枕头(Zhen Tou) is the pillow which is on your bed. That's the only meaning of that word.
However, 垫子(Dian Zi) usually means a mat or pad which you are sitting on. Or means some pad could be put under a glass cup, for instance.


There are many similar questions on this site.

I think we use 的 in this case.

Because
他写的是...
is a simplified form of
他写的内容是...

内容 is a noun, therefore we can use 的 here.


no, "波傲蟀" is not a natural chinese name.
the answer below is extremely superstitious, read with cautions.
there're many sects of fortune telling; here, i convert your birthday to "eight characters" (八字), with our any adjustment.

was born on May 27, 1988 (year of the dragon), around 8:30 a.m.

your eight characters would be:

甲 壬 丁 戊
辰 午 巳 辰

in terms of five elements (五行):

木 水 火 土
土 火 火 土

a simple saying of it is: 五行欠金 (lack of the metal element)
for such case, people would choose a baby name with the component 金 (radical 167), might be 木 (radical 75) & 水 (radical 85). meanwhile, they would avoid any character with the component 火 (radical 86) & 土 (radical 32).
edited.
i see. ok, without yin & yang, my first suggestion is:
白鷺, 振
your surname "ballo", it sounds identical to 白 (u+767d) & 鷺 (u+9dfa) according to cantonese.  these two characters together, means "little egret"
it's a double characters surname. little egret (白鷺) is a good symbol in chinese culture.
from 禽經:

鷺．白鷺也．小不踰大．飛有次序．百官縉紳之象

about the given name 振 (u+632f), it roughly means flap. when a little egret flaps its wings, it determines to fly, upwards into the sky.
this character is chosen according to a poem (indeed, there're countless poems talked about little egret).in the book of poetry (詩經　周頌　臣工之什　振鷺):

振鷺于飛．于彼西雝
我客戾止．亦有斯容
在彼無惡．在此無斁
庶幾夙夜．以永終譽

more about 鷺:
御定駢字類編　卷二百五　p134-144
御定分類字錦　卷五十六 鷗鷺第十七　p65-78
these two are cheat-sheets, most, if not all related texts / poems are recorded. need some level of competency to read it.
my second suggestion, considering yin & yang, is:
巴, 鑫
again, the first syllable of "ballo" in italian, is quite similar to 巴 (u+5df4) in cantonese.
it's a "common" han chinese surname.
back to five elements, your birthday is considered as having one wood (木), one water (水), three fire (火), three earth (土), and without any metal (金).
then, the compensation is choosing a name with component 金, in order to "feel / think" that name plus birthday together, all five elements are included.
that why the character 鑫 (u+946b) is chosen. it means "prospering or good profit".
if you examine the character closely, 鑫 is composed by three 金, which matches three fire and three earth in your birthday.
the name "巴鑫" would be a ordinary, common one.
the above show a basic method only, different sects of fortune telling would have different considerations or compensations.
have fun :)


一些队员同样很好.

Some players are equally very good.

If you want to use  一样, then 一些队员也是一样很好的.

太 can not be used in comparing context, it is like the superlative, no others are good like them.

So you can say 一些队员太好了,  without a comparing adverb, like 一样, 同样, etc...


[V + 完 ] simply means to end, to complete or to finish an action
[V + 好 ] means to accomplish an action, that imply the action itself is an requirement,
Example :

'Finish (complete) eating then launch the attack'- '吃完了飯便出擊'
It simply describes the time line --  first, finish eating, then launch the attack

~

'Finish (accomplish) eating then launch the attack' - '吃好了飯便出擊'
Since the soldiers need strength to fight, 吃飯 would be an order (requirement) that needs to be accomplished,

You can say 吃完飯再看電視 (finish eating, then watch tv.) but you cannot say 吃好飯再看電視 (accomplish eating, then watch tv.) if 'finishing eating' is not a requirement for watching TV.
[V + 好 ] can also means  [V + adequately]
Example:

做完準備 (finish the preparation)
做好準備 (adequately do the preparation/ accomplish the preparation)'
磨完刀 (finish sharpen the knife)
磨好刀 (adequately sharpen the knife / accomplish sharpen the knife)


Most likely, 年 here was a typo of 午 in your book.

一個上午 (a morning) make sense; 一個上年(a last year ) doesn't make sense.

'A year' can be any unspecific year
'Last year' is a specific year in the context of the speech.
The phrase '一個上年' (a last year) contradicts itself.

Another explanation for '一個上年' to exist could be: '上年' here doesn't mean 'last year', but 'good year'( 上 as in 上等 - high quality). That is also unlikely, because '一個好年'is much more common way to describe a 'good year'

If 一個上年 was not a typo, then it can only mean '上年'(last year) was a special year that was marked as a particular reference.

For example: "再来一個上年, 公司就要破產 "-- "one more (year like) last year, the company will bankrupt"


What is the difference between 俯卧撑 and 伏地挺身?

俯卧撑 is more commonly used in Mainland Chinese Mandarin, 伏地挺身 in Taiwanese Mandarin.
From Baidu Baike 俯卧撑

俯卧撑（英文：push-up；Press-up。中国大陆称作俯卧撑，中国台湾地区称作伏地挺身，港澳地区称作掌上压）

Also, 俯卧撑 gives more results, probably this the preferred expression.

If you search for both expressions on TW domains (with site:tw [expression]) on Google, 伏地挺身 gives roughly 4 times more results than 俯卧撑. On PRC domains (site:cn), the situation is opposite, 俯卧撑 is roughly 10 times more common than 伏地挺身. Of course many Chinese and Taiwanese sites use other domains than .cn and .tw, this is just to illustrate the regional difference on a limited set of websites.


子 in words like 筷子, 裤子 is a padding to make single character words fit into modern Chinese which favours double character words. Most Chinese people picked them up as they build vocabulary and aren't taught any rule on formulating these.
However, if you want a rough rule, then 子 is like the English suffix '-let' which only fits on nouns that can be seen as small.
In Chinese thinking, only 村/village is small enough to be called 村子.
--
However, to avoid the awkwardness of using the single-character geographical words 省/城/县/乡/镇/etc, other suffixes like "里" are used instead.
For example, 看这个病得去省里/城里/县里/乡里/镇里 (This disease can only be treated in the [nearest] provincial [capital]/city/county/township/town).
"里" obviously means inside, which is more fitting for larger geographical areas.


Mandarin chinese: syllable pronunciation training

Looks like the answer to my question:

The audio from the second link is better that the first

http://lost-theory.org/chinese/phonetics/
http://www.uvm.edu/~chinese/pinyin.htm

And this one is of better quality:

https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-pinyin-chart.php


Generally speaking, there isn't much of a direct, one-to-one mapping of phrases to English phrases with determiners, particularly when "the" is used in more general ways. Examples abound in constructions like The Flowers of Evil (恶之花) or "The Brothers Grimm" (格林兄弟). However, these have additional qualifiers "恶之" or "格林" that specify which flowers or which brothers we are talking about, so naturally we would use "the".

Let's look at an example without any qualifiers then:

  我今天去了便利店。

Since different convenience stores abound, I wouldn't expect the speaker to necessarily be referring to a specific one (particularly without the addition of 那) or alternatively, to any one (without 一间). I would assume "a convenience store" if the speaker was recounting his afternoon in another district, whereas I would assume "the convenience store" if the speaker was talking about walking around the block around his apartment. So context really matters.

Similarly, in the case with 找充電器, it's a bit unclear without context. At your home, I would expect 我找充电器 to indicate that you are looking for your phone charger (so "the charger"). At someone else's home or in say, a shopping mall or cafe, I might expect this more to mean "I'm looking for a charger." unless there is only one charger and you've misplaced it, because I'd be more likely to assume that you want to borrow a charger. In such a setting, I would expect something like "我的充电器" or "你借给的充电器" to indicate that you are looking for the charger.


The characters are 從昨天 - From yesterday/since yesterday.

By itself, it sounds and feels like something is missing.

The song by popular Chinese band S.H.E. - 老婆 Wife, uses it in their lyrics, "從昨天 到今天 還有明天. 感謝老天 讓你們 陪在我身邊." (From yesterday, till today, and tomorrow, thank heavens for letting you stay by my side).


Outside of Chinese class, do people ask 你家有几口人？

Actually, very very seldom.  If (not when) people start asking me question like that, I would ask back: "You FBI?"
As a matter of fact, family information is usually voluntarily revealed, not asked, unless for certain reason, and even that, very specific, not generally.
If you want to get to know a person better, there is only one way:  lots of exchanging information thru chatting.  Family particulars, obviously, are included.  You accumulate this scattered information to form the big picture about the family.


2 word (Mainland) versus 3 word (Hong Kong) Chinese names

Chinese names are made up of "characters", not "words", and pinyin is a way to represent the pronunciation of those characters. Romanized names from Mainland China are written in such a way that the Family name is separated from the Given name by a space. The given name, no matter how many characters it's made up of, is spelled as one unit. The reason is that in the PRC, there are officially approved rules and guidelines regarding the writing of pinyin. See http://www.pinyin.info/readings/zyg/rules.html
Scroll down to section 2.3 for an answer to your specific question.

There are no such guidelines for Hong Kong, so people tend to transliterate in the most convenient and logical way to them. In most cases, this would be one character at a time.

This is a convention for orthography, and has little to do with culture.

Also understand that whether you write:

Chan Tai Man

Chan TaiMan

Chan Taiman

Chan Tai-Man

Chan Tai-man

Chen Dawen, or a myriad of other spellings, they are but different ways to represent the sounds of the same Chinese name 陳大文.


Hong Kong Government Romanization Converter

as i “known” only ( might be wrong, and illogical):
sometime around 1980s, before that, romanisation of a chinese name is solely depends on the staffs of the registration office. after that, they rely on the c.c.c. (chinese commercial code)
some tidbits:
羅 (u+7f85), could be “lo”, “law”, “loh”, “luo” & “lowe”
蔡 (u+8521), the old one is “choi”, newer one is “tsoi” (aft-1980s). the tricky aspect is: if a mr choi bring his children for registration, they’re also “choi”.
only for new immigrants go for registration, they have a choice to keep their old one (macau, pinyin, hokkien) or they may have it in “tsoi”. so, nowadays, a mr/ms 蔡 could be “choi”, “tsoi” or “cai”
about the c.c.c, there’re mistakes. once, the character “趙” is recorded as “chu”, it took about 2 years to rectify this error  so that, a mr/ms 趙 could be “chiu”, “zhao” or “chu” (quite rare, comparatively)
further, the registration office respected one’s mother tongue. that, if one speak punti (the localized version of cantonese), the name is in cantonese. if they speak chiuchow, hakka, etc, or cantonese with accent, they would have a “non standard” cantonese romanisation.
most mr/ms 孔 (offsprings of confucius) i recognised is mr/ms “kung”, not “hung”
the romanisation scheme in macau  is slightly different from hong kong
there’re people originated from south asia (indian, pakistani, nepali), that, some of them have a chinese name, the romanisation of these name are not transliterated from their chinese name.
last, the best romanisation scheme one can find, to transliterate cantonese name is sydney lau scheme (劉錫祥粵音系統); most (not all) name in hong kong followed this scheme.
http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/
the bottom option in the left pane.
have fun :)


How many non-native speakers of Chinese are there?

I found this report provided by the institution that runs the Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK). The report was about the tests that took place in year 2010, which was ten years ago, so things may have changed a bit, but I think we can still get a general idea from it.
According to the report, before November 2009, HSK had three levels: elementary, intermediate and advanced. After then it became the new HSK, which has six levels where six is the highest.
Since there is no good definition of "can speak Chinese", let us assume people who passed the highest level of HSK can speak Chinese. (The two concepts do not equal, but that's the best we can get.)
I don't know how to edit tables here, so I had to paste pictures of the tables (translated into English by me) from that report.

As we can see, there were 12099 people who passed the HSK 6 test in year 2010.

It is noted in the report that in the second half year of 2010, the test stopped asking examinees for this information of whether they are of Chinese origin or not, so the numbers here are smaller than the total number.
From the table we can see there are only about 15% of people who are of Chinese origin, so most of the examinees are not of Chinese origin.

So most examinees are from Asia. The other continents have only a few hundreds together for HSK 6, and we don't know how many of them actually passed.

Country information. We don't know which level they took or whether they passed, but if the proportion does not vary very much, we can have an educated guess.
12099 people passed the HSK 6 test in year 2010 and 86.75% of the total examinees of HSK 6 are non-Chinese, so that's about 10 thousand people. Let us multiply that with 20 for all the years and that makes 200 thousand people globally. Africa only has 0.64% so that's about 1000 people. Oceania (0.77%) has only a few more than Africa. That's above 130, but maybe the source in the OP has a higher standard for Chinese proficiency, or people of Chinese origin has a higher chance of passing the test, so for such a rough estimation, I think the numbers are reasonable.
Other interesting statistics:

American people are actually very good at listening!


How to say "behind schedule" in Chinese?

I am running two hours late for the meeting.
这个会我已晚到2个小时了。

There are various ways to say "behind schedule" in Chinese, depending on the context.

I am **behind schedule**.
我的**进度晚**了。(or **进度拖后** or **进度滞后**)

This project is two weeks **behind schedule**.
这个项目已**拖延**2个星期了。(or **拖后**)

Any borrowing country must be aware of the hazards of refusing to repay its foreign debts,
or of paying them **behind schedule**.
任何借款国都必须意识到拒绝偿还或**拖延**偿还外债的各种危险。

Owing to various delays en route, we arrived two days **behind schedule**.
由于路上的种种耽搁,我们**比原计划迟**到了两天。

The project is **behind schedule** again.
这项计划的**进度又耽搁**了。

I am sorry to say that we are three months **behind schedule** .
很抱歉,我们**比计划晚**了3个月。

Programmes are running a few minutes **behind schedule** this evening.
今晚的节目演出**比预定的时间晚**了几分钟.

