大家好！💐🌺

涵宁 / 22 / studying (mostly) Chinese /just trying to track my progress and keep myself motivated / main blog @poopkidus

[myhoneststudyblr]

my masterpost | my studygram | ask me anything

[click images for high quality]

[transcript under the cut]

Other advice posts that may be of interest:

How To Stop Procrastinating

How To Study When You Really Don’t Want To

Unusual Study Tips

How to Focus in Online School

Keep reading

[vigiloaudiopperior]

13.05 || #studyspo stories for today 📌

[slfcare]

please keep in mind that learning is always a process. learning to draw, dance, play an instrument, but also learning to say no, learning to start conversations, learning to be more comfortable in your own skin. it’s great setting goals for yourself, as long as you allow yourself to get there gradually instead of immediately wanting to be the best at it (and setting unrealistic standards for yourself because of it). change is rarely a single moment during which everything suddenly shifts, but rather a period of time in which you learn and adjust and improve. you’ll get there, but you must give yourself time to do so.

[liu-anhuaming]

不闻不问 『不聞不問』 bu4 wen2 bu4 wen4 not to hear not to question, to show no interest in something, not in the least concerned

闻：听 『聞：聽』

不打听，也不过问。形容漠不关心。 『不打聽，也不過問。形容漠不關心。』

【例句】你怎么能对这场纠纷采取不闻不问的态度呢？ 『你怎麼能對這場糾紛採取不聞不問的態度呢？』

根深蒂固 gen1 shen1 di4 gu4 deep-rooted (problem, etc.)

蒂：花或瓜果跟枝茎的部分 『蒂：花或瓜果跟枝莖的部分』

比喻基础深厚，不容易动摇。 『比喻基礎深厚，不容易動搖。』

【例句】有些封建陋习在人们的脑子里根深蒂固，想改变非常不容易。 『有些封建陋習在人們腦子裡根深蒂固，想改變非常不容易。』

精神抖擞 『精神抖擻』 jing1 shen2 dou3 sou3 spirit trembling with excitement, in high spirits, lively and full of enthusiasm, full of energy

形容精神振奋。 『形容精神振奮。』

【例句】马把头抬得高高的，让鬃毛飘动起来，精神抖擞地奔驰着。 『馬把頭抬得高高的，讓鬃毛漂動起來，精神抖擻地奔馳著。』

饱经沧桑 『飽經滄桑』 bao3 jing1 cang1 sang1 having lived through many changes

饱：充分；经：经历；沧桑：沧海桑田的略语，比喻世事变化 『飽：充分；經：經歷；滄桑：滄海桑田的略語，比喻世事變化』

经历过无数的世事变迁，有丰富的阅历。 『經歷過無數的世事變遷，有豐富的閱歷。』

【例句】他几十年来饱经沧桑，对世事有着深刻的认识。 『他幾十年來飽經滄桑，對世事有著深刻的認識。』

废寝忘食 『廢寢忘食』 fei4 qin3 wang4 shi2 to neglect sleep and forget about food, to be completely wrapped up in one’s work

废：停止；寝：睡觉；食：吃饭 『廢：停止；寢：睡覺；食：吃飯』

顾不上睡觉，忘记吃饭。形容专心致志地干某一件事情。 『顧不上睡覺，忘記吃飯。形容專心致志地幹某一件事。』

【例句】她废寝忘食地学习外语，所以进步很快。 『她廢寢忘食地學習外語，所以進步很快。』

[moltre-s]

langblr challenge 6 / 30 what is the word for your favourite color? what are some things (plants, gemstones, etc.) that are this color?

💕 pink       粉红色  -  fěnhóng sè      粉红 literally translates as “powder red” (how soft and lovely!)

