What does the second "幅” mean in the following sentence?

"一幅幅" in "一幅幅美丽的山水画" mainly means 'one after another', (indicates plural by extended logic)
一幅幅 is short for 一幅又一幅 or 一幅接一幅 (one after another)
"一幅幅美丽的山水画" means "one beautiful landscape painting after another'
Other examples of double classifier signifing 'one after another':

一個愚蠢的決定 - a stupid decision
一個個愚蠢的決定 - one stupid decision after another

~

一個寒冷的冬天 - a cold winter
一個個寒冷的冬天 - one cold winter after another

~

一位革命英雄 - a revolutionary hero
一位位革命英雄 - one revolutionary hero after another

~

沿途看見一座酒莊 - saw a winery along the way
沿途看見一座座酒莊 - saw one winery after another along the way

'One after another' can describe 'a group of things or people at one time' or 'one individual after another individual across time or distance'
To simply indicate plural, you can use '幾' or '數' as in "幾幅美丽的山水画"


Usage

When you see V+盡, it means to complete the action to full extent. (i.e. 盡 is adverbial)

吃盡珍饈百味 To have eaten all kinds of delicacies
費盡心思 To rack one's brains (lit. to have spent thoughts completely)
把賊人一網打盡 To have caught the thieves at one fell swoop

The objects are 珍饈百味, 心思, and 賊人 (fronted).

In classical Chinese, 盡 can act as a verb meaning 'to deplete' or 'to be depleted'. You may find this in modern Chinese through idioms or common collocations (in that case, it would be 盡+N):

一飲而盡 To drain the cup
盡心盡力 To devote one's heart and energy

As an adverb, it is sometimes possible to see 盡+V (its preceding the verb) because classical Chinese does not make the distinction between V+盡 and 盡+V.1

盡如人意 To have something entirely as someone wishes
盡信書不如無書 (lit. Believing everything in books is worse than having no books at all.)

Glyph origin

盡 depicts a right hand brushing an emptied vessel (皿) (see bronze script below), which symbolises the end of eating (of course there is semantic generalisation).

尽 (the simplified character) is the cursive script of 盡 in printed form (see Wen Zhengming's cursive below, and appreciate how the cursive resembles both 盡 and 尽 at the same time). We call this phenomenon 草書楷化. It is one of the methods of character simplification (see the second entry of the Wikipedia section here).

Character

盡

尽

1 蔣紹愚（2004）從“盡 V——V 盡”和“誤 V/錯 V——V 錯” 看述補結構的形成。語言暨語言學，5(3)，559–581。http://www.ling.sinica.edu.tw/Files/LL/Docments/Journals/j2004_3_02_0638.pdf


It should be interpreted in the context of the current coronavirus situation, and it means to take precautions [against the virus, or people infected with the virus,] from coming from outside the border (and infecting more people inside the border).


There are lots of translations. What @agriprop said is probably the most common translation----月初----both in spoken and written Language.

月初 对应着 月末,月底(end of month)

What @CA55CE37 answered should not have 本, here 本 means this month. You cannot use it to describe other month. However 月起 is not a word. I never heard. While 伊始 is a very formal word that we often used in written Chinese. 伊始 means the beginning. 伊始 is often used as adverb to describe that we begin to do something. The usage of 伊始: verb+伊始----the beginning of doing something.

refer:

http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E6%9C%88%E5%88%9D/52961
http://www.zdic.net/c/8/94/168956.htm


Any record of a "扌笨" character anywhere?

As a native speaker of sichuanese,  I strongly suspect there is or has been such a character. Obviously this character follows the rule of 形声 and I believe it's coined by the editors or researchers. In my ordinary life, I also pronounce that sound when I express these meanings and speak in Sichuanese, but when it comes to writing, I use other "standard" characters. For example, 拌 for the first and 挣 for the second.

Also, maybe the correct character is 拌 and the standard pronunciation is changed to ben4 in Sichuanese. For example, in Sichuanese, we say dia1, meaning to hold something vertically or to lift something. The pronunciation dia 1 even doesn't exist in standard Chinese. Wikipedia shows the correct character is 提.  I'm not a linguist, but this could happen to ben 4 as well.


What is the difference between 紧迫 and 急迫？

I have a Chinese thesaurus dictionary (现代汉语同义词词典) . It does not compare 紧迫 with 急迫 directly but compares 紧迫 with 紧急 and 急迫 with 急切.

To summarize

紧迫 is subjective and 急迫 objective.
紧迫：～感|任务～|形势十分～
急迫：情况～|～的任务

紧迫 is definitely much more widely used both in written and oral Chinese. It feels as if you can use 紧迫 to replace 急迫 and it is still fine but not vice versa.

About the comparison mentioned above, it is dauntingly long even for a native speaker. If you are interested, check it here https://pastebin.com/b8tGSeNF


Is there a serial verb construction in classical Chinese?

Wikipedia has several categories of serialization. I'll try to provide one example for each. With my lousy word-for-word translations. Note that there is no strict definition of the categories; Even serialization itself don't have a strict definition.

Auxiliaries

From 《老子》:

  道可道，非常道。 -- Tao can tell, not common tao.

Verbal complements

In one of 元稹's poem:

  垂死病中惊坐起 -- Almost dying sickness inside shockingly sat got-up.

Coverbs

In 苏轼's 《水调歌头》:

  我欲乘风归去 -- I want take wind return leave.

Other cases

王安石's poem:

  明月何时照我还 -- Bright moon what time shine me return.


Translation from English to Chinese is more a matter of capturing meaning than finding word for word equivalences. In this case, I think the best way to capture "wonder" is by saying "would like to know."

Thus, "I wonder..." becomes "我想知道..."

Translating to "I don't know" (as is suggested by Question Overflow) might be appropriate in some situations. It's not what I would use for your example sentence, but the decision is admittedly subjective.

In any event, here is a collection of example sentences in English/Chinese with the word "wonder."


There are multiple definitons for 神. One of them can explain why 神经 means nerves/neurons:

  心思，心力，注意力：劳～。凝～。～魂颠倒。

That is, 神 is used to express "thought", "mental", "attention". Therefore 神经 means "thought/mental/attention pathway", which is a pretty good description of nerves/neurons.

As for why 神 means that as well as things like "god" and "divine", one clue comes from this divining text:

  《皇極經世》天之神棲乎日，人之神棲乎目。

It translates to roughly; "the divinity of heaven resides in the sun, the divinity of man resides in the eye." So you can see how the association between eyes, sight, gaze, attention, thought can be easily made.

People of many cultures have ascribed mystical properties to the eyes and sight. Shakespeare once said, paraphrased, "the eye is the window to the soul." Matthew 6:22 says "the eye is the lamp of the body." (where lamp means light) And what about the all-seeing eye, a representation of God? So the many definitions of 神 provides an interesting view of ancient human philosophy and beliefs.


Translate Zimbabwe to Chinese: 辛巴威 or 津巴布韦?


Need help identifying what is written on the banknote

点钞券 = Banknotes counting ticket

出纳点钞专用券 = "paper money counting note, exclusively for cashier"

练功专用 =  exclusively for practice

严禁流通 =  Strictly prohibited for circulating

It is not a real banknote, it is a note created for the cashiers to practice counting money.

They didn't want the cashiers to use real money to practice counting money. So they gave them fake ones instead. And it is strictly prohibited to pass it as real banknote.

I presume these practice notes are the same size, used the same paper as real banknote, also looked similar to the real thing. Must had been used before banknotes counting machine appeared


Why is 我草 (wǒ cǎo) vs. 我操 (wǒ cāo) funny?

Probably a really late comment but none of the above answers truly explained the joke. 我草 literally means 头上长草 (got grass growing on one’s head), an expression used in China to say one is betrayed by one’s partner. So, to say the joke in one sentence, one fk(我操)and one got ‘grassed’(我草), that’s fked.(wo cao)


What does 你要买点儿什么？ mean exactly? (吗 question vs. Wh- question)

Yes, with or without 吗 could be different.

你要买点儿什么？ -> What would you buy?

你要买点儿什么吗？ -> Would you buy anything?

点儿 doesn't change the basic meaning here. It just means a bit/a little, and makes the mood soft.


How to translate "it is what it is" ,etc.?

"It is what it is" (imply it can't be changed)

(事情)就是這樣

"I am what I am" (imply I can't be changed)

我就是這樣

"they are what they are"  (imply they can't be changed)

他們就是這樣


What is the difference between 哈哈, 呵呵, 嘻嘻, and 嘿嘿?

check the table. This picture says everything.


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

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

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


How to mix Latin and Chinese script with style?

If I understand your question correctly, you're asking how to format a mixed Chinese-Latin sentence... I don't think there is a set of rules on this...

The way I think of it is:

Use the punctuation appropriate for that given sentence/word...

我明天要跟我女朋友去看"Les Misérables"电影。 (It's a latin movie title, so use latin quotes... but a Chinese sentence, so use Chinese 句号)


说文解字:

  革、更也。二字雙聲。治去其毛。是更改之義。故引伸爲凡更新之用。

According to 说文解字, that is truely how it works.


宁和 can be used as a real Chinese name. 宁 is a common family name and 和 is totally ok for a given name.

When used as a family name, 宁 pronounced as ning4. With such pronunciation, it also can mean "rather", like 宁死不屈(rather die than surrender).

When pronounced as ning2, it means quiet/peace.

To be clear, people will say ning4和 but won't understand the name as "rather peace". Usually, this name will be considered as "quiet and peace". It is a valid name but won't have the "aspire" to peace.

All the above is for Chinese name, not quite sure if it is allowed to only have 2 characters in Japanese name.


Your text is missing some punctuation.

上善若水。水善利万物而不争，处众人之所恶，故几于道。居，善地；心，善渊；与，善仁；言，善信；政，善治；事，善能；动，善时。夫唯不争，故无尤。

Translation of the explanation:

   The highest virtue is like water. Water benefits all while not competing, situating itself where others loath to go (low, wet areas), thus it is close to the ideal. One's home should be wisely located; one's emotions and thoughts should be calm and deep; toward others one should be kind and faithful; speech should be trustworthy; one should be diligent in performing the duties of a political office; when undertaking tasks one should make full use of assets and abilities; one should know how to seize an opportunity and take action. Only by not competing with others, can one avoid grudges.

Source: http://www.daodejing.org/8.html

  第八章  [原文]

  上善若水①。水善利万物而不争，处众人之所恶②，故几于道③。居，善地；心，善渊④；与，善仁⑤；言，善信；政，善治⑥；事，善能；动，善时⑦。夫唯不争，故无尤⑧。

  [译文]

  最善的人好像水一样。水善于滋润万物而不与万物相争，停留在众人都不喜欢的地方，所以最接近于“道”。最善的人，居处最善于选择地方，心胸善于保持沉静而深不可测，待人善于真诚、友爱和无私，说话善于格守信用，为政善于精简处理，能把国家治理好，处事能够善于发挥所长，行动善于把握时机。最善的人所作所为正因为有不争的美德，所以没有过失，也就没有怨咎。

  [注释]

  ①上善若水：上，最的意思。上善即最善。这里老子以水的形象来说明"圣人"是道的体现者，因为圣人的言行有类于水，而水德是近于道的。

  ②处众人之所恶：即居处于众人所不愿去的地方。

  ③几于道：几，接近。即接近于道。

  ④渊：沉静、深沉。

  ⑤与，善仁：与，指与别人相交相接。善仁，指有修养之人。

  ⑥政，善治：为政善于治理国家，从而取得治绩。

  ⑦动，善时：行为动作善于把握有利的时机。

  ⑧尤：怨咎、过失、罪过。

  [引语]

  在上一章以天地之道推及人道之后，这一章又以自然界的水来喻人、教人。老子首先用水性来比喻有高尚品德者的人格，认为他们的品格像水那样，一是柔，二是停留在卑下的地方，三是滋润万物而不与争。最完善的人格也应该具有这种心态与行为，不但做有利于众人的事情而不与争，而且还愿意去众人不愿去的卑下的地方，愿意做别人不愿做的事情。他可以忍辱负重，任劳任怨，能尽其所能地贡献自己的力量去帮助别人，而不会与别人争功争名争利，这就是老子“善利万物而不争”的著名思想。

  [评析]

  老子在自然界万事万物中最赞美水，认为水德是近于道的。而理想中的"圣人"是道的体现者，因为他的言行有类于水。为什么说水德近于道呢？王夫之解释说："五行之体，水为最微。善居道者，为其微，不为其著；处众之后，而常德众之先。"以不争争，以无私私，这就是水的最显著特性。水滋润万物而无取于万物，而且甘心停留在最低洼、最潮湿的地方。在此后的七个并列排比句中，都具有关水德的写状，同时也是介绍善之人所应具备的品格。老子并列举出七个"善"字，都是受到水的启发。最后的结论是：为人处世的要旨，即为"不争"。也就是说，宁处别人之所恶也不去与人争利，所以别人也没有什么怨尤。

  《荀子·宥坐》记载了孔子答第子子贡问水的一段对话："孔子观于东流之水。子贡问于孔子曰：君子之所以见大水必观焉者，是何？孔子曰：夫水，偏与诸生而无为也，似德。其流也埤下，裾拘必循其理，似义。其洮洮乎不屈尽，似道。若有决行之，其应佚若声响，其赴而仞之谷不惧，似勇。主量必平，似法，盈不求概，似正。淖约微达，似察。以出以入，以就鲜洁，似善化。其万折也必东，似志。是故君子见大水必观焉。"在此处，孔子以水描述了他理想中的具备崇高人格的君子形象，这里涉及到德、义、道、勇、法、正、察、志以及善化等道德范畴。这其中的观点与道家有显而易见的区别，但也有某些相似之处。可以此段引文与《道德经》第八章参照阅读。


How do we trade-off succinctness for accuracy in 每当我爸忙的时侯他就让我吃?

