Chinese fluency

[Guest]

Hello guys !

I'm new here and found the forum by chance, searching for resources to learn mandarin.

I would be glad if you guys could give your opinion on my post, cause I'm completelly beginner in Mandarin, in fact I haven't started to learn it yet.

I'm quite motivated and want to learn as fast as possible, because I'm aiming to study in a Chinese university (They ask for a high HSK level, like 4 or above) and I have very much free time to do so, also could invest some money in my mandarin studies.

I'm planning to study 6 - 10 hours a day, how much time do you think it will take to reach fluency level (B2-C1 or a high HSK level).

 

I know it sounds a bit crazy, but I'm really willing to dedicate myself to just that.

Also, feel free to give some tips, sugestions or even critics, but please don't be rude.

Thanks 

[vellocet]

Three years of full-time study.

[Moshen]

For some objective information on your question:

 

https://www.fsi-language-courses.org/blog/fsi-language-difficulty/

 

 

[大块头]

A good how-to manual for someone starting from square zero would be Olle Linge's book. 

[imron]

On 8/24/2022 at 9:45 AM, vellocet said:

Three years of full-time study.

"Fluent in 36 months"

[Lu]

Have you ever studied a foreign language before? If not, you're basically learning how to learn a language and learning a new language at the same time, which will take some extra effort and time in the beginning. If you have some experience, you have a better idea of how to approach things. But either way, if the figuring-out-how part doesn't take you too much time, three years is a reasonable-enough estimate. Could take slightly shorter (not much though), could be longer, but it's a good first estimate.

[markhavemann]

Matt VS Japan has for some pretty solid language learning advice for people who are willing to obsess a bit and dedicate their lives to it. Just apply it to Chinese instead of Japanese.

 

https://www.youtube.com/c/MATTvsJapan

 

Edit: there is also click baitey content and some interviews and stuff that he did with people, you can just sift through all that and find the good stuff.

[889]

Are you going to try to do this yourself or with a tutor? Hopeless to expect any progress in the spoken language without a tutor and anything like "fluency" will require immersion in a Chinese environment.

 

Starting off by yourself is an extremely bad idea. You will develop really bad habits that will be very hard to break later on.

[abcdefg]

On 8/26/2022 at 2:42 PM, 889 said:

Starting off by yourself is an extremely bad idea. You will develop really bad habits that will be very hard to break later on.

Yes, a thousand times over. Now is a good time to begin learning properly instead of just bumbling along on your own for half a year and then having to undo myriad bad habits when you finally realize that it isn't working and have broken down and hired a tutor. This is especially true if Chinese is your first foreign language or your first tonal language or your first Asian language. 

 

On 8/23/2022 at 7:04 PM, Fred_Sth said:

I'm quite motivated and want to learn as fast as possible...

Most new learners who start with this approach don't last more than a few weeks or maybe a couple months. Need to get your mind wrapped around the long game. Need to think of it as a marathon not a 5K. Investing 6 to 10 hours a day is a recipe for burnout unless you structure your time extremely well, with a variety of learning activities. It will require lots of maturity and lots of grit. More than most people possess. 

 

One member here did succeed at intensive self study for several months and wrote up a definitive guide to his process. The account has become a legend. I will try to find it and return to post a link for you. 

 

Here: https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/43939-independent-chinese-study-review/ 

[889]

Unless you have a very special brain, it takes months and years for your mind to re-wire itself for a foreign language. You can push the process only so much.

[realmayo]

On 8/27/2022 at 6:45 PM, 889 said:

Unless you have a very special brain, it takes months and years

I feel there should be a "brain tenderization technique", like that other thread, that could speed up the process.

[imron]

On 8/24/2022 at 7:39 PM, Baihande said:

Flatten the meat with a hammer as Italian and Vienna cooks do. You don't need any knives, the force of the blow will break up the muscle fibers.

Might not work so well on the brain  

[大块头]

I've found that clearing Anki backlogs of 500+ cards are great for rendering the brain into a soft tender mush.

[Lu]

On 8/29/2022 at 3:55 PM, 大块头 said:

I've found that clearing Anki backlogs of 500+ cards are great for rendering the brain into a soft tender mush.

Several days of long train journeys worked for me, and not trying to get everything to zero in one day. That backlog took weeks/months to accumulate, it won't rebel if you let part of it sit a while longer.

 

(Next post will be Imron going 'nuke that deck!' ? )

[realmayo]

don't encourage him.....

[大块头]

On 8/29/2022 at 11:55 AM, Lu said:

nuke that deck!

 

I'll have to keep a paper bag handy; the room starts spinning whenever he begins making that argument.

[abcdefg]

On 8/23/2022 at 7:04 PM, Fred_Sth said:

I know it sounds a bit crazy, but I'm really willing to dedicate myself to just that.

 

@Fred_Sth-- It has been 6 days since your original post. Have you already given up? Some other forums will give you plenty of "rah, rah" encouragement and abundant pats on the back. Those are also available here, but you need to earn them. Meanwhile you will get some clear-headed and realistic advice that will help you achieve success if you have the "right stuff." 

[889]

If you are serious about this, then find a good school in Taipei offering an immersion-style intensive course and do it for a year. You won't be "fluent" but you'll be able to get around and, most importantly, Chinese people should be able to understand you.

[PerpetualChange]

On 8/27/2022 at 12:27 PM, abcdefg said:

Most new learners who start with this approach don't last more than a few weeks or maybe a couple months. Need to get your mind wrapped around the long game

Agree with this, I think it goes back to the whole trope of the gifted child that is so popular these days. For those not in the know, the gifted child is just somebody who is great at something from the very beginning or after only a few years of practice, whether it be Harry Potter with his Wizardry or the girl from the Queen's Gambit television show. I think a lot of people are not even thinking about what they are interested in and in reality are thinking more in terms of what thing they think their "gift" could be. When they realize it's not Chinese (or anything else) they move on.