Difference between 到, 到了, and了 to indicate completed action? It seems 到, 到了, 了 can all be used to indicate completed actions.

What's the difference in terms of indicating an action has finished?

For instance, this grammar page offers a number of examples:

你想到了什么好办法 ？
Nǐ xiǎngdào le shénme hǎo bànfǎ?
Have you thought of any good methods yet?

我们今天学了很多生词 。
Wǒmen jīntiān xué le hěn duō shēngcí.
Today we learned many new words.

In the first example, does the meaning change if you say 想到 instead of 想到了? What if you say 想了?

In the second example, does the meaning change if you say 学到了 instead of 学了? How about 学到?

想 is the verb

到 is the result complement in 想到 ('think and successfully recall'/ 'think and successfully come up with')

想到 does not indicate what tense the action is in. E.g. 將會想到 (future tense); 此时想到(present tense); 曾想到 (past perfect tense)

了 indicates 'completed' action (but not an indicator of past tense)

想到 indicates a successful action (you think and come up with something)
想了 indicates a completed action (you thought but might not had came up with anything)
想到了 indicates an successful and completed action (you thought and recalled or  came up with something)


Where can I find 下江人's article《释四川话 (二)》from《旅行杂志》1945/7/18? 四川方言词源 has the following information under the entry for 搊贺:

又，下江人《释四川话(二)》： “救济□人，或扶助他人成 功，称为‘抽合’。”(《旅行杂志》1945/7/18)此记音。

The article is then referenced again under the entry for 打启发:

又，下江人 《释四川话 (二)》： “打抽丰称 ‘打起发’。” (《旅行杂志》1945/7/18)

CADAL (China Academic Digital Associative Library) has an issue here: 旅行杂志

Which says:

民国三十四年

which apparently works out to:
》
1945
then the next part says:

第十九卷第七期

Vol. 19/NO. 7
but the table of contents also says:

I'm not sure what 四川方言词源's reference of《旅行杂志》1945/7/18 exactly means.
1945 is the year; if 7 is the month that corroborates with the issue on CADAL which says 七月 on the cover.
p. 2 says:

7/31
Does that mean 《旅行杂志》1945/7/18 would be the earlier issue: Vol. 19/No. 6?
but then that article says:

Vol. 19/No. 6
六月三十日

1945 Vol. 19/No. 7 does have an article titled:《释四川话》| the reference in 四川方言词源 says《释四川话 (二)》though - with a #2. I'm struggling to figure this out though.
Any ideas?

another example of a reference from the same book looks like this:

白虹《四川方言 (川行杂记之 六)》： “锅块，烧饼也。” (《自修》 1941/162/24)

'41 is most likely the year
and another:

(中华书局， 1938/182)

The notation system works like:

year/issue/page

Making: 1945/7/18, issue number seven from 1945 page 18.

There are three parts in the one magazine.

Part one can be found on page 8:

Part two is on page 18:

Part three is on page 35:


Meaning of text on a picture I have a piece of artwork, a paper rubbing (see the images attached) with a piece of text on, which I'd like to know the meaning of. I suspect it is in Chinese, but I'm unsure.

Online tools like https://www.newocr.com/ and http://www.i2ocr.com/free-online-chinese-traditional-ocr for character recognition have failed me completely, and I don't have an Android phone to try Google Translate on the image.

I have checked the list of characters at on the list http://www.zein.se/patrick/3000char.html. Number 49 is somewhat similar to the last character on the drawing, and from the topic I'm guessing it has something to do with distance, but I couldn't get any further than that. Checking for Japanese as well, I have skimmed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_j%C5%8Dy%C5%8D_kanji and the last character on the drawing appears as number 314, meaning "rut"; this is rather unhelpful. The size of the rubbing is 47 x 35 cm, the size of the text on it is 2 x 6 cm.

Could you please let me know the meaning or point me in the right direction? I'd also appreciate any hints about the cultural context, if there's any.

TL;DR

It's a rubbing of 此君車. The proper translation is

  This (is) the master's chariot

as said in Wang Dingwei's answer. The man on the chariot could not be a king, because the structure of the chariot was just too poor for a king.

Update Jun 20, 2018: add the very original source of the rubbing.

Long Answer

I am not an expert on stone carvings (畫像石) of Han Dynasty, but I happen to have read some volumes of the series book Chinese Stone Carving Corpora – Stone Carvings of Han Dynasty in Shandong (中國畫像石全集: 山東漢畫像石). I will try to cover information of this rubbing as complete as possible, but be aware, my conjectures are not necessarily correct.

Where did the rubbing come from?

In the 1970s, 中国国际书店 (China International Book Store, now the name is changed to 中国国际图书贸易总公司, China International Book Trading Corporation) compiled a catalog for a collection of rubbings (the rubbings were made by 汲古閣 in 1960s–1970s):

  中国拓片 Chinese Rubbings

  The preface of this book said:

    中国国际书店经营出口的拓片，有墨拓、彩拓两大类，制作精工，形象、拓墨均能保持原貌，可供艺术爱好者收藏、欣赏。

    本目录所列各式拓片，均有现货，欢迎订购。

    The rubbings exported by China International Book Store mainly include two categories: ink rubbings (black and white) and color rubbings. They are well made and the image and rubbing ink can keep the original. They can serve art lovers for collecting and appreciating purpose.

    We have the rubbings listed in this catalog in stock. Orders are welcomed.

The rubbing in the question is one of them listed in this book, numbered "BS-2014" with a brief description:

  依据汉代山东嘉祥画像石拓制而成。一辆马车。乘车者是主人，手持缰绳拉马，后为随从，高举华盖侍候。

  Rubbed according to the stone carvings of Han Dynasty in Jiaxiang, Shandong Province. One chariot. The rider is the master, taking the rein pulling the horse; the follower is the servant, holding the canopy aloft.

  No.: BS-2014

Other similar rubbings of chariots in this book are

  功曹車 Head Clerk's chariot

  No.: BS-2071

  尉卿車 Head of Security's chariot

  No.: BS-2072

Story behind the rubbing

Before introducing what this kind of rubbings were used for, let's enjoy the "此君車馬" rubbing first:

  武氏祠前石室西壁上石畫像
  Stone carving on the West Wall, Front Stone Room, Wu Family Shrine

  約東漢靈帝建寧元年(公元一八六年)
  縱一一七厘米 橫二〇三厘米
  清代乾隆五十一年(公元一七八六年)山東省嘉祥縣武宅山村北出土
  嘉祥縣武氏祠保管所藏
  In the first year of Jianning of Emperor Ling of Han (186 AD)
  Height: 117cm, Width: 203cm
  Unearthed in the north of Wu Family Village, Jiaxiang County, Shandong Province, in the 51st year of Qianlong of Qing Dynasty (1786 AD)
  Kept in Preservation Institute of Wu Family Shrine of Jiaxiang County

  原石編號「前石室五」。畫面自上而下分為三層，層間分別隔以雙菱紋，連弧紋，花紋帶和橫欄，下邊飾鳥、獸、雲龍紋和連弧紋。第一層，銳頂部份，中刻西王母端坐於交龍上，兩側有羽人、玉兔、蟾蜍、奇禽異獸。第二層，刻孔門弟子一列二十二人，皆冠服左向恭立。第三層，刻一列車騎左向行。畫像殘泐，有榜題「調間二人」、「此騎吏」、「此君車馬」、「主簿車」、「主記車」。右端一人恭送。
  The original number of the stone is 前石室五 (5th of Front Stone Room). There are three stories in the picture. Double diamond patterns, Connected arc patterns, flower patterns and horizontal bars separate different stories. On the top story, the acme, Queen Mother of the West sitting on two crossed dragons is carved in the middle, with bird men, Jade Rabbit, Toad, supernatural birds and beasts at both sides. On the middle story, twenty-two apprentices of Confucius with costumes standing respectfully facing leftwards are carved. One the bottom story, a row of chariots heading left are carved – The image is damaged, and there are titles "調間二人" (two Tiaojian's), "此騎吏" (This cavalry [is a] officer), "此君車馬" (This [is] the master's chariot and horses), "主簿車" (Head Clerk's chariot), "主記車" (Head Secretary's chariot), and there's one man cordially seeing them off on the right.

  (The "此君車馬" part. Full image can be downloaded here (Format: djvu).)

As said in 中國畫像石全集 Chinese Stone Carving Corpora (vol. 1), "中國畫像石概論 An Introduction to Chinese Stone Carvings":

  漢代的畫像石，存在於石祠堂、石闕、墓葬和石棺之上，主要表現當時的各種信仰及主人的身份地位、生活境況。三國兩晉以後，這種表現手法漸被壁畫取代，畫像石迅速衰落，在北朝至隋唐五代，只在一些棺槨和棺床之上還能見到。再往後，則僅在某些石質碑版上還有類似的藝術品，但主要是用線刻手法表現的單幅畫面，也包括一些天文圖、地圖和城池及宮殿、官署、寺觀、園苑的平面圖。就整個畫像石藝術來說，已至尾聲階段。
  The stone picture carvings of Han Dynasty existed in stone shrines, stone watchtowers, tombs, and stone coffins, depicting the religions at that time as well as the master's social status and life situation. After the era of the three kingdoms and Jin Dynasty, this kind of artistic technique, stone picture carving, declined and was gradually replaced by murals. From Northern Dynasty to Sui, Tang, and Five Dynasties, only on coffins and coffin beds could stone picture carvings be seen. And afterwards, only some stone boards had similar artworks, but they were mainly single frame expressed by the line carving technique, and included plans of some astronomic graphs, maps, cities, palaces, government offices, temples, and parks. However, for the art form of stone picture carving, it almost came to an end.

To be continued ... and now two years have passed. It doesn't actually cost me two years to find the answer to my doubts, but driven by the hard life (not really) as a software engineer, I've nearly forgotten the responsibility to finish this answer. Fortunately, the fate leads me here again.

Conclusion: the rubbing is a modern copy to a relatively old copy to the stone carving in 武梁祠後壁 (back wall of Wu family cemetery, Jiaxiang, Shandong Province, China), which dates back to the mid-2nd century. Currently, the stone is kept in 嘉祥縣文物保管所 (Jiaxiang cultural artifact museum).

  The relatively new rubbing (real rubbing but not copy) is

   OP's "rubbing" is at the bottom left corner. Zoom in:

Note that, 此君車 does not appear on the original source, so it is a mistake that might come from some other copies.

As you can imagine, there must be many versions of rubbings and copies appearing in history because the stone is so old. In fact, OP's "rubbing" probably copied the image from a relatively old book 金石索 (Research on Epigraphy) authored by Feng Yunpeng and Feng Yunyuan in 1836. This book contained copies of epigraphs. Note that again, there's no 此君車 on this old copy either.


What is the significance or meaning of 筹 in 略胜一筹？ This text is talking about pearls.

另外，相比于淡水珍珠，海水珍珠多为有核珍珠，尺寸较大，表面更平滑，外观上更胜一筹。

更胜一筹，  略胜一筹：slightly better, a cut above.

Maybe, this comes from an ancient drinking game:

壶矢。古代投壶用的签子，形如箭笴[arrow]

You got more arrows in the pot than your opponent, he had to drink more 白酒 as punishment.

The Chinese like drinking games! (Me too!)

baidu: 笴: 箭杆 gě, gǎn

Maybe 筹 was the classifier for 笴?? What is 筹 in 更胜一筹？

筹 (chip) was a counting tool in ancient time. It was used by mathematicians for calculating.

運筹 was then used as a metaphor for the calculations strategists and military experts did

Idiom: "運筹帷幄" (moving chips inside the tent) means "strategizing in headquarters" ( before go the field or not even need to be in the field)

胜一筹 literally means "one step ahead" and it evolved to mean "one up"; "bested (v)" and  "a level above"

略胜一筹 (slightly better by one calculating step) means "slightly a step ahead" or "at a slightly higher level"

筹 is not a classifier but a noun for "level" in modern Chinese, e.g. "技高数筹" (a few levels higher in skill); "力胜一筹" (one level higher in strength)

  更胜一筹， 略胜一筹：'slightly better', 'a cut above' are correct translations


A 理解 and 了解 comparison I know the question regarding the difference has been asked but the answers didn't really help me in the other post. I'm trying to recall what my Chinese teacher once taught me.

理解 is when you can understand why something/someone is how it is, but 了解 is more of a deeper connection or understanding of someone.

For example: If you went to an area with a lot of poverty and lived there for a bit, could you say that you finally 了解 them? Sorry for the mix of Chinese and English haha.

Is this correct?

Chinese verbs are usually made up according to this formula:
modificator + modificated or modificator + a verb to modify.
So when I seen that 理解 and 了解 ending with the same charecter (解), this usually means that there is a slight modification of a verb 解(to divide) is in play.

