Learning Chinese - Tumblr Posts
Mandarin Time Vocab
Because to speak more freely when talking about events, life, etc., a good grasp of time related terms is necessary!
春季 - spring [chūnjì] 夏季 - summer [xiàjì] 秋季 - autumn [qiūjì] 在秋季 - in the autumn [zài qiūjì] 冬季 - winter [dōngjì] 季节 - season [jìjié] 早晨 - early morning [zǎochén] 上午 - late morning [shàngwǔ] 下午 - afternoon [xiàwǔ] 今天下午 - this afternoon [jīntiān xiàwǔ] 傍晚 - early evening [bàngwǎn] 晚上 - late evening [wǎnshang] 在晚上 - in the evening [zài wǎnshang] 今晚 - this evening [jīnwǎn] 天 - day [tiān] 在白天 - during the day [zài báitiān] 后天 - the day after tomorrow [hòutiān] 一天天地 - day by day [yī tiāntiān de] 现在 - nowadays [xiànzài] 前天 - the day before yesterday [qiántiān] 晚上 - night [wǎnshang] 夜里 - during the night [yèlǐ] 前天晚上 - the night before last [qiántiān wǎnshang] 早 - early [zǎo] 迟的 / 稍晚的 - late [chí de / shāowǎn de] 准时 - on time [zhǔnshí] 时间 - time [shíjiān] 片刻 - second [piànkè] 分钟 - minute [fēnzhōng] 小时 - hour [xiǎoshí] 钟 - clock [zhōng] 黎明 - dawn [límíng] 黄昏 - dusk [huánghūn] 黄昏时刻 - at dusk [huánghūn shíkè] 从早到晚 - from dawn to dusk [cóng zǎo dào wǎn]
anonymous:
I just discovered your mdzs pronunciation stuff and it’s super helpful!!! Especially to an english speaker, it’s so helpful to hear everything pronounced slowly! Would you ever consider doing more but on Chinese basics? Like tones, or differences between similar sounds? (But please don’t feel obligated! Just a suggestion bc I find your pronunciation super helpful :)
hhhhh the file was too big for tumblr :’) even after I exported it at medium instead of standard quality, so i made a soundcloud after all aha…. it’s downloadable, even!
anyways! chinese school with cyan? :D transcript with helpful links under the cut.
previous chinese pronunciation posts with pinyin if you want to go back review them armed with new knowledge to practice: mdzs names 1, mdzs names 2
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How to learn a language when you don’t know where to start:
General Plan:
Weeks 1 and 2: Purpose:
Learn the fundamentals sentence construction
Learn how to spell and count
Start building a phrase stockpile with basic greetings
The Alphabet
Numbers 1 - 100
Subject Pronouns
Common Greetings
Conjugate the Two Most Important Verbs: to be and to have
Basic Definite and Indefinite Articles
Weeks 3 and 4: Purpose:
Learn essential vocabulary for the day-to-day
Start conjugating regular verbs
Days of the Week and Months of the Year
How to tell the time
How to talk about the weather
Family Vocabulary
Present Tense Conjugations Verbs
Weeks 5 and 6: Purpose:
Warm up with the last of the day-to-day vocabulary
Add more complex types of sentences to your grammar
Colours
House vocabulary
How to ask questions
Present Tense Conjugations Verbs
Forming negatives
Weeks 7 and 8: Purpose:
Learn how to navigate basic situations in a region of your target language country
Finish memorising regular conjugation rules
Food Vocabulary and Ordering at Restaurants
Money and Shopping Phrases
Present Tense Conjugations Verbs
Weeks 9 and 10: Purpose:
Start constructing descriptive and more complex sentences
Adjectives
Reflective verbs
Places vocabulary
Weeks 11 and 12: Purpose:
Add more complex descriptions to your sentences with adverbs
Wrap up vocabulary essentials
Adverbs
Parts of the body and medical vocabulary
Tips for Learning a Foreign Language:
Learning Vocabulary:
What vocabulary should I be learning?
