“language is socially constructed” to YOU. the heavens descended upon ME to tell me everything’s true name. so
Misplaced Lens Cap
Sweet Seals For You, Always

Kaledo Art

Love Begins

Discoholic 🪩

#extradirty
2025 on Tumblr: Trends That Defined the Year
I'd rather be in outer space 🛸
taylor price

Kiana Khansmith
Game of Thrones Daily
Sade Olutola
Today's Document
art blog(derogatory)

oozey mess
h

Origami Around
Xuebing Du
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
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@jaemstudies
“language is socially constructed” to YOU. the heavens descended upon ME to tell me everything’s true name. so

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911 EMERGENCY PUT 'LINGUISTICS' ON MY GRAVE
OH MY GOD
OH MY GOD
OH MY GOD
THIS IS SO BAD I HAVE SO MUCH WORK TO DO IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS
SOMEONE TAKE THIS AWAY FROM ME
IN CASE YOU NERDS ARENT CLICKING THOSE LINKS
THAT IS PRETTY MUCH ALL THE COURSE CONTENT FROM ANY MIT CLASS YOU COULD WANT
I REPEAT
FREE COURSE MATERIALS FROM MIT
I JUST REALIZED WE DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT DINOSAURS SOUND LIKE! THEY COULD’VE BEEN SPEAKING FLUENT GERMAN FOR ALL WE KNOW
it’s too early for this late night tumblr shit
GUTEN MORGEN HERR PTERODACTYL
College should be free and you should be able to study “useless” degrees just for the love of learning
learning languages is fun because in some areas youll be like "oh wow theres one word for this thing thats covered by 20 different words in english? thats so easy and convinient!" and then in other areas you'll be like "what the fuck do you mean you use different numbers depending on what kind of object youre counting. im going to kill myself."
It's absolutely hilarious to watch native English speakers learn about gendered languages. They'll be like "why is a river feminine in Hindi????" And I'll be like "I don't know, vibes?"

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dropbox containing linguistics textbooks
contains 34 textbooks including etymology, language acquisition, morphology, phonetics/phonology, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, & translation studies
dropbox containing language textbooks
contains 123 language textbooks including ASL, Arabic, Bengali, Cantonese, (Mandarin) Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Hebrew (Modern & Ancient), Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Latin, Lithuanian, Nahuatl, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese, Welsh
dropbox containing books about language learning
includes fluent forever by gabriel wyner, how to learn any language by barry farber, polyglot by kató lomb
if there’s a problem with any of the textbooks or if you want to request materials for a specific language feel free to message me!
one of my favorite things when learning a new language might be learning about colloquial expressions, like
learning the words 两个, 三个 - ok, useful
learning people actually often say 俩 liǎ and 仨 sā instead - now it's getting interesting
worry not my lord, allow me to unscrew that jar for you. i would not want for you to strain your hand or break a nail. alright. hmm. HMMMM. HNNNGRGHHHHHH. HNNGGHHHH HRRRRRGHHH. AAAAAARGHHHHHHH fucking. squire fetch me my grippy gloves
knightclubbing:
Fürchtet nicht, mein Herr, erlaubt mir euch dieses Glas zu öffnen. Ich würde nicht wollen, dass ihr euch die Hand zerrt oder einen Nagel abbrecht. Nun denn. Hmm. HMMMM. HNNNGRGHHHHHH. HNNGGHHHH HRRRRRGHHH. AAAAAARGHHHHHHH scheiß. Knappe bring mir meine rutschfesten Handschuhe
thank youi so much i love you....
新年快乐,恭喜发财!
Someone asked me about shengxiao(chinese zodiac), but it’s not easy to explain in just a few words. So here's a proper explanation—it might be a bit dry, but it can serve as a reference and should make things clearer. You can also check which shengxiao you belong to. I think some people might get it wrong, because shengxiao follows the traditional Chinese calendar aka nongli, not the Gregorian calendar (the person who asked me did make this mistake.)
The twelve shengxiao took shape in the Han Dynasty, a time when divination and astrology were thriving. They're closely tied to China's unique sexagenary cycle—each shengxiao animal has its own heavenly stem and earthly branch based on the year. Archaeological evidence from a Qin tomb (217 BCE) in Shuihudi, Yunmeng County, Hubei Province, supports this. The earliest complete record of the twelve shengxiao is found in Wang Chong's Lunheng论衡 (1st century CE), which lists basically the same twelve animals and their earthly branch matches we use today. The system first emerged in the pre-Qin period, became largely fixed and widespread in the Eastern Han, and has stayed stable for over 2,000 years.
