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 Language Learning Forum : Members profiles |  | |
| Maux Diglot Newbie Netherlands Joined 4616 days ago 37 posts - 51 votes  Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: Mandarin | Message 1 of 3 28 March 2012 at 8:46pm | IP Logged |
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I just signed up, so I thought I'd first post a short introduction.
For the past while, I've been trying to learn Mandarin, mostly through self study. Still, I quickly found that I was lacking a systematic method for tackling the problem. One that I could apply on a consistent basis, and that would test my discipline. This led me to read through a lot of material on the topic of learning languages in general; both contemporary sources, as well as several gems from the pre 1950's. Most importantly, I found out about this community of (hyper)polyglots, serving as proof that great accomplishments may be achieved in this domain. While the thought of pursuing a life as a polyglot fascinates me, I first want to prove myself that I can learn Mandarin on my own before I tackle anything else. With all the reading I've been doing on behaviorist methodology, I ultimately settled on trying something a little different. Having read through Iversen's threads on his study methods, I found his approach to the problem to excites me the most. Being a native Dutch speaker, I was also impressed by what he managed to achieve in this language through self study alone, all the while also working on many other languages. While I will probably not follow all of his advice to the letter, I'm going to build a study regimen around his recommendations and see where it gets me. (Interestingly, once you're at a point where learning new Chinese characters isn't a problem anymore, I've found they serve very well as a mnemonic when studying word lists according to Iversen's method.) Edited by Maux on 28 March 2012 at 8:52pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6694 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 3 29 March 2012 at 10:10am | IP Logged |
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Thank you for the reference to my methods. I have not studied Chinese myself, but it is clear that the Chinese writing system make certain adjustments necessary. I know that some members here have used my wordlist layout with added columns, i.e. the first column has words are written with Chinese signs, the next the Pinyin version, the third a translation, and then the fourth and fifth would have respectively Pinyin and Chinese signs.
When I visited Taiwan in February I speculated about how I would do if I decided to learn Chinese (which isn't realistic right now), and I was pretty sure that I would have to use Pinyin as some kind of bridge between the ideograms and vocabulary and grammar. Or in other words: I would learn Chinese through two separate processes, one for the writing and one for the language, with Pinyin as the glue that tied them together. But if you already now feel that the ideograms can function as mnemonics for both sound and meaning then you are already one important step ahead in the process. Good luck with your studies. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Maux Diglot Newbie Netherlands Joined 4616 days ago 37 posts - 51 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: Mandarin | Message 3 of 3 29 March 2012 at 11:53am | IP Logged |
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Thank you very much for the advice. I've been doubting as to whether I should also write down the Pinyin or not,
but so far I still seem to have good retention even if I don't. Nonetheless, the adaptation you mention might be a good idea to try out. Because I'm still encountering a lot of new characters, I'm limiting myself to only two blocks of new words a day (12-14 total). It might go slow at the beginning, but by the time I catch up with both my total character and word counts I should be able to go beyond. In addition, I think it's also a matter of training my memory skills. If I keep this up every day, it should become easier for me over time. I also liked your idea of doing hyperliteral translations. It forces one to slow down and pay close attention to the particular way in which the target language formulates everything. I will be sure to incorporate this into my intensive reading sessions. There's plenty of people who first keep their character studies entirely separate. I think this would be a good strategy to use, but my love for the characters has made me put them at the center of my studies. I do have to confess though that I'm doing simplified. At first, I will content myself with learning to write simplified, studying traditional afterwards. Again, many thanks. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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