Should names in idiomatic expressions be capitalised? As the title indicates, I'd like to know the proper way of writing Pinyin for idiomatic expressions that contain names. Should those names be capitalised? Some dictionaries say that they should (Pleco for instance), but after asking two native speakers who both said that they typically aren't capitalised, I also think it's reasonable that they are treated as words or expressions today and shouldn't be capitalised even if they originally refer to names.

Here are two examples:

徐娘半老
"xúniángbànlǎo" or "Xúniángbànlǎo"

杞人忧天
"qǐrényōutiān" or "Qǐrényōutiān"

Pinyin is never an established written language. We have a standard, 《汉语拼音正词法基本规则》, but no one actually bothered to learn it. In short, it treats pinyin as if it is a romanized language. You follow what's correct in English. However, 成语 is so special that it has individual chapters for it:

结构上可以分为两个双音节的，中间加连接号。 例如： fēnɡpínɡ-lànɡjìnɡ（风平浪静） àizēnɡ-fēnmínɡ（爱憎分明） shuǐdào-qúchénɡ（水到渠成）
yánɡyánɡ-dàɡuān（洋洋大观） pínɡfēn-qiūsè（平分秋色） ɡuānɡmínɡ-lěiluò（光明磊落）
diānsān-dǎosì（颠三倒四）
结构上不能分为两个双音节的，全部连写。 例如： cénɡchūbùqiónɡ（层出不穷）
bùyìlèhū（不亦乐乎） zǒnɡ’éryánzhī（总而言之） àimònénɡzhù（爱莫能助） yīyīdàishuǐ（一衣带水）

According to this, we may need to add hyphens inbetween 徐娘半老 and 杞人忧天 when they are written as pinyin.
Then it also says this about property nouns:

专有名词成分与普通名词成分连写在一起的，是一般语词或视为视为一般语词的，首字母小写。 例如： ɡuǎnɡɡān（广柑） jīnɡjù（京剧）
ējiāo（阿胶） zhōnɡshānfú（中山服） chuānxiōnɡ（川芎） zànɡqīnɡɡuǒ（藏青果）
zhāoqín-mùchǔ（朝秦暮楚） qiánlǘzhījì（黔驴之技）

If the text is confusing you, you can look at the last two examples. When a property noun is part of a 成语, it doesn't need to be capitalized.
But then it also has this to say about 成语:

辞书注音需要显示成语及其他词语内部结构时，可按词或语素分写。 例如： chīrén shuō mènɡ（痴人说梦） wèi yǔ
chóumóu（未雨绸缪） shǒu kǒu rú pínɡ（守口如瓶） Hēnɡ-Hā èr jiànɡ（哼哈二将）

This is a suggestion specific to dictionaries, you separate them and properly capitalize the property nouns, in order to display the internal structure of a 成语.
So to answer your question: If you aren't writing a dictionary, you should do this:

徐娘半老 xúniáng-bànlǎo
杞人忧天 qǐrén-yōutiān


What is the difference between 油漆, 涂料 and 油彩 please? I need some help with something. I am trying to find the word for oil paint. Artist oil paint, like the stuff Winsor & Newton makes.

But I can not find the exact word. 油彩 is the closest I can find, but I'm not sure if this is actually the physical paint or the painted canvas itself. Also, I would like to know what these other words mean, and their differences.

油漆
涂料
油彩

I know 油 refers to oil， but I don't understand the differences. It doesn't really help that "paint" is both a verb and noun, and my dictionary doesn't distinguish between the two senses.

Could someone explain the differences please, or give other popular words I should use? Thank you.

油画: oil paint (the artwork or 'painted canvas')

油画颜料/油性颜料: oil paint (the painting material)

油彩: grease paint (the painting material, for artwork or cosmetics)

水彩: water color

颜料: paint (materials in general, usually refers to that for artworks)

涂料: paint/coating (materials in general, usually refers to that for industrial purposes such as painting a house)

油漆: oil-based paint (usually refers to that for industrial purposes)


吞音 rules for Beijing Dialect I've been wanting to learn more about beijinghua and it's been more challenging than I expected.

I've heard that sh, ch, and zh, all turn to r in beijinghua. However, I've also heard some examples when it becomes h (非常 Fēicháng > Fēihang) or when it still remains as a voiceless sh (历史 Lìshǐ > Lìshh ) .

I've tried coming up with and summarising what I have found/heard below. Corrections would be greatly appreciated

AFTER TONE 1

1 or 2 becomes h: 花生豆 Huāshēng dòu > Huā heng dòu, 非常 Fēicháng > Fēihang

3 or 4 becomes r: 多少 Duōshǎo > Duōr, 出示 Chūshì, Chūr

AFTER TONE 2

1 becomes h or r?: 图书馆 Túshūguǎn > Túrguǎn or Túhuguǎn ?

What happens after 2 and 3?

4 becomes r: 还是 Háishì > Háir

AFTER TONE 3

1 and 2 remain or change?: 小车 Xiǎochē > Xiǎoch, BUT 老师 Lǎoshī > Lǎor?

3 and 4 become r: 把手 Bǎshǒu > Bǎr, 手指头 > Shǒuzhǐ tou, 把式 Bǎ shi > Bǎr

AFTER TONE 4

1 becomes sh: 钥匙 Yàochí > Yàoshh, 蜡烛 Làzhú > Làshh, BUT 为什么 Wèireme ?

2 becomes r: 派出所 Pàichūsuǒ > Pàirsuǒ, 不知道 Bù zhīdào > Bùrdào

3 and 4 does it become sh or r?: 历史 Lìshǐ > Lìshh BUT 报纸 Bàozhǐ > Bàor?, 算数 Suànshù > Suànshh BUT 但是 Dànshì > Dànr?

Thank you

I don't suggest you summarise such rules. As a language learner, one of your goals is saying words clearly and accurately. In this way, receivers would completely understand it the first time you say sentences. Similar to New York and London, there are more outsiders living in Beijing than native speakers of Beijing dialect. Thus, Beijing dialect speakers tend to speak standard Putonghua.
If you want to learn swallow 吞音, your rate of speaking has to be as same as a native speaker. Otherwise, it sounds weird if you swallow phonemes when you speak slowly.
I don't think swallow rules are based on particular tones. All of them change to r not h.
After changing, it becomes 轻声/natural tone.
I think 非常, 多少, 还是, 老师, 派出所, 为什么, 不知道 and 但是 are often swallowed. Other words are rarely swallowed nowadays.

非常 fēicháng > fēirang (ráng is at least 2 times faster than cháng, “faster”)
多少 duōshǎo > duōrao (faster)
还是 háishì > háiri (faster)
小车 xiǎo chē (儿化 rather than 吞音）> 小车儿 xiǎo chēr
老师 lǎoshī > lǎori (faster)
派出所 pàichūsuǒ > pàirusuǒ (faster)
不知道 bù zhīdào > bù ridào (faster)
但是 dànshì > dànri


Punctuation and Footnotes in Mandarin Chinese I'm trying to translate a research paper into Mandarin Chinese and I was hoping I could get some insite on proper footnote placement around punctuation. For example， if I'm trying to footnote twice in a sentence, should I place the footnote before or after the standard Chinese periods and commas (i.e. 什么什么，1什么什么。2) or should I place it before the punctuation (i.e. 什么什么1，什么什么2。)?

Furthermore, If I have multiple footnotes, how should they be separated? with a comma, as in English (i.e.什么什么1，2，3 ）? (along those lines, should I use full-sized punctuation in that instance or is western punctuation cleaner (i.e. 什么什么1,2,3?)

I apologize for all of the "什么什么" action in there， its proprietary and I can't share any of the actual content.)

Use numbers in square brackets, before punctuation, separated by "、"

什么什么[1]、[2]。

For more detail, search baidu for 脚注格式.


What's the exact difference between 住 and 居? I wanted to know what's the exact difference between 住 and 居.
Since these characters mean the same thing, why can't I convince them together into one word meaning "to live"?
Thanks.

住 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/668/

  [1] [v] live; reside; stay; dwell; inhabit [2] stop; cease

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  居

  http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/1017/

  [1] [v] to live at, dwell, reside, inhabit, occupy, abode
  [2] [n] a residence, an house, dwelling

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  居住

  http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/4174/

  to reside; to live (at some place) | [粵]: 住

住 is a verb for "to live (in); to reside (at) "
居 is mainly a noun for " a residence, an house, dwelling"

Since the meaning of " to live / to reside " has a dedicated verb 住 , and 居 as a verb, has other meanings (for example: occupy) , few people would use 居 for the meaning of 住 , except in instances that literal style of reading is preferred.

You can think of 居 is more literal and 住 is more colloquial when it comes to using a verb for "to live ; to reside"

Some example sentences:

他現在住在美國 (he currently resides in America)

他現居於美國 (he currently resides in America)

他現在在美國居住 (he currently resides in America)

*unlike 住 or 居, which is placed before the object , 居住 is placed after the object.


Difference between zhongshu and zaishu and zhishu? 大家好！
1.可以说种树，植树，栽树，为什么植树节只能说植树？
2.为什么说栽秧，种秧，而不说植秧？
Thanks! :)

植树, 栽树

These terms are written words and sound very formal.

种树

This term can be used in both formal and colloquial ways. 种树节 would sound too colloquial, and is not proper for a special day's name.
For 栽秧 and 植树/种树, instead of 植秧, these are just idiomatic set phrases. There's no need to delve into the difference.


Adventure time (探險活寶) and other cartoons with mandarin dubs and subtitles I have long been looking for mandarin dubbed and subtitled content to improve my mandarin.
In particular, I crave to find Adventure Time.
I have been searching for ages now on a lot of different sites (including Netflix, bilibili, Youku) but all episodes I could find were dubbed in English or, when dubbed in Chinese, had traditional-character subtitles (I am looking for simplified characters).
Can someone please help me find this for Christmas? :)
I would also be very interested in watching other cartoons (I find it easier and funnier to watch), so any suggestion is welcome!
Thanks a lot in advance.

It might be hard to find the show with simplified Chinese - according to this wikipedia, the Beijing government banned Cartoon Network in 2000. Thus, the company might start to focus on Freedom China (ROC, currently in and known as Taiwan).
However, there should be some way to get simplified Chinese caption. If you're lucky enough, you should be able to grab some traditional Chinese subtitle and turn the traditional characters into simplified ones with handy tools on the Net. (OS: Some of the tools rely on Google Translate, so 95% of the result should be correct, while it sometimes mixes some characters.)
By the way, I didn't try it yet cuz I'm doing in the other ways around - I'm a Chinese Taiwanese, so I'm looking for cartoons with English caption.

If you're looking for some other Chinese cartoon, I will suggest you 《喜羊羊与灰太狼》（《喜羊羊與灰太狼》，xǐ yáng yáng yǔ huī tài láng，ㄒㄧˇ ㄧㄤˊ ㄧㄤˊ ㄩˇ ㄏㄨㄟˉ ㄊㄞˋ ㄌㄤˊ，Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf） and 《熊出没》 （《熊出沒》，xióng chū mò，ㄒㄩㄥˊ ㄔㄨˉ ㄇㄛˋ，Boonie Bears）. Though the former in 2005 and the letter in 2012 are made by a Mainland Chinese company, they are my childhood and almost everyone in my high school can still remember its theme song.


How do 尤's 2021 meanings appertain to 尢? I can't read Chinese, and don't understand CUHK.  How does 尢 († lame; crippled) relate to 尤 (especially, particularly)? Yellowbridge.

尢 and 尤 are not related at all.
尢 is a crippled man with deformed legs as contrasted with the man in 大 having straight legs. Thus it means lame or crippled.
This character is no longer used in modern scripture and is written as 尪 with an additional 王 phonetic component.
尤 is possibly a variant form of hand 又 with an extra stroke probably representing a wound or wart which later became 疣.
Origins for 尤 is unclear to me though, but 又 is definitely a part of 尤.


How to say 孝 in English? How to say 孝 in English? It is be nice and somewhat comply to parent. But how to say it in English? Former discussion mentions about filial piety, but I am not sure. It looks like a rare and unpopular word, despite it may explain it precisely. In Disney movie Mulan, it translates to devotion to family. That's definitely a mistake. I bet Disney just choose a similar but popular virtue to make it easier to understand. Maybe there is just no such a virtue, and not even a word for it in Western culture?