First, you need the core formula: A complete gan-zhi year = heavenly stem + earthly branch. Its five-element property = stem's five-element + branch's five-element.
The ten heavenly stems: 甲 (jiǎ), 乙 (yǐ), 丙 (bǐng), 丁 (dīng), 戊 (wù), 己 (jǐ), 庚 (gēng), 辛 (xīn), 壬 (rén), 癸 (guǐ).
The twelve earthly branches: 子 (zǐ), 丑 (chǒu), 寅 (yín), 卯 (mǎo), 辰 (chén), 巳 (sì), 午 (wǔ), 未 (wèi), 申 (shēn), 酉 (yǒu), 戌 (xū), 亥 (hài).
The five-element properties of the ten heavenly stems are divided into two types: Yang and Yin. This determines the strength or nature of the element's energy.
Wood: 甲 (jiǎ)= Yang Wood, 乙 (yǐ)=Yin Wood Fire: 丙 (bǐng)= Yang Fire, 丁 (dīng)=Yin Fire Earth: 戊 (wù)= Yang Earth, 己 (jǐ) =Yin Earth Metal: 庚 (gēng)=Yang Metal, 辛 (xīn) =Yin Metal Water: 壬 (rén)= Yang Water, 癸 (guǐ) =Yin Water
The five-element properties of the earthly branches are more complex, because each branch, besides its main energy, also hides other heavenly stems. But when determining the main five-element property of a shengxiao year, we usually just look at its "main energy" (本气). The main energy of 午 (wǔ) Horse is Fire.
The main five-element energies of the twelve earthly branches are as follows:
Water: 子 (zǐ)=Yang Water, 亥 (hài)= Yin Water Earth: 丑 (chǒu)=Yin Earth, 辰 (chén)=Yang Earth, 未 (wèi) =Yin Earth, 戌 (xū)=Yang Earth Wood: 寅 (yín)=Yang Wood, 卯 (mǎo)=Yin Wood Fire: 午 (wǔ)=Yang Fire, 巳 (sì) =Yin Fire Metal: 申 (shēn)=Yang Metal, 酉 (yǒu) =Yin Metal
The correspondence between the Twelve Shengxiao and the Twelve Earthly Branches is like this:
子 (zǐ) = Rat 丑 (chǒu) = Ox 寅 (yín) = Tiger 卯 (mǎo) = Rabbit 辰 (chén) = Dragon 巳 (sì) = Snake 午 (wǔ) = Horse 未 (wèi) = Goat 申 (shēn) = Monkey 酉 (yǒu) = Rooster 戌 (xū) = Dog 亥 (hài) = Pig
(If you’re already confused at this point, just skip to the part below. These lists are only for your future reference and easy lookup.)
These are the major Horse years(manian马年) from the early 20th century to the late 21st century, based on the Gregorian calendar (starting from the Chinese New Year)(Note: The Gregorian calendar is used to make it easier for you to look up. These dates have been converted from the Chinese nongli calendar system):
20th Century
1906 (丙午bǐng wǔ year, 1906.1.25 – 1907.2.12) 1918 (戊午wù wǔ year, 1918.2.11 – 1919.1.31) 1930 (庚午gēng wǔ year, 1930.1.30 – 1931.2.16) 1942 (壬午rén wǔ year, 1942.2.15 – 1943.2.4) 1954 (甲午jiǎ wǔ year, 1954.2.3 – 1955.1.23) 1966 (丙午bǐng wǔ year, 1966.1.21 – 1967.2.8) 1978 (戊午wù wǔ year, 1978.2.7 – 1979.1.27) 1990 (庚午gēng wǔ year, 1990.1.27 – 1991.2.14)
21st Century
2002 (壬午rén wǔ year, 2002.2.12 – 2003.1.31) 2014 (甲午jiǎ wǔ year, 2014.1.31 – 2015.2.18) 2026 (丙午bǐng wǔ year, 2026.2.17 – 2027.2.5) 2038 (戊午wù wǔ year, 2038.2.4 – 2039.1.23) 2050 (庚午gēng wǔ year, 2050.2.1 – 2051.2.18)
Friendly reminder: Since the Chinese New Year usually falls between late January and mid-February in the Gregorian calendar, people born in early or late years must determine their shengxiao based on their exact Chinese calendar birth date, rather than simply by the Gregorian year. For example, those born between January 1, 2003 and January 31, 2003 are still in the Year of the Horse (Renwu 壬午 Year) according to the Chinese calendar. Only those born on or after February 1, 2003 (Chinese New Year) belong to the Year of the Goat. Chinese people refer to newborns born in a particular shengxiao year as “[Shengxiao Animal] + baby”. Many even plan their pregnancies and childbirth carefully to ensure their baby is born in a specific shengxiao year. For example, babies born in the Year of the Horse are called mabaobao(Horse babies), and those born in the Year of the Dragon are called longbaobao(Dragon babies). (So go figure out which baobao you are…
Now let's look at the three closest Horse years, including 2026. First thing to be clear: every 午wu (Horse) year has the earthly branch element of Yang Fire. So the main difference comes from the heavenly stem's five-element property.
