Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6088 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin
| Message 1 of 84 21 December 2013 at 3:50pm | IP Logged |
This will be my log for Mandarin. This language is pretty big and I’ll be studying it for a few years – I decided to get started!
Why Mandarin?
I started learning Mandarin October, 2013. At first I was debating whether to re-learn Japanese, but the cries to learn Japanese are not as loud as they once were and I don’t see myself ever having the rapport with the Japanese language and culture as I once did. I’ll return to Japanese one day, but I’m betting that there will be more potential to use Mandarin now. So here I am, determined to learn this language from the ground up.
Remembering the Characters
For the first year of learning Mandarin, I have Heisig’s Remembering the Kanji (RTK). If you compare this book with his Remembering Traditional Hanzi, they’re pretty much the same book with some variations here and there. So I have no qualms about using RTK to start learning Chinese characters. I managed to get through half of the book once, and I can still recall some keywords and stories. I never really succeeded in learning all of them, but after 4 years of not doing Japanese, I’m surprised at how many of those stories I still remember. So RTK will serve as a start. I may have to get another book later because I know that I there will be hard times ahead, especially once I start to amass more vocabulary. Some of these words are not easy. For instance, looking at a lesson 18 from Assimil, it’s really hard to make a connection between a halberd from the 14th century and the word “relax” 舒. I have to imagine some bloke relaxing in his cottage with the halberd propped up behind the door. Be that as it may, I just have to work with it a bit longer.
For the second year of learning Mandarin I've decided to quit using Heisig. I'm using the "Ziel HSK 3" workbook which requires a lot of repetitive writing.
Speaking:
The first year: This language is completely new to me. The tonal aspects make it really tricky and this is why I do shadowing, as the good Professor Arguelles demonstrates in his videos. I go outside and articulate out loud in a militarized fashion and everything. I think the folks who walk their dogs early in the morning have gotten used to me by now, or maybe just the dogs have gotten used to me.
The second year: I took a break from shadowing during the summer of 2014 when I started jogging again. Jogging was more fun than what I was shadowing so I gave into jogging and stopped speaking. Then I hurt my back. Now I'm back to walking and shadowing -- see how it all works out? ;) I try to go out twice a day because it's great for my listening/speaking skills and for my health as well.
Links and resources
Hanping Chinese Dictionary (free version)
HSK-Prüfung bei der Konfuzius Institut Frankfurt testing center for the HSK
www.chinesetest.cn place to register for the HSK and see test results
Chinese Grammar Wiki keeps me from spending more money on grammar books
Mandarin Pop-up Add-on for Firefox
Edited by Sunja on 06 December 2014 at 6:03pm
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Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6088 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin
| Message 2 of 84 21 December 2013 at 4:07pm | IP Logged |
Yearly Study Plan and Benchmarks
First year of Mandarin 2014: I’ve set myself a lofty goal of 1,000 words. Of course, for Mandarin that’s not many is it? I’ve read that 3,100 words are necessary to read 80% of a text. I’ve got a long way to go. Let's get started:
Grammar:
e̶n̶d̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶F̶e̶b̶r̶u̶a̶r̶y̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶i̶s̶h̶ ̶A̶s̶s̶i̶m̶i̶l̶ ̶b̶o̶o̶k̶ ̶1̶,
"Vorbereitung HSK-Prüfung -- HSK2"
completed!
Benchmark 1:
March 16, 2014, HSK 2 in Frankfurt (passive knowledge of 360 characters) completed!
total score received 141/200pts: listening 86/100, reading 55/100,
Chinese Breeze books:
"Whom do you like more?" (level 1/300 words)
"Two Children Seeking the Joy Bridge" (level 1/300 words)level 1 completed!
"̶Secrets of a Computer Company" (level 2/500 words)
"I Really Want to Find Her" (level 2/500 words)level 2 completed!
Grammar:
Chinese Grammar Wiki A2 Grammar Points List completed!
Graded Readers:
Graded Chinese Reader 500 wordscompleted!
