Thought Experiment: Twitter Character Limits

Actually, if Twitter were to play fair, I think they would restrict Chinese users to 46 characters, since there are 3 bytes / UTF-8 encoded Chinese character, and only 1 byte / English letter.  Alternately, in terms of number of bytes, the right comparison is probably between 140 characters of Chinese and 420 characters of English.

Consider the differences in the three:

"Please stand back from the doors"  (English) (1)

請勿靠近車門                             (Modern Chinese) (2)

勿近車門                                  (Classical Chinese) (3)

It's interesting to think about these things in terms of the Shannon Entropy, the basic concept in information theory.  You might want to read up on the theory if you're interested in exploring the observation more deeply.  If you take a "symbol" to refer to a byte (256 possible values or "meanings") of data and assume UTF-8 encoding for (2) and (3), then E(1) = 3.8 , E(2) = 3.5 , and E(3) = 3.3: so "information content" of a series of bytes-as-symbols actually drops as you move from English to Classical Chinese.

However, as you note, a character in Chinese maps to a meaning. So let's map each of the meanings to a series of symbols and calculate the entropies.  Also rewrite (1) as "Please don't move near the car doors" to make it easier to compare the mappings across languages (byte-wise E for this rewrite is 3.7):

"Please don't move near the car doors." -> "A B C D E F G"   (1) = 2.5

"請勿靠近車門" -> "ABCDFG" (2) = 2.6

"勿近車門"      -> "BDFG" (3) = 2.0

So in this case the information content of (2) increases over (1), due to the repeated inclusion of spaces in (1). (3) remains lowest, but I think this would change using less formal MC: actual sentences, instead of terse "sign language".  These trends would accelerate with longer texts and almost certainly the classical Chinese version would quickly become the most "entropic."

Why would it do so?  Because I believe a statistical analysis of English v Modern Chinese v Classical Chinese would find that the first two incorporate far more repeated semantic symbols than Classical Chinese.  An interesting thing to consider is the problem of error correction, which becomes a concern when concerning codings.  You might want to think about how much repetition is present in English versus modern Chinese versus classical Chinese, and why that is: I would argue that Classical Chinese is minimally repetitive and maximally entropic, in the sense that Classical Chinese uses the bare minimum of symbols necessary to convey a thought. Contrast with English or even Modern Chinese, both of which have repetitive characters (spaces in English and words like "the"/"an", symbols like 的/个 in Modern Chinese , the far greater frequency of compound-character words in MC ex 绵羊／山羊 instead of 羊) that help preserve the meaning of a message in transmission. It would be interesting to consider any connection between this minimal repetitiveness might have with the thesis that comes up from time to time about how it's impossible to be "precise" (or "scientific") in Classical Chinese.  Anyways, in human languages, preservation of the message entails the addition of extra words (just think how verbose English law is - there's a reason for that); in formal codings, preservation of the message entails the addition of extra bits.

These are just some random thoughts that might help you think of ways to begin quantifying the differences in "consumption of symbols" you note in Twitter feed.


What are the characters on this unusual seal (Characters identified: 令憲稽首)

The characters are

which would be expressed today as 「令憲稽首」. This roughly translates to prostrate before the law.

What you have there looks like a seal recorded to be carved by an artisan named 黄士陵. See http://www.ne.jp/asahi/yoshitaka/hanko/kousiryou.html:

The side says

仿彝器文 士陵
In imitation of bronze inscriptions, by 士陵

referring to the script style of the seal being bronze inscription shapes.


Link
连接、联系
英语作文怎么写好内容丰富 百度知道

提问者采纳
英语作文有4点：PEEL【point、evidence、explain、link】就是要提出一个点、再找出几个例子、用几个段落解释这几个例子、每段落最后一句要可以连接到下一节的内容、这样就能写出一篇较好的英语作文了。【我们老师就是这样教的】

[XLS] Sheet1

论点、申论、举例、联系（PEEL）。

PEEL
Points/Topic Sentence
Elaboration/Examples
Link/Summary
段落主句
扩展／例子
联系主旨／段落总结


Can the pinyin for 边 be either "biān" or "bian" in general?

As I answered in another question you are referring to, those 边s should be pronounced as the first tone biān in standard mandarin except when 边 connotes 'positions' and 'directions', such as 里边 前边 东边 左边 这边 and 那边 in your list. Other than that, the rest are all first tone biān.

However, in spoken or daily usage, lots of people often pronounced it as neutral tone even for those that should be pronounced as first tone as dictionaries indicate.

The best way to get it correct all the time is to look up any authoritative dictionaries, such as 新华字典, 现代汉语词典 and etc. Some on-line dictionaries might not be right all the time because they are not well proofread. Usually, they just copy here and there.

Updates:

After I looked up in the latest dictionary 现代汉语词典， I have some updates on this answer above accordingly.


小吃: snack. Examples: steam bun, hot dog, baked sweet potato (most street food stall's cooked food are considered 小吃.) There are also cold served 小吃 like cold cut meat or cheese on cracker (mostly served in parties)

零食: snack/ junk food. Examples: chips, candies

Most noticeable difference: We call 零食 junk food but not 小吃


My understanding is that 套 is short for 套用 here, meaning "apply mechanically".

Basically, the author conveys there isn't such a rule/principle that could work for all the circumstances, so that we don't have to worry once applying it.

With that in mind, I gather you should be able to wording it much better than I do as an English native.

This is my shot:
(there is) absolutely no rule/principle fixing(or being applied) here, so we don't have to worry about it any more.

On top of that, if the sentence is written as 绝对没有一个规则被套用在这里, would it be more understandable to you? In fact, it's a passive voice sentence with some omissions.


I guess you should avoid 伊妹儿 (that almost looks like a girls' name or person name). 电子邮件 is the preferred and widely used term.

If you need a verb to express 'to send an e-mail', use 发 with 电子邮件:

E.g. 请给我发个电子邮件。 Please send me an e-mail.


A: What do you mean? or What do you intend to?
B: Nothing, just a little bit of thank you gift.
A: You are bit of an interesting guy.
B: Do not take it seriously, I have no favour to ask for.
A: Alright, I might better keep this.
B: It is my pleasure.

In Chinese, those words could actually mean

甲：你这（给我钱）是什么意思？
乙：没什么意思，就是表示一下（感谢）。
甲：你这人还挺懂事的。
乙：我真的没别的意思，还望您笑纳。
甲：那我就腆着脸收下了。
乙：嗨，这是我应该的。


What is the difference between `踢足球` and `踢球`?

They have the same meaning on usual---playing football. For 踢球's 球 ,it is the football in general. If we must point out the difference,there is a tiny difference merely to 踢足球 is a specific(or definite) statement, that is to say, it is more concrete.
When you make sentence or want to express play football, both of them are ok.:)


In Chinese「地」is the adverb marker.
It's used bewtween an adverb and the verb it describes.

The phrase「再一次」 acts like a adverb whcih means "do something once again".
So use 「地」after 「再一次」 and the verb behind it。

Example：
「再一次地感谢大家」 --> Thanks everyone once again.

And 「地」can be omitted in this case, so
「再一次地感谢大家」 --> 「再一次感谢大家」
This kind of usage is usually more informal.

The words 「的/地/得」 is quite confusing in Chinese language.
Even Chinese native speakers do not care about the difference between them.

More information please see:
http://eastasiastudent.net/china/mandarin/%E7%9A%84-%E5%9C%B0-%E5%BE%97-summary


The term 麻烦 can be a noun, an adjective or a verb

麻烦: (n) trouble; (adj) troublesome; (v)  to trouble / to bother / to inconvenience

  http://www.dictionary.com/browse/inconvenience

  *inconvenience

  verb (used with object), inconvenienced, inconveniencing.

As a verb, it has to be used with object

~

 *I understand the meaning of 麻烦 as "troublesome" (ex. 麻烦你等一下)*

No,  "麻烦你等一下" means "(I have to) inconvenience you to wait a minute"

A better English phrasing would be "sorry to inconvenience you, please wait a moment "

When you say 麻烦你, (inconvenience you), usually you would begin with a "sorry" .

Since 麻烦你 itself already contains an apologizing tone, the "sorry" can be omitted.

*What does 麻烦你了 means*

It means:

"Sorry to inconvenience you" (to ask someone to do something)

"Sorry to have inconvenienced you (to apologize for the inconvenience you caused)


你老竇個仔, is it a minced oath in this case? If so what would be the original meaning?

Yes, it is. Cantonese swearing can be very vicious and graphic sometimes.

The most common Cantonese swearing is 「我(F)你老母」and one of a variants is 「我 (F) 你老母個 臭化(C)」; 臭化 means smelly and rotten.

  「你老竇個仔」 is a minced oath for 「你老母個 (C) 」, short for 「我(F)你老母個 (C)」

Replacing "老母" (mother) with "老竇" (father), and replacing the Cantonese "C" word with a similar sounding word "仔"

To translate it into English, you can use any minced oat, as long as it expresses strong disapproval.

For example: "Gat Dangit" --> "God damn it"


一单字动词，表示给食物过冷水，是哪个字？ / a single-character word meaning to submerge food in cold water

拔（pronunciation only. Not sure how to write.）。
e.g. 面条放冷水里拔一下

焯是过热水。


In Beijing dialect/Northern China dialects, 一块儿 is the idiomatic pronunciation of 一块 for all its meanings. E.g.

缺了一块儿 (a piece is missing)
一块儿蛋糕 (a piece of cake)
一块儿玩儿 (playing together)
在一块儿 (be together)
块儿状物 (blocks; lumps)

Note the special usage of 块 in 一块钱 (one RMB Yuan) should not be pronounced as 一块儿钱. 一块儿钱 makes no sense.

Having said that, your impression of 一块儿 is often used to mean "together" is also right. This is because the usage of 一块 (even without 儿) to mean "together" itself is a Northern China idiom; In Southern China, 一起/一齐 is more common. In other word, people who choose 一块 over 一起 will also tend to use 儿话音. On the other hand 一块 as a count word is the preferred word to mean "one piece" across all Chinese speaking regions.


The differences are contextual. I do agree it is very subtle.

到 is used when the verb, (action), produces a response from a purely physical perspective. Whereas, 了 is from a non-physical moral, legal, ethical standpoint.

So, in 收不到 vs 收不了, the former connotes the physical impossibility of receiving whatever is sent, perhaps it was physically destroyed in an air accident; hence 不到, (physically not arrive) The latter connotes the non-physical inability or refusal to accept for some moral, legal, ethical reason; perhaps it was seen as a corrupt bribe, hence 不了, (can't)

Here is an example to illustrate the point further:-

(a) 起不了 vs (b) 了不起

The former is physically impossible to rise up.

The latter means something amazing or superlative.


Out of tune

跑调/走调/走音——年纪大了，王菲唱歌也开始走音了。要不我们就叫她跑调天后吧。
音调不准——这架钢琴音调不准，和你唱歌一样。
不着调/不合调——你唱歌挺不着调的。
音准差——你唱歌音准太差了。音准 is a professional term.

The phrase 不着调 has later taken a metaphoric meaning to describe an erratic person or deed. 你这人挺不着调的，办事也不着调。

In tune

Just take the negative forms and you're set:

着调/合调——你唱歌还挺合调的。
音调准——你唱歌音调很准。
音准很好/不错——这架钢琴音准很好，你唱歌音准不错。This is how a music teacher praises you.


