Questions tagged [mandarin]
Question specifically about the Mandarin dialect. (Not for arbitrary questions that happen to involve Mandarin.)
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The readings of 栅
What is the deal with the readings of 栅 (柵) and how do they appear?
According to modern dictionaries (such as the 漢語大字典 2nd Ed.), there are three readings for 栅?
zhà, in the meaning of "fence, ...
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Usage: ”没关系“ vs ”没问题”
What are the fundamental differences between ”没关系” and ”没问题“ in usage and meaning? I know they both could be translated as a colloquial “no problem”, but how do they differ in usage?
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How would "Sinophile" be translated into Mandarin Chinese?
The word isn't in my physical dictionary, and online I can only find "親華派", "親中家", and "中國迷". Are any of these accurate translations? What would they all accurately ...
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Has anyone done an english translation for the song 致你 by yihuik 苡慧
I found a translation of the chorus of the song online and it seems to be just a google translate, and so I wonder if there is perhaps a better way to understand the meaning of the song. Anyway, I ...
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What is the meaning of 磨了边?
While I was trying to read a Chinese novelette, I came across this sentence:
白色衬衫和褐色裤子，这是他唯一一套体面衣服，衬衫袖口磨了边，他把袖子卷到胳膊肘。
My initial guess was that 磨边 would mean something such as the edge of something, ...
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Is this a chinese mandarin song and what is the title?
Is this a mandarin Chinese song? And can you tell what is the title?
https://youtu.be/ctVtOHrxMNg
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”我只会说汉语“ — Would this come off more as “I can only speak Mandarin” or “I will only speak Mandarin”?
It seems as if it would literally mean both (regardless of what is assumed). If so, how would one normally distinguish, in Chinese, both English sentences when translated?
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Meaning of 活该 臭死她才好?
They are talking about a girl in an embarrassing video that went viral
活该 臭死她才好
"Serves her right..." I don't get the rest.
Edit: There's nothing about a smelly environment in the video but ...
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Longest sentence where all characters have the same sound
What is the longest sentence that can be constructed where all the characters have the same sounds in Mandarin, but may have different tones? I'm sure many people have heard of 'mothers insulting ...
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Origins of more Cantonese specific hanzi
My familiarity is more with Mandarin characters from simplified Chinese. However, I've noticed that there are certain characters that are used for colloquial spoken Cantonese that I just never see as ...
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In the song 酒干倘卖无 why is the last word spoken with an initial "M" sound?
I have been listening to the song many times now, particularly this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_dcoBSYnCc
The last word of 酒干倘卖无 should be spoken with a "W" initial but what I can ...
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Good apps for learning mandarin? [duplicate]
What are the best apps for learning Mandarin? I know there are some widely used ones that are subpar, while others are less common but contain better lessons. If there's not an app that you'd ...
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What's the meaning of 我跟你学学他啊?
Two girls are talking about how bad a guy was.
One of them said 我跟你学学他啊 then proceeds to imitate/repeat what the guy said.
When I look up 学学他, all I get is the meaning of learn or study which does not ...
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What's the meaning of 溜个号 in 我出去溜个号
Sitting in a class, one says: 你帮我盯着点 我出去溜个号
I'd like to know what 溜个号 really means
Or is it just "I sneak out"
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How would one say 'I am' or 'I do' in the context of doing something contemporarily?
For example, if one were to ask in Mandarin, 'Make sure you're drinking tea every day,' or 'You should be learning Mandarin first,' how would one respond if they are doing these things? Simply '是'? Or ...
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Poker cards in Mandarin
In Cantonese:
A = 煙; a pair of A = 煙啤(pair)
K = 傾; a pair of K = 傾啤(pair)
Q = 囡; a pair of Q = 囡啤(pair)
J = 積; a pair of J = 積啤(pair)
10-3 are called 10仔 - 3仔; pair of 10-3 is called 10仔啤 - 3仔啤/10一啤 - ...
