10
votes
Accepted
Difference Between 学校 and 学堂
The connotation of 学堂 is more than "an old expression of school", but "an old-style school in ancient China". A typical 学堂 only has one room and one teacher and few students (compared with a modern ...
- 6,003
9
votes
Accepted
Why do cat (猫) and dog (狗) share the same 犭 radical?
The radical in 猫 actually comes from 豸 zhi4 (beast), which you can still see in the traditional character 貓.
Whereas the radical in 狗 is in fact 犭 quan3.
The simplified version of 猫 got the 犭 ...
- 5,376
7
votes
Accepted
Thought Experiment: Twitter Character Limits
Actually, if Twitter were to play fair, I think they would restrict Chinese users to 46 characters, since there are 3 bytes / UTF-8 encoded Chinese character, and only 1 byte / English letter. ...
- 1,889
7
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between 究竟 and 到底 ？
1) "究竟" is more formal than "到底". In everyday spoken Chinese, "究竟" is rarely used. It is used almost only in drama and written Chinese.
2) Well, I would say that the magnitude of "究竟" is equal to ...
- 871
6
votes
Accepted
What are the advantages / disadvantages for learning tones with Pinyin vs with Gwoyeu Romatzyh?
In general, I think too much importance is ascribed to which transcription system is used. Students' ability to distinguish, pronounce and remember tones depends on many factors and the way the tones ...
- 2,950
6
votes
The difference between "忍受不住" and "忍受不了"
忍受 = to endure/ to stand (put up with)
Your question is about the difference between two particles '住' and '了'; It also involve the usage of a potential particles '得' (see How to determine the part ...
- 68.8k
5
votes
Accepted
Difference between 层 and 楼？
Technically, 层 is the measure word and 楼 is the noun being measured. They compliment each other and are not grammatically interchangeable, but the sentences you've heard are results from idiomatic ...
- 14.7k
5
votes
What is the difference between 将来 and 未来？
I was told that 未来 is further in the future than 将来. Is this true?
Not necessarily:
我将来要买辆车。-- Several years.
我将来要成为音乐家。-- Several decades.
人类将来会灭绝。-- Several millennia, to be optimistic.
宇宙将来会热寂。-- ...
- 4,492
5
votes
Accepted
Is there a difference between 近几年 and 这几年？
As a native Chinese speaker, I would say that your feeling is correct.
Usually, "近几年" is used in the news - like in newspapers and on the news on TV or in broadcasts.
Anyway, they are interchangeable,...
- 161
5
votes
Can 斋戒 vs. 禁食 which one is used for "Fasting for ramadan"
禁食 - Forbidden to eat or drink. i.e. fasting.
斋戒 - This word can have a different meaning according to different religions. For example:
Islam - no food or drinks at all
Christianity - no meat ...
- 2,122
5
votes
Accepted
Difference between 检索 and 找
As @Stan said, 檢索 is usually used with database(資料庫) or library catalog(圖書目錄).
You must have some reference (a catalog, or a list...etc) to be able to 檢索. It's not only formal but more restricted. ...
- 241
5
votes
Accepted
How to write "Oh" in Chinese （哦，噢，喔）
i'm Chinese. these words are the same word, means exactly the same thing. It's just when we use QQ, some people use 噢 instead of 哦。kind of a personal preference. For example, I always use 哦, never 噢。...
5
votes
The difference between 比～更 and 比～多了
Simply,
比～更: even (more)；
比～多了：much (more)；
他打篮球比我更好。： he plays basket ball even better than me.
他打篮球比我厉害多了。: he plays basket ball much better than me.
坐高铁比坐飞机更方便。: Taking high-speed ...
- 23.3k
5
votes
Accepted
When to use 相比 and 比?
It's quite easy to distinguish.
First is the conclusion:
"相比" in Chinese equals to "compare with" in English.It's usually a common verb.
"比" in Chinese equals to "more than" or "xxxer than" in ...
- 154
4
votes
Can 斋戒 vs. 禁食 which one is used for "Fasting for ramadan"
斋戒 zhāijiè
动
①（禁食荤、酒）abstain from meat, wine, etc. [when offering sacrifices to gods or ancestors]
②（封斋）fast
斋戒节
Ramadan
禁食 jìnshí
动
fast
禁食三日
three-day fast
and 斋戒 is more common to be used in a ...
- 2,555
4
votes
Difference between 检索 and 找
检索 is more formal and often used with an abstract object such as information, or abstract information of some objects, such as books (you don't really 检索 the physical existence of the book, instead ...
- 2,555
4
votes
Accepted
Difference between 帐篷 and 大棚？
大棚 could be:
Commonly short for 蔬菜大棚, a warm house for growing vegetation, usually very large.
sometimes, a tent-like structure, not fully enclosed, often used as a mobile kitchen and dining area.
...
- 4,492
4
votes
Accepted
Difference between 剧本 and 脚本？
剧本 and 脚本 are different.
剧本 is just like a novel, telling the actors and directors what the story is.
脚本 includes more detailed and technical information of every section or frame such as shot ...
- 341
4
votes
How to write "Oh" in Chinese （哦，噢，喔）
I don't know the nomenclature of mainland China but here in Taiwan:
All these are used when replying someone. Like when you say "Yeah?", "Is that right?", "Okay.", "Alright.", "Got it.", etc. in ...
- 246
4
votes
Accepted
Comparing intensifiers
很 - very
真 - really
挺 - pretty
非常 - >= very, < extremely
相当 - quite
极为 - extremely
太 - too
These words are describing a 'level'.
挺 = 蛮 = 比较 < 很 <= 非常 = 特别 < 极为
太 is somehow special, ...
- 315
4
votes
Accepted
What is the difference btween 看样子 and 看起来
From the comment by @user6065
Similarities and differences of '看来', '看起来' and '看样子'
Similarities:
They are all conjunctions, used to make judgements or predictions based on a specific situation.
...
- 155
4
votes
Difference between 游学 and 留学
留学 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/20426/
to study abroad
'留' = 'stay'; '學' = 'study'
'留学' means 'stay (abroad) to study'
If you say: "我要去留學" (I am going to study abroad), ...
- 68.8k
4
votes
Saying 'doubled' in Chinese 一倍 vs 两倍
Technically, when you say "增加了n倍", "n倍" is describing the difference the two number. So the original x becomes x*(n+1), while the difference is n*x.
If you want to say that the latter number is just ...
- 8,655
4
votes
The difference between "忍受不住" and "忍受不了"
bkrs：不住 1) unable to v. (also repeatedly
continuously
constantly)，unable to (resist, conceal etc)
疼极了！我忍不住了！ It's awfully painful! I can't stand it anymore 忍不住
special cases having their own ...
- 2,456
3
votes
Accepted
The usage of 有 in comparisons
When use 有 in comparison:
In positive way you can use 今天和昨天一样热(Today is as hot as yesterday) or 今天有昨天那么热 instead of 今天有昨天热.Because it's more normal expression.
In negative way you can use 他没(有)你(那么)...
- 653
3
votes
Thought Experiment: Twitter Character Limits
Let's revisit why Twitter imposed the 140 character limit:
We like to keep it short and sweet! It also just so happens that 140 characters is the perfect length for sending status updates via text ...
- 530
3
votes
What is the difference between 将来 and 未来？
http://www.zhihu.com/question/22062059
You can have a look at this link for the first answer which compared 將來 未來 以後 in detail.
I will do some simple translation as followed.
The differences between ...
- 761
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible