4
votes
3answers
132 views
What is the correct orientation of “ㄧ” in zhuyin fuhao?
In zhuyin fuhao (bopomofo), "ㄧ" is equal to "i" or "yi" in hanyu pinyin. I have noticed, when displayed on my computer, even with very complete fonts, I see a vertical line (similar to "|"), but when ...
10
votes
6answers
1k views
Why is stroke order important when writing Chinese characters?
I often see people having a big focus on correct stroke order for writing Chinese characters.
My question is, for most learners, is it important to know the stroke order, and if so, why is it ...
6
votes
1answer
144 views
Meaning of 这么多好吃
I want to get the correct meaning of this sentence:
我恨不得一下子把这么多好吃的都吃完。
I understand this sentence as "I wish to eat up all those delicious things, all at once". I don't fully understand the ...
5
votes
2answers
175 views
How can I improve the speed of my spoken Chinese?
I'm currently trying to learn '听妈妈的话' on SingChineseSongs, and I'm having trouble keeping up with the fast parts. I also have trouble trying to speak terribly fast in Mandarin anyway.
Does anyone ...
10
votes
2answers
156 views
What is the difference between 总是 and 一直?
I've always (no pun intended) wondered what the difference is between the 2 words. I thought they both meant always, but I've never quite grasped in what context they should be used.
Could anyone ...
7
votes
2answers
116 views
Using 一样 instead of 同一 for “the same school”
In my study software, I recently had the following sentence:
我想我们会上一样的学校.
The context (a girl speaking to another girl who had just moved into the neighborhood) made it seem like the correct ...
5
votes
4answers
311 views
What is the correct way to say: “I thought you were somebody else.”
In English if you mistake someone for another person it is common to say "I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else".
How should this be said in Chinese?
6
votes
1answer
152 views
What are the different kinds of poems in Chinese?
In the question "Are there poems in Chinese that rhyme?", a debate started about what is considered a poem in Chinese.
The texts I presented — 《三字經》 (Three Character Classic), 《百家姓》 (The Hundred ...
4
votes
1answer
390 views
What is the character with the greatest number of strokes?
I have seen an old and very rarely used character that consisted of four traditional dragons (龍). As I remember it meant "talkative".
That makes a total of 64 strokes, are there any other characters ...
4
votes
1answer
102 views
Do you write every character? [closed]
I have been studying Chinese for a few months now. I am using some software to test my knowledge of the characters. Sometimes I do not recognize every character of a word but I can still derive the ...
3
votes
4answers
226 views
What is the most common word in use to describe 'DVD' and what is its measure word
I've heard the Chinese are fine to use the English word DVD, rather than the chinese word. What is more common, and what measure word do they use with it?
7
votes
2answers
155 views
Why does 有机 as in 有机食品 mean organic?
有 and 机 are some of the first characters we learn in Chinese, but I only recently found out that they mean "organic" when put together. Can anyone explain why this is?
2
votes
2answers
349 views
Are there poems in Chinese that rhyme?
I've mostly read classical poems from guys such as 李白 and 杜甫, very nice in their own way, but it made me wonder if there is some form of poetry with rhymes in Chinese.
It would probably be more ...
7
votes
6answers
455 views
Which website/service can give good example sentences in Chinese? [closed]
Often when learning new words, I want to see them in context. It helps my learning process, and understanding how to properly use new vocab makes it stick in my mind that much more.
Does anyone have ...
3
votes
2answers
138 views
Mandarin equivalent of “stir crazy”
Is there a concise way to express "stir crazy" in Mandarin, or would a long explanation be needed?
6
votes
3answers
255 views
Why does Chinese lack some level of abstraction in some idioms? (e.g. 兄弟姐妹)
Example: in Chinese, you can't * speak of siblings in a general term, and in turn you have to enumerate all 4 combinations of sex and age: 兄弟姐妹 ( older brother, younger brother, older sister, younger ...
8
votes
1answer
158 views
Expressing the location: 哪里 or 哪儿?
