What Chinese lesson (Category of words) should I be studying?

You have difficulties identifying words and recognizing patterns.

eg:

香山公园风景美丽。 vs
香山 ／ 公园 ／ 风景 ／ 美丽。

The landscape at Xiangshan Park is beautiful.

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

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

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

What you need to do is:

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

Good luck.

Addendum

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


inviting someone to dinner (in cantonese)

介意 =  'mind' (v),
When you ask someone "你介唔介意 (do you mind) doing something", you are suggesting this something might inconvenience, trouble,  or displease him or her.
"你介唔介意今晚同我食飯?" = "Do you mind having dinner with me tonight?"
It sounds less asserted. Implies having dinner with you is doing you a favor.

"今晚不如同我食飯" = "It is better to have dinner with me tonight"

It is not a proper sentence structure for requesting
You can use a requesting phrase like "好唔好" as in "今晚同我食飯好唔好?" to make it a proper request
Another way to make "今晚不如同我食飯" a request is to use a final particle.
Different final particle expresses different tone, emotion or meaning
Example:
"今晚不如同我食飯吖" -- 吖 (suggesting/ casual/ inviting)
"今晚不如同我食飯啦" -- 啦 (casual/ suggesting/ asserted)
There are many other ways to make an invitation. For example, '今晚一齊食飯好唔好?' or  '今晚一齊食飯啦'


The location of my country within Europe: 我先說一下我國在歐洲中的地理位置

Your first try is a correct translation of the English you want to say. 内 or 里 are not as good as 中.

Better still, you can omit it, 我國在歐洲的地理位置. Here "in" is implied.

After your teacher's modification

我先說一下我國在 歐洲中部 的地理位置 = I first talk about the geographical location of my country in Central Europe. (Here 歐洲中部 means Central Europe and "in" is implied. Notice the change in sentence structure.)

user6065's suggestion 我国在欧洲里占有的地理位置 isn't good. If you say that, people will expect you to immediately follow that your country's location is strategically important (which may or may not be what you want, but certainly not reflected in your English expression).


Seriously I think people only say 我也很好 when the situation is a bit awkward.

It's like adding to the meaninglessness of your answer by stressing the similarity to another one's meaningless answer.

actually when you ask 你好吗 in Chinese it already starts to get awkward. At least you can ask more specifically e.g. 最近怎么样？ (how're u doing lately?) than asking a question which neither contains any information nor fits language convention.


There are many ways to ask this. Some examples:

您能给我们俩照一张相吗?
nín néng gĕi wǒ men liă zhào yì zhāng xiàng ma?
您能帮我们拍个照吗?
nín néng bāng wǒ men pāi ge zhào ma?
您可以给我们照张相吗？
nín kĕ yĭ gĕi wǒ men zhào zhāng xiàng ma?
请问，您可以帮我们照张相吗？
qĭng wèn, nín kĕ yĭ bāng wǒ men zhào zhāng xiàng ma?
麻烦您给我们照张相
má fan nín gĕi wǒ men zhào zhāng xiàng
麻烦你，帮我们照张相，好吗？
má fan nǐ， bāng wǒ men zhào zhāng xiàng，hǎo ma?

照张相 means to take a picture, so does 拍照（片）。 You can both use 能 and 可以. 帮（助） means to help. 我们俩 means the two of us. 给 is here a proposition.


Can we omit subject or some verbs in Chinese?

Yes you can, let me first give the possible short version of the example you gave:

What is your name?
FULL VERSION: 你叫什么名字？/你的名字是什么？(What's your name?)
SHORT VERSION 1: 你叫什么？ (Here we don't usually say 叫什么？ as its tone is more rude or intimidating. To make the tone softer, normally you could add 呀ya/啊ah at the end such as 叫什么呀？And it also could mean "why the yelling" if used in wrong context, so I don't recommend using it)
SHORT VERSION 2: 你叫……? (Your name is...?) actually it's more "you are called...?"
SHORT VERSION 3: 什么名字？(What's the name? Bond) OR 名字？(Name?)
WRONG: 什么? (什么 means "what", it would be too general, the listener would have trouble to understand what you are asking)
WRONG: 叫 This is not a valid short version of "what's your name" because it doesn't give any hit to the listener about what you are asking, and it could be misunderstood as a command to shout or yell.

要去哪里？ yào qù nǎlǐ? where are you going?
SHORT VERSION: 去哪(儿)？

吃饱了. chī bǎole I'm full. [This one is correct]
饱了 bǎole I'm full. [This one is correct] moreover it could be both a question or the answer depending on the tone. I.e. Q: 饱了？(Are you full?) A: 饱了。（I'm full)

When spoken, the grammar of Chinese is very flexible. Except in formal settings (e.g. broadcasting, meetings, court, press conference), you can almost bend the grammar in anyway you want as long as it makes sense.
By making sense, I mean that the listener should be able to understand and fill the omitted part in the meaning with minor effort.
[Below is some additional stuff, if above is enough for you, you can skip the rest]
Actually, as a Chinese, when I was in middle School (sort of 7-9th grade), after learned the grammar, we spent more time focusing on constructing sentences without ambiguity rather than practising the grammar. I mean to eliminate ambiguity, you must know some grammar of the language, but for Chinese, it's more important to avoid ambiguity rather than to construct grammatically correct sentence (sometimes, grammatically correct sentences just doesn't make sense and not so grammatically correct ones just makes so much of it). I guess this is determined by the fact that Chinese is an analytic language.
Moreover, sometimes, ambiguity is preferred in circumstances such as when the speaker want to convey two meanings in one sentence with a tweak of certain words. But if you tried to be clever and failed, people will think you are pretentious.
Anyway, in everyday life, when you want to omit something in Chinese, just make sure it's understandable and there is no ambiguity, you'll be fine.


Getting my eyebrows done = 修眉 (xiū méi); how do I use this?

刮眉毛 is grammatically identical to 修眉毛. They are both an action. The only difference is in the meaning. Therefore, you can use 修眉毛 in the same way as 刮眉毛. Here is some examples:

你好，我想修眉毛。 (Hello, I want to 修眉毛)
你好，你们这里可以修眉毛吗？ (Hello, do you offer
修眉毛 service?)

The following also make sense grammatically:

你好，我想刮眉毛。 (Hello, I want to 刮眉毛)
你好，你们这里可以刮眉毛吗？ (Hello, do you offer
刮眉毛 service?)


What's the missing sentence to this rice-planting song："花花铺盖几朵云，刚刚盖到两个人，[.......]"?

One reason the first one is hard to find is because 朵 is also written 朶.

Tang Huaxian's (唐华先) book《寒冬》Chapter 8《汤龙轩作伥抓壮丁 地下党哄营解危难》mentions:

  这日夜雨初歇，清早起来，天气微凉，东边的山顶燃起桔红色的彩霞，正是挎田栽秧的天时，也是炎热似火的日子。趁着早晨凉快，钟嘴埫一湾一湾的水田里，刚刚开亮口就敲响了栽秧锣鼓。两名歌师，一个打鼓，一个敲锣，站在田埂上一人一段地唱：

  花花铺盖几朶云哟，
  刚刚盖到两个人呀。
  大汗淋淋的老公一脚蹬床下噻，
  光屁股婆娘心痛一槽捡不赢哪。

  一阵叮叮噹噹的过门锣鼓之后，另一位歌师接唱：

  二十岁的姑娘娶进门哟，
  十二岁的小老公还未长成人呀。
  半夜找婆娘要水喝噻，
  天亮起来铺盖尿得水淋淋哪。

This forum also mentions a rendition on this:

  一床铺盖四朵云
  刚刚盖到两个人
  今年两口子
  明年三个人

I don't know which one 李伯清 was talking of, but there you go.


Meaning of 自己被收拾得乾淨漂亮 in context and significance of passive voice

知道那天自己被收拾得干净漂亮

The author left out the subjects because they are very obvious.  The sentence
will be easy to be understood if we add them back as follows.

(她)知道那天(她)自己被收拾得干净漂亮。

她 she
知道 know
那天 that day
她 she
自己 herself (not another girl)
被收拾得 be put in order
干净 clean
漂亮 beautiful

(她)(知道)(那天)(她)(自己)(被收拾得干净漂亮)
(She) (knows that) (that day) (she) (herself) (was neatened clean and beautiful)

She knows that she herself was neatened clean and beautiful that day.
She knows that she was neatened clean and beautiful that day.

收拾 means 整理 - to put things in order; to order; to tidy; to neaten.
For example, to clean the face, to comb the hair, to sort the clothes, etc.
It does not necessarily mean to apply cosmetics or to put on another more beautiful clothes.


乘 = to board
坐= to sit (in)

坐火车= sit in a train (take seat on train )
乘火车= board a train
坐巴士= sit in a bus (take seat on bus)
乘巴士= board a bus
You can use '乘' , '坐' or '乘坐' when you take or ride any transportation that you can board and has seats.
~~
We use 騎 (mount/ ride) when the transportation has a saddle instead of seats. For example, horse and motorcycle.
騎馬 (mount/ ride horse)
騎摩托車 (mount/ ride motorcycle)


Two questions on a sentence in a Min song

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ref


我有弟弟。
Wǒ yǒu dìdì.
我有一个弟弟。
Wǒ yǒu yīgè dìdì.

They're both grammatically correct, and almost the same in meaning.  But I feel it would be more normal to say the latter (我有一个弟弟);  by itself, the first one sounds a bit incomplete and childish.
Since Chinese doesn't have plural, the first example (strictly speaking) doesn't give a quantity of "younger brothers", whereas the second does.  Nevertheless, I expect most people would interpret the first as meaning "one younger brother", otherwise the speaker would have said something else like 我有两个弟弟 (wǒ yǒu liǎng gè dìdì).
Also note the second one is equivalent to:

我有个弟弟。
Wǒ yǒu gè dìdì.

So the 一 (yī) can be omitted too.

Beyond this, it seems more common to say 我有弟弟 within longer sentences (where the sentence doesn't seem as incomplete).  E.g.:

我有弟弟了。
Wǒ yǒu dìdì le.

where the 了 is the change-of-state 了, which implies you now have a younger brother, whereas before you didn't.  E.g. your mother just gave birth to a son.
Another related example:

Do you have a younger brother?
你有弟弟吗？
Nǐ yǒu dìdì ma?

Above, it's probably better to leave off the 一个 since the person might have more than one younger brother.


What is the appropriate translation for 'energy'?

The translation of energy to Chinese is really a tricky one, or very "context sensitive". I will try to give example one by one.

体力 Body(Physical) Power

  我太累。 I'm not too tired, I just don't have as much energy as I used to do what I want to do (like play basketball for 8 hours straight).

[繁] 我太累, 體力不夠了,不復當年啊。
[简] 我太累, 体力不够了,不复当年啊。

Enerygy ->  体力   body(physical) strength / body energy
            不够了 no enough / run out

            不復   not as (good as)
            當年   years ago / in the past

So 我的能力不够 should be 我的体力不够.

The following example fall in the same usage

  The players aren't lazy, they just don't have enough energy to keep up with the other team.

精神 Will Power / Brain Power

  I have other responsibilities, so I don't have the time or energy to sit beside you and manage you.

  [繁] 我有其他事情要處理, 沒有那麼多時間精神跟在你後面管著你。

  [简] 我有其他事情要处理, 没有那麼多时间精神跟在你后面管着你。

事情要处理  things that have to be taken care of / responsibilities (责任)
精神       energy / will power (mental state related)

PS

体力 is always referring to physical/body strength/state. As 体 mean body.

精神 can be referring to mental state only or both.

[繁] 他今天精神很好
He look good today.
He is in good shape today.

精力 can refer to both physical or mental state, or both at the same time. Mostly interchangeable with the above two.

  [简] 我太累, 体力 不够了,不复当年啊。

  [简] 我太累, 精力 不够了,不复当年啊。

  [简] 没有那麼多时间 精神 跟在你后面管着你

  [简] 没有那麼多时间 精力 跟在你后面管着你


What is the suggested pattern on paper to learn handwriting?

I would suggest go ahead try them all by yourself, it vary from people to people. But same as @Stan said it is just helping you to have a better sense of positioning each stroke.

But I want to mention that it only works well if you have a sample showed in a similar pattern and you try to make it looks the same way.

