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| mike245 Triglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6970 days ago 303 posts - 408 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Cantonese Studies: French, German, Mandarin, Khmer | Message 1 of 14 06 June 2007 at 2:54pm | IP Logged |
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I've recently returned to learning Mandarin, so I'll be using this thread to track my goals and progress. In short, I made it about midway through Pimsleur Mandarin III, and then stopped about a year ago to study for exams and apply to graduate school. I am currently using FSI Chinese, Living Language Ultimate Mandarin, Chinese in a Flash, and Shaum's Outline of Chinese Characters. I would like to concentrate on speaking and listening comprehension before I learn how to read and write.
My current goals: 1. Go through 2 lessons of Ultimate Mandarin each week. I have been creating flashcards for vocabulary (in pinyin), and learning the dialogs by heart (with assistance from the English translation). I have 32 lessons left, which will be about 4 months of material. 2. Complete Modules 1, 2, and 3 of FSI Chinese by July 1st. These are pretty easy because of my previous experiences, but I want to get a feel for the course and the pacing. 3. Listen to Mandarin news broadcasts to familiarize myself with the language intonations. Current problems: Completing Pimsleur has given me a good grasp of tones and word order, but I am now struggling with deciphering pinyin and learning how to control tones when I string together long sentences with lots of vocabulary words. I am also putting a lot of focus on pronunciation right now, especially with regards to the differences between j/zj, c/z, etc. I think its better to focus on these issues now rather than have fossilized pronunciation errors later. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| victor Tetraglot Moderator United States Joined 7316 days ago 1098 posts - 1056 votes 6 sounds Speaks: Cantonese*, English, FrenchC1, Mandarin Studies: Spanish Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 14 08 June 2007 at 9:38pm | IP Logged |
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Hey Mike! It's great plan you've set yourself. Spend more time with particular lessons that you think think you would like to work on. With more practice, your tones will get better. Good luck!
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| mike245 Triglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6970 days ago 303 posts - 408 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Cantonese Studies: French, German, Mandarin, Khmer | Message 3 of 14 12 June 2007 at 1:04pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the words of encouragement! After making it through a week of studying, I think I need to revise my goals a bit-- namely, scale back the pace so that I can concentrate on really memorizing vocabulary and absorbing the new grammar rules.
I made it through the first half of the resource module for FSI and finally know the difference between the zh/ch/j/q/z/c sounds. Interestingly, with Pimsleur, I was able to absorb (and reproduce) all the correct sounds, but after Pimsleur, learning the pronunciation of new vocabulary is more difficult. I am an immersion learner-- that's how I learned German and Spanish, and FSI and Ultimate Mandarin feel too grammar driven for me. I'm learning a lot, but it'll take time to digest it all. I've also started learning Chinese characters with Chinese in a Flash. In the past week, I've learned about 75 characters. I'm hoping to finish volume 1 (448 characters) in a few weeks, and then volume 2 (another 448 characters) by the end of summer. I'm focusing on traditional, but I would also like to be able to read simplified. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mike245 Triglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6970 days ago 303 posts - 408 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Cantonese Studies: French, German, Mandarin, Khmer | Message 4 of 14 16 June 2007 at 7:03pm | IP Logged |
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I just finished Module 1 of FSI Mandarin. Even though the vocabulary is a review of Pimsleur and LL Ultimate Mandarin, it was good to get accustomed to the pace of FSI, which is much faster than my other materials. Unlike the Basic Courses, FSI Mandarin seems like a great mix of learning method: the C/P tapes have a comprehensive, Pimsleur-like approach, while the D tapes offer extensive drills.
I'm also liking the multitrack approach to language learning. Whenever I get bored with the FSI tapes, I can just switch to the Ultimate Mandarin set or learn more characters as a "break". I'm also reviewing over Pimsleur (mostly at the gym) and I've started listening to Chinesepod, which has some great vocabulary. I've learned approximately 150 characters at this point, and I'm going to try to get through 300 by the end of June. I've ordered the New Practical Chinese Readers from ecampus.com, so once I get them, I'll start reading practice to reinforce my learning. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mike245 Triglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6970 days ago 303 posts - 408 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Cantonese Studies: French, German, Mandarin, Khmer | Message 5 of 14 21 June 2007 at 2:08am | IP Logged |
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I'm made it halfway through Module 2 of FSI Mandarin. It's a bit disconcerting that the units keep switching between mainland and Taiwanese accents, but I think it's an exercise that will help keep me sharp. The tapes have a lot of English on them (and they aren't as drill heavy as the Basic Courses), but I love how the modules seamlessly incorporate drills with a more contextual approach to language practice. So far, I've been working the drills in my car and listening to the C/P tapes at the gym, and it's been working out great.