How are the Kanji in this Dictionary Ordered?

the book is "草書禮部韻寳" by emperor 仁宗 of 宋 dynasty. it's for looking up how a chinese character  appears in 草書 (cursive script), as you know, ordered according to rime.

well, it's a calligraphy dictionary. you look up a character, see how it's in 草書, nothing more; no explanation, no 反切.

if you're looking for a rime dictionary, you may download all 5 volumes of "鉅宋広韻" (宋版廣韻), from 重要文化財（漢書） of the national archives of japan.

https://www.digital.archives.go.jp/DAS/pickup/view/category/categoryArchives/0500000000/0511000000/00

edited, info added about how to lookup a character in rime dictionary.

in general, you already know the 聲 (Tone) & 韻 (final) of a character, then you use the rime dictionary for confirmation, or look up characters in the same 韻目 (rhyme groups). if you don't know how to pronounce a particular character, forget it :(

the wiki page explains it:

    the characters were first divided between the four tones
    Each tone was divided into rhyme groups

since 平聲 (level tone) has more characters, it's further divided, that there're five group:

    上平聲 upper level tone
    下平聲 lower level tone
    上聲 rising tone
    去聲 departing tone
    入聲 entering tone

then, each group has several 韻目 (rhyme groups), each group list all relevant characters with the same 韻 (final).

talking about tones & finals, it's easier if you know cantonese, one of the dialects which still has 入聲 (entering tone); that, if you know the pronunciation, or, from the end of finals (-p, -t, -k); you know that it's 入聲字, directly.

now, let's try 鬱; in cantonese: wat1, sound file

first, to determine it's in which 聲 (Tone):

it belongs to 入聲 (entering tone), which is directly by the cantonese pronunciation. or, if i try to write the romanisation, it's "wat", which ends with "t", a second hints of 入聲字.

secondly, pick up the 5th volume of 鉅宋広韻﹒入聲卷, in the first page, read from rightmost column, from top to bottom; until you find a character sounds similar to 鬱

that is, to look for 屋, 沃, 燭, 覺, 質, 術, 櫛, 物 in sequence. then, 物 sounds similar to 鬱. because i know both the cantonese pronunciation, they're similar, if in doubt, the two characters (文弗) above 物 provide 反切

it should read as "物﹒文弗切", which means the pronunciation of 物, one can combine the 聲母 (initials) of 文, with the 韻母 (finals) of 弗:

文:  man4

弗: fat1

物: mat6

弗 is also sounds similar to 鬱, which i've strong confidence that character "鬱" is in 韻目 (rhyme groups) "物"

now, turn to the page of 物, voila, 鬱 is here :)

in mandarin, 鬱 is yu ; without hints of tone; imo, it's very difficult for mandarin speaker to use rime dictionary. you may try it by yourself

have fun :)


創始 is usually used for small shop or brand.

創辦 may used for school or news agency.

創立 would be normally used for a country or more formal organisation.

Usually we won't say some brand was 創立 於 2004. That's too formal.

As for Facebook, you could say "Facebook 於2004年創立 or 成立". I think it depends on how formal the object is in your mind.


What does 会 mean in 为什么我会觉得历史课很无聊？

会 has many meanings
in this context, "会" functions as  "would"

Would: modal verb (INTENTION/ POSSIBILITY)
"为什么我(会)觉得历史课很无聊?" = "why (would) I think history class is boring?"
If there's no explanation following the question,  it is a rhetorical question

Example of 'would' as a modal verb :
"If it doesn't rain, I would go"  (INTENTION)
"One of them would die if they fight each other" (POSSIBILITY)


Translation: Chinese relative names + numerals into English

What about this construction:

Jack the Ripper

So we can have something like

Uncle Wang the Second

Etc.

PS: yes, Mrs. Li the Second cannot precisely convey the meaning of 李二嫂; even Uncle Wang the Second is a little ambiguous. I doubt whether there is actually a concise expression in English, so maybe I will leave a footnote to explain it in the article/book/etc.
PPS: According to the wikipedia entry Chinese kinship, there were translations like

Second Uncle
—Yang, Rae (1998), Spider Eaters: A Memoir, University of California Press, p. 46, ISBN 0-520-21598-2, retrieved 2009-07-14, "The letter became evidence of Second Uncle's yearning for the Nationalists to come back."

Thus, Second Uncle Wang sounds quite reasonable too.


Why is it written LIU in Pinyin, when there's clearly an O sound?

The same happens with other characters with the same "finals":

就 - Jiù
扭 - Niǔ
etc...

From this page of Chinesepod.com:

  Mandarin's iu sound can confuse you because what is written is actually an abbreviated form of "iou," a straightforward combination of the vowel sounds i and ou. Thus the iu syllable sounds similar to the "yo" of the English word "yo-yo," with a bit more "oo" sound on the end. It is written as you when it stands alone, and as iu when it is preceded by a consonant (for example, diu, niu, liu).

Emphasis and bold are mine.

Edit: I think that the reason why we have "you" and "liu" is due to some important facts:

Chinese syllables are all made of initials + finals. Unlike other languages, not all sounds in Chinese can be both initials and finals. For example the [s] sound never occurs at the end of a syllable in Chinese, but it does at the beginning, etc.

For this reason, we cannot have a stand-alone final1. Finals that stand by themselves need an initial anyway, and, apart from "iou-you", this happens to other finals as well:

iou —> you
uen —> wen
iao —> yao
u —> wu
etc...

At this point we could write "liou", but like it has been mentioned, this could have been done for a reason of "economizing/saving space". This doesn't happen symmetrically to all syllables, but considering Pinyin is an "artificial" system for romanizations, many choices could be just arbitrary. In any case, if I find some other claim that explains more in depth, I'll make sure to add it.

1: This is not true for all the finals. Check the link for "finals" to see which ones can stand by themselves, under the column Final-only form.


According to here, it should be 三是机制创新，要建立人单合一的自主经营体。.

机制创新 : innovation of mechanism/system
人 : staff/employee
单(订单) : order -> user needs
人单合一 : integrating order with personnel -> Every order is in the charge of one staff. Futher more integrating staff with user, make staff to achieve self-worth by creating value for users.
自主 : autonomous/independent/self-determination/self-leading
经营体 : operation unit
自主经营体 : (to make every staff one) independent operation unit

For whole sentence,
Thirdly, mechanism innovation, set up independent operation unit, which integrating order with personnel.

Reference: 人单合一双赢模式


How do I join more than one adjective together?

(1.) In [(X) 而 (Y)] , "而" = "and" in English

Examples:

(快)而(準) = (quick) and (accurate)

(強)而(有力)=(strong) and (forceful)

(簡)而(清)= (simple) and (clear)

(2.) The [又(X)又(Y)] structure functions like [(X) and (Y)] in English,

When (X) and (Y) are adjectives, the subject is being (X)and (Y) at the same time.

Examples:

又(快)又(準) = (fast) and (accurate)

又(強)又(有力)=(strong) and (forceful)

又(簡單)又(清楚)= (simple) and (clear)

When (X) and (Y) are verbs, the two actions could happen at the same time or one following the other.

Example:

又(哭)又(笑) = (crying) and (laughing)

又(打)又(鬧) = (punching) and (yelling)

(3.) [(X)又(Y)] is just [又(X)(又)(Y) ] omitted the first 又

In this form, (X) and (Y) are usually two characters words. Since [(X) 而 (Y)] is similar but much more popular, [(X)又(Y)] is kind of redundant,  not many people would use it.

  I've seen "敦厚老实", where the two adjectives are simply put together

In this form, both adjectives have to be two characters words.

Example:

快捷準確 (fast and accurate)

簡單清楚 (simple and clear)

強勁有力 (strong and forceful)

** You can use multiple four characters adjective clauses on one subject

Example:

他的演說 簡單清楚, 強勁有力 ( his speech is simple and clear, strong and forceful)


as far as i know, the function of rsunicode is to find out the radical & stroke count from an input, the output is the radical index (1-214) & number of strokes, excluding the radical of the character.

it's not for inputting text.


For something that is hard to watch, you could say 不堪。变态 is okay, but I think it's usually used to describe people, not scenes and things.

For example, i think you could say something like this:

  Joffrey 拷打妓女的场面很不堪！

This is what my Chinese friend told me when I asked her, anyway. In casual conversation, 变态、不堪 should both be okay.


Thumb: 拇(mŭ)指(zhĭ) or 大拇指 or 大拇哥.
The first two words are common while the last one is less common. You would hear it more in oral speaking, in some regions(I heard of it from one of my relatives in HeBei province).

Watch the shape of "拇". The left part refers to "hand", and the right part is "母“， meaning "mother". I think it gets this name because of the importance of the thumb. I consult it in the dictionary of 《康熙字典》. It cites "【說文】將指也。" I believe "將指" is an analogy that a thumb is like a general among fingers :)

Index Finger:食指(shí zhĭ)

I think we call it because we would dip this finger to the food(soup, etc) to taste the flavour(食 means to eat). There is a famous story from 《左传》 related the index finger and we coin a word "染指" from it(here, 染 means "to dip"). I won't tell you the story here, because it's a little bit long and complicated, sorry. You can search an idiom we get from it "食指大动" to find more info about this story.

Middle Finger: 中指(zhōng  zhĭ).  "中" means "middle"
Ring Finger: 无名指(wú míng zhĭ). Interesting, "无名" means "without a name, anonymous"
Pinky Finger:小指(xiăo zhĭ) or  小拇指(xiăo mŭ zhĭ). "小" means "little, small"


It is '春夏秋冬行好运' written in traditional Chinese ('春夏秋冬行好運').

In this sentence, '春夏秋冬' means spring, summer, autumn and winter by order, '行好運' means 'good luck'.

Put them all together, it says 'good luck for whole year'.

Just in case you're interested, this is a couplet, it usually comes in pairs. The second line is ‘东南西北遇贵人’, which means wherever you go, you'll always meet nice people.


How to type these old and rare Chinese characters?

If you're having trouble displaying the following characters install the Hanazono font.
zisea

unicode码：2C686

zisea

unicode码：29AC1
拼音mao4

石 毛 doesn't seem to have much of a record as far as I can tell.

No results found for “⿱石毛”.

where ⿱ means top/bottom components in order of: 石(top) 毛(bottom)
 日 also doesn't seem to have an exact match that I can find, but this website seems to say it's this:

⿱日[T]

they say it's a combination of  日 but the character looks more like 干 than 于, not sure if it will work for your purpose.
zisea 肰

肰
unicode码：80B0

How to find characters?
1
I used zisea's 两分 to find both characters.
For the first one I searched 羽 能 (with a space in the middle)

and for the second I searched 高 毛 (with a space in the middle).

If you can figure out the two major components you can pretty much find any character you want, unicode or non-unicode.
2
笔顺
zdic sou suo page explains it like this:

请输入正确的笔顺编码：李→1234521
笔顺说明
笔顺名称   一（横）    丨（竖）    丿（撇）    丶（点）    乛（折）
笔顺编号   1   2   3   4   5
注:一（提）归为一（横），亅（竖钩）归为丨（竖），丶（捺）归为丶（点），各种折笔笔画归为一（折）——《现代汉语通用字笔顺规范》

 for instance is 丶一丨フ一丨フ丨フ一ノ一一フ which equates to 41251252513115
if you search for this on zdic select 字典 and then 笔顺 you'll get something like this:

3
google components
" 日" google search

If you try an exact search (quoted) for the components you are looking for you might also find what you want. That's how I found  referenced as a combination of the two, obvious, components of your character.


How does 驕's 2021 meanings appertain to its semantic component 馬?

A horse might not directly represent 'arrogance', but status, wealth, power, elite, proudness, and unruliness are all potential cause of arrogance

Owning horses was a sign of wealth and power in the time most of the population were farmers

The number of horses you were allowed to use for a carriage indicated your status, No matter how wealthy you were, if you were not a noble, you could not have a four horses carriage and only the emperor could use a six horses carriage

Only Elite warriors ride horses

Wild horses are proud, unruly

Notice: 'proud' and 'arrogant' are very similar, differ mostly in degree of outward expression. 'proud' is more likely the original meaning of 骄 and 'arrogant' is a logical extension


How should I understand 又拜 in this sentence about Bruce Lee?

又 from collins

  (= 另外) another
  ⇒ 家里又买了一个书架。 (Jiā li yòu mǎile yī gè shūjià.) They bought another set of bookshelves for their home.
  ⇒ 老师又布置了几项作业。 (Lǎoshī yòu bùzhìle jǐ xiàng zuòyè.) The teacher set several more questions for homework.

又 is not "again" here.

拜师 is a set phrase, yabla gives its definition as: "to formally become an apprentice to a master".

You can put the Name of the name into the phrase, and it become 拜...为师.

The pattern you gave ("拜 + person + 为 + role") is mostly correct, but I currently cannot think of anything other than "师" that can take the "role" part. I think it is better to take the pattern as "拜 + person + 为师".

The activity of "拜师" is usually formal, and it usually involves some kind of ceremony. The phrase "拜师" is not that formal, it can be used casual speech.

Usually we don't have many chances to talk about it in everyday life. Nowadays, most people won't have a chance to be involved in such an activity during the whole life. Finding a teacher in school or finding a coach in a sport would not be called "拜师". In the areas of (Chinese traditional) art, martial art, etc, some people still "拜师", before the master (officially) teaches the apprentice.


