Note taking advice: go digital or stick with pen and paper?

[Clorden]

Hello all,

I started studying Mandarin less than three months ago at the University (night course, 6 hours per week). My notes are quite readable but I would like to get them more organized and in digital format so that I can review them on my phone or tablet without having to carry the paper: I already have a couple of notepads...

 

I tried copying the notes in a word processor but the process is slow and quite clumsy due to the very nature of M$ Office and similar software. I don't think the problem is the input itself but the way I would like to put the characters, pinyin and examples on paper. I would like, for example, to write pinyin and the related character so that they would match in a column (I.E.: vertically) but the spacing process is annoying. I tried using grids but it gets overly complicated...

 

Is there any note taking advice you can give me?

 

I feel paper is still the most effective way as opposed to word processors and similar software, which is quite frustrating from my point of view... What's your take on this?

 

 

Thanks!

 

--Clorden

 

[anonymoose]

Use paper and take photos of your notes if you want to review them on your tablet.

[Shelley]

Do you use any other Chinese learning tools? I think that you may find using Pleco and the flash cards, you could end up with the information you want and the ability to review and test yourself using your phone.

 

You can configure the cards in a lot of different ways. You can add your own sentence example and choose other things to suit yourself.

 

i know it is not really the same as taking notes but once you have your notes making flashcards is quick and simple when you have it all set up.

[ouyangjun]

I first recommend you start taking notes with the Cornell Note Taking Methodology for your pencil and paper notes.  Summarized here:

 

http://lsc.cornell.edu/LSC_Resources/cornellsystem.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornell_Notes

 

Then if you want to get things into electronic format, you can take the key ideas and key points and transfer them to an electronic notebook such as MS OneNote or Evernote.  

 

I started using the above methodology at work, and I'm finding I like it a lot.  I use the Cornell system for my paper and pencil notes during the course of the day, and then transfer them into my electronic OneNote Notebook at the end of the day (using special tags for different info and follow up items).

 

I believe this method could also be effective for taking notes in Chinese courses/self study for the purpose of retaining and capturing key info and ideas.

[murrayjames]

Hi Clorden,

 

Forget word processing software. I use OneNote for note-taking, in both English and Chinese, and it changed my life. A few options:

 

1) Use the Microsoft Surface Pro or one of the new Lenovo tablet PCs and ink your notes. Basically, if it is running Windows 8 and comes with a stylus, it should be fine. Bring your computer to class and take your notes directly on your screen into OneNote. Everything is customizable: your pages can have lines (or not), be as tall or as wide as necessary, zoom in and out with a pinch, you can control ink color and thickness, etc etc.  If you want columns/rows of predetermined width, you can make a template to use on all pages in a given section. Or you can draw a table directly onto your screen as necessary. You can also sync everything you write to your iPhone, iPad, Android cellphone or tablet if it has OneNote installed.

 

See this (rather longish) video for an idea what this is like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7OROShRVzQ

 

2) If you don't want to write directly onto a computer screen, you can hand write your notes, then scan them into your computer. From your scanning program, "print" into OneNote. You can print your notes into a single section of the same notebook, organize them by lesson or however you want. This, too, will sync with any device with OneNote installed.

 

3) If you don't need to handwrite (typing is ok), I would still recommend OneNote. It's that good :-)

 

A word of caution. Currently, OneNote works well as a primary notetaking device on a Windows 8 PC. Sure, you can get it for Mac OSX or tablets, but the feature set is limited and more suitable for on-the-go note taking and reviewing.

 

Good luck, whatever you decide :-)

[Angelina]

I am using a beautiful app call CamScanner. You can take photos of your old notes and edit them into PDF files. The thing I like about it is that it helps me take photos of slides during a lecture or a seminar when I am not be able to take notes fast enough.

 

You can try what others have suggested, like 'printing' them later into OneNote. You can try Evernote if OneNote doesn't work for you. I have synchronized my Android phone and tablet and my Macbook and I can share my Evernote notes between devices. I don't have a PC, have't tried OneNote yet and can't say much about it. Evernote definitely works cross-platform. 

 

http://blog.evernote.com/blog/2014/02/15/evernote-pick-camscanner/

[akdn]

You might want to look into the functions of a Livescribe digital pen. Effectively, you still work with pen and paper, but a paired device captures the audio and syncs it with a real-time video of your writing (captured via a tiny camera above the pen nib). The whole package is saved in PDF format, for audio-video playback. Not cheap, and only iPad/iPhone compatible, unfortunately.

[ouyangjun]

That Livescribe digital pen... I want more info.  Looks awesome.  

[hedwards]

I'm curious about that as well. Those things are usually designed for use with Indo-European languages, I'd be curious to know how well they handle something like Chinese. Copying notes does help a bit with retention, but it's a huge investment in time that could be otherwise used for studying.

[Johnny20270]

I started studying Mandarin less than three months ago at the University (night course, 6 hours per week). My notes are quite readable but I would like to get them more organized and in digital format so that I can review them on my phone or tablet without having to carry the paper: I already have a couple of notepads...

 

 

 

Every day I hand write (well scribble) notes in a jotter and then add to MS word in the afternoon. I do find it very helpful for the following reasons

- its valuable revision

- pick up mistakes during the class

- makes it much easier to cross reference

- use colors to highlight sentence structures etc

- practice character recognition when typing pinyin.

- chance to correct your mistakes made in class (i.e. wrong character)