Comments on: Evernote Launches Separate Chinese Service

By: KenJones

KenJones — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 04:11:00 +0000

Part two. How do you say it in English???
The third and fourth characters are 笔记 or almost exactly BeeGee, as in the Brothers Gibb, except the tone isn’t the same. (The BeeGee name incidentally is two fourth tones, but it’s not Chinese.) It’s written bi ji. The first part of 笔记 is “bee” in third tone, which starts at a medium pitch then drops to a gutteral growl before rising again, as we might hear the sound drop and rise again when we say “oh, really?” especially if we didn’t believe him when our son told us he wasn’t there, didn’t do it and didn’t even know about the [fill in the blank]. Got it? That’s third tone. FInally (at last) the ji is spoken gee, as in haw (sorry, obscure reference there) in fourth tone, angry, falling pitch
.There. That was easy.
Ken

By: KenJones

KenJones — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 03:57:00 +0000

Since someone asked about pronouncing the name, I’ll give it a try. There are four parts to the name. I’ll take them one at a time. First 印 is written yin and spoken in the fourth tone, which means it is falling from a higher than usual pitch to a low pitch, as you might say a word in angry-command-voice Come Here, *Now!*– Now falls in pitch. The sound is very close to the British English “been” or American “bean” but without the initial “B”.
Use the same tone of voice (falling) for the second part, 象 pronounced something close to shee-ahng, but all at once. I type it in two parts because “eea” isn’t English, as far as I know. Anyway, the initial sound (the “she” part) is spoken with the lips pulled back tightly (like an agressive smile, with a mouth full of teeth all visible) so that the escaping “sh” noise exits the mouth from all across the front, not through pursed lips as we say “she.” There is no English equivalent AFAIK. The final part sounds close to “ahhng” with a little more of the “n” noticeable before becoming the “ng” sound. Not easy to do. To say this two-part word, lower your head abruptly as you say each sound, and you’ll get the tone to fall properly. If you sound a little angry, you’ve got it. 印象 means “impression” as in “I have a good impression of him.”
Stay tuned, there’s more.

By: KenJones

KenJones — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 03:33:00 +0000

Does the Chinese service include the ability to encrypt selections of text within a note? …and if so, is it strong?

By: LITMK

LITMK — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 16:28:16 +0000

What about a data centre in Hong Kong? Wouldn’t that increase speed while avoiding coming under mainland law?

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 09:04:33 +0000

Okay I’ve created an Yinxiang account but when I open Evernote on the Mac it doesn’t let me log in. What am I doing wrong?

I’m in China, I’m able to log into the Web version of the app. I also have an international account and have no issues logging using that account.

I’d like to use the Chinese version for faster speed access to notes and files.

By: Freshair

Freshair — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 08:49:47 +0000

I don´t live in China. I installed the international version on my Computer, but yinxiang biji on my ipad. But after I read your post, that my data will be stored in China, I uninstalled yinxiang biji immediately. But when I try to install Evernote international version on my ipad. It always shows that it is yinxiang biji. How can I uninstall yinxiang biji totally from ipad, so that I can use the international version on all my devices. If I´m not sure, that my data won´t be stored in China, I wouldn´t use Evernote any more.

By: Michael Tavernaro

Michael Tavernaro — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 10:19:40 +0000

Would be interesting to know, if someone can share to facebook using the international version in China.

Anyway for a company, which wants success in China, the only way in China is the chinese way.

By: Andrew Sinkov

Andrew Sinkov — Sun, 13 May 2012 19:42:07 +0000

Thanks Benjamin. Yinxiang Biji Premium will be available very soon.

By: Benjamin

Benjamin — Fri, 11 May 2012 21:13:04 +0000

As a Chinese Evernote user, I’m so happy to see the native version of Evernote in China and will make the switch as soon as possible. I will test to see if it’s any faster and report back. But please also make the premium service available so I can upload all of my notes. 60MB allowance is just to small for most people to make the switch, I think.

By: Deverill

Deverill — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:34:59 +0000

This is very exciting. I am happy our Chinese friends can access a faster service. I applaud your solution – even though it’s a bit confusing for existing Evernote users and that they have to move their notes to Yinxiang Biji to take advantage of it, I think it’s a great solution for speed issues.

I am also impressed with your handling of the “political” ramifications. The Chinese government shouldn’t be unhappy with a local service, the Evernote users don’t have to fear that data is stored in a Chinese data center which could be ordered open to the government. And most importantly, you are able to provide the blessing of remember everything to more users without frustrating speed issues.

Wins all around the table. Well done.

By the way, how do you phonetically pronounce Yinxiang Biji so I don’t have some crazy pronunciation stuck in my head when I read it?