well


What does j8傻逼 mean? In the following picture:

I understand the meaning of 傻逼 but what is the "j8" before it?

According to chinaSMACK, j8 is equivalent to 'penis' or any of its vulgar forms:

(rude language hidden behind spoiler, hover over or click to show)

   鸡巴
 jībā
 noun/adjective.

 Penis, dick, cock. When used as an adjective, it may mean “cocky”, “arrogant”, or a more generalized “fuck” or “damn”.


Is it 說 /说 / shuō or 講 / 讲 / jiǎng for "to speak a language"? I've realized that I still don't know the way to talk about "speaking a language", for instance the Chinese equivalents to sentences like these:

Do you speak English?
I can speak a little Chinese.

Of course there are other senses of "to speak" as in "he speaks very loudly" and "who were you speaking to?" and there is the similar word "to talk" which cannot be used with the name of a language, except in colloquial or nonstandard speech.

So I have found at least two single-syllable Chinese words that both seem to work for the sense of "to speak" that I am interested in:

說 / 说 (shuō)
講 / 讲 (jiǎng)

Are these two interchangeable synonyms or are there subtle differences? Are these the only two options for expressing "to speak XX language"?

The two are interchangeable in this particular context.

The two has different usage in other contexts.

E.g.:

讲 can mean to say in 讲话, to explain in 讲解, to bargain in 讲价.
说 can mean to persuade in 劝说, and it can be a noun in 学说(theory).

The choice of syllables for your situation I would say is based on statistical usage of each. In certain areas 说 is more naturally used because it's used more by the community. And the same is true for 讲.


Why is 的 at the end of phrases such as 那是他们的 and 钱他们的? I'm confused with the possessive particle 的, it was explained to me as 's in English and "of" something. Like, Y的X becomes X of Y.
那是他们的。
他们的是那。

Here are two sentences that from that logic would both mean the same thing and both be correct. However, we would put 的 at the end in this case. But I'm not sure why. Another example would be:
他们的钱。
钱他们的。

Here the first sentence is correct and how I would write it, whereas in the first example I would have used the second sentence which would be wrong?

他们的钱 isn't a sentence but a nominal phrase, meaning their money.
钱他们的 could be taken as the shorthand of 这钱是他们的.
那是他们的 is correct.  However 他们的是那 isn't.  You need a measure word there.  E. g.  他们的是那个。It's hard to explain why.


跟您请教一个字(Do you know this Chinese word?) 左边一个 至 右边一个各 怎么念 是什么意思？
it would look like 至各

臵 （U+81F5） [ gé ｜ ㄍㄜˊ ]

From 《康熙字典》:

《集韻》「各額」切，音「格」。與「」同。「至」也。
Same as . It means "to arrive" or "to go to".

又《六書原》徦，俗作臵。
The original or formal form of 徦.

徦 （U+5FA6） [ jiǎ | ㄐㄧㄚˇ ]
1. 至；到。(to arrive; to go to)
2. 來。(to come)
3. 姓。(surname)


What is the difference between 看来， 看起来， and 看出来 ？ Please help, I'm not getting this, 听来我不懂! Could you please use examples in your answer?

Obviously, this is a tricky one.

I know these three phrases have some same words and looks no differences for foreigner, but they are very different! If I give you one example for each phrase, you still will get confused when you meet a different one, so I'm gonna show you how to fishing instead of just give you a fish, in another word, master those three 'bastards'.

看来: mean looks like or seems. This phase usually stand for an quick and dramatically attitude change, like it or not doesn't matter. Example: "I told you so (我告诉过你)." the other person most likely say "looks like you are right. (看来你是对的)"  despite that he/she didn't want to admit it. Or he/she admit it after learned by his/her own experience, example: "the lung exam show there are cancer cells in there, looks like I should quit smoking. (肺部检查显示那里有癌细胞，看起来我应该戒烟)"

看出来: mean figure out, get some results. I give you some thing, some entity, some person, some question, some being, some creature, some machine, you look closely, study, research, do stuff, and I come back, ask you "你看出来什么门道儿了吗？(Did you figure out something yet?)", it means I want get some results, some answers from you, those information go in and through your brain, you process them, and you need to produce something, give some output.

