Are there text-based online roleplaying games which can be used for practicing Chinese writing?

I have been interested in table-top role-playing games since I was ten and ever since I started teaching Chinese, i've been interested in finding ways of combining the two. While my answer does not fully satisfy your wishes, I believe it might be as close as you are likely to get.

Together with Kevin Bullaughey, I have created a series of text games over at WordSwing, specifically aimed at students of Chinese. They work on the simple basis of presenting text describing setting, actions and dialogue, followed by a number of choices you can make as a player. This would qualify as a role-playing game since you assume the role of the main character in the story. It's akin to choose-your-own-adventure games, but since it's custom-built, there are lots of things we can do that can't be done in a standard interface (such as built in resource handling, options that are hidden, change or appear depending on other things happening in the game). We also provide recorded audio synced with the text (you can even play in audio-only mode, but I know you asked about writing).

These are several ways these can be said to be for students. First, the text is deliberately kept at a certain level, avoiding difficult language and keeping to common words and easy grammar. Second, choices are meant to actively probe your reading ability. You can't just click on random options and expect to make it to the end, because many choices are outright stupid if you read and understand what's going on.

This is focused on reading, not writing, which is why it doesn't fully answer your question. We did discuss having typed input similar to old-school DOS adventure games such as King's Quest, but we decided this was too hard to implement well and that clever multiple-choice implementation would be more practical and maybe also better.

The first game we created, 逃出去 (Escape) can be played in its entirety for free, so it's easy to check it out and see what you think. You can play in your browser or download the WordSwing app for Android or iOS.

Disclosure: As I said in the second paragraph, I'm recommending my own product here, although 逃出去 (Escape) is available for free. There might be other games out there that come closer to answering the question at hand, but if so, I haven't seen them.


Do 饶舌 and 说唱 mean the same thing in Chinese?

饶舌 and 说唱 do have the same meaning in Chinese when you are talking about music.
Taiwan hiphop singers translate rap to 饶舌.
Mainland ones translate rap to 说唱.
As an example:

mc_hotdog (from Taiwan) uses 饶舌 to refer to rap in his lyrics.

kindergarten killer（from the mainland）uses 说唱 to refer to rap in his lyrics.

The relation between 饶舌（Taiwan) and 说唱（Mainland）is just like the one between graduate (U.S.) and postgraduate (U.K.).
But when you are not just talking about music, 饶舌 have a wider definition, just as Raynoceros said.


the meaning of "grass dogs (dogs of grass)"

刍狗, is made of grass and used as sacrificial offering, metaphor for humble or useless things.

天地不仁，以万物为刍狗, means heaven and earth, i.e. the nature, is not benevolent and partial, it treats all things on the earth the same and fairly.

It just reflects the ideology of 道家(taoists); 顺其自然(let nature take its course, don't intervene too much).

http://baike.haosou.com/doc/6641911-6855725.html
http://baike.haosou.com/doc/5377628-5613764.html


It depends on the context of your conversation, but by literal translation it means 'if there really is', 如果 meaning if, 真的 meaning real/really, 有 meaning is/has/exists. In general you can understand it as 'if it really happens/exists/does' or 'if it happens for real'.


Chinese words for "everything can be viewed from a positive side"

凡事多往好的方面想。

by Zedong Mao （毛泽东）


The mysterious role of 占 in 对占人口绝大多数的民众来说，还是觉得有钱应该省着花

占人口绝大多数的 is a compound adjective for 民众. 人口 means population, noun. 绝大多数的 means most, adjective.

If you take away 占, you got to take away 人口 as well to keep it grammatically sound. If you remove 占 and leave 人口 there, it's like this English sentence, "For the people that most part of population, money should be spent wise." you feel a bit strange because something is missing in between "that" and "most".
That's easy, look at this:

  占全年国内消费水平很大比例的是节假日的消费 (Simplified)

  占全年國內消費水平很大比例的是節假日的消費 (Traditional)

  A very large portion of the national consumption is from that in holiday. (One possible English translation)

As for 省着花, 花 really mean to spend money. 省着, an adverb for 花, means "spend money for those necessary things only". The pattern of "verb + 着", also shown in another post, can be an adverb (as in 省着花) or indicating action in process as in 他正弹着吉他, tā zhèng tán zhe jí ta, "He's playing guitar now."

Need more help? Leave comment :D


工作详细情况 means work experience in detail.

For work experience, some people may just list their previous job titles only, like this:

2000年 － 2003年  在XX公司任人力部职员
2004年 － 2009年  在YY公司任人力部主任
2010年 － 至今    在ZZ公司任华北区总经理

This looks too simplified, so in you resume, it is sepecified as 工作 详细情况 , which means you will need to describe what you did and what you achieved in each job.


How to say "The general consensus is" or "In general, most people consider"

The general consensus is that most people consider Southerners to be friendly

人们普遍认为南方人很友好。


How did 所以 semantically shift from "what one uses" to mean "consequently"?

This is easier than it looks.
As Wikitionary says, 所 is a verbal prefix that reinforces the verb's agentive value. Usually the presence of 所 doesn't change the meaning of the sentence, but it marks a verb used as noun modifier with 的, and suggests that the modified noun is what receives the action Zdic also explains it clearly: "用在动词前，代表接受动作的事物". That's basically the definition of grammatical patient.
As an example:

我知道的事情 the things I know
我所知道的事情 the things which I know

The meaning of the second example with 所 is essentially the same, and the English translation actually does not differ. But 事情 is now marked as the patient of 知道, the role of 知道的 as a noun modifier is stressed, which you can render in English with an additional relative pronoun (which, that, etc.).
So as a standalone, the construction 所 + V + 的 is often translated as "that which is V", and that is the passive participle Wikitionary talks about.
Now 以 in Chinese is a bit harder to fully understand for new learners, because it doesn't have one single translation in English. According to the context, it can be rendered as "for", "as", "in order to" "to take/use". Once you get very familiar with how 以 is used, you might find a common denominator, close to "to take as".
So if you put those two together 所以 is literally something like: "that which is taken as", which shifts naturally to "therefore" -> "consequently".

因为我不舒服，所以我不想出门
I'm not feeling well, [that which is taken as = therefore] I don't want to go out


Can anyone explain the pictograph representation of 巴拉斯 please?

巴 (u+5df4) originally means "legendary gigantic snake", when it eats an elephant, it looks 3 year to excrete the skeleton of the elephant.

http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=巴

拉 (u+62c9) originally means "break", it does not mean "like a crops (wheat) and barn"

http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=拉

斯 (u+65af) originally means "cleave with an ax"

http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=斯

these these characters have difference meanings now, the above explanation would be correct only in the context of etymology.

well, "巴拉斯" together, sounds similar to your name "bharath"; at least in cantonese. interesting.

have fun :)


Notations For Typo Corrections In Chinese Texts

These are the notations for corrections in text. What you are asking for is No.4.


Is it acceptable to omit 来 in 起来 as a direction complement?

起

  （用在动词后，表示动词的趋向）:

  hold high the flag; raise the flag;

  举起旗子

  take up arms;

  拿起武器

As you can see, the verb should be followed by 起 when there is an object at the end, for example 拿起武器. When there's no object, 起来 should be used, e.g. 拿起来. Basically, you can consider 拿起 as a transitive and 拿起来 as an intransitive.

You can also use 把. It will be like 把...拿起来. e.g.  把武器拿起来.

So, 孩子们渐渐建立起对他的信任 can be paraphrased as 孩子们渐渐把对他的信任建立起来.


You probably mean 国家 instead of 家国. 家国 doesn't exist.

你是哪国家人吗  is not correct (nor is 你是哪国家人), but you can say 你是哪国家的人 or 你是哪国家的 (meaning: from which country are you).

In 你是哪国人, 国 is not really  on its own. You can treat 哪国人 as a unit (which is a short form for 哪国家的人).

In oral Chinese 国 is seldomly used on its own (but every character however has a meaning, and 国 on its own also means country), but is used in for example 国内 (inside this country, typically used to mean within China, 内 means inside) or 国旗 (national flag, 旗 means flag). The list of such examples is long.


Why is the Proto-Sino-Tibetan word for "eight" reconstructed as "triat", when in nearly all Sino-Tibetan languages it begins with either 'p' or 'b'?

There has never been an attempt in reconstructing Proto-Sino-Tibetan (PST, Chin. 漢藏語) for eight. What is shown in the link is perhaps a mislabel for another reconstruction, or an unreferenced, dubious attempt in PST reconstruction.

There were only five referenced Proto-Tibeto-Burman (PTB, Chin. 藏緬語) reconstructions. PTB for eight is *b-r-gyat ⪤ *b-g-ryat. They are recognised as cognates.

The difference between PTB and PST is that Sinitic languages are excluded in the reconstruction of PTB. That does not mean, however, that there is no comparability between PTB and Chinese, as shown below.

From Wiktionary: 'This is a doubly prefixed root, justified mainly by Written Tibetan, Jingpho and Rgyalrong forms. As expected, this root was particularly prone to metathesis and preemption. The Chinese form, for example, shows preemption of the rest of the initial cluster by the labial prefix, resulting in a *pr- > p- initial.' (As in pˤret > peat from Old to Middle Chinese.)


What effective methods exist for visual learners to get Chinese grammar?

Full Disclosure: I haven't tried this for studying Chinese but in English it seems to work quite well. I haven't a Doctorate in Educational Sciences or the like but have been teaching grammar to all ages and many nationalities of close to 10 years.
The method is based on Cuisenaire rods(coloured rods of differing lengths, the smallest being 1cm long(white) and the longest being 10cm(orange) the intermediate rods increasing in length one cm at a time.) While originally these rods were used to explain complicated mathematical concepts visually, Caleb Gattegno brought this concept initially to teaching literacy, and then to learning foreign languages. It came to be part of a teaching system called the Silent Way(since then has largely fallen out of favour.)
OK, done with history. Gattegno used these rods to replace parts of speech(or syllables for sentence stress) and then would drill the students on proper placement. With my students, and a handful of different colour pens, we would construct sentences based on colour. The learning curve was steeper than many educationalists had claimed and I finally found it worked for extremely visual learners, and those with ADD(in my experience two boys 13 and 15 years old).
As an example take the sentence:

我想买几个方形的扣子

Since we already would have established the parts of speech as having corresponding colours, for the sake of the example.

我 is blue
想买 is green
几个 is orange
方形 is orange
扣子 is red

So when you see this sentence your mind should automatically associate the part of speech/colour with that position and by imagining other words of the same colour inhabiting those regions reinforces the structure(drills).
Perhaps these structures will help to the explanation:

他把他的报纸给我
他给我他的报纸

把has no colour as a participle.(In English, I left the prepositions, articles and conjunctions, etc. black(vid. no special colour)) Because I am familiar with these colours I can easily see the grammatical difference. My tutor can explain the difference semantically.
I don't believe I can add colour here and I haven't found an organization online that is using the same methodology. I am currently training my Chinese tutor in this method because I find I know it very well and it works for me. Also, I have helped many adults pass government exams on grammar and writing using this method. As you said, I feel textbooks hinder rather than help and have slowly been building my own "textbook" according to this and other methods I like for myself.


Express that an event in the past could have occurred, if not for some condition

All the conjunctions in the examples you stated are applicable in Chinese

but = 但是/但
Example: [本來][X][但][Y] = [originally][X][but][Y]

~

if not for = 如果不是/如非 (literary)
Example: [如非][Y][那][X] = [If not for] [Y] [then] [X]

~

unfortunately = 可惜
Example: [應該是/應該會][X][可惜][Y] = [should be][X][unfortunately][Y]

~

however = 不過/只不過
Example: [原本][X][不過][Y] = [originally][X][however][Y]

X = event should had happened; Y = reason it didn't happened
Other example:
[明明][X][卻][Y] = [clearly][X][but][Y]
[本應][X][最後][Y]= [originally should][X][at the end][Y]
Y= what ended up happened instead
Depend on the context, some conjunctions are interchangeable
Examples:
[本來][X][但][Y] --> [本來][X][不過][Y]
[應該是][X][可惜][Y] --> [應該是][X][不過][Y]


This is one of those cases where the flexibility of English to simply invent words that are intelligible makes the translation job a lot harder. Thus, there's probably no good answer because it will be a case-by-case basis.

Because de- has a plethora of meanings, there will be a plethora of translations. For de- in the sense of "removal," like "de-caffinated," 去 will likely be used (去咖啡因). In the sense of separation or division，like delamination，you might see 分 (分层).
Because de- is a latin suffix, it shows up more frequently in scientific or technical words that might have their own way to be expressed in Chinese, such as de-emphasize = 淡化.


Which pronunciation of 云 (yun) is correct?

You can go to 汉典 to listen the sound files.

Both 拼音 and 注音 pronounce the same sound.

