I've found this website for people who want to practice their speaking habilities chorusing or shadowing. If you've ever tried to do this, you know it can get tiring to set up everything (you need to download the audio, edit it in audacity...).
However, with Chorusing, you just need to enter the link, cut where you want to make the audio clip (and it also has the tools to adjust the clip to perfection) and save it! If you want to practice a clip, it will repeat itself automatically. It's quite intuitive to use, honestly.
I'm leaving the link for whoever needs this tool. For now I've just added some clips, but I know it'll be useful for me in the future.
Took me four hours but I was able to convert and format a Mandarin epub to include pinyin notation above the text:
Technical details below for anyone interested
I was trying to do this on my personal laptop, which is, unfortunately, Windows. I found two GitHub projects that looked promising: pinyin2epub and epub-with-pinyin and spent most of my time trying to get python to work. I wasn't able to get the second project to work, but I was eventually able to get some output with the pinyin2epub project.
The output was super messy though, with each word appearing on a different line. The script output the new ePub where all the tags that encapsulated every word and pinyin were on a new line, as well as having a ton of extra spacing.
I downloaded Calibre and edited the epub. With the help of regex search and replace I was able to adjust the formatting to what is shown in the picture above.
All in all, I'm fairly happy with it although it does fail to load correctly in any mobile ePub reader I've tried so far ( I have an Android). I think it's the <ruby> tags are either unsupported or cause a processing error entirely depending on the app.
Once I have motivation again I'd love to try to combine the original text epub with a translated epub. My idea here is that there would be a line of the original text above followed by a line of the translate text so on and so forth. I'd probably need to script something for this, maybe it could look for paragraph tags and alternate from two input files. I'd have to think about it a bit more though.
Unfortunately my Mandarin isn't yet strong enough to read the novels I'm interested in entirely in the original language, but I'd love to be able to quickly reference the original text to see what word or character they used, or how a phrase is composed
Feel free to ask if you want to try to do this and need any clarification. The crappy screenshot and lack of links because I'm on my phone and lazy.
Just enjoy watching and you'll find yourself already memorizing words. Unbelievable? Just spend 10 min everyday on your convenience by watching this TOPIK vo...
I found a youtube channel with videos for different basic TOPIK 1 vocabulary, I haven;t look at all their videos but what I see so far is geared more for beginners of Korean.
The other day I found out that Duolingo has Japanese in production. Coming soon, for an undefined value of of “soon” but hey... it’ll happen someday. They also have Korean in the same state, which is another language I plan to learn.
So, I decided that I should restart my efforts with Duolingo. The thing is, at different times, I’d started learning different languages. I’d started French to try to learn what my daughter was learning. I’d started Spanish to try to relearn what I was once almost fluent in. And I started German because two semesters in the mid-80s in college weren’t nearly enough, and my son takes it now, and we’ll be hosting a German student in like a year (eek).
I didn’t feel like choosing between them. So every night I sit down and I go through one lesson in each. Maybe two lessons if I feel like it. It’s my late night activity, just before bed. It’s while my brain is weirdly suggestible, but not useful for things like writing.
And it’s all of 5-10 minutes per day.
Hopefully it sticks and I’m learning. I do need to get my language Moleskine back out and start recording vocabulary and grammar information again. Writing down notes will help my brain.
Trying to learn three languages at once is normal, right?
So, Linguee is an online dictionary, available on your PC (via their website, here), or your smartphone or tablet (Android and Apple). All free and wonderful.
And some of you may be thinking “why would you not use Google Translator???”. Well, let me tell you a litle secret:
GOOGLE TRANSLATOR IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH
Oh, yeah, I said it. It’s not good enough.
You type one word, well maybe you’ll be okay. You type a whole sentence and you’re f*cked, specially if one of the languages isn’t English. Look, I can’t get the damn thing to translate me something from Spanish to French if there is a feminine word, it’ll just be in masculine in the French translation. It doesn’t happen always but it happens too often.
Seriously though, it’s a nightmare.
Don’t believe me?
Now, let’s take a moment to compare what you just saw, to Linguee.
First of all, yes, I typed guapa (pretty), which is a feminine word in Spanish, and it gave me the masculine word in French for, hold on to your sit, charming. You can see that Linguee explains a whole lot more about the word you just translated, plus a lot of examples. Not all of them are great, but they are sooo useful.
Oh, do I love Linguee. I mean, he understands gender, you know? Oh AND the audios with the pronunciation AREN’T ROBOTS. Oh yeah, I know.
HOW DOES LINGUEE WORK, THOUGH?
So, how Linguee works is, mainly like a dictionary. You pick the two languages you want to translate back and forth, and you type a word in one of them in the search bar.
Now, unlike a normal dictionary, you won’t only find direct translations of the masculine words, BUT also the plurals, AND (drumrolls please) also the feminines. And it’s specially useful when the feminine form of a word holds some other meanings, like here:
I know, I’m sorry. But it’s a really good example.
