Combination of a verb with 到 generally implies some sort of "finished" state, in an sense it's similar to some sort of perfect tense:

我 走到 公園 / I walked to the park
我 吃到 炸雞了 / I finally ate that fried chicken
在字典裡 查到 這個字了 I found this word in a dictionary

Without the suffix "到", the verb along could be "unfinished"

我 走去 公園 / I walk to the park
我 吃 炸雞了 / I ate fried chicken
我在字典裡 查 這個字了 I looked this word up in a dictionary

Now back to your example:

  今天的考试要用到词典，请大家把词典也放在桌子上

Notice that "今天的考试" is not the subject of the verb "用到" -- since the "exam" would not be the user of a dictionary. The user of that dictionary is "大家". Alternatively that sentence can be rephrased to be:

  今天的考试，大家要用到词典，请把词典也放在桌子上

I'd translated this to

  Each one of you will be using a dictionary in the exam today, please also put it on the table.

Now if we remove "到"

  今天的考试，大家要用词典，请把词典也放在桌子上

IMHO it can be translated into something like any of these:

Everyone intends to use a dictionary...(omit)
Everyone is asked to use a dictionary...(omit)
Everyone must use a dictionary...(omit)

In a sense, adding "到" disambiguates from these different contexts -- well, usually appending more modifiers disambiguates better... :)

Now that was a different example then whan you provided, and I admit that it is a bit of a streatch. Let's revisit this one without the "到":

  今天的考試要用词典

If I must not insert an auxiliary subject into the sentence for translating, it is almost tempting to come up with something like:

The exam today will use a dictionary
Today's exam will use a dictionary

(Translating word-by-word. A pretty common thing being done by many English learners)

Overall the call-to-action is not differ and pretty clear -- dictionary on the table! -- but that's because the options are pretty limited.


Those are numerical variant characters used on checks and similar document in order to prevent falsification.

There is no such thing as cased characters in Chinese, although case of course occurs when using Pinyin for transliteration.

You should also realize that ”uppercase” is the original form of Roman characters, whereas the minuscules were later added for easier reading. The term case comes from the literal cases where the printed types were stored: majuscules in the upper, minuscules in the lower.


Colloquial equivalent of the English: “good for you”

牛逼 is the best to express good for you,it fits any situation you want to say good for you


“他们之间不再会有什么友谊”：在这个句子里"会“贡献什么意思？

消除“会”导致消除将来友谊的可能性。

Yes, your understanding is correct. 会 in the context refers to the future tense. Removed 会,  他们之间不再有什么友谊 doesn't specify the tense and we'd have to rely on context to determine whether it happens in the past, present or future.


Is mapping from simplified to traditional characters injective (one-to-one function)?

One simplified character may mapping to multiple traditional ones:

皇后 -> 皇后，後天 -> 后天
頭髮 -> 头发，發財 -> 发财

As reversed, one traditional character may mapping to multiple simplified ones too:

乾燥 -> 干燥，乾隆 -> 乾隆
瞭望 -> 瞭望，瞭解 -> 了解

This wikipedia article had discussed such thing for further reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambiguities_in_Chinese_character_simplification


Help with song lyrics pronunciation （我的新衣）?

The pronunciation is most likely from a topolectical influence. If you check Wiktionary's entry on「街」, for example:

EDIT: as @user3306356 has noted, the rapper is speaking/rapping/singing in a topolect of Chengdu.


What do you think about this introduction to answering Yes/No questions?

First answer is yes, and next answer is no:

李先生在吗？
在/不在
他是你的朋友吗？
是/不是
李先生很累吗？
累(This is shortest, but in real life people wouldn't answer like that)/不累(This is native.)
你要这张卡片吗？
要/不要
李先生有朋友吗？
有/没有

And using the 嗯 to make no answer is not the right way, people don't speak like that.


in classical chinese, "i" is rarely used. it's replaced by other character / word.

請勿復敢見矣 is "I do not dare to ask for meeting you anymore" (imo, this translation is a very good one)

請 - replaced "i"

勿 - do not

復 - anymore

敢 - dare to

見 - ask for meeting you

in the same sentence, 弟子齊宿而後敢言 is roughly:

i used to respect (you, mr 孟), therefore i dare to persuade

弟子 - literally "disciple", it replaced "i"

齊宿 - in 漢 dynasty, it was interpreted as "used to respect"¹

而後 - therefore

敢言 - dare to persuade

no "i", get it?

¹齊﹒敬也﹒宿﹒素也:


Here is the entry for 用勿着 in《上海方言词典》on p. 304:

Text:

【用勿着】
ɦyoŋ˨˧꜖ uə?˥꜒ za?˨˧꜒꜔
⇨ ⟦得⟧ ßiɔ˥꜒ tə?˥꜒꜕

Tone letter to number translation:

ɦyoŋ²³⁻¹¹ uə?⁵⁵⁻⁵⁵ za?²³⁻⁵³

Tone sandhi is usually represented by back-to-back tone letters. So it looks like the corrected tones are:

ɦyoŋ¹¹ uə?⁵⁵ za?⁵³

Correct me if I'm wrong, because I have no idea about Shanghainese tones.

Here's an entry from a second dictionary 上海话大辞典 p. 274

Text:

用勿着 ɦioŋ²² vo?⁵⁵ zᴀ?²¹


Why are titles sometimes placed in the middle of a newspaper article?

Perhaps Chinese press is just more flexible in this particular respect. I searched and found the following from a book:

标题可以插在文字中间,也可以对角设置,或放在文尾,或分散在文中等。但是，要注意标题与文章不能分离或错位。为了使标题既能突出又能活跃版面，在同一版面中应为不同的稿件设置标题的多种排列形式。

Another article says:

Ⅰ 直题：报纸版面以直题为主。
Ⅱ 横题：用以调节版面，通常至于四角，不宜横于版面中央
Ⅲ 叠字题：可分直题横排和横题直排。
Ⅳ 横直题：横直运用，即是运用眉题。
Ⅴ 对角题：新闻集锦或花絮的标题，多方右上角及左下角。
Ⅵ 包中题：标题放在文章中央，可避免顶题及调节版面均衡。
Ⅶ 分题：新闻内容长，非一个标题所能概括时，需要分题。
Ⅷ 插题：即小标题。

It seems that titles can be put in a variety of places. They can even be put at the end of articles. People also try to apply different styles for titles on the same page, in order to avoid repetition, boost readability and get more balanced typography.
In particular 包中题 is given as the name for titles in the middle of articles. However, I searched and could not find much reference for this term, so I don't know how popular the term is.


API for transliterating a traditional character (writing the pinyin)?

There are several libraries for converting Chinese characters to pinyin. If you are comfortable with programming languages (which you probably are if you are asking for an API), your choice will depend on the programming languages you know, the quality of the library and the licence under which it is available. If you need a user interface, you should probably first look at pinyin4j and ZDT.

pinyin4net: C# library that supports both simplified and traditional Chinese characters. Output is hanyu pinyin. Licence: MIT.
PinYin4Objc: Objective-C library (with some Ruby) that supports both simplified and traditional Chinese characters and most popular pinyin systems. Licence: Apache License 2.0.
HanziPinyin: Swift library that supports both simplified and traditional Chinese characters. Licence: MIT License.
PiPinyin: Java library for Android for converting Chinese characters to pinyin. I assume it supports simplified characters but could not find out if it also supports traditional characters. (The older pinyin4android library, on which PiPinyin is based, appears to have no documentation.) Licence: Apache License 2.0.
pinyin4cpp: C++ library. Licence: Apache License 2.0. (Possibly inspired by pinyin4j, below.)
pinyin4j: Java library for conversion "between Chinese characters and most popular Pinyin systems". Can also ouput Wade-Giles, Yale and Gwoyeu Romatzyh! Licence: GPL v2.
Unihanconver: a Perl library "to convert between Traditional/Simplified Chinese directly in Unicode (not GB/Big5 conversion)". It can be used through a Gtk2+ Interface and from the console. (See also the developer site.) Licence: GPL 2.
ZDT (Zhongwen Development Tool), written in Java, "is an easy to use, open-source Mandarin Chinese flashcard application that can help you learn Chinese". One of its features is conversion between Chinese charactes and pinyin. (Developer site.) Licence: Eclipse Public License.
zh2tone / Chinese Word to ZuYin Code: a tool to convert Chinese characters/words to zhuyin fuhao (bopomofo). The tool has not been updated since 2012, has no licence, ...

Notes:

I have not checked the quality of these libraries (alpha/beta/production-ready, test coverage, etc.) nor their completeness (how many characters they support etc.).
If you need such a library for professional use, I would steer clear of libraries that have no licence. Software available under Apache 2.0, MIT or BSD can be reused both in open source and commercial applications. Libraries available under a GPL licence ("GNU General Public Licence") can only be used in other GPL code.


It is Mandarin phonetic symbols commonly used in Taiwan.

See:

http://lib.ctcn.edu.tw/chtdict/zhuyin_2.aspx?ZhuYin=%E3%84%A8%E3%84%9E&TopZhuYin=%E3%84%A8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_Phonetic_Symbols_II#Finals

When printed on tee-shirt in this way, I think it means something naughty, happy and enjoyable.  See https://zh.wiktionary.org/zh-hant/%E7%88%BD%E6%AD%AA%E6%AD%AA


哥哥 is more likely to be used by kids. Similarly, in English, children call their parents Mummy and Daddy but when they grow up, they would call them Mum and Dad.

As an adult, you can still call your brother or male cousin 哥哥 and that is not a problem. In fact, many people use both 哥 and 哥哥. It just depends on which they feel like to use at the moment. Generally speaking, 哥 also shows that you are a little bit closer to each other.

Chinese people sometimes call their best friend 哥哥, 姐姐, 弟弟, or 妹妹; Each of them can be said only by one character, such as 哥 or 姐. Besides their cousins and siblings, people used to use them on their best friends only.

These days, 哥 and 姐 have been widely used. For example, sales people may call their potential customers 哥 or 姐。


“你我未来，由此展开。” Is this a real Chinese expression?

“你我未来，由此展开"
"The future of us start here"

It is a slogan (口号).
A slogan is:

a short and striking or memorable phrase used in advertising.

a motto associated with a political party or movement or other group.

Slogans come and go, the more memorable ones may be adapted by the public and become part of the daily vocabulary. The one you see here isn't one
为人民服务 is an example of a great slogan became a common phrase.


I think you are correct. In grammar，经验非常丰富 means （拥有）非常丰富(的)经验. We usually use a Noun+Adjective to express [Noun] is [Adjective].

The TV host is wrong in fact. We should say 他是一个非常有经验的队员/他是一个经验丰富的队员, but can not say 一个非常经验丰富的队员. Howerver, chinese would understand his informal expression casuse we just take it as an error in speak. May be he wanted to say 非常有经验, and suddenly associated 经验丰富, so...


It's no problem to use either in practice, though people used 12 hour format more (because 6 is easier to say than 18 ). When being asked: 现在几点, I might answer either 6点半 or 18点30. 18点30 sounds a little bit formal or "verbose".


I prefer to use 继续 in the context. Here is why :

持续 can be construed as 保持 + 继续. E.g. 会议持续招开了两个小时 means the meeting is in the 召开 state and keep(continue with) that state for two hours. However, 生活 in this context is a generic concept and it doesn't specify what kind of life you want to persist. In other words, it doesn't specify in what way 生活 would be continuing.

持续 would be more accurate if the sentence is put as: 不管你是快乐还是难过，"这样的生活"总是要持续下去。 It's because with 这样的生活, we clearly know how 生活 will be continuing.

So, 不管你是快乐还是难过，生活总要继续下去 is more accurate. It means generally 生活 will 继续/continue no matter the way it is, and no matter how you feel -- happy or sad.


Yes 方 means 方法 (method) here, and 有方 means (do something) with the proper method/in the right way, i.e. competent.

  [with the proper method]∶得法
  领导有方


The other answers covered the translation part. I am going to give my two cents on the culture side.

  Is there a set-phrase that is often used to express this idea?

