What is the difference between 诚意 and 诚信? Both words generally mean sincerity or honesty, however their usage seems to be different, sometimes, but not always.

According to my understanding, you can say, for example:

  他对我有诚意。

but can't say:

  他对我有诚信。

However, you can say:

  他有诚信。

Can anyone please explain the difference? Can someone please translate the above sentences accurately, and perhaps provide a few other useful examples? Thanks.

诚信: means honesty and credibility

诚意: means honesty only

You can't say:

  他对我有诚信。

Because if somebody 有诚信, he/she will be always 有诚信, not only for you, but for everyone. So you just say 他有诚信 or 他没诚信.

You can say

  他对我有诚意。

意 means mood here. One can be 有诚意 now, but wasn't other times, can be 有诚意 for you, but not for others.

诚信 is a trait, 诚意 is a mood.

You can say

  他今天有诚意.

not

  他今天有诚信


What is the difference between 宏伟 and 雄伟? As far as I understood, the first means "great and big", something magnificent and imposing. It collocates with mostly abstract nouns such as aim or prospect (宏伟前景，宏伟目标，宏伟事业), but it also collocates with buildings.
The second one also means grand and imposing and often collocates with natural scenery and with the figure of human body (雄伟场面， 雄伟身材).
What I don't understand is the occurrence of the two and when to use the first or the second. For example I have found 宏伟建筑， but also 一座雄伟的桥 and 气势雄伟长城...so my question is: is there a specific rule or each collocation has to be learned depending on the specific language context?

'雄' implies 'masculine'
'雄伟' emphasizes the masculinity of the object (we often project human characteristics onto inanimate objects)
'宏' implies 'grand; great, vast; magnificent' but doesn't contain the 'masculinity' aspect.
Sometimes we want to project masculinity onto an object, and '雄伟' would be the word for it.
雄伟身材 is a good example. We don't say 宏伟身材 because 'vast and grand' is not the descriptions for a human body, but 'masculine' is


夫唯弗居，是以不去 What"s the meaning of the first 4 characters? it's the end of the second chapter of Dao De Jing. I try to make sense:
是以不去 therefore it's not lost, doesn't go away.
夫唯弗居? Can anybody help me?

Nannuo gave a nice explanation. But there are some of the details I don't agree with.

It seems 夫 is 发语词 to me. Normally one doesn't relate it to anything.

夫唯弗居 => 唯弗居 =>  Only contributing without taking credit.

以 means "because of". 是以 = 以是 = because of it/this/the reason/something.

去 = leave （vanish is also good.)

是以不去 => 以是不去 => Because of the reason above, it (the credit of your contribution) never go away.


How extensible is the tonal quality rule? I'm starting a Chinese languange course now, I've just seen that ma can have four meanings, it depends only on their tonal qualities.

I wonder: How extensible is this tonal quality rule in forming new meanings? Is there a rule where only a few syllables can have different meanings?

Like others have told you, you might be confused a little bit. First of all, while languages have words made of syllables, Chinese has characters where each character is a syllable. These syllables can be written using the Latin alphabet with some systems, Pinyin being the most common one. Syllables can have 5 different tones: high, rising, fall-rising, falling and neutral.

According to the syllable and the tone attached to it, you can have a different meaning (excluding the fact that many characters cannot stand alone).

If you write "mā", it doesn't necessarily mean "mother", since that Pinyin transcription can refer to different characters. For example, the characters below are all read as mā:

The one on the left-center is the Traditional form for 妈, which means "ma, mamma".

Not only that, the same character can have different readings, which means different meanings. But also in the same reading, we have different meanings! See the character 着 for example:

As you see, 着 has 5 different readings, but much more meanings, even for one single reading. I know this might scare you from learning Chinese, but once you start, you'll get used to it.


What these seals characters means? (Characters identified: 讀書志在聖賢 爲官心存君國) I have this seal but i really dont know what means these characters,
If somebody can help me to translate i would appreciate.

I couldn't explain it in a short sentence, but I found this translation from a blog.
It seems that the blogger loves ancient Chinese literature.
He translate it to
In learning, aim at the sages; as an official, be loyal to sovereign and country.
Anyway it advocates abandoning your personal profit.


Does Cantonese or Mandarin contain the voiced or voiceless velar fricative? Update: I apologise effusively for writing ɤ instead of ɣ, which I had intended all along.

Preface: I represent the voiceless velar fricative with its IPA phone [x],
and the voiced velar fricative with [ɣ].

Is this phonetic inventory for Mandarin wrong? It excludes  [x] and [ɣ], and includes only the voiceless uvular fricative [χ].

2. The Wikipedia page for [x] includes Mandarin, which it exemplifies with (I omit the links):

  Chinese  |   Mandarin  |    河/hé  |     [xɤ˧˥]

3. but the Wikipedia page for [ɣ] excludes Chinese,

and similarly Wikipedia's IPA for Mandarin page excludes [ɣ].

Will someone please clarify and explain these contradictions?

Voiceless: Pinyin h is standardly the voiceless velar fricative [x], although it is often written [χ] for some reason — Chinese IPA developed its own transcriptional traditions, for instance the use of [ɒ] where [ɑ] might be more usual, in the mid-twentieth century. However, there's no systematic contrast between [x] and [χ] in standard Mandarin, and systematic contrast is the important thing. Besides that, for many speakers, the aspiration of stops is also expressed with the velar fricative rather than pure aspiration: tāng: [tˣɐŋ], kuí: [kˣu̯ɘi], etc.

Voiced: In standard Cantonese, no. And in the major representatives of Yuè ("Cantonese") dialects, as described in Zhān Bóhuì 詹伯慧's Guǎngdōng Yuè fāngyán gàiyào 广东粤方言概要, voiced velar fricative [ɣ] is not attested.

There are some cases of [ɣ] in regional languages. Conservative Wú dialects, for instance, voice /x/ to [x͡ɣɦ] in low-register tones. Hokkien final /-k/ may take on voicing and approximant quality before the noun-suffix á: /sái ha̍k-á/ 'outhouse': [sai₅₅ ha₃₅ ɣa₅₂], and so on, although it is also often heard as a fully voiced stop [sai₅₅ ha₃₅ ga₅₂]. [ɣ] is reconstructed for the medieval initial xiámǔ 匣母 in most environments by most hands, too. But no dialect groups have anything like the degree of standardization we encounter in Mandarin.


How does the order of noun modifiers affect emphasis I have a Chinese textbook that gives two examples of a sentence, saying that the order of the noun modifiers can be changed for emphasis, but it doesn't explain which sentence emphasises what.

The two examples are:

【那个】【戴眼镜的】【很高的】人
【很高的】【戴眼镜的】【那个】人

I'm assuming that one of these is meant to emphasis the person's height more than the other, but I don't know which one.

I can't see any particular emphasis from the different syntax. I prefer 1. , it seems somehow 'correcter'. The typical spoken answer in English would only be a sentence fragment, according to grammar.

The Royal Order of Adjectives does not pertain in Chinese, I fear. In Chinese we can write 'the wear/wearing glasses person = 那个戴眼镜的人', which is not an option in English. (不好：the very tall wearing glasses one)

谁是你的爸？
Who is your Dad?
1.【那个】【戴眼镜的】【很高的】人。
1E. (My Dad is) the one wearing glasses, very tall.
1.1E (My Dad is) the very tall one, wearing glasses.

谁是你的爸？
Who is your Dad?
2.【很高的】【戴眼镜的】【那个】人。
2E. Very tall, wearing glasses, that one (is my Dad).


Why is 跟 in 陈叶可以直接拿跟胡灵阳的钥匙? I wrote this:

  ...陈叶可以直接借她的钥匙。

I intend for it to mean "Chen Ye can directly borrow her [Hu Lingyang's] keys", as in, he doesn't need to ask---the keys were on the table, and he just took them and walked off (they're good friends and trust each other).  My teacher changed it to the following (I think):

  ...陈叶可以直接拿跟胡灵阳的钥匙。

I don't understand why 跟 is in here, and I feel it should be deleted.  This may be my misunderstanding, as I'm looking at corrections I made from a WeChat conversation from a while ago.  Although maybe I'm missing something.

Question: Why is 跟 in 陈叶可以直接拿跟胡灵阳的钥匙?

陈叶可以直接拿跟胡灵阳的钥匙

The 跟 doesn't look quite right in the sentence.  It implies that 陈叶 and 胡灵阳 share the keys. That's not what you intended to mean according to your English sentence.  On the other hand, it's not a good sentence.

So, it should be removed:

  陈叶可以直接拿胡灵阳的钥匙


English translation for "廢"? For example,

  我廢了你

It can roughly translate to "I'll waste/break/ruin you", but that doesn't sound too accurate.

What "廢" sounds like is kindof like "crippling" yet less severe than that.

From what I can tell, it sounds like extreme, violent damage yet nothing as permanent as crippling.

废 is a slang, and as NS.X mentioned, "waste" is a pretty good translation, as in

  I'mma waste you

Nonetheless, IMHO, 废 doesn't necessarily mean waste. Other meanings include:

What you thought it is, "to cripple".
"To destroy (life, job, etc)", as in

  我废了你（的人生）

  I'mma destroy your life


What is the preferred relationship title for "my mother's mother's big brother's son"? This recently came up during a visa application, and we had a hard time coming to a definitive conclusion, even with Chinese family members :(

  What is the preferred relationship title for "my mother's mother's big brother's son"?

If it helps to narrow the scope, I'm interested in the mainland Mandarin convention. Also, the son is older than 'me' in this situation by a lot, say 40 years.

You can use '表舅', because he is your mother's '表哥'.

Basically I think there are three prefixes that you can add to relationship words: '亲' (directly/closely related, which is usually omitted), '堂', '表'. All your ancestors, siblings (that share at least father or mother with you), and descendant are '亲'. '堂' only refers to your father's brothers' children. In this way, your '堂' something should have the same family name with you (assuming all children using inherit their family names from their fathers). '表' is used for basically all other kins that have a common ancestor with you.


Does a good OCR of "Western Mandarin, or, The spoken language of western China" by Grainger, Adam exist? Archive.org has a really pristine scan of "Western Mandarin, or, The spoken language of western China" by Grainger, Adam.
It's great. It really is.
It is completely comprised of "photos", though, only. So, not really searchable, aside from a Radical Index, if you get your thrills in the futility of stroke order.
The "Full Text" and "ePub" options on archive.org are awful.
E.g.:

and the "Full Text" version:

^ T and P? T
servants and door keepers.

There must be a good OCR of this pdf, no?

Unfortunately, most OCR software still has trouble dealing with this type of 'non-standard' typeface.  In my experience, Chinese that is not in one of the standard computer fonts always comes out with significantly more errors than roman lettered texts. Premodern printed works come off especially badly, so unless someone has made this particularly book the subject of a major project, I doubt there is anything useful out there. Let me know if you find something!


How to say "home improvement" in Chinese? I'm trying to help some friends who constantly struggle with home repairs due to lack of home maintenance experience.
I have a nice English book with a lot of pictures, but it is not very useful for non English speakers.
I tried searching for the Simplified Chinese Google Translate results of "home improvement book", "home repair book", etc only coming across interior design, and appliance repair results.
What is the correct Chinese term for this topic?

Are you looking for something to do it yourself? Try 家居装修DIY


Is 谑 (xue4) occassionally used in modern Chinese? According to my dictionary 谑 means "to joke around", I looked 谑 up in a sentence database but without any result. Is this word used in modern Chinese or does it have an archaic vibe to it ?

yes, 戏谑 is mostly used word contains 谑 in Chinese simplified


What did the original Tao Te Ching use for punctuation? When you look at the Chinese versions of the Tao Te Ching online (here, here, and elsewhere), there are periods (。), commas, semicolons, question marks, and exclamation marks!

道可道，非常道。名可名，非常名。無名天地之始；有名萬物之母。故常無欲，以觀其妙；常有欲，以觀其徼。此兩者，同出而異名，同謂之玄。玄之又玄，衆妙之門。

There were no commas back then! What is this! :)

I am wondering what an "original" version of the Tao Te Ching would look like. The oldest versions. Did they completely lack punctuation? Did each poem have titles like these versions do, or were the titles added later? Were the poems/verses structured in any particular way, or was it just one big wall of text? Or was it like the Wikipedia version?