First example: 2026 (2026.2.17 – 2027.2.5). According to the table above, it's a bǐng wǔ (丙午) year. 丙bing= Yang Fire, 午wu = Yang Fire. So the five-element combo is heavenly stem Fire + earthly branch Fire. Both are Fire, both are Yang. That makes the energy very pure and strong. That's why 2026 is called a "Fire Horse year." Plus, we have entered the Nine Purple Li Fire period starting in 2024 (from February 4, 2024, Start of Spring, to before Start of Spring in 2043), making it fire on top of fire. Many feng shui commentators believe that starting this year, all pretense will be burned away, and a lot of truth will be revealed to the world.
2002 — rén wǔ year (2002.2.12 – 2003.1.31) Heavenly stem "rén": from the table above, rén = Yang Water. Earthly branch "wǔ": wǔ = Yang Fire. Five-element combo: stem Water + branch Fire. This combination is known as "heaven overcoming earth", indicating an inherent tension and conflict in the energy of the year. Since the earthly branch Wu Fire represents the core nature of the shengxiao, we generally still refer to this as a Water Horse year (led by the heavenly stem), while recognizing its internal characteristic of "Water and Fire in conflict".
1990 — gēng wǔ year (1990.1.27 – 1991.2.14) Heavenly stem "gēng": from the table above, gēng = Yang Metal. Earthly branch "wǔ": wǔ = Yang Fire. Five-element combo: stem Metal + branch Fire. The heavenly stem is Metal, and the earthly branch is Fire; Fire restrains Metal. This combination is called "earth overcoming heaven" or "refining true metal through fire", meaning the environment (earthly branch) serves to temper and test the dominant energy of the year (heavenly stem). We refer to this as a Metal Horse year.
When people see terms like "Water and Fire conflict," they might feel a bit apprehensive and wonder what about someone born in the 2002 Water Horse year? Is there something to be concerned about? Actually, no need to worry. According to traditional Chinese metaphysics, Ren Water is the ceaseless, rushing water of rivers, lakes, and seas (Yang Water), and Wu Fire is the blazing noonday sun (Yang Fire). This creates a balance and tug-of-war between two potential dynamics: "Water and Fire in harmony" (水火既济) and "Water and Fire in conflict" (水火相战). It gives Water Horse people a complex, tension-filled character and fate.
Personality-wise, Water Horse people are outwardly calm but inwardly active, outwardly gentle but inwardly strong. They're quick-thinking: Water rules intelligence and flow, so they're usually smart, flexible, adaptable, good at communicating and improvising. They're not as flashy as Fire Horses in terms of shengxiao—instead, they might seem quiet and easygoing on the outside. But inside, they burn with the Horse's natural passion, competitiveness, and impatience. They're like "deep, still water with a strong current"—calm on the surface, but clear goals and strong drive underneath.
Water's cool-headed planning combined with Fire's action-oriented intuition means they tend to think before they act. Unlike pure Fire Horses (like Bing Wu), who act impulsively, or Earth Horses (Wu Wu), who are overly steady, they find a good balance between thought and action.
Also, in terms of temperament, Water's inclusiveness and Fire's infectious energy make them natural team lubricants and motivators. They understand different perspectives and use their passion to get others going.
The "Water and Fire conflict" dynamic also means they're prone to inner contradictions—clashes between reason and emotion, long-term planning and urgent action. Their emotions may ebb and flow like the tide. They feel more internal pressure and tension than other shengxiao Horses, so they need to learn how to channel their emotional energy. If they can perfectly blend Water's wisdom and Fire's passion—achieving that state of "Water and Fire in harmony"—then they've really mastered their path in life, and things will go smoothly for them in just about every way.
