Tag: Chinese

  • My Chinese System

    I think it is worth talking a little about the technology I use, on a day to day basis, to learn Chinese. Some of it definitely does not work, some of it I think is very effective, and some is just fun. Also, after a while, I begin to forget what the actual systems are that I use when people ask, so writing this I hope could be useful!

    Mobile

    Hardware:

    I have been using Palms for the last two and a half years or so, and this is certainly my main centre of learning Chinese. Starting with a Sony Clié PEG-SJ35, and moving on to a Palm Tungsten T3, I am now using a Palm Treo 680 that is able to do everything I think I need, day to day.

    Software:

    Chinese IME: CKJOS
    This is the system that allows the Palm to view and write Chinese. I can type using PinYin or ZhuYin or write with the stylus, but it does lack some of the predictive text capabilities of PalmDragon that I had installed on the Clié.

    Dictionary: Dr. Eye
    I use this everyday and this is one of the most important pieces of software that I own. With it, I can translate from English to Chinese, or vice versa. It only does one word at a time, so it is a little inconvenient, and it seems to be missing words quite often. Sometimes, things like copy and paste are a little esoteric, but on the whole it seems to work.

    Flash Cards: Supermemo
    This is the most used piece of software in my arsenal of Chinese learning tools. It drives me up the wall, is completely inflexible, but I have so much invested in it now that there is no turning back – and being honest I really enjoy it, treating learning cards more like a computer game. Using the intelligent flash cards each day, it ends up that it only ever tests me on the characters that I find really difficult – the way it should be, of course, but why not flatter me a little more?! On average, I get about 75 cards a day from a total pool of 3700 at the moment.

    Other software: I have tried loads of other pieces of software over the years and in almost all cases I have been unimpressed. Please let me know if you have any more additions to the pile because I would be delighted to learn more!

    Computer

    Mac Software

    Chinese IME: QIM
    This seems to be much slicker than the standard PinYin input mechanism that comes as standard with OSX. You don’t need to be so accurate with your tones, which is great some of the time, and completely infuriating the rest of the time when you are trying to learn. It’s pretty decent, overall, and allows you to look at nice, big, smoothly rendered characters.

    Dictionary: WenLin
    I have yet to completely get to grips with this monster of a program, but I have been assured by several people that this is the way to go. I’ll probably do another entry, specifically on that, when I do get around to learning it properly.

    Dictionary: Wordlookup
    This is a nice, simple dictionary that Markus showed me, and I use this most of the time for quickly looking up things. I like the way that returns the results, compared to some of the other products out there like Atomix Dojam (horrid).

    Dictionary: TranslateIt
    I tried this for a little while, but in the end I went back to the simpler Wordlookup, while waiting to get moving on WenLin. Seems okay though.

    There is also an excellent summary of Mac software (along with some others) at the Yale University Council for East Asian Studies.

    PC Software:

    Chinese IME: Google PinYin
    I love this. It’s the best input system so far that I have found. I am pretty sure it is constantly checking with a server online to make sure the sentence is in context, and it really allows me to write entire swathes of text without needing to select a character from the list. It sometimes seems to be missing the most basic characters, though, hiding them deep within the selection list. Very impressive, overall.

    Dictionary: Dr Eye
    I have not used this in a while, due to the annoying little popup menu, but this is certainly the most popular system for Taiwanese people. I should reinstall it, really, and give it another chance.

    Firefox Plug-Ins and Online

    Dictionary: ChinesePera-Kun
    I just installed this today and I am quite impressed so far. The basic idea is that it displays a wee little popup when you hover over a Chinese character on a website. There seem to be some neat featured, such as export.

    Online Dictionary: Systran
    I have not used this site in a while, because sometimes it bugs me to register, but it’s not bad for those times when you need to brutally translate an e-mail or section of text.

    Dictionary: Google Toolbar
    There is an auto-translate function in here, but it only seems to go English-Chinese, so I got bored and disabled it today when I got ChinesePera-Kun up and running. Google being Google, I am pretty sure they will get it all up and running soon enough, and tie it all in with the IME – here’s hoping.

  • 3000 Words in Chinese

    I just learnt my 3000th word in Chinese! Kind of a magic number for me to reach, because they say I should be able to start reading basic newspapers now. We shall see.

    I know this because I tap every word I learn into my trusty Palm, and use Supermemo software to give me daily tests. Strictly speaking, I guess I know 3000 English words; I am not sure exactly how that transposes into discrete Chinese characters but it is probably about the same when you average it out.

    Out of interest, you can see when I passed the 2000 mark at the end of last September, here: 2000 Chinese Characters

    So, over this 6 month period, that is over 40 new words per week going into my head! I just wonder what must be being shoved aside to make space. My French, that is for sure.

  • 2056 – Supermemo

    Yesterday, I passed rather a milestone – I have now learnt more than 2000 characters!

    I have not spoken a great deal about my learning Chinese, except for the occasional moments of frustration or amusing anecdotes. But, it does consume an enormous part of my free time here in Taiwan.

    Six hours tutoring after work each work – strategically placed on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 7 to 9 o’clock – plus about four hours again at the weekend, have slowly but surely raised my Chinese skills to a level at which I could perhaps compete with a five year old. A very stupid five year old.

    I have been here for more than two years now and I can conclusivly say that learning Chinese has been the most difficult thing I have ever done. It is ridiculous. And I am positive that if if you were designing a language system, this would absolutely not be the way to do it. And yet… billions do. Amazing.

    The other weapon / toy in my armoury is my trusty Palm. I went for 18 months with my old Sony Clie, and recently upgraded to a much cooler Tungsten T3 – with Bluetooth and higher resolution. On this is a piece of software called Supermemo, and into this I place all my vocabulary, including that from the text books. It gives me daily tests and turns the tedious process of learning thousands of characters into something more akin to a computer game, its algorithm intelligently learning which characters I am good (or more likely bad) at. Some relentlessly return every day, and will be tested again in over two years time!

    So, every day over breakfast I am doing flashcards as I eat. Usually, I will have about 70 cards in total, but from the first book (about 950 words) I now get tested on about 10 per day – pretty cool. Furthermore, I have added almost 500 of my own characters – mainly related to work, design … bike, babes and beer.


    Palm T3


    The geek factor – but we all know how much we love stats in sports. Same here.


    An example flash card, showing the answer.