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Mandarin masochism | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Elucidation Newbie United States Joined 3917 days ago 7 posts - 7 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin | Message 9 of 11 16 August 2014 at 8:25pm | IP Logged |
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Day 159:
I took a break for a few weeks from around day 110 to 130 (where I only listened to PAVC3 for a few minutes every day and was able to continue learning hanzi until I finished RTH2 at around day 120) because I was really busy, but recently I've been listening to Mandarin for about 6-10 hours every day. Listening to Mandarin, even if I'm not always paying attention, has definitely helped me a lot with my accent and listening. I tried to start entering PAVC sentences into Anki and it ended up being extremely boring, so I stopped. I decided instead to used some premade PAVC vocabulary decks, which have been way easier and more enjoyable. Right now, I'm still going through PAVC3 at a snail's pace and reviewing some of the latter hanzi from RTH1/RTH2. My original plan was to be finished with PAVC4 by day 150. I'll probably be finished with PAVC3 in a month or so (probably around day 190). I estimate that I'll be done with PAVC4 by around day 280. From there, I'll either start going through PAVC5 or I'll start using native material exclusively. TL;DR: Took a short break, finished RTH2, started listening 6-10 hours/day, started using premade Anki decks for PAVC vocab, plan on finishing PAVC3 by day 190. Edited by Elucidation on 16 August 2014 at 8:42pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| rdearman Senior Member United Kingdom rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5239 days ago 881 posts - 1812 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin | Message 10 of 11 16 August 2014 at 11:52pm | IP Logged |
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Enjoying your log. I've also started learning Mandarin, but you are head and shoulders above me in effort! Good Luck.
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| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4447 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 11 of 11 17 August 2014 at 6:44am | IP Logged |
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Exposure is the key to success when learning a language. I spent 8 months with Mandarin but wouldn't
claim to be a native-speaker. It is not the matter of not getting enough exposure but rather I'm not living in a place that speaks Mandarin as an official language like Beijing, Shanghai, Taiwan or Singapore. There are foreigners who are fluent in Mandarin I'd consider as native-speakers including 大 山 (Dashan), a Beijing actor formerly known as Mark Rowswell from Canada. 郝歌 (Haoge) & 好弟 (Haodi), singers in Beijing from Nigeria and Ben McMahon who started the Chinese variety show 澳麥Ga in Melbourne, Australia. Each location has its own variations in speaking Mandarin. I can easily pull up a list of common words that are different between the Mainland & Taiwan: Air Conditioning: 空调（kōngtiáo）/冷氣（lěngqì） Astronaut: 航天员（hángtiānyuán）/太空人（tàikōngrén） Bicycle: 自行车（zìxíngchē）/腳踏車（jiǎotàchē） Computer：计算机（jìsuànjī）/電腦（diànnǎo） Taxi: 出租车（chūzūchē）/計程車（jìchéngchē） Washroom: 洗手间（xǐshǒujiān）/盥洗室（guànxǐshì） I don't know how far you are with your Mandarin. Chinese people get into watching TV drama series. These can be anywhere from 20 episodes to a few hundred. You see the same set of characters coming and going and pick up vocabulary along the way. The ones from Taiwan & China usually have Chinese captions. The ones from Singapore also has English subtitles. When you start learning, you'd come across half-dozen 4-character Chinese proverbs 成语. People would insert these proverbs into their speech occasionally to make a conversation more interesting. Over 8 months I've compiled over 150 different proverbs including: 迫不得已 pòbùdéyǐ (forced into a circumstance) 一言为定 yīyánwéidìng （reaching the final decision) 入乡随族 rùxiāngsuísú (follow local customs like saying "When you're in Rome, do what the Romans do") 出人头地 chūréntóudì (someone who made it successful in one's career/business) 中西合璧 zhōngxīhébì (East meets West. Combination of 2 cultures) The last TV series watched included: 鲁豫有约 (A Date with Luyu) 外国人在中国 (Foreigners in China) 北京新发现 (Beijing New Discoveries). The 1h show presents everything about the latest technology including iPhone 5, paying your parking ticket with a portable phone, etc. You pick up new tech terms all the time including 信息 (info), 博客 (online blog), 下载 (download), 上载 (upload) etc. ============ I know someone who is a Cantonese-speaker. He knows enough Chinese Traditional characters to get by. He enrolled in Mandarin class for 6 months and gave up. Getting the correct pronunciation was an issue. On the other hand, he didn't like to listen to Mandarin on radio or watch TV programs. 继续努力！大家加油！ Edited by shk00design on 17 August 2014 at 6:51am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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