How about 恶趣味? Literally "an evil interest".
For your example,

For the renowned sushi chef, eating fish sticks drowned in tartar sauce was a guilty pleasure.
对于一位有名望的寿司师傅，吃着配上塔塔酱的鱼柳条是种恶趣味。

Some other interesting translations include:

罪快乐. It takes the pronunciation of 最快乐 (happiest) to imply that it's the happiest, yet a "crime".
罪乐感. It derives from 罪恶感 (guilt) to imply that it's a guilt which makes one "happy".


"There was no attitude of poverty in his poetry" 絶無窮態

穷 shouldn't be taken literally as poverty, instead, it is figurative exhaustion of one's talent; reaching the limit of one's capability. Also I am not sure 振 necessarily means becoming well-known, it could be simply hanging on steadily.

Without further context I would interpret the sentence as

  The poetry he wrote showed no sign of exhaustion, why didn't he keep going?


How would you translate "hard" in "squeeze my hand as hard as you can"?

The adverb/adjective you're looking for is '紧' (tight), which is commonly used for squeezing, seizing or grabbing something especially hands.

'Squeeze my hand as hard as you can' can be translated into '抓住我的手，越紧越好' or '尽可能紧地抓住我的手'.


[等 (X) 就 (Y)] = [wait till (X) then (Y)]

Example:

等(你来天津)， 我就(给你当导游。)

wait till (you come to Tianjin,) I'll then (be your tour guide.)

Other combinations:

  [一 (X) 就 (Y)]  = [once/as soon as (X) then (Y)]

Example:

你一(来天津)， 我就(给你当导游)

Once (you come to Tianjin,) I'll then (be your tour guide.)

  [如果(X) 就 (Y)] = [if (X) then (Y)]

Example:

如果(你来天津) 我就(给你当导游)

If (you come to Tianjin,) I'll then (be your tour guide.)


Please help identify traditional Chinese painting

Starting from the seal script, the left character is either 歡  or 觀  (from 趙孟頫 as well). I can't guess which one because the top-right part is blurred. As for the right-hand side one, I don't know much, but I'd say that there is either the radical 羽 which looks like  or , or the radical 羊   (趙孟頫) (if we don't consider the seal's border as an integral part) in seal script. I can't identify the component between them so that the whole character makes sense to me, but  @dROOOze's guess looks like the most meaningful (歡敬): . However, the lack of the right-hand side component 攵 of 敬 in the picture makes me doubtful.
Concerning the cursive script above, I agree with @Asule's answer which is justifiable: 觀 我  (趙孟頫).


Using 變音 when reading Classical Chinese poetry in Cantonese

It should be read in the original lau4 (陽平) tone, but not only because it's "classical", but primarily because the poem follows the tone pattern of a five-syllable regulated verse (五絕).

Tones in Middle Chinese were classified into 平 (level), 上 (rising), 去 (departing), and 入 (entering), the latter three of which were classified as 仄 (oblique) for the purposes of tone classification in a regulated verse.  平 tones correspond to modern Cantonese tones 1 and 4 in the 9-tone system where entering tones are numbered separately, and 仄 correspond to the rest.

A typical four-line five-syllable regulated verse that starts with a 仄 tone syllable (of which 《登鸛雀樓》 is one) has the following tone pattern:

  仄 仄 平 平 仄

  平 平 仄 仄 平

  平 平 平 仄 仄

  仄 仄 仄 平 平

  Notes:

  The syllables marked in bold are those that can be substituted with their "opposite" tone (i.e., 仄 instead of 平 or vice versa).
  The first line may also be 仄 仄 仄 平 平.
  All 平 syllables at the end of each line must rhyme.

The line that you cite, 更上一層樓, is the last line in the poem. The Cantonese tones of the first four characters in this line is 3-5-7-4; you can see that the tone of the last character must also be 4 in order for it to match the tone pattern 仄 仄 仄 平 平.

EDIT: I found a YouTube video as well where you can clearly hear it pronounced as lau4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YakQ1ACaf0


Here are my two favorite browser-based pinyin cheat-sheets:

https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-pinyin-chart.php
http://www.quickmandarin.com/chinesepinyintable/pinyintable_vertical.php

Whereas the site linked to in the currently top-ranked answer (lost-theory.org - a nice, new find for me, BTW) uses big, lossless .wav files (which also unfortunately seem to include a great deal of background noise), the sites I link to above use compressed mp3s, so I think you'll have a vastly easier time using them on a slow connection. Enjoy!


I don't have such a list for all Chinese name user, however I can find such a list for Chinese user in Taiwan. You can find it in Dept. of Household Registration. Ministry of Interior. in Taiwan. You can find a section called 全國姓名統計分析. There are data for several years. One of them is 全國姓名統計分析, you can find such a list for males and females in pages 266, 267 of 376 of the file.


I think it better to use "欢迎您的来访！", it does matter how many people are coming for visit. And can be reused for next time.


Why is the Pinyin for 波 bo1 not buo1? And why is 多 duo1 instead of do1?

For all practical purposes, you can think of this as a spelling convention. The finals are pronounced the same, even if all finals are to some extent influenced by the preceding initial.
In Pinyin, there is (almost) no overlap between these two spellings, so any given initial that can be followed by -uo can never be followed by -o and vice versa.
The actual pronunciation is arguably also identical, even though this always sparks emotional arguments when mentioned to native speakers with no training in phonetics (they typically claim that there's an obvious difference). This could be either because they are influenced by orthography (the way the word is spelt influences how they perceive it) or that the coarticulation going on with the preceding syllable in combination with the spelling makes them take note of the difference more than they otherwise would have. The phenomenon that spelling influences how native speakers pronounce words is not uncommon, see for example this list on Wikipedia for examples when this happens in English.
In many narrow transcriptions of Mandarin syllables (such as the one in Duanmu San's The Phonology of Chinese (2007) or Lin Yen-Hwei's The Sounds of Chinese (2007), the -uo and -o finals are transcribed exactly the same way: [ᵂoo], e.g. [pᵂoo] for bo and [tᵂoo] for duo.
This means that the sound is treated as a glide, which in one case gets its own letter in Pinyin, but in the other cases (after b, p, m and f) is merely implied.
I don't know the historical reason for this, though. If you listen to the syllables spelt with only -o, there's a clear glide in there, which is also easy to see if you look at spectrograms in e.g. Praat.
Finally, I said at the beginning that there is almost no overlap between these finals. That's because we do have both wo (which could be thought of as uo) and o, which are clearly different sounds. Since none of these have a normal initial, maybe you could say there's overlap, even though they are spelt differently.
However, while the first is very common (e.g. 我), the second is very rare and could be argued to not be a standard syllable at all. It's normally only used for modal particles like 喔.
I have done several projects that involve recording native speaker audio for all possible syllables in Mandarin, and most recorders (educated native speakers) don't know what to do with o or simply read it as wo, further hinting that this is not a normal syllable.
For a clear distinction, check the Pinyin chart over at Chinese Pronunciation Wiki.
Possibly, lo also follows this pattern, which would create an overlap with luo, but then again, lo is used in a similar way to o and not really as a full syllable. It should be abundantly clear that bo, po, mo, fo are not pronounced as lo or o, further indicating that it's mostly about spelling.
I have answered several similar questions here and have collected other potential tricky Pinyin issues here: A guide to Pinyin traps and pitfalls: Learn Mandarin pronunciation.
References:

Duanmu, S. (2007). The phonology of standard Chinese. Oxford University Press.
Lin, Y. H. (2007). The Sounds of Chinese. Cambridge University Press.


Well it depends on who you’re writing to in the family and the actual relationship you have with that person, but simply using names feels rude and inappropriate in letters in most cases. Generally it is less inappropriate if you go more polite and make the recipient feel close with you in writing. And I think the reason is because Chinese like to establish relationships with other people. Even for people not in the same family, we want to call them by 哥、姐、弟、妹 to make us feel more connected/close, not to mention that we have already have connections by family.

For the same generation, I feel it should be okay just use your name when you write to your cousins or siblings, depends on your closeness with that person. If you only use your name, it is better you start with that person’s relationship at the beginning of the letter, for example 表姐、表哥、堂弟、堂妹 etc, then in the end you can probably close with your name. And if you want to start with that person’s name only without indication of the relationship, normally it is writing to someone younger than you, such as 弟弟、表妹 etc.. With some indication of relationship at the beginning you can close the letter with your name. It feels very distant if you don’t use some word to indicate your relationship with that person in writing.

If you write to your spouse it depends on how you call each other. In the old days people use 妻 xx、夫 xx etc but i would imagine people use nicknames more nowadays.

If you write to parents, normally you use 儿xx、子 xx、女xx 、儿媳 xx etc in conjunction of your name without/with surname(generally without). If you write to your parents’ siblings, it’s very inappropriate not to use relationship words like 姨、叔、伯 etc unless you have a very close relationship and you have a special nickname between two of you, which is hard to imagine for me.

For other relatives, you use the relationship in front of your name without/with surname. For example, 侄 xx、侄女 xx、外甥 xx、外甥女 xx etc

If you write to grandparents, you call them by 爷爷、奶奶、外公、外婆 etc with no name mention and you close by 孙子xx、孙女xx etc. The name can be omitted if you're the only grandchild in the family. There’s less room to argue here.


Use 到 as the result complement of 猜 is not wrong

猜 = to guess

猜到 = to guess successfully/ correctly

The goal of the game is to successfully guess the names of the dish. (not just making guesses)

Neither 的 in "[黄蓉煮的][美食的名字]"  can be omitted

黄蓉煮的 is the adjective phrase for 美食
黄蓉煮的美食的 is the adjective phrase for 名字

"[黄蓉煮美食][的名字]" or "[黄蓉煮的美食][名字]" are both incomplete

Edit:

After seeing the picture, I think your teacher's correction was very sloppy.

If you wrote "遊戲的(内容)是猜(到)黄蓉煮的美食的名字", then 到 would be a mistake, you should write "遊戲的(内容)是(去)猜黄蓉煮的美食的名字
"目的 (the goal)" is "猜到" (to guess right)" ; "内容/玩法 (the way to play)" is "去猜 (to guess)"

'目标' (the goal of winning) would be better than '目的'

'去猜出' (figure out) would be better than '猜到'

(遊戲的目标是去猜出)

得 in 闻得出来了 is not wrong. Actually, the final particle 了 should be omitted because the sentence doesn't end there.
Also he didn't correct 名子 back to, 名字 or 蓉儿 back to 黄蓉

蓉儿 is a nickname only her loved one could use to address her. For us readers, she is always 黄蓉


回收 means recycle, things have nothing wrong, they just become old or outdated so they are recycled (to make new stuffs).

收回 means take back.

召回 means recall, products shouldn't exist in the market because of flaws, the producer want them back so that no further disasters will happen.


我们下个月肯定开始上课. 100%

我们下个月开始上课. 90%  as the base.

我们下个月很可能开始上课. 80%

我们下个月有可能开始上课. 70%

我们下个月可能开始上课. 50% as a middle base for not sure.

我们下个月好像不能开始上课. 40%

我们下个月不太可能开始上课. 30%

我们下个月不可能开始上课. 20%

我们下个月肯定不能开始上课. 0%

Sorry, the Chinese is really messy, isn't it? Those numbers are just for reference, please do not take it too much seriously.


Does “些” Work As A Suffix (Ever) In Mandarin Similar To “们”?

I think it's only for some dialects in somewhere SiChuan.

  在表示某类人时，成都人还爱用“些”作词尾，并将其读作[?i44]，音同“西”。例如：老师些，学生些，家长些，娃娃些，娃儿些，大人些，伙子些，姑娘儿些，女娃子些，男娃子些，儿娃子些，大娃娃些，小娃娃些，男人些，婆娘些，老头儿些，婆婆些，孃孃些，姆姆些，演员些，导演些，干部些，代表些，警察些，军官些，兵兵儿些，队员些，运动员些，贼娃子些，歹徒些，等等。

ref : http://www.ct17.com/bbs1/dispbbs.asp?boardid=1&Id=307&page=6


There’s no rule as to what tones can be used with which pronunciations but there is a finite list of words & pronunciations in MSM (Modern Standard Mandarin).

