All Questions
0
votes
0answers
3 views
What are some well-known, online news sources that are worthy of language study?
I'm thinking along the lines of
NPR - has both (audio) news and talk radio that can be accessed online
Time Magazine, The Economist - current events and issues, etc
New York Times - daily newspaper
...
2
votes
2answers
23 views
How can I express the concept “There's nothing of which I'm absolutely sure” in Chinese?
Scientists and philosophers have at various times been quoted as saying:
"There's nothing of which I'm absolutely sure" or "I'm not absolutely sure of anything". (Richard Feynman, for example.)
How ...
1
vote
1answer
40 views
How to say properly translate “circulation”?
I know that 通风 means to ventilate, but how does one say circulation? Two specific sentences I'm having trouble translating are:
He wanted to save energy, so he turned on the circulation fan ...
1
vote
2answers
79 views
How do I call for a male waiter?
For female waiters, my dad taught me to use the phrase "小姐 ".
But for male waiters, my dad doesn't know how to properly call them. I discussed the possibility of using "da ge", "小ge", "da di", "小 ...
9
votes
6answers
336 views
When is it appropriate to address a lady as 先生？
Chairman Mao addressed Soong Ching-ling as 宋庆龄先生. Yang Jiang was also addressed as 杨绛先生 by the public. My dad used to tell me to address some of his female colleagues as 先生 too.
I wonder why a lady ...
0
votes
2answers
54 views
what is the equivalent of 冒昧打扰 in English?
I apologize if this question is not appropriate for here, but I think it is more probably to find people who know the answer to this question here :)
In Chinese, we have the expression 冒昧打扰.
To put ...
3
votes
1answer
67 views
Did a king ask for a ball? How did 王 + 求 become 球?
The character 球 means ball and is composed of
王 meaning king and
求 meaning demand.
Where does this composition come from? Did a king ask for a ball?
1
vote
2answers
111 views
How to translate “读书好 好读书 读好书”?
A famous Chinese writer whose pen name is Bingxin once remarked, "读书好 好读书 读好书", which is used to encourage Chinese students to read books.
In this sentence, there are altogether 3 "好"s. The first and ...
1
vote
1answer
109 views
When is it appropriate to use 先生?
I'm trying to figure out when the title 先生 is used. Is it used for Mr., husband, honorary person, or something else? 谢谢
1
vote
2answers
75 views
Learn the characters at the same time as the language?
Should I learn Mandarin basics first through pinyin and worry about the characters later, or should I learn them together? Pros and cons?
0
votes
1answer
63 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 ...
1
vote
1answer
58 views
Why don't these questions have the “ma” particle at the end?
I've been using this site to get my basic foothold in Mandarin. If you scroll down you'll see a section entitled "WHAT", including some questions like "What's the matter?" and "What did you say?" and ...
1
vote
2answers
91 views
How is pronunciation discussed in Chinese?
Here's an English example:
Learner: Wait, how is cow pronounced?
Native: COW, like a K sound, and ow.
But in Chinese there are no phonetic letters. So how are children taught how to pronounce ...
2
votes
3answers
140 views
How do we describe a “sophisticated person”?
Is there a word for "sophisticated" in Chinese?
"Sophisticated" here will mean of a person or their thoughts, reactions, and understanding, being aware of and able to interpret complex issues:
...
1
vote
1answer
120 views
Are tones sometimes glossed over?
To elaborate, although ni3 hao3 has a double third tone, when I hear native speakers say it, it's said so quickly that they definitely are not using that tone, nor is there feasibly time to use the ...
0
votes
1answer
87 views
Why is 真都不错 used here instead of 都真不错?
中国的风景都真不错。
A native speaker told me that the above sentence was wrong, so the corrected version should be:
中国的风景真(的)都不错。
Is the first sentence's grammar wrong or it just sounds unnatural? ...
2
votes
2answers
175 views
Adding tone marks to characters
I'm looking for a way of adding tone marks above characters. It's fairly easy to add Pinyin with tone marks, but I want to add only tone marks. I want to use this as a teaching tool, because even ...
