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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 49 of 54 05 August 2009 at 5:06am | IP Logged |
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I now have 600 words on Anki. I'm getting lots of new words from Colloquial Chinese 2,
and for each unit, i am making sure that i know every word. I am watching the CNN weekly news review in mandarin, which is helpful. Go onto CNN.com and search for eileen hsieh. I have just started listening to chinese talk radio, but i only understand a few words. I will need more practice with that. I am just learning simplified characters. Is anyone learning traditional characters? Are they easy to learn once you have learned the simplified characters, or do they require lots of studying? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| bouda Senior Member United States Joined 5595 days ago 194 posts - 197 votes Speaks: English* | Message 50 of 54 05 August 2009 at 5:17am | IP Logged |
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As I started by learning traditional, then switched to simplified, then learned
traditional again, I've experienced both sides of the coin. In my experience, it's harder to learn simplified first and then traditional than to learn traditional first and then simplified. But that's not what you were asking. I think the short answer is that you still have to study some - not as much studying as if you didn't know any characters at all, but there are some traditional characters that look absolutely nothing like their far too simplified brethren. Then again, there are some basic simplifying processes that you can start recognizing very quickly - the radical 言 becomes this radical in hua4 话, for example, and that's a pattern that remains pretty consistent. ETA: I don't know if any of that made sense because I am so tired, but I hope some of it did! Edited by bouda on 05 August 2009 at 5:39am 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 51 of 54 05 August 2009 at 11:34am | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the reply, i have noticed some minor changes between simplified and
traditional characters. Also, one of my language partners is from Taiwan, and writes to me in traditional characters, so i recognise some of the common words. But like you said, some don't look like their simplified version at all. I've just got into watching mandarin tv, and some of the programs have simplified subtitles, and others have traditional. At the moment, i want to get to spoken and listening fluency soon, and recognise a few thousand simplified characters. Once i have reached that level, i will start learning traditional characters. They will help when i start learning Japanese or Cantonese, but at the moment, it just seems like i will slow my progress down when i don't need to. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Pyx Diglot Senior Member China Joined 5733 days ago 670 posts - 892 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Mandarin | Message 52 of 54 05 August 2009 at 12:00pm | IP Logged |
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edit: if something looks improbable, read *carefully* again before posting. Sorry ^^ Edited by Pyx on 05 August 2009 at 2:21pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| bouda Senior Member United States Joined 5595 days ago 194 posts - 197 votes Speaks: English* | Message 53 of 54 05 August 2009 at 1:53pm | IP Logged |
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Neil - I think like that's a good plan. It's important in my opinion to be able to read
traditional as well as simplified eventually, and that's a process that I think is best started early (though not necessarily intensively - just to get a feel for it, which you're obviously doing already), but learning how to write both systems can wait. The main difficulty with learning traditional characters after simplified for me was that some simplified characters stand for several traditional characters that look nothing alike. You're lucky that you have a language partner from Taiwan to practice with! Good luck with your studies! 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 54 of 54 13 August 2009 at 2:29pm | IP Logged |
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I'm now onto 700 words in Anki. I aim to have 800 by Friday night
1 person has voted this message useful |
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