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Lorinth’s log - 劳伦的博客

 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
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lorinth
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Belgium
Joined 4227 days ago

443 posts - 581 votes 
Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Latin
Studies: Mandarin, Finnish

 
 Message 185 of 408
28 November 2013 at 9:15am | IP Logged 
ZH

The day before yesterday, I watched episodes 2 and 3 of 魔幻手机 (40' each). Yesterday, I watched three episodes of 大耳朵图图 (10' each). Thanks again Flarioca: I really like that 动画!

On 中国新闻网, I read an article about Ukraine titled "欧盟指责俄阻拦乌克兰与欧签贸易协议 普京否认".   On 南都网, I read another one about the Snowden file titled "美英情报官员承认斯诺登仍掌握20万份绝密文 件".

I went on reading Lao She's 猫成记 (93% read).

I worked some more on an upper intermediate ChinesePod podcasts about 工会. I think I'll use more and more upper-intermediate level podcasts as from now. Although I don't understand intermediate level podcasts as much as I would like (i.e. no pause, no rewind, just straight listening), I have the impression that upper-intermediate level podcasts are just slightly more challenging and interesting.

Usual vocab drills: words with Pleco, characters with Skritter, audio sentences with Anki.
1 person has voted this message useful



Flarioca
Heptaglot
Senior Member
Brazil
Joined 5835 days ago

635 posts - 816 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, Esperanto, French, EnglishC2, Spanish, German, Italian
Studies: Catalan, Mandarin

 
 Message 186 of 408
30 November 2013 at 1:45am | IP Logged 
So, you have FOUR children and still find time to learn Mandarin????!!!!

There are much more things that I need to learn about your methods and approaches than I was previously assuming!! :-))
2 persons have voted this message useful



lorinth
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Belgium
Joined 4227 days ago

443 posts - 581 votes 
Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Latin
Studies: Mandarin, Finnish

 
 Message 187 of 408
30 November 2013 at 11:39pm | IP Logged 
"不以人自居的不能得人的待遇"

Done. I've just finished reading one of the darkest novels I've ever read. The ending
of 猫城记 is truly scary. The book was written, I believe, in the 1930s but it
describes in awful details the most horrendous stuff that some human beings were about
to do to other human beings not even 10 years later, in China and elsewhere. However,
the book focuses on self-destruction and responsibility as much as on destruction by
others, as shown by the last scene, where the two sole survivors of the cat
civilization 咬死 each other in the cage where they've been put by their enemies. And
the irony of the last sentence is the cherry on a very bitter cake. Lao She was
painfully lucid.

As far as the language is concerned, probably I wouldn't have been able to read that
novel without a popup dictionary to simplify dictionary lookups. There were many
passages, however, that were very clear and that I could read without much hassle.
There were some others though, that I did not fully understand, even after looking up
the vocab and trying two or three times. In such cases, rather than getting stuck, I
prefer to move on.

As far as speed is concerned (it matters only to the extent that I'd like to read more,
to increase the input), it took me two months, i.e. I've read about 1500, maybe 2000
characters/day. It's not much, but I tend to read quite a lot of other things every
day. I guess that I could read almost 1,000,000 characters/year if I go on at that
pace.

Today, while shopping for the week, I listened repeatedly to two Slow Chinese podcasts,
one about 南京的大树 and another one about some Chinese singer. On fist hearing, I could
understand fairly well, so it's encouraging.

Yesterday, at lunch time, I read two articles, one on 打击元 (epochtimes.com) about 取得
欧盟公民权 亚非人占半数 and another one about 欧盟东部伙伴峰会。
1 person has voted this message useful



lorinth
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Belgium
Joined 4227 days ago

443 posts - 581 votes 
Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Latin
Studies: Mandarin, Finnish

 
 Message 188 of 408
30 November 2013 at 11:49pm | IP Logged 
@Flarioca. I don't know whether I have a set "method". Basically,

- I use the "time barrel" approach extensively and
- I have a smart phone loaded with SRS cards, texts, mp3s, videos, etc.

Article on the time barrel:

http://www.hackingchinese.com/the-time-barrel-you-have-more- time-than-you-think/


If I'm very busy and I can do only ONE thing on a given day, I review of the vocabulary
I've come accross in the last few days, while reading or listening. Nowadays, I use
Pleco lists, mainly, with a system that mixes simple lists and SRS lists.
That's the bare minimum I do even on very difficult and busy days. I know from
experience that you can almost always scrape some time to do two reps here, three reps
there, etc.: while waiting for a lift, while waiting for a green light, at the toilets
(yes), in the queue of the grocery store, etc.

