How are consecutive neutral tones pronounced? What are the pitch levels? I understand how neutral tones are supposed to sound following regular-numbered tones  Here is a helpful Wikipedia chart illustrating how the preceding tone impacts the neutral tone
But what about consecutive neutral tones?
Examples:

真的吗？
(Starts at pitch level 55…… then what happens with 的吗？）

你吃了吗？
(Starts at pitch level 21, 55…… then what happens with 了吗？）

那还是算了吧。
（…………了吧？）

Zhang and Yang (2007:97) has an interesting remark on consecutive neutral tones within certain three-character words (三字組詞):

輕聲若同時出現在三字組詞的後兩個音節上，第二個音節的輕聲調型要根據第一音節的聲調變化，如同二字組的輕聲音節；但第三個輕聲音節一律都讀得短低，調型向下，類似模糊的去聲。如：
(Translation) Should both of the latter two syllables within a three-character word possess the neutral tone, then the pitch of the neutral tone in the second syllable should change according to the first syllable, much like the case of two-character words; but the pitch of the neutral tone in the third syllable should be read shortly and lowly without exception, with a trend going downwards, like a blurred fourth tone. E.g.:
拉下來 lā˥˥ xia꜋ lai꜌    了不得 liǎo˨˩ bu꜉ de꜊
剩下的 shèng˥˩ xia꜌ de꜌    爐子裏 lú˧˥ zi꜊ li꜌
坐下了 zuò˥˩ xia꜌ le꜌    跑過來 pǎo˨˩ guo꜉ lai꜊

'The downward trend' to me refers to the pitch change over the consecutive neutral tones (as a whole). In particular, the difference in pitch between the two neutral tones is most obvious when the first non-neutral syllable is in the first, second, or third tone.

Does the downward trend apply to two-character word groups suffixed with a particle too? There is no mentioning in the textbook, but I think mostly yes, albeit with the following observations:

As an assertive statement, there is only the inherent downward trend: 忙着呢 máng˧˥ zhe꜊ ne꜌, 算了吧 suàn˥˩ le꜌ ba꜌.

Some of the particles mark questions (e.g. 嗎, 呢), so it is important to take into account the effect of final rising on the pitch of neutral tones. Interestingly, for normal characters, there is also a difference in pitch between an assertive statement and a question:

Statement
Question

坐下了。 zuò˥˩ xia꜌ le꜌
坐下了？ zuò˥˧ xia꜊ le꜊

我的呢。 wǒ˨˩ de꜉ ne꜊
我的呢？ wǒ˨˩ de꜉ ne꜈

The final rising is best observed when the first syllable is in the 'low' half-third tone (i.e. it exceeds the effect of the downward trend): 怎麼了 zěn˨˩ me꜉ le꜈, 好了嗎 hǎo˨˩ le꜉ ma꜈.

The final rising may be attenuated when the first syllable is in the first, second, or fourth tone - they have a comparatively higher pitch than the half-third tone and stress is very easily placed on them, out of both semantical and phonological need (他 and 看 in the following examples). The net effect is that the pitch of the neutral tones now becomes roughly the same:

Statement
Question

他的呢。 tā˥˥ de꜋ ne꜌
他的呢？ tā˥˥ de꜊ ne꜊

看了嘛。 kàn˥˩ le꜌ ma꜌
看了嗎？ kàn˥˧ le꜊ ma꜊

Reference: Zhang Bennan & Yang Ruowei (2007). [普通話連讀音變]. Hong Kong: Commercial Press.


What does 自己师 means? I’ve found an interview and there is question that I have no idea what it's mean, the question is “什么时候发现自己师的”

I try to understand but not sure. Does it mean “When did you learn by yourself” or something?

师 is probably just a typo of 帅, handsome.


How to translate: “对我来说，北方人的口音和语速 {makes it difficult for me to understand them}"? I can't figure out how to translate this

  对我来说，北方人的口音和语速makes it difficult for me to understand them.

What's the best way to say this without losing any of the above meaning and structure?

对我来说，北方人的口音和语速 makes it difficult for me to understand them.

This translation sounds more like English grammar. Chinese people will say

  对我来说，北方人有口音，语速很快，很难听明白。

Hope this could be of some help.


Does the single character 神 refer to "God" (the unique God, such as in e.g. Christianity) or just "god" or "deity"? Some people get the single Chinese character 神 (shén) tattooed on them (e.g. 1 2) thinking it means "God".  I suspect most of them are Christians, where it's a fundamental part of their beliefs that God is unique.

Question: Does the single character 神 refer to "God" (the unique God, such as in e.g. Christianity) or just "god" or "deity"?

Plurals are used differently in Chinese and English, which makes me a bit skeptical.  Also, most things in Chinese require multiple characters to refer to them uniquely.

It depends on your religion.

Traditionally,「神」is just a supernatural being, applied to anything from mountain gods to river gods to the sky god.

Ancient China only ever had a "Highest God"「上帝」, not a "Unique God" like Christianity/Islam/Judaism.「上帝」was never said to do things like create the universe. If you're looking for special vocabulary for a "Unique God" in the Chinese language, you won't find one, because that is not really a Chinese concept (nor a concept in most other ancient languages, which were all polytheistic, if hierarchical).

All Chinese-origin words that you see which purportedly refers to the "Unique God" are strictly a repurposement of existing Chinese vocabulary by Christians (or whatever other religion). Specifically,

「神」and「上帝」are used by Protestant Christians in an attempt to connect Christianity to some form of native Chinese belief. Specifically,「上帝」is explicitly used to connect the Christian's God to the Ancient Chinese Shangdi.
「上帝」is avoided by Catholic Christians, who overwhelmingly uses the term「天主」. Apparently, this is due to the exact same reason as Protestant Christians but in reverse: a previous pope wanted to explicitly avoid the Christian's God with Chinese Shangdi, because Shangdi was just part of a polytheistic religion.

Ironically and rather unfortunately for Catholics,「天主」was the name of an ancient non-unique deity in the State of Qi, and was only one deity among eight.

In casual language,「神」is a kind of slang meaning amazing or awesome, in the same manner that god is used as a word for someone who is really good at something.

  「你打球好神！簡直比NBA球星還厲害！」

  Your [basket]ball play is amazing! Even better than NBA stars!

Unless someone explicitly states that they meant the Christians' God, I would rather think that the tattoos of「神」mean god as in "I'm a God/I'm awesome", etc.


必／会， 这个句子为什么用”必“？必 vs 会？ Why does this sentence use "必“？ 我读圣经的时候看了这个：

你不要害怕，因为我与你同在；不要惊惶，因为我是你的神。我必坚固你，我必帮助你，我必用我公义的右手扶持你。（以赛亚书 41:10）

我看懂它的意思，可是我不看懂 “必”。我知道它想说“我会坚固你，我会，等等“，可是它为什么用“必”？我查资料了它和知道“必”的意思是“需要”或者“会”。”会“是比较简单的吗？还是是一样的？对不起我的中文不好！
I was reading the Bible and saw this:

你不要害怕，因为我与你同在；不要惊惶，因为我是你的神。我必坚固你，我必帮助你，我必用我公义的右手扶持你。（以赛亚书 41:10）
Fear not, for I am with you, be not afraid, for I am your God, I will (必）strengthen you， I will (必） help you, I will （必） uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

I understand the meaning, but I don't understand why 必 was used. I know the meaning is "I will strengthen you, I will, etc.", but I don't understand why 必 was used instead of 会. After looking it up, I understand 必 can mean "must" or "will", but is 会 less formal? Or are they the same and it's simply a matter of word choice?

必 emphasises and reinforces much more the idea of definitive, firmness.
我会帮助你 means I will help you
我必会帮助你 means I will definitely help you

You would say 我必会帮助你 when you are 100% sure you will commit to help the person.
You feel much more secure about the other person's commitment if the person tell you 我必会帮助你.

必 also emphasises on the idea of success as in when you say 我必会帮助你, you are also quite sure that you can help the person successfully.

You could say 我一定会帮你 to mean I will definitely help you. But you feel less secure about if the person can actually help successfully.

God is all-powerful, hence he can use 必. You feel secure and confident in his presence and in this question, you feel secure and confident from his words when he tells you that he will help you.


Differences: 别的 vs 其他 vs 另外 (other) Well, the question is in the title... I'd be very thankful for an explanation, but also:

Could you give examples of cases where they are and are not interchangeable?

Can I use them for "where are the others/is the rest?"? Or "other than that, I'm not sure"?

When in doubt, which to use? (which is most general?)

This question is similar to this one but I'm also curious about 另外, and in the general sense, not just with 人. I also found reddit (useful but frozen) and Chinesepod (too expensive for one answer).

When talking about English and Chinese, we will find that there are many English words stand for more than one meaning in Chinese, such as other(s) in Chinese. It means 其他 or 其它. Although they look like, they are quite different.
Chinese: 其他/其它
pinyin: qí tā
meaning: other(s)

Similarities of 其他 and 其它

1). Same pronunciation
Both 其它 and 其他 are pronounced qí tā.
2). Same meaning
Both of them mean “other” or “others”.
3). Same part or speech
Both of them are pronoun.

Difference between 其他 and 其它

其它 and 其他, generally speaking, are almost the same. They differenciate with each other in two aspects.
1). Indicate different objects
其他 can refer to any creatures, including human, animals and stuff without life, such as 其他学生(other students), 其他城市(other cities), 其他电脑(other computers). While 其它 can’t refer to human, for instance 其它动物(other animals), 其它桌子(other desks).
2). Appear at different time
In the beginning, there is only 其他 available. Gradually, 其它 was created out of the actual requirement. Hense, 其他 emerges before 其它.


What are the difference between e.g. 想, 觉得 and 认为 when expressing opinion? What are the main ways to express opinion in Chinese? I know there are some verbs used for this, like 想, 觉得 and 认为. What are the difference between them when expressing opinion? (I know they also have alternative meanings but I am only interested when used to express an opinion or a thought.)

I believe it's the same as in English:

  我想 - I think (that) xxxxxxxx
  我相信 - I believe (that) xxxxxxx
  我觉得 -
  I feel (that) xxxxx

I will hold to explain how to use each of these in English as you should have an idea already.


What kind of words can be followed by the character 感？ For example:

正义感
使命感
厚重感

But some sound weird to me, as 意义感.
Is there a rule?

For illustration purpose, I compiled a list of words ending by 感 fetched from moedict.
Here is a words-list with English explanation.
傷感: sad, emotional, sentimental, pathos
動感: sense of movement (often in a static work of art), dynamic, vivid, lifelike
反感: to be disgusted with, to dislike, bad reaction, antipathy
口感: taste, texture (of food), how food feels in the mouth
同感: (have the) same feeling, similar impression, common feeling
善感: sensitive, emotional
喜感: comicality, comical, (Buddhism) joy
多愁善感: melancholy and moody (idiom); depressed personality
好感: good opinion, favorable impression
安全感: sense of security
幽默感: sense of humor
快感: pleasure, thrill, delight, joy, pleasurable sensation, a high
性冷感: frigidity (lack of libido)
性感: sex appeal, eroticism, sexuality, sexy
情感: feeling, emotion, to move (emotionally)
惡感: malice, ill will
感: to feel, to move, to touch, to affect, feeling, emotion, (suffix) sense of
手感: the feel (of sth touched with the hand), (textiles) handle
敏感: sensitive, susceptible
無力感: feeling of powerlessness, sense of helplessness
痛感: to feel deeply, acute suffering
第六感: sixth sense (i.e. intuition, premonition, telepathy etc)
罪惡感: feeling of guilt
美感: sense of beauty, aesthetic perception
肉感: sexiness, sexy, sensuality, sensual, voluptuous
臨場感: the feeling of actually being there
觀感: one's impressions, observations
語感: a feel for language, instinctive understanding
讀後感: impression of a book, opinion expressed in a book review
責任感: sense of responsibility
質感: realism (in art), sense of reality, texture, tactile quality
遙感: remote sensing
雜感: random thoughts (a literary genre)
靈感: inspiration, insight, a burst of creativity in scientific or artistic endeavor
預感: to have a premonition, premonition
骨感: bony, skinny