I would say that you are correct. The term "filial piety" is not widely known or commonly discussed in the US except when learning about Chinese culture specifically (perhaps Japanese and Korean culture as well, as they were strongly influenced by Chinese culture in the pre-modern era). The notion of "devotion to family" is much more accessible to a US audience and filial piety is not a familiar concept, so I'm not surprised Disney presented it this way, even though it is not correct.
In my experience, in English the meaning of 孝 is given as filial piety, which I understand to be a complicated concept with a long history involving respect for one's parents and elders in accordance with Confucian teachings and tradition, which entails certain duties, obligations, rituals, and modes of speech and behavior. In Chinese history classes I attended at my university in the US and in Chinese textbooks used at Chinese universities to teach foreign students Chinese, 孝 was discussed in the context of Confucianism and what it means for people to behave properly (ethically, even).

In the history class we briefly discussed 悌 as well.
The textbook used in one of the Chinese classes at 北京语言大学 I attended is 阶梯汉语·中级口语3. One of the new words taught in lesson 4 (p. 32) is 孝敬, whose meaning is given as "present gifts to show one's respect"

To get a sense for how this concept is understood in the West, here is an article from the Greater China Journal: Filial Piety (孝) in Chinese Culture.


How do I resolve issues with my translation of a snippet about 观潮 (guāncháo = tide watching) from a 4-th grade Chinese book? This is the first part of 语文四年级上册 (a grade-4 Chinese textbook), and the transcript is here 观潮 (guāncháo = tide watching).

  钱塘江大潮，自古以来被称为天下奇观。
  　　农历八月十八是一年一度的观潮日。这一天早上，我们来到了海宁市的盐官镇，据说这里是观潮最好的地方。我们随着观潮的人群，登上了海塘大堤。宽阔的钱塘江横卧在眼前。江面很平静，越往东越宽，在雨后的阳光下，笼罩着一层蒙蒙的薄雾。镇海古塔、中山亭和观潮台屹立在江边。远处，几座小山在云雾中若隐若现。江潮还没有来，海塘大堤上早已人山人海。大家昂首东望，等着，盼着。

I translate this to:

  Qiantang River's big lake, since ancient times has been known as Earthly wonder.
  The lunar calendar's 8-th month 18-th day is the annual tide-watching.  This day in the morning, we come to Haining city's Yanguan district; reportedly, here is tide-watching's best place.  We, along with a tide-watching group, climb over the large seawall [海塘大堤].  Wide Qiantang River reclines [横卧] in front of our eyes. The surface of the river is tranquil, incrementally moving east and wider [越往东越宽]; in the after-rain sunshine, there is an enveloping layer of drizzly mist. In Zhenhai distict and Guta district, Zhongshan pavilion and tide-watching terraces tower on the river bank.  In the distance, a few small mountains in the mist are faintly discernible.  The river's tide has not yet come, and on the large seawall for a long time there's been a vast crowd.  Everyone [昂首东望 (?)], waiting, anticipating.

I encounter a few issues here:

I'm not sure how to interpret 海塘大堤 (hǎitáng dàdī): we have both 海塘 (seawall) and 大堤 (levee) which seem redundant.  Could 海塘 be the name of the 大堤?
横卧 (héngwò) translates to "to recline", but it seems strange that a river "reclines".  This doesn't make sense to me.
I'm not sure if I'm interpreting 越往东越宽 correctly.  I think it means the river (or lake) is incrementally moving eastwards and getting wider. Google Translate gives "the more eastward the wider", which is not so clear to me.
I unclear about 昂首东望 (ángshǒu dōng wàng): 昂首 means to raise one's head, but 东 means "East" and 望 means "to hope".  Google Translate gives "looking east", which is probably accurate.

Question: How do I resolve issues with my translation of a 观潮?

海塘大堤 is a particular type of levee. Not all levees are seawalls. See this and this.

横卧：It as a figurative use. The river is there like a person lying there. Something like that.

越往东越宽: There is no verb here. So no "moving".
往 is not a verb here. It is a preposition that means "towards".
This just describes the rive, which is wider in the eastward. "The more eastward the wider".

昂首东望: 望 is not "hope" here. It means "look". The phrase means: raising one's head and looking east.


Does "太 + adjectival verb + 了" mean the change? I just learned that if you end the sentence with adjectival verb + 了, it means indicating a change. For example,

你高了。

This means "You got taller.", which is different from 你很高, which just means "You are tall.".
However, 太 can also be frequently used along with 了 to modify an adjectival verb. For example,

东西太贵了。 (not 东西太贵。)
你太聪明了。 (not 你太聪明。)

In my textbook, these two sentences seem to just mean "Things are too expensive." and "You are too smart.", without any stress on the change.
So I wonder if 太 + adjectival verb + 了 doesn't indicate a change at all. Is this correct?
Also, if it doesn't indicate a change, how can I make the "太 + adjectival verb + 了" sentence indicate a change as well (e.g. “Thing got too expensive." or "You got too smart.")？

The full form of 你高了! is 你变高了！. So, there is an omission here. you can also see the similar expressions: 你（变）瘦了， 你（变）胖了，你（变）漂亮了... ...

‘太 + adjectival verb + 了’ has no omission of 变 there, so it doesn't convey a change. If you really want to indicate a change with this structure, you could add '现在'(now) in it. Like 你现在太聪明了!, it implies that you were not as smart as you are. It indicates you are getting smarter compared with the past.


口是心非 歌词 : “怕是怕” What does "x Shi x" mean? I was listening to one of my favorite Chinese songs, 口是心非 (duplicity) by 张雨生, and there's a line in the chorus that says

  于是爱恨交错人消瘦 怕是怕这些苦没来由

a) what does x 是 x mean?

b) what does it mean in this context?

c) what are other similar examples using this structure?

Thanks

To answer your questions:

a) what does x 是 x mean? Here the verb1 + 是 + verb1 is a common pattern used to emphasize the verb or to build up to the next part of the sentence.

b) what does it mean in this context? In this context it can be translated to "(what I am) afraid/scared is being afraid/scared of these pain/suffering without a reason/cause"

c) what are other similar examples using this structure? You can basically use this pattern on any verb, such as

Example 1

A: 气什么? What are you angry about?

B: 气是气在你的无知! Angry, I am angry about your naivety/ignorance!

Example 2

A: 等什么? What are you waiting for?

B: 等是等你准备好! Waiting is waiting for you to get ready!


How should I express 太 ~ 了 in a verb? 太 + adjective + 了 means "too ~". For example:

这个女人太漂亮了。
这个星期我太忙了。

However, how can I express the "too ~" phrase in a verb? For example:

I love her too much.

One possible solution is to use 很:

我很爱她。

Another possible solution is to use the degree complement - 得.

我爱她爱得太好。

But neither might not be the best choice here (I don't know). So is there any other or possibly more natural way for natives to express 太～了 pattern in a verb?

太 + verb + 了 can be a correct usage for some verbs. Like, 我太爱她了！ 我太喜欢了！

However, not all verbs can work in the structure of 太 + verb + 了.  So far, I don't have a good rule to sort out all the verbs that can work in this structure.

It seems that those verbs about one's feeling like 高兴，激动，兴奋，喜欢，爱，感动，can work.

能/会+verb can also be placed in  太 + 能+verb + 了, such as 太能/会玩了， 太能/会吃了，太能/会打了， ...

Subject + verb + 太 + adv + 了 is also possible. Like, 你球打得太棒了！ 太棒了！


How to translate “这帮丫头片子，也不知道都便宜哪帮孙子了”? I'm adding english subtitles to some mandarin movies, as volunteer and hobby. How to translate the following line better?
The main male character was waiting for his flight at the airport when he saw a group of young and beautiful stewardesses passing by, and was attracted by them, so soliloquized, “这帮丫头片子，也不知道都便宜哪帮孙子了”.
“丫头片子” is a Beijing dialect, meaning young girls. I can only think of the translation "chicks", but sounds a little weird. For “也不知道都便宜哪帮孙子了”，can only think of the translation “dunno which gang of boys finally caught away”, “caught away” sounds also weird, and the whole sentence sounds too literal.
“也不知道都便宜哪帮孙子了”，即：不知道被哪帮小子“钓”走了，“追”走了
Do you know of a better translation? (Note that this sentence is verbal)

'chicks' is a kind of unflattering nickname for 'girls', not a very accurate translation of '丫头片子' - '(immature, innocent, naive) young woman/ girl'.  However, in this context, the main character does sexualize them, Thus, both 'chicks' and 'young women/ girls' are a suitable translation
Personally, I would translate as follow:

这帮丫头片子 - These girls,/ This flock of chicks,

也不知道都便宜哪帮孙子了”. Who knows what bad boys are getting into their panties /  Who knows what bad boys are getting lucky with them

孙子 (grandkid) here is a 謔稱 (unflattering nickname) for men who are not mature or refine enough to be called upstanding
孙子 is seemingly a short form of 龟孙子 (unworthy rascals)-- a slang in Mandarin


How Should I Pronounce the Character 說 In This Lyric? Reading the following lyric (詞) of Nara Singde (納蘭性德), set to the tune 念奴嬌, where rhyming characters are enclosed in parentheses according to this reference:

怕見人去樓空，柳枝無恙，猶掃窗間(月)。
無分暗香深處住，悔把蘭襟親(結)。
尚暖檀痕，猶寒翠影，觸緒悲(切)。
愁多成病，此愁知向誰(說)。

I am confused about how the rhyme is supposed to work for 說, since it quite clearly (at least to me) has its ordinary meaning "to speak" (shuo1) but seems to be read closer to yue4: and 仄聲.  However every reference source I can find, including classical references, indicate that whenever it is read as yue4 it is strictly as an equivalent character to 悅, "to delight in/be delightful" (e.g. 不亦說乎).  Its third standard reading - shui4 - doesn't make sense semantically and also fails the rhyme pattern.

My question is - is the reconstructed "old" pronunciation of 說<->"speak" closer to yue4 or anything else that would explain why the rhyme is permissible here?  Or, is it "ok" in lyrics to play fast and loose with the pronunciation/semantic rules, so that this character can be pronounced as 悅 but still somehow keep its semantic meaning of shuo1?

More generally, are there any good reference works concerning these technical issues of Chinese poetry/lyric scansion to which a kind friend can direct me?

Take a look at this video. This lady tried to use the pronunciation que to rhyme with other e or e endings. It's a lyric by 柳永. The second paragraph goes like this:

多情自古伤离别，更那堪，冷落清秋节！
今宵酒醒何处？杨柳岸，晓风残月。
此去经年，应是良辰好（或“美”）景虚设。
便纵有千种风情，更与何人说！

Note that it's not exactly "古音". She just sang in Mandarin and borrowed the 说 sound from somewhere else. I don't know where she borrowed it, but it's a bit strange. The rhyme seems to be working in modern 吴语, 粤语 and some other vernaculars, but none of them uses a plosive consonant. IMO if we read in Mandarin and try to rhyme, it's probably best to read it as xue4.

Anyway, mandarin sucks when you try to read classical poems. We can use workarounds for vowels. As for the tones, there is nothing we could do..

词林正韵 is a good starter's book for rhymes in classical poems. It tells you what rhymes with what, but it doesn't tell you how they pronounce.


What does 論 mean in 時情天意枉論量？ The meaning of 論, when pronunced as lún, has already been listed in the answer by @user-487 in another question. However, none of those meaning seems appropriate in the following famous 朝中措 by 元好問：

  時情天意枉論量，樂事苦相忘。……

“通‘倫’，事物的條理、秩序” sounds acceptable, but still makes me feel strange. Is there any reliable sources that clarify the meaning of 論 here?

論量/论量 ㄌㄨㄣˋ ㄌㄧㄤˊ/ lùn liáng

依《漢語大詞典》，有二義：

評論、計較。
　唐吳兢《貞觀政要‧論任賢》：“至於論量人物，直道而言。”
　金元好問《論詩》詩之三十：“撼樹蚍蜉自覺狂，書生技癢愛論量。”
猶思量。
　元袁桷《睡覺東西書燈猶明喜勉元達兼示瑾子》詩：“師友淵源端有緒，老夫推枕起論量。”

此處“枉論量”是指“沒什麼好談論計較的”。枉, 白費 (useless)；論，談論 (to talk about, to argue)；量，較量 (to compete with)。

根據《康熙字典》：論
《玉篇》力困切，《廣韻》《集韻》《韻會》《正韻》盧困切；同崘，去聲，義同。
所以，古時即有去聲。


Which dialect of Chinese has the fewest tones? Standard Cantonese has six tones, Minnan, spoken primarily in Taiwan and Fujian, has five to seven; and so on down to Mandarin, based on the Beijing dialect, which has only four.  (I don't count neutral "tone", as it is conditioned by its environment).

Are there any dialects that have fewer than four? Examples of pronunciation would be very helpful, as would any references in the scholarly literature.

Postscript:

Sorry! In asking the question I should have considered the difference between "phonetic" tones and "phonemic" tones.  Different analyses can come up with different tone inventories and different numbers of tones. Thanks for the clarifying comment below.

