#chinesimple

[cheste7]

really bad :) (14/12/23)🌟

today I don't want to be perceived at all. i overslept, didn't do my skincare routine, cried a lot, barely ate, disappointed at least three members of my family and had an heated argument with my father. i always start with the best intentions believe me but it takes a minimum trigger to screw up the whole thing, and unfortunately i'm not a resilient person, i'll try to work it out. the good thing is that i didn't write a resolution list for 2023 so i didn't fail yeeee. jokes aside, these are few things i did today:

shower and shampoo🧚‍♀️

korean writing prompts 🇰🇷

cyclette (15 min) and squats🏃‍♀️

renshuu app for japanese🇯🇵

duolingo and chinesimple word list🇨🇳

talked with a friend about uni issues. i'm serious when I say university ruined my life, it's a horrible system and i feel overwhelmed by the amount of psychological stress i'm having bc of it, i will try to change approach next year

study and revision of sti chapter for infectious diseases 🦠

that's it thanks for coming to my ted talk

[uhhhhmandarin]

I'm still using (and enjoying) Hello Chinese but I also downloaded HSK 1 from Chinesimple and I'm having a lot of fun with that.

[tio-studies-mandarin]

Some sentences frome my favorite Chinese learning app Chinesimple. Right now I polish my hsk 2 level.

🐼 你到底在干什么? What the hell are you doing? 底 di3 bottom 到底 actually

🐼 我想向你借一本书。I want to borrow a book from you. 向 xiàng towards 借 jiè to borrow

🐼 不要往桌子上放东西。Don't put things on the table. 往 wăng towards 放 fàng to let go

There is another game to distinguish between simplified and traditional characters. I find this one very funny. 'Big' transformation indeed 😂

Very helpful to know similar characters

[gwendolynlerman]

Does Duolingo actually help you learn the language or is it just a bunch of crap?? I've heard good and bad things about it. Also, what was most effective to you when learning Mandarin?

Hi, sorry for taking so long! I was on vacation and wanted to write a proper answer.

In my opinion, Duolingo helps to get acquainted with the language and to learn the basics, but you shouldn't expect to go beyond A2/B1 (depends on the course and how you study it) using only Duolingo. This also depends on the course, for example, the Spanish or French courses are much more developed and therefore more comprehensive than the Esperanto or Mandarin ones (to name some that I've taken).

One thing that I always recommend when learning Mandarin is removing your dependency on pinyin as soon as possible. Learning the correct stroke order to write characters and practicing writing characters is also important if you want to write by hand. As for specific resources, I recommend Lingodeer, HelloChinese, or ChineseSkill (they're all very similar) to get started, as Duolingo is not very good for Asian languages. Chinesimple has developed some great apps for vocabulary according to HSK levels. In terms of books, if you wish to prepare for the HSK exam, you should get the official books (Standard Course: HSK). I've also used the Integrated Chinese series and recommend it.

[study-van]

Apps I use to self study Chinese (text can be found under the cut)

for more chinese tips and resources

for more of my posts

HelloChinese

It’s a very popular app but rightfully so.

The design of it is very simple and offers you a learning map, taking you slowly through topics.

Offers many additional lessons too on the immerse section.

There is also little plant that pops up that help you review things you have a problem with.

Has various exercises even actual listening lessons, speaking lessons and stroke order lessons.

There are paid content but the free content is enough on its own.

Learn Chinese HSK Chinesimple

Has apps upto HSK5 level.

Offers various lessons and exercices in four categories: word, sentences, stories, picturecards.

Has a My HSK Course section that helps you track your development, also where you can find one ask practice test for free.

Chineasy

Basically an app to study characters.

Helps you remember them with association to drawings.

Does not have a nice pronunciation.

Has a review page where you can check the characters you’ve learnt so far as flashcards

Also has an explore page where you can find various blog posts, videos, and podcasts to help you familiarize yourself with Chinese and Chinese culture.

Duolingo

Surprisingly has a nice pronunciation.

Duolingo is very known on its own and it does offers its standard courses. 

By clicking the tips part on each lesson you might learn more formal details about Chinese

HSK Online

Basically offers practices to help you prepare for the exams, so there is only reading and listening exercices.

You can choose your own level.

The app is actually in Chinese outside of the exercices which personally helped me get used to the language.

Offers free practice tests that get graded.

Du Chinese

It’s an app specifically for reading.

You can read by yourself or listen to an audio recording while reading along.

It does support English translation for single words and sentences.

Might not be beginner friendly.

Pleco 

It is a dictionary app.

You can look up characters or words easily.

Does recognize Chinese handwriting or photos taken by your device.

Offers also stroke order guides.

Chinesepod

Probably the most popular Mandarin podcast app.

Offers more interactive exercices for learning new words and phrases.

The amount of Chinese is increased step by step.

Very beginner friendly and even in intermediate levels it doesn’t  with to full Mandarin.

