HSK6 Standard Course: Does the sentence 她的脾气不好，经常不知道为什么突然就生气了 violate the textbook's own grammar rule regarding inconsistent subjects?

她的脾气不好， (她)经常不知道为什么突然就生气了

The above are two independent sentences in a comment
sentence 1: [她的脾气]不好 (她的脾气 is the subject)
sentence 2: [她]经常不知道为什么突然就生气了 (她 is the omitted subject)
The subject 她 in sentence 2 is omitted because both sentences are the comment of an implied topic '她' (both sentences describe '她')
topic: 她 (implied)
comment 1: 她的脾气不好
comment 2: (她)经常不知道为什么突然就生气了 - 她 is omitted because it is the same subject in the implied topic 她
To unite the two sentences, we can make '她' the only subject

她脾气不好，经常不知道为什么突然就生气了

'她' is the subject of both 脾气不好 and 经常不知道为什么突然就生气了 therefore no need to repeat it
Edit:
她脾气不好 and 她经常不知道为什么突然就生气了 are closely related in logic, therefore, we can presume they are comments on the same topic/subject.
If the two comments are not closely related, we might not be allowed to omit the subject 她 in the second sentence, even both sentences are comments on the implied topic 她
Example:
她的兒子今年三歲，她在中學教書
If you omit 她 in the second sentence and wrote "她的兒子今年三歲，在中學教書" It would mean her three years old son is teaching at middle school


Please help me identify the characters on the seal (Characters identified: 知惠子)

The characters are 知惠子, which point to a Japanese name probably pronounced as Chieko (ちえこ).

You should visit the chat rooms in japanese.stackexchange.com to confirm this.


Seal:

范霞
A name. Its pronunciation is dependent on where the artist comes from, so I won't give one here.

Calligraphy:

一九六四秊（年）七月秉昌刻于香江
Carved at 香江 (location) on July 1964 by 秉昌 (another name)

Not sure about the last character「江」.

All of these proper nouns (names, locations) refer to multiple places/people in the East Asian cultural region, so only you (who knows the context) would be able to fully get the background information of the object.

Thanks @TangHo and @水巷孑蠻 who mentioned that 香江 is a poetic name for Hong Kong and that 秉昌 is the first name of a famous seal carver (陳秉昌) from Hong Kong.
In that case, 范霞 is probably a Chinese name, and is the customer who requested their seal carved by 陳秉昌.
Still no translation, but I'll provide Cantonese and Mandarin Romanisations for 范霞:

Cantonese: Faan6 Haa4
Mandarin: Fàn Xiá


Understanding 了: difference between 她上个月去了北京 and 上个月我去台湾了?

了 indicates 'completion of an action'

In "上个月我去了台湾" the action of "去" is completed, meaning you had gone there but it doesn't say you are still there or have already came back

In "上个月我去台湾了",  '了' is a final particle for the emphasis (stress in tone) of the whole sentence

You can see the different by compare the two structure with other context:

"下个月我去了台湾" is nonsensical, you can't already gone there when you say 'next month'
'了' in "下个月我去台湾了"  is a final particle for emphasis, and this sentence does make sense


Sichuanese : any tips to learn some vocabulary?

You can start by watching some TV shows, for instance:

下课了，要雄起
戳锅漏
傻儿司令
耙耳朵的幸福生活

Most of them are subtitled but more dialectical words will be translated into Mandarin in the subtitles.

There are also many books

四川方言日历(2019)
漫画四川方言
老成都漫画系列:成都话
Chinese Lessons For First Year Students in West China by Kilborn, Omar L. (Omar Leslie), 1867-1920
Western Mandarin or, The Spoken Language of Western China; with Syllabic and English Indexes by Grainger, Adam

and dictionaries:

四川方言词典
四川方言词源
成都方言词汇
成都方言

Nothing, though, beats spending time with actual native speakers and interacting with them.

Some of the most common words include:

巴适 = 很棒
安逸 = 舒服
牙尖 = 八卦
雄起 = 加油
洋盘 = 洋气
子 = 干嘛
将就 = 凑合
摆龙门阵 = 聊天儿
宝器 = 傻瓜
耳朵 = 妻管严

There are many lists online too like:

标准四川话300句
四川话怎么说，经典四川话，常用四川话大全


How can I improve 酒吧漆黑的墙面稀疏地装饰着粉红樱花图案 to describe a floral pattern on the black walls of a bar?

酒吧漆黑的墙面稀疏地装饰着粉红樱花图案。

--> 酒吧漆黑的墙面[上]，稀疏地[點綴]着粉红[色的]樱花图案。 --> 粉红色的樱花图案，稀疏地點綴着酒吧漆黑的墙面。


I've never heard of 没 being restricted to past actions. It is perfectly useful, as in 范冰冰明年没有结婚的打算.

I interpret these sentences as:

明年这个时候你还没有毕业呢 = next year at this time you will still not have graduated.

明年这个时候你还不毕业呢 = next year at this time you will still refuse to graduate.


In 虽然练习做 ( ) 很多，但是我还是不懂, should we use 的 or 得？

In this context 得 should be used. It works as a degree complement, and takes as a form of "verb + 得 + adjective". The phrase after 得 expresses the degree of the adjective.

So in this case,

  虽然练习做得很多，但是我还是不懂。

, where 得 expresses the degree of "做" is "很多".

You shall also refer to this question, which explain the difference betwen 的, 得, and 地.


Mainland China: 日程表 (literally day schedule table)

ROC (Taiwan): 行事曆 (literally matter attendance calendar)

These are both nouns, of course. It is impossible to use these as verbs like the examples specified in the question. In Chinese, you would properly say the equivalent of recording (some event X) in the calendar:

  把Ｘ［記錄・加入・添］在［日程表・行事曆］中


What do you call the sponge part of a cake in Chinese?

If you are mentioning a cake that has no coating outside, it is called 蛋糕胚.
X胚 means an unfinished version of X. Such as 陶胚 is unfinished clay works.
Beause people think the finished cake should have the cream outside. The center part that does not have a coating is considered unfinished. So it is called 蛋糕胚。
Example:

[6寸基础戚风（蛋糕胚）](https://www.xiachufang.com/recipe/102208654/

Note: 戚风 is the name of style of the 蛋糕胚 in the link. There are also other styles.

If you are pointing at the "bread" part of a slice of cake, you can just call it 蛋糕 or 蛋糕的部分. Because that is a part that contains egg 蛋. For example,
我喜欢蛋糕的部分，很香。但是我不喜欢上面的奶油，太甜了。
I like the "sponge part". it smells so good.
But I don't like the cream on it. It is too sweet for me.


It could mean 制度的管治 or regulatory management.


To see, to watch, to meet - 看 vs 见 vs 看见

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


How to translate: have you finished doing the homework (which) our teacher gave us last week?

I'm Chinese.

The sentences:

你做完   上个星期  老师  给我们的作业  了吗?
你做完了 上个星期  老师  给我们的作业吗?

are both correct.

The word "了"，just emphasize whatever you want to emphasize.


What's the difference between 校园 (meaning "campus") and 校院? Is 校院 incorrect?

They refer to different things.

校园 means campus/schoolyard.

校院 means 校 and 院. In most cases they mean 学校(school) and 学院(college/academy/institute), e.g.

  校院简介
  本人在华并未以侨生身份申请其他大学校院。
  实行校院两级管理体制是高校深化体制改革的一项重要措施。

According to the context, they might mean 学校 and 医院, e.g.

  “校院合作、工学结合”是我国卫生高等职业教育改革和发展的必然趋势。

PS: 校院 is infrequently used because we have another much more common word 院校 (学院 and 学校). 校院 seems to be used only when the order does matter. E.g. in 校院简介 and 实行校院两级管理体制, 学院 is considered as the lower level unit of 学校, then 校院 should be used.


Is there any official way to translate Chinese names into English?

Since my comments were getting long, I will reproduce them here. This probably isn't a complete answer though.

It really depends. While names like Wen Jiabao are commonly kept in "Eastern" naming order, names used among personal interactions with "small fry" are sometimes used in the Western order, particularly in a Western context - for instance, in an international school in Asia, 张小明 would probably be referred to (in English, I mean) as Xiaoming Zhang (and probably without the tones and possibly incorrect pronunciation, if it's spoken, depending on the speaker).

But in other places (e.g. the BBC, Le Monde, official usage by places that already use Chinese (e.g. Hong Kong, China)) the Eastern order seems to be kept.

I'm not very familiar with translated novels and the such, but here's what I know:

Names translated from "Western" order are generally transliterated and kept in Western order.
With names translated from Chinese (or written in English but about China/Chinese), from the examples I looked at so far, Chinese naming order is kept. (I looked at: Red Scarf Girl; Lust, Caution; The Good Earth; and The Fat Years.) So at the very least, keeping Chinese names in Chinese order doesn't seem to be uncommon. (Does this feel as unnatural? It really depends. To me, even as a native English speaker, it feels more awkward to have the name order Westernised.)
Strangely enough, Westernisation of the order of Japanese names is a lot more common. For instance, even the BBC refers to 安倍晋三 as Shinzō Abe and not as Abe Shinzō, and (at the very least) a number of anime subtitles (for anime set in Japan) also seem to Westernise the name order. Meanwhile, Korean names seem to be more likely to be treated like Chinese names in terms of whether or not the name is Westernised.


好自為之: look out for oneself; conduct oneself well; do one's best

There's a discussion about 好自為之
I wrote:

it is more like a warning / advice
好自為之 = "better act appropriately"

C Chiu wrote:

好自為之 could be used as a warning/advice. But it is definitely not rude or bad language.
From what I’ve learned, it is mostly used to encourage or inspire people to do better or make improvement. “我幫唔到你幾多﹐你好自為之啦” (There's not much I can help. You just have to do your best) is a typical way of using the idiom in a sentence, with the meaning of "look out for oneself".

The term '好自為之' is  just like "you better watch out" or "you better look out for yourself" in English. It can be used as a friendly advice, but it can also be used ironically as a subtle threat.
For example:

A congressman's friend said to him: "Since you went against your own party and voted 'No' on the bill, you need to watch out for yourself (要好自為之.)" is clearly a genuine advice or a friendly warning.

However, if a fellow party member in the congress, who voted 'Yes', said to him: "Since you went against your own party and voted 'No' on the bill, you better lookout for yourself (好自為之吧!)."--  would be a subtle threat.


Effective and polite way to end a phone conversation

When talking with friends I generally end with one of the following.

好，就这样吧 = That's it (kind of, hard to translate)
好，我走了啊 = I'm off now
好，下次再聊 = Talk again soon

Or of course, the very simple 好，拜拜！
Looking at that, I guess I like to say 好 a lot!
Hope that helps.


It looked more like 林產 (from forest; forest related product: e.g. lumber). The 'y' under it is a selection code for that tattoo. Meaning you can just say "I want to have tattoo y" if you don't know how to read the  actual tattoo. Just like you can tell the waiter "I want to order number 23 on the menu" instead of stating the full name of the dish


...之后 is a normal term to express "after...". So,  葬礼之后 is correct in this context.

后位 is short for 后面的位置. It refers to positioning, not timing sequence. It is only used in some particular areas. Someone had given enough examples above.

后位 could also be understood as:

皇后之位 in 宫廷剧 （Chinese royal opera);

Another 后卫： the back (defense position) in sports: soccer, American football, and etc.


What is the difference between 概念 and 观念？

@Stan's comment is precise enough. To add my own interpret by deconstructing the words,

念 primarily means idea with a slight connotation of motivation/intention.

概 means brief; summary; abstract, hence 概念 is the abstract of the idea => concept.

观 is literally view, so 观念 is the idea as you see it => opinion; view.


It is 氏 as in 姓氏 (family name)

In ancient time, China was a 母系社会 (matriarchal society). People got their family name from their mother side. That was called '姓'.

Eventually, 父系社会 (patriarchal societies) started to develop. People began to add the family name from their father side in addition to their 姓 (family name from the mother side) and that family name from the father side was called '氏'

For example: A woman's family name was 杜 and gave her son the name 明, this 明 person would have a 姓 of 杜 and his full name would be 杜明.

However, his father's family name was 李, and this 明 person could legally call himself  '杜姓李氏' (杜 was his family name from his mother's side, and 李 was his family name from his father's side)

Eventually, matriarchal society societies was replaced by patriarchal societies completely. The term 姓氏 was consolidated to mean family name (from the father side)

In modern Chinese, the term '姓氏' refers to 'family name' and '姓' is the standard shortened form of '姓氏'

When you ask what is someone's family name, you only ask what is his 姓, never what is his 氏. The full term '姓氏' is rarely used colloquially. It appears mostly in written form.