I don't think so, because traditionally Chinese don't really respond that way. If someone is 'predicting' your order, he's really saying 'I know what you like' as a gesture of intimacy, friendliness or at least, care. A positive response is usually along the line with 'exactly', 'you really know me', 'it's a pleasant surprise that you remembered', etc. I am not quite sure what subtext does 'am I so predictable' convey in English speaking culture, but a verbatim translation in Chinese doesn't sound very positive when used as a response to that 'predicting' conversation. Considering how uniformity, agreement and tacit understanding were valued in traditional Chinese culture, 'am I so predictable' might sound fun or sexy to some listeners, but it might be perceived as rejection, a perverse personality or a bad mood to some other listeners, depending on their social role and culture belief. I am not saying you shouldn't respond that way, just a reminder of how it could be received differently from your intention.

Some simple, low-key positive acknowledgements:

没错 (exactly)
你猜对了 (your guess is right)
你都记住了 (you remembered!)


From wiki: the spelling "Taipei" derives from the Wade–Giles romanization T'ai-pei. "Taibei" is pinyin, which iOS supports as an input method.

Wade-Giles used to be the standard method of romanization so it shows up in a lot of older Chinese names like "Chiang Ching-kuo".

Pinyin has its own disadvantages, especially when spoken by English speakers. Consonants like "zh", "q", or syllables like "ri", "shi" sound very different from what an English speaker might expect.


所有, 所都, 全都 variation in the same sentence

我所有猜错了。try: 我猜错了所有的。

我所都猜错了。try：我把所有的都猜错了。

我全都猜错了。：Good!


校 - How did "leg-brace" come to mean "school"?

Outlier

xiào
○ school

Here the ○ icon is an indicator of a phonetic loan. So, basically it is just a:

character that is "borrowed" to write another homophonous or near-homophonous morpheme

It seems that the earliest reading was jiào and not xiào; 校 was just borrowed for its close proximity in sound.


How to say "Your eyes whispered:'Have we met?' "in Chinese?

A quick baiduing revealed:

Wenku (Baidu):

  Your eyes whispered "Have we met?" 你的眼低于呢喃，我们是否曾经遇

Zhidao (Baidu):

  Your eye's whispered "have we met?" 你的眼睛悄悄向我传达着“我们以前见过吗”

Tieba (Baidu)

  你迷人双眼像是在低语“我们曾否见过面？”

  Your eyes whispered "have we met?"

Music (Baidu)

  Your eyes whispered "have we met?" / 你眼低语：“我们见过？”

...lot's of translations online, take your pick...


b and p, d and t, k and g etc. in English and Cantonese

Voicing and Aspiration

Stop consonants can fall into the following categories (roughly):

Voiced stops: Vocal chords start vibrating before stop is released. E.g., English "b" as in "bat" (/bæt/ in IPA), French "b" as in "bon" = /bɔ̃/.
Unvoiced unaspirated stops: Vocal chords start vibrating almost exactly when stop is released. E.g., Chinese "b" as in "bu" = /pu/, English "p" after "s" as in "spit" = /spɪt/, French "p" as "pain" = /pɛ̃/.
Unvoiced aspirated stops: Vocal chords start vibrating a bit after stop is released. You can feel a puff of air at that time. E.g., English initial "p" as in "poop" = /pʰuːp/; Chinese "p" as in "pu" = /pʰu/.

I used b/p/pʰ as an example, but it's analogous for d/t/tʰ and g/k/kʰ.

Languages and Voicing/Aspiration Distinctions

One thing you might have noticed from the examples I gave is that different languages treat these differently. Roughly speaking, we have:

Chinese (Mandarin and many other dialects) has no voiced stops. It distinguishes between aspirated and unaspirated unvoiced stops (p vs pʰ).
French (and many European languages) has no aspirated stops. It distinguishes between voiced and unvoiced-unaspirated stops (b vs p).
English (in its initial stops at least) distinguishes between voiced and unvoiced-aspirated (b vs pʰ).

This generally works out well for English speakers. Many English-native learners of Chinese or French never even learn anything about voicing or aspiration. b/pʰ are close enough to both b/p and p/pʰ that there's rarely any difficulties introduced by this when English speakers are interacting with French or Chinese people (in whatever language). On the other hand, this works out terribly for, e.g., French speakers and Chinese speakers interacting with one another. b/p both sound like p to a Chinese speaker, and p/pʰ both sound like p to a French speaker. Hilarity may ensue.

Voicing, Aspiration, and Romanization

The International Phonetic Alphabet was first developed in Paris. This makes sense when you look at the symbols used: b/p/pʰ. I can imagine the thought process: /b/ and /p/ are just so different sounding that they need different symbols, right? And /pʰ/ is some bizarre aberration, so no biggie if you need a super-script to write that.

Anyhow,the people developing romanizations for Chinese stuck with that convention. The Wade-Giles system writes /p/ as p and /pʰ/ as p'. That is, the letter "b" never gets used for anything! This may strike you as a poor choice. I would tend to agree. People always throw away the apostrophes, and then it's impossible to tell how something is supposed to be pronounced. Thankfully Pinyin fixed this (/p/ is b and /pʰ/ is p), but there's still plenty of places you see the older systems, like surnames (e.g., Chang vs Zhang) and place names (e.g., Peking, Chunking, etc.).


Is "ne" used as a pronunciation for any character except 呢?

I think you could reference the name Zinedine，Zidane, which has been translated as 齐内迪纳, 齐达内.

So, you can use either 内 or 纳 to transliterate ne.


Mices and rats: differences between shǔ, lǎo shǔ, Xiǎo lǎo shǔ, etc

In most conditions, Chinese Mandarin doesn't divide "rat" and "mouse", but 鼠 and 老鼠 can mean different creatures. 鼠 means various of mouse-like creatures, like voles, hamsters, guinea pigs and so on, while 老鼠 only means rat, that grey little creature.

Hope it helps, I learned these from an online lesson I was taking, it's the ECL(eChineseLearning), they have got a free trial, and basically that's why I enroll their classes. Just for your consideration if you want to learn Chinese systematically, visit at http://www.echineselearning.com/free-trial/ for a free trial.


Translate: 荒谬时代要吃得好玩到老经常想母猫

It comes from the lyrics of "浅蓝大肥猫":

"你活在这样荒谬的时代里 人格通通不要
只要吃得好 玩到老 想母猫 死得早"

I'm not sure if it's proper to translate the last words.

你活在这样荒谬的时代里 = You live in such a ridiculous era;

人格通通不要 = Abandon all your personalities*;

只要吃得好 玩到老 = As long as I can eat well and play until old (or say enjoy my life);

*: Per @NS.X. 's advice, "人格" can be translate into personality and characteristic, and might be integrity in this context. Read more about "人格" at: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%BA%E6%A0%BC


How do native speakers of Chinese pronounce Latin characters?

There is no single way to pronounce a given letter in the Latin alphabet. The set of rules varies wildly depending on the speaker's geographical location.

That being said however, I have, a few years ago, compiled a list of common (more Northern I believe) pronunciations of Roman letters. You can find it on this subpage of my Wiktionary homepage: Roman Letters in Mandarin.

For your convenience, I am going to paste it here:

字母  漢語拼音標音                    同音字
A     ēi
B     bì                            閉
C     sēi                           塞（白讀）
D     dì                            地
E     yì                            意
F     ái fu                         癌副
G     jì                            既
H     éi chi
I     ài 或 ái                      愛 或 癌
J     zhèi                          這（口語）
K     kèi
L     ái lur                        癌露兒
M     ái mu                         癌木
N     ēn                            恩
O     ōu                            歐
P     pì                            僻
Q     kiùr
R     àr 或 ár                       二
S     ái si                         癌四
T     tì                            替
U     yōu                           幽
V     wēi（聲母多為唇齒音 IPA: /ʋ/）    微
W     dá bu liu                     達不六
X     ái ke si                      癌克四
Y     wài（聲母多為雙唇音 IPA: /w/）    外
Z     zèi

Just on your specific example, chā is certainly possible as X resembles the cross. I have never heard of people pronouncing XP like this before though.


Can someone logically explain why 在坐 is wrong and 坐着 is fine?

[在 + v] = in the act of carrying out the action.  e.g. 在穿衣服 (putting on clothes)
[v + 着] = the actions is in a continuous state. e.g. 穿着衣服 (wearing clothes/ the clothes is being worn currently)
More examples:
警察在打人 - the police is in the act of beating up someone
警察打着人 sounds strange because unlike 穿着衣服 (wearing clothes) which can be easily in a continuous state, (you can keep wearing the clothes while doing other activities.) 打着人(beating people) means the beating is in a continuous state. Generally, the verb in [v + 着] is a non-action verb, for example, 看，聽，想，吃，坐 ，站. While action verbs like 打，跑， 射 do not work with 着 easily

I need to know a logical reason why 在坐 is never used in chinese. If it were used, I would have translated it as taking a seat and 坐着 as being in a sitted state

在坐 sounds strange because 坐 is a static verb. 在 requires an active verb. 穿 can work with 在 and 着 because 穿 can be a static or active verb
Note: [V + 着 + V]  is a different structure, meaning the two actions occur simultaneously, e.g. 警察笑着打人 (the police is beating up someone while laughing); 跑着射擊 (shooting while running)


We say 电力 electric power instead of 电的力量; 马力， horsepower, instead of 马的力量，魄力，guts instead of 魂魄的力量，etc.

We say 有力的反击，effective strike back, instead of 有力量的反击。大力的支持，fully support, instead of 大力量的支持，etc.

we use 力量 as a separate word, e.g, 我们的力量, our strength, 团结的力量， unity,s strengths , 集体的力量，groups power, we don't say 我们的力 or 团结的力。

There is an idiom, 群策群力，power of team work.
There is a phrase, 团队的力量， power of team work.

From the above, I will say 力 and 力量 mean merely same, the difference is 力 mostly used as part of a phrase while 力量 is used as a separate word.


1. What are all meanings of 截?

It has the following meanings according to Xinhua Dictionary online:

割断，弄断：截断。截开。截取。截面。(to cut off, to truncate)
量词，段：一截儿木头。 (measure word: a section, a chunk)
阻拦：截住他。截留。截击。截获。(to intercept, to obstruct)
到一定期限停止：截止。 (cut-off point, deadline)

2. (What's the meaning) as in 截拳道?

In 截拳道, 截 means 'to intercept'. The spirit of 截拳道 is to 'intercept' the opponent's intention/omens of attack, and counter the attack accordingly. There is more information on Wikipedia:

  JKD teaches that the best defence is a strong offence, hence the principle of an "intercepting fist". For a person to attack another hand-to-hand, the attacker must approach the target. This provides an opportunity for the attacked person to "intercept" the attacking movement. The principle of interception may be applied to more than intercepting physical attacks. Non-verbal cues (subtle movements that an opponent may be unaware of) may be perceived or "intercepted", and thus be used to one's advantage.

3. Is it pronounced "Jeet" or "Jee"?

截 is pronunced as jie2 in Mandarin and zit6 in Cantonese.

Jeet/Jee are non-standard transliterations from Cantonese to English.

4. I'm interested in the word "jeet" and how it may be used.

If you're talking about the English word, I don't think there are widely-known usages other than in 'Jeet Kune Do'.


Character substitution in Microsoft Pinyin IME for typing 「」(直引号)

1, You can use the software "Auto-hot-key"
Create a script and add the following lines
[::「
]::」

Run the scripts.
When you type [ on the keyboard it will be 「. When you type ] it will be 」. This solution will work regardless of Input Methods. This is neat and the most recommended solution.
You can also use different hotkeys, with or without modifiers, as you like. such as
^[::「
^]::」

means when you type ctrl + [ on the keyboard it will be「.
And if you are using 「」 as a Chinses counterpart of " " you can use the following script
+'::
 {
   toggle := !toggle
   if (toggle)
    {
      sendinput, 「
    }
   else
    {
      sendinput, 」
    }
 }
return

When you type Shift + ', it will send 「 and 」alternatively, same as when you are using the double quotes in English.
Auto-hot-key download and document link: https://www.autohotkey.com/
2, Here is an easy walk around that allows you to type 「」
Open MS PinYin settings, and choose Lexicon and self-learning

Choose add or edit existing user-defined phrase

Add the following phrase

Then type

No additional software, but need some setup.
3, MS Pinyin Trick
When using MS Pinyin, type uubd, you will find the one you need. Maybe you need to press "+" a few times to find them though. This solution needs no setup.