If you want to know the traits of other Horse types, here's a quick reference:
Fire Horse(huoma) – Image: blazing sun at noon / wildfire. Passionate leader type. Extremely energetic, confident, and dazzling, but may be too impulsive and blunt.
Earth Horse(tuma) – Image: volcano / fire brick. Practical and steady type. Fire produces Earth, so their actions are sustained—more grounded and enduring, but may lack the Water Horse's flexibility.
Wood Horse(muma) – Image: forest fire / burning pillar. Pioneering and devoted type. Wood feeds Fire, so their energy has constant support. They're generous and have leadership skills, but may burn themselves out.
Metal Horse(jinma) – Image: steel furnace / sword being forged. Achiever through tempering. Fire overcomes Metal, meaning they grow strong through pressure and forging—great perseverance, but the process is tough.
But none of this is absolute. Once you add in other factors—like your birth month, day, hour and minute, as well as your birth location and true solar time—the picture becomes pretty complex.
Many people believe in the compatibility and conflict of shengxiao, with sayings like "Rat and Dragon are compatible, Horse and Ox clash". In fact, these are the results of traditional Chinese culture being simplified, symbolized, and even entertainmentized during its spread among the public. They are easy to remember and share, but are far removed from real metaphysical analysis. Put simply, it ignores many other variables, so the idea of shengxiao compatibility and conflict is open to debate.
In China, some superstitious people avoid those born in the Year of the Goat. This makes no sense at all in traditional Chinese metaphysics and is just a baseless rumor passed down through generations. Besides, countless people were born in the Year of the Goat, so avoiding them is totally pointless. On a side note, quite a few of my friends are Goat shengxiao—and I think they’re the GOAT.
Yet Chinese metaphysical systems such as Five Elements & Bazi, Plum Blossom Divination, Six Yao, Liu Ren, Qi Men Dun Jia, and Tai Yi are truly remarkable. They have been shown to resonate perfectly with cosmic energies. When you consult a genuine expert—someone who truly understands and can practice these arts—they can give you astonishingly accurate readings.
That said, Chinese tradition also advises against fortune-telling casually. It is acceptable to consult for major life events or to find lost items, but you should not do it constantly or obsessively. And all this only applies to Chinese metaphysical arts, because they’re on the level of heavy artillery—you wouldn’t use a cannon to kill a bug. Many bloggers think that with Tarot and similar tools, you can read as you please because tools like Tarot also align with cosmic energy, but they are relatively lighter in nature (of course, becoming too obsessed with anything is never healthy.
The difference is roughly this: tools like Tarot focus more on the present moment. They rarely give rigid outcomes such as “something will definitely happen on a specific month and day.” Instead, they act more like a mirror reflecting your current state, showing you the likely outcome if you take one path, and how things might change if you choose another. Strictly speaking, therefore, they do not predict a fixed future.
However, the internal logic of traditional Chinese metaphysics is completely different. It is a system of time patterns and life trajectory deduction, based on the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches calendar, Yin-Yang and Five Elements, and cyclical timing. It calculates fluctuations in fortune, types of events, and their timings corresponding to specific time periods. It can often determine things like: which years bring financial risks, which years bring major life changes, and which periods are suitable for marriage or business. It is closer to a cyclical projection of one’s life path, which is why many people experience it as actually “seeing the future.”
Tools like Tarot are light, gentle, and suitable for daily guidance. Chinese metaphysics is a vast, logically rigorous system for life analysis. Neither is inherently superior—they simply serve different purposes. Neither can lock in one’s life 100%, as a person’s mindset, choices, and environment always shape the final outcome.
Speaking of which, there is a Chinese blogger in New York who offers free fortune-telling, I think his name is Ni Haifan. You can check him out—he should be on YouTube. A friend shared his videos with me, and I found them quite interesting. Several times after he made an accurate prediction, external signs appeared in his surroundings. In Chinese metaphysics, this is called “yingzhao应兆 (responsive omens)”. In his most viewed video, he was warning someone that a certain way of making money might attract the attention of regulators, and right then a police siren blared in the background. That was no coincidence.

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Free or Cheap Mandarin Chinese Learning Resources Because You Can't Let John Cena One Up You Again
I will update this list as I learn of any more useful ones. If you want general language learning resources check out this other post. This list is Mandarin specific. Find lists for other specific languages here.
For the purposes of this list "free" means something that is either totally free or has a useful free tier. "Cheap" is a subscription under $10USD a month, a software license or lifetime membership purchase under $100USD, or a book under $30USD. If you want to suggest a resource for this list please suggest ones in that price range that are of decent quality and not AI generated.