氏 on its own refers to:

A woman's maiden name. For example: 杜门李氏 (married to the 杜 family and maiden name was 李)
Clan's name (interchangeable with 姓) -  both '杜姓一族'  and '杜氏一族' means 'the clan of 杜'


Are these correct headings for a spreadsheet?

Without complete context I am just going with the most common translations:

Process 流程
Frequency 频率
Check List Item Caption: 清单项标题 (项目 also means 'project' which can be confusing)
Repeat Observation 是否多次观察到 or 是否多次发生 (是否 makes it explicit that it's a Yes-No question; 多次 is neutral while 一再 has slight derogatory tone but both are fine)
Policy 政策 (company policy <=> 公司政策 is a common translation. 方针 is more like 'direction; principle'.)
Order Index: 顺序编号 or 订单编号, depending on whether Order here means sequencing (顺序) or written request (订单). Don't use 秩序指数, it's not understood.


Correct way to say "when I was young..."

You can say:

  当我年轻的时候，...
  我年轻的时候，...
  年轻的时候，...
  年轻时，...

In these cases, you are talking about the time when you were a young man (note: not a kid nor a teenager). Perhaps you are now in your 40s/50s/60s etc, and you are talking about your 20s/30s.

You could also say:

  当我年幼的时候，...
  当我还小的时候,...
  我年幼的时候，...
  我还小的时候，...
  我小时候，...
  小时候，...

In these cases, you are talking about the time when you were a kid or teenager.


Are there loanwords from Portuguese used in Macau Cantonese?

Mostly food? The below examples are from Words.hk:
马介休

loanword from "bacalhau" in Portuguese; Portuguese-style salted fish

馬介休撻
maa5 gaai3 jau1 taat1
bacalhau tart

亞東

「亞東」喺澳門叫法, 由葡文atum譯過來

亞東魚

一種魚嘅名；「吞拿」喺香港叫法, 由英文tuna譯過來; 「亞東」喺澳門叫法, 由葡文atum譯過來

Two places names:
福尔摩沙

近義 台灣
音譯自拉丁文及葡萄牙文嘅「Formosa」（「美麗」嘅意思）, 畀歐洲人用嚟稱呼台灣, 所以台灣又有「美麗島」之稱。
Formosa; Taiwan

欧罗巴

名詞
外來語 | 專名 | 舊式
歐洲 嘅葡萄牙文、荷蘭文（Europa）傳入日本嗰時嘅音譯
Europe
jpn:ヨーロッパ（欧羅巴）


你知道 StackExchange吗?
You know StackExchange?

不知道啊, 孤陋寡闻了。
Nope, I'm so out of touch.


I may answer to the first part of the question. I did a script to search all 4 characters ChengYu with your requirements. Here a resume about their number and the exaustive result from my db (ccdict).

一一(26)
一二(13)
一三(5)
一四(1)
一万(2)
一九(1)
一十(5)
二一(2)
二三(1)
二五(1)
二八(1)
二六(1)
二四(2)
三一(2)
三七(1)
三九(3)
三二(1)
三五(6)
三六(5)
三四(21)
四五(2)
四八(4)
五一(1)
五七(2)
五八(2)
五六(4)
五十(3)
五四(1)
六三(1)
六八(1)
六四(2)
七八(14)
七四(1)
八八(1)
九一(3)
九六(1)
十万(1)
十九(2)
十八(2)
十十(1)
万一(2)
万八(1)

Seems like 一一(26) , 三四(21) , 七八(14) , 一二(13) are the most common. Follows the complete (possibly not exhaustive) list.

一一(26)
    一东一西
    一丝一毫
    一中一台
    一举一动
    一五一十
    一分一毫
    一唱一和
    一夫一妻
    一字一泪
    一心一德
    一心一意
    一惊一乍
    一房一厅
    一朝一夕
    一板一眼
    一模一样
    一步一趋
    一点一滴
    一点一点
    一琴一鹤
    一生一世
    一瘸一拐
    一言一动
    一言一行
    一递一个
    一递一声
一万(2)
    一本万利
    以一驭万
一三(5)
    一日三秋
    一日三餐
    一板三眼
    一波三折
    举一反三
一九(1)
    一言九鼎
一二(13)
    一干二净
    一式二份
    一心二用
    一来二去
    一清二楚
    一清二白
    一石二鸟
    一穷二白
    划一不二
    数一数二
    独一无二
    臣一主二
    说一不二
一十(5)
    一暴十寒
    一曝十寒
    一目十行
    假一赔十
    闻一知十
一四(1)
    一年四季
七八(14)
    七七八八
    七上八下
    七嘴八张
    七嘴八舌
    七扭八歪
    七拼八凑
    七爷八爷
    七老八十
    七荤八素
    七零八碎
    七零八落
    夹七夹八
    杂七杂八
    横七竖八
七四(1)
    七政四余
万一(2)
    万众一心
    万无一失
万八(1)
    万儿八千
三一(2)
    三位一体
    周三径一
三七(1)
    三魂七魄
三九(3)
    三教九流
    三旬九食
    三跪九叩
三二(1)
    三心二意
三五(6)
    三令五申
    三侠五义
    三番五次
    三皇五帝
    三纲五常
    隔三差五
三六(5)
    三亲六故
    三十六计
    三头六臂
    三姑六婆
    三茶六饭
三四(21)
    三从四德
    三催四请
    三朋四友
    不三不四
    丢三落四
    传三过四
    低三下四
    再三再四
    勾三搭四
    巴三览四
    张三李四
    挑三拣四
    挑三窝四
    推三阻四
    朝三暮四
    横三竖四
    狂三诈四
    说三道四
    调三窝四
    连三并四
    颠三倒四
九一(3)
    九九归一
    九死一生
    九牛一毛
九六(1)
    九声六调
二一(2)
    二十一条
    二十一点
二三(1)
    接二连三
二五(1)
    二十五史
二八(1)
    二十八宿
二六(1)
    二十六岁
二四(2)
    二十四史
    二十四孝
五一(1)
    五七一代
五七(2)
    五劳七伤
    五痨七伤
五八(2)
    五花八门
    五行八作
五六(4)
    五脏六腑
    五颜六色
    人五人六
    吆五喝六
五十(3)
    一五一十
    五代十国
    五光十色
五四(1)
    五湖四海
八八(1)
    八荣八耻
六三(1)
    六韬三略
六八(1)
    六合八法
六四(2)
    六十四万
    六十四卦
十万(1)
    六十四万
十九(2)
    十成九稳
    十拿九稳
十八(2)
    十之八九
    十有八九
十十(1)
    十全十美
四五(2)
    四分五裂
    四舍五入
四八(4)
    四平八稳
    四通八达
    四邻八舍
    四面八方


How can you say "We have to let you go", in the context of firing somebody?

"我们必须让你走" is correct literally, but sounds straightforward.

You can use "不得不" instead of "必须" because it's more passive; and use "离开" instead of "走" to make the sentence euphemistic. e.g.

  我们不得不让你离开公司

Or make it more euphemistic by using "可能需要" (may need), (if you don't stick to the original English sentence and its translation)

  我们可能需要你离开公司


It is hard to give a rule on using 无 vs 没有， even they mean the same.

Only 无 is used:

无所谓 （We don't say 没有所谓, but some people say 没所谓）

无线电 （We don't say 没有线电）

无论如何 （We don't say 没有论如何）

无性繁殖 （We don't say 没有性繁殖）

Only 没有 is used:

我没有钱 （We don't say 我无钱）

你没有失败 （We don't say 你无失败）

Both can be used:

没有 消息就是好消息。 or 无 消息就是好消息。

没有 人能猜出这个谜语。 or 无 人能猜出这个谜语。

I think there are still some clues on using 无 vs 没有.

无 is more like 'non-' or "un-"in English, and 无 is used in some Idioms or fixed phrases, like 无所谓, 无论如何, 无土栽培, 无独有偶, 无恶不作 etc. In those words, we don't use 没有.
When 没有 is used for "not" in English to negate something, 没有 can NOT be replaced with 无. For example, 他没有做完作业. We don't say 他无做完作业.
When 没有 is used for "without" in English, it can be replaced with 无. But I am not sure if it is always true. For example, 无人喝彩. We can say 没有人喝彩. But if used as a tile of a book, a story, or a movie, 无人喝彩 is better, but using 没有人喝彩 is also ok.


How should I understand 延伸开来 within ……并且延伸开来，导致重大而长远的对抗?

My try:
These ideological attacks will spread (out into other areas, e.g. trading, copy-right, human right, ..., etc), leading to  greater and long-term confrontations.
 "長遠" here mean long duration in time, not spatial.


First, it is not a standard way. Apparently, it is a complain.

失~lose, 戀~love。失戀~fall out of love. The word itself has a vt+noun structure.

Try to understand it from the basic form:

為什麼我失戀了？Why I fell out of love?

One can definitely add adj to a noun(戀). (just for explanation.)

為什麼我失(全世界的)戀？

Now add adv to vt(失). (just for explanation.)

為什麼我(都失一遍)全世界的戀？

Then change order:

為什麼全世界的戀我都失一遍？ Why I fell out of each love all over the world? The singer wants to deliver a strong discourage for being a loser in love in this song.


抓 and 捉 can be used interchangeably when it means 'catch; capture; arrest'

For example:
抓老鼠 = 捉老鼠 = catch/capture mice
警察來抓人 = 警察來捉人 police come to arrest someone
In the context of 'catch; capture; arrest' , 抓 is more colloquial, 捉 is more literary

抓 contains the meanings of 'get hold of/grab; seize'
which it doesn't share with 捉

Example:
抓緊這個機會 (get hold of this opportunity) cannot be written as 捉緊這個機會 because  'get hold of' is different from 'capture/catch'
抓起武器 (grab weapon) cannot be written as 捉起武器 because 'grab' here refers to 'get hold of', not 'capture/catch'
抓權 (seize power) cannot be written as 捉權 because 'seize' here refers to ''get hold of', not 'capture/catch'

抓 also contains the meanings of 'to scratch'
which it doesn't share with 捉

Example:
抓癢 (scratch an itch)
抓眼珠 (scratch eyeball)
Also: 抓狅 (catch a madness = become crazy) cannot be written as 捉狅  because '抓狅' is a set phrase; 捉姦 (catch an affair in action) cannot be written as 抓姦 because '捉姦' is a set phrase


Hacking Chinese (by Olle Linge) mentions that the way to reading faster is to simply read more. Presumably extensive reading as opposed to intensive reading. That is, read many different texts that are well within your ability to read, as opposed to a few texts that are closer to the edge of your ability to read. By well within your ability to read, I mean that you know 98% of the words (not simply 98% of the characters). By reading extensively, you will be practising reading texts as opposed to practising studying them (i.e. looking up a lot of words or grammar, or frequently stopping and thinking in order to understand the text).
You could find easy texts (such as graded readers) and read (and re-read) those until you can read them at the speed you would like. Then, you could slowly increase the difficulty of the texts to improve your reading speed on more difficult texts as well.
Hacking Chinese goes into more nuances and has more advice in their articles, but I understand extensive reading to be the main thrust of the approach to improve reading speed.


What does the underscore (_) mean in Chinese?

I guess it becomes popular on Internet due to web technology favor. Most of web servers are built on Unix(or similar, like Linux) OS. Underscore is widely used as space replacement since space it's not allowed for variable name in most of the programming languages. Also, web pages usually in a hierarchical structure, and web page title usually contains the hierarchical information for SEO purpose. Thus the underscore symbol is introduced into web pages as a separator, although some programmers may choose the minus symbol instead of underscore.

As a conclusion, the underscore is nothing with Chinese, but a web stuff.


Help:IPA/Mandarin on Wikipedia has x listed like this:

Wiktionary:ɕ has audio you can listen to too.
This is a bit of a random source but here it is anyway.
《哈尔滨方言词典》[ɕi]

WordyEnglish's Pinyin 拼音, Zhuyin 注音, IPA Comparison also shows:

宣
ɕyɛn

Bopomofo letter ㄒ which represents "x" is also exclusively:

(phoneme) IPA(key): /ɕ/

From《漢語拼音方案》we can see the following:

where x again matches up with zhuyin ㄒ or IPA /ɕ/.

