Reading Web Novels/articles For Traditional Chinese Mandarin Language Learners

shén shòu神兽, mythological animals in chinese culture for references and inspiration part Ⅰ:  nine offsprings of loong🐲🐉

In addition to the well-known Loong🐉 (dragon but not western dragon)and the Fenghuang(Phoenix), there are countless other divine beasts(or beasts of spiritualization) in Chinese mythology, their system is huge and complex, from various ancient texts and folklore, such as “Loong gives birth to nine offsprings 龙生九子”, meaning the nine descendants of Loong and they are born from the mating of Loong and other divine beasts, with different forms, and their images can often be seen in Chinese folk culture.

1. 囚牛[qiú niú]

Qiuniu, the eldest offspring of the dragon, is said to have loved music all his life. Legend has it that qiuniu was the most docile of all the dragon’s sons, and that it was not a killer or a fighter, but rather a musician. It had a head like a dragon and a body like a snake, and its hearing was so good that it could distinguish the sounds and the pitch of everything. It often crouches on ancient Chinese stringed instruments to enjoy the music of the plucked strings, which is why its statue was carved on them. ↓

2. 睚眦[yá zì]

Yazi, the second offspring, has the head of a dragon and the body of a jackal, is fierce, courageous, bloodthirsty and murderous, and always has a sword in its mouth and a furious stare, often engraved on the handle of a sword as a symbol of guardianship and strength. The original meaning of yazi is to stare in anger, a symbol of blood and vengeance, and so yazi became the embodiment of the destruction of all evil. ↓

3. 嘲风[cháo fēng]

Chaofeng is the third in line and enjoys adventure and views from high places.

In Chinese folklore, chaofeng symbolises good fortune, beauty and majesty, and also serves to deter demons, remove calamities and ward off evil spirits. It adds a layer of mystery to a towering hall and can act as a deterrent to evil and avoid disaster. ↓

4. 蒲牢[pú láo]

Pulao loves sound and a good roar, and is often carved on the great bells of Chinese temples. Legend has it that the pulao lived by the sea and was terrified of whales. When the whale attacked, he was so frightened that he roared loudly. In response to its ‘fondness for roaring’, the pulao was cast on the bell of the temple and the wooden pestle used to strike the bell was carved in the shape of the whale. When the bell is struck, the whale strikes the pulao one after the other, so that the sound of the bell can be heard from very far. ↓

5. 狻猊 [suān ní]

Resembling a lion, suanni is a quiet and immobile creature that sits well and loves fireworks, and is often used to decorate the foot of incense burners.

There are three broad uses for the suanni. One is as a mount for a Buddha or Bodhisattva, a guardian animal. Legend has it that the suanni liked to sit quiet for long time, so when the Buddha saw that it had patience, he took it as a mount. Secondly, the suanni was regarded as a auspicious beast to ward off evil and was introduced into people’s practical lives, and was gradually used extensively in architectural decoration, folklore festivals and bronze mirror decoration. Thirdly, it was used to ward off evil spirits, to guard tombs, and to guard palace gates and mansions. In view of the supreme power of the Buddhist kung fu ‘lion’s roar’, suanni stone sculptures were used in the Sui and Tang dynasties to guard tombs to ward off evil spirits or to symbolise authority. ↓

6. 赑屃[bì xì] Bixi is one of the nine sons of the dragon in ancient Han mythology, also known as baxia霸下 and ranked sixth. It has a tortoise-like appearance and likes to carry heavy loads on its back, often carrying stone monuments for years. Bixi is often used as a base for stone monuments, and is of great cultural importance. Its symbolism is based on 'longevity and good fortune’ and has connotations of status, totem worship and witchcraft. ↓

7. 狴犴bì àn, also known as Charter, is loong’s seventh offspring. It looks like a tiger, very powerful, and enjoy living a litigious life. The tiger head decoration on the prison door is Bian.

Ancient scripture《龙经》notes: “Bian likes to argue, and it has a name called charter.” It is said that Bian is not only loyal to justice, but also able to distinguish right from wrong and judge justly. In addition to its majestic appearance, bian is not only decorated on the prison door, but also lying on both sides of the ancient government hall. Whenever the magistrate sits in the hall, Bian’s image is on the top of the title board and the silence board. Bian looks around fiercely to maintain the solemn integrity of the court.

