Pleco - Translating English to Mandarin - CHARS, WORDS, and SENTS Tabs

Let's continue... We are still looking at the things that we should pay attention to in Pleco, while we are translating words from English to Mandarin.

Last post, we were looking at all the things under the DICT tab.

In this post, we are going to look at the other tabs, that include CHARS, WORDS and SENTS tabs.

Today, try to key in "dog" in the search box. You will get the following screen, then you can implement what you have grabbed from the previous post on the DICT tab.

 Ask yourselves the following questions:
1. Do you see the Chinese character for dog?
2. Can you pronounce it? Just simply follow the sound when you press on the speaker.
3. Do you see the sample given? Although this example is showing you how people use it in an offensive manner, just keep it for your knowledge and not to use it when not necessary.
4. There is a new thing here, please look at the image above, under CC. you see the abbreviation M in bold? That refers to the measuring words for dog. In English we say "a dog", "an apple", "a bowl of soup" , in Bahasa Indonesia, we say "seekor anjing", "sebuah apel", "semangkuk sup". In Chinese, we can use either "zhi" or "tiao" to measure the numbers of dog. "Yi zhi gou" means one dog/a dog. So that's something new under DICT tab.


Moving forward, lets click on CHARS tab.

There are 2 drop down menus that say: "Radical" and "Component".
a. Radical
Radical is defined as the fundamental nature/root of something, in this case, the Chinese Character for "gou", dog. Most radicals are rooted from another character in Chinese. For dog it comes from this 犬, quan, which in Chinese it is another character that has the same meaning, dog.

In some cases, as this one, we do not write the radical exactly the same as the root word "犬", instead the form changes to the shape as you see in the circled part below.

Many other words has the same radical, such as, cat, monkey, lion, and many other animals. You can try to Pleco it later!

Please note that, there are radicals that when written in another chracacters, keep their original shape. For example,  灯  (deng) lamp. Its radical is 火. Do you that it keeps the original shape in the character 灯?

b. Component
Components refer to the parts of character. In Mandarin, there are some Chinese characters that are simple and stand on their own to form their own meaning （E.g. 人，手，一，十）and there are those which are more complex characters where they are formed by a few basic characters. For dog, it consists of 2 parts, the radical that we have seen before, and another character 句, when it stands on its own means "sentence".

The radical in a characters most of the time could help us guess what that particular character is trying to define or what the character relates to.

Here are the examples of radicals that shows the meaning of a word/character.
言 (yan) means speech. Some of the words that are formed using it as radical are; 语 (yu) language， 话 (hua) speech，说 (shuo) say，讲 (jiang) say，讯 (xun) ask, etc. As you can see most of them are related to "speech".

火 (huo) means fire。灯 (deng) lamp，烟 (yan) smoke，烧 (shao) hot/burn，煤 (mei) charcoal.

See how the Chinese characters  are formed? I will show you the many structures （结构）of a Chinese characters in a later stage.

So, when people say Chinese characters are not easy to write, I say "indeed it is difficult." However to make it easier, please try to break it down to small parts, extract the components out, it will be much easier that way, best it helps you to identify the meaning of the characters too.

Thus, basic is important. Normally, for a beginner, we will be exposed to easy characters, that has only 1 component in it, and from there, it grows to the more complex characters.

That's pretty much about CHARS tab. Moving on...

WORDS Tab

As you might have already figured out. Those are the common phrases where we can find the word 狗 (gou). It is divided into 2;

a. Words beginning where the 狗 is in the beginning of each phrases
b. Words containing where the 狗 can be found other than the beginning of the phrases. It can be in the middle, the third place, the fourth, and so on or at the end of the phrases.

Skim through it, see if any vocab may be useful for you. This is how we enrich our vocabularies, read more!

SENTS Tab
Under this tab it shows us the usage of word "dog" in the sentence. From the sample sentences, you will learn that word "狗" can have various meaning, not only "dog" as in human's best friend.

So, basically these are the things that you have to know about Pleco when you are translating English words to Mandarin. I hope you find this useful.

The next post will be brief post about translating Mandarin to English on Pleco.

Happy Learning,
Linda Tan

Pleco - Translating English to Mandarin - DICT Tab

Have you got Pleco on your phone already? If you haven’t, please download it now, if not the following post, won’t be any use for you. It is the doing that is important.

Got it? Let’s start.

When we first open up the app, you will be shown to this screen:

Did you see the blue letter on the right hand corner, that indicates that it accepts input in English. It means that it will translate the English word that you key in to Mandarin/Chinese. However, when letter “E” is shown, the app is smart enough to identify what kind of language it is that you key in. So I suggest not to touch that. See the following example, when it is in "E" mode.

When you key in "Day" It will show you all the result that contains the word "day" in it. See the word in blue highlight

When you key in "Dai" as there isn't English for it, it will automatically detect it as hanyu pinyin (the Chinese phonics), thus the above result!

Then, when you finish your typing by adding "ly" at the back, it will detect "daily" as English word and return with the above result, where it contains the word "daily".

This how smart the app is!

