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Mandarin: Number of hours | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4445 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes  Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 33 of 34 28 January 2015 at 8:25pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Here are a few videos from Chris Parker on learning Mandarin:
How I learnt Mandarin Chinese How to learn to speak fluent Chinese (Mandarin) Part 1 How to learn to speak fluent Chinese (Mandarin) Part 2 How to learn to read and write Chinese characters (Part 1) How to learn to read and write Chinese characters (Part 2) 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| BobbyE Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5248 days ago 226 posts - 331 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin | Message 34 of 34 28 January 2015 at 9:29pm | IP Logged | |||||
I do think that I learned a lot in that time, probably at better rate than any other time too. But it wasn't the 16 hours of living in Beijing that seemed to make the difference, it was the 8-hours I spent consuming books and audio. Living and studying taught me two different types of language. Living there allowed me to hear and see how Chinese speakers buy/sell, order food, give directions in a taxi, to say "excuse me", when to say "excuse me", how to get someone's attention, and the many nouns of everyday life (such as SIM card, recharge card, groceries, names of dishes) etc... These are the kinds of speaking opportunities that are abundant in-country. This type of language is obviously important, and anyone striving for fluency should learn these types of things. But this range of expression and interaction is so limited (yet, necessary for living there), that it did not impact my overall learning trajectory as much as the input I got from books/audio-books/talk shows/etc... The opportunities to speak about politics, society, history, novels, or any more interesting topic, were really about the same amount as I was able to arrange back at home. Now, I'm definitely going to go back. And because I think it will boost my language. But the caveat is that I will go back as an advanced learner, not intermediate or beginner. I'll go back with 5 years under my belt instead of 2. I'll be more equipped to build real relationships in Chinese and utilize a fuller range of expression, instead of where I was at year two when I usually just understood approximations of what people were saying or what the group conversation was all about. It will be about consolidating what I know and making it more automatic. I think living abroad will be much, much more valuable as an advanced learner. PS. I was officially tested at ILR 2 prior to the 6 months, and ILR 2+ after the 6 months. Interesting enough, the improvement was very directly because of the input I got. The test coordinator guided the conversation into specific political/economic topics (about provincial-level debt in China) I had recently read/listened to an interview about. Edited by BobbyE on 28 January 2015 at 9:38pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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