我爸忙时(他)就让我吃 is a correct translation for When my father was busy, he would let me eat ....

But I guess your intended meaning is probably: When my father was busy, he would not forbid me from eating ..., 我爸忙时(他)就不管我吃东西


when do I use 东西 instead of 件事 to express "something"

「東西」 means a "thing", a generic word for any object. 「那是甚麼東西？」 "What is that thing?" Food is obviously a subset of "things". There are many times you can refer to an object as 東西, like a toy, a pen... you name it.

「一件事」 is referring to an event (事件), or something that has happened.


Your sentence 在超市公共职员进行调查了 is ok. It's better you put a comma: 在超市，公共职员进行调查了. But logically, 公共职员在超市进行了调查 sounds better. You can split it like: 公共职员在超市/进行了/调查. The first part 公共职员在超市 talks about: 公共职员 is in supermarket; The second part talks about the action 进行了; The third part talks about the target of the verb: 调查;

As for 进行了调查 vs 进行调查了, 进行调查了 takes 进行调查 together as a verbal phrase while 进行了调查 separates it into two words 进行 and 调查. 进行了调查 put an emphasis on the word 调查, which is what 公共职员 have done in the supermarket.

Hope this clear.


I think you simply name it "你切我选".

Other names to this method is "我切你选", "分割与选择"(divide and choose), "切蛋糕问题"(cake-cutting problem)


因为 two or more reasons. and difference with 是因为

do i have to put one for feeling weak and another for the other clause for not concentrating in his studies?.

No, I think a coordinating conjunction is fine enough, same as you did in your English translation:

因为他自己觉得身体很弱，（并且 / 而且 / 且 / 还有）学习时思想不能集中

  Could I use the clause 是因为 instead of 因为? are both correct? is there any difference? When is it better to use each one?

Yes you could use 是因为 here, and it would be correct, and yes there would be a difference, not in meaning but in what part of the sentence you are stressing.

By saying 他去看医生，是因为 you are implying that the focus of the sentence is going to the doctor, and that this requires an explanation. Compare with English: "Why does he go to the doctor? It's because he feels weak".

Whereas by saying 因为 you are implying that the focus of the sentence is the cause itself, which results in going to the doctor. Compare with English: "He feels weak, so he goes see the doctor".

As an additional remark, according to Chinese topic-comment grammar rules, this latter case where you put emphasis on the cause would require to invert the sentences:

  因为他自己觉得身体很弱，（所以）他去看医生


Writing critique request: Zhou Ziwang's father's explanation of how we reached a "DNA editing revolution"

It is how I would write:

这样的技术变得普遍之后， --> 这技术普遍了之后，

我爸解释它的秘史。 --> 我爸說出了一段秘史。

只是一些科学家研究的追求，--> 这技术的誕生，原因只是一些科学家对科学研究的(狂热)追求

那时候无法想象将来会导致现在的「DNA改造大革命」。 --> 那时候，人们根本无法想象，这项研究将会导致现在的「DNA改造大革命」。

因为最初基础研究进展缓慢，所以他们的期望很低。--> 由于最初的基础研究进展缓慢，他们的期望都很低。

突然有一天我们收到重大的消息：--> 突然有一天，我们收到一个重大的消息：

一个无名的科学家发明了使用电脑创造蛋白质一个方法，--> 一位无名的科学家，发明了一个使用电脑创造蛋白质的方法，

就像分子的三维打印一样，TA发明了如何把电脑上的氨基酸序列自动地实现真实的蛋白质。--> 就像將分子，以三维打印機去打印一样，他发現了如何把电脑上的「氨基酸序列」自动地合成出真实蛋白质的方法。

当时，和那些科学家立即的预测一致，--> 和当时那些科学家的预测一致，

不久之后，发现了这项发明显然的使用： --> 不久之后，他們找到了这项发明的，最明显的使用法：

可编程的DNA，或者现在名为「DNA改造」。 --> 「可编程的 DNA」，即是现在(我们口中)的「DNA 改造」


The answer is Google makes mistake all the time.

香港仔 = Aberdeen, Hong Kong (a place's name)

仔仔  /zai2*4 zai2*1/ is a colloquial Cantonese term for "boy"

Mistaken '仔仔' as '香港仔', because both are Cantonese term that has the character '仔' in it, is quite a big flaw


What is the meaning of 去想？Does it have to do with movement?

It's a colloquial using.

"去想" is meaning "do thinking" or "think about"

但是学生们看到快餐就会买。他们只知道快餐好吃，不去想这些食品是不健康的。

Students will buy the fast food when they saw it, they only knows the fast food is good to eat, but they never thinking about that fast food is unhealthy.

It's not a really moving but a thinking move in brain. Similar => Do the "think".


龙舟队分哪个两个组？

I think it is a typo.
remove the extra 个 and write 龙舟队分哪两个组?(dragon boat teams divided into which two groups?) make the most sense

龙舟队分[哪两个组]?

龙舟队分[男子组和女子组]

龙舟队分[成人组和少年组]

龙舟队分[业余组和职业组]

It is wrong to use 个 (a) as a classifier for 两个组 (two groups)
Similarly:
你說的是哪兩个隊 (O)
你說的是哪兩隊 (O)
你說的是哪个隊 (O)
你說的是哪隊 (O)
你說的是哪个兩隊 (X)
你說的是哪个兩个隊 (X)(X)


How comes the word 偶像 is related to worship?

My understanding is, early people made wooden or stone figures/statues to represent the gods they worshiped.
The meaning of 偶像 (木偶 & 雕像) extended from [figures/ statues] --> [item for worshiping]  --> [individual to be worshiped]
The difference between '神像' and '雕像' is '雕像' is just a  statue but '神像' is a statue that represents a god (2.the items made and worshiped by man)


The text is read from top to bottom, right to left.

First two columns:

  香遠溢清

Which means As the aroma (of the flower, referring in particular to the lotus) goes further, it becomes more and more pure and fresh. BTW, the artist mistakes 益(more and more) for 溢(overflow, spill). These two characters sound the same in Chinese. Maybe the artist was intentional, to express a different feeling from the original author of this phrase.

This phrase originates from Song Dynasty's litterateur 周敦頤's essay 愛蓮說 (Ode to the Lotus Flower).

  水陸草木之花，可愛者甚蕃。晉陶淵明獨愛菊；自李唐來，世人盛愛牡丹；予獨愛蓮之出淤泥而不染，濯清漣而不妖，中通外直，不蔓不枝， 香遠益清 ，亭亭靜植，可遠觀而不可褻玩焉。予謂菊，花之隱逸者也；牡丹，花之富貴者也；蓮，花之君子者也。噫！菊之愛，陶後鮮有聞；蓮之愛，同予者何人；牡丹之愛，宜乎眾矣。

This essay is to praise the noble and unsullied characteristic of the lotus. So in Chinese culture, lotus flowers are often compared to gentlemen.

The left text:

  癸巳年  彭湘龍  作於景德鎮一品畫苑

This is the artist's inscription.

癸巳年 is the year. It is 2013, according to the context.
彭湘龍 is the artist's name, Peng Xianglong.
作於景德鎮一品畫苑. Finished in 一品畫苑(the studio's name), 景德鎮(Jingdezhen Town, a town that is called Porcelain Capital. It is very very famous.)

EDIT


One of the meanings of 開 is 沸騰 (boiling) in 《漢語大辭典》開32.
It's nothing to do with "open" or "how".

開水 boiled water
熱水 hot water
燒水 to boil water

When the water is still very hot, we can use 開水 or 熱開水 as hot water.
When it is warm, we use 溫水 or 溫開水.
When it's at room temperature, we use 冷水 or 冷開水.
When it's below, say, 10℃, we use 冰水 or 冰開水.

開 can indicate that the water has been boiled. Without 開, it may or may not have been boiled.

The above Chinese words are used in Taiwan. They are probably different in the mainland.


As an allegory, what is implied by 《三打白骨精》

I don't believe there's any special implication. I bet it's just a fun story to watch, as it involves a beautiful female demon(妖精) trying to eat the monk(唐僧)'s meat to achieve immortality.

However, 白骨精 does have a modern interpretation which is short for 白领 + 骨干 + 精英, which is not related to this, but does (usually) refer to beautiful women, who are white collar elite worker, with high level education and income. Refer to definition here: Baidu


In my opinion, it is usually offensive to call someone 剩女 in the face, even when joking. Of course there might be exceptions, for example, a senior family member may possibly use the word 剩女 to urge a child to prioritize marriage, but even in this case the person referred to may feel offended. My advice is to use other expressions that are more euphemistic.


Expression “一...就...” - what if there is a sub-sentence?

Would 我一看这很容易的课就懂了。 be correct?

The sentence is grammatical, However, 这课我一看就懂 already indicated you think it is easy, adding "很容易的" make the sentence unnecessarily wordy.
You can add relative clauses in any part of the sentence as long as it makes sense:
这油画我一看就知是假的
这(标价三千万的)油画，我一看就知是假的
这油画(用的是二十世纪才有的油彩)，一看就知是假的
这油画，(身为画家的)我一看就知是假的 -


"Shakespere" Pronounced wrong upsets my teacher

I think if you mispronounced 莎士比亚 (Shā shì bǐ yǎ) with a lighter tone, it could become something like 啥是逼呀 (Shà shì bī ya), where 逼 carries a meaning of female's genital which is quite rude. The whole sentence might turn out to be misheard as “啥是逼呀？” which means "What is a pxsxy(逼)?". Then it makes sense for your teacher not explaining that.


早晨的太阳为什么是红色的
中午太阳又变白了

中午的太阳又变白了 is a correct sentence. But, if you put that 的, you'd change the parsing:

[中午的太阳][又变白了] vs [中午][太阳又变白了]

The original sentence uses 中午 adverbially, which is for the effect of contrast: Why the sun in the morning is red, while at noon(when it comes to noon) it becomes white.(I'm curious how come).
中午的太阳又变白了 would reduce that effect dramatically.
So, the question here is not about grammar but the way people express their ideas.
P.S. I might think to add a comma after 中午 would probably be a little bit improvement? Maybe, not everyone would agree with that.

早晨的太阳为什么是红色的
中午, 太阳又变白了


一清二白 is a very common idiom. It's well defined in this dictionary:

◎ 一清二白 yī qīng èr bái
(1) [be perfectly spotless]∶非常清白 e.g. 素来一清二白
(2) [be perfectly clear; as
clear as daylight]∶ 同“一清二楚” e.g. 记得一清二白

小葱拌豆腐一清二白 is 歇后语 as the other answer indicated. 歇后语 usually have two parts. The first part describes a way how the second part is generated.
In this case, 小葱拌豆腐 is a type of Chinese dish, which only consists of 小葱 and 豆腐. 青 and 白 refers to colors. 拌(stir) is the way the dish is made. 豆腐 is white(白). 葱 is cyan or green(青).
So, when you look at the dish, you would easily tell 小葱 from 豆腐（and vice versa） because their colors are very distinctive. One is 青(一青), and the other is 白（二白）. That's how 一青二白 forms. 一青二白 and 一清二白 are homophones. In spoken, you wouldn't hear any difference.
歇后语 is kind of word play in my view and usually used when one tries to make some funny/humorous effect, impress his listeners, etc. E.g. 做人要像小葱拌豆腐一样，一清二白.


What is the difference between 公分 and 厘米?

In 1928, the government of the Republic of China introduced the metric system to China (read more). It translated "centimeter" into 「公分」.

Later in 1959, the government of the People's Republic of China standardized the measurement unit in mainland China (read more). It translated "centimeter" into 「厘米」.

