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1500 questions
12
votes
3 answers
What is the difference between 古怪 and 古里古怪?
According to my book, there is a pattern for building further adjectives from adjectives.
If the original adjective is AB (two different characters), its derivation is A里AB.
Unfortunately, this pattern was only displayed as an example, but not…
meireikei
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11
votes
2 answers
What should a beginner be looking for when selecting a movie in Chinese?
To enhance my Chinese language skills I am looking for some Chinese movies or series that fit a beginner's level. Currently I know around 1000 Hanzi.
Is watching movies or series too early with this amount of known characters?
If not, how do you…
kms
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11
votes
4 answers
What is the difference between 究竟 and 到底 ？
So, a teacher explained to me that 究竟 is a more formal way of saying 到底. However, I'm still curious if there are there any other usage differences between the two? Is 究竟 only used in examples that are relatively “夸张”
E.g. 你究竟为什么要离开我。
Stephen
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11
votes
6 answers
Is it 一些东西 or 一点东西?
I know that 东西 translates to "something" in English.
So I would like to know,
can both 一些东西 and 一点东西 be used? If so, what are their differences in meaning?
Stephen
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11
votes
4 answers
When to use 一倍 vs 两倍
I would like to have a clarification on this: I know that 倍 means "-times, -fold", but I don't understand why 一倍 seems to mean "twice as (fast)" in the following sentence:
开车最少比骑自行车快一倍。
while we have to use 两倍 in the following…
pg-robban
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11
votes
3 answers
哪儿 vs. 哪里, Difference in Meaning?
Is there any difference in meaning between 哪儿 and 哪里? If not, then how did the two different words come to be employed? Does 儿 have a meaning, or is it just a sound? I know that there are many 'redundancies' in language, but I'm interested in…
user3558
11
votes
4 answers
Why is the 会 in 会计 pronounced kuài?
The character 会 has two different pronunciations; usually it is huì but in 会计 it is pronounced kuài. It seems that the latter pronunciation is exclusively used in the "accounting" meaning.
How did this one character take on two different…
congusbongus
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11
votes
3 answers
零售 - Why is the character for "zero" used in the Chinese word for retail?
Why is retail referred to as 零售 in Chinese? Why the combination of "zero" with "sales"? Certainly one expects to make (hopefully many) sales in retail so why is the character for "zero" used here? It just strikes me as such a negative and…
Bjorn
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11
votes
2 answers
角/毛 (10 cents) for money: why?
from: List of historical Chinese currency terms
角 (litterally a corner / a horn of an animal) = 毛 (litterally "a feather of a bird") = 1/10 the main unit.
Why use 角 and 毛 for, what we might call in American English, 10-cents?
Mou某
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11
votes
9 answers
How to get started learning Chinese?
I'm new on this website and my only objective is to get some answers. But the main question I have is: How and where to start learning Chinese? How to begin?
Ozair7
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11
votes
1 answer
Difference between 实际, 现实, 确实, and 实在
These 4 words (实际, 现实, 确实, and 实在) all mean different combinations of 'real', 'indeed', 'practical', 'really', and 'reality'. Is there any easy way to distinguish, remember and understand the differences between these 4 words? Thank you!
user2246
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11
votes
4 answers
What is the original Chinese text to "liquid jade"?
The Wikipedia article on the history of tea mentions that Laozi described tea as "the froth of the liquid jade." What is the original text in Chinese? If the original text cannot be found, could I request a translation?
My attempt at a literal…
SEL
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11
votes
3 answers
How to translate "很不起眼儿" in English
What's the best (传神) translation of "很不起眼儿" in English?
例句：
不认识他的人觉得他很不起眼儿，认识他的人觉得他很优秀。
辨析：
A more formal term that related to "很不起眼儿" is "其貌不扬", but
"其貌不扬" will normally be "很不起眼儿", yet "很不起眼儿" does not necessarily means "其貌不扬". So the side…
xpt
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11
votes
2 answers
What is the difference between 有名，著名 and 闻名?
We know 名 means name or famous, but what is the subtle difference between 有名，著名 and 闻名?
Chinese.Tutor.Frank
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11
votes
1 answer
Geopolitical History of Simplified Chinese
I've always been fascinated about the etymology of languages and believe that we are seeing a significant series of changes within chinese.
There are some fairly good technical references for the transition from traditional chinese to simplified,…
hafichuk
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