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If you compare Chinese with English, you will find a lot differences and similarities. Similarities may help you learn Chinese a little bit easily, while differences are the things you need to keep in mind and to get used to. Here are the ways how English/Chinese sentences are constructed. English: Letters ----------------- Words ---- Sentences Chinese: ...

Just as @Flake said: In general, "小X" should be used to a person who is younger than you while "老X" to an older person. And here is some additional usages: Generally speaking, 老X is often used to address a male, and 小X can be used for both male & female. 老X can be used to a person who is an acquaintance to you(usually both of you have almost the ...

This is a very interesting question. I am sure you can understand that even in English there are tons of ways to greet one single friend. It also differs from regions. Below I am listing some of the typical/common ways we greet people. People you've just met: 你好！＝ hello. 很高兴认识你！ = very glad to meet you. For acquaintances: 你好吗？= how are you doing? ...

This does happen every now and then. It is just a way of expressing enthusiasm to see you. And from experience it won't go on forever, usually just a second time, but sometimes people will say "你好, 你好" or even "你好, 你好, 你好" in a row. Think of it as a handshake, it is not going to go on until it is awkward, just showing some enthusiasm with a couple of extra ...

I can't even imagine this scenario - but supposing they say 你好, and you replied that is where it should end. If they went on to say 你好吗？ You could obviously reply 我很好，你呢？ or words to that effect, but that should really be the end of any 你好 exchanges. I've never had a never ending 你好 exchange, and I'd be pretty confident in saying it isn't common. Hope ...

May I suggest checking out the ChinaSmack glossary? They have a huge array of colorful language, and there is sure to be something that meets your needs in terms of a curse word there. Just to add, I always hear Chinese girls saying 讨厌 (taoyan) when they are annoyed or frustrated, but it's not exactly the most masculine of statements. 烦 (fan) also seems to ...

Roughly speaking, 洗手间 = bathroom/restroom and 厕所 = toilet. 洗手 literally means wash hands. It's not feminine, it's just more polite as you mentioned. You can use either in most cases. You would use 洗手间 while eating or when talking to someone you don't know very well.

My friends use 谢谢 all the time, so even if someone pours them a drink for the 10th time they will still say 谢谢. One thing I noticed when I first started learning was that how I said it sounded too exaggerated, so it was coming across like I was trying to thank someone for saving my life when it was just supposed to be a simple thanks. So maybe try toning it ...

yes, it is common for many Asia countries that "lodging" (typically dormitories) is provided by the companies and often these "factories" form cities on their own. A famous (or maybe better to say notorious) example is Foxconn. From wikipdia: Foxconn's largest factory worldwide is in Longhua, Shenzhen, where hundreds of thousands of workers (varying ...

I have not watched this drama so my interpret may not be accurate. From what is said, this line is self-mockery and ironic, but in a humorous and relaxed tone. 门墩、胖狗、肥丫头 concludes the modest values of Chinese countrymen with a ragged verse. It doesn't look like from any specific reference, at least I am not aware of. However, in modern Chinese literature ...

In general, "小X" should be used to a person who is younger than you while "老X" to an older person. Such nicknames are often used by a specific group of people. This makes the cases that a person is called "小X" if major members in the group are older than him/her, or vice versa. However, in such a situation, let's take an example: a guy is about 30 years ...

Well, not sure if this answers your question or not, but I've played a game before involving using idioms (aka 成语) where you have to carry on using the same sound (not including tone) from whatever 成语 the previous person said. For example, if I started with 骑虎难下 (qi hu nan xia - something like stuck between a rock and a hard place) the next person might say ...

For cursing: "操" is pretty similar to "damn" or "sh*t" in such situation of cursing. Also similar as they should not be used in very formal situations. However, the meaning of "操" is same as the f word in its verb form. "操" should be quite acceptable (or at least ok) in informal scenarios. "靠" has very very close meaning as "操" in this situation. ...

Cantonese really has a nice distinction here, between "thanks for doing that", 唔該 (m4 goi1), and 多謝 (do1 ze6) for receiving something of great or tangible value. You'd say 唔該 to a waiter and 多謝 to a co-worker who recommended you for a promotion. In Mandarin, I've always erred towards too polite, saying 谢谢 or 多谢 for everyday interactions and 非常感谢 when I ...

