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Expressing "tea is not just a drink"

I encountered a misunderstanding today due to my poor Chinese language skill. What could I have done better? I was standing in a German hospital and a native Chinese asked me if I wanted tea or coffee - both being offered by a third party, namely…
Ludi
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written characters: yuē vs rì

I have some troubles in distinguishing written characters 曰 yuē (to speak) and 日 rì (sun). Although they singularly look different on computers (maybe yuē look a bit wider, while rì is taller), I find it almost impossible to distinguish them when…
Starnuto di topo
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What's the difference between 否则, 要不, 不然, and 要不然?

They all mean "otherwise", and beyond that 要不 is more colloquially used I'm not sure how they differ in usage or meaning.
user2493
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What does "不要紧" mean?

众人回头观望，而这一看不要紧，所有人都是不由大吃一惊 According to an online dictionary, "不要紧" means "not important". How does the sentence make sense? "The group looked back and that look was not important. Everyone couldn't help but be shocked greatly?"
john2546
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Standards: Japanese - Chinese Name Translations

Very rarely will you see a Japanese name in Chinese without 汉字. What rules are there for translating Japanese names into Chinese? Take for instance the name Yoshi (よし) 汉字 include: 与四、与志、与子、与士、与司, just to name a few (and there are, like, a million…
Mou某
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How to distinguish between rat and mouse in Chinese?

I know there are two words here: 老鼠 and 鼠. However, the dictionary states that 老鼠 (rat) can also mean mouse; how do you specify rat? I imagine that 仓鼠 (hamster) and 沙鼠 (gerbil) are often abbreviated to 鼠??? If so how does one specify that you mean…
jsj
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早已 and 早就: what's the difference?

To my understanding, both hold the meaning of "already happened long ago". What are the nuances though? Are they interchangeable? Examples: 他早已打定主意了。 (He made up his mind long ago.) 他早就搬走了。 (He moved out long ago.) Thanks
Yoav Vollansky
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Difference: 小气 vs. 小器?

Especially in the sense of stingy, miserly. What's the difference between 小气 and 小器? I remember being told that one is more "correct", than the other, but I can't quite recall which. The search results I've seen are just people giving their own…
Mou某
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Phrases to acknowledge being corrected in Mandarin

When I lived in China, I was often corrected for using grammar improperly or translating too literally. I don't think I ever learned a good response to this. I usually wanted to be courteous and convey that I understood and would use the correction…
Pender
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What does 反动 mean?

The dictionary definition of 反动 means reactionary, and in the political sense it can also mean someone who is very conservative, as opposed to progressive. However, it seems that this word is being used in a far broader sense, and with strongly…
congusbongus
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Difference between 也都不 and 也不都

Are they same? 我们也都不是学生 - We also all not are students. 我们也不都是学生 - We also not all are students.
Boris Ivanov
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Is there an authoritative reference for the stroke order of simplifed characters?

It seems various people often have various ways to write the same characters. For instance, I have seen the radical "忄" being written in three different ways (left, middle, right; left, right, middle; and middle, left, right) which is a lot for such…
laurent
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Cantonese sandhi

In Mandarin, there is limited tone sandhi, mainly about third tones and the tone variations of yi1 (one) and bù (not). By contrast, Min has sandhi rules for all tones, as illustrated by this diagram. So I was wondering: is there any sandhi in…
MickG
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How formal is 如何 in the context of 最近如何?

I was told by friend who is a native mainland speaker that "最近如何", or anything using "如何" to inquire about the state of a person, is a very ancient/formal way of speaking. This was quite a shock to me—I was taught this sentence quite early in my…
八带永
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Etymology of 至关(重要)

至关重要 strikes me as a four-character idiom instead of a Chengyu, and it didn't even make an entry on 现代汉语词典 or ZDic.net. However, that couldn't explain the fact that the specific character combination 至关 is exclusively used in this phrase, and this…
NS.X.
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