Why are many Chinese characters almost symmetrical but not exactly symmetrical? For example：西，南，而，憂，覚，蔸，悪，間，見，寓，凳，血，寠，and many others.

Shapewise, they are almost symmetrical but not exactly symmetrical. Why are they not created as symmetrical characters? After all, symmetry is aesthetically pleasing.

This basically comes down to the vagaries of most CJK fonts being based on calligraphic scripts.

In Chinese calligraphy, characters are constructed out of individual strokes; these are written with a brush or pen in one continuous motion.

The most common script type, regular script, was designed to be written with a brush. Certain techniques should be used when writing in this style, which gives it its distinctive, slightly-asymmetric look:

  …clearly emerging from the womb of early period semi-cursive script. If one were to write the tidily written variety of early period semi-cursive script in a more dignified fashion and were to use consistently the pause technique (dùn 頓, used to reinforce the beginning or ending of a stroke) when ending horizontal strokes, a practice which already appears in early period semi-cursive script, and further were to make use of right-falling strokes with thick feet, the result would be a style of calligraphy like that in the "Xuān shì biǎo".

This script was so influential that virtually all modern scripts and types are based on it. Even if there are types that are designed for computers like East Asian Gothic typeface, some asymmetric properties are preserved, like the "J hook" (钩) feature:

But if you look at earlier scripts, like seal script, you can find more symmetry, because the pictograms they were based on were based on symmetric things:

As an example, the character 西 could look like this in the earliest, oracle bone script:


Can I use 在 with 一边... 一边? 我一边吃饭，一边做作业

I do homework while eating

  我一边在吃饭，一边在做作业

I'm doing homework while eating

Is the second sentence correct? Can I use 在 or does 一边...一边 already imply that the action I'm talking about is happening right now?

[一边 (verb A) 一边 (verb B)] indicates  (verb A) and (verb B) are carried out  concurrently. Please read Is the 边～边 the synonym for 一边～一边? for reference
[在 (verb A)] indicates (verb A) is in a progressive tense (in the middle of doing it / in a continuous state of doing it)
Neither structure indicate tense, because Chinese verbs do not inflect between present and past tense. Please read How do you specify past tense for 是? for reference

  我一边在吃饭，一边在做作业

It is not technically wrong, but the more efficient structure to express the same meaning is "我在边吃饭，边做作业"

[边] 吃饭 [边] 做作业 indicates "eat dinner" (verb A) and "do homework" (verb B) are carried out concurrently

[在] [边吃饭，边做作业] indicates both actions are in a progressive tense (in the middle of doing it / in a continuous state of doing it)


Can you 伤害 a person emotionally? Can I say “伤害人” in terms of hurting someone emotionally? Or is there another, better, way of saying this?

For example, I'd like to say

"最后还为了伤害他把这个秘密告诉给其他的家人"

Is that a proper usage?

Not a language scholar so may be I am wrong on this, but the "伤害" is probably more often used in terms of hurting someone emotional than physically.

Example：in 那英's famous song "一笑而过“ there is one line reads "你伤害了我，还一笑而过". As the song is probably not about domestic violence, yes, it is perfectly proper to use "伤害" in this way you described.

It is actually uncommon to see people use 伤害 as equivalent to physically "hurt" someone. It is too formal, a little awkward, and sounds pretty harsh.

伤害 can be used as a noun as the above answer has mentioned the phrase "生理伤害". In this usage it sounds very formal. So most likely it is used in a legal or medical document.

The word 伤 alone can be used as a consequence of some action. For example, 他把我打伤了 (He hit me and I am hurt/injured as a result).

The sentence you gave is good and can definitely be understand. But it may help to change the wording a little bit. For example, although can be inferred, the sentence do not have a subject. You can say 最后为了伤害他，他/她/name 还把这个秘密告诉了其他家人。

其他家人 sounds a little strange and unspecific. If it is one or two people, you can list them instead (to make the story more convincing and interesting): 他还把这个秘密告诉了 爸/妈/爸妈/奶奶. If it is a lot of people in the family, you can say 他还把这个秘密告诉了 全家所有人. Technically, 告诉了全家 is good enough and it may not be literally every member of the family. But usually you would add 所有人 to emphasize (and the listener/reader would know that 所有人 is most likely not literal here). There is no need to use 其他 as it is implied. (As you can see that us Chinese are not very rigorous when it comes to language. You are generally considered a better writer if you could use less words/characters to convey the same meaning.)

Source: native speaker.


Is there a dictionary that includes word collocations (词语搭配)? Is there a decent dictionary that includes word collocations (词语搭配), or words that the searched word cannot be used with?
I use Pleco, but one of my largest complaints with it is that there's really no baseline for how the words are used, other than the few example sentences that are provided. With Pleco, there is no good way to determine when to use 维持、维护、保持、持续、etc, or any of the subtle differences between 实习、实践、进行、实行, etc.

http://xh.5156edu.com/ provides the possibility to search for a single character and then getting the most common words with it.


Help w/translating (to English) a stamp on bowl please! Thanks for helping me with this!✌

I believe it says 东武.
Reference on the 2nd character: http://www.sfds.cn/6B66/5790852.html
So you bowl is either from 1648 东武, one of the Era names back in China
or...
related to 東武百貨 or Tobu Railway in Japan somehow...but I would guess the characters wouldn't be in simplified form
Hope this helped


How to say "gibberish" in Chinese? I have been on multiple sentence bases and have found words such as 胡言乱语，词不达意。。。But is there another, better term?

胡说八道 hu2 shuo1 ba1 dao4

This is a 四字词 which means to talk rubbish.


Where can I find recordings of people reading things now that mp3.baidu.com is dead? Baidu's MP3 search engine used to be my first stop when studying anything Chinese. Absurdly, even recordings of relatively rare poetry (for instance) were easy to find. These recordings were not copyrighted, and were usually made by individuals just for fun. It was often possible to hear the ambient sounds of people's houses in the background of the recordings. As a bonus, sentimental backing tracks were often included. For a language geek, it was a dream come true.

That said, mp3.baidu.com had an enemy. The last time I ever tried to download a recording, it was of a famous, funny Lu Xun story called Kong Yiji. Most of the download links failed, but when I found one that worked, it was a parody recording of "The Real Slim Shady" by someone with a Hubei accent.

What gives?

I'm aware that librivox has some recordings of Chinese poetry, but really for the amount of stuff that was previously accessible using mp3.baidu.com, it's a very poor substitute.

mp3.baidu.com is a music downloading site as far as I know...

If you are looking for professional Mandarin recording of selective Chinese articles (includes Lu Xun's article sometimes), I would suggest the Yuedu.FM.

BTW, VeryCD is no longer a file-sharing site anymore because of copyright issue, and all download links has since been removed. However, the resource pages still active and now they link to many Online Video Streaming sites (but people outside China cannot view them because of region restrictions).


What's the difference between 扣好安全带 (kòuhǎo ānquándài) and 系好安全带 (jìhǎo ānquándài), which both seem to mean "fasten seatbelt"? On the plane I see 就座后扣好安全带 (jiù zuòhòu kòuhǎo ānquándài) which is translated to "fasten seatbelt while seated".

On the bus I see 上车请系好安全带 (shàngchē qǐng jìhǎo ānquándài) which I think translates to something like "after boarding the bus, please fasten seatbelts"

Question: What's the difference between 扣好安全带 (kòuhǎo ānquándài) and 系好安全带 (jìhǎo ānquándài), which both seem to mean "fasten seatbelt"?

扣 means to " to hook / to buckle"
"扣好安全帶" means "buckle up the seatbelt "

系 means "to tie /to fasten"
"系好安全帶" means to " fasten the seatbelt "

Although there are many ways to fasten a belt to something, when it comes to seatbelt, the only way to fasten it to the seat, is to buckle it up. Therefore, 系好安全帶 and 扣好安全帶 are essentially the same thing.


How exactly do time and "tense" work in Mandarin REALLY? I am trying to figure out what the most proper way for one to say something simple like if someone asked, "How do you know that?" and then I say, "I read it in a book". Now what I'm wondering about is how you translate that "I read a book" clause into Mandarin.

See, the "read" here is a past tense, and apparently, in Mandarin, there is no "tense" marking. Time, it seems, is indicated by putting a time adverbial before the verb. Yet here there is no specific time, rather it's at some indeterminate past time, the only thing known is that it happened. My best guess from various reading material was to try something like,

  我以前看一本书 (wo yiqian kan yi ben shu),

but that seems to my ear to lay really heavy emphasis on the "past"-ness of this action, when that is not the primary point here, the point is the fact of having read the book.

So what I really feel I want to do is to use 了, as in

  我看了一本书 (wo kan le yi ben shu)

But then I hear that 了 "is not a tense marker", "has nothing to do with time and nothing to do with tense" and stuff like that, and that what it really indicates is "completion". Yet the English sentence has tense. So is the above the correct way or not? I also think that the first sentence I mentioned should be 我以前看了一本书 (wo yiqian kan le yi ben shu) as well, but there the 了 seems less troubling to me because we have the time specified and in the sentence 我看了一本书 given out in this context it seems to my ear that 了 is acting like a tense marker, setting up a contradiction. Without 了 I get

  我看一本书 (wo kan yi ben shu)

which sounds to me more like "I read [pronounced REED] a book", but then again I've heard that tense/time can be inferred from context.

If the form 我看了一本书 is correct then what role is 了 playing here and why does it sound to me like past tense with a not-a-tense-marker indicating tense?

If none of these are correct, what, straight up is the correct translation? I've found it really hard to find something that just straight up answers that.

(Also, I'm not 100% sure if the counter 一本 indicating the singularity of the book is needed or correct in all these either but that's a separate question! This question is about time/tense not measure and I'm just using that as an example of something where I think the time is not indicated elsewhere in the conversation by any grammar feature.)

If the form 我看了一本书 is correct then what role is 了 playing here and why does it sound to me like past tense with a not-a-tense-marker indicating tense?

'了' in "我看了一本书" is a [aspect marker] indicating completed action.

我看一本书 = I read a book

In 我看了一本书,  the action '看' is completed, which imply 看 is not in present tense but in past tense.

Also, depend on the context, [verb + 了] could indicate :

[present perfect tense] 我刚看了一本书 = I have just read a book
[past perfect tense] 我昨天看了一本书 = I had read a book yesterday
[future perfect tense] 我明天会看了这本书 = I will have read this book tomorrow.

'过' in "我看过一本书" is a [particle] marking experiential aspect

我看一本书 = I read a book
我看过一本书 = I had read a book (I experienced reading a book, that indicates 看 is in past perfect tense)

*I think I answered a similar question How do you specify past tense for 是?

If no time reference is found in the context, then all verbs are in present tense by default.
When you are reading a historical novel, even most individual sentences in it didn't have time reference, you should still know it is in past tense; If you are reading an instructional manual, you know the text is written in present tense entirely.

Edit:

Mike3 comment:
OK... now I'm not entirely clear on the difference in meaning between "我看了一本书" and "我看过一本书". Is it just that one emphasizes something else (completion vs. experience) or what? Which would be the correct one to use in the scenario I mentioned in the question and why?

In your scenario:
Q: "How Do you know?"
A: "I read a book"
you can use "我看了一本书" or "我看过一本书" for "I read a book"  in this scenario.

"我看了一本书" stated the fact that you finished reading a book in the past. (了 emphasizes the completeness of your action)
"我看过一本书" stated the fact that you had in the past read a book (过 emphasizes the action was in the past).

