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Super-Panama-World edited this page Nov 23, 2017 · 8 revisions

Chinese-English Exchange Resources

The resource document list for the Chinese-English exchange discord server: https://discord.gg/ADdR45y. Mostly tailors to learning Mandarin and Cantonese. Links dialects, Classical, and older Chinese however are more than welcome.

If you find any problems with these resources listed or have suggestions, please leave comments in the resources channel of the discord. Many of these links have not been vetted, so usage experience is more than welcome.

Mandarin and Cantonese lessons sections should be focused around getting a person with no knowledge to beginner/intermediate level. Once they reach that point, they should be looking towards native content for self-study.

Table of Contents

Key

Symbol Meaning
繁 Traditional Characters
简 Simplified Characters
ZH Mandarin
EN English
CA Cantonese

Chinese Input Methods

Detailed Explanation of Chinese IMEs

Phonetic

  • System Default [ZH][简][繁]
    • Windows - For windows, you want to find “Chinese Simplified (PRC) → Microsoft Pinyin New Experience Input St.” You can switch between Traditional and Simplified, and even assign that to a shortcut key.
    • Mac
    • Linux
  • Rime [CA][ZH][简][繁][Win][Mac][Linux] - Framework for custom IMEs. Cantonese has Jyutping and Yale.
  • Google Input [ZH][简][繁][Win]
  • CPIME [CA] - Jyutping and Yale phonetic input for Cantonese.
  • FHL Taigi-Hakka IME

Shape-based

  • System installed** [倉頡][速成][郑码] - 郑码 no longer supported after Windows 8.
  • Rime [倉頡][五笔][郑码]
  • Sogou
  • FreeWB

Mandarin Resources

Pronunciation/Pinyin

Online Grammar/Lessons

Textbooks

HSK

  • HSK Academy - Very helpful for those learning Chinese characters. Aimed mainly for those seeking the HSK (similar to TOEFL) tests, but still good to learn new words, phrases. There is a short introduction to Chinese grammar also.
  • HSK Check
  • Sample Test Papers
  • Conversion - Old HSK to New HSK

Cantonese Resources

There are three ways that Cantonese is romanized. You’ll likely have to get use to all three. Older resources use Yale, newer use Jyutping, natives often use the third. Also take a look at Mandarin section for some start character tips should it be relevant (since dialect learning focuses on speaking).

General

Word Lists

Other

Learning Tools

Software

  • Anki [Memorization][SRS] - Flashcard memorization program. Recommend using anki as a revision tool and build your own decks, but if you really want to can find pre-built decks to learn vocabulary. Also see this.
  • Zhtoolkit [Text Analysis] - Breakdowns a text into its constituent words with definitions with CC-EDICT. Can custom set dictionary and also filter out learnt words.
  • [Pomodoro] Technique](http://pomodorotechnique.com/get-started/#how) - Help stay focused
  • JNovelFormter - Quickly converts .txt files to be easily viewed as an HTML document. Useful in conjunction with popup dictionaries and the popup-dictionary-to-Anki function

Browser Plugins

  • Browser Popup Dictionaries - Several listed in next section
  • Simplified↔Traditional Conversion [Chrome][Firefox] - Firefox not yet compatible
  • Real Time Anki Import - To automate anki entry

Websites

  • Rabbit - Screen sharing. Optional account login and friending. Works for Karaoke too!
  • Wikipedia - Great for translating technical jargon or just generally specific words. Find the article, then click on the chinese version of that article.
  • Baidu translate [MTL] Machine translator. Has Mandarin, Cantonese, and Classical.
  • Google Translate [MTL] Great for handwriting recognition. Click on the 拼 -> handwriting

Other

  • Jyutping Converter
  • Horizontal Hanzi - For disambiguating similar-looking characters
  • Memrise [SRS] - Teaches through exercise. Pay option.
  • Skritter A pay-for service that combines responsive feedback with SRS learning. Writing and vocabulary. Review of skritter.
  • Chinese Tutor Flashcards - A site that works like flashcards to help memorize the Pinyin for Chinese words/phrases.
  • Pin1yin1 - Converts characters to pinyin with diacritics (tone markers) or zhuyin to a text
  • Text analyser - Pay for program

Dictionaries

Because of disconnect between phonetic reading and graphic representation of hanzi, knowing how to seperate character into its radical and phonetic component in addition to learning characters by their strokes. Not only number of strokes but order of strokes is especially useful for getting handwriting recognition to work for you.

