#chinese vocab list | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

meichenxi · 8 months ago

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Vocab from first ep of 大明王朝1566：

(aka my new salt tax and budget heavy politics imperial drama!)

1. 同舟共济 - tong2 zhou1 gong4 ji4- to cross a river in the same boat / to pull together in times of trouble - 天大之事，咱们可得同舟共济

2. 议事 – yi4 shi4 – to discuss official business - 议事的时辰快到了

3. 户部 – hu4 bu4 - the Ministry of Revenue, 六部之一。 finally gonna actually learn them after years of them floating around vaguely in my NiF-brain，一共包括：

吏部 Li4 bu4 – Ministry of Personnel

户部 – hu4 bu4 – Ministry of Revenue

礼部 – Li3 bu4 – Ministry of Rites

兵部 – bing1 bu4 – Ministry of War

刑部 – xing2 bu4 – Ministry of Justine

工部 – gong1 bu4 – Ministry of Works

4. 拟 – ni3 - to draw up, devise, draft - 拟定 (to draw up)，拟议 (proposal），拟作（imitative work done in the style of a certain author，拟声 (onomatopoeia)

5. 仰赖 – yang3lai4 – to rely on (literary) - 仰赖皇上如天之德

6. 凑巧 – cou4 qiao3 – luckily, as chance would have it -凑巧 , 去年腊月又没下雪，有些人就借着这些诽谤朝廷

7. 腊月 – la4 yue4 – one of the many (many. Ye gods there are Many) names for the last month of the lunar calendar / 岁末十二月的别称

8. 祈 – qi2 – to pray for

9. 祥瑞 – xiang2 rui4 – a good omen - 虽然降了祥瑞，可是皇上他的心情也不准好到哪去

10. 亏空 – kui1kong1 – deficit (budget)-亏空上的事，能过去我们就尽量过去

11. 开支 – kai1zhi1 (expenditure) - 内阁把去年的各项开支按各部和两京一十三省的实际��度报上来

12. 宗 – zong1 – here, a measure word for sums of money - 今年有哪几宗大的开支，各部提出来，户部综算一下

14. 实心 – shi1 xin1 – sincere, honest -和大家实心用事

15. 用事 – yong4 shi4 – (literary) to act, to be in power

16. 斋戒 – zhai1 jie4 – to abstain for meat and wine when offering sacrifices to the gods/ancestors -皇上就一个人在这里斋戒敬天

Individual difficult/unfamiliar characters：

1) 济 – ji4 – to aid, assist, cross a river

2) 议 – yi4 – 议论 (comment/remark)，议会（parliament），议题 (subject under discussion)，议事日程 (agenda, order of the day)

3) 吏 – li4 – government official, petty clerk – NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH 史 shi3 – history/annals

4) 拟 – ni3 - to draw up, device, draft

5) 仰 – yang3 – to rely on > 仰头 (raise one’s head)，仰面 (to face upward)，仰天 (to look up to heaven)

6) 赖 – lai4 – to rely, depend / to blame someone wrongly – 赖以 (to depend on)

7) 凑 – cou4 – to gather together, take advantage of a chance situation, move closer – 凑近 (to get closer)，凑足 (to scrape together enough people, money etc)

8) 祈 – qi2 – to pray for – 祈福 (to pray for good fortune)，祈年 (to pray for a good harvest)，祈雨 (to pray for rain)

9)斋 – zhai1 – a vegetarian diet for religious purposes, to adopt said diet / to give alms to a monk – 斋月(Ramadan), 斋堂 (dining hall in a Buddhist temple), 斋期（days/period of fasting)

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as ever, any corrections or pointing out of typos welcome!

#langblr #chinese langblr #learn chinese #vocab list #yeah I'm not sure these are gonna be 'useful' to anyone but #whatever #they are what I'm learning. so

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malaidarling · 11 months ago

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22.4.24 //

here’s a random list of words i learned today through reading 月宫里的嫦娥 with a tutor — will perhaps make a better post about it later.

渐渐地 - jiàn jiàn de - gradually, little by little

偷偷地 - tōu tōu de - stealthily, secretly

趁 - chèn - take advantage of

后悔 -hòu huǐ - to regret

呆 - dāi - stay

望 - wàng - stare, gaze into the distance

轻 - qīng - light (as opposed to heavy)

#langblr #diaries #chinese #vocab list #vocab #mandarin

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baejax-the-great · 1 year ago

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Greek is a beautiful language

#hm #god I went over a list of chinese vocab today and just said it all out loud #and I miss speaking Chinese #just felt good to say a bunch of random shit lol #was trying to convince myself to toss out old study materials but the chinese stays #also I mean like literally felt good to use my mouth in that way #old muscles I haven't bothered with in years #because on god I am never going to be able to pronounce gamma correctlybut I was good at chinese 😭😭😭😭

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ruhua-langblr · 4 months ago

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Language Apps Suck, Now What?: A Guide to Actually Becoming "Fluent"

The much requested sequel to my DL post that was promised almost a year ago.

