nonsiccus

Google Pinyin is absolutely amazing to use. I have it on my Android phone and my tablet as well and I am able to type in pinyin, as well as writing characters with my finger. It doesn't have any ads that I've seen so far and is free from the Google Play store. I am almost positive that there would be an iOS version as well, seeing as Google is a massive company.

"Wearing your heart on your sleeve". You use this when someone is being particularly emotional, or not hiding their emotions very well. This isn't necessarily a negative connotation, only that they are showing their emotions very openly. For example, a classmate has a crush on a girl and she always catches him staring. He could be said to be wearing his heart on his sleeve.

First - I know, it seems almost ironic that the site would be called "talk English", when it should be "speak English" but that's alright because this site is still a great resource. http://www.talkenglish.com/ It's mostly text, however there are a lot of audio clips for you to emulate. Their idea is for you to basically read the associated text for the "lesson" idea, and then repeat until you get it right. It's less interactive than some of the other sites out there, but I find that it works well for mobile devices as there is less content to be loading up. Give it a shot and see if it works for you.

That's one of the things about English, it's a language that's very different depending on if you're writing it or speaking it. Spoken English is typically much less flowery and concise compared to written, where you have the opportunity to fit in a lot more without losing reader's attention. Meanwhile, if you're speaking to someone, rambling on is a great way to lose their attention. That, combined with the fact that a lot of people misuse words and pretty much garble their sentences (but are still understood) makes for a very confusing time for learners.

This is one of my biggest pet peeves when I proof read some of my co-worker's reports. I don't know why people feel compelled to add the 's to the end of a word in an ill-advised attempt to pluralize it. Do you have any idea why it has become so common in the past few years? I too have only started it seeing it commonly within the past 5-10 years, probably closely following the widespread adoption of the internet...

I can't personally speak for a non-native English speaker trying to learn English, but from my point of view learning Chinese, the best way to go about it is to try and read what I can out of a passage. Make note of words that I don't know and mark them down for either later followup, or immediate lookup. This usually means having a dictionary or translator handy as I read so that I can figure out what specific words mean. As I progress, I can get by with fewer references and deduce via context. I still end up looking it up, to be sure, but contextual clues help a lot.

You should also note that when throwing a possessive apostrophe on a word that ends in an "s", you can add it to the end of the word instead of adding another 's. For example: This is nonsiccus' forum thread. vs This is nonsiccus's forum thread. Now, it's arguable that both are acceptable depending on what style guide you're referencing, but I think by and large the former is the correct way to go about it. I'm open to correction though if anyone has an objection?

Hey, I just wanted to mention that I'd be more than happy to practice English with anyone that's interested. I'm a native English speaker, and am learning to teach English for a part time job and would love to get some practice doing so. Feel free to ask any questions or just bring up a random topic. If you want me to, I can gently correct usage and such for you.

"Keep you in the dark" is one that caused a fair bit of confusion. I had used it offhand and a non-English speaker questioned what I meant, and upon trying to explain that it meant "I'm not telling you", we got stuck in a bit of a loop. She kept thinking I was trying to play coy and not tell her what the phrase meant. Another one was "to come to grips with". No funny story, but it caused some confusion.

It really depends on what you're trying to accomplish with it. I think it typically will give you a pretty decent 1:1 translation of a word or phrase, but will sometimes start garbling things a little bit depending on what language you're translating from. I've had occasions where someone will translate from Chinese, and while it's readable, you can definitely tell that it was run through a translator, or that something was very different about it. Otherwise, it's a very useful tool.

Hey deen, I just wanted to mention that the link to http://www.nciku.com/ was really helpful. I started using that today and it's pretty much exactly what I'm looking for; a site that has the English word, the Chinese word, pinyin, brush strokes and audio! Really impressed with this site - thanks again!

Appreciate the heads up - I was also taking a look at the subforum for mobile apps and decided to check out a few of them out. Pretty neat, definitely a lot more engaging than the worksheets that I used to get in Chinese school (which my parents forced me to go to, hah). Anyway I checked out the links that you posted and http://www.nciku.com/ looks to be something that fits the bill pretty well for my needs. Thanks!

Do you guys know of any lists of commonly used Chinese idioms? I've found a couple lists here and there via google, but I haven't seen any kind of compilation list that has "everything". Something like a wiki would probably be perfect as it would mean that people can contribute as they learn/encounter new ones... Anything out there?

Does this app also have the ability to show the translated English word and pinyin? Play a soundbite for the word in question? And I'm seeing "HSK" everywhere... what does it stand for?

What does the Pleco app do? I'm looking for something that will allow me to learn to identify the character alongside its English translation, as well as pinyin. Bonus if it also has a soundbite to allow me to hear it pronounced properly. It would also be great to be able to have an interactive area where I'm able to practice writing the character with proper brush strokes.

I assume that the big wall o' characters is not what you actually use while studying? Is there any chance I could convince you to describe the app a little bit before I dive in and download it? Like, am I basically expecting a deck of flash cards (the deck being defined by that wall of characters) that rotates as I go through? Is there any interaction or is straight viewing?

One thing I've always had difficulty explaining are the differences between a dialect and straight-up languages. I can speak some Mandarin and Cantonese, and often times my Caucasian friends will say that I know 3 languages, the third being English. This isn't true, and I explain that Cantonese is simply a dialect while Mandarin is more "true" Chinese. When pressed, I really don't know what definitively separates a language from a dialect. Have any good analogies that I could use?

I haven't done so myself, but I have had several friends do so. Their accounts really vary, so like the poster above mentions, your mileage may vary depending on the agency you go through. For one of them, a female, she said she had an awful time. It was a learning experience and all, but at the end of it she said that she has wished she hadn't gone. She attributed this mostly to the conditions that she had to endure, as well as the general isolation since there were very few english speakers with her. My other friend is male, and ended up in a larger city. He said he had an absolute blast as his school would go on frequent outings and there were many english speakers with him. A bit of a gamble it seems.

What do you guys use for learning Chinese? I'm preferring something that has: English word Chinese character(s) Pinyin Audio translation I currently use a mix of Google Translate and copy and paste and I can't help but to feel like I'm not getting the most out of it. Any sites I should be aware of?

My grandfather has, and used to play an erhu. It's a wooden string instrument played with a bow and sounds extremely grating in the hands of a novice (me). In the hands of someone who knows what they're doing, the thing can really create some beautiful music as in the video. One cool thing, the er hu that my grandfather had used stretched snakeskin to cover the body. I always enjoyed looking at that when I was a kid.

As a Chinese-Canadian that can speak both Mandarin and Cantonese, I'd say that Mandarin is definitely the more useful one. As a poster above has mentioned, Mandarin will be known by basically all Chinese people, however Cantonese will only be known by a subset. Take Hong Kong for example, many street vendors will speak Cantonese, however they'll have functional Mandarin at the very least because it's the de facto standard when it comes to bridging language barriers across various dialects.

Hey everyone, My name is Allen and I'm coming to you from Canada. My interest here is to refine my Chinese and increase my vocabulary. I know how to speak it, since I was raised speaking Mandarin and Cantonese at home, but since I basically only ever speak it with my parents it has begun to erode. I'm hoping this is the place that can allow me to keep my skills sharp.