BTW, it would be interesting to know where I could find a primary source / reference to demonstrate the "original form", like if it's on a digital archive at a museum or something online.

So far, the earliest version of Tao Te Ching found is on the Guodian Chu Bamboo Slips, written in the Warring States era State of Chu.

From 楚簡書法网 (http://www.cjsfw.net/Html/?287.html, http://www.cjsfw.net/Html/?283.html):

The text is given in verses, beginning with an 8-character rhythm, and the punctuation marks are found on the bottom right of the terminal character for the verse, as a verse breaker. The punctuation does not strictly correspond to a full stop or comma of today.


How to say "shin splints" in Chinese? I would like to know how to say "shin splints" in Chinese.  Shin splints are a fairly common injury for runners.

Please note that shin splints are NOT splints that you put on your shin but rather a pain that occurs along the inner edge of the shin bone (Wikipedia article here).

I tried looking up "shin splints", "splints", and "splint" on my Android Pleco app but all I got for definitions was "splint" meaning the same thing as a "cast", or something you put your limb in to support it during recovery.

Well looks like you should invest in new (Pleco) dictionaries:

  外胫夹 -Zhongshan Medical

&

  [用作单数] 【病理学】 (田径运动员等患的) 外胫炎,外胫酸痛 [1940∼1945] -21 Century

Baidu also returns the following:

  胫前疼痛/外胫夹(Shin splints)

I would go with 外胫夹


What is the difference between 嘗試，試圖，and 企圖? I'm trying to translate this sentence to Mandarin:

  She's trying to recover the torn photo.

So I was trying to find a meaning of "to try" in Pinpin Dictionary, and I came up with three different words, “嘗試”，“試圖”，and “企圖”. All of them mean "to try".

Are there any difference between these words?
Based on the context, which one is more appropriate?

  她嘗試修復被碎照片。
  她試圖修復被碎照片。
  她企圖修復被碎照片。

嘗試 means simply "to try" or "have tried". For example,

  "Try something new" => 嘗試新事物

試圖 is synonymous with 打算, and means "planning to do something". It can be translated as "try" or "attempt", but implies more of a plan. For example,

  "Trying to write a book." => 試圖寫本書.

企圖 has the same meaning with 試圖, but with a negative connotation. For example,

  "Planning to rob the bank." => 企圖搶銀行

For your case, both 她 嘗試 / 試圖 修復被撕毀的照片 can be acceptable. If she has not yet begun working on the photo, 試圖 sounds most natural. If she's already in the act, I would suggest  正試圖 or 正在嘗試. If she has already finished, go with 嘗試.


For the HSK, what do I need to know about characters which appear differently? Edit:  This question was based on a misunderstanding: I installed Chinese fonts in Ubuntu, where the default behaviour is to show Japanese characters.  (I managed to fix this problem following the instructions here: https://askubuntu.com/q/901486; it was considered a bug.)  Not realizing this was a software issue, I believed this problem related to 异体字 (yìtǐzì), or variant Chinese characters.

I've rephrased the question so the question is technically correct, related to the Chinese language, and so that the current answers actually answer the question.

No wonder I struggle to remember how to write 喝 (hē; to drink); this is what it looks like on my phone:

And this is what 喝 looks like on my computer:

This is the same character on the same website, but it's written in two different ways.  It seems this is a common obstacle for people learning to write Chinese; see: Characters which have several different shapes.

These are variant Chinese characters 异体字 (yìtǐzì).  I'm concerned about whether one is preferred over the other for the HSK.  This would affect the reading and writing components.

Question: For the HSK, what do I need to know about characters which appear differently?

The Chinese characters are used not only in Chinese but also several other languages (such as Japanese). The written form of the same character may differ in these languages. And on a computer, these differences are usually controlled by fonts (as they use the same code point).

The second form in your original post is a Japanese version of 喝, which will be considered wrong if used in Chinese. You might be using a font designed for Japanese to display the character. Try change to a font that is designed for displaying Chinese (like SimSun), you will get the correct Chinese written form.


Chinese painting signature and seal translation (Characters identified: 羅鼎華印) I have a Chinese watercolour and the scene is two birds with flowers. I cannot interpret the signature nor the seal and really need some help on this.

There's nothing here but the artist name, which is 羅鼎華 (Mandarin: Luó Dǐnghuá).
The calligraphy says

鼎華
Dǐnghuá

The seal says

羅鼎蕐（華）印
Seal of Luó Dǐnghuá


Does a 不会拍照的男友 not want to be photographed or not want to take photographs? I was looking at this article which has the title:

  从前我有一个不会拍照的男友，后来他走的很安详…
  Cóngqián wǒ yǒu yīgè bùhuì pāizhào de nányǒu, hòulái tā zǒu de hěn ānxiáng…

I'm interested in breaking down 一个不会拍照的男友:

一个 (yīgè) = one
不会 (bùhuì) = will not
拍照 (pāizhào) = to take a picture
男友 (nányǒu) seems to be short for 男朋友 (nánpéngyǒu) = boyfriend

So, the person writing the article had a boyfriend who will not "take a picture".  I don't know if this means:

the boyfriend refuses to be photographed, or
the boyfriend refuses to take photographs.

Question: Does a 不会拍照的男友 not want to be photographed or not want to take photographs?

会 means 能，善于, 'able to'.

不会: 不善于，不能，unable to

不会拍照的男友 means the boyfriend who does not know how to take photographs.


Are there rules about the differences between pinyin spelling and pronunciation? I noticed that sometimes certain finals in Chinese sound differently when combined with different initials.
For e.g., what is spelled "u" sometimes is pronounced "ü". Other times, I think the final "i" sounds differently when combined with different initials.
Is there a list of rules explaining all of these differences within standard Mandarin?

The pronunciations of finals do not change when used after different finals, with perhaps only one exception: 'i'. It has three variations: 'zi ci si', 'zhi chi shi ri', and all others.

NOTE: Not many Chinese know the differences, but you can compare:

English pinyin
 Lee     li
 she     shi    (the two consonants are also different)
 see     si

The three english /ee/ in the above word are the same, but the three Chinese i are all different.

However, the spellings of the finals do change when used after different initials. The details can be found in 汉语拼音方案 (the Scheme for the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet), which is the official standard for Chinese pinyin.

For the example mentioned by the OP, 'ü' will be written as 'u' after 'j' 'q' and 'x'. ('u' will never be used after 'j' 'q' or 'x')

NOTE2: I don't know whether the full detail of the scheme is appropriate for beginners. There are two links in Chinese: 汉典 BaiduBaike


Difference between 那时，那时候，当时，那会儿，那阵子 I was trying to say "at that time I started to be interested in maths". I translated it as:

当时我开始对数学感兴趣.

Then I saw some other expressions to say "at that time": 那时，那时候，那会儿，那阵子.
What are the differences between those? I suppose 那会儿 is "at that moment" instead of "at that time" but what is the difference with 那时 and 那时候? And what is the meaning of 那阵子?
Thanks.

那时/那时候 - formal, a long period of time. Whichever one you choose depends on how fast-paced you want your narration. 那时，我开始对数学感兴趣 makes the most sense because your growing interest in math sounds like a long-term process.
当时 - formal, a very short period of time. Example: 当时，我吓坏了。
那会儿 - colloquial, any length of time. Example: 那会儿，我在火车上只吃方便面。
那阵子 - colloquial, a very long period of time. Example: 那阵子，我特别无聊。


Is 你好，北京 grammatical? Today Victoria Beckham tweeted it. But is this reverse form (as opposed to 北京，你好) correct?

Both are correct!!
你好，北京 is more like a casual greeting, e.g. Hello World! :D
北京，你好 is more like a greeting with a touch of respect, because you address the name first. Examples are, 张老师，你好 (Teacher Zhang, hello).


chinese essay review? I just started to learn Chinese a few years ago but I find essay-writing especially difficult. For example, the following essay took me about 45 minutes to an hour and I was told that it had poor word choice at times. If anyone can, I would be greatly appreciative if you toke a quick read and give me a few comments to help improve my writing.

(This is in response to an [informal] question: What do you think of the term "Jia You," do you support this saying / view?)

把 “加油“ 地道的翻译成英文是个困难的事。翻译的定义常常会把本来的定义解的不利。加油可以代表多种的意思从鼓励到欢呼何况同情和团结－翻译的时候就会往往把这多数含义缺漏掉的。用英文来表示就会给这个词一个单纯没劲的意义，普通翻译成 "Let's go!" 或者 "You can do it!" 或者 “Come on!"。这些句子说出来不含加油的内涵意义 - 就是鼓励斗志能力。其实用 "Fighting!"来表示可能是更镇却的翻译，可是在英文里 "Fighting!" 通常含义个打仗和暴力的现象不是决心或者意志力的表示。

这种观念我挺支持的因为是个正面情绪向上的口语。我自己听到的时候会受到一古港动力让我加强的努力，要没有的话起码让我思考一下我做中的目的因为说给我听的人肯定有她的意向。一个缺点是过用－把加油整天放在舌尖上（就是天天都说，张口就说）。过用会把给说的人的期望射得特别高（做不到的请款就带来羞辱的感觉）或这老是抱着一个不满足的心态（社么东西都能加油，不够好)。

这种心理状况在美国对于华人配演小孩的方法是个挺红的辩论题。反正有两组人－一种觉得父母实景推动小孩的前途是很重要的，在一种觉得小孩能自己发现他么的前途，不要干涉，未来小孩高兴为主（这不是说第一组家长就不想要他们小孩高兴，就是会用不痒的眼光看来高兴这个词)。可能在美国多数人的想法都在第二组里。

我有可能把这个题目想的太宽了，也不太用加油这个词，所以我不知道是不是所说的话是正确的。

I'm a Chinese from hong kong so my choice of wording may be a bit different from the mainland Chinese (the word choice sometimes differs, like American English and British English). My Chinese writing is not that good (the spoken language in hk is very different from written chinese)...so just take it as a reference!

把 “加油“ 地道using 地道 seems a bit weird to me but i have no idea what to use

的翻译成英文是个困难的事。

翻译的 定义 常常 会把本来的定义 解的不利 - "定义" doesn't make much sense. What do you intended to mean by this word?

You can use 往往 instead of 常常("常常" isn't incorrect but its seems to be more appropriate)，

and 曲解 to replace 解的不利; "解的不利" doesn't make any sense in Chinese。

加油可以代表多种的意思 add a "," here

从鼓励到欢呼add a "," here

何况 - using "何况" doesn't make sense here; it means "furthermore" but only in negative meaning.

In this sentence the adj you use like 鼓励到欢呼 同情和团结 all have a positive meaning so it'd better to use other conjunction word like “再到”

同情和团结add a "," here

翻译的时候 就会往往 把这 多数 含义 缺漏 掉的。Better change 就会往往 to "往往会". the meaning is right but the order is weird.

多数(means many) should change to "多重"(multiple layers).

缺漏 seems weird to me...but I am not sure what to use here.

用英文来表示就会给这个词一个 单纯没劲 的 意义 单纯没劲 doesnt make sense - use 单薄 is better.

意义 mean "spiritual meaning" in chinese, so you should use "意思" which means "literal meaning"

普通 翻译成 "Let's go!" 或者 "You can do it!" 或者 “Come on!"。the meaning is right, but you can use 一般, which sounds more appropriate to me

这些句子说出来不含加油的 内涵意义 use 神髓 instead!

就是 鼓励斗志能力。i cant think of a better word...but your word choice doesn't quite make sense

其实用 "Fighting!"来表示可能是 更镇却 的翻译，i don't know what does 镇却 means.... i would use 传神 here; btw you can use "较为" instead of "更", so that you can have a "4-word word"

可是在英文里 "Fighting!" 通常 含义个打仗和暴力的现象 不是 决心或者意志力的表示。change 打仗(verb) to 战争(noun) because "暴力" is also a noun, to keep the two sides of the word "和"(and) balanced;

then change the word order&usage from "含义个 战争和暴力的 现象" to "含有 战争和暴力的意思";

for "不是"（means "no"）, change it to "而非"(means "but not")

这种观念 我挺支持的 add a "," here.

Also you should state what does 这种观念 means. If you're using 观念 to mean "the act of using the word Jiayou" than it's a wrong word choice here.

