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guardian_learning2020-03-26 10:00 pm
nnozomi) wrote in guardian_learning2020-03-26 10:00 pm
Overall planning post 1
Hello! This community was made for the purpose of building a Chinese learning tool based on the 镇魂 Guardian drama. In this post I want to put together the various useful information and ideas very kindly provided in comments to my post on the SID_Guardian comm on the topic and suggest a tentative plan with which to proceed.
Please note the following: I envision this as a long-term, ongoing project open to anyone who is interested at any point, so if that is you please feel free to jump in.
Also, I am not the queen of the world, just coordinating more or less by default, so please feel free to argue/disagree/take over/tell me I don't know what I'm talking about as necessary at any time.
Basic outline for the learning tool
*Terminology: Several people suggested that rather than making an independent app, it would be easier and more practical to create content for existing tools; thus I've used "learning tool" rather than "app" for the moment.
Positioning: My feeling is that an entirely stand-alone Chinese course would be difficult to produce, given that the source material was not designed for that purpose; the tool would be essentially intended for practicing vocabulary, grammar, hanzi, and/or listening as an additional support method for existing Chinese texts/apps.
Structure: Right now I am envisioning a matrix of lessons by episode x content x level. For instance, content might include vocabulary, grammar, hanzi, listening, or cultural/linguistic background, and levels might include elementary, intermediate, advanced; for each level of content (ideally...) there would be forty lessons, one per episode of the drama.
(I've focused on a drama-based structure as above, because I'm more familiar with the drama and because the episodes make handy lesson divisions. I think the structure should make it possible eventually for people to add various other ?modules, as one-shots or as similar sets of lessons, though: for instance the Guardian novel, other dramas, actors' interviews, songs etc. depending on interest.)
To begin with: While a total of several hundred lessons, as imagined above, would...take a while...as in a few years, one set of forty lessons on reading/typing elementary vocabulary + cultural/linguistic background seems reasonably possible. 20 vocabulary words per lesson would be a total of 800; I have in mind using the HSK beginner level word list, compared with the transcripts (to the extent available) to assign each episode its words and create practice problems. Each episode could also have one cultural/linguistic point added, either with practice problems in itself or as additional reading material only.
With this setup, we could work out to what extent this is actually doable, who is capable of/interested in handling what aspects, and what issues need to be overcome.
Tasks to be handled for this initial stage:
Transcript-related: Downloading complete transcripts from Viki for episodes 1-6, upon confirming with the subtitlers (see helpful comment here)
Adding non-Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan content to transcripts for episodes 7-40
*Long-term process. For the initial set of lessons, we could probably just work with the existing SW/ZYL transcript (and credit the amazing person who made it!).
Language-related:
Creating 800-word list
Assigning words to each episode based on transcript content (adjusting list as necessary)
Creating practice problems for each episode
Creating cultural/linguistic material, possibly with practice problems, for each episode (fandoestrans has written up some stuff like this already!)
Checking practice problems and cultural material for Chinese accuracy
Tech-related
Deciding on what platform/format to use (suggestions included Pleco and Anki?)
Creating actual use context
????
What else?
Initial work process: I have made a GoogleDocs thing here, because Dreamwidth is good for conversation but bad for seeing information in one place. Please find there a similar list of tasks to the one above, and if you have experience in the relevant area and are interested in working on it, put in your Dreamwidth name (probably easiest for identification/contact). Multiple people interested in doing any one thing is good! We can coordinate as needed. Also, please note that especially at this time, everyone has real life happening, and nobody needs to consider this an unbreakable commitment.
When/if/? people interested in working on the first stage have signed up, I'll post again here (let's say within a week or so of now, although people can also jump in afterward) to move us forward.
If you have questions or concerns or problems with any of this, please comment here and let's talk! In particular, it should be extremely obvious that I have absolutely no idea about any of the technical issues; people had some great comments on the previous post and will, I hope, be able to step in here as well. I'm sorry to be so deficient in this area.
I am looking forward to working on this with everyone, both as a sorely needed distraction and as something that, when/if it takes shape, could be both useful and fun.
Please note the following: I envision this as a long-term, ongoing project open to anyone who is interested at any point, so if that is you please feel free to jump in.