There are hundreds of thousands of words in every language, and the large majority of them won’t be immediately relevant to you when you’re starting out.Typically, the most frequent 3000 words make up 90% of the language that a native speaker uses on any given day. Instead try to learn the most useful words in a language, and then expand outwards from there according to your needs and interests.
Choose the words you want/need to learn.
Relate them to what you already know.
Review them until they’ve reached your long-term memory.
Record them so learning is never lost.
Use them in meaningful human conversation and communication.
How should I record the vocabulary?
Learners need to see and/or hear a new word of phrase 6 to 17 times before they really know a piece of vocabulary.
Keep a careful record of new vocabulary.
Record the vocabulary in a way that is helpful to you and will ensure that you will practice the vocabulary, e.g. flashcards.
Vocabulary should be organised so that words are easier to find, e.g. alphabetically or according to topic.
Ideally when noting vocabulary you should write down not only the meaning, but the grammatical class, and example in a sentence, and where needed information about structure.
How should I practice using the vocabulary?
Look, Say, Cover, Write and Check - Use this method for learning and remembering vocabulary. This method is really good for learning spellings.
Make flashcards. Write the vocabulary on the front with the definition and examples on the back.
Draw mind maps or make visual representations of the new vocabulary groups.
Stick labels or post it notes on corresponding objects, e.g when learning kitchen vocabulary you could label items in your house.
How often should I be practising vocabulary?
A valuable technique is ‘the principle of expanding rehearsal’. This means reviewing vocabulary shortly after first learning them then at increasingly longer intervals.
Ideally, words should be reviewed:
5-10 minutes later
24 hours later
One week later
1-2 months later
6 months later
Knowing a vocabulary item well enough to use it productively means knowing:
Its written and spoken forms (spelling and pronunciation).
Its grammatical category and other grammatical information
Related words and word families, e.g. adjective, adverb, verb, noun.
Common collocations (Words that often come before or after it).
Receptive Skills: Listening and Reading
Reading is probably one of the most effective ways of building vocabulary knowledge.
Listening is also important because it occupies a big chunk of the time we spend communicating.
Tips for reading in a foreign language:
Start basic and small. Children’s books are great practice for beginners. Don’t try to dive into a novel or newspaper too early, since it can be discouraging and time consuming if you have to look up every other word.
Read things you’ve already read in your native language. The fact that you at least know the gist of the story will help you to pick up context clues, learn new vocabulary and grammatical constructions.
Read books with their accompanying audio books. Reading a book while listening to the accompanying audio will improve your “ear training”. It will also help you to learn the pronunciation of words.
Tips for listening in a foreign language:
Watch films in your target language.
Read a book while also listening along to the audio book version.
Listen to the radio in your target language.
Watch videos online in your target language.
Activities to do to show that you’ve understood what you’ve been listening to:
Try drawing a picture of what was said.
Ask yourself some questions about it and try to answer them.
Provide a summary of what was said.
Suggest what might come next in the “story.”
Translate what was said into another language.
“Talk back” to the speaker to engage in imaginary conversation.
Productive Skills: Speaking and Writing
Tips for speaking in a foreign language:
If you can, try to speak the language every day either out loud to yourself or chat to another native speaker whether it is a colleague, a friend, a tutor or a language exchange partner.
Write a list of topics and think about what you could say about each one. First you could write out your thoughts and then read them out loud. Look up the words you don’t know. You could also come up with questions at the end to ask someone else.
A really good way to improve your own speaking is to listen to how native speakers talk and imitate their accent, their rhythm of speech and tone of voice. Watch how their lips move and pay attention to the stressed sounds. You could watch interviews on YouTube or online news websites and pause every so often to copy what you have just heard. You could even sing along to songs sung in the target language.
Walk around the house and describe what you say. Say what you like or dislike about the room or the furniture or the decor. Talk about what you want to change.This gets you to practise every day vocabulary.
Tips for writing in a foreign language:
Practice writing in your target language. Keep it simple to start with. Beginner vocabulary and grammar concepts are generally very descriptive and concrete.