因为是个 正面情绪向上 的 口语 。正面情绪向上->正面向上， 口语->用语

我自己听到的时候会 受到  一古港动力  让我加强的努力 OK. first change 受到 to 感受到 because "受到" means "being ..." but you dont have a verb to fill the "..." , so you should add the word "感"(feel)。 “感受” together means "feel".

一古港动力 -> doesnt make sense, i guess you means "一股动力"

一股动力 and 让我加强的努力 actually have the same meaning, so it's duplicated here. but thw word 一股动力 is like...more native. so you should just delete "让我加强的努力". So 受到一古港动力让我加强的努力 -> 感受到一股动力

要没有的话 i guess you means "if not" in english. but this word choice is improper. Use "即使没有" instead which means "if not"

起码 让我思考一下in English "at least would make me think about". in Chinese you may use 至少 (but 起码 is ok too);

让我思考一下 here you should emphasis '思考'(think). A good way to emphasis it is put the word at the end of the sentence. change it to -> 会激发我的思考 (会 would 激发inspire 我的 my 思考thoughts )

我做 中 的目的 do u mean 我做人的目的？Also add a "," here

因为 说给我听的人 肯定有她的意向 说给我听的人->给我加油的人

"肯定有她的意向" this is too vague. you should specific what does 意向 means...so change it to "肯定是支持我的" or "肯定是想鼓励我的"

一个缺点是 过用 －把加油整天放在舌尖上（就是天天都说，张口就说）过用 is a bit weird... maybe use 过度使用(excessive usage) instead?

过用（->过度使用）会把 给说的 人的期望 射 得特别高 "delete "给说的", you dont have to use these words here.

In Chinese, 射 means aiming at a PHYSICAL target. Here you want to mean "aim at high expectation" and you cant translate this literally to chinese. Use 过度使用会把人的期望 **提**(lift) 得特别高 instead, which literally means excessive use would lift up people's expectations "

（做不到的 请款 就 带来羞辱的感觉）请款->情况；带来羞辱的感觉->会让人觉得 蒙羞/被羞辱

或 这 老是抱着一个不满足的心态 ->者

（社么东西都能加油，不够好)。-> 永远(always)都要(have to)继续(continue)加油，永远(always)不(not)够(enough)好(good) (->never good enough)

这种 心理状况 在美国对于华人配演小孩的方法是个挺红的辩论题 It's weird to use 心理状况 here..

反正 有两组人－一种觉得父母实景推动小孩的前途是很重要的 delete 反正

在 一种觉得小孩能自己 发现 他么 的前途 在 doesnt make sense here. use "另"。 发现 isnt a proper word choice here, use 掌控(control) instead. 他么- is it a typo? do u means 他们？

未来小孩高兴为主（这不是说第一组家长就不想要他们小孩高兴，就是会用 不痒 的眼光看来高兴这个词)dont understand what do you want to mean by 不痒, but this is a wrong word choice. we dont have a vocab 不痒 in chinese.

可能在 美国多数人的想法都在第二组里。-> 美国 **大** 多数人的想法都 **应该** 在第二组里

我 有 可能把这个题目想的太 宽 了delete 有。 hmm i am not sure if 宽 is ok here... you can also use 远

也不太用加油这个词，所以我不知道 是不是所说的话 是正确的 word order - 所说的话是不是

That's it! Actually I think the question is a bit confusing. We don't say the term Jiayou as a 观念，it's just a word.... you wont say its a view.

It's like you won't have a question in English asking "What do you think about the word awesome, do you support this saying/view?"

The question should explain itself more.


How to use what, that, who, where, etc. in Chinese? I recently learned how to use interrogative pronouns in chinese, such as 什么 (what), 谁 (who) ,etc. But in English we also use these words as what I think are called 'Reflexive Pronouns' or something like that. It is the what in "Do you know WHAT that chair is for" or 'Integrity is WHAT he needs. The who in "I know a few people WHO drive blue cars." How does chinese use those words?

What you are talking about are called relative pronouns. Chinese, you may have noticed, does not play by English rules. Chinese does things differently, and to my mind often more elegantly. One way is this use of 是 ...... 的 or some other 动词 .... 的 combination. Relative clauses are just bigger adjectives really, and that is often exactly how Chinese uses the information content of the relative clause, as part of a big adjectival phrase, in front of a noun.

[relative clause]
(information content of relative clause)
{noun + relative pronoun, or just relative pronoun}

That is {the dog [that} （bit me）]!
这是那只(咬我)的狗。
What is that chair /used/ for? (For what purpose is that chair used?)
那把椅子是干什么用的吗？

2a. Do you know {WHAT} that chair is /used/ for?
2b. Do you know {the thing [that} that chair is (used) for]?
你知道那把椅子是干什么用的吗？

Using 所 you get close to an English style relative pronoun，but here it is still wrapped inside a 是 ... 的 clause. In my head, I always think 'thatwhich' for 所。

Integrity is {WHAT} he needs.
3a. Integrity is {the thing [which} he needs]. (In Chinese I think they will say 'the thing which he lacks)
正直是他[所(缺少)]的。
I know {a few people [WHO} （drive blue cars）].
4a. I know {a few people, [those people} drive blue cars].
我认识几个(开蓝色汽车)的人。

Don't like writing in the comments box.

Simple answer is: No. It depends on what you want to say and how you want to say it. 回家的人 is not a relative clause, just adjective + noun. There is a thing called a Zero Relative Clause. Basically, the Relative Pronoun is omitted, but could be inserted. "This is the man (who) I met yesterday.

那时正是冬天, 黑漆漆的街上, 满满都是回家的人。
It was winter then, the dark streets (were) full of people (who were)  headed home. (The words in brackets make the sentence too wordy.)

我到家的时候, 我们一起去超市吧。
¨WHEN I get home, we will go to the store¨.

There are various ways to express 'when'. An easy way is 的时候， 的时

Chinese can put the information content of an English relative clause in front of the noun. That means, it is not a relative clause but an adjective. We can't write 'The headed home man' in English, but in Chinese it's easy. I believe this originates in the Germanic penchant for 'Verb second'.


What is the meaning of 以 in 以 ... 來 pattern? What is the literal meaning of 以 in 以 ... 來 pattern like in the following sentence: 以我的情況來看. What is the syntactic role of this word (verb, particle, etc)?

[以 ... 來 + (v)] = [with/ according to/ base on ... to + (v)]

[以]我的情況[來]看 = [to] assess it [base on/ according to] my situation

[以]我的想法[來]說 = [to] judge it [with/ according to] my thinking

[以]他的指示[來]做標準 = [to] make standards [according to/ with] his instruction

When you can replace 以 with 從 in your sentence, 以 means 'from'

When you can replace 以 with 用 in your sentence, 以 means 'with'

When you can replace 以 with 跟據 in your sentence, 以 means 'according to'


What is 茜 in the phrase 茜纱窗下? 晴雯死了。宝玉祭文。黛玉听见了。宝玉说，”有什么不妥的地方，还请你替我修改修改。“

宝玉写的是：红绡帐里

黛玉说，”何不说 ‘茜纱窗下’“

Is 茜 just 红色? Or is it what the window screen is made of? Is it 芦苇?

KEY defines 茜纱 as:

  qiànshā
  red yarn

So, yes, 茜 = 红 here.

David Hawkes English translation in The Story Of The Stone Volume 3 reads:

  rosy-misted casement

Yang Hsien-Yi & Gladys Yang's translation in A Dream of Red Mansions Vol. 2 reads:

  madder-gauze window

It seems as if H. Bencraft Joly never translated this portion of the book.


Why doesn't 褱 sound like its phonetic etymon 眔? What might explain this phonetic change, in Cantonese and Mandarin?
Please educate me if there's a more fitting term than 'phonetic etymon'.

Wiktionary avouches the same etymology as Yellowbridge:

Interestingly, there is another character 褢 [same reading as 褱], with 鬼 inside.

Here are a few parts where Humanum mentions the relationship between 褱/褢/鬼 and even 歸:

  又表示給予，史牆盤：「受(授)牆爾福，褱(懷)祓彔(祿)」，兩句句意相同，意謂授給牆多福。《詩．檜風．匪風》：「懷之好音」，毛亨傳：「懷，歸也。」「歸」有饋贈之義。

So there is a usage of 褱 that means 歸 [kjuj] "give" and related to 饋 [grjujs] "make offering to."

  又通假為「鬼」，伯[冬戈]簋：「隹(唯)用妥(綏)神褱(鬼)，唬(效)前文人」，意謂以安寧神鬼，效法前世有文德的人。

Here's evidence that 褱 [gruj] and 鬼 [kjujʔ] were homophones. Actually, 歸 and 鬼 might be cognates (人所歸爲鬼), but I digress. The point is, [kjuj] is the much more likely target reading to hit for 褱, not the [k-l- | -p] initial/final pattern of 眔.

  「褱」與從「鬼」聲的「褢」字有異文關係，《漢書．外戚傳》：「褢誠秉忠」，顏師古注：「褢，古懷字。」玄應《一切經音義》十八「懷孕」作「褢孕」。

褢 was used in the Han-Tang era to mean "hold in," without the emotional semantics.

  又表示安撫、招來，毛公鼎：「率褱(懷)不廷方」，意謂安撫不來朝覲的方國。陸賈《新語．道基》：「附遠寧近，懷來萬邦。」
  ...
  又借「鬼」為「懷」，表示安撫，《睡虎地秦簡．為吏之道》簡46-47貳：「君鬼(懷)臣忠，父茲(慈)子孝，政之本殹(也)。」

This is the same as the "give" meaning.

We learn several things:

鬼/褢/歸/褱/懷 were near homophones and were interchanged in writing at various times.
There is a "hold in" meaning of 褱 that seems cognate with the "hide tears/miss" meaning for which the character was apparently constructed, possibly a direct extension, but more likely to be the actual root -- there is a Proto-Tibeto-Burman etymon [*kway] that means conceal/hide.
There is a (fairly archaic) "give" meaning of 褱 that is related to some of the meanings of 歸 (namely its use as 饋), and seems like a phonetic loan and unrelated to the first meaning.
The reading of 褱 [gruj] is fairly secure given the readings of the other characters, in particular, the [g/k-r/j-uj] pattern. It is most likely not related to the reading of any crying related etymon, for which there is a fairly established Proto-Sino-Tibetan reconstruction [*krap], nor to the 泣 [khrjəp] that is posited to be 眔, nor to the 徒合切 [dup] spelling given by Shuowen for 眔, nor to 涙 [c-rjuts], 隶 [c-rəts], or 逮 [ləts] that have been written with 眔 in Oracle Bone for its meaning and/or sound.
See also my comment to droooze's answer on why I believe 褱 is a rebus.

So, to answer the question: "Why doesn't 褱 sound like its phonetic etymon 眔?" It's because it has no sound component, and 眔 is not its phonetic part. On the other hand, the later character 褢 would be good candidate if you're looking for a legitimate phonetic part for a cognate of 褱.


Is this ad wrong? Or, is my understanding wrong (quite possible) This is an ad for Cathay Pacific posted in downtown Boston.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/31789321@N03/16882394887/

It reads:
波士頓至香港
不停站
每周四班

I am surprised by two things in this ad copy that I think might be wrong.  First, shouldn't "至" be "到"?  Second, since this ad uses traditional characters (as seen up top in the part I didn't get in the photo), shouldn't "周" be "週"?

Thanks in advance for any help and clarity.

-Nawen

Both 至 and 到 mean to, but 至 is often used in written Chinese, so it's not a mistake, 周 and 週 are both correct in traditional Chinese, mean week, but we don't use 週 in Simple Chinese, even everyone can understand it


Do Chinese language users use 作心三日? This isn't exactly a question about the linguistic properties of the Chinese language, but something I'm just curious about.

Is 作心三日 a 成語 used in China? It's a very common Korean proverb, basically meaning that whatever someone puts their mind to, they can't last for a long period of time (literally translating to "the mindset you created, three days."

I'm just curious because I thought chengyu were pretty much the same across Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.

No, but there is a colloquial proverb (俗语) in this vein:

  三天打鱼，两天晒网

  sān tiān dǎ yú, liǎng tiān shài wǎng

A more modern turn of phrase is:

  五分钟热度

  wǔ fēnzhōng rèdù

... literally "five minutes of zeal / enthusiasm".


