The 2024 Aims and Objectives

[Jan Finster]

Shall we...? ?

 

A year has passed since I wrote my plans for 2023 (see below).

 

Overall I have very mixed feelings about this year.

 

Negative side:

My goal was to increase my known word count from 18K words to 35K words. Well, I barely increased it at all. Currently my Lingq stats are at 21.5K known words. So, this is around 3400 words more than at the end of 2022. Pretty shocking considering that I did read around 400K words in 2023. Not a lot of reading, I know, but still not nothing.

 

Positive side:

My major focus this year was to improve my listening skills. I did spend a lot of time listening to TCB & Youtube. It is really hard to quantify it, but I would estimate around 2 hours per day and 80% passive. Gladly, I do notice an improvement.

 

I also did a modest amount of shadowing and my tones are significantly better. 

 

Related to reading, I mostly focussed on medical and health related topics and I do feel much more comfortable reading intermediate texts in this field. I read mostly transcripts from doctors and nutritional experts on Youtube.

 

In November I spent 2 weeks in China, the first time since COVID (2019) and I was thrilled to see how much I have learned since June 2019. In China, in December 2019, I was unable to understand anything but the most basic words and phrases and would be unable to make myself understood. So, if I took google translator and would read what it said, people would not understand me.

Now, in 2023, I was able to navigate basic life in China (hotel, restaurant, taxi). I also understand a lot of everyday Chinese. On top of that, even though my speaking skills are still virtually non-existent, I can now pretty much read anything from google translator and people would understand me, so I guess my tones and pronunciation are not too bad...

In China, I attended a medical conference and I was also able to follow the oral medical translations from English to Chinese. Occasionally, I would even spot the odd translation mistake made by the interpreter.

 

One of the bigger epiphanies related to learning Chinese in 2023 for me was that re-reading or shadowing the same sentences over and over to the point of tedium does bear fruits in terms of fluency in reading and speaking.

(In the past I would rarely read the same text twice and just move on to the next text. Mostly, because repeating it was too boring.)

 

So, what are my plans for 2024?

• More shadowing
• More listening
• Hopefully get myself to finally start outputting (speaking) with an Italki teacher

 

I finish this year with optimism. 

 

How about you? Really looking forward to reading your plans

 

Quote

....I never seem to stick to my goals and objectives since I always discover new things along the way...or simply because life gets in my way. Whatever... 

 

Anyway, looking back, 2022 was a successful year for me. According to Lingq, I managed to double my "know word" count from around 9900 at the end of 2021 to now around 1800 known words (11/2022) even though I "only" read around 0.5 million words. I noticed, I seem to learn Chinese non-linearly. There are weeks or even 1-2 months were I do not study much at all, and then I do 4-12 weeks of high-intensity input.

 

My Chinese journey has been mostly input focussed. As some of you know, much of it has been TCB. While I still consider this a great resource, recently I have moved to Youtube content. On Youtube, in 2022, I fluctuated between reading transcripts of high-intermediate podcasts (esp. news, Ukraine war, etc) and TPRS beginner content. Since TCB is focussed so much on news, I still learn a lot from beginner channels that talk about everyday life (https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/60741-chinese-language-youtube-channels-recommendations-thread/page/7/).

 

Over the last 3.5 years, I have made several attempts at reading books, but never finished one. Mostly because they were too hard or too boring. My most recent attempt is the Chinese version of Ray Dalio's book "Principles". It is actually not too hard anymore (except for all the financial terms that I do not understand in English or my native German either)  ?

So, one goal for 2023 is to finish my first book in Chinese.

 

Another major goal for 2023 is to focus on outputting. Here I want to first focus on Olle Kjellin's method for improving pronunciation (i.e. chorusing, shadowing):https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285234145_Quality_Practise_Pronunciation_With_Audacity_-_The_Best_Method

I tried shadowing in the past, but always ended up with a strained voice. As I have written here (https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/60363-shadowing-and-recording-most-effective-method/?do=findComment&comment=487778) I have found the reason for that strain. I am gradually relearning my tone levels (i.e. not going too high pitched) and so far, vocal strain has not recurred.