Bian is both the symbol of prison and the patron saint of ordinary people. In 上虞区上浦镇冯浦村, shaoxing, zhejiang province, there are the cultural custom of 'Bian Loong dance狴犴龙舞’, which had local characteristics and are deeply welcomed by the local people. ↓

8. 负屃[fù xì ]

The fuxi is the eighth offspring born to the dragon in ancient Chinese mythology. Its body resembles that of a dragon and it has a gentle disposition, preferring to coil around the head of a stone monument. It is a lover of literature and calligraphy and likes to coil around the tops of stone monuments with beautiful inscriptions. It is usually seen together with the bixi, which carries the monument, and the fuxi coils around the top of the monument. ↓

9. 螭吻 or 鸱吻 [chī wěn]

It is generally considered to be the ninth offspring of the dragon. It likes to swallow things and is said to be able to devour everything, as seen on the head of the beast on the roof of a Chinese palace. Chiwen likes to look around and is carved to look like it is swallowing the roof with its mouth open, and often has a sword stuck in its back. Legend has it that chiwen can spout waves and send down heavy rain, ward off fires and drive away spirits and demons. So Chinese folk asked it to watch over the horizontal ridges of houses. It likes to climb high and look down, so it is regarded as an ornament in folklore to pray for rain and to ward off fire. Chiwen is the child of a dragon and a fish, so its head is a dragon’s head but its body is in the shape of a fish. ↓

summary and some related patterns↓ 

Reading rec list for chinese learners. This is not exhaustive, if you find stuff that works for you then go for it! This is also not perfect, you may find stuff a bit easier or harder is more ideal for you. (By "know" below I mean you recognize the word as familiar, have studied or looked it up at some point, and so if you need to look it up again in reading you will learn it longer term fairly easily because of the repeated exposure to it in reading).

Know ~500 words?

Mandarin Companion Graded Readers. I recommend the Sherlock one, and the Journey to the Center of the Earth one. All Mandarin Companion books are excellent for beginners though.

Pleco Graded Readers - I recommend The Butterfly Lovers. There are a lot of Pleco Graded readers though, so you can pick based on amount of unique words (some Graded readers on Pleco go up to 2000 unique words).

Know ~1000-1500 words?

Sinolingua Chinese Graded Readers. There are several, and I started with the 500 word one. They somewhat match up with HSK and I found them more challenging than the Mandarin Companion graded readers. They have a vocabulary list in the back of the book and footnotes to help you study. They are a good bridge to get you from graded readers to other materials. I found the 1000 and 2000 word book equally difficult.

Pleco Graded readers, which include readers from 1000-2000 unique words.

Start delving into manhua! If you're ready and feel like it! Easier manhua will be slice of life setting ones, and ones based on something you're already familiar with. So if you've watched the Untamed or read 魔道祖师, then the manhua will be easier for you. If you've watched The Lost Tomb Reboot, then try out the slice of life comedy manhua spin off 盗墓笔记重启日常向 https://m.ac.qq.com/comic/index/id/649452. My Story 他们的故事 is a gl manhua which is slice of life and easy to read, as is 19天. There's also more genre specific manhua which I waited a bit to read, but if you're familiar with the story they may be doable like 2ha's manhua and 破云 manhua.

Know ~1500-2000 words?

Start getting into easier novels. Suggestions include 活着 (anything by this author is often recommended to learners, I have not actually read anything by him yet), 小王子 (this was my first not-graded-reader novel I finished reading in chinese, it was a bit challenging, I used a english/Chinese copy so I could look up words occasionally), 笑猫日记: 会唱歌的猫 (I highly recommend this series of books, they're for kids and fairly straightforward, set in a city so decently useful words are used, with a lot of chengyu that's commonly used so they're worth learning, I read 2 of these novels), 他们的故事 by 一根黄瓜丝儿 (a bl novel that's first person, generally uses a lot of common daily life words, and is fairly straightforward, I've read half and it was the first real novel I tried to read in chinese). These novels can be tried earlier on if you're more willing to use a click dictionary, which is what I did (except for 小王子 since I had a print copy). 论如何错误地套路一个魔教教主 The Wrong Way to a Demon Sect Leader (a fairly easy wuxia bl read).

