somehow I started learning Chinese

if you’re like me and want to eventually make reading your primary way of learning chinese characters, you’ll notice that a lot of the resources online are using simplified characters. new tong wen tang (chrome; firefox) is a browser extension that will help you convert webpages between simplified and traditional chinese. and regardless of the writing system, another helpful extension to have is zhongwen (chrome; firefox), which adds the ability to hover over a chinese character and see a pop-up containing the pinyin and english translation of a word.

before enabling the two extensions (notice how everything is in simplified!):

after enabling new tong wen tang and zhongwen (text has been converted to traditional chinese and doesn’t interfere with zhongwen’s pop-up dictionary):

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The Auxiliar Verb “要”

The Averb of Degree “最”

The Pronoun “每”

The “的” Phrase

The Numeral Classifier “一下”

Indicating the Possibility

The Pair of Conjunctions “因为……，所以……”

The 把 sentence

The Complement of Result “好”

The Negative Structure “一……也/都 + 不/没……”

The Conjunction “那”

Simple Complements of Direction

The Successive Occurrence of Two Actions

The Rhetoric Question “能……吗？”

Comparison of “还是” and “或者”

The Structure “又……又……”

Indicating a Change

The Structure “越来越 + Adj/Mental V”

Comparison of “刚” and “刚才”

To Express a Period of Time

To Express an Interest

Comparison of “又” and “再”

Comparison of “才” and “就”

Compound Complements of Direction

The Structure “一边……一边……”

The Structure “先……，再/又……，然后……”

Complex Complements of State

Reduplication of Monosyllabic Adjectives

Reduplication of Disyllabic Verbs

The Preposition “关于”

The “被” Sentence

(…)

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不仅……也/还/而且……

从来

即使……也……

( 在 ) ……上

正好 Just in time/ Just right

差不多 Almost

尽管 Although

却 But, yet

而 While, yet

*for future reference the masterlist link should be under my profile pic on my homepage!

FLASHCARDS

C-SERIES INTEGRATED CONTEXT VOCAB 

01_10 Flashcards 

02_16 Flashcards

03_18 Flashcards

04_18 Flashcards

05_17 Flashcards

06_15 Flashcards

07_18 Flashcards

RADICAL VOCAB 

01_General Vocab

02_Colours 

03_Valentine’s Day

HELLO TALK - Real life Chinese Conversations with Native Speakers 

Part O1 

Work, Continuing a conversation, Clarifying questions, Language ability, Getting ready in the morning

OTHER VOCAB

EMOTIONS

Emotions vocab list (w GIFS)

APPEARANCE

What type of boys do you like?

What type of girls do you like?

CHINESE PARTICLES

The three DE’s

MISCELLANEOUS VOCAB

01_My Mr. Mermaid + Body Parts 

02_My Diary Phrases 

03_My Mr. Mermaid + Body Parts PT2 

04_My Mr.Mermaid ep 2 + 3 

05_My Mr. Mermaid ep 3 + Chinese Pod describing drinks

06_PETS (describing animals/pets)

07_My Mr. Mermaid ep 4 + Home vocab 

08_My Mr. Mermaid ep 4. cont

Sentence Order 

Basic sentence order 

Time/place word order 

Test Yourself:

I first started looking into variant characters more extensively after the frustration of some of these variants messing with my pop-up dictionary extension. Sometimes the same word will be included in the dictionary with both the standard and variant versions, but sometimes the variant version isn’t included, and my extension won’t recognize the word. That’s why I think it can be useful to be familiar with these variant forms.

Variants I See in Traditional Chinese

布 / 佈 I have seen 佈 used in traditional Chinese as a variant of 布. An example might be seeing 佈滿 for 布满.

念 / 唸 MDBG seems to suggest that 唸 is a variant of 念 just meaning to read aloud. But I know I’ve seen 唸 used in traditional Chinese to talk about going to school like 唸大學 and 唸書. I’m not sure if what MDBG says is inaccurate or if people use 唸 is a way that is technically inaccurate.

