What is the difference between 人才 and 人材, and which should I use？ Are they truly identical? If so, which is more commonly used and/or considered the default/standard/preferred usage (versus an alternate variant)?

Elsewhere I've found conflicting answers (that they are the same and that they mean slightly different things). The Integrated Chinese Level 2 Part 1, 3rd Edition Lesson 9 uses 人材, which Pleco and Google seem to indicate is the less common variant. That led me to wonder if there was a specific reason they chose it.

My goal is to choose the more useful one to learn and memorize, as well as be aware if they are not fully interchangeable.

They are identical*.

As for which one you should use, that is going to be a personal preference. Here's some points which you may take into consideration when deciding (note that, overall, these points won't support one form over another):

The second syllable of 人才 should be viewed as the same as that in 天才 (genius), which is not written as 天材.
If viewed out of context, 人才 may be a bit ambiguous. 才 is heavily used as a standard phonetic loan of what otherwise may be written as 纔 (e.g. in 剛纔, just now; a moment ago)
才 is primarily used with the abstract meaning of ability, power (other than in the phonetic loan above); 材 is primarily used with the meaning material, resource, wealth, and secondarily used with the abstract meaning ability.

The most important thing is that you recognise both 人才 and 人材 as being one word.

*According to the 漢語大詞典, the most comprehensive dictionary that gives a general survey of how words are used throughout the entire history of Chinese literature:

  人才

  人的才能。

  漢 王充 《論衡•累害》： “人才高下， 不能鈞同。”
  晉 葛洪 《抱樸子•廣譬》： “人才無定珍， 器用無常道。”
  《北史•崔亮傳》： “立中正不考人才行業， 空辨氏姓高下。”
  唐 劉知幾 《史通•敘事》： “故知人才有殊， 相去若是， 校其優劣， 詎可同年？”

  有才學的人。

  晉 葛洪 《抱樸子•逸民》： “褒賢貴德， 樂育人才。”
  宋 王安石 《上仁宗皇帝言事書》： “則天下之人才， 不勝用矣。”
  清 惲敬 《兵部侍郎裘公神道碑銘》： “今上加意人才，
  大臣多以公名舉奏， 升內閣侍讀學士。”
  呂澂 《中國佛學源流略講》第二講： “ 支謙 到 江 南以後，
  北方仍有宣揚佛學的人才。”

  人的容貌。

  宋 孫光憲 《北夢瑣言》卷十七： “ 楷 人才寢陋， 兼無德行。”
  元 無名氏 《漁樵記》第一摺： “有妻是 劉 家女， 人見他生得有幾分人才， 都喚他做 玉天仙 。”
  《三國演義》第六五回： “ 馬超
  縱騎持槍而出， 獅盔獸帶， 銀甲白袍， 一來結束非凡， 二者人才出眾。”

  指美貌女子。

  茅盾 《子夜》八： “他常到某某屋頂花園巡閱， 也為的是要物色人才。”

  人材

  人的才能。

  《淮南子•主術訓》： “智不足以為治， 勇不足以為強， 則人材不足任， 明也。”
  宋 葉適 《廬州錢公墓誌銘》： “太子熟看， 人材須用方見。 和親久， 材無所施， 更無事， 當遂委靡。”
  清 吳敏樹 《書謝御史》序： “今我等人材既弗如， 而時所重者獨官祿耳。”

  有才能的人。

  《詩•小雅•菁菁者莪》序： “君子能長育人材， 則天下喜樂之矣。”
  宋 曾鞏 《請令長貳自舉屬官札子》： “承人主之志， 廣引人材， 進諸朝廷者， 此宰相之事也。”
  《明史•太祖紀一》： “今有事四方，
  所需者人材， 所用者粟帛。”
  清 龔自珍 《己亥雜詩》之一二五： “我勸天公重抖擻， 不拘一格降人材。”

  姿色；容貌。

  清 李漁 《閑情偶寄•聲容》： “俗云： 三分人材， 七分粧飾。 此為中人以下者言之也。”
  《紅樓夢》第二一回： “二年前， 他父親給他娶了個媳婦， 今年才二十歲， 也有幾分人材。”
  老舍 《茶館》第三幕： “
  王掌櫃 ， 看我給你找來的小寶貝怎樣？人材、歲數、打扮、經驗， 樣樣出色。”


Should I pronounce “er” as [ɚ] or [aɚ̯]? What I learned growing up was that words with the pinyin “er”, like 儿, 二, and 耳 were pronounced [ɚ], but younger/more native speakers of Standard Chinese seem to pronounce it as [aɚ], and I was wondering if I should switch my pronunciation over to that.

Wikipedia’s page on erhua has some nice information on these “non-erhua r-colored syllables” but is still a bit vague about exactly which type of people are using which pronunciations:

  All of the non-erhua r-colored syllables have no initial consonant, and are traditionally pronounced [ɚ] in Beijing dialect and in conservative/old Standard Mandarin varieties. In the recent decades, the vowel in the toned syllable "er" has been lowered in many accents, making the syllable come to approach or acquire a quality like "ar" (i.e. [aɚ̯] with the appropriate tone). In some new accents and some different accents than Beijing, all the non-erhua r-colored syllables (may) use "ar"-like qualities regardless of tones.

So, what are the different connotations of the two pronunciations? How recently did the shift happen? Does [aɚ] make you sound young and [ɚ] make you sound old? Is one pronunciation more prestigious than the other, and the other more casual? Is there a Northern/Southern divide?

The whole syllable 'er' and the retroflex syllables 'er' (as in 'ler', 'ger' ...) behave differently regard to this question.

For the whole syllable 'er', 'er2'(而), 'er3'(耳) and 'er4'(二) are in fact different. 'er4' is pronounced as 'ar4'. See this article. As when the difference came I do not know. I only begin to notice this when I started doing research in TTS (Text-to-Speech).

For retroflex syllables, I haven't noticed similar phenomena. Every syllable seems to be pronounced the same.

But as said in the wikipedia article, the mentioned shift happens in certain dialects/accents. I am not familiar the variation of sound in dialects.

I do not think the pronunciation difference can make one sounds younger or older, or more formal or mare casual.


Chinese loanwords whose characters also carry the corresponding meaning A while ago, I recall coming across some Chinese loanwords that not only sounded like their foreign language (usually English) counterparts, but whose characters also carried roughly that same meaning.

Unfortunately, I can't remember the examples now, but I'm wondering if anyone knows if there is a term for this type of word?  Also, I would like to know what such examples of this phenomenon other people have encountered.

Here are some examples of those

基因 - gene
嬉皮士 - hippies
脱口秀 - talk show
霸凌 - bully
流明 - lumen
黑客 - hacker
对偶 - dual
蕾丝 - lace
费 - fee

And some others

席梦思 - Simmons
可口可乐 - Coca Cola
必应 - Bing
翡冷翠 - Firenze (Italy)
氕 - protium
氘 - deuterium
氚 - tritium


How does work ergative structure and how often is it used? I want to know how works the ergative structure and if it's often used or not and please could you give some examples like 院子 里 停着 车。
Literal: Courtyard-in park vehicle.
Translation: In the courtyard is parked a vehicle.
It's said a sentence where you can start it with the location and so go on, sorry cannot help more, but i didn't find more information but some articles.

Ergative constructions (作格结构) is one name for a phenomenon where the one subject argument in the intransitive version of the construction is the same as the direct object of the transitive version. These ergative verbs are variously called labile verbs, unaccusative verbs (非宾格动词), anticausative verbs; they have even been posited as reflecting a sort of middle voice (distinct from the more usual active and passive voices for verbs).
For example in Chinese:

TRANSITIVE: 他开了门。
TRANSITIVE-DISPOSAL: 他把门开了。
INTRANSITIVE: 门开了。
Incorrectly inferred: 他开了。

This parallels what happens in ergative-absolutive languages, where the morphosyntactic alignment is like this by default.
This kind of pattern is only defined for those verbs that can both be transitive in some instances and intransitive in others, also known as ambitransitive verbs.
There are some cases where some Chinese verbs can appear ambitransitive where English cannot be. This is often called the "notional passive":

TRANSITIVE ACTIVE: We defeated them. 我们打败了他们。
TRANSITIVE-DISPOSAL: 我们把他们打败了。
INTRANSITIVE (Chinese only) = NOTIONAL PASSIVE: 他们打败了。
TRANSITIVE PASSIVE: They were/got defeated. 他们被/给打败了。

However, the sentence used in the original question is not even from one of these ambitransitive verbs, as I can't think of a case where 停 alone acts as a transitive verb. Rather the two forms are:

SUBJECT - LOCATION - VERB: 车在院子里停着。
LOCATION - VERB - SUBJECT: [在]院子里停着车。

This is called locative inversion by linguists. In Chinese, it is very often used, although not as frequently as the standard order. Note that it is possible to drop the 在 in the form with location at the front. It can give off an atmospheric, almost poetic vibe, and is a beloved technique of narration and storytelling. This is not too dissimilar to English.


Asking "what's the pinyin/character for X?" How do we ask someone to "translate" a character or some pinyin into the other one? The expressions I'm referring to are:

  What's the pinyin for this/that (character)/... ?
  What's the character for this/that (pinyin)/... ?

It would be useful to know these two expressions since they are more or less fixed like "how are you?" (or similar ones) but are not that popular, so that's why I'm asking for such a "translation" question.

What's the pinyin for this/that character? 这个/那个字的拼音是什么？
What's the character for this/that pinyin? 这个/那个拼音代表的(or 对应的)汉字是什么？

I would use the words “代表(dài biăo)的” or “对应(duì yìng)的" for the second translation, because in general, you can determine the PinYin for a specific character (though some characters have two or more pronunciations). However, you can't always determine the character for a specific PinYin.

代表: to represent, to delegate, to stand for
对应: to correspond to

Edit: Answers to Alenanno. I would like to put them here because of the length
Sorry, part in () is an alternative. I should have put a "or" there (already edited).
When you ask the first question, I and I think other Chinese won't spell its PinYin (though, in English, it's common to spell a word), but show you simple or common characters with the same sound.
For example, you meet a word "畏葸不前", and you would guess the character “葸" sounds "sī" becaude it's similar with "思" (sī); however, you are not sure, so you ask me (it's a good habit to ask someone or consult the dictionary, don't ever guess the sounds),

这个字怎么读？(really, this is more common) and I answer,
它读作(or simply 读) “喜欢的喜"(or simply, 它读‘喜'), to show you the sound.

If you are completly strange to Chinese and you can't get its PinYin from my pronunciation, you would continue the question,

它的拼音是什么？ and I answer,
Xi(I would repeat the sound, at a very low speech rate so you can catch the sounds of X and I), 3rd tone.

For your second question, I'll take another example. Suppose that you just heard this sentence on the TV:

"他买了200克当归"
tā măi le liăng băi kè dāng guī

You understood [tā măi le liăng băi kè] stood for "他买了200克" (he bought 200 grams...) and you are wondering what is "dāng guī", so you try to repeat that sentence, "tā măi le liăng băi kè dāng guī?"，and ask me,

Huang, dāng guī是什么？(in this context, I may understand your question as "what is dāng guī?", instead of "what are the characters for dāng guī )
I answer, "当归是一种中药材"(dāng guī is a kind of Chinese herbal medicine).

You want to know the corresponding characters, so you continue the question,

对应的汉字是什么？(or simply, 怎么写？).
I may answer, dāng是当然的当，(dāng stands for 当 as in the word 当然), guī是归还的归.

However, if your Chinese level is very low, and you even don't know the words 当然 and 归还, you would continue to say,

怎么写呢？(how to write?), or 可以写给我看吗？ (Could you please write them down for me?)


How does 设A是..., 若A的..., 则称A是... work for mathematical definitions? From a Baidu page about 拉丁矩 (Latin rectangles, a topic in combinatorial mathematics, and one of my research topics), we have the following sentence (listed as 定义1; I trim back some of the mathematics notation):

  设A是一个m×s矩阵，若A的任一行是集{1,...,n}的一个s-排列，任一列是集{1,...,n}的一个m-排列，则称A是一个m×s拉丁矩。

I translate this to something like:

  If A is an m×s matrix, such that every row is an s-permutation of {1,...,n} and every column is an m-permutation of {1,...,n}, then A is a Latin rectangle.

I'm confused about the grammar here, and in particular, the use of (what seems to be) the following:

  设A是[a mathematical object], 若A的[conditions], 则称A是[a special type of that mathematical object].

