#mandarin study

[indianabonez]

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

[angelicasdigitaldiary]

all the drinks that accompanied me at my desk

[servalphias]

A Brief Introduction

In the first post on this blog I introduced myself as a Twitter refugee… and nothing else. In truth, I am still active on Twitter, and while I don’t think that site will be going down in the next few days I do feel that the writing's on the wall. Even if Twitter as a service ultimately survives Elon’s madness it will be a very different place, with many worthy folk having scattered to the winds, signing up for this or that replacement.

I have chosen Tumblr.

Now that I am here and happily reblogging (with occasional original posts like this one sprinkled in), I suppose I should explain what I’m about and what to expect on my little corner of the Internet.

I have a variety of interests, but in this space I will mainly be posting and reblogging about three of them: language learning, outer space/space news, and (eventually) learning to draw. Of these three, it’s the language learning that will be of primary focus for me on this website for at least the short term, and I want to take a moment and share some of my ambition on this front.

- Language Learning -

I have recently begun the long, laborious, difficult, and satisfying journey of language learning. I have a list of languages I wish to learn. The two at the top of the list are Chinese (Mandarin) and Hindi.

I started learning Mandarin Chinese toward the end of August (你好。你怎么样？), and while progress has ultimately been slow I am at least making it. I’ve found myself somewhat surprised very early on in that it isn’t meaning or writing the characters I’ve struggled the most with, but tones and making sure I use the right tone when speaking. Right now I’m primarily going through Duolingo lessons and copying their sentences and translations for use in SRS repetition. Sometime down the line I’ll be going through Grammar lessons and trying to find ways to interact with native speakers for feedback - maybe starting with a tutor before anything?

I have not yet started learning Hindi, but I plan to soon. I will start along a similar path as with my Mandarin: Duolingo, then focusing on learning Grammar and eventual practice with other speakers - native, ideally.

Aside from reblogs, right now I think most of my posts on here will be questions. Maybe I’ll have comments on aspects of the language (does Mandarin really not have a general word for “brother” or “sister?”) or other things along those lines.

So, I would like to end this short introduction with some questions. Right now I plan to use two websites to get feedback from native speakers: LangCorrect and italki. The first is a place to post journal-style updates in your target language, then native speakers will offer corrections and advice, with the idea being that you offer corrections and advice to people learning your native tongue. The second is for direct interaction, and while I’m mainly looking at italki for tutors, I’m just happy to get good advice and corrections from any fluent speaker.

So, the questions! Are there other resources I could also be using? Are there alternatives to LangCorrect and italki that are as good or even better? Is the Duolingo bird going to kill me in my sleep? Thank you in advance for any advice you can give me.

[linghxr]

Reading Chinese Names: Male Names

Part 2 of Reading Chinese Names, click here to see part 1 on female names!

In this part, I compiled a list of over 1000 Chinese male names which combined consisted on 579 unique characters. These names came from participants on idol survival shows and other singers and actors. I did my best to remove duplicate individuals and not include stage names that are not authentic Chinese names (like 奥斯卡). A lot of performers go by stage names that sound authentic or have changed their legal name–I included these. I separated the names into individual characters and then counted how many times each character occurred. Note that these data are not necessarily representative of the overall populations of China and Taiwan. However, I think this info is still valuable.

Below I have the top 82 characters, aka those that were found at least 5 times. I’ve included all the counts for those who may be interested. Characters also found on the females names list are bolded.

宇 yǔ - room, universe / 28

子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing / 24

杰 jié - hero, heroic, outstanding person, prominent, distinguished / 24

文 wén - language, culture, writing, formal, literary, gentle / 23

豪 háo - grand, heroic / 21

俊 jùn - smart, eminent, handsome, talented / 20

泽 zé - pool, pond, (of metals etc) luster, favor or beneficence, damp, moist / 20

一 yī - one, 1, single, a (article), as soon as, entire, whole, all, throughout / 19

明 míng - bright, clear, to understand, wise / 18

博 bó - extensive, ample, rich, obtain, aim, to win, to get, plentiful / 16

天 tiān - day, sky, heaven / 16

浩 hào - grand, vast (water) / 15

嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 14

晨 chén - morning, dawn, daybreak / 14

超 chāo - to exceed, to overtake, to surpass, to transcend, to pass, to cross, super / 14

轩 xuān - pavilion with a view, high, tall / 12

鑫 xīn - (used in names of people and shops, symbolizing prosperity) / 11

铭 míng - to engrave, inscribed motto / 11

龙 lóng - dragon, imperial / 11

东 dōng - east / 10

凯 kǎi - triumphant, victorious / 10

旭 xù - dawn, rising sun / 10

昊 hào - vast and limitless, the vast sky / 10

然 rán - correct, right, so, thus, like this / 10

宁 níng - peaceful, to pacify / 9

伟 wěi - big, large, great / 8

成 chéng - to succeed, to finish, to complete, to accomplish, to become, to turn into / 8

梓 zǐ - Catalpa kaempferi (type of tree), printing blocks / 8

正 zhèng - straight, upright, proper, main, principal, to correct, to rectify, exactly / 8

艺 yì - skill, art / 8

辉 huī - splendor, to shine upon / 8

辰 chén - 5th earthly branch, 3rd solar month, year of the Dragon, ancient Chinese compass point / 8

雨 yǔ - rain / 8

霖 lín - continued rain / 8

健 jiàn - healthy, to invigorate, to strengthen, to be good at, to be strong in / 7