This is the correct one.


Is the '之' in '要之何用' also regarded as a possessive article?

之 following a noun is a possessive marker
之 following a verb  '要'(have) here is a pronoun for 'it'

More examples of 之 as a pronoun when it follows a verb:

叫他进来然后杀(之) - ask him to come in and then kill (him)

没有酒就以水代(之) - If there's no wine, use water to substitute (it)

要(钱)何用? = having (money) for what use?
要(之)何用? = having (it) for what use?
'之' is the pronoun for 'money'


Can you please help me identify this type of tea?

(SC: Simplified Chinese;
TC: Traditional Chinese)

景谷 (SC and TC)

生态大树茶 (SC)

中國雲南勐河茶廠出品 (TC)

中國雲南省景谷縣
勐河茶廠出品
Jinggu County, Yunnan Province, China
Meng-he Tea Factory produced

生态 ecological
大树茶 big-tree tea


What are these characters from this chopsticks packaging?

御 royal; imperial

箸 chopsticks

The dot at the right-hand side of the 者 component is due to different typefaces.


How to say this specific number in chinese?

3,567,000 separated every 3 digits in English
356,7000 separated every 4 digits Chinese
三百五十六万七千


How to say "productive" in Mandarin and Cantonese? Google Translate says 生產的

If you want to say that someone is productive, as in your example, you are basically saying that they are very efficient, therefore 效率 is the best term.

  你效率很高 you are very productive (efficient)

In your example: 先别拖延，你就可以提高（你的）效率。

For inanimate objects, 生产力 (productive strength) is the way to go, only difference being in Chinese you are using it as a noun.

  中国的生产力很高 China is a very productive country


What famous word or phrase can I use to tell people my surname is 袁?

Just mention a famous person with that surname, e.g.

袁紹 from the Three Kingdoms
袁崇煥, patriot, martyr, and brilliant military commander who was instrumental in repelling the Jurchens for the Ming Dynasty
袁世凱, first president of the Republic of China


殊: Why 歺(歹)+朱? How did it get to mean special (in a good way)?

I haven't found any reference on it, so I come out with my own ideas.

Phonetic loan. In the beginning the ancestors created the character 殊, but the same sound also means "special" to them. The ancestors are as lazy as us, so instead of creating a new character, they borrowed the character 殊 to fill the blank. This is not as likely as my next speculation.

Amelioration, a form of semantic change in which a word's meaning is changed from bad to good:

Originally 殊 means to put to death, which is an extreme measure, hence very and overly.
殊 puts life to death, hence different.
If it gets to "very" and "different", there is no way to prevent it to mean special.

This, I think, is probably the case. For comparison, the English word dead could also mean very, completely, or exactly, all positive meanings.


Is the meaning of 把人的牙笑掉 exactly the same as 'laugh your head off'?

Is "laughing one's head off" the exact equivalent of 把人的牙笑掉? Of course not.

The original line from《紅樓夢》goes like this:

  探春黛玉都笑道：「誰不是玩？難道我們是認真做詩呢？要說我們真成了詩，出了這園子，把人的牙還笑掉了呢！」

David Hawkes, published, translation in The Story of The Stone Vol. II reads like this:

  ‘Good heavens! we only write for the fun of it ourselves,’ said Tan-chun. ‘You surely don’t imagine that what we write is good poetry? If we set ourselves up to be real poets, people outside this Garden who got to hear of it would laugh so loud that their teeth would drop out!’

H. Bencraft Joly's, published, translation in The Dream of the Red Chamber reads:

  Tanchun and Daiyu both smiled. “Who doesn’t go in for these things for fun?” they asked. “Is it likely that we improvise verses in real earnest? Why, if anyone treated our verses as genuine verses, and took them outside this garden, people would have such a hearty laugh at our expense that their very teeth would drop.”

Both of these, published, translations opt for "teeth dropping out" from laughter.

Yang Hsien-Yi and Gladys Yang's, published, translation in A Dream of Red Mansions writes:

  “Who's not doing it for fun?” countered Tan-chun and Tai-yu. “We don't write seriously either. If we really set up as poets, people outside the Garden would split their sides laughing.”

Here it is translated “split their sides laughing.”

Here are some other sample translations from 91dub:

  布兰丁斯城堡 第一季
  people will laugh.
  人们准会笑掉大牙

  天堂真的存在
  will get me laughed out of this town.
  只会让人们笑掉大牙

  摩登家庭 第七季
  sitting at their lawn chairs, laughing their asses off
  坐在躺椅上笑掉大牙

  绝望主妇 第八季
  Besides trying not to laugh my ass off?
  除了忍住不让自己笑掉大牙外吗

  暂告安全
  When we heard what Docheski did to you,I mean,I had to laugh.
  听说多切斯基干的事 我都要笑掉牙了

It seems it can also be interchanged with 下巴:

  达·芬奇的恶魔 第一季
  He'll laugh his arse off with the rest of them.
  他会跟其他人一样笑掉下巴

"Laugh your head off" is, though, a great translation, but it could be interpreted in a number of ways.


紐約 in Cantonese is nau2 joek3 (j- in jyutping is pronounced like y-). That's the closest Cantonese immigrants could come to New York, I suppose...

There aren't many syllabes in Cantonese that could match York:

jaak [ja:k]
jik
joek [jøk]
juk [jok] --> that last one could have been a better match.


In the Mainland China, we say"打游戏", more information about the"打機" can be found here: http://evchk.wikia.com/wiki/打機


As verbs, what’s the difference between 经历 and 通过?

经历 (v): to experience; to go through.  e.g. 经历人生起伏 (experience life's up and downs)

通过 (v): to pass through ; to get past. e.g. 通过隧道 (pass through the tunnel)

通过 (v): to pass; to adopt.  e.g. 通过法案 (to pass/ to adopt a bill)

Edit:

  经历 translated as "go through" is referring to 'go through an experience'

Example:

广岛曾经历过核弹轰炸 - Hiroshima experienced (went through) nuclear bombing

人人都会经历人生起伏 - Everyone will experience  (go through) life's up and downs

  通过 translated as is referring to 'go through a physical path or go/ pass through an object'

Example:

火車通过隧道 - the train passes through a tunnel


Chinese characters to "xn--[....]"? DNS?

It's Punycode, used in URLs to encode Unicode as ASCII.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punycode


For your example,

  我们一块去 or 我们一起去

they are of exactly the same meaning. One slightly difference could be that the latter one is more formal (used in written Chinese) while the former is rather oral. And in spoken Chinese, we usually add an "儿话音" to the end of “一块”:

  一块儿 (Note: the Pinyin is Yi Kuair, not Yi Kuai Er)

So when referring to together, you can either use 一起 and 一块儿, but I prefer to use 一块儿 in the daily life.

In other occasions, 一块 can be of other meanings. For example,

  一块钱 means "RMB One Yuan"
  一块蛋糕 means "a piece of cake"

一起 also has some other meanings:

  一起车祸 means "a case of car accident"

Here 块 and 起 are measure words.


To my best knowledge it's Chinese puff (pastry) or Sou (transliteration of 酥). These words are not super accurate translation though.


Why west and wine vessel/10 th terrestrial branch are similar?

The first thing to point out is that both west for 「西」 and 10th terrestrial branch for 「酉」 are both rebuses or phonetic loans. This means that the shape of the character does not have anything to do with the meaning of the word that it represents.
The character 「西」 represented a word which sounded similar or sounded the same to an existing word meaning west, therefore it was also used for the word west, and the same idea goes for 「酉」.

時期
「西」
「酉」

商
甲　前5.13.2合集34340
甲　乙9021合集20856

西周
金　伯⿹戈冬簋集成4115
金　三年壺集成9726

戰國
晉・璽印　3966古璽彙編
燕・璽印　3447古璽彙編

秦
簡　日書乙種163睡虎地秦簡
簡　日書乙種225睡虎地秦簡

西漢
隸　二年酒鋗
隸　新承水槃

東漢
隸　史晨碑
隸　韓仁銘

—
楷
楷

The similarity in appearance between 「西」 and 「酉」 is nothing but a long history of shape stylisation.
「西」 originally depicted a bird's nest, and this word is now written as 「棲」 (Baxter-Sagart OC: /*s-nˤər/). The character 「西」 was borrowed to mean west (also /*s-nˤər/) since the earliest traceable inscriptions, but this borrowed usage is a phonetic loan.
「酉」 originally depicted a container for storing alcohol. This was very early on extended to mean wine, alcohol in general, now written 「酒」 (/*tsuʔ/). An abundance of characters containing 「酉」 or a derivative of 「酉」 as a semantic component have something to do with alcohol or fermentation:

「醬」 fermented soybean sauce
「尊」 ceremonial wine vessel > wine ritual > respect
「釀」 to ferment
「醉」 to be drunk

The character 「酉」 was also very early on used for one of the terrestrial branches (/*N-ruʔ/), but this usage is also a phonetic loan.

See e.g. 《甲骨文合集》37986 for a record of the calendar days inscribed on an oracle bone. In this sample, 「酉」 is the bottom-most character on the right-most column.

References:

季旭昇《說文新證》
小學堂字形演變
國學大師

郭沫若《甲骨文合集》
中國社會科學院考古研究所《殷周金文集成》


How does ‘三神不挂二神’ come to mean 'unconcentrated' in this sentence?

首先，这是一个方言用语（很可能是四川一带某地的方言），并不是汉语常用的规范用语，但用在这部小说里是正确的，反映出了人物所处的地域，正确地体现了人物的性格特征。

“三神不挂二神”，意思的确是“精神不集中，不安心，不专注”，神指的是“精神”，比如“心神不定”，“神智恍惚”等等。

其实“三神不挂二神”和汉语中的一个成语“三心二意”是相通的，可以将其视为一种方言变体。

“三神”是古汉语中的习用词，可有很多意思。“三”往往用于实指或虚指数量，如“三元”、“三军”、“再三”，等等。

而“三”和其他数目字又常常连用构词，比如“二”或“两”就常常用来搭配构成习语，如“三心二意”、“三长两短”、“三天打鱼两天晒网”等等，这里也是类似的用法，是某地的方言而已。

i.e.

First of all, this is a dialectal phrase (it's very likely that it is a dialect of the Sichuan province), and is anything but a common standard Chinese phrase, but used in this novel it is proper, it mirrors the area the characters live in, it properly reflects the characters' natural characteristics.

Indeed, the meaning of “三神不挂二神” is "not concentrated, with mind not set into what one is doing", 神 indicates the mind, as for example in "心神不定” (uncertain in mind)，“神智恍惚" (with an absent mind, distracted), and so on.

Indeed “三神不挂二神” is related with a Chinese 成语 (saying), “三心二意” (lit. three hearts and two thoughts, i.e. half-hearted, shilly-shallying), you can view it as a dialectal variant.

“三神” is a common phrase in Classical Chinese, and can have many meanings. “三” (3) is often used to really or figurately mean a quantity, as in “三元” (3 yuan)、“三军” (lit. three armies, i.e. lower upper and middle army)、“再三” (lit. again 3, i.e. over and over again), and so on.

And “三” is often linked with other number characters to form a compound word, e.g. “二” or “两” (2) is often used to pair up [with “三”] and constitute an idiom, as in “三心二意” (lit. three hearts and two thoughts, i.e. half-hearted, shilly-shallying), “三长两短” (lit. three long and 2 short, i.e. unexpected misfortune), “三天打鱼两天晒网” (three days catch fish, two days dry the net, i.e. not persevere in doing something, not do something to the end), and so on, here it is also a similar usage, it's a dialect of some place and that's all.


What is the difference between 词 and 汉字?

汉字 means character while 词 means word. A word can consists of a single character (which is very common in old literature), or more than one characters.


Chinese for "patch" in the sense of "software patch"

It's 补丁. Like the English word "patch", this word can also mean "a piece of cloth used to cover holes in clothes when they get worn".


*憋 means 'to hold back'--  most commonly: 'holding breath' (憋氣) or 'holding back urine' (憋尿)

In the case of '脸憋得通红', '憋' should be short for 憋氣 (holding breath), (too upset to breath)

脸(face)

憋(holding back)

得(to the point of)

通(completely)

红(red)

To translate this phrase literally would be  'face turns red from holding back' .

If you want to be precise, you can write 'face turns red from holding breath'. but it is not good English.