I'm seeking a better overall idea of how this structure works, e.g., how frequently this is used, other examples, and what 设, 若, 则 and 称 are doing in the sentence.

Question: How does 设A是..., 若A的..., 则称A是... work for mathematical definitions?

「設」is short for 假設 (Suppose that...)

「若」means if

「則稱」, literally then (it is) called, should just be taken as then.

設A是一個m×s矩陣，若A的任一行是集{1,...,n}的一個s-排列，任一列是集{1,...,n}的一個m-排列，則稱A是一個m×s拉丁矩。
「Suppose that」A is an m by s matrix.「If」every row of A is an s-permutation of {1, ..., n} and every column is an m-permutation of {1, ..., n},「then」A is an m by s Latin rectangle.


How to say "Oops"; or other exclamation/interjection you might say if you make a mistake I was making an omelette and I dropped an egg on the floor.

I said "Oops!" because of my mistake.

Is Chinese "哎呀" (Āiyā) the nearest equivalent?

From what I gather, 哎呀 seems like a "sound word" -- by which I mean you may not see "哎" or "呀" used in other words - they are really used as exclamations or interjections, and they are very instinctive , knee-jerk reactions.

Are there other Chinese expressions someone might shout if they made a mistake?

To be honest, I probably said "shit" or "damn", so I wonder if there are a list of Chinese interjections , some mild ("oops!") and some more profane ("fuck!")

(Though I suppose it would be obvious if I saw someone drop an egg and shout in Chinese -- even if I never heard it before!)

There is no exact equivalent of the English "oops" in Chinese.

This is mostly because "oops" is a special English word, with an uncertain etymology but one theory is that it derives from "upsy-daisy". It is special because it is only used to express a mistake; I think you'll find that many other languages also don't have an exact equivalent of "oops".

Therefore I think you are right that 哎呀 is a close equivalent, but unlike "oops" it can be used to express general surprise, and it is onomatopoeic. Other related words that people can utter include the shorter "呀" or the longer "哎呀妈呀", depending on region and/or severity.

And yes, obviously there are many Chinese curse words that can be used to express "oops", similar to English words like "shit" or "damn". I won't list them because there are so many, and I'm sure many regional variants that I don't know of.


How to ask whether you left A in B I'm trying to figure out how to say "to leave" as in to leave something behind somewhere. Would you say one, two, or three?

How to say “left my bag in the car”

1. 丢了我钱包在出租车里
2. 留了我得钱包在出租车里
3. 忘了我的钱包在出租车里

Usually you say 1. 我钱包拉/丢/忘（在）出租车里了 or 2.我把钱包拉/丢/忘（在）出租车里了。

In 1, '我钱包' equals to '我的钱包'('My wallet') which is the subject and the verb is in passive but'被'is omitted. The grammatical expression could be 我钱包被拉/丢/忘（在）出租车里了，but no one would say out '被'here.

In 2, you use '把' as @wuyefeibao suggested and 我 is the subject, the verb being used in active voice.
In both cases, the preposition 在 may be omitted, indicating the urgent situation when you're anxious and depressed so you have no mood to speak out every function word.

Regarding your own translations 1. 丢了我钱包在出租车里 and 2. 留了我的钱包在出租车里 3. 忘了我的钱包在出租车里 are not target-like expressions. In translation 2, 留 is not the same as 忘，丢, implying you intentionally left the bag in the car (because you didn't want to carry it with you, or you wanted to give it a gift to the driver, lol?).


Is 几号 a slang word for heroin? Looking up 几号 in the Pleco dictionary returns a definition different from what one might expect from the usual meaning of the phrase.
Is 几号 really used as a slang for heroin?

Is 几号 really used as a slang for heroin?
Yes.
百度百科｜海洛因（吗啡类毒品总称）

海洛因，系列吗啡类毒品总称，是以吗啡生物碱作为合成起点得到的半合成毒品，俗称几号、白粉、白面。

Here is a link to the Change Log Entry for this word in CC-CEDICT. It was submitted with the following evidence:

海洛因，系列吗啡类毒品总称，是以吗啡生物碱作为合成起点得到的半合成毒品，俗称几号、白粉、白面。
https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%B5%B7%E6%B4%9B%E5%9B%A0/544824
(slang) heroin (powerful and addictive drug)
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%B9%BE%E8%99%9F

CC-CEDICT has a fairly strict vetting process. Entries are first submitted usually with a certain amount of proof of usage, references, etc. Afterwards there is a review process where editors will go over the submission - sometimes requesting additional evidence - or adding documentation that they themselves have come across while attempting to process the entry.
Of course mistakes can happen, but you'd be hard-pressed to find recent outright errors in CC-CEDICT.

Apparently 几号 comes from the fact that there is:

海洛因1号、海洛因2号、海洛因3号、海洛因4号

Different levels of purity in heroin.


What is the difference between 怎么 and 怎么样 ？ What is the difference between 怎么 and 怎么样 ？

It seems like both mean something like "how". I also see that 怎么样 is often used to ask someone's opinion on something.

In what contexts can 怎么 be used and when can 怎么样 be used?

Are there any grammatical differences?

There are good explanations on the Web. I do not think I should copy them here. Please check
怎麼
and
怎麼樣.

In addition, there is a good article (pdf format) published by an associate professor, 蔡維天. I copy the abstract here.

本文的題旨在於討論漢語疑問副詞的一個歧義現象：「怎麼」有時可當成「為甚麼」來用，如「她怎麼沒來？」。這種用法主要出現在助動詞之前，應屬句子頂層結構的一種現象。我們認為此處「怎麼」其實是整個句子的述語，問的是這個句子所表達事件的來由。相較之下，位於助動詞和動詞之間的「怎麼（樣）」則為修飾動詞組的狀語，表一個動作的樣貌或途徑。動詞之後的「怎麼樣」則為整個句子的補語，問的是事件的結果。從本體論的觀點來看，「怎麼」、「怎麼樣」在句法結構上的高低分布正反映出一種因果關係，也就是助動詞前的「怎麼」表「前因」，動詞後的「怎麼樣」表「後果」；中間則夾著表樣貌、途徑的「怎麼（樣）」。若以句法－語意介面的角度觀之，凡此種種不同的語意解釋正是由於「怎麼」、「怎麼樣」所處的句法層次不同，而產生的結果：也就是說，表原因的「怎麼」修飾事件，是整個句子的述語；表結果的「怎麼樣」修飾動作結束後的狀態，是動詞組內的補語；表樣貌、途徑「怎麼（樣）」則修飾動作本身，是動詞組的狀語，而和主語的主體意識（agentivity）相關。此外，表原因的「怎麼」在句法上的分布也和「為甚麼」相當一致，可採「無擇約束」（unselective binding）及「相對性近距原則」（relativized minimality）等概念加以規範。

The aim of this paper is to examine an ambiguity of Chinese wh-adverbs:
zenme ‘how’ is sometimes construed as causal rather than method or manner,
as in Ta zenme mei lai?‘Why didn’t she come?’ We show that causal zenme
typically appears before modals, behaving very much like a matrix predicate.
By contrast, its postmodal counterparts are interpreted as method or manner
preverbally, and as result postverbally. From the viewpoint of ontology, the
structural distribution of zenme（yang）embodies a “cause-effect” relation, and
in-between, we have agent-sensitive concepts such as method and manner. In
terms of the syntax-semantics interface, it is demonstrated that the various
interpretations of zenme（yang）are conditioned by the syntactic projections it
occurs in. Namely, premodal zenme takes the whole sentence as its comple-
ment, which corresponds to an event. This results in the causal reading.
Postverbal zenmeyang, on the other hand, serves as a complement to VP,
corresponding to a resultant state. Hence the resultative reading. Furthermore,
when method/manner zenme（yang）serves as a VP-adverbial, it modifies an
action, thus sensitive to subject agentivity. Finally, we find that causal zenme
actually patterns with weishenme ‘why’ with respect to their syntactic behav-
ior, which can be accounted for by adopting the notion of unselective binding
and relativized minimality.


Translation and script type of Chinese calligraphy scroll (Characters identified: 高明配天 敬璧) What is the translation of the text and seal on this scroll?
What is the script type of the large main text? Initially I thought it was seal script since the characters looked quite similar to those on the Shuowen Jiezi radicals list but then didn't have much success translating them using http://www.guoxuedashi.com/zidian/xz/
Thought the second character might be some variant of 明 - http://shufa.guoxuedashi.com/660E/5/
The last character seemed to be 天 - http://www.guoxuedashi.com/zidian/5929.html
Thanks

The large calligraphy says 髙（高）明⿰酉卩（配）天
The seal says （敬）璧

「高明配天」 is a short segment from the Doctrine of the Mean. The entire line that this segment is found in is

...博厚配地，高明配天，悠久無疆...

...one's learning as expansive as the land on this earth, one's achievements as noble and lofty as the blue sky, lasting through to eternity...

The seal 「敬璧」 is part of the name of the artist (as given on the smaller calligraphy on the left).
Generally, if you find something that kind of looks like seal script but feels somewhat off (e.g. you can't identify some components), you can assume that it's some kind of pre-Qin writing style. I would classify the large calligraphy as being inspired by oracle bone script and the seal as being inspired by inscriptions from around the Spring and Autumn period.
We can have a go at explaining the character shapes below...

高
The closest shape to the first character in the large calligraphy is 「髙」, which we normally write nowadays as 「高」. 「高」 (high/lofty/tall) is made up of semantic 「京」 (picture of a tall watchtower/pavilion) and a distinguishing mark 「口」 whose function is to distinguish the word represented by 「高」 from the word represented by 「京」.
商甲前1.34.5合集2359西周金不簋蓋集成4329秦簡秦195睡虎地秦簡今楷

配
The third character in the large calligraphy transcribed into regular script is

which was originally made up of a kneeling person 「卩」 next to an alcohol vessel 「酉」. The original meaning was an abstraction of people jointly kneeling or prostrating at a ritual (and wine was often an offering in these rituals), and the joint ritual meaning was semantically extended to join, pair, match.
商甲存2244合集31841西周金㝬鐘集成260春秋金蔡侯盤集成10171
「卩」 was then corrupted into 「己」.
春秋金拍敦集成4644篆酉部說文解字今楷

敬
The closest shape to the first character in the seal is 「」, and this is normally written nowadays as 「敬」. The character 「敬」 (Zhengzhang OC: /*kreŋs/, respect) comes from semantic 「攵・攴」 (hand holding a hitting weapon) and phonetic 「茍」 (/*kɯɡ/). The shape in the seal comes from a corruption of the

part of 「茍」 into 「羌」, and this corruption is not inherited in the modern form 「敬」.
西周金叔䟒父卣集成5428西周金大克鼎集成2836春秋金王子午鼎集成2811隸定
Note: the proportions have been distorted slightly in the seal.

璧
This should be recognisable from the small calligraphy on the left, if not for the distorted proportions.

References:

《漢語大詞典》
季旭昇《說文新證》
董蓮池《說文解字考正》
黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》
小學堂
漢語多功能字庫
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》

中國哲學書電子化計劃

宋・徐鉉等奉敕校定　漢・許慎《說文解字》


How to talk about cooking a dish with multiple items I have been practicing Chinese by writing essays in Chinese. I am starting one on my cooking routines. While I know many food terms, I have never expressed anything beyond basic with respect to food.
I want to say something along the lines of
'I cooked rice with tomato, brocolli, carrots, and peppers.
Would this suffice?
我用番茄，西兰花，胡萝卜和辣椒煮饭。
I want to make it clear that I put these  ingredients together and cooked them.
I feel like 加 would not get the point that all of the things were cooked together.
I am also wondering if I could say,
我跟西兰花，胡萝卜，辣椒，番茄煮饭。

Edit:
Clarification by the OP

I place all the vegetables in a pot with rice and cook them. I think 加 would indicate I add them in after cooking the rice

In this case, 煮饭 means 'cook rice', 加 would mean you add them into the raw rice when you cook them
The sentence would be

我煮饭時会把番茄，西兰花，胡萝卜和辣椒加在米中一起煮 (when I cook rice, I would add tomato, broccoli, carrot, and pepper into the raw rice)

or

我会把番茄，西兰花，胡萝卜和辣椒加在煮好的饭中一起再煮 (I would add tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, and peppers into the cooked rice and cook them together

Previous answer before the Clarification:
'煮饭' means 'to cook' in general (饭 here refer to 'meal' ).
Note:
煮饭 (to cook) sounds Cantonese. In Mandarin, the common word for 'to    cook' is 做飯 (cook meal) or 做菜(cook dish),
and 煮饭 would just mean 'cook rice' The reason I presume by 煮饭 you meant 'to cook' because it is wired to add those things in streamed rice
If you meant you are using these ingredients to cook a dish. The correct verb phrase is:
我用番茄，西兰花，胡萝卜和辣椒(来煮这道菜) = I use tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, and peppers (to cook this dish)
or
(这道菜的材料是)番茄，西兰花，胡萝卜和辣椒 = (the ingredients of this dish are) tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, and peppers

我跟西兰花，胡萝卜，辣椒，番茄煮饭

It means "我 (and) 胡萝卜，辣椒，番茄煮饭 cook together" (胡萝卜，辣椒，番茄 can't cook). It is nonsensical
To be more precise.