I'm going to address all of the techniques that have helped me in my language learning journeys. Since 95% of these came from the fact that in a past language learning mistake, they are titled as my mistakes (and how I would/did things differently going forward). For those that read to the bottom there is a "best universal resources" list.

Disclaimers:

"Fluency" is hard to define and everyone has their own goals. So for the purpose of this post, "fluency" will be defined as "your personal mastery target of the language".

If you just want to pick up a bit of a language to not sound like a total foreigner on vacation or just exchange a few words in a friend's native language, feel free to ignore what doesn't apply, but maybe something here could help make it a little easier.

This is based on my own personal experience and (some) research.

Mistake 1: Asymmetrical Studying

Assuming you don't just want to do a single activity in a language, or are learning a language like ASL, a language requires 4 parts to be studied: Speaking, Listening, Writing, Reading. While these have overlap, you can't learn speaking from reading, or even learn speaking from just listening. One of my first Chinese teachers told me how he would listen to the textbook dialogues while he was biking to classes and it helped him. I took this information, thought "Yeah that's an idea, but sounds boring" and now regret not taking his advice nearly every day.

I think a lot of us find methods we enjoy to study (mine was reading) and assume that if we just do that method more ™ it will eventually help us in other areas (sometimes it does, but that's only sometimes). Find a method that works for you for each area of study, even better find more than one method since we use these skills in a variety of manners! I can understand a TV program pretty well since I have a lot of context clues and body language to fill in any gaps of understanding, but taking a phone call is much harder—the audio is rougher, there's no body language to read, and since most Chinese programs have hard coded subtitles, no subtitles to fall back on either. If I were to compare the number of hours I spent reading in Chinese to (actively) training my listening? Probably a ratio of 100 to 1. When I started to learn Korean, the first thing I did was find a variety of listening resources for my level.

Fix: Find a variety of study methods that challenge all aspects of the language in different ways.

A variety of methods will help you develop a more well-rounded level of mastery, and probably help you keep from getting bored. Which is important because...

Mistake 2: Inconsistent Studying

If there is one positive to a language app, it is the pressure it puts on keeping a streak. Making studying a part of your everyday routine is the best thing you can do. I benefited a lot from taking a college language course since I had a dedicated time to study and practice Chinese 5 days out of the week (and homework usually filled the other two). Memorization is a huge part of language learning, and stopping and starting is terrible for memorization. When I was in elementary school, we had Spanish maybe a couple times a month. Looking back, it seems like it was the first class to be cut if we needed to catch up on a more important course. Needless to say, I can't even speak Spanish at an elementary level.

However, I'm sure many people reading this don't have the time to do ultra-immersion 4-hour study sessions every day either. Find what days during the week you have time to focus on learning new vocab and grammar, and use the rest of the week to review. This can be done on your commute to school/work, while you do the dishes, or as a part of your morning/evening routine. Making this as realistic as possible will help you actually succeed in making this a habit. (Check this out for how to set realistic study goals)

Fix: Study regularly (ideally daily) by setting realistic goals. Avoid "binge" studying since remembering requires consistent repetition to be most effective.

Mistake 3: Resource Choice

This is really composed of two mistakes, but I have a good example that will cover them both.

First, finding resources that are at or slightly above your level is the most important thing. Easy resources will not challenge you enough and difficult resources will overwhelm you. The ideal is n+1, with n as what you know plus 1 new thing.

Second, getting distracted by fancy, new technology. Newer isn't always better, and there are often advantages that are lost when we've made technological developments. I often found myself wanting to try out new browser extensions or organizational methods and honestly I would've benefitted from just using that time to study. (Also, you're probably reading this because of my DL post so I don't think it has to be said that AI resources suck.)

A good example of this was my time using Clozemaster. I had actually recommended it when I first started using it since I thought the foundation was really solid. However, after long term use, I found that it just wasn't a good fit. The sentences were often too simple or too long and strange for memorization at higher levels or were too difficult at lower levels. I think that taking my textbook's example sentences from dialogues into something like Anki would've been a far better use of my time (and money) as they were already designed to be at that n+1 level.

Fix: "Vet" your resources—make sure they will actually help you. If something is working for you, then keep using it! You don't always have to upgrade to the newest tool/method.

Mistake 3.5: Classrooms and Textbooks

A .5 since it's not my mistake, but an addendum of caution. I think there is a significant part of the language learning community that views textbooks and classroom learning as the worst possible resource. They are "boring", "outdated", and "ineffective" (ironically one of the most interesting modern language learning methods, ALG, is only done in a classroom setting). Classrooms and textbooks bring back memories of being surrounded by mostly uninterested classmates, minimal priority, and a focus on grades rather than personal achievement (imagine the difference between a class of middle schoolers who were forced to choose a foreign language vs. adult learners who self-selected!) People have used these exact methods, or even "cruder" methods, to successfully learn a language. It all comes down to what works best for you. I specifically recommend textbooks for learning grammar and the plentiful number of dialogues and written passages that can function great as graded readers and listening resources. (Also the distinction made between "a youtube lesson on a grammatical principle" which is totally cool, and "a passage in a grammar textbook" is more one of tone and audio/written than efficacy).

