Learning to type in Chinese (contrary to what most think) is incredibly simple, but if you don't use the right software it can be extremely difficult. Today I'm going to talk about my favorite word processor, one I believe every beginner should use; NJSTAR.
南极星（nán jí xīng）, or NJStar, is a company that creates word processing software for Asian languages. I like NJStar because of its many, very helpful features. Aside from the fact that it provides a simple word processing using Pinyin for input, it also contains a pop up dictionary. Move your cursor over a word or phrase, and definitions for that particular word or phrase appear next to it. It also has a decent English to Chinese dictionary. If you type out a word in English and select "Dictionary" from the "Tools" drop-down menu, you will get a list of equivalent terms in order of likely relevance. NJStar has multiple input methods from Standard and Online Pinyin, to CantonPinyin and other types of romanized input methods. This program is great for typing and editing essays and other documents, as well as learning to read text that you find online that is new to you. Copy and paste any text that you encounter on your computer into an NJStar document, and using NJStar's conversion tool, you can have Pinyin appear above or below each individual character. Aside from these useful figures, this program also comes with a list of some of the most commonly used idiomatic expressions. NJStar really has it all. The only downside to it is that its input features are limited to its word processing interface. If you want to type Chinese into text fields online or enter characters into documents in another program, you will either have to copy and paste from NJStar, or use another Chinese character input method (NJStar is actually just a word processor, NOT an input method).
NJStar is without a doubt my favorite word processor as well as one of the tools that I feel is most essential to my learning process. If you are new to learning Chinese, or are just looking for a decent word processing tool for an Asian language, make sure you obtain this program.
In my next post, I will talk about Windows IME, which provides an actual input method for entering Chinese characters in programs run on Windows OS. I hope this was helpful to you all. Again, thanks for reading.
-Mike Redus
睿达思
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Learning Chinese: 5 Tips for Character Memorization
Learning Chinese is hard and there are no shortcuts. But there are several tools and resources available for those who want to learn. Character writing was something that I really struggled with when I first started learning, especially having to memorize all those words. Below are 5 strategies that have been extremely helpful to me and I hope that they work for you as well.
1. Learn the most common radicals.
If you have taken a Chinese language course before then you know that most characters are composed of smaller, basic characters called 'radicals'. Radicals very commonly appear in other characters and act as components giving either sound or meaning to a more complicated character. Memorizing the most common, basic radicals will make your life easier when trying to remember both the meaning of a character AND how to write it. Doing so is a really good start to improving your memory of Chinese characters.
2. Follow the proper stroke order and direction.
Something that you may not realize is that the order and direction of each stroke is meant to build a bridge from one stroke to the next, creating a deliberate flow. Another important fact is that learning to write isn't all about memorization of images, it's about muscle memory as well. If you write often and keep the order, your body will remember the characters, you will eventually reach the point when your hand begins to write is the words come into your mind, without hesitation.
3. DON'T RELY ON PINYIN!
Once you have learned Pinyin well, it becomes an excellent tool to help you produce fluent and proper Chinese syllables and words, but don't use it for more than that. If you make a habit of reading using only Pinyin, or read with Pinyin too close to the characters, you will automatically be attracted to it. With Pinyin around, you will always be distracted from reading the actual words and you will eventually forget them.
4 and 5 go hand in hand: READ... and... WRITE... EVERYDAY, or as close to it as possible. "If you don't use it, you'll lose it" This saying holds true for every language, probably even more so for Chinese. Again, there are no shortcuts. READ READ READ WRITE WRITE WRITE until the new characters become a part of your being.
These ideas and practices have helped me greatly, now I seldom forget a character that I have encountered in detail. I hope these practices will help you as much as they helped me.
Again, thanks to all for reading.
祝
学业进步
-Mike Redus
睿达思
1. Learn the most common radicals.
If you have taken a Chinese language course before then you know that most characters are composed of smaller, basic characters called 'radicals'. Radicals very commonly appear in other characters and act as components giving either sound or meaning to a more complicated character. Memorizing the most common, basic radicals will make your life easier when trying to remember both the meaning of a character AND how to write it. Doing so is a really good start to improving your memory of Chinese characters.
