Idiom, common phrase crossword puzzle I made this for fun, please try to solve it. I will post the answer later if no one can solve the whole puzzle.

Suggestions on improving the hints are welcome. Since I know the answer, it is hard for me to judge if a hint is too detailed or too vague.

Heaven gave me my talents have to be of some use
Evenly match
The universe will eliminate the ones who don't take care of oneself
Complete silence
Highly talented or educated
From all over the nation/ eight famous mountains in China
Copy; Imitate
Long historic background
Too happy to think of home
knowing black from white
New wave of talents
Incomes can't cover expenses
The walking dead
kick someone when he's down
Take it calmly
Sincerity can split  metal and rock
Close the stable door after the horse has bolted
Not educated and have no skill
Deeply shamed
Beast like; savage
Not essential
The People are struggling to survive
unrivaled in the world
fake laugh

a. Never submit, never yield

b. although committed no crime, your face is loathsome

c. corrupted people are the same everywhere

d. reduce the number but raise the fighting ability of an army

e. The ultimate; no better than this

f. With one touch turns rock into gold

g. Hire on merit base alone

h. Twisting the facts

i. Having good foresight

j. Creating a new world

k. Go straight in

l. Honor bound

m. Desolate place

n. criticizing orally and in writing

o. the sky has only one sun, the people have only one ruler

p. too happy, I can't stand it

q. lose; can't defeat

r. Drown

s. Think carefully and thoroughly before taking action

t. life like; like it is alive

u. make deal with dangerous people; courting disaster

v. great feast

If it is too difficult for you, you can start with the one below that contains hints words

The answer:

生我才必有用 (Heaven gave me my talents have to be of some use)
不相上下 (Evenly match)
人不為己天誅地滅 (The universe will eliminate the ones who don't take care of oneself)
鴉雀無聲 (Complete silence)
才高八斗 (Highly talented or educated)
三山五嶽 (From all over the nation/ eight famous mountains in China)
依樣葫蘆 (Copy; Imitate)
源遠流長 (Long historic background)
樂不思蜀 (Too happy to think of home)
黑白分明 (knowing black from white)
後起之秀 (New wave of talents)
入不敷支 (Incomes can't cover expenses)
行屍走肉 (The walking dead)
落井下石 (kick someone when he's down)
處之泰然 (Take it calmly)
精誠所至金石為開 (Sincerity can split metal and rock)
賊過興兵 (Close the stable door after the horse has bolted)
不學無術 (Not educated and have no skill)
無地自容 (Deeply shamed)
如狼似虎 (Beast like; savage)
可有可無 (Not essential)
民不聊生 (The People are struggling to survive)
天下無敵 (unrivaled in the world)
皮笑肉不笑 (fake laugh)

a. 不屈不撓 (Never submit, never yield)

b. 雖無過犯面目可憎 (although committed no crime, your face is loathsome)

c. 天下烏鴉一様黑 (corrupted people are the same everywhere)

d. 精兵簡卒 (reduce the number but raise the fighting ability of an army)

e. 至高無上 (The ultimate; no better than this)

f. 點石成金 (With one touch turns rock into gold)

g. 用人唯才 (Hire on merit base alone)

h. 指鹿為馬 (Twisting the facts)

i. 高瞻遠矚 (Having good foresight)

j. 開天闢地 (Creating a new world)

k. 長軀直入 (Go straight in)

l. 義不容辭 (Honor bound)

m. 不毛之地 (Desolate place)

n. 口誅筆伐 criticizing orally and in writing

o. 天無二日 民無二主 (the sky has only one sun, the people have only one ruler)

p. 樂不可支 (too happy, I can't stand it)

q. 不敵 (lose; can't defeat)

r. 滅頂 (Drown)

s. 三思而後行 (Think carefully and thoroughly before taking action)

t. 栩栩如生 (life like; like it is alive)

u. 與虎謀皮 (make deal with dangerous people; courting disaster)

v. 大魚大肉 (great feast)


What is the function of 好 in 你好厉害 and 我好无聊? I read an explanation on Chinese Grammar Wiki of the function of 好 before verbs to indicate that something is easy or good to do.
Examples: 好吃、好喝、好听
In these phrases, however:

你好厉害！

我好无聊。

I am confused about the function of 好，is it working in a similar way to the "easy/good to (verb) structure? What exactly is the purpose of including 好？

So, I dug out my Modern Chinese Practical Grammar Analysis 現代漢語適用語法分析（下冊) and it turns out that those expressions do not exist.
Under the section on "adverbs expressing degree", it lists 比較，相當，很，十分，非常，極爲，極其，最，...極了 ，太...了， 可... 了, 挺...的，真...啊，怪...的, 夠...的，特別，尤其，更，還，... but not 好...or 蠻 (simp: 蛮）
Except of course, that 好 very much exists, and is just another (colloquial) way of expressing degree in Chinese, just like 挺, which could be considered its northern dialect equivalent. The same answers apply here as in this question. Wherever you can use 很 you can technically use 好. This also means that sometimes it doesn't need to be translated in English:

你好厲害啊!/你好厉害啊！  You are (so) amazing!
這道題好難哦！/这道题好难哦！This question was pretty hard!
得到批准好不容易啊 I (really) struggled to get approval. (this one has
special constructions with 才, as you can see here

Note that the full expression is often "好 (something of which there is "a lot of") 啊/哦/呀" as in the examples above, which further indicates a more colloquial/intimate nature. In the two sentences below, I'd always pick 很 for the first one and 好 for the second one.

我很喜歡在中國旅游/我很喜欢在中国旅游。I very much enjoy travelling in China
我好喜歡你啊! /我好喜欢你啊！ I really like you

To wrap up, 好 seems to be just how southern Chinese languages/dialects, e.g. Cantonese, say 很. Chinese "dialects" are always felt as more intimate and less formal than the standard language. Teaching materials may avoid (southern) dialectal terms at all costs even while including stuff like "極了/极了“ which you won't see outside of some subtitle translation.
But most southerners speaking Mandarin casually (not even 塑料普通话）will say something like 好好吃啊！ (or 蠻好吃的!) rather than 很好吃！ Even northern Chinese have adopted 好 precisely for that informal or perhaps southern/soft/可愛 feel and will exclaim things like 我好餓啊!, even if they tend to use 很/挺 a lot more.
So feel free to use 好、很 、挺 as you see fit!


我明天开始放寒假。What is the meaning of 放？ 我明天开始放寒假。

My understanding of 放 is 'start', but in the above sentence 开始 means 'start', so what does 放 mean here? Thank you!

The basic meaning of 放 is 'to release'

放假 means 'be released (from job or school) for day off, vacation or holiday"
放寒假 means 'be released (from school) for Winter holiday'

Working men don't have Winter holiday, they have "新年假期/ 年假" (new year holiday)

放大假 = be released (from a job) for vacation

Similarly:

放工 = be released (from a work day) = finish a work day and be let go = 'quit time'

放学 =  be released (from a school day) = finish a school day and be let go  = 'school out'

放监 =  be released (from jail) = finish jail sentence and be let free

  开始 means 'start', so what does 放 mean here?

As stated above '放' doesn't mean 'start'. If you are in the middle of Winter Holiday, you are "正在放寒假"

开始(放)寒假  means 'start (being released from school for) Winter holiday' = 'start (having) Winter holiday'


Who signed this Chinese peice of art? (Characters identified: 吳氏 小平画印) I am trying to understand the seals and title for this painting. I have tried importing the image of the painting in Pleco and many other seal identification websites, but still no luck. I believe it could be a painted by a very famous Chinese artist and I need to verify its authenticity. Do you know what the signature says?

i think it's:
巫峡神女峰

壬午年

xx月

Can't tell which month it is.. maybe someone else can identify it.


How to say "offer" (as in "job offer") in Chinese? Such as "offer" in:

我有了CUHK的入学许可 = I got an offer from CUHK.
还没有一个地方要我 = I still don't have any offers.

I think there is no such noun in Chinese. Is there?

I looked for example sentences using "offer" on Tatoeba.org, and most of them use 提议 as Bojin Li mentioned.

It was foolish of you to accept his offer.
你真笨去接受他的提議。

However, one did specifically relate to a job offer and used 工作錄取.

The job offer still stands.
這份工作錄取仍然有效。

Another one used 工作机会, but that seems closer to "job opportunity" than "job offer".

I received a good job offer.
我得到了一个好的工作机会。

I found 16 total sentences that used "offer" as a noun. They translated it using the following terms:

提议 - 7 sentences
报价 - 4 sentences used this, but it's specifically related to making an offer in a business transaction when negotiating a price.
工作錄取 - 1 sentence.
工作机会 - 1 sentence, but it seems closer to opportunity than offer.
请求 - 1 sentence translated offer of support as 支援请求
资助 - 1 sentence used this, but again it's specifically a financial offer of help.
建议 - 1 sentence, but it seems closer to suggestion than offer.


Chinese-characters learning software for Ubuntu (Linux) I am looking for a software that shows a Chinese alphabet/word on my desktop with its pinyin and meaning in English, and each day it will give a different word.
Since I am using a Linux (Ubuntu 18.04) system, I didn't find lot of choices to learn Mandarin on this OS, at the contrary for Windows and Android. The best software that I know and use until now is ZDT (Zhongwen Development Tool), however it doesn't have a desktop memorizing-gadget that I search.
Thank you

Maybe Paley is a choice

But I don't think the software works very well


乐谱 Chinese music tablature Looking at some guitar music in Chinese, I noticed that a notation system called 简谱 jiǎnpǔ "simple (numbered) tablature" is quite widespread. Is there any particular reason why this way of representing music is so common? It is virtually unseen in the West from my (not so deep) experience with music.

As Chinese only (fairly) recently began using the Latin alphabet for things (C, D, E...) I am curious if this preference for numbered representation reflects a tendency to reject alphabetic characters when possible (e.g. when transcribing names).

There are three points why 简谱 prevails in China.

Tonality.
Most music pieces are tonal music. And 简谱 is essentially a "movable" do notation system, which makes it easier for reader, esp. amateur, to grasp the melody.
History reason.
In Chinese traditional music, 工尺谱 is the main notation system, which is comparable to 简谱. 工尺谱 is also a "movable" do notation system.
Culture. (Why 1, 2, 3 not C, D, E)
Chinese is more familiar which the order of number than the English alphabets. Using Arabic number makes it easier for beginners in China to establish mapping from 1, 2, 3 to do, re, mi and easy to spread and learn. I don't think it has anything to do with the rejection of alphabetic characters.

The use of 简谱 was common in Chinese traditional instrument performance. But now conservatories in China use staff more. Now 简谱 is more common in music score for amateurs (esp. guitar scores, or chorus scores).


如果你不介意 : appropriate translation from English? I recently heard, 如果你不介意 (literally: "if you do not mind."). Is the literal translation from English also a correct, native one? Or is there a more common way to prefix such a question?

I've spent some time in both Taiwan and the Mainland. From my experience, I've heard:

在乎 zai4 hu
在意 zai4 yi4
管 guan3 - More Mainland style... "我不管!"
无所谓 wu2 suo3 wei4 - A really popular phrase to show that you don't really care/mind
随便 sui3 bian4 - kind of like "eh, whatever... I don't care".. Also quite popular

But I've also heard 介意

And if you're looking for that native, colloquial flavor, you can throw in 的话 at the end of 如果, which is just an extension of "if".

如果你不在乎的话,我要去做什么什么...

And what do you mean by "Is there a more common way to prefix such a question?"?


What's the difference between 我住在 and 還活著? I think both 我住在 and 還活著 have quite the same meaning (I'm alive), can I use evenly one of them as I like or are there some rules that force me to distinguish their use according to different contexts?