乐 Le and Yue: When did they diverge? In the character 乐, it has two readings in Mandarin. In pinyin, yue4 and le4 (plus other readings I take are literary)

In other dialects too, there seem to be 2 distinct forms. In cantonese, lok and ngok. In Min Nan, lok and gak. Wiktionary actually lists 3 pronunciations for these dialects.
This is even reflected in Japan and Koreas' loaned pronunciations.

There are clearly 2 distinct readings of this character. My question is at which point did these pronunciations begin to become distinct? Due to the loan into Japanese and Korean, I take it could be quite some distance back in time, but the reconstructed Old Chinese pronunciation has only one apparent form (albeit this may be a mistake).

Perhaps there is no clear answer, but the etymological history of when these readings diverged is my point of interest.

I did some research. Here is what I found:

1) 樂 first meant music instruments, pronounced 'ngok'（逆角切）. In Japanese, it is がく［楽］(gaku).

2) The meaning happy '悦/樂' first had the same pronunciation 樂 as in 音樂. This was probably the case in 战国 (周朝)，because according to《爾雅·釋詁》(written after BC 476), 悦: 樂也。

3) In 唐韵 （written in 732 AD, 樂 meaning happy is pronounced 'lok' (盧各切). So the pronunciation changed between 周 and 唐, which is a long time (~1000 years). To cut the time shorter, we can look at Japanese, which borrowed a lot of Chinese characters between the 3rd - 5th century. In Japanese, ［楽］meaning happy is pronounced らく [raku]. So we know the 'lok' sound formed before 500 AD.

The timeframes map into the distinction between Old Chinese and Middle Chinese. Old Chinese 上古汉语 was used until the 3rd century and Middle Chinese 中古汉语 starts from the 3rd century.

Using this terminology, we can say this distinction is in Middle Chinese but not Old Chinese.

Furthermore, Old Chinese is considered to be very regular -- characters with the same component sound the same, and one character has only one pronunciation.

Now I guess the problem is solved. It seems that mathematical abstractions can help in reasoning and discovery! :)

PS. there could be a small difference in Old Chinese that led to larger difference in Middle Chinese. Old Chinese had double consonants. Later, double consonants are systematically dropped, and some words had consonant A and some with B. According to 韵典网 (ytenx.org/dciangx/dzih/%E6%A8%82)，樂's Old Chinese pronunciation was /ŋraːwɢs/, or transliterated as "ngrawgs". It had double consonants ŋ and r, so some words became ŋok, some became lok (r and l are the same), and some became ŋaw. The two meanings music and happy might had slight differences in Old Chinese.


Simplified Chinese: 彷彿 vs 仿佛 A few weeks ago I learned 仿佛 fang3fu2 to seem, as if, similar. However today I encountered the similar looking 彷彿 fang3fu2 in the subtitles for the Hello Mr Billionaire movie that is in Simplified Chinese.

Cedict says that 仿佛 is a variant of 彷彿 but also seems to indicate that 仿佛 is the simplified form for 彷彿 (however I'm not totally clear on this). Baidu actually redirects 彷佛 to 仿佛. Microsoft's pinyin input also suggests 仿佛 and doesn't offer 彷佛 as an option.

The subtitles use 彷彿 three times.

Incidentally, the subtitles also use 彷徨 which Cedicts defines as pang2 huang2 to pace back and forth, to hesitate, to be indecisive

In Simplified Chinese, which is more standard: 彷彿 or 仿佛 ?

For simplified Chinese 仿佛 is correct. I don’t know the history of 彷 and 仿, but I can tell you 100% it is 仿佛. Whatever subtitles you’re watching can be wrong.


I am confused by how time is discussed in Chinese, Ok so let me start with some examples:

xia ci 下次 (next time) is "down time". so... down = future?
shang ci 上次(last time) is "up time" so... up = past?
hou 后 (back) also often refers to future so... back = future?
qian 前 (forward) also often refers to past so... forward = past?

These internal metaphors are quite at odds with English. We often refer to the future as forward and up. such as "whats coming up?" "next year"... there are more I can't think of right now.

Anyway so my question is: does anyone know how this came about? Is this correct?

下一次/下次 (next time)

Imagine the present time is the beginning of a list. When you go further down the list, the further into the future you will be at.

上一次/上次 (last time)

Imagine you are currently in the middle of a list. When you look up the order on the list, the further you go up, the further you got back in the past.

之後/以後/後 (after)

Imagine the present time is on the first page of a book, the more you turn the pages, the further you will get to the future - in the back of the book.

For Example: " 第二次世界大戰後 " (after WWII) .

"第二次世界大戰" was the reference point of a time line (it is on the first page). Every thing that followed (future),  are all in the back of the book.

之前/以前/前 (before)

'前' here doesn't mean 'forward'. It means 'previous'. As in '前男友' (ex-boyfriend), '前政府' (previous government). Therefore. '以前' means 'from the previous' = 'before'.

*前(in front/forward) can also mean 'future'. Imagine the present time is a line you stand on.  '向前看' (look in front) is the future. See similar terms like:

'前途' (road in front = future ahead)
'前景' (scene in front = future prospect)


Techniques for improving pronunciation Are there any recommended resources or methodologies to improve ones Chinese pronunciation?

Besides having a native speaker at your disposal, are there any tools that can help to correct pronunciation?

For beginner level:
I have some children's textbooks with short stories / poems (around 20 - 50 characters). Chinese children in years 1/2 spend time practicing by reciting these short stories until they get them perfect.
Here is an example of the first lesson from the school text book:

一片一片又一片，两片三片四五片，六片七片八九片，香山红叶红满天
Yīpiàn yīpiàn yòu yīpiàn, liǎng piàn sān piàn sìwǔ piàn, liù piàn qī piàn bājiǔ piàn, XiāngShān hóngyè hóng mǎn tiān

Try reciting these until you get fast and clear.
Something else that worked for me was listening to music. You can easily get songs with lyrics from the Internet. Aim for pop songs where the singer has clear pronunciation.  Then practice singing along.
For intermediate level:
I suggest regularly practicing reading aloud. This may sound overly simplistic, but if you get a book that has pinyin so that you can read at a reasonable pace without getting too caught up in the meaning. This will help you exercise your mouth and will improve your pronunciation.
For advanced level:
Try searching the net for some Chinese tongue twisters like:

吃葡萄不吐葡萄皮
Chī pútáo bù tǔ pútáo pí


How common is the use of "瞧" and which region? I've seen 瞧 used every now and then in written Chinese, but I've rarely heard it said in spoken Chinese except for the occasional mention of 瞧不起.

A couple of days ago I was watching Kung Fu Panda and it was used often enough in the dialogue that I noticed it.

This had me thinking, do people actually use it in spoken Chinese regularly. Doing a Google search yields plenty of results, so it has me thinking that it must be common, just not within my circle of friends or family. Even with 瞧不起 I am more likely to hear 看不起.

So is it very common in spoken Chinese? If so, is there a specific geographic location that is more likely to use it?

As far as I know the people of Beijing and Hebei province often use 瞧,for example:

瞧病（go to hospital）
瞧您说的

In fact,In most north parts of China use 瞧，such as

让我瞧瞧（Let me see）

is often heard in Shanxi Province.
It is more often to hear such word in dialect than in mandarin.


How to describe a puppet show I want to describe a puppet show we saw. It was in a theatre and performed by professional puppeteers. I found three terms for puppet: 人形, 木偶, and 傀儡. I couldn't find anything for puppeteer.

Here's my wild guess at saying, "We saw a puppet show. The puppeteers were from Taiwan."

我们一起去看木偶戏剧。木偶者是台湾人。

A "puppet show" can be called 木偶戏, 木偶剧, 傀儡戲、人偶戲、or 人偶劇 .

You can refer specifically to a puppeteer as 操纵木偶者 or simply (遮蔽)操纵者. But to refer to puppeteers in general, I feel that 操纵木偶的艺人(们) would be more appropriate.

So for your phrase, one way of saying it would be 我们去看了一个木偶戏/剧。操纵木偶的艺人们是从台湾来的。


Any difference between 早安 and 早上好? Is there any difference in meaning, formality, tone, or otherwise between the "good morning" greetings 早安 and 早上好? Or just regional preferences? (I'm thinking perhaps the former may be more common in Taiwan and the latter more common in Mainland China and/or northern China but I'm not sure.)

From the accepted answer at Baidu:

  Both are words of greeting. Nowadays people generally use “早上好”. “早安”
  will give a feeling of before 民国 (the Republic of China (1912-1949)),
  or a literary feeling (it's common in literature).

Other people think 早安 has a warmer feeling.

Of course this is the perspective of mainland people.

In Taiwan 早安 is used much more than 早上好. （Ratio: 28, Google advanced search: exact phrase, country TW, language zh-TW)

"早安" 5,340,000
"早上好" 192,000

In the mainland, incidentally, 早安 is also used much more than 早上好, although the degree of usage seems much closer. （Ratio: 2.3, Google advanced search: exact phrase, country CN, language zh-CN)

"早安" 24,500,000
"早上好" 10,400,000


Difference between 图画 and 绘画 The dictionary defines both 图画 and 绘画 as drawing & painting. Can both words be used interchangeably? Is there any difference in the words in terms of usage?

图画：drawing， CAD drawings/blueprint/construction drawing .etc
绘画：painting，Art painting/oil painting/literary sketch/photographic painting .etc
画画： “画画是一种在二维的平面上以手工方式临摹自然的艺术”，nowadays,its more for kids.


How to type strokes? In the same spirit as my other question about how to type certain radicals, I would like to know how to type strokes themselves.  I would like to be able to type all the strokes listed on the Wikipedia page.  Unlike radicals, however, to the best of my knowledge, not all of these strokes have a pronunciation associated to them (well, maybe if you allow more than one syllable, e.g. heng2zhe2zhe2gou1), and so I don't even know where to begin to try to input these.

Wubihua input method. You can find this on older chinese phones hardware keys, or with a software keyboard on smartphones. It consists of just 5 buttons, each representing a basic stroke type. You tap them in the order of writing and suggestions of the most likely character come up. My personal favourite is multiling keyboard on Android. I have no idea how to input this on windows or mac. I only use the pinyin based microsoft chinese ime.


What's the difference between 基建 and 基础设施? (Chinese words for "infrastructure") I've come across both these words recently and they seem to both translate to "infrastructure". Are they completely interchangeable or is there a difference in meaning? Or is it a question of regional usage or informal/formal language? Thanks in advance.

基建 is the short version or abbreviation of 基础建设。


"Immediately" 立即, 即時, 立刻, 馬上 etc I'm trying to find a suitable translation for the word immediately. The dictionary has all of these words (I limited it to 4 in the title but there are over 10 results from what I can see).

Could someone list the top 3 most commonly used ways to express the idea "immediately" and describe the differences between each?

without delay 即刻﹐馬上

將食物烹調十分鐘後即刻上桌。

我一收到他們的傳真﹐就馬上回信。

very soon before or after something 立即﹐立刻

那個嬰兒剛出生就立刻被別人領養了。

very near to something  緊靠著

他就住在緊靠我們家樓上的那個公寓。

immediately involved/concerned/affected etc -very closely involved etc in a particular situation 直接

這個決定將通知所有直接相關人員。


Differences between 增加 and 增长 Would anyone be able to clarify the differences between the two?

It seems from the examples that I've been given is that 增长 refers to 'growth', but at times can be used to mean 'increase'. 增加 On the other hand seems to be more widely used for 'increase' or 'add'?

Please correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks in advance.

To understand the differences between these two compound words. you need to first understand the meanings to 加 and 长。 While it's simple for 加 which just means addition (1加1=2), there are fives meanings to 长：1, grow; 2, length; 3, long ; 4, leader; 5, First

长大=grow up，长高 grow taller, 长长 grow longer (zhang chang) same word sounds different.
长边=Length;
长夜=long night；长城=great wall of China which means long wall;
班长=Leader to a class; 市长=leader to a city; 厕所长=leader to a bathroom；
长女=First born daughter to a family; 长老=oldest old people in a family;

增 simply means getting more;

so 增加 simply means getting more in addition.

but 增长 can mean a lot of things. Refer to "长" meaning from above.

