My Chinese progress log (Videos)

[陳德聰]

I'm curious about your methods for learning besides using those books.

 

I find that when you speak, you pause in unnatural places while you think of what to say. I think if you speak more slowly and focus on what you want to say first that you may find an improvement in your tones and rhythm~

 

Edit: Just watched the most recent one and found it interesting how willing that young lady was to speak with you! May I suggest you investing some time in the phrases 请问，你是中国人吗？ or 请问，你会说中文吗？ rather than saying "你知道中文吗？" since that is directly translated from English and is bad Chinese.

[Pokarface]

Thank you Flickserver   !

 

陳德聰, oh that's a good question. I usually simply say that I use books and CDs, but to be more detailed: I have the Level 1 FLR Method - Chinese, as well as the books that I mentioned in my video. I like to listen to the conversations in my CDs and pay attention to the new vocabulary that is introduced in every lesson. I highlight the new words I learn in the books with different colors and then I start writing ( in Pinyin) tons of sentences using old vocabulary that I already know, new words, and FLR keywords. Some of the sentences that I write are incorrect. That's why in my videos you can see that I ''remember" things I've written in the past and simply say them.

 

I try to write sentences that I might actually use in the future. For example, if I learn the word "door", I'm more likely to write "please open the door" (qǐng kāimen) rather than "the door is broken" (I doubt I'll say something like this in Mandarin in the near future)

 

I write and read aloud what I write. I also like to imitate the Cd's conversations. I also like to listen to the questions in the FLR method and reply to them whatever I'm thinking. One of the questions is:

 

Why are you interested in Chinese?

Nǐ duì zhōngwén wèishéme yǒu xìngqù?

你对中文为什么有兴趣？

 

The answer provided in FLR is:

I’m interested in Chinese because I think it’s an interesting language

Wǒ duì zhōngwén gǎn xìngqù yīnwèi wǒ rènwéi zhōngwén shì yīgè yǒuqù de yǔyán.

我对中文感兴趣因为我认为中文是一个有趣的语言。

 

but instead of following the reply, I simply think of new replies (which are sometimes incorrect).

For this question I like to mention things like:

 

Wǒ xǐhuan Zhōngguó wénhuà, lìshǐ. Wǒ yě xiǎng  Zhōngguó, Táiwān nǔrén hěn měi a !

I like Chinese culture, history. I also think Chinese and Taiwanese women are beautiful!

 

or mention things like:

Wǒ xǐhuan Zhōnwén yīnwéi  wǒ xǐhuan xuéxi yǔyán, gèng Zhōngwén tài gěilì.

I like Chinese because I like learning languages, moreover Chinese is so awesome.

 

I've also been watching tons of Chinese and Taiwanese movies and soap operas. I don't know why, but it seems that Chinese soap operas always have sad endings  , whereas, Taiwanese TV has happy endings   .

 

There's three new things I've been trying recently: Watch FluentU videos, watch silly couple-matching TV shows from China, and play video games in Chinese. I used to play League of Legends with Chinese audio, but the characters don't speak that much, so I started playing Half-Life 2 in Chinese. I didn't know Half-Life 2 had an official Chinese version   .

Everyone who bought the original PC game in Steam can switch the audio from whatever language they have it, to English, Russian, Spanish, French, German, Korean, Italian, and Simplified or Traditional Chinese (I wonder if the characters start speaking like Taiwanese if I switch the game to Traditional Chinese).

 

Haha, did you watch the whole video? I have not found anyone that didn't want to speak Chinese; although, I'm pretty sure that the two last girls trolled me and their friend who seemed uninterested to speak Chinese, lol. I go to college and grocery stores often to see if I can hear Mandarin and practice on the spot 

 

Thanks, I really need a phrasebook or translator with correct phrases. I've heard http://translate.baidu.com/ is very accurate since it's made by Chinese. I noticed the "Zhīdào" mistake after I said it, haha. I make that kind of mistakes often. I can speak slowly, but I get too excited when I start speaking Chinese that I speed up and lose control, lol

 

By the way, I know a girl who is learning Mandarin at the University. I want to see if we can record a conversation that way everyone can hear, 2 lǎowàis trying to speak Mandarin, haha. I also know 2 měiguó huáqiáo that live in my city, one can speak Spanish very well, and the other one can speak several languages at different fluency levels. I really want to record conversations with them, lol 

[Pokarface]

My Chinese "level-up" video me and 陳德聰 were talking about

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgJm873Aucs

 

Turn on the subtitles! lol. You'll notice that some of the things I say are written in the subtitles according to what I think I'm saying, haha.