Sh on the other hand is listed as:

Wiktionary:ʂ also has audio you can listen too here.
《哈尔滨方言词典》[ʂɿ]

As you can see the two are very close in sound, and are often confused as such by learners.
Probably the biggest difference is tongue positions:

vs.


It is similar in Chinese,

有一点儿 is usually used with negative adjectives

We say 有一点儿笨 but not 有一点儿聰明
We say 有一点儿不足 but not 有一点儿充足
We say 有一点儿軟弱 but not 有一点儿强堅

Similarly:

We say 有点笨 but not 有点聰明
We say 有点不足 but not 有点充足
We say 有点軟弱 but not 有点强堅

不太 can be used with either positive or negative adjectives

不太笨, 不太聰明
不太缺乏, 不太充足
不太軟弱, 不太强堅


Chinese.
translation: I think this is important to me and all the Latvian people.


How to translate "I hope I didn't embarrass you"?

That phrase that you provided means, "I hope I didn't cause you to lose face." However, that is not a common saying.

To say, "I hope I didn't embarrass you" in the context of having accidentally said something inappropriate about another person would be:

希望沒有讓你難為情

Alternatively, you can say

希望沒有讓你覺得難為情


It should be B. If you want to use 年产数 as a phrase, it shoule be

形成了年产数为数百万吨的强大产能

or

形成了年产数达到数百万吨的强大产能

BTW: 顿 should be 吨.


Why can't we use 什么的 ("and so on") with lists of people, and what can we use instead?

It can't be used for people because 什么的 means "things like"

写写信、打打球、洗洗衣服什么的 =  "Things like writing letter, playing basketball, washing clothes"

Also;

To list specific individuals, we can use '等人'
Example:  陈博士，李教授，王法官等人 (Dr. Chen, Professor Li, Judge Wang and others like them)

~

To list different kinds of people or things, we can use '之類'
Example:
'医生，律师 和警察之類 ' (people like doctor, lawyer and police)
'足球，篮球 和网球之類' (things like football, basketball and tennis)

~

'and so on' = "等等"
Example:
'足球，篮球, 网球等等' (football, basketball, tennis and so on)
'医生，律师, 警察等等' (doctor, lawyer, police and so on)

~

To list different kinds of dishonorable people, we can use '之流'

Example: "小偷, 騙子和走私客之流" (the like of thief, con man and  smuggler)


What's the way to say "too/also/as well" in Taiwanese?

There are three words corresponding to Mandarin "也" in Taiwanese Hokkien.

也 iā
亦 i̍k
嘛 mā

I believe that in colloquial Hokkien, 也 is used exclusively in co-ordinated constructions, of the form "也 X 也 Y", which isn't what you want here. It is 嘛 that you're looking for.


In Mandarin, especially Northern China dialects, measure words can be omitted when

It is following a demonstrative pronoun (e.g. 这, 那), AND
The numeral is 1 (one), AND
It is not a collective measure word （e.g. 些, 群).

The grammatical role of the phrase does not change. E.g.

这一件毛衣 = 这件毛衣 = 这毛衣
这一些毛衣 = 这些毛衣 collective measure word 些 cannot be omitted.


What is a snappy way to express e.g. "my brain has switched off" that is familiar to native Chinese ears?

I'd probably say something like 我脑袋不转了(my brain doesn't rotate anymore). This is a common analogy for a brain: a gear.


how to translate cyberbullying into Chinese?

在网上发表具有攻击性、煽动性和侮辱性的言论，造成当事人名誉损害，人们习惯称之为“网络暴力”。
In the online publication of aggressive, provocative and insulting remarks, honorary damage caused by parties, people used to call it "the network of violence".it,s from www.baidu.com


Shouldn't that be 关卡 = checkpoints, barriers？

二人要通过许多小关卡

2 people must pass through many barriers

Some kind of fun sports competition.


Translations of "共欢新故岁，迎送一宵中" by Li Shimin?

I think the translations you provided does not accurately reflect the literal Chinese meanings. Although I do not know other published translation, I can explain the poem word by word, so that you can have a better understanding of its meaning.
In the first part "共欢新故岁": "共" means "together". "欢" means "happy" or in this case "celebrate". "新" means "new". "故" means "old" and in this case, it means "the past". "岁" means "age" in modern Chinese, but here in ancient Chinese, it also means "year".
In the second part "迎送一宵中": "迎" means "welcome". "送" means "send" or "farewell". "一" means "one". "宵" means "night". "中" means "within" in this case.
So the poem should mean "Together we celebrate the new and old year. The welcoming of the new year and the farewell to the old year are both within this night."
What I wrote is just a literal translation. There might be other translations as Chinese and English are culturally different and it is very hard to translate literature works. Also, ancient Chinese often have multiple meanings so it is also very difficult to interpret poems using modern Chinese. Hence, different people will definitely have different interpretations.


Rule: erhua (儿化) in topolectical dictionaries

As you are talking about topolectal dictionaries, which are not based on the ISO that Hànyǔ Pīnyīn has, there is no single standard. The ISO standard for Hànyǔ Pīnyīn of course just appends the -r, without visually indicating any vowel or nasal consonant changes, just as the standard also rules against visually indicating the tone sandhi in consecutive tone three syllables.

I would presume as a trend though that phonological adaptations are useful in a topolect dictionary, and so any one that uses an orthography based on notating the sound (whether it is a custom romanisation system or an IPA-based system) would try to present sound changes in the surface representation and not only the underlying morpheme structure. Hence the unrounding of -o to -e in 头儿 that you see.

For more complicated instances of vowel change, I think it's pretty much required. Fuzhounese, as one of the varieties of Chinese that has morpho-semantically-motivated vowel tensing, really needs the vowel changes to be notated.


Should names in idiomatic expressions be capitalised?

Pinyin is never an established written language. We have a standard, 《汉语拼音正词法基本规则》, but no one actually bothered to learn it. In short, it treats pinyin as if it is a romanized language. You follow what's correct in English. However, 成语 is so special that it has individual chapters for it:

结构上可以分为两个双音节的，中间加连接号。 例如： fēnɡpínɡ-lànɡjìnɡ（风平浪静） àizēnɡ-fēnmínɡ（爱憎分明） shuǐdào-qúchénɡ（水到渠成）
yánɡyánɡ-dàɡuān（洋洋大观） pínɡfēn-qiūsè（平分秋色） ɡuānɡmínɡ-lěiluò（光明磊落）
diānsān-dǎosì（颠三倒四）
结构上不能分为两个双音节的，全部连写。 例如： cénɡchūbùqiónɡ（层出不穷）
bùyìlèhū（不亦乐乎） zǒnɡ’éryánzhī（总而言之） àimònénɡzhù（爱莫能助） yīyīdàishuǐ（一衣带水）

According to this, we may need to add hyphens inbetween 徐娘半老 and 杞人忧天 when they are written as pinyin.
Then it also says this about property nouns:

专有名词成分与普通名词成分连写在一起的，是一般语词或视为视为一般语词的，首字母小写。 例如： ɡuǎnɡɡān（广柑） jīnɡjù（京剧）
ējiāo（阿胶） zhōnɡshānfú（中山服） chuānxiōnɡ（川芎） zànɡqīnɡɡuǒ（藏青果）
zhāoqín-mùchǔ（朝秦暮楚） qiánlǘzhījì（黔驴之技）

If the text is confusing you, you can look at the last two examples. When a property noun is part of a 成语, it doesn't need to be capitalized.
But then it also has this to say about 成语:

辞书注音需要显示成语及其他词语内部结构时，可按词或语素分写。 例如： chīrén shuō mènɡ（痴人说梦） wèi yǔ
chóumóu（未雨绸缪） shǒu kǒu rú pínɡ（守口如瓶） Hēnɡ-Hā èr jiànɡ（哼哈二将）

This is a suggestion specific to dictionaries, you separate them and properly capitalize the property nouns, in order to display the internal structure of a 成语.
So to answer your question: If you aren't writing a dictionary, you should do this:

徐娘半老 xúniáng-bànlǎo
杞人忧天 qǐrén-yōutiān


Are there common rules about the usage of verb-object compounds?

A single character verb like 吃, 学 and 说 are typically more general, which mean they generally contain more than one meaning and can create ambiguity if there's not enough context

Two characters verb like 吃饭, 学习, and 说话 are compound words. Compare to single character words, compound words express more specific meanings, which mean you can avoid confusion due to multiple meanings contained in most single character (they can even be interpreted as different word types like noun or adjective).

You can use either single character verb or compound words verb in a sentence as long as there's no ambiguity.

More often than not, a single character verb cannot replace a compound words verb because it lack specificity. For example, 我要吃饭 (I have to/want to eat a meal- dinner or lunch) cannot be replaced with 我要吃 (I have to/ want to eat-- eat what?)

On the other hand, using compound word verb when a single character verb is sufficient is considered wordy or redundant.

Example:

殺這頭豬 (kill/ /murder / slaughter this pig) and 屠宰這頭豬 (slaughter this pig) basically mean the same thing. No one would think you meant 'murder this pig' when you say 殺這頭豬, therefore, there is no need to use the more specific term  屠宰


爱、采 ( A trivalent verb takes 2 objects )

一价动词(动1):

This is intransitive verbs, which means, verbs that cannot have an object attached to them.

Example: 我病了。 -> I am sick. (No object and cannot have an object)

二价动词(动2):

This is transitive verbs, verbs that can have objects attached to them.

Example: 我爱你。 -> I love you. ("you" is the object)

三价动词(动3):

Also called 双宾动词 and 授与动词，meaning verbs that can have an object and a receiving or benefiting target(i.e. equivalent to "to" in English or 给 in Chinese).

Example: 我送了礼物给我哥哥。 -> I gave presents(object) TO my brother(benefited target).


What are the differences between 的,地 and 得?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Can somebody please translate main 4 symbols and the 6 little ones for me? (Characters identified: 格物致知)

格物致知 - refers to study the principles of things to gain knowledge
丁酉 - 2017 (or 1957)
秋 - autumn
杜金恆 /Dù jīn héng/ - author's name
These are called 'Chinese characters', not 'symbols'


在客厅里坐着一位老人.

The 在 is redundant because of the 里, as 客厅里 already says "In the living room..." and adding the 在 would be saying "in the living room" twice.

So, 在客厅里坐着一位老人 would be saying -- "At the living room in which sits an old man"


Are “玩家一” and “玩家二” appropriate in the context of a coop videogame?

generally, you can say: 1号玩家, 2号玩家
If the video game is LOL like 5v5, you can say: XX队伍的一号位, 二号位, YY队伍的一号位,二号位.


When you use the word 外遇, it is a noun. It should be王先生有了外遇。外遇的对象是李小姐。
有了外遇 is the verb phrase for the noun 外遇. The 3rd person need to be mentioned in a separated sentence. In this way, you know who is the one betrayed the marriage and who is the 3rd person. And the 3rd person's marriage status is not mentioned, it can be anything.
Headlines sometimes tend to use super compact expressions, which are not common elsewhere. Like 或 means 可能， 拟 means 打算. Here I guess is the same thing, even though it is not common to say so, it saves space .


What is the Chinese term for "architrave"?

for architrave, it’s “楣樑” (門框上方橫接的承重小樑).

strips of thin, moulded wood to cover this gap

try “門框飾邊“, “門框飾板” or “門框飾條“
have fun :)


What is the history of the character “耻”?

戰國・楚簡緇衣.28郭店楚簡篆心部說文解字東漢隸樊敏碑　今楷

「恥」 (Baxter-Sagart OC: /*n̥rəʔ/, humiliation/shame) is comprised of semantic 「心」 (heart, mind) and phonetic 「耳」 (/*C.nəʔ/).

During times when clerical script was in active use, the 「心」 portion of the character was sometimes corrupted into an additional sound hint 「止」 (/*təʔ/). This produces the variant 「耻」, which is the target of PRC's standardisation scheme.

東漢隸樊敏碑　東漢隸孔宙碑　東漢隸池陽令　今楷


Sentence structure "I'm [doing something] because [reason]"?

I think “因为。。。所以。。。” still applies in this case. Or you could say “我。。。是因为。。。”

For example:

  我吃蛋糕是因为我饿了。= I am eating the cake because I am hungry.
  Wǒ chī dàn gāo shì yīn wèi wǒ è le


Can you help translate this Chinese scroll?

