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Oh the many ways to say the most basic phrases in Mandarin Chinese.

(So sorry I haven't posted in a bit, exams are killing me slowly.)

I’ve been keeping a list of words/characters related to times of day since last year. You probably know basic words like 早上, 上午, 晚上, etc. But there are so many other words and characters you may encounter in your language journey! Note: this list isn’t meant to be complete.

Sunset (I think) by Tian’anmen Square about 3 years ago.

Dawn/early morning

天亮 tiānliàng - dawn / daybreak

日出 rìchū - sunrise

早 zǎo - early / morning / Good morning! / long ago / prematurely 一大早 yīdàzǎo - at dawn / at first light / first thing in the morning 早上 zǎoshang - early morning

旭 xù - dawn / rising sun

昕 xīn - dawn

晓 xiǎo - dawn / daybreak / to know / to let sb know / to make explicit 破晓 pòxiǎo - daybreak / dawn

晗 hán - before daybreak / dawn about to break

晞 xī - dawn / to dry in the sun

晨 chén - morning / dawn / daybreak 凌晨 língchén - very early in the morning / in the wee hours 早晨 zǎochén - early morning 晨曦 chénxī - first rays of morning sun / first glimmer of dawn 清晨 qīngchén - early morning

朝 zhāo - morning 朝阳 zhāoyáng - the morning sun

黎明 límíng - dawn / daybreak

The single characters above can be found in Chinese names. Some are quite common.

@winter-tospring ask and ye shall receive

随便（suíbiàn) - do as one pleases (v) ; random/informal (adj)

随你的便 随便说了几句

凝神（níngshén) - with rapt attention (adv)

凝神谛听

净（jìng) - clean (adj and v)

这件夹克没洗净

反（fǎn) - rebel/revolt (v)

反人 反朝庭

师姐（shījiě) - senior female apprentice/master's daughter (n)

师 meaning master and 姐 meaning older sister

黯（àn) - dim/gloomy (adj)

神色黯然 暗黑的夜晚

莲花（liánhuā) - lotus flower (n)

一株莲花

力气（lìqi) - physical strength/effort (n)

浑身没力气 力气不小

报仇（bàochóu) - to avenge/take revenge (v)

为父报仇 报私仇

牧笛（mùdí) - shepherd's flute (n)

一吹牧笛

毁（huǐ) - to destroy/ruin (v)

森林为大火所毁

如今（rújīn) - nowadays (adv)

如今很少有人用毛笔了

先例（xiānlì) - precedent (n）

开先例

藕（ǒu) - lotus root (n)

鲜嫩的藕

除非（chúfēi) - only if/unless (conj)

除非你跟我去，我才去

如何（rúhé) - how/what (pron)

此时如何办理？

老祖（宗）（lǎozǔzong) - ancestor/forefather (n)

夷陵老祖

仙子（xiānzǐ) - fairy (n)

他狗叫仙子

可怕（kěpà) - fearful/awful (adj)

可怕的梦

悔（huǐ) - regret (v)

悔之晚矣

毒（dú) - poison (n）

I wanted to share a resource for reading practice that I stumbled across recently. It’s called the Chinese Reading World, and it was a project led by the University of Iowa.

The site was put together from 2005 to 2008, so it’s not super up to date. However, there is a ton of content! Everything is sorted into 3 levels: beginning, intermediate, and advanced. 

Each level has 30 units, and each unit has 10 lessons. The lessons begin with a vocab pre-test, then there is a reading with some comprehension questions. Lastly, there is a vocab post-test, which is the same as the initial test (at least for the lessons I’ve done so far). There’s audio for each lesson text, but unfortunately it can’t be streamed—you have to download it. There is also an achievement test at the end of each unit.

My experience has actually been that I already know all the words on the vocabulary tests, but the reading passages contain other words that I’m not familiar with.

So far, the readings I’ve encountered are not very long. This is nice since reading longer pieces can be frustrating at times. With shorter readings, you can just read 1 or 2 on some days and read more when you have more time/patience. I believe the readings are taken from Chinese newspapers.

Also, every unit has a theme. With 90 units total, there are bound to be themes that interest you. Example unit topics:

Directions and Asking Direction 方向和问路

Sports and Outdoor Activities 体育和户外运动

Chinese Music and Musicians 中国音乐和音乐家

Chinese Minorities and Local Customs 地方习俗和民族风情

Chinese Sports and Olympic Games 体育和奥林匹克

Contemporary Chinese Literature and Writers 中国当代文学和作家

The 3 levels also each come with 5 proficiency tests. They seem to be based on vocabulary knowledge, so expanding your vocab is clearly a huge focus of this site. The only thing I’m unclear is about is I’m not sure exactly when the proficiency tests are meant to be taken. After completing all units? Or are they spaced out so you are supposed to take test 1 after the first few units, test 2 after the next few, etc.?