我會用番茄，西兰花，胡萝卜和辣椒来煮这道菜 (I will cook this dish with tomatoes, broccoli, carrots and peppers)

or

我用了番茄，西兰花，胡萝卜和辣椒来煮这道菜 (I used tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, and peppers to cook this dish)


Meaning of 纸 in radicals I was asked this in my Chinese class and have to write a mini paragraph on it:

  解释一下“纸”这个字部首是什么？最早纸是什么意思？

I know that the first part of 纸 means 丝绸, but what does the second part of the character mean? Also, I don't exactly get what 最早纸是什么意思 is asking for...

According to the question, you should only need to describe the radical (found in this case as the left hand component) 糸, not 氏.

The word 部首 is literally translated as section header, and strictly refers to the header under which the character is grouped in dictionaries. Each character has only one 部首, just like each English word has only one first letter under which they are found in dictionaries.

If your teacher also asks you to describe 氏, then that should be done in a separate question; if they think that 氏 is a 部首 in the character 紙, then they are unequivocally wrong. 紙 is a semantophonetic (形聲) compound character under the traditional liushu scheme of classifying characters. You can only refer to 氏 as a 聲部 (sound component) in 紙, not a 部首.

最早"紙"是什麽意思 (punctuation added) is asking you to find out what 紙 meant in its first appearance in historical literature. This may be trying to get you to appreciate that many characters have changed meaning over the course of history.


Pronunciation of 一 in 一边 I am struggling with the pronunciation of the 一 in 一边.  The usage I am particularly concerned with is describing simultaneous tasks, as here.  My understanding is that 一 is pronounced as first tone when alone or as an ordinal but fourth tone otherwise, consistent with this similar question about 一个 and this question about 一线城市.  As such, I would expect 一边 to be pronounced yi4 bian1.  However, in the first link above, and also in every dictionary I look at, it is first tone.  What is the correct way to pronounce this word?

Yìbiān would be correct.

For ordinals, it is pronounced yī. In other cases, When followed by fourth tone, it takes the second tone (一对, yí duì). For all other following tones, it takes on the fourth tone.

The reason it is not marked in dictionaries, is because the rules for tone sandhi are few and straightforward. Isolated cases are when a tone is dropped (or replaced by the fifth neutral tone), and those cases are usually indicated.


Is my translation of "I think Disney has a big influence on people's expectations of love" accurate? 新年快乐，大家！
I'm a long-time user of Stack Overflow for coding problems, but a noob on Chinese SE.
I was trying to say recently "I think Disney has a big influence on people's expectations of love".
My answer
I translated to "我觉得迪士尼对人的爱情要求的影响很大"
Doubts
Firstly I wasn't sure if simply saying 人 is appropriate to mean people in general. I was thinking about saying 老百姓 but I wasn't sure if this is a bit of a derogatory term.
Also I think maybe I could have used a better term than 要求 to mean expectations...possibly 希望，期望，期待 ? These three seem interchangeable in my inexperience...are there any differences in usage?

Yes, 人 would be sufficient to indicate "people in general" in this sentence. 老百姓, though not necessarily derogatory, gives the reader an impression that you're implying there exists some other non-general population group that are not affected/affected differently by Disney.

Next, 期待 and and 期望 are both fine for 愛情, but I would say the former is better, because all results from google gives 對愛情的期待 even when I searched 對愛情的期望. 要求 sounds too aggressive in my opinion, and we generally do not use 希望 for non-humans.

Generally we say "Noun 對 Noun 的期待/期望/要求", so the object should be 人對愛情的期待. However, this causes two 對's to appear, which sounds odd. So my advice would be to replace 人 with 人們, and replace the second 對 with 對於 to ease the effect of multiple 對's.

Finally the 的 before 影響 is optional, and since we already have a 的 in the object, we should omit the second.

The final sentence would be 我觉得迪士尼对人们对于爱情的期望影响很大


What is the meaning of '中国面孔'? I think I know what this '中国面孔' means, but sometimes Chinese surprises me completely.

同时，也说明西门子这样一个跨国公司，已经开始选择完全的中国面孔来拉近和中国的距离。

已经开始选择完全的中国面孔来拉近和中国的距离
(Siemens) has already begun to select only Chinese nationals, in order to narrow the gap with China.

中国面孔 = Chinese faces = Chinese nationals ??

I've searched some sentences on Baidu, they all mean Chinese nationals in the context, i.e. localization.

西门子高管出现首张中国面孔
西门子中国没有职位上的‘天花板’,从CEO,到业务总裁,越来越多的中国面孔跻身西门子高管团队,我的责任就是让有能力有经验的本土化员工迅速成长起来,担纲西门子中国以至全球的重任。

BTW: I can't find your sentence exactly on Baidu, but I found this, which used the word 本土 for localization.

西门子这样一个跨国公司，已经开始选择完全的本土脸孔来拉近和中国的距离。

西门子高管出现首张中国面孔
程美玮:西门子中国没有天花板
西门子本土化"模板" 用本土人管理上海业务


What is the meaning of 准新 in 由于二手车市场准新车越来越多...? I have this sentence:

  由于二手车市场准新车越来越多，加上价格原因，特别是二手车保值率的提高与稳定，使得交易日趋活跃。

Does 准新车 mean 'nearly new cars'?

Yes, I think so. And it's just like someone who has just bought a new car and doesn't want keep it anymore, selling it on the secondhand market. Then the car he sold can be called “准新车”. “准” in Chinese always means nearly but not exactly. For instance, “准老婆” means your girlfriend and she is very likely to marry with you in the near future.


For a long time, I caused the  to be I'm working on a literary translation of a 16th century Joseon prose narrative, and I'm here to ask for help with a few of the bits I'm finding gnarly and confusing. I've hit on the passage:

久作江湖之漫浪。 何圖不我遐棄。

I have translated it as:

"For a long time (久), I have caused (作) wild and unrestrained [behaviour throughout] the whole wide world (江湖之漫浪). How could I expect that you would not cast me aside?"

Do you think "wild and unrestrained" is okay for 漫浪?

(Context: the speaker is General Malt, i.e. alcohol, addressing a ruler.)

Thanks for an intro to a great piece by Im Jae (sp? 林悌‧愁城誌). Do you know of any English or Chinese studies or translations of his work?

I found it pretty difficult writing, a pastiche of the 尚書, packed full of metaphors and puns on drinking. For the passage you are working on, it always helps to look at the larger context, especially where the author is using a lot of parallelism in his grammar:

只緣禮法之矛盾。久作江湖之漫浪。
It's because of (my) flaunting of Manners and Codes,
That I've long been a roamer of River and Lake

何圖不我遐棄。迺曰命爾專征
That you would accept me, how was that my intent?
And now you would have me command your attack!


Are 中国 and 中华 synonyms? For example, Chinese Taipei can be translated either as 中国台北 or 中华台北。Are 中国 and 中华 synonyms?

If there is any differnce between 中国 and 中华，how to reflect the difference in English translation?

In Modern Chinese, 国 means a sovereign state, e.g. 中国, 英国, 美国, 德国, etc. In ancient times, 国 could also mean a non-sovereign state, e.g. 楚国, 齐国, 赵国, etc. Anyway, 国 emphasizes the government's control of a specific land.

As a result, 中国 can only refer to the sovereign state that is named China, while 中华 is more likely to refer to the ethnicity or nation that is named China.


How to translate 'Market Access' into Chinese? How to translate 'Market Access','Consumer Market Access' and 'Firm Market Access'?

Definition
 - 'Market Access' is the extent concept. Under this concept, 'Consumer Market Access' means that the extent of the market the consumer can access.
Similarly, 'Firm market access' refers to the extent concept.

Hope someone can help me to improve the translation.

市场进入，市场获得，市场邻进，市场获取，which one should I choose?

If add "消费者" or "企业" before it, which one is the best?

"MARKET ACCESS" means "市场准入" in Chinese.

eg.
However, a loosening of market access rules is expected to occur in the coming years.
然而, 在未来几年里,市场准入规则预计将不断放宽.


What are the different uses of 体会? While trying to understand the complete meaning 体会, the examples I found online had many different uses when translated into English.

体会
to know from experience; to learn through experience; to realize; understanding; experience

请你谈一点个人体会好吗?
Will you please say a few words about your personal understanding [experience]?
有时候我们也需要生病一下来体会到健康的好处。
Sometimes we need to be sick to appreciate the blessing of being healthy.
他们体会不到生活的快乐和鼓舞。
They cannot experience the joy and inspiration of life.
我也是一位母亲，有三个漂亮的女儿，我能体会她的苦楚。
And, as a mother of three beautiful daughters, I could feel her pain.
我能体会到你的感受。

here it seems as though the most common use is to understand in relationship to what someone else is going through, having been through that ourselves. Is that correct?

体会 connotes that how you feel, what you learn from your experience. In Chinese, 体会有体验和领会的意思. It can be interpreted differently based on the context.

Take one of your sentences as an example.

  请你谈一点个人体会好吗; Can you talk a bit about your takeaways (from there)?


Deciphering a seal on the bottom of a Buddha figure (Characters identified: 乾隆御製) I have a friend who bought a Buddha figure on a Chinese market. On its bottom there is this seal, written in seal script, that has an original size of 1.5cm × 1.5cm. Any idea what it means?

The character at the top left seems to have the component 是, the character on the bottom right is probably 隆. I've no idea on the others though.

Frankly speaking, I have very few knowledge about works of art, but for the characters, they look like "乾隆御制(traditional Chinese:乾隆御製)". These characters are written in 小篆, which is an old font originally popular in 秦 dynasty and then mainly popular in seals afterwards.

"乾隆御制" means "[this work is] made for the emperor of 乾隆, or the royal members".

By the way, I believe this work is fake, since the font of "乾隆御制" is generally “楷体", not "小篆". I have seen some works made in that times on the TV (there are many TV programms for identifying such works nowadays)and I don't remember a work with that font.


What is the role of 都 in 你网上小店都卖什么东西啊？ What is the role of 都 in this sentence?

  你网上小店都卖什么东西啊？

Should  I read:

你卖 = you sell
你的小店卖 = your little shop sells
都卖 = all sell
你和你的小店都卖 = you and your little shop both sell

Basically, who is the seller??

都 is an adverb. The subject is 你(的)小店.

  你最近都在做些什么啊？
  你都去过那些地方？
  你平时都听些什么样的歌？
  你都怎么想的？
  ...

When 都 is used, the question sounds less specific. The speaker either expects a long or complete list, or expects the listener to elaborate at length or in detail.


Is it a common requirement for Chinese interpreters to be fluent in two or more dialects? I was looking at job postings for interpreters and found a few for generic "Chinese" interpreters, a few more for both Mandarin & Cantonese, and just one for Mandarin only. To my surprise, I didn't find any for Taishanese, Min or other dialects. Am I right to assume that fluency in Mandarin and Cantonese is a de facto requirement to become a Chinese interpreter?

Probably depends on the locations and needs.

People who speak dialects probably can understand at least either Mandarin or Cantonese. That can be the reaons why Mandarin and/or Cantonese is the requirement in general.


What syntax is acceptable for classifier + noun + adjectival phrase I am wondering what the acceptable combinations of classifier, noun, and adjectival phrase are? For example 一本 + 有意思的 + 书

Is it acceptable to say both of the following?:

  一本有意思的书。
  有意思的一本书。

Are there any other ways to produce the same meaning?
What is the difference (if any) in the meaning / connotation?

有意思的一本书 is rarely used, either in colloquial language or formal speech.

However, 很有意思的一本书 is popular, as in "这是很有意思的一本书" (interchangeable with "这是一本很有意思的书" and "这本书很有意思"). The sentence literally means "this is a book that's very interesting".