💕 roses      玫瑰花  -  méiguī huā

💕 strawberry milkshake      草莓奶昔  -  cǎoméi nǎi xī

💕 blush (makeup)      腮红  -  sāi hón

💕 rose quartz      玫瑰石英  -  méiguī shíyīng

💕 sunsets      日落  -  rìluò

💕 tulips      郁金香  -  yùjīnxiāng

💕 lotus      莲花  -  liánhuā

💕 grapefruit      柚子  -  yòuzi

[moltre-s]

动物的叫声 / animal sounds!

langblr challenge 3 / 30 what sounds do animals make in your target language? (eg. in English, cats say “meow” and cows say “moo”)?

dog (狗 gǒu)               -   汪汪 (wāngwāng)

cat (猫 māo)               -   喵 (miāo)

cow (牛 niú)                -   哞哞 (mōu mōu)

rooster (公鸡 gōngjī)   -   咯咯 (gēgē)

bird (鸟 xiǎo niǎo)       -   叽叽 (jī ji)  or  喳喳 (chāchā)

duck (鸭子 yāzi)          -   呱呱 (guāguā)  or  嘎嘎 (gāgā)

sheep (羊 yáng)          -   咩咩 (miēmiē)

mouse (老鼠 lǎoshǔ)   -   吱吱 (zhīzhī)

frog (青蛙 qīngwā)      -   呱呱 (guāguā)

i think it’s interesting how a lot of the characters for the sounds are written like the character for the animal, but with a 口 radical (eg. 猫/喵, 羊/咩, 牛/哞)

[loverlv]

me: tries to sign into my google account

google: this UGLY bitch just tried to HACK into your account. destroy all your electronic devices to prevent this

[potatodesignblr]

Mandarin resources (free) Beginner.

HSK 1 LIST

Simplified and Traditional (with pinyin), exercises and sentences examples Link

TONES

*Tone explanation (but with words with more than 1 syllable, which is great because the hard part is when a word has 2 o more syllables) Link

More tones! Link

*Youtube vid explaining tones and exceptions (like tone modification and the half 3 and 4 tones) Link Link2  (edit 1)

** Tone pairs youtube vid by Yoyo Chinese (Individual tones 0:00-8:30 // Tone pairs 8:30-27) Link (edit 10)

Tone pairs chart + Exercises from said chart (edit 9)

Tone pairs + audio for all the tone combinations  Link (Edit 11)

*Exercises: (edit 7)

which tones do you hear (tone pairs)

another which tones do you hear (single syllab or tone pairs) 

match pinyin + tone to the sound

match the sound to the pinyin + tone

differenciate between tones

tone speaking practice (listen and repeat recording yourself)

PINYIN

Pinyin introduction (follow the “Pronunciation Index”) Link (edit 10)

Pinyin chart from Yoyo chinese Link (edit 9)

*Pinyin and tones self quiz (i love this one) Link

*Course: Phonetics with Chinese Characteristics (edit 8)

Youtube (in english) Link

Youtube (in spanish) Link 

Exercises: (edit 7) 

Pinyin spelling

READING, TEXT + AUDIO 

Text with characters, pinyin, english translations and audio Link

Characters with pinyin and audio. Traditional and simplified option. If you click on a word the meaning of it pops up, but not the whole sentence Link

Dialogues with characters, pinyin, translations (in Spanish) and audio Link

Spanish web with different topics and sentences. it has games to practice too Link (edit 4)

Youtube reading for kids. Link1 Link2  (edit 2) (If you  cant find any audiobooks with text, there’s probably someone reading a book of it on youtube) 

Du Chinese (App) Link

Beelingua (App)

Chinese little fox: You might think oh this is a web for kids but listen there are tons of stories, with little cartoon videos easy to follow, and with extra resources to review the vocab and listening, give it a go. (edit 13)

SENTENCES

Chengyu list (edit 8)

125 lessons with different sentences. It has characters, audio, pinying and different exercises to test them in each lesson.  Link

Diferent dialogues (directions, weather, introductions, shopping) with audio characters, pinyin and english Link (edit 1)

