@yi.liu, does the sound clip here sound like it’s second tone or third tone to you?
Great! Thank you, and much appreciated! =D
Ya, you’re welcome! 
Do you mind if I ask what your story is? Why are you learning Chinese?
Had good chunk of spare time (left work for much needed extended de-burnout vacation) and figured I’ll never get as much time to study once I resume working or go back to school; never thought it was possible to learn this many characters (I always figured it required a bjillion years.) I thought the Mnemonic hints would help my friends or roommate learning Chinese later, and other users for that matter (kind of open collaboration thing.)
Was originally gunning to get 2k char. in a month then work in pinyin and HSK6 by end of year; but probably lowering goal (too ambitious?), as all I really wanted was to be able to read newspaper, news, menus, and understand OS menus and error messages for potential work purposes (+ would be nice to put ‘reads & writes’ Chinese rather than just ‘speaking it’ on resume =) .)
Also Memrise is much more productive use of time than time sinks like Reddit 
. Parents pushed me to learn it ages ago but I stubbornly rebelled and refused; but now learning it quickly seems like a fun and rewarding challenge (I’d never do it if I were pushed grrr) hahaha. It was satisfying to know I was able to maintain studying nearly entire time from waking up to sleeping in quite a few instances; it gave me confidence that I can try taking on other learning activities after my soft-cutoff at end of this year. I figured I’d maybe learn Italian, Spanish, medical terminology, or re-learn some Japanese and programming afterwards or figure out if it’s better to hyperfocus on one or distribute courses for maximum learn rate --more likely, I think, I’ll be focusing on programming courses both elsewhere here and switching to more maintenance mode for language learning here.
(Bug?)(RFE?)(NAB) [bug] or (Limitation?) (Request for enhancement?) (user error?)
Certain unicode hanzi cannot be inputted into mems. For example
Origin character of (津)Tianjin: 𦘔 [\𦘔] [\𦘔] gets converted to question mark after saving any edits.
Is there a way to manually input unicode? Is it a font rendering issue on my side?
[expected behavior]: Pasted characters should still display…?
Are characters perhaps intentionally omitted and stripped out from simplified Chinese character set / font in memrise or something to that effect?
[Bug worthy?] Inconsistent [acceptance|rejection] when inputting “[XYZ]” for definitions listed as “to [XYZ]”.
Many definitions are listed as “to XYZ” but can take “XYZ” as direct answer; some however cannot (some understandably for disambiguation purposes require ‘to’-[XYZ], but others are less justified at times it seems.) Is it worthwhile to submit RFE/BUGs on those (i.e., is valid enough to be addressed or will it likely be ignored/deprioritized?)
[Expected behavior] unless it fundamentally changes meaning of word (or leads to too much ambiguity), “to” should be able to be omitted.
[Addendum] I guess this is not too big an issue since the desktop version has auto-acceptance when correct answer is typed & also when letter selection is not manually disabled, it’s not hard to see if ‘T’ and ‘O’ are part of the required letters.
Ah, I see
For the bug report about the character not showing up in mems, you could try reporting it in the Web Bugs forum if you like.
Yes, if you see entries that should accept “to [verb]” but don’t, please report them The “to” alternative has to be added manually.
[Update: now fixed] (original comment below)
[bug]typo Definition & pinyin mismatch on 1501-2000 Mandarin Chinese Level 10.
(https://www.memrise.com/course/356/characters-1501-2000-in-mandarin-chinese/10/)
[Observed]:
[bug] 殷 : yin1 “dark red”
[Expected]:
A) yin1*: flourishing; abundant; hospitable; earnest; (Chinese surname); Shang dynasty
XOR
B) yan1(Y A N 1)*: “dark red”
XOR
C) yin3*: “roll of thunder”
* Cross verified on Yellowbridge and Pleco PLC dictionaries.
@omnivore, I’ve added you as a contributor to this course, so that you have editing powers. I’ve moved on from Memrise for now
Use yours powers well!
Thank you for your show of confidence. I shall do my best to be a responsible/prudent, conscientious, and accurate contributor. =) =D
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To address 殷 : the typo [~yin1 : “dark red”] (https://www.memrise.com/course/356/characters-1501-2000-in-mandarin-chinese/10)
I went ahead and updated 殷 ‘yin1’: ‘hospitable; earnest; flourishing; abundant’ as primary pair. ‘dark red’:‘yan1’ pair added as 1st alt.; ‘rolling thunder’:‘yan2’ pair as 2nd alt.
