大兵小将 Little Big Soldier I separated this film name by newlines in Google Translate and I see:

大 Big

兵 Soldiers

小 small

将 will

What is the meaning of 大兵小将 , character by character?
What is the "will" character for?
Why are "little" and "big" on different sides of "soldier"?
Isn't "Big Little Soldier" translation as correct as "Little Big Soldier"?

Let's start by answering all four questions, and we'll look at the actual meaning of the title.

  What is the meaning of 大兵小将 , character by character?

大 means big when looked at alone, however in this phrase, it also has the meaning of important

兵 means soldier

小 means small, but in this phrase, it also means unimportant

将 means General(将领) like Tang Ho said

  What is the "will" character for?

It's for 将领. (This 将 character has two pronunciations, one of them means "will do something", the other means "commander/General". In this title, since it's used with "soldier", we'll know it's taken the latter.)

  Why are "little" and "big" on different sides of "soldier"?

The "big" is for the 将, not for soldier.

  Isn't "Big Little Soldier" translation as correct as "Little Big Soldier"?

Yes. But this is not relevant to this movie title (given the correct translation).

  Then what's the correct translation?

First we need to know that there's a traditional phrase 小兵大将, using the exact character by character translation above, we get "unimportant soldiers, important General". Made more readable, it becomes "(In the field,) one good General is more important than (the number of) soldiers."

This phrase is used to emphasize the vital affects a commander will have on a war.

With this in mind, we look at 大兵小将, which is the reverse of 小兵大将. The main character in this movie (Jackie Chan) is a soldier, so this title is a twist of the traditional phrase, meant to emphasize that "soldier(Jackie) is also important".

Last bit of information: popular movie/song/shows sometimes use something derived from slang/proverbs/ancient stories, and it can be hard for Google to translate the correctly. (Similar example in English: Zootopia -- Utopia)

Hope this helps!


What Chinese language(s) have pronunciation ㄍ丨(romanization: gi) Heard pronunciation ㄍ丨(romanization: gi) recently in a dialect of south western mandarin.

I was trying to trace it together with something else.

Seems like Hakka pronounces 机/機 ㄍ丨but I couldn't really see much else.

What Chinese language(s) have pronunciation ㄍ丨(romanization: gi)?

Yes, 机 is pronounced gi(pin yin) in Hakka. But not all "Ji" pronunciations have the same reflection. e.g. 鸡 is pronounced gie(pin yin) in Hakka, not gi.
Other examples I remember for now: 几，吉，记，季，寄，继，计，贵， etc. Of course, they have different tones.


How does 再……不过 work? I'm reading an article about Chinese privacy concerns should TikTok data be handed over to US companies, wherein we have:

事关国家安全，面对任何可能的威胁都必须零容忍。中国人民关心中国的国家安全利益，关注中国企业正当的海外利益能否得到有效保障，这都是再正常不过的事情，也有足够的理由质问美方的动机。
人民网三评“TikTok交易”之二：浑水摸鱼，想都别想！，人民网，2020年09月24日

I'm struggling to understand the grammar logic in the part highlighted in bold.  Google Translate translates this to:

这都是再正常不过的事情
These are all normal things

However, 这都是正常的事情 also has this meaning.  So it looks like 再……不过 is some kind of grammar structure used to change the tone here, although I didn't find it at the Chinese Grammar Wiki.  It seems related to 再好不过 = "couldn't be better / ideal / wonderful".
Question: How does 再……不过 work?
(I believe I found the answer searching the web, so I thought I'd self-answer.  I welcome further answers.)

Judging from searching the web, it looks like we're using the grammar structure:

再 + [adjective] + 不过
couldn't be more [adjective]

It adds emphasis to the adjective (turning it into a longer adjective), such as in the given example:

[without the 再……不过]: 这都是正常的事情
these are all ordinary matters
[with the 再……不过]: 这都是再正常不过的事情
these are all couldn't-be-more-ordinary matters

It can be used with a range of adjectives; some examples in the wild are:

再红红不过黎明，再美美不过李嘉欣！[src]
Couldn't-be-redder dawn, couldn't-be-more-beautiful Li Jiaxin
我其实和你一样,是个再自私不过的人了[src]
I, in fact, like you, am a couldn't-be-more-selfish person

It is often used in conjunction with a 了, such as in:

我们对结果再高兴不过了[src]
We, regarding the outcome, couldn't be happier.
鸡腿面包，再好吃不过了！[src]
Chicken leg bread: couldn't be tastier!
穿阔腿裤不要穿这3种鞋子，再丑不过了！[src]
[When] wearing wide-leg pants, don't wear these three kinds of shoes: [it] couldn't be uglier.

This function is similar to 太……了 and 及了.


How do you say "there aren't people I can talk to"? 没有对他们可以说话的人？ How do you say "there aren't people I can talk to" ? 没有对他们可以说话的人？or else "the person with whom I had a fight last week is now a friend" and all those sentences that require with/to/etc.?

"There aren't people I can talk to"

The translation varies, depending on what word is used to translate "talk to".

"说话", to get into a conversation

  找不到说得上话的人。

"倾诉", to pour out one's feelings

  找不到可以倾诉的人／对象。

or simply

  找不到倾诉（的）对象。

With "倾诉对象", the sentence is starting to become idiomatic. Other variants are also possible. For example, you can replace "找不到" with "没有". If the context permits, you can also say "没有人可以／愿意倾听／聆听我的倾诉". This last sentence is closer to "Nobody could/would become my listener".

The key here is that you need to find a word that conveys the meaning of "talk to" instead of just "talk". In other words, it should emphasize the action on the subject's part. Otherwise the sentence will just become awkward because you need to make up for the missed meaning. This is why dictionary translations of "talk" like "交谈" and "谈话" will get you nowhere---these words can only mean "talk with", which give equal weights to both parties involved in talking. Structurally this is similar to the deletion of preposition mentioned by Joe. But I think that this is more absorbing the meaning of the preposition into the verb than implying that meaning through the verb.

"The person with whom I had a fight last week is now a friend"

I find this translation better than any attempt to simplistically duplicate the sentence structure:

  上星期和我打（了一）架的那个人现在成了我的朋友。

The key here is that unlike in the original sentence, "the person" is now the implicit subject of the relative clause. This technique works trivially when the clause describes a reciprocal action with "with". Sometimes, even if the action is not reciprocal, you can also get it to work by replacing the verb of the clause with its antonym. For example, for

  The person I sold my bike to also lives in China.

you can say

  买了我的自行车（的）那个人也住在中国。

Comparing with a sentence using the "dummy variable" approach mentioned by Joe,

  我卖了自行车给他的那个人也住在中国。

the former just sounds much more natural and less twisted.

How about "all those sentences that require with/to/etc."?

The two examples above show that you need to adapt the expression to the meaning of the preposition of the clause. But the way of adapting is different in the two examples. I doubt that general rules exist for all such sentences even though I am no linguist. But perhaps there exists this one technique that in many, even if not all, cases can at least make you sound less awkward and more comprehensible with little effort---use more than one sentence. For example, again consider the "sold my bike" example above. You can use these two sentences:

  我把自行车卖给了一个人。那个人也住在中国。

which are totally fine and even easier to understand than "我卖了自行车给他的那个人……". This sacrifices on structural "信" in order to gain on semantic "达" and "雅" of Yan Fu's principles of translation. Sometimes, especially for complex sentences, this is probably the only sensible solution.


Passive object position in 是...的 structure? I came across the following sentences:

电话是谁打来的?
Diànhuà shì shuí dǎlái de?
Who was calling?

晚饭是妈妈做的。
Wǎnfàn shì māma zuò de.
Mom made dinner.

Which literally is something like:

The phone call was by who done?
Dinner is by mama done.

This looks quite passive to me as the object appears first in the sentence.
Question 1:  I don't understand the word order. Is it because the structure 是...的 allows for passive sentences? I couldn't find any resources explaining this such as in The "shi... de" construction for emphasizing details in resources.allsetlearning. Could you provide some?
Instead, I would have expected the object to be positioned before or after the 的 (as explained in the section Position of 的 from the previous link)：

是谁打来电话的? or 是谁打来的电话?
是妈妈做晚饭的. or 是妈妈做的晚饭.

Question 2: Just to clarify, would this form be correct too?

In "是谁打来的电话" , the object is '电话'
[电话]是谁打来的 (places the object before the verb emphasize the object, makes it a more important part in the sentence - The phone call is the topic)

~
In "是妈妈做的晚饭" , the object is '晚饭'

[晚饭] 是妈妈做的 (place the object before the verb emphasize the object, makes it a more important part in the sentence - The dinner is the topic)

[的] marks 是谁打来[的] as an 'adjectival phrase' that describes the object to follow. In this case, it describes the object 电话 (phone call? What phone call? The phone call that was made by who)
[的] marks 是妈妈做[的] as an 'adjectival phrase' that describes the object to follow. In this case, it describes the object 晚饭 (dinner? What dinner? The dinner that was made by mother)
是 = (it) is/ (it) was


What's the meaning of 忘形 and 将 in this sentence? Question as in the subject.

老虎得意得简直忘了形，完全忘了注意周围会有什么危险，屡次从芦苇丛中挑起，将自己的身体暴露在农夫的视线里.

Are commas in this sentence used to list things that the tiger forgot about? And thus does 将 introduce one of things the tiger forgot about - that he WILL (将) be seen by the farmer?

忘形 seems to mean "lose his mind" but no dictionary I looked through didn't give this meaning.

In this case, 将 is a written form of 把. See Using "jiang" as a formal "ba".

I think 形 here is just literally "appearance". The tiger forgot (overlooked) his appearance (and the effect of his appearance) and let himself be seen.


How do 用不起 / 用得起 and 吃不起 / 吃得起 mean (un)affordable? Among potential complements are some ending with 得起.  Some examples (from here and here) are:

这家餐厅太贵了，我们吃不起。
This restaurant is too expensive. We can't afford to eat here.
我们吃得起龙虾。
We can afford lobster.

这些化妆品很贵，我用不起。
This makeup is very expensive. I can't afford it.
我们用得起电。
We can afford electricity.

The Chinese Zero To Hero YouTube video 动词+得/不+起 gives an idea of the conversion: basically, 不能[verb] = [verb]不起 and 能[verb] = [verb]得起.  But then 吃不起 should mean 不能吃 = "I can't eat [something]" and 吃得起 should mean 能吃 = "I can eat [something]" (and likewise for 用).  So I'm not following the logic here.
Question: How do 用不起 / 用得起 and 吃不起 / 吃得起 mean (un)affordable?

In China, we more of use this as a fixed phrase for (cannot) afford. For example, we would use 吃不起 or 用不起 or 买不起 to show that we cannot afford to eat/use/buy something. The simple logic is this:
-得起 means that you can afford to do an action
-不起 means that you cannot afford to do an action
This is probably a fixed phrase you need to memorize.
P.S. When we use -得起 or -不起, we do not necessarily mean afford in the monetary context. For example, we can say 我承担不起这个后果 to mean "I cannot bear (承担) this consequence (后果)".


How to say "development and support" in Chinese As an example I want to translate "electronic document workflow system development and support"

Translation word by word: 'development' is 发展 and 'support' is 支援

But googling of 发展和支援 does not give any results at all that could mean the word pair is wrong. Can anyone prove/disapprove my idea

开发与技术支持

开发 is development as in software development.

技术支持 means technical support.

支持 by itself means support.

seems to be a common enough paring, here's two examples:

I guess you could also just say 开发与支持 if you wanted to cut out the whole "technical" part.


How to give a thinly veiled threat? I want to know a phrase in Chinese that most native speakers would immediately understand to be a (thinly veiled) threat to their physical safety, very similar to "You had better watch your back" in English. I read this question, but I am now sure how subtle 好自为之 is. I also thought of 小心点儿 but that would depend heavily on context. Any phrases are appreciated.

To make a subtle threat in Chinese is the same as in English-- just imply a threat without actually using threatening words.

One frequently used method is  反話 (irony)

For Example:

"終有一天，我會雙倍地償還你的恩典" (There will be a day, I doubly repay your grace)

This so call 恩典 might mean 'a stab to my back' , and the payback might mean 'a bullet to your head', but it is just an implied threat, The court cannot use these words as evidence against me if some horrible thing happen to you later.


How do I say "The things I do" I've been working a bit on writing lately, and I'm trying to figure out how best to translate the classic english statement "The things I do". For example, I would like to say
"Sometimes the things I do are actually good for my own future".

Could I say 有时候我喜欢做的东西对我自己的未来很好。

Do people ever say "我做的东西“ or 做的事 ？  or is this a poor translation for what I'd like to say?

