第七十七天

[nnozomi]

Unmistakably a 第七天 even to my dubious arithmetic skills.

语法 This week's grammar:
总是, always, with verbs
总是, always, with adjectives
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Expressing_%22always%22_with_%22zongshi%22
还，also, connecting two verbs under one subject
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Expressing_%22and_also%22_with_%22hai%22
刚 + verb, just (as in "it just happened"), also 刚刚
刚, just (happened), again, with the time it happened (~~ ago) added
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Expressing_%22just%22_with_%22gang%22
adjective + 死了 for emphasis (not actually dying).
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Negative_adjectives_with_%22-si_le%22

词汇 This week's vocabulary
北, north (also 北边, north side, and 北京, Beijing)
本, measure word for books, as in 一本书 (also 本子, book (really??) and 课本, textbook)
别, don't (also 别的, other, and 别人, other people)
病, illness (depressing but useful; also 病人, patient; 看病, to see a doctor; 生病, to get sick)
不, no or not ~ (also 不大, not big; 不对, wrong; 不客气, you're welcome; 不用, no need; 对不起, sorry; 是不是, is it?)
菜, a dish, as in a serving of food
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-1-word-list/

玩玩
Post something you like! Songs, questions, new words, etc. etc. Playlist from past days 🎵❤️
Mine: Liu Chang and his friend Wa'er take their four-year-old work!niece to a farm. Chinese hardsubs and just soothingly cute.

事务
Re: pinyin. People have suggested the Zhongwen browser extension (Firefox and Chrome links below) which allows hovering over hanzi characters to see the pinyin. This seems like the best compromise between people who would like to see it and people who would rather not? That said, if you would like to see pinyin here but can't easily deal with this extension for various reasons, comment/message/etc. and we'll see what other options there are.
https://addons.mozilla.org/ja/firefox/addon/zhongwen/
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/zhongwen-chinese-english/kkmlkkjojmombglmlpbpapmhcaljjkde

Re: tags, pinyin issues included. People have kindly volunteered to help deal with tags; let me know what you think the ideal format would be...

Re: other: I think there should probably be a masterpost/masterpage somewhere that covers all the content posted in one big list/table/etc., but I'm not immediately envisioning what it would look like (or whether this can be handled by tagging, etc.). Tell me what would work for you.

周末或者周一愉快！

Comments

[presumenothing]

Because it's been exactly two years (+1 day, in this end of the timezone) since this epic moment: here is Zhou Shen performing Dalabengba! Also, audio-only version, if you would prefer to avoid MangoTV's literally epileptic lighting choices. 达拉崩吧二周年快乐噢耶～～～

…on non-Zhou Shen things, here's Bai Yu reading 10 short stories – haven't checked it out yet myself but I figure it'll be of interest anyway!

[grayswandir]

I hadn't thought about a masterpost, but if you do end up making one, I can think of a few things that might be useful to put on it! :D I assume you'd have links to the Grammar Wiki and the HSK word list, and maybe also a couple of dictionary sites (like Baidu and whatever else people usually use?), and the Zhongwen browser extension you mentioned. Maybe also a link to the search page for the community? (I don't know why, but DW does not make it easy to get to a specific journal's search page without a direct link. :P )

Since people have been asking about pinyin, it might be useful to have a link to a web-based Chinese-to-Pinyin converter, though I'm not sure what the best option is. I just did a quick browse, and I liked this one because it converts the text instantly (you don't have to press a "convert" button and wait for it to work), though on the down side, it also doesn't break the pinyin up into words, and you have to click the "tone marks" button or it will give you tone numbers instead. Google Translate is probably better, since it does automatic tone marks and has better formatting... it just stupidly only gives you well-formatted pinyin paragraphs if you translate from Chinese to Chinese. :P ) But anyway, a link to either that or Google Translate's Chinse-to-English preset might be useful. Or maybe someone else has a different suggestion for translation/pinyin conversion?

I feel like covering all the content from the comm in one masterpost would be unwieldy and hard to keep updated, so if it was me I'd probably just put a link to the tags page and then maybe a few links to broad tag categories to let people browse more easily, like the 一天一橘 tag and the 第七天 tag. I'm not sure what other kinds of tag categories people might find useful -- maybe categories like noun, verb, etc.? Though that could be complicated since a lot of Chinese words can take multiple forms. :/ Just a link to the tags page might be fine?

For the people who would like to see pinyin in the tags, I wonder if it would be helpful to put the pinyin right before the Chinese characters in the tags that already exist, so that they alphabetize themselves on the tag page? So like, instead of the tag just being "刚," it would be something like "gāng | 刚" or "gāng - 刚" or whatever? I don't know, I just thought of it because I notice that a lot of word lists use alphabetical order by pinyin, so I assume people who know pinyin find it easier to search for words that way.

