I think the premise of the question is problematic. Pinyin was not created to teach the sounds of Mandarin to second language learners, so the question of why it is in a certain way that happens to be problematic for second language learners does not have an answer.
For native speaker, there's no problem using "i" for three completely different sounds, because the syllables involved are in complementary distribution, meaning that they never overlap and you can always know which one it is from context. This is similar to how ü drops the diacritic after j/q/x, which is also a problem for second language learners, but not for native speakers.
Why? Because they learn to hear and speak the sounds before they learn to write them. The problem you describe is partly caused by the fact that students learn pronunciation from writing.
The  angle of approach shouldn't be "how is this letter pronounced", but rather "how is this sound written down". The problem you bring up can be avoided by focusing on the pronunciation first and then teaching how that pronunciation is written down.
Finally, if you teach the finals as units, things will become even easier. There's no good reason to focus on letters in Pinyin. What about a that is used to write maybe four different sounds? Or e?
There aren't that many finals, so teaching them as whole units is possible. I wrote more about this here if you're interested.


Yes it's fine.

一 = over, across all.
般 = kind, sort.
一般 = general(ly), usual(ly), normal(ly)


Of course you can put the event before or after the date.

When you write the name of an event first, you can add the information of when this event occurs.
Example: [圣诞节] [是在] [十二月二十五日] = [Christmas] [is on] [25th December]

~

When you write a date first, you can add the information of what this date represents
Example: [十二月二十五日] [是] [圣诞节] = [25th December] [is] [Christmas]

More example:
我的生日是在日十二月二十五日 - My birthday is on December 25th.
十二月二十五日是我的生日 - December 25th is my birthday

When you are describing "when the event occurs", you can omit "在" and write "圣诞节是十二月二十五日" (Christmas is 25th December) or "我的生日是十二月二十五日" (My birthday is 25th December)

When you are describing "what the date represents", you cannot add "在"  and write  "十二月二十五日是在圣诞节" (25th December is on Christmas) or "十二月二十五日是在我的生日" (25th December is on my birthday )

You can add more information about the date. "十二月二十五日" just means "25th December" ; "每年的十二月二十五日" means "25th December of every year"


Why is Little Lin's nose bleeding? 还不习惯北方的气候，估计是天气太干。

The weather caused the problem of his nose. Specifically, he suspected it's too dry.

It seems that you misunderstand the word 估计 in the context. It's not an estimation actually. It's his suspection instead. I'd interpret 估计 as reckon, suspect, feel, and etc in this context.

So,

  我还不习惯北方的气候，估计是天气太干 // I am still not accustomed to the north's climate, I reckon (it's because) the weather is too dry.


Why is the use of 本人 appropriate in the contexts below

In all your cases, the writers are deliberately trying to sound formal.

In the first piece of article, the writer is asking to rent a house. It is quite common in China for this kind of article to use "formal" language.

And using formal languages can make people sound "serious". On "知乎", people use this kind of language to show that they are seriously seeking for an answer to their questions, but not just randomly poking around. For the colloquial "求計算機大神導致", "知乎" is an internet Q/A service, so it is quite common for this kind colloquial phrases to appear. (It might be kind of scary for an article made up of purely formal language to appear here.)

"本人" does not usually appear in (one-on-one) conversations. So it may be also rare in (one-on-one) text chat. But if one is sending a message to many people, he usually changes into a somewhat "formal" language, if he is indeed serious about the message.

In all the quotes in your question, there would not be any problem replacing "本人" with "我". The seriousness of the text is not carried by "本人" only, so there would not be too much difference.


eerie
strange in a frightening and mysterious way

阴阳怪气 describe "an unnatural tone or vibe" (doesn't sound/ feel like male or female)  I would translate it as "eerie vibe"
说话阴阳怪气 could be translated as "talk with an eerie voice"
这人阴阳怪气  could be translated as "this man projects an eerie vibe"


What is the equivalent in Chinese for निताइ (Sanskrit)?

The word is ni-taa-i in ITRANS notation.

The IAST notation is nitāi.

The meaning is to enter the nature or 進入自然／进入自然 in Chinese.


Phonetic clue of characters in languages or dialects other than Mandarin?

Generally yes. But I want to mention that Mandarin was also a dialect. So I'm not agree that the dialects are variations of Mandarin, I think that they are parallel. Most dialects are more ancient and closer to the ancient Chinese than Mandarin.


how do you type a Chinese Character in computer?

In Windows, there are so many tools to help you to type Chinese characters. Such as google pinyin, Microsoft pinyin IME(if you know pinyin of the Chinese characters), and so on. If you use Ubuntu, there are also many options, type the command to install scim sudo apt-get install scim scim-pinyin, or you can try iBus(I use it in linux):

sudo apt-get install ibus ibus-clutter ibus-gtk ibus-gtk3 ibus-qt4
sudo apt-get install ibus-pinyin

after you install them, enable or disable them by hitting Control + Space by default then you can type Chinese characters by Pinyin.


Brief Answers

  Is it indeed the case that the lower component of 䏍 is different from the lower component of 青?

Yes in the etymology sense (the lower component of 䏍 is 肉, and the lower component of 青 is 丹), but it's not necessary to distinguish them in your hand writing – though, maybe some teachers, especially those in Taiwan, encourage you to do so – you will soon see the problem: 月 can denote five different components; in practice no one would distinguish all of them in the hand writing!

  If so, what is the visual cue to look for to tell the difference between these two components?

In order to reflect the etymology of characters, some fonts distinguish the two components. However, so far, to the best of my knowledge, no font can distinguish the five different components denoted by 月.
Of course, they are sharply distinguished in seal and older scripts.

More Information: Five Different "Forms" of 月

月 (Moon).

  Seal script:

  Kangxi Dictionary:

  Taiwan MOE standard:

肉 (Meat). There is an ideogram coded in Unicode for this special 月, ⺼ (Note: this special ideogram can only stand for 肉, but cannot stand for other meanings. The entry for 朕 in Yellowbridge says "... boat 舟 (replaced by ⺼)" – that's a mistake). Example: 能

  Seal script:

  Kangxi Dictionary:

  Taiwan MOE standard:

舟 (boat). Example: 前 (歬 is an old variant form to reflect the seal script)

  Seal script:

  Kangxi Dictionary:

  Taiwan MOE standard:

丹 (well). Example: 青 ( is an old variant form to reflect the seal script; 靑 is coded in Unicode to reflect 丹, though chaotically not all of characters with a variant component can be coded.)

  Seal script:

  Kangxi Dictionary:

  Taiwan MOE standard:

贝 (shell). Example: 朋 (two strings of shells)

  Oracle script:

  Kangxi Dictionary:

  Taiwan MOE standard:


Why do the names of some Chinese companies consist of "repeated" words?

If you compare Chinese with English, you will find a lot differences and similarities. Similarities may help you learn Chinese a little bit easily, while differences are the things you need to keep in mind and to get used to.

Here are the ways how English/Chinese sentences are constructed.

English:  Letters ----------------- Words ---- Sentences

Chinese:  -------- Characters ---Words ---- Sentences

You may have noticed that I located Chinese characters somewhere between English letters and words. Each Chinese character has its own meanings, and we combine characters to make words (a lot words contain only one character though, like 我,你,他, etc.). Most of Chinese words (more than 80% maybe) have meanings related to the meaning of each character used in that word. For the rest words, their meanings have NOTHING to do with the meaning of each character in the word. Most of the words in this category are those translated from foreign languages by pronunciation, like 马达（motor），基因（gene）. There are a lot such words in English as well, like lychee （荔枝），ping-pong（乒乓）.

One important feature of Chinese is that most Chinese words are two-syllable words. I guess two-syllable words sound more rhythmic than single-syllable words.

In your example, "Dangdang" 当当 (probably from the website name 当当网) is just a two-syllable name. 当当 is also used as the mimetic word for bells.

"Renren" is 人人。人 means man/people/person/mankind etc. 人人 means everybody. Other same pattern words are: 天天（everyday）， 月月（every month），年年（every year），处处（everywhere），个个（each and every one）， etc.

Repeating characters in the SAME WORD emphasize the meaning of that character, and also sound more rhythmic. Same idea behind all the 4-character words in the patter of AABB, like 时时刻刻，日日夜夜，分分秒秒，吹吹打打，来来去去，年年岁岁，熙熙攘攘，热热闹闹，高高兴兴，干干净净，整整齐齐，恭恭敬敬，花花草草，战战兢兢，形形色色，从从容容，利利索索 and a lot others.

However, the above explanation doesn't apply to the repeating characters NOT IN THE SAME WORD. For example, 银行行长。银行 is a word, meaning bank. 行长 is another word, meaning the head of the bank.

Another example: 小明明天去上学。小明 is a name （probably a boy）. 明天 is a word, meaning tomorrow. While in 明明天天去上学, 明明 is a name （probably a boy）. 天天 is a word, meaning everyday.

It is very common in Chinese that repeating characters are used in the same word. Here are some cases where repeating characters appear.

in person's names (usually children's): 明明,亮亮,云云,圆圆,皮皮, etc.
in the words for simulating sounds made by things: 当当,轰轰,呜呜,呼呼,啪啪, etc.
in the words for simulating sounds made by animals:汪汪,喵喵,咩咩,哞哞, etc.
in the form of address: 姥姥,爷爷,奶奶,伯伯,叔叔,爸爸,妈妈,哥哥,姐姐,弟弟,妹妹,姑姑,舅舅, etc.
in the words in v+obj pattern: 尿尿 (小刚去厕所尿尿)
in the words in v+adv pattern: 开开 (请把门开开)
in actions: 看看,听听,瞧瞧,打打,写写,说说,读读,练练,弹弹, etc.
in words meaning "every X": 天天,处处,个个,年年, etc.
in ancient Chinese: 雨雨,将将,君君臣臣父父子子, etc. In this case, AA is a word, and usually the 1st A is a verb, and the 2nd A is a noun.

Sometimes, you have to use the words consisted of repeating characters, and it can't be replaced by the word containing only one character, for exmaple:

这是我的奶奶. Here 奶奶 is grandmother (Dad's mom).

这是我的奶. This sentence is totally different from the previous one. Depending on the context, this sentence can mean " this is my milk" when the speaker is having his/her breakfast, or it can mean "this is the milk from my breasts" when a mom breastfeeding her baby is talking to another mom.

If you regard Chinese characters as something similar to English words, you will be surprised to see repeating characters. However if you think characters as something similar to English syllables, then you will feel a lot comfortable.

Here are some English words that have repeating syllables:
mama,papa,yoyo,banana,Kijiji,Honolulu,Mississippi,Lady Gaga,Paganini,poopoo, etc.


What's a good place to look up the etymology of certain Chinese words that aren't immediately obvious?

Try this: Hong Kong, Arts Faculty at "cuhk.edu.hk" such as https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E9%98%9C
Regards.


In what cases must I use 了 and in what cases not?

You use 了 when you must indicate the verb is 'completed'
you don't need 了 when you don't need to indicate the verb is completed

From my answer to another post

  The verb particle 了 denotes the "completion" aspect of the verb

  经历風浪 = [going through crisis] (In this sentence, the verb 经历 (to experience) may or may not had been completed
  经历 (了) 風浪 indicates [the verb 经历 in "experience crisis" is completed]

One more example:

吃水餃 = eat dumplings (we don't know you are going to eat dumplings, in the process of eating dumplings or done eating dumplings )

The proof is 吃水餃 can be the answer for any of the following questions:

Q1: "你現在要幹什麼?" (What are you going to do now?)

A1: "吃水餃" (or 我現在要吃水餃)

Q2: "你在幹什麼?" (what are you doing?)

A2: "吃水餃" (or 我在吃水餃)

Q3: "你幹了什麼?" (What have you done?)

A3: "吃水餃" (or 我吃了水餃)

吃了水餃 = has eaten dumplings (we know the verb 吃 is completed, you have done eating)

It can only be an answer to Q3, but not Q1 or Q2

Even more example:

If you only say "做菜請客", it doesn't matter if you are in the middle of cooking or the cooking is done, the sentence would be correct; If you say "做了菜請客", it can only mean the cooking is done and the dishes are ready

This answer focus on the relationship between verb and the verb particle了.

了 as a final particle has other functions. It denotes a sentence has ended; indicating change of situation,  ; serve to soften the tone of a sentence; express different emotions in speech depend on pitch and tone


Can someone please translate these characters for me? (Characters identified: 柔道)

It is 柔道 Judo.