* Podcast: 2/3 sentences, broken down by topic and by words Link (edit 2) [I use this one when im in the street and i repeat what they say trying to memorise it]

WEB COURSE (edit 5)

From ”ChineseClass101″. Those have characters with the option simplified/traditional, pinyin and english translation. It also comes sometimes with a brief cultural insight and grammar lesson, all with audio and class trasncription. Really useful because besides the audio class, you have a vocab list with the audio option played 0.5x slower

Getting Started

Absolute Beginner Season 1

Level 1 Chinese

FLASHCARDS

Anki, HSK 1 vocab Link

Anki, HSK 1 grammar Link

*TOFU learn ( Web / App) this is like a flashcard app but with the option to quiz yourself (with 6 choices to answer instead of the usual 2) and the exciting part: it can quiz you on the writing too! It has many deck choices too. Big fav of mine (edit 12)

DICTIONARY (edit 6)

Character dictionaries:

Line dict = Pinyin, with audio, english definition, sample sentences and animated stroke order. Also a daily “Today’s expresion/quote” addittion which is cool.

Chinesepod = simplified and traditional, english translation, sample sentences 

Sentence dictionaries:

Chinese yabla = breaks the sentence into words, each one with pinyin and english translation.

EXTENSIONS 

*Language Learning with Youtube, Chrome extension. Allows 2 sets of subtitles (example: vid of Idol Producer)  (edit 9)

*Zhongwen: Chinese-English Dictionary by: Christian Schiller. Allows you to hoover over the hanzi and shows the pinyin and meaning. Chrome extension, Firefox extension (edit 4)

BOOKS (edit 4)

(Not free, sadly) For grammar and some course book i would recomend

HSK 1

New Practical Chinese Reader 1 Textbook/Workbook

OTHER (random interesting stuff that I don’t know where to put them)

Learn Chinese with Poems, free course (edit 9)

Learn Chinese with Songs, free course (edit 9)

**Frecuency list –> Most common characters and words in: books, movies, components and by HSK. Simplified and traditional options. (Sound, definition, animated stroke order, sentence examples w audio, and writting practice. Very interesting and complete.) (edit 9)

Media input (Videos and Audios with transcriptions and timestamps you can get back to. First click on the character shows pinyin, second click shows meaning.) (edit 9)

Youtube Channel: Learn Chinese with Movies, series and animation (edit 12)

What are your favourite songs and shows to inmerse yourself in mandarin? Please tell me!

My favourite links have a (*)

I might get back to this post and add more useful links when i find more (each time i edit this post i add a little “edit 1 / 2 / 3…”). [This post looks better on the original post/blog, since the linked webs are highlighted and easier to see, and also is more up to date]

Last edited: 30 / January / 2021 = Edit 13

[tokyostudying]

LEARN MANDARIN CHINESE WITH SCISSOR SEVEN (s1ep1)

海！！ this will include vocabulary and some sentences so I hope you’ll find this helpful! feel free to correct me anytime! ily💘 加油～

原创 ↠ yuán chuàng ↠ original

动画 ↠ dòng huà ↠ cartoon, animation

剧集 ↠ jùjí ↠ episode

真不愧是天下第一刺客 ↠ zhēn bùkuì shì tiānxià dì yī cìkè ↠ you are the best assassin in the world.

≫ 真 (zhēn) > really

≫ 不愧 (bùkuì) > be worthy of

≫ 天下 (tiānxià) > world

≫ 刺客 (cìkè) > assassin, hitman

拿去 ↠ ná qù ↠ take it

对不起 ↠ duìbùqǐ ↠ i’m sorry

有人出更高的价钱要我来杀你 ↠yǒurén chū gèng gāo de jiàqián yào wǒ lái shā nǐ ↠ someone paid me more to kill you.

