My weekly study plan

[Shi Guangli]

So, now that I have my materials sorted (pleco flashcards and NPCR) I decided, after reading through similar posts on the forum, to devise and share my work plan for the month (and hopefully subsequent months). All going well, it will give me 240 new words and characters.

 

I'm stating it tomorrow, only a day behind schedule.

 

I already settled my word/character learning limit to about 10-12 per day. Since NPCR introduces that approximate number of words each text, it's perfect. However, it does add 10-11 more new characters, the "basic characters" sections , which seem to be stand alone radicals and complex character components.But since their introduction does not directly affect the lessons, I decided to take on each group in separate days. So this is how it goes:

 

I'll cover a lesson every two days, monday through saturday. On the first days (monday, wednesday and friday) I'll do the normal lesson, the textbook exercises and I will write down each new word and character at least 10 times until I feel comfortable. On the days after I review the learned material from the same lesson and start working on the set of basic characters, and I'll do the worbook exercises.

 

Sunday I will review the entire week's work, characters, texts and grammar, and also test myself on the vocabulary from the the preceding and current week using pleco.

 

This paired with the pleco flashcards daily, or whenever cards are due, so that I can keep everything reviewed from time to time. I will also organize the cards by lesson (or groups of 2 or 3 lessons) so I can review older or fresher vocabulary whenever I feel like I need to.

 

I also plan to include at least 15 minutes to half an hour of listening or viewing any Chinese language tv program. I think my cable company provides Phoenix TV; I was watching it a couple of days ago at my grandparent's. The characters in the news are traditional, but I was still able to recognize many, as well as miscellaneous character components. As for listening, I really couldn't grasp anything asides from some idioms like 什么 and other things I can't remember now, but that seem to ring an alert inside your brain that yells "YOU KNOW THAT ONE!". I'm not sure how effective it is to listen and look at things you don't understand, but I do know I can at least get used to the sounds of the language and tone usage, and that as I progress I will be able to pick up more patterns.

 

I also plan to write myself a text wednesday and sunday using learned words, and maybe sneaking in 3 or 4 words of common usage to increase my count and add variety. Maybe I'll tell a story, maybe I'll describe my day, whatever works. I'll maybe also read record myself reading them and post it here so I can get knowledgeable help on my pronunciation.

 

I'd like to know about your suggestions and opinions!

[Johnny20270]

Are you just starting out of Chinese? I have a few observations based on my and class mates experience (and many pitfalls) but depends on what stage your at.

[Shi Guangli]

Well, Johnny, yes and no. No. because I began to study Chinese on and off a few years ago, but I never took it seriously enough; yes because I never left beginner level..

I do have experience in learning other languages lone though. What are your insights?

[Johnny20270]

I see, these are just my thoughts / experiences and what i have seen from others. It easy very much "horses for courses" and "each to their own" if you can understand those British English slag phrases

 

1. I would drop listening to TV, radio, movies. Its too advanced and its just becomes a blur of continual Chinese words. I tried and learnt practically nothing. I think once you pass HSK 4 level that can be taken up
2. Listening to your textbooks CD and teaching materials is far better, you can stop, listen for a grammar point, the way a word is used and the pronunciation. They will always have sentences designed for your level
3. Don't avoid characters, get into them of day one. Its painful but ultimately necessary
4. I can see why you want to cover ground as much as possible. Who doesn't right? But really keep your eye on the end game. You end with with a mass of words and actually becomes confusing as you have a pile of words for simple English words like "if"
5. I see you are doing NPCR, I think its a great series but 1 lesson every two days is about 2 to 5 times faster than private language schools and universities. I'd say try it and if you feel your not getting it. You can always go over it again. It just takes time to "absorb" the material especially the grammar points. Remember a lot of books introduce grammar points and don't mention them again after that (otherwise chapter becomes too long). So whats happens is that you start to miss a lot of sentence patterns, or indeed see two words and start assuming its a sentence pattern (e.g.not all 是 ... 的 are for emphasis ) and not all 的 are in the form ADJ + 的。 The ADJ can be a clause etc. My point is it becomes complicated quickly and all becomes a bit of a mess. However see below
6. Revision is vital. I personally need to go over and over thing again and again. This can be very quick, 5 mins to to scan through NPCR language grammar points etc not reread the whole chapter
7. Personally I think grammar is the number 1 most important topic in learning Chinese (many close seconds!). Many disagree and think its too boring so whatever suits. In fact the language schools I see don't seem to bother too much with it so I might well be in the minority on that one. A good grammar book is very important, but you can decide if its for you or not.
8. The NPCR work book is great as are the exercise s in grammar books. Its very easy to convince yourself you know the topic until you test yourself. I hear many saying they "covered" a book and really they have no clue (me included!). 
9. I would drop idioms completely or only if they interest you. My Chinese friends are in general agreement that many Chinese sound a bit pretentious / like preaching when their friends start quoting idioms. As a western you will get some grace on this of course, but invariable you will use them in the wrong context and thus sound a bit odd. I never have them in flash cards (well they are suspended). Its until I do HSK5 that I will consider them. 
10. As for characters, I would ignore all traditional characters (if you interest is in standard Chinese in China). The amount to learn is enormous so why complicate things
11. Be realistic, Its a long long process. Years, not months. People like Benny Lewis who state you can be fluent ion 3 months well, ... need a slap. A year even for the best of full time students puts you at "competent". HSK 4 seems to be a standard marker for a year and that is a long long way from fluency. 
12. On the above if you enjoy the process, and not just looking at the final result, you should study Chinese, if not, then quit (just my view")

 

Maybe I'll tell a story, maybe I'll describe my day, whatever works. 

