learn chinese

I’m very glad that I decided to go back and revisit all the chatpers in my textbook- some of the most basic characters from chapter 2 I have already forgotten! I can’t imagine going back into Chinese this fall and realizing I’ve forgotten everything!

I’m currently taking Chinese in University, so my goal this summer is to just truly master the material in the book I learned from last year. I tend to be one of those people that rushes ahead without learning the basics, so it’s going to be good for me to slow down.

40강짜리 동영상을 아이팟에 넣어서 듣고 있음.
- 한국어 표현을 중국어 표현으로 바꿈
- 다른 설명을 배제하고 계속 반복
- 한가지 표현을 응용하여 확장하여 반복하여 연습

상당히 효과적이다.!!
감사!

- 43things

40강짜리 동영상을 아이팟에 넣어서 듣고 있음.
- 한국어 표현을 중국어 표현으로 바꿈
- 다른 설명을 배제하고 계속 반복
- 한가지 표현을 응용하여 확장하여 반복하여 연습

상당히 효과적이다.!!
감사!

40강짜리 동영상을 아이팟에 넣어서 듣고 있음.

I finished Intermediate 1 and the professors say my accent is very good.
I use nciku.com too. It’s very helpful.

Gonna try watching 经济半小时 every day.

http://space.tv.cctv.com/podcast/jingjibanxiaoshi

I studied Chinese for a couple of years, and would like to pick up again. I was at about Berlitz level 4 when I put this on hold; now I would like to start spoken Chinese classes again and start on learning to write as an independent study.

The baby steps: learning how to pronounce the words/letters, and how to say it. This is VERY important. Example, ‘Bayjeeng’ is actually ‘Peicheeng’. Z is read as ts, etc, etc. And don’t get me started on the tones! As what was said above, it may be written the same, but giving the word a different tone also gives a different meaning. Master the four tones by listening-imitating.

Take it slow. Chinese has an ENORMOUS amount of characters. But no need to think of that. Go for the basic words first (let’s say, mom, Monday, Miss), then if you think you’ve got that covered, move on to the intermediate(mystery, match, meek). While widening your vocabulary, use it in simple sentences (Where?, This is a book., Is it okay?). In other words, grammar. Understand where verbs are placed, etc, etc.

Put your learnings to use! TALK to Chinese. No, not your Chinese teacher. Living breathing chinky-eyed mainlanders. Give yourself a million points if you’re living in China, that way you’re able to refine and enrich your Chinese, also if you have a friend who’s fluent in Chinese. In other words, forget that you’re American or whatever, be Chinese: listen to Chinese songs, watch Chinese movies, be a fan of something Chinese, etc, etc, until you say ‘ouch’ in Chinese! [okay, maybe NOT that far, but you get the idea] But trust me, it is VERY different talking to REAL Chinese than with your Chinese teacher. You will learn a lot.

PRACTICE! Give yourself a pat in the back if you think your Chinese is better than yesterday’s. Remember, you need time, patience, and determination for this.
Learning any language is not easy.
And guess what, Chinese couldn’t be more of an exception.

I know just a few paragraphs won’t help much, but Good Luck. :)

Ashamed to say I’m an Asian who cannot speak her own mother language. English is the only language I’ve ever known. I know a few words of Mandarin, Cantonese and Hokkien, but would like to learn Mandarin and Cantonese properly (Hokkien is not useful at all in Sydney).