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Hitchhiker’s guide to the Chinese Galaxy | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| outcast Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member China Joined 4960 days ago 869 posts - 1364 votes  Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 129 of 230 31 January 2014 at 5:21am | IP Logged |
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Well... what can I say, life happens.
I'm back though, I think? I'm not going to write an autobiography of the reasons why I clearly vanished from the forum entirely, not just my blog. I will make a summary for the sake of anyone that was wondering (I doubt it!): I already was having a challenging summer, but then the first week of September I lost my job. So I had to stop all I was doing on my tracks and look for a job ASAP. I spent two and a half weeks out and about, though I did not just carpet bomb apply everywhere, I admit I was slightly particular. But I did get another job, and fairly quickly by today's standards, just under three weeks! That next week I had absolutely no cash left, I spent all my time at the bookstore reading a book on sociology, while waiting for all the background tests. I just had a stressful time and didn't find it in me to go back to the languages. October was a disaster. I was sick the better part of that month first with a week-long cold, then with two weeks worth of the worst sinus symptoms I ever had (admittedly I rarely suffer from them). A few of those days just walking around would trigger huge sinus pain that even made me dizzy. To top it off, one of my ears got completely infected, I had never had an ear infection in my life (seriously). I could not hear anything from the left side for a month, as it only VERY VERY SLOWLY started to clear up. During this month I had to also do two weeks of training for my new job, full time hours mostly. While sick... not a fun time at all. Oh and my car blew a tire just two days before my first day at the job. Had to replace all four (yes I procrastinated and it was my fault). But between doctor, medicines, tires, and aligment, I blew 700 dollars I did not have. I had to go in debt. November I had to work extra time to make up not only for my month plus inactivity but also for the forgettable month of October. Worked many hours and had little time for study, but I did manage to keep up maintenance of my German and French. Chinese and Portuguese had to be sacrificed though. December was difficult for personal reasons, family problems that while nothing involving me really came to a head and disrupted my peace of mind. And I had 60+ hour work weeks because at my new job, the holiday season is by FAR the most important for client assistance. In December I did almost nothing with languages. Also, most of the meet-ups I attend took a hiatus for the holidays. And that's the end of 2013. With January I was able to get my hours dropped back down, I was healthy, and in good spirits. So I took back up the languages. French, German, and Portuguese this last week or two. I did review but also tons of reading and quite a bit of talking. So my fluency in those has returned and probably improved. Now, however, I will scale back on those three. This is the year of Mandarin, and all my efforts will be placed here. My plan is unchanged from where I stopped in September. Of course I have to do some review which I have started, and I am encouraged on how much I retained in my head (passively). I have been reviewing vocab, characters, and key grammar points, and many came back to me upon first read. That means I learned them well the first time! I don't have an exact time table on this review period, I will just feel my way through, probably all of February. After that I will return to my routine that I established here in this log last year... and held for 6 months until the events of the end of the year sent me into a sabbatical. While a little disappointed, I am not down on myself for the time lost. It's life, and it happens. What's most important is how we come back from it. So let's go... :) ps- I hope everyone here is doing well! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5876 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 130 of 230 31 January 2014 at 5:30am | IP Logged |
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I'm glad to see you back. This year is Mandarin year for me, too. I wasn't too active here when you started this log, but i'll be sure to follow along now.
Hope you're feeling better and back on your feet! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| lorinth Tetraglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 4285 days ago 443 posts - 581 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Latin Studies: Mandarin, Finnish | Message 131 of 230 31 January 2014 at 10:53am | IP Logged |
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加油！
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| yuhakko Tetraglot Senior Member FranceRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4643 days ago 414 posts - 582 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishB2, EnglishC2, Spanish, Japanese Studies: Korean, Norwegian, Mandarin | Message 132 of 230 01 February 2014 at 8:02pm | IP Logged |
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Glad to see you back! 今年我们提高得多吧！ 加油！
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| outcast Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member China Joined 4960 days ago 869 posts - 1364 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 133 of 230 28 January 2015 at 5:20am | IP Logged |
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Ok, I think it is finally time I revive this log.
