[Course Forum] Student-of-Life (SoL): All courses

Community-Created Courses Chinese
1

Use this thread to contact me or contact me directly on Skype with jonathan-luckystar.

Current courses include:

Chinese Grammar Wiki:
A1.1, A1.2, A1.3, A1.4, A2.1

Writing

  1. Calligraphic Strokes
  2. Stroke Codes

HSK
HSK level 4 listening
HSK level 4 masterclass
HSK level 4 missing words
HSK level 4 sentences for pictures
HSK level 5 missing words

Misc
Classical guitar composers
Grammatical terms
Countries
Shang 上
Nouns of locality
The sports ground
Rosetta Stone Mandarin Chinese 2

Chinese Breeze:
I really want to find her
Left and right: the conjoined brothers
Two children seeking the joy bridge
Wrong, wrong, wrong!
Whom do you like more?
If I didn’t have you
An old painting
Mother and son
Green phoenix
Secrets of a computer company
The painted skin
The third eye
The moon sculpture left behind

Also currently a curator of all Memrise HSK courses by Ben Whately both Blue and red.

If you have any problems or would like to subscribe to any of my courses, this is the place to start.

SoL

2

Hi @student-of-life

Thanks for the Chinese grammar courses. Haven’t been able to find A1.4 and A2.1 but they maybe doens’t exist yet.

I found an error in one of your courses, Chinese A1.3 - unit 35

你知道什么用手机上网吗？ should probably be 怎么 instead of 什么 as that is what the chapter is about.

There are also several synonyms that causes me errors on some entries, especially when I also review other courses who use the other one. I can’t check right now if you have them as alternatives so will just go through all of them and list the ones I know could be entered different. As my knownledge in Chinese grammar is still at a low level so may I be wrong on some of them as well.

A1.1 - 41
我太太现在没有工作 ／ 外婆，妻子

A1.1 - 45
你们都学中文吗 ／汉语

A1.1 - 47
你们两个都学中文吗 ／汉语

我和我老公都是美国人 ／ 丈夫

我和我太太都在上海 ／ 外婆，妻子

A1.1 - 49
我也想学中文 ／ 汉语

A1.1 - 53
我太太也是 ／ 外婆，妻子

A1.1 - 55
Inconsistent order on 和, maybe there is a rule I havn’t learned yet.
You and I -> 你和我
None of us (both he and I) -> 他和我
He and I -> 我和他

Previous levels always had 我和我的… but here we have one with the other way around. Is there a rule or does both way work? Either way some of them should change to accept the other way around
我的朋友和我都喜欢中国菜

我的英语和汉语都很好 ／英文，中文

A1.1 - 57
冰的还是热的 - Is 冷的 correct here as well?

A1.1 - 59
这是水还是酒 - Either change the English to alcohol or accept 葡萄酒

A1.1 - 71
Accept all three forms of weekdays 星期，周 and 礼拜

A1.2 - 6
我女儿会说英语 ／ 英文

A1.2 - 11
这个用中文怎么说？那个呢？／ 汉语

我知道你会说中文。你老公呢？／ 汉语，丈夫

A1.2 - 26
他有一个太太 ／ 外婆，妻子

A1.2 - 29
我家的小狗叫Logan
Our family dog is called Logan
Either remove 小 or change dog to puppy. Also, our family ／ 我家, should probably have a change or accept other entries, my family/我们

A1.3 - 9
我今年要学中文 ／ 汉语

A1.3 - 13
他会说中文 ／ 汉语

A1.3 - 15
他不会说中文 ／ 汉语

A1.3 - 17
你能学好中文吗？ ／ 汉语

A1.3 - 19
上课的时候不能说英文 ／ 英文

A1.3 - 19
他要学中文 ／ 汉语

我要请你们来我家
I want to invite you to come to my home
The ‘you’ could be either 你们 or 你

Thanks,

3

A1.3 - Level 40 (Examples 13)

他 没看到你
She didn’t see you (short version)

Should be changed to 她 or he.

edit
Also

我没有 卖 水果
I didn’t buy fruit

Wrong character for buy
Thanks

@xia.fan

Is student-of-life still active on Memrise?

