Questions tagged [mandarin]
Mandarin is a group of Chinese dialects that are considered the official language in many Chinese-speaking communities. The Beijing dialect is considered as standard pronunciation of Mandarin. Thus, when people say the "Chinese language", they implicitly refer to Mandarin.
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What is the difference between 能 vs. 会? [duplicate]
What is the difference between 能 and 会？
Don’t they both mean “could”? What is the difference between them?
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Where can I find some Chinese resources for my kid?
Where can I find some Chinese resources for my kid? My daughter is 6 years old, I want to teach her Mandarin Chinese. Thank you guys
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1answer
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When is “得” pronounced “de” and when is it pronounced “dei”?
I have noticed that there are two different pronunciations of 得： - Usually it's pronounced "de". - in some situations it's pronounced "dei" as in:
老百姓想自强
那就得学习点别人先进的东西。
When is “得” pronounced “de” ...
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1answer
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Idiom/成語 for “Worrying Doesn't Change the Outcome”
Is there an Idiom/成語 for "Worrying does not change the outcome"?
To be used when someone is spending a lot of time / energy worrying about something that they have no control over.
Thanks for any ...
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When is “了” pronounced “le” and when is it pronounced “liao”?
I have noticed that there are two different pronunciations of 了：
- Usually it's pronounced "le".
- in some situations it's pronounced "liǎo"
for example:
我用了很多年才了解什么是武术。
As much as I realized, ...
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2answers
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What's the meaning of “刀不长眼”? Is it proverb or something like that?
I was watching the movie "fearless (2006)" starring Jet Li and the character said to his friend "After all these years of friend ship, you still don't know me?" and then he goes with this phrase : "...
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3answers
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How to say “self-fulfilling prophecy” in Mandarin/Cantonese?
This dictionary lists prophecy as 預言, but it doesn't list an entry for self-fulfilling prophecy
Example sentence:
If you remain this negative, your thoughts will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
...
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1answer
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What's the Cantonese/Mandarin equivalent of “condone”?
These two dictionaries don't have entries for "condone."
https://www.yellowbridge.com
http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/scripts/wordsearch.php?level=0
The Google translate answer is 縱容, which seems ...
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Translations of 主编 and 总编 in French
大家好，
我想翻译这些词。背景是一个杂志社的。
我知道 总编 就是 rédacteur en chef 可是 关于 主编 我莫名其妙。我早想到把它翻译成 éditeur 或者 éditeur en chef 不过我不太肯定。原来，对记者的专业词汇不太熟悉。因此，我需要你们的帮衬。
若有人知道，就告诉我啊。
多谢！🙏
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+100
How did 秘 “bi” become “mi”?
I came across this comment just now:
“秘”声符是“必”没问题，但是并不是说“秘”和“必”一定同音，“秘”这个字是北京话读错了，其实应该读bi，“秘鲁”一词还残存bi的读音
Which got me thinking.
秘 is still read "bi" in:
surnames
transcriptions (e.g.: Peru)
...
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2answers
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How widespread is the idiom 蘑菇?
I have seen the word for mushroom [蘑菇, mógū] to be an action such as dilly dally.
Is this an inherent idiom in the written language apparent across a large spectrum of dialect, whereas the word ...
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1answer
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Question about third tone sandhi in two specific cases
I know of the commonly cited rules for third tones, which are the following (copied from somewhere else, so excuse the grammatical errors):
"When word with the 3rd tone is used alone, or used at the ...
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1answer
65 views
Correct word for shiver 打颤 or 打战
Both 打颤 and 打战 mean shiver but I saw that in 兩岸詞典 they say that 打战 in the Mainland is not used “陸：今不用”. So which is the correct word to write for Mainland Mandarin?
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Empathy and Sympathy use same characters in Chinese 同情?
Any alternative characters to clarify the difference, as the English words and their Greek roots have different meaning. Thanks!
