Does 好 + adjective with negative connotation reinforce the negative connotation or mitigate it? Sometimes I heard 好 precedes an adjective which includes negative connotation (e.g. 无聊, 累).
Example:

好无聊啊！
好累了。

In these cases, do speakers have good or bad intentions? Specificall:

Does it have worse intention than just these adjectives? IOW do 好 reinforce the negative connotation of the adjective?

Does it have better intention than when these adjectives are used alone, since 好 inself has good connotation?

Or to make it easier to understand, where does 好 + adjective with negative connotation fall in the following diagram?

[A] < 无聊 < [B] < 很无聊 < [C]

For your question, 好无聊 is almost the same intention as 很无聊。

However, they are sightly different in expressing emotions.

好无聊 is a slight complaint with a potential effort of trying to make the situation less boring.

很无聊 is just a plain statement.


Books/websites for learning Chinese business letters Does anyone know/recommend books/websites for learning to write business letters in Chinese?

I think you can google '應用文'.
Because '應用文' is a method of writing a letters of Chinese.


Poems About Ungratefulness Looking for poems about ungratefulness.

Found some recommendations on 百度知道 under the question: 关于自己忘恩负义的诗词; especially the poem《氓》- wondering what else is out there.

What poems are there about ungratefulness?

This one about forgetting the help which you once relied on to succeed. More readings: 教育百科 奇摩知識

  筌者所以在魚，得魚而忘筌；蹄者所以在兔，得兔而忘蹄；言者所以在意，得意而忘言。
  《莊子·外物》

If you are interested in fable prose as well, 《中山狼傳》is a pretty good one. As a matter of fact, 《紅樓夢》once quotes 《中山狼傳》to describe ungratefulness. More readings: 詩詞網 百度百科 互動百科 奇摩知識

  子系中山狼，得志便猖狂。金閨花柳質，一載赴黃粱。《紅樓夢》


In a word combined with two morpheme, can I use a adjective in front of the noun? For example, can I change the word 见面 into 见他的面 or 见帅面 or 见这面?

If they can write it in Revelations, must be ok.

启二二4 也要见他的面；他的名字必在他们的额上。

Rev . 22:4 And they will see His face, and His name will be on their forehead.

However, there is a meaning shift from 见面 'meet' and 见他的面 'see his face'. 2. below would not work, which is what you are suggesting, I think.

1。 我们明天和他见面。

2。*我们明天见和他面。


Can someone tell me what this these symbols mean? bought a storage unit full of collectable items and would like to know what era these dishes came from but they have Chinese markings and would like translated. 18 inch hand painted Chinese dish with this marking on it. Also a 16 inch Chinese hand painted plate too.

turn the first picture anti-clockwise 90 degree, the six characters are:
“大清嘉慶年製”
roughly “made during the 5th emperor of 清 dynasty” (1796-1820)


高兴 vs 快乐 vs 愉快 vs 幸福: what's the difference? So, I'm a bit confused. All the time.

  高兴 eg 我很高兴

It seems 高兴 has a connotation of impermanence .. you could be happy right now but unhappy later on. It appears to be the most common, most general form of "happiness"

  快乐 eg 新年快乐

It seems 快乐 is used in several set phrases, like wishing somebody a happy [festival, birthday, etc.] but isn't used elsewhere

  愉快 eg 周末愉快

I have only heard this used for the above phrase, is it a set phrase for the weekend, and used nowhere else?

  幸福 eg 祝你幸福

幸福 appears to be about long-lasting, forever kind of happiness, in life, in marriage, that kind of thing.

My understanding of the difference between these is somewhat fuzzy, and I was hoping somebody would be able to clear it up. Thanks

高兴 means glad, a temporary state of mind. E.g: I'm glad it's sunny today -- 今天是晴天, 我很高兴.

快乐 means happy, and I agree it's the only one in the list that can be used for festivals. E.g. 节日快乐 (happy holiday). 我很快乐 (I'm very happy -- in this case same as 高兴).

愉快 means pleasant. That's why you see it used with "weekend" -- have a pleasant weekend = 周末愉快. It's less common to say something like 我很愉快.

幸福, I agree, is a deeper kind of happiness for describing a long-lasting state of mind. I am 幸福 because I have my dream job, a lovely wife and two kids; I am 幸福 because I know my parents love me deeply; etc.

This is my two cents as a native Chinese speaker -- hopefully it helps!


Chinese transliterated place names I am looking for a database of place names which would be non-Chinese place names listing their transliteration into Chinese. When I view Google Maps on my iPhone with the phone language set to Chinese, it provides a Chinese name for every small town and city. I anticipate this data must be avaliable somewhere potentially through a free data source or API for map developers.
I don't know a lot about GPS data and the data which feeds map labeling like this, but I did find this site for GNIS data. I've tried searching many terms including "GNIS data" and "Chinese" but I am always finding only Chinese names of Chinese places. Hoping to find something which is basically these files but in Chinese.
Does anyone have an idea where I could find this? Any help is appreciated!

the national academy for educational research, of taiwan  maintained a file “   外國地名譯名壓縮檔”, the direct link is:
https://terms.naer.edu.tw/download/380/Term_380.zip/
it’s a zip file containing several excel files, each row has the original location name in english, name in chinese, latitude & longitude.
indeed, the download area have files of most disciplines, of terms in chinese & foreign languages:
https://terms.naer.edu.tw/download/
the only caveat is, the page is in traditional chinese only


How to say "Next time" in the past tense? I'm a bit confused on how to use the expression "The next time" in chinese.
I originally wrote
(after going to Kigali for the first he realized there were no ethiopian restaurants)
于是， 他下次回基加利时， 就决定开这个餐厅。
But my friend told me that  a better way of saying it is
他再次回基加利时

'下次' means in the future. '再次' is better here.


What is the best way to ask for a draw in chess? I play in chess tournaments in China, and in the past, I've been unable to ask my opponent for a draw because I didn't know how to say it in Chinese off the top of my head (and we can't use electronic devices during play, so I can't whip out Pleco).  It's important that I ask for a draw accurately.

It seems the correct word is: 平局 (píngjú) = draw, tie.  However, I'm wondering how to accurately phrase the question.  I would guess 你想平局吗？ but it's not quite right: it's not clear that I'm making a draw offer.  Maybe I could say 我提供平局, but I'm not sure.

Question: What is the best way to ask for a draw in chess?

Orally, depending on the situation, you could use the following phrases

咱们要不和了吧？
我不想下了，就算平局吧。

和 means 讲和，which just implies 平局。The second expression would be more casual and is suggested to be used with close friends.
Above is how you would ask for a draw if the situation is really tied and both of you are tired, if you are feeling that you are losing, of course you would say

咱不下了，我认输了！


What's the meaning of Haiya in Chinese? My Chinese friends often say, Haiya followed by something. It's usually done in correcting a person.
It's like, Haiya, don't do this lah, you should do that instead. What does Haiya mean?
In this YouTube video, the person said Haiya in like a few minutes.

The Standard Chinese term would be 哎呀 (āi yā).
However, you might notice others might pronounce it like ài ya. This is simply because no one exclaims in a “standardised” way.
Your interpretation of “Haiya” can also be attributed to the fact that the expression is merely a verbal exclamation which allows the speaker to convey some degree of negativity before starting on his main message. Hence, there isn’t a big difference when someone says “ai ya” and “hai ya”.
The term 哎呀 was probably invented to show that this expression existed throughout society, not the other way round.


What exactly does 拆开 mean and is it commonly used? I've been trying to figure out how exactly to use 拆开 and what it means since I saw it in a song: Mine, Mine by 周杰伦.

In the song, the translation i got was disassembling which i would think to be like taking something apart? Though i also get the definition online as to take apart  or separating, with examples of opening letters and presents:

你不等我就把所有的礼物都拆开了？
Would you commonly use this for opening gifts/letters or also in other contexts to mean disassembling something?
Thanks!

It's fine to use "拆開" to open up a gift, or a package, box, etc., "打開" is also applicable.
For disassembling usage, you might to take apart something 3C products or electronic/mechanical devices, like cell phone, radio, television controller, etc. Use "拆解" also applicable.


What is this mysterious elevator instruction: 禁止追逐打闹 or "prohibition of chasing"? This instruction can be found on a notice inside the elevator in my office building in Tianjin:

It says 禁止追逐打闹 (jìnzhǐ zhuīzhú dǎnào) which is translated to "prohibition of chasing".  The icon next to it appears to depict a man attacking an old lady with an axe, but crossed out in red.

Question: How should this actually be interpreted?  Presumably the Chinese actually makes sense.

Googling translations of this phrase's components gives:

禁止 = prohibition, and it seems the grammatical structure 禁止[something] means [something] is prohibited,
追逐 = to chase (seems to be where the English "chasing" came from),
打闹 seems to be something like a playful fight,

and it seems like 追逐 and 打闹 together: 追逐打闹 = roughhousing.  Still, it's not particularly clear, and it doesn't explain the icon.

First, don't be bothered by the icon. It will confuse you.

And you already know

  禁止追逐打闹

It is a compound phrase appearing in 禁止追逐和打闹. Usually the sign hangs against the wall in school as a reminder for students to keep themselves safe.

So just imagine what those playful kids do, and you will know what 追逐打闹 is.


What is this glyph image for 父 representing? I am trying to visualise this image for 父. What exactly is this image ?

時期字體
字形
參考資料

商甲

乙405合集19941

商金

父癸方鼎集成1275

西周金

父辛簋集成3060

春秋金

魯大宰父集成3987

戰國・楚簡

126包山竹簡

西漢隸

86定縣竹簡

東漢隸

北海相景君

楷

「父」 (father) depicts a hand 「又」 holding a rod, likely as a symbol of the household disciplinarian, which is traditionally the father.
The shape 「父」 is connected to the shapes 「攴・攵」 and 「殳」, both pictures of a hand holding a hitting implement, and both meaning to hit, strike.

References:

何琳儀《戰國古文字典：戰國文字聲系》
小學堂字形演變
國學大師

郭沫若《甲骨文合集》
中國社會科學院考古研究所《殷周金文集成》


What is written in this Chinese painting? (Characters identified: 寧靜致遠) Can somebody tell me what is written in this painting?

http://sino.ro/5976-thickbox_default/pictura-chinezeasca-simbolul-liniste-cod-b68-6.jpg

The Chinese people selling this painting told me it's related to inner peace, tranquility, being a kind o "mantra" they couldn't translate.

The calligraphy writing 寧靜致遠 is a quote origin from an ancient scroll call 淮南子, under the page 主术训.

Here is the whole phrase :
是故非澹漠无以明志，非宁静无以致远。

The whole phrase is a philosophy, which will take pages to explain. I will try to summarize them.

是故非澹漠无以明志 one must be put aside your own crave and obsession to know your goals clearly.
非宁静无以致远 :  Without calmness,  one cannot achieve their long term goals


How widely is Mandarin used in Nanjing? I know there is a Nanjing dialect of Jianghuai Mandarin but I have not been able to learn much about current usage in the city of Nanjing.  For example, do many people in Nanjing today ordinarily begin words with an "l" sound where standard Mandarin has "n"?  Do many people in Nanjing today use a very different vocabulary than say people in Beijing?

I am considering travel to Nanjing, and I wonder how well my Mandarin training will suit Nanjing and whether Nanjing usage will conflict with my training.  (I speak French with something of a Montreal accent, which causes more amusement than misunderstanding in France.)