I am not sure, but probably the Shanghai dialect (上海话), which is said to have only two tones or rather pitch accents: low and high.


Can anyone tell me what this jacket says (Characters identified: 盖世英雄) Help i have a jacket here that I want to buy but I need to know what it says and the site does not provide that information

read right to left, top to bottom:

盖世：gàishì：unrivalled
英雄: yīngxióng: hero


Modern words to compliment a beautiful woman/girl beauty I am looking for two modern Chinese words to compliment a beautiful girl. Here are what I have found: 美女，宝贝，女神。are there any thing else?

The other words that I can think of, but doesn't really works are: 如花, 佳麗, 天仙, 淑女, 仙子. because you would not say this when you see a beauty: hey, 如花，吃饭没有？

And also, why are there so many 4-words Chinese phrases to describe a beauty? To name a few: 閉月羞花 沉魚落雁 傾國傾城 國色天香 天生麗質 清麗脫俗 花容月貌 明眸皓齒  美艷絕世........................................

Are Chinese scholars really into hot and cute chicks?

美女 is the safest choice.

宝贝 is used to call someone (boy or girl) who's in a romantic relationship with you, or you call a baby girl (usually aged < 10) 宝贝.

女神 nowadays has some negative meanings and is not recommended.

Other similar choices are 小美女，靓妹.

An example in wechat:


Names in original Chinese How do write the Cantonese name below in Chinese? I only know them in the

Ho Ling (first name, I only know the "English phonetic version")
Cheung (last name)

In case it's Cantonese (which looks like it):

Ho Ling - 何玲 / 可玲 (I should add that there are actually multiple words that can be fit into these phonetic)

Cheung - 張 / 蔣


Difference between 晃, 摇, 抖, 荡, 摆, 挥, 颤 and 滚 What is the difference between all these waving and shaking verbs?
My reseach gave me these results:

滚 - to roll (like a wheel does).
晃 - to rock from left to right (like a wind blowing on the side of the boat).  Or, as some say, 晃 is connected to "visual swinning" like a lantern on a thread or tree leaves waving and  thus blocking and unblocking the sun's light which passing through the tree top.
荡 - to rock from front to back making large swings? Nose dipping - back raising and so on.. Like a child on a swing (a hanging seat).
摇 - to spin in one place (to spin on spot)? Etymology suggest it's a depiction of a process of making some pottery using potter's wheel. So spinning sence should come from this process. There is also a phrase 摇电话. Why use 摇 with电话? Maybe it comes from the old telephones with a disk number plate? But on the other hand some say it is "to shake" as a bell shakes when ringing.
摆 - to wag a tail (like a dog), but then what is the difference with 晃? Can a dog 晃 it's tail?
抖 - ?
挥 - to wave, but what's so special about this kind of "waving"?
颤 - ?

I guess the difference between all those verbs might be in the:

direction of waving/swining. UpDown vs LeftRight vs BackForth.
ability to use those verbs in specific tense. (like 往往 is used for past and 常常 is for present and future tense)
amplitude of movement.

p.s. any etymology info which might help to differentiate between those verbs are much appreciated.

滚 : to boil;
to roll;
Get lost!

https://bkrs.info/slovo.php?ch=%E6%BB%9A

No definitions or words explicitly relating to waving or shaking

荡 (dang4)： pond, pool; wash away, cleanse + shake

https://bkrs.info/slovo.php?ch=%E8%8D%A1

The definition 'shake/swing' appears to be more literary. It resembles the swaying movement of a boat or reed in a pond.

I would add that in my experience it's counterproductive to seek differences in meaning of individual characters without context, as many characters are not used on their own but form parts of actual words.

The rest of the question would be better phrased as the difference between 摇动 摆动 晃动 抖动
and 挥动

挥动 is used when a person is waving some thing, because 挥 is also used in words to mean to command

摆动 is used for oscillating movement

摇动 would be your typical word for shake

I see 晃动 used a lot with liquids. It expresses shaking to and fro, oscillating up/down, or shaking in waves (that's why dogs don't 晃 their tail)

抖动 and 颤动 are both about trembling

抖动 is simpler lower frequency trembling, 颤动 is higher frequency trembling

抖动 is local 颤动 is global


How to say "Your eyes whispered:'Have we met?' "in Chinese? It's from Taylor's songEnchanted.I need an answer as close to it as possible.

A quick baiduing revealed:

Wenku (Baidu):

  Your eyes whispered "Have we met?" 你的眼低于呢喃，我们是否曾经遇

Zhidao (Baidu):

  Your eye's whispered "have we met?" 你的眼睛悄悄向我传达着“我们以前见过吗”

Tieba (Baidu)

  你迷人双眼像是在低语“我们曾否见过面？”

  Your eyes whispered "have we met?"

Music (Baidu)

  Your eyes whispered "have we met?" / 你眼低语：“我们见过？”

...lot's of translations online, take your pick...


How do you "know about things" in Chinese? What's the easiest or most common way? 我对中国的地理知识还了解得不太多。

This is quite a complex way to say "I don't know too much about geography of China".

How do you say it easilier?
I'm sure you can use both 知道 or 了解. But is 对 the only correct translation of "about" here? Can you say it using 关于?
What would be the most common way to say it?

我不太了解中国的地理

我不太熟悉中国的地理

You can replace 对 with 跟 or 和 if you like.


Is 是 being used as a measure word in this sentence? The sentence is:

  现在，中国网民总数已经超过美国人口总数，但美国网购人数占其全部人口的75%，中国则只有25%左右，而且，中国网购消费者年均消费额仅为美国消费者的1/5。于刚认为，这是差距， 更是中国电子商务的潜力。

Is '是‘ in 这是差距 working as a 量词？Or should I read 'this is a disparity'?

Not a measure word. Just the usual meaning of "be".


How should I translate 属地化？ In my text I have 2 sentences with 属地化。‘属地化管理’ is a phrase which can be easily found in 百度。 Does it have more connotations than 'regional management'? '属地‘ seems to mean 'dependency', as in a region which is dependent on a geographically separate area, such as a colony， so it has more meaning than '地区‘ or '区域性’. Is it ok to translate '属地化‘ just as 'regional'？ I suppose 'regional management' implies an overarching 'central management'.

于是我们开始按照全新的属地化原则来管理海外市场， 也就是说，我们每到一地， 除了财务管理有集团外拍人员控制外，市场建设和网络维护人员均从当地招聘产生。

and

属地化的人才建立以后，集团的市场开拓出现了怎样的局面？

于是我们开始按照全新的属地化原则来管理海外市场

Thus, we began to manage our overseas markets according to the new 'regional management principle', ....

属地化的人才建立以后

After having set up regional personnel,

There is an article on 属地原则 at 互动百科. It seems to be some variation of the territoriality principle, but that's public international law, and I've found several places where it's used to talk about regional versus national authority. Hard to say how to translate if Chinese has adapted a word to its own purposes.
(Dang! Second paragraph got chopped off, added below; also a comment on the correct translation given in the comments above)
If you add a 化 -ize, 属地化 would apparently mean something like 'territorialize', definitely no colonial implications though. The 属地化管理 article at 百度 gives a bunch of odd definitions, including the transfer of geological surveys from the State Council to the provincial level, or the transfer of "family management" responsibilities to local authorities for the "mobile population".  None of this fits in very well with the examples given, which all involve overseas business.  Would "territorially based management" work?
Localized management
As  user3306356 notes above, "localized management" is the correct translation. Quite interesting; "Localized management" on google leads to articles on control  of white-tailed deer, sinus and prostate problems, and apparently some kind of server-network controls. "Localization management" is mixed up with these, but that's all about translating stuff for international businesses.
When "localized management" in a business context does turn up, most of the references are to Chinese sources.  This looks like a case where Chinese has managed to establish a new usage in English. Can anyone find "localized management" in business that is not from China based sources?


How to figure out the rhythm of new materials (poems, rhymes, etc)? I'm always confused how to split up/figure out the rhythm & rhyme of new Chinese materials like poems, limericks and rhymes.

If it's more pedestrian, it's easier to figure out like: (where x is a character)

xxx

xxx

xxx

xxx

but usally they go something more like:

xxxx

xxxxx

xxx, xxx

xxx

xxxxxxxx

xxx, xxx

xxxx, xxxx

just for instance.

How to figure out the rhythm of new materials (poems, rhymes, etc)?

You do not have to and cannot figure out the rhyme of the majority of modern Chinese poetry.
Because the rhyme is not necessary for it.

新诗 can be classified into the following styles according to the Wikipedia.

  3.1 分行诗 (lined format)
      3.1.1 自由诗 (free verse) the most popular style
      3.1.2 格律诗 (verse) out-of-date
  3.2 分段诗 (散文诗 prose poetry or prose verse) out-of-date
  3.3 图象诗 (calligram) out-of-date

The Wikipedia also mentions that 自由诗的特点是没有固定的结构、节奏，也不一定要押韵。
Free verse is characterized by the absence of a fixed structure and rhythm, and does not have to rhyme.

So, don't bother yourself about it.


How can I improve my translation? 拥有豪华的住宅和一批在菲律宾。 开放的外国护照持有人。 拥有您梦寐以求的房子在该国的，而不仅仅是一座公寓式的！

ENGLISH

  Own luxurious house and lot in the Philippines. Open for Foreign passport holders. Own you dream house in the country and not just  a condominium(apartment)!

Is there any discrepancy with my mandarin translation? If so please help in correct my errors. 谢谢!

Original translation is very unclear.  The original Enligsh style should not be directly translated into Chinese.
"Own" might be translated to 购入/购置.  And "a lot" should be translated to 其他豪华物资/资产 I guess?

I guess this is an advertisement?

It should be (sentences reordered and more advertisement-like) "住惯了公寓，想拥有属于自己的梦幻别墅？只需要您拥有护照，即可在菲律宾购入豪华别墅以及更多菲律宾资产".


How can I interpret 不要为你的美丽伤了我? A sign near some grass says:

不要为你的美丽伤了我

And an English translation says:

Don't hurt me for your pretty

That's pretty close to what google translate says — and I can't see any reason to dispute it. But I can't make sense of the sentence. (I might guess from the context it's something like "don't step on the lawn" or "no littering or vandalism" or something like that. So what on earth could it mean?

This is quite typical of language in mainland-Chinese public service announcement type signs, which tend to be quite "cutesy" in tone. Stuff like personifying inanimate objects (such as flowers) and writing it from the object's point of view fits with this tone.
The literal meaning is:

don't hurt me for [the sake of] your beauty

Which I suppose is hinting that the reason you might trample the grass is to take an attractive selfie/photo.
Edit: From the photo you attached, it's more likely referring to the flowers than the grass (in other words, don't harm the flowers by picking them).


Is 起 too formal to use in day to day writing？ I read recently in a piece of poetry the sentence  ”从明天起， 我会做一个幸福的人“ － what is the difference between this and, say, "从明天开始？“. Is 起 significantly more formal?  Could I use it in day to day writing? (Say a diary?)

To answer directly towards your questions,

Is 起 significantly more formal?

No, it is not. It is commonly used in spoken language, casual writings and formal writings.

Could I use it in day to day writing? (Say a diary?)

Yes, and it sounds perfectly natural.

”从明天起， 我会做一个幸福的人“ － what is the difference between this and say "从明天开始？“.

As the other answer suggested, 从明天起 means 'from ... onward; ever since ...' which is making a statement, a bold prediction or an oath for a future result. E.g.

  从明天起我就再也不抽烟了。After today I will never smoke anymore.

从明天开始 means 'starting from tomorrow', which is most commonly used when you're telling an execution plan. E.g.

  从明天开始我每天少抽一根烟，直到戒掉为止。Starting tomorrow, I'll be using one less cigarette every day until I completely quit.

In practice the difference is very subtle and people use them interchangeably. In situations where the difference really matters, people tend to use more elaborated and explicit way to disambiguate them.


How best translate 真的要 in to english I got the following sentence from Chinese pod:
对不起，我今天真的要扫你的兴了，我不能去。
The translation provided goes like this:
Sorry, today I'm going to take the wind from your sails, I can't go.

Though I feel a little bit uncomfortable with it, wouldn't it be better to translate these three Hanzi with:

really have to?!

I think you can use 'for real' as 真的要, as it have the meaning for really or actually.


Do we say 星期五早上 or 早上星期五? Would we literally say Friday morning (星期五早上) in Chinese or the morning of Friday (早上星期五)? Do we say the day first or the time of the day?
Thanks,
Soccergirl

In China, we usually use "xīngqí wǔ zǎoshang".
今天早上
明天早上
下星期一下午
We always put the time of a day after the day.