Practice writing by hand. Here are some things you can write out by hand:
Diary entries
Shopping lists
Reminders
What could I write about?
Write about your day, an interesting event, how you’re feeling, or what you’re thinking.
Make up a conversation between two people.
Write a letter to a friend, yourself, or a celebrity. You don’t need to send it; just writing it will be helpful.
Translate a text you’ve written in your native language into your foreign language.
Write a review or a book you’ve recently read or a film you’ve recently watched.
Write Facebook statuses, Tweets or Tumblr posts (whether you post them or not will be up to you).
Write a short story or poem.
Writing is one of the hardest things to do well as a non-native speaker of a language, because there’s no room to hide.
There are lots of ways to improve your writing ability, but they can be essentially boiled down to three key components:
Read a lot
Write a lot
Get your writing corrected
Study organization- notebooks
I love stationery of all kinds, especially notebooks. And when you’re planning on studying, of course you need notebooks for taking notes and practicing! In this post, I’ll talk a little about my notebooks.
What kind(s) of notebook(s) do you use?
My personal preference is for spiral notebooks. I used to use notebooks that just opened like normal books, but they never liked to stay flat and they took up too much space on my desk. It’s funny because I used to hate spirals back when I was younger and way into drawing because the pages were more free to move against each other which led to more smudging, but I love spirals so much for note taking. They lay flat with no problem, which is the biggest thing for me. The spiral does get in the way of my hand sometimes, but it’s a minor annoyance.
I also consider the quality of the paper when buying my notebooks. It doesn’t have to be super high quality, but I just can’t deal with paper the quality of standard US looseleaf. It’s too thin and, more importantly, the surface is too rough. Paper with too rough a surface has led to the early death of too many of my pens—if you use fine-tip pens, size 0.5 or lower, and find they stop writing before the ink runs out—little bits from poor-quality paper probably got into the tip and ruined it. The paper I like the most feels a little bit weighty and nice and smooth!
Hardcover or softcover is also a choice to make! I use both, types:
Left to right- hardcover lined notebook, softcover lined notebook, softcover 원고지 squared paper notebook
How many notebooks do you use?
I have three main types of notebooks! I’ll go over each type:
Grammar notebooks
My grammar notebooks are all hardcover. I use them to collect grammar explanations and other important notes. I write them as cleanly as possible and even use my many colorful highlighters to make them look a little nicer. If I need to know about a grammar point that I have already learned, I open my grammar notebook for the right language and find it. This way, I don’t have to remember which textbook or source I saw a certain grammar point or explanation in—if it’s important, I write it down in my grammar notebook! So, my grammar notebooks are mashups of multiple texts and sources. These are for reference only; I don’t do any practice or extra writing in them. Nothing but the facts!
Practice notebooks
My practice notebook is where I write down definitions of new words I learned, practice sentences for my vocab flashcard words, breakdowns of articles I’ve studied on my Chinese reader apps… I guess calling it a “practice notebook” makes its purpose pretty self-explanatory. It’s nothing special; I write quickly and messily in it, and when it gets full, I can just throw it in the recycling bin and start a fresh one. My practice notebook is a softcover spiral.
Chinese article notebook
Korean squared paper—or I guess any squared paper—is wonderful for writing Chinese characters. Once I’ve encountered an article in a Chinese reader app and broken it down in my practice notebook, I rewrite it cleanly in my article notebook so I can easily find and read it again later.
I don’t always have all of my notebook types with me. If I plan on studying grammar, I will bring the correct grammar notebook along, and if I plan on studying Chinese articles, I might have my article notebook with me, but not always. However, my practice notebook is always in my bag!
How do you organize your notes and all? For those of you who might be struggling to get your notes together, I hope this helped!