周 / 週 It’s important to note that 週 is a traditional Chinese variant of 周 only for the meaning of week. So you might see 週末, but you shouldn’t see 週 used for the surname or the word 周围.

分 / 份 I think I have seen 份 used for 分 in both simplified and traditional Chinese. Unlike some of the other examples above, 份 also has meaning/usage outside of being a variant of 分. Also, I am pretty sure that 份 is only a variant of 分 for the 4th tone pronunciation (meaning part, share, ingredient, component).

占 / 佔 占 has two meanings/pronunciations. To my knowledge, 佔 is only a variant for the fourth tone pronunciation. But also I don’t know any words with first tone 占. I’ve seen 佔 used in traditional Chinese for words like 佔據 (占据).

什 / 甚 In traditional Chinese, you might see 甚 used for 什, like in 甚麼 (什么). In simplified Chinese, this variant can still be found in words like 甚至 (but the pronunciation is different).

才/ 纔 This variant form of 才 is used in traditional Chinese, but only for the meaning of just now, only. However, I rarely see it. And looking at  it, I don’t blame people for not wanting to write 纔.

台 / 臺 This example can be a bit political. You may see Taiwan written as 台灣 or 臺灣 in traditional Chinese. I believe 臺灣 is more formal/official, but you’ll definitely see 台灣 all the time.

向 / 嚮 嚮 is a variant of 向 in traditional Chinese, but (apparently) only for the meaning ​​to tend toward, to guide. As a result, 方向 is the same in traditional Chinese, but 面向 is 面嚮. However, it’s possible that this rule doesn’t hold up in real life usage. I’m definitely going to be on the lookout for exceptions. Also, MDBG tells me that there is another traditional variant 曏, but I’ve personally never encountered this character.

姐 / 姊 Apparently 姊 is pronounced zi in the Mainland, but it’s jie in Taiwan, which I know from A-Mei’s album and song 姊妹. I don’t think 姊 is officially considered a variant of 姐 (at least in the Mainland), but I think it is important to know 姊 and wanted to include it.

烟 / 菸 I haven’t seen the 菸 variant much. I only know it from the song 二手菸/二手烟 by Tanya Chua. It took me a long time to figure out what the song was even called because I had no idea 菸 was a form of 烟.

Multiple Varying Traditional Forms

尝：嘗 / 嚐 From how the dictionary lists things, it seems like 嘗 is the more standard traditional form of 尝, with 嚐 being a variant. But honestly I feel like I’ve seen 嚐 as much or more than I’ve seen 嘗.

里：裡 / 裏 裡 and 裏 are both traditional forms of 里 for the inside/interior meaning. I see both of these forms so often, but my feeling is that I see 裡 a bit more frequently.

Colloquial Chinese - Lesson 2

1. 哎呀 as the interjection “oh” or “oh my dear” 哎呀！你怎么还不睡觉呀！

2. 不行吗？to make a rhetorical question after a statement or suggestion 不派他参加外交访问不行吗？ 我喜欢帮职业篮球联盟工作，不行吗？

3. 你说 in front of a question to express that you want the listener to support or echo your viewpoint 你说，你爱不爱我？ 他从来不管他的太太，你说，他这个人自私不自私？

Honestly I am not a huge Astro Bunny fan (I don’t really like electronic music), but I love this song so much! It’s basically been my summer anthem. The lyrics are pretty melancholy, but it’s such a bop. And it’s a nice duet as well.

#imissyousobad - 原子邦妮（Astro Bunny）ft. Yalu

白昼 黑夜 屏幕里那张脸 说着 想念 却说不出为什么会思念

白昼 báizhòu - daytime 黑夜 hēiyè - night 屏幕 píngmù - screen

夏日 冬夜 地球两端的无解 等着 来电 却等不到渴望的触电

两端 liǎngduān - both ends, two extremes 解 jiě - to solve, to understand, to explain, solution 来电 láidiàn - incoming call/message, to have instant attraction to sbdy, to have chemistry with sbdy 渴望 kěwàng - to thirst for, to long for 触电 chùdiàn - to get an electric shock, to be electrocuted, electric shock