I think the best way to translate this phrase is to interpret the reason of holding breath directly, and write: "face turns red from embarrassment" (having difficulty to breath due to embarrassment)

Similarly, if the reason for the redden face was 'anger' the translation should be "face turns red from anger"


people or generations to adapt to the given situation or environment

靠山吃山，靠海吃海

People who live near mountains make a living in the mountains,  people who live near the sea make a living in the sea

Notice: 靠 here doesn't mean depend on. It means lean against = near; close to

因地制宜

根據環境的實際情況制定相應的辦法 - Formulate corresponding measures according to the actual situation of the environment

When a group migrated to a new place, they have to adapt to the environment and adjust their way of life. That's 因地制宜.
For personal situation:
執生

何谓执生: 简单而言，就是「随机应变」，「伺机行事」。即在事前没有准备或临时有变时，要懂得灵活异变。

To put it simply, it means "acting according to circumstances" and "waiting for opportunities." That is, when there is no preparation beforehand or when there is a temporary change, you must know how to be flexible and make necessary changes.

執 = hold = be mindful of
生 = unfamiliar (element)
執生 = caution and prepare to react
~
穷则变，变则通
Adapt when options are exhausted. The problem will be solved if you adapt


Meaning of 的 and 之 when both are used in the same sentence

之 is the classical Chinese counterpart of 的 in modern Chinese

In classical Chinese, writers rarely use compound words if single character words with the same meaning is available.

  的(昏沉)

  之(感)

  之(事)

  的(說明)

Notice 的 apply to two characters compound words and 之 apply to single character words.

If you switch  the single character words 感 and 事 into compound words 感覺 and 事情, you should also change the classical 之 to the contemporary 的

  的(感覺)

  的(事情)

Using 之 with compound words like "之感覺" or "之事情" is not considered grammatically wrong, just sound awkward. It is all about style

Changing '之事' to '的事' is fine, because '事' can replace '事情' in modern Chinese. e.g. "今天的(事情)" can be reduced to "今天的(事)"

However, changing '之感' to '的感' is considered a grammar mistake because we don't use '感' to replace '感覺' in modern Chinese. e.g. "痛苦的(感覺)" cannot be changed to "痛苦的(感)"

  「對於混沌而迷離(1. 的昏沉)(2. 之感)(3. 之事)後(4. 的說明)」

#1 and 4 are common modern Chinese; #2 and 3 are classical style Chinese.

Yes, we do routinely mix classical style into modern Chinese in our writing and daily conversation. It is all about style, four 的 in a row "...的昏沉的感覺的事情後的說明" make the sentence sounds confusing  -  a bad run on sentence

"...的昏沉之感之事後的說明"  is also a run on sentence
, but at least it is not that bad with different styles mixing in.

Even "...的昏沉之感覺之事情後的說明" is better than "...的昏沉的感覺的事情後的說明"


What is the meaning and translation of my niece's name?

Probably it is because it was a leap year (闰年). 闰 and 润 have same pronunciation, which is similar to English word 'ruin' (even the tone is the same) but shorter.
闰 means intercalation and 润 means moist, smooth literally and nurturing, nourishing/nourished prosperity and affluence figuratively. 润 is often a good word and commonly used in people and organization names.


Yes 节奏 is a noun, adding 有 making it adjective, i.e. 有节奏的 (rhythmical). And 有节奏地 (rhythmically) is an adverb.

There are other examples like

有身份(的) (respectable)
有目的(的) (purposeful / purposive)
有人气(的) (popular)


What's the best way to say "Chinese speaker" in the sense of "a person who speaks Chinese"?

I think the challenge lies with how the English word "speaker" does not translate well to Chinese, in the context you describe.

From the dictionary, we can see that speaker in the sense of language ability simply translates to 說。I would argue that adding 會 or 能，thereby making it 他會說法語 or 他能說法語 , is giving more information than required. Perhaps depending on context, it would be necessary to respond this way, but a simple 他說法語 is a short and complete sentence on its own.

Also, I would like to point out that there are certain pockets of the world where "Chinese" refers to both Mandarin and Cantonese, and a follow up question to "Do you speak Chinese?", is, "Which one?"

In certain industries, multilingual employees will wear badges indicating what languages aside from standard assumed (Eg. English in North America, Japanese in Japan, etc.) can be used for conversation. Sometimes, instead of just the name of the language, you can see "精通" as well. While it should translate to proficient, that's often a generous description and should actually be taken to mean "conversational in". Truthfully, "通曉" would be a better description.

On that thought, "通" could be what you're looking for if you're looking to describe someone's ability on paper. Think of an online dating site. A possible description could be: 女，25-35歲，通國、粵、英語。

Going back to the problem of "speaker" not translating well to Chinese for a moment, notice that there isn't a single character to mean "person orating" or "person giving a speech". See the dictionary link above. In Chinese, you typically need three characters; 演說家、演講者、說話者, with the last one being awkward but proper in my opinion.


What's origin of the Chinese word for "time" (时间)?

The '日' radical of '時' indicates it is related to 'sun; day'
The '寺' /si4/ part in '時'/shi2/ is the phonics component
(寺 means 'temple'.  As the phonics component of 時, the 'temple' meaning is irrelevant)

時 means 'time; hour'
四時也; 本春秋冬夏之稱。引伸之爲凡嵗月日刻之用
Originally meant four seasons (四時), extended to mean 'years, months, days and hours' (time)

~

間 means 'space between; interval'

~

時間 means 'time' (intervals of days, hours)

There are other time related words in Chinese:

光= light; 陰= shade
光陰= light and shade= day and night= time (cycle of days and nights)

~

寒= cold; 暑= hot
寒暑= cold and hot= winter and summer= time (cycle of seasons)

~

歲= year; 月= month
歲月= year and month= time (passing of years and months)

Jeremy wrote:

if there is a place where it is possible to know the origin of Chinese characters please share

You can find the origins of many Chinese characters in 說文解字 or just wiki it


百姓:

  释义：战国之前是对贵族的统称，战国之后，楚对平民的通称。《诗经·雅·天保》“群黎百姓”郑玄笺：“百姓，官族姓也。”
  现今指平民，普通人。也称“老百姓”。

  Before the Warring States period, it was a general term for nobles. After the Warring States period, Chu's general name for civilians. Today it refers to civilians, ordinary people. Also known as "The people"

Also: 黎民百姓

百姓 was originally referring to the noble clans united under 黃帝 against the 九黎族 under 蚩尤. After defeating  黎族, 黎民 was taken as slaves by the 百姓. Eventually, 黎民 and 百姓 merged to become 黎民百姓, meaning: "common people"

The relationship between 百姓 and 黎民 was similar to Romans and their slaves


I am Taiwanese, and I have even had this "餅乾" once.

Generally, we can refer to almost every snack that is made with flour and "cracks" in your mouth as 餅乾. So when you say you want some 餅乾, people will not only give you crackers, but also cookies, potato chips, wafer cookies, wafer rolls, mille feuille, etc. These things have their own specific names, of course!

Even these are 餅乾: Jagabee Fries, and Pocky.

I would also like to clarify that this sentence is not in Taiwanese. It is in Standard Chinese, but we have our own accent and wording. Just like the differences between American English and British English. We normally speak two languages in everyday life, i.e. Chinese and Taiwanese, a Min dialect.


Etymology of 于 and transformation to in, on, at, go to

Tl;dr: see points 1. and 6.

The explanation of function words (虛詞) is already difficult (see point 2.), let alone their etymology (history of grammaticalisation, i.e., how they evolved from words of content (實詞) to words that have grammatical function but little semantical significance; in this case, a preposition).

Historical annotations for function words were often noted to be inaccurate, even far-fetched (穿鑿附會).1 (Wonderful examples in the source, but I don't intend to list them here out of irrelevance to your question.)

Of course, in terms of etymology, there are fairly logical ones like 在 (it has the semantic component 土 which confers a sense of physical existence or presence, see here). But we don't expect a simple answer for 于: even its etymology as a content word – i.e., a wind instrument or the act of exhalation – is controversial, as you have duly mentioned.

One writes 由於 instead of 由于 in traditional Chinese. This further complicates your problem; how do we account for the fact that 於 is a pictogram of a bird (see here), and how do we explain 於/于 equivalence in modern Chinese? Phonetic loan is most likely, but still, there are people who consider 於/于 to be semantically distinct.2

For the reasons above, my sincere advice is that you abandon the etymological route of memorisation for function words and memorise them as-is through exposure.

In classical Chinese, 於 already possesses the meaning 由於 ('due to'):

業精於勤，荒於嬉。韓愈《進學解》
Progress in studies comes from diligence and is retarded by indolence.

The addition of 由 ('from'; see 由來, 緣由) is a way of limiting the polysemy of 於. When A emerges 'from' B, you establish causality between the two.

References
1 尹黎雲（1989）〈文言虛詞訓詁十弊〉辭書研究，4，69–77。
2 楊世鐵（2015）〈從“于 / 於”用法上的變化看複合詞“於是”的產生〉中國語文通訊，94(1)，27–43。 http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/ics/clrc/crcl_94_1/yang.pdf


How would I ask for a fade haircut plus a little bit off the top in chinese?

"The neckline grows way too low so I ask them to cut that to a certain
  length",

Try 把后面的头发往上剪 or 把后面的头发往上剃一些

  Cut the sideburns to a certain point

Try 把鬓角往上剃一些.


Two-character homonyms with same meaning

We call these words "异形词" in Chinese.

Definition from Wikipedia:

异形词，是指在普通话书面语中并存并用的同音（指声母、韵母和声调完全相同）、同义（指理性意义、色彩意义和语法意义完全相同）而书写形式不同的词语。例如：“笔画”和“笔划”、“按语”和“案语”、“唯一”和“惟一”等等。实际的使用当中，除了书写的差异之外，它们还有使用频率的不同，但是一般不会造成误解。

中华人民共和国教育部和国家语言文字工作委员会2002年3月31日发布试行了《第一批异形词整理表》。

在繁体中文里面，异形词现象也是存在的。而汉字简化并没有完全消除这些现象，所以从繁体中文中继承也是异形词的主要来源之一。

Here's a link for 《第一批异形词整理表》:
http://www.edu.cn/20011228/3015609.shtml

And there is 《264组异形词整理表（草案）》 as a supplement : http://dwz.cn/FR5gW

To look for papers on this subject, just search "异性词" on google scholar or other databases and you can find plenty:


Can someone explain 搜噶斯耐 in internet speak?

搜噶斯耐 = そうですね (sou desu ne)

I'm not sure how 噶斯 becomes desu but hey here we are.
Wiktionary

そうですね
1 that's so, isn't it so?
2 hmm (used to indicate that the listener has heard and understood)

针不戳 is a meme based off of poor pronunciation.

针不戳 = 真不错

The original sentence was:

“针不戳，住在山里面针不戳”

Now people say it wrong on purpose to reference it.


即将就任 is the term used to describe incoming. Example 即将就任的国家主席. Normally, the Chinese word for president is 总统 and 主席 is usually used to describe chairman or chairperson. I note that China has changed the title of 国家主席 from Chairman to President from 1983 onwards.

The appointment 国家主席 is rather symbolic in nature as the real power lies with other political appointments (中国共产党中央委员会总书记 and 中国共产党中央军事委员会主席) that usually precedes it. As of current, 习近平 has yet been appointed 国家主席, but he already held the two most important appointments.


What's the difference between 顿 and 道 as a measure word for meals?

一頓饭 is one meal whereas 一道菜 is one course or one dish.

這頓豐富的晚餐共有十二道菜。

This sumptuous dinner is made up of twelve courses.


Km/liter or liter/100km in China? 公里/公升？ 公升/100公里？

In China 升/百公里(L/100km) is used as the measurement of 油耗.

  油耗：俗称汽车在行驶完100公里的耗油量。
  耗油量参数是指汽车行驶百公里消耗的燃油量(以“升”「L」为计量单位)。

[ Oil consumption: Commonly known as the oil consumption for the car driving 100 kilometres.
The parameter of oil consumption is the consumed oil capacity for the car driving 100 kilometres (taking liter as the unit of measurement). ]


Is there a difference between 近几年 and 这几年？

As a native Chinese speaker, I would say that your feeling is correct.
Usually, "近几年" is used in the news - like in newspapers and on the news on TV or  in broadcasts.
Anyway, they are interchangeable, so don't worry about the usage of them. They have the complete same meaning.


Which website/service can give good example sentences in Chinese?

I don't usually answer my own questions, but I was just having a chat with a friend of mine who reminded me about Jukuu which works pretty well for what I was looking for, and has a pretty good selection of words available.

Jukuu:


What's the difference between 了, 著 and 到 when used as verb complements?

了 and 到/著(着) (zháo) serve different functions in sentences.

了 used after verbs implies a sense of "stopped, finished,completed, or done" on the action.

到 and 著(着) used after verbs indicate the result of the action.

  找(不/得)着, 找(不/得)到
  够(不/得)着, 够(不/得)到
  吃(不/得)着, 吃(不/得)到

I can't really tell the difference between 到 and 著(着), but it seems to me that 到 sounds a little bit more formal than 著(着).

In some cases, 著(着) seems emphasizing on the ability of doing something, while 到 seems focusing on the result of doing something.

