4
votes
2answers
80 views
How to use 凭 as a preposition
I understand 凭 as a verb to mean rely. But I often read it and the seemingly related 凭着 in familiar contexts but still do not know what function it serves. Seeing example sentences doesn't make it any ...
5
votes
3answers
272 views
我也住在這裡 or 我也住這裡
I'm quite confused with using 在 in a sentence. I learned that it usually indicates a place or a location. I'm trying to say "I also live here". I thought that since I'm referring to a place, maybe I ...
2
votes
2answers
60 views
山火 vs 野火 vs 丛林大火: Chinese for “bushfire”
I would imagine that 山火 meant "a fire in the mountains", but the dictionary lists "wildfire / forest fire".
Is 山火 then a generic word for an out of control fire? What about 野火? I saw 山火 on the news, ...
1
vote
1answer
81 views
What greetings or sayings are there that are used during the new year, specific to the Year of the Snake?
At the New Year, there are some sayings or greetings that are lucky or considered "好听", which are especially fitting since they have to do with the upcoming new year.
For example, at the New Year of ...
4
votes
2answers
215 views
Who exactly is a 干妈
This dictionary translates 干妈 as "Godmother", and my pocket dictionary also gives "nominal mother".
In English, "Godmother" and "Godfather" are very specific titles - Your Godparents are the people ...
6
votes
5answers
220 views
What is the meaning of 真是的
What is a meaning of 真是的. I heard for many times in context something like 你真是的！ And yet I have doubts about proper meaning of this expression.
1
vote
1answer
89 views
Meaning of 泡
I first encountered this word in the brand of a kid's drink, O泡. When I looked it up I saw that it meant something like "bubble", and was (ironically for the name of a drink) the classifier for ...
1
vote
4answers
127 views
When to use 家 vs 师 vs 员 vs 者
I'm translating my resume into Chinese so I can maybe apply for a Chinese job.
There are a number of items on there where I'm not sure when to use 家, 师, 员, or 者.
Example, I developed a comics ...
3
votes
2answers
267 views
Difference between 喜乐 and 快乐？
Dictionaries lead me to understand 快乐 as happy. Whereas 喜乐 as delighted, happiness, joy. In English joy denotes a stronger, deeper emotion. Is the difference in meanings of 快乐 and 喜乐 great enough to ...
1
vote
2answers
85 views
Is there an abbreviation for the 黑海/地中海 combo?
In Chinese, related region names are often abbreviated. For example, Sino-Japanese is known as 中日 and Sino-African is known as 中非.
Does anyone know whether there is a corresponding abbreviation for ...
4
votes
3answers
120 views
Early childhood Chinese language immersion accent exposure
Is it important for young children (4 or 5 years old) in a Chinese language immersion program to be exposed to more than one type of Mandarin accent? If the child only hears one accent (and one that ...
2
votes
2answers
103 views
In “我只喜歡你一個” what does the “一個” do?
If I were to translate "I only like you" I'd say
我只喜歡你
Wǒ zhǐ xǐ huan nǐ
However I have seen the following
我只喜歡你一個
Wǒ zhǐ xǐ huan nǐ yī ge
Translated as
I like you alone
...
4
votes
4answers
150 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"?
3
votes
1answer
62 views
给我站住: Idiom or common meaning
给我站住
I assume this means something like "wait for me!". But I still have a couple of questions.
Google translate gives the meaning "Nothing to say" which implies that 给我站住 may be an idiom.
If ...
2
votes
1answer
105 views
Is there a logical explanation why 非得不 and 非得 means must?
I understand that 非 and 不 have negative meanings by themselves, and 得 means "must"
by itself. So with a double negative, which means affirmative positive. So far so good.
But 非得 by itself is also ...
4
votes
1answer
131 views
What's the grammatical structure for “<subject> <verbs> like a <noun>” style simile in Chinese
I am fond of the simile structure "I eat like a wolf" or "The light flickered like a candle" in English. I never know how to express these thoughts in Chinese though, even if I know the underlying ...
