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Snowflake’s Mandarin Log | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| jasoninchina Senior Member China Joined 5229 days ago 221 posts - 306 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Italian | Message 465 of 740 23 September 2011 at 6:54am | IP Logged | ||
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It sounds like your tutor is trying to force you into something you don't want. That's not cool. However, I must saying that down here in the south, northern phrases and pronunciation get used as a parody, in good fun. 公园儿 just has a humorous feel to it that makes everyone laugh.
I think periodic assessment is a great idea. I am strongly considering taking the HSK in december. Not strictly as an assessment, but as a goal. I think it is quite helpful to have something to work toward. I'll be very interested to hear what you decide to do. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5957 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 466 of 740 24 September 2011 at 3:16am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm going to ask her to refrain from correcting southern usage for now. It's fustrating enough as it is. A new thing is that people are telling me what do after becoming proficient. The ideas are well and good... it's just that I can do without it for now.
One of the reasons I was less than enamoured with taking the HSK is that the closest testing center, in the past few years, has been about a 5 hour drive from here. It seems that changed this year. Though another thing is that, at least for now, I place a higher value on speaking. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5957 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 467 of 740 25 September 2011 at 10:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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My overseas Taiwanese chat partner suggested taking a standardized test to help push me. He did this type of thing previously with Japanese and felt that it really helped him to learn. He will be sitting for the IELTS this Dec. "Officially" I am not studying characters. Any that I've learned lately was a side effect. The earliest I could sit for a test probably would be a year out since I have to work on characters.
My Taiwanese chat partner felt that my tutor correcting southern usage is relatively small in the scheme of things. It seems that he daily listens to BBC news and so has to regularly negotiate the differences between American and British English. Update; By the lists, there are approximately 2800 characters and 6800 words for HSK 4... think my list is for the old HSK. Hmm, the word count does not match what's at http://lingomi.com/blog/hsk-lists-2010/. Also downloaded two shared Anki decks, "HSK (1-4)" which I'm guessing is based on the old list (8000+ cards) and "New Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi" (~5000 cards). The latter deck, to my surprize, has audio. Edited by Snowflake on 26 September 2011 at 5:30am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5957 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 468 of 740 29 September 2011 at 3:55am | IP Logged | ||
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Looking at the HSK vocabulary and also at TOCFL (formerly TOP). According to the website TOCFL is also offered in simplified characters. What is more interesting is that they will be offering a separate speaking test (being developed). A downside is that TOCFL is not offered in this area of the US. However, I've decided to not take on studying characters at the moment. Things will have changed a bit by the time I'm ready to take a test. There are things in motion right now that can change my project situation... and with that the daily access to native speakers, study time and ability to visit multiple weekend small group gatherings.
Also ordered the grammar workbook mentioned by JasoninChina, in his log. I feel like my grammar has gone down the tubes. Edited by Snowflake on 29 September 2011 at 4:04am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jasoninchina Senior Member China Joined 5229 days ago 221 posts - 306 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Italian | Message 469 of 740 29 September 2011 at 5:17am | IP Logged | ||
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I hope you like the grammar workbook. I think having a workbook coupled with the grammar makes all the difference for me.
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| Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5957 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 470 of 740 01 October 2011 at 10:55pm | IP Logged | ||
I'm sure that will be the case. That section from LOTR, which I'm trying to memorize, has a sentence that made little grammatical sense. So I hesitated again about working with the movie. In case anyone thinks it's a matter of miscopying the subtitles or mishearing the audio, I've passed the characters for that section by several native speakers. So when the workbook was mentioned, I used the Amazon "look inside" feature to get a feel for it. I also mentioned the workbook to my overseas Taiwanese chat partner who agreed that my grammar needs work. Eg. I really need this! Edited by Snowflake on 02 October 2011 at 2:14am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5957 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 471 of 740 02 October 2011 at 4:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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I know that some of my tones have been coming apart in addition to my grammar. My grammar, even in English, has never been stellar. Some of my vocabulary is coming apart too. What has largely stayed intact are things that I've repeatedly heard over and over again, usually because I have it in audios be it movies or something else. Mulling things over, this is not necessarily unexpected. Weaker things come apart under stress. So I'm trying to regroup. I'm unsure whether this is wise, but usually when regrouping I attend far less small group meetings. Edited by Snowflake on 02 October 2011 at 4:58pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5957 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 472 of 740 04 October 2011 at 2:58am | IP Logged | ||
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People may find this odd, I've restarted using FSI and gone back to the BIO module. Since what has largely stayed intact are things that I've repeatedly heard over and over again, and my grammar is slipping, doing this made sense. It's different now that I have some vocabulary and comprehension skills. I can concentrate on the drills themselves and the grammar, not what did they just say? What word was that? Or how was that pronounced? I also view the English differently. The English used to be extremely annoying. Now being able to easily flip back and forth between English and Mandarin is important. And with being able to concentrate on the drills, I am starting to see patterns as to what personally is a bit more difficult. I can also focus on the peoples names which are used in the lessons. Before, names were mostly a mass of undistinguishable syllables and therefore a source of fustration. OK, time to print out some pages from the workbook so I can do the exercises.
The grammar workbook should arrive Wed. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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