≫ 有人 (yǒurén) > someone

≫ 更 (gèng) > more

≫ 价钱 (jiàqián) > price

≫ 要 (yào) > want, ask, for, wish, desire

≫ 杀 (shā) > kill, slaughter, butcher

回家 ↠ huíjiā ↠ go home

卖 ↠ mài ↠ sell, betray

工资 ↠ gōng zī ↠ wages, salary

福利 ↠ fú lì↠ welfare, benefit

弹性上班时间 ↠ tánxìng shàngbān shíjiān ↠ flexible work hours

还有 ↠ hái yǒu ↠ also, in addition, furthermore

和 ↠ hé ↠ and

出国 ↠ chūguó ↠ studying abroad, going overseas

之前 ↠ zhīqián ↠ before

也 ↠ yě ↠ also

这样 ↠ zhèyàng ↠ so, such, this way, like this

说 ↠ shuō ↠ speak, said

这么好的工作去哪里找呢？↠ zhème hǎo de gōngzuò qù nǎlǐ zhǎo ne? ↠ where can i find such a good job?

≫ 这么 (zhème) > so, such, this way, like this

≫ 工作 (gōngzuò) > work, job

≫ 哪里 (nǎlǐ) > where

≫ 找 (zhǎo) > look for, try to find, seek

得意 ↠ déyì↠ proud (of oneself)

笑 ↠ xiào ↠ smile

小 ↠ xiǎo ↠ small, little, tiny

龙 ↠ lóng ↠ dragon, serpent

还 ↠ hái ↠ still, also, yet

普通 ↠ pǔtōng ↠ ordinary, general

碗 ↠ wǎn ↠ bowl

那就发达了 ↠ nà jiù fādá le ↠ we’d be rich.

≫ 那 (nà) > that, then, in that case

≫ 发达 (fādá) > developed, advanced, flourishing

马上 ↠ mǎshàng ↠ immediately, soon

好的 ↠ hǎo de ↠ alright

要不 ↠ yàobù ↠ or, otherwise

辣椒 ↠ làjiāo ↠ chilli, hot pepper, pepper

老板 ↠ lǎobǎn ↠ boss, owner, excuse me

混蛋 ↠ hùndàn ↠ asshole, bastard, jerk

低俗 ↠ dīsú ↠ vulgar

句命 ↠ jù mìng ↠ help!

我欣赏你的无知 ↠ wǒ xīnshǎng nǐ de wúzhī ↠ i admire your ignorance.

我不行了 ↠ wǒ bùxíng le↠ i give up

知道 ↠ zhīdào ↠ know, understand, realize

想 ↠ xiǎng ↠ think, want, guess

过去 ↠ guòqù ↠ past

有关 ↠ yǒuguān ↠ related ▷ 无关 ↠ wúguān ↠ unrelated

跟 ↠ gēn ↠ with

当然 ↠ dāngrán ↠ certainly, surely, of course

但是 ↠ dànshì ↠ but

仇恨 ↠ chóuhèn ↠ hate, hatred

[overgolden-deactivated20230908]

really happy bc i feel like i’m progressing fast with chinese ☕️

ig: l.ydiab

[luckyknot-deactivated20241203]

mandarin terms on sewing

Terms；

被子 (bèi zi) ; quilt/ blanket

到 被子（dào bèi zi) ; to quilt

缝 （féng) ; sew

缝 制 （féng zhì) ; sewing, to sew

织物 （zhī wù) ; fabric, textile, cloth

衣服 （yīfu) ; cloth, clothes

织 （zhī) ; knit

线程 （xiàn chéng) ; thread

针 （zhēn) ; needle

缝 衣服 (féng yīfu) ; sewing clothes

修补 (xiū bǔ) ; mend

Example Sentences；

那个人 正在 修补 衣服

nà gè rén zhèngzài xiū bǔ yīfu

That person is mending the cloth。

这个 帽子 是 我 自己 织 的。

zhège màozi shì wǒ zìjǐ zhī de

I knitted this hat myself.

