Cherry/霞 🍒 native Finnish speaker, fluent enough in English ~☆~ actively studying Mandarin ~☆~ sometimes trying to revise Swedish ~☆~ beginner in Japanese and Korean ~☆~
My name is Cherry or 霞 and my main blog is @cherryvampyyri.
I am a native Finnish speaker and my English is decent, I guess, but I am still making a constant effort to improve it.
My main target language is Mandarin. As of 2026 I am striving towards passing HSK4 and improving my terrible, horrible and mortifyingly bad speaking skills.
Because I'm a Finn, I learnt Swedish for 6 years at school and now I'm sometimes striken with the need to try to relearn the language.
My long time dream of learning Japanese got a kickstart in the autumn 2025 when I started attending lessons. So now I'm going through the blissful first steps of a language beginner and posting about it a lot.
Korean is also a target language of mine. It's forever on hold and I will dabble from time to time while I wait for the day that I have the capacity to take it on.
1．今日中 (きょうじゅう, kyōjū)
A time‑expression noun meaning “within today,” “by the end of today.”
今日 = today
中 = within / during
Together: 今日中 = “within today.”
It sets a deadline.
2．に（ni）
The time marker. It indicates the point or limit by which something must be done.
So 今日中に =“by today,” “within today,” “before the day ends.”
3．処理 (しょり, shori)
A noun meaning:
processing
handling
dealing with
taking care of a task
It refers to completing some kind of work or action.
「今日中に処理」 means “to process/handle something by the end of today.”
The phrase expresses a clear deadline‑based action.
Do you have things you end up putting off no matter what?
Tasks that take a lot of time or feel bothersome are especially easy to push to tomorrow.
Let’s try to take care of them today if we can.
I have only included the capitals that are not written the same way as in English!
Alger - Algiers (Algeria)
Ateena - Athens (Greece)
Ašgabat - Ashgabat (Turkmenistan)
Bagdad - Baghdad (Iraq)
Belgrad - Belgrade (Serbia)
Berliini - Berlin (Germany)
Biškek - Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan)
Bryssel - Brussels (Belgium)
Bukarest - Bucharest (Romania)
Damaskos - Damascus (Syria)
Dušanbe - Dushanbe (Tajikistan)
Havanna - Havana (Cuba)
Jerevan - Yerevan (Armenia)
Kairo - Cairo (Egypt)
Kapkaupunki - Cape Town (South Africa)
Khartum - Khartoum (Sudan)
Kiova - Kyiv (Ukraine)
Kööpenhamina - Copenhagen (Denmark)
Lissabon - Lisbon (Portugal)
Lontoo - London (United Kingdom)
Luxemburg - Luxembourg (Luxembourg)
Masqat - Muscat (Oman)
Moskova - Moscow (Russia)
Nikosia - Nicosia (Cyprus)
Pariisi - Paris (France)
Peking - Beijing (China)
Pjongjang - Pyongyang (North Korea)
Praha - Prague (Czech Republic)
Riad - Riyadh (Saudi Arabia)
Riika - Riga (Latvia)
Rooma - Rome (Italy)
Soul - Seoul (South Korea)
Tallinna - Tallinn (Estonia)
Taškent - Tashkent (Uzbekistan)
Teheran - Tehran (Iran)
Tokio - Tokyo (Japan)
Tukholma - Stockholm (Sweden)
Varsova - Warsaw (Poland)
Vilna - Vilnius (Lithuania)
Wien - Vienna (Austria)
* Viipuri is the largest city of the ceded Finnish territory. Therefore, everything within these territories has a Finnish name different from current Russian names, but I’m only including Viipuri.
Different ways to say “increase” and “decrease” in Chinese: Pt.1
Want to say increase or decrease but tired of using 增加 and 减少? Here are plenty of other alternatives that you can use:
increase - 增加 - zēngjiā
Context: general increase in quantity, amount, business and economics
Example: 这个月的开支增加了。
This month’s expenses increased.
decrease - 减少 - jiǎnshǎo
Context: general decrease in quantity, amount, health, business etc.