‘Hospitable’ chosen as lead word since it has less single character synonyms and still used ‘yin1’. I couldn’t find a word frequency chart, so I continued to use ‘yin1’ as default since it’s generally listed first and is the tone of this character with most multiple meanings (which I’m assuming means most usage.)
Referenced:
(https://dictionary.hantrainerpro.com/chinese-english/translation-yin_ardent.htm)
(https://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/dictionary.php?word=殷)
(https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqtm=0&wdqcham=1&wdqt=殷)
(https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/殷)
(https://www.yabla.com/chinese-english-pinyin-dictionary.php?define=殷) sample sentences with various alt pinyin pronounciations of character under discussion(‘殷’)
Incidentally, (yan3)[“rolling thunder”] is disambiguated here (https://hinative.com/en-US/questions/1383574) discussing [ [‘roll’ vs. ‘clap’ vs. ‘peal’] ‘of thunder’ ]
Sounds good
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@neoncube Hey neoncube! I saw you mentioned moving on, if you don’t mind me asking are you going the Anki route?
Hey!
I’ve started a competing site to Memrise, but I’m avoiding advertising it on the Memrise forums, since that seems not very nice.
=== Bug Catchall Living Post ===
(until another system (Github/Wiki/??) is recommended or there’s some live sticky post or another bug tracking mechanism suggested, I will be using this as temporary issue/RFE tracker for (course)[Characters 1,501-2,000 in Mandarin Chinese by BenWhately])
I will try to get to the bottom issues below when I’m up to it.
- Answers were generally added if verified present in a few dictionaries.
- Wrong answers were removed only when very obviously so.
- Most questionable answers were simply marked _hidden instead for legacy support.
- To and non-to form answers added. Non-to verb form kept as hidden answer; but ‘to’ form of verb generally listed for ease of at-a-glance determination of noun vs verb type.
- Similar word types were grouped in alt list when practical.
- Currently inconsistent handling of alt pronunciation.
– Current DB same character listed twice with different pronunciation isolated per test.
– Current DB also has single character single test with multiple pinyin (different pronunciations)
– Method 1: Single tone per test; new test for each tone
– Method 2: Multiple tone per test, all in primary list.
– Method 3: Multiple tone per test, some in primary, some in secondary (alt) list.
— Method 3 negatives: (1) variations are not immediately visible at a glance (in fact can be hidden and easily missed), so this makes the most sense for pronunciations that are rare or archaic. (2) part-of-speech type is also confounded by pronunciation and definition types if not listed in primary entry.
— Method 3 positives(?): multiple click answer tests don’t require one to hit every alt definition (esp. if alt. list is esoteric or tediously extensive.)
(Open)[RFE]Fix words w/ multi-primaries to have consistent mobile answers.@1-300 done; 301-500 pending
(Open)[BUG?]苍 (1501-2000) text implies typing “dark blue; deep green; ash grey” would be valid answer, but it is marked failed when typed as such.
(Open)[RFE] ‘辱’ (1.5-2k) add: { ‘to disgrace’, ‘bring disgrace’, ‘dishonor’ }
(TBD)[RFE] 涌
(TBD)[RFE] 汪
(Open)[RFE] 援 (1501-2000) add: ‘to assist’ (see: Yellowbridge)
(Open)[RFE] 姊 (1501-2000) add ‘elder sister’ to existing ‘older sister’ ref.
Items below should already be fixed when I last edited them or checked on them:
(Closed-Fixed) 酸 (Edit #18) not necessarily appropriate to add "grieving, sick at heart”, since it’s contingent on other characters 心酸(xin1suan1) “grieved|distressed|sick at heart” but not an intrinsic standalone meaning (e.g., 寒酸(suan1han2) “poverty-stricken condition”.) Terms consolidated in test list. 1-2 hidden variants added. Added '(b.f.)distressed, grieved, sick at heart & likewise for ‘pedantic’/‘impractical’ but will lean away from doing so as it creates overhead and isn’t necessarily spirit of the cards. The extra meanings ideally should be learned via multi character word flashcards rather than single character cards.
(CLOSED-fixed) 聘 (Edit#17) Updated to: (3){to marry (a girl) off, to betroth, betrothal gift(s), to get married(of a woman)}(to/non-to phrase variants); (1)to hire for a job(to hire, to employ) (and to/non-to variants); (2)to invite(engage, appoint). ‘employment’ not added since all terms I saw were verbs whereas employment is noun.