好 可爱 的 衣服 啊！

hǎo kě ài de yīfu a 

Your clothes are so cute!

[hanning-studies]

Hi + 2021 goals!

Hi everyone! 🌻

I’ve been a little MIA on this blog in the last few months. Covid has been getting to me a lot and it’s been really hard to find motivation to do anything. I barely keep up with my work for uni and posting on here hasn’t really been a priority. I am also in a slump because I want to change my major but I missed the deadline to apply last year, so I’ve been doing some kind of ‘gap year’, only attending a few classes. But with 2021 being here and also my birthday today I decided to actually put some effort into making a few goals I would like to achieve and post them on here so I can keep myself accountable, even if it’s just a little bit. Let’s gooo~

Languages

Mandarin: Mandarin is defintely my number 1 priority this year. My big goal for this year is to pass HSK6. Ideally I would take the test in spring/summer (the first test dates that my city offers this year), but because of covid the test centers might not be open at that time. I’d still be aiming to have most of the vocabulary and grammar covered until then, even if I’m not actually able to take the test. Overall, I want to get to a level I’m comfortable with and that I can easily keep up by watching Chinese shows, talking to my Chinese friend and occasionally reading a book or self-studying a lesson once in a while.

Korean: For Korean, I don’t want to put a lot of pressure on myself but rather make the studying itself fun and enjoyable. It would be nice if at the end of the year, I could achieve a level around A2. My main goal is to be able to understand just a little bit of what my favorite kpop idols are saying and to maybe have small secret conversations with my friend who is also studying Korean.

Cantonese: I don’t have any real goal concerning Cantonese, I mainly think it sounds cool and would be fun to learn. So studying would probably only take place if I’m in the mood for it. But I really want to focus and pronounciation first since it’s pretty different to standard Mandarin and I don’t have any idea right now on how the tones actually work. After that, I’d try to locate more resources and then see from there.

Personal

Health: I’ve been eating pretty bad during the holidays so I hope to change that to a healthier menu with more fruits and vegetables in the future. I’d also like to take up a new sport (dancing?) or at least take more walks during the day. Also, trying to be more consistent with my skincare routine!

Work: I currently have a lot of freetime since I’m not taking too many classes, so I want to spend that time getting some work experience and earning some money. The job search is not going too great right now, but I’ll try and keep it up!

Tumblr: I want to try to be more active on here again. I know I’m not the biggest social media person but I hope I can post here at least once a week + reblog stuff! I also want to update my chinese music recommendations list really bad!

If you have made it this far, I wish you a happy 2021 and hope that this year is not going to be too rough on you. Stay safe and healthy! 💕

[thestudyingnightowl]

Last year is done and it is officially 2021. We survived 🎉. I spent the last days of 2020 with online friends watching nct perform at all the different events and their concert, watching The Disney movie Soul and just reflecting on the past year. Now that that’s done it’s time to think about this year. I decided to set some small and simple goals but only for 3 months. As you know my semester ended mid December and the new school year starts in March. Because I will have 2 more classes than I did last semester and I don’t know what my free time is going to look like I won’t plan beyond the start of the semester. There are many things I want to accomplish study and non study wise but my theme for this year is to mainly focus on consistency and pushing myself a bit out of my comfort zone. Social anxiety and perfectionism as well as other things held me back last year and this year I just want to slowly nudge myself so I can see what else I am capable of achieving

[moltre-s]

taboo gifts in China // 在中国忌讳的礼物

starting off strong with my favourite: green hats / 绿帽子 (lǜmàozi) the word for “green hat” is 绿帽子 (lǜmàozi), which is slang for “cuckhold”. please use this knowledge wisely

pears / 梨 (lí) the word for “pear” 梨 (lí) sounds just like 离 (lí) which can mean “to leave” or “to part”. pears are also often used as offerings for the dead or funeral gifts

sharp objects / 尖的东西 (jiān dedōngxī) gifting items like scissors or knives can imply that you want to sever your relationship with the recipient