They are two different things;

我住在 = "I live in/ at" - e.g.  我住在香港 (I live in Hong Kong)

還活著 = "still alive" - e.g. 我還活著 (I am still alive)


Is 撒币 a proper Chinese word? Occasionally one sees the word 撒币 in modern media and google translate translated it as "Sprinkle coins", which I think is inaccurate: does it not mean "to squander"? I failed to find this word "撒币" in a formal dictionary. Is it considered as a proper word which is acceptable in formal writings?

Wiktionary

Verb
撒幣
(derogatory, slang) to invest or give (as financial help) a large amount of money to foreign countries

And:

Etymology
From earlier 大撒幣, a pun based on near-homophone 大傻屄 (“big dumbfuck”).

Both 撒币 and 大撒币 can mean spending large amounts of money while also being euphemisms for 傻屄 and 大傻屄, depending on the context.

E.g.:
NTDTV

相信北京当局在短期内不太可能继续在国际上“大撒币”。


Translate "Questions you cannot answer are usually far better for you than answers you cannot question." Reading Yuval Noah Harari's "21 Lessons for the 21st Century", I read, Chapter 14 "Secularism", pages 211-212 of my paperback version:
I write the whole paragraph to give the context.
"It takes a lot of courage to fight biases and oppressive regimes, but it takes even greater courage to admit ignorance and venture into the unknown. Secular education teaches us that if we don't know something, we shouldn't be afraid of acknowledging our ignorance and looking for new evidence. Even if we think we know something, we shouldn't be afraid of doubting our opinions and checking our opinions again. Many people are are afraid of the unknown and want clear-cut answers for every question. Fear of the unknown can paralyze us more than any tyrant. People throughout history worried that unless we put all our faith in some set of absolute answers, human society would crumble. In fact, modern history has demonstrated that a society of courageous people willing to admit ignorance and raise difficult questions is usually not just more propsperous but also more peaceful than societies in which everyone must unquestioningly accept a single answer. People afraid of losing their truth tend to be more violent than people who are used to looking at the world from several different viewpoints. Questions you cannot answer are usually far better for you than answers you cannot question.
Translate just the last sentence:
Questions you cannot answer are usually far better for you than answers you cannot question.
对你而言， 承认不知道比盲从站不住脚的说法更好。
Please improve the translation. Maybe there is some Chinese idiomatic equivalent?

I'm going to drop the "you", as it seems used in a generic sense in your source text.
My take on this is (also keeps the assonance between 疑 and 题):
无疑之答不如无答之题


Translating sentence of Luxun Lu Xun says here:

  夫國民發展，功雖有在於懷古，然其懷也，思理朗然，如鑒明鏡，時時上征，時時反顧…

夫 is probably the literary auxiliary for introducing a new topic.

有，I assume means “partly”

思理：I’m very unsure about this. Might go with 思辨能力: the ability for analytical thought
朗然:brightly, clearly?

My translation attempt:

  As for the development of the populace, the merit in part depends on keeping the Ancient Tradition. But it’s keeping must happen with clear analytical thought, as a mirror or a clear lens, at times proceeding, at times looking back...

There are many parts about which I am uncertain. Can you point out mistakes or improvements?

I think your translation is mostly accurate. But I don't think 有 means "partly" directly. In Chinese, 有 usually means "there is/are". So a more "verbatim" translation would be

..., although there are merits in keeping the ancient tradition,...

with the following correspondence

虽=although

有=there are

功=merits

在于=in

怀古=keeping…

As for 思理, you may know that 思 means "think, thought", and 理 means "reason". So 思理朗然 means

with clear thinking and reasoning

or

the thinking and reasoning must be clear


How can both 过 (past actions) and 会 (future actions) turn up in 下过雨以后，空气会好很多? I found this example in a Chinese grammar teaching web.

  下过雨以后，空气会好很多。

What I do not understand is:

I learn that "过" is used for past actions, "会" = "will" (for future actions). So, how can both 过 and 会 turn up in this sentence? On the other words, all actions (in the sentence) happen in one tense, right?

I learn that "过" is used for past actions, "会" = "will" (for future actions). So, can both 过 and 会 turn up in this sentence?

Your understandings of both characters are correct. But here in this sentence, the usage is a bit similar to "subjunctive mood" in English.

The sentence basically means: "After raining, the air would be much better." You can understand it as "If it rained, the air would be much better."

But honestly, the concepts of "tense" and "mood" are from Roman languages. In Chinese, there is not a prohibition on putting two tenses in one sentence.

For example (I just made up the sentence, might not be perfect):

“我刚试过了苹果的新产品，一发工资我就买！” ("I have just tried Apple's new product, I would buy it on my next payday." )

In English, you have to put the words into the right tense, but in Chinese, it's almost the same for "present perfect" and "simple past".

Here are the standard usages of the two characters in Modern Chinese Dictionary 《现代汉语词典》.

过【·guo】

1 用在动词后，表示完毕：吃～饭再走｜杏花和碧桃都已经开～了。

2 用在动词后，表示某种行为或变化曾经发生，但并未持续到现在：他去年来～北京｜我们吃～亏，上～当，有了经验了。

Comment: Two meanings are similar. Here is the first one. "过" has many other meanings under other tones. This one is "neutral tone", but in oral usage you can use “falling tone” [guò] to emphasis the status of "finished".

会2【huì】

5 （助）助动词。表示有可能实现：他不～不来｜树上的果子熟了，自然～掉下来。

Comment: 会 has more usages than I ever noticed. This one means "will" but without "a will". When someone says “我会去做的。”, it is the same usage but implies "I will do it without you saying." "It's in my plan already."

I'm a native Chinese but inexperienced in explaining my mother tongue. Feel free to ask follow-on questions. I hope my answer could help you.


Are there any style guides for Chinese? There are many different style guides for English, such as The Chicago Manual of Style and MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing. Are there similar publications available for Chinese? Although I do not need this specifically in academics, I need a general reference for preparing documents for publication.

There are three similar style guides for Chinese:

文后参考文献著录规则 GB/T 7714-2005　Appendix A　Appendix B
科学技术报告、学位论文和学术论文的编写格式 GB7713-87
文摘编写规则 GB 6447-86


Is 昨天我有过敏反应了， 所以，现在我不吃西瓜了 grammatical? 昨天我有过敏反应了， 所以，现在我不吃西瓜了。

I asked whether this sounded unnatural or not and was voted as 'a little unnatural'.

And was answered with this;

  昨天我吃完西瓜有过敏反应、所以我现在不吃西瓜了。

Is the first form acceptable grammatically (even though it sounds better the other way)  or is the grammar wrong as well?

Also do you not put 了 in the first portion because 吃完 already states the action's finished or is there some other reason I'm unaware of?

昨天我有过敏反应了， 所以，现在我不吃西瓜了。

Your sentence is grammatical. However, you haven't explicitly said to what you have your allergy. It's not something with grammar though. To be clear and concise, you could say:
我昨天吃西瓜过敏了，现在不能再吃了。

The reason why 了 is not needed at the end of 昨天我吃完西瓜有过敏反应 is that 有 already denotes the existence of 过敏反应, so 了 is unnecessary. But if you add 了， 昨天我吃完西瓜有过敏反应了 sounds emotional, implying that the allergy surprised you, it's really a big deal, the ellergy is what you were expecting, and etc.


怎么用汉语说 ”early/mid/late 20's" 或 “low/mid/high" 20's"? 比如，如果我要翻译：

  The temperature in Beijing tomorrow will be in its low/mid/late 20's

或者

  I'm guessing she's in her early/mid/(high or upper) 20's

要怎么翻译？

更新：

1.）一般来说，early/low 等于 20-23, mid 等于 24-26, high/upper 等于 27-29, 可是这不是固定的。

2.） 我把问题该城更普遍. （I made the question more general.)

For early/low 20s
I'm not very sure about the EXACT ranges (if any) that "early 20s" and "low 20s" refer to in English.
But in Chinese, you may at least have three options to choose from, according to "how early/low" the range that you intend to express is:
early 20s
20多岁 or 20来岁 or 20岁出头
low 20s
20多度 or 20来度 or 20度出头
e.g. A weather forecast broadcast by CCTV in which "5度出头" was used at 1:01, another one in which "20多度" was used at 0:45
There must be some disagreement among native speakers as to what the exact ranges the expressions above refer to (they are not rigidly defined), but I believe generally one will feel that the range gradually turns narrower from left to right. (e.g. 20多岁 → 21 to 25; 20来岁 → 20 to 23；20岁出头 → 20 to 22 or even lower）
Besides, the patterns mentioned above are fairly productive in Chinese:

multiples of ten + 多/来 + unit
e.g. 30多天, 20来吨 (We don't say 32多天 or 25来吨)
number (it doesn't have to be multiples of ten, but the nuance is a bit tricky, see exmaples below) + unit + 出头
e.g.
25米出头(a little bit longer than 25m, must be shorter than 26m, since the scale is 25m - 26m),
20米出头(a little bit longer than 20m, can be even longer than 21m, since the scale is 20m - 30m).

For late/high 20s
I agree with Marc that 将近30度/岁 or simply 近30度/岁 (in literal: near 30) can be used.
For mid 20s
I agree with Marc that there may not be a handy phrase for that. However, I think you can alternatively say 25度/岁左右 or 25度/岁上下 (in literal: around 25).


Translation of 火箭扫雷车 I have a children's wallchart with a variety of weapons and military vehicles. One of the items is 火箭扫雷车.  I think I understand the meaning (it's a kind of minesweeper that uses rockets to clear minefields); however, I am stumped on an elegant translation. Also I would like to know if this is a vehicle known to the average Chinese mainlander. It's not a weapon known to most westerners.

I'm not sure if translation questions should be on-topic or not, but I think a literal "Rocket minesweeper" or "missile minsweeper" would be appropriate. Military vehicles don't usually have elegant names.

I found one example of the term "rocket minesweeper" specifically referring to a Chinese military vehicle.


Which do I use: 喜欢不喜欢 or 喜不喜欢? I know that 喜不喜欢 and 喜欢不喜欢 have the same meaning, but in a sentence, which would look more appealing or make more sense in the sentence? In other words, which one is grammatically correct?

Chinese speakers like 4-beat rythm better, so you should be using 喜不喜欢 most of the time.


What role does 的 play in the sentence 我不明白你刚说的第一句话? I take 我不明白你刚说的第一句话 to mean

"I don't understand what you said in the first line"

I'm trying to understand what 的 does in this sentence (or grammar function).
Relatedly, would it be possible to omit it and still have a well formulated sentence?

Thanks in advance!

A completely parallel English version of the Chinese would be:

I didn't (or don't) understand the first word (or sentence) that you just said.

的 is functionally equivalent here to 'that':

the first word (or sentence) | that | you just said.
你刚说 | 的 | 第一句话

Notice that the order of the clause is reversed in Chinese and English.  This is because Chinese treats "the first word" as the head of the phrase, and puts it where all heads in Chinese phrases go: on the right side.  It treats 你刚说 as if it were modifying the head, and puts it where all modifiers (attributives) go in Chinese phrases: on the left side.

Notice that this is exactly parallel to how adjective - noun phrases are treated in Chinese:

the red | _ | pen
紅色 | 的 | 筆

So Chinese treats this kind of adjectival phrase in the same way that it treats relative clauses. This is very logical, since in both phrases the descriptive part and the head part get the exact same treatment.

English, on the other hand, is weirdly inconsistent, putting head first in relative clauses and head last in adjectival phrases, where it doesn't even bother to mark which is which.

In both these cases in Chinese the 的 is required. To omit it will confuse people and even if they can figure out what you mean, they will feel you have said something very odd.


Do 跟我读 (gēn wǒ dú) and 跟我念 (gēn wǒ niàn) have the same meaning ("read with me")? These two sentences are similar, both meaning "read with me":

跟我读
(gēn wǒ dú)
跟我念
(gēn wǒ niàn)

I've said the first one when I teach English to kids.  (They don't usually 跟我读, but you know...）
Question: Do 跟我读 and 跟我念 have the same meaning?
The translations on jukuu.com for 请跟我读 is "please read after me" and for 请跟我念 "repeat after me, please", which suggests they're the same.