The train's ten minutes **behind schedule**.
列车**晚点**十分钟。

The flight is **behind schedule**.
班机**误点**了。(or **晚点**)

This project is 1 year **behind schedule**.
这项目已**超期**1年了。

For "on schedule":

I am **on schedule**.
我的**进度正常**。

Please try to sail **on schedule**.
请尽量**按时**开船。

He could have finished it **on schedule**, but somehow he fell behind.
他原本能**按预定进度**做完这件事的，但不知怎地却拖后了。

He was bidden to finish the work **on schedule**.
他被要求**如期**完成工作。

The train arrives at the station **on schedule**.
火车**准点**到站。

The bridge was finished **on schedule**.
大桥**如期**竣工。(or **按期**)

All trains are running **on schedule**.
全部列车均**正点**运行。(or **准点**）

For "adhead (of) schedule":

I am **adhead schedule**.
我的**进度超前**了。

The plane arrived **ahead schedule**.
飞机**提前**到达了。

The task was fulfilled **ahead of schedule**.
任务**提前**完成了。

The train arrived at the station **ahead of schedule**.
列车**早点**了。(or 列车**提前**到站了)

The train arrived at the station 3 minutes **ahead of schedule**.
列车到站**早**了3分钟。(or 列车**早**到站3分钟 or 列车**提前3分钟**到站)


I need help translating and orienting two signature chops (Characters identified: 精忠報國 忠誠衛士)

The first one (精忠報國 or 精忠报国 in simplified characters) means to serve one's country with absolute loyalty and make all sacrifices. There is a story tied to this phrase. In the Song Dynasty (around early 1100s CE), there was a famous general called Yue Fei. In order to remind him to serve his country and encourage him to fight against the nomadic invaders, his mother tattooed these four characters on his back.
The second one （忠誠衛士 or 忠诚卫士 in simplified characters) means a loyal defender. There is no story behind this phrase, but it is commonly associated with the Chinese armed police forces.
These two phrases have little to do with your names unless you are part of the military or police.


Is Cantonese a better choice in looking for characters in rime dictionary (韻書)?

Though I emphasize Cantonese here, any southern dialect / language that still have entering tone (入聲); e.G. Hakka and Min, would have a similar scenario.

The oldest rime dictionary (韻書) I found, is 鉅宋廣韻, printed in 1169; that the national archives of Japan has a downloadable copy:

https://www.Digital.Archives.Go.Jp/das/pickup/view/category/categoryarchives/0500000000/0511000000/00

To look for a character in rime dictionary, you just need to know how to pronounce it, in Cantonese.

Let's try to find 入 (u+5165)

I know it's pronounced as sound file; which is straight & short (直而促). A clear, significant sign that 入 (u+5165) is in entering tone (入聲).
Meanwhile, if I try to write it's romanisation( I used sydney lay scheme, you may use others), it would be "yap". It ends with -p, another significant sign that 入 (u+5165) is in entering tone (入聲).
Pick up volume 5 of 鉅宋廣韻 {volume I & II is for level tone (平聲), volume III for rising tone (上聲), volume IV for departing tone (去聲); and volume V for entering tone (入聲)}.

https://www.Digital.Archives.Go.Jp/das/pickup/view/detail/detailarchives/0511000000/0000000873/00

Turn to the index page of volume 5, read from right to left, top to bottom; try to find any character that has a similar pronunciation with "入".

Voilà, 緝第二十六; the character 緝 has a similar pronunciation, and, the "七入" above 緝 is used for 反切, which has "入" :)
Lastly, turn to 緝第二十六. Well, no page number in ancient Chinese books. You guess roughly, and turn the page :( read again from right to left, then top to bottom. Voilà, it's there:

Ok, 緝第二十六 is page 34, 入 is page 35:

It was written: 入﹒得也﹒ 内也﹒納也﹒人執切

By the way, 内 (u+5185) is not 內 (u+5167); anyone see the difference?

Now, this comment is quoted from the above mentioned thread:

  Point 3 is straight factually incorrect that people can use 韻書 (rime dictionaries) with Cantonese but not Mandarin. It is just factually wrong and unlike point 1, there even is no dispute about this. Rime dictionaries do not apply as much to Cantonese as they do not to Mandarin. – rethliopuks

Now, may I ask, how can anyone searches for the character 入 (u+5165), using Mandarin?

According to Mandarin, 入 is pronounced as rù (去聲). So, anyone picking volume IV of 鉅宋廣韻 would be trapped, it's not in this volume.

I used 入 as the only example to show the uselessness of Mandarin in looking for characters in rime dictionaries. If anyone have time and effort, and wants to verify this context, try two more entering tone (入聲) characters:

哲 (u+54f2)

福 (u+798f)

Have fun

This answer is already quite long, I would say that most, or, all entering tone (入聲) characters would have the same scenario.

Last, I would conclude that, to look for character in rime dictionaries (韻書), Cantonese, or other dialects / languages that have entering tone (入聲); are a better choice than Mandarin.

Or, a direct, maybe provoking statement would be:

Since Mandarin lost the entering tone (入聲), it's useless in looking up characters in rime dictionaries (韻書).

Stay tuned, there'll be another thread about entering tone (入聲) and old Chinese; Cantonese is again better.


不可, in the context of your question, is short for 不可以, which means "can't", not "don't".

不可吃 means "can't eat", perhaps it is inedible or passed expiry date.

不要 and 别 both mean "don't", but 不要 is stronger and more instructive than 别, example:

  公共场所，请不要喧哗 (please don't make loud noises in public spaces)

不要 can be placed at the end of a sentence to mean "don't want". It can also be placed before a noun. 别 requires a verb behind it. You can say:

  这东西我不要 (I don't want this thing)
  我不要这东西 (same as above)


What is the fundamental difference between 大同世界 and Utopias

Tl;dr: Terms that share apparently similar meanings but are each specific to their own culture should not be considered as synonymous.

The reason for incomparability is that the context or purpose of the two usually differs. E.g., the Chinese concept of zhongyong (中庸, doctrine of the mean) should not be equated with the Aristotlean concept of the golden mean, which 'also' refers to a desirable middle between two extremes. While some of the examples in the golden mean may overlap with Confucian virtues, the Aristotlean golden mean is intended to be a solution in ethics, i.e., how to be ethical (i.e., doing the ‘right’ thing) between two vices (say being courageous between cowardice and recklessness), in order to achieve 'happiness' (eudaimonia) in life. Zhongyong is simply an advice on the Way of life, does not provide concrete examples like its Aristotlean analogue, and does not aim to achieve eudaimonia. That is to say, 中庸 is not an ideal translation of the Aristotlean golden mean.

Here I argue datong (大同), despite its seeming overtness in literality, is in fact culture-specific. It is classically a Confucian concept first appearing in The Book of Rites (禮記) (sadly a fact overlooked by many) and is juxtaposed to another societal form, xiaokang (小康) (note: NOT the modern meaning). Both datong and xiaokang societies seem ideal and harmonious (utopian, if you may), but datong is the better of the two. Why? Because people in datong aims for the common good (天下為公), and there is spontaneity in their practicing the Confucian principles (e.g. 仁義 and 五倫). That is to say, these principles need not be deliberately advertised or codified into laws and rules, as in a xiaokang society. In fact, Confucius was expressing regret in the obsoletion of a datong society, as he considered the society he was in a xiaokang one.

The modern use of datong as we know it originates from Kang Youwei (康有為). Kang's Datong shu (大同書) outlines the hypothetical datong society where radical compassion (Kang's interpretation of 仁) should be applied to all. In Smith (2019):

In The Great Unity ([D]atong shu), Kang discussed the future datong as a
utopia in which states will no longer exist; families will be
completely different, as men and women will be equal and same sex
marriage will be accepted; robotic birds will take the place of
servants; and animals will be treated well by a world of vegetarians.
Although often full of radical compassion in a way unlike other
literature of his contemporaries, Kang and his book were products of
their time, and included terrifying prescriptions for the elimination
of the black race through a centuries-long programme of eugenics.
Kang’s utopia was both highly imaginative and deeply troubling.

Kang's datong society was not exactly that of the Republic of China, but it is definitely utopian. A utopia must be imaginary (Thomas More intended it to be imaginary when he first coined the term; it comes from Greek οὐ 'not' and τόπος 'place' which translates as 'no-place') and contrasted to the flaws of the existent society. It also depends on the ideals of the thinker, so there may exist a plethora of utopias. The universalisation of English has perhaps also made its use loose and diverse. On the other hand, the concept of datong, be it Confucian or Kang's, is relatively stable (despite both being imaginary like utopias, with the Confucian one being historical, and de novo in Kang's). That is to say, utopia is an umbrella term. There are similarities and differences between datong and utopia; equating the two terms is not sound.

Similarly, 理想國 is technically a type of utopia. Classically it is the title translation of Plato's Republic, but in modern speech the specificity has decreased and has become similar to meaning utopia.

Reference: Smith CA. Datong and Xiaokang, in Sorace, Franceschini, Loubere (eds) Afterlives of Chinese Communism. AUS; 2019.


What's the difference between 对不起, 对不住 and 不好意思

对不起(*): Sorry/Excuse me

对不住: Ditto (colloquial). I'd assume it is mainly used by northern Chinese

不好意思(*): Excuse me (colloquial)

* Other meanings exist in different contexts, e.g. 对不起=let somebody down, 不好意思=be embarrassed, etc.


compare: 活禽

KEY

  {agriculture} live poultry

vs.

鸡肉

KEY

  chicken (as food), chicken meat

鸭肉

ABC

  duck meat


What is the Mandarin equivalent of 對 XXX 嚟講?

对X而言:
Oxford English

his promise isn't worth a damn to me
他的承诺对我而言一文不值


As an adverb, both 详细 and 仔细 contains the meaning of 'thoroughly, carefully and detailed'

  You can use "详细檢查" or "仔细檢查" for  "thoroughly inspect" or
   "carefully inspect"; You can use "详细分析" or "仔细分析" for  "thoroughly analyze"

  详细 and 仔细 are interchangeable in these cases.

However, 仔细 also contains the meaning of  'concentrate'  and 'pay close attention'

  You can use 仔细欣賞 for "concentrate and enjoy; pay close attention and enjoy" but not "详细欣賞"; You can use 仔细聆聽 for "concentrate and listen" or "pay close attention and listen" but not "详细聆聽 " (which mean thoroughly listen')

  详细 and 仔细 are not interchangeable in these cases.

Another difference between 详细 and 仔细 is  详细 can be an adjective, 仔细 is mainly an adverb.

We say 寫一份詳細報告 but not  寫一份仔細報告


Both “也”  and "都" in “一点儿也不喜欢” / “一点儿都不喜欢” functions as the adverb "even" (used to emphasize something surprising or extreme)

"一点儿也不喜欢" = "not liking it even a little"

Similar example:

"一元也不值" = "not worth even one dollar"

"(最后)一元也需要还清" = "have to payback in full even (the last) one dollar"


Did some research, but all I can find is that both 左 and 右 are actually the same symbol that denotes hand but reversed horizontally in ancient times. This symbol basically formed the top part of the character, which now pointed at same direction.

When I was in kindergarten, my teach used to help us to remember them by telling us 右 has a 口 in it, so it's the hand you use to hold chopsticks and eat since at the time left-hand dominance was considered to be corrected. That's why in China, you almost would not see people write or hold chopsticks with their left hand even it's their dominate hand.


Translation: "Shape" (as in "in shape" / "out of shape")

In this situation, shape can be translated in to "身材". in shape means "好身材，健康" out of shapemeans "身材走样"

Hope to help you!


Are people's names always pronounced the same in Mandarin?

Or do all Chinese names have only one possible reading in Mandarin?

No.

Apart from first names (when 多音字 (polyphone) is used they might pronounce differently), even for the last names, there're some (not much) with different pronunciations. Note that these names with different pronunciations almost means different origins. That means you have to confirm with the person about the pronunciation of his/her given name; on the other hand, if you know that you could get more informations, like how the name originated (from where or from who), and the informations about his/her ancestors. e.g.

费（Bì，  Fèi）
覃（Tán， Xún， Qín）
郗（Chī， Xī）
贲（Bēn， Féi）
隗（Kuí， Wěi）
郇（Xún， Huán）
乐（Lè，  Yuè）
召（Shào，Zhào）

References:
这些姓氏你能正确读音吗？（汇编）
「費」姓該怎麼讀？
一个可能被误读的姓 乐姓


It's my honor to offer the first answer of the community for you ：）

I think you mean to 纸杯蛋糕  zhǐ bēi dàn gāo

Check out the imgs from baidu pics http://image.baidu.com/search/index?tn=baiduimage&ps=1&ct=201326592&lm=-1&cl=2&nc=1&ie=utf-8&word=%E7%BA%B8%E6%9D%AF%E8%9B%8B%E7%B3%95

Is it？If so, I guess right :)


Meaning of 道生一,一生二,二生三,三生万物

The meaning I would present is

  With the principles of nature, the fundamentals were produced. Everything else are then produced from the fundamentals.

The explanation of the principle and the fundamentals differs from people to people, it depends on your belief, the major you study and other backgrounds.

I, as a physics student, would regard the principle as the physics rules and the fundamentals as particles that make up the universe.