However, just for your information, you have to know that you can change the letter E to “C” shorts for Chinese by clicking on it. When it is in "C" mode, then the app will treat all the words that you key in as Chinese Pinyin or the best thing is to key in the Chinese characters. If you are beginner, I suggest to keep it in "E" mode.

Again, this specific post is to show you how to translate English words/phrases to Chinese. So please, keep the E letter.

Let’s start translating. I want to introduce you to numbers in Chinese.  So, in the search box, please key in “one” and you will get the following as your search result.

Just like any search engine, most of the time, the first search result (the one on top) usually is the most relevant. However to confirm it, before clicking on the first search result, you can compare the meaning with a few other results at the bottom. Reading them, I think it makes more sense to us that the first is what we want. ONE as in number! So, click on it, you will see this page.

The top part, "一" is the Chinese character for One (1). PY means the pinyin. It is the phonics. It is how we should pronounce the character above it. Even, when you are not taught about pinyin yet, you already know how to pronounce it, right? That’s why I mentioned the similarity in Bahasa Indonesia and Chinese Phonics. If you want to confirm your pronunciation is correct, there is a speaker button beside "yi", click on it and listen to the recorded native. Make sure our volume is not off!

Now, let's look at DICT Tab.

See the circled part in your right hand side, PLC, CC and UNI. You can open them up, by clicking on the abbreviation in blue, to see the details.

Under PLC you will see the following:

The number “1” at the side, before the word “one” shows you that it is one possible meaning for the character “一”。 Underneath it, it shows you some of the example of the usage of word“一”.

Going down further, You might see 2., 3. and so on, they all shows other meanings for the character  “一”, such as; single, alone, same, whole, each, per, every time, also, concentrated, wholehearted, etc…. Again, the phrases/sentences underneath each definition show you the proper usage. Don’t worry that you don’t understand, you just have to know which one to focus on. I am introducing all necessary parts to you, so that you know why they are there and in the long run, you gonna need them.

That's all about PLC that you have to know for now. 

Next, try to open up the CC. It is a more simplified version of defining the meaning of “一”, without the sample sentences.

You can see that the pinyin provided you with another way of pronouncing this character “一”, "yao". As I have mentioned, one Chinese character can have several meanings, depending on the usage and context. Also, one Chinese character can have several ways of pronouncing it, depending on the usage. We pronounce “一” as yao when we need to spell out numbers digit by digit such as in phone number. So that the sound is clear!

Next is under UNI, it is a much more simpler translation than the 2 above. However there is an additional pinyin to it. It is all "yi", however if you notice there are different symbol on top of the letter "i". This is the tone in Chinese. We will be introduced the different sounds much later, after we are finished and know how to use all the tools.

Try to digest the information above before we move on to the next tab in my next post. As of now, you can play with this. Try to key in "two", "dog" or any other words that you would like to translate to Mandarin. Please key in only word for now, not Phrases.

Have Fun Exploring,

Linda Tan

Introduction to Pleco - 1

Now, I would like to introduce you to one of the application that I find useful in assisting my learning/teaching Mandarin journey.

You might have found something else that works for you all this while, but, there is always good to have a back-up app, just in case, another one is under maintenance or decide to start charging users for full access. We never know, right?

I'm introducing you to Pleco! It is quite comprehensive and what makes it even better, it works without internet connection!  Of course, to get it on your phone, you need a working internet connection.

On your phone, the app will be represented by its blue logo with traditional Chinese character for Fish

The only drawback from the app is that you have to know English. But, if you are reading this, I don't think it is an issue for you. :)

Here how the app can help people like you and me in learning Mandarin:

1. Enriching our vocabularies

Language is defined as a method of communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way. Do you see the word "words"? Yup! We have to know the words before we are able to form a sentence, properly structured sentences.

And luckily, Pleco can help us with that.

2. Practicing our pronunciation with the help of Chinese Phonics provided

I always suggest begginers who can already read and write fluently in any other language (thus, toddler and kids under the age of 7 who are learning Mandarin as a second language are Excluded), to master Hanyu Pinyin. It is the phonics in Chinese. It uses some of the alphabets like what we learn in English, Bahasa Indonesia and many other languages, with slight modifications of course. It is closer to Bahasa Indonesia spelling than English. So, Indonesian speaking friends, don't you dare say "I can't speak Chinese because I am no Chinese." No excuse! We will be introduced to this later on, as our first lesson.

The good thing about Pleco is that it provides you with Hanyu Pinyin for every character that it has. So, need not worry about not being able to read the words that it shows you, because it comes with phonics! The next best thing, when you are in doubt whether or not you read the phonics right, the app has the following feature...

3. Audio! Getting the pronunciation Right.

Other than acting as a translator, the app is also equipped with audio support that will read for you the words/phrases that it translates. 

So, what I suggest people to do before playing the audio is: to read the phonics provided on your own and then compare to the pronunciation that is available in the audio feature. If you get it right, you know your pinyin has improved and before you know if you don't have to play the audio anymore. Because, it does take a few seconds to load. 