Why are intermediate cardinal directions read differently in Chinese? I am referring to the fact that in English, we say "northeast", whereas in Chinese, the equivalent direction is called 东北, which literally translates to "east-north". One could say the same about "northwest" => 西北 (west-north), "southeast" => 东南 (east-south), and "southwest" => 西南 (west-south).

It seems that in Chinese, the principal directions are east-west, with north-south being the secondary. This is in contrast to English. Is there a reason why?

In Chinese,

East/West comes before North/South: e.g. the phrase 东西南北
East comes before West
South comes before North: e.g. 南北朝, 南拳北腿

In asking why these particular orders, we're begging the question of why the Western cardinal directions are in their order? That is:

North/South comes before East/West
East comes before West
North comes before South

After examining reasons for both, hopefully it will become clear why the orders are the way they are.
There are two differences to consider:

whether the East/West axis comes before the North/South, and
whether North comes before South

Warning: there's a lot of guesswork here; if anyone has better reasons or evidence please contribute, which is why I'm making this a CW answer
Why is East/West more important than North/South?
If you were a prehistoric human and observed your world, the sun would be one of the most notable features of your world. It would be easy to notice that every day, it moves from one side of the sky to the other: East to West.
So it should be easy to see why East/West is so important, and why East comes before West. There is evidence that in Western cultures, East once had primacy too, especially in the Medieval period, where most maps were East-oriented. It was also related to the phrase "to orient", where orient also means East.

Why did North/South become more important than East/West?
This leads to the question of why did North/South become more important. The answer is simple:

The compass's influence cannot be understated - it isn't one of the four great inventions of ancient China for no reason - as it was immensely useful for navigation and seafaring. North/South became more important in China too, at least for navigation and cartography, as evidenced in this map dating from the Ming dynasty:

Why is North more important than South, and vice versa?
Which leads to the final question, why North is before South for the West, and South before North at least in the Chinese language. This may be the hardest question to answer, so let's go back to first principles, look at the reasons why North became important in the West, and see if those same reasons or different ones are at play for China:

Compasses point North (but they also point South!)
The North Star, Polaris, is visible in the Northern Hemisphere; no stars pointing South would be visible
Egocentricity: people associate up with good, so naturally they'd orient themselves at the top of maps relative to their neighbours. In Medieval times, the greatest enemy to Europeans were various Islamic sultanates, generally located to their South.
Ptolemy oriented his maps North; in his time the most interesting places were in the North which may have influenced his decision.

What about China then?

For most of China's history, their greatest external threats were various nomadic cultures to their North. Look no further than the walls they built for evidence of this.

These reasons are not that convincing, but hopefully they are a start. It's interesting to see that Chinese maps were once South oriented, but eventually they became North oriented too, leaving the word ordering as a legacy of ancient times.


Where can I find resources to improve my listening ability? I am currently studying for the HSK1 exam, I can read the vast majority of the required vocab and know the pinyin for most of the words but I am having a lot of trouble understanding the audio on the mock exam audio tracks.

Ideally, I would love a website that plays me a short sentence and test my transcription ability, but I can not find any services that offer this.

Does something like this exist? Or is there something else I can use to practise my (very basic) listening skills?

http://www.sexymandarin.com is suitable for beginners…
I haven't got anything good for exam preparation but if u wanna learn it in depth it's better to find a native speaker and listen to him speaking


What does 看得开 and 看不开 mean? This sentence is very hard for me to translate.

  许多事情，看得开是好；看不开，终归也要熬过去。别以为看不开就不会过去

My try: "Have a lot of problems, Kan De Kai is good; Kan Bu Kai, in the end will still be angry (??). Don't think if Kan Bu Kai means can't go through."

Does not make sense at all. Appreciate your help.

Just so you have another interpretation. As far as I read the sentence, 看得开 means "letting go" and 看不开 means "clinging on". Another hard point in this sentence is the structure "... 是好 ...也...". The original structure should be "...也好...也罢" which can be construed as "either... or..." or "for better for worse". Here 好 does not mean good. It just mean "if it is so". So the first sentence means that "either you let it go, or cling on it, you will get through". So what the sentence actually means is this:

许多事情，看得开是好；看不开，终归也要熬过去。别以为看不开就不会过去
A lot of things in this world will of course fade away if you let it go; yet even if you simply cling on it, you will still get through. Don't you ever think that it will never end as long as you cling on.

My translation is very crude, mainly because I can't convey the same tone as it is in Chinese. This sentence have a really Taoist tone that for better for worse, things will run on it's own course. It doesn't matter how you think of it. The only difference is that if you cling on it, you need to endure more (熬).


What famous word or phrase can I use to tell people my surname is 袁? I know in Chinese people sometimes use other common words or phrases to tell people what characters their Chinese name has.

My Chinese name is Yuan Li Heng (袁禮恒)

For Li I can say Li Wu 禮物 and for Heng I can say Yong Heng 永恒. Yuan is a little harder because from I've heard, it's more just a common surname.

What's usually the best way to tell people what character it is in Chinese if the character itself doesn't really have any associated meanings?

Just mention a famous person with that surname, e.g.

袁紹 from the Three Kingdoms
袁崇煥, patriot, martyr, and brilliant military commander who was instrumental in repelling the Jurchens for the Ming Dynasty
袁世凱, first president of the Republic of China


A confusing use of 这种将 In this cold weather my brain won't function! Help!

I can find several examples of 这种将

This text is about 沙画。

In the examples 1 and 2 below, I think I can understand what 将 is doing, it is the same as 把，but in my sentence, I can't see what 将 refers to. I think I could rewrite 1a. to 1b. and 2a. to 2b. Are the b-versions correct?

1a. 他就是这种将生命系于理论的人。
1b. 他就是这种系生命于理论的人。
2a. 这种将图纸发出进行投标的工作, 是由采购部门进行的。

2b. 这种发出图纸进行投标的工作, 是由采购部门进行的。

What is 将 doing in the sentence below?? Is it a correct sentence? How can I rewrite it without 将？？

这种将静态的美术作品以动态方式呈现出来的艺术形式，增添了作品的生命力。

EDIT: Thanks a lot for the answers. It looks like I have this:

这种艺术方式增添了作品的生命力。

then the adjectival phrase:

[以动态方式来呈现静态美术作品的]

together gives Dan's sentence:

这种[以动态方式来呈现静态美术作品的]艺术形式，增添了作品的生命力。

and the original used 将.

The phrase in {} could be moved to further down if we don't use 将：

这种将{静态的美术作品}[以动态方式呈现出来{}的]艺术形式，增添了作品的生命力。

That was hard for me to follow!

这种将静态的美术作品以动态方式呈现出来的艺术形式，增添了作品的生命力。

将 here means 把. One possible rewiting without 将:

  这种以动态方式来呈现静态美术作品的艺术形式，增添了作品的生命力。

Your two 'b's are okay.


What website will speak Cantonese to me? My parents are born in Hong Kong so I can speak Cantonese semi-fluently, although I cannot write.

I've been learning Mandarin and I find that my cantonese has been useful because if the word is used in Cantonese as well, its fairly easy to know the usage.

I find that a lot of the times I'm translating Mandarin into Cantonese into english basically.

I was wondering if anyone has come across a voice program / website similar to Google translate, which allows you to enter some characters in and it'll say it in Cantonese. All the ones I've come across so far speak in Mandarin.

This one from 香港中文大学
it's easy to search for cantonese resources from HK websites.


Is there any difference between 相濡以沫 and 以沫相濡? I encountered the following sentence:

  他们都一直相濡以沫，患难与共。

I looked up the entry on Pleco, and although it shows the meaning, it also redirects toward 以沫相濡, which seems to have the same meaning (as well as 濡沫).

So I wonder whether it is OK to assume that these are just synonyms and have no difference, or have any meaningful (even if tiny) difference.

Also, is this kind of Chengyu (the first and last two characters are flipped) common? And if it is practically same, why do these different forms exist in the first place?

Also, is this kind of Chengyu (the first and last two characters are flipped) common?

No, it's not common.

相濡以沫 is the most people would use. 以沫相濡 is not that common, though we can understand it.

We don't usually flip the character order in idioms.


Why is 很多 sometimes before the noun and sometimes after the noun? I have sometimes seen 很多 after the noun and sometimes before and I don't understand what the reason is for it being in different places.
For instance, here it follows the noun, "活动":

中国的居民社区的休闲活动很多
There are many leisure activities in the residential communities of China.

However, in another sentence I've seen, it comes before the noun, "社区":

在中国，很多社区都有 老年大学 ，经常组织书法课堂活动。
In China, many communities have old people’s universities which often organize calligraphy classes.

Similarly, before the noun phrase, "退休的老年":

很多退休的老年居民都参加这个活动。Many retired elderly residents participate in this activity.

What is the reason for these various locations of 很多?

社区的休闲活动很多 is a [topic]+[comment] sentence

[社区的休闲活动] is the [topic]

[很多] is the [comment]

[社区的休闲活动][很多] = Community recreational activities are plenty

"很多社区的休闲活动" = "Many community recreational activities" (it is an incomplete sentence)

政府資助很多社区的休闲活动 = The government subsidizes recreational activities in many communities

It is a [svo] sentence. The adjective '很多' (many) is directly placed before the noun phrase 区的休闲活动 to modify it.

More example:
公園(是)很大的 = Parks are big - [Topic: 公園 + comment: (是)很大的]
很大的公園 = A big park [SVO]
公園很大 = (this) park is big - [Topic: (this) 公園 + comment: 很大]


What are the characters in this seal script inscription on an ancestral altar? (Characters identified: 孝思維則) Hi, this four character inscription is on an ancestral altar which contains two spirit tablets. I am unsure of the more modern equivalents of these characters and would be grateful for any assistance.

as @drooze revealed, it's "孝思維則"
reading from right to left:
孝: http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=孝
思: http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=思
維: http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=維
則: http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=則
the verse is original from 詩經　大雅　文王之什　下武:

成王之孚
下土之式
永言孝思
孝思維則

the ctext.org has a translation:

He secured the confidence due to a king,
And became a pattern of all below him.
Ever thinking how to be filial,
His filial mind was the model [which he supplied].

https://ctext.org/book-of-poetry/xia-wu


Is there a Chinese equivalent song of 'auld lang syne'? In Western countries (or New Zealand at least), auld lang syne is a very common song over the the New Year holiday. Is there an equivalent song in Chinese that everyone instantly associates with Chinese new year? Or are there a range of popular new year songs?

In fact, this famous song has a Chinese version called 《友谊地久天长》(the friendship will last forever), however, we traditionally don't sing songs to celebrate over festivals, so this song is not popular in this peroid of time.

I can't think of such a popular song as "auld lang syne" in the west. Over this period, you wll find a lot of songs(different melodies, different lyrics, different singers) with the same theme "happy new year" on the street or in the markets(to convey the happiness or to attract more customers). I would like to recommend Timi Zhuo(卓依婷), a female singer famous for her "new year" type songs.


What's the correct pronunciation for 骠骑? 骠骑, meaning "very fast horse", was also the name of a general rank in ancient China (骠骑将军, roughly meaning "General of the Flying Cavalry"). How is it correctly pronounced?

Both 骠 and 骑 have two different pronunciations, piào/biāo and qí/jì. Interestingly, I've seen and heard all sorts of different pronunciations for 骠骑:

biāo qí

http://cidian.xpcha.com/54agc0e8y42.html

piào qí

http://www.iciba.com/骠骑将军
http://www.baike.com/wiki/骠骑

piào jì

http://www.zdic.net/c/0/2f/71249.htm (Guoyu version; interestingly the same page lists piào qí for the main entry)

So then the question comes: which one is right? Are there regional differences? Are there different correct versions? Are they all correct?

Interesting, I saw reasons for several pronunciations.
(Sorry for leaving some 文言(ancient Chinese)because I don't know how to properly translate from ancient Chinese to English)
The origin of this word:《史记·卫将军骠骑列传》：

冠军霍去病既侯三岁，元狩二年春，以冠军霍去病为骠骑将军，将万骑出陇西，有功。
【集解】徐广曰：“骠，一作‘剽’” :骠 can be also written as '剽' piāo
【正义】《说文》云：“骠(biāo)，黄马鬣白色，一曰白髦尾” 骠 is yellow horse with write hair on head or neck, also said has a write tail

(Both 集解 and 正义 are famous comments on 史记)
And after looking up my dictionary, initially I think the answer is piào which means brave.
For 骑, qí means riding, jì means the person who rides horse.

以霍去病为骠骑将军，将万骑 (I simplified the sentence here)

means assigned 霍去病 as 骠骑将军, then commanded ten thousands of 骑(cavalryman)
I can't infer a certain conclusion which one should be chosen:
qí : the name is saying something about the person's riding
jì : it's 骑将军 who commands 骑(cavalryman)
Personally speaking, I think the later is more reasonable and the former is a bit meaningful.
In fact this question is somehow opinion-based because answering it requires interpreting ancient articles which is debatable.


