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Are the two pronunciations of 谁 (shéi / shuí) the result of regional differences?
The pronoun 谁 has two pronunciations — shéi and shuí — without a difference in meaning. When I started learning Chinese, I learnt the pronunciation shéi. However, one of my Chinese language partners (from Henan) said that he had never learnt this…
Tsundoku
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8
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4 answers
That mystical 就 again
Here is a sentence:
厨房壁炉架上的那面镜子就把哈利吓了一跳
Below are my translation variants. Bold letters should be a 'jiu' english analog here.
The mirror on top of the kitchen's fireplace scared Harry the most.
Even a (simple) mirror on top of the kitchen's…
manuka
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8
votes
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Are there any online resources for learning Chinese 4-character idioms
I'm interested particularly in the 4-character idioms/chengyu's.
Some that I've learnt recently:
独一无二 - unique
由此可见 - this shows that
一般来说 - generally speaking
I've realised they come in really handy, but often they are difficult to understand…
jaffa
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8
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How to write characters containing the ǚ pinyin symbol in most common Chinese Input Methods?
I am using four different input methods for typing 汉字. Most of them share the same principles for translating what you type in pinyin to Chinese characters. But I am unable to figure out how to type in pinyin words with an U with Umlaut like ǚ, for…
marcanuy
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8
votes
1 answer
Is there any relation between the Cyrillic Ш (sha) and the Chinese 山 (shān)?
Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but the Cyrillic Ш/ш (sha) looks like the Chinese 山 (shān) and have similarity in pronunciation. Is there any actual relation between the two?
Becky 李蓓
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8
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5 answers
表达 vs. 表现 vs. 表示 vs. 显示
These four words all express (get it, because they all mean express ha ha ha) similar meanings: to express/show/display/manifest/demonstrate/convey/indicate etc. I'm sure there are subtle differences between these form words in terms of formality,…
God's Drunkest Driver
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2 answers
Is there a difference in connotation between questions ending in 吗 vs. X 不 X
Is there any difference in connotation/region/modernity/etc. between questions ending in 吗 and affirmative/negative questions?
For example, does:
你很累吗？
connote something different than:
你累不累？
And does the following have a third connotation?:…
Kang Ming
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8
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3 answers
Is the description for components of 条 correct?
During studying 条 character in one of the dictionaries I have found decomposition of this character to two components:
夂 zhǐ: to go
木 mù: tree; wood (Kangxi radical 75)
I see the 夂 component but I am not sure of 木. Should it not be 小 or…
Wodzu
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votes
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What does “作” mean in this context?
I was listening and they said stuff like 大作 and 小作。
My friend thinks it's an adjective and it can be used as so:
一个很作的女孩子。
HiddenPerson
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8
votes
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What are the differences between 香港繁體, 澳門繁體 and 台灣正體?
Wikipedia, as far as I can tell, has three options for what we would probably just call traditional Chinese in English:
香港繁體
澳門繁體
台灣正體
Aside from proportions, shapes, sizes (and 台灣正體's placement of punctuation markers in the middle of the air) I…
Mou某
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8
votes
4 answers
How to type these old and rare Chinese characters?
I've tried to google these old Chinese characters using their closest approximations but still haven't found out any. I want to find these characters so that I can copy and paste them instead of taking photos of them every time needed. They are: …
Einsteingen
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8
votes
3 answers
Which is the most frequently used tone?
The most difficult for me in learning Chinese is memorizing the correct tone.
I tried to find on web what the most frequently used tones are, but it seems to be hard to find.
I suppose if one tone is used 50 % of the time, I will just need to…
faure
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2 answers
The development of rhotic vowels in Mandarin
Schuessler's reconstruction of the Old Chinese reading of 二 is *ńźi. It seems there is a correspondence between OC syllables beginning in *ń or *ńź and Mandarin syllables romanised as er.
However, I've always wondered at what the intervening steps…
jogloran
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8
votes
3 answers
To 了 or not to 了
I'm Chinese learner and as everybody else I'm puzzled by the verbal aspect 了. My research into the subject gave such results:
了 belongs to a class of perfective aspect markers just as many other markers 过, verb duplication, RVC (verb resulative…
coobit
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8
votes
2 answers
What is the name of this traditional Chinese character font?
The image below is from a book I bought while in Hong Kong (ISBN 957-14-4160-0. It's an edition of a work in classical Chinese, with an ancient commentary in classical Chinese, and a modern commentary in mandarin. The book is published in Taiwan.
I…
magnetar
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