Think about what you would do to an English handwriting practice paper for English, it's actually the same idea. You need to firstly actually know where you should write on it, and then practice. And the eventual goal is no longer need it.


Is this correct? 用实际行动来（回馈）父母的期待。

馈 means "to gift"
报 means "to repay"
回馈 means "to give back (to shows your gratitude)
回报 means "to repay" (a grace or debt)

"用实际行动来（回馈）父母的期待"
实际行动 is not a gift
It would be correct to write: "用(成果)来（回馈）父母"
成果 is a gift; object of 回馈 is the parents, not their expectation

~

用实际行动来（回报）父母的期待"
期待 is not a grace or debt
It would be correct to write: "用实际行动来（回报）父母的(恩情)"
恩情 is a grace; the object of 回报 is 父母的恩情

~

回应 means "to respond"
Better change "用实际行动来（回馈）父母的期待" to "用实际行动来（回应）父母的期待"
"Use action to respond to his parent's expectation"

More example:

回馈社會 (give back to the society) the object of 回馈 is the society, not what the society has done for you

回报親恩 (repay the parents' grace)

回应訴求 (respond to appeal)


How is 住 used as a suffix in a verb phrase

when "住" is used as a suffix of a verb. It has two possible meanings:

To express that something would be secured, under your control.
To express that the motion stops, or pauses, to be stationary.

In your case, “住" is used with the second meaning.We have words "愣住","呆住","怔住",etc..They mean the same: [someone] gets surprised, or astonished, or bewildered [so he stops other actions and just stay there like a statue].

"着" is a word to show the progress tense, that the action of the verb is going on.You could say "他一直在那儿愣着(He is standing there all the time)",but "着" doesn't show the transformation between "to be in action" and "stop to be stationary".

I also want to show you an example for the first meaning. Imagine that you are a policeman, and your boss asks you to moniter a suspect.You boss would say,

  你的任务就是看(kān)住他。 Your task is to watch over him[make sure he won't escape]. Here "住" shows that your boss requires you to keep him in your sight securely.

Unfortunately, the suspect escaped. You report this to your boss:

  我一整天都在 看着 他，但还是没 看住。 I was wathing over him all the day, but I still failed.


Are begging and ball homonyms in spoken mandarin?

Yes, they are both written in pinyin as 'Qiú'.
You can check 新華字典 for more details.
It is a trustable dictionary website.


Phonetic pronunciation help for "秋子/Autumn Child" - Chinese trad

I don't hear a "oo" sound in 子。 It's more like a "z" without much of a vowel sound after it. To spell it out in laymans phonetic, I suggest: chee-Oh-Tzz  (or just one z) (Edit: or chee-Oh-Tzh, so as not to imply a buzzing sound?)


Both are correct.

You can say 我每个星期去四次大学 or 我每个星期去大学四次.


What's the difference between 我去吃飯 (去 + Action) and 我要吃飯了 (要+Action+了)?

我吃飯 =  I eat dinner (meal)
我(去)吃飯 = I (go) eat dinner
我(要)吃飯 = I (have to/ want to) eat dinner
我(要)(去)吃飯  = I (have to/ want to) (go) eat dinner

You can add final particle '了' (indicate change of situation) to all the above examples :

我吃飯了 =  I eat dinner (meal) now- 了 indicates situation change from not eating to eating
我(去)吃飯了 = I (go) eat dinner now- 了 indicates situation change from not going to going
我(要)吃飯了 = I (have to/ want to) eat dinner now - 了 indicates situation change from not have eat to have to eat
我(要)(去)吃飯了  = I (have to/ want to)(go) eat my dinner now - 了 indicates situation change from not have to go to have to go

  去 + Action vs 要+Action+了

More examples:

我看電影 = I watch movies
我(要)看電影 = I (have to/ want to) watch movies
我(去)看電影 = I (go) watch movies
我(要)(去)看電影了 = I (have to/ want to) (go) watch movies now- 了 indicates situation change from not going to going


What does "Why is C++ used at all now that a faster language (Go) has been created?" really mean?

as a native chinese,I prefere your translation is correct.


Why is 右助 (yòu zhù) in this Chinese translation of Qur'an 1:5: 我们只崇拜你，只求你右助?

According to dictionaries like this one (definition 7), in ancient Chinese, 右 and 佑 in this usage are interchangeable.

  古同“佑”，帮助，偏袒。

In modern simplified Chinese system, we use 佑 for this usage.

But not sure if this is the case in other regions where traditional characters are still in use.


You are right, it means either or.

缸～头的泥鳅儿——耍团转

缸～头的泥鳅儿——滑不了

equal to

缸～头的泥鳅儿——耍团转│滑不了


Are "gratitude" and "appreciation" suitable CC-CEDICT definitions for 感激之心?

"感激之心" literally is "the heart that is grateful/appreciated/thankful". And I think it should be kept that way, which is a phrase not a word. Its meaning can be derive from words in the phrase easily. I don't think it should have its own entry.

"恻隐之心" has its own entry, probably because "恻隐" is seldom used alone now. "恻隐之心" has become a set phrase, or a word.

"赤子之心" is different, it means "the heart of ...", and it has its own figurative meaning which is different from that of "赤子". So it got its own entry.


What are the flavors of all those "systems":系统,体系,制度

装置 'device' doesn't really belong here. Here are some definitions from the 教育部國語辭典:
系统: 同類事物，按一定秩序相連屬，而自成一整體
"objects/affairs belonging to the same category, joined together in a specific order to form a unity."
The emphasis is on order, thus can be used to form adjectivals such as 很有系統 "very systematic"
體系: 由許多要素構成，具有一定條理組合成的整體。如：「哲學體系」
"a unity formed from numerous elements which have a connecting principle, such as 'philosophical system.'" The emphasis is on the underlying unity of the elements, hence principles.
制度:經制定而為大家共同遵守認同的辦事準則
"a code for the conduct of affairs established by common understanding and agreement." The emphasis is on how things are done, hence this is commonly used with political affairs.
體制: 一定的規則、制度. "fixed rules; a system of operation." The emphasis is on the set nature of the system. This can also be used for written formats.


What is the best way to say "Under New Management"?

老店新张！I saw it used in many instances in China when the owner changes.


Yes, you are right. It's a personification of spring and flowers respectively. With a little bit correction, "們" indicates that 花姑娘 is in plural form in Mandarin.
姑娘 usually means young lady in Mandarin. It is also a kind of addresses to Catholic nuns, female nurses, or female social workers in Hong Kong.
By the context of two sentences, it is personification of spring and flowers to some young ladies. This kind of personification is very common in Mainland China. It is acceptable to translate it in "Miss" as it is more common usage in English although "Miss" refers to wider age range. "Lady" is also acceptable, says "Lady Spring" and "Ladies of Flowers".
For the context in mainland China, the male version is probably "大哥". 霜大哥 means Elder Brother Frost. It is a bit younger. For Father Frost, it is presumably a senior male character and you might translate it to 霜伯伯.
先生 is quite formal. It depends on the context. Anyway, it is not the male version of 姑娘.
By the way, "花姑娘" means a prostitute who is working in brothel although it refers to China in the past.


Is there any authoritative works related to measure words?

It depends on your definition of 'authoritative'.

If you are looking for formal dictionaries as opposed to crowd-sourcing efforts, dedicated to measure words, there are 《量词词典》, 《现代汉语量词用法词典》, 《现代汉语量词规范词典》, etc. You can find them by searching '量词+词典' on Amazon, Douban or other book sources.

If you are looking for 'the source' that's used by all the schools as standard reference, there is none. At least in Mainland China, the only dictionaries that are used as standards are 《新华字典》 and 《现代汉语词典》. Both of them cover measure words but are not 'measure word dictionary' i.e. they do not provide reverse look up from a noun to corresponding measure words; they do not contain an extensive list of usages for each measure word; etc.


Yes, you are correct. In this context, both 均 and 都 mean all. 均 slightly indicates the variety of the processes.

均需 is formal and usually used in writing or lectures. 都要 would be one of the informal equivalents.


讷 as nò, an exclamation meaning "Here you go"

I think the correct character might be

吶 na4 used as an auxiliary word 语助词

We say 吶 na4 sometimes when giving someone something, so saying 吶 + the gesture of giving the thing away does translate to "here you go". The way I have heard it the most is "呐，这个给你".

However, I'd only use 吶 in informal speech with family or friends. It's quite casual and I don't think it's appropriate for professional settings, including business transactions.

  Reference Notes

In the Zdic entry of 吶, it lists 讷 as interchangeable with 吶 when pronounced ne4 which means slow of speech or to speak with a stammer (讲话迟钝或口吃). I'm guessing this might be where typo stems from.
From the same Zdic entry mentioned above, one of the meanings of 吶 is 表示提醒注意 to get someone's attention. I think this "getting attention" + "the gesture of handing over something" combined implies the meaning of "here you go".
As an auxiliary word 語助詞, you can use 吶 in other cases without the meaning "here you go", for example "天吶" equivalent to "天啊" which is an exclamation similar to "Gee" or "Yikes" or "Oh".
吶 is commonly seen as part of the word 吶喊 which means to shout / cry out.


What is the difference between 变 and 变得?

得 is some sort of complement word here. It tends to be some sort of comment or description of the action in the verb.
The basic structure is:
[verb] 得 [description]

From your example

眼睛变得亮晶晶

变 is verb, 亮晶晶 is description of the eye.


祖 generally means ancestor, 祖国 means someone's own country and MAY have the implication that his/her ancestors lived in the same country as well, although it doesn't always have to be the case. I think 祖国 is similar to "motherland" in English, an expression to imply close relation. As an analogy, although "mother" and "land" give you a feeling what the word "motherland" means, being really serious about the meaning of "mother" itself won't help much here.

P.S. As a Chinese, I usually perceive Chinese words as a whole rather than separating every character and studying them, but I'm not sure if this is the best way for learning Chinese as a foreign language.


First, grammars of Chinese and English are totally different, you don't need the preposition like in English.
Second, in my opinion, 去 indicates that you start the action of "going to a place",and "到" indicates that you have finished that action, so you "reach a place " or "arrive at a place".
An example:

本周二我会坐火车去北京，周三到。
I will  go to Beijing by train this Tuesday and I will arrive on Wednesday.


What is 装 and 连 doing in this paragraph about a newt in a glass from Matilda? E.g. 她再看那装着蝾螈的玻璃杯

装 means contain, therefore 她再看那装着蝾螈的玻璃杯 means

  She glared at the glass with the newt (contained) in it.

Here 连 means together with, therefore 恨不得跑过去把它拿起来连蝾螈带水泼在特朗奇布尔的头上 means

  She longed to march up and grab the glass and tip the contents, (with) newt and all, over the Trunchbull's head


Hokkien `綴` vs. `共`: compare and contrast

The word tuè/tè in Taiwanese Hokkien is used in contexts where 跟 in Mandarin more explicitly refers to the action of "following"; in the 台灣閩南語常用詞辭典 you can find the word kin-tuè/kun-tè, as written 跟綴. In the 台文/華文線頂辭典, a fuller list of words with 綴 can be found. Perhaps most indicative of its use is the Taiwanese Hokkien equivalent of 跟得上, which is 綴會著 tòe/tè-ē-tio̍h.

The function of 共 kā is more grammatical, and often marks an "additional valency" as expressed on page 23 of Written Taiwanese; in practice this means another verb must follow 共 + noun phrase at some point, for example in that most famous of Hokkien utterances 我共你講.


Chinese [Topolectical] IPA Placeholder: Ẓ

It's quite clear that there is no difference between "Ẓ" and "ẓ" in the 1987 成都话方言词典 as you have shown. If you look at page 26 of the dictionary, you can see everything that starts with "ẓ" in the particular Chengdu Pinyin system that they have, listed from ẓán to ẓùn.

Really then, this is a typographical question. Looking at the page, you see that there's plenty of typographical variation, with severe difficulties aligning the underdot of the ẓ below the line. Occasionally, this stretches the verticality of the ẓ character, e.g. in ẓóng,  making it appear a little like a majuscule character where it should be a normal miniscule.

