大家好

studyblr for mandarin | main: @thedevilwearsflorals

[xuexishijian]

大家好！我叫Josh (they/them/TA)，我是美国人。我想有一个地方对练习我的中文，记录我的进步。现在我的水平大概HSK三，所以如果有人想和我一起练习的话，发给我一些私信 :)

[marilearnsmandarin]

Source

[slavic-roots-western-mind]

音 Character breakdown

音 - yīn - music, sound, tone 音乐 - yīnyuè - music 话音 - huàyīn - tone, voice 声音 - shēngyīn - sound, noise, voice

意 - yì - thought, idea, opinion 意见 - yìjiàn - view, idea, thought, opinion 意义 - yìyì - meaning, significance

竟 - jìng - finally, at last, after all 竟然 - jìngrán - unexpectedly, surprisingly 竟自 - jìngzì - unexpectedly, to one's surprise

镜 - jìng - mirror glass 镜头 - jìngtóu - camera lens 镜片 - jìngpiàn - lens 镜花水月 - jìnghuāshuǐyuè - flowers in a mirror or moon in the water (a very pretty idiom with the meaning of an illusion)

暗 - àn - dark, secret 暗暗 - ànàn - secretly 暗淡 - àndàn - dim, faint, dark 暗察明坊 - ànchámíngfāng - to investigate and understand a situation using various methods

境 - jìng - boundary, area, region 境界 - jìngjiè - boundary, a state 环境 - huánjìng - environment 入境 - rùjìng - to enter a country 出境 - chūjìng - to exit a country

韵 - yùn - rhyme, vowel 韵律 - yùnlǜ - prosody (the metrical rules such as tone patterns, rhyme, and parallelism used in poetry) 韵文 - yùnwén - a literary genre that arranges sentences according to a specific rhythm (e.g. specific types of poems such as Tang poetry, etc) 韵人韵事 - yùnrényùnshì - a charming man enjoys charming interests (an idiom meaning elegant people doing elegant things basically e.g. drinking tea under a moon, painting or playing instruments.)

谙 - ān - versed in, acquainted with 谙练 - ānliàn - skilled, proficient in something 深谙 - shēnān - to know something very well 深谙世故 - shēnānshìgù - having seen much of life, well-versed in life

韶 - sháo - originally this was name of an ancient musical piece, said to have been created during the time of Emperor Shun. Later, it's meaning changed to mean something beautiful. 韶光 - sháoguāng - beautiful 韶华似水 - sháohuásìshuǐ - time/youth passes like flowing water

黯 - àn - dark, sullen, dreary 黯淡 - àndàn - similar to 暗淡, meaning dark and gloomy 黯然失色 - ànránshīsè - to be cast into the shadows/ to be overlooked 黯黑 - ànhēi - pitch dark

喑 - yīn - mute 喑哑 - yīnyǎ - mute 万马齐喑 - wànmǎqíyīn - 10 thousand horses standing mute (an idiom meaning a situation where no one dares to speak up)

歆 - xīn - to like, admire 歆慕 - xīn mù - to admire something 歆羡 - xīn xiàn - same meaning, also means to admire something

薏 - yì - lotus seed, seeds of job's tears ( a plant) 薏仁米 - yìrén mǐ - Job's tears 洋薏仁 - yáng yìrén - a type of barley

[fuckyeahchinesefashion]

Seal Script (Zhuànshū 篆书) is the oldest form of Shufa(Chinese calligraphy) still in use today. It emerged during the Zhou Dynasty and was standardized in the Qin Dynasty. The characters are often elongated and composed of balanced, curved lines. It can look complex and retains a somewhat pictorial quality, reminding you of its origins in ancient inscriptions on bronzes and bones. In short, it's a highly artistic and historical style, often used for seals and formal inscriptions. OP is writing the Chinese idiom "能歌善舞neng ge shan wu" describes a person who is both a skilled singer and an elegant dancer. (cr 云舒先生)

[official-linguistics-post]

official linguistics post

[rigelmejo]

I still can't understand most details in Dashu Mandarin podcasts :c

I hear a lot of words and short phrases, like "old lady at neighbors cold" and "cell phone numbers didn't work" and "spain" and "france." And "collapse". And "regularly in life" But I can't follow full opinions any particular person is sharing.

So at 378 hours, I can understand some Chinese Podcast with Shenglan podcasts episodes, but Dashu Mandarin Podcast is still too hard.

[xuexishijian]

Multiple uses of 你

Aside from its normal use as the second-person pronoun, Mandarin 你 has several other meanings it can take on, depending on the context.

