What's the grammatical structure for "  like a " style simile in Chinese I am fond of the simile structure "I eat like a wolf" or "The light flickered like a candle" in English. I never know how to express these thoughts in Chinese though, even if I know the underlying words. How do I express this style of simile in Chinese?

This is indeed a complex matter. From the way you ask, I guess you're interested in the grammatical aspect, which is what this answer is focusing on.
Because Chinese language uses serial verb construction, the simile is expressed as a V-O (verb-object) clause with simile connective as verb and vehicle noun phrase as object.

[simile clause] = [connective verb][vehicle noun phrase][optional simile suffix]

Simile connectives include: 像, 好像, 好似, 如同, 仿佛, etc.
The suffix is an optional part to emphasize the analog. Words include: 一样, 一般, 似的, etc.
Choosing connective and suffix are highly contextual and idiomatic. I don't think there are simple rules. However, connective 像 and suffix 一样 are applicable in most cases. When in doubt, go with these two.
Because there is no ordering relationship between the original verb clause and the simile clause, they can be placed in either order:

[subject][original verb clause][simile clause]
[subject][simile clause][original verb clause]

A common realization with 像..一样 is:

[subject][verb clause]就像[vehicle noun]一样
[subject]像[vehicle noun]一样[verb clause]

Using your example,

The light flickered like a candle.

Can be translated into

灯光闪烁不定，就像烛火一样。
灯光像烛火一样闪烁不定。


How did 炒 semantically shift to mean 'speculate' and 'perform badly (in a test or exam)'? to stir fry; to sauté

  炒飯、炒麵 / 炒饭、炒面 [Cantonese]  ―  caau2 faan6, caau2 min6 [Jyutping]  ―  fried rice; chow mein
  (slang) to sack; to fire

  ⇒ 炒魷魚
  (Cantonese) to speculate in

  炒股票 [Cantonese]  ―  caau2 gu2 piu3 [Jyutping]  ―  to speculate in stocks

  炒樓 / 炒楼 [Cantonese]  ―  caau2 lau4-2 [Jyutping]  ―  to speculate in property
  (Hong Kong Cantonese) to perform badly (in a test or exam)

I don't grasp  炒's semantic field.  炒's shift from 1 to 2 is the same as English's "fire", correct? Why Do We Say “You’re Fired” When You Lose Your Job? – History Spaces

  What to do with such a person? When the unproductive and problematic individual was away from his dwelling place, the others in the communal group would gather there and set it on fire and burn it to the ground. When the person returned he and/or she would see what was done and know immediately they were no longer wanted as a member of the communal group. With no place to live, they had to leave, with the likelihood of survival being slim.

Brad Green, studied at Southern Utah University Answered Jun 30, 2015.

  Much more verifiable is the explanation from tribal communities, where the entire tribe survived because of contributions by all for the survival of the tribe. When one member of the tribe was lazy, or consumed much more than they produced, the tribe would set fire to their dwelling while they were away as an act of showing them that that person was not wanted and that the tribe was unconcerned with that person's survival. They would cast them out from the tribe, usually to their death because of their lack of ability to provide for themselves by them-self.

But how did 2 shift to 3? How does employment dismissal relate to financial speculation?
Doubtless employees who miff their jobs, can be dismissed. But 4 refers to tests or exams? Employees don't usually write tests or exams.

炒魷魚 is a Cantonese slang for 'fire' (from a job)

In olden time, many employees would live in the employer's place. When an employee was fired, He had to 執包袱 (roll up his belongings in a bundle to pack them) and leave.

炒魷魚 got the meaning of 'fired' because when you stir fry squid, they would roll up like a bundled package and that resembling the action of '執包袱' (pack up and leave) . Nowadays, we use 炒 (fire from job) as a shorthand for 炒魷魚

As for 炒 in 炒股票 (to speculate in stocks) and 炒樓 (to speculate in property). It is short for  炒買，炒賣

Meaning quickly acquire and quickly sell off stock or property to make a quick profit (different from normal investment) like making a quick stir fired dish. Since 炒 means 'to stir'  The act of 炒股票 and 炒樓 also imply 'stir up the market'

  (Hong Kong Cantonese) to perform badly (in a test or exam)

This meaning of '炒' came from another slang '炒車' (having a car accident) You can imagine cars being threw around in an accident like food being stirred in a wok. 炒 therefore, took on the meaning of 'to ruin' extended to --> perform badly (in a test or exam)


In what context would I use 见怪不怪? 怎么用见怪不怪? 请给我一个例子。谢谢！
Could I use this idiom do describe another culture that once seemed foreign? Also, does the idiom have good or bad connotations?

Oxford uses the word inured, which should give you an idea of the negative connotations attached to it.

not be surprised by anything unusual
对腐败见怪不怪, 腐败就难以根除。
If we become inured to corruption, we won't be able to wipe it out.

Adsotrans defines it as

 to be totally jaded

Which is a good way of understanding the feelings behind 见怪不怪.
Here's an example sentence from a Chinese Chengyu dictionary

他的行为开始令人觉得怪异,但时间一长,人们也就见怪不怪了｡
His behavior made people feel most peculiar, but after a while, everyone stopped seeming to notice.


Setences with Grammar Points/ Phrases: 再说，越来越，要不然，被了吧， 没有那么，楼 I have a bunch of English sentences I need to translate. For some the sentences, I need to use specific phrases or words. I was wondering if someone could check if they are correct or not. If they are not correct, please tell me what I can fix.

He bought some fruit and brought it here for us.

他买了一些水果和为我们带了这里。

Let's not go out to run, it's late, moreover it's so cold outside. Use：再说

我们不去外面跑步，因为晚了，再说外面很冷。

If you can speak in Chinese more often, your speaking will get better and better. Use：越来越

如果你说更多的中文，你的发言会越来越好。

We should eat the fruits, otherwise they will go bad. Use：要不然

我们应该吃水果，要不然它们会变质的。

The school computers were stolen, weren't they? Use：。。。被了吧？

学校的电脑被偷了吧？On the instruction sheet, the 被 and 了吧 aren't separated. However, I placed a 偷 in between the two. I was wondering if this is ok or not.

Chinese is not as difficult as people think。 Use：没有。。。那么

中文没有人们想那么难。

The place I live is to the north of the Student Well Center. Use： Student Center - 学生健康中心

我住的地方在学生健康中心的北边。

The language lab is inside the building to the south of the computer center. Use：楼-building

语言实验室在计算机中心南侧的楼里。
Thank you very much

2 - 8 are all correct (in question four, translate 'go bad' as '变坏' or '腐坏' is better than '变质'
The first problem in question one is the "and" between two verb phrases indicates the two actions occur one after another, therefore you should treat it the same as 'then'. Use '然后' instead of '和'.
The second problem is "for us" here doesn't mean "for our sake" (为) but "(to) us" "（给）我们”.
The third problem is  the location "here" in "brought it here for us" should still be placed before the object in Chinese
The correct sentence is 他买了一些水果[然后]带到这里[给]我们


不管是谁对你们动的手: I've been quite lost towards that end "动的手". Could anyone explain that for me? My problem is pretty much what's written in the title.
不管是谁对你们动的手 is the question. I've been quite lost towards that end "动的手". Could anyone explain that for me?

动手 is a compound word made up of 动 (move/ start) and 手 (hand). Together as a single word, it means 'take action', and the most common extended meaning is 'start to attack'
Since 动 and 手 in 动手 can be broken down to [v] +[n], you can add possess marker 的 before the noun 手 to reclaim the noun status of 手. And a subject (in this case, 谁) before the verb 动 would possess the noun
Example
动手 - start to attack
谁动手 - who started to attack (v)
谁动的手 - the attack(n) that started(v) by whoever(n)
手 has become a noun for 'attack' in this instance
Similar example:
[唱(v): sing + 歌(n): song] = [唱歌(v): to sing]
我唱歌 = 我(n) + 唱歌(v)
我唱的歌 = the song that I sing
歌 in 唱歌 reclaims its noun status and means 'song'
More examples:
開車(v): to drive --> 他開的車 (車 is a noun here for 'car') - the car he drives
做飯(v): to cook --> 姊姊做的飯 (飯 is a noun here for 'meal') - the meal my sister cooked


Is Pinyin recommended for Mandarin Chinese? Background:
I am currently trying to learn Chinese. However, pronunciation isn't as straightforward as I thought.

Question:
Is Pinyin actually recommended and taught by Mandarin Chinese teachers? I've seen it in videos of pre-schoolers being used for tones and sounds.

Any answers to my question will be appreciated.
Thank you.

Hanyu pinyin (or pinyin) is the de facto standard for transliteration of Standard Chinese, especially for materials using simplified Chinese characters. In the last ten years, I have used or browsed textbooks, dictionaries and other learning materials; some of them were entirely in Chinese, others were for native speakers of English, German, French or Dutch. All of them used pinyin as their transliteration system.

I have also met learners who found pinyin non-intuitive, especially for the sounds represented by q, x, j and c. I have known people who devised their own transliteration system but abandoned it some time later.

If you don't want to use pinyin, you will have a hard time finding learning materials for simplified Chinese characters that use a different system; these materials are available but are typically at least thirty years old.


What is the best way to explain "plausible deniability" to a Mandarin speaker So much of what goes wrong with human behavior centers on this idea.

Does Mandarin Chinese have the concept of what we call "plausible deniability"?  If so, what is the HanZi for it?  If not, is there a simple way to explain it in English (with references to Chinese culture) that a native Mandarin speaker could relate to?

EDIT:

With respect to Kevman's comment about needing more context, I am asking about "plausible deniability" in the context of some mischievous or malicious behavior done to another person in such a way that it's impractical to demonstrate that the motive is malicious; such behavior would have "plausible deniability" because it's easy to hide the true intent of the act.Note 1

Note 1 It's also worth noting that behavior which is plausibly deniable is not automatically mischievous simply because motives are opaque.

According to this article

  在经济学领域，有一个概念叫既可以把它理解为‘合理推诿’(Plausible deniability)，也可以直观理解为“事后推卸责任的可能性”。

the exact translation of plausible deniability is 合理推诿. It can also be explained by 事后推卸责任的可能性 (the possibility of shirking responsibility after something bad happens).


For the character"冒"，is the top part "日" or "曰"？ For the character"冒"，is the top part "日" or "曰"？

In general, are both "日" and "曰" used as a radical at the top of some characters? How to distinguish them?

For the character"冒"，is the top part "日" or "曰"？

Neither.

冒 is comprised of simultaneously semantic and phonetic 冃 (mào, hat) and phonetic 目 (mù). The word that both 冃 and 冒 originally represented is now written as 帽.

Components are usually added on when the original character is too simple (and so can get confused with something else), or when the original character is overloaded with too many other uses (in this case, 冒 is used for things like 冒汗, 冒險, 冒認).

  In general, are both "日" and "曰" used as a radical at the top of some characters? How to distinguish them?

When you are asking about just a part of a character, not talking about dictionary header entries, then they are just charcter components (部件), not radicals (部首).

Anyway, have a look at

https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/3635/whats-the-deal-with-origin-of-the-character-曰/61301#61301

towards the bottom, where it is explained that you can’t tell 日 and 曰 apart in another character, unless you have an understanding of the character’s history, or at least the function of its components.


How "Noun + Adj + Adj + 的" (reduplication of adjectives) is grammatically equivalent to "Noun + (Adv of degree) + Adj"? This question is motivated from Why 的 in reduplication of adjectives "Noun + Adj + Adj + 的"?. In the answers, it was argued that the reduplication of adjectives structure:

Noun + Adj + Adj + 的
Ex: 他的儿子高高的。

is indeed a topic - comment structure:

Noun - Adj + Adj + 的
Ex: 他的儿子 - 高高的。

with a meaning (approximately) equal to:

Noun + (Adv of degree) + Adj
Ex: 他的儿子很高。
Ex: His son is tall.

From the previous post, @dan:

There is no grammar difference between 你的脸很红 [structure 2.] and 你的脸红红的 [structure 1.]. 红红的 acts the same as 很红.