(I don't really have an opinion about using pinyin or not in the posts, because I can't read it well enough for it to distract me. XD But like trobadora, I would definitely find it distracting if I could read it, and it would probably guarantee that I wouldn't read the Chinese, so I do think if it's included it might be best to have it behind a spoiler cut, or just in the tags, or something.)

[shadaras]

Today's video, which does include a song but is from a concert and also includes the artist's preamble about writing it. Which is a really cool talk about an artist's relationship to fans!
华晨宇 - 《黑白艺术家》 (completely eng-subbed, no cn-subs)
(song-only version)

Tags/pinyin - I like grayswandir's thought about adding pinyin to the tags for sorting purposes. No other thoughts right now. :)

[trobadora]

Thank you for that Bai Yu link! I won't understand much but am I going to let that stop me from listening? NO!!!!

[trobadora]

These are all excellent suggestions! I like the idea of putting the pinyin into the tags; that won't interfere with reading on the page but makes finding something much easier. (And you can still use browser search to find a character on the tag page.)

it just stupidly only gives you well-formatted pinyin paragraphs if you translate from Chinese to Chinese

LOLOLOL, I didn't know that!

(FWIW, the relevant DW search page is linked on the profile.)

[trobadora]

OMG, what a song!!!!!!

[grayswandir]

(FWIW, the relevant DW search page is linked on the profile.)

Oh, hey, so it is. *facepalm* Thank you for telling me! Somehow the idea that "search for entries" actually means "search entries for a word/phrase" has never occurred to me! I only knew about the search function because of few journals I've seen that have it as part of their layout.

[presumenothing]

So like, instead of the tag just being "刚," it would be something like "gāng | 刚" or "gāng - 刚"

+1 on this because I just realised the tags are currently sorted by 部首 (and… stroke count as a secondary sort? can't quite tell but assuming from paper dictionary order)

…but -0.5 preemptively due to the possibility of multiple readings XD though I don't know how often this is gonna occur for the tagged words specifically.

[grayswandir]

due to the possibility of multiple readings

Oh, right, that thing we were just talking about. XD How many tags does 着 get?

[trobadora]

Yeah, and there's nothing at all that tells you the comment search is also in there! Not the most intuitive, but once you know it's there, it's handy for quickly finding the link.

[trobadora]

For multiple readings, it might actually be useful to have separate tags? We've been separating things out a lot, so they're likely to be in separate posts anyway.

[yaaurens]

Yeeeessssssss 华晨宇 my guy! I love how thoughtful he is about music and art.

[yaaurens]

New app discovery thanks to a friend: DongChinese. The free version lets you do one lesson or video every twelve hours, but each lesson seems to be pretty hefty. (The one I did was, anyway.) It includes speaking, reading, and writing and seems to be pretty dang good so far. When you first start it gives you a placement exam and shows you your HSK level and how many characters you can write vs read (including a percentage for general book reading and movie/tv subtitle reading, haha). Mine seemed a bit lower than I was expecting, but considering I started it at nearly midnight and paused over night because I was literally falling asleep between questions, I was definitely not at my best, haha.

I like the thought of having the pinyin in the tag with the character as well. It would help with sorting and making it easier to find posts (since they'll be alphabetical if you put the pinyin first). Even if there are multiple meanings to a character, if they're all tagged the same way, they'll all pop up so you can look through to see which one you're trying to research or whatever.

[shadaras]

Yes! He's fantastic! Great music, incredible stage presence, and I adore the way he thinks and talks about music. <3 Plus he seems to make an effort to be kind/compassionate, which is always lovely. :)

[elenothar]

Having now got that browser extension (it's changing my life! how did this never occur to me previously!), I'm less invested in pinyin in the posts, though it would be useful in the tags for searching purposes.

Today's music contribution is the Nirvana in Fire main theme, because that entire soundtrack is beautiful.

[nnozomi]

Today's music contribution is the Nirvana in Fire main theme, because that entire soundtrack is beautiful.
Oh, I didn't expect it to be all strings! Lovely.

[nnozomi]

When you first start it gives you a placement exam and shows you your HSK level and how many characters you can write vs read (including a percentage for general book reading and movie/tv subtitle reading, haha). Mine seemed a bit lower than I was expecting, but considering I started it at nearly midnight and paused over night because I was literally falling asleep between questions,
a) that sounds super useful and now I'm really tempted, b) lol. They need a separate rating for "able to read when awake" and "able to read when sleepy."

[nnozomi]

wow, that song knocked my socks off! I love his expressions.