So currently some elder people in mainland China still use 「公分」(like my grandparents on both sides), and the younger generation tends to use 「厘米」. For the same reason, Taiwanese would more often use 「公分」.

My advice is to use 「厘米」when you communicate with people from mainland China, and use 「公分」 with Taiwanese (Usually they can understand「釐米」, but it sometimes is confusing and ambiguous thanks to 「公厘」).


很高兴见到您。

means glad to see you. It's usually used if you know (or heard of) someone for a long time, but haven't seen him/her for sometime(first time in case of heard of). For example, you would use 很高兴见到您 to greet someone you know from the internet. It's a bit weird to say 很高兴见到您 to someone you know very well or see everyday.

If it's the first time you meet/know someone, I think

  认识你，我很高兴。

is more suitable, which means I'm glad to know(meet) you.
you can also say

  我很高兴认识你。

same meaning as above.

you can also say

  幸会

which means "glad to meet you", and is usually used when the first time you meet someone. Usually it's used twice together, so you would say 幸会,幸会 rather than just one 幸会.

  久仰大名

means "I've heard about you for a long time"

  见到您感到很荣幸

means "It's an honor to meet(see) you". Or

  认识您感到很荣幸

means "It's an honor to know you."

  初次见面,请多关照

It's originally from Japanese and often used in Taiwan. It means "It's the first time meeting you, please be kind."


It means awesome. All English translations for 给力 at mdbg.net: cool, nifty, awesome, impressive, to put in extra effort
http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqb=geili

The word has also found it's way into English slang in the form of geilivable
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=geilivable

Geilivable is not very common in western countries though, as far as I know.


why not?
连动句 Sentences with Verbal Constructions in Series。（兼语句 pivotal sentence） are of the type

Subject + predicate_1 + (object_1) + Predicate_2 + (object_2)，

object_1 being subject of predicate_2

If predicate_1 originally is some common verb it can be preceded by a modal verb without violating the above structure,in given example predicate_1 is modal verb (能） ＋ verb （使）。

The １st predicate can be 有 （i。e。 does not have to be of type 请、要求、使） and pivotal sentences can of course be strung together， resulting in more than ２ predicates。

If it were 某人 有钱能使鬼推磨，then  more clearly it would be of type

subject（某人）＋p＿１（有）＋o＿１（钱）＋p＿２（能使）＋o＿２（鬼）＋p＿３（推）＋o＿３（磨）。


How about 利害 and 结果 and 东西？

利害（都四声）,both 4th tone pros and cons
利（四声4th）害（轻声neutral tone） , terrible (and confusingly also great)
结果jie1guo3 bear fruit
结果jie2guo3 outcome
东西dong1xi1 east and west
东西dong1xi thing
精神jing1shen2 spirit mind (this word just came up in my text)
精神jing1shen vigour, vitality

Homonyms with the same meanings look here:

http://www.zybang.com/question/51d637d5aad5d84a6c3e45a3c746458a.html

This is about single characters:

http://www.zybang.com/question/655a87060b4ee9784787d4bf9231b3ba.html

Question: 字相同,读音不同,意思不同, Character the same, tone different, meaning not the same

Answer: 很多啊 和字 有五个读音 意思都有所不同 比如,我和他 he 是连词 麻将和了是动词 读hu 和面 读huo 是动词 等等

Translate for you,

很多啊
There are a lot
'和'字 有五个读音
the character '和' has 5 different pronunciations
意思都有所不同
each has its own different meaning
比如,我'和'他 'he' 是连词
for example, I 'and' he '和' is a conjunction read he
麻将'和'了是动词 读hu
Mahjong '和' is a verb read 'hu'
'和'面 读'huo' 是动词 等等
'和' bread, read 'huo' is a verb etc.

This link is for words with the same sound, but different characters.(I know, not what your asking for, thought it was interesting!)

http://www.zybang.com/question/51d637d5aad5d84a6c3e45a3c746458a.html

You can see, I don't have a lot to do this morning!

PS I think 'differentely' is spelt differently. Vive la difference!


Does 少数民族 exclusively refer to the 55 Chinese ethnic minorities?

From your link, 少数民族 = 多民族国家中除主体民族以外的民族, so that term applies to other countries as well. However, 中国少数民族 designates exclusively Chinese ethnic minorities. Keep in mind that there are 中国未识别民族（Unrecognized ethnic groups in China）, i.e. ethnic groups too hard to identify due to strong similarity with other ones or ethnic groups influenced too much by Hans.


Your textbook is right. But usage might vary. 几 generally means few, the convention that its maximum is 10, that's why you can not ask someone looking older than 10 你几岁？

Of course you could ask a little boy or girl 你多大？, that's not wrong, but do not ask an adult 你几岁/您几岁？, this wouldn't be appropriate.

The only context when 几岁 could apply to adults is 50几岁 (fifty something of age) and, of course, 30几岁,40几岁 and so on. Here 几 only refers to the 'something', the unknown few years someone is older than 50, etc.


Can someone translate this for me? It's a family heirloom

I agree with songyuanyao. But I want to add some more.

The right column is 天朗氣清. It should be the title of the paint. 天朗氣清 = clear(朗) sky(天) and fresh(清) air(氣).

The left column should be (I think) 五峰山樵. 五峰山 = a mountain in China. woodman = 樵. It is the pen name of the author. But I could be wrong since googling it gives nothing.


Identifying 紫砂壶 product description (Calligraphy)

作品證書
此杯採用原礦優質
紫砂原料造型古樸
大方工藝精湛極具藏價
工藝美術師

作品證書: (Work certificate:)
此杯採用原礦優質紫砂原料，造型古樸大方。(This cup is made of high-quality raw materials of purple sand from the original ore, the style is classically simple and elegant.)
工藝精湛，極具藏價。(Superb craftsmanship, extremely worthy of collecting.)
~ 工藝美術師 (from: The craftsman)

藏價 is short for 收藏價值
The text has no punctuation mark and change column in the wrong places. Also mixing traditional and simplified characters (some in variant form) together. No wonder you can't get what it said.
Simplified Chinese:

作品证书:
此杯采用原矿优质紫砂原料，造型古朴大方。
工艺精湛，极具藏价。
~ 工艺美术师


降维攻击 or 降维打击 is from 刘慈欣 (Liu Cixin)'s famous sci-fi novel 三体 (The Three-Body Problem).
It means that an advanced civilization uses a dimension reduction weapon 二向箔 to destroy a low-grade civilization by crushing their stellar system into a 2D plane.
If someone is not familiar with young netizen's culture or fashion, he won't know this idiom.
As you mentioned, this so called idiom can derive to any meaning and apply to any context, it doesn't need to express an exact meaning. Instead, it can express any relative meaning depending on its context. If we talk about this idiom, we should first talk about not only its context, but also its users.


What does 尽 mean and what tone does it have in 对我父母也极尽照顾?

Many dictionaries have a single entry for 极尽.
All with the pronunciation:

jíjìn

ABC

V.
use to the utmost

KEY

V
1 exhaust (one's ability, etc.), try one's best within the limits of
2 perform/fulfil to the utmost (a duty, etc.)
3 (before an adjective:) extremely, to the utmost

PLC

VERB
do one's utmost
极尽所能
jíjìn suǒnéng
do one’s best


Do you use 和 when listing adjectives the same way you do in english?

You can use it but it is not necessary.

Unlike English grammar, its elusive Chinese counterpart does not have a rule of prefixing conjunction to the last element of a string of parallel elements. In fact, Chinese tend to utter a really long string of nouns or phrases without using any conjunction, like 我曾经去过英国、法国、德国、意大利、比利时。

But it is now accepted by Chinese people to use the conjunction in an anglicized way, like 我曾经去过英国、法国、德国、意大利和比利时. However, some language purists disprove this usage. My college professor of EN to CN translation concurred with these views and explicitly demanded that we drop 和 when translating.


會 is a modal verb.

From the classic Li & Thompson (1981) Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar:

  Most languages have morphemes for signaling the of a reported event relative to the time of speaking (tense) or the duration or completion of a reported event relative to other events (aspect)...

會 and 要 are on the other hand examples of the last portion of the T-A-M trinity for verb morphology: M for mood or modality. The standard moods in Western European verb morphology are: indicative, subjunctive, conditional and imperative. Other examples are optative, jussive, hortative, interrogative and volitional.

In Mandarin Chinese, 會 can act as an epistemic modal, i.e. with the idea of ways of knowing and confidence in the knowledge. These are of the same category as 可能 and 應該. As well as being like a "potential" mode, it is can act as a "conditional":

  她如果去看牙科就會遲到。

  Tā rúguǒ qù kàn yákē jiù huì chí dào.

  If she has gone to see the dentist, then she'll be late.

These words are definitely in a different category to the aspect particles 了、過、著, because 會 can be combined with them, under certain circumstances:

  他不會去了中國！

  Tā bù huì qù-le Zhōngguó!

  He can't have gone to China!

On the other hand, 要 is a deontic modal, expressing shades of obligation / permission, and is in the same category as 可以 and 得 (děi).

These are actually very similar to English will, which derived from the modal verb meaning "want" (compare its noun form e.g. God's will, the will of the people, which retains that older meaning), and English shall deriving from a modal verb meaning "should" or "ought to" (compare its German cognate sollen). The future tense meaning is naturally implied.

Also, there are restrictions for both languages on which modal can combine with which aspect marker. Only a select set of verbs can take both "future"-orientated modal markers and perfective 了 at the same time, e.g. 饒 ráo:

  你要饒了他嗎？

  Nǐ yào ráo-le tā ma?

  Are you going to spare/forgive him?

Nonetheless, perfective 了 and experiential 過 aspect markers can appear with the future-orientated modal 會 or others when occurring in a non-final event clause in a sequence:

  我會辭了行再動身。

  Wǒ huì cí-le xíng zài dòngshēn.

  I will say goodbye / take leave then get up and go.


What do chinese people understand by word 漫画 "manhua"?

Nowadays, Chinese usually use 漫画 for comics from all the world, including Japan/America/Europe etc.

And the term 连环画 (小人书/小儿书) is usually used for those native ones of China, almost published in the last century.

Reference:
绘本、连环画、漫画你知道他们有什么不同吗？
绘本、漫画和连环画的区别是什么？


What is the exact meaning of 吃豆腐, and where does the expression come from?

I've only heard it used in describing sexual situations, and wiktionary.org describes its usage as follows:

  This idiom usually only refers to a man taking advantage of a woman in a sexual situation.

A typical example would be some creepy guy pinching the flight attendant's backside as she walks past.

There's also a good discussion at wordreference.com.

  不要吃我豆腐 is telling someone not to take advantage of me, but specifically in a sexual way, as in inappropriate touches etc. However, the accusation is not very serious in Chinese, and sometimes said in a joking manner. I would translate it as "Don't harasse me!", "Get your hands off me!" etc., but understand that the Chinese expression is softer.

I found an origin story on chinese-forums.com, but I'm not sure how reliable it is.

  It’s said that tofu shops usually were run by wife and husband in the old days. Female boss in a tofu shop took tofu as their daily food, which made their skin tender and smooth. On one hand their fine skin helped attract more customers, on the other hand it showed some kind of coquetry to them. Men liked to take “to eat tofu” as an excuse to go to a tofu shop and flirt with the female boss there, verbally or even physically. Therefore, wives, feeling jealous, scolded their husbands, “Today, you went to eat tofu again?!” Now, “eating tofu” has become a word to describe man flirts with woman.


what is the of exact original/source text of "Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated"

On the wikipedia page for Confucius, in the "Misattributed" section, you can find this quote:

  Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.

  Attributed on the internet but not found in print prior to an attribution in Aero Digest, 1949, p. 115


Are antithetical couplets mostly untranslatable?

It is called 無情對, The sentences don't make sense even in Chinese, therefore, there is no way to translate them into English

無情對

It is a special couplet form, the upper and lower lines are not related to cohesion. But each single "character" in the upper couplet match each single "character" in the lower couplet

Example:
[公 vs. 法] (公 = fair; 法 = law) - both noun related to rule
[門 vs. 國] (門 = school; 國 = nation) - both noun related to gathered people
[桃 vs. 荷] (桃 = peach; 荷 = lotus) - both noun related to plant
[李 vs. 蘭] (李 = plum; 蘭 = lily) - both noun related to plant
[崢 vs. 比] (爭 = fight over; 比 = compete) both verb related to competition
[嶸 vs. 利] (榮 = glory; 利 = profit ) both noun related to success
[日 vs. 時] (日 = day; 時 = hour) both noun related to time
Most importantly, these couplets rhyme in Chinese but won't be in English. That's why you can never translate a 無情對 into any other language
A question asked by me related to 無情對
Of course, you can translate them word for word, but the end result will not be coherent sentences and certainly not a couplet anymore.