Does the convention to paraphrase a word in an article exist in Mandarin?

被逮 could be considered as a short version of 被逮住， meaning 被抓住; be caught; For example, 我被老师逮（住）了， 我考试作弊被逮了(I was caught for cheating in the exam), 他被逮了个正着(meaning he was just caught while he was doing something bad).

However, 被逮 usually is not that formal as 被逮捕 or 被捕. It's not a good idea to use it in a serious/formal writing, like in a report.

Chinese writing does apply that convention OP mentioned, avoiding the same word being used multiple times.

So, if I were the writer for that article, I would put ... 涉嫌违反野生动物保护法被逮捕, ... 被捕女大学生交代...


They are similar in the meaning, however, not exactly the same.

其他 has a meaning of "the others", but it also has the meaning of "the rest", since this word is often used in the last when you are listing some categories, for example, "这个项目, 小王负责写代码, 小李负责 code review, 其他人去做测试." this word has the meaning in dividing the scopes.

别的 also has the meaning of "the others", for example, "我只知道这些, 别的我不知道了", in this sentence, the speaker tries to emphasize what he knows ("我只知道这些"), since "别的", from the literature meaning, "别"+"的", 别 has the meaning of different, so this word has the tendency in comparing and emphasis.


This page and it's Chinese version might help: Proper name mark - Wikipedia

By the way, we do not use underline as a punctuation in modern simplified Chinese writing. But in a passage (maybe classical Chinese texts) where underline is used, 中国 should be underlined according to the rules.


What does this phrase outside Yue Fei Temple mean? (Characters identified: 乾坤正氣)

The characters are

⿰龺乙⿰土正氣

In modern characters, this would be written as

乾坤正氣

The tricky characters are the first and second, where

The right side of the first character is 「乙」
The right side of the second character is an old way of writing 「申」


When 只 is used after 一，it is always interpreted as a measure word.
If you want to say "A video for you only", it will be "一段只给你的视频", or "只给你的视频".
Also the character 只 as a measure word evolves from the action of catching a bird:
 Source:http://qiyuan.chaziwang.com/etymology-14538.html
Therefore it is mostly used on animals:
一只鸟 a bird
一只狗 a dog
一只老鼠 a mouse
or body part:
一只手 a hand
一只脚 a foot


The word "why": what's the difference between 为什么 and 怎么?

什么 = what

怎= how

怎么 = how / how is that (how come)

为什么 = for what = why

为什 is short form of 为什么

为何 is the literary form of 为什么

何故 or 何以 is the literary form of 什么原因 or 什么导致 (for what reason = why)

Examples:

"什么我不能去？" = "What? I can't go?" or "what (you mean) I can't go"
"怎么我不能去?" = "How is that I can't go?" or " how (come) I can't go?"
"为什么我不能去?" = "For what (reason) I can't go?" or " why I can't go"

Basically 为什么 (why) emphasizes the reason itself ; 怎么(how is that) emphasizes 'in what manner' or 'with what method'  the cause exist


Why is 或 used in 将在45天后禁止任何美国公司或个人与[ByteDance and WeChat]的相关交易 instead of e.g. 和?

任何美国公司或个人 = any American companies or individuals

或 = or

“And” (和/跟) would be a strange choice here because then it would seems as if two sets of criteria need to be met before a law was broken. Whereas the “or” sets it up for one or the other.


For the same reason that it is called tuberculosis in English, from New Latin:

tuberculum + -osis

The term is a medical coinage of the 1830s (with the cognate first appearing in German medical publications). The English equivalent tubercle is a reference to the appearance of the lung tissue post mortem: white nodules, looking like tiny tubers, and with a pathological firmness.
This reference to nodules is the reason why 結核 was attached to this disease by the scientific community. The formation of such points in the lung tissue was adequately described by "the knotting of kernels". 結核 is also used in the field of geology for "nodule formation".
It must also be noted that the disease known both as 結核 and tuberculosis refers to various forms of infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, divided into pulmonary tuberculosis (肺結核) and extrapulmonary tuberculosis (肺外結核). In many of these, the tubercles are even more obvious, e.g. in scrofula (瘰) and osseous tuberculosis (骨結核).
Of course, throughout Eurasia there have been many other names for the various manifestations of tubercle bacillus infection throughout history. In Chinese, apart from 瘰, there are:

肺癆
癆病
癆瘵
癆症

There were other interpretations of the symptoms of tuberculosis from traditional Chinese medicine, such as 骨蒸. On the other hand, the 19th century British medical missionary Benjamin Hobson used 肺癆病 as a new coinage alongside the translation + transliteration 肺體都比迦力 in his 1858 Medical Vocabulary in English and Chinese.
When Chinese diplomat 薛福成 Xuē Fúchéng reported on Koch's tuberculin therapy in 1890, he used 癆症:

柏林醫生寇赫，新得療治癆症之法，系用金銹製成藥漿，可殺癆蟲，且能不使此蟲復生。
The Berlin Doctor Koch has newly found a method of curing consumption using metallic residue to produce a drug that can kill "consumption worms" and is able to stop these worms from regenerating.

The history of the term 結核 actually goes back to Meiji-era Japan, where there was an appetite for Western germ theory expressed through kanji-based neologisms, and importantly an association of "consumption" with Western literary romanticism. From there the modern terminology came to be imported to China in the 1890s, with the increased opportunities for Chinese students to study medicine in Japan. There is an article from the 《亞東時報》 Yadong Times, a joint Japanese-Chinese monthly journal, dated to 1899, where the Japanese medical scholar 岡本武次 Takeji Okamoto entitles an article:

記肺結核可懼之事

With the increased awareness of tuberculosis epidemics in Japan and China, alongside a desire for social reform and the impact of the 新文化運動 New Culture Movement, the term 結核 embedded itself into the national consciousness. However, 癆病 is used in 魯迅 Lu Xun's 1919 short story 《藥》, and as late as 1935 there is an advertisement for a Western medical treatment, "Kiazin", using 肺癆.


Meaning of 重剑 aside from the fencing sword epee

Most likely, it means heavy sword. In this case, we should comprehend it separately. So 重剑 can mean a very heavy sword. It's not that epee in sports.


Why does the object come first in the sentence 这本书我要再看一遍?

Many languages have this type of sentence construction to put topic first. It is not unique in Chinese.

You can find it in English too. "This dress, I really want to buy". This dress is the topic of sentence. In Chinese 這本書，我要再看一遍。這本書 is the topic of the sentence.

This kind of construction is quite common in classic Chinese. In Mencius, "魚，我所欲也。熊掌，亦我所欲也。" 魚 and 熊掌 is the topic of a sentence.

In Japanese, putting topic with "は" construction is even more common.


What board games would facilitate speaking practice?

Dixit is a great choice for practicing Chinese. In this game, one person describes a card (without show it), and then everyone including him/her take out one card. At last, everyone else guess which card is his/her. If everyone or no one get the right answer, he/she get no score. So, he/she should describe it in a suitable way in order to make someone right and some wrong. Everyone has change to speak and listen which is good for language learning.


What's the difference between 检测 and 检查?

In general, the difference between the two words is:

检测 means "to test"
检查 means "to inspect" or "to examine", but also "to test" works, in most contexts

When talking about viruses, the two terms are used a bit interchangeably. However you should use 检测 when referring to a diagnostic test:

阳性/阴性检测结果 positive/negative test results
检测冠状病毒的仪器 coronavirus testing devices
大部分患者尚未进行新冠病毒检测 most patients have not been tested for the coronavirus

You can use 检查 when you mean "to inspect" or "to test" more generically:

对外来人口进行检查 conduct tests/inspections (generic) on the foreign population
胸部CT检查发现异常 thoracic CT scan shows anomalies
进行食品安全检查 conduct food safety inspections


Pronunciation of the vowel "i" in Pinyin si

The closest is /ɨ/, at least in Taiwan where the accent is very free-flowing. In Beijing it's more like the /z/ in the comments above.


A story tells of an ethnic minority student who simply wanted to borrow a pen from a female comrade. Ethnic minorites in China are often as tone deaf as Westerners, and when the guy wanted to borrow a pen (借你的笔 / jie4 ni3 de bi3), it became 借你的屄 (jie4 ni3 de bi1), and the female student got all red in her face pondering the proposal of lending her cunt to that fellow...

The words and tones to look out for are the following:

cào (肏，操), which means fuck (often heard as 我操, i fuck, simply meaning fuck)
bī (屄，逼), which means cunt (often rendered as 傻屄 or 傻逼 (sha3bi1), meaning stupid cunt)

gàn is not problematic in China, only in Taiwan.

mā de (妈的) is a very mild swear sentence in China.


Is there any way to make a Chinese speech transcribed to written format?

WeChat could convert the voice accepted from others to text. By 长按 (touch and hold) on the voice, and select "转换为文字（仅普通话）" (for Android) or "转文字" (for iOS), you'll get the text showed under the voice.

Note that it works only for 普通话 (putonghua), and the language of WeChat (maybe the language of the system, depending on the settings of WeChat) needs to be set to 简体 (simplified Chinese).

Refer here for more screen captures.


What about "to seek business opportunities which can bring mutual benefits and favors"?


You should be aware of the contrasting pairs in this phrase.

飲 (to drink)
食 (to eat [not food])
起 (to rise up, get up > be active)
居 (to rest)

Like in English, when a pair of opposites in a category are stated, it sometimes means all things of that category.

The beautiful and the ugly
All folks, old and young


Chinese commentary about a Sun Tzu quotation

A simple Google search for 'art of war':

  http://classics.mit.edu/Tzu/artwar.html

  The Art of War

  By Sun Tzu

  XIII. The Use of Spies

  Hence the use of spies, of whom there are five classes: (1) Local spies; (2) inward spies; (3) converted spies; (4) doomed spies; (5) surviving spies.

故用間有五 - Hence there are five classes of spies

有鄉間 -  there are Local spies

有內間 - there are inward spies

有反間 - there are converted spies

有死間 - there are doomed spies

有生間 - there are surviving spies

You can read the explanation on the five kinds of spies on that web-page


Where should I place 多 in large numbers?

They are different in meaning:

300多万人:

(>300)万, maybe 301万 or 310 万...

10亿多人:

(>10亿), maybe 10亿+10000 or 10亿+1000000...


Today over at LanguageLog, I came across this sentence:

台灣經驗不僅是對其他開發中國家的一種啟發，更是台灣免於赤化的最佳保障。

Inadvertently, when scanning that phrase I ran down a gardenpath (yes, that's what linguists call it: a fruitless attempt that turns out to be the wrong choice, so you have to back up). Turns out it's not 開發　中國(家) *"develop China's (state)??", but, rather, 開發中　國家 "in-development states" (i.e. "developing countries").

Such things will happen and happen again to the reader, and if you care to know more, head over to said site and google it for 'gardenpaths', there's lots of examples for a number of languages. Just the other day I realized German "Maisturm" is ambiguous: is it "Mais-Turm" (maize/corn tower) or "Mai-Sturm" (May tempest)? Probably the latter in most cases, but only context can tell.

I remember some of the beginner's textbooks for Chinese using spaces between words, so I guess you'll still be able to find some. As for why spaces are not normally used in Chinese and Japanese (but in Korean), one can only guess that people find them too unsightly, not really needed and maybe too big a change from what they're used to.

Also, while extra spaces might benefit the reader, they do put a burden on the writer (try to add them while staying consistent—it's not easy!).


How do Chinese students write words whose characters they haven't learned?

If a person didn't know, or forgot how to write 餐 in  晚餐, he would not knowingly use a wrong word for substitute. The first thing he would do is to ask people who know.

If there's no one to ask, he would substitute 晚餐 with a synonym that he did know is correct. For example '晚飯'.

If he can't think of a synonym, he would use pinyin 'cān' inplace of the actual character '餐' and write '晚 (cān)'.

If he didn't even know the pinyin, then he would leave it blank with a question mark  like so: '晚(?)'

Sometimes, people knowingly use similar sounding words instead of the correct ones for humor effect. For example, '神馬' instead of '什麼' ; '魂淡' instead of '渾蛋'


Does 害虫 and 益虫 cover different types of animals?

害虫 and 益虫 can only refer to insects, animals like snakes or rats can be called 有害动物。

But nowadays terms like 害虫 or 有害动物 are getting less and less use.


What's the difference between 我是老师 or 我当老师?

我是老师 = I am a teacher" It is completely correct

当 is a verb that means 'to be/ working as/ take on the role or position of'

你当老师= you being a teacher

你来当老师 = you'll be a teacher

你去当老师 = you go and be a teacher

你当上了老师 = you've became a teacher

  The driver's question "你当老师?" (you being a teacher?) was a rhetorical one. That imply "It is hard to believe people as young as you would be a teacher." He could had asked "你是老师?" and the meaning would be the same.


Yes it is true. The official word for somebody who is gay is 同性恋者 (tóngxìngliànzhě), but in recent years 同志 (tóngzhì) is frequently used as slang for somebody who is gay.