I don't understand how 1. and 2. are grammatically equivalent. I believe:

is a complete sentence: the Noun (他的儿子) is the subject, the (Adv of degree) + Adj (很高) is the predicate and the Adj (高), the adjectival verb.

is only a noun phrase, without Verb and Predicate. We can see it because the topic - comment structure makes it equivalent to:

Adj + Adj + 的 + Noun
Ex: 他的高高的儿子。

Where I am wrong in 1.? How can Adj + Adj + 的 work as a predicate with a verb?

A few examples of the grammatical equivalence of both structures:

这只小猫毛长长的，白白的，非常漂亮。
The hair of this small cat is long, white and extremely pretty.

Here, 长长的 and 白白的 are grammatically equivalent to 非常漂亮.

这个孩子的眼睛大大的，和她的妈妈一样。
This kid's eyes are big, just like his mother.

Here, 这个孩子的眼睛大大的 is translated to the complete sentence This kid's eyes are big.

How “Noun + Adj + Adj + 的” (reduplication of adjectives) is grammatically equivalent to “Noun + (Adv of degree) + Adj”?

[Noun + Adj X2 + 的] = [Noun + degree adv + adj]

Both are 'topic-comment' sentence

[Adj X2 + 的] functions the same as [degree adv + adj] in this case (a noun at the beginning but no noun at the end)


How to say that the teacher has marked my homework? How to translate this?

Today I reviewed the homework my teacher had marked.

Best I can do is

今天我复习了我老师会给我的作业

That's without saying the homework was assessed (and corrected).

Can't seem to find the right verb in the dictionary and I'm a little sketchy on the grammar.

You should say

今天我复习了我老师给我批改的作业

批改 means correct. Or you can use 批阅, which has similar meanning


Please help identify traditional Chinese painting I've inherited a Chinese cloth painting from my ancestors. I'd be grateful if you could help me know more about the artwork through the signature and seal.

(Full artwork)

Starting from the seal script, the left character is either 歡  or 觀  (from 趙孟頫 as well). I can't guess which one because the top-right part is blurred. As for the right-hand side one, I don't know much, but I'd say that there is either the radical 羽 which looks like  or , or the radical 羊   (趙孟頫) (if we don't consider the seal's border as an integral part) in seal script. I can't identify the component between them so that the whole character makes sense to me, but  @dROOOze's guess looks like the most meaningful (歡敬): . However, the lack of the right-hand side component 攵 of 敬 in the picture makes me doubtful.
Concerning the cursive script above, I agree with @Asule's answer which is justifiable: 觀 我  (趙孟頫).


Shanxi old postmark: town and date Can someone help me with this postmark? It is from Shanxi, but I can't desipher the date (around 1910?) and town.

Town

The city is "运城" ("運城" is its traditional Chinese writing). That is a well-known city in 山西.

Date

Year: 己酉 (1909, 1969, 2029, ..)
Month: 二月 (2nd Month in Chinese Calendar, or February in Gregorian)
Day: 廿四日 (24th)

My guess is that date is a Chinese Calendar date. Since you said it was around 1910, so the year should be 1909. Thus, 己酉年二月廿四日 was March 15, 1909.

However, I am not familiar with history and their convention in those years, so I am not 100% sure if the date is in Chinese Calendar or Gregorian Calendar.

Note that if this is Chinese Calendar, 己酉 doesn't align exactly with the year of 1909. A Chinese year starts from the Chinese New Year (a.k.a Spring Festival) and ends before the next, which means the tail of 己酉 might be in 1910. However, since it is 二月 (second month), it should be still in 1909.


Is it possible to get novels written in Chinese and English on the same page to download? Is anyone aware of where I can find novels for download which contain both English and Chinese on the same page?

I think the moderator hit the nail on the head here by pointing out that we want to help you to be able to find what you are looking for, which often comes down to having the right keywords, i found that 漢英對照 works rather well

All of Jane Eyre (which is public domain) complete with English MP3's co.mes up along with others when searching google for the following search terms: 漢英對照小說 在線.

I'd be curious to hear more about what you are looking to do with the back-to-back texts.  If it is to read through and learn to read in Chinese, by using the English to refer to, I would do so sparingly as the books you're most likely to find in this format are English texts translated into Chinese, so translations, not real Chinese" and they'll be devoid of many culturally relevant common expressions such as 你吃了嗎?

Depending on your level, and what you are aiming to accomplish, I would suggest you may also consider parallel texts, i.e texts on the same topic, but not translations of each other (they really stressed this in interpreting school).  This will keep things in context for you and allow you do develop a more organic language base that will be more naturally and with more pizzazz.  For an interpreter, reading parallel texts allows them to focus on complete ideas rather than words.

There are actually many more advantages on parallel readings versus translations, perhaps for a later discussion.

Best of luck!


What does 才 mean in 妈妈说，鼻子长才是漂亮? What does 才 mean in this sentence?

妈妈说，鼻子长才是漂亮。
(Quote taken from a nursery rhyme.)

After looking in the dictionary my best guess is that it means "just" or "only", so as to make the sentence mean "Mother says only a long nose is beautiful."

I think a good way to translate that sentence into English so that the usage in Chinese is well understood would be to say "Mom says that if your nose is long, only then is it pretty". I think it's important to think of 才 in this case meaning "only then" rather than just "only". That makes a sentence like 你跟我去我才去 easier to understand ("I'll only go if you go with me" or "If you go with me, I'll go" or "You go with me, only then will I go").

Be careful not to confuse this meaning of 才 with its meaning in a sentence like 我才不去 in which 才不 means certainly won't or certainly do not.


Mandarin version of "because of you" or "thanks to you" In Cantonese, often times you hear people say 全靠你 (to mean "thanks to you" or "because of you" (e.g., Because of you, I was able to meet my goal.)

This page suggests 多虧 is the Mandarin equivalent, but someone else said this is not a common phrase.

What's the Mandarin equivalent of 全靠你?

多虧 means 'largely owe to' ; 全靠 means 'all depend on (thanks to)'

  What's the Mandarin equivalent of 全靠你?

Actually, 全靠你 can be used in both Cantonese and Mandarin

Similar to '全靠' are  '全仗' and '全賴' . All mean 'all depend on'

'全仗' and '全賴' are more literary; '全靠' is more colloquial


What does this structure (有 … 才有 …) mean? My book says the 有 … 才有 structure is the same as 只有 … 才, but it doesn't give me any examples.
Are the following both equivalent and correct?

只有他才知道怎么解决这个问题
有他才有知道怎么解决这个问题

If not, how should I use 有 … 才有 and what does it mean?

They both mean the first part is the necessary (under many situations, also sufficient) condition of the second part.

有A才有B means only if A exists, then B exists. Here 有 has real meaning.

只有A才B means only if A then B. Here 有 does not have its real meaning, but is part of the conjunction.

Example:

有国才有家 (Only if the nation exists, does family exist)

只有有国，才会有家 (same meaning, grammatically correct, but rarely seen)

只有国，才有家 (wrong)


Should 屋 and 居 use radical 户 instead of 尸? 户 means home. So these examples are not suprising: 房 fáng (house),  扁 biǎn (flat), 扇 shàn (fan [mostly used indoor]), 扉 fēi (door)

尸 means corpse, and it looks like it refers to tail or something leaving downwards, so these examples are not suprising either:
尿 niào (urine), 尾 wěi (tail), 屎 shǐ (poo), 屁 pì (fart)

However, 屋 wū (room) and 居 jū (live) under 尸 is suprising since it seems to belong more to 户 by its meaning.

Is this discrepancy above due to a calligraphical mistake or lazyness, namely, leaving off that one tick, made a long time ago?

sources:

http://justlearnchinese.com/chinese-radical-show-home-radical-42/

http://justlearnchinese.com/chinese-radical-show-corpse-radical-41/

Is this discrepancy above due to a calligraphical mistake or lazyness, namely, leaving off that one tick, made a long time ago?

TL;DR: I don't think so, because (1) 尸 used as the pictographic radical with the meaning house in 屋 was explicitly mentioned in 说文解字 long before, (2) the original meanings of 尸 and 户 used as radicals are not exactly the same (house vs single door).
1. About 尸 (and 屋)
尸 used as the pictograph in 屋 was explicitly mentioned in 说文解字:

居也。从尸。尸，所主也。一曰尸，象屋形。(尸 looks like house.)
会意。从尸,从至。尸,与房屋有关,“至”表示来到。人来到这里居住之意。

This article summarized three usages of 尸 when used as radical.
(italics is translation from me)

A.从原意而来，代表人的躯体。(Derived from the original meaning, represents body of human.)
会意字有：
屍：死去的躯体，就是尸体。屍和尸古来就一直通用。
尿：躯体排出的水分。
屎：米经过躯体排出来的东西。
屄：躯干上的洞。
尾：躯干后面的毛。
等等。

形声字有：
尻，屌，屈，屑，屙，屁
属（声旁是蜀，不是禹），
届（声旁是凷，不是由），含义是到达，比如届时，无远弗届等等。
展，屠，
尼：原意为靠近，后来用昵字代替了本意。至于尼姑的尼，则是梵语比丘尼（bhikṣunī）的音译缩略。
居：原意为蹲下。后来用踞字代替了本意。
等等。

B. 从履字来的，表示各种鞋子的字。履不是人体的部位，但是是服装，所以和尸的原意仍然有关联。(Derived from 履, used to represent various kinds of shoes. 履 is not the part of body, but the clothing, it's still relevant to the original meaning of 尸.)
这类字有：
屐：木鞋
屝：泛指鞋
屜：鞋子里垫的草。
屟（屧）：鞋子的木底
屣：鞋子
屦：麻鞋
等等

C.第三类的尸本意不是躯体，而是指房屋。其形状像一面墙壁和屋顶。(The meaning of the 3rd kind of 尸 is not body, but the house. Its shape looks like a wall and the roof.)
这类字有：
屋，
层（層）：原意指楼（重屋），引申为重，重复。
屏：原意指影壁墙。

2. About 户 (and 房)
户 means single leaf door originally, note it's not exactly the same but relevant to house.

象形。甲骨文字形,象门(門)字的一半。汉字部首之一。从“户”的多与门户有关。本义:单扇门

Here's a picture from the book "字源谈趣" explaining the difference between 门 and 户, especially their ancient form (left-most one).

Now we could understand the original meaning of 房, i.e. 正室左右的住室 (wing room/side room (with single door))

上古边室皆用单扇门(即“户”),庙门大门才用双扇门,故“房”从“户”。本义:正室左右的住室

Additional information about 居
居 seems to be the different case with 屋.

象形。金文字形,是“踞”的本字,象人曲胫蹲踞形。本义:蹲着

居 is the original character of 踞, means squat. Then it was used for other meanings, 踞 was created for the using of the meaning squat. So the usage of 尸 in 居 should be the 1st case shown as before.


到 vs 至, what is the key difference? As if them sharing a common appearance isn't enough, yabla shows that they can for the most part be used interchangeably. Since they mean nearly the same exact thing with a few caveats, what is the point of them having so much overlap? Why is there a need for 到 to exist at all?

Both 到 and 至 can function as "preposition" (to) or "result/ degree complement" (until; to the point of). The difference is 到 is more colloquial and 至 is more literary

Example:

戰至一兵一卒 (fight to the last man) is a very literary phrase, in colloquial form, this phrase would become 戰鬥到剩下最後一個士兵.

It is not recommended to replace  "至" with "到" in literary phrases like 戰至一兵一卒, 延至凌晨 (delay until midnight)  and specially not in idioms like 至死不渝  ( you cannot say 到死不渝)

Other differences:

Both 至 and 到 has the meaning of "arrive" and the difference is still literary and colloquial.
至 has the meaning of "ultimate" or "utmost" that 到 doesn't has. e.g. 至高 cannot be changed to 到高
到 can function as a result complement that indicate the verb is successful, e.g. 學到 cannot be changed to 學至


What does the Mars symbol (♂) mean in Chinese (subtitles)? I keep seeing this - probably in some B站 (BiliBili) type of videos:

It looks like the Mars Symbol to me:

  ♂

although the orientation is a bit off.