有时做我想做的事其实对自己的前途有利 would perhaps do. Although you could say "做的东西", it is probably far more common to say "做的事".


Word in Mandarin that is often used that sounds like "jigga"? I saw this Very frequently used word in Mandarin that sounds like "nica" or "nigah" question, but I often hear another word in Chinese Mandarin that sounds like "jigga." It seems to be used very frequently and is almost certainly not a reference to Jay-Z.

Does anyone know what it is?

The word that sounds like "jigga" would be:

  这个
  zhège

and it means:

  this / this one

It is sometimes also pronounced

  zhèige

Which would account for any variations in pronunciation that you might hear.


Is the traditional character for 雪 the same as itself? Is  the traditional character for http://screenshoot.me/XeEw1S?

Or are both  and http://screenshoot.me/XeEw1S considered the same character (汉字) with simply different font styles?

These are 2 different fonts for the same character. There are many website to check that, see this post for an overview.

For example on chineseetymology.org and chinese-characters.org you can see that the simplified and traditional characters are identical (the former website explicitely writes: no simplification).

Having said this. Although they are considered to be the same character, people in different regions/countries have habits and the most common way to write something might be different and people might consider some variants as being wrong. This can be seen in the picture below (source zdic.net):


What is the best way to say "Under New Management"? The three options I have found are:

根据新的管理
新的管理团队
管理团队新血液

Do either of these sound good, or does anybody have a better suggestion?
Can it possibly be said in only 4 characters?

For context, these are going on business cards

But I'm printing out over 1,000 of these, so I want to make sure I don't mess up

老店新张！I saw it used in many instances in China when the owner changes.


Why does mulberry have so many different endings? (桑葚、桑椹、桑甚、桑黮)？ I always just assumed mulberry was 桑葚. I was going through some materials though and came across many variants:

桑椹
桑甚
桑黮

It's not as if they are even traditional or simplified variants. What's up with all these different suffixes (葚, 椹, 甚, 黮) for mulberry?

桑葚（sāng shèn），又作桑椹，桑树的成熟果实，为桑科植物桑树的果穗。又名桑椹子、桑蔗、桑枣、桑果、桑泡儿，乌椹等。
黮
dàn
云黑色：“当时黮闇犹承误，末俗纷纭更乱真。”
shèn
古通“葚”，桑果：“食我桑黮。”

So it seems that 桑椹 and 桑葚 are the same. And 黮 is the interchangeability character of 葚 in ancient time. While 甚 should be a wrong word since I didn't find any explanation related to 桑甚.


What is the purpose of 并 in 他虽然并不聪明， 可是很努力? I have a sentence that I can't quite grasp the meaning of. The sentence is:

  他虽然并不聪明， 可是很努力。

It's an example from a Mandarin Chinese textbook I'm using, teaching the usages of 虽然 ~ 可/但(是).

I ran the sentence through a translator and it means "Although he is not smart, he works very hard." My question is, what does the 并 mean here?

My understanding is that if it's used as a verb it means "to combine" and if used as an adverb it means "also, simultaneously, etc."

Also, would the sentence

  他虽然不是聪明， 可是很努力。

be equivalent to the one above? The second sentence makes more sense to me intuitively.

並/并 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/844/
[3] [adv] (used before a negative for emphasis) actually; definitely; really

~

他虽然不(not)聪明， 可是很努力。
他虽然并不(actually not)聪明， 可是很努力。

Other example of 并 as an adverb before a 'negative':
無(doesn't have) --> 并無 (actually doesn't have)
未(have not/ not yet)--> 并未 (actually have not/ actually not yet)
沒 (doesn't have/ did not)--> 并沒 (actually doesn't have/ actually did not)
並 in '並有'(also have) or '並已'(had also) means 'also' since  有 and 已 are not negative

'並' 不一定 等於 '並且' ('並' does not always equal 'and also')
'並' 并不一定 等於 '並且' ('並' actually does not always equal 'and also')


How do you say "to do" When asking a kid what he wants to do when he grows up? The classic question (at least when speaking english) is to ask a child what he wants "to do" when he grows up. Now this "to do" is very vague - and, in a lot of instances, doesn't actually mean "do" (So much as "Be")
I'm interested, in Chinese, how is this classic question asked?

Is it
"你长到以后想干什么啊？“  or is there  a more natural way to say this?

Well, there's several way to say it. In addition to what you wrote, you can also use 做 or 當. For example, 長大後你想做什麼? or 你長大後想當什麼?

A more formal way, e.g. in essay questions, is to use 志向. For example: 你未來的志向是什麼?


What does 给盯背过去 mean in 差点没把人家给盯背过去? The full sentence was more or less:

  差点没把人家给盯背过去

I was wondering if it was a phrase, or if it just meant that they were staring at the person's back.

I think this means that you are staring at people in a rude way which makes them so uncomfortable that they might want to turn their back at you to avoid eye contact.

the "背" here is not a noun but a action which is performed by the person who is being stared at. Hope this will help.


"不客气" (bù kèqì) vs "谢谢你" (xièxiè nǐ) At home in Australia my neighbouring shop owners are from Shanghai and taught me some Chinese.

From them I learned two ways of responding to "谢谢" (xièxiè):

"不客气" (bù kèqì)
"谢谢你" (xièxiè nǐ)

So I guess these mean roughly "you're welcome", "don't mention it", "it's nothing", etc.

Now that I've travelled in China and Taiwan I can only recall hearing the former. I've tried using the latter here and nobody reacts strangely like when I say other things wrong.

Is one more casual than the other? Are they used in different regions? Could one be more used in Shanghai? Or are there some slight connotations different? When is it better to use one or the other?

Stepping in for my Chinese to Australian translations:
Also a couple of other phrases that are good to keep in your toolkit

Thank you

谢谢 Xièxiè

Is the most basic and common way of saying thank you
Australian Translation:
Cheers
Thanks

谢谢你 Xièxiè nǐ

This is a more sincere or formal way of saying thank you
Australian Translation:
Thank you
Thanks Heaps

多谢 Duōxiè

Translates to many thanks, Where 谢谢你 Xièxiè nǐ is used to more formally express a greater amount of thanks 多谢 Duōxiè is a slightly more casual way of saying the same.
Australian Translation:
Cheers mate this helped a ton
Thanks, I really appreciate this

我很感谢 Wǒ hěn gǎnxiè

Translates to I am very thankful/Grateful. This term I'm less familiar with but to me it would be to a way of expressing a large amount of gratitude in a formal manner. Same sort of situations 您 Nín is used over 你 Nǐ
Australian Translation:
Thank you sir, I appreciate this.

Responses

不客气 Bù kèqì

The best translation for this is No politeness necessary or more commonly You're welcome
Australian Translation:
You're welcome

不用谢 Bùyòng xiè

It literately means "No need thanks"
Australian Translation:
Don't worry about it mate

没事 Méishì

It literally translates to "Nothing Thing" but a more natural translation would be it's nothing / never mind
Australian Translation:
It was nothing mate (As in it was no trouble)

Post thoughts

Responding to 谢谢 (xièxiè) with 谢谢你 (xièxiè nǐ) although would be understood it isn't a way I have heard before. I think it would work well if someone who you were in a position to thank thanked you before you said thank you. An example would be purchasing something from someone as you're both equally profiting from the interaction but if the thanks are one sided I wouldn't use 谢谢你

I mean if you helped a lady up after she tripped and then thanked her for letting you help her she would scream 变态 (biàntài) and slap you across the face assuming you took some sick joy in it

Bonus way of saying thanks

note: this is not about the Chinese language but the Chinese culture

When someone pours you a cup of tea rather then vocalizing your thanks you can tap 2 fingers on the table.

  This custom is said to have originated in the Qing Dynasty when Emperor Qian Long would travel in disguise through the empire. Servants were told not to reveal their master's identity. One day in a restaurant, the emperor, after pouring himself a cup of tea, filled a servant's cup as well. To that servant it was a huge honour to have the emperor pour him a cup of tea. Out of reflex he wanted to kneel and express his thanks. He could not kneel and kowtow to the emperor since that would reveal the emperor's identity so he bent his fingers on the table to express his gratitude and respect to the emperor.

-Partial Extract from Wikipedia


Translation for these symbols (Google turned back nothing!) My grandfather received a painting when he was invited to China as part of a group of representatives of Sweden. I've always wondered what the symbols meant and since he has passed away and Google translate won't return any results on my images I'm hoping there are some kind people out there willing to help.

See the images below:

The painting depicts two birds (cranes), some water, grass, etc. and a red sun.

Many thanks!

This is Chinese calligraphy. As Toosky's answered, you have known the meaning of these pictures.

Like, in the first picture is "time" (when painted this painting) -- "Author" (who painted)

And if you search about "Chinese calligraphy", you may know more about the forms of calligraphy.


What is the difference between 试验 and 实验? Both 试验 and 实验 seems to be translated into "experiment". What is the difference between the two words? Can they be used interchangeably or not?

实验 is used for operations and activities done to test a scientific theory or hypothesis. An example: 经过反复实验，证明这一结论是正确的

试验 is used to inspect the function or effect of some physical thing (something that already exists). It's typically done in some lab.
Some examples:

新农药要经过反复试验才能推广
试验新机器
新办法试验后推广


Can someone help translate this seal script (I think)? I was told the symbols on this table was seal script. I'm having trouble confirming/translating them. Any help/advice?

朙（明）⿰古久（故）朙威將
軍錦衣䘙（衛）⿰扌⿱刀甘（指）
揮僉事（鄭）公
曁配（恭）人先
鐂（鎦）氏繼楊氏
合（葬）⿵土（墓）誌銘

Epitaph of joint grave of Grand Ming general of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Sir 鄭 , together with honoured first lady Madame 鎦 [passed away first] and second lady Madame 楊.
(The word choice in this translation might be inappropriate, it's very difficult to translate ancient titles across from Chinese)


Is there a website for generating xíngshū (semi-cursive script) from jiǎnhuàzì (simplified characters)? Google Translate can be a useful tool for converting Simplified Chinese hanzi into Traditional Chinese — but I'm looking for a tool that will enable me to paste in a set of Simplified characters, and generate a calligraphic equivalent in semi-cursive script.

Is there a web service that does this, or would it be better to download a xíngshū font?

You can try 第一字体网

Choose any 行书 fonts.

You can download the font too.


Which one is correct 你说的对 or 你说得对？ Which one is correct 你说的对 or 你说得对？ Especially to express meaning:

  You are right in terms of ...

Both 你说的对 and 你说得对 could be valid.

你说的对 means 你说的内容对：what you said is right.

你说得对 means either 'you said it right' or 'it's right/correct for you to say it'. 得 here is an effect or result complement.

However, 'you are right' should be interpreted as '你是对的'. Specially for "You are right in terms of xxx": 在xxx方面，你是对的 or 从xxx角度(来看/来说), 你是对的.

For example, you are right in terms of time or money: 从时间或金钱的角度来说， 你是对的。


Does '几个运动员应该尽到自己的努力了，' have a critical tone in this sentence? 谈谈的是‘2008年的现代五项世界锦标赛。

这次比赛成绩不是很好，整个冬训主要是以基本功的训练为主，所以关于实战训练方面，冬训抓得不是太多。在这次比赛当中，几个运动员应该尽到自己的努力了，但是有个别项目，个别人出现了问题。

Does the phrase below have a critical tone?

几个运动员应该尽到自己的努力了，
I suppose / guess some （几个） of our participants must have tried their best,

“几个运动员应该尽到自己的努力了” here is to add an reason/excuse before saying the bad result (但是有个别项目，个别人出现了问题。).

I think the author feel sorry to say the bad result, so he put an positive thing and praise our 运动员 first before addressing the bad result.

In English, there is a phrase “not to rain on your parade”. I think they are the same kind of idea.


Is there a word for grandparents(collectively)? I know there is 祖父母, but that's only paternal grandparents. Is there a word that the encompasses grandparents from either side or together?

Unlike brothers; sisters (兄弟; 姐妹), Chinese don't have a collective word for 祖父母 (grandparents from father's side) and 外祖父母 (grandparents from mother's side)
If you had to write grandparents and didn't know if there are maternal or paternal grandparents, you can write  父母的父母 (the parents of one's parents), which encompasses one's all four grandparents
We do have a collective word 祖輩 for 'ancestors' and great grandparents are included in this term so you don't have to write 父母的父母的父母 for it
Edit:
祖父輩 (Grandfather's generation) encompasses the whole generation, which includes grandparents and granduncles


Are there sentences where 跟 and 和 are interchangeable? For example:

我跟朋友去公园了。
我和朋友去公园了。

Are both of these sentences correct? Are there any subtle differences in the meaning conveyed?