Sometimes you can't use 增加， but you can use 增长, and visa versa.
For example. You have enlarged your penis. and you can say：我增长了我的阴茎。You can't use 增加 here， because you are not adding （加） something to your penis because you are only making it grow longer. 长 used here means 1, grow. But of course, if you had an accident and have part of your penis damaged and you have done a penis transplant, then you can use 我增加了我的阴茎。


What does 探个究竟 actually mean? On the lid of the barrel（桶）  it says '不可偷看‘

I have the sentence：人很好奇，走过来弯下腰把脑袋伸到桶里探个究竟。

探 = explore, 究竟 = outcome, result

探个究竟 = 'take a look' or 'see what happens' or both OK?

Your understanding about 探 and 究竟 is quite right, I just add some additional information about 个.

个 has no specific meaning here, usually used between verb and complement for emphasizing, such as 笑个不停, 吃个饱.

So 探个究竟 doesn't just mean take a look or see what happens here, it describes how curious people are about the content in the barrel vividly.


How to fill in the blanks in 两个队的分数_都很_近? 两个队的分数_都很_近.

The spaces are where words/phrases are supposed to go.

Are there such words that fit in these spaces? I've been going through Google trying to find similar sentence structures but to no avail.

两个队的分数全都很接近

shall work. however, this will imply that each team has multiple scores (like score for goals, for shots, for passes, etc.) and all scores are close.


Difference between 活 and 住? I read that both 活 and 住 both refer to the verb "to live". Is there a difference between the two?

Yes. The two words are actually applied differently.

活 is applied in a more abstract sense. Such as to live in fear (活在恐惧之中), to live in this world (活在这世上). This has more to do with survival or staying alive.

住 is applied in a physical sense. Such as to live in this house (住在这屋里), to live in this place (住在这地方). "Stay" would be a good alternative to "live" for better clarity of the meaning. This has more to do with accomodation.


Is there an expression similar to the English "gut feeling" in Chinese? Is there a metaphor or idiom that has a similar meaning to "gut feeling", as a metaphor for "intuition" or "instinctive feeling", in Mandarin Chinese?

The word for intuition or gut feeling is usually just rendered:

  直觉

New Century English-Chinese also defines gut feeling:

  NOUN
  直觉(相对于基于事实的观点)


What's the Most Likely Chinese Version of this Odd "Chinglish"? This Language Log post is an entertaining discussion of some possible explanations for an unidiomatic English phrase, "Suffered We Protect They", that has appeared on some Liuzhou SWAT posters.

My personal assumption is that they were "trying to say" something like "we [the police] suffer to protect them [the people."  Assuming that this meaning is the correct one, what do some native Chinese speakers (beyond Dr Mair's graduate students) think about any Chinese versions (conceptual or otherwise) of this sentiment the folks coming up with this poster might have been working off of before they reworked it into English.

I've found that my Chinese sadly rarely escapes sounding like a foreigner wrote it; too many constructions betray the clear influence of English grammar and writing, to the point that it's often easy to tell what English I'm "working off of."  It possible for any native Chinese speakers here to "reverse engineer" what the original Chinese version might have been of this fairly problematic English?

I gotta say this guy hit the nail on the head (bold-ed is my own):

  I thought it may come from Chinese that "有困难找警察" (if you meet troubles, please ask the police for help). I thought "we" in this slogan referred to the police, "they" referred to the people who is in trouble. This slogan may mean "we will protect you with all our effort" (危难时刻 我们在您身边 At the risky second, we are by your side).

The poster clearly says 危难时刻 我们在您身边 in Chinese above the English, and that's usually how Chinese posters (or, so called, propaganda) work.

Chinese

English

With, obviously, some poetic license, if you will....


Is the cantonese expression 五福臨門 present in Mandarin too? A recent question prompted me to look for expressions related to the Chinese New Year and, among them, I found one that particularly stroke me as interesting:

五福臨門  = according to the poster it means: "five happinesses bestowed on your household"
Source: Chinese New Year phrases, third post by "14k Guy", 7th expression listed.

I suppose that the pronunciation provided is Cantonese, since the site seems to be related to Cantonese.
Anyway, looking up the expression as a whole doesn't give any results in Mandarin, apparently, whereas looking up each character alone, the meaning seems to match... So I wonder, does this expression exist in current Mandarin as well? If not, is there an equivalent?
In both cases, I'd like to know why "five happenesses", is it related to the number meanings in Chinese culture?

Of course it exists in Mandarin. I didn't know it is a Cantonese expression. Maybe it should be just "Chinese expression".

I cannot answer whether the meaning are the same. I don't know Cantonese. But I think the meaning should be the same in Cantonese and Mandarin.

"五福" comes form 《尚书·洪范》:

  五福：一曰寿，二曰富，三曰康宁，四曰攸(yōu)好(hào)德，五曰考终命。

which are long life, being rich, being healthy, clement, having a peaceful end (death). It may or may not be related to the number meaning of five, I don't know. Maybe the original author picked five because five is a good number.

And currently, most Chinese cannot list what "五福" are, though "五福临门" is commonly used.


Resources: Modern Chinese -> Classical Chinese (Dictionary/References/etc.) There's a similar question here:

what are some dictionaries about vocabulary of classical chinese?

but I think my question is a little different.

For instance if I want to find the classical equivalent of 您/你 what kind of resources are available (dictionary (hopefully!) /references/etc.) that would return: 汝?

Likewise, 我 would return something like 吾, etc.

A reverse classical-dictionary, is kind of what I'm looking for.

What options are available?

Well actually we also use "我" in classical Chinese.
For example: 《曹刿论战》：“齐师伐我。”
And as for 汝, it is not equivalent to 你/您.
Sometimes 君 is also used to refer to 你/您.
Therefore it's very hard to find such a dictionary that convert everything to classical Chinese and even if it exists it may not be correct.( And I guess there is no such a dictionary.)
You may try to read more classical Chinese articles to get familiar with the way people write or simply ask a Chinese to translate for you. There is no standard way of translation. It depends on how you manage your sentence in classical Chinese.
The most simple way is to find a sentence expressing the same thing as what you would like to say and pick out the words you want.
Even Chinese people study classical Chinese by reciting the passages first,so referencing to an existing passage is very important. Hope this can help you.


How to properly use 掉？ I am referring to the usage as defined on zdic.net

  用在动词后表示动作完成：改～。戒～

Does 掉 often have the connotation of falling or missing？
What is the difference between (verb)掉 and （verb)了 and（verb）掉了？

I've heard this in the negative （擦不掉）。 How does that differ from（verb）不了？

When 掉 is used as a verb complement (not a verb), it indicates that something disappears, is removed, is disposed of, etc. as the result of an action. Not really "falling" or "missing".

Some examples:

擦不掉：Something can't be removed or got rid of by rubbing or wiping. Maybe it's a stain on your shoes, and you're trying to rub it off with a cloth, but it can't be wiped away.

吃掉：To "eat something up". All of it is gone.

卖掉房子：To sell your house. After you sell it, it's gone. It's off your hands now.

忘掉：To forget something. After you forget it, it's gone from your memory.

忘不掉：To not be able to forget something, to be unforgettable.


Hello! Can someone please translate: 'My Little Ghost' to Chinese? I'm creating a story with this title and the setting I'm supposed to have is in ancient China. It would be helpful if you can show me how it is spelled and if the translated version sounds more like an endearment from an older boy to a younger boy. Thank you!


What digital illustrated dictionaries are available? What dictionaries are available that contain separate illustrations for most of the terms? I would prefer something in online or digital format.

I found two but they are to be purchased and not free.

McGraw-Hill's Chinese Illustrated Dictionary: 1,500 Essential Words in Chinese Script and Pinyin lay the foundation of your language learning;
Illustrated Chinese-English Dictionary.


Two questions on a sentence in a Min song The sentence

We are looking at the first sentence of the part of Liû-lõng kàu Tām-tsuí sung solo, which is typically found written:

  扞着风琴提着吉他    双人牵做伙

According to my research, noting that I cannot find 扞 in my reference so I guessed the syllable from the video and marked it as unknown tone, the sentence has the following Tai-lo:

  Kuạnn-tio̍h hong-khîm thê-tio̍h gì-ta    Siang-lâng khan tsuè-hué

My translation is:

  Playing accordion and guitar    let us dance in pairs

Q1

Question 1 is naturally about that unfindable verb. I hear either kua or kuann in the video, and since the character is hàn in Mandarin I guess it's the latter. It should mean "play" like thê shortly after. So I was wondering:

  What is the tone? Is that the correct syllable? How should I spell it?

I assume that character is not correct because Wiktionary gives me no matching meaning, but maybe it's a Min-specific meaning?

Q2

Question two is about 双人牵做伙. AFAIK the single words translate to "pair of people - pull - together", with "pull" being "hold" when coupled to "hand" (i.e. qian shou is hold hands). So "pull pairs of people together". My take is that "pull" refers to certain dance movements where the man pulls the woman towards himself, and this idea of dancing is also suggested by the instruments playing, probably accompanying the dance.

  Is this idea correct? If not, what does this mean?

The official MV of 流浪到淡水.
Published: 1997

扞著 ná-tio̍h
提著 thê-tio̍h
Both mean "to bring".
扞著 = 拿著

影片中的兩位盲人（金門王 和 李炳輝）是本歌的原唱者。
The two blind people in the MV (Jīnmén Wáng and Lǐ Bǐnghuī) are the original singers of the song.

（金門王：金門人，姓王。）
(金門王: A Jīnmén person with surname Wáng.)

「牽」並不一定是手牽手。
牽 does not have to be hand in hand.

For example, 他用狗鏈牽著狗散步 means "He walks the dog on a leash"

影片中（1:00 - 1:12），金門王用手搭在李炳輝肩上。這就是一種「牽」。和跳舞無關。
In the MV (1:00 - 1:12), Jīnmén Wáng puts his hand on Lǐ Bǐnghuī's shoulder. This is a kind of 牽. It has nothing to do with dancing.

小學五年級時，因為一時的好奇，出生在戰地的金門王誤觸一枚信管而炸斷了左手，並且造成雙眼的失明。

喜歡音樂的他，在好友李炳輝的帶領下，來到了淡水，開始了二十多年在茶室裡的走唱生涯。
帶著幾許滄桑的歌聲，他們唱出了市井小民的心聲和辛酸。

後來，透過歌手陳明章（本歌的作者）的引薦，兩人合作的第一張專輯「流浪到淡水」，紅遍了大街小巷。

During his fifth year of primary school, because of a momentary curiosity, Jinmen Wang, who was born on a battle field, accidentally hit a fuse, and lost his left hand and both eyes' sight in the explosion.

Since he liked music, under his friend Li Binghui's guide, he came to Danshui, and began singing of his life in tea rooms for over 20 years. With a few worldly songs, they sang the common people's feelings and bitterness.

Later, through a recommendation of the singer Chén Míngzhāng (the author of this song), those two people's first album "Roaming to Danshui" became popular all over the city.

Ref


What is the character missing in 「好吃jing」? My grandma always referred to me as a "好吃jin(g?)" i.e. a glutton. However I'm not sure which character goes in the third one. This might be regional (Anhui) dialect, I am not sure, because I couldn't find an appropriate word in the dictionary or keyboard suggestions.

I would suggest 「好吃精」 (Mandarin Pinyin: hàochī jīng), where 「精」 is short for something like 「妖精」 (demon). 「好吃精」 then means glutton demon.
See also https://baike.baidu.com/item/好吃鬼, where 「好吃精」 is listed as a synonym.


Difference between 不得不， 不免 and 必然? All of these words mean must or inevitable, but is there a difference between them?

不得不: have to, there are factors/reasons that force someone to (do something)

  由于过热，我不得不关闭机器
  I have to turn off the machine due to overheating.
  I have no choice but to turn off the machine due to overheating.

不免/难免: would naturally; cannot help but.1 (It sounds more like reasonable than inevitable. See example below)

  工作量大，不免会有失误。
  It'd be normal to make mistakes due to the high workload.
  (The mistakes can be avoided if careful enough. But due to the workload it is very reasonable to make mistakes. You can use 必然 here)

必然: inevitable, certain. (At least the speaker believes so. There may be reasons, or there may be none)

  宇宙中必然有其他生命存在。
  There must be other forms of life in the universe.
  (The speaker believes so, but he doesn't necessarily prove it. There may be no reason given for the statement)


Why is 那儿 just one syllable? I was confused to find that nar4 is 那儿. I cannot figure out how to reproduce this with a pinyin IME. I type na and it gets the first character but when I type r it suggests 人 and refuses to let me combine it with the previous character to get nar4.