umbrellas / 雨伞 (yǔsǎn） in the West, opening an umbrella inside is considered bad luck. similarly, in China, gifting one is bad luck. the 伞 (sǎn) in 雨伞 (yǔsǎn) sounds like 散 (sàn), which means “to break up”

clocks / 钟 (zhōng) “to give a clock” in Chinese is 送钟 (sòng zhōng). this sounds identical to the phrase for attending a funeral, 送终 (sòngzhōng). clocks can also imply the loss of time, making it especially taboo to give to the elderly

mirrors / 镜子 (jìngzí) mirror are associated with attracting ghosts. also they are delicate and like in the West, breaking them is unlucky

the number 4 / 四 (sì) the word for “four” 四 (sì) sounds similar to 死 (sǐ “death”). the number four is generally avoided in China. many buildings will even skip 4, 14, 24, etc. when numbering floors

shoes / 鞋 (xié) the word for “shoes” is 鞋 (xié), which sounds like the word for “evil” or “bad luck” 邪 (xié)

— nowadays, many people in China aren’t superstitious about these things (especially younger people), but this info is helpful to keep in mind if you are planning on giving gifts in China - or this can just be interesting to learn!

[moltre-s]

🌧️☀️ 风雨无阻 / rain or shine

风雨无阻 (fēng yǔ wúzǔ) is used to indicate that something goes as planned regardless of conditions. similar to “rain or shine” in English.

examples: 李敏每天风雨无阻去公园跑步，昨天她穿着雨衣在那儿跑。 Everyday, rain or shine, Li Min runs in the park. Yesterday she ran in a raincoat.

刘伟很坚持提高中文水平，每天风雨无阻都去图书馆看中文书。 Liu Wei is determined to improve his Chinese. He goes to the library everyday no matter what to read Chinese books.

[meichenxi]

Tips for practicing reading for Chinese learners; mental blocks and sub-vocalisation

This post is going to be primarily aimed at Chinese learners, because there are some extra difficulties that come not always being able to guess the pronunciation of characters, but would work for any other language, especially Japanese or other non-latinate alphabet languages.  

As you guys know already, I’ve been reading for a very short time in comparison to the length of time I’ve been learning Chinese in total. I know about 2000 characters now, more words, and yet every single time I sit down to read a text in Chinese my first reaction is *blank panic*. 

For about a second, I see a wall of text, impenetrable, that there’s no way I will ever be able to read. It’s forbidding; it’s like a sheer cliff that I’m standing at the bottom of. 

As soon as I can pick out a few words, the text becomes less terror-inducing slightly. Reading Chinese for me after 7 months, to abuse a much-used simile, is a little like walking along a train track in the mist: you can’t see very far ahead, but as you walk through the mist, your surroundings gradually become clear. 

Ultimately, if you recognise a majority of the characters in the text, it’s not your character recognition which you need to improve: it’s your speed, your ability to scan, and your approach to reading the text. So here are a few tips that I find helpful in practicing this, and in overcoming this knee-jerk ahhhh it’s Chinese I can’t read it reaction I still have whenever I see a text. 

1) Practice reading out loud. This forces you to read at a ‘normal’ pace, but also forces you to consider sentence structure, phrasing etc to sound natural. If you do this enough, your ability to scan a few words ahead to check the direction of the sentence will improve. For obvious reasons, this is done best with texts at your level; but I encourage you to read texts that are still difficult - so characters you recognise, but that may take you longer than more common ones. 

2) Stop sub-vocalising when you read in your head. Seriously. Stop it. I do it too, it’s a habit especially when you’re not sure if you know 100% of the characters in a text, but much like sub-vocalising in your native language, it will slow you down and impede your ability to scan the text quickly and fluidly. Try to glance over the sentence without pausing too long on individual words; you can imagine you are drawing a line through the text with your eyes. Try to understand the meaning of the sentence without ‘saying’ it aloud. I recommend practicing this with texts that are easier or below your level to start with, and then working your way up to harder texts. 