WEBSITES
Dong Chinese - A website with lessons, a pinyin guide, a dictionary, and various videos and practice tests. With a free account you're only allowed to do one lesson every 12 hours. To do as many lessons as quickly as you want it costs $10 a month or $80 a year.
Domino Chinese - A paid website with video based lessons from absolute beginner to college level. They claim they can get you ready to get a job in China. They offer a free trial and after that it's $5 a month or pay what you can if you want to support their company.
Chinese Education Center - This is an organization that gives information to students interested in studying abroad in China. They have free text based lessons for beginners on vocab, grammar, and handwriting.
Pleco Dictionary App - This is a very popular dictionary app on both iOS and Android. It has a basic dictionary available for free but other features can be purchased individually or in bundles. A full bundle that has what most people would want is about $30 but there are more expensive options with more features.
MIT OpenCourseWare Chinese 1 2 3 4 5 6 - These are actual archived online courses from MIT available for free. You will likely need to download them onto your computer.
Learn Chinese Web Application From Cambridge University - This is a free downloadable file with Mandarin lessons in a PC application. There's a different program for beginner and intermediate.
Learn Chinese Everyday - A free word a day website. Every day the website posts a different word with pronunciation, stroke order, and example sentences. There's also an archive of free downloadable worksheets related to previous words featured on the website.
Chinese Boost - A free website and blog with beginner lessons and articles about tips and various resources to try.
Chinese Forums - An old fashioned forum website for people learning Chinese to share resources and ask questions. It's still active as of when I'm making this list.
Du Chinese - A free website and an app with lessons and reading and listening practice with dual transcripts in both Chinese characters and pinyin. They also have an English language blog with tips, lessons, and information on Chinese culture.
YOUTUBE CHANNELS
Chinese For Us - A channel that provides free video lessons for beginners. The channel is mostly in English.
Herbin Mandarin - A channel with a variety of lessons for beginners. The channel hasn't uploaded in a while but there's a fairly large archive of lessons to watch. The channel is mainly in English.
Mandarin Blueprint - This channel is by a couple of guys who also run a paid website. However on their YouTube channel there's a lot of free videos with tips about how to go about learning Chinese, pronunciation and writing tips, and things of that nature. The channel is mainly in English.
Blabla Chinese - A comprehensible input channel with content about a variety of topics for beginner to intermediate. The video descriptions are in English but the videos themselves are all in Mandarin.
Lazy Chinese - A channel aimed at intermediate learners with videos on general topics, grammar, and culture. They also have a podcast. The channel has English descriptions but the videos are all in Mandarin.
Easy Mandarin - A channel associated with the easy languages network that interviews people on the street in Taiwan about everyday topics. The channel has on screen subtitles in traditional characters, pinyin, and English.
StickynoteChinese - A relatively new channel but it already has a decent amount of videos. Jun makes videos about culture and personal vlogs in Mandarin. The channel is aimed at learners from beginner to upper intermediate.
Story Learning Chinese With Annie - A comprehensible input channel almost entirely in Mandarin. The host teaches through stories and also makes videos about useful vocabulary words and cultural topics. It appears to be aimed at beginner to intermediate learners.
LinguaFlow Chinese - Another relatively new channel but they seem to be making new videos regularly. The channel is aimed at beginner to intermediate learners and teaches and provides listening practice with video games. The channel is mostly in Mandarin.
Lala Chinese - A channel with tips on grammar and pronunciation with the occasional vlog for listening practice, aimed at upper beginner to upper intermediate learners. Some videos are all in Mandarin while others use a mix of English and Mandarin. Most videos have dual language subtitles onscreen.
Grace Mandarin Chinese - A channel with general information on the nitty gritty of grammar, pronunciation, common mistakes, slang, and useful phrases for different levels of learners. Most videos are in English but some videos are fully in Mandarin.
READING PRACTICE
HSK Reading - A free website with articles sorted into beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Every article has comprehension questions. You can also mouse over individual characters and see the pinyin and possible translations. The website is in a mix of English and Mandarin.
chinesegradedreader.com - A free website with free short readings up to HSK level 3 or upper intermediate. Each article has an explaination at the beginning of key vocabulary words in English and you can mouse over individual characters to get translations.