Normal (propositional) use: 你 refers to the addressee

我好像见过你。 'I seem to have seen you before.' (Biq 1991: 308)

Impersonal use: Doesn't refer to the addressee, but to a generic person (English and many other languages have this as well)

那些小孩子恼得叫你不能专心做事。 'Those children make such a noise, it makes you (me, one) unable to concentrate on work.' (Biq 1991: 309)

Speaker-oriented use: The speaker uses 你 to refer to themself or to a group associated with the speaker (note that the reverse situation can occur with 我 referring to the addressee)

Context: An actor discusses his experience with a director 他每次比如说我在演的是手，他会跟你讲这个应该怎么样。 'He gives comments when I am acting, he will tell you (me) how it should be.' (Hsiao 2011: 805) (Note the switch from 我 to 你: The speaker is inviting the listener to put themself in his situation.)

Metalinguistic use: Not used as a pronoun at all, 你 calls on the address to pay attention to the speaker's next point

Context: A and B are talking about the importance of education A: Once education is developed many more doctors can be trained. Uh, this is one point but if not, ah? B: This is medical education. A: 就是医药，对吗，你整个儿的学校也多了，诶，上小学上中学的人都多了，那么上医学院的人也多了。。。 A: 'Just medicine, surely, <NI> the number of schools on the whole increases, eh, the number of people going to grade schools and middle schools increases, then the number of people going to medical schools will increase, too...' (Biq 1991: 314-5)

I just think it's neat how this little pronoun can serve a variety of purposes, and it really goes to show just how creative speakers can be with the tools available to them in their language. I recently saw a presentation by a fellow grad student, Tian Xinhe, who formalized these uses of 你 from a theoretical syntax perspective. If anyone's interested in more details about that, I'd be happy to talk more. :) References & further reading:

Biq, Yung-O. (1991). The multiple uses of the second person singular pronoun ni in conversational Mandarin. Journal of Pragmatics, 16, 307-321.

Hsiao, Chi-hua. (2011). Personal pronoun interchanges in Mandarin Chinese conversation. Language Sciences, 33, 799–821.

史金生 & 王璐菲. (2022). 虚拟对话与立场构: “你”在互动中的移指用法 [Virtual dialogue and stance interpretation: The reference shift of "ni" in interaction.]. 中国语文, 6, 671–683.

Tian, Xinhe. (2025, March 28-29). The multi-functionality of the second person pronoun in Mandarin Chinese: a study on syntax-interaction interface [Conference presentation]. CHAMP3, Barcelona, Spain.

[fuckyeahchinesefashion]

chinese internet slang learning (cr 帅山姆先生)

[hyean-studio]

Chinese idioms of the week

时时刻刻 [shíshíkèkè] - constantly; all the time

引经据典 [yǐnjīngjùdiǎn] - to quote the classical texts

胡说八道 [húshuōbādào] - to talk nonsense

乱七八糟 [luànqībāzāo] - in a complete mess; at sixes and sevens

不伦不类 [bùlúnbùlèi] - nondescript; neither fish nor fowl

不明不白 [bùmíngbùbái] - unclear, vague, for no reason

大喊大叫 [dàhǎndàjiào] - to scream loudly

日日夜夜 [rìrìyèyè] - day and night; day in, day out

哭哭啼啼 [kūkutítí] - to cry continuously

筋疲力尽 [jīnpílìjìn] - to be exhausted

下定决心 [xiàdìngjuéxīn] - to make a firm resolution

毫无疑问 [háowúyíwèn] - without a doubt; certainly

吞吞吐吐 [tūntūntǔtǔ] - to mutter and mumble

仅此而已 [[jǐncǐéryǐ] - just this and nothing more

一五一十 [yīwǔyīshí] - (of narrating) in full detail

井然有序 [jǐngrányǒuxù] - orderly; in apple-pie order

不好意思 [bùhǎoyìsi] - too embarrassed or shy to do something

无关紧要 [wúguānjǐnyào] - unimportant

日积月累 [rìjīyuèlěi] - to accumulate over a long period

事先通知 [shìxiāntōngzhī] - to announce in advance

夸夸其谈 [kuākuāqítán] - to boast; to talk big

All of these I encountered while reading the book <鞋带> by Domenico Starnone. It's a translation from Italian. I would recommend it for those who have an intermediate level. The language is quite simple and the sentences are short which is good for language learning. The overall story is also engaging.

[rongzhi]

OP talking to her boyfriend like she's in a shortform video drama

Translation request by @myhamartiaishubris.

English added by me :)

[xiangqiankua]

廢柴 thoughtfully warns you against money laundering.

洗錢 xǐ qián / launder money

防制 fáng zhì / to combat, counter (crimes, social issues)

申報 shēnbào / declare something (to customs)

依法 yīfǎ / according to the law

沒入 mòrù / confiscate (Pleco says variant of 沒收)

處以 chǔyǐ / mete out

罰鍰 fáhuán / a fine

[xuexishijian]

句法学 - Syntax

词类 cílèi / 词性 cíxìng - Parts of speech

名词 míngcí - Noun

动词 dòngcí - Verb

形容词 xíngróngcí - Adjective

副词 fùcí / 状语 zhuàngyǔ - Adverb

前置词 qiánzhìcí / 介词 jiècí - Preposition

后置词 hòuzhìcí - Postposition

连词 liáncí - Conjunction

代词 dàicí - Pronoun

限定词 xiàndìngcí - Determiner

句法功能 jùfǎ gōngnéng - Syntactic function

主语 zhǔyǔ - Subject

谓语 wèiyǔ - Predicate

宾语 bīnyǔ - Object

语序 yǔxù - Word order

格 gé - Case

主格 zhǔgé - Nominative

宾格 bīngé - Accusative

与格 yǔgé - Dative

属格 shǔgé - Genitive

具格 jùgé - Instrumental

题元角色 tíyuán juésè - Theta roles （语义角色，语义关系，主题关系）

施事 shīshì - Agent

受事 shòushì / 客事 kèshì - Patient

主事 zhǔshì - Theme

感事 gǎnshì / 经验者 jīngyànzhě - Experiencer

益事 yìshì - Beneficiary

领事 lǐngshì - Recipient

终点 zhōndiǎn - Goal

工具 gōngjù - Instrument

Syntactic structure

中心语 zhōngxīnyǔ - Head

附加语 fùjiāyǔ - Adjunct

标定语 biāodìngyǔ - Specifier

论元 lùnyuán - Argument

补足语 bǔzúyǔ - Complement

短语 duǎnyǔ / 词组 cízǔ - Phrase

句子 jùzi - Sentence

分句 fēnjù - Clause

从句 cóngjù - Subordinate clause

(句子)成分 (jùzi) chéngfen - Constituent

Theoretical terms

管辖 guǎnxiá - Govern

约束 yuēshù - Bind

移位 yíwèi - Movement

语迹 yǔjì - Trace

拷贝 kǎobèi - Copy (n.)

提升 tíshēng - Raising

控制 kòngzhì - Control

合并 hébìng - Merge

辖域 xiáyù - Scope

一致 yīzhì - Agreement

特征 tèzhēng - Feature

投射 tóushè - Project (v.)

扩充的投射原则 kuòchōngde tóushè yuánzé - Extended projection principle

语段 yǔduàn - Phase

语段不可渗透性条件 yǔduàn bùkě shèntòuxìng tiáojiàn - Phase impenetrability condition (PIC)

句法树 jùfǎ shù - Syntax trees

节点 jiédiǎn - Node

姐妹节点 jiěmèi jiédiǎn - Sister nodes

母节点 mǔ jiédiǎn - Mother node

女节点 nǚ jiédiǎn - Daughter node

终端节点 zhōngduān jiédiǎn - Terminal node

支配 zhīpèi - Dominate

Theoretical frameworks

生成语法 shēngchéng yǔfǎ - Generative grammar

X' 理论 lǐlùn - X-bar theory （also X次理论）

管辖与约束理论 gǔanxiá yǔ yuēshù lǐlùn - Government & binding

词汇功能语法 cíhuì gōngnéng yǔfǎ - Lexical functional grammar

依存语法 yīcún yǔfǎ - Dependency grammar

[indigostudies]

my friend and i were going to study a language together and wound up having to cancel our plans due to scheduling pressures, but! through research we came across a really cool resource for reading in a TON of languages: bloom library!

as you can see, it has a lot of books for languages that are usually a bit harder to find materials for—we were going to use it for kyrgyz, for example, which has over 1000 books, which was really hard to find textbook materials for otherwise. as you can see it also has books with audio options, which would be really useful for pronunciation checking. as far as i can tell, everything on the site is free as well.

[xuexishijian]

Super long character practice: biáng and huáng

The first is often considered the character with the most strokes and refers to a type of noodle (biangbiang mian).

The second has more strokes but isn’t really a word. It’s considered an artistic representation of heaven, in character form.