The following words-list with Chinese definition is rather complete compared to the previous one (it contains words having no English translation).
交感：互相感應。
交感：性交。《初刻拍案驚奇．卷一七》：「此後恍恍惚惚，合眼就夢見吳氏來與他交感。」《二刻拍案驚奇．卷三○》：「遂欣然留與同宿，交感之際，一如人道。」也作「交會」。
今昔之感：從眼前的現狀回憶過去的情境。多表示對世事的感慨。
使命感：對某種重大責任，有應該擔負的自覺。
偶感：突然的感發。
傷感：有所感觸而悲傷。
優越感：心理上自覺超過他人。
動感：形容人活潑熱烈、魅力十足。
反感：反對或不滿的情緒。
口感：享用食物時的感覺。
可感：令人感動。
可感：感動。
同感：相同的感受或感想。
善感：容易引發感觸。
喜感：人在舉手投足之間，深具喜劇效果。
壓迫感：個人因外在因素的影響，產生的一種緊繃、不舒暢、侷促等的心理感受。
外感：受外來刺激而起的感動。
外感：中醫上指風寒暑溼自外侵入的病。
多愁善感：形容人感情脆弱，易憂愁傷感。
好感：對人對事有滿意或喜歡的感覺。
安全感：安全無虞的感覺。
幽默感：善於運用機智的言語或手法應對問題的能力。
律動感：有節奏變化的感覺。
快感：愉快或舒服的感覺。
性冷感：女子缺乏性慾的反常現象。
性冷感：性交時女子毫無樂趣的身心反應狀態。
性感：富有性的誘惑力。
悲傷感：文學、美術作品或臺上表演所描述的狀況，在讀者或觀眾心理上產生的憐憫、同情和悲傷。
悲感：心情悲傷。
情感：內心有所觸發，而產生喜、怒、哀、樂等的心理反應。
惡感：不好的感覺。
感：震撼。
感：接觸、引起。
感：覺得。
感：互相影響、應和。
感：傷嘆。
感：對別人所給的好處表示謝意。
感：受到外來刺激所引起的情緒反應。
感：某種自我認知的看法或想法。
慚感：感激。
應感：文藝創作過程中因外物而產生靈感的現象。
應感：特指天人感應。
應物斯感：因應外在的事物而有所感悟。
懷感：懷念感恩。
懷感：唐代一位高僧的法號。專修淨土法門，通釋關於往生淨土的疑難。對唐代淨土宗的發展，貢獻很大。著有《釋淨土群疑論》七卷。
成就感：付出努力後獲得成果的滿足感。
手感：用手觸摸時的感覺。
敏感：一種神經上的病態，對外界情況容易引起迅速而強烈的反應。
敏感：泛指心理、生理上超乎尋常程度的感受與反應。
敏感：尖銳的、容易引起是非的。
機感：佛教用語。早期的佛教徒認為眾生有善根之機，能感知佛意。
正義感：好善嫉惡，有維護正義、主持公理的心思與熱情。
民族優越感：以自己的民族為最優秀，將其他民族視為較低劣的心態。
無力感：心裡的願望，因受阻礙或能力才幹不能全然發揮，所產生的挫折感。
疏離感：因社會變遷與都市工業化的影響，使人在面對生活環境時，失去其原有的和諧與親密關係，終而形成現代人面對其生活周遭環境時，自覺無意義感、無能為力感、社會孤立感、自我分離感等複雜心態，稱為「疏離感」。
病識感：精神病患對自己所罹患的病症有自我察覺的意識。
痛感：深刻的感覺到。
百感：各種感想。比喻感受很多。
空間感：影片創作者根據透視原理，運用各種手法，如照明、光學、物體的不同顏色等，造成光影明暗、色彩的差別和對比，使其在平面的銀幕上獲得立體、縱深的感覺。
立體感：具有深度、方向的逼真感覺。
第六感：眼、耳、鼻、舌、身等五身器官感覺以外的特殊敏感，是一種直覺或靈感，具神祕色彩。
罪惡感：個人在實際行為上或想像中，因有違家庭、宗教或社會規範，引發內在良心譴責而感到愧疚難安的一種主觀意識經驗。
美感：對美的感覺與體認。
肉感：肉體所引發的刺激或感覺。
臨場感：如同在現場的感覺。
臨感：臨別的愁緒。
自卑感：個人對自己所具備的條件、言行等感到不滿的心理感受。通常由幼年時期逐漸形成，為人類的普遍現象。
自感：自己感覺。
自感：電路上的電流隨時間變化，而在本身產生感應電壓的現象。
至感：極其感激，常為書信用語。
至感：至誠的感通。
觀感：觀察人或事物後所得感想。
語感：對於語言文字之心理上的反應。如對「田園」一語，詩人所感在其閒適的情趣，而園藝家所感則在其實際的效用。
讀後感：看完文章或書本內容後的內心感受。
責任感：擔負責任的心理認識。
質感：對物品質地的感覺，如粗糙、細滑、柔軟、堅硬等。
遙感：近年新開發的探測技術，對遠距離的事物進行偵測或產生感應。參見「遙感探測」條。
量感：繪畫與雕塑製作中，使人在視覺上有輕重、厚薄、多少等感覺。如泥土的沉穩感、棉花的輕柔感等。
銘感：感激不忘。
雜感：即興而成的片段感想。
雜感：零星細碎，沒有條理、沒有組織的感想。
靈感：靈驗有感應。
靈感：思考活動中，忽然出現且超越平時思考層面的想法。
音感：對音色、音高等音樂現象的辨識能力。
預感：預料事情要發生的感覺。如：「我有不祥的預感，他可能會出事。」也作「豫感」。
風樹之感：比喻父母亡故，兒女不得奉養的悲傷。參見「風木含悲」條。
骨感：形容極為消瘦。

For those who are interested in the way to generate these lists, here is the bash script.
English words-list:
curl 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/g0v/moedict-data/master/dict-revised.json' | jq '.[] | select(.title | match("^.*感$")) | {title: .title, def: .heteronyms | .[0].definitions | .[0].def} | .title ' > results.txt

cat results.txt |
while read -r a ; do
    curl "https://www.moedict.tw/a/$(echo $a | tr -d '\"').json" |
    jq '.translation.English as $en | {title: .t, en: $en | join(", ")} | [.title, .en] | join(": ")' | tr -d '`~\"' >> results-en.txt
done

Chinese words-list:
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/g0v/moedict-data/master/dict-revised.json | jq '.[] | select(.title | match("^.*感$")) | {title: .title, def: .heteronyms | .[0].definitions | .[].def} | [.title, .def] | join("：")' | tr -d "\"" > results-zh.txt


Why are sites like youku and baidu so slow overseas? When I was in China, these video sites were great for getting chinese material to watch. Ever since I came back though, these sites are too slow to watch anything.

Why are these so slow and is there a way to make them download faster?

The great firewall being between you and the servers doesn't help, but the main reason is that they only have servers in China, not a distributed content network (CDN) like most of the sites you might regularly access (Google, Youtube, Facebook etc) so that the distance between you and the nearest server is quite great.

You should also be aware that they are progressively locking down content on these sites from overseas - they don't want people accessing illegal content from abroad - so long term they aren't your best bet for getting learning material

Check out sites like CNTV - it seems to load fairly quickly for me at least, and they are actively promoting it to international users as part of the 'soft power' aspect of growing China.


What is the sword style in 大巧不工剑讲究的就是一个不工，意念要厚重，剑式要雄强圆厚...? 大巧不工剑讲究的就是一个不工，意念要厚重，剑式要雄强圆厚，气势要庄严雄浑，你看看你使出的剑式，太过松散，转折太过刚硬，致使出剑无力，剑式笼罩的范围太小……”

I’m not learning Chinese, I just enjoy doing machine translations to read and translate, but Google and the dictionary can only take me so far. What is the sword style here called? Whats the translation of this passage?

大巧不工 is from 《重剑无锋，大巧不工》

重 heavy
剑 sword
无 no
锋 sharp edge
大 big
巧 delicate
不 no
工 work

《重剑无锋，大巧不工》
Epee with no sharp edge, delicate work

The true power is not from the weapon, is from the one who uses it.

What is the sword style here called?

Sword style means the the moves of the swordsman

Whats the translation of this passage???

大巧不工剑 is the name of the sword moves i assume.

讲究的就是一个不工 is all about natural (不工 not artificial)

意念要厚重 thoughts must be strong

剑式要雄强圆厚 moves must be strong and round and thick (round and thick here means the moves must be flexible and comprehensive)

气势要庄严雄浑 momentum must be 庄严 Solemn and serious 雄浑(雄壮浩瀚: expansive)

你看看你使出的剑式，太过松散 look at your move, too loose

转折太过刚硬 moves transition too solid (not flexible)

致使出剑无力 causing your attack powerless

剑式笼罩的范围太小 area covered by your moves is too small


Is there a Chinese name for the initiality theorem? This is a very specialized question.  There is a branch of mathematical logic called Homotopy Type Theory in English, and in Chinese 同伦类型论.  There is a Baidu page on it baike.baidu.com/item/同伦类型论.   A big current question in this field is in English the "initiality theorem."  In fact "initial" here is related to the idea of an initial object in category theory, and initial object in Chinese is often  初始对象.   But initiality theorem certainly cannot be expressed as  初始 定理 since that already means other things. I tried searching  同伦类型论 with initiality theorem and got no hits at all.

Can anyone tell me if there is a current standard Chinese name for this initiality theorem?

This kind of "initiality" is sometimes expressed as 初始性质 and that may be the closest i will get.  As I said, this is a very specialized question.  There may just not be any standard Chinese name for this theorem yet.

There is currently no standard name for this theorem in Chinese.


What does "犊不畏虎" mean? I would like to know what the following Chinese expression means.

犊不畏虎。

I know what it literally means by deciphering the meanings of individual Chinese characters, that a calf is not afraid of a tiger, but what does it "imply" exactly?

How would this expression be used?

Is the expression above used frequently in modern times, or is it an outdated expression?

Are there other equivalent expressions in Chinese?

It is actually written as "初生牛犊不怕虎”，it is sometimes used to describe a person not afraid of an strong enemy because he/she is a novice or beginner. Not very often, but is is commonly used.


Position of direct object in a sentence with an adverb of degree I came across the following sentence:
怪不得法文他说得那么好。
Which translates as "No wonder that he speaks French so well". So far so good.
However, this word order is intriguing to me.
"He speaks French" would be just "他说法文", or "他会说法文", meaning literally "He can speak French".
However, in the first sentence, we have an expression of degree introduced by the 得 particle. "他说得那么好", "He speaks so/that well" is familiar to me, but here there's no direct object. Just the verb and an adverbial expression describing the verb.
So, does the usage of an adverbial expression (the 得- construction) require the direct object to be placed elsewhere, before the subject? "他说法文", but "法文他说得那么好"?

So, does the usage of an adverbial expression (the 得- construction) require the direct object to be placed elsewhere, before the subject? "他说法文说得那么好", but "法文他说得那么好"?

They are two different topics in a [(topic) + (comment)] sentence.
[他说法文 (topic)] + [说得那么好 (comment)]
说得那么好 is the comment on the topic 他说法文
On the topic of 'he speaks French', the comment is 'speaks very well'
~
[法文 (topic)] + 他说得那么好 (comment)]
他得说那么好 is the comment on the topic 法文
On the topic of 'French', the comment is 'he speaks very well'
~
[subject + V + 得 + adjective] doesn't always require an object
Example: 他跑得很快
When there is an object, the object can be placed before the subject as a topic.
Example: 中文 他學得很快
When an object is placed after the subject and verb, it becomes a [SVO] sentence (e.g. 他學中文) and the sentence can be the topic.
Example: 他學中文 學得很快


Are the two 勾魂鬼 actually 黑白无常？ 哎吆，我担心了！

“（孙悟空）掏出金箍棒，把两个勾魂鬼打成了肉酱。”

是不是这两个‘勾魂鬼’就是那两位‘黑白无常’？

他们成了肉酱的话，谁来捉拿去世人的魂呢？

There will be an imbalance between heaven and earth. Souls will pile up! Soul pollution!

It could be, but 黑白无常 can not be eliminated obviously, they will reform.

Or, the two 勾魂鬼 just work for 黑白无常, since many people die at same times, 黑白无常 need employees.


Degree complement and using 那么 I came up with this sentence below.

她哭得那么多了

Is it possible to put 那么 after 得?

多谢。

她哭得那么多了

You have misused the complement. We say:

她哭得那么伤心。
她哭得很厉害。

If you want to express she has cried many times, then you should say 她哭过很多次了.
So, your issue is 多了 isn't a correct complement for 哭. When you say 那么多了, you don't need 得. For example, we say 说(了)那么多了，we don't say 说得那么多了. 得 is just redundant here.


How to use 一点儿 and 一下儿？ They both mean "a little bit" according to the dictionary. However, does the meaning both apply in V and Adjective?

i.e.
V + 一点儿/一下儿 (吃一点儿/吃一下儿，快一点儿/快一下儿) and
Adj + 一点儿/一下儿 (美一点儿/美一下儿, 好一点儿，好一下儿)

In the above examples, my native Chinese friend told me she rarely or even never heard 快一下儿，美一下儿，好一下儿. So my question: is there any difference of meaning and usage between 一点儿 and 一下儿?