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1answer
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Writing-out numbers in mandarin till 19999 algorithm
My current task includes writing-out numbers in different languages, also mandarin. I have never grappled with mandarin but I checked several resource and tested my algorithm to the best of my believe....
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2answers
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How to say “Hopefully we can treat each other with more X”
Is there a general template for translating, "hopefully we can treat each with more X" where X is some noun.
Examples:
Hopefully we can treat each other with more consideration.
Hopefully we can ...
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3answers
141 views
Is 家婆 the term for a woman's “mother in law” in Mandarin too?
In Cantonese, a woman would call her mother in law her "家婆" or her "奶奶", and address her only as "奶奶".
My understanding of the same terms in Mandarin is, a woman would call her mother in law her "婆婆" ...
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What are the Chinese characters for the American English word “Dishonored”?
Related to the video game Dishonored. I'm not looking for the characters for 'Ashamed' or 'Insulted', words that would not work to properly describe in English the game title :D. Any other choices? I ...
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A city is located east/north/west/south of a country; what is the correct Chinese grammar for that?
For example:
I want to say that Freiburg (in Germany) is located east of France.
My sentence was this:
弗莱堡在法国的东边。
This is also how we did it in class. But I'm starting to worry this sounds like it's ...
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1answer
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Differences between 细腻, 细致, 精细 and 深入
All 4 words listed above all in some way have the meaning of fine, exquisite, detailed. So what are the differences between them? Please provice some examples
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1answer
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How to say ‘run for office’ in Mandarin?
I’ve searched dictionary and found 2 words 参选 and 竞选。I’m a bit confused since it seems 参选 is used more but in Vietnamese (my mother tongue) we used the word “tranh cử” (竞选). So what is the correct ...
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2answers
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What are the differences between 本 and 版 when it comes to edition
I’ve found that 本 and 版 can be used to describe the edition of a published material, but do they have any differences between them? If they have, please give some examples
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Does 害虫 and 益虫 cover different types of animals?
I’ve been looking into the word “pest”, and the dictionary showed me 害虫, but 虫 means insects, so I wonder whether the word 害虫 only means harmful insects or it also can be used to refer to other pests ...
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5answers
157 views
Is Putonghua Mandarin Chinese or is it standard Mandarin Chinese?
This is driving me crazy.
I've always thought that Mandarin was the common language of China and Putonghua was the term use to express this language spoken with standard pronunciation.
I've often ...
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1answer
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What are the differences between 违犯 and 违反?
Both 违犯 and 违反 share the meaning to violate. What are the differences between these two?
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2answers
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Differences between 移民 and 移居
The two words 移民 and 移居 are really confusing to me, I’ve searched the dictionary but they are still vague to me. Can someone help me with the use of these 2 words and add some examples?
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Why do we use 做 in this sentence as “being”?
Sentence:
我太喜欢和他做朋友了
How can we use 做 in this meaning in other sentences?
Where can I read more about it and what is the name of this "rule"?
And what is the meaning of the 了 in this sentence?
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What's the difference between 主任 and 主管?
As per title, what's the difference between these 2 terms?
My teacher said that in China, 主任 is considered as low position, and 主管 is higher.
But looking at the translation 主任 means director, which ...
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1answer
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What book is this passage from?
I found this passage on 北京大学's website but I can't even go back to the page of contents. I want to know the name of the book。it's the 阅读 section of the site.
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Is this translation English to Chinese translation correct or close?
An unprecedented look into the food and culture of ice, from Iceland's premier chef and the owner of Reykjavik's Restaurant Dill.
一个史无前例的食物和冰岛的文化，从冰岛总理厨师和雷克雅未克的所有者迪尔餐厅。
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Is there a proverb that means “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”?
Is there a Chinese (Mandarin or Classical Chinese) proverb equivalent to the American proverb "the squeaky wheel gets the grease"?
I looked it up in the Cambridge English-Traditional Chinese ...
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Asking for right answers for 中级 questions
I just wanted to ask for the right answers for these questions...
In these 2 paragraphs, are my 标点符号 right?