How to translate "leach" (as in "toxic chemicals leach into ground water")? For example:

It's not safe to drink from PVC pipes, because PVC can leak poisons into the water.
Fracking can cause toxic chemicals to leach into ground water.

The translation I found was 滤去, but 滤 means to filter, so I'm not sure if that's the proper translation.

If you look at what Chinese website say about fracking, you can see for example:

PetroChina:

  报告认为，水力压裂可能出现的危险在于在压裂过程中可能出现液体溢出，压裂直接渗透到地下水资源中以及对废水的不当处理和排放等方面。

So CNPC uses 渗透 to say that the chemicals get into the ground water.

As for your other example regarding PVC:

  　　生物污染主要是由于管材氧渗透和透光使管内的水介质滋生细菌；化学性污染主要来自于管道接触材料的渗透。

Again they use 渗透 to indicate how the chemicals/bacterial get into the water.

Note: As the comments note, some other ways you  might say this could include 渗入 and 进入.


Is it possible to use the verb particle 过 for future events? I know it's possible to the use perfective aspect particle 了 for future events, eg:

  你家少爷长大了准能当个二流子。

I have yet to find example of similar occurrences with 过. Is it even possible to use it in other situations than past events?

In short, yes, only for events in the near future.

  等我喫過(了)，咱們再走。 (= 喫了再走)
  等我玩過(了)，咱們再走。 (= 玩了再走) It's better to use "玩夠了" in this case.
  等我弄過(了)，咱們再走。 (= 弄了再走)

You must say "等 sb" to make it natural.

Note: this is less used than only a "了".


Describing a person that can speak Mandarin Yesterday I met a person that can speak Mandarin. We had a nice chat and I was going over it in my head today. I want to tell another friend that I met someone that can speak mandarin, but I'm having trouble with the grammar. My first thought is

昨天我认识一个人可以说普通话。(Zuótiān wǒ rèn shí yīgè rén kěyǐ shuō pǔtōnghuà.)

But then I thought that the part about being able to speak Mandarin was something describing the person and so maybe it should come before 人 and I should use 的 (de) to tie them together. So it would be something like

昨天我认识一个会说普通话的人。(Zuótiān wǒ rèn shí yīgè huì shuō pǔtōnghuà de rén.)

What do you think?

I just want to expand on what is being said in the comments about context. One of the problems of speaking a language other than your first language is getting across the point of what you are trying to say, not just saying your main point but making yourself fully understood.

Think about this in the context of English. If you were going to say "Yesterday I met someone who could speak English". If you were saying the sentence in English to someone else who understood English, in most cases it would have the listener wondering what your point was. Especially in this case as you are the foreigner, in terms of speaking Chinese, you are the special case.

So maybe you want to say "I met another foreigner who can speak Chinese" or "I met a Chinese person and I was able to practice my Chinese speaking with them".

I understand this doesn't answer directly what you are asking, but getting your real point across is an important step in going from learner to expert.

When I just started out learning my wife used to say to me, stop for a second, tell me in English what you really want to say and then start your sentence again.


How come the first tone in the character of 边 in the word 东边 is not written? I am reading my textbook and I notice that the the pinyin next to

东边

is written as

dōngbian

Why is the first tone not present on the bian? The weird thing is that in my other textbook the pinyin translation of 东边 shows both the first tones present?

Can someone explain to me this, I do not remember there being a rule like this?

In Chinese, there is the neutral tone (轻声) which does not have any tone marks.

In the word 东边, the "边" can be pronounced with a neutral tone.


Why does 首饰的饰 have the 饣radical? According to my sources 饣 means "food" or "eat". Since when do people eat jewelry?

TL;DR : 饣 is the phonetic, not the signific.
饣, which is simplified from 食, is the radical of 饰/飾 only in the sense that it is listed that way in a Chinese dictionary. It is not the meaning-bearing part of the character. Here are two possible analyses. In both cases, 饣 is contributing to the pronunciation, not the meaning:

飾 = 食 (phonetic: shi2) + 布 (signific: cloth)

飾 = 飤 (phonetic: si4) + 巾 (signific: cloth)

飾 = 食 (phonetic: shi2) + [人 + 巾] (signific: person + cloth)

The first analysis might seem the most plausible, given the character's present appearance, but if you look at the seal script forms for 飾 and for 布, you'll see that the right side of 飾 doesn't really look much like 布.

The second analysis has the appeal that it's a simple phonetic + signific, but @Claw points out that both 飾 and 食 are checked-syllables in Cantonese, while 飤 is not. This indicates that 食 is a much better phonetic match to 飾.

As alluded to in 1, the right side (in seal script) doesn't look like 布, it looks like 巾 underneath a 人-like fragment. As pointed out by another answerer, cloth+person is a good signific for "decorate".

Edit: Added analysis #3, which Claw suggests is the most plausible, incorporating his arguments.


Expressing "tea is not just a drink" I encountered a misunderstanding today due to my poor Chinese language skill. What could I have done better?

I was standing in a German hospital and a native Chinese asked me if I wanted tea or coffee - both being offered by a third party, namely the hospital nurse, coming with a tray. I opted for coffee. She expressed the assumption that I didn't like drinking tea, so I felt forced to clarify what politeness would otherwise have kept me from saying. Tea (mostly Chinese tea) is very important for my family and  I delight in its preparation. I wanted to make clear that I can drink mediocre coffee but not mediocre tea. I used Chinese, to avoid the hospital people understanding the criticism of the tea. I said

  我不喝這種茶（就是用茶包泡的茶）。對我來說茶不只是一個飲品而已，就是一個生活方式。

But she understood the exact opposite of what I meant. Only after saying:

  我習慣了喝不怎麼樣的咖啡，就不能習慣喝不怎麼樣的茶

did I manage to convey my message. What were my mistakes?

I think your Chinese counterpart got confused because you mentioned the importance of drinking tea as part of your lifestyle, yet refusing the tea she offered. Your subsequent clarification on your preference to drink mediocre coffee rather than mediocre tea helps clear the air.

You could have expressed it unambiguously in this manner:

  我对喝茶比较讲究，咖啡就好。
  I am more particular with my tea; coffee will do.

To further elaborate, then you say:

  茶不只是一种饮品，对我而言，是一种生活方式。


How to tell Simplified and Traditional Chinese apart? Imagine that I know nothing about the language. I open a book and look at some Chinese text.

What’s the easiest (and deterministic) way to tell if I'm looking at simplified or traditional Chinese?

Are there any common radicals that appear in one and not the other?

Some regular simplification rules:

釒(金)→钅: 針→针, 鈴→铃
飠(食)→饣: 飲→饮, 飯→饭
糹(糸)→纟: 紅→红, 絲→丝
訁(言)→讠: 計→计, 語→语

貝→贝: 貨→货, 貴→贵
見→见: 視→视, 現→现
頁→页: 項→项, 題→题
東→东: 陳→陈, 棟→栋
車→车: 軟→软, 輩→辈
門→门: 問→问, 閑→闲
烏→乌: 鎢→钨, 塢→坞
魚→鱼: 漁→渔, 魯→鲁
鳥→鸟: 鴨→鸭, 鷹→鹰
馬→马: 媽→妈, 騰→腾

There are also some simplified examples of complex components:

爿→丬: 壯→壮, 將→将
豐→丰: 灃→沣, 艷→艳
風→风: 瘋→疯, 諷→讽
長→长: 張→张, 帳→帐
堯→尧: 燒→烧, 饒→饶
䜌→亦: 戀→恋, 彎→弯
睪→: 澤→泽, 驛→驿
炏→艹: 營→营, 榮→荣
蘭→兰: 欄→栏, 爛→烂
羅→罗: 蘿→萝, 邏→逻
買→买: 買→买, 賣→卖
產→产: 鏟→铲, 滻→浐
齊→齐: 擠→挤, 濟→济
幾→几: 機→机, 譏→讥
柬→拣(the right part): 煉→炼, 練→练
盧→户: 廬(广+～)→庐(广+户), 驢(馬+～)→驴(马+户)
盧→卢: 鱸(魚+～)→鲈(鱼+卢), 顱(～+頁)→颅(卢+页)
戔→戋: 錢→钱, 棧→栈
咼→呙: 鍋→锅, 窩→窝
樂→乐: 爍→烁, 櫟→栎
豈→岂: 鎧→铠, 凱→凯
肅→肃: 蕭→萧, 嘯→啸

There are also many irrational simplifications, such as cursive writing, or homophonic substitution, and some characters are combined by these simplified components. If you see Chinese characters with a lot of these parts, you can be sure that this is traditional Chinese.


Who should be counted when responding to 你家有几口人 (nǐjiā yǒu jǐkǒurén) "how many people are there in your family"? An early question in Chinese people learn is:

你家有几口人？
How many people are there in your family?
(nǐjiā yǒu jǐkǒurén)

My Chinese text book contains these example responses:

五口人。他们是我爸爸，我哥哥，我弟弟和我。你呢？(Five people. They are my father, mother, older brother, younger brother, and me.  And you?)
我家有三口人：我丈夫，我儿子和我。(My family has three people.  My husband, my son, and me.)

and

你家有三口人，你爱人，你儿子和你，是吗？
(Your family has three people, your spouse, your son, and you, right?)

But I'm confused...
Question: Who should be counted when responding to 你家有几口人?
I'm confused in particular about the following:

I'm unsure if aunties, cousins, brothers-in-law, nieces, ex-husbands, half-sisters, etc., are included.

I don't know if living separately affects things (since 家 also means home).
When I go home 回家 (huíjiā) it's just me, but my sisters (姐姐 and 妹妹) are still my family members 家人 (jiārén).  Both of these use "家".

It is simple-- The "家" in  "你家有几口人？" always refers to "家庭" (household)

Your answer should only list the family members living in the household .

Using 口 as a classifier also indicates it only count people who eat their meals in the household.

As long as someone living in a household long term, he or she is counted as 一口

If you read Chinese novel, you would often see phrase like "我家一百一十八口性命" (One hundred and eighteen lives in my household) You can see they even counted servants.

If the question was "你家中有什麼人?" (who are in your family)  Then you can include your immediate family who no longer live in the household, for example, married sister or brother who had moved out.

If you are single and live alone, you are considered independent. When people ask you "你家有几口人？" You can say "我單身一人生活".  If you want to introduce your family, then you can say "我家中還有 (list of immediate family) "


How do you use - 我还是做一枚安静的N 吧 Question for you all. I've seen sentences that are like this

我还是做一枚安静的吃货好了

or
我还是做一枚安静的美少女

I understand that this is a funny expression (used primarily online) Can I replace the final word with any noun? For example, could I say

我还是做一枚安静的老外吧。?

Its a funny way of describing "I'll remain a spectator and not get involved in the matter", because "I'll never reach that level" or "I'll never do such a thing/achieve such a result".

You can definitely say "我还是做一枚安静的老外吧。" or replace it with any other nouns, but it depends on what the situation is. For example, if you see a Chinese guy doing something that you'll be never able to do, you can say "我还是做一枚安静的老外吧。" meaning you are amazed by the situation and will remain a foreigner and not try to achieve what he did...It's just a funny way of saying things.

It all comes from this saying "我只想做个安静的美男子(I only want to be a silent/low profile handsome guy" if you want to look more into it.


Why is 来 used in "因为‘东西’一般不能用来表示人"? Why is 来 used in the following sentence? For some context, this is a line from a text used in the second workbook of the New Practical Chinese Reader series (pg. 93). In the text a teacher is explaining to his students how to use the word '东西'. The student uses it incorrectly, and the teacher says the following:

‘这个句子也不对。因为‘东西’一般不能用来表示人。同学们，要记住，说别人，‘不是东西’ 是骂人的话，不能随便更用’

Why is 来 used?

The answer to the question  explained the function of 来 as a preposition (in order to; so that) that connect two related verb phrases, but here '用 ~ 来' can be simply explained as 'use ~ to'; (被)用来 as (be)used to

"(把)'东西'用来 表示人" = "(take) 'things' to be used to indicate human"

"用('东西')来 表示人" = "use ('things') to indicate human'"

“因为‘东西’一般不能用来表示人” = "because 'things' usually cannot be used to indicate human"

In the text you posted. 东西 (things) is the topic and 不能(被)用来表示人 (cannot be used to indicate human) is the comment


Do time range constructions as "从～至" and "从～到" have a different meaning without 从? In the following sentence, the teacher said that, since there is no 从 at the beginning it means that not everyday 我 have exams.
If there was a 从 it would mean that 我 would have exams everyday until 六 月初.
Is that true?
Another question, are 至 and 到 interchangeable in this sentence?. Do they have the same meaning?

我 明年五月底 至 六月初 要 会考。

[从 X 至 Y] = [from X to Y] (describes a continuous time)
[X 至 Y] = [ between X and Y] (describes a range of time)
Example:
"He visited me from Mondays to Saturday" means he visited me every day from Mondays to Saturday
"He visited me between Mondays and Saturday" means he visited me some days between Mondays and Saturday

五月底 (至) 六月初

(between) the end of May (and) the beginning of June

the end of May (to) the beginning of June -- [presume (从) is implied]

~

(从)五月底 (至) 六月初 = (from) the end of May (to) the beginning of
June

至 and 到 are interchangeable in this sentence
Since 五月底 至 六月初 can be interpreted as (从)五月底 (至) 六月初 with 从 omitted, it would be more precise to say "在五月底 和 六月初 之間" if you meant to say "between the end of May and the beginning of June"
One more example:
网上订的那东西，(在)五月至六月(之間)到达 (O) -[presume 在 and 之間 are omitted]
网上订的那东西， (从)五月至六月到达 (X) -[cannot presume 从 is omitted, an item cannot arrive every day]


How to pronounce "下载" How to pronounce the word "下载", "xià zǎi" or "xià zài"？

Most Chinese people pronounce it "xià zǎi", but there are some people insist on pronouncing it "xià zài". There are different also different pronunciations in different dictionaries.

The followings are the interpretations of the character "载" from zdic.net:

● 载 （載）zǎi  ㄗㄞˇ

年；岁：千～难逢。三年两～。
记录；刊登；描绘：记～。连～。转～。

● 载 （載）zài  ㄗㄞˋ

装，用交通工具装：～客。～货。～重。～体。装～。满～而归。
充满：怨声～道。
乃，于是（古文里常用来表示同时做两个动作）：～歌～舞。
姓。

"载" of "下载" has the same meaning as "load" of "download", but which meaning should we choose? The second meaning of "zǎi" or the first meaning of "zài"?

Edit:

I visited an online dictionary site of the Ministry of Education of R.O.C. (http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw). The followings are the interpretations of the character "载" there:

● 載　　部首：車　部首外筆畫：6　總筆畫：13  ㄗㄞˇ  zǎi

nouns.

量詞。計算時間的單位。相當於「年」。如：「一年半載」、「三年五載」、「千載難逢」。

● 載　　部首　車　部首外筆畫　6　總筆畫　13  ㄗㄞˋ  zài

verbs.

乘坐。說文解字：「載，乘也。」史記˙卷二十九˙河渠書：「陸行載車，水行載舟。」唐˙孟郊˙感興詩：「吾欲載車馬，太行路崢嶸。」
裝運。如：「載人」、「載貨」。唐˙李白˙懷仙歌：「巨鼇莫載三山去，我欲蓬萊頂上行。」
記錄。如：「記載」、「刊載」、「轉載」。
承受。易經˙坤卦˙象曰：「君子以厚德載物。」三國志˙卷二十七˙魏書˙王基傳：「臣聞古人以水喻民，曰：『水所以載舟，亦所以覆舟。』」
充滿。如：「怨聲載道」。唐˙李白˙天長節度使鄂州刺史韋公德政碑：「頌聲載路，豐碑是刊。」

conjs.

且、又。同時做兩個動作。如：「載歌載舞」。詩經˙鄘風˙載馳：「載馳載驅，歸唁衛侯。」

There is no interpretation we can choose if it is pronounced zǎi.

What the online community thinks

From Baidu 百科:

  准确读音 xià zài

  　　“下载”这个词，规范读音按照现代汉语词典、现代汉语规范词典等权威字典的标注应为“xià zài”。随着电脑的普及，这个词使用的频率越来越高，但可惜的是绝大多数人一开口就是从网上“xià zǎi”，就连播音员、主持人也读“xià zǎi”，如央视的晚间新闻在播送“网络侵权BT下载”时就读成“xià zǎi”。可以说电台、电视台的播音员、节目主持人对“xià zǎi”这个错误的读音起了推波助澜的作用。就目前的趋势来看，要推广“下载”的正确读音已非常困难，已经习非成是了。这些现象给人一种感觉，好像电台、电视台的播音员、节目主持人的发音很随意，因为这些错误的读音许多是在同一个播音员或主持人嘴里反复发出的，而这些错误的读音又严重影响了普通话规范语音的推广普及。这是当前语言文字规范化工作中不容忽视的一个问题。

It says: According to the Modern Chinese Dictionary and other authoritative sources, the accurate pronunciation should be "xià zài". But due to the proliferation of computers and rise in the usage frequency of this term, the great majority of the people when they speak, pronounce it as “xià zǎi”. This includes radio and tv hosts, and even a newscaster from CCTV. This mispronunciation has a rippling effect that from current trend seems difficult to reverse and has already become a norm. The phenomenon seems to give one the impression that the these professionals are very lax in their pronunciation. However, the mistake, in most occasions, originated from one host or one presenter, repeated over a number of times. These mispronunciations have seriously impeded the popularisation and standardization of Mandarin as the universal dialect, and is a problem that should not be ignored.

The above is further corroborated with answers to the same question here.

What a research shows

There is an interesting research paper on this “下载”的读音和释义 (http://202.194.40.31:8080/ec2006/C234/res/7/res/201010241009%5B29477%5D.pdf).

To summarize:

The two most authoritative dictionaries give different
interpretations of the same term:

  下载 xià zài: 从互联网或其他计算机上获取信息并装入到某台计算机或其他电子装置上 (跟 “上传” 相对)。

  《现代汉语词典》(第 5 版)

  下载  xià zǎi: 将互联网或其他电子计算机上的信息资料复制到本台计算机上 (跟 “上载” 相对)。

  《现代汉语规范词典》
  According to research [see table], most of the dictionaries indicate
  the pronunciation as "xià zài", however this is inconclusive since
  many of the minor dictionaries take reference from the more
  authoritative sources such as《现代汉语词典》and《新华词典》.
  According to a classroom survey of about 500, 68% respondents
  indicated that they pronounce the term as "xià zǎi" while 32%
  pronounce as "xià zài".
  An online poll was also conducted with a clear majority of 94%
  pronouncing the term as "xià zǎi" out of 225 respondents.
  "记载" and "装载" are the two most closely associated terms with "下载".
  The word "载" is derived from "车" and "装载" precedes "记载" which is
  derived from "containing" in a metaphorical sense.

  The above are some points put forth by the author, I left out part of his argument and conclusion which I find subjective and highly debatable.

Justifications

The use of "xià zǎi" can be justified to be derived from the term "记载" (jì zǎi) since "下载" or download refers to receiving a copy of the original file on the local system. The action of copying can be taken to mean recording or "记载" although it is not so obvious to some.

The use of "xià zài" can be justified by the single word "载" (zài) which means transporting. Downloading is a process of transmitting (or transporting) electronic data from the remote system to the local system.

The verdict

Inconclusive. Use whichever pronunciation that you feel can get the other party understand you.


Translation: confabulation How is confabulation properly translated into Chinese?

Wikipedia doesn't have a corresponding entry.

The only dictionary I can find this in, LDC English-Chinese Wordlist, just lists 交谈/闲谈 - which is not nearly specific enough.

JSYK, Wikipedia defines confabulation as:

  In psychology, confabulation (verb: confabulate) is a memory disturbance, defined as the production of fabricated, distorted or misinterpreted memories about oneself or the world, without the conscious intention to deceive.[1]

Edit: the meaning I'm looking for this this:

  (psychology) A fabricated memory believed to be true.

虚构 or perhaps 虚构症 if you want to be clear that it is a diagnosis. 虚谈症 is another option.


How to say X were said to do Y? Example:

  The hijackers were said to demand the plane to fly to Iran

The only think I could think of was 有人告訴 (somebody said), and putting it at the beginning, like:

  有人告訴劫機者...

Is this right? Or is there a better option?

X were said to do Y

can be translated to

  据说X想做Y

PS.

  The hijackers were said to demand the plane to fly to Iran

is equal to

  It is said that hijackers demanded the plane to fly to Iran.


How can you say "We have to let you go", in the context of firing somebody? In English,

"Sorry, we have to let you go" is a nice way to tell somebody they are fired

If you directly translate it, it becomes
"我们必须让你走", which doesn't seem right

What are some ways to fire somebody in the nicest way possible?

"我们必须让你走" is correct literally, but sounds straightforward.

You can use "不得不" instead of "必须" because it's more passive; and use "离开" instead of "走" to make the sentence euphemistic. e.g.

  我们不得不让你离开公司

Or make it more euphemistic by using "可能需要" (may need), (if you don't stick to the original English sentence and its translation)

  我们可能需要你离开公司


How to pronounce the Mandarin third tone I've started to learn Chinese about a month ago (as a foreign language) and I'm a little bit confused about how to pronounce the third tone (while dropping aside the tone sandhi rules).

I'm confused with the following points I've read:

The third tone should be pronounced as falling-raising tone.
The third tone should be pronounced low, then fall a little bit and then stay flat.
The third tone should be pronounced low and flat (same as the first tone but low in the sound level).

My teacher told me to pronounce the third tone as falling-raising tone (starting medium, go low, and then high) but now as I read about the two other pronunciation options I'm confused.

Which one is correct?

In isolation, any third-tone character should indeed properly be pronounced falling, then rising.  In the five-level scale that is common in specifying tones for tonal languages, the typical characterization of the third tone is 2-1-4; that is, the end of the tone contour is higher than the start (though not as high as the first tone or the end of the second tone).

In conjunction with other characters in an utterance, however (as opposed to, say, a list of third-tone characters), the contour is truncated and it is, more or less, simply 2-1.  Being the only tone with a "bent" shape to it, as it were, it takes longer to say, and the natural rhythm of the speech simply doesn't permit enough time to draw it out to its completion.  I suppose in principle, it would be possible to speed it up so that the entire 2-1-4 contour could fit into the same "space" as a first, second, or fourth-tone character, but in practice, that doesn't happen.  (For that matter, it may be that a character undergoing tone sandhi was originally just the "other half" of the tone contour—the 1-4 half, that is.  It should be noted that the second tone is usually specified as 3-5, or sometimes 2-5.)

See pp. 45-46 in Robert Ramsay's The Languages of China and pp. 147-48 in Jerry Norman's Chinese for more details.  (I'm afraid I'm an old fuddy-duddy who reads books as well as on-line materials, and this is what I have.  Maybe you can find excerpts in Google Books.)

Norman's book, incidentally, includes a second case of tone sandhi that is not often described.  He writes, in the closing of the aforementioned passage:

  In addition to the cases of tone sandhi mentioned in conjunction with
  the third tone above, one other minor case should be mentioned.  In a
  three-syllable combination, if the second syllable is a second tone
  (either an original second tone or a raised third) and the first
  syllable is either a first or second tone, the middle syllable changes
  to a first tone in rapid speech...: [聯合國] liánhéguó "United Nations"
  is pronounced liánhēguó, and [他買馬] tā mǎi mǎ "he buys a horse" becomes
  tā māi mǎ.  [The characters in brackets are my addition.]

I don't know if this is universal amongst Mandarin speakers, but when I read this, I was mildly surprised to find that I actually observe it in my own speech.  It might be interesting to see how broadly this rule is observed.


character encoding, script, typeface/font I'd like to know what relationship ties those terms. According to wikipedia,

"There is however no mandated connection between the encoding system and the font used to display the characters; font and encoding are usually tied together for practical reasons".

Yet, I do not fully grasp what that means.

Is there a systematic comparison between the different strokes that the main typefaces apply to chinese characters?

Is the regular script sans-serif? what typeface does wikimedia use for regular script?

There is however no mandated connection between the encoding system
and the font used to display the characters

considering the situation: an utf-8 encoded plain text file (*.txt), how do it display on the computer, is depend on the user, not the author.

in stkaiti:

in hanzipen tc:

in songti tc:

the same content can be displayed by different fonts, to give different impression.

font and encoding are usually tied together for practical reasons

in pre-unicode era, as i remember, on mac os, all big-5 encoded text is defaulted to display initially by the system font "taibei"; while shift jis encoded text would use the font "osaka". in modern days (utf-8), mac / windows are smart enough to choose the font automatically, to display each code point.

for chinese character, the concepts "serif", "sans serif", "script" are, inapplicable.

for this question, i would suggest you read the book "CJKV Information Processing", published by o'really; which is informative & authoritative:

http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596514471.do

they provided the 1st chapter in pdf:

ftp://ftp.oreilly.com/examples/nutshell/cjkv/pdf/CJKVInfoProc.Chap1.pdf


Is there a grammar rule for using 的 in this snippet 但是有意思的是? As I understand ...,但是有意思的是,... means ..., but the interesting thing is, ... but I went through great pains to arrive at this. The culprit here that jammed the cranks in my head was the 的. Had it not been there I might have just inferred that meaning and carry on assuming that the thing in interesting thing was implicit or the phrase was something akin to but what's interesting is.