一下 is a little (time.) This makes it mostly after a verb. I believe the two most common uses are:

等一下 (děng yíxià) Wait a bit
休息一下 (xiūxi yíxià) Rest a little while

It is also used as a numeral classifier after a verb, indicating an attempt or act:

看一下 (kàn yíxià) have a look
试一下 (shì yíxià) have a try

一点（儿） is a little (quantity.) Some common uses are:

我会说一点儿。 (Wǒ huì shuō yìdiǎnr.) I can speak a little bit.
快（一）点儿！(Kuài diǎnr!) Hurry up (a bit!)

It also gets used before a negative expression (or after 这么 or 那么,) meaning "(not) even a little bit"

一点儿也不方便。 (Yìdiǎnr yě bù fāngbiàn.) Not even a little bit convenient.
这事我就知道那么一点儿。 (Zhè shì wǒ jiù zhīdao nàme yìdiǎnr.) That's all I know about it.

Contrast this to 有（一）点（儿） which is a little (degree.) Examples:

我有点儿累。 (Wǒ yǒudiǎnr lèi.) I'm a bit tired.
第十一课有点儿难 (Dì shí yī kè yǒudiǎnr nán.) Lesson 11 is a bit difficult.


What is the meaning of this 将？ This 将 indicates A. 'just before' or B. 'just after' sunset? zdic.net has

将： 快要， ‘just about to' so A
将： 刚，刚刚 which I think means 'just happened', so B

那是一个夕阳将落的傍晚，.....

將 = about to = will soon

"In the evening, the moment the Sun was about to set," [...I suppose the sentence is unfinished]

edit: right, I am reminded that (slightly old-fashioned sense) 將 has the sense of 了, but that is not equivalent to 剛剛. "了" means something similar to perfect tense, but that does not necessarily happen "just before now".


Tips to remember the pronunciation of these words: 旅，斿，施，旋，族? I often misread these words and got mistaken between each other:

旅 = Lǚ
斿/游 = Yóu
施 = shī
旋 = Xuán
族 = zú

as each of them doesn't have related phonetic indicator that I can use as clue to remember their pronunciations.

Any tips to remember their pronunciations?

Well, I suppose the only useful tip is practice :)
But if a little imagination may help, perhaps I can say a little about 施.
Now, I am sure you noticed these five words have the same "left-portion" and the "upper-right portion" in the way they are written.
So take a look at what's left over if we take those portions out.
You will see a 也. You may think of 也是，couple this 也 to a 是, which pronounces as SHI!
Then you might be able to remind yourself 施 is pronounced as SHI!
HAHA! :p Anyway don't worry, practice more, then you'll be fine.


Bottom component of 青 and 䏍 When learning how to write, I had always assumed that the lower component of the left component 䏍 of 能 was just a lower variant of 月.  A couple of days ago, however, I decided to look it up, and I found that, at least according to YellowBridge, it is not a variant of 月, but is in fact a lower variant of 肉.

Okay, fair enough.  But then I looked-up 青, and I found that, also according to YellowBridge, the lower component here is indeed a lower variant of 月.  When I found this out, I figured there would be a subtle, but noticeable difference, between the two (for example, similar to the differences between 己 and 已, or between 口 and 囗, etc.), but after looking at the characters in detail using YellowBridge's "Strokes" tab, I really could not see any noticeable difference between the two.

Is it indeed the case that the lower component of 䏍 is different from the lower component of 青?  If so, what is the visual cue to look for to tell the difference between these two components?

Brief Answers

  Is it indeed the case that the lower component of 䏍 is different from the lower component of 青?

Yes in the etymology sense (the lower component of 䏍 is 肉, and the lower component of 青 is 丹), but it's not necessary to distinguish them in your hand writing – though, maybe some teachers, especially those in Taiwan, encourage you to do so – you will soon see the problem: 月 can denote five different components; in practice no one would distinguish all of them in the hand writing!

  If so, what is the visual cue to look for to tell the difference between these two components?

In order to reflect the etymology of characters, some fonts distinguish the two components. However, so far, to the best of my knowledge, no font can distinguish the five different components denoted by 月.
Of course, they are sharply distinguished in seal and older scripts.

More Information: Five Different "Forms" of 月

月 (Moon).

  Seal script:

  Kangxi Dictionary:

  Taiwan MOE standard:

肉 (Meat). There is an ideogram coded in Unicode for this special 月, ⺼ (Note: this special ideogram can only stand for 肉, but cannot stand for other meanings. The entry for 朕 in Yellowbridge says "... boat 舟 (replaced by ⺼)" – that's a mistake). Example: 能

  Seal script:

  Kangxi Dictionary:

  Taiwan MOE standard:

舟 (boat). Example: 前 (歬 is an old variant form to reflect the seal script)

  Seal script:

  Kangxi Dictionary:

  Taiwan MOE standard:

丹 (well). Example: 青 ( is an old variant form to reflect the seal script; 靑 is coded in Unicode to reflect 丹, though chaotically not all of characters with a variant component can be coded.)

  Seal script:

  Kangxi Dictionary:

  Taiwan MOE standard:

贝 (shell). Example: 朋 (two strings of shells)

  Oracle script:

  Kangxi Dictionary:

  Taiwan MOE standard:


Can Chinese people pronounce the tones correctly with a stuffed nose or soar throat? As far as I understand the Chinese language makes heave use of tones and inclinations for oral conversation. How do people who have a stuffed nose or sore throat deal with the tones then? Do they become hard to understand to their peers?

I think I am able to pronounce words with correct tones when my nose is stuffed since the pronunciation doesn't really rely on nasal sound but rather the sudden change in pitch.


Use of 而 preceding verb I have only been studying a short while in spare time but have seen quite a few simple sentences in which 而 precedes the verb. Are there any basic ideas about the structure of such sentences? Places where this is required, recommended? What really is the meaning of 而 in such a sentence?

My notes aren't in front of me but I will supplement this later with an example if I can find one and the question is too broad. If it helps, I am only concerned with very simple sentences of this type.

Edit: (I will replace the toneless Pinyin time allowing, meanwhile I am sure the translations will take care of any ambiguity.)

Ta ying wo de qing qiu er lai. (He came at my request.)
...dui mian er zuo...(sitting opposite each other)
...bu gao er qu...(leaving without announcing)
...yi dai er guo... (mention in passing)
...yan bi er guo ...(hold one's nose in passing, i.e. look down on)

I will look at the answers as soon as possible. My sense is that 'er' functions as a marker of the infinitive and maybe gives a sense of the manner in which the verb is being done or the reason for it. Thanks.

My go-to is usually 百度 Bai Du:

It means: but （not）；yet （not）；and；as well as；

Out of all of the examples there, I only found a couple where it precedes the verb:

我愿意为什么**而** [VERB: 牺牲] 呢？
What am I willing to sacrifice?

你原是为永恒**而** [VERB: 造]。
You were made to last forever.

而 here, as you can see from the translation, can mean "to" as an infinitive (precedes verb).

However, you'll most often see it used as a coordinator/conjunction...

革命是广泛**而**自发的。
The revolution is broad and spontaneous.

Definitely check out that Bai Du link above... You'll see 而 is also used a lot in conjunction with other words to actually mean many different things... Here's some more examples:

而。。。却 : And...Yet

这些话除了伤痛什么也不能带来 **而** 我们 **却** 乞求它。
Those words bring nothing but pain and yet we beg for it.

而。。。，是为了 : I did [x], so that [y]

而我看这些书，是为了让你不必再去看。
I read these books so that you don't have to.


Meaning & Etyomology: 博眼球? The only meaning of 博眼球 I've been able to come across is the following from a 百度知道 answer:

  回头率高，吸引人的意思

but is it really that simple, is that all it means? 'An eyeball-turner?'

What does 博 mean here?

Where did this word originate from?

The pictures associated with this word seems to show that it is of a more perverted nature but it is also used in a more normal fashion elsewhere, e.g.: 漳州：商家为博眼球 促销竟请来"毛主席".

The word 博 is usually used with another word 得(or 取).

The meaning of 博 here is also the same as 得, which means get, or more precisely to get.

When you translate it into English, I'd use to attract instead.

So the whole sentence could be To attract more eyeballs.


稀里糊涂and糊里糊涂, Are there any differences? 大家好！
1.稀里糊涂/糊里糊涂，它们有区别吗？
2.稀，里是什么意思？These are words not found in most dictionaries.

糊里糊涂: 形容人行事極為迷糊或不明道理 (describes people acting extremely confused or unreasonable)
唏哩花啦: 1. 形容物體滾落、撞擊的聲音 (describe the sound of objects rolling down and hitting)  2. 比喻破敗難堪的情境 (metaphor of dilapidated and embarrassing situation)
稀里糊涂 sounds like the combination of the two (confused and embarrassing)
唏哩花啦 has no meaning on their own in the idiom, they are sound effect characters


How is 着 pronounced here? In Mo Yan's Red Sorghum there is a line saying:

曾外祖母做了好饭好菜，说着甜言蜜语，

The meaning is clear, and could be translated either "Greatgrandmother made good foods and said honeyed words" or "Greatgrandmother made good foods while saying honeyed words."  In grammatical terms, 说着 could be either a verb (said) or an adverb (while saying).  But as I understand it these are pronounced differently.  The verb is pronounced zháo and the adverb zhe.

I can't distinguish them by context since they mean pretty much the same thing. Is there a good way to distinguish them?  Is one just more common than the other? Or is it just ambiguous?

说着 could be either a verb (said) or an adverb (while saying). But as I understand it these are pronounced differently.

In most cases 说着 reads 'zhe' and means while saying.

说着(zhao2) is a rare usage only in colloquial language in the Northern dialects, where 着 means hit the target, e.g. '被你说着了' means 'spot on'. The non-dialectal version is '被你说中了'.

Specific to your sentence,

  曾外祖母做了好饭好菜，说着甜言蜜语，

Without further context, it looks like an incomplete quote because 了 suggests the action of 'making food' was already done at the point soft words were said, the latter must be occurring at the same time with something else that's snipped out. One may naturally think the complete sentence would be like:

  曾外祖母做了好饭好菜，说着甜言蜜语，哄小曾孙子吃。

The soft words were said when great-grandmother was trying to get the child to eat. 着 suggests those actions were occurring in parallel, temporally, and from the semantics we are able to conclude the former is the method for the latter, logically.

Since we know where this sentence is quoted from, we can look at the real context:

  三天里她茶饭不思，精神恍惚，曾外祖母做了好饭好菜，说着甜言蜜语，我奶奶置之不理，宛若木人一样。

There is a time frame (三天), now it becomes clear that 着 suggests it's a repetitive action 'during' those three days as opposed to an one-off action. The whole sentence goes:

  In those three days, grandmother fell into a trance and had no desire to eat. Her mother made good foods and kept saying soft words to her, but she did not respond at all just like a wooden stick.


What is the equivalent in English for 情怀？ The information given in the Moments aka 朋友圈 of the application of WeChat often tries to show some 情怀 to catch the eyeball of readers,but what is the equivalent for this phrase? Passion? Compassion? Zeal? Enthusiasm?

It depicts a glimpse of private sentiment, or the emotional affinity that draws a person towards certain people or things. 情懷（情怀） is a very subjective term in the sense that it points to something essential within a person, that marks his or her individuality. The feeling can be subtle but it is always expressive; never the kind of private sentiment that is shy, covert or concealed.
The《漢語大詞典》gives three meanings for the term, ranging from very personal feelings to manifest disposition (English translations are my own):

  心情：personal feelings 　　唐杜甫《北征》詩：「老夫情懷惡，嘔泄臥數日。」 　　Tu Fu is not in a good mood because he's been bedridden from vomiting and diarrhoea for
  several days.  　　郁達夫《過去》：“兩旁店家的燈火，照耀得很明亮，反照出了些離人的孤獨的情懷。” 　　The bright
  lights from the shop-houses is contrasted with the loneliness of those
  who are leaving.
  情趣、興致：interest, enthusiasm, proclivity, a delight in things 　　清袁枚《隨園詩話補遺》卷五：“劉郎去後情懷減，不肯紅粧直到今。” 　　The maiden in question has lost
  interest declined to wear make-up ever since the male lead, a youth
  named Liu, left her.
  猶胸懷：disposition akin to high-mindedness 　　峻青《海嘯》第二章：“為革命事業而獻身，就是你畢生的高尚情懷。”    Self-sacrifice for the noble
  cause of the Revolution is a testament to your high-mindedness.


Differences between 推荐 and 建议 Formal definitions are not of great help. Studying HSK it is clear that 推荐 is the one use in any context where one recommends places to go/eat/do activities.
I could find here that 建议 is more about advice that recommendation. From purpleculture we could think 推荐 is a subset of 建议. I want to make sure, especially in the context of formal writing vs speaking.