Classrooms can be really great for speaking practice since they can be a lot less intimidating speaking to someone who is also learning while receiving corrections. Speech can be awkward to train on your own (not impossible if you're good at just talking aloud to yourself!), and classrooms can work nicely for this. Homework and class schedules also have built in accountability!

Fix: Explore resources available to you and try to think holistically about your approach. CI+Traditional Methods is my go to "Learning Cocktail"

Mistake 4: Yes, Immersion, But...

I realized this relatively quickly while learning Chinese, but immersion at a level much higher than your current level will do very little for you. What is sometimes left out of those "Just watch anime to learn Japanese" discussions is that you first need to have a chance at understanding what is being said. Choosing materials that are much higher than your level will not teach you the language. It doesn't matter how many times someone at HSK 1 hears “他是甘露之惠，我并无此水可还”, they will not get very far. Actual deduction and learning comes from having enough familiar components to be able to make deductions—something different than guessing. An HSK 1 learner, never having heard the word 老虎 will be able to understand "tiger" if someone says “这是我的老虎” while standing next to a tiger. This is not to say you can never try something more difficult—things should be challenging—but if you can't make heads or tails of what's being said, then it's time to find something a bit easier. If mistake 2 is about the type of method, this is about the level. If you wouldn't give a kindergartener The Great Gatsby to learn how to read, why would you watch Full Metal Alchemist to start learning a language?

Side note: Interesting video here on the Comprehensible Input hypothesis and how it relates to neurodivergence.

Fix: Immerse yourself in appropriate content for your level. It's called comprehensible input for a reason.

Mistake 5: On Translation

I work as a translator, so do you really think I'm going to say translation is all bad? Of course not. It's a separate skill that can be added on to the basic skills, but is really only required if you are A. someone who is an intermediary between two languages (say you have to translate for a spouse or family member) or B. It is your job/hobby. In the context of sitting down and learning, it can be harmful. I think my brain often goes to translation too often because that's how I used to learn. Trying to unlearn that is difficult because, well, what do people even mean when they say "don't translate"? They mean when someone says "thank you", you should not go to your primary language and translate "you're welcome" from that. You should train yourself to go to your target language first when you hear the word for "thank you". A very literally translated "thank you" in Chinese "谢谢你" can come off as cold and sarcastic. I don't tell my friends that, I say "谢啦～". Direct translation can take away the difference in culture, grammar, and politeness in a language. If there is a reason you sound awkward while writing and speaking, it's probably because you're imposing your primary language on your target language.

Fix: Try as hard as you can to not work from your primary language into the target language, but to work from the structures, set phrases, and grammar within the target language that you know first.

Mistake 6: The Secret Language Learners Don't Want You To Know...

...is that there is no one easy method. You are not going to learn French while you sleep, or master Korean by doing this one easy trick. Learning a language requires work and dedication, the people that succeed are those that push through the boredom of repetition and failure. The "I learned X in 1 year/month/week/day!" crowd is hiding large asterisks, be it their actual level, the assistance and free time available to them, "well actually I had already studied this for 4 years", or just straight-up lying. Our own journeys in our native tongue were not easy, they required years and years of constant immersion and instruction. While we are now older and wiser people that can make quick connections, we are also burdened with things like "jobs", "house work", "school work", and the digital black hole that is "social media" that take up our time and energy. Everything above is to help make this journey a little bit easier, quicker, and painless, but it will never be magic.

I find that language learning has a lot in common with the fitness community. People will talk about the workout that changed their life and how no other one will do the same—and it really can be the truth that it changed their life and that they feel it is the ultimate way. The real workout that will change your life is the one you're most consistent with, that you enjoy the most. Language learning is just trying to find the brain exercise that you can be the most consistent with.

Fix: Save your energy looking for shortcuts, and do the work, fail, and come back for more. If someone tells you that you can become fluent in a ridiculously short amount of time, they are selling you a fantasy (and likely a product). You get out what you put in.

For those that made it to the end, here are some of my "universal resources":

Refold Method: I don't agree with their actual method 100%, but they've collected a lot of great resources for learning languages. I've found their Chinese and Korean discords to also be really helpful and provided even more resources than what's given in their starter guides.

Language Reactor: Very useful, and have recently added podcasts as a material! The free version is honestly all you need.

Anki: If I do not mention it, the people with 4+ year streaks with a 5K word deck will not let me forget it. It can be used on desktop or on your phone as an app. If you need a replacement for a language learning app, this is one of them. Justin Sung has a lot of great info on how to best utilize Anki (as does Refold). It's not my favorite, but it could be yours!

LingQ: "But I thought you said language apps are bad!" In isolation, yes. Sorry for the clickbait. This one is pretty good, and more interested in immersing you in the language than selling a subscription to allow you to freeze your streak so the number goes up.

Grammar Textbooks: For self-taught learning, these are going to be the best resource since it's focused on the hardest part of the language, and only that. If you're tired of seeing group work activities, look for a textbook that is just on grammar (Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar is my rec for Chinese, and A Guide to Japanese Grammar by Tae Kim is the most common/enthusiastic rec I've heard for Japanese).