If they are not entirely interchangeable, how do we know which one to use?

Both of them are correct, and the 跟 & 和 here are the conjunction. The one 我同朋友去公园了 is also correct.

They are almost the same, but if you do want to distinguish the meanings (except for the spoken/written difference):

我跟朋友去公园了。: it seems like my friend (朋友) wanted to go to the park (公园), and s/he asked me whether I wanted to go with her/him. So I just went with her/him and left a message to my mother: "Mam, 我跟朋友去公园了".
我和朋友去公园了。: it seems like my friend and I were doing something together (e.g. having lunch), after it, we decided go to the park together.

Maybe that's not a very good example. But I cannot think of a better one because both of them are almost the same (99.9%). :p


When should one use a mixture of simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese? See the photos above. Both simplified and traditional Chinese are used. Is there a general rule regarding when should one use a mixture of both? Or is it always a bad practice to mix these twos?

For calligraphy, you can ignore the rules for simplified Chinese characters, especially writing in cursive form like 行書 and 草書.
"Simplified Chinese characters" is the product of political decisions. Some simplified characters are just from their variants. Some are from cursive forms with strokes straightened. Some are from invention with phonetic components. Some might be from simplification in Japan. Some might be from lazy invention. Some might be from strange reasons.
Before the mandatory use of "simplified Chinese characters" in mainland China, people are free to use whatever character variants they like.  There is no such bipolar division on "simplified" and "traditional'. The division later is mainly for printing materials and formal form. Cursive form do not have such bipolar distinctions.
You might think some in the picture are "simplified characters" but actually this kind of cursive form exists long before the creation of "simplified Chinese characters".  It is not the mixture of "simplified characters' and "traditional characters" in calligraphy sense.


What words are used in Taiwan for a place or person that mends clothing? On my last trip to Mainland China I saw a lady in a corner "mini shop" mending clothes with a sewing machine.

She mended my jeans for about $5. I don't think she had any kind of sign.

This trip I'm in Taiwan and again would like to get my jeans mended. But I'm not sure what to Google or ask for at the hostel.

Even in English I'm not sure what words I'd use. "Tailor" and "seamstress" both seem a bit wrong.

What Chinese words are used for a shop, stall, service, or person who does sewing, patching, darning, mending, etc?

We don't use 補 or 縫補 in Taiwan. We use 修改衣服 instead.

When you like to get the clothes mended, you should find the 修改衣服/換拉鏈 (Modify clothes/Change zippers) signs as follows.

We still call the person who does these works 老闆.


Why does 要 mean "will" and not "want" in 这个星期五晚上我们要去酒吧? 这个 星期五 晚上 我们 要 去 酒吧

  Zhège Xīngqīwǔ wǎnshang wǒmen yào qù jiǔbā

is translated as:

  We're going to a bar this Friday night.

What makes this future tense vs the verb want?

What makes this future tense vs the verb want?

If it happened in the past,  the sentence would be "这个 星期五 晚上 我们 去了 酒吧" - 了 indicates the action is completed

"这个 星期五" (this Friday) apparently refers to the up coming Friday

我们 要 去 酒吧 could mean "we need to go to a bar" or  "we want to go a bar"

We cannot be sure without more context, but with the information of '这个星期五' we can translate 'need to' or 'want to' as 'will'


Does anyone have a list of SCUBA diving related terms in Chinese? Things like regulator, atmospheric-air filled tank, nitrox, snorkel. Helpful!

潜水词汇中英对照大全--潜游世界无障碍—转自TOPPLAYER潜水

  潜水机构

  世界水中教育联盟 CMAS

  专业潜水教练协会 PADI

  国际潜水教练协会 NAUI

  国际潜水学校联盟 SSI

  中华民国潜水协会 CTDA

  世界水下科技协会 UTDA

  美国海洋大气总署 NOAA

  潜水员急救网路 DAN

  潜水科技协会 DSAT

  世界潜水器材展 DEMA

  潜水类型

  潜水 Diving

  浮潜 Skin Diving（Snorkeling)

  闭气潜水 Free Diving

  水面供气潜水 Air Supply Diving-Hose

  水肺潜水 Scuba Diving

  商业潜水 Commercial Diving

  工业潜水 Industtrialized Diving

  体验潜水 Discover Scuba Diving (DSD)

  岸潜 Shore Dive

  船潜 Boat Dive

  深潜 Deep Dive

  夜潜 Night Dive

  冰潜 Ice Dive

  水下导航 Underwater Navigation

  放流潜水 Drift Dive

  垃圾潜水（漫潜）Muck Diving

  技术导向潜水 TEC Dive

  高海拔潜水 Altitude Dive

  洞穴潜水 Cave or Cavern Dive

  沉船潜水 Wreck Dive

  水中摄影 Underwater Photography

  巡弋漫游 Vehicle Cruise

  搜索寻回 Search And Recovery

  低能见度潜水 Limited Visibility Diving

  多重深度饱和潜水 Multi-Level Dive

  水面闭封潜水环境 Overhead Environments

  装备篇

  轻装 Snorkeling Equipment

  重装 Scuba Equipment

  面镜 Mask

  呼吸管 Snorkel

  呼吸管固定扣 Snorkel Attachement

  头套 Hoods

  溼式防寒衣 Wetsuit

  乾式防寒衣 Drysuit

  排气阀 Deflator Valve

  手套 Scuba Gloves

  活塞平横式 Balanced Piston Type

  低压出器孔 Low Pressure Contact Port

  高压出气孔 High Pressure Contact Port

  低压管 Low Pressure Hose

  高压管 High Pressure Hose

  二级头 Second Stage

  顺流式 Downstream Valves Type

  咬嘴 Mouthpiece

  备用气源 Alternate Air Source

  备用二级头 Safe Second Stage

  章鱼式 Octopus Alternate Air Source

  潜水仪表 Instrument Console

  残压表 Perssure Gauge/SPG

  深度表 Depth Gauge

  气瓶 Cylinderor Scuba Tank

  气瓶开关 Tank Valves

  螺旋式气瓶开关 DIN Valves

  臂抱式气瓶开关 Yoke Valves

  气密圈 O-Ring

  调节器 Regulator

  一级头 First Stage

  隔膜平横式 Balanced Diaphragm Type

  指北针 Compass

  水中通讯器 Underwater Radio

  求援浮力棒 Signal Tube or Surface marker buoy or Sausage

  浮力扬升袋 Liffing Bag

  潜水装备袋 Gear Bag

  蜂鸣器 Air Horn

  定位回声系统 Sonar

  水中推进器 Subscooteror Subtransporter

  水下遥控无人载具 ROV

  密闭式循环水肺系统 Semi-Closed

  防水盒 Waterproof Case

  浮球 Surface Floats

  渔枪 Spear Gun

  备用零件 Spare Parts

  漏气 Free Flow

  水压测试 Pressure Test

  潜水证照 Certification Card

  潜水日志 Diving Log

  潜航准线 Lubber Line

  磁针 Magnetic Needle

  定位转盘 Bezel

  潜水电脑 Diving Computer

  浮力调整背心 Buoyancy Control Device

  充排气阀开关 BCD Inflator Valve

  快速接头 Hose Rapid Adapter

  充气钮 Inflator Button

  排气钮 Deflator Button

  水下手电筒 Marine Light

  闪明器 Flash Light

  萤光棒 Light Stick

  水下记录板 Dive Slate

  渔网 Fishing Net

  缠绕 Entanglement

  救援 Rescue

  潜水靴 Diving Boots 蛙鞋 Fins

  配重带 Weight Belt

  快卸扣 Quick-Release Buckle

  铅块 Weights

  铅块止滑扣 Weight Retainer

  潜水刀 Diving Knife

  潜水员级别

  潜水员 Diver

  初级潜水员 Openwater Diver

  中级潜水员 Advanced Diver

  专项潜水员 Specialty Diver

  高级潜水员 Master Scuba Diver

  潜水长 Dive master

  教练 Instructor

  教练训练员 Instructor Trainer

  课程总监 Course Director

  潜水术语

  空气 Air

  废气 Exhaust

  氧气 Oxygen

  氮气 Nitorgen

  高氧气体 Nitrox

  氦氧氮混合气体 Trimix

  氦氧混合气体 Heliox

  气瓶充气站 Refil Station

  充气压缩机 Air Pump

  气瓶充气 Fill Tank

  充气-对气瓶 Refil Air

  充气-对背心 Inflate

  空气消耗量 Air Amount Used

  人体空腔 Body Air Space

  耳腔 Ear Air Space

  耳膜 Eardrum

  副鼻腔 Sinus Air Space

  气道 Airway

  胸腔 Chest

  肺泡 Pulmonary Alveolus

  潮气肺容积 Tidal Volumn

  最大肺活量 Vital Capacity

  无效能的肺馀容积 Residual Volumn

  气压 Air Pressure

  水压 Water Pressure

  绝对压力 Absolute Atmosphere

  压缩 Squeeze

  气体分压 Percentage of Air

  立方英迟 Cubic-Feet

  公斤平方公分 Bar

  英磅平方英吋 PSI

  体积 Volume

  水容积 Water Container Volume

  浮力 Buoyance

  正浮力 Positive

  中性浮力 Neutral

  负浮力 Negative

  沉 Sink

  浮 Float

  悬浮 Hovering

  光线折射 Refraction

  色温 Color Temperature

  潜伴 Diving Buddy

  潜伴制度 Buddy System

  潜导 Team Leader/Guide

  押队 Team Holder/Keeper

  水下通讯手势 Communication Signals

  潜水计划 Dive Planning

  潜水地点 Dive Site

  下潜简报 Dive Procedures/Briefing

  著装 Suiting Up

  下水前的装备检查 Final Check/Safety Check

  技能评估性质的下潜 Check Dive

  入水点 Entry Point

  入水 Entering The Water

  上岸 Exiting The Water

  风险 Potential Hazards

  跨步式入水 Giant Stride Entry

  背滚式入水 Backward Roll Entry

  镰刀式入水 Headfirst Long Entry

  面镜排水 Mask Clearing

  调节器复位 Regulator Recovery

  调节器排水 Regulator Clearing

  压力平衡 Equalize

  耳压平衡 Equalization/Ears Clearing

  呼吸 Breathing

  共气 Buddy Breathe

  呼气 Exhale

  吸气 Inhale

  憋气 Breath-Hold

  上浮 Ascents

  下沉 Descents

  踢动蛙鞋 Use Fins

  平静水域 Confined Water

  开放水域 Open Water

  海洋相关

  海岸 Shore

  海湾 Gulf

  潮汐 Tides

  涨潮 Incoming High Tide

  满潮 High Tide

  退潮 Outgoing Low Tide

  平潮 Low Tide

  波浪 Surf

  碎浪区 Surfzone

  涌浪 Waves

  海流 Ocean Currents

  潮流 Tides Currents

  洋流 Relatively Premanent Currents

  激流 Rushing Water

  激流区 Rip Dispersal Area

  沿岸流 Down Shore Current

  回流 Undertow

  涌昇流 Up Current

  下降流 Down Current

  漩涡 Eddy Current

  能见度 Visibility

  水底 Bottom

  水中 Underwater

  水面 Surface

  珊瑚礁 Reef

  堡礁 Barrier Reef

  裙礁 Fringing Reef

  环礁 Atoll Reef

  人工鱼礁 Artificial Reef

  沉船 Wreck

  泻湖 Lagoon

  温带 Temperate

  热带 Tropical

  寒带 Polar

  淡水 Freshwater

  海水 Saltwater

  圣婴现象 El Nino

  温室效应 Global Warming

  病症

  过度换气 Hyperventilation

  氮醉 Nitrogen Narcosis

  心肺复苏术 CPR

  失温 HeatLoss

  恐慌 Panic

  抽筋 Cramp

  脱水 Dehydration

  氧中毒 Oxygen Toxicity

  浅层水域昏迷 Ascent Unconsciousness

  减压症 Decompression Sickness

  气泡 Bubbles

  呛水 Inhaled Water

  溺水 Drowning

  窒息 Choking

  急救 First Aid

  抗组织氨 Anti-Histamine

  再压舱 Recompression Chamber

  潜水医学 Underwater Medicine

  潜船

  水平线 Horizen

  潜水船 Diving Boat

  上船登艇 Boarding

  船长 Captain

  甲板 Deck

  航行中 Underway

  船首 Bow

  走向船首 Forward Bow

  左舷 Portside

  走向左舷 On The Portside

  右舷 Starboard

  走向右舷 On The Starboard

  船尾 Stern

  走向船尾 Aft Stern

  下锚 Anchors

  锚绳 Anchor Line

  下风处 Leeward Side

  晕船 Seasickness

  水中生物

  一群鱼 A School of Fish

  鲨鱼 Shark

  梭鱼 Barracuda

  刺魟鱼 Sting Ray

  魔鬼魟鱼 Manta

  狮子鱼 Lionfish

  石头鱼 Rockfish

  粗皮鲷 Surgeon fish

  鲽鱼 Butterfly fish

  盒子鱼 Boxfish

  扳机鱼 Triggerfish

  海豚 Dolphin

  薯鳗 Moray Eel

  鲶鱼/沙毛 Catfish

  火鱼 Firefish

  水母 Jellyfish

  海星 Starfish

  海胆 Sea Urchin

  海蛇 Sea Snake

  章鱼 Octopus

  芋贝 Cone

  珊瑚 Coral

  行程/旅游

  渡假村 Resort

  免费迎宾饮料 Welcome Drink

  面海房 Ocean view

  菲律宾八爪船 Banca

  敞蓬快艇 Open Yacht

  盖舱快艇 Cabin Boat

  独木舟 Kayak

  沙滩排球 Beach Volleyball

  海滩饮料吧 Beach Bar

  大厅 Lobby

  柜檯 Front desk

  筷子 Chopstick


Advantages & Benefits - 利益 vs 优势 vs 好处 I am trying to work out the difference between 利益, 优势 and 好处. They all seem to be nouns and relate to having an advantage, but I can't find any resources which outline when you would use word in preference to another.