Setences with Grammar Points/ Phrases: 再说，越来越，要不然，被了吧， 没有那么，楼

2 - 8 are all correct (in question four, translate 'go bad' as '变坏' or '腐坏' is better than '变质'
The first problem in question one is the "and" between two verb phrases indicates the two actions occur one after another, therefore you should treat it the same as 'then'. Use '然后' instead of '和'.
The second problem is "for us" here doesn't mean "for our sake" (为) but "(to) us" "（给）我们”.
The third problem is  the location "here" in "brought it here for us" should still be placed before the object in Chinese
The correct sentence is 他买了一些水果[然后]带到这里[给]我们


I feel this phrase is a metaphor for 戴绿帽子(wear green hats), which means a man has become a cuckold because his wife cheats on him and sleeps with other men. (This is also why Chinese men usually don't wear green hats and would get impressed when they first see people celebrating the St. Patrick's Day.)

她给她老公戴了绿帽子。
她让她老公戴了绿帽子。
(She made her husband wear green hats.)
She has cuckolded her husband.

Or

他戴绿帽子了。
(He wears green hats.)
His wife has cheated on him.

戴绿帽子 is a euphemism for 当王八(being a tortoise), because the head of a tortoise is dark green, and wearing green hats makes a man look like a tortoise. 当王八 is a cursing and scoffing way of expressing that someone has become a cuckold:

她让她老公当王八了。
(She made her husband a tortoise.)
She cheated on her husband.

Many other expressions can be used as indirect ways to say 当王八, including 被绿了(be greened) and 戴绿帽子。In you question, because 养马(keep horses) needs grass, 在头上养马(keep horses on his head) implies that one's head is full of green grass, the same looking as in wearing a green hat. For each of your sentences:

让他头上养马
Let him become a cuckold.
I'll cheat on him. (if spoken by his wife)

那（他）怎么还敢在她头上养马？
How dare he to cheat on her?

Although the phrases are only used on men (saying a women becomes a tortoise or wears green hats really doesn't make sense, because 当王八 is only for men.), nowadays people generalize some derivative terms such as 被绿了 also for women.

敢接受莫可可的人，必须得有在头上养马的觉悟。
Those who accept 莫可可 as girl friend/wife would have to prepare to be a cuckold.

你是想在劳资头上养马吗！？
You wanna cheat on me?


How did 涉 semantically shift to mean 'to experience, be involved'?

Great question. The original meaning of "涉" is that stepping into and wading across the stream by my feet. (The phrases "涉水"、"涉江" are specific examples of the original meaning.)

In my opinion, "涉", to some extent, can be regarded as "step into".(Not very exact)

And if I stepped into something dangerous yesterday, it also means that I experienced something dangerous yesterday. (The phrase "涉猎" is the specific example of the second meaning. )

And if something "stepped into" me, it also means that I was involved in something. ("涉及"、 "涉外". To some extent, you can understand "涉" as "about". )

Examples：

1、我一路跋山涉水。
explanation: I've been trekking all the way. (跋山涉水: trekking. And "涉" means that I wade across the rivers.)

2、涉险事故。
explanation：Misadventure. (The accident("事故" means something bad) about("涉") dangerousness(险))

3、他涉猎广泛。
explanation：He has a wide range of interests. (He step into("涉") and hunt("猎") a lot of things.)


Key Grammatical Phrases including 对，再说，还，要不然，还。。。呢，没有。。。那么， 一。。。就 in Sentence Usage

These sentences look like exactly the ones I hear from people around me and the ones I would use to speak to them, and most important of all, no misunderstanding caused.  There might be minor rhetoric modification but nothing grammatical.  If there is any grammatical flaw, maybe all of us should go back to Grammar 101.


得 in 饿得受不了 is a 'degree particle' that indicates what 'degree' the adjective is at.

饿 = hungry
饿得 = hungry to the point of
饿得受不了 = hungry to the point of cannot endure (unbearably hungry)

another example

快 = fast
快得 = fast to the point of
快得像闪电  = fast to the point of like lightning (lightning fast)


You sentence is correct with or without the 在. Using 在 will put a bit more emphasis on the year, while leaving off 在 will put a bit more emphasis on the action. Also, if you're listing years, you would not use 在:

2006年，中国的物流系统非常糟糕。2008年，仍然糟糕


当 here means act as; be regarded as; be considered as.

是 is simply to be.

Both words are common and can be used colloquially. In formal/academic context, I'd replace 当 with 作 or 当做.

If the word is not verb but can be used as a verb, you should say 当, e.g.

  在古汉语里，很多形容词都可以当动词。

If the word is a verb, you should say 是, e.g.

  服务这个词既是名词，又是动词。


pronunciation of 人 - regional or gender differences?

The two speakers sounded like they were both saying 人 with a [ ɻ ]. One's voice was higher pitched and the recording conditions were different though. In practice, you're going to run into pronunciations way more divergent than those. All the people I've met from 青田 say it with a [z] (note: not a pinyin "z"). Also, I've run into a few people who use an [l]!

My advice: Listen to a lot of people, chat with a lot of people. You'll pick up on which distinctions are important, which aren't, and which are regional.


What is being said in this scene from Looper?

The dialog says: "随着神秘的Rainmaker在中西部的暴乱事件中继续他的帮派战争, ..."

My translation is : "As the mysterious Rainmaker continues his gang war in the Midwest, ..."


Why is 坑爹 such a popular word, and what exactly does it mean?

坑-爹,literally, means 'to trap your father'. As a slang, it means 'to deceive someone'. Thus, if you speak, "这个手机很坑爹 'this phone very 坑爹'", that means 'this phone is of low quality'. It is very possible that you could have been deceived by a seller or producer. By so speaking, you treat the producer (liar) of this low-quality phone as your son, then you turn to become its father. In normal usage, the sex is in fact irrelevant even if 爹'father' canonically should be male. 爹 here can refer to any one who suffer from being deceived. As a result, 坑-爹 implies a cursing attitude towards someone. After all, to play someone's father implies to dominate or control it. No one likes to have extra fathers except for that physiologic father. So, 坑爹 should be cautiously used. Of note, this inference has become very weak.


Character difference between 'buy' and 'sell'

The original form of the top part of 賣 is 出.
《說文》

作。出物貨也。从出从買。

出物貨也：
出：拿出 take out
物：物品 goods
貨：交易 to trade

買
《說文》

作，市也。

市：做買賣。to trade
「買」本指商品交易，兼有「買、賣」二義，後來專指交易中的買入。
買 refers to the commodity trading activities, both "to buy and to sell", and later refers specifically to purchase transactions.
source: 《康熙字典》《字源》


There's nothing very special about the usage of 可爱. In Chinese many 'adjectives' are formed from verbs.

E.g.

好吃 ("good to eat") is tasty/delicious or
有趣 ("has interest") is interesting and
难看 ("hard to look at") is ugly.

These are not really adjectives, but their best English counterparts are adjectives, so you can think of them as 'adjectives'.

Similarly,

可爱 ("can be loved") is cute/lovely.

You can use 可爱 to describe people, especially children, or animals, and even inanimate things.

这只狗很可爱！This dog is very cute! (可爱 is the predicate of the sentence)
可爱的小女孩 cute (little) girl (可爱 is used as an adjective to describe a noun)

In case of animals, you can also use 萌物 ("cute thing") to denote an animal that is just cute, 萌宠 is a cute pet and 卖萌 means "to act cute/behave in a cute way".


Words.hk defines it as:

  名詞
  星期一至五, 唔屬於星期六日或公眾假期嘅日子（量詞：個）
  weekdays: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday or Friday; usually with the restriction of a non-holiday

And they give the example:

  閒日飲茶有折喎！
  haan4 jat2 jam2 caa4 jau5 zit3 wo3!
  Discount for dim-sum on weekdays!

——

閒日 is literally made up of the characters for idle + day. Why weekdays are idle days could only be explained by slow business - because business is would, assumably, be good on the weekends and holidays. But you’d never hear this usage in Mandarin where it just simply means “off day,” i.e.: a day where one doesn’t work.

——

Guangzhouhua-Putonghua gives it a different Cantonese definition:

  背集；不逢集的日子。

“Non-market days.”

CCCanto’s definition is also similar:

  free time or off day


主题先行, as you said, it literally means "Themes go first".

But, "70年代" is the Cultural Revolution period, I suppose it refers to the situation that before artistic creation, the central theme has been decided by political factors; people has to do the creation accord with that.

  “主题先行”指十年动乱期间，根据政治需要，先确定所谓的“主题”，然后再根据“主题”的要求填进“人物”和“情节”，使“主题”得以表现的一种文学创作方法。


Is there a nuance 今天早晨 conveys that 今天早上 does not?

As pointed out by xiaohouzi79, 晨 actually carries the meaning of sunrise, hence implying early morning. However this indication is weak, especially when you contrast 早晨 and 早上。

However 早上 would cover the entire morning, say, from 6am to 11:59am. Therefore in a way, it is less specific.

If we want to refer to extremely early morning, before dawn, say 3am to 6am. We sometimes use the word 清晨 and if we are talking about "morning" as in "after midnight" (00:01 to 3am for example) we usually use the word 凌晨 .

So after sunrise, we usually just say 早上 , since that time period is not close to 晨 (sunrise) anymore.


What is the meaning of this 征 in this sentence please

Your guess is right. It means 征求 or 征集。In English, it means "Call for", and here it is "call for names". The dictionary definitions are close.

For 征询, 征询 = 征求、询问. However, it is usually used to ask for opinions. The word 征 in 征询 is indeed the same though.


竹报平安 (zhúbào-píng’ān) = send a letter home saying that all is well

丁亥年 (dīnghài nián) = 2007 (or 1947, 1887, …)


What's the reverse version of the saying "既要做婊子，又要立牌坊"?

“既要做婊子, 又要立牌坊” describes someone commits to do something without the resolution of facing its consequence. For example, someone sells snake oil but feel bad about taking money from poor people (if you really want to be a con man, you can't avoid being ruthless)

The opposite expression would be "吃得咸魚抵得渴" (since you committed to eat salted fish, being thirsty is expected)


How do I decide whether to use 還是/还是 or 或者

Very good question.
还是 is usually used in asking questions. For example:

你想去北京还是上海呢? = Did you want to go to Beijing or Shanghai?
这是橙子还是橘子? = Is this orange or mandarin?

或者 is usually used in declarative sentence. For example:

我想去北京或者上海. = I wanted to go to Beijing or Shanghai.
你可以叫我小王或者老王. = You can call me Xiao Wang or Lao Wang.


When breaking down a character, what do you do for parts where no radical exists?

Actually if you can look at the traditional form of this character. The upper part is "丣".“丣” work as a phonetic radical here because it is pronounced you3.

A lot of characters have been simplified in Mandarin in main land China. This make it harder for us to break down a character.

You can find more information here: 汉典解释

So the first thing to do when breaking down a character is to find its traditional version.


Are authors of Chinese fantasy novels able to create names for fictional creatures/races?

It is true that, compared to Chinese, English (and related languages) have an advantage in its alphabet and rules of pronunciation, such that you can easily make up new words by creatively arranging letters. Certain letters and syllables can evoke different feelings or cultures, which gives authors tremendous creative flexibility, and is exploited by great conlangers. The Chinese analogy is usually not possible, as readers can't figure out how to pronounce it, plus it would be a huge hassle for typesetting, which explains why you almost never see made-up Chinese characters.

Not that it never happens though; as Stan mentioned it used to be done for mythical creatures, for example the characters in the famous 麒麟 (a sort of chimeral-unicorn-deer creature) are almost never used for other words. More recently, some netizens created a character for the Jackie Chan / Duang thing, but since it's impossible to type it, who knows whether that will stick.

