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Midlife Mom’s Mandarin Log: TAC Team 唐 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
 Li Fei Pro Member United States Joined 5116 days ago 147 posts - 182 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 1 of 149 22 December 2010 at 1:02am | IP Logged | ||
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I am a beginner in Mandarin, but motivated to make 2011 my big push for the language. I'm glad to have the
companionship of Team 唐 on the journey. Goals for 2011 1. Log at least 750 hours. Added to the 250 hours I've put in, that'll get me to my initial 1,000 hours of study. 2. A2 by August, when I travel to China with my ten-year-old. (I am barely A1 now.) 3. B1 by end of 2011 (as shown by passing HSK Level 3) Methods So far, I've used Pimsleur (almost through first set of 30 lessons); taken Basic Chinese I at my university; done a lot of flash cards; and I am trying to read some beginner texts like Chinese Breeze. Next, I plan to: -start Assimil's Chinese with Ease; -take the second university course if it runs (I'm a professor so can take classes for free); -continue with flash cards, reading, and movies; -resume Pimsleur, and do 2nd set if it seems like it will complement the Assimil. I might also look for a tutor or conversation partner, a bit of a challenge here in small-town Western Pennsylvania. In Fall 2011, I hope to help out some Chinese students who will be arriving at my university, perhaps offering them some English/writing help in exchange for conversation. My biggest motivation is my daughter, adopted from China at age 1. She's now nine and will be ten when we travel, and is getting interested in her heritage. We are excited about this first trip back to China and hope to spend more time there in the future. I'm teaching her some simple phrases and she's very good at imitating and remembering them--perhaps she remembers some Chinese from her first year in the deep recesses of her brain! Right now, I'm most interested in listening, speaking, and reading; writing characters is a challenge that I'm putting off. I do hope I can stick with this program and continue learning long past 2011. I've studied Latin, Spanish, and French in the past, all in the classroom, and none to anything near proficiency. This forum is proving very inspiring, and I hope keeping a log will help me to stay focused. Edited by Li Fei on 05 January 2011 at 3:27am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| jimbo Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6287 days ago 469 posts - 642 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Japanese, Latin | Message 2 of 149 22 December 2010 at 2:16am | IP Logged | ||
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Nothing like knowing you will be traveling to encourage you to study a bit harder. You can learn a lot between now and August. 加油！
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| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6543 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 3 of 149 22 December 2010 at 2:24am | IP Logged | ||
I've used both extensively on skype, but recommend tutors. You can get them for cheap by placing an ad in craigslist (10 usd/hr is plenty). Good luck Li Fei. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6135 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 4 of 149 22 December 2010 at 2:25am | IP Logged | ||
I definitely agree. It was a huge motivation for my Swahili earlier in the year knowing that I'd be going to Tanzania in July. Lots of luck! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Whitefish Diglot Groupie Canada Joined 5245 days ago 49 posts - 72 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 5 of 149 22 December 2010 at 1:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's exciting to see the first log for Team 唐 being posted.
Good luck Li Fei (though I'm sure you don't need it) and I'll be following your log to cheer you on. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Li Fei Pro Member United States Joined 5116 days ago 147 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 149 22 December 2010 at 2:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for all the encouragement!
@Jimbo: Yes, I am hoping to learn a lot before our August trip. No illusions that I"ll be fluent, but I want to be able to speak politely to people, especially those at my daughter's orphanage. I feel lucky to be on a team with you, since you already know Mandarin. How are your Cantonese studies going? Have you started? @leosmith: Good advice about craigslist for tutors. I am going to try it. The one guy I've spoken with is an hour away and charges $30 per hour . . . a little steep both in time and money. @ellesevia: I have read your whole log, so I know about your achievements with Swahili and many other languages. You're an inspiration! Trouble is, people like always make me want to pick up a few more languages . . . @Whitefiish: I am looking forward to seeing your log--how are your Mandarin studies coming along? Okay, off to enjoy my last day when (a) I am off work; and (b) my daughter is still in school. I have been trying to bank a few extra hours of study, knowing that family obligations are going to mount in the days ahead. I want to finish Pimsleur I by the end of 2011, but these last units are really hard. My usual 2X through are not always enough. Thank heavens I have a transcript; I learn better from seeing the words on paper. I also want to finish reviewing my Integrative Chinese textbook from the class I took (first half of book) before my Assimil text arrives from Amazon. I'm excited to get started on that. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jimbo Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6287 days ago 469 posts - 642 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Japanese, Latin | Message 7 of 149 23 December 2010 at 2:45am | IP Logged | ||
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I started Cantonese class on December 1 but I had been listening to some MP3s for a few months before that. Cantonese is a lot easier if you already know another Chinese "dialect" and/or a bunch of Chinese characters.
RE: Your August trip In addition to your work on the language, doing some background research into how stuff works would be helpful. Especially since you will be traveling with a child. If you're going to some place like Beijing or Shanghai, I wouldn't sweat it too much. If you're going to some small town in a remote province you'll obviously want to prepare more. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Li Fei Pro Member United States Joined 5116 days ago 147 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 8 of 149 23 December 2010 at 10:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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Today I downloaded a bunch of sentences and vocab from an HSK list in TrainChinese (my SRS program for iPad).
Also getting started on Assimil. It's very basic right now, but I do like the simplicity of the very short lessons with useful notes. Here was one that made a lot of sense to me: "Whenever possible during your study sessions, speak out loud, and repeat the sentences as if you were learning a tune by heart." That's exactly how Mandarin sentences sound to me: musical. Not in the pretty way of Italian, but more like a particular rhythm and (duh) tone. I like learning sentences rather than words alone for this reason, and I've started doing a little more shadowing to improve my abilities in this area. Have gotten somewhat distracted by the arrival of the Kato Lomb book Polyglot. It's inspiring! Whitefish, you would like her emphasis on reading. @Jimbo: I appreciate your warning about learning "how stuff works" before visiting China. We will spend a good part of our time in the Sichuan province, Chengdu area, and perhaps some time in Shanghai as well (great, two very different dialects/accents!). We will do most of our travel through an agency that organizes heritage tours for adopted kids, so I'm guessing they will grease the wheels for us . . . but any advice you have would be most welcome. Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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