柔 means 'soft, gentle'

道 means 'way, method'

some stokes are missing, may be omitted for style


Both representations (八万一千零一十六 and 八万一千零十六) are correct, while 八万一千零一十六 sounds more natural.

Rule

The rule is actually very simple.

  Use 十… instead of 一十… at the very beginning of the number. Otherwise, just keep the 一十.

Example:

  1 = 一
  11 = 十一
  310 = 三百一十
  3010 = 三千零一十
  3310 = 三千三百一十
  30010 = 三万零一十
  100010 = 十万零一十
  30100010 = 三千零一十万零一十

Tools

You can use online tools to do the conversion. Input Arabic numbers, and get Chinese output. Both tools can handle negative value & decimal places. It is suggested to compare the result from both tools if using for formal usage.

Mandatintools.com - Variety of output styles:

Traditional Chinese - 81016 = 八萬一千零一十六
Simplified Chinese - 81016 = 八万一千零一十六
Traditional Chinese (formal) - 81016 = 捌萬壹仟零壹拾陸
Simplified Chinese (formal) - 81016 = 捌万壹仟零壹拾陆
Pinyin - 81016 = ba1 wan4 yi1 qian1 ling2 yi1 shi2 liu4

  All translations are perfectly correct and natural, except:

  The character 一 is not necessary for those beginning with 一十... (e.g. 一十二萬零五, 一十億). It is still correct, but unnatural.

Chinesetools.eu - Variety of input types (Numbers, Dates, Years, Time, Money, Fractions, Decimals, Percents). Only one output style:

Simplified Chinese with Pinyin
120101 = 十二万〇一百〇一 shíèr wàn/mò líng yībǎi líng yī

  All translations are perfectly correct and natural, except:

  I cannot understand why 万 has a pinyin of mò.
  The dollar character should be 块 instead of 快.


Understanding 到 and 去 in the sentence: 今天你把这袋粮食送到河对岸的村子里去吧

"今天你把这袋粮食送到河对岸的村子里去吧."

送 is the main verb and 到 is a result complement in this case. 到 might be understood as to in English. I.e. 送到家里: take it to home(inside).

去 here is an indicator of the direction of moving/going, as in 上去，下去，到外面去，里面去， etc. So, 村子里去 denotes going the direction of inside of village.


Yes, you can.
Oxford

VERB
care for
关心国家大事
be concerned about the major issues of one's country
双方共同关心的问题
matter of mutual concern

You above sentences have some grammatical problems but using 关心 in this manner is no problem.


What's the meaning of 預約拘捕(Arrest by Appointment)?

It's not a poster.

根據官方香港電台「通識網」解釋，預約拘捕是指執法人員在有證據懷疑一個人違法或有拘捕令的情況下，預先通知及約定對方將會被捕的司法程序。
實際在執行過程中，警方會事先表明拘捕的理由及涉案人士觸犯的法律，在考慮對方不會潛逃或毀滅證據下，進行有秩序的預約拘捕，可讓對方有足夠的心理 (sic) 準備，減少因突然拘捕而出現衝突。

According to the description given by liberalstudies.hk, an "Arrest by Appointment" refers to the judicial procedure whereby a law-enforcement officer who, either [through having enough evidence to suspect the conduct of illegal activity] or [having an arrest warrant], gives prior notice to an individual and makes an appointment with them for their arrest.
In reality, the police will first give notice of the reason(s) for arrest and the legal case for the offence, and, under an operating assumption that the suspected individual will not attempt to destroy evidence or flee, they will conduct a lawful "Arrest by Appointment" procedure, allowing the suspected individual to prepare themselves for the arrest, minimising the potential shock of an otherwise sudden arrest.

(NB: This is not legal advice)


How would you translate 云上蓝天万里 to English?

The literal meaning of 云上蓝天万里 is simple: "Above the (dark) clouds, there are thousands miles of (bright) blue sky"

The figurative meaning needs some comprehension. "Break through the dark clouds above, and you can find a bright blue sky" --> "get pass the darkness and you will find hope"


Old Chinese did not have tones but had consonant clusters, and a larger number of consonants.  It gradually lost consonants and simplified all consonant clusters to single consonants and had to disambiguate words by tone.


Where would one find a library of Chinese classics that have never been translated into English?

several free resources, depend on where you’re:

the internet archive has a cadal (china-us million book digital library project) collection, which contains 89000+ books. most books of imperial collection of four (四庫全書) are included, plus many literatures of yore.

this collection alone should suit your need, unfortunately, it’s blocked in “that area” now.

for buddhism texts, try the 漢文大藏經

  to produce automated translations

forget it, no one can

  into modern, simplified Chinese characters

even the communists do not do it, find & read carefully what’s the rules of the simplification.

have fun :)


What is this modified version of Hanyu Pinyin called?

Isn't this just an informal romanisation method to make it easier for Malay/Indonesian speakers?

In those languages:

c is pronounced /c/, so it can be used to approximate z/zh
k/t/p are unaspirated, so h needs to be added to indicate aspiration
au is /aw/, same as mandarin ao
There isn't /ɨ/ as in Mandarin but /ə/ which sounds close to it, and /ə/ is written e.

This is probably just the work of one person transcribing the music for an Indonesian audience. Pinyin has some weird spelling conventions so these adjustments help Indonesian speakers sing Mandarin songs better.

You can see this a lot with Cantonese/Hokkien songs. Mandarin is much much better in this regard.


成语 versus 俗语 versus 谚语, what is the difference?

成語 and 諺語 are well established common expressions , well known by the whole population. 俗語 is more often, limited to regional use.

成語 mostly refer to Chinese idiom.
諺語 can be from different countries.
Chinese 成語 are uniformly four characters phrases.
For 俗語 and 諺語,  number of character are flexible, some come in two parts.

Examples:

俗語 : "有便宜唔好使頸" (Cantonese) : "If there's benefit to be have, don't be stubborn."
諺語: "神要毀滅某人，必先使其瘋狂" (western): " "Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad."

諺語 (proverb) include  "common sense" and "words of wisdom". from known or unknown origins.
俗語 (folk saying) include "situation description", "common sense" and "words of wisdom".
成語 (idiom) include  "situation description" , "common sense", and "words of wisdom".  Mostly came from known historical references, like poems, classical literature or famous quotes by historic figures .

Edit:
熟语 (Well known phrases) include:
惯用语(common phrase), usually contain three characters, for example: "打秋風"，"拍馬屁" , 成語, 諺語, 俗語, 歇后语(two-part allegorical saying), for example: "和尚打傘，無法無天" and 格言(motto), usually from famous people, for example: "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." by Franklin D. Roosevelt.


Is it more natural to express "0" with a negative form?

Like in most languages, expression of the concept of not having anything in Chinese is most naturally done as a negative, viz

  您没有未读消息。

My English voicemail employs "You don't have any unread messages" in the same way.

However, the use of 零 líng + a classifier like 個 gè is attested, albeit in very limited contexts, most commonly in temperature (to "count" 0 degrees of the scale, e.g. 零度).


What is this mysterious elevator instruction: 禁止追逐打闹 or "prohibition of chasing"?

First, don't be bothered by the icon. It will confuse you.

And you already know

  禁止追逐打闹

It is a compound phrase appearing in 禁止追逐和打闹. Usually the sign hangs against the wall in school as a reminder for students to keep themselves safe.

So just imagine what those playful kids do, and you will know what 追逐打闹 is.


What is the difference between 覺得 and 想？

As you learned from dictionaries, 想 and 覺得 have meanings that are not overlapped.

When it comes to the overlapped meaning 'think', the different between 想 and 覺得 are as below:

"我[想]机会不是很大" - "I [think] the chance is not great" (thinking mainly base on imagination/ judgment; mostly a prediction)

"我[覺得]机会不是很大" - "I [think] the chance is not great" (thinking mainly base on feeling; mostly a hint/ feeling)

Both '想' and  '覺得' describe 'expressing opinion' , but with different base. If you what  to emphasize the opinion is base on judgment after some consideration, you should use '想'; If you what  to emphasize the opinion is base on a hint or some feeling, you should use '覺得'

More example:

我(想)德國隊會赢 - in your judgment, team Germany will win (base on the past record and the skill level gap between the two teams)

我(覺得)德國隊會赢 - you personally feel Germany will win (just a hint, because they seem like a winner)


"Thank you" in Tibetan, Cantonese, and Mandarin

As others have correctly pointed out, the Tibetan expression for 'thank you' is ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེ་ (Wylie: thugs rje che). The approximate phonetic pronunciation in the Lhasa dialect is thu-je-che (the 'gs' and 'r' being silent). Literally, ཐུགས་རྗེ་ (thu-je) means 'compassion' and ཆེ་ (che) comes from the word ཆེན་པོ་ (chen-po), which means 'great'. So when you are thanking someone, you are basically telling them that they have 'great compassion'.

Although it may sound like the Chinese phrase 多謝, the similar pronunciation is just a coincidence and the two expressions have nothing in common whatsoever.


What is the difference between 餐馆 and 饭店? Is 饭店 used for restaurant or hotel?

restaurant - 餐馆，饭馆，小吃店，酒店，饭店，食肆

hotel - 旅馆，旅店，宾馆，酒店，饭店，客栈

酒家 in old days meant restaurant, but nowadays it is almost only used in the names of restaurants or hotels.


Difference between 特色, 特點, 特性, 特質, and 特徵

The words can be differentiated as follows:

特色 - style (abstract)
特点[點] - unique point (general)
特征[徵] - feature (of a person or a product)
特质[質] - quality (of a product or a person)
特性 - property (abstract)

These are usually non-interchangeable if you are specific about what you are saying or writing. An example statement combining all the above would be:

  这台相机有许多特征：它具有防水功能的特性，优良特质的防刮镜头，最主要的特点是它无需对焦就能让你拍出据有专业特色的照片。

  This camera has numerous features: it has a
  water-resistant property, excellent quality scratch
  resistant lens. The most important (unique) point is that it doesn't
  require focusing and can let you shoot photos with a professional style.

The most appropriate character for X that I can think of is:

文化特色 - (cultural style)
個人特徵 - (personal feature)
產品特質 - (product quality)
語言特性 - (language property)
時代的特點/徵 - (unique point or feature about an era, epoch or period of time)


What are Chinese terms for 'androgynous', 'gender neutral', 'non binary' etc. to imply gender neutrality?

The Wikipedia page for 性别酷儿 mentions:

  性别酷儿（Genderqueer、gender-fluid、non-binary）

and also goes into specific definitions:

  非二元性别（Gender Queer，Gender non-binary）
  精神双性人（Bigender）
  精神三性人（Trigender）
  精神无性人（Agender）
  精神泛性人（Pangender）
  性别流体（Gender fluid）

中性 also works for gender neutral.


What is the term for these piles of tiles on top of a roof?

It's a kind of roof ornament. I can't tell what exactly it is from your photo, but most of them are 吻兽. It is a common roof ornament in ancient Chinese architectural.


Is this placement of 於 wrong or just unidiomatic?

徐良泉於1937年和妻子結婚

In this sentence, [徐良泉] is the subject. and the rest of the sentence "於1937年和妻子結婚" is in order

  徐良泉和妻子於1937年結婚

In this sentence [徐良泉和妻子] is the subject, and the rest of the sentence "於1937年結婚" is in order

're-organise sentence into correct sentence order' here seem referring to the correct order of the four sentences, not the word orders in each sentence.

The couple now have children, grand children and great grand children
He married his wife in 1937
The old man was born in Jiangsu
This hundred years old couple have been through a lot of hardship

The correct order of these four sentences is 3, 2, 1, 4

The goal of this exercises is to use your comprehension skill to construct a logically coherent paragraph. All you need to do is to figure out the correct time-line.

None of the sentence is grammatically incorrect

Edit:

Ludi wrote:

  Thank you. The goal is to arrange the words of the sentence, but I had already done that. There is no possibility to choose the order.

May be they think 和 in "於1937年和妻子結婚" should had been 與. As in "徐良泉於1937年與妻子結婚"(which is a better preposition when 徐良泉 was the subject)

presuming 和 is incorrect (or not the optimal choice), the only option is to rearrange the sentence into "徐良泉和妻子於1937年結婚" and make "徐良泉和妻子" the subject.

A likely explanation is the author already set the answer as "徐良泉和妻子於1937年結婚" but overlooked the fact that 和(and) can function as 與 (with) too. That meant there could be two correct answers, but the author only allowed one.