Happy studying~
Language learning and langblr tips from me
What to learn first when learning a new language
How to stay motivated when learning languages
How to learn a language with a different script
How to learn kanji
Vocabulary list topics
How to make vocabulary lists
How to expand your vocabulary
How to learn vocabulary and verb endings
How to improve your listening skills
How to practice speaking your target language
How to go from intermediate to advanced in your target language
How to learn two (or more) languages at once
How to learn all the languages you want
How to avoid mixing up languages
How to study languages with depression
How to practice speaking when you have social anxiety
How to study with a language exchange partner and what to talk about with them
How to study with Duolingo
How to make a language notebook
How to divide your language notebook/what to write in your language notebook
How to use bullet journal in language learning
How to find native speakers to practice with
How to know what level you are in your languages
How to start a langblr
How To Use Movies To Learn a Language
Greetings, Polyglots! I’m back with another post about how to use movies to learn languages!
I’ve noticed a trend among language learners. Especially among those learning English. Those who spoke English the most natural and fluently have all said that they frequently use movies to learn English. I’m telling you, it’s uncanny! I’ve taught English in three countries and in every country the most standout students have always said that they watched videos and movies for idioms and phrases. The result was almost always natural and fluent sounding English. So I began to wonder do movies work to help you learn a language and how do you watch a movie to learn a language anyway!? Movies are like an hour to two hours long! I don’t have the patience for that.
Movies can, however, help you learn languages in a more natural and casual way. Depending on the genre of the movie, you can learn some interesting vocabulary as well. Movies and television shows are very important for language learning, because they not only teach proper use of grammar and vocabulary, they also introduce you to the humor and culture of the people who’s language you’re studying. After only one or two weeks using movies learning Chinese, my casual Chinese has certainly improved and I have learned a few funny phrases to keep things light too. So how do you use movies to learn languages? Here’s how:
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Top 6 Apps for Learning Mandarin Chinese
Last summer, while I was supposed to be studying French intensively, I accidentally started studying Mandarin instead. These things happen! The best thing about Mandarin compared to some other languages I’ve studied (specifically Persian and Korean) is that there are a huge number of resources available to help learners, including a lot of very well-designed apps. After months of obsessively checking the iTunes store for the best apps and trying them out, these are my favorite six (plus a few more worth mentioning). They appear in ascending order from my least favorite to my most favorite.
Worth mentioning: A couple of apps not included on this list but worth mentioning are Pleco and Skritter.
Pleco is a highly-regarded Chinese dictionary. I have it on my phone and do use it, but I left it off the list because I prefer another (#6 on this list). Since I’m still very much a beginner, a thorough dictionary isn’t quite so important to me right now. However, it seems like every advanced student of Mandarin recommends this app, so I had to include it.
Skritter is another app that’s highly regarded among serious students. I believe it focuses on helping with character recognition and writing. It has a subscription service that is a bit expensive, which is why I’ve never tried it; however, everyone seems to rave about it. If you’re a serious student, you should definitely look into it.
Also, I recommend downloading some Chinese-language apps designed for preschoolers. I found several of them online in the iTunes store, and a lot of them include short stories with simple words, practice with basic characters, etc. Using these apps gives you some immersive listening practice, which is fun. They can be kind of hit and miss, so I recommend downloading all you can find and seeing what you can figure out and what you like. They won’t replace any of the apps below, but they still serve a purpose.
6. WCC Dictionary This is the dictionary I use instead of Pleco. I like it primarily because of its beautiful design (something Pleco doesn’t really have). This app is mainly a dictionary, but it offers a lot more than that. For example, it has a character scanner (so you can look up words you find in books by taking a picture of the character). It also has a “story library” with a few simple books to read (with Pinyin, the characters, an English translation, and the ability to listen to the story being read). Characters are color coded if you use that as a device to help you with tones. It has a flashcard program with pre-created word lists, extensive example sentences, a section on radicals with example words, and stroke order animations. It also offers a “character of the day” and daily “homework” to motivate you to use what you learn. The dictionary itself is free, but there’s a lot of content that you have to pay to unlock, although there’s also a way to buy the content using “coins” that you earn through using the app.
