moderntime Posted May 24, 2009 at 10:41 AM Report Share Posted May 24, 2009 at 10:41 AM I think I'm rapidly hitting a plateau in terms of my studies. I'm in what my school calls the intermediate transitioning to advanced level, and I have been studying for nearly a year now. Ironically, after all this time, my confidence regarding my Chinese is lower than it was before I started. No doubt that a big part of this is because I failed one of my four midterms, the general Chinese one although all my other midterms were fine. I have never failed an exam before, so it has affected me rather badly. At any rate, ever since then, it has just not been the same. Lately it seems that I can't get out even a simple sentence without stuttering over what I need to say. Whereas just a few weeks ago I could literally have a two hour conversation on topics like gardening and worm composting (these are my oddball hobbies) or chat with a native speaker for over an hour at a party, these days I can barely order jiachangcai. It is so demoralizing and frustrating that I find it difficult to even make it to class, which, of course, defeats the purpose. I feel as though my goal of being fluent will never be achieved. Have you been in this position? If so, how did you overcome it? I would really appreciate any advice you have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcdefg Posted May 24, 2009 at 11:14 AM Report Share Posted May 24, 2009 at 11:14 AM Nobody is perfect. Cut yourself some slack. Take a deep breath and regroup. Be kind to yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysummer Posted May 24, 2009 at 11:25 AM Report Share Posted May 24, 2009 at 11:25 AM Don't worry about that too much i am a chinese who is also learning other languange i know it can be frustrating sometimes learning a second language recently i met a janpanese who is also learning chinese he was also under great pressure and seemed in the same situation as yours but i really think his chinese is good and was amazed at the sentences he made so sometimes you may not be confident just because you have set a level too high to achieve in a short time after all ,when we learn a foreign language ,we are not trying to be a native speaker, we just try to communicate, if we can understand each other ,that's ok. when it comes tests,i should say , never take them too important, in a long run , to achieve your purpose of learning chinese is the most important. you don't think you haven't done your best, but in others' eyes ,you may have already been so excellent~ so , don't afraid of failure itself, all that we should be afraid of is afraid itself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renzhe Posted May 24, 2009 at 02:38 PM Report Share Posted May 24, 2009 at 02:38 PM You've burnt out, and Chinese often turns out to be more work than people expect. Such a low point is a normal thing when you invest a lot of work into something and don't see the expected results. You need to loosen your workload to a manageable level and stick with it, you'll rediscover your fire soon enough, and you'll see that you're not as bad as you thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoney Posted May 24, 2009 at 03:54 PM Report Share Posted May 24, 2009 at 03:54 PM "I'm in what my school calls the intermediate transitioning to advanced level, and I have been studying for nearly a year now." chat with a native speaker for over an hour at a party You gotta be kidding??? If you can reach this level in one year you are one of the chosen few, a veritable language god, and you don't realize how fortunate you are. I'll be happy if I can get there in 5 years. Don't get discouraged, you're only human! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renzhe Posted May 24, 2009 at 09:14 PM Report Share Posted May 24, 2009 at 09:14 PM I could literally have a two hour conversation on topics like gardening and worm composting (these are my oddball hobbies) or chat with a native speaker for over an hour at a party Seriously, sounds like you should just find enjoyable things to do in Chinese and improve your language like that. Your level should be sufficient based on your description. Watch movies, interesting TV-series, read books, magazines, anything that's interesting and that you'd be doing anyway, only do it in Chinese. Studying is boring. If you find a good book or a great TV show, then it's fun, and it's possibly the best learning you can do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moderntime Posted May 27, 2009 at 03:00 PM Author Report Share Posted May 27, 2009 at 03:00 PM Thanks for the comments and encouragement, I was feeling quite down about this and I truly appreciate the perspective offered by this thread. Thanks to this forum I've been regularly reading Ranma 1/2, which is both entertaining and useful for reinforcement. Also, I'm hardly a language goddess, if you count all the years I suffered through Chinese class as a kid, I've been studying Chinese for nearly as long as Chinese students have been studying English. I've been studying on-and-off for quite a while now, and it's only now that I'm doing hardcore, formal university study. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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