# 个性



## Geysere

Hi everyone,
How do you say "个性" in English? As far as I know there are words as "character", "personality" and "individuality", but what exactly is the difference in usage (especially between the latter two)?

For example what are the most appropriate saying for the following:
1.他这人很有个性.
2.个性签名 (adj. in this case)
3.个性得到发扬/尊重
......

Thanks for any ideas!


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## BODYholic

1. He is charismatic.


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## Geysere

BODYholic said:


> 1. He is charismatic.


Thanks, "charismatic" is always commendatory, isn't it? How about 他这人很有个性" in the sense of "与众不同"(neutral) and "固执己见"(negative)?


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## echo_zkl

2. customized signature.


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## samanthalee

Geysere said:


> 1.他这人很有个性.


这个可以直译: He's got character.



Geysere said:


> 2.个性签名 (adj. in this case)


是说“个性化签名”。 “个性化”或“个人化”： customised, personalised (这是 British English 拼法。 American English 拼法则是： customized, personalized)
所以说“个性化签名”是： customised signature 或 personalised signature



Geysere said:


> 3.个性得到发扬/尊重


不明白这个意思……


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## Geysere

samanthalee said:


> 这个可以直译: He's got character.


Cool, so it's generally neutral, and depends on the context, right?



samanthalee said:


> 不明白这个意思……


Yeah that's not very clear... I guess I mean the individuality, in contrast to conformity  Pretty close to the sense in sentence 1


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## yuechu

Can the word 个性 be pronounced with 轻声 in Mandarin?
Thanks!


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## T.D

yuechu said:


> Can the word 个性 be pronounced with 轻声 in Mandarin?
> Thanks!


In fact, it is common to pronounce the last character of any word with 轻声。


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## yuechu

Hi, T.D! Thanks for your reply!
Is it any word? I think it's usually two-character words, but... I can't figure out the rule (if there is one!) for words whose 轻声 is not because of their part of speech (语气词、助词、重叠词, etc.).
I think that if the tones are 4-4, there's a good chance that the second one is 轻声: 谢谢, 个性，位分。


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## Romeo4755

1) He's one in a million/ has an outstanding personality - or maybe He's not like other people. (Maybe even He's weird.)
2) Is it a 'feature of character', ' characteristic', 'personality'? adjectives - individual, characteristic, special.


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## AquisM

yuechu said:


> Hi, T.D! Thanks for your reply!
> Is it any word? I think it's usually two-character words, but... I can't figure out the rule (if there is one!) for words whose 轻声 is not because of their part of speech (语气词、助词、重叠词, etc.).


Wait for natives to confirm/deny, but basically there isn't really a rule to 轻声. Learners just have to memorise which words have it and which ones don't.



yuechu said:


> I think that if the tones are 4-4, there's a good chance that the second one is 轻声: 谢谢, 个性，位分


In general, the second character of 4-4 words is often read with somewhat less emphasis than the first (less common in southern dialects), which can sound like 轻声.

Besides, regardless of what the dictionary says, people will pronounce words however they like. Especially with a feature as complex as 轻声, you're going to get a lot of variation.


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## yuechu

AquisM said:


> Wait for natives to confirm/deny, but basically there isn't really a rule to 轻声. Learners just have to memorise which words have it and which ones don't.


I think you're right!

Thanks, AquisM!


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## johnshen64

There are some rules about 轻声, the following is what I collected a while ago from a Baidu search. Rule number 5 有的双音节词 admittedly is really vague but "some" definitely does not mean "all". To me, it means far fewer should end in 轻声. You can only learn by listening to good speakers a lot. Even though they don't expect you to talk like a TV anchor, it is best to pronounce words clearly and unambiguously as far as possible.  轻声 abuses and laziness in pronouncing words often cause difficulties in understanding the speaker, especially in interpreting. We have a similar issue in Cantonese with lazy sounds (*粵語*懶*音).*

5、有的双音节词的第二个音节读轻声.例：客气 、衣服、萝卜、玻璃、耳朵、关系、先生、刺猬、狐狸.

轻声是现代汉语普通话的一个重要特点.说话时该念轻声的地方不念轻声,不仅听着别扭,而且容易使人误解....

Moderator note: URL link added, quote trimmed.


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## yuechu

Oh, wow! Are you an interpreter, John?
Thanks for your help!


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## johnshen64

yuechu said:


> Oh, wow! Are you an interpreter, John?
> Thanks for your help!


Thanks! Yes, you are right. Like language teachers, interpreters care about clear and precise pronunciations.

In response to your interest, I did more research and found the following article that might help. I must confess that I don't know many of the words well enough and often got them wrong, such as 寡妇 and 首饰, which I never used 轻声. You can never stop learning. I also found some errors, though, so you need to be discerning.

能干nénggà（[形]有才能，会办事）should be nénggàn

能干néngga（[形]心灵手巧；精明）nénggan

5. in the complete list is likely 靶子

Something is wrong here also, but I am not sure what the fix might be: 100 肚子 101 肚子

最全轻声词表


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## yuechu

Thanks for the link, John! (or should I call you Mr. Shen?) It looks very comprehensive!


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## johnshen64

yuechu said:


> Thanks for the link, John! (or should I call you Mr. Shen?) It looks very comprehensive!


You are welcome. "John" is perfectly fine.


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## SuperXW

yuechu said:


> Hi, T.D! Thanks for your reply!
> Is it any word? I think it's usually two-character words, but... I can't figure out the rule (if there is one!) for words whose 轻声 is not because of their part of speech (语气词、助词、重叠词, etc.).
> I think that if the tones are 4-4, there's a good chance that the second one is 轻声: 谢谢, 个性，位分。





T.D said:


> In fact, it is common to pronounce the last character of any word with 轻声。


By "any", I believe T.D meant "many", not "every".


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## SuperXW

johnshen64 said:


> I must confess that I don't know many of the words well enough and often got them wrong, such as 寡妇 and 首饰, which I never used 轻声. You can never stop learning. I also found some errors, though, so you need to be discerning.
> 
> 能干nénggà（[形]有才能，会办事）should be nénggàn
> 
> 能干néngga（[形]心灵手巧；精明）nénggan  Something is wrong here also, but I am not sure what the fix might be: 100 肚子 101 肚子


北方的重读轻读的随意性、随机性、地方性较大，对于很多字词来讲，并非不读轻声就“错”，特别对于四声字，介于四声和轻声之间的发音很常见。
只有少数的字，不读轻声才会影响理解。
你列举的“寡妇”“首饰”，相信读四声都没问题。
北京有“能干儿” neng2gr0 的讲法，但应该纯粹属于方言了……普通话还是会说neng2gan4。
100 肚子 101 肚子 可能是两个词？du3zi0 tripe du4zi0 belly。


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