This language log won't go down as the most admired or the most respected ever, given the fact I basically let it die for a year, AFTER I had promised to keep up with it after a hiatus at the end of 2013. So my credibility is obviously dubious at best... that said... The reason I have revived it now, is because this time I have "paid it forward". I have put in the time, the hard work, and the beneficiary has been my Chinese studies. Now I want to return the favor to this forlorn and dusty log. Last time (January 2014 as the dates on this page indicate with trenchant lucidity), I came back with plans to retake my studies and log it here. Now I have done the opposite: I retook my studies and now come here to briefly post on them. I began in November with a total reboot of my NPCR + Basic Spoken Chinese by Kubler tandem. In other words, I have just redone all the lessons over again. Of course they were easier than the first time, but I totally needed the practice and refreshing. Slow at first, then in the holidays had to break the studies due to workload. As soon as Jan 1st hit, I put the turbo-jets on and I'm now on full cruising altitude. I have restarted with my tutor, have my good Chinese friend for Beijing to aid me, and I also take a college class. That's something new and different from my original plans. Why the class? It's a simple requirement for a scholarship to study Chinese in China, which I intend to apply for. And its extra practice so I does not hurt. Also, for full disclosure, before November, actually during the summer of 2014 and through the early fall, I studied Chinese characters and some vocabulary via the incredibly useful the DK's Visual Chinese dictionary. My Chinese character knowledge is excellent, I have a list of 3000 characters I go through now. It is really only 2200 original characters since I do study traditional form, so 800 or so are "repeated". According to most studies I read, I'm therefore about 1000 characters away from having the character knowledge to be able to read somewhat comfortably a modern mainstream Mandarin novel or newspaper article. Many say 4000 characters are needed to be on the "safe" side. So in all honesty, I have been studying Chinese for half a year now, I just never came here to explicitly and publicly announce it. My spoken Chinese is horrible, but it does exist now (for the first time ever)... HOWEVER, I can understand basic statements when I hear Chinese speakers pass by. That's been the news for me in the last few weeks. I had my first Chinglish conversation this week (one sentence Chinese, one sentence English). I am re-starting the log now as I have now for the most part caught up and probably surpassed the watershed I head reached in late 2013, and now I am finally learning new patterns, grammar, and vocabulary. I don't know how I will continue this log, whether it will be very structured like at the beginning or just loose updates. I will take it day by day. What I don't want is for this log to hinder my studies by being so tied up keeping it up to date. So we shall see. At the end of all this, I hope if anything, this log shows that I tried to persevere, and (hopefully) one day say I did indeed! For now, I will update where I stand starting with the fact that Monday I finished lesson 13 of NPCR 1 and today I finished 14. So I have completed Book 1... it took me a year and a half :p Unit Completion Entry 41 Cycle Two (Lessons 7-26) Book 1 Lesson 13 New Practical Chinese Reader 1.25.2015 - - - - Unit Completion Entry 42 Cycle Two (Lessons 7-26) Book 1 Lesson 14 New Practical Chinese Reader (END BOOK 1) 1.27.2015 - - - - In the other book, I have completed Unit 4, so I still have three units to go before hitting new ground with Unit 8, which I should reach towards the end of February. So as of right now I am in lesson 15 of Book 2 NPCR, and Lesson 1 Unit 5 BSC. 真对不起你们。。。 我想这次完我的汉语学习。学中文不太容易， 可是我很热心学习这个语言，还要今年到中国 去， 在那练习我的口语。我要住大约半年，可能住 一年，我不知道。 再见了！ Edited by outcast on 28 January 2015 at 5:27am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| outcast Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member China Joined 4960 days ago 869 posts - 1364 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 134 of 230 31 January 2015 at 4:45am | IP Logged |
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Today I have done a marathon session. All day doing drills, translation dialogues, dialogue memorization, and reviewing grammar points for Unit 4 of BSC. Almost non-stop since 10am and it's close to midnight and I'm still going. I have more than enough experience to know that this is not normal and tomorrow my performance will probably diminish (I have to work anyway, so I'll just do characters), but overall it was a very productive day. I'm not into Unit 5 lesson 1-2 for the grammar and next 2/3 days I should perform all the exercises.
My level 3 NPCR material arrived today, which is motivating as I have started book 2. I'm expecting to be in book two for the next two months until April, so that's about lesson and 1/3 a week (the lesson have tons of exercise material and vocabulary). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4455 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 135 of 230 31 January 2015 at 7:24am | IP Logged |
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It is a bit unfair for me to judge how your Chinese conversation is. Even being able to speak every other
sentence in Chinese is a big accomplishment. The next step would be to use Chinese words & phrases more often assuming that you live in China or Taiwan. I know someone who is a Cantonese speaker. He had no trouble with writing Chinese characters but after 6 months of learning Mandarin he gave up. The problem is that he needed to focus on his weakness which is conversation. He probably passed the course because he already knows how to write. Otherwise he doesn't watch any TV shows or listen to radio programs in Mandarin. Someone like him would be better off with a private tutor who would get him to speak everyday. 2 months ago I was out of town. On my return I was waiting for a bus at the airport. There were several new arrivals (husband, wife & their son) from Taiwan looking at a map to get to the University Ave. Courthouse. A lady originally from China started by saying where she came from and showed them the route to go by public transit. Being able to hear the conversation is 1 thing and being able to carry on a conversation is the next progression. In this case differences between the Beijing & Taiwan accent didn't seem to matter. I recently started watching a show from Taiwan online call: 真相 Hold 得住. The show talked a lot about history including ancient Egyptian, Chinese, etc. I happen to like history and would watch 1 episode a week. A while back I was watching a show from China: 外国人在中国. It is a show about foreigners living in China. Many of them married and have kids with local Chinese. It's interesting to see people from Africa who can speak fluent Chinese and yet appeared to be from another planet because people living in many remote villages haven't seen Black people before. In the process of learning, one needs to increase his/her exposure to a language by reading newspapers and watch TV shows that are interesting. Today I listened to a program on a local Chinese radio station when 2 guests discussed their careers in music. 1 is into singing Beijing opera as a Soprano and the other plays violin. In the beginning you are not going to pick up everything in a conversation. Keep up the effort! 一个人在学习语言的过程中必须多看报纸和有 兴趣的电视节目。今天我听过一个收音机广播 节目。有两位嘉宾讨论他们 以音乐家为职业。一个在京剧以女高音唱歌, 另 一个弹小提琴。起初跟别人说话你不会完全听 得懂。 继续努力! Edited by shk00design on 31 January 2015 at 7:34am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| outcast Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member China Joined 4960 days ago 869 posts - 1364 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 136 of 230 03 February 2015 at 7:50am | IP Logged |
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Hi,
Well every other sentence in a very basic biographical exchange conversation. That is a big accomplishment for me, but it is not exactly holding a basic conversation where topics actually change. I can't really do much of that yet. I'm through most of Lesson 1 of Book 2 in NPCR, I now need to do the lengthy exercises (which while a bit mechanical, do help). In the BSC series I'm still working through Unit 5, which has some important grammar points about indicating location in space (and the Chinese ordering of these while rather logical takes time to get used to). I'm really focusing a lot on exercises, doing all which are offered and performing them until I really feel comfortable (when I don't have to hold my attention 100% to perform them). Then I move on. While all fairly mechanical, the quicker one gets out of this stage the better, so I'm just sucking it up and doing the chores. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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