Does 劳驾、做你有那个时？ sound natural? ("Excuse me, do you have the time?")

Unfortunately it's not correct. You could say:

打扰一下，你知道现在几点吗？

or

对不起，现在几点了？


What semantic notions underlie 'hem, margin; reason, cause; karma, fate' for 緣?

First, you seemed to have asked a lot of questions about etymology and you are always quoting Yellowbridge. Yellowbridge may have its merits, but it does not seem to provide enough information in this area. If you consulted a good dictionary, you would not need to ask so many questions and could save yourself a lot of time.
For instance, this site as suggested by other users is good enough. The result for 緣 is this. (I have consulted other dictionaries and they are more or less the same.)
As we can see from the link, its basic original meaning is "edge of clothes", which is why it has the semantic radical 糸.
Hence the meaning "edge" in general.
Hence the meaning "go around or along" (as in "go around or along the edge"), and "climb up" (go along the edge upward).
Hence the meaning "follow" (follow this path) and "depend on, utilize" (use this way to achieve your goal).
Hence the meaning "reason, cause, or link between two things" (go from one point to another point following this path -- this path is the link, or the reason).
Hence the meaning "fate" (the link that links two people and make them meet). "Karma" is put here also for this reason, but note that the English word "fate" is already not a very accurate translation, and "karma" is even more prone to misunderstanding. In English "karma" has two senses: one is "destiny, fate", and the other is more like "law of consequences", which is irrelevant here. In Chinese, 緣 does not mean things are predetermined, as fate or destiny, but rather that things or people have links or connections, their lives are intertwined.


How does 文科生活组团 mean "humanities life block" and is there a better translation?

If this translation is not made deliberately, it is an apparent mistake.
A more proper translation will be:
Living Complex for Liberal Arts Students
where "生活" is "live", “组团” is "complex", and "文科" is "liberal arts".
I visited Nankai University's website, and found that it is a complex area with dormitories and other facilities for student's daily life.


How to understand "ideographic" decomposition of characters like 不 and 与

my best guess:

  U+4E0D    不   ⿱一③

不 is a top-bottom structure ⿱, with top component "一", ③ means components with three strokes, not yet defined.

you may look at these two:

  U+4E1A    业   ⿱④一

业 is a top-bottom structure, with the top component with 4 strokes, then the bottom component "一"

  U+4E1D    丝   ⿱⿰②②一

丝 is a top-bottom, and further, the top component could be divided into left-right component. so, ②② means two components, each with two strokes, left-right relationship, on top, then bottom component is "一"

have fun :)


What is the motivation for the use of 把 or 将？

it's a simulation of english grammar, after may fourth movement.

就是把戲劇當成一種時髦 is roughly:

that's, (就是) to treat (把) drama (戲劇) as (當成) a (一種) trendy things (時髦)

imo, modern days 白話文 is un-xxxx-able; using western (english?) grammar to write, or analyse written chinese is, well .... i'm not dare to say it openly.

personally, i read & write literary chinese as far as i can.

edited.

那時戲劇界有一種很不好地風氣，就是把戲劇當成一種時髦。

this sentence in literary chinese, it could be (there're ways to express the idea, here's just one of the attempt) written as:

時風澆薄﹒以戲為髦

that, the structure of "把 a 當成 b" is represented as "以ａ為ｂ"; so, the character "把" was seldom used in such situation.

But this use of 把 is not found in old Chinese texts from say 1000 years ago?

no, 把 was not used in such situation in the past; based on my experience.


How do I decide whether to use 可以, 会 or 能?

可以 means I can do it, but may I? For example :

  我 可以 开车吗？

May I drive? (Have the implication of I want to drive)

  我 可以 开车。

I can drive (have the implication of I can, but I don't want to (unwilling to do so))

会 means I am able to, or I know how to do it For example :

  你 会 开车吗？

Can you drive? (Are you able to drive? Do you know how to drive? Or even Do you have a drivers license?)

  我 会 开车。

I can drive (I know how to drive)

能 is similar to can, in most cases they are interchangeable. It means capable of doing something or Would you...? For example :

  你 能 开车吗？

Would you drive?  (Would you mind driving?)

Other Meanings

Apart from the meaning of willingness, 可以 can also mean good/not bad.  For example :

  你的中文还 可以 。

Your Chinese is not bad.
能 can also mean power / energy For example 能量.


It's a Chinese (political) joke. It has been told that a boy is killed to lengthen the former (×2) chairman, Zemin Jiang. But it's not proven to be true yet. It's alright to used chatting with people of new generations in China. And it has somehow become a meme among them.

When people say 续命、续一秒、+1s , they are also talking about that.


Are there multiple translations for 不上边?

There's two things going on; a verb (碰边 or 沾边) and an auxiliary verb (不上) inserted in the middle.

碰边, 沾边 literally mean "to touch the edge", which is a metaphor for relationship. 不上 means "unable to" in this context (similar to 不到 or 不得). So altogether, 碰不上边 means "unrelated".


商甲6.12.5殷虛書契前商甲2342殷虛卜辭

「敢」 (Baxter-Sagart OC: /*[k]ˤamʔ/, to hunt and pursue > to eagerly advance and push forward > brave) was originally a picture of two hands 「廾」 fighting a wild pig 「豕」 with a hunting weapon that looked like 「干」 (/*[k]ˁar/) or 「單」 (/*Cə.tˤar/), which may have simultaneously hinted at the sound. One of the hands was sometimes removed to leave behind a single hand 「又」.

西周金大盂鼎集成2837

Later on, the weapon was corrupted into a sound hint 「甘」 (/*[k]ˤ[a]m/).

戰國・晉金中山王圓壺集成9734戰國・楚簡56.43江陵九店東漢隸史晨奏銘　今楷

Another weapon was added back to the hand to form 「攴・攵」, then the pig 「豕」 and the sound hint 「甘」 were corrupted and merged together, forming the left hand side of 「敢」.

References:

季旭昇《說文新證》
小學堂
國學大師

郭沫若《甲骨文合集》
中國社會科學院考古研究所《殷周金文集成》

中華語文知識庫

漢字源流


As nouns, is there any difference between 变化 and 改变?

a. 城市已经发生了很大的变化。
b. 城市已经发生了很大的改变。

Comparing 变化 with 改变 in this context, 改变 connotes 城市 is being changed (say by people) from the past. Well, 变化 connotes that we see or identify some difference from what the city used to be. 改变 describes the action, change.


Pronounce ellipsis 《●●● ●●●》 in Mandarin

等等 is the official and only globally recognized way to read ellipsis in Chinese, unlike in English there are more than one (et cetera, and so on, and so forth, etc.)

In casual occasions you can also say 等 for short. In formal speeches like news broadcast it's always 等等. (Note I am talking about the pronunciation of ellipsis; I am not saying single 等 or other alternatives are grammatically incorrect or cannot be used in formal conversations.)


The correct classifier for 语言 is not 个, but 种
The following are grammatically correct
用两种语言介绍自己
以两种语言介绍自己
两种语言的自我介紹

I want to have a Chinese title for it

双语 (bilingual) is less wordy and more literary than 两种语言 (two languages) which is more colloquial
As a title, a noun phrase feels more formal than a verb phrase
Depend on your preference you can consider:
以双语介绍自己 = Introduce Yourself Bilingually (verb phrase)
or
双语自我介绍 = Bilingual Self-introduction (noun phrase)


Chinese Translation of these certificates (old hanja)

Note: Korean is not my native language.

A transcription in hangeul first:

  단증

  성명: ******

  위 사람은 본 도장 제"삼십"회 심사에서 초 단에 합격하였음으로 자이 본증을 수여함

  1972년 6월 ?일

  미국 당수도 무덕관 김도장

  최고 사범 김기황

Roughly translated, this reads:

  (Class?) Certificate

  Name: ****************

  This certifies that the above person was awarded a pass of first dan by examination at this dojang (dojo) in the [30]th class.

  June (?), 1972

  US Tang Soo Do School of Martial Virtue Kim-dojang

  Chief Instructor Kim Ki-hwang


Is there *really* no native term for "stoning"?

Of course it does.

We called it 石刑。

Please refer to:English Stoning

Chinese Stoning


There are three similar style guides for Chinese:

文后参考文献著录规则 GB/T 7714-2005　Appendix A　Appendix B
科学技术报告、学位论文和学术论文的编写格式 GB7713-87
文摘编写规则 GB 6447-86


ABC

hold aloof from the world

A Chinese-English Dictionary

hold oneself aloof from the world; be above worldly considerations; stay away from scenes of contention

Oxford

1 置身事外 be above worldly considerations
2 超脱于社会 shun social disputes

KEY

1 be above all material desires
2 be detached
3 be above the fray

Duogongneng Chengyu Cidian

解释 超然:不站在对立各方的任何一方;物:指客观世界｡超脱于尘事之外｡也指置身事外｡
语见 宋·叶梦得《石林诗话》卷下:“渊明正以脱略世故､超然物外意,顾区区在位者何足累其心哉!"
例句 这一种仪式既经举行,即倘有后患,各部都该负责,不能超然物外,说风凉话了｡(鲁迅《而已集·谈所谓“大内档案"》)
近义 置身事外
反义 同流合污
辨析〔参见〕置身事外

超然 is just "independent"

物 is the "objective world"

外 is "outside of"


Chinese loanwords whose characters also carry the corresponding meaning

Here are some examples of those

基因 - gene
嬉皮士 - hippies
脱口秀 - talk show
霸凌 - bully
流明 - lumen
黑客 - hacker
对偶 - dual
蕾丝 - lace
费 - fee

And some others

席梦思 - Simmons
可口可乐 - Coca Cola
必应 - Bing
翡冷翠 - Firenze (Italy)
氕 - protium
氘 - deuterium
氚 - tritium


The basic meaning of 放 is 'to release'

放假 means 'be released (from job or school) for day off, vacation or holiday"
放寒假 means 'be released (from school) for Winter holiday'

Working men don't have Winter holiday, they have "新年假期/ 年假" (new year holiday)

放大假 = be released (from a job) for vacation

Similarly:

放工 = be released (from a work day) = finish a work day and be let go = 'quit time'

放学 =  be released (from a school day) = finish a school day and be let go  = 'school out'

放监 =  be released (from jail) = finish jail sentence and be let free

  开始 means 'start', so what does 放 mean here?

As stated above '放' doesn't mean 'start'. If you are in the middle of Winter Holiday, you are "正在放寒假"

开始(放)寒假  means 'start (being released from school for) Winter holiday' = 'start (having) Winter holiday'


Is each 的 in 有的 and 好的，到时候会有人接机的 a modal particle?

in 有的 and 好的, 的 is just a modal particle also.
It is Ok if you omit 的.

another example: 可以的=可以


曾经 is more equivalent to "once" in English as in the sentence

Once we were the best friends.

It is used to:

express the fact the sentence is talking about happened in the past.

if the predicate verb is a durative verb*, express that fact can't be experienced(经=experience) by the speaker(doesn't last) any more.
, the speaker implies that the status is different now. In this case, it means "used to" as in the sentence "I used to be a kind man(implies now I am not)." For your example, the speaker implies that he is not studying Chinese in Bejing now.

*By "durative verb", I mean the action expreesed by that verb can last for a long time. For example, "study, like, look, be, work,feed, etc.". These verbs can be used in the progress tense in English(-ing form). Some other verbs can not, such as "hear of, see, kick, etc." You can't say " I am hearing of a terrible story", while you can say" I am listening to a terrible story".
Can someone tell me the right grammar term if I am wrong?


How to express [Adjective + enough] or [Adverb + enough]

The basic structures:

[adjective + enough] = [夠 + adjective]

[adverb + enough] =  [夠+ adverb]

adjectives:

Good enough = 夠好; Not good enough = 不夠好
Fast enough = 夠快; Not fast enough = 不夠快
Strong enough = 夠力; Not strong enough = 不夠力

adverb:

Well enough = 夠好; Not well enough = 不夠好
Quickly enough =夠快; Not Quickly enough = 不夠快
Loudly enough = 夠大聲; Not loudly enough = 不夠大聲

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

When the sentence included a verb:

She sang well enough. = 她唱得夠好
Couldn't solve quickly enough. = 解得不夠快
He talked loudly enough. = 他說得夠大聲

*compare to the basic structure, in a sentence that included a verb, a potential particle like 得  have to be placed after the verb to connect to the adjective or adverb. (得 - to the degree of)

*If the sentences included passive verb like  "sang...to  be hired /  talked...to be heard in the next room " , the structure would become more complicated, different type of particles could be used. That would be too broad to answer


How to discuss preferences / ask which do you prefer in Mandarin

Basically, there are two methods.

