Tools for putting pinyin above characters?

[imron]

@imron, you've shifted my thinking.

​You're welcome :-)

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Only problem now is that I've started to dislike the cedict definitions (not complete and not infrequently wrong) and I haven't yet found an alternative I can download.

I'm not a huge fan of CC-CEDICT myself and would like to incorporate other dictionaries in to CTA if it ever gets enough users to fund licensing costs.  In the meantime, I would suggest getting Pleco and purchasing one of their dictionaries - The Guifan if you can use Chinese-Chinese dictionaries, and/or the ABC for English definitions.

 

Then just export words from CTA, and you can import them in to Pleco and it will use the Pleco dictionary definitions.

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My first target will probably be 武林外传

What is your current Chinese level?  武林外传 is one of those things you'll enjoy much more once you are already quite comfortable with Chinese.  I made a post some years back concerning using books to learn vocabulary at an advanced level, ​and one of the main takeaways is to choose content at the right level (for the same benefits such as enjoyment, reading speed and others mentioned in previous posts).

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So here it's the unhelpful definition, rather than that the character is so difficult, that's holding me back

It's actually more unhelpful segmentation of an uncommon character that is holding you back - and possibly, unfortunately, CTA, which doesn't correctly segment 匡 in any of those sentences.

 

 

 

四周壁下,挨排的放着许多的小白匡床,里面卧着许多小朋友.

​匡床 is a word.

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监狱的大门揭匡一声关上了.

​揭匡 - I would say this is likely to be the sound the door makes as it closes (a creak then a clang) , or a typo, I've never really seen 揭 and 匡 used together.

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经纪人陆匡时站在那“岗亭”外边和助手谈话.

​陆匡时 will be the name of a person.

 

 

 

新法规即将实施以匡助单亲家庭.

​匡助 is a word

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​That being said, 匡 is a rare enough character (either standalone or when used inside other words) that I would question the point of learning it at this time unless it's appearing regularly in something you're reading (it doesn't appear at all in 武林外传).

 

How much time are you willing to spend on learning a character/word that you will rarely if ever come across?

[Rowley]

How much time are you willing to spend on learning a character/word that you will rarely if ever come across?

 

 

Preferably none at all. But I also, when I made the list, felt I didn't want to miss important characters.

 

Here are the 474 least frequent characters out of the 4073 characters I'm studying. I'm now almost ready to chuck the characters I haven't studied yet.

 

Already studied

 

啡, 垃, 圾, 著, 愉, 娜, 拯, 俳, 赂, 抨, 墅, 蜍, 蝠, 佻, 惋, 惬, 盥, 殡, 裳, 吋, 骼, 娠, 狙, 痫, 胫, 蚱, 懦, 璃, 氓, 猥, 尴, 俑, 邃, 锏, 蟆, 偌, 铊, 缔, 稼, 咫, 悚, 赝, 睐, 讪, 鲈, 悴, 霾, 鸯, 挝, 颞, 懈, 苣, 玖, 囔, 楔, 阂, 淆, 笆, 魇, 咆, 咙, 陛, 噱, 璜, 胳, 觊, 诅, 篡, 憬, 疱, 婷, 牒, 屄, 暹, 哞, 蜻, 遢, 槲, 灸, 妳, 踌, 匍, 鼬, 搪, 欸, 湃, 髅, 屐, 瑛, 鸳, 鲑, 雳, 徨, 饯, 磺, 蜊, 酝, 寥, 娅, 嚏, 痊, 紊, 蟋, 暄, 呻, 瞰, 跋, 莳, 蚓, 蚯, 莉, 咐, 髋, 狈, 烊, 铤, 茴, 蜥, 瞩, 厩, 蹂, 寞, 泌, 铵, 麸, 婕, 纫, 瘁, 匕, 蔻, 邂, 龈, 蝙, 眈, 丐, 擤, 蠕, 烬, 臆, 刽, 獠, 鞑, 浏, 诋, 檬, 镯, 妊, 腼, 尻, 恪, 挛, 狒, 蚤, 衅, 诽, 鱿, 鹌, 呯, 馏, 岖, 蹩, 曙, 藐, 躇, 媛, 竺, 鲱, 肓, 菩, 漉, 颚, 熠, 疟, 髦, 抉, 葫, 肇, 漓, 酩, 胱, 亢, 円, 怦, 滔, 龊, 汐, 劾, 沆, 辘, 疽, 鸵, 螃, 阐, 袱, 琵, 譬, 螳, 痹, 憧, 肮, 跆, 嗦, 磊