美国意大利黑帮 - Expressing location without 在?

Chinese and English express this in different ways. Or better yet, English emphasizes the nuance that these mafiosi are of Italian descent but operate in America: Italian mafia in America.

The Chinese term 美国意大利黑帮 is just "American-Italian" mafia. Chinese has no proper word for demonym-adjectives, Italian will translate as 意大利人 if it is a demonym denoting a person ("Italy-person") and most likely 意大利的 if it is something from Italy (e.g. 意大利的经济 Italian economy) but omitting 的 is more natural in most cases, e.g.  意大利经济 Italian economy. It's a bit like headline style in English: UK minister resigns (where UK is certainly not an adjective) and not British minister resigns.

Since Chinese heavily relies on context, 美国意大利黑帮 requires you to use your knowledge and understanding of the context, and put this together. English on the other hand prefers splitting this up and making clear what role Italian and American play here.


Just like "usually, typically, normally and often" in English, "通常, 平日, 素来, 往往 and 常常" In Chinese have overlapping meanings but they all have subtle differences with each others.

"通常" = usually /typically (emphasizes on normalcy)
Example : "他通常不做好事" (usually, he doesn't do good things - not doing good things to him is normal)

~

"平日"= "in normal days/ normally"  (emphasizes on regularity)
Example : "他平日不做好事" (normally, he doesn't do good things  - it is a regular routine for him to not do the good things)

~

"素/ 素来" = "always" (emphasizes on constancy)
Example : "他素来不做好事" (always, he doesn't do good things- he has always been like that )

~

"往往" = "often" (implies 'ironically')
Example : "他往往不做好事" (often, he doesn't do good things- despite other's expectation )

~

"常/ 常常 " = often  (implies more often than not)
Example : "他常常不做好事" (often, he doesn't do good things- he is like that more often than not)


I try to make a rough translation here:

  便当， originated from the Southern Song Dynasty, meaning "convenient
  things, convenient, smooth".

  When introduced into Japan, it became “便道”、“辨道”、“辨当”.

  Later, when the term “便当” was transplanted back to China from Japan,
  it's referenced to 弁当(bentou/bento).

  The term 盒饭, (that is 盒装餐食), is used in mainland, while
  便当 is usually used in Taiwan.

  However, there is a nuance between 盒饭 and 便当. 便当 is more delicate than
  盒饭.  盒饭 is usually just simple and normal food.


光盘 = Disk =

So that's a huge no-no.

唱片 is more of a old fashion way of saying album. So I personally recommend 专辑.

So the result would be: 他的专辑我都有。or 我有他所有的专辑。


Is this clear? 我们等了一段时间，其间我们没观察到任何直接和明显的副作用, ... (waiting around for side-effects)

"直接" in "其间我们没观察到任何(直接和)明显的副作用" should be removed, because there's no such thing as 'indirect side effect'

If you meant "immediate", the correct word is "即時" --> "其间我们没观察到任何(即時和)明显的副作用"

"我们等了一段时间，其间我们没观察到任何明显的副作用"

You can use 並 (actually) to strengthen the connection between the two phrase

"我们等了一段时间，其间我们並没观察到任何明显的副作用"

Change 没观察到  to 沒有观察到

没 mainly used for "without + object"
沒有 is more suitable for "have no + object"

"我们等了一段时间，其间我们並沒有观察到任何明显的副作用"
"我们等了一段时间，其间我们並沒有观察到任何即時和明显的副作用"

You only need to state the subject "我们" once here

"我们等了一段时间，其间並沒有观察到任何明显的副作用"
"我们等了一段时间，其间並沒有观察到任何即時和明显的副作用"

Edit:
Other user rewrote the sentence in a more native way in his answer. That reduced the length of the original text greatly. In that case, I would just write "等了一會，見沒有異狀，医生就走了" (After waited for a while, seeing that there are no abnormalities, the doctor left.)
I don't know which the OP prefers, but I think it would be more beneficial for her, if I don't stray too far away from the original sentence that she came up with with her current writing ability


How does one translate expressions like "PC Master Race" or "Ultrawide master race" into Chinese?

According to wikipedia :

  the term is used by PC enthusiasts both to describe themselves as a
  group, as well as their belief in the superiority of the PC platform
  in comparison to consoles, often citing features like more advanced
  graphics, smoother framerates, free online play, backwards
  compatibility, modifications, upgradability, customization, lower
  cost-over-time, open standards, multitasking, and performance.

Here I have to mention two words that is related to this term in Chinese culture:

鄙视链 a chain of contempt,

优越感 superiority.

Naturally, PC Master Race means PC优等民族, Glorious PC Gaming Master Race can be directly translated to 高贵的PC玩家, which is often seen among Chinese gamers, and is less "racism". To Ultrawide master race you can say 高贵的超宽屏用户


What is the difference between these two words 叫做 and 叫作?

They have same meaning, same usage and same pronunciation, basically you don't need to figure out them consciously especially in spoken Chinese.

  但实际上两者并没有什么区别，也就是说“叫作”同“叫做”，而“叫做”同“叫作”。

And here're some more clarifications; it seems 叫做 is the standard usage formerly, but 叫作 is recommended more now.

  而我又翻看了现在的一些教材，发现现在版本教材上写的都是“叫作”。

  上网查了下之后，发现2011年时全国科学技术名词审定委会和国家语言文字工作委员会推荐的是使用“叫作”。

  而《现代汉语规范词典》每一版对于“叫作”和“叫做”的记载也都不同。

  在大体上理解，曾经是以“叫做”为标准，但是现在更推荐的都是“叫作”。

  简单的说这俩词是互用互通的，而也有些资料上显示“叫作”本身就是错误用法，但现在与“叫做”混用。

Reference: 叫做还是叫作？


How is adding oil going to beneficial to the situation? 加油

In a literal sense, 加油 means to step on the gas pedal when you drive a car.

Imagine what happens when you step on the gas pedal? More gasoline is added to the engine. What happens when more gasoline is added to the engine? The engine roarsssss!

If someone is having a hard time, they are like a car being stuck in the mud or a similar situation and unable to move forward. You would encourage them to "add in some gasoline"  加油!


What's the difference between 要 and 想 for "to want"?

Where I'm from, people usually say 想要. 想 is more for "to think", and 要 has a flavor of "to need/require", though it really all depends on the context. 想要 mixes the two meanings, kind of like "to want" has both "desire" and "necessity".

  我渴了，我想要喝水。

I am thirsty. I want/need to drink water.

  我要上這門課才能畢業。

I need to take this course to graduate.

  這道菜看起來好好吃，我想點這道菜。

This dish looks delicious. I want to order this dish.

  你想不想一起去北京？

Do you want to go to Beijing?


Translate "feature" as a verb to Chinese

You can say 以xxx为特色/特点/重点. (or 由xxx主演 for movie etc)

  This album features all the new artist from NYC.

该专辑以来自纽约市的所有新艺术家为特色。

Or use xxx的特色在于 for same meaning, sometimes make the sentence more natural.

  This frying pan features all new design allows the user to cook in their sleep.

该平底煎锅的特色在于全新设计允许用户在睡眠中进行烹饪。


What is the difference between 嘗試，試圖，and 企圖?

嘗試 means simply "to try" or "have tried". For example,

  "Try something new" => 嘗試新事物

試圖 is synonymous with 打算, and means "planning to do something". It can be translated as "try" or "attempt", but implies more of a plan. For example,

  "Trying to write a book." => 試圖寫本書.

企圖 has the same meaning with 試圖, but with a negative connotation. For example,

  "Planning to rob the bank." => 企圖搶銀行

For your case, both 她 嘗試 / 試圖 修復被撕毀的照片 can be acceptable. If she has not yet begun working on the photo, 試圖 sounds most natural. If she's already in the act, I would suggest  正試圖 or 正在嘗試. If she has already finished, go with 嘗試.


将奶黄放入一个大，浅且可置于冷冻库的容器 means 'put the custard into a huge, shallow container (and) which can be put into a freezer'.

So here 且 means and(而且).

Another useage 且 means 'just', such as 且行且珍惜(just cherish what you have at the moment) here 且 means just.

即可(离火) means you can do something when something happen as soon as possbile.

Such as:
1. 当油热了，即可离火 (When the oil is hot, you can turn off fire right now[She suggest you do it right now]).
2. 开袋即食 (Open the bag, you can eat it)

即 has a meaning of you can do something with a hint do it now(as soon as possible).


well, "妖星" is a category name of observable astronomical / meteorological  phenomenons, those are assigned as "bad omen".

in the book "靈臺秘苑" by 庾季才, in volume 15, it was defined as:

靈臺秘苑　卷十三⋯卷十五　page 195

  妖星者﹒五行五星之變﹒天地惡氣之所生也

roughly, means "evil star (妖星), the so called (者), [is] the rebels of (之變) five elements (五行), [and / or] five planets (五星), produced (生) by (所) the bad force (惡氣) from the sky and earth (天地)"

afterward, the author listed 40+ entries in this category "妖星", an interesting point is:

"彗星", "孛星" & "長星", comets;  & "客星", nova; are also listed as "妖星"

i would suggest you find someone who can read literary chinese, and understand astrology / astronomy to help you. the google translate cannot handle literary chinese, the link provided is, . . . :(

last, the english book "stars of jade" by julius d w staal, would give you some basic ideas about "chinese astronomy".

have fun :)


look up nciku or iciba, in fact iciba 翻译 seems to give a correct translation 我们的房子保护我们免受寒冷的天气， indicating that instead of using a preposition （from） Chinese uses a verb 免受，for more examples just look up iciba， nciku，one more example sentence showing same construction 这样的法规可以保护消费者免受有害或者危险药品的威胁。

Talking about HSK，HSK dictionary （汉语水平考试词典）has following entry for 保护：［义１］（动）保卫护理，不使！！受到！！损害 。。。。 indicating use of 不受到 (similar 免受) to translate ＂from＂ in this context


[Number] [Measure word] 多 [Noun] = More than [number] [noun]s:

“I've only been here a little over three months.” (The 才 adds the meaning of "only just".)


Is there an English translation of "The Legend of Oghuz Khagan"?

Harun Doğruyol has written on the topic and has found similar issues:

  During my research I did not come across any English version of this epic,

but thankfully he also says:

  so I have translated the first and pagan version and have attached it to my article.

