For the meaning of the phrase, you nailed it. For the pronunciation, I'll tackle the question from another angle. 得 has 3 pronounciations (de2, dei3 and de). It is only pronounced děi (dei3) synonym to "應該"， it means "should/have to/must to/need to/supposed to", e.g.: 我得走了。(I gotta go) In your question, a minor correction, it should be either 得(字)的发音 (得's pronounciation) or 得(字)得怎么发音 / how is 得 supposed to be pronunced? The literal translation of "得" 得怎么发音 (de2 dei3 zen3 me fa1 yin1) is close to how _must_ it be pronounced? Otherwise, it is pronounced dé (de2) in most cases, when it means to "obtain/possess/have" e.g.: 得獎 (win a prize)，獲得 (obtain) 得 is prounced de when it functions as a particle / 助詞, e.g.: 跑得快 (runs fast) (For the reason, I assumed it'd be really weird to pronounce it as de2, you could try them both and compare yourself.) Hope this clarifies it for you. Good luck! P.S.: You might find this useful, A simple way to distinguish 的地得 for their most confusing usage, 的 - possesive 地 - adverb 得 - particle I'd say don't fret over whether to pronounce de2 or de, it's less a sin than saying de2 when you mean dei3. It's a personal pet peeve for people who make that mistake, and trust me, tons of Chinese don't know it is supposed to be pronounced as dei3, including probably more than half of my family. However, exercises on the pronunciations of heteronyms are overly practiced throughout elementary school and even repeated in early junior high. Thus, it helps to ensure the students of our/my generation not to mispronounce. I think before my time, being a Chinese teacher doesn't often have to take certain teacher's evaluation exams and Chinese exams. The qualification was much lower 2, 3 decades ago. On top of that, China has many different regions with people pronouncing things all differently. Hence, the formation of accents and dialect. So you'll likely to meet a lot of Chinese who stumble over pronunciations. Another note on 去聲／light or 陽平／ 2nd tone, Taiwanese tend to pronounce a bit differently than a mainlander. They sometimes pronounce 陽平 when mainlanders pronounce 去聲. Another thing is they like to emphasize with 有, i.e.: 寫作業了嗎？(Did you do your homework) They say, 我有寫啊(I DID do it) instead of 我寫了(I did it/I have done it)。Nowadays, it's not uncommon for mainlanders to emphasize with 有, probably because of the influence of TV.

开悟: enlightenment, epiphany 由疾病产生而来的恐惧比疾病本身更可怕: The fear for a disease is scarier than the disease itself.

Cool, always wanted to learn Shanghainese. Though I have practically nothing in return :'(

The short answer is YES. I think it largely depends on the way you say it. To me, 能否 sounds a tad formal. Like others pointed out, 否 is an ancient Chinese word, it's very archaic, sometimes in daily conversations, it might sound a bit weird even for words like 否認(deny), 否定(negative). If I'm using this word verbally, it gives a very serious tone. Normally, I'd avoid. If written, the only times I might use this word is in Cantonese, e.g.: 可否/能否寄到英國? (Can you ship it to the UK?). Cantonese still uses a lot of archaic words, e.g.: verb 行(archaic) instead of 走 (walk), verb 食(archaic) instead of 吃 (eat), verb 飲(archaic) instead of 喝 (drink). By contrast, 能不能 sounds a lot softer than 能否 in both Mandarin and Cantonese, esp. you add a 語氣助詞 “啊” at the end of the sentence. For 是 and 可, again largely depends on the context. Nevertheless, the key word is to add a 語氣助詞 to soften your tone. 是: use in Mandarin: 是嗎? (Is it?) 是 (啊)。use in Cantonese: 是咩？是(喎)／是(噃)／是(啩) 可: 可行嗎 (is it workable)? 不可行(啊)! (unworkable/impractical) 可以嗎/Can (it/I/you)？可以! (Sure) And for 能不是, it can't be used as a replacement of 能否. Its sole usage is in the rhetorical sentence, 能不是麼／能不是嗎？For example, used when asked, 是不是這樣的(Is it like this)？Instead of giving a straight answer, 是/對的(yeah), one chooses to say 能不是嗎? That'd sound a bit mean/rude/annoyed to me. It's like how we are asked what we are doing, and we give an answer "Can't you see?" On the other hand, careful not to overuse/over-pronounce 語氣助詞, or you'd sound very 嗲 (another untranslatable Chinese word, read articles on it, scholars can't translate it, it has so many meanings, usually to describe women or kids trying to ask for favours, one of them is synonym to coquettish)