  书架最上层的书，我够不着. vs 书架最上层的书，我够不到.
  我跟你说话呢，你听不着吗？ vs 我跟你说话呢，你听不到吗？
  家里有这么多活儿，你看不着吗？vs 家里有这么多活儿，你看不到吗？
  你打不着我. vs 你打不到我.
  找不着北了. vs 找不到北了.

But there are some cases where one is more likely used than the other.

Case A) In the following sentences, using 到 is good, but using 著(着) sounds awkward.

  这个办法, 我早想到了.
  演唱会的门票, 我终于搞到了.
  这个赌, 我最终赢到了.

Case B) In the following cases, only 到 is used.

  说到做到.
  说得到做得到.
  说得到做不到.
  请同学们说一下,你在这幅画中看到了什么, 又想到了什么.
  尽到责任.
  货送到了.
  话我是带到了啊，去不去由你.
  收到信了.
  受到好评.
  遭到敌人的伏击.

Case C) In the following examples, only 著(着) is used, to show something (not) getting into a continuous state.

  他睡着了.
  他翻来覆去睡不着.
  出了这么大的事他居然还睡得着觉.
  他的衣服烧着了.
  他把油灯点着了.
  油灯没油了，点不着了.
  他把炉子引着了.
  他把发动机起着了.
  他把打火机打着了.
  打火机坏了，打不着了.

Case D) In the following examples, only 著(着) is used.

  我爱怎样怎样，你管不着(or 你干涉不着).
  有话好好说，用不着这样鼻子不是鼻子脸不是脸的.
  这事儿还真让你说着了.
  哼！这次算你捡着了，下次可就没这么好运了！
  丈二和尚，摸不着头脑.

Case E) When there are place/time coming after verbs, only 到 is used.

  爬到树上
  睡到天亮
  牛皮吹到天上去了
  你这话说到我心里去了.
  你这话，说到点子上了.

Case F) When there are objects coming after verbs, in some cases both 到 and 著(着) are ok.

  我没碰着他. 我没碰到他.
  我没见着他. 我没见到他.
  我没买着那本书. 我没买到那本书.
  再也吃不着这样好吃的菜了. 再也吃不到这样好吃的菜了

But in the following cases 到 is more preferrable.

  听到一阵枪声
  看到一块巨石

By the way, 着 (zhe) is used to descibe a continuous action.

  看着她跳舞
  打着手势
  撇着嘴

Note: I polished my answer with some good points from other answers or comments.


What is the meaning and function of 幸 in "则幸分我一杯羹"?

幸 in this context means to hope for.

  吾翁即若翁。必欲烹爾翁，則幸分我一杯羹

  My old man is your old man. If you want to boil your old man alive, then I hope that you’ll share a portion of the soup with me.

As far as I can find, the original text says 必欲烹「而」翁 rather than 必欲烹「爾」翁, but the interpretation is the same.


You need to differentiate them as "话说" carries a different meaning. It is used when people want to start a topic. It is very commonly used in ancient novels, where authors always speak as a storyteller and use "话说" to begin the story. In informal conversations someone may also use it now (actually I used to say it many times), a little like "by the way" in English.

My personal opinion is that, practically you'd better avoid using "话说" in your writing when you are not a high level Mandarin writer, because I think "话说" is related to a specific writing style. You may use "话说" in informal conversations.


The official Chinese translation for "Россия" (Russia) is 俄罗斯.

The full name of Russia is "Российская Федерация" (Russian Federation), and the official Chinese translation is 俄罗斯联邦.

From the year 1721 to 1917, the dynasty of Russia was called "Российская империя" (Russian Empire), and the official Chinese translation for that dynasty is 俄罗斯帝国, or 俄国 for short.

As a result, don't use 俄国 unless you really mean the Russian Empire from the year 1721 to 1917.

Russian = the person of Russia = 俄罗斯人

Therefore, "I am Russian" should be "我是俄罗斯人".


Translating the last verse of “Si maritau Rosa” into Chinese

sorry, don't have any ideas about the song. UR translation is very good, except “quarter”、“desire”.
1、Quarter may mean “角落”、“世界”、“地盘” in this song, so "In my quarter" means "在我的世界，我的地盘，我的心里".
2、Desire is a very strong, and true feeling at present，but“愿望” in Chinese is just a hope for future, and isn't strong as desire in English. so "desire" means "渴望、强烈的欲望，强烈的愿望"
3、my translation for your reference:
If people bring an atturna* In my quarter|他哼着小情歌闯入我的世界。
A desire is born in me|炽热的心开始按耐不住，
I can no longer sleep|（使我）不再入眠。
I quietly open The door, making a little slit|忐忑地打开一丝心扉。
I see it's for Annuzza，And go back to crying|而他，只是路过。


Difference between 以前 and 前 to indicate past time?

I would say the more important difference is the one between 以前 and 之前。The difference between 以前 and 前 follows from it.
(Bonus 1: to do yoga is better rendered with 练瑜伽)
(Bonus 2: to me, the sentence sounds better with a modal 了, as 开始 semantics inherently convey a change. native speakers might expand on this)
之前 expresses anteriority in time relative to something else. It can be used when describing event sequences in a time different than the present. It can be translated in English with "earlier, prior to".

三个月之前我开始练瑜伽（了）
Three months earlier, I (had) started doing yoga (relative to another given time)

以前 expresses anteriority relative to the present. It can be translated with "ago".

三个月以前我开始练瑜伽（了）
Three months ago, I started doing yoga (relative to the current time)

Though this distinction is quite faint. It's possible to find 之前 used just like 以前, and vice versa.

Now 前 alone could be an abbreviation of either of those, so its actual meaning is dependant on the context. Generally speaking, I would say there is no appreciable difference between 前 and 以前, except maybe that the former appears more frequently in writing.
A quick Google search:

site: xinhua.net "一个月前" yields ~7000 results
site: xinhua.net "一个月以前" yields ~3000 results

This is empirically true also for other combinations. Another example:

site: xinhua.net "一年前" yields ~65k results
site: xinhua.net "一年以前" yields ~3300 results


What is the difference between 抽烟 (chōu yān) and 吸烟 (xī yān) which both pertain to smoking?

Basically they have the same meaning and could be used interchangeably.

The subtle difference is, 抽烟 is used in spoken language more than 吸烟. As you said, when asking people we usually say 你抽烟吗; of course 你吸烟吗 is correct too.

On the other hand, 吸烟 is more formal and used in written language more. As you've seen, for a slogon 吸烟 is used usually; 禁止抽烟 is not wrong, but not used in general.


Not awkward at all. It is in fact a common way to refer to 瑞. Another option is using 瑞雪兆丰年的瑞.


What is the difference between 完成 and 完毕?

完成 mainly mean 'accomplish' ('成' in '完成' means successfully or become) ; 完成 is mostly for 'something people do'
完毕 mainly mean 'end' ('毕' in '完毕' means 'end'); 完毕 is mostly for 'something that happens'
完毕 syn 完結 (ended)

完成 (v) to complete; to accomplish; to fulfill; to finish; to succeed
完成 can be used with or without object
E.g. 已经完成工作 and 工作已经完成 are both correct

~

完毕 (v) to end; to finish; to complete
完毕 doesn't take object
E.g. 學期完毕; 工作完毕 (you can't say 完毕學期 or 完毕工作) (學期  and  工作 are both subject in the phrase )

When you want to say an event is 'ended', you have to use 完毕

When you want to say a task is 'accomplished', you have to use 完成

Do not use 完成 for 'an event is ended' (學期完成 is incorrect, )


Is Chinese really that ambigous in oral communication?

The "Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den" (施氏食狮史) is an anormality or a very "perverse" case. Characters will often have the same pronunciation (see Does xiang (third tone) mean "want" or "echo"?). However, with some context, in the form of either a "term" or a phrase that the character forms, it is possible to distinguish between characters. If someone says sha1 si3, I can probably safely assume that they mean 杀死 (unless there's some other parsing of their speech that makes more sense). If someone says hua1 yuan2 zhong1, I can safely guess that they mean 花园中.

This is possible even if the tones are missing: for example, I could guess the characters for ru guo quan shi jie wo ye ke yi fang qi (i.e. 如果全世界我也可以放弃) even though I had only had heard this phrase in a song. (Singing will obscure the tones used for characters.)

Consequently, issues of ambiguity in oral communication are, to the best of my knowledge, limited to cases where context cannot be provided, such as with identifying the component characters of people's names. These can be rectified if the speaker provides example usage of each character (e.g. 元朝的元, 责任的任).


How to translate 就 into English as in 这就是个很好的例子?

就 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/808/

就 has many usages,  I would say "definitely" is applicable here:

这是个很好的例子 - This is a very good example

这(就)是个很好的例子 - This (definitely) is a very good example

是他偷了我的钱 - He is the one who stole my money

(就)是他偷了我的钱 - He (definitely) is the one who stole my money

'就' (definitely) here is for emphasis function. Without it, the sentence's meaning doesn't change much, but with it, the emphasis on the object and the tone of seriousness would increase.

就是他 - you sure it is him

是他 -  you say it is him

Since it is for emphasis, you can use 'exactly' or 'actually instead of 'definitely' in English


The // is the marker used by Pleco to indicate that the word is in a special class of intransitive verbs called separable verbs.
Other references call these V.O. (Verb Object) constructions. ABC dictionary gives a useful TL;DR summary:

V.O. (Verb-Object Construction, Dòng-Bīn Jiégòu 动宾结构). Many English
verbs get translated into natural Chinese as a verb plus an object
noun, e.g. chīfàn for 'eat', shuōhuà for 'speak', etc. It is important
for two reasons to know what is merely a verb in Chinese and what is
actually a verb-object construction. First, verb-object constructions
can never take a second object, i.e. chīfàn can never be followed
directly by something else to be eaten. Second, a verb and its object
can be separated from one another, thus allowing (i) aspect particles
to be placed directly after the verb, e.g. chīle fàn 'after finishing
eating'; (ii) modification of the object, e.g. chī Zhōngguófàn 'eat
Chinese food'; and (iii) quantification of the noun, e.g. chīle sān
wǎn fàn 'ate three bowls of rice'.

The notion of separable verbs can be a very useful thing to be aware of as a student. This introduction and this list of separable verbs from allsetlearning.com may be helpful references on this topic.


Is there any study on the relative difficulty of native Chinese speakers with different dialects learning another dialect?

(This may not be a proper answer.)

I don't know if there is any study about that.

The relative difficulty is based on learners.

For nonnative speakers, they may find learning Cantonese is as difficult as learning Chinese. For Mandarin speakers who were born in the north of China, they may consider Cantonese as difficult as a foreign language. But for people who were born in Fujian Province, they may learn Cantonese easier than others.

There are a wide variety of dialects in China. Usually, people from the same region may understand each other's dialect well. But this is not true in Guangdong Province.

For most Mandarin speakers, they may find Northeast Dialect, Henan Dialect, Tianjin Dialect and Sichuan Dialect most easy to understand.


Translation Exercise Unit 1 - Part 1 [Basic Spoken Chinese Practice Essentials]

Your translations are basically correct, the only improvement I can talk about is to show the present continuous tense

  Where is Ke Leien going?

Can be translated to

  Kē Léi'ēn yao qu na?

And the second one

  I'm going to the cafeteria. How about you?

Can be translated to

  Wǒ yao qù shítáng. Nǐ ne?

And the third one

  Wang Jingsheng is going back to the dorm.

Can be translated to

  Wáng Jīngshēng yao huí sùshè.

And the fourth one

  Ke Leien is going to take care of some things.

Can be translated to

  Kē Léi'ēn yao qù bàn yìdiǎnr shìr.

Lastly

  You're going to the library, I also am going to the library.

Can be translated to

  Nǐ yao qù túshūguǎn. Wǒ yě yao qù.

By the way, how did you type pinyin with tune on it?


This is a question regarding sentence structure in Chinese. There are two commonly used sentence structure involved: 把字句 (sentences using the word 把) and 被字句 (sentences using the word 被). These two structures can be freely converted to each other and to sentences containing neither of 把 and 被 (called 陈述句). None of these sentences are inherently wrong, yet many of them can sound unnatural.
For example for the first sentence,
被字句 (Original): 电台里的中文新闻被学生们听懂了。
把字句: 学生们把电台里的中文新闻听懂了。
陈述句: 学生们听懂了电台里的中文新闻。
All three sentences work, but the second and third sound more natural.
Or for the second sentence,
被字句 (Original): 不洗澡的坏习惯被小明改掉了。
把字句: 小明把不洗澡的坏习惯改掉了。
陈述句: 小明改掉了不洗澡的坏习惯。
The second and third sentence sounds better.
The last sentence is a bit tricky since the person doing the action is not given. We need to add the person doing this action. We may speculate that the book is sold out by a bookstore, so let's use 书店 as the subject.
被字句 (Original)：这本书被卖得光。
把字句: 书店把这本书卖得光。
陈述句:  书店卖光了这本书。
Since we don't know the real subject, it is the best to do with the original sentence.
If you would like more of these type of practices, there are plenty of resources online, many of which are from China and are actually done by Chinese students. An example is this one: https://wenku.baidu.com/view/63b6233f6137ee06eef918b7.html


解压密码 is the password for a zipped file when you need to extract the files.
23333333333 is not a typical chinese word, you can use it as a slang which means LOL. You dont say 23333333333 in your real life just like you dont say LOL in a conversion. It's only intended to express "that's funny" in your social network.
Putting them together, 解压密码233（19个3), it doesnt look like a sentence to me.


