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7
votes
7 answers
Why did my Chinese teacher describe Donald Trump as 口吐莲花?
In my regular Chinese class yesterday, I was discussing Donald Trump with my teacher, and she described him as 口吐莲花 (kǒutǔliánhuā). As always I didn't fully understand the particulars of the conversation, but I believe she was referring to his…
Becky 李蓓
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7
votes
6 answers
Why in Chinese Bible (和合本), "you" was translated as "你" instead of "您"?
For example, in 詩 篇 Psalms:
102:1 〔 困 苦 人 發 昏 的 時 候 、 在 耶 和 華 面 前 吐 露 苦 情 的 禱 告 。 〕 耶 和 華 阿 、 求 你 聽 我 的 禱 告 、 容 我 的 呼 求 達 到 你 面 前 。
102:2 我 在 急 難 的 日 子 、 求 你 向 我 側 耳 、 不 要 向 我 掩 面 ． 我 呼 求 的 日 子 、 求 你 快 快 應 允 我 。
I thought 您 is more…
Zuriel
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7
votes
3 answers
What is 吗 doing in 你有什么事吗？
In a Chinese lesson, I came across these sentences:
你有什么事吗？
Nǐ yǒu shénme shì mɑ?
你有什么事？
Nǐ yǒu shénme shì?
And both were translated as:
What's the matter?
I don't understand 1. Without 吗, I understand it literally as: You have what…
Puco4
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7
votes
2 answers
Why would this insect pest poster in Taiwan have phonetic characters (Zhuyin) on every Chinese character?
In my Biology SE question Identify this large, beige or pine cone-colored squareish beetle and/or the pine cone it's on? I included a snapshot of a poster I saw when hiking. I was told that it advises that the beetle shown in the photo is a pest. I…
uhoh
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7
votes
4 answers
What is na4zi4pang2 (pinyin) in the decomposition of na4 (那)?
The New Practical Chinese Reader introduces the following decomposition: na4 (那) = na4zi4pang2 + yi4 (阝).
I understand that 阝 represents radical 163 (yi4).
Na4zi4pang2 (pinyin) looks close to radical 74 (yue4, 月), but only close. It apparently is…
Drux
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7
votes
5 answers
what's the difference between 羡慕 and 妒忌？
Can someone tell me the difference between these to words. Are they both regularly used?
They seem to both indicate jealousy. I've seen 羡慕 on different occasions and I'm used to that one, but I've come across 妒忌 a couple of times lately and wanted…
Baron Jon
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7
votes
1 answer
Why is 汉子 measured in 条?
汉子 (son/person of Han) was - in ancient China - a term used by various people north of China to refer to the Chinese, but over time has been used by the Chinese to refer to themselves, and by the Qing dynasty, was already being used as a…
congusbongus
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7
votes
2 answers
About Confucius' Ta-Hio
In many books about Confucius' Analects, 大學 is transliterated as Ta-Hio.
Why is this? 大學 is dàxué in Pinyin, da hsüeh in Wade-Giles, da sywe in Yale, and daai hok in Cantonese, so where does this transliteration come from?
Luo Kaisa
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7
votes
6 answers
When native Chinese refer to China, what's the difference between 大陆, 中国 and 中国大陆?
Do they generally mean the same thing? Is one more formal than the other? Both 大陆, 中国 seem to have the same number of hits on Baidu.
Steve
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7
votes
2 answers
How is "⿰甴曱 ⿰曱甴" read?
I was scrolling through BabelStone's PUA page when I came across the following:
For evidential purposes they also link the following picture:
Unlike some entries on the chart there is no romanizaion for these two characters. Seeing "甴" makes…
Mou某
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7
votes
2 answers
How to say "dull the knife"?
I want to translate "Using the knife on these types of surfaces will dull the knife." This I find to be difficult grammatically as well. However, I'm not sure how to say "dull" in Mandarin, and google doesn't provide much help.
MarkE
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7
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3 answers
What is the difference between 做番 vs. 做返?
A friend (Mainland Chinese, living in Hong Kong) recently posted the following sentence on Facebook:
聖誕節買禮物?做番中國人啦!
As I had never seen the "做番" construction before, I asked if perhaps she had mistyped the phrase, and had wanted to use "做返"…
tbaums
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7
votes
2 answers
Why e is pronounced differently in de (的, 地) and ye (也,夜)?
I got confused because sometimes e is pronounced differently in various words. For example: (的, 地) and ye (也,夜)
Can you explain and give me some tricks to remember? Thank you!
Truong Ha
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7
votes
1 answer
What musical instrument does "敫" refer to?
I found the character 敫 whose definition apparently is "ancient musical instrument" according to Wiktionary.
However, the English Wikipedia's List of Chinese musical instruments doesn't seem to include either it or an instrument whose name includes…
2ndQuantized
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7
votes
8 answers
What examples highlight the distinction between 产生 and 生产, both meaning "to produce"?
产生 (chǎnshēng)
病毒是怎样产生的?[src]
How are viruses produced
导体中就会产生电流[src]
[The] conductor will produce electric current.
生产 (shēngchǎn)
操作人员对自己生产的产品要做到自检[src]
workers regarding their own produced goods need to perform…
Becky 李蓓
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