[陳德聰]

Wǒ xǐhuan Zhōngguó wénhuà hé lìshǐ. Wǒ yě xiǎng juéde  Zhōngguó hé Táiwān de nǔrén hěn měi a !

I like Chinese culture, history. I also think Chinese and Taiwanese women are beautiful!

 

Wǒ xǐhuan Zhōnwén yīnwéi  wǒ xǐhuan xuéxi yǔyán, gèng érqiě Zhōngwén tài gěilì.

I like Chinese because I like learning languages, moreover Chinese is so awesome.

I think the main issue is that perhaps you're interrupting people and they don't want to talk to you... I always tell people to practice with people who can't escape and have social expectation to be nice to you, e.g. shopkeepers, retail workers, cafe baristas, etc. But if you approach strangers who are hanging out with their friends who probably don't speak Chinese, you'll likely get these kind of responses. If I was not in a hurry to go anywhere, or not doing anything important, I would be inclined to chat with a stranger, but if you catch people in transit or in the midst of things they may not be so inclined!

[Pokarface]

陳德聰, I know! That's why I asked almost everyone in my video if they knew someone I could chat with, haha. I'm telling you, those 2 girls set-up a trap for both of us,   .

I also have lots of courage, so I won't feel offended if a stranger doesn't want to talk, or even worse, tells me to F@k off! (It hasn't happened, lol)

The reactions I get from people that actually want to practice Chinese, makes taking the risk priceless   

 

All in all, I'll see if I can get videos with the friends I mentioned before, and have a more controlled scenario 

[Pokarface]

I haven't posted in a while, but I have new progress videos.

Talking with a Hunan College Student (no video. Using HelloTalk Press-to-talk. Please turn on the subtitles).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGR5CGXN4JQ

 

Level-up Video! At the Sichuan restaurant (8 months progress video. The subtitles are what I understand and what I think I heard)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qcmDRDos_Y

Please, if you can help me out with the Sichuan restaurant subtitles, that would be great! I can't tell if at the end they are asking me about my characters, they're complaining about the tip, or what is going on?! Haha, but it was fun!

I should probably make video analysis of what I learned after the level-up videos. That way I can learn from experience, Lol.

[Flickserve]

Your vocab is pretty good but the speech is still rather staccato whilst trying to think of the word.

Do you think of the word individually as you go along or do you think of the whole sentence first and then speak?

[Pokarface]

@Flickserve Hey! Thanks for stopping by. I am not sure; I have never thought about it very deeply, but since you asked, let me think...
From my experience, it seems that the excitement of speaking Chinese crushes my train of thought and I start gluing individual words together as I speak. This might lead me to say strange things. I should probably speak more with old friends who I've already established a relationship with. This way, I might not be overwhelmed by the hype of speaking to strangers. I used to tutor English to some coworkers from my company's China branch. I wasn't learning Mandarin back then, so I am sure they will be glad to hear from me in their native language!

[Flickserve]

You speak the words in each sentence with prolonged pauses.

Just a little suggestion: when your partner asks you a question, then repeat it with the same rhythm and intonation before answering it. Might help you practice stringing words together in your own sentences.

[Pokarface]

@Flickserve, I know. If I think before I talk could I be able to speak a whole sentence without pauses? Then the issue might be that I think too long before replying back, haha.

 

I do repeat some individual words after somebody mentions them. I haven't repeated a whole question after hearing it. I'll start doing this, but first I need to know how to say: "Excuse me, do you mean..." followed by whatever somebody asked me. Sounds like a good strategy right? (as long as I don't over do it, haha)  =-)

 

would it  be something like, "duìbuqǐ, nǐ wèn le..." or maybe, "duìbuqǐ, nǐ shuō le..." Can somebody help me with the colloquial way of asking this?

[Flickserve]

Don't think it needs to be so formal if you are practicing a language exchange with a student. Just let your opposite know that you will try repeating the question and hopefully trying to get your verbal skills a little smoother.

The same with saying your answers - try to repeat the sentence but attempt to say it more smoothly.

Each one of us has differing characteristics - it sounds to me your fluency of speech needs more emphasis as you already know a fair bit of vocab for simple conversations. Thus, I suggest a slightly more stepwise approach to speaking with rhythm.