This is really an interesting question, even as a native speaker I don't know the meaning it implies, so I did some bits of research and this answer came into my sight, which perfectly convinced me:

Original reference: [http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/18385575.html]

  所谓洋货,意思是从海洋上"漂"过来的货物,现在的话就是进口的,以前一般都是从海洋上来,所以叫洋货.

  洋罪主要是日本奴役统治中国部分地区的时候,对老百姓机器恶毒,劳动强度高,生活水平却极其低,就是遭罪,而且一般的罪没法比,那罪来源于洋人_日本人,所以叫洋罪.

The first one is talking about 洋货, of which I think you have perfectly grasped the meaning, i.e. things imported from outside China, since most goods need to be transported by the sea(洋), later people call it 洋货.

Now I will try to translate the second sentence:

洋罪 talks about the times when Japan ruled some parts of China, by those time the Japanese extremely maltreated the common people, there was a high labour intensity, meanwhile the people suffered a very poor and miserable life, but not any other misfortune can be made to compare with it because it came from 洋人(the foreigners), by so, it's called 洋罪.

Up to now, people still use this word, but the meaning of suffering from foreigners has faded out a lot, only to emphasise an unexpected feeling of sufferings.

So, in most cases if you suffer, you only say 遭罪, only in some unexpected cases, which you totally can't foresee it but you still suffer, you say 遭洋罪.

Examples:

今早上班地铁特别挤，我一直站了1个小时，真是遭罪啊。

This morning the subway is extremely crowded and I had to stand all along for an hour, I really suffered a lot!
今早上班地铁特别挤，我一直站了1个小时，中途地铁又坏了，我又换乘公交车，真是遭洋罪啊。

This morning the subway is extremely crowded and I had to stand all along for an hour, what's more, the subway broke down in the middle way so I had to take a bus instead, I could not suffer more!


You could try:

你没有礼貌！

...in a nice way of course


Where to put the time phrase? 你运动多久一次？ or 你多久运动一次？

Actually a frequency adverb should be put before a verb. For example:

我(Wǒ)常(chánɡ)常(chánɡ)游(yóu)泳(yǒnɡ)。 （ I always swim.)

我(Wǒ)周(zhōu)末(mò)偶(ǒu)尔(ěr)去(qù)逛(ɡuànɡ)街(jiē)。( I go for shopping on weekends occasionally.）

And “ How often do you play sports ？” could be translated as:
你(Nǐ)多(duō)久(jiǔ)运(yùn)动(dònɡ)一(yí)次(cì)？( how often = 多(duō)久(jiǔ) ）


I have a tattoo, i wish to find the meaning

武安 Wu'an is a city
武安君 was a title of a noble in Tang Dynasty -  張守節: 舊注史記三大家之一 (one of the three great historians of old Chinese history)

武安 means 以武安邦

以- with; use

武 - military; force

安 - maintain peace; keep safe; steady

邦 - nation

(steady the nation with military might or keep the nation safe with military power)


当推:  should/ought to (应当) be/mention/select/elect/recommend (推举/首推, 指出, 是)
魏大肚：Nickname of someone whose family name is Wei (魏) and who has a beer belly (大肚).

当推魏大肚：should mention Big Belly Wei

More example:

论这村里最聪明的，当推王小二。

Talking about the smartest guy in the village, it must be Wang Xiao Er.

(People will all choose Wang Xiao Er as the answer to the question that who the smartest guy in the village is.)


Can anyone here read old scripts? (Characters Identified: 松月侣)

人吕月松

Since reading there right to left, which is

松月侣

Companion of Pine tree and the Moon


What is the meaning of 之 and 当 in the phrase "比之当初战火蔓延的速度有过之而无不及"?

之 is acting like a pronoun for the first statement here
[A] = [乱葬岗大围剿刚刚结束，未及第二日，这个消息便插翅一般飞遍了整个修真界]
[比] = [(verb): compare]
[之] = [(pronounce for) [A]: it]
[to] (implied)
[B] = [当初战火蔓延的速度]
[有过之而无不及] = [conclusion]
This sentences are comparing 'the speed it spread' of [A] to [B] and the conclusion is [有过之而无不及] (can only be faster, not slower)

[A] [比] [之] (to) [B] + [conclusion]
[A] [compare] [it] (to) [B] + [conclusion]

A shorter example:
[A] = [違者 (the ones who violate the rule)]
[B] = [斬 (execute)]

違者斬(之) = the ones who violate the rule,  execute (him)
之 here is a acting like a pronounce "him" for 違者

I said 之 is acting like a pronounce because it is also acting like a  preposition 'to' for the verb
"違者斬(之)" can be interpreted as "(to) execute the ones who violate the rule"
You can omit '之'  and say "違者斬", just like you can omit 'to' and say "execute the ones who violate the rule"


What's the meaning of 忘形 and 将 in this sentence?

In this case, 将 is a written form of 把. See Using "jiang" as a formal "ba".

I think 形 here is just literally "appearance". The tiger forgot (overlooked) his appearance (and the effect of his appearance) and let himself be seen.


As recorded in Baidu, this unique pronunciation of “和” as "hàn" actually originates from the Old Beijing dialect. Extracted from the blog article titled 台湾人为嘛把“和”读作hàn?, it says the following:

  1945年10月台湾光复，日语的“国语”黯然退出，台胞急着要回复祖国的语文，要说国语，要认汉字。
  1946年4月2日台湾省国语推行委员会正式成立。台湾国语会的标志性贡献是编订《国音标准汇编》，作为推行标准国语的根据。1946年5月1日起，由“老北京”齐铁根先生每日在清晨7时，在电台担任“国语读音示范”，播讲民众国语读本、国语会话，国民学校国语、常识、历史、各种课本，供学国语的人收听，匡正语音。当时的学校教师现听现学现教，使广大的学生也能及时学到国语，学习标准的国音。这位齐铁根当时成了家喻户晓的大师级人物，直到现在上年纪的台湾人还能回忆起齐先生娓娓动听的“京片子”，连词“和”读hàn（“汗”）就此在台湾深入人心。

In short, a Mandarin Promotion Council was formally established in Taiwan after the end of WWII to restore the literacy level of the Chinese Language. Mr Ji, an old-timer from Beijing, was enlisted to do a daily national broadcast to demonstrate the standard pronunciation of Mandarin through a series of dialogue and reading sessions. The teachers learned as they listened and help spread their knowledge to the students. Mr Ji was widely regarded as a Mandarin guru at that time and he is still a familiar household name for many of the older Taiwanese today.


Meaning of the chinese translation of italian name Federico

Yes, basically it's the phonetic translation. And no strange word is used.


Mandarin/Cantonese translation of "it depends on your definition of 'good'"

“it depends on your definition of 'good'”

The followings could work:

這要看妳對 '好(吃)' 所下的定義是什麼 (M)

噉要睇妳對 '好(食)' 所落嘅定義係乜 (C)

這要看妳心目中 '好(吃)' 的定義是什麼 (M)

噉要睇妳心目中 '好(食)' 嘅定義係乜 (C)


走 here is a result complement that indicates 'away'
Apple is an American company, the article was written from the standpoint of the Chinese market. Therefore, it used the term 赚走,  which means 'earn (and take away)' from China --  Apple is profiting from the Chinese market
If the article was written from the standpoint of the company itself, it would use 赚得 (earn and get) or 赚來 (earn and take in)
Also: 赚取 - to earn (and take); 赚回 - to earn (and get back);赚了- to earn (completed); 赚到 - to earn (succefully)


How do I use a pattern like in 一年有春夏秋冬四季?

I suppose this is a pattern that is to describe a subject, which can be interpreted by different terms, but you can combine them together as a whole, so as to explain it more dramatically.

For the sentence you give, you can say a year has 4 seasons, and a year has spring/summer/autumn/winter. Then you can combine them together a year has spring/summer/autumn/winter 4 seasons.

Another example is

"空间有上下左右前后六个方位" - The space has up/down/let/right/front/back 6 directions.


I'd take 今天我起床很早 as the shorthand of 今天我起床起得很早.
To me, 今天我起床很早 isn't my favourite sentence.  The succinct version doesn't necessarily mean "more idiomatic". Some grammar pedants might even frown at 今天我起床很早 because they might take issue with the omission.
Personally, I usually say: 我今天起得很早，我今天很早就起床了 or 我今天一大早就起床了.


请问您这个职位缺了多久了？Can I lose one 了

They are almost the same, but the first and second sentences keep the last 了, so they are more colloquial. And the third one omits the last 了，so it sounds more serious.

In Chinese, 了 sometimes can express a kind of state, for example, 自行车修好了，the bicycle has been fixed. 吃过了，I have already eaten.

Here, the second 了 is a modal particle.


Origin of 乎 as a bound morpheme in words such as 热乎

In Classical Chinese, the word 乎has several other uses besides as an interrogative marker.  In Ch 27 of ‘Classical Chinese, A Basic Reader’ by Yuan, Tang and Geiss, it occurs with an adjective:  巍巍乎若泰山  ‘solemn and majestic like Mount Tai’ (referring to lute playing).  They describe 乎 here as ‘an enclitic particle attached to an adjective to intensify or emphasize its meaning.’ (Glossary, p. 110.)

The 漢語大字典 (p. 19) gives a similar example from the 論語:  郁郁乎文哉!  ‘What elegant words!’ There might be a link here with another use of 乎 as an exclamatory particle.

Yet another (maybe more prominent) use of 乎 is as a variant of the coverb 於, which marks locative complements and can basically be translated as an English preposition like at, in, to or from, depending on the main verb.  (See Pulleyblank, ‘Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar’, p. 53 f.)  One modern item on the list seems to work this way.  With 近, we find both 近乎 and 近於 with the meaning ‘close to, bordering on’. The FLTRP Chinese-English dictionary gives these examples: 近乎荒謬 ‘bordering on the absurd’ and 近於荒唐 (same gloss).

So, here are two possible classical sources for 乎 as an adjectival suffix.  Probably in the majority of cases it is emphatic, but with 近 it functions as the head of a complement clause. In modern Mandarin it may well have taken on additional meanings or connotations.


Is there a difference between 担心 (dānxīn) and 着急 (zháojí)?

There are some differences between these two words.

>

  “着急”
  Used as an adjective:
  1. Something emergent happens (in other words, something horrible or fatal is very likely going to happen), and you feel upset. For example, when you lost your kids or you're going to be late for your work.
  Example 一位母亲因为找不到她的孩子而非常着急。(Can't use "担心")
              A woman is very upset because she can't find her kid anywhere.

  2. While doing something, you only care if you can finish the work as soon as possible and may forget something you should notice, thus causing the work to be done badly.
  Example 老师嘱咐我们考试做题的时候不要太着急。(Can't use “担心”） The teacher told us not to be too hurry when when answering the questions.
  used as verb or adv: means the same when used as adj.

  Used as a verb:
  Use it as a verb only when nothing emergent happens, yet in the future things are going to be pretty bad very likely, and you're sure that it's deadly. You're hopeless or you know doing something though won't likely help you, but still possible to help you out, therefore you'll try your best to avoid it.
  Example 儿子因父亲日益加重的病情而着急（Can't use “担心”）。
  The son feels upset for his father's deteriorating illness.

  “担心”
  Used as a verb: You're worrying that something bad might happen in the future, but you comfort yourself, reasoning that it possibly won't happen. Or you know it's very likely to happen, but you also know that it's not a big deal since it will get fixed if it happens. For instance, if you're worrying about your kid's future, you can use this word to describe yourself.
  Example 1 他车开的太快了，我担心他会出事故。（Can't use 着急. it's likely to happen, but not that likely. It's a big deal once it happens though. And the other reason is that 着急 is a intransitive verb.）
  He drove the car too fast, and I was worrying that he would have an accident.
  Example 2 儿子马上就要出国留学了，父亲为他在外的生活而担心（You can use 着急 too, and actually it's better than 担心 in this case since it shows that the father really cared about the son.)
  The son is going to be studying aboard, and the father is worrying about his daily life.
  孩子出门上学的时候雨下得很大，他的父母为他的安全而担心（interchangeable with 着急 since something bad would very likely happen to the kid)。
  It rained fiercely when the kid went out of the home for school, and the parents were worrying about the kid's safety.

