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1500 questions
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How is the 儿 ending pronounced outside Beijing?

When Beijingers use words like 一点儿, the ending syllable will be very pronounced as far as I understand, and I'm aware that this is a typical feature of the Beijing dialect. But how is it pronounced in the rest of China? Is there no "er" sound there…
egilk
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Is there online corpus for the Chinese language?

Is there online corpus for the Chinese language? What I mean is something like the Brown Corpus for American English.
drobnbobn
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Neutral Terms for "White People"

This is always a difficult topic because racial and ethnic identities are so complex, sensitive, and dynamic: what are the best (as in the most precise and neutral) terms for "White" people? I've heard terms like 老外, 洋人, and 鬼佬. Do Chinese also…
amoss
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Why are intermediate cardinal directions read differently in Chinese?

I am referring to the fact that in English, we say "northeast", whereas in Chinese, the equivalent direction is called 东北, which literally translates to "east-north". One could say the same about "northwest" => 西北 (west-north), "southeast" => 东南…
Tom Au
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What is the difference between 整个 and 全?

The dictionary definitions for 整个 and 全 both use "whole" and "entire". However, 全 additionally has definitions of "all" and "complete". I have a homework assignment that asks me to distinguish their usage in various sentences, but I don't recall…
Daniel King
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How do native Chinese greet each other on daily basis?

I have read somewhere that "你好" and "你好吗?" are mostly textbook greetings and are not used by native Chinese, at least not on daily basis. I would also find it hard to believe that two friends who know each other for years would still greet each…
dr Hannibal Lecter
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Fast-written forms of 草书 characters

Are they frequently used? Which one of the three is applied more often: is it the 章草, the 今草 or the 狂草? Are they different in comparison with the 行書? Are there any online resourses to learn more about the most frequently used style (except the…
Manjusri
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Why is a measure word not required in 一年有三百六十五天?

Consider the following two sentences: A year has twelve months 一年有十二個月 yī nián yǒu shí’èr gè yuè A year has three hundred and sixty-five days 一年有三百六十五天 yī nián yǒu sānbǎi liùshíwǔ tiān Why is the measureword 個 left out in the second sentence? What…
GambitSquared
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What is the difference between 餐馆 and 饭店? Is 饭店 used for restaurant or hotel?

饭店 and 餐馆 can both mean restaurant. My Chinese friend here in Dongguan tells me 饭店 is not commonly used to mean hotel. I want to understand in what contexts both of these words are used. 谢谢.
amorimluc
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Why did my friend write 发发发 on her note?

Today I went to an ice-cream shop with my Chinese friend, and we wrote notes to stick on the wall. My friend wrote: 开心、健康、平安、发发发 kāixīn, jiànkāng, píng'ān, fā fā fā The first three items are ordinary well wishes, but I have no idea why she would…
Becky 李蓓
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How to (hand) write Chinese characters faster

Are there any resources / how-to sources about how to write Chinese characters faster than normal while still being readable? It took me forever to take notes while in class.
Meandering
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Measure Words and their English Analogue

I was taught that the closest analogue in English of Chinese measure words are 'units', e.g. "a pile of wood", "a cup of water", etc. What strikes me as a bit odd about this analogy is that the units in English add semantic meaning to the sentence…
Jonathan Gleason
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How did Chinese people know in the past the pronunciation of words?

Nowadays a Chinese person seeing a character for the first time can look it up in a dictionary (it doesn't matter how) and get the phonetic or Pinyin transliteration, so that the pronunciation is obvious. How did people get the correct pronunciation…
FarO
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What's a precise definition of 人家

I've gathered from context, that “人家” can be used like “我” with the following differences: "人家" seems more immature/cute. I often hear it in cartoons or children's shows or said by children in movies or shows. "人家" seems more colloquial. I often…
Chris Bilson
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我(也)很好 and tone sandhi

What are the (resultant) tones in those sentences, where all the words in isolation have 3rd tone? 我很好。 我也很好。 Reading tone shandhi rules on Wikipedia, there is no explanation about tree or four single-syllable words with 3rd tones.
dusan
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