Both sentences stated the source of your knowledge is from reading a book. '看过' is more preferable if you want to emphasize the action happened in the past.
As I mentioned, depend on the context, '看了' can be in any perfect tense.


How to say "red book"? I'd like to know how to say "red book" in Mandarin.

Can it be 红色 的 书 or 红书?

I read a book to learn about color, it used 红色 的 before a noun but I heard in a song it used only 红 before noun.

I feel confused.

Both 红色的书 are 红书 correct, 红 alone has the meaning of 红色的(of the color red), for example:"那是一本红书"(That is a red book), in this example we use 红 to describe the color of a book, it's an adjective, its meaning is the same as 红色的. However, the character of 红 sometimes can be part of a noun which composed of two or more character, example: 红豆, 红茶, 红包, in this case 红 is a part of a noun, but it also implies that the thing is of red color.

If you want to describe a red thing, and you don't want to make grammar error, it is safer to use "红色的", because sometimes use 红 alone cannot complete a sentence, for example you can not say"那东西是红", that sentence isn't complete, you must say "那东西是红色的"(That thing is red).

The rule of above can be applied to other colors,for example:
橙chéng orange, 橙色的 of the color orange
黃Huáng yellow, 黃色的 of the color yellow
綠lǜ green, 綠色的 of the color green
藍lán blue 藍色的of the color blue
紫zǐ purple, 紫色的of the color purple


How do you say "ball of foot" in Chinese? I looked up it was 跖球, But I think it's a medical vocabulary.
Is there more popular word?

PS: Why is it called a ball?

Difficult!

How about 脚球？（开玩笑）

The bones you are talking about are the 跖骨

https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E8%B7%96%E9%AA%A8/4055417?fr=aladdin

Can't really find a word for 'the ball of your foot', seems it is not a Chinese thing. The second joint of your thumb has no real common name in English either.


How can the expression "高就" be understood grammatically? I've heard the phrase 您高就 without an interrogative rise at the end.  The way it was spoken sounded like a statement, but in context it was more like a question.
Can this phrase be a question?  Or was I misunderstanding how it was being used?
What would a direct (part of speech) translation be for 您高就？
Something like

您- you (second person pronoun, formal)
高- high (adj.)
就- verb (from classical Chinese ... work? occupation? )

If you are looking for an exact English translation, the answer is that there isn't one.

It is a tradition in Chinese culture. When you are talking about/to other people, you should butter him/her up by exaggerating his/her achievements, wealth, position and etc. And do the opposite thing when talking about yourself. It's all about being polite (when talking about others) and modest (when talking about yourself).

An example conversation may be like this:

A: 您在哪里高就呢？ (So I heard that you've got an excellent job now. Where is it again? )
B: 哪里哪里，不过就是在Google混口饭吃而已。 (Well, I work at Google, just barely getting by.)

A called B's job an "excellent job(高就)", not necessarily for the literal meaning, but just being polite. And B said that he is "just getting by"(混饭吃/混口饭吃), which is not necessarily true (we all know Google pays a lot) but just being modest.
The translation above isn't word-by-word. But you get the gist. You can also see that you can't talk to a native English speaker like that.

If you say:

我在Google高就
听说你在Google混饭吃

While these sentences are grammarly correct, they are simply wrong.

So don't bother with the translation or the grammar. Just understand the cultural difference behind this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you are really into grammar, it's something like this:

高(adv. better)就(v. work)

您(在哪里)高就 (Where are you working?)

To be culturally correct, 高 should be lost in translation.


What does “杀牛” mean in this context? In the story I'm reading for class, a man meets a woman online and she asks him what sign he's born under (属什么). He says 牛, and she says "我是杀牛的." He recounts, "就这么两句话一下子就把我打动了." So they arrange to meet in the park and it turns out she's old and gray instead of young and pretty like he expected, and he thinks "直到这个时候我才什么都明白，眼前的这个女人为什么是“杀牛的”了."

What on earth is going on? “杀牛” has to have some idiomatic or slang meaning, right?

(From the view of the man), the 1st 杀牛的 means men born under the Ox sign killer, the 2nd one means (real) Ox killer.


What is smaller than 小 There are so many ways to say "tiny" it seems. What is the most common way to say "tiny" to something, as in size, an object. Like a tiny insect, or tiny butterfly. Small in English, is still relatively large compared to tiny.

I have been looking through dictionaries and online, I have found the words:

微, 微小 and 极小

Are these the most common ways to say tiny? Which other should I consider using?  Which is the most common one? Any differences in meaning?

极小 seems to be more for buildings?

In addition to 微, 微小, 极小/極小, you can also consider 渺小, 細小, 微型, 迷你. There are too many words/idioms for tiny, but these are the more common ones I can think of that are applicable in your context. Below is the explanation of each:

微

In the context you intend to use it in, 微 seems to be colloquial, e.g. 微翅膀, 微触角. Note that you should not say 微的翅膀 or 微的触角; it would not make much sense.

微小

This is smaller than 微 and 小, and is probably the most commonly used word for tiny.

極小

This translates to extremely small or minimal. It either implies that the object is one of the smallest among the likes or simply emphasizes/exaggerates the tiny aspect of the object.

渺小

This is tiny as well, but it can also imply the insignificance of the object. For example, 渺小的翅膀 can mean the trivial wings. Be careful with the possible connotations of this word.

細小

This is tiny and thin, which is probably a good word for antennas, i.e. 細小的触角.

微型

This literally translates to tiny form/mode/model/version. As such, it is usually used when there is at least one larger version to compare with, e.g. 微型翅膀(the tiny wings) and 巨型翅膀 (the huge wings).

迷你

This is a load word from English, as you may have realized – mini. It is almost always used in a colloquial context.


What is the role of 在 in the sentence 当我有错误在帮我纠正就行了 Ｉ understand 当 serves as the start of "When xyz, then abc" or "當 。。。时，xyz" but what exactly is 在 doing in this sentence?

当我有错误【在】帮我纠正就行了。

Couldn't you just say:
当我有错误【时】帮我纠正行了。

It may be a mistake. It should be 当我有错误再帮我纠正就行了 or the complete version 当我有错误的时候再帮我纠正就行了 .
There is no relationship between 再 and 时 . There will always be a 时 in the meaning of this sentence even though you can omit it.
Because  of 就行了 ; there will always be a 再 in the meaning of this sentence.
After you remove 就行了. 再 makes this sentence sounds like "not now; correct me untill I made a mistake". If you remove 再,  this sentence will become a imperative sentence like an order.


Are there any free/open fonts designed to help learn/read Chinese? Problem

As a Chinese student I found that one of the first barriers is reading. Indeed, when trying to acquire new vocabulary one might be faced with the opacity of the Chinese character as opposed to alphabetical language: you can't pronounce a character on the first encounter while you can for unknown words in languages that use a Latin script (e.g English, French, etc.).

Per-application

Many web browser extensions or desktop applications try to fill the gap by providing ruby character (pīnyīn below/above characters), but that's limited to the application.

When looking for a system-wide solution I thought that a ruby-font could do the trick for beginners.

Question

  So are there any such ruby-like fonts? I would prefer free/FOSS ones.

FOSS in order to be modifiable/redistributable.

Limitations

Of course there are characters with multiple pronunciations, but my target audience is beginners.

as Stumpy Joe Pete said, you'll be hard pressed to find a font that works in all cases, and that you may want to look into a browser extension that highlights, magnifies, and explains the character you've hovered over.

I recommend Pera Pera Kun: http://www.perapera.org/

They have extensions for FireFox and Chrome.

Here's a snapshot:

I have never seen or heard of a font that will provide that functionality intrinsically. Kids Chinese books, however, often have the pronunciation under the characters to help the kids learn.

Hope this helps.


Difference between 于是 and 所以 What's the difference between 于是 and 所以? How and when are they interchangeable?

there's a blog post with examples about just this question here:

http://speakupchinese.tumblr.com/post/115029397455/suoyi-vs-yushi

To quote, it says:

所以 introduces the outcome, just as in English where we use ‘therefore’, ‘as a result’ or ‘so’.

... Moving on to 于是. This is used to place emphasis on the chronology of two connected happenings: A –> B, in continuation. Often it’s used in recounting past events or a story, and translates best to ‘thereupon’, ‘as a result’, ‘consequently’.


The meaning of 是...的 in 有什么事是我该做的吗 I am a total noob when it comes to Chinese, so sorry if this is a dumb question. Recently I started using an Anki deck called SpoonFedChinese to study Chinese. Today I came across the following sentence (the translation is the one given in the deck):

有什么事是我该做的吗
Is there anything I should do?

Now, I know 有什么事 means "is there anything", 我该做 means "I should do", and 吗 is the question marker, but I'm still not sure what purpose 是...的 serves in this sentence. Could you have the sentence without this structure? If yes, then how does it change the meaning?
Thank you in advance.

That's simply a weird sentence.

In fact your simplified sentence 有什么事我该做吗 （是and的 removed) is much more concise and fits better the desired way of speaking Chinese. The only problem is that conventionally attributive clause should precede the noun in Chinese.

So 有什么我该做的事吗 is more native (的here is just a connection word between clause and noun). Furthermore 事 (thing) doesn't mean any meaningful thing here, you can essentially just omit it and say 有什么我该做的吗？.

Maybe you have seen, the complication of 是 and 的 arises because you want to keep the same word order as in English (attributive clause after the noun).

In fact, an even more native way is to try to never use clause in Chinese.

  我该做些什么

it looks similar to "What should I do?" but adding 些 implies "something" and makes it mean the exact same thing as "is there anything I should do?".


Why don't Cantonese speakers write their own language? For me the most difficult thing about learning Cantonese has been that there are very few learning materials for foreigners (and I assume even for Chinese people). And even the materials that exist are all only regarding basic conversational topics. There is basically no Cantonese literature at all.
When I learned French it was very helpful to be able to follow audiobooks of stories from writers like Voltaire. The closest thing is watching Hong Kong movies, but they speak quickly and the subtitles are in Mandarin not Cantonese.

Are there any Cantonese literature or audiobooks out there?

A question for those Cantonese of you out there: Why does it seem that Cantonese people are so unwilling the write their own language? I understand that if you write Cantonese then other Chinese will not be able to understand, but so what? That sounds like their problem.

For the Vietnamese we used to write everything in Classical Chinese (文言). Since then we've switched to writing in our own language. We like it and are not ashamed of it. I don't see why the Cantonese shouldn't do similarly.

I don't understand why Cantonese are fiercely defensive of their language and at the same time refuse to write it down.

Why not write in written Cantonese?

Cantonese speakers are not unwilling to write their own language. Nowadays, written Cantonese is often used in lyrics, instant messaging, social network, advertisements and billboards. It is also gaining public attention as the Government of China wants to ban it.

There is a Yue Wikipedia site containing 40,000+ articles written in Cantonese. However, written Cantonese is almost always used only in informal writings.

For formal writings, standard written Chinese is being used. It is taught in school to write in standard written Chinese (i.e. written Mandarin). It is because Mandarin was chosen as the basis for standard written Chinese as they had the largest number of speakers during the language reform.

  No matter which dialect one spoke, one still wrote in standardised Mandarin for everyday writing. However, Cantonese is unique amongst the non-Mandarin varieties in having a widely used written form. (Wikipedia)

Standard written Chinese is understood by speakers of all varieties of Chinese. Even so, there are some variations in vocabularies in different countries (see example).

Standard written Chinese can be spoken in Cantonese.

(It is interesting to know that, historically, written Cantonese has been used in Hong Kong for legal proceedings in order to write down the exact spoken testimony of a witness, instead of paraphrasing spoken Cantonese into standard written Chinese.)