Shadowing: Simply repeat what you hear. Matt vs Japan talks about his setup here for optimized shadowing (which you can probably build for a lot cheaper now), but it can also just be you watching a video and pausing to repeat after each sentence or near simultaneously if you're able.

Youtube: Be it "Short Story for Beginners", "How to use X", "250 Essential Phrases", or a GRWM in your target language, Youtube is the best. Sometimes you have to dig to find what works for you, but I imagine there is something for everyone at every level. (Pro tip: People upload textbook audio dialogues often, you don't even have to buy the textbook to be able to learn from it!)

A Friend: Be it a fellow learner, or someone who has already mastered the language, it is easier when you have someone, not only to speak to, but to remind you why you're doing this. I write far more in Chinese because I have friends I can text in Chinese.

Pen and Paper: Study after study, writing on paper continues to be the best method for memorization. Typing or using a pen and tablet still can't compare to traditional methods.

The Replies (Probably): Lots of people were happy to give alternatives for specific languages in the replies of my DL post. The community here is pretty active, so if this post blows up at least 20% of what the last one did, you might be able to find some great stuff in the replies and reblogs.

I wish you all the best~

#langblr #mandarinblr #language learning #resource #dare i put this in the duolingo tag lmao

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polyglot-thought · 1 year ago

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[Mandarin→English] @sleeptheory July 11th 2020 Post — Vocabulary

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

夏日 xià rì Summer sun/day/time

消暑 xiāo shǔ To spend a summer holiday; (esp of Chinese medicine) to relieve summer heat

安靜｜安静 ān jìng quiet, silent; calm, peaceful

入睡 rù shuì to fall asleep

使用 shǐ yòng to use; employ; apply; make use of

眠 mián to sleep; hibernate

失眠 shī mián insomnia; sleeplessness

助眠 zhù mián sleep aid

白噪音 bái zào yīn white noise

舒緩｜舒缓 shū huǎn to ease (tension); to relax; to cause sth to relax; to alleviate; relaxed; easy and unhurried; leisurely; soothing

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Please correct me if I made a mistake

夏日的消暑，安靜的入睡。快來使用好眠App。

#chinese to english #chinese

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bonbonmacaron · 6 months ago

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I started reading this serialized fantasy novel in Chinese called Twig 枝丫. It’s about trees growing in people and controlling them 😱 Very spooky and intriguing. It’s written by a student and specifically for intermediate learners. The Substack has vocab lists for each chapter and audio, which is amazing! The best part is that a new chapter comes out every Friday. I’m only on chapter 10 so far, so I’m not caught up yet. If you also want to read it, you can just look up the Twig 枝丫 Substack. I pasted the chapters into Pleco to look up words.

I’ve also been watching this show called Women in Taipei 台北女子圖鑑 and it’s really good. I feel like I can understand about 80% of it. Apparently it’s an adaptation of a Japanese show, so I might also watch it in Japanese. Oh wait I just looked it up, it’s an adaption of Tokyo Girl, which was the first show I watched in Japanese 😅

#langblr #chinese #mandarin #mandarin resources #mandarin readers #reading #中文 #substack #pleco #chinese langblr

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fangcaodi · 1 month ago

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To The Wonder 《我的阿勒泰》 vocab list

牧场（牧場）mùchǎng - pasture / grazing land / ranch

游牧（遊牧）yóumù - nomadic / to move about in search of pasture / to rove around as a nomad

粪（糞）fèn - excrement; dung; droppings -> 牛粪、羊粪、马粪

牧民 mùmín - herdsman

赛马（賽馬）sàimǎ - horse race / horse racing

马场（馬場）mǎchǎng - horse farm/ranch

放牧 fàngmù - to graze (livestock) / to herd (livestock)

草皮 cǎopí - turf / sward / sod

挂账（掛賬）guàzhàng - charge to someone’s tab or account

要账（要賬）yàozhàng - to demand repayment / to collect debt

小卖部（小賣部）xiǎomàibù - small shop / kiosk

要钱（要錢）yàoqián - to charge / to demand payment

抵债（抵債）dǐzhài - to repay a debt in kind or by labor

戈壁 Gēbì - Gobi (desert)

小道 xiǎodào - trail

县城（縣城）xiànchéng - county seat; county town

高反 gāofǎn - altitude sickness / abbr. for 高原反應｜高原反应

木耳 mùěr - wood ear; jelly ear (edible fungus) / CL: 朵

虫草（蟲草）chóngcǎo - caterpillar fungus

撇下 piēxia - to cast away

心上人 xīnshàngrén - sweetheart / one's beloved

走火 zǒuhuǒ - to go off accidentally / to catch fire

改嫁 gǎijià - to remarry (of a woman)

巫术（巫術）wūshù - witchcraft

算数（算數）suànshù - to count numbers / to keep to one's word / to hold (i.e. to remain valid) / to count (i.e. to be important)

冥冥之中 míngmíngzhīzhōng - in the unseen world of spirits / mysteriously and inexorably