5. Mindsnacks Mandarin A lot of you are already familiar with the Mindsnacks app because it’s offered for a lot of different languages (and a few school subjects like geography). This app uses games to teach Mandarin, mostly focusing on vocabulary (not grammar or sentence construction). It’s a bit limited, but it can be a really fun way to learn. After a while, the games start to feel repetitive and can get boring, but the app also has you move through levels (which allow you to unlock new games) and uses other incentives to keep you playing. The audio is an actual human, too, which is a big benefit since many apps and programs rely on Google Translate robot voices. This is a paid app, which could be a drawback.
4. FluentU This app is the reason I started learning Mandarin in the first place. I tried using it for French, but I felt like my French was too advanced to gain much from it. Even though there were advanced-level videos with vocabulary I didn’t know, FluentU doesn’t do a good job of adapting to your level and guessing which words will give you trouble. That’s perfectly fine for a beginner, though, since every word will probably give you trouble, which is why I used it for Mandarin. I think the makers of FluentU are Chinese speakers, and they seem to have focused more on Mandarin in their app. They have a built-in course you can follow, using videos they made themselves for teaching the language. The videos are pretty good, and you will feel like you’re learning a lot. There are also a lot of other videos if you want to branch out, including some catchy songs and clips from commercials or TV shows. The built-in flashcard system is a good way to review, but there’s no way to adjust their algorithms, so you might end up reviewing the same words way too often. I stopped using the program when I had 400+ words to review every day, and I just couldn’t keep up and continue advancing. This app is also very limited in the free version, and the paid subscription is VERY pricey, in my opinion, especially considering that there are other apps out there that offer more features. All of the videos are on YouTube anyway, so you can still use them to learn as you advance (or if you have a friend who can help you). I recommend this app if you want to pay for one month and use it to study intensively and advance quickly. That’s what I did, and I think it helped me out a lot.
3. ChineseSkill This is the first app that was designed to be a “Duolingo for Mandarin,” and it has a lot of great features. There’s the typical “tree” like in Duolingo, where you advance through different lessons one by one. It teaches character recognition, pronunciation, and grammar. The lessons can be really challenging for a beginner (sometimes too challenging, I thought), but it covers a lot of material. I’m not completely happy with the order in which lessons are taught (for example, there’s a lesson on shapes near the beginning that has you learn words like “triangle,” which seemed unimportant to me). The other drawback is there isn’t an easy way to review what you’ve learned (like on Duolingo when your gold-level lessons start to fade). It’s possible, but not super easy to access. Other interesting features include a tone game, a pinyin chart, a “survival kit” that’s like a travel phrasebook, and practice with stroke order. Also, this app is 100% free, which is amazing! I definitely recommend this app.
2. Social Language This app is really different from the others and is probably the most useful if you believe in speaking a language as soon as possible. I don’t think a lot of English speakers know about it because it seems to be marketed mostly to Chinese speakers. It’s a bit hard to explain, but I’ll try my best: basically, there’s a tree like you have for Duolingo, but the exercises are all to improve your speaking and pronunciation. You work through the lessons, and Chinese-speaking users rate and comment on your recordings. They can even leave voice messages to help you improve. You can do the same for them (in fact, you have to if you want to unlock higher levels). That alone makes the app worth downloading, but even better is that it includes a CHAT FEATURE that makes it very easy to interact with native speakers. You can see the profiles of hundreds of Chinese speakers who are online at any given time of day, and you can send a text or voice message to them and later add them to your friends’ list. What’s more,the ratio of Chinese to English speakers heavily favors English speakers. You will find hundreds of Chinese speakers eager to practice their English, and often you will be one of only a handful of English speakers on the app, meaning you have instant access to a chat partner any time of day or night. Have a question about your homework, something you read, or a phrase you don’t know how to pronounce? Instant, free tutoring is available 24/7 on this app, which is also FREE! I met some really nice people here without the pressure of a more formal language exchange. You can have a casual conversation any time you want, and it’s like text messaging so there’s less pressure if you’re shy about speaking Chinese. The only drawback is the same as with all language exchanges, which is that it’s sometimes difficult to balance the two languages. Also, I had problems with sending voice messages in chat, which can be frustrating. Overall, though, I’d say Social Language is a must-have.