Why is the second character "silent" here? Do I have to know that character's name / pronunciation and type it in on its own in order to get it via IME?

I will elaborate on my comment above, as you wished.

The main reason for this behavior of your IME software is that it is configured to make guesses about what you want to type. Since there are so many Chinese characters with the same pinyin initials and finals, it has to. But it also tries to save you from typing, so that you don't have to type out long sequences of pinyin to input something in Chinese. Here's some basic info:

In Chinese the Big Rule No. 1 is that:

Every character is one syllable and every syllable is one character. (It's of course not true for 'erhua' 儿, but we'll get to that.)

A syllable can be represented with pinyin, where it has an initial and a final. (There are some vowel only syllables, of course). An initial is typically a consonant at the beginning of the syllable, while a final is a vowel (single or diphthong), optionally followed by -n or -ng (not all combinations are "valid", though, check such tables.)

So to save you from typing to much you can omit the finals in one or all of the pinyin syllables you are typing out. e.g. You don't have to type: zhongguo to get 中国, it's enough to type the initials zhg and you are given a list of options where either 这个 or 中国 is the first or second. Since zhg will not get you 中国 directly, but you have to choose, which takes effort and requires extra key hits (selecting the desired characters via a numeric key, or even browsing a long list of pages of characters), so you decide to refine your tactics and enter the final part of one ot the syllables. Let's say you decide for zhguo (first initial + second full syllable) which is perfect, because this will very likely get 中国 as the no. 1 result and you only have to hit the space bar and you're done. You could also try zhongg (full first syllable + second initial), that will also work fine, but will require you to type more, since zhongg is longer than zhguo. So I hope you see, what we are doing, optimizing the input process (typing less and faster to get the same characters as by typing out every initial and final).

By now you have probably realized that when you type nar it is interpreted as 那人 (first full syllable + second initial) in the algorithm of your IME, that's why you are given this option.

The reason you think it should be giving you 那儿 is that you are not typing the correct pinyin for 那儿. This is a strange phonetic phenomenon of Northern Chinese speakers, especially Beijing and surrounding geographic areas, but it is not found or rarely found in other parts of China, especially in the South. This erhua final -r is sort of an exception in the Chinese phonology, since the only finals in Chinese are those that end in a vowel (like, -ao, -ua, -ie, etc.) and those that end in -n or -ng (-an, -un, -ang, -iang, etc.) If you check the pinyin table above, there are no syllables that end in -r (except for er, which then again is a full valid syllable). But since Northern speakers retain these final -rs it gets some sort of representation in writing throug 儿 (er), which in these cases is reduced to an r sound and also modifies the final of the preceding syllable (this mostly means that final -n and -ng are dropped, like 点儿 dian'r --> "diar" [approx.])

So by now, you should have an understanding of this erhua syllable. I am not qualified to decide whether this is a Northern slang or it is widely accepted in speech in writing in the North (since I have never lived there) but I do know that in the South this -r is very rarely heard and almost never written. A Southern speaker of Mandarin will use 这里，那里 both in speech and writing instead of 这儿 and 那儿 and will simply omit 儿 even in cases where it is a fix part of words (in the North) like 点儿, 事儿, etc. these are simply 点 and 事, since those 儿 absolutely add no meaning to them, let alone the fact that 儿 originally means 'son', so this erhua use of 儿 is really only a "phonetic stop-gap measure" and IMHO should be avoided in writing for this reason, but also because of the speed of typing. (Type only what you need to type, don't add an extra character which doesn't alter the meaning). So I would say replace 那儿 with 那里 and omit 儿 in writing everywhere you can. (OK, if you are a big fan of erhua and like this because you have lived in Beijing, then it's up to you, but otherwise I don't see any point why one would write like this)

I really don't know if this amateurish "crash course" is useful to you or not, it is based on my experience using IME software and personal opinion on 'erhua'.


Chinese Idiom puzzle 15 (中文填字遊戲) A new puzzle for Feb 2021

It’s better to see it with your own eyes than hear it hundreds of times.

It often takes many twists and turns to get what you want

Good for others and oneself

Boxing

Never forget after reading it, having a strong memory

Therefore

Debate

Prosthetic limb

Can only choose one between two good things

Another name for 蜈蚣 (Centipede)

Want to cry but no tear. A metaphor of extreme grief or helplessness

Move in a manner like a dragon and a tiger. A metaphor of majestic mannerism

春秋時代法家代表人物。齊國的政治家，哲學家，與樂毅齊名

Willing to do good, like to give charity

One and only

Permit

(Cantonese saying) Describe a person suddenly becoming clear-minded upon listening to a word of wisdom

Accidentally missed or misunderstood; an unforeseeable, coincidental turn of even

Treat someone wronged you with kindness

Describe the light is very bright at night

Catalog; table of contents

Give help when it is needed the most

李煜 (The last monarch of the Southern Tang Dynasty)

Deep grudges

People with superb skills tend to be bold.

Busy running around

A lot of people came to the door, it was as lively as a vegetable market

A. Can't defend a charge, no matter what you say
B.  '只許州官放火' 下句 (double standard)
C. Gardening
D. Give rewards based on merit
E. 祝融
F. Know nothing
G. Archery technique or marksmanship is very accurate
H. brazenly, openly
I. Having a scare but unscathed
J. Seeing profit and disregarding morality
K. Orchestral
L. Looking for and pursuing even in dreams. Describe strong desire
M. Sharp
N. Another name for 醫生 Doctor
O. Don't do things to people that you don't want people to do to you
P. Take revenge
Q. Secretly fawn
R. Crocodile tears
S. Order/ Dispatch someone to do something somewhere;
T. Fact
U. Lonely
V. Unruly child  (Internet term)
W. One mistake after another
X. Having a large number of students (including former students)
Y. Metaphor of preparing for action or using force
Z. There is only one sun in the sky; there is only one ruler for the people

百闻不如一见
好事多磨
利人利己
拳击
过目不忘
所以
辩论
义肢
鱼与熊掌
百足
欲哭无泪
龙行虎步
管仲
乐善好施
独一无二
许可
一语惊醒梦中人
阴差阳错
以德报怨
灯火通明
目录
雪中送炭
李后主
深仇大恨
艺高人胆大
奔波
门庭若市

A. 百辞莫辩
B. 不许百姓点灯
C. 园艺
D. 论功行赏
E. 火神
F. 一窍不通
G. 百步穿杨
H. 明目张胆
I. 有惊无险
J. 见利忘义
K. 管弦乐
L. 梦寐以求
M. 锋利
N. 大夫
O. 己所不欲，勿施于人
P. 报仇雪恨
Q. 暗送秋波
R. 鳄鱼泪
S. 差遣
T. 事实
U. 孤独
V. 熊孩子
W. 一错再错
X. 桃李满庭
Y. 磨拳擦掌
Z. 天无二日，民无二主


Who/what/when + V + 不好 meaning "could V any time/thing/one" A few examples in a video about 偏偏 (time links to examples below) use a structure that seems to be "[Question Word] + V + 不好". The meaning seems to be similar to structures like “想吃什么[就吃什么]". How does this structure work? Can any "question" go in front of 不好? Does it required a "but" clause afterward for contrast?

什么时候出现不好，偏偏在这个时候出现 "He could've appear [sic] at any other time, but he chooses to appear at this (awkward) moment"
他喜欢谁不好，偏偏喜欢一个不懂得尊重她的男人 "She can choose to like anyone else, but she chooses to like the one who doesn't respect her"

什么时候出现不好，偏偏在这个时候出现
Why not show up some other time, but this very moment.
他(她)喜欢谁不好，偏偏喜欢一个不懂得尊重她的男人
Why doesn't she choose/like someone else, but a man who doesn't respect her.
Key words in this structure ...不好, 偏偏...:

什么 is NOT a question word, but means any (other), so does 谁 in the 2nd example.
不好 means why not.
偏偏 means unexpectedly.

First, this type of sentences indicates a contrast condition, so "but", "in contrast", "unexpectedly" or even "ironically" can be added afterwards (as long as it is grammarly correct, if this is what you are pursuing).
And imho, this is also a very emotional sentence or subjective expression with a tone of grumbling or judging others behind. And 不好 sounds more like a rhetorical question  , like 吃苹果不好吗，偏偏要梨， so the first example sometimes also goes like "什么时候出现都好，偏偏在这个时候出现". Interesting?


Reduplication of the noun 小时 in 走了半个多小时小时 Chinese uses reduplication of verbs and adjectives all the time, but I can't find any explanation of reduplication of nouns to explain 小时小时 in this sentence:

(from a Mandarin Companion reader, 地心游记, chapter 5. Our heroes are out of water...)

  不管怎么样，我到水就好。我们一起跟着老许去找水，走了半个多小时小时，我们听到了地下河水的声音。

I interpret 半个多小时 as "more than half an hour" (but less than an hour).  What does the repetition of 小时 mean here?

It is a typo. We never use reduplication of noun 小时.

There is another typo in this sentence. 我到水就好 should be 找到水就好.


Why is 称 used instead of 显示 in 消息称，苹果已经开始……? From a news article 中国市场不能丢！苹果在华销量暴增225%，iPhone12或支持北斗导航 (10 August 2020), we typically see 显示 meaning "indicate":

有统计数据显示，……
……，苹果中国官网介绍显示，……
7月底苹果公布的第三财季的财报显示，……

In fact, I've become accustomed to seeing this 显示 sentence structure in news articles in general.  Thus I was a bit surprised by 称 ("to state") in the following:

消息称，苹果已经开始对该系列手机的性能进行调试，包括对北斗导航的兼容性和测试。据悉，在此次发布会结束之后，苹果将在官网上明确新机对北斗的支持，以避免受到用户的吐槽。

I feel like there is a difference between 显示 and 称 here, but I don't know what it is.  It's possible it's a grammar point I'm missing, or that there is a technical difference indicating something unverifiable (akin to when English news uses the word "allegedly").
Question: Why is 称 used instead of 显示 in the above sentence?

显示 = indicate

消息显示 - The announcer observes the information that's available and provides a report to the audience
The source of the information may or may not have provided the material directly to the announcer

称 = announce/ claim

消息称 - The announcer directly relays the announcement or claim from the source of information to the audience
The source of the information has made the announcement/ claim itself
Also:
证据显示 - evidence indicates (evidence doesn't make claim)
发言人称 - the speaker claims (speaker announces, not indicates an announcement)


What is the line between 新派 and X普 in topolects? Not sure if there is a definite answer to the question. A lot of dialects distinguish between 老派 and 新派 for old-pronunciations and new-pronunciations. Many 新派 pronunciations though are heavily influenced by Modern Standard Mandarin.
X普 languages are obviously the attempt at speaking Mandarin which is heavily influenced by ones local language. 新派 is going to be the speaking of a local language that is heavily influenced (in most cases) by Mandarin.

Perhaps these two just meet at the end of two separate spectrums.

But is it too much to consider them as a bit of a mishmash?

The line varies. But it is generally generational, where it intersects with culture.

Even in the West, generational divisions (Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials) are fairly ingrained. These come from common temporo-cultural reference points, where they have intersected with the influence of these factors into daily life.

Think of the introduction of the motor car, domestic electricity, television and mass media, and the Internet - all life-changing technologies that caused huge divergence in lifestyle. Differences in morality, in politics; these also influence the way people speak.

In the linguistic ecology of Chinese topolect-speaking people, similarly large changes have occurred. But they can vary, and I would say there is much less sociological study asking how and why the variation happens.

A specific example: the 《福清方言研究》 published in 1993 explicitly states:

  老派人数少，一般是七十岁以上的老人。新派人数多，一般是六十岁以下的人。六十至七十之间的人有的是老派口音，有的是新派口音，有的兼而有之，很难用具体的岁数作为分界。

As defined by this study of the topolect of Fuqing, in Fujian, these 老派ers would have been born in the 1920s or before, whereas the 新派ers in the 1930s or after. What that local change corresponds to, I am not entirely sure (I'd imagine it was to do with early 20th century urbanisation, mass migration, or possibly the introduction of Mandarin-based education, but I don't know the history well enough).


