Category: Language Learning
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In Paper versus Electric Dictionaries, Electric Wins
It was quite a while ago now I ran a little poll asking if people preferred using Paper Dictionaries, Electronic Dictionaries, or both. Well, turns out the results were pretty much unanimously in favor of Electronic Dictionaries! With their convenience, portability, and instantly accessible information, electronic dictionaries are probably the best option for language learners these days.…
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WaiChinese – A complete tone changer
I have to preface this by saying I am extremely impressed by WaiChinese. I have absolutely always wanted an app that was able to actually track your tones as you say them and it’s finally here! So please go and try it it out! Now onto the full review! It all comes down to tones…
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A little mouse in an email address
In my previous post on punctuation, I left out perhaps one of the most interesting, creative, and perhaps most relevant to the internet, symbols: the @ symbol! When you ask people for their email address, they’ll often answer you with: name小老鼠gmail.com At first this completely threw me off–until I thought it out and realized how…
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The Art of Punctuation in Chinese
There is a certain art to Chinese punctuation, and as a graduate student, writing papers with proper pronunciation is exceedingly important. 「知漢字者智。知標點者明。」-Me, breaking traditional poetic structure. A Little History of Chinese Punctuation Chinese traditionally had no paragraphs, no spaces and, especially, no punctuation. It wasn’t until the late nineteenth and early twentieth century did punctuation…
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New Chinese Learning App Roundup!
There’s been quite a few great new apps released for both iOS and Android recently that would make a great addition to any Chinese learner’s toolbox. So in this post I wanted to highlight a few of them and share with everyone to take a look at! I’ve also included screenshots at the very end…
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“You sold me out!”
A staple of any good mafia movie is when one of the guys rats out someone for fun and/or profit. And guess what? Chinese has an awesome phrase for a situation like that, too! 你出賣我！（nǐ chūmài wǒ） 出賣 is actually a set phrase which, aside from meaning quite literally “to sell”, also means “to sell…
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The Skritter Android Beta is Out!
Good news for Skritter users with Android devices–the Skritter Beta for Android is out! Check out the post below for a few screenshots and brief overview. Also, learn how to get a three-week free trial (instead of the usual one week) to test out the app!
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A Quick Look at “Learn a Chinese Phrase”
I was recently contacted by the Learn a Chinese Phrase team from Wayne State University about a video series they put together. I must admit this was pretty surprising, considering I went to school in Michigan and had friends at Wayne State University, too. So I was quite curious to see what they had put…
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Have a Nice Trip!
Spotted at the airport: In Chinese: 祝大家旅途愉快 祝 zhù wish 大家 dàjiā everyone 旅途 lǚtú journey/trip 愉快 yúkuài happy/cheerful Or, in English, 🙂 Have a nice journey (or trip)! It’s also easily adapted wishing, say, you friend or family to have a nice trip! Just switch out the 大家 for 你 or 你們： 祝大家旅途愉快 =…
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A Crash Course in Chinese Numbers
This is a pretty simple post, but hopefully it’ll give you a quick and easy introduction to Chinese numbers–which can be rather intimidating at first the larger they get! But as you’ll see, it’s pretty easy to figure out once you know a simple little trick.
En Route To Fluency 