When you start getting into Chinese dialects and topolects any pronunciation is possible.

——

Just as a side note né can be found in 哪吒 (Nézhā) the name of a deity.


what is the correct translation for the indoor playground attraction called a "ball pit", google gives: 球坑

波波池

  波波池（英语：Ball pit或Ball pool）是一个凹陷的位置上布满彩色小胶球的池，这些球的直径一般不大于3吋（7.6厘米）。除了小胶球外，亦可以使用其他球体物，如气球。波波池通常是专供小朋友玩乐的地方。

Here's an example of use from winshang:

  　　 这种带着“寓教于乐”的主题式乐园，由于其具有科学教育的作用，对入园的小朋友有一定的门槛要求，并非简单的玩乐，需要家长陪同。一旦消费者进入审美疲劳，持续的内容创新和体验创新就会变成一个问题。其间，funmax也做了很多积极调整，如扩充儿童职业体验内容、增加更适合低龄孩童的挖沙、波波池等等。进入2020年，伴随着疫情防控的严峻，FUNMAX-EXPO暂停了营业。


读 = read ; read out. (it can read refer to reading a whole book, or just a single word)

阅读 = read (refer to reading of a book, a publication, or even a single sheet flyer-- something that contains meaningful context)


"回过头来走" should be interpreted as 回(过)头 - 来 - 走. Then

回头 - turn round
来 - to
走 - go/follow

过 is used for denoting the completeness status.

  用在动词后,表示完毕。如:吃过(吃完);起过(已经起床完毕)

Your understanding of the whole sentence is correct; but you lost the meaning of "回过头来" (turn round backward). 奏月's father is confusing; his daughter has graduated from college and could engage in some modern, advanced or easy job definitely. But she still decided to take tofu making as the work, even it's old, and hard.


More common way to say "squared", 二次方X or X的平方？

I think you don't bother to find what's correct, both 米每二次方秒 and 米每平方秒 are understandable.

Basically, there are some statute describe the general rule for unit pronounciation . But I can't find the data source, so I don't post the rule here.

My rule is, just like in english, read all x³ to 立方x, all xᒾ to 平方x expect /sᒾ .

For example read

kg/m³
kg        /     m³
千克      每    立方米
kilograms per cubic-meter

In most cases $ x \in {m,cm,mm,s}$, if oneday I have to read the gravitational constant G(6.67E-11 N*mᒾ/kgᒾ), I most probably read 每平方千克.

Below are reasons why "米每二次方秒" more common than "米每平方秒"(from the perspective of Bayesian inference.) I think it's just a convention. It's a huge project to find exactly why.
For the pronunciations of other common units, you can also find them in my links.

Statute law

It shows there are only one correct pronunciation.

中华人民共和国国务院公报 page 572 中华人民共和国计量单位名称与符号方案  from 中国政府
中华人民共和国计量单位名称与符号方案（试行） from 北京法院法规检索
《中华人民共和国法定计量单位使用方法》 , it is hosted on serveral unofficial web, I cannot find an official site.

Publication

This solved your question of "中国数学家" .

大学物理(高等院校物理系列教材)
常用非法定计量单位与法定计量单位的对照及换算表 from 中国大百科全书数据库
& 附录二 非法定计量单位与法定计量单位换算表 from CNKI jiangxi

Web data

This solve "the most common" problem.

Use double quotation marks and search by yourself to see what use them!
One publication only has one form

google books ( 194 compared to 9 )
google scholar ( 14 compared to 2 )
google result (15700 compared to 4960)

Don't use baidu, the result include "米每二次方秒" and "米每平方秒" even if you use double quotation marks.

Argument against

baike

米每平方秒
加速度(米每二次方秒)

see the link above, it's self-contradictory.
Due to web incompatibility, I can't amend it.
Also, the *former* baike article don't have source material.

google translate

`Metre per second squared` -> `米每秒平方`
`米每二次方秒`->`Meter every second second`
`米每平方秒`->`Meter per square second`

Baidu translate

`Metre per second squared`->`米/秒平方`
`米每二次方秒` -> `Metre every second square second`
`米每平方秒` -> `Metres per square second`

Others

FWIW, believe Wikipedia, when can't find in Wiki then use baike.


There are many ways you can say this. Some examples:

我会迟到一点
我要来得晚些
我会晚来一会儿
我会晚一点到达

You can also say it your way. It is not really necessarily, but I would add 要 or 会. I also wouldn't use the 吧 in this sentence. So something like

我要晚一点到
我会晚一点到


Expressing numbers in scientific notation


Glyph origin or Word Etymology Resources

zdic.net is an authoritative resource: http://www.zdic.net/z/16/xs/53D6.htm

会意。从又,从耳。甲骨文字形。左边是耳朵,右边是手(又),合起来表示用手割耳朵。古代作战,以割取敌人尸体首级或左耳以计数献功。本义:[捕获到野兽或战俘时]割下左耳。

However, I don't think it is true that 取 developed from 聝 and 馘, they have always been separate characters, even though Shuowen (same site) indicates that 取 has also been used in that sense: 捕取也。从又从耳。《周禮》：“獲者取左耳。”《司馬法》曰：“載獻聝。”聝者，耳也。七庾切。


Resources: Modern Chinese -> Classical Chinese (Dictionary/References/etc.)

Well actually we also use "我" in classical Chinese.
For example: 《曹刿论战》：“齐师伐我。”
And as for 汝, it is not equivalent to 你/您.
Sometimes 君 is also used to refer to 你/您.
Therefore it's very hard to find such a dictionary that convert everything to classical Chinese and even if it exists it may not be correct.( And I guess there is no such a dictionary.)
You may try to read more classical Chinese articles to get familiar with the way people write or simply ask a Chinese to translate for you. There is no standard way of translation. It depends on how you manage your sentence in classical Chinese.
The most simple way is to find a sentence expressing the same thing as what you would like to say and pick out the words you want.
Even Chinese people study classical Chinese by reciting the passages first,so referencing to an existing passage is very important. Hope this can help you.


立春 Lìchūn "Beginning of spring"
雨水 Yǔshuǐ "Rain Water"
惊蛰 Jīngzhé "Awakening of insects"
春分 Chūnfēn "Mid spring"
清明 Qīngmíng "Clear and bright"
谷雨 Gǔyǔ "Rain for the grains"
立夏 Lìxià "Beginning of summer"
小满 Xiǎomǎn "Partially filled grains"
芒种 Mángzhòng "seed sowing"
夏至 Xiàzhì "Summer Solstice"
小暑 Xiǎoshǔ "Slight Heat"
大暑 Dàshǔ "Great Heat"
立秋 Lìqiū "Beginning of autumn"
处暑 Chǔshǔ "End of heat"
白露 Báilù "White dew"
秋分 Qiūfēn "Autumn Equinox"
寒露 Hánlù "Cold dew"
霜降 Shuāngjiàng "Frost descends"
立冬 Lìdōng "Beginning of winter"
小雪 Xiǎoxuě "Slight snow"
大雪 Dàxuě "Big snow"
冬至 Dōngzhì "Winter solstice"
小寒 Xiǎohán "Slight cold"
大寒 Dàhán "Extreme cold"

What you have mentioned in your question, the hottest period, I think it is 大暑, end of July, the hottest time in Northern hemisphere.


No, they cannot. 一會兒 has two meanings:

Expressing that an action will be done soon. E.g. 我一會兒去圖書館, I will go to the library in a short while.
Sometimes, but in the sense of someone being unable to make up their mind about something, or about a lively/chaotic situation which can't be described clearly, as in your examples given in the question.

有時候 cannot be used in your examples. The meaning sometimes for 有時候 is more in the sense of occasionally rather than your examples. Compare the following two:

他有時候打籃球，有時候踢足球 (He plays basketball and soccer, literally He sometimes plays basketball and sometimes plays soccer, typical sentence which describes someone's varied weekly activities)
他一會兒打籃球，一會兒踢足球 (figuratively He plays basketball one week, and goes and plays soccer the next; but still literally He sometimes plays basketball and sometimes plays soccer, typical sentence which describes someone (1) being unable to commit to an activity, or (2) being extremely busy and not stopping to take a break)


What is the difference between “比照” and “比较”？

In oral, we all say "比较". 比照 is seldom used in oral. They are almost equal. You'd better learn sentences first. Examples:
通过比较/比照，旧手机更好用。

那款手机比较漂亮。You can't use 比照 here. Here, 比较 means more or pretty.


Using 一样 instead of 同一 for "the same school"

Your understanding is correct.

You never use 一样 to refer to the same school. You can only use it to refer to two similar schools.

同一 always means the same one.

  I think we will end up going to the same school = 我想我们会上同一所学校


They are different, of course.

非常 literally means 'not common/uncommon', thus extraordinary ("out of ordinary, un-ordinary", just like 非常), exceptional, very, etc.

很 means 'very, quite'.

Usually, 非常 is stronger in the meaning than the simple 很. Just like you wrote, 非常好 is above 很好 in degree. One of the reasons perhaps is that 很 does not always mean very is that sometimes it is only inserted before an adjective to make it "predicate-capable". In such cases 很好 simply means "good", not "very good". This has just just been discussed a day ago. Check this question for details.

Also, there is a related question about answering to 你好吗？ with 很好。


Chinese writing works differently, of course, to alphabetical writing.

If you define the basic unit of written Chinese as the character, then no Chinese character will equal 1, because there's no such thing as a silent Chinese character.*
If you define the basic unit of written Chinese as a stroke, then the homophonic group is trivial and is just the group comprising all strokes.
If you define the basic unit of written Chinese as all unicode-encoded decompositions (this is not a natural way of decomposing the written language), then non-1-value characters can be found by searching through a database for characters which aren't part of any other character. Examples can be found by Googling search terms like "CJKV Characters with the most strokes".

*I suppose if you wish to reduce expressions like "Aaaaah! (啊啊啊啊!)" then you could plausibly say that 啊 = 1...


What is the correct translation for the term 「網絡化」?

I think you can happily use 'networking' or 'networked'.
Leave 'onlinification' to google. (Reminds me of californication)
朋輩關係網絡化
peer relationship networked
The networking of peer relationships
... 阿拉伯之春的网络化特性。
... the networked nature of the Arab Spring
我们正在变成一个网络化个体的社会，
we are becoming a society of networked individuals, ...
随着世界越来越走向数字化，网络化，
As the world moves more and more towards being digital, networked, ...


How are my 用词造句 ("use the word to make a sentence") sentences using 幸福 and 俩?

我妹妹十一月会结婚，太
  幸福了！

  他们俩今天在商店一起买新衣服了。

Basically, both of your sentences are ok grammatically. The first one can be improved if you replace 会 with 要.

  我妹妹十一月要结婚，太幸福了！

要 sounds more emotional than 会 in this context. 会 is a bit "objective", less sentimental.  In this sentence, you want to express the excitement(indicated by 太幸福了！), so 要 is fit better. It's like saying, 我妹妹要结婚了！ 太幸福了！！！


How is 妻 written according to PRC and Taiwanese standard?

You're halfway to answering your own question. On the zdic page theres a tab called 字源字形: 妻 字源字形.

Here's the part you're interested in:

The stroke you're talking about doesn't poke through in PRC but in Taiwan and HK it does.


Dog radical (犭) for non-Han ethnic groups

I can only provide a partial answer:

Many of the characters used in the names of non-Han ethnic groups were originally derogatory. After the founding of the PRC, the government conceptualized New China as a multiethnic state (多民族国家), and they changed many of the characters that were perceived as derogatory. I don't know if this process started under the KMT (国民党), as you suggest, and I also don't know why no one bothered to fix the one for the Jews.

Edit: The character for the Jews is a little different from those for other ethnic groups. For one, it was not an invented character. Rather, (in modern-ish times), existing characters were picked for the transliteration. Also, although it does have the dog radical, the other meanings of the character are not negative (or related at all to animals). The only extant meanings (besides being part of 犹太) are seem (好像；如同) and still (还；仍然).