Instead, what Chinese authors can do is creatively combine known characters to create new words. Although this is a far cry from the flexibility afforded to made-up English words, the fact that Chinese is disyllabic means most characters typically have many meanings, which makes the meaning of fictional words ambiguous, and it is this special ambiguity that can add flavour to those words. For example, the fictional sword "倚天剑" has multiple translations and meanings, without it being clear which one is right. 倚 could mean rely or close to, 天 usually means heaven but could also be a metaphor for royalty. Therefore, you could variously translate the sword as "Heavenly Sword", "Heaven Reliant Sword", or "Royal Sword", "Sky-scraping Sword"...


What is the best Chinese equivalent for "passion" or "to be passionate about something"?

In your case, passion could be translated into "热情"(zeal),"激情"(deep love), or "爱好"(hobby). Note that "激情" could also mean "passion" as in romantic relationships.

I would like to describe the pattern for this word. In general, you would say "对X的热情/激情/爱好" to mean "passion for X".

And for your example "My passion is rockclimbing", you could say "我的爱好是攀岩", or “我对攀岩富有热情/激情", but I would like to express it in a simple way,

  我酷爱攀岩。

"酷爱" means "to love something deep" as a verb here.


The concept of 乾媽 and 乾爹 in Chinese culture is almost the same as " godmother and godfather in Western countries. To become official 乾媽 and 乾兒子, there has to be a rite or ceremony performed in front of witnesses. The relationship is formed in the name of gods, and is acceptable to everyone else.

However, in modern days, people tread the relationship of 乾媽 / 乾爹 and 乾兒子 much more casually, any close friend of the family can become an honorary mother to you just by oral agreement between the parties involved ( you and your 乾媽 or your parent and your 乾媽)

In your case, the most appropriate way to describe your 乾媽 in English, would be "close family friend". The visa officer would then understand you are not related to her, but she could be seen as a non-blood related authority figure to you.

The fact is. The visa officer just needs some probable reference from someone who can vouch for you. That person needs to be a citizen in good standing, know you and your history intimately. A " family friend" suggested just that.

  P.S. I need to write an "invitation" letter to her, and I am trying to fill this blank at the very beginning: Dear ______,

In this case, just a simple "Dear Aunt + (her first name)" would do.

If you want to be less formal, you could use "Aunty"

Just like in Chinese, "aunt" in English can be used to address a female friend of your parents, or addressing your friends' mother.

In Western culture, there's no special term for addressing one's own godmother. You don't hear people saying something like: " Hi, Godmother Sally!" (or whatever her name is) People just call their godmothers by name, or "aunt + (her first name)" presuming she is also a friend of your parents or a mother of your friend


Why are 成语 (idioms) four characters long? Are there 成语 with more or less than four characters?

Taken from my.chinese.cn:

  成语为什么四字者为多？这大概是因为四字容易上口。如我国古代的诗歌总集《诗经》，就以四字句为多，古代历史《尚书》，其中四字句也有一些。后来初学读的三、百、千《三字经》《百家姓》《千字文》，其中后两种即全为四字句。《四言杂字》《龙文鞭影》初、二、三集，都是四言。这虽然是训蒙书，也足以说明四字句之为人所喜爱、所乐诵。

Why are idioms mostly four characters? This is basically because four words are catchy. Our country's famous book of poetry, 《诗经》, mostly uses four-character sentences, and the historical book 《尚书》 also has many four-character sentences. Then there are the (三、百、千) 《三字经》《百家姓》《千字文》, the latter two of which use four-character sentences. 《四言杂字》《龙文鞭影》 1st, 2nd and 3rd collections all have four words. Although these are books for educating small children they also illustrate people's enjoyment of four-character sentences.

You can find some examples of longer idioms at Wikiquote:

  天高皇帝遠。
  Tiān gaō huáng dì yuǎn.
  "The sky is high and the emperor is far away" — used as in carefree (lawlessness).
  自助者天助。
  Zì zhù zhě tiān zhù
  Literally: Those who help themselves, God will help. Meaning: God will help those who help themselves.

You can find some 3 character idioms (in Chinese) at chengyu.itlearner.com.


In 吃完晚饭后，我们去了维多利亚海港看烟花, why is 了 after 去 and not after 看?

It's an exception.
With verbs in series, when the object of the first verb is a proper noun, the aspectual 了 is placed after the first verb.
So the construction becomes: "Subj. + V1 + ASP 了 + proper noun + V2"
In your example, you indeed have a proper noun after the first verb:

吃完晚饭后，我们去了维多利亚海港 (Victoria Harbor) 看烟花

Another example:

我去了北京找我的朋友 —— (北京 proper noun: V1 + ASP 了 + V2)
我去图书馆借了一本书 —— (图书馆 common noun: V1 + Obj. + V2 + ASP 了）


try "http://www.wannalearn.com/" search "chinese"

"http://www.openculture.com/freelanguagelessons" scroll down to "chinese" section

"https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Main_Page"


Are there online resourses that automatically translates English to classical Chinese?

It looks like Baidu Translate does offer this functionality. Also seems that it is the only widely available service that can translate directly from English to Classical Chinese.

Good luck!


脑袋 vs 脑子 vs 头脑 vs 脑筋

脑袋 is literally referring to the head, the biological head of a person.
脑子 is also referring to the biological brain. You can say

他的脑子里有许多奇怪的想法 means he is having a lot of weird thoughts in his brain
他脑子不好使 means he is not smart

头脑 and 脑筋 are similar, they both mean mind in some way, but are used in different places

他很有头脑 means he is a smart guy
脑筋急转弯 is a puzzle game like the following
Who is closer to you, your mom or your dad?
Mom is closer, because dad is farther.

头脑 and 脑筋 are most commonly used in those two places, so you are good with them once you have those two examples in mind.


Under what circumstances can you use 又...又...?

"Summer this year is rainy and cloudy."

Your English sentence denotes that "rainy and cloudy" are the attributes in this summer, implying the weather in a given day of this summer could either be rainy or cloudy.

So, if that's what you want to express, then you can use 要么...要么.... 要么...要么... expresses a logic OR, while 又...又... expresses an logic AND. You can put:

  今年(这个)夏天，要么下雨，要么（就）阴天。

You can also interpret "rainy and cloudy" (as a whole) to 阴雨天. Rainy is 雨天 and cloudy is 阴天. Combine together: 阴雨天. 阴雨天 means that the day is cloudy and it can possibly rain at anytime. If you say this summer is all 阴雨天, it can mean that cloudy or rainy had gone throughout this whole summer. If this is what you meant, you can put:

  今年夏天都是阴雨天 or 今年夏天尽是阴雨天

Your Chinese sentence "今年夏天又是雨天又是云天。" is grammatically correct, but it's logically incorrect. If you said it in practice, I would have asked 那今年夏天到底是阴天还是雨天呢？ （whether this summer are rainy or cloudy）.

Hope this can help.


What exactly does 拆开 mean and is it commonly used?

It's fine to use "拆開" to open up a gift, or a package, box, etc., "打開" is also applicable.
For disassembling usage, you might to take apart something 3C products or electronic/mechanical devices, like cell phone, radio, television controller, etc. Use "拆解" also applicable.


What Methods Are Used by Mandarin Learners Who Speak Japanese?

Unfortunately, the only good way to practice reading out loud. I would recommend using google translate for each word you don't know how to pronounce and use their pronunciation translator. (Their's is actually pretty accurate).

Luckily though, believe it or not the Chinese pronunciation is a higher learning curve but after that it's VERY simple. There's actually only a set number of sounds for example.

It's good that you know some Japanese so I'm assuming you know some Kanji but also take caution that a lot of Japanese words are not used the same way Chinese words are.

I don't have a computer that can type chinese right now so bare with me or if some one could edit this, I would appreciate it.

For example: The word 'watashi' in japanese is 'I' but the chinese translation of that Kanji is actually 'si'. Which actually means 'personal' or 'private' rather than 'I'.

**Editor's note: 私 is the kanji for watashi


What are the uses of 什会 and from which area?

I believe the correct characters should be 什烩 and the correct pinyin should be "shí huì".
When 什 is prnounced as "shí", it means "serveral kinds of, various kinds of [something]". Generally, this meaning is used in dishes or foods, like 什锦糖(a kind of candy containing different flavors in one candy). 烩 is a method of cooking.It means,
1. After frying or sauteing the ingredients(almost cooked), braise all ingredients, usually with the starchy. OR
2.Cook different things(rice, vegetables, meat, etc.,) together with water.
So 什烩 means food cooked with the first method of "烩", with a lot of different ingredients.

Note:
1. The character 什 really has this pronunciation, though you would only see "shén" as in the commonly used word "什么".
2.It's difficult for me to explain something clearly related to cooking(due to lackages of words and knowledge) in English. I have searched “什烩" on Internet and found a lot of results. I am sure it should be "什烩". You might as well ask the cook to understand the EXACT meaning of 烩.


why is ‘fruit’ referred to as 水果 if 果 already means fruit?

droooze wrote:

  果 does not only mean fruit - it can mean "result, accomplishment, achievement" as well.

It is a good explanation for why we don't just say 果  when we mean 'fruit'.

Also, 腰果, 白果 are nut (果仁). The single character 果 is too general to be used specifically for 'fruit'.

And there's more:

生果唔同水果

For Cantonese, 生果 and 水果 are two different things. 生果 is fruit that grown on tree and 水果 is edible plant that grow in water (e.g. 水蓮藕 is a kind of root and 水菱角 is kind of nut). But for Mandarin, 水果 referred to all fruit that grow on tree and the term 生果 is rarely used.


China's Advanced Individual Award is for a person who exceeds expectations working in education, government, military, environmental operations or any other social organization. Usually this person must be the highest contributor of work or innovation within their peers.
As Shaw already said, it can be issued by whatever authority the individual is working in.
Why this exists:
At the beginning of the the People's Republic of China, all private enterprise was being to being taken over by the communist party. China actually prospered relatively well at the beginning but there was a high demand to redistribute food to the workers in the city and it became apparent that China's agricultural system was severely outdated and lacked modern farming equipment. The issue grew when Mao Zedong started the Great Leap Forward (大跃进) which emphasized stamping out "slack labor" all while the government was still punishing class enemies. So there was a dilemma  to award workers for their achievements without making them class enemies. Deng Xiaoping, advocated for some type of award for high achieving workers, which eventually he got after he became Mao's successor. The Advanced Individual Award (though its name has changed depending on the context) was an extension of Xiaoping's effort to award high achieving workers.
(Note that I am brushing over a lot of dense history here so forgive some of the over simplifications)


In 懂得, 得 is pronounced dé and means "gain" or "obtain", as in the first definition:

  　1. 获取，接受：～到。～失。～益。～空（kòng）。～便。～力。～济。心～。

That is, 懂得 means "to obtain understanding".

The meaning you were referring to is a different use of the same character, and is pronounced de (neutral tone):

  　2. 用在动词或形容词后的连接补语，表示效果或程度：跑～快。香～很。

It is true that in your example, the 得 can be omitted without loss of meaning, but it is used to improve the rhythm of the sentence, as the emphasis is on the "懂得".


Why is Higher Brothers pronouncing 你 as "nie"?

You've got the right direction searching through Chengdu pronunciations.

The pronunciation here is definitely not nie, but just a Sichuanese pronunciation of 你.

《现代汉语方言音库 • 成都话音档》lists 你 as:

  ȵi⁵³

Perhaps is the combination of a /ȵ/ initial with a falling tone on the /i/ that gives it a bit of a "-eh" sound at the end.

The wiktionary page you mention above does hint at this as well:

  (Chengdu, SP): nyi3

The yi combo would give you that sound you're hearing there.


nvren
'v' replaces 'ü' in Chinese input.


News video/audio with transcripts (or consistent subtitles)

I recommend you watch CCTV-4 (Chinese international). Many of its programs are subtitled in BOTH Chinese and English. Plus, its translation is professional and accurate.
However, these programs are mostly documentaries and shows. I've not found any news program with English subtitle in China.
EDIT: There is a Simplified Chinese subtitled news program on J5, a Hong Kong TV channel, called Putonghua Xinwen Baodao (Standard Mandarin News).


Generally 不用.

e.g.你不用担心。 You don't need to worry/Don't worry.

你不用说。 You don't need to say./Needless to say....

不需要

e.g.你不需要这么早起床。 You don't need to get up so early.

你不需要药。 You don't need medicine.