Nanjing has a very good education environment. Most of the famous universities of Jiangsu province locate at Nanjing. So Mandarin is wildly used in Nanjing and most of the young people are well educated there (this means they can speak English). They may speak Nanjing dialect with their parents and friends, but they can also switch to Mandarin as soon as they find you are speaking Mandarin. Additionally, my hometown is a small city adjacent with Nanjing and our dialect is very close to Nanjing dialect, but I found both these two dialects are quite close to Mandarin. So just go there with your Mandarin, don't worry! (I know little about French but I still went to the Quebec city last year!). And If you found some trouble, ask for help to the young people there, they can speak Mandarin and even English!

By the way, the 'l' and 'n' issue you referred is true about the dialect. However, most of Nanjing people won't do this when they are trying to speak Mandarin seriously.


Translate: This is a love worth killing for A great love: you can hope for, wait for, die for, kill for, long for.

There is always this 'stranded preposition', for.

This is a love worth killing for.
这是一种值得杀戮的爱。

I don't want to kill love.

I will (if necessary) kill for, in the name of, because of, this love.

Anyone have a better translation?

First talk about translation.

"This is (a love) worth killing for" should be translated as 这是(一份)值得為之而杀戮的(爱).

為之而 = for

"一种爱" means "a kind of love". It is different from "a love" (一份爱)

Basically, your translation is quite accurate, but the problem with straight translation is -- "things get lost in translation". A common English expression may not be understood by many Chinese

The English idiom "at the end of one's rope" literally means "在繩索的末端". Which few if any Chinese could understand it base on the wording. However, the equivalent of this English idiom does exist in Chinese. And it is "窮途末路" (No more road; reaching an dead end). Both idiom metaphorically describe "being hopeless" ; "nowhere to turn"

A similar idiom is 走投無路 (nowhere to run)

For the same reason, I would rather interpret an English expression with a matching one in Chinese than translate the English expression  word for word but doesn't express the metaphorical meaning clearly.

The line "a love worth killing for" in other words is "It is a love worth doing anything to have"

The same sentiment in Chinese would be "一份值得不擇手段去得到的愛" (a love worth having by hook or by crook) meaning you would do anything - including killing, to obtain this love

An idiom similar to 不擇手段 is 不惜一切 (not hesitate to give one's all)


Where can I get brush stroke caligraphy fonts for traditional characters? I need to print out characters written with obvious brush strokes, such as semi-cursive script (行書). Are there computer fonts (e.g. TrueType, OpenType) available for this purpose? The font must support traditional characters, and should preferably be free to use.

You can try searching a site like http://www.fonts.net.cn/ with queries such as 繁行.
Unfortunately, a lot of these just map simplified code points to traditional glyphs and don't even contain mappings for the corresponding traditional code points. But it looks like at least some of them work with traditional code points, such as 王漢宗中行書繁.


How to say "Please, go in front of me" when standing in a queue? Imagine You stand in a queue in a super market and you want to let the person behind you in front of you.

I have tried to translate it these ways:

请，在我前 去 吧   (putting only an adverbial in front of the verb)
请，在我前 走去 吧   (putting an adverbial in front of the verb and an
complement after the verb to express the action goes away from me)
请，走得在我前 吧   (putting only an complement after the verb)

In this situation, I would say "您先请", which works fine.

"您先请" means 'after you', which is very polite.

If you really want to say 'Please, go in front of me' in Chinese, you could say "请走在我前面吧". However, this sounds a little bit strange. Note that you stand in a queue, you don't go in a queue. So "请站在我前面吧" is better.


太... 了 (tài... le) vs 很(hěn) Are 太... 了 (tài... le) and 很(hěn) grammatically equivalent?

My feeling is that semantically 太... 了 (tài... le) is somehow "stronger" then 很(hěn), that is: 太... 了 (tài... le) seems "exceptionally, extremely", while 很(hěn) is just "very". Is it correct?

Summing up both questions with an example:

may I say (apart of changes in meaning):

我的狗很大 Wǒ de ɡǒu hěn dà
我的狗太大了 Wǒ de ɡǒu tài dà le

?

Is the meaning of the second sentence is somehow "stronger" ?

我的狗很大 Wǒ de ɡǒu hěn dà -> my dog is very big)
我的狗太大了 Wǒ de ɡǒu tài dà le -> my dog is so big! / my dog is too big!

很 sometime may interchange with 太 . however,  很 mostly carry out and descriptive meaning. While 太 are mean to show something exaggerate

if you use   太....  了, it will add extra expressive complaining tones.
For example :

# 很 versus 太
my dog is [very big](for the breed) 我的狗[个子*很*大]
my dog is too big(for the house) 我的狗[个子*太*大]

# 太....  了
my dog is [just too big!] 我的狗[个子太大了!] or 我的狗[太大只了!]

The word  大,  carry a few meaning : larger OR greater OR older

When describe with living subject, you must put additional care , i.e. put an extra description.  Thus :

高大  : tall
肥大  : Fat and tall
强大  ：strong and powerful (more appropriate to use 强壮 for masculine）
年纪大 ：old

我的狗很大, 我的狗太大了 is a confusing term.  Is it older? taller? Stronger?

我的狗很高大 -> my dog is tall
我的狗长大了 -> my dog grow up (,at last)


What is the 行 in 行有餘力？ The passage in the analects, whence it came, reads:

  子曰：「弟子，入則孝，出則弟，謹而信，
  凡愛眾，而親仁。行有餘力，則以學文。」

Very broadly I understand it:

  Students and sons at home should be filial, leaving home they should be respectful towards elders, trusting and sincere, all encompassingly loving the people and inclined toward kindness. If they have strength left, then for refined studies.

But there are points I don't understand. One of them is 行。it appears to be used like 若，but my dictionary, which contains many classical examples, says nothing of such a usage! What does it mean? Can you give some more examples for this usage of 行？

行 here means "to do" or "to perform".

行：實行；實踐 to do; to perform; to practice
有：還有 still have
餘：多餘的 superfluous; surplus; excess
力：能力 ability; capability

行有餘力，
After doing these and still having surplus capability,

行有餘力，則以學文。
After one can perform the above things, and has enough time and ability, one should study and learn some knowledge.

"The above things" mean 入則孝，出則弟，謹而信，汎愛眾，而親仁.

Examples:

先思而後行
Think before you act.
Look before you leap.

行之不懈
Do it with no remission.

反其道而行
Do it in an opposite way.

行之有年
Has been performed for years.

知行合一
Unity of knowledge and practice.

知之者不如行之者。
To do is better than to say.

言出必行
Do it after saying it.
No sooner said than done.

勢在必行
Must do it under such a circumstance.

親仁
親近君子 Close to the gentleman
親近有仁德的人 Close to benevolent people
「仁」指「仁者」kind, merciful, benevolent, kindly, charitable people


What's the difference between 应急出口 (yìngjí chūkǒu) and 安全出口 (ānquán chūkǒu) which both mean "emergency exit"? Generally I see

  应急出口
  yìngjí chūkǒu

indicating an emergency exit on a bus, whereas I see

  安全出口
  ānquán chūkǒu

indicating an emergency exit in a building.  I'm not clear on the difference between them.

Question: What's the difference between 应急出口 and 安全出口 which both mean "emergency exit"?

Looking at dict.cn:

应急 = emergency
安全 = safety

This makes me suspect that an 应急出口 can only be used in the case of an emergency, whereas an 安全出口 can be used at other times too.  But I may be reading too much into this.

They are just two different ways to tell you where you can go safely in emergency case.
As you said,

应急 = emergency
(actually emergency is 紧急; 应急 is "for emergency", which is short for 因应紧急)
安全 = safety

And they really are

应急出口
(safety) exit for emergency
安全出口
safety exit (for emergency)


Can bù (不) change its pronunciation to bú? When I first learned 不，the accompanying pinyin was given as

  bù (falling tone).

But I've also been doing Pimsleur Chinese lessons and there is the example

  wo bú hùi shuo ying wen

and here 不 is pronounced with a rising tone.

My question is:

  Is there a rule to when it is bù and when bú? Or does it depend on the speaker's dialect?

The rule about sandhi of 不 is:

It's pronounced in the original tone (the 4th tone) when being used alone or at the end.

规律一:单念或末尾时念本调。
不、就不、毫不、决不、都不、无不、何不、我偏不

It's pronounced in the 2nd tone when being used before a 4th tone.

规律二：去声前念阳平。
不对、不算、不便、不怕、不必、不屑  不怕、不当、不定、不动、不利、不顺

It's pronounced in the 4th tone when being used before a tone other than the 4th tone.

规律三：非去声前念去声。
不听、不悲、不分、不蒙、不穿、不飞 不同、不曾、不行、 不纯、不回、不白  不美、不想、不好、不许、不准、不满

It's pronounced in the neutral tone when being used in the middle of words.

规律四：夹在词语中间变轻声。
想不开、起不来、行不行、大不了、对不起、大不大、谈不谈、拿不动、好不好、打不开


Do more people use simplified or traditional Chinese worldwide? Worldwide, do most people use simplified or traditional Chinese writing? This can be either in the number that tend to use one over the other, or total number using each even though there will be overlaps of people who use both in different situations. If possible, does anyone have specific numbers? Are these numbers trending to exaggerate the difference or is the gap closing?

There are many resources which provide which countries/cities/areas tend to use which system. However, I'm having a surprising amount of difficult finding numbers, or even an authoritative answer on which one is more commonly used worldwide.

China Mainland has 1.4 Billion population(and increasing), and the official language is Simplified Chinese.

According to the Washington Post, there are about 1.5 Billion Chinese native speakers, 50 Million non-native speakers. You can do the math.

Obviously, you can't find another 1.4 billion group of people use Tradition Chinese on the earth.


Meaning of 漂漂亮亮地参加晚会 I saw this sentence on a textbook:

  漂漂亮亮地参加晚会

Without more context information, what is the translation of that sentence?

I think it has a meaning of "(a girl) dress up beautifully before going to a party", but I'm not quite sure.

Your understanding is correct. This sentence is equivalent to

打扮得漂漂亮亮去参加晚会


What was this exchange 花粥 had with the crowd? At the end of this live performance of 远在北方孤独的鬼 (at roughly 3:28 in the recording), some of the fans yelled “花粥带我回家” if I heard correctly. I'm trying to understand her response but she uses some words I'm unfamiliar with and I can't quite make out the pinyin.

To me her response sounds like ”你们这个tányàn'gǎode我，我现在有一点téngzhàng了” I'm not sure what tányàn'gǎode is. My computer suggests 坦言搞得, which is unfamiliar to me, though Google translates it as "frankly" which makes sense in context but then I don't really understand what's going on grammatically. Téngzhàng I have no clue. What did Hua Zhou say in this clip?

Her response should be "你们这个排面搞得我，我现在有一点膨胀了。“

"排面"（pái miàn) can be roughly translated to "grandeur" or "flamboyance", but there is a subtle difference between the Chinese word and these two translations. Let me try to give an example where the word 排面 can be used quite naturally in Chinese:

A young entrepreneur in a middle-sized city in China had established a small company, and he arranged a dinner party to celebrate the anniversary of its establishment. He is still not very rich but wanted to showcase the financial capacity of his company, so he arranged the dinner party in the banquet hall of a five-star hotel and ordered it to be decorated with flamboyant ornaments, and invited an orchestra band to play music throughout the party. He even invited quite a few notable officials in the municipal government to attend the party. In this case, it would be very natural for an attendee of the dinner party to comment "这聚会真有排面啊”. However, if the entrepreneur is of the conceited and ambitious type of people, he may feel a little unhappy when hearing someone commenting as such in public, because 排面 is usually not applied to members of the upper-class society or to those genuinely rich people (unlike "grandeur", which often implies being rich), but rather to those who are showcasing a little bit beyond their financial capacity.

