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Mandarin journey (FSI, Pimsleur, NPCR)

  Tags: Pimsleur | FSI | Mandarin
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181 messages over 23 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 18 ... 22 23 Next >>
irrationale
Tetraglot
Senior Member
China
Joined 6052 days ago

669 posts - 1023 votes 
2 sounds
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog
Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese

 
 Message 137 of 181
29 April 2010 at 6:32am | IP Logged 
I am changing to advanced fluency now. Not because I have suddenly reached, but because I can now prove it to myself, or make myself realize it. It is strange how language learning "levels" work like that..you aren't fluent until someone else says so! Keep in mind that with a language like Chinese, the difference between advanced fluency and native is absolutely enormous.

I will take the HSK Advanced (level 5) this may 16. I took at practice test and got a very good score, so I am hopeful, but not cocky. I still need to work on measure words and other random touch-ups to my Chinese.

For those interested, my deck is almost "done" and will post soon, within days.

Edited by irrationale on 29 April 2010 at 6:32am

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irrationale
Tetraglot
Senior Member
China
Joined 6052 days ago

669 posts - 1023 votes 
2 sounds
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog
Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese

 
 Message 138 of 181
17 May 2010 at 4:57am | IP Logged 
I just took the HSK Advanced test (level 5). I'm not sure I did as well as I should have. The listening was a little harder than I expected, with some formal words being used instead of spoken chinese, and I was reading in too much detail instead of scanning the passages like I should have, so I didn't manage my time well and missed questions. Overall, the questions themselves were quite easy, but I am a lousy test taker.

The whole thing seemed a little thrown together by hanban. There was no spoken section at all, with those 10 minutes being "extra time". Perhaps they didn't have the recorder on site? I'm still a little peeved about this since I think my spoken ability is my best, and had no chance to add it to my score.

Anyway, my life didn't depend on this test, but it would be nice to have the certificate for any chance in the future.

Edited by irrationale on 17 May 2010 at 4:58am

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Darobat
Diglot
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754 posts - 770 votes 
Speaks: English*, Russian
Studies: Latin

 
 Message 139 of 181
24 May 2010 at 9:27pm | IP Logged 
I just finished reading this whole thread; it's very inspiring! I've adapted some of the techniques you used to my Russian studies. Your thread has also made me realize I should really find somebody to speak Russian with on a regular basis. Currently, I don't actively speak Russian to anyone except myself, but you repeatedly stressed how important having a conversation partner was.
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irrationale
Tetraglot
Senior Member
China
Joined 6052 days ago

669 posts - 1023 votes 
2 sounds
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog
Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese

 
 Message 140 of 181
09 June 2010 at 11:20am | IP Logged 
Darobat wrote:
I just finished reading this whole thread; it's very inspiring! I've adapted some of the techniques you used to my Russian studies. Your thread has also made me realize I should really find somebody to speak Russian with on a regular basis. Currently, I don't actively speak Russian to anyone except myself, but you repeatedly stressed how important having a conversation partner was.


For all interested, I have posted my anki deck online, info is here

http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=21240&PN=1

Sorry for the long wait!

Thanks for the comments. Yes, convos are not only important, but critical. I would say at least 1 hour a week to get some sort of fluency. I really can't see someone getting suddenly fluent without free conversations, I certainly wouldn't have. This is really the critical element in any routine.

Edited by irrationale on 09 June 2010 at 11:20am

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liddytime
Pentaglot
Senior Member
United States
mainlymagyar.wordpre
Joined 6231 days ago

693 posts - 1328 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Galician
Studies: Hungarian, Vietnamese, Modern Hebrew, Norwegian, Persian, Arabic (Written)

 
 Message 141 of 181
09 June 2010 at 12:15pm | IP Logged 
Xie xie nin!!!!
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irrationale
Tetraglot
Senior Member
China
Joined 6052 days ago

669 posts - 1023 votes 
2 sounds
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog
Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese

 
 Message 142 of 181
01 July 2010 at 11:53am | IP Logged 
I finally got the results from the HSK... I passed the Level 5 test!!!

高兴啦!
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liddytime
Pentaglot
Senior Member
United States
mainlymagyar.wordpre
Joined 6231 days ago

693 posts - 1328 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Galician
Studies: Hungarian, Vietnamese, Modern Hebrew, Norwegian, Persian, Arabic (Written)

 
 Message 143 of 181
01 July 2010 at 2:47pm | IP Logged 
irrationale wrote:
I finally got the results from the HSK... I passed the Level 5 test!!!

高兴啦!


难以置信!
1 person has voted this message useful



irrationale
Tetraglot
Senior Member
China
Joined 6052 days ago

669 posts - 1023 votes 
2 sounds
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog
Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese

 
 Message 144 of 181
05 July 2010 at 7:13am | IP Logged 
Jas wrote:
wow amazing, keep up the amazing mandarin learning. This has given me motivation to work harder with my Mandarin learning. I have gotten a bit lazy with my studying maybe i need to get myself a few more mandarin lessons.

How are your tones ? From my experience there are two types of Mandarin learners. The Mandarin learners who rush into the grammar and the speaking and the mandarin learners who take a huge amount of care over their tones.

Im a Mandarin student who has ignored alot of the tones and now that i can hold a conversation in Mandarin i am now regreting it. As i need to go back and relearn it all to get brillant Mandarin.


Thanks for the comments.

It's all about setting a daily routine, keeping motivated, and having a system that works perfectly for you. The hardest thing is starting the train, but once it gets rolling (in my experience) about 20 or 30 days and that habit is set in your mind) it's very easy to make rapid progress.

About the tones, I guess I am a third type. I have an audio lingual type approach to learning languages, which means that I end up repeating tons and tons of audio with (hopefully) immediate native correction. This instills both the grammar and the sounds through massive repetition. Thus, I ignored most grammar as well. Also, to disclose, I have perfect pitch and synesthesia and remember tones automatically, so perhaps this aspect was rather easy for me. Still, I believe the audio lingual type approach is superior to "learning about" the tones, which to me, is just a waste of time.

So in the end my tones are almost perfect according to natives, but I do make the occasional slip up of course. I need to upload a sample to you can judge.

Edited by irrationale on 05 July 2010 at 7:15am



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