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1500 questions
5
votes
1 answer
What is the glyph origin of 槑?
槑 is a variant character of 梅 comprised of two 呆. Both are pronounced "méi", and mean "plum blossom" (Prunus mume). But what would the glyph origin be like? 呆, pronounced "dāi" and meaning "stupid", lends neither phonetic nor semantic semblance to…
Josh
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5
votes
2 answers
What does 了mean in 衣服也落在了房间内, and is it pronounce le or liao?
Could someone please explain this sentence structure?
衣服也落在了房间内.
What does the 了 mean here? Is it pronounce le or liao?
rabbid
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5
votes
4 answers
Longest sentence where all characters have the same sound
What is the longest sentence that can be constructed where all the characters have the same sounds in Mandarin, but may have different tones? I'm sure many people have heard of 'mothers insulting horses', but are there any more interesting ones?
Burrough Clarke
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Have I parsed this correctly? 在这一重大的历史时点，和讯网对著名经济学家张维迎就改革的发展问题进行了一次非常深入的访谈。
在这一重大的历史时点，
和讯网
对
著名经济学家张维迎就改革的
发展问题
进行了
一次非常深入的访谈。
(From CaiJing.com.cn; link now broken.)
At this important historical point, Hexun.com has conducted a very in-depth discussion on the question of development, which renowned economics professor,…
Ian
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5
votes
3 answers
Is 去 (qù) pronunced /tɕʰu/ or /tɕʰy/?
I'm a struggling very beginner having difficulties with both pronunciation and Pinyin.
I dabble in linguistics so I'm accustomed to dealing with IPA pronunciations. For this reason I have been looking for a table related syllables in Pinyin and IPA.…
hippietrail
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5
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3 answers
What is the perceived nuance of the word 友人 in Chinese?
For Example:
那个人是我的友人
vs.
那个人是我的朋友
In Japanese 友人 (pronunciation: yūjin) is a more formal term than 友達 (pronunciation: tomodachi), where the latter is more suited to be used in Japanese spoken language.
When I say 那个人是我的友人, does 友人 have the same…
user31007
5
votes
5 answers
Optional measure words
I've seen many times that some nouns are used with and without measure words. Is it optional to use measure words with certain words?
The most notable ones I have come across,
星期
下星期，下个星期
一星期，两个星期
Is the measure word 个 before the word 星期…
Mohammad Talebi
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5
votes
1 answer
What is the Chinese version of いろは?
In Japanese, there is a poem titled いろは. This poem is unique because it uses every possible Japanese syllable, making it a pangram. I imagine it makes a great exercise for improving pronunciation.
I wonder if Chinese have something similar to…
Jimmy Yang
- 153
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5
votes
6 answers
Is it viable to write Chinese in emoji?
I know this may be an absurd question. It's just a silly curiosity of mine. If I have a sentence like "the horse walks to the mountain to eat apples," which I very clumsily translate (probably very wrongly) as 马走山吃苹, what prevents the set of Chinese…
Carlos Arturo Serrano
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5
votes
2 answers
In spoken Mandarin, what adjectives can be used to complement a person's appearance?
In spoken Mandarin Chinese what adjectives can be used to complement a person's appearance?
I can think of a couple off the top of my head:
美丽 - Měilì - Beautiful
可爱 - Kě'ài - Cute
性感 - Xìnggǎn - Sexy
I've been looking around but having trouble…
50-3
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5
votes
2 answers
What exactly does 媽个八子 mean?
Are those the correct characters? I understand it to be profanity but how bad is it? Worse than 你妈的 ? Any insight would be appreciated, just find this to be a funny expression that I haven't heard of before.
grayQuant
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5
votes
4 answers
Chinese idiom for "tilt at windmills" or "fighting against windmills"
Is there a Chinese idiom for "tilting at windmills"?
This expressions stems from "The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha". In that book, Don Quixote attacks windmills, incorrectly (and absurdly) believing them to be giants.
From…
user3271
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5
votes
8 answers
Why is 上下 used in 这套房子是上下两层的?
I am confused by the use of 上下 in the sentence:
这套房子是上下两层的，楼下是客厅，楼上有三个房间。
This house has two floors, the living room is downstairs, and there are three rooms upstairs.
I understand 上下 as up and down, which does not add any information to the…
Puco4
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votes
1 answer
Did the Chinese 獅子 = "lion" originate from the Persian شیر (šīr)?
There's Wikipedia page List of loanwords in Chinese (listed as "incomplete" at the time of writing) which contains the entry:
獅子 (shīzi) "lion"
شیر (šīr) "lion"
So the page is claiming that the Chinese word for lion 狮子 (shīzi) originates from…
Becky 李蓓
- 16,291
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5
votes
3 answers
How to express "I'm reading about (something)" in oral speech/informal contexts?
Good day to you all!
I wanted to express the sentence: "I'm reading about the Malaysian language." I realized I didn't actually know how to express this, so I looked it up on a translator, and what I got back was "我在阅读有关马来西亚语言的信息。"
This sentence…
AndrewO
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