However, on the other hand, 排面 can also simply refer to things that seem a little unnecessarily well-arranged. For example, when a young worker born in a relatively poor family in rural China returns to his home during the Spring Festival, and saw that his mom prepared six different dishes for dinner to welcome him back instead of only three as he would expect, he may also comment "这桌饭可真有排面啊。“ In this case it has nothing to do with grandeur or flamboyance, but only being more well-prepared that one would expect, and here it actually expresses gratefulness.

膨胀 literally means "to inflate". And just like in English, it also has a figurative meaning in Chinese: “我膨胀了” does not mean "I inflated", but rather "I was so flattered that I'm getting overly complacent."

When 花粥 said "排面" in this song, she is likely referring to the fact that her fans shouting "花粥带我回家“ in such a coordinated way made her feel too flattered. Here 排面 does not have any implication of fortune, social rank or luxury like the words "grandeur" and "flamboyance" do, but only means that the fans are shouting so passionately together and makes 花粥 feel that she's not quite worth that kind of passion. So it's more of the second kind of usage of this word that I mentioned.

Also, ”坦言搞得“ is not grammatical in Chinese.


Are Characters customized in different provinces due to dialectal differences? In other character-based writing systems such as Chu Nomh, Kanji, and Hanja, there are customized characters due to regional dialects. Has this occurred with Simplified at all? Or has the government locked down any attempt and forced unifying of the script?
For instance, the sichuan dialects are vastly different from standard mandarin. Are there any regional characters?

Wikipedia has the following pages:

Sichuanese characters & 四川方言字

Written Cantonese & Cantonese characters

Written Hokkien & 台閩漢字

Wu characters

Here you can find characters that solely belong to topolects.
There is also an introduction to topolectical characters:

方言字

Many topolectical characters are also still being prepped for Unicode encoding. If you're curious you can go through BabelStone Han PUA to get an idea of whats to come for CJKV extensions.
You will also notice that topolectical characters are not just simply written in simplified. Most historical documents are written in traditional and oftentimes the simplified characters that do arise are just simply 類推 (simplified characters by analogy).


What is the Difference Between 方法 and 办法? Both have comparable definitions of "method", "manner", "means", etc. and describe or define a way of doing something.  The phrase 没(有)办法 is often used to deflect responsibility by claiming powerlessness.  Aside from being more common in colloquial speech, does this make 办法 more general?  Anecdotally, 方法 is encountered frequently in instructions.  Does this make 方法 more technical?

I don't think you guys are completely understanding it, there is a philosophical difference in the two words. It's possible to 有方法但是没办法. 方法 refers to the general method or way something can be done. 方 means prescribed, 法 here can be understood as way.

So 方法 is the general or prescribed way something is done that humanity has discovered. 办 means doing，法 here also means way. 办法 refers to someone specific actually doing it. For example:

我的病其实治疗方法很简单，就是每天跑步。但是没办法，因为城市太拥挤所以没有地方跑。Here, I know the way to cure my illness, but I can't specifically carry it out due to individual circumstances.


How to indicate plurality/singularity I'm aware that basic Chinese grammar tends to lack distinction between the plural and singular forms of many nouns. For example, 我的朋友是中国人 could either mean "my friend is Chinese" (singular) or "my friends are Chinese" (plural).

While there could obviously be cultural reasons why the differences between these two sentences mightn't matter, what if they do?  If the number of friends is known, could one simply put 一个, 两个, 三个, etc. in front of 朋友, or is there a better, less kludgy way to do this?  What if there's an unknown (but plural) number of friends?

In short, what are some of the best ways to indicate or emphasize the plurality or singularity of nouns in ambiguous cases such as these?

You can also use 好 to emphasize many:

  我有好几个朋友 Wǒ yǒu hǎojǐ gè péngyǒu - I have lots of friends

  好多人来看我 Hǎoduō rén lái kàn wǒ - Many people came to see me

In this case the 好 is strongly emphasized.

好几个 = Lots

好多 = Very many

To suggest some or a few:

  我有几个朋友来看我 Wǒ yǒu jǐ gè péngyǒu lái kàn wǒ - I have some friends coming to see me

  有一些同学跟我一起去看电影 Yǒu yīxiē tóngxué gēn wǒ yīqǐ qù kàn diànyǐng - Some of my classmates will go with me to watch a movie

几个 = Some

一些 = A few

To emphasize singularity:

  我只有一个朋友 Wǒ zhǐyǒu yīgè péngyǒu - I only have one friend

  你是唯一来看我的人 Nǐ shì wéi yī lái kàn wǒ de rén  - You are the only person to come
  and see me

只有 = Only have

唯一的 = The only one


How do you specify past tense for 是? For example, 'She was a good teacher' ? Any and all translations I get are '她是好老师'. Is there anyway to indicate past tense explicitly?

You have to remember, unlike in English, we do not have past tense for verbs in Chinese grammar. Both "is" and "was" is written as "是" in Chinese.

"是" in "她是好老师" could be "is" or "was". We really don't care which, because it is presumed readers can find out the sentence is in past or present tense by looking into the context.

For example:

"她以前是个好老师"(she was a good teacher before)
"她曾经是个好老师" (she was a good teacher once)
"她三年前是个好老师"(she was a good teacher three years ago)

All three example sentences above clearly indicated the verb "是" is in past tense.

If no time reference is found in the context, then all verbs are in present tense by default.

When you are reading a historical novel, even most individual sentences in it didn't have time reference, you should still know it is in past tense; If you are reading an instructional manual, you know the text is written in present tense entirely.

  The answer to "How do you specify past tense for 是 " should be "there's no need"


What's the English expression that means 感叹词："坏了" In Chinese there is a 感叹词："坏了", means something went unexpected wrong. Example:

  坏了，下雨了
  坏了，手机忘带了
  坏了，迟到了

What are the common English expressions that can express that "astonishing strike"?

UPDATE: Thanks everyone for your answer. To foster participation, I'll make my pick a week later.

What about:

"Shoot!"

"Shoot; it's raining."
"Shoot; I forgot to bring my phone."
"Shoot; I'm late."

"Darn."

"Darn, it's raining."
"Darn! I forgot to bring my phone."
"Darn; I'm late."

"Oh no."

"Oh no, it's raining."
"Oh no. I forgot to bring my phone."
"Oh no; I'm late."

To emphasize that "astonishing strike," perhaps something like

"Shoot, shoot, shoot! Darn it! I forgot to bring my phone!"
"坏了，坏了！忘带手机了！"


What sorts of essays do school-age children (and test-takers, generally) in China have to write? In the US, there is this thing called the "five paragraph essay" consisting of an introduction (1 paragraph), a body (3 paragraphs), and a conclusion (1 paragraph). Basically, you say what you are going to say in the introduction. Then you elaborate on why you said it in the body. And finally you say it again in the conclusion. Of course when you say the same thing in these different sections, you must say it in different ways.
What sorts of essays do school-age children (and test-takers, generally) in China have to write?
The 5 paragraph essay is a curious thing because school children hardly ever read anything that looks like it (English class makes you read some novels, maybe some poetry, maybe some short non-fiction...), yet are expected to write them in school. I'm guessing it comes from some Western rhetoric tradition (Latin? Greek?). Are Chinese writing assignments similarly structured?

Only Mainland.
Nowadays, children won't write in formation.Letter? That is not the case I know.

But in history, we do.

骈文
Sentences must be paired. Characters must be carefully chose.
After two big man of letters claimed that they shouln't write 骈文 anymore, cause it is only highfalutin, 骈文 was dead.

This is the most famous 骈文 quote from <<滕王阁序>>, almost all educated Chinese
can recite it.

  落霞與孤鶩齊飛，秋水共長天一色。

If we take close look at the sentence, these word are pairing.

落霞(sunset glow) vs 秋水(water in autumn)

與: (with, simplified is 与) vs 共(and)

孤鶩(single wild duck, simplified is 鹜) vs 長天(wide sky, simplified is 长)

齊飛(fly at the same time, simplified is 齐飞) vs 一色 (one color, same color)

I can imagine a picture, in autumn, a wild duck fly above a lake or river, its background is sunset glow, the sky has same color with water surface, that's beautiful.

八股文
八股文 is a strict article. It must consist of 8 parts,

破题: two sentences, interprets the topic.

承题: 4 or 5 sentences, talk about the key of 破题.

起讲: multiple sentences, descript the overall topic.

起股: 4,5 or 8, 9 sentences, start discussing.

中股: pairing sentences, the essential part of the whole article

后股: pairing sentence, mention what you have not talkled about

束股: 2 lines, 3,4 or 4,5 per line, pairing, restate your views, make conclusion

大结: multiple sentences, finale

The structure of 八股文 is very good at argumentative writing, later people found it limits your thinking, cause 八股文 also limits the topic which is from confucianism book. In hundreds years, all the topics you can find from <<论语>> and <<孟子>> had been used, they begin to mess things up, grab one sentence from 论语, grab one from 孟子, combinate to one, ask students to write about it.

八股文 is deprecated after the Qing dynasty.

That is the status of two main structured article in China.  Other structured texts: 格律诗, 对联.


How are dictionaries of ideograms sorted? Since Chinese. Japanese and Korean have no alphabetical writing system how do those people sort their dictionaries?

Wikipedia

The second system of dictionary organization is by recurring graphic
components or radicals. (...) As most
Chinese characters are semantic-phonetic ones (形聲字), the radical
method is usually effective, thus it continues to be widely used in
the present day. However, sometimes the radical of a character is not
obvious. To compensate this, a "Chart of Characters that Are Difficult
to Look up" (難檢字表), arranged by the number of strokes of the
characters, is usually provided.

Here is what a chart of radicals in a dictionary looks like

You can otherwise search a character by its pinyin if you know it.

See also: https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-look-up-Chinese-characters-in-a-Chinese-dictionary


Chinese Dotted/Dashed Line font? Anybody knows where to get this Chinese font type?

Simply try "中文字体 虚线体" in Google, you will find many results.

OK, here are some resources:
华康标楷虚线体
金梅美工虚线体

I tried a few, they are all traditional Chinese font type, can't find simplified Chinese version.


What is the difference between 没有+V. and 没+V.? What is the difference between this two constructions:

  S + 没有 + V and  S + 没 + V

E.g. 我没有输 and 我没输

As it was mentioned by @user6065 grammars, e.g. 实用现代汉语语法 make no difference between meaning and usage of adverbs 没 and 没有, is there any difference in intonation the usage of 没有 has? May be one is preferable in spoken/in written/in official usage?

[沒+ X(v)]  is the negative form of [有+ X(v)] (replace 有 with 沒)

Example:

[沒殺人] (did not kill someone)

[有殺人]( have killed someone / did kill someone)

*Replace 有 with 沒

  [沒有+ X(v)] is  also the negative form of [有+X(v)] (add 沒 before 有)

Example:

[沒有殺人] (did not kill someone)

[有殺人]( have killed someone / did kill someone)

*Add 沒 before 有

Simply put,  沒 can be used as the shortened form of 沒有

You can also see it as:  "to turn [有+ X(v)] into negative, you can either replace 有 with 沒 or add 沒 before 有"


What is the difference between 夜(yè) and 晚 (wǎn)? Both characters mean night, also when they are together, when is it better to use each character ?

For example:

Beautiful night: 美丽的夜 can be rephrased to 美丽的晚 ?
Good night: 晚安 to 夜安 ?

Originally,  晚 could be written as 莫 (in ancient form): 艹（草, grass）+ 日 (sun), referring to when the sun is below the grass -- sunset.

In modern Chinese, we can understand or memorize it in this way: 日 (sun) + 免 (cancel), without the sun, sunset.

Then its meaning extends to night and evening. So 晚 does mean night and evening, and they are its original meanings!

Originally, 夜 could be written as 亱 (in ancient form): house (dot + horizontal) people (人, Throw away + vertical) + day (旦), referring to (people, sun) stop and rest. It means the time period from dusk till dawn.