3) Read texts that are above your current level without a dictionary. This challenges you to understand the gist of the text without being discomfited when you don’t know a character, and trains your ability to scan and jump over unfamiliar words quickly without it completely halting your reading speed. Don’t use a dictionary; this isn’t about vocabulary. See how quickly you can read the text and understand roughly what’s happening without resorting to key words; then, see if you can go back and find the key words. 

4) Practicing finding individual words or phrases. This is a little like training the ability to skim-read or scan in any language. Set up a text, and try to find a few specific words that you have already chosen for yourself. An easy way to do this is to go to a text in a textbook which has vocabulary at the bottom, and challenge yourself to find those words in as short a time as possible. This will improve your ability to scan a text quickly, to get the gist and meaning without knowing exactly the characters used. 

If I could give one take-away from this, it’s that reading is a skill that has to be trained just like any other. Whilst reading can be a fantastic way to get new vocabulary in context, it shouldn’t just be used as a gold mine for new words or practicing character recognition. You need to spend time reading regularly without worrying about vocabulary to increase your familiarity with reading in another writing system, just like you did in your first language as a child. This is my biggest challenge for HSK in particular, where the amount of text that you have to read in a minute fills me with unholy dread. Whilst the vocabulary is not necessarily any more difficult or unknown than the listening - they often put unknown words that you may not know in both - given the exact same percentage of unknown words, I can complete the 45 minute listening in about 30 minutes, and got 97% the last time I tried. 

I can’t even finish the reading in that time, let alone getting the questions correct. So I’m working a lot on my reading; I know it’s my weakest area. 

What are some ways you can use to practice?

1) Watch Chinese-only media with Chinese subtitles. If you are better at listening, you may be tempted to just ignore the subtitles like I often do: but there will almost certainly be words you are unclear of, where the subtitles will help. I find this an excellent way to train both listening and reading a) because it forces me to read far more quickly than I otherwise would, and b) because it cements the sound-meaning-character connection between words I common hear (in period dramas, say) whose characters I didn’t know. 

2) Read graded readers. Guys, graded readers are your saviours. I have a few levels: I choose the easier ones when I’m trying to practice speed, and work my way up from there. Generally in a reading session I will start with about 15 minutes on a relatively easy text, and once I’m in a better, more relaxed state of mind, I’ll move on to something harder and try and keep the same speed. 

3) Read articles or blog posts (with the help of a screen reader). One thing I often do is look up stupid WikiHow articles - they’re short, usually easy to understand, and have pictures illustrating them. That said, they’re often still 2000+ words long, so if you finish one it very much feels like an achievement. I also like looking up things related to languages/linguistics on Zhihu or Baidu Baike. I don’t always use a screen reader/pinyin extension, but if I’m reading something more difficult it means that I don’t have to take a huge break to draw the character into Pleco and look it up: if I can get the meaning without looking at it, I don’t bother, but if it’s crucial for the sentence I’ll just hover over it briefly, make a mental note of the meaning, and carry on. This isn’t for vocab, so I don’t usually note the word down unless it’s very important. Using a Google Chrome extension like Zhongwen just smooth-lines the process, and removes some of the frustration of getting into the flow and being stumped by a crucial, but unknown word on which the meaning of the whole sentence rests. Technology is great, guys, use it. 

I hope this helps! 

- 梅晨曦

[orangeteastudying]

Hiding my characters with pretty lighting so you are distracted and don't look at them too much

Los estoy distrayendo con sombras y luces para que no le presten mucha atención a mis caracteres :p

Day 22 - Tag someone who makes you smile @coffeeandpies always

Day 23 - Tag someone whose blog you always check @study-van and @liu-anhuaming

Day 24 - Tag someone who posts the best text posts @eintsein and @noodledesk

Day 25 - Tag someone who gives good advice @athenastudying