On a more linguistic level, "ẓ" in this Chengdu Pinyin system corresponds with "r" in the Sichuan Dialect Dictionary 四川方言词典, also published in 1987, although both correspond to   the phoneme /z/. Note that "z" is the romanised version of /ts/ in both, as it is in standard 汉语拼音 too.

Incidentally, Sichuanese does exhibit the phenomenon of 儿化 érhuà, independently of this phoneme (see 桡片儿 ẓáo pěr in the dictionary). The 成都话方言词典 Chengdu Dialect Dictionary treats them as separate phonemes which happen to be in complementary distribution, whilst the 四川方言词典 Sichuan Dialect Dictionary treats them like 汉语拼音 Hanyu Pinyin does, as realisations of a single /r/ phoneme.


How to express psychological insecurity (not physical insecurity)?

Security (think: Otis Redding) is 安全感, a very popular and common concept in Chinese.

——

Oxford gives the example:

  有安全感
  have a sense of security

——

Insecure is 没有安全感.

Oxford has the example sentence:

  她没有安全感。
  She feels insecure.

I think Cantonese would opt for 缺乏 over 没有 giving you something like:

  缺乏安全感


What is the difference between 例子 and 榜样?

榜样 is a model, specifically a person regarded as an excellent example of a certain quality.

Every year, the government announces

  全国劳动模范 or 劳模 in short (people who excel in work) and 全国道德模范 (people who possess good
  moral values)

In a lot of companies, they have an honor called

  模范带头人 (employees that come first in sales numbers, etc.)

Teachers use the word fairly often:

  小明是我们（学习）的榜样。Xiao Ming set a good example for us.

An idiom:

  榜样的力量是无穷的。If one sheep leaps over the ditch, all the rest will
  follow. (official translation)

例子 is a typical thing that can represent the whole kind.

  举个例子 give an example

It's actually very easy to distinguish between the two words.

Definition of "example" (from the Dashboard widget on my Mac):

  example |igˈzampəl| noun

  a thing characteristic of its kind or illustrating a general rule --> 例子 (neutral)
  a person regarded in terms of their fitness to be imitated or the likelihood of their being imitated --> 榜样 (positive, and used to describe people
  only)


It's just 'Tiankeng', perhaps because this large karst topography exists mainly in China.

  2005年，国际喀斯特天坑考察组在重庆、广西一带大规模考察后，“天坑”这个术语在国际喀斯特学术界获得了一致的认可，并开始用汉语拼音“Tiankeng”通行国际。这是继峰林（Fenglin）和峰丛（Fengcong）之后，第三个由中国人定义并用汉语和拼音命名的喀斯特地貌术语。

See in wikipedia.


Chinese characters picture dictionary / mnemonics?

Chineasy
(Not a complete dictionary, per-se, though)
Dezeen did a pretty interesting review of it here:

Chineasy illustrated characters designed to make learning Chinese easy
This system of illustrated characters and animations was developed to help people learn to read Chinese, and is one of the 76 projects nominated for Designs of the Year 2014 (+ slideshow).

Tree
Taiwan-born entrepreneur ShaoLan first began developing the Chineasy characters as a way to teach her own English-speaking children to read traditional Mandarin Chinese, by creating a visual connection to the words.

Woman
Having struggled to find a straightforward way to negotiate the huge number and complexity of Chinese characters, she teamed up with graphic artist Noma Bar to develop a system of shapes representing some of the most commonly occurring symbols, which can be combined to create more complex phrases.

Fire
"I created a methodology that breaks down thousands of Chinese characters into a few hundred base building blocks," explained ShaoLan. "When these building blocks are combined, they form compounds that can in turn be combined to create phrases. Through this method learners can quickly build a large vocabulary of characters with very little effort."

Mouth
As well as providing users with a memorable way to understand the characters, Chineasy aims to offer those living in the West an insight into Chinese culture in a visual format.

Water tap
"It is educational, social, cultural, and I hope, inspirational," said ShaoLan. "I am demonstrating the beauty of this deep and ancient culture with a modern interpretation through sleek modern design."

Moon
The entrepreneur spent her evenings selecting and sketching suitable characters to form the building blocks of the Chineasy system, which she then modelled on her computer and refined to create contemporary graphic representations that could easily be understood by Westerners.

Roof
Having presented the initial idea at a conference organised by innovation forum TED that was published online in May 2013, the interest she received encouraged ShaoLan to begin working on a book and launch a Chineasy website and Facebook page.

King
A campaign launched on crowdfunding site Kickstarter exceeded its goal of £75000, eventually achieving £197626 of backing that was used to publish the first Chineasy books.

Mountain
The books are now being published by Thames & Hudson. An ebook has been released and an app is in development to illustrate how to write and correct stroke order through simple animations and give tips on pronunciation.

Door
Chineasy was nominated in the Graphics category of the Design Museum's shortlist for Designs of the Year and features in an exhibition at the museum until 25 August.

There's books/flashcards/notebooks/workbooks and a memory game using this method.
Here's some links/info:
Chineasy: Chineasy site with news/videos/products/faq
TED: ShaoLan:Learn to read Chinese ... with ease!
TED: ShaoLan: The Chinese zodiac, explained
Here's a project description from ShaoLan:

Chineasy
Chineasy's aim is to bridge the gap between the East and the West. I want to give the west a real understanding of China and an appreciation of Chinese culture through their own eyes rather than layers of packaging and manipulation.

The method - compounds
It is evident that people are hungry to learn about China. People are keen to be able to communicate with the 1.3 billion people. Tet there is not much out there to enable them to do so. Whilst the entire Chinese population is learning English, the west is struggling to comprehend this complex economy and society with their own eyes and judgment. Knowing their language is the key towards true understanding.
Chineasy will become the first step for anyone in the world who wants to understand China, Chinese culture and its language. It is educational, social, cultural and inspirational. I am demonstrating the beauty of this deep and broad culture through a modern interpretation using sleek and simple design.

method - the Phrases
Chineasy's goal is to allow people to learn to read Chinese easily by recognizing characters through simple illustrations. The magical power of the Chineasy method is that by learning one small set of building blocks, students can build many new words, characters, and phrases.

You can check out a video they put out on youtube:
ShaoLan's Chineasy: Lesson 1
The book has more explanations like:

Pinyin: 日 ri4
日 The current version of this ancient building block is quite interesting. It looks just like a window, which is quite handy for us learning Chinese, but why doesn’t this character look like a sun? I mean, it’s not especially hard to draw a sun, right? Well, it used to look a lot more like that burning star in the sky, but the Chinese language has been evolving for thousands of years and most characters have changed a lot. It’s just like “old English”, “middle English”, and “modern English”. The oldest form of Chinese that ...


Documentation of 不+"x" contractions resulting in "r" sounding initial consonant?

This phenomenon is a non-standard regional accent, known as 儿化音. It is a phenomenon in some part of North China, especially in Beijing.

  不知道 (bù zhī dào) → 不儿道 (bùr rào)

  不是 (bù shì) → bú shì → 不儿 (búr)

  告诉你 (gào sù nǐ) → 告儿你 (gàor nǐ)


What is the difference between 变 (biàn) and 易 (yì)?

变 is mainly used as a verb for "change; alter; turn (e.g. turn into a dog)"

易 is mainly used as a verb component in a compound word. Mostly indicates 'transfer' (from one to another). 易 is not used as a verb on its own in day to day speech in modern Chinese

Look at the compound words contain these two characters
变化 - change
转变 - change; transform
易手 - change hand -- transfer ownership
交易 - exchange -- mutually transfer goods or money


接受函数为参数，返回值为函数

Your translation is quite right. The sentence seems to be a description of a function; which takes a function as the parameter, and its return value is a function too.
To be more precise, the first 为 means

（充当） serve as; act as; play the part of:
call a stag a horse;
指鹿为马
This will serve as a proof.
以此为凭。

The 2nd 为 means

（是） be; mean:
One kilometre is equivalent to two li.
1公里为2华里。
One hundred centimetres make one metre.
100厘米为一米。

为 in 汉语水平考试是一个考试为了外国人 (especially used as 为了) is used for describing the purpose.

介词
（表示目的）:
work hard for realizing the four modernizations;
为实现四个现代化而努力工作
write for a living
为生活而写作

BTW: The correct syntax should be 汉语水平考试是一个为了外国人的考试; because 为了外国人 is the modifier of 考试 so it should be put before of 考试 (i.e. the object). More naturally you can say 汉语水平考试是一个面向外国人的考试. Because 为了外国人 is broad and then might be confusing, the specific purpose is hard to get.


could you explain all the grammar which is included in the sentence: 君子務本，本立而道生?

S: 君子務本

NP: 君子; VP: 務本

N: 君子; V: 務; N:本

S: 本立而道生

NP: 本; VP: 立; CONJ/AP: 而; NP: 道; VP: 生

N: 本; V: 立; and/adverb: 而 (and then); N: 道; V: 生

Alternative:

S: 本立而道生

If: (omit); NP: 本; VP: 立; AP: 而; NP: 道; VP: 生


虧空 is debt

還 is repay (還款) here.

so, 還了虧空 is repay the debt.

have fun


Refreshing or Rude: addressing an older woman as 小姐

Use 女士 with her family name is always safest. e.g. 李女士


What is the term for alluding to a more formless concept by listing its specific members?

At least in the context of 春夏秋冬 being used to represent the cycle of time, some might call that a "metonym". From The American Heritage Dictionary (on Wordnik):

  n. A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated, as in the use of Washington for the United States government or of the sword for military power.

"Washington" is often used to represent the US government, though it's really only a place. Maybe in the case of Chinese (or Vietnamese), such phrases are so commonly used that they become lexicalized as the standard means of expressing the concept.


While both terms express the idea of "hoping", 但愿 is more for "wishing".

但愿我能上哈佛商学院 I wish I could attend Harvard Business School, (but it's a long shot.)

希望我能上哈佛商学院 I hope I can attend Harvard Business School. (We do not know the speaker's odds of gaining admission from this sentence alone.)

An example I can think of is 但願人長久，千里共嬋娟, loosely translated as “I wish we will  live long so we can admire the autumn moon at the same time though we may be miles apart from each other." In this example, how long a person will live is out of the poet's control. He can only wish that it happens.


What Different Patterns Are There To Make 不如 Sentences？

Both are correct.
Your question has nothing to do with 不如. The point is 法语说得流利 vs 说法语说得流利. The former's emphasis is 法语, while the latter's one is 说法语. Here's a nuance of the sentence's sense.


How should one answer this question about 年?

Just as you said

春节快乐！(chun jie kuai le, Happy Chinese New Year!) 今年是什么年？

you could answer 龙年.That's OK!
But 龙年 is not often used in Chinese culture nowadays.Even if in the ancient time,we use 壬辰年 to indicate the year,because there are 5个龙年 in every 60 years.However,there are also 1个壬辰年 every 60 years.So we use the 年号(emperor's symbol)to indicate the year,for example,乾隆50年（乾隆is the 年号 of one emperor of Qing dynasty）is 1785年，乙巳年 and 蛇年。 So it's safe to  answer your question like this:

someone: 春节快乐！(chun jie kuai le, Happy Chinese New Year!) 今年是什么年？
you:2012年，the doom year!
someone:haha，I know it's 2012 now, I want to know the lunar year!
you:Oh,sorry,it's 龙年！


What is a better translation of 箱子 in the following context?