Edit:

In the context of '跟我念', the standard version should be 唸 (recite). However, 念 is also an acceptable variant

The difference between 跟我读 and 跟我念

读出 = read out
念出 = recite / read out

In 跟我读 (follow me and read) ,  there have to be some written text for you to read it out.
In 跟我念 (follow me and read/ follow me and recite), you can either read from some written text or recite words from memory

念 literally means "recite ".  For example 念經, 念诗, 念咒

We can use 念 interchangeably with 读 (read out)  because "recite" can mean "recite what you are reading"


What software can check for grammar mistakes? I need some software that can check the grammar of some Chinese passages. Are there any programs capable of identifying grammar problems? I'd prefer something for Linux, but other platforms would be okay too.

There is NO software that can check Chinese grammar mistakes with satisfactory results.

Automatic grammar analysis is hard. We cannot even get satisfactory result in word segmentation. (Well, this is the story in research field)

Microsoft Word has the functionality of spelling and grammar check for Chinese (it may not be installed by default in non-Chinese versions). In my opinion, the result can be far from satisfactory though.

I don't know if there is any software developed for Language Study that has this functionality.


What to use when referring to the character 格 In Chinese, you can use 博士的博 to indicate the character 博 instead of other bó. Like a for apple or b for baby.

What about for the character 格, what do most Chinese people commonly use in practice to indicate / address the character 格 instead of other characters that represents the same sound gé?

Note I'm asking in the context of when someone is trying to spell a word to another person that is writing what he listening to. And that word coincidentally contains the character 博. Using what word would you address it since the characater 博 doesn't have an official name of its own in chinese.

Regards,

Go to http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/scripts/wordsearch.php

Search 格 by Chinese word. You will find many compound words with 格

The following are the most common ones

  風格, 品格, 人格, 嚴格, 資格, 價格, 規格, 體格

You can say 風格的格, 品格的格 ... and so on

You can also use terms like 格局, 格鬥, 格調, 格式. To clarify which character you meant to say, the examples you used just need to contain 格, it doesn't matter where it is in a compound word

To make it extra clear, you can even use four characters idioms like

'格' as in "格格不入"

'格' as in "別具一格"


Why number 2 has two forms? 二 (èr) and 两 (liăng)

I understand when to use which

But I'm curious to know why, and correct me if I'm wrong, this is the only number that has 2 forms.

A counterexample: in the Min Dong topolects, there is a similar distribution for the numeral "one", viz 一 and 蜀 (in Fuzhou, pronounced ék /ɛiʔ²⁴/ and siŏh /suoʔ⁵/ respectively). This is actually replicated across the other Min topolects (Min Nan has it vs chi̍t), although they are usually written with the same 一, especially in the Taiwan Ministry of Education standard for Taiwanese Hokkien. This comes from a well-known split between colloquial and literary pronunciations. For numbers above 10 however (11, 12, 21...) the literary pronunciations are generally used, even in counting before measure words.

Concentrating on the 二 vs 两 distinction: this seems to have emerged from Classical Chinese of the late Zhou, where it already had the meanings of "both/pair" (see the Analects), as well as starting to be a measure word for a chariot (see Mencius and the 詩經 Classic of Poetry). This is before most measure words have come into existence. Its use as a "tael" (measure of weight) is also ancient, but probably from a different derivation of the word (Min topolects have a separate pronunciation for this word).

So where did these two very different "twos" come from? "Pair" as a separate word to "two" is well-attested in many languages. But language change can bring such words together and cause them to change role. Here, it was likely the development of the measure word system through the Qin & Han dynasties to the Song dynasty, where numerical 二 came into a system (associated with nouns) that 两 (as pair) was already associating with. Hence in this case, 两 was already in the role and won out, whereas other numerals (including 12, 22 etc. with 二) took on the "measure word" role for the first time.


What Chinese lesson (Category of words) should I be studying? I have absolutely no idea about the words that are circled in black. So the cycle starts, I will use Pleco dictionary to scan the word and I will know the meaning of that word for a while. Obviously, I wouldn't be able to do that on test time.

You have difficulties identifying words and recognizing patterns.

eg:

香山公园风景美丽。 vs
香山 ／ 公园 ／ 风景 ／ 美丽。

The landscape at Xiangshan Park is beautiful.

公园 is a very common noun. You should be able to identify it. And look at the sentence rhythm: 2 / 2 / 2 / 2.

骑自行车: If you don't know this expression, you already have a hint in the question. The expression appears twice, and 自行车 alone, without 骑, appears in the table of 8 words. Reading a problem carefully is always a good idea.

So there's a hint: 自行车 is a single, 3-character, word. So you have a structure like this: 骑+自行车. If that doesn't announce Verb+Noun I don't know what does. You might not know what a 骑兵 is, but since you didn't circle 马 I assume you know what it means. 骑 has the horse radical, so it's not too wild to imagine it has to do with riding . Especially with a xx车 vehicle... Context is always important.

What you need to do is:

Improve your vocabulary. Read more. Spend time with a dictionary. Paper dictionaries are usually more useful for learning. If you spend time looking up characters by hand, you'll get more familiar with their radicals and stroke numbers, stroke orders. And reading through a paper dictionary is far more interesting than online.
Focus. Don't panic. As you have discovered, just scanning words in an app doesn't work. Identify patterns. I've mentioned 骑自行车, but #14 for instance is just a question of writing down the exact same word as in the original text: 香山公园风景........[美丽]. How hard can that be?

Good luck.

Addendum

Look up the vocabulary requirements of HSK 1 & 2 to start. Make sure you know all the words in there.


Can 上 always be used like English ” ” (i.e.: same as above)? In English parts or fragments of sentences can simple be duplicated with ditto marks, here's an example from Wikipedia:

Black pens, box of twenty   .....      $2.10
Blue  ”     ”   ”  ”        .....      $2.35

Japanese has dōnojiten iteration mark: 々 - which works similarly to "same as above" or "same as the last one": 人々, 山々, 個々.
The Wikipedia page talks about Chinese iteration marks saying:

In Chinese, 二 (usually appearing as 〻) or 々 is used in casual writing to represent a doubled character, but it is never used in formal writing or printed matter. In a tabulated table or list, vertical repetition can be represented by a ditto mark (〃).
History
Iteration marks have been occasionally used for more than two thousand years in China. The bronze script from the Zhou Dynasty, shown right, ends with “子二孫二寶用”, where the small 二 (“two”) is used as iteration marks in the phrase “子子孫孫寶用” ("descendants to use and to treasure").

Here I have something that seems more like 上 than 二 though:

Wikisource has written it as:

熙熙然受天之祜

So presumably this mini-上 looking character is also an iteration mark but Wikipedia only talks about 二、〻、or 々.
So, is 上 also an iteration mark? and Can 上 always be used like English ” ” (i.e.: same as above)?

According to this kknews article (找薦004.疊字符/重字符這麼用，有沒有錯？), many variants were used for the iteration marks, including marks that were or looked like the following:

「S」
「々」
「匕」
「上」
「乙」
「=」

It goes on to state that what looks like「匕」is normally thought of as a result of rapid writing leading to graphical corruption, or degradation of the engraving medium (for steles). We know that「々」came from a variant of「同」, but the origin of「=」is conjecture without any hard evidence. It may be later surmised as「上」or「二」, but it is probably impossible to ever know.

BTW, if you search your copy of 躋春臺, it will have more examples of「匕」as the iteration mark.


Is "Year of the Goat/Ram/Sheep" due to the Chinese language? I've heard that the current lunar year (for most of 2015) is sometimes called in English the Year of the Goat, Year of the Ram, or Year of the Sheep.

I've also heard that the reason for the different translations is that the hanzi for the year is "羊", which can cover all three options. Is this true?

Also, is the term "羊" ambiguous, or is it merely unambiguously referring to  a larger-scale taxon than a single species?

The Chinese 羊 is more an equivalent to the Caprinae subfamily than to a single species inside this subfamily, to which both the sheep and the goats belong.


Dictionaries suggest 透 (tou) is pictophonetic where 秀 (xiu) provides the sound. Is this through a classical chinese pronunciation? I have several resources and dictionaries that suggest the word 透 (tou) is pictophonetic where 辶 (chuo) suggests the meaning and 秀（xiu) provides the sound. This confuses me because 透 and 秀 do not seem to be related in sound. I assumed that this may be due to a classical chinese pronunciation but was unable to verify that or find more information.

What is the correct etymology here? thanks!

Pronoucing them in Cantonese will make sense to you.

透，tau3
秀，sau3


What is "语气词"? Why does this question end with 嘛 instead of 吗? Somebody showed me a group picture that included their face, and asked me “你可以找到我嘛”. After replying I asked why 嘛 is used instead of 吗 for this question. My Chinese is not great and my Chinese friend isn't great at explaining Chinese grammar to me in English, but they did say 语气词. Which, as I understand it, names this grammar construct.

What is 语气词? Why is it used here? How do I use it?

Clarification; this was a text message conversation

Check out ABC's definition of 嘛:

  1 (used to persuade sb. to do sth.)

  来嘛, 不要太任性。
  Lái ma, bụ̀yào tài rènxìng.
  Come on, don't be so stubborn.

  2 (used to emphasize the obvious)

  是星期日嘛。办公室当然关了。
  Shì Xīngqīrì ma. Bàngōngshì dāngrán guān le.
  It's Sunday. Of course offices are closed.

So here 嘛, despite it's similar pronunciation, has very different usage to 吗. It is mostly used in persuasion or to emphasize something that is obvious.

Taking your sentence if it had been 吗 instead we would have something like:

你可以找到我吗？
Can you find me?

but your sentence: 你可以找到我嘛 works out to something more like:

See if you can find me!


How do I analyze "惟意所欲適" and "惟所欲為"? "惟意所欲適" is a phrase from the Chinese poem 《有馬示徐無黨》:

惟意所欲適，九州可周尋。

I assume that "所欲適" is "所-phrase" and "意" is the subject, then where is the predicate?
Meanwhile, "惟所欲為" seems to be an idiom used in China. Is the structure of this phrase same with that of "惟意所欲適"?

I believe in the poem, the (hidden) subject should be the horse instead. It should go like

（馬）惟意所欲適
The horse dashes as it (my mind) wishes

The basic sentence should be 馬適, which means the horse goes, as mentioned by 水巷孑蠻.
The adverbial clause is 惟意所欲, which means 'only that the mind wishes', in other words 'freely'. In a way 惟 is there for emphasis.
As for the second part of your question, 為所欲為 again has an implied subject. If we insert 他 the sentence should go like this:

（他）為（他）所欲為
He does whatever he wishes to do

But the second 他 is omitted because it is already understood from the context. It is omitted out of simplicity, so much so the phrase 為所欲為 has become an idiom and somewhat adjectival.
Edit
I did find uses of 唯所欲為. See

今韓子務尊其尤強硬，最能欺奪之一人，使安坐而出其唯所欲為之令。嚴復《辟韓》

The clause 唯所欲 is adverbial on 為, specifying the extent of liberty one has when he gives his orders. When combined, they mean 'orders belonging to the kind where he only does what he wishes', or more succinctly, 'orders entirely out of his wish'.
Against my intuition, Google returned 14,500,000 for 唯所欲為, 17,400,000 惟所欲為, and only 11,100,000 for 為所欲為. I think in terms of modern usage, they mean almost the same. Only their explanations are different, and I personally use 為所欲為.
In summary: 惟 is for emphasis, and 為 is the verb 'to do'. 所欲 invariably has a hidden subject 其 before it, meaning 'that he wishes'.