生意興隆 - (A wish) for booming businesses

These are called "Fai Chun":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fai_chun


I'm not a native Chinese speaker but I've always used 相信 to mean believe (related to truth/falsity) and 信任 to mean trust/confidence (related to success/failure).
我相信你 I believe you. I believe what you just said. I think you are telling the truth. I don't think you are lying.
我信任你 I trust you. I trust in your ability. I have faith in you. You won't let me or yourself down. I am confident that you will succeed. I am confident that you will not fail.


What characters have been politically corrected before?

The question of Chinese minority nationalities' names is a bit more complex than that. Many of these minorities did not have a single, fixed name before they were catalogued in the 20th century. In fact, the definitive list of minorities was not fixed until the 70s. The Chinese writing system also underwent huge changes in the 20th century.

Thus, many minority names could be spelled in a variety of ways, or the characters for them were not part of the Chinese standard in the first place. Under these circumstances, it's not surprising that the government would choose to write the names of minority groups with characters that had positive connotations. I assume the groups themselves also preferred a positive name. The description

  the government changed some characters for the names of minority
  ethnic groups

is somewhat misleading.

That said, here are some examples:

苗 (Miao) could be spelled a number of ways, one of them being 猫
with the dog radical. Since this character already means "cat" and is then pronounced máo, reducing it to 苗, which means "young plant", is less confusing.

瑶 (Yao) used to be written as 猺, which also means "jackal". Again, changing the character is not only friendlier, but also less confusing.

羌 (Qiang) is a good example of a character that has always been written a variety of ways. One of them was 猐, again with the dog radical. I don't think it's too weird to choose a different spelling.

Also, many Chinese minorities were called 蛮 (barbarians) in Chinese historical sources. One example is the 布依 (Buyi), who were referred to as 仲蛮 (Zhongman) in Qing dynasty texts. In such cases, it's not so much that the characters were changed, and more that the government began to use the name by which members of that group referred to their own group.

Ideology may have also played a small part in the way that Chinese characters were simplified into 简体字 (Jianti zi). I've always suspected that some Chinese anti-monarchist took some joy from replacing the character 後 (behind, after, later) with 后 (queen).

The character 他 was used as a third-person pronoun for both genders well into the 19th century. I assume this was split into 她/他 to conform to European languages.

There is some movement in China to change the characters with negative meanings that have the "woman" radical. However, this is limited to a relatively small group, maybe comparable to the number of people who wish to use "xe" as a gender-neutral pronoun in English.


Although you are trying to say "I'm still 27.", "还" does not work in this context, since it is only used to imply an action is still ongoing or something still exists. Grammatically speaking, it should be used before a verb, not a noun.

On the other hand, "才" in this context is used to emphasize a (merely) small quantity. Therefore, it should be put before a noun. There are other usage of "才", making it can be put before a verb, but that's a different case.

Maybe this example will help you to notice the usage of "还" and "才" (example from Chinese Grammar Wiki).

  你才一百斤，还要减肥？


Are there any fora for conversing in Classical Chinese?

新文言
辞赋论坛
Hummm, I cannot find a forum where people converse In 文言文, but the two fora above are mainly for writing In 文言文.
I must say, 文言文 doesn't quite fit into modern environment. The main reason is words for modern things and ideas
are formed in such a different way from the morphology of 文言文 that it looks awkward for a pure 文言文 to contain modern words like 電話/牙刷/激光照排打印機.

Whereas it is possible to elaborate your speech or writing with 文言文, including using 文言句式/文言詞彙/典故/文風 and In many cases it reads really like so called 文言文 （of course it isn't）.

——————EDIT——————

I think the essence of good writing and speech is concision and accuracy. The more words at your command, the nearer you are from that goal. In daily life and on the Internet, people are inclined to use basic and simple words. If you are not a beginner, you will feel this a hindrance to your improvement. It is, even for native speakers. It might be the reason why you are looking for fora discussing Classical Chinese. But it is not necessaryԅ(¯ㅂ¯ԅ). My advice is simple but proved by many: read books writing in formal and literary language and （my personal practice） buy a hefty dictionary, often leaf through it, take down notes of good words you meet.
|･ω･｀)


How are new element names/characters decided?

4 new elements = 4 new Chinese characters? I also know that 4 new elements = 4 new English words.

Actually these new elements have no relationship with China:

  113: Nihonium (Nh) is from Nihon, another name of Japan.

  115: Moscovium (Mc) comes from the city name Moscow.

  117: Tennessine(Ts) comes from Tennessee.

  118: Oganesson (Og) comes from Russian physicist Yuri Oganessian
  (1933-).

So how is a new element are named in Chinese? Here's Official standards from 全国科学技术名词审定委员会:

  化学元素的符号是国际通用的，化学元素的命名由于语种的不同，会有较大的差异。化学元素名称的汉译，自晚清开始译入到21世纪的今天，历经了百年，形成了化学元素自有的中文定名原则：

  （1)根据尽量少造新字的原则，在元素定名需要造字时，尽量选用已有的古字。

  （2）选用或新造汉字应符合国家汉字规范。

  （3）符合以形声字为主体的汉字书写特点，以体现元素的性质，发音靠近国际命名。

  （4)避免与以前的元素名称同音，避免用多音字。

  （5)使用简化字，避免用怪异字，选用笔画少的字。

  （6)为了避免歧义，选字应尽量避开生活常用字和已经用做其他行业专用字的汉字。

  （7)尽量采用繁简无差别的字，以利于海峡两岸和汉语圈科技术语的统一。

If you want to know more about how CHINESE name of new elements are decided, check out 全国科学技术名词审定委员会 Official Site.

P.S. They are collecting new names of these 4 new elements. If you have good idea, also check out this website to submit your name suggestions.


Can someone tell me if this script is correct?

Hanzi have many different writing styles and there is no right or wrong as long as you can understand what you are writing.

For me, it looks like Caoshu style. But unfortunately that is one of the hard-to-read styles in Hanzi. I only recognize 4 out of 8 of them. (if I am counting right)

As for 太, it is not easy to recognize. The small dot should be more upwards, at least in between the two swipes.

If this is for display purpose, that is fine. But not in communication purpose as not so many Chinese these days could read Caoshu.


How did 漢 come to represent the Han people and civilization?

A few points to start off:

Characters are not made up of radicals (which are strictly dictionary section headers); elements of characters which give meaning are called semantic components.

The phonetic part of 「漢」 is currently written as 「⿱廿⿻口夫」.

For brevity, this character will be referred to as 「」, but note that 「」 is actually a Japanese shape, with 「艹」 and not 「廿」 on the top, and writing it this way is incorrect in Chinese.

Chinese Etymology is wrong - there is no 「堇」 in 「漢」, and no 「難」 in 「漢」. This statement probably comes from older literature now known to be incorrect;  both 「堇」 and 「難」 contain phonetic 「」, but most older dictionaries do not contain a definition of 「」, and so may make up character composition definitions based on circular logic.

「難」 (Baxter-Sagart OC: /*nˤar/) did not originally sound like 「南」 (/*nˤ[ə]m/), so the name Nanzheng (南鄭) is not relevant.

Meaning of 「漢」
「漢」 indeed originally was the name of a river. From the Spring and Autumn Period artefact 《敬事天王鐘》（《殷周金文集成》７３、７４）:

隹（唯）王㱏（正）月初吉（庚）（申）// (...) （自）（作）永（詠）命（鈴），（其）// ⿵⿶⿱冖月頁（眉）（壽）（無）疆，（敬）事天 // 王，（至）于父⿰兄⿱土（兄），㠯（以）樂（君）// 子，江漢（之）陰陽，// 百歲外，㠯大行。
'Tis the day of gēngshēn of the first week of the first month of the King's reign*, (...)† self-cast this ceremonial bell. Wishing for boundless longevity, respectfully serving the King and the Elders, letting the noblemen rejoice, across both sides of the Yangtze and Hàn Rivers; and beyond one's years, with this bell, setting off on the Grand Journey‡.
*This timekeeping record isn't necessarily from the start of the King's reign.
†Inscription is faded out; this is expected to be someone's name.
‡Refers to the journey to/in the afterlife (death).

「漢」 was not originally associated with Chinese civilisation or ethnicity; rather, the first emperor of the Hàn Dynasty decided to name the dynasty after the river, simultaneously causing the entire unified nation to adopt the name of the 「漢」 ethnic group which originally resided around the river. Chinese civilisation, if it could be said to have a beginning, would have originated around Zhōngyuán (中原) rather than the Hàn River, and it is 「中原」 which gave rise to the name 「中或」 (central regions) >「中國」 (Middle Kingdom).
As one of the most prosperous dynasties in Chinese history, the adoption of the name 「漢」 eventually caused most long-standing notions of tribal boundaries and ethnic groups which have persisted all the way from the Shāng Dynasty to fade away, such that 「漢」 is now synonymous with Chinese.

Phonetic component of 「漢」

時期字體
字形
參考資料

商甲

鐵17.1合集12524

西周金

堇鼎集成2703

戰國・晉金

「難」中山王謱鼎集成2840

戰國・秦金

「堇」漢中守戈集成11367

西漢隸

「漢」屯戍9.4流沙墜簡

楷

「」 is made up of 「黑」 (picture of a person with criminal facial tattoos) with the addition of an exaggeratedly-drawn mouth 「口」 on top, depicting a sighing criminal, indicating related meanings of bearing hardship, suffering (now written 艱、難), to sigh (e.g. out of grief, lamentation, suffering, or desperation) (now written 嘆), and punishment (e.g. 熯, punishment by fire).
The bottom portion of 「」 was often corrupted into 「火」 or 「炎」, leading to extra marks in today's shape which causes the bottom of 「」 to look like 「夫」.
In addition to its meaning role, 「黑」 may also serve as a phonetic hint for 「」, but generally, characters should only be decomposed at a surface level, and so it is inappropriate to decompose 「」 to see what kind of hints the resulting components provide to 「漢」.
Please note that 「」 merely plays a phonetic role in 「漢」, not a semantic (meaning) role.

References:

漢語多功能字庫
季旭昇《說文新證》
何琳儀《戰國古文字典：戰國文字聲系》
小學堂

異體字表
字形演變

國學大師

郭沫若《甲骨文合集》
中國社會科學院考古研究所《殷周金文集成》


is this translation in Chinese of grammatical quality and flow?

Talking about grammar, this version is perfectly fine. The problem is the word choice.

As a native speaker, my translation would be "通过母语获取信息比产品价格更重要".


To display a correct pinyin in a web page what font should i use

Pinyin-friendly sans serif faces at Google Fonts

As of January 9, 2018, Google Fonts had 848 font families, 134 of which are sans serif faces. Of those, 22 can handle Hanyu Pinyin with tone marks.


Significance of 門 in traditional chinese

On the radical 門/门

In both the traditional and simplified font script, 門/门 is a fairly common radical. Compare:

  閉/闭： shut (eyes...)

  間/间： interval, space...

  閑/闲： fence, barrier; idle

In all these cases I find the door component very intuitive. There are of course plenty of cases where this is not the case (see the comment by user6065). The reason for your perceiving the radical as something predominantly traditional, may lie in cases such as:

  老闆/老板：boss;

where characters were replaced by rather arbitrary other characters. There are also pairs such as:

  問/问;

which is classified under 口 in traditional Chinese and under 门 in the PRC.

The article which user6065 posted is about explaining the usage of 門 in some characters by its ancient phonetic value. Let us see, whether he will explain it himself, before I offer my amateur's perspective.

On 開心/开心

I am no native speaker, but 開心 is composed of the characters "open" and "heart". That "open" should feature a door or gate can hardly surprise. That the combination of these words means happiness is intuitive too. In both my native languages an analogous expression exists.

Greek:
Άνοιξε η καρδιά μου!
German:
Mir ging das Herz auf!


Very frequently used word in Mandarin that sounds like "nica" or "nigah"

The word your hear is probably 那個 (in traditional characters) / 那个 (in simplified characters). It is pronounced nàge or nèige (in the Pinyin transcription), and it's basic meaning is ‘that’ or ‘that one’.

Chinese Grammar Wiki has a nice explanation of how nèige is used as a filler word (follow the link to see examples):

  In conversation, you may find yourself at a loss for words, unable to find the correct phrase you are looking for, or simply needing time to gather your thoughts. When you experience this feeling, in English, you may say "umm" or another filler word. In Chinese, the word for this is 那个 (nèige). (The word 那个 can be pronounced both "nàge" and "nèige," but for this usage, "nèige" is normally used.)