Which one of these two expressions is the best one? Or are they both good, but for different situations?
For example:
你住在哪里？ VS 你住在哪儿？ = Where do you live?
Nĭ zhù zài nă lĭ? ——— Nĭ zhù zài ...
5
votes
3answers
530 views
What does 民以食为天 mean?
How to translate one of old saying "民以食为天"？ Would that be "Food is the priority of populace"? That doesn't sound right to me, though.
6
votes
4answers
260 views
What does the expression “孤男寡女” mean?
What does the expression "孤男寡女" (gū nán guǎ nǚ) mean, exactly? Does it have inherently negative connotations?
As an aside, why does Google translate it as "Needing"?
5
votes
3answers
142 views
How are the terms for “male/female” and “man/woman” divided exactly?
I know that daughter in Chinese is 女儿, and son is 儿子. A little side-question: Why isn't "son" 男儿?
My main question is this one though: apart from son and daughter stated above, what are the ...
6
votes
4answers
149 views
What's the role of 好了 in 你叫我(name)好了?
In this sentence
你叫我马丁好了。
what's the role of 好了?
I understand this sentence as "You can call me 马丁".
8
votes
3answers
214 views
When and why is right to left writing used?
I have encountered horizontal right to left characters on signs (at the top of a gate) and on vehicles.
When is this used and why? Was this more common in the past?
Are the individuals characters ...
8
votes
5answers
386 views
Is any simplified character also a traditional character?
I don't mean traditional characters that weren't simplified, thus being the same in traditional and simplified.
What I ask if there is any simplified character which in turn has the same form of ...
4
votes
1answer
129 views
What does the classical construction X 何由 Y mean?
I almost never see this construction in classical prose. (In fact, I'll venture I've never seen it.) However, it's in two of my favorite poems.
In this one, it's from the poem "晨詣超師院讀禪經" by 柳宗元:
...
7
votes
1answer
128 views
Have any fonts been released that are based on slender gold?
I remember the first time I saw slender gold I had something like an 'am I dreaming?' moment. That's not how characters were supposed to look! The lines aren't supposed to cross, etc., etc.
But ...
6
votes
3answers
265 views
What is the difference between 一只狗 and 一条狗?
I've been told by native speakers that the former refers to little dogs while the latter is for bigger dogs. I also have been told that the latter has a negative connotation. I'm wondering:
how ...
7
votes
5answers
584 views
Why were some letters like Q, X, C, chosen for Pinyin which confuse non-Chinese speakers?
A romanization system is basically a system in which roman (latin) letters are used for languages that use non-roman scripts. This has the obvious benefit that people who can (maybe only) read roman ...
6
votes
4answers
276 views
What is the difference in use between 完 and 了?
If I understood correctly, both 完 and 了 can be used to indicate a completed action, so what is the difference in use? How do we properly use 完 in a sentence? Which contexts would be valid?
6
votes
2answers
139 views
Site for reading the same news article in English and Chinese (简体中文）
Previously I used to regular go to a news site that had articles in English that allowed you to immediately switch to Chinese for the same article.
It also had good information on the Chinese side ...
2
votes
1answer
61 views
Is 搏杀 used in jest in this sentence?
In December, I read this as a social network post:
今年剩下一个星期了，继续努力搏杀！
In English slang, one might say "killing it" to mean performing well. Is this use of 搏杀 figurative, literal, or humorous?
4
votes
4answers
2k views
How to say “hope you'll have a great day”?
I was writing a card to a friend and wanted to finish with "Hope you'll have a great day" but realised what I could think of wasn't quite the same meaning, or just sounded odd/weird.
What I wrote in ...
7
votes
2answers
186 views
Where can I find recordings of people reading things now that mp3.baidu.com is dead? [closed]
Baidu's MP3 search engine used to be my first stop when studying anything Chinese. Absurdly, even recordings of relatively rare poetry (for instance) were easy to find. These recordings were not ...
6
votes
2answers
394 views
How does Wikipedia's simplified to traditional converter work?
The relationship between simplified and traditional characters can be a headache for organizations using both orthographies.