List the options first and then ask "which do you prefer?" You have to use a proper verb according to the options.

中餐、西餐、日本料理，你喜歡吃哪一種？
登山、游泳、慢跑、快走，你愛做哪一種運動？

Reverse the order.

你喜歡吃蘋果、香蕉、橘子、西瓜，還是木瓜？
放假的時候，你喜歡看書、玩遊戲、聽音樂，還是睡覺？


How to say "oink!" in Mandarin in a family situation?

Well, the porcine vocabulary comprises at least 3 sounds. How one may represent them is a matter of choice. To date, no exhaustive linguistic studies, to my knowledge, exist.
'oink' is phonetically interesting, because the sound is produced by inhaling. To mimic the 嗷嗷 grunt adequately, one should also inhale.

grunt: 嗷嗷，呼噜噜
squeal: 吱儿吱儿
oink(somewhere between grunt and squeal): 哼哼, 耶耶

当然，不同地方的猪叫声是不一样的， 因为各个地方的方言不一样。
东北的猪叫声听起来和广东的不一样。


What is a professional looking Chinese font that could serve as an equivalent for italics?

Chinese script has no concept of “italics”. Of course, it is possible to slant characters, but – as you state – this is not a very professional solution. Given that you main body font is 宋体 (Songti, the equivalent to a serif font for Latin characters probably), it is a good idea to use another style like 楷体 (Kaiti) or 仿宋体 (Fangsongti). I personally like the latter, but because the Kaiti style is heavier, it will be probably more likely be perceived as different than the Fangsongti style which is not that heavy. To my knowledge, a Kaiti style is used more often than Fangsongti in Chinese printed matter (at least in books).

All these styles are available from very different vendors. So, it is actually up to you to choose a nice combination. The fonts below are „Songti SC“ (which I like better than the older „STSong“), „Kaiti SC“ and „STFangsong“ that all ship with the current macOS and are designed by Changzhou SinoType Technology Co., Ltd.

From top to bottom: Songti, Kaiti, Fangsongti.

However, switching between fonts is probably only a good idea if you start a new paragraph, because it may be difficult for the reader to recognise the font change. For emphasis of single words, you could use a heavier font (粗体, bold) or you could use emphasis points, which are small dots placed under (or in vertical typography to the right of) the relevant characters. However, emphasis points are – at least to my knowledge – used only rarely and it may be difficult to typeset them depending on the software you use.


How do you translate "I always drink coffee with cream"?

"with" here means "contains" or "have"
"with cream" in "coffee with cream" is an adjectival phrase that describe the noun coffee.

I drink coffee
what coffee?
the coffee that's with cream

I always drink coffee  = 我总是喝咖啡
I always drink coffee (with cream) = 我一向喝(加了奶油的)咖啡 or 我一向喝(有奶油的)咖啡
If you are having a cup of black coffee and a cup of cream at the same time, then 'with' would mean "together" and coffee and cream would be of equal weight. That is not what the sentence in your question meant. in "I always drink coffee with cream",  coffee is the main object, cream is an addition
More example of "with" meaning "contains"  or "have"
"book with pictures" (book that contains pictures)
"people with money" ( people who have money)


What's the relationship between "separate" and "eight" (old and modern meanings of 八)?

Generally speaking, we cannot create pictures or ideograms for every morpheme in a language; we'll quickly run into practicality issues if we try to do so. 「八」 (Baxter-Sagart OC: /*pˤret/) should be treated as just a rebus or phonetic loan for eight.
As an ideogram representing to separate, 「八」 either [represented a morpheme cognate with] or [was the original representation of] 「分」 (/*pə[n]/, to separate), with the component 「八」 serving simultaneously as a meaning and sound hint in 「分」.
If 「八」 was the original form of 「分」, then in terms of character development, 「八」 complexified into 「分」 via the addition of 「刀」 (knife, indicating the meaning to separate an object into two with a knife) after 「八」 was overused for the meaning eight, causing a need to disambiguate the two morphemes eight and separate.
In any case, it is quite likely that the original morpheme that 「八」 represented is now [also] written as 「別」 (/*pret/, to divide). The financial numeral for eight, 「捌」, still uses 「別」 as a phonetic component, showing the conservative nature of the sound of 「八」 for an ancient morpheme meaning to divide, differentiate, separate.

The good luck and fortune meaning (發財) is an unrelated wordplay, although it touches on the same kind of rebus principle. 「發」 (Middle Chinese: /pʉɐt̚/) sounds similar enough to 「八」 (/pˠɛt̚/) for this purpose, and in an alternate universe or a now-lost topolect, 「八」 might have been used as a phonetic loan for 「發」.


Left: 乾
Right: 隆
Top: 年
Bottom: 制

You read the characters as if you are standing at the center. The order is a bit funny because it's what people in antiquity do. It is read as 乾隆年制 -- "Made in the year of Qian Long". Qian Long(乾隆) is an emperor of 清(Qing) dynasty.
It is a form of 篆書. You see a lot of such imprints in antiquities. Take a look at this:

it says:

年|乾|大
制|隆|清


In a 还是 question, do I need to repeat the verb?

There is no rule for this and is mostly based on preferences. If the verb for the two actions are the same, you can choose if you want to omit it. However, in China, often one way of expressing is more fluent and more widely used than the other. The exact rule is difficult to describe, but it is likely based on the rhythm and flow of the language.
For example:
Saying 你喝咖啡还是喝茶？and 你喝咖啡还是茶？are both valid ways of expression, but the former sounds more rhythmically like a question and therefore is more often preferred.
On the other hand, 他学习英语还是日语？and 他学习英语还是学习日语？are also both valid, but the latter often sounds unnecessarily wordly and is often avoided.
P.S. In China, you may also often here people adding another word within these expressions to clarify what exactly they are asking. For example, 你喝咖啡还是喝茶？is ambiguous since we cannot really identify if it means "Do you want to drink coffee or tea" or "Are you drinking coffee or tea". For the former meaning, we often clarify by saying 你要喝咖啡还是喝茶？. For the latter meaning, we clarify by saying 你在喝咖啡还是喝茶？.


Its a funny way of describing "I'll remain a spectator and not get involved in the matter", because "I'll never reach that level" or "I'll never do such a thing/achieve such a result".

You can definitely say "我还是做一枚安静的老外吧。" or replace it with any other nouns, but it depends on what the situation is. For example, if you see a Chinese guy doing something that you'll be never able to do, you can say "我还是做一枚安静的老外吧。" meaning you are amazed by the situation and will remain a foreigner and not try to achieve what he did...It's just a funny way of saying things.

It all comes from this saying "我只想做个安静的美男子(I only want to be a silent/low profile handsome guy" if you want to look more into it.


Not sure there is one.

膀爷 itself is more common used in the north. A quick search from google, neither 膀娘 nor 膀婆 reach more than a few thousand results, so that may be considered as an evidence that both terms are not widely used. After all, we can find 膀爷 (topless man) in many cities, but I don't think we can find many topless women in any civilized place.


Translation a slogan "the perfect boost" to Chinese

Base on the description, it is a marketing service that provides promotional contents on the most popular social media platforms
Here is my idea
'Perfect' means '完美', and the extended meaning is 全面 (all-around)
'Boost' means '促进',  and it is similar to 推動 (give impetus to) or 推廣 (promote)
You can translate the slogan 'The Perfect Boost' to '全面推動!' or '全面推廣!'
面 as in 面書 (Facebook)
推 as in 推特 (Twitter)
You can play around with these two character's font or color
Another idea is  to translate 'Boost' as '提升' (upgrade; promote) and translate 'The Perfect Boost!' as '全面提升!' which is a more forceful slogan that is closer to the original meaning


Could you please tell me what these characters are?

柏林
Berlin (the capital of Germany)

快速提升中文程度的方法：
1. 初級者多看中文文章。
2. 中級者多寫中文文章。
3. 高級者多用中文思考。
所以，除了初學者可能有困難外，建議大家多用中文問答。


Resource for quality translations of famous American English speech/writing into Chinese?

It seems that you wanna learn Chinese by listening to its voice and let the video show English words?

Well……A pure Chinese film or TV, video CANNOT do that at all and you should involve yourself in Chinese environment to learn the language well.

However (of course)——If you insist doing so, you can see this:

ICS Channel——This channel is playing Chinese things but translated into English version for foreign people.


What is the meaning of 以 in 以 ... 來 pattern?

[以 ... 來 + (v)] = [with/ according to/ base on ... to + (v)]

[以]我的情況[來]看 = [to] assess it [base on/ according to] my situation

[以]我的想法[來]說 = [to] judge it [with/ according to] my thinking

[以]他的指示[來]做標準 = [to] make standards [according to/ with] his instruction

When you can replace 以 with 從 in your sentence, 以 means 'from'

When you can replace 以 with 用 in your sentence, 以 means 'with'

When you can replace 以 with 跟據 in your sentence, 以 means 'according to'


Words for shopping for medicine for athlete's foot in mainland China?

It's usually called as 脚气 in spoken language, so you can say:

  有治脚气的药吗？

AFAIK, 达克宁 is a famous brand of 脚气霜, but I'm not sure whether it suits your case or not. So it's better to make a research before using it.


成语 or expression that one is speaking about a topic he knows nothing about

Being modest is a good thing, but when you give a presentation, you should assure your audience that the content of your speech might not be ground-breaking, but is at least well thought out
Here is my suggestion:

大家好 - Hello everyone
以下是我努力硏修後得出來的成果 -  The following are the results of my hard work.
stating you have done your best and it is a well thought out speech

if you are not going to take any question:

如有不足之處，請各位多多包函 - If there are any deficiencies, please bear with me.

if you are going to take questions:

如有錯漏之處，請各位多多指教 - If there are any mistakes or omissions, please freely give me your advice.


Are 叫 and 让 actually used in place of the passive marker 被?

被 can be followed by a verb or a noun

Example:

他被杀死了 - he was killed (杀死 is a verb)

他被某人杀死 - he was killed by someone (某人 is a noun)

  让 means 'allow; let;' (must be followed by a noun)

Example:

不要让人杀了 (don't let people kill you/ don't be killed by someone)

  叫 means 'make; cause'

Example:

叫人煩惱 - make people upset (it is not a passive marker)


由(from)

此(this)

由此 = from this

此 here is an adjective (this),

  Question: How is 由此 used?

由此 (from this) can be used to modify many different omitted object

For Example:

由此上楼 = '由此(處)上楼' -  'from this (location) go upstairs'
由此可见 = '由此(事情/ 事实)可见' -  'from this (affair/ fact) we can see'
由此出发 = '由此(地/ 点)出发' - 'set off from this (place/ point)'
由此终结 = '由此(时)终结' -  'end from this (moment)'


Translate identification mark on a Chinese bowl (Characters identified: 景德鎮製)

景德鎮製: Made in Jingdezhen, the ancient porcelain-making center.

Note the traditional writing order, from top to bottom and then from right to left.


Any real difference between 句子 and 句话 in Mandarin?

"句话" is not a word. A qualifier is needed before it, like"一句话" or "两句话". No one say "句话" alone, because it is weird.


What are the rules for nested sentences?

Sentence as S
There may not be such a thing. In English you might want to say That I came out of the closet surprised them all. While in Chinese you can have

我出柜惊了他们所有人。

Which is normally interpreted as I came out of the closet (and) surprised them all. Not quite the same.
Sentence as O
Plenty.

你知道我出柜了。 You know I've come out of the closet.

And yes, you can have many layers:

你知道他们听说我出柜了。 You know they've heard that I came out of the closet.

But use these in moderation. Long sentences are much more frowned upon in Chinese than they are in English. Keep the nested sentences short.
Sentence as t and p
Not sure if this is what you want, but here you go:

我在他睡觉时出柜了。 I (while he is sleeping) came out of the closet.
我在他睡觉的地方出柜了。 I (at the place where he slept) came out of the closet.

But let's just talk about verb modifiers in general, OK?