公門桃李崢嶸日 (The day the students of the honorable you shine)

法國荷蘭比利時 (France, Netherlands, Belgium)

As for normal couplets, you can translate them into complete sentences, but they will not rhyme and won't be couplets


Can 岁数, 年纪 and 年龄 be used interchangeably?

年龄 is more formal and literary term for 'age'
In all written forms, it is always 年龄 on the list,  (never seen 年纪 on any form)
年龄 is described as 高 or 低. As in 高年龄/高龄; 低年龄/低龄

~

年纪 is more colloquial term for 'age'
年纪 is described as 老, 大, 轻 or 少. As in 年纪老, 年纪大, 年纪轻 and 年纪少

~

岁数 is a more specific term for 'age' (years old)
When you ask someone's 岁数, you expect a specific number in the answer
岁数 is described as 高, 低 or  大, 少

岁数 is also the more suitable term when describe animal's age
Example:
比赛的马匹是按马的岁数分组的 (use 年龄 or 年纪 humanize the horse too much)


According to Wikipedia:

我所包括我的财富资产、我的眷属(父母、伴侣、子女、亲友)、我的成就、我的世间智慧能力、我的名声等。
我所：意指“我的所有”。

我所 means 我的所有 or my everything or anything that belongs to me.
非 means not, thus 非我所 implies not belonging to me


的 is used here for past tense.

你(是)什么时候买苹果的？ -> When did you buy the apple?
你(是)什么时候买苹果？ -> When will you buy the apple?

And 你是什么时候买的苹果？ is same as 你是什么时候买苹果的？, but more oral.


Nope. Generally 最 should mean "-est" or "most" — like 最大 = biggest, 最好 = best, 最美 = the most beautiful.

For example:

  最漂亮 = the most beautiful

  很漂亮 = very beautiful

While...

  *她最很漂亮. = She is most very beautiful.

There is actually no such use in Chinese. You use either 最 or 很 to modify adjectives.


Chinese countable/uncountable nouns (How do they work? Examples?)

I think it is a terribly bad idea learning Mandarin by trying to map grammar from Western languages onto it.

There is no such thing as countable nouns in Chinese, precisely because nouns do not have plurals.

Conversely, you can make any noun ”countable” by adding a classifier to it： 你要一杯咖啡吗？


"不应" vs. "不该": Which is used in formal writing?

Generally speaking, "不应" is used more frequently in formal writing, while "不该" is used in oral expression.

If it's hard for you to determine formal or non-formal, consider this, use 不该 for subjective, and use 不应 for objective case.


What verb is the 捏 in the Min sentence 将你捏絚絚?

捏 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/2049/
(1) pinch; hold with fingers (2) knead; mould (3) bring together (4) fabricate; concoct; cook up (5) clench

hold with fingers / clench= grab ; hold on tight

"因为惊失去你", "because I fear to lose you"

Imagine a mother turns to leave after she dropped her kid off in daycare. The kid just grab holds of her pants leg and wouldn't let go.


How Did Third Eye Blind Get Translated As 心灵蒙蔽合唱团?

I would think it's a mistranslation.  合唱团 means chorus, where 乐队 means band.    As why it's called / translated as "心灵蒙蔽":

  心灵 - soul / spirit.  As eyes are called windows of the soul, 心灵 is
  used insteads of 眼.  Also see Ampersand's comment for connotations on
  third eye.

  蒙蔽 - clouded / covered.  Nothing's wrong here

As the direct translation - 第三只眼失明乐队 doesn't sounds quite right (I laughed reading it), 心灵蒙蔽乐队 might be a more valid translation

EDIT: thanks to leo4jc, "瞎心眼樂隊" is even more catchy


It's called 秋葵 in Mainland China. So is it in Taiwan I guess.


What's the difference between 打开 and 开门?

In the context of the example you posted, 开门 is describing the status of the shop. Like the meaning of 'open' and 'closed' signs you could find in most of stores.

打开 in the context of the example you gave is describing the status of the door or anything could be turned on like window, valve or switch. This sentence should be translated to 'This door is open'.

Because in Chinese a word's meaning may varies according to the context and situation of the sentence. You should remember some combination of noun-adjective or verb-adverb but not just remember the meaning of a single word.


I'm not sure we have a saying for "old wives tales".
For the ones that works we call them 偏方 (Folk prescription), others are considered as 流言, 谣言 (rumor), 伪科学 (pseudoscience).

One of such saying is that you cannot wash your hair during menstrual period.
Another is that you cannot eat certain food (e.g., orange and seafood) together, otherwise they'll become toxic.

You can find many of them here. Though it includes not only Chinese stories.


What does 了 mean in ...这份工作让我认识到了团队合作的重要?

"verb + 了" is used to emphasize the completion of the action.

So "认识到了" means "I have realized".


Where can I find "A Course of Lessons in Spoken Mandarin" ( 《华英联珠分类集成》)?

Thanks for the up vote, got me back into looking for this and I found it:
《华英联珠分类集成》/ pdf, for anyone looking for it.


Chinese of “No one will think you’re mute because you don’t speak”

The one comes to mind:

  你不说话没人把你当哑巴。

你 can be omitted:

  不说话没人把你当哑巴。


For the word 趁着：

It should be viewed in a whole structure, as in

趁着A, B。--> "While doing A/being in the situation of A, takes the opportunity to do B."

In addition, "趁着" will convey a meaning of being selfish (I am only caring about my advantage, yours is nothing, moods like this), which is definitely nothing good. So, in the example:

老师可以趁着学生是(这个)年龄再练习一下。 Will be barely OK, but then some may have negative feelings towards 老师.

For the word 就:

就A, B。 -->  "According to the situation of A, do B."

In addition, "就A, B。" gives a mood of caring about others, or intending to say that "I am doing this for the sake of people who are affected by the situation A".

Of course, 就 could have many other meanings, but since I only want to focus on the difference between 趁着 and 就, I won't discuss here.


Yes and no.

If you check out Liang'an you'll see it mentions:

  qì

and

  [陸] qǐ

So basically what that tells us is: Mainland (i.e.: PRC) is qǐ, while Taiwan is qì.

It's a regional -or- topolectical thing, rather than a character with different pronunciations at different times.


What's the grammatical structure of 这是你第一次来中国吗？

Simply put. There is always S V O structure in Chinese.

In this case, 这(this) is the S, 是(is) is the V, 你第一次来中国 (your first time coming to China) is the object phrase.

PS 你第一次来中国 = 你的第一次来中国. (The 的 in the first sentence got dropped)


What does this pattern (由 … 而) mean, exactly?

由 is "from"/而 is "and then". 由X而Y is used to described a continuous evolution (verb Y) from one state (noun X) to another.  Per your own example it is an evolution from being white to turning red (红 is being used as a verb here).

Notice how you inserted the verb 到 in your second sentence: you would need to add “至" in the first sentence to make it roughly comparable (though it seems weird to say 而至 here, though perhaps only because the register is too formal).  In that case, X is 星期一 and Y is 至: 星期二 can't be repurposed as a verb like 红 can.


Chinese for 'row' & 'column' in spreadsheets/tables

row: 行(hang2)
column: 列(lie4)

I don't know what is henghang(横行?) . Chinese don't use this word.


http://www.3kid.net/ertong/tangshi-sanbaishou.htm
has many for you to choose from; here are some examples:

咏鹅

-骆宾王

鹅，鹅，鹅，
曲项向天歌。
白毛浮绿水，
红掌拨清波。

春晓

-孟浩然

春眠不觉晓，
处处闻啼鸟。
夜来风雨声，
花落知多少。

登鹳雀楼

-王之涣

白日依山尽，
黄河入海流。
欲穷千里目，
更上一层楼。


Simply put, 把 is just used to denote the object.

However, the object particle 把 can only be used when the action is done entirely on the object and the object undergoes some consequences or changes after the action. This also implies that the object is doomed to experience the consequence once the action is triggered.

For example, the following sentence will be very wrong:

我把汉语学习。 = I learn Chinese. (?) -> wrong

Here, "学习" means learn. Object particle is not used here as "Chinese" itself did not undergo any consequences or changes. Unless you use the completion form 了, then it will be OK to do that as "Chinese" has been in your mind deeply (did have some kinds of change), otherwise it will be unnatural to use the object particle.

So, in your example above, the use of 把 is correct in each of the four sentences.

OK, so the only problem left is whether the four sentences are natural or not to be spoken.

Bear in mind that Chinese loves simplicity. So, for the particle 把，you should use it only when it is important that the listener does not miss the object (i. e. 笔 in your example).

Correct me if I am wrong.


What is the difference between 降水 and 增水?

They refer to different things. 降水 means rainfall; but 增水 means 风暴增水(风暴潮) here, from which coastal cities
might suffer. e.g. from this news 台风“卡努”：海口今夜至明晨将出现风暴增水,

人民网讯 受台风“卡努”外围环流影响，近三小时，海口全市普降小到中雨，最大累积雨量出现在新埠岛13.8毫米。10月15日潮位：最高潮在上午11点53分，是2.27米，最低潮在凌晨零点51分，是0.82米。预计今天夜间到明天凌晨，海口一带沿岸将出现80～150cm的风暴增水。

风暴增水/风暴潮

风暴潮或称暴潮（英语：storm surge）是由热带气旋、温带气旋、冷锋的强风作用和气压骤变等强烈的天气系统引起的海面异常升降现象，又称“风暴增水”、“风暴海啸”、“气象海啸”或“风潮”。风暴潮会使受到影响的海区的潮位大大地超过正常。如果风暴潮恰好与影响海区涨潮相重叠，就会使水位暴涨，海水涌进内陆，造成巨大破坏。
A storm surge or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low pressure weather systems (such as tropical cyclones and strong extratropical cyclones), the severity of which is affected by the shallowness and orientation of the water body relative to storm path, as well as the timing of tides. Most casualties during tropical cyclones occur as the result of storm surges. It is a measure of the rise of water beyond what would be expected by the normal movement related to tides.
The two main meteorological factors contributing to a storm surge are a long fetch of winds spiraling inward toward the storm, and a low-pressure-induced dome of water drawn up under and trailing the storm's center.


Why are certain Chinese surnames common in certain provinces?

When the Chinese children grow up, usually they don't leave their hometown. And there is an old saying "父母在，不远游". It's just our culture.


It’s vernacular language.

  Charge your phone every day, and don’t forget to also give your speaking [skills] a charge!

個 is a generic counter for an event or session in this case, and will commonly be heard in a casual spoken style.

You can get similar constructions e.g.

吃個飯 (have a meal)
旅個遊 (go on a travel)


「兩」 here is basically a synonym of 「幾」 (several). 「少說兩句」 means 「少說幾句」, that is, the argument arose out of speaking too much (more likely to drag up disagreements and past grievances), so speaking less is a way of not adding fuel to the fire.
It's not really a way of breaking up the fight, but a way of calming the situation down.


Rephrase it a bit and you can get the 是……的 construction.

我來(的)是要瞭解這一個區的市場情況。
我是要瞭解這一個區的市場情況來的。

I wouldn't phrase this sentence using the 是……的 construction though, the detail 要瞭解這一個區的市場情況 is a bit long, plus it contains another 的 inside the detail, making it more easily misunderstood.


Cantonese does contain a substrate from the Tai languages, which includes Thai and Zhuang as modern members, so that could be a source of similarities. However, the word for chicken (雞), and most other Cantonese vocabulary, can be traced to Chinese sources, so that's not it.


What response is expected to Chinese people's "Have you eaten?"?

You can just answer it literally. Usually, I will response: 吃过了（or 还没有），你呢？

If people want to ask you out, they will go further with additional questions/requests: 我们一起去吃饭吧？


In short, for disambiguation, at least oral disambiguation.

Most of the words in Old Chinese are monosyllabic words. However, when it comes to oral speech, it is too ambiguous to use. As time went by, we developed Modern Chinese, which encourages the usage of disyllabic words, for oral disambiguation.
In oral speech, the monosyllabic word "dōng" can mean 冬 (winter), 东 (east), 鸫 (thrush), 氡 (radon), etc, so it is too ambiguous to pronounce "dōng" only. Therefore, in Modern Chinese, we use the disyllabic word "dōng tiān", written as 冬天, literally "winter days", for disambiguation. You can also use the disyllabic word "dōng jì", written as 冬季, literally "winter season", for oral disambiguation.
Similarly, there is a monosyllabic word 锋 (fēng) and a monosyllabic word 利 (lì) in Old Chinese. Both of them means "sharp". However, in oral speech, "fēng" can mean 锋 (sharp), 风 (wind), 疯 (mad, crazy), etc, and "lì" can mean 利 (sharp, benefit), 力 (force), 粒 (grain), etc, so it is too ambiguous to pronounce either "fēng" or "lì". Therefore, in Modern Chinese, we use the disyllabic word 锋利 (fēng lì) for "sharp", for oral disambiguation.