Just as 晚，its meaning extends to night and evening.

晚 is more focused on "being late" (at night or in the evening), which is later used as "late".
夜 is more focused on "dark and dusk" (at night or in the evening).

Therefore, “夜晚” can be understood in 2 ways:

(1) in Modern Chinese, night or evening, together as a noun;

(2) as noun+adj: the night/evening is late → the time at night is late.

晚 means:

Noun.

(1) (形声。从日,免声。本义:傍晚;黄昏)

(2) 同本义 [evening]

晚,莫也。——《说文》

晚,暮也。——《广韵》

四时失序,则辰星作异。…政急则出蚤,政缓则出晚。——《汉书·李寻传》

一屠晚归。——《聊斋志异·狼三则》

(3) 又如:晚曦(晚霞);晚夕(傍晚,晚上);晚半天儿(晚夕,晚晌,晚间,晚上);晚钟(傍晚的钟声);晚寒(傍晚的寒气);晚晴;晚饷(晚餐);晚阴(傍晚时的阴霾);晚来(傍晚) [evening]

(4) 夜晚 [night]

晚星没。——庾信《对烛赋》

(5) 又如:晚吹(夜晚的风);晚头(晚上);晚月(夜月);晚炬(夜间的火炬);晚漏(晚更);晚魄(月亮);晚逻(夜间巡逻) [night]

(6) 晚年 [old age;one’s later years]

晚出榆关逐北征,惊沙飞迸冲貂袍。—— 温庭筠《塞寒行》

(7) 又如:晚运(晚年。运指时期);晚涂(晚年);晚境(晚年的境遇;晚年);晚悟(晚年觉悟) [old age;one’s later years]

(8) 秋季 [antumn]。如:晚菘(秋末冬初的大白菜);晚造(秋季作物);晚果(秋天成熟的果实);晚热(秋天的炎热)

(9) 旧时官场后辈对前辈、下级对上级称晚生,简言曰晚。多用于书信 [pupil (often self-reference in writing or speaking to teacher)]

恕治晚不能躬送了。——《儒林外史》

(10) 时间靠后。属于或关于时间上或发展上的后期阶段的 [late;far on in time]

兴尽晚归舟。——宋· 李清照《如梦令》

事之晚矣。——《资治通鉴·汉纪》

土气有早晚。——宋· 沈括《梦溪笔谈》

(11) 又如:晚唐;晚父;晚母(后母;继母);晚爷(后父);晚妻(后续之妻);晚嫁(再嫁);晚伯母(伯父后来续娶的妻子);晚进(后进;后辈);晚婆(晚娘,继母) [late;far on in time]
Adj.

(1) 迟,在规定的、通常的或恰当的时间以后来的或做的 [late]

大器晚成。——《老子》四十一章  Chapter 41.

(2) 又如:晚达(显达较迟);晚日(近日;最近几天);晚歇(〈方〉∶过一会儿);晚转身(〈方〉∶第二次嫁人);晚客;晚茶(迟采摘的茶叶);晚麦(迟熟的麦);晚代(近世);晚禾(晚稻);晚甲(迟发的芽)

(3) 衰;老 [old]。如:晚叶(晚年;老叶);晚谬(年老昏愦);晚暮(年老)

夜 means:

Noun.

(1) (形声。金文字形。从月,亦声。本义:从天黑到天亮的时间) [Origin: The time interval from dusk till dawn]

(2) 同本义 [night]

夜,舍也。天下休舍也。——《说文》

夜,暮也。——《广雅》

昨夜见军帖。——《乐府诗集·木兰诗》

三日三夜。——《世说新语·自新》

(3) 又如:夜游子(爱在晚上游荡的人);夜里个(昨天);夜合钱(妓女接客所收的报酬);夜行人(夜间秘密行事的人,如盗贼、侠客之类);夜不收(夜间侦探;亦指夜晚淫乐者);夜叉婆(凶暴貌丑的女人);夜消(夜宵);夜里(昨天晚上);夜台(长夜台。墓穴);夜夫(更夫);夜漫漫(黑夜漫长。喻指苦难的岁月);。又如:夜艾(夜深深);夜永(夜深);夜定(指夜深人静之时) [night]

(4) 黄昏,天黑 [dusk]

岂不夙夜?谓行多露。——《诗·召南·行露》

行者怏怏自退,看看日色早已夜了。便道此时将暗,也寻不见师父,不如把几面镜子细看一回。——《西游补》

(5) 凌晨,天快要亮的时候 [in the small hours;before dawn]

郑玄注:“夜,夜漏未尽鸡鸣时也。”
Adj.

(1) 晦暝,幽暗 [dim;dusky]

是故索物于夜室者,莫良于火;索道于当世者,莫良于典。——《潜夫论》

(2) 又如:夜室(黑暗的房间;墓穴);夜台(夜庭。坟墓。亦借指阴间);夜府(犹夜台,墓穴)


Is it correct to say '较出色‘? Is '做得较出色‘ good Chinese?

Seems to me that it means that something is outstanding, remarkable, or it is not, in which case it is commonplace. I suppose this begs the question 'Where does remarkable begin?'

(Someone)做(something)做得较出色 is perfect Chinese.
较出色 can be translated into relatively outstanding

I think Chinese tend to be modest when compliment someone related to them. So it is common to hear the boss praises his subordinate 做得较出色 or a mother praises her son 做得较出色 in front of a third party.

It is perfectly fine if you remove the "较" which as user3306356 pointed out "It's more formal (较 vs. 比较). 较 means relatively or comparatively".

P.S. if you hear 较出色, someone/something probably is pretty outstanding.


Shen (神) character painted over a seal The same 神 character is painted over a seal on 2 different artworks:

An early landscape painting (by Wei Xian/卫贤?):

A calligraphy by Wang Xizhi:

Painting over a seal seems rather rare to me. I guess this one is the seal from a collector, but I might be wrong. Do you know a particular reason why it has been painted? And does it have a special meaning (maybe a religious one)?

Edit: here's an attempt to make the seal readable:

well, the emperor 乾隆 was a collector, he used four characters "神", "妙", "能" & "逸" to categorise artworks (calligraphy, or painting).

and then, he used his seal to chop on the artwork :(


Translation of 我想会吗? - I thought, is it possible? Is my translation right?

Here's the context (conversation about Snowden):

A:     未证实的意思呢就是还没有去证实、证明它是一个事实。

B:     嗯。我想，会吗？他可能已经在暗中做安排了吧。

A:     这个只是他们的官方说法嘛，呵呵。

Does it mean different things in different contexts?

Transcript of conversation

B: 嗯。我想，会吗？他可能已经在暗中做安排了吧。

First, this is a transcription of colloquial dialog, which means the lines can be fragmented and is not entirely grammatical.

Second, I can see how it can be ambiguous and misleading due to the punctuation. Actually, 他可能已经在暗中做安排了吧 is also a part of the 'thinking'. It could have been clearer if it had been punctuated this way:

  B: 嗯。我想：“会吗？他可能已经在暗中做安排了吧。”

Which makes the meaning obvious:

  B: Yes. I was thinking, is it possible that some arrangements had been done by him already, in secret.


Is it overly formal to say 南开大学 (Nánkāi Dàxué) "Nankai University" instead of its abbreviation 南大 to people at 南开大学? This is a sentence I wrote on WeChat to another teacher at Nankai University:

  可是我不是一个学生。我是南开大学的教师。
  But I'm not a student.  I'm a teacher at Nankai University.
  (Kěshì wǒ bùshì yīgè xuéshēng. Wǒ shì Nánkāi Dàxué de jiàoshī.)

I'm worried that saying 南开大学 instead of the shortened version 南大 (Nándà) is too formal.  (Analogous to saying 中华人民共和国 "The People's Republic of China" instead of simply 中国 "China".)

Question: Is it overly formal to say 南开大学 instead of its abbreviation 南大 to people at 南开大学?

I asked some Chinese friends, but I didn't get a precise response.  They pointed out that 南大 is often used as an abbreviation for 南京大学 (Nánjīng Dàxué) "Nanjing University" (nowhere near Nankai University, in Tianjin), but when two people are actually at 南开大学, there's not much of a risk of confusion.

Unlike 中华人民共和国, the name of “南开大学” does not carry that level of formalness. It is alright to use it in conversation.

And the short form of "南开大学" is usually "南开", at least that is the one I always heard. You can use "南开" to make it more casual. This is what we often use to refer to "南开大学" in conversation.

(The wikipedia page of 南开大学 has such a note:

  《南开大学章程》中明确：南开大学的简称为“南开”。在民国时期，南开大学曾简称“南大”。目前，在天津等地区南开大学仍时常被简称为“南大”。

)

And by the way, in casual talk, I would use "老师" instead of "教师"


Meaning of 图像 in this sentence: 图片可作为单独的图像 500万像素，带LED灯（图片可作为单独的图像）

This is the description of the resolution of a digital camera.

So it says 5 million pixels and an LED light included, and I don't really understand what it says between parentheses.

图片 is a photo so it is "a photo can become individual 图像" but I'm not sure which definition of 图像 works in this sentence. Photo can be an image? Photo can be a video?

图片可作为单独的图像

I suppose you need to know something about digital photography to understand that sentence.

图片 = video frame

可作为单独的 = could be made into or saved as a single

图像 = image or photo.

So, the technical English equivalent would be "the video frame(s) could be made into or saved as a single photo image"

Here is an example instruction on how it's done:-

"To extract and save a single video frame as an image:

Do one of the following:

    While the video is playing, click the Pause button at the frame you want to save.
    On the progress slider, move the pointer to display the frame you want to save"

Now try and translate the above instructions into Chinese, whether modern or ancient?


When should I use 经验 and when should I use 经历? Can I say "跟据我的经历那儿的人很友好"? Is this a correct sentence?

Should I use 经历, 经验, or is there a better way to say this sentence?

As a Chinese, I think “经历” would be a better choice.

“经验”

“经验” often refers to some knowledge or work experience，for example，“I am expert in programming and algorithms”，then  I can say “根据我的经验，我可以给你一些编程技巧”.

“经历”

“经历” refers to some personal experience during life，study，work，travel and so on. For example，“I have a good travel to China”，then I can say，“我曾经在中国有一个美好的经历，根据我经历的事情（或者根据我的经历），我认为大多数中国人都比较腼腆而友好”.


What are the continents according to Chinese schemes? In the United States, I was taught a geographical scheme comprising seven continents:

  Africa (非洲), Antarctica (南极洲), Asia (亚洲), Australia (澳洲), Europe (欧洲), North America (北美洲), and South America (南美洲).

How do people in mainland China perceive the world continents? It seems quite different. For example, I have the impression that Oceania (大洋洲) dominates over Australia, while the subdivision of the Americas varies by model.

Geographically, Chinese people say seven continents, as you listed above, except Oceania(大洋洲), which stands for Australasia and almost all small islands in Pacific ocean.


What is the difference between 书呆子 and 迂夫子? Both 书呆子 and 迂夫子 mean a pedant, and at least I know 书呆子 is usually used in derogatory tone.

I have never seen the word 迂夫子 until just now, and it seems to mean the same thing as 书呆子.

So I wonder if there is any difference. Is it also a derogatory word, or anything others that differ?

书呆子 is most accurately translated as IYI (Intellectual yet idiot), a phrase coined by
Nassim Taleb. While "nerd" in modern English often refers to someone who is rusty in social skills.

迂夫子 is seldom used in modern Chinese. On those occasions they are used, it often refers to someone who adheres to strict moral code, sometimes in a way that embarrasses others. It is not a derogatory word, but sometimes used in a humorous tone.


