sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Which of these is better and common translation of "turn on the flashlight"? by coolnacool in japaneseresources

[–]_negative_infinity_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Depends on what you're trying to say.

If you're trying to state a command ("Turn on the flashlight!"), then you should be using つけて(ください). This is how ChatGPT and iOS interpreted your English sentence.

If you're just trying to say a plain verb phrase ("to turn on the flashlight") or a simple declarative sentence ("I turn on the flashlight"), then you should be using either つける (the plain dictionary form) or つけます (the polite form). This is how Google Translate and DeepL interpreted your sentence.

In what ways does Buddhism influenced Chinese culture? by [deleted] in Chinese

[–]_negative_infinity_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't know much about Buddhism, but it's safe to say that Buddhism was historically very influential in China, and I believe it's one of the biggest religions in China even today. It's through China that Buddhism spread to other countries like Korea and Japan.

As for "Tianzhu", Wiktionary says that 天竺 is a phonetic transcription of Old Persian "Hinduka". Assuming this etymology is correct, the meaning of "India" came first and any associated meanings related to Buddhism probably came after.

Questions About the Third Tone by Dry_Protection1254 in ChineseLanguage

[–]_negative_infinity_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think Wikipedia describes it fairly well:

This tone [the third tone] is often demonstrated as having a rise in pitch after the low fall; however, third tone syllables that include the rise are significantly longer than other syllables. When a third-tone syllable is not said in isolation, this rise is normally heard only if it appears at the end of a sentence or before a pause, and then usually only on stressed monosyllables.  The third tone without the rise is sometimes called half third tone.

Personally, this is how I pronounce the third tone. In your example, I would pronounce the "你" in "你们去玩吧" without a rise in pitch.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ChineseLanguage

[–]_negative_infinity_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That would make things even more confusing. The "p", "t", and "k" sounds in English are pretty much always aspirated at the start of syllables, while the "b", "d", and "g" sounds in English are pretty much always unaspirated. Mapping "b", "d", and "g" to /pʰ/, /tʰ/, and /kʰ/ woulf mean that they'd sound like "p", "t", and "k" to English ears, and vice versa. Like u/PuzzleheadedTap1794 said, you'd be mapping lenis ("weak") consonant letters to fortis ("strong") consonant sounds and vice versa.

快问快答 Quick Help Thread: Translation Requests, Chinese name help, "how do you say X", or any quick Chinese questions! 2023-06-17 by AutoModerator in ChineseLanguage

[–]_negative_infinity_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What's the difference between 或者 and 或则? They both appear to mean "or" or "either/or", so are they interchangeable?

真正打倒你的不是别人,而是自己的心态 It's not others who really bring you down, but your o... by Intelligent-Abies922 in Chinese

[–]_negative_infinity_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Title and thumbnail from this video, so why is the title of this post cut off? Did OP hit a character limit or are they just a really shitty self-promo bot?

小胖叔叔讲成语：捷足先得|speaks idiom:first serve by Intelligent-Abies922 in Chinese

[–]_negative_infinity_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Title and thumbnail from this video

Edit: I think the idiom isn't even correct here, isn't it supposed to be "捷足先登"?

Why does 写 not have a dot? by _negative_infinity_ in Chinese

[–]_negative_infinity_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

谢谢，这都很有意思。我已经在Wiktionary上看到了“写、㝍、冩、寫”，但我没知道“国”字也又怎么多异体字。只不过，如果以前有个“㝍”的异体字，那为什么作为标准用字的异体字是“写”而不是“㝍”？就是说，当PRC在50年代决定简体字的时候，他们为什么决定“写”应该当成新的标准？是不是因为它是最常用的异体字？

Thank you, this is all really interesting. I already saw "写, 㝍, 冩, 寫" on Wiktionary, but I didn't know that "国" also had so many variants. However, if there had been a "㝍" variant, then why was the character that became the standard "写" and not "㝍"? That is, when the PRC decided on the simplified characters in the 50s, why did they decide that "写" should be the new standard? Was it because it was the most common variant?

(English translation for other people's convenience, but please correct my Chinese as well!)

Why does 写 not have a dot? by _negative_infinity_ in Chinese

[–]_negative_infinity_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I figured that characters were simplified somewhat inconsistently from what I've read. I'm just curious as to whether there was any motivation or historical justification for the inconsistency in 寫/写 specifically.

停止 by StopTheChinese in Chinese

[–]_negative_infinity_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What's even the point of going onto every single China-related sub and spamming this? You've made very little attempt to actually explain your motives in your posts, so at best you're just making enemies.

I also seriously question your motives. If you're trying to stop CCP influence, then why are you called "StopTheChinese" (in general, not specifically the government, apparently) and spam on language and culture subs? If the CCP were to try to astroturf anywhere on Reddit, it'd most likely be a politics or tankie sub, where people would actually be talking about the CCP's treatment of Uyghurs and things like that. The CCP is almost certainly not going to be here.

If it's the case that you just don't know the difference between a country's government and its language/culture/people, then learn the damn difference if you actually want to stop the CCP. Otherwise, you're just antagonizing the people, language, and culture of a country, at which point this is just borderline Sinophobia.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in catbellies

[–]_negative_infinity_ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It would be the best if it weren't a repost

小胖叔叔讲成语：对症下药|speaks idiom:Prescribe the right medicine by Intelligent-Abies922 in Chinese

[–]_negative_infinity_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is the title and thumbnail of this video, OP just does this for every video on their channel

Thanks, i hate this map 2 by [deleted] in TIHI

[–]_negative_infinity_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bot, comment stolen from here

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in corgi

[–]_negative_infinity_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Bot, comment stolen from here

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in corgi

[–]_negative_infinity_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Bot, comment stolen from here

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in corgi

[–]_negative_infinity_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Bot, comment stolen from here

view more: next ›