Edit #2
I read the question here (p.41).
The first and second choices are wrong because the meaning of 適 is interpreted as 適(かな)ふ, or the Chinese equivalent of 適合. The right interpretation should be 適(ゆ)く.
The third and fifth choices are also wrong because 意 is interpreted as the verb 意(おも)う, where the right part of speech here should be a noun. By process of elimination the fourth choice is no doubt the best answer.
But their interpretation is slightly different from ours. Essentially it treated these five characters (in bold) as an incomplete adverbial phrase altogether (adverbial on the hidden verb 適, italicised). Their complete sentence should be

馬惟吾意之所欲適而適
The horse goes only to the place where my mind desires to go

That is evidenced by the addition of the dummy verb する in にして of the translation. It is equivalent to the italicised 適 here.
Ours, however, treated the same five characters (in bold) as a sentence save the hidden subject.

馬惟吾意之所欲而適
The horse goes only to the place where my mind desires

I believe both renditions are perfectly fine. The key difference lies in the understanding of whether the adjacent verbs 欲 and 適 belong to the same adverbial phrase (as in their case), or not (as in our case).
I added three characters 吾, 之, and 而 for clarity, with the following justifications:

The 意 should be the poet's mind; see 馬雖有四足，遲速在吾心. (I translated it as the horse's own mind before this edit and have now corrected it)
The 所 particle nominalises whatever verb(s) that follow(s) it. In order for two immediately adjacent nouns, i.e. 意 and 所欲(適), to make sense, the structural particle 之 can be inserted to indicate possession.
The 而 particle is there for readability, creating a syntactical pause between the adverbial phrase 惟意所欲(適) and the verb 適.

As for your follow-up question, I believe adding 從 improves readability and does not alter the essential meaning, but it does touch up the syntactical structure within the adverbial phrase. 惟 no longer ornaments the nominal compound 意所欲(適) but the verbal phrase 從意所欲.


Nouns that don't require a measure word Some of the time nouns don't require measure words.

三年，四周，五天，六秒，七日 ...

Are there any more nouns (time nouns or otherwise) that don't require a MW ?

Is there a comprehensive list somewhere ?

The trick is the omission behind (again).
It is the objective that is omitted, not the MW words.

The complete words are:
三年(时间),四周(时间), etc

As you can see now, there are MW words. Just too obvious to add the objective again.

Another example, after business dinner in CN, people usually ask 刚喝了几杯,  which means 几杯(酒). But we never say 几酒.


Specifics of the idiom "四海一家" There are several sayings and idioms similar to 四海一家 which reference "四海".

Does the 四海 actually refer to 4 specific oceans such as the Indian, Pacific etc. or is it more of a metaphor for all of the oceans in the world?

As Fivesheep pointed out, “四海” means "the whole world". The word "四海一家" means "the whole world is one family". It is used to expressed that "we are family. we shall respect each other. we shall unite", something like this, to convey the politeness from the overseas Chinese people to the local people(in your case, the Australian people).

I believe this word comes from the book of 《论语》. It records a speech from a Confucius's disciple "子夏": "四海之内，皆兄弟也。",which means "[if you are a gentleman and you are polite to other people],all the people in the world are your brothers".


Understanding the glyph origin of 占 I have the following etymology from Outlier Dictionary of Chinese Characters:

占 depicts cracks (卜) in a turtle shell and a hole (口) drilled into the shell during the divination process. Its original meaning is “observing cracks in oracle bones for the purpose of divination.”

But I could not understand what exactly they were referring to.
What is the relationship between divination and turtle shells? Why are holes drilled into turtle shells? Is this just to please the gods and get boons? Can you explain the cultural history at a high level?
What is the base meaning of it now?

Divination through reading patterns from animal bones (scapulimancy) was a widespread ancient human practice. A sub-type of this, pyro-scapulimancy, in which the bones are heated/burned to induce cracks (the patterns) was practiced in Bronze Age China, commonly with turtle shells.
After preparation, the shell would have a hole bored into it and a heated rod inserted in order to crack the shell through thermal expansion. The divination would be read from the pattern of cracks, and the prognostication engraved on the shell fragments.

Source: Sources of Shang history: the oracle-bone inscriptions of Bronze Age China


What does this 切 mean here? Looking at 诗经，第一首诗：

求之不得，
寤寐思服。
悠哉悠哉，
辗转反侧。

in 现代的普通话

追求的姑娘却总得不到，
日日夜夜心里想着她。
时常思念情意切，
翻来覆去难入眠。

In the 3rd line, what does 切 mean? true? ? sure?

切 means 深(deep) here.

  深;深切 [deep]

  切,深也。——《汉书·霍光传》注

  又如:切恐(深怕);切爱(深深的爱);痛切(悲痛而深切);切究(深究);切怛(深切悲伤);切谢(深切感谢)


Is it appropriate to use 喂 by text? 喂 is used to answer the phone, but is it accepted over text? If not, is there an alternative to 你好 that's in common use (informally, like "hi", "hey", or "yo" in English).

Is 嗨 widely accepted in China, or would I come off as too English by using it?

Mostly  wei  can be used when you answer the phone , while it's too oralize to use over text. But someti
mes you can see it like this：

他正在打电话：“喂？”

他不耐烦的说道：“喂，哪位？”

I prefer it is better to use 你好 or 您好 as a alternative word. (Actually I use 您好 cause It's polite to when you talking or writing.)

If you want to write a letter or email , adding a adj. word such as 尊敬的 can be better.

Well, 嗨 is accepted in China and it is normal in the big city, most of people know the means of ‘hai’ ‘hei’ and use it frequently(like me...wave to the other so that he can see you.) , But If you lived in the countryside , 您好 is a better way.


The IPA for pinyin x Every single source I come across on google list the IPA of pinyin x as /ɕ/, or the voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative.

However, the sample sound on Wikipedia is quite distinct from it -- to me (born and raised in Beijing), it sounds more like pinyin sh, rather than x.

What is, with sources, the correct IPA for pinyin x?
If it is the voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative, what is, with
sources, the correct pronunciation of it?

I managed to find another website, which would be correct according to me, as the pinyin x's pronunciation:
http://www.internationalphoneticalphabet.org/ipa-sounds/ipa-chart-with-sounds/

Help:IPA/Mandarin on Wikipedia has x listed like this:

Wiktionary:ɕ has audio you can listen to too.
This is a bit of a random source but here it is anyway.
《哈尔滨方言词典》[ɕi]

WordyEnglish's Pinyin 拼音, Zhuyin 注音, IPA Comparison also shows:

宣
ɕyɛn

Bopomofo letter ㄒ which represents "x" is also exclusively:

(phoneme) IPA(key): /ɕ/

From《漢語拼音方案》we can see the following:

where x again matches up with zhuyin ㄒ or IPA /ɕ/.

Sh on the other hand is listed as:

Wiktionary:ʂ also has audio you can listen too here.
《哈尔滨方言词典》[ʂɿ]

As you can see the two are very close in sound, and are often confused as such by learners.
Probably the biggest difference is tongue positions:

vs.


Meaning of 说话人最可能 **是** 什么关系？ 是,有

Would you please let me know if in this sentence "说话人最可能 是 什么关系？", we can use 有 instead of 是 to be read as:

说话人最可能 有 什么关系？

Heavily dependent on the context, I guess it means 说话人最可能**(和谁)**是什么关系？ (omitted some words). The 谁 should refer to someone (or something) mentioned right above. Check the context.


How many stroke does Chinese Traditional Word "蕭" have? I have referred to

China Mainland Online Dictionary

and
Online Stroke Order Dictionary of Ministry of Education of Republic of China

Both are giving different numbers of stroke for this word.
China Mainland: 18 Total Strokes.
Republic of China: 16 Total Strokes.

But I counted myself, it is 17 strokes.
丨一 一丨乛 一 一丨丿丨丨乛丨一 乛 一丨

have a look of this pictures:

10th stroke is:

11th stroke is:

12th stroke is:

14th stroke is:

15th stroke is:

16th stroke is:

voila, 16 strokes :)


Which is the correct grammar: 我比你更了解你自己 or 我比你更你自己了解? According to this Chinese grammar guide, the "target" of a verb should precede the verb.

Does this mean the translation of "I know you better than yourself" is 我比你更你自己了解 instead of 我比你更了解你自己?

You can say in the following two different ways:

你自己 as the object of 了解. It's like the transit verb case in English. So V+O in normal order.

  我(subject) 比你 更 了解(verb) 你自己(object)

你自己 as the target of the action. In this case, you need a preposition to specify it is a target.

  我(subject) 比你 对你自己(target) 更 了解(verb)


what's mean of "打的"？ How to understand "的" When I need a taxi, I need to say “打的” instead of "打车"。

So what is the meaning of "的"？How to understand "的"?

When can I use it?

You can say "打车". Whether to use "打的" or "打车" might be only personal/regional preference.

Here 的 is pronounced as di1[1] , and it shorten from "的士" which means taxi.

Currently I can think of only a few words which uses this meaning of "的": 打的, 的士, 的哥(male taxi driver), etc。

[1] My dictionary says the pronunciation is di2. While in everyday life (in Beijing), what I hear and use is di1.


Use of 比如 to answer a question. 比如 This phrase was used to answer a question I had for a friend. She answered back with 比如. Is this a common practice or a colloquial use of an abbreviation?

It just means: "for example" in English.


What is the role of 美國 in "中國向美國報復"? A discussion arose from this post In ` 向谁说`, does `向` play the same role / have the same meaning as `对`?
What is the role of the noun after 向 in "向 + noun + verb"?
Is it the object? Someone argued 向 is a preposition, which introduces a prepositional phrase, therefore, the noun after 向 cannot be the object.
So, What is the role of 美國 in "中國向美國報復"?

This kind of confusion is usually caused by using English grammar to understand Chinese.
In Chinese grammar, 中國向美國報復:
中国， subject
向美国， prepositional phrase worked as adverbial(介词短语作状语); 美国 is the object of the preposition 向.
報復，predicate(谓语)


Should the term 廁所 (bathroom) be used for both a home and public toilet? I found this word,  廁所 (Cèsuǒ). Does it mean a toilet outside house like a toilet in the mall?

However, for a bathroom in a house which has only a toilet and a shower and there is no bathtub. How can I call it? Is that 廁所, too?

You can definitely say "廁所" even it is in your house. There are more than one way to say it. The word "廁所" and "衛生間" probably are most common ones. Other than that "洗手間" is pretty common too. "盥洗室" is not very common in daily uses. You normally will see this in the hospital or kindergarten. The word "浴室" might not be the best one for bathroom because it focus more on the cleaning part. It usually indicate the place that you take a bath. In some area in China "浴室" normally means public bath place.

Again, different place in China has different language habit but "廁所" is definitely ok.


个 ge usage plus 每 mei Anybody can explain me the reason why:
-we don't say 每个年 but 每年? and, on the contrary,
we must say 每个月 and not 每月?
-Is there somethig to do with the fact that sometimes we must use 全 (全身)instead of 整个 while we must say 整个身体 and don't 全身体?
Thanks (Húli)
PS/Afterwards I have introduced some changes on my previous post in order to clarify it.

The reason is that 天, 日, 周, 年 are themselves counter words / classifiers (so they don't need an extra one), while 星期, 礼拜, 月 are not classifiers and therefore require a classifier, which happen to be 个 for the all of them.

Note that although 月 is listed with the ones that require a classifier, it's quite frequent to hear 每月 as well (which I believe makes sense since we already have a classifier for day, week and year).


Why is 我找不到 correct and 我不能找 wrong? Which grammatical point am I missing? I was recently corrected by a Chinese friend. He said it's incorrect to say:

  我不能找

He said the right form is:

  我找不到

Which sentence structure pattern is this following. Is it used with only certain verbs? Only with 能／可以／会？

Thanks!

In general,

"我不能找"：

  I'm not able/ allowed/ permitted/ qualified to look for
  something/somebody.

"我找不到"：

  I am not able to/ cannot find the things that I am looking for.

Typically, native speaker seldom use "我不能找".

English speakers don't quite say "I cannot look for something" either, right?


