No, it displays pinyin tones fine on my systems.
No, it displays pinyin tones fine on my systems.[/quote]
I got it sorted out for the most part, mostly the deck I’m making myself. The Taiwan All Grades and RTH decks still show the pinyin in black. The one I’m making is color coded with audio and whatnot (using the pinyin toolkit). Pretty nifty. 
[quote=“bismarck”]
The Taiwan All Grades and RTH decks still show the pinyin in black.[/quote]
Try going to Settings -> Font & Colors and then to the Fields tab. Then play around with the font until you get something that looks good. I remember I had a similar problem when I was setting up my deck.
I’ve been using Anki for about 4 months now, and I love it and hate it. Love it, because so far it is the only way I have found to get this stuff inside my head and have it stick. I hate it because I feel like I have become a slave to the program. In an effort to procrastinate, I’ll tell a little bit about my experience so far:
I came to TW at the beginning of Feb. this year. I always thought that it would be “cool” to know Chinese, but well, I’m a lazy American who’s always had plenty of distractions. In late '09, when I finalized a transfer to TW, I decided it was time to really give it a go. I started doing the Pimsleur tapes, watching YouTube shows, and reading various books and web-sites about how to learn Chinese. By the time I arrived I had gone through ~45 of the Pimsleur tapes (doing each one 2-3 times) and those were good to start picking up the tones and getting some of the rhythm. But stuff doesn’t really sink into my brain through my ears - I guess that is where you have to understand how you learn. Watching shows on YouTube wasn’t really helpful either - at least not early on, but it was kind of fun to get some idea what these guys find entertaining.
For me, progress has come through using Anki and writing down the characters. With my learning style, that last bit is key. I set up my Anki deck so that when I add facts (usually words or phases - not too many single characters), it adds two cards - one which flashes the Chinese characters, and another which flashes the English meaning. For the English card, I don’t let myself pass until I can write the characters from memory. This is really painful - and I have a large stack of papers with 10s of thousands of character scribbles - but when I can write the character from memory, I feel like I really know it. And the spaced-repetition keeps me from forgetting. Right now my deck is at ~1500 cards with ~750 facts. I wrote a script to count the individual characters and I’m only at ~800 - so my progress is relatively modest. But I have to say that I’m ok with it, because I’m a complete idiot when it comes to languages (English, my only language, has always been enough challenge) and I wasn’t even sure that I was capable of learning another language, let alone something difficult like Chinese. Also, rote memorization isn’t something I’m particularly good at. But now I see that it is only a matter of time and effort - lots of both - so I’m pretty psyched. When I calculate my rate and see how long it is going to take me to get to a good number, I do get a little bummed, but whatever… 加油 as they say. New cards and characters do seem to be getting slightly easier.
When I think back to only two months ago - I def. know that I am in a better place now. Being able to pick out more and more characters on restaurant menus is cool. And with the help of Perapera-kun, I can often pick up the ideas of Facebook posts and whatnot. So until I develop some semblance of a social life, I’ll continue on with Anki. Anyhow, there’s my unsolicited and randomly placed story.
Good stuff, Brent5k. I’m just getting into Anki and so far I’m enjoying making up my own deck from the PAVC. I’m on book 3, so I’m doing book 1 and 2 first and using it as review and practice with additional/supplementary vocabulary, as I thought that has always been a big weakness in the PAVC series (and probably any language learning series). So, with chapter 3 and 4 of book 1 I added extra vocab like fruit, everyday objects and clothing items that are common, but not in the book. I’m also breaking up certain words where knowing the individual characters will help with remembering the word and which may come in handy later.
Once I’m finished with book one I’ll share it on Anki.
Going through the Taiwan all grades list I’m wondering if there’s much worth in learning all 5500+ characters individually, as so many are combined in twos or threes to make additional words. It seems the only way to make that work is to read the school books the kids study as you go along. As such I’m using the social studies and Chinese books that I have from grades 1- 6 in conjunction with the Taiwan All Grades list.
I don’t really like the RTH list.
