18
votes
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The meaning of 感到鸭力
「感到『鴨力』」 (Mandarin Pinyin: Gǎn dào yālì) is pronounced exactly the same as 「感到『壓力』」 (to feel pressure), where 「壓力」 means pressure (both literally, as in mechanical pressure, and figuratively, as in ...
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12
votes
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How to understand "你怎么了？"
It's one of those fixed expressions whose otherwise regular meaning is significantly and conspicuously altered by the modal 了, that introduces change semantics.
The phrase 「你怎么（样）～」 in itself means &...
- 5,336
11
votes
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犬子: who's the dog?
The dog refers to the son. The term 犬子 originally meant "puppy":
【漢·列仙傳·邗子】邗子者，自言蜀人也，好放犬子。時有犬走入山穴，邗子隨入。
So calling one's son 犬子, would have been in essence referring to a child as "my little pup". ...
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11
votes
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What is the "Chinese Dream?" (中国梦)
Chinese Dream is mostly a political slogan of Chinese President Xi Jinping. It's the Communist Party's official vision for China since the 18th National Congress.
大家都在讨论中国梦，我以为，实现中华民族伟大复兴，...
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10
votes
Can I use 我的上一辈子 when talking about an earlier part of my life which I almost don't recognize as mine anymore?
in your situation, try the idiom “恍如隔世”.
http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cbdic/gsweb.cgi?o=dcbdic&searchid=Z00000086679
some would write it as “仿如隔世” 😼
here’s an example of it’s usage:
...
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9
votes
In this sentence "请问，哪里可以买到票？" is the character 到 necessary?
买票: is all about the act of purchasing a ticket.
买到票: is about where a ticket can be successfully purchased.
But the two are often used interchangeably.
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8
votes
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What is the meaning of "拜了个拜"？
拜了个拜 derives from 拜拜 by treating the first 拜 as a verb and the second 拜 as the object of the first 拜 and then adopting the verb+(quantity)个+object pattern.
拜拜 is just a loan word from English bye-bye ...
- 2,555
8
votes
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The question is about 问讯
依香光莊嚴解釋：
在漢語的構詞上，問訊是由「問」與「訊」二個同義詞所組成的詞彙。
「問」是動詞，意思是「恤問」。
「訊」是動詞，意思是「詢問」。
如果「訊」作名詞，在非佛教場合也還是可以用的。如：打聽消息。
現在的"問訊"也還是有用講的，但通常只在人少的時候。當很多人同時向佛或法師表達恭敬時，沒辦法大家都講，所以就只有身體的動作。
問訊 is composed of two synonyms,...
- 1,974
8
votes
The meaning of 打卡
originally, one need to “punch in” (打卡/咭) for recording the time of one's arrival or beginning work. such “punch in” are supposed to be done by oneself, not by others.
so,
打卡 Pikes Peak
the girl ...
- 12.5k
8
votes
What is the meaning of 的 in "有一天你会明白的"?
In Taiwan, According to dictionary owned by Ministry of Education.
的 can mean:
句尾助詞：置於句尾，表示肯定或加強的語氣。
(助詞 at end of the sentence denoting affirmation, or intensify tone.)
有一天你會明白的它 is not correct. ...
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8
votes
Accepted
Wo de ming zi SHI vs Wo de ming zi JIAO
First of all, I am not sure why the downvote on the question. It's a legitimate question at a basic level.
Now back to the question. Both are correct. /jiao/ literally "call".
/wo de ming zi ...
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7
votes
Is it 一些东西 or 一点东西?
Yes, 一些东西 and 一点东西 are both OK. 一些东西 means something that the quantity can be either many or less, while 一点东西 means something but not many.
- 101
7
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7
votes
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What is the subject of 其他的都很满意?
I am glad to see this interesting question. The omission is really one of the most confusing but fascinating parts of the Chinese language. My explanation would be almost similar to your first one.
...
- 368
7
votes
What are the characters for "qiu qiu", which means: "check this out"
My guess is:
瞧瞧
qiaoˊ qiaoˊ
When spoken in dialog you may hear qiaoˊ qiao˙, meaning they want you to take a look at something.
Here are some examples.
- 324
7
votes
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What are the characters for "qiu qiu", which means: "check this out"
Should be 瞅瞅, can be chou or qiu based on where you are in the northern China. This should be considered as a dialect rather than standard Mandarin.
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6
votes
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How to translate "很不起眼儿" in English
my preference: "很不起眼儿" can be translated into “unimpressive”,while "其貌不扬" into "unimpressive-looking". The reason is that "unimpressive" can refer to many aspects such as his appearance, his ...
- 76
6
votes
Does 危机 really mean both crisis and opportunity?
no "危机" doesn't mean danger + oppuntunity. It means dangerous times or crisis. It only means danger (危) + opportuniy (机) when we artifically separate the two words and attempt to interpret each word ...
- 414
6
votes
Accepted
The meaning of 废柴码农
废柴码农 means something like incompetent programmer. Usually 废柴 is used as a noun, for example, many fans of Man United say Darren Fletcher is 废柴. 码农 is a self-deprecating name for programmers, and its ...
- 76
6
votes
What is the verbatim translation for "都什么时候了" ?
都。。。了 indicates past/completion of an event with an emphasis on time, and sometimes it's equivalent of don't you see
都（下午2点）了，你还没吃午饭呐？
You didn't have your lunch yet? Don't you see it's 2 PM ...
- 561
6
votes
The slang(?) phrase "乾掉了"
乾 and 幹 are both the traditional Chinese characters and can translated to a same simplified Chinese character 干.
幹掉了 is a slang means to kill or get rid of it.
乾掉了 just means something is vaporised ...
- 761
6
votes
Accepted
The slang(?) phrase "乾掉了"
I think is a slang in Taiwan
乾掉了 mean something is turning into boring(usually use after someone say a not funny joke) or the situation that people don't know what to say or react to it
ex1:
You ...
- 126
6
votes
Meaning of 所 in "有所..."
As you had said, 所 is not redundant. But to me, "有帮助" and "有所帮助" doesn't have that much differences, especially when you are in an oral conversation with Chinese people.
As for your explanation for "...
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6
votes
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What does 一个赛一个不讲理的 mean? Does the 的 determine its meaning?
赛 is the same as 比 in this case.
一个赛一个不讲理的
↓
一个比一个不讲理的
↓
一个比一个不讲理
↓
One is more unreasonable than another is.
The word '的' is not important, and can be removed.
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6
votes
Accepted
Is 你是哪个人 the correct way to ask where you are from in China?
No, "你是哪个人" doesn't make much sense here. It translates into "Which one you are?".
Instead, you shall say "你是哪里人" as you have put.
If you are looking at the picture and you cannot recognize which ...
- 561
6
votes
In this sentence "请问，哪里可以买到票？" is the character 到 necessary?
“哪里买票”(1) sounds perfectly native to me.
The difference between these two sentences lies in: (1) doesn't address the likely scenario where you can't get a ticket even if you tried to buy one.
...
- 63
6
votes
Accepted
Asking someone's age
There are several ways to ask someone's age and they vary from neutral to very polite. "他几岁" implies that the answer is within 1-9 range, since 几 should not be used for numbers greater than 9.
As ...
- 185
6
votes
What is this proverb?
(熬夜)晚起毀上午，早起(學習)傻一天
熬夜晚起毀上午
晚起毀上午
Getting up too late will lose a morning.
早起學習傻一天
早起傻一天
Getting up too early will have no spirit all day long.
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