不必 (which is kind of odd or archaic)

e.g.你不必再谢他了。You don't need to thank him.

无须 (which is also very formal)

e.g.无须细说。No need to talk about the details.


闭上 pronounced pei-soeng in Cantonese: just Wang Jie in this song or something more?

It is '门若闭上了 便再会无期'
闭 only has one Cantonese Jyutping /bai3/ , and it is never pronounced as /pei3/ . Wang Jie pronounced it wrong.
譬, 屁, 媲, 嬖 all pronounced as /pei3/,  but none of them carry the meaning of 'close'

上 is pronounced as /soeng6/ when it is used as a noun or an adjective
e.g. upper, superior, previous

~

上 is pronounced as /soeng5/ when it is used as a verb or verb particle indicating direction or achievement

'上' in '闭上' is a verb particle indicating achievement (close shut)
therefore '闭上' is pronounced as /bai3 soeng5/


What is the difference between 列车 and 火车

Yes there are differences.

火车 literally means "fire car", and it got this name since the steam locomotive era when trains relied on buring coal as fuel. Later this word is generalized to refer to trains. But with modern technology developing, for example 高铁 (High Speed EMU Train), official media usually referes to it as 高铁列车, not 高铁火车. I guess it's because 火车 simply does not fit into the image. 电气列车, 地铁列车 and 轻轨列车 are some other examples.

However, the word 火车 is still used when referring to train in general. For example, 火车票 means "train ticket" and 火车站 means "railway station". You cannot replace 火车 with 列车 in these cases.

Technology aside, 列车 literally means "linked car(s)". So this word should also be used when the subject referred to is related to the linked cars (passenger units), not the locomotive (motor unit). Hence in the word 列车乘务员 (train conductor), you shouldn't use 火车, because the conductor serves the passenger units.


What's the difference between "博物馆长" and "博物馆馆长"?

You may ignore the repeated characters only if the last character of the first word can be omitted conventionally without changing its meaning.

For example, 北京市市长 can be shortened as 北京市长, because 北京 can already carry the meaning of 北京市 in this context. The 省, 市, 县 suffix is usually omitted when the length of the place name has more than one characters.

So, you could not name 沙县县长 as 沙县长, because 沙 doesn't sufficiently carry the meaning of 沙县. This rule may be applied to the case you've mentioned. People may think 国防部长 is acceptable while 央行长 sounds strange.

Generally, if the first word (even short form) is made up of one character in the name part, like 央行 (the name part is 央, the role part is 行), and second word starts with 行, it is not correct to reduce two 行-s to one.

If the first word (even short form) is made up of at least two characters in name part, like 国防部 (the name part is 国防, the role part is 部), and second  word starts with 部, use one 部 or two are both acceptable. But finally, it is recommended using the full form, like 央行行长, 国防部部长, after all these are the exact right address.


"Home" translation in "hate has no home here"?

Try replacing '家' with the idiomatic '容身之所'

仇恨 (hate) 在这里 (in here) 没有 (has no) 容身之所 (place to stay)

仇恨在这里没有容身之所 (hate has no home here)

~
Or '立足之地'

仇恨 (hate) 在这里 (in here) 没有 (has no) 立足之地  (ground to stand on)

仇恨在这里没有立足之地  (hate has no place here)

Edit:
I believe an English slogan should still be a slogan after it was translated into Chinese.
I would translate the slogan “hate has no home here” to "仇恨止步!" (hate, stop!)  - It implies hate is not welcomed, therefore it has no place here.


Use 我对你想说 or 我想说对你 to say: I want to talk/speak to you?

It should be 我想对你说

我想说 = I want to say

我想(对你)说 = I want to say (to you)

对 have to be placed before the object, and  [对 + object] have to be followed by a verb
想(want to) is the main verb, it is not moved to the end of the sentence
O Connor wrote:

Is it because of the word 对 that you need to move the second verb 说 to the end of the sentence?

Not necessarily the end of the sentence, but [对 + object] need to be followed by a verb

我说 = I say

我(对你)说 = I say (to you)

我现在(对你)(说)明天的计划 = I now say (to you) tomorrow's plan


Character to use for the onomotapoeic sound "choong!"

I believe you are looking for 噌, or cēnɡ (the equivalent of "whoosh").

As in:

  “噌”的一聲，火柴劃着了.


Glyph origin of 我 - How did 我's radicals 手 and 戈 create the meaning of 我?

Yes, 我 was a kind of weapon.
According to the book 字源谈趣, 我 was a kind of broadax originally in slavery society.

请看图（A），是甲骨文里的“我”字，象个什么东西呢？象把有柄有钩的古代武器——大斧，斧口有一排锋利的锯齿。原来，这是奴隶社会里一种用来行刑杀人和肢解牲口的凶器，叫做wǒ，古代也有人把这种锯斧叫做“錡”。

And then later, 我 was obsoleted by other new weapons little by little. From Han and Tang dynasty, 我 was borrowed to be used as first person, and the pronunciation doesn't change till today.

“我”这种奴隶社会杀人的凶器，到了战国时代，大抵被后起的更优良的凶器所淘汰；于是“我”字在汉唐以后便被普遍借用来作为第一人称使用，还是读作wǒ，字音至今不变。（先秦乃至汉唐以前，第一人称，是用“吾”“予”“余”等字来表示的。）但词性却已由名词变作人称代词，而“我”是杀人凶器的原义便早已不为人所知了。

This phenomenon is called 假借字, means select and use an old word for new expression and meaning, without creating a new word.

许慎：“假借者，本无其字，依声托事，令长是也。”即本来没有那个字，现在为了表达的需要，在不另造新字之情况下借用旧字来充当新义，就成了假借，“令”本义表命令的会意字，后来指县令。

Additional reference: 汉字“我”最早是杀人凶器


Both are correct!!
你好，北京 is more like a casual greeting, e.g. Hello World! :D
北京，你好 is more like a greeting with a touch of respect, because you address the name first. Examples are, 张老师，你好 (Teacher Zhang, hello).


Result complements used with 买: 好，到 and 上

The nuances I see in the usage of these three result complements are subtle.
好 as a result complement is similar to 完 and 到 as it describes the completion of an action, but it also adds that the action has been completed properly. As 好 itself means "good", you see how this nuance comes about.

我今天已经买好菜了 = today I've already bought groceries (all those you needed; the task is properly done)

到 means that the successful completion of the action was not entirely sure. It follows from an attempt or intent. There is more volition, and sense of purpose. As 到 itself means "to arrive", as a result complement the nuance is like reaching a target.

我今天已经买到菜了 = today I've already bought groceries (the outcome wasn't sure, but you still made it; you managed to buy them)

上 is relatively more rare in the sense of completion. I suspect it might be even non-standard, but spread among native speakers enough to be considered acceptable. The result itself is more often used to describe that something is on (literally and figuratively), or that the action has successfully started, and ongoing e.g. 穿上衣服 (put clothes on) 带上东西 (bring/carry things with you).

今天我一天超累，终于吃上饭了 = today I'm super tired, I finally could eat something (likely still eating at this time)

So with 买：

我今天已经买上菜了 = today I've already bought (started buying?) groceries (you got to buy them, maybe still in the process)

That's why 买上 is used less often, it doesn't always work with 买, since "buying" as an action in progress can be expressed just better with 在 （我在买菜 = I'm buying groceries). However it can be used just like 到, and some native speakers do use it like that.
Yet if you Google 买到了 and 买上了 in quotes (adding 了 to force search results to be verbs, and not some other part of speech), 买到 returns 5 times more results than 买上.
As a final remark, 买上 may have an additional nuance of being able to afford something. Note that the proper way to say "afford" is with the 起 result （买得起 / 买不起）. The result 上 may suggest that you could successfully buy something because you are financially capable to do so.

我买上房子了 (I bought a house = I was financially able to get "on top of the price", or something like that)


On Linux, how do I output Chinese Characters (not pinyin) using tones in the input

Try using Terra-Pinyin (地球拼音) which runs on rime (中州韻) which runs on either ibus or fcitx. It allows you to input using "-" to represent 1st tone, "/" to represent 2nd tone, ">" to represent 3rd tone, "\" to represent 4th tone.

I honestly don't remember the entire install process, but I give an outline as best as I can remember (but I may be wrong in some places). I use Ubuntu 18, so it may be different for you.

Open Language Support, click Install/Remove Languages, add Chinese (Simplified) and/or Chinese (Traditional).

Open Input Method, press OK, Yes, choose ibus (if it isn't already selected), press OK.

Open the terminal, run sudo apt-get install ibus-rime

Open settings, go to Language and Region, under Input Sources click the plus sign, click Chinese (China), click Chinese (Rime), then click add.

Restart your computer.

After restarting and logging in, in the top right, there should be a button that lets you swap between English and Chinese (Rime) input. If you switch to Chinese (Rime), you should be able to type in Chinese, using Luna-Pinyin (朙月拼音) however you will not yet be able to use tones in your input.

You may or may not need to run sudo apt-get install librime-data-terra-pinyin (I'm not sure if it comes preinstalled)

Finally, follow the instructions here to add terra-pinyin to Rime: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Rime

To summarize those instructions:

Go to home. Press ctrl-H to show hidden files. go into .config, then into ibus, then into rime.

Create the file default.custom.yaml

Inside it, write

patch:
  schema_list:
    - schema: terra_pinyin

(including the indentation), then save the file.

In the rime menu in the top right, switch to Chinese (Rime), then 3 options should appear. Press the second option (this will put your changes into effect).

Finally, you should have Terra-Pinyin (地球拼音) running.

Typing "ta-" will give you a bunch of first tone choices, typing "ta/" will give you a bunch of second tone choices, typing ta< will give you a bunch of third tone choices and typing "ta\" will give you a bunch of fourth tone choices.


送上，送给 both means send.

Two differences：

1.送上 is more polite。

in different sentence structure。

a.   为 someone 送上 something。

b.   送给 someone  something。

This sentence equals to ... ... 送给近百名员工一把找到工作快乐和取得成功的“心灵钥匙“。

reply to the comments.

心灵钥匙 is a description of 讲座，it is a metaphor.
This lecture is the 心灵钥匙。

examle
学校组织了一次军训活动，为广大师生送上了一次军旅体验。

军训活动 is the 军旅体验。


What do new Chinese speakers sound like to native Chinese speakers?

Two things I want to say about tones.
1, Tones are not as important as they sound if the purpose is to get yourself understood.
You must have been told thousands of times that tones will affect the meaning of the words, and the example given is usually "ma1" (mom) and "ma3" (horse). However, most of the time, the meaning can be told from the context. Actually, I do have a Taiwanese friend referring to her mom as "wo3 de ma3", but we all know what she is talking about. I think that case is much more distinguishable than 四 vs 十 in some dialects. (not Cantonese level "dialect". I consider Cantonese as a different language. The dialect here is something like '河南话' which is not far from Mandarin. However, I was never able to tell 四 from 十 in '河南话'.)
2, Even if you get all the tones right, I will still be able to tell you are a foreigner
The key is the pitch (抑扬顿挫) of sentences, not the tones of characters. Some of my ABC friends speak Chinese very well, which is better than most second language learners. They sound to me like they are speaking perfect Chinese sentences in English pitches.
*, "Do foreign Mandarin speakers sound as bad speaking Mandarin as foreign English speakers do speaking English?"
If you consider it as 'bad', yes they do, but it is 'better' than most dialects sound to Mandarin speakers.
Well, I don't think it is bad as long as understandable.


When I spoke Mandarin in Guangzhou, I -- and the people I was talking to -- called it 菜心, càixīn. Outside of Guangzhou, I heard it called 广东菜心, Guàngdōng càixīn.


Do you use 个 when describing distances/weights？

No, in general, you shall not use 个 before a unit, no matter what the unit is used for (mass, length,area etc ). 个 is a counter/measure word in Chinese, one of whose functions is to count something, like a unit, so you don't need to put a unit before a unit.
In some weird scenarios, you may use 个 before a unit.for example,

  本文中有几个公斤？ How many occurrences of "kilogram" in the article ?

Here, kilogram itself is treated as a common word instead of a unit.


It's a funny one!