The Legendary Turkish Warrior (Alp) Oguz Khan and His Epic

The Birth of Oguz Khan

……They said let it be.
Here is his image:
After that they also got in happy and joyful mood
One day
Their eyes brightened up, became colorful, filled in light
That day Moon Khan gave birth to a boy
Bluish, sky-blue was his face
Redd*ish was his mouth, like a fire was his color of face
Crimson were his eyes, dark was his face
His eyebrows were more beautiful than fairies’, how black!
He came to his mother’s breast he took it and sucked milk
He did not want to suck milk anymore
He wanted raw meat, meal and, food
He wanted wine from his surroundings and, wanted to have fun
Immediately, he started to talk, utter and say
After forty days he started to walk and play
His feet were as if they were ox’s feet
His ankles were as if they were wolf’s ankles
His shoulders were similar to that of sable’s
His chest is identical to that of a big bear’s
He was a human but full of hairs
His body was covered with hairs
He herded the flocks of the horses he caught and rode them
Days passed, so many years passed
Oguz also grew up and became a handsome hero
The youth of Oguz Khan
In that age! In that place!
There was a big forest inside Oguz’s homeland
Lots of rivers and streams flowed through this forest
Lots of game animals live in the forest
Lots of game birds also flew over it
In the forest did a big rhinoceros live
It ate and didn’t let either animal or human live
It attacked herds and always ate horses
It troubled people, took their lives
It never granted humans their lives
Such a monster was it, it was that much frightful
There was a person who was very “Alp” (heroic, sublime, frightful, sacred Turkish warrior) called Oguz Khan
In order to kill that rhinoceros he went to that spot
He took a spear and a sword with a shield and arrows
He challenged the rhinoceros that it would die soon
He hunted a deer while hunting in the forest
He tied it to a tree with a willow branch
He returned to his house before the morning broke
When it was dawn he checked the deer
He realized that the rhinoceros had already swallowed the deer
He caught a bear also instead of a deer
Taking off his golden belt of kingship
He hanged the bear downstairs
It was morning again, it began to dawn
He came and realized that the rhinoceros had taken his bear
Finally this case annoyed him extremely
He approached the tree himself and stayed under it
When the rhinoceros came, it saw Oguz and stopped
It hit Oguz’s shield with its head
Oguz hit its head with his spear
Killing the rhinoceros Oguz saved his homeland
Beheading it with his sword he took its head
e returned his home and delivered the news to his country
One day he saw a white falcon
It perched on the rhinoceros and eating its intestine
He shot an arrow with his bow, the arrow killed the falcon
He beheaded it then, he murmured himself:
“The rhinoceros ate both the deer and the bear”
“My spear killed it, because it was made of iron”
“A little white falcon ate the huge rhinoceros”
“The arrow and the bow killed it because it was made of copper”
One day
Oguz’s marriage with the daughter of the sky
While Oguz was begging of the God
The darkness fell suddenly, a light descended from the sky
Such a light was it, brighter than the moon and the sun
Oguz Khan walked and approached the light
He saw a girl sitting in the middle of the light
There was a beauty spot was on her head, as bright as a fire
She was so beautiful, as if she was the North Star
Such a beautiful girl was she, the sky smiles with her when she similes
When she wants to cry, the sky cries with her
The time Oguz saw the girl, he was overwhelmed
He fell in love with her; he loved her whole heartily
He entered the bride’s chamber, got what he wanted
She became pregnant, after days and nights passed
Her eyes brightened up when her three sons were born
They named the first son “Sun“
They found the name “Moon” for the second son
They were glad that third one’s name was “Star”
Oguz’s marriage with the daughter of the ground
Oguz Khan went to the forest to hunt one day
There was a tree standing in the middle of the lake
A girl was sitting in the cavity of the tree
Her eyes were bluer than the sky, she was a God’s daughter
Her hair was wavy as if a river wave
Her tooth was like a pearl shining in her mouth
Anybody living in the world would say that
Ah! Ah! We are dying! My God! We are dying!
They would say and shout and shout
Like sweet milk’s becoming kumiss (traditional drink)
When Oguz saw the girl, he was out of mind
An ember of fire entered his heart whatsoever
He loved her whole heartily, he took her hand
He entered the bride’s chamber, got what he wanted
They named the first son “Sky“
They found the name “ Mountain” for the second son
They were glad that third one’s name was “Sea”
When Oguz heard this, he had his lineage praised with songs in his homeland
He gave a big feast
He provided wealth to his homeland

Missing part

Oguz-Khan’s becoming the “Supreme Khan” of the Turks

He gave orders to his inner homeland
The people agreed to meet, went to Oguz
Oguz had forty tables prepared
He had different kinds of food cooked with lots of wine
People sat at the tables drank so much kumiss
So much wine was drunk and so much sweet was eaten
After the feast he gave this order
“O! My men! and my nation!”
“I’m now your Khan”
“Never let either the shield or the arrow fall from your hand”
“A seal that would lead us should become our sign
“The Alps should become like wolves howling”
“With iron spears our country should become a forest”
“Our hunting ground should be filled with the wild horses”
“Our country should abound with rivers and seas”
“The sun in the sky should become our nation’s flag”
“The sky should become our tent”
“The world should become my country and my nation should be plenty”
He also delivered his order to all round his country
He informed the ambassadors, everybody learned it
In one of his messages, he addressed his nation as this:
“Since I’m the supreme Khan of the Uighurs” (first settled Turkish tribe)
“I’m supposed to be the Khan of the world”
“Every part of the world is under my rule”
“My wish is that you would obey me”
“My request is that you should be ready for my order”
“Whoever submits to me will be rewarded”
“He will be my comrade, he could always ask for my help”
“Anyone who does not obey me and rebels against me”
“I will prepare my army, he is my enemy”
“I declare that I will attack and run over and suppress him”
“I will destroy him, run over and hang him”
It was also in that age:
There was another Khan called Golden Khan
He sent his messenger to Oguz Khan
He presented the rare rubies and gold and silver
He sent diamonds and showed respect
Presenting the best gift, he made friends with him
He surrendered himself to Oguz and also made him happy
Oguz Khan’s raids in the west along the Idil River
There was a great and majestic Khan called Urum Khan
He was dwelling on the left side of Oguz, he was Oguz’s neighbor
He had lots of cities and innumerable armies
He ignored Oguz’s orders
He never followed Oguz’s orders and resisted him
He said that “I would never obey you”
Oguz sent him a command, he ignored
Oguz decided to destroy him
Oguz set off and raised a flag
He crossed the skirts of the Ice Mountain in forty days
He had the tents set up, he fell asleep
When the morning was about to break, a light entered his tent
A male wolf appeared, breathing
A wolf with a blue mane, such a wolf with a bluish furry
He addressed Oguz as if it was a human being
He began to utter some words as if it was a language
He said “O! Oguz, I know what your wish is”
“You wanted to start a war in Urum’s province”
“O! Oguz I will lead your army”
“I will walk in front of your army”
Hearing this Oguz had his tent rolled up
When he went to his army, he was surprised to see this:
A big male wolf
lf like an advance guard
With its blue mane, and blue hair, like a scout making way
He was walking in front of them
Finally he stopped one day, after many days
Oguz’s army stopped, behind him
There was a river called Idil-Müren
The war started suddenly, by the river bank
With spears and arrows on the skirts of the Black-Mountain
There were lots of fights among the soldiers
The people’s minds were confused, they were worried
Such a hard fight was it that
The color of the water of Idil-Müren became full of red blood
Oguz Khan became successful and Urum Khan escaped
He took his kingdom and his nation
Oguz’s tent was full of loot
Whether dead or alive everything became his slave
Oguz Khan’s raid to Kıpçak
Urum Kağan had a brother called Uruz
Chief Uruz’s son survived too
Chief Uruz sent his son to a city
A city set up on the mountain, by a secret river
Chief Uruz told him “the city should be protected”
“Until the fight is over, the city should be preserved”
He said “Bring your people back after the war”
Hearing this, Oguz stopped eating and drinking anything
Oguz moved his army, and reached the city
Uruz sent a messenger to Oguz
He sent a lot of gold, silver, and pearl as gifts
He declared: “O! Oguz Khan you are my Khan”
“My father gave me this city and said: “You are my son”
“Spare this city for me, it should be protected”
“The city should be preserved until the fight is over”
“After the war, return back with the city under your rule”
Chief Uruz said more
“If my father is an enemy of Oguz Khan”
“Do not blame me, if my ancestor is guilty”
“I’m always with you under your rule”
“I obey your command, I’m devoted to you”
“My state is your state”
“Our generation is your descendant”
“God ordered you to rule the earth”
“I submit to you my head and my country”
“I’m going to sent you my gifts and taxes”
“I will always be your friend”
Oguz became happy with this brave man’s words
Smiling, he bestowed him an authority to rule
He said “you gave me lots of gold and gifts”
“You preserved your city so well”
“For protecting your city so well”
“I gave you the name Saklap” (the preserver)
Oguz became friend with him, he moved his army
He came to Idil River and stayed by the banks
The river called Idil was a big river
Looking at the river, Oguz asked his chiefs:
“How could we pass this river?”
There was a chief, he bowed to Oguz
He was a very clever chief called Uruğ :army chief
He gave Oguz Khan advice
Searching the surrounding, he saw lots of trees and branches
He cut and shaped the branches, he made a raft
Lying on the raft, he passed the Idil River
Oguz became very happy and gave this order:
“Stay here, and be a sanjak (province) chief”
“I declare that you will be called Kıpçak (trunk) from now on”
Oguz returned to his army and they set off again
When they began to march, the wolf appeared
Emergence of Turkish tribes “Karluk”
Such a wolf, a male wolf
With blue hair and blue mane
This wolf said to Oguz
“O! Oguz move your army now”
“Take your people and your army with their horses”
“I will lead you to the right way”
Oguz saw the wolf walking in front
The advance guards of the army were following him
Seeing this scene, Oguz became happy
He rode his multi-colored horse happily
Oguz Loved his multi-colored horse whole heartily
But the horse ran away to the mountain and disappeared
It was a big mountain covered with ice
Its summit is too white because of the severe cold
There was a very brave very Alp chief in the army
He was neither afraid of God nor Satan
He was not bothered with fatigue and cold
He went to the mountain and after nine days
He caught the stallion, and pleased Oguz
He was covered with snow
He looked like a snowman
Seeing him, Oguz smiled at him
Declared “Stay here and be a chief of the chiefs here”
Your name will be Karluk (snowy) forever
He gave him lots of diamonds and gifts
He went on his way bestowing him presents
Emergence of the Turkish tribes “Kalaç”
While Oguz was moving forward, He was surprised too much
He saw a big house, its windows were made up of silver
The walls were made up of gold, the roof made up of iron
There was no key, the door was locked
There was a soldier called Tömürdü Kagul in the army
He was very skilful, Oguz ordered him
“You will stay here and you will open the door”
“After you have entered the house, join the army later”
Oguz told this soldier to stay and open (kal! aç!)
Therefore he named him Kalaç
Curcet raid and emergence of Turkish tribes “Kanglı”
    One day
The wolf with blue hair and with mane disappeared
Oguz realized this and stopped
He decided to have his tent set up there
This was a barren area without fields, good enough to beat the enemy
The province called Curcet which had vast pastures
And lots of wealth, lots of cattle, lots of horses
Curcet Khan had lots of gold and silver
He had lots of diamonds
Curcet Kagan with his army and people
Rebelled against Oguz Khan
Oguz spilled the enemy’s blood with spear and sword
Oguz suppressed and overcame him
Oguz killed him beheading
He divided the loots among his men and made the nation submit to him
Oguz’s officials and soldiers and nation
Took and gathered all the countless goods
The horses, and oxen and mules were not enough
To carry the goods taken in the war
There was a soldier clever and, experienced in the army
His name was Barmaklıg Cosun Billig a very capable man
He designed an oxcart, this skillful man of Oguz
Put everything in taken during the war
In order to pull the oxcart, the living beings were harnessed in front
The loots were put at the back of the oxcart
Oguz’s chiefs and nation were surprised
They designed oxcarts similar to his
When the oxcarts were moving, they shouted: Kanga! Kanga!
Therefore their names became “Kanga” (oxcart)
Seeing this Oguz laughed at
And ordered “The living beings should pull the lifeless”
“Your name is now Kangalug, and the oxcart is your sign”
He left them ad proceeded
Oguz’ raids to the south
The holy wolf with blue hair and blue mane appeared
India, Tangut too became Oguz land
Oguz marched towards Syria
He fought, beheaded, added it to his country
This should be known by everybody
There was a province called Barkan in the south
It was a wealthy area with lots of game bird
The climate was hot; it was a region of the wild animals
It had lots of gold and silver
The People there were dark skinned by divine
The Khan of the Region was called Masar (Egypt)
Oguz went there, fought hard and dominated
When he had a victory, Masar Khan escaped
He took over the land and added it to his country
He took countless properties and horses, his friends became happy
He returned his homeland and his enemies became desperate
Oguz granted the title of Khan to his six sons
This should be mentioned, everybody should know
There was an old man under Oguz’s service
White bearded, gray haired, very experienced
A very noble man, clever and considerate
His title is “Tüşimel” in other words: the vizier of The Khan
His name is Sublime Turk, Oguz’s distinguished man
He had a dream during his sleep.
He saw a golden bow, and three silver arrows
The golden bow was extending from the east to the west
Three silver arrows were flying to the north
He told Oguz about his dream
He interpreted his dream, with inspiration
He said: “My dream should bring you peace and comfort”
“I hope it will bring unity and security to my Khan”
“What I had in my dream, should come to truth
With the help of the God of Sky
The earth should be filled with your tribe
God should grant the earth to your linage
Oguz was pleased with the Sublime Turk’s words
Oguz took his advice and comforted to it
When he woke up in the morning
He had his younger and older sons called
He said: “I want to hunt”
“As I’m old now I do not have the courage”
“Sun, Moon, Star go to the east”
“Sky, Mountain and Sea go to the west”
Hearing this order, three of his son went to the east
Three of them went to the west
Sun, Moon, Star hunted a lot of games and birds
They found a golden bow
They presented it to the Khan, he became happy and smiled
He divided the bow into three parts
He said: “O! my sons the bow is yours
“Your arrows should reach the sky”
Sky, Mountain, Sea hunted lots of games and birds
They found three silver arrows
They presented it to the Khan, he became happy and smiled
He divided the arrows into three parts
He said: “O! my sons this arrow is yours
“Your arrows should reach the sky”
Oguz gave a big feast
After saying all these, Oguz organized a general meeting
The chiefs and the people came and greeted each other
Everybody came and be seated in Oguz tent

Missing part

In Oguz’s own big tent

Missing part

He had a forty fathom tall pole erected on the right side of his tent
He put a golden chicken at the top of the pole
He tied a white sheep at the bottom of the pole
He had a forty fathom tall pole erected on the right left of his tent
He put a silver chicken at the top of the pole
He tied a black sheep at the bottom of the pole
On his right side there were Grey Arrows, on the left Three Arrows
They sat down and had fun more than forty days
They ate and drank and attained their desire
Oguz divided his country among his sons and gave it to his sons
He said “O! my sons”
“So many wars have I been through, so many borders have I crossed”
“So many spears and arrows have I thrown”
“So long distances have I traveled on horse, so many enemies did I make cry”
“I have made happy most of my friends”
“Thank God I have paid my debt”
“To the God of Sky”
“I give this country to you, this country is now yours”

Translated by Harun DOGRUYOL (Based on Togan Zeki Velidi, Oğuz Destanı, Enderun Kitapevi, 2. Basım, Istanbul, 1982


What are popular Chinese songs for toddlers?

