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Hitchhiker’s guide to the Chinese Galaxy | ||
Tags: Mandarin | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| outcast Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member China Joined 4750 days ago 869 posts - 1364 votes  Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 73 of 230 14 June 2013 at 5:10pm | IP Logged |
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I listened to a Chinese couple last night at the bookstore talking to themselves and their two year old child.
I thought I would understand nothing at all yet, and I was right. But I also thought I would not catch any words, but that was not true. From their conversation I was clearly able to catch the simplest words 妈妈, 爸爸, but also 母亲, 这本书, 好不好, 那. They seemed to speak quite standard Mandarin, but I have the impression they were from Singapore based on how they dressed. Obviously I cannot detect the difference within Mandarin accents/dialects, I can only differentiate Mandarin and Cantonese (sometimes). Edited by outcast on 14 June 2013 at 5:11pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| outcast Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member China Joined 4750 days ago 869 posts - 1364 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 74 of 230 14 June 2013 at 5:53pm | IP Logged |
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Unit Completion Entry 18
Unit 5 Lesson 2 Basic Spoken Chinese 6.14.2013 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| outcast Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member China Joined 4750 days ago 869 posts - 1364 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 75 of 230 15 June 2013 at 5:59am | IP Logged |
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Weekly Progress Entry 13
6.14.2013 So I am through lesson 2 of Unit 5 and well into lesson 3, pretty much as I had expected. Given the past entries here, it is clear it takes me about 2 weeks to get through each unit of the book, all the exercises and vocabulary. Did Units 1-2 in April, 3-4 in May and now 5-6 for June. I have noticed that it may take an extra day or two at times, so slowly as time goes by I have "lost" a week. That is why I will finish Unit 5 probably mid-week, which is around the 19-20th of June. So That means I will finish Unit 6 probably sometime just after July 4th (which is the U.S. national holiday). I mention all this for posterity sake only, not because it troubles me one bit. The Intermediate Spoken Chinese book is not to be released until mid-September, so I will be finishing up Basic Spoken Chinese right around the time. This is truly just a coincidence, I started my formal Chinese learning before the release date of the intermediate level was made public. In some big news, I will start with my Chinese tutor this week. I have already ordered the first 2 levels of New Practical Chinese Reader, which is what she uses. I bought both textbook, workbook, and audio. I really don't mind spending a bit of money because to have a workbook to practice plus audio to hear other Mandarin speakers (instead of the same ones in Basic Spoken Chinese, I have gotten used to them by now, there's about 6-8 individuals in their audio). What this means ins that I will have to sacrifice both personal time and a bit of time from Basic Spoken Chinese. At first I will dedicate most of the time to New Practical Chinese reader, so I can "catch up" that series to my current level (approximately) in Basic Spoken Chinese. I do not know if that is as easy as it sounds, but I will try. What I will do is go over the lessons until I finally notice that most of the material is unfamiliar (mainly the grammar). When that happens, then it must mean that is my outermost reach of my Mandarin knowledge and should slow down there. It is at that point that I will let the tutor guide my progress through the series. For now it will be once a week, but possibly two times sometimes. I will have to see. The rest of the days I will use the workbook and audios to practice and master the concepts, and then when I meet my tutor I am prepared to activate this knowledge with her. Personal sacrifice will mean sleeping a bit less, and basically less personal time. I think I am ready for the challenge of 4-5 hours of Mandarin daily. (So far I do mainly 3 hours, more or less, some days more, a couple of days when I'm just tired an hour plus). There is the risk of burnout, but I am mentalizing myself for the challenge, and I adore challenges. The characters are going along, I will try to do some more review in the coming days, as I have slacked slightly on that front. Now it is getting more challenging to go through them all because there are so many I have "learned". I am north of 720 as of tonight. As I mentioned in a post before, I am about halfway what I expect will be my final of about 1,400 characters both simplified and traditional that are the most common in the language. This week, my goal is to finish Unit 5. My goal for the next 100 characters is set for Sunday 23rd. I expect the NPCR to arrive mid-week, and will focus heavily on them as soon as I do. I have a heavy work week also, so this coming 7 days will be quite a challenge. Till the next WPE on 6.21.13! Edited by outcast on 22 June 2013 at 7:08pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| outcast Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member China Joined 4750 days ago 869 posts - 1364 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 76 of 230 16 June 2013 at 5:47pm | IP Logged |
