Hot answers tagged meaning
12
I did a quick whip round of some of my Chinese friends (well, 6 who are online currently) and came to the conclusion it could work either way, and doesn't really matter.
One made an interesting point that they don't really point out the difference in Chinese, but that she notices Chinese people say 'sheep' a lot more than 'goat' in English, which I think is ...
12
There are differences in meaning between 明白 and 懂, but they are somewhat subtle. Several Chinese-language websites record Chinese speakers asking the same question, so the difference is certainly not obvious. Nevertheless, the long and short of it is that, for practical purposes, they are interchangeable: people use 懂 and 明白 to mean "I understand" in many ...
10
Frankie's answer is good, but I want to make a clarification on 孤 and 寡. Both of them mean "only one" here, and I don't think "single" is good in this situation since it could mean "unmarried".
example:
you and a female friend of yours are taking in a club, in a room with the door closed,(of course, I don't recommend this :-) ), unfortunately, your wife ...
10
It is very common and, in my personal experience, has similar offensiveness as the f word in English.
It can be offensive and quite rude: e.g. in a business negotiation, when the deal is finally broken and one side says:
你他妈的给我滚出去 = "Get your fucking ass out of my office"
It may be used in irony among close friends which is not offensive then:
E.g. ...
9
相声 is a form of Chinese traditional stand-up comedy where two two performers talk back and forth to each other, telling a funny story or just chatting about a humorous topic. Because it's a traditional Chinese art form and originates in northern China, it has a higher political status than other Chinese art forms. This means that it gets broadcasted across ...
9
人民 is translated as "(the) people". You can find it in popular expressions like:
人民共和国 = People's Republic; as Huang said in the comments, if we include China it becomes "中华人民共和国"
人民币 = Renminbi (the Chinese currency. 币 means "money, coins, currency".)
人民日报 = "People's Daily" (a newspaper)
民族 means "ethnic group, nationality", for ...
9
The compound 不起 is not just limited to this particular construction. It's a bit like a suffix that succeeds a verb, meaning 'not within one's power' or 'can't afford to due to the possibility of dire consequences'.
Some examples of compounds that use 不起 include:
吃不起 (Can't afford to eat - either due to financial constraint or social constraint)
住不起 ...
8
People usually say 山羊 when they mean a goat.
--- I don't think so.
Goat or Sheep, just only depends on the context or the environment!
Actually, the scene of language is as follows:
When a sheep comes, what the brain of a Chinese-speaking people presents/thinks about is: "羊 is coming."
When a goat comes, what the brain of a Chinese-speaking people ...
8
As Fivesheep pointed out, “四海” means "the whole world". The word "四海一家" means "the whole world is one family". It is used to expressed that "we are family. we shall respect each other. we shall unite", something like this, to convey the politeness from the overseas Chinese people to the local people(in your case, the Australian people).
I believe this word ...
8
No, here the real pattern that you should focus on is “依[A]而[B]", which means "according to A, B is/does...",remember 依 means "according to, based on" here. So your example means:
The tastes are different, according to differen ingredients.
Or you would say, The tastes of different ingredients are different.
Another example:
单价依采购量而定。 The unit ...
8
Here are some definitions for "土著":
<现代汉语词典>(商务印书馆,1992年):"世代居住本地的人."
<辞源>(商务印书馆,2004年):(1)"世代定居于一地";(2)"后也称世代居住在本地的人为土著".
<辞海>(上海古籍出版社,1999年):(1)"古代游牧民族定居某地后,不再迁徙的称为‘土著";(2)"后指世居本地的人".
In classical Chinese, "土", when used as an adjective, means "local" or "original" (source):
<形>本地的；当地的。《柳敬亭传》：“且五方～音，乡俗好尚习见习闻。”
"著" has the ...
8
Like others said, it is just a name and names can be arbitrary.
However, to many of the audience, there is another layer of meaning that I am hesitant to lay bare.
The pronunciation of 太狼 resembles a common Japanese name 太郎. Intentionally or not, this political metaphor helped the series to gain popularity and government support.
7
There is a restaurant in the Ximending district of Taipei, Taiwan, with a giant banner exclaiming;
真他媽的好吃
=~ "Truly f**ing tasty"
I equate it to the British "bloody". "That's bloody tasty".
Offensive in a formal context, but a commonly accepted expletive.
7
I've only heard it used in describing sexual situations, and wiktionary.org describes its usage as follows:
This idiom usually only refers to a man taking advantage of a woman in a sexual situation.
A typical example would be some creepy guy pinching the flight attendant's backside as she walks past.
There's also a good discussion at ...
7
"做" has a meaning of "充当，担任" (serves as, work as) (from 现代汉语词典 Modern Chinese Dictionary). It is different from "是" (to be).
The nuance of English and Chinese here is a little different. In Chinese, we don't say "I don't want to be [a slave]" (我不愿是[奴隶]). It is always "I don't want to serve as (become, etc.) a slave" (我不愿做(成为)奴隶).