What does 上 mean in the lyrics 红领巾迎着太阳 阳光洒在海面上? I'm learning《让我们荡起双桨》right now and at the beginning of the second verse it goes:

红领巾迎着太阳
阳光洒在海面上

What function is 上 serving in the second line?
The three possibe translations I can imagine are:

Sunlight spills on top of the sea surface.

Sunlight from above spills on the sea surface.

Sunlight spills on the sea surface ahead. (I only think this is a possibility because the 红领巾 in the first line gives that forward to glory vibe)

Since 上 can have any three of the above bolded meanings and my grammar is terrible, can someone illuminate me as to which of those translations is the most correct and what grammatical principle is at play in this sentence that I'm missing?

在 。。。 上 = 'in' or 'on' or 'to' or 'upon' maybe more possibilities.

在历史上 'in history'
在桌子上 'on the table'
在某种程度上 'in a way, to an extent'

红领巾迎着太阳
Young Pioneers welcome the sun,
阳光洒在海面上
sunlight spills upon the sea,

(我更好去喝点茶， me, I'd rather drink some tea)


How does reduplication change the meaning of adjectives? What is the difference in meaning of:
它的眼睛大大的。
它的眼睛很大。
and
他有大大的眼睛。
他有大眼睛。
And more generally, when might someone use reduplication for adjectives?

Reduplication of adjective put emphasis on it

Same as English: "big" in "He has big big eyes" is more emphasized than the simple "big" in "He has big eyes"

他有大大的眼睛 = he has very big eyes

它的眼睛大大的 = his eyes are very big

Notice, not all adjective can be reduplicated, for example we do not reduplicate 巨 because 巨 is already a higher superlative of 大

Also, we don't reduplicated adjectives that are made up of two same characters, For example, 茫茫 is a compound word, not a reduplication of 茫; 忽忽 is a compound word, not a reduplication of 忽


Cantonese 咩 (me1) vs. 嗎 (maa1) What is the difference between 咩 (me1) and 嗎 (maa1) in Cantonese? Are they always interchangeable? Example:

  m4 sai2 faan1 gung1 me1? (You don't have to go to work)

咩 (me1) as a sentence final particle is used not only to mark the sentence as a question, but also to indicate surprise (or disbelief) that the situation is not what you expected.  Taking your example:

  唔使返工咩？ (m4 sai2 faan1 gung1 me1?) "You don't need to go to work?"

This asks why the receiver doesn't need to go to work, but also indicates that you were originally under the impression that the receiver needed to go.

The use of 嗎 (which is usually pronounced maa3, not maa1) in Cantonese is usually considered formal and not commonly used in everyday speech.  Its existence in Cantonese is most likely due to Mandarin influence.  To express a neutral question, the verb-not-verb construction is generally favored.  Expanding your initial example, if you just want to ask whether someone needs to go to work, you would say:

  使唔使返工呀？ (sai2 m4 sai2 faan1 gung1 aa3?) "Do you need to go to work?"

The sentence final particle 呀 (aa3) is often placed at the end of questions, generally to soften the tone so that it won't be considered abrupt.

For information on these and other Cantonese sentence final particles, check out http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/essays/cantonese_particles.htm

P.S., Fivesheep's answer notes that 咩 is a contraction of 乜嘢 (mat1 je5), but this is a completely different me1 that just happens to be represented using the same character.  The use of 咩 as a sentence final particle is not related to this and is not a contraction of 乜嘢.


Chinese Poem And Seal Translation Needed Really Hoping someone can Translate this Old Chinese Painting Poem and Seal into English for me.

edited, picture added.

the text, with my best guess:

水殿亭¹亭荷 飛鳧浴³晚波 香

凮²吹不斷 時送采蓮歌　為

兆南五兄大人雅正之

丁酉冬月石泉何濂畫

¹the actual character is a variant (u+20158), i guess most os, app can't display it correctly. have a look of this page:

http://chardb.iis.sinica.edu.tw/char/28048

²凮 (u+51ee) is a variant of 風 (u+98a8)

³浴 is my guess only, might be wrong :(

edited, here's an variant adjusted, character "浴" assumed, interpretation of the poem:

  水殿亭亭荷

[near] a building at the shore (水殿), [growing] nobly and honestly (亭亭) [are] lotus flowers (荷)

  飛鳧浴晚波

wild ducks (飛鳧) are bathing (浴) in the evening (晚) ripple (波)

  香風吹不斷

[lotus] scented (香) breeze (風) is blowing (吹) non stop ((不斷)

  時送采蓮歌

occasionally (時), [the breeze] is carrying (送) [the sound of] the song of harvesting lotus root (采蓮歌)

[pending] for (為) fifth brother (五兄) who named "兆南"'s comment / criticism (雅正)

"大人" is a courteous title added to "兄"

"雅正" is a courteous term for "begging for other's comment" (懇求他人指正)

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cbdic/gsweb.cgi?o=dcbdic&searchid=Z00000152166

"之" referred back to the painting and poem.

"丁酉" is one of the sexagenary cycle, for indicating year, it would be 2017-60i (i is any integer)

2017 - 0%, 1957, or earlier, are more likely.

"冬月" means eleventh month of lunar calendar

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cbdic/gsweb.cgi?o=dcbdic&searchid=Z00000048678

now, the trickier part: 石泉何濂畫

"石泉" i would interpret as "石泉縣", a small county in 陝西

https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/石泉县

cause, in the past, it's common to declare one's ancestral home (籍貫) before one's name. and, it's very unlikely that one would write his given name / courtesy name before his surname.

"何濂" is the author of the painting and poem, with "何" as surname, "濂" as given / courtesy name.

畫 means "draw / paint"

the seal is

石何
泉印

石 http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=石

泉 http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=泉

何 http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=何

印 http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=印

have fun :)


What is the meaning of 凡属? What is the meaning of this word? I used to see it in a batch of examples. Most recent ones:

如买方提出索赔，凡属品质异议须于货到目的口岸之日起30天内提出
上级机关的决议，凡属要一点的，必须迅速传达

Belonging to. What. Where. Word by word: ordinarily with regard to.

See http://www.iciba.com/凡属


What is a good technique for remembering tones? I find it a great struggle to try and remember tones for all the new vocab I learn, and aside from gradually picking up tones by listening and talking with native speakers, I can't really remember tones. Does anyone have any suggestions for good techniques to do this?

There is a technique I started to use and actually, I've seen it also in other dictionaries, so maybe I wasn't that original...

But anyway, the answer is colors! When you're studying new Hanzi or vocabulary, just color each character according to the tone... It's very helpful to remember the tones, because after a while, you visualize the tones in your head through the colors. For example:

The tones obviously indicate the tones of the single characters1, it doesn't take into account the tone changes in spoken Mandarin2.

Obviously these tones are just mine, which means you can change the colors according to your taste. This technique is very useful for the computers, since you can use the colors. Concerning something handwritten, I can suggest using colored flashcards for each tone, for example, or using different pen colors.

For color blind people an alternative solution is needed. For single Hanzi on actual flashcards (not digital ones), a good idea would be the shape of the paper. Or the border style. For example an undulated border for the first tone and so on.

For expressions instead you could add a symbol below each Hanzi. I know that it sounds too complicated, but right now I don't have a better idea.

1: dictionary tones
2: tone sandhi


what does 塞翁 mean in 塞翁失马? I recently read about this idiom and its story. I know what it actually means. But when it comes to character by character translation, I struggled. I asked some of my Chinese friends, but they didn't reply. I checked from a dictionary application named Pleco. It shows:

塞: strategic pass, tactical border position
翁：elderly man, father, father-in-law, a surname

The mobile app of Baidu Translate just returns saiweng as the meaning when I type both. When I search for one by one, it shows:

塞: stopper, a place of strategic importance
翁: old man, father, a surname

So, this made me confused. My Chinese is not really good. I wanted to ask: 塞翁 is the name of a person or means "old man" as translated in English versions? Or is there any other meaning when it comes to character by character translation?
Also when I need to romanize it, should I write as "Saiweng" or "Sai Weng"?
Any help would be highly appreciated.

Baidu Baike has character by character explanation:

塞：边界险要之处；
翁：老头：老人。
塞翁：边塞的老头儿。

The explanations of you found is correct, and "塞翁" means an old man living in a tactical border position.


What does 老外 mean if the Chinese speaker is in a foreign country? In the following answer over 知乎 to the question 在西班牙生活是怎样的体验?:

  8-中西文化差别很大，前几天，我废了好多力气去解释什么是mianzi，还有因为文化差距，也很难跟老外走的很近，大部分都是中国人跟中国人，老外跟老外。老外很喜欢夜店，迪厅，什么的，答主还是不喜欢这些。这里karaoke 都是中国人开的，打不过的顾客也是中国人

I know 老外 means a foreigner. But in this case, it is awkward to call someone as a foreigner, since it is the answerer who is a foreigner (the answerer is Chinese who lives in Spain).

So my questions are:

Does 老外 mean a foreigner who is from the standpoint of the speaker? So is it OK to call Spainard as 老外 even if the speaker lives in Spain, as long as the speaker is not Spainard?
Or does 老外 mean non-Spainard foreigners (American, German, etc...) in this context?

Does 老外 mean a foreigner who is from the standpoint of the speaker? So is it OK to call Spainard as 老外 even if the speaker lives in Spain, as long as the speaker is not Spainard?

Yes 老外 is relative to the speaker's nationality or ethnicity, not their geographical location. If the speaker is a Chinese person living in Spain, then 老外 covers all non-Chinese people living anywhere in the world including in Spain.

Also note, technically 老外 means foreigner i.e. people with different nationality, but in real life usage it's most used for 'foreigners with dissimilar appearances from the majority of Chinese people'. For example, it's technically correct, but non-idiomatic to call Japanese 老外, neither does it sound intuitive to call a Chinese-American 老外.


Difference between 帐篷 and 大棚？ Recently, I read a story that said “于是他让弟子们搭起大棚”。 I translated this roughly to "ordered the kids to set up a tent". But this had me confused.  Isn't 帐篷 also tent? And can't you also 搭起帐篷？

What is the difference between 帐篷 and 大棚？ If they are very similar, when is used while the other isn't?

大棚 could be:

Commonly short for 蔬菜大棚, a warm house for growing vegetation, usually very large.

sometimes, a tent-like structure, not fully enclosed, often used as a mobile kitchen and dining area.

帐篷 is more of a closed tent which has a roof and has cloth walls all around it. It's built for people to sleep in. Campers and refugees may reside in 帐篷s.

大帐篷

小帐篷


Graceful ways to break away from a conversation Closing a Conversation

I was just in a telephone call with a Chinese person and I attempted to say something like:

xiè xiè nín de lái diàn

谢谢您的来电

Had I said this in English, the caller would have recognised this as a closing statement (an attempt to end the conversation gracefully). The caller did not discontinue the conversation at this point so I assume my word choice may not have been correct. How might I have closed the conversation using a more appropriate phrase or sentence?

Similarly, I've seen CLSE questions about breaking the ice (starting a conversation) but none about how to gracefully close a conversation. I would appreciate any help in this area and I do understand that different regions will have variations (all of which I welcome).

Update

Thanks for the answers below and feel free to add more. I make use of this in building my grammar and appreciate the efforts very much. I also received this alternative as well:

wǒ men gǎi tiān zài tán bā
我們改天再談吧
*We'll talk about it another day*

It usually depends on the situation. If it was a company telling me about a product I might be interested in, and I hear them out, I usually end with 谢谢,我再考虑考虑

if it's one of my my friends, I usually make an excuse such as have to go now, have to sleep, have to eat etc... and add something like 我们哪天接着聊吧, or 回头见

If talking to my parents, I usually say 就这件事, or 没有别的事, etc


How do I say "choose one of these"? For example, when offered a choice, I might want to say "do I have to choose among these, or can I choose any others?" How do I express this? I thought of

  非得选这些里面的一个吗？还是能选别的？

But I want to confirm if it's ok or if there is a better way of asking this. Would it be more natural to rephrase as:

  只有这些吗，没有别的？

A related sentence I'd appreciate you guys helping me translate would be "one of them is lying, I just don't know which one".