推荐 = recommend (closer to push for)
建议 = suggest (closer to advice)
If you know the difference between 'recommend' and  'suggest' you should have no difficulty deciding when to use which.
推荐 applies to objects; 建议 applies to actions
Example:
推荐某人当顾问 (O)
建议某人当顾问 (X)
建议让某人当顾问 (O)
沒人推荐他 (O)
沒人建议他 (X)
沒人建议用他 (O)
孔明向刘备推荐联吳抗曹 (X)
孔明向刘备推荐联吳抗曹的策略 (O)
孔明向刘备建议联吳抗曹 (O)
孔明向刘备建议联吳抗曹的策略 (?) - 建议策略 clearly implies 建议(實行)策略, therefore omitting the verb 實行 is acceptable
孔明向刘备建议實行联吳抗曹的策略 (O)


What is an “exoactive” Chinese character? I have noticed that Chinese characters are labelled as “exoactive”, “endoactive”, “exopassive” and “endopassive” on Wiktionary.
For example, it says that 娶 (marry) is the exoactive version of 取. I am unable to find other websites which utilize this term, and its usage seems to be rather obscure.
Now, I do understand that 娶 is a phono-semantic compound, where the character’s sound is indicated by 取, and its meaning indicated by 女. Could the aforementioned terms be related to this concept?

These terms were devised in the late 20th century analysis of Classical Japanese, originally, for the difference between -(さ)す (glossed as externally instigated) and -(ら)る (glossed as internally instigated). This exoactive vs endoactive reflects 18th century Japanese use of 他動詞 vs 自動詞 (tadoushi vs jidoushi).
In more traditional Western-orientated linguistic parlance, this is equivalent to transitive vs intransitive; in Modern Japanese, this is how it is presented to students. E.g. 散る (ちる) chiru vs 散らす (ちらす) chirasu. However, there are pairs even in Modern Japanese which definitely do not fit this description, e.g.

部屋を出る (へやをでる)
heya (w)o deru
to go out of / leave the room

... where there is an explicit object, but the verb is endoactive (with る), yet transitive. Contrast this with:

結果を出す (けっかをだす)
kekka (w)o dasu
to yield / come out with results

... where there is an explicit object, the verb is still transitive, but exoactive (with す). There is also a school that calls them causative vs inchoative pairs.
However, on application to Chinese, endoactive vs exoactive was used for directional transitive verbs, e.g.:

"buy" 買 mǎi vs "sell" 賣 mài
"buy grain" 糴 dí vs "sell grain" 糶 tì
"hear/smell" 聞 wén vs "ask" 問 wèn

... and a wide range of pairs that fit a similar semantic alternation. This regular(ish) association of exoactive = Middle Chinese 去聲 (departing tone) implies some sort of regular morphology in Old Chinese, which is believed to be a final *-s suffix, which later (in the Han?) became *-h and ended up in departing tone.
Schuessler expands on this endoactive/exoactive distinction with the endopassive/exopassive one, as well as providing a simplex (neither -active nor -passive) version, and associates them with different proposed derivational phonology by their outcomes in Middle Chinese. Some of the above examples were reallocated.
This tonal difference is what accounts for 取 vs 娶, which in Middle Chinese have rising and departing tones. This distinction is preserved in (colloquial) Min but lost in Mandarin and (most of) Cantonese. However, if "take" is the endoactive (internally motivated) direction, then how is "to take as a wife" an exoactive (externally motivated) one? That's the semantic leap that Schuessler has to make, and provides an explanation for:

However, the key was apparently the person as indir. object.


What is the difference between 依然 and 仍然? What is the difference between 依然 and 仍然?

依然 and 仍然 both can be used as adverb to mean "still". And when used this way, they are interchangable in most cases. You can say "虽然生病，他依然去上学了" or "虽然生病，他仍然去上学了". Both are appropriate.

However 依然 can also be used as a verb, such as "noun + 依然" (most likely in some idioms or phrases). e.g 旧态依然, 风采依然. You cannot use 仍然 in these situations. But anyway, such kind of usage is rarely heard in daily talks.

In addition you'll find 依然 in some classic poems. But I haven't seen any occurence of 仍然 in poetry before 20th century.


Chinese computer vocabulary, and most frequently encountered common computer terms What are the most frequent words I'm likely to encounter when using a computer in Chinese.

Stuff like file menu, cut, copy, paste, edit, properties, ok, cancel, back, refresh, save, print etc...

Just want to learn a few so I don't get lost everytime I have to use a Chinese computer.

Is there a list somewhere?

What are the 250 most common menu items / words I am likely to encounter when using a Chinese computer?

computer -  电脑
internet -  因特网
software -  软件
program -  程序
Windows -  视窗
Mac -  苹果（电脑）
Apple -  苹果 （公司）
Microsoft -  微软 （公司）
Google -  谷歌
file -  文件
copy -  复制
save -  保存
delete -  删除
open -  打开
close -  关闭
click -  点击
double-click -  - 双击
turn on -  打开
turn off -  关掉
plug in -  插入
image -  图片
video -  视频
connect -  链接
network -  网络
wireless -  无线
email -  电子邮件
inbox -  邮箱
browser -  浏览器
URL / Internet address -  网址
send an email - 发邮件
reply -  回复
forward  -  (v.) 转发
chat -  聊天
hard disk -  硬盘
keyboard -  键盘
drive (n.) -  磁盘
screen -  屏幕
mouse -  鼠标
USB drive -  U盘
crash -  (v.) 电脑死机
broken -  (adj.) 怀了
desktop (computer) -   台式机
laptop (computer) -   笔记本
desktop  -  桌面  (means: computer background)
icon -  图标
Excel -  Excel （软件）(no translation)
Word -  Word （软件）(no translation)
Powerpoint -  简报 （软件）(more commonly called PPT; no translation)
spreadsheet -  表格
Word document  -  Word文档
slideshow -  幻灯片

:) Self-compiled.


When to use 勿忘我 vs 不忘我 vs 别忘我 Is there any reason why 勿忘我 seems to be used more?

are there specific scenarios or reasons why you would say 不忘我 or 别忘我 instead?

I think there are 3 major reasons:

勿忘我 is kind of idiom that everyone use it.
We barely use 不忘我 and 别忘我 because they have some grammar issues. Instead, 不要忘了我 and 别忘了我 are the right expression.
勿忘我 much better than the other two from perspective of literature.


What is the fundamental difference between 大同世界 and Utopias I wanted to add '大同世界' as an entry to a Chinese dictionary a group of editors and I are working at. At first, I thought 'Utopias' could be one of its definitions. But I searched 大同世界 on the net and found no reference that translates '大同世界' as 'Utopias'

Google Translate: 大同世界 --> Datong World

大同世界: 大同是中國古代思想，指人類最终可達到的理想世界，代表着人类对未来社会的美好憧憬。基本特征即为人人友爱互助，家家安居乐业，没有差异，没有战争。這种状态称为“世界大同”，此种世界又稱「大同世界」

大同世界: 描绘的大道之世，人人有德，人人敬老，人人爱幼，无处不均匀，无人不饱暖的理想社会。

Utopias: is an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its citizens

大同: Great Harmony; Great Unity; 世界: World

Question: What is the fundamental difference between 大同世界 and Utopias that preventing dictionary editors from equating the two terms?
~
From Google Translate:

Utopias -->烏托邦

理想邦 --> Ideal State

I often equate 烏托邦 with 理想邦, is that wrong too?

Tl;dr: Terms that share apparently similar meanings but are each specific to their own culture should not be considered as synonymous.

The reason for incomparability is that the context or purpose of the two usually differs. E.g., the Chinese concept of zhongyong (中庸, doctrine of the mean) should not be equated with the Aristotlean concept of the golden mean, which 'also' refers to a desirable middle between two extremes. While some of the examples in the golden mean may overlap with Confucian virtues, the Aristotlean golden mean is intended to be a solution in ethics, i.e., how to be ethical (i.e., doing the ‘right’ thing) between two vices (say being courageous between cowardice and recklessness), in order to achieve 'happiness' (eudaimonia) in life. Zhongyong is simply an advice on the Way of life, does not provide concrete examples like its Aristotlean analogue, and does not aim to achieve eudaimonia. That is to say, 中庸 is not an ideal translation of the Aristotlean golden mean.

Here I argue datong (大同), despite its seeming overtness in literality, is in fact culture-specific. It is classically a Confucian concept first appearing in The Book of Rites (禮記) (sadly a fact overlooked by many) and is juxtaposed to another societal form, xiaokang (小康) (note: NOT the modern meaning). Both datong and xiaokang societies seem ideal and harmonious (utopian, if you may), but datong is the better of the two. Why? Because people in datong aims for the common good (天下為公), and there is spontaneity in their practicing the Confucian principles (e.g. 仁義 and 五倫). That is to say, these principles need not be deliberately advertised or codified into laws and rules, as in a xiaokang society. In fact, Confucius was expressing regret in the obsoletion of a datong society, as he considered the society he was in a xiaokang one.

The modern use of datong as we know it originates from Kang Youwei (康有為). Kang's Datong shu (大同書) outlines the hypothetical datong society where radical compassion (Kang's interpretation of 仁) should be applied to all. In Smith (2019):

In The Great Unity ([D]atong shu), Kang discussed the future datong as a
utopia in which states will no longer exist; families will be
completely different, as men and women will be equal and same sex
marriage will be accepted; robotic birds will take the place of
servants; and animals will be treated well by a world of vegetarians.
Although often full of radical compassion in a way unlike other
literature of his contemporaries, Kang and his book were products of
their time, and included terrifying prescriptions for the elimination
of the black race through a centuries-long programme of eugenics.
Kang’s utopia was both highly imaginative and deeply troubling.

Kang's datong society was not exactly that of the Republic of China, but it is definitely utopian. A utopia must be imaginary (Thomas More intended it to be imaginary when he first coined the term; it comes from Greek οὐ 'not' and τόπος 'place' which translates as 'no-place') and contrasted to the flaws of the existent society. It also depends on the ideals of the thinker, so there may exist a plethora of utopias. The universalisation of English has perhaps also made its use loose and diverse. On the other hand, the concept of datong, be it Confucian or Kang's, is relatively stable (despite both being imaginary like utopias, with the Confucian one being historical, and de novo in Kang's). That is to say, utopia is an umbrella term. There are similarities and differences between datong and utopia; equating the two terms is not sound.

Similarly, 理想國 is technically a type of utopia. Classically it is the title translation of Plato's Republic, but in modern speech the specificity has decreased and has become similar to meaning utopia.

Reference: Smith CA. Datong and Xiaokang, in Sorace, Franceschini, Loubere (eds) Afterlives of Chinese Communism. AUS; 2019.


Difference between these two phrases for "Killing two birds with one stone": 一箭双雕 vs. 一石二鸟 I learned recently that both 一箭双雕 and 一石二鸟 are equivalent to the phrase "kill two birds with one stone". Is there any difference between these two? Do they have different connotations? Would you use them in different situations?

As you mentioned, both 「一箭雙雕 」and 「一石二鳥」are equivalent  to the English idiom " kill two birds with one stone" . The difference is the scenario of the metaphor . You can say the two idioms are basically the same, but「一箭雙雕 」 is more decisive and forceful, while 「一石二鳥」 is more methodical and calculated.

「一箭雙雕 」(one arrow goes through two condors) describe two goals being achieved by one straight forward action-- that take great aim, skill and power.
「一石二鳥」( hit two birds with one stone) also describe one action achieves two goals, but the stone has to hit the first bird and then bounds to hit the second bird-- that take skill, planing and calculation.
「一箭雙雕」focus on the result: You can describe someone dating two sisters at the same time as  「一箭雙雕 」, but not 「一石二鳥」.
「一石二鳥」 focus on the method: People say " 「一石二鳥之計」( the trick that kill two birds with one stone) but not 「一箭雙雕之計」。
Another term similar to the two is 「一舉兩得」( take one action and get two benefits)


Difference between 好看、美丽 and 漂亮 All these words are used to describe beauty but which one is used for human, and which is used for things?

The differences between 好看, 美丽 and 漂亮 just like that differences between good-looking, beautiful, pretty, it's so hard to distinguish... well, just a joke. The three words can be used for a good-looking person. 好看 may be used for not only a person, but also a book: 书很好看, a movie: 电影很好看, or other artistic works. If it's used for praising someone's looking, the degree is lower than 美丽 and 漂亮. Both 美丽 and 漂亮 are synonymical in almost all cases: 美丽的新娘 and 漂亮的新娘 are almost the same. 美丽 can also be used for landscape: 美丽的风景, some place: 美丽的上海, 美丽的家乡, etc. 漂亮 is generally used for persons only, also used as an adverb rarely, for example: well done means 干得好, you may say 干得漂亮 as well.