A few possibilities come to mind:
First, given that there is often no indication of plurality in Chinese, 箱子 may actually be indicating "boxes", rather than "box". That is, each pallet does contain many boxes and so the fork lift is loading many boxes into the truck.
Second, depending on where you saw this picture and caption, it is possible it is just a simplified translation for learners. That is, for materials used for English language learners, we may say that "the forklift is loading several boxes into the truck", rather than "the forklift is loading a pallet into the truck". The reason is that "pallet" is relatively advanced and relatively rare vocabulary, while "box" is lower level and more commonly encountered in (most people's) daily life. Though, admittedly, "forklift" (and 铲车) is also pretty advanced/specific.
Thirdly, from Pleco, I am seeing several possible translations of pallet as 托盘，栈板，货盘. I am not sure which is most commonly used for a commercial pallet such as this, but I guess it is 托盘 as the word for pallet jack is given as 托盘车.
Ultimately, it may come down to regional preferences and/or what 箱子 is commonly thought to encompass by native speakers. Because of how different Chinese and English are, it is very difficult to take the intuition about a particular word from one language and transition it to the other language. That is, what Chinese think of the word 箱子 may be much broader than what an English native speaker may think it would be. For English natives, we would think of a suitcase and a box as being rather different things and probably would never, or only very rarely, call a suitcase a "box", but one of the definitions for 箱子 is suitcase.
As another example in the other direction, the English word "mask" seems to be rather broadly defined from a Chinese perspective. That is, the word "mask" in English encompasses both a surgical mask that covers only mouth and nose and a decorative/performance mask that covers the whole face, but a surgical mask in Chinese is 口罩 and a decorative/performance mask is 面具, which seem to be rather different words when looking at the characters and their individual meanings. I also recall a Chinese native expressing how they found it weird that we call both of those things a "mask" in English. To them, they are rather different things as one is just for nose and mouth, while the other covers the whole face. We care less about this distinction in English, using adjectives to modify the general concept of "mask" instead of thinking of those two kinds of mask as being in different categories.
I realize that this is not a definitive answer, but it hopefully gives some insight and possible ways of thinking about word choice (in both Chinese and English) in these kind of contexts.


我沒知道存有椰子火鍋到他吃爲止。他吃椰子時(到)我沒知道此存有爲止。

There are a couple of things that needs to be addressed about the sentence - unfortunately, in its current state, it is not legible.

Chinese doesn't use the equivalent of English I never knew (我「沒」知道) - we usually say I didn't know (我「不」知道) or I've never heard of (我沒聽說過).
「存有」is an exceedingly specialised philosophical term; to literally say exists in everyday language, the term is「存在」. An example sentence might be

  Ｘ（這種東西）不存在。

  There's no such thing as X.

The use of「爲止」here is problematic, and others have addressed how to use this term correctly.

Using something natural like @xbh's example

  在他吃之前我都不知道還有椰子火鍋

  Before he ate coconut hot pot, I never knew it existed.

is recommended, but as an exercise in using「爲止」, you can construct a grammatically correct statement like

  我朋友剛剛吃了椰子火鍋。「到目前爲止」，我還不知道有這種東西。

  My friend just ate coconut hot pot. Up until now, I didn't know there was such a thing.


Does the distinction between speak and say have any equivalent in Mandarin?

说 can mean 'speak' or 'say' e.g. 我說不用了(I said there's no need); 我会说英语 (I can speak English)
'道' (to say) is a literary/classical term for '说'(say). e.g. 某某道：「如此这般」= XX said: "So and so", but you cannot use '道' for 'speak', as in "speak Chinese"
'操' (to use; to speak) is another literary term for '说'(speak). e.g. 本人能操流利粤语 (I can speak fluent Cantonese), but you cannot use '操' for 'say', as in "please say something"
'讲' Cantonese dialectical word: say; speak e.g. 讲英文 (speak English); 我讲过 (I had said)
'讲' Mandarin: V: to emphasize, to speak; to talk. e.g. 讲佛经 (talk Buddhist scriptures)


What does 即 mean in ...Google在ICML文中描述的非常清晰，即在每次SGD时...?

即 itself can mean "equal".  For example: '五人即一伍' (Five men equal one unit)

~ you can replace 即 (equal) with 為(be), For example:  '五人為一伍' (Five men is one unit)

But 即 can be short for 即是 (namely; that is to say; to be specific)

Example:

[1. 軍隊將士兵分伍] [2. 即] [3.每五人組成一個單位]

[1. Amy divides soldiers into 伍] [2. to be specific ] [3. Every five people become one unit]

[1. general statement] [2. to be specific] [3. detail description]


“It didn't help that..” could be translated to "更糟的是" （Literally means worse is）

他已经发烧发到很虚弱了，更糟的是不肯喝汤。


Does 拉丁裔的女人需要工作一年到十月的二十号为了赚百男人赚的钱在前的一年 make sense?

"Latina women have to work until Nov. 20 in order to earn what a white man would have earned in the year before"

The sentence itself is kind of hard to follow. The biggest problem is it doesn't state "from what time" they have to work until Nov. 20. Therefore, the concept of "Latina women's 23 months income  = white men's 12 months income" isn't expressed very clear

The following sentence would state things more clearly

  "Latina women have to work until next year's Nov. 20,  to earn as much as a white male earned in this year"

Google Translate result: “拉丁女性必須工作到明年11月20日，才能獲得與(今年)白人男性相同的收入”

grammatically refined:  “拉丁女性必須工作到明年11月20日，才能獲得與白人男性相同的(今年)收入”

When Google Translate gives you a comprehensible translation, you know the original sentence is also comprehensible in general


Both are correct.

In 我看完一半, the object of 看完 is 一半, so it means I finished reading half of the book.

In 我看到一半, 一半 is used for the position where have been finished reading, so it means I reached half of the book in reading.


Here are two characters that have the pronunciation bia:

拼音bia4
㈠邑名。
㈡姓。

㈠bia4,上下相付。

zdic has a question that reads:

从小有个朋友问我“bia”拼出来的汉字怎么写，我当时真懵了，不会啊！时间过去20年了，突然回想起这个拼音，有会写的么，请告知，谢谢了

the last comment says:

8楼14楼是权威说法。

Number eight reads:

pia、bia、diang，其实就是pa、ba、dang的变读。
方法是在声母与韵母间插入“i ” 。
例子太多了，就不列举了。

and number fourteen says:

多以“吧”字代之。如吧叽，吧嗒。吧读bia.

《哈尔滨方言词典》p. 110

Simply lists all bia:

□

but the same words from the zdic thread are written as:

吧叽

and

吧嗒

Seemingly making 吧 an acceptable candidate.

《北京方言词典》陈刚 商务印书馆 1985 p.17 confirms this assumption:


What are the real obstacles of romanizing Chinese characters?

Nong si gangdu va?

Romanizing Chinese would effectively sever the cultural and historical continuity, and it would also be detriment to the many minority topolects that share the same script.

You would need to romanize not only Mandarin, Wu, Cantonese, Min, Sichuanese and so on, but also the many dialects of these regional tongues.

Furthermore, you would completely lose the poetic charm that Chinese characters carry. Chinese culture and language would be much poorer without the characters, as they are a defining element of the culture.

There used to be a movement for abolishing the characters, since they were perceived as an obstacle to learning. This is no longer the case, and nobody would propose such a reform today.

Japan has long had not one but two alphabets, but still retains the characters, for the same reasons as stated above.


What are the types of 剧 (theatrical work, opera, drama) in modern China?

中国戏曲 (Chinese Opera) has been a popular form of entertainment throughout China's history. The major difference between regional Chinese operas is each region uses its own local dialect. There are also cultural differences, for example, Cao Cao has white face paint (indicate villain role) in most regional operas, but not in the opera in his home town region. The other differences are minor ones, like the choice of musical instruments, details in costumes, etc.
The most famous Chinese Opera is Beijing opera (京剧) due to Mandarin being the standard Chinese language.  Cantonese opera (粤剧) is also world famous because many oversea Chinese were from Canton.

Here is a long list of opera at Wiki:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_opera

Northern
Beijing opera (Peking Opera) (京剧)
Yu opera (豫剧)
Errenzhuan/Bangzixi/Benbeng opera (二人转) (Northeast China)
Hebei bangzi (河北梆子) (Hebei)
Jiju (吉剧) (Jilin)
Lüju (吕剧) (Shandong)
Maoqiang (茂腔) (Shandong)
Pingju (评剧) (Hebei)
Puju (蒲剧) (Shanxi)
Qinqiang/Qin dynasty opera (秦腔) (Shaanxi)
Zaju (雜劇)
Jinju (晋剧) (Shanxi)

Southern
Cantonese opera (粤剧) (Guangdong)
Gaojia opera (Quanzhou)
Huaguxi (花鼓戏) (Hubei/Hunan)
Huangmei opera (Anhui)
Shanghai opera (沪剧)(Shanghai)
Kunqu (昆曲)
Liyuan opera
Teochew opera (潮剧)
Hakka opera (汉剧)
Min opera (闽剧) (Fuzhou)
Puxian opera (Putian, 莆仙戏)
Nanxi (Wenzhou)
Ouju (Wenzhou)
Shaoxing opera/Yueju (Zhejiang)
Taiwanese opera (歌仔戏)
Wuju (Jinhua)
Sichuan opera (川剧)(Sichuan)

歌仔戲 ( Taiwanese opera) https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%AD%8C%E4%BB%94%E6%88%B2


I guess the only really confusing part here is 鸡儿, the other parts are quite self-explanatory:

这 = this
啥 = what
东西 = thing

鸡儿 is a curse word from Southwest Mandarin.
Here's an entry from 《四川方言词典》

词语: 鸡儿
发音: ji1 er2
定义: (名) ①雏鸡。②<粗>男阴，骂人语，有的地方只有此义 ▷啊哟!你才香喃?比五香狗肉还香!只默到想巴结你么?哼，一条臭～! (山259)

It's essentially the same as 鸡巴 (cock) and is used almost in the exact same way.
Side-note: although the given pronunciation is ji1 er2 - you're more likely to hear it as a single syllable jier1 and even juer1 in some locales.
So 这鸡儿啥东西 basically means: wtf is this thing?


What's wrong with 空调制冷得不太好 meaning "The air conditioner cools poorly"?

You’ve got the concepts down but the problem here is that 冷 is not a verb. So now you’ve got 得 modifying 冷 and not 制.

Often times with words like this you might see repetition of the actual verb like:

• 说话说得

• 跳舞跳得

• 写字写得

This way it’s the verb that’s being qualified.

This isn't a very common phrasing but here are some examples I found online:

  制冷制得很快

  制冷制得比较柔

  调制冷制得好不好一样

  这两天制冷制得有些不顺利


How to determine if character can be used separetely?

Unlike alphabets in English, each Chinese character has its own meaning or meanings. A single character, usually cannot clearly express a specific meaning, therefore two characters would combine into a specific word, and two words may combine into one specific phase,

For example, 明 contains the following meanings:

[1] bright; light; brilliant

[2] clear; understandable; [v] clarify; understand; obvious; evident

[3] intelligent; clever

[4] eyesight; seeing faculty

[5] day; daybreak; dawn

[6] [v] state; show; assert

[7] next (day or year)

[8] the Ming dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.)

[9] a Chinese family name

With only one character, it is too general to know which meaning it is referred to, therefore we need to add a second character to form a specific term :

[1] 光(light) + 明(bright) = 光明(bright)

[2] 明(clear) + 白(plain) = 明白(understand)

[3] 聰(clever) + 明(intelligent) = 聰明(intelligent)

[4] 復(recover) + 明 (eyesight) = 復明(regain eyesight)

[5] 天(sky) + 明(daybreak)= 天明(daybreak)

[6] 聲(voice) + 明(state)= 聲明(announce)

[7] 明(next) + 天(day) = 明天(tomorrow)

[8] 明(Ming) + 朝(dynasty)= 明朝(Ming dynasty)

[9] 明(Ming) + 先生(Mr.) = 明先生(Mr. Ming)

In some instances, the context would indicate which meaning of a character is referred, therefore using one character is possible; in other instances, a character only contains one single meaning, therefore is possible to be used alone.


It is a polysyllabic invented "character", part of the online language of Chinese netizens (网语). It is a graphical representation of what one could call a "modern idiom": 贵圈真乱, guì quān zhēn luàn, roughly meaning "Your social circle is a mess".

The phrase was popularised on BiliBili, although its roots apparently date back to the mid 2000s. Baidu has an entry on the term. The use of 贵 as a sarcastic honorific is very much in vogue in Chinese netspeak.

The "mess" referred to can cover all manner of 'disapproved' conduct, although the general tone is not necessarily vitriolic.


For reading numbers aloud, the wikipedia page has a section "Reading and transcribing numbers" that you might find useful.

Since I think you know the basics and your problem seems to affect the reading of "zero", let me quote this passage:

"Interior zeroes before the unit position (as in 1002) must be spelt explicitly. The reason for this is that trailing zeroes (as in 1200) are often omitted as shorthand, so ambiguity occurs. One zero is sufficient to resolve the ambiguity. Where the zero is before a digit other than the units digit, the explicit zero is not ambiguous and is therefore optional, but preferred."