(closed-fixed) 佩 Edit#16 (primary changed to ‘wear(at waist, waist pendant)’, ‘(bf)to respect’, & numerous. synonyms)
(closed-fixed) 魔 (appended: Edit #15 '(bound form) demon, evil spirits, monster, magic, mystic, mystical illusionary, illusory)
(closed-fixed) 聘 (appended: Edit #14 ‘invite(engage, appoint, hire, employ)’, ‘betroth, betrothal gift’, ‘marry (a girl) off’)
(closed-fixed) 饰 (appended: 'added verb form to existing ‘noun’ option, including sample ‘verb’ form.)
(closed-fixed) 偿 (appended: ‘to meet/fulfill(requirements)’; ‘to repay’; + non-‘to’ forms as hidden answers.
(closed-fixed) 浑 (appended: ‘stupid/foolish; simple/natural/unsophisticated; whole/all’; also noted it’s adjective in addition to existing ‘noun’)
(closed-fixed) 湿 (appended: ‘wet; damp; humid’ + noted those are adjectives rather than noun as originally recorded.)
(closed-fixed) 屠 (appended: ‘to massacre (people)’; ‘to slaughter (for food)’; Surname Tu; harmonized ‘to’ & non-‘to’ form)
(open-pending) 袭 (appended: ‘to raid’/‘make a surprise attack on’; measure word for suit/set of clothes) --need to confirm if counting # is legitimate; may back out changes if I had not done so already.
(closed-fixed) 黎 (appended: ‘Li’[ethnic group]; ‘black’/‘dark’; (other synonyms or harmonization added)
(closed-fixed) 鞭 (sub: bullwhip for whip; crop disambiguated as (e.g., riding crop parenthetical); ‘to’ and ‘a’ variations added as hidden answers)
(closed-fixed) 迁 (added: {move; shift; transfer} variants as alt. option.
(closed-fixed) 逊 (Appended numerous chinese dictionary alt. English terms added as hidden options.); (Updated that word is also adjective and not only verb)
(closed-fixed)[BUG][Typo] ‘仗’ has ‘weild’ as completion; should be ‘wield’.
(Closed)(fixed) [RFE] 刃 (1501-2000) add: ‘blade edge’ & ‘blade’s edge’ to existing ‘edge of blade’
(Closed-fixed)[RFE] 幼 (1501-2000) add ‘immature’ to existing ‘underage’/‘young’;(update)alts./spellings added
(Closed-fixed)[RFE] 估(was missing gu4 tone for ‘old’/‘second-hand clothes’); now added.
(Closed-fixed)[RFE] 柯(changed); all common variant answers added for both ax & axe [handle]; ax, axe, (didn’t add literal “ax’s”, “axe’s”, “axes’” since I’m guessing they’re unwieldy and rarely used)
(Closed-fixed)[RFE] 禅 missing verb form and English & pinyin appended to existing noun def. & pinyin.
(Closed-fixed)[RFE] 莱 (delta): alt more common names add; added “a type of edible weed” (to give additional context 2of2 as to why its common word); technical name & colloquial names added. Added that it was replacement for more than just “Lay” (which is unfortunately itself ambiguous as originally written) such as ‘Lai’ / ‘Ry’ as well.
(Closed-fixed)[RFE]熊(delta): added paranthetical to disambiguate between bear(action) and bear(animal)
(closed-fixed)[RFE] 趋 ("_to walk quickly;_walk quickly; hasten; hurry along) added.
(closed-fixed)BUG 雕 (verb form was miscategorized as noun; actual noun form now added (bird of prey; vulture); alt ‘to’ form verbs also added as hidden and exposed options)
(closed-fixed)[RFE] 傲 (verb: defy; haughty (adj) added)
(closed-fixed)[RFE] 鉴 (added: object lesson; to [inspect/mirror/examine])
(closed-fixed)[RFE] 扯 (talk casually had ‘to’ and non’to’ terms harmonized. added ‘to chat’ & ‘to gossip’ plus non ‘to’ forms of such.)
(closed-fixed)[RFE] 枚 (added option to actually type “measure word for rings” “measure word for coins” which were implicit answers from orig. def.).
(closed-fixed)BUG 废 (harmonized ‘to’ and non ‘to’ versions of words; abandoned is not a verb; added adjective form of word
(closed-fixed)[RFE] 玄 (added ‘black’ & ‘dark’ [from dictory] as additional meanings )
(closed-fixed)[RFE] 扶 (added ‘support with hand’ as hidden non-‘to’-style verb form.)