I am the other way round - I can say a sentence fairly decently but have a weaker vocabulary.

BTW, i already speak a fair amount of Cantonese (learnt by living in HK) which explains why I am like that.

[Pokarface]

@FlickServe, How's it going?!
That one I can definitely try it in HelloTalk (although the APP crashes often, so I'll have to be patient).
The conversations there are slower and for the most part I find Chinese college students trying to practice their English. Indeed I need to work on fluency. The reason why my vocabulary is doing good is because I sacrificed my reading and writing skills in exchange of more time playing with words and focusing on listening.

Now I can start thinking about fluency like you said, but I think that if I go to live to China or Taiwan, I will simply start talking like everyone else around me   . I am more likely to move to Houston to learn Mandarin in ChinaTown. I wonder what kind of accent I'd develop in ChinaTown. You hear a lot of languages in Houston, haha!

Do you mean that speaking Cantonese allowed you to switch over to Mandarin's speech flow? If only Mandarin and Cantonese were like Spanish and Portuguese  , that way you could guess what is being said and learn faster. I would like to learn some Cantonese since I can use it in big cities with China Towns around the U.S.

 

[陳德聰]

I think if you just invert the question and re-ask it, it is better for you than saying something like "bùhǎoyìsi... blah blah blah".

 

e.g.

Them: Nǐ wèishénme xué Zhōngwén?

You: Wǒ wèishénme xué Zhōngwén? Hm... Yīnwèi blah blah blah blah blah.

 

Sichuan Restaurant video:

Her: You can speak Chinese?

You: Yǒudiǎnr. Huì yidiǎndiǎn. Wǒ hái zài xuéxí.

 

Her: Nǐ xué Zhōngwén duō jiǔ le?

You: Wǒ xuéxí zài jiā lǐ xuéxí.

Her: Nǐ zìjǐ xué ma?

You: Duì, wǒ yǒu yǒudiǎnr de běn yìxiē Zhōngwén shū (I had to open the subtitles to figure out what you were trying to say here, I heard "shī"), wǒ yě tīng CDs. Wǒ yě yǒu Zhōngguó hé Táiwān de péngyǒu.

 

Okay I just realized the video is 12 minutes long. I'll just do general notes:

- You could improve your pronunciation of "zh" by starting it with a "d" sound in front of it, because right now all I hear is "rrrrrrrrrr".

- You use yǒudiǎnr inappropriately almost every time, yǒudiǎnr means "(it) is a bit..." so the majority of the time you're looking for yìdiǎnr or just diǎnr which is "a bit". "Some" is "(yì)xiē".

- You should probably say bùhǎoyìsī (wǒ méi tīngdǒng)/(kěyǐ chóngfù ma?) when you haven't understood, rather than duìbuqǐ.

 

wife: qīzi, girlfriend: nǚyǒu

 

2:05 The part when you say you learn by yourself, she said "zhème lìhài" which... essentially matches your subtitles haha. And when the older lady starts chiming in 2:13 I couldn't help but laugh. 2:28 - she says "zhōngwén xué de zhème hǎo a, ..garbled.. xué?" Sometimes I feel that you are spending more time thinking about what you're going to say next than listening for conversation cues. While you were talking here, the younger woman was answering the lady's question for you saying you study by yourself, but you were talking about being from Mexico because you thought she asked you something about America. To be fair, her accent is what I'd consider difficult for beginners.

 

Also, when you say you're going to Beijing, are you saying "wǒ shàng Běijīng qù" or "wǒ xiǎng Běijīng qù"? I think if you're already going with your wife you should just say "Míngnián, wǒ yào qù Běijīng".

 

The gist of the 3rd woman is that she was saying you didn't go to China and you've learned by yourself here and how woooooow that is, then she asked if you'd asked people here (zhèlǐ) to help (bāng) you learn. Reading your subtitles is an entertainment on its own, 'cause you write that you have no idea what they're saying but you go "Yeah!" or "Uh-huh!" or "Hǎo jí le" anyway I really admire your enthusiasm.

As for your conversation with the young woman from Hunan, you should say "hǎo de" and not "hǎo le". "Hǎo le" means "(it's) ready" or "(it's) done", whereas what you're going for is "okay" = "hǎo de". Also just a note about asking people if they've eaten... I feel that I only ever hear this from my parents and rarely from strangers or people I am not well-acquainted with. I won't comment on other aspects of that one 'cause listening to it made me a bit uncomfortable.