What's 的 doing here?

I'd also be grateful for another example showing the same rule in action.

Both your translations are definitely correct (if you think about it but the interesting thing and but what's interesting mean the same thing). As you pointed out, something is omitted here: in this case it's the word 事情 thing, the thing. This happens because it's implicitly inferred.

The sentence 但是有意思的事情是 is grammatically correct too and it means the exactly same thing. In this case we made 事情 explicit.

You already know that 的 introduces the modifier which precedes the noun that it's modifying. If you make 事情 implicit, you have to leave 的 in the sentence to indicate that the element that comes before represents a modifier, and the thing that is modified can be omitted.

Consider this sentence:

  我的自行车比你的新。
  My bike is newer than yours.

Let's analyse it:

  我的自行车 (Modifier + Subject) + 比 (preposition) + 你的 (Modifier) + 新 (Predicate)

In this example, after 你, there is a 的 that modifies something implicit. The word 自行车 is explicit the first time (after 我), but it's omitted the second time (after 你) because both the speaker and the audience know they are talking about bikes. Thus, you omit 自行车 the second time but keep 的 to signify that the element that comes before is a modifier.

P.S. Although it could sound redundant, it is perfectly OK to say 我的自行车比你的自行车新.


What exactly is meant by 光彩照人？ It is not easy being a man in China, you need to have a lot of qualities!（I'll never qualify!)

男人要有责任心、为人正直、宽容、刚毅，不背叛朋友; 男人要上进，有报复，有魄力； 男人要谦虚，诚实，大方；男人要有修养，心胸开阔，处境艰难而不退缩，面对打击而不脆弱；男人是生活中的榜样，家庭的靠山，社会的支柱。总之，男人要顶天立地，光彩照人，要有男人的气概。

‘光彩照人’的意思呢？

光彩照人
Shine; Brilliant; Radiant

用以形容人或事物十分美好，令人注目、敬仰。
used to describe people or things are very beautiful, and make others impressive and respected.

形容人外表亮麗或事物色彩鮮明，十分美好
Describe a person's appearance bright or things are bright and very beautiful.

光彩照人 coloured and dazzling

a. 公主光彩照人地穿著一身雪白的新禮服來了。
The princess arrived, resplendent in a new white dress.

b. 阿勒頗的阿拉姆瑣瓦，他們講著一個關於前人哈卡姆•伊茲拉•哈馬威的傳說。這個故事說的是使他在非猶太人心目中光彩照人，在東方所有城市中名聲鵲起的某一功績。
In aram zova in aleppo they tell a tale about hakham ezra hamawi of blessed memory concerning a deed which exalted him in the eyes of the gentiles and won him a name in all the cities of the east.

光彩照人 Radiant

He is sparkling and versatile in front of the camera.
镜头前的他光彩照人，多才多艺。
He glimpsed Sonia, resplendent in a red dress.
他瞥了索尼亚一眼，见她一身红衣，光彩照人。
She glittered at the elegant table.
她坐在典雅的桌子旁边显得光彩照人.


Question about Chinese hip-hop song I was listening to this song by the group Yin Tsang (隐藏) -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvzAtKPF-Xk  At 4:17, the song ends and there is a brief interview with one of the rappers in the group.  The sound quality is scratchy and I can't really understand it all.

Can anyone transcribe what the rapper is saying in the interview?

你知道我们为什么签京文旗下的嚎叫唱片吗

我们这个乐队叫隐藏

为什么叫这个名呢

我们以前什——任何人不知道我们

但是我们知道我们自己的能力在哪

那么我们本身——我们自己听音乐

我们自己什么音乐基础 什么音乐的意见都借鉴了

我们会作比较

别的东西跟我们的东西会作比较

我们会比出一个好坏

所以我们知道我们自己能力在哪儿

那 你知道你能力在哪儿以后 你有了信心以后

你就可以 完全地去 发展你自己的东西了

你不用顾忌太多

如果你 做一个音乐事儿 哎 我想有一万个人听我的音乐

那你这样你做不出来音乐

那你 如果你 第一你做音乐事儿

我*这音乐是我自己做的 我都不敢相信

在那个时候 那个就是艺术了


How to express 忽悠 in English? In a light conversation over Christmas dinner, a question was brought to me as "Is there a word in English to describe 忽悠 in Chinese"?

Some advanced words: bamboozle, hoodwink.


Are Chinese and Japanese characters decomposed the same way? Decomposition Option of the Chinese Character 天 tiān ‘sky’

天 tiān ‘sky’
一 yī one
大 dà big
一 yī one
人 rén man

天一 大 一 人

NB. Synonyms: Structural analysis of the Chinese characters, Breakdown of the Chinese characters, Chinese characters split.

Almost all Japanese characters (in my experience >99%) are exist in Chinese. Few are changed a little, like 宮 and 宫. As a Chinese, I have no difficulty in recognizing Japanese characters.

Some of Chinese characters is simplified in simplified Chinese, but remain unchanged in Japanese, like 車 and 车.

There are some rare Japanese characters which doesn't has corresponding Chinese character.　But they are still formed by components used in other characters.


What is the origin and meaning of 焗烤 焗 was an uncommon character in Taiwan 20-30 years ago, limited mostly to Cantonese restaurants, and it was an unusual type of cooking.  The MOE 國語辭典
gives this description of 焗:

用鹽或淨沙下鍋炒熱，再將食物用紗布等包好，埋入熱沙或熱鹽中，蓋緊鍋蓋，利用慢火燜熟
put salt or clean sand in a wok and heat, then wrap food in cloth and bury it in the hot salt/sand; cover the wok and allow heat to cook the food until done.

This is fairly close to what I remember eating from that period. Now, however, 焗烤 refers to a kind of baked cheese dish, where the dish is covered with cheese, then put in the oven and baked.

Does anyone know where the original method came from, or the origin of the word 焗? Was it actually a Cantonese style of cooking? And how did it evolve into baked cheese?

焗 as used in Cantonese means "to bake" in the most general sense of the word. The method of baking you quoted in your question appears to describe specifically to how the Hakka/Cantonese dish 鹽焗雞 ("salt-baked chicken") is prepared, rather than the meaning of 焗 in general, which is simply a method of cooking by surrounding heat. For instance, the word for "oven" in Cantonese is 焗爐. The word can also be used to describe baked cheese dishes for the simple reason that they are baked in an oven.

The character itself appears to be a relatively recent invention since it does not appear in dictionaries such as 《康熙字典》. It was invented by adding the 火 radical to the character 局, which shares the exact same pronunciation in Cantonese (guk6). As for the etymology of the word, I found several sources indicating that it historically should be written 焅, which does have an entry in 《康熙字典》 that cites definitions referring to dry or hot air:

  《說文》旱氣也。《廣韻》熱氣也。

In modern Cantonese usage, the word can be used similarly to refer to hot and stuffy air. The meaning "to bake" was probably a logical extension of this original meaning.

I found this post on a forum that quotes an entry in 《追本窮源：粵語詞彙趣談》 with more details:

  “焅”今通作“焗”，本義是“熱氣”，就是指酷熱的意思。“焅”解作烹調方法，在宋代的書籍已有記載。現在“焅”也解作烹調方法，有兩種含義：（１）利用蒸氣使密閉容器中的食物變熱。例如：“焅飯”；（２）密閉式的烘烤。例如：“焅番薯”、“鹽焅雞”、“芝士焅龍蝦”。其中“芝士焅龍蝦”是西菜。看來“焅”這種烹調法是宜中宜西的。

  由於“焅”的本義是“熱氣”，故引申為天氣悶熱，如說：“今日成攝氏三十八度，天氣好焅。”（“今天氣温接近攝氏三十八度，很悶熱。”）另外，空氣不流通，令人窒悶也可稱“焅”，如說：“間房冇開窗，焅死啦！”（“房間不開窗，悶死了！”）又“焅”有“強迫”、“被迫”的意思。例如：“佢唔鍾意食椰菜花，唔好焅佢食。（“他既然不喜歡吃椰菜花，就別強迫他吃了。”）“個股市係咁跌，焅住要斬倉。”（“股市指數不斷下滑，被迫要結算。”）“焅”在前句解作“強迫”，後句解作“被迫”。

For the benefit of the general audience, here's my own English translation of the entry:

  焅, now commonly written 焗, originally meant "hot air", referring to extreme heat. Its usage to describe a cooking method is attested by Song Dynasty records. 焅 as a cooking method now includes two meanings: (1) using steam in a sealed vessel to heat food, for example, "baked rice"; (2) sealed baking, for example, "baked sweet potato", "salt-baked chicken", "cheese-baked lobster". Of these, "cheese-baked lobster" is a Western dish. 焅 can be seen as appropriately describing both Chinese and Western cooking methods.

  From 焅's original meaning of hot air, its meaning is extended to hot and muggy weather, for instance: "Today will approach 38°C, the weather is very muggy (焅)." In addition, it can be used to describe the effect of air in a room that is stuffy and not well ventilated, for instance: "The room's windows haven't been opened; it's suffocating (焅死)!" Also, 焅 can mean "to compel" or "to be compelled", for instance: "He doesn't like cauliflower; don't compel (焅) him to eat it." "As the stock market continues to fall, I'll be forced (焅) to liquidate." 焅 in the former example was used to mean "compel", and in the latter used to mean "be compelled."


Difference between 清水, 淡水 and 自来水 My main aim is to try and find the best word to use when describing a freshwater lake.

But what if any is the difference between the following: 清水, 淡水 and 自来水

清水 clear water; 淡水 fresh water (contrast to salt water); 自来水 Tap water,  30 years ago most of the chinese people had to fetch water from nearby rivers, lakes or wells by using buckets (挑水). Tap water goes through pipes to homes, people think these water go to their home automatically (without 挑水), they created the word 自来水


What is the polite/proper way to address elderly whom I am not familiar with? I was wondering what is the polite way to address elderlies I do not know. Take the following context for example. Perhaps I visit a store and there is an elderly woman running the register and I would like to ask for help.

I found this question and I think it may be related but I just wanted to clarify. Is it proper to say 老奶？and 老爸?

For an elderly woman, 大妈，大娘，大婶，阿婆，老奶奶 -- what's best really depends on what they are using locally and the age difference between you and the person.

You can always just say: 您好, if you are not sure what word to use.


How to translate "In conclusion"? I'm practicing writing short articles in Chinese, but I'm not sure how to say "To conclude" or "In conclusion". I can't seem to find an appropriate translation. What is recommended?

总而言之，complete version of 总之，less imperative.
综上所述，in summary (of the previous narration or evidences).
以上，very concise and confident way，but use it carefully，more of a meme these days


Too many synonyms. How do I know which words are too formal/informal? Particularly when it comes to verbs, I've noticed that there are so many synonyms. For example, "To resist": 抗，抵抗，抵制，抗拒，反抗 etc. "To feel": 感觉，觉得， 感到，感，感觉到 etc. "To handle": 处理，办理，处置，应付，办 etc.

Right now, I'm mostly concerned with being able to express myself verbally to my peers, not with talking to really important people or reading very formal literature, and I'm finding it hard to know which words I should learn, given that there are many synonyms.

Side note: Is it true that all verbs (or most) are also nouns?

Use lexical occurence to choose the most frequent variants.

Use disyllabic variants if possible. That will make it more clear to most listeners.

Then there are verbs and verbs. 感觉 is a verb, but 感觉到 is a resultative verb, conveying the result of the action of feeling something. It is the same difference as in 看 and 看到, it adds some complexity.

Furthermore, words are not always synonyms, even if they share meaning. 感觉 foremost means to feel, whereas 觉得 mainly means to think (as in I think, not as in thinking hard). Think and feel are blurred in meaning, both in English and Chinese.

抵抗 means resist, and so does 抵制, but the latter mainly means boycott. 抗拒 means resist, but in the sense of defiance. 抵抗 is more of a struggle against oppression. 反抗 has a revolutionary flavor to it, and means to oppose or revolt, and therefore also resist.

反抗 has 31.5 occurences per million characters of text, 抵制 10, 抵抗 3.3, 反抗 30.4.

Listening a lot will make you pick up the right words in the right context.


Looking for a Chinese movie or anime with easy dialogues I'm looking for a movie with both English and Chinese subtitles (important).
 On my blog http://bymyselflearning.blogspot.fr you can see that I've already collected a few ones.

Basic idea: displaying the Chinese movie, a sketchpad and a dictionary together, side by side, can really help the learner if the dialogues are rather simple.

