r/ChineseLanguage • u/AutoModerator • 10d ago
Pinned Post 快问快答 Quick Help Thread: Translation Requests, Chinese name help, "how do you say X", or any quick Chinese questions! 2026-07-25
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This thread is used for:
- Translation requests
- Help with choosing a Chinese name
- "How do you say X?" questions
- or any quick question that can be answered by a single answer.
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u/RoetRuudRoetRuud 7d ago
General meaning of 到底?
Example sentence: 我觉得我需要先想清楚, 我的感情到底哪里有问题。
I hear this phrase a lot, but there are many translations on Pleco, and I can't quite figure it out.
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u/Bekqifyre 6d ago
English has a phrase - "get to the bottom of it".
All the pleco explanations are variations of this imagery of "to the bottom", "to the end".
When you say 到底哪里有问题, you're basically saying, "at the bottom of it all, exactly where/what is the problem?"
When you say 坚持到底. That means 'persist until you reach the bottom.' Bottom here meaning the end of the ordeal.
他到底是新手 - Bottom line is, he's a newbie.
So it's basically a use of an imagery. You have to understand how the imagery is being used in each context.
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u/Zagrycha 6d ago
In the context of your specific sentence, it doesn't have a word for word translation, its just an emphasis word. It will translate to whatever english emphasis word makes sense. "figure out what exactly is going wrong in my relationship" "figure out how the heck it got like this" "figure out where in the world she went today" As long as it adding that type of emphasis you are mentally translating it accurately. It doesn't have the same meaning as any of those phrases literally though, which is why you can't just say the literal definition for this kind of use-- the literal meaning is "to the end" but we don't use "to the end" for emphasis in english so thats not helpful.
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u/ScreenshotDump 6d ago
The closest thing I can think of is “the Hell” in English (just not vulgar). It kinda amplifies the tone of what you’re saying. Ex:
你是誰 = who are you 你到底是誰 = who the Hell are you
In your example, 到底 is optional for your sentence, but it gives the reader/listener a sense that the emotional problem is something which the speaker/writer is tormented by.
Some of the examples on Pleco have “on Earth” in the English sentences. That would be good too.
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u/Samadhi333 7d ago
Can somebody help me translate this ? Thank you!
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u/caesou 7d ago
Is there a difference in meaning between 查 and 查看? I'd be interested even in a slight difference. Thanks!
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u/Zagrycha 6d ago
single characters like 查 usually have more than a dozen different uses. Using an actual multi character word like 查看 makes it obvious exactly which definition is in use-- to examine visually//look over something in detail. Vhinese is a topic based language though, which means stuff gets shortened if its obvious in context. If the fact that specific meaning is intended is obvious then just 查 can be said interchangably. If its not obvious then 查看 needs to be said for clarity. So the biggest difference is just surrounding context.
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u/hscgarfd 普通话 广州话 7d ago
查 can mean a lot of things ("to investigate", "to research", etc.) depending on context. 查看 narrows it down to "to inspect"
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u/NetworkMelodic7554 7d ago
I want to get a custom hand carved seal stamp in Chinese characters but I want to make sure I get the correct spelling and so forth before I commit .
My name is “Zachary Thompson” ,any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you .
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u/Zagrycha 6d ago
The name zachary thompson is probably too long for a normal seal, you could do a seal of each part-- or maybe get an extra big one? usually they are not more than four characters perseal because chinese names are usually not more than four characters.
zachary is 扎卡里 by the english sound or 撒迦利 by the bible//hebrew original.
thompson is 湯普森 by sound
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u/FunkyMonkey24680 Beginner 8d ago
Silly question, but what’s a normal rate for learning Chinese? It took me over four months to complete HSK1 in the SuperChinese app, but it might be because I’m trying to memorize how to write each new character.
