Another blogger setting out to learn Chinese in 3 months

[imron]

Also regarding paid links and articles, he has this to say on his 'Contact' page:

 

 

 

I don’t do ads, paid links, unsolicited guest posts or sponsored articles (don’t ask).

His amazon affiliate links are also clearly labelled, and posts that contain them also contain the text "This website is supported, in part, by affiliate arrangements (usually Amazon). Affiliate relationships are always marked by bolded links."

 

All up, he's being open and transparent with his readers about how he makes money off the site, and leaves it to the intelligence of the reader to decide whether or not that creates bias in what he writes.  In my opinion, this is the right way to do things.

[realmayo]

I'm also a little disappointed at how the Chinese learning community can be quite hostile at times to new learners

 

That may be true but in a couple of instances it has involved people who are spending a limited amount of time studying in order to promote themselves and make some money. I don't think there's been much criticism of this guy's stated method for studying Chinese over the next three months, it all seems very sensible, bar the absence of a textbook.

[Kelby]

I'm also a little disappointed at how the Chinese learning community can be quite hostile at times to new learners. In general, I think our goal should be to try and welcome more people in to the world of learning Chinese - even those whose initial impressions and assumptions about the language and how fast they can learn it might not be so accurate.

I got more the impression that the hostility was directed toward marketing practices and not Chinese learning noobs.

[imron]

Calling them noobs is probably not the best way to show how friendly and welcoming you are being ;)

[Kelby]

Calling them noobs is probably not the best way to show how friendly and welcoming you are being ;)

Oh no, it's a term of endearment. Freshman isn't a bad term unless it's used in a denigrating fashion after all.

[roddy]

Look everyone! Other topics!. 

[renzhe]

I'm also a little disappointed at how the Chinese learning community can be quite hostile at times to new learners. In general, I think our goal should be to try and welcome more people in to the world of learning Chinese - even those whose initial impressions and assumptions about the language and how fast they can learn it might not be so accurate.

Hear hear!

And yes, I did have a bit of a go at Benny, so the above applies to me too.

[c_redman]

The hostility is more about someone learning the basics in a few days, then announcing that they've discovered the secrets of learning Chinese and they don't know why everyone says it's hard -- there is no grammar, the characters are pictographs, you only need 2000 characters to be fluent, etc. The last 3 month learner was all about that, and the fact that he had something to sell wasn't the biggest issue. Scott's attitudes are more tempered and nuanced, and he has left a lot of flexibility in his plan. Like others have written, he seems like a great guy with a sensible approach, and I wish him luck.

[Elizabeth_rb]

What I would like to see is not 'Chinese in 3 months', but 'Chinese for 3 months'. 

 

I thought that was what Scott was doing.  Not expecting to conquer the language in 3 months, but making an intensive study of it for a 3 month period whilst he lived in Taipei (I think...)

 

Anyway, 加油 to him, us and anyone (except any non-Chinese who is better at Chinese than me, who I don't like on principle!! ).

[imron]

I guess we'll wait and see when the 3 months is up.

 

Also, according to his site, he's doing it in Kunming due to visa issues with his friend who is also going along for the ride.

[imron]

Scott now has a post up describing his first impressions of China and his learning strategy after 2 weeks.  It's not a bad read.

[roddy]

That's three months up, I think, but can't see any conclusions on the site - there's Chinese vs Spanish, but that's all so far. 

[Shelley]

I read the link you posted Chinese vs Spanish, couldn't see any conclusions or levels of achievements mentioned (might of missed it) but I also read the blog that starts with "Why I was wrong about china" and no mention there either.

 

I did however notice one interesting beginging of a sentance "My good friend and avid language learner Benny Lewis"

 

Hmm not sure how this makes me feel about the whole thing.

