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A newbie sets out: Braving Mandarin. | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| eggcluck Senior Member China Joined 4699 days ago 168 posts - 278 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Japanese | Message 41 of 94 07 February 2012 at 2:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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It has been study wise an unproductive last four days. During the weekend study fell completely by the wayside and afterwards I have been unsuccessful in trying to get the flow going again.
Still stalling with the language exchange with no signs of anything picking up there, in a desperate move to find just someone I have know started contacting people via the couch surfing website. Hopefully I will find someone there more inclined to be a bit more active. I finally concluded operation barbershop today and went to the barbershop here in China. It did not go so well...after circling round a particular barbers for a while, it closed so off I went to circle round another. After 1.5 of indecisiveness I finally ventured inside. Only to choke and fail to get a word out ( this includes just saying hello!) after 15 minutes of fumbling with stuttered finger gestures I got a hair cut...while I look silly, at least it is not too ridiculous :(. So that another failure to add to a rapidly growing pile, it is certainly not easy to put in so much effort and yet all I seem to be doing is growing a mountain of failure. Though on my wandering I stumbled upon a public firework display, 20 solid minutes of what looks to be the most expensive fireworks available accompanied by what I can only describe as a 50 foot high 70 foot long wall of fire and explosions. Turns that this day was some some sort of nation holiday, I seem to becoming quite skilled at missing these days. Now the trip to Hong Kong is looming, the last guy to be sent ended up sleeping on a park bench in the rain and only just got what he needed to do done. Now it is my time and they are giving me even less time. I hope at least it does not rain when I go...though I need to figure out how to get to the airport first! Naturally given my disaster at a simple barber shop I do not fancy my chances. Not that the last 4 days were a total waste, a co-worker helped me get my pronunciation of the r sound right. Given how it is made, I do not think I would have been ever been able to work it out myself, when I think of sounds lips, throat and tongue come to mind, never teeth, which in this case was where I was going wrong. Seems multiple partners at least where I am is a cultural norm. I made at passing comment to some bar staff about the ex-pats who have multiple partners several already married ( I mentioned about the partners never accepting this back in those sort of countries) etc etc. I was prompted to make this comment after being told the girl who was crying to her “boyfriend” was sad because he was going to marry one of his other girlfriends even though he likes her more. After making my comment to the bar staff, the concept of “only one” did not seem to register nor could they get there heads around it and were quite happy to spend a few minutes telling me why multiple partners was better for everyone, which is why I now think multiple partners is a cultural thing here now. Not that it helps my studies in any I just thought it was an interesting observation. Current status: Assimil - Shadowing lessons 56-75 All else - nothing done (Excepting SRS reviews, I do not want to be facing down another monster reivew pile. I would rather just uninstall the whole lot if that were to happen again). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5957 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 42 of 94 08 February 2012 at 5:43am | IP Logged | ||
Since you're having difficulties talking to native speakers face to face, look into shaping yourself. I did that. It will look something like this....Right now aim for super short phrases like good morning, good-bye, hello, etc with native speakers whom you already know who will react positively. Greeting them in Mandarin and having the rest of the conversation in English counts as a success. You will slowly build on this, and I mean sloooowly. When shaping, most people try to go too fast which backfires. Your aim is to have a pleasant, comfortable experience saying a few Mandarin words. That's all. When you can do that multiple times a day with different people, feel comfortable and actually energized, then consider the next step. Don't try longer face to face conversations for now. That sounds odd, but this is about changing your mindset which takes time. When is your trip to Hong Kong? Edited by Snowflake on 08 February 2012 at 5:46am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| eggcluck Senior Member China Joined 4699 days ago 168 posts - 278 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Japanese | Message 43 of 94 08 February 2012 at 3:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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The trip to Hong will occur from the 22nd of Febuary. FIrst I will need to find my way to Shanghai and then try and find my way to Pudong airport from there. The compnay ain't giving me anymore details untill the 21st, something I find quite annoying.
I will certainly giving this shaping ago, but the only native I have contact with are shopkeepers and it would be too expnsive going to shops all day! I thought about just trying to say hello to people on the street, though I think I mentioned previously that the locals are not particulary friendly, I have no idea how that would go. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| eggcluck Senior Member China Joined 4699 days ago 168 posts - 278 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Japanese | Message 44 of 94 08 February 2012 at 3:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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Another slow study day, though this time it was purposely so. I feel the need to stop and recharge my batteries a bit as it were. While I still studied it was a rather low intensity day of my minimal Assimil quota and a few more Hanzi from RTH. The rest of the time was spent just watching internet videos on China's version of you tube.
I am quite happy that I can catch at least one word in every sentence now there are quite a few words that I feel I somehow know but still do not quite understand. After taking a note of the Chinese subtitles, sure enough they are words I have studied before that have evidently not quite sunk in. I think it will be just a matter of revisiting these words since they are quite high frequency and lots of program watching, as long as I stay aware of them will eventually brute force them into my realm of passive understanding. Well at least I hope so. Since I quite like the particular series I was watching and it has Chinese subtitles I feel it is a good candidate for some more intensive observations via the pause/replay button! Though the page is bookmarked that will have to sit on the back burner for now as I have quite a few projects to get through already. Tomorrow brings a day of city hoping to those blasted others , though I hope once that it out the I can knuckle down and start doing my best to prepare for trying to find my way to and around Hong Kong. Still if I can make a reasonable successful of the impending trip then hopefully I can get some momentum going from it. Current Status -Assimil - Shadowing lessons 62-77 - Scriptorium lessons 58- 60 RTH frame 326 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5957 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 45 of 94 09 February 2012 at 4:20am | IP Logged | ||
Isn't your boss a native speaker? Is every single person in your office an ex-pat? You sloooowly start out. It's not something you do all day. I started out saying good morning or maybe good-bye to one person each day. Sometimes days were skipped as opportunities were missed ...eg we had already passed by each other when I remembered to say something. Update: in case someone thinks these beginning steps are too tiny, checking my notes, this very modest start resulted in being comfortable speaking face-to-face with native speakers for about 5 minutes, 4-6 weeks later. I didn't shy away, had no avoidance behaviors starting a conversation... readily initiated a conversation. Edited by Snowflake on 09 February 2012 at 6:05am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| eggcluck Senior Member China Joined 4699 days ago 168 posts - 278 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Japanese | Message 46 of 94 10 February 2012 at 4:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well the last few days have been free and easy, not that, that was the intention. The trip took longer than expected and has resulted in me continuing with this light study routine. Given the advent of the weekend I suspect this will contine for a few days.