From Baidu:

  1989年，香港人林奕华将自己筹划的首届同性恋电影节命名为《香港同志电影节》，这可能是这层意义的开端。（最晚是）从此开始，在中国大陆之外的中文地区，如台湾、香港、新加坡、马来西亚等，“同志”一词逐渐演变成对同性恋者的另一个称呼。用的时候并不是如“某某同志”这样作称谓用，而是“某某是一个同志”、“某某参加了一个同志团体”这样。这种用法起先在同性恋群体中使用，后来影响逐渐扩大，上述地区的社会各界都采纳了这个用法，例如台北市政府民政局就在《认识同志手册2001年版》中写道：“市长爱同志”。

The most relevant parts:

  1989年，香港人林奕华将自己筹划的首届同性恋电影节命名为《香港同志电影节》，这可能是这层意义的开端

In 1989, the Hongkonger 林奕华 named the first edition of his gay film festival "香港同志电影节"

  从此开始，在中国大陆之外的中文地区，如台湾、香港、新加坡、马来西亚等，“同志”一词逐渐演变成对同性恋者的另一个称呼。

From then on, in China and other Chinese speaking parts such as Taiwan, Hong kong, Singapore, Malaysia, “同志” gradually became the name for gays (and lesbians).

Further on the same page you can read:

  近年进入大陆后，由于绝大多数年轻人已经不再使用“同志”这个词汇，使得这层含义反而后来居上。

In recent years after the introduction in China most young people stopped to use the word “同志” due to its implicit meaning.

and

  尽管这一层新的含义在大陆地区也被越来越多的人所知晓并使用，不过中华人民共和国官方媒体和文件对这一外延含义基本不予采纳。

Despite its implicit meaning in China which is known and used my more and more people, the official Chinese media (in the mainland) and official documents don't accept this meaning.


I believe 利口 is the Chinese for:
Leet Code

[a] platform to help you enhance your skills, expand your knowledge and prepare for technical interviews.

and the rest are just numbers:

耳丝耳 = 242
丝久 = 49
斯尔 = 12
散灵思 = 304
丝丝久 = 449

Although there might be some mistakes in the numbers there.

If we take 利口散灵思 for example that gives us: LeetCode 304 which is a question about:

Range Sum Query 2D - Immutable（Python）

Now back to the question at hand:

Leetcode 22. Generate Parentheses
LeetCode 19. Remove Nth Node From End of List

p.s.: the offical name for Leet Code in Chinese seems to be:

力扣

maybe the alternative translation adds to the code.

Leet Code has a list of articles here ordered by number.


according to 《现代汉语规范词典》：

  现代“二”和“两”的用法区别主要是：1.当作数字读或在数学中，用“二”不用“两”，如“一、二、三、四” “一加一等于二” “一元二次方程”。2.序数、小数、分数中用“二”不用“两”，如“第二” “二嫂” “零点二” “二分之一”。3.在一般量词前，个位数用“两”不用“二”，多位数中的个位数用“二”不用“两”，如“两个人” “两只” “两条” “两次” “一百五十二人” “十二次”。4.在传统的度量衡单位前“二” “两”都可用，只是在质量单位“两”前用“二”不用“两”，属于特例。如“二（两）亩地” “二（两）尺布” “二两酒（不说‘两两酒’）”。在我国法定计量单位和某些非法定计量单位前多用“两”，如“两吨” “两公里” “两（二）米”。5.在多位数中，百位、十位、个位用“二”，千位以上多用“两”，但首位以后的百、千、万前多用“二”，如“二百二十二” “两千元” “两亿人” “三万二千二百人”。㊁见“俩”。

translation:

Major different of "二" and "两" in contemporary Chinese: 1. As a number or in mathematics, uses "二" but not "两". 2. In ordinal, decimal numbers and fractional numbers, uses "二" but not "两". 3. When used with normal counter word, for single digit number, uses "两" but not "二". For multiple digit numbers, uses "二" but not "两" in the digit in units. 4. When used with Chinese traditional units of measurement, both of them can be used. An exception is when "两" is used as a unit, only "二" is used. When used with official and unofficial unit of measurement, "两" is often used. 5. For digits other then the digit of unit in multiple digit numbers, "两" is preferred.


How can 蔫 be translated as "mischievous"?

Apparently it can mean something like "mischievous" in old Beijing dialect, ex 蔫坏:又称“蔫儿坏”，老北京方言，也称“蔫土匪”。意思是不声不响的动坏心思、做坏事，在别人面前却是一副正人君子的模样。通常形容那些背地里使坏的人。
Also see here for an explanation of 蔫 in a Tianjin dialectical context: 这个[“蔫溜儿”的]“蔫”，就是玩儿阴的，暗中进行。


Can 窝 be used for grouping any zodiac animal?

To answer your question, I think it's good to understand the meanings of "窝" mentioned here.

Three possible meanings of “窝" used in this case:

to refer to several animal's babies who are born at the same time.
This could happen to the mouse,pig, rabit，chicken ,etc. For these animals, the mother animal usually can give birth to(or brood, as a hen does) several babies at a time; but for animals like the cattle and tiger, the mother animal usually(exceptions are rare to see) can give birth to only one baby, so it sounds very strange to say "一窝牛" or "一窝虎", but sounds good to say"一窝兔子”,"一窝小鸡".

In this case, because it's used for animials, and more importantly, parents and children always can't be born at the same time, by the same mother. You should not use 窝 to refer to a family, even in a figurative way.
to refer to a group of bad people or things.

  一窝土匪   a group of bandits

Remeber,  Bad people and things, so 窝 is also not acceptable in this case.
animal's burrow or nest
In this case, 窝 seems accpetable to mean "house, the place where a man lives ", and could be used to refer to a family since all the members are in the same house.but as previous answers pointed out, it may offend someone. Don't risk saying that way!

I have never spoken that way or heard of someone saying that way in the real life.

So how to describe a family when all the family members are of the same zodiac animal?

I would like to say"他们一家都属[X]" or "他们一家都是属[X]的". Here, X is the name of the animal, 鼠，牛，虎，兔，etc.


What is the difference between「唐人」and「漢人」in Cantonese?

漢人 only refers to people of the Han ethnic group

It is correct、漢民族 is the major ethnic group in China, but 漢人 do not equal 中國人

唐 and  漢 are both great dynasty in Chinese history

Cantonese speakers prefer 唐 over 漢 as the representative word for "Chinese" . We have terms like 唐人，唐餐，唐裝，唐話，唐字 in Cantonese
Mandarin speakers prefer 漢 over 唐 as the representative word for "Chinese" . We have terms like 漢文，漢字，漢語，漢化 in Mandarin

  Does「唐人」in Cantonese mean exactly the same thing as「漢人」

No, 「唐人」in Cantonese mean exactly 「華人」 or 「中國人」

Both Cantonese and Mandarin speakers use「華人」 or 「中國人」for "Chinese people"

It is believed that 華夏 period culture was the beginning of Chinese culture

華夏最初是指史前黃河流域中下游一带分佈的若干部落或政治共同體，这些部落被后世视为漢文化及中华文明的起源之一

《左傳》“裔不謀夏，夷不亂華”一語，華、夏同義反復，華即是夏 (夏即是華)


Where can I find resources to improve my listening ability?

http://www.sexymandarin.com is suitable for beginners…
I haven't got anything good for exam preparation but if u wanna learn it in depth it's better to find a native speaker and listen to him speaking


原汤化原食 is a kind of eating habit, especially exists in northern areas; means drinking the soup of the dumplings (or noodles etc) after eating them. e.g. for the case of dumplings, 原汤 refers to the water (or you can think it as soup) which used for boiling dumplings, 原食 means dumplings.

  一般来讲，“原食”指的是淀粉类食物，比如饺子、面条、馄饨、汤圆等，“原汤”就是水煮这些食物后得到的汤，而“化”有“消化”的意思。所以“原汤化原食”的意思是，汤能够帮助淀粉类食物消化吸收。

(In general, 原食 refers to starchy foods, like dumplings, noodles, wontons, glue puddings etc, 原汤 refers to the water which used for boiling these foods. 化 means digestion, so 原汤化原食 means the soup could help digesting starchy foods.)

There're several various explanations about why people doing this, someone believe 原汤 could help digestion; someone believe 原汤 is nourishing. I prefer to that it's just a habit; people like drinking something after eating and with 原汤 you don't need to cook the soup separately. And I think this article gave a nice summary:

  所以，真要较真的话，“专家”们提供的“原汤化原食”的“科学道理”实在是很牵强附会。当然，面汤本身并没有什么不好，与白开水相比，它其中还有一些淀粉甚至维生素。吃完面后喝点面汤，多少也算是节约粮食的表现。如果真的喜欢喝，“喜欢”就是最好的理由。如果非要堆砌一些科学术语来给它一个“科学解释”，可能就是弄巧成拙。


Are both these stroke orders for 里 and 再 correct in mainland China?

I usually look up this dictionary for stroke orders. There could be some other useful sites like this one.

I personally apply the second order for 再 and 里 as you quoted. In practice, the stroke order doesn't really matter and you can develop your own stylish based on the standard one. For native speakers, we would only be taught and tested the standard orders in primary school. It becomes meaningless when we grow up. We almost forget the standard orders for certain characters. When we teach our kids, sometimes we have to look up those authoritative resources online.

I think the reason why we still need to learn the stroke order is that we need understand the conventions on how to write a Chinese character.


How did 搭 + 訕 compound to mean 'strike up a conversation' or 'reply evasively'?

From Zdic (汉典), 搭 has also the meaning of "to come into contact, to meet":

交接，配合：～配。～伙。～档。～售。～伴。～帮。～腔。～话。～界。～讪。

The last one in the above entry is exactly the example of 搭讪.
The same dictionary provides an entry for 讪 (but also MDGB does), where it's shown that 讪 alone means "to mock, to ridicule".
So 搭讪 together is somewhat an extension of the two meanings of 搭 and 讪, like to meet a mocking (meet = counter). MDGB again gives "to end an embarrassing silence by striking up a conversation", and Zdic "勉强找话说以消除尴尬".

PS: I vividly suggest you include Zdic in your preferred vocabulary sources. Even though the interface is in Chinese, you can easily copy-paste characters in the search bar and get decent results.
PS 2: I'm not sure why you think that words composed of 2+ characters must absolutely reflect preexisting meanings of the single characters. Languages can be productive.


Do 男人 and 女人 have an unfavourable connotation?

男人 and 女人 are used when talking about the relationship between women and men or when talking about specific characteristics of 男人 or 女人. Without knowing your detailed context, my best guess would be that you use them to indicate a serious situation where the generic gender terms should be used, which are 男的 and 女的, or just 男 and 女.


What is the difference between colloquial and literary readings of characters?

The wikipedia page for Literary and colloquial readings of Chinese characters  gives us a simple overview:

Differing literary and colloquial readings for certain Chinese characters are a common feature of many Chinese varieties, and the reading distinctions for these linguistic doublets often typify a dialect group. Literary readings (文讀; wéndú) are usually used in formal loan words or names, when reading aloud, and in formal settings, while colloquial readings (白讀; báidú) are usually used in everyday vernacular speech.
For example, in Mandarin the character for the word "white" (白) is generally pronounced bái ([pǎi]), but as a name or in certain formal or historical settings it can be pronounced bó ([pwǒ]); this example is particularly well-known due to its effect on the modern pronunciation of the names of the Tang dynasty (618–907) poets Bai Juyi and Li Bai (alternatively, "Bo Juyi" and "Li Bo").

The section for Mandarin also goes into more details, saying:

Unlike most varieties of Chinese, literary readings in the national language are usually more conservative than colloquial readings. This is because they reflect readings from before Beijing was the capital,2 e.g. from the Ming Dynasty. Most instances where there are different literary and colloquial readings occur with characters that have entering tones. Among those are primarily literary readings that have not been adopted into the Beijing dialect before the Yuan Dynasty.2 Colloquial readings of other regions have also been adopted into the Beijing dialect, a major difference being that literary readings are usually adopted with the colloquial readings. Some differences between the Taiwanese Guoyu and mainland Chinese Putonghua are due to one standard[which?] adopting a colloquial reading for a character while another standard adopts a literary reading.[citation needed]

It also includes:

Examples of literary readings adopted into the Beijing dialect:

which contains:

Chinese character  | Middle Chinese1   | Literary reading  | Colloquial reading
熟  | ʑǐuk入     | ʂu˧˥  | ʂɤʊ˧˥

So it seems that shu2 was once the literary reading while shuo2 used to be the colloquial reading.
Nowadays you'd be more likely to hear shu2 than shuo2 though.
MDBG defines 熟 as:

shú
cooked (of food) / ripe (of fruit) / mature (of seeds) / familiar / skilled / done / also pr. [shou2]

Here shou2 is just a footnote.
The entry for 熟 shu2 in 规范词典 says:

注意 shú是文读, shóu是白读, 一般通用的词语均可用这两种读音。

It does mention that shu2 is the literary reading and shou2 is the colloquial reading and most words can interchange the readings.
The entry for 熟 shou2 in 规范词典 says:

义同“熟(shú)”, 用于口语。

Same meaning as shu2 just used colloquially.


We sometimes use 上一年 which means the same with 去年.And we say 上个星期，上个月，also means 上一个星期，上一个月，and we ignore 一 for easy expressions. At the same time，we ignore the 个 in 上一个年 for the same reason. With time passing by, we use them for regulations. As for 去年，昨日，in the ancient time, we use 去，昨 mean past or 过去的，nowadays we remain those words. In my memory, we alse use 去月 means past month.


Is written Hakka the same as simplified Chinese?

I have an old Hakka textbook, published in Singapore in the 1950s. It is written in transcription (for the learner) and in Chinese, using Traditional characters, including some Hakka-specific characters -- borrowed most probably from Cantonese -- like 冇, 唔.

Below are a couple of pages. Today, though, it is rarely written, and when it is, the writer will use whatever character set he or she uses for Mandarin.


How can I express 'having' in an intimate sense?

Saying 我有他们 or 还有他们 is perfectly acceptable. I've heard this plenty of times before in conversation before, and it's a very common expression.