Quite a lot of:
1）小兔子乖乖
2）数鸭子
3）马兰花
4）找朋友
For more, please refer to：儿童歌曲列表


I can't recognise the 八 radical in many characters

丷 is a variant of 八, just as 灬 is a variant of 火.

Variant characters are common for radicals, given that they can occur at difference positions within a composite character.


Can someone help translate this seal script (I think)?

朙（明）⿰古久（故）朙威將
軍錦衣䘙（衛）⿰扌⿱刀甘（指）
揮僉事（鄭）公
曁配（恭）人先
鐂（鎦）氏繼楊氏
合（葬）⿵土（墓）誌銘

Epitaph of joint grave of Grand Ming general of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Sir 鄭 , together with honoured first lady Madame 鎦 [passed away first] and second lady Madame 楊.
(The word choice in this translation might be inappropriate, it's very difficult to translate ancient titles across from Chinese)


Which expression do native speakers actually use: Chinese New Year or Spring Festival (or other)?

The most common expression should be 春节.

农历新年 is a kind of rare.

We have another word for January 1st (not spring festival), 元旦(yuan2 dan4). So 新年 is normally the Chinese New Year.

Another expression is 阳历年(yang2 li4 nian2) for January 1st, 阴历年(yin1 li4 nian2) for spring festival. 阳历年 may be used more often, as 阴历年 is the default.


Usage of 去 and 來 : is "context switching" allowed?

If you are at my place and you want to come to my place tomorrow, you should say 我明天来。Because you are right there where you are talking about. If we are at your place and you want to come to my place, you say 我明天去。Because it's where you are not currently at. Use 来 and 去 based on where you are and where you refer to.


Word for developing and refining a product: Choppa - dowa?

Closest I can think of is 产品开发, or chanpin-kaifa (product development).

Where in China did you hear this? Sounds southern.


叫 (call/ tell) also contains the meanings of "order/ command/ make"
"吩咐吧，叫我马上到北极！" can be translated as:

"Give the order, command me to go to the North Pole immediately!
"Give the order, make me go to the North Pole immediately!


Are Chinese symbols built from more elementary symbols or forms?

explanation in modern day research:

we use components (部件), to "build up" chinese characters; and there're 1316.

http://chardb.iis.sinica.edu.tw/system_intro.jsp

basically, we have 8 types of stroke (筆畫) to compose each component.

about the "structural relations and configuration regularity" of components, have a look of this page; in english and traditional chinese:

http://other.allad.com.tw/chinese2/teacher_e.php


How to know "了...就" indicating completed actions

In Chinese language, we don't have the concept of tense. You can find that our verb don't have variation according to different time. We have to use time or other component to indicate whether things are completed or when things are done. For example 我做這件事, 我做完了這件事. We use 了 to indicate that the action is completed. Note that we use the same verb 做 in both of the sentence. In English, you can use did or have done to indicate tense. While It don't happened on Chinese we don't have past tense form of verb 做. So we still use 做 and add other component to indicate time or whether things are completed or not.

If you don't want to indicate time explicitly, you can use 了 to indicate you have completed the action. In this example, you can say 我買了書就回家了. This example exhibit the usage 了. 了 is used indicate 回家 is completed.

完 can be used on this purpose too. You can say 我買完書就回家了.


極 = extremely

很 = very /quite

挻 = quite/ very (colloquial)

甚 = quite/ very

頗 = quite/ considerably

挻 is mostly a colloquial term

  We can place all these adverb directly before an adjective

Examples:

極強 (extremely strong); 很強 (very strong) ; 挻強 (quite strong); 甚強 (quite strong)

  we need to add the adjective marker '的' to all these [adverb + adjective] structures before a noun

Examples:

極強的對手 (extremely strong opponent); 很強的對手 (very strong opponent) ; 挻強的對手 (very strong opponent); 甚強的對手 (very strong opponent)

  If the noun is placed before these [adverb + adjective] structures, we don't need the adjective marker '的' (except for 挻)

Examples:

對手極強 (opponent is extremely strong ); 對手很強 (opponent is very strong ) ; 對手甚強 (opponent is quite strong)

  Even the noun is placed before 挻強, we still need to use the adjective marker '的' after it

Example: 對手挻強的 (opponent is quite strong)

We don't usually say 對手挻強

  compound words: 極為; 很是; 甚為; 頗為, (挻 doesn't have one)


When to use 手 and when to use 家 for a type of musician or other specialist

钢琴家 is not just any pianist; s/he is a piano virtuoso. I would reserve this for someone who has a career in music, especially in performance; or someone who has attained a very high level in the art of piano playing. 家 can be translated loosely as "an expert in ..." So you definitely do not use it for yourself. 手, on the other hand, can be used more generally for someone who plays a musical instrument.


"tā gāoxìng de tiào qǐlái" distinguishing 得 vs 地

You won't hear any difference in spoken because both are pronounced the same de.

In writing, 他高兴得跳起来 is correct.  他舒服地睡觉 and 他舒服得睡觉 are not idiomatic because they are  not a typical Chinese way but English.  We'd say 他睡得很舒服 in this case.


Is there a Chinese equivelant of the word stress

I guess there is not a single Chinese word which can mean "stress/stressed/stressful" in all cases.
I would like to suggest the following translations.

I'm feeling very stressed. 我感到很大的压力。
A lot jobs are stressful. 很多工作都有压力。
She finds her new teaching job very stressful. 她觉得新的教学工作非常紧张。
Moving to a new house is a very stressful experience. 搬家是一件很令人焦虑的事情。
After a long hard day at work, she is stressed out. 在单位劳累了一整天后, 她已是筋疲力尽了。
How often do we arrive at work or school stressed out, tired and angry? 有多少次我们极度焦虑、疲惫、恼怒地来到单位或学校?
under the stress of poverty 为贫穷所迫
in times of stress 在困难时期


Difference between 傍晚 and 晚上 and their etymology

傍

　1. 靠：依山～水。
　2. 临近：～晚。～黑。～亮。
汉英互译
◎ 傍
be close to　　　draw near
English
by side of, beside, near, close

傍晚

[evening;at dusk (nightfall);toward evening] 靠近晚上的时候。亦称“黄昏”

傍晚 basically is compromised of 傍 "close (to)" + 晚上 "nighttime"
晚上

[evening;night] 从日落或晚饭至寝宴的一段时间

The Chinese literally says night is beginning at nightfall or dinner time.
晚

太阳落了的时候

time after sunset

as to whether they are interchangeable or not, well this really depends on the cognitive abilities of each person - my dusk might be your nighttime - it's hard to say for sure.

as for the entomology of 晚 Outlier says:

COMPONENTS
日 In 晚, 日 is a semantic component.
免 In 晚 wǎn, 免 miǎn is a sound component, though this is not obvious in modern Mandarin.


黃 is sometimes a plant name: 大黃 'rhubarb' (this used to be dai-huang, not da-huang), 麻黃 ephedra'; 地 sometimes means a tuber, seems that's not the case here. One source identifies 3 varieties: 天黃, 人黃, 地黃.  This is the 三合 system.


Good question.

不满 is a single word. It means unhappy or unsatisfied. It cannot be separated into 不 + 十分 + 满. It's like you can't say "un-very-happy".

不满意 is a phrase, 不 + 满意 = not satisfied. It can be modified by 十分: 不 ＋ 十分 + 满意。


正确的说法是习题解答与提示，也可以用习题解答和提示。和 means and, 或means or.


General answer to disrespectful measure words
I can't recall any special disrespectful measure words in Chinese. Such disrespectful phrases are just expressed with simple measure words according to the noun. Like

他是

一个笨蛋 [offensive level: 1]

一个饭桶 [offensive level: 2]

一个贱人 [offensive level: 4]

一个傻逼 [offensive level: 5, with profanity word 屄/逼(cunt)]

一个二逼 [offensive level: 5, with profanity word 屄/逼(cunt)]

or

一坨屎 [offensive level: 3]

一只(个)禽兽 [offensive level: 2]

一条走狗 [offensive level: 2]

Note that the offensive level is my personal feeling: 1 is the lowest and 5 is the highest. You'd better not use offensive level >= 3 words when speaking to somebody face to face, or, you'd better be ready for a fight :)
Metaphor of measure words
A few Chinese people use measure words 只/坨 to show emphatic disrespect with metaphor.

他是一只小人。 (the measure word implies he is even not a human.)

But it is rarely heard in daily life. Interestingly, the official editorial often use

一 小撮 不明真相的群众
一 小撮 犯罪分子

to describe some kind of people are really few with a derogatory sense. It's a metaphor too, implying that kind of people are just like a small pinch of dust.
Common ways to emphasize your expression
To emphasize the expression, you can omit the numeral

他是个饭桶。 He is a scalawag.

Or you can also use 就是, 真是

他就是个饭桶。 He is exactly a scalawag.
他真是个饭桶。 He is really a scalawag.

And for shouting, omit the verb 是

他个饭桶。
你个傻逼。


Wishing a happy 30th wedding anniversary

uncle and aunt

well, address them as "uncle, auntie", if they understand english (ask your gf)

in cantonese, address them as 世伯．伯有

世伯 - gf's father

伯有 - gf's mother, originally, it should be 伯母. well, cantonese speaking people have many taboos, "伯母" sounds similar to "百無" (hundred + nothing / lack --> lack everything). so, it's common to say 伯有 (有 means have --> have everything)

the pronunciation is:

世伯
伯有

imo, your approach is too "direct". maybe, try to introduce yourself, then mentioned you "heard" from your girlfriend that, it's their wedding anniversary. so, you make this short video for congratulation.

i would suggest something like:

世伯　伯友 (or uncle, auntie)

你哋好 (~ how do you do)

我係阿 Sam (supposed "sam" is your name, ~ i'm sam)

聽 mary 講 (supposed "mary" is your gf's name, ~ i heard from mary that)

聽日係你地結婚30周年嘅紀念日 (~ tomorrow is your 30th wedding anniversaries)

喺呢度 (~ here, in the video)

祝你地結婚紀念日快樂 (~ wish you a happy wedding anniversary)

bye :)

check the above text with your girlfriend, get her approval :)

you may use the multi-function chinese character database to find out the cantonese pronunciation.

http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/

if you're using mac os x, copy the text to textedit.app, the text-to-speech is quite good, you may learn from it. i guess that windows has similar function, which i don't have experience.

have fun, good luck la :)


I am afraid there is no universal answer to your question. Generally speaking becoming fluent in Chinese depends on how much time and effort do you plan to put into it. Obviously the more the better. I would say it might be easier if your native tongue is related to Chinese (for example if you know Japanese, you have a smooth start with reading and writing). Personally I spent a huge amount of time on mastering Chinese pronounciation, since mistaking the tones may lead to various misunderstandings.

Some say it may help if you have ever played an instrument or generally had some musical education background (cause then you had ear training and can at least hear the tones properly). Chinese syntax is believed to be not so hard to master, since it is pretty fixed (comparing to my native language Polish it really does seem fixed). There is no inflection, but you end up with hundreds of characters to memorize instead.

So is it hard? I would say yes. But it's also a lot of fun and satifaction if you manage to learn it well. I hope this answer gives you somewhat of an impression of what it might be like to learn Chinese.