So let's find the roots of the word:

  理　(11)　リ　 As per 里# (long strip) + 玉 jewel → veins or streaks in a
  piece of jade → logic; reason (← lines/threads of a reasoning
  process ← vein; streak) → principle; natural science.

So here we already see the connotation which 理 brings: lines/patterns of reasoning. Now add this to 解 and you have "to understand解(split/crack) by reasoning理".

Now about 了 which is 瞭 simplified:

  瞭　(17)　リョウ　 As per 尞# as described in 僚 (circular continuum) + 目 eye →
  observe from a high place, enjoying a clear panoramic view → *clear-sighted; clarity.

Now you add everything up and you have: "to understand 解 clearly or by observation (not by reasoning理)"


What is 要 doing in 每天她要慢跑? In an exercise, I came across this sentence with the translation:

每天早上她都要慢跑一个小时。
Měi tiān zǎoshɑnɡ tā dōu yào màn pǎo yí ɡè xiǎoshí.
She goes to jog every morning for an hour.

What is the meaning of 要 in this sentence?
I know from Auxiliary verb "yao" and its multiple meanings from resources.allsetlearning, 要 has several meanings:

Want / need. However, any of these meanings appear in the translation.
Going to, referring to a future clause. But, also, this sentence seems to be a constant happening every day, not something happening only on the future.

Maybe the translation is incomplete? Otherwise, I don't see any difference in suppressing 要 from the sentence.

每天早上她都要慢跑一个小时。

I disagree with Tang Ho's answer ["要 only indicates "needs to/ has to" here"].
要 in the sentence denotes the sense of 将要 (going to).  It doesn't necessarily mean 必须，必要(has to).
The sentence is just stating a fact that she would be running for an hour every morning.  It might look inconsistent or ungrammatical from English stand point.  But I can't think of a better way to explain it in English.
都 here is to emphasize she is always doing it.


Can someone identify these marks on the bottom of a blue porcelain bowl? (Characters identified: 中王國 賈泊氏) Can someone please identify these marks on the bottom of a bowl?

賈中
伯王
氏國

It's probably 中王国 贾泊氏.

And I did some search and found that this picture should come from some antique forums. However there's no canonical record for it. This piece of porcelain is probably modern made. On this site, a person said:

  It's "fake scholars will finally subjugate the nation".

(read left to right instead of right to left)

(假博士终亡国, which has the same pronunciation as the original words)


Why are the two 才s used in 很多小朋友以为长大了以后才能自由自在。他们不知道，他们才是最自由自在的? The page I followed on Instagram uploaded a picture complete with its caption that says :

  很多小朋友以为长大了以后才能自由自在。他们不知道，他们才是最自由自在的。

They also provide this translation :

  Many children think they can 自由自在 after they grow up. They don't know that actually, they are the one who is the most 自由自在.

What I want to ask is, why do they use 才能 instead of 能? Isn't 才能 a noun? (Cmiiw).

Next, why do they put 才 between 他们 and 是? What does 才 mean here? Does it refer to the word "actually" in the translation? But doesn't 才mean "ability/talent"?

才 is ability, talent when used as a noun.

In your examples, however, it's used as adverb. The first 才 in 很多小朋友以为长大了以后才能自由自在 is used as the sense 1 below and the second 才 in 他们不知道，他们才是最自由自在的 is the sense 2 below.

  表示只有在某种条件下，或由于某种原因、目的，然后怎么样。
  由于抢救及时，这批图书才保存了下来。
  强调确定的语气。多与语助词“呢”连用。


Help to translate "红烧肉" to a foreigner How to translate "红烧肉" to a foreigner.

The braise in soy sauce meat？

I've eaten and cooked this dish many times before, and either "soy-braised pork" or "pork braised in soy sauce" would be how I would describe it to an English-speaker (the '肉' in this dish refers to pork, normally pork belly).


Min Nan expressions: spelling, meaning and pronunciation? There is a song called 三声无奈, "three times helpless". It is in Min, and it has lyrics that can be written as:

  一时贪着阿君仔媠 | A moment of craving, oh, you are beautiful
  痴情目睭格眛眛 | [My] infatuated eyes [I] (ke-bui-bui = ??)
  为君仔假爱来吃亏 | Because of your false love I grieve
  害阮目屎四喃垂 | Which makes my tears (si lang tsui = ??)

  二更过了月斜西 | Two _geng_s have past, the moon is westward slanted *
  想阮那会命即歹 | I think of how I could have such a bad (sad?) life
  花开专望阿君仔采 | The flowers blossoming, I hope you care [about me]
  无疑侥幸不应该 | Undoubtedly you shouldn't have changed your heart

  站在窗边啊 | I stand by the window
  举头看天星 | I look up and see the stars
  哎哟心酸悲 | Ah I'm so sad
  害阮每日 | Which makes me every day
  为伊目屎滴是 | (shed? ti-si) tears for him
  哎哟啊喂 | Ay goodness!
  心阿肝我苦啊 | Darling, I grieve
  哎哟心肝 | Ah darling
  哎哟我苦啊喂 | Ah I grieve

  三声无奈哭悲哀 | Three times helpless I cry and am sad
  月娘敢知阮心内 | Does the moon know my heart?
  失恋伤心流目屎 | I lost my love, I'm sad, I shed tears
  好花变成相思栽 | Beautiful flowers become years of pining

*A geng is a part of the night, quoting my Min Nan reference «古代將一夜分為五更，每更約二小時» (the night was divided into 5 _geng_s equalling 2 hours each), so after 2 _geng_s we are halfway through the night and the moon is probably past the zenith and going down to the west (westward slanted).

I'm trying to understand this song. Most of it is clear. There are those 4 expressions though:

格眛眛, as spelled over at Mojim, 格瞇瞇 in the video's captions, sounds something like "ke-bui-bui" in the video; it looks like a set phrase of the Min-typical form verb + repeated syllable; my Min reference does't give that 格 as a verb, and the only verbs pronounced keh mean "separate" (e.g. 隔); for the repeated bui, I could only found 微 and 蝛; could it be 隔微微, keh-bui-bui, "sepaate delicately", or "open [a little] gently"?
四喃垂 in the Mojim spelling, 四洒垂 in the video's captions, sounds something like "si lam sui" (or maybe "si lang sui") in the video; from the context it seems to mean something like "fall copiously" or "shed in abundance" (referred to tears); the given spelling transliterates to "sì nauh suî", so the second character appears to be wrong; first one means 4, second one means "mutter", last one means "drip"; the "mutter" character might be a Mandarin phonetic loan, being "nán" in Mandarin, whereas the 洒 | sá character could be a semantic loan, since it means "shed" (e.g. 洒眼泪, an equivalent of 流眼泪 found in Wang Jie's Ming-jat ngo si seoi); so what is that character? What does this mean:
滴是 as in the captions, which seems about right, seen as that transliterates to "tih sī", which matches what I hear; IIRC I just saw "tih" listed as a 近义词 of "suî" above, so that makes it mean "drip"; I'm not entirely sure what the "sī" is for though; my Min reference tells me that one sense is «加在詞尾，表示動作的進行狀態或表現一種情狀», which would mean it roughly means an ongoing action (think -ing forms in English); so the sentence would mean "Which makes me every day go on crying for him" or the likes; is that right?
三声 everywhere, "sann siann"; I took it for "three times", meaning more or less "extremely"; is that correct? Is it to any extent common to use 声 for "times" instead of 次?
专望 everywhere, "tsuan-bāng"; is this a single verb? And in any case, what does it mean? "To hope", as I took it to?
采 everywhere, "tshái"; since 無採 | bô-tshái means "可惜", I thought 採 alone might mean "to care", and translated accordingly; is this correct?

Edit

According to zhihu.com, 悄咪咪 is Sichuanese for 悄悄的, "quietly". Now Sichuanese and Min are different dialects, and "quietly" doesn't quite fit the context (what is she doing quietly?), and 悄 is tshiáu in Min, not ke or similar, but could this have anything to do with my ke-bui-bui?

This site will be the reference for the whole answer.

That site suggests 格微微 | keh-bui-bui: seems I guessed the "bui" correctly. Maybe the "keh" is some kind of suffix to "bak-tshiu"? Actually, that site seems to suggest writing "keh" as 激, glossed as 裝作, "pretend". Given the gloss, I suggest 假 would be better, so "假微微 | ké bui-bui". The site glosses the whole sentence as 因為自己癡心貪愛，眼睛只微微張開，沒有認出情郎的真面目, or "Because of one's infatuation and passionate love, only open one's eyes a little, and not recognize the loved one's true colors".
That site just gave me what is probably the correct character for "lam": 湳 | làm… but "mud"? What would "mud" be doing here? Maybe this is in fact not the right character… Well it glosses the expression as 涕泗橫流, "to weep uncontrollably". Maybe I should spell it 泗湳垂 | sì-làm suî, literally "mucus-mud drip". Tone of "sì" uncertain, copied that of 四. Yep, that's the characters the site suggests.
Too bad the site doesn't have that part…
三聲無奈哭悲哀：「三聲無奈」，再三喊無可奈何，這種時候，我是不會只喊三聲。 I don't get this. Does 三聲 mean 再三 or 喊三聲? According to this, it 旧指军中用以传令的金鼓、笳、铎之声 (used to indicate the sounds of the gold drum, whistle, and bell used in the army to transmit orders". I suppose that, if all three sounded, the order was "complete" (cfr. 三声既全, with the three sounds it's already complete), so in the song it might mean "completely". Asked a follow-up.
「專望」為「特別期望」, so 專望 means 特別期望, i.e. "especially hope". So I was about right there.
The site glosses the whole sentence as 一心想嫁給情郎，如同花朵只仰望你來採, but doesn't gloss tshái separately. That big gloss means "wholeheartedly wishes to marry her loved one, like a flower just looking up to you so you pluck it". So tshái is literally "pluck", and the flower to pluck is the singer. So the whole sentence should translate roughly to "[I] have blossomed, and hope you will pluck [me]".

Also, the metaphor of her being compared to a flower is in the last line too: "A beautiful flower has become a pining plant", meaning she, the beautiful blossoming flower of verse 2, has turned to a sad plant full of lovesickness.


What could be the meaning of 主治陳進陽草菅人命, 插管插到死, 腎臟料 and 人命? What could be the context of banners put up in front of a hospital with the following text:

  主治陳進陽草菅人命
  插管插到死
  腎臟料 人命

For the name and location of the hospital, or a high resolution version, see the image as I uploaded it to Wikimedia Commons today, which shows the banners:

草菅人命 (disregard for human life)

插管插到死 (cause death due to intubation)

腎臟科 (Division of Nephrology)

人命 (human life)

According to the website of the 台北榮總腎臟科, 陳進陽 is an attending physician (主治醫師) of the Division of Nephrology (腎臟科).

Someone claimed that the doctor, Jinn-Yang Chen (陳進陽), has caused death of a patient because of medical malpractice (intubation).


Chinese Idiom puzzle 14 (中文填字遊戲) Please solve the following puzzle

Untidy (of one's appearance)

Too poor that there is no place to insert an awl. Describes as poor as nothing

It is the collective name of the three most prominent official positions in ancient times.
(after the Qin Dynasty, it was mostly honorary titles without real power.)

An extremely brief moment

Cooperate

selfish

People in the world are all family

Cannot stand each other

Treat only the symptoms but not the root cause

A magical fruit in 西遊記

The largest large-scale anti-Qing movement in China in the mid-19th century

Fight to rule China

You will not succeed if you rush

The sky is high, the ground is thick

Important

Cheer on

see picture below

Complement each other and highlight their respective advantages

Panic

This time is different from that time

Frugal

Unavoidable

When hitting a dog, consider who the owner is.

Suicide

Foul language

Convenience

Acting on the side of justice, you will get much more support and help

Law

Control the weather

A. Not decent; nondescript
B. Not being cautious, making the other party be alerted
C. Calm
D. Everyone in the commercial world speaks from a commercial standpoint
E. Fill in the objects to be 修， 齊， 治， 平
F. Grammar
G. No one is spared
H. Barren land
I. Electricity
J. Treat one preferentially and ignore the other.
K. No need to ask for permission or help
L. Reflected light
M. Don't seek the essence of things, only pay attention to the minor details
N. Capture everyone in one move
O. Be on the lookout
P. Arson
Q. A tiny spark can ignite a vast field
R. Able to get anything one wanted (being very powerful)
S. Feel extremely ashamed
T. The more you cover it up, the more suspicious it seems
U. Princess
V. Redundant
W. Uneven; jagged
X. Miss the chance to see each other
Y. Gross profit

不修边幅
贫无立锥
三公
电光石火
齐心协力
自私自利
四海一家
水火不容
治标不治本
人参果
太平天国
逐鹿中原
欲速不达
天高地厚
重要
打气
弥勒
相得益彰
惊慌
此一时彼一时
悭吝
在所难免
打狗也要看主人面
自尽
污言秽语
方便
得道多助
法律
呼风唤雨

A. 不三不四
B. 打草惊蛇
C. 平心静气
D. 在商言商
E. 修身齐家治国平天下
F. 语法
G. 无一幸免
H. 不毛之地
I. 电力
J. 厚此薄彼
K. 自便
L. 反光
M. 舍本逐末
N. 一网打尽
O. 望风
P. 纵火
Q. 星火燎原
R. 要风得风，要雨得雨
S. 无地自容
T. 欲盖弥彰
U. 公主
V. 多余
W. 参差不齐
X. 缘悭一面
Y. 毛利
Please note I'm using simplified Chinese and the characters in the original crosswords are in traditional Chinese. But they should be compatible.