This clearly is not a Chinese character - but what is it doing here?

What does the Mars symbol (♂) mean in Chinese (subtitles)?

It's a long story but TLDR is it indicates that the content being shown has male homosexual connotation (in a humorous way)

The story probably starts with GV actor Billy Herrington's video being uploaded onto a video sharing websites in China (probably B站 or A站). In the video there are a lot of wrestling scenes for some reason and the 弹幕 will say “摔♂跤” with a mars(male) symbol in it to indicate the homosexual element in a funny way, because people generally don't really understand why wrestling scenes would be present in such videos and people start to wonder "what exactly are they doing." They go ahead and push that thought to a philosophical level and start considering that as funny, not comprehensible and humorous.

And then it kinda goes beyond that scope, and anything that can be remotely related to that sense, you can insert ♂ in it to indicate that humorous effect.


What is 心血 in English? What is 心血 in English may I ask? The full Chinese sentence is 我花了许多心血在房间的摆设上。整间房子里面，随处都可以发现我的心血。 I try to think about some alternatives, but haven't find out a perfect translation. One alternative is hard work, but I think not very proper. Hard work emphasizes a work is "hard". But 心血 emphasizes 呕心沥血. Hard work is not strong enough to describe 呕心沥血.  Master piece can describe 呕心沥血, but is too strong. One may spend a lot of time thinking, overcoming many obstacles, and making it out, but it is not necessary to be a master piece. So, is there any proper translation of 心血 in this scenario? Thank you.

一番心血 is a painstaking/ strenuous effort
Examples:
這裡一草一木，一磚一瓦都是我的心血 - Every plant and tree here, every brick and tile here is (the result of) my painstaking effort
嫦娥探月計劃是無數中國人的心血成果 - The Chang'e lunar exploration project is the result of the painstaking effort of countless Chinese people (心血 here is an adjectival noun)
千方百計讓兒子上了醫大，他卻中途退學，枉費了我一番心血- I did everything possible to get my son to go to the University of Medicine, but he dropped out of school halfway through, and it wasted my painstaking effort

endeavor 4. (noun): a strenuous effort; attempt.

You can translate 心血 as painstaking effort, strenuous effort, or endeavor


Does A而B且C mean "A and B and C"? In the following sentence:

  Rossum创造的Python语言自1991年发布以来已演变为程序员强大而灵活且易于学习的“瑞士军刀”

The meaning of 而且 is generally "but also", and used as the compound. But in this case, they are separated and used in the form of A而B且C.

In this case, does it mean "A and B and C", and thus the sentence mean the following?:

  The Python language, which was created by Rossum in 1991, since evolved for developers into "Swiss knife" that is powerful, flexible, and easy to learn.

At least it seems that 且 can mean "both A and B" with 既, in the form of 既A且B. But in this case it is in the form of A而B且C.

Or does the A而B且C mean something others?

"A而B且C" means A and B and C. We use "A而B且C" instead of "A且B且C" simply due to the reason that we do not want to use the same word twice in the phrase.

"既","且"，“而” can all mean "and", while sometimes, the word "而" can means "but" (when "而" is used alone to link two sentences). One thing for sure is that in the form of "既A且B" and "A而B且C", they all mean "and".


In 淘, how does its semantic component 氵appertain to 'naughty'? 淘's semantic compound is 氵 (“water”). But how does "water" relate to "naughty; mischievous"?

Above is Yellowbridge. Below is CUHK.

淘 has the meaning of wash
'washing' is related to water
The action of washing is rapid and energetic
淘氣 (mischievous) is mostly used to describe an unruly child and we identify a child as unruly when that child doesn't seem to be able to sit still for a second
淘 itself doesn't contain the meaning of naughty; mischievous


Stroke order database I'd like to provide SVG, or at least GIF stroke order diagrams on my website.

Is there a database similar to the Japanese KanjiVG, but for Simplified and Traditional hanzi?

If not, is there a free or paid repository of stroke order diagrams in GIF or some other format?

There are some recent open source efforts that have opened this up a bit. One is hanzi writer, which was based on the data for 3195 strokes contained in ZDT but now uses the more complete character data from make me a hanzi demo. It uses javascript to draw and animate the strokes, directly from json versions of the character path data. Update: Recently, the library has been made significantly smaller. As of 2018-03-02, it is also able to show radicals in different colors, based on data in make me a hanzi demo.

Another great recent project is make me a hanzi demo. It contains stroke animations for 9507 characters (includes traditional chars). This data was extracted from two free chinese fonts using a semi-automated algorithmic approach. At present, the main things of interest on the master branch are the two data files graphics.txt and dictionary.txt and a complete collection of animated SVG's of the characters. SVG's vary in size from 2KB to 45KB. If you would prefer to render the characters algorithmically, you may wish to explore some of the other branches, such as demo (check the lib sub-folder) and tools (which seems to be where recent developments are taking place).

One more i've come across that uses the same data format as ZDT but which doesn't reveal license terms is worth mentioning, as the code is brief and easy to follow. Nicely done Chase! To draw a new stroke, you can grab zdtStrokeData.txt from the first project mentioned here, then cut and paste the paths for the stroke you want to draw over the string where the 'strokes' array is defined (currently line 291). Update: You also need to replace tabs with semi-colons and add a final semi-colon first.

Regarding the differences between the two data formats used by the projects above, the ZDT format may include multiple paths for a single stroke, in cases where the direction of stroke changes mid stroke. The prefix format is explained well by Chase. It records the direction of stroke, whether the current path is the final part of a stroke or part of the initial paths of a stroke and whether the current path is part of a radical.

The 'make me a hanzi demo' path data (graphics.txt) does not contain stroke direction information. Also, unlike the ZDT data, a single path defines a single stroke. The stroke information is in SVG path format, using quadratic bezier curves. To ascertain which part of the paths represent the radical, one may do a lookup in dictionary.txt. The dictionary also contains character decomposition data in an interesting format, derived from Unihan and CJKLib. The project page has more information on the format.


Is it wo you didi or wo you yí ge didi? Is it wo you didi or wo you yí ge didi?
I have a younger brother.
Do I use yi ge or not? I am confused about the yí ge?

我有弟弟。
Wǒ yǒu dìdì.
我有一个弟弟。
Wǒ yǒu yīgè dìdì.

They're both grammatically correct, and almost the same in meaning.  But I feel it would be more normal to say the latter (我有一个弟弟);  by itself, the first one sounds a bit incomplete and childish.
Since Chinese doesn't have plural, the first example (strictly speaking) doesn't give a quantity of "younger brothers", whereas the second does.  Nevertheless, I expect most people would interpret the first as meaning "one younger brother", otherwise the speaker would have said something else like 我有两个弟弟 (wǒ yǒu liǎng gè dìdì).
Also note the second one is equivalent to:

我有个弟弟。
Wǒ yǒu gè dìdì.

So the 一 (yī) can be omitted too.

Beyond this, it seems more common to say 我有弟弟 within longer sentences (where the sentence doesn't seem as incomplete).  E.g.:

我有弟弟了。
Wǒ yǒu dìdì le.

where the 了 is the change-of-state 了, which implies you now have a younger brother, whereas before you didn't.  E.g. your mother just gave birth to a son.
Another related example:

Do you have a younger brother?
你有弟弟吗？
Nǐ yǒu dìdì ma?

Above, it's probably better to leave off the 一个 since the person might have more than one younger brother.


What does peeling shrimps mean in Chinese? For example, this comic:

Is it literally about peeling shrimps or is there a figurative meaning?

Definitely agree with the above comment by Tang Ho.

The comic is written by a Taiwanese artist using the pen name Duncan. If you see him in the public, he always has a face mask of his comic book character on. In past interviews, duncan explains that when he's in public, he wants to observe human behaviors and draw about them.

This comic strip is about eating food that are tasty, but are tedious and time consuming. Shrimp shells take a long time to peel (about 10 secs, 30 if the shrimp is hot). We all love eating shrimp, but the peeling time, and the seafood smell on your hands just make it too tedious to eat.

Side note: An all you can eat BBQ shop called  燒肉屋, located in Kaohsiung Taiwan was famous for helping its customers peel the shrimp shell in front of their customers.


Was the character 蹦 (in 蹦极 "bungee jumping") designed to look like people bungee jumping? I find myself fascinated by the character
蹦
in the word 蹦极 (meaning "bungee jumping").  It combines:

the radical 足 (meaning "foot"), in the character 跳 meaning "jump";
the radical 山 meaning "mountain"; and
the character 朋 meaning "friends", as in 朋友.

It's as if the character was deliberately designed to resemble friends jumping from a mountain.  I'm hoping this thought can be verified or contradicted.
Question: Was the character 蹦 (in 蹦极 "bungee jumping") designed to look like people bungee jumping?

That's a cute mnemonic, but not how characters work.

「蹦」does not specifically mean bungee jumping, it just means hopping/jumping/skipping, e.g. 蹦蹦跳跳 (skippity-skip).
Identify clearly what each component does in a character, and don't recursively decompose characters.「蹦」only contains two components:

Semantic component「足」(foot > actions to do with feet/legs)
Phonetic component「崩」bēng

Don't recursively decompose this into「山」and「朋」! These don't contribute anything direct to「蹦」.
「崩」bēng doesn't contribute anything apart from sound. If you must know the composition of「崩」, its meaning is to collapse, metaphorically hinted with「山」(a mountain collapsing), and its phonetic part is「朋」péng.

Sadly, there are no friends and no mountains, but happily no collapsing in「蹦」. Stay safe!


How did 'velcro' get translated to 魔术贴 ('magic attachment??') This is one of the most interesting translations i've encountered.
The '... + 贴' pattern is understandable, but how did '魔术' (magic) get there?
The only other word I know that has been translated as '魔术 + ...' is 魔术方块 (rubic's cube), which I suppose makes more sense than trying to transliterate 'rubics'. I'm just curious as to the origin of this.

魔术贴 is not a translation or transliteration of Velcro. It is a 'Chinese name' given to the product.

Terms like 魔术(Magic) or 神奇(wonder),  are commonly used in naming new and innovated products.

What is so wonderful about the Wonder Bra? -- unlike normal bra, it wonderfully pushes your breasts up
What is so magical about 魔术贴? -- unlike normal sticker, it can be easily peered off like magic


What is the meaning of 元亨利贞 in the I-Ching? Probably the most cryptic lines of the 周易 Book of Changes, it reads:

元亨利贞
yuan2 heng1 li4 zhen1

This is the Judgement to the very first hexagram, 乾卦 The Creative. The same characters also appear under other hexagrams, in different contexts (but in the same order).

#4. 蒙卦：亨。[...]。利贞。
#18. 蛊卦：元亨，利涉在川。[...]
#49. 革卦：[...]，元亨，利贞
and more...

Since this phrase appears at the beginning of the text, it looks like a tone-setting introduction, which is then echoed by other parts of the text, an invisible thread running through the chapters of the book.
One of the most famous translations, by the German scholar and sinologist Richard Wilhelm is:

"[The Creative] works sublime success. Furthering through perseverance."

The reason I'm not fully content with Wilhelm's translation is that:

We actually read a translation of the translation. Wilhelm used to write in German.
There is disagreement about how to split the phrase (i.e. where to
place punctuation), and there are commenters, like Kerson Huang, who
offer wildly different interpretations.

I would like to gather more points of view, also from (past or contemporary) Chinese scholars, whose works are rarely published in the West.