If anyone is able to provide some insight into this, I would be very grateful.

利益 benefits/ interest (mainly of monetary or material gain)

优势 advantage

好处 benefits (general term for benefits, e.g improve health, avoid criticism and of course, monetary gain)

利益 is more literary and 好处 is more colloquial

Example sentences:

军事优势 = military advantage

国家利益 = national interest

获取利益 = gain benefits

在美国留学的好处 = Benefits of studying in the United States


meaning of 把自己 and 收下 and 在地里 and some translations i am learning new i have a couple of questions about a text
1：收完白菜，老山羊把自己种的白菜送给他们
2：山羊收下白菜
1:what 收完 exactly is translated into-what about 把自己 can you tell me the grammar and exact translation
2:what exactly 收下 mean?
please explain the grammar of themif any
thanks

收 means (among other things) to harvest
完 is used to indicate that the action is completed, finished. So
收完 means to finish the harvest, or as @倪阔乐 put it, to complete the harvest

Similarly 说完 means to finish what you want to say. 说完了没有？ "Is that all you have to say/Are you finished (talking)?". Grammar books usually discuss this 完 verb complement, so try to use them.

把 is another particle you have to look into. If used, the sentence order is changed. The object of action follows immediately after this particle, thus it gets more emphasis. Consider e.g.

我在吃午饭。 I am having lunch.
我把午饭已经吃完了。 I have finished eating my lunch. (Just to use the 完 again in combination with 把). Notice that 午饭 is pushed to the left of the sentence. This is an important particle and sentence structure that you have to understand. Again, consult your textbook or grammar reference for more.

As for 收下, it simply means to receive or to accept. E.g. 收下名片 to receive a business card or 请收下这个... Please accept this..., 收下礼物 to receive gifts/presents.

Here's one more example sentence that uses 把 and 收下:

请把它作为一件礼物收下。 Please accept it as a gift.

把 is immediatelly followed by the object 它 (it)
一件礼物 a gift (one piece of gift, I hope you know what a classifier is)
作为 as ...
收下 accept


What does the expression "孤男寡女" mean? What does the expression "孤男寡女" (gū nán guǎ nǚ) mean, exactly? Does it have inherently negative connotations?

As an aside, why does Google translate it as "Needing"?

Frankie's answer is good, but I want to make a clarification on 孤 and 寡. Both of them mean "only one" here, and I don't think "single" is good in this situation since it could mean "unmarried".
example:
you and a female friend of yours are taking in a  club, in a room with the door closed,(of course, I don't recommend this :-)  ), unfortunately, your wife finds you here, so she would high suspect that you have affairs with your friend.You try to explain, but she retorts,

你们孤男寡女，共处(chŭ, to stay in )一室，你还有什么好说的？
one man, one woman, and one room, how could you explain?(I won't believe!)


Will someone translate these characters into English? These are from an old scroll painting. I am trying to identify the artist.

The first one is 張 (zhāng), and about the second one, I'm not so sure, could be 直 zhí Probably?


What is the origin of 没 as an alternative to 不? Why is the verb 有 negated by 没 instead of 不 ?

Is there some historical reason or was it just a strange accident ?

This is a knottier question than it first appears. The answer is hard to summarise, but it seems to be related to the special status of 有 and 無 from the beginning of Chinese.

In the Old Chinese of the oracle bones, there seems to be fairly neat system of four. 不, 弗, 毋, 勿, where each of these is a combination of p-type vs m-type, reflecting non-modal (uncontrollable) vs modal (controllable / volitional) respectively; and vowel-final vs *ɯd final, which reflects stative/eventive/passive vs not. There was also 非 as a straightforward merger of a p-type with the verb 惟／唯／維.

Discussions of oracle bone Chinese often keep 亡 and 無 to one side, as they are verbs with negative polarity, and they replace 有 in negative sentences, rather than negating it. [Look in the 詩經: 亡 and 無 rarely paired with 有, and the two times 無 is with 有, it has a "futurity" about it, similar to modern Mandarin 不要 or 不會] We thus see that even from the time of Old Chinese, 有 was already a bit "special", different from other verbs. Compare Tibetan མེད med, the negative form (and not particle / prefix) of ཡོད yod, to be / exist (used in the construction for have).

According to Chappell & Peyraube (2016), 沒 was used before the Yuan, and only appeared with 沒有 from the Yuan onwards (specifically by 1350). It had been "semantically extended" from its root meaning of "sink" via "disappear", replacing 無 and then "extending to an aspectual negator or a marker expressing a perfective negation".

We see that in southern varieties of Chinese, negative equivalents of 有 (rather than negative adverbs) still exist: e.g. Min 無 (Southern Min POJ: bô, Fuzhounese BUC: mò̤); Cantonese 冇 mou5 (with a different tone to the now literary 無 mou4), Northern Wu 嘸沒 (Shanghainese hhmm meq). Interestingly, Xiang varieties generally use 冒得 instead of a cognate of 無 on its own for the negative of 有: an example of suppletion; 無 is still used as a perfective with verbs though.

So there is just something about 有 and 無 that became amplified with its use in the "perfective" through Middle Chinese.


How do I break apart 电子纸是利用电泳显示技术原理发明而成的? I'm struggling to understand how the part in bold breaks apart:

电子纸是利用电泳显示技术原理发明而成的，之所以也被称为“纸”，是因为它可以最大限度地模拟传统纸张的功能。
HSK6 past exam; also Coursera HSK6 course, week 7, lesson 3

Breaking it apart literally...

Electronic paper [电子纸] is [是...的] utilizes [利用] electrophoretic display technology [电泳显示技术] principle [原理] invention [发明] manufactured from [而成].

I'm finding it hard to put these pieces together.  It seems it just means "electronic paper has an electrophoretic display" with some buzzwords added in: "electronic paper utilizes the invention of the principle of electrophoretic display technology for manufacturing."
Question: How do I break apart 电子纸是利用电泳显示技术原理发明而成的?

电子纸 - Electronic paper
是 - is
利用 - using
电泳显示技术原理 - the principles of electrophoretic display technology
发明 - to invent
而成的(产品) - into (product)
Replace 发明 with 创造 would make it sound more natural

电子纸 | 是  | 利用  | 电泳显示技术原理  | 创造 |  而成的(产品)

Electronic paper is (a product) created by using the principles of electrophoretic display technology


How many days does a 节气 last for? People usually say there are 24 Solar Terms (24节气) in a year, and each lasts 15 days. If so, 24x15 days = 360 days.
But a year has at least 365 days. Does it mean some 节气 have more than 15 days?

before 清 dynasty (1644-1911), the calendar system in china used 平氣, solar terms lasts 15 days+ (it's roughly 365.25 days / 24).

then, the 時憲曆 changed the method to 定氣, that 360° div 24 = 15°, upon people observation, when the sun "walks" 15° on zodiac, solar term changes.

so, your question would be answered, it depends on which dynasty, and / or which seasons. eg, in 2018:

the 夏至 (summer solstice) is on 21st june, the 小暑 (lesser heat) is on 7th july. so, the summer solstice lasts 16 days :)

http://www.weather.gov.hk/gts/astron2018/Solar_Term_2018_uc.htm

have fun :)


你认为做什么事的时候时间过得最快: Could some explain the meaning of this sentence I am a little confused honestly about this whole thing. What do you think is the fastest time, but I doubt this is correct. Really any kind of break down of sentence structure or meaning would be very helpful. Thank you!

Is this sentence easier to understand now?
你认为：做什么事的时候，时间过得最快？
时间过得最快 => Time passes the fastest. This is relatively easy to parse, I reckon.
The first part of the sentence is trickier. "X的时候" means "when X". At first glance X seems like it might be the whole 你认为做什么 clause or only 做什么. But 认为 is used to talk about one's opinion, so 你认为做什么 as a standalone clause doesn't make sense. That means "做什么事的时候" ("when doing what thing") is correct; and the question is "What is it that when you do it time flies the fastest?"
An answer to this question would be 我认为玩电脑的时候时间过得最快 (I think time flies the fastest when (I'm) playing computer games).


When you use 在 with a time, where does 在 go in the sentence? So, if I wanted to say, "Last week I saw my friend in Japan," where would the location (Japan) go in this sentence?

I thought it would go like this:
在日本，我上个星期看朋友。

Is that correct or does the location go after the time?

In the introductory Chinese courses I've seen they've taught two basic sentence structures:

STPVO and TSPVO

S = Subject
T = Time
P = Place
V = Verb
O = Object

Your sentence sounds quite strange to me, and I think it's because you're putting the place in front instead of the time or subject. Either of these variations sound much better:

我上个星期在日本看朋友。(STPVO)

上个星期我在日本看朋友。(TSPVO)

I don't think it's technically wrong to put 日本 first, but in that case you're putting much more emphasis on the place, which doesn't seem to be reflected in your English sentence.

In any case, you're right that 在 should go in front of 日本.


How to translate/understand "还不" in "还不是因为爱" Just realized that the 还不 part of speech in phrases such as "还不是因为爱", "还不都怪你" is quite tricky. How do you translate it into English?

It's translated as “actually", "really", "just"; it is used to show your emphasis. It's a very tricky expression because it has no negative meaning, while it has a negative look (不).You usually use this word in a sentence as a response to show your disagreement with the speaker.

You and your friends go hiking in a big mountain, and you get lost. Fortunately, you have a GPS device, and it helps you get out of the adversity. When you are safe, one of your friends says, "Thank goodness!". You would say,

  这还不是因为我带了GPS导航仪。= It is really because I took the GPS navigator along.

Here, You imply that he should thank you!Not thank goodness!.

And another one would say

  还不是我叫你带上的。=It's I who asks you to take it along.

Now,he wants everyone to know that they should thank him :)

  还不是因为爱。= (It is) really because of love.

I also want to show you the negative form of this expression, you would say:

  这还真不是因为爱。= This is really not because of love.


What is the meaning of 报 in 你有报语言培训班吗? A Chinese friend asked me:

  你有报语言培训班吗?

I understand what she means, but I wonder what meaning 报 carries here.
Anyone could help me?

I think the 报 here is referring to registering/signing up/apply as in 报名.

A: Have you registered/signed up for X class yet?
B: Yes, I have (registered/signed up).
甲: 你 X(课/班) 报名了吗？
乙: 嗯 我报了。


What is the meaning of 拿 in 他就拿我没办法的信念? I have encountered the following sentence:
他就拿我没办法的信念
in the following paragraph:

  抱着誓死不从，他就拿我没办法的信念，我只有拼命挣扎，但是我错了。

which was originally here (link now broken).

I couldn't understand the meaning of 拿 here. Any definition from the dictionary doesn't make sense to me.

As for the 信念， I think it refers to the 信念 in a previous paragraph in the text:

  在我的印像中，但凡强奸如果女的不愿意，誓死不从的话，男的很少能得逞的，所以我当时就是抱了这样的信念的

The best translation that I could come up with is:

  He could not do anything with my belief

Or in other words, he couldn't make me stop fighting.  But I feel pretty uncomfortable with this translation. It doesn't seem correct to me.