说好的那天 何时能再见 飘着樱花雪 多希望有人陪 怀念的从前 你是否留恋 简讯再看一遍

何时 héshí - when 飘 piāo - to float 留恋 liúliàn - reluctant to leave, to hate to have to go, to recall fondly 简讯 jiǎnxùn - text message, newsletter

Did you know that many movie titles are translated differently in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan? Today let’s take a look at some famous movies and see what they are called! I haven’t seen most of these movies, but seeing the different translations is so interesting. Some of them are pretty true to the English titles, but others are quite different.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 大陆：《三块广告牌》 香港：《广告牌杀人事件》 台湾：《意外 》

广告牌 guǎnggàopái - billboard 杀人 shārén - homicide / to murder / to kill (a person) 事件 shìjiàn - event / happening / incident 意外 yìwài - unexpected / accident / mishap

I, Tonya 大陆：《我，花样女王》 香港：《冰之骄女 》 台湾：《老娘叫谭雅》

花样 huāyàng - pattern / way of doing sth / trick / (sports) fancy-style (as figure skating etc) 花样滑冰 huāyànghuábīng - figure skating 女王 nǚwáng - queen 老娘 lǎoniáng - my old mother / I, this old woman / my old lady (colloquial) / maternal grandmother / midwife

The King’s Speech 大陆： 《国王的演讲》 香港：《皇上无话儿》 台湾：《王者之声：宣战时刻》

国王 guówáng - king 演讲 yǎnjiǎng - lecture / to make a speech 皇上 huángshang - the emperor / Your majesty the emperor / His imperial majesty 宣战 xuānzhàn - to declare war 时刻 shíkè - time / juncture / moment / period of time / constantly / always

Moonlight 大陆： 《月光男孩》 香港：《月亮喜欢蓝》 台湾：《月光下的蓝色男孩》

月光 yuèguāng - moonlight 月亮 yuèliang - the moon

Hishiko Woo

Specifically, her series called “不一樣又怎樣?“ . A cishet-identifying Malaysian tattoo artist interviews LGBT+ people in Malaysia to increase awareness and tolerance. I haven’t watched all of them yet but so far a good mix of personal experiences and legal + health information. Subtitles in simplified characters. She’s very high energy and talks at the speed of light, but just watch it slowed down! I feel like Malaysia is underrated as a source of Mandarin media in general.

超強系列SuperAwesome  

I actually started watching this Taiwanese guy because of his videos teaching other Asian languages IN Mandarin, kept watching his stuff on accents and cultural differences between Mandarin-speaking countries (his gf is another Malaysian Youtuber), and then I discovered he’d actually gone from identifying as completely straight, to completely gay, to happily bisexual, and talks about this and what it’s like to be in a “straight” relationship with this background. Another enthusiastic mile-a-minute talker, subtitles in traditional characters.     

Ben & Dry

Taiwanese 鐵T Ben and 娘T 乾乾/Dry talk about 女同志 things. I particularly like their series of interviews with T business owners and entrepreneurs around Taiwan,  拉子生存路.  Subtitles in traditional characters, and often English as well, definitely more foreign-audience friendly with some East vs West discussions. They also speak the most slowly and clearly of everyone.

Have you ever wondered why there are so many Changs when the surname 常 is not actually that common? Have you ever struggled to figure out what sound “hs” is? Well don’t worry! Today we are going to go over some common practices in transliterating names from Taiwan. 

With some recent discussion I’ve seen about writing names from the Shang-Chi movie, I thought this was the perfect time to publishe this post. Please note that this information has been compiled from my observations–I’m sure it’s not completely extensive. And if you see any errors, please let me know!

According to Wikipedia, “the romanized name for most locations, persons and other proper nouns in Taiwan is based on the Wade–Giles derived romanized form, for example Kaohsiung, the Matsu Islands and Chiang Ching-kuo.” Wade-Giles differs from pinyin quite a bit, and to make things even more complicated, transliterated names don’t necessarily follow exact Wade-Giles conventions.