Can I just write monosyllabic words but speak disyllabic words? No. They look too archaic. Nowadays, native Chinese speakers are familiar with Modern Chinese, but unfamiliar with Old Chinese. If you write monosyllabic words, native Chinese speakers may feel like "have you just time-travelled from thousands of years ago?" Actually, it is almost similar to the feeling if you speak Classical Latin in Europe.


How to say "I don't want you to be sad" in Taiwanese Mandarin?

"I don't want you to be sad."

We say 別難過了 in Taiwan. The most common one.

我們說「別難過了」。這是最常用的講法。


They are just different writing styles which we can tolerate.Because the governments in Chinese using regions have established standards on which is the right way (正體字, lit. correct form character) and which is the wrong way (異體字, lit. different form character), these typefaces are used less and less.

Please see:

中文字元資料頁：港標中文網 for the right and wrong ways to write in Hong Kong
You might want to check this one especially: 《〈常用字字形表〉異體字表》 (pdf檔)
, note that the left side is the standard form in Hong Kong and the right side is a wrong form.
標準國字研討 for the right and wrong ways to write in Taiwan and the rules on how to create a Traditional Chinese font for use in Taiwan

I'm not studying language, but as far as I know, the modern Chinese typeface is based on Seal Script and how it was evolved. Each component of a character in Seal Script corresponds to "the basic 8 strokes" and this is how the Ming/Song typeface is based on.

And so, because of this very fact, Hong Kong and Taiwan defines different characters as the "correct form", one example might be  (left: HK; right: TW)

And you mentioned "食":

from: http://www.zdic.net/z/28/zy/98FD.htm In the second row, you can see the correct form in different regions: (left to right) Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Old typeface. The third row are different forms of "飽" that means the same but not considered standards and I know none of them except "饱" which is used in Mainland China.

For comparison, this is the same character in Seal Script, so you can see how the curvy lines are adapted into straighter lines:

from http://www.chineseetymology.org


Do all 汉字 components (radicals and non-radicals) have names?

http://www.zdic.net/z/jbs/

try this website, it's helped me when i see a character but don't know how to pronounce it. it tells you what the radical and non-radical is called as well. hope it helps you.


reference: 现代汉语词典，第6版 (Contemporary Chinese Dictionary, 6th Edition).

This dictionary gives 8 basic meaning items for 就.

approach, get close to
get to, begin to do
passive, -ed by
finish, become
eat something (side dish) together with other thing (main course)
[preposition] a: by, at somebody's convenience, take advantage of. b: about, concerning, with regard to
[adverb] 8 sub items listed, about time or for emphesis
[conjugation] represent assumed concession, even if

Figure. meaning of 就 in 现代汉语词典, 第6版, page 697

Besides the meaning items of the character itself, the dictionary also listed 32 words beginning with 就. I didn't list all of them.

Figure. meaning of some words beginning with 就 in 现代汉语词典, 第6版, page 697

Based on my own interpretation, I can't find the very one base-meaning from which all other meanings derive. But it seems that compilers(and the sholars behind them) of Contemporary Chinese Dictionary, 6th Edition think all the modern meanings of 就 come from one common origin, though they didn't tell us what the one common origin is and how the other meanings derive from that origin. About this point, you can refer to @congliu's answer to 足: why is “foot” also “enough”? for detail. I copy a sentence from his answer: "Those whose form or pronunciation are the same but no relation between their meaning, basically will be in given different entries, with superscripts on their upper right corner. For example, '耳1' and '耳2', '安1', '安2' and '安3' ". This is a rule followed by all authoritative Chinese dictionary, including Contemporary Chinese Dictionary, 6th Edition of course. But as we have seen, all the 8 meaning items is listed under only one entry of 就, no superscrpts, no separate entries. So we can infer that the 8 meaning items are related and come from one common origin. Of course, there exist other possibilities. Maybe there are several distint roots of the meanings of 就 but the scholars haven't reached agreement on this topic now. No matter what the fact is, we can always make our own guess and try to find some formula for mnemonics.

In the following contents, whenever I mention the classification of or relation between the meaning items of 就, it's all based on my own interpretation and may be subjective.

Some of its 8 meaning items seem related to each other, some not. I'm inclined to classify item 1,2,4 to one univeral category, meaning approach / get to / become. Most of the 32 words begin with 就 can be classified into this catetory. When 就 is used to make up a word in which 就 is followed by a noun, you can usually reason that the meaning of 就 falls into this category. For example, 就位(take one's place)，就业(take up an occupation)，就寝(go to sleep)，就学(go to school)，就范(submit to control, give in)，就木(get to wooden cascket, to die)，就医(go see the doctor)，就餐(go to eat)，就义(get to righteousness, to die as martyr).

Item 3 seems unrelated to any other ones. If 就 is used to make up a word in which 就 is followed by a verb, then you can reason that 就 means passive. For example, 就歼(annihilated)，就擒(captured).

Item 5 seems unrelated to any other ones. (就着菜吃饭. Eat dinner together with vegetables.)

Item 6 seems unrelated to any other ones. (a: 就近 do something in the neighbourhood/without having to go far for convenience, 就便 at somebody's convenience/while you are at it. b: 就我所知 so far as I know.  就目前的情况看来 in the light of present situation)

Item 8 seems unrelated to any other ones. It says it's same with 就是(3). I'll talk about 就是 in more details later.

Item 7 contains 8 sub items.

Sub item a,b,c,d seems related to each other, all have the meaning about time/sequence.

a. in short time, at once, right away. (我就来. I will come right away)
b. things begin or end as early as, long since. (风早上就停了. The wind has already subsided in the morning.)
c. as soon as, right after, one thing happened immediately after another. (吃完了午饭就走. leave as soon as lunch is finished.)
d. something is the natural consequense of some condition. (若不快去, 就赶不上了. If you don't hurry up, you will be late. Be late is the natural consequence of not hurrying up)

Sub item e seems unrelated to the other ones.

e. used as comparision, meaning bigger/longer/more and so on. (他三天才来一次，你一天就来三次. He comes once every three days, you come three times in one day.)

Sub item f seems unrelated to the other ones.

f. 就 is put in between two identical component to represent "tolerate" or "don't care about something", X就X吧. (丢了就丢了吧，以后小心点. If it's lost, it's lost. Just be more careful from now on.[means you don't care about the fact that it's lost / though you are unhappy that it's lost, you finally decide to accept the fact and make do without it.]  大点就大点吧，买下算了. Though it's bigger (than the right size), I decide to buy it and make do with it. [You like the skirt's colour, its sytle, and so on. But its size is a little bigger. You hesitate for a while and decide to accept it. You say: "大点就大点吧，买下算了."])

Sub item g seems unrelated to the other ones.

g. only, just. (就他一个人知道这事 He is the only person who knows this / Only he himself knows this. 就三个人来开会 Only three people showed up to the meeting.)

Sub item h seems unrelated to the other ones.

h. for positive emphesis. (我就不信我学不会. I just refuse to believe that I can't grasp that.[means "I will work harder to grasp that"])

About 就是：
就是 as a word has three meaning items.

[auxiliary] used at the end of a sentence for affirmation. (我一定办到，你放心就是了. I will get it done, just trust me / rest your heart.)
[adverb] used alone to express agreement. (就是，就是，您的话很对. Yes, yes, what you said is right.)
[conjugation] even if. represent assumed concession, usually used together with 也. Example: 为了祖国，我可以献出一切，就是生命也不吝惜. For my country, I can sacrifice anything, even if it's my life, I will not stint on it.)

Figure. meaning of 就是 in 现代汉语词典, 第6版, page 698

Something more about 就是: in the phrase 就是他(Who broke the window? It is him! [pointing to him])， 就是 is not deemed to be a word, and can't be explained by any of the three meaning item of 就是. Instead, here 就，是，他 are three seperate word. 就 falls into meaning item 8 sub item h. That is, 就 means emphesis. We can just say "他!(Who broke the window? Him!)", or "是他(It's him!)", or "就是他(It is him!)". We can also say "就他!". In this case, it's legitimate to use 就他 in place of 就是他.

With regard to 就他(follow his wishes) and 就你(As you wish!), I guess 就 means 迁就(accommodate oneself to, yield to, give in to) here. But 迁就 is a word as a whole and can't be abbreviated to 就. I can't find any example using 就他 as "follow his wishes" or 就你 as "as you wish".

About 迁就: This word means accommodate oneself to, yield to, give in to. 迁 means move, 就 means approach (Item 1). A迁就B literally means "A moves himself to approach B (at B's convenience)", and extends to mean  "A accommodate himself to B" / "A yields to B".

About 就 in 繁纓七就:
繁纓七就 comes from Book of Rites(Simplified Chinese: 礼记. Traditional Chinese: 禮記), a collection of Chinese classic texts dating back to Zhou dynasty (1050–771 BC) in China. So obviously this meaning is an ancient one, and no longer used today, or it will be listed in Contemporary Chinese Dictionary, 6th Edition.

About 就就：I didn't find any other exmaple of 就就 meaning "intact,whole" outside of www.zdic.net, and zdic.net doesn't give any reference for this usage. Maybe it's from a certain dialect. I can find an exmaple of 就就 from Lüshi Chunqiu(吕氏春秋), 《吕氏春秋•下贤》：“确乎其节之不庳也，就就乎其不肯自是，鹄乎其羞用智虑也，假乎其轻俗诽誉也。” But here 就就 means "a look of hesitation".


A:你家住在哪里? 还住在城里?

Both 没有 and 不 denote negative, B is replying to latter part of the  question "还住在城里嗎?" B's reply would either be positive or negative. And he doesn't need to repeat A's question in his answer, so he could simply answer:

"不"(meaning 不是住在城里)

or

"没有" (meaning 没有住在城里)

"我们最近搬到郊外住了" is not a part of the answer but an additional explanation

Notice "还住在城里嗎?" is a question asking for confirmation of positive or negative, so you can simply reply with a negative "不/ 不是 /没有", or a positive "是"

However, if the question is specifically asking "是不是" or "有没有', you have to answer specifically with "是/ 不是" or "有/ 没有"

Example:

A: "有沒有工作?"

B: "有" (you cannot reply with "是")

B: "沒有" (you cannot reply with "不是")

~

A: "是不是你?"

B: "是" (you cannot reply with "有")

B: "不是" (you cannot reply with "沒有")

Also: reply with the verb used in the question

A: 去不去玩?

B: 去 (you cannot reply with "有去")

B: 不/ 不去 (you cannot reply with "沒/ 沒去")


What is the role of 在 in the sentence 当我有错误在帮我纠正就行了

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


Is 马克又会汉语又会日语 an error in my Chinese book? Isn't 会汉语 incorrect?

会 here is a verb meaning to know.
Here are two sample sentences from A Chinese-English Dictionary:

他还会两出京戏。
Tā hái huì liǎng chū Jīngxì.
He knows a few airs of Beijing opera.

我会英语, 不会日语。
Wǒ huì Yīngyǔ, bù huì Rìyǔ.
I know English but not Japanese.

ABC dictionary defines it as to understand or to grasp

你会吗?
Nǐ huì ma?
Do you know how?


What's the difference between 雕像 and 雕塑?

The 像 character indicates that the sculpture is supposed to resemble a person, it's an "alike" or depiction of someone, 雕塑 may take more vague shapes, abstract sculptures, especially larger ones, etc., including persons of course.

Try using Google image search.

First term: 雕像
Second term: 雕塑


One thing you could do is use Middlebury. It allows you to speak into a device and it'll recognize your pronunciation and help with tones, etc. Also, on Middlebury, you can have an audio chat with a tutor if you wanted.


In my opinion, the key to strengthening your Chinese is to have confidence in your intuition within the context of Chinese. Not saying you aren't already confident, but more so to apply the following method to approach future confusing sentences.

Break them apart by word:

不 don't
要 want, do
多 more
给 give

You can infer from 不 + 要 = don't want, don't do something

As well as from 多 + 给 = give more

不要 + 多给 = don't give more.

From there, you can understand nuances of the sentence given the context derived from the preceding or proceeding sentence.

Preceding sentence: 你给十两银子 : Talking about giving 10 silver coins...

Then the proceeding 不要多给 probably has something to do with not giving any more of what the preceding sentence was talking about. In this case, coins.

An aside:

I would be careful not to rely on literally translating Chinese text into English expressions, but rather focus on developing intuition within the context of Chinese language; this ability to use the target language to dissect more complex meanings in the target language will strengthen your fluency. It will also develop feelings/connections with the Chinese word itself... so you can feel emotion from the Chinese words/texts... rather than getting that emotion from the English expression you've translated it to.