我以迅雷不及掩耳之势出柜了。 I (as fast as a lightning strike at close, and you don't even have time to cover your ears) came out of the closet.

It is hell of a long phrase in English. Normally you would consider this unidiomatic in Chinese, but here we have only six (or nine, depends on how you count) Chinese characters and it is an idiom from classical Chinese. so the sentence come out just fine.
Sentence as V
I put this at last because I've run out of closet related examples.
There are some idioms that look like sentences but can function as verbs:

你别王婆卖瓜了。

This directly translates to You stop old-lady-Wang-sells-watermelon-ing, which is to say stop bragging about your goods.
But generally it is very rare. If you create one yourself instead of using idioms, other people may have a hard time understanding.
How to be idiomatic
The English language has this great right branching ability; clauses or nested sentences are like its second nature. The Chinese language can do a bit of right branching as well, but it is not very good at it. So in most cases if you have an English sentence that has a clause, you want to change its style while you are translating.
For example, you say

I have a bird that sings beautifully.

But in Chinese you want to say

我有一只唱歌很好听的鸟。

Notice how you get rid of the clause and make it a simple noun modifier and stick it to the left of the object with “的”. Or you can say

我有一只鸟，（它）唱歌很好听。

Again, you get rid of the clause by making it to two sentences.


What is 建设 in ...以期更好地展现我国航天建设的辉煌成就...?

In mainland China, 建设 can have the meaning of "cause", similar to 事业. It is often said that

  在社会主义建设的道路上…
  On the road of the construction (cause) of the socialism society...

From a random online dictionary from Google:

  建设 — 创建新事业或增加新设施
  (Construct new causes or add new equipments)

So in your case, 我国航天建设 is an elliptical phrase, where 事业 is omitted, which should look like

  我国航天事业的建设
  The construction of our cause for spaceflight

In practice, you can translate 建设 into "cause" or "the construction of xxx project" (我国航天工程) depending on the context.


Are the "h" in pinyin always pronounced as "[x]" in IPA?

Yes, h = [x] (also ㄏ in bopomofo).

Wikipedia has an entire chart entitled Help:IPA/Mandarin that lists consonants:

and vowels

Many old dictionaries, especially topolectical dictionaries, used IPA or a simplified version of IPA.

Consider Li Rong's (李荣) edited Great Dictionary of Modern Chinese Dialects (现代汉语方言大词典). Here's an example from《哈尔滨方言词典》:

Here you can clearly see 火 is:

  xuo

You can also see that the other terms are also written using IPA, albeit slightly simplified.


How to differentiate between "On Top" and "Above"

"above/over the bed" can be translated as "在床的上面" or "在床的上方" without any ambiguity.


if ... then ... in Chinese without any special words

你 高兴，我 也 高兴。

I interpret it as "You are happy, and I am happy too." It means your happiness may not be necessarily relevant to mine, but they just happen simultaneously for some or no reason.

Think about this similar sentence: 你有苹果，我也有苹果. It means you have an apple and I have one too. It doesn't mean if you have an apple then I have an apple too. There isn't any correlation here.

"If you are happy then I am happy." is more like (如果)你高兴，我就高兴. 如果 in this case can be dropped.

But if you say 如果你有苹果，我就有苹果， it clearly address the conditional relationship. It means both of us share the same prerequisite for getting an apple. So, if you can get one, then no doubt I can get one too.

Hope this clear.


Help with translating a traditional Chinese calligraphy inscription

I think it writes 辛酉冬月志良竹翁先生雅玩王枕遐敬赠, which means in the 11th month of 辛酉 year (1981, 1921, 1861, etc) in lunar calendar, 王枕遐 gave this gift to 志良竹翁先生.


的 in its function as a particle is attested in the 四大名著 Four Great Classical Novels, which are written in a vernacular Mandarin-type language, dating from the Ming dynasty. The particle use of 的 is also attested from the Yuan dynasty, when it seems it was adopted for the grammatical particle of the emerging new literary language. Its earliest attestation is in a Song dynasty source (my reference says Coblin, personal communication); another one can be dated to an inscription of 1238 (ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese, p.208). The consensus is that it is linked to the grammaticalisation of 底 dǐ (root, foundation, bottom), e.g. according to 汉字源 HanZiYuan's entry for 的 (see meaning three).

The use of 底 for the genitive particle / general nominaliser was a slow process which can be observed through diachronic studies of the extant literature. Note that 的 has functions which can be split into several aspects, and these also emerged gradually.

The lexeme 底 (and its cognates 氐、抵 etc., with Baxter-Sagart Old Chinese reconstruction *tˁijʔ and Baxter Middle Chinese reconstruction *tejX) was semantically extended, and then went through semantic bleaching and subsequent grammaticalisation. This actually covers the whole period from pre-Qin sensu stricto Classical Chinese through the Han to the Tang and Song dynasties. Its grammatical uses came to be very varied by the end of the Tang (including a status suffix for proper nouns, a demonstrative, an intensifier, and even a general interrogative).

In the southern Song, its use as a genitive became quite well-established [e.g. 療萬病底藥], and then took on functions as a relative clause marker, and then extended to headless clauses [e.g. 碾損老僧腳底], which approaches its role as a nominaliser. It is also during the Tang/Song period that the character 的 emerged in this role as well. The story is told in the 2010 paper "Delexicalizing di: How a Chinese noun has evolved into an attitudinal nominalizer".

Could 之 then be related to it? The same paper mentions how on phonological grounds that some have postulated that 底 is derived from 之, and others saying it came from 者. But note that there is a fundamental structural difference: Wang Li's work 漢語史稿 states in Chapter 45:

  由此看來，上古漢語這種結構中的動詞（或動詞仂語）近似一種行為名詞 (action noun)，中古以後，在口語中漸漸喪失了這種結構，只有古文作家模仿這種結構寫成書面語言。大約口語重的“的”（“底”）字產生後，這種結構就在口語絕迹了，因為“的”是尾詞（語尾），不是介詞，所以沒有把介詞“之”字這種功能繼承下來。

which, roughly paraphrased, says:

  The verb / verbal phrase in a 之 structure of the Classical age virtually acts as an action noun, but this structure was gradually lost in the oral vernacular of the post-Classical age and was only imitated by scribes in their literary language. After the appearance of 的/底, the structure was lost from the oral language, because 的 is a final particle rather than a preposition, and so could not preserve its structure.

On the other hand, Pulleyblank pulls 者、之 and 底/的 together with the Tibetan demonstrative de, and surmises that the original particle was merely *tV, i.e. the consonant */t/ with any syllabic vowel (Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar, pp.166-7). 之 being *tə, with 者／諸 as *ta, indicates a form of ablaut. It also means that the actual modern pronunciation of 的 is meant to be a relic of the original pronunciation of 之, and that the modern pronunciation of 之 is an evolution of the "reading pronunciation". Hence the ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese states that 的 is:

  thought to be a col. archaism of the classical 'genitive particle' → zhī1 之

So the consensus seems to agree that it has resisted the sound changes of the ages. Whether there are many other such "colloquial archaisms", that remains to be seen. We'd also have to cover lexemes in other Sinitic varieties too (there's the "obvious" archaism of 筷 vs 箸, found in the Min topolects).


What is the difference between 利润， 利益，盈利？

“利润” is the spread between interest and paid, and is always used in economy.

“利益” is the benefit that people gain from what they are doing or are going to do.

“盈利” is similar to “利润”. But "利润" usually be used as a noun,“盈利” can be used a noun, an adjective and a verb.

For example:

1.公司今年的利润是10,000,000，明年目标是盈利100,000,000。

Translate into English：

The company's profits is 10,000,000 this year, and their goal is gain 100,000,000 next year.

“利润” is used as a noun, and “盈利” is used as a verb in this sentence.

2.苹果是去年唯一一家盈利的公司。

Apple is the only profitable company last year.

“盈利” is used as an adjective here.

3.盈利对一家上市公司来说很重要。

Profits is important to the listed company.

“盈利” is used as a noun in this sentence.


这个型体脚板是射出不喷漆的，脚板模具就是砂面的 Help with Translation

More context would clarify this, but they are probably talking about about die casting, 压铸，模铸

这个型体脚板是射出不喷漆的，
This type of foot plate is not spray painted,
脚板模具就是砂面的
(because) the base (of the) mold is a sand surface.


How do you translate the word 'flight' in the context of a golf ball?

flight is not particular to golf. In your context you can use 飞行路线 (flight line) or simply 飞行 (flight). Some examples:

现在考虑球离手后的飞行 - Now consider the flight of the ball after it leaves the thrower's hand.
他可能是如此充满焦虑地处于击球手的位置，以致于无法挥动球棒，但是在球的飞行时刻，他被彻底地沉浸于那一刻。 - One could be at the batter's plate so filled with anxiety that one couldn't swing the bat, but usually in the moment of the ball's flight, one is wholly absorbed and present to the moment
你相对球的飞行路线的移动角度可以帮助你及时碰到球,第2步,使身体形成更强力的击球,第3步,帮助你以简单的方式获得力量,而不是你习惯的低效的方式,第4步. - The angle of your movement relative to the ball's flight line helps you reach the ball on time, Step2, structure the body for a strong hit, Step3, and helps you develop power in a simple manner and not in one you're used to that is counterproductive to success, Step4.


Chinese verbs are usually made up according to this formula:
modificator + modificated or modificator + a verb to modify.
So when I seen that 理解 and 了解 ending with the same charecter (解), this usually means that there is a slight modification of a verb 解(to divide) is in play.

So let's find the roots of the word:

  理　(11)　リ　 As per 里# (long strip) + 玉 jewel → veins or streaks in a
  piece of jade → logic; reason (← lines/threads of a reasoning
  process ← vein; streak) → principle; natural science.

So here we already see the connotation which 理 brings: lines/patterns of reasoning. Now add this to 解 and you have "to understand解(split/crack) by reasoning理".

Now about 了 which is 瞭 simplified:

  瞭　(17)　リョウ　 As per 尞# as described in 僚 (circular continuum) + 目 eye →
  observe from a high place, enjoying a clear panoramic view → *clear-sighted; clarity.

Now you add everything up and you have: "to understand 解 clearly or by observation (not by reasoning理)"


the problem may be that the A被B C and A由B C are superficially similar but grammatically completely different.  A由... seems like more a topic-comment structure for me, with A being the topic and "由B C" being the comment about the topic, not anything performed on the topic. 被 is conceptually linked to A - it is A having something done to it - whereas 由 is linked to B and C, and A is separate: again, a lot like topic/comment.

for example:

这个问题被他解决了. ： "this problem was solved by him."  straight up passive.
这个问题由他(来)解决 ：(as for) this problem, (it should be) him to solve it.

"这个问题由他解决了" completely fails the Google test, i.e. there's not a single usage example on the Internet, even though 被 is 100% ok.  This may be because the 由 construction is an example of a different kind of Chinese grammar structure, and therefore 由 is not like 叫/让/other stand-ins for 被.


Open Software Two-Line Add Pinyin To Characters

I think it's needless to point out that you do realize that [hanzi --> pinyin] is not a straightforward function, because of the ambiguous relation of characters and pronunciation (多音字).

Character by character rendering is a very simple way, but will leave you with many false pinyin syllables and/or multiple options.This site gives all the different pinyins of a character in parentheses, e.g.

INPUT: 你好
OUTPUT: nǐ[hǎo hāo hào]

So any decent approach would require a lookup in a  multi-character word dictionary. If there is nothing online that comes close to this, you could download the latest CEDICT file, remove all but the Traditional, Simplified and the Pinyin fields and use Python/awk, grep to write a script to bulk lookup Chinese words and output the results to a file or similar. Would not be that complex, although you would still need an 'algorithm' to identify word boundaries, otherwise just use 'brute force' to look up all the different matching entries in CEDICT.

What is the application context or purpose of what you would like to do?

(I am adding this as an answer because it's too long for a comment and also because of the URLs)

UPDATE

Some users have recommended the pypinyin module which claims to support 多音字. I have run a test of pypinyin against the CEDICT dictionary file, which is human compiled by many users and is the largest open source Chinese dictionary and is used by many apps (including Pleco).

Test results:
The CEDICT file contains over 113k entries (compiled over many years and continuously updated). For each entry in the CEDICT file I have compared the pinyin transcription against the output for the Simplified character expression of the pypinyin module.

