Skritter does not train English-to-Chinese (only vice versa) :(

[mstark]

I've been using Skritter for ~5 months and went all the way up to HSK5. However, now I feel a little stuck, because I realized:

 

Skritter never trains "English to Mandarin". It never asks you "How to say >>a fine; violation ticket<< in Mandarin?"

 

Skritter only asks you the other way round: "What is the meaning of 罚单？“

 

For me, that's a huge problem. I'm able to read and pronounce almost anything I'm seeing, but when I try to speak I'm something missing "the most obvious words". I'm still thinking in English, and in many instances then I can't just remember what "a fine" means :). If I would see the 汉字 or hear the word, I would immediately know.

 

How have you solved this? Should I completely pivot away from Skritter and towards Anki? (any recommendations of HSK1-HSK5?)

 

 

[Flickserve]

3 hours ago, mstark said:

I'm still thinking in English

 

There comes a point where you would miss this step completely. This would come after enough instances of using the vocabulary and I suppose what the experts say moving from passive to active vocabulary.

[mstark]

Sure @Flickserve, I agree. But before you feel it, you have to know it ?

[amytheorangutan]

@mstark sorry I might not understanding your question but do you mean something like this? Which is from my Skritter. Wouldn’t you have to know the Chinese word before you can write it? 

 

 

[mstark]

@amytheorangutan

Yes, but I don't want to learn how to write (汉字） :).

 

I want to "remember" the Chinese word if I only know the English word. Skritter does not test this.

Show: english word

Must do: remember (not write!) Chinese word

[amytheorangutan]

@mstark I think you need to use a different app for this purpose. Simple flashcards would do. Skritter I think is primarily used for writing exercises not vocabulary exercises though it does make you remember the words and vocabs while writing. 

[Flickserve]

4 hours ago, mstark said:

But before you feel it, you have to know it ?

 

I suppose you can train many sentences with the vocabulary both listening and speaking. Then cloze deletion in anki?

[Shelley]

Pleco - it allows you to choose many different permutations of test configurations.

 

So you can have one that gives you the english meaning and you have to choose the correct Chinese character.

 

You can prompt for Characters, Pronunciation, Definition, Chars. & Defn., Chars. & Pron., Pron. & Defn.

 

You can show all the above with the addition of audio and the exception of characters.

 

Your choice of tests are Review only, Self graded, Multiple choice, Fill-in-the-Blanks, Stroke order, Tone practice.

 

It really is a very powerful flashcard app and it is a highly useful dictionary platform.

 

It is definitely something that every student of Chinese should have.

 

It is also very reasonably priced so well worth going for the basic package and then once you have used it for awhile you will know more what you may want to add. You can try the free version but this will not have the full version of the flashcards and so you may be disappointed, but it would let you get an idea of what it can do.

 

I can't recommend it highly enough.

 

Have a look here http://www.pleco.com/

[agewisdom]

9 hours ago, mstark said:

How have you solved this? Should I completely pivot away from Skritter and towards Anki? (any recommendations of HSK1-HSK5?)

 

Maybe if you have Pleco already, using the following free ad-on flashcard might help:

https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/57533-flashcard-set-name-sentence-contextual-writing/

[abcdefg]

12 hours ago, mstark said:

How have you solved this?

 

I solved it by thinking in Chinese, daydreaming in Chinese, muttering to myself when alone in Chinese, dreaming in Chinese at night, writing "to-do" type reminder notes to myself in Chinese, keeping my grocery shopping list in Chinese, using the Chinese internet to look things up, using Chinese on-line maps when getting ready to go places, texting my friends in Chinese, using Chinese apps on my phone, speaking Chinese nearly exclusively day to day with native Chinese people where I live (Kunming.)

 

When I must speak English to expat friends in Kunming, I mentally translate from the Chinese that I'm thinking. It's sometimes clunky and hesitant. (When writing I can still think and write in English, my native language, without first going through Chinese.)