Also, I am not the queen of the world, just coordinating more or less by default, so please feel free to argue/disagree/take over/tell me I don't know what I'm talking about as necessary at any time.
Basic outline for the learning tool
*Terminology: Several people suggested that rather than making an independent app, it would be easier and more practical to create content for existing tools; thus I've used "learning tool" rather than "app" for the moment.
Positioning: My feeling is that an entirely stand-alone Chinese course would be difficult to produce, given that the source material was not designed for that purpose; the tool would be essentially intended for practicing vocabulary, grammar, hanzi, and/or listening as an additional support method for existing Chinese texts/apps.
Structure: Right now I am envisioning a matrix of lessons by episode x content x level. For instance, content might include vocabulary, grammar, hanzi, listening, or cultural/linguistic background, and levels might include elementary, intermediate, advanced; for each level of content (ideally...) there would be forty lessons, one per episode of the drama.
(I've focused on a drama-based structure as above, because I'm more familiar with the drama and because the episodes make handy lesson divisions. I think the structure should make it possible eventually for people to add various other ?modules, as one-shots or as similar sets of lessons, though: for instance the Guardian novel, other dramas, actors' interviews, songs etc. depending on interest.)
To begin with: While a total of several hundred lessons, as imagined above, would...take a while...as in a few years, one set of forty lessons on reading/typing elementary vocabulary + cultural/linguistic background seems reasonably possible. 20 vocabulary words per lesson would be a total of 800; I have in mind using the HSK beginner level word list, compared with the transcripts (to the extent available) to assign each episode its words and create practice problems. Each episode could also have one cultural/linguistic point added, either with practice problems in itself or as additional reading material only.
With this setup, we could work out to what extent this is actually doable, who is capable of/interested in handling what aspects, and what issues need to be overcome.
Tasks to be handled for this initial stage:
Transcript-related: Downloading complete transcripts from Viki for episodes 1-6, upon confirming with the subtitlers (see helpful comment here)
Adding non-Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan content to transcripts for episodes 7-40
*Long-term process. For the initial set of lessons, we could probably just work with the existing SW/ZYL transcript (and credit the amazing person who made it!).
Language-related:
Creating 800-word list
Assigning words to each episode based on transcript content (adjusting list as necessary)
Creating practice problems for each episode
Creating cultural/linguistic material, possibly with practice problems, for each episode (fandoestrans has written up some stuff like this already!)
Checking practice problems and cultural material for Chinese accuracy
Tech-related
Deciding on what platform/format to use (suggestions included Pleco and Anki?)
Creating actual use context
????
What else?
Initial work process: I have made a GoogleDocs thing here, because Dreamwidth is good for conversation but bad for seeing information in one place. Please find there a similar list of tasks to the one above, and if you have experience in the relevant area and are interested in working on it, put in your Dreamwidth name (probably easiest for identification/contact). Multiple people interested in doing any one thing is good! We can coordinate as needed. Also, please note that especially at this time, everyone has real life happening, and nobody needs to consider this an unbreakable commitment.
When/if/? people interested in working on the first stage have signed up, I'll post again here (let's say within a week or so of now, although people can also jump in afterward) to move us forward.
If you have questions or concerns or problems with any of this, please comment here and let's talk! In particular, it should be extremely obvious that I have absolutely no idea about any of the technical issues; people had some great comments on the previous post and will, I hope, be able to step in here as well. I'm sorry to be so deficient in this area.
I am looking forward to working on this with everyone, both as a sorely needed distraction and as something that, when/if it takes shape, could be both useful and fun.
no subject
no subject
What I did is I created a deck template for Anki, which contains a single sample card right now, and looks like this:
Hanzi Only
After clicking the Pinyin link, you get Pinyin as well
Back of the Card
The deck is here, it contains one sample card:
http://tinny.utfs.org/GuardianTemplate.apkg
The deck can and should be improved. Feel free to take it and make it better. (And I don't mean there need to be vocab cards added. I'm thinking look/style/fields/etc.) Once we have some content, it can be shared on ankiweb.
For one thing, I would like to make it possible to learn in multiple directions - I have other decks that do that, but I have never tried that before, so I assume it will be a bit of work to find out how that is done.
no subject