I have accounted for:

differences in pinyin transcription, like 'ü' vs. 'v'
transcriptin of 儿 ('er' vs. 'r') in erhua expressions
upper- and lowercase pinyin transcriptions
some obvious errors in the CEDICT file (missing pinyin) or whitespace and · (middle dot) and comma usage

To be fair, I have also excluded all the single character CEDICT entries from the test, because it's impossible to give the correct pinyin for a 多音字 without any context.

In the first round, with excluding the single character entries, I run the test for 100.169 entries with 9471 mismatching pairs (CEDICT <--> pypinyin).

Next, I analysed the the results and realized that pypinyin has a somewhat contradictory policy on tone sandhis, it accounts for the change of 不 and 一 (e.g. in 不在) but not for 3rd tone + 3rd tone words, like 小姐. So I decided to exclude 不 and 一 to drill further deeper (and thus also excluded some cases where pypinyin was incorrect for some other reason than the tone sandhi notation). In the case of 不 and 一, marking tone change is a matter of opinion (but should be done consequently, not as in pypinyin).

In the 2nd round, I had 97.196 entries to test and got 8968 mismatching pairs.
After scrolling through the list of mismatching results, I came to the conclusion that pypinyin has no support for the neutral tone (5), e.g. 什么 (shén me) is *shén mé for pypinyin. Final 子, like in  位子, are given as 3rd tone. Similarly, 儿 is always incorrectly er2, etc.

The other most common error is incorrect tone, other than those neutral syllables. These include (among others):

们 *men2
发 in 黑发 *hei1 fa1
禁伐 is incorrectly *jin1 fa2
近几年 *jin4 ji1 nian2, etc.

Incorrect initials make up another large group:

调 tiao vs. diao
朝 chao vs. zhao
重 chong vs. zhong,
传 chuan vs. zhuan, etc.
弹琴 *dan qin
厦门 *sha men
社长 *she chang, etc.

Also many elementary words are given with incorrect pinyin:

音乐 is *yin le in pypinyin (my "favorite")
鱼露 is incorrectly *yu luo
卡 as *qia in almost all cases, like 卡拉OK * qia la OK
柏林  as *bai lin
落下 *la xia

I have noticed in some cases that the Taiwan Mandarin pronunciation is favored by pypinyin, but the doc pages do not comment on this, which is obviously another issue, since users do have to know what to expect as output.

With all this, pypinyin has obvious shortcomings that make it unsuitable for professional use (you have to manually check every word to eliminate hard to spot errors) and also for building dictionaries or other material targeted at beginners. Even HSK level 2 or 3 expect most of the examples noted above to be used correctly.

UPDATE2:

I am considering to create a Python lib that uses the CEDICT file to transcribe Chinese characters to pinyin. My only concern is that the CEDICT file also contains inaccurate pinyins, so first I would need a reliable source to update incorrect pinyins in CEDICT. If anyone knows about such a file or API, please leave a comment.


Browsing incognito is the phrase we often see on the internet . according to  this context, we use incognito to anonymously surf the internet and hence no trace is left

So we say 無痕上網。 痕in this Chinese phrase means trace . This Chinese phrase means surfing the website without trace


Do the Chinese have a (potentially politically incorrect) way of imitating English speakers?

Maybe it is difficult for English speakers to learn the four tones of Mandarin.
When you read Chinese characters in a sentence all with a high level tone or falling tone, it sounds like a foreigner who has not mastered oral Mandarin. This phenomenon of imitating foreigners' accents always occurs in Chinese films and TV series.


Why is 在 translated as "during" in this sentence rather then "at"?

Don't use 'at the Dragon Boat Festival', that suggests to me a festival in a specific geographical location or place.
You could say 'at 5 o'clock' or 'at midnight', because those are specific times. 'At Christmas time' designates a specific time in the year.
在端午节这天，人们都喜欢吃粽子。
During the Dragon Boat Festival, everybody likes munching Zongzi.
or
On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, everybody likes munching Zongzi.


位于 = located at (refers to the location of people, objects, or places)
地处: geographically located at. e.g. 'XX鎮地处華北' (XX Town is geographically located in northern China)
处于 = at/ in [mostly refers to a situation or status.  e.g. 处于緊張狀態 (in a tense stage)]
处在 is an uncommon variant (almost no one use it) of 处于


I have Chinese text in an image, I'm looking for a translation please

华艺：brand name, not a word

华：China or Flower
艺：Art

编号：number
品名：name

品：item
名: name

药柜：medicine closet (but probably means just a drawer of it here)

药：medicine
柜：closet

木质：wood

木：wood
质：matrial

榆木：elm / Ulmus pumila L
规格：spec, here means size
84 * 45 * 116 (mm)


不自量力 can this be used to under estimate one’s capabilities also?

Words gain extended meanings all the time, 量 is no different. Most characters have more than one meaning and some even have ten or more
A common reason for a noun to gain the function of a verb is for convenience
Imagine after the noun 量 (amount) was coined, it was convenient to use it for the verb 'to measure' because we measure 'amount'. And the meaning of the noun 'amount' extended to mean 'capacity'
不自量力 is a common expression. It cannot be simply and literally used as "not measure one's own capacity". 不自量力 always implies 'most likely taking on more than one can handle' -- not overestimate or underestimate but not estimate at all, which is always a bad thing.
“to underestimate one’s own capabilities“ is 自視過低 (see oneself too low)
“to overestimate one’s own capabilities“ is 自視過高 (see oneself too high)
不自量力 and 不知自量 (not knowing one should measure oneself = not knowing one's own place) express a similar sentiment


Modern translation of colloquial saying considered to be 意义 here, which in english is meaning, sense, ignificance, importance, bearing or something else.
But ancient words are very abstract, abbreviated, modern meanings can't mean the meaning itself.


What different grammatical uses exist for 而 in classical chinese?

[conj.] (almost=while) a conj. with slight sense of transition/suppose, can be translated into: and;furthermore;moreover;but also;into the bargain;if;in case;however.

<连>

从古沿用下来的连词,可连接词、短语和分句,表示多种关系 [and;furthermore;moreover;but also;into the bargain;if;in case;however]

(1)
(listing)
表示并列关系

永州之野产异蛇,黑质而白章。—— 唐· 柳宗元《捕蛇者说》

Wilderness of Eishu(Yongzhou) produces peculiar snakes, whose skin black and texture white.

(2)
(progressing)
表示递进关系

君子博学而日参省乎己。——《荀子·劝学》

Kunshi (Junzi) (a noble one) broadly studies and furthermore daily introspect into himself.

(3)
(a slight casual relationship)
表示承接关系

余方心动欲还,而大声发于水上。——宋· 苏轼《石钟山记》

I was just hesitating to go home, when great sound generates from the waters.

(4)
(slight transition)
表示转折关系

青,取之于蓝,而青于蓝。——《荀子·劝学》

Ao (qin) is taken from Ai (lan), yet bluer/darker than Ai(lan).

(5)
(surmise)
表示假设关系

诸君而(如果)有意;瞻余马首可也。——清· 徐珂《清稗类钞·战事类》

You fellows if interested, up-look into my horse's head's orientation.

(6)(modification, similar to suffix -ly in English)
表示修饰关系,连接状语

吾恂恂而起。——唐· 柳宗元《捕蛇者说》

I uneasily got up.

[pron.] you,your; this

〈代〉

(1) 你;你的 [you;your]

余知而无罪也。——《左传·昭公二十年》

I know you are innocent.

(2) 这样,此 [this]

同是被逼迫,君而妾亦然。——《玉台新咏·古诗为焦仲卿妻作》

Same enforced, you being so and I also being.

[aux.]

〈助〉

(1)
(modification, "as to the extent")
表示偏正关系,相当于“之”,“的” [of]

虞之与虢,相恃而势。——《淮南子·人间》

Go(yu, ancient country) treating Kaku(guo, ancient country), take reciprocal reliance as the situation.

(2)
(comparison, though sometimes the same positioning can be case 1.6)
与“上”、“下”、“前”、“后”、“来”、“往”连用,相当于“以”

形而上者谓之道,形而下者谓之器。——《易·系辞上》

Up to entity is called Tao, down to entity called mechanism.

[mod.]

<语气>

(1)
(negative question)
用于句中,表示反问,相当于“难道”,“岂” [how could;how is it possible]

为仁由己,而由人乎哉?——《论语·颜渊》

To practice kindness is out of oneself, how could it be out of others?

(2)
(exclamation)
用于句末,相当于“耳”,“哪”

已而已而,今之从政者殆而。——《论语·微子》

Finished already, finished already, today's politicians are stupid as such!

Ref:ZDIC


What does rain 雨 have to do with mold 霉 and bad luck?

《說文・黑部》

黴，中久雨青黑。从黑，微省聲。
「黴」 (Zhengzhang OC: /*mrɯl/), blackening from being afflicted by prolonged rain. From semantic 「黑」 (black) and reduced phonetic 「微」 (/*mɯl/).

The character 「霉」 (mould, mildew) did not exist originally, with the word that it represents being originally written as 「黴」. From character definitions, 「黴」 originally referred to the dark mould spots on garments from prolonged exposure to moisture, such as when rain hits and causes an environment to be damp. This is the direct correspondence between mould and rain.

The correspondence between 「霉」 and unlucky is less certain, with the word being written variously throughout history as also 「倒楣」 and 「倒煤」. You can find folk etymology explanations, but the choice of the second character for this word is most likely just a phonetic loan.

References:

《王力古漢語字典》
中國哲學書電子化計劃

宋・徐鉉等奉敕校定　漢・許慎《說文解字》


Why so many variations for traditional 只 zhǐ (衹/祇/秖/隻)?

To clarify:

只 has two meanings and pronunciations, zhī (single) and zhǐ (only)
隻 is pronounced zhī and has the same meaning as 只 (zhī)
衹, 祇, 秖 all can mean zhǐ (only), but also had other meanings:

衹 has the same meaning, but could also mean 緹 (a reddish colour used in textiles) - hence the 衣 (clothing) radical
祇 also has the pronunciation of qí meanin 地祇, or earth spirits in Chinese folk religion, hence the 示 (divine) radical
秖 is supposed to mean "谷始熟", hence the 禾 (grain) radical

So what you're really asking can be split into multiple questions:

Why are there multiple zhǐ (only) characters?

衹 is the correct one, but due to close similarity with the other characters, they have often been confused for each other. Over time the other forms have become accepted as also having the same meaning.

Just to demonstrate how confusing this can be, the character 祗 is also mistakenly used; it even has a similar pronunciation (zhī). If you haven't noticed, the only difference is a dot below the right part: 氐

One of the goals of simplification had been to eliminate multiple characters meaning the same thing, so it's easy to see why these three were merged into 只 (zhǐ). According to 說文解字, 只 emerged as an alternate form of 衹 as far back as the Song dynasty ("宋人詩用只爲衹字"), explaining why 只 was chosen. But this leads to the next question:

Why did 隻, unrelated and pronounced differently, also get merged into 只?

That's harder to answer as it's one of the controversial aspects of simplified Chinese: 一简对多繁. For whatever reason, in 《通用规范汉字表》 只 was listed as "low risk" (低风险多音字). Probably because the two meanings have different pronunciations and have different grammatical functions, and therefore were unlikely to be mixed up. This is unlike the "high risk" characters like the infamous 干, which has confused computer translators into translating it as "fuck" on many Chinglish menus.

My guess is that they wanted to simplify 隻, a very commonly used character, but there were no good options - e.g. they could have used 支 but it is already a different measure word, which could cause confusion.


言语 is not a frequently used words. It is a spoken word in north(at least Beijing,north-easten).

It means 'talk(talking), speak(speaking)' ,Depending on the context, it can take the place of any words that means 'talk or speak with someone'.

  你需要跟我言语一声儿. (言语 means consult, ask or notify... )

"he used aggressive language"

It is not incorrect to use 言语. But 语言 or 话 is more common.


you might say:
你给我做饭如何？这样我们就扯平了


What does the verb + 到 structure mean here?

到 in [V + 到] can be a result complement

From https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/result_complement

Forming the result complement

Result complements form verbal compounds that behave exactly the same as normal verbs. The compound is formed by a verb plus another verb or an adjective:
Result complement examples

Verb:听

result complement:听到

(听 alone means 'to listen', but 听到 means 'to hear'.