I guess this wasn't quite the answer you were looking for, but hopefully it's of use knowing that it's both acceptable and appropriate.


How to interpret 家居家装 in ...在服装配饰、护理美容、消费电子及家居家装这四大领域的产品上?

居 means to live, 装 means to decorate. 家居家装 in this sentence means the commodities or services related to furnitures, home-use devices, interior design and domestic decoration, that is, things you have to spend money on before you move into your new house.


What are simplified characters and traditional characters? Which should I learn first?

only if, you're interested in history, culture; or, you need to read materials dated before 1949; learn traditional chinese.

otherwise, learn simplified chinese first. particularly for anyone who learn "chinese" for bread-and-butter.

it's "easier" to read & write; for foreigners; compare to traditional chinese.

to be fair, well, there's a chinese proverb "物以罕為貴"; it's roughly "when a thing is scarce, it is precious".

have fun :)


「方」 originally meant side, surroundings > surrounding area. Before compass directions were invented, one of the ways to refer to a direction was through nearby landmarks or surrounding villages/states, and hence 「方」 also carries the meaning direction, now surviving in words like 「東方」, 「西方」, etc.

You can therefore treat 「方向」 as a word where both characters carry roughly the same meaning (as is common in Chinese).

商甲鐵122.3合集8667西周金毛公鼎集成2841秦簡秦131睡虎地秦簡今楷

「方」 (Baxter-Sagart OC: /*paŋ/) is a derivative of 「亡」 (/*maŋ/, blade tip, now written as 「鋩」). Both 「方」 and 「亡」 come from an additional mark drawn on 「刀」 (picture of a knife/blade/weapon). The meaning side, surroundings is either a phonetic loan (rebus) or semantic extension;
 compare 「劃」, which uses a knife 「刀」 to draw boundaries 「畫」.

「方」 extensively appears in Shang Dynasty oracle bones as part of state names surrounding the Shang state, and these state mentions serve as an invaluable record of Ancient Chinese interstate relations. Collectively, these states are called 「方國」.

References:

季旭昇《說文新證》
小學堂
國學大師

郭沫若《甲骨文合集》
中國社會科學院考古研究所《殷周金文集成》


You are right in saying that, in general, 泡 means a bubble/bubbles.

When it comes to drinks, 泡水 is actually a verbal phrase, usually preceded by a noun. It refers to water being mixed with other ingredients to create some sort of makeshift drink. For example 柠檬泡水 = lemon water, which is essentially lemon slices submerged in water.

Another usage of this verbal phrase simply refers to dipping oneself in water. 我去游泳池里泡一下水. (I am going to hop in the swimming pool for a while).

一杯泡水 sounds very strange to me. It could be regional slang for 气水 (soft drink/soda) or it could be the result of making a makdeshift drink. You will need to show me the ad so I can understand the context.

As a noun, 泡水 is an alternative phrase for 羊水, or the amniotic fluid that protects a foetus in the mother's womb. It's of course commonly referred to as simply water.

As a classifier, it's not just used for urine, but quite often for excrement as well. The following are very idiomatic:

撒一泡尿 (to urinate)
拉一泡屎 (to defecate)


Why does 人 have a different tone when it's part of the word 大人?

Google Translate: 人 / rén/ ; 大人 /dàrén/. I don't see the different pinyin for 人

~

  CantoDict :

  人/ren2/

  大人 /da4 ren5/2/

  (1) adult; grown-up

  (2) Your Honour; Your Excellency

  (3) [literary] Dear (Father/Mother)

  (4) great man; person of high rank or noble mind

  Note:

  1: Pinyin da4 ren5 is used for first two meanings; da4 ren2 for latter two.

  2: "Your Honour" is mainly used on a judge.

In Mandarin:

人 on its own is pronounced as /rén/
When 大人 meant "adult" or "your Honour" 人 is pronounced as /ren/.
When 大人 meant "Dear" or "great man" 人 pronounced as /rén/

So, you only need to remember 人 pronounces differently as /ren/ only when you mean to say 大人(adult) or 大人 (your Honour). In all other instances 人 is pronounced as /rén/


Where is the correct place to use 您 when addressing others?

I've found when meeting people for the first time, they often ask '您贵姓' as opposed to '你叫什么' or whatever else. This is even in informal situations with friends of friends.

Also, when meeting older people, or friends relatives for the first time I would definitely go with 您 - you just want to show your polite character. I've noticed all my friends doing this so I'm not the only one.

Lastly, if you even meet anyone in a business context, then it pays to go with 您 from the outset, at least until you know them better. Just more polite really.

Hope that helps!


说 does not mean update, it just means talk or discuss.

下次再说 can be directly translated to let us talk about that later.


你的生日是什麼時候?
(When is your birthday?) is the proper way to propose a question.
你(的)生日什麼時候? is gramatically incorrect but seldom heard when speaking for shortness

Also,
你(的)生日是哪一天?
(What day is your birthday?)
and, 你什麼時候生日?
are frequently used for asking about birthdays.

These can also be used in many other occations. For example:

你什麼時候出去的? (When did you get out?)
你們什麼時候要走(=離開,出發)? (When are you guys going to leave?)

These are really colloquial way to speak

I'll take the last one when speaking :-)


Well that was easy: I should have done a better web search before posting. The answer can be found here:

  糗大了，为俗语。为：出丑的意思。（事情搞砸了，出丑了）
  [糗大了 is a colloquial saying meaning "to make a fool of oneself."]

If anyone knows the origin of this phrase, I'd be glad to hear it.


I cannot understand the subject exacly of this phrase (DL used in romanization)

我是2002年生的 or 我是2002年来的

因为我不太懂英文

抱歉我只看得懂第三句

我家有养狗

Your second "nian" in the first sentence may be sheng (生，meaning born) or lai (来，meaning came)

I agree with songyuanyao that "DL" may very well be "di". "Di San ju" is "第三句" which means "the third sentence"


Same as English just without the for.

谢谢 + what.

"thank you for the gift" = 谢谢 + 礼物 － maybe you would say 你送给我的礼物 or just 你的礼物

"you for inviting me for dinner" = 谢谢 + 邀请 + 晚餐 - so altogether you would say 谢谢你那天邀请我吃晚饭 (which is for what already happened - seeing as you're writing a card, so obviously you're thanking for the dinner you've already eaten and not just for the invitation for an upcoming dinner)


What is this “XX” 開 “#” “上/平/入/去” “XX” method for describing character pronunciation?

these're codified verse, each character represent a "value" of particular "property", 廣韻 is the origin.

逼   曾開三入職幫

逼   the character looked up

曾   one of sixteen 韻攝

開   開口音 (開 for 開口音, or 合 for 合口音)

三   等第 (一, 二, 三 or 四)

入   entering tone, 聲調 tones (平, 上, 去 or 入)

職   this one is 韻目 (slightly different from 韻母 finals, there're 206 韻目 in 廣韻

幫   it's 聲母 initials

so, back to your question:

“X” + 開

it's [ 通 | 江 | 止 | 遇 | 蟹 | 臻 | 山 | 效 | 果 | 假 | 宕 | 梗 | 曾 | 流 | 深 | 咸 ] + [ 開口音 |合口音 ]

last, it's interesting that the book used traditional chinese script :)

info added.

ok, if you understand cantonese, literary chinese & traditional script, here it's:

韻攝

in the rhythm book 廣韻, there're 206 韻目, which was "assimilated" into 16 韻攝, that, ignoring initials, tones; similar finals were grouped together. i guessed it's easier to remember 16, instead of 206 :)

for example:

通攝, which included "東韻", "董韻", "送韻", "屋韻", "冬韻", "宋韻", "沃韻", "鍾韻", "腫韻", "用韻", "燭韻"; in cantonese (sydney lay scheme), these're:

通   tung1,  sound file

東   dung1,  sound file

董   dung2,  sound file

送   sung3,  sound file

屋   uk1,    sound file

冬   dung1,  sound file

宋   sung3,  sound file

沃   yuk1,   sound file

鍾   jung1,  sound file

腫   jung2,  sound file

用   yung6,  sound file

燭   juk1,   sound file

grep the idea now?

漢語多功能字庫, 鉅宋廣韻

等第

this one, it's roughly louder, loud, quiet, quieter (from 1 to 4). it's derived from 韻圖 (rhyme table).

the internet archive has a copy of 韻鏡, in page 100-101:

https://archive.org/details/02077186.cn

in bottom right, one can find

北
◯
逼
◯

in which, the 等第 of 北 is 一, while 等第 of 逼 is 三


The counterpart of 老太太 could be 老先生. It has a sense of showing respect. You can also say 老奶奶 (female) and 老爷爷 (male), which is more neutral.

Personally I feel 老头 is impolite, especially when combined with "一个" as in "一个老头". I'd rather use 老人 to say 我今天看到一个老人在喂鸽子, of course, this doesn't imply the gender of the old person.

老头子 is more commonly found in how an old woman calls her husband... Depending on the context it could have positive or negative connotation.


In the movie 北京遇上西雅图 (Finding Mr. Right), what does 文佳佳 mean when she yells “像话么，你”?

像话么，你? It is a rhetorical question, and it is not a dialect. Pretty much everyone use this.
You thoughts about 像话么，你 is correct. Let's look back to sentences before that

我是花钱买服务的，我整整坐了12个小时的飞机，我需要休息。你知道吗？小心点，这箱子很贵啊！你赔不起，我告诉你。我告诉你 我要投诉你们，你看别人都拿着个牌子举着等人。早早地就来了，你倒好，恨不得。干脆这样吧。你给我地址，我拿着牌子去接你好了，

All above is bunch of complain and sarcasm， and so she asked “don't you think this is improper?”
obviously she isn't expecting the the driver to answer the question.
For the second one:

无菌什么呀，你把老鼠和孕妇关一块。

Basically she complain about how can driver put a mice (driver seems to claim back seat is a clean environment) with pregnant woman.
So she there goes her second rhetorical question.
How do i know driver's claim:
'无菌什么呀' is a expression similar to when someone tells you my bedroom is so clean when you see tons of trash. Then you might reply "clean my ***"
To simply answer to your question:
She means "Don't you think this isn't proper?" or "How can you treat me / behave like this"


当地的 -> local
头脑 -> head

当地的头脑 means the head, i.e. the person having real power in local place. e.g.

  而且当在国外在一些不发达的地区和当地的头脑打交道的时候，往往会需要因地制宜，使用一些非常手段，比如现金贿赂等等。

  在洛阳北大街的万景楼饭店宴请祝绍周、警察局局长等洛阳当地的头脑吃饭。


一票否决 means "rejected just because of that thing alone", i.e. "rejected by one vote". It comes from the sense of vetoing, but more specifically the kind of vetoing power the UN security council members get; i.e. whenever a single reject vote is cast, the entire thing is rejected. It is usually only in this sense that Mandarin uses the expression 一票否决. The vetoing power of the US president, for example, is simply expressed with 否决, and 一票否决 in that context would strike as highly unusual.

So you see, in an imagined "holistic evaluation", many parts are considered. So if something has the 一票否决 power, then it means that as long as that one thing is unacceptable, then the entirety is rejected.

It does not mean "rejected by anyone". In this sentence, the sense of "anyone" is conveyed by

  走到哪儿都会

i.e. "no matter where he goes".


What is the origin of '日' as a curse word?

日 sounds like 入 when stressing the vowels. Compare with the character 肏 for the literal meaning of 入 in this context.


“凉性水果”  doesn't  exist  in  Chinese  context.  “寒性水果”  is  the  right  way.

“寒性水果”  doesn't  mean  low  temperature  fruit,  or  low  cotent  of  cal.

It  comes  from  Chinese  “中医理论”  and  “阴阳论”。Four  catogries  can  be  summerised  as:  “性寒”、“性平”、“性温”  and  “性燥”。


What is the origin of the proverbial phrase, "Drink the Northwestern winds"?

喝西北风，originally as 吸风, from 《庄子·逍遥游》:

  藐姑射之山，有神人居焉……不食五谷，吸风饮露。

Its original meaning is to live with just breathing the air, not eating or drinking anything else. It's a state in Tao.

Nowadays, in oral Chinese, 喝西北风 usually means having nothing to eat because of poverty. For example:

  他工作要是丢了，全家都得去喝西北风。


Is There A Chinese Version of Urban Slang Dictionary?

there is a Chinese version of UD: zh.urbandictionary.com && China Smack's glossary: www.chinasmack.com/glossary

China Digital Times also has a list, I'll update with that later.

CDT: Sensitive Words Series


As the comments have pointed out, 鐘頭 is a colloquial word which means hour, used in Cantonese, Mandarin, and Wu (e.g. Shanghainese). Other topolects may have their own colloquialisms, the most prominent being 點鐘 (used in Hakka, Min Dong and Min Nan). Mandarin also uses the word 點鐘, but more commonly for the meaning o'clock rather than hour.

The word 鐘頭 comes from an old word for hour, 鐘點 [1], where 點 refers to the hourly divisions in a day. 點 was replaced with 頭, which is a diminutive suffix. For reference, similar words which use this suffix:

木頭
老頭

The word 鐘頭 was likely popularised by modern Chinese literature, e.g. in the work 《日出》 by 曹禺, which was written in the 1930s.

  曹禺　《日出ㆍ第四幕》： “那就看您這幾個鐘頭的本事吧。 我福升實在不能再替你擋這門賬了。”

李六如　《六十年的變遷ㆍ第二卷ㆍ第九章》： “‘錢就少啦。 ’ 方維夏 把中學待遇略微講一點。 ‘也是按鐘點計算。 公立的一塊錢一點鐘， 私立的八角。 ’”


What are the rules for the order of time adverbs?

