尹乔龙 Posted July 19, 2014 at 04:31 PM Report Share Posted July 19, 2014 at 04:31 PM Hello everyone I have been lurking here for about two years reading about people studying Chinese so about one month ago I bought some text books at a local university and studied pinyin for about two weeks every day for about 4-6 hours a day. I had my wife correct my tones along with friends and coworkers. After studying pinyin I started lower elementary Road to success book 1 and have studied the first three chapters of this book so far. I have been writing the 汉字 ,learning the stroke order and reading the dialogs. After I have done that and feel I have and ok understanding of the new vocab and how to say and use them I start doing the exercises in the book and the extra worksheets that came with the book. Then just to make sure everything is stuck in my head I write out the whole dialog. Last but not least I see a tutor for two hours on Tuesday and Wednesday for two hours each day and go over everything I have studied and practice my pronunciation and tones. I have been only studying about 2-3 hours a day now but I wish I could do more I’m just so 懒 。I have Anki and Pleco but I just don’t know how to go about utilizing these apps . Also I think it is important I tell you some back story I have been living in china for a little over two years. I am married and plan on staying in China for a long time. My wife and I just bought a house. I live in 四川 成都 。I really would like to get to a high level in this language in the next 5-10 years and I have the opportunity to do it here. At the same time I would like to study the smartest most effective way possible and I know I could study at least 6 hours a day I just am terrible at managing my time. So if anyone has any suggestions please let me know. Thank you and good night Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted July 19, 2014 at 10:44 PM Report Share Posted July 19, 2014 at 10:44 PM Hello and welcome, well done making the change from lurker to member I think what you are dong now is a very good start, as you are in china I think you also have a head start and the advantage of immersion. I don't think you should worry to much about how many hours you study just that the study you do is productive. You don't want to suffer burn out. Nice and steady, solid progress is what I think you should aim for. As for learning materials it sounds like you get on well with the text book you are using. I am a personal fan of pleco, have you got any paid add ons or are just using the free version? I would recommend getting the add ons , the OCR though is a bit of a nice extra but not necessary for learning at first. The dictionaries it comes with are fine for beginners, as you progress you may need to add more dictionaries. Use the Pleco flashcards. I am not a fan of Anki for various reasons, If you use Pleco dictionary or the reader you can add characters/words to your flash card list very easily. I use my time as well as my daily life lets me, with Pleco on a tablet or largish screen smart phone you can study in those minutes waiting in line, commuting, etc. If you feel like a different text book I use the New Practical Chinese Reader. It is quite popular, there are text books, workbooks, answer books, audio and video on YouTube ( probably on the Chinese version of YouTube I have not checked). I find it very comprehensive and the word lists are supported in most flashcard apps and in Skritter which you might like of you are going to learn characters. Remember also that the folk here at Chinese forums are very friendly and helpful, don't hesitate to ask questions. I hope you do well 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renzhe Posted July 21, 2014 at 09:11 AM Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 at 09:11 AM Congratulations on starting your journey -- this is probably the single biggest hurdle you have to overcome, and you've made that step. You seem to have most of the important stuff covered, and Shelley has given you plenty of good advice. It is excellent that you started with pinyin and pronunciation drills, you should definitely keep that up for a while. It's much easier to acquire good habits early than to correct them later. The one piece of advice I would give you is to try to develop a programme that is sustainable. Doing too much all at once might make you burn out and take long breaks, or even quit. It's better to do some work for an hour every day, than to force yourself to study 6 hours per day, but then skip days. Learning Chinese is a long endeavour and you have to find a way to make it enjoyable for you, and something you work on daily -- think of it as a habit, like brushing your teeth. Then the improvements will come. Some of the work will be annoying, but much of what you do can be fun and tied to pleasant activities such as watching TV, listening to music and interesting podcasts, or chatting in Chinese. Try to think about what you're doing, and focus on making a large part of it enjoyable, then you'll be well on your way. I guess what I'm saying is -- if it starts being a chore, mix it up! Make it enjoyable. The difficult part of learning Chinese is not in some specific aspect of grammar, but in internalising large amounts of information over long periods of time. For this, you need to learn regularly, every day, and keep it up for a long time. The best way to do this is to make sure it's fun so you want to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