Etymologies and relationship between the characters 錘, 槌, 鎚, and 椎

From my answer to this question If you can use Chinese nouns as verbs, or vice versa

Typically, a word was either coined for a noun or verb first, and then its meaning extended to other word type for convenience's sake.
For example, It is possible that when people invented drill, they called it '鑽' (n); later when they needed a word to describe the action of 'to drill' , it is very convenience to add the meaning to the existing noun and make '鑽' both noun and verb.
Or it is the other way around, people called the action of 'to burrow' as '鑽'(v); when 'drill' was invented, they just use the verb '鑽' to name it, because a drill 'burrow' into things.
So, when a noun is closely associated with an unique action (verb), it would be used as a verb eventually; similarly when a verb is closely associated with an object (noun), it would be used as a noun eventually

Either 椎 was coined as a verb for "to strike" and gained the meaning of the noun for "hammer" later; or 椎 was coined as a noun for "hammer" and was given the meaning of the verb "strike" later.  Because the main function of a hammer is 'to strike things'

It is most likely that 錘 original meant something else, and later became a variant of 椎 because they sounded alike

槌 is defined as hammer; mallet; gavel; pestle. It should be the original form of the character for 'hammer'  when hammer was made of wood

鎚 is not listed in the dictionary, it seems to be a modern variant of 槌 when metal hammer appeared


关注 has different meaning with 专心 and 专注. 关注 doesn't mean to
concentrate. Usually 关注 means to care about or to pay attention
to sth.
专心 and 专注 are very similar. They can be alternative to each other most of the time, although there are some collocations you can only use one of them.
As for 于, it is a preposition, same as on here. If you use 专心 or 专注 as a verb (usually a intransitive verb), then you may need it.
Though 专心/注 can be verb, they are often used as adverb too. In such case, no more 于.
The (little) difference between 专心/注:

专心 is used more often to describe one's inner condition, while 专注 is used for one's appearance, look or expression.


Is it a common requirement for Chinese interpreters to be fluent in two or more dialects?

Probably depends on the locations and needs.

People who speak dialects probably can understand at least either Mandarin or Cantonese. That can be the reaons why Mandarin and/or Cantonese is the requirement in general.


Origin of Chinese Parable: Devils and Righteous Man

claiming this parable has chinese origin is doubtful. several themes in the text are very un-chinese, against the customs & culture:

1　"travelling through the country"

2　such travelling with a guide

3　seven

in other cultures, 7 might be a "magic" number, but it's not in chinese. we used 5, 10, 12, 3, or 4.

lastly, here's a link of its mormon origin:

https://www.lds.org/manual/book-of-mormon-gospel-doctrine-teachers-manual/lesson-36-on-the-morrow-come-i-into-the-world?lang=eng


他们俩的性格差不多,挺像双胞胎一样: Can we use 挺 in this manner?

'挺像 X' means  'quite like X'

'像 X 一样' means 'as same as X'

Either "他们俩的性格差不多, 挺像双胞胎的."  or  "他们俩的性格差不多, 就像双胞胎一样". would make better sentence

就 implies 'exactly'. It is a more suitable adverb for 一样 (the same) than  挺 (quite)

Note:

"他们俩的性格差不多" is grammatically correct , but logically, personality has nothing to do with being twin or not.


Does there exists an English word for 汉化 ？

There is Sinicization, just look at the English version of 汉化 on Wikipedia, you'll find out.


Yes, you can understand 了 in 你几岁了？ as a change-of-state 了, and it's a more natural way to ask for age than 你几岁？
Explanation:  你几岁了？ can be understood as aging is a process and this is asking which 'extend' has this process been for you, in this context, how old. And 你几岁？ would be simply asking for a property.
A bit similar to:
你几岁了？ -> How old have you become, over all these years?
你几岁？ -> How many ages are you, at this moment?


中國成语 (Chinese idioms) are universal because they are all literary phrases. All Chinese no matter what dialect they are speaking  write in Standard Written Chinese (SWC)

On the other hand, common expressions or folk sayings are very regional because they are mostly colloquial phrases.

Some popular expression in one dialect would be picked up by near by regions. For example, many Hong Kong Cantonese created expressions are understood and used by many mainland Chinese in the nearby regions.

See 成语 versus 俗语 versus 谚语, what is the difference?


"not the defendant" is just "不是被告"

"let alone the defendant" in Chinese is "更不必提被告"  or "更不用說被告"

"更不是被告" means "specifically not the defendant"

Example:

他不是被告 = he is not the defendant

次被告也判死刑, 更不必提被告 = even the second defendant is sentenced to death, not to mention (let alone) the defendant. -- of course he has to be sentenced to death

犯案的不是陳某或張某, 更不是被告 = The one who committed the crime is not Chen or Zhang, certainly (specifically) not the defendant.


Is there a standard for how wildcards are dealt with in dictionaries?

The plus sign "+" is not a wildcard character. "姓氏" is.

"老" is literal in this context. "+" is a concatenation operator. "姓氏" is a variable, and is supposed to be replaced with an actual family name.  Therefor “老+姓氏” may refer to "老张", "老李", "老王", ..., but not "老blahblah姓氏"

Unfortunately not all dictionary writers learn programming, so concepts like "variables" would be foreign to them.  Even programming books in English struggle to typeset literals and variables differently.  I guess the book 《广安方言与民俗词典》 covers a much wider range of knowledge than barely syntactic patterns, thus the author may not make too much effort typesetting wildcards nicely, as long as the reader can understand what he/she means from the context.


乒 and 乓 characters are together a pictographic group?

乒 and 乓 have onomatopoeic use for sudden noise from a gun or similar. Their resemblance with an actual pingpong table is coincidental, and the characters were chosen for the sound playing the game makes.

See https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/乒乓球 for the history.

Both characters are used individually, but do not form any other words than 乒乓 and related terms. They derive from 兵 (bīng, soldier).

Edit: Expanding a bit, because these characters are a bit of interest. They seem to appear during Ming in the 16th century, with the vernacular literature of the time. Some examples:

西游记 / Journey to the West (Ming, 1580): 如此二三日，又听得后宰门乒乓乒乓，砖瓦乱响。

封神演义 / Creation of the gods (Ming, 1560): 乒乒乓乓，如同阵前炮响；轰轰烈烈，却似锣鼓齐鸣。

儒林外史 / Rulin waishi / Unofficial world history (Qing, 1750): 忽然乒乓一声响，屋梁上掉下一件东西来；不左不右，不上不下，端端正正掉在燕窝碗里，将碗打翻。

Some sources tell that 乒 is a hand holding a pickax, but late characters are rarely if ever ideographic in nature. More likely, some creative author used 兵 to coin a new set of onomatopoetic characters. 乒乒乓乓 has so become a proverb from the Ming era romance literature.


Has the story《碾玉觀音》been translated into English?

Here is another translator Yang Xianyi's text. Yang's family was a literati and a bureaucrat for several generations. Lin Yutang also was a famous Chinese writer, but Yang Xianyi was famous for translation and had already read many Chinese poets and Chinese legend stories even when he was young. Lin Yutang was born in China but got into American culture too early.

You can also find the autobiography of Yang Xianyi. There was a research article on the difference between Lin's and Yang's translation. Based on it, I recommend this translation. Here are some Links below,

https://www.worldcat.org/title/courtesans-jewel-box-chinese-stories-of-the-xth-xviith-centuries/oclc/1160311

https://www.amazon.com/White-Tiger-Autobiography-Yang-Xianyi/dp/962996046X


What does 背着 mean in the novel 活着 (pp.10-12), e.g., ...让她背着我回家...?

我年轻时吃喝嫖赌，什么浪荡的事都干过。我常去的那家妓院是单名，叫青楼。里面有个胖胖的妓女很招我喜爱，她走路时两片大屁股就像挂在楼前的两只灯笼，晃来晃去。她躺到床上一动一动时，压在上面的我就像睡在船上，在河水里摇呀摇呀。我经常让她背着我去逛街，我骑在她身上像是骑在一匹马上。...

The first section of text already makes it clear that 背着 refers to the 妓女 carrying the narrator on her back. (because she was fat enough and the narrator felt like he was riding a horse)


What's the exact difference between 住 and 居?

住 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/668/

  [1] [v] live; reside; stay; dwell; inhabit [2] stop; cease

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

  居

  http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/1017/

  [1] [v] to live at, dwell, reside, inhabit, occupy, abode
  [2] [n] a residence, an house, dwelling

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

  居住

  http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/4174/

  to reside; to live (at some place) | [粵]: 住

住 is a verb for "to live (in); to reside (at) "
居 is mainly a noun for " a residence, an house, dwelling"

Since the meaning of " to live / to reside " has a dedicated verb 住 , and 居 as a verb, has other meanings (for example: occupy) , few people would use 居 for the meaning of 住 , except in instances that literal style of reading is preferred.

You can think of 居 is more literal and 住 is more colloquial when it comes to using a verb for "to live ; to reside"

Some example sentences:

他現在住在美國 (he currently resides in America)

他現居於美國 (he currently resides in America)

他現在在美國居住 (he currently resides in America)

*unlike 住 or 居, which is placed before the object , 居住 is placed after the object.


If Confucius came back to life today and scribbled a message, could most modern Chinese people understand it?

No.

The biggest obstacle is the script; although simple characters are still understandable, the evolution of scripts from seal script (the closest script to modern ones during Confucius's time) involved drastic changes in the appearance of characters. Those unfamiliar with the changes would have a lot of trouble recognising the characters. The shift to simplified characters also adds to the difficulty.

What if we shifted the goalposts and assume Confucius wrote in modern script (but using 文言文)?

Probably not.

This is because the education systems (PRC, Taiwan, HK, SG) do not seriously touch classical Chinese (文言文) until high school, and most Chinese have a middle school education or lower.

Having said that, it's not that 文言文 is completely incomprehensible to Chinese. Many people, even if they have not formally studied it, will have encountered limited examples of it through examples such as poetry, chengyu, and even in extra-curricular media (古装剧 - Chinese period dramas - are extremely popular). These often feature 文言文 or at least use some grammatical rules of 文言文. Therefore, most Chinese will be able to recognise the meanings of most phrases in 文言文, although whether that means they can fully understand an unfamiliar passage written in 文言文 is questionable.


Is the “的” not always required when prefacing a noun with an adjective?

不死骷髅 = the "undead", or Zombies, (a fantastical possibility)

不死的骷髅 = skeletons or skulls that are actually alive, (a natural impossibility)

So, 至少两千具不死骷髅像潮水一样涌过:-

At least 2ooo Zombies went passed like the tide.

There is therefore no adjective modifying the noun in 不死骷髅 as it is read as a single item,like "Zombie", which if broken down would read "a dead body that has the capacity to move like a living being", in other words, 不死骷髅.


Is Hakka spoken the same in Guangdong and Taiwan?

Although I don't speak Hakka (one of my PhD advisors studied a Hong Kong Hakka dialect, so I have a vague idea about it) I live surrounded by Hakka people, in Guangdong, and I go frequently to Taiwan for work. In Taiwan, I noticed that the HSR announcements in Hakka sounded very different from the "regular" Hakka I can hear in Guangdong.

There's a bunch of Hakka dialects, but you can (over)simplify by saying that Guangdong-based Hakka people speak 梅縣 Hakka (Moiyan Hakka: 梅州, 慧州, etc) while Taiwan-based Hakka people speak 海陸 Hakka or 四縣 Hakka, which present large phonetic differences.

Also, Hakka is influenced by the other main language of the region it's spoken in. In HK, and parts of Guangdong, Cantonese influences greatly the local Hakka dialects -- phonetics, vocabulary. In north-eastern Guangdong, 梅州 and around, where Hakka is the standard and the main language, it's probably less influenced by other languages -- rather the Cantonese spoken there sounds more Hakka-influenced.


肯定 certain; sure; affirm;  (the outcome is virtually a fact)
确定 determine; confirm; finalize (the outcome is already a fact)

You can say, "Team China certainly (肯定) will lose to team Germany in the World Cup." The outcome has not been known yet.

You can say, "Team China beat team Japan and is confirmed (确定) to advance to the second round." The outcome is known.

But you cannot say, "Team China confirmed (确定) will lose to team Germany in the World Cup." They haven't played yet.

确定 (to finalize): finalize the team roster
肯定 (to affirm): affirm his earlier statement


面巾 is also a kind of napkin. 面巾 is for face cleaning, 手巾 is for hand cleaning. So 面巾纸 is usually the small pack soft paper napkin you put in your pocket, used for cleaning face. you can think it is the same thing as 纸巾. Here are many things that have different names.