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What is the difference between 地 and 土?
Based on some dictionaries, the former seems to be more physically relating to the soil, earth; with the latter being more relating to soil or territory. I'm not sure how correct this is.
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Translation of Stack Exchange’s “upvote”
Sort of a meta-textual question here. How would I explain to someone who’s unfamiliar with Stack Exchange what an upvote is?
The English term is probably a neologism as well, although it can be used ...
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Why is Chinese written in different directions?
Eg The Peony Pavilion
Wikipedia: 牡丹亭
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peony_Pavilion
and on this pavilion: 亭丹牡
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放水's Mandarin counterpart
In Cantonese 放水 means not using one's full strength (in a contest against an opponent) [literal] release water
For example, a strong team is winning 9-0 against a weak team. If they want to give the ...
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Please help me change these sentences using 不止
I'm not sure what I changed are correct or not.
我看陳太太那麼老，恐怕不會只有70歲吧?
-> 我看陳太太那麼老，恐怕不止70歲吧？
愛闖紅燈的，並不是只有騎摩托車的，開車的也一樣。
-> 愛闖紅燈的，不止是騎摩托車的，開車的也一樣。
王小姐家不但她能幹，她兩個姐姐也是女強人。
-> 王小姐家不止她能幹，...
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Is there a translation of the daodejing into modern mandarin grammar?
Apologies for a classic "lmgtfy" question, but you probably appreciate that the nature of what I'm asking is hard to properly convey to a search engine, regardless of whether the query is ...
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What is the difference between 创造，创作，制造，制作，and 创建？
Hello good people of Chinese Stack Exchange! Hope you're doing well.
It seems like the words 创造，创作，制造，制作，and 建造 are similar in that they mean "make" or "create," but from what I've ...
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Need help in converting mandarin to english? [closed]
I am trying to complete my mandarin assignment. can someone please help me to translate these. I was unable to understand them.
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Is there a Mandarin counterpart for the Cantonese slang 做媒?
做媒 (jyutping) zou6 mui4; (pinyin) zuo4 mei2 literally means "be a matchmaker"
However, there is a Cantonese slang 做媒 /zou6 mui42/ that means:
be a salesperson's decoy
a partner of a street ...
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How to express "I'm reading about (something)" in oral speech/informal contexts?
Good day to you all!
I wanted to express the sentence: "I'm reading about the Malaysian language." I realized I didn't actually know how to express this, so I looked it up on a translator, ...
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How do you indicate a habitual, ongoing action, as opposed to an action you are currently doing?
Hear me out.
Recently I rediscovered the 2010 classic "Doin' Your Mom" by Ray William Johnson (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t53TcKIlMc), and since the song is not really stimulating, my ...
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What are the names of men's haircuts popular among young Chinese idols?
What are some popular haircuts among young Chinese idols (preferably men) called in Chinese? Preferable a list in Chinese, if possible.
For example, take the TFBoy members have haircuts that kind of ...
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Help choosing a better Chinese name
Recently, someone helped me come up with a Chinese name for myself, and after some discussion, the surname 高 and given names 偉恩, 大恩 and 太恩 were recommended.
The first (偉恩) I liked but found that it ...
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How to give news of my grandmothers death
In English I would say: I am sorry to say my grandmother passed away on X date.
How would I give that news in mandarin? Is there a way to say ‘I am sorry to say’ or do they not say that in mandarin?
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Monolingual Mandarin illustrated dictionary in traditional characters
Is there any Mandarin picture dictionary that:
Is 100% in Mandarin (no English or other languages).
Uses traditional Chinese characters.
Is available as a physical book.
If possible, there should be ...
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Two-part Allegorical Saying Collection | 歇后语合集
歇后语 is a unique language form of Chinese.
The allegorical words are composed of two parts. The first part plays a guiding role, like a riddle, and the second part plays a role as a foil, like an ...