I feel like biáng was actually possible to get somewhat decent, but huáng was just incredibly difficult to get the spacing right 😂

[xuexishijian]

音系学，音位学 - Phonology

音位学分析 yīnwèixué fēnxī - phonological analysis

音系表征 yīnxì biǎozhēng - phonological representation

心里表征 xīnlǐ biǎozhēng - mental representation

抽象表征 chōuxiàng biǎozhēng - abstract representation

单位 dānwèi - units

音段 yīnduàn - segment

音节 yīnjié - syllable

音节首 yīnjiéshǒu - onset

音节核 yīnjiéhé - nucleus

音节尾 yīnjiéwěi - coda

音拍 yīnpāi, 莫拉 mòlā - mora

音步 yīnbù - foot

莫拉理论 mòlā lǐlùn - moraic theory

音节长度 - syllable length

音位 yīnwèi - phoneme

最小对立体 zuìxiǎo duìlì tǐ - minimal pair

区别意义 qūbié yìyì - distinguish meaning

对立的 duìlì de - contrastive

边缘对立 biānyuán duìlì - marginal contrast

音位中和 yīnwèi zhōnghé - phonemic neutralization

音位变体 yīnwèi biàntǐ - allophone

环境 huánjìng - environment

条件变体 tiáojiàn biàntǐ - conditioned variant

自由变体 zìyóu biàntǐ - free variation (无条件变体）

预测 yùcè - predict

互补分布 hùbǔ fēnbù - complementary distribution

自然类 zìrán lèi - natural class

在一定条件下产生 "produced under certain conditions" (产生 chǎnshēng "give rise to, produce")

在其他实词中都呈现互补分布。"They all present complementary distributions in other content words."

如果有一群语音共享一个或多个发音或听觉特征，而且同一个语言的其他音没有，这群语音就组成一个自然类。"If a group of sounds shares one or more articulatory or auditory features, which are not shared by the other sounds of that language, then that group of sounds is a natural class."

音位配列 yīnwèi pèiliè, 语音组合法 yǔyīn zǔhé fǎ - phonotactics

规则 guīzé - rule

替换 tìhuàn - substitute, replace

语音同化 yǔyīn tónghuà - assimilation

语音异化 yŭyīn yìhuà - dissimilation

语音省略 yǔyīn shěnglüè - deletion, elision

插音 chāyīn - epenthesis, insertion

语音变换 yǔyīn biànhuàn - metathesis

补偿延长 bǔcháng yáncháng - compensatory lengthening

连音 liányīn- sandhi, liaison

变调 biàndiào - tone sandhi

底层表达 dǐcéng biǎodá - underlying representation (底层形式 dǐcéng xíngshì, 底层表现 dǐcéng biǎoxiàn)

表层表现 biǎocéng biǎoxiàn - surface form

自主音段音系学 zìzhǔ yīnduàn yīnxìxué - autosegmental phonology

特征 tèzhēng - feature

音层 yīncéng - tier, level (as used in phonological context)

自主音段音系学理论把不同的区别性特征放在不同的音层上。

超音段 chāoyīnduàn - suprasegmentals

韵律 yùnlǜ - prosody

语调 yǔdiào - intonation

音高 yīngāo - pitch

响度 xiǎngdù - loudness

重音 zhòngyīn - stress, accent

节奏 jiézòu - rhythm, timing

重音节奏 zhòngyīn jiézòu - stress-timed

音节节奏 yīnjié jiézòu - syllable-timed

音拍节奏 yīnpāi jiézòu - mora-timed

表征的模型 biǎozhēng de móxíng - representation models

样本理论 yàngběn lǐlùn - exemplar theory

自下而上的过程 zìxià'érshàng de guòchéng - bottom-up process

自上而下的过程 zìshàngérxià de guòchéng - top-down process

优选论 yōuxuǎn lùn - Optimality Theory

制约排列 zhìyuē páiliè - constraint ranking

忠实性制约 zhōngshí xìng zhìyuē - faithfulness constraint

标志性制约 biāozhì xìng zhìyuē - markedness constraint

候选项目 hòuxuǎn xiàngmù - candidate

其他啊啊啊 (other)

范畴性的 fànchóu xìng de - categorical

阶层性的 jiēcéng xìng de - gradient

感知 gǎnzhī - perceive

发音 fāyīn - produce (sound), pronounce, enunciate

[xuexishijian]

我在这里的帖子总是两三天之后获得赞，有点儿兴趣。我喜欢Tumblr继续流通帖子的能力。

[xuexishijian]

铁杵成针 tiě chǔ chéng zhēn - grinding an iron rod into a needle

This chengyu comes from a story about a student who has quit school and given up. However, on seeing an old woman working to grind an iron rod all the way down to a needle, the student is inspired by her perseverance and decides to return and graduate. Even though grinding an iron rod into something so thin as a needle will take her hours and hours of work, the woman does not give up.

The story’s original text is above in black, terms I was unfamiliar with are in purple, and some notes on modern vocabulary equivalents are in red.

[sometiktoksarevalid]