[Course Forum] Cantonese Cangjie (倉頡)

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1

Practice Cantonese Cangjie (倉頡) by learning to type simple words and Hong Kong place names.

Many seem find this system quite difficult. Whether one can become proficient at it, it should help learners recognize and deconstruct traditional Chinese.

My intention with this course is to focus on the graphical aspects of Chinese. I hope this will enable Cantonese learners to build some early foundation for literacy and the ability to text in Chinese.

Place is the first of all beings, since everything that exists is in a place and cannot exist without a place.
-Archytas

I get a lot of satisfaction out of reading Chinese street signs. Each time I comprehend more, I feel more settled. I know my way around better. I can direct a taxi driver with ease.

And anyways, Hong Kong has quite a few distinct places to visit. And while they might not seem all that different on the surface, the place name often comes with a story – suddenly, a new way of understanding your place in the surroundings.

Places can also be a part of one’s group identity; this is true of probably any major city.

Big picture:

This is a progression of phasing out Jyutping from my Memrise courses. Here’s my view:

Romanization systems (like Yale) use to make a lot of sense when we depended on books. But in my personal experience, getting too cozy with romanization has stunted progress in phonemic and tonal awareness. It makes it so much more difficult to “think in Cantonese” when I’m mentally squeezing sounds out of letters and numbers.

I might be in the minority, but I know others agree with me. Wondering how many have contemplated the ultimate efficacy of romanization systems.

I’ll admit it’s still useful to search in the dictionary using Jyutping, and others may still have a lot of success with it (or Yale).

Ultimately, I think the instant access to audio makes these unnecessary. And I think there are advantages to developing Chinese literacy.

This is essentially a finished product, in terms of scope of content. However, I know there are some ways to make it better. Please see the poll questions in the replies below.

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoy the new course.

2

Feedback wanted: Auxiliary Radicals

Question #1

There are a few levels dedicated to matching color-coded auxiliary radicals with the basic shapes.

Because most basic shapes have multiple auxiliaries, and because I cannot have 100% control over testing direction, you may have to choose between two (or more) auxiliaries of the same basic shape.

Though all the answers are technically, correct, it will be marked wrong if it’s not the image Memrise had in mind.

Is this issue untenable to you, or can you play through it?

  • Yes, it’s tolerable.
  • No, it needs to be fixed (reply with suggestions)
  • No, just remove these levels.

0 voters

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Question #2

Discovering this issue, I decided to exclude these exercises from the second half of the course.

The hope is that, by prompting with an image of auxiliaries in the Basic Shapes and the Cangjie input sequences in the “Shapes Into Words” lessons, learners will develop an awareness of auxiliary shapes.

Are the Basic Shape and Shape Into Words lessons sufficient in educating you about auxiliary shapes?

  • Auxiliary lessons help me learn these radicals.
  • Basic Shapes and Shapes Into Words lessons are sufficient practice with auxiliary radicals.

0 voters

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3

Feedback wanted: Difficulty

Does any part of the course seem unnecessarily and/or grueling?

  • No, it’s all good.
  • Basic Shapes is grueling or unnecessary.
  • Auxiliary Radicals is grueling or unnecessary.
  • Shapes Into Words is grueling or unnecessary.
  • Hong Kong Place Names is grueling or unnecessary.
  • rar im a lion

0 voters

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Are you given enough time to type answers in Cangjie (web-only)?

  • The time allotted is fine for all lessons.
  • Shapes Into Words doesn’t allow enough time.
  • Hong Kong Place Names doesn’t allow enough time.

0 voters

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4

Feedback wanted:

Are there any errors in the audio, visual or written content?

If yes, please reply with details.

Would you rather see Cangjie practice or “audio-only” levels within my other course, Hong Kong Useful Cantonese?

  • Cangjie Practice
  • Audio-Only Lessons
  • Why not Zoidberg?

0 voters

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Would you prefer if I included a romanization system, like Yale or Jyutping, in my courses?

  • Use Yale
  • Use Jyutping
  • Use Both
  • Use at least one
  • I truss you bb, romanization is bad

0 voters

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5

On level 3 there’s a word 日日. Shouldn’t it be 昍?
The audio to Cangjie prompts seems unnecessary to learn Cangjie, since it is based on the visual of the characters. But anyway, it doesn’t botter me, but I fail them a lot of times, since my focus is to learn only Cangjie from this Course.
Thanks for the course, it’s helping me.

6

So encouraged to hear it’s helping.

日日 takes the meaning of every day (literally “day day”). Same form as 人人 (everybody).

Appreciate the feedback with the audio. I’ll take a close look at that.

Thanks a lot~

7

There’s a bug on Level 9. The word 口 shows empty answers.