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Chinese Odyssey 2024 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6580 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 49 of 169 24 June 2011 at 8:34am | IP Logged |
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http://fyan8.com/yyjb.htm
All in simplified, I'm afraid. Still, very useful. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| zhanglong Senior Member United States Joined 4927 days ago 322 posts - 427 votes Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 50 of 169 28 June 2011 at 2:45am | IP Logged |
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Mandarin
Interestingly enough, the more I study, the deeper the water seems to be. I have taken an assessment examination and discovered that at most, my Mandarin is at an A2 level, and that's only for oral/aural Chinese. I have learned the vocabulary of the new HSK Level 1. I am working on HSK Level 2 now. Cantonese I am barely at A1. While I can recognize many of the cognates in Mandarin and my "accent" is good, I am far away from my B2 listening goal. Going forward, this is my plan. 1) heavily increase my input. For the next two days, I will get the necessary building blocks of vocabulary and grammar seared into my brain. 2) practice with native speakers on a regular basis. My Mandarin class is a lot of fun, but it only meets twice a week. I now have Mandarin and Cantonese study partners... To get to B2 in Mandarin and B1 in Cantonese will take some doing, but I'm surprised at how much ten minutes a day of focused attention, consistently applied, can glean. Edited by zhanglong on 02 July 2011 at 2:58am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| hkboy Groupie Hong Kong Joined 5674 days ago 65 posts - 86 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Cantonese, Mandarin | Message 51 of 169 28 June 2011 at 5:11am | IP Logged |
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I'm glad you keep updating your log. I enjoy finding out how you are making out. I'd be interested in hearing how you utilize your study partners. Do you do speaking practice or do you have a specific lesson?
My comprehension is getting better and better but still needs a lot more time. Keep up the good work! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| zhanglong Senior Member United States Joined 4927 days ago 322 posts - 427 votes Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 52 of 169 28 June 2011 at 6:36am | IP Logged |
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Thanks! I was about to head to Hong Kong this morning, but I had so many other things to do that I had to stay put.
As for the speaking partners: they are not language teachers themselves, so I have to plan a lesson for myself and then ask them about it. They judge my grammar and pronunciation, but like most native speakers of a language, they won't know why something is what it is. It just "sounds better" this way versus that way. My strategy is to hear something somewhere, write it down, practice it, and then ask a native speaker if I have it right. If so, then I check a formal reference to see if there is a rule I can generalize about the structure or it is just a one-off idiom. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| zhanglong Senior Member United States Joined 4927 days ago 322 posts - 427 votes Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 53 of 169 02 July 2011 at 2:53am | IP Logged |
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Mandarin:
I went to Mandarin class and while in class developed a drill to remember the prepositions of place and location. The night before, I went out with my friends and asked them how to ask for directions, e.g. how to turn left and right, cross the street, and tell someone when you've arrived. I'm ready for the taxi drivers now! Cantonese: As Mandarin fills up the empty space between my ears, my Cantonese is suffering. My first formal meeting with my Cantonese study partner is next week, but my trip to Hong Kong is in two days. I need to solidify my understanding of the subset of Cantonese that I know have so that I can at least carry on a very basic conversation. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| zhanglong Senior Member United States Joined 4927 days ago 322 posts - 427 votes Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 54 of 169 04 July 2011 at 2:40pm | IP Logged |
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Mandarin
My Mandarin accent is such that native speakers think that I am C1, or that I am better than I really am. Or...maybe they are just being polite. I'm able to use Mandarin in many daily situations. Grammatically, daily speech doesn't require incredibly complex constructions, but vocabulary is the major stumbling block. I make learning the HSK Levels 1-4 a priority, but there are so many other words one needs, so I have several vocabulary lists that overlap each other. One set is the list of vocabulary for the textbook we are using in class, one set is the HSK list of words, one set is the list of words for my actual environment, like place names and local items. While the first two lists remain static, the last one keeps growing. I still don't have a handle on all of it, but the more I use it, the easier it is getting to recognize them when others speak to me. Cantonese The upper management at my job are Cantonese. They just asked me to speak to them and said that my accent is better than some native, northern Chinese at the company. Ruh-roh! When I spoke to my friend, however, we spent 3 minutes on the correct pronunciation of 我。 I suspect a native speaker will really think I am garbling their language beyond recognition and are being polite to the westerner trying to learn their mother tongue. No matter. As long as I can understand what they are saying, that's my first hurdle. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| zhanglong Senior Member United States Joined 4927 days ago 322 posts - 427 votes Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 55 of 169 14 July 2011 at 2:02am | IP Logged |
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Time flies!
I am concentrating now almost exclusively on listening and speaking Chinese rather than writing it. My twice weekly class provides us with so much useful vocabulary, it is hard to keep up sometimes. Mandarin I was tested informally and have achieved A2 level in Mandarin. I will take a more extensive and formal test soon. Cantonese I am speaking with native speakers more regularly, but I want to formalize a routine with them so that I can make faster progess. On August 1st, I will begin the reading and writing part of my training. Edited by zhanglong on 14 July 2011 at 2:03am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| zhanglong Senior Member United States Joined 4927 days ago 322 posts - 427 votes Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 56 of 169 09 September 2011 at 1:16pm | IP Logged |
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I haven't updated this log in some time now. I've been so busy with other things, but I came to China to learn Cantonese, so I must remember why I'm here.
Mandarin ...continues to be the lingua franca for everyone I meet here. I am slowly understanding the intricacies of Mandarin grammar and trying not to confuse myself with Cantonese. Today I learned the differences between 的， 地，and 得。 Cantonese ...I seem to be wasting time with flashcard programs that are merely translations of Mandarin software. In other words, there is no 系 or 佢 characters in many programs that purport to teach Cantonese. Cantonese is not Mandarin. They look similar, but they are two different languages. I wish modern software makers would recognize that. I'm also trying to avoid the distractions of fun languages such as Shan Tou Hua, Shanghai Hua, and Toisan Hua. Two tonal languages at a time are enough. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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