You said:

"However, structure 2. does not seem to apply for all adverbs of time,
in particular for some time adverbs indicating habitual actions such
as 经常 (often), 总是 (always) or 一般 (usually). "

You probably mixed up time words with frequency words. Those are quotes from your links on "ChineseGrammarWiki":

Remembering where to put the time words, such as "yesterday,"
"tomorrow," "this week," etc. in a sentence is really important in
order to speak Chinese correctly.
Time words can appear in one of two positions in the sentence in Chinese: either > at the beginning of the sentence (before the subject), or directly after the
subject. The structures are:
Time + Subj. + Verb + Obj.
Subj. + Time + Verb + Obj.
From Time words and word order

"...常常 and 经常 both can be used to express frequency..."
From Comparing changchang and jingchang

So, that answers Q1:
"Which adverbs of time can follow structure 2?"
In this case, the answer would be "none", since the words mentioned in the Wiki that relate to time, are proper nouns (They are names identifying different parts of time), not adverbs.
Let's look at your sample sentences given in the "examples" section of "Q2":

周末我经常去学校
我一般12点睡觉

When we remove the last section from the sentences for simplicity, then identify the role of each word, we get this:

"周末我经常"

"周末": proper noun of time
"我": proper noun of subject
"经常": adverb of frequency

"我一般12点"

"我": proper noun of subject
"一般": adverb of frequency
"12点": proper noun of time

Because those 2 formats are accepted, without changing the meaning of the sentence, and because frequency words cannot be located at the beginning of a sentence (As mentioned in Q1), therefore, the answer to Q2:
"When there are several adverbs of time, is there a rule indicating their order?"
is "Yes".

Hope this helps. If not, correct me.


Headline: "YouTube创始人从雅虎手中收购Delicious". What is the purpose of "手中"

手中 actually indicates somebody possess something.
For example B从A手中拿走C means A used to possess C and B take it from A, the sentence is to emphasize the action "take".


Trying to think of creative name for beginner Chinese class

If you are travelling ONLY in China (or mainly in China), you can name your class "中国行" (Tranvel in China).

  Or is there a better way/more concise way to translate "The beginning/foundations to learning about Chinese language and culture"?

For a beginning as a Chinese's thinking, I think you need to give such a name as "中国行", because it's of too deep meaning and many students will think you have a lot of things to talk about. To be very honest, I think you can translate it as "初识中国","认识中国"or"汉语语言文化基础"


G.Depardieu is Jean Reno's 二货朋友 in Tais-toi. Joey Tribbiani is the 二货朋友 in Friends. As Stan mentioned above, 二货 is an affectionate way to refer to a friend that may not be a genius but everyone loves him. 二: stupid. 货: buddy/man/stuff. More usage: 吃货 is one that admires good food(in a less graceful way). A refined 吃货 is a 美食家(gourmet).

女人如衣服 means "women are like clothes". It's usually used with another sentence, 兄弟如手足, which means "brothers are like limbs". If you ruined your garments, you can always buy new ones. But a lost limb is a pain that lasts. And here brothers mean true friends. But this joke is just using 女人如衣服 in its literal meaning.

姐也是你穿不起的牌子！Here 姐 is just a way to call oneself. To further the comparison 女人如衣服, she says that I'm a brand that you can't afford.

再贵的牌子，试穿也是不要钱的！ I'm afraid there're a lot to cover if you want to make sens of this, so I will just write down the translation: No matter how expensive clothes are, it's always free to try them on!

This is supposed to be a joke, but frankly I didn't get it.


Yes.
中 can be used to express that something happened of didn't happen within a certain scope or range or just within something (《现代汉语词典》: 范围内；内部). The range doesn't need to be a time range, but it can be. Furthermore, it can also refer to the future.
So you can say:

他预言战争将在下几年中爆发: He predicted that war would break out in the next few years.
年中
在最近若干年中: In recent years
在过去一百二十年中，人口已膨胀了十倍: In the past 120 years the population has increased tenfold.
过去几年中，许多工人对美术发生了兴趣: Many workers have taken to the arts in the past few years.
随后的四十年中，债务人受州法律的保护: For the next 40 years debtors were subject to state laws.

As already mentioned it can also refer to other things than a time range. Some examples:
家中， 水中， 山中， 心中， 队伍中


Comprehension of untoned speech in Cantonese

Depends. if you have all tones incorrect, then it's hard to guess what you are saying, but if you have only 1 or 2 incorrect, generally people can understand you. For example, if I say, I duck your mom. You probably get the meaning. but if I say, I duck your nun. you will be confused.


Misusing quantifiers is a practice of rhetorics. Consider the examples of 一滩猫 and 一坨代码. 滩 gives a metaphor noting the liquidity of a cat, and 坨 implies that the code is badly programmed to look like shit.

In orthographic usages, 条 cannot quantify 猫. However, if you have a specific rhetorical purpose, you may quantify anything with any quantifier you prefer.

In this very particular case, when 条 is used to quantify 猫, it would seem that you are giving an explicit implication that the cat is pretty long or very thin; and note that context matters.


In Cantonese, what does 多到 (do1 dou3) mean?

You can understand it as "so many that...":

  You can imagine the criminal cases are so many that the situation is serious.


It just means frighteningly/terrifying in your situation. Your passenger is just scared by your little stunts (but he/she may be amazed by your moves at the same time).

恐怖 and 可怕 do not have the meaning of poorly.


From the wikepedia page:

  历史唯物主义（英语：Historical Materialism）是马克思主义哲学的重要组成部分，也被称为唯物主义历史理论（materialist conception of history）或唯物史观。


Is there any difference between beginning a sentence with 在北京游览 and （你）在北京游览（时候/时）?

在北京游览，乘坐什么交通工具比较方便。
(When) On tour in Beijing, the public transportation system is relatively convenient.

在北京游览，is a general reference, not aimed at any specific 你, so no 你 is mentioned.

Chinese is direct, "在吃饭，我用筷子。" is wordy. Try:

我用筷子吃饭。

You could try entering "Chinese grammar of zai" in any search engine, you will get a lot of results. I got 161 million results!


You may also use: 诸位好！or 各位好!

There may be more, Chinese has a lot of ways to express things!


For beginner level:
I have some children's textbooks with short stories / poems (around 20 - 50 characters). Chinese children in years 1/2 spend time practicing by reciting these short stories until they get them perfect.
Here is an example of the first lesson from the school text book:

一片一片又一片，两片三片四五片，六片七片八九片，香山红叶红满天
Yīpiàn yīpiàn yòu yīpiàn, liǎng piàn sān piàn sìwǔ piàn, liù piàn qī piàn bājiǔ piàn, XiāngShān hóngyè hóng mǎn tiān

Try reciting these until you get fast and clear.
Something else that worked for me was listening to music. You can easily get songs with lyrics from the Internet. Aim for pop songs where the singer has clear pronunciation.  Then practice singing along.
For intermediate level:
I suggest regularly practicing reading aloud. This may sound overly simplistic, but if you get a book that has pinyin so that you can read at a reasonable pace without getting too caught up in the meaning. This will help you exercise your mouth and will improve your pronunciation.
For advanced level:
Try searching the net for some Chinese tongue twisters like:

吃葡萄不吐葡萄皮
Chī pútáo bù tǔ pútáo pí


What is the difference between 做番 vs. 做返?

Both 做番 and 做返 are used to represent the Cantonese expression, jouh fāan.

There is a reason why some people choose to write 番 and others write 返.  Etymologically speaking, 返 is the correct character to use.  However, because the traditional literary pronunciation of 返 is fáan (2nd tone) instead of fāan (1st tone), some people will write 番 instead to make it explicitly clear that the 1st tone reading is intended (even though the original usage of 番 has nothing to do with 返).

Because written Cantonese is not standardized, both characters are typically seen; so your friend is not wrong when she said that both are okay.

BTW, the reason why 返 came to be pronounced in the 1st tone rather than its traditional 2nd tone is most likely due to changed tones, a phenomenon that affects various words in Cantonese (this phenomenon somewhat analogous to how erhua affects various words in Mandarin).


I think  無情 is not "unconcerned", especially with the 總 there; more like "as if there had never been anything between us" (好像我們彼此從來沒有過半分戀情)

惟覺 = 只覺，但覺 etc.

It's a little bit like German doch, indicates an attitude, very hard to express in English. a little bit 無奈, perhaps? resigned sorrow; but put that in a translation and its spoiled.

"Now that we're sitting with wine glasses in front of us, I find that I can't even manage a smile."  Just a sentence, not poetry.

I agree that 心/芯 is the pun intended.  But since wick and heart are not homonyms in English, I'm stuck.  A truly tough poem to translate.


Is 你今天早上怎麼樣? or 你這個早上怎麼樣? okay for asking "How are you this morning?" and

没有这个问法，一般工作环境会问“早上好”，不会问“你早上怎么样？”

Chinese people do not say it like this; they always say 早上好 (zǎoshang hǎo) = "morning" or 你早上怎么样？(Nǐ zǎoshang zěnme yàng?) = "good morning".


Is it 䕘 ?

《集韻》同苓。又良郢切，音領。草名

means
According to Jiyun, same as 苓. And pronounced as 良郢切, i.e. 領. (良郢切 means the combination of the initial consonant of 良 (liang) and the vowel of 郢 (ying), i.e. l + ing = ling. It's grass' name.
http://www.zdic.net/z/12/kx/4558.htm
And

苓
líng ㄌㄧㄥˊ
　1. 指“茯苓”。
　2. 古书上说的一种植物。
　3. 古同“零”，零落。

means

poria cocos
a kind of plant in ancient books
same as 零, withered and fallen


What does 暴走 mean in 这就是让卡罗琳听到，估计也会暴走?

暴走 (literally mean: "wildly run" )（动漫术语)

It is a Japanese anime/manga lingo that imported to Chinese. The Chinese equivalent of "暴走" is "失控" (out of control; lose control)

暴走 means "out of control" - (also, 'act violently' is implied. The obvious sign of someone is out of control is not following the common sense and/or act violently)

暴走族 (clan that run wildly) is a Japanese term for "bike gang", the Chinese equivalent of "暴走族" is "飛車黨"


Is this [Ivanka Trump] Chinese proverb real? —“Those who say it can not be done, should not interrupt those doing it”

NPR did a pretty good article covering this.

  After Ivanka Trump Quotes 'Chinese Proverb,' A Hunt For The Proverbial Author : NPR

  Ivanka Trump's quote of a Chinese proverb — "Those who say it can not be done, should not interrupt those doing it." — prompted a search for the original source. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

  On the eve of her father's meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Ivanka Trump seemed to be calling on her inner Yoda as she tweeted:

  "Those who say it can not be done, should not interrupt those doing it."
     -Chinese Proverb

  Neat quote. But it was the first daughter's attribution to "Chinese Proverb" that sent social media sites into overdrive in China, where people scrambled to find who, among their ancestors, actually said this.

  After presidential adviser Ivanka Trump tweeted what she called a "Chinese Proverb," many in China (and beyond) tried in vain to track down the quote's author. Twitter/Screenshot by NPR

  After a thorough search of the Analects of Confucius, Taoist texts and everything in between, nothing definitive has come up. But that hasn't stopped millions of Chinese social media users from making wild guesses like these, straight from Weibo, one of China's most popular social media sites:

  临渊羡鱼不如退而结网 — It's better to knit a fishnet instead of standing by the river and hoping for fish.
  观棋不语真君子 — Don't give advice while watching others playing a chess game.
  勿以善小而不为 — Don't ignore small acts of kindness simply because they seem trivial.
  己所不欲，勿施於人 — Don't force others to do things you don't want to do yourself.
  吃不到葡萄说葡萄酸 — If you haven't tasted the grapes, don't say they're sour.

  A lack of a clear source for Trump's tweet has some people speculating the first daughter either made it up or, a more likely explanation, cut and pasted the saying from an unreliable website. In the meantime, the search for this "proverb" through ancient Chinese texts has become something of a viral Quixotic quest in China, filled with many a sarcastic comment:

    "Did you get that from a fortune cookie?"

    "估计是 fortune cookie 上学来的..."

    "Don't mistake something as a Chinese proverb simply because it's written in Chinese characters."

    "不能因为某句话上面配了个鬼画符的"中国字"，就觉得那是句中国谚语。——鲁迅"

    "Many foreigners make up Chinese proverbs much like we make up English ones."

    "都想多了。其实，很多欧美人说的中国谚语，都是他们自己编的，如同我们也编了他们的不少谚语。"

    "I think Jack Ma said that."

    "我想是马云说的。"

    "A Chinese proverb from Ivanka has killed the brain cells of Chinese netizens."

    "伊万卡一句中国谚语，累死了全中国网友脑细胞啊。"

  And finally, a tweet from an actual Chinese literature scholar, Brendan O'Kane:

  "You can call any old [s***] a Chinese proverb on the internet."
    — Confucius

  Who knows? Maybe someday one of these might become a Chinese proverb, too.


Is the term 有色人种 ("colored races") normally used by Chinese people?