Mandarin Companion - This company sells books that are translated and simplified versions of classic novels as well as a few originals for absolute beginners. They are available in both traditional and simplified Chinese. Their levels don't appear to be aligned with any HSK curriculum but even their most advanced books don't have more than 500 individual characters according to them so they're likely mostly for beginners to advanced beginners. New paperbacks seem to usually be $14 but cheaper used copies, digital copies, and audiobooks are also available. The website is in English.
Graded Chinese Readers - Not to be confused with chinese graded reader, this is a website with information on different graded readers by different authors and different companies. The website tells you what the book is about, what level it's for, whether or not it uses traditional or simplified characters, and gives you a link to where you can buy it on amazon. They seem to have links to books all the way from HSK 1 or beginner to HSK 6 or college level. A lot of the books seem to be under $10 but as they're all from different companies your mileage and availability may vary. The website is in English.
Mandarin Bean - A website with free articles about Chinese culture and different short stories. Articles are sorted by HSK level from 1 to 6. The website also lets you switch between traditional or simplified characters and turn the pinyin on or off. It also lets you mouse over characters to get a translation. They have a relatively expensive paid tier that gives you access to video lessons and HSK practice tests and lesson notes but all articles and basic features on the site are available on the free tier without an account. The website is in a mix of Mandarin and English.
Mandarin Daily News - This is a daily newspaper from Taiwan made for children so the articles are simpler, have illustrations and pictures, and use easier characters. As it's for native speaker kids in Taiwan, the site is completely in traditional Chinese.
New Tong Wen Tang for Chrome or Firefox - This is a free browser extension that can convert traditional characters to simplified characters or vice versa without a need to copy and paste things into a separate website.
PODCASTS
Melnyks Chinese - A podcast for more traditional audio Mandarin Chinese lessons for English speakers. The link I gave is to their website but they're also available on most podcatcher apps.
Chinese Track - Another podcast aimed at learning Mandarin but this one goes a bit higher into lower intermediate levels.
Dimsum Mandarin - An older podcast archive of 30 episodes of dialogues aimed at beginner to upper beginner learners.
Dashu Mandarin - A podcast run by three Chinese teachers aimed at intermediate learners that discusses culture topics and gives tips for Mandarin learners. There are also male teachers on the podcast which I'm told is relatively rare for Mandarin material aimed at learners and could help if you're struggling to understand more masculine speaking patterns.
Learning Chinese Through Stories - A storytelling podcast mostly aimed at intermediate learners but they do have some episodes aimed at beginner or advanced learners. They have various paid tiers for extra episodes and learning material on their patreon but there's still a large amount of episodes available for free.
Haike Mandarin - A conversational podcast in Taiwanese Mandarin for intermediate learners. Every episode discusses a different everyday topic. The episode descriptions and titles are entirely in traditional Chinese characters. The hosts provide free transcripts and other materials related to the episodes on their blog.
Learn Chinese With Ju - A vocabulary building podcast aimed at intermediate learners. The podcast episodes are short at around 4-6 minutes and the host speaks about a variety of topics in a mix of English and Mandarin.
xiaoyuzhou fm - An iOS app for native speakers to listen to podcasts. I’m told it has a number of interactive features. If you have an android device you’ll likely have to do some finagling with third party apps to get this one working. As this app is for native speakers, the app is entirely in simplified Chinese.
Apple Podcast directories for Taiwan and China - Podcast pages directed towards users in those countries/regions.
SELF STUDY TEXTBOOKS AND DICTIONARIES
Learning Chinese Characters - This series is sorted by HSK levels and each volume in the series is around $11. Used and digital copies can also be found for cheaper.
HSK Standard Course Textbooks - These are textbooks designed around official Chinese government affiliated HSK tests including all of the simplified characters, grammar, vocab, and cultural knowledge necessary to pass each test. There are six books in total and the books prices range wildly depending on the level and the seller, going for as cheap as $14 to as expensive as $60 though as these are pretty common textbooks, used copies and cheaper online shops can be found with a little digging. The one I have linked to here is the HSK 1 textbook. Some textbook sellers will also bundle them with a workbook, some will not.
Chinese Made Easy for Kids - Although this series is aimed at children, I'm told that it's also very useful for adult beginners. There's a large number of textbooks and workbooks at various levels. The site I linked to is aimed at people placing orders in Hong Kong but the individual pages also have links to various other websites you can buy them from in other countries. The books range from $20-$35 but I include them because some of them are cheaper and they seem really easy to find used copies of.
Reading and Writing Chinese - This book contains guides on all 2300 characters in the HSK texts as of 2013. Although it is slightly outdated, it's still useful for self study and is usually less than $20 new. Used copies are also easy to find.