In the second half of 2023, I want to do conversation classes with an Italki teacher again. I have not had any teacher since June 2020.

 

Hopefully, by the end of 2023, I will be at 35K "known words" on Lingq....

 

 

 

 

 

[becky82]

Plans for 2024?  Alright.  Now that the serious COVID restrictions in China are basically over, I can actually think about what to do, rather than merely "survive COVID; stay in my room and study".  (Although it is snowing, so I'll likely mostly stay in my room until March or April next year.)

 

- Having a YouTube channel where I practice Chinese has made a huge positive difference, I'll certainly continue doing that---it gives me so much focus.

 

- Pass the HSK6 (this thing has been such an anchor), and never think about it again.  My iTalki teacher seems to be nudging me towards the HSK7-9 too.  Things will become clearer once we know what HSK 3.0 brings.

 

- Maybe I need to up my vocabulary game.  The issue is that I'm happy with my vocabulary already; still, there are many "rare but you're expected to know" words.

 

- Listening is now my clear weakness, so I want to listen to hundreds of hours of Chinese content.  One of the biggest obstacles is actually getting enough listening material---mp3s are often only a few minutes long, and I spend more time searching for them than listening to them.  I find it hard maintaining attention watching Chinese TV shows or movies.  I'm hoping to get some kind of ChatGPT voice output and use that for listening practice.

 

- iTalki is going well.  I'll probably continue doing that at a rate of one class per week.

 

I've been mulling over things like writing a Chinese textbook, lecturing mathematics in Chinese, and seeing if I create educational or entertaining content on YouTube.  I won't be able to do all of these.  We'll see.

[Woodford]

This year, I will be wrapping up my 7th year of serious Chinese study and commencing my 8th. I'm entering into a strange new phase where it's harder to quantify my goals or define exactly what "progress" looks like. This will be the first year where flashcards do not play a primary role in my practicing. I used to spend 45-60 minutes a day just on flashcards, staying up-to-date with a massive database of 23,000 cards I picked up from books and TV shows. These days, I spend about 5-10 minutes a day on SRS cards--a Pleco handwriting test featuring the 5000 old HSK words, and a "reading" test featuring words I've recently encountered in my reading (and when I get them correct X number of times, or incorrect X number of times, I eliminate them, which keeps the test manageably short). My original goal had been to build up my vocabulary to a place where I'm only using the dictionary once every 3 or more pages in a medium-difficulty book, and that goal is long behind me. Another goal (which always felt very distant and maybe not attainable) was to read 50 native-level books, and I'm currently approaching 46 total. So at the current rate, I will easily get there this year.

 

That's when I want to invest more time in listening. I just need to do that, somehow. I once heard the opinion of an experienced polyglot who says that he always multitasks when he listens to audio from his target languages; he finds it to be a bad use of time to just sit and listen. And....I understand where he's coming from. After all these years of putting 80% of my effort into reading and 20% of my effort into (passive) listening while commuting and working, I have improved considerably. So do I just keep doing what I've been doing? Well, I somehow have the feeling that I won't be able to "master" listening skills unless I do at least some focused/active listening.

 

I pretty much expect this year to be relatively unremarkable, but if I can read some good books and feel more confident in listening to Chinese podcasts, that would be great.