3
votes
2answers
117 views
Is Hakka spoken the same in Guangdong and Taiwan?
In Taiwan Hakka is the 3rd most popular language, and the MRT in Taipei makes all announcements in 4 languages; Mandarin, Minnan, Hakka, and English.
It is also a minority language in Hong Kong and ...
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 ...
-2
votes
1answer
45 views
Help translating [closed]
Not sure this is the correct forum for this post as I'm not a student, but I need help translating this a error message I keep getting. I'm hoping it's Chinese.
...
4
votes
1answer
76 views
Difference between 更好 and 比较好?
I'm confused about the difference between 更好 and 比较好. Since both seem to mean "better", how are these used differently? In what cases would you use them?
1
vote
1answer
116 views
Where can I find sample Simplified Chinese mailing address data? [closed]
I need to populate a database with Simplified Chinese mailing addresses. Where can I find some test data?
Edit
Since I'm trying to work with these addresses in a computer program, it would be nice ...
8
votes
4answers
164 views
How do Chinese people pronounce Latin characters?
I hear that "Windows XP" is commonly called "Chā P" because the letter "X" may be pronounced "Chā".
Are there other Latin characters that have similarly peculiar pronunciations?
4
votes
3answers
101 views
What is the function of 了 in the sentence 我最怕去西单了?
Received this in a text from a Chinese friend. I want to say that "了" here is not part of the verb phrase but instead just an emphatic particle, same as if you said something like "我最怕蜘蛛了"。Then again, ...
2
votes
2answers
118 views
Resources for learning Cantonese
I'd like to learn Cantonese, does anyone know some good resources (books, websites) that provide a thorough introduction into the language? I know that the pronunciation is a lot harder than in ...
0
votes
1answer
101 views
What is the significance of 吃秋葵时过世?
I found this on nciku.cn and after searching around I could find no other references or even mention. Is this a translation error or some sort of dictionary blip?
I asked a few Chinese friends but ...
2
votes
1answer
124 views
Meaning of “网络驿站”
I've come across the phrase "网络驿站" a couple of times recently, but don't understand precisely what it means (see Hbjjrb.com for an example).
The only translation of 驿站 that I can find refers to a ...
2
votes
2answers
146 views
Where can I find Cantonese poetry?
I would like to identify some Cantonese poetry to study, and I'm looking for the kind of poetry that follows a recognized style and is bound by certain rules (even Cantonese haiku or limericks would ...
1
vote
1answer
130 views
How should I understand 集合?
I looked up the definition for 集合 in Baidu but I'm not sure how to use it. My example is like this:
其博大宽泛的特性集合，～
The context of this sentence is that it's describing PHP, a popular programming ...
4
votes
1answer
117 views
Graded Mandarin Chinese podcasts or e-books
Are there any resources for students of Mandarin Chinese that allow them to listen or read Chinese news or literature in simple versions, preferably in podcast or e-book format respectively?
By that ...
5
votes
4answers
272 views
Any difference between 早安 and 早上好?
Is there any difference in meaning, formality, tone, or otherwise between the "good morning" greetings 早安 and 早上好? Or just regional preferences? (I'm thinking perhaps the former may be more common in ...
2
votes
2answers
111 views
How to mix Latin and Chinese script with style?
I am currently writing a Chinese translation for a webpage about a Go meeting. The section about how to get there contains a lot of mixed Chinese and Latin text:
地點
社團處所在 Lehrter Straße ...
1
vote
2answers
150 views
Resultative complement 到
Is using the resultative complement 到 generally equivalent to saying "at the time this action was finished"?
Can 你走到车站的时候已经很晚了吗？ be translated as "By the time you reached the station were you ...
6
votes
4answers
267 views
What is a polite way to ask “may I ask who is speaking?”
A man I don't know calls me and starts talking to me in Chinese. All is fine, except I don't know who he is. I sense I'm not the person he's looking for. How do I ask who he is without being too ...