I would highly recommend "小蝌蚪找妈妈". It's short with a meaningful story for kids. The conversation is simple and slow.


Is this use of 把 and 过 correct? Ｉ read that you should not use a 把 construction with 过 as an aspect particle for the verb. But I came across this sentence:

他把手机摔坏过两三次

Is this correct ?

他把手机摔坏过两三次

It's correct. 过 here denotes the action has happened. The action is 摔坏. The sentence can be parsed as:

  [他] [把(手机)摔坏过] [两三次]

In English: he has dropped and crashed his phone a couple of times.


Does "sticker" have a transliteration? I hear people use the English loan word sticker a lot in Chinese, perhaps even more than 粘粘, 贴贴 or what have you.

Although a loan word, sticker prounced in Chinese mainly sounds like a transliteration with a combination of:

  si • ti • ke

or

  si • di • ke

I would imagine it would be written something like:

斯提克
斯蒂克

but, I have not come across any such transliteration in written form, yet.

Is there a transliteration of sticker in Chinese?

I am afraid there's no transliteration in Chinese for "sticker". In Chinese, especially in Shanghainese, there are many transliterations for English words. For example, "司迪克" for “stick（walking stick）”，“斯博灵” for “spring lock”，“水门汀” for “cement”，“拉三” for “lass”，etc.

As for "sticker", if you have ever heard any Chinese says,it is just an occasionally borrowed word from English. That means if you write "give me a sticker" in Chinese, it would be "给我一张sticker". There's no Formal Chinese transliteration of it.

In Chinese, we use such words like "贴纸"，"粘纸", or "不干胶标签" for "sticker".


Does cursive script have any order logic? I think most people know the basic rules of character writing, like from top to bottom, left to right, etc., but it seems that the rules don't work at all when it comes to cursive writing.

Question: Does cursive have any order logic, even if its own? What are they?

If you're not too concerned about aesthetics, and more about functional cursive balancing your own writing speed and other people's reading comprehension, just build upon regular script stroke orders.

「鬱」, written in 7 strokes;「飛」, written in 3 strokes;「龜」, written in 2 strokes.

You have to re-order some regular script stroke orders, focusing on the following:

Abbreviate dense part of characters with a generic scribble which can capture the outline. The detail and exact shape of highly dense portions of characters does not impede reading comprehension.
Think carefully about where the next part of the character starts, and try to reorder the strokes to minimise pen movement.

I suggest using a semi-cursive to cursive style rather than a fully cursive style, like the example of「龜」above. If other people and standard handwriting recognition programs can read your writing, then you're doing something right.

Semi-cursive works okay for Pleco handwriting (「鬱」and「飛」). Full cursive does not (「龜」), but Apple's handwriting recognition does a fairly good job.


Journey to the West / fire mountain This question is not precisely about language, but really more cultural. It is about Journey to the West/西遊記. I am doing my Chinese homework, which is to summarize the chapter of 西遊記 where 唐僧 et al. need to get the real banana leaf fan from the Iron Fan Princess to put out the fire to cross the fire mountain. I'm confused about one aspect of the plot. Is it 孫悟空 or 豬八戒 who takes the appearance of 牛魔王 in order to get drunk with 鐵扇公主 and get the real fan?  According to the English-language Wikipedia, it is 孫悟空. However, I thought in class the professor said it was 豬八戒.  So I'm a little confused.  Thanks in advance for any clarity, and sorry if this question not being specifically about language is inappropriate for this forum.  -紐約市唐納文上

Wikipedia is right.

Sun Wukong disguises himself as Bull Demon King to deceive Princess
Iron Fan and takes away her Banana Leaf Fan. The real Bull Demon King
visits Princess Iron Fan, who then realises she has been tricked. Bull
Demon King disguises himself as Zhu Bajie to trick Sun Wukong and
retrieves the fan.

From the novel:

好大圣，即现本象，将金睛兽解了缰绳，扑一把跨上雕鞍，径直骑出水底。到于潭外，将身变作牛王模样，打着兽，纵着云，不多时，已至翠云山芭蕉洞口，叫声：“开门！”那洞门里有两个女童，闻得声音开了门，看见是牛魔王嘴脸，即入报：“奶奶，爷爷来家了。”那罗刹听言，忙整云鬟，急移莲步，出门迎接。这大圣下雕鞍，牵进金睛兽；弄大胆，诓骗女佳人。罗刹女肉眼，认他不出，即携手而入。
The splendid Great Sage then reverted to his original form, untied the
golden-eyed beast, leapt into the carved saddle, and rode straight up
from the bottom of the water. Once out of the pool he made himself
look like the Bull Demon King. Whipping on the beast he set his cloud
moving and was soon at the mouth of the Plantain Cave in Mount
Turquoise Cloud.
“Open up!” he shouted, and at the sound of his voice the two servant
girls inside the gates opened them for him.
Taking him for the Bull Demon King they went in to report, “Madam, His
Majesty's come home.” At the news Raksasi quickly neatened her hair
and hurried out on her little lotus feet to meet him. Climbing out of
the saddle the Great Sage led the golden-eyed beast inside. He was
bold enough to try to deceive the beauty, whose mortal eyes failed to
see who he really was as she led him inside, hand in hand.


What exactly does 门风帮闲 mean? The follow is an except from 《水浒传》 第二回. Based on 端王's personality traits, he could have been a Shakespeare or, at least, a Balzac, or, perhaps, under favourable circumstances, a Galileo.

I wonder what exactly 门风 in 门风帮闲 means.

  这端王乃是神宗天子第十一子，哲宗皇帝御弟，现掌东驾，排号九大王，是个聪明
  俊俏人物。这浮浪子弟门风帮闲之事，无一般不晓，无一般不会，更无一般不爱。
  即如琴、棋、书、画，无所不通，踢毬打弹，品竹调丝，吹弹歌舞，自不必说。

门风，门派的风气。
The rule of certain 帮派（gang，gaction）


What is a good English translation of 土豪? 土豪 [tǔ háo] seems to be a popular Internet slang term in the last couple years. The idea that I get is that it is a rich person who flaunts their money and is somewhat snobbish or spoiled. Is this right? Is there a more concise way to express this?

When I checked Youdao Dictionary it gave "local tyrant" as the definition. Apparently there is more than one meaning. Where does this word come from and how did it get to be a description for a spoiled rich person?

nouveau riche
The Free Dictionary:

One who has recently become rich, especially one who flaunts newly acquired wealth.

(often plural) a person who has acquired wealth recently and is regarded as vulgarly ostentatious or lacking in social graces

adj

of or characteristic of the nouveaux riches

I believe 土豪 originates from 土豪金, but I could be wrong. I'll update later.


How do waves relate to this? Please write using simplified Chinese characters.

I've been reading a short story in Chinese, with the task to translate it. Here's the passage I'm having trouble with:

  ‘看了，看了，他的那个女朋友真不像话，见他在报上登了几篇小说就主动爱上了他，课知道了他是一个清洁工，并打算干一辈子，就又甩了人家，真太可恶了。’
  左边的那位留波浪式发的抢看回答。

There are two issues I have with this piece. What I'm having trouble understanding is that last sentence:

  左边的那位留波浪式发的抢看回答。

I understand the meaning of this sentence, which is that the girl on the left was the first to answer. However, what role do the following bits of this sentence have?:

留
波浪 (wave?)
式发

To be honest, it's probably just another Chinese proverb I'm not aware of.

Thanks!

留 means 'maintain' ; 'keep'; 'grew (of hair or beard)'
波浪 means 'wave'
式 means 'style'
发 means 'hair'

波浪式= wavy style
留波浪式发(型) = has wavy hair (style)

It is common to identify someone by something unique in his or her appearance, like hair styles, clothes color, etc.  when we don't know his or her name


How do you specify 她 in speech? If you are speaking, but want to emphasize that you would write 她 rather than 他 at a certain point, how do you do that?

I know ways to say the person you are talking about is a woman, as 倪阔乐 suggests.  I wondered if there is a way to indicate that the word you are saying would be written 她 without just saying so.

A history article at http://www.harvard-yenching.org/cultural-history-of-the-Chinese-character-ta points out that the hundredth birthday of 她 is coming up.

At the time the character first entered use several other neologisms were coined to indicate women:

“女界(women’s world/women),” “女英雄(female hero),” 国民之母(mother of the citizen),” “女国民” (female citizen), and “英雌 (heroic female).”

But again, each of those comes out and says woman or mother explicitly.

By context. Originally there were no gender specific pronouns, but 他 was used for he, she and it.

Western languages influenced Chinese in this regard, although Chinese have earlier also had a rather complex system of honorific pronouns (like 朕).

A feminist discussion in the Western world of today concerns the default usage of "he" and related prnouns (and similar in other languages), which is said to "discriminate" women. But essentially, "he" is just the neutral pronoun, just like 他, whereas "she" and 她 are later linguistic extensions to denote sex or gender.

In essence, the Chinese have managed to describe gender/sexus by context since ancient times, without resorting to auxiliary pronouns.

In practice, you could say 她那个女人, or 美丽的她 and similar construtcs to emphasize sex.


How would you translate the word '面子'? I want to describe that a certain action gives you '面子', or that people do things to try and maintain or protect their '面子' but I can't think of an appropriate English word for it.

You just need to use face, prestige, reputation, and so on.

爱面子 be keen on face-saving
保全/顾全面子 save face
丢面子 lose face
给面子 give face to somebody
面子问题 matter of face; issue concerning one’s reputation

I hope that would be useful for you.


What is the difference between 國語 and 普通話? I am still a beginner, but after 1 year I'm still not sure about the difference. I've been talking with some citizens from China mainland on the Internet, when I mentioned that I'm learning 國語, I seemed to offend people, and it sparked some rows in comment sections before.

I have lots of confusion. Now I know 國語 means "the national language", and 普通话 is "the common language", and is a standard. I'm learning based on Taiwanese materials, and they refer to 國語 as the language there, which is for all intents and purposes the same as 普通話.

I'm unsure why it causes so much fuss. Is 國語 an unpopular term outside of Taiwan? If so it makes sense where confusion comes from.

My teachers and materials seem to make no real distinction, and both terms are even interchangeable from how I've been taught. I would love to have this cleared up.

「國語」is not an unpopular term outside of Taiwan.

It literally means national speech, and is used in places where「普通話」may make less sense. Since「普通話」literally means common speech, regions with populations which prominently speak other languages may avoid the term「普通話」to various degrees, because in those regions the common speech is not necessarily Mandarin.

You may hear「國語」in Hong Kong, Macau, and Xinjiang to refer to Mandarin, interchangeably with「普通話」. Although「普通話」is overwhelmingly more common in the Mainland,「國語」shouldn't incite a reaction there; if it does this could be due to various reasons, e.g.:

Some people may take it to be a form of Han/Northerner/Mandarin Chauvinism, aggressively discriminating against other topolects or languages as not being part of the nation;
Some people may have political interpretations of the term, and identify「國語」inappropriately with anti-CCP leanings (note that CCP decreed that Mandarin was to be called「普通話」some time in the 1950s, officially making the word「國語」obsolete in Mainland China).
You're on the internet, so be prepared to attract angry comments about everything and anything.

Another word for Mandarin is「華語」, which is used by Malaysian Chinese. This is appropriate in their situation because Mandarin is neither the national language nor the common language of Malaysia.

For something that shouldn't incite inappropriate reactions, consider using「漢語」or「中文」instead.


Does 跟 and 和 sounds the same meaning in this case? Does 跟 and 和 sounds the same meaning in this case ?

  我今天跟妈妈去买菜

  我今天和妈妈去买菜

Both '跟' and '和' contain the meaning of 'and/ with'

Therefore, both "我今天跟妈妈去买菜" and "我今天和妈妈去买菜" can be interpreted as "My mother and I go to buy food ingredients today"

But '跟' also contains the meaning of "follow"

Therefore, "我今天跟妈妈去买菜" can be interpreted as "I follow my mother to go to buy food ingredients today"
the problem is writing '我今天' makes  '我' the subject, and '跟妈妈去买菜' the verb phrase; instead of '我跟妈妈' being the subject and '去买菜' being the verb

If you want to avoid the confusion, you should write "我跟妈妈今天去买菜" or "我和妈妈今天去买菜"(I and my mother go to buy food ingredients today)

'我跟妈妈' (I and my mother) -  would clearly be the subject

in '我今天跟妈妈去买菜',  '我' would be the subject, and  '跟妈妈去买菜' could mean 'follow my mother...' or 'with my mother...'

if you wrote '我今天和妈妈去买菜', even the subject is still '我' but '今天和妈妈去买菜' can only mean "go to buy food ingredients with my mother today"