I do not know why adding "很" makes it sound right. The Google results are quite convincing, though: all of them have "很" before "有意思的一本书".

(Is it the same case with "你很漂亮" (correct) and "你漂亮" (incorrect) ?)


Help finding text by Liang Qichao I need the text 戊戌政變記 to cite some characteristic remarks about Cixi. Ctext has it here, but the OCR is horrible (of the order of one in three characters wrong). I went back to the plates and corrected many mistakes on selected pages, but they are very unclear and it is extremely time consuming to read them. Wikisource has a copy here, but most of the chapters are empty. Does anyone know a more trustworthy online source?

try this pdf file:

http://www.bnasie.eu/Asset/Source/bnBook_ID-1505_No-01.pdf

it's reprinted in traditional chinese, vertical layout.

have fun :)


Size of vocabulary of highly educated Chinese person I've read in various places on the internet that the average vocabulary of a Chinese person is around 5,000 words.

How about highly educated Chinese people? E.g. those with PhD's or holding top positions in the government or corporations.

Estimating vocabulary size accurately is really difficult as far as I know. The average English speaker's vocabulary is estimated to be in the range of 10,000 to 30,000 words, but highly educated English speaker may possess a vocabulary of twice that. Of course estimates are highly variable depending on where you look and depending on what you count as a word.

So does a highly educated Chinese person know around 10,000 words?

Any references are appreciated.

Note that I don't mean to compare vocabulary size between English and Chinese here. Personally I think Chinese is likely a more efficient language on one hand as it may be that more information can often be compressed into fewer words. That would explain why an English speaker needs to know more words.

What differentiates Chinese characters from English words is that most Chinese characters are not only words but also morphemes.

e.g.

  In the English word unlikely, there are three morphemes, un, like and
  ly, but only like is a word.

  In this Chinese compound word 不可能, there are also three morphemes,
  不、可、能, but each of them constitutes a word.

The estimated 5000-word vocabulary is not an indicator of the number of words like 不可能 one masters, but of morphemes like 不、可、能.

A senior high school student is requested to master at least 6600 common characters. A Ph.D. is likely to have a similar, if not higher, vocabulary, as however difficult the jargons he possesses are, these jargons can be translated into Chinese with common characters, for example, polychlorinated biphenyl is translated as 多氯联苯, which every junior high student should be able to recognize but perhaps not fully understand.


Words for acronym, initialism and abbreviation Looking up these three words it's not clear which is which and often 缩写 seems to be used in most cases I've come across, which doesn't seem to be correct.

Can someone confirm what are the equivalents in Chinese for these three words:

acronym; initialism; abbreviation?

缩 in 缩写 means "to condense/ to contract"

Acronym and initialism are both (首字母)缩写. (contracting a phrase using the first alphabet of each word in the phrase)
聯邦調查局 (Federal Bureau of Investigation) 的 (首字母)缩写 是 FBI

中央情報局 (Central Intelligence Agency) 的 (首字母)缩写 是 CIA

abbreviation is (字句)缩写 (abbreviate a phrase by omitting some part of it) ; 簡化; 簡稱

Example:

中央情報局 簡稱 中情局 (the abbreviation of 中央情報局 is 中情局)
美國 其實是 阿美利堅合眾國 的簡稱 (America is actually the abbreviation of United States of America)
阿美利堅合眾國 (United States of America) 的 (首字母)缩写 是 USA

The difference between acronym and initialism is,  you can read acronym as one word e.g. Mothers Against Drunk-driving = MAD. But you read each alphabet in an initialism

Basically 缩写 is a correct translation of all three terms


Grammar for counting in Chinese (for non-native speakers of Chinese) I need to write a program that can insert the count of objects into a text - without knowing virtually anything about the Chinese language. While for English this needs to distinguish between singular and plural, I don't know which special cases need to be handled for Chinese. Using an online translator to translate "one house, ..., thirteen houses", I obtained

  一所房子，两个房屋、 三栋房子、 四个房屋、 五之家、 六套房子、 七个之家、 八个公司、 九个房屋、 十家、 十一间房屋、 12 间房、 十三个房子.

The same with cats:

  一只猫，两只猫、 三只猫，四只猫、 五只猫、 六只猫、 七只猫、 八猫、 九猫、 十猫、 11 个猫、 十二个猫，十三个猫

Some of this may be caused by imperfections of the online translator used, but I wonder if some of the patterns should be observed by my program. And I need to provide it with suitably many "declination" forms to allow it to create the correct output:

Arabic digits for 12 in the first test and 11 in the second test are obviously an artefact of the online translator. I assume that it is never customary to use arabic numbers in Chinese?
I wonder why "two" seems to be translated by 两 instead of 二. Is that correct? Or does it depend on something?
What follows the numeral seems to differ depending on the number. For example I see 所房子 with 1; 个房屋 with 2, 4, 9; 栋房子 with 3; and all remaining numbers seem to have their very individual signs, at least when it is about  "houses". For the cats I see 只猫 with 1-7, 猫 with 8-10, 个猫 with 11-13. While this looks less complicated, I wonder: Are the different forms required by grammar? Do they follow a specific pattern (e.g. for living versus dead things)? Which variants have to be used for which number? (Or is this just another translator artefact?)

Thanks for any hints on this, but please remember to keep them understandable for someone who knows no Chinese and will handle Chinese texts with a mere "pattern substitution" technique.

Regarding arabic numerals: I think modern usage sees arabic numbers to be generally acceptable. However the context of the material, or even the region, may influence whether they're commonly used or not. For example, in metropolitan areas you might commonly see phone numbers or prices expressed in digits, whereas in more traditional material you probably wouldn't. You may or may not be able to get away with this in your project.

Regarding 两 vs 二: 两 is generally used as "two" for specifying a number of objects, whereas 二 is used as the digit, such as in a phone number. See this question for more on this distinction.

Regarding the classifier: As far as I'm aware, there's no such rule as 1-6 uses this classifier, 7-9 uses this, etc. The classifier is determined by the noun. In your example, the classifier for cats (猫） is 只. For house (房子) you can use 栋.

The classifier for people is (usually) 个. Perhaps more importantly, 个 can be used as the catch-all classifier in casual language, or when an obscure noun has a classifier that you simply cannot remember. Again, whether you can use this "shortcut" will depend on the specifications of your project. In more formal situations, the correct classifier is preferred.

If you have a finite list of nouns in your project, you could spend some time looking up the relevant classifier for each noun.

http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php specifies the classifier in the dictionary entries, denoted by the "CL:" text.

Hope that helps!


Is 电视剧 equivalent to "TV series" or "TV drama"? https://www.quora.com/topic/Television-Dramas

I find TV dramas only refer to Chinese/Japanese/Korean 电视剧 on the quora topic. Why?

English 电视剧 only are called TV series?
If an English 电视剧 only has one season, can it be called series?

「電視劇」is equivalent to TV drama.「電視劇」does not tell you anything about the length of the series (if there even is a series) or the number of seasons in the series.

  If an English 电视剧 only has one season, can it be called series?

Yes. A TV series represents a connected group of TV shows with the same title/name. Series are only divided into seasons because of traditional American TV airing practice, where half the year is devoted to viewing and the other half is a re-run.

TV dramas are a product which responds to supply and demand; by nature, if a TV series is not performing by popularity metrics, then there will be no contract to make another season in the series. There are many single-season TV series out there (for various reasons, not only due to lack of popularity).

A TV drama series is called「連續劇」in Chinese. Dramas, in general, are just called「戲劇」, so you can get single "episode" (more like a mini-film) dramas called「單元劇」.


How do I say the exercises "Bridges", "Supermans", "Scissor kicks", "Wall sits", "Lying lateral leg lifts", and "Side planks" in Chinese? I would like to know how to say the following exercises in Chinese:

Bridges

Supermans

Scissor kicks

Wall sits

Lying lateral leg lifts

Side planks

Google Translate gives: 1. 橋 2. 超人 3. 剪刀腳 4. 牆坐 5. 臥式抬腿 6. 側板. The issue is that I have no way to tell whether these are the correct terms for the exercises, or just literal word-for-word copies in Chinese.

I learned move 2, 4, 5 and variants of move 1, 3 from a trainer and dance teacher. My translation will come from or be inspired by her version. She is rather senior. So some of the moves have been known and practiced in China for decades, where I expect the terminology to be more stable and uniform. As well, in China, a unique-ish form of body training called 形体 emerged over the recent decades, where people use moves adapted from basic dancing training/college for general exercise. Those moves tend to have uniform terminology. In other cases, moves that became popular later should have more diverse terminology.

仰卧撑

仰卧 means lying facing up. 撑 means push up or pushing up.
I can't remember if there is a standard name for such a move. There might be a different standard name for having your two arms in a flat position.
拱桥腿 is used by some. 拱桥 means rainbow bridge. I prefer descriptive naming myself -- not metaphoric. My preference is a bit "German-like" (and arguably wider Chinese preference too).

俯卧四肢向上

四肢 - the four limbs
向上 - towards up (if you are into language, this is a rare case of preposition conjugated into verb)
四肢向上 for short also works. Since you can't do this move in any other way.

You need to disambiguate.

If you mean lying flat, kicking one leg up while fixing the other leg on the floor, (head should be on the floor, arms are relaxed) then
仰卧前踢腿
Memory is vague on this one. But this version conveys the point.
仰卧 - lying facing up
踢腿 - kicks
前踢腿 - front kicks
So this combo differentiates from the possible sick kicks. It is inferred that you do not kick with both legs, because it is not productive to do so. (Raising both legs slowly is called 仰卧抬腿. 抬 means lift. The both part is inferred because it makes no sense to lift one leg.)
If you mean raising both legs, raising one more while losing one and alternate, (head area should be raised, but legs should not be near 90 degree up,) then
交叉抬腿
交叉 means cross
Obviously, be careful to not hurt the neck.

Various possibilities:

背靠墙蹲
靠墙蹲起
The search links themselves offer more possibilities.

Various possibilities:

躺地踢旁腿
侧躺踢旁腿
侧卧踢腿
侧卧抬腿
Notably, 侧卧旁踢 seems to not work even though it should be fairly unambiguous.
躺地 means lying on the floor
躺 means lying (down)
踢旁腿 means kicking towards the side
侧 means side
侧卧, 侧躺 means lying on your side (at which point kicking to the side is the only sensible thing to to)
踢腿 means kick
抬腿 means lifting leg
So, if you mean kick, then don't say 抬腿; if you mean lift, use 抬腿 or 举腿 (not used in this case)

侧卧撑

In specific context, I expect 侧板撑 or 侧板支撑 or 斜板支撑 to be legitimate since 平板支撑 has been accepted for plank. However, none of them yields the correct search result.
Meanwhile, 侧卧撑 is immediately comprehensible because 俯卧撑 means push-up.


How to translate skepticism? Skepticism, in Bertrand Russell's words, means "it is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatever for supposing it true. " I.e. don't believe until there is enough evidence.

For example, Newton's laws are supported by experiments, therefore there is sufficient evidence. On the other hand, Marxism was made up by Karl Marx, and before the Soviet Union, there were no systematic experiments, therefore we should be skeptical about Marxism.

When skepticism is translated into Chinese, it becomes  怀疑态度，怀疑论； 多疑癖, which means the practice of suspicion, a tenancy to believe even though the evidence is unclear.

You are absolutely correct to be skeptical about the translation offered. A more accurate translation for skepticism would be:

质疑精神

Breaking it apart,

  质疑 [zhì yí] means: 提出疑问 (raise a query, be critical minded) 精神 [jīng
  shén] means: 意识、思维 (spirit or mindset)

You can read more about 质疑精神 here.


What does 一个泡子 mean? What does 一个泡子 really mean ? my teacher had asked our class to do some assignment about our names in chinese and find the meaning too. I use chinese simplified in google translate to find my name. but I do not know how to find the meaning.

Finding the implicit meaning can be sometimes be a tough chore. Instead of just Google Translate you should also look for a Chinese-English dictionary for your computer or tablet (search this website questions/answers for dictionary resources or see this resource if you have a Mac OSX). I will say that the context is also not clear to me on the question you've asked because the phrase you've provided seems to have no relative common name (i.e. if the phrase you've presented was supposed to reference your name, the characters do not appear to make sense in that context).