Google, "heavenly"/"original" and Baidu coordinates I'm helping answer several questions on StackOverflow and GIS.SE regarding the unique coordinate system used in China, and its interaction with Baidu Maps.

While trying to machine translate the Baidu Map coordinates conversion API, I have these two strings:

google坐标转成百度坐标 - Convert Google coordinates into Baidu coordinates
原始坐标转成百度坐标 - Convert ??? coordinates into Baidu coordinates

I'm trying to understand what the second description refers to. The "real" GPS coordinates (WSG-84), or the "original" i.e. approved by the State Council GCJ-02 coordinates?

Google uses WGS-84 coordinates, so I'm inclining to believe the second option, but I see no reference to GCJ-02.

It's seems to be GPS coordinates (WGS-84).

And yes, Google uses WGS-84 coordinates, but Google map uses State Council GCJ-02 coordinates in China.

So,

google坐标转成百度坐标 : GCJ-02 TO BAIDU(GCJ-02 + BD09)
原始坐标转成百度坐标 : WGS-84 TO BAIDU(GCJ-02 + BD09)

Reference:
百度地图API详解之坐标系转换
GPS坐标换算为百度坐标
百度地图坐标转换（gps google 百度坐标相互转换）


What's the Mandarin equivalent of the Hardcore History podcast? So I'm looking for an very interesting and in-depth history podcast, in Mandarin, for native speakers.

It's doesn't have to be about Chinese history, or any particular place or period. Any recommendations are very much appreciated!

The BBC was running a podcast a few years ago, 20th Century China. It's in Mandarin and has 35 episodes in total.

RTHK hosted another Mandarin language show, but not as in-depth as you might would like, rather bite-sized: 中国历史小档案

If you speak Cantonese, they have more detailed shows on Chinese history, e.g. 神州五十年. Check their podcasts list.


Chinese equivalent of eggcorns? An eggcorn is:

  In linguistics, an eggcorn is an idiosyncratic substitution of a word or phrase for a word or words that sound similar or identical in the speaker's dialect (sometimes called oronyms). The new phrase introduces a meaning that is different from the original but plausible in the same context, such as "old-timers' disease" for "Alzheimer's disease". An eggcorn can be described as an intra-lingual phono-semantic matching, a matching in which the intended word and substitute are from the same language.

Wikipedia also gives a bunch of English examples:

  ex-patriot instead of expatriate
  mating name instead of maiden name
  on the spurt of the moment instead of on the spur of the moment
  preying mantis instead of praying mantis
  for all intensive purposes instead of for all intents and purposes

What similar phenomenons happens in Chinese?

白字 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/14500/
wrong character of phonetic equivalent

Examples of 白字詞句 (words or phrases contain wrong character of phonetic equivalent):

'白撞'(to trespass under a false pretext) --> 白狀 (狀 is a wrong character that sounds the same as 撞 in Cantonese; 白狀 literally means 'baseless account')

'脾氣' (temperament)--> '皮氣' (皮 is a wrong character that sounds the same as  脾;'皮氣' literally means 'skin and Chi' implies 'outside and inside')

漫長競賽 (long long competition) --> '萬場競賽' (countless competition) (萬場 and 漫長 sound similar in Cantonese)

'量少非君子, 無度不丈夫' -->  '量少非君子, 無毒不丈夫' (道 was misheard as 毒)

The phrase '無度不丈夫' (true man cannot be without magnanimity) from the original idiom was misheard as  '無毒不丈夫' (true man cannot be without venom) and the wrong one got spread so far and wide, it became a common phrase on its own. Nowadays, when someone is about to do evil thing, this phrase would be used for an excuse


What is @ ("at") called when giving an email address over the phone? What is "@"  "at" called when giving an email over the phone?
Is it different in different regions?  I have heard it as "XiaoLong ..." or something similar to that in Taiwan, but not sure what exactly they are saying.

I've heard at least two versions personally.

One is to use the English reading of "at".

The other is "圈(儿)a". Meaning "a" with a circle around it.

It might be different in different regions.


Difference between 生前 and 死前 Literally, 死前 means before death while 生前 means before life. They seem to bear the opposite meaning. However, in most cases, they actually mean the same thing, i.e., when someone was still alive. What's more, in my experience, 生前 is being used more often than 死前. Any difference between them and when to use which?

Yes, you are quite right that they both mean when someone was still alive. However, there is a clear distinction on the usage of the two words. 生前 is almost always used when someone is discussing about the life of a deceased. Example:

  He did a lot of charity work when he was alive. 他生前做了很多善事。

死前, or more properly 临死之前, is almost always used when someone is discussing about a person prior to his death. Example:

  What did he said to you before he die? 他临死之前跟你说了什么？


Can I translate "still alive" as 还活着? if I have to translate "still alive" can I write it like this 还活着 or are there better ways to say it? I have to use it as  a title of a poem, so it doesn't have a context or a phrase where it should be written in. It's just the simple poetic expression.

A friend of mine wrote it in "cursive" in the image down below, but I don't even know if the first kanji exists. Would you read 还活着?

還活著 is correct in meaning

But in most cases 仍(然)活著 is a better translation


斯 vs 这 vs 此 for the meaning "this"? What are the differences between these three, 斯 vs 这 vs 此, and any other characters or words for "this" in Mandarin Chinese?

I'm just a beginner and I've noticed at least these few characters are in my Memrise flashcard courses all with English translation of "this".

斯 is ancient Chinese language usage, and 此 is more used in writing language. 这 is most common nowadays.


Greeting in an Email Autoresponse: 您好， 亲爱的 or something else? It's a pretty specific situation, so I hope you can help me.

The simplest and safest way:

您好，

If your email auto response included name(from email or etc):

Franjo Tušek，
             您好，


How can I express the concept "There's nothing of which I'm absolutely sure" in Chinese? Scientists and philosophers have at various times been quoted as saying:
"There's nothing of which I'm absolutely sure" or "I'm not absolutely sure of anything". (Richard Feynman, for example.)

How can this logical concept be expressed in Chinese?

I've made a first attempt below:

對任何事情我都沒有絕對的把握.

For some reason the above translation "feels" unsatisfactory (though, that might just be due to my undeveloped "語感").

Are there any clearer ways to express this logical concept in Chinese?

1) (对)任何事情我都没有绝对的把握.

There is nothing wrong in this sentence, but it focuses on personal belief, a little bit inclining to the speaker's subjectiveness.

If we want to state something that describes a general belief, which focuses more on objectiveness, then we can say:

  2) (对)任何事情 我们 都没有绝对的把握.

  3) (对)什么事 我们 都 不可能有 绝对的把握.

Sentence 2 generalizes the idea expressed in sentence 1 by replacing 我 with 我们. 我们 covers not only the speaker, but also the readers and listeners.

Sentence 3 makes it even stronger, which emphasizes on the impossibility of having, while in sentence 2 没有 just describes the fact of not having.

Note: 任何事情 in sentence 2 is same as 什么事  in setence 3, no differences at all, they are interchangable.


Difference between 接受 and 接收 The first one (接受 jiēshòu) seems far more general and frequent:

我接受邀请。   I accepted the invitation.
他将接受口试。  He will take an oral examination.
他拒绝接受治疗。 He refused treatment.

The second one (接收 jiēshōu) appears to be specialized in signal reception (and expropriation), but I found the following examples too:

我接收了邀请。  I accepted the invitation.
部队未接收他。  The army rejected him.
他接收礼物。   He receives gifts.

Are the latter simple typos?
Is it possible to swap 接收 and 接受 in all these six sentences?

接受(accept) ≠ 接收(receive)

  接受 means agreeing to something

  接收 means getting something

I have made some amendments to the six sentences (in brackets) for clearer understanding of the meaning:

我接受(了)邀请。I accepted the invitation.
他将接受口试。He will be (accepting) an oral test.*
他拒绝接受治疗。 He refused (to accept) treatment.
我接收了邀请(函)。I received the invitation (letter).
部队未接收他。The military has yet to (receive) him.*
他接收了礼物。He received the gift.

接受 can be used in an abstract manner (邀请，口试，治疗) but 接收 has to be something physical (邀请函，他，礼物). Therefore, they can't be interchanged.

* These statements may sound unnatural to native English speakers. Gloss translation is provided to give the precise meaning of 接收 and 接受, and to avoid causing confusion to learners of the Chinese language.


How do I type the lü for Character Romanization? I am studying classical Chinese and when I try to type in any words that require the ü it just randomly chooses a character.

How do I use the Traditional pinyin entry method on a Mac and get the the ü?

Thanks.

The OP is asking how to type characters, using a pinyin IME, when those characters have a ü in their pinyin spelling. For example, how do you type 绿=lü? This is different than asking how to actually type the letter ü. The answer is to type a v. To follow the example, change to the pinyin IME, type lv and select 绿.


What's the function of 到 in 今天的考试要用到词典? When I was reading a text, I encountered this sentence:

  今天的考试要用到词典，请大家把词典也放在桌子上。

I know what the whole sentence means but what's the function of 到 in this sentence?

到 is used as this sense defined in dictionaries:

  用在动词后，表示动作结果。
  Used after a verb, [it] expresses the result of an action.

It functions a resultative complement in your sentence.


How to translate "I wonder..." How can I translate something like the below sentence into Chinese:

  I wonder how many people are going to the party?

Translation from English to Chinese is more a matter of capturing meaning than finding word for word equivalences. In this case, I think the best way to capture "wonder" is by saying "would like to know."

Thus, "I wonder..." becomes "我想知道..."

Translating to "I don't know" (as is suggested by Question Overflow) might be appropriate in some situations. It's not what I would use for your example sentence, but the decision is admittedly subjective.

In any event, here is a collection of example sentences in English/Chinese with the word "wonder."


How do you say "Where is Beijing?" In Chinese will we say, "Beijing zai nār/nali?". Because I just learned to say, "Lundun zai Ying Guo." Plus, "Where is your home?" is, "Nide jia zai nar?" So using these rules, is it acceptable?

What about, "Beijing shi nar/nali?"

And can we also say "Beijing zai na guo?" (Which country is Beijing in?")

Are these sentences grammatically correct?

The examples you gave are all grammatically correct, but they are slightly different in meaning.

  Beijing zai nār/nali?

This sentence is asking where is Beijing, the person who will be answering the question will tell you the location of Beijing. If I were to answer the question, I will tell you Beijing is physically in Hebei province, in the east part of China.

  Beijing zai na guo?

This question is asking which country is Beijing in, and will be answered by justing telling you Beijing is in China.

  Beijing shi nar/nali?

This is a little different with the previous two, it is not only, or, exactly asking the physical location of Beijing, it is asking about Beijing itself. I will answer as the following, Beijing is the captical city of China, its population is 13 millon and it is in the east part of China and so on.


What is the difference between 列车 and 火车 What is the difference between these two words? Both mean train. Is there any difference? Are they used in different regions?

Yes there are differences.

火车 literally means "fire car", and it got this name since the steam locomotive era when trains relied on buring coal as fuel. Later this word is generalized to refer to trains. But with modern technology developing, for example 高铁 (High Speed EMU Train), official media usually referes to it as 高铁列车, not 高铁火车. I guess it's because 火车 simply does not fit into the image. 电气列车, 地铁列车 and 轻轨列车 are some other examples.

However, the word 火车 is still used when referring to train in general. For example, 火车票 means "train ticket" and 火车站 means "railway station". You cannot replace 火车 with 列车 in these cases.

Technology aside, 列车 literally means "linked car(s)". So this word should also be used when the subject referred to is related to the linked cars (passenger units), not the locomotive (motor unit). Hence in the word 列车乘务员 (train conductor), you shouldn't use 火车, because the conductor serves the passenger units.


