Flashcards with multiple definitions/pronunciations/senses for a Chinese character?

[increpare]

For the medieval dictionary, searching for 那 brings up three different entries (na, naX, and naH - see image 1). For flashcard-purposes, I would really want all three to be on the backside of a card with 那 on the front (as headword). Right now I just add all three definitions and have three separate flashcards all with front-side 那, and have to remember that the back-sides are incomplete. Is there a workaround for this?

 

[mikelove]

Yes - if you look in the 'entry body' section of each card you'll see a {{}} link to the definition; copy and paste all of those into a single card and it'll have all three definitions (though you'll have to decide what you want to do about the reading part).

 

[increpare]

Thanks for the quick reply. I'll see if I can get used to it! (I'm surprised by how unergonomic that is - I would have assumed it would be a common use-case. )

I see some cards already were somehow compounded together - I had a flashcard for 為 that looked like this:

I really don't think I write that entry body, though? I deleted the card, and tried adding it back and it only added one of the entries.

Has there been some work on the medieval dictionary separating out the entries over the past few months? That might explain it...

 

[mikelove]

No, they've always been separated. What about if you just aggregate the {{pleco:e?}} bits? You don't have to write anything, just copy and paste those links into a single card, and you can ignore the `py` stuff and the --s (those are used to label each separate definition with its associated Pinyin, but if you're only worried about Classical Chinese then that probably doesn't matter)

 

[increpare]

I can aggregate them by hand, yip (i create two cards, paste the text from one into the other, then delete it), I'm just confused about how I managed to get a nicely-formatted aggregate version before. I don't remember tweaking cards.

Looking at another old card that has two definitions attached to it, 王 (
`py:wang2`{.-w_zho .-se}

{{pleco:e?d=PSDC&e=00018280}}

---

`py:wang4`{.-w_zho .-se}

{{pleco:e?d=PSDC&e=00018281}}), when I search for 王 in the dictionary I see that both entries have the "I have a flaschard" +-symbol next to them in the search results:

Whereas my hand-aggregated 為 (with entry body "{{pleco:e?d=PSDC&e=000184B0}}

---

{{pleco:e?d=PSDC&e=000184B1}}") only has a + next to the first entry.

I also notice that the card for 王 has no pronunciation fields set (deleting the pronunciation fields from 為 doesn't make a difference though it seems).

I'm confused how these older multiple-pronunciation cards came to be, why they seem to retain links to multiple entries while the cards I make don't, and why I don't seem to be able to automatically produce them anymore (I believe I used to be able to to do).

 

[mikelove]

It will make a nice aggregated card automatically if you create a card from multiple entries with non-matching fields, for example on a text import, or even from a dictionary search if it wasn't spitting on those particular fields. Basically it looks at whatever combination of entries it's being asked to make a card from, and for any field that differs it blanks it in the main card + inserts it above each embedded definition. (it's supposed to then pull the text from those embedded fields to show you the reading when you test on the card, but that's bugged at the moment)

Deleting the pronunciation field will cause it to automatically generate pronunciation (whatever the most common one is for that character) rather than leaving it blank; to get the same behavior as an aggregated card, you'd want to put a blank space in that field instead. Doing that will also fix the lack of a [+] next to the entries; if a card has a specific pronunciation associated with it, it will only appear with a [+] for dictionary entries that match that pronunciation, while if there's no pronunciation, it will match against any where the characters match.

Does that make sense? I know it's a lot, but it was honestly the least confusing way we could come up with to juggle a) people wanting to make cards with multiple senses/readings on a single card with b) the fact that in a whole lot of other places in Pleco, cards need to match up nicely with dictionary entries, and those do have to to be separated by reading so that if you enter wang2 you won't get the definition for wang4. But two things we still need to improve are:

a) pulling those separated readings into the 'reading' section of the card, as I mentioned; and
b) making it easier to do this manually without futzing around with copy-and-pasting a bunch of Markdown

 

[mikelove]

Actually, I forgot to mention: an easier way to make a card like this right now is with the 'remap' function in Card Info. Specifically:

1) Create a card for the character, making sure to leave the pinyin field a blank space.
2) In the info tab, pick SCM or whatever in "Remap to Dictionary" and then tap "Apply Remap Now."

That will make an aggregated card from all of the entries in that dictionary that match the current card text, so if the pinyin is blank it'll take every pinyin.