大家好！最近我再用MMCG的书复习汉语。 这本书的文字非常简单！

让我们来看看它！ ☆ ～('▽^人)

4.2. The position of direct and indirect objects In neutral sentences, the direct and indirect objects of the verb may follow it (verb phrase). Most verbs take only a direct object. If there`s an indirect object, it precedes the direct object.

他给我一本书。 Tā gěi wǒ yī běn shū.

Subject + main verb + indirect object + direct object

老师教我们中文语法。 Lǎoshī jiào wǒmen zhōngwén yǔfǎ.

4.3. The position of prepositional phrases Prepositional phrases (phrases that start with prepositions, such as 在， 跟，前 etc.) generally come right before the verb and its object. It also works for location phrases.

他跟他的朋友吃晚饭。 Tā gēn tā de péngyǒu chī wǎnfàn.

Subject + prepositional phrase + verb + direct object

我在家吃饭。 Wǒ zàijiā chī fàn.

4.5. The position of ~time when~ phrases A phrase that indicates the time when a situation takes place comes at the beginning of the predicate. It also comes before the location or prepositional phrase.

我每天喝咖啡。 Wǒ měitiān hē kāfēi. Subject + time when + verb + direct object

我每天在家吃饭。 Wǒ měitiān zàijiā chī fàn. Subject + time when + prepositional phrase + verb + direct object

他每天跟他的朋友吃晚饭。 Tā měitiān gēn tā de péngyǒu chī wǎnfàn. Subject + time when + prepositional phrase + verb + direct object

4.6. The position of adverbs Adverbs also occur at the beginning of the predicate, before the prepositional phrase and after the time when phrase.

我每天只在家吃饭。 Wǒ měitiān zhǐ zàijiā chī fàn. Subject + time when + adverb + prepositional phrase + verb + direct object

4.6. The position of duration phrases Phrases that indicate the duration of an action usually come after the verb with no use of preposition.

我在中国住了三年。 Wǒ zài zhōngguó zhùle sān nián Subject + prepositional phrase + verb + duration phrase

非常有用呢！

Well I have some info on my FAQ page here!

I think if I could go back and redo it, I wouldn't focus so much on Duolingo and I would do more videos. More Yoyo Chinese, or other youtubers who have beginner content. I think especially in the beginning, input is the most important thing.

Listen to music, watch youtube videos and c-dramas and Chinese children's TV shows/movies like Peppa Pig (which is on youtube) or even Ni Hao Kai-Lan if you're literally level 0 beginner.

Anything you can do to LISTEN and SHADOW (which is repeating what you hear) would be awesome and I wish I had done more of it in the beginning. Even if you are blindly imitating and you have no idea what you're saying, it'll be helpful in the long run. If you can find videos to imitate beginner-level sentences so you do know what you're saying, that's even better.

INPUT INPUT INPUT! Be a sponge.

Also, pick a transcription early on. Pinyin or Zhuyin (aka Bopomofo) and learn the absolute shit out of it. I mean until it's gut instinct. You should be able to see ANYTHING in pinyin/zhuyin and be able to read it as easily as if it were English. Obviously this will take time, but the sooner you start, listening and repeating it aloud over and over, the better off you'll be. this is including tones, btw. Yoyo Chinese also has tone pair practice which I highly recommend!

On that note: If you do pinyin, really separate the letters from English sounds. Focus on the phonetics, associate "x" with /ɕ/ instead of the English /ʃ/. Look into IPA (international phonetic alphabet) and study exactly how the articulators' placement is different in the Chinese "sh" vs. English "sh" etc. etc. Practice until this is second nature and do listening practice to hear the difference, but also take into account that Chinese has a massive variety of speakers and pronunciations, and it's okay if you mess up or struggle with consistency, or can't do a perfect Beijing Standard™ "r", for example. I still can't and it's fine, I'm intelligible and I can hear the difference so that's what matters.

Once you get to the point where pinyin is readable to you, I would very quickly move away from it. As soon as you start to be able to retain characters in your long-term memory, drop the pinyin entirely. Only write the pinyin next to new words. If you can't read your own notes, look up the words you can't read each time until you don't have to look it up anymore.

I would also recommend that when you can actually begin to put sentences together by yourself, go ahead and start using HelloTalk or Tandem!

Anyone who sees this, feel free to add on! This is just my two cents with hindsight.

Hello everyone,

I found this helpful list of signs and symptoms of both ADHD and Autism. I found this very helpful and informative. So I hope you all do as well.