Also in general anything you've read before in a language you understand, is going to be easier to read in chinese than something brand new.

Feeling brave? Up for a challenge?

撒野 and anything by that author uses a lot of more everyday language and is an easier read than some other webnovels. 盗墓笔记 does not use particularly hard language outside of the tomb genre words which if you're reading then you need to look up and learn anyway eventually (the slang in it is a bit hard but also worth learning so the cursing etc trips you up less later in other stuff you read), if you've seen the show before its doable to read. Scum Villain Self Saving System is on the easier end of mxtx novels to read, especially if youre already familiar with the plot.

Know ~2000 words?

The same novels as before apply. But now you may need a dictionary a bit less. Stuff like 撒野 will now be a bit less difficult, still challenging. Now other novels will start to be doable as desired, if you're using a dictionary. So go have fun looking into whatever webnovels you're interested in.

(I made a list of difficulty ratings of various webnovels in my rec list tag, you may want to check out that list. A quick gadget though is like... 撒野 author is easier than 盗墓笔记 author, then mxtx, then priest (and tian ya ke and zhenhun are easier than silent reading and sha po lang), and poyun was higher on the difficulty scale, 2ha was fairly hard. Basically the more vocabulary or thicker the paragraphs, the harder it's gonna be. Or the less familiar you are with a given genre).

At ~2000 words or more I'd say reading with a click dictionary feels quite doable, although a slog if you pick a harder novel so gauge what feels an okay level for you personally to read. And if you feel like reading without a dictionary, you'll have to explore a bit to see what's comprehensible to you without one.

A man in Inner Mongolia, China, comparing the sizes of goats at different ages.

English added by me :)

Hello! Do you happen to have a master post of all of your asks/posts anywhere? Just to help me navigate! ^^

Hi, thanks for the question! (Image via duitang)

For all my own posts, please see my China tag (that’s the tag I use for my original posts).For navigation via tags, my Tags page has links to common & useful tags on my blog. I’ll be updating the Tags page and this Masterpost as needed ^^.

Ziseviolet’s Replies Masterpost, Part 1 (Part 2):

Hanfu Terms:

What is Hanfu?

Guide to the different types of Hanfu

Hanfu names

My favorite Hanfu style - Part 2

Top 10 most popular Hanfu styles of 2018

Unisex Hanfu

Formal Hanfu

Difference between Ru & Shan

Banbi (half-sleeve jacket)

Bijia (sleeveless jacket)

Zhaojia (men’s Bijia)

Difference between Bijia & Banbi

Daxiushan (large-sleeve robe) - Pt 2

Difference b/w Beizi/Daxiushan/Dachang

Yuanlingpao (round-collar robe) - Pt 2 / 3

Difference b/w Tang & Ming Yuanlingpao

Hezi (chest undergarment accessory)

Weichang (short outer skirt)

Doupeng (cloak/cape)

Parallel/straight collars

U-collars (Tanling)

Aoqun & Pipa Xiu (pipa sleeves)

Jian Xiu (arrow sleeves)

Winter Hanfu - Part 1, Part 2

Casual/adventurer type Hanfu (Shuhe)

Hanfu sleepwear

Mourning Hanfu (Sangfu)

Burial Hanfu (Shouyi)

Waist-high Ruqun from Wei/Jin dynasties

Identifying Hanfu in a photoset

Chinese armor

What does Dunhuang style mean?

