Analog: 1, Digital: 0.

This is one reason I never go outside without a small pocket-size notebook and a pen in hand.

Removed my translations since Moonspeaker clearly does a better job at it.

Reader-added tags include "Nice one, Sanae-san", "An all-too-capable wife", and "Key Item: Memo Pad".

Take note of today's survey:

What write memos on?
• Memo pad
• Flyers lying around
• Cell phone's memo app
• Arm
• Corner of my original art

I was quite glad the hotels we stayed at in China had taxi directions in Chinese on the backs of their door lock cards.

OverlordLaharl said:

Removed my translations since Moonspeaker clearly does a better job at it.

Actually, you knowing Chinese was a distinct advantage, and I appreciate you jumping in to help. I just wanted to try to get the Chinese pronunciation to emphasize that the driver's speaking another language. The main snag there was the character 哪, which I can't find in my usual Japanese kanji resource and I don't know how to look up in a Chinese hanzi resource. Seeing your proper translations did reassure me that I'd picked good phrasing for the English, so thank you.

Moonspeaker said:

The main snag there was the character 哪, which I can't find in my usual Japanese kanji resource and I don't know how to look up in a Chinese hanzi resource.

Yup, it's almost impossible to look up any Chinese characters if you don't know its pronunciation.

And just for the record, Mizuki-sensei is using the wrong script. The first panel should be
目的地是哪裏?

Because Taiwan + traditional chinese.

Surbey asks:

What write memos on?
• Memo pad
• Corner of my original art

The back pages of my sketchbook kinda turned into a memo pad... Though, there isn't really much "art" in these back pages.

OverlordLaharl said:

Yup, it's almost impossible to look up any Chinese characters if you don't know its pronunciation.

And just for the record, Mizuki-sensei is using the wrong script. The first panel should be
目的地是哪裏?

Because Taiwan + traditional chinese.

Duly TN'd, thanks.

The "lǐ" (里) is still there at the end, btw. Currently, there are only five characters spoken in the translated note.

AKRA said:

The "lǐ" (里) is still there at the end, btw. Currently, there are only five characters spoken in the translated note.

So it is. So much for me doing a "better job"...

@Moonspeaker: If you're on Windows, "Microsoft Pinyin New Experience Input Style" comes with an IME Pad option, allowing you to search for hanzi by radical and the number of strokes remaining. You can also configure it to add on a handwriting option (like the Japanese version), which allows you to write both Traditional and Simplified Chinese hanzi with your mouse.

Copy-pasting the relevant hanzi in an online dictionary should give you the correct pronunciation, but beware of hanzi with multiple pronunciation (in which case it's better to copy-and-paste an entire hanzi-cluster phrase, similar to Japanese kanji phrases).

On a 64-bit OS, the handwriting applet has a nasty tendency to disappear though (stupid M$ forgot to port in that function from 32-bit to 64-bit), so you'll have to readd it from time to time (readding will force the 32-bit version to run again, at least for a while).

IIRC, Traditional Chinese input also has a similar function, but getting the handwriting recognition to work again when it goes kaput is more of a pain.

--

Side note, heh, the problem faced by Kogasa can also be an issue even for native Chinese speakers, especially when esoteric place names are involved. This goes double if said esoteric hanzi is written in the traditional script (for people familiar with simplified) or vice versa.

We have a joke that goes "youbian du bian, meibian du zhongjian." "If there's something to the side to the radical then read that, otherwise just read whatever is in the center."

NNescio said:
Side note, heh, the problem faced by Kogasa can also be an issue even for native Chinese speakers, especially when esoteric place names are involved. This goes double if said esoteric hanzi is written in the traditional script (for people familiar with simplified) or vice versa.

We have a joke that goes "youbian du bian, meibian du zhongjian." "If there's something to the side to the radical then read that, otherwise just read whatever is in the center."

Some traditional hanzi is not far off from its simplified counterpart so it's still manageable, but in most cases yes it's a big issue. And also words like 裏(li) and 裹(guo), if you don't pay very good attention to the hanzi you'll most likely be mistaken of the real meaning, since usually in Chinese, difference in just one hanzi can lead to two completely different meanings.

Side note2: Eagerly waiting the moment for Kogasauthor to arrive at Kaohsiung so we can hear him 'mispronounce' it as "Takao".

NNescio said:

@Moonspeaker: If you're on Windows, "Microsoft Pinyin New Experience Input Style" comes with an IME Pad option, allowing you to search for hanzi by radical and the number of strokes remaining. You can also configure it to add on a handwriting option (like the Japanese version), which allows you to write both Traditional and Simplified Chinese hanzi with your mouse.

--

Not on Windows normally, I'm afraid. I wouldn't trust my ability to hand-write strokes correctly with a mouse, either.