[black-water-simping-ships]

chinese learning apps

over the past months i’ve tried out a few and i gotta procrastinate something so here we go. * means this is available in my native language german, which means that it might be available in yours too! and yeah i don’t pay for subscriptions or anything not because i don’t want to pay money in general but because i prefer to use my money for irl lessons because i get more out of being able to access resources that have...people

*pleco: everybody loves pleco, everybody recommends pleco, i fucking hate it don’t but to each their own. pros: a lot of free addons including non-english modules and other dictionaries, canto and zhuyin can be displayed in addition to pinyin, flashcard system. cons: anal about handwriting input, free voice is dependent on an internet connection, didn’t run on my old phone, feels not as responsive as

hanping lite: pros: less complicated than pleco, good handwriting input, allows simultaneous display of traditional + simplified characters, better component system than pleco, no flashcards but tags including customizable ones, offline voice including soundboard, runs on a fucking brick. cons: less professional vibe than pleco, cantonese is pay only, zhuyin cannot be displayed simultaneously with pinyin

overall when it comes to dictionaries, hanping lite is my casual day-to-day use because i used it on my old phone for half a year and got used to it and pleco when i need more professional dictionary entries. the huge number of modules is a bit of a risk though as some are faulty

*hello chinese: 30000/10, comes in german :D i’m almost done with the free lessons and i seriously love it. great intro and repetition, love the videos they use

*chinesimple’s HSK apps: 1 each for level 1-5, partially free. tbh i am not using them intensively but i like them to kinda train on the side. they have a great variety of exercises and convey grammar points well. also available in german

skritter: i remember that i didn’t particularly like it but i wasn’t sure why so i tried to start it up again and it broke 0/10 baby what’s going on? anyway hello chinese has handwriting exercises too and decent online dictionaries include strokes anyway so like. why bother

zizzle: funky vibe but only has a short trial period

hsk online: that’s a lie i never tried that one out because whenever i install it it never works? my teachers keep recommending it yet it’s...kinda sus...

ninchanese: not far because i installed it 2 days ago and it lost connection in competitive mode. like the cat theme though and the lessons look good. would love it if the back button didn’t unspool exercises

infinite chinese: bro why. i mean. i like it. it’s decent for learning vocab groups but use only as a supplement since it only teaches the vocab, no breaking down words, no explaining characters, no sentences. country audio is broken for me tho :(

du chinese: 12/10 haven’t opened it since i read a fucked-up story about water bears. it’s great though. as the name says it reads stories out loud

anki droid: bro i am not made for flashcards peace out

speechling: have also not tried that one yet lmao

duolingo: lmao didn’t get far. but you hear bad things about the chinese course anyway

JA sensei: keep on laughing pal, i installed that for my mom. anyway it’s ironic that the first time i encountered a radical learn help was on a japanese app and i sure am going to use it. ninchanese also has a radical part but i haven’t tried it yet

Chinese in flow: vocab drill only, minimalistic, sweet. breaks it down into 30-word-chunks

hanzi study: tests are paid but the lessons themselves are free. 20 characters per lesson + some words and example sentences (some truly weird ones). minor glitches but it has main radical, frequency, simplified stroke animation

[chinesimple]

脸 (liǎn) face #Chinesimple #HSK https://goo.gl/i3wFPx — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2nzu47W

[gwendolynlerman]

12/100 days of productivity

Today I did another mock HSK 3 test, but this time using the HSK 3 app by Chinesimple. I was quite disappointed as I had expected it to have the same structure as the real one, but it was just the same kind of exercises that the app offers 😐

I also wrote about a diary entry about yesterday in Russian. The underlined words are those that I had to search.

[chinesimple]

旅游 (lǚyóu) trip • travel • tourism #Chinesimple #HSK http://goo.gl/xvLl3e — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2BeDn75

[chinesimple]

慢 (màn) slow #Chinesimple #HSK http://goo.gl/xvLl3e — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2AZaPhr

[chinesimple]

断 (duàn) to break • to snap • to cut off • to give up or abstain from something • to judge • used in the negative: absolutely, definitely, decidedly #Chinesimple #HSK http://goo.gl/rtxovw — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2KB6r7X

[chinesimple]

This is a must measure word: 只 (zhī) CL: for birds and certain animals CL: one of a pair CL: for some utensils like vessels #Chinesimple #HSK https://goo.gl/8ouyRZ — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2KuAoXn

[chinesimple]

嘴 (zuǐ) mouth • beak • spout (of teapot, etc) #Chinesimple #HSK https://goo.gl/i3wFPx — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2OgveR7

[chinesimple]

公共汽车 (gōnggòngqìchē) bus #Chinesimple #HSK http://goo.gl/xvLl3e — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2vCGX4K

[chinesimple]

辣 (là) hot (spicy) • pungent #Chinesimple #HSK http://goo.gl/hbPoAO — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2O6QVCT

[chinesimple]

树 (shù) tree #Chinesimple #HSK https://goo.gl/i3wFPx — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2vzfMrE