"九十"
Translation:ninety
59 Comments
The number system in Chinese cannot be simpler:
1. The number from 1 to 9 is 一二三四五六七八九
2. The number 10 is 十
3. For 20, 30, 40, you just use simple combinations: 二十，三十，四十, etc.
4. 21 is 二十一, 35 is 三十五, 99 is 九十九, just like this.
1843
Agreed! See also https://playthink.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/gladwell-why-asianchildren-are-better-at-maths/
The article is now private. I found another one related to the topic: http://blog.mlive.com/neurotic_mom/2009/04/i_just_finished_reading_outlie.html
Just change the order: 10 is 十，11 is 十一， 12 is 十二，etc， but 21 would be 二十，or 31 would be 三十
It's not as simple as flipping the characters, even thoigh flipping thr Arabic numerals works. To get 12, you take 10 and 2 (十二) and 21 is 2, 10, and 1 (二十一).
I think 20 is =+ Sorry, I'm using my phone and don't have access to the special characters. What I mean is, you would write the symbol for two followed by the symbol for ten
Some if these lessons aren't teaching what numbers they are...just the character and how it sounds...but not digits such as 1, 2, 3, etc...
Duolingo tends to tech through trial and error. So it'll say what the character is and then let you figure out what it means. Although more often than not you can just hover over the character and see a possible meaning
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I believe the digits are the same. However, I don't think they use this kind of digits that much since they have their own way of representing numbers
So far I'm finding the course excellent for teaching the characters, and particularly the tones. I like the way they put several words together which use the same tone, so you can get used to the way it sounds. But like other people I'm frustrated by the lack of explanation about what the words actually mean. So you're learning the sound, the tone and the character, but you've no idea what the word means. It's not true that you can hover over the words and see what they mean, or at least only as a kind of afterthought right at the end of each lesson.
You can do it (hover or click, mostly click), but only in lessons, not in level-passing.
That is what is annoying about these activities. I mean fluency is more important than accuracy at first. They should introduce the characters later. The only way to learn is when you get something wrong since you are seeing it for the first time. Makes no sense
I disagree - I like seeing the characters too. What annoys me is the fact that the sounds and characters are given without the meaning, which you can only see right at the end of each lesson. I want to know the meaning as soon as each sound or character is introduced - and it's not true you can see it by hovering over it.
Maybe you could try a resource like https://www.memrise.com/course/177397/heisigs-remembering-the-simplified-hanzi/. There’s a lot of requests for more pinyin and character explanation. Pinyin feels quite unhelpful to me. Google translate will show it. Likewise there’s this character familiarization theory of Heisig that says the look and feel of characters and the way they are composed from primatives is familiarized best without sound. I’m not sure about this - mainly bc from what I’ve seen the character’s context is more important than their bare meaning. But there may be something to accustoming the eye to the look of characters. Duo can’t do everything - context characters vocabulary tones grammar discussion stroke training etc - it’s too much. Ppl should prob expect to supplement with outside resources to keep the course focused. For what it’s doing - Chinese in context - this course seems great. Haven't gone far yet but I’ve been blown away - esp by the user discussions. I’d say hang in there!
I changed to this because it is teaching characters as it goes. I've tried other ways starting with just pinyin and it's not as good, and I've tried with learning to write characters properly (including correct stroke order). That is a waste. Day to day, you won't write characters - you will listen, you will speak, you will read, and you will type the pinyin with a keyboard and select the correct characters that come up.
I took Chinese for 2 years in college and most written Chinese is impossible to read when hand written if you do not know proper stroke order however. So while in the beginning not very important, it is in the long run.
I really wish duo would put the meaning of the sound/character more prominently in the lessons. I might be able to associate the character and sound of yi1 but it doesn't really teach what it means, which is kinda the point
It accepted 9 as an answer. Don't know if this is the appropriate place to point this out!
You should report it by clicking or tapping the flag when you submit an answer.
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So on the mobile version one would report it as "My answer should not have been accepted"? XD
First step should be learning the 4 tones and understanding "pinyin" (how characters sound, how they are read), then you should try to memorize the symbols (characters). I would start with the numbers. Good luck!
I belive that duolingo is doing a great job, however, I think it could be a little more eaiser