I asked a native speaker and she points out that the typical pattern seen is "一个泡沫" (Yīgè pàomò, 一個泡沫) meaning a bubble as in the bubble a child blows or it can be used in the phrase 经济泡沫 (Jīngjì pàomò, 經濟泡沫) meaning an economic bubble. There are many other resources that show up in answers here on the website, which can help you with individual interpretation of characters but to get the proper context, one should always seek out a native language speaker.


Academic explanation for rhyming fillers with irrelevant meaning in doggerel 在打油诗、顺口溜、儿歌里经常有纯粹是为了押韵或节拍而插入的和文意无关的词汇。在北方话、传统北京/天津评书相声里尤甚。我想知道在语言学专业里这种情况是怎么解释的，有没有术语或相关资料。

例如北京顺口溜：

  嗝屁着凉大海棠，脚不丫子蘸白糖。

里“大海棠”完全是为押韵，无意义；蘸白糖虽然略有意义，但选词十分随机，更多是为了一种插科打诨的效果。

Brief translation:

It's common to hear rhyming filler words without a relevant meaning being used in doggerel/jingles, especially in Northern China dialects and traditional Beijing/Tianjin storytelling and cross talk performances. I am wondering if there are linguistic terminologies, theories or reading materials around this.

(The example is a Beijing doggerel. The point won't hold after translation.)

Regarding "The point won't hold after translation", maybe the words in this poem are relevant:

See you later, alligator!

After while, crocodile!

In an hour, sunflower!

Maybe two, kangaroo!

Gotta go, buffalo!

Adios, hippos!

Chow, chow, brown cow!

See you soon, baboon!

Adieu, cockatoo!

Better swish, jellyfish.

Chop chop, lollipop.

Gotta run, skeleton!

Bye-bye, butterfly!

Better shake, rattle snake.

Our school day now ends.

So, good-bye, good friends!


About 他 and 她 （regarding the song "break up 分手不分离" by z.tao) Im curious about a line from the song in using  他 and 她. The said line is
[因为我 想知道 她是不是比我好]
Isn't 她 supposed to refer to female?
The singer is a male so I'm kind of confused (since china is pretty Conservative) why he's using 她 to refer to his ex's new lover?
Ps. It is official lyric so I don't think it's a typo

In "心陪着你,  因为我想知道 她(他)是不是比我好"
He used '你'(you)  to refer his ex-girlfriend at the beginning of the sentence. It is wrong to use a different pronoun "她" to refer his ex-girlfriend in the same sentence later.
她 has to be a typo, It should be '他' not ''她 in this line

"My heart is with you because I want to know if he is or isn't better than me"

(Implying: If he is, I am happy for you, if he isn't, then come back)
车厘子 wrote:

Ps. It is official lyric so I don't think it's a typo

Official lyric can use the wrong word too.
'Made a typo' means the guy who typed the lyric mistakenly typed 她 instead of 他,
'Chosen the wrong word' means the guy who typed the lyric mistakenly thought 'XX' in 'XX 是不是比我好' was referring to the girlfriend instead of the girlfriend's new boyfriend


Meaning of 他是以朋友說這番話的 In the 散文 which I am reading the following sentence occurs:

  最近两次听到新西兰的老人艾黎说：“中国有两个最美的小城，第一是湖南凤凰，第二是福建长汀……”他是以一个在中国生活了将近六十年的老朋友说这番话的我真是感激而高兴。

My troubles again stem from the 以. Is this the same usage as in:

  以時啟閉 ;

meaning 艾黎 spoke in accordance with his friend? In other words 艾黎 may never have been to China, but still expresses opinions about which city is the most beautiful one, just because his friend told him?!

The sentence should be interpreted as 他是以一个...老朋友(的身份)说这番话的, means he said that as a ... old friend.

And from 一个在中国生活了将近六十年的老朋友 we can tell that 艾黎 has been lived in China for 60 years nearly.


Proper translation of "dancer"? I would like to have characters for "dancer" engraved on a present for a female friend of mine.

What would be the most appropriate?

舞娘
舞蹈家
舞者

If you are serious, I don't think any word like 舞娘 or 尬舞 is a good choice. (Probably 舞娘 is from the song by Jolin Tsai.) 舞蹈家 is a title for professional and experienced dancers. I don't know if your friend could be called a 舞蹈家, so if yes, just go with 舞蹈家. But 舞者 would always be a good translation.


Which is used more often, 日没 and 日落 Both 日没 and 日落 express sunset but which one is often more widely used?

If you look at Google hits, you can see a clear distinction:

日落

  About 42,700,000 results

日没

  About 13,500,000 results

I've never heard 日没 in real life, you might hear it more in Japanese.


Chinese name for a money belt What is Chinese for a money belt?  I mean the kind of linen or silk packet on an elastic band that you wear under your clothes, to hold money.

Chinese manufacturers often offer them online as "cash money holiday belts" but I have not found a bi-lingual cite with the original Chinese.

It's called [防盗|贴身|隐形] (小)腰(带)包.

Looking for any one of these terms on Taobao, you'll see how it is commonly referred to:


從上次我們去那個咖啡店這次是第一次去了: This is the first time at the coffee shop since the last time we went? Trying to translate This is the first time at the coffee shop since the last time we went produced these two sentences, which feel incorrect for Chinese grammar.

從上次我們去那個咖啡店這次是第一次去了

從上次我們去那個咖啡店，我從來沒去過。這次是第一次去le。

1) In Mandarin, what would be the right translation for This is the first time at the coffee shop since the last time we went?

2) What would the Cantonese translation be?

There's something wrong with the sentence, it sound very redundant.
If you had visited there before, any time you visit again would be the first time since the last time. The second part of the sentence doesn't add any useful information to the first part.
Let me change the sentence so it sound more natural

"This is the first time we go to that coffee shop since 2003" (now we know it was a long time ago)

Translation:

"這是我們自2003年以來第一次去那家咖啡店"
"這是(this is) 我們 (we) 自2003年以來 (since 2003) 第一次 (the first time) 去(go to) 那家咖啡店 (that coffee shop)"

notice we put 'since 2003 (自2003年以來)' before 'the first time (第一次)', which is reversed in English as: 'the first time since 2003

[自 (XX)以來] = [Since (XX)]

[自 (上次我們去那間咖啡店) 以來] = [Since (last time we went to that coffee shop)]

Edit:

could you kindly explain why you use 自 instead of 自從 or 從？i thought 從 was the abbreviation for 自從, not 自

Both 自 and 從 can be used as abbreviation for 自從

自 = since/ from/ begin at

從 = since/ from/ following

自從 (begin at and following) = since

When you want to use 自 or 從 to express the meaning of "since"
you have to add 以來, 至 or 到 like below:
[自~ 以來]  e.g. 自古以來 (since ancient time)
[自~ 到]  e.g. 自古到今 (since/from ancient time to today)
[自~ 至] e.g. 自古至今 (since/from ancient time to today)
[從~ 以來] e.g. 從古以來 (since ancient time)
[從~ 到] e.g. 從古到今 (since/from ancient time to today)
[從~ 至] e.g. 從古至今 (since/from ancient time to today)
All are correct, (自 ~ 至) is more literary, (從 ~ 到) is more colloquial)

also would it be equally correct to say 以後 or 之後 instead of 以來

"自2003年以來" emphasize the date we start counting (from 2003 to today)
"自2003年以後" emphasize 'what following that date' (after 2003)
You can use either


Do 朋 and 友 differ in meaning? I've learned 朋友 as a unit for the word 'friend'. After looking the two characters up, I see that they both mean... friend.
It seems 友 is often used as the latter part of words expressing something with "friend", like 好友 for good friend.
What is the difference between 朋 and 友?
Do they have slightly different meanings when used separately, or are they identical in meaning and just used in different situations?

As a noun, both 朋 and 友 mean friends. While 朋 is mostly a noun, 友 is often be used as an adjective for 'friendly, ' as in '友軍'(friendly force); '友方'(friendly side)
友 can also be a verb for 'befriend' in classical sentences.
To find the subtle difference between two characters with similar meaning in a compound word, like 朋友，you can observe the other compound words they associate with.
Examples:

朋比為奸  friends collude in criminal acts
朋黨 circle (of friends); alliance (of friends)

The phrases above show 朋 emphasis on the 'closeness' and  'alliance' between  friends

友善 (friendly), 友好 (friendly), 友愛 (friendship), 友誼 (friendship)

The phrases above, show 友 emphasis on the ' fondness' and 'emotional tie'  between friends'


Chinese idiom to describe a long line What is the idiom to describe a really long line of people (waiting in line to buy tickets, for example)? I know one of the words is 龙. I tried googling it, but couldn't find it.


Correct grammar for "While speaking Cantontese with my mom, I accidentally said one half of a sentence in Mandarin and the other half in Cantonese."? The goal is to translate the following:

  Mandarin has sure enough affected my Cantonese. "While speaking
  Cantontese with my mom, I accidentally said one half of a sentence in
  Mandarin and the other half in Cantonese?

This translation feels awkward:

我國語果然有影響我的廣東話。今天我跟我媽媽講廣東話，我無意講的一個句子有一半國語也另外一半有廣東話。

What's the appropriate grammar for such a complex sentence?

Mandarin has sure enough affected my Cantonese. "While speaking Cantontese with my mom, I accidentally said one half of a sentence in Mandarin and the other half in Cantonese?
我國語果然有影響我的廣東話。今天我跟我媽媽講廣東話，我無意講的一個句子有一半國語也另外一半有廣東話。

我的国语果然会影响我的广东话。今天我跟我妈妈讲广东话时，我无意讲的一个句子，有一半是国语，另一半是广东话。
The way to express such a complex sentence is, split the phrases out.  For example

I accidentally said one half of a sentence in Mandarin and the other half in Cantonese

is
“I said a sentence.” “The sentence is half Mandarin and half Cantonese.”
我说了一个句子，句子里一半是国语另一半是广东话。
Though yours is good enough to understand, personally I would suggest following translation:
我的粤语（表达）的确被国语所影响。跟我妈说粤语时，我无意间说出了国语粤语参半的一句话。


Using the word 为止 (with a time phrase) 我没知道存有椰子火锅到他吃为止。
他吃椰子时(到)我没知道此存有为止。

I am trying to formalize my grammar.
Are either sentences acceptable.
Would someone know what I am saying?
I am not sure if I have to include the Time Phrase first or if I can leave the subject as 我 and then the independent clause would be 我没知道存有椰子火锅.

May someone please tell me if these sentences make sense and how I would appropriately say this sentence?  Maybe give a few examples if there are certain variations one may use in this structure.

I am trying to say "I didn't know there existed a coconut hot pot until he ate it/was eating it."

The situation is I didn't know this existed and then I saw that one Instagram video with that caption about YE ZI .

Could someone help correct my sentences and perhaps give me a new way of explaining this using WEI ZHI.

我沒知道存有椰子火鍋到他吃爲止。他吃椰子時(到)我沒知道此存有爲止。

There are a couple of things that needs to be addressed about the sentence - unfortunately, in its current state, it is not legible.

Chinese doesn't use the equivalent of English I never knew (我「沒」知道) - we usually say I didn't know (我「不」知道) or I've never heard of (我沒聽說過).
「存有」is an exceedingly specialised philosophical term; to literally say exists in everyday language, the term is「存在」. An example sentence might be

  Ｘ（這種東西）不存在。

  There's no such thing as X.

The use of「爲止」here is problematic, and others have addressed how to use this term correctly.

Using something natural like @xbh's example

  在他吃之前我都不知道還有椰子火鍋

  Before he ate coconut hot pot, I never knew it existed.

is recommended, but as an exercise in using「爲止」, you can construct a grammatically correct statement like

  我朋友剛剛吃了椰子火鍋。「到目前爲止」，我還不知道有這種東西。

  My friend just ate coconut hot pot. Up until now, I didn't know there was such a thing.


What is "Tao of Jeet Kune Do" known as in Cantonese? The name itself is a bit strange, as if someone jumbled up the dialects. If "Tao" is the archaic Mandarin transcription for 道 (meaning "the way"), then it would either be "Dao of Jie Quan Dao" in Mandarin ("Tao of Chieh Ch'üan Tao" using the archaic transcription) or else "Do of Jeet Kune Do" in Cantonese ("Dou of Zit-Kyun-Dou" to use the current transcription).

What do Cantonese-speakers refer to it as?

Bruce Lee was trying to create an original 'school' of martial art style of his own.

  What do Cantonese-speakers refer to it as?

We consider the 道 in 截拳道 (Jeet Kune Do) is the same ones in 跆拳道 (Tae Kwon Do) and 柔道(Judo).