As with many ancient texts, this line can not only have different meanings, but also there have been different reasons for people to interpret it differently throughout history. Therefore, it is probably not helpful to say one translation is "correct" and another is "incorrect" but rather just understand that there have been multiple variations of understandings of this line throughout the past.
I did find this paper by 杨 平 Yang Ping from Zhejiang Foreign Language University  that discusses different ways this line can be interpreted in Chinese, as well as translations that have been used in the past. In the beginning, the author talks a bit about how the use of punctuation could alter the meaning of this phrase significantly, but then they go on to explain more explicitly different ways this line could be understood.
This author suggests that there are three major ways this phrase has been understood by Chinese scholars and English translations have also followed these three major lines of thinking for understanding by emphasizing divination, morals, or philosophy.
Divination Translation
Those that emphasize divination say that since the ZhouYi is mostly used for divination, the word "zhen" refers to the character that denotes oracle bone readings and offerings and translate it accordingly. English translations like this include

Redmond: "Qian Heaven（The Creative）begins with an offering； beneficial to divine."
Shaughnessy: who translated "元亨" as original receipt and "利贞" as beneficial to divine
Rutt "Supreme offering. Divination Favourable."

Moral Translation
Around the Spring and Autumn period, people became more interested in moral ethics and philosophy and these four characters became the basis for what is known as the "four virtues." The earliest evidence of a moral interpretation like this is in the Zuo Zhuan. Examples that use this interpretation include:

Legge "Khien （represents）what is great and originating， penetrating， advantageous， correct and firm"
Wilhelm "The creative works sublime success/furthering through perseverance"
*Lynn "Fundamentality， prevalence， fitness and constancy"
*Lee
"What is great and originating，” “What is penetrating，” “What is advantageous，” “What is correct and firm."

Philosophic Translation
A more modern scholar, Cheng Zhongying has argued that this is not just a book of divination, but rather a book of Chinese philosophy promoting a way of life. As such, he has translated these four characters as "creation，prospering，facilitating，preserving." This adaptation has also been accepted into English translations in the following:

Minford "Supreme Fortune.Profitable.Steadfast"  in one place, and "Supreme Fortune.Sacrifice Received.Profitable Augury" later in the book.


《你有什么打算》跟《你有什么计划》一样的吗？ 最近我对《打算》和《计划》有问题。如果我同事问我《这周末你有什么计划吗？》的话这有《你有什么打算吗？》的意思吗？如果不一样这两个句子有什么不同？

I am a little bit confused on when to use 计划 and when to use 打算. My understanding is that both mean "plan" but they seem to be entirely interchangeable. In what situations would I want to use one over the other?

they are same, 打算 often used in oral, 计划 is more formal.


What is the difference between 真确 and 真实? Is 真确 and 真实 used in different situations? Do provide some examples on their usage if possible. Thanks!

"真确" is usually not used in Mandarin now.

As a native, I only confirmed that it is in fact a word through a search on the Internet.


The difference between 选择 and 选取? In Chinese so many words look like the same and I could not understand which one to use. Now, I wonder in what kind of situations I should use 选择 or 选取 over the other to express "choose" or "select".

In most cases I saw 选择 used, but when you connect to Wi-Fi on iPhone, it shows "选取网络".

So what is the difference and how can I use it according to my needs properly?

I wouldn't worry too much on this one. The only difference, if you really argue there should be any, is that 选取 sounds more formal and elegant, and you probably will see it more being used in publications like academic research papers.


Usage of 非不 in Middle (?) Chinese I encountered this line: 色生，生故計是我，非不生。and as an amateur, I was confused by the two negatives in a row (非不), which was followed by 生, and when I tried to figure out what it might mean, I figured it might be a rhetorical way of saying "no [this, referring to what was just talked about,] without 生".

Someone more learned than I corrected me and said 非不生 was, instead, "not without 生". Forgive me if I ask too basic a question, but is this a common usage for 非不?

色生，生故計是我，非不生。

This statement comes for a Buddhist Sutra, Saṃyukta Āgama (雜阿含經). It is not easy to understand if one has no training in Buddhism.

As these words contains lots of logic in Buddhism translated from Pāḷi language, it is pretty obscure to most people. But it is required to distinguish everything in the logic of Buddhism.

You can view 非不生 this way. These is 不生 and one negates it to 非不生. It is like English, "impossible" and "not impossible".

Those double negatives are quite common in Buddhist writing. If you know 心經, there is a phrase 無無明，亦無無明盡，乃至無老死，亦無老死盡。無無明 is the negation of 無明.


What is the Mandarin equivalent of 對 XXX 嚟講? In Cantonese, 對我嚟講 more or less means "speaking for myself", for instance, in:

  對我嚟講，行政長官選舉唔重要。

  Speaking for myself, the chief executive election isn't important.

我 can also be replaced with other pronouns: e.g. 我哋，佢，佢哋, or by a noun.

What is an equivalent expression in Mandarin? I have tried searching in Nciku, but the only thing that came up for me that seemed useful was 作为, which doesn't seem to be used in the same capacity - if I've gotten the correct impression, it's not really used in the same capacity.

对X而言:
Oxford English

his promise isn't worth a damn to me
他的承诺对我而言一文不值


Is the word 懵逼 dirty? 懵逼 is easily construed as dirty with it's 逼 suffix. I cannot, for certain, tell if 逼 is a substitute for 屄 or not.

Baidu Baike gives no indication that it's a curse word.

But 懵X brings up almost four million results on Baidu & 懵屄 has it's own fair-share of results.

Could it just be a happy coincidence?

It's not polite or appropriate, but has been used so much by teenagers on the internet that it has become quite acceptable on social media. Middle-aged people will consider it a very bad word to say.

A more appropriate substitution for it could be "懵圈". However, both words should never be used in an official context.

And yes, 逼 is a substitute for 屄 and is more commonly used.(Both characters I've rarely used before answering the question...)


What does 放 mean in contexts such as 你给我放聪明点 or 你给我放老实点? I often hear people say

  你给我放聪明点

or

  你给我放老实点

I understand 放 usually means to place or to release, but in this context it is really confusing. Do people mean to place things clever or honest in the speaker?

Another example is 放肆. The 放 is hard to understand.

放老实点 means put in a honest way. Similarly, 放聪明点 means put in a wise way.

放肆 means your behavior cross the line people just can not tolerate. it's kind of talk-down.

放 is such a common word that it can be used in lots of circumstances. There will be a lot of meaning you will get from a dictionary.

For example, 放鞭炮，放牛，放纵，放荡，绽放， 放 in these phrases means differently.


A culture shock for me, what is in this alcohol? I bought some Chilean red wine on Taobao. Very nice! The company sent me a little, flat bottle of something containing 35% alcohol as a free gift.

On the label of the bottle it says:

至宝
特质三鞭酒

Among the ingredients are:

海狗鞭、鹿鞭、广狗鞭

有没有可能这瓶酒里面真的有这些鞭？？

if you have culture shock, you must be, well, . . . non-chinese

the traditional folk “wisdom” is “以形補形” (roughly; eating particular animal’s organ to enhance one’s relevant organ)

  有没有可能这瓶酒里面真的有这些鞭

do you fancy to have?  no lah. most likely, three of these, and other medicinal ingredients in thousands / millions of gallons of alcohol. then, a few hundred ml “distilled” into your bottle.

here’s a link of it’s tv commercial in 1980s, in english:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NGZ4dbGNSM

have fun :)


What's the correct interpretation for 我只和他打篮球？ I'm struggling to interpret the sentence 我只和他打篮球 into English.  Is it "I only play basketball with him" or "I play basketball only with him"? Or both ok?
Any ideas?

It has obscure meanings, and we should relate the sentence with specific occasion to understand it.
For example, in this sentence: "我只和他打篮球, 我不和别人打篮球".  It can be translated into "I play basketball only with him, but no one else".
But in another example: "我只和他打篮球, 我不和他打羽毛球". It can be understood as: I only play basketball with him, and I don't play badminton with him.
Besides, How we segment and stress the the words, or punctuation can also influence our understanding of the sentence. If we stress on 他, which is  我只和(他) 打篮球, then it is "I play basketball only with HIM". and if we stress on 打篮球, then it is "I only PLAY BASKETBALL with him"


How do I say "if I don't study, I cannot learn"? I'm trying to think of how to say "if I don't study, I cannot learn" in Chinese.  However, 学习 means both "study" and "learn", so it translates to:

  If I don't study, I cannot learn.
  如果我不学习，我就不会学习。 (Google Translate)

But Google's translation means "if I don't study, I won't study", so it's quite weird.  Perhaps this is a possible workaround:

  如果我不学习，我不会取得知识。

(replacing "learn" with "obtain knowledge", i.e., the definition of "learn") but I'm not sure.

Question: How do I say "if I don't study, I cannot learn"?

There's other questions related to learn vs. study: (a) "Learn" vs. "Study" (b) how to say "learn" without involving studying?, but I didn't find an answer there.

"study" emphasizes the process of obtaining/ seeking knowledge (e.g. study math all night, not learn math all night).
"learn" emphasizes the process of receiving knowledge (e.g. learn how to fight from someone, not study how to fight from someone).

"If I don't study, I cannot learn" sound odd because it lack an object. If it has an object, it would be a more complete sentence.
E.g. If I don't study (mathematics), I cannot learn (mathematics) -- 如果我不学习(数学)，我就不会学懂(数学).

If you think 学习 and 学懂 are still too similar. You can replace "学习" (study) with "学/ 去学" (study); or replace "学懂" (learn) with "懂" (know/ understand).
Example:
"不去学就学不懂" - "cannot learn if you don't study"
"不学就不会懂" -  "would not know/ understand if you don't study"
More example:
"去学就会学懂" - "can learn if you study"
"学就会懂" - "would know/ understand if you study"


The grammatical construction of 比较有名的开始 In the following sentence (from http://www.xineurope.com/thread-1371549-1-1.html):

  最近正在找语言学校，发现好多人也在找，正好把信息整理出来，欢迎补充
  比较有名的开始

In the last sentence, the meaning is clear from the context, which means “starting from relatively famous schools”.

However, I don’t understand it grammatically. If the 的 means “of” and modify 开始 here, then it means something like “relatively famous schools’ start”, which doesn’t make sense. Instead, it should be something like 从比较有名的开始.

Or possibly does the 的 modify 语言学校 and is the 语言学校 omitted here? In that case it makes more sense, but then is it OK to also omit some prepositions, such as 从 (or something others like 以)?

I’m not sure if I understand it grammatically correctly, but also don’t understand when it is OK to omit the preposition (if it is actually omitted).

You got it: “starting from relatively famous schools”. This is not great written Chinese tho, it's more like spoken Chinese written down - I wouldn't read too much into it. You already know what it should be, you wrote it above: 从比较有名的开始. 有名的 is referring to the schools here.

  So is it OK to omit the preposition in these cases? Or grammatically not correct but nonetheless commonly used, especially in these blog posts? It is still a bit difficult to make a transition from a rigorous textbook Chinese to a live sentence used on the Web... -@Blaszard

Yeah, especially when Chinese makes such a large distinction between written (书面语) and oral (口语) language. Day-to-day speech is basically a free for all. Sometimes you'll even hear words like 其实 or 而且 at the end of sentences almost like an after thought. As for your 从 preposition here, yeah you can drop it here, but in written language it is always better to keep it.


What is the equivalent of "make sense" in Chinese? I am trying to explain the phrase "make sense" to my cousin, who is learning English. The dictionary suggests "有意义", but I believe that "有意义" is "meaningful" and that "make sense" should be "讲得通", "说得通", or "符合逻辑".

Consider the following situation:

  我一个北京的朋友居然在上中文入门这门课！

  One of my friends from Beijing is taking Chinese 101! [It doesn't make
  any sense!]

How do I translate the part in brackets? “这根本说不通？” Or maybe "居然" alone suffices?

Here is another example on Tatoeba.org. Is "你说的没有意义" "what you said is insignificant"? Since "有意义" is used pretty often in Chinese, I am wondering whether there is an English equivalent.

The most appropriate translation to make sense would probably be 有道理, which literally means has sense or reason.  For example:
你说的有道理
What you said is reasonable / What you said makes sense.

The phrase 说不通 would probably work, but it is not used frequently in Mainland China Mandarin (普通话) as 有道理 for the same context, if at all.
As for 符合逻辑, the phrase means the same thing as 有道理, but it is more verbose and academic.  It is like saying:
That is well reasoned.
---as opposed to---
That makes sense.

