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Chinese Odyssey 2024

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zerothinking
Senior Member
Australia
Joined 6374 days ago

528 posts - 772 votes 
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 17 of 169
01 June 2011 at 10:20am | IP Logged 
I think the estimated times are far over what a diligent and efficient self directed
studier can achieve.
1 person has voted this message useful



zhanglong
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4931 days ago

322 posts - 427 votes 
Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese

 
 Message 18 of 169
01 June 2011 at 11:55am | IP Logged 
As I go through this process, I am letting go of any initial estimates of how much time it will take, for two reasons.

First, the numbers are predicated on a lot of supposition. Do the initial estimates include all four language skills to reach a particular ILR/FSI level? Or are they only valid for learning to *speak* a language? Much is unclear about how applicable these figures are because every learner is different, and six hours in a classroom is quantitatively and qualitatively different from self-study in the home country where the language is spoken.

Second, my goal is a moving target. What I thought I needed to do is now changing as I'm further along in my studies.

In short, I'll work as hard as I can and test what I've learned against the barometer of native ears, and see how far I get at the end of my time here in China.

2 persons have voted this message useful



Ari
Heptaglot
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 6584 days ago

2314 posts - 5695 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese
Studies: Czech, Latin, German

 
 Message 19 of 169
01 June 2011 at 12:37pm | IP Logged 
zhanglong wrote:
In short, I'll work as hard as I can and test what I've learned against the barometer of native ears, and see how far I get at the end of my time here in China.

I think that's the healthiest attitude. Good luck!
1 person has voted this message useful



zhanglong
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4931 days ago

322 posts - 427 votes 
Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese

 
 Message 20 of 169
02 June 2011 at 4:23am | IP Logged 
Thanks, Ari!

I notice that there aren't too many Cantonese students on this forum; I guess Mandarin is enough of a challenge!

Mandarin: learned all of the vocabulary for HSK Level 1. To solidify it, I need to put each word in a sentence, or later, check out the ANKI application with all of the HSK vocabulary sentences in it.

Cantonese: completed Pimsleur 03. Some interesting sentences:

EDITED 6/3/2011: ( I need to stop doing these at 3am! )

... Daan6 hai6 nei5 sik1 teng1 <b>hou2 do1</b> gwong2 dong1 waa6*2.
     but you can listen very much cantonese

   
    ngo5 m4 hai6 hou2 sik1 teng1
    I    not am very able listen.

At this stage, it is too much for me to write the characters as well as learn the grammar and pronounce the proper tones. Since I will primarily communicate in Cantonese verbally, I'll use Jyutping to transcribe noteworthy grammatical points.
---
Is it okay to listen to more than one Pimsleur a day?


Edited by zhanglong on 03 June 2011 at 12:10am

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smallwhite
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Australia
Joined 5310 days ago

537 posts - 1045 votes 
Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin, French, Spanish

 
 Message 21 of 169
02 June 2011 at 7:17am | IP Logged 
dou1 (much) should be do1
The hou2 before it means "very".
Same with the hou2 in the second sentence, it's "very", not "well", here.
And the sik6 in the second sentence should be sik1, same as in the first sentence.

Cheers.
2 persons have voted this message useful



zhanglong
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4931 days ago

322 posts - 427 votes 
Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese

 
 Message 22 of 169
02 June 2011 at 11:36pm | IP Logged 
smallwhite,

Thank you for pointing out my errors. Transcribing my notes and looking for the proper traditional chinese character made me introduce errors into my jyutping.

I will look into finding a Cantonese popup dictionary.

Here is an interesting fieldwork story last night.

It was an emergency for a friend who needed a hotel room without a reservation after 11pm. We walk into the lobby, and I start speaking Mandarin to ask for a room. My friend only spoke English. While they looked for a room for him, the staff remarked upon my accent and then asked me "Can you speak Cantonese? Do you understand Cantonese?" I confidently pull out my Pimsleur Cantonese 1 and said "M4 hai6 hou2 sik1 teng1 gwong2 dung1 waa6". The staff was amazed! Smiles all around. My friend was given a room at a certain price.

Five minutes later, an asian woman who only spoke English asked for the same thing. She was offered a room at double the price.

Maybe it was a different kind of room. Maybe there were no longer any cheaper places.
But I think I will continue to study this lovely language. It reminds me a lot of Spanish as it is spoken in Puerto Rico; a local language constantly battling against English for hegemony.


3 persons have voted this message useful



Ari
Heptaglot
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 6584 days ago

2314 posts - 5695 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese
Studies: Czech, Latin, German

 
 Message 23 of 169
03 June 2011 at 7:23am | IP Logged 
zhanglong wrote:
I will look into finding a Cantonese popup dictionary.


There's one called "CantoDict" for FireFox. I used it for a while. The problem with it is that it mostly does Mandarin with Cantonese pronunciation. Not much real Canto content.

There's another one called StarDict which I haven't tried. It's supposed to have Cantonese "slang" (that is, non-Mandarin words).

Finally you can use CantoDict, which has a webpage parser. CantoDict is awesome.

Quote:
But I think I will continue to study this lovely language. It reminds me a lot of Spanish as it is spoken in Puerto Rico; a local language constantly battling against English for hegemony.


This makes me all fuzzy. Welcome to the club! And make sure to take a trip to Hong Kong to see the true face of Cantonese.

Edited by Ari on 03 June 2011 at 7:23am

1 person has voted this message useful



smallwhite
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Australia
Joined 5310 days ago

537 posts - 1045 votes 
Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin, French, Spanish

 
 Message 24 of 169
03 June 2011 at 8:06am | IP Logged 
zhanglong wrote:

I start speaking Mandarin ...
I confidently pull out my Pimsleur Cantonese 1 and said ...
at double the price ...


Well done!


1 person has voted this message useful



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