Logic behind the strokes of complex characters I am learning Chinese now, and we've been introduced to Chinese characters as 'pictograms'. I understand the logic behind some characters, like 口 mouth to and 人 person.

But, what about complex characters? For example: 吃 to eat consists of 口 to indicate that this character is related to the mouth, but what about the remaining right-side of the character? What is the logic (if any) in those strokes?

This leaves me to wonder about countless other characters like 礼物 gift. It seems very hard to remember all of these characters, especially since the their strokes are seemingly mostly without logic.

Chinese characters can be broken up into a number of categories, only one of which are pictograms like you described.

象形字, or pictograms, are simple characters like 日, 山, 口 that are visual
representations of the words that they mean.
指事字, or simple ideograms, are simple characters like 上 and 下 which are visual representations of more abstract concepts, like up or down.
会意字, or compound ideograms, are characters that are combined of multiple parts that represent more abstract meanings, like 休 (person + tree = rest)
假借字, or rebus characters, are characters that had their meanings significantly changed since Classical Chinese and are now used for completely different meanings. Many of these characters were originally pictograms or simple ideograms, but now have different meanings. Examples are 自 which used to mean "nose" but now means "self" and 北 which used to mean "back" but now means "north."
形声字, or phono-semantic compounds, are the most numerous types of characters in modern Chinese. These characters are comprised of two sections - phonetic and semantic. The character you asked about, 吃, is an example. 口 is the semantic section - it tells that the character's meaning has something to do with the mouth. 乞 is the phonetic part - pronounced qi3, it means "to beg" and is used as a rough guide to the pronunciation of the character. These guides aren't 100% accurate, as the characters often predate phonetic changes in the language.

Hopefully this answers your question - eventually, as you delve into further study, you'll learn about radicals and other deconstructions of Chinese characters which will hopefully demystify the system more for you.

You can read more about the classification of Chinese characters http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_characters here.


Can we call someone X太太 or not? Can we call someone X太太 ? or is it the calling of husband to his wife?  In my textbook everybody calls one women 錢太太. But my teacher said it is unsuitable. Which one is correct?

In fact, you can call any women who has been married with "X太太"， it shows lots of respectation and manner. However, if you call your wife, usually we don't use X太太， it will make your wife unwell, just like a stranger.


Pronunciation and the usage of 啊 So what does the word 啊 actually use for? I have seen it being use for some sentence but don’t really know when to use it

Also my teacher said to me that depending on the word 啊 goes with it will have different pronunciation. For example if it goes with 来 or 走 she told me 啊 kinda read out like “yà” while with看 or 想 the 啊 like become part of the pronunciation so ”看啊” is spoken like “kàn’à”

I am not sure about your teacher's opinion, it seems like she would want to use 呀 for the desired pronunciation yà.

Though, 啊 does have many tones, it can express feeling of surprise in first and third tone, it can express the meaning of asking in second tone, it can express meaning of adorable, getting it or surprise in fourth tone.

It can also mean a lot in its light tone.

You would be able to find all those in a dictionary, but keep in mind, it is not that strict, so use your intuition.


How can I translate "精神需要"? This is an example sentence in my textbook:

  "建立良好的人际关系，是每个社会人的精神需要"

精神 is translated in the dictionary into "spirit, mind, consciousness". Here I believe it must be modifying 需要, which is acting as a noun.

Spiritual need? This translation seems right, but feels weird because nothing about "人际关系" (interpersonal relationships) is "spiritual" to me.

"Spiritual needs" is a typical word-to-word translation that is common in texts translated from Chinese but does not fit in the English context. You may consider other words such as "psychological" or "mental".

Similarly, for "物质需要", I think "physical needs" is better than "material needs".


What is the difference in usage between 风光，景色 and 风景? 风光 scene; view; sight

景色 view; scene; landscape

风景 scenery; landscape

People on other websites suggest there's no difference. Is that so?

I already answered this question here: Is there a difference between 風景 and 風光？

As for 景色:

「景」 in 「景色」 carries the meaning of 'scene/ sight' -- the picture you see in your eyes, as in  「景物」(sight and things), 「景象」(scene; image)

「色」in 「景色」 carries the meaning of 'color/ appearance' as in 「山光水色」(sight of the mountains and appearance of the water = scenery of mountains and river, lake or ocean )

  The term「風光」 generally refers to 'sight/ scene /scenery' (natural or man made)

~

  The term 「景色」 generally refers to "sight/ scene /scenery" (natural or man made)

~

  The term 「風景」 specifically refers to 'the sight of a landscape or a natural scenery'

~

「西湖風景」,「西湖風光」or「西湖景色」all mean "scenery of the West Lake"


Is the 撇 in 左 longer than the 撇 in 右? I just noticed than the 撇 in 左 looks longer than the 撇 in 右 when you type it.

Is this true ?

Is this an important distinction ?

Why would this be ?

Is there some rule for using the longer vs shorter 撇 ?

As an upper-left part of a character, the length of the left-downward (撇) stroke in the shape 「」 is determined by the traditional* or calligraphic stroke order of the entire 「」 shape. Specifically, the left-downward stroke among characters where the stroke is written first appear to have a shorter length than those where it is written second.
Whether or not the left-downward stroke is written first or second in the shape 「」 depends on the object underneath it. Adapted from the Japanese SE answer I wrote here to the question 右 and 石 stroke order differences:

The order that「」is written depends on the object underneath it. If the component underneath it doesn't exceed the horizontal stroke of「」(e.g. 右、有、布), then write the left-downward stroke first; otherwise (e.g. 友、左) write the horizontal stroke first.
Examples (mined from jisho.org):
Bottom component narrower than horizontal stroke of 「」

Bottom component wider than horizontal stroke of 「」

I will emphasise that this description of the stroke length's relation to the stroke order only works within the framework of the calligraphic stroke order, and that no education standard† actually prescribes the calligraphic stroke order as a standard. Neither the Taiwanese (ROC) nor the Mainland Chinese (PRC) stroke order standards write 「右」 in a manner which is consistent with the calligraphic stroke order:

Credit: M4RC0, licensed under CC BY 3.0

*Not to be confused with Traditional Chinese. The traditional or calligraphic stroke order is the order used in Imperial China, and not attached to any education department of a modern government.
†The closest educational standard to the calligraphic stroke order is actually from Japan. For all of the the characters mined from jisho.org, the Japanese stroke order matches the calligraphic stroke order.


Learning past tense with Rosetta Stone I'm learning Chinese using Rosetta Stone and i find 99.9% of the stuff that i encounter while learning to be quite logical. In fact this is the first thing in quite a while that doesn't seem to make any sense.

Look at the last two images and their descriptions:

Why does the word 了 follow the verb in the third image, but follows the noun in the fourth image? The situation in both images seems to be the same. And while you're at it, can you explain the word order in the first two images as well?

Thank you

了 functions both as aspectual and modal particle, in the former case it occurs after the verb, in the latter at the end of the sentence. In images 1,3 the completed aspect of the action is referred to, in images 2,4 了 occurs at the end of the sentence to indicate a change（the emergence of a new situation, change in understanding, opinion,ideas, or action, express urging, advice or reminder (quotation from 外国人实用汉语语法)).
In fact in case of #2,4 it could occur twice： 我买了一本词典了，她买了药了 to indicate both aspect and change, but instead of using 了 twice (to indicate both aspect and mood (modal particle use)，it often
(usually, especially in the case of short sentences ?)
only occurs at the end of the sentence.


Why is inital /ŋ/ considered hick-ish? There seems to be a habit of dropping /ŋ/ initials in topolects/dialects for fear of seeming like a redneck.

Consider:

Canto: 屋 nguk1 vs. uk1 [the new ABC Cantonese dictionary only gives the uk1 even]
Southwest Mandarin: 欧 ngou1 vs. ou1

Some claim this is 老派 vs. 新派 but from my experience it's been considered 土 vs. 洋.

Why does the /ŋ/ initial give people a hillbilly-type feeling?

I noticed that there's a tendency to drop initial /ŋ/ in Wu (Shanghainese), but I always ascribed it to the proximity of the word to Mandarin:

我
Mandarin: wo3
Wu: (吾) ngu34
外
Mandarin: wai4
Wu: nga53

Whereas it is clearly voiced when it occurs in more language-specific words or single syllables (obviously):

硬
Mandarin: ying4
Wu: ngang53
五
Mandarin: wu3
Wu: ng34
鱼
Mandarin: yu2
Wu: ng34


Translation needed for painting scrolls I have several scroll paintings and have no idea who the artist is or what they are titled.
not even sure what the exact language is on the scrolls.
Please help to translate the writing in the photo or atlas point me in a direction to where I may find a credible answer.

thanks

It is traditional Chinese

絹本麒麟送子中堂
絹本六子戲彿中堂

絹本 means "silk cloth".  It describes the material of the scroll
《麒麟送子》 (Qilin Delivers Baby) is the title of scroll 1
《六子戲彿》 (Six Children Playing With Buddha) is the title of scroll 2
中堂 is a hanging shaft hung on the central wall of a room. It describes the function of the scroll


Do nested complements exist in Chinese? I came across this sentence:
她看清进来为何人时，吓得说不出话来。, the second clause looks to me like a nested complement. i analyzed it this way:

吓得 (说不出话来) --> outer complement
     说(不出话来) --> inner complement

Am I right, is this really a nested complement or did i make a mistake and what would be this construction then?

Short answer: yes.

I think we should at least distinguish two types of complements.

For the first type, it is very difficult to insert anything else between the complement and the verb. One way to think of them is to view them as the inflection of verbs.

✔说得出话 verb + de + complement + object
✔也说得出话 adverb + verb + de + complement + object
✘说也得出话 verb + adverb + de + complement + object
✘说得也出话 verb + de + adverb + complement + object
✘说得出也话 verb + de + complement + adverb + object
✔说得出话也(说不清楚)verb + de + complement + object + adverb

On the other hand, the complement introduced by 得 has more freedom. We can make up the following grammatical, though by no means usual, sentence:

✔他 长得 丑得 看得我 吓得 紧张得 说不出话 来

When I interpret this sentence, I tend to think of 得 as a kind of postposition, or a conjunction. For example, I parse the long sentence as:

他长得很丑。丑得看起来吓人。我吓得很紧张。紧张得说不出话来。

In this way, you can flatten the sentence so that you will not need much short-term memory to be able to understand it. I do not consider the second 得 as inner, rather, I think it is outer, or at least parallel, because the part following 得 sounds more like the main clause. For example, interrogatives and exclamations are allowed after 得.

✔他 长得 好不好看? interrogative
✔他 长得 真好看! exclamation

It can be demonstrated that adverbs that are normally attached to subjects can be inserted after 得:

✔她 长得也 很漂亮，穿得也 很漂亮

In deed, the above verb + 得 structure resembles nouns and verb phrases:

✔她 读书 很好 verb + adjective
✘她的读书 很好 dushu is not a noun
✔她 长得 很漂亮 verb + de + adjective
✔她(的)长相 很漂亮 noun + adjective

And I do not find it particular unnatural to coordinate these phrases of different classes:

✔她 长得 和 穿着 都 很好 [verb+de] and [noun]

I think this somehow explains the reason even native speakers do not feel much difference between the following sentences:

✔他 说得 是什么
✔他 说的 是什么
✔他 说的 什么
✔他 (是)怎么 说的


Is there a character for `biu`? biu is a fun onomatopoeia for the sounds guns and other shooting devices make.

This image is all over the net as the supposed character for biu

Is this correct?

I can't find much info on a ⿰口⿱比由 character.

Simple answer: No.
I know that such onomatopoeia is quite funny and useful, unfortunately they are quite recent that Chinese is too slow to generate a proper character for it.
The picture you showed is just a fake character that doesn't even exist.
So how do we express it?
Simple: Pinyin.
Another example: Duang.


Why do we use 做 in 我太喜欢和他做朋友了 as "being"? Sentence:

  我太喜欢和他做朋友了

How can we use 做 in this meaning in other sentences?
Where can I read more about it and what is the name of this "rule"?

And what is the meaning of the 了 in this sentence?

