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54 messages over 7 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next >>

Biujee
Newbie
United States
Joined 5846 days ago
8 posts - 9 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Mandarin

Message 41 of 54

13 December 2008 at 7:40pm | IP Logged

neil-flynn wrote:

Having said that, as the first exercise is spoken at native speed, 90 lessons later, i should be
there, which is a good incentive.

Hey Neil, something I realised a few weeks ago is that Pimsleur is not spoken at native speed. You will find many
posts about it.. compared with FSI chinese or others, Pimsleur is quite slowly spoken. I thought I was on to a winner
when starting the course, but started to listen to alot of Mandarin radio and podcast just to get myself used to the
actual speed at which natives do speak!

Thought I would give you the heads up!
1 person has voted this message useful

irrationale
Tetraglot
Senior Member
China
Joined 6048 days ago
669 posts - 1023 votes

2 sounds
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog
Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese

Message 42 of 54

14 December 2008 at 1:22am | IP Logged

Biujee wrote:

neil-flynn wrote:

Having said that, as the first exercise is spoken at native speed, 90 lessons later, i should be
there, which is a good incentive.

This is true. However, that fact does not mean it is bad to start out slower and work your way to normal speeds. FSI from the beginning would be a nightmare, IMO, especially with a very hard to pronounce (and importantly pronounced) langugage such as Mandarin.

However this is absoutely true.
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neil-flynn
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5959 days ago
116 posts - 117 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish^B2, Mandarin

Message 43 of 54

14 December 2008 at 6:29am | IP Logged

Really?! Well, i started on Michel Thomas which was very slow, so to me, it seems like it is native speed. After 6 lessons of pimsleur, im starting to speak and understand their speed, so maybe when i finish pimsleur 1, i will start listening to podcasts and radio

Thanks for the heads up!
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neil-flynn
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5959 days ago
116 posts - 117 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish^B2, Mandarin

Message 44 of 54

14 December 2008 at 6:35am | IP Logged

I finished pimsleur 1.5 last night, and i plan to do 1.6 and 1.7 today.

When i started, i wanted to do 1 a day, but with essays etc i found that i couldn't, so i am trying to make up the time. I started pimsleur 1.1 on the 27th november, so i should have finished 1.18 by tonight. By doing two a day, i should catch up on Christmas day at lesson 1.29. And i might find that i want to continue with 2 a day just to finish it quicker
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neil-flynn
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5959 days ago
116 posts - 117 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish^B2, Mandarin

Message 45 of 54

28 February 2009 at 5:04pm | IP Logged

Just to update you all, ive started using Anki to remember the characters. I was having a real problem with memorising them, but im finding that this is a great way to remember them all. I would certainly recommend it.

I have also got a language exchange partner on facebook, which is really helping my reading and writing. Here's the link to the Facebook language exchange group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=56120760988&ref=mf#/ap ps/application.php?id=2516930352.

I've been reading irrationale's log, and it has certainly inspired me to make a real effort with mandarin, and im going to roughly follow what he has done.
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neil-flynn
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5959 days ago
116 posts - 117 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish^B2, Mandarin

Message 46 of 54

28 February 2009 at 5:05pm | IP Logged

I should also add that ive been using the language centre at my uni and watching CCTV news. Chinese TV is very helpful to learners as most shows have subtitles
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neil-flynn
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5959 days ago
116 posts - 117 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish^B2, Mandarin

Message 47 of 54

13 April 2009 at 4:06pm | IP Logged

I am regularly sending messages to language partners on Facebook, and if i don't understand a word, i put it straight into Anki. I currently have 177 words/phrases in Anki. By the start of May, i intend to have 250 words.
1 person has voted this message useful

neil-flynn
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5959 days ago
116 posts - 117 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish^B2, Mandarin

Message 48 of 54

27 July 2009 at 11:58pm | IP Logged

I haven't used this in a while, but ill try to regularly update you all. Here is my
current progress:

502 words/phrases on Anki;

Daily messages to language partners on Facebook

Talking to chinese friends on msn everynight

I have recently bought Colloquial Chinese 1 & 2, which i would strongly
recommend

I have also just put the audio of each word in my Anki, which takes a long time. I get
them all from www.mdbg.net. I would strongly suggest that anyone using Anki gets the
audio files. They are really helpful.

Colloquial Chinese 2 has lots of informal grammar rules, which addresses problems that
i had with a language partner.

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