2
votes
1answer
88 views
What's the Eye of a Hurricane called in Chinese/Pinyin?
For a role playing game I'm joining, my character is a monk of Chinese origin.
Trying to come up with a name I thought of "Eye of (the) Hurricane/Typhoon" as the monk is a very calm character caught ...
5
votes
2answers
145 views
Is the measure word optional in 这件毛衣?
I've heard the sentence 这毛衣, (so without measure word), but my chinese manual always use a measure word after 这:
这件毛衣
这件苹果
Is the measure word optionnal in after 这 ?
10
votes
2answers
414 views
How did 黃 (yellow) come to mean “pornographic”?
In my dictionary it defines
黃 (Huáng)
- yellow
- pornographic
- to fall through
- surname Huang or Hwang
Imperial China and the robes of the emperor are commonly associated with the colour yellow.
...
2
votes
4answers
323 views
Writing Chinese Characters is Sloppy
Since learning Mandarin through Rosetta Stone, Youtube videos, and friends, I've begun to keep a journal of mandarin characters and phrases.
I first draw the character, along with the pinyin and ...
4
votes
5answers
327 views
What is that use of 得?
I have read the sentence: 你还记得我吗？
But I can’t understand the meaning of 得, here. I don’t think it belongs to the rules explained here
6
votes
2answers
131 views
How does foreign word transliteration work in the context of Cantonese vs Mandarin?
If I understand correctly, Cantonese sounds very different from Mandarin, despite being written in the same way (omitting some small differences, which are irrelevant for the question).
If it is the ...
4
votes
2answers
199 views
Errors and Unnatural Language in a Translation Challenge
I was recently challenged to translate the following sentence from English into Chinese:
You should stay away from that bar. A friend of mine went there before, and he ended up in the hospital after ...
3
votes
3answers
236 views
Why is Economic translated to “經濟”?
I know that it's a translation from Japanese, but I do not know why it becomes this. Could someone explain it in detail?
3
votes
2answers
144 views
What is the appropriate translation for 'energy'?
There are many times when I want to tell someone that I don't have enough energy to do something. These are close but not exactly what I want:
我太累。 I'm not too tired, I just don't have as much energy ...
2
votes
2answers
183 views
Why does the word 萌 mean “cute”?
A friend of mine said in a photo of me, my eyes looked very 萌(meng2).
你的眼睛很萌
My dictionary defines 萌 as;
萌 méng （动）
sprout;
bud;
germinate
But apparently in this context it means ...
2
votes
3answers
145 views
Resources for learning Shanghainese
I'm surprised a question like this hasn't been asked yet. It seems Shanghainese is a dying language and it's rarely spoken. I'd like to know about resources and ways to learn the language by myself.
...
1
vote
4answers
121 views
回去回来 回来回去 来来回回 来来去去 Are they the same?
In this post, Juckele mention two terms completely new to me : 回去回来 and 回来回去.
I know
来来回回 Things keep going in circle, usually use to describe situation in life
来来去去 Same as above
But what about ...
7
votes
2answers
151 views
Implications of “旧的不去，新的不来”
I found this idiom while looking for another idiom my friend told me about like 回去回来 or 回来回去. I'm wondering about the implications of 旧的不去，新的不来 though. Can this be used for people who hold onto broken ...
6
votes
4answers
231 views
Pronounce ellipsis 《●●● ●●●》 in Mandarin
When I'm reading ellipses in English out loud I usually say et cetera or and so on. What should I say in Mandarin? 等等?
6
votes
2answers
169 views
Difference between 许多 and 很多
What's the difference between 许多 and 很多?
For example, in this sentence I found on Jukuu both terms are used:
After years of teaching, I have many memories to dwell on in idle moments.
...
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 ...
2
votes
4answers
154 views
茶 - How to identify varieties of tea?
I'm looking for vocabulary to help puzzle-out the kind of tea contained in various packages from the Chinese characters on their labels.
So far I recognize 茶(tea) and 叶(leaves). (Apparently these ...
