Another blogger setting out to learn Chinese in 3 months

[Elizabeth_rb]

I'll take the 'too young for newsgroups' bit as a compliment - I'm already the wise side of 40!!   I used to join a fair number of the old Yahoo groups, even before Yahoo took over etc etc in my mid-late 20s.

 

With most big, high profile blogs, there is an element of money making involved, I think, but I also know how easy it is to avoid and ignore it.  After all, you don't have to buy their stuff, right?

 

Some blogs I have on 'follow' for Chinese are Hacking Chinese, Sinosplice, Learn Chinese Every Day and so on.  If you want links, I'll include them.  Too lazy right now....

 

Oh, I meant 'sideline' in that he's not doing the challenge as a money spinner, but as he wants to do it.  The money making aspect is the sideline to the challenge itself, not necessarily the blog, (which I'm not familiar enough with to comment on).  I don't make a penny from my blogs, just get a kick out of them.

[Shelley]

I don't read blogs. Don't know why not really. I suppose its because i suppose they are written by people like me ie just ordinary folk. And I am not sure people would read stuff written by me cos I am no expert and have no qualifications.

 

This is not to that people need expertise and qualifications to be helpful, just never had the time to be able to read blogs and then check the facts stated are correct. I don't want to waste time learning wrong things.

 

I suppose blogs with recommendations from sources I trust could be helpful.

 

Maybe I need to change my attitude, maybe I am losing out.

 

Hmm rethink needed maybe

[Elizabeth_rb]

Maybe you just need to feel comfy with what you're happy with, Shelley!   If you want to read blogs etc, you'll get to it.  No more need for you to feel 'I should...' than there is for me to feel 'I should get Pleco' etc.

 

It's true that some people blog some utter junk, but that's also easy to spot and ignore.  I like to think my blog is decent quality and the fact that it could possibly be the most popular UK fine embroidery blog makes me feel happy with it.  Each to his/her own.

[Shelley]

Good point Elizabeth_rb.

 

I will probably carry on in my blog free world.

[Elizabeth_rb]

Good for you!  And I'll carry on in my low-tech Chinese learning world.

[imron]

And you'll both be missing out on something

[Elizabeth_rb]

   

 

True - probably.  But who has time and the taste for everything?  In the dark days gone by, people used to learn Chinese quite successfully without high-tech gadgets and others' experiences on their blogs.  In fact, I've got to the level I'm at 99.9% that way, so I don't think it's too grave a situation.

[Kelby]

I guess it's nice to see that you joined the conversation, Scott. Oh, and I imagine it's us negative voices that got you here (or maybe just a google alerts set for your own name ).

Throw us a bone with some dedicated write ups of your progress and I can guarantee more people will be into what you do. After all, we are pretty representative of the new market you're targeting with your project ;)

Oh yeah, 加油.

Are there any good blogs on learning Chinese, by the way? I love forums. Forums are a direct outgrowth of the Newsgroups days (you're probably too young for those). They were just plaintext posts related to headings like Consciousness and Philosophy. It seems that in this forum we all have a chance to share how we study and what resources we like and can respond directly to each other. Do others here find any blogs helpful in their study of Chinese?

You're right that blogs don't make money without ads, products, or (the missing part) selling other peoples things through affiliate relations, i.e., writing a review for something and linking to it with a special link that gives the blogger a kickback if the reader buys after coming from the blogger's site.

Anywho, HackingChinese.com by Olle Linge and ConfusedLaowai.com are the ones I read occasionally (at least while Niel was still writing). Niel's links page here (Ihttp://confusedlaowai.com/awesome-links-chinese-learners/) has tons more to check out.

Sometimes I browse for content on the China Blog Network.

There's also Jeff Lau at JeffLau.net who is an active member of the forum.

Oh, and I blog sporadically about reading Chinese at RadicalReaderChinese.com

[bluetortilla]

 

 

Some blogs I have on 'follow' for Chinese are Hacking Chinese, Sinosplice, Learn Chinese Every Day and so on.  If you want links, I'll include them.  Too lazy right now.... 

 

Yes, please do! And we don't need the url's, just the name h.p. names. Here's Pleco and StickyStudy though:

www.pleco.com

http://www.stickystudy.com

 

I too am blogless and would like to read a few to see what I'm missing. I've definitely ran across all those sites you mention though and will go back. What do you think about the apps world? I have tons of little language apps that you can expand for five bucks or so but I don't know which ones are worth it. Right now iThinkdiff has my interest as it has an add on translator. I'm very interested in translators and voice recognition apps (including tone coach apps and such). Sorry if I'm rambling...

[imron]

Seriously, you're not planning on try to sell this essay as an ebook, are you? I'd be pretty upset if I paid money for this.

That's great, because you don't have to pay for it if you don't think it's worth anything.

 

Pardon me, I'm not sure how that works. I never got paid money for learning something.

I'm sure it's a nice gig if you can get it.  I don't necessarily think that that people being paid to learn (or to do what they want) by itself is worthy of the sort of scorn or criticism you're applying to it.