I have personally found simply memorizing the very common characters, reviewing them regularly (this was after I finished 2 years of chinese), and then reading material at an appropriate reading level to be very helpful. I did this for about 300 characters in the 500-1,400 most common range before starting an intensive study program. In fact, it was better than learning the characters when I encountered it in the text because I inevitably came across the new characters in the text within a few weeks and already had the new characters in long term memory, so this aided learning new vocabulary… A word like 权威 looked instantaneously like it was saying “threat-power”, and although that did not get me all the way to “authority”, it was easy to see the logic of the new word and a whole lot easier to guess from context.
The real challenge is reviewing those characters and the underlying meanings enough to not forget all of it!
That sounds brilliant. Where did you get that?[/quote]
You just download it straight from within Anki.When you fist install and load the program, there’s a button labeled download. Click that and you’ll get a list of all the decks people have submitted to the Anki database. Just start typing a search phrase to narrow down the list.
If you already have decks installed, you can get to the download screen by going to File>Download>Shared Deck.
Once you’ve got the deck setup, you may want to follow the steps here:
chinesepod.com/community/conversations/post/6902
The deck is setup to show the English and pinyin first, these steps let you switch it so that you get the hanzi first.[/quote]
Did all that and downloaded the pinyin toolkit. Noticed that it shows third tone pinyin incorrectly (when you try to edit it’s fine in the edit box, but wrong when you do the review); Eg: 小 xiǎo is shown as xilo
Do you have the same problem?
Edit: I see it’s set up that way and can’t be changed. Bummer. Looks shit. xiǎo looks much better…
Edit@: btw, does anyone know how to delete a plugin on Anki?[/quote]
so i want to use Anki online from my office computer so I registered, but I cannot work out how to import a database - I would like to just start with PAVC I, then add PAVC II and then slowly add PAVC III (which I am on now)
seems like a good program to follow, just can’t work out how >_<
[quote=“itakitez”]so I want to use Anki online from my office computer so I registered, but I cannot work out how to import a database - I would like to just start with PAVC I, then add PAVC II and then slowly add PAVC III (which I am on now)
seems like a good program to follow, just can’t work out how >_<[/quote]
When you open Anki do the following (while connected to the internet, of course 
): File > Download > Shared Deck
A new Window comes up and you can search for a deck. Try “PAVC” etc…
If you’re using Anki for Chinese you might also want the Chinese plug-in: File > Download > Shared Plugin
Search for “Pinyin Toolkit”, although you should see it when the Shared Plugin window opens anyway.
Hope that helps.
that’s not working when on the “online mode” - will have to go home and see if it is a work computer issue, they refuse to update things like flash and IE so my surfing is a little limited, won’t be able to view youtube for much longer…, and cant get sound anyway
however, my back up plan is to download to a flashdisk and use that, seems like you have to download, then transfer, but my work comp blocks any downloads so can’t run the exe file
fingers crossed for tonight
I also got a look in at this other system called the Heisig method, never heard of it before reading all these posts and just this morning my previous method of write in a notebook, do the readings on MRT many time, then write eliminating characters once “solid” has started to waver and is almost off the rails now, so i am very interested in this other method, can’t be too bad as I can commit to it for 5 weeks and get to 1500 (I am kind of at 1000 now) and then hopefully get to 3000 meanings learned in no time and then can focus on my spoken…?
[quote=“itakitez”]that’s not working when on the “online mode” - will have to go home and see if it is a work computer issue, they refuse to update things like flash and IE so my surfing is a little limited, won’t be able to view youtube for much longer…, and cant get sound anyway
however, my back up plan is to download to a flashdisk and use that, seems like you have to download, then transfer, but my work comp blocks any downloads so can’t run the exe file
fingers crossed for tonight
I also got a look in at this other system called the Heisig method, never heard of it before reading all these posts and just this morning my previous method of write in a notebook, do the readings on MRT many time, then write eliminating characters once “solid” has started to waver and is almost off the rails now, so I am very interested in this other method, can’t be too bad as I can commit to it for 5 weeks and get to 1500 (I am kind of at 1000 now) and then hopefully get to 3000 meanings learned in no time and then can focus on my spoken…?[/quote]
The have the Heisig deck on Anki also. Search for RTH (remembering Traditional Hanzi). You could also search for “Taiwan” or “Taiwan all grades” as that gives you all the characters Taiwanese kids learn from grade 1 to 9. I’m making my own PAVS set and learning the Taiwan All Grades deck. I’d prefer to get the Heisig books (1 and 2), and I’ll have a look at Page One when I come up to Taipei at the end of the month, unless anyone has leads on another place where I can find them…
I was going to go to shida tonight to have a look for them
have you tried the demo?