Hanfu History:

Did Hanfu exist after the Han dynasty

Comparison/charts of Hanfu from different dynasties

“Left-over-right” rule of crossed-collar Hanfu - Pt 2, Pt 3, Pt 4

Children’s Hanfu - Part 1, Part 2

What type of Hanfu would old women wear

Commoner’s Hanfu - Part 2

Poor people’s Hanfu

Hanfu and cleavage - Part 2

Han dynasty Ruqun & footwear

Three Kingdoms period Hanfu

Northern & Southern dynasties Hanfu

What Mulan would’ve worn

Tang dynasty emperor’s Hanfu

Was Daxiushan restricted to royal ladies

What Hanfu did people wear in winter

Song dynasty Hanfu styles

Ming dynasty skirts

Ming dynasty summer Hanfu

Yuan/Qing dynasty Hanfu - Part 1, Part 2

Symbolism of Orange-Red and Turquoise color combination

Hanfu for empress/noblewoman

Differences b/w contemporary & historical Hanfu

Books & magazines on Hanfu - Pt 2, Pt 3

Wedding Hanfu:

What are the colors of wedding Hanfu?

Wedding Hanfu recs

Pictures of wedding Hanfu

Wedding Hanfu accessories

Manchurian vs Han wedding attire

Why couples both wear red even when it’s not the traditional color for certain styles

Modernized/Modified Hanfu:

Incorporating Hanfu styles in a modern way 

Combining Hanfu & modern styles

Modified Hanfu shops recs - Pt 2

Men’s modified Hanfu shops recs

Websites that sell modernized Hanfu

Where to buy modernized Hanfu

Modified Hanfu shops in the West

Identifying Chi Xia’s modernized Hanfu

Hanfu Accessories:

Pibo (long scarf) - Part 2

Tuanshan (rigid fan) - Pt 1, Pt 2, Pt 3, Pt 4

Difference b/w Tuanshan & Folding fan

Jinbu (waist ornament) - Part 2

Hebao (purse) - Part 2

My tag for Chinese hats/headgear

Weimao (veiled hat) - Part 1, Part 2

Weimao (veiled hat) Taobao Recs

Tiger hats

Douli (conical hat)

Yingluo & Xiangquan (necklaces) - Pt 2

Traditional Chinese earrings

Meaning & History of Jade

Bangshoudai (hand wraps) & Huwan (wrist guards) - Pt 1, Pt 2, Pt 3, Pt 4

Panbo (strings to tie up sleeves)

Miansha & Mianlian (Veils) - Part 2

Nail guards - Part 2

Hanfu Shoes

Hanfu boots (xue)

Hu Ban (ritual tablet)

Hanfu Hair Accessories:

Names of Chinese hair ornaments

Shop recs for hair accessories

Hanfu hair accessories

Fabric flower hairpins for Hanfu

Ronghua (velvet flowers) - buy & make

Hair accessories for fine hair

Phoenix crowns (Fengguan)

Lotus crowns

Miao silver hair accessories - Pt 1, Pt 2

Huasheng (forehead ornament)

Hairpin styling question

Fasheng (hair rope) & fakou (hair buckle)

My tag for Chinese hats/headgear

Jewelry boxes for hair accessories

Hanfu Hairstyles:

Hanfu hairstyle tutorials

Traditional hairstyles

My favorite hairstyle

Pre coming-of-age ceremony hairstyles for Han girls

Looped hairstyles in “The Empress of China”

Tang dynasty pinned peony hairstyle

Ming dynasty hairstyles

Dynasty with long loose hairstyle

Did ancient Chinese people have bangs

Half-up half-down hairstyles

Short hair and Hanfu

Simple hairstyles for shoulder-length hair

Makeup:

Huadian (forehead decoration) - Pt 1, Pt 2, Pt 3, Pt 4, Pt 5

Did men wear Huadian

Traditional Chinese makeup ingredients

Tang dynasty lip makeup

What makeup is used to replicate traditional makeup styles

Men’s Hanfu:

Hanfu styles for men

Men’s formal Hanfu

Types of men’s Hanfu

Resources for men’s historical hanfu styles

Pictures of men’s Hanfu

Dachang (open-fronted robe)

Zhiduo vs Daopao

Yesa/Yisan vs Tieli

Yichang vs Yesa/Yisan

Men’s Hanfu blog recs

Men’s Headwear/Hairstyles:

Historical hairstyles for men

Did men wear ponytails

Men’s hair accessories

Where to buy Xiao Guan

Men’s hairstyles & Guan

Guan (headdress) - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Guan & Mianguan

How bald men put up hair with a Guan

Fangjin (four-cornered flat cap)