前不着村，后不着店（前不著村，後不著店）qiánbùzháocūn, hòubùzháodiàn - lit. no village ahead and no inn behind (idiom) / fig. to be stranded in the middle of nowhere

老马识途（老馬識途）lǎomǎshítú - an old horse knows the way (idiom); an experienced worker knows what to do / an old hand knows the ropes

互通有无（互通有無）hùtōngyǒuwú - (idiom) mutual exchange of assistance; to benefit from each other's strengths and make up each other's shortfalls; to reciprocate with material assistance; to scratch each other's back

吃软饭（吃軟飯）chīruǎnfàn - to live off a woman

#to the wonder #我的阿勒泰 #cdrama #chinese drama #vocab list

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lingpaopao · 10 months ago

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. ݁₊ ⊹ 🍭🍨 𝘋𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘝𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘣𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘺 🍧🍰 . ݁˖

// Candy // Cotton candy ~ 棉花糖 (miánhuātáng) Note: 'marshmallow' has the same name as cotton candy in Chinese Gummy ~ 软糖 (ruǎntáng) Lollipop ~ 棒棒糖 (bàngbàngtáng) Fudge ~ 乳脂软糖 (rǔzhī ruǎntáng) Caramel ~ 焦糖 (jiāotáng) Jellybean ~ 果冻豆 (guǒdòng dòu) Toffee ~ 太妃糖 (tàifēi táng) Liquorice ~ 甘草 (gāncǎo) // Baked Sweets // Cupcake ~ 杯子蛋糕 (bēizi dàngāo) Brownie ~ 布朗尼 (bùlǎngní) Sponge cake ~ 海绵蛋糕 (hǎimián dàngāo) Lava cake ~ 熔岩蛋糕 (Róngyán dàngāo) Black forest cake ~ 黑森林蛋糕 (hēisēnlín dàngāo) Cheesecake ~ 乳酪蛋糕 (rǔlào dàngāo) Tiramisu ~ 提拉米苏 (tílāmǐsū) Scone ~ 司康 (sīkāng) Macaron ~ 马卡龙 (mǎkǎlóng) Waffle ~ 华夫饼 (huáfū bǐng) Tart ~ 塔 (tǎ) Crepe ~ 可丽饼 (kělì bǐng) Pie ~ 派 (pài) Chocolate chip cookie ~ 巧克力碎片饼干 (qiǎokèlì suìpiàn bǐnggān) Donut ~ 甜甜圈 (tiántiánquān) Brulee ~ 烤布蕾 (kǎo bùlěi) Creampie ~ 奶油派 (nǎiyóu pài) Cinnamon bun ~ 肉桂卷 (ròuguì juǎn) Gingerbread ~ 姜饼 (jiāngbǐng) Red velvet cake ~ 红色天鹅绒蛋糕 (hóngsè tiān'é'rónghuá dàngāo) // Frozen Desserts // Sherbet ~ 雪葩 (xuěpā) Gelato ~ 吉拉朵 (jílāduǒ) Sundae ~ 圣代 (shèngdài) Shaved ice ~ 刨冰 (bàobīng) Ice cream ~ 冰激凌 (bīngjīlíng) Note: another common name is 冰淇淋 (bīngqílín). Popsicle ~ 冰棍儿 (bīnggùn'er) // Misc. // Custard ~ 奶黄 (nǎihuáng) Puff ~ 泡芙 (pàofú) Popcorn ~ 爆米花 (bàomǐhuā) Milkshake ~ 奶昔 (nǎixī) Jello ~ 果冻 (guǒdòng) Oreo ~ 奥利奥 (àolì'ào) // Common Asian Desserts // Mochi ~ 麻糬 (máshǔ) Tanghulu ~ 糖葫芦 (tánghúlu) Black sesame soup ~ 黑芝麻糊 (hēi zhīma hú) Swallow's nest ~ 燕窝 (yànwō) Sago pudding ~ 西米布丁 (xīmǐ bùdīng) Snow fungus soup ~ 雪耳糖水 (xuě'ěr tángshuǐ) Osmanthus Jelly ~ 桂花糕 (guìhuā gāo) Grass jelly ~ 仙草 (xiāncǎo) // Example Text // https://www.sohu.com/a/443013219_120949919

口味最“奇怪”的4种糖果 -> the four candies with the strangest flavours.

1、星空棒棒糖 -> planet lollipops

星空棒棒糖有名的高颜值糖果，大部分的女生都有买过，或是男生情人节买来送女朋友都有了解过。-> Planet lollipops are popular for their appearance, lots of women have already purchased them before, or men who, on Valentine's day gifted it to their girlfriends, have understood. 它的味道你尝过后就会觉得“这是什么沙雕玩意儿，我吃了塑料吗？”，有这种感觉并不奇怪，星空棒棒糖大部分都是甜苦甜苦的味道，有些还带着塑料的气味，吃完就怀疑人生，估计这个糖果也就只能当做摆设。-> After tasting its flavour, you will think: "what is this sand sculpture-like thing, am I eating plastic?" Having this kind of feeling isn't exactly strange, planetary lollipop largely have a bittersweet flavour, some lollipops even have a plastic odour, after eating it, you'll question your life, seems like this kind of candy is only used for decoration.