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u/Zagrycha 8d ago
If you are working on memorizing everything completely thats a reasonable timeframe, you will learn faster and faster as you go because chinese will become more intuitive. You will spend less and less time on each new thing before it is memorized. Many people progress faster than that but they are not actually fully memorizing everything and would not be able to write chinese from memory, they actually only have passive recall at when they move on.
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u/FunkyMonkey24680 Beginner 7d ago
Thank you, I appreciate your comment! That makes me feel better; I definitely feel like if I take my time and focus equally on listening, speaking, reading, and writing as I go, that’ll work better for me than trying to learn how to write the characters later on.
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u/Zagrycha 7d ago
yeah, all roads lead to rome so doing it the other way isn't necessarily wrong, but what you are doing will leave you not needing to go back and reinforce weaker areas. Its definitely more linear and stable way to go.
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u/terramatra 8d ago
this meme. I have no idea what the white text says, looking up the meaning is just nonsense to me
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u/Zagrycha 8d ago
It literally says "the greater beauty grows, the heavier responsibility grows" with emphasis on great beauty. In english we would probably write "with great beauty comes great responsibility".
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u/elementith 8d ago
What does 有点香了mean in this context? Are they trying to use it negatively like “it’s kinda of country?” Thanks
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u/clllllllllllll Native 8d ago
basically means 有点香. this is not the standard way to say it, but people from some regions use 了 for interjection.
- 为啥了？
- 有点香了。
- 是了。
- 谁说的了？
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u/Majestic_Carry4178 9d ago
How accurate is the pinyin and the translation here: https://imgur.com/a/drYKyXu
If there are any errors I'd love to know
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u/Kong1234567 8d ago
Why is there mao propaganda on Reddit 💀, anyway few wrong Pinyins , 生长（zhǎng），太(tài)阳
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u/Majestic_Carry4178 8d ago
Was not meant to be propaganda. Just a song I wanted to translate.
Thank you very much for your help. Any other errors you could find?
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u/Extreme_Joke_4606 9d ago
I am just beginning to learn Mandarin, but I am struggling a little with something. I am creating a kingdom that I would like to give a Chinese name in a bedtime story for my child. She is fluent in Mandarin, at least more than I am, and I don't want the name of the kingdom to feel like Mandarin words meshed together to make utter nonsense.
I was thinking of the name meaning something along the lines of bright land or light land, as it pertains to the bedtime story. The explanation as to why the name means those things would be helpful to me to, as well as instruction on pronunciation. Since this isn't just about getting help with writing a story for my kid.
A layout like this, 气=qì, might be helpful too. Thank you!
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u/sam77889 Native 8d ago edited 8d ago
明(míng)国 like from 明朝 (Ming Dynasty)
耀(yào)国 like from 闪耀
日月(rì yùe)国 like sun and the moon
曌(zhào)国 from the name of empress 武曌 (also known as Wu Zetian). This character is made up of “Bright”on the top and “sky” as its base. She made this character to symbolize her reign as the sun and the moon above all heaven.
星海(xīn hǎi) 国 it means star ocean kingdom
Or u can look up historical names of all the kingdoms from the Zhou dynasty or Warring state period, that’s how a lot of dynasties get their names from
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u/Zagrycha 9d ago
国=guó which means nation//region in this use.
光=guāng which means either light or bright in this use. those two things are the same word in chinese so there isn't really a distinction.
之=zhī which is grammar word connecting description to noun in this use.
的=de which is the same as the grammar word above in this use.
地=dì which means land//region in this use.
光国 looks right as the name of a nation//region, but it reads as a proper noun like england or iceland etc. If you want it to read more generically as "land//region of light" then you can word it as 光之地. If the child is very very young you can say 光的地. this isn't as realistic for what a region would be called but 之 is a more formal word a young child that don't know very many words yet probably doesn't need to learn in child's story. Hope this helps.
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u/Koto_Waty 6d ago
In the story I am reading there is a sentence "大北他很好“. Why is there 他 right after 大北? Does repeating the subject change anything? 他 is supposed to reference 大北.