Mandarin is a group of Chinese dialects that use as standard pronunciation the dialect of Beijing.
1
vote
3answers
117 views
Is 菜心 used in Mandarin?
Is the vegetable 菜心 (Choy Sum - English rendering of Cantonese) called 菜心 in Mandarin? Is it pronounced "cài xīn" or is it pronounced as it would be in Cantonese?
1
vote
1answer
183 views
Poetic two-character words of the form: Verb + Natural Noun?
I was looking for examples in Mandarin of poetic two-character words. What words have the following form...
Verb + Noun
...where the noun is something that occurs in nature?
The first examples ...
1
vote
2answers
173 views
Taiwanese Mandarin vs Mainland Mandarin [closed]
A reference request.
Is there any good source of the differences word choice/meaning between Taiwan and Mainland Chinese?
Not asking about Chinese Characters, but usage.
Spain have different ...
1
vote
2answers
142 views
Ordering food from a menu in a restaurant
How should I order food from a menu in a restaurant?
In English I'd usually say something like 'I'll have the beef' or 'one of these and two of those' while pointing.
In the past in China I have ...
1
vote
1answer
103 views
(Literally) Seeing Through Things
Earlier today, I ended up in a discussion which somehow involved people who were (literally) transparent. I was somewhat at a loss for how to say "Can you see through him?".
After some research, I've ...
1
vote
4answers
205 views
Expressing “Fair enough”
The English expression "fair enough" can be used to concede a point in an argument, or acknowledge the other person's position, without expressing complete agreement. To take an example from ...
1
vote
1answer
118 views
How would you translate 细腻 into English?
My Chinese coworkers were describing Korean drama TV shows & said that the actors faces are "细腻" xi4ni4. When I look this up in my dictionary, I get 2 definitions "fine & smooth" or ...
1
vote
3answers
109 views
How to correctly order the words in this sentence?
This is a question from an exercise book that I'm currently working through, to rearrange the given words into the correct order. I believe the format is along the lines of "The person who was [doing ...
1
vote
2answers
93 views
Meaning of the word 腳
According to CC-CEDICT, this means both "foot" and "leg". How does one know when this word refers to either foot or leg? It is difficult to discern when CC-CEDICT does not include sample sentences.
1
vote
1answer
201 views
Is the cantonese expression 五福臨門 present in Mandarin too?
A recent question prompted me to look for expressions related to the Chinese New Year and, among them, I found one that particularly stroke me as interesting:
五福臨門 = according to the poster it ...
1
vote
2answers
171 views
What effective methods exists for visual learners to get Chinese grammar?
I want to learn Chinese grammar (e.g. sentence structure), however, I am a highly visual person and feel a visual learning process would help me the most.
I have already taken a beginner Chinese ...
1
vote
1answer
106 views
What is an appropriate translations of “That's so Raven!”?
The phrase in the title comes from a Disney show, That's so Raven. But in my house, we have been confused on the proper way of translating this.
now we are saying "这是大Raven!" with extra emphasis on ...
0
votes
7answers
185 views
Learning/remembering Chinese
I lived in China for a few months and picked up quite a bit of Mandarin. Now that I've moved back to the US, I have forgotten the Chinese I knew and spoke while there. Other than actually living where ...
0
votes
4answers
127 views
Does 上嗨 work as a pun for 上海?
While riding the subway in Shanghai last week, I glanced at the TV playing some commercials and saw what looked like a slightly off spelling of the city's name (上海). I could not get a very good look ...
0
votes
3answers
302 views
Is it common to refer to cousins as “cousin-brothers”?
Most Chinese people I know don't have siblings. They refer to their cousin as "cousin brother / sister".
Is this common?
If so, is this a modern change, perhaps reflecting the one-child policy?
0
votes
1answer
73 views
Politeness in Mandarin
I like to say please sometimes when I want to be polite to someone when asking them for something. Is this customary in Mandarin?
For example, if I wanted to ask for some water, I might ask my ...
0
votes
1answer
2k views
Chinese riddles / 中文谜语? [closed]
Today my teacher introduced us to a couple of Chinese riddles or 谜语 (mi2yu3).
1st
什么是快乐一个星期？
（暗示：两个字）
（暗示: 饮料的牌子)
2nd
什么是十五天?
(暗示:一个字)
(暗示:一个要锻炼身体的人可以叫什么?)
回答:
1st
七喜 (qi1xi3) Chinese name for ...
0
votes
1answer
267 views
How are the words “engineering” or “engineer” translated in Cantonese? [closed]
I've been looking for the words "engineering" or "engineer" in Cantonese, and also in Mandarin, but less. Most of my family members describe them by their physical expectations, like "they make ...
-1
votes
0answers
46 views
How to made a good poems in chinese? [closed]
Exactly, i was thinking. How can people in history just randomly merge up several word. It can be a good wellknown poem? Then why now persons can't made it?
Also, i found out a thing. If a person in ...