Can someone translate what is written in this photo please? Please i need help translating this into english. I have no idea what it says.

Those are traditional characters
愛 (ài) Love
尊敬 (zūnjìng) Respect, honour, esteem
忠誠 (zhōngchéng)  Loyal, faithful


Seal Script Title + Artist Seals This is another part of the same book I posted on here yesterday - I'm certain I've got one of the characters, I'm unsure of another, and I'm really struggling with the last one. If anyone is able to read them it would be of immense help - contextually, it would make sense for it to be the title of an old Chinese poem.

I've gotten as far as (reading Right - Left) "X 厡(?) 圖"

Also, if anyone is able to help with the seals in the below picture, that'd be great (they're a bit too artsy for me to read).

Thanks,
Thomas.

桃原圖

As for the other two seals, I'm fairly sure that they're both referring to one person mentioned on this page:

明義父

I won't presume the order that you're supposed to read this, so the characters in their positions are:
惇　　平
信＊　印

＊Not sure of this character, looks like some sort of modification from「言」.


When should directional complements be used? How come there are many times that they aren't used as in "他们要到上海了"? I understand that Chinese directional complements are used to indicate direction of an action. I understand that when 来 is used after the verb there is some movement towards the speaker and when 去 is used there is some movement away from the speaker.
However, my question is when is the directional complement used because I see sentences in which it could be said that there is movement to/away from the speaker and yet there is no directional complement.
For instance:

他们要到上海了。(Tomorrow they will arrive at Shanghai.)

When are directional complements used? Please answer generally rather than just answering in the case of the above example.

Let me put it in this way:

他们要到上海了。
They are about to (要) arrive in Shanghai.

This sentence means "they" are already on their way to Shanghai, instead of meaning they are going to Shanghai or they are planning to go to Shanghai.
Moreover, this is just a statement of fact, and it doesn't require/imply any relationship between the speaker and the object ("They" in this sentence). The speaker can be in Shanghai (The speaker is telling his friend that those people "they" are about to arrive here); the speaker can also be somewhere else.

他们要到上海来了。
他们要来上海了。
They are coming to Shanghai.

This means the speaker is in Shanghai.

他们要到上海去了。
他们要去上海了。
They are going to Shanghai.

This implies the speaker is not in Shanghai.


Is the word order in 我也在英國 and 你是很快速 and 你不真的在咖啡廳 correct? I have a feeling what I'm writing is either wrong order or unnatural sounding. Can someone verify?

  我也在英國

(I'm also in england)

  你是很快速

(You are very fast)

  你不真的在咖啡廳

(You arent really at the cafe.)

In these examples they feel correct to me, but the last one I am particularly unsure of, and also, in the second one, I suspect the 是 is unnecessary and makes it sound unnatural.

First sentence is good. For the second, "快速" is more commonly used as a adverb not an adjective, so you can say "这辆车可以快速地移动" but usually not "这辆车很快速". Also I would omit the "是". So instead of "你是很快速" I would say "你很快".
As for the last one "你不是真的在咖啡厅" would sound more natural.


箭牌 vs 诏书: emperor's decree I'm thinking about a mnemonic for 令, and my wife mentioned that in former times the emperor's orders were written on tablets called 箭牌. However, I cannot find any information about this word, and the Google image search does not yield any tablets. How are these tablets referred to in Chinese?

I now that there's also 诏书, but this seems to relate more to orders written on paper. Am I right?

I tried to find a translation or even the right word by googling "emperor order tablet ", but nothing showed up. As I'm not a native English speaker: Am I missing the right word?

I think you are talking about 令牌 and 诏书.

令牌 is something like badge. It doesn't have any order on it, but just used to identify the person who carry it.

诏书 is orders written on paper, bamboo or something else.


Alternative translations of ‘狗长尾巴尖儿’ et al I'm looking for alternative translations of this short quote from chapter 45 (四十五回) Dream of The Red Chamber《红楼梦》:

  “气的我只要给平儿打报不平儿。忖夺了半日，好容易‘狗长尾巴尖儿’的好日子，又怕老太太心里不受用，因此没来，究竟气还未平。”

H. Bencraft Joly's translation is as follows:

  My monkey was up, and I meant to have taken upon myself to avenge Ping’er’s grievance; but, after mature consideration, I thought to myself, ‘her birthday is as slow to come round as a dog’s tail grows to a point.’ I also feared lest our venerable senior might be made to feel unhappy; so I did not come forward.

Are there any better translations out there?

气的我只要给平儿打报不平儿。

Angered me to the point of desperately wanting to file a grievance on behalf of little Peng.

  忖夺了半日，

Carefully deliberated half a day

  好容易‘狗长尾巴尖儿’的好日子，

It is a long awaited day of celebration for (someone's) birthday,

I didn't read the novel, so I don't know whose birthday it was

  又怕老太太心里不受用，

so I'm afraid the old madam might feel displeased,

  因此没来，究竟气还未平。

therefore I didn't come forward, however, my anger has not been subsided.


Opening a Mahjong business. Does 熬云 sound like a business name? Have no idea what a normal Chinese business name sounds like I believe this violates rules (at least it does in StackOverflow), because it's a subjective question.  But this is a really big decision so I just wanted to tap any resources I could before moving forward

I'm going to open a business that has private Mahjong rooms, open late (till 4AM), at the top floor of a building

For a business name I am thinking

熬云

Because 熬夜 is staying up late
运气 is luck
and 云 is clouds (top floor)

But my main problem is that I have no idea how it sounds.  I do not know any Chinese business names, what is normal, what sounds normal, what sounds ridiculous

So my question is:
Does 熬云 sound like a business name?  Especially one that has private rooms for mahjong

To me as a native speaker, there is a negative feeling about 熬. It means getting through(or endure) bad things(etc. pain, poor, sickness).
see 熬's meaning here

So maybe 熬 is just not the best choice. But considering your ID as "A O", you may like this "ao" sound very much. So my recommendation is to use 鏖 instead.(see 鏖's meaning here). It basically meaning a really long battle. As Mahjong is a really long battle on the table. Hope this helps.


When do you need the 的 at the end of sentences? E.g. 你是从哪里听到这个消息的？ I learned the following sentence.

  你是从哪里听到这个消息的？

Is it possible to omit 的 here?  So is 你是从哪里听到这个消息？ wrong?

I know that the particle is used to signal ownership, but is it necessary to use it here?

Information seems to be a noun already?

They are almost the same meanings:
你从哪里听到这个消息？
你从哪里听到的这个消息？
你从哪里听到这个消息的？
你是从哪里听到的这个消息？
你是从哪里听到这个消息的？


How do I say “my favourite person” in Cantonese? My favourite...
Pls also provide jyutping

"My favourite person" = "我最喜愛嘅人" /ngo5 zeoi3 hei2 oi3 ge3 jan4/

"My favourite toy" = "我最喜愛嘅玩具"

"My favourite movies star" = "我最喜愛嘅明星"

"My favourite hobby" = "我最喜愛嘅嚐好"

"My favourite son" = "我最喜愛嘅仔/ 我最寵愛嘅仔"

You can use either 喜愛 or 寵愛 if you have authority over the subject (human only).

Example: 女兒 (daughter), 部下(subordinate), 妃嬪 (concubine), 學生 (pupil)...

You can say: "我最喜愛嘅玩具" but not: "我最寵愛嘅玩具"


Is this textured bun still "mantou"? I often eat this as part of my lunch:

Question: Is this still mántóu (馒头) or should I call it something else?

So far I've called this mantou without any real issues, but it seems different to the usual mantou (which have a smooth surface).

The Chinese mostly call it "花卷" in daily life but you might regard it as a variant of "馒头" as well, if you apply the concept of "馒头" broadly. It's just that it more usually comes with some flavoring compared with 馒头 which can be plain. Apparently there's a Wikipedia entry for it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_roll


How to express the word "enjoy"? As in "enjoy traveling" As a native english speaker, I've always struggled with the translation of "to enjoy" in to mandarin. I know that a couple of variations involve 享受， or 欣赏. But often the sentences I write using both of those feel unnatural. In this case, how would I say "If I don't sleep well tonight, I won't enjoy traveling tomorrow"
Could I say

"如果我睡的不够我明天就不会享受我们的旅游"

There is nothing wrong with 'enjoy' as 享受. You don't feel natural because we don't say it that way. 要是我今晚睡不好，明天的旅行就玩不好/玩不尽兴。we prefer HAVE FUN than ENJOY.


NY Times 翻译: He presented the choice in binary terms - 他用非此即彼的二元论来表述这个选择. Too complex? I'm having problems figuring The NY Times' translation. Why so complex?

他用非此即彼的二元论来表述这个选择. He presented the choice in binary terms

So Google Translate gives me:

他用非此即彼 - He used one or the other.

This I don't get it. He used not 此-this 即-? 彼- that

二元论 - dualism

来表述这个选择 - to formulate these options

Here's the context:

奥巴马说，有朝一日，当美国不再受到直接威胁时，“军事行动的门槛必须要提得更高。”他用非此即彼的二元论来表述这个选择，暗示他的批评者想用武力解决全球的许多麻烦。

In the future, when the United States is not directly threatened, “the threshold for military action must be higher,” Mr. Obama said. He presented the choice in binary terms, suggesting that his critics want to use force to solve many of the world’s troubles.

他用非此即彼 is a sentence fragment, thus Google translate does not translate it well.

非此即彼 literally means "if not this, then it is that", leaving no other choice.
I think 非此即彼的二元论 means "binary terms, which means leaving only two choices", it is not a literal translation but one with additional information as ordinary people may not know what 二元论 means.


Difference between 冲昏 and 抓狂? It seems like both of them refer to going crazy because of something.

Ex. 别被她冲昏了头脑

Ex. 你让我快抓狂

Can someone please help me differentiate when you would use which?

Thanks

All means mad，but different types of mad.

“冲昏” means you are so mad that you have already lost your mind.

“抓狂”means you are so mad but you do not know what to do.


webpage loading.. 加载 vs 载入 What words should we use when we want to say "a webpage is loading"?

In Gmail, when I change my settings to simplified Chinese, Google says "正在加载".

However, when I change my settings to traditional Chinese, Google says "正在載入" (正在载入 in simplified Chinese).

What is the difference in nuance and usage between 加载 and 载入?

Which is a better term to use to describe "webpage loading"?

Strictly speaking, the word formations between 加载 and 载入 are a little different; however, as Alex has said, both are acceptable in your case.

加载(verb) = 加(verb, add) + 载(verb, load)
载入(verb) = 载(verb, load) + 入(preposition, in/into)

EDIT
Notice: both 加载 and 载入 can be used as a transitive verb or an intransitive verb.
In most cases, they are interchangeable; however, because 入 in 载入 has implied a preposition, if they are used just before a prepositional phrase, they act in different ways. For example:

These data should be loaded into the cache.

这些 数据 应当 加载 到 缓冲。

这些 数据 应当 载入 (到) 缓冲。

As 载入 has implied 入(in), the preposition 到(to) can be omitted. In contrast, if you omit 到 in the first sentence, the sentence

[Warning! May be ambiguous.] 这些数据应当加载缓冲。

is (most likely) considered as

These data should load the (contents of the) cache.

So, as you see in this 加载/载入+prepositional phrase case, they are not equivalent.


山火 vs 野火 vs 丛林大火: Chinese for "bushfire" I would imagine that 山火 meant "a fire in the mountains", but the dictionary lists "wildfire / forest fire".

Is 山火 then a generic word for an out of control fire? What about 野火? I saw 山火 on the news, does that mean it is more formal? Wikipedia seems to use 丛林大火, is this another word for the same thing?

These words are all straight-forward in Chinese:

山火 = mountain fire
野火 = fire in the fields
丛林大火 = jungle fire
Forest fire = 森林大火, or 林火
Forest fire on a mountain (explicit) = 山林大火

Note 丛林 means jungle/bush; Forest in general is translated into 森林; 野 in 野火 means 田野(field) rather than 狂野(out of control), but even many native speakers misunderstood.

So to answer your question,

山火 is not a generic word for out-of-control fire. It means mountain fire.
野火 means fire in the fields. It sounds a little less formal than the other words but still fine to use. News broadcaster may choose long form 田野大火 or 山野大火。
丛林大火 means jungle fire.
When you want to say 'fires in a forest on a mountain', any of the following is fine: 山火，林火，森林大火，山林大火。


Does Chinese have an equivalent to Arabic-style praising grammar (translates to 褒贬句)? Since my native language is Arabic, our 语法 is somehow very strict, but I find the Chinese 语法 somehow flexible.  In Arabic we have a certain 语法 structure that is called 褒贬法, translating it into Chinese.
If we want to praise someone we would say

！ياله من رجل رائع

And the translation would be 好人啊！
And this is the only way I know to praise someone in Chinese, but in Arabic we have a certain ways and specific words for this structure, and I did some research and all I could find was about praising (褒) and almost nothing about (贬).
So my question is, does Chinese actually have this method? And if not, what is the closest way to express 褒贬？

There isn't a certain structure of praising or disparaging something in Chinese actually. The meaning of a Chinese sentence is all about the words it uses.