As 5 (五) is bigger than 4 (肆)， it could imply B is one higher generation than A. That's why B said 你爹（your father, 放五）， implying "I am your father"(as you are "放肆" and I am "放五"！). This is like saying "我是你爹，放五！"

I really love this joke! Couldn't help laughing...

PS： better put a comma in the middle "你爹，放五！"


What are the common tennis terms in Chinese?

advantage set 长盘

tiebreaker set 抢七

game 局

set 盘

match 场

love (the term used for 0 or a no score situation) ：0

15/30/40 ： 15/30/40 （the same）

deuce : 平分

advantage in： 发球占先

advantage out : 接发占先

（btw. advantage is 占先）


There are many verbs and adverbs in Chinese that hold the exact meaning without the second character. Chinese words have a more complete sound to them when they are in pairs of two characters, but it's not necessary to use the verb or adverb in its complete form.

我也曾(经)涉足于多个领域，可惜学业不精。
他已(经)20岁了，已(经)到及冠之年，是个大人了。
好久没有这样安恬熟睡(觉)了。

Having the two different choices though gives the speaker more control over making the sentence sound more fluid, generally by pairing single character words with the single character form, and using the full verb with two character form.


很大/很重/很浓/很冲 these words are common. 很大 is used for SMELL. 很重 more for TASTE and has a negative feel(A very popular word now in China is 重口, which is somehow similar to HARDCORE).很浓 is used to describe liquid or smell.(It is also used to describe a feeling. 爱意很浓 means love is very strong. 睡意很浓 means very sleepy )As for 很冲 it means the smell/taste is spicy like pepper or mustard(脾气很冲 means hot-tempered),.


The use of 会 in 我们每次谈都会吵架

They are same.

我们每次谈都会吵架=We quarrel every time we talk
我们每次谈都吵架=We quarrel every time we talk

If you just want to say they are different you can see

我们每次谈都会吵架as every time we talk will lead to quarrel .

會has an emphasis mean.


How to say job offer in Mandarin/Cantonese?

'Job offer' is a noun.  It means 工作提案 in literal sense
聘用提案 (hiring offer) world be a better Chinese counterpart
you can also use a more literary term '邀聘' [invite to a job(v); job invitation (n)]
Example:

大飯店開張要大量招聘各部門員工
The opening of a grand hotel requires hiring of a large number of employees in various departments.

(招聘 means calling for people to apply for the positions)

而行政總廚一職我想邀請XX酒店的大廚擔任
And I want to invite the head chef of XX Hotel to serve as the executive chef.

(邀請 means 'to invite')

但XX酒店的大廚對這個邀聘看法又如何？
But how the head chef of XX Hotel thinks of this  job invitation?

邀聘 as a verb means 'invite to a job' (邀請受聘)
邀聘 as a noun means 'hiring invitation' (聘用邀請)
(This job is only offered to you, we are not opening this position to the public)

最後XX酒店的大廚接受了我們的邀聘
Finally, the head chef of XX Hotel accepted our job invitation
最後XX酒店的大廚接受了我們的聘用提案
Finally, the head chef of XX Hotel accepted our job offer

side note:
In Cantonese, 'hotel' is '酒店' , 'head chef' is 大廚 or 頭廚
In Mandarin, 'hotel' is '飯店' , head chef' is 總廚


The first sentence "我把雪糖放在这杯咖啡里" is grammatically correct

[我 - subject (I)]
[把 - disposal marker that dispose the following object ]
[砂糖 - object (sugar)]
[放 - verb (put)]
[在( ~ )里 - preposition (into)]
[在(这杯咖啡)里 - relative phrase indicates location (into this cup of coffee)]

The second sentence "我放在这杯咖啡(砂糖)" is grammatically incorrect.

It should be: [我放 + (object)+  在这杯咖啡里] = "我放(砂糖)在这杯咖啡里"
'砂糖'(object) is wrongly placed after the (relative phrase that indicate location) '这杯咖啡里'. That created a '[这杯咖啡 (n)]+[砂糖 (n)] situation'
it also missed the '里' in the preposition '在 ~ 里'

to put the object '砂糖' after  '这杯咖啡' , you cannot use the disposal  marker '把'
The correct form is "我在这杯咖啡里放入砂糖"

我(subject)
在( ~ )里(preposition)
在(这杯咖啡)里 (relative phrase- indicate location)
放入 (verb)
砂糖 (object)


what's the difference between 会, 可以, and 能?

They have pretty similar meaning and almost interchangeable in daily conversation but there are subtle differences between these three words.

可以 means you can do something
能 is used when you want to emphasise you have the ability to do something
会 means you are not only able to do it but do it proficiently

There are a few examples:

我可以说中文 I can speak Chinese (probably not very well and maybe not willing to speak Chinese)
我能说中文 I am able to speak Chinese (I'm not those people who completely don't understand Chinese)
我会说中文 I can speak Chinese proficiently (probably you can speak Chinese fluently and you're willing to speak Chinese)

I hope this will be helpful.


福 [fú] character means "fortune" or "good luck".

Posting the "福" character is a tradition for Chinese people during 春节 [chūn-jié] Spring Festival each year.

The "福" character is often posted upside-down. It is said that this is because the character for "upside-down", "倒" [dào], is a homonym of the character for "to arrive", "到" [dào]. So this means that "福" (happiness, good fortune, etc.) is "arriving". (source)

  It also said that Emperor 朱元璋 (Zhu Yuanzhang), a founder of Ming dynasty, once used the character "福" as a hidden signal to prepare killing someone.
  The kind-hearted Empress Ma decided to eliminate the tragedy of killing, so she ordered everyone in the city to put a label with the character "福" on the door of their house before the sun rises the next day. Everyone followed Empress Ma´s order, but one family is illiterate and pasted the label with the character "福" upside down.
  On the second day, the emperor ordered his officer to go to the city and found that every family had pasted the label with the character "福", and with one family having the character "福" upside down. The emperor was very angry and ordered that family be executed. Empress Ma realized the incidence and told the emperor, "that family knew you´re coming today, so purposely turn the label upside down. Isn´t that the same meaning as Luck arrives?"
  After hearing this, the emperor immediately released the family and a tragedy was averted. From then on, people began to paste the label with the character "福" with the purpose of hoping for auspiciousness, and another to honor Empress Ma.


what is 以及与? is it "and + and", if so why use such a thing?

他们惊讶地发现，虽然属于不同的时代，但那些动植物相互之间，以及与现代生物之间都有许多相似之处.

'以及' means "and also";

"与"  means "and".

Let's break the sentence apart and see what's missing:

那些动植物相互之间 (between those animals and plants themselves)
以及 (and also)
between (subject omitted) 与 (and) 现代生物之间 (modern living things)
都有许多相似之处. (all have many similarities)

The author wanted to say:

Those (ancient) animals and plants had many similarities between themselves; and also have many similarities between them and modern living things

It would be more clear if he didn't omit the repeated subject

[那些动植物相互之间]，[以及] [(那些动植物)与现代生物之间] [都有许多相似之处]

[between those animals and plants themselves]，[and also] [between (those animals and plants) and modern living things] [all have many similarities ]

the repeated subject (那些动植物) was omitted


What's the correct word order and why? Should it be 红中国茶 or 中国红茶？

红茶, like 绿茶, (green tea), are particular varieties of tea.
The "red" and "green" do not standalone as verbs describing color but must be compounded with "tea" to indicate a particular variety of tea.
Thus red and green are not verbs but must be read together with "tea" forming compound nouns.
There is therefore only 中国红茶, (Chinese red tea), i.e. a variety of tea popularly known as 红茶, (which is actually black, but who would drink a tea called 黑茶, "black tea"?, which figuratively could mean something "bad" in the tea)
There is no such thing as 红中国茶, meaning "red Chinese tea", which in this case, the 红 would be a verb. You could call it that if you could find a type of tea from China that is actually red in color. But then it would not be "红茶" anymore.


After discussing it with my friends, the best result I can come up with now is

The characters beside the stamp characters are the corresponding ones that may be the candidates. Seal script samples are also given. Unfortunately, I cannot find a 100% convincing answer, because they can hardly form a meaningful phrase.

Character 1: 聞 or 查. Either is doubtful. If it's 查, it means the craftsman treat the vertical 丨 in 木 as two separate parts, then Character 5 will quite possibly be 木.
Character 2: 男. It's very doubtful because there're too many horizontals 一 in 田. I am almost sure it can't be 甲, because adding one important stroke  into 甲 is very unreasonable.
Character 3: 天 or 引. Either is possible.
Character 4: 下 or 爪. Either is very possible. Specially, if if Character 3 is 天 and this is 下, 天下(the world, land under heaven) is meaningful.
Character 5: 木 or 大. Either is doubtful.
Character 6: 子. Well, it's the most confirmed one.

What I should clarify is that I don't mean the candidate characters are just what I am listing. There may be some more acceptable ones. This Chinese Etymology website may be a helpful tool for you.
I agree with Xu's arguments partly:

The scripts are seal characters or bronze characters.

There may be extra squiggles adding to the characters.

A Character may be separated into two (seldom larger than two) parts and written as individual two characters. In the stamp, there may be one case: 李=木+子.

But the case of the zigzag reading order 1-2-4-3-5-6 is really seldom. I personally believe it's in this order: 1-2-3-4-5-6, or less possible, 1-3-5-2-4-6.
Jens's answer, 鳳 凰 祥 雲, are not so similar to the character shapes in the stamp (notice that there's no 凰 in seal scripts; in ancient Chinese, it will use an "interchangeable" character 皇 instead).
EDIT
Character 5 may be also 北.


Could saying "慢慢吃" to a stranger cause offence?

Usually you would say "bon appetit" at the beginning of the meal. Same applies in Chinese: you can say either 慢慢吃 / 请慢用 / 请 / 慢用

The only time it might cause confusion is when you say it during the middle of the meal


Tones are only applied to wovels. There are no tones associated with consonant "m", so you have to assume a prefix wovel like "e" before the "m". Unicode-wise, you can get an accented ḿ but no other variants.

Yes, you see accented "m" in dictionaries, but they are outside pinyin, and also outside unicode.


How do say "less" when modifying a noun?

“请比昨天少放些蜂蜜” for equality translation, but it's a bit of writing style.

For more clear way:

  昨天的太甜，这次请少放点蜂蜜。


How to indicate "long pronunciation" in writing in Chinese?

The one I see most often is the use of "～":  "啊～～～"


Could you please explain the words in this '一边对着双桅小帆船呶呶嘴'?

'桅' is short for '桅杆', which is mast. So '双桅' means two-masted.
'呶呶嘴' literaly means 'Pout lips'(no sexual meaning here). It means instead of pointing that sailboat by hand, some one points the lips to the sailboat instead. Some time I do this kind of things when I'm being lazy or my hands are occupied.


Idiom, common phrase crossword puzzle challenge 3

The third time! I really don't want to see it happening again. Why don't you join it, friends?


强项 can definitely be used for strengths - where weaknesses would be 弱项.

There is also:

优点和缺点

yōudiǎn hé quēdiǎn

merits and demerits; virtues and defects; strong and weak point

Also: 长处和短处

See which you like...


Are the Chinese characters really pictorial?

No. Chinese writing certainly has an early origin in logograms, but so does the Latin alphabet we use – the "A" is actually an ox head, tilted 90 degrees, and borrowed from the first Sumerian cuneiform script.

Since classical times, only a few percent of the Chinese language retains such logograms, while the vast majority (+90%) of characters are phonetic compounds, essentially a rather large and fuzzy alphabet with functional elements as hinting.

几 might be a table, but 叽, 饥 and 肌 haven't got much to do with a table, but are used phonetically.


What is na4zi4pang2 (pinyin) in the decomposition of na4 (那)?

There is no  radical, but the left part of 那 can be

冄 rǎn (the same as 冉)
U+5184
Seal Script

That's because in the seal script, 那 is written as

The left part is 冄, and the right part (radical) is 邑. So in 說文解字, it is described as

从邑，冄聲。

But it is better not to call 冄 a "radical", because modern dictionaries and older dictionaries haven't listed it as a radical.
It is interesting in 康熙字典, 那 has these interchangeable characters:

But they are obsolete now, you should not use them.