Note: I know you didn't ask for the writing part, but if you don't mind, I'd like to keep it. If you think it's misleading, I can delete it.

For writing numbers, I found a nice page, Chinese numbers intro, that summarizes the rules for writing numbers. I summarized it below. If you find mistakes or if I forgot something, please post a comment:

  "Tens" are expressed by writing "numeral + ten".

  70 = 七十
  when adding a single numeral, just add it after those two.

  75 = 七十五
  with hundreds, you add the hundred and then the rest.

  275 = 二百七十五
  with thousands, you do the same.

  1275 ＝ 一千二百七十五
  same with ten thousands.

  31275 = 三万一千二百七十五
  if there's a ZERO, you include it.

  31075 = 三万一千零七十五
  the character 点 is used for "dot"

  16.98 = 十六点九八 (10-6-decimal-9-8)

  You can find more on the wikipedia page for numbers.

I also found a nice number converter that you can use for self-study, I think. You can output Traditional, Simplified Chinese and also Pinyin.


结连理 means "get married" or "become loving husband and wife"

'结' short for '结成'(form)
'连理' came from '连理枝' (intertwined trees)

连理枝是指两棵树的枝干合生在一起的一种植物。连理枝又称相思树、夫妻树、生死树，比喻夫妻恩爱。连理枝在自然界已相当罕见。
'连理枝 (intertwined trees) refers to two trees planted next to each other and their branches intertwined as they grow. Also known as lovesick tree, husband and wife tree, life and death tree (two trees that live together, die together). Metaphor for husband and wife love. It is quite rare in nature.
'连' means 'linked'; '理' short for '紋理' which means 'pattern'; '连理' refers to the pattern of the intertwined branches.
Related phrase: "在天愿为比翼鸟, 在地愿为连理枝"

I suggest translate it as "till death do us part" which is a marriage vow perfectly match the spirit of 结连理 (become intertwined trees) - 连理枝 stay together for life.

'齐家' in this context is a pronoun similar to '大家' in Cantonese (both of us)

'爱' might be a typo of '我' in '爱亲口讲汝知'. It could be '我亲口讲汝知' (I personally tell you); If 爱 is not a typo, then the phrase means " Love, I personally tell you" with 'love' as the topic and 'I personally tell you' as the comment.


硬 here connotes forcefully, without any tactics and etc.

硬捉 means to capture/seize/catch merely by force, without any tactics.

So,

  看来，硬捉是不行的，不如换个方法！

  Looks like, the way of capturing forcefully (without any tactics) wouldn't work, so we might as well change/turn to another way.

The synonym of 硬 in this context can be 强.


《你有什么打算》跟《你有什么计划》一样的吗？

they are same, 打算 often used in oral, 计划 is more formal.


Suppose 73% of the population is educated, and 4/7 of the educated is smart. Suppose further that 2/3 of the uneducated is smart as well. What is the probability that a randomly selected educated person is smart?
假设73%的人口受过教育，而受过教育的人当中4/7是聪明的。进一步假设2/3没受过教育的人也是聪明的。随机抽取一个受过教育的人是聪明的概率是多少？

"(Ratio q) + of + X" can be translated as

(在)X(当)中q. "(在)受过教育的人(当)中4/7是聪明的". And "其中4/7是聪明的" sounds more concise – though IMO it can't be applied to this example because it's a little ambiguous.
qX. "4/7受过教育的人是聪明的". Sometimes for the subtle fluency, when X doesn't contain "的", it would be better to say  "q的X" instead, such as "4/7的农民", "30%的学生".
X的q. It sounds a little colloquial and a little awkward for this example because there're two close "的"s: "受过教育的人的4/7是聪明的".

(Ratio q) above can be replaced by a percentage "p%" too. Either "(在)受过教育的人(当)中50%是聪明的" or
"(在)受过教育的人(当)中p%是聪明的" (p% as a variable) is fine.
However, if you have to use "ratio q" as a variable, it has to be "比例q" or "比率q", and a "有" would be necessary: "受过教育的人中有比率q是聪明的". Though maybe not everyone consider it clear enough - "比率q的X" and "X的比率q" patterns are even worse.
PS: I don't see the point of this math problem. If we just randomly select a person within the educated, i.e. P(smart|educated), then, isn't the answer a trivial 4/7? Have I missed anything? :/


How do I make V-not-V questions with prepositions?

I assume the V in 'V-not-V' means 'verb'. However, in the second group of the sentences you gave, you are repeating the prepositions (从把往离), not the verbs. Of course, it's also possible to ask questions about prepositions, but if you are trying to practice the 'V-not-V' structure, the 'V-not-V' structure should be used, shouldn't it?

That be said, for some of the sentences, the 'V-not-V' structure are not the best way to form questions. And some of the first group's sentences themselves are not natural to my ears. Here is the most natural way (in my opinion, not necessarily the only right way) to say them and ask questions about them:

  他从北京回来。

  他是不是从北京回来？

  我把水喝了。  (Usually is 喝水. 把水喝了 has a special nuance. )

  你是不是把水喝了？

  我开车去上海。

  你是不是开车去上海？

  学校离我的家不远。

  学校离你的家远不远？  (This is perhaps the best example in these sentences where V-not-V structure is most suitable. However, 远 is a adjective, not a verb... )

By the way, some of the sentences in @fefe's answer are not natural to my ears. I don't know if they are from a different part of China or something.

Basically the part you repeat is the part you want to ask about. So, if you repeat the preposition, you ask about the preposition (usually about place, time, direction, etc). If you repeat the verb, you ask about the action.

If you want to ask about the whole statement without emphasis on either preposition or action, a generic question uses 是不是, like I said above: 你是不是在中国工作？ Or use 吗: 你在中国工作吗？


"明天你都六点起床不起床？" is not a valid sentence in Chinese.
If we remove 都, and make it "明天你六点起床不起床？", it is valid but a little awkward. Because we usually don't say things like "起床不起床?", "吃饭不吃饭?", "睡觉不睡觉?", "学习不学习?" etc. when asking questions. The point here is that we normally don't repeat the whole word before and after 不 in questions, instead we simplify it.
Note: It is ok to repeat the whole word before and after 不 in declarative statements, like 老师喜欢不喜欢你，我真的觉得不是什么问题. While it can also been simpified as 老师喜不喜欢你，我真的觉得不是什么问题.
Here is the natual way to say it in Chinese:

起床不? or 起不起床?
吃饭不? or 吃不吃饭不?
睡觉不? or 睡不睡觉?
学习不? or 学不学习?

Back to your question, "明天你都六点起床不起床？" is not correct.
If you are asking a person of his/her get-up time in the moring, you would say:

你早上6点起床嘛? or 你早上6点起来嘛?

If the listener usually gets up at 7 o'clock, and you want to know if that person plans to get up at 6 o'clock tommorow morning, then you can say:

明早你六点起床不? or 你明天早上六点起来吗?


Further information on calligraphy piece? (Characters identified: 斿于⿰坴丮)

The characters are 「斿于」, or using ideographic description sequences: 「斿于⿰坴丮」. These are stand-ins for what we would now write as 「游于藝」; 「斿」 is the right hand side of 「游」, and 「」 is a seal script form of 「埶」, forming the middle part of 「藝」.
The phrase referred to is a line from The Analects: Transmission of Learning:

《論語・述而》
子曰：「志於道，據於德，依於仁，游於藝。」
The Master said, "Let the will be set on the path of duty. Let every attainment in what is good be firmly grasped. Let perfect virtue be accorded with. Let relaxation and enjoyment be found in the polite arts."
Translation by James Legge. See Chinese Text Project.


Which ma belongs in the phrase 我 "ma" 好的

I think you mean "man" instead of "ma"?
If so, it's 蛮.

  我蛮好的.


I keep running into so many different synonyms for like/dislike on Chinese websites. What others am I missing?


Is 创业者 the best translation of entrepreneur as somebody who is trying to run a startup?

企業家 (T) or 企业家 (S) is the correct translation for "entrepreneur"
it doesn't indicate the size of  the business that person is running, ,

For that, we have 大企業家 (T) or 大企业家 (S) meaning large profile entrepreneur)，and 小企業家 (T) or 小企业家 (S) meaning small profile entrepreneur.

For a start up business owner, the term is 新進企業家 (T) or 新进企业家 (S) meaning start up entrepreneur

創業 (T) or 创业 (S) means "to start a business"

創業者 (T) or 创业者 (S) means " one who starts his or her own business"

T: Traditional Chinese

S: Simplified Chinese


As Pedroski has explained, 一根弦的傻子 or 脑子一根弦 refers to those who clings to one idea. 一根弦 can be interpreted as "single-minded". But note that it is not necessarily a derogatory term.
For example, in the following sentence,

一根弦的傻子，也能熬出头。
A single-minded fool can eventually survive from the nights and succeed as well.

一根弦 implies that the "fool" is determined and strong-willed and will not give up on what he/she has been pursuing for.


Could a translation error lead to squares to not be considered as rectangles? (Mandarin)

My guess is it depends if rectangle is translated as:

  Oblong
  Quadrilateral

Could be the case that the teaching is for young children, where the word / concept of rectangle vs Oblong vs Quadrilateral might be difficult to understand, but it is essential for them to differentiate between square and Oblong

Others (parallelogram, trapezoid/trapezium, rhombus) does have a specific name and are not confused with rectangle.


There is no contradiction; both of the statements are saying the same thing.

There is a final in Chinese that is pronounced [wɔ].
This is the final in syllables "luo", "ruo", "wo", "bo", etc.
It is sometimes spelled "uo" (as in "luo") and sometimes spelled "o" (as in "bo").
Specifically, it is always and only spelled as "o" following  b-, p-, m-, and f-.


what is the grammar form where 找 is used twice in the sentence 林先生找工作找了多长时间?

Though I don't believe it is necessary for the example sentence you gave, there are cases where you're required to repeat the verb. I'd just post this as a comment if I could but I think this image sums it up nicely:
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/degree_complement


才 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/529/
[4] certainly; indeed

'货' can be used as a 'derogatory term (貶詞)' for 'person'. (货 = goods = thing) referring a person as a 'thing'.

'这货' = '这傢伙'

'这(货)沒救了' = This (person) is beyond help

吃货 is a term for 'gluttony' (a person who can really eat alot)

"我才不是吃货" means "I certainly am not a gluttony"
"只是这个好吃" means "But this thing is delicious" (therefore I can't stop eating it)

When we use '才' for 'certainly' the following is always a negative rebuttal
Example:
我才不信 =  I certainly don't believe
我才不幹 = I certainly won't do it
我才沒向老師告密 = I certainly did not rat to the teacher


What letters (A-Z) have Chinese counterparts?

Wikipedia has a page entitled, Chinese respelling of the English alphabet


How to translate "take Catholic orders"?

Holy orders
Oxford

圣秩
to take holy orders
领受圣秩

21st Century

1 圣职受任仪式
2 牧师职位
3 牧师的品位等级

KEY, ABC, A Chinese-English Dictionary, Grand Ricci all call this:

神品

Liang-An also calls it 神品 saying:

也作［圣品］、［圣秩］


What is the difference between 探望 and 看?

「探望」has a tendency to describe visits which "aims to make somebody happy or feel better", like visiting a relative/close friend whom you haven't visited for quite a while (not required), or visiting somebody in a bad situation (e.g. injured/ill). In this case, both「探望」and「看」can be used.

In most other cases, using「看」may be more appropriate, for example: to visit a doctor (due to sickness) (as mentioned by @user58955) (note, it can be correct to say「探望醫生」when you are visiting a doctor to thank one for healing you, for example), to visit an exhibition. There might be exceptions but I can't think of any now.


將 = about to = will soon

"In the evening, the moment the Sun was about to set," [...I suppose the sentence is unfinished]

edit: right, I am reminded that (slightly old-fashioned sense) 將 has the sense of 了, but that is not equivalent to 剛剛. "了" means something similar to perfect tense, but that does not necessarily happen "just before now".


How to pronounce words with double fourth tones?

Yes, 不 is a special case. Other consecutive fourth tone morphemes are all pronounced (事件, 现在, 俱乐部), unless the word formed itself is a special case where the tone of the last morpheme is neutralized (看见, 用处, 味道).


