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Hanzi/Kanji Cross-training

Mu Haoting   August 6th, 2009 2:25a.m.

Now that we have Japanese support, I'd like to send out an idea that I'd had months ago, namely cross-training Chinese and Japanese characters.

With most characters, this could be as simple as learning the character with both pronunciations and then testing it with one or the other. This would effectively double the characters I know in both languages, which are (except for the 100 or so super easy ones) largely mutually exclusive, and (hopefully) cut down on my trying to slide past my teachers Japanesesy pronunciations of Chinese.
("Kore wa nan desu ka? 道"
"Errrrrrm... ? Dào? No? Jou?"
"...Michi.")

jww1066   August 6th, 2009 9:08a.m.

I'm not sure I understand your proposal. What do you mean by "learning the character with both pronunciations and testing it with one or the other"? Are you saying that Skritter would show you both Chinese and Japanese pronunciation at the same time?

James

JB   August 6th, 2009 9:27a.m.

Yeah I'm confused too, but this reminds me of an idea I had of having a section off to the side showing if a simplified character has a traditional variant (or vice versa). So, I wouldn't necessarily have to practice writing both, but could recognize a lot more characters that have variants.

董伴-Dǒng Bàn   August 6th, 2009 10:08a.m.

JB, I have your same idea.

murrayjames   August 6th, 2009 12:56p.m.

I'm with JB and Dong Ban. That's a great idea.

Mu Haoting   August 7th, 2009 4:26p.m.

I mean that the first time you see the character (or subsequently press the "give me the answer" button) it will show both Chinese and Japanese pronunciations for the character, but then in "review" mode, it will ask for the character in one or the other.

Using 道 as an example again, it would be reviewed as either dao or michi, but when the solution is shown, it could give both pronunciations.

Of course, this could be an unnecessary extra step, and it could just always give both pronunciations (in cross-training mode, of course) but it seems like that could become a crutch, as ideally we shouldn't rely on Japanese when learning Chinese or vice-versa.

Out of curiosity, how many of us are learning/speak both?

nick   August 8th, 2009 9:49a.m.

I think right now we have very few Japanese learners. Hopefully, awareness will spread as functionality improves and then it'll be a big party. I doubt that many people will be learning both, though, at least not at similar skill levels.

Currently, only 7% of users study both traditional and simplified. I imagine more are interested in learning to read (as opposed to write) the other forms, though, so I will keep a method of seeing the other forms in the prompt in mind.

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