[gato]

From the end of the post on April 15, he says that

- he can maintain multi-hour conversations in Chinese

- cannot yet understand Chinese TV or movies

- will take HSK 4 in another month

[imron]

That's three months up, I think, but can't see any conclusions on the site

I think that's fair enough.  I don't expect him to do a full write up the instant he finishes.  It takes time to write posts with the level of detail Scott's been writing at.  I've been following his posts on this and I think what he has written is quite reasonable so far.  Also, I expect he won't write a final conclusion until after the HSK 4 results come in, which I think is perfectly valid.

 

Hmm not sure how this makes me feel about the whole thing.

Nothing wrong with that.  They are both avid language learners, and the web is a small place.  Guilt by association is not exactly a fair way to judge someone.

[Shelley]

"Guilt by association is not exactly a fair way to judge someone."

 

I agree, that's why I wasn't sure about it, it didn't seem fair to tar him with the same brush.

 

Maybe I have been slow on the uptake but till I read that i didn't know they were connected.

 

Looks like some results according to what gato found. Very glad to see it not all roses and he admits the bits that need improvement.

 

It seems I should read his blog more thoroughly.

[imron]

but till I read that i didn't know they were connected.

I wouldn't necessarily say they are connected, just that they know each other and consider each other friends.  Imagine for example I described Renzhe as "my good friend and avid Chinese learner, Renzhe".

 

It's perfectly true, but I wouldn't say that how we go about learning Chinese and posting our thoughts is in any way connected, we just have a common interest, know each other through the Internet and have met up in real life once when Renzhe was visiting the city where I live.  Our thoughts and posts are completely our own.  It wouldn't surprise me if Scott/Benny were in a similar situation.

 

It seems I should read his blog more thoroughly.

Always a good idea if you want to be passing judgement on it.

[hedwards]

I'm not sure about other people, but Benny is on record as saying the reason he started doing 3 month cramfests was largely because of the duration of the visas he could get. It wasn't because it was particularly special. For most people though a 6 month period is a lot more reasonable, assuming one is making constant regular effort towards it.

 

There's a certain amount of disbelief by folks that learning a language can be done in under a year. From my POV, you can definitely get good enough during just one year that you're self sustaining and can learn from authentic materials without need for formal education. Chinese, I'd tend to push that a bit longer, if one is expecting to be learning from texts, but you can definitely learn enough Chinese in a year to be able to conduct all your activities in Chinese.

 

Ultimately, it does kind of bug me a bit that these short period experiments are still viewed as being freakish, they're not freakish and the only reason it takes children so long to learn their native tongue is that they don't have any concept of what can be expressed verbally. So, they have to not just learn the language but create new concepts to express in the process.

[Lu]

There's a certain amount of disbelief by folks that learning a language can be done in under a year.

I have no trouble believing that in general, it's just learning Chinese in under a year is not possible imo, and I'm highly skeptical of anyone claiming it is. In secondary school I had a friend who went to Mexico as an au pair, she spoke Spanish within months. I have no trouble believing that at all. My parents at some point hosted an American high school kid who stayed in Holland for under a year, and learned Dutch very quickly. This is ten years ago and he still speaks excellent Dutch. It's totally possible for some language combinations.

[Shelley]

Perhaps "connected" was too strong a word but I meant it in the simple sense that they knew (by what ever means) each other.

 

And I meant I should read the blog more thoroughly not that I hadn't read it at all. It seems I missed some points, which made me realize i had obviously read it too quickly.

 

Using the term "short period experiments" sums up my feelings, it is an experiment (which I don't think of as freakish) not an tried and tested way of doing something. There is nothing wrong with this except for the claims made in advance and the results that never get satisfactorily (for me) shown.  In the truest sense of the word experiment is something done to test a theory, you follow procedure: put forward a theory, conduct trials and tests, observe, report. I am not sure this can be applied to something like a language learning method.

 

Also I feel the attitude expressed belittles all the efforts made by all the language learners of the world. I admire the attempt to demystifies and encourage language learning but it needs to be done in a more gentle way so as not to come across in an arrogant way.

 

This whole topic is subjective and a bit of a can of worms. I am not convinced that this subject can be satisfactorily shown to be right or wrong.