Hanfu Undergarments:

Hanfu undergarments guide - Pt 2, Pt 3

Children’s Hanfu undergarments 

Hanfu petticoats - Part 1, Part 2

Emperor’s undergarment for Mianfu

Dudou (chest undergarment)

Lower body Neiyi (underwear)

Zhongyi & Neiyi

Wearing Hanfu:

Tutorials on wearing Hanfu

How to put together a Hanfu outfit

Mixing hanfu from different dynasties

Plus-sized Hanfu - Part 1, Part 2

Girl wearing men’s Hanfu

Wearing Hanfu made for a gender you are not part of

Chest-high Ruqun for big-chested figures

Chest-high Ruqun skirt slippage

Is Hanfu hard to wear/sew

Is Hanfu comfortable to wear

Are chest-high styles restrictive for the chest - Part 1, Part 2

Hanfu renting/dressing up

Photo studios for renting Hanfu and taking pictures in Shanghai

Do people in China still wear Hanfu - Pt 2

Events in present-day China where people wear Hanfu

Making Hanfu:

Resources for sewing Hanfu - Pt 1, Pt 2

Hanfu sewing patterns - Pt 1, Pt 2

Buying Hanfu sewing patterns

Making Hanfu by hand - Part 2

Making Chest-high Ruqun

Making Hanfu with patterned cloth

Using shiny brocade fabric

Young people learning to sew Hanfu

Buying Hanfu & Hanfu Accessories:

My recs for places to buy Hanfu - Part 2

Where to buy Hanfu & Chinese hair accessories  - Pt 1, Pt 2, Pt 3

Recs for places to buy hanfu accessories that aren’t based in China or have an English website

How to buy Hanfu on Taobao

International shipping on Taobao

Using a Taobao agent

Posts with links to where to buy Hanfu

Recs for non-Taobao Hanfu shops

Buying Hanfu in US/Washington DC

Hanfu shops in Shanghai

Where to buy Hanfu in Hong Kong

Hanfu shops in Singapore

Recs for colorful & flowy Hanfu

How to search for large-sleeved crossed-collar Ruqun on Taobao

Taobao shops that regularly carry larger sizes for men’s Hanfu  

Shops that sell Hanfu w/natural fabrics

Where to find Hanfu for pageants

Hanfu from Aliexpress with right side over left

Hanfu brand Qinghuige’s Taobao page

Where to buy crane-print skirts

Where to commission high-quality screen-accurate Hanfu

How to find Hanfu for BJDs

Hanfu in films/dramas/animations, Pt 1 (more in Pt 2 of Masterpost):

Hanfu in television dramas

Q&A on cdrama “The Empress of China” is in Pt 2 of Masterpost!

Q&A on cdrama “The Rise of Phoenixes” is in Pt 2 of Masterpost!

Q&A on donghua “Modaozushi” & cdrama “The Untamed” is in Pt 2 of Masterpost!

Q&A on Mulan (including Disney’s animated & live-action Mulan films) is in Pt 2 of Masterpost!

Hanfu Revival Movement:

What direction I think the Hanfu Movement will take

The motivations for the Hanfu Movement

How I feel about the inconsistency of the Hanfu Movement

Comparison with Kimono and Hanbok:

Comparing Hanfu & Kimono (padding)

Comparing Hanfu & Kimono inspired figure skating costumes

Comparing Hanfu & Hanbok (resources)

Update: New resources added!!

Over the past 2 days I've added new resources to my resources page! They're instagram/social media tutors but I've complied a mini list here. Some I like more than others, but I would recommend all of them to supplement your studies! Full reviews are on the page~

I also updated a few ratings and pricing for some of the resources as well, which I've made note of in the descriptions on the page.

Here are the new ones I added!

Zita Wong Chinese - insta, adorable and kind and progressive, great functional and colloquial vocab, real-life conversations and interviews with native and nonnative speakers in China

Leila Laoshi - non-native speaker who has translated chinese professionally, great vocab, fascinating lifestyle living in bali

Chilling Chinese - awesome podcasts, actually affordable membership

Sabine Hui Chinese - funny, functional & colloquial vocab

Learn Chinese with Jian - pronunciation guides & functional vocab

Crafting a language self-learning curriculum (sort of)

In my experience textbooks aren’t really the best way to learn after you’ve passed a certain level. They’re incredibly useful for beginners to learn grammar and vocab but after that they don’t offer a lot of activities that help you implement your learning in a way that reflects how you will actually use it. 