Is there any evidence that 90% of characters are phono-semantic compounds? I've heard this claim a lot, from Chinese teachers in real life, and on this Wikipedia page, where the claim "At present, more than 90% of Chinese characters are phono-semantic compounds" lacks a citation. It seems reasonable, but I can't find any real evidence to back up this claim.

Is this number one of those popular urban myths, or is there a factual basis to it?

It is actually not possible to provide an unambiguous statistic like this without either being ignorant of the complexity of character development, or pushing some kind of agenda. Victor Mair and John DeFrancis have been spouting this kind of idea for a long time, but I suspect that they've either (1) focused too much on lexicography and not nearly enough on paleography to make such a conclusion, or (2) wanting to blow up the significance of spoken language and diminish the role of written language in the history of a language's development.

In real life, characters are not cleanly divided into the liushu categories, and the classification is quite deficient to fully describe many characters. 90% seems like an overestimation, but one can actually arrive at this number by interpreting any character with any amount of history of involvement with phonetic components, no matter how slight, as a "phono-semantic compound". However, if someone follows this interpretation, it is misleading to use vocabulary from liushu (like phono-semantic compound) to describe these characters.

There are example of characters (e.g. 「源」, 「採」) being both compound ideograms and phono-semantic compounds, as categorised as a type of the latter, but there is rarely an obvious mention that it is a type of the former as well. There are also non-obvious cases; for example the characters「喪」and「鬱」, under an opaque interpretation, can both be described as "phono-semantic compounds" (and indeed have been in traditional sources):

「喪」had a history of development with phonetic components「桑」and「亡/亾」(see an answer I wrote at Japanese StackExchange, about halfway down), but note that「亡」also provides a semantic indicator;
「鬱」was originally a graphically simple compound ideogram, but became complexified over the years (see the Xiaoxuetang entry for a rough overview of the evolution).

Nobody recognises the phonetic components in these anymore, as they are either very rare components or have been graphically corrupted too much over the years, but they're categorised as "phono-semantic compounds" anyway. I personally find such a liberal interpretation as bordering on meaningless, as it is equally possible to provide a liberal interpretation of "pictogram", "ideogram", or "compound ideogram" to misleadingly inflate a statistic.


Is Learning and Memorizing Chinese Characters much different than English? Unlike English, Chinese is not a spelling language, which means there is no hint from the characters themselves for pronunciation. Therefore, we can only work on the characters individually to figure a way to learn and memorize them.

Thus, is learning and memorizing Chinese Characters much different than learning and memorizing English words?

Chinese characters and phonetics
You say:

Unlike English, Chinese is not a spelling language, which means there is no hint from the characters for pronunciation!!!

Luckily for us, that's not true! Actually, by some estimates, almost 90% of characters have a phonetic component to them. To understand what that actually means, you have to know how characters are constructed:
Types of characters
There are several ways in which characters are constructed. Westerners often exoticize and obsess over 1-3 and don't realize that 4 and 5 exist (and indeed, 5 makes up the vast majority of cases).

Pictograms -- These are visual representations of the morpheme they stand for. Of course, given how old these characters are, the modern forms are highly stylized, to the point of unrecognizability (e.g., 马 = horse). These are not common.

Simple ideograms -- These are iconic representations of abstract concepts (e.g., 二 = 2). Most uncommon category.

Compound ideograms -- These are juxtapositions of pictograms and ideograms, where the meaning is supposed to be inferred from that juxtapositions (e.g., 人 [man] + 木 [tree] = 休 [rest]). These are also not common.

Rebus characters (phonetic borrowings) -- It turns out that you can't actually draw pictures of all concepts. If you want to have a writing system where you can actually write down anything, you need to make reference to the spoken language. A common strategy (used in every independently invented system of writing) for getting around the limits of pictograms is the Rebus Principle: use existing symbols purely for their sounds regardless of their meaning. Chinese example: 來 (to come) originally was a pictogram of wheat, a word that had a similar pronunciation. You may also be familiar with rebuses in the context of amusing puzzles.

Phono-semantic characters -- It can be confusing to have two different morphemes written with the same character. Many phonetic loans were "clarified" by distinguishing the two usages by adding a semantically-suggestive piece. For example, 皇 (pronounced "huang2", meaning "emperor") and 蝗 (pronounced "huang2", meaning "locust", has the "bug" radical). The vast majority of characters are of this type. Unfortunately, the phonetic parts are often approximate or even poor.

Is Learning and Memorizing Chinese Characters much different than English?
It is different. Like I explained above, it's often the case that you can guess (or at least remember) the pronunciation of characters based on the pronunciation of other characters. Also, like I said, phonetics are far from perfect. There has been thousands of years of sound change working to make once-great phonetics bad. If you want to learn Chinese characters, it's going to be a lot of work, no matter how you slice it. Start with the basics, and once you work up to several hundred of them, you'll start understanding some of the patterns, both in terms of semantic radicals and common phonetic components.


努力工作 用功学习 adjective, verb or adverb In the sentences 他努力工作 and 他应该用功学习.

努力 is an adjective, or a verb. In Pleco only has this two options but it seems to be a adverb, that modifies the verb 工作. Or is 工作 a verb and both are verbs?

I heard my teacher say 用功 that it is not an adjective in the above sentence.

Any clues?

努力 can be a noun for 'great effort' or a verb for 'to strive/ to work hard'
努力地 (in a hard working manner) is 努力's adverb form

The sentence "他努力工作"  omitted '地' in  "他努力(地)工作" (he works in a hard working manner)

用功 is also a verb for 'work hard'
用功地 (in a hard working manner) is 用功's adverb form

The sentence "他应该用功学习"  omitted '地' in "他应该用功(地)学习" (he should study in a hard working manner)

Examples of 努力; 用功 as verb:

"他在努力" - "He is working hard"

"不要阻他用功" - "Don't stop him from working/ study hard"

Most common usage of 用功 is  "to study hard"

Edit:

  can you omit anytime with any adjective you use as an adverb?

It depend on the context

強烈 (strong)
強烈地 (strongly)

Look at the following two sentences:

"強烈反對" = [強烈(adj)+反對(n)] = "strong objection"
"強烈地反對" = [強烈地(adv)+反對(v)] =  "strongly object"

If you omit 地 in sentence #2, it would become the same as sentence #1 . We would not know "強力反對" mean "strong objection" or  "strongly object".

But with enough context, we can tell which is which.

"(他)強烈反對" = "(He) strongly objects" - With the subject "he", we know 強烈反對 must be [adverb +verb] . Therefore, we can omit the adverb marker '地' in "(他)強烈(地)反對"

"(他的)強烈反對" = "(his) strong objection" - With the possessive pronoun "his" , we know 強烈反對 must be [adj + noun]


How long a lack of practice does it usually take to forget the intricacies off the learnt Chinese? Particularly, intricacies of pronunciation.

I am just starting to learn the language, and what bothers me is that after finally managing to learn proper pronunciations of the language sounds, I may then forget it all if there comes a period of time when I’ll not be able to practice my skills.

So, if anyone had a personal experience with this—how long of not practising did it take to forget what you have learnt and how easy was recovering the lost knowledge?

As a native English speaker, I've found that after leaving China for four years now, my ability to remember tones has been negatively affected. Second, is remembering words. Weirdly enough, having not read much these past years, I never really lost an reading comprehension (though as before I may forget the meaning of a word and/or its pronunciation).

The best way to recover (other than returning to China and speaking with Chinese friends- obviously) is to watch/listen to movies and TV as this triggers those neglected neural connections, that you would be surprised to learn are quite resilient.


Does anyone know what this means or the origins of this artwork? Need help with where the signature stamp came from.  Deng Shaoxin has been translated, but I'm not sure where to go from there as this is a very common surname.  Translation of the rest seems to be Christian in nature.  Is this supposed to represent Jesus?

耶稣进前來对他们说:天上地下所有的权柄都赐
给我了，所以你们要去使万民作我的门徒，奉父、子
、圣灵的名给他们施洗， 凡我所吩咐你的，都教训他
们遵守，我就常与你们同在，直到世界的末了。
?? 馬太福音 二十八章 十八之二十節
(?? is not clear I can't understand. Something like 恭奉?)
Its from 馬太福音(Gospel of Matthew)  28:18-20
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”


What is the function of in this 为 sentence? 实行24 小时工作制。车队利用夜间进行运输，及时为卡车卸货，保证在18个小时内完成整个运输过程。

I think it must be ‘把’

为 means "for", as most people know. In this case,  "for" is used as in "unload the cargo for the truck". This usage is slightly less orthodox, but still makes quite some sense if you take it as a personification, treating the truck as if it has a mind, but cannot unload the cargo by itself, so you need to unload the cargo for it. This usage appears because everyone handles objects in their mind differently, and there are people who are used to this sort of personification, as demonstrated when someone consoles an object if the object falls from their hands or a table (mostly kids as adults don't express their thoughts as much. I cannot be sure, but this may be related to empathy). This kind of usage is further proliferated by human interactions in the society, where people tend to be affected and pick up others' language usage patterns.


Monosyllabic colors names (e.g. 红, 蓝) as predicates with and without 色 What are the different options for using colors predicatively? Particularly monosyllabic colors like 红, 蓝, 黃 that can appear with or without 色.

For context, here is a sentence using 红色 predicatively taken from a random Wikipedia article.
你   的    汽车     是不是         红色        的?
ni3  de0  qi4che1  shi4bu2shi4   hong2se4   de0
you  DE   car      COP-not-COP   red        DE
Is your car red?

The declarative form of this sentence is
你   的    汽车      是        红色        的.
ni3  de0  qi4che1   shi4     hong2se4    de0.

However, 红 is a verb by itself (unlike 咖啡色).
Is it possible to use 红 as the predicate of that sentence without the 是...的 construction? What are the different ways to use a short color as a predicate?
I can think of a few potential ways to do it, but none of them seem to work.
A) ?你    的   汽车     红
   ?ni3  de0  qi4che1  hong2

(A) seems weird because the predicate is only one syllable. I think it breaks a Mandarin prosodic constraint.
B) ?你    的   汽车      很     红
   ?ni3   de0 qi4che1   hen3  hong2

(B) also seems odd, but I can't really say why.
C) ?你    的   汽车      红色
   ?ni3   de0 qi4che1  hong2se4.

(C) seems strange. I'm pretty sure 红色 is a noun and therefore cannot form a predicate by itself.
This question is similar to this one, but is not a duplicate of it because it's specifically about what things are allowed or disallowed in predicate position and why.

1， “Adj 不 Adj?” is just a short form for "是不是 Adj 的?"
For example, I drink a lot of wine and want to know if my face turns red, so I ask my friend.
Q: "我的脸红不红？"
A: "你的脸很红。"

2， "adj 吗" is an even shorter form.
Q: "我的脸红吗？" A：“你的脸很红。”

3， 红 can also be a verb but that means "turns red", there must be a transition.
Q: "我的脸红没红？"
A: "你的脸红了。"
Ref:
zdict 紅〈动〉(1)


How to start learning Cantonese? How can I learn Cantonese on my own? What resources can I use and what is the right way to do it?

I have friends who are from Hong Kong so I have people to "talk at" I guess who will honestly evaluate me (although they will probably make fun of the guailo in the process) but I can live with that.

I learned some Mandarin while I was in the Marine Corp as part of my service but its not helping me with Cantonese AT ALL. To those who understand Mandarin I can use a few choice words to express my frustration but I want to be able to communicate with them in Cantonese.

Old post, but those answers make the language hobbyist in me cry, so...
Are you willing to pay for the privilege? If you are, I recommend Complete Cantonese from Teach Yourself, Basic Cantonese from Routledge, Colloquial Cantonese, and if you want something fun to start with then the Berlitz Cantonese phrasebook with CD. And a heads up, you want something fun to start with.

Basic and Colloquial don't have Chinese characters but the Berlitz phrasebook does, Teach Yourself can escalate a tad too quickly for my taste but it's pretty comprehensive, so between them there's enough overlap and different strengths to give you a reasonable course.