4

Hello, I think there’s a general problem in HSK 4 Missing Words for second stated entries [words that have “definition (also: second definition)”] There’s also some other problems with having “to”. I’ll list them as I come across them and if you could make the allowances I’d appreciate it:

登 - please allow answer as "to mount"
迷 - please allow "lost"
排队 - please allow "to line up"
拜 - please allow "worship"
牌 - please allow “brand”

5

OK guy’s, I’m on it.

@Wuxian I will look into your list and make necessary changes today.

@Xelume The list of corrections you have given me is overwhelming. I have skimmed through and think that it makes sense to add alts and such but I also have to cross reference all the material with the CGW website (That will take some time). I will change the easiest things first, please be patient.

Please be aware that memrise only works well with vocabulary. Courses with sentences become very complicated. Courses A1.4 and A2.1 are complete but not shared because of the workload involved. If you are willing to test them can I suggest you add my Skype in order to communicate more fluidly.

@xia.fan SoL is always here, just sometimes busy.

6

New course:

HSK level 5+

This course provides missing material from the blue HSK 5 course.
It is unfinished and will be available within a week. The course will be modified daily from that point on.

7

I currently moderate all of the HSK courses by Ben on memrise. If anyone has a problem post it here. To other moderators please be aware that alts are there for a reason and that the testing and usage between the webiste and the app is very different. If an alt is removed you make it almost impossible for web users to guess the correct answer. For example:

重 has two entries in HSK 3 that look like this:

重 - zhong4 - heavy
重 - chong2 - to repeat

When using the app you will be presented with an almost obvious difference between the two but when using the website you must guess which is which. This can be very frustrating. The solution then is the following:

重 - zhong4 (alt: chong2) - heavy (alt: to repeat)
重 - chong2 (alt: zhong4) - to repeat (alt: heavy)

This presents another problem. This time for app users. When you type heavy in the app and there is no alt, the answer is automatically accepted and the next question comes up. On the otherhand, if there is an alt, the answer must be typed and then you must press that green tick (enter) button to go to the next question. Please use that button. I know it is inconvenient but the constant adding and removal of alts is hard work for people like myself.

Alternatively, some words could be merged but this is not a good solution in all cases as some words with different meanings are very imortant and must be teated separately, 了 springs to mind. Please lets cooperate together to keep theses courses alive and running smoothly for both PC and App users.

If anyone has any good suggestions for changing these courses or solving problems please post here. Also, lets try to agree (in wikipedia fashion) on how and when to impliment changes. Lets keep a log so we can track the reason for changes and do what is best for the community rather than the individual.

Lastly, memrise is not a dictionary, although it is (but it isnt). We can add alts to words but pouring complete dictionary definitions into each word is excessive, a waste of time and of no real value. I believe it is even against the whole concept of memrise. Alts are unavoidable but 1 on 1 testing is always and I emphasis ‘always’ the better choice although not quite possible to achieve most of the time.

SoL

8

‘HSK 5+’ has been renamed to ‘HSK 5 missing words’ and it is now live although still under progressive development.

Extra single characters and radicals which were not previously introduced in the other HSK courses and some other important characters which will be added from official sources. This course will grow over time. Take it alongside the blue HSK 5 course.

9

Thank you a lot it’s really helped
I hope that you will add the last course hsk 6

10

I will but it will take some time. Expect advances in HSK 6 sometime in January.

SoL

11

Big thanks for the HSK 5 missing words course. HSK 5 red and blue are quite a bit more “learn 2 characters at once” so this will help a lot.
Also a question, is it possible to create courses that have the functionality of the red & blue courses together? I take the red courses additionally as I’ve found that being prompted with English and having to think of the Chinese lends to speaking quite a bit, whereas the blue functionality seems to assist more in reading. Just curious if an expanded test capability is allowed on memrise course creation. Thanks again.