Yes, there is a game like "Crossword". I played such a game in this site. The site is a little famous since it provide this game for the famous newspaper Southern Weekend. Here is a screenshot:

This is not a complete answer, but will probably supplement others you get. While working in Beijing I always heard colleagues greeting each other in the morning with just 早 (zǎo) instead of the full 早上好 (zǎo shang hǎo). This is quite similar to what we do in English, using "morning!" as a greeting instead of "good morning!"

This kind of case is usually occurs on these occasions: When you are standing at top of the mountain, you feel very exciting, and shout out with prolonging the each word(like niiiiiii haooooooo maaaaaaa) or just the last word(like ni hao maaaaaaa). Mum, so exciting! :p It usually occurs in young people, especially the female. Some cute girls will often ...

Many people live at factories in China because many of them are migrants and it's more economical from their point of view to live in factory dormitories. It's also more efficient for them and their employers to have them on-site. Remember, China is crowded, housing is expensive and commuting is a bear. As for who would want to visit a factory, well many ...

If this speaking is usually mixed with a drop in tone on the word before, it's just a cutesy speak. Note that the extended word gets elevated tone, but drops to normal tone right before the end. /maaaaaa\ ni\ / \aa \_hao_/ Girls in japanese anime do that all the time.

For males or females who are older than yourself are not blood relatives e.g. not 表哥 or 表姐 and are usually unmarried and not quite old enough to be referred to as 阿姨 or 叔叔 then this is someone you might refer to as 大姐 or 大哥. This is normally out of respect to someone who maybe treats you as a younger brother or sister. In certain movies 大哥 is used for a ...

The only thing I can add to this is that with close friends you should be wary of using 谢谢 too much! My Chinese friend once told me that, because of our friendship, it should be obvious that we are thankful for the kind things that we each do for one another and that it can actually create the feeling of distance in a relationship rather than closeness. I ...

This is a subjective question, to some people polite words 谢谢 or thanks do not mean much of a thing. (It is just 'niceties' making you appear to be 0.1% that much more polite to them) So my verdict: It depends (does not matter whether it is English or Chinese, or whether young or old)

In addition, some Chinese word which contains 'repeated' characters has related with the single character, but the word has more implicated. The common way of implication is about space or time. Example: 天 means day, 天天 means day after day, so we use it to express 'everyday'. 远 means far, 远远 means faraway

Traditionally, the Spring Festival starts from 23rd December (lunar month), 23rd December is also called 小年 (little Spring Festival) There is an old saying... 二十三，祭灶官；二十四，扫房子；二十五，糊窗户 (or 磨豆腐)；二十六，割块肉；二十七，杀只鸡；二十八，贴gaga(嘎嘎音，意为贴春联)；二十九，灌壶酒；年三十，包扁食。 Basically, it describes what people do each day from 小年 to Chinese New Year Eve (三十).

I received (and sent) several of these messages. I copied down some phrases to use later: 祝您事业兴旺！ = May your career be prosperous! 祝您福寿绵长！ = I wish you a long & happy life! 祝您龙年大吉！ = I wish you a very lucky Dragon Year! 祝您万事如意！ = May everything be exactly as you wish it to be! From what I can tell, Chinese often string many ...

We(I think) would like to say thanks to people who help us, however, we don't usually like to say thanks to people who serve us with a cup of tea. It is weird, yes compared to westerns. There maybe one reason for this (maybe significant): In China 'thanks' is a heavy word, we reluctant to say this all the time while a simple replay would mean a lightweight ...

About 你吃饭了么: It is maybe more common to say 你吃了么? or even simply 吃了么?. And it is not necessarily rice, but any meal (except breakfast). So the translation to English should be Have you eaten? This is used more commonly during the time period after lunch or after dinner. There are jokes about this, e.g. two guys met near toilet but asking each other ...

Above answers provide a few Chinese word games, but I think most of them are a little too hard for beginners. Here I suggest an easier word game onece I played with my wife. At the beginning of the game, you thought (usually) two letters, for example "SC". Then all players must say Chinese words whose “声母” meets SC. Player A: 市场 Shi Chang -> SC Player ...

Of course there are many Chinese word games. They just have different style than the English ones since the two languages have different writing systems. Many Chinese word games are about radicals forming a character, not letters (characters) forming a word. I did a quick search and found an example: http://www.5dhz.com/game/chengyu/ There are many other ...

I just want to add some information to the accepted answer as I believe it is imprecise. 小x and 老x are used directly with someone you are familiar with (or speak with regularly, like a colleague). The usage is based not only on age difference but also on the social status, gender, family relation to you and who is your interlocutor. (You will not call ...