Hitchhiker’s guide to the Chinese Galaxy (Language Learning Log) Language Learning Forum

Hitchhiker’s guide to the Chinese Galaxy
Tags: Mandarin
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Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log

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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 193 of 230 18 May 2015 at 5:05pm \| IP Logged
	Unit Completion Entry 78 Unit 12 Lesson 2 Intermediate Spoken Chinese 5.18.2015 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 194 of 230 18 May 2015 at 5:18pm \| IP Logged
	Well, after a bit of a tumultuous first half of May, I finally am getting back into a learning zone groove. The next 6-8 weeks will be determining. I am taking an intense summer term of Chinese, and while the entire course is review for me since I am almost two levels higher than the class, it is nontheless good review, and because the class is small, I have chances to ask the teacher questions and even steal conversation time. The key will be my personal hour studies. I want to finish Book 3 NPCR by early June, and be done up to Unit 15 in ISC. As I may have mentioned before, I am trying a full virtual immersion in this time: study all day, and listen all day, and tune out English (and other languages from my life). Try to talk as much as possible with several chinese friends, and even use the computer and other things in Chinese. If I do leave for China, the period after around July 15 will get increasingly difficult for study time, as I have to begin major preparations, since I would not only be going to China for at least one year, but also would be in effect move out of my current home, since it is like it will be sold (it is my father's). I have my own place and upon return I would set up camp there, or if not somewhere rented for the first few months until I figure out my next steps. So, all the preparatatons, the moving of items, storage issues, my car, etc, all that will take time from studying. I will also want to work as many hours as possible the last month to save some money for extras and emergencies. Anyway, what is important now is that I give myself entirely, completely, and to the point of mental and physical exhaustion to the next 6 to 8 weeks. I want to come out of this period (around July 7th), with a markedly improved speaking ability. I can fumble around basic Chinese now, but by then I want to be a bit more coherent, faster, and also versatile in my situation every day spoken Chinese. Time to work. 2 persons have 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 195 of 230 20 May 2015 at 5:44am \| IP Logged
	Unit Completion Entry 79 Unit 12 Lesson 3 Intermediate Spoken Chinese 5.19.2015 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 196 of 230 25 May 2015 at 5:01pm \| IP Logged
	Unit Completion Entry 80 Unit 12 Lesson 4 Intermediate Spoken Chinese 5.24.2015 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 197 of 230 27 May 2015 at 3:39am \| IP Logged
	MAJOR MILESTONE 8 Probably was overly cautious and should have changed a month or two ago, but I have now changed my profile of Mandarin to "Intermediate". I am in Unit 13 of Intermediate Spoken Chinese, which is now clearly the 2nd half of the 24 Unit 2-volume series. I am in Lesson 33 of Book 3 in NPCR, which is almost the halfway point of the 70 lesson, 6-volume set. However, comments by my tutor, teacher, and of former users of the NPCR online clearly seems to suggest that the vast majority of needed grammatical and vocabulary will come from the 4 main volumes, 50 lessons in total. Book 5 and especially book 6, veer into literature, heavy reading, and more esoteric terms, and into refining Chinese speaking and writing techniques more than actually practical, necessary material. So apparently I am also more than halfway done in practical terms in this series. Since my listening comprehension has improved to the point that clear Mandarin about every day subjects is now understandable to the point of almost always getting the gist, and 50% of the time the details, because I can now string cuts and shreds of accurate chinese (still not fluent basic conversation, but clearly far more abilities than a "beginner"), and because my reading is actually quite good, it made no sense to fool and ALSO discourage anyone that I was a beginner yet describing achievements and topics in this log that to a real beginner may appear as extremely far off their own capabilities. I don't want to fool people as a result of my natural tendency, that all true language lovers and learners seem to share, to severely underestimate my achievements thus far. So, I consider it a milestone, thus this entry. Nothing special about today. 2 persons have 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 198 of 230 28 May 2015 at 4:08pm \| IP Logged
	Unit Completion Entry 81 Cycle Three (Lessons 27-50) Book 3 Lesson 33 New Practical Chinese Reader 5.28.2015 Edited by outcast on 28 May 2015 at 4:08pm 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 199 of 230 31 May 2015 at 5:11am \| IP Logged
	Unit Completion Entry 82 Cycle Three (Lessons 27-50) Book 3 Lesson 34 New Practical Chinese Reader 5.30.2015 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 200 of 230 02 June 2015 at 2:53pm \| IP Logged
	Unit Completion Entry 83 Cycle Three (Lessons 27-50) Book 3 Lesson 35 New Practical Chinese Reader 6.2.2015 Edited by outcast on 02 June 2015 at 2:54pm 1 person has voted this message useful