As you can see the latter is what people use in daily conversations, while the former make you sound like some College Professor. ;-)
[It doesn't make any sense] would translate to 这没有道理。  Though in the context of your example, I think it sounds more natural in the Chinese context to say It is ridiculous (这太荒唐了） in response to the situation. Cultural differences in the way we think I suppose.


What is N件事? (Cantonese) I saw the title of a video: 關於福麵嘅N件事.
福麵 is a brand of noodles with a huge 福 writing on the packaging. What then is N件事? Is it a Cantonese slang I am unaware of?

It means 'numerous/several facts about Fuku Noodle'.

The slang N has an algebraic etymology which denotes an unspecified but large number (e.g., 1, 2, 3, ..., N). Apparently this emerged in the early eighties (see more here).
件 is the counter for 事 ('a thing; a matter', here its meaning is fairly abstract and dummy-like, meaning whatever that is about Fuku noodle). In fact it is common to add
counters after N: N樣嘢 ('many things'), N次 ('many times'),
N年前 ('many years ago') etc.
Of course, we don't expect countlessly many facts in a short video. Using N is often exaggeration.


What does "滿腦門子的黑線" mean? 腦門子

would be forehead.

  黑線

is black lines.

Does it mean something like "veins popping on his forehead"?

It's not popping veins, but cold sweat for frustration or helplessness, usually as a response to something completely out of the line or out of the context.

Wikipedia:

  Parallel vertical lines with dark shading over the head or under the eye may represent mortification, fatigue, or horror. If the lines are wavy, it may represent disgust. A far cuter way to represent frustration/mortification is (mainly for female/ young female characters) they tend to puff out their cheeks while their line is delivered in a gruff voice, an elongated 3 showing puffed lips to show that puffed look more.

Popping vein is visualized and then character-ized as '头上一个大大的井字'.


"以 V 之" as a post-nominal modifier in Classical Chinese In English, we can say "He bought something to eat," where "to eat" functions like an adjective to "something." I'm wondering whether in Classical Chinese, "以 V 之" shares this function.
I'd appreciate your help.

in classical chinese, the structure “以” + one character + “之” could be interpreted in multiple ways.
in the analects (論語), chapter 為政:

子曰・詩三百・一言以蔽之曰・思無邪

confucius said (子曰): “the book of odes” (詩三百), in one verse, (一言) for (以) summarising (蔽) it (之) ; [which] is (曰): think (思) without (無) depravation (邪)
that, “it” referred back to “the book of odes”
https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=gb&id=1119
again in the analects (論語), chapter 里仁:

子曰・. . . ・好仁者・無以尚之

confucius said (子曰): “. . ., those who (者) preferred (好) virtue (仁), nothing (無) could be (以) appended to (尚) [his/her goodness] (之)
i would interpret like this, others might disagree :)
https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=gb&id=1173#s10020221
in the book “稽神錄”, volume 3:

. . . 頃之・其女病・即生釘棺中・流之於江・至金山・有漁人見而異之・引之至岸・開視之・見女子猶活・因取置漁舍中・多得鰻鯬魚以食之・久之病愈・遂為漁人之妻・至今尚無恙

many times (多), catching (得) eels (鰻鯬魚) for (以) feeding (食 —> 餵食) her (之)
or, repeatedly (多), using (得) eels (鰻鯬魚) to (以) feed (食 —> 餵食) her (之)
in which, her (之) is referred to the sick girl (女病) whom is put into a coffin alive (生釘棺中), dropped into the river (流之於江), and saved by the fisherman.
treat “食” as “eat” in the above verses is, incorrect.

have fun :)


how do you say in 文言 "I became an eunuch because of the sex and drugs and tang-poems, not because i love the king and his rotten offspring"? could you make some annotation with regard to the grammar needed to translate.

余入宫为奴，盖因唐诗酒色。今上昏庸，诸子腐败，皆不足爱也。

@倪阔乐's answer looks like a machine translation of the original English text. Ancient Chinese people don't talk like that.

"情" is emotion, not sex.

"腐產" as rotten offspring? Not even close.


Character classification by type Can anyone point me to an online resource that lists characters by classification? I.e., I'm looking for a list of characters that are generally considered pictographs / complex and simple ideographs / meaning-sound (phono-semantic) / borrowed / etc.  I have been Googling but not finding anything.  For many characters, I can take an educated guess, but it would be great to get the input of a consensus opinion from the Web.   Thanks in advance for any help!!
-唐納文

I strongly recommend an online dictionary 汉典.
It may be the most professional online Chinese dictionary even for native speakers.

For every entry, you can refer to the section "字形分析" to know the classification of the character.

For example, the character 强 is classified as compound ideographs (会意), which is shown in the picture:

The dictionary also collect contents from 《康熙字典》 and 《说文解字》, you can also learn the origin and example sentences of each entry.


How does one distinguish between homographs in Chinese? How does one distinguish between, for example, 便宜 (cheap) and 便宜 (convenient) in written Chinese?

The context may give no help whatsoever, cf.

  我的大学很便宜。

(Bad example, please excuse my awful Chinese. Feel free to edit with a better one.)

Is there a general rule for identifying which meaning is intended when there are identical characters?

Yes, this word has two different pronunciations.
便宜 pián yi means:

[adj] cheap, inexpensive
[noun] benifit, interest, which you are not supposed(allowed) to get.
[verb] to make sb get that benifit

便宜 biànyí means:

[adj]convenient

Because these meanings are different significantly, I don't think we'll get confused. Also, biànyí is a written, literature ,classic word, so you won't meet it in most cases. Instead, we'll use "方便" in that case.
In your example, I don't think 便宜 is used correctly, no matter how it pronounces. You may want to say:

我的大学学费很便宜。 The fee of my university is very cheap.
我的大学上网很方便。It's very convenient to surf the web in my university.


Why can 地 sometimes be omitted when placed after adjectives? I thought that 地 is attached to any adjective to form an adverb.
In the case of 大声, why would you say 大声唱歌 (sing loudly) instead of 大声地唱歌?
Is this because 大声 is originally an adverb (loudly) instead of an adjective (loud)? In that case, if a word can act as either an ADJ or ADV, should I generally drop the 地? Is it wrong to leave it?
Thank you for your help.

Is this because 大声 is originally an adverb (loudly) instead of an adjective (loud)?

Yes, you are correct.

In that case, if a word can act as either an ADJ or ADV, should I generally drop the 地?

If the word is primarily an adverb, you can drop the 地. For example, words composed with the typical adverbial suffix 然 don't require 地:

我们欣然欢迎朱大军同事加入我们公司 We cheerfully welcome the colleague Zhu Dajun to join our company

We can examine some cases where the adverbial phrase must have the verbal modifier 地. In these cases, the modifier is indeed an adjective:

他很清楚地阐述了那个故事 He told that story very clearly (清楚 clear -> 清楚地 clearly)
我娘每天开开心心地做饭 My mum gladly/happily cooks every day (开心 happy -> 开心地 happily)
飞机安全地到达了目的地 The plane safely arrived at destination (安全 safe -> 安全地 safely)

Other phrases that are not exactly adjectives, but also not inherently adverbs, still require 地 to form an adverbial phrase, e.g. chengyu's:

学生们都翘足引领地看着考试结果 All the students are standing on tiptoes and craning their necks looking at the exam results
大楼鳞次栉比地挤在市中心 The big buildings are squeezed in the city center row upon row


Etymology of 于 and transformation to in, on, at, go to Two possibilities for the object of representation 于 are:

Pictogram (象形). An ancient wind instrument; early form of 竽 (OC *ɢʷa). This view is supported by mainstream palaeography.

Exhaled air; early form of 吁 (OC *qʰʷa, *ɢʷas, “to sigh”). Shuowen considers it to be an ideogrammic compound (會意): 一 (“flat stream of air”) + 丂 (“to exhale”). Compare 乎, 兮, 号.

I tried to google 竽, but could not find the ancient wind instrument. could you please link to this instrument they are referring to? In this case how is the meaning transformed to “in, on, at, go to”?
I was searching for 由于 yóuyú 'due to'. 由 'reason' + 于 'go to'?

Tl;dr: see points 1. and 6.

The explanation of function words (虛詞) is already difficult (see point 2.), let alone their etymology (history of grammaticalisation, i.e., how they evolved from words of content (實詞) to words that have grammatical function but little semantical significance; in this case, a preposition).

Historical annotations for function words were often noted to be inaccurate, even far-fetched (穿鑿附會).1 (Wonderful examples in the source, but I don't intend to list them here out of irrelevance to your question.)

Of course, in terms of etymology, there are fairly logical ones like 在 (it has the semantic component 土 which confers a sense of physical existence or presence, see here). But we don't expect a simple answer for 于: even its etymology as a content word – i.e., a wind instrument or the act of exhalation – is controversial, as you have duly mentioned.

One writes 由於 instead of 由于 in traditional Chinese. This further complicates your problem; how do we account for the fact that 於 is a pictogram of a bird (see here), and how do we explain 於/于 equivalence in modern Chinese? Phonetic loan is most likely, but still, there are people who consider 於/于 to be semantically distinct.2

For the reasons above, my sincere advice is that you abandon the etymological route of memorisation for function words and memorise them as-is through exposure.

In classical Chinese, 於 already possesses the meaning 由於 ('due to'):

業精於勤，荒於嬉。韓愈《進學解》
Progress in studies comes from diligence and is retarded by indolence.

The addition of 由 ('from'; see 由來, 緣由) is a way of limiting the polysemy of 於. When A emerges 'from' B, you establish causality between the two.

References
1 尹黎雲（1989）〈文言虛詞訓詁十弊〉辭書研究，4，69–77。
2 楊世鐵（2015）〈從“于 / 於”用法上的變化看複合詞“於是”的產生〉中國語文通訊，94(1)，27–43。 http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/ics/clrc/crcl_94_1/yang.pdf


In 你说的是什么？, what is the purpose of 的? Consider this sentence:

  你说的是什么？

I understand that 的 permits creating adjectives, like 我的 would be "my". But here, I can’t see how it works. What is its purpose?

A reasonable translation of "你说的" is: "That which you spoke".
的 turns 你说 (a verbal phrase) into 你说的 (a noun).

你说是什么 doesn't make any sense grammatically - it means "You said is what?" You can say, "你说什么" - which is literally, "You said what?" or in proper English, "What did you say?"

你说的是什么, however, means "That which you said is what?" or properly, "What is that which you said?"


Why's 言 the semantic component of 謙? I don't understand how 言 ("to say"; "speech", "words") relates to modesty. Language, speech, words can be used to boast, exaggerate, and lie!

Above is Yellowbridge. Below is Oxford Chinese Dictionary (2010) p 577.

There really isn't much to say here - 「謙」 originally meant modest words or modesty in expression.

I don't understand how 言 ("to say"; "speech", "words") relates to modesty. Language, speech, words can be used to boast, exaggerate, and lie!

This looks to be a problem in the way you're thinking and reasoning about language, rather than a specifically Chinese language question. This is like asking

I don't understand how the word "gutless" relates to little; without. You can be without fear ("fearless")!

Statements like this are very difficult to respond to in a context relevant to language, and these really aren't the right kinds of questions to help understand language better.


Is 交替更迭 redundant? Would this be proper grammar: 雨天與晴天交替? This page lists an example sentence for 交替:

雨天與晴天交替更迭

According to the site, 交替 means to replace; alternately; in turn.

However, 更迭 means to alternate; to change.

Isn't 交替更迭 then redundant?
If 交替更迭 is redundant, could you change the example sentence to 雨天與晴天交替?
How would you say the example sentence in Cantonese?

交替 and 更迭 are two similar terms that complement each other in an four characters idiomatic phrase. Using four characters idiomatic phrase is a very common practice in Chinese speech.

For example:

小心 (careful) and 謹慎 (cautious) have similar meaning, it is often put together as an idiomatic phrase (but not a true idiom)

You can say "你要小心" or "你要謹慎", they deliver a similar message, and both are to the point.