My point is that it’s incredibly versatile. And you’ll love it. I mean, I didn’t tell you all the story; it also has expressions, and common sentences. And even if they don’t translate it directy, they’ll find texts in both languages, that have that sentence, so you can compare.
OMG, just look at this, please.
IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?
Well, yes it is. Everything is clear enough to me. Linguee wins by 1000000 points. I’m sorry Google. Your efforts are appreciated, and you help a lot of teenagers write their English essays in Spain but, this is as far as our relationship goes. I’m breaking up with you. In fact, I broke up with you months ago.
WAIT, IS LINGUEE PAYING YOU TO SAY THIS??!
Oh I wish, I really do. But no, sadly, no.
WANT ME TO TRY A LANGUAGE LEARNING TOOL? SEND ME A QUESTION! (but please, just free stuff; I can’t afford anything else. I love my tutor but she isn’t exactly the cheapest).
Language learning with media tips and recs for Mandarin
Once you've started to approach conversational level (or before then if you can't wait) a great way to build familiarity is watching shows in the language you are learning. But if you are still fairly new to the language there can still be a big gaps here, so I am sharing what's worked for me.
General tips
If you haven't already, I highly recommend adding two plugins to your browser: a speed controller and a dual subtitle plugin.
A speed controller is great for slowing it down when they are speaking too fast to process.
And while it's not great (for language learning purposes) to rely on native language subtitles, it's one way to enjoy watching a target language show and not have to engage so much of your brain (work and life can be draining) while still getting some benefit via exposure to culture, the sounds and (with a dual sub plugin) the words.
I use Chrome (yuck, I know) and the plugins DualSub and Video Speed Controller . There may be better ones out there, but I enjoy these. Dual Sub also has a " Chinese learning" option, which adds the pinyin as well, but I find it's not super reliable, not sure what I am doing wrong.
Also, side note: use Netflix in the browser for dual sub, if they have the subtitles you want.
Mandarin targeted tips
Watching shows produced in your target language is great practice but it can be hard to find sometimes, or expensive. The two best free options are YouTube and Viki, which come with their own pros and cons.
Youtube
Pros
If you search any show you want with "English subtitles" you are likely to find it
Accessible to anyone, I don't think anyone is unfamiliar with youtube
Cons
Grainy crunchy quality as expected
Subtitles are often in the video instead of as a subtitle file, so they are often also poor quality
You may or may not find a video with Chinese (simplified or traditional) subs as well
Rakuten Viki
Pros
Extensive collection of shows in mandarin
Chat function
Cons
Don't always have Chinese subtitles
With free version, ad breaks can sometimes be a lot
Chat function
Honestly I like the Viki chat, which is timed comments that you can toggle on or off, but as with any chat functionality, the comments vary wildly and can get a little unhinged (whether that's a pro or con is in the eye of the beholder).
Show Recs
Ok now the real reason for this post: an excuse to gush about my favorite shows lol.
The Untamed
Probably needs no introduction, but as my first cdrama it will always hold a special space in my heart.
Sales pitch: a very fun cast of characters with acting I really enjoyed (but sometimes on the cheesy side) and motivations I could understand, even if I disagreed with them. I don't think I truly hate any character in this show, even the annoying ones I enjoy mocking at least.
Vibes: epic historical fantasy drama with humor and angst and tragedy
Disclaimers: not everyone enjoys the acting as much as I did, many people dislike the deviations from the source material (including the censorship), regular drama pitfalls (pacing, cheesiness, etc)
Where to watch: Available on US Netflix or on Viki (although low quality unless you have a paid subscription)
My Uncanny Destiny
My favorite drama to date.
Sales pitch: an extremely funny satirical take on cdrama tropes, I laughed through pretty much all of it. Has very progressive themes for the setting and handles them well (but humorously). The main couple's dynamic was fantastic.
Vibes: comedic historical drama with depth
Disclaimers: I personally think it is a lot funnier if you are at least passingly familiar with cdrama tropes as the premise of the show relies on flipping these (esp gendered ones), a fair amount of potty/gross out humor (but not all of it), the writing does drop off a little towards the end
Where to watch: viki
God Troubles Me
For the animation fans
Sales pitch: an animated show that is also really great for learning more about modern Chinese culture, I love the light hearted humor and ridiculous characters in this. While there is a loose overarching plot dealing with gods and monsters, it's actually very much a slice of life show
Vibes: cozy fun comedy
Disclaimers: while it's a great way to learn about Chinese culture, that can also be one of the biggest hurdles to engaging with it, especially if you are not very knowledgeable yet (like me!). Because it assumes the audience is already familiar, some jokes/details/plots may be confusing.
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After reading Aftermath’s excellent reflection on Duolingo’s new homegrown AI models (link here), I found my tail curling thoughtfully around my teacup.Some celebrated the owl’s cleverness. Others raised their hackles.As for me—Professor Fox, single parent, den-builder, and enthusiastic language fumbler—I sat by the hearth, sipped my tea, and pondered…