學霸 describes an extremely academically proficient student. The best translation is probably straight-A or top student. Brainiac is very similar, but more generically implies a very academically clever person.

There are other words suggesting similar ideas, but some of them overlaps in meaning with 書呆子 (e.g. studyholic) and others describe a kind of 霸 that is not necessarily to do with 學習 (e.g. high/overachiever).


Unknown Traditional Chinese characters on lacquered boards

Are the two characters on the left in the first photo stylized versions of 幸福, written vertically? Not sure about the 福, but the top left character sure looks like a stylized 幸?
As for the character on the top right, 龍, dragon?


The ever changing names of places in chinese

漢城 became 首爾 was the decision of the Korean government.
北京 was transliterated as 'Peking', but the government decided it should be 'Beijing'
Basically, the place itself or the government that rules the place has the final say on how its name will be translated or transliterated.
Currently, Chinese transliterated Singapore as 新加坡, but it was transliterated as 星加坡 in Cantonese, eventually, the Cantonese transliteration followed the Mandarin one. Since Mandarin is one of the official languages of Singapore, its government demanded 星加坡 be changed to 新加坡. However, a Cantonese dish named after Singapore is still called 星洲炒米 (Singapore stir-fried rice noodle) instead of 新洲炒米
Take Stratford for example, The Mandarin and Cantonese transliterations are different, only if Stratford itself clarified how it should be transliterated, the different areas would transliterate it differently
Unless Trump declares how his name should be transliterated  川普 and 特朗普 would be used in different areas


question 1 :

approximate time:

   早上 -- 6:00--8:00

   上午 -- 8:00 -- 12:00

   中午 -- 12:00 --14:00

   下午 -- 14:00 -- 18:00

   晚上 -- after 18:00

this my understanding(not formally), and splitted most by work time, i would say most people would agree

question 2:

there are three meals in Chinese(as in the saying : 一日三餐):

    早餐(breakfast) -- 早上

    午饭（lunch）--- 中午

    晚饭（dinner）  -- 晚上

question 3:

late breakfast -- there is no such thing（is there a name for it in English?）

brunch --  no such thing

late lunch -- no such thing（is there a name for it in English?）

we Chinese kind of think this things unnormal, you should be woking during this time (8:00--12:00,14:00--18:00), and if you are eating there must be something wrong with your lifestyle, and we believe it is not good for your health, you should eat regularly.


According to Stan (see first comment in the question) and sotondolphin (see other answer), the answer is: Yes.
So:

我们的 -> our
你们的 -> your
他们的 -> their
她们的 -> their
它们的 -> their


Can someone explain why 玩儿 is used in these sentences?

As a Chinese, I don't think so we need to play a lot of "玩儿“, the retroflex final is more useful in the north of china.


(It's my honor that somebody can use my answer.
It's also my bad that I didn't use good words.)

The following expressions may help.

look up forward
往尾查
往後頁查
查後面的頁數
向字典後面查
向多的頁數查
繼續向下查

look up backward
往頭查
往前頁查
查前面的頁數
向字典前面查
向少的頁數查
回頭往前查


Q is Chinese slang for "chewy", similar to al dente in texture. You can see it in example phrases such as "Q感十足" (very chewy). You would expect foods such as tapioca pearls, gelatinous candies, pasta, or rice to be described as "Q".

From my experience, this term is more popular in Taiwan and Hong Kong and less so in the mainland. I have not seen this term in the 90's or before.

I'm not sure where this phrase came from; if I had to venture a guess I would suggest QQ candy, a gummy candy that first appeared in the late 90s which has the same kind of texture.

"Q" originated as a Taiwanese morpheme that has no agreed upon character.

This definition of "Q" is not to be confused with another definition, as a short-hand for "cute".


Character and meaning for the 四川话 sentence-ending particle 'ga'?

There are many different dialects in China, for many special words in dialects, the "correct" character may not be found (the character has been abandoned in Mandarin), or may be a character but with a different pronunciation from Mandarin, or even can't be found. In fact, the average Chinese person can't tell you what the "correct" character in the dialect is in many cases. We don't care about it when speaking, while in formal writing, we will use another character or words in Mandarin to express the same meaning. Only linguists would be interested in them.
I searched the "ga" on the internet and didn't find a good answer to the correct character. Generally, we will use a character with the same or similar pronunciation to represent it (in informal writing). On the TV here, I find "嘎" is used for "ga". Please note that "嘎" is not the correct character, just for the pronunciation.
What does it mean? Well, your guess is basically right: assertion. More precisely, I would like to say, it is used when:

  you think something (the sentence before "ga") should be right (you are confident about it), but you are not very very sure of it, you need the confirmation from the listener. The answer from the listener is expected to be "Yes!" by you. It is used like "right" as in "we are the best friends, right?"

You example may be good, I think, when "should" shows your mood of guess (I am not an English expert. I know should can show that mood, or show the mood of "order". I think "will" could be more proper here). At last, I want to say that when using "ga", you should have an obvious stop before it. Your example is good in this sense because you have a comma.


Why is 语 used so much when describing the language media is presented in?

I think 语 refers more specifically to spoken language, which is what you find in a movie, as opposed to written language, 文


Why 『衛護』's 『護』 is 言部？

我想"衛護(wèi hù)"的"護(hù)"是由"辨護(biàn hù)"演变而来的。I think "護" in "衛護" is derived from "辨護" (verbally defend) and hence the 言 radical. This is what I found on 汉典:

  清代段玉裁『說文解字注』

  救視也。尚書中握河紀。堯受河圖。伯禹進迎。舜契陪位。稷辨護。注云。辨護者，供時用相禮儀。周禮注亦云辨護。蕭何世家。數以吏事護高祖。从言。蒦聲。胡故切。五部。

(Sorry, I can't decipher the full text for you. Maybe someone else can help to explain what it all means.)

"衛護(wèi hù)" means to protect or defend, so you are right to point out that 言 radical should be changed to ⺘radical instead. This is reflected in the new 简体字 "卫护".

"擭(huò)" wasn't used as it possesses the meaning of capture:

  清代段玉裁『說文解字注』

  搫擭也。从手。蒦聲。一虢切。古音在五部。一曰布擭也。此卽今之布濩字也。劉逵注吳都賦曰。布濩，遍滿皃。一曰握也。握者，搤持也。西京賦。擭獑猢。薛云。擭謂握取之也。今本握譌掘。玄應不誤。


A culture shock for me, what is in this alcohol?

if you have culture shock, you must be, well, . . . non-chinese

the traditional folk “wisdom” is “以形補形” (roughly; eating particular animal’s organ to enhance one’s relevant organ)

  有没有可能这瓶酒里面真的有这些鞭

do you fancy to have?  no lah. most likely, three of these, and other medicinal ingredients in thousands / millions of gallons of alcohol. then, a few hundred ml “distilled” into your bottle.

here’s a link of it’s tv commercial in 1980s, in english:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NGZ4dbGNSM

have fun :)


This 起来 serves as the resultative complement of 收.

It is required because you cannot say “把被子收_吧”. You must specify in what state you want to put the 被子 via the action 收. e.g. 把被子收进屋子里, 把被子收到柜子里, etc.

You can say “把被子收走” or “把被子收了”, too. The choices of complements make slight difference.

For some reason, when 起 is not followed by an object, you must put 来 or other verbs or prepositions after it. e.g. it's possible to say 收起被子, but you have to say 把被子收起来. (Some speakers may accept 把被子收起, but it sounds a little stilted and incomplete to me. Another similar particle is 回, which is often accompanied by 去. But 把被子收回 still sounds acceptable to me.)

I think the closest definition out of the four is:

  1. used after a verb indicating beginning and continuation of an action or a state

This 起来 in 收起来 indicates that, after the completion of the action 收, the blanket is in a temporary state such as protection or preservation. It may sound redundant, but is required by the Chinese grammar.

起 can be consider as “to happen/to arise”, which by itself has almost no meaning. But if you look at many similar collocations like 收起, 亮起, 挂起, 升起, 隆起, 突起, etc. It might be related to another meaning, too:

  2. indicating an upward movement

Also, don't confuse 把被子收起来 with 收起被子来. The latter means he starts to put the blanket away, which is extremely unlikely to be used in daily conversations. 收起(了)被子 can express the same meaning in many contexts without 来. I don not know what exactly is the function of 来. But this does not have much to do with your question.


There are several options that clearly state that it cannot come true:

I wish I could go to the movies tonight, but I have too much work to do.

我 本想（本来想要）今晚去看电影，但要做的事情太多了。

我 倒想（倒是想要）今晚去看电影，但要做的事情太多了。

I wish that I would have thought of that earlier.

我 真希望 我之前能想到，（现在说什么都晚了。）

I wish I had bought this book at the beginning of the semester.

我 真希望 我一开学就买了这本书，（但当时钱不够啊。）

我 本想 我一开学就买了这本书，（但后来忘记了。）

I wish I did not have to go to work every day.

我 真希望 不用天天上班。

我 倒想 不用天天上班。


会 here simply means "would"

"当初为什转行呢？" =  "Why did you change job back then?"

"当初为什么会转行呢？" = "Why would you change job back then?"

more example:

"你為何同意？" = "Why do you agree?"

"你為何會同意？" = "Why would you agree?"

Yes, you can omit it, However "would" in the sentence does emphasize an inquisitive tone. Imply "you should not had."


It is an abbreviation of the "musical assistant", 音乐, or 音效助理 at a music production studio.


Does expression ”宁愿...也不...“ belong only to book style or I can use it in simple conversation？

When the context calls for it, use it in conversation, according to a quick survey of 2 friends!

我宁愿坐火车去。
I'd prefer to go by train.
我宁愿买二手货。
I prefer to buy second hand.
我宁愿跟铅管约会。
I'd rather date a lead pipe.


「乾」 (Baxter-Sagart OC: /*[k]ˤar/) is the original character meaning dry. Using 「幹」 for dry was sometimes found in history, but in Modern Chinese this should be considered a spelling mistake.

「幹」 is a corruption of 「榦」. 「榦」 is comprised of semantic 「木」 and phonetic 「倝」, indicating the meaning tree trunk, extended to mean main body > main organisation, cadre, framework > to conduct, to do. 「木」 was sometimes corrupted into 「干」 to give an additional sound hint, producing 「幹」, and this is the variant that the Taiwan and Hong Kong standards use.

「干」 depicts a two-pronged weapon, but this meaning is no longer used. Most other meanings you find with this character are phonetic loans; it is now most commonly used for the Heavenly Stems (天干地支), unless you're learning Simplified Chinese.

「乾」 is sometimes pronounced qián (OC: /*[ɡ](r)ar/), meaning sky, heaven. This is a phonetic loan.


What is the difference between 发财 and 致富?

发财 is informal, vulgar sometimes, simply means you get a lot of money.

致富 is formal, largely used by CCP media, no one use it in conversation.


牛(cow) and 羊(goat) are both farm animal; The term '牛羊' is a general term for 'farm animal' including sheep, horse and all others farm animals.
刀(knife) and 剑(sword) are both cold weapon; The term '刀剑' is a general term for 'cold weapon' including axe, spear and all other cold weapons.
书(book) and 籍(record) are both bound written material; The term '书籍' is a general term for 'bound written material'.
To classify written materials more strictly, novel and textbook are 书,  not 籍; Accounting book and record book are 籍, not 书. The term '书籍' refers to everything in book form, including dictionary (典) and all other bound written materials.
In modern Chinese:

'书籍' is a general term for 'book'

'书刊' is a general terms for 'printed publication'

'书册' and '书本' are general terms for 'bound printed material'

Examples of when to use '书' and '书籍' in sentences:

这是一本园艺书 (this is a gardening book)

所有园艺书都在这里 (all the gardening books are here)

有关园艺的书籍都在这里 (all the books related to gardening is here)

In #1 and #2 you can use 书 or 书籍 interchangeably, but most of the time people would choose to use one less character and just say XX书 instead of XX书籍
In #3. you can also use 书 or 书籍 interchangeably, but the more general 书籍 is preferred because a reference book or a novel might also relate to gardening.


