online 科普 publications

[大块头]

Scientific American used to publish a Chinese edition, but that appears to have been discontinued (wrong, see below). Are there any similar online publications? I'm sure there are several WeChat 公众号 out there, but I'd prefer something paid so the quality is better. 

[TheBigZaboon]

In Chinese, I read almost exclusively 科普, but always on paper, and always on a subject that has for some reason taken my fancy for the moment. I wouldn't have much interest in a subscription to a magazine where I couldn't choose what I was reading. So I guess any help I might be able to give is limited.

 

A few years ago, when I realized that I could no longer afford to buy books in English at the ridiculously inflated prices I had to pay in Japan, I found that for nearly any popular science subject on the planet, there was a wealth of material (and a variety of presentations and styles) available to me in Japanese. And to my surprise, I also found that I was able to learn about said popular science subjects in Japanese almost as easily as I was able to in English. Good for the wallet, and fantastic for the ego. So other than history and current affairs, my reading in popular science, including health and wellness, gradually shifted to Japanese.

 

Then, one day I started to look for material about the Chinese space program, which was making headlines in the news at the time. Suddenly, in a Homer Simpson moment, I said to myself, "Duh... How about trying to read about the Chinese space program in Chinese!?!?!" The results were pretty satisfying on several fronts. So satisfying, in fact, that now, unless I'm looking for immediately necessary information, I generally forgo English and Japanese, and for entertainment, I try to master a subject first in Chinese, with just help (only when I get stuck) in Japanese. For example, recently I got a bug in my ear about tanks, due to arguments in the news about who was going to supply them to the Ukrainians. I found, to my surprise and amazement, that there's an enormous subculture of enthusiasts out there who are interested in tanks. They range from ex-tankers, to military hobbyists and bloggers, to model builders. And they are welcoming and very friendly to newcomers. And best of all, I found you can learn about tanks completely in Chinese, relying on books in 军事 and 科普.

 

About two years ago, I wrote something on the forum about reading 科普 in Chinese where I guess I inadvertantly highjacked someone else's thread centered around fiction. My contributions (about reading up on the Chinese space program) pretty much sunk without a trace. The thread seemed to die a premature death, as well. The only two comments on my suggestions were friendly enough. One reader saying that he/she never thought about using 科普 books for young people to gradually sneak up on the specialized vocabulary needed for a science subject, but it seemed like a great idea. A second reader opined that my suggestions were interesting, but that the books I introduced were all printed on paper, and that was a disqualifying turn-off. Then silence... And people stopped contributing to the thread, too.

 

Coincidentally, in the last few weeks, I've actually been thinking about starting a thread on using Chinese 科普 to begin to learn about a new field rather than depending on one's native language, but my only recent example would have been about tanks, and my previous experience suggested that that idea would sink like a stone, and my efforts would be wasted. So I did nothing about it.

 

But I'm really interested in sharing ideas on this topic, including how to find books on any popular science topic in Chinese, even (or especially) outside of China. As this verbose reply goes to show, I tend to babble on when enthusiasm takes over, but I've found ways to feed my habit that may be helpful to others with similar interests. So if anyone's interested...

 

 

TBZ

 

By the way, most of my methods are useful for any subject in Chinese, no matter how specialized, as long as someone else does it or reads about it, and there's stuff published about it... Fashion, make-up, child rearing, sports, history (pretty much anything but politics?????)... Just sayin'...

[大块头]

On 4/21/2023 at 8:21 PM, TheBigZaboon said:

I wouldn't have much interest in a subscription to a magazine where I couldn't choose what I was reading.

 

That's actually what I find appealing, personally. I'd rather spend 100 hours reading articles on several different topics and get exposure to different sets of vocabulary instead of reading one book on military history and learning Chinese translations for all the bits and bobs on a tank.

 

My usual advice when people want to learn about a specific topic in Chinese is to start at the 百度百科 page for that topic and scroll to the bottom to see if there's anybody blogging about it on the TA说 platform. The quality of those articles has sometimes been hit or miss, however.

[TheBigZaboon]

Point well taken...

 

I don't have a lot of patience for all the bits and bobs of anything after a certain point, either. But when I read about a subject that I am interested in enough to spend any of my limited, and dwindling, time learning about, I can't help but find a few areas that pique my desire to know more and more about less and less. But when enough has been said and done, my interest in tanks has a finite limit, too. But I can always always stop at any point, and maybe even give up very early in my pursuit of a subject if it becomes obvious I'm not really interested in going any further.

