Recommendations of websites with short texts

[chaiknees]

Dear all

Recently I started reading native Chinese material, preferably online as - compared with books - it is very convenient to lookup unknown words and add them to a list for later export to Anki for example. I also prefer short texts to longer news articles as it is easier to keep concentrated and many different topics can be covered within a short time.

My two favorite links are the following:

http://jandan.net/ (Some kind of blog with many topics of modern life, technology, science and so on, taken from foreign websites and translated accordingly)

http://t.sohu.com/jingxuan (A frequently updated selection of interesting Weibo posts covering news, jokes, comments and so on)

Does anybody know about similar nice websites which provide interesting not-too-long texts on diverse topics and frequently updated (apart from "pure" news articles on the unfortunately quite overwhelming websites like Sina, Sohu or Netease)? Any recommendations are appreciated!

[Markko]

Wikipedia

[JCJC]

This is a good website. Its for those who have a intermediate advanced level in Chinese.

http://www.slow-chinese.com/1-duan-wu-jie/

[anonymoose]

http://jandan.net/ (Some kind of blog with many topics of modern life, technology, science and so on, taken from foreign websites and translated accordingly)

I don't think this is a good site. The translations are not accurate. At least I found this one at first glance:

Joe Lizen - 美国

今天，我妈打电话来把我痛骂一顿，因为她在我房间里找到了一口锅。我回家后，我爹对我说：“我在你房间里藏了一口锅，你要是敢说出去，那场演唱会你就别想去了。”这个52岁的老勒索犯。FML

This doesn't make much sense until you read the original:

Today, my mom called me screaming and cussing because she found pot in my room. I come home and my dad says, "I hid some pot in your room and I'm not letting you go to that concert if you rat me out." My dad is apparently a blackmailing 52-year-old stoner. FML

[freshysauce]

Here are news sites with short articles:

BBC Chinese:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/

This one has English translations as well:

http://www.freexinwen.com/chinese/eng/news_bilingual/index.htm

[chaiknees]

I don't think this is a good site. The translations are not accurate.

A very quick judgement just because of one wrong translation. Most of the texts are usable, contain loads of nice vocabulary and the comment section allows to pick up some "trendy" expressions. Besides criticizing (the two links were meant as examples what I am looking for rather than recommendations), anything else to contribute to this thread?

[skylee]

A very quick judgement just because of one wrong translation.

Will you be able to tell when you are reading a wrong translation?

[edelweis]

@chaiknees: I think anonymoose was trying to help, not criticize.

Anyway, have you tried the following websites (NOT frequently updated, but with lots of stuff):

University of Iowa: lots of short texts ordered by level and topic.

GLOSS: again, lots of short texts ordered by level and topic, plus some activities, glossary, etc.

(If you don't want to go through the activities, just read the text, click on the "source" link on the lesson page)

Another website I like is http://mispace.cn/ lots of article about smartphones, tablet PCs and so on (this one is frequently updated, but rather topical)

[ccyjie]

I think CSLPod is what you want.

This website has five levels for Chinese learning. Every text are in 10 minutes. If you have Apple device, you are able to learn Chinese even when you take subway home. If you don't, the website supplies everything you want for Chinese learning, Pin Yin, vocabulary, grammar, text and even the thinking way of Chinese people.

For example

UpperIntermediate #1410 求婚

http://www.cslpod.co...nt.aspx?id=1410

Admin Note: this poster is connected with CSLPod. I'm leaving most of the post here because it's relevant to the original question.

[Text]

心涛：洋洋，我想我已经深深地爱上了你，而且我坚信我们是天生一对。

洋洋：你怎么突然变得这么肉麻？

心涛：我是想到什么就说什么。我想问你一个重要的问题，请你认真考虑考虑。

洋洋：哎呀，问就问嘛，你跪下来干嘛？快起来，好好说话！

心涛：洋洋，你愿意嫁给我吗？

洋洋：什么！你说什么？你在向我求婚？

心涛：是的，你先别着急回答我，我给你三分钟时间，你好好考虑一下！

洋洋：你快站起来！别这样跪着，大家都盯着我看，我很难为情！

心涛：那么你告诉我，你愿意嫁给我吗？

洋洋：我……我们才约会两次！

心涛：这是我这辈子最美好的两次约会，我已经认定你就是我命中注定的另一半了。