This is because many Chinese words are simply untranslatable to English given their cultural origins.

For example:

  关系: in traditional Chinese society, you would build up good guanxi by
  giving gifts to people, taking them to dinner, or doing them a favor,
  but you can also use up your guanxi by asking for a favor to be
  repaid.

This concept is pretty foreign to English.

So when thinking about 关系, think about it in Chinese context, and not to translate it to the next best word in English.

Or perhaps 风水.

The list goes on.


What does this sticker say? (Characters identified: 萬事如意)

萬事如意 /wan4 shi4 ru2 yi4/ (May everything be as you wish)

This is one of those auspicious sayings people use around Chinese New Year. People often say this to one another, and/or write the four characters on red paper to use as wall decoration around Chinese New Year.

You can certainly use them to decorate your binder. Happy learning!


Anyone heard a saying about marriage being like cooking rice?

There is an expression "米已成炊" (rice is cooked) It describes "既成事實" (a realized fact)

When raw rice is cooked, it cannot be changed back to raw again. Old Chinese thinking considered marriage is permanent, must be treated with caution. If a man and a woman get married, it is like raw rice boiled to be cooked rice--  It is permanent, cannot be undone. The only option is to eat it, meaning accept it

This quote is not the same as the original Chinese one, just borrowed the concept of "marriage is like cooked rice"

In the past, if a man and a woman had sex, they had no choice but to get marry. "米已成炊" can also describe this fact.

The quote from your link said: "一個美好的婚姻是用冷水準備並輕輕煮沸的米飯" (a beautiful marriage is like rice cooked from cold water and slowly boiled) implies "to ensure the marriage is a happy one, you should take time to prepare and not rush to commit."

The Cantonese version is "生米煮成熟飯" (raw rice cooked to become cooked-rice)


What is the Chinese equivalent of "Encl." used in formal letters?

随信附上 or 附件

Here is a webpage of baidu(an chinese website) zhidao (pinyin, which means know) which explains Encl. in chinese and english.
http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/40359245.html
Hope it is helpful. :)


We actually often use 倾向于 but not 易于 or 走向.


In 林业、农业、草原、海洋、资源、环境等行业, what industries does 草原 ("grassland") and 海洋 ("ocean") refer to, and why not use 农业 ("agriculture") and 渔业 ("fishing")?

草原 should mean animal agriculture(畜牧業) and any other nature resources related to grassland.
海洋 have similar concept of 草原.
You could use 農林漁牧業 to indicate agriculture,forestry,fishing and animal agriculture industries.


Is there an explicit/crude saying for bravery in Chinese?

The size of one's 胆 (gallbladder) is metaphorically an indicator of courage, 胆大 = brave; 胆小 = cowardly

有种   (have pedigree) --> having great pride --> brave

Example sentence:
有种你别跑!  - if you have pride (dare), don't run
有种你别再追!  - if you have pride (dare), stop chasing me

斗胆: (gallbladder as big as a 斗): bold; brazen

吃了豹子胆  (ate leopard gallbladder) = brave; bold; brazen

胆大包天 / 胆包天 (brave enough to take on the world) = brave; bold; brazen

Cantonese:

胆生毛  (gallbladder grows hair) It is so big and manly, it grows hair

沙胆 (sandy gallbladder)  sandy-> rough -->tough = brave

胆粗 (gallbladder is thick): brave; 胆粗粗咁 (adv): bravely

够姜 (enough ginger = has a lot of spice): brave --> dare to do things plain people don't dare to do

敢死/ 夠胆死 (dare to die/ courageous enough to die) = "damn dare" as in "乜都夠胆死" (damn dare to do anything)


Chinese Chengyu (Idiom): Refute somebody with his own argument

Maybe 以子之矛，攻子之盾 is the answer, I couldn't find another alternative.

Description on Baidu Baike


Often "疤痕" is reserved for "physical scar", while "傷疤" and "傷痕" can mean more; they can even mean a mental scar.

Therefore, being a 疤痕 implies being a 傷疤 (resp. 傷痕); being a 傷疤 (resp. 傷痕) not necessarily implies being a 疤痕.

Nevertheless, please bear in mind that these distinctions are subtle and not dogmatic. :)


Have a look here. "无相神功" comes from a novel about an insuperable form of Kungfu. This is not very serious literature.

将 = 把
I set 无相 = formless, but maybe there are better translations.

自己已经将地级上品功法无相神功，
I already （将） [taught him 传授给了他] the earth-level best kungfu method "formless miracle"
(无相神功 = a kind of kungfu, just a name, don't translate)"

以及无相步，
also the "formless step" = (a kind of kungfu, just a name, don't translate)

无相指和无相剑法 （go to 将）[传授给了他]，
the "formless finger" (just a name, don't translate)  and "formless sword" method"

不知道他如今修炼的如何？
don't know what his kungfu is like now.

不要打我哦！


What is the etymology and glyph origin of 餵?

喂 means feed(verb) originally besides answering telephone.

Regarding the origin of the character, according to CiYang

(1) (餵、喂是近代的“餧”字) 喂食    餵 and 喂 are modern writing of 餧
餧,饲也。——《玉篇》    餧 means feed(verb)

It's a new character derive from 餧.

P.S. The most popular usage of 喂 may be a character for answering phone. But it is also a derivative from the common usage of saying hello in a rude way.  Because of this, in fact, there are many people claims that answering phone with 喂 is impolite, we'd better say 你好/您好 instead. If you call public service number like customer service hot lines, you always hear the operator answering 您好.


more simply, money and food?

Basically, yes. It is a common practice in Chinese or English to use a couple of representative items to form a general term for a single concept.

'钱米' (coins and rice) can be used as a general term for 'wealth / resources'

  '旧时官史除俸禄外，其亲属所受之 钱米，称俸恤'

钱米 (coins and rice) refers to consumables resources like money and food
俸恤 (allocations) is a portion of resource assigned to particular recipient.

'钱米' (coins and rice) can also be used as a general term for  'wealth / consumables resources', as in '乱花 钱米 叫“泡稍”'

Similarly, '鱼米' (fish and rice) is a general term for 'natural food resources' in the phrase '鱼米之乡'(land of plenty) ; '刀剑'(knife and sword) refers to all 'weapons' in '刀剑没眼'(weapons have no eyes)

In old time war campaigns, 钱粮 (coins and grain) is a common term for 'resources' like soldiers' salary, food and horse feed.

  "打仗就是打钱粮 "


Min 毋免: m̄-bián only, or possibly m̄-mián?

When pronouncing, both of them are okay since we can tell what (s)he says. But it is informal and incorrect to say mián. We know that /p/ in hokkien is same as b in chinese pinyin, and /b/ in hokkien sounds near /m/. Therefore, /b/ sometimes sounds like /m/. But it is wrong to pronounce or write /b/ as /m/. Pā-bián sounds like mián.


Your reference is very likely comes from this Japanese Chinese teaching book 1, and the character "钱" actually is a typo of "铁", this is a very common mistake when people type Chinese in Wubi Input Method (or 五笔字型输入法".

废铁 is scrap metal (for recycling), it perfectly fits the surroundings (后院 backyard), put it in the context this sentence's meaning:
If you can trade this this not valuable thing (废铁) to a way much more valuable thing (汽车) for me, I'll be not only happy to agree but also surprised.

You can see in the linked book, the conversation is the girl (maybe a producer) asks Mr. Wang, will he agree to let them adapt his Internet novel to a TV show, so Mr. Wang made a humble and humorous metaphor. (The context is Mr. Wang wrote more than 30 novels, only two of them got published)


What is an idiomatic way to say "This is not good" in Mandarin?

In all these situations I would use one of these

  这样不好
  这样不太好
  这样好象不好

short, simple and broadly usable.
adds a feeling of "not optimal".
adds some level of uncertainty to the statement.


This was a bit of a challange.

All the information is pretty much the same as Stan commented above.

词语解释
比喻行踪漂泊不定的人。 清 黄景仁 《稚存从新安归作此寄之》诗：“来鸿去燕江干路，露宿风飞各朝暮。”

成语解释
解释
◎ 比喻行踪漂泊不定的人。
出处
◎ 清·黄景仁《稚存从新安归作此寄之》诗：“来鸿去燕江干路，露宿风飞各朝暮。”
语法
◎ 联合式；作宾语、定语；含贬义

None of this really answers the question though. Searches for 来鸿去燕 don't elaborate at all and that's just the problem - it's so easy to over-complicate Chinese; what originally was very simple is very easily complicated by our strange minds.

So let's look at this as simply as we can:

We have 来。。。去。。。a very simple + common construct "to come & to go"
鸿 & 燕
So let's look in the dictionary for 鸿燕:
汉语大辞典:
鸿雁和燕子。两者均为候鸟。于 长江 一带, 前者秋来春去, 后者秋去春来。
Swan goose & swallow. Two migratory birds. Along the Yangtze River the swan goose comes in the autumn and leaves in the spring, the swallow leaves in the autumn and comes in the spring.

清 方文 《芜阴送钱既白游太湖》诗
我方來爾邑, 爾復去吾鄉。交錯如鴻燕, 拼飛爲稻粱。

We can see the usage here:
交錯如鴻燕
Zigzagging like swans and swallows.

So you can get the feel of the "one comes" the "other leaves" concept.

So we can see 来鸿去燕 is kind of like zigzagging all over the place - leaving and going - coming and going.


Asking for right answers for 中级 questions

急急忙忙 地 跑过来|
兴高采烈 地 庆祝胜利|
迫不及代 地 打开了包裹|
迟疑 地 往前走|
生气 地 骂他的孩子|
风趣 地 开了一个玩笑|
热烈 地 欢迎我们|
客气 地 谢绝了他的邀请|
激动 地 说|
得意 地 拿出自己画的画儿


In 立下了汗马功劳, how should I understand 立下了 ("set up") 汗马功劳 ("war exploits")?

立下 can be understood in a more smooth manner. It can represent set up as you said, when trying to express set up a contract or so. Examples include 立下誓言。
But in general it can also generalize to mean create, or make something happen. 立下誓言=make the 誓言 happen，立下汗马功劳=make the 汗马功劳 happen，etc。
Also, as Ho pointed out in the answer, 立功 is a common collocation, as earn credits for one's contribution. However I disagree with his understanding on properly usage of the 汗马功劳. Your example is completely correct in modern Chinese, and holds even in its original meaning (which specifies on military contributions).


Is this a real Chinese Proverb? (Pumpkins and Time Management)

It's a real proverb and means what your quote says it means.

  按下葫芦浮起瓢  (àn xià hú lú fú qǐ piáo)
  variant: 按下葫芦又起瓢 (... yòu qǐ piáo)

葫芦 and 瓢 are two different words for gourd, similar to a pumpkin. These were used to collect water, so that's why you would want to hold them under water.


Can the famous paradox 白马非马 be translated into English?

KEY

{philosophy} "a white horse is not a horse" (paradoxical claim by the philosopher Gōngsūn Lóng 公孫龍/公孙龙, 320-250 BCE, in his "White Horse Dialogue" where he tries to establish a conclusion contrary to common sense)

"a white horse is not a horse" is quite paradoxical.
Wikipedia

When a white horse is not a horse
When A White Horse Is Not A Horse (Chinese: 白馬非馬; pinyin: Báimǎ fēi mǎ; Wade–Giles: Pai-ma fei ma; literally: "white horse not horse"), also known as the White Horse Dialogue (Chinese: 白馬論; pinyin: Báimǎ Lùn; Wade–Giles: Pai-ma Lun; literally: "white horse discourse"), is a famous paradox in Chinese philosophy. Gongsun Long wrote this circa 300 BCE dialectic analysis of the question Can it be that a white horse is not a horse?.