At Chinese mainland, we use 必胜 or 加油, they are both OK.

And, no, there are no phrase more popular than those two phrases, at least in my experience.


In practice, there is no difference. Both sentences mean

we have been separated for 10 years

and that's the information most natives would get from it.
In theory though, textbooks and/or particularly pedantic speakers might point out that there is in fact a difference: the presence of the first 了 as a marker of aspect could signal that the separation has ended. Thus, you might get two different translations:

我们已经分别了十年了
We were separated for 10 years (implying now we're back together)

and

我们已经分别十年了
We have been separated for 10 years (implying we still are)

However it can be argued that the presence of the adverb 已经 (already) helps discriminate in favor of the latter, i.e. that being separated is an ongoing situation.
Anyway, as an unrequested comment: personally I would use the verb 分开 here, instead of 分别


Why can some words such as 安宁 be either a noun or a adjective?

Many words are used as different word type for convenience
For example, when the noun 鑽 (drill) was coined, it was convenient to use it as a verb for 'to drill' as well; when we have the existing adjective 哀傷 as in 哀傷往事(sad past), it is convenient to use it as a noun as in 這份哀傷 (this sadness)
The adjectival marker 的 can turn a noun or a whole phrase into an adjective. Also, many nouns can be turned into adjectives by adding other particles. For example 攻擊(n): attack --> 攻擊性 (offensive) | 戲劇 (n): drama --> 戲劇性 (dramatic). And standard nouns can be used as adjectival nouns as long as it makes sense (it is still a noun, but functions as an adjective for another noun). See How to use nouns as adjectives?


Sure, but you'd better use 之前 in this case.


The term 一點紅 you are referring to is an assassin/ swordsman called '中原一點紅' in a Chinese Martial art novel 《楚留香》 by 古龍.
His signature move is a sword-thrust so precise that it only leaves behind a tiny wound, looks like a red dot on his opponent's forehead.
We don't know his true name. He was only known as '中原一點紅' in the novel
It is fictional, not a real martial art term
Notices:

In general, 一點紅 means 'the only female among a group of males'. It came from the Chinese expression '萬綠叢中一點紅' (a single red dot in a greenfield). Example: "麗莎是我們出版社的一點紅" means "Lisa is the one red dot (only female member) in our publishing house"

And 萬綠叢中一點紅 came from the poem 《咏石榴花》. (a poem about pomegranate flower) by 王安石（1021-12-18 ～ 1086-5-21）

今朝五月正清和，榴花詩句入禪那。

濃綠萬枝紅一點，動人春色不須多。

紅一點 refers to a single pomegranate flower among trees full of green leaves, a sign of early spring.

一點紅 is also the name of a plant that is used in traditional Chinese medicine


Original English Freud quote, “words and magic”

In Freud's essay "Psychical (Or Mental) Treatment (1890)". I found the quote below with Google's help:

  Foremost among such measures is the use of words; and words are the essential tool of mental treatment. A layman will no
      doubt find it hard to understand how pathological disorders of the body and mind can be eliminated by ‘mere’ words. He will
      feel that he is being asked to believe in magic. And he will not be so very wrong, for the words which we use in our everyday
      speech are nothing other than watered-down magic.


Understanding how to pronounce the “er” at end of words

First off, Forvo actually has a recording of 小偷儿 that you can go and listen to.

There are two kinds of erhua that you'll come across. One I like to call an integrated erhua, in the South this is the only kind of erhua you will find; so taking 偷儿 for instance it would become something like tēr ([t‘ər] or more accurately [t‘ɚ]). In southern areas the erhua always becomes an integrated ɚ.

In the North, though, you'll often hear what I like to call an affixed erhua. Again, taking 偷儿 for instance MSM pinyin matches it quite well: tou'r ([t‘ou̯˞]). Like a little r plopped on right at the end hanging out in the depths of your throat. You'll hear words like 牛儿、瓶儿、空儿 that sound like the erhua is just trailing there on the end.

I find the southern pronunciations much easier to learn for foreigners but there's something enchanting about that Northern trailing "er".


The most common sentence is "怎么样？“ in Chinese, which is "what do you think?". It can be added after any suggestion sentence.


In Chinese, although both a phrase like "six months" and the word "June" contain the characters 六 and 月, there will often be a measure word if we are talking about a specific quantity of months (i.e. in the "six months" case), the same way there will be a measure word for something like "six cats" ("六只猫") or "six books" ("六本书").

Thus, it should be generally possible to distinguish between "June" ("六月") and "six months" ("六个月"). (月 uses the word 个.) However, in this case, given the 去以, "six months" reads better ("the past six months" instead of "the past June"), at least to me as someone who does not know the context.

So I can only give you the "general" case of whether one can distinguish between what is essentially "the Xth month" and "X months" in Chinese (i.e. yes). vermillon's answer resolves the question of why I'd still presume "six months" here -- it's simply a classical Chinese thing I wasn't aware of (and it does read better).

Your assessment of 者 (as something to the effect of "he who") appears to be correct. As seen in these dictionary examples (note: the dictionary definitions itself are sometimes very unhelpful or downright probably wrong, but the examples should be fine), 者 can be appended to some sort of descriptor (whether one that takes the purpose of an adjective or a verb) to mean "the individual(s) who" or the such. For instance, 受害者 means "the individual(s) who were harmed", and 第三者 is "[those of a] third party", and the webpage gives the example "他猛击进攻者。"

I am not sure about the exact translation given the 也 which I'm having difficulty accounting for, but things otherwise sound fine.


Please help translate my Chinese seal chop (Characters identified: 詩思妮)

The characters are

  詩思妮

You can hear them at Google translate (ignore the translation).


狗屎运 is an accidental luck and some good things you don't expect suddenly come to you. It's fine to use it in informal situations, but it's still a vulgar term.  Sometimes, it can be taken in a funny way, but you should be cautious when you use it in a formal situation.


I think what you mean is 喜悦 not 喜乐 though 乐 can also be pronounced as yuè . This is how I differentiate the two:

喜悦(xǐ yuè) is a passionate feeling of joy. This is usually
expressed in the form of a smile.
快乐(kuài lè) is a pleasant emotional response due to an external
stimuli. This is usually expressed in the form of laughter.

快乐 is more obvious than 喜悦.


What is the original quote of “To be calm is the highest achievement of the self"?

To be calm is the highest achievement of the self.---Yogi Bhajan.

Note that based on Wikipedia

  'Yogi Bhajan was born on August 26, 1929 into a Sikh family in Kot Harkarn, Gujranwala district, in the province of Punjab (now in Pakistan)'.

Firstly, he is not Chinese, also he don't speak Chinese, the original text certainly not in Chinese.


If you are introducing a menu as a waiter at a Chinese restaurant, how would you say for 主菜, we serve 北京烤鸭, 点心, and 四川火锅?

If I'm understanding the question correctly, you are asking from a waiter's perspective how would you say we serve 北京烤鸭, 点心, and 四川火锅?

There are many ways to say this. The easiest is probably "我们有北京烤鸭、点心和四川火锅"

Note that 点心 sounds a little weird in this context since it's usually perceived as dessert, not an entree item. So I would say "我们有北京烤鸭、四川火锅和餐后点心"

You mentioned saying "wo de (food items)" to order, but this is not a correct sentence to me. You might want to say "我想要..." "我要..."

Also, as an unrelated note, it's very rare that a restaurant would serve both hot pot and peking duck, since hot pot restaurants usually have tables specifically designed for their hot pots.


You could say

"他把卫生间打扫干净了"  The man have cleaned the bathroom.
"他把卫生间打扫得很干净" The man cleaned the bathroom cleanly.

「得」字的用法：

1.覺得。feel.

2.介詞。preposition. After verb or adj. to express the result or state.

After verb. Ex：跑得快、說得很動聽。
After adj. Ex：美得冒泡。


Learning how to use measure / count words properly

Here has been my (I think successful) strategy:

Use measure words for mass nouns accurately. This is exactly like English:

  一杯水 = a cup of water

  一瓶可乐 = a bottle of cola

  一斤青菜 = a half-kilo of cabbage

You really have to use these in all languages, because you can refer to really different quantities depending on the measure word (a tank of water vs a drop of water).
Learn the measure words that are based on shape. This is really different from English, but in spite of being challenging, they're rather important. Chinese people use them relatively consistently and might have trouble understanding you if you don't use them properly (or at least will find it annoying if you don't). Also, they're not that hard to learn, and you quickly develop an intuition for what kind of objects take what kind of measure words:

  条 -- long, thin, windy things

    一条路 = a road

    一条裤子 = a pair of pants

    一条蛇 = a snake

  支 and 根 -- stick-like things, generally stubbier than 条 things, and not flexible

    一支笔 = a pen

    一根香烟 = a cigarette

    一根灯管 = a fluorescent tube (lightbulb)

  张 -- flat, broad, thin things

    一张桌子 = a table

    一张纸 = a sheet of paper

    一张光盘 = a DVD (or CD)

  颗 -- pebbly, kernely, small-and-round things

    一颗牙齿 = a tooth

    一颗星 = a star

    一颗心 = a heart

Use 个 for everything else until you've been corrected a few times. There are a lot of weird measure words that are only ever used with one or two nouns. Even a lot of Chinese people use 个 in those circumstances. There's no point learning these if you don't have to, so let experience be your guide for which other measure words to learn.

EDIT: Just to be clear, I'm not advocating only learning 4 measure words. I just think that the less common ones should be learned through real life experience rather than memorizing word lists. Also, I should point out that sometimes different measure words can be used on the same noun, but they mean different things. When confusion arises, learn the distinction:

  一门课

    A subject or course (as in "I have 3 classes this semester")

  一次课

    A meeting-time or occurrence of class (as in "When's the next class? Next Monday.")

  一节课/一堂课

    Classes often have a 10 minute break in the middle. The first and second halves can be referred to this way. ("When does the next section start? In 15 minutes.") I think that 节 and 堂 sometimes overlap with the meaning of 次 when they're not being used contrastively. Correct me if I'm wrong.


What is the meaning of this expression (落了下乘)?

乘，梵语 Yāna，旧译为“衍”。有一乘、二乘、三乘、四乘、五乘之别。

以五乘来论，五乘也有多种说法；其中较常见的是指：人乘、天乘、声闻乘、缘觉乘、菩萨乘。这是由下品到上品的顺序。

文中先提到“虽为杀人事， 亦是菩提心”。

“菩提心”是度众生之心、成佛之心，属“菩萨乘”，也就是最上品之心。

“杀人念”是“人乘”的念头，是五乘中最下品之心。

因为有了杀人的想法，就由最上品的“菩萨乘”降成最下品的“人乘”，所以才会说“落了下乘”，堕落成为下乘。

乘 [shèng | ㄕㄥˋ] (Sanskrit यानम Yāna) the old transliteration is 衍那, simplified as 衍.
It means (noun) a vehicle or (verb) to carry.

There are five kinds of 乘: 一乘, 二乘, 三乘, 四乘 and 五乘.
It is better to answer the question in terms of 五乘.

五乘 also has a few kinds.
The more common one is: human beings, gods, श्रावक śrāvaka (hearers), प्रत्येकबुद्ध pratyekabuddha (beings who enlightened through reasoning on the riddle of life), and बोधिसत्त्व bodhisattva (conscious beings of or for the great intelligence).
This is the order from the lower level to the higher one.

He first mentioned, "Although it is a killing, is still a bodhichitta."

"Bodhicitta" is the mind of helping the sentient beings and of becoming a Buddha.
It is the highest level.

"Killing" is the idea of human beings.
It is the lowest level.

Because of the idea of killing, the mind falls from the highest to the lowest level.
Therefore, he said 落了下乘 (to fall to a lower level).


Why does Pleco give so many pronunciations of 欸?

Many single characters in Mandarin Chinese will alter their pronunciation based on the tones of the following, more meaningful characters/words.

For instance, 一 is pronounced yi1 (first tone), but when placed before a fourth tone character, its pronunciation changes to yi2 (second tone). These pronunciation changes help facilitate smooth tonal lines in the production of sentences. (Fun fact, if you ever take a class in harmony/melody and form, you'll start appreciating what "good" vocal lines are vs "bad" ones (in the traditional sense) and it lines up a lot with how tone-changes work in Mandarin).

