Hi, my name is Niel, otherwise known as Confused Laowai. I blog about my exciting, yet often confusing adventure learning Chinese.
Online Mandarin Dictionaries
When yanghuawawa posted this dictionary entry on Social Mandarin I’ve decided to share some of my other regular online dictionary resources, giving you a low down on advantages and disadvantages. 1) Nciku This was one the first sites I used. It is very Web 2.0 and social. I’ve a got a profile on there and often make vocabulary lists of new words I learn. It is comprehensive and includes many proper names. It translated many local towns in [...]
Anki Flashcards
This year I want to complement my Mandarin University studies with more self-study. One of the things I’ve stumbled upon is Anki. It’s a flashcard program that uses SRS. I quote the description: “Anki is a spaced repetition system (SRS). It helps you remember things by intelligently scheduling flashcards, so that you can learn a lot of information with a minimum amount of effort”. It’s a pretty nifty program. I use it now every day. [...]
Getting creative with 汉字
I’m following this rad dude on Twitter, @puerhan and he just posted this really creative card design for the festive season. He uses the character 木 (mù) which means tree. With the touch of a star on the top, symbolizing the Christmas tree, I thought this was really creative! Seeing as Chinese characters often started as pictographs, it just shows that some characters still represent what they mean. If you want to retweet this or [...]
My Favourite Chinese Expression 我的最喜欢的言辞
Since I started studying Mandarin in 2008 I’ve come across many Chinese words, but few phrases and words have really caught my attention as much as 岂有此理! (qǐyǒucǐlǐ!). It is used as an idiom/expression and literally means “How can this be so?”, but used an expression it means: outrageous, preposterous, absurd. It can be used as a separate expression or in a sentence such as: 他的女朋友很美丽，真是岂有此理！(tā de nǚpéngyou hěn měilí, zhēnshì qǐyǒucǐlǐ! - His girlfriend is [...]