If simply expressing approving/disapproving attitude, we may just use 很好/不好（很壞）as below:

-XXX很好
誠信很好

-XXX不好
說謊不好

More naturally, we should append a category noun and use 是 structure:

-誠信是好品質

-說謊是壞行為

Apart from basic 好/壞, in daily life we use various words to show approval/disapproval:

-誠信乃万善之始

-說謊應遭人唾棄

However, words having similar meanings can be distinguished according to their 褒貶色彩. E.g. 深謀遠慮（褒） 老謀深算（中） 深奸巨滑（貶）. And when we use it, the attitude is conveyed by choosing the word itself. I try to write a paragraph and use these kind of words as many as possible:

-以上十年，左右佞臣，肆奸植黨，掠脂斡肉，上下交征！今幸天易明主，國舉良相，深謀遠慮，雷厲風行，斬惡剷奸，還朝堂以清明，社稷以昇平。自此尸位素餐之徒，紛丟權柄，蠹國害民之輩，立撒頭顱。人心大快，莫過於此。


What are the uses of 什会 and from which area? In restaurants in Australia we quite often have Chinese dishes which are combination for example Combination Satay or Combination Fried Rice. These contain several types of meat as opposed to something like Chicken Satay.

When this is written in Chinese on the menu this is typically written as 什会 for example with Combination Satay: 沙爹什会 Shā diē shén huì

This appears more typically with Cantonese/HK cuisine as this is more prevelant in Australia.

Is this usage a Cantonese/HK usage or does it also appear on the mainland?

Are there other uses for 什会 other than for food?

I believe the correct characters should be 什烩 and the correct pinyin should be "shí huì".
When 什 is prnounced as "shí", it means "serveral kinds of, various kinds of [something]". Generally, this meaning is used in dishes or foods, like 什锦糖(a kind of candy containing different flavors in one candy). 烩 is a method of cooking.It means,
1. After frying or sauteing the ingredients(almost cooked), braise all ingredients, usually with the starchy. OR
2.Cook different things(rice, vegetables, meat, etc.,) together with water.
So 什烩 means food cooked with the first method of "烩", with a lot of different ingredients.

Note:
1. The character 什 really has this pronunciation, though you would only see "shén" as in the commonly used word "什么".
2.It's difficult for me to explain something clearly related to cooking(due to lackages of words and knowledge) in English. I have searched “什烩" on Internet and found a lot of results. I am sure it should be "什烩". You might as well ask the cook to understand the EXACT meaning of 烩.


Why Chinese use too many 错别字? What do you do when your Chinese friend say something that you don't know? You will ignore whatever that is, pretending you got it and move on. Most of the time, it's not even your fault that you can't understand it. I have this problem for so long. Chinese people love to use wrong words (错别字) to say something completely having different meaning. Recently, I finally understand what 卧槽 means. It means "Fuck"!!! I have also seen this word many time over the internet, but never look it up because there are just too many word wrong combinations that I don't get.

My question will be simply why? Why do Chinese use wrong words (错别字)? I know 操 is a censored word, but many times, Chinese will use wrong word choice on purpose even when it's not censored, such as 小盆友，菜鸟，and etc.

The cases you mentioned is more or less like slang. If there is a urban dictionary it would be in there. Some of them are evanescent though. There are several cases I could think why they use those characters.

Funny accent: some people pronounce some words with their cute accent from their dialect. One day these thing gets viral, and popular. like 卧槽，蓝瘦香菇, etc.
Internet sensation: for example, 小白 means beginner, 你是个好人 means sorry I can't say yes to your proposal.

So these words are more common in younger generations I wouldn't say they are wrong. If you use them with old people they would possibly not understand. Also, sometimes we understand them by the context.

I think similar things are in English as well. Like you say Netflix and chill for sex. Sis, bro, bae... too many.

Understand those gets you more comfortable in getting into Chinese contemporary culture for instance if you live in China.


What is the top part of 姜 and why does it differ? If you look at the character 姜, it seems like the top part is ⺷ and the bottom is 女, however some sources, Chinese-Characters, HanziJS and Wikimedia Commons show the phonetic radical as 羊.

I'm the creator of HanziJS and use the data created by Gavin Grover for decomposition. This is why I'm asking. I want to understand why there could be a discrepancy in the decomposition.

The Chinese Characters's page also mentions a term "apparent" components, which seems to refer to the original decomposition of the characters. However, in terms of phonetic radicals, it seems 羊 would be more suitable in determining the pronunciation than ⺷, which seems to be an archaic character. The Chinese wiktionary page says that, ⺷, is made up of 羊. Now it's getting confusing!

I have heard that some have also suggest that the top part is 美?

What would be the correct decomposition and why are there discrepancies? What will a native Chinese person say when asked what components 姜 is made up of?

I'm also finding conflicting sources. For example according to the reference work Chinese Characters: A Genealogy and Dictionary it's also 羊 + 女.

Similarly, still in the same work, 美 is 羊 + 大.

Often when characters are combined they are slightly changed to make the character more compact and I think that is what has happened here.

However when I look at the following online Classical Chinese dictionary they say that it is ⺷ + 女.
However if you look at the seal script of 羊 on the same site and compare it with the seal script of 姜 you'll clearly see the 羊. Also from the ⺷ page, one can  interpret  that the character ⺷ isn't that old. So it seems more likely that it indeed comes from 羊.

I could be wrong about this, but I think the average Chinese doesn't care about how the character is made up. Their way of learning them is to drill them (rote learning), not by trying to see how there are made-up.

EDIT: I have been doing some more searching and actually ⺷ is 羊, but in radical form. See for example unicodelookup.com.
So it doesn't exist as a separate character, but is used when it is used as a radical. Similarly as 手 is changed when used as a radical in 打.


Three-digit year in date on Chinese document For work, I occasionally have to translate foreign language documents. I've been running into a lot of Chinese (simplified) documents that have a date listed as YYY/MM/DD.

Why is the year only 3 digits? Is this just a typo?

By now you have figured out, why the years are represented as YYY, but just to make this post not look like many of those stubs on this site, here's a more detailed answer to anyone stumbling upon this page in the future.

Taiwan (officially styled the Republic of China) still uses the Republican calendar (or Minguo calendar), alongside the international calendar system of Western origin. This is known as 民國紀元 (民国纪元 in simplified Chinese, though not used in Mainland China). It follows the dynastic/feudal time keeping of numbering years consecutively after the ascension to throne of the current emperor, with the exception that there is no sort of emperor or king in the Republican era (although, Yuan Shi-kai made a faint attempt, and resigned from his throne almost exactly 100 years ago). A similar system is still in place in Japan, used parallel to the Western calendar, and probably even more extensively used, with era names, etc. than the Republican calendar in modern day Taiwan.

The practical way to work with it is not that difficult. Here's the formula:

Republican calendar Year = Western calendar Year - 1911

So this year is 105年. For those who can work with Tradional characters, here's a sophisticated online calculator. Here's the output for this month:

(The bold face digits are the days according to the Western calendar, the smaller digits show the month/day in the Chinese calendar, in this case the lunar calendar is used, which is the basis of observing Chinese New Year, etc.)

This elaborate system of Chinese time keeping and age reckoning have their many intricacies, but the above is probably enough for you  to get the gist.


What does 头上养马 mean? I've tried to understand it using context clues from the following but I really can't make sense if it. Is it literal?
Some example:

让他头上养马
那怎么还敢在她头上养马？
敢接受莫可可的人，必须得有在头上养马的觉悟。
你是想在劳资头上养马吗！？

I feel this phrase is a metaphor for 戴绿帽子(wear green hats), which means a man has become a cuckold because his wife cheats on him and sleeps with other men. (This is also why Chinese men usually don't wear green hats and would get impressed when they first see people celebrating the St. Patrick's Day.)

她给她老公戴了绿帽子。
她让她老公戴了绿帽子。
(She made her husband wear green hats.)
She has cuckolded her husband.

Or

他戴绿帽子了。
(He wears green hats.)
His wife has cheated on him.

戴绿帽子 is a euphemism for 当王八(being a tortoise), because the head of a tortoise is dark green, and wearing green hats makes a man look like a tortoise. 当王八 is a cursing and scoffing way of expressing that someone has become a cuckold:

她让她老公当王八了。
(She made her husband a tortoise.)
She cheated on her husband.

Many other expressions can be used as indirect ways to say 当王八, including 被绿了(be greened) and 戴绿帽子。In you question, because 养马(keep horses) needs grass, 在头上养马(keep horses on his head) implies that one's head is full of green grass, the same looking as in wearing a green hat. For each of your sentences:

让他头上养马
Let him become a cuckold.
I'll cheat on him. (if spoken by his wife)

那（他）怎么还敢在她头上养马？
How dare he to cheat on her?

Although the phrases are only used on men (saying a women becomes a tortoise or wears green hats really doesn't make sense, because 当王八 is only for men.), nowadays people generalize some derivative terms such as 被绿了 also for women.

敢接受莫可可的人，必须得有在头上养马的觉悟。
Those who accept 莫可可 as girl friend/wife would have to prepare to be a cuckold.

你是想在劳资头上养马吗！？
You wanna cheat on me?


How do you say "A story is set in another place" Does anyone have an idea of how to translate "This story is set in a small town". I've been looking around but I haven't found a good way to translate "Set in".

1.故事发生在某火车站上。....(伊塔洛·卡尔维诺：如果在冬夜，一个旅人；萧天佑译)

2.话说梁山泊聚义厅上....(施耐庵：水浒传--第五十一回）


translating the word and picture from Chinese to english can you guys please help me translate the meaning of this picture and words
does it mean 1. like the kind you want to marry(refering to the person in the picture) or 2. like the type that likes to marry you (meaning she likes someone who wants to marry her) thank you

喜欢
I am fond of you
（心脏）
(pulls on my heart strings)
就是
that is
想嫁给你的
want-to-marry-you
那种喜欢。
that kind of fondness.

(Romantic music tinkles in the background, advertisements for diamond rings appear. In the next scene, they are in Las Vegas. My advice: if she doesn't say 'I love you' directly, she probably doesn't. She is beating around the bush.)


What does 功亏一篑 mean and its origin? What does 功亏一貫 mean in English and its origin?

And what does 貫 mean?

First, it's composed as 功亏一篑 where

  篑 = container basket in construction

..

  功亏一篑 =  Lack of a basketful to build the mount. / Lack of the final straw to break the camel's back (:


Postal cancels - city name unknown Two hardly visible postal cancels on a postcard from 1954. Can someone help me with this? (Zhejiang province perhaps?)

One the left, it is Zhejiang Province.  The county is Chun'an (淳安).

One the right, it is also Zhejiang Province. The county / town has no yet deducible. It is probably Wei (威) something.


What is the difference between 井底之蛙 and 坐井观天? To express a person that has a narrow view, there are two 成语. According to 百度词典:

坐井观天

  坐在井底看天。比喻眼界小，见识少。

井底之蛙

  井底的蛙只能看到井口那么大的一块天。比喻见识狭窄的人。

Both words include derogatory sense (含贬义). But for me both seem to be the same otherwise.

I tried searching in Baidu, but could not find any trustful answers (example: this and this, etc...). Also I can't know which answer is correct or not.

So is there any difference between these two Chengyu? For example is there any situation that using one word is OK but not for the other? The actual example is very appreciated.

What you got from Baidu is correct.

井底之蛙: the key word is 蛙. Metaphorically, you can reference a person to a frog, being in the bottom of a well. For example, you can say to someone: 你就是井底之蛙！

坐井观天 describes one's behavior/vision. You can say 不要坐井观天 to exhort someone not to be narrow for his thoughts or vision.


Translation for "Woodlouse" What is the best simplified Chinese translation for the isopod known as the common European "Woodlouse", also called "Sow bug" or "Pill bug" in US?

(See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodlouse for details)

It is called 鼠妇 in writing phrase，also some nickname which is 西瓜虫 潮虫 团子虫 etc


How do you say "to get back at someone"? Is it 找晦氣 or 找負氣? According to CantoDict, 找晦氣 in Cantonese means, "to get back at someone or cause trouble over a past grievance". Link: http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/50994/

CantoDict is sometimes wrong since it is edited by volunteers.