 

Not yet studied

 

匆, 惕, 罂, 缭, 祂, 珉, 鼹, 吡, 姆, 蛎, 媲, 汹, 翱, 琥, 湮, 盎, 颧, 绚, 牺, 徘, 岌, 俐, 杞, 睫, 痪, 瀚, 讧, 钚, 禧, 睽, 奄, 蜴, 蹊, 惚, 萄, 龌, 湍, 吩, 砾, 啰, 绶, 酋, 蜓, 豫, 猾, 痿, 匐, 阱, 疙, 奂, 瘩, 辜, 栩, 墟, 呣, 皈, 谀, 兢, 瞌, 铠, 睾, 骰, 酵, 孪, 豌, 碉, 讬, 氪, 剽, 儡, 褂, 霹, 殆, 讣, 恙, 孀, 隧, 唁, 哮, 肪, 亘, 袒, 哝, 蚪, 坷, 橇, 毅, 璨, 儆, 迥, 颌, 蟑, 飓, 侥, 惫, 烷, 翩, 孛, 霆, 玷, 猖, 蜚, 蟀, 囱, 黯, 蝌, 帜, 箔, 帚, 躏, 溉, 窈, 鹉, 蚂, 徊, 砷, 怂, 侏, 鹑, 傀, 豺, 忏, 酊, 嫉, 陨, 酗, 惮, 崛, 硷, 皿, 镳, 窕, 涸, 轶, 疡, 屹, 佼, 黝, 畴, 骷, 滓, 筝, 尬, 迢, 咄, 屌, 猡, 铉, 幌, 彗, 潢, 椭, 乓, 逍, 垄, 蹶, 恿, 澜, 跻, 缰, 烯, 奕, 菠, 彷, 蜘, 婪, 沌, 犸, 猩, 娩, 孢, 莴, 雯, 箴, 傧, 蛭, 腱, 獾, 倡, 瞭, 衩, 鹦, 羟, 簸, 榈, 忡, 憔, 锢, 螂, 莅, 懊, 狩, 澎, 骋, 觎, 麋, 赡, 慷, 雹, 牠, 蘑, 啬, 捍, 橄, 苜, 侈, 搐, 瑚, 榔, 燮, 疝, 倪, 祐, 胧, 喋, 甄, 嘢, 鲶, 稣, 摒, 鳕, 窿, 喱, 氰, 馁, 缄, 纰, 蜗, 玑, 惘, 篝, 蝴, 祀, 逅, 潦, 囧, 饪, 馒, 庐, 鲟, 诙, 珑, 鹃, 蚜, 鹈, 蜢, 猕, 螨, 鲭, 鬣, 鹳, 蜈, 猬, 蚣, 蛔, 牦, 鳃, 榷, 粱, 蜱, 鹞, 鸪, 鹧, 汛, 鸸, 貘, 狨, 蜣, 踊, 獴

 

I already liked 武林外传 the first time I watched it when I couldn't understand large parts of it. I watched the first 2 episodes a while back and could follow it generally, except for the references and the chengyu and so on. I couldn't find transcripts for other shows though when I looked for it last time. Only for 士兵突击 and the eighties version of 红楼梦, I haven't really given them a chance but I didn't really like what I did see of them.

[imron]

when I made the list, felt I didn't want to miss important characters.

How do you define an important character?

 

Once you go beyond several hundred characters, your reading material will greatly influence which characters are important and which ones aren't, and everyone will have different needs depending on their interests.

 

I understand the fear of missing out, and I think most learners have that feeling at some stage, but later on I realised that 'important' just means ones that appear in the content I'm reading.  Then I realised that I don't even need to learn each and every unknown word (though I may still look up the meaning), because the important ones will show up regularly and I can learn them the next time they show up instead.  If they don't show up, then by definition they are not important and can be safely ignored until they do start showing up.

 

For example, I probably can't recognise over half of the characters in your list of ones 'not yet studied', and yet I can happily read Chinese novels without much difficulty.  I'm also unlikely to ever study anything on that list unless it turns up in something I'm reading, which in my mind, is a much more efficient and productive use of my time.

[roddy]

On 监狱的大门揭匡一声关上了

 

I'd imagine that's a typo either for 框 or 哐. But I note this seems to be a sentence from a Chinese-English dictionary site, which means it was quite possibly mistranslated in the first place. 

 

Congratulations on letting Imron change your mind. Just keep doing that and everything'll be grand.