Basic Chinese by Mcgraw Hill - This book also fuctions as a workbook so good quality used copies can be difficult to find. The book is usually $20 but it also often goes on sale on Amazon and they also sell a cheaper digital copy.
Chinese Grammar: A beginner's guide to basic structures - This book goes over beginner level grammar concepts and can usually be found for less than $20 in print or as low as $2 for a digital copy.
Collins Mandarin Chinese Visual Dictionary - A bilingual English/Mandarin visual dictionary that comes with a link to online audio files. A new copy goes for about $14 but used and digital versions are available.
Merriam-Webster's Chinese to English Dictionary - In general Merriam Websters usually has the cheapest decent quality multilingual dictionaries out there, including for Mandarin Chinese. New editions usually go for around $8 each while older editions are usually even cheaper.
(at the end of the list here I will say I had a difficult time finding tv series specifically made for learners of Mandarin Chinese so if you know of any that are made for teenage or adult learners or are kids shows that would be interesting to adults and are free to watch without a subscription please let me know and I will add them to the list. There's a lot of Mandarin language TV that's easy to find but what I'm specifically interested in for these lists are free to watch series made for learners and/or easy to understand kids shows originally made in the target language that are free and easy to access worldwide)
@glamgothhobbit
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Eggs are oval. The word egg is even etymologically related to oval. Oval comes from Latin ōvālis (egg-shaped), a derivative of ōvum (egg), the ancestor of Spanish huevo, French œuf and others. Latin ōvum, in turn, was a distant cousin of Germanic *ajjan, the ancestor of Old Norse egg. This word was borrowed into Middle English and gradually displaced the native word ey. Click my new infographic graphic to learn more.
In 1490, William Caxton wrote an anecdote on eggs and eyren. Commenting on the linguistic diversity of English, which made creating a standardised English hard, he told the story of a group of northern merchants asking a southern lady for eggs:
“And one of them, named Sheffelde, a mercer, cam in to an hows and axed for mete, and specyally he axyd after eggys. And the goode wyf answerde that she coude speke no frenshe. And the marchaunt was angry for he also coude speak no frenshe, but wolde have hadde egges and she understode hym not. And thenne at laste a nother sayd that he wolde have eyren; then the good wyf sayd that she understood hym wel. Loo, what sholde a man in thyse dayes now wryte: egges or eyren? Certaynly it is harde to playse every man bycause of dyversite & chaunge of langage.” (And one of them, named Sheffeld, a mercer, entered a house and asked for food, and specifically he asked for eggs. And the good lady answered that she couldn’t speak French. And the merchant was angry because he shouldn’t speak French either, but he wanted to have eggs and she didn’t understand him. And then, at last, another person said that he wanted to have eyren; then the good lady said that she understood him wel. Oh, what should one write nowadays: egges or eyren? It’s certainly hard to please everyone because of diversity and change of language.)
japanese first person pronouns appeal to me on a pure information conveyance level. you're telling me with just the word "i" i could be communicating that I'm an adult man and an asshole?
There was this woman poet in 4th century China called Su Hui (蘇蕙), a child genius who had reportedly mastered Chinese characters by age 3.
At 21 years old, heartbroken by her husband who left her for another woman, she decided to encode her feelings in a structure so intricate, so beautiful, so intellectually staggering that it still baffles scholars to this day.
Came to be known as the Xuanji Tu (璇璣圖) - the "Star Gauge" or "Map of the Armillary Sphere" - it's a 29 by 29 grid of 841 characters that can produce over 4,000 different poems.
Read it forward. Read it backward. Read it horizontally, vertically, diagonally. Read it spiraling outward from the center. Read it in circles around the outer edge. Each path through the grid produces a different poem - all of them coherent, all of them beautiful, all of them rhyming, all of them expressing variations on the same themes of longing, betrayal, regret, and undying love.
The outer ring of 112 characters forms a single circular poem - believed to be both the first and longest of its kind ever written. The interior grid produces 2,848 different four-line poems of seven characters each. In addition, there are hundreds of other smaller and longer poems, depending on the reading method.
At the center a single character she left implied but unwritten: 心 (xin) - "heart." Later copyists would add it explicitly, but in Su Hui's original the meaning was even more beautiful: 4,000 poems, all orbiting the space where her heart used to be.