我家有五口人，爷爷 、奶奶、爸爸、妈妈和我。爸爸在电脑公司工作，他是一名工程师；妈妈在一所学校教数学，爷爷和奶奶早就退休，但他们也有很多活动；爷爷在老年大学学习书法，...
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1answer
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Are the “h” in pinyin always pronounced as “[x]” in IPA?
Chinese (Mandarin) use [x] to pronounce h sound. It does not have any sounds such as [h] and [ɸ].
However, I'm not sure if it is fine to assume that all the h in pinyin are pronounced as [x]. ...
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2answers
562 views
How to say job offer in Mandarin/Cantonese?
Google Translate says job offer is 工作機會.
This doesn't feel right.
How do you say job offer in Cantonese and Mandarin?
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1answer
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Is referring to Mandarin as just “Chinese” problematic?
I am living in Taiwan learning Mandarin Chinese (with traditional characters). When speaking in English I try to refer to the language as Mandarin both for clarity, and because I imagine people who ...
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1answer
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Is there any study on the relative difficulty of native Chinese speakers with different dialects learning another dialect?
I wonder if there is any research conducted in China, on the relative difficulty of Chinese speakers learning different dialects. I'm looking for something like the research by the Foreign Service ...
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What is the idiomatic way to say “clothing fits”?
There are various ways to express the verb "fit" in Mandarin, such as 適合，配合，對 and so on. I'm not sure which one to use when expressing sentences like:
The clothes no longer fit me.
I need clothes ...
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2answers
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Error in Book? Need help
I was reading Assimil Chinese with Ease and came across this.
你见过他？
Since this is a question, is 吗 necessary for the question? Perhaps an error? Or can you omit 吗？
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What derogatory terms are there for Chinese people?
What derogatory terms are there for Chinese people in Mandarin?
In particular, I am looking for derogatory terms that apply to any person of Chinese ancestry regardless of birthplace, nationality, ...
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2answers
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Differences between 访问，面试 and 采访
All 3 words seem to mean to interview, interview but what are the differences between them?
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3answers
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Differences between 条 and 根
Both of these two words 条 and 根 in the dictionary are said to be measure words for long and thin objects. What are the differences between them?
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1answer
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What 蛋 is referring to in “完蛋了”
完蛋了 means: Done for; ruined; finished; goose is cooked. It is the Mandarin counterpart of a Cantonese term "玩完" (game over)
I am curious about what 蛋 is referring to. Without any reference, I can ...
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1answer
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Touch: difference between 碰，碰觸，觸碰, and 觸
There appear to be multiple ways to say touch according to YellowBridge.
1) Is there a difference between 碰，碰觸，觸碰, and 觸, or are they interchangeable?
2) In Cantonese, 點 seems to be the right way to ...
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2answers
154 views
Does Taiwanese Mandarin have the neutral tone?
So I'm trying to learn Taiwanese Mandarin, and apparently they don't really use the neutral tone, but if that's the case how do you say things like 子,了, and 的?
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Which is used more often, 日没 and 日落
Both 日没 and 日落 express sunset but which one is often more widely used?
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Difference between 小吃 and 零食
Both of these words in the dictionary have themselves defined as “snack” but what are the differences between these 2 words?
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1answer
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What is this proverb?
I met someone who told me a proverb which in English read as follows:
Wake up late and you lose the morning. Wake up early and you lose the
whole day.
She repeated it in Mandarin very quickly ...
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2answers
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How can I ask for extra ingredients in a dish?
How can I ask for more of an ingredient in a dish? like add extra cheese, extra meat, etc. Not that it matters but I specifically want to know this for 手抓餅.
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1answer
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Differences between 摔，落 and 掉
The 3 words all have a meaning of fall but what are the differences between the 3 of them?
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Abbreviations for Parts of Speech
I learned in another thread (Chinese Dictionary Question) that 助, 形 are abbreviated forms of 助动词, 形容词.
Is there a reference, online or in print, that lists all parts of speech and their corresponding ...
