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Midlife Mom’s Mandarin Log: TAC Team 唐 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| jimbo Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6287 days ago 469 posts - 642 votes  Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Japanese, Latin | Message 57 of 149 12 February 2011 at 2:47am | IP Logged | ||
A trip to the gym in between study sessions might help cheer you up. (Personally, I hate going but I always feel better afterwards.) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| doviende Diglot Senior Member Canada languagefixatio Joined 5979 days ago 533 posts - 1245 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Spanish, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Hindi, Swedish, Portuguese | Message 59 of 149 12 February 2011 at 12:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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I recently re-read this article from AJATT, called The Eternal Sorrow of the Intermediate Learner: "Are We There Yet?" Syndrome
He points out that at the beginning of a language, we're very quick to double our knowledge, but when you're intermediate, each day's work is only a tiny percentage in comparison to the whole, even if that day's work is WAAAAY more than the amount you were learning at the start. I like his analogy of the airplane flight, where the take-off is exciting, and the middle of the flight is boring, but the middle is where you're actually going the fastest. You're already keeping an interesting log here, but one thing you might like to add to it is some examples of things you still find a bit tough, and things you find easy. Later when you look back at those things you think are tough now, you'll be able to laugh at how easy they seem, which will give you a nice sense of progress. I also like numbers...like how many flashcards I have, how many characters I've studied, how many half-hour study sessions I've done, etc. Even though it might feel like I haven't done that much Dutch studying yet, I can look back at my spreadsheet and see that I've done a total of 339 half-hour sessions, so I know I'm making progress. The only way to fail is to stop! Just keep going! :) 3 persons have 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 60 of 149 14 February 2011 at 2:27am | IP Logged | ||
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Aw, thanks for all the advice! I appreciate your concern. Jimbo and paranday, you're right about the need for an
athletic break (though I had not considered a punching bag!). Studying languages is so sedentary, and my other work (teaching and writing) isn't exactly physical, so I do need to consciously find opportunities to work out. This weekend: lifted at gym Saturday, ran on Sunday. Doviende, I got a kick out of your notion that I might be in an intermediate slump . . . the idea that I'm more intermediate than beginner was actually a pick-me-up! I like the AJATT article and it does describe some of my feelings. It's necessary to just keep on going. It was nice out this weekend here, and we travelled north to a gymnastics meet, so about all I did was one Pimsleur each day. I'm eager to get back to it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hkboy Groupie Hong Kong Joined 5669 days ago 65 posts - 86 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Cantonese, Mandarin | Message 61 of 149 17 February 2011 at 6:01am | IP Logged | ||
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Hi Li Fei,
I've enjoyed reading your log. I'm probably about your age and I'm learning Cantonese. I know how you feel about being in the intermediate level and feel you are not making progress. Good luck with your studies. I'll continue to watch. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Leftcoaster Diglot Newbie China Joined 5024 days ago 22 posts - 36 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Russian | Message 62 of 149 17 February 2011 at 11:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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Also enjoyed reading your blog, reminds me that there's other people out there struggling with this language. I
used Integrated Chinese once upon a time, it's a really good book series but it can get stale doing chapter after chapter in the same format. It's probably a good thing that you're mixing it up with Pimsleur and Assimil. While it might not really be necessary for you yet, if you need a good grammar reference book I would recommend Chinese: A Comprehensive Grammar by Yip Po-Ching and Don Rimmington. It's easily the best one I've found and it does a really good job explaining some of the more difficult grammar points like complements. Of course, you probably don't have much free time to use it, but it is a great reference. Good Luck! 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 63 of 149 20 February 2011 at 3:08am | IP Logged | ||
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Hey, HKBoy and Leftcoaster, thanks for coming here to visit. It's great to know others are struggling with these
difficult languages. HKboy, my teammate Jimbo is also learning Cantonese and also in Hongkong . . . maybe you have already found his log. Leftcoaster, sounds like you are a lot further along than I am with Mandarin; I get the feeling, though, that learning Mandarin is one of those projects that never gets "done." This week was pretty good. Sunny, so I am feeling much more cheerful. Did I accomplish my goals set last week? Pimsleur 20-24, twice each: YES Assimil, two typed dialogues: NO Learned vocab from Lesson 6 in Integrated Chinese: YES SRS, 15-30 minutes per day: YES, and more Other stuff: Did my class, which was down to two students most of the time. This meant I did lots of speaking and lots of pronunciation work, tones work, and reading characters aloud. Also downloaded a great song, "Green River Serenade," and have been listening to it and "The Moon Represents My Heart." Chinese torch songs--I love 'em! I'll set goals for next week tomorrow--need to sleep on what to do about Assimil. I think I have hit a limit of how much I can do at once. Pimsleur is working great, and Integrated Chinese (the class textbook) is heating up, but having another heavy-duty lesson is just too much, even though I downsized it considerably. I hate to abandon it, and I find it such useful material . . . but by the time I've completed my other studies, the most i want to do is to watch a TV show or listen to music. So, more tomorrow. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| irrationale Tetraglot Senior Member China Joined 6043 days ago 669 posts - 1023 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese | Message 64 of 149 20 February 2011 at 6:39am | IP Logged | ||
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加油！ ：）
1 person has voted this message useful |
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