做 + identity = be identity

Example:做好人，做首領 (good person and leader are identities)

做 + procedure/action = do procedure

Example: 做大事， 做錯，做工 (great thing, mistake and work involve procedures or action)

the final particle 了 is a modal word for emphasis, if you remove it, the meaning of the sentence would not change, but the tone would be flat

Example sentence:

"要(做)大人物就要(做)大事" = "to (be) a great man, you need to (do) great thing"

  Why do we use 做 in this sentence as “being”?

朋友 is an identity


"That's so like you!" or "That's typical of you" in chinese I'm having trouble formulating "That's so like you!" or "That's typical of you" in Chinese. I'm trying to write a dialogue where a friend responds to someone who lost their phone, by replying "That's typical of you!"... But is there an appropriate way to say this in Chinese? Would appreciate some help :)

"That's so like you!" or "That's typical of you"
literal translation: "這還真像是你" , "真是典型的你"

To translate English expressions word by word might not sound natural in native Chinese's ears, because Chinese don't phrase words the same as English
The typical Chinese phrase in this context would be more detailed:

"這還真像是你(會做的事)" - "this is so like something you would do"
"真是典型的你(會做的事)" - "It is something the typical you would do"

or you can use interpretation:

"還真是老樣子的你" - "it is the same old (typical) you"


Complicated that-clauses I can deal with some easy that/who which clauses. At least I think so. For example:

我提供的幫助
根據我所看到的

But I am totally lost, when it becomes even slightly more complicated.

The man whose bag I found.
The businessman for whom I translated the text.

Can anyone translate these? I have a strong feeling all my attempts are totally wrong. Like:

x 我所給他翻譯原文的男人 x

You found a very interesting point. I thought about this for a few minutes, and I concluded that there may not be a straight-forward translation for this kind of sentences.

As you may have already known, in Chinese the adjective words/phrases/clauses are usually placed before the nouns they modify, therefore, if in your English sentence the relationship between your clause (A) and your antecedent (e.g. the man, B) cannot be translated into A 的 B, the thing becomes tricky.

If you want your translation to express exactly the same meaning, you can do things like:

我找到了他的包的（那个）男人
我给他翻译了原文的（那个）商人

It doesn't sound very elegant but the meaning is still clear to Chinese speaker, I believe. We say this kind of sentences have a strong 翻译腔, because normally (at least long time ago), Chinese people don't construct sentences this way. It sounds like something translated from English.

If you want your translation sounds natural, you will have to rephrase your sentence, depending on the context.

我找到的包的主人 (The owner of the bag I found. Avoiding "whose".)

让我给他翻译原文的商人 (The businessman who let me translate the text for him. Avoiding "whom".) or 需要我给他翻译原文的商人 (The businessman who needed me to translate the text for him.)

I don't major in Chinese or linguistics, so I just answered from a native speaker perspective. Maybe there are some better way to keep both structural consistency and elegancy - I don't know that though.

In my opinion, if you learn some language, you not only need to speak it, but also need to think in it. If you always think in English first and try to translate your thought into Chinese, you fall into this kind of situations. That's exactly what happened to me, sometimes when I speak English.


Does 好 mean "it's better to" or "in order to" in complex sentences? E.g. 今天天气不好，咱们好留在家 What's the meaning of 好 in the following sentences?

今天天气不好，咱们好留在家
你要支持治病，好早一点恢复健康

Is it "it's better to" or "in order to"?

There are some errors about your sentences:

1)今天天气不好，咱们好留在家 could be: 今天天气不好，咱们最好留在家.

2)你要支持治病，好早一点恢复健康 could be: 你要配合治疗，好早一点恢复健康。 支持治病 sounds odd.


What is the Chinese translation for "endure and move on"? I've been trying to get the Chinese word with meaning of the phrase

endure and move on.

It has something to do with a break up with a girlfriend and wanting to endure it and move on. I've tried googling it and found the following. (This is also how I found this website.) I just want to know if I got the right translation. Here's what I found:

忍和想开

Here's my questions: 1. Is this the right right translation? 2. Do I really need to put the 和 ("and") in the middle or is there no need for that?

To be honest, I'll have it tattooed in my arm. That's why I'm trying to keep it as short as possible, but of course I want to have the correct message of the tattoo. Also, my father is pure Chinese but he was naturalized in our country since 1980's. That's why I want to have it in Chinese characters. (It will add more meaning to the tattoo.) Sadly, I can no longer speak to him and that's why I have to ask this question here, and I didn't study in a Chinese school.

It's often better to provide the whole English sentence for translation. As divergent as the two language can go, a phrase-to-phrase translation is often less than pragmatic.

What I can get is "忍受悲伤, 继续前行". But as Stan said, if you move on, you usually put away your sorrows, or 抛却悲伤 instead.

There is a phrase from classical Chinese, "隐忍以行". It is an exact structural match to your phrase. However, it implies endurance for a greater cause than love.


How was 辣 used before the Columbian Exchange? I'm assuming the character (and word/morpheme) 辣 is not a recent creation and goes back far in history.

These days it means "chili/chilli", "pepper", "spicy".

But chili peppers only came to China and Asia generally as part of the Columbian Exchange of the 15th and 16th centures.

So I'm wondering in which ways 辣 was used before chilli peppers were known to the Chinese.

Was it used for other kinds of spices? If so, which, and is it still used for those now? Were other things considered "spicy hot" in those earlier times?

For comparison I know the 麻 of 麻辣 has various meanings besides "numbing" and "Sichuan pepper" such as "hemp" and "sesame".

in ancient time, "辛" was used, in lieu of 辣. e.g. in 洪範:

潤下作鹹﹒炎上作苦﹒曲直作酸﹒從革作辛﹒稼穡作甘

http://ctext.org/shang-shu/great-plan/zh?searchu=潤下作鹹，炎上作苦，曲直作酸，從革作辛，稼穡作甘%E3%80%82&searchmode=showall#result

nowadays, dictionary would explain 五味 as 甜﹒酸﹒苦﹒辣﹒鹹, instead of older terms 甘﹒酸﹒苦﹒辛﹒鹹

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cbdic/gsweb.cgi?o=dcbdic&searchid=Z00000159662

i guess the taste 辛 was gotten from 薑 ( ginger ), 花椒 ( Zanthoxylum ); that these two were native chinese plants.

last, the character "辣" is derived from "辛" & "剌"

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

well, more info:

the book 酉陽雜俎 of 唐 dynasty (618-907) mentioned "胡椒" (pepper) and associated its taste to the terms "辛辣"

酉陽雜俎　卷十八, ~p112 of the pdf file:

胡椒 - pepper

摩伽陁國 - magadha, a kingdom in ancient india

another casual found:

the term "辣椒" (chili pepper) is first used in 漢文大藏經　百癡禪師語錄　卷三 (around 1644-1661):

張空火傘熱難當
何處幽陰可隱藏
莫道太平無款待
濃煎幾碗辣椒湯

http://tripitaka.cbeta.org/J28nB202_003, [0016b07]


Can I change this '下‘ for '前面‘？ I have this in my text:

在绿色、环保已成为全社会共识的大背景下， 。。。

‘背景下’ says to me ‘under a background' which seems odd. I would rather locate things 'in front of' a background.

Can I change '背景下‘ for '背景前‘ or '背景前面‘ and still win the 'Impeccable Chinese Prize' ？？

No. The grammatical pattern is

  在x下

which means "with x as true/under". An example would be:

  在共产党的统治下，中国变强了。

So the sentence means something like (though it's kinda hard to translate this semi-literally without sounding very weird):

  With a green and environmental world as the consensus background for
  society...


A question about the structure in this sentence 地球圍住太陽轉。

I understand this to be "The Earth revolves around the Sun."
My question is: it feels to me the structure/order of the words is a bit strange. I could have said: 地球轉太陽圍住. Can someone explain why this is incorrect?

In Chinese, 轉 (to rotate) is intransitive, whereas 圍住 (to surround) is transitive. Sentences b. and d. are in principle ungrammatical:

a. 地球在轉。
b. *地球轉太陽。
c. 我們圍住他。
d. *我們圍住。

Your hypothetical sentence therefore is doubly ungrammatical, because there is an object following an intransitive verb, and no object following a transitive verb.
Of course by 轉 we are referring to a spontaneous rotation by the object in question, not a rotation caused by an external force, because in that case it may also be transitive too:

e. 不要在上課時轉筆。Do not play with (lit. turn) your pen when having lessons.

There is not an external force that moves or rotates the Earth (at least in the linguistic sense); therefore 轉 here is intransitive.

Try think of 圍住太陽 as a phrase adverbial on 轉; i.e. literally, the Earth is rotating as it surrounds the Sun.


What are the differences between 的,地 and 得? I am trying to understand the differences between the three (de) in Chinese.

let me answer the question you asked:
Firstly, I assume you are an English speaker.
的,地 and 得 are three very basic linking words in Chinese.

'的' is used follows attributes which are the adjectives you called.
For instance:
In English: She  is   a   lovely  girl.
In Chinese:  她  是  一位  漂亮的  女孩。
So, you can notice that 'lovely' substituted by '漂亮的' in Chinese.

'地' is used follows attributes as adverbs.
For instance:
In English: He drives carefully.
In Chinese:他 小心地 开车。
The 'carefully' is replaced by '小心地'

'得' often express the meaning of degree and possibility.  It is very complex to use and even the native speaker can make a fault.

Considering you are a learner, I recommend you to memorize this structure:
verb + 得 + a sentence
in the structure above, 得 is very similar to 'so that'
For instance:
English:I'm    so tired that     I can't walk anymore.
Chinese: 我    累得               走不动路了
It linked the relationship between 'can't walk anymore' and 'tired'.

It can also express the possibility:
English:The floor needs    mopping.
Chinese:地板      得       拖了
In another word, 得 can replace 'need' and this a very idiomatic Chinese phraseology. I highly recommend you to replace '需要' terms of '得' in oral Chinese.

If you keep any questions, just ask. I'm very glad to help you.


how to translate the idiom 阴阳怪气? Some has translated it into "say something with sarcasm", but it lost the connotation of the literal meaning of this idiom, the strange, unnatural, ugly-sounding and a bit sissy tone.

eerie
strange in a frightening and mysterious way

阴阳怪气 describe "an unnatural tone or vibe" (doesn't sound/ feel like male or female)  I would translate it as "eerie vibe"
说话阴阳怪气 could be translated as "talk with an eerie voice"
这人阴阳怪气  could be translated as "this man projects an eerie vibe"


Does "这很大钱! 再见大学钱...." make sense? Or have I written it wrong? For my Chinese class, I have to make a film recording an exchange in a restaurant. I'm trying to say "This is a lot of money! Goodbye college money..." in reference to someone spending too much on their meal.

That does not really make sense. "A lot of" here means a great amount, while 大 means big as in size. Also 大学钱 does not make sense either. Instead you would say "大学学费" (college tuition)

So a better translation would be “这好贵啊！再见我的大学学费” (this is so expensive! goodbye my tuition)


Why is 伴 used for buddy? Is it true that 伴 comes from the word, 半(half) and thus can be interpreted as (significant other person)?

伴  is a 形聲字 (Semantic-phonetic compound character)

The 亻 radical means 人 (person/ people) ; it is the semantic component of the character '伴' ( the word 'companion' is related to 'people')

半(bàn) is the phonetic component of the character 伴(bàn)

  Is it true that 伴 comes from the word, 半(half) and thus can be interpreted as (significant other person)?

No, you can have many companions, and a servant accompanies you is not your significant other


Neng [能] vs Ke yi [可以] What is the main differences between 能，and 可以? They both mean "to be able to", or simply "can", correct?

There is a substantial difference between the following contrast pair:
a. 我能说汉语。
b. 我可以说汉语。
In a., neng 能 indicates that I have the ability to speak Chinese while in b. keyi 可以 implies that this action, my speaking Chinese can be carried out if asked or allowed.


Correct way to say "each person"? If I wanted to say, "Each person's monthly rent is $650", what is the correct way to say it?

每个月各人的房租是六五十钱。

Or

一人的每个月房租是六五十钱。

Or something else if neither is right

Thanks!

"Each person" here means "每个人", such as,

每个人的房租月租金是650元。

BTW: Your translation is understandable except for 六五十钱 which can't be understood correctly.