道 in 截拳道 actually represents 'school of martial art style'. It has very little real connection with the other 道 (Tao /the way) - a school of Chinese philosophical thinking

截拳 - intercept fist

'fist' represents 'strikes/ movements'  in martial art

道 - School of martial art style
之道 - philosophy of

"截拳道之道" [zit6 kyun4 dou6 zi1 dou6] literally means "The way (philosophy) of movements interception style martial art"

Actually the concept of 截拳(intercept movements) was not an original concept Bruce Lee invented. It was very much borrowed from the 詠春拳 (Wing Chun style martial art) he had studied under the famous Wing Chun grandmaster 葉問 Yip Man in his youth.


Resultative complement 到 Is using the resultative complement 到 generally  equivalent to saying "at the time this action was finished"?

Can 你走到车站的时候已经很晚了吗？ be translated  as "By the time you reached the station were you already late?"

你跑到医务所的时候已经很晚了吗？
By the time you had run to the clinic, were you already late?

UPDATE: I noticed that different sources disagree on whether to call the 到 in the context you used it a complement of result. For example according to the Chinese Grammar Wiki it is not a complement of result (and it's also my feeling). The most common definition is that a complement of result implies that an action has attained the expected aim or result. However the Mandarin Essential Grammar Guide of the University of Yale lists this use case under complement of result. See below for more details.

In any case, regarding to your question

  Is using the resultative complement 到 generally equivalent to saying
  "at the time this action was finished"?

In your examples the 到 doesn't refer to time but to the location where you arrived.

Chinese Grammar Wiki (complemented with my) explanation

I would say this in not a complement of result.

In your examples the 到 is not a complement of result, but one to indicate direction, target or  location. See Complements with "dao", "gei" and "zai"

The translation of your examples correct, but the reference to time doesn't come from 到, but from 的时候. 到 only refers to the location.

In case you actually are using a complement of result, the 到 will express that the outcome of the verb is achieved - what its result is.

For example

我昨天买到了一辆汽车: Yesterday I (successfully) bought a car.

It emphasizes that the action has finished with a success.

Also see Result complements "dao" and "jian"

You can also express ability and possibility with these complements of result. For example:

买得到: can buy
买不到: can't buy

Explanation in Mandarin Essential Grammar

The Mandarin Essential Grammar Guide of the University of Yale also has a section on the Complement of Result. In this they write (see http://comet.cls.yale.edu/mandarin/content/result/grammar/Result-9.htm):

  dào到: implying that an action has attained the expected aim or result

  kàndào    看到            see
  tīngdào    听到            hear
  yùdào      遇到            run into
  jiēdào      接到            receive
  shōudào  收到            receive
  zhǎodào  找到            find
  mǎidào    买到            succeed in buying

  Example 1: zhǎodào找到 (zhǎo找to look for + dào到[attain the expected result]) find
     Wǒ zhǎodào Lǐ Xiānsheng le.
     我找到李先生了。
     I have found Mr. Li.

  Example 2: mǎidào买到 (mǎi买to buy + dào到[attain the expected result]) succeed in buying
     Wǒ qùwǎn le. Méi yǒu mǎidào diànyǐng piào.
     我去晚了。没有买到电影票。
     I was late./ I got there late. [So,] I did not manage to get the movie tickets.

  dào到: reach or arrive at (a place or a point of time)

  zǒudào    走到            walk to /until/up to
  pǎodào    跑到            run to /until/up to
  xuédào    学到            study until/up to,
  shuìdào   睡到            sleep until/up to
  mángdào 忙到            be busy until/up to
  kàndào    看到            read or watch until/up to
  tīngdào    听到            listen until/up to

  Example 1: xuédào学到        (xué学to study + dào到 until/up to) study until/up to
       Wǒmen xuédào Dì Bā Kè le.
       我们学到第八课了。
       We have studied up to Lesson 8 so far.

  Example 2:
       Zuótiān wǎnshang wǒmen xué Zhōngwén xuédào shíyī diǎn.
       昨天晚上我们学中文学到十一点。
       We studied Chinese until 11 o’clock last night.

In your case it refers to the fact that one reaches or arrives at a place. So the 到 on its own doesn't is not generally equivalent to saying "at the time this action was finished". The time reference comes from 的时候 (到的时候 = when (one) arrived)


What's the difference between ‘谁是你？’ and ‘你是谁？’? What's the difference in meaning and grammatical structure between ‘谁是你？’ and ‘你是谁？’?

I've read:

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/145519/which-one-is-you-vs-which-one-are-you

‘谁是你？’= "who (which one) was you" - For example,  your friend looking at a picture in your high school yearbook, wondering which one in the photo was you at the age of sixteen.

To avoid confusion, it is better to say "哪一个是你" (which one was you) instead of  "谁是你?"

‘你是谁？’ = "who are you?" (if you know English, you understand what it means)

One more Example:

'在这张照片的二十人中, 谁(哪一个)是你?' - Among the twenty people in this photo, who (which one) was you?"

Better to use "哪一个" (which one) than "谁"(who) to make thing more clear.


Measure words for music I'm aware of the construct: 一首歌曲。

However, what's the difference between the following 声音 constructs?

一张音乐
一曲音乐
一段音乐

一张音乐 is short for 一张音乐专辑 (a music album) or 一张音乐CD （a music CD), etc., in which cases the noun at the end of the expression is flat (LP disc, CD) and can take 张 as classifier.
一曲音乐 is a 'tuneful' of music or a 'melody-ful' of music, is also translated as 'a piece of music', I am just guessing but this could mean a piece of music which consists of at least one melody or theme, i.e. a length enough to unfold the melody or theme, or maybe longer.
一段音乐 is a piece of music, whatever that means in English or Chinese, usually a complete piece or a complete section of a larger opus.

@S.Rhee mentioned 场 which is a classifier for concerts if it is used in connection with music, e.g. 一场音乐会.


Is the similar pronunciation of 上班, 办公 and 工作 just a coincidence? Three important words when talking about work are

上班 (shàng bān, to go to work)
办公 (bàn gōng, to work [esp. in an office])
工作 (gōng zuò, job / work)

This can be confusing for beginners - I often get them mixed up because the pronunciations are similar, even though the symbols are completely different.
Is there are reason for the similar pronunciation of 班 and 办, respectively 公 and 工? Or is it basically just a coincidence?

Yes it's a coincidence. The characters are completely unrelated.

办 ban4 means "to do, to handle", and it's a phono-semantic compound where the 力 part (strength) conveys the meaning, and the two dots at the sides are a simplification of 辛 (xin1). But the phonetic part when doubled is pronounced bian4. Compare the simplified characters 辩 （as in 辩论）and 辨 （as in 辨别）

班 ban1 means "class, team", and it's a compound ideograph composed of two 玉 （jade）and 刀 （knife）.

To 刀 cut up 玉 pieces of jade and bestow the halfs as rank insignia upon feudatory chiefs (Karlgren)

公 gong1 alone means "official duties" or "public affairs", and is （if I'm not mistaken) also a compound ideograph, from 八 and 厶.

The right 八 division of 厶 private things (Karlgren)

工 gong1 means "work" and is instead a pictogram of an axe (a carpenter square, according to Karlgren). (See picture)


What's a good word for "creepy" in Chinese? I realize that the English word "creepy" is a slang with many different meanings. I'm referring to the way someone might describe unwanted sexual advances. For example,

That guy over there staring at me is kinda creepy.

I'm not trying to shame anyone, I simply teach a social swing dance class (in Chinese), and I'm trying to show what moves to avoid so as not to "creep out" your partner.  This goes for both men and women.
For example:

Don't slide your hand all over your partner's arm, it feels a little creepy.
When you spin a girl, make sure to let go at the right time and don't drag your hand around around her waist because it's creepy.

I've asked around, but all I got was "猥琐" and "恶心", which sound so serious to me.  The English word is a little more euphemistic.  Is there a more lighthearted way to say "creepy" in Chinese?

In your context, you may want to say the move 令人不舒服 or 令人不自在 (makes people feel uncomfortable).


What is the difference between 准备， 预备 and 打算？ I seem to hear 准备 and 预备 used for “prepare” and not as often to mean “plan".

我们准备搬到美国； emphasizing the need for specific preparations for the move.

Myself， I use 打算 for planning something.

我们打算看新的电影； emphasis on merely being a future plan。

What are the differences in usage between 准备 and 预备？
At what point can one not use these to mean ”plan“？

So there's two questions here:

1) Difference between 准备 and 预备:

准 (Zhǔn) = accurate, about to, standard, certainly
预 (Yù) = in advance, beforehand, in the future
备 （Bèi） = prepare (among other unrelated meanings, such as "equipment)

So these root differences tell you that

准备 is more to describe readiness in preparation (accurate, certainty, etc)...

他正在为招待客人作准备 （Tā zhèngzài wèi zhāodài kèrén zuò zhǔnbèi） = He is preparing (planning how to) entertain guests

预备 is more to describe "to make ready"

我给你预备了一件礼物 (Wǒ yě gěi nǐ yùbèile yī jiàn lǐwù) =  I prepared a small gift for you

Although subtle, differences do exist.

2) When to use 准备/预备 vs 计划/打算

打算: 打 (to hit, to do, to make), 算 (calculate, to figure)...

计划: 计划 (to calculate, to count, to plan), 划 (to mark off, to draw a line)

Both 打算 and 计划 are to make calculations/plans, or mark off something. You cannot use them to say you're prepared to do something, or that you've prepared/made something. They're only to say that you've figured/calculated something in the future.

Ex: You cannot say "我打算了一件礼物给你", but you can say "我打算送你一件礼物"

Conversely:

You cannot say "我预备送你一件礼物" but you can say "我给你预备了一件礼物"


What does 没有最好只有更好 mean? In the following sentence over 华人街:

  从我这几天的观察来看，大部分都比较喜欢欧美国家，所以我把意大利早点介绍，意大利文化真的是没有最好只有更好的，意大利的强势专业绝对是艺术，美院也是特别的有名气，佛罗伦萨美院等等，但是缺点就是经济比较弱，大学毕业以后工作确实不是特别好找，意大利人很懒，生活节奏比较慢，但免学费。

I don't understand the bold part. Specifically, what does the sentence including 没有最好只有更好 mean? I'm fine with all the other sentences, but don't understand what it means in the bold part...

It starts with something like - Italian culture is really not only the best...?

意大利文化 // 真的是 // 没有最好 // 只有更好的
  Italian culture really doesn't have the best (thing), only better (things).

The 《没有最好，只有更好的》 is the quality linked to by the copula 是。

With some more thought you could surely find a more fluent translation.

Anyway, it's an elegant way of saying that Italian fine arts and cultural heritages are so many (common, widespread) that you can't just single out THE best one, but they all rival each other.


Substance in Chinese I'm working through some material. I'm coming from an English/Latin perspective towards understanding this.

Looking at the following translations

材料 - material - cáiliào

物料 - materials - wùliào

Is the first character a form of modifier? I'm a bit confused because liào(料) seems to also translate as material.

Mandarin has relatively few distinct sounds (about 1300) and each character corresponds to one of those sounds.  The language has tended toward more disyllabic words to reduce ambiguity.  Often these words consist of two characters whose meanings are both close to the meaning of the whole.


What is the proper order to list the noun and adjective when using 的 I've learned that 的 can be used to say that some noun has some quality, for instance 你说的太快了 is saying that 你说 (your speech) has the quality of being 太快了 (too fast) or in other words "You speak too fast". I'm now learning about the word 最 which is defined as "the most; -est; (indicator for superlative)" and the example they give is 我要最便宜的手机。In this sentence they're saying they want the cheapest phone but the order of the noun and adjective have switched places. Wouldn't the correct word order be 我要手机的最便宜 in order to say that you want the cell phone with the quality of being the cheapest? Or does the order not matter?

There's a couple things getting mixed up here.
Firstly, 你说的太快了 shouldn't use 的 but rather 得 so it would be written:

你说得太快了

(Although it seems that most people online cannot write this correctly either.)
Verbs can only be qualified by: 得.

的 can modify verbs into nouns.

说的 - the things said

画的 - the thing drawn (i.e.: the picture)

写的 - the thing written

etc.
This is why 的 is wrong in the example you give because 说的 refers to the content of what was said and not how it was spoken.

我要手机的最便宜 is basically nonsensical and almost equates to something like:

I want phone's most cheap

whatever that means.

Most Chinese sentences are SVO (subject + verb + object) and here the A (attributive) modifies the object so it becomes SVAO.