[nnozomi]

How many tags does 着 get?
*makes note to avoid making anything 着-related the grammar point of the day for AS LONG AS POSSIBLE* ;)

[nnozomi]

here is Zhou Shen performing Dalabengba!
I looked up the lyrics to that, and oh my GOODNESS. (Somebody should cast Zhou Shen as the heroine in a Gilbert and Sullivan opera complete with patter songs, he would be lovely.)

here's Bai Yu reading 10 short stories – haven't checked it out yet myself but I figure it'll be of interest anyway!
Ooh, you figure correctly! Thanks!

[nnozomi]

In both links and proposals/thoughts this is a SUPER helpful comment, thank you so much for doing all the legwork that I've been too lazy to get to myself. I will keep referring back to it. (Especially now that we can search comments ;) ) Basically agreed on all your points, including having a collection of links as a masterpost, and also pinyin-first tags for alphabetization. I'll come back to specific points later when I (FINALLY) start putting it into practice, but all good thoughts.

[laireshi]

This seems like the best compromise between people who would like to see it and people who would rather not? That said, if you would like to see pinyin here but can't easily deal with this extension for various reasons, comment/message/etc. and we'll see what other options there are.
I'm very much a lurker here ;; But I mostly browse DW from my phone, so I can't use the extension, so for me pinyin in the posts would be great--at least for the vocab part.

对不起, sorry
I was very excited when I first learnt it because it's the 起 in 张起灵 xD

[nnozomi]

so for me pinyin in the posts would be great--at least for the vocab part.
Understood! I'll see what I can do.

it's the 起 in 张起灵
It is! :) So much easier to learn with these connections.

Edited (sorry, I keep editing at you today) to ask: re pinyin for the vocabulary, would having it in the tags (like a tag reading zhǐ_只 instead of just 只) be enough to be helpful, or is that also hard to read on a phone? I can never picture these things one way or the other.

[elenothar]

There's a lot of excellent cello in this soundtrack.

[sakana17]

Thank you for the Bai Yu link!

[presumenothing]

I looked up the lyrics to that, and oh my GOODNESS.

I've listened to this who-even-knows how many times but like 99% of the lyrics still elude me LOL

[laireshi]

re pinyin for the vocabulary, would having it in the tags (like a tag reading zhǐ_只 instead of just 只) be enough to be helpful, or is that also hard to read on a phone? I can never picture these things one way or the other.
It's not hard to read on the phone, but with vocab specifically, it could be tricky when you post some words related to the 'main focus' one? (Like in today's post, for example.)

[yaaurens]

They need a separate rating for "able to read when awake" and "able to read when sleepy."
Considering how much that varies for me? It really would be good, haha!

I did another lesson tonight, and oof. It is definitely the most advanced app I've used so far, but it doesn't really explain anything or even seem to be going in a particular order. The lessons are LONG compared to other apps, and it was throwing stuff at me I'd never heard/read before, and with no context clues that I could pull from, which was frustrating and exhausting. But it's good, and I like seeing how the percentage of what I know starts creeping slowly upward!

[grayswandir]

Thanks for posting about this. :) I was just looking for some placement-type tests, and this one was great (it even has an option for traditional characters!). For some reason, I couldn't get the writing part to work (I'd make a stroke and then it would just disappear), but I'm terrible at writing so that was probably for the best. XD It did seem to have harder (or at least longer!) questions than some of the other tests I've seen.

[yaaurens]

It's definitely got some of the most difficult questions I've seen so far! To the point where I get super happy when I manage to answer something correctly the whole way through first try, ha.

[nnozomi]

but with vocab specifically, it could be tricky when you post some words related to the 'main focus' one?
You're absolutely right, I thought of that just after I commented. Well, I'll give it some more thought this week and see what we can come up with! As Zhao Yunlan says, 让我想想~

[nnozomi]

I tried it! I like the setup in general, although I feel like I need a lot more fine-tuning to get it to give me the right level (especially since my writing is so nonexistently terrible). The general style suits me pretty well, though. 谢谢你推荐！

[nnozomi]

For some reason, I couldn't get the writing part to work (I'd make a stroke and then it would just disappear)
I tried it! As you've probably noticed by now, the strokes disappear until you get them right...and if you get them persistently wrong enough (ask me how I know) little hints appear. wow, it has been so many years since I had to write characters by hand and get the stroke order and everything right, I'd forgotten how stressful it is lol.

[grayswandir]

Oh, hah, nope, I had not figured that out! I was probably doing the first stroke in the wrong direction, or not quite the right place in the grid. If I take the writing test again, I'll try being more persistent (so it can tell me why I'm wrong!).

[nnozomi]

They need a little clearer explanation really. Hopefully it will work the next time around!

[yaaurens]

I really like it too, but I have to make sure I have a decent chunk of time/brain power to do a full lesson!