Can't feel any progress

[vivea]

@NinjaTurtle, thanks! I've been looking for a way to converse with someone like this, but couldn't come up with any good ideas. As for Skype, I'm afraid everyone on my list in Skype has the same problem with it at the moment, as well as few others (like notifications stopped working). I don't think it's a virus, unless we're all infected, and the antivirus doesn't detect anything.

 

What about WeChat, is it a secure messenger to use? I'm searching for a substitute for Skype, and WeChat seems to be popular among the Chinese.

 

6 minutes ago, 大块头 said:

Checkout the open source alternative to Skritter: Inkstone

 

It looks good and reasonably priced, and the offline support is a welcome feature. I just wish there was an alternative way to purchase it. PlayMarket doesn't work on my phone anymore, and I've been unable to solve the issue so far. A mysterious RH-01 error, and following guides to solve it didn't help.

[Shelley]

@vivea I feel I need to point out the the use of " the Chinese" is not acceptable any more. Some many many years ago it was considered ok but not now.

 

 

[NinjaTurtle]

22 minutes ago, vivea said:

What about WeChat, is it a secure messenger to use?

 

WeChat is definitely the platform of choice in China. Does it have video chat capability? (I don't know, I don't use WeChat.) But I wouldn't describe it as secure. I once put QQ on my laptop but it installed a whole bunch of 'additional features" (viruses) so I stopped using QQ and reformatted. Sorry, but I consider any software that is approved by the Chinese government to be not secure.

 

 

[vivea]

@Shelley, how would you say the same nowadays?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mungouk]

1 hour ago, vivea said:

I'm searching for a substitute for Skype

 

My italki teacher and I usually use Zoom (she also uses WeChat wth some students but I don't have an account). 

 

https://zoom.us/

 

It's free, and seems to manage better quality than Skype when connecting Singapore to Shanghai at least.

 

 

[DavyJonesLocker]

7 hours ago, imron said:

HSK 6 gets you half way.  At this level expect approximately 1 unknown character per sentence and 20 unknown characters per page (including repeats).

 

And to further burst ones bubble, I'd say it still falls welll short of everyday speak. I must have added at least 2000 words (conservatively) that I have come across through we chat , general chatting, signs, apps, shopping, supermarkets stuf. Nothing that specific , just everyday life living in China. 

 

 although the good part is that it's easier to remember these words and one gets much more "bang for buck" when learning

 

[imron]

I second zoom.  I've never used it for Chinese lessons, but I use it for video conferencing meetings and the quality is consistently better than other options I've used.

 

2 hours ago, Shelley said:

I feel I need to point out the the use of " the Chinese" is not acceptable any more

Is it?  Seems no worse than 'the French' or 'the English' to me.  I wonder if it's a regional thing at play.

[Shelley]

@imron oh I suppose it could be a regional thing, I remember a discussion here about it but trying find a topic about "the Chinese" is a needle in a haystack job here.

 

I know it seems no worse than the French or the English but I was told by my Chinese teacher not to use it.

[Shelley]

@vivea Just leave out the word "the". Chinese people or just Chinese.

5 hours ago, vivea said:

WeChat seems to be popular among the Chinese

I would say" WeChat seems to be popular in China."

[Publius]

5 hours ago, Shelley said:

Just leave out the word "the". Chinese people or just Chinese.

10 hours ago, vivea said:

WeChat seems to be popular among the Chinese 

I would say" WeChat seems to be popular in China." 

Yes, at least in AmE, "the" + nationality/ethnicity is now considered outdated and non-PC. It conveys a sense of otherness, an us-vs-them mentality. Hence Trump's remarks such as "I love the Mexicans," "I love the black people" are being derided as tone-deaf. His use of "the" even caught the attention of linguists: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=28787.

But "WeChat seems to be popular in China" isn't entirely accurate. In an article I just read about the movie Crazy Rich Asians, one of the commentators (all of whom are Asian-Americans, this one is of Chinese descent) mentioned the familiar flashing icons of Weibo and WeChat made her smile.

[大块头]

10 hours ago, vivea said:

11 hours ago, 大块头 said:

Checkout the open source alternative to Skritter: Inkstone

 

It looks good and reasonably priced, and the offline support is a welcome feature. I just wish there was an alternative way to purchase it. PlayMarket doesn't work on my phone anymore, and I've been unable to solve the issue so far. A mysterious RH-01 error, and following guides to solve it didn't help.

 

Are you using an Android phone? Try getting the apk file directly from the project's Github page. You don't have to buy it from the Google Play store.

[DavyJonesLocker]

41 minutes ago, Publius said:

Yes, at least in AmE, "the" + nationality/ethnicity is now considered outdated and non-PC

 

Seems like everything is considered non PC now Publius.?

 

[GregO]

19 hours ago, Shelley said:

I know it seems no worse than the French or the English but I was told by my Chinese teacher not to use it.

While I personally believe it is gracious to address people in the way they desire, and that the phrase "the Chinese" or "the" anyone sounds a bit outdated, I chuckled a bit at this. Having lived in various places in China over a few years, the most common word I heard every single day was "外国人“。 I remember someone running up to me  and yelling "我的天啊， 外国人”  while pointing her finger at me. Talk about: 

 

10 hours ago, Publius said:

a sense of otherness, an us-vs-them mentality

 

Heck, I have been referred to as a foreigner by a handful of Chinese people in my home country from time to time. I am not bashing here or complaining - just explaining why I find some of this ironic. I believe that when there are words or phrases in our lexicon that are offensive to people they are certainly worth examining and personally, I try to avoid them. On the other hand, I believe in many cases, things have become laughable.

[Shelley]

I didn't really want this to derail the the topic, it was just friendly bit of advice to vivea as a newcomer the to world of Chinese and China. I am sure everyone has their idea of what is or isn't acceptable. Lets just agree that although not earth shattering it seems appropriate to inform a newbie, they can still choose to do what ever they like, advice is rarely followed, but often given.

[vivea]

It was a useful advice, I'd say, and such a construction sounds distant in other languages, as well. I don't know of any good substitute, however. You can get by saying things like 'in China' sometimes, but what if you have to refer to the people? And I think that the sense of rudeness comes after a few repetitions, if you say 'the + nationality' once, it usually sounds ok. It depends on the context, too, I think in a random forum not related to the study of Chinese language such a contruction wouldn't stick out as much.

 

I suspect that people living in a big multinational country are a lot more sensitive to it, too. For example, we have no African Americans or Africans in my country, that's a great rarity, and believe it or not, even the word negro doesn't sound truly offensive here. There's just no history of it used offensively.

[vivea]

大块头, What's your experience with Inkstone as far as scheduling is concerned? I can't see any explanation of what various manual grading options mean, how far in the future the words get scheduled. And I'm puzzled by the timer. According to Help, it displays the length of the current session, but it's always displayed and always ticking down, not just during the session. I have to say that drawing with a finger is less comfortable than I expected, using a mouse with the desktop version of Tofu felt a lot more comfortable. That's surprising.

[Publius]

No need to lecture me. I was merely stating a fact. Personally I don't care. I didn't even notice the difference until media seized upon His idiosyncratic use of the definite article. Also I believe this PC thing in the West is kinda out of control. There's bound to be pushbacks. Remember those funny little expressions from the noughties? Geographically undesirable, vertically challenged... And look at the vulgarian-in-chief sitting in the Oval Office.

[Shelley]

@Publius sorry didn't think I was lecturing anyone.

[Publius]

@Shelley sorry I wasn't replying to you...

[GregO]

I never meant to lecture anyone either.