This is essentially what is happening here, BUT in addition to this, the tone is an indication of the emotional aspect of the character 欸, which is merely a sound indicating some kind of latent emotion. Ei1 to call somebody, Ei2 to ask a question in surprise, Ei3 to indicate some kind of indignation, Ei4 to indicate some kind of affirmation. Essentially, this is the kind of tone that would help emphasize precisely how the speaker is feeling to the listener.


What are some popular Engish songs that have Mandarin translations?

Just off the top of my head:-
https://youtu.be/RC29_-aaeC0 (Tennessee Waltz)
https://youtu.be/DVwc-aJ6PSI  (Oh, Carol)
https://youtu.be/uqsOqk58UoM  (Sha Lalala)
https://youtu.be/vlhdL7Woovs  (More than I can say)


Is the Cantonese diminutive (粒) the same as the Mandarin (子)?

No.

“鸡粒” is common Chinese, means "diced chicken", “粒” means diced small cubes of meat.

“鸡子” is Cantonese, means the kidney, a viscera of chicken.

Actually different things. But “鸡粒”, “鸡籽”, and “鸡子” may all mean the egg of chicken in loosely.


Why is 条 the measure word being used in 那条街名是以一个将军的名字命名的

You are right, the correct classifier for 街名 is 个

那条街是以一个将军的名字命名的. would be the most natural way to speak.

We say 命名街道 (give name to a street), not 命名街名 (give name to a street name)

~

If you must use 街名, the correct sentence would be 那个街名是跟據一个将军的名字而起的

We say 起街名 (decide a street name), not 命名街名 (give name to a street name)


Ok, I believe these are the colloquial expressions that you are looking for:

我找了一找才找到。
我找了半天才找到。
我找了好久才找到。

The key word is 才, which is the closest to the English words "until" / "till".

No. 1 is perhaps the best match. "找了一找" simply means "looked for" or "searched", without any indication of time frame.


I would say that you are correct. The term "filial piety" is not widely known or commonly discussed in the US except when learning about Chinese culture specifically (perhaps Japanese and Korean culture as well, as they were strongly influenced by Chinese culture in the pre-modern era). The notion of "devotion to family" is much more accessible to a US audience and filial piety is not a familiar concept, so I'm not surprised Disney presented it this way, even though it is not correct.
In my experience, in English the meaning of 孝 is given as filial piety, which I understand to be a complicated concept with a long history involving respect for one's parents and elders in accordance with Confucian teachings and tradition, which entails certain duties, obligations, rituals, and modes of speech and behavior. In Chinese history classes I attended at my university in the US and in Chinese textbooks used at Chinese universities to teach foreign students Chinese, 孝 was discussed in the context of Confucianism and what it means for people to behave properly (ethically, even).

In the history class we briefly discussed 悌 as well.
The textbook used in one of the Chinese classes at 北京语言大学 I attended is 阶梯汉语·中级口语3. One of the new words taught in lesson 4 (p. 32) is 孝敬, whose meaning is given as "present gifts to show one's respect"

To get a sense for how this concept is understood in the West, here is an article from the Greater China Journal: Filial Piety (孝) in Chinese Culture.


References: north-eastern Mandarin: xier meaning 'great/awesome/excellent'

Could the word be 玄 （xuán)? In Beijing, it means "improbable" or "unbelievable", "out there". If spoken with a Beijing "er" attached, it sounds like xuán-er.


Can one chinese character represent many different words?

Yes.

处 also has two different readings:

  chǔ

and

  chù

with many different meanings.

chǔ for instance means:

  to reside / to live / to dwell / to be in / to be situated at / to stay / to get along with / to be in a position of / to deal with / to discipline / to punish

while chù means:

  place / location / spot / point / office / department / bureau / respect / classifier for locations or items of damage: spot, point

This is not uncommon, especially with simplified characters as sometimes multiple traditional characters get simplified into the same singular character, you just need to know when what means what.


Place to convert English sentence to interlinear gloss with Chinese sentence

I wish I had seen this question sooner since this is exactly what I use Yabla for:


Nanjing has a very good education environment. Most of the famous universities of Jiangsu province locate at Nanjing. So Mandarin is wildly used in Nanjing and most of the young people are well educated there (this means they can speak English). They may speak Nanjing dialect with their parents and friends, but they can also switch to Mandarin as soon as they find you are speaking Mandarin. Additionally, my hometown is a small city adjacent with Nanjing and our dialect is very close to Nanjing dialect, but I found both these two dialects are quite close to Mandarin. So just go there with your Mandarin, don't worry! (I know little about French but I still went to the Quebec city last year!). And If you found some trouble, ask for help to the young people there, they can speak Mandarin and even English!

By the way, the 'l' and 'n' issue you referred is true about the dialect. However, most of Nanjing people won't do this when they are trying to speak Mandarin seriously.


How to translate 乎 in classical Chinese texts?

is it always true

no. only when 乎 is at the end of a verse, then it might be interpreted as doubt, rhetorical question, or guess.

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cbdic/gsweb.cgi?ccd=hj97ow&o=e0&sec=sec1&op=v&view=0-1

in the verse

  而有以通乎性命之全

"乎" means 於, a preposition (at, in, from, . . . etc).

  惟人也．得其形氣之正．是以其心最靈．而有以通乎性命之全

i would suggest to interpret the verse as:

only the homo sapiens (惟人也),

get (得) the upright (正) body (形) & vital energy (氣),

therefore (是以), its (其) mind (心) is the most (最) divine; (靈)

and (而) depends on [such upright body and vital energy] (有以), [homo sapiens ] succeed (通) in (乎) the complete (全) life (性命)

have fun :)


Whats the difference between 抛弃，放弃，舍弃, 丢弃？

I think 抛弃 and 丢弃 sometimes can substitute each other, and they are used for something that you dont want anymore.

抛弃 might have the sense that you abandon something but you might not be supposed to do so.
For example, a husband 抛弃 his wife because his wife has some diseases.

For 舍弃, it is used for something that you don't want to abandon but you have to.

For example, when you pack up your stuff to move to a new place, but your luggage is too heavy. So in order to lighten the burden, you may have to 舍弃 something that is not so important to you.

For 放弃, I think it is more used for giving up an abstract concept, such as your dream, your plan, your goal, etc, but not a physical object.


Complete rule of tones change is not a simple subject which can be understood just b a list. But there is a simple one I think might be suitable for you. http://www.trinity.edu/sfield/chin1501/ToneChange.html

Plus, if you are a foreigner who want learn Chinese without academic purpose, I think it's enough since many Chinese cannot use tones change complete correctly.


How to say "self-fulfilling prophecy" in Mandarin/Cantonese?

self-fulfilling = 自证

Here, self = 自. You might see other place translate self to 自己。 That's because, in ancient Chinese, every word has only one character. In current Chinese, most words contain more than one character, such as 自+己 -> 自己。 But when in words that format as combinations, every word only use their original character. That is 自 here.

Fulfilling has no exact translation in chinese. So 证, which means proven, is used here.

Here is something more.

"If you remain this negative, your thoughts will become a self-fulfilling prophecy."

You can translate it word by word：如果你继续这么悲观，你的思想会陷入自证预言.

If this is a conversation between native speakers, a more common way is using idioms, something like 智子疑邻 or 杯弓蛇影。


Why the long-short romanization system (长短音) for Chinese dialects?

This is a bit off topic from the category of Chinese, but most languages that have never been written before (i.e. they were spoken languages with no writing systems) do not choose the IPA or even the most common writing system used in their area (often seen as the alphabet/language of the colonizer, which may be the sentiment reflected in China on a low-level with the Mandarin-speaking Han representing the colonizers) to transcribe their language for the first time. Often, they use something distinct in order for readers to know in which language it is to be pronounced (in the case of Chinese) and to proudly display their distinct heritage.

If you want more information about this, there are many linguistics papers on the topic of the choice of alphabet for Haitian Creole, which is currently being debated at the national level in Haiti. Long story short, the choice of alphabet has more to do with heritage and aesthetics than logic and science... those dictionaries are using 长短音 to differentiate themselves from ones for more established dialects.


Writing critique request: the almost imperceptible effects of Zhou Ziwang's injection

Other than little wordy, and sometimes choosing less effective words, there's no major mistake in this piece.

Suggestions:

其实当时那支注射器有意外甚至不易察觉的影响 (ambiguous word: 意外 can also means "accidental". If you meant 'surprising' or "unexpected", it should be "意料之外" or "意想不到" ) --> 其实当时那支注射器(对我)有意想不到，甚至不易察觉的影响 ( add '对我' to identify the object that's being effected is 'me', or else we don't know if it is effecting the world or the future)
在做日常活动的过程中 (wordy) -->在日常活动的時候
我的行为几乎感觉不到任何变化 (wordy)-->我的行为几乎沒有任何变化
不过到现在我还不知道如何清楚的解释这样的感觉。 (used adjective when it should be an adverb) --> 但到现在，我还不知道如何清楚(地)解释这样的感觉
我想吃巧克时，身体似乎自动地反应 (missing the modal verb 'would'(會))--> 我想吃巧克时，身体似乎(會)自动地反应
而连吃巧克力以前我都感觉到很满意 (less effective word: '而连' (and even) should be replaced by a stand alone common word '甚至') ; (ambiguous word: '以前' can also mean 'previously' If you meant 'before' it should be 之前 or simply 前) and missing the modal verb 'would'(會)) --> (甚至在)吃巧克力前我都(會)感觉到很满意
这是我现在的解释，可是肯定是不准确的。(less effective word, '准确' mainly means accurate/ precise, for the meaning of 'correct' it is better to use '正确' ) --> 这是我现在的解释，可是肯定是不正确的。

Overall you've done a good job.

PS. Try to avoid run on sentence. You can break a long sentence up with commas, like in my suggestion here 不过到现在我还不知道如何清楚的解释这样的感觉 --> 但到现在，我还不知道如何清楚(地)解释这样的感觉 Just like taking a short pause in speech


You found a very interesting point. I thought about this for a few minutes, and I concluded that there may not be a straight-forward translation for this kind of sentences.

As you may have already known, in Chinese the adjective words/phrases/clauses are usually placed before the nouns they modify, therefore, if in your English sentence the relationship between your clause (A) and your antecedent (e.g. the man, B) cannot be translated into A 的 B, the thing becomes tricky.

If you want your translation to express exactly the same meaning, you can do things like:

我找到了他的包的（那个）男人
我给他翻译了原文的（那个）商人

It doesn't sound very elegant but the meaning is still clear to Chinese speaker, I believe. We say this kind of sentences have a strong 翻译腔, because normally (at least long time ago), Chinese people don't construct sentences this way. It sounds like something translated from English.

If you want your translation sounds natural, you will have to rephrase your sentence, depending on the context.

我找到的包的主人 (The owner of the bag I found. Avoiding "whose".)

让我给他翻译原文的商人 (The businessman who let me translate the text for him. Avoiding "whom".) or 需要我给他翻译原文的商人 (The businessman who needed me to translate the text for him.)

I don't major in Chinese or linguistics, so I just answered from a native speaker perspective. Maybe there are some better way to keep both structural consistency and elegancy - I don't know that though.

In my opinion, if you learn some language, you not only need to speak it, but also need to think in it. If you always think in English first and try to translate your thought into Chinese, you fall into this kind of situations. That's exactly what happened to me, sometimes when I speak English.


Is there any proof that learning ones own dialect will improve ability in Mandarin?

Even the statement that learning ones own dialect improves ability in Mandarin may be true, it doesn't necessarily apply to those who study Chinese as a second language.

If you're looking for ways to make learning Mandarin easier, my personal opinion is: don't torture yourself. I speak Shanghainese (a kind of Wu dialect) as my native dialect. While I am talking (in this dialect), my work mate who comes from Northern China doesn't understand what I am talking about at all. You can see the huge distinction between Chinese dialects!


Does China have any website like Youtube?


Proper way to say "I don't know what the problem is."

Paraphrase as 'Dunno where the problem lies, (but it won't start.)'

我（也）不知道问题出在哪里,（但是它启动不了。）