1. HelloChinese This app didn’t exist last summer when I was looking for a Mandarin version of Duolingo, but I discovered it last week and fell in love with it. It actually has fewer features than ChineseSkill, but the pacing seems much better, and it focuses more heavily on pronunciation (though the speech recognition software isn’t perfect and you will sometimes need to skip a speaking question just to keep moving forward). It comes with some good grammar explanations and a really basic flashcard program for review. Honestly, I feel bad for rating it higher than ChineseSkill since ChineseSkill has been around longer and offers a lot more features, but I feel like HelloChinese just makes more sense and is easier to stick with than ChineseSkill. Like ChineseSkill, it’s also 100% free! I consider HelloChinese to be my “core” app for casual study, with the other apps acting as supplements. If you’re a more serious student, HelloChinese might not be your #1 pick, but it’s great for beginners who like the structure of an app like DuoLingo.
Listening resources in Mandarin
Reading & Listening Stories
YOUTUBE
Mandarin Corner Listening Practice (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced)
Xiao Min Mini-stories Playlist (Intermediate HSK3&4)
BookBox in Chinese Playlist (Beginner)
Little Fox Chinese Stories Playlists (Beginner, Intermediate)
Slow and Clear Chinese Playlist (Beginner)
Chinese Podcast Listening Playlist (Beginner)
EverydayChinese Slow Chinese Listening Playlist (Beginner. Intermediate)
ChineseClass101 Listening Practice Playlist (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced)
Fluent in Mandarin Conversation Clips Playlist (Intermediate, Advanced)
WEBSITE
Yuedu.fm (Intermediate, Advanced)
CSLPOD (Beginner, Intermediate)
JustLearnChinese Short Stories (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced)
iMandarinPop (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced)
MandarinBean (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced)
Linq (web & app) (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced)
Podcasts
ChineseClass101 (Beginner, Intermediate)
听故事学中文 (Beginner) (Spotify)
Talk Chineasy (Beginner) (Spotify)
iMandarinPop (Intermediate, Advanced)
I Love Learning Chinese (Beginner, Intermediate)
Melnyks Chinese Lessons (Beginner, Intermediate) (Spotify)
Coffee Break Chinese (Beginner, Intermediate) (Spotify)
Monkey Podcast (Beginner, Intermediate) (Spotify)
汉语鹿 (Intermediate, Advanced)
Chinese Learn Online (Beginner)
DimSum Mandarin (Beginner, Intermediate)
Takeaway Chinese (Beginner, Intermediate)
Lrts.me (Intermediate, Advanced)
More Chinese Song Recs
I’ve discovered a lot of new music since I made my first post recommending some Chinese songs. So here’s a part 2!
凄美地 - 郭顶 Why did no one tell me about Guo Ding sooner?!? The whole album that this song is on is honestly perfection. I think this song is really appealing to Westerners because its style of rock reminds me a lot of many American/British rock bands. If you only check out one song from this list, please listen to this one!
在云端 - 郭顶 This song is on the same album as the song above. It’s a similar rock style but more “smokey,” if that makes sense. I always wish this song would go on longer–it feels like it is just over too soon. Honestly you should just listen to the whole album.
醉 - 黄龄 The best way I can think of to describe this song is to say that it sounds like a dream. It’s so smooth and melodious with some 中国风 elements. Listening to this song instantly makes me feel more relaxed.
天空中划过一道星光 - 黄龄 This song also has 中国风 elements, but it is much more powerful and bombastic than the previous song. The contrast between the bombastic parts and 中国风 parts makes this song really complex and interesting. I feel like it would great background music for a martial arts montage.
Don’t Panic - Shi Shi/孙盛希 Relatively speaking, this song has quite a bit of English, but it’s the same couple lines repeated over and over, so it’s still mostly in Chinese. It’s a fun acoustic song that I can guarantee will get stuck in your head! Also, “don’t panic” is some much needed advice right now.
