Understanding differences between similar mandarin words

[chinesemadrush]

Hi everyone,

 

Just wondering. Do you all have a place that you go to search for differences in meaning between similar words? For example, in the textbooks I use 预约 and 预订 are given pretty similar definitions. But I later came to learn from friends that they aren't exactly interchangeable. What my friends did was to go to baidu and search for "预约 and 预订 区别“. Unfortunately, the explanations are often in mandarin without any English translations.

 

Another example I can think of is 本来 and 原来, if you throw these words into Yellowbridge dictionary, it would tell you that they both mean originally; original. But they certainly aren't interchangeable.

 

Thank you!

[Teasenz]

I think the best way is to simply google or baidu the words separately, so you can directly see in which context they're used?

[li3wei1]

http://jukuu.com/ is very good. Basically gives you the word in many different sentences, translated (not all that well, sometimes). You can usually get a pretty good feel for the nuances and usage rules.

[Wurstmann]

I wouldn't worry about it. After you read a lot of books, watched a lot of TV, spoke a lot with Chinese people, etc., you will just know when to use what word. You will gain a feeling for what sounds right and what sounds wrong.

[Shelley]

If you have a good dictionary either paper or electronic such as Pleco they will give you examples of how to use them, in sentences, and other explanations of the nuances and usage.

 

Also, I will look up the words in more than one place, this helps to round out the meaning.

[艾墨本]

Pleco's "Xiandai Hanyu Guifan Ciian" includes notes about many words to explain their differences. It has helped me a lot. It's a Chinese-Chinese dictionary, but with the ability to just highlight words for definitions, it can still be pretty usable.

[eliaso]

Each unit in upper intermediate and up textbooks used in mainland by foreign students always have these similar words with explanations and exercises on the usage. Before you get to that level I wouldn't stress about these too much, there are far more important things to tackle first, IMHO. As suggested above, the best way is just to develop a feeling on what feels right, but I guess that can take years.

[roddy]

Have a look here - you need a usage dictionary.

I wouldn't worry about it. After you read a lot of books, watched a lot of TV, spoke a lot with Chinese people, etc., you will just know when to use what word. You will gain a feeling for what sounds right and what sounds wrong.

While this isn't wrong, books that tell you what's right and wrong and why can be very helpful to this process...

[chinesemadrush]

@roddy thanks alot for the link. However, that dictionary is almost entirely in chinese. Given that my proficiency has yet to reach that level yet, would there be other english alternatives I can work with?

[eddyf]

Learning the difference between similar words is one of the toughest things that advanced students have to deal with to get to a native-like level... I would say if you can't read a Chinese-Chinese dictionary or understand explanations that are entirely in Chinese, it's just too early to worry too much about this stuff. But in any case the best way to go about it is to search for a lot of example sentences, like other people have mentioned. It gives you much more of a gut feeling about the words than reading someone's attempt to explain it. That's mostly what I do now even though I'm already at a level where I could search Baidu for Chinese explanations.

[jobm]

I guess what makes you feel confuse is the English glosses of these words. When I was also in the elementary/beginner stage of learning Chinese, Chinese words with the same English glosses are really a headache to me. As I progress towards higher Chinese, synonymous words are getting more and more. To make my life easier, my teacher advised us to check on different "factors", like looking on the lexical category/categories of a word, the meaning it represents (whether it is very broad/general or is very specific, or its connotation and denotation), its distribution with other words (like what can it modify or what can modify it), and on what context or register it is used (whether it is formal, literary, informal, colloquial). 

 

Since most Chinese words are composed of two units which carry meaning, you could also find the meaning of a word by "dissecting" it and searching for the meaning of each unit. You could also check its Chinese character for it can also tell something about its meaning and the changes it had undergone.

 

You can also consult reference books such as these two:
https://www.amazon.cn/1700%E5%AF%B9%E8%BF%91%E4%B9%89%E8%AF%8D%E8%AF%AD%E7%94%A8%E6%B3%95%E5%AF%B9%E6%AF%94-%E6%9D%A8%E5%AF%84%E6%B4%B2/dp/B00120TVA2

http://www.hackingchinese.com/review-chinese-synonyms-usage-dictionary/