4. Use of Words in Phrases/Sentences

It is not rare where one Chinese words have more than one meaning and a thing can be described with several Chinese words/phrases. There are even times when one characters are read differently depending on the usage and the meaning in the sentence. Most of the time, words with similar meaning are often interchangeable, but at times, we have to decide the best words to describe a situation to avoid confusion. And... the sample sentences given are the best in helping us with that!

Best of all, the sentences come with audio features too, so there is a recorded native speaker that will read to you the whole sentences!

5. Getting to know the construction of the character

Chinese characters are constructed with strokes that is best if written in the correct order, systematically. Many times, people who study Chinese as their second language, are introduced to the Chinese characters that have less strokes (e.g. 一， 二，三，人，口） and from there it evolves. For me, it is important to master the basic, why? because most of those difficult characters are actually the combination of several basic characters. E.g 硙 (ai) = 石 (shi） + 岂 （qi) ，if you want to break it down further this qi / kai 岂 = 山 + 己  

More to come about the construction of a word. Unfortunately, strokes order is not available in the 'free' version of Pleco. But that's fine, because we have another app/site that can help us at this. :)

That's Pleco in general. Next post I will show you how to use it for your benefit.

Have you get Pleco on your phone?

Sincerely,

Linda Tan

Learning Mandarin: The assistants that you need

Mandarin is one beautiful language that I am lucky enough to encounter with when I was young. I started learning Mandarin not in a formal way, nor systematically, thus the journey is longer, but I am glad that I find my own way. We don't speak the language at home. My dad is very good in writing, but due to education background that he had, the pronunciation might not up to the current international standard. But many people around his age is speaking that kind of Mandarin, where the word 'r' doesn't exist, instead they will pronounce it as "j" (I am talking about the sound that you make in Bahasa Indonesia kind of ABC pronunciation).

Initially, I started with tutor, many writing and reading, but not explanation on grammar or whatsoever. We just recognize the characters and its meaning, memorize it even, and then write them, lots of them, a page for a character. Then, I watched many reality shows on Taiwanese Channel when I was in my high school. Then, I started to teach the kiddos during my college time, then when I was working I didn't use it often but when I use it, I don't speak the right type of mandarin, I speak the acceptable one. Then, I got serious, I actually spent quite a bit of my saving to study in China. 4 months are short, but depending how we use it, that 4 months was incredible. Many new things learnt and positive confirmation/affirmation for myself. So yeah, that 4 months is enough, as I personally believe, learning language is an endless fun journey.

If you ask me "are you very good in Mandarin?", the answer is definite "NO!", but I am good enough to understand, comfortable enough to converse in it.

Then, if you ask me again, "can you always answer the questions that your students ask you?", again, it is another definite "NO!", but I am sure I always find the answer for the questions and that's what make teaching fun, you learn too!

If you say "You aren't so good teacher then". My argument is "I am not super, but good enough."

It is something to actually very good at one particular subject, but teaching, educating, sharing need a whole new set of skill, and I am glad to say that I am passionate enough to learn more about the effective way of doing it by actually DOING it! (you know what I mean :p)

So here we're...

Indonesia has not always been opened to this language, until the  year of 2001. After some reformation that took place in our country, dark time, then we saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and the language comes to life! Many people are seeing the benefit of learning Mandarin and many people are teaching it now.

My high school is one that really introduced it in a proper way, Taiwan kind of Chinese, Traditional Chinese, more strokes in the characters. So Lucky me! Over the years, I find my own way in learning the language in MY-effective-way and apparently starting teaching it. I'm somehow rather good in the writing, and when I was in China, on the train to Shan Hai Guan, conversing with a lady, she convinced me that I doesn't sound like a foreigner, I am just like the native. That makes my heart swelled and with it confidence too, meaning that I am okay too in my speaking. Reading is okay. Sometimes, there are always new words/phrases that I encounter and might not recognize in every reading that I do, but that's fine, the point of reading is to understand, and somehow at the end of the article I always manage to make the sense of out of those alien phrases, always. That's I called "语感 - yu gan" - sense for the language. Not everyone has that, so I guess, I am the blessed one. Listening, no problem! Although my HSK 6 reveals that is my weakest point, most of the time I can understand.

So I would like to share my way of step by step learning this beautiful language. There is never been 1 right way. I am just sharing with you MY way.

There are tools that I will think be very useful in assisting you learning the language by yourself, at your onw pace:

1. Smartphone with internet connection!

2. PC with internet connection!

Along the way, Pleco (download this app to your smartphone), Youtube and Bihua will be your best friends in the learning journey, at least it has been mine. Please add the website to the list of your favorite sites. You will be surprised how much this 3 items will assist you!

Set them up, and I will introduce each and every one of them to you. Don't get discourage when you see how much Chinese characters, especially, in Bihua website. Will show you what to click and what to focus on. Don't get distracted with all the ads! They need that to motivate them to maintain good contents in their site, which benefit people like you and me.

Get the 3 things mentioned above in your fingertips and wait for the next post.

Sincerely,

Linda Tan