In recent years, Mainland Chinese have officially adopted shuōfú across the board. If you only wish to be understood and/or conform to current official standards, a sufficient answer is: just use the shuōfú pronunciation. Everyone will understand what you mean regardless of whether they agree with it.

For a more academic answer: Strictly speaking, shuìfú is the correct pronunciation. This isn't a Taiwanese thing except in that it has been preserved in Taiwan (older mainlanders would have known it too).

The character 說 is an exemplary case of a multiple meaning character with multiple pronunciations. These meanings are not historically interchangeable. Focusing on the relevant definitions at hand:

shuō means "to explain, to tell".
shuì means "to persuade, to convince".

The meaning of 说服 is clearly derived from the latter usage. Therefore, it is correctly pronounced shuìfú. It is still listed as such in many dictionaries. Other examples of the shuì pronunciation being maintained for this usage are 說客, "a lobbyist; someone trying to sell an idea" and 遊說, "to lobby, to persuade."

Ultimately however, languages are living, changing things. It is quite alright to use shuōfú as the pronunciation even if some people would find it as being "wrong". They all understand what you mean anyway.

Note: There's a contention that shuōfú is the correct pronunciation. The argument is that shuì means to persuade, but that, supposedly, 说服 means to "persuade with reason". It is claimed that this means shuō, "to explain", fits the word's overall meaning better than shuì, "to persuade".

I don't find this convincing at all, but that's an alternative angle.


中饭 and 午饭 both refer to lunch. But as the answer mentioned, they are different in the environment you use it.

午饭 is more formal than 中饭. 午饭 can be used both in spoken and written Chinese. But 中饭 is used in spoken Chinese and mostly in dialect in southern China. As I come from southern Jiangsu(江苏) province, we never say 午饭 in our conversation.

You can see more here:

午饭 http://www.zdic.net/c/8/da/213242.htm
中饭 http://www.zdic.net/c/d/13d/304410.htm


Difference between learning Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese Hokkien for visiting Taiwan

If you're only going one week, just learn some Mandarin.

The advantages of learning Mandarin is that there are a lot of free resources, cheap and useful phrase books, and most people you will run into will understand Mandarin.

I've been studying Minnanhua (spoken in Fujian and pretty much mutually intelligible with Taiwanese) for about a year and I struggle with a couple of main obstacles:

The pronunciation is tough for English speakers. Lots of labial and glottal nonsense. I haven't counted the differences.
Pinyin is tough to figure out and there are two camps, there is a Xiamen University pinyin which favors consonants, and Peh-oe-ji, which was invented by missionaries in Taiwan.
There are more tones than Mandarin. Also some tones rules are not clearly expressed (some tones are based on pronunciation, for example if it ends in <-n>; <-m>, <-ng> then the word is tone 1)
Native speakers won't let me practice, they will often switch to Mandarin.

Have a good trip.

Also you can check out:

Peh-oe-ji

Hokkien

Learn Hokkien


Reliable source for Chinese translation of Pali Canon Jataka tales (佛传故事/佛傳故事)?

It is called 本生故事 in Chinese. PDF is available here:

http://vdisk.weibo.com/s/t0ojS8AH__rfZ


Translating the shortcomings of a primary school student

I am guessing there's a typo here. "节目" is meant to be "題目" - question.

I agree that having two "直接" in a row is no good. So here's what I'll go with:

"有时不看題目就直接写下去"

Sometimes I don't read the question before writing (my answer).

This flows well with the rest of the essay, and illustrates his sloppiness when doing his homewwork.


了 (le / ㄌㄜ˙) has two meanings.

  放在动词或形容词后，表示动作或变化已经完成：写完～。

When it follows a verb or adjective, it's a perfect or past tense.

In this case we can use 过 or 曾经 to clarify its tense.
For example,

下过雨了 or 曾经下雨了
It has been rained.

昨天下雨了
It rained yesterday.

  助词，用在句子末尾或句中停顿的地方，表示变化，表示出现新的情况：刮风～。

(Particle) When it's used at the end of the sentence or as a pause in the sentence, it means something is changing, a new situation.

下雨了
It's raining.


Is 你怎么知道怎么做中国菜? (How do you know how to cook Chinese food?) a grammatically correct question?

你怎么知道如何做中国菜？

or without how

你在哪学会做中国菜？


They are just variants of the same character.

别 is the one chosen in the standard of China Mainland.

別 is the one chosen in the standards of Hong Kong, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam.


“（如果）非要我选的话”

  这些我都喜欢，非要我选的话，我要那一个！


看图说成语: What chengyu do these sketches refer to (from a grade-3 语文 textbook)?

1 2
3 4
5 6

1. 開門見山
2. 大材小用
3. 一舉兩得
4. 三長兩短
5. 小題大做
6. 百發百中


How exactly do time and "tense" work in Mandarin REALLY?

If the form 我看了一本书 is correct then what role is 了 playing here and why does it sound to me like past tense with a not-a-tense-marker indicating tense?

'了' in "我看了一本书" is a [aspect marker] indicating completed action.

我看一本书 = I read a book

In 我看了一本书,  the action '看' is completed, which imply 看 is not in present tense but in past tense.

Also, depend on the context, [verb + 了] could indicate :

[present perfect tense] 我刚看了一本书 = I have just read a book
[past perfect tense] 我昨天看了一本书 = I had read a book yesterday
[future perfect tense] 我明天会看了这本书 = I will have read this book tomorrow.

'过' in "我看过一本书" is a [particle] marking experiential aspect

我看一本书 = I read a book
我看过一本书 = I had read a book (I experienced reading a book, that indicates 看 is in past perfect tense)

*I think I answered a similar question How do you specify past tense for 是?

If no time reference is found in the context, then all verbs are in present tense by default.
When you are reading a historical novel, even most individual sentences in it didn't have time reference, you should still know it is in past tense; If you are reading an instructional manual, you know the text is written in present tense entirely.

Edit:

Mike3 comment:
OK... now I'm not entirely clear on the difference in meaning between "我看了一本书" and "我看过一本书". Is it just that one emphasizes something else (completion vs. experience) or what? Which would be the correct one to use in the scenario I mentioned in the question and why?

In your scenario:
Q: "How Do you know?"
A: "I read a book"
you can use "我看了一本书" or "我看过一本书" for "I read a book"  in this scenario.

"我看了一本书" stated the fact that you finished reading a book in the past. (了 emphasizes the completeness of your action)
"我看过一本书" stated the fact that you had in the past read a book (过 emphasizes the action was in the past).

Both sentences stated the source of your knowledge is from reading a book. '看过' is more preferable if you want to emphasize the action happened in the past.
As I mentioned, depend on the context, '看了' can be in any perfect tense.


就该吃饭了 is missing a subject for example 你
=> 你 (現在就) 该吃饭了 You should be eating now

就吃饭了 is not grammatically correct, it's missing 要 and a subject
=> 我 (就) 要 吃饭了 I 'm going to eat

该吃饭了 is proper because it implies the subject to be I/You
该吃饭了 means I/You should be eating now, or Time to eat.


As a native speaker, I don't think yan and huan rhyme, but yan and xuan do.

I think their endings can be written in IPA as:

yan - ɛn

huan - ɑn

xuan - ɛn

Only the last vowel and following coda count as 韵, the [u] in huan and the [ɥ] in xuan don't matter.


What's the difference between etymology and glyph origin?

Tl;dr: A possible rule of thumb is by gauging whether the query is of the nature of a word, or a character. But the correct use of tags indeed depends on the knowledge of the asker. The dependence of correct tagging on knowledge is sometimes unavoidable.

I think it is very important to understand how the tags etymology and glyph-origin interact with established concepts such as 形音義 (lit. form, sound, and meaning) and 六書 (liushu, lit. six scripts). To me, in summary:

etymology
glyph-origin

Unit of query
A word, i.e. ≥1 character(s)
A character

Emphasis of query
Evolution of meaning
Relation between form, (sound), and meaning

Liushu involved
Rebus characters, derived cognates
All

I will use the term 'sense' interchangeably with 'meaning' below.

Idioms (e.g. 老驥伏櫪), loan words (e.g. 幽默), and binomes (or lianmian, e.g. 逍遙) go well with etymology. The asker is interested to know why the word means such, usually implying they tried to parse the word with the knowledge of individual characters, but failed. Now this may be due to classical Chinese, or the simple fact that the word is unparsable. That is to say, the threshold for successful understanding is high in these words. Conversely, even if the word is easily parsable to the average learner of Chinese, they may still be interested in understanding the history of the word, particularly polysemous words.
Of course, an elementary learner of Chinese may fail to grasp the meaning of 快樂 due to incorrect parsing, compared to say a more advanced learner who already knows 快 does not mean 'fast' here (perhaps after exposure to words e.g. 快意 and 快感). I think it does not hurt to use etymology, where answerers will then expound on the various meanings of the classical 快 (perhaps their relationship too, and which sense came about first, if evidence exists). Of course, using meaning concurrently is preferred.

Frequently, when using glyph-origin, askers are motivated by wanting to understand how the form of a character they see relates to the meaning they presumably already looked up. How is the form of 果 related to its meaning 'fruit'? Answerers will then explain the character is a pictograph of a tree bearing plentiful fruits. For other characters, the liushu involved may be different.
Of course, if the asker incorrectly thinks there is a direct
relationship between the derived sense (引伸義) 'result' (as in 果然,
結果) with the character form and applies only glyph-origin,
then editors should add etymology to the question too, because
this is a complex question that asks

What is the relationship between the senses 'result' and 'fruit' in 果? (etymology); and
What is the relationship between the sense 'fruit' (not 'result') and the form 果? (glyph-origin)

To the first half of the question, Buddhist application of 果 can be cited (the translation of phala 'fruit' in Sanskrit into Chinese, itself meaning 'fruition' or 'effect'). The historicity therefore inclines to etymology.

There are words that comprise only one character, which defeats the rule of thumb. They are usually polysemous too. Let us use the fairly classical 鬻 yù meaning '(v.) to sell' or '(n.) gruel' as example. One may ask:

What is the relationship between the senses '(v.) to sell' and '(n.) gruel' in 鬻?

and tag it under etymology, incorrectly thinking there is perhaps a somewhat obscure relationship between the two senses. Or

For the form 鬻, how did it develop its meaning?

They do meet superficially the criterion of the tag, but in actuality, glyphic knowledge, specifically rebus in liushu (假借), is required.
'(n.) gruel' is the only sense that is explainable from the glyph. Paleographers believe the form 鬻 is borrowed to mean '(v.) to sell' out of phonological similarity (yù) to a (perhaps characterless) entity that means '(v.) to sell'. Gradually the sense '(n.) gruel' faded and '(v.) to sell' became dominant.
In that case, editors should add glyph-origin to the question.

Sound is often not the concern of askers, but when asked, questions like

Why is the form 鬻 pronounced like yù?
Is 粥 the phonetic component of 鬻?
How is the sound of 鬻 reconstructed in Old and Middle Chinese?

should be tagged under glyph-origin, perhaps alongside with other tags. That is because reconstructors educatedly compare characters related by sound, e.g. 粥 and 育, and make reference to liushu as well, alongside other phonological references e.g. rhyme books.


还 can be translated to something like "not only that" or "furthermore" in English. On the other hand, 也 means something like "and" or "also". Their literal meaning is almost exactly the same, but 还 places an additional emphasis on the object that comes afterwards.

In your example

  他上课时开始不专心听讲。他的学习成绩也越来越差。

This roughly translates to

  He doesn't listen attentively during lessons. His results are also getting worse over time.

This places more or less equal emphasis on “不专心听讲” and “学习成绩”. On the other hand, the following version

  他上课时开始不专心听讲。他的学习成绩还越来越差。

roughly means

  He doesn't listen attentively during lessons. Not only that, his results are getting worse over time!

