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Mandarin journey (FSI, Pimsleur, NPCR) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| aerozeplyn Senior Member United States Joined 5149 days ago 141 posts - 202 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin | Message 177 of 181 12 February 2013 at 8:18am | IP Logged | |||||
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Awesome...welcome back :)
In the past I have always used Logic (for OSX) to extra audio. How on earth did you put up with Audacity?? Serious question though: do you know of a more efficient way to extract audio using Audacity other than the process I have marked below? 1. Select audio region to "cut" out. 2. Press CTRL+I to split the selected audio region's boundaries. 3. Hold CTRL and click-drag that region into the Audio Track below it. (If the audio track doesn't exist, create it! This will be an area to hold the audio we will later speed up, extract, etc) 4. Do steps 1-3 a ton of times until you have extracted all of the questions and answers that you want for your audio cards. 5. Double-click the audio region to select it. 6. Click File -> Export Selection 7. Give the file a different name other than the files that already exist in the directory. 8. Hit ENTER / RETURN to save the file. 9. Move onto next audio region that you want to export... Steps 5 through 9 just take wayyyy too much time, especially if you have about 50 audio regions that you want to export! I already know that #6 can be shortened by assigning that menu item a keyboard shortcut (via Edit -> Preferences -> Keyboard). Step #7 is just an annoying extra... Are there any keyboard shortcuts you have come across along the way of making audio flash cards? What is your extraction process? If this was your exact process, oh man...then I am so sorry to hear that...and I will be abandoning Audacity asap. Hehe. I know to answer this might take a bit of time...but any web links or quick words of wisdom for making these question/answer audio files with Audacity would be greatly appreciated :) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| racebannon Diglot Groupie United States Joined 4885 days ago 41 posts - 41 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Mandarin | Message 178 of 181 27 February 2013 at 12:32am | IP Logged | |||||
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Hi,
I am hoping you would write a detailed post here that shares what you now think were the mistakes you made and what you would have done differently during the first 18 or so months you studied Mandarin. Thanks so much! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| irrationale Tetraglot Senior Member China Joined 6051 days ago 669 posts - 1023 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese | Message 179 of 181 22 October 2013 at 8:02am | IP Logged | |||||
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Hi everyone.
I've gotten some requests to say specifically what I would have done differently if I had started learning the language now. Sorry about the long unexplained haitus and leaving behind an unresolved answer. I'll make it brief, because basically, like many here, I've boiled down my language learning skills to a few basic principles. If you want to know the reason behind them read the explanation. 1) YesAJATT/10000 sentence method WORKS. I've always wondered if pure input, without any pressure on speaking works, and the answer is, yes, it does. At least for me. Caveat; like proponents of this method say, you must force yourself to activate your passive structures, and you must progress from the simplest sentences to difficult ones in a reasonable manner, for example, sentences out of a textbook. Learning grammar can help, but isn't necessary. So If I were learning Chinese now, I would simply do all input with no translation like I did in the beginning. Translation is largely a waste of time, can result in inauthentic language, and become almost impossible in some cases requiring a unique translation when there isn't one. So don't do it. In the beginning, always try to get audio with the sentences This will provide the foundation for your accent, listening ability, and other things. Of course you don't have to use audacity like I did, you can listen to material out of a textbook, etc. Later you can relax on this. It requires a feel of when you are ready to read sentences without audio. I usually put the first 1000 or 2000 with audio. I did this when I started to learn Chinese, but just wanted to put it here for completeness. Know when to ween yourself from the sentences Antoher problem I had. I didn't know when to ween myself off of the sentences. At one point, I had a steady Chinese "environment" in the states (Chinese TV, friends, etc). I should have stopped with the sentences and let the environment take over, but I was "afraid" to let go of my precious sentences. So know when to say no. I would say that whenever you have a steady, multifaceted environment going, and you can understand enough to patch the main idea together (a popular number thrown around is 85%, however you want to measure that) you can finally just delve into the environment and let go of the sentences. The sentences are always meant just to be a subistitute mini environment to get you to the real deal, not the be all end all. Like a boster of a rocketship, you have to eject it in order to get to space( ok enough analogies). get as native as possible as early as possible Try to encounter the most native environments (TV, books, anything) as early as you can. This requires a feel of readiness that comes with experience, but don't want until forever, (or about 6 months like I did to watch my first Chinese TV) to do it. At least get subtitles, bilingual, music,etc. wait to practice writing characters I think this goes with any language. Wait a while before going to study writing, if at all. Writing Chinese is an enormous amount of work compared to the relatively easy task of reading it. Only those who are truly interested should attempt it (it's a lifelong commitment that will involve constant practice, Chinese people out of school for a long time often forget many characters), and I would recommend not starting from the beginning like I did, but waiting until you can read fluently. By that time, you will have seen the characters many many times and the groove in your mind will be ready to rememeber them, and will do so much more easily. don't try to be a badass and speak to early, too fast, etc A problem I had. To prove how awesome I was, I would try to speak really fast and "native", speak too soon, before I knew what I was saying, say too many 成语，etc. Antimoon makes a similar recommendation. Just don't. I think the reasons are obvious. So that's it. A common thread to all of my new realizations is the massive importance of INPUT. When I first started, I was of the school of output is more important, or "speak as much as you can and see what happens". Now, after seeing what happened after I got to China, and how I learned from the environment, I am firmly in the input school of thought following Krashen. Nowadays, I use the sentence method (with audio for the first 2000 sentences or so) for any language I learn. I either get Assimil and rip the sentences from there, or a buy a textbook with audio, etc. I'm learning Ancient Greek at the moment and the process is the same (but much faster since I don't have to speak). For Greek, I did have to finally reference some grammar for the cases, being my first heavily inflected language. If you have any questions send my a PM, but a warn you that I'm quite busy, so it may take a while to respond. edit: added "let go of the sentences" edit: spelling mistakes... Edited by irrationale on 22 October 2013 at 1:37pm 6 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| irrationale Tetraglot Senior Member China Joined 6051 days ago 669 posts - 1023 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese | Message 180 of 181 22 October 2013 at 1:12pm | IP Logged | |||||
Right now I'm a student at a Chinese university studying ancient Chinese and Western literature, sort of like libral arts but with a mix of the two cultural traditions. Hence the Ancient Greek. It's a lot of fun! How is the Chiense going? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| irrationale Tetraglot Senior Member China Joined 6051 days ago 669 posts - 1023 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese | Message 181 of 181 22 October 2013 at 1:34pm | IP Logged | |||||
Well, let's just say that I was a little bit of a masochist in the beginning. Yes, I did it like that. Perhaps I got fast at it. Select, export, name, save, drag into Anki. Over and over. I "only" did it for about 2000 cards, but it was definitely a lot of work. Was it worth it? I would say yes because you have that audio for life, or as long as you want to use the sentences. But there are definitely other ways to do it, and I'm sure you can think of better ones. These days I would just say to find sentences on the net with audio, so you can just download and drag, and copy and past text. Where? Chinespod is basically a huge bank of sentences with audio. I don't know why I looked down on Chinesepod back then, I should have just used it. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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