This case, it is a combination of 面巾 + 纸. 纸+面巾 is also used. Though 面+纸巾 and other combinations are also logical, but less people use them.


古代汉语 is everything that is not 现代汉语. More precisely, we have 上古汉语 (Old Chinese: Oracle bones, Warring states, Qin; Classical Chinese: Spring and autumn, Han）, 中古汉语 (Middle Chinese: Tang, Song) and 近代汉语 (mostly late Qing).

博士 was coined in the Warring states period, according to zdic.net. Disyllabic words have always existed, although the ideal used to be monosyllabic word characters.


志趣 can be understood as 志向（your goal/dream） 和 兴趣 (things you are interested in). Your goal/dream is often the things you are interested in. So, 志趣 conveys the sense, kind of combination of 'goal/thing you're interested in'.
这是诸葛亮表达自己作为一个读书人志趣清高的名言. The main body of the sentence is 这是名言. '诸葛亮表达自己作为一个读书人志趣清高的' is attributive to 名言。Well, "诸葛亮表达自己作为一个读书人志趣清高" itself is a sentence too and its main body is 诸葛亮(subject)表达(verb)志趣清高(object). 自己作为一个读书人(himself as a scholar/reader) is an adverbial phrase. As for 志趣， refer to '1'.
其 is a personal pronoun. Here means 他们 the substitute of 不少人, which is mentioned in '尽管不少人汲汲于名利焦头烂额'.
Someone already did the translation in the comment above.


How is 以 used in 时间给勤奋者以荣誉，给懒汉以耻辱?

Here's what Paul Rouzer has to say on 以 in his New Practical Primer of Literary Chinese:

  1.5 以: This is one of the most frequently used characters in literary Chinese, and it has a very wide application. It was originally a verb meaning “to take,” “to use.” Eventually, it started to be used in combination with other verbs (what English language scholars often call a coverb). It serves the same purpose as English prepositions like “with,” “by means of,” and “through.” It usually comes before the main verb, and it is followed by its own special object:

  天以禍報爲不善者。Heaven repays with disaster the person who does evil.

  In this example, 報 is the main verb, and 爲不善者 is its object. 以
  is the coverb, and 禍 is the object of the coverb.

  Other examples:

  Identify the object of the coverb in each case:

  聖人以德導小人。 The wise person leads the petty person with virtue.

  自禁者以德導欲。 The person who restrains herself leads her desires with virtue.

  1.6 Shifting the coverb position: However, if a writer wants to put special emphasis on the thing that gets used (as in text #3), he or she will place the coverb and its object after the main verb:

  小人導心以耳目: The petty person leads his heart with his ears and eyes.

  Another, more awkward way of expressing the same sense: “It is with his ears and
  eyes that the petty person leads his heart."

  知己者報人以善: It is with good that the one who knows herself rewards others.

  小人報天以怨: It is with resentment that the petty person rewards Heaven.

Based on point 1.5, a literal translation of 時間給勤奮者以榮譽，給懶漢以恥辱 might be:

時間  給       勤奮者       以   榮譽  ，     給       懶漢     以    恥辱
Time provides the diligent with honour, and provides the lazy with disgrace.

Additionally, according to point 1.6, when the coverb (here 以) is placed after the main verb (here 給), it puts more emphasis on the thing after the coverb (here 榮譽 ‘honour’ and 恥辱 ‘disgrace’). Therefore, an even more literal translation (though a very awkward one) could be:

It is with honour that time provides the diligent, and it is with disgrace that time provides the lazy.

That should explain the use of 以, which in this case basically means ‘with’. Of course, a natural-sounding translation cannot be as literal as the ones above.

Note: 以 can be translated as ‘with’ in this particular context. It doesn't mean that ‘with’ is always a correct translation if 以. In particular, 以 does not mean ‘together with’, and is therefore different from words such as 和，与，跟， 一起 and so on. As we can see in the above quote, 以 may in other context be expressed with ‘take’, ‘use’, ‘by means of’ and ‘through’.


Please may someone tell me what this symbol means?

This is a character “立”。

The basic meaning of "立" is "standing straight". However, since the picture you put is a tattoo, it usually has a deeper meaning.

The "立" in a tattoo can be understood as "顶天立地" which means when a person stands, his head reaches the sky and his feet step on the ground. With a deeper meaning, a person can withstand all kinds of difficulties and disasters and do their best to solve them, and the people around him are therefore safe.


多 = more, much, extra
多了一封信 = to have an extra letter

Another example:

我们组多了一个人。
There is an extra person in our group.

In this case, the sentence can be translated to:

There is an extra letter on the carrier pigeon's leg.

Note: This sentence doesn't make sense as a single sentence. The pigeon has to be mentioned somewhere in the previous text.


Is there a dictionary of standard character variants?

[中文]
http://www.zdic.net/z/18/zy/5B87.htm

[EN]
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%AE%87

other useful dictionary

http://chinese-linguipedia.org/clk/search/%E5%AE%87/86588/182973?srchType=1
http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E5%AE%87
http://dict.variants.moe.edu.tw/yitia/fra/fra01006.htm
http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterEtymology.aspx?characterInput=%E5%AE%87


What's the difference between 遭到 and 遭受?

遭: encounter; suffer; receive

到:  verbal particle to indicate the result of an action.

遭到 (receive; encounter) is a verb 遭 (encounter) +  a verb particle 到. There is only one verb 遭.

~

遭: receive; encounter; suffer

受: receive

遭受 is a compound word (single word) for 'receive; suffer; undergo'

Since 遭受 is a single verb, you can add verb particle 到 after it to indicate the result and write 遭受到.
On the other hand, 遭到 is a verb and its verb particle, you can omit the verb particle and only write 遭 when you don't need to emphasize the result of the verb
The following are all valid sentences. They all mean the same:

生态平衡遭受破坏。(the compound word verb 遭受 is more specific than the single character verb 遭)

生态平衡遭受到破坏。 (the verb particle 到 indicates the verb 遭受 is completed/ received a result

生态平衡遭破坏。(using the literary single character verb 遭 make it sounds more classical/ literary)

生态平衡受破坏。(using the colloquial single character verb 受 make it sounds more modern/ colloquial)

生态平衡遭到破坏。(the verb particle 到 indicates the verb 遭 is completed/ received a result, also make it sounds more modern/ colloquial)

You can replace 遭到 (more literary) with 受到 (more colloquial)


How to make a recommendation/suggestion to someone

Sentence B is correct.
Let's first break down why sentence A is incorrect.
The problem is in '学生会议餐餐厅经理建'
I assume 学生会议餐餐厅经理建 is for 'The Student Union suggested to the restaurant manager'. This part has various problems. First of all, 'Student Union' should be 学生会/学生工会 instead of 学生会议(student meeting). I don't know why 餐 is repeated. 餐厅经理 is ok. 建 is probably here for 'suggest'. Maybe the 议 from before is originally supposed to be in 建议? However, this term is not separatable. If I translate this part literally into English it would be 'Student meeting (学生会议) restaurant manager (餐厅经理) establish (建)' You can see the verb is clearly not correct.
Now let's discuss why 学生会向餐厅经理建议 is correct.
We already discussed why 学生会 is correct and 学生会议 is wrong and why 建议 should stay together instead of being separated. 向 here is for conjunction. Stan's suggestion in the comment of your question is also good. 糖果 indeed only means candy.
You can use 建议 as a verb with or without 向, but the order of the words will differ.
Expression 1
entity 1 + 建议 + entity 2 + the actual advice. This expression is also more casual than the second expression.
Example:
学生会 (entity 1) 建议 餐厅经理 (entity 2) 校餐厅应该卖健康食品 (the actual advice)
我 (entity 1) 建议 你 (entity 2) 不要去 (the actual advice)
Expression 2
entity 1 + 向 + entity 2 + 建议 + the actual advice. This expression is also more formal. Another thing is, it is uncommon to put oneself (我) as entity 1 in this expression as it sounds awkward.
Example:
学生会 (entity 1) 向 餐厅经理 (entity 2) 建议 校餐厅应该卖健康食品 (the actual advice)
他 (entity 1) 向 我 (entity 2) 建议 我应该抛售 (the actual advice)
You can also change out 向 with 对 in this case.
You can use many many verbs with 向, many are interchangeable with 对, but not all (such as you can't say 我对你借钱 or 我向你说啊). You can treat both with the sense of 'direct towards'
examples of 向 without movement:
http://www.ichacha.net/zaoju/%E5%90%91.html (some of these fit what you want)
(1)　我 (I) 向 你 保证 (guarantee) 他们 (they) 胡说八道 (speak non-sense)。
(I guarantee to you that what they (implied: are saying/said/were saying/have said) is/was non-sense)
(2) 他们 (they) 向 他 (him) 道了谢 (thanked)。
(They thanked him)
(3) 目的 (purpose) 是 (is) 向 公司 (company) 的 ('s) 雇员 (employees) 募捐 (raising donation)。
(The purpose is to raise donations from the company's employees)


促 = to urge; to speed up
进 = to advance
促进 = to promote (something to make it advance).
Example:
(促进)香港旅游业发展 = (to promote/speed up) the development of Hong Kong's tour industry
(促进)血液循环 = (to promote/speed up) blood circulation

~

提 = bring up
倡 = support
提倡 = to promote (an idea by voicing support)
Example:
提倡人人戴口罩 = (Promote/ Voice support for)  everyone wearing a mask)
提倡男女平等 = (Promote/ Voice support for) equality between men and women

~

推 = push
广 = wide
推广 = to promote (to spread an idea to the public)
Example:
推广男女平等 = (Promote/ Spread the idea of) equality between men and women
推广学习中文 = (Promote/ Spread the idea/ benefit of) learning Chinese

~

宣 = to announce
传 = to pass along
宣传 = to promote (to push)
Example:
(宣传)香港旅游业 = (Promote/ Push) Hong Kong's tour industry
(宣传)这个新政策 = (Promote/ Push) this new policy


From my experience, 学兄, for male only, is understandable, but is rarely used.

学姐 is used more than 学兄.

学长 is common and gender neutral, although it's more common among men than women.

I also heard of 学弟，学妹.


How was 言 created by adding one mark to 舌?

The description

言 was created by adding a mark to 舌

should really be

言 was created by adding one or two horizontal marks to the top of 舌

Details aside, it is a fairly accurate character component arrangement description. For it to make sense, you have to first determine the shape of the character components that it's talking about.
Wiktionary's glyph evolution table of 「舌」 doesn't show enough examples of 「舌」 in oracle bone script for the description to immediately make sense. The shape we have today is originally inherited from Series 1, shown below:
Series 1

Crossed out samples are ones where spittle is also drawn, which doesn't survive today.

The confusion arises because Wiktionary is only showing a sample of 「舌」 from Series 2 below:
Series 2

It doesn't really matter which shape of 「舌」 that 「言」 is derived from, 「言」 is still made up from one or two horizontal marks added to the top of 「舌」:

「言」 derived from Series 1 「舌」:
商甲甲499合集30697

「言」 derived from Series 2 「舌」:
商甲拾8.1合集21082商甲乙766合集22072

You can even get 「言」 derived from 「舌」 with spittle drawn:
商甲後2.41.9合集21631

Glyph origins summary
商甲甲499合集30697戰國金中山王方壺集成9735秦簡秦律十八1睡虎地秦簡西漢隸老子・甲馬王堆帛書楷
「言」 (to speak) was originally comprised from one or two horizontal marks 「一・二」 added to the top of 「舌」 (tongue). The shape which survives today is made up from two horizontal marks 「二」 on top of a 「舌」 shape coming from Series 1.
「舌」 is no longer evident in 「言」 due to some minor shape corruptions to the forked tongue shape occurring post-Qin. Compare 「音」, which is actually comprised from 「言」 with a differentiating mark added inside of the 「口」 part of 「言」.

References:

季旭昇《說文新證》
小學堂
國學大師

郭沫若《甲骨文合集》
中國社會科學院考古研究所《殷周金文集成》


Does 多 always come after the measure word？

多 is used for approximate number, which is one-tenth of the measure unit prior to 多.

四块多美金 means 4.0-4.9 dollars. 四多块美金 is not correct, 多 should be placed after the measure word 块 for unit digit.