Berlitz into Basic into Colloquial into Teach Yourself would be the easiest order in my opinion, though Berlitz into TY could work. I started with TY and wouldn't recommend it unless you felt like a challenge, though you'll likely progress a little slower even if you do. Each chapter introduces vocabulary, the next chapter uses it, and they stop translating into English after a few chapters; hence why the other books go first.

You could also go Berlitz into Basic/TY, or Berlitz into Basic, into Colloquial/TY, as using TY along with Colloquial would be much nicer and you'll have a reasonable foundation to build on. It will still be challenging, just not 'lead weights strapped to the ankles while swimming over the Mariana Trench' challenging.

You obviously don't need to buy them all at once, so it shouldn't cost too much in money up front. Just time.


How do I say "I just went to the shops"? I'm specifically asking about the situation below:

Bob: we need more milk, I'll go to get some this evening
Blob: oh, I just went to the shops, but I forgot about milk

I would tentatively translate Blob's reply as "啊，我刚刚去了一趟，忘了买牛奶".

My questions is firstly: is the above translation good? And secondly, would it be possible or preferable to use 过 in this sentence? I know that when you're talking about a routine daily action you can say 过了, for example 我吃过了, so it occurred to me maybe I should say 啊，我刚去过商店了, but I'm not sure. I'm not clear how 过了 interacts with 刚 and I'm also not sure if "going to the shops" counts as a routine daily action? Or is there a less ambiguous guide I can follow for when to use 过了？

Many thanks in advance, 提前谢谢

刚=刚刚=刚才=just=just now
去=go
去过……了=went

啊，我刚才去过商店了，但是忘了买牛奶
or
啊，我刚刚去过商店，但是忘记买牛奶了


Phrase or idiom for "vocal minority" How do you say "vocal minority" in Chinese? Specifially, in Mandarin?

The translation for 'minority' is straightforward: 少數派. Note: not 小數派 (少 refers to little in quantity, 小 refers to little in (physical) size). To be concise, you may say 少數.

For 'vocal', 敢言的 or 直言不諱的 (see here) are translations that give it a fairly positive light. Tang Ho's answer 積極的 is neutral, somewhat positive.

發聲的 is a literal translation but understandable (I for one think it is understandable, given that you're not translating the term alone but with a wider context). A neutral alternative, albeit slightly weak, is to say 不沈默的少數 which makes deliberate reference to its antonym 'silent majority' (沈默的大多數). I also found a third neutral translation, 說話大聲的少數族群, in a book on journalism published in Taiwan1, where vocal minority is contrasted to the disadvantaged minority. Finally, I find the neutral translation 喊叫的少數 made by the Taiwanese politician James Soong in one of his works2 the most idiomatic of them all.

If you want to be outright negative (considering the fact that vocal minority can be euphemistic), you may consider the idiomatic saying 一小撮人的意見 (lit. the opinion of a handful of people), but this is not a direct translation and is quite dismissive. A Japanese political publication3 gave the translation うるさい少数派 (a possible Chinese translation: 嘈吵的少數 'noisy minority') which I think is best in delivering the negative nuance.

1 何日生（2007）《建構式新聞》。台灣：五南，頁175。
2 宋楚瑜（1978）《美國政治與民意：兼論中美關係》。台灣：黎明文化，頁51。
3 信田智人（1996）『官邸の権力』筑摩書房 pp. 230


Do you say "别担心” or ”不担心” for "don't worry"? Do you say "别担心” or ”不担心” for "don't worry"? Or something else?

别担心 is equivalent to don't worry, but with a little twist. You can only use 别担心 when you are talking to someone and addressing him/her at that moment; While 你别担心啦 is correct, 我别担心，他别担心，他们别担心 are all incorrect because 别 here is a soft command word which means 不要. Of course, you can't command yourself or themselves to not do anything. You can only command the one that you are currently talking to, which is 你。你别要想我。

不担心 is easier; It simply means don't worry, there are no twist here. You can use it freely. So 我不担心，你不担心，他不担心 are all correct. 不 simply means No. No worry = don't worry.


How to ask how much shipping is I'd like to ask "how much will shipping be to the uk?" in a polite way

Uk is 英国, shipping is 运费, and to ask how much something is is 多少钱, but I'm not sure how to put them together.

请问到英国的运费需要多少钱？

"to the UK" should be put in front of "shipping", and the sentence can be translated back to

how much is required for the shipping to the UK?

“请问” is for politeness, and “需要” make it formal.


Difference between 想象 and 想像 What's the difference between 想象 and 想像? Is one more correct than the other one?

规范 dictionary’s definition of 想像 has the following note:

现在一般写作“想象”。
注意 全国科学技术名词审定委员会和国家语言文字工作委员会已确定“想象”为推荐词形。

Which basically says that the word is usually written 想象 & that 想象 is the recommended “spelling.”


Why did my teacher mark down 一把 as a classifier for 手機? My teacher detracted a few points for using 一把手機。It seems that 一台，一部, 一個 are better choices. However, I find many occurrences of 一把手機
Google search
Is it a dialectal phenomenon? Maybe in dialects where 把 and 部 sound similar？
Edit:
This source claims that 一把手機 occurs in 溫州方言

To me, 部 is a formal classifier for 手机. 台 is usually used for a bigger machine, like computer & TV 一台电脑 & 一台电视.  一台手机 doesn't sound quite right to me.

一把手机 is not used in practice for whatever reason. I guess it might be because 我要买一把手机 could mean you want to buy a handful of 手机s, implying several 手机s, not just one.

Colloquially, sometimes I heard 一个手机 is being used. Like in the sentences: 我要买一个手机; 我想买个手机.

Well, 我要买一部手机 sounds more formal and it's not as casual as 我要买一个手机 or 我想买个手机 in our daily communications.

That's my observation from my neck of woods. Others from other regions may take this differently.


Have I parsed this correctly? 在这一重大的历史时点，和讯网对著名经济学家张维迎就改革的发展问题进行了一次非常深入的访谈。 在这一重大的历史时点，
和讯网
对
著名经济学家张维迎就改革的
发展问题
进行了
一次非常深入的访谈。

(From CaiJing.com.cn; link now broken.)

At this important historical point, Hexun.com has conducted a very in-depth discussion on the question of development, which renowned economics professor, ZHANG Weiyin, has reformed.

Have I parsed and translated this sentence correctly? Or is there some better interpretation I'm not seeing?

在这一重大的历史时点，和讯网/对(著名经济学家)张维迎(就改革的发展问题)进行了(一次非常深入的)访谈。

the main structure is 和讯网对张维迎进行了访谈

So the correct translation that reflects this structure should be

At this important historical point, Hexun.com has conducted a very in-depth discussion (or interview) with the renowned economist ZHANG Weiyin on the question (or problem) of future directions of reform.


How to express "same shit, different names" in Mandarin? I was recently discussing computer games with a friend and realised that I don't know how to express "same shit, different names" in Chinese. We were talking about DotA, LoL and similar games. If I come across as dismissive, I'm sorry, I only mention this particular example to provide context, my question is purely linguistic!

I'm hoping to find a succinct way of expressing "same shit, different names", but if there isn't a fixed expression, perhaps someone could provide a decent way of expressing the same thing. It doesn't necessarily have to have the same tone, though, so expressions which are more sophisticated or less blunt would work just fine.

Two set phrases come up to my mind:

炒冷饭 (heat leftover meal/rice)
新瓶装旧酒 (the same wine in a different bottle). 旧药换新瓶 is a less common variation.

They're both applicable to your context. Their literal meaning is almost never used.

Example:

  大多数电子游戏的续作都是新瓶装旧酒。A lot of video game sequels are just rehash of the previous installation.


Character with the 殳 radical What is the character in the picture below:

I did not find it in the index of 殳

This is 般 (bān).

Note that its 部首 (radical) is 舟.


Why would this insect pest poster in Taiwan have phonetic characters (Zhuyin) on every Chinese character? In my Biology SE question Identify this large, beige or pine cone-colored squareish beetle and/or the pine cone it's on? I included a snapshot of a poster I saw when hiking. I was told that it advises that the beetle shown in the photo is a pest. I can at least recognize that it begins with what looks like "小心!" There's no date on the poster but I assume that it's modern and not a historical reproduction.

I saw this poster while hiking in Taiwan.

I noticed that there are (almost always) a pair of phonetic characters (注音?) next to each Chinese characters. In Taiwan I see books of sutras and other prayers written this way, but I've never seen a public announcement that looked like this.

Is there any particular reason why this particular public notice would require the phonetic characters? Are they there as a courtesy? Is this considered artistic or stylized in any way? Does this make it more accessible (easier to read) or look more "official"?

Texts written for schoolchildren will be annotated with phonetic symbols. The last sentence indicates that this poster is made for schoolchildren:

如果發現了，趁著沒孵化之前通知老師來移除。
If any [eggs] are found, take the opportunity to let the teacher know, so that they can remove [the eggs] before they hatch.


What is wrong with these sentences? I am doing some grammar work and have been asked to correct the following， but i'm not sure what is wrong. Can anyone help?

学生们把电台里的中文新闻听懂了。
不洗澡的坏习惯被小明给改掉了.
这本书被卖得光.

This is a question regarding sentence structure in Chinese. There are two commonly used sentence structure involved: 把字句 (sentences using the word 把) and 被字句 (sentences using the word 被). These two structures can be freely converted to each other and to sentences containing neither of 把 and 被 (called 陈述句). None of these sentences are inherently wrong, yet many of them can sound unnatural.
For example for the first sentence,
被字句 (Original): 电台里的中文新闻被学生们听懂了。
把字句: 学生们把电台里的中文新闻听懂了。
陈述句: 学生们听懂了电台里的中文新闻。
All three sentences work, but the second and third sound more natural.
Or for the second sentence,
被字句 (Original): 不洗澡的坏习惯被小明改掉了。
把字句: 小明把不洗澡的坏习惯改掉了。
陈述句: 小明改掉了不洗澡的坏习惯。
The second and third sentence sounds better.
The last sentence is a bit tricky since the person doing the action is not given. We need to add the person doing this action. We may speculate that the book is sold out by a bookstore, so let's use 书店 as the subject.
被字句 (Original)：这本书被卖得光。
把字句: 书店把这本书卖得光。
陈述句:  书店卖光了这本书。
Since we don't know the real subject, it is the best to do with the original sentence.
If you would like more of these type of practices, there are plenty of resources online, many of which are from China and are actually done by Chinese students. An example is this one: https://wenku.baidu.com/view/63b6233f6137ee06eef918b7.html


What's the difference between 谢谢 vs 感谢 vs 跪谢 vs 多谢? While expressing gratitude in spoken Mandarin, I believe people use 谢谢 and 感谢.
For example:

谢谢你的时间
谢谢你带我来这里

And:

感谢你的时间
感谢你带我来这里

Does 感谢 imply a higher level of gratitude? Is there a difference in usage (stemming from culture, origin, etc.), or can they be used interchangeably?
I have also seen 多谢 and 跪谢 used in the signature of emails. Do these words implicitly convey different "levels" of gratitude?
I am a little confused with the difference in usages of these 4 forms of thanks. Any explanations or suggestions?

谢谢: thanks, thank you.
感谢: thank you so much, or sometimes: thanks someone gratefully/appreciatively.
跪谢: internet slang, literally meaning: kneel down to someone and say thanks, like 跪求, same as 感谢.
多谢: thanks, thanks a lot, same as 谢谢.


Braille and Chinese Input Is it possible to use a Braille keyboard to input chinese with the pinyin input method? How could a blind user ever be able to choose the right character combination if they cannot see it?

The words could be read out in sound, but what about homophones (just think about proper people and place names and other examples)? So the sound could also include a description of the characters so as to allow the user to choose the correct homophone. But this would make things a bit slow.
What if besides being blind, the user is also deaf?
So, perhaps a braille feedback (output) device could be attached to another USB port to somehow enable user selection. I really don't know.

Thank you for your answers.

I had a student in Taiwan who was blind, so I've had a chance to work with this.

There are articles on Chinese Braille in both the English and Chinese  Wikipedias if you haven't read them yet. It is a spelling (phonetic) method, not character based. Blind Chinese students are not taught regular character forms. Braille in Taiwan is basically zhuyinfuhao; mainland China has two different systems, neither of which is identical to pinyin.

My student learned to type on a Braille keyboard in order to be able to read her own typing; she was not used to trying to produce typed work for seeing people, but this was over 15 years ago. At the time, it was a struggle to even set up a usable computer system for her.  We eventually bought JAWS by Scientific Freedom, which our school's president had to personally approve; damn expensive.  Unfortunately, this didn't resolve most of the Chinese problems, only the English ones.