What is the difference in usage between the pairs 依然/仍然 and 依旧/仍旧?

仍旧 means 'still (as always/ same as the past)'
依旧/仍旧 is more specific term for 'still'. It express something 'stay the same despite passing of time '

Example 1 : 五十年过去了, 他仍旧住在那条街上 (fifty years is a long time)
Example 2 : 三年过去了, 我仍旧相信他是无辜的 (three years have passed, nothing changed, I still believe he is innocent)

仍然 means 'still (despite of)'
依然/仍然 is more general term for 'still'. It express something 'stay the same despite any opposing force or reason'

Example 3 : 五十年过去了, 他仍然住在那条街上 (despite the fact that many things would had been changed in 50 years)
Example 4 : 尽管有这么多证据,我仍然相信他是无辜的 (despite the fact that all the evidences are against him, I still believe he is innocent)

*仍旧/依旧 is actually a shortened form of 依然如旧 / 仍然如旧(still like always/ still like before/ still like in the past)

Although they can be used interchangeably sometimes, they are not synonyms.


Does 'chicken dinner games' refer to all battle royal type games?

Winner winner...

I think 吃鸡游戏 refers to games that:

In first person POV
Action oriented
Put x players together and make them kill each other till there's only one left

Mostly just things that look like PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS.


As a complement to other answers:

客气 means 'being polite unnecessarily'. It's often used between close friends, family members, who generally don't have to be that polite to each other.

礼貌 as an adjective simply means '(being) polite'.


[Edited to discuss 正, 在, and 著]
There is a discussion of 在 and 著 in Li and Thompson's 1981 book Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar. They don't have much to say about 正. My own feeling is that this is usually used with either 在 and 著; it seldom, if ever, appears by itself. Sentences such as 他正吃飯 are simply odd. I am not a native speaker, so I'm ready to be corrected on this.

Both 在 and 著 are durative markers, but they still differ in meaning. L&T's examples of the difference include:
他在穿皮鞋: He is putting on leather shoes
他穿著皮鞋: He is wearing leather shoes
Their explanation for the difference here is that 在 is used with persistent actions (actions that have some duration), while 著 is used with actions that result in a persistent state. 穿 can have either of these interpretations, so both sentences are good, but each has a different meaning. Again, I think 他正穿皮鞋 is just odd here, better to say 他正在穿皮鞋, or 他正穿著皮鞋. In neither case does this actually change the meaning, it simply emphasizes the durative nature of the action or result.

In the case of 來, I think the Chinese logic is that "come" is not a persistent action. Instead, it is what Quirk et al (1981) call a transitional action. Other examples they give are:
The train is arriving at the station
It looks like he is scoring a goal
According to Quirk, transitional actions do not have a durative meaning, and so for these cases English progressive has an anticipatory meaning, i.e. a period leading up to the transition. For these cases, Chinese doesn't use either 著 or 在 (since there is no persistent action or state). Instead it uses forms such as 快...了:
She is dying 她快死了.
She is coming 她快來了.

Since these are not durative sentences, many languages do not use progressive forms here. In this case it is English that is exceptional, rather than Chinese.


How do I translate "both medicines and foods have common origin"?

"both medicines and foods have common origin"

It is called 医食同源, and it is a common expression (more literary).

In colloquial form, it would be "医药与食物有共通的源头"

Medicines can be food; Food can be medicines


First of all, 好点了吗 is same with 好一点了吗.
Yes, the word 一点 means "one o'clock", but also means "a little bit".  Sometimes, we say 一点点 for emphasis, means "liiiiittle bit".

Well, to explain the objective of the question.
It is NOT asking if your health (or 100 HP) recovered from 50 to 51, which is really "little"
It is supposed to ask for any progress of recovery, which can be positive news.

Some relative sample sentences here:
好一些了吗 "一些": some, few, a little.
好多了 : much better, but normally for replying not asking others.
好了吗 : 100% recovery of your health (or HP).
过去一点 or 过去点 : move a little bit.


Could you help me translate these comments about Messi leaving Barcelona?

促销巨惠，等你来 - great discount, waiting for you.
这波反转我吐了 - The dramatic change makes me feel sick.
影帝 梅西 - Messi should win Oscar for Best Actor.
整理了一些（p.s，p.r）存货，都是干货 - Prepared some info I reserved before. They are all "information without beating around the bush"
讲的通俗易懂，都学完了，有想学习的吗？ - Speak in plain language. Have you learned all of it? What else do you want to learn? (or maybe "Anyone what to learn?")
再发挥一下价值，分享给有缘人。 - Make use of its surplus value again. Share it with whoever is lucky.
需要的留下邮箱，发给你 - Leave your email here, I will send it to you.


You, how can you say that messed-up stuff?

or just omit that and say

How can you say that messed-up stuff?


全日制 = full-time (something)

非全日制 = part-time (something)

非全日制的学生 = part-time student (implies part-time study)


《汉语大词典》

  2.比喻事物的可多可少、可大可小等伸缩性。

《懒虫简明汉英词典》

  flexibility

人的心理因素(的)弹性很大
The flexibility of human's psychological factors is great.

If a doctor tells a healthy man that he has cancer, he will get sick very soon.
If a woman has cancer, and the doctor tells her that she is healthy, she can live longer and healthier.

This is the psychological effect.

人的心理因素弹性很大 also talks about this effect.

All coaches encourage the athletes before the competitions because an athlete may be confident or without confidence.

The 弹性 here refers to this range, active or passive.


上 as a verb could mean "go to" (i.e. could be replaced with 去 without change in meanings) and "ascend/board" which could be understand as go up onto since the floor of vehicles are generally higher and require a upward movement. Anyway, in phrases such as 上卧室, 上 just means "go to". In 上厕所, 上 could mean "go to", but more often it contains the meaning of actually using the toilet. So it is possible for a person 去厕所 but not 上厕所, but most of the time such distinction wouldn't be made.

As for 下 as a verb, it means "go down to" physically or figuratively. In 下厨房, 下 contains a figurative meaning of "get down to the work", so if you are just getting something from the kitchen you wouldn't say 下厨房 and you could say 下厨房 for meaning of "go to the kitchen and cook".

上 and 下 are also used to distinct the start and end of certain activity, such as 上课、下课、上班、下班. In such scenarios, 上X could also be used for the time points during such activity.

Anyway, these two are pretty hard to master via a clear set of rules. You're just gonna have to get familiar with as many patterns as possible.


What is the correct word order for words 跑步 and 轻快?

I see no issue with 轻快的跑步 when you consider 跑步 (as a whole) a noun word.

If you take 跑步 as a verb, then 轻快地跑步 is ok.

For example,

  轻快的跑步能让我们的身心得以放松。 // used as a noun.

  我们在操场上轻快地跑步。 // used as a verb

In fact, I'd rather say 跑步 is used as a noun more often than a verb. For example, 跑步是一项很好的运动.

The single character 跑 is often used when serves as a verb, instead of 跑步. For example, 他跑得很快。We wouldn't say 他跑步得很快. This is because we take 跑步 as a noun usually.

So, 轻快的跑步 does make some sense in some circumstances.

跑步轻快 is a possible usage too, because 跑步轻快 could be considered to be the short version of 跑步跑得轻快.

However, 跑步的轻快 is not valid in any case, because 轻快 is adj or adv. You could say 跑步跑得轻快， but 跑步得轻快 is wrong because (as mentioned above) 跑步 is often used as a noun word.


What is the Chinese equivalent of “to pick up a girl” or “to hit on girls”?

Off the top of my head, I can think of 勾搭, 泡妞, 把妹 and 溝女

  勾搭

  http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/52068/

  [1] pick up a lover

*

  溝女 (Cantonese slang)

  http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/20482/

  pick up chicks; go out looking for women to chat up; dawdle away one's time with a girl; [slang] cruise (look for sexual partner)

  [variants] 媾女, 勼女, 追女仔

  溝 is most probably a loanword from '(to) court'.

*

  泡妞 (Mandarin slang)

  to pick up chicks; to go out looking for women to chat up; to chase skirts; to dawdle away one's time with girls |

  http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/40924/

*

  把妹 (Internet slang)

  http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/58867/

  to chase girls; to pick up girls

 I'm going to go and pick up some girls!

我要去泡妞 (Mandarin slang)

我要去溝女 (Cantonese slang)

我要去把妹 (web slang)

我要去勾搭女人 (literal) "女人" can be replaced by 女孩 or 女生 in Mandarin and 女仔 in Cantonese


The standard character for ni1 / nei1 is 呢, not 哩, which mean 'mile'

呢兩個人好相似

呢 in this context functions as 'this'
呢 (this)
兩個人 (two persons)
好相似 (very alike)

呢 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/1029/
jyutping: ni1 / nei1
[粵][pron][adj] this

~

And how different is it if you just say 兩個人好相似?

呢兩個人好相似 (this two people are very alike)

兩個人好相似 (two people are very alike)

It is just like omitting 'this' in "(this) two people are very alike" in English.
You can omit '呢/this' if we know which two persons the sentence is referring to


破釜沉舟 describe an action of "destroy one's own mean to retreat/escape" ; the underline reasons are 1. "to show determination" 2. "force oneself to continue"
You can consider

burn one's bridges/boats

hell-bent

crossing the Rubicon

The action of "burn one's bridges/boats" match 破釜沉舟 almost word for word, but its main usage is to describe "doing something that can't be easily undone in the future; destroy relationships or chance of reconciliation with others." the underline reason is not relevant. This phrase might describe an action similar to 破釜沉舟; Both actions cut off one's retreat route, but the reason behind "burn one's bridges/boats" doesn't include "to show determination"
Another English expression "hell-bent" describes the first underline reason "to show determination" much better

hell-bent
stubbornly and often recklessly determined or intent

"crossing the Rubicon" implies "to past the point of no return" although the action doesn't match 破釜沉舟 well like "burn one's bridges/boats" but it implies the underline reasons "to show determination" and "force oneself to continue" better
My conclusion is:
"burn one's bridges/boats matches 破釜沉舟 in literal meaning
"crossing the Rubicon" matches 破釜沉舟 in its figurative meanings

How to say 破釜沉舟 in English?

我們要破釜沉舟 = we must cross the Rubicon
我們要有破釜沉舟的決心 = We must have the determination of crossing the Rubicon


I think the answer to your question depends on how one should interpret the phrase flat tongue. So, let's try to read the crucial parts of the article, bearing in mind that our brain tends to save energy even when we talk.

First of all, as the article says, there are different kinds of retroflex consonants:

  The Latin-derived word retroflex means "bent back"; some retroflex consonants are pronounced with the tongue fully curled back so that articulation involves the underside of the tongue tip (subapical). These sounds are sometimes described as "true" retroflex consonants. However, retroflexes are commonly taken to include other consonants having a similar place of articulation without such extreme curling of the tongue; these may be articulated with the tongue tip (apical) or the tongue blade (laminal).

Retroflex sounds articulated with the tip of the tongue (known as apical) are basically limited to plosive consonants, such as [ʈ], [ɖ] and [ɳ] or flaps, such as [ɽ] and [ɭ]. To be more specific, Wikipedia calls these sounds apical post-alveolar:

  Apical post-alveolar, with a somewhat concave tongue (the tongue is curled). These occur, for example, in Hindi and other Indo-Aryan languages. (Hindi has no retroflex sibilants, although some of the other Indo-Aryan languages do.)

The tip is the most agile part of the tongue, so it can easily curl, but if the sound we are trying to make is continuous, then it could get tired pretty soon. Plosive consonants are articulated with a temporary occlusion followed by an immediate release of the air that comes from the lungs. Flaps also have a similar articulation. So, plosives and flaps are not difficult to pronounce even with the tongue completely curled. However, articulating a fricative or an affricate sound with this configuration of the tongue it's a different story. Fricatives and affricates consonants are continuous sounds, so eventually our tongue will get tired if our language has many of these kind of sounds in its phonetic inventory (Mandarin has four and uses them quite often).

That's why there is another group of retroflex sounds that have a slightly different articulation. They are pronounced with the blade of the tongue, which is that portion of the tongue just behind the tip. These are called laminal post-alveolar:

  Laminal post-alveolar, with a flat tongue. These occur, for example, in Polish cz, sz, ż (rz), dż and Mandarin zh, ch, sh, r. (in IPA Mandarin zh, ch, sh, r are [ɖ̥ʐ~ʈʂ], [ʈʂʰ], [ʂ], [ʐ] respectively).

