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I'm trying out LanguageCrush which tracks your vocabulary while reading and watching videos (kind of like LingQ, but I'm able to use the free version). The feature I like is how it keeps track of how much I've read. However, there's not much Chinese content on LanguageCrush. I can upload plaintext content, but I shouldn't violate copyright (NB. I don't have a deep understanding of international copyright laws).

So...

Question: Where can I get Chinese reading materials to copy/paste into LanguageCrush?

I've thought to copy/past Chinese Wikipedia pages, but I'm not sure how useful the content is (and I hear a lot of it is "translatese" anyway). Another option would be to get e.g. ChatGPT to generate content.

Ideally the content would be useful for someone studying for the HSK6, so using a semi-formal style, and including uncontroversial topics such as pop science, Chinese ancient history, architecture, geography, or those kind of "chicken soup for the soul" style stories.

Rebecca J. Stones
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  • If you place content into a private LanguageCrush account, does it get republished anywhere? I suppose it's more of a legal concept, but if you are copy/pasting material you already own or are licensed to have (such as borrowing a library book), then the fact that you're copy/pasting to a private-use tool (presumably LanguageCrush keeps your data private by default), then it should really be no different from a copyright perspective than copy/pasting into your own private Word or LibreOffice document. – Brandin Oct 24 '23 at 05:31
  • So I tried it, and indeed you can unselect "Yes, make it available in the library", and it looks like this reading still counts towards your statistics. So this means you can upload copyrighted materials without it being a big deal, provided you have a plaintext. – Rebecca J. Stones Oct 25 '23 at 06:11

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Maybe trying some elementary school Chinese textbooks isn't a bad idea. I assume that the Grade 4 Chinese textbooks are a little difficult for non native speakers, maybe.

jimmy frank
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Recently, I've been using Zhihu which is sometimes described as "Chinese Quora". As I understand, it has a question recommendation system based on your interests and previous interactions.

It has a diversity of articles with a variety of writing styles and different lengths, which means you'll encounter new, modern vocabulary. Questions can get thousands of answers, so you can get useful repetition too. One article I just read was:

面试官：您捡到9000元，失主说少了1000，您怎么解决？
Interviewer: You found 9000 yuan, but the person who lost it says it's short 1000 yuan; what do you do?

This is an open-ended question, good for eliciting all sorts of interesting responses.

Admittedly, the copyright isn't as uncomplicated as, say, Stack Exchange. However, you can untick the LanguageCrush option:

Yes, make it available in the library

and this avoids copyright issues.

I logged into Zhihu using WeChat 微信, so it likely requires some kind of Chinese account.

Rebecca J. Stones
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It depends on "which" Chinese do you want to learn(or read). For instance, I'm a Mainland Chinese native speaker and I can't even read the Cantonese newspaper in Hongkong(some characters is totally different with mainland-- it doesn't mean simplied character vs traditional, Cantonese character is a dialect which is totally different with the mandarin). Some usage is also different between mainland and Taiwan and Hongkong.

ToadetteK
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  • Welcome to LL.SE! The answer (and similar ones) would be improved by also adding some resources as asked for in the question, maybe to illustrate how different they can be. – Tommi Dec 19 '23 at 20:37