http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/publications/miscPublications/pdf/RH/RK%20Traditional-sample.pdf
this covers the first 5 chapters methinks, posted more questions over in the other thread before I was going to buy the book though
…
won’t mention any more here since it would be cross posting, but please add opinions here
[quote=“itakitez”]I was going to go to Shi-Da tonight to have a look for them
have you tried the demo?
http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/publications/miscPublications/pdf/RH/RK%20Traditional-sample.pdf
this covers the first 5 chapters methinks, posted more questions over in the other thread before I was going to buy the book though
…
won’t mention any more here since it would be cross posting, but please add opinions here
[url]Remembering the Hanzi: Book 1
Yep, seen the demo. Went to Caves to find out if they could get me the book today. No go…
Let me know if you can find it anywhere.
Just wanted to know if you have completed your quest to 3000… I’m where you were abot 1 year ago (:
Here are my two cents.
If you’re aiming at reading newspapers, why not just start with learning from them?
News terms are similar, so I think it would be of great help to read them on a regular basis.
Reading biligual newspapers, such as Bilingual Weekly.
books.com.tw/magazine/item/b … weekly.htm
You can learn the key phrases and words.
There are many small articals.
Since it’s target customers are English learners, its contents won’t be too hard to learn.
Start with the topics that interests you the most.
It’ll be relatively easier to be memorised.
Good luck. Hope it helps.
Edit:
FYI,
The normal version of “Biligual Weekly” is aiming at English learners aged from 19~40.
They also have easier versions,
aiming at students aged 13~16
books.com.tw/magazine/item/j … /index.htm
andat students aged 6~13
books.com.tw/magazine/item/c … /index.htm
“subscribe”
I made these a while back and just updated them for my personal use: flashcardexchange.com/flashc … ew/1907644
I’d like to add some simple English translations to this list, as well, to give people a bit of semantic content, but I’ve run dry for anything that’s concise enough and accurate enough for that kind of addition.
Then I have those other ones that I made to practice vocabulary and sentences. It feels like I’ve converted most every feature of learning this language into a flash card applet.
I’m looking for a larger corpus of translated sentences at present, and may run a statistical program to generate (or rather, pick out) Mandarin sentences from a collection of English vocabulary terms. But WordNet 3.1 came out recently, so I’ll be…busy…
[quote=“msleft”]Here are my two cents.
If you’re aiming at reading newspapers, why not just start with learning from them?
News terms are similar, so I think it would be of great help to read them on a regular basis.
Reading biligual newspapers, such as Bilingual Weekly.
books.com.tw/magazine/item/b … weekly.htm[/quote]
I think that you could do something similar with the BBC Chinese, Taipei Times, etc. and an add-on for Firefox like the Words-Chinese Pinyin Dictionary. It uses Google translate and the CC-Edict, which is alright for vocabulary, though I’d like to see the developer take it in a few directions.
On second thought, I think I prefer Lingoes with the Vicon Chinese(T)-English / English-Chinese(T) dictionaries installed to the Words-Chinese Pinyin Dictionary. I don’t have to keep Firefox open to use it, and I can work with text outside of my browser.
If anyone is still trying to figure out where to find the Heisig book, I saw it at the eslite near 101 a couple weeks ago. Book 2 is not yet released unfortunately, and I wouldn’t hold my breath. It was supposed to be released in 2008, and the most recent estimate I heard was “end of summer 2011”, if that tells you anything.