Wikipedia also contains the following, which is quite similar to the question that you pose about the difficulty of translation into English:

Difficulties of interpretation
The syntax, semantics, and logic of the White Horse Dialogue are ambiguous in the Classical Chinese original and thorny in English translation: for example, in Chinese, 白 (or bai, and so on) has the characteristic of a verb, in English. Thus, to translate, the term bai ma is more precisely rendered as the phrase "be white horse", or as referring to a "being white horse". In the Chinese context, color attributes are verbal rather than adjectival, whereas "horse" is nominal.
The Chinese bai ma fei ma 白馬非馬 syntactically hinges upon the negative fei 非 "not, is not; no, negative; oppose; wrong". The Classical construction "A fei B" "A非B" can ambiguously mean either "A is not a member of the class B" or "A is not identical to B".[2] Interpreting this equivocation fallacy, A.C. Graham says this "white horse" vs. "horse" paradox plays upon the ambiguity of whether "is" means:
"Is a member of the class (x)"
"Is identical to (x)"[2]
In other words, the expression "a white horse is not a horse" is ambiguous between "a white horse is not identical with a horse" (true, because "white horse" is more specific than "horse"), and "a white horse is not a member of the set of horses" (obviously false). The Advocate in the dialogue is asserting that "a white horse is not [identical with] a horse," while the Objector is interpreting the Advocate's statement as "a white horse is not [a member of the group of] horses."
An illustration of the alternative uses of "fei" may be found in the widely known "Happiness of Fish" dialogue in Zhuangzi (17, tr. Watson 1968:188-9). Huizi says "You're not a fish [子非魚] — how do you know what fish enjoy?" (denying that Zhuangzi is a member of the class of fish) and Zhuangzi replies "You're not I [子非我], so how do you know I don't know what fish enjoy?" (denying that the individuals Huizi and Zhuangzi are identical).
Beyond the inherent semantic ambiguities of Baima fei ma, the first line obscurely asks ke hu 可乎 "Can it be that …?". This dialogue could be an attempted proof that a white horse is not a horse, or a question if such a statement is possible, or both. Van Norden suggests "that the issue is not whether it is always true that 'a white horse is not a horse,' but whether it is possible for it to be true."
An alternative interpretation is offered in Feng Youlan's History of Chinese Philosophy (translated in 1952 by Derk Bodde):
Strictly speaking, names or terms are divided into those that are abstract and those that are concrete. The abstract term denotes the universal, the concrete term the particular. The particular is the denotation, and the universal the connotation, of the term. In western inflected languages there is no difficulty in distinguishing between the particular ('white' or 'horse') and the abstract ('whiteness' or 'horseness'). In Chinese, however, owing to the fact that the written characters are ideographic and pictorial and lack all inflection, there is no possible way, as far as the form of individual words is concerned, of distinguishing between abstract and concrete terms. Thus in Chinese the word designating a particular horse and that designating the universal, 'horseness,' are written and pronounced in the same way. Similarly with other terms, so that such words as 'horse' and 'white', being used to designate both the concrete particular and the abstract universal, thus hold two values.[3]
However, there are no contemporary histories of Chinese philosophy that subscribe to Fung's interpretation. Other philosophers and sinologists who have analyzed the dialogue include Hansen;[4] Graham;[5] Thompson;[6] Harbsmeier;[7] and Van Norden.1


Is "Big Nose" really used for Westerners?

Yes, 大鼻子 is used for primarily white people, although it is regionally limited to the North East. See http://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%A7%E9%BC%BB%E5%AD%90/940166

It is not really used these days; when it was used it was mostly used to refer, pejoratively, to Russians, due to the history of conflict with China's North East. Another similar pejorative (and antiquated) term is 老毛子.

I would argue that the term is racist, as it is pejorative and was originally intended to be offensive, even if current users don't intend to offend with the term. You should not use the term in polite company.


In the character's zdic entry, there is a section labelled 音韻方言, which will have the character's rime group (韻目). In the 廣韻 section, 城 is labelled under the header 清. Ctext further has a more organised version of 廣韻, which you can quickly Ctrl+F your way into 清, which will list all the characters under that rime.

If you have some knowledge of other Chinese languages, or some understanding of how Sinoxenic vocabulary works in Japanese/Korean/Vietnamese, you can corroborate the fact that, at least in some non-Mandarin pronunciations, those characters that you listed did indeed rime.

Interestingly, 清 and 靑 did not rime in Guangyun, as evidenced by the fact that it had its own rime entry.


Writing critique request: Zhou Ziwang was fat when she was young

Check ambiguity.

Writers should read his or her own writing, try to see if there are other possible  interpretations for certain phrases.

For example: When you chose "女孩" in "当我是女孩时" you were thinking "girl" as a female child, but both "女孩" in Chinese and "girl" in English can refer to " young female".

To remove ambiguity in "当我是女孩时" you can add  "小" before "女孩" and write "当我是(小)女孩时" to clarify  "girl"  refers to "female child" not "young female"

  Remember Chinese verbs have no tense

Since Chinese verbs do not have tense, The tense of this sentence "Although I was very small" (虽然我很小) need to be clarified by other means

e.g. "虽然我(那時還)很小" - "Although I was very small (at that time)"

It is just a single example, you should check your sentence to see if tense is needed or not, because in many instances the context already indicate the verb is in the pass tense or present tense.

For example: "(十年前)当我(還)是女孩时" clearly implies:

a. The verb "是" is in past tense.

b. 女孩 (girl) refers to "female child" not "young female"

  abuse of 了

"了" indicate "completion" or change of "state" . You have to check if "了" is needed in a sentence. Take: "我渴望变瘦了" (I hope to get thin) for example.

了 in "我渴望变瘦了" implies "I begin to hope to get thin" (change of state)
了 cannot modify 变瘦 to indicate the verb 变瘦 is completed because  the main verb "hope" indicated you were not thin already

If you didn't mean "I begin to hope to get thin", you should just write "我渴望变瘦"

I can only point out some of  the bad habits I noticed. There are a lot of areas can be improved in your writing, but that involves more in-depth study on your part. Write more, get corrected more and analyze why a sentence you wrote is being corrected. Eventually you too can notice what mistakes you often make and learn not to make it again. Or discover the better way to express your thought by noticing how people edit your text to a more native style.

I am sure other people can point out more of your mistakes and provide solutions.

You can compare your text with my editing to see if you can notice something:

当我是女孩时，--> 当我(还)是(小)女孩时，

世界上最重要的是吃巧克力和其它甜食。--> (对我来说)世界上最重要的是吃巧克力和其它甜食。

我爱吃麦当劳、我爱吃比萨、我爱吃巧克力蛋糕。

我爸忙时就让我吃， --> (每当)我爸忙(的)时(侯)就让我吃，

如此我不打扰他，而他经常在电脑上工作。--> (这样)我(就)不(会)打扰他在电脑上工作。

并不奇怪的是，我当时很胖。--> (难怪)我当时(会那么)胖。

虽然我很小，但不得不注意到了别人不同的对待我，--> 虽然我(那时还)很小，但(已)不得不注意到别人(对我)(与别不同)的(态度)，

使我感到对自己的身体不满意， --> 使我对自己的身体(感到)不满意，

而我变得越来越难过了。我渴望变瘦了，--> 我变得越来越难。我渴望变瘦。

或者至少不那么胖。那时候我知道吃热量高的食物让人长胖， --> 至少以能瘦一点。那时候我(已)知道吃热量高的食物(会)让人(变)胖，

可是甚至成年人遇到控制体重的困难，--> 可是(连)成年人(都会)遇到控制体重的困难，(何况,是我这个小女孩？)

仅仅少吃不够减肥。--> 仅仅少吃(是)不(足以)减肥(的)。

吃巧克力使我心里感到很满足。--> (加上)吃巧克力(能)使我心里感到很满足，(减重就更困难了)。

(the last two sentences are disjointed)


Why do Chinese translations of English names sound very inaccurate?

So who came up with those common name translations at first place?

Those common name translations are known as 音译 or transcription.

In Chinese, transcription is known as yīnyì (simplified Chinese: 音译; traditional Chinese: 音譯) or yìmíng (simplified Chinese: 译名; traditional Chinese: 譯名). While it is common to see foreign names left in their original forms (for example, in the Latin alphabet) in a Chinese text, it is also common to transcribe foreign proper nouns into Chinese characters.

Homophones abound in Mandarin Chinese, so most English words have multiple possible transcriptions. Since there are many characters to choose from when transcribing a word, a translator can manipulate the transcription to add additional meaning. The official reference guide for transcription is Names of the World's Peoples (世界人名翻译大辞典), published by the Xinhua News Agency.

Chinese is written with monosyllabic logograms which may not correspond to the syllables in the foreign words. For example, a word of three syllables will be transcribed into at least three Chinese characters, in most cases three meaningful verbal units. Transcriptions into other Chinese dialects such as Cantonese will differ from Mandarin transcriptions, since transcription based on one dialect may not sound close to the original when pronounced with another dialect.

Names can be transcribed differently between the official transcription standards used within each of the different Chinese speaking regions. For example, US President Barack Obama's surname is rendered:

  欧巴马 / 歐巴馬 Ōubāmǎ (Official translation)
  奥巴马 / 奧巴馬 Àobāmǎ (used mostly in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia and Singapore)

When transliterating foreign names whose pronunciation does not correlate to the spelling (especially in Russian names), Mainland China tends to preserve the original pronunciation, while Taiwan tends to transcribe along the spelling. For example, Putin, the former Russian president, is called 普京 （pujing）in Mainland China and 普廷 （puting）in Taiwan. In this case, when t meets i, its pronunciation will become tʲ.

Source: Wikipedia

And why do they sound not similar to their English pronunciation?

The IPA pronunciation of "Robert Wilson" is /ˈrɒbərt ˈwɪlsən/

Referring to the English-into-Chinese transcription table from the semi-official Names of the World's Peoples (世界人名翻译大辞典), compiled by the Proper Names and Translation Service of the Xinhua News Agency:

/ˈrɒbərt ˈwɪlsən/ is transcribed as "罗伯特·威尔森 (森 not 逊)"

The person who came up with the original transcription may not be able to follow the pronunciation close enough resulting in some Chinese words sounding quite different from the original pronunciation. But since it has already become a standard, people tend to follow it and not come up with new things.

Notice also in the table that 若,维,欧,波 have already been used elsewhere, so changing one will affect the other.


Here 上 marks the entry into a state, the state of 自恋.
Without 上 it could also mean that the person entered the state of 自恋, because 了 at the end of a sentence has the meaning of 'change of state'.
But it would be less evident than with 上.


I don't know the nuance carried the English word "tool". But according to your description, I don't think there's such nuance in Wang's article. It is just a normal euphemism, with no added meaning to the original word (penis).

Basically, 傢伙 would carry a similar connotation as "manhood" or "member" (maybe without the informality associated with "member").


(Cantonese) How to say there are always two sides to a story?

I think 另有內情 ling6 jau5 noi6 cing4 fits the bill.


What is the difference between 向来, 一直, and 总是?

They do all carry the "always" meaning, but each provide different finer details.

向来 = always; (since the beginning)
一直 = always; (have been continuously)
总是 = always; (unexceptionally /universally)

Examples:

向來沒有加班費  "without overtime pay since the beginning."

一直沒有加班費  "have been continuously without overtime pay."

總是沒有加班費  "unexceptionally without overtime pay ."


What does 还要 mean in this sentence? "释然啊，你现在心里在想什么，我恐怕比你还要清楚。"

“还要” is used to express a high degree. This sentence means I know more about your desires than you do.


百度：谐仿是指对原作品的嘲弄，

baidu: 谐仿 is at original work make fun of,

parody is pretty good!


Why is 当然 the correct choice in 我学了10年汉语了，汉语水平 [一定 / 当然] 很高?

一定 either introduces an INFERENCE, which is very likely to be true (as in the context of the given sentence), or shows a strong intention (in other contexts). On the other hand, 当然, equivalent to the English 'of course', indicates an inevitable consequence that the speaker KNOWS to be true.

In this sentence, since the speaker is talking about himself, he does not need to make an inference about him being good at Chinese; he knows he is good at Chinese. Therefore 当然 would make more sense here.

An easy way to differentiate the two is to translate the sentence into English with 一定 and 当然 replaced by 'must be' and 'of course', respectively, and you will be able to immediately see which one is better.


In my experience, 帥哥 is more addressed to refer to young people. It's like "Hey young man" in English. No matter what, being young is a beauty. People call the young generation 帥哥 in memory of their own long passed golden youth years.


How to differentiate "radical plus 0 strokes" characters?

Chinese native speakers don't treat 田 由 甲 申 甴 电 as related radicals. It is true that those radicals look very similar to each other, but we don't go further than that. We don't have any terms for this phenomenon, because we don't think it is something that needs special attention/study.

Here are more examples:  刀 vs 力, 土 vs 士, 己 vs 已 vs 巳,  冂 vs 几, etc.

In English, there are some words spelling almost same, for example: discreet vs discrete, complement vs compliment, calendar vs calender, etc. Are there any special terms for this phenomenon in English? Do you English native speakers treat them with special attention?

By the way, your question reminds me a character game I played when I was a  child: form as many characters as you can by adding another stroke to the character 日. All the characters appearing in your question are part of the answer. There are some more, like 旦, 白, etc.

Edited my answer as suggested by NS.X.

I went too extreme saying "Chinese native speakers don't treat 田 由 甲 申 甴 电 as related radicals." I admit that it was not true. Yes, they are related radicals, but only in the sense that they look very similar to each other, except for 由 and 甴 as pointed out by Stan, that they are variant forms of each other.

The way that those characters 田 由 甲 申 甴 电 are listed under 田 as "radical plus 0 strokes" only reflects what the author(s) / editor(s) thought was appropriate. Are there any fundamental rules behind that? I doubt it.