Thanks in advance!

To answer your first question about  "do I have to choose among these, or can I choose any others?"

The following sentence is perfectly fine: 非得选这些里面的一个吗？还是能选别的？
It means must i choose among these? Or can i choose others? Which fits what you asked in english.

只有这些吗，没有别的？Using this is fine, but might come out a bit rude because it makes the listener think your expecting more and can come out offensive to some. What you had originally is fine.

To answer your 2nd question about lying:
其中一个在说谎，但我不清楚是哪一个
Which translates to: One of them is lying, but I am not sure which one.


Resources For Learning Southwestern Mandarin (西南官话) We already have:

Resources for learning Mandarin Chinese

Useful resources for learning Taiwanese?

Resources for learning Cantonese

Resources for learning Shanghainese

Resources for learning classical Chinese

Here's what Wikipedia: Southwestern Mandarin has to say about it:

Southwestern Mandarin (simplified Chinese: 西南官话; traditional Chinese: 西南官話; pinyin: Xīnán Guānhuà), also known as Upper Yangtze Mandarin (simplified Chinese: 上江官话; traditional Chinese: 上江官話; pinyin: Shàngjiāng Guānhuà), is a primary branch of Mandarin Chinese spoken in much of central and southwestern China, including in Sichuan, Yunnan, Chongqing, Guizhou, most parts of Hubei, the northwestern part of Hunan, the northern part of Guangxi, and some southern parts of Shaanxi and Gansu.
Varieties of Southwestern Mandarin are spoken by roughly 200 million people. If removed from the larger "Mandarin Chinese group", it would have the 6th-most native speakers in the world, behind Mandarin, Spanish, English, Hindi, and Bengali.

For a language with so many speakers there seems to be very little resources for learning such a language.
As far as dictionaries go I'm aware of the following:
《四川方言词语汇释》
《成都话方言词典》
《四川方言词典》
《成都方言词典》
《蜀籁》
《四川方言词语汇编》
What resources are available for learners of Southwestern Mandarin?

Michaelyus's answer to a similar question (link in the comments above) is still very useful.

A general resource that unfortunately may be hard to find now is the 現代方言音庫, a series published by the 上海教育出版社 in the mid 1990s.  This series consisted of a thin booklet titled XX音檔 (usu 100-150 pages) and a good quality cassette for each dialect. The series eventually covered 40 plus dialects, including 成都，貴陽，and 昆明, and the booklets were often written by well-known experts; for example, 成都話音檔 was written by the late 崔榮昌，who did much important work on 四川 dialects. In addition to characters, pronunciation is given in IPA, which I found very helpful.

One problem there may be in making a list of resources for 西南官話 is that it includes a large range of sometimes pretty different dialects.  For example, the varieties spoken in Hubei are sharply different to my ears from 成都 and 昆明.


How do I say "the school was sold to that big company"? My question is related to the position of 给.

Do I say:

  学校被卖给那个公司了。

or

  学校给那个公司被卖了。

Thanks!

The position of 给 in the first sentence you have is correct, you would just add 了 to indicate the completion of the act to make it flow better

  那所学校被卖给那个大公司了


How to say we failed to reach an agreement How do I convey that two parties were unable to come to terms on a given issue?

For example in English we can say this in a variety of different ways:

We failed to reach an agreement on plans for dinner.

We were unable to finalize the decision on how many employees to lay off

We were unable to come to terms on how to split the profit.

We could not agree on how to proceed with this issue.

failed to reach an agreement
--for bussiness,we say"无法达成共识" or "协商失败"
--for daliy life ,we say"说不通” or“沟通失败”


The character 双 in the dish name 炒双冬。 How did the character 双 in the dish name 炒双冬 come to mean "bamboo shoots"? Isn't 双 just a character meaning "pair"? Also, why 冬(winter)?

I think it's 炒双冬. 双 here means two. One 冬 is 冬菇, also known as 香菇, a kind of mushroom, lentinus edodes. The other 冬 refers to 冬笋, bamboo shoots.


Is the phrase "因为爱所以爱" a tautology? I heard a song named "因为爱所以爱"， literally it means "love because of love". Though logically true, is it not a tautology here? Do we really say phrases like the following ones in everyday Chinese?

因为工作所以工作
因为驾车所以驾车
因为下雨所以下雨
因为革命所以革命
因为正确所以正确

tautology
the saying of the same thing twice in different words, generally considered to be a fault of style (e.g., they arrived one after the other in succession )

'one after the other' and 'in succession' are the same thing in different words , so one of them is redundant.
"因为爱所以爱” or 为爱而爱 (to love because of love) follows a common phrase structure [因为 X 所以 Y] or simply [为 X 而 Y]
X is the reason; Y is the resulted action
For example:
In "因为貪心所以殺人" (Killing because of greed), 貪心 is the reason; 殺人 is the resulted action
In "因为恐惧所以屈服" (Yield because of fear), 恐惧 is the reason; 屈服 is the resulted action

In "因为爱所以爱” (Love because of love), 爱 is the reason; 爱 is the resulted action

Notice, when the reason is the same as the resulted action, it means you do something because you wanted to do something with no other reason.
Example:
Killing for Killing's sake (为殺人而殺人)= You kill because you wanted to kill (因为想殺人而殺人)
Love for love's sake (为爱而爱)= You love because you wanted to love (因为想爱而爱)

To make "因为爱所以爱” sound more nature, you can either not omit '想' and write "因为想爱所以爱” (I love because I wanted to love) or replace '因为' with '為了' and write "為了爱而爱" or simply "為爱而爱" (love for love's sake)
The main point of the title "因为爱所以爱” is  "it doesn't need a reason to love"

Since neither 爱 is redundant in this sentence, it is not tautology, just a flawed sentence


What is the meaning of 妖星? I'm trying to make sense of the word 妖星 ("demon star") which I have encountered in a Japanese phrase. This word does not appear in any Japanese or Chinese (English) dictionaries I've run across, but searching for the word on Google turns up a number of hits in Chinese sites (especially https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%A6%96%E6%98%9F which appears to be a dictionary definition). However I don't speak/read Chinese, and auto-translations of that page (e.g. https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=https://baike.baidu.com/item/%25E5%25A6%2596%25E6%2598%259F&prev=search) are such broken English all I can really tell is that it's an idiom that seems to reference Taoist astrology. What is the meaning of this term (both astrologically and idiomatically) - or at least enough information that I could look up more information on English reference sites (right now I don't even have a good enough English translation of the word to look it up on English sites)?

well, "妖星" is a category name of observable astronomical / meteorological  phenomenons, those are assigned as "bad omen".

in the book "靈臺秘苑" by 庾季才, in volume 15, it was defined as:

靈臺秘苑　卷十三⋯卷十五　page 195

  妖星者﹒五行五星之變﹒天地惡氣之所生也

roughly, means "evil star (妖星), the so called (者), [is] the rebels of (之變) five elements (五行), [and / or] five planets (五星), produced (生) by (所) the bad force (惡氣) from the sky and earth (天地)"

afterward, the author listed 40+ entries in this category "妖星", an interesting point is:

"彗星", "孛星" & "長星", comets;  & "客星", nova; are also listed as "妖星"

i would suggest you find someone who can read literary chinese, and understand astrology / astronomy to help you. the google translate cannot handle literary chinese, the link provided is, . . . :(

last, the english book "stars of jade" by julius d w staal, would give you some basic ideas about "chinese astronomy".

have fun :)


Is 靠 structure "A 靠 B do something"? 他们全家靠父亲一个人工作生活。Their family get by on their dad's salary.
他们靠经营宾馆发了财。They make fortune by hotel business.

There are my questions

(1) Is 靠 structure "A (pronoun/noun) 靠 B (pronoun/noun) do something"?

(2) Can I say：

他们全家的生活靠父亲一个人工作。

他们收入靠经营宾馆。

(3) Are there any special notices involving 靠 structure?

Is 靠 structure "A (pronoun/noun) 靠 B (pronoun/noun) do something"?

The thing  missing is 'to achieve something'

  "A (pronoun/noun) 靠 B (pronoun/noun) to do something to achieve something"

他们全家的生活靠父亲一个人工作 = the whole family's living depend on the father working alone
他们全家的生活靠父亲一个人工作(來維持) = the whole family's living depend on the father working alone (to maintain)

("to maintain living, the whole family depend on the father to work alone".  Not "生活(subject) 靠 父亲一个人工")

他们的收入靠经营宾馆 = their income depend on running an inn
他们的收入靠经营宾馆(而來) = their income depend on running an inn (to obtain)

(to obtain income, they depend on running an inn . Not 收入(subject) 靠 经营宾馆)

Note:

If 靠 means 'solely depend on' you should use the full term 全靠 instead of just 靠

他们全家的生活全靠父亲一个人工作來維持 = the whole family's living solely depend on the father working alone to maintain
他们的收入全靠经营宾馆而來 = their income sole depend on running an inn to obtain

A simpler example

汽車依靠汽油 (car depend on gas)

汽車依靠汽油來運行 (car depend on gas to run)


Difference between 也都不 and 也不都 Are they same?

我们也都不是学生 - We also all not are students.
我们也不都是学生  - We also not all are students.

The first sentence means All of us are not students and the second one Not all of us are students (thus some of us may have occupations other than students).

都不是 (all not) is full negation and 不都是 (not all) is partial negation.


The absence of specifying when something happens in Chinese I saw this example on another website:
他们都拿着票。

Tāmen dōu názhe piào.

They were all holding tickets.

I noticed that it said they were all holding tickets.
Does that imply it is the past tense?
Or is it a narrative?

If a sentence lacks a time indication is it always a certain way?
Should this sentence include 了？

In Chinese sometimes a sentense may lack a time, which is quite different from English, which has a specific tense. In this case the tense depends on the text and the language environment but not always means a same way.

For example, imagine that if you were buying a ticket and saw some people who hold tickets, "他们都拿着票" would mean progressive tense. If it is a narrative, it may means past tense.

As for "了"，"了" can be used in many tense.
See this Tense and use of 了


bkrs Chinese dictionary? I’ve seen that some users like to refer to a dictionary called bkrs (or: 大 БКРС) in their comments.
I’ve been on the website (https://bkrs.info), but since I don’t know Russian, I don’t understand it.

The dictionary is very user-friendly: when the page is loaded, the cursor is placed in the search field automatically, and when a Chinese term is entered, you get definitions in Russian and Chinese as well as a plethora of example sentences (with Russian translations).

So, what is the source for all this information?
Is it reliable?
Is it worth the navigational effort for people who don’t read or speak Russian?
Is there a print edition and who is the publisher / maintainer / editor?

Also, could someone who is familiar with bkrs and knows Russian add the dictionary to »Resources for learning Mandarin Chinese«?

That dictionary is entirely a community effort - Wikipedia model. Anyone can add and edit any definition, but there are many moderators and reviewers. A community is at least in thousands, as this is the main source any Russian speaker learning Chinese goes for definitions to.

Again, BKRS is entirely as reliable a source of information as Wikipedia is, nor more nor less. Obviously there is no print edition for the same reason.


I keep running into so many different synonyms for like/dislike on Chinese websites. What others am I missing? Like: 好文, 顶一下, 喜欢, 赞, 支持

Dislike: 踩一下, 太水, 反对


Why is a Big Mac called 巨无霸 (jùwúbà)? Question: Why is a Big Mac called 巨无霸 (jùwúbà)?

