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1500 questions
7
votes
1 answer
9 Questions from the movie Red Sorghum (红高粱)
My friend bought me a set of four Zhang Yi Mou movies. I watched Red Sorghum (红高粱) today, and there were a few sentences which, after looking up the meanings, I still couldn't quite understand. I'll give the entire sentence for context, and describe…
user3871
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5 answers
How to translate "I wonder..."
How can I translate something like the below sentence into Chinese:
I wonder how many people are going to the party?
going
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3 answers
Meaning of 一不小心
I read a story where a child dropped a berry into a bucket full of berries and then tried to take it back. When she reached in to pick up her own berry, she grabbed a handful of the other berries. In Chinese, it says, 一不小心,抓出来一大把。
I know that 小心…
Don Kirkby
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How to translate 'hyper-','super-' and 'ultra-' exactly?
The prefixes hyper-, super-, and ultra- seems all has meaning 'transcend' or 'upper class' and can all be translated to '超'. But they have a bit difference, e.g. hypergiant is larger than supergiant; hypersonic is faster than supersonic; superhigh…
Popopo
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4 answers
How to add emphasis to sentences
Last week a kid wrote on the office white board "Give me all your cheese now!" and I attempted a translation into Chinese (mostly to practice my handwriting). I wrote 马上给我你的奶酪。 I felt like this translation was lacking emphasis, but I didn't know how…
juckele
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2 answers
Is it correct to use 首都 for capital of province?
I am trying to do a cultural project on the city of Harbin. However, I'm not sure if it is correct to say this. I found out that Harbin was the capital of the province of Heilongjiang. If I said, 哈尔滨是黑龙江的首都, would it make sense since 首都 means…
ianc1339
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7
votes
2 answers
Academic explanation for rhyming fillers with irrelevant meaning in doggerel
在打油诗、顺口溜、儿歌里经常有纯粹是为了押韵或节拍而插入的和文意无关的词汇。在北方话、传统北京/天津评书相声里尤甚。我想知道在语言学专业里这种情况是怎么解释的，有没有术语或相关资料。
例如北京顺口溜：
嗝屁着凉大海棠，脚不丫子蘸白糖。
里“大海棠”完全是为押韵，无意义；蘸白糖虽然略有意义，但选词十分随机，更多是为了一种插科打诨的效果。
Brief translation:
It's common to hear rhyming filler words without a relevant…
NS.X.
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7
votes
1 answer
How to cope with classical references?
It seems like references to classical literature are unavoidable in virtually all materials enjoyed by native speakers - I was watching an episode of 蚁族的奋斗 where a group of young men are talking informally around the dinner table, and one of them…
Benjameno
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3 answers
How to write 400,002,000 in Chinese properly?
I got a number, 400,002,000, I wonder how to read it?
Should it be one of these two? Or something else?
四亿零二千
四亿二千
abcdabcd987
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7
votes
5 answers
Why 天 is chosen for counting days instead of 日 in Mandarin?
In Classical Chinese, the proper word for counting days is 日. In Southern Chinese languages, 日 is more prevalent in counting days. Why 天 is chosen for counting days in Mandarin instead of 日?
Edit
More, in Mandarin it is quite usual to replace 日…
OmniBus
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votes
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Do 朋 and 友 differ in meaning?
I've learned 朋友 as a unit for the word 'friend'. After looking the two characters up, I see that they both mean... friend.
It seems 友 is often used as the latter part of words expressing something with "friend", like 好友 for good friend.
What is the…
PetaspeedBeaver
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votes
3 answers
Are there characters in which the radicals are the same but the position changes the meaning?
Are there any characters in Chinese that have the same radicals in their formation, but the position of those radicals result in different meanings.
e.g. A character made up of two radicals, AB, and another BA, that is also a valid…
Erty Seidohl
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7
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2 answers
What's the difference between 証 and 證?
I realized 证 could be 証 and 證. Is there any difference between them?
Mike Manilone
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Should I use 向前 or 向后？
(Sorry, @hinen. I use your answer as my question.)
当我比较 hinen 的答案时，我有一个疑问。
原来的内容是：
這樣我們就知道要向前找。
So, we know that we should look up forward.
他/她修改，只把 forward 改成 backward，没改中文。
他/她先在第170图，后来到第156图，是向书本页数较少的方向找。
英文用…
Farnz Seager
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4 answers
How is 以 used in 时间给勤奋者以荣誉，给懒汉以耻辱?
时间给勤奋者以荣誉，给懒汉以耻辱。
This is a quote from Gao Shiqi. I understand the basic meaning of it, but what is a good way to define the usage of 以？ It can mean many different things in Chinese and is sometimes confusing.
Rachel Cohen
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