是他不配 - Shi Shi/孙盛希 This song shows off Shi Shi’s slightly darker side. It’s not exactly heavy, but it has some rock influences. I think you could headbang to the chorus if you tried. I really hope she makes some more songs in this vain in the future.
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Language Resources Masterpost
Today I am sharing with you guys all my collection of language textbook pdfs :D They are mostly for Russian and Mandarin, but I have a few Korean resources too. Please note that I have not personally used all of these books, so I cannot vouch for their quality. If any of the links are broken, please let me know! All links are to dropbox files.
Mandarin
A Kaleidoscope of China (advanced)
A New China (intermediate)
All Things Considered (advanced)
Anything Goes (advanced)
Basic Chinese (workbook)
Chinese: A Comprehensive Grammar (grammar)
Chinese: An Essential Grammar (grammar)
Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar (grammar)
Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar (workbook)
Reading to Write: An Advanced Textbook of Chinese (advanced)
Schaum’s Outlines: Chinese Grammar (grammar)
The Routledge Advanced Chinese Multimedia Course (advanced)
The Routledge Course in Chinese Media Literacy (advanced)
Russian
Ultimate Russian (advanced)
Using Russian: A Guide to Contemporary Usage
A Comprehensive Russian Grammar (grammar)
A Russian Grammar Workbook (workbook)
Colloquial Russian 2 (intermediate)
Russian Verbal Prefixes (grammar)
Glossika Guide to Russian Pronunciation and Grammar
Intermediate Russian: A Grammar and Workbook (intermediate)
An Advanced Russian Tabloid Reader (advanced)
A Living Russian Grammar (grammar)
Basic Russian: A Grammar and Workbook (beginner）
Russian in Exercises (beginner)
Russian Verbs of Motion
Using Russian Vocabulary (vocab)
The Big Silver Book of Russian Verbs (vocab)
Live From Russia Stage 1 Volume 1 (beginner)
Live From Russia Stage 1 Volume 2 (beginner)
Korean
Basic Korean: A Grammar and Workbook (beginner)
Intermediate Korean: A Grammar and Workbook (intermediate)
Korean: A Comprehensive Grammar (grammar)
Korean Grammar in Use (beginner)
Navigating Your Phone in Chinese
A common tip you’ll see for language learning is to change your phone’s language. In the past, I was overwhelmed by all the new characters, so I didn’t feel that I was learning much, and I got frustrated easily when I couldn’t figure how to do something. Now that I’m finally at the point where I can very comfortably navigate my phone (iPhone) in Chinese, I thought I’d share some useful vocab.
Apps:
Contacts = 通讯录 tōngxùnlù - address book, directory
Notes = 备忘录 bèiwànglù - memorandum, memorandum book
Facetime = Facetime通话 tōnghuà - to talk over the phone, phone call
Calendar = 日历 rìlì - calendar
Calculator = 计算器 jìsuànqì - calculator
Reminders = 提醒事项 tíxǐng shìxiàng 提醒 tíxǐng - to remind 事项 shìxiàng - matter, item
Podcasts = 播客 bōkè - radio broadcast, podcast
Photos = 照片 zhàopiàn = photograph, picture
Music = 音乐 yīnyuè - music
Clock = 时钟 shízhōng - clock
Google Docs = 文档 wéndàng - file
Google Drive = 云端硬盘 yúnduān yìngpán 云端 yúnduān - cloud 硬盘 yìngpán - hard disk
Camera = 相机 xiàngjī - camera
Google Translate = 翻译 fānyì - to translate, translator, translation
Settings = 设置 shèzhì - to set up, to install
Messages = 信息 xìnxī - message, news, information
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just saw the changes in requirements for the new hsk seems like i have a much longer way to go than i thought before i can attempt hsk 1
radicals???
can someone give me tips/resources for learning radicals in mandarin? everything i find just confuses me further. should i be learning them early on or wait until i know more characters?
looking for mandarin show/movie recommendations plsss
i currently watch street dance of china and used to watch the chuang series but i dont know how to branch away from the competition/survival shows
Since my first term at my new school is over and I have above the required gpa I am finally eligible for study abroad!!!