Is there an idiomatic way to express 乱说 or 胡说八道 in an elegant way? Essentially, let's say that during a polite conversation, I want to remark that someone 乱说 / 胡说八道 “talks rubbish", without sounding inelegant or unrefined (没素质).
What's a good euphemism, a chengyu or some other idiomatic way that elegantly gets the point across?
Something that you could say in not-so-informal situations, e.g. during a meeting with colleagues, or while talking with a well schooled person you aren't too familiar with.

Basic

没有根据 unfounded
不合逻辑 illogical
不可信 untrustworthy
没有说服力 unpersuasive

Advanced

信口开河：说话没有根据，不可靠。（嘴巴随意张开。信口：随口。开河：原为开合。）
信口雌黄：不顾事实，随口乱说或妄作评论。（雌黄：Correction fluid used in ancient China）
天方夜谭 (noun)：虚妄荒诞的言论。（《天方夜谭》 is the previous translation of One Thousand and One Nights《一千零一夜》. Used for unfounded speech like a mythology / fairy tale）

Unbiased language
I personally use 乱说 rather than 胡说 or 瞎说.

胡 means foreign, e.g. 胡椒 black pepper (which is not origin in China). Although 胡 has the meaning of 乱 and beard/moustache in dictionary, I still think 胡说 is a stereotype on foreign citizens. Does foreigner's speech imply nonsense?
瞎 means is offensive way to say blind. 失明 and 视觉障碍 are inclusive language. I don't think 瞎说 is appropriate.


Subject + predicate as topic and prepositional phrases I found this sentence while doing some listening practice:
长时间看电脑，对眼睛不好。
At first, I didn't understand why 长时间, expressing duration, is at the beginning of the sentence acting as topic 长时间看电脑, since I learned that these are usually placed at the end of the sentence or between the verb and the object (depending on whether the verb is transitive or not). I tried asking online and it turns out that when a sentence acts as a topic of a sentence, the word order can be quite different. I got other example sentences:
在罗马待的一个星期给我留下了很深的印象。
三年的汉语学习使我能和中国人流利地交流。
Is this a matter of pure habit or are there some strict rules governing word order in sentences that act as a topic?

Your subject of the sentence could be anything, as long as you make it clear to the listeners what it is.
After breaking down these sentences, you could see that Mandarin and English just have the order of their SUBJECT and subject description reversed.
Mandarin Structure
(Short description to describe the subject/event) + (SUBJECT/EVENT) + (Outcome of the event)
English Structure
(SUBJECT/EVENT) + (Short description to describe the subject/event) + (Outcome of the event)

长时间 + 看电脑 + 对眼睛不好。 Looking at a computer + for a long time + is bad for the eyes.
在罗马待的 + 一个星期 + 给我留下了很深的印象。 The week + stayed in Rome + gave me
deep impression.
三年的 + 汉语学习 + 使我能和中国人流利地交流。 Learning Mandarin + for three
years + made me able to communicate with Chinese fluently.

In general, as long as you don't make the first part too long -> (Short description to describe the subject/event), then people will be able to understand the (SUBJECT/EVENT) you're trying to tell..but even the example below would work:

三年內每天一百下伏地挺身,一百下仰臥起坐,一百下深蹲,十公里跑步的 + 這種健身方式 + 讓他最後變成了禿頭。
The workout routine of 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and 10km running for
three years eventually made him bald.

Just create more sentences of your own to practice, then you'll get the idea.


What is 越级挑战 in one English vocabulary form and if possible, also in idiom? What is 越级挑战 in one English vocabulary form and if possible, also in idiom?

I use google translate and it give me a ridiculous answer: the leap frog challenge.

You should provide the context in which this was used. It can be applied to school, work, development, sports teams moving up the leagues, anything.

越级: more than 1 level, skip a grade, leapfrog
挑战: challenge

越级挑战: some kind of test or exam or challenge. If your score is good, you go up more than one level. Could be school, work， just the children's game or whatever.

Not exactly your phrase, but you can see how 'leapfrog' might be used.

The win allowed them to leapfrog three teams to gain second place.

这场胜利使他们连超三个队，跃居第二位。


How to translate "build server" (software terminology) The definition of "to build", in software, is:

the process of converting source code files into standalone software artifact(s) that can be run on a computer

I'm working with a software development team and I'm struggling with specific software-related vocabulary.
There are a few potential direct translations of the verb "to build", in Mandarin: 建设 and 建造 seem related to physical construction. 构建 and 搭建 seem more abstract in use, though they sound like "to compose", "to put together".
The relevant Wikipedia page offers 组建 instead.
What is the correct technical translation for "to build" a software?

You can say:

build server: 编译服务器

to build: 编译（编译整个工程)

a build: 一个版本的编译，编译的一个版本

a code drop: 一个代码实现 （minor milestone）


What is the meaning of 臭石头 (slang)? I remember that my dad used this occasionally when he was arguing with my mom.  Google translate just returns smelly rock, but I know it's gotta be some sort of slang, as whenever my dad said it, my mom would get really upset.  Point of note: my dad's from southern China, and my mom's from Shanghai, so it might be some sort of region specific slang.  I've already tried Wikipedia with Mandarin Profanity and languagerealm.com.  Unfortunately, I can't read Chinese, otherwise I'd look on Baidu.

Edit to clarify my question in response to comments:
The pinyin is chòu shítou.  臭石头 could be homophomic with another character, though I remember that Mom always would say (in English) that he was calling her a stinky rock; she also said that he would call her things in Chinese that he wouldn't dare say in English, cuz then my brother and I would understand (hence why I think it was some sort of profanity).  He would say something along the lines of "你是一个臭石头".  Google translate returns smelly rock, and while it's definitely wrong, another thing that's smelly and hard is feces, so he could've been calling her feces/shit, though if that's the case, he could've just stuck with the other profanity he was using (some of which I did find in the Mandarin profanity of Wikipedia).  Of note, I could also be a little biased now cuz I'm a lot more used to profanity than I was as a high schooler.

Also, it is possible that it was 臭屎头 (smelly feces head?), but I'm pretty certain that it was 臭石头.

I've heard way worse when my mum and dad were arguing hahaha. I'm not sure if it is indeed what i think it is, but if it is, it's kinda cute and not that bad. Here is my guess:

Saying one person is like a rock when arguing is simply comparing that person to a rock, and why a rock you ask? Well, you can't win an argument with a rock, rock don't listen, rock don't change, rock never compromise because "it doesn't move". It's basically saying, "You are so stubborn!!".

Now why the term 臭 infront then? It's because if you just say ”你是一个石头“, it misses some "flavour" (See what i did there haha), your dad is just trying to show your mum who the boss is haha. Here is what I mean by that.

你是一个石头(You are a rock!!), flat, no emotions at all.

你是一个臭石头(You are a stinky rock!!), see how it portrays emotions better by simply adding the word "stinky"? It's just the way it sounds sometimes, as Chinese is a tonal language so the same sentence on paper might not mean the same when spoken

Again, this is my best guess, it could be a stronger word in different dialects.


The difference between "忍受不住" and "忍受不了" Is there any difference between "忍受不住" and "忍受不了" in terms of their meanings?
For example:

忍受不了噪音
忍受不住噪音

or

我再也忍受不了隔壁的噪音了
我再也忍受不住隔壁的噪音了

忍受 = to endure/ to stand (put up with)

Your question is about the difference between two particles '住' and '了'; It also involve the usage of a potential particles '得'  (see How to determine the part of speech tags of words succeeding 不 like these?)

  住 as a particles denotes a verb is in a continuous state:

  忍受住 = to endure (continuously)

  忍受得住 = able to endure (continuously)

  忍受不住 = unable to endure (continuously)

~

  了 as a particles denotes a verb is completed

  忍受了 = have endured

  忍受得了 = able to endure (successfully)

  忍受不了 = unable to endure (successfully)


When should you use 尽管 (jǐnguǎn) instead of 虽然 (suīrán)? 虽然 and 尽管 can both be translated as "despite" and "although". I've been familiar with 虽然 for a longer time already but I recently came across 尽管 for the first time. Is 尽管 a more formal or poetic term? In what contexts would you use 尽管 rather than 虽然?

Let me translate an answer I saw on a Chinese website.

  这两个关联词语的使用是有差别的.词典中的注释很明了,"尽管"表达的是让步转折,即说话者已经认识到一种客观存在,这种客观存在应导致某一种结果；但他依然坚持自己认为正确的另一种结果。可谓坚持己见，态度坚定，大有死了的鸭子嘴硬不肯悔改之意。“虽然”是客观陈述，“尽管”是主观表达。
  如：虽然天冷路滑，学员们还是按时到达了；尽管天冷路滑，你们也要按时到达。

尽管 and 虽然 are somewhat different. "尽管" implies personal opinion (similar to "although"?), indicating that the speaker understands that the situation usually leads to result A, but insists on result B nevertheless. "虽然", however, does not carry this connotation because it goes with 但是 and can be treated as "but". "虽然" merely states a fact.

For example,

  虽然天冷路滑，学员们还是按时到达了。
  It was cold outside, but the students arrived on time.

  尽管天冷路滑，你们也要按时到达。
  Although it is cold outside, you should arrive on time.

As a native speaker, I think 虽然 and 尽管 are interchangeable in the first example, while 尽管 is the best way to put it in the second sentence. Thus, when you are expressing strong personal opinion, 尽管 is a better choice.
尽管 is also more formal. People hardly use 尽管 in colloquial language. (Probably we omit 虽然 as well, as 但是 will do in most situations.)
尽管 has an additional meaning, which Terry explained quite clearly in his post.


What is the difference between 日 and 号? Right now I am taking Mandarin 1 in Brooklyn Tech. From my understanding, 号 and 日 both mean "day." I took it upon myself to check Google Translate and find out what they both mean for confirmation. I found:

号: Day of the month; number
日:Day; Date; sun

So what is the difference? Can I use both terms in one sentence?(As in I could replace one with the other) Or are they more different than similar?

Note: I use trad.Chi so 號 is the same as 号

When you talk about a date, you can use 號 when you are talking casually with people, for example:

  今天是幾多號？
  今天是十五號。

You can use 日 when you're writing (eg. diary or notes) or saying something formal:

  十二月八日

Both has the same meaning.

[!] If you use them for other meanings, they are totally different.


孤单 vs 孤独 vs 寂寞 usage so far I went through a few forums to look at existing questions on 孤单 vs. 孤独 vs. 寂寞 usage. The answers from each person have a bit of difference so I would like to check if what I understood so far is correct. Based on what I researched and compiled together so far:

孤单 seems to mean alone physically and having no one to rely on even if the person has many friends.

孤独 seems to mean the person has many friends but no one understands the person so the person feels alone in the heart.

寂寞 seems to mean no one is around or with the person so the person feels alone.

What do you guys think about this? Feel free to give some opinions and sample sentences if I made some mistakes!

孤 =(alone);单 = (single)
孤单 = alone/ solitary

~

孤=(alone); 独 = (single/alone)
孤独 = alone/ solitary/ unsociable

~

寂 = quiet; 寞 = deserted
寂寞 = lonely; loneliness

孤单 mainly describes a physical state of being alone. It can be used to describe a feeling of loneliness, as in "感到孤单" (feel alone = lonely)

孤独 also describes a physical physical state of being alone. It can be used to describe a feeling of loneliness, as in "感到孤独" (feel alone = lonely), It can also be used to describe a personality, as in "他性恪很孤独" (he is very unsociable) - You cannot say "他性恪很孤单"

寂寞 is mostly an emotion or feeling. You can be surrounded by friends and still feel lonely. For example: "無敵是最寂寞" (unrivaled people are the most  lonely people)

People do not physically being 寂寞; being physically 孤单/孤独 (alone) can make you feel 寂寞, but being 寂寞 (lonely) doesn't require being alone
Actually, feeling 孤单/孤独 (feel alone = lonely) doesn't require physically  being alone


How to interpret 休息不了多长时间吧？ 他是‘业余作家‘。

您在白天应酬、工作之后，晚上是怎样进入写作状态的，您晚上休息不了多长时间吧？

Have  I got this right, seems she is asking the question in reverse.