Second year of Mandarin 2015: Well, I've fallen short of my goal for 2014 but I'm still pushing a good 500-600 words. I'm still "beginner" but I'm solid. I don't have any goal chiseled in stone other than sitting the HSK 3 -- obviously HSK 4 will be the next step. It's dubious as to whether I will reach that level by the end of 2015, due to the fact that each level packs on more vocabulary, more nuance. I'm more careful at setting goals this year. Here's what I have to work with:
Reading Comprehension:
"Ziel HSK 3" Mandarin short stories with vocabulary and grammar for the HSK 3
"Ziel HSK 3" workbook to accompany the short stories
"Ziel HSK 4" Mandarin short stories with vocabulary and grammar for the HSK 4
"Ziel HSK 4" workbook to accompany the short stories
Test Training:
Vorbereitung HSK 3, preparation book for the test
Success With (the) New HSK (Level 3), 6 simulated tests
Chinese Breeze books:
"The Painted Skin" (level 3/750 words)
"The Third Eye" (level 3/750 words)
Edited by Sunja on 06 December 2014 at 6:11pm
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Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6088 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin
| Message 3 of 84 22 December 2013 at 9:51am | IP Logged |
I'm still on the lessons that are introducing the grammar
shi......de
kuai.....le
I've been studying three lessons per week since October and it was quite comfortable. Now that the lessons are getting longer (three pages if I include the grammar notes), I'm starting to sweat a bit. If I copy the three lessons I fill up two pages of graph paper. That's about 75 sentences per day. I never manage that amount during the week, but the weekends I can manage all 75+.
Here's Lesson 24:
礼拜天 你 作什么 ?
我还不知道
要不要跟我们一起进城去 ?
去南京路看看
那儿有什么好看的 ?
那儿有很多商店
什么商店?
各种各样的商店都有
有百货商店马 ?
有也有书店,也有饭馆儿
很有意思。我跟你们一起去吧
There's two sets of exercises after that. The last set is fill-in-the-blank and in pinyin only. I try to write out the characters from the pinyin, so it's a good test.
The shadowing is the easiest part, aside from the first day or so where I'm really tongue-tied and in pure awe of all the different sound combinations that I have to memorize. By the time I make it to Friday, I can repeat each sentence without trouble. The problem is, sometimes I can't connect with the written, so I don't know what I'm saying -- again, 3 lessons might be too much. I'll wait until after christmas to decide whether or not I should cut back to 2 lessons.
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smallwhite Pentaglot Senior Member Australia Joined 5311 days ago 537 posts - 1045 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin, French, Spanish
| Message 4 of 84 22 December 2013 at 2:16pm | IP Logged |
今天是礼拜天。
我去了饭馆,也去了看商店。
沒有去书店,去了图书馆。
Und Sie?
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Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6088 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin
| Message 5 of 84 22 December 2013 at 4:58pm | IP Logged |
smallwhite, 欢迎!
我会一点儿。可是,
请你告诉我怎么写对。
我不去了饭馆,我不去了商店
商店都关门。这儿很安静。
昨天去了饭馆。都很好吃。
明天我进城卖去。
真想到百货商店去买圣诞节的礼物。
I'm still not sure about the use of "le" -- the lesson is new :)
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smallwhite Pentaglot Senior Member Australia Joined 5311 days ago 537 posts - 1045 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin, French, Spanish
| Message 6 of 84 22 December 2013 at 6:12pm | IP Logged |
Hi, Sunja!
I can't 写 Standard Mandarin well, so I can't 告诉你 much.
I have a female friend called 舒舒 and the name sounds very sweet and soothing.
舒 means more "sooth" than "relax" to me, so that might help you remember the sound of it.
Edited by smallwhite on 22 December 2013 at 6:13pm
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Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6088 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin
| Message 7 of 84 23 December 2013 at 1:18pm | IP Logged |
I'll remember that now, thanks! "sooth" is a more comforting word. They used the word "Wohlbefinden" in my German Assimil for 舒服
So many words. Maybe if there's a lull in the holiday cheer I can review some of my previous lessons, too. I could use a review right about now. My short-term memory is full.
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Silbermond Diglot Groupie United Kingdom xuexisprachen.wordprRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4359 days ago 64 posts - 79 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Mandarin, Italian, Spanish
| Message 8 of 84 01 January 2014 at 11:57pm | IP Logged |
你好Sunja!
新年快乐!你怎么样?
You've only been learning since October? That's so impressive; I think in the first few months that I learned I wouldn't have come anywhere near reading those sentences, haha!
So yes, I definitely look forward to being on a team with you this year, you look so motivated about this!~
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