Well, Wikipedia mentioned Kaohsiung, so let’s start with some large cities you already know of!

[1] B → P 台北 Taibei → Taipei [2] G → K [3] D → T In pinyin, we have the “b”, “g”, and “d” set (voiceless, unaspirated) and the “p”, “k”, and “t” set (voiceless, aspirated). But in Wade-Giles, these sets of sounds are distinguished by using a following apostrophe for the aspirated sounds. However, in real life the apostrophe is often not used.

We need some more conventions to understand Kaohsiung. [4] ong → ung (sometimes) [5] X → Hs or Sh 高雄 Gaoxiong → Kaohsiung I wrote “sometimes” for rule #4 because I am pretty sure I have seen instances where it is not followed. This could be due to personal preference, historical reasons, or influence from other romanization styles.

Now some names you are equipped to read: 王心凌 Wang Xinling → Wang Hsin-ling 徐熙娣 Xu Xidi → Shu/Hsu Hsi-ti (I have seen both) 黄鸿升 Huang Hongsheng → Huang Hung-sheng 龙应台 Long Yingtai → Lung Ying-tai 宋芸樺 Song Yunhua → Sung Yun-hua

You might have learned pinyin “x” along with its friends “j” and “q”, so let’s look at them more closely. [6] J → Ch [7] Q → Ch 范玮琪 Fan Weiqi → Fan Wei-chi 江美琪 Jiang Meiqi → Chiang Mei-chi 郭静 Guo Jing → Kuo Ching 邓丽君 Deng Lijun → Teng Li-chun This is similar to the case for the first few conventions, where an apostrophe would distinguish the unaspirated sound (pinyin “j”) from the aspirated sound (pinyin “q”). But in practice these ultimately both end up as “ch”. I have some disappointing news.

[8] Zh → Ch Once again, the “zh” sound is the unaspirated correspondent of the “ch” sound. That’s right, the pinyin “zh”, “j”, and “q” sounds all end up being written as “ch”. This can lead to some…confusion. 卓文萱 Zhuo Wenxuan → Chuo Wen-hsuan 陈绮贞 Chen Qizhen → Chen Chi-chen 张信哲 Zhang Xinzhe → Chang Shin-che At least now you finally know where there are so many Changs. Chances are, if you meet a Chang, their surname is actually 张, not 常.

Time for our next set of rules. [10] C → Ts [11] Z → Ts [12] Si → Szu [13] Ci, Zi → Tzu Again we have the situation where “c” is aspirated and “z” is unaspirated, so the sounds end up being written the same. 曾沛慈 Zeng Peici → Tseng Pei-tzu 侯佩岑 Hou Peicen → Hou Pei-tsen 周子瑜 Zhou Ziyu → Chou Tzu-yu 黄路梓茵 Huang Lu Ziyin → Huang Lu Tzu-yin 王思平 Wang Siping → Wang Szu-ping

Fortunately this next convention can help clear up some of the confusion from above. [14] i → ih (zhi, chi, shi) [15] e → eh (-ie, ye, -ue, yue) Sometimes an “h” will be added at the end. So this could help distinguish some sounds. Like you have qi → chi vs. zhi → chih. There could be other instances of adding “h”–these are just the ones I was able to identify. 曾之乔 Zeng Zhiqiao → Tseng Chih-chiao 施柏宇 Shi Boyu → Shih Po-yu 谢金燕 Xie Jinyan → Hsieh Jin-yan 叶舒华 Ye Shuhua → Yeh Shu-hua 吕雪凤 Lü Xuefeng → Lü Hsueh-feng

Continuing on, a lot of the conventions below are not as consistently used in my experience, so keep that in mind. Nevertheless, it is useful to be familiar with these conventions when you do encounter them.

These are *true* homophones, meaning the tones are the same. Also, this list is not meant to be comprehensive! I only listed words that I could think of, which means there could be a bazillion other examples that aren’t here.