-4
votes
0answers
45 views
a digital divide problem [closed]
Now, we have original number array: a_1 > a_2 > a_3 > ... > a_(m*n) > 0, I wonder whether the following inequality is the truth, if so, could you give me the proof or some instruction?
inequality:
...
6
votes
2answers
269 views
Address to women using 小姐 in Northen part of China
I heard that it is not appropriate to call women or girls "小姐" in northen China. It is considered rough and have meaning close to hooker.
So I never address girl or women "小姐" in north and even when I ...
4
votes
4answers
148 views
太: Meaning in 灰太狼
灰太狼
灰太狼 (A character in a TV show) is translated in English as "Grey Wolf".
What has happened to the 太, wouldn't 灰狼 be enough to mean "Grey Wolf"?
2
votes
3answers
244 views
Why do native speakers often say a character has “no meaning”?
Many times I will know all the characters in a name but one & I'll ask what that one character means. 9 times out of 10 the response is, "That character has no meaning".
While it might be true ...
2
votes
4answers
116 views
What is the difference between 餐馆 and 饭店? Is 饭店 used for restaurant or hotel?
饭店 and 餐馆 can both mean restaurant. My Chinese friend here in Dongguan tells me 饭店 is not commonly used to mean hotel. I want to understand in what contexts both of these words are used. 谢谢.
1
vote
0answers
76 views
What does it say on the stamp?
I was requested by a friend to find out what this stamp is. Do you know what it says on the stamp?
0
votes
1answer
54 views
Included or Not Included As In “以後” “以來”, etc
Check out the references below, we see that Japanese has the same problem as Chinese: Does "以X" include the word itself, eg. is 1 included in "1以上"?
As what I have seen, in old Chinese books, there ...
-1
votes
1answer
61 views
how to translate 大脑迅速转动起来?
When I first came across the phrase "head starts spinning", I thought it meant 大脑迅速转动起来 in Chinese, which means "you start processing a lot info in your head in order to figure out something quickly". ...
3
votes
2answers
93 views
Correct usage of “behind schedule”
What I would like to know is the proper way to say "I am behind schedule" in the general sense similar to "I am running two hours late for the meeting", or "This project is two weeks overdue".
When I ...
7
votes
2answers
236 views
Academic explanation for rhyming fillers with irrelevant meaning in doggerel
在打油诗、顺口溜、儿歌里经常有纯粹是为了押韵或节拍而插入的和文意无关的词汇。在北方话、传统北京/天津评书相声里尤甚。我想知道在语言学专业里这种情况是怎么解释的，有没有术语或相关资料。
例如北京顺口溜：
嗝屁着凉大海棠，脚不丫子蘸白糖。
里“大海棠”完全是为押韵，无意义；蘸白糖虽然略有意义，但选词十分随机，更多是为了一种插科打诨的效果。
Brief translation:
...
2
votes
1answer
65 views
What is the difference between 依偎 and 偎傍？
I looked them up and they both have relatively the same meaning. So what's the difference between the two?
-5
votes
1answer
57 views
发一首陈奕迅的歌词试试，看有没有什么问题？ [closed]
陈奕迅 - 信任
作曲： Eric Kwok / Jerald
填词： 小克
编曲： Swing
监制： Swing / Eason Chan
你无谓迫我 打开刚才那一版
早前便讲过 旧友聚餐
你擒住不放 相中痴缠那一挽
平凡活动社交也要防范
肯相信我未 肯体恤我未
双方要靠信任还是放饵
请相信我哋 请珍惜我哋
为何总不留余地
你无谓偷看 手机中号码一闪
似邮和短讯 逐个查验
我门外经过 ...
3
votes
2answers
201 views
What is the correct pronunciation of 垃圾?
The word 垃圾 is sometimes pronounced laji, but other times I've seen it pronounced as lese, which pronunciation is deemed to be more correct? Are they both interchangeable?
27
votes
11answers
2k views
Resources for learning Mandarin Chinese
This is a specifically created Community Wiki which gathers resources for learning Mandarin Chinese and it has been approved by the Community itself.