Side reading: Language policy of Hong Kong

The language policy of Hong Kong is  兩文三語 (Bi-literacy and Tri-lingualism), which includes:

Written: Chinese & English
Spoken: Cantonese, Mandarin & English

Standard written Chinese is normally referred as "Chinese" (中文) or "written Chinese" (書面語) instead of "Mandarin Chinese".

For spoken Chinese (口語), Cantonese (Yue Chinese, namely 廣東話 / 粵語) is the de facto official spoken variety of Chinese in Hong Kong & Macau. It is influential in Guangdong province, and is widely spoken among overseas communities.

On the other hand, Mandarin Chinese (namely 普通話 / 國語 / 華語) is the official language of China & Taiwan, and one of the four official languages of Singapore.

Further reading

  Before the 20th century, the standard written language of China was Classical Chinese, which has grammar and vocabulary based on the Chinese used in ancient China, Old Chinese. However, while this written standard remained essentially static for over two thousand years, the actual spoken language diverged further and further away. Some writings based on local vernacular speech did exist but these were rare. In the early 20th century, Chinese reformers like Hu Shi saw the need for language reform and championed the development of a vernacular that allowed modern Chinese to write the language the same way they speak. The vernacular language movement took hold, and the written language was standardised as Vernacular Chinese. Because they had the largest number of speakers, Mandarin was chosen as the basis for the new standard.

  The standardisation and adoption of written Mandarin pre-empted the development and standardisation of vernaculars based on other varieties of Chinese. No matter which dialect one spoke, one still wrote in standardised Mandarin for everyday writing. However, Cantonese is unique amongst the non-Mandarin varieties in having a widely used written form. Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong was a British colony isolated from mainland China, so most HK citizens do not speak Mandarin. Written Cantonese was developed as a means of informal communication. Still, Cantonese speakers must use standard written Chinese, or even literary Chinese, in most formal written communications, since written Cantonese may be unintelligible to speakers of other varieties of Chinese.

  Historically, written Cantonese has been used in Hong Kong for legal proceedings in order to write down the exact spoken testimony of a witness, instead of paraphrasing spoken Cantonese into standard written Chinese. However, its popularity and usage has been rising in the last two decades, the late Wong Jim being one of the pioneers of its use as an effective written language. Written Cantonese has become quite popular in certain tabloids, online chat rooms, instant messaging, and even social networking websites; this would be even more evident since the rise of Localism in Hong Kong from the 2010s, where the articles written by those Localists media are written in Cantonese. Although most foreign movies and TV shows are subtitled in Standard Chinese, some, such as The Simpsons, are subtitled using written Cantonese. Newspapers have the news section written in Standard Chinese, but they may have editorials or columns that contain Cantonese discourses, and Cantonese characters are increasing in popularity on advertisements and billboards.

  Written Cantonese advertising banner in Mainland China
  It has been stated that Written Cantonese remains limited outside Hong Kong, including other Cantonese-speaking areas in Guangdong Province; e.g., (Snow, 2004). However, colloquial Cantonese advertisements are sometimes seen in Guangdong, suggesting that written Cantonese is widely understood and is regarded favourably, at least in some contexts.

  Some sources will use only colloquial Cantonese forms, resulting in text similar to natural speech. However, it is more common to use a mixture of colloquial forms and Standard Chinese forms, some of which are alien to natural speech. Thus the resulting "hybrid" text lies on a continuum between two norms: Standard Chinese, and colloquial Cantonese as spoken.

Some Cantonese Learning Resources

Cantonese Basic Course: https://fsi-languages.yojik.eu/languages/FSI/fsi-cantonese.html
粵語審音配詞字庫
http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-can/
《粵語音韻集成》電子版 http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/Canton2/
粵語空中課堂 http://www.chiculture.net/0604/html/b05/0604b05.html
粵語網路課堂 http://www.ilc.cuhk.edu.hk/Chinese/pthprog1/index_flash.html
粵語學習中心 http://www.clc.com.hk/
俗語趣談 http://www.rthk.org.hk/elearning/lautinchi/index.htm
妙趣廣州話 http://ifiles.tvb.com/ifiles/fun/fun39.html
粵普字詞配對 http://www.chiculture.net/0603/html/d03/0603d03.html
樂在詞中 http://www.dragonwise.hku.hk/dragonwise_main/index.html

Other References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilingualism_in_Hong_Kong
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Written_Chinese
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_Cantonese


How to say "at the start of the year" in this context? I'm currently trying to figure out how to begin a sentence in Chinese with, "at the start of the year", my friend told me... etc.

I've heard that "at the start of the year" is 今年伊始。But can you really say, "今年伊始", or do you need to say, "今年伊始的时候?"

Thanks in advance to whoever can solve this one!

'伊始' is mostly used in literal form, a classical counterpart of a common phrase '開始'(begin)

[伊始] 开端;开始。伊,助词,无实义
[伊始] 'start; begin.  [伊] auxiliary word, no real meaning

"At the start of the year," should be translated as:

"在年初"(at the start of the year)

"今年初"(at the start of this year).

"今年開始的时候" is grammatically correct but, too wordy for day-to-day speech.

"今年伊始", or do you need to say, "今年伊始的时候?"

"今年伊始" = "at the start of this year"
"今年伊始的时候" = at the time this year begun"
You can use either.


How do I write "One can ..." / "You can ..." (general personal pronoun) in Chinese? Which personal pronouns can I use in an instruction in Chinese to replace the English "one" or "you" when used as meaning "you, we or anyone else":

Examples in English:

"One can always be sure to find tasty tea in that shop."

"One should not spit on the sidewalk."

"You/one are allowed to smoke in the shop."

Which personal pronouns can I use in an instruction in Chinese to replace the English "one"

user3306356's answer did not answer this question. Yes, the subject (or it's pronouns) can be omitted if the meaning is clear.
But in Chinese grammar, the[ one can + main clause] structure does exist, it is [你可以 + main clause]
你 is not restricted to mean 'you' only, it can be a general pronoun that mean 'anyone'-- And it is usually omitted just as user3306356's answer suggested.
Example:

in '你可以在这里抽烟' (you/one can smoke here)
你 here refers to you and everyone else

One more example:

在这家工厂，你只有25分钟的午餐时间 (In this factory, you/one only have 25 minutes lunch time)
你 here refers to you and everyone else

'你可以在这里抽烟' can be rephrase to '这里可以抽烟' omit '你' and '在' because we know who we are speaking to and 这里 strongly implies 在这里
'在这家工厂，你只有25分钟的午餐时间' can be rephrase to '这工厂只有25分钟午餐时间' (We know who only get 25 minutes)
I said it many times, "it is considered good form to omit everything you can omit, as long as the meaning is clear."


How do you pronounce “太监” in Mainland China? Could someone explain how to pronounce 太监 in China and Taiwan? I've heard it be tai4 jian1 as well as seen it (in Pleco) as tai4 jian4！

When 监 is in the forth tone, it usually refers to a specific government department. For example 国子监 was the education department, 钦天监 was the calender department, 太监 was the department of 内务, i.e., affairs of the royal family. Then gradually people start to use 太监 to refer to the specific occupation, or people who belong to the department.

Then 监's meaning as a government department is died out in modern Chinese, so people begin to map it to the ubiquitous jian1, which is technically wrong.

Also at least in Mandarin, there is a tendency that when a noun consists of two characters, the second character would be read as 轻声 or the "light tone", so what you normally hear is tai4jian0. There is also a tenancy that when a character is read as the light tone, people automatically thinks that it should be the first tone. This might also contributed to the shift from jian4 to jian1. But as NS said in the comments, it could probably be just my imagination...

jian1 might be technically wrong, but there are already enough people using it to make it an acceptable pronunciation, only that the dictionaries hasn't been updated yet.

As for you, if you are taking exams, use jian4 for now, otherwise use whatever you like.


To see, to watch, to meet - 看 vs 见 vs 看见 I've seen 看 used on its own, 见 used on its own, and 看见 used together.

My understanding:

看 means "to see" or "to watch"， objects are typically inanimate (i.e.
not people)
见 means "to see" or "to meet", objects are typically
people

Is the above correct?

Why would you use 看见？ This (Rocket Languages) site suggests it means "to catch a glimpse of".  Specifically, why use 看见　instead of just 见　？

It's even a website! where the object is 音了 -- as in, "see the music" ?

The Rocket Languages site also explains the complement form, 看不见　which suggests "can't" -- are there other examples

your understanding is correct for the basic use.
the difference between 看 and 看见，the latter usually means 'have seen/watched', which emphasizes the fact that sb saw sb/sth in the time before.


Is there an official stroke order for each character? I’m a learner of Japanese for now some years, and I really like kanji, or chinese characters, and I’ve recently taken some interest in the Chinese language though I don’t intend to learn it.

My wonder is about the characters dictionaries (be it for foreigners or native speakers) and the stroke order of characters. While for Japanese most of the characters dictionaries have stroke orders diagrams, I can’t seem to find such feature in chinese characters dictionaries, but I’ve looked only at a few. Of course there are lots of websites that give the stroke order of individual characters, but I wonder if there is some kind of reference book (you can find a lot of 漢和辞典, or reference kanji books for foreigners for Japanese)

I get the feeling that, Chinese stroke order is based on a set of rules which you apply to every character you want to write, but in Japanese the stroke order seems more regulated on individual characters. That would explains why there is a lot of differences in the way you write a single characters in both langages (like 必 or 凸 or even 田) and why, actually, the Chinese way looks more ... logical to me, kind of. (Look at: 左 and 右: in Japanese, for the first one, you write the horizontal stroke first, but for the second one, it’s the vertical/going left down stroke first! In Chinese, there seems to be no differences: that would be just following a general rule, while in Japanese you differentiate both)

Maybe also, because Japanese actually imported the characters, the way you write individual characters needed to be more regulated?

Where I live, in France, in most Japanese universities classes, we have a book for official jōyō kanji and the way you write individual characters. But in Chinese classes, they have a character dictionary, they learn in classes the rules of writing, but there’s just the printed characters in their dictionary (with pinyin and other info) and no 筆順 like you see in a Japanese dictionary. (don’t know the name of the book, and I’m less knowledgable in Chinese, but I think it’s a pretty authoritative reference book)

I am so curious about this. Do you get the feeling that stroke order in Japanese is more « fixed », do you know about a character book (for adults) that precises the exact way you write each character under its entry? I feel like in Chinese, people tend to say that stroke order matters as a general rule of writing, not individually. In my Japanese classes, stroke order for each character is very very important and won’t you mistake 右 and 左 in the kanji exam

There isn't an official stroke order for each character, but only a subset of all characters used, and official stroke order exists solely for the purpose of educating schoolchildren.

Japanese stroke order is actually not as fixed as Chinese, and the only reason it feels that Japanese stroke order is more fixed is because Japanese textbooks or dictionaries include stroke order guidelines.

In Japan, dictionary making is actually a competitive business and dictionary content is not regulated by the government. The current reality in Japan can be summarised by the following MEXT quote:

  漢字の筆順は、原則として一般に通用している常識的なものによっており、行書で筆順が異なる字については、適切な説明を加えていること

  -- 義務教育諸学校教科用図書検定基準

That is, Japan no longer prescribes official stroke orders for kanji, and lets textbook or dictionary editors decide for themselves, only recommending that they use something that's widely recognised by society. Official stroke order in Japan was actually only in existence from 1958 to 1977 for the Kyōiku_kanji.
Chinese stroke order is less centralised, because there are multiple language standardisation bodies for the Chinese language; the PRC, Taiwan, and Hong Kong independently decide the characters taught to schoolchildren and their corresponding stroke orders. Their official stroke orders don't come packaged with dictionaries given that

Common use characters in Chinese double that in Japan.
The purpose of stroke order is only as a guideline to write characters, not a set of rules.