文明 wénmíng - civilized / civilization / culture 闻名 wénmíng - well-known / famous / renowned / eminent

由于 yóuyú - due to / as a result of / thanks to / owing to / since / because 鱿鱼 yóuyú - squid

注意 zhùyì - to take note of / to pay attention to 助益 zhùyì - benefit / help

有利 yǒulì - advantageous / to have advantages / favorable 有力 yǒulì - powerful / forceful / vigorous

需要 xūyào - to need / to want / to demand / to require / requirement / need 须要 xūyào - must / have to

权力 quánlì - power / authority 权利 quánlì - power / right / privilege

必须 bìxū - to have to / must / compulsory / necessarily 必需 bìxū - to need / to require / essential / indispensable

爆发 bàofā - to break out / to erupt / to explode / to burst out 暴发 bàofā - to break out (of disease etc) / to suddenly get rich (or prominent)

反应 fǎnyìng - to react / to respond / reaction / response / reply / chemical reaction 反映 fǎnyìng - to mirror / to reflect / mirror image / reflection / (fig.) to report / to make known / to render

形式 xíngshì - outer appearance / form / shape / formality 形势 xíngshì - circumstances / situation / terrain

Chinese : pinyin : french // english

无聊 : wúliáo : ennuyeux, sans intérêt // boring, bored

担心 : dānxīn : se soucier de ; s’inquiéter de // to be worried about 

醋 : cù : vinaigre, jalousie // jealous, jealousy (it also means vinegar)

怕生 : pàshēng : timide devant les inconnus // to be shy (in front of people)