I originally thought the two are the same but after some research, I've reached the following conclusion:

信息 - information (in general)

Example:
大量信息 - a lot of information
毫无信息  - no information,
错误信息  - wrong information
科学信息 - scientific information
互通信息 - mutually sending information = sharing information

讯息 - message; news; information (specific)

讯息是一段独立的沟通内容，由传送者传达给一个或多个对象  - It is an independent piece of communication, which is communicated by the sender to one or more objects )

Example:
一段讯息 - a message
错误讯息  - wrong message
求救讯息 - help message (SOS is a message)
互通讯息 (mutually sending messages = communicating)
A message is a piece of specific information, therefore 一段讯息(a message) is also an information

信 (letter) contains information

讯 (message; news) e.g. 新闻快讯  (express news); 社区简讯 (Community newsletter)

息 (breath) gives a detectable sign = provides information


How do I correct 我几乎在享受中想象着听这样建议的可怜的男人?

我几乎是乐于这种想象：这些可怜的男人们听到这些建议，（会是······）


How can express a sentence containing relative pronoun in Chinese?

Actually,

我不用再去参考[那些][中文]母语人士的发音了

would also make sense, since "refer to pronunciation" implies that you would "listen to those native speakers".

If you want to save all words in your sentence, you may translate the attributive clause like this:

我不必再听那些可用来参考的母语人士的发音了。


What is the difference between 人才 and 人材, and which should I use？

They are identical*.

As for which one you should use, that is going to be a personal preference. Here's some points which you may take into consideration when deciding (note that, overall, these points won't support one form over another):

The second syllable of 人才 should be viewed as the same as that in 天才 (genius), which is not written as 天材.
If viewed out of context, 人才 may be a bit ambiguous. 才 is heavily used as a standard phonetic loan of what otherwise may be written as 纔 (e.g. in 剛纔, just now; a moment ago)
才 is primarily used with the abstract meaning of ability, power (other than in the phonetic loan above); 材 is primarily used with the meaning material, resource, wealth, and secondarily used with the abstract meaning ability.

The most important thing is that you recognise both 人才 and 人材 as being one word.

*According to the 漢語大詞典, the most comprehensive dictionary that gives a general survey of how words are used throughout the entire history of Chinese literature:

  人才

  人的才能。

  漢 王充 《論衡•累害》： “人才高下， 不能鈞同。”
  晉 葛洪 《抱樸子•廣譬》： “人才無定珍， 器用無常道。”
  《北史•崔亮傳》： “立中正不考人才行業， 空辨氏姓高下。”
  唐 劉知幾 《史通•敘事》： “故知人才有殊， 相去若是， 校其優劣， 詎可同年？”

  有才學的人。

  晉 葛洪 《抱樸子•逸民》： “褒賢貴德， 樂育人才。”
  宋 王安石 《上仁宗皇帝言事書》： “則天下之人才， 不勝用矣。”
  清 惲敬 《兵部侍郎裘公神道碑銘》： “今上加意人才，
  大臣多以公名舉奏， 升內閣侍讀學士。”
  呂澂 《中國佛學源流略講》第二講： “ 支謙 到 江 南以後，
  北方仍有宣揚佛學的人才。”

  人的容貌。

  宋 孫光憲 《北夢瑣言》卷十七： “ 楷 人才寢陋， 兼無德行。”
  元 無名氏 《漁樵記》第一摺： “有妻是 劉 家女， 人見他生得有幾分人才， 都喚他做 玉天仙 。”
  《三國演義》第六五回： “ 馬超
  縱騎持槍而出， 獅盔獸帶， 銀甲白袍， 一來結束非凡， 二者人才出眾。”

  指美貌女子。

  茅盾 《子夜》八： “他常到某某屋頂花園巡閱， 也為的是要物色人才。”

  人材

  人的才能。

  《淮南子•主術訓》： “智不足以為治， 勇不足以為強， 則人材不足任， 明也。”
  宋 葉適 《廬州錢公墓誌銘》： “太子熟看， 人材須用方見。 和親久， 材無所施， 更無事， 當遂委靡。”
  清 吳敏樹 《書謝御史》序： “今我等人材既弗如， 而時所重者獨官祿耳。”

  有才能的人。

  《詩•小雅•菁菁者莪》序： “君子能長育人材， 則天下喜樂之矣。”
  宋 曾鞏 《請令長貳自舉屬官札子》： “承人主之志， 廣引人材， 進諸朝廷者， 此宰相之事也。”
  《明史•太祖紀一》： “今有事四方，
  所需者人材， 所用者粟帛。”
  清 龔自珍 《己亥雜詩》之一二五： “我勸天公重抖擻， 不拘一格降人材。”

  姿色；容貌。

  清 李漁 《閑情偶寄•聲容》： “俗云： 三分人材， 七分粧飾。 此為中人以下者言之也。”
  《紅樓夢》第二一回： “二年前， 他父親給他娶了個媳婦， 今年才二十歲， 也有幾分人材。”
  老舍 《茶館》第三幕： “
  王掌櫃 ， 看我給你找來的小寶貝怎樣？人材、歲數、打扮、經驗， 樣樣出色。”


Are there any pre-modern/non-romanization examples of attempts to alphabetize Chinese?

Yes, there was such an attempt during the Yuan dynasty. The 'Phags-pa script was created for writing languages that were under control of Yuan, including Chinese:

  The 'Phags-pa script (Mongolian: дөрвөлжин үсэг "Square script") is an alphabet designed by the Tibetan monk and State Preceptor (later Imperial Preceptor) Drogön Chögyal Phagpa for Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan dynasty, as a unified script for the written languages within the Yuan. The actual use of this script was limited to about a hundred years during the Mongol Yuan dynasty, and it fell out of use with the advent of the Ming dynasty. The documentation of its use provides clues about the changes in the varieties of Chinese, the Tibetic languages, Mongolian and other neighboring languages during the Yuan era.


Translating "should" to express what is probable or expected

Generally, you can use 应该. However, as Stan says in comments, it does carry the connotation that there is some reason why it "should" be. So, for example, you could say a sentence like:

[要是他六点离开了，]他应该七点到。
[If he has left at six, ] he should be here at seven.

If you're just throwing out an estimate, it would be better to use an "I think..." construction. This carries less of a tone of uncertainty than it does in English:

我认为我周五会把这个任务办好。
I think I'll have it done by/on friday.


Differences between the two words for each season, such as 冬季 (dōngjì) and 冬天 (dōngtiān)

冬季 is more formal than 冬天. When used to refer to the season itself, the former is more commonly found in literature, the latter in vernacular.

However, when used to refer to something of that season, i.e. in a noun phrase, the 冬季 form is almost always used. For examples, "winter fashion" is 冬季服装, "Winter Olympics" is 冬季奥运会*. You would never use 冬天 for these, unless rephrasing them in a very informal way e.g. 冬天穿的衣服.

*: if they don't get abbreviated awaylike 冬装 or 冬奥, that is.


Chinese Font - Some Characters Rendered Strangely (外，将）

Fixed in both my terminal and browser:

Since I noticed this problem across all browsers and in my terminal, I figured the proper way to adress it would be at the system level.  I found a fix here and have outlined the steps below.

Navigate to /etc/fonts/conf.d/
Edit 64-language-selector-prefer.conf, moving the SC suffixed fonts to the top of each preference list:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
<fontconfig>
    <alias>
        <family>sans-serif</family>
        <prefer>
            <family>Noto Sans CJK SC</family>
            <family>Noto Sans CJK JP</family> # Original top choice
            <family>Noto Sans CJK TC</family>
        </prefer>
    </alias>
    <alias>
        <family>monospace</family>
        <prefer>
            <family>Noto Sans Mono CJK SC</family>
            <family>Noto Sans Mono CJK JP</family> # Original top choice
            <family>Noto Sans Mono CJK TC</family>
        </prefer>
    </alias>
</fontconfig>

Edit 69-language-selector-zh-cn.conf, adding WenQuanYi Micro Hei font to the top of each family (serif, sans-serif, monospace):

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
<fontconfig>

    <match target="pattern">
        <test name="lang">
            <string>zh-cn</string>
        </test>
        <test qual="any" name="family">
            <string>serif</string>
        </test>
        <edit name="family" mode="prepend" binding="strong">
            <string>WenQuanYi Micro Hei</string> # Added by me
            <string>HYSong</string>
            <string>AR PL UMing CN</string>
            <string>AR PL UMing HK</string>
            <string>AR PL New Sung</string>
            <string>WenQuanYi Bitmap Song</string>
            <string>AR PL UKai CN</string>
            <string>AR PL ZenKai Uni</string>
        </edit>
    </match>
    <match target="pattern">
        <test qual="any" name="family">
            <string>sans-serif</string>
        </test>
        <test name="lang">
            <string>zh-cn</string>
        </test>
        <edit name="family" mode="prepend" binding="strong">
            <string>WenQuanYi Micro Hei</string> # Added by me
            <string>Noto Sans CJK SC</string>
            <string>WenQuanYi Zen Hei</string>
            <string>HYSong</string>
            <string>AR PL UMing CN</string>
            <string>AR PL UMing HK</string>
            <string>AR PL New Sung</string>
            <string>AR PL UKai CN</string>
            <string>AR PL ZenKai Uni</string>
        </edit>
    </match>
    <match target="pattern">
        <test qual="any" name="family">
            <string>monospace</string>
        </test>
        <test name="lang">
            <string>zh-cn</string>
        </test>
        <edit name="family" mode="prepend" binding="strong">
            <string>WenQuanYi Micro Hei Mono</string> # Added by me
            <string>DejaVu Sans Mono</string>
            <string>Noto Sans Mono CJK SC</string>
            <string>WenQuanYi Zen Hei Mono</string>
            <string>HYSong</string>
            <string>AR PL UMing CN</string>
            <string>AR PL UMing HK</string>
            <string>AR PL New Sung</string>
            <string>AR PL UKai CN</string>
            <string>AR PL ZenKai Uni</string>
        </edit>
    </match>

</fontconfig>

Saving the changes and opening a new terminal, the characters are now rendered as desired:

After restarting the computer, one also sees the characters properly rendered in the browser:


This is just fine, and it's a very native usage. :)

「得」 has the meaning of 'must' when read as 'dei3' in pinyin or 'ㄉㄟ ˇ' in zhuyin.

For expressing this, you could also say:

  我不得(note: 'de2', not 'dei3')不走了。
  我必須走了。

But '我得走了' is better in speaking and the above two are more used in writing.


Using 都 when refering to both subject and objects

Yes, 都 can refer to either subject or objects.

When subject is plural, 都 refer to "all" of the subject.

For example:

  你们都来嘛？Are all of you coming?

  同学们都交按时交了作业。 All of the students in the class handed in their homework in time.

When subject is single, and object is plural, then 都 refers to "all" of the object.

For example:

  你把糖果都吃了？ Did you eat all of the candy?

  这些衣服你都买吗 ？ Are you going to buy all of those clothes?

  那些岛屿你都会去吗？Will you (single) go to all of the islands?

When both subject and object are plural, if only using 都, it is ambiguous as we don't know if it refers to the subject or object or both. So we either need to draw more info from the context, or if no context, we will have to ask the speaker to clarify on this.

For example:

  那些岛屿你们都会去吗？Will (all of ?)you (plural) go to (all of?) the islands?

When we mean all of the subject AND all of the object, then we will have to use TWO words meaning "all" (所有/全部/都/全/全都) together.

For example:

  你们都交了全部的作业嘛？  Did all of you guys hand in all the homework?

  你们都会去所有的那些岛屿吗？Will all of you (plural) go to all of the islands?

But sometimes it is still ambiguous even we use TWO such words.

For exmaple:

  所有的那些岛屿你们都会去吗？

  In this sentence, 所有 refers to the islands for sure, no doubt about it. But 都 may refer to either object or subject. So we still need to ask the speaker to clarify on it.

  For this sentence, if there is no context, and we are not able to ask the speaker to clarify, then my intuition of interpreting this sentence is that both 所有 and 都 refer to islands.

Conclusion: The things 都 refers to are somehow impacted by the sentence structure.


for 諡號 (posthumous name), they're fixed, have special implications. treat the character used in posthumous name as a "code", you need to decipher it's meaning by looking up 諡法解.

this wiki page listed all 183

or, if you can read literary chinese, the internet archive has the "bible of posthumous name": 明諡紀彙編


Could you give an example of a sentence in classical chinese wherein 爽 is used?