To address your points,

The following are the official stroke order resources for Chinese language education:

ROC (Taiwan)
Hong Kong
PRC (Mainland China)

There's something called the traditional stroke order, for which all Chinese stroke orders and Japanese stroke orders have diverged slightly from. Traditional stroke order was largely decided based on analysis of the pieces of famous calligraphers, noting that Chinese calligraphy is written from top to bottom, right to left. Chinese standards, at the turn of the century, decided to change some of the stroke orders to make horizontal writing with a pen easier. Japan went another route and tried to optimise stroke order for semi-cursive script.
左 and 右 having different stroke orders are based on their differentiation in  seal script and earlier:

They were originally pictures of left and right hands, respectively, and the first stroke draws the span of the hand while the second stroke draws the arm. Writing both with the same stroke order tends to encourage mistakes in character proportions, and I personally wouldn't recommend it even though some Chinese standard prescribes this.

Notice that the relative length of the slanting and horizontal strokes are different between 左 and 右, a legacy of each of the strokes representing different parts of the hand in 左 compared to 右; using the same stroke order for both encourages sloppy writing.

In rapid or cursive writing, the only way you can tell which one is 左 or 右 is because of their different stroke orders. You're either going to be limiting your own writing speed, or getting in alot of trouble if you get into the habit of speed-writing them the same way...

Finally, you should remember that stroke order is not an end-goal unto itself, but rather something that makes cursive script more recognisable. If you do not plan on writing kanji in the way a fluent person writes in cursive, but stick to regular script instead, then stroke order is not as important to get the message across. However, if you wish to achieve writing speed and fluency, there is a narrow range of acceptable stroke orders which should come naturally to you in time, noting that cursive script often takes shortcuts by joining or omitting strokes so that it is very difficult to actually prescribe a solid stroke order for every character (because different people will take different shortcuts).


道 vs 途 in religious texts As we all know, 道 is an important concept in classical Chinese, meaning "the way" in the metaphorical sense. It is a central concept in Taoism, but it was also used in Buddhism and Confucianism to designate the proper attitude, habits and behaviour.

I was wondering if the same word was used in classical Chinese translations of the Bible, and it seems it was not. I used John 14:6 as to test that:

  Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

In a classical Chinese version of the Bible it is translated as:

  耶稣曰、我即途也、诚也、生也、非由我、则无人诣父、

And here comes my question: does 途 here have basically the same meaning as 道, or is there a significant difference between the two terms? Would it be possible to change one into another in this context without changing its meaning?

sometimes it's the same but not all the time.

say, 道路 and 路途, here they mean the same thing, the way or road.

however, in the history of China, 道 has more meaning than it appears. as you know, Taoism begins with the discussion of 道. it means the essence of the universe.

another example is 道不同不相为谋, here 道 actually means the choice of life. 途 won't express the same meaning. say, 仕途 means the the life as a officer. if you feel the meaning of the word, you can feel that 道 is more likely to stress the choice made by person and 途 will emphasize the thing it is.

道 can mean morality too. this character is rich. we can discuss it all day long, but 途 won't be.


What is the glyph origin of '奇'? Lost Glyph Origin

奇 ( jī | qí  ) is a character that means strange but the glyph origin appears to have been lost. At least as far as I can tell after researching offline books, zhongwen.com, and zdict.net ( qí ). The character is composed of (dà) 大 and (kě) 可 but none of my references can explain why the meaning is "odd" (numerically) or "strange" (as in unusual).

This is just one of the characters that seem to have lost it's history. I know that I could just accept it's meaning and memorise it but I really appreciate the storied history behind each character as a method to discern meaning. Can someone share information on the etymology of the character 奇?

I am also interested in how I should deal with discrepancies between Chinese and Chinese-English dictionaries in general (see below for an example). Often, I note that the Chinese dictionary has more information (whose implications I am missing) than Chinese-English dictionaries (is there a better method than just using a source like www.zhongwen.com)?

Dictionary

While researching this character I noticed that the Chinese dictionaries have much richer information available than the Chinese-English sources.

e.g.

奇 jī
①形单的；不成双的（跟“偶”相对）。
奇偶 | 奇数
②名〈文〉数目的零头。
身长六尺有奇 | 奇零
另见 qí。
奇 qí
①形特殊；稀罕。
奇形怪状 | 奇观 | 奇特
②形出人意料的；不同寻常的。
奇遇 | 奇计
③动惊异。
不足为奇 | 惊奇
④副特别；非常。
奇冷 | 奇痒难忍
⑤名姓。
用法说明读 qí，基本义是特殊、稀罕；读 jī，与数目有关，指单数或不成双的。
另见 jī。

(Simplified Chinese Dictionary)

a lot of which is quite hard to decipher and contrasted with my Simplified Chinese English Dictionary below:

奇 jī
A.形容词
odd
→ 奇偶, 奇数
B.名词
书面语remainder
六十有奇
sixty odd
→ qí
奇 qí
A.形容词
①（罕见）unusual
奇男子/女子
remarkable man/woman
奇松怪石
unique pine trees and strangely-shaped rocks
→ 奇耻大辱, 奇迹, 奇妙
②（出人意料）unexpected
→ 奇兵, 奇袭, 奇遇, 出奇制胜
B.动词
surprise
→ 不足为奇, 惊奇
C.副词
extremely
奇丑
very ugly
奇痒
be terribly itchy
→ 奇缺
→ jī

Hints

Zhongwen.com hints that this may just be a person exhaling in wonder (to imply strange??) but is that a stretch?

ChineseEtymology.com

Chinese Etymology seems to have very little information on this character (Source)

User Discussion

Zdict.net has a user forum (here) in which this character is discussed but I am afraid that I may have missed the gist of the conversation. So any help would be appreciated. The following reference image was shared in a post by user if that is any help. I am unsure of the original source and whether or not this is a composite.

Zdict.net

The discussion on zdict basically explains that the Oracle bone script morphed (讹变) into its current form, but this transformation did not follow standard rules.
The original Oracle bone script shows a man riding a horse, which means "to ride" (i.e. what 骑 means today), but when small seal script was developed, the horse morphed into 可, which violates the usual practice of keeping the meanings the same. The character also acquired the meanings of "unusual" or "strange":

甲骨文“奇”字，人骑在马上，小篆“奇”字“马”讹变为“可”（“字源字形”栏目），本义跨坐、骑坐，“骑”本字，借为①特殊的、不常见的：奇怪、奇异、稀奇，②出人意料的、令人不测的：奇兵、奇计、出奇制胜，又借为：
◎ jī 单数、与“偶数”相对：奇数、奇偶、奇函数。


What are the original Chinese characters for the Filipino-Chinese family name Suico? The book Life in Old Parian says the Cebuano family name Suico has Chinese origin, and I'm looking for the original Chinese characters. I'm trying to narrow it down based on the Hokkien pronunciation of common Chinese family names, but it's hard to find what the characters were for sure.

In the Philippines, it was common for Filipino-Chinese to take both parents' family names as the Spanish did so I'm trying to narrow it down to a combination of surnames that look like Sui and Co combined. From the Wikipedia page on Chinese names in the Philippines it looks like 謝(Sia/Saa) and 孫 (Suan) are good candidates for the Sui part and 許 (Co), or 郭 (Guo) for the Co part. There seem to be other candidates like 蕭 which is pronounced as siau/sio in Hokkien which confuses things further.

隋 is a more probable candidate for Sui. It is (some form of) Sui in Hakka and Hokkien. There's a 睢 too.

郭 is not a good candidate for Co -- in southern Chinese languages (Hakka, Minnan/Hokkien, Cantonese) it has a final -k. Some variant of Kwok.


Is there a Chinese WordNet? WordNet is a database of English words, which includes semantic relationships of words too.  It includes synonym and antonym-relationships, as well as "categories".  For example, it will tell me that a tabby is a cat and that a cat is an animal.

Is there anything comparable for Chinese, which is freely downloadable?

Anything that can be used online is already useful, but I'd prefer a database that I can download and analyse on my own computer.  I only need it for personal use (in case the license doesn't allow anything else).

For the Simplified Chinese script, there is Chinese Open Wordnet which you can search online.

This is part of Open Multilingual Wordnet, which also links to a smaller project called Chinese WordNet which was produced in Taiwan in 2010 and uses the Traditional Chinese script.  That one also has a 2012 version called Chinese WordNet 2, but the license of Chinese WordNet 2 is much more restrictive than that of the original Chinese WordNet or Chinese Open Wordnet.  Chinese WordNet 2 is non-commercial use only and no redistribution without permission, which means others have not integrated it with their online query systems and such.  You can still download it if you don't mind doing a bit of programming to read out the data (I suggest use the "CWN DataBase" link and the output.sqlite file; if you want to process it as text do echo .dump|sqlite3 output.sqlite > output.txt on GNU/Linux).

However if you can convert your input to the Simplified Chinese script then you might as well just use Chinese Open Wordnet.


How to translate "knitting" and "weaving" into Mandarin? I am struggling with auto translators that do not know that knitting and weaving are not interchangeable terms.
It seems that changing the position of the words in the English sentence can cause this confusion.
And it gets worse when weave and knit are used in the same sentence. For example:

当编织和针织在同一句子中使用时，它变得更糟。

When knitting and knitting are used in the same sentence, it gets worse.
Any ideas on how to untangle this would be appreciated.
Thanks and best regards, Alex

According to the ABC Chinese-English Dictionary, the Chinese word 编织 can mean "weave; knit; plait; braid".  ABC is saying it's a general word that can mean all of these things.  If you want to distinguish between these things then you might need a different word instead.

If you look up "weaving" on Wikipedia and press Languages / Chinese, it takes you to a Chinese article called 梭织.  ("Knitting" takes you to 编织.)  Although in general it is wise to be a bit careful when using Wikipedia (check the sources etc), I would be very surprised if an article title (especially for a long-established article like "weaving") would not have been corrected if it were wrong.  梭织 is not in the ABC but 梭=shuttle in textiles (compare 梭子) and 织 can mean to weave or to knit (compare 组织=organize) so it looks very plausible that 梭织 specifically means weaving with a shuttle.

ABC also says the word 针织 (from the question) means to knit but not to weave; the first character 针 means needle.

So simply put 针织 for knit, 梭织 for weave, and 编织 as a catch-all term that could mean either.


Which is correct when referring to stroke count: 畫 or 劃? In the context of the audio on the page at http://stroke-order.learningweb.moe.edu.tw/characterQueryResult.do?word=%E7%95%AB which reads out 共十二畫/劃, which is more correct when referring to stroke count: 畫 or 劃?

It seems that 畫 and 劃 are equivalent according to Yabla's Chinese English Pinyin Dictionary when looking up the term "筆劃"¹, but the more-complex 劃 character provides more accurate results when run through Google Translate. 畫 gets translated as "painting". On the other hand, Google Translate seems to indicate the wrong tone (tone 2) when using 劃.

¹https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-english-pinyin-dictionary.php?define=%E7%AD%86%E5%8A%83

劃
[4] [n] stroke (of a Chinese character)

~

畫
[3] [n] stroke of a Chinese character

For the meaning of 'pen stoke', it can be either. However, I prefer 劃.
When 劃 is used as a noun, it can only mean 'stroke'. meanwhile when 畫 is used as a noun, it means 'drawing' primarily.


