Learning to Read is Depressing

[sthubbar]

Pleco does allow phrases and sentences. That almost all that I have in my Pleco flashcard deck.

[wannabeafreak]

Anyone know how to set Anki to show JYUTPING? I download the Taiwan 1-8 pack and all characters show in Mandarin Pinyin.

Thanks.

[TezUK]

For Jyupting, when you set the basis for the deck, click add then Cantonese. If you have one of the newer versions of Anki you will first need to install the basic Chinese plugin.

[M-Segments]

For anyone who's interested, although I have conversational Chinese, I've pretty much ignored learning to read Chinese. Until now.

So a couple of weeks ago, after reviewing several methods, I started to learn to read on a self-study basis. I'm keeping a personal journal of my progress, and you're welcome to tag along to watch my progress, provide input & advice, ask questions.

So far it's about 250 characters in 2 weeks with 97% retention.

My blog is here:

http://mandarinsegments.blogspot.com/

And here is the opening post, then day 2 and day 6.

If you're in China, you might have to use feedburner or email.

Regards

Greg

[wannabeafreak]

For Jyupting, when you set the basis for the deck, click add then Cantonese. If you have one of the newer versions of Anki you will first need to install the basic Chinese plugin.

I've tried both old and new (with chinese plugin).

I imported the Taiwanese Chinese pack and many others.

I clicked add Cantonese and nothing changed. Still in Mandarin Pinyin and not Jyutping.

Could you please take a screenshot?

[TezUK]

Wannabefreak, this is how mine looks, I typed in the above characters and the bottom section naturally fills in. You have to ensure the model is set to Cantonese. The only plugin I have is Basic Chinese. Perhaps if you have a more advanced Chinese plugin but lacking canto support, it might override the basic...if you catch my drift.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3526/3837493520_75f24f6172_o.jpg

[chalimac]

For people that must learn to read in a short time:

Today I have bought Rapid Literacy in Chinese and my initial impression is very favorable.

The method is really innovative. It focuses on 25 sentences that amount to 750 characters.

[imron]

I think the problem is that once the decks have been created, they are static. If you've imported a Taiwanese deck, then the Mandarin is there to stay. You'll need to create your own flashcards for Cantonese, however with the Cantonese plugin, Jyutping pronunciation will be filled in automatically for you when you type in a character rather than you needing to enter it manually.

[wannabeafreak]

I think the problem is that once the decks have been created, they are static. If you've imported a Taiwanese deck, then the Mandarin is there to stay. You'll need to create your own flashcards for Cantonese, however with the Cantonese plugin, Jyutping pronunciation will be filled in automatically for you when you type in a character rather than you needing to enter it manually.

I got the Cantonese to show based on TezUK's image. Though doesn't work for the Taiwanese deck or other existing shared decks as you describe.

[OneEye]

I got the Cantonese to show based on TezUK's image. Though doesn't work for the Taiwanese deck or other existing shared decks as you describe.

I posted that deck about two months ago. If you want to learn those characters specifically, I got them from here. You may also want to have a look at a list of HK characters though. The 常用字字形表 is a list of the characters that are taught in school in HK.

[choisum]

I went through a phase of doing flash card grunt work. Learning 20-40 characters per week.

I used John DeFrancis BCR/ICR and ACR. After getting through BCR I could read most of the beginning texts (link below) and some of the intermediate stuff.

After you get past an intermediate level, I would highly suggest learning the radicals, since it really improves your ability to pick up new characters with little effort.

After a while you also start to pick up on the phonetic radicals which can be helpful too.

[anonymoose]

After you get past an intermediate level, I would highly suggest learning the radicals, since it really improves your ability to pick up new characters with little effort.

I think by the time you get past an intermediate level, you will already know most of the radicals just from exposure. If you don't, then I seriously doubt you're past the intermediate level.