Wouldn't 找負氣 make more sense instead of 找晦氣 because 負氣 means to act out of stubbornness or irritation whereas 晦氣 means unlucky or gloomy.

Which is correct?

找晦氣 is correct.

你得罪咗佢，佢实找你晦气[你得罪了他，他一定会来报复的] 。


Uses of 正好 / zhènghăo So, my focus today is the use of 正好, but it usage seems a little muddled.

The first usage, as an adjective is quite clear:

Just right (not too big, nor small; not too hot, nor cold etc). 这个饭不太辣不太淡 - 这个饭正好。

But then, when it is used as an adverb, things seem to get murky. I have found a number of meanings:

Coincidence. 我妹妹出生那天，正好下雪，所以爸爸妈妈叫他 小学
最好 / at best. 今天开会来了多少人? 正好20人 (sort of relates to meaning #1, as 19 and 21 people would be bad). This is a bit confusing though, as '来了' suggests we are talking about the past (how many people came) while the answer is almost making a suggestion (in the present/future)?
Should. 你也上超市吗? 我们正好一起去吧。Sort of relates to #3? We should go together (i.e. going alone would be bad, [and going with a huge group of people would be bad also])
At this time. 我正好没有什么人主张. Kind of like 现在?
?? 王老师来了，领正好声响. Does this come under coincidence (#1)? Or is there another meaning going on here?

[7.] On the basis of my understanding of the above, and the fact that my textbook describes 正好 as meaning 'the right time or opportunity to do something', I suggested the following example to my teacher. Imagine a friend wants you to help him organize his CD collection because it is so massive, but you are very busy. 3 weeks later, he invites you to dinner and therefore you say: 谢谢。我一定来。正好我们同时整理你的光盘! I.e. it would be the right opportunity to simultaneously sort out your CDs. But this is apparently wrong. Does anyone know why?!

Can anyone think of any other uses of 正好? Also, I have been told that all the adverbial uses are actually the same and have a unifying meaning. Does anybody have a clue how you could unify all these meanings?!

正好 is not an adjective, the same as 'just right' is not an adjective.

正 shows a foot, stopping at a line or wall. = right, proper
好 shows a woman and a son. Apparently to indicate a good life. This was before the 21st century! Today, this may not be considered the only way to fulfillment!

just = "exactly, precisely, punctually, not more than"
good = "excellent, fine; valuable; desirable, favorable, beneficial; full, entire, complete, pleasing;"

这个饭正好
This dish is exactly fine/complete.
正好下雪
punctually favourable snow was falling
正好20人
exactly (the) desirable 20 people
我们正好一起去吧
we exactly (mutually) beneficial go together
我正好没有什么人主张
I precisely (the) desirable don't have anyone to make decisions for me

Of course, I would not translate the Chinese into English quite like this. I just want to indicate what is going on.

Both 正 and 好 have more than one interpretation, in English as well as in Chinese. So when you mix them, permutations of meaning arise. There is no "one size fits all".

What Dan said: 正好我们可以整理一下你的光盘。

或者： 我们正好可以同时整理你的光盘。


Words and phrases related magic(like in fantasy movies&MMO games) I searched through dictionaries to understand magic related words and phrases, like in MMORPG games or Fantasy books/movies. But I'm so confused how to construct a sentence and I really want to learn. I also couldn't make proper sentences the words that I looked for like 咒语, 念咒, 咒文, 魔咒, 施法, 法術... I don't know which verb should I use with them to correspond verbs "to cast", "to do", "to put"...
I'm looking for the exact words to correspond magic, charm, spell and curse. And the phrases like "to cast a spell" and "to put a spell on someone"
Also I'm trying to make sentence with the phrases;

"To cast fire spell"/"Casting Light Spell"/"The witch casted a dark
spell"(I want to see the usage of it with adjectives)

"She put a    curse him"

"He cursed him with a spell"

"She put a spell on me"

"She    did lightning magic"
etc.

I really need this community's help on this. Thanks in advance.

Chinese languages are not English. They are completely different languages. You might not find word-to-word correspondence in sentence construction. Even if you do, it sounds unnatural or unnecessary tedious.

"To cast fire spell"/"Casting Light Spell"/"The witch casted a dark spell"(I want to see the usage of it with adjectives)

施火咒 / 施光咒 / 巫師施暗咒

"She put a curse him"

女子向男子施惡咒

"He cursed him with a spell"

男子向另一男子施惡咒

"She put a spell on me"

女子向我施咒

"She did lightning magic"

女子施電光法術

Actually there are many words and ways to say the same thing. The above is just an illustration. It depends on the context. Say, what kind of action to put or cast a spell. Other than 施, it can be be 放, 下, 落, 念 etc. Or the objective to put or cast a spell / curse. Say, 咒他落地獄 (lit. curse him to fall into the hell)


Chinese idiom puzzle 8 Please solve the following puzzle

Describe a woman's husband is not good (nowadays refers to get together with a bad partner) 語出《詩．王風．中谷有蓷》

A live and death matter

Everyone has one 遏後語 "年晚煎堆" 下一句

passionate people

It’s inevitable that people make mistakes

Refers to various disasters (man-made or natural)

crazy man talk dreams (a metaphor of unrealistic empty talk)

Get ahead to become successful in society

吃得苦中苦，方為 _ _ _

All for one and one for all

It means that when the old place is revisited, the personnel are no longer there. 語本唐．崔顥〈黃鶴樓〉詩

Hellish inhumane living

Looks ordinary, nothing special

It is a metaphor that all aspects of arriving in a place are unfamiliar.

(Proverb) People who do bad things go to sue first.

Can do things no other can

Not willing to fall behind others.

Describe women who do not keep chastity and sleep with many men  見《左傳．桓公十五年》

A metaphor for fabricating facts and slandering others

The metaphor is that because of having a feeling of love, no matter how the other person looks, they will feel that the other person looks beautiful.

A. Blame heaven, blame others. 語本《論語．憲問》
B. Can only have oneself to blame; Not other people's fault
C. Human are born immoral (荀子's view of human nature differs from 孟子)
D. Refers to gossip and false rumors that are to be feared 語本《詩經．鄭風．將仲子》
E. People's fortune is hard to predict ("天有不測風雲" 的下句)
F. Many people spill out onto the streets
G. Secret that cannot be spoken
H. Heaven is angry, and the people resent. Describes the explosion of accumulative anger.《明史．卷一八三．倪岳傳》
I. Unreasonable.  It also refers to a strange temperament or behavior.《莊子·逍遙遊》
J. I will take what others have abandoned 語出《史記．卷一二九．貨殖傳》
K. One's skill is inferior to the other
L. Metaphor of using the power of others to harm someone else
M. Disturbing other people's sleep in the morning
N. For the others as well as for oneself
O. Normal for people
P. Say something shocking
Q. Humans are not plants, who can be without emotion?
R. Even good people have enemies ("曹操也有知心友" 下句)
S. Life is like a dream
T. Everyone knows
U. Sexually impotent
More hints:

There are 3 mistakes in this puzzle.
First, idiom 17 should be 不甘人后, idiom O should be 人之常情, it is an error on design.
Second, idiom 12 should be 人非草木孰能无情, 孰 is different from 熟.
Third, idiom 2 should be 性命攸关, 攸 is different from 悠.
The completed puzzle is as follows.


Differences between the two words for each season, such as 冬季 (dōngjì) and 冬天 (dōngtiān) There seem to be two words for each season. Each pair has the first character in common but for the second character one will have 季 (jì) and the other will have 冬天 (tiān).

For example "winter" is:

冬季 (dōngjì)
冬天 (dōngtiān)

What is the difference between the two? I can see the first uses the character for "season" and the second uses the character for "heaven", but this doesn't seem to tell me anything useful.

冬季 is more formal than 冬天. When used to refer to the season itself, the former is more commonly found in literature, the latter in vernacular.

However, when used to refer to something of that season, i.e. in a noun phrase, the 冬季 form is almost always used. For examples, "winter fashion" is 冬季服装, "Winter Olympics" is 冬季奥运会*. You would never use 冬天 for these, unless rephrasing them in a very informal way e.g. 冬天穿的衣服.

*: if they don't get abbreviated awaylike 冬装 or 冬奥, that is.


Why did the writer use 支 here？ I know it is not easy to say why which 量词 should be used when, but this one seems strange to me. Why did the author choose ‘支’？

开发出中国第一支儿童营养液，。。。

支 is normally for 'pens,guns, army divisions, songs and compositions.'

Maybe the liquid is in a bottle, which may be long and thin??

Since the container(bottle) of it is like a stick. We use 支 to describe all the stick-like things.

Maybe I should post a pic here to help you understand what I'm talking about:


Chinese aphorism about smile There are many aphorisms in ancient chinese literature. One of them goes somewhat like:
"An angry fist does not hit a smiling face"
Please help me to translate it into Chinese correctly. Google translated it like that:
愤怒的小拳头不会撞上的一个笑脸

I think it's 伸手不打笑脸人 or 举手不打笑脸人.

意思是当你举起手要打有错的对方时，对方已经在向你赔着笑脸认错了，这时候你就不忍心，也不好意思再去打人家了。
谓不欺侮老实善良的人。或谓要宽恕已知理亏而以礼待人的人。也说“举手不打笑脸人”。


How to say "you don't need to." In every language I know, the expressions for saying someone does not need to do something are often used to say they had better not do it.  Suppose I want to tell someone in an e-mail, in Chinese, that they do not need to do something and I really just mean they do not need to.  They can if they want.  What is a good way to say that without implying they should not do it?

I am concerned specifically with the difference between "don't need to" and plain "don't".  I might want to say "You don't need to bring snacks to the party" without anyone thinking I mean "Don't bring snacks to the party."

In that case, I do not want to suggest the person not bring snacks.  It is fine if they bring snacks.  I would even like that.  But they are not required to bring snacks.

Generally 不用.

e.g.你不用担心。 You don't need to worry/Don't worry.

你不用说。 You don't need to say./Needless to say....

不需要

e.g.你不需要这么早起床。 You don't need to get up so early.

你不需要药。 You don't need medicine.

不必 (which is kind of odd or archaic)

e.g.你不必再谢他了。You don't need to thank him.

无须 (which is also very formal)

e.g.无须细说。No need to talk about the details.


Why does the Simplified Chinese character 强 have more strokes than its Traditional Chinese counterpart 強? Simplified  强  （12） strokes
Traditional 強  （11） strokes

Are there any other similar cases in which a more complex form was adopted than the Traditional counterpart?

My assumption has been that the variant 强 was selected as standard because the right hand side of 強 is not its own character, whereas 强 was perceived as easier to remember because it is 弓＋虽. However, etymologically, 強 = 弘 ＋ 虫, so the character reform committee kind of screwed the pooch in that sense.


Is there a difference between 担心 (dānxīn) and 着急 (zháojí)? They're both verbs, they both have meanings "to worry, to be anxious", they both seem to be able to be used as adjectives also.

I just want to know if there's any difference: is one used more in Northern China vs. Southern China? Is one more formal than the other? Anything different? Or are they totally interchangeable?

Thanks

There are some differences between these two words.

>

  “着急”
  Used as an adjective:
  1. Something emergent happens (in other words, something horrible or fatal is very likely going to happen), and you feel upset. For example, when you lost your kids or you're going to be late for your work.
  Example 一位母亲因为找不到她的孩子而非常着急。(Can't use "担心")
              A woman is very upset because she can't find her kid anywhere.

  2. While doing something, you only care if you can finish the work as soon as possible and may forget something you should notice, thus causing the work to be done badly.
  Example 老师嘱咐我们考试做题的时候不要太着急。(Can't use “担心”） The teacher told us not to be too hurry when when answering the questions.
  used as verb or adv: means the same when used as adj.

  Used as a verb:
  Use it as a verb only when nothing emergent happens, yet in the future things are going to be pretty bad very likely, and you're sure that it's deadly. You're hopeless or you know doing something though won't likely help you, but still possible to help you out, therefore you'll try your best to avoid it.
  Example 儿子因父亲日益加重的病情而着急（Can't use “担心”）。
  The son feels upset for his father's deteriorating illness.

  “担心”
  Used as a verb: You're worrying that something bad might happen in the future, but you comfort yourself, reasoning that it possibly won't happen. Or you know it's very likely to happen, but you also know that it's not a big deal since it will get fixed if it happens. For instance, if you're worrying about your kid's future, you can use this word to describe yourself.
  Example 1 他车开的太快了，我担心他会出事故。（Can't use 着急. it's likely to happen, but not that likely. It's a big deal once it happens though. And the other reason is that 着急 is a intransitive verb.）
  He drove the car too fast, and I was worrying that he would have an accident.
  Example 2 儿子马上就要出国留学了，父亲为他在外的生活而担心（You can use 着急 too, and actually it's better than 担心 in this case since it shows that the father really cared about the son.)
  The son is going to be studying aboard, and the father is worrying about his daily life.
  孩子出门上学的时候雨下得很大，他的父母为他的安全而担心（interchangeable with 着急 since something bad would very likely happen to the kid)。
  It rained fiercely when the kid went out of the home for school, and the parents were worrying about the kid's safety.