[Pokarface]

@陳德聰, Thank you so much for watching my videos and giving me a lot of notes on my current Chinese level. Maybe I should stop saying yǒudiǎnr since there were not many opportunities to use it properly.

Indeed, I keep wondering why is my ZH so strange. Most likely it's because my native language, Spanish, doesn't have a Z sound (we write it but it really sounds like an S).

I speak English fluently, but an English Z is definitely not close to a Mainland China, ZH.

I used to pronounce the ZH very different in my first videos as well. I don't know if I should start pronouncing it like Taiwanese do.

By the way, do these singers pronounce it well? They sound different.

I'm going to start practicing the 'language difficulties' that you mentioned. I have them with audio as part of the FLR Method, but they can also be found here in multiple languages.

http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/phraseindex.htm

LOL, the subtitles also give you an idea of my current listening skills . Why lie? I get lost in translation often, haha.

If I spoke Mandarin fluently, it would be impressive; but since I don't, I make it a hilarious and entertaining situation for Chinese/Taiwanese hearing me.

And I'm liking it!

You are telling me many things that I will NEVER learn in a book or listening to CDs.

After learning that Chinese don't really say Ni hao ma? I found that some Chinese say, Chi le ma?! And I started using it as, "what's up?!" or "How have you been?" Most likely I would've keep saying it for a long time, but now that you've made me aware of how it sounds, I can be more polite. Maybe I can say zuijing zenmeyang a?

[陳德聰]

zuìjìn*

[Flickserve]

@pokarface

 

 

Do you mean that speaking Cantonese allowed you to switch over to Mandarin's speech flow? If only Mandarin and Cantonese were like Spanish and Portuguese  , that way you could guess what is being said and learn faster. I would like to learn some Cantonese since I can use it in big cities with China Towns around the U.S.

It makes it a little easier but similarly pronounced words with different accents drive me up the wall. For instance, the word 飯 fan4 are very similar yet different.

 

For you, there is no reason to spend time on cantonese for your situation - stick to mandarin and learn it better rather than split time up.

[Pokarface]

@陳德聰. xièxiè a! 

 

@Flickserve. I see  . My main exposure to Cantonese are the Ip Man and Bruce Lee movies since I don't live in a city with a Chinatown. Few words sounded familiar in those movies, but not enough to give me a big advantage in learning Cantonese  , and Yes, I will stick to Mandarin until it stops being fun  .Mandarin is a very addictive language  , haha.

[Flickserve]

I got reminded of something I used to do quite a while back by these forums. I used to listen to Mandarin songs and since I used to follow friends to karaok, I would try and follow the songs. Haven't done this for nearly two decades now!

 

I used to try and write out the characters and put the pinyin underneath. A good exercise for the muscles in the mouth to contort up to speed. This one the lyrics are not anything special but the pace is quite even, the words are not too difficult and he used to get the audience to sing it at his concerts. Song is really old now but will trigger some memories in middle aged Taiwanese.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNFT8sFr8M0

周華健 花心

[Pokarface]

Update: My Chinese conversations =-)

 

 

Chatting and signing with a stranger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy8JgQmthDw

 

Just chatting and talking about Chinese and Korean women 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glautpkWmUk

 

I really don't have time to add subtitles. Ask me in the forums if there's any doubt about what I'm saying. I used HelloTalk on both conversations, an Android / Iphone App. I had to manually record the audio messages from my phone to my laptop to do the videos. If exporting files from the App to the Laptop was a paid Add-On, I'd pay for it =-)

 

I think that for my next progress videos, I'm simply going to talk to myself on camera about different topics or using new vocabulary I have learned. I began learning Simplified Characters on December. I haven't learned many  because I was busy with the holidays (I'm able to write/recognize around ~130). I might as well upload images of my handwriting in this or a new thread =-)

 

I seem to still have problems with the "CH" consonant. Sounding like a "Q" most of the time.

Any suggestions? 

[imron]

Ch has the same tongue position as zh, sh and r - curled/pulled back slightly.

Also pay attention to the sounds that follow both q and ch. The following sounds are always different so if you are saying them similar, that's another thing to focus on (every u following q is actually an implicit ü, and the i that follows q is different from the i that follows ch).