Take for instance the outer red grid of the Star Gauge. Starting from the top right corner and reading down, you get this seven-character quatrain:
仁智懷德聖虞唐,
貞志篤終誓穹蒼,
欽所感想妄淫荒,
心憂增慕懷慘傷。
In pinyin, it is:
Rén zhì huái dé shèng yú táng,
zhēnzhì dǔ zhōng shì qióng cāng,
qīn suǒ gǎnxiǎng wàng yín huāng,
xīn yōu zēng mù huái cǎn shāng.
Notice how it rhymes? táng / cāng / huāng / shāng
The rough translation in English is: "The benevolent and wise cherish virtue, like the sage-kings Yao and Shun, With steadfast will I swear to the heavens above, What I revere and feel - how could it be wanton or dissolute? My heart's sorrow grows, longing brings only grief."
Now read it from the bottom to the top and you get this entirely different seven-character quatrain:
傷慘懷慕增憂心,
荒淫妄想感所欽,
蒼穹誓終篤志貞,
唐虞聖德懷智仁。
The pinyin:
Shāng cǎn huái mù zēng yōu xīn,
huāngyín wàngxiǎng gǎn suǒ qīn,
cāngqióng shì zhōng dǔzhì zhēn,
táng yúshèngdé huái zhì rén.
It rhymes too: xīn and qīn, zhēn and rén
And the meaning is just as beautiful and coherent: "Grief and sorrow, longing fills my worried heart, Wanton and dissolute fantasies - is that what you revere? I swear to the heavens my constancy is true, May we embody the sage-kings' virtue, wisdom, and benevolence."
That's just 2 poems out of the over 4,000 you can construct from the Xuanji Tu!
At the very center of the grid, the 8 red characters wrapped around the central heart, she "signed" her poem with a hidden message:
詩圖璇玑,始平蘇氏。 "The poem-picture of the Armillary Sphere, by Su of Shiping."
Or reversed:
蘇氏詩圖,璇玑始平。 "Su's poem-picture - the Armillary Sphere begins in peace."
Many scholars, and even emperors, throughout Chinese history have been completely obsessed by Su Hui's puzzle.
For instance, in the Ming dynasty, a scholar named Kang Wanmin (康萬民) devoted his entire life to the poems (kangshiw.com/contents/461/2…), ending up documenting twelve different reading methods - forward, backward, diagonal, radiating, corner-to-corner, spiraling - and extracting 4,206 poems. His book on the subject ("Reading Methods for the Xuanji Tu Poems", 璇璣圖詩讀法) runs to hundreds of pages.
Empress Wu Zetian herself, the legendary woman emperor of the Tang dynasty, wrote a preface to the Xuanji Tu around 692 CE (baike.baidu.com/item/%E7%BB%87…).
Incredibly, there's even far more complexity to the Xuanji Tu than just the poems:
- The name 璇玑 (Xuanji) - Armillary Sphere - is astronomical in meaning and the way the poems can be read mirrors the way celestial bodies orbit around a fixed center. It's a model of the heavens.
- Her original work, with the characters woven on silk brocade, was in five colors (red, black, blue/green, purple, and yellow) which correspond to the Five Elements (五行) - the foundational Chinese philosophical system that explains how the universe operates. So it's also a model of the entire cosmic order according to ancient Chinese philosophy.
- It's also of course deeply mathematical with this 29 x 29 perfect square grid, with sub-squares, lines and rectangles, and a structure which allows for symmetrical reading patterns in all directions
- Last but not least, the content of the poems themselves contain multiple registers. On top of expressing her personal grief and longing for her husband, it's also filled with accusations against the concubine (Zhao Yangtai) he left her for, reflections on politics (with many references to sage-kings) and philosophical reflections.
So the Star Gauge is simultaneously:
- A love letter (expressing personal longing)
- A legal brief (arguing her case against her rival)
- A cosmological model (structured like the heavens)
- A Five Element diagram (encoding the fundamental structure of the world according to ancient Chinese philosophy)
- A mathematical construction with perfect symmetry and precision
And yet, for all this complexity, we should not forget this was all ultimately in service of the simplest human message imaginable: a 21-year-old woman asking the love of her life "come back to me".
Her husband did, eventually. According to what empress Wu Zetian herself wrote in her preface to the Xuanji Tu, when he received Su's brocade he was so "moved by its supreme beauty" that he sent away his concubine and returned to his wife. As the story goes, they lived together until old age.
The heart at the center was filled after all.
Gradient Chinese calligraphy in spring-color ink by 梅子书时

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the best time to learn a new language was when you were twelve and willing to go through great lenghts to read yaoi on the internet. the second best time is now.