 

[markpete]

Hi, everyone! My goals for the coming year (starting today!) are pretty moderate:

• 30 minutes per day of dedicated study, which could include conversation, focused listening, or reading.
• To make sure I'm consistent, study at least 100 minutes over each 5-day period at least 80% of the time.
• Learn 500 new words or phrases
• Up to date on flash cards 90% of days
• 90 minutes per week of supporting work (e.g. setting up flash cards, hunting down reading materials, testing new approaches, etc.)
• No time wasters (e.g. scrolling through IG) on 90% of days

I'm most interested in improving my listening skills, but I'm still trying to find a more effective (or at least more measurable) way to do that. I put in more time last year, but was disappointed with the results (and also anticipate having less time this year). So until I find a better way, I'm going to take it easy a bit and hope I still see at least a little improvement.

[cncorrect]

@markpete

In my opinion, you can't listen Chinese well because you can't speak the language like a native speaker. You always wanted to translate English sentences into Chinese. You can't anticipate well what the Chinese speaker would say.

 

The best strategy would be having your Chinese sentences checked by a native speaker. When you learn a new word, try to make a sentence with it. Then correct it and make a sentence that a native Chinese speaker would use in real life. After a period of time, you will find the language pattern. It's not necessarily linked with the vocabulary amount.

 

My email address is e@cncorrect.com. I would like to check your Chinese level and help you speak it natively. You Chinese listening skills will surely improve quickly. 

[CulturalClimber]

On 12/19/2023 at 6:53 AM, markpete said:

Hi, everyone! My goals for the coming year (starting today!) are pretty moderate:

• 30 minutes per day of dedicated study, which could include conversation, focused listening, or reading.
• To make sure I'm consistent, study at least 100 minutes over each 5-day period at least 80% of the time.
• Learn 500 new words or phrases
• Up to date on flash cards 90% of days
• 90 minutes per week of supporting work (e.g. setting up flash cards, hunting down reading materials, testing new approaches, etc.)
• No time wasters (e.g. scrolling through IG) on 90% of days

I'm most interested in improving my listening skills, but I'm still trying to find a more effective (or at least more measurable) way to do that. I put in more time last year, but was disappointed with the results (and also anticipate having less time this year). So until I find a better way, I'm going to take it easy a bit and hope I still see at least a little improvement.

your goals for the year sound solid and reasonable. Focusing on consistency is so important.  As for listening practice, have you tried italki tutors? Maybe working with a native speaker could help unpack why certain sentences sound off. They'd be able to correct you in real time. Even just 30 minutes a week could really help shape your ear.

[markpete]

@CulturalClimberThanks! Yes, I'm definitely a fan of iTalki. This year,  I've been doing language exchanges with a couple native speakers (one from Taiwan and one from China) and probably get about 90 minutes a week of talking with native speakers. But if either of those drops off, I'll go back to iTalki-- I definitely appreciate getting to speak with a variety of teachers (even if the time zones are challenging sometimes).

 

I think my ear is decent right now (i.e., I interpret the sounds correctly), but I still have a problem with speed of comprehension. So if it takes me a second or two to recall what a word means, I'm already behind on listening to the rest of the sentence. Conversation helps with that, but I still have trouble keeping up even when I know all of the vocabulary. And sometimes I still draw a blank on a word if I only hear it and don't see the characters. Lots of work ahead of me!?

[Moshen]

Quote

So if it takes me a second or two to recall what a word means, I'm already behind on listening to the rest of the sentence.

 

That's a sign that you are probably translating everything you hear into English rather than thinking in Chinese.  If you really have certain parts of the language down cold, you won't translate Chinese into English in order to understand and respond, you'll simply respond.  When you get to that stage, it's really exciting, and often it happens without you even realizing it at the time.

For example, if I am walking around in China minding my own business and suddenly a kid starts jumping up and down saying "Waiguo ren!" I do not translate that in my mind.  I know immediately what it is, as much as if the kid had said "Foreigner!"

[markpete]

@cncorrect Thanks for that tip. Yes, my writing and my grammar/usage when speaking is... not great. I've worked with native speakers to correct my writing/speaking before, but I should probably do more of that this year. ?

 

@Moshen Yes! That's probably true. With more basic vocabulary, I don't really translate it, but for less familiar words (e.g., 甲龙， 形势）, I do find myself doing that. More practice / exposure should help...