三十多条蛇 means 30-39 snakes, and 三十条多蛇 is not correct, because the measure unit of 蛇 could not be decimal.


Curious about different ways of swearing in Mandarin

but there aren't a lot of ways to do that in Mandarin.

That is simply not true. I bet one can write a novel barely with swearing words in Chinese mandarin.

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

Please don't use those words，very disgusting. but if you meet those words， you may want to know it， so it is not bad to check it out.

Those are in different levels, some of them are common words that could be used without any negative meanings.


Yale tone marks and low-level 'h' for vowel-less syllables

Yale romanization analyzes Cantonese syllables in terms of an optional initial and an obligatory final (e.g., cheung = ch + eung). The tone mark is always placed over the first letter of the final (e.g., chèung). As you mentioned, h is used after the vowel (more accurately the syllable nucleus) in syllables to denote tones 4, 5, and 6 (e.g., chèuhng).

While m and ng in most other cases are considered syllable initials, in these specific cases, m and ng are analyzed as syllable finals; they are also the nuclei of these finals. Following the convention with placing the tone mark over the first letter of the final, the marks would thus be placed over the m and n, respectively. In the case of hng, h is considered the initial and ng is the final, so the tone mark would also occur over the n in this case.

You noted that syllables with m and ng seem to always exist in tones 4, 5, and 6, so the nuclear h may seem redundant, but it is still specified in proper Yale romanization. There are a few cases where such syllables can occur with tone 2 (e.g., 呣 and 嗯), so in these cases, the h can make a useful distinction (ḿ and ńg vs. ḿh and ńgh, where the latter two are possible pronunciations of 五).


What’s the difference between 你去干嘛 and 你去吗

They don't mean the same.

"你去干嘛?" means "What are you going to do?" or maybe "Why are you going?" depending on the context.

"你去吗?" means "Are you going?"

Examples:

A: 我出去一会 = I'm leaving for a while. B: 你去干嘛? = What are you going to do?
A: 我去开会了 = I'm going to attend the meeting. B: 这会是给经理开的, 你去干嘛? = The meeting is intended for managers. Why are you going?
A: 我要去吃午饭, 你去吗 = I'm leaving for lunch. Are you going (with me)?


Hi! Can You tell me what this Word is (is it a brand?

It's Japanese and it says:

Guriko (Glico) グリコ

Kafeore (Café au lait) カフェオーレ

Glico is a food brand and Kafeore is one of its product lines: http://www.cafeore.jp/info/


In addition to what @Sweeper has mentioned: there is a natural tendency in Chinese to minimize the number of characters in compound words, e.g. 北京大学 becomes just 北大 in colloquial language. This is akin to abbreviations in other languages, e.g. California Institute of Technology vs. Caltech. But this point is only distantly related to your question.

To focus more on your exact question, you need to understand that 子 in 兔子 is just a "suffix" that you can use to build a myriad of things, like 勺子，筷子，儿子，包子 and so on. In itself 子 has a very abstract meaning and therefore you omit 子 in 兔子 when you build a compound like 兔年. The 兔 character already carries the proper meaning in itself alone, so there is no need for a redundant extra character. If I say that 子 is "redundant", you might as why on earth do we just use 兔子 instead of 兔. The reason is that modern Mandarin has a comparatively low number of possible syllables to work with, and therefore a huge number of homophone words, which make mutual understanding in oral communication quite hard sometimes. To solve this problem, modern Mandarin combines characters, in many cases of identical meaning, to build words that point to "simple" things like 街道 (street), 浸泡, 货物 are other examples of this. In other cases, it will use 子，儿 (erhua final 'r') or 头 like in 花儿 (flower) or 石头 ([a piece of] stone). In yet other cases a "prefix" like 老 as in 老师 or 老虎 will come in handy, or repeating the character, e.g. 哥哥.

But as soon as these two-syllable, "simple" words are combined with other ones, things start to get "economical", i.e. omit characters you don't need to express compound things. This is why we say 兔肉 instead of *兔子肉, 虎爪 (tiger claw) instead of *老虎爪, 大哥 (elder/st brother) instead of *大哥哥. The three character variants are just too long, the two character ones express the same meaning, and are therefore preferred.

You might now ask, if you can omit according to you own judging and sense. The answer is rather no. You really need to learn these things as vocabulary items, because you can shorten 火车站 to 车站 [which could refer to a railway station among others] but you cannot shorten 地铁站 to 铁站 or 地站. In this case all the two characters of 地铁 are need to express "subway", so omitting characters does not apply here. On the other hand 港口 (harbor, port) becomes just 港 in compounds like 港水 (harbor water) or 海港 (sea port) and not 港口水 or 海港口.

UPDATE: OK, 铁站 or 地站 might work in some cases, especially when they are part of another compound expression, but 地铁站 sounds more standard.


Google, "heavenly"/"original" and Baidu coordinates

It's seems to be GPS coordinates (WGS-84).

And yes, Google uses WGS-84 coordinates, but Google map uses State Council GCJ-02 coordinates in China.

So,

google坐标转成百度坐标 : GCJ-02 TO BAIDU(GCJ-02 + BD09)
原始坐标转成百度坐标 : WGS-84 TO BAIDU(GCJ-02 + BD09)

Reference:
百度地图API详解之坐标系转换
GPS坐标换算为百度坐标
百度地图坐标转换（gps google 百度坐标相互转换）


顺其自然 is the phrase you're looking for.

Even when you put it into Google:

they want to show you results for:

  Go With The Flow (Song by Tiger Huang)


的 here doesn't mean target, it is functioning as a possessive marker that marks the subject before it possesses the object after it.
他妈的 literally means " his mother's " -- short for 'his mother's (swearing word)'
他妈的 is mostly used as an exclamation that expresses displeasure or anger  similar to 'damn it' in English


I would not agree that this 才 is 'only', I'd plump for 'then', or better still ignore it in translation. And this use of 'then' really means 'in that case'.

什么样的人才能做以下职业？
What kind of person then can do the following job/jobs?

怎样才能算出我的税金？
How (then) can I figure out my taxes?

努力工作才能取得成功。
(If you) Work hard, then you will be successful.

夜里才能赞美今天晴朗的天气。
(Wait till) evening, then you can praise today's fair weather.
Praise a fair day at night.


Why characters with "口字旁" were chosen in this transliteration?

Characters with "mouth radicals" are often chosen for transliterations. This is especially helpful to show that it is a proper noun rather than anything else, otherwise the reader might try and put meaning into characters that are simply there for their associated sounds.

A similar concept can be seen in Chinese onomatopoeia. For instance "choo-choo" the sound a steam train makes can be written: 呜呜 in Chinese, and again we see the mouth radical to indicate purely sound-based usage. 咩咩 is equivalent to the English "baa baa," the sounds that sheep make. A closer fit to English would be: 喵喵 the sound cats make.

As a note: this is quite an old transliteration practice. You wouldn't see places written this way today and if you look at most countries names they just simply are not translated like this. But, the mouth radical does hint at sound over meaning.


What is the difference in use between 以及, 和 and 与?

There are a few differences between those three words:

"以及" can only connect phrases,not words.
The phrases after "以及" is commonly considered to secondary.
"与" and "和" are used to express the relationship.
"与" is more elegant than "和". such as "老人与海".
"和" is mostly used in oral form.
In some cases,"和" and "与" are somewhat interchangeable, such as "我和他做事方法不同" or "我与他做事方法不同".


Single-worded verbs being repeated when use in a sentence

It is called verb reduplication and it is not the first time I explain it.
From my answer to another question What is the purpose of verb reduplication?

Phrases like 笑笑，看看，走走 or 吃吃 are verb reduplication, it serves to indicate the verb is in a slight degree or a casual manner

From my answer to yet another question 快把大衣穿穿！When is it wrong?

Reduplication of verb imply the verb is in 'a slight degree', 'a casual manner' or 'tentative manner'
Examples:
吃 = eat
吃吃 = (slightly/ casually) eat
试 = try
试试 = (slightly/ tentatively) try

The difference between 请数 and 请数数 is 请数 sounds like a blunt demand; 请数数 sounds less demanding (reduplicate the verb 数 hinting you make the statement in a tentative manner. Not that you are not sure the other person should count, just you are not forcefully telling him to do so)


Ohhh! Cartoons is my favorite. Let's me answer it!
I made a list for you first.

A.Comedy cartoons

1
我們這一家（My family）
MY childhood! Sooo adorable mum,a pretty body shape and humor to deal with any problems. A traditional Japanese family, nevertheless not too serious and rigid, and too much fun with them.

2
麥兜（McDull）
It's a original Hong Kong cartoon. About the dailylife of cute pig ! But honestly he speaks too little dialogue. And a lot of word about Hong Kong culture. I worry you canˊt understand so I put it no.2. It doesn't mean it is a bad cartoon. If you live in Hong Kong, you always find something similar with McDull.(maybe building, maybe food, maybemaybe activities )

3
多啦a夢（Doraemon）
It's a famous cartoon, no introduction.
However,
If you were to get a Doraemon, please wouldn't hesitate to share with me. I will appreciate it very much.

4
日式麵包王(Yakitate!! Japan）
That's funny story about a juvenile making amazing Japanese bread.
↓↓↓↓The first episode↓
:(

5
小倩（Xiaoqian）
Human and Ghost Love(don't know how to translate)
小倩
小倩

6 忍者亂太郎
Ninja's school daily

7 keroro軍曹
A frog wants to occupy the earth.

8
成語動畫廊
Awesome cartoon! Learn both  Chinese idioms and Chinese history.
I get lot of fun with it when I am primary school, becaue it means our Chinese teacher ask for leave and we can have a rest in a lesson.

成語動畫廊
成語動畫廊

B.Adventure cartoon
1龍珠(Dragon Ball)
It is difficult to find Cantonese version on Youtube. Maybe search on tudou.com or youku.com

C Horror animation

1
死亡筆記（Death Note）
Please don't write down your name.

2
HunterXHunter(全職獵人)
Father where are u! I am your son.
There are two version of it.
Old version is easy to find Cantonese.
↓
:(

HOPPING THE ANSWER WON'T BE LATE FOR HELPING U! HAVE A NICE STUDY TOUR!


How to use 得 without single-character verbs (e.g. 我旅行得很快)?

I would say that "A得B"(述语+补语) form does not add constraint on the number of characters of either A or B. But if encountering a choice between "学得快" and "学习得快" in oral language, most native speakers would select the former one since it's shorter, although both of them are correct from the view of grammar.

For the case of "旅行得很快", I don't think it's incorrect in grammar. If you have a reasonable context, it can also appear in oral language, although people would prefer saying "旅游" or "玩" to "旅行" (which sound too formal, like written language). Since people would not often talking about how fast their travelling is, many people may think this odd.

Moreover, although "学" and "学习" can be used as both noun and verb. In most cases orally, "学" uses as verb and "学习" as noun.

Some more examples of "A得B" form with more than one character in A:

这个项目计划得很周密。

This project plans thoroughly.
他高兴得眼泪都流出来了。

He is happy into tears.
这首歌要好听得多。

This song is much better.


Are these two form of "I live in..." both correct? 我在意大利住 and 我住在意大利

They both make sense but the 2nd one is used more commonly in Mandarin Chinese while the 1st one is used more often in Cantonese Chinese.


大大大！ 重大 vs 严重， 广大 vs 大型 vs 巨大

重大 = huge; important
Example: 重大发现 (huge/important discovery),  重大发明 (huge/important invention) . You cannot say 严重发现 or 严重发明

~

严重 = serious; seriously
Example: 严重罪行 (serious crime) 严重缺乏 (seriously lack). You can also say 重大罪行 (huge crime) but not 重大缺乏 (both are adjective). Meanwhile 重大缺点(huge fault) is valid because 重大 is an adjective and 缺点 is a noun

广大 = "vast" (area) e.g. 广大区域 (vast area)
大型 = "big/ large" (scale/ size) e.g. 大型机器(big/ large machine) , 大型计划 (big/ large plan)
巨大 = "huge" (size) e.g. 巨大发现 (huge discovery), 巨大发展 (huge development)


女— female/woman
斗士— fighter
So 女斗士 literally means “female warrior”. You would use this term the same way you use 斗士, since “female” is just an additional detail.
Example:

冠状病毒疫情在全球肆虐，各国护士为了保障人民的安全，都如女斗士般在前线努力奋斗着。
The coronavirus situation is globally rampant; nurses all over the world are fighting in the frontlines, just like female warriors, to ensure the safety of the people.

