Chinese Language Stack Exchange
Chinese Language Stack Exchange

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1500 questions
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What does the term "Chinese" mean?

The Wikipedia article on Chinese says that many varieties of Chinese are mutually unintelligible. That is, I can't just learn "Chinese" and speak "Chinese" with anyone living in China or Taiwan. What does the term "Chinese" mean? What makes a…
Golden Cuy
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Mnemonic for differentiating 买 and 卖

I always mix up their tones and/or meaning. Do you know a good mnemonic to differentiate the two? Maybe there are compound words which contain either character which could help me? I found 买卖 which I get right tone wise (mai3mai5) and meaning wise…
Roman Reiner
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Character and meaning for the 四川话 sentence-ending particle 'ga'?

Scholars of Chinese will have a lot of work to do in the next 100-200 years, because eventually academics will take notice and want to document the self-emergent standardization of orthography for regional Chinese words (many of them particles) that…
magnetar
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If Confucius came back to life today and scribbled a message, could most modern Chinese people understand it?

For example (and I am not sure if this is a good example), if presented the following stone inscription (石鼓文, source, c. 374 B.C.), could most modern Chinese people understand it (even vaguely)? (This question inspired by this Skeptics.SE…
user4133
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够 or 夠 - Two characters, one meaning?

够 or 夠 both mean be enough according to my electronic dictionaries. I was surprised to find one character in my text "Reading & Writing Chinese," (McNaughton & Li, 1999) A different character was in my electronic dictionary (夠). My first thought…
Tommie C.
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What is the difference between 探望 and 看?

Both the expressions 探望 and 看 are, in an appropriate context, translated as "to visit". I haven't been able to figure out the difference between the two. When does one use 探望, when does one use 看?
Corsin Pfister
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How to express a date in Chinese (lunar) calendar?

Many traditional festivals are observed on a given date on the Chinese (lunar) calendar(Actually, the Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar). For example, the Spring Festival falls on the first day of the first month of the Chinese calendar. …
Huang
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In soccer commentary, what do Chinese say when a player scores a Goal?

In English and in Spanish they say "Gooaaaaaalllll" after a player scores. How do the Chinese say goal? (My poor guess: méééééén ?)
Hải Phong
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Difference between 层 and 楼？

What is the major difference between 层 and 楼？ I know that 层 can refer to other things like layers, etc. but I've heard that it could also refer to floors (just like 楼）。 Could I say something like "酒吧的第一层？“
Stephen
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Why is 面熟 used after 人 in 常常看着一个人面熟却叫不出名字来?

In my textbook I found this sentence: 常常看着一个人面熟却叫不出名字来。 If 面熟 is an adjective, why is it used after 人 (to indicate a "familiar-looking person")? Can 一个人面熟 be rewritten to 一个面熟人 without modifying the sentence's original meaning?
dusan
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How do I say that a program (coding) "Works!"

I'm trying to say a program (as in something a programmer/程序员） finally works! Is there a way to translate this "works" into chinese? Could I say 我的代码终于可以了！？ Or is there a way that is more clear what I mean?
Stephen
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What is the "Chinese Dream?" (中国梦)

Sorry if this is getting too non-language specific, but I think it still has language merits that fit the sites requirements. 中国梦 we really don't need a translation as it's clearly just a play on 美国梦 (the "American Dream), so we have: the "Chinese…
Mou某
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How to translate “折腾” to English?

I don't think the official translation "zhe teng" is a best answer, but I don't know how to translate this word properly.
ddphan
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tones when singing a chinese song?

if tones are so important in chinese as to even distinguish shades of meaning, how can a chinese sing a song? in music every syllable has its own note/tone, so when we sing a song, we must disregard the appropriate tone and apply the musical note to…
user5949
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How to Say the "something" in the phrase "Do something"

I was trying to explain the meaning of the phrase "hang out" to a Chinese friend, and the first thing that came to mind was 一起做什么了, with me intending 什么了 to mean "something". He seemed to understand what I was trying to say, but I'm pretty sure I…
Meta
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