Edit:
However, since it is followed by a location/ destination, the 到 in 躲到 is different from the 到 in 听到--  it is not a result compliment but the preposition 'to/ into'
Example:
'躲' = to hide. e.g. 快躲 (hurry and hide)
'躲到 + location' = hide into location/  destination. e.g. 躲到小红帽奶奶家(里) (hide into Little Red Riding Hood's grandma's home)
Summary:

到 here means 'into' because 小红帽奶奶家 is a location/ destination to hide into. If it was 躲到美国 then 到 would mean 'to' because 美国 is a location/ destination to get to

到 in 听到谣言 is a result complement that indicates the verb is completed  because 谣言 is an object to be heard

在 in 躲在小红帽奶奶家 (hide at Little Red Riding Hood's grandma's home) means 'at' which is also a preposition because 小红帽奶奶家 is a location to hide at


The particle 着 indicates the continuous aspect, and if we want to use this particle, the appropriate structure is:

  Place + Verb + 着 + [Noun Phrase]
  Alternative existential sentences; Pattern with 着, Chinese Grammar Wiki

So the "place" should come before the verb (as usual), i.e.:

  很多同学在草地上坐着。

It's continuous, so it is happening and will continue to happen.  The context will give the time period in which it occurs.  It means what you said: "Many students are sitting on the grass." (Although, I feel 同学 is better translated to "classmates" than "students", but this depends on context.)

We generally think of 坐 as intransitive, i.e., it doesn't take an object (i.e., "I sit" 我坐着)  For comparison, 吃 can be transitive (e.g., "I eat food" 我吃着饭).  Although we can say:

  很多同学坐着地铁。 (Many classmates are taking the subway.)

but here 坐着 means "take", and 地铁 is the object of the sentence.

The official version:

  很多同学坐在草地上。

uses a different grammar structure with the "special verb" 坐:

  Subj. + [Special Verb] + 在 + Location
  Special cases of "zai" following verbs, Chinese Grammar Wiki

And I believe your translation is correct: "Many students sit on the grass."


Chinese can be sorted by Pinyin. This is also what is done in the dictionary. Basically, each character has a prononciation, and that prononciation can be latinized into Pinyin. You can look up Pinyin on Wiktionary. The first letter of Pinyin can be used to group the phrases in your glossary.

For example, word "苹果" has Pinyin "píng guǒ" according to here. You can sort the word on Pinyin just like English words, with an additional rule of the tone. If a letter in Pinyin has a tone, sort tone in the order of "ā, á, ǎ, à". And toned vowels come prior to the untoned.

Note that, one Chinese character may have multiple prononciations, so you should search for the entire phase to determine the Pinyin for the characters.

Other sort schemes also exist, such as the radical order, or total strokes. But these are now less commonly used than Pinyin. Also keep in mind that, Chinese has a lot of accents, so Pinyin sorting may not be ideal if your audience is old  Cantonese who does not speak Mandarin, for example. In that case, total strokes might be a better solution. Another side note, Taiwan is also using Pinyin as their official Latinization system. So Pinyin can be generally used for both Mainland and Taiwan audience.


The differences between 好看, 美丽 and 漂亮 just like that differences between good-looking, beautiful, pretty, it's so hard to distinguish... well, just a joke. The three words can be used for a good-looking person. 好看 may be used for not only a person, but also a book: 书很好看, a movie: 电影很好看, or other artistic works. If it's used for praising someone's looking, the degree is lower than 美丽 and 漂亮. Both 美丽 and 漂亮 are synonymical in almost all cases: 美丽的新娘 and 漂亮的新娘 are almost the same. 美丽 can also be used for landscape: 美丽的风景, some place: 美丽的上海, 美丽的家乡, etc. 漂亮 is generally used for persons only, also used as an adverb rarely, for example: well done means 干得好, you may say 干得漂亮 as well.


Why e is pronounced differently in de (的, 地) and ye (也,夜)?

Systems designed to represent pronunciation and to be practical at the same time don't have a 1:1 mapping between spoken sounds and written symbols. Or in other words, each sound can be represented using many symbols, or perhaps more commonly, each symbol is used to represent more than one sound. There are countless examples of this in other languages, of course.

The only exception is IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), where the goal is to use one symbol to represent one sound, but this is hardly practical and would never be adopted as the standard way of writing a language for non-linguists.

Pinyin certainly does not have a 1:1 mapping between sounds and letters. Indeed, looking at the individual letters is the wrong way to approach the question, but more about that later. In Pinyin, there are plenty of examples where one letter can stand for numerous sounds, and you have identified one of them: e

e can be pronounced in three different ways (or four if you want to be picky):

First, when it’s the only vowel, it is a close-mid back vowel [ɤ]. This is the sound in 饿 (hungry) or 哥 (older brother), for example.
Second, following an i, such as in lie, die or xie, it becomes a close-mid front vowel [e] instead. This is the sound you're asking about, e.g. 夜 (night). Note that the final -ie is spelt ye when there's no initial.
Third, before the nasals -n and -ng, it becomes central vowel [ə], for example in 冷 (cold). A short version of this is pretty close to the sound used when the syllable is reduced, which is the case in your 的 and 地.
Fourth, in some analyses, the e in e.g. mei and mie are treated as different sounds, with the first using [e] as we have already discussed, and the second [ɛ].

Please note that the spoken sounds of course come first, and the writing of those sounds comes afterwards. Saying "e is pronounced like this" is not really the right way to approach the problem; a better way of looking at it would be "this sound is written using the letter e", which is simultaneously true for a number of sounds (four in this case).

I normally advise students to think of Mandarin pronunciation in terms of initials and finals, which is the traditional way of breaking down syllables in Mandarin. I don't recommend this just because it's traditional, though, but because it helps you stop thinking about how e is pronounced.

There are only roughly 40 finals in Mandarin. Learn that the final -ie is pronounced in one way, and that the finals -en and -eng are pronounced in other ways instead. Those are different finals and should be treated differently. Yes, they all contain e, but that mostly leads to confusion, although it is very convenient to type. Yes, it will take you longer to learn, but it will lead to less confusion and hopefully better pronunciation.

If you're curious about other learner-related problems with Pinyin, such as other cases where one letter stands for many sounds (i is the most obvious example because the sounds are completely different), I've summarised the important ones here: A guide to Pinyin traps and pitfalls: Learn Mandarin pronunciation, which also contains some audio samples.


Using a one-character vs two-character word

Tl;dr: You may think of 年 as bearing the concept of 'year', and 父 bearing the concept of 'father' (in the usually bisyllabic modern Chinese).

Put simply, modern Chinese uses bisyllabic words (雙音節詞) pervasively. Monosyllabic words (單音節詞) are much rarer. It is precisely for this reason that we only parse individual characters in classical Chinese (and also idioms in modern Chinese!), but not modern Chinese in general:

Modern Chinese: 妻子 ‘wife’
Classical Chinese: 妻 子 ‘wife and son’

In modern Chinese, we use a plethora of bisyllabic words to express different nuances:

請填寫您的出生年分。 Please write your year of birth.
《追憶逝水年華》 In Search of Lost Time

年分 is neutral; it also refers to a particular year. But 年華 is much more literary and refers to many years, or more accurately speaking, the passing of time.

父親節快樂！ Happy Fathers' Day!
為子慶生慈父扮鹹蛋超人 Loving father pretends to be Ultraman to celebrate son's birthday
Adele生父Mark Evans傳癌症病逝 Adele's biological father Mark Evans rumoured to have died of cancer

父親 is again a neutral saying; 慈父 meanwhile is very approving of the father. 生父, like English, emphasises on the biological relationship between the father and the offspring.

That does not mean we do not use monosyllabic words in modern Chinese. 年 can be a counter in

一年 one year
那些年 those (bygone) years,

and 父 alone is perfectly understood and may be used in newspaper headlines out of concision:

子稱被父奪走公司 Son claims company usurped by father

We do not say it like this in speech or normal writing.


Can you please help me translate this title and signature?

The translation of 水鄉 is "water town". In China, "水鄉" usually refers to "江南水鄉", which are the villages/ town in the Yangtze River Delta (e.g. Suzhou Zhouzhuang Water Town). "鐵" is iron.
According to Kangxi Dictionary, "堃" means compliance, obedience, female and is the variant of "坤". "坤" is one of the Bagua("八卦" or the eight trigrams) and it represents "地" (earth/ground/floor).  "寫" is writing or painting.


Chinese-characters learning software for Ubuntu (Linux)

Maybe Paley is a choice

But I don't think the software works very well


入 means to enter, 江山入画 literally means 'the country enters the painting'.
The title 江山入画 (The country in paintings) is very straight forward. you can also interpret 江山 literally  as 'rivers and mountains', and 江山入画 can describe 'rivers and mountains in paintings'  if 山水畫 (landscape painting) is what the main character does
There is an idiom '江山如画',  it means the country is as beautiful as a painting (so beautiful it seems unreal)


How do I properly place each character in "in which country do you eat dinner?"

I'm also not sure what the original english phrase means, but normal phrase order has the subject first , followed by time, place and then verb+adverb.

If your sentence is "IN which country you eat dinner?" the sentence should be 你在哪个国家吃晚饭？


How do I make complex comparison structures with 比?

我说汉语比你说汉语说得更好

(A V O) 比 (B V O) (V 得 adv intensity)

Complex enough?


naive or foolish child

This is right (except maybe foolish is a bit harsh). 黃毛 literally refers to foetal hair (alternatively 胎毛), the hairs on a newborn that will fall off later. The hair is unpigmented which contributes to its name (in contrast to the black colour found in most East Asians). The metaphor here is young/immature/inexperienced/silly.

Similar phrases include 黃毛丫頭 (specifically for girls, as 丫頭 refers to the hairstyle of girl servants in the olden times).


1.Do you like this dish?

你觉得这道菜怎么样？

Question 2 would normally not be asked in China I'm told, unless maybe you have servant.

How would you like this dish prepared?

您要我怎么做这道菜？


What's the difference between 差異 and 差別?

Both 差異 and 差別 mean "difference"

差異 = (physical) difference
差別 = (physical or metaphorical) difference

Example:

这两张牌全无差異/这两张牌全无差別  (these two cards have no difference)

the two cards are physically the same

对我而言，有机食品和普通食品之间並无差别  (to me, there's no difference between organic foods and common foods)

the two products have the same food value to me

  you cannot replace 差别 with 差異 here because the difference between them is not physical but of value in your opinion.

One more example for 差别 used to describe metaphorical difference:

输给彼得或输给保罗是一样的，没有什么差别 (lose to Peter or lose to Paul are the same, there's no difference)

the main point is you lose

  Again, you cannot use 差異 instead of 差别 here because the focus is not on the physical difference between 'lose to Peter' and 'lose to Paul' . The focus is on the win or lose result)


I answered a similar question here http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/phorum/read.php?3,114539,114551#msg-114551

忍耐- (n) patience; forbearance

忍耐- (v) exercise patience; restrain oneself

忍受- (v) to endure; to bear

Let's try put the terms into sentences

我未預備好，你要忍耐一吓。- I am not ready yet,  you have to be patient.
我未預備好，你要忍受一吓。- I am not ready yet, you have to endure it. (Doesn't seem as suitable as be patient in this sentence.)

~

我無法'忍受'這種痛苦！- I can't 'endure' this kind of pain.; I can't 'bear' this kind of pain. (it seem like 忍受 translate to 'endure' or 'bear' is correct.)
我無法'忍耐'這種痛苦！ - I can't 'be patient with' this kind of pain (This sentence doesn't make much sense)

More examples:

忍耐是有限度的。 (Patience has a limit)
忍受痛苦是有限度的 (Enduring pain has a limit)


What does 不 at the end of a sentence (e.g. 更新速度可以快点不) mean?

yes, your translation is right.

可以…不 ～=  可不可以…

Usually used to form an alternative question.

可以快点不～=可不可以快点?
这个可以吃不～=这个可不可以吃? Is this eatable?


Does the word 肉 always mean pork (unless preceded by another word which means a different animal) in Chinese menus?

I worked in restaurants for many years. As I understand it, '肉' in Chinese menus only refers to pork unless it is specifically stated what kind of meat it is.

For example:

時菜炒（豬）肉片 = in-season vegetable stir-fry pork slice
時菜炒牛肉 = in-season vegetable stir-fry beef
（豬）肉絲湯麵 = shredded pork noodle soup
雞絲湯麵 = shredded chicken meat noodle soup

(豬) is omitted most of the time because when no specific is given, it is the default meat.

