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[neuronmate]

Oh wow I haven’t updated in a while. But it uhhh

Language Journey Update-中文

Long story short it hasn’t been going well. It’s been challenging studying Chinese when I don’t know when to stop ruminating on the same grammar points.

[neuronmate]

Umm ummm ummm umm here’s some doodles i did

[neuronmate]

大家好！

I just found my Chinese textbook I used in college and I’m soooo happy to have a basis to follow!

我很高兴！我可以学汉语！我觉得我想去看电影。

these are just sentences I’m making up.

[neuronmate]

Reblogging this for easy access for any mutuals that may run across Chinese artists and want to complement their work but don’t know what to say

chinese art compliments/replies

as a follow up to my post on online drawing vocab, here is a collection of comments you can use to compliment others' art :-)

the basics

喜欢 [xǐhuān] - i like it

好好看 [hǎohǎo kàn] - looks good

厉害 [lìhài] - amazing

好漂亮/帥/美 [piàoliang/shuài/měi] - so pretty/handsome/beautiful

太有才了 [tài yǒu cáile] - so talented (similarily, 画画天才 => drawing genius)

好神 [hǎo shén] - godly

神迹 [shén jī] - miraculous

仙品 [xiān pǐn] - high-quality product

好鮮活 [xiān huó] - vivid/lifelike

it’s cute

可爱晕了 [kě'ài yūnle] - so cute i fainted

可爱死了 [kě'ài sǐle] - so cute I died

可爱鼠了 [kě'ài shǔle] - so cute I died (in a cutesy/meme way)

卡瓦 [kǎ wǎ] - kawaii

好米 [hǎo mǐ] - so cute/beautiful

太萌了 [tài méngle] - so adorable (originating from japanese word moe - 萌え, lots of different meanings, but mostly refers to happiness you feel when you see something really cute), can be used like 萌到我了/被萌晕/心被萌化了

basically any XX死了 or XX暈了 comment works

expletives

我去 [wǒ qù] - damn

卧槽/我草/wc [wò cāo] - censored vers of 我操 => oh fuck

牛逼 [niú bī] - (fucking) awesome

exclamatives

哇/哇塞 [wasāi] - wow

啊啊啊啊 - aaaaaa

哇啊啊啊 - wahhhh

responding to compliments

被老師跨了，能力暴增 [kuà...bào zēng] - (if responding to commenter who's also an artist) compliments from teacher make my ability surge

爱您主人 - love u op (主人 refers to original commenter)

嘿嘿谢谢喜欢 - hehe ty for liking

questions

可以当头像吗 [tóuxiàng] - can I make it my pfp

可以自印吗 [zì yìn] - can I print it out

可以收集吗 [shōují] - can I save it

求原图 [qiú yuán tú] - original image pls

这么时候接稿 [jiē gǎo]- when will you open commissions

misc.

抱走/拿走 [bào/ná zǒu] - carrying/taking it away

蹲蹲 [dūn dūn] - if someone has posted a WIP, waiting (for the finished piece/shop listing), direct trans. = squatting

[neuronmate]

See this is why I need a tutor for this because how do y’all manage to make it to this point???

I’m so jealous.

Godspeed🫡

My least favorite Chinese character: 着 (著)

My least favorite Chinese character is 着 (著) because its many pronunciations are always tripping me up 😭

【1】 着（著）zhe - aspect particle indicating action in progress or ongoing state

【2】 着（著）zháo - to touch / to come in contact with / to feel / to be affected by / to catch fire / to burn / (coll.) to fall asleep / (after a verb) hitting the mark / succeeding in

【3】 着（著）zhuó - to wear (clothes) / to contact / to use / to apply

【4】 着（著）zhāo - (chess) move / trick / all right! / (dialect) to add

If you're learning traditional characters, you’ve got a 5th pronunciation to contend with.

【5】 著 zhù - to make known / to show / to prove / to write / book / outstanding

Some words have multiple pronunciations for different varieties or standard vs. colloquial speech. I'm always second guessing myself with these words.

着想（著想）zhuóxiǎng or zháoxiǎng - to give thought (to others) / to consider (other people's needs)

着落（著落）zhuóluò or zháoluò - whereabouts / place to settle / reliable source (of funds etc) / (of responsibility for a matter) to rest with sb / settlement / solution

着急（著急）zháojí or zhāojí - to worry; to feel anxious / to feel a sense of urgency; to be in a hurry

着凉（著涼）zháoliáng or zhāoliáng - to catch cold

怎么着（怎麼著）zěnmezhāo or zěnmezhe - what? / how? / how about? / whatever

Zháo vs. zhuó is quite tricky for me. When I see a brand new word, I will usually guess zhuó but am not very confident.

That being said, the worst offender IMO is 穿着 (穿著). Is it chuānzhe (wearing) or chuānzhuó (attire)? This one has tripped me up so many times.

他穿着一身黑衣。 -> chuānzhe

对我来说，穿着打扮很重要。 -> chuānzhuó

Usually I can figure it out from context, but if I'm confused about other parts of the sentence, I struggle with the pronunciation.

这件衣服穿着太小气。

穿着太小气，显现不出你的身份来。

I'm not fully grasping the meaning of 小气 here, so I'm not sure if 穿着 is chuānzhe or chuānzhuó 🥲 Honestly I would have guessed the first one is chuānzhe and the second is chuānzhuó, but I feel like that doesn't make any sense 🆘

Definitions are adapted from MDBG.

[neuronmate]

You know I’m curious about something…

Bonjour! Je m’appelle Rien. J’ai 24 (vingt-quatre) ans. J’ai étudié les français pour quatre ans mais je pense que je n’améliore pas. Le raison je n’améliore pas mon français c’est parce que je n’utilise pas. J’aime français et le culture. C’est magnifique et intéressant. J’aime étudier psychologie. Je pense je vais étudier français en le futur.

