快问快答 Quick Help Thread: Translation Requests, Chinese name help, "how do you say X", or any quick Chinese questions! 2025-01-22

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(1) In Standard Chinese the pronunciation of 朱雀 would be “zhūquè”

(2) The character 雀 has pronunciation readings of què, qiǎo, and qiāo

  • què is the standard reading for definitions relating to birds

  • qiāo is the reading used for definitions related to “freckles” and “dots”

  • qiǎo is a variant reading for the definitions relating to birds

(3) So arguably Zhuqiaomon should be Zhuquemon, but the incorrect reading was selected

(4) For 張角 the character 角 has 2 possible regular readings in Standard Chinese

  • jué for definitions relating to people, specifically in relation to acting

  • jiǎo for various shape related meanings

(5) So for 張角, the “proper” pronunciation should be “Zhāng Jué”

  • However, the difference in pronunciation between jué and jiǎo for 角has become quite fluid, and some people use them interchangeably without really caring about the distinction
22

小朋友 is probably what you’re looking for here, and its gender neutral, meaning “little friend”

小人 is an archaic way of describing a person of little to know moral value. The concept is used as an antonym to the Confucist concept of the gentlemen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junzi

23

+1 to 小朋友, if you want to say it in a cute way, can also go with 小不点

24

It’s considered a non-standard variant, so likely some people use it, but the way teachers and media would write would be only the first one

25

可是如果你跟我一样，第三学期的中国学生，我强烈推荐这本教材《走遍中国》。

I would put a 是 right after the first comma to make it more natural.

And 中国学生 is stutents from China or stutents with Chinese nationality, I think you might be wanting to express students who learn Chinese, then that should be 中文学生

The other part is all good.

26

Thank you so much, it’s probably one of this phase variant

27

Thank you but I think that is not it, it was a rather long phase, with about 8 character and a comma seperating them

28

Is there any normal Chinese names that are anywhere similar to Iris? I don’t want to be seen as a foreigner ;-;

29

朱雀

Language Pronunciation
Mandarin (Pinyin) Zhūquè
Mandarin (Wade-Giles) chu^(1) ch’üeh^(4)
Mandarin (Yale) ju^(1) chywe^(4)
Mandarin (GR) juchiwe
Cantonese zyu^(1) zoek^(3)

Meanings: “(ancient Chinese astronomy) Zhuque, the Vermilion Bird (the southern quadrant of the sky) / (Daoism) the guardian deity of the south / rosefinch (genus Carpodacus).”

^Information ^from ^CantoDict ^| ^MDBG ^| ^Yellowbridge ^| ^Youdao

雀

Language Pronunciation
Mandarin què, qiāo, qiǎo
Cantonese zoek^(3)
Southern Min tshik
Hakka (Sixian) jiog^(2)
Middle Chinese *tsjak
Old Chinese *[ts]ewk
Japanese suzume, JAKU, SAKU
Korean 작 / jak
Vietnamese tước

Chinese Calligraphy Variants: 雀 (SFZD, SFDS, YTZZD)

Meanings: “sparrow.”

^Information ^from ^(Unihan) ^| ^(CantoDict) ^| ^(Chinese Etymology) ^| ^(CHISE) ^| ^(CTEXT) ^| ^(MDBG) ^| ^(MoE DICT) ^| ^(MFCCD) ^| ^(ZI)

張角 (张角)

Language Pronunciation
Mandarin (Pinyin) ZhāngJué
Mandarin (Wade-Giles) chang^(1) chüeh^(2)
Mandarin (Yale) jang^(1) jywe^(2)
Mandarin (GR) jangjyue
Cantonese zoeng^(1) gok^(3)

Meanings: “Zhang Jue (-184), leader of the Yellow turban rebels during the late Han.”

^Information ^from ^CantoDict ^| ^MDBG ^| ^Yellowbridge ^| ^Youdao

角

Language Pronunciation
Mandarin jiǎo, jué, gǔ, lù
Cantonese gok^(3) , luk^(6)
Southern Min kak
Hakka (Sixian) gog^(2)
Middle Chinese *kaewk
Old Chinese *C.[k]ˤrok
Japanese tsuno, kado, sumi, KAKU, ROKU, KOKU
Korean 각 / gak
Vietnamese góc

Chinese Calligraphy Variants: 角 (SFZD, SFDS, YTZZD)

Meanings: “horn; angle, corner; point.”

^Information ^from ^(Unihan) ^| ^(CantoDict) ^| ^(Chinese Etymology) ^| ^(CHISE) ^| ^(CTEXT) ^| ^(MDBG) ^| ^(MoE DICT) ^| ^(MFCCD) ^| ^(ZI)

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30

Are you familiar with how Chinese names work? What do you mean by normal Chinese name?

