6
votes
3answers
259 views
Why is it written LIU in Pinyin, when there's clearly an O sound?
Does anybody know why this decision was made in Pinyin, about not writing any hint of the sound /O/ in liu, instead of writing something like liou or liow ?
Because the first reaction of any ...
6
votes
3answers
279 views
Why does the construction of 要是…的话 mean “if”?
I know other words like 如果 also provide the "if", but why would 要是...的话 mean "if"?
An example sentence:
要是你喜欢汉语（的话），你该听中国的音乐。
If you like Chinese, you should listen to Chinese music.
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 ...
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".
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 ...
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 ...
6
votes
2answers
265 views
Is there a rule of thumb for distinguishing male and female names in Chinese?
I often get tripped up when reading names of Chinese people, and trying to work out if they are male or female. Is there a good rule of thumb to follow to determine which is which?
6
votes
2answers
193 views
How widespread is the use of 妳?
When addressing a female person, do I have to use 妳 instead of 你?
How common is the usage of 妳?
6
votes
3answers
114 views
Are there sentences where 跟 and 和 are interchangeable?
For example:
我跟朋友去公园了。
我和朋友去公园了。
Are both of these sentences correct? Are there any subtle differences in the meaning conveyed?
If they are not entirely interchangeable, how do we know which one ...
6
votes
4answers
266 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 ...
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 ...
6
votes
5answers
168 views
What are some ways that I can be self-deprecating about my Chinese speaking ability?
I live in an area where there are many Chinese so I get plenty of opportunity to use my language skills including shopping, eating at restaurants and meeting new people.
The Chinese people I meet are ...
6
votes
2answers
250 views
What do Chinese do if they forget how to write a character?
I've heard that character amnesia is becoming more and more common.
What if a Chinese has to write something and he doesn't have a cellphone or computer with him, what does he do if he forgot the ...
6
votes
3answers
133 views
Position of 面熟 in this sentence
In my textbook I found this sentence:
常常看着一个人面熟却叫不出名字来。
If 面熟 is an adjective, why is it used after 人 (to indicate a "familiar-looking person")?
Can 一个人面熟 be rewritten to 一个面熟人 without ...
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?
6
votes
1answer
148 views
Determine radicals for simplifed characters that lost their traditional form completely
Having read this question: How can one determine the radical for a given character?,
it gave me another question.
Since many simplified characters lost their original form (compared to traditional ...
6
votes
1answer
86 views
General guidelines for learning stroke order
A friend asked me for a brief description of the general guidelines for writing Chinese characters. What's the simplest way to describe those "rules" that apply across most characters?
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 ...
6
votes
4answers
239 views
What's the difference between 星期X and 周X?
When accepting an answer, I noticed that the example used the word 周三 for Wednesday, but in my grammar, the days of the week are 星期一, 星期二, etc...
They seem both correct but, what's the difference? ...
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 ...
6
votes
1answer
162 views
How do non-native speakers get to perceive tones in Chinese?
Recently I've been teaching an English-speaking friend some basics about Chinese, but inevitably he got stuck with the tones. I've demonstrated to him the 4 tones with audio files, yet it seems hard ...
6
votes
2answers
188 views
What characters are on this ceramic jar?
What characters are depicted on this old jar? My (art-)sources have all different opinions: "fu2 shou4 an1 kang1" or "fu2 lu4 shou4 xi3" or 4 x shou4 or "fu2 shou4 kang1 ning2" and all without telling ...
6
votes
3answers
180 views
了解 vs 明白 vs 知道 - what is the difference, and when should I use each one?
了解, 明白, and 知道 seem to be fairly synonymous in Mandarin, but there does seem to be some subtle differences between them.
What exactly is the difference? When should I use each one? Could you give me ...
6
votes
3answers
139 views
What is a good form of address for a male friend who is too old to be 小, too young to be 老, and too humble to be called 大?
I have a male "friend", last name 柯 (kē) who is over 30. From ages 18-30 or so, he went by 小柯, but that seems less and less appropriate as he gets older. Always going by his full name seems overly ...
6
votes
2answers
220 views
How are new words added to the Chinese language?
I'm always curious to know, as the world develops and new words come into existence, how are they adopted by the Chinese language?
Is there some sort of government body that decides these sort of ...
6
votes
2answers
86 views
What is the part without the radical called?