So there is a greater emphasis on the 学习成绩越来越差 in the latter version with the 还 over the 也, and there's a slight difference in meaning. So although both are perfectly grammatical sentences, they do have slightly different meaning, and it depends on which meaning you want to express when choosing terms.


What is the origin of 甩锅 ("to pass the buck")?

甩锅 means throw the pan literally. Before that we have a slang 背锅 / 背黑锅, means take the blame for others / be made a scapegoat; 锅 / 黑锅 connotes blame. Then 甩锅 is used for the meaning of throw one's blame to others, i.e. 推卸责任 (buck-passing).

Also see 背锅的由来.


(I'm a native Chinese speaker from Mainland China. People from other Chinese-speaking regions or countries may feel different from me.)

雖然 x 但是 y sounds fine to me for all your examples.

However, to me the turn embedded in 儘管 x 但是 y sounds a little bit stronger than that in 雖然 x 但是 y. That's why when the conditions are very extreme, 儘管 x 但是 y sounds more natural to me.

I think neither 即使 x 還是 y nor 即使 x 仍然 y is appropriate for your examples.

A critical difference between a. 儘管 x 但是 y, 雖然 x 但是 y and b. 即使 x 還是 y, 即使 x 仍然 y:

For group a, x is a statement that the speaker believes to be true, while for group b, x is only a supposition (usually an extreme one).

  e.g.

  儘管我們安裝了最好的安防系統，賊還是進來了。

  → The speaker believes that the system has been installed and some
  thief or thieves have found a way inside.

  即使我們安裝了最好的安防系統，賊還是會進來的。

  → The speaker makes a supposition that (EVEN IF) we installed the best
  security system, and he shows that he believes that still some thief
  or thieves will find a way inside.

Since for group b, x is only a supposition, the sentence below will sound weird:

  即使我們安裝了最好的安防系統，賊還是進來了。

  → The speaker makes a supposition that (EVEN IF) we installed the
  best security system, and he shows that he believes that some thief or
  thieves have already found a way inside.


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

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

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

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

  西周金伯寺簋集成4007篆說文解字　現代楷

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


Is knowing how Chinese Characters are formed common knowledge?

This is a textbook excerpt from the first grade, isn't it cute?

六书 is taught in 6th to 9th grade in mainland China, so I think the answer is yes. Good teachers often tell you how the character is constructed so that you remember it more easily.

As for phono-semantic characters, you don't really need a teacher to tell you about that. When you learn the characters 中 and 钟, it's obvious that they are related. Next time you see a character like 种, you would expect it's pronunciation is similar. It's just too intuitive. You observe the rule and apply them, with or without a teacher's help.

I think it's a bit like verb tenses in English. You observe the basic rules, you apply them to new words, then it fails because you meet an irregular verb, then you'll have to remember it. As time passes you observe that even irregular verbs have some regularities, then you try to apply your observations to new words, but they also fail at times. Chinese is like that, but messier...


What does it mean for a woman to be 贤惠 (xiánhuì)?

This might be a good example of how dictionaries, while correct, don't exactly capture everyday usage.
贤惠 is a very common everyday word, used when someone is:

good a cooking

good at cleaning up

good at taking care of chores

Usually it is used for women, married or not, but it can even be sarcastically used with men. If a guy cooks up a nice meal you can laughingly say something like: “好贤惠哦”.


看作, 看成

be seen as

叫作

be said as

The explanation is only the literal interpretation. Despite of the difference described above, both of them carry similar underlying meanings:

be comprehended as
be classified as

We can dissect the sentence "中国人常常把谦虚看作一种美德" as follows:

中国人

Chinese people

常常

Usually (Always)

把

(This one will be discussed later)

谦虚

Humility

看作

Be seen as

一种

A kind of

美德

Virtue

Without reordering the phrases, you can come up with the following sentence:

Chinese people always (*) humility be seen as a kind of virtue.

I bet you know the meaning of this sentence. Though it sounds a bit weird.

Note

In short, the presence of "把" indicates the use of "passive voice" in the above sentence (Humility is always being comprehended as a virtue by Chinese people.).
If you are interested in the detailed explanation of the usage of "把", this page should give you a concrete understanding on this topic.

p.s. "教程" means course/tutorial.


Proverbs and saying for not achieving a specific situation (or objective)?

I think there are too many 俗語, 諺語 to list.
Here are few similar 成語 for you

揠苗助長 = 欲速則不達
適得其反 to the end, get opposite effect
事與願違 nothing comes out as planned


How formal is 如何 in the context of 最近如何?

IMO, 最近如何 is a little formal, while 最近怎么样 is much natural and genial.

Anyway, I think it's OK for a formal social occasion.

BTW: When 如何 is used in the context for how to do sth such as 如何刻录dvd, it's normal.


What does it mean when there are 2 verbs next to each other in a sentence?

1. V1+V2
Chinese permits placing verbs immediately next to one another. In fact this is observed when there are more than two verbs, especially if some of them are auxiliary in nature (e.g. 去, 來).

(1.1) 去 幫忙 做 家務 吧。 Go help do chores.
(1.2) 我 答應 來 幫忙 做 家務。 I promised to come help do chores.

are all grammatical.
2. V+着 as a verb
Only some verbs can have 着 added after them, as 着 suggests a continuous action. So in

(2.1a) *我喜歡着說話。 *I am liking to speak.
(2.2a) *我喜歡說着話。 *I like to be speaking.
(2.3) 我喜歡說話。 I like to speak.

sentences (2.1a) and (2.2a) sound weird, even in English. In a way the continuous tense is unnecessary when indicating general likings and interests. However, that is not to say 喜歡着 and 說着話 are ungrammatical. Using them really depends on the context:

(2.1b) 我一直喜歡着你。 I have always liked you.
(2.2b) 他邊說着話，邊跳着舞。 He is speaking as he is dancing.

We can appreciate the speaker in sentence (2.1b) has liked the listener for quite some time already, from the past all the way to the present. And in sentence (2.2b), both actions are occurring continuously and simultaneously.
3. V+着 as an adverb
In the example

(3.1) 她喜歡站着吃飯。 She likes to eat while standing

站着 can be seen, in a way, as adverbial on the verb 吃, specifying the way she eats. The continuous tense is used because all the while she ate, she was standing. Other examples include

(3.2) 先放着不管那件事。 As of now, leave that matter alone and let it be.

It is hard to translate sentence (3.2) literally into English, but similarly, the verb 放 'to place', together with 着, functions as if it is adverbial on the verb 不管 'to not care', meaning 'to not care about it while placing it there'.
4. On 忘

(4.1) 我忘說了。
(4.2) 我忘記說了。
(4.3) 我忘了說。

There is some awkwardness in sentence (4.1), but it is not ungrammatical (meaning the rule V1+V2 still stands). A better way to phrase it would be using the compound verb 忘記, as shown in sentence (4.2). The awkwardness exists perhaps because 忘 is, in a sense, akin to classical Chinese. Sentence (4.3) is less awkward than (4.1) because 忘 is not used alone, but together with the suffix 了. Other similar compounding include: 忘掉 and 忘卻.


All means mad，but different types of mad.

“冲昏” means you are so mad that you have already lost your mind.

“抓狂”means you are so mad but you do not know what to do.


What is the difference between 没 and 不 when used with 又?

A. 他又没来上课;
B. 他又不来上课
These two sentences are showing different feeling of the speaker. Sentence A is describing a rather objective fact: He had been absent from class often, and he was absent once again today. It may translate to "he doesn't show up the class again."
The sentence B is spoken with a tone of condemnation beside describing the same fact in sentence A. The words "不来上课" indicate an extra meaning that he was absent from class without reasons or on purpose. It may tranlate to "he doesn't want to show up the class again."
Both sentences can be ended with "了" to have an emphasizing tone, simply trying to attract more attention of the audience. Without "了", it is a rather flat tone. The translation is "he doesn't (want to) show up the class, once again."


How to say "we want what is best for our kids"?

我们要把最好的给我们的孩子

I think most Chinese parents would rather use this expression:
我们望子成龙

望子成龙 has this meaning: lit. to hope one's son becomes a dragon (idiom); fig. to long for one' s child to succeed in life; to have great hopes for one's offspring; to give one's child the best education as a career investment

It has more emphasis on succeeding in life, while "the best" is more open, and can also refer to happiness. This because most Chinese people have different values and aspirations for there children than most westerners (I'm generalizing here).


按部就班 is not wrong and is in fact etymologically more correct:

選義按部，考辭就班 （陸機《文賦》）
To obtain choice ideas in close observation of things in categories, and elect expressions that will fall in happy order (trans. Chen Shixiang 1951)

This was an advice by Lu Jin from the Jin dynasty on how essays should be written. Of course in modern Chinese the idiom has evolved to describe things other than writing.

Is 按步就班 wrong? Etymologically, definitely yes, but it is understandable, and there are cases where these variants that appease the modern reader become acceptable. Consider the etymologically correct 名副其實 （曹操《與王修書》） and its variant 名符其實. Personally, I would stick to 按部就班 and 名副其實. You should especially do so if you are taking a language exam. I would also interpret 部 and 班 in classical Chinese – good practice if you are learning idioms.

Also, try not to interpret 按 as 'to press'. It is similar to meaning 按照 ('according to') here.


How to distinguish between homophone words 再 and 在 zài

When zài followed by a noun, it can only mean 在

When zài followed by a verb, you have to check the context. -- 我在看电影 (I am watching movies) is a complete sentence. 我再看电影 (I watch movie again) doesn't sound like a complete sentence (need more context)

More example:

我在钓鱼 = I am fishing (complete sentence)

我再钓鱼 = I fishing again  (seems incomplete)

下次我再钓鱼, 会记得确认是不是钓鱼季节 = Next time I go fishing again, I would remember to confirm it is the fishing season or not (it is a complete sentence)


Book and material to prepare for TOCFL "Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language"

看圖學中文語法系列（2冊）

華語文能力測驗模擬試題2:入門基礎(Band A)

華語文能力測驗模擬試題3:入門基礎(Band A)

Good luck!


What are the corresponding titles for "Dr." (in the sense of MD and PhD) in Chinese?

All the information is taken straight from Wiktionary's English entries and the Chinese/Mandarin translations thereof. You don't really need to know any Chinese to find the information:

Doctor (physician): 医生, 大夫.
Doctor (person with a doctorate): 博士
Doctor (vet): 兽医

Doctor of Philosophy: 哲学博士

Graduate (from a university): 毕业生

博士 can be used as a title. For example you'd call me 焦博士 if I was an academic doctor (I wish).

毕业生 is usually used without a name attached; however, if you have to use it as a title (which is really unusual in either English or Chinese), then you can append the name of the person at the end of it: 毕业生James or 毕业生小焦.


Need help in identifying the last character in this image

挂车 seems to mean a "trailer". Searching for "挂车号牌" brings up images of trailers, most of which have number plates that end in "挂" (see below). My Chinese is not that great but according to this document (page 15, item 5.10), trailer number plates are distinguished using the character "挂".


零 originally meant rain

Not just rain, but specifically gentle rain.

  《說文・雨部》：＂零，徐雨也。＂

Semantic extension:

Gentle rain > scattered/fragmentary > small/fractional > zero.


well the signature is (read top to bottom):

李 (u+674e)：http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=李

徯 (u+5faf)：http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=徯

then, the seal is the same (read right to left)

if you goggle, there's a 日本篆刻家協会会報,

www.n-tenkoku.jp/download/vol9.pdf

in page 10, there's the same seal, with info:

李徯　河井荃廬

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/河井せん廬

he's a japanese seal craving artist (篆刻家); so, i guess that this seal "李徯" was made by him. further, it's reasonable guess that the painting is "made-by-japanese".

if you need further info, i would suggest you post the pictures in japanese language stack exchange :)

https://japanese.stackexchange.com


What are the markings found on a purple clay teapot?

Actually it's 車寶鍾製. Accidentally found one item selling online with the same seal. https://tw.bid.yahoo.com/item/%E6%97%A9%E6%9C%9F%E8%80%81%E8%8C%B6%E5%A3%BA-%E8%BB%8A%E5%AF%B6%E9%8D%BE%E6%AC%BE-100433885065

車寶鍾 is the name of the person who made this.