You can also combine the two adjectives into one idiomatic phrase "小心謹慎" and say "你要小心謹慎" to illustrate a more detailed message and add literary flair to your speech.

"雨天與晴天交替更迭" is grammatically correct and detailed. However, it would be more elegant to say "晴雨交替" or "晴雨更迭" (another way to make idiomatic phrase is reduce a long phrase into four characters phrase)

More examples:

縱横 (intersecting) 交錯 (crossing) --> 縱横交錯

聰明 (intelligent) 伶俐 (smart)  --> 聰明伶俐

We do it in English too, e.g. "He is a clever, smart man"


How to translate words from this story about a tiger? 他看到草地上有一团圆乎乎略带红色的东西

谁知一阵刺痛袭来， 老虎的鼻子被这团东西卷住了

I can almost translate the first one, but I don't know what 圆乎乎略 means. I don't even know if I cut this sentence into words correctly...
The second one is, unfortunately, unapproachable. "谁知一阵刺痛袭来" - no idea what it means. "卷住" - this is strange, because Google Translate says it means "roll up", but in this sentence it's a tiger who gets "rolled up" by spikes of a hedgehog. I don't get it at all.
Could you, please, put spaces in correct places in these sentences and explain them?

[他] [看到] [草地上] [有一团] [圆乎乎] ，[略带红色的] [东西]
[He] [saw] [on the grass] [there was a bundle of] [roundish] ，[that slightly contain red color] [thing]

他看到草地上有一团圆乎乎，略带红色的东西

He saw there's a bundle of roundish, slightly red thing on the grass

"圆乎乎，略带红色的" is the adjectival phrase for the object "东西" --> "roundish, slightly red "thing"
[谁知] [一阵刺痛] [袭来]， [老虎的] [鼻子] [被这团东西] [卷住了]
[Who know = unexpectedly] [a sharp pain] [struck]， [the tiger's] [nose] [was by this bundle of thing] [coiled around]

谁知一阵刺痛袭来，老虎的鼻子被这团东西卷住了

Unexpectedly, a sharp pain struck, the tiger's nose was coiled around by this bundle of thing


How to say "until when do you stay here?" correctly? In the following conversation:

I: 你住在首尔吗？
X: 来玩的
I: 那你到几天在这边吗？
X: 对啊

I tried to ask "Then until when (which day) do you stay here?", but the opponent seems to take it differently, possibly she thought I asked "Then do you stay here for several days?".
I thought 到 means "until", so it is correct grammar-wise. But it seems to not make sense, given the reaction of the opponent.
So what is the correct way to ask "Until when do you stay here?" in Chinese? And why does my sentence not make sense?

Better ideas of what you want to convey include:

待到什么时候 - when will (you) stay till
待几天 - stay for how long
待多少天 - stay for how long

A couple of notes:

几 - is only a number 0-9, not above ten.
几天 - is then thusly less than ten days, technically. Also, this doesn't work like 几号？ if you want to ask which or what day it would be 哪一天？.

Only use this if you know that you've got your numbers right.

多少 - on the other hand contains most all numbers, it's a safer bet.

Your sentence (那你到几天在这边吗？) is missing a verb, specifically 待 -or- 呆 - the "stay" you wanted to translate from your English sentence. 待到 would be better - here 到 indicates completion of 待.

places usually come near the beginning of sentences - 在这边 should come after 你.

Also another more direct way to ask:

什么时候走？


what do 形 and 便 mean and how can they combine to make the meaning "situation"? The Chinese word of 형편 (situation) in Korean is 形便.
Can anyone explain what 形 and 便 mean and how can they combine to make the meaning "situation"?

If we look at MoE's definition of 形便, we get:

  形容地理形勢優良便利。

Google Translate tell us this means:

  Geographical situation is good and convenient

Basically you can think of 形便 as a mix of 形势 (situation) and 便利 (convenient).

Wiktionary also gives two English definitions:

  Noun
  advantages offered by terrain

  Adjective
  convenient (because of the location)

So is "situation" in there? Yeah, but it's buried in 形.


What are the flavors of all those "systems":系统,体系,制度 All those "systems":

系统,
体系
制度
体制
装置

How one should differentiate between them? I think that

系统 has something to do with unite, gather, tangle flavor. So this word is a bit abstract. Should be used for "systems" which might NOT have a physical representation.
体系 has somethign to do with body + unite. For systems "bodies". With physical representation?
....

I almost certaitly think my interpretation is wrong. Help!!!

装置 'device' doesn't really belong here. Here are some definitions from the 教育部國語辭典:
系统: 同類事物，按一定秩序相連屬，而自成一整體
"objects/affairs belonging to the same category, joined together in a specific order to form a unity."
The emphasis is on order, thus can be used to form adjectivals such as 很有系統 "very systematic"
體系: 由許多要素構成，具有一定條理組合成的整體。如：「哲學體系」
"a unity formed from numerous elements which have a connecting principle, such as 'philosophical system.'" The emphasis is on the underlying unity of the elements, hence principles.
制度:經制定而為大家共同遵守認同的辦事準則
"a code for the conduct of affairs established by common understanding and agreement." The emphasis is on how things are done, hence this is commonly used with political affairs.
體制: 一定的規則、制度. "fixed rules; a system of operation." The emphasis is on the set nature of the system. This can also be used for written formats.


Has the story《碾玉觀音》been translated into English? I'm currently reading《碾玉觀音》and whilst I'm aware that Lin Yutang has produced a translation, I've been told it's not particularly loyal to the original plot and therefore am not keen on reading it as it might distort my understanding. Can anyone recommend a loyal translation of the text?

Here is another translator Yang Xianyi's text. Yang's family was a literati and a bureaucrat for several generations. Lin Yutang also was a famous Chinese writer, but Yang Xianyi was famous for translation and had already read many Chinese poets and Chinese legend stories even when he was young. Lin Yutang was born in China but got into American culture too early.

You can also find the autobiography of Yang Xianyi. There was a research article on the difference between Lin's and Yang's translation. Based on it, I recommend this translation. Here are some Links below,

https://www.worldcat.org/title/courtesans-jewel-box-chinese-stories-of-the-xth-xviith-centuries/oclc/1160311

https://www.amazon.com/White-Tiger-Autobiography-Yang-Xianyi/dp/962996046X


Which term is used for "oyster" in Taiwan? According to the English Wiktionary there are four Chinese terms equivalent to English "oyster":

mǔlì : 牡蠣 / 牡蛎
hǎilìzi : 海蠣子
háo : 蚝
háozi : 蚝子

Is one of these standard or most common in Taiwan? What's the difference between them all?

In Taiwanese 蚵仔 (ô á), in Taiwan Mandarin 牡蛎 (mǔ lì).

There's also 蛤蠣 (há lì) but this means clams.


Does Chinese have any disparaging terms for left-handed people? I came across this Tweet recently which lists many

  different words used in traditional dialects to refer to left-handed people[.]

It looks like a majority of the English terms are all quite derogatory. There certainly exists some sort of prejudice against left-handed people in many different cultures. I know some dialectical terms for left-handed people like: 左刮刮、左括子、左拐拐、左拐子、左挎儿, but these all seem fairly innocent. But, this got me wondering:

Does Chinese have any disparaging terms for left-handed people?

First of all I'd like to point out that the most commonly used term is 左撇子. Technically, 左撇子, together with the ones you have mentioned (if they do exist, I think I've heard of 左拐子 but not the others, of course they are probably dialectal and someone who knows more about dialects may correct me), is actually derogatory. However, this term is so widely used that people often say it without any prejudice intended. For a specific conversation, you will have to tell from the context. If you want to avoid being accidentally offensive, you can say 惯用左手的人(someone who is more comfortable using the left hand). A more technical term is 左利手, which is not disparaging in any way but also a lot less common.


What are the original Chinese characters for the Chinese family name Suening in the Philippines? My late grandfather left Macau, China to the Philippine to find work around the year 1918-1920.

In my dad's baptismal certificate, my grandfather carries the name Leo Suening. It's also common in the Philippines to conjoin their Chinese names into one (Suen + Ing) but we are not certain.

Given that he came from Cantonese a speaking region, Candidates for possible origins are 孙/孫 (transliterations from Sun) and 吳/吴 for Ng (Ing).

Chinese in Macau are mostly Cantonese speakers. It is not uncommon for people to write last name before the first name in Chinese speaking regions.

In your grandfather case "Leo" would actually be the last name. According to British Romanization of Chinese characters "Leo" is most likely "廖" /liu6/ or 柳 /lau5/

Suening was most likely two characters written as one English word, that provided further evidence for 'Leo' (廖/柳) being the family name

Suening as  Sue-Ning make more sense than Suen-Ing because 'Ning'(寧) is a very common first name

The Chinese characters for 'Leo Sue Ning' could be
廖信寧, 柳信寧, 廖迅寧, 柳迅寧, 廖迅齡 or 柳信齡 in Cantonese.

廖/柳信寧 seems to be most probable

Edit:

Suening wrote:

  Hi, I got my Gedmatch (DNA) results and distant relative has 梁 from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liang_(surname) is it totally different from the given above?

梁 in Hong Kong is written as 'Leung'.  "Leo" might be a pronunciation from a Cantonese sub-dialect for 梁. And it is a common surname.

Therefore, 'Leo Sue Ning' could be

梁信寧, 梁迅寧 or 梁信齡

Edit 2:

  This turned a bit complicated as I leaned towards the 'Leong', more and more users were added with the names of 'Liu' (劉) - list; Liu Gui Hua, XiaoxueLiu, Liu Jin Lian, Liu Li Qun, Chang Liu, John Liu, Xiaoou Liu, Liu Shun Ying, Haoshu Liu, Ismayil Liu, Liu, Liu Su Hua, Liu Gui Hua, XiaoxueLiu, Liu Jin Lian

So it could be 劉信寧, 劉迅寧 or 劉信齡 then. Both 劉 and 梁 are very common Chinese surnames. It doesn't change the fact that 'Suening' was most likely  a two characters given name 'Sue Ning' mistakenly turned into a Surname in  the Philippine


How is Analects split up in English? Chapters? Verses? Apparently Analects is made up of:

  《论语》共20篇，492章

in Chinese.

The first "chapter" as it is called in English is:

  学而第一 16章

said to have sixteen 章.

This is the English index:

and the first chapter:

So, in English if it's chapter one, what is 1-16 of chapter one? Verses? Sentences? Phrases?

or would book / chapter be more appropriate? book 1 / chapter 1?

Comparing with the Bible, I think Book/Chapter would be the most accurate.  Each 篇 revolves around one specific aspect of Confucius' ideas, and each 章 is a (mostly self-contained) event/story.

Unlike the Bible, in which the chapters/stories usually follow a chronological order within one book, there is little interdependence between chapters in 论语.  But I would argue that, if one is to extract Jesus's words from each chapter of Bible, one would probably get something of size comparable to a 章.  Therefore it is quite reasonable to make 篇/章 correspond to Book/Chapter.


Structure of sentence with 喜欢+V I would know what is the correct place of 喜欢 in my sentence, or if the both are valids what are the differences.

1/ 我喜欢坐飞机去

2/ 我坐飞机喜欢去

Maybe a comparison to English will help you remember:
我喜欢坐飞机去。(adverbial)
I like to travel by plane.
我喜欢坐飞机看风景。(still adverbial)
I like to watch scenery by plane.
However:
我喜欢坐飞机（，而不是坐火车）。(followed by nothing)
I like to take planes(, not trains).
I'm not sure if my explanation makes sense. Just for reference.


Confusion about the usage of hěn I am learning Chinese with the Memrize App and noticed that often, to say something like "You are x", you will actually say "nǐ hěn x" instead of "nǐ shì x".

For example as translated by Google: "Nǐ hěn máng" means "You are busy". This confuse me because an example from the app would be "Tā juéde tā hěn piàoliang" meaning "He thinks she is very pretty". Here, "hěn" is obviously used to reinforce "piàoliang".