All else failing, for homework the student worked with tutors who gave me her typed answers in Chinese characters, not zhuyinfuhao; different tutors had different ways of getting the student's input into characters, and there were many typos, for which I did not take off points.

For mainland China, I suspect that the students there are also probably trained to type in one of the two Braille systems, NOT in pinyin, so that they might need to learn pinyin and pinyin keyboards before they could produce even pinyin output.

I poked around, but found no links to software or drivers for this specific purpose. I did find an interesting article: "A preliminary study on instructional design of Chinese input method for blind students" which discusses some of these problems. It is available online and might give you some leads. If I find anything more in the future, I'll post back here.

Education for the blind (and deaf) in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China requires great willpower and dedicated teachers. If you're one of them, my respects and best wishes!


「虚有其表」这个成语可以用來形容好看，但内容全错的报告吗？ I have a question:

成语－虚有其表－可以用在下面情形吗？

有一个人的报告写的很好看，很漂亮，可内容都错了。

有没有其他的成语？ Any suggestion?

有其表 可以描述 寫得很好看，很漂亮 。

虛 和 內容都錯 有一點點差距，但是基本上還是可以用。因為 內容都錯 要用 錯 來形容，但是 錯有其表 並不是常用的成語。所以，退而求其次，用 虛 也無不可。 空有其表 倒還聽過。

其他類似的詞還有下面這些，但不一定是成語，也有些許差距，提供參考。

空大老脬（ㄎㄨㄥ　ㄉㄚˋ　ㄌㄠˇ　ㄆㄠ／kōng dà lǎo pāo）：表面雖強大，而實則虛浮萎弱。

空心湯糰（ㄎㄨㄥ　ㄒㄧㄣ　ㄊㄤ　ㄊㄨㄢˊ／kōng xīn tāng tuán）
空心湯圓（ㄎㄨㄥ　ㄒㄧㄣ　ㄊㄤ　ㄩㄢˊ／kōng xīn tāng yuán）
空心蘿蔔（ㄎㄨㄥ　ㄒㄧㄣ　ㄌㄨㄛˊ　ㄅㄛ˙／kōng xīn luó bo）
空心架子（ㄎㄨㄥ　ㄒㄧㄣ　ㄐㄧㄚˋ　ㄗ˙／kōng xīn jià zi）
這四詞都比喻徒有虛名，而無實在利益。

一紙空文（ㄧ　ㄓˇ　ㄎㄨㄥ　ㄨㄣˊ／yī zhǐ kōng wén）：徒具文字而無實際效用的文書。

以上來自 http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/

另外，和 很好看，很漂亮，可內容都錯 有點相關的詞還有：徒具形式、徒具外表、華而不實、花瓶。

@Tang Ho 的 金玉其外，敗絮其中 倒很貼切。


What kind of food is 漢巴德? (from 官場現形記) In the Qing dynasty novel 官場現形記, there is this passage:

  三荷包接過看時，只見上面開的是：清牛湯、炙鰣魚、冰蠶阿、丁灣羊肉、漢巴德、牛排、凍豬腳、橙子冰忌廉、澳洲翠鳥雞、龜仔蘆筍、生菜英腿、加利蛋飯、白浪布丁（10300620）、濱格、豬古辣冰忌廉、葡萄乾、香蕉、咖啡。另外幾樣酒是：勃蘭地、魏司格、紅酒、巴德、香檳，外帶甜水、鹹水。

which is a menu for a Western-style banquet. It seems that many items are based on older styles of transcription, for example 豬古辣冰忌廉 (chocolate ice-cream) would be 巧克力冰激凌 in Mandarin today.

What kind of food is 漢巴德 referring to? It seems vaguely similar to "hamburger", and this article thinks so too - "估计是汉堡", but I'm not sure. Can anyone confirm, or find another source?

A hilarious passage.  My edition says 漢巴德牛排 (no comma), if that's correct it's some kind of beefsteak; in the wine list there's a 巴德, could be related, beef steak with a wine based sauce? The article suggests port for 巴德, why not bordeaux? All guesses on my part.

Some of the other dishes also look mangled: 澳洲翠鳥雞 the Australian kingfisher chicken surely should have a comma before chicken.

If you get a complete translation, please put it up here!


Translation for "ray of sunlight after rain" I am looking for a Chinese translation of the Swahili word kianga, which has the following meanings:

burst of light
burst of sunshine
clear up (after rain)
ray of sunlight after rain
clearing up (of the weather after rain)

Source: http://kamusi.org/define?headword=kianga&to_language=371

Are there words in Chinese that convey an image similar to ray of sunlight (or clearing up) after rain?

The closest I have come with Google Translate is 暘, but that does not capture the "after rain" aspect.

The translation is for a name or logo; something short and poetic would be preferrable over a long and literal expression.

How about 霽光? As in the Song Dynasty poem: 一夕輕雷落萬絲，霽光浮瓦碧參差。("after a night's worth of distant thunder and myriad raindrops / then the light after the rain shines shimmeringly on the blue-green roof tiles") Not sure there's a single character for this but can check 康熙 (standard classical dictionary).

霽 as a single character refers to the clearing of clouds/rain, but I don't think carries a strong connotation of "light" by itself.


there's this theme for android i don't understand the characters, can you help me translate it? (the characters are on images bellow) https://imgur.com/a/0GzzcKM
https://imgur.com/a/wtj7sah

theme name  is Fo mo dao xian buddhism, also would apreciate if you tell me what does that mean.

The big character on the first image is 魔 (demon) and the poem is  a statement from the perspective of 魔

~

  The big character on the second image is 道 (The Truth/ The Way) and the poem is a statement from the perspective of 道

In the philosophy sense 魔 and 道 are the opposite of each other:

道 represents 'enlightened mind' that extended to 'just, peaceful, kind, selfless and everything positive'
魔 represents 'fallen mind' that extended to 'unjust, violent, cruel, selfish and everything negative'

As for the two poems:

天地不仁何乞憐，我以我血染青天，魔前一扣三千年，回首凡塵不做仙

(The universe is unkind, what is the use of begging for mercy? I'd use my blood to paint the blue sky red; Three thousand years since I had submitted to the way of demon, looking back at the mortal world, I'd rather not being a god)

曾經滄海難為水，除卻巫山不是雲，萬花叢中懶回顧，半緣修道半緣君

(Experienced the vast ocean, it is hard to be a pool of still water; Experienced the grand cloud-sea on top of Wushan,  other clouds are no longer impressive;  In the middle of an endless flower field, I don't have the desire to look back; Either you can achieve all these or not, half depend on the study of Dao and half depend on yourself )


Alternative name for moon cakes? The standard name for moon cakes in Chinese is 月餅.  In Thailand they are called ขนมเปีย or roughly ‘khanom pia’.  The first element is a general word for baked goods, so the operative term is ‘pia’ with middle tone.  I recently learned that in Vietnamese they are called something similar – bánh pía, with the first element again meaning cake.

I am wondering now if there is some alternative name for moon cakes that is the source of this ‘pia’ in Thai and Vietnamese.  It might come from some southern language like chaozhouhua, since the huaqiao communities in Southeast Asia mainly have their roots in the South.  Does anyone know?

According to the Wikipedia article on bánh pía, which cites this source, pía comes from from the Teochew dialect (i.e., Chaozhouhua 潮州話):

  The Vietnamese name comes from the Theochew word for pastry, "pia"

While I wouldn't necessarily consider this source to be authoritative, I looked up the Teochew pronunciation of 餅 here, and it is indeed pĩã so the derivation is likely to be true.

I don't know the connection between the Vietnamese and Thai "pia", but it's likely they're related too. It would seem then that the Vietnamese and Thai names both end up literally meaning "pastry-pastry".


How to ask "is it really so that..."? How do I ask a question like "is it really so that you're just 18?" or "is it really so that the movie was good?", i.e. a surprised question?

My guess is something along the lines of "这是真的，你只有十八岁呢?", but it sounds weird.

It sounds weird because there is no formal subject (A.K.A. anticipatory subject) in Chinese. It is [X] that [Y] should be transformed into [Y][verb as appropriate][X] during translation。For example:

It is a pleasure to meet you. =>
Meeting you is a pleasure. =>
见到你很高兴。

So for the original sentence,

Is it really so that you're just 18? =>
Are you really just 18? =>
你真的只有18岁？


How to say 破釜沉舟 in english? Is there a proverb for 破釜沉舟 in English? How do you describe it using two words?

破釜沉舟 describe an action of "destroy one's own mean to retreat/escape" ; the underline reasons are 1. "to show determination" 2. "force oneself to continue"
You can consider

burn one's bridges/boats

hell-bent

crossing the Rubicon

The action of "burn one's bridges/boats" match 破釜沉舟 almost word for word, but its main usage is to describe "doing something that can't be easily undone in the future; destroy relationships or chance of reconciliation with others." the underline reason is not relevant. This phrase might describe an action similar to 破釜沉舟; Both actions cut off one's retreat route, but the reason behind "burn one's bridges/boats" doesn't include "to show determination"
Another English expression "hell-bent" describes the first underline reason "to show determination" much better

hell-bent
stubbornly and often recklessly determined or intent

"crossing the Rubicon" implies "to past the point of no return" although the action doesn't match 破釜沉舟 well like "burn one's bridges/boats" but it implies the underline reasons "to show determination" and "force oneself to continue" better
My conclusion is:
"burn one's bridges/boats matches 破釜沉舟 in literal meaning
"crossing the Rubicon" matches 破釜沉舟 in its figurative meanings

How to say 破釜沉舟 in English?

我們要破釜沉舟 = we must cross the Rubicon
我們要有破釜沉舟的決心 = We must have the determination of crossing the Rubicon


Is 察颜观色 or 察言观色 the correct term to use? I have found citations from ancient texts backing both interpretations on the Internet while searching for the correct form of the term:

  清·唐甄《潜书·食难》：“吾老矣，岂能复俯首于他人之宇下，察颜观色，以求无拂于人，吾不能也。

However,

  《论语·颜渊》：“夫达也者，质直而好义，察言而观色，虑以下人。”

Which of these is/are correct?

Both are correct. According to http://www.zdic.net,

  察言观色

  察：详审。观察别人的说话或脸色。多指揣摸别人的心意。

察：详审(scrutinize)。言：言语(speech)。观：看(look)。色：脸上表现的神情(expression on face)。
So it means dive sb.'s thoughts from what he says and the expression on his face.

  察颜观色

  观察别人的脸色，以揣摩其心意。

Note it's a little different that here's only watching expression on sb.'s face, no listening the speech.

And 漫说“察言观色”与“察颜观色”,

  “察颜观色”与“察言观色”各有其特定的语境可用，而且都有较远的语源可查，更有权威工具书为据，现代文学中又有许多经典著作的用例佐证，当让这两个成语‚各司其职‛，为传承汉语精确性服务。


Easiest way to understand 着? This word is used in so many different contexts. It becomes rather confusing.

What is a good way to distinguish the different situations in which this word is used?

As a native Chinese speaker, I would think twice if I see "着" in ancient Chinese or in genteel writings. It is a hard character to learn. But the most common usage in modern Chinese, especially casual and oral occasions, is "function word"(虚词). It gives a hint of the mood and tense of the sentence but does not have a concrete meaning.
To make things clear, I would quote Modern Chinese Dictionary(《现代汉语词典》)'s full explanation but give my own comments to each meaning.

着【zhāo】
1 （～儿）（名）下棋时下一子或走一步叫一着：高～儿｜支～儿。
2 同“招”。
3 〈方〉（动）放；搁进去：～点儿盐。
4 〈方〉（动）用于应答，表示同意：这话～哇！｜～，咱们就这么办！

Comments: None of these meanings are common.
The first two are noun uses. Both are gradually substituted by "招" -- whether in chess play or not. A strict editor may correct you and use "招". The only case is in the proverb “一着不慎，满盘皆输”, only the original "着" is correct.
3 & 4 are northern dialect, around Beijing I believe. Very very rare. I've only heard this expression in TV series about BJ life in the last century. I can't think of any other cases.

着【zháo】
（动）
1 接触；挨上：上不着天，下不着地。
2 感受；受到：～风｜～凉。
3 燃烧，也指灯发光（跟“灭”相对）：炉子～得很旺｜天黑了，路灯都～了。
4 用在动词后，表示已经达到目的或有了结果：睡～了｜打～了｜猜～了。
5 〈口〉入睡：一上床就睡～了。

This is the most confusing pronunciation I believe. The neutral tone "·zhe" is the most common one and this is the second most.
There are some fixed combinations: “着调”(1)、“着凉”(2)、“着魔”(2)、“着迷”(2)、“睡着”（4&5）、“点着”（related to fire, 4). In these cases, you are almost certain it is "zhao2" not "·zhe".
Also when it's "verb+不+着" or "verb+得+着", it must be "zhao2" not "·zhe".
For 1, it is used as an active verb, not a functional verb, so it is not following a real verb. It means “挨着”、“够着”, "reaching". But it is also a very rare usage.