虛 = empty, the opposite of 虛(empty) is 實 (solid)
虛 in 謙虛 refers to 虛心 (empty heart = open mind)
A cup full of water cannot take in new water
A mind full of preconceptions cannot take in new ideas
謙虛 = modest, humble, and open-minded (willing to listen and learn)
Also, look at my answer to this question
What does 虚怀若谷 mean?


How do you say "representative" as in Student Council Representative

In general,"representative " rather as a rep,but he(or she)is recommended(or be voted) by the people(as you say,by the members of the council). However,sometimes,if the student council is from an organization ,like 'student union','representative 'is the leader or  he is in charge of the organization .


Is 跟他交朋友 ambiguous: can it mean both "become friends with him" and "with him, make [other] friends"?

To add a simple perspective to the other elaborated answer given, just think about the connotation to the English expression: "I made friends with him".

In 99.9% of the time, you would know that the meaning is only two people, you and another person, who become friends. If otherwise, the context would indicate this. The same logic applies in Chinese, in this case as well as in many other semantically ambiguous situations.


What is more appropriate translation of "running store"?

Does the store sell equipment for running or only sells running machines? If it is the first one, the translate should be more appropriate to be "跑步用品商店"；if it is the second one, then it is correct to say "跑步机专卖店".


Because radicals indicate the meaning of the character. For example, 銅鑼 literally means bronze (銅) gong (鑼). Both are phono-semantic compounds and metal-related – the 金 radical on the left side, and their pronunciation on the right side. The name 銅鑼灣 came from the shape of the bay, which is like a gong. You cannot remove any radicals, otherwise the entire meaning of the word would be unclear.


这个字/词怎么念? = How do you pronounce this character/word?

这个字的发音是第几声? = Which tone should I use for this character?


What does 第四台 mean in the context of immovable property?

This is a Taiwanese term.

There were only three wireless TV stations in Taiwan long ago.

台視, 中視, 華視 (with the 教育頻道)

All other channels went to cable.

So, 第四台 means the cable TV.

If you see 老三台, it means the above original three stations.


Is google translate wrong about 上海外国语大学?

The official site of 上海外国语大学 has its English name as “Shanghai International Studies University”
Translation of proper names does not always follow normal translation rules.


How gender specific in writing is the character 他

In my experience, when referring to a single subject, I have never seen 他 used as a female pronoun. 她 is used for females, and 它 used for non-gendered or non-human subjects.

Do note that 他 has meanings outside pronouns; it can have the meaning of "other". In these cases, 他 is used and never 她. Examples include 他人 (other people), 他乡 (a place far away from home), 他日 (future).

There are two interesting cases for the 他/她 question though: in the group pronouns 他们/她们 and when the gender is unknown.

For 他们/她们, 他们 is indeed the gender-neutral term. Use this when referring to a group of people (other than yourself and your subject, i.e. "they" or "them"), where their genders are either mixed or not relevant. If you are specifically referring to a group of females though, use 她们. Here's some discussion on this matter. This is in contrast to English which has no gendered "they" or "them".

When gender is unknown, it is more proper to use 他. This is similar to older English style which considered generic he proper usage. Use 他 when in English you would have used "he / she". Note that some people use "他/她" which is perfectly understandable but less proper.

So to summarise:

他 is gender neutral, except in two cases where you would use 她 instead:
When referring to a single female of known gender
When referring to a group of females


What is the rule for forming chinese names diminutives?

This is a broad question. You will use different words depending on different situations.

To call someone that you are familiar with (note: this is the premise). There are several different cases.

For kids: In general, the parents will give their kids a diminutive, besides the formal name.The diminutive may have different forms so that you can't find a rule.

  I have a niece with the diminutive of "小鱼儿 (literally means: little fish)". This name has nothing to do with her given name, but it is related (I think) to her surname "余 (has the same pronunciation with 鱼)"

  One of my friends has "俊" as the last character of his given name, so his grandpa calls him "俊俊". This "XX" form is very common. Note, his grandpa(from a grandpa's view, he is always a kid) can call him this way while I should not(for me, he is an adult, not a kid).

For adults. user334's answer is good (point 1 and 2). However, there are some details I want to point out.

If the listener is very old (60 above, very rough, no precise definition), and you are young. It's not polite to call him "老+surname". You would:

  call him "surname+叔" or "surname+叔叔" for a man.

  call her "surname+姨" pr "surname+阿姨" for a man.

...when they are in the same generation as your parents. Or,

  call him "surname+爷爷" for a man

  call him "surname+奶奶" for a woman

...when they are in the same generation as your grandparents.

Besides, you could call an old (in the same generation as your grandparents) man or woman "surname + 老" to show your high respect. This form is very formal and not used usually.
For adult in the same generation as you:

"阿+surname" or "阿+last character of the given name" are often used. Yes, my friends would call me 阿黄, but not all of them call me this way (just call me with the full name).

"小+last character of the given name" could also be used(less common).

“仔" as in user334's answer, is popular in Guangdong, Fujian provinces and HongKong, Macau and Taiwan, I think. More presicesly, it's popular in the 粤 and 闽 dialects.

You could also use "surname+兄" to call a man older than you. Ok, you could call me "黄兄" :D

You could use "given name" to call a man if his given name contains two characters.

Also, among familiar friends, they generally would call each other with nicknames to make things funny. When I was in the university, some of my classmates called me "大黄". Oh, that's not a good name, but funny, because "大黄" is a kind of Chinese herbal medicine.


They are actually quite different.

『好客』means someone is willing to be visited by guests, so hospitable is correct understanding. It's more focused on visiting related stuff.

『亲切』basically means kind and warm. You don't need to be 『好客』 to be 『亲切』. You often use it when you feel someone is generally kind in his/her interaction with you.


What does 而 mean in 因森发·加计学院问题而曝光率增高的?

而 is not used as and here, but as a result;with the result that;thus.

因A而B is a common usage; 因 is used to emphasize that A is the cause, 而 is used to represent that B is the result.

You can also use 因为 or 由于 instead of 因 in this usage.


Is there a site that can split characters into radicals?

The online chinese dictionary MDBG provides radical information for every character in its database. For instance, if you search for the character 天 (tiān) and click on the first result, the "Rad/Str" column reads 大 + 1, i.e., the radical 大 plus one stroke.

Zhongwen.com also gives information on character decomposition. The entry for 洋 reads "Water 水 with 羊 phonetic."

As Alenanno pointed out, not all parts of characters are radicals, but these two resources can give you more information about how characters are constructed.


First, the original title described someone was " At the moment of recalling a turning point " (I am interpreting "turning gate" as " a gate that's the turning point of someone's life"-  meaning someone went through a gate (crossed a line/ made a choice) that changed his or her life from that point on).

Obviously, someone interpreted the title similarly and came up with a Chinese title  "(改變)生命的發現" - "a life (changing) discovery" with the implied meaning " changing" omitted. ( someone went thought a gate and discovered something that changed his or her life)

However, the translator confused 生命( one's life) with "生活" ( a living ) , that why the title was translated as "生活的發現" instead of the somewhat more accurate " 生命的發現"

My translation of the original title would be:
"回望人生轉捩點" (A look back at the turning point of life)

-instead of 回想 (think back/ remember) I choose "回望"( look back/ revisit) - which is an action verb that paint a more vivid picture to simulate imagination.

-Just put 轉捩點 ( a turning point) after 回想(think back) is too general, so I also included the originally implied meaning of "life" to  clarify it is not just any turning point, but a " life's turning point"


Whats the amount of money in 你明天带着两万两前去天琴城，买我赢得第一?

it means 20000 两, the first 两 means 2, the second 两 is a unit.


系 could be 'a system', 'a series' in its original meaning.

In this case, 系 could be understood as where those car brands from.

Toyota, Honda cars are 日系車. GM, Tesla cars are 美系車. BMW cars are 德系車. Other car brands in Europe except for Germany are 歐系車. 德系車 is independent because BMW and Mercedes-Benz are much famous brands in the world.

Another case, Volvo was sold to Chinese firm. We still call Volvo as 歐系車 because the brand Volvo was started in Europe.


What is the equivalent in English for 情怀？

It depicts a glimpse of private sentiment, or the emotional affinity that draws a person towards certain people or things. 情懷（情怀） is a very subjective term in the sense that it points to something essential within a person, that marks his or her individuality. The feeling can be subtle but it is always expressive; never the kind of private sentiment that is shy, covert or concealed.
The《漢語大詞典》gives three meanings for the term, ranging from very personal feelings to manifest disposition (English translations are my own):

  心情：personal feelings 　　唐杜甫《北征》詩：「老夫情懷惡，嘔泄臥數日。」 　　Tu Fu is not in a good mood because he's been bedridden from vomiting and diarrhoea for
  several days.  　　郁達夫《過去》：“兩旁店家的燈火，照耀得很明亮，反照出了些離人的孤獨的情懷。” 　　The bright
  lights from the shop-houses is contrasted with the loneliness of those
  who are leaving.
  情趣、興致：interest, enthusiasm, proclivity, a delight in things 　　清袁枚《隨園詩話補遺》卷五：“劉郎去後情懷減，不肯紅粧直到今。” 　　The maiden in question has lost
  interest declined to wear make-up ever since the male lead, a youth
  named Liu, left her.
  猶胸懷：disposition akin to high-mindedness 　　峻青《海嘯》第二章：“為革命事業而獻身，就是你畢生的高尚情懷。”    Self-sacrifice for the noble
  cause of the Revolution is a testament to your high-mindedness.


what is the verbatim and implied meaning of 路过?

It is more a internet-word,which means I have read this article picture story etc.to show an unconcerned opion of something,and it's more a humorous way to to show like it or not,I just read/see this,and then I will do my own thing (ie going home)
And It has much common of 打酱油


An example of 按时's usage will be like:
按时服药 - take medicine on time

Where 按时 refers to being on time periodically.  In your case, the podcast might be on-air every night at certain time, thus using 按时.  However a better translation for will be:
"谢谢大家准时收听我们的节目"


What does 则 mean in ...而今年的9月20日则是安室奈美惠40岁的生日?

则 here, as an adverb, means 'yet'. The structure of 而...则... could be interpreted as 'while'.

So, "而今年的9月20日则是安室奈美惠40岁的生日。" is "while Sep. 20th this year will be the 40th birthday of Anshinaimeihui's."


Mixing 您 and 你 is a bad practice. I am not aware of any fashionable usage of the mix, not even in net-speak. Your example is just loosely reviewed.
One rare case where you may see both words in one dialog is when the speaker uses 您 for the listener while uses 你 as a reference to a general 2nd person (similar to "one" in English). In this case 您 and 你 refer to different persons and the mix is not about style. E.g.

“他9点才来。这么重要的事，你怎么能迟到两个钟头呢？您觉得呢？”
"He didn't show up until 9. How could one be late for 2 hours for such an important event?! What do you say?"


How can I say "I think the Eastern culture is much wiser than Western culture"?

I think the Eastern culture is much wiser than Western culture

Translation：

"I think" can be translated as 我认为 我的想法是 我觉得 我的观点是 etc

“much wiser than” can be translated as 比XX更聪明 比XX更有智慧 比XX聪明的多 etc

In conclusion:

1、我认为东方文化比西方文化更高明。

2、我觉得东方文化比西方文化更有智慧。

3、我认为，相比西方文化，东方文化更有智慧。


Do you mean to create a newline? 换行 huànháng works.


Chinese phrase for a physician's "residency program"?

Google translates "residency" as "住院醫師" (doctor who live/stay in the hospital ) . I think 駐院醫師 (stationing doctor) is more accurate

住院 could mean 留醫 (hospitalized; hospitalization)

  "residency program" for physicians go through after graduation from medical school

The physicians in the program are basically 實習醫師 (intern doctors).

I would translate "residency" as "駐院醫師" and "residency program" as "實習醫師駐院計劃" (intern doctor hospital stationing program)


http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/character-etymology.php?zi=%E5%85%A5

  (象形) Pictographic. Picture of the sharp point of an arrow used to pierce something.