Written Chinese has a page talking about attributives with the 的 particle:

Between the attributive and the subject and object, is the ‘的’ particle. 的 is the mark of an attributive, although the ‘的’ particle is not used for some attributives.
Examples of attributives with the 的 particle
（美好）的时光总是过得很快。 ( (měi hǎo) de shí guāng zǒng shì guò de hěn kuài.) Good times always go by quickly. (Time flies when you’re having fun)
（桌子上）的花开了。( (zhuō zi shàng) de huā kāi le) The flowers on the table blossomed.
An example of attributives (without 的)
他喜欢上了（那个）（红头发）女孩。(tā xǐ huan shàng le (nèi gè) (hóng tóu fa) nǚ hái.) He is falling in love with that red haired girl.


What is the meaning of the expression 丘壑凛凛? In the expression 丘壑 there is a valley and 凛凛  means detached. I found the expression in a poem where it describes the feeling of the poet compared to an eagle, who sees the world from the sky, far and distant.

The whole sentence is 我的丘壑凛凛的心. My question is: does it mean my vast and distant heart, my heart is vast as a valley and distant as the eagle in the sky, a kind of buddhist detachment from the world of mortals?

Thanks

Rosa

楊牧 《心之鷹》

  鷹往日照多處飛去
  沒入大島向我地投影
  陽台上幾片落葉窸窣
  像去年秋天刪去的詩
  而鷹現在朝南盤旋
  漸遠。我站起來
  面對著海

  於是我失去了它
  想像是鼓翼亡走了
  或許折返山林
  如我此刻竟對真理等等感到厭倦
  但願低飛在人少，近水的臨界
  且頻頻俯見自己以鴥然之姿
  起落於廓大的寂靜，我丘壑凜凜的心

「丘壑」的原義是「山峰與河谷」，因為它們常處於幽靜偏僻的地方，所以被引申為「隱居、孤獨、離世」的意思。

「凛」和「凛凛」都是「寒冷」的意思。

楊牧在《心之鷹》一詩中，用「鷹」來描寫自己的「心」。

「對真理等等感到厭倦」
是表達不滿、失望與心寒，所以楊牧用「凛凛」。

「但願低飛在人少，近水的臨界 …… 起落於廓大的寂靜」
是表達「孤獨、離世」的意思，所以他用「丘壑」。

「我丘壑凜凜的心」是指「我那離世而失望的心」。

The original meaning of 丘壑 is "peaks and valleys".
Because they are often in a quiet and remote place, 丘壑 is extended to "seclusion, loneliness, or solitude".

Both 凛 and 凛凛 mean "cold".

In the poem, 《心之鷹》, 楊牧 described his mood with "an eagle".

對真理等等感到厭倦 expressed dissatisfaction and disappointment, so 楊牧 used 凛凛.

但願低飛在人少，近水的臨界 …… 起落於廓大的寂靜 expressed loneliness and seclusion, therefore he used 丘壑.

我丘壑凜凜的心 means "my secluded and disappointed mind".

楊牧 was born on September 6, 1940 in Hualien County, Taiwan.


来 + verb to indicate future What does 来 mean in the following sentence? 今天我们来讨论一个问题 I tried to translate the sentence as follows: "Today we are going to talk about a topic/problem/question". Does 来 indicate future? Is there a difference to 要 (e.g. 今天我们要...)

Yes, you are correct that "来" means 'we are going to' in this scenario. To be honest, as a native Chineses speaker, I cannot tell the difference between "来” and ”要" here.


Chinese Character Reading: What browser-based chat sites are available from inside China? While reading Chinese on the web I use a the Chinese Console Chrome Extension which helps me hover over characters and know what they are.

I've recently started connecting with language practice partners in iTalki to practice Mandarin. They all want to use skype, but when they type in the chat I have no tool on the desktop-app to help me with the characters.

I would normally use Google Hangouts, or Facebook, for this, to help me with the reading.

Is there any browser based chat (video not required) that my practice partners inside of China can use?

Thank you!

Update:

I found that Skype actually has a web version, so that works fine, though I should try to make qq/wechat work also...

The usual place for Chinese people to chat is WeChat.  You can login and chat using a browser via the link https://wx.qq.com/.

Here's a screenshot of me chatting with my Chinese teacher:

I'm using the Zhongwen Chinese Popup Dictionary extension for Firefox.


what does it mean when you use "作“ as a measure word for people? What does it mean when you use "作" as a measure word for people ? for example, in 沈从文‘s 《丈夫》 I read the line 都使这作丈夫的想起了村长同乡绅那些大人物的威风

Is 作 different from 位？

It's not a measure word. It means act as; be.

作丈夫的 could be translated literally as The people who act as husband, or just The husband.


Need help in understanding this question from sample hsk question 大家好！ 在hsk我遇到这个句子，终于没看懂。

句子是 ：

而时间是有限的， 所以不但要会读书，而且还要会选择其中的好书阅读。

I am confused upon seeing 要 and 会 together and the overall sentence meaning.

Help is appreciated.

而时间是有限的， 所以不但要会读书，而且还要会选择其中的好书阅读。

In this context:

要: need;

会: know how (to);

A rough translation:

Well, time is limited, so we need not only know how to read books but also know how to pick good ones among (all kinds of) books to read.


What's an appropriate conversational response to 这是什么？ In English, if someone points to a book and says "What's that?", "A book" is a sufficient reply. In Chinese, if someone points to a book and says "这是什么？", can you say "书" or maybe "一本书"? What's the most natural and conversational response?

Most often, I would repeat 这是, so if you would ask me 这是什么? I would say 这是一本书. You can also say 一本书. But you can also just say 书.


What's the difference between 同样 and 一样 I'm so confused about this two phrases, I think they can be used interchangeably in most circumstances, but here's the examples:

他们两个长得一样。
Why can't we say 他们两个长得同样?

妈妈点了一杯咖啡，我也一样。
Why can't we say 妈妈点了一杯咖啡，我也同样?

他认识我，同样，我也认识他。
Why can't we say 他认识我，一样，我也认识他?

I feel like my head is going to explode! Could you please give me some detailed explanation? I'd be extremely grateful.

問得好!

Here are some differences.

syntactic difference:

一樣 can be a predicate (謂語).
同樣 is only used as a modifier 修飾語, i.e. in front of a noun and connected with 的 (adjectival) , or in front of a verb phrase, or sentence (adverbial).

semantic difference:

一樣 same (identical)
同樣 same (equivalent)

I think these will account for your examples:

他们两个长得同样:  V得 here requires a predicate, so 同样 is bad.
妈妈点了一杯咖啡，我也一样: here 一样 is pro-verb (not proverb) which resumes the predicate 点了一杯咖啡; 同样 can't do that.
他认识我，同样，我也认识他: here 同样 is an adverbial; it means 'in the same way'

Another example, that (I think) shows the semantic difference:

我在美國看到同樣的情形: I saw the same (equivalent) situation in America.

I'm a little less sure on this one, but I don't think it has to be an exactly identical situation; just one that strikes me as fundamentally equivalent.

Anyway, nice examples, and good careful thinking!


How to identify rhymes in a Tang poem? I was reading the following poem by Meng Haoran, whose translation is still troubling me. For a start I thought, I should identify the rhymes.

李氏园林卧疾
唐代：孟浩然

我爱陶家趣，
园林无俗情。
春雷百卉坼，
寒食四邻清。
伏枕嗟公干，
归山羡子平。
年年白社客，
空滞洛阳城。

Naively I was sure the rhymes should be 情，清，平，城. However, I thought there must be a way to test this. I know different rhyme dictionaries were developed by the Ancients, as the preferences changed over time. I thought 廣韻 was a famous one and I was lucky to find this digitalisation  online. I found the character 清 and was directed to the corresponding page of the dictionary. I expected a list of rhymes to 清， but I guess the result is something different, since there are lots of sentences like 「山海經曰⋯」. Some characters are printed bolder than others, but below them seems to be something other than a complete list of rhymes.

So, how exactly to use the above or an other book to test if 清，情，平，城 were considered rhymes during Tang or at least Song?

In the character's zdic entry, there is a section labelled 音韻方言, which will have the character's rime group (韻目). In the 廣韻 section, 城 is labelled under the header 清. Ctext further has a more organised version of 廣韻, which you can quickly Ctrl+F your way into 清, which will list all the characters under that rime.

If you have some knowledge of other Chinese languages, or some understanding of how Sinoxenic vocabulary works in Japanese/Korean/Vietnamese, you can corroborate the fact that, at least in some non-Mandarin pronunciations, those characters that you listed did indeed rime.

Interestingly, 清 and 靑 did not rime in Guangyun, as evidenced by the fact that it had its own rime entry.


How do you say "Clean" as in "clean a city" How would one say "clean" as in "Clean a city"
For example, in english we would say.
"Once a month everyone in Rwanda leaves their house to clean the city"

Could I say
"打扫城市“ ”把城市弄干净”？ Or is there  a better way of doing this?

You could use 清洁城市 or 清潔城市.  打扫 also means clean but it is usually used when cleaning (actually sweeping) happens in a smaller area (i.e. cleaning your place / your room etc)


For 錢應該花在刀口上, 錢 and 刀口 are so different things... why associate 錢 with 刀口? For 錢應該花在刀口上。刀口…… and spending money. How is spending money related to 刀口?

Look here: http://www.zdic.net/c/0/3f/99108.htm

刀口 means the right spot 花 means spend

钱要花在刀口上 You should spend/use your money where it is most needed.


Does English have a word for 师兄/师弟/师姐/师妹？ I know one obvious translation would be "classmate." However, I have also heard the above words used when two people have had the same teacher. For example, if someone had the same teacher as you ten years ago, he is your 师兄. Since you two were never in fact classmates, is there a more precise translation than "classmate"?

I don't think there is a translation into standard English.
In some regional dialects (India, Singapore, maybe some other places) you hear people using the words "junior" and "senior", which roughly mean "person who goes/went to the same school of a lower/higher year".  E.g. "she is my senior".
In very informal situations you can use the Japanese loanwords senpai and kohai which have the same meaning.
"Classmate" is not a good translation as it doesn't have the junior/senior connotation.
junior/senior/senpai/kohai are probably the closest direct translations.


Seeking the equivalent in English for "厚脸皮" I am looking for an English term for "厚脸皮". The best I can get from the web is "a thick skin". As "厚脸皮" connotes derogatory and could be used as an insult sometimes, can "a thick skin" convey the same thing?

Are there some other terms which could be more appropriate for it?

The term is "thick-skinned"

  http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/thick-skinned

  Someone who is thick-skinned does not appear to be easily hurt by criticism:

"Thick-skinned" synonym

  http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/thick-skinned

  callous : insensitive; indifferent

"Thick-skinned" is the best translation for "厚脸皮". Both can be neutral or  derogatory

Note: '厚顏無恥' (brazen) - 'Thick-skinned and shameless' is definitely derogatory


How to say something is "an acquired taste" in Chinese? A : "Do you like to eat Durian?"
B : "No not really"
A : "Yeah, I guess it's really an acquired taste"

The English expression acquired taste refers to the nature of the taste being perhaps unpleasant on first taste, while one becomes habituated to like it through exposure, hence the acquiring. I would prefer a rendition such as:

可能需要慢慢地适应。
要慢慢来才会欣赏。

An idiom can be appropriate as a pithy reply:

一回生，二回熟。


Translation particulars in “当你老了” I have been learning some Chinese songs to help boost my vocabulary - most recently I learned "当你老了".  There are a few lyrics tripping me up, and I only found one English "translation" online (which looks like it is actually a Chinese translation of a poem by William Butler Yeats, which shares the first couple of lines but diverges after that).

These are the full lyrics of the song with my (probably very faulty) translation. I added some 'and's and subjects to try to make what is implied in Chinese clearer in English.  The two places I'm having trouble are identified by the question marks:

当你老了,头发白了            When you are old, and your hair is white
睡意昏沉                    And drowsy [??]
当你老了,走不动了            When you are old, and you can't walk
炉火旁打盹回忆青春           Dozing by the fire, remembering your youth

多少人曾爱你青春欢畅的时辰    How many people have loved the delightful moments of your youth
爱慕你的美丽,假意或真心       Loved your beauty, whether insincere or sincere
只有一个人还爱你虔诚的灵魂    Only one person still loves your pious spirit
爱你苍老的脸上的皱纹         Loves the wrinkles on your old face

当你老了,眼眉低垂            When you are old, and your eyebrows droop
灯火昏黄不定                 Lights are dim and indistinct
风吹过来,你的消息            The wind blows over with your news [??]
这就是我心里的歌             This is the song in my heart

当你老了,眼眉低垂            When you are old, and your eyebrows droop
灯火昏黄不定                 Lights are dim and indistinct
当我老了,我真希望            When I am old, I really hope
这首歌是唱给你的             This song is sung for you

First question: In the first verse:

"睡意昏沉"

I understand "睡意", but I can't quite follow how "昏沉" fits in there - dict.cn has it as "muddled", so I thought perhaps something like "muddled with drowsiness".  The aforementioned translated version has "睡意沉沉" there instead, designed to match "full of sleep" in the poem.

