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Neil Learns Mandarin | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| neil-flynn Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5959 days ago 116 posts - 117 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: SpanishB2, Mandarin | Message 33 of 54 13 November 2008 at 12:50pm | IP Logged |
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Update:
I have had several essay deadlines, so i haven't had time to study much chinese this week. Also, im going away for the weekend, so ill have to do some tonight, and then on monday night 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| neil-flynn Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5959 days ago 116 posts - 117 votes Speaks: English* Studies: SpanishB2, Mandarin | Message 34 of 54 18 November 2008 at 10:39am | IP Logged |
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Right, i'm back from my weekend in London.
On monday, i reviewed lessons 1-4 of Learning Chinese Characters Goal: Complete lesson 5-6 of Learning Chinese Characters for Wednesday 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| neil-flynn Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5959 days ago 116 posts - 117 votes Speaks: English* Studies: SpanishB2, Mandarin | Message 35 of 54 26 November 2008 at 10:46am | IP Logged |
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Right, Ive been busy with essays and learning Spanish, but now im ready to make some progress.
I got Pimsleur at the weekend, so i will start with that to improve my spoken chinese Ive also completed the lessons in Learning Chinese Characters, so i will do some more of those. Goals: Complete Lesson 1 of Pimsleur and Lessons 7-8 of Learning Chinese Characters by Thursday 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| TheElvenLord Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6078 days ago 915 posts - 927 votes 1 sounds Speaks: Cornish, English* Studies: Spanish, French, German Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 36 of 54 26 November 2008 at 11:09am | IP Logged |
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Hi Neil
Well done so far btw! Could you give us a review of Learning Chinese Characters and Chinese in Steps please. I am thinking of buying them, so a review would be helpful. Thanks Keep it going! TEL 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| neil-flynn Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5959 days ago 116 posts - 117 votes Speaks: English* Studies: SpanishB2, Mandarin | Message 37 of 54 27 November 2008 at 11:37am | IP Logged |
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Hey, here are my reviews,
Im finding Learning Chinese Characters really helpful. In the first few chapters, it teaches the very basic characters and fragments that appear in the most common words. Then as you progress, it teaches less common words. The good thing about it is that each character is given a story, making it easier to remember. Also, it teaches every character needed for HSK Level A test, and at the end of every chapter, it has a progress bar. By the end of the book, it shows that you will know 75% of the written Chinese language, and because it teaches the most used characters and fragments first, you find that after a few chapters, you have learned 10% of the written language! That is certainly a good motivational technique, as many people, including myself, need some motivation at some point to continue learning. A problem with it is that it just teaches the characters, and has no exercises or examples, so you would need other material to teach yourself grammar and speaking/listening Ive seen some other characters books, but i bought Learning Chinese Characters mainly because it teaches the offical HSK Level A characters. Also, because of the stories with each character, it makes the learning fun and the characters easy to memorise. I'd certainly recommend buying it! For Chinese In Steps, i find that it a good way to learn the characters and grammar at the same time. Each book consists of 10 chapters, each of which have 20 words and characters, followed by relevant exercise. Although i found it useful, because the characters are just listed without any advice on how to memorise them, i found that unless i kept practicing them or invented a story for each, i would forget them easily. Also, the book has quite a few mistakes which i only spotted after studying with other material, so i wouldn't suggest using this as your only means of study. It comes with a CD with exercises for every chapter, so you can practice speaking and listening, but this should only be an addition to your speaking and listening study, as either Michel Thomas or Pimsleur is a must. One good thing about the book is that as you progress into the later chapters, you are given reading exercises, which really boosts your confidence when you know that you can read a few paragraphs of chinese. Chinese In Steps has many books, 4 exercise books and a few grammar books, so you know that after you finish one, there is another book in the series that you can use. Overall, i would suggest buying it, as i haven't seen an exercise book that is better. But with Chinese In Steps & Learning Chinese Characters, you can't use either as your only means of learning the language, which is a shame. The flaws in one book are the strengths of the other, so if you have the chance, try both of these books together. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| neil-flynn Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5959 days ago 116 posts - 117 votes Speaks: English* Studies: SpanishB2, Mandarin | Message 38 of 54 27 November 2008 at 11:39am | IP Logged |
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Goal Completed:
Finished track 1 of Pimsleur Mandarin 1 and completed lessons 7 and 8 of Learning Chinese Characters Goal: Finish track 2 of Pimsleur and complete lessons 9-10 of learning chinese characters 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| neil-flynn Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5959 days ago 116 posts - 117 votes Speaks: English* Studies: SpanishB2, Mandarin | Message 39 of 54 27 November 2008 at 11:42am | IP Logged |
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I've just had my first experience with Pimsleur. After using Michel Thomas for various languages for years, i much prefer MT to Pimsleur. To me, pimsleur seems very impersonal and throws you into the deep end straight away. Having said that, as the first exercise is spoken at native speed, 90 lessons later, i should be there, which is a good incentive.
I plan to finish Pimsleur 1-3 and by then, MT Mandarin Vocab Builder should be out. If not, my spoken and written chinese should be at a decent level, so i will get some speaking practice with natives at my uni. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| neil-flynn Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5959 days ago 116 posts - 117 votes Speaks: English* Studies: SpanishB2, Mandarin | Message 40 of 54 13 December 2008 at 1:16pm | IP Logged |
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The past few weeks have been hectic with essays, which of course, have to take priority. Having said that, ive done a few Chinese things when ive found the time. Ive just finished Pimsleur 1.4 and and lesson 10 of Learning Characters.
Ive still got essays to do, but the deadlines are this week, over Christmas and through January, ill more than make up for the time that i lost. Tonight, ill do at least one more Pimsleur track. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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