As the comments say, 有色人种 is not commonly used by Chinese people.
There is online Chinese corpus BCC汉语语料库 hosted by BLCU. In the corpus we can search for "有色人种" in a few different types of material. You can get some result form 文学 and 报刊, but absolutely nothing form 对话. And when you check the texts return with the search, almost all of them are talking about things out of China.
Some example results form 文学

能这样的。我刚到东部那会儿总不断提醒自己：你可别忘了他们是"有色人种"而不是黑鬼，要不是我碰巧和那么多黑孩子打过交道，我就得花好多
共同点，特意说了好几个悲惨的故事，每个故事都是关于布朗克斯区有色人种、波多黎各人残忍而凶狠的侵犯，还刻意描绘，令人不寒而栗。但没过
次，我想亚拉巴马州的图斯康比亚大约有三千人，其中约有一半属于有色人种。再次，我在波士顿的朋友中只有很少几个人知道图书馆的事。我不想

And 报刊

帝国主义”，“打倒种族主义”。数以百计的示威者——其中许多是有色人种——拿着旗帜和标语牌，上面写着：“美国黑人，你们的斗争就是我们
在菲律宾，侵略者更成千成万地屠杀着和平人民——他们所歧视的“有色人种”。“华沙一条街”照出了战犯们的一色的脸谱，不管他是新的还是旧
》，把种族类别分成“白种人”和“有色人种”，印第安人被定为“有色人种”。对印第安部落而言，只有得到了政府的承认，才能取得对内部)

Note that instead of full sentences, a cerntain number of characters around the search term is displayed.


Where can I find recordings of people reading things now that mp3.baidu.com is dead?

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

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

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


Terminology for Teacher Pension Form in Taiwan: "基数“ and ”大口“

In the pension form, 基數 means the average monthly salary when he/she applied for retirement. So if the salary was 100 and his/her 個基數 is 56, then the total amount of pension would be 100*56=5600.

For the meaning of 大口, please refer to @thinwa 's interpretation. Just one minor correction, 大口 considers people aged 11 or over.


厂, this radical has few frequently used characters and you might not find any good name of it in practice. 偏廈 is probably the best one. I call it 厓字頭 because it is the radical of 厓 (cliff, which has derivatives of 崖 and 涯).

I now go a little deeper on this radical.

This radical is actually a character of its own. Inherently it read hɔn in Cantonese and han in Mandarin. In the evolution of characters, it turns into 厈 and 岸. It originates from stone and rock, and extends to the rocky side of hills. Most of characters under 厂 radical follow the meaning of 厂, like 厚, 原, 厲. These are some other readings of 厂. You can look them up in some great dictionaries.

As you notice, 广 and 厂 is so similar and some characters under 广 mistakenly goes into 厂, for example, 廈, 廠, 廁, 廚. 广 is some simple house and you can imagine a wall on the left side and A-shaped root. Those characters in this radicals follows the meaning of house, say 廈, 廠, 廁, 廚, 府, 庫, 廊, 廬, 廟.  广 has its reading too. It is jim in Cantonese and yan in Mandarin. I call it 廣字頭 as it is the radical of 廣.

It is possible to make of some commonly known characters under a radical, like 厓字頭, 廣字頭. For characters under 艸, it is named 草花頭. They all just mean the "head" or "top" of one or two particular characters.

A little bit more. The simplification of 廣 to 广 and 廠 to 厂 causes too much confusion in the understanding of Chinese characters. It is not only the confusion with meaning described above. 黃 and 敞 indicates the pronunciation of 廣 and 廠, and now they are eradicated in simplified characters.


In this sentence "请问，哪里可以买到票？" is the character 到 necessary?

买票: is all about the act of purchasing a ticket.
买到票: is about where a ticket can be successfully purchased.

But the two are often used interchangeably.


点仓 is in Yunan province. It has 19 mountains.
Here is its wiki page 苍山 (大理)

眉如点仓 means the eyebrows are thick, dark, long -- imagine you look at mountains from distance.

I think not lots of mountains can be used to describe eyebrows. 眉如五台，眉如泰山 would look very weird :)


Chinese Words that Accurately Reflect English Phonemes

I do not think that such a list exists. If it did, Chinese-speaking learners of English would never need to struggle with the pronunciation of their new language. Let's say we have a List E, which contains all the phonemes in English (whichever variety you choose), and another List C, which contains all the phonemes in Chinese (again, whichever variety you choose). Where E and C overlap, these are the phonemes that students will not likely have problems.  It's the part of E that is outside of C that your students need to tackle, and this is precisely the part where you cannot find Chinese words that contain those phonemes. The reverse is true for English-speaking learners of Chinese, that is, they tend to struggle with the part of C that is outside E. This is also why second-language speakers tend to have accents. They are trying to find a native sound that matches the new language sound, and where none exists, they approximate as much as they can, resulting in a distinct accent.


What are the different colloquial terms for Chinese mafia positions?

A problem I think you're going to run into: mafia groups usually have their own terminology that normal people don't know - and normally wouldn't be used outside of the group.

Anyhow I found this on Wikipedia:

Triad structure

and I found this comment online that should help you out a lot - I'm assuming your Chinese is good enough to understand:

  香港三合会部有一定的组织结构和清代三合会的内八堂和外八堂类似。传统的组织结构可分为四个职级八个职位：（1）第一职级是山主（大路元帅），其数字代码为“489”。这三个数字之和为对，暗喻“洪”字，洪为“三八甘一”，其手势为左手的拇指、中指、尾指出，掌心向身。（2）第二职级为副山主（二路元帅）。该职级还包括先锋、香主等职位。其数字代码为“438”，这三个数字之和为15，暗喻纪念三合会前、中、后五祖。其手势为左手拇指和尾指伸直，掌心向身。（3）第三职级包括白纸扇、红根和草鞋三个职位。白纸扇一般充当军师之职。其数字代码是“415”，源于“4
  x 15＋4”，合八卦之数，暗喻足智多谋。其手势是屈左手食指，其余指伸直，掌心向身。红棍负责执行“家法”，其数字代码是“426”，源于“4
  x 26＋4”，合108之数，暗喻梁山泊好汉。其手势是拇指、食指和中指伸直，掌心向身。“草鞋”负责联络事宜，数字代码为“432”，源于“4
  x
  12＋4”，合132之数。暗喻西鲁故事少林寺替清朝打西域的寺僧。第四职级是普通会员，包括正式入会的四九仔和尚未参加入伙仪式的蓝灯笼。现时的三合会组织结构略有变化，出现了增数和坐馆之名号，“先锋”和“香主”之名号则很少使用。一般来讲，现时三合会组织大多实行“坐馆制”，坐馆表面上是中层领导，但由于是行动层和执行层的头目，总理帮中一切口激性事务，掌握着帮中的实际权力。坐馆之职一般必须具有“红根”资格才能担任。擅数是协调坐馆管理帮中财务等重大事宜的主要头目，一般多由具有白纸扇资格的职员充当。
  　　香港三合会组织内部流传着三合会诗句和暗语等，一般现时很少使用，三合会诗句包括风诗、流诗、宝诗、印诗和表露所属之三合会堂的招牌诗。香港黑社会的暗语主要是从内地三合会沿袭下来，经过一百多年的演变，这些暗语经过香港三合会的修改，再加上广州话、潮州话等的音韵，已形成具有香港特色的黑帮语言。各个黑社会组织都有自己的暗语。例如老歪指和字系，尖顶指全字系，无下巴指同字系，条四指14K等。暗语使用范围涉及生活中的不同层面。就连十个数字也有自己的称谓。它们分别念作：1（流、朱），2（月、雷），3（汪、旺），4（则、线），5（中、乍），6（晨、龙），7（星、吉），8（张、爆），9（崖、湾）和10（足、寸）。
  　　澳门黑社会组织的开山鼻祖是成立于十九世纪的“友谊馆”、“友乐馆”和“利卢馆”等社团。对鸦片走私和非法“苦力”贸易的插手与操纵，是澳门黑社会产生的罪恶根源。“友谊馆”相传是华籍工头林阿发等人创立。主要是为了防止华工内部纷争和外部欺侮。规定凡加入“友谊馆”将受到保护，同时将工资收入的十分之一缴交会费，否则予以解雇。不久，另一由洋人撑腰的华人工头陈光仿效“友谊馆”建立“友乐馆”。“友谊馆”和“友乐馆”各自不断扩充势力，从事各种非法活动，沦为地道的黑社会组织。至民国建立前夕，澳门相继出现了“利卢”、“同义”、“家义”、“友和”、“消义堂”、“含义”、“联英社”等黑社会组织。
  　　北洋军阀的连年混战，日本帝国主义的入侵和国民党发动的内战，造成国内老百姓流离失所，在一定程度上为澳门黑社会的发展提供了可乘之机。至五十年代初期，澳门黑社会组织比较活跃的有“崇肇”、“友联”、“联义”、“罗梁”、“词义”、“黄馆”等，人口超过1．5万。1956年香港黑帮“双十暴动”后许多香港黑社会头面人物被递解到澳门。其中14K、水房及“和胜义”等香港黑社会成员不久便在澳门成立组织。日后经过血腥的搏杀后成为现时澳门黑社会的重要帮派。六十年代中期，澳门相继出现了一些新的堂口，例如在大三巴一带出现的“三巴堂”、新桥附近出现的“新义”等。七十年代，由于澳门经济支柱的赌业的繁荣，使得黑社会犯罪猖撅泛滥。1978年初，葡澳政府颁布《管制黑社会法》，加强对黑社会的打击。到了八十年代，澳门黑社会“过江龙”（外来）和“陀地友”（本地）不断拼杀；特别是“文革”期间来自大陆的大圈仔充当了狠角，手段残忍。据保守的统计，八十年代中期，澳门黑社会组织成员约有1．4万人。其中14K约有4千人，水房约有3千人，和胜义约有2千人。进入九十年代，前期黑社会组织活动相对平缓，从1996年下半年开始，澳门黑帮的均势被打破，黑社会势力围绕赌场利益的争夺不断。由1996年澳门黑帮“14K”、“水房”、“和胜义”和“大圈帮”组成四联公司与香港黑帮‘“和胜和”、“联公乐”等为争夺赌场利益开始，逐渐演变为近年来澳门本地两大黑帮“14K”与“水房”之间的及“14K”与吴伟势力之间的厮杀。
  　　目前，澳门主要的黑帮有14K、水房、和胜义、大圈帮、福建帮和吴伟势力。现时“14K”势力受到沉重打击，坐馆尹国驹和一批14K人员于1998年5月被捕。1999年11月尹国驹被澳门高等法院判处15年监禁，同时被判刑的还有黄达豪、陈成良、黄蕴华、林王燕p
  14K骨干。同月，陈月波、叶锦添、吕伟雄3名14K骨干被判监禁。14K许多骨干成员被判被抓或在逃，使得14K处于群龙无首的状态。水房是近几年黑帮争斗中最大的受益者。现任坐馆是吴X根，实权由赖X生（水房赖）控制。以吴X根为首的水房成员近1000人，主要集中于青洲、筷子基、新桥区，对澳门北区也有较大的控制权。经济来源主要是走私、搬迁、物业管理以及在赌场“叠码”，放高利贷等。以赖X生为首的水房成员约2（X人，掌握着“水房”大部分赌场利益，经营有多家公司，经济实力雄厚。“水房”与“14K”的矛盾冲突，实际上是赖X生势力与“14K”的矛盾冲突。大圈帮是澳门黑帮最好勇斗狠的帮派。1998年底，在葡澳政府的打击下，头目谭X活和骨干马X那、张X谷、陈X华等纷纷外逃。1999年5月，其行动组组长叶成坚在内地被抓。目前大圈帮人马分成三胜势力：一是原行动组骨干黄X雄（马刀）一伙投靠了“湖南帮”头目梁X（盲忠）旗下；二是在地产商吕X光赌厅从事“看场”的原谭X活手下；三是形成以谭X活胞弟谭X良为首的势力。‘’和胜义”一向和14K关系较好，在1998年反黑行动中受到较大打击，其头目江X良（石歧良）于1999年7月被澳葡法院判处6年监禁。吴伟是具有香港14K背景的澳门赌场经营人，其拥有的人马在澳门是一支不可忽视的势力，总部设在新。纪酒店。1997年8月，吴伟为了赌场利益，邀请了香港的14K、新义安、和合图及公乐等成员对付澳门14K。在
  1998年江湖大战中，吴伟势力曾陷于空前的困境，不但在澳门被
  14K夺去多间赌厅，而且在内地的投资也很不理想，例如在国内投资的“芙蓉花园”因资金不足而“烂尾”，在江西投资的伯爵香烟销路一般。1999年下半年后生意转好，致力扩展赌场生意。福建帮一直是很令澳门警方头痛的帮会，和台湾帮关系较好。福建帮通过开办企业，参与赌场生意，建立了一定的经济基础。在警方的打击下，福建帮近年活动趋于平静，一些活跃骨干王X勇（福建勇）、吴X林（福建林）、吴X峰（肥仔峰）等纷纷潜回内地。
  　　澳门黑社会组织根据组织内部的紧松程度可以分为三种类型：（1）紧密型。它们大都依据洪门的组织形式创立而成，有严格等级及相关制度。是一种以犯罪为常业的具有破坏力、规模较大、存续时间较长的稳定组织。例如：14K、水房、和胜义。（2）半紧密型。指以公开、半公开或合法的体育团体等形式出现，内部有的也仿效洪门的组织结构成立的黑社会组织。例如，成立于
  1937年的“联义”（体育会）、成立于
  1932年的“罗梁”（体育会）、成立于1950年的“利庐”（体育会）。（3）松散型。指黑社会组织内部没有严格的组织结构，大都是以血缘或籍缘为联络纽带。例如，福建帮、湖南帮等。澳门主要的黑社会组织内部组织结构和香港三合会基本相同，也可以分为山主、副山主、红根、白纸扇、草鞋、普通会员等职级。除上述职级外，尚有“亚公”、“大哥、大佬、顶爷”之称谓。所谓“亚公”是指高一辈份的大哥，而“大哥、大佬、顶爷”是指无特别指明职务的领导人。澳门黑社会成员除了从事贩毒、走私、操纵淫业等犯罪勾当外，围绕澳门的博彩业，从事由博彩业衍生的叠码、放数、看场、收保护费等行业是其主要营生手段。此外，黑社会组织极力向警界、市政、立法机关甚至内地的政府机关渗透，寻求支持和保护，物色代言人，澳门不少有势力的人士和黑社会组织有着紧密的关系。这是澳门黑社会组织猖撅的根本因素。
  　　四 　　港澳黑社会组织对大陆的渗透开始于八十年代初期。从渗透主体来看，香港黑社会组织是最早潜入大陆的黑帮之一。早在
  1981年，深b；l就发现有香港的“14K”、“水房”、“和胜和”、“新义安”和“老东”等组织的成员进入该市活动。在珠海，1982年在拱北口岸发巩有澳门黑社会组织渗透活动，之后逐步扩大至香洲、湾仔、前山、南屏、唐家和斗门等地。八十年代，港澳黑社会组织对内地的渗透无论是从成员数量上，还是从渗透地域上都是小规模的，一开始基本上是组织成员的个人行为，而且成员大都是普通会员，很少有大哥级的人物入境。从渗透的区域上看，港澳黑社会由于地缘、亲缘的关系各有侧重，港澳黑社会组织大都向珠江三角洲渗透，一般香港黑社会成员主要向深圳、惠州、广州、佛山等地渗透，而澳门黑社会成员主要潜入珠海、江门、中山一带活动，台湾黑社会则主要向闽南三角地带和上海等地输出。一般是以旅游观光、探亲访友、投资办厂等名义进入内地，大都是企图建立据点发展组织，也有部分成员是直接入境进行暴力犯罪。进入九十年代，港澳黑社会基本熟悉了内地市场。开始了有计划、有组织的罪恶输出，不少黑社会组织都把内地视为“新大陆”，纷纷建立固定的据点，许多大哥级人物也忙着考察内地市场，而且被渗透区域也开始变得多元化。不断向南北发展势力，极力向内地城市渗透，海南的海口、三亚，浙江的宁波、温州，山东的青岛，辽宁的大连等沿海城市都先后成为黑社会组织渗透的重点。同时，长沙、南昌等大批内陆城市也成为其垂涎之地。
  　　港澳黑社会对大陆的渗透具有很强的暴力性和侵财性，或勾结内地不法分子和不法势力。或自设炉灶，形成一股罪恶的地下势力，对渗透地的社会秩序，人民生命财产安全有着极大的危害。从形式上看，其涉嫌的违法和犯罪行为可归纳为以下12种：（1）看场、强索保护费；（2）走私；（3）贩毒；（4）经营赌业、地下钱庄、放债收数；（5）绑架勒索；（6）有组织的诈骗；（7）组织偷（私）渡；（8）有组织的盗窃、抢劫犯罪；（9）组织、强迫、教唆他人吸毒；（1）雇佣他人从事杀人。伤害犯罪；（
  11）非法经营色情业、讨债业；
  （1）为争夺地盘而进行火并等。值得注意的是港澳台黑社会组织在大陆除了从事不法勾当外，有的已在内地投资经营，并有一定的经济实力，其投资一般都是资金周转快、利润高的行业，例如，娱乐业、餐饮业、房地产业等。现仅以深8；1为例说明，目前港澳黑社会组织在该市投资的基本情况是，香港方面：（1）“新义安”头目向X波等人经营罗湖区新豪江新胜会酒吧；（2）“新义安”红根刘X参股经营罗湖区“2000”的士高；（3）“新义安”、“和胜和”成员参与经营“大富豪夜总会”；（4）“新义安”成员“赛仔雄”、“和胜和”成员周X、“14K”成员“肥仔余”等人以“灯头”方式参与经营福田区新水晶宫的士高；（5）“和胜和”头目“阿泽”等参与经营福田区CIXb的土高；（6）“新义安”成员忻X明等参与经营福田区天域的土高；（7）“14K”成员“高佬强”等参与经营福田区“哥斯拉”的士高；（8）“14K”成员陈X华经营龙岗区平湖卡拉OK；（9）“14K”成员马X川在罗湖投资经营18区卡拉OK；（1）“新义安”头目向x强在南山区开设永盛音像公司；门回）“福义兴”成员陈x在罗湖区经营海州大酒店。澳门方面：“14K”成员“老玩顺”等人以“灯头”方式参与经营福田区新水晶的士高。
  孔萍萍