Adding punctuation might help.

抱着“誓死不从，他就拿我没办法”的信念，我只有拼命挣扎，但是我错了。

拿...没办法, literally 'take ... with no solution', is an idiomatic way to say 'could do nothing about ...'.

誓死不从，他就拿我没办法 = (If I am) determined to resist to the end of my life, he could do nothing (to make me yield).

抱着...的信念 = with the idea/belief/conviction that ...

So the whole sentence goes

  With the idea that he couldn't do anything as long as I am determined to resist, I struggled hard with every string pulled, but I was wrong.


What are the rules in Chinese for adjective order when multiple adjectives describe a noun See https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1155/what-is-the-rule-for-adjective-order for the equivalent question in English. I didn't find any discussion online of the order for multiple Chinese adjectives.

Searching for people asking the equivalent question for English in Chinese, there are some example sentences, for example at http://jingyan.baidu.com/article/fedf07371d781e35ac89773b.html we have:

two beautiful new green silk evening dress 两件又新又漂亮的丝绸女士晚礼服
that hungry, tired, sleepy little match girl 那个饥饿、疲劳、困倦的卖火柴的小女孩
an old large brick dining hall 一个旧的红砖砌的大餐厅

It can be seen that the order is slightly different - 新 comes before 漂亮, 小 after 卖火柴,  红砖砌 before 大 as opposed to beautiful before new, match after little, large before brick. Are there standard rules in Chinese?

There are a few general points on the order:

words with two or more characters should be further away than single character words
phrases/words ending in 的 should be further from those without
the type/class/make/category of the described noun should be right next to it

For example:

漂亮的 (adjective pretty) 新 (adjective new) 丝绸 (dress' type silk) 晚 (dress' style evening) 礼服 (noun dress)
新的 (adjective new) 漂亮 (adjective pretty) 丝绸 (dress' type silk) 晚 (dress' style evening) 礼服 (noun dress)
丝绸的 (adjective silken) 漂亮 (adjective pretty) 新(see note) (adjective new) 礼服 (noun dress)
丝绸的 (adjective silken) 漂亮 (adjective pretty) 晚 (dress' style evening) 礼服 (noun dress)

Note: Avoid putting two single character words next to each other.

Note Two: Actually, avoid squeezing so many adjectives into a sentence in the first place.

The question's example of 又新又漂亮 is an entirely different situation. That's because it is using the syntax 又 X 又 Y.


How can I improve my tonal range? While people in China generally understand my tones (unless I use the wrong tone by mistake), I find I do not match either the height of their highs or the drop-off of their falling tones.  My voice is fairly low in English so of course I would not try to match the absolute pitch of tones used by a soprano.  But I am pretty sure that even the lowest-voiced native Chinese speakers are putting more contour into their tones than I currently do.

I wonder if I could improve my tone contours by drilling on the tones while hearing musical notes to indicate the high, middle, and low parts of my desired range. For example I might practice saying first tone to match D above middle C,  and third to go from maybe B below middle C to G below and back up to A.  I know there will not be fixed correct absolute tones even just for my own use. This would be to train me in tonal agility.

Has anyone succeeded using this kind of technique to increase tonal range?  Or is there some other good technique more specific than just listening a lot and trying hard?

The clear and sophisticated discussion of tone in Yen-Hwei Lin's Sounds of Chinese (Cambridge 2007) reminds me to say this question is about drill on fine pronunciation of the basic tones in isolated syllables.  I know there are other issues for actual speech beyond the usual textbook descriptions of sandhi on  不 bù, 一 yī , and successive third tones.

There is data on this matter.  http://www.zainea.com/f0_m%26f.pdf present data showing that English speakers who study Mandarin typically use more tonal range in Mandarin than in English but substantially less than native Mandarin speakers do.  Hardly surprising.  And it is known that musical training helps.

http://www.scilt.org.uk/portals/24/library/slr/issues/24/24_5_tsai.pdf

says:

  Chen (1974) compared the pitch range between English and Chinese
  speakers. The results showed that Mandarin needs a pitch range 1.5
  times wider than English, and that native English speakers do not have
  this range naturally. The author claimed that native speakers of a
  non-tonal language need to widen their pitch range to successfully
  acquire a tonal language. Wong and Perrachione (2006) studied a group
  learning Mandarin tones, and found that “large individual differences
  were observed. Learning success was found to be associated with the
  learner’s ability to perceive pitch patterns in a nonlexical context
  and their previous musical experience”. Experienced teachers have also
  reported that students with musical training learn Mandarin faster.

The only advice I found was for students to try harder. Too often, though, "trying harder," without explicit guidance, only reinforces habits you already have.  No one that I found suggested either

1) students with musical experience should see the known data on what pitches native speakers actually use, so the students can aim for a much closer match to native pronunciation than most ever hear about today. As monalisa says, a native speaker's pitches vary.  Data shows even a single first tone can drop its pitch slightly at the end!  But research shows the physical pitch in the sense of "fundamental frequency" of the sounds is truly a key part of perceived Mandarin tones.

2) students without much musical experience should spend some time using tuning forks or a keyboard to learn to hear pitch better.

I think this is neglected because too many teachers in the US are just convinced American students can never have very good Mandarin pronunciation anyway, so they don't want to worry about "fine points."

Tuning forks are helping me now, and i will pass on the little bit I have learned.  It seems best to focus on one note for the high level tone.  This is not surprising: Studies show people are consistently better at using the low part of their vocal range and need more training to extend their high end.  A tuning fork is extremely convenient.  Pitch sources free on-line and on phone apps sounded bad to me -- I did not try paying for better ones.  Electronic tuners seem like overkill.  I don't have a piano.  Pitch pipes make less pure notes than a natural human voice (they produce more harmonics), so they are a bad model.

Left to myself, I radically misjudged both the pitches i was using and what I should do about them.  My voice is not really very low, only I stay very much in the low end of it in English (this may indeed be due to Clint Eastwood).  Overreacting to this, I initially aimed far too high for high tones (A440).

The standard textbook advice is: find the high end of your natural speaking range. They do not say how, and anyway this is wrong.  No one outside of Chinese opera uses the actual extreme high end of their natural (i.e. non-falsetto) range in speech.

Data on page 210 of https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1139452150 suggests I should better aim for something close to G190 for my first tones, more than an octave below what I had first tried.  The more I practice, the better that pitch sounds to me.

Tuning forks are surprisingly hard to find so I will point out that many adjustable forks cover the whole range that  https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1139452150 found for one male voice, and do not go as high as Middle C (256--261 depending on which scale it is for).  But most sets of non-adjustable tuning forks start at middle C and go up.  What  https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1139452150 found for one female voice uses tones above and below middle C. Of course keyboards cover all this range and much more.

Of course this is training, it is artificial.  In actual speech i will not (and should not) have a fixed pitch for first tones or any other tones.  But today I spoke with Chinese friends for the first time since I began work with the tuning forks.  I heard their tones more accurately than I had before.  And I could copy their tones more accurately, or adapt them more appropriately to my own vocal register, than I did before.


What was this online dictionary's name with ancient traditional and simplified characters and glyph origins? I once found a Mandarin Chinese dictionary which for each character listed the ancient, the traditional and the simplified Chinese characters. For each it described its meaning and how it developed into the current form. I cannot find it or anything similar anymore. The most I can find are sites which explain radicals of each character but not actual ancient symbols and variations.

For instance, the word "eye" was shown as a pictogram resembling an eye, then into the traditional and then into 目 explaining "a simplified eye turned 90°".

I know not all characters are made this way but again, maybe it was a dictionary of radicals but it was very good.

On http://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en you can see how a character evolved, the simplified and traditional characters. For example for 目.

Another similar website is http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterEtymology.aspx . Their result for 目.

Zdict is completely in Chinese: http://www.zdic.net/zd/zi/ZdicE7Zdic9BZdicAE.htm

Here is another website in Chinese (that only supports transitional characters): http://alphads10-2.hkbu.edu.hk/~lcprichi/

As Aristide mentioned http://www.yellowbridge.com has similar functionality.

Another one is http://chinese-characters.org/

Although it doesn't show how the characters evolved, I also like http://zhongwen.com


Determining what the meaning of part of a character '益' is I can see that it have an equal number of strokes above and below the yi stroke not part of the blood radical.  I am not sure of what this character is..I mean..I know 高兴, that is the closest that I know.

If you would like read at where this question a rose from, you are invited for a reading.  haha.

恰合

叶 部 让 拟 囡 过  烨 补 让 袮 囝 过 也 不 让 倪 难 国。
伙 的 保 护 神 真 格 潨 聚 合 和 合 力 合 合 理 威 容 故 亦 变 奕 闻 达 的 问 答。
圈 圏 变 変 合 圆 也。
尔 过。
翼 加 医 家 一 家 怡。

Outlier gives the following definition:

FORM
益 depicts a bowl (皿) with water () flowing out of it, representing the original meaning “abundant, more than enough.”

With a reference to page 147 of:

裘錫圭，1991《文字學概要(再版)》，臺北市：萬卷樓，2006年2月再版8刷。

It then continues:

COMPONENTS

In 益,   “flowing water” is a form component.
皿
In 益, 皿 “bowl” is a form component.

Original forms looked something like:

It goes to show that the entire thing was originally the meaning part.


Why would the name of the 慈祐宮 temple in Taipei sometimes be written "Cinyou" instead of "Ciyou"? Near where I'm staying in Taipei there is a temple called 慈祐宮. Most signs write 慈祐 in pinyin as "Ciyou", but some write it as "Cinyou".

Would this just be a mistake or could there be a reason for it:

Could it be another Romanization system rather than Hanyu Pinyin?
Could it be for another language/dialect rather than for Standard Mandarin Chinese?

Taiwanese minnan. /i/ changes to palatalized /ĩ/, and so ci becomes cin.


Differences between 正在, 正 and 在 with the meaning of an action in progress? When should I prefer to use only 正, only 在 or both together? Are there any rules? Does it sound really weird or incorrect to native speakers if someone use them improperly?

正 in itself has many meanings, one of which is "just", and thus can be used in conjunction with 在.

正在 is what you are doing at this very moment, or where you are right now, or in general what is currently present, the progressive aspect (the English -ing form) if you will.

我们正在吃饭 = We are eating

西方正在经历的艰难 = The economic hardship that the West is presently enduring

我正在北京 = I am currently in Beijing (I just got here)

我在北京 = I am in Beijing (more or less stationary)

You could not use 正 alone in a similar fashion.

The progressive 正在 could also be contrasted with the continuous aspect using 着. 我正在穿衣服 = I am getting dressed (current action), while 我穿着衣服 = I am wearing clothes (current state).

Then it gets more tricky when you use both simultaneously, as in 我正在爱着你.


抱有 vs 摆有: When does a serial verb become a word? 保有财产 ; 抱有好感 ; 怀有敌意 ; 育有一子

Bi-syllabic verbal compounds like these (in bold) are words: they form a lexical unit; they are used as independent lexemes; they are lexicographically counted as lemmas/entries in all dictionaries.

桌上摆有一卷书 ; 屋中堆有一百袋大米 ;  庭中种有几棵树 ; 车上坐有四人

Bi-syllabic verbal compounds like these, however, are not recorded as words in any dictionary, although they are similarly-formed and otherwise unexceptional. When pressed, people describe them as just normal instances of serial verb constructions - but are they really?
Syntactically, they seem perfectly good candidates for word-hood, and yet they're not. So I wonder:

Are there any lexicographical/grammatical criteria we can use to explain why that second set of compounds (and other compounds like them) are to be excluded from word-hood?
Leaving aside academic criteria, how would any native-level Chinese speaker here describe their intuitive feeling about those non-dictionary words (摆有, 堆有, 种有, 坐有, etc)?

Do they strike you as creatively constructed phrases?

If so, do you compose them each time afresh, perhaps in agreement with any preceding noun? (For example, thinking of 庭+有树 and deciding to add in 种 to clarify how the tree are in the courtyard or thinking about 车+有人 and deciding to add in 坐 to clarify how the people are in the car)?

If not: Do they strike you as normal compound words that you pick in your head as a unit, no different to other frequently-used words like 抱有 or 保有?

If so, does it surprise you that all dictionaries list words like 持有, 保有, 抱有 and 育有 but no dictionary lists words like 摆有, 坐有, 种有 and 堆有? How would you explain this fact?

