8
votes
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How to catch up with advanced group?
try "http://www.wannalearn.com/" search "chinese"
"http://www.openculture.com/freelanguagelessons" scroll down to "chinese" section
"https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Main_Page"
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votes
Which Mandarin learning textbooks have the largest amount of practical exercises?
You can find some bookstores near the Elementary Schools (小學).
If you see some signs like 國小參考書, go to find 參考書 (references) or 評量題 (examinations) for the first or second grade (一、二年級). 參考書 include ...
- 5,886
8
votes
Is there any proof that the Taishanese language is related to Gan? Is it from a linguistic perspective?
The Gan-Hakka hypothesis is most famously put forward by Sagart (2002), based on certain unique shared innovations in both Southern Gan varieties and Hakka:
屋下 as the usual word for "house",...
- 6,313
7
votes
Accepted
How many non-native speakers of Chinese are there?
I found this report provided by the institution that runs the Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK). The report was about the tests that took place in year 2010, which was ten years ago, so things may have ...
- 3,823
6
votes
Accepted
How are Chinese people taught Chinese Hanzi?
I can give a short answer to this question. I would say both. When I entered primary school and started to learn Hanzi systematically, Pinyin is the very first thing to learn, and we learn the sounds ...
- 101
6
votes
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Etymology of 奇 and 怪
「奇」 is not a person riding a horse - that is probably a learning mnemonic, meant to remind you of the word 「騎」. This character has received some attention in the question What is the glyph origin of '...
- 21.7k
5
votes
Accepted
Word list for computer UI and technical. (Simplified character, pinyin, English)
I have done some software translation and there are couple of ways you can go about learning UI-related language. The first thing is to start using applications (including your operating system) in ...
- 3,019
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Etymology of 奇 and 怪
Tl;dr: Isolated use is largely impermissible (points 3. and 4.), because they are classical Chinese. Evidence for which is outlined in point 2.
With other excellent answers detailing the glyph origin ...
- 5,595
5
votes
Puzzling Chinese conversations
For your first puzzle, the word 上調 sounds the same as 上吊, which means hanged himself. That is why A is asking if he died. And because B means he got promoted, B is surprised by A's response.
The ...
- 101
4
votes
Accepted
Does watching Chinese movies with English subtitles help in learning Mandarin?
From my experience, I would say no. The translations for movie subtitles are usually too loose to be of much use.
However, if you watch a Chinese movie with Chinese subtitles, that definitely helps. ...
- 400
4
votes
Why do Chinese people always use Chinese subtitles?
That is mainly to make sure deaf people can understand.
2012年实施的《无障碍环境建设条例》规定：公开出版发行的影视类录像制品应当配备字幕。
Ref: 为什么在中国流通的影视作品普遍显示字幕？ - 知乎用户的回答 - 知乎
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4
votes
Accepted
How to express that someone is old?
'他是個老人' - 'he is an old man'
It is a plain statement. The classifier 個 should not be omitted because 老人 could be a noun or adjective. '他是老人' sounds like your sentence is incomplete. Using the ...
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4
votes
Accepted
if ... then ... in Chinese without any special words
你 高兴，我 也 高兴。
I interpret it as "You are happy, and I am happy too." It means your happiness may not be necessarily relevant to mine, but they just happen simultaneously for some or no reason.
Think ...
- 24k
4
votes
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Is there an Android app that pressing on words translates them?
I found the Pleco app manages to do this task using the (free) option Screen Reader:
For example, browsing online in a website:
If we press on the button
, the app recognizes the characters and ...
- 2,142
4
votes
How are Chinese people taught Chinese Hanzi?
Different from the other answers, I'm from Hong Kong and we don't really commonly teach using a phonetic system.
The popular Chinese language in Hong Kong is Cantonese. And although there are various ...
- 1,163
4
votes
Improve reading speed at advanced level
Hacking Chinese (by Olle Linge) mentions that the way to reading faster is to simply read more. Presumably extensive reading as opposed to intensive reading. That is, read many different texts that ...
- 565
3
votes
Resources for learning Cantonese
Hey guys (and gals) learning Cantonese!
I've recently started a resource on learning Cantonese, and am constantly updating it with more content. Here's a preview of what I have currently:
1. The ...
3
votes
What tool allows a fast translation from Chinese that is both scaleable and exportable?
There are several ways to look up characters without knowing their pronunciation.
In printed dictionaries, you need to identify the character's radical (or at least one of the character's radical ...
- 1,144
3
votes
Colour code characters according to tone on iPhone/Android
This is not possible with existing products. You'd need a special input method, like the Multiling Keyboard, that would specifically format the input. There are a few difficulties with this:
Many ...
- 1,901
3
votes
What are some ways I can learn Chinese characters effectively?
I'll assume that you want to learn vocabulary (written character form, pinyin pronunciation, and translated meaning).
I'll start off with a little about how I learned (just passed HSK 3 after 9 ...
- 428
3
votes
3
votes
Does reading Chinese sentences improve my speaking?
I’m Chinese and currently studying English. If you're just reading, your progress is probably very slow.
I think that the best way to improve your skill is to have conversation with people.
你好，朋友，...
- 31
3
votes
App to learn stroke order and writing chinese characters
A free option is TOFU Learn which is what I've been using for years. It has the HSK decks already available, and it's simple enough to write your own (and import the pinyin and definitions from CC-...
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Does reading books with pronunciation written above the characters develop one's skills?
I'm asking about answers based on scientific research or your
experience.
I choose experience to answer.
In Taiwan, Students of lower grades of elementary school have a subject called 國語(in ...
- 1,617
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votes
How many people are learning Chinese as a second language today?
Estimated by Ethnologue: 198.7 million as of 2021 (Mandarin Chinese only).
Note:
The data above is the total number of people who speak Mandarin Chinese (ISO 639-3: cmn) as their second language; it ...
- 2,020
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Improve reading speed at advanced level
I am not an expert reader of Chinese script at all. However, a useful piece of advice was given to me when I started learning: instead of reading character-by-character, try to read in groupings. That ...
3
votes
What is the best way to go about beginning to learn mandarin pronunciation?
I'm going to copy/paste what I wrote some time ago:
Tones must be perfect from the start!
Chinese is a tonal language. For those speaking English, mastering tones is a big issue, it's a concept that ...
3
votes
Accepted
Difference betwen 讲 的是 and 讲
(a) 这个电影 讲 一个人 为他爸爸报仇 的 故事.
(b) 这个电影 讲的 (內容) 是 一个人为他爸爸报仇 的 故事.
From the grammar/structure point of view, (a) is an SVO structure. (b) is a "to-be" sentence. Since 这个电影 (or 这本书) is not a real ...
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votes
Learn the characters at the same time as the language?
First, please don't entangle in learning Chinese pinyin and Chinese character at the same time or not.You need to ask yourself what is your purpose of learning Chinese?
If you only want to travel in ...
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