#m resource

[liu-anhuaming]

here’s a great video about how to use mindmapping to help build your vocabulary. it’s specifically targeted towards mandarin learners, but as he says in the video this method can be altered in any way necessary to fit non-chinese languages

the website he recommends is whimsical.com, you can make a free account and get started pretty easily!

[liu-anhuaming]

Hey hey! I hope you’re holding up in this wild year. To distract myself, I was thinking about getting into literary/Classical Chinese. Do you have any tips about where to start?

hey! 

so i’ve never studied classical chinese long-term, i’ve just dabbled, but i do have a couple of resources i can point you towards to get you started. this article has a pretty sizable list of resources for learning cc in both english and modern chinese. 

one free option on the list that i’ve looked at is this website created by a stanford professor. it’s pretty straightforward and it seems super high quality for a free resource. it introduces you to bits of text in cc with vocab lists, then explains the grammar points for the module. each module ends with a translation as well as relevant commentary. it uses traditional characters (like most cc resources), so that can be bothersome if you’ve never studied them before, but the vocab lists include simplified characters so it’s not all traditional

other than this, i’ve heard good things about michael fuller’s an introduction to literary chinese, but you’d probably have to buy it. but if you want to invest money then this seems like a pretty well-liked book 

also, there’s a classical chinese subreddit! it’s not the most active, but the community seems genuinely helpful when it comes to questions about translations and whatnot. they’ve also got a little list of resources on the sidebar

hopefully this helped a bit, and i hope you’re hanging in there too! 加油！

[liu-anhuaming]

可以说“您们”吗？

here’s a short little letter to the editor about whether you can use 您们

it’s hard to get a clear answer to this question since native speakers are quite divided on this topic. some say it’s okay, some say it’s not.

in the answer above, the editor outlines a very quick history of 您，explaining that its original meaning was actually that of 你们 . it wasn’t until later that 您 became the formal version of 你 .

the editor here ultimately says it’s okay to use 您们 . if you want some reading practice and different opinions on the issue, here’s a link to this exact question on 知乎 

[liu-anhuaming]

Hi! Do you maybe have some masterposts or helpful websites for learning the radicals to chinese characters? Also do you think learning them is important?

(sorry I forgot to add this to my ask about chinese radicals!!) Do you know if there's a source where it shows the radical and an example of the radical in a character?

hey!

so i actually made a post a couple months ago that briefly discusses what you’re asking about so i’ll link to it here. 

it is important to learn radicals?

answer: kinda, but it’s not the most important thing to learn about characters. if you’re a beginner who is just starting out with learning mandarin, i’d say you don’t need to focus too much energy on learning radicals. i’d suggest perhaps familiarizing yourself with some of the most common radicals (e.g., 月、氵、口、扌，etc.) but not necessarily hardcore studying them. imo, when you’re just starting out you should focus more on getting used to the characters. so if you’re a beginner i’d suggest maybe just glancing over a list of the most common radicals but i don’t think it’s necessary for you to actually study them yet. 

as you learn more characters, you will slowly become more familiar with radicals/components. this will make learning them become much easier later on. (here’s an older post i made that talks more in-depth about 汉字, particularly how they’re made and structured. it might be useful)

once you’ve built a solid foundation and have become more comfortable with characters, then i think that’s the perfect time to look deeper into learning about radicals and character components. 

all of this advice is just my opinion, though, so if you’re a beginner and think it would benefit you to study the radicals now then go for it. 

resources:

100 most common radicals (w/ examples): if you scroll down towards the bottom of this article you’ll find some links to pdfs of a chart that details the 100 most common radicals with variants, their pronunciation and meaning, examples of characters that use these radicals, comments, and finally how they’re referred to in chinese

here’s a list of the 214 radicals that you’ll see when using 

i wasn’t able to find one webpage that lists all of the radicals with examples, but i found something close: the 部首 wikipedia page has the unicode for all 214 radicals that links to separate pages that include examples of characters that use certain radicals. the examples are mostly in traditional characters, though, but some are also given in simplified. 

here’s a great article that breaks the idea of radicals（部首） vs. functional components（部件）

this might be something to save for when you’re a bit more advanced, but it’s interesting all the same: phonetic components (part 1 and part 2) are very helpful when it comes to determining a character’s meaning and pronunciation. 

hopefully this answered your questions! let me know if there’s anything else i can help you with

加油！

[liu-anhuaming]

Learn Chinese you won't learn in class. If you have any words or phrases you want to know, please leave your comments. We'll keep on creating new episodes ev...

so this youtube playlist is really great 

it contains approximately 100 short videos (each about 1:30 long) that cover a bunch of mandarin slang

examples of some of the phrases covered:

炒冷饭、落汤鸡，和种草

the videos are completely in mandarin, but there are subtitles in english, mandarin, and pinyin. the speakers also speak at a nice speed so it’s easier to understand what they’re saying

the channel (GoEast language center) has lots of other videos that are also geared towards teaching mandarin so definitely check it out

