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Show HN: Learn Chinese Through Novels

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Re: Show HN: Learn Chinese Through Novels

#31

Post by sdrothrock »

chj wrote: post #26

The novel used in the sample is a very bad choice. The author has his special style, hopelessly outdated. Chinese novels are not easy for beginners, my suggestion is to go with novels that're translated into Chinese from English, like Sherlock Holmes. The translator uses good Chinese, and the stories are familiar, therefore you will have an easy time understanding the texts. After all, it's the language you are inter…

> my suggestion is to go with novels that're translated into Chinese from English, like Sherlock Holmes. The translator uses good Chinese, and the stories are familiar, therefore you will have an easy time understanding the texts

Really? This seems counterintuitive unless China has a really, really good translation industry. In my experience with Japanese translations, you're as likely to get a good translation as you are to get a horrible one (see Harry Potter).

Re: Show HN: Learn Chinese Through Novels

#35

Post by tabrischen »

roncohen wrote: post #2

Super interesting. I'd love to learn Chinese and be able to do this one day: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/10/22/mark-zuckerber... Though, I'm not sure reading novels like the website suggests is the right approach when starting from nothing.

That reminds me, maybe the creator can do a version of Xi JinPing's book for all Facebook employees.

Re: Show HN: Learn Chinese Through Novels

#37

Post by postmeta »

laowushi wrote: post #10
alexgolive wrote: post #5

I studied Chinese for 2 years, and I've been searching for something like this for a while. However I think that this novel (Ah Q) is too difficult for a beginner. I installed the "Zhongwen Chinese Popup Dictionary" extension for Chrome. It kind of works -- as you hover over characters it shows the definition. But I don't have any good content! I can't find any good beginner level Chinese stories online!

对，鲁迅的文章不适合初学者。推荐一篇散文：《背影》，作者朱自清。这是文章链接： http://www.ccview.net/htm/xiandai/zzq/zzqsw003.htm

Kinda works with http://popjisyo.com : http://www.popjisyo.com/WebHint/AddHint.aspx?d=8&e=GB2312&r=...

Re: Show HN: Learn Chinese Through Novels

#38

Post by sh33mp »

For people with intermediate proficiency in Chinese, I want to point out that Project Syndicate (http://www.project-syndicate.org/), a website which is basically a bunch of Op-eds from a host of famous individuals, has its articles translated into Chinese.

For example:

English: http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/ruble-collapse-c...

Chinese: http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/ruble-collapse-c...

Not a bad way to pick up extra vocabulary, if you read them side-by-side!

Re: Show HN: Learn Chinese Through Novels

#39

Post by xiaoma »

I've spent a huge portion of my life learning how humans learn languages and how to teach them better. I spent my early adulthood in Taiwan where I became fluent speaker and pretty comfortable reader, too. The approach this site uses is far superior to the flashcard vocab word-driven approach taken by duolingo, memrise and so many others.

In my experience, at the beginner level the most important thing is getting a good grasp on phonics and learning some vocabulary. But once a student is even lower intermediate it's a way better to spend time doing Extensive Reading instead of vocab drills. Extensive Reading—reading that is easy enough no dictionary is needed—is still great for building vocabulary, and it teaches colocations, grammar and the target language's culture, too. As ER builds up vocabulary, more and more radio and podcasts become comprehensible. In the long run, lots and lots of input (both reading and listening) and opportunities to use the language extemporaneously in real life is pretty much assured to lead to full bilingual proficiency.

The interesting thing about this app, is it just might allow students to transition from more formal study and into Extensive Reading at an earlier point than they otherwise would. The risk is that students would continue choosing books with a lot of words they don't understand and rob themselves of actually "reading" in its natural sense.

Re: Show HN: Learn Chinese Through Novels

#40

Post by n3on_net »

Nice app. I would also suggest http://lingq.com, it is similar but with a huge amount of content for every level. It has text for something like 10 languages, chinese included.

Other similar sites (but not so much content like lingq.com): http://readlang.com/ http://lingocracy.com/

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