Why do I see 我 for I, but is pronounced WAH I'm corrected to pronounce WAH instead of "wǒ."

Is it the same and I just hear it wrong in my head? Or is there a difference in dialect?

I made a little search in forvo.com, a worldwide database that hosts user-provided audios for words, characters and expressions in every language.
Making a quick search for 我, the results reveal several entries. The obvious ones Chinese and Japanese and others; among the others we have Min nan (Simpl: 闽南语; Trad: 閩南語; pinyin: Mǐnnán Yǔ), which is a family of Chinese language spoken in: China (PRC and ROC areas), Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, United States (New York City), and other areas of Southern Min and Hoklo settlement.1
If you go to the "results" link, and scroll down until you find "min nan", you'll see it's pronounced "wah". It's unambiguous, it's pronounced very open so you can't be mistaken when you find it. I checked the others and no-one else seems to say "wah".

1: definition, chinese version and locations are taken from Wikipedia.


Translations of "to try" Can someone please help me clarifying all the possible ways to say "try" in Chinese. As in "try sth" or "try to do sth". I can come up with many translations but it's very hard for me to use them in context.

A simple form of try is 试一试： ‘试一试某事’ = 'give something a whirl/shot'
I often hear:
我不会！ I can't do it!
试一试！ Try!

You can often replace 试一试 with 尝试。

You can also use 试： 我可以试一下这双鞋吗？

try hard (to do sth.) is 努力： 如果你努力就能够做到。

also 尽力： try your hardest (to do sth.): 我们会尽力完成。


How is 果岭 a loanword from the English "green" (i.e.: putting green)? MDBG has the following entry:

  果岭
  guǒlǐng

  green (golf) (loanword)

果岭 doesn't really sound anything remotely like green, 岭 especially doesn't match up with the end of green.

How did green become 果岭?

Like you said in the comment, something like 格林 indeed would have been a better phonetic approximation. But the translation (even by sound) should also consider its meaning if possible. 岭 means hill or mountain in Chinese. And since a golf course resembles a hill for having ups and downs, 岭 would be more approriate to describe such an area. However I think 果 is purely phonetic.


What grammar pattern with 着 does this sentence follow? 奥林匹克运动的故乡流传着这样的几句话：...

This 着 is confusing to me. I suppose this sentence here follows one of these two patterns:

place + verb + 着 + subject, for example 桌子上摆着一杯水.
verb + 着, for example 我听着音乐看报纸.

The first one would make sense to me, after all "奥林匹克运动的故乡" is a place, but there's no 在, nor 里 and I don't know why. The second one would make sense too, but what's the point of using a gerund in this sentence...?

All in all, I don't understand what's the role of 着 here.

奥林匹克运动的故乡[n.] 流传着[v.] 这样的几句话[n.]：...

I would break this sentence in three parts as above.

“流传” is the verb here, it means "spread" or "circulating", here it means "these sentences/story goes that..."  or "there's a saying ..."

“着” here means the second meaning you listed. It shows the continuity of the verb.

My translation of this sentence is: "In the hometown of Olympic sports, people say:..."
It shows the meaning but not a word-to-word translation.

Here's the explanation in Modern Chinese Dictionary《现代汉语词典》:

着·zhe

1 （助）表示动作的持续：他打～红旗在前面走｜他们正谈～话呢。

I'm a native Chinese, but it's my first time trying to explain modern Chinese to language learners. Let me know if I'm not clear enough. Hope it helps!


Deciding when to use 就像 vs 像是 vs 像 I may be mistaken, but if I use 就像 , 像是 or 像 in any of the sentences, they are pretty much the same. Is there a difference?

“他们说‘电视直播’时，就像我说‘报税’一样无可奈何

“They say ‘live TV’ the way I say ‘doing my taxes’ — with resignation,”

...夏洛特和阿萨认为所有的电视都更像是Netflix，而不是尼克儿童频道(Nickelodeon)：

...like many children, perceive all of television to be more Netflix than Nickelodeon

像夏洛特·纳尔逊这样的孩子，他们喜欢一醒来就打开任天堂Wii U(Nintendo Wii U)

Children like Charlotte Nelson — who likes to turn on the Nintendo Wii U

听起来像是年轻女性在和自己的朋友们聊天。

“Our goal was always to sound like how young women talk to their own friends,” she said.

in 就像, 就 means "just", so 就像 means just like and there is also 就像是.
So the real problem is to distinguish 像是 and 像.

As a native speaker, I think 像 can always substitute 像是 but 像是 can not always substitute 像.

In your example, if I change it to 像是夏洛特·纳尔逊这样的孩子，他们喜欢一醒来就打开任天堂Wii U. Then it sounds weird.

Or 这孩子长得像你。 This kid looks like you.

will sound weird if you say: 这孩子长得像是你.

To be honest, it's hard to tell the difference even as a native speaker. So I suggest you to use 像 always. It won't make mistake at least.


What does the phrase '我的妈来' mean when it is used to express shock or surprise? I know the literal meaning, but could someone please tell me the meaning in english when it was used as an expression (for example, when someone see a huge mansion and he said: "我的妈来! What a huge castle!")? thanks

I would say it could mean anything that could express surprise in English. eg, "Oh Mine" "Wow" etc. I don't think it means "WTF" and "Holy sht". it's just a surprise. it could be either bad thing or good thing that happens to someone. Usually, people would say "我的妈呀" or "妈呀" instead of "我的妈来" to express surprise.


Do "lipstick on a pig" and "画蛇添足" share the same meaning? Do "lipstick on a pig" and "画蛇添足" share the same meaning?
画蛇添足 means "drawing snake with feet".

画蛇添足 means 'ruin things by adding unnecessary, inappropriate addition'

Adding legs on a snake in a painting not only doesn't improve its quality , it actually ruins it by adding unnecessary, inappropriate addition

For example:

Man: "I love you"

Woman: "I love you too"

So far so good

Man: "I love you as much as I love my dog"

Now it is too much information, the second sentence from the man is '蛇足'(unnecessary, inappropriate addition)

"lipstick on a pig" means something entirely different. It means " wasted effort", a pig is a pig, no matter how much make up you put on it, it can never looked like a pretty lady.


Is it correct ot use 以前 in sentence with meaning of future plans 我以前打算去北京? Is it correct ot use 以前 in sentence with meaning of future plans 我以前打算去北京?

  我打算去北京 - I am going to go to Beijing

Will it become:

  我以前打算去北京 - Before I was going to go to Beijing

Or do I need to replace "打算去北京" part to also express past tense?

Is it correct to use 以前 in sentence with meaning of future plans 我以前打算去北京?

The simple answer for your question is "YES, it's correct". You can use 以前 in sentence with meaning of future plans.

However, your English translation below is not that right. 'Before' is not needed because 'was' already connotes the past tense (which 以前 here stands for).

  我以前打算去北京 - 'Before' I was going to go to Beijing

So the correct translation should be:

  我以前打算去北京 - I was going to go to Beijing


Translation English Expression "You can tell ... by ...." I'm translating an English song in an exercise to learn Chinese

One of the lyrics is

  You can tell he means it by the look on his face

This is English expression. A less expressive lyricist might say:

  You know he means it because (of) the look on his face

So I tried these translations:

你能确定。。。 因为。。。

You can determine... because...

。。。 就你能确定。。。

... so you know that...

For "can tell" I tried 你能确定  。。。 or 你确定

For "by" I tried either 就。。。  or 因为。But 因为 seems like it's causal. Like "the look on his face is why he is serious". It's the opposite. The look on his face is effect, not cause of his seriousness. The look on his face may be the cause of your knowing he is serious.

For the full sentence I tried:

  你看他脸色, 就确定 他是认真的

How would you translate that line? Emphasis on the Chinese translation for "You can tell ... by ... "

Other English ways it's used :

"You can tell the spaghetti is cooked when it sticks to a wall."
"You can tell he's rich by the clothes he's wearing"
"How do you know?" "I can just tell!"

The corresponding Chinese expression for

You can tell ...by ...

is

一看...就知道...

so

You can tell he means it by the look on his face

一看他的脸色就知道他是认真的

Although for a lyric you probably want something like

他的神情告诉我他是认真的

"You can tell the spaghetti is cooked when it sticks to a wall."

能粘在墙上的spaghetti才是煮过的spaghetti

where "You can tell" or "you know" is basically ignored because it won't add anything to the sentence.

"You can tell he's rich by the clothes he's wearing"

"一看他穿的衣服就知道他很富"

"How do you know? (How can you tell)" "I can just tell!"

"你怎么知道的？" "我就是知道"


Difference between 学, 校 and 学校 你好！

What's the difference between 学 (xue2), 校 (xiao4) and 学校 (xue2 xiao4)? I know the definitions but the thing with context is quite hard.

The first one simply means 'to study' or 'academic'. However, it seems to be used as 'school' apparently.

The second one claims to be "school"

The third one claims to be used in Wo3 qu4 xue2 xiao4 ("我去学校"), which means "I go to school".

Is it to do with context? For example, is the first used to represent a school and the third as its building (the building itself)? Why represent this as a few characters meaning almost the same?

So, what is the difference? Please help.

Thank you
Steve Woods.

"学校" is a compound word means "school"

The character "学" is also in other compound words like 小学 (primary school), 中学 (middle school), and 大学 (university)

The character "校" is also in other specific terms like 軍校 (military school), 警校 (police academy)

軍校 is short for 軍事学校
警校 is short for 警察学校
校 is just a short form of 学校 in these terms

Just like in English, the term "学校" (school) refers to the institution itself, it can be a whole building or buildings; a single room where a piano teacher teaches a few students can also be called a school (piano school)


What is the tone for 少 in 老少边穷地区? I hear Mr. Xi Jinping in his address to villagers spoke 老少边穷地区 in the fourth tone (i.e., 少 as 绍）, but I think he might have made a mistake here, out of instincts, without any real understanding.

Here’s 现代汉语规范词典’s entry:

老少边穷
PY lǎo-shǎo-biān-qióng
老解放区､少数民族地区､边疆地区和穷困地区的合称。
注意 “少”这里不读shào, 不当“年少”讲。


Has 管理 something to do with plumbing? If so then Has "管理 = manage" something to do with plumbing, making pipes or taking care of them?

As far as I know 管 is a measure word for tube-shaped objects. So my logic suggest that 管理 is an meaning-extension for managing pipe-works or running pipes, plumbing. Managing here is taken as a metaphore for guiding the "flow" in the desired direction.

Am I right? Does a native speaker feels this connotation in 管理?
If so then what connotation does a native feel in 处理?

And I would be very greatful if someone lists all the verbs in similar form to 管理 and 处理 with meaning "to manage" and their connotations. Thanks.

p.s.
I think this additional question will be absolutly silly but...
Does 尽管 have somethign to do with piping etymology of 管? You know, there are a lot of "although"s in chinese and some help with differentiation between them would be great.

It's hard to answer all you questions once, just one of them

1. Does a native speaker feels this connotation in 管理?

No, at least I don't.

For 管理, it has nothing to do with 管子/管道 (tube;pipe).

From 新汉英大辞典,

  管理 [guǎn lǐ]
  1. manage; run; administer; supervise; rule; administration; management; regulation:

2. Managing here is taken as a metaphore for guiding the "flow"
in the desired direction.

Of course, broadly speaking, you could say that but literally it doesn't.

Here 's a perspective about the meaning evolution from 管 to 管理.