I think that in the article they used the phrase "flat tongue" to indicate that the consonant is pronounced with the blade which touches the alveolar ridge resulting flat to some extent. In fact, in this state the tongue itself is not completely curled, it only raises up a bit but the sound produced is still a retroflex.

The amount of energy involved in the articulation of laminal consonants is less than the amount required for the apical consonants, because now the tongue is more relaxed. Considering that articulating a fricative or an affricate sound using the tip of the tongue is really expensive in terms of energy, our brain developed the tendency to pronounce these kinds of consonants using the blade of the tongue instead of the tip.

I'm not saying that it's anatomically impossible to pronounce a fricative or an affricate sound with the tip but, if you try, you will notice that it's a little challenging and anyway the sound produced will be somehow different from the Mandarin equivalent. In the case of the fricatives [ʂ] and [ʐ] there is the risk that if you put too much force in the articulation with tip, the tongue will stick to the alveolar ridge and because of this obstacle the air will be released laterally resulting in a lateral retloflex sound, which is not what you want.

For this reason, in Chinese (like in all the other natural languages) fricatives (sh, r) and affricates (ch, zh) tend to be pronounced with the "flat tongue". In conclusion, it's a matter of terminology: retroflex doesn't necessarily mean that the tongue is curled back, it means that it is at least raised up.


Is “商店里也没有一个面包” wrong?

也 has the meanings of "also; besides; either; too"

When 也 means "even":

[商店里也] = [even in the stores]
[商店里也]没有一个面包 = Don't have a single bun [even in the stores]
[一个面包也] = [even a single bun]
商店里[一个面包也]没有。 = Don't have [even a single bun] in the stores

When 也 means "too":

[商店里也] = [In the stores too/ also/ either]
[商店里也]没有面包 = Don't have bread [in the stores neither]
[面包也] = [bread too]
商店里[面包也]没有了 = Don't have [bread neither] in the stores

Note: using the word "too" imply there's other item that has been sold out


use of 在 with verbs that imply position or location

I'll address your last statement first since it is the quickest. when 在 comes directly before the verb it is known as the durative aspect marker (durative as in "duration"). In this case its function is identical to the role of "-ing" in English, it shows that the action is undergoing and has yet to be completed.
As for the other use case; when 在 isn't functioning as the durative aspect marker its function is that of a coverb (see my description of a coverb here), the direct English equivalent in this case would be "in" or "at". When used in this way 在 must be followed by  a noun, the combination of 在 + the noun forms an adverbial phrase (for instance, 在北京 from your first example). Whether this adverbial phrase is placed before the verb or after the verb is dependent on what type of verb it is.
One type of verb is a "displacement" verb, meaning a verb that results in something being displaced. 跳 (to jump) is an example of this, the action of jumping results in you being displaced. In the case of displacement verbs, the adverbial phrase containing 在 can come before or after the verb. The caveat is that placing it before the verb means that is the location prior to being displaced while placing it after the verb means that is the location after being displaced. Take for example, "我跳在桌子上" and "我在桌子上跳". The first implies that you jumped onto the surface of the table while the latter implies that you were on the surface of the table prior to jumping.
Another type of verb is a "stative" verb, a verb that describes a state. This includes 坐 (to sit), 睡觉 (to sleep), and also 住 (to live) from your example. These are all verbs (action words) by definition but ironically aren't done actively. You do not actively sit, or actively live. You do it passively, with no effort or thought on your part. In cases such as these the adverbial phrase containing 在 can come before or after the verb without altering the sentence in any meaningful way. Where you chose to sit your bum and where you are as a result of sitting down are one in the same, no meaningful difference.
I can't think of a name for the rest of the verbs, but in all other cases the adverbial phrase containing 在 should come before the verb. Such is true for 学 (to learn)， 教 (to teach), 吃 (to eat), etc. You can only say where you were when you began doing these actions, you cannot say where you are as a result of doing the action, so always place the locative phrase before.
One thing of note is that verbs such as 去 (to go), 飞 (to fly), etc. all belong to the last category. You might be duped into believing that they belong to the first (the displacement verbs), but that category is reserved for movement within your immediate area. You can jump to a position relative to your self, be shoved to a position relative to yourself, etc. and these are all acceptable uses of 在, but when you are talking about flying to a distant place or other such actions you cannot use 在 for connecting the destination with the verb, you must use 到 (to) instead


If you are serious, I don't think any word like 舞娘 or 尬舞 is a good choice. (Probably 舞娘 is from the song by Jolin Tsai.) 舞蹈家 is a title for professional and experienced dancers. I don't know if your friend could be called a 舞蹈家, so if yes, just go with 舞蹈家. But 舞者 would always be a good translation.


注音符號 are symbols invented to help kids understand how to pronounce a Chinese word in Taiwan.

Before 注音符號 was invented and PingYin were imported, students learn the pronunciation by repeat the teacher's pronounce. 注音符號 has been used for almost 100 year.

In Taiwan, the words in Chinese textbooks for elementary school student are remarked by 注音符號. So students can understand how a new word pronounce without parent or teacher. Each symbol represents a pronunciation, with combinations of these symbols(maybe 1 to 3) students can easily pronounce any Chinese word.

Like this

In most cases, 注音符號 are not be used in formal article. But several years ago, there are a new usage of 注音符號 invented by youth. This sub-culture are called 注音文(which means article mixed with 注音符號.)

With 注音文, people use a single symbol to represents a real word which pronounce alike or similarly.

The most general example is

我ㄉ背包 => 我的背包 => my bag
拜託你ㄌ => 拜託你了 => I beg you.

Back to @Graviton's question, ㄝ read(not pronounce, each symbol have its own read and pronunciation, just like alphabets) similar( or you can say just in the same way) to 耶. 耶 is an interjection pronounce Yé, which is used to represent a happy emotion.

Example

今晚老闆請大家吃晚餐ㄝ => 今晚老闆請大家吃晚餐耶 => Boss buy everyone a dinner tonight.

Using 注音文 is not very popular now in Taiwan. Since it's not really professional, and makes you looks like a kid in a social network.

Hope these can help you. :)


Note that 是非 should be interpreted as an unbroken word here, it means

  (2) [discord]∶口舌;纠纷

So "人多就是非多" should be interpreted as

人多 (when/if) there're many people
就 then
是非 discord (would be)
多 much


Here 翻 means multiply, 番 means time;fold.

And
翻番/翻一番 -> *2(double)
翻两番 -> *4
翻三番 -> *8
... ...


The name of the California high school fraternity, Hi Tow Tong

"tow tong" means "道堂", without doubt. e.g.:

堂 (u+5802) should be interpreted as "association"

道 (u+9053) means "tao", the proper way.

about the first character "hi", my best guess is, in sequence:

凱 (u+51f1) roughy means "victory", that "hi tow tong" would be "the association of the tao of victory"

second is 開 (u+958b) roughy means beginning, that "hi tow tong" would be "the association of the tao of beginning"

have fun :)


in addition to the kitchen, the living room of this apartment is also very large.Only if the surroundings are not too confusing, I will rent it.
除了厨房以外，这间公寓的客厅也很大。只要周围不太乱，我就会租下来。

Comments:

还 means 'still', while 也  means 'also'. BTW, in no way you can put 还 in the beginning of the clause like this.
只要...就... 'only if ..., ... will ...'

Yesterday I was criticized by my friends: they say that transport there it's more uncomfortable every year.
昨天我被朋友批评了：他们说那儿的交通一年比一年糟糕。

Comments:

You are supposed to omit possessives when the context is clear.

Marco will be back in a quarter of an hour and we will leave at 8 o'clock tonight. He does not like to watch the Beijing opera as much as I do, so when we get to Beijing, he thinks that on one hand to go eat jiaozi, on the other to exercise the spoken language
麦克再有一刻钟就要回去了，而我们今晚8点才走。因为他不如我喜欢听京剧，所以我们到北京后，他打算去吃饺子，同时练习口语。

Comments:

Use 一刻钟 instead of 一刻 to avoid ambiguity.
in a quarter of an hour -> 还有/再有一刻钟
and ->而
You seems to have missed 'leave'
'So' should be translated into 因为...所以...
It might be confusing but in Chinese, you listen to a play: 听京戏/听京剧
I don't think 'on one hand..., on the other hand' or 一方面..., 另一方面 is appropriate here.


Is it incorrect to use 儿化 (érhuà) inside a word, e.g., 门儿口, and 小孩儿子 and 玩儿具?

"门儿口", "小孩儿子" and "玩儿具" are all incorrect, we don't say that. In the final analysis this is an idiomatic usage issue.

For example we say 东便门儿, 西便门儿; but we don't say "天安门儿". (There's a historical reason behind.)

Particularly, 小孩儿 and 小孩子 have similar meaning and usage, "小孩儿子" sounds repetitive and redundant. 玩儿 is usually used as a verb, you can say 玩儿游戏, 玩儿手机, 玩儿玩具; but not 玩儿具, 古玩儿, 玩儿笑.

  Is it incorrect to use 儿化 inside a word?

Yes you can, but only in the specified cases; i.e. in which conforming to the idiomatic usages. e.g. 锅儿挑, 巴儿狗.

It is known that it's hard to summarize logical rules for 儿化音. This 北京话儿化词典.pdf might help you.


How to say "small cat", when 小猫 is "kitten"?

Just break the word, for example: "瘦小的猫", "（很）小的猫", or use the word "体型": "体型很小/体型偏小的猫".


Arthur Waley is indeed reflecting Chinese scholarship with this statement. In the Book of Odes 《詩經》, when 「思」 appears at the end of a line, it may be interpreted as a  modal particle (語气詞), equivalent to modern Mandarin 「啊」. For example,

《國風・漢廣》
漢之廣矣、不可泳思。
江之永矣、不可方（汸、舫）*思。
How broad, the Waters of the Hàn - they cannot be swum!
How long, the Waters of the Jiāng - they cannot be rafted across!*
*《說文・方部》：「方，併船也。象兩舟省緫頭形。汸，方或从水。」

《小雅・鹿鳴之什・采薇》
昔我往矣、楊柳依依。
今我來思、雨雪霏霏。
Long ago, when I departed, the willows were fresh and tender;
Now, as I've returned, the rain and snow fall in torrents.

Please note that this use of 「思」 is not its earliest or original meaning. Apart from being a proper noun for a geographical region or person, 「思」's earliest usage is the same as its modern usage, meaning thoughts, contemplation, deliberation. From Guōdiàn Chǔ Slips: The Five Conducts, Slip #9:

《郭店楚墓竹簡・五行》09
……（不）（仁），恖（思）能清（精）。（智），恖能倀（長）……
...Without benevolence, one's thoughts cannot be refined; without wisdom, one's thoughts do not have foresight...

References:

《漢語大詞典》
黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》
何琳儀《戰國古文字典：戰國文字聲系》


According to 《汉语大词典》, 感冒 means:

  犹感受。
  一种传染病。多因气候变化，人体抵抗力减弱时为病毒感染所致。
  清代官员请假的托辞。

The entries 2 and 3 seem to be somewhat related.
Two entries imply two different stories.
水巷孑蠻 talks about the 2nd one.
songyuanyao talks about the 3rd one.

The question talks about disease, so I focus on this.

From 《汉语大词典》, the 18th meaning of 冒:

  中医病症名。病者神智不清。
  ●《素问•玉机真藏论》：「﹝春脉﹞太过则令人善怒，忽忽眩冒而巅疾。」
  ●《医宗金鉴•张仲景〈伤寒论·太阳病下〉》：「其人因致冒，冒家汗出自愈。」集注引程知曰：「冒者，神识不清，如有物为之冒蒙也。」

《汉语大词典》列出來源而未解釋，不易了解。
《汉语大词典》 lists the sources without explanation, so it's not easy to understand.

東漢 張仲景（公元 150－219 年）《傷寒論》的原文如下：
The original content in 《傷寒論》 is as follows.

  以此表裏俱虛，其人因致冒，冒家汗出自愈。

先看「冒」的意思。(The meaning of 冒.)

【一】《汉语大词典》引用 程知《傷寒經注》：
《汉语大词典》quotes from 程知《傷寒經注》：

  冒者，神识不清，如有物为之冒蒙也。

冒 means coma, like being covered by something.