Example: 我想减少每天刷手机的时间。
I want to reduce the time I spend scrolling on my phone every day.
raise / improve - 提高 - tígāo
Context: improving something: quality, ability, efficiency, standards
Example: 她想提高汉语水平。
She wants to improve her Chinese level.
lower / reduce - 降低 - jiàngdī
Context: usually refers to metrics, physical levels, goals etc.
Example: 公司希望降低运营成本。
The company hopes to lower operating costs.
rise - 上升 - shàngshēng
Context: natural rise in numbers, rates, temperature, prices, status, pressure
Example: 最近物价一直在上升。
Prices have been rising recently.
fall / decline - 下降 - xiàjiàng
Context: natural decline in numbers, quality, sales, grades
Example: 效率下降了2%。
The efficiency rate decreased by 2%.
grow - 增长 - zēngzhǎng
Context: usually refers to things that change over time, not suddenly e.g. economy, demand, knowledge, experience
Example: 去年的销售额增长了百分之十。
Last year’s sales grew by 10 percent.
improve / enhance - 提升 - tíshēng
Context: improving skills, abilities, promoting someone
Example: 这次培训提升了我的工作效率。
This training improved my work efficiency.
go up / rise - 上涨 - shàngzhǎng
Context: increase in quantity or degree of indicators e.g. prices/consumption, values, levels, water levels, rent etc.
Example: 房租又上涨了。
The rent went up again.
drop / fall - 下跌 - xiàdiē
Context: mostly financial, economical, or statistical situations e.g. prices, stock value, market data
Example: 这家公司今天的股价下跌了百分之五。
This company’s stock price fell by 5 percent today.
rise / become higher - 升高 - shēnggāo
Context: numerical values, prices, physical states e.g. blood pressure, blood sugar, temperature and other measurable indicators
Example: 今天下午气温会继续升高。
The temperature will continue to rise this afternoon.
ease / lessen - 减轻 - jiǎnqīng
Context: pain, stress, burden, pressure, symptoms, workload
Example: 新系统减轻了大家的工作负担。
The new system reduced everyone’s workload.
reduce / alleviate - 缓解 - huǎnjiě
Context: symptoms, stress, anxiety, tension
Example: 深呼吸可以缓解压力。
Deep breathing can relieve stress.
weaken - 减弱 - jiǎnruò
Context: various scenarios actually, including natural phenomena, signals, physical states and well-being, and abstract concepts
Example: 地下室里的手机信号很容易减弱。
Phone signals weaken easily in the basement.
Yo! It's so crazy when you're watching or listening to something in the language you're learning, not necessarily paying attention, just a background sound, and suddenly you realize you understand. :0
Like, Your mind isn't necessarily processing what you're hearing, but you're still understanding it, like, understanding the context, the dialogue, the expressions, like, wow. :D
Chinese characters that contain 卬 (áng) and 卯 (mǎo) constantly trip me up while writing. After looking into them some more, I noticed that their pronunciations are actually fairly regular. I listed some of the most common Hanzi with them in it below.
1) Characters containing 卬 generally start with y- and typically end in -ng:
迎 (yíng) as in 歡迎, welcome
昂 (áng) as in 昂貴, expensive
仰 (yǎng) as in 信仰, belief
抑 (yì) as in 抑鬱, depressed
印 (yìn) as in 印章, seal
This one might not actually be related to 卬, but its pronunciation still fits into this pattern.
2) Characters with 卯 are most often read "liú" (but not all of them :/)
留 (liú), to stay
柳 (liǔ), willow tree
劉 (Liú), a surname
瀏 (liú) as in 瀏覽, to browse
榴 (liú), as in 石榴, pomegranate
聊 (liáo) as in 聊天, to chat
貿 (mào) as in 貿易, commerce
卵 (luǎn) as in 卵子, ovum
This one isn't related to 卯 either, but it also kinda fits
Saw this video then found a list. Key note for the video is that they’re saying the more common term and not saying how the kanji are meant to be read.
id you were taught a language in primary/secondary school. can you actually speak the language with some level of proficiency? beyond just simple words or phrases
(not counting if you learned most of the language outside of school)
If you were taught a language in primary/secondary school. can you actually speak the language with some level of proficiency? beyond just simple words or phrases