2、榴莲糖 -> durian candy

...打开包装就是浓浓的榴莲味，吃到嘴里就感觉是三里往外都是这个榴莲味 -> upon opening the package are the dense/strong durian smells, eating them makes you feel that the durian smell is everywhere within a 3 mile radius.

3、姜汁糖 -> ginger candy

姜汁糖里面就是有大量的姜味，吃的第一口还是上面糖味，含一会后姜味就显露出来了，你会有一种姜辣的感觉，一直猛吸气想要减少这个辣味，没想到后面越吃越辣，让人有点受不了，吃到一半就吐了，这种一般都是家里的老人才会买，老人很喜欢这种甜辣的感觉，甚至吃起来还想喝一两口小酒。-> Within ginger candy is a considerable amount of ginger flavour, after eating the first bite, the first taste is sweet, after sucking on it for a bit, the ginger flavour will come out and you get have a spicy ginger feeling. Keep inhaling sharply, wanting to reduce this spiciness, not knowing that more and more spiciness will follow, intolerable, spat it out halfway through, this kind of candy will typically be bought by a family's older individuals, elders really like this kind of spicy-sweet feel, to the point of also wanting to drink a couple gulps of liquor.

世界上最好吃的十种甜点，吃过六种，算我服！-> 10 of the world's most delicious desserts, eaten 6 types, count me in!

1、布朗尼蛋糕--美国 -> Brownie--America

布朗尼蛋糕属于重油蛋糕的一种，但它和一般重油蛋糕的区别在于通常较薄且较结实，不像普通蛋糕那样松松的, 而且一定是巧克力口味 -> Brownies are considered a type of pound cakes, but they are different from regular pound cakes in that they are usually on the thinner and sturdier side, unlike the regular cakes which are fluffier, and brownies need a chocolate flavour.

2、提拉米苏--意大利 -> Tiramisu--Italy

提拉米苏是一种带咖啡酒味儿的意大利甜点 -> tiramisu is a type of coffee-flavour containing Italian dessert.

10、乳酪蛋糕--阿拉伯 -> Cheesecake--Arabic

这类蛋糕介于蛋糕和甜点之间，因而越来越受人关注 -> this type of cake is a cross between cakes and desserts, and because of this, more and more people have given it attention.

#chinese #langblr #language learning #vocab list #aesthetic #chinese langblr #chinese vocabulary #chinese cuisine #chinese culture #dessert #sweetcore #chinese vocab

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taomubiji · 1 year ago

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@d-genie I'll reply here so I can link the resources. I separated the resources by topic to make things easier. Hope this helps!

General Learning

HelloChinese: arguably the best app for learning Chinese. It covers grammar, pronunciation, vocab, and writing characters. It's free up to HSK2 and I used it all the time when I first learned Chinese.

Duolingo: similar to HelloChinese but it lacks a lot. I still use it because it's free and I can practice sentence structure.

Dictionaries

PurpleCulture: a website with a ton of learning tools. I use the dictionary here because it says which HSK level the word is, breaks down the character into different radicals, and also gives a way to memorize the character.

Baidu: I use Baidu's translation app when there's more than one word in a sentence I don't understand. I paste the whole sentence there, and it provides a list of words and their meanings. You can also highlight a word you don't know, and its meaning will pop up.

Pleco: an app dictionary. It's good but I'm usually on my computer and it's easier to look up words there. So, I only use Pleco as a backup.

Grammar and Reading Comprehension

AllSetLearning: website that breaks down grammar points and provides sample sentences. I use this one a lot!

Du Chinese: a graded reader app/website that guides users through short stories. It's a great tool but I find it boring and often struggle to finish the stories.

Weibo: once you become more advanced and if you can set up an account, weibo's a great way to build up character recognition and reading comprehension.

Miscellaneous

Youku TV Shows: A lot of their TV shows on youtube have both the Chinese and English embedded into the video (like above). It's a great way to improve listening comprehension as well as character recognition. When I became too busy to study, watching Chinese TV shows helped me retain a lot.

WriterChinese: an app that focuses on writing Chinese. It's free up to a certain level. This is one of the few things I spent money on because you pay a one time fee and it unlocks a lot.

Daomubiji.org: a website that has most of the online versions of dmbj novels. I've read some of the novels for practice.

#resources #i think that's all 🤔

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indigostudies · 1 year ago

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a very incomplete list of cdramas (plus a few chinese films) i've watched and my rating for hsk proficiencies for them below the cut!

i've watched some shows that aren't included on this list, but i didn't watch enough of them to get a good sense for the level of challenge they pose, so they're omitted from the list. i've also included links to the mydramalist pages, if you want to get a sense of the plot.

i had to remove the list format, since tumblr decided i had too many characters per block of text, so i apologise for that. a number of these can be watched on youtube with english fansubs, but if you can't find something, you can always dm me and i'll get you a link!