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。
2 （助）表示状态的持续：大门畅～｜茶几上放～一瓶花。
3 （助）用在动词或表示程度的形容词后面，加强命令或嘱咐的语气：你听～｜步子大～点儿｜快～点儿写｜手可要轻～点儿
4 加在某些词后面，构成介词：顺～｜沿～｜朝～｜照～｜为～

This is the most common usage in Modern Chinese. When you see “着” following a verb and not with a “不”(or "得"), most likely it is a neutral tone "zhe".
However, this usage does not exist in ancient Chinese / classical Chinese （文言文）.

着1【zhuó】
1 穿（衣）：穿～｜吃～不尽。
2 接触；挨上：附～｜～陆｜不～边际。
3 使接触别的事物；使附着在别的物体上：～笔｜～眼｜～手｜～色｜～墨｜不～痕迹。
4 着落：寻找无～。
着2【zhuó】
1 (动)派遣：～人前来领取。
2 公文用语，表示命令的口气：～即施行。

This part is very confusing for Chinese pupils as well. There are many fixed combinations under this usage as well.
For "着2", it is most often in "着人", meaning "sending someone", but a more polished way than “派人”. Not your first choice of writing or speaking but you might see it in some places.
For "着1", I would suggest you just remember the following words: “着笔”、“着力”、“着陆”、“着墨”、“着色”、“着实”、“着手”、“着眼”、“着重”；“沉着”、“附着”、“胶着”、“衣着”、“执着”
Yes, there are more words to remember... so if you see a "着+noun" pattern, "zhuó" is more likely than "zháo". Also, people are using both pronunciations interchangeably in many words. Here I listed are the ones I believe not quite proper for the other pronunciation.
For "verb+着", here are the very few fixed combinations you can only use "zhuo2". If it is after a word meaning "stick", use "zhuo2"
Notes:
"执着" can be written interchangeably with "执著"
"穿着" can be "chuan1 zhuo2" or "chuan2 ·zhe". "chuan1 zhuo2" is a noun, or an intransitive verb, e.g. 他的穿着(n.)很时髦；他穿着(v.)入时.  "chuan1 zhe" is a transitive verb, e.g. 他穿着时髦的衣服。

This answer is getting super long.
So my ultimate rules are as following:
"verb + 着" is most likely "·zhe", especially when it is used as a transitive verb. Remember some of the "zhuó" combinations, and when it's about clothing or sticking.
"verb + 不 + 着" and "verb + 得 + 着" are "zháo". "睡着" is always "zháo". "Reaching" is always "zháo".
"着 + noun" is most likely "zhuó". But remember the "zháo" combinations. The line between "zhuó" and "zháo" in this form is a bit vaguer.

I hope this long answer can be somehow helpful. I'm a native Chinese speaker, but inexperienced in explaining Chinese in English LOL. Let me know if anything confusing.


How can I say basic phrases "Do you mind if I speak in Chinese?" "Feel free to correct me" "How do you say (X) in Chinese?" I'm new to learning Chinese, I've gone through the Hello Chinese app and feel like my Chinese is still terrible, so I think its time I start talking with Chinese people. I was wondering if you could help me with a few sentences I could say to prime the conversation.

Do you mind if I speak in Chinese?
Feel free to correct me
How do you say (X) in Chinese?

I've googled a few of these, and I'm sure there are common ways to say this in Chinese. But I'm struggling to put it together well in a few conversations I've had.

Do you mind if I speak in Chinese?

Technically this could be translated to e.g.:

我说汉语，你不介意吗？
Wǒ shuō hànyǔ, nǐ bù jièyì ma?

This literally means "I speak Chinese, you not mind?"  However, a beginner will likely need a lot of study before being able to pull this off.  Far simpler is "Let's speak Chinese":

我们说汉语吧。  [Let's speak Chinese.]
Wǒmen shuō hànyǔ ba.

Next:

Feel free to correct me

I don't know how to say this off the top of my head, and I've been studying Chinese for years.  After a bit of Baidu-ing, this seems close:

随时地纠正我说的。 [Correct what I say at any time.]
Suíshí dì jiūzhèng wǒ shuō de.

I changed the meaning to "Feel free to correct what I say" (so it excludes e.g. "correct me" in the sense of e.g. correcting posture, mannerisms).  In any case, it's going to sound like English translated into Chinese, and not real Chinese, and will likely just result in blank stares.  More natural is:

请指出我的错误。 [Please point out my mistakes.]
Qǐng zhǐchū wǒ de cuòwù.

(If we Baidu search for 指出我的错误, we can see it's used.)  Or to be a bit more precise:

请指出我说的任何错误。 [Please point out any mistakes in what I say.]
Qǐng zhǐchū wǒ shuō de rènhé cuòwù.

Finally:

How do you say (X) in Chinese?

There are many possibilities, such as:

你怎么说"Australia"？  [How do you say "Australia"?]
Nǐ zěnme shuō “Australia”?
"Australia"汉语怎么说?  [How do you say "Australia" in Chinese?]
"Australia" hànyǔ zěnme shuō?
这个用汉语怎么说?  [How do you say this in Chinese?]
Zhège yòng hànyǔ zěnme shuō?


Why 中華民國 = Republic of China? According to google translate and other dictionaries, "republic" means "共和國" in Chinese.

The short answer: because Sun Yat-sen proclaimed it so. In a 1916 speech given in Shanghai, he asks the question:

  何以不曰「中華共和國」，而必曰「中華民國」？

  Why instead of 中華共和國, must one say 中華民國?

The reasons he gives boil down to drawing a distinction centred on the 民: saying that this is the fundamental difference between Qing dynasty feudalism and the Ancient Greek republic (and by extension, modern China).

Although 共和 carries the idea of the res publica of Latin, he acknowledges this, and proceeds to give 民 greater importance.

As of early 2019, the only states to officially use 民國 are the Republic of China and the Republic of Korea.


Correcting a false negative answer to a 是不是 question I am having trouble translating the following situation to Mandarin:

Shown an image

a person is asked: "Is this an apple or not?"/"是不是苹果?"

and for whichever reason they reply: "It is not."/"不是｡ "

How do you correct them: "It is an apple." ?

Thank you for any help/suggestions.

There shouldn't be much chance of confusion here, because when you respond, you would be using words to indicate correctness, like 對（対）or 錯 instead of 是. So, if they respond to your question with 不是 and then you say 是 there should be no doubt that you are contradicting them, rather than affirming the correctness of their answer. Chinese is more convenient than English in this regard.

So, a few ways to answer:

不對，是蘋果
你答錯了，是蘋果
它就是蘋果
是啊

... or variations on the above.

And, of course, as the commenters mention, for the sake of pedagogy you could find out why they got the answer wrong.


How do Chinese judge the right sound quality (softness, awkwardness, respectfulness (面子), negativity) Please note that I have re-written this question for clarity.

Subjective Comprehension

In a number of questions asked here on CLSE, I have noticed answers that include responses about how something just doesn't "sound right" in Chinese. Here is an example from a recent answer posted:

  Strictly, they are not all the same. The second one sounds some more
  poetic in Chinese. But in daily life, you will say the first one to
  express the meaning,"he lies on the grass quietly", the second one
  may make you seems sort of strange.

I understand from an English perspective how subjective the structure of sentence can lead to an awkward sounding phrase. Also as a student, I am observing a number of grammatical rules (which when broken, would be an obvious indication of awkward sounding grammatical structures).

But, beyond an obvious break with grammatical rules, what are some ways that I can determine if a grammar structure (sentence, question, or phrase) sounds awkward? I realise that one answer is to have this sense develop over time and with practice, however I am looking for a perspective from native speakers who might be able to give guidance on what makes a Chinese sentence, question, or phrase sound awkward. Examples would be great.

I want to reiterate that I have many grammar books and websites that discuss proper Chinese grammar and I am reviewing the information provided but these sources lack a cultural perspective, which I believe is most important in this case.

Here I try to give some guidelines, not hard rules for sure.

Wrong Word Order

When you are not sure in what order to put elements in a sentence, stick to this:

Attributive + Subject + Time Adverbial + Place Adverbial + Manner Adverbial + Verb + Complements + Attributive + Objective.

For example: 新来的/那个/同学/昨天/在图书馆/高兴地/借/到了/那本/很有名的/小说。

新来的 － Attributive
那个 － Attributive
同学 － Subject
昨天 － Time Adverbial
在图书馆 － Place Adverbial
高兴地 － Manner Adverbial
借 － Verb
到了 － Result Complement
那本 － Attributive
很有名的 － Attributive
小说 － Object

If you change the order of them, it is likely to make it sound awkward.

Incompleteness

Don't say 他在床上躺, instead say 他在床上躺着. 躺着 has the sense of completeness over just 躺.

Wrong Usage

Don't say 我病, instead say 我(生)病了.

Don't say 我很病, instead say 我病得(很)厉害.

Missing the 2nd part of a phrase pattern

There are a lot phrase patterns in Chinese made of paired words, like 一...就, 不是...而是, 即使...也. Sometimes the stuff going into between may be very long, so don't forget the 2nd part of those patterns.

So don't say the following sentences:

我一听到这个令人振奋的消息来了。 (Should say: 我 一 听到这个令人振奋的消息 就 来了)

迟到的人不是他我。 (Should say: 迟到的人 不是 他 而是 我)

即使明天下雨我去。(Should say: 即使 明天下雨我 也 去)

Wrong Tones

In one episode of 非诚勿扰, a Korean girl was asked by the host that where, if ever, on her body she got plastic surgery. She wanted to say 秘密 (secret) but she said 咪咪(a slang for breasts) which made the audience burst out laughing.


Is it easier to learn Chinese or Spanish? I'm a native English speaker as well as a native Spanish speaker. I speak Spanish to my family members most of the time at home. It didn't really take me too much effort to learn it. So I believe having a environment where the target language is spoken is very crucial.

My question is, after making my mind to seriously learn Chinese, the so-called language for the next decades, Is it easier to learn Chinese or to learn Spanish? (I know many people have said Chinese is difficult to learn, but after self-learning it for a few weeks so far, I found it is not as hard as I expected and actually it is interesting to learn though)

Chinese is actually not hard to learn. People "think" it is hard because they only know 'European language system', they don't understand how those symbol works so they think it is hard to learn.

Which Chinese are you trying to learn? Cantonese? Mandarin? Mandarin is use all over China and Cantonese is use in Hong Kong and South East China. Mandarin is easier to learn, but Cantonese is the origin language in China.


Unknown painting of a lady I bought a painting on a French flee-market and and I would very much like to know who the painter is. The text is translate by someone who is very good at translating Chinese text and seals, but she cannot find the right painter. That's why I'm making another attempt.
Greeting Moon
瑪曲乾實成会魚師　陽陰写生於甘南
今憶星一品　於庚午春日寒旅憓客下
I actually met a fisher(wo)man of Maqu and sketched her facing the sun in Gannan
Now, I consider it as a star piece of my sketchings. In the Year of Metal-Horse (1990)
at spring cold which brings its benefit to the traveller.
Upper seal,
鴻　(Hong)    Swan goose   - Pseudonym
Lower seal,
小朗畫　-　Picture of  Xiaolang   -  Given name  (Female)
The Xiao Lang on the artnet with chicken paintings is a different artist.
蕭朗 Xiao Lang  -　Surname and given name.    Your artist is 小朗  -  Given name only.

Well, I might say this painter might not be very famous, since you didn't find his/her name on the Internet. His/her painting is drawn in 1990 in Maqu County, Southern Gansu Province, which is quite remote and poor.