看起来, mean (it/he/she/thing) looks like or seems. When use this phrase, it means whatever the subject or object is, it usually not taking too much effort, or no need to get a closer look, or a deep digging, the answer is easily observed from the appearance of object or direct message from the subject/matter. Example: "It looks like our suspect's get away car just get away without him." "看起来我们嫌疑犯的逃脱车没带他就跑了。" and there is one more, in the US movie/television show, when a cheating scene get caught, the character usually say "it(thing) is not what it looks like." you shouldn't translate or express in Chinese with "这(件事)并不是看起来的那样。", because this is better "这(件事)并不是看上去的那样。", there you go, you just learn another one.

And, by the way, you really should register a stackexchange account!


Is the 要...了 grammar structure needed in 我还有很多要学习了? If I am trying to convey to someone that I still have much to learn. The first thought that came to my mind was

  我还有很多要学习了

But I am unsure if the 要...了 structure is necessary. Without it the sentence literally means "I still have a lot of learning" or am I am I reading that too literally? Also 要...了 more closely means "about to happen" so that makes the sentence more closely resemble "I still have a lot I'm about to learn" and that also sounds a bit silly. Is there a different grammar structure that would be more appropriate here or am I going about this all wrong?

The correct grammar would be “我还有很多要学习呢”. You may have heard “我要学习了”, which means "I'm about to go study", but the former sentence means "I still have a lot of learning to do." The difference is in “呢” and “了”


Mandarin: when to use 面 (mian) or 臉 (lian)? In Cantonese, you usually use 面 to mean face.

However, it seems like in Mandarin, people use 臉 (e.g., 我的臉很紅) sometimes and other times use 面 (e.g., 面對面).

What are the guidelines around using 面 or 臉?

In modern Chinese, when it comes to the meaning of "face, they basically are the same. However, in classic Chinese, they mean differently. Knowing the origin of them may help you understand how they are used in words.

面 meant "face"; however, 脸 is used to refer to face now.
脸 meant "cheek"; however, 脸颊 is used to refer to refer to cheek now.

Below is an abridge of a Ci poem written by 晏殊 in Song dynasty

原是今朝斗草赢,笑从双脸生。

Loose translation:

It's the case that (she) won the game of 斗草 this morning, (so) smiles come out of her two cheeks.

As you can see, a man can not have two "faces".
Since southern dialects remain more classic Chinese elements, you can find 面
more when it comes to face. As far as I know, in shanghai dialect, 面 is also used that way.
So a rough guideline is:
in literary and archaic words (for example, idioms), 面 is used more; while in colloquial words, 脸 is used more.
For example, there is a word 面目 (meaing: appearance,looking). However, you would say 脸和眼睛 when you refer to "face and eye". Regarding your example of "面对面", you can actually say "脸对脸". However, they are different.
you can say：

我想和他面对面地谈一谈。I wan to talk with him face to face.
他们俩脸对脸地站在那里。They two stand over there face to face.

In case 1,"面对面" actually means "physically close" (e.g., not on the phone). Your face is not neccessarily opposite his face. While in case 2, "脸对脸" means "facing each other", so their faces are opposite. If you use "脸对脸" in case 1, it sounds very strange. If you use "面对面" in case 2, it sounds too formal.


How to use nouns as adjectives? Is there anything special I need to do to use nouns as adjectives in Chinese? As far as I can tell, such grammatical constructions are identical to English without any need for particles like 的.

For example:
通知 + 選項 ≟ 通知選項 (Notification + Options = Notification Options)
專輯 + 列表 ≟ 專輯列表 (Album + List = Album List)

There doesn't appear to be any information on the Web describing this, perhaps because it's seemingly straightfoward.