(I made the assumption that the vast majority of nurses are female)


what is the Two-Block Haicut called in Chinese(Mandarin)?

二分区发型 or 二分区式发型
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An alternate: 两块式发型


The most important part is that the speaker is impatient now, and want to suggest something simple to stop the conversation.

不: isn't it xxx?
就：imediately become
得: achieve, solve
了: finish indicator
XXX 不就得了 ：If XXX was done, isn't the problem solved?

(let me try another version) Isn't XXX good enough to solve the problem?
(Or simply) Why not just XXX
It would be exchangeable with 不如就XXX！
Example:
A: 我非常不想去这个聚会，里面有不想面对的人。I don't want to go to this party. There is someone I don't want to meet.
B: 不去不就得了。 Why not just not going there.
Or similarly
B: 不如就不去。


Have any fonts been released that are based on slender gold?

You can download them at:

http://www6.flash8.net/font/2933.shtml (traditional)

http://www6.flash8.net/font/4101.shtml (simplified)

If you like this kind of style, you may also be interested in 鋼筆書法


Why is 又…又 structure used to connect verbs here?

又…又 can connect adjectives， verbs or nouns!

Here are some examples:

那小伙又脏又臭， 可傻笑时却露出暴雪一般的牙齿。（He is dirty and stinks, but his laugh gave us a glimpse of his snow-white teeth.)

那小伙又小又廋， 还以为是个姑娘。(He is small and skinny, we thought he is a girl.)

着几个月又是台风又是海啸， 像是世界末日。(These few month is full of hurricane and tsunami, as if it were the end of the world.)

他那又是核武器又是生化武器， 却说是为了杀蚂蚁。(He's got nuclear weapons and bio weapon at home and claims it is for killing ants.)

可怜的女神又施法术又耐心等待可是他终究执迷不悟直到她终于觉得他无可救药了。(Poor Goddess used her divine power and patiently waited to make him walk the righteous paths unsuccessfully, long has passed until she thinks that he can no longer be saved)

难过的他又打又叫直到筋疲力尽啦。(the sad young man cursed and fight until he is exhausted.)

Sorry, my translations might not be accurate, but we got examples of 又…又 used with verbs, nouns and adjectives.


"母牛流产了“ － "The cow cast her calf"? HSK Anki flash cards

流产 means "to have a miscarriage, to have an abortion". The former in case it happened as a natural process, the latter in case it was enforced.

So you can translate 母牛流产了 means "the cow had a miscarriage".

To cast means "To give birth prematurely" in this context, so the translation is incorrect.

This definitely is not something you need to know for HSK 1 (even for the old exam).


Any easy way to convert traditional Chinese to simplified Chinese on Mac?

First, paste the traditional Chinese texts into Textedit, select those texts. Then Right-click the texts in Textedit, choose Services/Convert text to simplified Chinese.


On http://zisea.com/zslf.htm# you can see this:

  卐=难拆字元

So it is just a "symbol" used on the site to represent parts that are hard to identify.

It is not universal.


What is the meaning of 庸 in the phrase 毋庸置疑?

庸 means 需要 (need) here.

  (1) (会意。小篆字形。从用,从庚。“庚更”同音,表更换。先做某事,然后更换做别的事。本义:用;需要)

  (2) 同本义 [need;adopt]

  (4) 常与否定副词“无”、“勿”、“弗”连用

  (5) 又如:无庸讳言;无庸细述;毋庸讳言;

So 毋庸 means 无须/不必 (no need to).


Why is the HanYu Pinyin entry method for 亅 "jue3" instead of "jue2"?

This character is not often used in China. As a Chinese person, I don't know the character until I searched it on the internet. The electric dictionary says it should be jue(3).  At last, I have to say I really didn't recognize the character. If we want to express the word "hook ", we would directly use 勾子 instead of jue (3). Hope I did help you.


Any rule(s) about combining nouns with other words to form new nouns?

Of course you can. It's much simpler in Chinese actually, because the etymology of Chinese words is pure Chinese, instead of various languages like of English words.

Yes, you need to know that "word" is not a clear concept in Chinese. Basically, a sentence is composed of character combinations, among which some combinations (sometimes just a character by itself) are frequently used or have clear definition (e.g. scientific terms) thus regarded as words. What I want to say is that whenever the combination is meaningful, you are fine to use it.

And interestingly, this feature contributes to the extensive phenomenon that a combination of characters (word if you want) can be read as different things according to  its context.

E.g.

如临深渊，相机行事。
（像在深潭边走路一样谨慎，观察时机灵活办事）

买了一台新相机
（照相的机器）

未详其实，不敢妄言。
（没有清楚地知道那个事实，不敢随便发表议论）

其实他昨天没有回来。
（确实，作连词）

生啖鹿肉，颜色不变
（生吃鹿肉，面容表情不改变）

冷暖彰益，颜色调和。
（冷色和暖色相配凸现各自的好处，多种色彩和谐相容）

木石错置，纷呈杂然。
（树木山石交错设置，混杂地纷纷展现）

错置于此，其得宜乎？
（安排（措置）在这里，难道合适吗？）


和 can also mean 'with'

[1.很高兴][2.和您][3.见面]

[1. very glad][3.to meet] [2.with you]

You can also use 跟 or 與 for 'with'


柱体 is used more in geometry and engineering. It means a column-like body, which can be a square or rectangular column 方柱体, circular column 圓柱体, or any shape of columns.
筒 is a bucket. So 圓筒 is a round bucket or a barrel.


Can Chinese readers scan large amounts of text faster/more accurately than their alphabet-using counterparts?

This research seems to be relevant.

Your question seems to be closely related to rapid reading techniques. Looking on those techniques, you may notice that many of them don't apply to Chinese, simply because logographic writing systems naturally allow rapid reading with no extra training.
There is even an idiom, 一目十行 -- "reading ten lines at the same time"; literally, "one eye ten lines`.

Sub-vocalization, a process of associating a text with its phonetic representation. It slows down reading in any language, but Chinese symbols are always monosyllabic, and the majority of dictionary words consist of only two syllables.
Replacing a sequential word-by-word reading to seeing a whole page at once (or, actually, square blocks of text). Chinese text is naturally a grid by itself.
Related to above, but different, avoiding linear reading. Alphabetic writing systems imply the words aligned horizontally. Your eyes follow a word and it's difficult to follow several lines at once.
Seenig the shape of the wrods, not redaing them in detial. (how many typos did you see here?). In Chinese, you don't look at each stroke or radical, you just get the entire character at once.
Look here: someone can recognize 300-800 characters, but admits that he/she still needs 5-10 seconds to recall a single one.


Cantonese slang - What does 'Primary Chicken' and 'Secondary Chicken' mean?

It's "primary school chicken" (小學雞), not "primary chicken". The term refers to someone who's as childish or as immature as primary school pupils. It has the derivative "secondary school chicken", which means someone who behaves only slightly more maturely than primary school students.


確定 as a verb means "to determine"

「確定你是外國人」literally means "determined you are a foreigner"

To illustrate the meaning of 「確定」 as a verb more clearly, let's look at the following sentences:

「可以確定這是假貨」( can determine this is a fake)

「可以肯定這是假貨」( can be certain that this is a fake)

「名單已被確定」( the list has been determined)

「名單已被確認」(the list has been confirmed)

"Are you certain you are a foreigner?" -「你肯定你是外國人?」


与 would mean "with" here, like 跟, to connect a noun.

与世无争 would then mean "not strife with the world", to keep a low profile, to lead a life in moderation and self-restraint.

与世长辞 is likewise a statement of a person and the world, namley that of taking a long farewell from the world, to leave this word, or less prosaic: to die. 长 here has the notion of 长久, for a very long time, or forever, like in the famous poem 但愿人长久.

与世永别 is similarly to part forever from the world.


客 - guest
氣 - air. spirit ...
客氣 - in the spirit of a guest
When you're a guest in someone's house, you behave like a guest should, that is, be polite.
When you're a guest, your host might say “不要客氣” （don't behave like a guest). This is not to say you shouldn't be polite. It is rather their way of saying "make yourself at home".
Another way to translate 不要客氣 is "don't stand on ceremony". 客氣 encompasses both of these ideas - politeness and formality. Both are positive attributes, but too much of either tends to create distance. Being the right degree of 客氣 is truly an art.


How Archaic is James Legge's Written Chinese in this Side by Side English/Chinese Book?

This is a hard question which even puzzles many advanced Chinese researchers, such as this piece of The Question of Authorship in Chuang Tzu

http://140.122.100.145/ntnuj/j29/j29-10.pdf

found here.

Put simply, it may be a little too hard for Chinese writing beginner to pick it up something like Chuang Tzu, being hard not only for the text classical grammar text, but its introduction to a world of idea.

Just because it's hard to learn doesn't mean it's not helpful. Chuang Tzu is a legendary that has been continuously influencing many people.

On the website you mentioned, that piece is quite classical formatted, though not necessarily the authentic one. It's really hard to tell how authentic a piece of writing like that can be, and that's the job of some specialists, such as historians.

Hope you learn Chinese well :D


What is the original meaning of 匈 (besides "chest/breast/thorax")?

匈 is the ancient character of 胸, means chest/breast. And I can't find any other original meaning of it besides this.

  “胸”的古字 [bosom;chest]
  匈,膺也。——《说文》。字亦作胷、作胸

According to the explanation of 胸, it's a later character for 匈.

  从肉,匈声。本作“匈”,胸是后起字。

匈奴 is just the transliteration from the name of an ancient nationality in North China, has nothing to do with fierce slaves.

Reference:
匈的解释
胸的解释
孙健：说说“匈奴”这个词的起源


Is there something wrong with saying 千万不喜欢 to mean I absolutely do not like something?

As other answers pointed out, 千万 is usually used as a warning. 千万 typically implies a reason why you should or should not do something (Otherwise you would suffer a certain consequence). E.g. 你走路时千万要小心 (否则很容易摔倒).

If you want to emphasize the strength of your dislike in your example, you can say: 我真不喜欢抽烟。// I really don't like smoking.

You can use other words to express your dislike too, such as 讨厌. E.g. 我讨厌抽烟。 Add more emphasis: 我很讨厌抽烟。 ,  我非常讨厌抽烟。 or 我特别讨厌抽烟。 The extremest could be 我真的是非常，非常，非常讨厌抽烟!!!

P.S. In English, "I absolutely do not like something" is probably an idiomatic way. But when it's translated into Chinese, it might not be idiomatic any more because both languages expresses things in different manners. In this case, a direct translation would be: 我绝对不喜欢抽烟. But the sentence's rarely been said in practice. You are more likely to hear 我一点都不喜欢抽烟 from a Chinese speaker.


脑袋-短路, based on what I understand, just means literally that the brain short-circuited or malfunctioned as an electrical circuit would. The expression that comes to mind in English is:

  I blanked out for a second.

Or

  My mind went blank.

Or perhaps

  I spaced out for a second.


冲着 in this case means towards. 'Toward' itself can be regarded as an action, even though it may not be in the literal sense of 'movement'.
冲 indeed generally means physically rush. However, in case of 冲着, it is never physical, but directional. Compared to 对着, 冲着 implies a sense of urgency and harshness.
A simple example:
我对他喊 vs 我冲他喊
Both means 'I shout to him'. The later can be used in scenarios such as calling for help or shouting angrily. The former is neutral by itself.
In your specific case, 大老鼠冲着胆小先生嚷嚷. 嚷嚷 is complaining/scolding/make a fuss. 冲着 here is used to emphasize the negativity of 嚷嚷.
Maybe the below example would help you understand why 冲 (physically rush) can convey a negative sense in conversation.
When we want to describe someone's way of talking to others is aggressive, we may say that they 说话(the way they talk)很(very)冲.
Rush is an action about advancing quickly and often with little regard of consequence or surrounding. It's not hard to connect the dots and figure out why it could be compared to aggressiveness


Is  ever used in the Chinese language? And what does it mean?

I think the explanation is that Chinese is not only written but spoken, and a lot of characters, while used in idiomatic daily speech, don't really have a formal written counterpart. If you ask locals to actually write this character out, most likely they'll write a commonly used character with the same pronunciation. However, language experts who wrote the dictionary insist on assigning a formal written form to each character out there, and they recognize the fact that this character has a totally separate meaning than the commonly used surrogate character, thus they likely invented this new character just to represent this idiomatic sound. This is a common phenomenon if you browse through modern Chinese dictionaries.