I submitted my application for the program yesterday and have already been conditionally accepted to go by my school as long as i’m accepted into the program.
and the country i applied to is….. 🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁
Taiwan!
the program is in taipei specifically, and on a university campus. if accepted ill also have a chance to visit tainan and taitung.
i’d be going for about 2 months over the summer for an accelerated/intensive mandarin course. it’d be the entire intermediate level (= CHN201+202 in U.S. college credit). as far as I know I’d have class 5 days a week while there. i’m taking CHN 102 (upper elementary) in the spring here at home to prepare and spending my break reviewing stuff from 101 as well as teaching myself zhuyin/bopomofo.
if anyone has good resources for zhuyin, traditional characters, and/or taiwanese mandarin lmk!! im trying to find everything i can then i’ll compile a list of what was most helpful sometime during or at the end of the semester :))
week 1 of studying chinese everyday in january
so ive (kinda) started over with mandarin to learn traditional characters rather than simplified, which is what i learned in the CHN101 course at my community college
this is because i’ll hopefully be studying in taiwan over the summer and that is where most of my interest is plus traditional should somewhat help with japanese as well as if i wanna learn cantonese in the future
i didnt record what i did daily so heres a summary so far
- have gotten an okay handle on zhuyin, just need practice and to learn where each character is on apples zhuyin keyboard since the site i used to learn used something else. i do like the concept more than pinyin but some of the final combinations confuse me (more on that another day)
- started reviewing my integrated chinese textbook as thats what both my old and current college use as their class resources. i bought the fluencylink (e-learning) account this time instead of the physical textbook and i looove it, its interactive, contains all the audio/video to go along and gives immediate grades on each section you complete. i did buy the physical workbook just to have in class though.
- have been taking some online classes through LTL and despite signing up/paying for group classes every class ive taken so far has just been 1 on 1 (i take them at like 3 am so i guess other people just dont sign up for those times) and have been enjoying it! online classes and tutors have made me anxious in the past and prior to this my online mandarin teachers almost never corrected my tones which i hated but these are great! i definitely feel like my pronunciation has improved but i still have to work a lot on sentence flow and tone sandhi/combinations.
- scouring the internet for taiwanese shows/movies/youtubers etc to get a feel for the accent differences and just for some listening practice (if you have recommendations lmk)
- also been going crazy looking for apps and sites that offer traditional characters as most are made for simplified/standard mandarin. i have a few that i like so far but hope to find more. i like to have a textbook to guide me through and give me structure but also various other resources to learn things that interest me or that i’ll actually talk about in daily conversation.
overall feeling pretty good and pretty excited to finally get back to studying languages and traveling.
oh and!!! i have mostly finalized what my chinese name is with the help of the teachers i’ve had so far, hence the username change as well and it is … 昕霓 ! (xīnní) i havent chosen a last name tho as im not sure if i need one atm but if anyone has ideas as to what would sound good im open to suggestions.
if anyone would want it im more than happy to post what resources ive been using, and/or what media ive been watching/liking that use traditional characters since its definitely been a little more challenging to find it all. lmk !!
GUYS THIS HAS BEEN THE BEST WEEK OF MY LIFE I SWEAR. I THOUGHT THEY WOULDNT LET ME KNOW FOR A WHIIILE OMGOMG IM GOING TO TAIWAN
Here are just a couple of Chinese Mandarin notes on some kitchen vocab
Today I learned something in the Chinese language that I think is pretty cool.
凹 means concave,
凸 means convex,
And then 凹凸 means bump/irregular as in an uneven/rough road. What I find cool about this is that each character matches its meaning in shape and that the translation to them is so literal.
Maybe it's just me who thinks this, but yeah, I think it's really fascinating for some reason that there are so many words similar by nature to these in the Chinese language!