(closed-fixed)BUG 悟 (was mis-flagged as noun; I now changed to ‘verb’; added ‘to’ form of ‘comprehend’; added “to realize” to existing hidden “realize”
(closed-fixed)BUG 挣 (zheng4 was missing and pinyin zheng1 was previously misapplied; now corrected); zheng4 used for both struggle and to earn; zhen1 used only for struggle. Noted “to earn” is colloquial. Added “non-‘to’ version of verbs as hidden options”
(closed-fixed)[RFE] 欺 (added non-‘to’ verb forms as hidden answers)
(closed-fixed)[RFE] 哼 (added harumph & hmph as hidden alt options to existing humph.) --may remove this if feedback suggests this is divergent.
(closed-fixed)[RFE] 曹 (added synonym: people of a certain kind)
(closed-fixed)[RFE] 哀(1501-2000)
sorrow expanded and words variations defragmented to include:
to grieve for
_to grieve
_grieving
_grieve
to mourn
_mourning
_mourn
to lament
_lamenting
_lament
@hydroptere No guarantees on when I’ll get to them (provided they aren’t already fixed to your satisfaction), but I’ll try to have the ones you noted in my queue. Incidentally I noticed the 汪 issue as well as I was doing quick character/radicals etymology browsing|background-reading. I also have a list of other RFE’s in an offline document that I may or may not upload here. This post is just an exploratory exercise in seeing how I can manage planned edits.
hi,
a long way to go with your work. At the time, Ben simply took to the definitions from Pleco, which do not always shine through accuracy etc
btw, in the Characters 501 - 1,000 in Mandarin Chinese (which I see you had the kindness to take over) the: 绝 has a typo (to disapper), and is missing the “absolutely” sense (http://dict.youdao.com/search?le=eng&q=绝&tab=&keyfrom=dict2.top; http://www.xiaoma.info/hanzi.php?hz=绝&fhz=绝); also in this 势 has a rather strange definition
thanks (btw, the 避 bì to avoid; to shun; to flee; to escape; to keep away from; to leave; to hide from is still not solved)
@Hydroptere (Re: [Course Forum] Characters 1,501 - 2,000 in Mandarin Chinese by BenWhately)
Thank you for the heads up. =D Incidentally, I’ve tried to keep post here for 1501-2000 characters only. If you’d be so kind, please direct characters to corresponding forum; I had to manually find 势(1001-1500) by copying whole char list to search more easily. In the future ideally if you could cite specific module (e.g., 1-500, 501-1000) and subsection (e.g., Pinyin 51-75) and cite links, it’ll make it easier for me and more likely that I’ll manage to address it. I’m just addressing these now as I have surplus resource bandwidth momentarily.
Note, I’m not trying to exhaustively fix every variation, but primarily as ad-hoc fixes as I encounter them while reviewing the characters myself. I’m typically only changing the ones that seem very confusing, inaccurate, or perhaps inordinately questionable (usually if they’re unbearably annoying to me or incidentally ready for a quick edit.)
Re: 势: (3 main variants and added subvariant synonyms for each of 3 main variants; all can be answered individually).
Re: 避, seems close-ish enough, FWIW, I added alts: “to avoid(evade,shun,escape,flee)”(and all variations). I omitted ‘shun’ as the escape/avoidance def. was close enough IMHO and putting ‘evade’ in some sample multi-character ‘shun’/‘recuse’ type words seemed to convey ballpark/roughly close enough meaning to my impression.
Re: 绝 I fixed the typo; incidentally ‘disappear’ (spelled correctly) was already a hidden answer; ‘absolutely’ was likewise already an existing hidden answer --I just un-hid it now.
hi there
佳 - beautiful, fine, good
奸 - means also rape, and that is important
many thanks
佳 (jia1) - beautiful, fine, good (now added as visible alts)
奸 - (TBD) Reasoning: ‘rape’ might not be quite appropriate main def. for 奸 since the character does not intrinsically mean it; it seems to only be ‘rape’ when in combined/modified form e.g. (奸污(jian1wu1: rape or seduce); 奸淫(jian1yin2 (when in verb form) (1)seduce (2)rape); 奸宿(jian1su4: (1)fornicate (2)rape); 强奸(qiang2jian1(“power/force”(induced)“illicit/carnal”): rape). FWIW, the character seems to more be indicative of (fiendish/wicked/unscrupulous) rather than ‘rape’ on its own.
Option 1: Leave unchanged. (add sample words for usage as mem.)
Option 2: add it as hidden option.
Option 3: add ‘rape’ as alt def but put in parenthesis only when combined with certain other modifier characters. This options seems best for now. (I went with this option) Also added: "evil, wicked, treacherous, spy, traitor, to fornicate."
Option 4: (the would be nice but not sure if it’s realistic I’ll get to this option) Add additional column text row that pops up after each test completion with sample word use… It’s a long term “In a perfect world”/“would be nice” but not priority for now.