"A number of surveys, such as [Xiandai 1986], have demonstrated that
...
4
votes
4answers
104 views
Which expressions should I choose to say “thanks for your help”?
If I want to say "Thanks for your help", which sentence is correct and which one is more commonly used?
谢谢你的帮忙
谢谢你的帮助
It seems that the first one is more uncommon but I'm not really ...
7
votes
1answer
184 views
How do native speakers structure their essays?
When analyzing Chinese speeches or essays, I often have difficulty understanding how their the authors organized their ideas.
In North America, for example, a common template for writing an essay is ...
7
votes
1answer
67 views
Are there any style guides for Chinese?
There are many different style guides for English, such as the The Chicago Manual of Style and MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing. Are there similar publications available for Chinese? ...
6
votes
2answers
185 views
Are these two form of “I live in…” both correct?
When studying I came across a useful expression to say "I live in..." which is "...在...住" such as in this sentence:
我在意大利住。= I live in Italy.
Wǒ zài Yìdàlì zhù.
But then I saw a different one ...
3
votes
1answer
424 views
What software can check for grammar mistakes?
I need some software that can check the grammar of some Chinese passages. Are there any programs capable of identifying problems? I'd prefer something for Linux, but other platforms would be okay too.
...
6
votes
3answers
151 views
When is the spelling and the pronunciation different?
I noticed that sometimes certain finals in Chinese sound differently when combined with different initials. For e.g., what is spelled "u" sometimes is pronounced "ü". Other times, I think the final ...
4
votes
2answers
150 views
What readers are available at the 1,000 word level?
I want to improve my reading and grammar skills by finding interesting things to read. What graded readers, basal textbooks, magazines, and other reading materials are available for adult students who ...
4
votes
2answers
156 views
Where can I find sorted word lists used by native students?
I would like to find a sorted list of vocabulary that is studied by native students in primary and secondary school in China, arranged by grade level. Is there any official place to download such a ...
6
votes
1answer
109 views
When was punctuation introduced into Chinese?
Have have seen some old Chinese books. The words flowed from top to bottom on the page and there was no punctuation.
How did readers know when the sentences began and ended?
Were any older forms of ...
1
vote
1answer
105 views
What computer games give good reading and listening practice? [closed]
What computer games are available to help low-intermediate learners to practice reading and listening? I'm looking for games that I can download, buy, or play On-line.
5
votes
6answers
420 views
Which fonts show the stroke order of all characters?
For academic purposes, I need to print out some pages of characters with stroke orders shown. Which computer fonts (e.g. TrueType or OpenType) are available which show the stroke order of each ...
5
votes
4answers
989 views
When are “《” and “ 》” and other brackets used?
In some texts, I have seen these brackets:
Carrot brackets: 《, 》,〈, and 〉.
Square brackets: 【, 】,〖, and 〗.
C-brackets: 〔 and 〕.
L-brackets: 「, 」, 『, and 』.
Some questions:
What are the Chinese ...
6
votes
4answers
64 views
What methods are available for looking up a character?
Some dictionaries provide a radical lookup for finding a character. Are there other systems available besides radical lookup for finding the meaning of a word when one only has the character?
4
votes
3answers
145 views
Where can I find a list of commonly mistaken characters?
I want to quickly identify potential mistakes created by OCR software. Where can I find a list of all Chinese characters that visually look very similar and might often be confused?
7
votes
6answers
133 views
What etymology dictionaries are available?
What dictionaries (online, software-based or in paper form) explain the origins of a word and its evolution over time? E.g. how the character was once written, how the usage – and the meaning – ...
4
votes
3answers
172 views
What board games would facilitate speaking practice?
Table top games provide good opportunities for authentic and simulated communication with a group. I think such an activity would be ideal for language practice, if one had opportunities to play with ...
4
votes
4answers
628 views
How to convert from hanyu pinyin to IPA?
Where can I find a table showing the relation between hanyu pinyin spelling and IPA for all phonemes in Mandarin?
