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Tarvos - TAC 2015 Pushkin/Scan

 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
1511 messages over 189 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 170 ... 188 189 Next >>
tarvos
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
China
likeapolyglot.wordpr
Joined 4668 days ago

5310 posts - 9399 votes 
Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans
Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish

 
 Message 1353 of 1511
10 February 2015 at 11:24am | IP Logged 
Well there are a couple things to keep in mind. I'm living abroad and immersed now,
but immersion is a choice and depends on how well you socialise in the target culture.
I know a few Chinese people, but since most of my time is spent at school there is a
large part of my life where I speak in languages besides Chinese (and since the amount
of languages I know or have studied is very large that means I have a lot of languages
to maintain).

Concerning Mandarin, I have the following activities:

- I have 4 hours of class each day. This constitutes the bulk of my work but a lot of
it is also learning characters (something I have to put more time into because it's
not something I did much before I got to China). Characters and reading are my weakest
area in Chinese. My spoken Chinese is understandable and serves basic purposes, so I
can get by in shops and at markets and in bars or when riding cabs. Navigating is
okay.

- There is homework assigned each day. I do my homework like a good boy and I have
extra material here. I have Assimil, but I haven't used it since I got here (I used
this a lot in the Netherlands to get started). Currently my favourite resource outside
the coursebooks we use (Short-Term Spoken Chinese), is a Swedish book by Jonas
Björkstén called Språket i mittens rike, and this dispenses with the pinyin very
quickly so you are forced to rely on the characters. Now that my characters are a
little better I read a bunch of chapters each day. There is a Swedish translation in
case I don't get everything, but most of the characters are basic and known to me.
(Not all of them though).

- I use Interpals, WeChat and other things to communicate with my friends. WeChat is a
must on your phone in China. I have set my phone to Chinese.

In a few weeks, I will be moving out of Beijing to a city called Chengde where there
are practically no foreigners. This will help (because you can only make friends with
the Chinese.)



Edited by tarvos on 10 February 2015 at 11:25am

1 person has voted this message useful



solocricket
Tetraglot
Groupie
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 3637 days ago

68 posts - 106 votes 
Speaks: English*, French, Italian, Spanish
Studies: Dutch, Icelandic, Korean, Polish

 
 Message 1354 of 1511
10 February 2015 at 1:17pm | IP Logged 
Wow, it sounds like you´re having a great experience in China. You´re right, immersion is
definitely a choice, but you seem to be spending a lot of time in Mandarin. Are your
classes just intensive language courses, or are you studying something else?
1 person has voted this message useful



tarvos
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
China
likeapolyglot.wordpr
Joined 4668 days ago

5310 posts - 9399 votes 
Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans
Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish

 
 Message 1355 of 1511
10 February 2015 at 1:35pm | IP Logged 
8 hours a day in Mandarin means 8 hours a day not speaking Mandarin...

I'm only studying the language, but a classmate lent me a novel today set in historical
China (I also bought the Art of War in the French translation). This is all in French.

My problem is that I have 10 other languages vying for attention.

Edited by tarvos on 10 February 2015 at 1:36pm

1 person has voted this message useful



tarvos
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
China
likeapolyglot.wordpr
Joined 4668 days ago

5310 posts - 9399 votes 
Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans
Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish

 
 Message 1356 of 1511
11 February 2015 at 1:07pm | IP Logged 
Das neue Leben in Beijing

My first German blog entry. It's quite short. I hope to get back to writing more again
soon, but I've had to get settled a bit and Monday had some awful news so it's slipped my
mind.

Please pay the terrible grammar no mind - out of the languages I speak, German is by far
the one in which I am the least capable of writing correctly.

Edited by tarvos on 11 February 2015 at 1:09pm

1 person has voted this message useful



tarvos
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
China
likeapolyglot.wordpr
Joined 4668 days ago

5310 posts - 9399 votes 
Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans
Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish

 
 Message 1357 of 1511
13 February 2015 at 2:22pm | IP Logged 
啤酒和中国菜

A short first entry in Mandarin about why China's food is so cheap and good... and why I
wish they had better beer to go with it :D
1 person has voted this message useful



tarvos
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
China
likeapolyglot.wordpr
Joined 4668 days ago

5310 posts - 9399 votes 
Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans
Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish

 
 Message 1358 of 1511
14 February 2015 at 3:50pm | IP Logged 
Мы - духовные люди

This phrase is a pet hate of mine. Keep the discussion on my blog and civil if you want
to go there, thanks
2 persons have voted this message useful



tarvos
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
China
likeapolyglot.wordpr
Joined 4668 days ago

5310 posts - 9399 votes 
Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans
Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish

 
 Message 1359 of 1511
16 February 2015 at 12:45pm | IP Logged 
Today I had my first proper conversation in Mandarin without too much word-searching
where the other party responded in Mandarin. My flatmate is actually from Guangdong but
he speaks Mandarin (and is preparing to study photography here in Beijing).

There's a first for everything! I'm getting better at doing shopping because I understand
prices (that's really helpful). And I'm getting better at reading characters. I still
know way too little, but I can read a couple hundred now and that's making my life a
little easier.
2 persons have voted this message useful



tarvos
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
China
likeapolyglot.wordpr
Joined 4668 days ago

5310 posts - 9399 votes 
Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans
Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish

 
 Message 1360 of 1511
17 February 2015 at 9:21am | IP Logged 
Den himmelske freds plass

About me wandering around Beijing yesterday... and some pictures of Tiananmen.


1 person has voted this message useful



This discussion contains 1511 messages over 189 pages: << Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189  Next >>


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