More important introduction coming soon. Such dictionaries are organized by pinyin, but also come with a character index at the start that is organized by number of strokes in the radical, then by number of strokes excluding the radical.

Recommended

  • Line (formerly Nciku) [EN→ZH][EN←ZH][EN↔Thai][Online] Most examples, flexible handwriting detection, and has the features. A tad bulky/slow.
  • CantoDict [EN↔CA][Online] Jyutping, audio bytes, examples. You have to make sure you select the right category for searching.
  • Zdic [C↔C,EN][Online] Etymology, stroke-based IME lookup, dialect readings (音韵方言), etc.
  • Jyutdin [CA↔CA][Online]
  • MDCG [EN↔ZH][Online] A fairly lightweight and responsive C-E and E-C Mandarin dictionary based on CC-CEDict.A2 Can search sentence for easy of searching multiple vocabulary but do not rely on it to parse.
  • Cantofish (FF) or CPD (Chrome) [EN↔CA,ZH][Browser] Popup dictionary much like Rikai. Firefox version supports Jyutping, Yale, Pinyin. Supports Anki import.
  • Zhong Wen (Firefox) (Chrome). Mandarin popup dictionaries available for both browsers. Still recommend Cantofish/PCD though they are Cantonese-based. Firefox versions not compatible with newest version yet.
  • Pleco [EN↔ZH,CA][Android][iOS] CC-C-E dictionary based on CC-EDictA2 with a human check for differences for Cantonese. The app version for Android and iPhone are mandarin only. You have to enable Cantonese in settings for the mobile app.

Recommend getting a Cantofish over (even for Mandarin), especially if you plan on doing any sort of learning through reading.

Other

  • Baidu Baike [ZH→ZH,EN] An encyclopedia, but it does list definitions.
  • Pin Pin [EN↔ZH] Fast, clean, and responsive.
  • Multi-function Chinese Character Database CC-English-C (Uses homophones in addition to romanisation for pronunciation, for those that are more comfortable with that than romanisation) (Also has audio clips, but those can be a little stretched out to emphasise the tones)
  • 现代汉语词典5th Ed. [ZH↔ZH][Book] Standard dictionary that Mainland uses.
  • Wenlin [EN↔ZH] free/paid version, quite a good offline dictionary. Handwriting recognition, marks tone changes, really great for tracing the origin of characters.
  • Hanping Dictionary [EN↔CA] Offline dictionary that you install to your browser.
  • Zhongwen [EN↔ZH][Online] (Unrelated to popup dictionary). Lightweight and responsive. Alternative to Wenlin for radical-based breakdown of characters and shared-radical map. However, character search does not work (might be encoding issue) and unable to copy paste.
  • Perapera [EN↔ZH] Another Mandarin popup dictionary.
  • Ichacha
  • HanziCraft, Breaks down character into radicals and assorted strokes. Also features a table list of homonyms.
Unevaluated

Reading

General

Unevaluated

Newspaper

Entertainment

Media

Dramas

  • Rabbit - Screensharing site. Check out description in tools
  • MyDramalist - Drama information and watchlist site
  • Croton's Official Youtube [ZH]
  • TVB (moved to here?)
  • Dnvod - Loads of movies with Chinese subs/dubs.
  • Viki

Youtube Lessons

Other

Manhua and Donghua

Manhua

Donghua

Audio

General

Radio

Podcasts

Other Chinese Languages

Hakka

Mandarin, Cantonese, Minnan (Hokkien), and Wu Dictionary

Minan

Taishanese

Shanghainese

Miscellaneous

General

Blogs

Etymology and Calligraphy

Nerdy Stuff

Classical Chinese

Introduction

Dictionaries

Texts

Other

Old Chinese

United Nations of Ancient and Endangered Languages Discord Coming Soon™

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