It’s also near impossible to learn a language without help. Don’t isolate yourself just because you are self-learning rather than taking lessons. You NEED to talk to native speakers, both through text messages and actual verbal conversations. Colloquial conversations will differ greatly to formal an ‘correct’ ones spoken in a classroom. 

1. The first step I suggest when creating a curriculum is to know what your goal is. Are you planning to move to the country the language is spoken in? Do you want to study as a way to better understand and appreciate the culture? 

2. The next would be to gauge what level you are at through taking a language competency test. This is mostly so you have an idea of what you do know and what is considered the universal “next step” to give yourself a general direction to head towards. 

3. Write down topics that interest you. For me these would be my career (marketing and digital media), my interests (video games, ttrpgs, fashion, history, horror novels), and important parts of my identity (my religion, my sexuality, my partner, my disability) etc. I didn’t bother writing down anything I already know such as how to talk about my family, how to talk about my country of birth, or hobbies commonly written in textbooks such as reading, swimming, camping. 

4. Now come up with a list of general activities to cover your listening, writing, reading and speaking skills. Some examples are listed below: 

Listening: 

Watch 5 minutes of the news - recaps or weekly rundowns are great for this 

Listen to an audio book for half an hour whilst cooking, cleaning, commuting etc. 

Create playlists of music you actually like in your target language - you can further this by watching interviews about the artists or watching any live performances/streams they have done. 

Writing:

Write 1-2 paragraphs about a chosen topic without any dictionary or vocab list aid, any words you cannot remember or do not know just write in your native language. Return with a dictionary to fill in these missing words after and ask a native speaker to make any corrections they can spot and finally rewrite everything with all the corrections (taken from Lindie Botes). 

Write practice professional emails, blog-posts, product reviews, leave comments under Instagram posts etc. Make sure to learn how to write in different situations: how does writing an email to your boss differ from writing to your colleague? How are businesses addressed on review sites? What changes when writing a blog for fashion from one about politics? Learn these nuances. 

Text your native speaker friends - simple but necessary 

Reading: 

Read and summarise a key news article from this week 

Read a page from a book in your target language, highlight any unknown words to return to. Write out the sentences these words occurred in then the words on their own with their definition and create a new sentence using them. My key tip for this is not to be too ambitious with what you are reading. Don’t try to read an epic fantasy, instead focus on short stories and books for children aged around 5-10. As you improve you can read more complicated plots but just because you are familiar with the book in your native language does not mean you will understand what is going on. 

Speaking 

Record yourself leaving fake voice mails. This can be for a doctor’s appointment, inquiring about a job, asking to hangout with a friend etc. Keep it short and tone appropriate. This also gives you the opportunity to research phone etiquette in that culture. 

Talk. To. Native. Speakers.

5. Combine your topics of interest with activities to give you something that should resemble almost a lesson plan. 

Example: 

So... how do you say "rice" in Chinese?

Seems like an easy question, right? In some languages it certainly would be, but since rice has been a staple crop of parts of what is now China for at least 10,000 years, Mandarin Chinese has developed a lot of ways to talk about rice. In this post, I'm going to walk you through not two but three characters that mean rice and how they are used.

#1: 飯 (S: 饭) fàn

This is probably the first rice word that most learners learn. It means cooked rice, and because of how central rice is to many people's diets it also means meal and can be used metaphorically to refer to one's livelihood.

飯 is used in the names of dishes like 炒飯 (炒饭) chǎofàn "fried rice" and 滷肉飯 (卤肉饭) lǔròufàn "Taiwanese braised pork rice". In the sense of "meal", it is used in the words 吃飯 (吃饭) chīfàn "to eat a meal", 做飯 (做饭) zuòfàn "to cook" and 飯館 (饭馆) fànguǎn "restaurant".

