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 meaning of the tone numbers shown in Wiktionary's Mandarin pronunciation?
According to Wiktionary, the word 游泳 is pronounced as /joʊ̯³⁵ jʊŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/. What exactly is the meaning of the numbers 214-21(4)? The first three numbers indicate the standard falling then rising ...
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114 views
Pinyin: o vs uo
Recently I started to learn Pinyin. The system is relatively easy to follow but some ambiguity does exist. For example, I found the usage of finals o and uo confusing: why the Pinyin for 波 is bo1, not ...
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How to identify spoken & written Chinese in movies?
Addition: Some folks don't see the question because I badly worded it as a request. The question is:
Is what I've written garbage, or is it correct, or is it merely partly correct?
This is a question ...
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How to say “the fourth floor of that building”?
My doubt is in translating this sentence:
"That apartment is in the fourth floor of that building."
Is there a grammatical structure to say things like "the fourth floor of that building" in Chinese?...
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4answers
71 views
How to write date and number in Chinese?
I need to fill a part of a form in Chinese, does anyone here could help me?
I've tried to use google translate, but unfortunately, I know nothing about Chinese and I'm afraid I was wrong, please help ...
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Does the chinese letter mean the number, one?
As I browsing around on the internet, I was looking at what a sentence meant in English. But the issue is that I was not sure if this is the Chinese letter for "1" or does it have a different ...
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2answers
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-uan pinyin pronunciation
It seems to me that in Mandarin, two different vowel sounds are used for words whose pinyin ends with -uan.
In some words, like 全 (quán) and 元 (yuán), the vowel sounds like "oo-en" (the nucleus/coda ...
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1answer
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What happens when you use the individual characters in 姓氏 and 名字?
姓氏 refers to surname, and 名字 refers to personal name.
But I’ve heard people using the separate characters to talk about surnames and personal names.
For example:
我的中文老师姓姚
林氏集团 (Lin’s ...
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3answers
135 views
Does 一个 mean *exactly* one? Or can it mean *at least* one?
If someone (truthfully) says "I have a car" then they have at least one car. If someone says "I have one car" then they have exactly one car.
How does this idea work for "我有一辆汽车" ?
Could someone say ...
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1answer
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In Mandarin Chinese, what is the correct pronunciation for three or more third tones in a row? [duplicate]
只有我想了解你
zhíyǒu wǒ xiǎng liáojiě nǐ
OR
Zhíyǒu wó xiǎng liáojiě nǐ
我很好
wǒ hén hǎo
OR
wó hén hǎo
我也很好
wó yě hén hǎo
OR
wó yé hén hǎo
OR
wǒ yé hén hǎo
我也很想你
wǒ yé hěn xiáng nǐ
OR
wǒ yé hén xiǎng nǐ
...
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1answer
72 views
Difference between 不了 and 不到
This question focuses on the differences between 了and 到.
What's the difference between verb + 不了 and verb + 不到?
Do the differences also apply to Cantonese?
Examples:
收不到 vs 收不了
幫不到 vs 幫不了
來不到 vs ...
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1answer
77 views
Is there any way to detect dialect automatically?
For current task I need to create a solution how to detect if some video or audio of Chinese speech is Mandarin or Cantonese (for now I do not need others dialects).
For example, there is almost ...
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1answer
100 views
Why does the Chinese name for Poland mean “abandoned honour”?
I don't speak Mandarin at all, but I have a Chinese coworker who told me that Mandarin doesn't have nouns per se, it prefers to describe things with their most obvious properties.
I was curious how ...
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1answer
79 views
Is there a Mandarin equivalent of the Cantonese term “手尾”?
手尾 is a very common Cantonese term, I would like to know what Mandarin term can be the equivalent of it.
The following are from CantoDict dictionary:
手尾: (to tie up) loose ends
冇手尾: fail to ...
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What is the hidden meaning of 来打我呀?
I saw a lot of people using "来打我呀" online, for example in video comments or WeChat stickers.
I was wondering what is the hidden meaning of this sentence (if there is one)? I guess it does not only ...
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4answers
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Is 我认为保护环境将为子孙后代保证未来 correct? Does it make sense?
我认为保护环境将为子孙后代保证未来
I am trying to say that saving the environment will guarantee a future for future generations. Does it actually mean that or have I made mistakes?
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4answers
103 views
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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0answers
83 views
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
59 views
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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2answers
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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
148 views
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
73 views
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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1answer
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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，我需要你们的帮助。
若有人知道，就告诉我啊。
多谢！🙏
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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
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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
70 views
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
215 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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4answers
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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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3answers
101 views
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
72 views
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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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
466 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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2answers
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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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120 views
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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2answers
71 views
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
219 views
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
778 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?
3
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1answer
123 views
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 ...