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Unit Completion Entry 19
Unit 5 Lesson 3 Basic Spoken Chinese 6.16.2013 Note: SHORT lesson. So that makes up a bit for the very long Lesson 1. Also, I am on a roll this week, one of my "language zones". Usually last two-three weeks (I'm steaming through characters too... up to 60 today and could reach my next 100 target 4 DAYS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE, would be a record). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| prz_ Tetraglot Senior Member Poland last.fm/user/prz_rul Joined 4660 days ago 890 posts - 1190 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Bulgarian, Croatian Studies: Slovenian, Macedonian, Persian, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Swedish, German, Italian, Armenian, Kurdish | Message 77 of 230 16 June 2013 at 6:24pm | IP Logged |
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I have to ask a non-language question, which could've been already mentioned: are you really a hitchhiker or is it just a metaphore? :)
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| outcast Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member China Joined 4750 days ago 869 posts - 1364 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 78 of 230 17 June 2013 at 3:52am | IP Logged |
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Nah, I am to scared to hitchhike. There is this book (which I have never read nor watched the movie!), that is called "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". I just thought it was a somewhat more interesting title for this blog than "Outcast Mandarin Language Log"... or something like that. There is no hidden meaning whatsoever behind the title.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| prz_ Tetraglot Senior Member Poland last.fm/user/prz_rul Joined 4660 days ago 890 posts - 1190 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Bulgarian, Croatian Studies: Slovenian, Macedonian, Persian, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Swedish, German, Italian, Armenian, Kurdish | Message 79 of 230 17 June 2013 at 6:29am | IP Logged |
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Ok, thanks for the explanation. Pity, however stuyding Mandarin seriously is already as challenging as hitchhiking. Maybe even more.
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| outcast Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member China Joined 4750 days ago 869 posts - 1364 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 80 of 230 18 June 2013 at 5:41am | IP Logged |
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You don't have an "unchallenge" either... look at your "studies" list! :o
- - - - - Received NPCR 1 this afternoon. I will begin tonight after some work with Basic Spoken Chinese, or tomorrow morning. I will start from the beginning even though I know a lot of that will be review, but that's good actually. And to review from a different source always yields new vocab or ways of looking at things you learned. So I have decided to do NPCR just like Basic Spoken Chinese, at a pace I feel comfortable yet a bit challenged (with a deadline). I'm thinking that 2 lessons a week at the very beginning will work, because it should be review. I don't know however because I will do all the exercises and the workbook, so just in sheer time that may take a little longer. The entire NPCR module is 6 books with a total of 70 lessons. My thinking is to do a lesson every week when the material is no longer review... A year has 52 weeks, so I am thinking that if I start next day or so, it would take me a year and 2-3 months to complete the 6 books. Based on my pace, I began Basic Spoken Chinese in early March, and should be done with the Basic book by mid September, ten units, 40 lessons. So that's about six months. Intermediate Spoken Chinese should be about the same size, and should take me also six months. So both series should take me a year, and both should leave me somewhere at near B1 level for Basic AND Intermediate Spoken Chinese, and inside B1 level (I think) for New Practical Chinese Reader. What will I do after that in terms of textbooks/courses is totally unknown, but that's OK, I am still a year from that. My goal is passing the HSK and spending some time in China gaining fluency (6 months to a year). So NCPR begins now. Edited by outcast on 18 June 2013 at 5:48am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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