Do "lipstick on a pig" and "画蛇添足" share the same meaning?

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

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

For example:

Man: "I love you"

Woman: "I love you too"

So far so good

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

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

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


Is the frequency of written characters much different from spoken ones?

Of course it is. Interjections are far more common in any spoken language compared to its written counterpart. Chinese also consists of many words and phrases that are very formal and rarely spoken.

https://naccl.osu.edu/sites/naccl.osu.edu/files/NACCL-21_Vol._1--Hongyin_Tao--pp._13-27.pdf could be taken as a starting point.

While the ten most common written characters are 的，一，是，不，了，在，人，有，我 and 他, the most spoken ones are 的，是，我，就，不，你，了，那，啊 and 个。

那个 and 啊 stand out in spoken Chinese, as does 你, since written language usually addresses a collective.

嗯 occupies place 2042 in the written frequency list, but position 30 in the spoken. Similar for 吧 and 哦.


When you use 而, you are always expressing some kind of adversative meaning weaker than 但. Most of the time they can substitute each other but not 100% certain.

Example 1:  both are fine

  这件事很难，而那件事很容易。 => This thing is difficult while that one is easy.
  这件事很难，但那件事很容易。 => This thing is difficult but that one is easy.

Example 2: 而 is better here

  他没有出国，而是留在了国内。 => He stayed in home country instead of going abroad.

Example 3: 但 is better

  这杯水不甜，但富含营养。 => This cup of water is not sweet but full of nutrition.

The differencies are subtle, taste them in more practice.

It's clearer to distinguish 而 from 和. Remember 和 has no adversative meaning, and in most cases it connects objects:

  Tom and Jerry are good friends.
  Correct: 汤姆和杰瑞是好朋友。
  Wrong: 汤姆而杰瑞是好朋友。


How do I say "convince (someone) that (something)"?

To convince:

to make (someone) believe = "使.....相信"

Example: 使她相信 (make her believe) 這不是她的錯 (that it is not her fault)

to make (someone) +(verb) = "說服" +(verb)

Example:  說服( convince)她相信 (her to believe) 這不是她的錯 (that it is not her fault)

*相信 in this sentence is a verb that can be replaced with other verb, for example: "deny"

  I should convince her that it is not her fault.

base on the context of in this sentence, you are not convincing her to act, but convincing her to believe, so "使她相信這不是她的錯" is the  appropriate phrasing.


I won't claim expertise, but the following is my interpretation. Corrections welcome!

  Format:

  Transcription given in 《甲骨文合集》

  How it should be read using more modern characters

  English translation

《合集》11503 正

ＡＢ〔卜〕(1)Ｃ貞〔旬亡〕

ＡＢ卜Ｃ貞旬無禍

Divination (卜) on heavenly stem A(2), earthly branch B(3): C(4) asks (貞): [Will we have] ten days (旬) without (亡(5)) calamity ((6))?
癸Ｂ〔卜〕Ｃ〔貞〕……丙……

(same)

Divination on heavenly stem 癸, earthly branch B: C asks: ……(7)丙(8)……(9)
癸丑卜爭〔貞〕……〔㛸〕……

癸丑卜爭貞……艱……

Divination on heavenly stem 癸, earthly branch 丑: 爭(10) asks: ……difficulty/danger/hardship (㛸(11))……

《合集》11503 反

……七日己巳夕……㞢新大晶竝火……

……七日己巳夕Ｄ(12)……有新大星竝火……

……Day (日) seven (七), the evening (夕) of the day of 己巳……appeared(13) (㞢(14)) [a] new (新) great (大) star (晶(15)) next to (竝) Antares(16) (火(17))……
……〔㞢〕求其㞢來嬄……不吉

……有咎其有來艱……不吉

……has calamity (求(18)), also(19) (其) there comes (來) difficulty/danger/hardship……ominous (不吉)

  Notes:

  I think parentheses〔〕indicate a filled-in character that may not be immediately obvious on the bone fragment.
  「Ａ」is a placeholder for a hypothesised/unknown heavenly stem.
  「Ｂ」is a placeholder for a hypothesised/unknown earthly branch.
  「Ｃ」is a placeholder for a hypothesised/unknown name of the oracle doing the divination.

  AB refers to the timekeeping system called the Sexagenary cycle.
  The structure AB卜C貞… means Divination on heavenly stem A, earthly branch B, oracle C asks…

  「亡」is used to mean without in oracle bone inscriptions, written as「無」now.「亡」(Proto-Sino-Tibetan: /*maŋ/, comprised of /*ma/ + termative suffix /ŋ/) is cognate to「無」(/*ma/).
  「」has several interpretations, among them「憂」,「咎」, and「禍」; I don't know which one is correct, but I think「憂」means worry, and both「咎」and「禍」mean disaster/calamity, so the interpretation shouldn't vary too greatly.
  Unknown inscriptions, if any. Might be faded out from the bone.
  I don't know how to interpret this without more context.
  「」is the name of a hostile tribe neighbouring the Shang Dynasty.
  「爭」, in this context, is the name of an oracle.
  「㛸」is commonly interpreted in oracle bone scripts as「艱」.
  「」here has far too many conflicting interpretations. I'm not even sure of the correctness of this transcription, so I used the placeholder「Ｄ」.
  「有」literally means there exists, so depending on the context it can be seen as there appeared, or has, or just there.
  「㞢」is an oracle bone variant of「有」or「又」. Do not interpret this as「之」, which much later also became the shape of「㞢」.
  「晶」originally meant star, now written as「星」. The current meaning of「晶」is sparkling/crystal/radiant, which is a semantic extension of the original meaning. For reference, the glyph evolution of「星」:

  商甲後2.9.1合集11503商甲前7.26.3合集11501西周金麓伯星父簋　秦簡睡・日乙41　今楷

  The second form above changes the number of stars「日」and adds phonetic「生」. The third form shifts all the stars to the top. The fourth form simplifies all the stars down to one star, and forms the basis of the modern shape「星」.
  The nova interpretation hinges on「火」being interpreted as Antares or its other astronomical meaning Mars, rather than its basic meaning fire.  There is no explicit inscription of「心宿二」, which is the full name of Antares. The good news is that there appeared a new great star next to the fire doesn't really make sense, but we're lacking the rest of the text (if any) to confirm anything.
  「火」(oracle bone sample view) is frequently confused with「山」(mountain; oracle bone sample view) in oracle bone texts. YMMV on this interpretation.
  「求」is used as a phonetic loan for「咎」in oracle bone script. It is a picture of a multi-legged insect, and was the original character for「蛷」.
  Many possible interpretations for「其」.


What is the difference between 七夕节 and 情人节?

Though they are similar in significance they happen on two different dates, and therefore are not interchangeable.

七夕节 is a festival based on a very old myth. The story has many variations but simply put it tells of a young cow herder who is separated from his true love, a weaver maiden by a silver river. On the 7th day of the 7th lunar month they are rejoined when magpies form a bridge to allow the lovers be reunited.

情人节 is a festival that started around the 18th century and used the name of a christian saint for the handwritten notes of love they would exchange.

They are very different in background but have given way to the commercial ideals of consumerism. The malls seem to treat both as the same type and I often see it referred to in print as "Chinese Valetines Day"


The second version, corrected. Thank you~.


What does Lao Tzu mean by "Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished"?

Maybe the original quote is this one:

道常無為而無不為。

——老子 《道德經》

道 (The way/ nature) 常無為 (doesn't do anything) 而(but) 無不為 (everything is done )


If grinds mean tutoring/ tuition in this context, we can just simply translate grinds as 补习.
If you need to specific, you can say 校外补习  (outside school tutoring) or 私人补习  (private tutoring)

I give maths grinds to 3 students. - 我给3名学生做数学补习。

I offered free grinds to my students. - 我向学生提供免费补习。

Giving grinds is good money. - 给人补习的收入不错

Usually, 给人补习 (give tuition) is a job for 家庭教师 (private teacher), but anyone qualified can offer tuition to anyone who needs it.


搂抱 is more sexually oriented
拥抱  is more emotionally oriented.
Here are some examples:

他搂抱着美女又是摸又是吻。（He's grabbing the beauty in his arm to touch and kiss.)

不敢相信女神搂抱着我热情的吻我（Can't believe the Goddess is hugging me and kissing me passionately.)

他拥抱着突然出现在他面前多年不见的妻子哭了起来。(He grabbed his wife who he hasn't seen in year and cried.)

母亲看到拿到冠军的孩子激动的拥抱着他哭了。(The mother who just witnessed his child becoming the champion hugged him in tears.)

本以为被抛弃的我看到女神的归来感动的拥抱着她说道：“我错了,我永远不要和你分开啦”。 (Me, who though being abandoned, saw the arrival of the Goddess, is deeply moved and hold her and say :"I'm sorry， I'll never leave you again."


It does indeed mean 1001.

The key word here is 據說, which means according to legends/wisdom/tradition, and thus 1001 is probably a local expression (whether Tibetan or their local variety of Chinese) for a large amount or a wide variety.