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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 193 of 230 18 May 2015 at 5:05pm \| IP Logged
	Unit Completion Entry 78 Unit 12 Lesson 2 Intermediate Spoken Chinese 5.18.2015 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 194 of 230 18 May 2015 at 5:18pm \| IP Logged
	Well, after a bit of a tumultuous first half of May, I finally am getting back into a learning zone groove. The next 6-8 weeks will be determining. I am taking an intense summer term of Chinese, and while the entire course is review for me since I am almost two levels higher than the class, it is nontheless good review, and because the class is small, I have chances to ask the teacher questions and even steal conversation time. The key will be my personal hour studies. I want to finish Book 3 NPCR by early June, and be done up to Unit 15 in ISC. As I may have mentioned before, I am trying a full virtual immersion in this time: study all day, and listen all day, and tune out English (and other languages from my life). Try to talk as much as possible with several chinese friends, and even use the computer and other things in Chinese. If I do leave for China, the period after around July 15 will get increasingly difficult for study time, as I have to begin major preparations, since I would not only be going to China for at least one year, but also would be in effect move out of my current home, since it is like it will be sold (it is my father's). I have my own place and upon return I would set up camp there, or if not somewhere rented for the first few months until I figure out my next steps. So, all the preparatatons, the moving of items, storage issues, my car, etc, all that will take time from studying. I will also want to work as many hours as possible the last month to save some money for extras and emergencies. Anyway, what is important now is that I give myself entirely, completely, and to the point of mental and physical exhaustion to the next 6 to 8 weeks. I want to come out of this period (around July 7th), with a markedly improved speaking ability. I can fumble around basic Chinese now, but by then I want to be a bit more coherent, faster, and also versatile in my situation every day spoken Chinese. Time to work. 2 persons have 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 195 of 230 20 May 2015 at 5:44am \| IP Logged
	Unit Completion Entry 79 Unit 12 Lesson 3 Intermediate Spoken Chinese 5.19.2015 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 196 of 230 25 May 2015 at 5:01pm \| IP Logged
	Unit Completion Entry 80 Unit 12 Lesson 4 Intermediate Spoken Chinese 5.24.2015 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 197 of 230 27 May 2015 at 3:39am \| IP Logged
	MAJOR MILESTONE 8 Probably was overly cautious and should have changed a month or two ago, but I have now changed my profile of Mandarin to "Intermediate". I am in Unit 13 of Intermediate Spoken Chinese, which is now clearly the 2nd half of the 24 Unit 2-volume series. I am in Lesson 33 of Book 3 in NPCR, which is almost the halfway point of the 70 lesson, 6-volume set. However, comments by my tutor, teacher, and of former users of the NPCR online clearly seems to suggest that the vast majority of needed grammatical and vocabulary will come from the 4 main volumes, 50 lessons in total. Book 5 and especially book 6, veer into literature, heavy reading, and more esoteric terms, and into refining Chinese speaking and writing techniques more than actually practical, necessary material. So apparently I am also more than halfway done in practical terms in this series. Since my listening comprehension has improved to the point that clear Mandarin about every day subjects is now understandable to the point of almost always getting the gist, and 50% of the time the details, because I can now string cuts and shreds of accurate chinese (still not fluent basic conversation, but clearly far more abilities than a "beginner"), and because my reading is actually quite good, it made no sense to fool and ALSO discourage anyone that I was a beginner yet describing achievements and topics in this log that to a real beginner may appear as extremely far off their own capabilities. I don't want to fool people as a result of my natural tendency, that all true language lovers and learners seem to share, to severely underestimate my achievements thus far. So, I consider it a milestone, thus this entry. Nothing special about today. 2 persons have 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 198 of 230 28 May 2015 at 4:08pm \| IP Logged
	Unit Completion Entry 81 Cycle Three (Lessons 27-50) Book 3 Lesson 33 New Practical Chinese Reader 5.28.2015 Edited by outcast on 28 May 2015 at 4:08pm 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 199 of 230 31 May 2015 at 5:11am \| IP Logged
	Unit Completion Entry 82 Cycle Three (Lessons 27-50) Book 3 Lesson 34 New Practical Chinese Reader 5.30.2015 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 200 of 230 02 June 2015 at 2:53pm \| IP Logged
	Unit Completion Entry 83 Cycle Three (Lessons 27-50) Book 3 Lesson 35 New Practical Chinese Reader 6.2.2015 Edited by outcast on 02 June 2015 at 2:54pm 1 person has voted this message useful