But there are always exceptions:

Since the most common meat you see in 夹馍 are 羊肉 (mutton) or 牛肉 (beef), even when people reduce 羊肉夹馍 or 牛肉夹馍 to '肉夹馍', '肉' still refers to mutton or beef
If it is 清真食物 (Halal food) menus, you can be sure 肉 on the menus are not pork but mutton or beef instead

Outside of menus, 肉 can refer to any kind of meat, for example: 肉 in "大魚大肉" or "有酒有肉" does not refer to a specific meat.


你好吗? = how are you?

你(还好)吗? = are you (still ok)?

You need the 还 in 你还好吗 to indicate you are still alright. (nothing bad has happened)
For example, if someone slipped and fell, his friend wouldn't ask him 你好吗? (how are you). His friend would ask 你还好吗? (are you still ok)
If you ask a friend 最近生意如何? (How's business?), the typical reply would be

非常好 (extremely good/ very good)

很好 (very good/ good)

还好 (good/ still good = still considered good = modestly good)

You can see '还' in '还好' indicates 'still' or 'modestly'


Why 纹 is the wrong character to write for tattoo?

They are purists. In the words of Steven Pinker:

  ...also known as sticklers, pedants, peevers, snobs, snoots, nitpickers,
  traditionalists, language police, usage nannies, grammar Nazis, and
  the Gotcha! Gang.

According to this article, 纹身 is accepted by a newer version of 《现代汉语词典》 as an alternative form of 文身.


What Chinese characters for “ching wong but jeep” (Roughly: There is no one to keep things going)?

Based on the pronunciation along, I guess it is 青黄不接 （qing1 huang2 bu4 jie1）
青：green, which means the newly planted still growing wheat this year
黄：yellow, which means the old wheat gathered last year
不接：ends does not meet
青黄不接：the old wheat is almost gone but the new wheat is still growing: there is nothing to eat in the period in between. It generally means the old things are gone but new things are still not seen in the near future.
In your example, it might mean the old chefs are retiring but the new chefs are still not qualified enough. As a result, the food quality is decaying.


You might be interested in these notes from ABC Cantonese on the word 添:

  1 more

  畀多我一百蚊
  bei2 do1 ngo5 jat1 baat3 man1 tim1
  Give me one hundred dollars more

  食多啲
  sik6 do1 di1 tim1
  Eat some more

  Notes: occurs at end of sentence to indicate action is expected to be repeated; usually pronunciation with high falling tone; also written as 㖭 tim1, 添 tim1

  2 as well, also, more, again

  佢撞到人唔道歉,仲鬧人
  keoi5 zong6 dou2 jan4 m4 dou6 hip3, zung6 naau6 jan4 tim1
  After bumping into somebody, he didn't apologize, and even scolded that person as well

  噉做法仲弊
  gam2 zou6 faat3 zung6 bai6 tim1
  Doing it this way is also even worse

  Notes: follows 仲 zung6 to emphasize something additional is involved


'you substituted for the teacher of my class' = 你给我们班代课


Do people say 一下 as a very colloquial "just a sec"?

My thought is:

  He probably said '等一下' but you didn't hear the word '等' due to the noisy  environment, or the speaker's volume was too low when he spoke

The only reason to use only '一下' (a sec') instead of the complete phrase '等一下' (wait a sec') is he knew you were waiting, and your expression told him that you were asking "How long do I have to wait?" in your mind, so he just gave you a short answer instead of a whole sentence, based on the presumption that you knew what '一下' was referring to. (referring to the length of time you have to wait-- a question that wasn't actually asked but implied in your manner)

Imagine a dog owner was eating and his dog looked at the food intensely, the dog owner might simply say "不" instead of a full sentence "狗不能吃人类的食物, 所以不能给你"  because he presumed the dog would understand what the word "不" referring to. ( he imagined the dog was asking "can I have some?" - answer was "不" )

People give short answers all the time in conversation with the presumption of both of you knew what it meant


Translation:

Who said that you have no clothes to wear,

I will share with you my robe.

The king has called upon us that,

we make ready with spears and Ge's (戈)，

we fight against our enemies.


Why is the word "canal" called 运河 in Chinese?

You got the point.

"运河" must refer the human-made channels in a large scale, for water conveyance/transportion. That's what "运" emphasize. Usually, it connects big lake/river/ocean or through the peninsula or isthmus.

In the meantime, "渠" just refer all human-made channels. "渠" is more like a superset of "运河";

But why we don't just call all channel to 渠? Same reason like the water is a superset of the ocean, but you would never call "the Pacific Ocean" to "the Pacific Water".

Now you can tell the difference between "运河" and "渠".


Best Android keyboard for inserting pinyin, simplified, and traditional characters

I would recommend Google Pinyin which I use everyday: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.inputmethod.pinyin


“北斗系统終端” should be interpreted as any devices such chart plotter, fish finder, handheld gps, vhf radio with built-in gps, gps watch, epirb with gps, mob device with gps, camera with gps.

the list is much longer, with the satellite sms facilities.

if you think of computer terminal only, it’s, well, you’re landbuddy :)

have a look of marine products associated with gps, you’ll have the idea

https://www.fisheriessupply.com/sitesearch.aspx?keyword=gps&sitesearch=true

have fun :)


According to chinaSMACK, j8 is equivalent to 'penis' or any of its vulgar forms:

(rude language hidden behind spoiler, hover over or click to show)

   鸡巴
 jībā
 noun/adjective.

 Penis, dick, cock. When used as an adjective, it may mean “cocky”, “arrogant”, or a more generalized “fuck” or “damn”.


When did the usage of "N" to indicate some unspecified quantity come up?

As you suspected, it is thought to come from the mathematical usage:

为什么“N”可以代表“很多”的意思?例如N多次,N多个
Why can "N" have the meaning "a lot"? For instance, N-times, N-of-them
因为数学上的数列一般都用第N项代表任一项,可知无穷大的一项.
Because in math, sequences usually use "the nth term" to represent any term, including unboundedly large ones.

Another (perhaps more reputable) source

...n在代数中表示很多，如从1开始到2,到3,..., 到n。因此在口语中n经常用来表示特别多，例如“买了n多电话卡”...
...in algebra, "N" signifies "a lot", as in "from 1, 2, 3, up to N". Because of this, in colloquial speech, "N" often is used to express "very many", as in "to buy sooo many telephone cards"...


How to type a Simplified Chinese degree symbol on a regular English keyboard?

Chinese word processors have the option to use U+2103 ℃ or U+2104 ℉, to get over the typographical problem of displaying a degree much closer to the C or F than otherwise allowable in fullwidth text.

However, it is also true that the Chinese 度 is used more commonly in everyday text and in most newspapers; my personal contact with ℃ has been in academic papers.

Both of these are in the Unicode block "Letterlike Symbols", alongside ℏ, the  "Planck constant Over Two Pi" U+210F and Ω the Ohm sign U+2126; most common is likely the ™ trademark sign U+2122, also repurposed in modern Chinese's Internet slang.


Are there any online etymological dictionaries of Mandarin (not for characters but for spoken words)

The ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese is searchable online here:

http://edoc.uchicago.edu/edoc2013/digitaledoc_index.php

Go to 'EDOC: Linear Output', select 'All' on the right-hand side (under 'ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese'), type in your characters, and click 'Display Phonetics'.  For more complicated searches, go to 'EDOC: Search'.

Also, to give a simple example to help clarify what the OP is referring to as "character etymologies" vs. "word etymologies", the ABC dictionary gives the following for 蜜 (mì):

  ‘Honey’ [Chuci]. || [T] MTang mir < mir, ONW miit — [D] PMin *mit || [E]
  Thought to be borrowed from IE-Tocharian B mit ‘honey’ < PTokharian *mjət
  (Behr Oriens 1999 / 2000: 36).

The above is a word etymology.  It is a loanword, of Indo-European origin, and is in fact related to English "mead", Lithuanian "medus", Greek "μέθη", Russian "мёд", and Farsi "می", for example.

A character etymology would decompose this character into 虫 (insect radical) and 宓 (phonetic), which is in turn decomposed into 宀 (roof radical) and 必 (phonetic). Both 虫 and 宀 can be traced back to the oracle bone script, while 必 can be traced back to the bronzeware script. (Source: hanziyuan.net)

The character and word etymologies are quite distinct - while all of the components of the character are of Chinese origin, the word itself is Indo-European.


This one about forgetting the help which you once relied on to succeed. More readings: 教育百科 奇摩知識

  筌者所以在魚，得魚而忘筌；蹄者所以在兔，得兔而忘蹄；言者所以在意，得意而忘言。
  《莊子·外物》

If you are interested in fable prose as well, 《中山狼傳》is a pretty good one. As a matter of fact, 《紅樓夢》once quotes 《中山狼傳》to describe ungratefulness. More readings: 詩詞網 百度百科 互動百科 奇摩知識

  子系中山狼，得志便猖狂。金閨花柳質，一載赴黃粱。《紅樓夢》


Why one uses 了 and the other one doesn’t?

Overall, your analysis is correct. It's indeed for the sake of “even amount of characters (4 - 4)” in this case. It might be more obvious if it writes: "吃饱就睡，醒了就吃" or "吃饱就睡，睡醒就吃".

吃饱了就睡 is also correct.


What is the difference between 总是 and 一直?

They are synonyms.

总是 places an emphasis on frequency.

  他上课总是迟到 = He kept being late for class all the time.

一直 places an emphasis on consistency.

  他一直是个好孩子 = He has been a good kid through the years.


自习 is more frequently related to the "self-study sessions" of high-school and colleges.

自学 generally implies teaching oneself about sth., i.e. no connotation to schools.


What is the difference between 拥堵 and 堵车?

The main difference between 堵车 and 拥堵 is that 堵车 is usually used as a verb, while 拥堵 is usually used as a noun.  For example,  前面堵车了 and 前面交通出现了拥堵; 防范交通拥堵, not 防范交通堵车;


I think that's a typo, it should be 未休， which not yet taken
未休年假折现： cash redeems for un-taken annual holiday


What is the difference between 明确 and 清楚?

明 = bright = clear (you see thing clearly in bright light)
确 = definite; unambiguous = clear (when there is no ambiguity, it is clear)
明确 = clear (clear and definite/ unambiguous)

~

清 = clear (when water is clear,  you can see things in it clearly)
楚 = neat = detailed; comprehensive (when things are neatly displayed, you can see the details)
清楚 = clear (clear and detailed/ comprehensive)

Example:
明确指引 - clear (and unambiguous) guidelines
清楚指引 - clear (and detailed) guidelines
目標明确 -  the goal is clear (and unambiguous)
目標清楚 - the goal is clear (and comprehensive)
More detailed example:
清楚說説每一個細節 - Clearly explain every detail (everything you can think of and everything you can't think of is explained)
明确指出今次行動的目標 - Clearly point out the target of this mission (pointing out and confirm that guy is our target)
Simply put, just remember  "明确" as unambiguously clear;  "清楚" as comprehensively clear.
Of course, the English word 'clear' implies both 'unambiguous' (e.g. it is clearly him) and 'comprehensive' (e.g. everything clear?). That's why both  "明确" and "清楚" can be translated as "clear"


I am a native speaker. For the example you made I feel some of them would be more authentic if you use other verbs instead of 上 for example:
这本书我读了15页。 (From this book, I've read up to page 15.)
我给自己剪头发了。 (I cut my own hair.)
(I stay in a hotel in Beijing for 3 months.) This one sounds a little bit weird in the tense itself. If you want to say "I am going to stay in a hotel in Beijing for 3 months" its a good time to use 上，it would be:我要在北京一家旅馆住上三个月。 However, if you want to say "I have lived in a hotel in Beijing for 3 months", it would be: 我在北京一家旅馆住了三个月。I know it is to consider tense in Mandarin since it doesn't have a very specific rule for tense.
我老婆拿了遥控器。 (My wife took the remote control.)
Here are some phrases that are commonly used with 上 as a verb:
我去上厕所 (I am going to the bathroom)
上床睡觉 (go to bed)
我上车了(I just got on the car)
我要上台了 （I am about to get on the stage)
上楼梯 （go upstairs) -> 下楼梯 （go downstairs)
I hope these could be somehow helpful.