[Tomsima]

My 2024 goals:

 

1) Submit a paper on some aspect of Chinese phonetics to an academic journal.

 

2) Complete a 1-hour italki Mongolian speaking class without using a single word of English or Chinese.

[PerpetualChange]

My goal has shifted to learning Japanese. But I still feel like my Chinese will be activated through that process, because the Japanese tutor I'm studying with is himself studying to become a Chinese teacher. Our lessons thus far are very interesting, because we speak 3 languages in them. 

 

My goal is to stick with weekly Japanese lessons and study at least for another 12-18 weeks, and then I'll reassess. I might consider going back to school for business this year I am valued where I am at and have plenty of experience, but no letters next to my name proving it for future career moves) and I suspect that that will take out a lot of my hobby time at least for the interim.

[Flickserve]

2024 plan is to continue with learning via English to Chinese translation for the first half of the year and see how it goes. 

 

I also want to go through various resources  such as Chinese Made Easier and Chinese wiki grammar collecting example sentences from the text focussing on grammar for Eng to Chn translation, and subsequently practicing with anki. Keeping organised will be the main challenge.

 

 I will be doing some listening practice with online media as well. 

[Moshen]

In 2023 I pretty much finished reading all the graded readers that interested me.  My reading ability is so much better now.  It consolidated my knowing a lot of words I'd already met and enabled me to read for the story rather than puzzling through word by word.

 

But I'm not sure what's next.  I've signed up for a 5-week course on reading Chinese news, and then I'll reinstate my TCB subscription and try to make more progress there.  Maybe I'll finish the HSK 5 course, which I got through about 1/3 of.  Or maybe I'll take a deep breath and try to tackle my first real Chinese novel.

[pinion]

First time posting goals... I'm currently limping toward the finish line of a master's in conference interpreting and tentatively intend to move back home after I graduate, so whatever level my Chinese reaches at the end of the spring semester is probably the best it will ever be. Since starting this degree I've basically stopped doing any independent Chinese study due to some combination of lack of energy and poor time management; I'd like to make one more big push to improve in the first half of this year before I close this chapter of my life(?) and shift my focus to other things(?).

 

 

[suMMit]

Hopefully keep my momentum going in 2024.

 

Goals:

Kubler Intermediate Spoken book and Practice Book everyday until finished (now about 1/3 of the way through)

Finish HSKK Speaking test book , review it and make video of myself doing some practice HSKK questions (so far have finished Part 1 and currently working on Part 2)

Finish HSK 1-4 Vocabulary Master book (1/4 of the way through, all is review)

Start the Developing Chinese course (rather than focusing on HSK 5 Standard course as my main course)

Self study Hsk 5 Standard Course / Zero to Hero as extra reading and listening practice

Read all Level 4 Chairman's Bao articles

Finish 《幸福的方向》silly soap opera (currently on episode 11 of 50)

Go out of my way more to strike up conversations out on the street

2-3 Italki classes a week

Write about something at least once a week

 

[lordsuso]

It's been 18 months since I re-started learning Chinese (I took a 3-year gap after I learned the basics), and I've been reviewing flashcards dilingently for ~45min/day. I am starting to fatigue so at some point this year I will like to drop to ~20min/day, probably around June once I reach my goal of reviewing 35k words (I know it's a stupid goal and I wish I never set it, but I am painfully stubborn so I am going to do it).

 

Last year I began reading novels and I want to keep reading. I have an unreasonable fascination for Sun Wukong so I was flirting with the idea of attempting it this year, the thing is that I want to read it so much and I like the feeling of wanting to read it so much, that I probably will never read it haha. An easier and more enjoyable goal for this year is reading one Jin Yong novel and one science-fiction novel. 

 

Last year I also began listening to podcasts while cooking/workouts, but I was awfully inconsistent. My main goal is to make it an everyday habit.