[liu-anhuaming]

i know i’ve talked briefly about the dictionary apps i use most often, but it’s been awhile since i made those posts so i decided to update the list and give more detailed accounts about each dictionary i have on my phone

it’s pretty long so i put it under a cut

1. Hanping Lite

if you’ve been following me for a while then you’ll know hanping is my ride or die dictionary app for mandarin. i’ve been using it ever since i got a smartphone and absolutely love it. here’s why:

you can handwrite characters if you don’t know the pronunciation

you can also search for characters using a radical index organized by stroke order

has stroke order animations for a couple hundred characters

can use pinyin or zhuyin for pronunciation, and there are multiple ways to show tones. i personally use color-coded pinyin without the tone marks

traditional and simplified

pre-made vocab lists for all 6 HSK levels, idioms, and common characters

the cons:

only a couple hundred characters have stroke order animations

no example sentences for words

the app is only available for android

2. Written Chinese Dictionary

i decided to try this app out on a whim a while back and, despite being thrown off by the look of the app, i really like it

you can download a free stroke animation pack for every single character

when you click on a word you can not only get a handful of example sentences, but also related words

radical index

there is a free flashcard feature. you can either use the pre-made flashcards for HSK or do your own based on a list you compile

this app also offers a handful of free short stories you can download and read in the app

here’s the one issue i have with the app:

there’s only about five or six example sentence for each word. sometimes this is enough, but there are some words that just have oddly complex examples that don’t help me understand how to use it

3. Line Dictionary

i’ve been using line as a website for a long time now but i recently checked out the app and i’m so glad i did. it’s basically the same as the website but easier to access

can handwrite characters

has both diagrams and animations for stroke order

as a sentence analyzer that you can use to figure out which characters form words together as well as the meanings of the words

gives you daily expressions, quotes, and idioms

example sentence heaven. there are so many different example sentences it’s amazing

i have nothing bad to say about line

4. 有道 Youdao

i’ve never really used it before but i know my chinese language partners all use it to help them translate words from mandarin into english so i figured it deserves a spot on the list for that alone

5. 萌典 Meng Dict.

this is another chinese app that i’ve used a bit before. it has a bunch of other features that i haven’t explored yet (i think it has a taiwanese dictionary too) but here’s what i think based on my experience so far

has the main definition in mandarin, then really basic definitions in english, french, and german

has stroke order animations

shows both pinyin and zhuyin for pronunciation

cons:

only uses traditional characters

might be hard to navigate if you’re at a lower level in mandarin

[liu-anhuaming]

柳暗花明’s masterpost

here’s a compilation of every post i’ve made so far:

my quaint resource post

my other (read: better) resource post

practicing 汉子

the story of 春节

my basic mandarin posts (chronological order)

漫画人 manhuaren app rec

dictionary apps

how i memorize 汉子

grammar:

到底

一…就…

对…来说

满

管…叫

非…不可

从来不vs从来没

从…起／开始

duplication to mean “every”

连…都／也

虽然…但是…

根本

跟…比起来

越来越 yuèláiyuè vs. 愈来愈 yùláiyú

何必…呢 the rhetorical question

最好

说不定

只要

可惜

与其...不如...

反正

fractions, decimals, and percents

于是

不管

因此

既...又...

vocab:

文具

“年”与春节的传统

nature

~fun~ vocab

my fav words part 2

being responsible

空山

colors

cozy vocab

我很丑，可是我很温柔

小王子 （1）（2）

你知道我喜欢你吗

countries of the world

that one weird vocab list from a class speech 

school vocab

rainy day

weather

space vocab

必须 vs 必需 (bìxū)

rocks, minerals, and other stuff

이화 한국어 ewha vocab

漫画 (1) (2)

皮囊

你在烦恼什么（苏打绿）

SQ

秋天

巴干的蝴蝶

冬天

bugs 昆虫

柳暗花明

100 days of languages 1 2 3 8 10

misc 1

中文词汇表 1 2 3 4

weather (again)

chinese new year

city vocab

travel vocab

book vocab

sports vocab pt. 1

spring vocab

apartment vocab

难: nan2 vs nan4

color-related vocab

at the airport

summer vocab

langblr music challenge

成语 cheng2yu3

百闻不如一见

有惊无险

对症下药

废寝忘食

美梦成真

music

我很丑，可是我很温柔

知足（苏苏）

小幸运

我要你那一样 (i want it that way) 

宝贵／／苏运莹 (w/ vocab)

一万小时//一萬小時 (w/ vocab)

我只是你的爱人//我只是你的愛人  (w/ vocab)

my favorite songs in mandarin (and one in mongolian)

巴干的蝴蝶 (HAYA乐团)  

the turtle post no one seems to appreciate: x

[liu-anhuaming]

So I wanted to talk about this app I found out about (can't remember where I first heard of it) called 漫画人 Manhuaren. It's an app that lets you read manga translated into Chinese for free. The great thing about is if you make an account (it's free) you can save manhuas for later (see the 收藏 with the star next to it on the 4th pic) as well as download chapters so that you can read them offline. When you first open the app you are at the home page. On this page there are a few different categories/genres and then a top 10 list at the bottom. The page titled 书架 keeps track of manhua that you have saved or downloaded, as well a history of the manhua you've viewed. While reading, you can zoom in so it's easier to see the text. It's a really great app if you're up for the challenge of reading 漫画 and I highly recommend it (Note: when downloading I wasn't able to find it on my phone's app store so I opened a browser on my phone, went to manhuaren.com, and downloaded it from there)