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Mandarin Chinese Challenge- TAC 2014 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5661 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 25 of 39 23 March 2014 at 4:51am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm glad to hear you're really enjoying it. I tend to go back in forth between falling in love with it and absolutely hating everything about it :P
I'm also glad you found a nice tutor, which also reminds me i should start my tutoring sessions back up again :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4485 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 26 of 39 25 March 2014 at 4:05am | IP Logged | ||
Thanks Crush! I know exactly how you feel. It's a total roller coaster which I absolutely enjoy every minute of. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4485 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 27 of 39 03 April 2014 at 2:32am | IP Logged | ||
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Update time.
Tonight will be my 3rd lesson with my favorite tutor. She's tough on me, but it's exactly what I need. I've been studying quite a bit the last few weeks and I'm ready to dominate this lesson tonight. I'm up to lesson 20 in Pimsleur Mandarin I and I've listened to all 4 seasons of Chineseclass101.com's Absolute Beginner Series and all of Chinesepod's Newbie lessons. I can't say I've retained it all, but I'm getting better. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4240 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 28 of 39 03 April 2014 at 5:32am | IP Logged | ||
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I've spent just over 6 months on Mandarin. Now I'm moving into French.
My focus isn't phrase books, computer software that does drills and exercises or classroom instructions. Learning included everything that I'd do in a given day outside of the classroom. I'd read a newspaper, watch TV, listen to the radio. All the things I'd normally do in English I switched to Chinese. There are certain programs I'd normally watch like "America's Got Talent" I'd watch the Chinese version "中国达人 秀". Even listening to the news I'd listen to half an hour in English and the other half in Chinese. Right now I am cutting as much as 90% of the English language programs I'd normally watch and pick up the rest of the pre-recorded shows from Taiwan, Singapore or Mainland China online. Many people would use the expression "no pain, no gain". My approach to learning languages is to do all the things I'd normally do and build it into a routine like I'm living in Taiwan instead of the US or Canada. I don't have to put in extra hours for watching foreign language TV. I simply limit my English programs or cut it out altogether for at least 6 months. You'll be surprise how far you can go. There are several programs on YouTube I was watching with Chinese subtitles including: 1. 大學生了沒? (a reality show from Taiwan with a group of university students as guests. Each show gets into discussions on a specific topic). 2. 中国达人秀 (the Chinese version of America's Got Talent) 3. 好好说慢慢讲 Say It! (a Mandarin learning show from Ch. 8 in Singapore). I discovered this show recently. The dialog is a mixture of English & Mandarin. The characters played around with all sorts of similar sounding English & Chinese words and turned each show into a comedy. Even if you're not proficient in Chinese, you can listen to the English dialog before & after and figure out the Chinese expressions. The last TV drama I was watching: 我们等你 Don't Stop Believin'. The whole story centred around a school for low-income kids was done in 20 episodes. The show has some sad moments but ended up with a happy ending. As always I have a computer document open to record new words & phrases including the 4-character proverbs. People who believe in being self-taught 自修 zìxiū like myself like to use 2 Chinese proverbs: 无师自通 wúshīzìtōng (learning without a teacher) 亲力亲为 qīnlìqīnwéi (doing things yourself) 大家加油! Edited by shk00design on 03 April 2014 at 7:15am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 4962 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 29 of 39 03 April 2014 at 5:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks a million for 我们等你! Found it with English subtitles as well. How is the
Mandarin spoken there accent-wise? Hope it won't confuse a beginner? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4240 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 30 of 39 04 April 2014 at 6:50pm | IP Logged | ||
The 20-episode TV drama from Singapore had high school students as cast members so the words & phrases are not too bad. With the commercials cut you are watching about 40m for 1 episode. The Chinese communities across S-E Asia in places like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand & Indonesia adopted Simplified Chinese characters and the use of Pinyin phonetics for learning in school. The accent is definitely not Beijing but similar to Taiwan and easy to pick up. This TV series is just Mandarin with a few English words in between. There are some TV programs that have Fukienese (Hokkien) expressions as well. Like the Minnan dialect in Taiwan both originated from Fujian province in China. Singapore being a former English colony you do occasionally find English phrases in a dialog such as "I love you" instead of the Chinese version "我 爱你" and "ice cream" instead of "冰淇淋". There are few English loanwords like "巴士" bāshì for "bus" instead of "公车" gōngchē, "德士" déshì for taxi instead of 出租车 chūzūchē in China / 计程车 jìchéngchē in Taiwan. When addressing older people you don't know it is common to use the English "Uncle" & "Auntie" or the Chinese version "伯伯" bóbo & "阿姨" āyí like in French you'd use "Monsieur" & "Madame". The word to take a "bath" is normally "洗澡" xǐzǎo. In Singapore it is common to hear 冲凉 chōngliáng as well. Other common English loan words include "爹地" diēdì & "媽咪" māmi for "daddy" & "mommy" instead of "爸爸" bàba & "媽媽" māma. The English words & phrases are spoken with an accent unique to Malaysia & Singapore often labelled as "Singlish". When it comes to food, you'd hear "咖哩" kāli or "咖喱" for curry & "沙爹" shādiē for Satay which is common in S-E Asia but not found in China or Taiwan. A while ago I came across a cartoon series from China "大耳朵图图" which is funny and also easy to follow. The main character is a small child attending school but the subjects in the series are adult but seen from a child's perspective. Edited by shk00design on 05 April 2014 at 3:18pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4485 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 31 of 39 05 April 2014 at 3:53am | IP Logged | ||
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I too have started watching 我们等你 and I love it! Thanks for posting it.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4485 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 32 of 39 14 April 2014 at 9:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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Overdue Update:
I had to go back to the hospital last week, so I'm off of work for another week. Fortunately, I have been really working hard on Chinese the last couple weeks and it really seems to be working. When I watch Mandarin movies, TV shows, or Youtube clips, I am able to pick out words and usually work out the gist of what's going on even at full native speed. That is very encouraging. I am scheduling another Skype lesson for later this week, so hopefully all of my studying will prove to be as productive as I feel like it has been. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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