悲哀 : bēi’āi : triste ; affligé // sad

疼 : téng : avoir mal ; souffrir, aimer ; chérir // to suffer, to love deeply

生气 shēngqì : être énervé // to get angry

失望 shīwàng: deception // disappointed

孤独 gūdú : se sentir seul (seule) // lonely

后悔 hòuhuǐ : regretter // to regret

吃惊 chījīng : être surpris, choqué // to be shocked

 喜欢 : xǐhuan : apprécier ; aimer  // to appreciate, to like 

开心 : kāixīn :heureux ; joyeux ; satisfait // to be happy

佩服 pèifú : admirer // to admire

Temauke Langblr Weekly Challenge - Week 17

・养生 yǎngshēng - Health・

医院 yīyuàn - Hospital 

医生 yīshēng - Doctor

护士 hùshi - Nurse 

外科医生 wàikēyīshēng - Surgeon 

助产士 zhùchǎnshì - Midwife

病人 bìngrén - Patient / Sick person 

救护车 jiùhùchē - ambulance

救护车人员 jiùhùchē rényuán - Paramedic

急诊室 jízhěnshì - Emergency Room 

手术 shǒushù - Operation

病床 bìngchuáng - Hospital Bed

病状 bìngzhuàng - Symptoms

咳嗽 késou - Cough

恶心 èxīn - Nausea

发烧 fāshāo - Fever / High Temperature 

咽喉痛 yānhóutòng - Sore Throat

流鼻涕 liúbítì - Runny Nose

腹痛 fùtòng - Stomach Ache

耳痛 ěrtòng - Ear Ache

头疼 tóuténg - Headache 

疲劳 píláo - Fatigue

便秘 biànmì - Constipation 

腹泻 fùxiè - Diarrhoea 

晕眩 yūnxuàn - Dizziness / Vertigo

体重增加 tǐzhòng zēngjiā - Weight gain 

体重减轻 tǐzhòng jiǎnqīng - Weight loss

病症 bìngzhèng - Illness / Disease 

过敏 guòmǐn  - Allergy

流感 liúgǎn - Flu

感冒 gǎnmào - Common cold

病毒 bìngdú - Virus

糖尿病 tángniàobìng - Diabetes 

哮喘 xiàochuǎn - Asthma 

高血压 gāoxuèyā - High blood pressure

低血压 dīxuèyā - Low blood pressure

心脏病发作 xīnzàngbìng fāzuò - Heart Attack

中風 zhòngfēng - Stroke

癌症 áizhèng - Cancer 

抑郁症 yìyùzhèng - Clinical Depression 

广泛性焦虑症 guǎngfànxìngjiāolǜzhèng - Generalised Anxiety Disorder 

痴呆 chīdāi - Dementia 

新馆肺炎 xīnguǎnfèiyán - Covid-19 

药 yào - Medicine 

传统中国医药 chuántǒng zhōngguó yīyào - Traditional Chinese medicine 

药店 yàodiàn - Pharmacy / Chemist 

司药 sīyào - Pharmacist / Chemist

药方 yàofāng - Prescription 

糖浆 tángjiāng - Syrup 

片剂 piānjì - Tablets

口罩 kǒuzhào - Face Mask

菌苗 jūnmiáo - Vaccine

温度表 wēndùbiǎo - Thermometer 

维他命 wéitāmìng - Vitamins 

油膏 yóugāo - Ointment / Balm

Chinese word of the day: 禾

Pinyin: hé Meaning: grain still on stalk or seedling, rice plant

Characters containing 禾: 和 (hé) - and, with 香 (xiāng) - fragrant, incense 利 (lì) - gains, advantage, profit

Words containing 禾: 禾苗 (hé​miáo) - seedling 禾稻 (hé​dào) - rice paddy 禾草 (hé​cǎo) - grass

(and I do genuinely mean conversation, I’d love to hear other people’s input on this, because I did just write a long-ass post about the subjectivity of interpretation in translations)

So when I started interacting with the fandom and reading people’s fics, I got really confused by the way some folks were writing dialogue for Lan Wangji; he often sounded super awkward, spoke in fragments, and sometimes exclusively in third person. To be fair, all of those are elements of his speech at various times, but like, seeing it in English-language material felt like a really heavy-handed way of rendering it in translation?

I guess when you use third person within the first three episodes of the show, it makes a pretty big impression on the audience

This is not at all intended to be a criticism of people who are 1000% writing and creating wonderful work, which is more than I can say for myself, but I want to poke and prod and tease at some linguistic nuance here.

Take a deep breath, grab a pot of tea (this’ll take more than a cup), because we’re going to take the scenic route on this one–

Personally, I read a lot in Chinese - books, Graded Readers, articles on websites, posts on 微博 and so on. On my Instagram, people are always asking me for some resources online. And! I have a good news… 

There are plenty of websites where you can practice your reading in Chinese. Below, I will make a short list with websites I use (used) and recommend: 

📚 Mandarin Bean (news in Chinese, HSK 1-6)

📚 Chinese Reading Practice  (stories, essays, legends, 成语 stories - beginner to advanced level) 

📚 The Chairman’s Bao (news in Chinese; HSK 1-6)

📚 HSK Reading (more articles!)

📚 My Chinese Reading (stories, scientific, business/politics, history ect.) 

-> BBC News in Chinese (for more Advanced learners) 

Hope you find something suitable for yourself! Enjoy 📖.  🌸

I hope this post will help you to find interesting content in fast and easy way! 

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🇨🇳How to start learning Chinese? 

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📖 Reading in Chinese 📖 中国人的口福 Delights of Chinese Cuisine 🇨🇳 | Book Review  📖 爱丽丝漫游奇境记 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 🇨🇳 | Book review 📖 中国传说 Chinese Legends 🇨🇳 | Book review 📖 北京欢迎你 (Welcome to Beijing) 🇨🇳 | Book review

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✨What brought me to study Chinese?  ✨Are you learning Chinese without a teacher or online lessons ?

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Chinese posts

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My studygram

㊫ How I prepare to HSK 5? (video) ㊫ Review of “Wonder Woman” (in Chinese)  ㊫ Making notes on laptop ㊫ [Book] Traditional Chinese Folktales (Y. Chin, Y. Center, M. Ross)  ㊫ 冬至 Dongzhi  ㊫ Reading practice ㊫ Chinese study session (video) ㊫ Taking notes - Chinese ㊫ How I memorize Chinese characters?  ㊫ Bubble tea (vlog) ㊫ Post in Chinese  ㊫ Study session (study vlog)