Chinese Idiom puzzle 12 (中文填字遊戲) Please solve the puzzle below

sharp tongue (edit: the first character was replaced by  a Homophone)

A match made in heaven

Come back to life by borrowing a corpse (a metaphor for things that have been eliminated or fallen reappear in another form)

Terminal lucidity

杜甫詩作: 朱門酒肉臭 ?????

looks legit; looks the part (Cantonese expression)

Vast ocean of people (implies hard to find someone in it)

can't wait to go home

A type of 對聯 (couplet)

Ashamed

hostage

It is dangerous at the top

Knowingly ask

Tai Chi

It is so obvious that no words are needed

Buddhist term: refers to the world of bliss

criminal

submit and become a vassal state

國之將()，必有()孽

It will fail on its own without being attacked

Unproven and unfounded words

9th September in Lunar calendar

obey

Without the lips, the teeth will feel cold.

a dead-end road

A. panicking
B. proclaim oneself a sovereign
C. In the highest official position among all ministers
D. The social status of the two families is equal
E. Ho Chi Minh City's old name
F. Convince
G. The walking dead
H. Everyone fears for himself
I. Important idea of 墨学
J. Soul
K. always together
L. The road ahead is uncertain
M. Country destroyed
N. Profit
O. Stay far away from
P. Not afraid to die
Q. Heavy casualties
R. Already knew
S. The only way
T. Time flys like an arrow
U. Nobody wants it
V. Composite photo
W. Carrying great sin
X. Youthful age (of a woman)
Y. Offend

01 灵牙利齿 （伶牙俐齿）
02 天作之合
03 借尸还魂
04 回光返照
05 路有冻死骨
06 似模似样
07 人海茫茫
08 归心似箭
09 无情对
10 自惭形秽
11 人质
12 位高思危（居高思危）
13 明知故问
14 太极
15 不言而喻
16 西天
17 罪犯
18 称臣纳贡
19 国之将亡，必有妖孽
20 不攻自破
21 道听途说
22 重阳
23 服从
24 唇亡齿寒
25 死路一条
a 六神无主
b 称孤道寡
c 位极人臣
d 门当户对
e 西贡
f 说服
g 行尸走肉
h 人人自危
i 非攻
J 灵魂
k 形影不离
l 前路茫茫
m 国破家亡
n 利润
o 敬而远之
p 视死如归
q 伤亡惨重
r 心知肚明
s 必经之路（必由之路）
t 光阴似箭
u 无人问津
v 合成照
w 罪孽深重
x 花样年华
y 冒犯


What's the difference between 集中 and 专心 Both of them refer to "to focus on" or "to concentrate".

I know that if you want to specifically refer to something inanimate being concentrated in something, then you would use 集中, ex. 酒吧集中在那个地方.

However, other than that, it seems like you can use the two interchangeably when referring to a person concentrating in something.

Thank you for any help.

專心 is a state of mind, roughly "concentrate, focus one's attention"

集中 is "gather or bring together", roughly "summon, muster"


几 in declarative and interrogative sentence 几 has two meanings: "several" and "how many?" But I have no clear understanding of separation one from another. E.g.:

后面有几个人笑起来了. - declarative
你家有几口人? - interrogative

I know that the first sentence is declarative and the second one is interrogative but I don't know why. There is no difference in 几 usage here so why is the first sentence declarative?

A few people laughed behind [us].
And not interrogative: How many people laughed behind [us]?

"几个人" could be as well "a few people" and "how many people?", how to distinguish which one is used? (An example of interrogative sentence with "几个人" would be useful)
P.S.: please do not give explanation like "后面有几个人笑起来了." is declarative because "后面有多少人笑起来了?" is interrogative. I also can say that in the case "你家有几口人" is declarative ("There are some people in your family") because there is no "多少人".

Another example, you are speaking to a person and he says:

上海有几个火车站(。/？)

Only context can help you to understand whether it is a question or a declaration, right?

(on the street)
请问, 上海有几个火车站(？) - defenetely interrogative

And:

- 到火车站要10分钟, 不要着急。
- 上海有几个火车站(。)我去上海南站, 到那儿要半个小时。 - declarative

I think all the sentences with 几 above can turn into interrogative sentences. For example:

  后面有几个人笑起来了?

  你家有几口人?

  上海有几个火车站?

In the mainland mandarin, we usually put 好 in front of 几 in the declarative sentence to indicate that there are more than one. For example:

  后面有(好)几个人笑起来了。// 好 can be omitted without changing the meaning.

  你家有好几口人。// 好 can not be omitted

  上海有好几个火车站。// 好 can not be omitted

With 好，you can differentiate if it's a declarative or interrogative sentence.  In some sentences (like the first one above), 好 is omissible. You'd better not omit 好 in the sentence 2 and 3, otherwise they would sound like interrogative sentences.


Does 莫過於 require 最 for first noun? ABC Chinese–English Comprehensive Dictionary (2003), p 629.

Wiktionary also defines this "nothing can surpass ..." Wikipedia's two sentences use 最.
I screen-shot 5:16. I know 痛苦莫過於生存 means "nothing is more painful than existence". 鄭詩君 on the left said this. But 鄭詩君 didn't use 最. Is he wrong?

In theory, we don't need 最 in '痛苦莫過於生存' because 莫過於 (no greater than) already indicated 'the most'.
However, "最X 的Y 莫過於Z" is a common structure of speech. For example 最危險的任務 莫過於 卧底行動  (the most dangerous task is the undercover operation/ no operation is more dangerous than an undercover operation)

最 emphasizes the topic

莫過於 emphasizes the object in the comment (or you can simply say 最危險的任務是卧底行動)

I don't agree with this statement. Life itself is neutral. It can be full of happiness or sadness, and the way 鄭詩君 said it is not quite the standard way


Does 飛機 mean "airplane" or "aircraft"? Airplanes are a type of aircraft (helicopters [直升機], hot air balloons [熱氣球] are also aircraft).

飛機 is a very common Chinese word, but what does it mean?

Does 飛機 mean "airplane"? If no, what is "airplane" in Chinese?
Does 飛機 mean "aircraft"? If no, what is "aircraft" in Chinese?
When someone says 飛機, do they mean "airplane", or do they mean "aircraft"?

飛機 - Aeroplane, short for 固定翼飛機 (fixed-wing flying machine)

航空器 - aircraft

飛行器 - both aircraft and spacecraft, i.e. all flying machines which travel through the atmosphere. Includes space rockets.

For reference, spacecraft is 航天器.

Answering the queries directly,

  Does 飛機 mean "airplane"? If no, what is "airplane" in Chinese?

Yes, 飛機 means airplane/aeroplane.

  Does 飛機 mean "aircraft"? If no, what is "aircraft" in Chinese?

Aircraft is 航空器.

  When someone says 飛機, do they mean "airplane", or do they mean "aircraft"?

They should mean aeroplane. If they mean aircraft, well, that's improper use of the language.


what do 接盘 and 接盘侠 mean? They seem to be Internet slangs but I can't figure out what the meaning is. For example here

  让我以后不要找中国男人接盘

The person who buys the company shares you are selling is the 接盘

Metaphorically, 接盘侠 is a man, 侠, who 接盘s

A is a loose woman, B and others are her lovers, maybe she gets pregnant, B does not want her, so she looks for C or D or E, seems to love him, asks if he wants to marry her, has sex with him then says, "OMG, I'm pregnant!"

接盘侠 is 喜当爹

喜当爹：a man who is not so interesting, likes a woman, the woman is aloof, but eventually comes back to him, because she is pregnant. She marries him because her socially and otherwise more attractive boyfriend doesn't want her, or can't, for family reasons, have her.


Difference between 孩子 and 儿童 (and 孩童，少儿，...) There are several words that mean "child" in Chinese, e.g. 孩子, 儿童 and a few others. When can they be used interchangeably and when not?
For example:

The children are playing: 孩子们在玩呢 or 儿童们在玩呢 or both ?
My children: 我的孩子 (not 我的儿童?)
Child labour: 童工, 孩(子)工.

Update:
Yesterday, a native speaker told me that you can say 一个孩子 but not 一个儿童.

In most cases, they are not interchangeable. In my experience, "儿童" emphasizes on age, but "孩子" emphasizes on relationship.

When you are talking about a part of the population, "儿童" is more formal and can be used with other words to make phrases. Therefore, in the following occasions you only use "儿童":

儿童医院
儿童乐园
童工
适龄儿童

"孩子" is informal when you talk about that population and is seldom used with other words. The only case I can think about is "孩子们". You cannot say "孩子医院". HOWEVER, it is the most commonly used word to indicate relationship, i.e. "我的孩子" for "my child(ren)". You cannot say "我的儿童".

By the way, for people in their 50s, they can call all people younger than (approximately) 25 "孩子们", but someone at his age of 20 is definitely not "儿童". That's why I say "孩子" emphasizes on relationship.

From a translation perspective, "儿童" can be translated into "kid", "infant", "child"; "孩子" mostly means "child". The meanings and usage of these two words are not strictly corresponding to those English words so be careful.

"少儿" is "teen", and usually only refers to that group of people (i.e. "teens"). It is kind of different...


Character for dice in Cantonese From the dictionary, it seems that the word for "dice" in Mandarin is either "骰子", pronounced "tóu zi", or "色子", pronounced "shǎi zi".

In Cantonese, the character for dice is pronounced "sik1" (Jyutping), and apparently written "骰", according to the written Cantonese sources I can find, which is odd because something pronounced as "tóu" in Mandarin would normally be pronounced as "tau4" in Cantonese. Curiously, the character "色" is pronounced as "sik1" in Cantonese, so it would seem to fit better if "sik1" were actually written as "色".

Is there some connection between the Cantonese pronunciation "sik1" and the character "色" and/or the Mandarin pronunciation of "shǎi"? Or is it just some coincidence with no underlying connection?

骰 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/3676/

  dice

  jyuping: /sik1/ ; /tau4 /

  Pinyin: /tou2 /

  Jyutping tau4 is literary reading ; sik1 is colloquial. The latter one is much more common in usage.

As you can see, 骰 in Mandarin has only one reading (tou2)

In Cantonese,  the literary (tou2) and colloquial reading (sik1) of 骰 are different.

色(color) and 骰(dice) are just homographs that share the same reading /sik1/

I have never heard any Cantonese read 骰 as /tau4/ in my life.


A translation for "嫂子"? I know what 嫂子 means literally, but is there an alternative meaning for it? For example, it's like a "title" I suppose when a person doesn't know their name and just calls them that.

The alternative meaning you might be looking for:

Oxford

  2 朋友的妻子 wife of one's friend

Hanyu Da Cidian

  2 已婚妇女的泛称。

a general term for married women

  《红楼梦》第六回
  劉姥姥 便説：‘原是特來瞧瞧嫂子, 二則也請姑太太的安。’


b and p, d and t, k and g etc. in English and Cantonese Many words in Cantonese which I think should be pronounced as b, d, g, are translated by the British to p, t, k, respectively.

For example, a place in Hong Kong called 大埔 and is pronounced as Dai Bo in Cantonese, but translated to Tai Po in English.

There are lots of similar examples, to list just a few:

The surname 郭 is Gwok in Cantonese but translated to Kwok.

芒角 (Mong Gok) translated to Mong Kok.... etc. etc.

I guess the b d g in Cantonese are not the same as b d g in Englilsh, and that's why the British preferred to call 大埔 Tai Po instead of Dai Bo.

I don't know linguistics. Any linguist here can tell me why? Thanks!

Voicing and Aspiration

Stop consonants can fall into the following categories (roughly):

Voiced stops: Vocal chords start vibrating before stop is released. E.g., English "b" as in "bat" (/bæt/ in IPA), French "b" as in "bon" = /bɔ̃/.
Unvoiced unaspirated stops: Vocal chords start vibrating almost exactly when stop is released. E.g., Chinese "b" as in "bu" = /pu/, English "p" after "s" as in "spit" = /spɪt/, French "p" as "pain" = /pɛ̃/.
Unvoiced aspirated stops: Vocal chords start vibrating a bit after stop is released. You can feel a puff of air at that time. E.g., English initial "p" as in "poop" = /pʰuːp/; Chinese "p" as in "pu" = /pʰu/.

I used b/p/pʰ as an example, but it's analogous for d/t/tʰ and g/k/kʰ.

Languages and Voicing/Aspiration Distinctions

One thing you might have noticed from the examples I gave is that different languages treat these differently. Roughly speaking, we have:

Chinese (Mandarin and many other dialects) has no voiced stops. It distinguishes between aspirated and unaspirated unvoiced stops (p vs pʰ).
French (and many European languages) has no aspirated stops. It distinguishes between voiced and unvoiced-unaspirated stops (b vs p).
English (in its initial stops at least) distinguishes between voiced and unvoiced-aspirated (b vs pʰ).

This generally works out well for English speakers. Many English-native learners of Chinese or French never even learn anything about voicing or aspiration. b/pʰ are close enough to both b/p and p/pʰ that there's rarely any difficulties introduced by this when English speakers are interacting with French or Chinese people (in whatever language). On the other hand, this works out terribly for, e.g., French speakers and Chinese speakers interacting with one another. b/p both sound like p to a Chinese speaker, and p/pʰ both sound like p to a French speaker. Hilarity may ensue.

Voicing, Aspiration, and Romanization

The International Phonetic Alphabet was first developed in Paris. This makes sense when you look at the symbols used: b/p/pʰ. I can imagine the thought process: /b/ and /p/ are just so different sounding that they need different symbols, right? And /pʰ/ is some bizarre aberration, so no biggie if you need a super-script to write that.

