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6
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勇 character on soldiers' uniforms in movies
I don't know much about Chinese military history, but I do see this character appearing on historical uniforms (fictitious or actual) worn by soldiers in movies, some are set in the Qing dynasty some are earlier.
Is there a tradition of using 勇 in…
imrek
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6
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4 answers
或: how did "region" become "either"?
The character 或 is used today for the meanings "or", "either", "maybe", and "perhaps". Historically, it had the meaning of "region", and it is this meaning that characters like 國 and 域 derive from.
This original definition is reasonable given its…
congusbongus
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6
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7 answers
不得不, 必须, 只好, 应该: what's the difference?
This is what I'm thinking:
不得不
pm. "cannot but, have to" this seems colloquial, and the fact that dictionaries think of this as a set phrase/fixed expression makes me think so. Also feels like the "can't help but" of 忍不住.
必须
adv. "must, have to"…
Ming
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6
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1 answer
Difference between alveolars and alveolo-palatals in Cantonese
I would like to understand the difference in distribution between the alveolar consonants s, ts, tsʰ and the alveolo-palatal consonants ɕ, tɕ, tɕʰ in Cantonese. One source told me that the postalveolars are only used before i, y, and œ and alveolars…
HAL
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6
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2 answers
Chinese Words that Accurately Reflect English Phonemes
I'm a retired computer science professor who helps Chinese graduate students master English. The students have a good background for reading and writing scientific papers but struggle with their teaching assignments. In all fairness, we're a…
Dennis Stevenson
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6
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2 answers
Should names in idiomatic expressions be capitalised?
As the title indicates, I'd like to know the proper way of writing Pinyin for idiomatic expressions that contain names. Should those names be capitalised? Some dictionaries say that they should (Pleco for instance), but after asking two native…
Olle Linge
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6
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5 answers
Is there a difference between 有趣 and 有意思?
They seem to mean the same thing, but I've seen 有意思 quite a few times in my books, and never 有趣. When is 有趣 used and why (especially in comparison with 有意思)?
dr Hannibal Lecter
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6
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3 answers
What is the difference between 人民 and 民族？
What is the difference between 人民 and 民族, for example in 中华人民 vs. 中华民族?
jsj
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6
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1 answer
What is the meaning of 不同而不同?
This is taken from the phrase:
口感依成分不同而不同
Sounds like it means "manifold" or something like that?
jsj
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8 answers
How should one translate "祝你年年有今日，歲歲有今朝" into English?
On my birthday a friend wished me "祝你年年有今日，歲歲有今朝". I can understand each of the individual words in this phrase, but the overall meaning is somewhat less clear to me (although I have some ideas about what it might mean). Searching around the web…
jsk
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6
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3 answers
What is the Correct Sense of 隔空喊话 in English?
Baidu defines it literally as "not directly engaging with [someone/thing] when talking, rather talking with no person in mind." I'm curious whether it can be close to how we say in English, "[two parties] are talking past each other" and or simply…
Master Sparkles
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2 answers
How Does One Pronounce/Define the *Chinese* Character
For browsers unable to display that code point (U+26A3B) as anything other than a box, the question concerns this character:
Per http://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=gb&char=%F0%A6%A8%BB - there are quite a few instances of the character's use in…
Master Sparkles
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5 answers
What is the role of 都 in 你网上小店都卖什么东西啊？
What is the role of 都 in this sentence?
你网上小店都卖什么东西啊？
Should I read:
你卖 = you sell
你的小店卖 = your little shop sells
都卖 = all sell
你和你的小店都卖 = you and your little shop both sell
Basically, who is the seller??
Pedroski
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6
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3 answers
What is the meaning and proper usage of 凭什么？
I was watching a TV show and heard them using the expression 凭什么 to say 'why' - I hadn't heard this with this exact meaning before, so I'm wondering what the proper meaning is in English, and what the proper meaning is in Mandarin?
Ciaocibai
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6
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3 answers
What's the correct classifier for `房子`?
In my little bit of Mandarin experience, I have got that the classifier for 房子 is 座, and also felt that 座 is usually used to refer to a building. However, I have just read that someone here over Chinese Language Stack Exchange says the classifier is…
Blaszard
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