~

  http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterEtymology.aspx?characterInput=%E5%85%A5

  Primitive pictograph 入. An open tent door. Meaning enter.

~

  http://www.vividict.com/wordinfo.aspx?id=3197

  字源解说

  入，甲骨文像盒盖向下，表示收存物品，加盖封藏。造字本义：收存物品，加盖封藏。

  (入 in oracle looked like a lid facing down to represent "to store items in" , or 'seal something with a lid' .  "Enter" was an extended meaning.

  The original meaning of the word: the storage of items, stamped sealed.)

  金文承续甲骨文字形。有的金文形似屋“宀”。

  (金文 inherited Oracle shape. Some 金文 of 入 looked like "house")

  that may had been the origin of 'An open tent door' etymology

After studied the references, my conclusion is the earliest pictographic of 入 resembled a lid facing down.  Then evolved into 'open tent' shape.

The 'arrow' representing 'enter' (入) etymology is likely an later  interpretation. (depend on how early 'arrow head' was invented, it might had been developed concurrently with 'lid'  for the meaning of 入)


Why does 葛藤(갈등) mean 'conflict' or 'troubles'?

The Wiktionary page for 葛藤 says:

Etymology: From the tendency of the vines of kudzu and rattan to become entangled.

No citation is provided, however.
The Korean Wikipedia page for 갈등 says something similar:

어원: 왼쪽으로 감아 자라나는 칡과 오른쪽으로 감아 자나라는 등나무가 서로 얽히고 설킨 모습에서 유래.
Etymology: It is derived from the shape of the wisteria that is wrapped to the left and the wisteria which is wrapped to the right and entwined to the right. (Google Translate)

Again, no citation is provided, unfortunately.


This should be a question for history not Chinese language.

For the language part:
In ancient China, multiple kinds of currency are used like gold, silver, copper coin and even cloth. 文 is the unit for copper coin like this Ming dynasty coinage
For the history part:
During Ming dynasty, 1000 文 ≈ 1 两 silver which can buy 2 石 rice = 188.8 kilogram rice = 416.2 pound rice. So 300 文 is about 124.9 pound rice.


How can I translate "The Ghost Town's Beauty" into Chinese?

鬼镇风光 / 鬼镇美景

Gost town : 鬼镇

By beauty, I suppose you mean good view of the town.


Was the word 男朋友 borrowed from English (or maybe the opposite)?

Yes.

The English words boyfriend/girlfriend are modern; their usage to refer to romantic, unmarried relations dates to around 1922. This is also where other terms like "dating" arose.

Similarly, in Chinese, 男朋友/女朋友 do not exist in pre-modern times. Other terms like 佳人 would be used.

The Republican Era saw big changes in Chinese culture and adoption of Western culture and language. It would be easy to conclude, therefore, that the words 男朋友/女朋友 were borrowed from English during this time.


准 has a lot of meanings according to the context. Usually it means accurate(准确) but in this case it's 标准, which means standard.

BTW, I think you may want to say 我发音发得不太准 / 我的发音不太准 rather than 我发音得不太准.


How can I distinguish 地 in different words

Your example is a kind of special.

Strictly speaking, “小心地滑” is intrinsically ambiguous. It can be interpreted in two different ways: “caution slippery floor” (where 地 is floor) and “slip carefully” (where 地 is the structural particle for adverbial phrase, the same as the 地 in 慢慢地走). Without any context, they both make perfect sense. There are some jokes that make use that ambiguity.

It is the everyday life experience that let the Chinese people know, that when 小心地滑 appears on a sign on a floor, it means “caution slippery floor”, but not the other.

So, based on grammar only, you cannot distinguish the two. 小心地滑 is ambiguous, and the 地 in the two words can be interpreted in the same way. You need context (not only context from text, but also environment, etc.) to distinguish the two meanings of 小心地滑.

By the way, 小心地滑 is not ambiguous in speech, as the two meanings have different pronunciation.


人无千日好: Literal Translation Is Completely Different

It's an old Chinese proverb, that's why there are some words missing.

In old times, as long as people can understand what you mean, you can omit as many as words you want.

The whole sentence is

  人无千日好，花无百日红。

Here, 好 means happy, happy life, good life, or easy life.

And 百, 千, 万 in Chinese proverbs or idioms usually refers to a very long time

So the whole sentence's meaning is:

  There is no person can be happy for a thousand days, and there is no flower can bloom for a hundred days.

which means:

  Someone is happy for now doesn't mean he can be happy forever.

it also means:

  Someone (maybe your friend) is nice to you now doesn't mean he can be nice to you forever.

it's like the proverb in English:

  For age and want save while you may; no morning sun lasts a whole day


您真的没看到中国女孩说英语吗？
What, you look like you've never seen a Chinese girl speak English before!

It needs a 过
As dan and Tang Ho indicate, it's missing a 过.  See Expressing experiences with "guo":

The aspect particle 过 (guo) is used to indicate that an action has been experienced in the past.

Compare:

他没看到我。  He doesn't see me. [perhaps present tense, e.g., 他 could refer to a taxi driver who doesn't see you]
他没看到过我。  He has never seen me. [past tense = 过去式 in Chinese]

See Result complement for more about 没看到.  There's also a related question here: What is the difference between 看到 and 看过?
Other issues:
After adding in the 过, the Chinese and the given English translation don't match:

您真的没看到过中国女孩说英语吗？
You really have never seen [a] Chinese girl speak English?

In particular:

The given Chinese sentence does not imply "you look like".  To this end, we need some combination of 看起来 = "appear" and 好像 = "as if" or 就像 (there's other possibilities like 似乎).  But this seems wordy in both Chinese and English.

I feel like there's a mismatch between 您 (nín), the polite form of "you" and the informal tone of the rhetorical question.  Indeed, by using 您 it sounds like you're asking a serious question.

There's no equivalent to "never" in the Chinese.  It could be included with 从来没 or 从未.  I think 从来 is first encountered when learning Chinese, however.

In this context, I don't see a big distinction between 没看过 and 没看到过 here, or even 没看见过.  (There's some websites which discuss 看 vs. 看到 and 看 vs. 看见, which seems to indicate all three are okay.)

There is no "What" in the translation.  Literally it's 什么, but I'd instead suggest 嗯 as a grunt of surprise.

The Chinese is a question, whereas the English is not.

Rhetorical questions using 难道
A nice way to phrase rhetorical questions is with 难道 which means something like "don't tell me that ...", which takes a bit of getting used to.  See Rhetorical questions with "nandao".

嗯，你难道从来没看过中国女孩说英语吗？
Oh!  Have you never seen [a] Chinese girl speak English?

I think this captures the spirit of the question well, i.e., expressing surprise and disbelief.


When does an adjective require 的 to describe a noun?

Single character adjectives do not need possessive 的 when it is connected to single character nouns

  利刀， 大樹，好人

Single character adjectives do not need possessive 的 when it is connected to multiple characters nouns

  利斧頭，大樹屋(tree house)，好女兒

Two characters adjectives need possessive 的 when connected to single character nouns

  鋒利的刀, 巨大的樹， 混亂的心，cannot be reduced to 鋒利刀, 巨大樹， 混亂心

Two characters adjectives do not need possessive 的 when connected to two characters nouns

  鋒利武器，重大事件，混亂心情

An adjective phrase contains more than one or more individual descriptions need possessive 的 when connected to nouns

  鋒利(而)昴貴的武器， 强大(而)勇敢的人 cannot be reduced to 鋒利(而)昴貴武器，强大(而)勇敢人

If you can insert 而 between the two descriptions, you need the possessive 的

Note:

When you can bond an adjective and noun into a single common
term, the possessive 的 would not be needed

強大的人 --> 強人

高大的樹 --> 大樹

巨大的石頭 --> 巨石

春天的雨 --> 春雨

  強人(strongman)，大樹 (tall tree)，巨石 (boulder)，春雨(spring rain) are all common terms,


也 means "too", "also": 我也是. Me too.

又 means "again": 今天又下雨了. It rained again today.

In informal speech, 也 is more neutral. It simply conveys the information that something is the same as something else. 他也是一个学生。He is also a student.

又 can have a negative connotation. 他又这样! He is doing it again!


Idiomatic translation of "passive aggressive"

To literally translate " passive aggressive" as 「被動攻擊」or 「消極攻擊」cannot capture the essence of this phrase. It is better to use interpretation that truly express the meaning of it.

My choice is " 陰損"

  http://tw.ichacha.net/hy/陰損.html

  ①陰險尖刻：說話～。


We usually use the term 网民 to describe  "people who use the internet frequently".  The literal translation of 网民 is " web resident"

互联网用户 just means "internet user". If you have access to the internet, even if you check your email once a week, you are still an internet user.


Is it possible to use the verb particle 过 for future events?

In short, yes, only for events in the near future.

  等我喫過(了)，咱們再走。 (= 喫了再走)
  等我玩過(了)，咱們再走。 (= 玩了再走) It's better to use "玩夠了" in this case.
  等我弄過(了)，咱們再走。 (= 弄了再走)

You must say "等 sb" to make it natural.

Note: this is less used than only a "了".


How to pronounce the word 月 (Yue) in English？

Try yoo (yü) from 'yoohoo' and eh from 'Eh? What?'

yoo-eh

After j, q, x and y u is always ü, although it is not written as ü, which is easy for Germans, but not so easy for the English to say, it is like oo in 'shoo shoo'(go away), an Umlaut u = ü


硕士 means the college degree in modern Chinese, nothing else, unlike the English word Master.

工程硕士 is Master of Engineering.

硕士英语 is the English course for a student who is pursuing a master's degree.

班 is an assembly in which people study and take exams together, usually consisting of 30 or more people.

So to conclude:

工程硕士英语 is the English course in a college aimed at Chinese M.Eng students who usually have no more than 5000 English words in command. After the course you'll gain an additional 1000 vocabularies as well as a few reading, writing, and translating skills. It's a class focused on basic English skill, not necessarily related to engineering.

硕士英语A班 is an assembly of M.Eng students taking an English course, this group is labelled as A. There might be B, C, D, etc., but A usually doesn't mean it's better or prioritized; These are just labels.


First, there is no legal source to download both of them.
More specific, they're content of copyright. The Commercial Press has made great effort to ban online version to protect its interest. So you can hardly find the website which is providing PDF or other format.

However, there's another way, but you'd pay a little money(~$2). Visit the greatest online market in China, Taobao(Taobao.com), search for the sellers who provide the  electronic version book finding service. You can ask them on Ali Wangwang.

As far as I know, there are no latest version(6) available and most of downloadable are in PDF format. Some claim they're, but actually not. You may try this, it contains a mdb database which is 100MB, it's easy to convert it into CSV. I haven't tested whether it is the content of 现代汉语词典, because I'm using Linux OS.
For 新华字典, there are too many apps named as the name. You can search for some android app, unpack apk installer, often you should find a large file in it, and often it's in SQLite 3 format.

All the methods I mentioned above are not tested, you'd better carefully try them.
I also tried to find such files but I gave up because it's hard to deal with, both in legal and technology.
I finally selected an alternative, HanDian. They provided a series of contents and tools for free. Part of them can be found here. Though it's chm format, but to organize the content just a matter of extract and regexp, no any OCR or any other things involved.