Translating the individual hanzi:

巨 (jù) = huge
无 (wú) = without
霸 (bà) = tyrant; lord

So 巨 seems reasonable (essentially the "big" part of "Big Mac"), but the rest doesn't make sense to me.

https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%B7%A8%E6%97%A0%E9%9C%B8/1226195

巨无霸 (巨毋霸) was a historical character who was famous for being a giant. Later people commonly use '巨无霸' as a nickname for something that is 'giant size'. For example, compare to modern dragonfly's modest 1-4 inches length, the dragonfly- like Meganeuropsis was no doubt a 'giant'(巨无霸) with it's 18 inches long body

Meganeuropsis- 青蜓中的巨无霸 (giant among dragonflies)

巨无霸 is not a translation of 'Big Mac', it is a Chinese name for 'Big Mac' . Someone gave 'Big Mac' this Chinese name because the selling point of 'Big Mac' is "it is BIG"

'Big Mac' is 'giant' among hamburgers


How to translate「暗戀」to English? 「暗戀」literally means "hidden relationship", but sometimes I found it also means "have a crush on someone".

I am wondering which one is the more common translation?

暗戀 is usually translated as having a crush, the chinese word usually means that the subject being crushed on does not know of it, while I feel the english word for crush can be interchanged with "like / have feelings for / fancy someone"


What does 相比起来则 in this sentence? I try to fine the grammar for this sentence:

Noun 1 + 比 + Noun 2 + Adj. + 很多 (Expressing "much more" in comparisons)

But in not the same as:
玛丽相比起来则温和+得多.

You need a complementary sentence to understand this better.

Let’s say “Daniel is very fierce.”

  丹尼尔很凶。

With the context that Daniel is fierce, you can then compare Mary’s temperament using the grammatical structure you have shown.

相比起来则 comprises 相比起来 + 则.

相比起来 means “when you compare (Mary and Daniel)”

则 is a word which performs the function of “then, thus, therefore”.

You can then read the sentence as “Compared to Daniel, Mary is much milder.”


2 word (Mainland) versus 3 word (Hong Kong) Chinese names I simply want to know why Chinese names from Mainland China  are only two words (they can be 2 or 3 syllables) when written in their romanised or pinyin form).

Meanwhile almost all Hong Kong names I have come across are 3 words (and obviously  3 syllables).In other words I have not come across a Hong Kong citizen with a two syllable name.

Is there a cultural reason for this? Did Mainland Chinese names used to be 3 syllables long before?

Chinese names are made up of "characters", not "words", and pinyin is a way to represent the pronunciation of those characters. Romanized names from Mainland China are written in such a way that the Family name is separated from the Given name by a space. The given name, no matter how many characters it's made up of, is spelled as one unit. The reason is that in the PRC, there are officially approved rules and guidelines regarding the writing of pinyin. See http://www.pinyin.info/readings/zyg/rules.html
Scroll down to section 2.3 for an answer to your specific question.

There are no such guidelines for Hong Kong, so people tend to transliterate in the most convenient and logical way to them. In most cases, this would be one character at a time.

This is a convention for orthography, and has little to do with culture.

Also understand that whether you write:

Chan Tai Man

Chan TaiMan

Chan Taiman

Chan Tai-Man

Chan Tai-man

Chen Dawen, or a myriad of other spellings, they are but different ways to represent the sounds of the same Chinese name 陳大文.


List of fixed character descriptions (eg. 白勺的) There are a few fixed expressions to differentiate between and describe characters, as mentioned in this answer, and these are also used as names for the characters when talking about them:

白勺的 for 的
土也地 for 地
双人得 for 得

There are more of these, but the number is fairly small as only some of the more common characters have such a name (or description). There probably aren't more than a few handful (but correct me if I'm wrong): the ABC dictionary actually only lists the ones already mentioned above.

I'm asking for a comprehensive list of these character descriptions.

I know that StackExchange is not a good place for list questions, as argued here. However, if the list is not open-ended, but has a limited number of entries, then it should be a good fit to the site. This has also been suggested for the German language Stack (in German).
The list could be a community wiki answer.

The characters with same or similar pronunciation are usually distinguished by making a word from them, like

  我叫柳星雨，雨是下雨的雨，不是宇宙的宇

The only common one I recall is the following where sometimes people are trying to distinguish between two surnames both pronounced as zhang

  弓长张 and 立早章


I am happy for you (on your behalf): difference between 為你開心 and 當妳開心？ Assume a friend earns a promotion, and you want to say, "I'm happy for you."

In English, there is a difference in meaning when you say:

I am happy because of you: suggests you do things that make me happy.
I am happy for you (or on your behalf): suggests something good happened in your life, and i share your joy.

In Cantonese, it seems like the way to say I am happy for you is 當妳開心。
為你開心 would mean I'm happy because of you. The Cantonese reply to a friend receiving a promotion would be 當妳開心.

Are these Cantonese meanings and interpretations correct?
If so, is it the same for Cantonese and Mandarin, or in Mandarin does 當妳開心 carry the same meaning as 為你開心?

In Cantonese, 戥你開心 is the most common way to say "happy for you" (not 當)

戥 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/8501/
(1). for (a person) | [華] 替, 為

As this entry stated, the counterpart in Mandarin is 替 or 為, as in 替你開心, 為你開心. All mean "happy for you"
Side note:
戥's meaning as a verb is 'to counter balance'.
Two unbalanced load of goods at two side of a 擔挑 is hard to carry . So you have to "戥均" (to make balance by counter balance  one side )
That's how '戥' acquired the meaning of "for (a person)"

A counter balance is something 'for' something else.

戥 someone happy is happy 'for' someone else

替 (in your stead)-->替你開心 (Happy in your stead= happy for you)
為 (because of) --> 為你開心 (happy because of you are in certain situation, e.g. 'graduating')


Up close and personal equivalent How do you express something similar to “up close and personal”?
Like this sentence: She likes to get up close and personal.

Depending on the context and the desired nuance, there can be different translations for this expression. I shall follow the main definitions given by Farlex Dictionary of Idioms:
1. adjective Very physically close to someone or something. Hyphenated if used before a noun.

蘇菲亞告訴我，她會在我們的衝浪之行中當我的私人教練。我喜歡這個主意，因為這就表示我們可以有近距離的接觸。
Sofia has told me she would be my personal instructor on our surfing excursion. I like that because it means we will be getting up close and personal with each other.

The above example is from here. 有近距離的接觸 (lit. to have contact in close distance) is a rather neutral saying. Other slightly more intimate adjectives that can be added before 接觸, with or without 的, include 親密 and 密切. Alternatively, the verb 親近 can be used if a specific object is identified, as in

她喜歡親近你。
She likes to be close to you.

2. adjective Very intimate and personal, especially to an uncomfortable or unwanted degree. Hyphenated if used before a noun.

我不喜歡男人在最初數次的約會上便跟我套近乎。
I don't like it when guys try to get too up close and personal in our first couple of dates.

套近乎 has a derogatory meaning and is rather colloquial. Here provides the definition 'to worm one's way into being friends with someone'. Usually there is an ulterior purpose implied.
3. adverb In a very close and intimate manner or to such a degree.

那些審計師對於我們的財務習慣瞭如指掌。
The auditors got to know our financial habits very up close and personal.

This specific sense is best translated as the idiom 瞭如指掌 (lit. knowing something as clear as pointing that on one's palm to others).

I would say the given sentence can be translated as 她喜歡與人有親密接觸 or 她喜歡跟別人套近乎. There may be better translations than these.


English name translation of “Jerron” into chinese I am looking for a translation for 'Jerron' to chinese. Simplified please. Already tried Google and just would like to double check. thank you.

Foreign names are customarily not translated but transliterated into Chinese.
It is extremely rare to use a straight translation even when the foreign name is a common noun.
We do not translate the name 'Mr. Stone' to '石先生'. The name 'Stone' is transliterated to '斯通' /sī tōng/
We do not translate the name 'Mr. White' to '白先生', The name 'White' is transliterated to '怀特' /huái tè/
One thing about transliteration is there are many homophones in Chinese, not to mention each of them also has dozens of similar-sounding characters. Therefore the same English name can be transliterated in many different ways using different characters.
For example, Nixon is currently transliterated to 尼克松 /níkèsōng/ or 尼克森/ níkè sēn/ in Chinese, but some transliterated it to 尼克虫 /níkè chóng/ before he visited China and improved the relationship between China and The United States -- ( 松 = pine; 森 = forest; 虫 = worm)

Google Translate result for 'Jerron' is '杰伦' /jié lún/ and it is acceptable.

杰伦 can easily be a real Chinese first name

Note: It is also a common practice for foreigners not using a transliteration of their own names, but pick a meaningful real Chinese name for themselves instead.


Time duration in question I came across this sentence: 你学习几年汉语了？

But I thought that the duration would go after the object like this:
你学习汉语几年了？

Also could I place the 了 directly after the verb: 你学习了汉语几年？?

After reading another thread here I though maybe there is a "hidden 的" and it could be 你学习了几年的汉语？?

In Chinese grammar, duration goes after 'verb'. The placement of the object is flexible.

  [1. 你] [2. 学习] [3. 几年] [4. 汉语] [5. 了]

  [1. subject] [2. verb] [3. duration] [4. object] [5. final particle indicates completion]

~

  [1. 你] [2. 学习] [3. 汉语] [4. 几年] [5. 了]

  [1. subject] [2. verb] [3. object] [4. duration] [5. final particle indicates completion]

The difference between the two phrases is the placement of the object.

  After reading another thread here I though maybe there is a "hidden 的" and it could be 你学习了几年的汉语？?

The difference between "你学习几年汉语了？" and  "你学习了几年的汉语？" is:

"你学习几年汉语了？ emphasizes on the duration of the verb 学习

Take away the object and write "你学习几年了?" (how many years have you been studying?) and the sentence is still grammatically correct.

"你学习了几年的汉语？" emphasizes on the qualification of the object.

几年的 in 几年的汉语 qualifies the object 汉语;  take away the object and write: "你学习了几年的" (you have been studying for how many years of...?") would make the sentence incomplete.

As I stated before, the position of the object is flexible. You can even make it  a [topic] + [comment] sentence structure and write:

  "[汉语 (topic)] [你学习几年了 (comment)]

~

  Also could I place the 了 directly after the verb: 你学习了汉语几年？?

Yes, you can write [你学习了][汉语几年?] or [你学习了][几年汉语?]

The 了 after the verb is a particle indicates completion of the action, similar to [ed] in English

你学习 = you study

你学习了 = you studied

[verb (学习了)] follows by the [object (汉语)] is within the grammar rules.


I am trying to translate the seal on a vase. please help (Characters identified: 蔣松林印) Trying to find information regarding Seal mark on
Vase.

The seal says

蔣松林印
Seal of 蔣松林

So the craftsperson's name is 蔣松林 (Mandarin: Jiǎng Sōnglín).


Usage and origins of 打机 In Cantonese, 打机 is used colloquially to refer to playing video or computer games. Where does the expression/word come from, and is it also used in Mandarin? If not, what is a similar Mandarin expression?

In the Mainland China, we say"打游戏", more information about the"打機" can be found here: http://evchk.wikia.com/wiki/打機


What are the most usual Chinese terms for permanent markers vs. whiteboard markers Today in Chengdu I wanted to buy a replacement permanent marker pen for writing on cardboard.

I don't like nonpermanent markers because the ink can sometimes wipe off and stain your clothes. I find that in English the nonpermanent ones seem to be called whiteboard markers most often, and indeed that was written on most of the markers I could find in stores today.

But permanent markers were not easy to find and I found myself wanting to say something like "I want one of these but this is a whiteboard marker and I want a permanent marker".

These terms might not be considered basic enough vocabulary to be in most dictionaries. Google Translate translates them but I don't know if I can trust it.