  Used as an adj: the same when used as a verb.

Summary:
1. “着急” is more intense than “担心”. When something terrible or may cause death or injury will happen very soon, you can only use “着急”.

2.Under some situation, they're somewhat interchangeable. For example, when you're worrying about someone's health, security, etc., as long as a catastrophe is not sure to happen, or it is very likely to happen but not that serious, you can use both words. But here "着急" is more intense than "担心", because "着急" shows that you really care about someone, or you really don't want that bad thing to ever happen. And If you use “担心”, it reveals that though being bothered, you're comforting yourself that it probably won't happen.

3. “着急” also means that you're eager to finish something, which is not one of the meanings of the word "担心".

4. 着急 is an intransitive verb, and 担心 is a transitive or intransitive verb.

5.着急 is often used as an adjective while 担心 is often used as a verb.

6.To answer your question concerning the variation between north and south: These two words are both used in the north quite frequently. As to the southerners, I think they should use these words often too, as these two are basic words in Mandarin. Some place in the south may use some uncommon words for each of them.

7. Certainly 着急 is informal, but 担心 is considered as formal, and it often appears in newspapers and broadcasting.
So remember in formal situations, use 担心 when both of them make sense. When you want to express the feeling that could be described by 着急 when writing a news report, use 焦虑，焦急，紧张。

I'm not an expert on this, so some contents may be inaccurate. Any edition or correction is welcomed.

Synonyms for "担心": 忧虑，着急，忧愁，担忧  synonyms for "着急"：焦虑， 焦急，匆忙，紧张


Usage advice: 什么时候vs哪个时候 I am writing a formal business email to a client, and at the end I would like to ask him when would be his most convenient time to have a phone call. The sentence goes like this:

请您让我知道哪个时候您最方便接电话。

I am not sure if it would be better to use 什么时候 instead.

If someone could please advice me on what subtle differences there are in the meanings of these two phrases, and suggest which to use, that would be very much appreciated!

I agree with zyy that 什么时候 is definitely better in the sentence.
哪个时候 is like literally translated from "which moment", but in Chinese, we express as "what time" so you should use "什么时候" or "什么时间"


Which is the correct sentence? Question about birthday I was wondering, which is the correct sentence in this case.

你的生日是几月几号？ or 你的生日几月几号？ (without 是)

Also can I omit 的 in this case?

The line without 是 is not a correct sentence because it doesn't have a verb. It's fine in spoken language but should be avoided in formal writing.
In this sentence, it is fine to omit 的 in spoken language, too.
To recap,

你的生日是几月几号？ Grammatical, fine for both formal and informal usages.
你的生日几月几号？Not a complete sentence, only used in spoken language.
你生日是几月几号？Whether it's grammatical is arguable. Regardless, it's common in spoken language.


Why does this phrase use 似的 instead of 似地？ 在他脑海中幻灯似的循环浮现

I think that 循环浮现 is a verb-phrase, right?
In which case I would expect to see 似地 instead of 似的.

Can someone explain this and provide a sample translation for the example sentence? Thanks!

"似的" is a fixed term/word, there is no "似地", so no matter how/where you use it (eg. after a verb or noun), the expression is always "似的".

You can still see "似地" in many places nowadays is mainly due to historical reasons. However based on the latest version of the official Chinese dictionary, the correct usage is alwyas "似的". If you use website that based on the latest official dictionaries, you won't find any "似地". e.g. cidian.xpcha.com

Here are some detailed explanations. It is from 人民教育出版社 "People's Education Press(PEP)", the official publisher of the Chinese Dictionaries used in Mainland. The summary is in its last sentence: "无论什么情况，都不应将“似的”写作“似地”.", which means "No matter in what circumstance, you should only use “似的” rather than “似地”".

One more quoted paragraph for the comment below:

  虽然也有一些语法书、辞书，如黄伯荣、廖序东主编的《现代汉语》(甘肃人民教育出版社1983年版)、王自强编著的《现代汉语虚词用法小词典》(上海辞书出版社1984年版)等有“似的”组成短语作状语时可写作“似地”的说法，但一般的现代汉语词典特别是权威性词典，都不收录“似地”这种写法，这在实际上是以“似的”为规范词形，而弃置“似地”这一写法。


Can anyone explain to me what "热闹的嬉笑怒骂外加弹唱小曲" means? I'm really confused about what the idiom '嬉笑怒骂' in this sentence means.

嬉笑怒骂 is a common expression

嬉笑 (playfully laugh); 怒骂 (angrily scold)

嬉笑怒骂 means "to ridicule" (ironically and/ or bluntly )

[热闹的][嬉笑怒骂][外加][弹唱小曲]

[lively][ridicule][plus extra][playing of little song]

"弹唱小曲 (play little song)" -- "sing song about it" is the third way of ridiculing beside "playfully laugh" and "angrily scold"

  "热闹的嬉笑怒骂外加弹唱小曲” means: " lively ridicule every which way and more"


Is my sentence 如果没时间的话就告诉我 grammatically correct? I am not sure that my sentence:

  如果没时间的话就告诉我

is grammatically  correct or not. So please guide me, have I used the right words?

如果没时间的话就告诉我

Your sentence is grammatically correct and it is a very common grammar structure

[如果 X 就 Y] = [If X then Y]

[1: 如果] [X: 没时间的话] [2:就] [Y:告诉我]

[1: if ] [X: suppose you have no time] [2: then ] [Y: tell me]

Notice 1: The subject 'you' is omitted in Chinese sentence and it is a very common practice, you can drop the subject as long as it is clearly understood in the context.

Notice 2: Since [如果 ~ 就] is a common structure, you can omit 如果 and write "(如果)没时间的话就告诉我". The sentence would still be correct because "如果" is strongly implied with the present of "就"

Notice 3:"的话" in "没时间的话" means "suppose" . And you can drop it too. The result is a blunter sentence "如果没时间就告诉我" (if you have no time, then tell me) sounds more like a command  than a suggestion or request


How should I say "I feel very good/I'm very fine" in response to 你好吗? I've read that when asked the simple question 你好吗? ("How are you?"), answering 我很好 is the standard form, while 我好 is simply not used.

很 means "very", but 我很好 is simply translated as "I'm fine." and not "I'm very fine".

So if I want to say "I feel very good/I'm very fine", what should I say? Should I duplicate 很 or use another expression?

There is "我非常好" I'm extremely well, or I'm extremely good.

There is also "我非常开心" I'm extremely happy.

Maybe if you want to aim for something a little more subtle you could try "我很开心" I'm very happy.

If you are mentioning that you are this "good" you will likely be asked for an explanation!


Chinese inscription teapot I want to find out what these symbols mean so I can find an approximate age. I have no experience with Chinese symbols any help would be really appreciated.  Thank you.

The image is quite blurry but I think it says 铁铸, which are simplified Chinese characters meaning cast iron.


What is so problematic about the homophones 预订 and 预定 when negotiating contracts? I was talking to one of the staff members at LTL Mandarin, and she mentioned that when negotiating contracts (e.g. when moving house) there is an important difference between the following homophones:

预订 (yùdìng)
CC-CEDICT: to place an order / to book ahead
预定 (yùdìng)
CC-CEDICT: to schedule in advance

They seem similar in meaning too, so I don't understand why this would be so important.  I'm wondering if someone could describe a hypothetical scenario where the distinction could lead to a disaster.
Question: What is so problematic about the homophones 预订 and 预定 when negotiating contracts?

Usually, 预订 followed by a noun (object);  预定 followed by a verb (action). It is not difficult to tell the two apart.
Example:
预定明天出發 - scheduled to leave tomorrow
预订一打玫瑰 - place an order for a dozen roses
However, let's say you tell a supplier that "想向你們预订 X number of Y" (want to order X number of Y from you), and they agreed and said, "會预定提供 X number of Y 給你" (will schedule to provide X number of Y for you). If they can't deliver on the agreed date, they can argue: 'to schedule to' is the same as 'to prepare to'. It never was a firm order.

预订明天交貨 = ordered (goods), deliver tomorrow (a firm order)

预定明天交貨 = scheduled to deliver tomorrow (not a firm order)

预订 is an official contract. You are expected to pay for the goods and they are expected to deliver the goods
预定 is a 'promise to reserve', that's why we say 向餐館预定一张桌子 (Reserve a table from a restaurant) and say 向傢具店预订一张桌子 (pre-order a table from a furniture store)


The origin of pinyin Pinyin is really strange. It is like the English word, but with
  different meaning and pronunciation.

I want to know the origin of pinyin. If someone can give a clear answer, I will be very thankful.

Sure.
We don't have pinyin(the one used today) until the foundation of PRC. The creator of Pinyin is this man, zhoyouguang (wiki)
In my point of view, pinyin has little to do with English. So don't mess them up. Pinyin has its own pronunciation, its own combination rules. The practice of Pinyin is to, reduce the illiteracy of Chinese people, to better facilitate people's needs (say, type Chinese chars in QWERTY keyboard).
One thing to note is, other than pinyin, there is also a widely used kanji notation, namely zhuyin. It is also designed in the 20th century, and remains its popularity in Taiwan.


Where did  originate from? I was looking up the Vietnamese word cửa hàng. Hàng Seems fairly straight forward as it used to be written with the Chinese character 行 and pronunciation is quite similar also. Cửa is not as simple; it seems to be a form of  (or perhaps ) but  there is very little info about it.

Wiktionary does say that it is a:

  Han character

举 and 门 makes me think that it's got something to do with being 'open' (i.e.: for business) but I'm not sure.

Any ideas?

The Vietnamese word for shop is cửa hàng.

Cửa is not Sino-Vietnamese, but a Vietic morpheme. IF (and that's a big IF) cửa in cửa hàng means door, then cửa can be represented by「」, which just means door, and「舉」is not part of the meaning of cửa.

  「」or「」(cửa) is made up of semantic「門」(door) and phonetic「舉」(cử).

Chinese has a similar word:「門市」, which is the front of a store.


Translating as Past or Present tense I am translating an excerpt of a Chinese short story. In general, do any indicators in Chinese grammar exist that would require the usage of past tense (in English) instead of present tense? In this particular story, there are paragraphs which reflect on the past and contain 以前 and other adverbs etc. But it makes me wonder if there are less obvious indicators governing the intended tense for translation.
Edit: Abbreviated example, can't copy and paste from the book, but it illustrates my problem well. These sentence are in one paragraph in this order, padded out by filler information I removed.
车来了。我坐车回家。我父母已经回来。一看到他们的目光，就退软了。喇叭开始播报当天的消息。
The rest lends itself easily to present tense, but such sequential descriptions making up a large part of the story sound weird to me. No 了 in the third sentence, so it is not "They are already at home"? I would translate the fourth sentence as something like "One glance at their expressions and I get weak at the knees", but the 了 throws me off. As for the fifth sentence, I associate 当天 with past tense, could it also be "of the (respective) day" instead of "of that (past) day?
I usually don't have trouble with aspect, it's just that here the aspects conveyed feel "mixed".
Another example, from 韓松：乘客與創造者 -
"三十一B的睡姿有些奇怪。我碰碰他。[...]
我随手按了呼叫钮。一个苗条的身影飘过来。乘务员由经济舱的女乘客轮流担任。她淡淡地看了一眼三十一B，又叫来另一个乘务员。两人交换了一个冷静的眼色，架上三十一B便走掉了。"
More sequential description in the whole story, similar use of 了. The translation by Nathaniel Isaacson renders it all present tense.

Your example describes a series of things happening one after another.  The first and fifth sentences already imply past tense.  This is enough to imply that all things described happened in the past until a word about time is present to change the tense to "now" or "future".
"了" should not be in every sentence since that creates a ton of duplication which makes the assay inauthentic or ill-written.


What is the difference, if any, between 开心 and 快乐 Dictionaries will give "Happy" for both.

A Mandarin song has the title 你开心所以我快乐

https://youtu.be/Sb1ojccxvyw

Question therefore is whether there is any signifying difference in usage?

That is, which word / phrase fits better in a certain context or situation.

开心 can be either joyful, delighted or the mood of happiness.

快乐 is the mood of happiness.  The dictionary defines it as:

  形容称心如意的心情

So, we say 我今天玩得很开心，not 我今天玩得很快乐.

But they can be synonyms as in 和他在一起很开心/快乐. In this case, both denote the sense of the mood of happiness.