您晚上休息不了多长时间吧？ = How long do you sleep at night?

His answer is '我大概一天睡四到五个小时。‘ but her question says 'how long can't(不了） you rest'.

您晚上休息不了多长时间吧 is between interrogative and rhetorical. It means

  (I reckon that) you don't have much time for sleep at night, do you?

There is a strong suggestion for the answer, yet an answer is expected to complete the dialog.

Word by word translation is like

  You are unable to rest for long time at night right?


Is 你怎么知道怎么做中国菜? (How do you know how to cook Chinese food?) a grammatically correct question? This is from a problem from my Chinese book; I'm practicing the use of 怎么 (zěn me).

  美国朋友会做中国菜，你觉得很奇怪，问他：...
  Měiguó péngyǒu huì zuò zhōngguó cài, nǐ juédé hěn qíguài, wèn tā: ...

This translates to "An American friend can cook Chinese food; you feel it's strange.  [You] ask him: ... "  I came up with two answers:

The first I think is fine: 你怎么会做中国菜？ (Nǐ zěnme huì zuò zhōngguó cài?) meaning "How can you cook Chinese food?"

My second answer I'm uncertain about because of the repeated 怎么, and because it's an almost-direct translation from English:

  你怎么知道怎么做中国菜？
  Nǐ zěnme zhīdào zěnme zuò zhōngguó cài?

By this I intend to ask him "How do you know how to cook Chinese food?"

Question: Is 你怎么知道怎么做中国菜? a grammatically correct question?

你怎么知道如何做中国菜？

or without how

你在哪学会做中国菜？


How should this painting's title, signature and yin (chop) be correctly translated? This is the title, signature and chop from a painted silk screen. I think the upper characters translate as hǎi táng huā [Chinese flowering crab-apple (Malus spectabilis)]. I think the lower characters are the name of a type of bird. Can you please tell me the name of the bird, the name of the artist, or translate the chop?

Many thanks.

The title is 海棠珍禽 - Begonia and rare bird. It's one of the common themes for classical Chinese painting, which I believe is what this title is for.

The first two characters are Malus spectabilis, however, when Chinese say 海棠 especially in art works, we actually mean 秋海棠 - Begonia grandis, which is an herb instead of a tree.

The last two characters are literally 'rare bird'. They are sometimes extended to refer to any rare animal, but in the context of a painting it is referring to a bird.

The signature looks like 子兰作 to me, meaning the Zi or Hao of the artist is 子兰. (If you're not sure what Zi or Hao is, think Zi as a secondary given name and Hao as a stage name.)

Can't see the seal clear enough, best guess is 吴兰之印, indicating the full name of the artist is either 吴兰 or 吴兰之. Since we know the artist's Zi is 子兰, the name ending with 兰 (i.e. 吴兰) is actually more likely than the other.


"Disgusting" as the Chinese would say it How to say "Disgusting." in Chinese (the Taiwanese way, and Hong Kong way) about the defilement of a nation's culture & traditions? I need the harshest word for 'disgusting' possible.

for the word "disgusting" A simple search can yield many results:

肉酸 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/1431/
肉麻 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/2054/
反胃 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/13997/
嘔心 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/15164/
鶻突 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/1310/

However,

about the defilement of a nation's culture & traditions

I think the word you are looking for is "shameful"

可恥 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/46203/


What's the etymology and significance of yuenyeung (鴛鴦)? 鴛鴦 is a mix of tea and coffee commonly had in Hong Kong (amongst other south-asian countries).

I was wondering about how this drink came into being? Where does the title come from (especially the common radical at the bottom part of the character). What's the reasoning of the name behind the title?

I could simply search this up on Wikipedia but I wanted to hear your opinions. I don't really trust Wikipedia as a reliable source of information.

鴛鴦 is actually the name of a bird; more specifically, the mandarin duck.

Here's an image:

(Look at how cute they are!)

In Chinese culture, the mandarin duck is a symbol of lovers, much like the lovebird in English culture. The term 鸳鸯 is often used to describe pairs of things that make a good match. As for your drink, this most likely refers to the tea and coffee, which, despite tasting very different (much like the colour difference between the male and female duck), are actually perfect for each other.

The common radical, 鳥, means "bird". "鴛" refers to the male duck, and "鴦" refers to the female.


Grammar: using 的 several times I often come up with the same problem in Chinese. How to use 的 in very long and complex sentences like:

  "He's the guy who just employed a person who doesn't even know how to work."

I'd translate it as:

  他是刚刚雇佣一个不会工作（的）人的  那家伙.

I'm quite puzzled by the double 的. I saw somewhere that it was possible to use 2 的 like this but I hardly ever see it and wonder how to use it when, as far as I'm concerned, using a double is inevitable. I also read that you could remove the first 的, which I think is more commonplace. But I'd like to know what Chinese native speakers think about this wording.

Another example:

  The girlfriend of the guy from the shop whose dad was a plumber... 有父亲当管子工（的）商人那边的女朋友 ？

I know it's a tad complex (I do it on purpose), but I really wanna know how to translate that sort of sentences in Chinese because I happen to say things like that.

Rewording might as well seem fit because of different cultural way of thinking but I'm really curious about the good grammar to use behind that.

So here are my questions:

How many 的 am I allowed to put in?
What are the 的 I can remove?
How come I never see this sort of thing in Chinese?
Do you have any advice to cope with this sort of grammatical conundrum in the future?

Any advice will be much appreciated.

多谢

"He's the guy who just employed a person who doesn't even know how to work."

we translate to 他就是雇用了那個連工作都不知道如何做的人的人(傢伙)。

the girlfriend of the guy from the shop whose dad was a plumber.

we translate to 店裡那傢伙的女友的爸爸是水管工

How many 的 am I allowed to put in ?
You can put whatever you want but the sentence need to to reasonable.

What are the 的 I can remove ? ()means can omit

他(的)哥哥的新(的)手機的價錢是多少?

How come I never see this sort of thing in Chinese ?
This sort of thing is lengthy.we say 他哥新手機的價錢是多少? is same as previous answer.

Do you have any advice to cope with this sort of grammatical conundrum in the future ?
It is not a big problem for you to communicate with other because people like simple.


"母牛流产了“ － "The cow cast her calf"? HSK Anki flash cards I'm reviewing the HSK1-limited-part1 flash card deck on Anki, and I keep coming accross this one flash card. On the front, it says

  母牛流产了

and for the definition,

  The cow cast her calf

What does this mean (in Chinese OR English?) How is this used?

流产 means "to have a miscarriage, to have an abortion". The former in case it happened as a natural process, the latter in case it was enforced.

So you can translate 母牛流产了 means "the cow had a miscarriage".

To cast means "To give birth prematurely" in this context, so the translation is incorrect.

This definitely is not something you need to know for HSK 1 (even for the old exam).


Dictionary for traditional characters I want to start learning traditional characters， but I don't know any good dictionaries that shows the strokes and maybe the meaning of each particular character.
Can you recommend a good dictionary? (I know that PLECO shows traditional characters but I would be interested in one that is devoted to traditional characters).

try the 國語辭典, 國語辭典簡編本, or 國語小字典; depends on your level.
http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cbdic/search.htm
http://dict.concised.moe.edu.tw/jbdic/search.htm
http://dict.mini.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/gdic/gsweb.cgi?o=ddictionary
these are authoritative and free :)
for stroke order, try this one:
https://stroke-order.learningweb.moe.edu.tw/home.do
welcome onboard


Mandarin Chinese Alphanumerical Ordering I'm attempting to create a small, multi-lingual multiplayer game that uses a single-character alphanumerical ordering system. For example, the player's rank would start at their language's first numeric character (0), continue from the last numeric character (9) to the first alphabetical character (A), and finally to the last alphabetical character (Z).

This works for Russian (0-9,А-Ш), Arabic (ض-أ,٠-٩), and even Japanese (〇-九,あ-は). However, now the time has come to include Mandarin, and although 0-9 is easy enough to translate (〇-九, same as Japanese), it is complicated by the language not having an alphabet.

One of the sources I was looking at simply used Mandarin characters to "build" the alphabet (诶,比,西,迪...), but this uses multiple characters (L built as 艾勒, W built as 豆贝尔维). A few other sources suggested using strokes and pinyin(s?) for ordering, but all cited a Wikipedia article about Chinese Indexing (which, of course, had no citations or examples), and had no actual chart or anything that showed the progression.

So, how does one create such an "alphabetical" system in Mandarin, and have it understood by both fluent and new speakers that it has a definite order (eg. each character is "lower" value than the character before it)?

I'd use the 10 heavenly stems (天干):

1 - A - 甲
2 - B - 乙
3 - C - 丙
4 - D - 丁
5 - E - 戊
6 - F - 己
7 - G - 庚
8 - H - 辛
9 - I - 壬
10 - J - 癸


In 他是一个不负责的人，（要／想） 当我们的经理, does it matter if I use 要 or 想? 他是一个不负责的人，（要／想） 当我们的经理。

Which is the right optative verb to use?

You should use the word "想" in this case. I think the sentence you're trying to write is:

He is an irresponsible person, he thinks he is our boss / manager.

Using the word "要" in this context speaking about an "irresponsible person" doesn't make sense.


What's the meaning of "神" in "神经"? I am a high school student who are curious with psychology. When I read the section on neuron, I find that the Chinese translation below is "神经".

I am very enthusiastic about it because it seems that "神" basically means the god and "经" has the meaning of passing by. The combination, however, seems to be unfathomable because we, human, doesn't have any god in our body. We're just individual.

So I wanna know the etymology and history of the word "神经"?

There are multiple definitons for 神. One of them can explain why 神经 means nerves/neurons:

  心思，心力，注意力：劳～。凝～。～魂颠倒。

That is, 神 is used to express "thought", "mental", "attention". Therefore 神经 means "thought/mental/attention pathway", which is a pretty good description of nerves/neurons.

As for why 神 means that as well as things like "god" and "divine", one clue comes from this divining text:

  《皇極經世》天之神棲乎日，人之神棲乎目。

It translates to roughly; "the divinity of heaven resides in the sun, the divinity of man resides in the eye." So you can see how the association between eyes, sight, gaze, attention, thought can be easily made.

People of many cultures have ascribed mystical properties to the eyes and sight. Shakespeare once said, paraphrased, "the eye is the window to the soul." Matthew 6:22 says "the eye is the lamp of the body." (where lamp means light) And what about the all-seeing eye, a representation of God? So the many definitions of 神 provides an interesting view of ancient human philosophy and beliefs.


What is the meaning of this? I was on the internet, and I found this slogan 我待国足如初恋.  Does this mean "I treat national soccer like first love?"

It's the second half of internet phrase “XX虐我千百遍，我待XX如初恋” (XX has hurt me a thousand times, but I still regard it as my first love.)

In the case of 国足, it's a way to show the unconditional support for the national soccer league.


How do I determine whether to use 次 (cì) or 遍 (biàn) in these sentences? The question comes from a problem from my Chinese book which asks to choose 次 and 遍 to fill in the blanks (photo of the original).  I transcribe it below:

  用“次”或“遍”填空。
  (1) 杰希给马克打了两___电话，马克都没接。
  (2) 今天的作业是：读五___课文，写十___生词。
  (3) 今天马克一个人打了两___太极拳，下___他打算和阿里一起打。
  (4) 我们一个学期考五___试，现在已经考了三___了。
  (5) 上课的时候马克看了二十___表。

I feel like that most (all?) of them could be either 次 or 遍 without it being a problem.  The only exception is in (3), where I would more naturally say 下次 (but Baidu suggests 下遍 is also okay).

From dict.cn:

次 (cì) = number (of times), and
遍 (biàn) = turn, a time.

So they really feel like synonyms.

Question: How do I determine whether to use 次 (cì) or 遍 (biàn) in these sentences?

(Note that this is not for assessment; I'm not officially enrolled in a Chinese class, but attend class regardless.)