12

Hello - I find your HSK 4 Masterclass course to be extremely useful but it has one problem, which is that there is not a common pronoun chosen for a lot of sentences so it makes it hard to use. Because I have to remember whether it was a 他 or 她 sentence. I would be willing to change all of them to one pronoun if you would make me a contributor.

13

It is definitely possible to add a different level with that testing direction but in turn that would mean 3 levels duplicated. I think the best way to approach this would be to duplicate a course and rebuild it with the new testing direction. If you would like, as soon as I finish with the missing words course, I will duplicate it and create a ‘red course’.

SoL

14

The HSK masterclass course has not been tested. It needs feedback and adjustment so that it can perform as intended. If you have any concrete problem let me know here and I will correct the course.

SoL

15

Cheers, very much appreciated. I’m going to post a list of suggested changes below for a couple of the courses. I tried not to be too picky as I know you tend to side against the “include every possible answer” stance. I’ve been noting these as I come across them so they’re a bit random but I’ll try to include lesson numbers in the future.

HSK 4 missing words

The last lesson, Level 47, is missing (the pinyin lesson for level 46)

卫 – allow “hygiene” by itself as an acceptable answer. Currently, only “to defend” and “(also: hygiene)” are acceptable.

伙 – add “partner”

一分钱一分货 – should change “一” pronounced as yi1 or at least “yi1 fen1 qian2 yi1 fen1 huo4”as an alternative

课程 – pinyin should be ke4 cheng2, not ke2 cheng4

喜爱 – allow alternate spelling “favorite”

色彩 – allow alternate spelling “color”

饮食 – allow “diet”

拐 - add “to turn” (currently only “turn” is accepted)

实话 - add “truth” (currently only “the truth” is accepted)

树立 - though “to plant” makes sense as meaning “to set up or to establish”, “to set up” and “to
establish” should also be added as acceptable answers, I originally thought this meant to plant trees until I happened to look it up.

上台 - As a suggestion, I think “to rise to power” should be a visible alternative answer as 上台 is used for both its theatre usage and in the more general/political sense.

名气 – add “reputation”

HSK 5 missing words

筑 - add “to construct” as an acceptable answer

16

HSK 4 missing words

The last lesson, Level 47, is missing (the pinyin lesson for level 46)
*Level added

卫 – allow “hygiene” by itself as an acceptable answer. Currently, only “to defend” and “(also: hygiene)” are acceptable.
*This seems to be a ‘memrise’ problem. The alt hygiene was already there. Solution: cleaned up the ‘(also:)’. The main definition is now ‘hygiene’ and ‘to defend’ is a visible alt.

伙 – add “partner”
*done. Couldn’t find any reason to keep ‘assistant’ as the main definition so it is changed to ‘companion’ with ‘partner’ as a visible alt.

一分钱一分货 – should change “一” pronounced as yi1 or at least “yi1 fen1 qian2 yi1 fen1 huo4” as an alternative
I admit that it is rather annoying but this is taken from the official book:

20170714_154034.jpg3821×1141 803 KB

I will investigate further.

课程 – pinyin should be ke4 cheng2, not ke2 cheng4
*done

喜爱 – allow alternate spelling “favorite”
*done

色彩 – allow alternate spelling “color”
*Alt already exists

饮食 – allow “diet”
*done

拐 - add “to turn” (currently only “turn” is accepted)
*done. Main definition is now ‘to turn’ and ‘turn’ is a hidden alt

实话 - add “truth” (currently only “the truth” is accepted)
*done

树立 - though “to plant” makes sense as meaning “to set up or to establish”, “to set up” and “to
establish” should also be added as acceptable answers, I originally thought this meant to plant trees until I happened to look it up.
*done. Couldn’t find any basis for the definition ‘to plant’. Main definition changed to ‘to set up’ with ‘to establish’ as a visible alt.