爽

clear, example:(idioms) 神清气爽
wise, example: 兹心不爽，而昏乱百度。——《左传·昭公元年》
cheerful, example: 温豪爽有风慨。——《晋书·桓温传》
v. make error, example: 女也不爽，士贰其行。——《诗·卫风·氓》
v. break one's word, example: 郭伋还州，尚不欺于童子； 文侯校猎，宁爽约于虞人。—— 李商隐《为张周封上杨相公启》


When you introduce your wife both 太太 and 老婆 are acceptable, depending on whether it's a formal occasion. 太太 is more formal while 老婆 is more casual. Both are socially appropriate.

From 汉语词典：

太太：

（名）旧社会中通称官吏的妻子。
（名）旧时官僚地主人家的仆人等称女主人。
（名）对已婚妇女的尊称（带丈夫的姓）。
（名）旧时称某人的妻子或丈夫对人称自己的妻子。

Although dictionary says it's used in past (旧时) , people are actually using this word more and more often in recent decades. If you are going to introduce your wife to new friends, business partners, or acquaintances, 太太 is the word you should use.

In comparison, other pronouns to introduce one's wife include:

老婆: used in casual and informal occasion, like with close friends or relatives. Especially, you can use this word to directly address your wife.
妻子: extremely formal. most likely only used in written language, e.g marriage certificate, court decision, etc.
夫人: rarely used to introduce one's own wife. Generally, 夫人 is used to introduce someone else's wife, to show respect (to the husband), cause the word 夫人 hints that the husband is socially recognized and esteemed.
内人: archaic.
爱人: used to be the right word to introduce one's wife. But it was like 30 years back... Now it's also old and rarely used (only by senior people)
媳妇: acceptable in casual occasion, but only used in northern China.


I have problems analyzing the constituents of the following sentence: 德国人不习惯他们旁边围满了人

德国人不习惯他们旁边围满了人。
Germans are not used to having a lot of people around them.

(whoever wrote this has never been to the Oktoberfest or any Bierfest)

A Chinese sentence does not have to conform to the grammatical standards of English.

德国人
Germans
不习惯
not used to
他们旁边围
their surroundings
满了人。
full people


Are there any circumstances in which 弈 (yì) could be mistaken for 野 (yě)?

It may be possible if we say only one word, 奕 or 野, quickly and ambiguously.

When they are combined with other words, we have these words to judge it.

牧野 is the name of a place, and we always use this term as a whole.

奕 usually goes with 博 or 對 to form 博奕 or 對奕 for games.

Even somebody mixes 奕 with 野. It is not so easy to mix 博奕 (Bó yì) or 對奕 (Duì yì) with 牧野 (Mù yě).


Original Chinese text to Lau Tzu's quotation

It's 为学日益，为道日损.

  为学日益，为道日损，损之又损，以至于无为，无为而无不为。取天下常以无事，及其有事，不足以取天下。

  ——老子《道德经》第四十八章


Well, actually many input tools like Sogou and MSpinyin have already had such functions.

I don't know a lot of the database you referred to, but I guess it is the database of China's household registration department. I guess, in that system, not only do you need to register these antediluvian names, but you also have to select these obscure characters from the database, kinda like selecting from the menus.


No. Once your sentence exceeds seven words, it is guaranteed that you will offend a man in the street or a women on the roof. So we just give it up.

Like the homophones in the same dialect aren't enough to deal with...

But if you are to do business in Sichuan (or anywhere actually) it's your own lookout.


Could someone please someone translate 舒心顺气茶

舒 + 心: comfort (verb) + heart (noun)
be comfortable
顺 + 气: smooth (verb) + breath (noun)
breath smoothly
茶: tea

舒心顺气茶:
The tea that comfort your heart and smooth your breath (after drinking)
This is exaggerative practically, it is a beautiful name only.

There some more similar medicine name prefix like 活血化瘀, 补气养血, 健胃消食, 舒筋活络, etc.Generally they are all four characters with two words, the first word made up with former two characters, and the second one with later two characters.The 1st and 3rd ones are verbs, they have similar meanings, or they are two different words in same scopes, or they are separated from one two-character-word, the 2nd and 4th ones are nouns, the same structure as above.

For example, some Chinese 成语 (chengyu), or 四字成语 (Chinese 4-word idioms):
身强体壮 means strong body, strong physique
身体: body, corporeity, 强壮: muscular.
筋疲力尽 means exhaust you physically and mentally筋: tendon, bone, 疲: tired, 力: force, strength, 尽: spent, used up


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

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

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

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


过 and 了 are aspect markers, and can be used with any verbs, including 过 and 了 themselves.

过 is the experential aspect, indicating that an event has taken place (or the negation thereof), regardless of timeframe (there is no tense in Chinese). 我去过巴黎二十次。 (I have had the experience of visiting Paris twenty times.) 我没去过越南。 (I have not had the experience of going to Vietnam.) 我从来没看过电影。 (I have never had the experience of seeing a movie.)

了 is the perfectative aspect, indicating that an event has been completed, again regardless of time. 我买了个新脚踏车。 (I have bought a new bike.) 吃了饭以后可以逛逛街。 (We can go for a walk after we have finished eating [future]).

Both aspects can be expressed simultaneously: 我吃过了。 They can also be used with other complemented verbs: 我看得见过了。

Aspects can be used with any verb. The only restriction is context and combining conflicting aspects. For example, using durative 着 with completion aspects 过 and 了 makes no sense.

As for your side question: since there is no tense in Chinese, it does not matter in which time frame these aspects are used. The use of 昨天 or 以前 indicates the time, whereas 过 and 了 indicate completion, regardless of time.


How do 营业, 经商, 贸易, and 业务 fit into the context of other 业-related words?

營業 means your business unit do provide service to others. There is time you need to stop provide service. For example, you pause your service for a while strategically, your employee need holiday, you need time to prepare things before start the service. On the time you provide your service, I can say 營業中. 這家餐廳有在營業(This restaurant provide service), 這家餐廳打烊了(This restaurant have closed). The examples provided above show this different meaning.  So you can know 營業 is totally different from 打烊.

經商 means do trading. If I use tradition Chinese to explain it, I will say 從事商業.

貿易 means trading across different country.

業務 means things you need to do in work. Don't confused with 業務員. It means someone who try to sale things to other.


Why is 进入 in 我们无法提供相关的API进入词库数据库?

first at all, the 进入 and 访问 are two concepts in IT field.

the (进入 == enter or entry) meaning : you can login into a command-line of db.
the (访问 == access) meaning: you can access some data via APIs and you can't control the db.

BTW, I am a developer and i am so glad to help you at next time if you want.

FYI, thanks.


時刻 (shíkè) vs 瞬間 (shùnjiān) vs 時候 (shíhòu) for "moment"

Of these, only 瞬間 is really equivalent to moment in the sense of a brief period of time.

瞬間 means "a very short period of time, an instant".
時刻 can either mean "the time (of the day)", e.g. 5pm, or "constantly" (typically as 時時刻刻).
時候 can mean "time" in the sense of e.g. it's time to go. Alternatively, it can refer to an unspecified period of time, e.g. 小時候 -> when I was little.

There's a great deal of words that mean "moment" in the sense you're looking for. Here are some of the more common ones: 轉眼 霎時 剎時 剎那 瞬息 片刻 頃刻 一時之間

It is acceptable/common to append -之間 to these (e.g. 轉眼之間/霎時之間) to express the sense of something "happening within a very short period". Additionally, the character 一 (one) can be prefixed to some (一轉眼/一剎那/一瞬間).


it's not a poem. just a record of who send a gift to who.

read from top to bottom, right to left,

武夷雪花泉　：　a spring named snow flake (雪花泉) in mountain 武夷, in hokkien province

建樹先生惠存　：　建樹 is the name of recipient, 先生 is used as a respectful term. 惠存, roughly a courteous term for "receive & keep"

薛靈敬贈　：　the sender's surname (薛) & name (靈), sending (贈) with respect (敬)

甲子年冬日　：　甲子 is the first entry of sexagenary cycle, for indicating year, it's 1984, 1924, or any sixty years earlier. in context, it's 1984, cause the painter born in 1911, died in 1992, it's very unlikely the painter did it in 1924 (he's just 14 years old).

冬日 means in winter (winter 冬, day 日)

陳挺作　：　陳挺 (1910-1992) the name of the painter, 作 means fabricate (paint, in this context)

about the seal, the first one is provided by drooze :)

here's some afterthought about how:

1　must, and only use traditional chinese to decipher

2　determine how many characters the seal has

this one is simple, only two characters

3　determine which "ideographic description sequences" a character has

the unicode defined some structures, that how a traditional chinese character is written (u+2ff0 - u+2ffb)

eg, the left character of the first seal is ⿳, above, middle and below

the above is 艸 (u+8278), the below is 口 (u+53e3), the middle might be hard to recognise, never mind, one could guess it by listing possible choices, cause this character would be in the radical 艸 (140th).

so, only 苔, 苕, 若, 苦, 苫, 茖, 茗, 茩, 荅, 莒, 莕, 莙 has the below 口

http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/radical.php?rad=140

then, checking the seal script of these 12 characters would show that

若 (u+82e5) matched.

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

again, the right character of the first seal is ⿰, left & right; with the right part is ⿵ surround from above (or ⿱, top & bottom)

the left component is 人 (u+4eba), the right bottom is 口 (u+53e3); so, the choices are:

估, 佁, 佑, 佔, 佫, 佮, 佶, 佸, 侶, 俉, 俗, 信, 倍, 倜, 偌, 傛

http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/radical.php?rad=9

then, 倜 (u+501c) matched.

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

when a character can't be recognised by first sight, the above method might help :)

edited.

the third seal has four characters, the first three are "有所不"

top right: 有

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

bottom right: 所

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

top left: 不

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

bottom left character is not recognised at first glance :(

wait :)

OK, the last one is 及 (u+53ca)

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

this one is in early spring and autumn style.

together, the seal "有所不及" was also used by the painter 陳挺.

have fun :)


Table of Chinese characters taught in primary school, grouped by grade

This list roughly groups the 5568 most common characters over the nine years of compulsory education in Taiwan. You didn't specify if you were looking for simplified or traditional, but since I only know of this one source and it's traditional, that's what I will recommend.
It should be noted that this isn't an official list of what pupils should learn, but rather the result of doing some statistics on textbooks and reading materials. I don't know what you want to use the list for, but as a learner of Chinese, the first seven levels are definitely useful and probably the eighth as well. The ninth level contains a lot of proper names and characters that aren't all that useful in my opinion.
Update March, 2020: The original web page is no longer reachable, so I have replaced the link to an archive copy over at Wayback Machine. This is the original link, which no longer works.


It refers to 壬日.

So 秋分后遇壬 means after 秋分, from the 1st 壬日 霑 starts (i.e. 入霑), after 10 days 霑 ends (i.e. 出霑). In other words, the period of 霑 is 10 days lasting from the 1st 壬日 after 秋分 to the next 壬日, which is called 霑天.

For example, the 入霑 of this year (2017) is 10/2(壬戌日).

BTW: In traditional calendar, 干支地支 is also used for days, from 甲子 to 癸亥, circulate with the cycle of 60 days.


How would you tranlsate "Soccer Clinic"?

When I was small, I went to 足球培训班, so this must make sense.


The slang meaning of "Seven/七" in Cantonese

It is a foul character, usually pronounced as "cat6".

The original character is "", which means "scrotum".  On the contrary, in modern slang uses, it refers to the penis in a flaccid state, and commonly written as "" or "柒".  The implied meaning is thus "useless", "stupid", etc.

Many people tweak the pronounciation from "cat6" to "cat1" (hence, "七"/"柒") to avoid speaking the foul character directly.  Other alternatives like "sat6" (實) are also used.


It's difficult to describe precisely what the culture is, different people give different answers. As to me, the culture is: Filial piety, jiaozi , kongfu, paper-cut, beautiful scenery.


Structures for describing people, appearance or personality

in 好动, 好 is the verb, which means "like". So in your first example, it has 3 parts with different verbs, but all having the same meaning "like".

in your second example, if you follow with 头发短短的、黑色的, where 黑色的 is to describe hair, so it is not in parallel with other adjectives in this sentence. So the sentence is broken into 2 to avoid this confusion.