How’d I’d do?

[neuronmate]

I remember my French professor saying something that resonated with me. For French she said, in order to get comfortable with speaking and conjugating, use verbs and words that you use daily. For me it was courir, aimer, pleurer (we all know why it was college) étudier etc etc. that helped me out immensely and I thought… why not use that for Chinese and Spanish. I know there’s no conjugating in Chinese… but to get used to the tones and grammar… why not learn words that I use frequently?

[neuronmate]

大家好！我今天我去健身房了。我喜欢有氧运动。我常常跑步20-30分冲。

New Vocabulary used in this post

跑步 （pǎobù）： to run, jog

健身房 （Jiànshēnfáng）： Gym

有氧运动 （yǒuyǎng yùndòng）： Cardio

常常（Chángcháng): usually adverb

[neuronmate]

您好！今天我学一点汉语了。我写汉字了。虽然写汉字很难我得练习。

Hello everyone, today I studied a little bit of Chinese. Although writing characters is difficult, I need to practice.

[neuronmate]

Welcome to linghxr

For my 250th post on this blog, I created a new pinned post to introduce myself!

About me:

I’m a Chinese American learning Mandarin Chinese to connect with my family and heritage.

I started learning Chinese at a young age but became more serious about it in college. My native language is English.

Interests: Cpop/Mandopop, Chinese idol survival shows & reality singing shows, cdramas (mostly suspense/mystery/crime genres)

My top resources:

Pleco Chinese dictionary app

Anki flashcard software & mobile app

MDBG Chinese dictionary

教育百科 Chinese dictionary

Zhongwen browser extension

Readibu app

Chinese Grammar Wiki

Chinese Zero to Hero YouTube channel

每日中文课Free To Learn Chinese YouTube channel

If you are on my blog, click the tags below to see posts on topics I often post about!

[neuronmate]

you heard the man

—-

Twitter | Ko-fi

[neuronmate]

你好 Falco！ 谢谢！我学了法语在大学。我也觉得法语很有意思。我觉得法语很容易的学但是难练习。

Okay here we go- my first attempt at using Chinese daily…

大家好！我叫Rien，我学心理学了。我喜欢学中文和汉语。我二四岁。我���欢看电视。我喜欢喝咖啡。我觉得咖啡很好👌。我想去中国。我觉得很有意思。

I hope it makes sense… I recognize there will be mistakes but it’s about learning from them right?

[neuronmate]

A thank you for those who commented. After mulling it over I decided to switch to Traditional Chinese Characters. It’s more interesting and to be honest I think it has the potential for more social interaction in terms of making friends with those in the Chinese community. Such as those in Taiwan.

I think what I’ll do is just go through my textbook and create character sheets but make them traditional. It’ll be more work but tbh it’ll make for great review!

[neuronmate]

I need this

Official Chris and Leon Jackets from Death Island

Well, this was a nice surprise!! I'm especially impressed since Chris isn't really *known* for his jackets, but Leon definitely is.

And now it's official-- Leon and Chris jackets! Leon's is a replica of his jacket from the film, of course, but Chris’ is labeled as an MA1 (Bomber jacket). So if you have $683 USD for Leon’s or $277 for Chris', the pre-order link is here.

And here's some more detail shots. The photos that were posted aren't *that* high of quality, so I can't tell exactly what the inscriptions read beyond their names, but still, very interesting.

[neuronmate]

Official Chris and Leon Jackets from Death Island

Well, this was a nice surprise!! I'm especially impressed since Chris isn't really *known* for his jackets, but Leon definitely is.

And now it's official-- Leon and Chris jackets! Leon's is a replica of his jacket from the film, of course, but Chris’ is labeled as an MA1 (Bomber jacket). So if you have $683 USD for Leon’s or $277 for Chris', the pre-order link is here.

And here's some more detail shots. The photos that were posted aren't *that* high of quality, so I can't tell exactly what the inscriptions read beyond their names, but still, very interesting.

[neuronmate]

In light of Duolingo laying off its translators, here are my favourite language apps (primarily for Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and te reo Māori).

Multiple Languages

Anki is a flashcard programme and app that's not exclusively for languages. While making your own decks is ideal, you can also download shared decks for most languages.

If you're learning Japanese, specifically, Seth Clydesdale has websites for practicing alongside Genki's 2nd or 3rd editions, and he also provides his own shared Anki decks for Genki.

And if you're learning te reo Māori, specifically, here's a guide on how to make your own deck.

TOFU Learn is an app for learning vocabulary that's very similar to Anki. However, it has particularly excellent shared decks for East Asian languages. I've used it extensively for practicing 汉字. Additionally, if you're learning te reo Māori, there's a shared deck of vocabulary from Māori Made Easy!

Mandarin Chinese

Hello Chinese is a fantastic app for people at the HSK 1-4 levels. While there's a paid version, the only thing paying unlocks is access to podcast lessons, which imo are not really necessary. Without paying you still have access to all the gamified lessons which are laid out much like Duolingo's lessons. However, unlike Duolingo, Hello Chinese actually teaches grammar directly, properly teaches 汉字, and includes native audio practice.

Japanese

Renshuu is a website and app for learning and practicing Japanese. The vast majority of its content is available for free. There's also a Discord community where you can practice alongside others.

Kanji Dojo is a free and open source app for learning and practicing the stroke order of kanji. You can learn progressively by JLPT level or by Japanese grades. There's also the option to learn and practice kana stroke order as well.

[neuronmate]

A small assortment of lesser-known official PMD2 art.