A MarketPlace of Ideas                        

单   Single – different than the number 1

双   Pairs – different than the number 2  – looks like 2 people walking side by side

三   triple = three – degenerates to the number

四   quadruple = four – degenerates to the number

TaoBao is a chinese ebay like website.  They have on their front page a list of categories.  I am using it to learn chinese characters.

I am recording what I do here on my 电脑 ( electric brain aka computer )

电 – electric

脑 – brain

Arroto is the portuguese word for burp.  It is pronounce more or less like A HOOT.  This explains the phrase " I do not give a hoot " ….you are saying " I do not give a burp ".  Which in some societies is given as an aprobation of a meal.

A great way to learn a language.  The subject is limited and a visual acompanies the speech.

I want to be able to read Japanese and Chinese.  To that end I am taking a few notes here on the subject.

• Remembering the Kanji in Wikipedia
• Flash cards that accompany Heisigs book

• Common Kanji Characters
• The 1945 Obligatory Characters
• Kanji Flash Cards
• 500 Kanji Characters in printable form

Have a native speaker translate the following into their language:

• The apple is red
• It is John’s apple
• I give John the apple
• We want to give him the apple
• He gives it to John
• She gives it to him

Translate into past present and future tense in the target language.  It allows you to deconstruct the target language grammar. 

ReadWrite Kanji 1.3

Since I have installed the global translator plugin I want to be able to view the chinese entries rendered it would normally meant to be seen. To do this I need to enable the rendering of the character set.  This is my webpage where I note the various things I find.  No working solution yet! 

Viewing Chinese Webpages when using OS= Windows with Windows Explorer

• Installing east asian language support under windows  

Both of the major browsers can support Chinese without any other programs. All you need is the right font, and there are many good free fonts you can download. The best method is to download Microsoft’s language packs and input methods for Simplified and Traditional Chinese.

Microsoft Global Input Method Editors (IMEs)  – This pack is "free" if you have a qualifying microsoft office product. 

Additional information at  Creating Chinese Web Pages

When I was learning portuguese I found that it helped to listen to catchy music. The technique is to select a song you really love and listen to it alot.  That way I engaged that part of my mind that repeats catchy tunes endlessly whether I like it or not.  In english songs this drives me absolutely crazy.  However when I use it with portuguese it allows for an effortless learning technique.  Currently I am teaching english to my Brazilian girlfriend.  After she said the singer spoke to quickly I recorded me speaking the lines of the song 1 by 1 for her.   Because of the nature of portuguese speakers habits of pronounciation the recordings are optimized for a portuguese speaker.  I repeat the words where a portuguese speaker has trouble that arise from rules of portuguese pronounciation conflicting english ones.  See if you like the learning technique. The original song is here so you can listen with music at full speed.  Entire song spoken slowly              

Try to spell diary

While you do this get a vivid image of the last time you had diarhea

When I did this I kept spelling dairy