How to Learn Chinese Guide (726)

Free Chinese language study guide available for download in pdf format. (please register first in Member’s area in order to download the Study Guide.)  This useful guide covers topics such as learning strategies, learning styles, maintaining motivation, overcoming barriers, memorizing vocabulary, and other issues in the study of Mandarin. Now freely available online with hard copies available at our  Beijing Chinese language school. Tell all your friends!

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If you are learning Chinese then chances are that before too long you will want to write in Chinese using the computer. Assuming you are looking for a tool that allows you to write in Chinese as easily as it to write in roman script, then what you are looking for is a Chinese IME (Input Method Editor).

Google has is own IME for inputting Chinese characters http://google.com/intl/zh-CN/ime/pinyin/, and like most things Google it works well. Once installed it is easy to switch between writing in English and writing in Chinese.

The key selling point of any Chinese IME is its ability to provide the exact characters you want. For instance if you are writing about a policeman then you will want 被警察 (bèijǐngchá) rather than 北京茶.

The Google IME appears to claim that it will do a better job at getting to the characters you want quickly and accurately, and from my experience so far it seems to do a very good job of it. It can cope with writing long strings of characters and analyse the whole sentence to determine what characters make sense.

One drawback about the Google IME is that it the software itself is in Chinese– i.e. the terms and conditions, the settings etc are all in Chinese (so not so helpful if you are still a rookie language learner). You don’t need to alter the settings to make it work well, so this isn’t necessarily a problem but if you are of a nervous disposition, or just like to carefully read all your terms and conditions then maybe the Microsoft Pinyin IME would be a better alternative.

See also the previous blog post on wubi and pinyin.

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As I mentioned in previous post,  today I’d like to share more about the Chinese video player-Splayer, it’s neat, safe and really high performance.  It has many great features, however, the one feature I like most is that it automatically match and download subtitles from shooter.cn, so you don’t need to find the subtitle yourself.  If it sounds like something you may like it, please check it out.

here is the video player site in English: http://splayer.org/index.en.html

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Recently, when I was surfing around on some Chinese learning websites, I noticed that some people were looking for a place where they can download  Chinese subtitles for movies. And Since watching movies is one of great ways to learn Chinese,  I’d like to share some resources today, hope it would be something helpful for those who want to learn Chinese by watching movies or for those just want it for entertainment.

The website I’d like to introduce is called 射手网-shooter.cn, it’s personal-owned website and has tons of subtitles from way back, probably any movie you can think of. You can download Chinese subtitles for Chinese or English movies, or English subtitles for Chinese or English movies.  How can you make it work to show up the subtitles then?

Here are the steps:

1. type in the name of the movie in search bar and search;

2. then download the subtitles to your computer;

3. to change the file name of subtitles and make sure all the subtitles in different language have the same file name with the movie file name; (please make sure you don’t change the file format)

4. lastly, if your video player recognize  the subtitle file, you should be able to have subtitle showed up and also you can switch between different subtitle languages as well.

One more tip: when you search for subtitles, mostly like there would be many versions available from different subtitle producers, but the only important thing you need to know is what languages available in each version of subtitle? There is a language section of each subtitle description, so you can find out what languages  are available, the most common languages available are simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese and English. here are two examples:

subtitle languages: English, traditional Chinese, Dutch and French.

Subtitle languages: English, simplified and traditional Chinese.

Hope this post would be helpful to you and let me know in comment if you run into any problem.

In next post, I will share more about the video player developed by shooter.cn called Splayer.

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Here’s another one for all you Chinese-learning Google Chrome users out there- this follows suit after our previous post about the Perapera-kun Chinese translator plugin for Firefox. Likewise, Zhongwen is a Google Chrome extension that brings up pop-up translations of Chinese characters and words from webpages that you are browsing.

The Zhongwen plugin translates both traditional and simplified Chinese characters into English, and uses the popular CEDICT Chinese English dictionary to do so. Most importantly, it also shows the Hanyu Pinyin along both the simplified and traditional characters.

Installing the Zhongwen plugin is quite a bit easier than the Perapera-kun plugin. All you need to do is navigate to the Zhongwen plugin page and click install; no separate dictionary file installation is required. Activating the plugin for use just requires you to click the plugin button in your browser, and mousing over Chinese characters will automatically call the translation popup to show.

To get started with the Zhongwen Extension:

1. Get the Google Chrome browser

2. Install the Zhongwen Extension

Happy surfing!

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I wanted to highlight an awesome translator pop-up tool for those who use the Firefox internet browser, called Perapera-kun. Perapera-kun is an extension add-on for Firefox that acts as a pop-up translator for Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, into English or German. I haven’t tried out the Korean, Japanese, or German dictionaries, but the Chinese-to-English dictionary provides translated meanings of words, and also the pinyin pronunciation of the word. This is a great tool to have if you’re wanting to venture into the Chinese net-space to browse some local BBS forums or news sites.

To get started with Perapera-kun:

1. Get the Firefox browser

2. Install the Perapera-kun add-on

3. Install the Chinese-to-English dictionary file

(Note: The Perapera-kun website is hosted on a WordPress site, which is blocked by the Chinese firewall. Here is a direct link to the Chinese-to-English dictionary file)

Happy surfing!