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Longest sentence where all consecutive characters are in the same 3ʳᵈ tone [closed]
What is the longest sentence that can be constructed where all the consecutive characters are in the same 3ʳᵈ tone in Mandarin? I'm sure many people have heard of '请你给我买五百把纸雨伞', but are there any more ...
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Can anyone identify the characters on this ivory pipe?
My father-in-law showed us an ivory pipe that his family has had for many decades.
I can’t identify the characters by looking up the radical and then the remaining strokes.
Can anyone help out?
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Timeframe for Learning Ancient Chinese
As a complete newbie to the Chinese language, I would like to ask the following questions.
What is an approximate time for learning enough of the Chinese language to be able to read something like ...
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can you help me identify the word xiamen
In a mandarin course, before the dialogs they always say "qing ting ... Xiamen de duihua". I have never been able to find out what the word "xiamen" means. The rest of it means ...
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When you first meet someone, sometimes they say (for example): " 我是小朋...“
。。。 “小时的小，朋友的朋。”
I think Chinese people will say that because you may not know how their name is written, so you get a better description of what their name is.
But... does the word have to be the ...
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What phonetic sounds are there in Chinese?
What are the IPA symbols for sounds in (Beijing) Mandarin? Which Mandarin sounds are not in (American) English? Which English sounds are not in Mandarin?
Below are the IPA consonant and vowel charts ...
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How to properly translate "to deserve" while preserving its moral implication?
Over the course of my studies and practice in Chinese, there's one particular type of sentence that I always get wrong: the one with the verb to deserve.
In English — and several other neo-latin ...
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What is the difference between 碰，触，碰触 and 触碰
difference between 碰，触，碰触 and 触碰？The dictionary differences are not clear.
Thanks!
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Who knows the most number of characters in Chinese?
I am mainly just curious as to the answer. And it would be interesting to hear if it is different for simplified and traditional.
I know there are 80,000+ characters and most native speakers will ...
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Phrase or idiom for "vocal minority"
How do you say "vocal minority" in Chinese? Specifially, in Mandarin?
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How do you answer the following question when someone asks: 我想认识一个美国朋友，你给我介绍一下，可以吗？
我想认识一个美国朋友，你给我介绍一下，可以吗？
My Chinese teacher asked me the question above ^. Am I supposed to say:
这是我的中国老师, 王朋.
or
这是我的美国朋友, Rodger Smith.
Basically, should I be introducing my Chinese teacher who ...
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Help with expanding on a Chinese character's name (in headcanon)
(To clarify: I'm a white American, trying to make fanlore for a canonically Chinese character from a Korean game. There's several different levels of possible lost-in-translation here. If you need any ...
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How can I answer the question "你什么时候开始学中文的?"
How can I answer the question "你什么时候开始学中文的?"
I cannot answer the "什么时候" questions. Can anybody help me please?
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呢 meaning "where", is it possible?
Is it true that 呢 can mean "WHERE"??? If so, then what is the difference between 呢 and 哪儿???
I've seen those sentences and they made me wonder:
"我的杯子在哪儿? - where is my cup?" and &...
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Air quality meter name
I have an air quality detector meter.
It has the name of the manufactures written on the bottom.
What's the english translation?
Does this manufacturer have a web page?
Thanks
EDIT:
In the web page ...
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Month-on-month and Quarter-on-Quarter
I know that 同比 is “year over year”, while 環比 is “month over month”, but can also mean “quarter over quarter”. In reality, the latter is used to compare two different periods. Therefore, if one says 環比,...
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What are some popular Engish songs that have Mandarin translations?
I know a few like:
Perfect by Sophie Chen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjKumvgMy7s
Call Me Maybe by Dawen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grWp1KzmTYM
Are there any others?
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Does 没有办法 have the same idiomatic meaning in Chinese that "No way" does in English?
"No way" in English has a couple of meanings.
Like, it can be used to express surprise. Does 没有办法 also carry some idiomatic meanings?
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