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1500 questions
14
votes
3 answers
How to practice reading for beginners?
Are there any good magazines (or perhaps books) that can be used to practice reading for beginners? I feel that my Chinese level is good enough to read simple sentences but it's still impossible to read newspapers or normal magazines, so I'm looking…
laurent
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14
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3 answers
What is the difference between 必须, 得, 必需, and 需要?
I know that all of them mean "to have to" in some form or another, but are they interchangeable?
perspicuousreading
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14
votes
4 answers
Dog radical (犭) for non-Han ethnic groups
As far as I understand, the dog radical (犭) was used for all non-Han ethnic groups before the Chinese Communist Party took power on the mainland. Is there truth to that? If so:
Why did the CCP stop the use of 犭?
Why do we still see the the 犭…
Kang Ming
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14
votes
6 answers
API for transliterating a traditional character (writing the pinyin)?
I was wondering if anyone here is aware of an API out there on the net anywhere that can receive a traditional character and send back the pinyin for it in JSON?
zeeple
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14
votes
5 answers
Various ways to say "nice to meet you"
When I first started learning Chinese I knew the in order to say "Nice to meet you" or "Pleased to meet you," I had to use the following expression:
很高兴见到您。
But recently I've come across other expressions to say the same thing:
认识你，我很高兴。
or…
Alenanno
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14
votes
3 answers
Use of 十年中 to express duration
Does 十年中 mean "in ten years"? I found it in this sentence from tatoeba.org:
他十年中第一次回家。
He returned home for the first time in ten years.
It seems like I could use the same pattern to say, "I haven't had a drink in five years." 我五年中没有喝酒。 Does that…
Don Kirkby
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14
votes
7 answers
Why do people say 慢点儿阿("man dianer a") when you leave their shop?
When you leave a shop, you often hear the shopkeeper saying something like "man dianer a", which sounds like 慢点儿阿 (something parents say to their kids to get them to walk more slowly [even if they never listen]).
It's quite possible I'm mishearing…
Becky 李蓓
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14
votes
2 answers
乐 Le and Yue: When did they diverge?
In the character 乐, it has two readings in Mandarin. In pinyin, yue4 and le4 (plus other readings I take are literary)
In other dialects too, there seem to be 2 distinct forms. In cantonese, lok and ngok. In Min Nan, lok and gak. Wiktionary actually…
sqrtbottle
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14
votes
2 answers
What's the difference between ，and 、
What's the difference between ，and 、 as they appear in some texts, like in this passage of the Zhuang Zi (end of the second part):
是萬物之化也，禹、舜之所紐也，伏戲、几蘧之所行終，而況散焉者乎！
Is it like comma and semicolon? Or one is used for enumerations, or what?
Rodrigo
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14
votes
8 answers
Take away (when ordering food): is it 带走 or 打包?
I was told that when you are ordering food you can say either 带走 or 打包.
However, when you are not ordering food and you mean "take this away", then you use 拿走。
Is there a difference in context or meaning between 带走 and 打包?
MaoYiyi
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14
votes
2 answers
Is 目 suitable for daily conversations, or should I use 眼睛 (and what about 口 and 嘴巴)?
Can I use 目 in daily conversations or its too archaic and I should use only 眼睛？
What about 口 and 嘴巴?
I am trying to teach my daughter Chinese with daily Chinese phrases and have dilemma -
目 is better as radical to explain other complex characters…
Boris Ivanov
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13
votes
6 answers
What's the meaning of 缘分 in English?
I asked a similar question on English Language & Usage site, but no one seems to come up with a good answer for me. I have decided to give our Chinese site a try.
Bonus: how will you describe the idiom 有缘无分?
Terry Li
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13
votes
7 answers
Can one learn to comprehend Chinese texts while being unable to read aloud?
I've been enjoying the book Chineasy and it make me wonder if it would be possible to read Chinese without knowing how to speak it phonetically.
Technically it might not be "reading Chinese" because you can't read the words out loud.
But the…
MmM
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13
votes
5 answers
What's the difference between 江 and 河?
My daily newsletter contained the following sentence:
长江是中国最长的河。
According to the dictionary, 江 and 河 both mean "river", but they seem to be used differently.
Am I right in assuming that 长河是中国最长的江 is wrong (even if we assume that there is a river…
dr Hannibal Lecter
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13
votes
5 answers
Confusion about the ice radical 冫
As far as I know, the character for "ice" is 冰, and the radical derived from it is 冫 . I find it a bit weird that the ice radical 冫 is the radical for the ice character 冰 itself (ice + water = ice again?), but I am happy to just accept that. I know…
Corsin Pfister
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