Different words which share the same character are listed as separate words, but when tested on the character it's difficult to know which m
As an example, the character 空 takes both the meanings "empty" (kong1) and "free time" (kong4). In the wordlists, these are separate words. When I'm being tested on the character It's not obvious which meaning Memrise is looking for, and you get marked wrong if you didn't pick the right one.
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I'm having the same issue. Working my way through the excellent Mandarin Survivalcourse. There are two characters that look identical, but have a differentmeaning. They are profession (hang2) and okay (xing2). Can anybody suggest away I can differentiate between these two characters? ThanksJagged
Posted by Jagged 2/17/12 (1 year ago)I'm having the same issue. Working my way through the excellent Mandarin Survivalcourse. There are two characters that look identical, but have a differentmeaning. They are profession (hang2) and okay (xing2). Can anybody suggest away I can differentiate between these two characters? ThanksJagged
Posted by Jagged 2/17/12 (1 year ago)Currently you have to use the parts of speech that appear just above the term being tested: 'empty' is 'adjt; xing' (I don't know what xing means here) and 'free time' is a noun. It's not ideal; there was a thread that discussed this recently: http://www.memrise.com/forum/m...
Posted by Azimuth 2/18/12 (1 year ago)Currently you have to use the parts of speech that appear just above the term being tested: 'empty' is 'adjt; xing' (I don't know what xing means here) and 'free time' is a noun. It's not ideal; there was a thread that discussed this recently: http://www.memrise.com/forum/m...
Posted by Azimuth 2/18/12 (1 year ago)The two characters are identical, but there are two different pronunciations. the part of speech can give you a clue on that one - "professions" is only listed as a noun, with okay as a verb and a noun (it has other meanings as well). But if you answer "profession" for "okay" you should be marked correct, and vice versa - is that not happening? I will look into it at once if not.Thanks!Ben
Posted by benwhately 2/18/12 (1 year ago)The two characters are identical, but there are two different pronunciations. the part of speech can give you a clue on that one - "professions" is only listed as a noun, with okay as a verb and a noun (it has other meanings as well). But if you answer "profession" for "okay" you should be marked correct, and vice versa - is that not happening? I will look into it at once if not.Thanks!Ben
Posted by benwhately 2/18/12 (1 year ago)You can answer either of "okay" or "profession" for the character 行 last time I checked. I just had a look at the thread that Azimuth linked to, and it seems like you guys are already making progress with reducing ambiguity, so I'll wait for the next update :)Thanks for your hard work!
Posted by r7ll 2/18/12 (1 year ago)You can answer either of "okay" or "profession" for the character 行 last time I checked. I just had a look at the thread that Azimuth linked to, and it seems like you guys are already making progress with reducing ambiguity, so I'll wait for the next update :)Thanks for your hard work!
Posted by r7ll 2/18/12 (1 year ago)Yeah, they help sometimes, but I just had 系come up, with part of speech "verb;noun". Now I know that character can mean "department" (xi4) or "to fasten" (ji4), so knowing the part of speech wasn't terribly helpful here :(
Posted by r7ll 2/18/12 (1 year ago)Yeah, they help sometimes, but I just had 系come up, with part of speech "verb;noun". Now I know that character can mean "department" (xi4) or "to fasten" (ji4), so knowing the part of speech wasn't terribly helpful here :(
Posted by r7ll 2/18/12 (1 year ago)I agree, it doesn't always help.
Posted by Azimuth 2/18/12 (1 year ago)I agree, it doesn't always help.
Posted by Azimuth 2/18/12 (1 year ago)Thanks for the reply both. I think currently it marks as incorrect when answerring "profession" as "okay" or vise versa, but this is probably a good thing. I will take more notice of the pronunciation. Cheers Jared
Posted by Jagged 2/19/12 (1 year ago)Thanks for the reply both. I think currently it marks as incorrect when answerring "profession" as "okay" or vise versa, but this is probably a good thing. I will take more notice of the pronunciation. Cheers Jared
Posted by Jagged 2/19/12 (1 year ago)The character 看 is a perfect example of this problem. When pronounced as "kan1" it means "to look after". When pronounced as "kan4" it means "to look". Both are verbs, and only verbs. When I get tested on 看 there is no way for me to know which it is. If I enter "to see" for "kan4", it marks it as correct. But if I enter "to see" for "kan1", it marks it as "nearly".I think the best thing would be to accept both answers for both. However, I don't think the solution is to add "to see" as alternate English for "kan1" because "kan1" never means that.
Posted by phylae 2/26/12 (1 year ago)The character 看 is a perfect example of this problem. When pronounced as "kan1" it means "to look after". When pronounced as "kan4" it means "to look". Both are verbs, and only verbs. When I get tested on 看 there is no way for me to know which it is. If I enter "to see" for "kan4", it marks it as correct. But if I enter "to see" for "kan1", it marks it as "nearly".I think the best thing would be to accept both answers for both. However, I don't think the solution is to add "to see" as alternate English for "kan1" because "kan1" never means that.
Posted by phylae 2/26/12 (1 year ago)You are completely right and this is very frustrating. It should work that either answer is accepted, but that it clearly not working properly at the moment. We are going to get this fixed really soon. Apologies for the annoyance until it is sorted out.
Posted by benwhately 2/27/12 (1 year ago)You are completely right and this is very frustrating. It should work that either answer is accepted, but that it clearly not working properly at the moment. We are going to get this fixed really soon. Apologies for the annoyance until it is sorted out.
Posted by benwhately 2/27/12 (1 year ago)It's great to know it is being worked on. Thanks.
Posted by phylae 2/27/12 (1 year ago)It's great to know it is being worked on. Thanks.
Posted by phylae 2/27/12 (1 year ago)Why not having "Other meaning expected" result and prompt again for that other meaning? The student would be conforted by the fact that he wasn't wrong, but that there is yet another meaning. It would actually be that way with a teacher at an oral exam.
Posted by valdor 3/17/12 (1 year ago)I agree with valdor's comment above. That would be a good way to do it.
Posted by Azimuth 3/19/12 (1 year ago)Encountering this with 着 (zhao2 and zhe5) -- the two different meanings have NO parts of speech labelled, and they are both in my rotation (and have been for about a month). I continuously guess wrong (because it is a blind 50/50 chance of being right), so they have never solidified themselves in my garden. However, I do know them both pretty well now ;))
Posted by saltome 3/27/12 (1 year ago)@saltome Exactly so! I find the words that I have been unjustly marked wrong for I tend to remember better. The momentary indignation suffered seems to root the word in my memory much better than any mem. Maybe this is deliberate feature :P
Posted by r7ll 3/27/12 (1 year ago)@saltome - I've marked 着 zhao2 as a 'verb; particle' and zhe5 as 'particle' only. This should be a useful hint at least, so you're not just guessing blind. I also changed the primary meaning of zhao2 to 'completed action' and added some alternative meanings - hope this helps.
(Also, I found this page quite useful in explaining the differences between the two, in particular the post by renzhe: http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/27248-usage-of-着/pageviewfindpostp222340)
Posted by Azimuth 3/28/12 (1 year ago)Pretty sure that the 'xing/hang' problem is only when you type in pinyin. When you write okay/profession it doesn't seem to mind.
Posted by rmwonderchief 5/21/12 (1 year ago)