尹乔龙 Posted July 23, 2014 at 02:27 AM Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2014 at 02:27 AM Thank you both for the warm welcome. I have cut my hours back down to 3-4 a day and i feel great. I have been using pleco and am planing on purchasing the paid version. The one problem I'm in china and i cant with the chinese versions. But besides actively studying i also watch a lot of chinese movies and shows probably about 2-3hours a day and talk to people at the market and stores but its just the bear bones basics same with taxis so my practicing with locals is preety much the same as its been for the past 2 years :'( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted July 23, 2014 at 11:09 PM Report Share Posted July 23, 2014 at 11:09 PM "I have been using pleco and am planing on purchasing the paid version. The one problem I'm in china and i cant with the chinese versions." I am not quite sure what you mean by this, but Pleco is available direct from their website. So from within china it should be possible to get paid addons for pleco.even if you can't get the playstore. Hope I understood what you meant correctly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
尹乔龙 Posted July 24, 2014 at 04:21 AM Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2014 at 04:21 AM Thanks Shelley .I'm going to check it out today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted July 24, 2014 at 11:53 AM Report Share Posted July 24, 2014 at 11:53 AM Welcome to the site! If you have any trouble buying Pleco, drop them a line - their customer service is good. "its just the bear bones basics same with taxis so my practicing with locals is preety much the same as its been for the past 2 years" Baby steps. Learn some new words today, go out and find an excuse to use them tomorrow. If you learn the word 'football', ask a taxi driver if he likes football. Even if you can't understand the response, it's a win if he understands the question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
尹乔龙 Posted July 24, 2014 at 04:44 PM Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2014 at 04:44 PM Thanks roddy I am going to be more proactive and start talking to more people. I think I will start tomorrow morning when I go to work. Lot's of co workers and store clearks To talk to . Pluse i did just learn a bunch of new vocab today and yesterday time to put it into action. I'll report back tomorrow night on my progress. Wish me luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
尹乔龙 Posted July 25, 2014 at 03:43 PM Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 at 03:43 PM Well I was able to get a free two hour class today. And had four separate conversation , not long ones but i was able to get my point across and learn some new words and phrases. I think working at this a few hours a day and having as many little conversation a day will really boost my confidence and ability in this language. Everyday is more fun than the last. Tomorrow hope to have another two hour class , study for at least a hour and talk to everyone at work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted July 25, 2014 at 04:49 PM Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 at 04:49 PM I am glad you are getting on with the new regime. its always excellent when you can say "Everyday is more fun than the last" roddy's advice is excellent. I may try it too but not so easy in UK. Keep up the good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
尹乔龙 Posted August 1, 2014 at 10:03 AM Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2014 at 10:03 AM So just finished moving into my new apartment . So i haven't study in four days time to hit the books. I still have been looking over my flashcards on pleco and anki but was really slacking off. I just need to get back into the swing of things. Could someone give me some feed back on how they jumped back into it? And what would be a good self study plan? I have to stop using a tutor for about a month and half while i build my founds back up, I just paid a years rent. So anyways i just need some ideas . I'm using road to success textbooks anki master the hanzi and pleco plus I live in Chengdu China. Thanks everyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny20270 Posted August 2, 2014 at 02:42 PM Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 at 02:42 PM Hi 尹乔龙 Are you referring to jumping back into study in general or referring to flashcards? I find when I slack off with Anki, you are faced with overwhelming number of cards and you just don't bother at all. Even now I have 600 reviews for today. When this happens I just put new cards to zero and ensure I do 3 lots of anki study a day. I won;t get through 600 reviews by end of day so targeting on lowering the number of the next week, For me I can never manage this goal of 10 a day. I have set 10 new cards per day so you might think that's 600 per 2 months but the reality is I do 10 a day for 5 days, get bored and stop for 3 days, catch up, suspend new cards and restart. So it always averages about 5 - 7 a day. The proper way is consistency I'm sure but its not reality for me. Just too lazy. I mentioned in another post that I think with all these flash cards programs, there is a lot of customization you need (creating cards / definitions, settings for reviews) to do to suit you personally. Its never a one size fits all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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