It should be clear that the resources are not ...
0
votes
1answer
44 views
Meaning of these signs
Could someone please tell me what these signs mean, the OCR couldn't read them.
0
votes
1answer
40 views
Missionary Romanization?
I'm interested in the romanization system, or similar systems to, the one that produced translations such as "Confucius" and "Mencius". These names are very easy for non-Chinese speakers to pronounce. ...
-1
votes
0answers
45 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 ...
2
votes
1answer
120 views
Comparing 朝 vs. 向 vs. 往
In talking about physical/geographical directions, I'm pretty comfortable using 朝 and 向 and 往 for the meaning of "to" or "toward". But I would be hard put to describe to a Chinese language learner any ...
3
votes
4answers
264 views
Why do you say 我没有错 instead of 我不错 to say “I'm not wrong”? When should I use 没有?
I'm trying to understand when 没有 should be used instead of 不 when negating a sentence.
Consider the example "I'm not wrong."
Why is it 没有错?
How can I know when to use 没有 when negating a sentence?
...
1
vote
3answers
107 views
Relative clause in Chinese
How do you say "there aren't people I can talk to" ? 没有对他们可以说话的人？or else "the person with whom I had a fight last week is now a friend" and all those sentences that require with/to/etc.?
1
vote
1answer
112 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 ...
8
votes
4answers
452 views
Effective and polite way to end a phone conversation
What are some ways that I can let the other speaker know I want to finish a phone conversation and am going to hang up.
I frequently come across as too abrupt. Usually something along the lines of ...
1
vote
1answer
80 views
What is the Chinese for “Harbin salad”
There is a dish from Northern China called Harbin salad in English as well as in Russian. I want to find out what it is called in Chinese.
Here is a link that describes the dish.
0
votes
2answers
83 views
Which dialect(s) to study before visiting Shenzhen? [closed]
I'm looking at travelling to Shenzhen for a month. Which dialect(s) should I study? For speaking with factory managers, workers, and for day to day life?
1
vote
3answers
121 views
Proper use of “closet”
I apologize if this is very elementary: I've never heard of closet referred to as 壁橱， only as 衣柜， but the direct translation doesn't seem apropriate. I've also heard 衣柜 used to reference cupboard as ...
1
vote
3answers
161 views
质数 vs 素数
质数 and 素数 both mean "prime numbers" in chinese.
What's the difference in their nuances and usage?
0
votes
1answer
147 views
Pronouncing pinyin “c” in Shanxi dialect
I had thought I knew how to pronounce pinyin "c," like the English "ts" in "cats." But on a trip to Shanxi it seemed like most of my friends were pronouncing it like pinyin "ch." Village names ending ...
2
votes
3answers
108 views
What's the difference between 了, 著 and 到 when used as verb complements?
I need help with sorting out the difference between 了, 著 and 到 when used as verb complements. I have learnt most of my Chinese in Taiwan and in my experience, Taiwanese people don't use 著 as a verb ...
1
vote
2answers
128 views
How to translate “Muscle Memory” to chinese?
I cannot find a perfect word to describe "记忆".
So any one can help me ?
3
votes
3answers
197 views
How would you translate the word '面子'?
I want to describe that a certain action gives you '面子', or that people do things to try and maintain or protect their '面子' but I can't think of an appropriate English word for it.
5
votes
1answer
46 views
黃中 = being employed as an imperial government official/having a career in the imperial government?
Many Chinese clans have a "昭穆", a kind of poem from which each generation of the clan picks a successive character as a prefix to given names, so we can easily identify people from one generation to ...
3
votes
2answers
124 views
In what contexts would I use 由?
I know that 由 means through/via or from but I'm not sure exactly what contexts to use this in. For example the dictionary has this example sentence:
运输问题由他们解决。
I understand this but I would have ...
1
vote
1answer
60 views
How do you translate the word 'flight' in the context of a golf ball?
I am trying to describe that the design of a golf ball gives it a good flight (not necessarily the same as distance).
This is an article that describes the basics of ball flight in golf. It makes me ...