Word pairs like 嫉妒/忌妒 with similar pronunciations and meanings - examples and discussion please

First, as a native speaker I can tell you, the usage of these 异形词 is not dependent on regions or moods(at least to my observation), instead it is purely semantic or conventional.
Second, it is very unfortunate that, although some of the pairs are totally interchangeable, like the “嘟囔-嘟哝” pair you mentioned, but some are NOT. Some pairs of 异形词 DO have similar but different meanings, these differences usually lie in emotional tendencies, and some are used to describe different things, and in some pairs one word suggests different information than the other one does.
By the way, Chinese high school test paper makers like to use such pairs to baffle students, here’s a classic one:

煊赫(xuān hè) 烜赫(xuan3 hè) 显赫(xian3 hè)

They all say one is very famous, or one’s social status is very distinguished, the difference is the former two are somewhat disapproval, and the last one is neutral and most widely used.
You mentioned 直爽-直率,  they do have a similar meaning but they are used to describe different things. “直爽” is used to describe a kind of personality, “直率” is used to describe a style of speech (that is direct and frank). So you can say a “直率” way of speech is included in a “直爽的” personality. But yeah they can interchange.
Also, in some pairs, words carry different information. For example: 贫困-贫苦have a similar meaning, but the former one means only “poor”, the latter not only “poor” but also “live a bitter life”. 挣钱-赚钱 both mean “to earn money”, but the former one emphasizes “to earn money with labor, work and struggle”, the latter one means merely “to get money”. To this end, we say:

投资股票非常赚钱。Investing in stocks is very profitable.
我要努力挣钱。I must struggle to earn money.

In this kind of situation usually it’s OK to interchange but the result might look weird to a native speaker.
Some pairs mean very differently. In 不负(fù)众望-不孚(fú)众望, the former means “one did not fail people’s expectations”, but the latter means exactly the opposite: “one failed people’s expectations”.
Finally, there isn’t a set of rules to which one can decide whether a pair is interchangeable or not, but luckily in most cases people can understand you, and if you expose yourself enough to these ambiguities, slowly you can tell the differences.


Is there Netflix-like service in China that lets you see Chinese dramas with subtitles for the learning purpose?

youku.com, tudou.com, iqiyi.com, letv.com

-- 2017 Jun 28 Edit --

Ok let me explain more to Chinese learners why these websites are probably more useful for studying Chinese (of course, in my opinion). Plus, the question specifically asked for sites for Dramas, which I think is a really good source for practicing listening and speaking.

These sites are where native Chinese people go for watching episodes. They have most up to date content and a wide range of category for you to choose.
Serials on these sites, unlike other illegal sources, are of high quality. A lot of serial dramas companies signed contracts with these sites so videos on these websites are genuine, provide 1080P streaming, some even provide Dolby audio effect.
Subtitles. According to 《无障碍环境建设条例》(http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2012-07/10/content_2179864.htm), no. 21 stated that any published film and television programs are required to have subtitles. Since the videos on these websites are genuine, there will always be subtitles on it. This is because not everyone in China speaks Mandarin, and some people can't hear. This is very helpful if you are studying Chinese.

Notes: Probably the most important thing, if you are streaming from places other than Mainland China, is that due to copyright restriction, you may not be able to play some of the shows directly. Just install the plugin called "Unblock Youku" on your Chrome browser, then you can enjoy endless shows.

A non-related note: Some people prefer watching News and some people prefer watching shows. That's alright. As a native Mandarin speaker and English learner, I think, for me, watching Two Broke Girls and The Late Late Show is more effective than watching BBC news. The point is you should find what you like the most, and identify whether your goal is to gain communication skills or to acquire more academic language skill, then pick the best material and the learning will be a fun experience other than a dreary task.


How to identify 使動用法 in Classical Chinese?

the correct interpretation should be 使衆人誇贊[游者] (cause everyone to praise [the traveller]).

imo, such interpretation is incorrect.

  越無車﹒有游者得車於晉楚之郊﹒輻朽而輪敗﹒輗折而轅毀﹒無所可用﹒然以其鄉之未嘗有也﹒舟載以歸而誇諸人﹒觀者聞其誇而信之﹒以為車固若是﹒效而為之者相屬

the text, in brief, should be interpreted as:

a wanderer (游者) brought [a broken carriage] by boat, back to his village (舟載以歸); and (而) exaggerate (誇) [the goodness of the carriage] to his villagers (諸人). onlookers (觀者) heard (聞) his exaggeration (其誇) and (而) believed it (信之)

classical / literary chinese is another paradigm. using grammar to analyse is, imo, unachievable. it’s like using newton physic to solve the “schrödinger's cat” case.

have fun :)


This is a Cantonese  way of saying "Where are you from", equivalent to the Mandarin way of saying 你是哪里人. You could answer it by saying 我是____人, meaning, "I am from ___" (filling in the blank with where you're from; e.g. if you're from the USA, you would reply 我是美国人). Literally translated, it means you-are-where-person?

In Cantonese, there is a difference between the spoken form and the written form. What you've written is usually what is spoken (but I think it's usually 你係邊度人). More commonly, in writing, you would use 你是哪里人 instead of 你是边度人.


How to specify the length of a short haircut in China?

nothing.

Actually there is not a term to describe the length of the haircut in China.

So, how to decide the length of the haircut? keep communicate with barber.

eg.

I: 'please cut my hair with 毛寸(is an adjective for style, not length)'

B: after a while 'Is it fine?'

I: 'shorter'

B: 'Okay, let me see'


It should be 华语. May be it is a Singapore thing to use the term 华文.

华 or 华夏 is the origin of Chinese culture. While 汉 is one of the greatest and longest ruling dynasty in Chinese history. The words 华 and 汉 along with 唐 (another great dynasty) are commonly used as representative of "Chinese"

华语, 汉语 and 唐話 (Cantonese) all mean "Chinese spoken language" (中国语)
Both 汉文/ 汉字 and 唐字 (Cantonese) mean "Chinese written language" (中文/中国字)
Both 华人 and 唐人(Cantonese) mean "Chinese people" (中国人)


A single English word equivalent for "逆天"?

OP( overpowered ) is pretty good I think!


How to use what, that, who, where, etc. in Chinese?

What you are talking about are called relative pronouns. Chinese, you may have noticed, does not play by English rules. Chinese does things differently, and to my mind often more elegantly. One way is this use of 是 ...... 的 or some other 动词 .... 的 combination. Relative clauses are just bigger adjectives really, and that is often exactly how Chinese uses the information content of the relative clause, as part of a big adjectival phrase, in front of a noun.

[relative clause]
(information content of relative clause)
{noun + relative pronoun, or just relative pronoun}

That is {the dog [that} （bit me）]!
这是那只(咬我)的狗。
What is that chair /used/ for? (For what purpose is that chair used?)
那把椅子是干什么用的吗？

2a. Do you know {WHAT} that chair is /used/ for?
2b. Do you know {the thing [that} that chair is (used) for]?
你知道那把椅子是干什么用的吗？

Using 所 you get close to an English style relative pronoun，but here it is still wrapped inside a 是 ... 的 clause. In my head, I always think 'thatwhich' for 所。

Integrity is {WHAT} he needs.
3a. Integrity is {the thing [which} he needs]. (In Chinese I think they will say 'the thing which he lacks)
正直是他[所(缺少)]的。
I know {a few people [WHO} （drive blue cars）].
4a. I know {a few people, [those people} drive blue cars].
我认识几个(开蓝色汽车)的人。

Don't like writing in the comments box.

Simple answer is: No. It depends on what you want to say and how you want to say it. 回家的人 is not a relative clause, just adjective + noun. There is a thing called a Zero Relative Clause. Basically, the Relative Pronoun is omitted, but could be inserted. "This is the man (who) I met yesterday.

那时正是冬天, 黑漆漆的街上, 满满都是回家的人。
It was winter then, the dark streets (were) full of people (who were)  headed home. (The words in brackets make the sentence too wordy.)

我到家的时候, 我们一起去超市吧。
¨WHEN I get home, we will go to the store¨.

There are various ways to express 'when'. An easy way is 的时候， 的时

Chinese can put the information content of an English relative clause in front of the noun. That means, it is not a relative clause but an adjective. We can't write 'The headed home man' in English, but in Chinese it's easy. I believe this originates in the Germanic penchant for 'Verb second'.


What is the order for 雖然 and 當…的時候 when used in the same sentence？

Is there a specific order for 雖然 and 當...的時候?

No, I do not think there is a specific order for 雖然 and 當...的時候

A way to see the reason is that , you can insert commas in the sentence and see that 當...的時候 is a adverb clause, and 雖然... is a conjunction word.

(1) 雖然, 當我們在一起的時候, 有時候我不常常說話, 而且我可能正顏厲色, 我要讓妳知道我很開心。

(2) 當我們在一起的時候, 雖然(,)有時候我不常常說話, 而且我可能正顏厲色, 我要讓妳知道我很開心。

(3) 當我們在一起的時候, 有時候我不常常說話, 而且我可能正顏厲色。 雖然這樣, 我要讓妳知道我很開心。

雖然這樣 is a way to connect a subordinate clause in Chinese.

There is a order for 雖然...但是...

雖然媽媽總是批評你，但是她還是很愛你的。


I am a native Sichuanese and have been living in Sichuan for decades.
I personally have never heard of anyone using this phrase and don't think I ever will.
Instead of a everyday phrase, this is more like a joke playing a pun on the character “日”(used both as a noun and a verb in Sichuanese) that you may find on some sites online. And I don't recommend using it in your daily conversations with anyone, because a)it sounds extremely awkward to me and b)it's very rude (and racist) to talk like this.
As for the slangy use of “日” as an exclamation, yeah, you can hear it here like every day. An equivalent in English would be "shit" or the F word. But still, it sounds rude. I would not recommend this usage to people you are not familiar with.


Is this an actual phrase, "Sao Wei Deng Yi Xia" (please wait a moment)?

稍微等一下

MDBG

  稍微

  shāowēi

  a little bit

  HSK 4

Here's a more detailed entry from Tuttle

  稍微

  [comp: 稍 slight + 微 tiny]

  ADV

  slightly, just a little bit

  你能不能把电视机的声音开得稍微大一点?
  Nǐ néng bu néng bǎ diànshìjī de shēngyin kāi de shāowēi dà yìdiǎn?
  Could you turn the TV up a bit?

  我稍微有点儿头疼, 休息一会儿就会好的。
  Wǒ shāowēi yǒu diǎnr tóuténg, xiūxi yíhuìr jiù huì hǎo de.
  I've a slight headache. I'll be all right after a short rest.

MoE's entry for 等一下 has the following example sentence:

  如：「吳醫師馬上就會來為您診斷病情，請您稍微等一下。」

Taiwan's Ministry of Education certainly thinks that 稍微等一下 is a common phrase.


Why are multiple 学s okay in the sentence 我学英语学了4年了

The interesting phenomenon in this example is the use of 了。。。了 to indicate an ongoing action. In cases where the ongoing verb takes an object (like 英语 in your sentence), the verb is repeated. If the object is understood, it doesn't need to be repeated. For example, if you've established with your interlocutor that you're studying English, you might say 我学了一年了 (I have studied for a year).

As an aside, your "naive translation" would be closer to "I studied (i.e., completed studying) English ...". If this is your intent, a more apt translation might be 我学了四年英语


Is 羊汤 (sheep soup) an alternative word for 羊肉汤 (mutton soup)?

Yes, it is.

百度百科 also has the synonym:

  羊汤一般指羊肉汤


Benefits of Learning a Chinese Dialect in Addition to Standardized Mandarin

While I am not aware of any studies, I would add this:

From my own experience of trying to learn other dialects beyond Mandarin (Taiwanese, Cantonese), as well as simplified along with traditional characters, I'd tend to agree with the previous paradigm.

The reason is that there is so much to learn in a single dialect that starting on another one would only get you to two "good" levels of a language, rather than one near-native level. I found that I was learning the same things in different dialects, but never really improving any one dialect beyond my current strongest (if that makes sense).

So, unless you've already learned everything there is to know in your chosen dialect, or your preferences are to get to a certain level on mulitple dialects, I'd focus on one and make it awesome. Since you're a PhD student, I'm sure you can understand what I mean by "focus".

btw, interesting study that you posted.


Use of 以 in 臣以弑君、可謂仁呼

EDIT: I didn't realize that there were typos in the quotation:

  The original one should be 臣 以臣弑君、可謂仁乎 呼

I suppose 臣以弑君 might be an uncommon variant, but it is still grammatical.

臣以弑君 = 以臣弑君  killing his lord as a vassal.