Second question: The other part that is causing me issues is in the second verse:

"风吹过来,你的消息"

What would be the best way to translate "消息"?  "News" in English is in all the dictionaries, but it seems too mundane for this lovely sentimental song.

p.s. Sorry for the code block, I couldn't figure out another way to make the line breaks stay put.

When you have 睡意(wanting to sleep), you would feel 昏沉(drowsy; unable to get everything clear in your mind, and that kind of mood). So, I think the word 'drowsy' can fit here.
Besides 'news', you could also interpret 消息 as 'message', 'information'.


Closing a letter from two people When writing a letter to family members, such as on a holiday card, how do you close the letter when it's being written from two people (such as from a husband and wife)? If one of our names is a one-character name, is it appropriate to write the single character in the closing?

Well it depends on who you’re writing to in the family and the actual relationship you have with that person, but simply using names feels rude and inappropriate in letters in most cases. Generally it is less inappropriate if you go more polite and make the recipient feel close with you in writing. And I think the reason is because Chinese like to establish relationships with other people. Even for people not in the same family, we want to call them by 哥、姐、弟、妹 to make us feel more connected/close, not to mention that we have already have connections by family.

For the same generation, I feel it should be okay just use your name when you write to your cousins or siblings, depends on your closeness with that person. If you only use your name, it is better you start with that person’s relationship at the beginning of the letter, for example 表姐、表哥、堂弟、堂妹 etc, then in the end you can probably close with your name. And if you want to start with that person’s name only without indication of the relationship, normally it is writing to someone younger than you, such as 弟弟、表妹 etc.. With some indication of relationship at the beginning you can close the letter with your name. It feels very distant if you don’t use some word to indicate your relationship with that person in writing.

If you write to your spouse it depends on how you call each other. In the old days people use 妻 xx、夫 xx etc but i would imagine people use nicknames more nowadays.

If you write to parents, normally you use 儿xx、子 xx、女xx 、儿媳 xx etc in conjunction of your name without/with surname(generally without). If you write to your parents’ siblings, it’s very inappropriate not to use relationship words like 姨、叔、伯 etc unless you have a very close relationship and you have a special nickname between two of you, which is hard to imagine for me.

For other relatives, you use the relationship in front of your name without/with surname. For example, 侄 xx、侄女 xx、外甥 xx、外甥女 xx etc

If you write to grandparents, you call them by 爷爷、奶奶、外公、外婆 etc with no name mention and you close by 孙子xx、孙女xx etc. The name can be omitted if you're the only grandchild in the family. There’s less room to argue here.


Difference between 惊讶 and 吃惊？ Is there a difference in the usage between 惊讶 and 吃惊? I know you can say “令人吃惊“ and “阵脚我吃了惊“.

Is there any way to divide the two?

yes, there is a way to tell the two apart.

惊讶 is mostly used as an adjective, like 惊讶的表情 which means 'a surprising face look'.
吃惊 is used as the same as 'be surprised', for example 我吃了一惊 which means 'I was surprised'.


Using xiànzài and zhèngzài in a single sentence I saw sentence xiànzài wǒ zhèngzài xué hànyǔ. And I can understand it as "I'm learning Chinese now". What bothers me is would it be any different meaning if I just say xiànzài wǒ xué hànyǔ? Or even wǒ zhèngzài xué hànyǔ?

P.S. I'm also assuming that zhèngzài can be replaced with zài without changing in meaning, am I right?

"现在", "正在", "在" all have the meaning of "now", but have slightly differences. "现在" is more like "nowadays", "正在" and "在" are equivalent to me, they are all like "-ing" in English. "现在我正在学汉语" sounds like "Nowadays I'm learning Chinese".  "我正在学汉语" means "I'm learning Chinese". "现在我学汉语" is weird, it's like "Nowadays I learn Chinese".  And you are right, as a Chinese, "正在" and "在" are equal to me if you want to use them to express "-ing".


串 vs 丳: which one is used more often for "skewer"? I've seen that both 串 and 丳 are supposed to mean "skewer". Which one is more regularly used?

Are there other common use cases for 丳?

Judging by the image results on Google [串, 丳],  and Baidu [串, 丳], 串 is more commonly used as skewer.


Is it incorrect to write 少 with a hooked first stroke, like 小? This question is about writing the hanzi 少; it's written as follows:

Sometimes when I write this hanzi by hand, I write the first three strokes to look like 小, which looks different because it has a hooked first stroke:

I'm wondering if it's incorrect, or merely a matter of style (or font).

Question: Is it incorrect to write 少 with a hooked first stroke, like 小?

Incorrect is a relative term.

On the whole, I'm going to say no, it's not incorrect, and it's easier to learn the character if you write it with a hook, because the glyph origin of「少」was「小」compounded with「丿」, and「小」is never written without the hook.


What's the correct term for ping (connection latency) in Standard Chinese/Cantonese? How would you say something like "I'm lagging again, my ping is spiking to 500(ms)" in Putonghua and Cantonese (in the context of online games)? I've heard someone say "網又卡了！" before, but I'm not entirely sure how common that is.

Yes, in putonghua，We say "网又卡了， 我ping都500了， 卡死了（damn lagging）， 你卡不？小王怎么一点都不卡呢？”

“Ping” is totally acceptable in Putonghua， just like “windows，NPC，BOSS”， all game players know it， or you can use "延迟”， “我延迟有500了” 。


What are common adverbs in classical Chinese? As far as i know, adverbs in classical chinese are put right in front of the verb, whereas in English their position is quiet freely.
for instance:

並食  = to eat sitting next to each other
尽食  = to eat to the fullest
独食  = to eat alone
复食  = to eat again

What further adverbs are there?

'As far as i know, adverbs in classical chinese are put right in front of the verb',

As far as my knowledge, it's not the case. In classical lecture of Chinese, the position of adverb are very flexible. There is some pattern, but still, very flexible.

The trick in classical lecture: there are many order-reverse cases depending on such as what would be addressed more. It makes it hard to understand before you get used to it.


Does 告 posess negative connotation? There was a discussion about different "talk" words in chinese. Here is the link: Roots of the difference between 谈,论,说,讲,议, 叙,言,报,告,述

And there was an explanation of 告.

  告
  (gao4) consists of the parts 牛 (niu2) "cow" and 口 (kou3) "mouth". 說文解字 is a bit confused about this, but it appears to mean the sound a cow makes. It originally meant "to report something to a superior". Nowadays it means "to tell somebody about something".

Now I wonder does 告 still posess some of it's connotations from its glyph origin?

Does 告(to tell) sound vulgar to native speaker?

Are there words to insult someone using "Cow talking" analogy?

Does it have the connotation of "to fink" (to be an informator)?

Or maybe it has something to do with LOUD talking just like cows always moo'ing loud?

but it appears to mean the sound a cow makes.

It seems wrong. See here:

  牛觸人，角箸橫木，所以告人也。
  如許說則告卽楅衡也。

[ The cow butts people, with ledger on the cow horn, so means 告人 (report to people).
As 许 said it is 楅衡 (the ledger tied on the cow horn to avoid the cow butting people. ]

Anyway, it seems to have nothing to do with "the sound a cow makes". So (also based on the sense of a native Chinese)

  Now I wonder does 告 still posess some of it's etymologycal
  connotation?

If you mean "the sound a cow makes", no.

  Does 告(to tell) sound vulgar to native speaker?

No, basically it's neutral.

  Are there words to insult someone using "Cow talking" analogy?

No.

  Does it have the connotation of "to fink" (to be an informator)?

Yes. Such as 告发, 密告, 告状.

  Or maybe it has something to do with LOUD talking just like cows
  always moo'ing loud?

No.


When to use 是 with 当中， 过程中。 The other day in my Chinese class we were doing this examples,
在所有的礼当中，我最喜欢你送给我的真丝手袋。Like
I have to questions, the first one if you can say it without 当。 Like
在所有的礼中，我最喜欢你送给我的真丝手袋。 If you can what is de diference.
The second question is for me the one that is driving me a little crazy. Can you put a 是 in the sentence.
Like
在所有的礼中，我最喜欢的(礼物)是你送给我的真丝手袋。 If you can what is de diference.
In English or Spanish i would always put a 是 (verb to be) like:
From all the presents the one i most liked was the handbag you gave me.
在所有的首饰当中，我最喜欢这幅耳环。
Could it be:
在所有的首饰中，我最喜欢的是这幅耳环。
Would it be de same with the frase 过程中 like. ¿Do you need a or not?
¿Which of these sentences is right?
我最喜欢的名人是姚明，因为他在球比赛中的态度热情和谦虚。
我最喜欢的名人是姚明，因为他在球比赛中的态度是热情和谦虚。
Thanks for your answers.

To answer your first question, yes, 在所有的礼当中 and 在所有的礼中 mean the same.
For the second question, yes, you can use 是, but you change the sentence structure from the original one.  We understand the original one as: 在所有的礼当中，我/最喜欢/你送给我的/真丝手袋, where the main verb is 喜欢 and 你送给我的 is an attributive phrase modifying 真丝手袋.  The main part of the sentence is 我喜欢真丝手袋.
And for your sentence 在所有的礼中，我最喜欢的(礼物)是你送给我的真丝手袋。we understand it as: 我最喜欢的/礼物/是/你送给我的/真丝手袋。where the main verb is 是 and 我最喜欢的 and 你送给我的 are attributive phrases modifying 礼物 and 真丝手袋 respectively.  The main part of this sentence is 礼物是真丝手袋.
By the same token, both of these two sentences are correct but with different syntax.

在所有的首饰当中，我最喜欢这幅耳环。// among all the 首饰, I like this earring most.

在所有的首饰中，我最喜欢的是这幅耳环。// among all the 首饰, what I like most is this earring.

As for your last two sentences:

我最喜欢的名人是姚明，因为他在球比赛中的态度热情和谦虚。

我最喜欢的名人是姚明，因为他在球比赛中的态度是热情和谦虚。

Both are problematic.  The correct one can be:

我最喜欢的名人是姚明，因为他在篮球比赛中的态度是热情和谦虚的。

The reason why we need a 的 is that in Chinese(unlike in English) adjective can not modify noun directly and it should have a 的 to form an attributive phrase.  E. g.  we can say 热情的态度, 谦虚的态度, but not 热情态度, 谦虚态度. 热情 and 谦虚 are adjectives.
P. S. I feel 谦虚的态度 is natural, but 热情的态度 is a bit off in this context. 热情的态度 is natural when put in the service context. But it could be just me.


How to form a relative clause with a 是 in it? I want to be able to translate sentences with complicated relative clauses specifying that two things are the same in a particular context. For example, "I take classes where the tests are conversations." My inclination is to say

我采取考试是谈话的课程。

or

我采取考试是谈话那个课程。

But something about these doesn't feel quite right. Are these ungrammatical, and why? Is there a better way?

Unlike in English, in Chinese, an attributive clause is not long in general. Instead, we prefer to a subject-detail stucture over the sentence-attributive cluase structure.

In your case, if you insist on an attributive, you can say

  我选的是考试（形式）是谈话的课程
  What I take is classes whose tests (forms) are conversations".

This is correct, however, more naturally, I would say:

  我选的课程，其(它的)考试形式是谈话。
  The classes I take, whose (their) test forms are conversations.

Here, you first propose a topic/subject - 我选的课程, and then you start explaining its details. This is how Chinese language organizes the sentence structure.

Notes:

I think the verb "take" in your case means "to choose/pick/select/participate in". The verb "采取" (to adopt/use/take) generally precedes nouns like 方法(method)，措施(measure),方案(plan).
I think "考试形式(test forms)" sounds more natural.
pay attention to the word "其"，it's a formal word used like "which/whose" as in an attributive clause in English. You can use it as a pronoun in the cluase to avoid mentioning the subject repeatly.