It is correct. The rule of using adjectival noun in Chinese is the same as in English. You can take any standard noun and use it as an adjectival noun to modify a main noun as long as it make sense.
For example:
交通 (traffic) + 意外 (accident) = 交通意外 (traffic accident)
You don't need to use particles like 的 to link the two nouns

交通意外(traffic accident) is a single noun * with 交通 as the adjectival noun and 意外 as the main noun

交通的意外 (traffic's accident) is a phrase

Important:
Many Chinese nouns are made up of two noun characters that combined into one stand-alone word.
Example:
車 (Car) + 禍 (disaster) = 車禍 (car accident)
Since 車禍 (car accident) is a noun on its own, you cannot break them up and treat them as two individual nouns and write 車的禍 (cars' disaster)


What Chinese characters for “ching wong but jeep” (Roughly: There is no one to keep things going)? Man Sing Lee of Mott 32

So Toronto and Vancouver’s Chinese food culture is starting to be “ching wong but jeep” (Roughly: There is no one to keep things going). Toronto and Vancouver used to compete in the quality of their Chinese restaurants, but nowadays they only compete in how cheap and how large their dishes are — kind of how Hong Kong was back in the day.

What Chinese characters do “ching wong but jeep” mean?

Based on the pronunciation along, I guess it is 青黄不接 （qing1 huang2 bu4 jie1）
青：green, which means the newly planted still growing wheat this year
黄：yellow, which means the old wheat gathered last year
不接：ends does not meet
青黄不接：the old wheat is almost gone but the new wheat is still growing: there is nothing to eat in the period in between. It generally means the old things are gone but new things are still not seen in the near future.
In your example, it might mean the old chefs are retiring but the new chefs are still not qualified enough. As a result, the food quality is decaying.


What does the phrase "说不好比起~" mean? I saw this on a reviewer's video, but I'm not sure if I understand the meaning or how you would parse it in English?

I didn't catch everything the speaker said but I remember;

  说不好比起[name of character C]也

From context it seems like the speaker was comparing someone he's recently met (A) to two others (B and C), he said A was not like B, and then he says A is "说不好比起[name of character C]也".

'说不好' is a variant of '说不定' (can't state with certainty= may be)

'比起' means 'compare to'

'也' in this context means 'even'

"说不好比起 C 也" = "May be even(?) compare to C"
It is an incomplete sentence, we don't know what quality is being compared between B and C
The following would be a complete sentence:

"[说不好]比起 C 也好不了多少" - "[May] not even [be] any better  compare to C"
好不了多少= not even any better


Is the text 若承租人是公司，则必须提供法定代表人资料 official and correct? I asked a good friend of mine to write the following text in Chinese: if tenant is a company, it should provide the name of the representative.

She translated into: 若承租人是公司，则必须提供法定代表人资料。

Since it's based of a contract, it should be written as officially as possible. But I have a hard time analysing this text.

What does: 若承 and 则必 mean?

How are these related and how to construct a sentence with it?

The text sounds very official and formal
若 (if)
承租人 (tenant)
是 (is)
公司 (company)
则 (then)
必须 (must)
提供 (provide)
法定 (legal)
代表人 (representative)
资料 (information)

若承租人是公司，则必须提供法定代表人资料。
If the tenant is a company, then it must provide the information of the legal representative

I think 法定(legal) is not needed, since the representative is bonded by a legal agreement with the company


Are there any fonts imitating the correct handwritten forms for Chinese students? I am hoping to find some resources (hopefully open-source) that allow to type similar to style expected from Chinese students in mainland/Taiwan/Hong Kong schools. If anyone knows Japanese kyōkasho tai fonts as well, they would also be appreciated.

Since the closest thing to handwritten forms for Chinese-language regulation is in the 楷書 (regular script) style, here are my suggestions:

Hong Kong: Free-HK-Kai_4700 https://freehkfonts.opensource.hk/download/ (definitely open source)
ROC (Taiwan): TW-Kai-98 https://data.gov.tw/dataset/5961 (unsure if open source)

The ROC (Taiwan) regular script font (TW-Kai-98) is a government-mandated standard, so you can be sure of its ability to represent the ROC (Taiwan) standard. The Hong Kong one (Free-HK-Kai_4700) is an open-source modification from TW-Kai-98, and they have regulated 4700 characters so far (roughly the total number of characters taught in Hong Kong schools).

  EPSON has made a kyokasho font quite a while back which is free to download, but I haven't checked the license on its use. You can get the link at http://www.wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Japanese.html (CTRL+F epkyouka).