 

Good plan That is the hardest task I have to do everyday in my class. I groan when the teacher suggests it. I fumble / stumble around every time. Its very useful though

 

Lastly,

 

feel free to ignore everything I just said if you wish!

 

Do let us know now you get on

[imron]

Lots of good advice there from Johnny20270.  I'd second the importance on revision - not, flashcard revision, but actually going back and re-reading/re-doing previously learnt chapters.  Revision is just as important as studying new things (if not more so) because it helps solidify the things you have already learnt.

 

I'm glad to see you have also set yourself a sensible number of new words a day.

[Johnny20270]

Indeed, in my class we were on NPCR 4 and its was becoming tiresome. Almost every sentence was "well I'm really not sure" We all agreed to drop back to NPCR 3 for revision and its been a great move. Sentence patterns, grammar constructs natural breaks in sentences are starting to pop out and the words are very much secondary.  

 

typical example from today. Early books use  : 正在   ... 呢。 Later on it gets dropped to 在 ... (for continuation of an action). We were all getting confused between this, wondering why the 着 is missing as we were incorrectly assuming it was the the location use of 在. A quick reminder is all it takes 

[Shi Guangli]

Thank you for your advice, everyone. I do have the Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar, and I do think keeping up with the grammar does wonders when learning a language.

Before I started Latin, there were many things I never fully understood in Portuguese or French grammar, but since it became mandatory to me to basically know everything about syntax and morphology in Latin class, in half a school year I became the grammar-know-it-all of the class. I saw patterns, inflections and sentence structures everywhere, and could understand why things worked in a certain way. So my opinion is that grammar is important, not the most important, but important enough that setting it aside for being too boring would bring nefarious consequences ahead on anyone's learning road.

 

I never intended to start learning traditional. At some point a year ago I thought it would be possible to take on both at the same time, but why take twice the effort for half the skill in  each when I can simply commit to one?

 

As for enjoying the process... Well, some go to the gym to let off steam, some go to church to clean their spirit, some go out at night clubbing for fun. When I'm concentrated in my study, I do all three! There's no greater pleasure for me than sitting in my desk, books open, writing, reading and listening and feeling progress, however slow it may be!

 

Lastly, a question: are there any answers to the textbook exercises? The workbook keys are all over the internet, but I never saw anything for the textbook. Maybe the authors intended that those be corrected by the teacher only? I feel a little lost knowing that I'll never know how I did in half the lesson exercises.

[realmayo]

Instead of smashing through one textbook at very high speed, what about getting a second textbook at the same level so you can work though them both simultaneously? Just a thought...

[roddy]

Removed links to pirated material, as per the T&C's. 

[Johnny20270]

Removed links to pirated material, as per the T&C's. 

 

 

Wouldn't say its pirated Roddy Just seems like that schools answers to the text book. There is no copy of the actual work book itself. 

If I write my guess at the answers to the text book on this site, there is no pirating involved . 

 

But your forum so your decision! Comes back on you so I respect your decision

[roddy]

Run it past the publishers and let me know what they say about someone copying chunks of their Instructor's Manual (not to mention large parts of the textbooks) and sticking it online for free. 

[Johnny20270]

Do they? Didn't see that. Ok fair enough

[Shi Guangli]

I don't get it, someone posted links to these answers and they were removed? Or just moved? Is there a "pirated" material section in the forum???

[roddy]

No. And if you can't find it on Google, it probably isn't available. Back to your study plan....

[Shi Guangli]

Roddy, that really seemed like you were trying to keep me away from drugs, or anything far worse than exercise answers hahaha! I do understand publishers are always naggy about this sort of thing.

 

 Now seriously, I forgot about the teacher's manual component. I usually order books from Book Depository, since the prices are shown to me in euros, the books are sometimes cheaper and shipment is always free. Instructor's manual is unavailable unfortunately, so I guess I'll just look for someone to correct my stuff.

[Bigdumogre]

Best part is not knowing the answers. Better off just solving it yourself and there is multiple answers for many question in the textbook. Workbook is another story for most of the answers. I feel like I learn a lot more when I got to spend time to get a correct answer.

[Shelley]

Quite often the exercises in the text books and the workbooks are similar for each lesson (both using what you have just learnt) so as you can get the answers to the work book questions, you can usually work out if the textbook answers are correct.