Though the day out, has made been begin to wonder if anyone listens when I try to utter some Chinese or if they just turn off their ears and assume I am speakign in English. A pack of Fags was left behind, given the way it was asked I assumed it was one of the staff of the particular venue where I happened to be bowling. Now My Chinese is terrible but I am sure I am quite capabable of saying the equivalent of "is this yours" She also pointed out that 才 (at least round here) is never used and if I tried to use it in the way Assimil teachers no one would understand me. Instead I have to use 只有. However saying that resulted in me, being given a drink, offered a light, being given directions to the nearest toilet. Turns outs the guy who they belonged to was next to me the whole time....turnip. Still bemused by it, I uttered what I said to the local bar keep and asked her what it means. She told me it means, " is this yours?" ^^, go figure! At the train station I asked for a ticket back home ( Kunshan) and was given a ticket for Shanghai instead! While the train does untilmately go to Shanggai, you need the exact ticket for your stop or you can not get out of the station. So I ventured back to the end of the ticket line and once getting back to the same kiosk before I could say anything the attendent gave me the correct ticket, again go figure! At least the taxis went smoothly though I can not say the name of the location of where I live, though this is due to me not knowing my address and I currently have no idea of how to find out what my address is. I just use the location of a place nearby and walk it from there. Current Status - Assimil - Shadowing lessons 63 - 78 - Scriptorium lessons 58-60 RTH - frame 350 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| eggcluck Senior Member China Joined 4699 days ago 168 posts - 278 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Japanese | Message 47 of 94 12 February 2012 at 3:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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As expected this weekend resulted in light study. Though I managed to get a little done. I have kept on top of the SRS beast, it now seems like it is starting to become pacified however the number of reviews is still quite high for my liking.
What I did manage to do however was to watch plenty of TV. While the long works days leave my head all squishy, it is not too squishy for ogling the brain drain box. I recognise words in the subtitles now that I have never studied before. I hope that is a good sign of at least a little improvement despite the small amount of study I have done over the past week. Here I wrote several paragraphs about a baptism of fire type lesson about work culture. Then I remembered while I am writing this log primarily to see what I have tried and track progress for my own purposes., I am doing it publicly ( thus removing the paragraphs, save for this one which will act as a reminder to me) in order to make sure I do study and try things so I have something to write fairly regular and not look for excuses to slack off. I have a lofty goal, and a very large personality obstacle hurdle that I must surmount if I am able to meet that goal. No doubt it is one others have faced and overcome and so there is no reason why I can no do it with some effort, it would be easy to make excuses about why for me it is “different” (which the Chinese seem to be fond of very much), but that would be defeatist. Despite its prominence for some reason I have only just become aware of the TAC, while I am not part of it, I do intended to put in an effort worthy of the challenge. While it would be easy to drone on about my 5 hours plus study days, in the end it means nothing if I am unable to get to grips with the required social aspects. I feel most people when they start learning a language think about vocabulary, sounds and grammar, yet almost no attention is given to what is now is to me a glaringly obvious fact that a very important part of any effective study regimen has to include a social aspect. Currrent status - writing this in a bar drinking tea so I have no idea! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| eggcluck Senior Member China Joined 4699 days ago 168 posts - 278 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Japanese | Message 48 of 94 14 February 2012 at 3:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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At last finally was able to put in a more through day of study after the lull. Though I was wondering if I would have been able to. As I was getting ready to indulge in some study the boss summoned me to the aforementioned shopping trip.
I was quite happy though, it was just what I needed. The bosses ability to use English is very limited and most of the 3 hour session was spent with me trying me best to muddle through with my horrible Chinese. The personal barrier that usually stops me trying to speak was removed due to the acquaintance. Naturally anything I said was superficial though it felt good to just be able to say something and be understood. These last few days I have also been unusually well fed. So I am currently on an up of my constant up and down life in China. I have no idea how long this up will last, most likely up till the point of when the shadow of the Hong Kong trip looming over me becomes more concrete. I also watched the last episode of the most bearable TV I could find via the Chinese you tube. For those that do not know of it I will put a link at the end of this post. I must say the ending was a bit of a let down, judging by the large number of negative votes and comments from people either saying they fell asleep I am not alone in this! Nevertheless it is re-watch able. When I find some time to start dissecting the episodes then I will probably just omit the last episode. I can not see myself having the will power to be able to do an intensive study session of that. My Gold list experiment continues with the first “distillation” . Early days yet to form an opinion since the easy words I removed I have covered umpteen times in the assimil books. It will be more interesting when it gets to the words mentioned only once or twice in passing. www.Youku.com Current Status Assimil -Shadowing - lessons 65-80 (YAY!) - Scriptorium 61-63 - Assimil method lesson 42 - lessons 36-42 added to background listening Pimsleur - lesson 14 RTH Frame 430 1 person has voted this message useful |
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