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Eric’s Mandarin Log (see post 1 for course list) | ||
Tags: Mandarin | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
 newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6228 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes  Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 17 of 141 04 July 2010 at 5:07pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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OK, this log is pretty embarrassing. I started it three years ago and didn't get far. But this is one of the reasons I am resurrecting it - to shame myself into tackling Mandarin head on. I have no excuses now. I'm living in Singapore and am exposed to a ton of Mandarin everyday at work and at home.
My main challenge will be finding the time to actively study every day. I have a demanding job and a 1-year old son (who is going to breeze on pass me if I don't get cracking soon). Another challenge is to not become language-lazy. That is, I have to minimize the time I spend on other fun and "easy" languages like Italian, French, etc. Here are my initial short terms plans. I'll re-kindle Chinese With Ease. I've gotten through about 35 lessons. I'll couple this with the Pimsleur course. I am also thinking about re-starting Mathews' Learning Chinese Characters. My goal is to get through Chinese With Ease and Pimsleur by the end of the year. That would work out to completing about one Pimsleur and one Assimil lesson every other day. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5696 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 18 of 141 04 July 2010 at 6:10pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I have discovered this log for the first time, so I wish you good luck with getting into a good study rhythm of Mandarin Chinese again.
Fasulye 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6228 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 19 of 141 05 July 2010 at 3:00am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Thanks, Fasulye! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6228 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 20 of 141 05 July 2010 at 3:07am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I forgot to mention that since my last log entry 3 years ago, I finished the Michel Thomas beginner and advanced Mandarin course. The course is extremely useful in explaining the tones. So it's a good first step if you find tones to be a little intimidating. ASIDE: These two courses sell at an outrageous price in the local book stores. I bought them from amazon instead and even with the shipping costs I saved a couple houndred dollars.
I've reviewed the first 7 lessons of Assimil with no problems. As is usually the case the first 7 lessons of Assimil are basic and spoken very slowly (then repeated at a quicker pace). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5696 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 21 of 141 05 July 2010 at 2:23pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Yes, that's the same with Assimil Turkish. For me the first 6 lessons were even too slow, as I started Assimil Turkish with a lot of previous knowledge. The 7 th lesson is a grammar lesson - and later every other 7 th lesson will be a grammar lesson, too. Fasulye 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Hobbema Senior Member United States Joined 5590 days ago 541 posts - 575 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Portuguese, French, Dutch | Message 22 of 141 06 July 2010 at 8:50pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Go for it...a little insanity might be just the thing to keep those annoying guys away who try to sell you stuff at intersections. :) Good luck working with the tone contours. I myself am starting Thai and they've got me just a little bit freaked. But I wish you the best with the Mandarin! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6228 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 23 of 141 07 July 2010 at 5:24am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Ha, I've thrown any sensibilities that I had to the wind since then - yesterday I did a Pimsleur lesson along a popular walking path.
Thanks! I'm following your Thai progress as well. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6228 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 24 of 141 07 July 2010 at 5:35am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I've reviewed lessons 8 - 14 of Chinese With Ease. It's not very challenging yet since I remember almost all of the vocabulary from my first attempts. I will for sure continue Assimil to the end of the passive wave, but I don't think I will do the active wave. I've never found the active wave to work for me. I'll move onto another program instead, maybe FSI or DeFrancis's readers.
I also finished the first 2 Pimsleur lessons. Again, pretty straightforward stuff since I've done these a while ago. I know I will be hitting a brick wall soon though... I'm also bugging my wife to write down lyrics to a CD of Chinese children songs that we have been listening to forever with our son in the car. It's helping me with vocabulary although it doesn't exactly have the most useful words at this point in my studies. Every song seems to be about a frog or a duck, and there is one about a grasshopper marrying a butterfly's sister. Edited by newyorkeric on 07 July 2010 at 6:38pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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