  “管”的实义动词义，应是由其名词义发展而来的。其语义演变过程大体是：最初指一种乐器，而后代指这种形状的东西，尤指“键”。再有此发展到管钥匙，主管库房的人，再衍生出动词义“掌管、管理”；

[ “管” 's notional verb meaning should be developed from its noun meaning. The meaning evolution is roughly: first indicates a kind of instrument, and then indicates things with this kind of shape, especially key. And then developed to person who is in charge of the key or storehouse, then derived the verb meaning of be in charge of; administer, manage. ]

So 管理 's literal sense should be administer;control;in chare of.


Pronunciation/tones for hug (擁抱): yong1 bao4 or yong3 bao4? CantoDict and yellowbridge say the pronunciation for 擁抱 is yong1 bao4.

However, Google Translate and other pages say it's yong3 bao4.

What's the right pronunciation?

Liang'an (兩岸) gives the Taiwanese Mandarin (國語) pronunciation as:

  yǒngbào

yong3 bao4

while noting the mainland Mandarin (普通话) pronunciation as being:

  yōngbào

yong1 bao4

Unless you're planning on speaking Taiwanese Mandarin, I'd stick with yōng yong1.


精益求精, how to properly interpret this classical Chinese chengyu? The idiom stands for constantly strive for improvement.

When I look at 精益求精, I read

Excellence increase seek excellence

But shouldn't it be

Excellence increase seek more excellence

Of course if you added 曾加
then it no longer be four characters long.

Is it a topic comment sentence:
As far as excellence goes, it is improvement that seeks it (excellence itself). (?)

Can someone please better explain the arrangement XY求X?

Are there other 成语 of this form?

Thanks.

精 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/565/
[4] [adj] skilled; versed; proficient

~

益 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/1217/
[1] [v] increase; add to; augment [2] in a higher degree; to a greater extent; more

~

求 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/883/
[2] seek

~

精益求精 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/7244/
(idiom) to constantly improve oneself

Can someone please better explain the arrangement XY求X?

It is an idiom, not a sentence. Idioms do not have to follow normal grammar rules. You just have to look at each character within an idiom to construct a coherent meaning in your mind. In the case of 精益求精, it offers:
精 "proficient" (adj)
益 "in a higher degree" (adverb phrase) +  求 "seek" (V)
精 "proficient" (adj)
(and it does not constitute a sentence. )

"proficient in a higher degree seeking proficient"

~
You have to decode the meaning with logical deduction and get:

"(someone already) proficient (still) seeking proficiency in a higher degree"

But most of the time, it is best to learn the story of the idiom and memorize the meaning behind it.


What Hanzi-Latin hybrid characters exist? I was going through Babel Stone's PUA page when I came across, some, of the following characters. This one is Japanese:

  Kanji-Latin hybrid = 慶 in the name of Keiō University (慶應大学)

This one is Korean:

  Hanja-Hangul hybrid = 圖 do "map" (Evidence)

This one is Zhuang:

  Sawndip-Latin hybrid = enj "to stick out one's chest or stomach" (= ⿰益先 in Ext. G)

So, we've got Kanji-Latin hybrid, Hanja-Hangul hybrid & Sawndip-Latin hybrid characters, but where are the Hanzi-Latin hybrid characters?

What Hanzi-Latin hybrid characters exist? (If any?)

If you consider only "official" characters encoded in the Unicode 12.1, as opposed to the Private Use Area (PUA) that you are referring to, or other unstandardized and humorous characters, then there doesn't seem to be any Latin-Hanzi hybrids. At all.

I carefully looked through Unicode 12.1 ranges for Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese characters, specifically:

CJK Unified Ideographs Extension A
CJK Unified Ideographs Extension B – this document alone took me 3 days to process.
CJK Unified Ideographs Extension C
CJK Unified Ideographs Extension D
CJK Unified Ideographs Extension E
CJK Unified Ideographs Extension F
CJK Compatibility Ideographs
CJK Unified Ideographs

And noticed plenty of unusual and peculiar ideographs, like these:

But not a single character contains a Latin letter.

The closest to look like having a letter inside are these two. They have a stroke that looks precisely like a lowercase Greek alpha:


How to Interpret 認不真 in 須認真. 若認不真. 便都成了假的? The context is the reader has just been told that in [blank] he 須認真.

  [blank]須認真. 若認不真. 便都成了假的.

What puzzles me is the 不 in the middle of 認真.  I understand that each character by itself is a word, but it seems generally to be one two character word, "earnest".  Is the 不 negating one of two words, or half of one word, or all of a two character word?  I've never seen that.

「認真」is a common two characters compound word. It means 'serious' (adj.)
Since it is an adjective, we can add the negative function word 「不」(not ) before it, and form an negative phrase  「不認真」(not serious)

However, 「認」on it's own can be the verb 'identify' or ' 'recognize' as in 「認人」(identify a person)，「認路」(recognize the way);  while 「真」on it's own can be the adjective 'true' or 'accurate' ; or the adverb 'truly' or 'accurately'

As a simple grammatical rule, an adverb can modify a verb.
Which mean 「認真」 can be treated as a [verb+ adverb] structure instead of a compound that we are familiar with.

In the case of 「認不真」，「不」being a negative function word that modifies the adverb 「真」make it clear that the term we are looking at, is in fact [verb+ 不 + adverb] structure (認+不+真).

If 「不」 is placed before 「認真」, that would make it an [不 + adjective] structure (不+認真).

「不認真」means 'not serious'
「認不真」means 'cannot identify accurately' or 'not identify accurately'

As I mentioned before, 「認真」is a very common 'word' , to avoid confusion, it is better use 「認不清」 instead of 「認不真」.

I believe if the phrase in question was 「認不真確」instead of the shortened 「認不真」, you would not be so confused.

Since the common word 「認真」is widely used, putting 認 and 真 in a [verb + adverb] structure would certainly cause confusion. It is not recommended.

  須認真.若認不真. 便都成了假的.

In this context 須認真 means " Need to identify accurately.

  " Need to identify accurately. If not identify accurately, then everything will become (be treated as) fake"

I would suggest phrasing it as 「須認(得)真(確), 若認不真(確),  便都成了假的」 to make it more clear.


How can I use the idiom 米已成炊 to explain "once I've told you, I can't un-tell you"? I wrote the following:

  我愿意告诉你我的故事，可是后来就跟米已成炊一样。

Basically, it was intended as a warning:

  I'm willing to tell you my story, but afterwards I can't un-tell you.

My Chinese teacher indicated she understood what I meant, but gave me the impression the sentence didn't piece together well.  I'm particularly keen on using the idiom 米已成炊 as I need some practice using them.

Question: How can I use the idiom 米已成炊 to explain this?

米已成炊 or 木已成舟 can't be used like the way you use them. They describe a situation where you can do nothing but accept the fact because something has already happened and there's no way you could undo it.

Usually, it goes like:

  我已经把我的故事都告诉你了，没有办法再收回来了。 现在米已成炊了，我能怎么办呢？

Or

  我已经把我的故事都告诉你了，现在米已成炊, 没有办法再收回来了。


Can a character be simplified or traditional depending on the context it is used in? Are there any characters that are considered simplified in some contexts (where there would be a corresponding traditional character), and traditional in other contexts?

To answer your question, we need to clearly understand how Traditional Chinese characters got simplified, which I bet 99.999999% of the whole Chinese population don't even know about.
This is a very big topic that I am not able to discuss about it in detail. So I will give a much simplified explanation.
Consider these 2 sets: Traditional Characters vs Simplified Characters
Of cause there is a mapping between the 2 sets. Most of the mapping (78%) is for "non-simplification at all", like 人 口 手 大 小 天 地 etc. Those characters are NOT simplified.
While the rest of the mapping (22%) is the "real simplification".
In the set of Simplified Characters, there are only 2235 "real simplified characters" in total.
Among the most used 3500 Chinese characters, there are only 1116 "real simplified characters", so the percentage is 32%, less than 1/3.
A medium-sized Chinese dictionary roughly covers 10 thousand "head charcters", among which there are 2235 "real simplified characters", so the percentage is 22%, less than 1/4.
Now we can see the real simplified characters are only a small portion of the whole Chinese charaters.
All the following discussion is on the "real simplification" part of the mapping.

Most people believe the Simplification was done at the character level, meaning one traditional character will be replaced by its simplified counterpart in all circumstances, which of cause is wrong.
Actually the Simplification was done at the sense level, so it means a traditional character will be replaced by a simplified version only for a certain senses, but for other senses of the same traditional character, it is not simplified.

For example 乾 (gān, qián)
(gān) when meaning "dry" in 河乾了 or "finish" in 乾杯 (and a lot other meanings), it is simplified to 干, so they will become 河干了 or 干杯.
(qián) But when meaning "sky" or "related to man", then it is NOT simplified. So even in an article in Simplified Chinese, you may see this phrase 乾坤 (meaning the sky and the earth). Another example is 乾隆, which is a name of an emperor in Qin dynasty.
Another example 瞭 (liǎo, liào)
(liǎo) when in 瞭解 meaning "come to understand", it is simplified as 了, so it becomes 了解.
(liào) but when in 瞭望 meaning "watch from a height or a distance", it is NOT simplified.

However there are quite some characters appear in both sets of Simplified Characters and Traditional Characters.

For example: 丑 (chǒu)
In the set of Traditional Characters, 丑 is used as the second of the twelve "Terrestrial Branches", and also used as a surname. So its counterpart in the set of Simplified Characters is still 丑 (ie not simplified).
醜 (chǒu) is a Traditional Character, meaning "ugly, hateful, disgraceful, scandalous, bad, dirty" etc. It is simplified as 丑.

Simplification was done in the following 8 ways:

Get rid of the whole "picture" of the character, and "redraw" it with its "main frame", like 龜  -> 龟 (tortoise, turtle)

Regularify a character's the simple cursive style, like 為 -> 为.

Use only a part of the character, like 聲 -> 声.

Replace a part of a character by a lot less strokes, like 漢 -> 汉.

Adopt a simple form from very old scripts (eg. oracle 甲骨文）, like 雲 -> 云.

Use a simple character in the same pronunciation family to replace a part of the character, like 燈 -> 灯 (replace 登 with 丁, as pronunciation of 丁 is very close to that of 燈).

Create new characters, like 響 -> 响, 滅 -> 灭 (响 and 灭 were created for the sake of simplification).

Use an existing simple character to replace a complicate character, like 幾 -> 几.

The "newly" created simple characters are less than 100.

Well, it is a separate topic regarding traditional characters used in proper names (or signs, symbols), or some careless writers mix-use simplified and traditional characters in their articles.
So back to your question, using of simplified/traditional characters is NOT based on the context. Ideally if an article is written in simplified Chinese, then it should only use simplified characters, vice versa, unless for some special purposes (like an article written in simplified Chinese talking about simplification of traditional characters).


Origin of the slang "機車" I know that "機車" is motorcycle and it is also used as a slang word, but I was unsure of its meaning. Thus, i checked this page, and I was confused by its ambiguity when translated to English, as listed below:

  indecisive
  temperamental
  fickle/flaky/capricious
  stubborn
  demanding
  jerk

Is jerk the English equivalent of "機車"? If not, is there an English equivalent? What was the origin of this slang meaning? I cannot find any correlation between "motorcycle" and any of the meanings listed...

Thanks in advance!

It's a Taiwanese slang.