Most of the examples listed are based on a special function of the verb 有 (possess) to follow and bond with another verb to form a tightly-bound term. In linguistic terms, it is called a serial verb compound.
Some serial verb compounds like 抱有(e.g 抱有大志)，擁有(e.g. 擁有巨大財富) and 藏有(e.g. 藏有毒品) became compound words because they are very commonly used and people treat them as such.
Since 有 can bond with so many verbs, it is simpler to group all these possible serial verb compounds under the function of 有 than list each and every possible pair as an independent compound word
Similarly. Not all [verb + result complement] is listed as an independent compound word, but the common ones do
Example:
走避; 走失 (compound words)
走掉, 走上，走入，走出  (verb + result complement)
We do not list 走掉, 走上，走入，走出  as compound words, they are all under 走's ability to bond with a result complement


When speaking, how would one say "cannot study"? E.g. 不能学习 or 学习不了 or 无法学习 Recently, I've been turning my Chinese learning towards speaking and listening, rather than reading and writing.  Now, I might say "cannot study" in a few ways:

不能学习
学习不了
无法学习

The sentence I have in mind is this:

  所有数学家都需要咖啡，没有咖啡每个数学家无法学习。

I know the sentence is not really true---it's hyperbole to express "mathematicians cannot study without coffee".

I feel like 无法学习 is more written than spoken, and maybe 不能学习 is a bit simplistic.  I don't really know.

Question: When speaking, how would one say "I cannot study"?

All of your answers are right. the difference is, on mainland Chinese, 无法学习 is the most formal one, as in scientific reports; 不能学习 is what we say if we are writing dairy/novels. 学习不了 is the most informal one, usually used when talking to friends, etc.

Note I used mainland Chinese, because I don’t know how they say it in HK/TW/Macau.


What is the difference between 赶紧, 连忙 and 赶快? 赶紧, 连忙 and 赶快 (in addition to 马上, 立刻 and 立即) seem to mean 'immediately', 'forthwith'.
However, I don't really understand where their meanings overlap or if they are somehow different in a particular way. Does anyone know?
From what I can ascertain, it would seem that 连忙 is just a synonym of 马上，but 赶紧，赶快 are in a different category of sorts.

赶紧 and 赶快 are more frequently used to command someone to do something.

  小明，赶紧过来吃饭！

  现在已经很晚了，同学们赶快回家吧！

连忙 tends to be used in describing people’s actions.

  长官一声令下，士兵们便连忙跑到操场集合。


Are there typical jokes formed by adding 之一 at the end of an otherwise innocuous sentence? 之一 (zhīyī)
CC-CEDICT: one of (sth) / one out of a multitude / one (third, quarter, percent etc)

之一 may be added at the end of a sentence, and can completely change its meaning (appending "one of").  For example:

他是我见过最好的人。  (He is the best person I've met.)
他是我见过最好的人之一。 (He is one of the best people I've met.)

I feel like this could be easily utilized for humor.  Perhaps something along the lines of:

他是我的男朋友…… (He is my boyfriend...)
他是我的男朋友……之一。 (He is one of my boyfriends.)

We begin with an ordinary sentence, but when the 之一 is slyly added at the end, the sentiment completely changes: it's now something far more unexpected.
Question: Are there typical jokes formed by adding 之一 at the end of an otherwise innocuous sentence?
I'm wondering if such jokes exist, and if so, I'd be interested in seeing some examples of them.

Pause before delivering a keyword is more like a tease, and tease can be funny at times but not always. It gets funnier when the twist is more surprising and striking
the difference between "他是我见过最好的人" and "他是我见过最好的人……之一" is not striking at all because  'the best' and 'one of the best' are both common phrases
'他是我的男朋友'  and '他是我的男朋友……之一' is better but it only reveals the speaker has more than one boyfriend and it is not a big twist
I would consider the following funny:
'你是唯一人選……之一' -- "You are the only candidate... one of the only candidates" (it is funny because there cannot be more than one 'only'. It implies the speaker told the same lie to everyone)
'他樂於助人……才怪' -- "He loves to help people... is not possible"
"你女朋友一定會回來……跟你算賬" -- "Your girlfriend will definitely come back... to settle old scores with you"
It may be funnier:  "你女朋友一定會回來跟你……算賬" "Your girlfriend will definitely come back with you... to settle old scores (with you)"


Difference between 中饭 and 午饭 What would be the difference between two of them? Is the first one used at all? My teacher says I should prefer the last one to be understood and to avoid confusion.

中饭 and 午饭 both refer to lunch. But as the answer mentioned, they are different in the environment you use it.

午饭 is more formal than 中饭. 午饭 can be used both in spoken and written Chinese. But 中饭 is used in spoken Chinese and mostly in dialect in southern China. As I come from southern Jiangsu(江苏) province, we never say 午饭 in our conversation.

You can see more here:

午饭 http://www.zdic.net/c/8/da/213242.htm
中饭 http://www.zdic.net/c/d/13d/304410.htm


Do the names 远宁, 温宁, 文宁, or 玟宁 sound good for a male character? I have so much with trouble finding Chinese names it's beyond shameful. I always worry about the name sounding nonsensical or just evoking the feeling of "say what? O_o"

Anyways, I'll have to trouble everyone again & ask...

Do these names sound good for a male character in a fantasy chinese novel?
Are they correct?

"远宁"

"温宁"

"文宁"

"玟宁"

If you hadn't noticed, I really like the character "宁", so if you have better male names that end with "宁", please let me know!

There's a webpage http://name.renren.com/ where you can input Chinese names and get statistics.  As names by themselves:

远宁: 人人网上姓名为 远宁 的用户共有 26人，其中 女生42.31%， 男生57.69%
温宁: 人人网上姓名为 温宁 的用户共有 563人，其中 女生50.62%， 男生49.38%
文宁: 人人网上姓名为 文宁 的用户共有 543人，其中 女生52.85%， 男生47.15%
玟宁: no hits

and if we append a random surname, say 李 or 王:

李远宁: 人人网上姓名为 李远宁 的用户共有 40人，其中 女生52.50%， 男生47.50%
李温宁: 人人网上姓名为 李温宁 的用户共有 2人，其中 女生0.00%， 男生100.00%
李文宁: 人人网上姓名为 李文宁 的用户共有 267人，其中 女生63.67%， 男生36.33%
李玟宁: no hits
王远宁: 人人网上姓名为 王远宁 的用户共有 42人，其中 女生26.19%， 男生73.81%
王温宁: 人人网上姓名为 王温宁 的用户共有 3人，其中 女生100.00%， 男生0.00%
王文宁: 人人网上姓名为 王文宁 的用户共有 281人，其中 女生57.65%， 男生42.35%
王玟宁: no hits

Clearly 玟宁 is a poor choice.  Also 温 is interpreted as a surname.  It seems 文宁 is the most reasonable from the list.


Why do the onomatopoeias describing the cry of frogs sound so different in Chinese and English? The words "呱呱" and "ribbit" are onomatopoeias that represent the sound of frogs, respectively in Chinese and English.
I hardly see any similarity between these two sounds. Why does the cry of the same animal sound so differently in Chinese and English?

Instead of directly answering your question I'm going to post this picture:


What does "老" in "老虎" and "老鼠" mean As I remember, 虎 and 鼠 are standalone nouns, meaning tiger and mouse, respectively. However, it seems that 老虎 and 老鼠 are more commonly used.

Why is 老 used as a prefix for 虎 and 鼠? Why do we use 獅子 instead of 老獅? Does it imply that tiger and mouse are old/experienced? What was the origin of such usage?

EDIT: Also refer to Aminopterin's answer and Travis Hu's answer for more insights.

After some research, I found two reasonable explanations. But, IMHO, the two should be compiled as the following:

老 is a prefix that is added to make 虎 and 鼠 easier to pronounce; besides, it implies that people respect 虎 and fear 鼠.

The two explanations as follow:

Affix for smooth pronunciation
In the Classical Chinese era, texts were concise and some, if not most, of the words were one-character words. Yet, in colloquial context, people prepended/appended affixes to make the words easier to pronounce. These "new" words then became widely accepted and conventional.
Some common affixes and their associated words:

子(suffix)

獅子、兔子、鴨子、猴子、鏡子、桌子、椅子、房子、筷子、刀子...
lion, rabbit, duck, monkey, mirror, table, chair, house, chopsticks, knife...

老(prefix)

老虎、老鼠、老鷹、老師...
tiger, rat, hawk, teacher...

頭(suffix)

甜頭、苦頭、舌頭、骨頭、石頭、木頭...
sweetness, suffering, tongue, bone, stone, wood...

Affix with connotation
In Chinese, 老, apart from aged/experienced, has the implicit, figurative meaning of respected because people respect elderly so as to comply with the social value. That said, people prepended 老 on the ones they respect. This is why 老虎 and 老師 are named the way they are.
老鼠, on the other hand, has various interpretations. Some state that it fits to literal meaning of 老 – old. According to the Compendium of Materia Medica(本草綱目), a medical book, rats have the longest life span. Such misunderstanding came from the impression that rats have a high
rate of reproduction and have been around people back then for the longest time.
Some argue that the 老 in 老鼠 implies the cunning characteristics of rats. This interpretation can also be applied to 鷹. The rest argue that people chose 老 for 老鼠 to imply their fear toward rats and that rats are not easy to deal with.
As to why 獅 is named 獅子 but not 老獅, the reason is intuitive – to avoid conflicting pronunciation with 老師.


Different ways to phrase “生活的發現” The Korean movie On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate has the Chinese title, 生活的發現, which, obviously, has nothing to do with its English version.

Life's Discovery, or Discovery of Life, are some translations - does anyone have any cool ideas how to phrase that differently, and in a way more palatable to the English speaker?

First, the original title described someone was " At the moment of recalling a turning point " (I am interpreting "turning gate" as " a gate that's the turning point of someone's life"-  meaning someone went through a gate (crossed a line/ made a choice) that changed his or her life from that point on).

Obviously, someone interpreted the title similarly and came up with a Chinese title  "(改變)生命的發現" - "a life (changing) discovery" with the implied meaning " changing" omitted. ( someone went thought a gate and discovered something that changed his or her life)

However, the translator confused 生命( one's life) with "生活" ( a living ) , that why the title was translated as "生活的發現" instead of the somewhat more accurate " 生命的發現"

My translation of the original title would be:
"回望人生轉捩點" (A look back at the turning point of life)

-instead of 回想 (think back/ remember) I choose "回望"( look back/ revisit) - which is an action verb that paint a more vivid picture to simulate imagination.

-Just put 轉捩點 ( a turning point) after 回想(think back) is too general, so I also included the originally implied meaning of "life" to  clarify it is not just any turning point, but a " life's turning point"


Why 干菜类 was mistakenly translated to Fuck Vegetables? In the following famous sign which appeared in some supermarket in China:

why 干菜类 was mistakenly translated to Fuck Vegetables instead of Dried Vegetables? Is there any hidden meaning in it?

Source:

Chinglish: Fuck Vegetables at Chinalert (a centralized collection of the best and worst about the Chinese)

In traditional Chinese, 乾 means "dry", 幹 means "to do", and has the slang meaning of "f**k". Both words are simplified to 干.


Chinese writings in Blade Runner movie I've tried to find the characters seen in this picture (from a Blade Runner prop), using online Chinese OCR and other online tools but it's a real struggle for someone as clueless as me in Chinese...
(I've found the following characters from the first line : 接着X製品XX部 )

Could someone help me figure what the characters are and, possibly translate it? Coming from an american movie, I wouldn't be surprised if it is a very approximative Chinese.

EDIT: I feel bad for mistaking Japanese for Chinese, especially because I first thought of Japanese seeing the characters, but Blade Runner's setting being immersed in Chinese culture, I guess I fought my own instinct.

It's Japanese.

接着剤製品営業部

glue - 接着剤

product - 製品

sales department - 営業部

東京都世田谷區玉川台 2 - 33

Tamagawadai (玉川台), Setagaya-ku (世田谷區) in Tokyo 東京都.

https://www.google.com.hk/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC%E9%83%BD%E4%B8%96%E7%94%B0%E8%B0%B7%E5%8D%80%E7%8E%89%E5%B7%9D%E5%8F%B0+2+-+33&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&gfe_rd=cr&dcr=0&ei=Z_8hWrnmCvOiX6vkr4gH

Osaka - 大阪

Nagoya - 名古屋

Sendai - 仙台

Hiroshima - 広(廣)島


Can anyone translate this Chinese text? (Characters identified: 招財納福) My friend has a statue and there is some Chinese text on it. Can anyone translate it to English for me. Also, I would like to know more about this statue, any links, history about it, anything.

Attracting money and happiness. It's very common to find these words under this specific buddha as it's its specialty.