以 is used as a preposition “as” but the word order is reversed, making it looks like a post-position. The sentence structure is similar to 以下犯上 and 以弱胜强

You can also think this 以 means “and”, so 臣以弑君 meaning “being a vassal but killing his lord”. Although it's common to see 以 be used as “and”, I cannot think of any examples of using 以 as “but”. When I wrote this, I just thought 以 and 而 are sometimes interchangeable. e.g. 臣而弑君 sounds fine to me, which is similar to “人而不仁”, “人而无信”, “君而知礼” ... But 人以无信, etc. do not sound good.

I think either interpretation doesn't make much difference.

以 originally meant  “take” or “use” and was later used as a preposition meaning “by”, “through”, “via”, “with” “because”, etc. e.g.

王以舟去國 (by the way, where does this sentence come from?)

It's also common to put the object before it, e.g.

仁以為己任 = 以仁為己任, take 仁 as one's responsibility

However, 何以 and 是以 almost never become 以何 and 以是.

Sometimes the object 是 (this) or 之 (it) does not appear at all, which makes 以 look like a conjunction meaning “in this way”, “because of this”, “in order to” or “then”.

溫故而知新，可以為師矣

Sometimes, the original meaning of 以 becomes totally lost and 以 becomes a pure conjunction meaning “and”, which is similar to 而.

夫夷以近，則遊者眾；險以遠，則至者少。


What do 即 (jí) and 已 (yǐ) do in the sentence 病征在成年早期即已显露 ("symptoms become visible at early adulthood")?

病征在成年早期即已显露

即 here means 就. It means this sense:

So, 病征在成年早期即已显露 is equal to say 病征在成年早期就已显露.


What's the difference between a han character and a chinese character?

Han here refers to 漢(or 汉 in simplified Chinese).
The concept of the country "China" was formed through gradual integration. Qin(秦) Dynasty unified the six kingdoms, but it was too short and only existed for ~15 years.  After that, Han Dynasty was established and inherited many traditions of the Qin dynasty and carried it forward. Han Dynasty became a famous Dynasty in Chinese history and China's territory was determined at this time.
Han(漢) and Tang(唐) are often referred together as the most powerful and influential dynasties in Chinese history.
Due to the strong influence of Han and Tang at that time, their culture and characters were exported to Japan and Korea, therefore they just started calling these characters as (han character)漢字 since then.
Chinese languages have not been truly unified since ancient times. There are still various dialects. But overall we all call the modern Han language(現代漢語) as Chinese(中文/中國語). There is still difference between Han and Chinese. For instance, the Han(漢) culture had integrated into Japanese/Korean culture a long time ago, but the "China" nowadays to them is a different nation. So you wouldn't hear Japanese people calling the Chinese characters in their language 中國字 but only Kanji(漢字), because they are totally different now. Japanese also still refers the Classical Chinese(文言文) as 漢文
Taiwan and Hong Kong still use traditional Chinese characters, but you can still see some differences in characters when comparing with the Japanese Kanji(漢字) because most of the Japanese Kanji have retained the same writing since they were exported from Tang Dynasty to Japan, or perhaps evolved locally in their own ways.
Some of the details above I took the information from here and translated to English, but feel free to have a read if interested.


Can 知道 be used in the sense of "to know someone"?

知道 someone is usually to mean "heard of" someone, probably because of his or her fame, but not personally acquainted with whom.

认识 would be a better one to mean personally "know" someone.


How to write characters containing the ǚ pinyin symbol in most common Chinese Input Methods?

As pinyin doesn't use the letter v, then words containing the u with umlaut can be written with v key, then combined with the number keys to get different tones.

For example:

v+1 = ǖ
v+2 = ǘ
v+3 = ǚ
v+4 = ǜ
v+5 = ü


The examples make no sense (translation)

The punctuation marks are missing

刀 :  刀口; 刀柄 = knife : knife edge; knife handle

勺 :  马勺; 铁勺 = spoon : ladle; iron spoon

筷 :  筷筒; 火筷 = chopsticks : chopsticks canister; stove chopsticks

尺 :  格尺; 尺度 = foot (measurement)/ ruler : ruler; criterion

叉 :  交叉; 叉烧 = fork : cross; BBQ pork

帘 :  纱帘; 帘幕 = curtain : screen; window curtain


What is the oldest known Chinese audio recording?

Fred Gaisberg of EMI made the first Chinese audio recordings 1903-03-18/1903-03-27 in Shanghai.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ0KBEz23j4

https://vimeo.com/100191126

http://www.recordingpioneers.com/docs/GAISBERG_DIARIES_2.pdf

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/resources/detail/378


A phrase you'll often hear is: "It's a tradition in our family."

Now extend family to 民族

The word tradition comes from: trans 过 + dare 送给 (Originally in the sense of Jewish instruction, Mosaic Law, it seems.)

传统: 传承血统 pass on bloodline

Whereby, 血统 does not just indicate the dna I think, but all the idiosyncrasies that come with it, the dances, the funny hats, the strange and wonderful delicacies, the social expressions of that bloodline.


I know we might be slaying the slain but seeing as you're asking for an

  [a]lternative expression for 二位小姐

it might as well be said.

MDBG defines 小姐 as:

  young lady / miss / (slang) prostitute / CL: 個｜个, 位

with prostitute being the operative definition.

Seeing as 小姐 is so stigmatized - I believe most people tend to stay far away from it.

二位 on the other hand is usually better put as 两位.

两位 is a very common expression for two people you don't know and you don't even need to classify it with guys/gals/whatever.

  两位，慢走


How to translate the famous saying "欲成大器，必先退之"？

The idea here is the same as the set phrase: 以退為進, literally, "To advance by retreating." So a literal translation is "To become a great person, one must first learn to back down / be flexible / compromise / back off / retreat".

Personally, I'd suggest something like "True greatness comes after learning when to let go / compromise" which might be better flowing English.

See also the below:

  懼足下以吾退歸，因謂我不復能自強不息，故因書奉曉，冀足下知吾之退，未始不為進；而眾人之進，未始不為退也。

   - 唐·韓愈《答侯繼書》


There are so many subtle differences and I don't think one can summarise these differences in a set of simple rules.

When referring to food in general, 食物 (edit: or 食品) can be used. Note that 食物 is a compound word, which literally means "something (物) to eat (食)". Examples: 食物安全 "food safety", 红十字会正为地震灾民分发食物 "Red Cross is now distributing food to the earthquake survivors". In modern Chinese, the character 食 in 食物 is not a standalone morpheme. It is standalone in classical Chinese, though, and this classical use of the word "食" still remains in a few terms (see "cuisine" below).
When referring to food prepared by an organisation (e.g. a restaurant or a school meal supplier), 食物 (edit: or 食品), 菜, 饭菜 or 饭餐 can be used. However, there are many exceptional cases that are hard to summarise. For instance, on one hand, even rice-based foods are provided by some McDonald's restaurants, one wouldn't use 饭菜 or 饭餐 as an umbrella term for the food offered by the franchise. On the other hand, even if a usual restaurant (fast food shops excluded) does not offer any rice (饭), one may still call its food 饭菜.
When referring to the food prepared by a specific person, it is more customary to use 菜 or 饭. The two words are usually interchangable, but 菜 is used more frequently. Examples: 他做的菜很美味 (the food he made was delicious), 她很会做饭 (she cooks very well).
When referring to catering, since not only food but also drinks are provided in catering services, unless you want to exclude drinks, 饮 (drinks) and 食/餐 (food) are used together to form the compound words 饮食 or 餐饮. The terms 食物, 饭菜 or 饭餐 can also be used, but 饮食 or 餐饮 are more customary and the word "catering" itself should be translated as 饮食 or 餐饮. Again, 食 or 餐 are not standalone morphemes here. Also, note the character orders: you must write 饮食 or 餐饮 but not 食饮 or 饮餐.
When referring to diet, use 饮食 (but not 餐饮). Again, since you not only eat but also drink, 饮 and 食 are not standalone but used together.
When referring to cuisine from a specific region, 菜 is definitely the most customary word for "food" (四川菜、日本菜、韩国菜 etc.). [Edit:] In many circumstances you may also say 菜式 in place of 菜, e.g. both 我喜欢法国菜 and 我喜欢法国菜式 mean "I like French cuisine" [end of edit]. 餐 is also valid when a Western country is mentioned (e.g. both 法国菜 and 法国餐 may refer to French cuisine), but seldom used if you refer to other countries or regions within a country (therefore, 四川菜, not 四川餐). At any rate, if you mean a specific dish, use 菜 (edit: or 菜式) instead of 餐, because 餐 implies a meal. Example: 左边这碟是法国菜, 右边这碟是意大利菜 "the dish on the left is French; the one on the right is Italian".
If you mean cuisine in general (with no specific cultures or cooking styles in mind), the word "cuisine" is 美食 (edit: or 菜式) in Chinese, literally meaning "fabulous food". Example: 我们提供世界各地美食 (edit: or 我们提供世界各地菜式) = "we offer cuisines from around the world".  (Here, the character 食 alone means "food", so the usage of 食 is partially classical Chinese. Yet we cannot say 我们提供世界各地食 with the character 美 omitted. So, unlike the case in classical Chinese, the character 食 here is still not a standalone morpheme.)
If you mean meals, use 饭 or 餐. There are various similarities and differences between the two.

When referring to breakfast, lunch or dinner, etc., both 饭 or 餐 can be used. E.g. 你吃了早饭没有？and 你吃了早餐没有？(Have you had your breakfast yet?) are perfectly fine questions.
餐 in some occasions is more formal. On a food menu, "breakfast" usually reads 早餐 but not 早饭. Both 餐桌 or 饭桌 mean "dining table", but "table manner" is 餐桌礼仪, not 饭桌礼仪. Also, if the character for "have/eat" and the character for "meal" are used adjacently, the verb to use depends on the character used. For 饭, use 吃饭 or (less frequently) 用饭; for 餐, use 用餐 but not 吃餐.
When the time of having meal is unspecified, it is customary to say 饭 instead of 餐. Example: 你吃了饭没有？("Have you had the meal yet?") One may ask 你用过餐没有？for the same purpose, but 用餐 is much more formal than 吃饭 (imagine a butler asking his master the question when the latter is back to his castle).
To say one is full, one may say 吃饱饭了 (or simply 吃饱了 or better, 饱了), but never 吃饱餐了.
For festival meals, in general the character 餐 is used. Example: 圣诞大餐 = Christmas dinner, 感恩节大餐 = Thanksgiving dinner. In a related note, the sacrament of Holy Communion is 圣餐 in Chinese.

Note that 餐 is also a quantifier for meals, so its use may sometimes confuse non-native speakers. E.g. in 这餐饭是圣诞大餐 (literally "this meal is Christmas dinner"), the first 餐 is a quantifier for the word 饭 (meal), while the second 餐 refers to a meal.


How to best translate "I got A's in 3 of my classes"

When this happened to me, I told my friend:

我有三门课得了A。

Or you can also say

我得了三门课的A。


What is the difference between 参观 and 游览

The main distinction is that 游览 implies a sense of "to leisurely journey":

the traditional meaning of 游览 is "to go sightseeing" by leisurely moving around while looking at scenery, famous sites, etc; e.g. 我昨天去游览西湖, "I went sightseeing around the West Lake yesterday."
a second meaning of 游览 is to specifically go on a trip to visit a place; e.g. 我要參團去游览故宮, "I am going to join a tour group to visit Palace Museum."
参观 on the other hand means to look at things at a specific place; e.g. 我想去參觀故宮, "I want to tour the Palace Museum."

The second meaning of 游览 may seem like it overlaps with 参观 somewhat. It does, but there's an important distinction in that 游览 implies a sense of journeying (i.e. as a part of a tour group), whereas 参观 doesn't imply that at all.

If you're going to a housewarming party, you wouldn't talk about going to 游览 their neighbour's new house. It is perfectly fine to talk about 参观 the house, however. In contrast, a tour group might advertise itself as "taking you to 游览 Hobbiton in New Zealand". Then once you've arrived, the tour guide might say "next we will 参观 Hobbiton".

If in doubt, use 参观.