#2: 米 mǐ

This is usually the second rice character that learners encounter. It means uncooked rice.

米 is used in words that refer to rice as an ingredient, such as 米粒 mǐlì "grain of rice" and 糯米 nuòmǐ "sticky rice". It is also used in the names of ingredients and dishes in which rice is processed in some way instead of being served boiled/steamed, such as 米粉 mǐfěn "rice flour, rice noodles" or 米豆腐 mǐdòufu "rice tofu". Finally, the character 米 also appears in the names of certain non-rice grains, such as 玉米 yùmǐ "corn" and 小米 xiǎomǐ "millet".

#3: 稻 dào

This is the character that most learners can go a long time without encountering. It means rice plant or paddy. It's mainly seen in words somehow relating to the cultivation of rice.

There are multiple words that can mean "rice paddy", such as 稻穀 (稻谷) dàogǔ or 稻田 dàotián. 稻 also appears in words that refer to parts of the rice plant, like 稻草 dàocǎo "rice straw" or 稻穗 dàosuì "rice ear". Finally, 稻 is used in words referring to various crops of rice, such as 早稻 zǎodào "early-season rice" or 晚稻 wǎndào "late-season rice".

Putting It All Together

Just because these words have distinct meanings doesn't mean they can't overlap! In fact, they can be combined to make new ways to say rice. 米飯 (米饭) mǐfàn means "cooked rice", and 稻米 dàomǐ means "rice (crop)". But can you combine 飯 and 稻? You can't-- they are just too far apart in meaning.

So there you have it-- three characters for rice. This is just a small snapshot of all rice-related vocab in Chinese, but I guarantee almost all of it contains one of these three characters. Do you have a favorite rice-related word? Or do you speak a language with many different ways to talk about a staple food?

Reviewing tones as an intermediate in Chinese

As a beginner it takes a bit of time to become accustomed to be able to hear the difference in tones, yet alone pronounce them very correctly. By the time you get to intermediate you probably can hear the difference in tones but you may still have trouble pronouncing every single word correctly. However you most likely have a number of words that you have heard so often that you do pronounce correctly. For example 中国 zhong1 guo2, I bet most intermediates pronounce this is the correct tone as it is a word occurring so often that our brains automatically imitate pronunciations. However, when we encounter a new word we may have difficulty getting the tone just right, and then you need to remember it too.

I have two bits of advice that may help with this, that I myself am using to improve my tones over time:

As soon as you learn a new word, repeat at least 10 times in the correct tone.

As I said when speaking Chinese, you are speaking at a speed that you don’t have time to remember which tone the word is, you say it how you remember it. So when you learn a new word you want to try to cement the correct ‘rhythm’ (or tone) of the word in your head. If you remember the incorrect one it may be difficult to undo this. (i remember I pronounced 文化 as wen2 hua2 for the longest time and it was difficult to change this to wen2 hua4 in my head when i discovered i had been saying it all wrong!)

Memorise a few ‘tone pairs’ to remember the ‘rhythm’ when you learn a new word.

Hacking Chinese ( https://www.hackingchinese.com/focusing-on-tone-pairs-to-improve-your-mandarin-pronunciation/ ) has a great article on tone pairs and it’s merits. Recently when i learn a new word I recall the 'model’ word that I have for that particular tone pair, say it a few times to remember the 'rhythm’ of the word, the n say the new word I want to learn in that same rhythm, therefore it will help saying the word in the correct tone.

For example, lets say I learnt the new word  生活 sheng1 huo2, this has the same tone pair as 中国, therefore when i learn 生活 i can easily recall how 中国 is pronounced and imitate the same rythym when i said 生活. I created a table for myself with the tone pairs and so each time I encounter, for example any word that is first tone-second tone (such as 中国), then i can recall the rythym easily in my head.

This table has a list of words that I subconsciously pronounce with the correct tones as a result of hearing them so many times, there are however too many words that i don’t pronounce in the correct tone, hence i use this method to help :P

(ignore my terrible handwriting!)

Please try this out and let me know if you try this out and how it works for you??

Health is wealth!

Cherry blossoms and tea plantations, Japan . Photography by afun Agata