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Billy’s TAC 2013 Asian Team 鶴 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| billyshears66 Groupie United States Joined 4513 days ago 69 posts - 78 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin | Message 17 of 33 27 January 2013 at 1:56pm | IP Logged |
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So here is my January Challenge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCZaePYk9FA
I added annotations to the video. You can turn them on to see what I think I said. I wanted to only write something, but I'm really trying to get over my anxiety of talking to people. So I figured I'd record a video. This was very scary, I can't even watch it without shaking a little... knowing other people are gonna see it. I showed my wife last night, and she could tell I was extremely nervous. This was like the 50th take. I kept telling myself to slow down, but in the end I can see how rushed it was. I wrote out what I wanted to say. Practiced it a little bit. I then had the English only written on a white board for me to look at while I recorded it. Some words I had just looked up that morning. I'm not really sure if I used them correctly... any help would be wonderful. I was going to let my friend (who is from China) read it first to see if it was correct, but I didn't get it ready in time for her to see it. Here is what I tried to say (I underlined what I learned in the morning and I'm not sure of): Hi. My name is Chris. I'm American. My beautiful wife is Jenny. We have three sons. They are very young. We live in Massachusetts. I like to fly, but I do not fly anymore. I also like to read and brew beer. I can speak a little Mandarin. I don't speak well. Thank you. Goodbye. 你好。我叫Chris。我是美国人。我美丽的太太J enny。我们有三个儿子。他们很小。我们住在Ma ssachusetts。 我喜欢飞可是我不飞不起来了。我也喜欢阅读 和酿造啤酒。我会说一点普通话。我说的不好 。谢谢。再见。 I learned that I really do need to practice speaking A LOT more. Any comments, good or bad, are welcome. I don't mind being picked apart... (I'll also post this on the team thread) Edited by billyshears66 on 27 January 2013 at 2:17pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4867 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 18 of 33 27 January 2013 at 2:26pm | IP Logged |
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Hey billy, your video is great! From what I can tell your Mandarin sounds good :) I didn't notice that you were nervous, really well done. I didn't have the courage to post a video, it's really courageous that you did!
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| iawia Bilingual Pentaglot Newbie Taiwan Joined 4588 days ago 35 posts - 55 votes Speaks: EnglishC2, Mandarin*, Taiwanese*, Cantonese, Spanish Studies: Thai, Japanese | Message 19 of 33 28 January 2013 at 7:57am | IP Logged |
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Hello fellow teammate
As my native language is Mandarin Chinese, I really can't give you much advice in learning the language. I'm amazed by your determination to learn this language, and your goals you have set for yourself. I'm sure that any Chinese-speaking person will be equally amazed by the efforts you have done. So why be afraid of speaking to others? I'm sure there are quite a lot of Chinese speakers in the States, and IMHO I think it'll be quite a pity if you only practice your language passively. http://www.everydaylanguagelearner.com/2010/12/26/a-language -helper/ I would recommend reading this article about a "language-helper." Technically a language helper can be anyone that speaks your target language, and that he or she is willing to help you. There are many places to start. A colleague for example, Chinatown, a Chinese restaurant, a shop owned by Chinese speakers... Just take the first step and everything will be easier. When I was learning Cantonese, there were three Canton-style restaurants that I regularly visited, I also went out often with my Cantonese-speaking Overseas Chinese friends, and harassed tourists from Hong Kong or Macau on the MRT.(As for now, I've approached 17 Cantonese-speaking tourists, and 10 of them complimented on my Cantonese.) This brings to mind that, in America, many of these so-called Chinese immigrants might not speak Mandarin Chinese at all, for they might speak Cantonese or another dialect as a native language. This is something you should take note of. I'm sure you'll do just fine. Good luck! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| billyshears66 Groupie United States Joined 4513 days ago 69 posts - 78 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin | Message 20 of 33 28 January 2013 at 3:49pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks iawia for the advice, I'll take a look at that article. I have one colleague at
work who helps me out sometimes, but she is always very busy and I don't want to burden her with me. She is very encouraging for sure, and that is great. Though, at times I feel she might just be being nice? She is great when I come to her with a question, and she does take time to explain. Why afraid of speaking to others? That is a good question, I'm not really sure. Even in English, my native tongue, I find it hard. If I do not know someone well, I have a hard time talking to them. My heart starts pounding fast, my breathing changes, etc... so much so that sometimes my hearing goes. And when I'm finally finished talking to them, I walk away not really knowing what happened. It is like I'm having an outer body experience. Lately, I'm pushing myself to do this more and more, as I hope it will help me get over it. That is one reason I made a video instead of an audio or written intro. I work with a few native Chinese people who I really don't know, or only know in passing... and I'm sure they would be a great help, and would be excited to help. But, even knowing this logically, I still clam up. For example, I got my hair cut a couple of months ago. The women who cut my hair was clearly Asian. She had a thick accent, which sounded Chinese (just like the Chinese people I work with). I wanted so bad to just ask her if she was Chinese, but I was so scared that I could barely even talk in English. Needless to say, that was a missed chance. I feel Skype maybe a easier starting point for me, but I find it hard to get time at home to do that. My family, wife and three small kids, take up most if not all my time. I'm working on that now, and I'm trying to come up with a plan as to how and when I can set up time for that. Thanks again iawia for your thoughts and input. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Vegemighty Groupie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4487 days ago 45 posts - 67 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin | Message 21 of 33 28 January 2013 at 4:24pm | IP Logged |
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I share your pain. My social skills are also poor. Even with people I know and in English its hard. I just don't have anything to say. I can go out and not say a word and not think of anything to say and my brother could go to those same people and they'll have tons of things to talk about all of a sudden. Its a very mysterious phenomenon.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| billyshears66 Groupie United States Joined 4513 days ago 69 posts - 78 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin | Message 22 of 33 28 January 2013 at 6:49pm | IP Logged |
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It is a little different for me. I know what I could say, or should say... just scared to
say it. I'm working hard to get past it, or come to cope better with it because I can see my oldest son (5 year old) showing same signs of anxiety. So I'm hoping to show him by example. I specially try to speak and come out to others when he is around. I joke with my wife and I say, "I don't know why I'm learning another language... just so I have even more people not to talk with." 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| billyshears66 Groupie United States Joined 4513 days ago 69 posts - 78 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin | Message 23 of 33 08 February 2013 at 6:32pm | IP Logged |
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Weekly update. I haven't updated in a while (usually on Saturdays). I'll do it on
Thursdays now due to the 6 Week Challenge. 2hr 53min - PodCasts 2hr 25min - Memrise 1hr 30min - Pimsleur 55min - anki Total: 7hr 43min Short of my goal of 10 hours by 2hrs 17min 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| billyshears66 Groupie United States Joined 4513 days ago 69 posts - 78 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin | Message 24 of 33 11 February 2013 at 10:38pm | IP Logged |
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Just broke my phone screen... now I'm in trouble. I use my phone for most of my studing.
Anki, podcasts, Pimsleur, Assimil (haven't really started, but now I can't...) So all I have is anki (on PC, which defeats the purpose) and memrise. So I'm gonna have withdraws... my long commute will be LONG now without something to do. Hope new screen will come soon so I can install and get back on track. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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