I’m the guy who made the Taiwan All Grades Anki deck mentioned above, along with several others. I did that sort of thing for a long time, trying to force feed characters into my head with no context. And the result is that I neglected actually learning Chinese in the process and have forgotten a good portion of the characters in the end anyway. I tested into a much lower class than I should have considering how long I’ve been “learning Chinese”. Since coming to Taiwan I’ve realized the most efficient way (for myself) is to learn everything in context. I’m still using lists, but they’re vocabulary lists from the textbooks I’m using, so I’m learning in context. If one of the words uses a character I don’t know, I add an additional card for that character because I still think it’s useful to know the meanings of as many characters as possible. But the context is what makes it stick.
Now, I wouldn’t say (like some I’ve seen here) that reading in context is absolutely everything. It isn’t. Book titles, movie titles, posters, etc. all have very little context to go on, so it certainly helps to know the meanings and usages of individual characters out of context. But I’d recommend learning them in context first, because it will be so much easier. Also, I’m sure it’s obvious to anyone here, but textbook vocab isn’t enough. Any time I look up a word in Pleco that I need to use, it goes into the flash card deck. Also any time I’m out at a restaurant and have trouble with the menu, or whatever else. But the context of when I looked it up makes it stick really easily.
Obviously, making yourself write every word you learn is time consuming, and there’s no way you can learn large amounts of vocab quickly if you’re also having to be able to write it all. To get around this I use two different flash card types: writing and recognition. The only stuff I’m currently learning to write is what’s in the main textbook I’m using (since I have tests on that) and the sort of things that go on forms. Everything else is recognition only (for now). So for instance, even though my class uses PAVC, I’m also studying out of one of the Far East Everyday Chinese books because I really like this particular series and I don’t feel like my class is moving along quickly enough (even though it’s “intensive” at MTC). All the vocab I’m learning from Everyday Chinese is only going in the recognition deck. I’m also learning (to recognize) a bunch of vocab from the TOP list, but that takes a backseat to the two textbooks.
The best way I’ve found to learn the vocab is to “cram” it using whichever flash card program you use (I use Pleco for the convenience). I set it so that my answers during the cram session don’t affect the score of the cards. Once I feel like I know the cards, I put them into the regular, spaced-repetition decks. So, cramming for actually learning the card, and then spaced repetition so that it actually stays in your memory. I’ve found putting them in spaced repetition from the get-go is not a very efficient way of remembering them. You might see the same card every day for 2 weeks and keep getting it wrong because every time you see it you mark it wrong and then forget about it until the next time it comes up (personal experience). But if you put a few minutes of focused attention on the new vocabulary you’re learning by cramming it (and looping the “wrong” cards until you get them right), and it will stay with you.
I will say in defense of learning characters from these huge lists like I used to do has made it much easier for me to learn new characters. That’s a huge benefit. Some of my classmates really struggle with remembering new characters but I haven’t made below a 98% on any of my writing tests. And most of my mistakes have been very minor, like forgetting to put a hook at the end of a stroke, rather than anything substantial like a wrong radical.
Anyway, I feel like I just threw up a bunch of badly organized thought on screen, but maybe it will be helpful if people can learn from my mistake of putting way too much emphasis on learning individual characters out of context at the expense of actually learning Chinese.
Hey pqk, I’m still working on it sadly… Some people are amazing in being able to go through 3,000 in 7 months or something like that with using this book or what-not. I can’t seem to do that for some reason, so it’s taking me a bit longer but I have increased my number of characters by a lot.
Right now I’m focusing on learning a bunch of idioms. I have studied about 300 to 400 of them, I can use about 50 to 100 correctly, and the rest I can kinda recognize when it’s written or something.
I think it will take me a bit of a while to reach 3,000 still. Maybe in two years for complete mastery…? Either way, since I went to China I had to re-learn a lot of the same characters, so that’s really an extra 800 simplified characters that I learned. in addition to what I know.
When i do that stupid character test i usually score about 2,000. But in reality there’s a lot of characters that I recognize but i have no idea what they mean when they are in compound words.
I’ve created a system to help myself visualize my progress in learning the 3000. It seems to help.