As an aside, it is not enough to use the fonts to get the correct character forms for each standard - you need to use the correct input method too. Using a Chinese (Traditional, Taiwan) IME is not appropriate (in an official governmental standard sense) to publish documents adhering to Chinese (Traditional, Hong Kong), or vice-versa, because the suggested characters (Unicode codepoints) that display may be different across the IMEs, although the chance of an actual discrepancy happening is very, very slim.


Can someone translate whats on this pendant? (Character identified: 醒) This is a Chinese pendant but i cant figure out what it says at all.

MDBG

  醒
  xǐng
  to wake up / to be awake / to become aware / to sober up / to come to

How to find your answer:

You could use a site like: mdbg (click the handwriting button next to "Go") or qhanzi to write in your character and then copy and paste into a dictionary.


How to ask for "free-range eggs" in Chinese? Quick question: I will be going to a local supermarket here in Taipei. How do I ask for "free-range chicken eggs"? According to google translate its "自由放养的鸡蛋." Is this correct?

It is literally correct, but no one would use it, except Mr. Shakespeare.

土鸡蛋 or 笨鸡蛋 is the one.

And the universal is 家养的, e.g. 家养的鸡蛋, 家养的鸭子, 家养的鹅...

In my hometown, people also say 溜达鸡, 溜达 means stroll.


How should I introduce my wife? It just seems that 太太、老婆、妻子 are all either overly formal or make my wife sound older than she is (she's not even 30). Maybe one of those terms is actually more acceptable than I think it is; I don't know. Are there any other options that would be more socially appropriate?

When you introduce your wife both 太太 and 老婆 are acceptable, depending on whether it's a formal occasion. 太太 is more formal while 老婆 is more casual. Both are socially appropriate.

From 汉语词典：

太太：

（名）旧社会中通称官吏的妻子。
（名）旧时官僚地主人家的仆人等称女主人。
（名）对已婚妇女的尊称（带丈夫的姓）。
（名）旧时称某人的妻子或丈夫对人称自己的妻子。

Although dictionary says it's used in past (旧时) , people are actually using this word more and more often in recent decades. If you are going to introduce your wife to new friends, business partners, or acquaintances, 太太 is the word you should use.

In comparison, other pronouns to introduce one's wife include:

老婆: used in casual and informal occasion, like with close friends or relatives. Especially, you can use this word to directly address your wife.
妻子: extremely formal. most likely only used in written language, e.g marriage certificate, court decision, etc.
夫人: rarely used to introduce one's own wife. Generally, 夫人 is used to introduce someone else's wife, to show respect (to the husband), cause the word 夫人 hints that the husband is socially recognized and esteemed.
内人: archaic.
爱人: used to be the right word to introduce one's wife. But it was like 30 years back... Now it's also old and rarely used (only by senior people)
媳妇: acceptable in casual occasion, but only used in northern China.


How do you translate "English first name"? Cambridge and Collins are wrong! 名 just means name. It doesn't mean English first name. Is it "其名"? I embolded it in Cambridge's example sentence.
first name | translate to Mandarin Chinese: Cambridge Dictionary

the name that was given to you when you were born and that comes before your family name
名，名字
It can be rude to call people by their first name if they are much older or more important than you.  对年长或级别高的人直呼其名是不礼貌的。

Chinese Translation of “first name” | Collins English-Chinese Dictionary

first name
n (c)

名 (míng) (个(個), gè)

其名 refers to "their name" in Chinese.
名 also refers to "given name"


What does the phrase "这才是快给我住手" mean? I just have a quick question about a phrase I've come across twice now, but I'm unsure of it's meaning exactly, I found it in this sentence:

  「这才是快给我住手。我可没那个意思陪你去自杀喔」

I feel like it would translate as something like "too quick for me to stop" but I also feel that might be too literal and it doesn't seem to fit the context?

These words came from the translation of a Japnaese manga, 死神 BLEACH Can't Fear Your Own World.
「这才是快给我住手。我可没那个意思陪你去自杀喔」

The original Japnaese words are shown below.