Alternatively, I believe it could've been done in another way:

list 由 as a new radical, and list the following characters under it: 甹, 畁, and 甴 as a variant form of 由.
list 甲 as a new radical, and list 畢 under it.
list 申 as a new radical, and list the following characters under it: 畅, 畃.
list 电 as a new radical, and list  under it.

See, characters can be classified in different ways.

I believe the author(s) / editor(s) of Kangxi Dictionary put 由 甲 申 甴 电 in the group of 田 for the sake of simplicity.


中學生活 does mean 'secondary school life', 中學生 however must mean 'secondary school student'.

生 is a compound ideogram comprising 屮 (sprout) and 一 (ground). A sprout emerging from the ground therefore symbolises life and growth.

Besides meaning life (as in 生命), living (as in 生活), growth (as in 生長) etc., 生 has a few other noteworthy derived meanings. 生 in 中學生 corresponds to the second row:

Definition
Example

n. the living
養育眾生 lit. to feed everyone that is alive

n. the literati, the learned, pupil
學生, 生徒 (retained in Japanese), 諸生 (obsolete)

n. nature; fundamental character (now replaced by 性)
天性 (天生 in classical Chinese)

adj. raw
生魚片 lit. raw fish slices

The above is an incomplete list, only there to give you an impression of how diverse in meaning 生 can be. I also found a few remarks online that suggest pupils are like sprouts, as they 'grow' and 'absorb knowledge'; reasonable as they may seem, I however do not know how etymologically sound this justification is, as 生 has a long tradition of being a laudatory title for the literati in general (子 as well, as in 孔子 Confucius, 孟子 Mencius; surely one cannot interpret it as 'son'). But if this is good for memorisation, then by all means!


I think blue in this case means the color blue, since 藍 in Chinese doesn't mean anything else.

ps: The English name of the movie 有人喜歡藍 is not "There are people who like blue." It is "Blue Valentine". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7B9LvwT8SU


商甲鐵178.2合集11606西周金沈子它簋蓋集成4330篆部・說文解字隸定

The character was originally「」, largely used as a phonetic loan for Zhengzhang OC: /*ʔsɯ/, meaning this (now written as「茲」).「」came from a variant way of writing「絲」(/*slɯ/, silk).

Later on,  horizontal lines or「Ｕ」shapes as differentiating marks were added to the top portion of「」, just below the notches, possibly to differentiate the original character from a myriad of other uses in the Zhou period (proper nouns and other phonetic loans). These additions ambiguously formed what is now written as「玆」or「茲」, which are really just variant shapes of each other:

東周・秦石鼓　篆玄部・玆說文解字隸定

戰國・楚簡・帛緇衣・13郭店楚簡篆艸部・茲說文解字隸定

Some other readings associated with「」or「玆」to note:

Reading「」as「幽」(concealed > dark) is either an erroneous interpretation of「」as the phonetic component of「幽」, or saying that originally「」had another pronunciation.
Reading「玆」as black should be a phonetic loan for「緇」(/*ʔsrɯ/, black silk).
Reading「玆」as「玄」(/*ɡʷeːn/, black, dark) is the association of「玄」with「玆」. In this sense,「玆」can be viewed as another character, formed by reduplicating「玄」to also represent /*ɡʷeːn/, and unrelated in sound etymology to /*ʔsrɯ/.

Continuing on for the morpheme /*ʔsɯ/ (this), the two「亠」on top of「玆」were sometimes joined to form「䒑」:

秦簡為吏之道51睡虎地秦簡隸定

  Alternatively,「䒑」is also a brush calligraphy variation of「艹」. Today, several character variations are due to swapping「艹」with「䒑」or vice-versa, the most prominent being「著」and「着」which were both originally corrupted from「箸」.

The character development timeline should then be「」,「玆・茲」,「兹」. Although this cannot directly answer the question as to why sometimes「茲」is preferred over「玆」or vice-versa as a phonetic component, from the historical development it is possible to see that the facts behind character structure and development was very concealed to later writers, influencing the muddled choices.

If you really had to choose one component or the other out of「茲」or「玆」, then pending on the character, that choice is sometimes quite easy.「茲」is defined in Shuowen as

  艸木多益

while「玆」is defined as

  黑也

So, for a character like「滋」which is defined as

  益也

The obvious choice is「茲」.

References:

季旭昇《說文新證》
黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》
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》

中國哲學書電子化計劃

宋・徐鉉等奉敕校定　漢・許慎《說文解字》


"你为什么不走过来?" --> 你(you) 为什么(why) 不走过来(don't come over) --> "Why you don't come over?"
"你为什么不说出来" --> 你(you) 为什么(why) 不说出来 (not speak out) --> "Why you don't say it?"
"为什么不肯说" --> 为什么(why) 不肯说 (unwilling to say) --> Why do you  unwilling to say?"

  What exactly does 走过来, or 说出来, or 肯说 mean?

'走过来'  means 'come over (by foot)'

'说出来' means 'speak (it) out' = "say it"

'肯说' means 'willing to speak/ say'

Depend on context 肯 could mean 'willing to' or 'agree to'

In English, you must put the question form before the subject. For example, you can't say "you why don't come over?" instead of  " why you don't come over?"

However, in Chinese, question form and the subject can switch place.  e.g. "(你)为什么不走过来?" = "为什么(你)不走过来?"


Does reading Chinese sentences improve my speaking?

I’m Chinese and currently studying English.  If you're just reading, your progress is probably very slow.

I think that the best way to improve your skill is to have conversation with people.

  你好，朋友，我是中国人，我正在学习英文。
  如果你只是阅读，可能你的进展很慢。
  我觉得提升你能力的最好办法是跟别人交流。


What is the difference between 早 and 早晨? E.g. 早晨好

早 is not morning, it means "early" in general. 我早知道了！吃早饭。

早上 is morning in general. 早上好！

早晨 is also morning, but earlier, at daybreak, in the very early morning hours.

The day is divided into twelve 时辰, where 寅时 is before dawn, the 凌晨.

Then comes the 卯时 between 5 and 7, the 黎明, the dawn.

辰时 is the next two hour period between 7 and 9, the 早晨.

After 9 is 上午, but 早上 refers to the greater morning period in general.


帮忙 is more colloquial, it is intransitive or separable. 'A comes to help' translates into 'A来帮忙了' and 'A helps B' into 'A帮B的忙', not *'A帮忙B'.

帮助 is a transitive verb or a noun. 'A helps B' translates into 'A帮助B', the verb is not separated unlike 帮忙. 'With the help of A' translates into '在A的帮助下', usually not '在A的帮忙下'.

Another difference is that 帮忙 is always used for more concrete activities (related to its colloquial state). For instance, 'to help fight against infection' translates into '帮助对抗感染', never '帮忙对抗感染'. On the other hand, 'to help lift the box' translates into '帮忙抬箱子' more often.


Matrix movie quote question: Advice on saying/translating "There is a difference in knowing the path and walking the path"?

There is a difference in knowing the path and walking the path

The idiom 知易行難 (knowing how to do something is easy; put it into action is hard) match this quote quite well
知 - know; aware
易 - easy
行 - implement; walk
難 - difficult
The writer might know this idiom but thought 行 meant walk
To put this idiom into quote:
正所謂「知易行難」
你知道「知易行難」的道理嗎?
古語有云 「知易行難」
To translate the quote from Matrix directly, you can say  "知道路怎麼走和真的去走這條路是有分別的" (There is a difference between knowing the path and really walking the path)
Note:

PaleNeutron wrote:
popular way is "说起来容易做起来难".

The elegant way to say it is "说時容易做時难", which is a common expression


Is there a trick to find out the intensity of words with similar meanings?

Who told you there is an intensity difference there?

你觉得它们不一样，不过我不这么认为。
你觉得它们不一样，可是我不这么认为。
你觉得它们不一样，但是我不这么认为。
你觉得它们不一样，然而我不这么认为。
你觉得它们不一样，而我却不这么认为。

They sound absolutely the same to my ears. You use different words only because you want it to sound slightly more colorful.

Update: I might be wrong. See discussions in the comments.

Anyway it is easy to remember:

不 in 不过: 4 strokes
可 in 可是: 5 strokes
但 in 但是: 7 strokes

See? The intensity goes up with the strokes.

却 is a different beast and shouldn't be compared with these three.


不三不四 is a perfectly acceptable term in Mandarin

Oxford

  IDIOM

  1 指人 shady

  交不三不四的朋友

  make friends with dubious characters

>

  2 指言词 neither one thing nor the other

  说些不三不四的话

  make frivolous remarks

I think you might be mistaking 不知说谓 for 不知所谓 which 汉语大辞典 defines as:

  不知道该怎么办, 犹言无计可施。

不三不四 is definitely better though!


Both 脚趾 and 脚指 mean toe.

趾 means toe and 指 means finger, and historically 脚趾 is the correct term, but because 指 is a homophone and has a very similar meaning, 脚指 is such a common mistake that in modern contexts, it could be considered correct also.

Note that this only applies to the 脚趾/脚指 pair; if you only write 指甲, it would mean "fingernail".


「美」

This character is written as "mei3" in pinyin and is pronounced similarly to the English word "May" (like the month).

It generally means "beautiful".


9 Questions from the movie Red Sorghum (红高粱)

1) "颠不出话来还颠不出尿来"

Here 颠 means shake, shaking. "Even I cannot shake you word out, I can shake you ... out"

  2) "长出了百十亩高粱"

110 should be read as "一百一十", neither of the "一" can be omitted.

  3) "唱戏的，你给我出来！ 你他妈阴不阴，阳不阳的"

I guess he's calling him a eunuch, who is considered neither 阳 (male) nor 阴 (female).

  4) "掉到福窝窝里， 还整天五眉三道地转不过来"

It is possibly "五迷三道", meaning people talking nonsense.

  5) 少若事， 少生非

It is 惹是生非 split up. "Don't make trouble"

  6) 往后看哪，李家的财产都归你。 人活一世图个啥？

Your are right, it means "people living a life for what?"

  7) 我在家排行老九， 是九月初九那天生的

He is referring to date in Chinese lunar calender, where dates for the 1st and the 10th are always prefixed with "初", as "初一", "初九", "初十". Here it is September the ninth in the Chinese lunar calender. (Not sure whether I should call it September)

  8) 俏食

I don't know. A search gave me some restaurant names ...

  9) 不行二旦他爹，你们穿好了

"二旦" is probably a person's name ...


You could look at Tianjin, as close as 120 km from Beijing. The local Tianjin dialect is still exhibiting rather drastic changes to tones and tone changes.

Drawing from your example, mandarin in Beijing and Tianjin differ in tones according to the following, with TJ accent being much more low-pitched:

1st tone = 55 (BJ), 21 (TJ)
2nd tone = 35
3rd tone = 214 (BJ), 113 (TJ)
4th tone = 51 (BJ), 53 (TJ)

You also have different sandhi rules for tonal changes. Tianjin itself is pronounced Tian3jin1 in TJ. Tone marks, however, would still be identical (just as "pen" is not rendered "pin" in Texas).

This pattern repeats itself wherever you go in China. For example, the standard Wu topolect as spoken in Shanghai has differences already within the city suburbs, such as Jiading, and much more so in neighboring cities like Jiaxing, and further more in relatively remote locations such as Hangzhou and Suzhou.

From this we conclude that the standard mandarin (普通话) is merely an ideal, a common framework for speakers of countless topolects and dialects.


What does 即便確實發生了什麼事，也不會波及到你身上 say?

即便 = even if
確實 = actually
發生了 = happened
什麼 = what
事 = matter
也 = still
不會 = wouldn't
波及 = spread/involve
到 ~ 上 = onto ~
到你身上 = onto you personally

即便確實發生了什麼事，也不會波及到你身上。
Even if anything actually happened, it still wouldn't involve you personally


Fonts for Unicode CJK extensions C, D, E

The Hanazono fonts (HanaMinA, HanaMinB) have full support for all 3 extensions and include 96k+ glyphs. Here is the glyph list (.pdf, 500 pages).

Babelstone Han claims to support all glyphs in Extension D, but only has partial support for C (37.1%) and E (19.5%).

EDIT:

Here's the download link (25.7MB) for HanaMinB (which supports these extensions). And here's a screenshot of a word processor with HanaMinB.ttf installed, displaying random glyphs from CJK Ext. E.


[Subject] + 从/由 (from) + [source] + [verb or phrase for the appropriate mode of travel] + 到 (to) + [destination].

我从家里走到教室 I walked from home to the classroom.

我从家里搭公车到学校 I took a bus from home to school.

失明机师由英国飞到澳洲 Blind pilot flies from UK to Australia. (News headline)