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汉语，汉字; han’ me a coffee! | ||
Tags: Mandarin | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Zomxilla Newbie New Zealand Joined 4210 days ago 24 posts - 28 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 1 of 10 14 May 2013 at 6:26am | IP Logged | ||
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I started my journey to Mandarin fluency around three months ago. At that time my best
friend (梦茹) and her boyfriend (my flatmate) has just returned from a trip to China, where they were visiting 梦茹's family. My flatmate had to learn some Chinese to get by. I'd never given a thought to learning Mandarin, but it didn't take much convincing. With a native speaker around every week, I always had someone to practice with. I started studying alone to get up to the same level as my flatmate, then we both took a level 2 evening class together. After that, I was pretty hooked. I'm currently using Memrise to learn new vocab and 汉字. I use a couple of resources like Mandaread and ChineseReadingPractice.com to practice reading. Pleco is my go-to dictionary on my Android, and I am a sucker for Chinese dramas (just finished watching the first season of 还珠格格, omg!). As of yet I only speak with 梦茹 and her family - I have signed up to Verbling but haven't plucked up the courage to speak to anyone yet! From here it looks like a long road ahead of practice, practice, practice! Wish me luck! Edited by Zomxilla on 15 May 2013 at 4:36am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| vermillon Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4675 days ago 602 posts - 1042 votes  Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, German | Message 2 of 10 14 May 2013 at 3:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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You can try to learn "汉子" (man, guy), but it'd be better if you tried to learn 汉字 (Chinese characters). :p
Good luck anyway! 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Zomxilla Newbie New Zealand Joined 4210 days ago 24 posts - 28 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 3 of 10 15 May 2013 at 4:35am | IP Logged | ||
Haha!! See what I mean!! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Zomxilla Newbie New Zealand Joined 4210 days ago 24 posts - 28 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 4 of 10 15 May 2013 at 10:44am | IP Logged | ||
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I spent today working on my HSK Level 1 vocab, and learnt some more radicals. I probably
know about 500 汉字 now, but some crucial HSK1 vocab is missing! 梦茹 took me to a small Chinese community area very close to where I live. Somehow I've never been there! It was mostly a large grocery store - there were also a couple of restaurants and a few Chinese medicine shops. I bought a 猪肉包子 - they didn't have my favourite 烧烤包子, though. I spoke a mixture of Mandarin and English with the shopkeeper - he didn't seem thrown off by switching between languages! I could also understand a lot of what he was saying, though he spoke mostly to my friend. So I've found my new grocery shopping centre! I'm hoping to become familiar with the shopkeepers, and practice my Chinese with them. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Zomxilla Newbie New Zealand Joined 4210 days ago 24 posts - 28 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 5 of 10 18 May 2013 at 1:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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今天 - 星期六 - 我学习中文差不多四个小时了！
Today was a day of grammar and some writing. I practised extended sentences that use three adverbial phrases. Eg: Subj + Adverb + Time (when) + Verb Phrase + Time (time spent) 王太太总是晚饭以后散半个钟头步。 I also learned more about comparison phrases - contrast and similarity. Contrast: X + 比 + Y + Direct Adjective 咖啡比茶贵。 X + 比 + Y + Direct Adjective + (得多/一点儿/some amount) 她的汽车比我的贵得多。 咖啡比茶贵一毛钱。 Similarity: X + (跟/和) + Y + 一样 X + (跟/和) + Y + 一样 + Direct Adjective Equivalence: X + 有 + Y (+ 这么/那么) + Direct Adjective 课本有字典那么贵 Negatives: X + 不 + (跟/和) + Y + 一样 OR X + (跟/和) + Y + 不 + 一样 X + 没有 + Y (+ 这么/那么) + Direct Adjective I also managed to practice writing while doing these. I purchased the stroke order add- on for Pleco so I could study away from the computer. :) Edited by Zomxilla on 18 May 2013 at 1:16pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Zomxilla Newbie New Zealand Joined 4210 days ago 24 posts - 28 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 6 of 10 20 May 2013 at 2:53am | IP Logged | ||
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Grammar
Today was a little more on comparative phrases, using the V.Obj + V + 得. I'll need to go over this as I'm not sure where to use this pattern over the other three in the previous post. Eg: 大人睡觉睡比得孩子得多 or 我唱歌比睡得我好 Still need practice. Also started learning the "把" construction: 他把他的茶杯打破了. Vocab I've learnt all of HSK1 - now I need to work on comprehension! I also started HSK2. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Zomxilla Newbie New Zealand Joined 4210 days ago 24 posts - 28 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 7 of 10 22 May 2013 at 7:05am | IP Logged | ||
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The past few days have been about vocabulary review and learning some new grammar.
I still haven't come to grips with the "把" constructor - but I'm looking to just go over all the grammar I can first, then go back and really nail down the parts I don't understand. I watched the kid's cartoon series 新年乐龙 龙动画 on YouTube. My comprehension is still pretty abysmal! I could only catch snatches of the dialog. :( Watched "House of Flying Daggers" (十面埋伏). Couldn't get the chinese subtitles working so watched it with English subtitles. A very beautiful movie! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Zomxilla Newbie New Zealand Joined 4210 days ago 24 posts - 28 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 8 of 10 28 May 2013 at 5:14am | IP Logged | ||
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Haven't been intensely studying lately as I've been looking for a new job. However, I've
signed up for the free trial at ChinesePod.com. So far so good - I haven't done many video tutorials but it looks like a huge wealth of information that could be very valuable. It also integrates with Skritter, which I found really nice, but didn't want to pay for considering it's only on the iPhone. I also recently purchased a webcam! Hoping to use it with Verbling.com to chat with some native speakers. I might also become more active with Skype. I read a bit of 'Basic Patterns of Chinese Grammar' each night - highly recommended. It condenses basic grammar structures down into an easy to follow and read book. I plan to go over it multiple times, as the more I learn, the more I take from the lessons. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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