  Used as an adj: the same when used as a verb.

Summary:
1. “着急” is more intense than “担心”. When something terrible or may cause death or injury will happen very soon, you can only use “着急”.

2.Under some situation, they're somewhat interchangeable. For example, when you're worrying about someone's health, security, etc., as long as a catastrophe is not sure to happen, or it is very likely to happen but not that serious, you can use both words. But here "着急" is more intense than "担心", because "着急" shows that you really care about someone, or you really don't want that bad thing to ever happen. And If you use “担心”, it reveals that though being bothered, you're comforting yourself that it probably won't happen.

3. “着急” also means that you're eager to finish something, which is not one of the meanings of the word "担心".

4. 着急 is an intransitive verb, and 担心 is a transitive or intransitive verb.

5.着急 is often used as an adjective while 担心 is often used as a verb.

6.To answer your question concerning the variation between north and south: These two words are both used in the north quite frequently. As to the southerners, I think they should use these words often too, as these two are basic words in Mandarin. Some place in the south may use some uncommon words for each of them.

7. Certainly 着急 is informal, but 担心 is considered as formal, and it often appears in newspapers and broadcasting.
So remember in formal situations, use 担心 when both of them make sense. When you want to express the feeling that could be described by 着急 when writing a news report, use 焦虑，焦急，紧张。

I'm not an expert on this, so some contents may be inaccurate. Any edition or correction is welcomed.

Synonyms for "担心": 忧虑，着急，忧愁，担忧  synonyms for "着急"：焦虑， 焦急，匆忙，紧张


Documentation of all hanzi and their stroke order

I looked around, and it doesn't seem to be a complete, freely available resource for stroke orders. There is a Wikimedia commons project for creating stroke order for CJK characters, but it is far from finished (please contribute!).

I also found this resource from Dragon Character Training, an old PalmOS application, which seems to contain some character stroke order data, but I had some trouble figuring out how to extract stroke order from the character data. It should be possible, though, since an included script can animate character stroke orders.

I wish you best of luck!


Idiom, common phrase crossword puzzle challenge 2

Not 5 minutes this time - but more than 5 hours, and I don't know is my answer all correct.

I finished 90% before hints appearing, but those 10%, I can't fill them at all until I see the hints because I heard those words really rarely.


As @user6065 has pointed out, we can find the example sentence in many online dictionaries:

在这些安全事件中，多数是工作时数超长疲劳[所至］。( Typo Warning! )
Many of these incidences have been attributed to fatigue due to long working hours.

However, in that sentence, the only correct word should be 所致, i.e. it should have been

在这些安全事件中，多数是工作时数超长疲劳所致。( Correct! )

所致 can be considered as a short form for "所导致", so it means "be caused by", "be the result of". It is sharply distinguished from 所至, whose 至 means 到达 (reach, arrive at). 所至 is not commonly used, except in this idiom:

精诚所至，金石为开
Literally this idiom means "At the place where the true faith reaches, even rigid stone can be cracked." That is to say, "Faith can move mountains."


Which of "她睡觉的时候...", "她在睡觉的时候...", "她睡觉时候...", and "她在睡觉时候..." are grammatically correct and do they all have the same meaning?

她在睡觉的时候，她的朋友正在上网。
  她睡觉时候，她的朋友正在上网。

  3.她在睡觉时候，她的朋友正在上网。

The first one is the most natural way to say it, grammatically and formally.

The second one is ok in colloquial contexts with omitting both 在 and 的.

The third one is a bit odd because it adds 在, I may expect the interlocutor to say the full version. Otherwise, I expect they say the shorten version like the second one.

But, in practice, especially when you speak fast, it really doesn't matter. These sentences are all ok, though the first one is preferable. There are no problems for understanding. They all could sound natural if you have a good command of Chinese speaking.


What's the difference between “睡不着” and "没睡着“？

"睡不著" implies that you want to sleep but you cannot, while "沒睡著" just means that you did not fall asleep. So if you say "昨晚我一夜沒睡著" you could mean that you successfully kept yourself awake all night last night, which is apparently different from "昨晚我一夜睡不着".

Actually, although "牙疼死了，一夜沒睡着" is OK, "牙疼死了，一夜睡不著" is better.


What does the phrase 'holding in the palm of hands' in chinese mean?

The common word is  掌握 (hold in one's palm) meaning " have possession and control of something"

Example:

掌握軍國大權 (hold control of the government and the armed force)

掌握有力證據 (holding/ have possession of powerful evidence)

There's also an idiom
玩弄於股掌之上 (to toy with someone on one's thighs and palms)- meaning: " play someone like a fiddle"

Another idiom mentioned "in the palm" is  "掌上明珠" (pearl in one's palm). It means " treasured daughter"


承你貴言
http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/56723/
"wish everything you said would come true"

承你貴言 is a more well known idiom than 借你吉言.
I only heard 借你吉言 for the first time here. It is virtually unknown among Cantonese.
The two phrases are very similar in meaning though,

借你吉言 means "(I hope to)borrow your blessing words "
承你貴言 means " (I) humbly accept your blessing words and hope it will come true"

You can use either phrase as a formal / humble respond, when someone is :

(1.) blesses you good luck

(2.) predicts good fortune or success will come to you.

But I suggest using the more common 承你貴言.


These are similar terms just as their english counterparts:

如果 - In case
要是 - If

必须 - Necessary
要 - Need / require

报名 - Sign up
注册 - Register

查 - Check / Search
检查 - inspection

读书 - Reading (in terms of Studying)
看书 - Read a book


How would you describe the meaning of 弯 wan1?

gay = not straight = 不直 = 弯

I first heard this word a few years ago. It is often used by younger people.  It is a slang and should not be used in any formal situation. Like any slang, it can be rude or not depending on the context.

I do not believe it has any sexual reference though.


Is this Chinese sentence grammatical? I'm unsure about a few words and phrases

Okay .... [takes a deep breath]
就 in regard to the
BLANK1
方案 plan,
市场调查部 the Marketing Survey Department
发表了 presented their
BLANK2
建议， suggestions;
其目的为  the goal of their suggestions is
促使 to ensure that
本公司 THE COMPANY,
在相应策略上, as far as the relevant strategies are concerned
能够 is able to
与时并进， keep pace with the times
从而 and thus
提升 市场上的竞争力 increase their competitiveness in the market
BLANK 1 describes a plan which was
最近 recently
拟定 formulated
为 in order to
针对 take account of
所作出的调整 the adjustments made
在市场策略上 to marketing strategies
of/by Quest公司,
对' specificially --
以客户为主 customers as the key
以雇员为本' employees as the base,
的方案 THAT plan.
BLANK 2 describes how the suggestion includes
分 dividing the plan into
两个方面的 two parts:
内整 internal consolidation
和 and
外扩 external expansion
In answer to the other parts of the question:

Is the sentence grammatical?

This sentence should be taken outside and shot.

What does 就 mean here?

Acc. to the 教育部國語辭典 就 here is a preposition (coverb) that means: 依照。 如：「就事論事」、「就原來的規畫加以調整。」 I often translate as in regard to; this is an old habit, but surely other translations (based on?) would work too.

What does 為針對 mean here?

為 is a coverb that means in order to, 針對 is verbish creature that means to direct toward, to take into consideration. 國語辭典 gives a nice example: 「為了節省時間，請大家儘量針對問題來討論。」

What does '分内整' mean?

You've divided it wrong, its 分 | 内整 和 外扩 (两个方面)

What does '其目的为促使本公司在相应策略上能够与时并进' mean?

hopefully looking at the literal translation above will help answer


Are radicals a relatively new invention for looking up dictionaries?

I think your phrasing may be ambiguous, so I'll answer in two ways. If you're asking if characters didn't have a radical and then one was added - thereby changing the character - for classification purpose, then of course the answer is no.

If the question is to know whether the "concept" of radical existed, then you can think of it this way: if people had a concept of radical in their mind prior to the Shuowen, then it had to be a way for them to classify those characters. Indeed, the people who could write did see the parts of a character, but a "radical" is a component that's considered more important/interesting: apart from classification, what role could it serve?

Therefore, the concept of radicals has to come with a desire to classify characters... of which the Shuowen is the first known example.


These other answers are good, but they're missing the crucial element, which is why you have the 的 in that sentence. It's because 是, roughly translated into English as is, am, are, is a linking verb that is expecting a noun. If you said 我是九点去上班 that would essentially mean, I am go to work at nine. Which, of course, doesn't make sense.

However, 的 takes whatever is before it and turns it into an adjective, thus making "go to work at nine" an adjective. You're probably thinking, "Where's the noun, then?" Well, the noun is implied. That means that 我是九点去上班的 translates into I am a go-to-work-at-nine-type of (implied noun), or rather, I am a person who goes to work at nine.

Make sense? It sounds a little convoluted, but that's what's going on.


What's "ended in a disaster" in Chinese?

More native way is 災難收場.

～收場：

喜劇收場
悲劇收場
混亂收場

Another way is 大災難結局, for some big ending in drama and film.

大～結局 ：

大團圓結局

In writing, it could be 災難結尾.

～結尾：

歡喜結尾

You might use other words like 災難收尾, 災難而終.


People often say 我喜歡你(I like you) instead of 我愛你(I love you) to avoid being too direct. Chinese tends to be more subtle when expressing romantic love (愛情).
Cantonese almost never say 我愛你(I love you). We say 我鐘意你 (I like you) instead

How do you say you love your friends or family that you love them?

It is perfectly normal to say 我愛我的朋友 (I love my friends) or 我愛我的家人 (I love my family) because we know 愛我的朋友 refers to 友情 (friendship love); 愛我的家人 refers to 親情 (kinship love)
However, we almost never say 我愛你 to a friend or a family member face to face. The most we would say is 我很關心你 (I care about you very much) or 你對我很重要 (you are very important to me)
If I and a friend are about to die together, the most I would say is '好兄弟!'


The poem you are quoting is 前赤壁赋 by 苏轼，and indeed, it is one of the best 赋 in Chinese history.

The part you have in the post is

  客亦知夫水与月乎？逝者如斯，而未尝往也，盈虚者如彼，而卒莫消长也。盖将自其变者而观之，则天地曾不能以一瞬，自其不变者而观之，则物与我皆无尽也，而又何羡乎？且夫天地之间，物各有主，苟非吾之所有，虽一毫而莫取。惟江上之清风，与山间之明月，耳得之而为声，目遇之而成色，取之无禁，用之不竭，是造物者无尽臧也，而吾与子之所共适。


This is not only in Cantonese. People in several south provinces say these words. And most Chinese are familiar with 廿 (niàn or pán) and 卅, even though they don't usually say it.

卅 (sà) means 30
卌 (xì) means 40
皕 (bì) means 200


Is there a "better" translation for "你我还没完呢"? Why is it "你我" without a possible "和"? And please can anyone confirm the function of "呢" in this one?

The translation is accurate. 没完 means that there will be a continuation, and 呢 adds to this.

Translations are not and should not ever be word for word, but adapted to the linguistic context. Chinese is not as wordy as, say, American English, and there is simply no need to sprinkle the text with repeated instances of pronouns (like 我) or words that can be inferred by context.

你我 is very common.


Can somebody translate this seal script, please?

The last character is 印

The seal read 關景南印 (Guan Jingnan's seal). 關景南 is the author's name
(originally I thought it was '色'  in "景色" which means "scenery" (they do look similar to me)


What does the measure word 一片 mean? and how to use it?

About 一片, there are some explanations:

Refers to flat and thin (eg: 一片肉)
Refer to the ground surface (eg: 一片空地)
Refer to flaky patches (eg: “黄河远上白云间，一片孤城万仞山。”---王之涣 《凉州词》)
Refer to diffuse scattered (eg: 一片红光)
Refer to gather together (eg: 响声连成一片)
Refer to mood, the mind (eg: 一片心意)
Refer to language (eg: 自做一片文字)
Refer to the whole piece (eg: 军民打成一片)

Hope that can help.


Expressions that have no meaning (什么/来着）

I am a native speaker, and I'm no expert. But I do think you have some misunderstanding towards "什么" and "来着" in these examples.

  大家都是朋友，你客气什么呢。

In this sentence, "什么" means "what ... for". The whole sentence means something like: "(Considering) we are friends, (I have to ask) what are you being 客气 for?" You can say it helped in expressing negation. (sorry I can't translate 客气 accurate enough)

But in the second example

  我没什么说的了。

"什么" doesn't mean "nothing". On the contrary, it means "anything". And "没什么" as a whole, means "nothing". The whole sentence means "I don't have anything to say."