 

 

[Ledu]

In 2024, I think I can finish HSK4, take the exam and start studying the HSK 5 vocabulary. I need to stop planning/forcasting and not post to much nor read this forum too much to be honest. Waking up early has been helpful for Chinese study. This is the order I expect to get things done. Hope to make some gains. 

 

Routines:

Daily:

-Flashcards SRS Pleco 5 words per day, Write the 5 new words plus 2 additional words they commonly are used with and 1 sentence. So far this takes me about 30 minutes per day. 

-Try to listen/watch more Chinese TV/Movies to gain more of a comfort level with speaking Chinese. My speaking level is at a beginner level. Currently I am watching "绿水青山带笑颜" and "Peppa the Pig" at times. I don't listen to enough Chinese to feel comfortable speaking and socializing yet. But it will come.

 

Every Few weeks:

-Flashcard test (Self Graded, Whole HSK 4 Deck), Handwrite the unknowns 1x.

 

2024 Goals:To be completed

*  Z2H HSK4 Video Course 

*  Re-study HSK4 TB by reading the culture passages and completing vocab exercises

*  3 Mandarin Companion Graded Readers (Read 4x)

*  Re-read the entire Mandarin Companion series for 100% fluency, handwriting any words I don't know
*  Ledu 3 & Ledu 4
*  Mock books HSK3 & HSK4
*  HSK4 Vocab Book
*  Mandarin Corner Video, write the example sentences 

*  Buy 45 unread graded readers from 500 to 1200 levels and try to read as many as I can 4x before taking the exam.

 

500 Level:
Chinese Breeze: 7
Friends:2
Sinolingua:9
GCR: 1
Total: 19

 

750 Level:
Chinese Breeze: 4
Friends:0
Sinolingua:5
GCR: 0
Total:9

 

1000－1200 
Chinese Breeze: 4
Friends:2
Sinolingua: 10
GCR: 1
Total: 17

 

*  HSK4 Mock tests->HSK4 Exam (July 2024) regardless of how many graded readers I have finished. 
*  Start HSK5 vocab study through SRS at 5 per day while continuing the batch of 45 graded readers.

[ChrisDoesChinese]

My overall goal for 2024 is to consolidate my understanding at the medium-Intermediate level of Chinese. In other words, I would like to be pretty solid and well-rounded at the HSK 4 level (2.0 classification), and tee myself up for HSK 5/Upper Intermediate in 2025.

 

Concretely, I'd like to do all of these

• Finish NPCR 2 and 3, including writing sections. Have someone check my writing (girlfriend or iTalki). Maybe 4 too if I'm really blowing it out of the water
• Be up to date on TCB. HSK 3 should feel as easy as HSK 2 now. It should feel relatively easy to read HSK 4 texts too. Over the course of the year, introduce HSK 5 texts into the mix. At the end of the year, they should feel "possible to read" but perhaps my reading speed wouldn't be as good as for the lower levels
• Take 30 iTalki lessons for speaking practice
• Make the most of my China trip in April, where we visit the GF's parents. It'll be her first time back since the pandemic!!

And finish at least two out of these. Which ones, IDK, I'll take it as it comes:

• ChinesePod Intermediate up to episode 2000. I'm at ~1400. There are 100-150 episodes left until 2000
• Rainbow Bridge: Read everything up to and including the 750 character level. Right now, I'm making my way through the Starters, which feel super easy
• Mandarin Companion: Reread all lvl 1 Mandarin Companion and read all lvl 2
• Pick up Chinese Breeze while in China in April, bring them back to the UK. Read all up to and including lvl 3 (700 characters)

Do you think the above are acceptable to accomplish the overall goal of having "solid" HSK 4? What would you do differently

[Ledu]

@ChrisDoesChinese

Basically go back and re-read the graded readers you have until you can read them 100% fluently, every single word. Having read mine 4x already, I plan to go through 1 a day and note every word I don't know. Then use Pleco to find similar WORDS and write a few. Also write one SENTENCE. I will put all this in a notebook. My wife says this process will help build a foundation and help me to speed through HSK 4. I sort of disagree and would rather prefer to plunge ahead with the HSK 4 vocabulary I don't know but I am willing to go her route. She says I should get a 100 on the HSK 4 test, not a 90 lol.