Link to Post

ADHD

Hello everyone,

Here is a continuation of some signs and symptoms of both ADHD and Autism. I hope many of you find this helpful.

Link to Post

ADHD

This is going to sound like a real jerk thing to say, but I kind of hate it when people call me intelligent. The reason why might be a little convoluted, but as a summary or thesis, I sort of believe what people believe to be intelligent is all a bunch of parlor trick traits that have nothing to do with being smart, are based totally off of a social construct, and sort of undercut actual struggles that some people might have in other situations.

I was kind of a suck-up and a teacher’s pet when I was a kid. I had undiagnosed inattentive ADHD, which really manifested in me not picking up on social cues well. Often times I couldn’t get along with kids my age, so I molded and masked my way into a type of person I thought could get approval from adults, especially when I didn’t have much of it at home. Because of this, in some situations people will perceive me as smart, but in other situations people were perceive me as airheaded, awkward, and really stupid. Here is an example:

Reasons people think (and thought) I was intelligent:

-I wanted approval so bad I worked hard at having the best school grades, even if it meant sacrificing hours of my free creative time.

-I did not engage in outward “normal” adolescent expressions of individuality, like trying out alternative fashions or displaying my interests. I did everything I could to look as normal as possible when I was young. I was also very quiet and respectful.

-I have an incredibly expanded vocabulary from hours of being alone reading books and watching documentaries. I am good at public speaking and writing essays because of this. (However, I also talk how I write, so sometimes I get made fun of for it, by other adults now).

-I don’t typically swear, and say please and thank you.

Now here’s the reasons people think I’m stupid (and why they are extra harsh on me when I don’t live up to their first impressions of me)

-I am conversationally impulsive, and say and do weird things because I don’t pay attention enough to nuances or cues, or I get nervous.

-My memory glitches out a lot.

-Left and right, size scales, and time means nothing to me. Told my brother I was taking 500 mg of Zinc with confidence. I was taking 50.

-I keep asking for clarification for directions on things because I’m afraid of getting it wrong and having people be mad at me.

-I take forever to finish basic tasks, because of memory, attention, and perfectionism.

-I make really glaring obvious mistakes.

-I trip on stuff, drop things, and I have punched myself in the face on multiple occasions accidentally.

-I will make the same mistakes in something that requires fine motor control over and over. I once spent an hour on crash bandicoot because I could not make one (1) jump that required a bit of cognitive timing.

-I can’t do basic math. I once gave a previous high school teacher I knew the wrong change, and she made fun of me and said I needed to go back and learn that in school. I had just graduated with my first 2 year college degree when she told me that.

-Directions who? I will often point the opposite cardinal direction of where I need to go and get made fun of.

-I’m inexperienced in a lot of basic things in life. This gets me bullied by both coworkers and family (who probably should have been helping me out, but whatever).

All of this stuff together leads me to believe that looking “Intelligent” is just a bunch of social tricks based on preconceived notions. I’ve met tons of people with real world knowledge who would easily beat me in my own fields of study or literally anything else. But just because I act a certain way and talk a certain way, people seem to think I should know how to do everything, but I barely hold myself together on a good day. I have trouble with reviews in almost any job I have because although I pass the preliminary interviews well, the rest of my coworkers see me as a bumbling idiot once they get to know me. So just some random person saying I’m intelligent as one word doesn’t help me. Just like any person I am nuanced, I am good at some things and have a really hard time with others. I did really well academically, but in the work and social world I am screwed.

I’m trying to start thinking about long term goals/plans a bit more, rather than letting all my days get completely swallowed by daily tasks, but... it’s definitely proving difficult. :’D

(Long term stuff is intimidating ffff)

Have you ever found a productivity system that works for you (whether it be your Google calendar, bullet journaling, agenda-ing, etc), and you're so pumped because it's like finally! Now I can actually get some stuff done! But then time passes, days or weeks or years, and the novelty of it runs out, and then it kind of just... Stops working. It can be so frustrating, because this thing that used to work no longer works for seemingly no reason.

But, that isn't a failing of the thing, that thing worked for a certain amount of time, and that's good! I used a massive agenda in my first year of uni, and it kept me on track for all my assignments. My second year agenda? Barely touched it. Instead, I started to use a bullet journal, and that was the thing that helped me through most of the year. But as time went on, my spreads got less creative, and in the final term, I didn't even want to touch it because it was too much work. So I switched to Notion.

The agenda didn't fail me, and neither did the bullet journal, it just worked for a certain amount of time. And when that time inevitably runs out, you can just say, "thank you for serving me for so long, I'm going to pivot to the next thing." And then you do it without feeling like you should try harder or like that thing failed you.