How to say a "strong flavor" I know that currently people in Chinese would say "很重的味道“。 But I'm wondering if there are any other ways of saying it.
Could I say "很大的味道 “ or ”很浓的味道“ if I'm referring to something like a hot sauce?

很大/很重/很浓/很冲 these words are common. 很大 is used for SMELL. 很重 more for TASTE and has a negative feel(A very popular word now in China is 重口, which is somehow similar to HARDCORE).很浓 is used to describe liquid or smell.(It is also used to describe a feeling. 爱意很浓 means love is very strong. 睡意很浓 means very sleepy )As for 很冲 it means the smell/taste is spicy like pepper or mustard(脾气很冲 means hot-tempered),.


How do non-Mandarin speakers type Standard Chinese Writing System? As far as I know, people in Hong Kong speak Cantonese but use Mandarin when writing official documents or homework using Mandarin. 粤语白话字 is not allowed in such cases.

How does this work? Does this imply that to write language down in such cases need some knowledge of Mandarin(like grammar and character's semantics but not native pronunciation), like ancient Japanese people do?

Yes, Hong Kong Chinese-literate people write and have knowledge of Standard Chinese ("Mandarin") when writing documents and homework, in Traditional Chinese (as the standard characters) of course.

  No, ancient Japanese didn't work this way. Japanese people used Classical Chinese as the official writing standard, and either spoke some dialect of Middle Chinese when reciting it or (more commonly) translated it into Japanese before recitation.

  Only Japanese Buddhist monks had a tradition of reciting Chinese Sutras (經) in On'yomi - the result is generally incomprehensible to both Chinese and Japanese people, as can be heard here.

The written language shared across all Chinese-using regions is called 現代標準漢語 (Modern Standard Chinese; MSC). In its written form, the grammar and vocabulary is heavily based on a refined topolect originating in the area around the Beijing Imperial Court, commonly known as "Mandarin".

MSC is different from and doesn't use colloquialisms from spoken Northern Speech (北方話), which, like all other Chinese topolects, has its own quirks. If slang-heavy colloquial 北方話 is written, other regions wouldn't be able to understand it! The refined, standardised nature of written MSC means that the vocabulary and grammar are very accessible to Chinese-literate people, regardless of mother tongue.

MSC replaced Classical Chinese (文言) since the May Fourth Movement. Whereas before, 文言 was pronounced in the mother tongue of the person reciting it, now MSC is pronounced in the mother tongue. In practice, only Hong Kong and Macao recite MSC passages using non-Mandarin in a school setting, as they are the only regions where non-Mandarin (Cantonese) is the de-facto vernacular.

The May Fourth Movement affected the whole of China; even though Hong Kong was a British Colony, the Mainland was the official source of Chinese-language education. Educational materials were free-flowing into Hong Kong until 1949 when the Communists kicked the Nationalists out and the British subsequently restricted movement into Hong Kong. Thus, educational written Chinese in Hong Kong schools was based on MSC written materials from Mainland China until 1949, after which Hong Kong had to come up with its own educational materials - which were and are still based on MSC.

Please see 香港百姓是從什麼時候開始習得官話白話文的書面表達能力的呢？ - 知乎 for a bit more history.


In《命中注定我爱你》when someone calls out 陈欣怡's name, why does she reply 有? I was recently watching the TV show 命中注定我爱你, episode 1. On Youtube at ~3:50 someone calls out her name 陈欣怡 and she responds "有". Could that just mean 'I'm here'?

有 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/128/

有

/jau5/ /jau6 /  (jyutping)

/you3/ /you4/   (pinyin)

[粵] jau5 | [國] you3

1 [v] have; own; possess | [ant] 冇
[2] [v] there is; exist; be present

[粵] jau6 | [國] you4

[adv] variant of 又 (e.g. 二十有六)

When she said "有够平凡" (very ordinary), '有够'(have enough) means  非常/真的(very/really)

She yelled "有!"(present!) When people was calling her. Which means "I'm Here!"


Is 怡养 in this sentence a word？ Is 怡养 a word？
Is it one of these meanings?

和乐。
犹保养，休养。
犹陶冶。

怡：和悦，愉快：affable, cheerful
I thought it might be related to: 颐养天年, but that is a different yi.
How would you translate:
书法学习是一件怡养身心的事，可以给人带来无穷的乐趣。

书法学习是一件怡养身心的事，可以给人带来无穷的乐趣。
Studying calligraphy can nurture/nourish both body and mind, and can bring endless pleasure.

頤養/颐养 and 怡养 are both valid words, but their meanings are slightly different.
颐养：
Wiktionary defines 颐养 as

(literary) to maintain one's health; to keep fit

And 《现代汉语词典》（第七版）defines it as

〈书〉保养：颐养天年。 | (literary) to maintain (one's health). e.g. 颐养天年

怡养：
Neither Wiktionary nor 《现代汉语词典》includes this word, but it does exist. According to this page, it emerged as far back as 200 AD. It means:

和乐。

《文选·嵇康＜琴赋＞》：“若和平者听之，则怡养悦悆，淑穆玄真。” 李善 注引《广雅》：“养，乐也。”

犹保养，休养。

南朝 梁 何逊 《入西塞示南府同僚》诗：“情游乃落魄，得性随怡养。”《旧唐书·丘和传》：“ 和时年已衰老，乃拜稷州刺史，以是本乡，令自怡养。” 宋 林逋 《山阁偶书》诗：“餘生多病期怡养，聊此栖迟一避喧。”

犹陶冶。

茅盾 《官舱里》：“‘哦，丝竹是能够怡养性子的。极好，极好！’老先生也郑重地赞叹着。”

which is probably where you find your explanation, or where it comes from.
But please note that the chance that you see the word used to mean the first sense listed ("和乐") in modern days, even in written form, is infinitesimal. It's a very archaic usage; the author of the prose containing the example sentence was 嵇康, who lived in 三国时期 (the era of Three Kingdoms). As you can see, the expression already required a footnote to explain it in Tang Dynasty, when 李善 lived.
In its second sense, it's the same as 颐养.
Its third sense is the sense that's used in your example: 陶冶, meaning "to cultivate; to train; to mould someone's character" (Wiktionary). The example sentence came from a modern writer.

From my own experience, both words, 怡养 and 颐养, are still somewhat common in written Chinese, but less used colloquially. Both words are literary and very unproductive when forming phrases, especially 颐养, which you'll almost only encounter in the words 頤養天年/颐养天年 and 頤養精神/颐养精神, or some variants of the latter, unless the author's writing style calls for it.
Also, some four-character phrases are in the form of 怡/颐A养B. e.g. 怡情养性, 颐神养性(variants 颐神养气, 颐神养寿). Some of them can sometimes be seen in the form of 颐养AB, e.g. 颐养神性, but less often.


What do 为至 and 即随之而至 mean? First phrase:

  身死无名为至愚.

Second one:

  他的犯罪记录即随之而至.

What would be a good way to translate those phrases?

The 1st 至 means most. 为至愚 means be most foolish.

The 2nd 至 means arrive. 他的犯罪记录即随之而至 means then his criminal record followed (to arrive).


What is 了 doing in the sentence 我出发了? Consider the sentence

我出发了。

with the translation

I'm leaving.

This was given to me in a list of examples demonstrating the putting 了 after a verb expresses a completed action (perfect aspect, I guess). But in this particular example the action isn't completed. So then why does 了 belong here? How would the meaning change without it?

I'm leaving is rather ambiguous; going from English to Chinese, it is either

I'm getting ready to leave (我在準備出發)
I'm going to leave (我出發了)
I'm in the process of leaving (我正在出發, e.g. if you're waiting on a plane ready to take off)

我出發了 is also ambiguous; going from Chinese to English, it is either

I'm going to leave [now] (我［現在］出發了)
I've already left (我已經出發了)

Context is essential; if 我出發了 is translated to I'm going to leave, then「了」is used as a function where it is put at the end of a sentence to declare (to a listener) the beginning of an action. In this sense, we have:

我走了 (declaration: I'm leaving/going [to go somewhere])
我（去）吃飯了 (declaration: I'm going to have food)
我（去）讀書了 (declaration: I'm going to study)

It is mandatory to drop「去」in verbs which involve going/leaving anyway, such as「走」and「出發」. In other verbs, including「去」is optional, but it reveals the sentence structure better. You can see that in the written language, without explicitly writing「去」, it is hard to see that 我吃飯了 is a declaration of I'm going to have food, but in spoken language the context should be clearer.

  How would the meaning change without「了」?

It is ungrammatical to say just 我出發, like it is ungrammatical to only say in English I leave.


How is this effect achieved for Chinese characters? I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask but I don't know where else to ask.

I'm having some trouble with finding out how to achieve this consistently with Chinese characters. I'm guessing it's some sort of font or variation of the characters but I am unsure how to recreate it with myself with different characters.

找⃣不⃣到⃣源⃣儿⃣滴⃣了⃣，将⃣就⃣一⃣下⃣吧⃣，四⃣周⃣年⃣快⃣乐⃣么⃣么⃣哒⃣，安⃣全⃣抵⃣达⃣厦⃣门⃣咯⃣同⃣学⃣

I've seen it achieved consistently on Chinese websites and I want to use the same effect on an iOS app (I know it's supported as I've seen it used before) and I am wondering if anyone has any experience with getting this same effect themselves.

If anyone could tell me how this is done or provide me with some sort of resource with all the characters in this form, I'd be very grateful.

( "威" "凱" "篠" are the characters I want to put in this form if anyone knows just how to do it, but not actually explain how to!)

This has nothing to do with Chinese and can be done with any characters. This is simply a Unicode "effect".

a⃣b⃣c⃣

Simply add Unicode character U+20E3 after the one you want to be enclosed.

https://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/20e3/browsertest.htm


Can 曾 be used alone instead of 曾经？ 曾经 has already been well explained here, but I sometimes see

  ...曾 verb...

as opposed to

  ...曾经 verb...

Is there a difference in meaning or usage?

There are many verbs and adverbs in Chinese that hold the exact meaning without the second character. Chinese words have a more complete sound to them when they are in pairs of two characters, but it's not necessary to use the verb or adverb in its complete form.

我也曾(经)涉足于多个领域，可惜学业不精。
他已(经)20岁了，已(经)到及冠之年，是个大人了。
好久没有这样安恬熟睡(觉)了。

Having the two different choices though gives the speaker more control over making the sentence sound more fluid, generally by pairing single character words with the single character form, and using the full verb with two character form.


How to pronounce "论" I"ve been trying to figure out the tones for the character 论. It seems like it is fourth tone in 讨论. However, in something like 一概而论 I'm not entirely sure. Is this a taiwan/Mainland division? Or is it decided on a word by word basis?

It's the 4th in 一概而论, both regions:

Check. e.g.:

Mainland: 在线新华字典
Taiwan: 教育部重编国语字典

(Both URLs point to the '一概而论' entry)

论 does have a 2nd tone reading, but 论语 seems to be the only where it is used.


Do 和 and 跟 have different grammatical functions？ Thinking about the Difference between 与，和 and 跟?, I was wondering if it can be argued that 和 (hé) and 跟 (gēn) have different grammatical functions. I understand 和 corresponds in English to the conjunction and and 跟 to the preposition with. Then, if we consider the example:

我喜欢和他聊天儿。
Wǒ xǐhuān hé tā liáotiānr.

Literally means: I like (that) (me) and him chat. Here, (我)和他 (me) and him is the subject of the subordinate clause (我)和他聊天儿 (me) and him chat.
While:

我喜欢跟他聊天儿。
Wǒ xǐhuān gēn tā liáotiānr.

Literally means: I like to chat with him. Here 跟他 with him is a verbal complement of the verb 聊天儿 to chat.
Question: Is it correct to say that 和 and 跟 have the same semantic meaning, but a different grammatical function?

和 and 跟 may have the same grammatical function, when they introduce a verbal company complement, occurring before the verb. Then both are prepositions. Even more so, in the linked Zdic entries, both of them are respectively used to define the other:

【和】： 连词，跟，同：我～老师打球。
【跟】： 和，同：我～他在一起工作。

In that case, they both describe together with whom the action occurs and can be used interchangeably:

我喜欢和他聊天 and 我喜欢跟他聊天
我和你说一下 and 我跟你说一下
我想和我父母去度假 and 我想跟我父母去度假

As you can see, they are used when the noun refers to a human.