2. Follow the proper stroke order and direction.
Something that you may not realize is that the order and direction of each stroke is meant to build a bridge from one stroke to the next, creating a deliberate flow. Another important fact is that learning to write isn't all about memorization of images, it's about muscle memory as well. If you write often and keep the order, your body will remember the characters, you will eventually reach the point when your hand begins to write is the words come into your mind, without hesitation.
3. DON'T RELY ON PINYIN!
Once you have learned Pinyin well, it becomes an excellent tool to help you produce fluent and proper Chinese syllables and words, but don't use it for more than that. If you make a habit of reading using only Pinyin, or read with Pinyin too close to the characters, you will automatically be attracted to it. With Pinyin around, you will always be distracted from reading the actual words and you will eventually forget them.
4 and 5 go hand in hand: READ... and... WRITE... EVERYDAY, or as close to it as possible. "If you don't use it, you'll lose it" This saying holds true for every language, probably even more so for Chinese. Again, there are no shortcuts. READ READ READ WRITE WRITE WRITE until the new characters become a part of your being.
These ideas and practices have helped me greatly, now I seldom forget a character that I have encountered in detail. I hope these practices will help you as much as they helped me.
Again, thanks to all for reading.
祝
学业进步
-Mike Redus
睿达思
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Announcements and Thanks.
Hello again, everyone. I offer my sincere apologies to subscribers and those who have been coming back to check up on my site in the last week. I have been busy with mid-terms and honors assignments for my Chinese class, so I haven't had time to blog or work on my site this week. But since I'm here now, I have some brief announcements to make:
1. I have received a lot of feedback from friends and other visitors of the site on material to blog about. From posting a "grammar tip of of the day" to posting romanization and translations for Chinese music, the ideas were numerous and I am considering them all. But before making too many decisions I want to thank all of those who gave their input. It is HIGHLY appreciated, in fact I must request that you all keep your ideas coming. This site isn't just for me, so I want to know what interests you all!
2. Within the next week, I will be creating what you could think of as a "Sister Site" geared towards Chinese music. Once a week I will choose one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite singers and post it along with my best translation, and the romanized lyrics as well (for you karaoke fans who want to learn songs but may not read Chinese). Later on, if time permits, I will set up another site where my visitors can make requests for lyrics romanizations for their favorite songs and I will also set up an archive where other videos can retrieve these lyrics. I am a big fan of Chinese music and I know I'm not the only one!
3. Back onto the topic of learning Chinese: I have decided what to write about in my next blog entry; "5 Tips to Help You Memorize Characters". There are 5 things that are essential to my memory of characters that I think will help all of you who study Chinese as well, find out what those things are tomorrow.
Thanks again for visiting, everyone! Until next time.
-Mike Redus
睿达思
1. I have received a lot of feedback from friends and other visitors of the site on material to blog about. From posting a "grammar tip of of the day" to posting romanization and translations for Chinese music, the ideas were numerous and I am considering them all. But before making too many decisions I want to thank all of those who gave their input. It is HIGHLY appreciated, in fact I must request that you all keep your ideas coming. This site isn't just for me, so I want to know what interests you all!
2. Within the next week, I will be creating what you could think of as a "Sister Site" geared towards Chinese music. Once a week I will choose one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite singers and post it along with my best translation, and the romanized lyrics as well (for you karaoke fans who want to learn songs but may not read Chinese). Later on, if time permits, I will set up another site where my visitors can make requests for lyrics romanizations for their favorite songs and I will also set up an archive where other videos can retrieve these lyrics. I am a big fan of Chinese music and I know I'm not the only one!
3. Back onto the topic of learning Chinese: I have decided what to write about in my next blog entry; "5 Tips to Help You Memorize Characters". There are 5 things that are essential to my memory of characters that I think will help all of you who study Chinese as well, find out what those things are tomorrow.
Thanks again for visiting, everyone! Until next time.
-Mike Redus
睿达思
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