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1500 questions
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votes
3 answers
Gender neutral term for family members who are all first born?
Is there a gender neutral term for people who are first born in a family?
For example, if a mother, father, and older sibling are all the first born to their parents, is there a term that describes all of them?
A quick check translating "first…
uhoh
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Difference between 客气 and 礼貌
On New Practical Chinese Reader 4, workbook, page 7, there's a story about Scott and a Chinese person discussing about manners. The Chinese person says 客气 and 礼貌 are different, and that he/she feels weird when Scott says 谢谢, 对不起 and such all the…
Enrico Brasil
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9
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How to say "behind schedule" in Chinese?
What I would like to know is the proper way to say "I am behind schedule" in the general sense, similar to "I am running two hours late for the meeting" or "this project is two weeks overdue".
When I searched for a translation for "I am behind…
MarkE
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Why is my Microsoft Pinyin IME suddenly making traditional characters instead of simplified?
I tried to type 什么, but I got 什麽! It was working just a minute ago. What happened?
Ben Jackson
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9
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2 answers
How can I skip characters I can't read when reading aloud?
As an example, I was at the cinema and I wanted to buy tickets for a film named
北京遇上西雅图
However, I can't read all of the characters.
In English I'd say;
Can I get a ticket for that film "北京*something*上西*something**something*", please?
Is there…
Matthew Rudy 马泰
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9
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How would one say "my computer died"?
I know 关掉 to mean "turn off" but it doesn't seem to convey the sudden-ness or unwelcome connotation of "died". 突然关掉 is more precise but still seems to lack the negitivity. Also, as this is a common occurance, there must be a more colloquial way.
tao
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Why does 三八 mean gossip?
I've heard in 广东 (guangdong) the term 三八 to mean "gossip", particularly for a woman who gossips.
Is this common throughout China,
and why does it have this meaning?
Matthew Rudy 马泰
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9
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5 answers
Why is 得 in 你还记得我吗?
I have read the sentence:
你还记得我吗？
But I can’t understand the meaning of 得, here. I don’t think it belongs to the rules explained here
qdii
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他在工厂住了半年/living in factories
This was an example sentence in Practical Chinese Reader 31. Do people actually live in factories, or is there some cultural context I'm missing? In previous chapters, people are constantly visiting factories《参观工厂》, which I found bizarre. Who would…
rxmnnxfpvg
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2 answers
What's the difference between 房子 and 屋?
It seems like "house" is usually translated as 房子 (fáng zi) in standard Chinese, although 屋 (wū) is also a common translation, especially in Cantonese.
Is there a difference between the two? When should I use one over the other (in Standard…
Orion
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9
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Are any of these honorifics still in use today? 愚, 鄙, 敝, 卑, 窃, 仆, 婢, 妾, 在下, 贱妾, 小人, 小女, 草民, 民女, 奴才, 奴婢, 奴家
Are any of these honorifics still in use today? If not, might they be used and understood (as a joke) by regular Chinese in, say, a period film, much as English speakers would recognize someone using Thine holiness, etc?
For self-deprecating…
rxmnnxfpvg
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9
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When do you use 所有， 全部， 整个, 完整?
I have a hard time wrapping about these specific words.
As far as I know 所有 is most similar to "all of the..." like “所有的人”.
While 全部 is more or less like 所有 except you don't need 的 between it and the object like “全部时间".
Meanwhile, 整个 is most…
Sneakymist
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2 answers
What is the meaning of this expression (落了下乘)?
然而当和尚走上石阶，禅房内却传来一声苍老的叹息：“长捷，虽为杀人事， 亦是菩提心，但若存了杀人念，你便落了下乘。”
“落了下乘”是什么意思呢？我已经百度一下，但是还没明白。词典也无用了。
我知道“落了”有fall, drop的意思，然后“下乘“有”小乘佛教“的意思。但是”落了下乘“的意思不明白。
请你解说我一下。
Wat
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9
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3 answers
The interpretation of a sentence in the Qieyun (切韵) preface
The Qieyun is a rhyme book written by the scholar Lu Fayan 陆法言 in 601 CE, during the Sui dynasty. In my degree thesis I'm trying to analyse some aspects of this particular work.
Recently, I managed to translate the preface of the Qieyun by myself.…
Tochtli
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9
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2 answers
What's the glyph origin of 妖?
What's the glyph origin of 妖?
Why does it have a woman radical? Why is woman used in a word that means weird or supernatural?
Is there a website to look up the evolution of characters?
David Xia
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