 

But in learning about tanks, I interacted with a number of people I may not have ever met otherwise. And sometimes we found we shared experiences, like military service in a common country or region. But after I learned what all the fuss was about in news reports about what tanks were best, or worst, for offering to the Ukrainians, I felt competent enough to feel I had a reasonably well-informed opinion, and could confidently stop reading about tanks. I could also confidently man-splain to my long-suffering wife about all the things Brad Pitt got right or wrong in his movie about tanks. I'll probably never read anything about tanks again. But on the subject of the Chinese space program, there's still lots to learn, and lots of opportunities to read about it in the near future, both in Chinese and other languages.

 

Having said all that, what might be a more valuable thread to pursue is how well, or how quickly, you're able to handle the 'further reading' from the 百度百科 page.  Sometimes one is lucky enough to already be schooled or be an expert in a subject in one's native language. That can make learning or reading about any subject in Chinese a lot easier. But the 800 kilogram panda in the room is still characters. I'm sure there's people with vastly different levels of character-reading ability on this forum, and nobody wants to leave anybody behind, or leave anybody feeling left out. What's the easiest way to ensure one is able to read 科普 in Chinese in a new or unfamiliar subject.

 

In my case, sometimes I feel I have an unfair advantage in having learned enough Japanese to read nearly anything (except fiction), often without recourse to a dictionary at all. (But when I remember all the hard work, tears, and humiliation in front of others it cost to get there, then... But, anyway,... ) So facing 科普 in Chinese, I can often read almost any subject from scratch, as long as I'm willing to ignore adjectives and adverbs of degree, and the actual reading/pronunciation of a character. But this eventually, sometimes all too soon, has its limits. So what's a decent Christian gotta do to get along in this 'oh so exotic' language???

 

Random thoughts, anyone...???

 

TBZ 

[abcdefg]

On 4/21/2023 at 7:21 PM, TheBigZaboon said:

By the way, most of my methods are useful for any subject in Chinese, no matter how specialized, as long as someone else does it or reads about it, and there's stuff published about it...

 

Not exactly 科普, but I followed your general method in learning about Chinese cooking, the techniques, tools and ingredients. Much more helpful than 98 or 99% of what I could find in English. In fact, trying to research such subjects in English was just awful. Ditto for learning about the world of Chinese tea, 中国茶业/茶艺。 

[TheBigZaboon]

I found the posts that I made couple of years ago about reading things other than fiction, and as they have to do (more than loosely, I hope) with 科普, I'm going to add links to them here. There are four posts copied from another thread that has lots of good advice about reading at the intermediate level. That is where I think my advice fits easiest, although pre-intermediate readers can also use my suggestions. I think I will alienate fewer people if I use rocket science in place of tanks. And in order to not look like I'm highjacking someone else's thread, I've included only links rather than extensive texts or screen shots, but you can read them and decide for yourself. Also, copying seems to include only text, and the pictures/photos illustrating the kinds of books I'm referring to are very important to following my unsolicited advice.

 

I'll try to get the moderators to help me incorporate the four posts into a new, more generalized, thread applying these ideas to finding and reading material in other subjects that are less nerdy and niche than 科普 in rockets and tanks, like makeup, fashion, history or child rearing. But I've already broken too many rules and alienated a number of important people, so I don't know how things will turn out...

 

Anyway, take a look at your leisure...

 

 

https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/61307-how-much-time-can-i-spend-reading-at-the-intermediate-level/?do=findComment&comment=480145

 

 

https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/61307-how-much-time-can-i-spend-reading-at-the-intermediate-level/?do=findComment&comment=480371

 

https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/61307-how-much-time-can-i-spend-reading-at-the-intermediate-level/?do=findComment&comment=480373

 

https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/61307-how-much-time-can-i-spend-reading-at-the-intermediate-level/?do=findComment&comment=480446

 

 

Enjoy...

 

 

TBZ

 

[大块头]

It looks like 知网 (CNKI) has a 科普 section. I'll need to look through it some more, but it seems like it has a pretty good selection from a few different publications. Access to individual articles can be purchased for $0.40 a page, and they accept Paypal.

[TheBigZaboon]

I don't know if this is a setup, or just coincidence, but I just clicked on your "科普 section" link, and in the little revolving advertising window at the top of the page, there was a huge main battle tank, and the words 国外坦克... ?????????... Thank you!!!

 

I just might give it a try...

 

TBZ 

[大块头]

You know, I'm totally wrong about the Chinese edition of Scientific American no longer being published. They just haven't updated their website in a while. Here's the cover of their March 2023 issue. There appears to be a few different electronic subscription options. I was able to get the latest issue on a platform called ZINIO for <$3 via PayPal.

 

[TheBigZaboon]

@大块头 The best part of your revelations is that it is possible to pay using PayPal. 

Thank you.

 

TBZ