Anyhow,the people developing romanizations for Chinese stuck with that convention. The Wade-Giles system writes /p/ as p and /pʰ/ as p'. That is, the letter "b" never gets used for anything! This may strike you as a poor choice. I would tend to agree. People always throw away the apostrophes, and then it's impossible to tell how something is supposed to be pronounced. Thankfully Pinyin fixed this (/p/ is b and /pʰ/ is p), but there's still plenty of places you see the older systems, like surnames (e.g., Chang vs Zhang) and place names (e.g., Peking, Chunking, etc.).


Any formula for final sentences in 長爪梵志請問經 (Dirghanakha-sutra)? The two closing phrases of 長爪梵志請問經(Dirghanakhasutra) in Taisho's Tripitaka go as follows:

皆大歡喜。信受奉行

1) Although I haven't read all the texts of the Taisho'c compendium, the phrases are likely to be standard closing sayings. Would this assumption be right?

2) Would it be correct to translate these two phrases into English as

[Having heard this], all the [sentient beings] rejoyced greatly[, and] started practicing the teaching [they] received ?

1) Yes, "皆大歡喜，信受奉行" is one of the common closing sayings in the sutras. For example,

皆大歡喜，信受奉行。《金剛般若波羅蜜經》
皆大歡喜，信受奉行。《大方廣圓覺修多羅了義經》
悉皆歡喜，信受奉行。《占察善惡業報經》
皆大歡憙，信受奉行，禮佛而退。《佛說月光菩薩經》

The other common closing saying is "皆大歡喜，作禮而去". For example,

諸比丘聞經歡喜，為佛作禮而去。《六度集經》
諸比丘聞佛所說，皆大歡喜，為佛作禮。《佛說菩薩本行經》
聞佛所說，歡喜信受，作禮而去。《佛說阿彌陀經》
一切大會，皆大歡喜，受持佛語，作禮而去。《妙法蓮華經》
皆大歡喜，作禮而去。《楞嚴經》
聞佛所說，皆大歡喜，禮佛而退。《佛說觀無量壽佛經》

2)
皆 all (the crowd)
大 very; greatly
歡喜 pleased; glad; joyful; happy; delighted; gleeful

皆大歡喜: "all the [sentient beings] rejoyced greatly"
Yes, the translation is correct.

信 to believe
受 to accept
奉 respectfully
行 to perform; to practice

信受奉行
believe, accept and respectfully perform/practice the teaching.

作禮 to salute
而去 then leave

作禮而去
salute and then leave


Why is Western punctuation used in Chinese writing? In Chinese writing full width versions of Western question marks and commas are used.

  請問，你貴姓？

I've read that:

  [...] the concept of modern standard punctuation was adapted in the
  written language during the 20th century from Western punctuation
  marks. Before that, the concept of punctuation in Chinese literature
  existed mainly in the form of Judou, a system of punctuation marks
  denoting stops and pauses, though many works of poetry and prose, as
  well as nearly all calligraphic works, omitted Judou marks, for in
  most occasions, it was not necessary to understanding meaning.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_punctuation)

But why then was the Western way of writing punctuation imported to Chinese writing?

It must have worked perfectly good without them? or was there some gain in starting to use Western punctuation in Chinese?

Related

Is the usage of European punctuation acceptable in Chinese writing?

When writing pin yin, should you use a question mark in sentences using "ma"?

I have found answers in Chinese Wikipedia:

Classical Chinese has a punctuation system of its own. However, this system is rarely used. The method to read Classical Chinese without punctuation was taught in elementary schools in the past, but it was still too difficult for common people to understand. You may know that Chinese is an isolating language, which means morphemes are quite sequence-sensitive. Even a simple phrase can have quite a few different meanings. In Modern Chinese, this appears even more often.
Examples:
是你 (It) is you
是你。 It is you.
是你？ Is it you?
哼！是你？ Hmph! Is it you? (contempt)
During the late 1910s, there is a movement called New Culture Movement, and a major goal of it is to teach everyone to read and write. The Classical Chinese was too hard for people to read, and lacking punctuation is one of the difficulties. On 29 November, 1919, Ma Yuzao and other 5 person submitted a proposal of calling for using modern punctuation system, which mixed classical and Western punctuations (according to Guan Xihua, 2002). Outline of History of Chinese Philosophy by Hu Shi is the first work applying this punctuation system.
The reason of adapting a "Western" punctuation system is to make reading texts easier, especially for those who is learning reading for the first time. Since the using of new punctuation system, Baihuawen, or Modern Chinese was popularized quite rapidly.


What is the grammar of "用餐曅請隨手整理桌面 座位有限請勿休憩估用"? In a cafeteria, there is a sign which presumably means something like, "There are a limited number of seats, so please don't sit down with just one person to a table; plan your seating arrangements so that everyone can have a seat."  I don't recognize most of the characters, but I managed to use a handwriting program to feed them into Google Translate, and I still don't really know what it is supposed to mean.

The actual text is as follows:

用餐畢請隨手整理桌面

座位有限請勿休憩佔用

In particular, I can't figure out what the function of "畢" is.

There was no punctuation in the original.  I don't know if the division into two lines is supposed to indicate a division into two sentences or not.
As my paraphrase of the Google Translate shows, I can't even translate this phrase very precisely.

I suppose it can all be considered one sentence, but the "sentence" distinction doesn't really work as it does in English.   In English, the "sentence" is a very important distinction;  each complete thought is supposed to have a complete sentence. In Chinese, each paragraph seems to be one thought.

I know that 限請 is 'please don't' and '請隨手' means 'please make an effort, even though we can't specify in advance what measures you will need to take.'

用餐 might be "when you are eating" or it might be the adjective "dining" in "dining table."

I guess 座位有限 is "limited seating" or "a limited number of seats."

Can someone provide a grammatical explanation of how these vocabulary words go together?

Thanks.

This is probably easier with some punctuations:

用餐畢， 請隨手整理桌面。

座位有限， 請勿休憩佔用。

Let's break it down:

用餐畢: 用餐 means 'to dine' or literally 'to use meal'； 畢， short for 完畢, means 'to finish, to complete' (intransitive sense only); so altogether - 'after your meal'.

請隨手整理桌面: 請 - 'please'; 隨手 means 'while at it, while doing it' or literally 'to follow hand'; 整理 - 'to arrange, to put in order', in this case 'to tidy up'; 桌面 - 'tabletop' ; so altogether - 'please readily tidy up the table'

座位有限: 座位 - 'seat'; 有限, means 'having a limit, limited' ; altogether - limited seating

請勿休憩佔用: 請 - 'please'; 勿 - 'don't, not' ; 休憩 - 'to rest' ; 佔用 - 'to occupy'; altogether - please don't rest (here) and occupy (the seats)

The whole thing can be translated as:

Please tidy up the table after your meal; limited seating, so please don't rest here and/or occupy the seats.

Personally I'd have used 清理 instead of 整理, as 清理 implies cleaning and taking your mess with you whereas 整理 usually means to put things in order. It just sounds a little unidiomatic. Maybe it's more idiomatic in Taiwan (I assume this is where you saw the phrase from)?


Radicals in 等 - Why 士 instead of 土? Why does this page list the radicals for 等 as 竹, 士, and 寸 when the word appears to use 土?

Things that contain「寺」may be written with「士」in the Taiwanese standard, while other regions (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan) use「土」.

The decomposition listed on that page is based on the Taiwanese standard, but the handwriting animation is based on the Mainland Chinese standard. If you're not learning Chinese from specifically Taiwan, write it with「土」.

  I can't locate the exact source, but the general idea was that Taiwan changed it to「士」(shì) to give a phonetic hint to「寺」(sì).

  For reference, the original structure of「寺」(Zhengzhang Old Chinese reconstruction: /*ljɯs/) was from semantic「又」(hand) and phonetic「之/㞢/」(/*tjɯ/). The word represented by this character is now written as「持」(to support, emphasised through the addition of another hand「扌」).

  西周金伯寺簋集成4007篆說文解字　現代楷

Free web resources may generally not be consistent between standards when listing this sort of information.


I have Chinese text in an image, I'm looking for a translation please I'm trying to figure out what the writing on the sticker means. What type of wood is this? And Name? Thank you!

华艺：brand name, not a word

华：China or Flower
艺：Art

编号：number
品名：name

品：item
名: name

药柜：medicine closet (but probably means just a drawer of it here)

药：medicine
柜：closet

木质：wood

木：wood
质：matrial

榆木：elm / Ulmus pumila L
规格：spec, here means size
84 * 45 * 116 (mm)


屌丝" seems to be a "dirty word" but also accepted and openly used. Am I missing something? Since 屌 means "genitals" and 丝 means "hair", 屌丝 basically means "pubes".

But then Mandarin speaking audiences seem to accept and openly use this dirty word.

What am I missing? If it's a dirty word like it seems to be why doesn't it get censored / bleeped out?

To most people the origin of 屌 is not really that clear.

KEY dictionary

2. {TW usage} swagger, be cocky/brash; be imposing, be "bad-ass"

cc c-edict

3. cool or extraordinary (colloquial)

Jay Chou 周杰伦 always goes around saying:

超屌

On Baidu there are even people who ask:

周杰伦总是说“超屌”,为什么这两个字被禁了呢?

Why is Jay Chou's “超屌” always getting censored?

So to most people 屌 just means cool...despite it's origin...and while others may think it sounds vulgar they know that is certainly doesn't not mean genitals.

As far as the origin goes this baidu user explains pretty well:

吊丝是早年李毅吧和三巨头吧互掐的时候三巨头用来骂毅丝的，之后被毅丝们用来自嘲，为什么会火，
那是因为李毅吧有内涵，号称百度卢浮宫

basically it was just a way for people to call Li Yi's fans on 贴吧...
丝 is from 粉丝 for "fans" and well 屌 you already know...


Complete end-to-end reference guide I was wondering if there are websites for learning Chinese language that are similar to the following made for the Japanese language:

IMABI
Learn Japanese – Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese

They are both a reference for grammar and writing system.

What is your research effort?

There are many websites that teach aspects of the Chinese language Putonghua.
One example is the Wikibook Chinese.

Other sites provide dictionaries and, more importantly, example sentences, like Ichacha.

You won't, however, find a "complete" or "end-to-end" guide for any natural, living language. Despite many people stressing the simplicity of Chinese grammar, the fun only really starts after completing the basic structures.


How do I break apart the middle part of 事实证明，澳大利亚非量没有用奶制品进行反制的条件，破产事件反而证明这是澳方的软肋? Today I read an article about Australia considering blocking China importing baby formula (奶粉), which expresses the opinion that the current pandemic has shown what happens if China stops buying Australian dairy products: Australian companies go bankrupt.

In the final paragraph, there is:

  事实证明，澳大利亚非量没有用奶制品进行反制的条件，破产事件反而证明这是澳方的软肋。
  不用对华限制出口了，澳大利亚牛奶巨头破产，更坏的消息在后面，2020年05月28日

I don't clearly understand how the part in bold breaks apart, particularly 非量 and 反制.

  Facts [事实] prove [证明], Australia [澳大利亚] ??? [非量] useless [没有用] dairy products [奶制品] conduct [进行] ??? [反制的] conditions [条件], bankruptcy [破产] events [事件] on the contrary [反而] prove [证明] this is [这是] Australia's [澳方的] weakness [软肋].

Question: How do I break apart 澳大利亚非量没有用奶制品进行反制的条件?

If it helps, Google Translate translates to:

  Facts have proved that Australia does not have the conditions for countermeasures with dairy products, but the bankruptcy incident has proved that this is Australia's weakness.

非量 must be a typo of 非但

事实证明 - Facts have proved
澳大利亚 - Australia
非但 - not only
没有 - doesn't have
用 - using
奶制品 - dairy products
(进行反制的)条件 - the prerequisite (of retaliating)
破产事件 - bankruptcy incidents
反而 - instead
证明 - have proved
这是 - this is
澳方的 - Australia side's
软肋 - weakness

事实证明澳大利亚非但没有用奶制品进行反制的条件, 反而破产事件证明这是澳方的软肋
The facts have proven Australia not only doesn't have the prerequisite of retaliating with dairy products (against China),  instead, bankruptcy incidents have proven this (dairy products trade with China) is Australia side's weakness

Note:
没有用 means 'useless' when it is used as an adjective
In the context of "[没有][用奶制品进行反制]" , '没有' = 'doesn't have' ; 用 = using


双刃剑 vs。 两面刀 which is used more often? I'd like to know which of these two phrases you use more often. I know that in general they both mean "a double edged sword" is one used more in Taiwan or in mainland China?

刀, by definition, usually has a curved blade with one sharpened edge. Thus a Samurai's sword, a scimitar, and a machete all fall into the definition of 刀.

If it has a double edge, and it has a straight shape, it is usually a 剑.

双刃剑 is the standard translation of double-edged sword. There is no usage difference between Taiwan and the mainland.

In very rare cases, 两面刀 is short for 两面三刀, which describes a two-faced person who is secretly trying to harm the other.