As for "来着", I think it means exactly the same (forgetting something you should remember) in both of your examples. And I can't think of any cases in which this word means anything else or has no meaning at all.

So to sum up, I don't think there is any cases in which these words has no meaning at all, at least not in your cases.

btw. "你的女朋友到底是谁来着呢？" should really be "你的女朋友到底是谁来着？" (No "呢" at the end)


Is there a way to say "I respectfully thank you" to familiar elders?

You could say 谢谢您 instead.
When you really want to be super respectful, especially to some respected person who you are not quite familar with, you could go with the following

承蒙关照，不胜感激。
厚情盛意，应接不遑，切谢切谢
感荷高情，非言语所能鸣谢

There are many more here which you can check out.


黃中 = being employed as an imperial government official/having a career in the imperial government?

黃中 means the emperor, not the employment, and 黃中元吉迪 means the emperor along with the nation becomes better and better.

It is the result, and via this the sentence would express the idea that it's a pleasure of your contributions to the nation.

So it concludes that the person is a government employee.


What is the difference between 起码 and 至少？

Both 起碼 and 至少 mean "minimum" and "least". They both can be used either as adjectives or as adverbs.

最起碼 is valid, but because 至 means 最. 最至少 is invalid (just like "the least least" and  "the most least" are invalid).

至少 has a rarely-used meaning of "very less", which can not be replaced by 起碼.

至少 is a little more formal than 起碼. But in the legal documents, 以上 ("equals to or more than") is more widely used.


Here 道 means 黑道, 黑社会 (underworld). So xxx 也是道上的人物 means xxx is the member of some underworld organization.

道下 is not a word.


How do I break apart the middle part of 事实证明，澳大利亚非量没有用奶制品进行反制的条件，破产事件反而证明这是澳方的软肋?

非量 must be a typo of 非但

事实证明 - Facts have proved
澳大利亚 - Australia
非但 - not only
没有 - doesn't have
用 - using
奶制品 - dairy products
(进行反制的)条件 - the prerequisite (of retaliating)
破产事件 - bankruptcy incidents
反而 - instead
证明 - have proved
这是 - this is
澳方的 - Australia side's
软肋 - weakness

事实证明澳大利亚非但没有用奶制品进行反制的条件, 反而破产事件证明这是澳方的软肋
The facts have proven Australia not only doesn't have the prerequisite of retaliating with dairy products (against China),  instead, bankruptcy incidents have proven this (dairy products trade with China) is Australia side's weakness

Note:
没有用 means 'useless' when it is used as an adjective
In the context of "[没有][用奶制品进行反制]" , '没有' = 'doesn't have' ; 用 = using


之類 = this kind/this type

就 = clause: if xxx 就 (then) xxx

失敗 = fail / failure

懷孕 = pregnant

任務 = task

the kind of task where failure results in pregnancy = if we fail we're screwed


You are close. 凭着 expresses the idea of based on, according to or relying on, and when translating into English, prepositions such as on or by can often be used to convey this. You should be able to use it in situations where this concept needs to be expressed. As you suspected, its part of speech is best thought of as prepositional. 凭, when used in this sense, is equivalent to 凭着.

Some examples:

她在沙漠里走了一个星期, 就凭(着)太阳的方位来认路. (She walked in the desert for a week,
using only the sun's position for directions.)
我们的猫凭(着)它的本能, 走了十五公里的路, 回到了我们以前住的房子. (Our cat went back to
our previous house having walked fiften kilometres by instinct. )
你是凭(着)什么文凭来应聘这个职位的? (What certifications make you eligible for this
job? / You are applying for this job based on what certifications?)

Keep in mind that translation is an art and you do not need to stick with the words that I used. Be flexible.


What's chinese for "layer" in the Photoshop sense of the word?

层 is right. to be specified for layers in photoshop, it has the term 图层.


国籍 = nationality (as based on what nation you are from)
民族 = ethnic group

For the majority of Chinese people their:

国籍 = 中国 (Chinese)
民族 = 汉 (Han)


Hong Kong Cantonese: Derogatory Terms For Mainlanders

The one with 北 could be 北姑 or 北佬.

There are many other derogatory terms for Mainlanders, including:

阿燦
表叔, 表姐
强国人
皇虫, 蝗虫

Refer to this, this and this.


Why is 在...里 in the front of 在大学里她学习了生物?

Assuming your question is about the placement of 她, either way is fine:

  她在大学学习了生物 (she studied biology at university)

  在大学她学习了生物 (at university, she studied biology)

The latter has somewhat more focus on it happening at university, but in this sentence it doesn't make much of a difference.

This basically goes for all kinds of situations, not just explicit 在, for example "我今天要去中学" and "今天我要去中学" are both equally valid, but the latter has more focus on the time at which the action will occur.


见马克思 ("to meet Marx"): is it used today?

Sohu has a news article dated from 2020-07-26, with a sentence that reads:

腮部中弹，离大脑很近了，稍有不慎，杨勇恐怕就提前去见马克思了。

Here “见马克思” is used to mean “to die,” like what was mentioned in the question above.
The phrase in question is featured in a recent write-up by a large company that services the Chinese speaking world. I think it is fair to say that it is well known enough for the editors to leave it in without thinking that it would cause confusion for their audience.

The bigger problem I see with your question, though, is the fact that many machine translations use dictionaries and the phrase in question can be found in quite a few resources.
见马克思 can quickly be found in five Chinese-English dictionaries:

ABC
Pleco C-E
KEY
CC-CEDICT
Wiktionary

One Chinese-French dictionary:

KEY French

And one Chinese-Chinese dictionary:

现代汉语大词典

The longer term 去见马克思 can also ben found in one Chinese-German dictionary:

HanDeDict

As far as I can tell they all contain the euphemistic definition, “to die.” It shouldn't be too hard for a well trained machine translation to be able to translate the phrase correctly with the right tools.
There are a lot of bad Chinese translations, seemingly curated by machine translators, online, i.e.: Bubbles | 20 of the Best (Worst?) Chinese Sign Translation Errors & 干 has always been an issue. You might find a more appropriate example in some of these resources.


他和你用哪种语言谈话？

"他和你用哪种语言交谈？"

'交谈' is better than '谈话' because '交谈' means 'talk to each others; while '谈话' mainly means 'speak' or 'talk'.

You can speak or talk by yourself, but you cannot having a conversation on your own.

  学习语言的时候有什么困难？

No problem above

  一个孩子每天多长时间应该练习语言？

"一个孩子每天应该花多长时间练习语言?"

Better add an verb '花'(spend) here

  一个儿童可以说几种语言？

No problem above

  你哪种语言应该学习？

You are placing the [object] directly after the [subject ]

[你][哪种语言]

It is better to place the verb '学习'directly after the subject '你'

"哪种语言你应该学习?"
"你应该学习哪种语言?"

  你的父母会什么语言?

No problem here

  你未来想不想学习一种新的语言？

你将来想不想学习一种新的语言？

Should replace '未来' with '将来' for the meaning of: "in the future" because '未来' itself is a noun or an adjective for 'future'


When someone says 我帮你 (I help you), does it imply they will assist you in doing something, or they will do it for you?

"帮" in "我帮你" is a shorter form of the verb "帮助" (help)".  "我帮你" means "I help you"

Example:

A: "who will help me?" - "谁会帮(助)我?"

B: "I will help you" - "我会帮(助)你"

  "帮" in [我帮你 + verb phrase] can be an auxiliary verb for "help" or a function word for "for (in behalf of)".

Example:

"我帮你對付他 = "I help you to deal with him" or "I deal with him for you"

"我帮你拿着" = "I help you to carry it" or "I carry it for you"


See the definition 7 from this dictionary:

加重语气，有“的确”、“实在”的意思：天气～冷。

天气冷 vs 天气是冷, the latter means that the truth is that the weather is cold, 天气确实/的确冷. The former just means the weather is cold.
In practice, 天气是冷 is used to confirm/justify what the other person have said. 天气是冷 stands alone (without previous contexts) doesn't make much sense. Refer to this exchange:

A: 今天天气很冷！
B: 恩，今天天气是冷！ // implying B agrees what A have just said by repeating it with 是 for emphasis.

Back to your examples, 你是在说 means what you are  actually saying is...., while 你在说 is what you are saying is.... 我不是很懂你的意思: I don't really quite get what you meant.  我不懂你的意思: I don't get what you meant.


tautology
the saying of the same thing twice in different words, generally considered to be a fault of style (e.g., they arrived one after the other in succession )

'one after the other' and 'in succession' are the same thing in different words , so one of them is redundant.
"因为爱所以爱” or 为爱而爱 (to love because of love) follows a common phrase structure [因为 X 所以 Y] or simply [为 X 而 Y]
X is the reason; Y is the resulted action
For example:
In "因为貪心所以殺人" (Killing because of greed), 貪心 is the reason; 殺人 is the resulted action
In "因为恐惧所以屈服" (Yield because of fear), 恐惧 is the reason; 屈服 is the resulted action

In "因为爱所以爱” (Love because of love), 爱 is the reason; 爱 is the resulted action

Notice, when the reason is the same as the resulted action, it means you do something because you wanted to do something with no other reason.
Example:
Killing for Killing's sake (为殺人而殺人)= You kill because you wanted to kill (因为想殺人而殺人)
Love for love's sake (为爱而爱)= You love because you wanted to love (因为想爱而爱)

To make "因为爱所以爱” sound more nature, you can either not omit '想' and write "因为想爱所以爱” (I love because I wanted to love) or replace '因为' with '為了' and write "為了爱而爱" or simply "為爱而爱" (love for love's sake)
The main point of the title "因为爱所以爱” is  "it doesn't need a reason to love"

Since neither 爱 is redundant in this sentence, it is not tautology, just a flawed sentence


The etymology of 局

1st interpretation

  促也。从口在尺下，復局之。『說文解字』
  促也。以㬪韵爲訓。从口在尺下復局之。尺所以指厈規榘事也。口在尺下。三緘其口之意。『說文解字注』

Upper part of 局 represents 尺 (ruler), alluding to rules and canons.
Lower (inside) part of 局 represents 口 (mouth), alluding to unbounded freedom.
口 (mouth) is under (inside) 尺 (ruler): 局 implies a sense of constraint.

2nd interpretation

  一曰博，所以行棊。象形。『說文解字』
  一曰博所㠯行棊。象形。博當作簙。簙、局戲也。六箸十二棊。簙有局以行十二棊。局之字象其形。此別一義。『說文解字注』

局 is a pictogram of 博 (Liubo), an ancient Chinese board game. The relationship between 局 and 博 (Liubo) is mentioned vaguely: "簙有局以行十二棊". 局 can either mean a round of the game or the board on which the game is played.

The etymology of 局面

  盘中排营寨城池，眼前无弓箭旌旗。心内有刀枪剑戟，局面儿几般形势。『元 周德清 《斗鹌鹑·双陆》曲』

局面 first appeared in a Qu written by 周德清 in Yuan dynasty. It refers to the situation of an ongoing Backgammon game.

Please Note: My answer only considers the origins of 局 and 局面. Their meanings change overtime and are impossible to encapsulate in an reasonably long answer. The "sitting with your back bent" hypothesis proposed by the questioner might indeed be true at some point in history.

Source

http://www.zdic.net/z/18/sw/5C40.htm
http://baike.baidu.com/view/240375.htm

Revision History

20160423_0: Initial answer
20160423_1: Elaborated on the 2nd interpretation for 局 and left room for ambiguity


What's the difference between ...的 and 所...的

所...的 and ...的 are different.
Function of ...的
As you have already known, ...的 can construct adjective clause.

(我喜欢)+的+东西
(subject + verb) + 的 + noun = noun + which + subject + verb

And in Chinese, the noun can be omitted in a clear context. In this case, ……的 constructs a noun clause.

我喜欢的（人）是你。 Who I like is you.
(subject + verb) + 的 = what/who + subject + verb

Function of 所...的
Though it's not so obvious, the function of 所 in 所...的 is

5.　用在动词前，与前面的“为”或“被”字相应，表示被动的意思
所 is put before a verb, corresponding to the previous 为 or 被, indicating passive voice. (And 为/被 is often omitted.)

Unfortunately, many chinese verbs are either transitive or intransitive, so the sentences containing ...的 or 所...的 often look alike.

我爱的人 the person who I love
(被)我所爱的人 [literal translation] the person who is loved by me
我讨厌的是你。 Who I hate is you.
我所讨厌的是你。 [literal translation] (The person) who is hated by me is you.

Difference between them
Thus, the difference between the two structures is whether it is passive voice or not. In most cases, one can be reconstructed to another.

Q: So, which one should I use in the xxx case?
A: It depends on personal choice. Just as you didn't said which one should be used (by me) in the xxx case?