If you’re just looking for something to introduce yourself with, or an online name, you could opt for something like 小虹; with 小 being a common prefix indicating a nickname, and 虹 from 彩虹, meaning rainbow (Iris being the rainbow goddess; the iris in the eye is called 虹膜, rainbow membrane, etc.)

小虹 is a nickname that a Chinese person would use, but it would not be a full Chinese name. A full name would require much more thought.

I’m afraid it’s more likely than not that you will be seen as a foreigner regardless of your name, especially if you don’t speak or look Chinese. But there’s nothing wrong with that, and personally I would encourage you to use a nickname that you are confident with.

31

白頭到老 (白头到老)

Language Pronunciation
Mandarin (Pinyin) báitóudàolǎo
Mandarin (Wade-Giles) pai^(2) t’ou^(2) tao^(4) lao^(3)
Mandarin (Yale) bai^(2) tou^(2) dau^(4) lau^(3)
Mandarin (GR) bayitowudawlao
Cantonese baak^(6) tau^(4) dou^(3) lou^(5)

Meanings: “(to live together until the) white hairs of old age (idiom); to live to a ripe old age in conjugal bliss / until death do us part.”

^Information ^from ^CantoDict ^| ^MDBG ^| ^Yellowbridge ^| ^Youdao

白

Language Pronunciation
Mandarin bái, bó
Cantonese baak^(6)
Southern Min p󰁥h
Hakka (Sixian) pag^(5)
Middle Chinese *baek
Old Chinese *bˤrak
Japanese shiro, shiroi, mousu, HAKU, BYAKU
Korean 백 / baek
Vietnamese bạch

Chinese Calligraphy Variants: 白 (SFZD, SFDS, YTZZD)

Meanings: “white; pure, unblemished; bright.”

^Information ^from ^(Unihan) ^| ^(CantoDict) ^| ^(Chinese Etymology) ^| ^(CHISE) ^| ^(CTEXT) ^| ^(MDBG) ^| ^(MoE DICT) ^| ^(MFCCD) ^| ^(ZI)

頭 (头)

Language Pronunciation
Mandarin tóu, tou
Cantonese tau^(4)
Southern Min thâu
Hakka (Sixian) teu^(11)
Middle Chinese *duw
Old Chinese *[m-t]ˤo
Japanese atama, kashira, koube, TOU, ZU, TO
Korean 두 / du
Vietnamese đầu

Chinese Calligraphy Variants: 头 (SFZD, SFDS, YTZZD)

Meanings: “head; top; chief, first; boss.”

^Information ^from ^(Unihan) ^| ^(CantoDict) ^| ^(Chinese Etymology) ^| ^(CHISE) ^| ^(CTEXT) ^| ^(MDBG) ^| ^(MoE DICT) ^| ^(MFCCD) ^| ^(ZI)

相

Language Pronunciation
Mandarin xiāng, xiàng
Cantonese soeng^(1) , soeng^(3)
Southern Min sann
Hakka (Sixian) xiong^(24)
Middle Chinese *sjangH
Old Chinese *[s]aŋ-s
Japanese ai, miru, tasukeru, SHOU, SOU
Korean 상 / sang
Vietnamese tương

Chinese Calligraphy Variants: 相 (SFZD, SFDS, YTZZD)

Meanings: “mutual, reciprocal, each other.”

^Information ^from ^(Unihan) ^| ^(CantoDict) ^| ^(Chinese Etymology) ^| ^(CHISE) ^| ^(CTEXT) ^| ^(MDBG) ^| ^(MoE DICT) ^| ^(MFCCD) ^| ^(ZI)

守

Language Pronunciation
Mandarin shǒu, shòu
Cantonese sau^(2)
Southern Min tsiú
Hakka (Sixian) su^(31)
Middle Chinese *syuwH
Old Chinese *s.tuʔ-s
Japanese mamoru, mori, mamori, SHU, SU
Korean 수 / su
Vietnamese thú

Chinese Calligraphy Variants: 守 (SFZD, SFDS, YTZZD)

Meanings: “defend, protect, guard, conserve.”

^Information ^from ^(Unihan) ^| ^(CantoDict) ^| ^(Chinese Etymology) ^| ^(CHISE) ^| ^(CTEXT) ^| ^(MDBG) ^| ^(MoE DICT) ^| ^(MFCCD) ^| ^(ZI)

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32

This is also not it either, I remember the translation specifically has the word “two” so probably there was 两 in the sentence