Waski_the_Squirrel
Resident of the least visited state in the nation.
So I'm a bit of a nerd. (I suppose that is a given: I did major in Physics in college after all.)
Anyway, I've been very slowly learning Chinese, and I decided it was time to start on characters. (For those who don't know: Chinese doesn't have an alphabet. It uses symbols and combinations of symbols to represent concepts.) Naturally, I started out by making flashcards, along with lots of writing and rewriting. But then I got to wondering if the computer could print Chinese, especially if I used LaTeX or LyX. I make flashcards for review games in class with LyX, so why not for me? They look better than the handwritten version!
It turns out it is insanely easy, but hard to find. My computer lets me input Chinese characters in 4 different ways! One way involves sketching the character on my trackpad with my finger. How cool is that! Another involves the computer translating the Pinyin (phonetic spelling) to the character. Two others involve shortcuts on the keyboard for the strokes. I want to learn one of these as it's very fast, but it's too much until I learn more characters.
LyX and LaTeX provide 2 "fonts" for the characters. One looks like nice handwriting and the other looks more typed. So, I'm pretty excited. I can do the basics in a restaurant (if I talk), and I can now write numbers up to 6:
??????
I'm having a bit of a struggle remembering stroke order in 5 and 6, but I'll get there! Chinese is turning out to be quite an interesting challenge: it is so totally different from English that I really have to stretch my brain. Back when I taught myself German and Polish, I found it a lot easier, although I never mastered the cases in Polish. I wish I'd stayed in practice with those two languages, but I let life get in the way. I used to be able to read Polish, and converse in German, but it's gone now. Maybe after I get further with my Chinese I'll return to them. On the other hand, the changing demographics of my town suggest I should go back to my high school Spanish....
Anyway, I've been very slowly learning Chinese, and I decided it was time to start on characters. (For those who don't know: Chinese doesn't have an alphabet. It uses symbols and combinations of symbols to represent concepts.) Naturally, I started out by making flashcards, along with lots of writing and rewriting. But then I got to wondering if the computer could print Chinese, especially if I used LaTeX or LyX. I make flashcards for review games in class with LyX, so why not for me? They look better than the handwritten version!
It turns out it is insanely easy, but hard to find. My computer lets me input Chinese characters in 4 different ways! One way involves sketching the character on my trackpad with my finger. How cool is that! Another involves the computer translating the Pinyin (phonetic spelling) to the character. Two others involve shortcuts on the keyboard for the strokes. I want to learn one of these as it's very fast, but it's too much until I learn more characters.
LyX and LaTeX provide 2 "fonts" for the characters. One looks like nice handwriting and the other looks more typed. So, I'm pretty excited. I can do the basics in a restaurant (if I talk), and I can now write numbers up to 6:
??????
I'm having a bit of a struggle remembering stroke order in 5 and 6, but I'll get there! Chinese is turning out to be quite an interesting challenge: it is so totally different from English that I really have to stretch my brain. Back when I taught myself German and Polish, I found it a lot easier, although I never mastered the cases in Polish. I wish I'd stayed in practice with those two languages, but I let life get in the way. I used to be able to read Polish, and converse in German, but it's gone now. Maybe after I get further with my Chinese I'll return to them. On the other hand, the changing demographics of my town suggest I should go back to my high school Spanish....
Miss right-brained girl here took intro physics for one of my two scienes...the professor was so excellent that I made an A with a 98 average. I still remember that stuff! One of the best classes I ever had.