Why isn't "Ni shi..." used to say "You are..."? Or is it used like that but
I just haven't come across it yet?
How do you say "You are very busy". Do I have to use another reinforcing word such as "tai"(I know that "tai" doesn't quite fit, but I haven't learn too many words yet ^.^)?

There are two things that need to be aware of here.

The Chinese word 是(shi) is NOT equivalent to English "is/am/are". The Chinese 是(shi) functions as a "=". So both sides of the equal sign should have the same nature. So "ni shi mang" doesn't make sense.
A Chinese adjective is also a verb! That is, "mang" is already "to be busy"; "pretty" is already "to be pretty". Literally "you are busy" is "ni mang". But "hen" should be added to balance the rhythm of the sentence, and it isn't necessary to mean "very". So, the right sentence is "ni hen mang".

Finally, if you want to emphasize "very busy", it can be "ni fei chang mang".


How to type zero initial in the common Shuangpin Pinyin keyboard layouts? Over the past few days I've gotten used to the Shuangpin layout. 自然码 to be specific, and I found it to be pretty good. But now I've come across a situation, where I don't know how to type it. And after taking a look at all the different Shuangpin layouts, it seems to me, they all share this property:

They don't have a key for the "zero initial"! So how do you type words like 昂 (ang), or 恩 (en)?

I'm specifically looking for the Ziranma layout, but I'd be interested in a general answer as well.

The Chinese Wikipedia page https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%8C%E6%8B%BC list three different strategies for handling zero initials in 双拼:

  零声母方案：指全拼中无声母的音节在双拼中的处理方案，即全拼中有几个音节没有声母，双拼中需要把这个零声母实质化，于是就有了零声母方案。

  固定一个字母做零声母 + 韵母所在键，如微软双拼、智能ABC、紫光双拼
  以韵母首字母为零声母 + 韵母所在键，如拼音加加(注：拼音加加实际上兼容两种零声母方案。)
  单韵母、三韵母为韵母首字母 + 韵母所在键，双韵母为韵母首字母 + 韵母末字母，如自然码、小鹤双拼

Which are:

Use a fixed letter + final (Microsoft, 智能 ABC, 紫光)
Use the first letter of the final + final (拼音加加)
Use the original form of two-letter finals. For others, use the first letter of the final + final. (自然码, 小鹤双拼)

For 'ang', 1. would be some fixed letter + the letter for 'ang'. 2) would be 'a' + the letter for 'ang' 3) would be 'a' + the letter for 'ang'

2 and 3 differ when the final contains two letters. For example, 'an' would be 'a' + 'n' in 3, but 'a' + (the letter for 'an') in 2.


How can I search for a Chinese character when I see it on a picture? Like, when I see a Chinese character in this picture (link is broken and redirected):

What is the best way to find more information about this character (unlike English, there're only 26 letters, and I can type them and google. Chinese characters cannot be typed if I don't know its pinyin)?

With pictures OCR is your best bet.
Here’s a screenshot I took of the front page of baidu just now:

Then I use Pleco’s OCR software to see what the titles Chinese characters are

here you can see that the characters have been correctly identified.
It works for more than just words too.
Here’s a whole headline deciphered:

But in Pleco they can even look up the words one by one for you:

Fancy! Right?
——
Method number two: Handwriting Recognition
...and again we’re using Pleco (and really why would you need any other software? Really?)
So let’s stick with out original picture - we don’t know the characters for baidu.
So first we write our bai.

Then we write our du:

and now we have our two characters! And thankfully we’re using dictionary software so we have plenty of definitions:

Method three: two part character search
We're getting more advanced now.
So let's take the 娱 from 娱乐圈 in the OCR example above.
Now we know a little bit about Chinese characters - we don't know 娱 yet - but we know it's comprised of 女 and 吴.
So what can we do?
This is were zisea comes in handy. We can use their 两分 (or "two part") character system to find what we're looking for:

So in the "two part" search box we have:

女吴

then we see our results:

and there we see our 娱 right at the very top with a brief description!
if we click into it we get a page like this:

with the character, pinyin, descriptions, definitions and alternative characters.

Method number four: 笔顺
This is, really, not my favorite - but I've used it enough times to make to worth mentioning.
If OCR, handwriting recognition and two-part searches are failing you - you can try bishun.
The rules for bishun are simple:

Solely based off how to write the character we can convert it to a number that can be searched.
So let's take: 乐 we don't know to read it but it's stroke order is obvious:

ノフ丨ノ丶

so according to the above table that gives us:

35234

Now if we go to zdic.net
and click on the second tab:

字典

like this:

then click on:

笔顺

like so:

now we can enter out number

and here are our results:

with:

搜索结果：
乐 35234

right at the top

All of these methods would work with any character you don't know.
As long as you have a clear enough picture you can run OCR on any character.
While handwriting, two-part search and bishun methods can also work with any characters you find out there in the wild.


Can 有 be used to form present perfect tense? One meaning of 有 is "have" i.e. possess. Can 有 also be used to form the present perfect tense as in "I have looked", possibly "我有看"?

If so, then a follow-up question: what is more natural, using 有 or 过?

Yes, you can use 有 to form present perfect tense, consider the following examples:

In mainland, people usually don't use 有 (to me it sounds a bit childish and made me think of a little girl.) :

Michel: 你看过 "Pride and Prejudice" 没? Have you ever read ...

Emily: (我)看过。 I have read it.
In Hong Kong or Taiwan, looks like it's frequently used (I haven't been there but in quite a lot of TV series and variety shows the celebrities often use it, friends from there may correct me if I'm wrong)

Michel: "你有看(过) 'Pride and Prejudice' 没?"

Emily: "(我)有看(过)啊，很好看的。" (I have read it.)

Here you can see, since you have used 有, 过 becomes optional.

As for 有 and 过, in order to form a perfect tense you should at least use one, depends on which tone do you want to use from the previous examples.


Is there a way to translate terms related to the family? Traditionally, a person may be addressed by taking account of the person's gender, age relative to the speaker, familial relationship to the speaker, and whether or not the person is on the mother or father's side of the family tree. For example, 外婆 (wài pó) can only refer to the mother's mother, and 外公 (wài gōng) can only refer to the mother's father. In contrast, 奶奶 (nǎi nai) and 爷爷 (yé ye) can only refer to the paternal grandmother and grandfather, respectively. The terms related to the family become complicated when you add all your brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, and cousins. Of course, shortened forms of address may be used, emphasizing the importance of the relationship/kinship over the individual's personal given name. In addition to that, people unrelated to the family are also addressed according to gender and age. 妹妹 (mèi mei) and 弟弟 (dì di) may be used to address any girl or boy who is younger than you, as well as your own familial brothers and sisters.

Okay. Now, let's say you are acting as interpreter for a Chinese-speaking family or writing a novel about a contemporary Chinese-speaking family. In either case, would these terms be translated literally, or would the given names be used instead to sound more natural in English? Or maybe the pinyin transliteration would be used instead of the actual characters to get a feel of what they said?

Somewhat related: I am aware that some TV portrayals of Jewish families (Arthur TV series) will use the term "Bubba" for a female character, who means and is likely the grandmother of a person. Bubba is presumably the transliteration of the Yiddish term.

you may want to look at the English translation of the greatest Chinese family novel of them all - Story of the Stone (aka 紅樓夢) - for a sense of what kind of compromises can be made in English without at all compromising fidelity to original, while avoiding the horrors that attend peppering novels with footnotes.

You would probably never want to use personal names instead of titles unless it was so in the original. However it probably is acceptable to go with "Aunt" instead of "paternal/maternal aunt", for example, in English unless it would somehow be impossible to figure out the more precise relationship from context in the novel. Meimei (non-literal variety) are harder- since theres more intimacy implied maybe it would be ok to switch to personal names.

As for interpreting - good luck. I have a hard time remembering one word for cousin in Chinese, let alone four or five.:P


How formal is 如何 in the context of 最近如何? I was told by friend who is a native mainland speaker that "最近如何", or anything using "如何" to inquire about the state of a person, is a very ancient/formal way of speaking. This was quite a shock to me—I was taught this sentence quite early in my studies as a relaxed way of asking how someone was doing, although I think I learned it from a Taiwanese blog. He suggested using "最近怎样" instead, which he said is much less formal.

What is the social context of "如何"/"最近如何" in the mainland? Is it different than in Taiwan? Is it too formal/old to be used among friends? Is "最近怎样" more modern? When should I use which?

IMO, 最近如何 is a little formal, while 最近怎么样 is much natural and genial.

Anyway, I think it's OK for a formal social occasion.

BTW: When 如何 is used in the context for how to do sth such as 如何刻录dvd, it's normal.


Looking for Hakka old song about Tofu Seller When I was a kid in Indonesia (about 30 years ago), I heard a cassette tape of a Hokkien/Hakka album about a Tofu Seller.

The album started with a man reciting a poem about when his 76-year-old father moved from mainland to Singapore and Malaya to study accounting, but after changing many jobs, at the end he became a tofu seller.

Where can I see a video or an mp3 or a translation?

客家阿伯酿豆腐

歌詞

快速提升中文程度的方法：
1. 初級者多看中文文章。
2. 中級者多寫中文文章。
3. 高級者多用中文思考。
所以，除了初學者可能有困難外，建議大家多用中文問答。


Are Chinese symbols built from more elementary symbols or forms? I know nothing about the Chinese language but, while we ate in a Chinese restaurant with lots of Chinese symbols around me, I asked myself if these symbols could be built up from elementary lines or forms (like our words are made up out of 26 letters). Is that the case?

explanation in modern day research:

we use components (部件), to "build up" chinese characters; and there're 1316.

http://chardb.iis.sinica.edu.tw/system_intro.jsp

basically, we have 8 types of stroke (筆畫) to compose each component.

about the "structural relations and configuration regularity" of components, have a look of this page; in english and traditional chinese:

http://other.allad.com.tw/chinese2/teacher_e.php


Chinese characters signature? Yixing (Characters identified: 吴亮屏) What are the symbols on this very old teapot? It appears to be traditional chinese characters or a date?

it's 吴亮屏.

if you do a search online, this is kinda famous kind of 紫砂壶 click

however, the stamp looks different from what I see online, so not sure if it's real.


What is the difference between 狗 and 犬? 狗 (gǒu) and 犬 (quǎn) both mean "dog" and both seem relatively common, but is there any difference between them? When should I use one and when should I use the other?

Both of them refer to the same thing, "dog". “狗” is used much more in oral speaking, and “犬” is a formal word that you would see in books.

For words expressed in a classical (formal) way, you won't see "狗" but "犬".

  An idiom: 一人得道，鸡犬升天

When a man becomes an Immortal(God), even his pets like chickens and dogs go to heaven. An analogy that when someone becomes powerful, his associates would somehow become powerful too. We use it in a critical and negative way.

  犬子(literally: dog's son)

It's a word you will use to refer to your son in a humble way. In a few cases, you will hear this word nowadays. You would say "犬子今年20岁" (my son is 20 years old this year), to show your respect to the listener. (Of course, this expression is old-fashioned.)

  鹰犬 (literally: hawk and dog)

When you hunt in the field, you would take advantage of a hawk (falcon) or a dog (hound) to chase the game for you, so this word is an analogy to say "hired thugs", somone that implements your order [to commit crimes]. We use it in a negative way too.

  犬只 (=dog).

Usually, you will see it in the newspaper or the bulletins and  announcements from the government.

  小犬座 (Canis Minor, a small constellation) Here we don't use 小狗座

狗 is a vulgar (informal) word (in Chinese culture, a dog is not a good thing), so you will see it more in ordinary life, in oral speaking.

  狗腿子 (literally: dog's feet). With the same meaning as “鹰犬".
  狗崽子 (literally: a puppy). A curse word to refer to someone that you hate.
  you would ask your neighbour:"how old is your dog?" "你的狗多大了？" here, you wouldn't say "犬".

Note: There are few idioms with "狗" instead of "犬". For example, “狗尾续貂", but this word came from a popular oral proverb in its times, so this doesn't violate the viewpoint that “犬" is used formally.