上台 - As a suggestion, I think “to rise to power” should be a visible alternative answer as 上台 is used for both its theatre usage and in the more general/political sense.
*done

名气 – add “reputation”
*done

HSK 5 missing words
筑 - add “to construct” as an acceptable answer
*done

SoL

P.S. I don’t need lesson numbers for vocabulary courses as I edit the database directly. Lesson numbers are only needed for courses with sentences.

17

If you wish to be a contributor to my masterclass course then you should add me on skype so I can explain my philosophy when it comes to altering courses. I have been through the course and added acceptable alts for all '他‘ and ’她‘ sentences (both should be accepted as correct answers). I have obviously missed many sentences out.

SoL

P.S. the HSK masterclass has applications far beyond that of HSK 4. I would recommend even HSK 6 students to take the course.

18

Hsk level 4 course now live:

https://www.memrise.com/course/1420060/hsk-level-4-sentences-for-pictures/

SoL

19

A1.1 - 41
我太太现在没有工作 ／ 外婆，妻子
*done. (hidden)

A1.1 - 45
你们都学中文吗 ／汉语
*done. (hidden)

A1.1 - 47
你们两个都学中文吗 ／汉语
*done. (hidden)

我和我老公都是美国人 ／ 丈夫
*done. (hidden)

我和我太太都在上海 ／ 外婆，妻子
*done. (hidden)

A1.1 - 49
我也想学中文 ／ 汉语
*done. (hidden)

A1.1 - 53
我太太也是 ／ 外婆，妻子
*done. (hidden)

A1.1 - 55
Inconsistent order on 和, maybe there is a rule I havn’t learned yet.
You and I -> 你和我
None of us (both he and I) -> 他和我
He and I -> 我和他

Previous levels always had 我和我的… but here we have one with the other way around. Is there a rule or does both way work? Either way some of them should change to accept the other way around
我的朋友和我都喜欢中国菜
*done. (hidden). There is no rule here just the inconsistency of the examples from CGW. Let me know if this problem is solved.

我的英语和汉语都很好 ／英文，中文
*done. (hidden)

A1.1 - 57
冰的还是热的 - Is 冷的 correct here as well?
*Most probably but I will have to make sure.

A1.1 - 59
这是水还是酒 - Either change the English to alcohol or accept 葡萄酒
*done. (hidden)

A1.1 - 71
Accept all three forms of weekdays 星期，周 and 礼拜

A1.2 - 6
我女儿会说英语 ／ 英文

A1.2 - 11
这个用中文怎么说？那个呢？／ 汉语

我知道你会说中文。你老公呢？／ 汉语，丈夫

A1.2 - 26
他有一个太太 ／ 外婆，妻子

A1.2 - 29
我家的小狗叫Logan
Our family dog is called Logan
Either remove 小 or change dog to puppy. Also, our family ／ 我家, should probably have a change or accept other entries, my family/我们
*小狗 doesn’t actually mean puppy, it means ‘a small dog’. The thing here is that due to China’s one child policy, many women bought a dog instead of having a second child. They bought the most manageable of dogs - the small dog. There was a huge boom in the dog industry but it consisted of only toy dogs. Now they are everywhere and are called 小狗 as a pose to 大狗 in reference to size. Regardless of this I know the problem is real and will need time to contemplate the best course of action before changing anything. Also, please note that 我们 here is unsuitable because it would imply ‘our’. Lastly, the character 家 is misrepresented here as ‘family’ when it is better translated as ‘home’. All translations come from CGW so careful consideration should be taken before directly changing anything.

A1.3 - 9
我今年要学中文 ／ 汉语

A1.3 - 13
他会说中文 ／ 汉语

A1.3 - 15
他不会说中文 ／ 汉语

A1.3 - 17
你能学好中文吗？ ／ 汉语

A1.3 - 19
上课的时候不能说英文 ／ 英文

A1.3 - 19
他要学中文 ／ 汉语

我要请你们来我家
I want to invite you to come to my home
The ‘you’ could be either 你们 or 你

20

Chinese, A12: fixed two broken video links and added a new video - suggestions with “ba” - level 13.

SoL