Why do people pronounce “那个” as “nei ge” instead of “na ge?”
The reason people pronounce “那个” as “nei ge” is similar to the reason why people pronounce “going to” as “gonna.” When words are spoken quickly, …
Did Classical Chinese (文言) have similar use of punctuation marks (标点符号) as modern Chinese?
No. Classical Chinese was not punctuated. The reader could add marks, called 讀 (pronounced tòu/do) and 句; 讀 was like a comma, 句 like a …
What is the reason for the large number of characters in the Chinese language? Is there a way to simplify them without losing their meaning?
Like most other forms of written language, Chinese script started out as a pictographic script where the characters looked like what they represented. You can …
Why is next month 下個月 instead of 明月?
The basic meaning of 明 is bright (sun+moon). 明天 implies hope, a time that we look forward to. When the night is over, the bright …
My English name is Paris im a girl my Chinese name is 范逸瑶. Does it have a meaning, does it go with my name and is it pretty?
If what you wanted to ask is whether Paris Fan is a suitable name for your Chinese name 范逸瑶, which is spell as Fan Yiyao …
Will 個/个 eventually replace the majority of measure words in Chinese?
As Xie Wei mentioned, the term “measure word” / 量词 is actually obscuring a bit of complexity here. The quick and dirty version is that …
Can you help translate my name Cao Mỹ Thanh to Chinese?
This is difficult to translate, mainly because modern Vietnamese uses a phonetic writing system based on the Latin alphabet. I suggest you go back and …
Can Chinese speakers distinguish between tones? What is the right tone in a word?
Yes, I think so. I mean, there are Chinese characters or expressions sharing same spellings in alphabet letters, but their tones are different. Let’s use …
What is the distinction between the characters 女 and 妹 in the Chinese language?
Know someone who is a ballerina? Doesn’t she looks like 女？ The description is in the hands of the word for girl. She is the …
Is Chinese really that hard to learn at least spoken Chinese so I can at least talk?
No, it’s not really hard. Here’s how: (1) Ignore the characters (at least until you can speak fluently). 2) Get a grounding in applied linguistics, …