From 《现代汉语词典》: (I'm omitting other unrelated descriptions of either word)

  次: 用于反复出现或可能反复出现的事情

  遍: 一个动作从开始到结束的整个过程称为一遍

Which is saying that 次 is used for things that (may) happen/appear/... repeatedly.
And 遍 refers to the whole process (from the beginning to the end) of an action.

The following explaination may be not that accurate:

次 seems to be saying that how many times you started to do something, but not quite care about how it persists.

In 2), the full action is required (from begin to end) so it is 遍。

In 3), the first blank, if he did twice consecutively, then it is 一次, but 两遍. Each 遍 is the full process from begin to end. If he did it once in the morning, but once in the afternoon, it is 两次. So maybe either is OK. For 下遍, it is not OK for me. But you can say 下一遍.

1), 4), 5) are all describing how many time a thing happened/happens/will happen, so they are all 次.


What does "我牛起来" mean? I know what each of the characters mean, but I'm confuse on how to put it into a sentence.
我 - I
牛 - ox
起来 - up

“我牛起来” means “I’m gonna be better/successful/cool”
In this sentence, “牛” is short  for “牛逼” which is meaning of  “super cool”.
Why does “牛逼” mean “super cool”? You could find the answer in this video
https://youtu.be/teQPusK7YFU


Friend was given a guitar with what looks like Chinese handwriting on it (Characters identified: 茶杏銅鑼) Could anyone who's more knowledgeable in language confirm that this is Chinese? My friend knows Japanese, and he says it's definitely not Japanese (unless he's mistaken).

If it is Chinese, could someone translate it to English for me? I've tried many different optical character recognition sites, and none can figure any of the characters out.

They are written in traditional Chinese: 茶杏銅鑼, which translated verbatim to Tea, Apricot, Copper, Gong.The four words together do not resemble anything meaningful. I did a google search with the exact four words but cannot find anything related.


What is the difference in use between 以及 and 还有 So，I've recently seen the term 以及 used a number of times in written text. For example, in a short story by 叮咛 I read " 这位总统为国家、政府以及人民贡献了所有的力量，人们很尊敬他。". Another chinese stack exchange answer asked about the difference between it, 和， and 与 What is the difference in use between 以及, 和 and 与? － but， I‘m wasn't entirely satisfied by the answer. One said that 以及 only connects phrases (but that doesn't seem true in the above example). And if it is true, how is it different from say "还有“ ？

谢谢大家！

I think the primary difference is formality.

以及 sounds formal. It is rarely used in spoken language but acceptable, okay in casual writing and common in formal writing.

还有 sounds very colloquial. It's fine in casual writing but should be avoided in formal writing.

It's not true to say 以及 only connects phrases. A quick search will give you many good counter-examples. However when it comes to connecting phrases, 以及 does a better job than the other choices. That's exactly where people would use it in colloquial language - connecting short words with 以及 sounds too formal but connecting long words or phrases sounds okay.


How Would I Write 多为和平 Vertically? I used Google translate to tell me how to say Mostly Peaceful in Chinese which it said was
多为和平. I do not know any Chinese at all and I am designing a shirt where I would like to stack the words
多为和平 vertically in Chinese instead of horizontally. I want to make sure I stack the words correctly so it reads Mostly Peaceful from top to bottom. What order would the letters go in vertically?

Horizontal to vertical is pretty simple in modern Chinese. Vertical Chinese is read from the top down - so the first one goes at the top and then the rest follow one by one.
多为和平 would be written:

多
为
和
平

But you might want to ask for a better translation before you go and make those shirts.


很 and 最 - Questions of The Context 很 means very. 最 means truly, really. I was wondering in which context they would be most appropriate.

  我最喜欢去组约。- I'd really like to go to New York.

So 最 can be used as a descriptor in this instance but not 很?

  她最很漂亮。- She is very pretty.

So you can't do this? Is the 很 redundant? You'd have to say 她最漂亮, right?

Furthermore, is there a way of saying "This is okay" rather than "这是很好" without the use of 很?

Nope. Generally 最 should mean "-est" or "most" — like 最大 = biggest, 最好 = best, 最美 = the most beautiful.

For example:

  最漂亮 = the most beautiful

  很漂亮 = very beautiful

While...

  *她最很漂亮. = She is most very beautiful.

There is actually no such use in Chinese. You use either 最 or 很 to modify adjectives.


姐 vs 姊, etymology, and their English equivalences Sometimes 姐 and 姊 are interchangeable, sometimes 姐 and 姊 have different meanings.

  Can we summarize their usages? What is their etymology? And can we find their English equivalences?

It looks that 姐 has something to do 祖 with the same 且. The 且 has something to do with the tombstone or the male reproductive/sex organ.

But it seems counter-intuitive that:

姊 is used for the senior sister.

姐 can be used for both junior or senior female.

小姐 means Lady. Like "各位小姐先生" means "Ladies and Gentlemen."

(祖, in contrast, is always used for the senior person or the ancestors.)

「姐」 (Zhengzhang OC: /*ʔsjaːʔ/, mother > senior female > adult female, elder sister) is comprised of semantic 「女」 (female) and phonetic 「且」 (/*sʰjaːʔ/). Through its semantic extensions, 「姐」 has developed into many uses:

The meaning big sister is roughly equivalent to English big sis', more commonly used in colloquial spoken language;
The meaning mother is no longer found in Standard Mandarin, but is preserved in some other topolects;
All other meanings are from an extension of adult female. Your reading of 「小姐」 does not imply that 「姐」 means junior female, but rather the prefix 「小」 being used as a term of endearment. Please see the question At what age is it inappropriate to call people 小李, 小王, 小刘, etc.? And is it different for males and females? for an idea of how 「小」 works.

In contrast, 「姊」 (/*ʔsiʔ/, elder sister) is comprised of semantic 「女」 and phonetic 「」*. The meaning elder sister is frozen, and is the literary vocabulary used in writing the word for elder sister.

*「」 is inferred to be similar in sound to 「次」 (/*sn̥ʰis/) through readings of oracle bone inscriptions.


Sentence with demonstrative without explicit subject - de required? I am unable to understand, whether the sentences below require the particle de?

  Zhè ge hěn hào chī (literally "this piece of food delicious". I guess there is no "de" in the end, although it is an adjective in this sentence, modifying the measure word "ge").

  zhè zhī hēi de (This cat is black. For some reason, there is the "de" but I cannot see why).

  zhè Ben Shu hěn hào (This book is good. Here again, the "de" is missing. When I tried to verify with google translate, it used 是 but I guess that is not correct.)

So is it because those are one-syllable adjectives? I have heard that often in that case, the "de" particle is skipped.

这个很好吃。

一般语气，可以不加'的'。
若要加强语气，加'的'，而且念重一点。

  这是黒的。
  这猫是黒色的。

通常要加'的'。

  这本书很好。

和第一例一様，平常可省略；加强语气时，加'的'。


Do some (prestige?) accents swap /v/ or /f/ for /w/? I have only a layman's grasp of phonology and a poor ear to boot, but it seems to me that for many Chinese whom I am told have markedly standard pronunciation, /w/ and some type of labiodental fricative are interchangeable. For instance, listen to Echo's 认为 near the end of this episode of Popup Chinese (from about 7:20 onward): http://data.popupchinese.com/778/elementary-it-happened-one-night-traditional.mp3

Am I the only one who hears this? Could these two phonemes be in free variation?

I mentioned this phenomenon in an answer to another post here.  This sound, which is actually [ʋ] (labiodental approximant), was also discussed in this post in the Beijing Sounds blog.  Being characteristic of the Tianjin region (in my experience anyway), it's not standard, but many people don't seem to notice anyway.


Attack them when they are unready, take them by surprise ： 这个成语有多少方法可以说？ Could you please let me know which of these sound right and why the other ones sound wrong? I'm not sure about the difference between 不 and 无.
出其不意，攻其不备
攻其不备，出其不意
攻其无备，出其无意
攻其不备，出其无意
攻其无备，出其不意
都可以用吗

Usually you can use any of them, but "攻其无备，出其不意" is the best one.
The reason is this word is from 《孙子兵法》, an ancient military book by a famous military strategist Sun Wu(孙武), and it is "攻其无备，出其不意" originally in that book.
Also, in 《现代汉语词典》（第7版）, there is "攻其无备，出其不意" under "出其不意" as an example.


How would you say "he does not take criticism well" in Cantonese and in Mandarin? How would you say this in Cantonese and how would you say this in Mandarin?


Can I omit certain words if it is understood what I am talking about? In English we rarely omit words, even if its obvious what we're referring to. But I've noticed Chinese speakers sometimes do omit them and sometimes don't. Should the words in brackets be omitted or added? E.g.

"你能证明（它）吗?"
"你认为中文难吗？" "因为（它的）口语比我所有学过的语言难多了，所以（我觉得）（它) 难"
"你想跟我一起去吗" "不想（去)"
"你为什么不想去呢？" "因为（我）感觉有点不舒服了"
"我没有准时提请他，（and?）（我）感到有点内疚"
"你感觉开心吗" "不感觉（开心）"

Also, in the 2nd example, I am wondering whether it should be 很难 instead of just 难?

As for answering questions, would I be right in saying that I should only ever answer using 是/是的 if the question uses 是 as well? E.g. 他是工程师吗？ 是/是的

First, in English word omission is quite common, especially in short conversations and answers:

  – Is he an engineer?
  – Yes / Yes, he is / Yes, he is an engineer (too redundant).

In Chinese, however, word omission is even more common, as you've suggested. With my living experiences in mainland China (native Chinese), I can tell that both the full versions and the shortened versions are right, while shorter versions are more common in oral Chinese.

Example:

  – 你最近过得好不好？
  – ((我最近)过得)好。

Another notice: In Chinese, when asking about feelings, people don't respond with "I feel / I don't feel", but the actual feeling instead. So your last example should have been

  "你感觉开心吗" "(感觉)不开心"

People very rarely reply with 感觉 without the actual feelings.


Can any noun be duplicated like 人人 and 天天? I'm familiar with duplication of nouns to mean "all" or "every", such as

  打扫卫生人人有责。
  Everyone is responsible for cleaning up.

  好好学习天天向上。
  If you study well you will improve every day.

Can the same structure be used for any noun?

  狗狗有尾。
  All dogs have tails (?)

  腿腿疼手手冷。
  Both of my legs hurt and both of my hands are cold (?)

  熊猫熊猫很可爱。
  All pandas are cute (?)

Are these acceptable sentences?

You can do 狗狗, 腿腿 or 手手. But this usage doesn't show plural. Usually girls use these kinds of words to act cute.

熊猫 already contains two characters so we don't say 熊猫熊猫.


Are both 他游了三个小时泳 and 他游泳游了三个小时 fine? I've learned about separable verbs, 离合词. I learned that separable verbs such as 游泳 must be divided into the verb (游) and the object (泳) when particles like 了, 过, 着, etc. are attached to the verb or the sentence has time-measuring complements like 三个小时. Now I'm wondering if I can combine it with some time-related elements.

他游了三个小时泳
他游泳游了三个小时

For "He swam for three hours", are those two sentences fine?

Apart from the above question, one more question came across my mind. My teacher explained to me that 的 can mean "even" that emphasizes the long duration of an activity by giving a pair of two sentences 我坐了一个小时火车 and 我坐了一个小时的火车. The structure of the former (我坐了一个小时火车) looks very similar to 他游了三个小时泳. So if I put a 的 between 三个小时 and 泳, thus 他游了三个小时的泳, would the 的 make a difference to the meaning of the sentence likewise?

You can say 他游了三個小時泳. People will understand it, but it doesn't sound as smooth as 他游了三個小時的泳. However, that's still not the best way to say it. You should just say 他游了三個小時 or 他游泳游了三個小時.

的 will make it sound more smooth, but it doesn't change the meaning at all, not even emphasizing.