How about 狂热，热潮? Both are nouns, translated literally in English, something along the lines of "extreme hotness", "hot wave". You get the picture of craze and enthusiasm! Not sure what currently is hot, but honestly Chinese tend to forget after a while, so a fad wouldn't last. Oh yeah, I guess there is song called 忐忑 that seems to gather the most attention, you could check out on youtube. Earlier this year, the movie "Let the Bullet Fly" had its time. I'm not very tuned with most current Chinese pop culture. Can't be more of a help. P.S.: Forgot to mention that Pop Rocks used to a fad too in China. However, they are long gone in the Chinese market. If thinking along the line of hippie movement or sexual revolution or even 80's trashy style or big hair, can't think of any Chinese equivalent except China did import some big hair, skinny jeans, wide leg jeans too. Other than those, I remember these were once hot, ... TBC. But when it comes to the Top 2 or 3 fads, can't really nail which ones they are. I think there are videos on youtube featuring Chinese old school fads too. Message me if anything is unclear.

TVB Drama (Hong Kongnese TV show) are always hot. Korean Drama, Japanese Anime, manga and Japanese Drama too. For TVB Drama, the hottest in the 80's were 上海灘，射雕英雄傳（‘83). 拍球女將，赤の疑惑 were really hot Japanese dramas in the 70's and 80's. For Chinese is such big TV watching culture, during 上海灘 showtime, tons of guys started dressing the Chow Yun-Fat (周潤發) look, with the long white scarf. I guess it's something like in the 90's, there's The Rachel cut. For Japanese dramas, since 赤の疑惑, lots of Chinese (Japanese too, of course) became a fan of Momoe Yamaguchi (山口百恵) and Tomokazu Miura (三浦友和). I guess cultural icon Teresa Teng (鄧麗君) must be counted for the wave in late 70's and 80's (in both China and Japan). In '89, a TVB drama called Looking Back in Anger (義不容情) started the fad of folding paper stars. In 1998, another TVB drama, 天地豪情 revisited the fad of folding paper cranes. In the 70's, Joan Chen's first Chinese movie 小花 had an enduring impact on that generation, many viewers were singing the theme song. For toys, many kids born in the 80's and 90's would fondly remember 铁皮青蛙 (a jumping frog made of steel sheet) http://www.dzwww.com/xinwen/xinwenzhuanti/2008/ggkf30zn/ssnyx/200803/W020080327632367991432.jpg Maltesers and Skittles were also big. There were also toys made of sugar (either blew out of melted sugar or sculpted by sugar) or toothpaste tube (tubes used to be metallic). In the 90's, K-Drama Autumn in My Heart was hot. J-Drama Tokyo Love Story. Taiwanese Romance writer Qiong Yao （瓊瑤） made a series of TV shows that captured people's heart, namely, 婉君，庭院深深，還珠格格，情深深雨濛濛 Martial Arts novelists, 古龍 (小李飛刀, 絕代雙交), Louis Cha 金庸（飛雪連天射白鹿，笑書神俠倚碧鴛，岳女劍). Hong Kongnese singer Alan Tan, Anita Mui, Leslie Cheung, the Four Heavenly Kings, etc. Enduring J-Anime: Chibi Maruko Chan, Detective Conan, Slam Dunk, ikkyou san, Hana no Ko Lunlun, Touch!, Inuyasha, etc.

NYC. :) For California area, refer to Troy. lol 

Cantonese hands down, Wu as well.