That aside, 和 also works as a conjunction, as Zdic notes (连词), more specifically to coordinate nouns1. In that case, it can't be grammatically replaced with 跟：

西班牙和葡萄牙，我都去过
登机前请您准备好护照和登机牌

Additional Notes
The linked Zdic entries may appear confusing with respect to a point: I say that 跟 is interchangeable with 和 when they both are prepositions, but Zdic uses 跟 to define 和 when it's a conjunction! From the 和 entry:

连词，跟，同：我～老师打球。

介词，向，对：我～老师请教。

The examples provided there also don't do a good job at disambiguating, as the position of the word in both 我～老师打球 and 我～老师请教 is exactly the same.
I think that's a mistake of the dictionary, because 跟 is grammatically equivalent to 和 only when used as a preposition (介词) — in that case, Zdic is more accurate, as 跟 is defined in terms of 向 and 对 just as 和 is.
My examples above show the role of 和/跟 as prepositions by placing the prepositional phrase as not contiguous to the subject of the main sentence.

1: you can't use 和 to coordinate verbs, or entire sentences


Do the words 疼痛 and 痛苦 exactly mean "physical pain" and "mental pain"(i.e. sadness), respectively? I want to know if the difference between those words related with "pain".

疼痛 means physical pain, but it is very formal, and usually used in medical speak. This is also similar to 痛楚, which is also too formal for casual conversation.
For example: 肌肉疼痛是感冒病徵。 ~Muscle pain/aches is a flu symptom.
The words 疼 and 痛 are usually used in solidarity, in Mandarin and Cantonese respectively.
For example: (In Mandarin) 我肚子疼。(In Cantonese) 我肚痛。 ~I have a stomachache.
On the contrary, 痛苦 means pain in general. It could still be physical, but usually mental or even metaphorical.
For example: 生產的過程很痛苦。 ~Giving birth is painful.
Bad example: 他看來很痛苦。is as vague as "It looks like he is in pain". It could be physical or mental, and depends on the context.
Another example: 學習中文很痛苦。 ~Learning Chinese is painful. (Based on true experience)


What do the characters I've found on this old gun mean? On an antique shotgun I was told had Korean origin I found the following (what I presume are Hanja?) characters†. Four out of five I believe I have correctly identified. One character I could not find in the dictionary.

Side A:

[UNKNOWN CHARACTER] 特 製

Side B:

絞 筒

The unknown character is three stacked components in this basic form

-------
   人
-------

-------
   巾
-------

Though, the bottom component might well be 中; there is quite a bit of tarnish obscuring it.

On Side A, the two characters that follow the unknown one seem to indicate "special manufacture".

One Side B, I get the translation "hang" or "twist" for character one, and "tube" for character two. To me, this might indicate the process of rifling, but I could not find any use of these characters on the Chinese character entry for rifling, and the barrel is old and I couldn't tell conclusively if it'd ever undergone that process.

Can someone help me translate these characters?

† I Originally I posted this on the Korean stack because I thought they may use Chinese characters in some idiomatic way that might make it a more suitable place, but now I am thinking that probably doesn't make much difference, and also I am not confident about the gun's Korean origins so am posting here. Thanks.

Edit

I was able to take some acceptable close up imagery:

This is a Japanese character. By using Sogou Typewritting (Chinese) you can use this method to see any character that you can't pronounce:

for example, you wanna look at “特”
==type "u" + "niu"（→牛） + "si"（→寺）

——this would give you “特”

so I tried to type "u人布” or "u入布" and could not find this character.
So this might be a japanese character.


The meaning of “射” and “矮”? The body (身) is only one inch (寸), which should mean "矮".

Throwing (委) the arrow (矢), which should mean "射".

What is wrong here?

The body (身) is only one inch (寸), which should mean "矮".

Here are some characters containing「寸」as a semantic component, directly as part of the immediate decomposition or secondarily as part of one of the decomposed components:

得導持尋付尊奪肘專耐

It should be clear that「寸」probably never means inch as part of other characters.「寸」is a depiction of a hand with a mark around the wrist area, and when it contributes meaning to a character, you should treat it as the same meaning as「手・扌」.

秦簡睡・秦51　今楷

  The mark around the wrist area is called「寸口」in the terminology of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and indicates the location where the pulse is taken.「寸」was later used as a unit of length, but it should be clear that this is not its original meaning.

  Like most other character components, the stand-alone character「寸」developed a wildly different meaning from its role as a component in other characters.

  Other components with the same meaning function as「手・扌」include「又」(picture of a right hand),「」(picture of a left hand), and「爪・爫」(picture of a hand pointing downwards).

The「身」part of「射」is a graphical corruption, from a merger between「弓」(bow) and「矢」(arrow):

商甲乙1290合集974西周金靜簋集成4273東周・秦石鼓　秦朝簡睡・雜34　今楷

In the sequence above, Shape #1 is plainly a picture of a bow and arrow. Shape #2 adds a hand「又」, emphasising the action meaning in「射」. Shapes #3-4 show the corruption process of the bow and arrow into「身」. Shape #4 changes「又」into「寸」.

  A character with a similar structure to「射」is「發」(Zhengzhang OC: /*pad/, to shoot arrows > to emit > expand, develop).「發」is comprised of phonetic「癶」(OC: /*paːd/), semantic「弓」, and semantic「殳」(hand holding a striking weapon, emphasising an attacking action).

  Throwing (委) the arrow (矢), which should mean "射".

「矮」(Zhengzhang OC: /*qraːlʔ/, short stature) is comprised of semantic「矢」and phonetic「委」(/*qrolʔ/).

「矢」(arrow [shaft]) is being used as a length measurement here; you can view it as either the length of the arrow itself or a standardised distance for measuring archery prowess. In English, yard, feet, etc. were similar measures of length, taken from actual objects.

Compare some characters describing length or measurement: 短矩矬矱.
There are other characters that use「矢」for the meaning arrow rather than length, measurement.

The sound development is /*qraːlʔ/ > MC: /ʔˠɛX/, 烏蟹切 > Pinyin: ǎi.

References:

季旭昇《說文新證》
小學堂
國學大師

郭沫若《甲骨文合集》
中國社會科學院考古研究所《殷周金文集成》


都 vs 也 in "连。。。都／也" structure I would like to learn when to use 都 and when to use 也 in the 连。。。都／也 structure.

My current understanding is that 都 is often used for positive sentences whereas 也 is generally used for negative sentences, e.g.

他 什么 都 吃，连 狗肉 都 吃。
我们 连 一 次 也 没 见 过。

However, I can see many exceptions to this 'rule'. Any more hints on when to use 都 or 也? Does it matter in general?

Thank you!

连...都... and 连...也... are interchangeable as a structure. In fact, in the structure 连...都..., 都, as an adverb, means 也!

In your case, the sentence could be rephrased as

  他什么都吃，连狗肉 也 吃。 我们连一次 都 没见过。

However, in the first sentence, 他什么都吃, 都 can not be replaced by 也. Here, 都 means 'all'.


What is the difference between 星心相印 and 心心相印？ The title is all that is necessary, but the following description can give context. I know the phrase, 「心心相印」means something to the effect of "two hearts beating in unison" which might be said of a parent and a child, lovers, or lifelong friends. 星 here, has replaced 心. The two sound very similar, but in what context is this appropriate? Does the meaning change? I saw this variation in this situation: I am friends with a Chinese-Taiwanese female who is an all-around great human. Intelligent, ambitious, industrious, amiable, etcetera. However, I think she might be interested in turning this into a romantic relationship solely because I am Caucasian. She occasionally gives me out-of-the-blue complements about my appearance. Maybe I am looking into it too much and she just wants to be good friends. Recently, she went on vacation and returned with a couple gifts for me. One was a vial of shells and small dried starfish. On the vial was a sticker which read, 「星心相印」. Can this be a friendly gesture or is it certainly romantic?

There is no such phrase in Chinese as "星心相印"。

However, as the comment says, there is a song called that and it is definitely a romantic one. It expressed an admiration to the 'one' who gives the singer great comfort and warm feelings.

Besides, the gift is a "star"fish right?  "star" = "星", and the shells may look alike with the shape of heart. And I wonder if there is any "星" in any of your names.

My point of view, if it is a hand made (or wrote) by herself, it is 100% percent romantic, you have my words. Otherwise if it is only some cheap product(no offense) from a workshop of god-knows-where, than you have to consider if you had misread the signal~


Difference between 趁着 and 就 I know 趁着 means "to take advantage of a situation".
But I just came along two examples using 就 in the same sense. Are there any differences between them?

老师可以就学生的年龄再练习一下。
老师可以趁着学生的年龄再练习一下。

我们就这个机会谈谈。
我们趁着这个机会谈谈。

Thanks!

For the word 趁着：

It should be viewed in a whole structure, as in

趁着A, B。--> "While doing A/being in the situation of A, takes the opportunity to do B."

In addition, "趁着" will convey a meaning of being selfish (I am only caring about my advantage, yours is nothing, moods like this), which is definitely nothing good. So, in the example:

老师可以趁着学生是(这个)年龄再练习一下。 Will be barely OK, but then some may have negative feelings towards 老师.

For the word 就:

就A, B。 -->  "According to the situation of A, do B."

In addition, "就A, B。" gives a mood of caring about others, or intending to say that "I am doing this for the sake of people who are affected by the situation A".

Of course, 就 could have many other meanings, but since I only want to focus on the difference between 趁着 and 就, I won't discuss here.


What does 追行叙功奖励 mean? 我正在查“追叙”的意思，在以下网站查到了词义
https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E8%BF%BD%E5%8F%99/351020?fr=aladdin

追叙，读音为zhuī xù，汉语词汇，释义为追行叙功奖励

“追行叙功奖励”到底是什么意思？

追行: 跟踪寻找
叙功: 评定功劳等级次序
追行叙功奖励 means 跟踪寻找, 评定功劳，并给予奖励.


Help checking the correct meaning of '遐想连篇' I'm not sure whether the phrase has a typo in it or not because I couldn't find the proper translation from MDBG, Ichacha or Ichiba. However, I did find an example:

  中国的5000年悠久历史、丰富多样的风俗文化以及无处不在的神秘感，让许多外国人心驰神往，遐想连篇。

China’s 5000 year history, the variety of its customs and cultures, and its general mystique, have always pulled on the hearts and imagination of westerners.

I take '遐想连篇' here means making you imagining or drawing your imagination out.

I'm not sure I got the correct meaning though. I think sometimes it doesn't make any sense. For example:
'Pulling (your) imagination' make sense in 让人遐想连篇的小说, but not in 让人遐想连篇的话语

Do you have a better way to put the phrase '遐想连篇' in english?

中国的5000年悠久历史、
The Middle Kingdom's 5000 year long history,
丰富多样的风俗文化
rich and diverse customs and culture
以及无处不在的神秘感，
as well as its all-pervasive feeling of mystery,
让许多外国人心驰神往，
fascinates and infatuates many a foreigner,
遐想连篇。
causing endless flights of fancy and imagination.


Is 他的自行车被我买了 grammatically wrong? 他的自行车被我买了. (His bicycle was bought by me.)

As I learn, 被 structure tends to be used in negative conditions. In this sentence, I think it is not wrong but not smooth.

Can anyone explain if it is grammatically wrong and suggest me a better option?

I think there is no wrong in your sentence.

You could also said like:

"我買了他的自行車" = "I bought his bicycle."

PS: 被 is not all negative, it should be "passive".(passively?)


Does this translation of a sentence accurately capture the information and grammar of the original sentence? Background
I am currently trying to translate this sentence, which comes out of an informational flyer.
“那就一定不要错过[北京留学生友会]即浖联会为新老同学们免费举办的[汽车知识讲座]”。
Attempt
My attempt at a translation is this.
"Then you absolutely must not miss the chance to join the Undergraduate Chinese Student Organization's and the Beijing Students Studying Abroad Friendship Club's informational courses on cars, conducted free of charge for new and old students."
I think I have a good understanding of the beginning of the sentence, which asks readers to take advantage of this opportunity provided by the organization.
For the latter part, I can make out that there are free informational meetings about cars for new and old students alike, but I am not certain how the grammar works to connect it with the first part of the sentence.
Specifically, I do not know how '即浖' is being used, or if the two together even make a word. '浖' does not seem to be in common Chinese-English dictionaries. Turning to Chinese dictionaries suggested that it means something like 'boundary'.

My translation is "Undergraduate Chinese Student Organization's and the Beijing Students Studying Abroad Friendship Club's courses about car knowledge are coming. These courses are free to all freshmen and current students. Do not miss it."

即将 means will happen very soon. So you can use "is coming" or "is on the way".

old means 年龄上的“老”. It is better to say "current students".

"take advantage of" means 利用. It is not positive here. It is better to use "value" which means 珍惜.

Hopefully, it can help.