NickJS Senior Member United Kingdom flickr.com/photos/sg Joined 4950 days ago 264 posts - 334 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese
| Message 33 of 107 02 May 2011 at 10:16pm | IP Logged |
I've just been reading your posts, they are very inspiring as I'm just starting out
learning Mandarin myself.
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Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5950 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin
| Message 34 of 107 03 May 2011 at 12:39am | IP Logged |
Britomartis wrote:
I love CLO. I'm still at the level where they have plenty of English, but I peeked ahead and noticed that it very rapidly reduces English use. And even at the start, it has much less English than other podcasts. There was one I reviewed with just kept rambling in English unnecessarily. |
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The amount of English in podcasts can be pretty dismaying. I remember trying a sample podcast on one site. Half-way through I still hadn't heard any Mandarin. It turned out the entire thing was in English; They were talking about an aspect of life in the mainland. I use podcasts to hear Mandarin, not English!
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Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5950 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin
| Message 35 of 107 03 May 2011 at 12:44am | IP Logged |
Aerozeplyn, with the school term closing and the native speakers around you going home....and you don't mind hearing Christian material, check out whether your town has any Mandarin speaking churches.
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aerozeplyn Senior Member United States Joined 5139 days ago 141 posts - 202 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin
| Message 36 of 107 03 May 2011 at 6:54am | IP Logged |
NickJS thank you for your kind words, i really appreciate them :) if you haven't already, you should check out irrationale's mandarin learning blog. it is very inspiring to read...and lots of good information:
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=12024&PN=5
Snowflake, thank you again for all of the suggestions :) even though i am not a religious person at all, that is a great idea. the body responds very well to positive messages...definitely makes learning easier :)
Btw, while I am writing this comment, I am also listening to 快乐汉语 (kuai4le4 han4yu2) on youtube. i guess this is also a good opportunity for me to acquire some passive listening :) Anyhoo, i am on a mission to finish Pimsleur level 3 before Li Fei...so off i go!
Edited by aerozeplyn on 06 February 2013 at 10:31am
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NickJS Senior Member United Kingdom flickr.com/photos/sg Joined 4950 days ago 264 posts - 334 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese
| Message 37 of 107 03 May 2011 at 4:52pm | IP Logged |
aerozeplyn wrote:
NickJS thank you for your kind words, i really appreciate them :)
if you haven't already, you should check out
irrationale's mandarin learning blog. it is very inspiring to read...and lots of good
information:
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=12024&PN=5
Snowflake, thank you again for all of the suggestions :) even though i am not a
religious person at all, that is a great
idea. the body responds very well to positive messages...definitely makes learning
easier :)
Btw, while I am writing this comment, I am also listening to 快乐汉语 (kuai4le4 han4yu2)
on youtube. i guess this is
also a good opportunity for me to acquire some passive listening :) Anyhoo, i am on a
mission to finish Pimsleur
level 3 before Li Fei...so off i go! |
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Excellent, I'll be sure to check that blog out =]!
Edited by NickJS on 03 May 2011 at 4:53pm
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aerozeplyn Senior Member United States Joined 5139 days ago 141 posts - 202 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin
| Message 38 of 107 12 May 2011 at 9:19am | IP Logged |
Within the last hour, I finished 160-something reps in ANKI (for my Pimsleur drills) and I finished FSI's biographic
module tape 2P-2. So far, this pretty much tells me where my weaknesses are as far as producing Mandarin
based on what Pimsleur Level 3 has exposed to me. However, I am doing quite well in the Pimsleur world :) I am
currently studying Unit 20, but I could easily see myself starting to do 1 unit a day again. Maybe.
As far as FSI, unit 2's 2nd production tape was a lot of fun! I really like how FSI works...a lot. In fact, every
moment I have worked with FSI has been challenging and rewarding. Information seems to have stuck much
better with me for everything that I studied with FSI. Perhaps the reasons for this are FSI's monotonous, hypnotic
voices? Seriously, I can feel it sinking in my brain as I am listening...
Just for the record: recently I often listen to FSI's comprehension tapes as I am laying down to sleep.
Anyhoo, so far I am happy with my progress, even though I can't believe how long Pimsleur 3 is taking me to
finish. I just gotta really dedicate some time; and this past week--according to my "Chinese Progress"
spreadsheet--has been much less productive than I anticipated. This has a lot to do with my health being worse
than it has ever been for the past 6 years.... sooo... gotta give my body some love before the language learning I
guess :)
Also, I don't think I ever mentioned that I setup a little goal for myself. I was looking at an "assessment" grid for
language proficiency, and I determined that I may be "A2" for my Mandarin listening and reading. Somewhere
between the high A1 and low A2 for my Spoken Interaction, Spoken Production, and Writing :) I'm just not sure
how reliable the source of this assessment grid that I looked at, but I came up with a little goal for myself. That
goal is to reach B1 with Understanding/Speaking Mandarin by August 2011. I plan on reaching this goal my
cranking out more FSI, iMandarin Pod, and maybe some Chinese Pod again... :) Maybe I can get to B2 by the end
of the year; who knows!
I look forward to writing in here in the future...
Edited by aerozeplyn on 12 May 2011 at 9:21am
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Li Fei Pro Member United States Joined 5114 days ago 147 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map
| Message 39 of 107 14 May 2011 at 12:49am | IP Logged |
You make me feel tempted to look into FSI. But no; must finish Pimsleur 3 first. Did my first go at lesson 21
today and I must say I am growing fond of Mr. Carter, with his love of flowers and ancient cities. You?
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aerozeplyn Senior Member United States Joined 5139 days ago 141 posts - 202 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin
| Message 40 of 107 15 May 2011 at 8:09am | IP Logged |
Heya Li Fei!
Just to let you know--along with anyone else working out of Pimsleur--FSI is totally something you could jump
into while working on Pimsleur. The resource module (FSI) is EXCELLENT for pronunciation. it is especially good
for getting Chinese numbers more engrained into your head. If you went farther into the Module 1 and Module 2,
you would find that not only did Pimsleur already cover a high portion of this material, but you'll also find that
the Production and Drill tapes REALLY test your current skills! :)
It's a lot of fun...and very organized.
Just wanted to share that with ya...because FSI rules.
and coming soon: more on my progress.
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