EDIT: Some irreplaceable examples
There is preference in some situations. Some idioms can only be expressed in a unique voice (active or passive). Though this meaning of 所 4. 用在动词前，代表接受动作的事物 is listed as a single entry, in the grammar structure, it's actually the passive voice. So I include it in the passive-only case.
Active-Only Examples

(Right) 天杀 的 政府 the goddamn government = [literal translation] the government which god should kill
(Wrong) 天 所 杀 的 政府
(Right) 狗日 的 政府 the fxxking government = [literal translation] the government which dogs should fxxk
(Wrong) 狗 所 日 的 政府

Passive-Only Example

(Right) 你 所 谓 的 正义 your so-called justice = [literal translation] the justice which is called (only) by you
(Wrong) 你谓 的 正义

谓 is a special verb, so in the example above (well, I don't mean everywhere), it can only be in the passive voice. However, a character with the same meaning, 说, can be in either active or passive voice.

Both 你说的正义 and 你所说的正义 are OK.

Anyway, idioms always need to be memorized mechanically. It's difficult to find an easy rule for them.


I believe the option to choose "half-width" or 半角, as opposed to "full-width" 全角, is used in Chinese input systems only for punctuation and other symbols, but not for Chinese characters.

You can read more about it here:

http://blog.csdn.net/kevinhg/article/details/8702462

From what I can discern, the original reason for having "narrow-width" and "full-width" characters was to make sure that CJK and English text could be properly aligned.


What's the difference between 了解 and 理解？

From 《商务馆学汉语近义词词典》：

同：
都有“知道”的意思。但意思和用法都有不用，一般不能互换。

异：

用于事物，“了解”指知道得很清楚，强调知道事物的情况和过程，“了解”是一种感性的认识；“理解”强调懂得事物的意义和内容，明白为什么会是这样，是一种理性的认识，比“了解”更深入

这件事我一点儿也不了解，不可能谈出什么意思。
你了解这家公司的基本情况吗？
亨利非常了解中国历史和文化。
你这样说是什么意思，我还不能理解。
这篇文章内容太深，学生们理解不了。
发生这样的事真让人不可理解。

用于人，“了解”表示对此人知道得很清楚，知道此人的情况，性格，爱好，等；“理解”表示懂得此人的心，明白此人为什么要这样做，能谅解，宽容此人

我好久没有跟他谈过了，我真的不了解他有什么想法。
你们刚认识，应该互相了解。
我和刘芳是好朋友，所以我很了解她。
虽然我跟李立是好朋友，但我真的不理解他为什么要这样做。
夫妻之间最重要的是互相理解。
这件事我不能帮你，希望你能理解。

“了解”还有“打听，调查”的意思，还可以重叠；“理解”没有这样的用法

这次去中国农村，我们了解到喝多情况。
火灾很严重，市长亲自到现场了解情况。
他的情况我已经了解过了。
你去了解了解这个人的情况。

“了解”，“理解”在使用中有一些习惯搭配，不能互换

了解到 - 进行了解 - 深入了解 - 向人了解 - 了解得很清楚
得到理解 - 深刻理解 - 表示理解 - 理解能力 - 理解得很正确
我想向老师了解一下这里的招生情况。
校长深入到师生之中，了解到了事情的真实情况。
通过调查，我们对事情的经过已经了解得很清楚了。
我对你的这种心情表示理解。
这句话的意思你理解得很正确。


Please help to translate the Chinese script from this box

华拓金服(hua tuo Financial Services)-best business partner among the Chinese Financial Services companies


'到' is the correct resultative complement for indicating the verb '听' is successfully carried out (听 = to hear; 听到 = have heard/ successfully hear)
听 and 说 in  "听说" are both verbs.
[听说] = [听 (indefinite object. e.g. 別人; 有人; 某人) 说] with the indefinite object omitted
You can use 听到 for any sound, but you can only use 听说 for human speech


去 in this context means " to remove".

去 never directly mean "to reduce". You thought it does, because logically thinking, you know 'if you keep reducing something, it will eventually be all gone (removed).'

Therefore you can say: "keep reducing until all gone" is one of the methods to remove(去). But 去 itself doesn't mean "to reduce"

If you hang(吊) someone by the neck, you are  killing him. but 吊 (hang) itself doesn't mean " to kill".


What is relation between 得 and 他 in these sentences?

cause : （他）对竹子非常熟悉

effect: 他闭上眼睛，心理就有竹子的影子

使得 can express causal relation. If you read the sentence this way, maybe it is more comprehensive.

Example 1: 热使得气体膨胀 Heat makes gases expand, where:

cause : 热

effect: 气体膨胀

Example 2: 因为你的说明，使得我弄清楚怎么一回事 Your explanation makes me clear, where:

cause : 你的说明

effect: 我弄清楚怎么一回事


Does Taiwanese Mandarin have the neutral tone?

I guess you are talking about 輕聲.

臺灣注音符號的聲調除了一聲、二聲、三聲、四聲以外，還有個「輕聲」.

In addition to the first, second, third, and fourth tones, there is a 輕聲 (light tone) in Taiwan.
It is also known as the fifth tone or the neutral tone.

符號是一個小圓點；直寫時，標在上方；橫寫時，標在左側。

The mark is a small dot.
When the text is written vertically, it is marked at the top.
In a horizontal print, it is marked on the left.

For example,

You can search 注音符號發音教學 on the YouTube site.


According to 21 Century renao is an English word borrowed from the Chinese 熱鬧:

  n. “热闹”；(文娱、体育、业余爱好等)热闹有趣的活动 [借用汉语拼音 rènào(热闹)]

so that should fit exactly what you're looking for but....

If that's not satisfactory enough consider:

lively
bustling
busy
thrilling
exciting (excitement)
noisy


What is the classical Chinese meaning of 或?

It means "someone" in this case.

From zdic:

  某人，有的人

From Iciba:

  [书] （某人； 有的人） someone ； some people


到 is used as this sense defined in dictionaries:

  用在动词后，表示动作结果。
  Used after a verb, [it] expresses the result of an action.

It functions a resultative complement in your sentence.


Where does 别间 ("other") as in 别间大学 come from?

It's not a standard term, but it's understandable.  I don't know if it's a dialect.  It's not common in any areas I have lived in.
I'd understand it as its literal meaning:
别: other
间 is a measure word for room (房间).
You can compare its usage to 这间, so as a demonstrative. E.g. 这间酒店.  I suppose you could say 别间酒店. Basically, it should have something to do with "house or room".
Some might frown at the term.  However, I think it could be a good name for a hotel, restaurant, etc.  E. g. 别间酒店, 别间饭店. Compare to 有间客栈(which appears in a book I've read before).


What is the difference between 对不起, 请问, 不好意思, and 抱歉 to express "excuse me" or "sorry"?

对不起 is the phrase for apologizing for anything, for generally saying sorry. This is what you would normally say in situation 2.

请问 means "may I ask...?"; it is used to introduce a question and not to apologize for anything. You can use this when asking for direction (situation 1). But note: because of what it means, it must be followed by a question (otherwise it sounds incomplete). Therefore you would not use it just to attract a waiter's attention – although once you have his attention you can use it to ask whether they have anything you particularly want.

不好意思 indicates that the speaker is humbly embarrassed about something; it is used e.g. to politely refuse a gift. Basically it's used when the speaker doesn't want to appear to be taking advantage of the other person's hospitality or goodwill.

抱歉 is less common than the others; it is like 对不起 but more formal.


Is the 要...了 grammar structure needed in 我还有很多要学习了?

The correct grammar would be “我还有很多要学习呢”. You may have heard “我要学习了”, which means "I'm about to go study", but the former sentence means "I still have a lot of learning to do." The difference is in “呢” and “了”


Are there words in Mandarin written by characters for other words that mean the same thing?

A good example is numbers in Chinese.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_numerals#Standard_numbers


They are Bopomofos (注音符号): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bopomofo

According to Wikipedia, Zhuyin fuhao, Zhuyin or Bopomofo is a system of phonetic notation for the transcription of spoken Chinese, particularly the Mandarin dialect.


Is there an expression similar to the English "gut feeling" in Chinese?

The word for intuition or gut feeling is usually just rendered:

  直觉

New Century English-Chinese also defines gut feeling:

  NOUN
  直觉(相对于基于事实的观点)


You can use 食堂师傅 as an informal way to refer to those cafeteria workers. Actually, you can use 师傅 every time you want to refer to someone with a skill, e.g.修车师傅(bike/car reparation worker). But here 师傅 has nothing to do with Master Shifu in Kungfu Panda. It is not like that Shifu :D


What is the most appropriate translation for this law article?

Article 47: When a motor vehicle vehicle passes through a crosswalk, it should proceed at reduced speed; in the case when a pedestrian is crossing the crosswalk, the vehicle should stop and yield to the pedestrian.


Why is 都 placed after a verb in "什么时候还都可以"?

In the sentence 什么时候还都可以

the subject is 什么时候还 (the topic in topic-comment theory)
the predicate is 都可以

可以 is 中心词 (key word or main verb), 都 is an adverb that modifies 可以.


What is the difference between 妳 (nǐ) and 他 (tā)

妳 is in theory a feminine form of 你, but it's rare because not many people care about the supposed masculinity of the 亻element.
他 and 她 are 'he' and 'she' respectively, as any reasonable dictionary will tell you. There is a formal/informal distinction for 'you', but it's 你(normal) and 您(formal).

Whatever your sources are for the reading 'hai' and the meaning 'you' for 他, you should ditch 'em, they're unreliable.


Does 2010年10-12 means October to December of 2010, or October 12th, 2010?

In that case it would be saying 10th month through 12th month

See @Ming's comment about the specific date format.

There could be a case where the writer is using their own unique format, but that would depend on context


Could someone help me to identify these characters on the screen walls

The character is 「尊」.

商甲前5.4.7合集6903隸定
「尊」 (Baxter-Sagart OC: /*[ts]ˤu[n]/) was originally a combination of a wine vessel 「酉」 and two hands 「廾」, indicating the meaning (to conduct) a wine ceremony or ceremonial wine vessel. From Etiquette and Ceremonial:

《儀禮ㆍ士冠禮》

......側尊一甒醴在服北......

Etiquette and Ceremonial: Coming of age capping rites

...A jar of ceremonial wine proper at the Northern gown arrangement...

「酉」 was later replaced with the derivative 「酋」 (also wine vessel).
西周金三年壺集成9727隸定
Eventually, 「廾」 was replaced with 「寸」 (/*[tsʰ]ˤu[n]-s/, picture of hand pulse location > hand actions), gaining a sound hint in addition to its semantic function.
秦簡日甲67背睡虎地秦簡今楷

References:

黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》
小學堂
國學大師

郭沫若《甲骨文合集》
中國社會科學院考古研究所《殷周金文集成》

In case the other characters are hard to recognise, 「地」 and 「和」 are written with variants「坨」and「龢」, respectively.


What is a suitable Chinese name for a fictional company called "The Unity Group"?

Well, I would say that depends on the nuances in The Unity Group.

"Some of them are employees of a Corporation"

Assume Group means 'Group of Companies，corporate group', a kind of financial wizardry for holding more than one company as separate tax entities.

corporate group: 公司 集团 gōngsī jítuán

Unity? Maybe: 团结 tuánjié

团结 就是 力量 tuánjié jiùshì lìliáng = Unity is strength

But maybe you mean unity as 'the only, we brook no challengers'? Like here:

德国 统一 社会 党 déguó tǒngyī shèhuì dǎng Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands  (Socialist Unity Party of Germany 1949-1990)

Here, unity is 统一 tǒngyī This means 'united' but actually they meant: the only party

(I've split the words for your clarity. Normally, everything is written together.)

Choose one: 统一 公司 团结 tǒngyī gōngsī tuánjié or 团结 公司 集团 tuánjié gōngsī jítuán

团体 also means 'organized group, team, organization'

Then there is 单位 work unit and 组织 organize, organization

Maybe you better clarify how you mean 'The Unity Group'.


It's hard to read such works if you don't get trained with calligraphy knowledge. For me, I could only read some characters in this work. I.e., I read "歸去嵩陽" in the last line, so I used this word and 张照 as key word to search more info on the internet, and I found this on "baike.baidu.com". xiecheng127 is right, and I would like to paste the traditional version, since they are really traditional characters.

  自有僲*才自不知，十年常夢採華芝。西風動地黃雲暮，歸去嵩陽尋舊師。

*Actually, 仙 is also used in traditional system, and 僲 (or 僊, more standard) is another form in old times. Here, it seems that the 舛 part was replaced with 升. I think this happens in calligraphy (some characters look "wrong" in calligraphy when compared to the standard form).

If you want to see more his works, "artist.artxun.com" may be a good site.

By the way, when searching on some Chinese topics, google is not as good as baidu 百度, though you will get more ads with 百度.