  機車：在台灣有時會用來形容人難以相處，作為一種罵人用語。由來為台灣閩南人中，部分人士對於令人不滿
      的人會以粗俗詞語「欠姦」（閩南話）來形容，甚至以「膣屄」（閩南話，發音類似「機掰」）取代「欠姦」，
      但由於感到不雅或故意作為玩笑，起於民國80年代的學生族群，有一些人「機……」第一個音發出後，第二個
      音改接「車」而成為「機車」。

ref : wikipedia of 機車


Reference for different looking ways of writing a character? Is there any online database or printed reference work where it's possible to look up a character and see it written in many different styles, like different printing fonts, cursives and pictures from classic calligraphy works?

There are in fact a few websites out there, not to mention hundreds of book titles. You may want to try guoxuedashi.com, which has one overview page for each character (eg http://www.guoxuedashi.com/zidian/672C.html) and many sub-pages, one of them indeed with a nice overview of writing styles with pictures from historical sources, such as http://shufa.guoxuedashi.com/672C/.


How to differentiate between "On Top" and "Above" If I wanted to translate the prepositional phrase "on the bed" to Chinese, I know to say "床上", but I don't know what the translation would be for saying "above/over the bed".

From what I can gather, 上 is used for both "on" and "over". Is there another word that removes the ambiguity, or some modifier?

"above/over the bed" can be translated as "在床的上面" or "在床的上方" without any ambiguity.


Help me finish translating this song 《失眠飞行》-接个吻，开一枪/沉以试/薛明媛 I’m hoping for your help translating this song. The video already has a translation, but I’m trying to translate word for word for learning purposes. I’ve gotten most of it thanks to Google translate/Yabbla, but I’m still missing some words (shown as ? below). I think I may have also made some mistakes, as I had to guess at the right meaning sometimes.
I prefer to break down the words as much as possible — for instance, translating shiju as “poetry sentence” rather than “verse.” As a learner, this helps me learn more words. So if you see any places where there is more opportunity for that, or any other improvements, please let me know! Xie xie!
Video translation
Pinyin
My translation

Want to fly low with you
Xiang yao  he   ni  dikong feixing
want  want with you low    fly

Collect oxygen with you everywhere
He   ni  daochu     shouji  yangqi
With you everywhere collect oxygen

If you are foggy, you can’t see clearly
Jiaru miwu ni  kan bu  qing
if    fog  you see not clear

It’s better to fall into my heart
Buru zhui ru    wo  de  xinli
?    ?    enter my [de] heart

I want to take you from noisy to tranquility
Xiang dai  ni  cong chaonao dao anning
Want  take you from noisy   to  quiet

I want to take you from cloudy to sunny
Xiang dai  ni  cong duoyun dao zhuan qing
Want  take you from cloudy to  ?     ?

I want to organize my shirt for you
Xiang yao  wei ni  zhengli  chenyi
Want  want for you organize shirt

Collect verses for you everywhere
Wei ni  daochu     shouji  shi    ju
For you everywhere collect poetry sentence

It’s time to give you hot milk every night
Youguole mei   wan   gei  ni  re  niunai de  shijian
?        every night give you hot milk  [de] time

The bed also reads the movie we have not finished reading
Chuang tou hai   xiezhe women mei     kan wan   de  yingpian
Bed    ?   still ?      we    haven’t finished [de] movie.

Are you still insomnia after the time of leaving
Likai hou  de  shijian li ni  shifou  hai   shimian
Leave end [de] time    ?  you whether still insomnia

I never stayed up late, I also obviously blackened my eyes (*what? I didn't understand this*)
Cong bu  ao   ye     de  wo  ye   mingxian  heile     yanquan
From not boil night [de] I   also obviously blackened eye-socket

The doll you sent is still with you
Ni  song  de  wan'ou yiran pei zai      shenbian
You sent [de] doll   still ?   located  body-side

Memory emerges from the beginning to the end and repeats itself
Jiyi   chuxian fuxian    cong kaishi dao zhongdian
Memory appears reappears from start  to  end

I want to break into the forest with you and sneak into the sea
Wo xiang he   ni  yiqi     chuang jin senlin qianru haidi
I  want  with you together rush   in  forest sneak  sea

I want to watch the sunrise to sunset with you
Wo xiang he   ni  yiqi     kan   richu   dao riluo  tianchi
I  want  with you together watch sunrise to  sunset ?

I want to fly with you through Greenwich and time (*what does this mean?*)
Wo xiang he   ni  chuanguo gelinweishi   he  shijian feixing
I  want  with you traverse Greenwich     and time    fly

I want to see you, hug you through the church and the sea
Wo xiang jian ni   chuanguo jiaotang he  ren    hai yongbao ni
I  want  see  you, through  church   and ?      sea hug     you

Passing the coffeeshop again
Zai   luguo na jia kafei  dian
Again ?     ?  the coffee shop

Familiar and strange place
Shuxi    you mosheng di didian
Familiar and strange of place

Stop and hope that your figure will appear
Zhuzu xiwang ni de shenying    hui  chuxian
stop  hope   your  body shadow will appear

Sorry for not saying anything yet
Hai   mei     shuo chukou de  baoqian
Still haven't said ?     [de] sorry

Promised promises with you
Ceng       he   ni  yueding  de  nuoyan
Previously with you agree   [de] promise

Look up and close your eyes and let the tears flow in your heart
Taitou     bi    yan  rang lei   liu  jin xinli mian
Lift head  close eyes let  tears flow in  heart side

There are limitations to this "word-by-word" or "syllable-by-syllable" approach, some of which you're encountering already with the parts you've had difficulty with. Chinese word formation, grammar, and so on don't usually map very directly onto English equivalents.
Also, I strongly recommend working from the characters in addition to the pinyin, even if you're not learning the characters yet. That way, you won't come across extremely common words such as 那 ("that") and not know what they are (哪？拿？纳？).
You can always use browser extensions such as Chrome Zhongwen plugin to get the pinyin, or run the whole thing through a characters-to-pinyin converter so you can have both side-by-side.
If you're serious about learning Chinese, you should also never use pinyin without tones. Tones aren't typically used in singing, but they are still an integral part of the pronunciation. It's said that a wrong tone causes about as much ambiguity as a wrong vowel. This may be surprising, given that they're omitted in songs, but you can consider it as being similar to how Creed songs exchange every vowel for "HEYYEEEAUGH".

That's right: In Chinese, every song is a Creed song.

With all that out of the way, here are the parts you asked about (and a couple you didn't):

低空 low altitude (not just "low"). 空 is literally "space" or "air".
不如... it would be better to...
坠入 fall into
转晴 (Of weather) to become clearer
又 again + 过了 past = 又过了...的时间 once again, it is past the time to...
人海 literally "people sea", but actually means "crowd"
路过 to go (e.g. walk, drive) past
那家 that (家 is a classifier, not sure why you have it as "the" - Chinese doesn't have articles such as "the" or "a")
说出口 to speak aloud (e.g. something one has been thinking about for a long time)
写着 to write
里 in, inside. ...的时间里 during the time that ...
床头 here it means something like "at the bedside"
黑了眼圈 blacken one's eyes - this is a reference to staying up late and getting dark circles around the eyes, not domestic violence or goth makeup
穿过格林威治 I think it's just a cute way of saying travel a long distance, through lots of different time zones. "Greenwich Mean Time" is another name for UTC+0 time zone. For comparison, China is UTC+8


Pinyin "ying" has an "o" sound? Look at 1:54 and 5:22 of this video: Chinese Pinyin in 6 Mins

Is ying really pronounced with an "o" sound?  This seems counterintuitive, especially when yin (at 1:49 in the video) sounds as a native English speaker would expect.

In IPA transcriptions of Chinese, ying is usually written as: [iŋ]. This is exactly like yin, except with an "ng" sound. However, as you noticed, some people pronounce it a little differently. This paper (page 9) transcribes the alternate pronunciation as [iɘŋ]. Wouldn't really call it an "o" sound, but the vowel is different than that of the yin.


How to use 了 in Chinese? I know 了 is a indicator for past tense in Chinese. But it seems there are more usages for this character, so how to use 了 in Chinese?

I think you should probably look it up in a dictionary. Foreign learners won't remember, and native speakers can't make a list, native language is almost an instinct, we won't remember every usages.


Is the following correct ? (sign in Chinese seen in Thailand) It says:
请勿餐和饮料进来
Personally I would say:
请把餐和饮料拿不进来

Actually, I don't think that's good enough. From Chinese slogans' use condition it's better to be“请勿自带餐品（食品）和饮料入内” or “禁止外带餐品饮料”


What are people saying when I buy something using the exact change? When I buy something and give the exact change, the cashier will almost always say "[something] hǎo", but I'm not sure what [something] is.

Question: What are people saying when I buy something using the exact change?

It sounds like "gèng hǎo" or "zhàng hǎo" or something along these lines.  It might possibly be 更好, or it could be something else.  I'm not sure.

It is most likely "剛好" [gang1 hao3] - "just exactly right"

Short for : "不多，不少， 剛剛好"  (not more, not less, just exactly right)

The cashier say that to confirm it is the exact amount of money for the purchase (so the purchase is accepted, but no change will be given)

Or

It could be "正好"  [zheng4 hao3] - "just exactly right"

Short for : 正好 (X amount) - confirming the amount of money you give him or her is the exact amount for the purchase

Chances are, you heard them both in different time from different cashiers. Both are what a cashier could say when someone pays with exact change.


回答 vs. 回复 vs. 回应 vs.答复： What is proper usage? I am trying to understand the appropriate way to say "reply" or "respond."  Could you please help me disambiguate the above listed ways of saying "to reply，" and any other that are commonly used?  I assume they cannot be used interchangeably?

The examples that come to mind for every day usage are the following, but please do not necessarily restrict your answer to these examples:

"I'm so sorry I took so long to respond to your message!"

"He was not happy with my reply"

"‘Of course!' the man replied!"

"I waited for a long time, but still no response"

回答often used when somebody answer your question, usually face to face.
回复often used when they reply you via text or phone.
回应is used when you done something, others do another thing in respond.
答复is used when you ask question or have some petition to the government or other big agency, you will get a respond from them.

In your example,

  "I'm so sorry I took so long to respond to your message!"

should use 回复

  "‘Of course!' the man replied!"

should use 回答

  "I waited for a long time, but still no response"

should use 答复

as for

  "He was not happy with my reply"

it will mainly rely on the context you are in,


What do "BS" and "BH" mean in the 现代汉语词典? What are the meanings of BS and BH as seen in the screenshot below?

I originally thought my guess was just a wild stab, but after checking the 现代汉语词典 website, it didn't look as wild as I had thought.
I think BS stands for "bu shou" (radical), and BH stands for "bi hua" (strokes). In your example, 你·has five strokes, not counting the two in the radical.

Please check other entries to verify this. If my guess is correct, 她 should read: BS:女  BH:3


What is the difference between 总是 and 一直? I've always (no pun intended) wondered what the difference is between the two words. I thought they both meant always, but I've never quite grasped in what context they should be used.

Could anyone shed any light on this?

They are synonyms.

总是 places an emphasis on frequency.

  他上课总是迟到 = He kept being late for class all the time.

一直 places an emphasis on consistency.

  他一直是个好孩子 = He has been a good kid through the years.


What does "一概而论“ mean？ I’m getting mixed answers to what 一概而论  actually means. What would you translate this sentence as

但是， 我们不能将这位作者的观点一概而论。

Is this the only way it can be used?

Your sentence translates as:

But we cannot generalize the standpoint of this author.