7
I think the Chinese language has always been very consistent here. Consider the following:
我很对不起你。
我很讨厌你。
我很爱你。
The subject-verb-object sentence structure is very consistent. In English, the last two sentences can be translated directly with:
I hate you very much.
I love you very much.
The reason why the first sentence could not be translated ...
7
háng (in most noun)
(1) line, row 表格中的一行 a row in a table, 字里行间 between the lines
(2) seniority among brothers and sisters， 我排行第二 I'm the second eldest one.
(3) some place of business, 银行 bank，花行 flower shop，商行 trading company
(4) trade, company(not very exact) 行业，同行
(5) measure word 一行，两行
xíng (verb, use verb as noun)
(1) walk -> distance ...
7
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 ...
7
From the wikipedia article:
關於「萌」這個字現今用法的來源，至今依舊眾說紛紜，以下為部份幾種的說法：
有種說法認為，原本所用的詞語應該是「燃え」(もえ)，但是因為「萌え」和「燃え」的日語發音相同，且動漫喜好者認為「萌え」更能形容他們對事物喜好的狀態，因此後來都用「萌え」了。
亦有說法認為，這個詞語原本來自較為常用的「燃えている」（燃燒），但由於日文電腦輸入平假名時會智能判斷漢字，而萌え排序在前面，變成現在的寫法。
目前「萌」大多使用在二次元裡，如果遇到刻意將現實世界（三次元）的人套用到二次元的審美的情況，也有可能用到「萌」。 不過這種狀況十分稀少，因為三次元的人通常難以構成萌屬性。 現在「燃え」在中文界解作萌的相對詞，是對熱血的喜愛。
...
7
干妈 is a kind of relationship in Chinese culture. It has nothing to do with Christianity (Christian godparents are called 教父 教母). Like Christian godparents, 干妈 or 干爹 would usually sponsor the child in some aspect.
In Chinese tradition, 干妈 or 干爹 can act as real mother or father. They are different from 养父母 as they usually don't actrually raise the children.
...
6
Interesting question!
When I was a student, I was wondering why until I read a 词(Cí, a type of poery) by famous writer 辛弃疾(I really like reading his works). In that Ci, I read a sentence "百炼都成绕指，万事直须称好，人世几舆台", I got stuck with the word "舆台". The note said, "舆台“ meant "people at a lower rank". In ancient times, people were classified into 10 classes. The ...
6
I found something in Baidu Encyclopedia.
For 吹牛
http://baike.baidu.com/view/3806.htm
Originally 吹牛 comes from 吹牛皮 (blowing cow leather). In the old times,
people who lived along the Yellow River used cow leather to make
rafts, cuz the yellow river could easily destroy wood boats. However
there was no bumpers at that time. So it was strong people ...
6
I think you miss the point in your attempt to understand the use of 上 to represent on, above or over.
The Chinese language proves there is no need for more than one word to do this as the necessary information is provided entirely in the context of the conversation.
For example, I am thinking of sentences that may appear difficult:
"The bird was on his ...
6
Your guess is correct. You use it when you hand over or give something. You can translate it as "there you are, here you are, here you go".
For example a teacher might say it while handing out some study material. A student of course should use 给您 when handing in his exam papers.
You can also add what you are giving. For example 给你一本书.
6
To translate directly:
Even if making a mistake this time, it is still preferred for the fear of
missing the moment.
In other words, it means one would rather take this opportunity (perhaps once in a lifetime opportunity) to do something even if it means making a mistake.
For the full lyrics of this song 给我一首歌的时间 by Jay Chou, please refer to this ...
6
Yes it is true. The official word for somebody who is gay is 同性恋者 (tóngxìngliànzhě), but in recent years 同志 (tóngzhì) is frequently used as slang for somebody who is gay.
From Baidu:
...
6
It's an interjection, which means its translation relies very much on the context it's in.
In general, it's an exclamation of disbelief or disagreement on what follows the phrase.
Examples:
你真是的， 怎么没穿鞋就跑出来了？ (Come on! You ran out without any shoes on?)
你也真是的， 这么早就把我吵醒了. (Seriously? Waking me up this early?)
真是的, 他到现在还没来. (He's not here yet. Hopeless!)
6
Generally it's called 'move'.
To be precise, 招 is 'move' and 式 is 'stance' or 'form'.
When it comes to a specific move, you can use words like catch (手 as in 擒拿手), hit (打), reach (长拳), kick (踢) etc.
一招一式他都记得清清楚楚。
Every move is imprinted on his mind.
6
为 has a lot meanings, and so does 是. A common meaning between 为 and 是 is "to be" or other variations of "to be", like "being". 为 is used more for its other meanings than "to be", while 是 is used more for "to be" than its other meanings. When meaning "to be", in some cases, 为 and 是 are interchangeable. For example:
我们今年的工作目标 为 ...
我们今年的工作目标 是 ...
...
5
There is a Wikipedia article dedicated to this, Numbers in Chinese culture; it states that numbers are divided in two categories, lucky and unlucky numbers.
Lucky Numbers:
二, the number 2: There is a saying that states "Good things come in pairs", for this reason many things in China seem to be "presented" in pairs of two, since this is considered a ...
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