All the other things I do to learn Chinese are a luxury that I'm always ready to grab
on the spot.

If I'm done with the Pleco lists, I try to add some Skritter review (for characters).
Usually, I read a book while commuting to and from work, plus press articles at lunch
time. I listen to podcasts or to my Anki audio deck while walking to and from the metro
station. When I drive the kids here and there, I also do some listening exercises.
While shopping as well. I sometimes have a Chinese radio or TV playing in the
background while working. If I have some time at night, I watch a short movie. I try to
read some more before going to sleep, etc.

I try to be ready, at all times, to take an opportunity to do some more Chinese... or
to accept that, today, I'll only have 10 minutes to do some reps and that's it.
2 persons have voted this message useful



Flarioca
Heptaglot
Senior Member
Brazil
Joined 5835 days ago

635 posts - 816 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, Esperanto, French, EnglishC2, Spanish, German, Italian
Studies: Catalan, Mandarin

 
 Message 189 of 408
01 December 2013 at 4:25pm | IP Logged 
lorinth wrote:
@Flarioca. I don't know whether I have a set "method". Basically,

- I use the "time barrel" approach extensively and
- I have a smart phone loaded with SRS cards, texts, mp3s, videos, etc.


Thanks for the link to this article. I've been using the same concept, from Farber's book, to use every small piece of time we get.

Now, it seems that the important things are to wisely choose what to do and how to be prepared to use those pieces of time.

I have an iPhone and do all my Anki studies there, as well as some Pleco SRSing of words. All my lessons mp3 are there and I listen to that while commuting. Since I'm driving, it's impossible to read, but sometimes, after arriving somewhere, I review some few points of the texts, because they are all scanned and OCRed as well.

Sometimes, while I'm with my son and he is concentrated on something instead of requiring my whole attention, I try to read my graded reader books.

Anyway, I'll try to be more detailed about these activities on my log and try to find out if there're other not yet used moments and activities.
2 persons have voted this message useful



lorinth
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Belgium
Joined 4227 days ago

443 posts - 581 votes 
Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Latin
Studies: Mandarin, Finnish

 
 Message 190 of 408
02 December 2013 at 12:57pm | IP Logged 
Flarioca, what's that "Farber's book"? I've never heard about that person.

It's my experience too that having a smartphone has radically improved my language learning life: now, I can take advantage of any opportunity, however short, to study some more. These short periods add up to a sizeable amount of time each day (when everything goes well...).
1 person has voted this message useful



Flarioca
Heptaglot
Senior Member
Brazil
Joined 5835 days ago

635 posts - 816 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, Esperanto, French, EnglishC2, Spanish, German, Italian
Studies: Catalan, Mandarin

 
 Message 191 of 408
02 December 2013 at 1:49pm | IP Logged 
lorinth wrote:
Flarioca, what's that "Farber's book"? I've never heard about that person.


"How to Learn Any Language", by Barry Farber.
2 persons have voted this message useful



lorinth
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Belgium
Joined 4227 days ago

443 posts - 581 votes 
Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Latin
Studies: Mandarin, Finnish

 
 Message 192 of 408
03 December 2013 at 9:52am | IP Logged 
ZH

I've read several articles these last few days, including two or three about the events in Ukraine (乌克兰首都抵抗活动升级,乌克兰反对派称 � �政府下台…), and also about the Chinese moon probe (嫦娥奔月助推中国太空强国梦). Lots of new words in the latter case, obviously, but I'm confident that, if I keep on reading other articles on the same subject, I will learn a lot of interesting stuff. I've also read bits and pieces of a 丁丁 comic, plus part of the transcript of an episode of the 锵锵三人行 talk show.

I've started working on a Slow Chinese podcast about the movie 让子弹飞.

I'd like to add: "Vocab drills as usual" but the fact is that I haven't used Skritter for a week now... The backlog will be unmanageable... I've studied my vocab in Pleco though and my SRS queue in Anki is decently short.

@Flarioca: Thanks for the link.

Edited by lorinth on 03 December 2013 at 9:53am



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