哲 zhé - wise, a sage / 7

思 sī - to think, to consider / 7

星 xīng - star, heavenly body / 7

柏 bó/bǎi - cedar, cypress / 7

翔 xiáng - to soar, to glide / 7

钧 jūn - great / 7

阳 yáng - sun / 7

飞 fēi - to fly / 7

鹏 péng - large fabulous bird / 7

凡 fán - ordinary, commonplace, mundane, temporal, of the material world, every, all, whatever, altogether, gist, outline, note of Chinese musical scale / 6

卓 zhuó - outstanding / 6

彦 yàn - accomplished, elegant / 6

彬 bīn - ornamental, refined / 6

志 zhì - aspiration, ambition, the will / 6

恩 ēn - favor, grace, kindness / 6

振 zhèn - to shake, to flap, to vibrate, to resonate, to rise up with spirit, to rouse oneself / 6

昱 yù - bright light / 6

楚 chǔ - distinct, clear, orderly / 6

毅 yì - firm and resolute, staunch / 6

波 bō - wave, ripple, storm, surge / 6

海 hǎi - ocean, sea / 6

源 yuán - root, source, origin / 6

羽 yǔ - feather, 5th note in pentatonic scale / 6

航 háng - boat, ship, craft, to navigate, to sail, to fly / 6

远 yuǎn - far, distant, remote, by far / 6

逸 yì - to escape, leisurely, outstanding / 6

亚 yà - second, next to, Asia / 5

亮 liàng - bright, clear, resonant, to shine, to show, to reveal / 5

伦 lún - human relationship, order, coherence / 5

剑 jiàn - double-edged sword / 5

华 huá - magnificent, splendid, flowery / 5

国 guó - country, nation, state, national / 5

峰 fēng - high and tapered peak or summit, mountain-like in appearance, highest level / 5

帆 fān - sail / 5

希 xī - to hope, to admire / 5

庆 qìng - to celebrate / 5

承 chéng - to bear, to carry, to hold, to continue, to undertake, to take charge, owing to, due to, to receive / 5

斌 bīn - ornamental, refined / 5

新 xīn - new / 5

晓 xiǎo - dawn, daybreak, to know, to let sb know, to make explicit / 5

林 lín - woods, forest / 5

涛 tāo - big wave / 5

睿 ruì - astute, perspicacious, farsighted / 5

磊 lěi - lumpy, rock pile, uneven, fig. sincere, open and honest / 5

禹 yǔ - Yu the Great (c. 21st century BC), mythical leader who tamed the floods / 5

耀 yào - brilliant, glorious / 5

聪 cōng - wise, clever, sharp-witted, intelligent, acute, quick at hearing / 5

For practice, here are some example names of male celebrities/idols that only use characters from above:

周杰伦 Zhōu Jiélún

王一博 Wáng Yībó

华晨宇 Huá Chényǔ

胡彦斌 Hú Yànbīn

王俊凯 Wáng Jùnkǎi

朱一龙 Zhū Yīlóng

马天宇 Mǎ Tiānyǔ

王源 Wáng Yuán

刘耀文 Liú Yàowén

黄明昊 Huáng Mínghào

徐明浩 Xú Mínghào

任豪 Rèn Háo

宋亚轩 Sòng Yàxuān

李振宁 Lǐ Zhènníng

Hopefully this helps you learn more about Chinese names! It is hard to guess the gender of someone based on their name, but these lists can help provide some hints. Still you can never be 100% sure–some women have names that are more typically male and vice versa. Many names are also very unisex, like mine, which has one character from this list, one from the female one.

[dreamwhaleflying]

29/4/2021

Day 3/60

Today is a public holiday in my country so I wake up late than usual. Then, I spent most of my day studying mandarin and read shinrin yoku. I also did some bullet journaling, and read through some that I had written before. Its like walking through a memory lane. As for work, since its a holiday, I decide not to do anything related to work, so I don’t get burn out.

📚 shinrin yoku

🎶 Zhou Shen - dear traveller

[chinese-study-blog]

Study Chinese Economy and politics! Upper-intermediate Video Study Resource

Overview:

This is a 自媒体 talk show about economy and politics. I really enjoy the format of the videos and Wong Kim speaks very clearly and methodically that his videos keep you interested.

Access the resource:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8UCbiPrm2zN9nZHKdTevZA

Whats good about it?

Updated twice daily, videos are 1 hour long, the news analysis section is about 30 minutes

Some videos include subtitles that you can select in either English or Chinese

The format of each video is the same, discussion of a topic and then an analysis of the news and then discussion with viewers at the end. Once you listen to a few videos you'll become familiar with the format

Keep up to date with current events as well as improving Chinese.

On a side note:

Whenever you watch news, of course every media outlet has their own stance/position so I encourage everyone to listen widely to differing opinions to really understand Chinese culture/politics (a journey I am currently on too!). Remember the majority of opinions ‘inside the wall’ will be different to those ‘outside’. I will try to share both types of resources. I also will try to share western media that has Chinese news outlets as well as in my recent journey of studying Chinese economy and politics I think listening to all differing voices is very important to form your own understanding!

[pileofmandarins]

新年快乐，朋友！🐷

Currently studying some mandarin before class :) We've moved on from school subjects and places, and are currently learning how to tell time and talk about your timetable. It interesting as always, even though there's a lot to learn ✨ We've also talked about 春节 in class and my uni is organising some festivities including a gala with performers today and a festival on Sunday where I'm actually volunteering!

We've also received information about a Summer Programme at Wuhan University, and its sounds like an absolute amazing opportunity. It's 18 days long and a mix of language learning and cultural activities... I'm quite set on going, I think it would improve my Mandarin a lot ✨

How has your week been? 🍊

[poly-glot-dreams]

오늘 공부했어요. 대박.....

I'm restarting the 100 days of languages and the 100 days of productivity tomorrow. I will focus on Korean, Mandarin Chinese and German for now.