I'm also up to Unit 12 in Ultimate Mandarin. I'm not progressing nearly as fast as I wanted to, but I'm trying to get the most benefit out of each lesson-- memorizing the dialogs, learning vocabulary, and really absorbing the grammar rules. It's a great complement to the FSI lessons, especially for pronunciation. Since the pace is slower and the recordings are much clearer, I can focus on practicing rhythm and correct pronunciation rather than just trying to get out the drill responses as fast as I can. Using my flash cards, I've now learned about 250 characters. I've started using the old Practical Chinese Reader (traditional character edition), and it's been great practice (albeit very boring). I've decided to focus on reading, since I don't have any need to write Chinese, and learning to recognize characters makes for much more efficient studying. Hopefully, at this rate, I'll get to 1,000 characters by the end of summer! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mike245 Triglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6970 days ago 303 posts - 408 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Cantonese Studies: French, German, Mandarin, Khmer | Message 6 of 14 26 June 2007 at 4:59pm | IP Logged |
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After lots of studying, I'm finally up to 325 characters! I have been trying to learn about 15-25 words a day, depending on the difficulty of the characters and any previous familiarity I may have had with the words. Once I reach 900 characters, I will be taking a break to learn more words before I learn how to write them. I've noticed that it's much easier to learn how to write a word after I've already learned how to use it with FSI Mandarin or LL Ultimate Mandarin. Otherwise, it feels like I have to guess at the usage of the word and its correct pronunciation (pinyin is helpful, but not as good as audio).
I'm also up to Lesson 13 in LL Ultimate Mandarin. The pace is rapidly increasing-- I feel like the speakers are talking much faster than they did in previous lessons. There is a lot of fun, everyday vocabulary in the book: air conditioner, culture, bargaining, necktie, student dorm, etc. I've been slacking off with FSI Chinese-- I listen to the comprehension tapes at the gym and then do the drills in my car, but I haven't really used the written materials. When I get to the end of Module 2, I'll go back and work through the P-2 tapes to get some good review. I've also just received the New Practical Chinese Readers (textbooks only) and the Assimil's Chinese with Ease, Vol. 1. I plan on adding these to my multitrack approach. My main method right now is still Ultimate Mandarin (for speaking) and Chinese in a Flash (for reading), but I am going to supplement with Assimil and the readers. By the time I finish Ultimate Mandarin in a few months, I will switch to the active phase of Assimil and it will become my primary method. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mike245 Triglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6970 days ago 303 posts - 408 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Cantonese Studies: French, German, Mandarin, Khmer | Message 7 of 14 01 July 2007 at 10:38pm | IP Logged |
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I just recently begun Assimil Chinese with Ease. I am really fascinated with the Assimil method and think that it's a great way to "acquire" a language, but to be honest, I'm a bit disappointed with the pace of the Chinese program. Upon receiving the first book, I immediately flipped to the last chapter (Lesson 49) and was a bit dismayed to find that I could read and understand the entire lesson (in characters) without any help from the translation. The first few lessons are excruciatingly slow, which I probably would not have minded if I were an absolute beginner, but there are still a few vocabulary words here and there that I'm picking up. It's also nice to see the lesson include characters (albeit simplified), so that I can practice my reading. I'm starting with lesson 12, and I'll be skipping the passive phase to make things more interesting.
After beginning Assimil, I'm really appreciating the quick pace and thoroughness of Ultimate Mandarin. I've only gone through 15 lessons, but I've learned quite a bit of grammar and vocabulary, and my listening comprehension has improved a lot. The program isn't perfect-- it needs to include more drills, there are some misleading typos, and some of the speakers on the recordings are definitely not native, but I think it's a great program (especially coupled with Pimsleur and FSI). I think after completing all 40 lessons, I'll be in good shape towards proficiency in the language. I'm also pleased to report that I'm up to 425 characters! Just another 20 characters and I'll be done with Chinese in a Flash, Volume 1! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mike245 Triglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6970 days ago 303 posts - 408 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Cantonese Studies: French, German, Mandarin, Khmer | Message 8 of 14 11 July 2007 at 6:45pm | IP Logged |
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It's been almost two weeks since my last update, but unfortunately, I don't have too much to report. I spent the past week with my parents and have had very little time to study Mandarin-- but I'm hoping to get back into the habit.
One great thing about having my parents over, however, is that they are both quite proficient at Mandarin and have given me a lot of feedback and advice on the tones, vocabulary usage, etc. We also watched several HK movies with Chinese subtitles, and I was pleasantly surprised that I could read about 75% of the characters (even though I only know about 500 hanzi). I guess that the frequency rule really does apply! I've finally finished Module 2 of FSI Mandarin. I love the military vocabulary because it is so different from the conversational vocabulary that Assimil and Living Language teach, and the drills are really outstanding. The C2 tapes are also great because they challenge the learner to understand large blocks of conversation at a fairly fast pace, and they repeat the conversations 2-3 times in case you didn't catch something the first time. I'm up to lesson 24 in Assimil Chinese, and it is still agonizingly slow. What's most annoying is that one of the male speakers likes to draw out his pronunciation with the really short and easy sentences, but then rushes through the long and complex sentences. It seems very counterintuitive that way. Nevertheless, there is some good vocabulary that doesn't show up in the other books, including some everyday stuff (i.e., I'm tired, I'm staying at home, I'm afraid that he doesn't recognize me, etc). I've also started listening to Chinesepod lessons while driving. They are short and really fun, but most importantly: (1) they offer lots of interesting vocabulary, and (2) they have dialogues at real-time speed that give great practice for listening comprehension. I am going through the Intermediate lessons right now, which are pretty difficult upon first listen, but get much easier with repetition. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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