#highly recommend the wikipedia app btw

[chinaaesthetic]

Hi I was wondering if you know the name of this app I saw someone use, it’s connected to your phone camera and it can scan Chinese characters and pull up dictionary definitions for them? Your blog is great btw

💌 您好！💌

Thank you for asking ♡♡♡

There are several apps I know of that can scan Chinese characters pretty well, so I hope some of these help you out!

1. Waygo:

- Many people recommend this app as do I. It can translate words even offline, and it includes pictures with some translations to help you memorize words. It has a large database of words, conversations, idioms, etc, so if you know some Chinese, then this might be the app for you. It does a few free translations a day, and then it costs $6.99 for unlimited translations.

2. Pleco:

- This app is very similar to Waygo. It can scan characters, handwriting, and text. This app is basically like a Chinese dictionary, so it is best used for basic words and conversations... so it’s great if you are a beginner! This app also offers a flashcard study tool as well as stroke diagrams to help you write Chinese characters. This app is also highly recommended by people, and it also doesn’t have ads!

3. WeChat:

- If you know anything about Chinese culture, then you know that WeChat is the backbone of Chinese instant messaging. Though it is a messaging app, it also has a translate feature! So, if you’re messaging someone who is speaking Chinese, you can just hold down the text message until the translate option appears. Though WeChat isn’t the best at translating idioms, it is super good for translating and learning conversational words. If you’re interested in Chinese culture, I recommend downloading this app and adding friends. (You can always add me if you want to 哈哈).

4. Google Translate:

- This might be a no-brainer, but Google Translate is actually pretty good in my opinion. Though the grammatical structure isn’t always correct, it translates conversations, idioms, and slang well, and it even provides pinyin, alike words, and more definitions of the word. Also, Google Translate has a camera scanner that scans Chinese characters very well!

5. Generic Translation apps:

- There are actually many good basic translation apps out there on the apple/android store. Most of them are free, show pinyin, and translate conversational words correctly. A lot of these not only offer a scanner option, but also offer a text-to-speech or speech-to-text option. Translate Box is a good generic app.

7. HanYou:

- HanYou is very similar to Pleco and Waygo; it can be used offline, includes pictures with most words, is a Chinese dictionary, recognizes OCR with scanning, and other things. It also offers the pinyin, definition, pronounces the word for you, and includes stroke diagrams. I also heard that this app translates things very quickly when you scan. Overall, this app has many options - you can even search for common radicals in a character.

8. (edit) Wiki:

Wikipedia actually has many pages on Chinese idioms (chengyu) and slang! Though it’s not a translation app, it’s still very good for expanding your vocabulary!

💌 ♡ Thank you for asking this question! I hope I can help you answer more things about China, Chinese culture, and language ♡ 💌

[houstonblog]

Day 20 Date: Sunday, Sep 25, 2016 Start: Vilharino Stop: Bagoeira Hotel, Barcelos     👍   Dist (Day/Total): 27/441 km High Temp: 23 C/73 F

A single thumbs up or down is simply an indication of whether I would stay there again or not.  It is not a recommendation.  A double thumbs up or down indicates that the place was great and I highly recommend it or absolutely awful and stay away.

Not sure why I’m keeping track of the temperature.  It was 28 yesterday and 27 today.  Yesterday was felt unbearably hot; today is pleasant.  May have something to do with how much asphalt and surrounds.  Oh, and how bad my flu, or whatever it is that I have, is that day.

Yesterday, I saw 3 pilgrims.  Today, it was 21.  Surprising because I had thought that Porto was the start of Caminho Portuguese for most people.  Was it because of the late start yesterday (7:30 am) but today I started at 7:15 am.  BTW, it’s still dark at 7:15 am.  But back to 3 vs. 21.  Turns out that because the first day out of Porto is thru an industrialized zone and mostly on asphalt that many people skip that portion and taxi it out to Porto.  Mystery solved.  However, that doesn’t mean there is no road walking.  I got hit by car, again.  Well my trekking poles did, which I was, thankfully holding in my right hand.  It was a congested area, so, the driver wasn’t going too fast.  But never stopped.

They must have moved sections of the camino I’m walking today.  The arrows don’t match the waypoints I had downloaded to Google Maps.  It also feels longer than the 27 km stated in my online guide.  at 27 km, my pace was 3.85 km/hr, much lower than the 4.25 I had been doing.  My step counting app says I did 40 km but that can’t be right either.  So, officially, we’re sticking with 27.  Stinking rats.

Barcelos Rooster

Barcelos is a tourist town of about 120,000 people on the Cavado River.  It’s famous for having the rooster as it’s symbol and you see rooster drawings, sculptures everywhere.  The wikipedia link, above, has the background story on the rooster.  I heard a slightly different and bawdier version.

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I checked into my hotel; had made reservations beforehand.  Showered and was out and about.  The hotel is in the historical town center and there was a fair/festival going on.  There were tables setup with people selling stuff.  Music playing and people and people dancing.  I found a cafe and had a couple of beers and laugh tup on my writing.  Afterwards walked around some more.  Barcelos is a very pleasant little town.  It sits above the river and there is a spot where you can sit and look down on the river and the little stone bridge leading into town.

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I was feeling better than I had in weeks and was in the mood for a good dinner.  I asked the front desk guy for a recommendation and, surprise, surprise, he recommended the hotel restaurant.  I am a little wary of hotel restaurants but checked it out online and sounded pretty good.  Headed down there just after 7 pm and, as always, I was the first one there.  They weren’t really open but went ahead and seated me.  They had an extensive menu.  The service and food was excellent.

Shortly after about a dozen women showed up and were seated at separate tables around me.  It became apparent that they were pilgrims and we started talking.  I thought they were Americans but were Canadian.  They are from whatever part of Canada that is above Michigan.   They said that people routinely mistook them for being Americans.  By people, I think they meant Americans.  We had a very nice conversation.  They asked about Trump.

At the end of the meal, the table closest to me ordered glasses of port.  It was in these huge glasses.  One of them asked if I had tried it in Porto and I said that I hadn’t.  She was shocked and asked if I wanted to try it.  I hesitated and that’s all it took.  She got another glass, poured about half of her’s into it and handed it to me.  A couple of the ladies at the other tables looked alarmed.  It was very good.

  Day 20: Barcelos: I Drink Port With Canadians Day 20 Date: Sunday, Sep 25, 2016 Start: Vilharino Stop: Bagoeira Hotel, Barcelos