沙海/tomb of the sea: this fits into the extended daomu biji/grave robbers' chronicles/lost tomb franchise, but you don't have to have seen the other shows or read the books to watch it, and the pov character is an outsider who also doesn't understand what's going on 90% of the time. this show is contemporary, and you could probably start watching it at a fairly low hsk level because it doesn't have a ton of complicated technical or genre-specific terms. the subbing in english decent, since it came out a while ago, but there are some errors that crop up with names and nicknames. if you wanted to watch it without subtitles, i'd say you could probably get the gist of what's being said at around an hsk 4 or hsk 5 level. it has 52 episodes, each around 45 minutes long. (mdl link)

双镜/couple of mirrors: set in the republican era, so some of the terms used are a bit outdated in terms of colloquialism, and it also has a mystery/detective element to it, so that could pose a bit of a struggle. that said, the show isn't actually too challenging in terms of vocab—i would say you could watch it without english subtitles at an hsk 3 level with some struggle, and with a fair amount of ease at hsk 4. 12 episodes, at 46 minutes each. (mdl link)

云泽传/legend of yunze: wuxia/xianxia, which makes the amount of unfamiliar terms higher if you aren't used to the genre, but the episodes are all very short, and the plot itself isn't overly complicated, which makes it easy to sit down and watch in one go. on a level of difficulty, as long as you're familiar with wuxia/xianxia terms, you could probably watch this at an hsk 2 level without too much issue, and the subbing in english is very thorough. has multiple seasons, but the first season is 12 episodes, between 3-7 minutes each. (mdl link)

神探/detective l: this is a procedural detective show, and it's set in the 1930s republican shanghai, so there's a combination of more formal/outdated language and specialised detective/case-related phrases. the english subs are decent, though, and the actors all enunciate clearly, which helps if you need to look up words. i would say this would probably be a bit of a struggle below the hsk 5 level, but you'll pick up a lot of new, crime-related phrases. 24 episodes, 40 minutes each. (mdl link)

不良执念清除师/oh no! here comes trouble!: i'll be honest, this one was a struggle for me because of the taiwanese accent. i can understand what they're saying, it just sounds like the auditory equivalent of someone coming into my house and moving everything a few centimetres to the left. this is also a procedural show, but contemporary, so not quite as challenging in terms of vocab to detective l, in my opinion..........but it's also got a heavy supernatural element, which does come with specific vocab. the subbing is good, but if you're going to watch it, this one probably requires a higher hsk level to keep up—hsk 5, at a minimum, in my opinion. 12 episodes, 52 minutes each. (mdl link)

s.c.i谜案集/sci mystery/sci: another contemporary procedural mystery show, but from the mainland, so there's no elements of supernatural. surprisingly simple vocabulary; you could watch this at an hsk 2 level and get the gist, and an hsk 3 or hsk 4 level would let you watch it just fine. has fairly good english subs, and i believe they set the show in hk, which accounts for the higher than usual amount of english usage, up to and including in dialogue. the only bit that might make it challenging is the heavy lean into the psychology, but it's all largely explained directly, since most of the characters aren't familiar with the terms either. 24 episodes, 45 minutes each. (mdl link)

成化十四年/sleuth of the ming dynasty: ming dynasty (mid 1400s, under the chenghua emperor) setting, but a fairly colloquial vocabulary. there are some specialised titles used, but those are fairly self-evident by the way the show is shot, and easy enough to look up. the english subs are good, and i would put this at an hsk 4 level—but even at an hsk 3 level you probably won't struggle too badly. my hangup here was, again, one of the leads being played by an actor with a taiwanese accent, though it's not too heavy. 48 episodes, 45 minutes each. (mdl link)

老九��/the mystic nine: dmbj prequel, set in the tail end of the republican era (1939, if i remember correctly?). has a lot of tomb- and tomb-robbing specific vocabulary, alongside the more dated modes of speech, so i would put this up at an hsk 5 or hsk 6 level, but there's decent subs, so you could watch it at lower levels, it would just be a bit of a challenge. 48 episodes, 42 minutes each. (mdl link)

猎罪图鉴/under the skin: contemporary procedural show; there's a lot of emotion- and motive-specific words used, and the fact that it's a procedural makes it a bit more challenging, in my opinion. i would recommend that don't start with this show, just because of the fact that it's pretty easy to get lost if you don't grasp some of the vocabulary. i'd put it at an hsk 6 level, but that said, the subs are good and you can watch it at an hsk 5 level with some effort, i think. 20 episodes, 45 minutes each. (mdl link)

春风沉醉的夜晚/spring fever: honestly not as challenging in terms of vocabulary as a lot of things on this list, and fairly contemporary (set in the 2000s). i would say if you're at an hsk 4 level, you will probably do alright with it. 116 minutes in total. (mdl link)

关于我和鬼变成家人的那件事/marry my dead body: another case of struggling to acclimate to the taiwanese accent; otherwise, not too complicated in terms of vocab, though there are some spirit/marriage-specific terms used. overall, though, i'd put this at an hsk 4 level as well. 130 minutes in total. (mdl link)