それこそやめとけ。

Stop it!
Just stop it!
That's it!
停！
這就算了吧！
這就省了吧！

This sentence may have the meaning of 才.
But, we don't have to translate it word by word.


刀削面: who says xuē and who says xiāo? I’ve only ever known 刀削面 as dāoxuēmiàn, maybe that says something about the company I keep.
I’ve noticed recently a lot of people, though, actually say dāoxiāomiàn.
ABC dictionary lists both pronunciations, with slightly different meanings:

dāoxiāomiàn
N.
shaved noodles
M: wǎn / 碗
See also dāoxuēmiàn

and

dāoxuēmiàn
N.
hand-cut noodles
M: wǎn / 碗
See also dāoxiāomiàn

Also, quite bizarrely 汉语大词典 has

dāoxuēmiàn
面食之一。先将面加水和成硬面块, 然后用刀削成片状, 煮熟食用。此法盛行于 山西 一带。

While 现代汉语大词典 has almost exactly the same definition (minus the spaces around Shanxi) under a different pronunciation:

dāoxiāomiàn
面食之一。先将面加水和成硬面块, 然后用刀削成片状, 煮熟食用。此法盛行于山西一带。

So, ABC says that they are two different things - while the two big dictionaries say they’re the same thing and differ in pronunciation.
Who says what? And are they the same thing even? Or are they separate entities?

I believe xiāo is the correct pronunciation, although xuē can also be correct in certain regions; it depends on how you pronounce 削 in its "shave" meaning.
削 has two pronunciations depending on usage, although both can mean "shave":

削 xiāo 　ㄒㄧㄠˉ
　1. 用刀斜着去掉物体的表层。～苹果皮。～铅笔。
　2. 打乒乓球时用球拍平而略斜地击球：～球。
削 xuē 　ㄒㄩㄝˉ
　1. 义同削（xiāo），用于一些复合词：～铁如泥。～足适履。
　2. 减少；减弱：～减。～弱。
　3. 除去：～职为民 。
　4. 搜刮；掠取：剥～。

xiāo is the pronunciation used for the "shave" verb, but as you can see, xuē also means "shave" in certain phrases, like 削铁如泥. Apart from that, xuē is usually used in the "pare" or "reduce" meaning, as in words like 削减.
Since 刀削面 is supposed to mean "knife-shaved noodles", the pronunciation should be based on the one for "shave". This is usually xiāo, but in some dialects it is xuē.


How do you address someone with their name in Chinese? Chinese first language here, but since I've lived outside of China since I was little I'm completely out of touch with this kind of culture. Does China have stuff like this? I know you can call someone "A-叔叔" or something like that, but say you're in high school and you want to address a friend, girlfriend, teacher, or stranger. What would you call them, their whole name, or first name, or last name (like they do in Japanese) or add a suffix (like -kun or -san in Japanese, okay I watched some anime okay? Fine are you happy now)?

Thanks.

How do you address someone with their name in Chinese?

Same as English

By titles

李先生 = Mr. Lee

李太太 = Mrs. Lee

李小姐 = Miss Lee

李女仕 = Ms. Lee

李醫生 = Dr. Lee

李老師 = Mister Lee ( teacher)

李主席 = Chairman Lee

李教練 = Coach Lee

李爵士 = Sir Lee

李公爵 = Duke Lee

By age and gender  ( not blood-related)

李叔叔 = Uncle Lee

李姨姨 / 李阿姨 = Aunt Lee

(李)兄 ( less formal than "Mr. / Mister".   For men slightly older than you )

Others:

(李)師傅 = Master Lee ( a polite address for master of any field or  any accomplished craftsmen)

*There are too many to list. But basically, you can't go wrong with the first four on the list. (Mr./ Mrs. /Miss /MS.)


How do you learn and remember 左 and 右? Because 左 and 右 are so similar in the shape, I am wondering how do you learn and remember them? I need a good method to teach.

Did some research, but all I can find is that both 左 and 右 are actually the same symbol that denotes hand but reversed horizontally in ancient times. This symbol basically formed the top part of the character, which now pointed at same direction.