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Writing Chinese characters by hand is a confusing task of memorizing strokes and characters, but the use of computers has made it slightly easier- perhaps an unfortunate blessing since I’ve heard time and time again from local coworkers how their grasp of writing out Chinese characters has regressed because they only now need to recognize characters due to their constant use of Chinese input methods. There are many types of input methods available; some which are based on pronunciation, while others on character structure, character set or a combination of pronunciation and character structure. I’d like to talk about two of the popular Chinese character input method editors (IME): Pinyin and Wubi.

Pinyin (拼音输入法)

The Pinyin IME (拼音输入法 pin1yin1 shu1ru4fa3) allows users to input Chinese characters by typing in the pinyin of a Chinese character, and the Pinyin IME then presents the user with a list of characters with that pinyin pronunciation. The advantage of the pinyin input method is that it’s very easy to learn for Mandarin speakers, since those who are familiar with pinyin will already be able to input Chinese characters with almost no training, which is not the case with other input methods. The Pinyin IME is very popular in mainland China, since children are already required to learn pinyin in school. However the Pinyin IME was created based on the pronunciation of standard-Mandarin so native Mandarin speakers who speak with accents will have a hard time distinguishing a number of similar sounding syllables, such as c and ch, s and sh, z and zh, n and ng, h or hu and f, or n and l. Moreover, Chinese dialect speakers who don’t know pinyin, or speak Mandarin, will not be able to use this input method at all.

Wubizixing (五笔字型输入法)

The Wubi IME, short for The Wubizixing (五笔字型输入法 wu3bi3zi4xing2shu1ru4fa3) allows users to input Chinese characters based on the structure of characters rather than their pronunciation, making it possible to enter Chinese characters even when the user doesn’t know the pronunciation, or if the user speaks a dialect of Chinese. As the name suggets, the Wubi 五笔 (wu3bi3) IME divides the keyboard into five regions, which is assigned a certain type of character stroke, which allows for the user to efficiently write characters with at most 4 keystrokes. Another efficiency in using Wubi over phonetic character input methods, is that users don’t have to select characters from a list of similar homo-phonic choices, and so there’s a greater ability for a Wubi typist to ‘touch’ type without having to look at the computer screen. However, a major drawback to learning Wubi is that it has a high learning curve, and requires memorization and practice for a user to use it proficiently.

Which Input Method?

My recommendation for choosing between these two Chinese character input methods would be to consider your goal for typing Chinese. If you aim to be a professional Chinese typist, and need to input Chinese characters at a high rate, then it may be well worth your time to learn the Wubi IME system. However, if you are a standard-Mandarin speaker, and only need to input Chinese for casual computer use such as online chatting and surfing, then the Pinyin IME system will be more than sufficient for your needs.

Are you a well versed Chinese typist? Share your views on these two Chinese character input methods, or any other input method that you may be using already, in the comments below.

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Omegadelta.net

To get started, call 13800138000 to talk to a female robot (in Chinese) or a male robot (English). To navigate through the menus:

1. enter 2 for English
2. enter 2 to recharge (the guy says something like “to make an advance payment”but it means recharge)
3. enter 1# to recharge the cell phone you’re calling from
4. enter your PIN
5. enter # to end

You should hear a message confirming your recharge. After you hang up, you can text YE to 10086 to get a text message indicating your balance. The text will be in Chinese but you should be able to see numbers reflecting your recharge.

You can also save the number string 13800138000p2p2p1# on your phone, and set the number as a quick-dial number. Then all you’d have to do is call that phone number, then wait for it to enter digits for you automatically. Enter your PIN. Then, enter # to finish.

Alternatively, Omegadelta.net also says here that you can recharge your account by texting CZ [PIN number] to 10086.

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Francisco was planning to cook a great meal for his Chinese friends in his apartment. They arrived early to help him cook. He wanted to have Bavarian stir-fried vegetables with Russian borscht, which his friends had absolutely no experience with. So, he had to give them directions, but oh, no! When he wanted to ask someone to use the spatula to stir the vegetables, or to use the ladle to serve the soup, all he could say was “把那个。。。那个东西。。。那个，快点拿那个把它那个那个,快!”(bǎ nà gè 。。。nà gè dōng xī 。。。nà gè ，kuài diǎn ná nà gè bǎ tā nà gè nà gè ,kuài!) His poor friends didn’t know which kitchen utensil he wanted. It was like that all night.

So, they ordered KFC. Hope this post will help you avoid those situations.

In Chinese, 勺 (sháo) refers to spoon or a round utensil for eating/cooking, but can also refer to something that does what a spatula does – stirring or turning over food in a wok – 锅 (guō). 锅 (guō) is the generic name for most pots, but if you’re looking for a specific utensil or pot, see below. Cookware in general is called 烹调用具 (pēng diào yòng jù).

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The Chinese translation of the title of the movie Top Gun:

好大一把枪 (hǎo dàyī bǎ qiāng) “what a big gun!”

There are just some things that a dictionary isn’t suited for.

Ever try to talk to your Chinese friends about some English movie, but get blank looks? Movie titles are hard to translate, and when translated literally, usually make no sense and tell you nothing useful about the movie.

That’s where mtime.com comes in. How do you say Hoosiers (1986 basketball film, Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey) in Chinese? Enter the film name in the top right-hand corner…

and you get 火爆教头草地兵 (huǒbào jiāotóucǎodì bīng), or “The Hot-Tempered Coach and the Grassland Soldiers”

Who would’ve thought?

The site also has trailers, reviews, theater information and showtimes for certain cities. Although it’s in Chinese only, mtime.com covers both Chinese and foreign films.

Now, anyone know any sites for getting Chinese titles for English music, books, or video games?

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