陈情令/the untamed: heavy on the wuxia/xianxia elements, so unless you're familiar with that, you might struggle a lot to get through it. this is a lot of peoples' entry into cdramas, though, so it's not utterly inaccessible, and has decent english subs. i would put this around an hsk 5, if you want to watch it without subs, though you'll probably still have to pause and look up some words here and there even then. 50 episodes, 45 minutes each, making it the longest on this list. (mdl link)

山河令/word of honour: arguably the hardest on this list, i would say, because it's so plot-heavy. i, as a native speaker, struggle to follow along with this for extended amounts of time because there's a combination of 1. a lot happening, 2. a lot of wuxia terms, and 3. a lot of references to literature/art/etc. i would put this up at an hsk 7 level, honestly. that said, the subs for this are very good. 36 official episodes with a 37th mini-episode, 45 minutes each for the regular ones. (mdl link)

天官赐福/heaven official's blessing: one of the easier shows on this list; i would put this at an hsk 3 or hsk 4 level; there's some words you probably won't know, but while it does fall under xianxia, it doesn't go into that as much in terms of vocabulary as cql/the untamed does. i believe both seasons have both official subbing and official dubbing into english available, but that's not how i watched it, and i've only seen the first season, which is 11 episodes and about 20 minutes per episode. (mal link)

致命游戏/the spirealm: not particularly challenging in terms of actual vocab, but as of yet, only the first few episodes are subbed, since it came out literally this month, and the other subs are all auto-generated and.............very lacking. that said, it's a contemporary setting, and i would put this at an hsk 5 level, give or take; there are some references to folklore, but the characters research and explain or deduce the explanations of what is happening as it occurs, and you aren't left to struggle to figure it out yourself. 78 episodes, but each one is a bit under 20 minutes long, so it actually isn't that much content in total. (mdl link)

#汉语 #resources #not sure how helpful this will be but i hope it's useful to someone!#if anyone wants my personal reviews of any of these send me an ask and i'll be happy to answer it :)#this is just meant to be a rating of difficulty rather than a rating of the actual plot #indigo ink

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rigelmejo · 5 months ago

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I read this reddit post today, The lazy way of learning a language: passive listening and reading.

Found it interesting. I love reading other's experiences studying: what they did, the progress they made.

The learner:

Did a little duolingo and never made much progress, re-studying basic stuff every so often (we've all been there ToT that's my achilles heel is re-studying the basics too much). They tried to study 1000 common words but gave up (*I can say from my own experiences though that if they only read a word list of 1000 words one or a few times, then listened/watched Spanish content with those words... then that initial study with translated definitions probably got reinforced with the Spanish content's repetition, helping them learn those common words they were primed to pick up from the initial study - I studied common vocab that way in multiple languages, even if you don't memorize, if you cram-read words with translations and then immerse in content with the words you will recognize the words quicker and remember them quicker).

Then they started listening to the audiobook of Harry Potter in Spanish, and watching Supernatural dubbed in Spanish (no word lookups while listening/watching as far as they mentioned - this part sounds very cool, as I've only done this sort of activity in the beginning study months while also looking up words often... and I am guessing that this kind of listening activity with the audiobook helped with listening skills so they didn't lag behind reading as much, while the TV show probably helped with remembering common words in the context of things going on visually).

Then they tried reading a book, by reading a book and copying a paragraph at a time into Google Translate and reading the translation and original and then moving on. (This part is fascinating because 1. it's how a bilingual text would be used to study, cool to see such study working. 2. I did the same thing in my first 8 months of Chinese study, with Silent Reading by Priest... there was no completed translation by real people so I'd read the Chinese and then go line by line with Google Translate and Baidu Translate and some other translators, and compare, and try to figure out what as many words/parts meant as I could, then move on. I read more in depth than this person did... but it also meant I only read like 15 chapters before giving up... so the lesson in retrospect - for me, anyway - is maybe just doing a once over comparison between a translation and original per paragraph is enough, if I'm not trying to be perfect).

Then they discovered ReadLang app, the kinds of apps where you can read in a target language and click translate words for definitions (many eReader apps have this feature like Kindle app, even Edge and Mozilla and Chrome have this feature, and there's language specific apps with better translations like Pleco and Readibu for Chinese). They then continued to read novels, using the ReadLang app and clicking words as they read. (I found this part really cool because: for starters, this is very much how I got to B1/lower intermediate level in French and Chinese in terms of reading skill, then the other interesting fun fact I have is that some people have used Readibu - just clicking new Chinese words while reading - to go from Beginner to able-to-read most things comfortably without word-translations. So if you like reading, a really good option for study is just: read something digitally in the target language, use some tool to conveniently easily click unknown words for the definition, and read until you get better! Keep reading until you are happy with your reading level and the amount of stuff you can read without tools! I would just add to this: if you like SRS flashcards, like Anki, then SRS study of unknown words will speed things along. And if you want to speed up how quickly you become comfortable reading without tools like word-lookup, then you'll want to practice extensively reading on a regular basis too. Extensive reading means trying to read something, regularly, without using tools to help you. It helps you remember words quicker, because you'll NEED them and can't rely on the reading word-lookup tool when you extensively read.)

#rant #article

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