 

I combed through the HSK4 list today using Pleco Self Graded and got 73% incorrect. It took me 1 hour and 45 minutes. Instead of using the flashcard feature to drill, I plan to use it to comb what I don't know once every two weeks. Reading in context I would have grasped more though. If you have a Chinese gf perhaps she can help you go through the readers you have in a similar fashion. Testing you on them in a way.

 

*Chinese Pod-> I don't like it, too glossy and too much eye candy, overwhelming and distracting but if you enjoy it, go for it. Reminds me of Fluenz and all the heavily marketed products for other languages.

*New Practical Reader-> I am sure it is fine. I just use the Hanban book as it aligns with the online course I take.

*Other graded readers-> I would buy the Chinese Breeze next and all readers I can find from 750 to 3000 words in order to better prepare for HSK 4. I won't buy anything now though as I have a handful of textbooks I need to complete first. I should say that the Mandarin Companion ones also help with spoken language however don't currently go higher than 450 words right now.  Due to the spoken language portion, I'll still get their new releases.

 

To pass at a 90-100% rate on the HSK4 it might be better to have a vocabulary level that is double or triple what is required. That would mean reading all graded readers available up to 2500-3000. I'd try to have a vocabulary level of 2,400 not just 1,200 before taking HSK 4.  This is what I plan to do myself in order to improve my vocabulary for 2024. Probably I won't touch HSK 5 this year.  

[dakonglong]

Well it's officially 2024, so it's finally time to admit that I did not achieve the Chinese goals I listed out last year for 2023. Specifically, they were to:

 

1) Publish a travel vlog in Chinese.

 

2) Translate a book into Chinese.

 

I did start both. I recorded and edited a short travel vlog but never got around to voicing it over in Chinese. I also recorded a short self-introduction in Chinese, and I translated a few pages of a book (The Beach). All-in-all, I think I was too routine-oriented, which caused me to lose focus on these more ambitious goals. Instead, I focused on doing four specific tasks every day: (1) reviewing my pleco flashcards, (2) learning 15 new words, (3) reading (at least) two pages of a Chinese book and (4) watching (at least) 5 minutes of Chinese TV/Youtube. This actually worked really well, because most days, once I got started, I would either read more than 2 pages, or watch more than five minutes. Some days I would spend hours on these tasks. This led me to learn around 3,500 new words in 2023 (so I guess I didn't actually learn 15 new words every day, more like an average of 10), and to finish a few books and a few TV shows. That doesn't sound like much, but for the first time (after 8+ years of study) I actually feel like I know Chinese - at least sometimes. When I watch TV or read, for the most part I'm not actively struggling anymore, I'm just kind of absorbing it, which feels pretty surreal. There are definitely still times where I get stuck and it feels like work, or times when I'm watching TV and thinking "wow, I don't understand anything they just said" but they are less common than before. There are now at least intermittent periods where native-level Chinese just flows into my brain and forms meaning and that's pretty awesome.

 

Now, the question is what to do next. I feel like my input (reading/listening) are pretty good, and I now at the point where I can get better just by doing fun tasks with Chinese (reading native books and watching native TV). My output is enough to make myself understood to my teacher, though I haven't had much of a chance to test it beyond that. What I really want to do now is USE output for something fun so I can get better (publish a Chinese language blog/vlogs, contribute to Chinese message boards or social media, etc...). Now I just need to reflect on how to do that. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Maybe I will post back here again once I have figured it out.