For example, these characters have different radicals:
根 跟 恨 狠
But the part of the characters minus the radical is the same.
Does that part (艮 in this case) have a name?
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 ...
6
votes
2answers
150 views
How to express a date in Chinese (lunar) calendar?
Many traditional festivals are observed on a given date on the Chinese (lunar) calendar(Actually, the Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar). For example, the Spring Festival falls on the first day ...
6
votes
2answers
141 views
Why was 滾 (gǔn) simplified to 滚?
Why was the traditional character 滾 simplified to 滚? It's only one stroke less so it seems doubtful that it was done to make the character simpler to write. Does it change the meaning of the character ...
6
votes
2answers
330 views
Recommendations for novels written in colloquial Chinese [closed]
Like many language learners, I enjoy reading Chinese novels as a way of learning new vocabulary and practicing my reading skills. Nevertheless, in the process of muddling through Chinese fiction, I ...
6
votes
1answer
120 views
What is the origin of the word 雪茄 (cigar)?
I assume 雪茄 (cigar) is a loanword. Who can tell me what language this word was loaned from and, if appropriate, how it was transcribed?
My own guess is that the word was transcribed from English and ...
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
...
5
votes
7answers
350 views
What is the difference between using 光 vs using 只?
What is the gramatical difference between 光 and 只?
光剩下2毛钱 does not have the same meaning/context as 只剩下2毛钱
It seems there is more emphasis to the part that comes after 光. When is the right time to ...
5
votes
3answers
188 views
Writing “Please Recycle” in Mandarin
How can one write "Please Recycle" in the context of an office paper room?
I have tried: 请回收利用 but my friend says this is only for recycling batteries
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?
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
3answers
222 views
“小王” 和 “老王” how to determine which to use?
This is something I still haven't mastered and still just go with the flow.
If I wanted to call someone a nickname, say for Mr. Wang, which one should I choose? What defines whether I should call him ...
5
votes
4answers
150 views
List of hanzi and their components
I would like to be able to compute the distance between 2 hanzi according to their components.
My idea is that a hanzi like 式 is made of 工 and 弋. 2 hanzi are close if they share common components.
...
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.
5
votes
4answers
128 views
How to indicate plurality/singularity
I'm aware that basic Chinese grammar tends to lack distinction between the plural and singular forms of many nouns. For example, 我的朋友是中国人 could either mean "my friend is Chinese" (singular) or "my ...
5
votes
2answers
233 views
Why does 首饰的饰 have the 饣radical?
According to my sources 饣 means "food" or "eat". Since when do people eat jewelry?
5
votes
3answers
160 views
What's chinese for “layer” in the Photoshop sense of the word?
I want to say "Do not print this layer" in Chinese, as past of a photoshop file. How does one say "Layer" in the photoshop sense of the word in Chinese?
Google translate thinks the translation of "Do ...
5
votes
4answers
988 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 ...
5
votes
6answers
358 views
Pronunciation of “因为”
因为 is usually pronounced as yīn wèi, but sometimes I hear it pronounced as yīn wéi which really brings out the meaning as reason (yīn) being (wéi).
Which pronunciation came about first? Do regional ...
5
votes
5answers
201 views
Why do I see 我 for I, but is pronounced WAH
I'm corrected to pronounce WAH instead of "wǒ".
Is it the same and I just hear it wrong in my head? Or is there a difference in dialect?
5
votes
4answers
470 views
What is 人 doing in 你现在人在哪里？
I got this sentence in my "daily exercise" newsletter, and I really don't understand what's 人 doing there? Doesn't it mean the same when 人 is removed? Could this simply be a typo?
5
votes
4answers
325 views
Take away (when ordering food): is it 带走 or 打包?
I was told that when you are ordering food you can say either 带走 or 打包.
However, when you are not ordering food and you mean "take this away", then you use 拿走。
Is there a difference in context or ...
5
votes
1answer
120 views
How is the Kanji character 豚 related to the chinese 猪 / 豬
The Chinese character for pig is 猪 / 豬 (zhu1)
In many Japanese restaurants around Hong Kong I've seen this somewhat different character 豚 which appears to also mean pig.
How would you say it in ...
5
votes
2answers
171 views
What is the difference between 人民 and 民族？
What is the difference between 人民 and 民族, for example in 中华人民 vs. 中华民族?