此句有「冒蒙」一詞。
「冒」與「蒙」是同義字，都是「覆蓋」的意思。
程知 用「覆蓋」來形容病人的「昏迷」。
這表示「覆蓋」是「冒」的原義，而「昏迷」是其引申義。
There is a phrase 冒蒙 in the above sentence.
冒 and 蒙 are synonyms, which means "to cover".
程知 used "cover" to describe a patient's "coma".
It means that "cover" is the original meaning of 冒, and "coma" is its extended meaning.

【二】此外，王丙《傷寒論注》的解釋原文(第143條)如下：
In addition, 王丙《傷寒論注》explained it as follows.

  以此表裏俱虛，因虛其人致冒，理必然也。冒家者，謂凡因病而昏冒者也。然冒家或有汗出自愈，其所以然者，非表裏俱虛，乃邪正皆衰，表裏自和故也。

此注有「昏冒」一詞。
再查《汉语大词典》的昏冒。
This remark has the term, 昏冒.
《汉语大词典》explains it as follows.

  昏冒
  昏迷不醒。
  《医宗金鉴•杂病心法要诀·三化汤》：「三化气实风中府，昏冒闭满小承羌。」注：「昏冒，谓神昏不知人也。」
  《医宗金鉴•运气要诀·运气为病歌》「诸痛痒疮属心火」注：「心藏神，热乘于心，则神不明，故昏冒不省人事也。」

昏迷不醒 means "unconsciousness" or "to lose consciousness".

所以，到這裡，冒 ＝ 昏冒 ＝ 昏迷不醒。這是較嚴重的狀況。
So, up to here, 冒 ＝ 昏冒 ＝ unconsciousness. This is a more serious situation.

【三】我們來看 金代名醫 成無己 的解釋。
Let's take a look the explanation of a famous doctor 成無己 in the 金 dynasty.

  冒者鬰也。

查《汉语大词典》對鬰冒的解釋：
《汉语大词典》explains 鬰冒 as follows.

  中医指头晕目眩或昏迷的症状。

TCM refers to the symptom of dizziness or coma.

由此可知，「冒」也包括輕微的狀況，如：頭暈目眩。
According to this, 冒 also includes mild situations, such as dizziness.

【四】小結論

從以上的解釋，我們可以知道「冒」的原義是「覆蓋」，而其引申義是從輕微的頭暈到嚴重的昏迷。
From the explanations above, we can see that the original meaning of 冒 is "cover", and whose extended meanings range from the mild dizziness to the serious coma.

再看「致冒」的意思。(The meaning of 致冒.)

「致」是導致、引起、致使的意思，這應該沒有問題。
「冒」可以是「冒疾」或「冒癥」。
所以，「致冒」可以是「導致冒疾」或「引起冒癥」。
致 means "to lead, to arouse, to cause". There is no problem here, I think.
冒 may be a disease or symptoms.
Therefore, 致冒 may mean "to lead 冒, the disease" or "to arouse 冒, the symptoms".

《汉语大词典》說「冒」是「中医病症名」。
《汉语大词典》 states that 冒 is a name of 病症 in TCM。

問題就出在這「症」字。
若用正體字，「症」和「癥」分得很清楚，前者是「疾病」，後者是「病狀」。
但簡化後，變成同一字，就容易混淆了。
The problem lies in the word, 症.
If using the traditional characters, 症 and 癥 are clearly different.
症 means a disease, and 癥 the symptom.
However, they become the same word in simplified Chinese.
It is easy to confuse.

我猜，在大陸，「病症」大多是指「疾病」。
所以，「冒」會被解釋為「病名」。
I guess, in Mainland, 病症 mostly means disease.
Therefore, 冒 is interpreted as the name of a disease.

但是，解釋為「病癥」可能會更合適。
也就是說，「感冒」是「感得冒癥的病」。
而這「冒癥」包括從輕微的頭暈到嚴重的昏迷。
換句話說，「感冒」是借用「冒」的癥狀而得的病名。
感冒的時候，頭會有一種暈悶沈重的感覺。
這種現象就是輕微的「冒」。
But it may be more appropriate to interpret it as the name of symptoms here.
That is, 感冒 means to get the disease which has 冒, the symptoms.
The symptoms range from mild dizziness to serious coma.
In other words, 感冒 is the name of a disease that borrows 冒.
When we catch a cold, the head will have a dizzy and heavy feeling.
This phenomenon is exactly a slight 冒。

從字面上來看，「致冒」類似「感冒」，差在主動和被動。例如：
Literally, 致冒 is similar to 感冒, and the difference is in active or passive. For example,

（致冒）天冷導致冒疾/冒癥。
The cold weather leads to 冒疾/冒癥.

（感冒）某人因天冷感得冒疾/冒癥。
Someone gets 冒疾/冒癥 because of the cold weather.

當然，這裡的「冒」不單指「昏迷」。
Of course, 冒 here doesn't just mean coma.

另一個差別是：「感冒」現在已是一專有詞彙，而「致冒」不是。
Another difference is that 感冒 is a proper term now. 致冒 is not.

結論(Conclusion)

「感冒」是借用「冒」的癥狀而得的病名。
「冒」包括從輕微的頭暈到嚴重的昏迷。
感冒 is the name of a disease that borrows 冒, the symptoms.
The symptoms range from slight dizziness to serious coma.

So, the question: What is the meaning of 冒 in 感冒？
原問：「感冒」中的「冒」是什麼意思？

我認為：雖然「冒」的原義是「覆蓋」，但在這裡是指「感冒的一些癥狀」，這可以是頭暈甚或昏迷。
My answer is some symptoms of cold, which may be dizziness or even coma, although its original meaning is "to cover" or "covering".

P.S. 題外話：

「冒」有很多意思。
在 張仲景《傷寒論》中的「冒」也不只一個意思。譬如：

  其人叉手自冒心，心下悸，欲得按者。

病人心悸，覺得心跳得很快，直覺地用手蓋住左胸，也希望能有幫忙按壓的人。

這裡的「冒」是動詞，只有其原義「覆蓋」的意思，不能用上述的引申義來解釋。

冒 has many meanings.
The 冒 in 《傷寒論》 also has more than one meaning. For example,

  其人叉手自冒心，心下悸，欲得按者。

The patient gets palpitations, fells the heart beating quickly, instinctively covers the left chest with hands, and expects a person who can help press.

冒, a verb here, means "to cover", only the original meaning, and cannot be explained by the above-mentioned extended meaning.


How to say "free yourself" in Mandarin"?

You can use 釋放自己, It's OK. Similar: 釋放自我, 解放自己(我), 開放自己(我), etc...
You could use 釋放 based on context.

Release from Prison, you can use 釋放. e.g. 他剛從牢裡釋放出來。

Release the Pressure, you can also use 釋放. The Pressure could be mentally or mechanically(like tire pressure) e.g. 他用大吃大喝釋放工作壓力. 這輪胎必須釋放一點過高的胎壓.

Release something, e.g 這公司有新的工作機會釋放出來了. (This company has released new job opportunities.)


What is the equivalent phrase of the figurative 'red meat' in Chinese?

I believe the verb 「挑動」, 「煽動」 or 「蛊惑（人心）」 might match the definition "to stir the emotions" in your dictionary, if you need derogatory terms.

「投其所好」 and 「奉承」 are about flattering someone.


What are some well-known, online news sources that are worthy of language study?

Based on your demand, here are my picks. They're locally famous.
China mainland

南方人物周刊, a featured weekly on influencing people, with some exclusive interviews.

南方周末, a weekly on politics, economics, culture, and especially recent (past week) controversial topics.

新京报, a daily with Beijing (or China) features. Founded in 2003.

财经网, a good source for financial and business news.

腾讯网, a major Internet portal.

三联生活周刊, a major life style magazine.

FT中文网, Chinese version of Financial Times, also with many Chinese columnists.

China Daily 中文版, famous for its English version, a major English daily.

财新网, another good source for financial and business news.

优酷网, the biggest video portal, YouTube's copycat, even from its name.

重庆晨报, for those who wanna have PDF version of newspaper, this one's for you.

第一财经周刊, a reader-friendly financial weekly.

外滩画报, full of featured stories with pictures.

Hong Kong

亞洲周刊, a weekly on politics, economics and culture.

明報, founded by Louis Cha Leung-yung, a renowned novel writer, and his co-founder in 1959.

文匯報, a left (pro-) newspaper. Founded in 1948.

大公報, another left newspaper. Founded in 1902.

星島日報, yet another left newspaper. Founded 1938.

鳳凰網, semi-official CCTV like channel in Hong Kong.

TVB無線新聞, famous TV channel.

壹週刊, a sibling of Taiwanese 蘋果日報, quite popular and entertaining.

Taiwan

中央社, a major news agency in Taiwan. Quite official. Founded in 1924.

蘋果日報, a major daily. Good at entertaining people. I like its 3D video news.

自由時報, as its name suggests, it's somewhat Pan-Green. Founded in 1980.

聯合報, a conservative major daily founded in 1951.

中國時報, a major daily. Founded in 1950.

中央日報, used to be official newspaper of the Kuomintang, founded in 1928.

天下, a financial-oriented magazine founded in 1981.

商業周刊中文版, Taiwanese version of Businessweek, with some local stories too.


Help translate these two sentences with 也未必 and 更何况

有时就连你的父亲也未必信得过，更何况是陌生人。

Sometimes you can't even trust your father, not to mention a stranger.

  有时连陌生人你也可以相信，更何况是你的父亲。

Sometimes you can even trust a stranger, not to mention your father.

I think even...not to mention would be a proper translation for 连...更何况, 也未必 is just a word indicate that the sentence is negative.


As stated in another answer, it should be 这个周末见 (which emphasizes that it is this weekend) or 周末见.

末见这个周 is incorrect, because it breaks up 周末: the characters comprise the word for "weekend" and must be together. So it must be that 周末 and any qualifers (here possibly 这个) must be before 见.

I could imagine 你 being thrown in as an object, but it is unnecessary and may sound awkward unless part of a larger phrase like in "周末见你啦" (which would appear to work, at least in Cantonese). But this would also change the emphasis of the phrase: 周末见 would suggest that meeting again is a mutual act, whereas the addition of 你 might suggest situations such as the speaker visiting the listener.


How to say "politically correct" or "political correctness" in Chinese?

Assuming Wikipedia is a reliable source, 政治正确 is correct.

There is a simpler explanation of it on Zhidao Baidu as well:

  这要看你是说汉语 “政治正确” 还是英语 “politically correct” 。
  这个词语对英语有比较广泛的意思，即不仅是指涉及政治敏感的语言。 英语 “politically (in)correct”
  形容任何不属于社会规范的语言，比如美国和加拿大忌用一些词语

It's a very literal translation, but that is the proper word, even if a bit misleading.


What are the grammatical functions of 一米八五 and 一个小时?

Quantity complement
Also known as: 数量补语 (shùliàng bǔyǔ), quantitative complement and complement of quantity.
A quantity complement follows a verb and supplies information regarding an amount.

~

他高一米八五 (he is 1.85M tall)

他 (he) is the subject

高 is short for 身高 (height). It is a noun that acting as a verb in this context

一米八五 (1.85M) is a 'quantity complement'  that complements the verb 高

Similarly: 姓(surname) is a noun, but it can act as a verb as in 我姓王 (I am surnamed Wang)

他晚了一个小时 (he is late for an hour)

他 (he) is the subject

晚了 (late for) is an adjective acting as a verb in this context

一个小时。is a 'quantity complement'  that complements the verb 晚

Examples of quantity complement complements verb:

他的身高[是][一米八五] - his height [is] [1.85M]
他[来晚了][一个小时]  -  he [came late] [(for) an hour]


What should one pay attention to when translating "I will go to military-school [within the next week]" into Chinese?

我即将去军校 is grammatically correct, but 即将 sounds too formal. Try this:

  我很快就要去军校了。 I soon will go-to  military-school le.

Notice that I used 了 which marks the end of what I am saying. Otherwise a listener may expect that you have something more to say. There are subtle uses of 了 that may take pages to explain.

If you want a formal form, 我即将去军校了 is perfectly fine.

我下星期里去军校 is understandable. Within is kind of a formal preposition word in English. In Chinese you may want to say:

  我要在下星期内去军校。 I will at next week within go-to military-school.

在...(以)内 is more idiomatic.

我比及读完去军校 -- 比及 is an archaic word that is no longer in use. study is 学习; It can be 读 sometimes, but the context is missing. Anyway:

  我一旦学习完就去军校。 I once study finish then go-to military-school.