When I was in kindergarten, my teach used to help us to remember them by telling us 右 has a 口 in it, so it's the hand you use to hold chopsticks and eat since at the time left-hand dominance was considered to be corrected. That's why in China, you almost would not see people write or hold chopsticks with their left hand even it's their dominate hand.


Is there online corpus for the Chinese language? Is there online corpus for the Chinese language? What I mean is something like the Brown Corpus for American English.

For a big-data Chinese corpus, have a look at this one:

  (Taiwan) Academia Sinica Balanced Corpus of Modern Chinese 台灣 中央研究院 中文詞知識庫小組 現代漢語平衡語料庫

A million-word level corpus
Contact: Miss Su-Chu Lin (林素朱), jess@hp.iis.sinica.edu.tw
Introduction in Chinese
Not sure if you can download it for free


How can I type bopomofo on Windows without converting to hanzi? I've just finished my two months travelling in China and have arrived to spend one month in Taiwan.

I now want to learn as much as I can about how Mandarin Chinese is used here.

One thing different in Taiwan is that people type using Zhuyin Fuhao a.k.a. bopomofo. So I want to learn both bopomofo and how to type it.

A website I'm using to learn bopomofo via flashcards requires me to type in bopomofo to test myself. There are a good few IMEs in Windows 7 for traditional Chinese and I've fiddled with a couple of them but have not found out how to enter "raw" bopomofo without the IME converting to characters.

To illustrate:

To enter a character such as 馬 you would type ㄇㄚˇ

But in certain situations you don't want ㄇㄚˇ to be converted to 馬, you just want it to stay as ㄇㄚˇ.

How can this be done? (The website is memrise.com but please don't just suggest some other site or app to help me learn, because I'm curious to figure out how to enter bopomofo anyway.)

Use your own IME:

1)

2) Make sure that your IME is:

3) Choose "Phoetic" and directly input what you want.


Does the word 肉 always mean pork (unless preceded by another word which means a different animal) in Chinese menus? 红烧肉、回锅肉、芹菜炒肉，肉夹馍……

Without the name of a different animal mentioned before 肉 (such as 孜然羊肉), does the word 肉 always mean "pork" without any exception?

Edit:

I have found the following counterexample:

See L21 below; 肉丝 could be beef or pork.

I worked in restaurants for many years. As I understand it, '肉' in Chinese menus only refers to pork unless it is specifically stated what kind of meat it is.

For example:

時菜炒（豬）肉片 = in-season vegetable stir-fry pork slice
時菜炒牛肉 = in-season vegetable stir-fry beef
（豬）肉絲湯麵 = shredded pork noodle soup
雞絲湯麵 = shredded chicken meat noodle soup

(豬) is omitted most of the time because when no specific is given, it is the default meat.

But there are always exceptions:

Since the most common meat you see in 夹馍 are 羊肉 (mutton) or 牛肉 (beef), even when people reduce 羊肉夹馍 or 牛肉夹馍 to '肉夹馍', '肉' still refers to mutton or beef
If it is 清真食物 (Halal food) menus, you can be sure 肉 on the menus are not pork but mutton or beef instead

Outside of menus, 肉 can refer to any kind of meat, for example: 肉 in "大魚大肉" or "有酒有肉" does not refer to a specific meat.


What do 抓铁有痕 and 踏石留印 mean? The two idioms appear multiple times in the news stories of Xinhua News Agency and other official media of Chinese governments.

But there seem no direct explanation of them in Chinese, but I guess Chinese people all know about them without being told. I think they try to illustrate something like strong determination, but "to leave your footprint on a rock" (rough translation, probably wrong) doesn't make sense in real life, does it?

There is a Baidu Baike article about it:

  常作褒义词应用，与“蜻蜓点水”一词互为反义。一般是用以形容人的工作扎实，不管干什么工作都能留下自己业绩。应用中常与“踏石留印”连用，如：要让“踏石留印，抓铁有痕”成为我们推进各项工作的“规定动作”，而且要成为一种“工作常态”，使实效见诸“终端”。形容做事情不达目标不罢休,有坚持到底,做就要做好的精神。

It is a figurative way of saying a person would leave solid results in his work.

"He can even leave footmarks when he is walking on a stone"