When would you use "狗" or "犬"? Well, these words are fixed, so you have to memorize them. It's good to enlarge your vocabulary to avoid misuse. In most cases, you would use "狗".


Having trouble translating this: 多是不跑步的替跑步的操心 My rough translation is "better not to run than to run and worry about it." It's the double 的 and 替 that's throwing me off. Is my translation close?

Here's the context:

最令人啼笑皆非的是，有关这事的争吵，多是不跑步的替跑步的操心。至于说，顶着雾霾跑马拉松会形成不良的示范，更是无稽之谈

It's the second to last paragraph in the article below:

http://news.ifeng.com/a/20141020/42245256_0.shtml

Not quite; I break this fragment like this:

多是
不跑步的
替...操心
跑步的

The word "多是" is a bit tricky too, as in this case it's an abbreviation of "大多是", or "mostly is".

So altogether, it should be:

  , mostly is those who don't run worrying on behalf of those who run.

Of course, this direct translation is awkward, so it might be better to rephrase it according to the preceding fragments. Here's my crude attempt:

  What's most laughable about all this hullabaloo, is that it is mostly coming from non-runners worrying about runners on their behalf.


SZTV News: 外交部告诫美方：敌人是病毒不是中国: please correct my transcription To improve my listening, I tried listening to 外交部告诫美方：敌人是病毒不是中国 from SZTV News (Shenzhen), 21 April 2020.  Most of it has a transcription already, so I don't need that part.  This is what I hear:

应对日益严重国内疫情，美国总统特郎普频频妄图甩锅中国。他[往常(?)]在新冠疫情的问题向中国故意误导了国外社会，还频繁拿病毒源头做文章。对此外交部表示美方一些人应该尊重事实、尊重科学、应该认识到他们的敌人是病毒不是中国。
特朗普之外西方部分政客和媒体[接(?)]疫情[大四选人(?)]向中国索赔的论调。对此都[ming2(?)]外国政要和学者都看不下去了。捷克总统泽曼和新加坡国立大学李光耀公共政策学院[chuang4(?)]是院长马凯说[等(?)]人都做出了反驳。

Would it be possible to correct this transcription please?  (This time it's only 36 seconds worth of news.)

It says something like: Trump repeats attempt to shift the coronavirus blame to China, misleads the international community, and makes a fuss.  In response, China says respect facts and science, and be aware that the enemy is coronavirus, not China.  Western politicians and media join university students in arguing that China should pay compensation.  Experts think that is not going to happen.  The Czech president and Singaporean professor Ma Kai have put out refutations.

Here I come!

应对日益严重国内疫情，美国总统特郎朗普频频妄图甩锅中国。他妄称在新冠疫情的问题向上，中国故意误导了国外社会，还频繁拿病毒源头做文章。对此外交部表示美方一些人应该尊重事实、尊重科学、应该认识到他们的敌人是病毒不是中国。
特朗普之外西方部分政客和媒体借疫情大肆渲染向中国索赔的论调。对此都[ming2(?)]多名外国政要和学者都看不下去了。捷克总统泽曼和新加坡国立大学李光耀公共政策学院[chuang4(?)]是创始院长马凯说等人都做出了反驳。


Could someone please someone translate 舒心顺气茶 Could someone please someone translate 舒心顺气茶

Thank you

舒 + 心: comfort (verb) + heart (noun)
be comfortable
顺 + 气: smooth (verb) + breath (noun)
breath smoothly
茶: tea

舒心顺气茶:
The tea that comfort your heart and smooth your breath (after drinking)
This is exaggerative practically, it is a beautiful name only.

There some more similar medicine name prefix like 活血化瘀, 补气养血, 健胃消食, 舒筋活络, etc.Generally they are all four characters with two words, the first word made up with former two characters, and the second one with later two characters.The 1st and 3rd ones are verbs, they have similar meanings, or they are two different words in same scopes, or they are separated from one two-character-word, the 2nd and 4th ones are nouns, the same structure as above.

For example, some Chinese 成语 (chengyu), or 四字成语 (Chinese 4-word idioms):
身强体壮 means strong body, strong physique
身体: body, corporeity, 强壮: muscular.
筋疲力尽 means exhaust you physically and mentally筋: tendon, bone, 疲: tired, 力: force, strength, 尽: spent, used up


Does 现在 make 就 redundant in "你现在就去做。"? I'm trying to find 就 used as "at once" in a sentence so that I can add it to my flashcards but the only sentence I've found like that would be "你现在就去做".
Issue is, 现在 already means "now" so that makes 就 redundant in the sentence doesn't it? Can anyone give me a proper sentence that uses 就 to mean "at once"?

就 in 你现在就去做 functions as the adverb "just".

你现在去做 = you go do it now

你现在(就)去做 = you (just) go do it now

  Example of 就 = at once; right away:

吃完飯去 = go after finish dinner

吃完飯(就)去 = go (right away) after finish dinner

吃完飯 is the requirement. Once this requirement is met, then 去 occur at once

完成工作付工資 = when you finished work, I will pay your service fee

完成工作(就)付工資 = when you finished work, I will pay your service fee (right away)

完成工作 is the requirement . Once this requirement is met, then 付工資 occur at once

Since 你现在就去做 doesn't include a requirement, 就 doesn't carry the meaning of 'at once; right away'

If it was 你等到明天就去做 (you go do it at once when tomorrow comes); 等到明天(wait till tomorrow arrives) would be the requirement.


Historical: How was Chinese written in telegrams and early computers? I know about "Chinese Typewriters", the question here is how Chinese was represented in earlier information systems.

For example, Japanese Telegrams were always written in Katakana and many early video games, up to the early 1990s, almost completely relied on Kana for technical reasons.  It follows that early Chinese systems may also have relied on Pinyin or Bopomofo (in Taiwan).  Can sb. confirm this?

(The following is not part of the question, but facts I discovered and want to share here although they don't amount to answers themselves.)

Edit 1

For what it's worth, this page https://classictech.wordpress.com/computer-companies/acer-groupmultitech-electronics-inc-sunnyvale-calif/ claims that the MPF-II-C from 1982 was the first microcomputer to be capable of handling Chinese characters.

Edit 2

A commenter linked to http://www.njstar.com/cms/chinese-commercial-telegraph-code-lookup, it contains the following valuable information regarding the CCC:

  There are total of 9297 Chinese Commercial Codes defined, of which 2593 codes represent different Chinese characters in Mainland and in Taiwan/Hong Kong. Codes below 7902 are caused by the fact of Mainland Chinese character simplification. Such as ccc:0948 --> 国 U+56FD (CN) / 國 U+570B (TW/HK). Due to un-coordinated extension of original codes, codes above 7902 can respresent totally different characters in Mainland and in Taiwan/Hong Kong. Such as ccc:9154 --> 舺 U+823A (CN) / 螵 U+87B5 (TW/HK)

For telegrams, the Chinese Commercial Code (中文電碼) was used.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_telegraph_code

Roughly, to send a telegram, someone needed to go to the post office, write down the text message, info of sender & receiver - by hand, on a form.

Then, the worker would "translate" each Chinese character into 4 digits, according to the Chinese Commercial Code book, something like this:

Then, the message was sent by morse code to the nearest post office to the receiver. The morse code was "translated" back to 4 digits, and looked up again in the Chinese Commercial Code book. Afterwards, the message was sent by a post office worker to the receiver by hand.

The CCC is still used today in Hong Kong: the residents' identity card shows their name in Chinese, English & CCC.

Another service, the telex, which was widely used in the past, cannot handle Chinese characters. As I remember, we only sent Latin characters (A-Z) & numbers (0-9).

It was in the pre-1980 timeframe.

The first computer (OK, personal computer) that could handle Chinese was the ETen Chinese system (倚天中文系統); it dates from about mid-1980.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETen_Chinese_System

Those were the days... :)


How could I translate "一语道破", "一语道破天机" I want translate "一语道破" or "一语道破天机" to a phase with an etymology.

tell the truth, blurts out the whole truth,

seem not very good.

i would suggest "freudian slip"

if it's fate, destiny related, maybe "oracle slip", or "divine slip"

in which slip referred to the "一語"

have fun :)


How to hear tones in speech better Today I mistook 化学 for 滑雪.

That's it.

How can I train my ears to better hear tones when people speak Chinese? Sometimes, the tones aren't pronounced to a level where I can physically hear them/have enough time to hear them.

So, how can I train my ears to hear tones more easily?

It will come with more exposure. Watch movies/shows, listen to music, talk with people via voice-chat or in person.

One of the ways I trained myself to recognize the tones is to listen to the same tone, but with different sounds.

For example:
biao1 shen1 zhong1 ying1 then he2 ma2 qie2 liu2 etc.

I found this was really helpful when trying to become more familiar with how each of them sound. I also used this when I started practicing the actually production of words.

Don't give up! Eventually it'll come with exposure and time.


Adjective before classifier I was reading a short story on Du Chinese and came across this phrase 一大亩瓜田。
The app described 亩 as a classifier for fields.
I haven't learned yet of the adjective coming before the classifier. Is this just limited to certain adjectives or situations? Is it because 大 is describing the whole unit of the melon field, or some other reason I'm not aware?
Thanks for your help.

大 or 小 before a classifier describes the size or amount of it
Example:
一堆 = a pile of; 一大堆 = a large pile of;  一小堆 = a small pile of
堆 is not a measurement unit but a description of a form. The adjective 大 or 小 roughly describes the object's size in this form
In the case of 一大亩, since 亩 is a measurement unit, there is no difference in size between 一亩田 and 一亩地; 這一亩 and 那一亩. The adjective '大' (big) is, therefore, a subjective description for emphasis (the speaker considers 一亩 is a big area)

一 (number)

大 (size/ amount)

亩 (classifier; measurement unit)

一亩田 = one mu of field (the speaker is stating the actual size of the field, which is 667 square meters)

一大亩田 = one big mu of field (the speaker consider 667 square meters is a big area)

Another classifier for 田 is 片, which is not a measurement unit:
一片田 = a field
一大片田 = a large field
(大 or 小 roughly describes the size of the classifier 片)


What is the difference between using 叫　and 叫做　？ I understand for the most part, (perhaps not as a causative word like shi, rang, bei etc ENTIRELY..) how to use 叫　and when trying to see the difference between 叫　and 称为　　, I noticed that people compared 称为　with 叫做　, a term I had not actually seen before.

My question is, what is the difference between the inclusion/exclusion of the word 做　in 叫做　?

Also, as a bonus, does any one want to validate my research, and let me know if 称为　vs 叫做 is a matter of more formal writing and not convention ?

Or is it a more spoken vs written distinction as I beleeve the distinction between 叫做　and 叫作　　exists as ?  Is this distinction only in Cantonese?  I wonder because my Mandarin ABC input keyboard on Windows doesn't recognize the latter as a compound word.

Thank you!

叫= to call / be called

我叫彼得 could mean:

'I call Peter (e.g. I make a phone call to Peter) '
'I am called Peter (my name is Peter)'

  叫做 = be called as

我叫做彼得 = I am called as Peter (my name is Peter) - no ambiguity here

  称= [1] [v] call; name; term; address as
  [2] [v] say; state; express; claim

人称(为) = people call (him/ her/ it) as
自称(为) = call oneself as / self proclaim as
称为 = be called as

Abe Shudug wrote:

  Could you please also clarify how it becomes him/her/it with 人称为 ? Maybe an example sentence..do you mean 他　她　它　　ｎｅｅｄ　ｔｏ　ｂｅ　ａｄｄｅｄ?　　Ｏｒ　为　serves that function ??

Some examples:

(他/她)被人稱為天下無敵 = (他/她)人稱天下無敵

被人稱為 is often shortened to 人稱

(他/她)自稱為天下無敵 = (他/她)自稱天下無敵

自稱為 if often shortened to 自稱

[他/她/它] is the object, which is needed in a complete sentence.

为 acts as the conjunction 'as'(without antecedent) in the degree, manner

  称为 is more literal;  叫做 is more colloquial