As others have mentioned, when you are using borrowed words you can sometimes get stuck with misunderstandings especially if you go to a market or book store to buy this item rather than going to a stationary or art store.

My suggestion is to take a glossy piece of cardboard and then ask for a 马克笔 (mǎkè bǐ).

If you are provided with what appears to be a whiteboard marker I would politely test it on the cardboard and if it is a white board marker I would say 我要擦不掉的那种. I think this should get you what you are after.

我要擦不掉的那种 (wǒ yào cā bú diào de nà zhǒng) = "I want the kind that cannot be wiped off"

我要 = I want

擦不掉 = cannot be wiped off

的那种 = the kind

This might also help if they show you a thin marker pen:

我要粗一点的 (wǒ yào cū yīdiǎn de) = I want a thicker one


Chinese songs for hiking What songs do Chinese people sing during hiking? I'm both interested in traditional as well as contemporary songs.

For example, in German there is a song "The miller's joy is wandering"

The song that comes vaguely close is 让我们荡起双桨, which describes children rowing boats in a lake after school. This is an 1950s song which almost all mainland Chinese know.
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%AE%A9%E6%88%91%E4%BB%AC%E8%8D%A1%E8%B5%B7%E5%8F%8C%E6%A1%A8

On the other hand, there are pop songs, eg in this list, but they are not even remotely well known.
https://y.qq.com/portal/playlist/1952753363.html

There are lots of poems about hiking though.


When does an adjective end in hu1 (乎)? When does an adjective end in hu1 (乎)? To paraphrase, what do adjectives ending in 乎 have in common?

乎 usually does not form adjectives, but adverbs, that is modified verbs or adjectives. 胖 is an adjective, 胖乎乎 is an adverb, or a modified adjective, adding an enhancing element, or an injection if you will: fat to a great extent; 急乎乎: in an extreme hurry.

乎 has other uses, but with regard to your question, it is an enhancing modifier.


What was the writer going for with '酗逼'? Started reading this article this morning: 为抢红包，小伙跳楼威逼母亲买iPhone6s but couldn't get past the first word:

  酗逼母亲买6s，为此不惜以跳楼威胁。

[emphasis is my own]

酗逼 appears again in the following sentence:

  前几天媒体刚曝出马来西亚一女孩为买iPhone导致其母亲跪在大商场求其别买，没想到现在重庆也有一酗逼母亲买6s，因为他嫌iPhone4S抢红包速度太慢，无奈其母亲每月1000多元的退休金实在买不起，他就在家里闹着要跳楼，其父身在外地求助警察，后经警察劝解，他认识到自己错误，离开了要跳楼的窗台，主动向母亲道了歉，并保证以后不再作出这样冲动的举动。

I can't make heads nor tails of this word

A baidu search only gives the same article back for using the exact word 酗逼, everything else just returns things like 酗酒逼...

The article has nothing to do with liquor 酒 or the like.

I've got to guess it's a total mistake. Probably the author thought he was writing xiong bi and not xu bi anyway.

What was the writer going for with '酗逼'?

Literally, 酗 means drinking alcohol and getting drunk, 逼，force someone to do sth. I saw this word in some Classical Chinese text, but I don't think people use this word regularly. So, I suspect this could be typo.


In a scene from "Game of Hunting", people in handcuffs in a courtroom are wearing clothes marked "北看": is this correct and what does it mean? There are two characters written on the orange jackets (?) they are wearing. It seems like it says "北看" but I can't seem to find anything related to that meaning. If it's not "看", I hope someone can tell me what it is, and why is it even there on the jacket.  They are in court, by the way.

This is short for "北x市xx看守所". The TV play is based on the city of Beihai(北海市) which belongs to Guangxi province(广西省), so 北 means 北海, 看 means 看守所. The typical name should be 北海市看守所. Actually, 北海 has at least two 看守所s. One is 北海第一看守所, the other is 北海第二看守所. If 北看 means 北海市第一看守所, then the other one should be short as 北二看.


Colloquial translation of "increase in price" What is the common used colloquial translation of "increase in price"?

I know some of them like:

涨价
提价
价格上涨

Which one do you often use? or if there is better alternative, please let me know.

I often use 漲价!

But I think the first and third one is really common.

For example, if you say "the price of the food is increasing this year".

It's equal to "食物今年又漲价了！" and "食物今年价格上漲了"


Informal way of saying hello? Is there a more informal way than the standard 你好 to say "hi" or "wazzup" when meeting friends or equal age people of the same age, or is 你好 always appropriate?

You can say ‘嗨’, which is equivalent to ‘hi’ in English or ‘哈咯’ which translates to ‘hello’ or even ‘哟‘ like another user had mentioned in the comments.


How to use 如 to make comparisons or analogies I see this come up sometimes in idioms, and I find it easy to understand but not easy to use(1) Is it used to spoken comparisons or analogies? Or is it only for literary, formal, fixed expression?  If it can be used to make new expressions, (2) What is the proper syntax?  (3) Can both adjectives and adverbs be used?

It is more of a literary/formal expression; It's not really colloquial.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by making "fresh" analogies. If you mean "Can you make new formal/literary expressions when writing literature?"- the answer is yes. 如 is not bound to any fixed idioms/expressions. With that said, it helps to learn the root meaning of the word so you can use it how you want:

如 itself means "as","as if"

Take the following usage in a "fresh" expression:

天上的星星**如**无数只眼睛，在一眨一眨。
(Tiānshàng de xīngxīng rú wúshù zhī yǎnjīng, zài yī zhǎ yī zhǎ.)

The stars in the skies are **as if** there are countless blinking eyes.

And 如, as you know, is also used in several fixed word pairs:

如果: if
如何: how
如此：if (more formal)

Hope this helps.


What does 都 mean in 小松鼠每天都到地里去 The full sentence is

  小松鼠每天都到地里去，看看结花生了没有。

What is the function of 都 in this sentence? Is it to emphasize that the squirrel looked every day, or that it looked everywhere, or is it something else completely?

Chinese grammar wiki has a page for the "每 + measure word + noun + 都" structure to express "every".

Sometimes when the noun is also a measure word (like your example, 每天都), the "measure word" part does not show up in the structure.

And it is to emphasize the "every".


What does 开题 mean here? I'm supposed to write a thesis for my 成人教育 course. A teacher has been appointed. I can only contact him by email and I think he only looks at his email once a month, there is a long latency period. I sent in a proposal.

His reply was: 结构合理同意开题

Does this mean I can start on the thesis, or he wants a more detailed report of the thesis??

开题到底是什么意思？

结构 : structure

合理 : makes sense

同意 : agree

开题 : start topic (thesis in your case)

结构合理同意开题  means

Your structure makes sense and I agree that you can start on the thesis.


What traditions do people follow when naming a second child in Chinese? What traditions do Chinese people follow when selecting names for consecutive (2nd, 3rd etc.) children？

In the case of my own children the second child was given the same middle character as my oldest son so they are both called 赵"something"恩.

My questions:

Is this the only way that it is done or can the last character be swapped out?
What is done if the first child is a girl, does it make a difference if the next is a boy?
I once met a guy called 王一男 what would happen if the next is a boy, would it be 王二男? What if the second child were a girl, would it be 王二女?
Are there any other ways that Chinese people show that children are consecutive children from the same family besides what I have described above (numbering, repeating characters etc.)

First I'll state that you can use whatever Chinese names you want; unlike western names which often have standard names from the bible for example, theoretically you can use any combination of the thousands of Chinese characters to form a name.

This means that there are so many choices that it's hard to decide on the name, so most parents use some convention or system to help them pick names. Nowadays the traditional naming systems have long fallen out of favour, so there's nothing stopping you from using any convention, system, or no system for the names.

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

Same character for siblings

A common convention, as you noted, is using the same character in the same position for two-character names. The repeated character is usually in the first position.

Splitting words

Another common convention is to name siblings by splitting a word or idiom. An example would be naming the first child 健 and the second child 康. You could combine this convention with the same character convention.

Generation names

A tradition that has largely fallen out of practice since Republic times is the use of generation names - every sibling in the same generation would contain a certain character, and the characters would often form a generational poem. For example, Mao Zedong's family had the following poem, and he was the 14th generation: "立显荣朝士，文方运际祥。祖恩贻泽远，世代永承昌". Note that Mao Zedong himself broke with this system in naming his children.

Birth order in courtesy names

Another tradition that has also become archaic together with courtesy names is the use of special characters to denote birth order within the same generation. These are bó (伯) for the first, zhòng (仲) for the second, shū (叔) for the third, and jì (季) typically for the youngest. For example, Confucius's courtesy name was Zhòngní (仲尼), meaning he was the second son.

I believe that the generation names and birth order names are the only proper naming systems, which influenced the conventions used today. For example, the use of generation names would give the appearance of using the same character for all siblings, but the repeated character is not arbitrary. These naming conventions are also used with daughters, when traditionally these systems were only used for sons. In other words, these conventions are not followed strictly at all, so you can use any convention or system you like. Unless you're superstitious that is, in which case you could try a literomancer.


Methods/resources for improving formal/business Chinese? I'm returning to China early next year to manage a business, and will be dealing with a variety of Chinese clients in that environment.

I want to ensure my formal/business Chinese skills are up to scratch, but I'm not sure what the best way to do this is? Also (not so language related) are there any business related faux pas I need to avoid? What resources should I look at to improve my formal Chinese skills?

You can actually work on doing this locally. I know a few of my Chinese friends who don't do business, but know every business owner in our local area and can get a decent seat at a restaurant even when people are lining up and these people aren't rich. They are just well networked.

You will need to attend local business events, not the crap your local council will put on, but the kind of stuff that business owners will attend like opening of new stores etc.

Research the different business and find out about the different stories.

Most importantly you will need to have high quality social skills, make others feel good about themselves and build up good guanxi. Which is what you are aiming to do overseas.

If you can do it at home, then you can do it over there.


Why is there a 去 in 我们需要确保社交距离去保护您和我们的员工? My friend took a photo of this Chinese sign in Australia:

(click to enlarge)

It's a formal, long-winded way of saying "stay 1.5 meters apart".  Specifically it says:

亲爱的顾客：
根据澳洲政府规定，我们需要确保社交距离去保护您和我们的员工。
请遵守1.5米社交距离规定。
谢谢您的配合
汇丰银行

However, I'm curious as to why there is a 去 in there.  I've come up with a few hypotheses: (a) it's some grammar pattern I'm unfamiliar with (something like the reverse of 来 used to connect two verb phrases), (b) it's used to mean "to" in English, (c) it's related to a dialect.  I'm not sure if any of these are correct.
Question: Why is there a 去 in the above?

I also wondered people can use either '来' or '去' for 'to'  as in  用水来滅火 and 用水去滅火, and my impression is as follow:

来(to) emphasize the mean

[确保社交距离][来] 保护您和我们的员工 = To protect you and our employees with (the policy of) ensure social distancing

~

去(to) emphasize the objective

确保社交距离 [去] [保护您和我们的员工] = use (the policy of) ensure social distancing to protect you and our employees

Similarly:
用水滅火 = use water extinguishes a fire
用水来滅火 = extinguish a fire with water (stress 水 is the mean)
用水去滅火 = use water to extinguish a fire (stress 滅火 is the objective)
Edit:
Also, we use 来 when the object is close to you; we use 去 when the object is a distance from you
Example:
來我家 - come to my home
去你家 - go to your house
With this rule, we can apply it to your question
确保社交距离 [来]保护您和我们的员工 (保护您和我们的员工 is the goal right in front of you)
确保社交距离 [去] 保护您和我们的员工 (保护您和我们的员工 is a goal you set out to reach)
The two sentences basically mean the same, just from a different perspective