It is most often used together with 不能 or 不可 (i.e. in negative sentences, observe the 不 in both cases) or even as a noun, e.g. 这样的一概而论: Such generalization/This kind of generalization.


method to type Cangjie secondary signs? Is there a method available to type all the secondary signs for Cangjie as listed in these two charts:
http://www.pascal-man.com/navigation/faq-java-browser/image-cangjie/cangjie-1.gif

http://www.pascal-man.com/navigation/faq-java-browser/image-cangjie/cangjie-key.jpg

I did a search and found this thread but I am still unsure of how to type these specific signs.
Typing Chinese radicals?

They are auxiliary glyphs (輔助字形).

For example,

According to the wikibooks the rules to input them are as follows.

  倉頡字母單獨成字時，取一碼即可。
  The basic glyph (radical) that forms a word just takes ONE code.
  For example, 日 is input with the key "A".

  輔助字形單獨成字時，則須依拆碼規則拆碼。
  An auxiliary glyph that forms a word should be decomposed according to the rules of decomposition.
  For example, ⺜ is split into 冂(B), 一(M) and 一(M).

However, there are two more requirements in order to input them.

It is coded in Unicode.
(otherwise you have to make your own fonts)
The input method engine you use includes it.
(or you can make your own table)

For example,

⺜, ⺝ and 冃 are encoded and can be input with the keys BMM.

 must be decomposed into 囗(W) and 丨(L).
Since it is not encoded, it cannot be input directly.


How to translate 举杯邀明月，对影成三人? Specifically, I'm trying to translate a paragraph of 琅琊榜, and I find poetry particularly difficult as it has imagery, metaphor, and meaning.

云氏庭院的花前柳下，依然是举杯邀明月，对影成三人。

Within context, this describes the state of a beautiful woman, nearing thirty and still single. You can say, "Yun Piaoliao still remained single".

If you go by imagery, it's something like:

"In the Yun family garden, she was still raising a glass to the moon and inviting her shadow to become a party of three."

If you go by reference, the phrase quotes 《月下独酌》 by 李白, which is basically an ode to loneliness.

How would you translate it without losing the poetry, metaphor, and meaning?

邀明月 means "invite the bright moon"

李白 felt lonely drinking by himself, so he invited the moon to drink with him (the moon was not a person, but there was no one else, so let's count it as one.)

对影 means "facing (his own) shadow"

Well, in his drunken state, his own shadow looked like another man raising a cup with him.

成三人 ( The moon, I myself, and my shadow became three people)

"Let all three of us, the moon, I myself, and my shadow drink together!"

  举杯邀明月，对影成三人

"I raise my cup and invite the moon to drink with me. Along with my shadow, we become three drinking friends "  (describing how alone he felt that he had to drink with imaginary friends)

  Within context, this describes the state of a beautiful woman, nearing thirty and still single. You can say, "Yun Piaoliao still remained single".

The narrative was comparing her situation to the one of 李白 when he wrote that poem - " utterly alone with no companion"

  云氏庭院的花前柳下，依然是举杯邀明月，对影成三人。

"In the Yun family courtyard, in front the flowers and under the willow tree, she was still alone,  just like in the poem: "Raise the cup and invite the moon, along with my shadow, it makes a party of three."


What is this de 地 or deyu 地与 doing in ...只有选好了工作地点，才能有选择地与招聘单位联系和洽谈...? I can't see how this hangs together. What is '有选择地‘ doing here? This comes from a 听力专项训练。 The sentence is:

  选择工作地点是应届毕业生找工作的一个重要步骤，因为只有选好了工作地点，才能有选择地与招聘单位联系和洽谈，才能迈出与用人单位联系的第一步。

In a similar vein I found:

我们不得不悲伤地与我们的客人们告别。 If I remove 与我们的客人们 it still seems to make sense.
我们不得不悲伤地告别。

But if I take: 才能有选择地与招聘单位联系和洽谈， and remove 与招聘单位

才能有选择地系和洽谈 then how should I interpret '有选择地' ??

What is the function of '有选择地' in my sentence?

Edit: Could it mean: 'optimally'? 'optimally relate and discuss'??

http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/33/

  [粵] dei6 | [國] de5

  [suffix] used after an adjective (usually polysyllabic) to form a literary adverbial phrase

Example:

巧妙 (clever) | 巧妙地 (cleverly)
強烈 (strong) | 強烈地 (strongly)
準確 (accurate) | 準確地 (accurately)

有选择(selective) may not be a common adjective, but 有选择地 is still a literary adverbial phrase.

有选择地 与 招聘单位 联系

与(with) is preposition
招聘单位 (hiring department) is the object
有选择地  is  the adverb modifies the verb 联系

One more example:

無條件投降 "unconditional surrender"  is adjective + noun
無條件地投降 "unconditionally surrender" is adverb and verb

Update:

Seems like that dictionary might left something out.

有选择 is not an adjective,  it is a descriptive phrase, functions as an adjective only when it is a part of an adverbial phrase 有选择地.

Example:

Descriptive phrase:

漫不經心 ( not paying attention)
假仁假義 ( fake kindness)
貪得無厭 ( greed with no limit)

Adverbial phrase:

漫不經心地 ( absentmindedly )
假仁假義地 ( pretentiously )
貪得無厭地 ( greedily)


Why such a bizarre placement of 关于 in 请问关于解释《里》和《内》的区别? I came across this: 请问关于解释《里》和《内》的区别.

I have googled and "请问关于解释" happens on the Internet. However, according to what I have read here, it's always placed after the verb. Is 解释 not a verb here? Why such a bizarre word order?

请问解释关于《里》和《内》的区别 (would you please tell/answer me about explaining the difference between《里》and《内》)

This sentence is awkward because 请问 (would you please tell me) is a set phrase that should followed by a question instead of a demand/ request "解释关于" (explain about).

The better phrasing would be:

请解释关于 《里》和《内》的区别 (Please explain about the difference between 《里》and《内》)

关于(about) can be omitted

or

请问《里》和《内》有什麼区别? (would you please tell/ answer me what is the difference between 《里》and《内》?)

  请问关于解释《里》和《内》的区别 (would you please tell/ answer me about explaining the difference between《里》and《内》)

Even worse! Not only 请问 is followed by a demand/ request '解释' instead of a question, the order of 关于 and 解释 is also wrong. It is not "关于解释" (about explain) but  "解释关于" (explain about)

"请问关于解释《里》和《内》的区别" is just a badly constructed sentence.


What does “射個三分波” mean? I was watching a video from Hong Kong’s Apple Daily newspaper, and they mentioned the phrase in question as such: “港鐵就射個三分波 叫我們問政府”.

My guess is that 三分波 refers to an action in some sport, possibly football or basketball since “波” means “ball” in Cantonese. However, I do not understand which action it refers to, as well as its extended meaning which was its intended application.

Is it a common phrase in Cantonese? How would Cantonese speakers use the phrase beyond its literal meaning?

The link to the news report is as follows: https://hk.news.appledaily.com/local/realtime/article/20191230/60431189

“港鐵就射個三分波 叫我們問政府”
MTR just shot a three-pointer, told us to ask the government

"射三分波" is obviously a basketball term.
It is not a common term, but a great use of metaphor.
Imagine: The MTR spokesman was surrounded by reporters asking him tough questions, just like a basketball player surrounded by opposing team's guards who wouldn't let him break free.
To get away, that player can choose to drive right through them, (talk his way out) or get rid of the ball and shoot a three pointer instead (The metaphor is "throw a three-pointer" not "score a three-pointer") Throw the question to the government's direction hoping the reporters would leave him alone.
People who like sports often use sport terms metaphorically. For example, compare a business gamble that yielded great result to a "home-run".
Hong Kong people like sports too. If you say "He is yellow-carded by his girlfriend" people would understand that you mean "he got a (break-up) warning from his girlfriend"


Why is proton called 质子 and charge called 电荷? For instance, in medical terminology, we can tease out the meaning from the words. But I cannot tell why we use 质 for proton and 荷 for charge.

质 in Chinese mean inseparable (不可分割) such as 质数 （prime number）

Another explaination, 质：事物的根本特性.

https://www.zhihu.com/question/38322079


How would you say: "This is my family photo taken two years ago of my younger brother's 10th birthday party." I want to say

This is a family photo taken two years ago of my younger brother's 10th birthday party.

I think I can break it up in separate sentences, e.g.
这是我全家的合影，是两年前拍了。我弟弟的十岁生日的时候。
But is there a way of saying it all in one sentence?
Here are my attempts:

这(张)是我全家的合影，是两年前的弟弟的十岁生日时所拍了。
这两年前的全家的合影，是我弟弟的十岁生日时所拍了。
两年前的弟弟的十岁生日时，我们照了这张片，是我全家的合影。

Which one do you think makes the most sense? If they are incorrect, can you please provide a correction with an explanation?
多谢！

我认为这样就可以了

这张全家福是两年前在我弟弟十岁生日聚会时拍的。


Meaning: 好棋? (Good move?) Seems like I'm not the only one confused about this, the country is coming up with slogans nobody understands.

Recently there have been a lot of signs put up with things like 中国前进 written on them, but the confusing part:

  中国好棋!

Say what?

Is this the same as 好球? Just 棋 and not 球? Good move?

Yes,好棋 means "a good move"; either in chess-style games or, by analogy, anything related to a contest of strategy (e.g. 普京毁了一步好棋, "Putin screwed up a (previous) good move".)

The phrase in question, 中国好棋, is a bit different. That originated from this poster,
where it is the title of a poem:

  对弈小神童，尚在长成中。游戏无规矩，打闹是常情。但凡说故事，必须中国赢。落子成定局，欢呼轻高音。中国我爱你，年少正青春。

The character 好 has two meanings:

adjective "good"
verb "to like"

The latter meaning is the one intended in the phrase ``. So the phrase is saying "China likes chess" (or Go or generic board games). This can be inferred from the context provided by the poem, the visual emphasis on the 好 character, and also because a subject (中国) precedes it and an object 棋 follows it.

The other possible meaning for the phrase is something along the lines of a "Chinese good move". That doesn't fit the poster's context (though you can interpret it as a pun), but the phrase can be used with that meaning too.
For instance, Chinese chess prodigy 侯逸凡 (Hou Yifan) has talked about the awakening Chinese dragon making a 中国好棋 on the chessboard of the world.

For reference, the poster:


Difference between 我一句汉语也没听懂 and 我一句汉语也听不懂 （1）刚来中国时，我一句汉语也没听懂。
（2）刚来中国时，我一句汉语也听不懂。

For me:
(1) states the situation that "I cannot understand Chinese sayings" without pointing out any reasons
(2) uses potential complement "听不懂" that means "I cannot understand" because not used to Chinese speaking speed or not know Chinese, etc...
Is what I think correct? If anything goes wrong, please let me know.

我一句汉语也没听懂: I may know some Chinese, but I don't understand what's been said.
我一句汉语也听不懂: I know nothing about Chinese, so I can't understand anything that's been said.


Is there a good monolingual learner's dictionary for Chinese? Something that can be useful for an intermediate language student of a language is a monolingual learner's dictionary, which uses a restricted set of vocabulary to define a much larger set of headwords. A particularly impressive example of this for English is Learn These Words Dictionary, which starts with just 60 vocabulary words and builds up in several layers to the 2000 words used in the definitions in the 70,000 Longman English Dictionary. Does anything like this exist for Chinese?

i would recommend the 國語辭典. it’s authoritative, maintained by the 教育部, of taiwan:

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cbdic/search.htm

further, you can download it freely (cc 3.0 licence):

https://resources.publicense.moe.edu.tw/index.html