 

But there is a need for the skeptic- that's just good science

There is a need for skeptics.  Note however, it is possible to both be a skeptic and provide constructive dialog as well.  You question whether he's planning on selling it as an ebook and that you'd be upset if you paid money for it.  Presumably that means you've read it and you think there are various problems with it.  A much more constructive approach would be to point out what you consider the actual flaws to be, rather than just provide empty criticisms.  That would at least provide meat for further discussion.

 

Note, I haven't read his ebook and I've only glanced briefly at his blog, and I don't have any connection or relation to this person or the products he's selling, but I don't understand all the invective.  It would be different if he had come here and made posts pretending he'd 'found' some great site on the internet for learning and then linking to it.  That sort of behaviour is worthy of scorn.  That's completely not what he's doing.  Neither is he misleading anyone about his financial motives - it's all there on his blog.  People can sample his work and if they like it, pay him for it.  If not, they can ignore him.

[Elizabeth_rb]

Ha-ha!!

 

h.p name??

[bluetortilla]

 

 

You're right that blogs don't make money without ads, products, or (the missing part) selling other peoples things through affiliate relations, i.e., writing a review for something and linking to it with a special link that gives the blogger a kickback if the reader buys after coming from the blogger's site.

 

So I pay you for writing a good review about me. I see. 

[戴 睿]

@ #62:

 

 

I suppose blogs with recommendations from sources I trust could be helpful.

 

You would suppose correctly. There are plenty of bloggers who are perfectly qualified to post their insights in regards to language learning, with Hacking Chinese (Olli Linge) and Sinosplice (John Pasden) being highlights among many.  Both of them studied linguistics and are certified teachers. 

 

@ #67:

 

 

 

In the dark days gone by, people used to learn Chinese quite successfully without high-tech gadgets and others' experiences on their blogs.

This is very true, and I don't think high-tech is necessarily a "necessity." More like, it's extremely beneficial to those who use it well. 

 

But ultimately, what you both are getting at is something that Scott actually discusses on his blog. The changing nature of independent learning. His whole purpose for doing much of what he does is to demonstrate that our society now has provided tools that make us not only capable but also incredibly effective autonomous learners. 

 

Learning remains a personal process, and so nobody will force you to benefit from the collective information contained in blogs, or the massive benefits that come with high-tech study (SRS and Pleco, Podcasts, etc.). But still, it's a beautiful world we live in where we have the capacity to improve ourselves in such highly effective, incredible ways.

[imron]

or maybe just a google alerts set for your own name

Or maybe he was contacted by an admin member asking if he'd like to contribute to the discussion (not naming names, but it wasn't me ).

[Elizabeth_rb]

What do you think about the apps world?

 

Nothing either way to be honest.  I've never got into them, not owning a tablet of any type and just having a smartphone that resists all apps!  Seems to have a fault.  I would honestly feel more like I was playing around than learning by using any sort of app or computer based thing.  When it comes down to it, I'm just not really interested in digital learning and have got past the basic character and vocab flashcard need stage.

 

I daresay some apps can be great (there are plenty raved about on here) and some are just plain time wasters.  A question of quality and balance.

 

I agree with 戴睿 when they say that learning is a personal process and one can choose any of a number of great aids.

[imron]

In the dark days gone by, people used to learn Chinese quite successfully without high-tech gadgets and others' experiences on their blogs.

Yep, and in dark days gone by, people used to light fires by rubbing sticks together.  Matches/lighters sure make life easier though.

[Elizabeth_rb]

The Chinese language related blogs I follow are:

 

Hacking Chinese

Learn Chinese Every Day 天天学中文

Sinosplice- I just follow the 'Language' label

Carl Gene Fordham

 

There'll be dozens more that those more into them will be able to suggest.

[Elizabeth_rb]

Yep, and in dark days gone by, people used to light fires by rubbing sticks together.  Matches/lighters sure make life easier though.

 

Why do I get the feeling I'm being told I 'should' be doing things someone else's way??

 

I'm perfectly content low-tech.  Apart from the fact that the fire comparison is in a totally different league, if I'm content and have made good progress, why 'should' I start using things I'm not interested in and neither have nor can afford (or even care about!) platforms to run them on??

[imron]

Why do I get the feeling I'm being told I 'should' be doing things someone else's way??

Sorry, it's not my meaning to come across that way.  It just seemed that you were saying 'I'm not interested in using these things because I've never needed to use them before', and I was just trying to provide a counter to that argument.

 

Like I mentioned previously, the first few years of my learning was all low-tech too.  There's nothing wrong with that (and in fact I think there are also plenty of benefits to it).  Likewise there are also benefits of high-tech too.

[Elizabeth_rb]

I see, point taken.

 

I totally agree that high-tech can give some great resources, I'm just genuinely not interested for myself and can't see much need for later on either.  Having said that, I might download some advanced ChinesePod stuff some time to listen to when I'm doing other things.  

 

Also, most of the stuff I've heard of so far seems to cater for the beginner/elementary/lower intermediate demand and, as I'm already beyond that, it doesn't really appeal to me as useful.  Could be an age thing too...