Hey guys, here’s hoping everything isn’t destroyed in the migration to memrise “Decks”.
What do you guys think about adding “helper” as an alternative to 助理?
Hey neoncube, I am under the impression that 助理 is more formal like “assistant”. So it’d be seen in job titles, whereas “helper” is less formal. I would say definitely add it as an invisible alternative since they’re so similar but you can make the call on making it a normal alt.
The way I think of it is, we should encourage correct answers for the English mind that basically is just spitting out synonyms when being tested, but also encourage the definition being slowly refined. For instance, I just dropped like 10 similar words on a Chinese coworker yesterday that all have “mind” or similar to “mind” meanings on memrise and basically asked her, "okay, how the &*%$ do I say “I feel this in my heart” how do I say "I have thoughts in my mind " and how do I say “his spirit left his body” because all these words have a vague “mind” definition in my head 
I’m up for anything though, probably less of an issue to call a helper an assistant than call an assistant a helper 
Okay, so I just noticed that it looks like maybe the primary definition for 爆发 is incorrect; it looks like maybe we mixed up 爆发 and 暴发?
According to a dictionary that I like using, it looks like 爆发 means “to erupt; to explode” and 暴发 means “to break out” or “to get rich suddenly”.
Decks doesn’t have a forum link so am just getting chance to respond here
So the way i’m understanding it, the meanings here are the same but the use cases differ,
暴发 seems to mean usually a more derogatory sense (as in mocking the quick wealth) of “suddenly break out of non-wealth to become wealthy.” or it will refer to some kind of water breaking out, and then there’s a more subtle use i’m not exact on which accounts for the overlap i’m seeing between the two words.
爆发 on the other hand, is used for everything else bursting out or suddenly happening.
Check out both in the MDBG dictionary and click the arrow next to the word, then click the colorful red/turqoise 句 button for example sentences. On zhidao.baidu, someone distinguished them more thoroughly as:
据《现代汉语词典》，暴发的意思为：①突然发财或得势（多含贬义）：～户。②突然发作：山洪～。爆发的意思为：①火山内部的岩浆突然冲破地壳，向四外迸出：火山～。②通过外部冲突的形式而发生重大变化，例如用革命的手段来推翻旧政权，建立新政权。③（力量、情绪等）忽然发作，（事变）突然发生：～战争。
关于“暴发”与“爆发”的细微差别，可从四方面辨析：在感情色彩上，“暴发”多含贬义，有讽刺味。例，此人穷困潦倒，一夜之间暴发了。“爆发”多为中性，可用于地理现象，如火山爆发。在词意表达上，“暴发”是突然而猛烈的意思。“爆发”是蓄积已久，猛然破裂或迸出的意思。在强调重心上，“暴发”“强调事物发生的突然性和猛烈性，突出的是声势较大，速度快。“爆发”突出效果，强调因爆炸（或像爆炸）而迅猛发生，既然是爆炸就有一个能量的积聚过程，当能量积聚超出一定的限度，猛然破裂或迸出，往往是量变达到一定程度而引发的质的变化。在适用对象上，“暴发”多用于山洪、大水或疾病等具体事物。“爆发”用于具体事物，如火山，也用于抽象事物，如革命、起义、运动等重大事变，再如力量、情绪等。
“暴发”与“爆发”两个词都是动词，都含有“突然发作”的意思，但又有细微区别，从以上几个方面辨析，甲流疫情突然扩大，用“暴发”更确切。
I actually haven’t come across 暴发 in the course yet, but I’d think it should have breaking out, acquiring money or suddenly happening definitions, whereas as 爆发 would have everything except specific money-related definitions? I’d say these should have a wide range of answers, i’m still chewing on the baidu answers though 