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Mandarin Chinese Challenge- TAC 2014 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4690 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes  Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 17 of 39 30 January 2014 at 11:18pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks guys! I really appreciate it. I'm slowly but surely trying to get my motivation back with Mandarin. I don't want to force feed it and make it feel like a chore. I want to get excited about it. I think I might watch a few movies that I have at home dubbed into Mandarin, just to have a little fun.
You guys are all awesome! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4690 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 18 of 39 08 March 2014 at 2:22am | IP Logged |
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Long overdue update time!
So, I spent all of last week in the hospital with a lung infection (I have Asthma as well) and have been recovering this week at home. Obviously this gives me a little more time to study and I have regained my motivation for Mandarin. I have scheduled 2 italki.com Skype tutor lessons with professional teachers, one on Sunday and one for Monday. I am hoping that this practice, and actually engagement of the language will help sky rocket me into the motivational hemisphere! If these are successful, I plan on 2-3 sessions a week for a few months at least. I am reviewing Michel Thomas Foundation as well as some Chinesepod podcasts in preparation, but I intend to be a sponge absorbing Mandarin vocab and grammar like it was water. More updates after the Skype lessons. Don't give up on me! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4690 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 19 of 39 09 March 2014 at 5:42pm | IP Logged |
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Just got done with a google+ hangout with a great teacher. I learned more in the last hour than I had on
my own in the last month. We learned how to talk about our likes and dislikes. Got a ton of new Vocabulary to practice. Tonight I have a Skype tutoring session with an italki teacher. More to come. I'm genuinely excited about Mandarin again! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4690 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 20 of 39 10 March 2014 at 4:00am | IP Logged |
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Another update? What?? Same day even? Yes!
So, I had my first italki tutor session in Mandarin tonight. It was blast. She told me that my pronunciation was very good, which was a nice surprise. She gave me some vocabulary to work on and we spent a decent amount of time making "small-talk" (VERY small talk as I have the vocab of a two year old). It was so invigorating to actually USE some Chinese. I have another hour-long session tomorrow night with a different teacher so we'll see how that goes. Hopefully, one of these teachers will be the one to help me reach the ever elusive "fluency" that I crave. More tomorrow! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4690 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 21 of 39 13 March 2014 at 12:30am | IP Logged |
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Update:
Yesterday I had an hour long italki tutoring session with a new teacher. She was great. I think I found the one for me. She was VERY challenging and kept me on my toes the entire hour. I have never had someone push me like that for that long. I have a list a mile long of things to study and I couldn't be happier. It was obvious from the get go that she wasn't going to be content just sitting there and letting me get by on English. She kept the vast majority in Chinese and as she worked me through the session, she would constantly be bombarding me with review questions, etc. It was like a work-out. I swear I was sweating afterwards... I will definitely be scheduling with her again. Today, I have been compiling a list of 350 vocabulary words that I feel like I will use most often in conversation. These are words with a particular connection to me and my interests. About 150 of those words are verbs because I really feel like verbs are the key language (just like Michel Thomas). My plan is to devour these words in 10 days. That means 35 words per day. As I am still on bed rest I have all the time in the world. In fact, today I have been working on Mandarin for about 9 hours so far and I've still got at least 4 more hours until I normally go to sleep... I think a lot of work at this stage will pay off big in the near future. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4690 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 22 of 39 17 March 2014 at 3:43am | IP Logged |
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Update:
Been studying Mandarin several hours a day. Not quite getting as much vocabulary internalized as I would like, but still doing well. I've been reviewing the Michel Thomas Foundation course and some more newbie lessons from ChinesePod as well. I'd like to have my "top 350" words and my top 10 "islands" memorized and internalized before my next tutor session. I think that will make the session much more productive. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4690 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 23 of 39 19 March 2014 at 10:40pm | IP Logged |
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Update:
I have (5) 1 hour tutoring sessions with different teachers scheduled in the next 7 days. I am hoping to find at least one more teacher that can become a weekly tutor. After this "blitz" of tutoring, I'm going to try to settle on 2 or 3 tutors to have consistent, weekly sessions with moving forward. I am continuing my study of vocabulary and islands. I am listening to Pimsleur, Michel Thomas, ChinesePod newbie lessons and Chineseclass101 podcasts. I am basically dedicating 8-10 hours a day to Mandarin. I go back to work next week, so I won't have nearly the time, but I am hoping that all of this intensive, dedicated study will give me a good enough foundation that I will be able to stick to it moving forward. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4690 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 24 of 39 22 March 2014 at 8:19pm | IP Logged |
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Update: Loving Mandarin more than ever!
Three Skype sessions down in the last 3 days and I am learning so much. I found a definite keeper yesterday and I intend to schedule more lessons with her. So far, I have been learning quite a bit about time, for example: 上(shàng)午(wǔ)= morning / 中(zhōng)午(wǔ)= noon/ 下(xià)午(wǔ)= afternoon 上(shàng)个(gè)星(xīng)期(qī)= last week/ 上(shàng)个(gè)月(yuè)= last month / 昨(zuó)天(tiān)=yesterday / 去(qù)年(nián)= last year 下(xià)个(gè)星(xīng)期(qī)= next week/下(xià)个(gè)月(yuè)= next month / 明(míng)天(tiān)= tomorrow / 明(míng)年(nián)= next year I have also been drilling on numbers and questions and answers requiring numerical responses, for example: 你(nǐ)的(de)生日(shēngrì)是(shì)几(jǐ)月(yuè) (jǐ)号(hào)？ 你(nǐ)星(xīng)期(qī)几(jǐ)有(yǒu)中(zhōng)文(w n)课(kè)？ 你(nǐ)几(jǐ)点(diǎn)吃(chī)j晚饭(wanfàn)？ 什(shén)么(me)时(shí)间(jiān)=什(shén)么(me)时(sh í)候(hou)=几(jǐ)点(diǎn)= when 多(duō)少(shǎo) and 几(jǐ) = how many These sessions have been great. I have been enjoying Chinese the way I enjoy German which is really remarkable. The key moving forward is to try to consistently maintain some feeling of progress. More updates to come! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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