*steps out of the lurkerzone*   Hello everyone, and welcome to a thread designed to document my Chinese progress.   Quick Backstory:   I lived and worked in China for two years a long time ago, and came out just shy of HSK 5 level. I speak/listen to Chinese every day for work, but haven't read anything beyond extremely daily conversation/IM topics in forever. I haven't deliberately practiced Chinese in roughly four years. My vocabulary is pretty bleak as a result, and has probably regressed to around 1500-2000 words tops. I now have a few months to play with where I'm likely to have afternoons free, and I want to use this time to improve/resurge my Mandarin as much as I can, and - above all else - get into good habits with it.   My Current Level:   I took a HSK 5 mock a few days ago and scored 170/300, with the following breakdown:     My listening is by far my strongest suit, and I found the audio somewhat slow. My score reflects a broader problem - my reading has become so poor that I occasionally couldn't recognise the multiple choice answers in the listening section, dragging the score further down. I rarely write, but I believe this score could be improved through extensive reading and deliberate grammar practice when necessary.   Study Plan:   Immersion & Anki. Rather than studying Mandarin with textbooks (again) or single-word, contextless flashcards (again), I'm going to try and seriously take a leaf out of the AJATT book - that is, immersing myself in Chinese as much as i can. I'm using Migaku to generate in-context flashcards in Anki with audio, tones and explanations. I'm getting flashcards from a mixture of native content (predominantly Chinese-language dubs and subs on Netflix or native content on YouTube) and from the HSK vocabulary list(s). I'm aiming at learning a minimum of 20 new words a day for the next three years. I'm happy for this to be more on some days and less on others, providing that works out as the average.   Healthy Competition. A friend of mine is moving to Taiwan, and we want to see who can make the most progress in a year. We're each tracking our time spent doing Chinese on Toggl Track, and can see how much progress the other has made in a given time period. No prizes for winning, but joint progress and accountability are nice.   This thread. I'm going to post here at the beginning of each month to lay out my progress in the month prior. Update posts are likely to be fairly brief, and will cover what I've watched, read, and screenshots of time spent and Anki stats. I know I find long-term progress logs like that inspiring - if you're reading this (and this post is old), then I hope you find this inspiring, too. 😊   Goals:   The main aim is to reach practical fluency in Mandarin. This is not a short-term endeavour, and I expect this to take years. I am budgeting three years for this, at which point life is highly likely to become far more demanding of my time. I would like this to culminate in passing the HSK 7-9 exam with a HSK 8+. There more 'concrete' goals along the way are:   Next Six Months: Have 1000 mature Anki cards Have 2500 mature Anki cards Pass the HSK 5 with a 'strong' score (250+)   Next Year: Have 5000 mature Anki cards Pass the HSK 6 with a 'strong' score (250+)   Next Two Years: Have 10,000 mature Anki cards Have 15,000 mature Anki cards Pass the HSK 7-9 with a 7+ grade   Next Three Years: Have 20,000 mature Anki cards Pass the HSK 7-9 with an 8+ grade   Bonus Goals: Have 25,000 mature Anki cards Have 30,000 mature Anki cards   I consider 30,000 mature Anki cards as being the effective 'end-game' of me actively studying Mandarin. I doubt going that deep is necessary, but I do think that would give me a level of fluency that's actively uncommon amongst learners of Chinese as a second language. I believe the long-term consistency is feasible (although will take discipline), and the immersion focus sound.   I'd love to hear any feedback you lovely forum-dwellers may have - any advice on how to manage time, and any lessons learned from failures that you've seen/have made yourselves from which I could benefit. I hope this makes for good, fun and consistent reading over the next few years. 😊    

Hi guys, so I am currently studying in Changsha, Hunan province, and am currently in my extension period. The school only allows me to extend for only 1 semester, and I don't think I would manage to finish my thesis in 1 semester and I may have to go back to my country after this semester ends. I have many difficulties with my thesis, and I am really afraid of not graduating from this university. My ultimate goal tbh is to work in China, but this has been something that blocking my road toward that goal (for one or two reasons, I picked the wrong major in the past, and so this is the accumulation of that mistake) so the best scenario is that I would try to finish this thesis as much as possible, complete everything necessary before going back and then next semester hopefully do my defense and graduate. And then, I was planning to go back to China to learn Chinese at my own expense, as long as I could be back here. But the worst scenario, how if I can't graduate? Do you guys know whether it's possible to maybe apply for a scholarship if you have this record that you didn't finish your previous study? I was thinking of paying my own tuition if I were to redo my entire master's degree, but paying the whole 3 years with my own fees is a bit too much, right? and I was hoping maybe some of you would have some information about this. Thank you

Hi, I'd like to start a Baldur's Gate 3 roleplaying group in simplified chinese. Looking for people of all levels, we're gonna be 4 players overall (including myself of course! )  The idea is pretty straightforward, we each play a character of our choosing, that character may (or may not) reflect our chinese language knowledge, for instance, I had this idea where someone who is more of a beginner can maybe play a slow half-orc who doesn't speak well, and such; whereas someone more advanced can be the party leader (I kinda think that would flow better). We can even be 4 slow half-orcs for I care lol... to me that sounds fun 😃 Regardless, this is not for native speakers, it's really for beginners-intermediates to practice, goof around and learn how to express themselves. Atmosphere is chill, pace is slow, the gameplay is not about reaching the end and advancing the story, it's about practicing chinese and roleplaying. The setting of the game itself can stay English and we can use discord as the role-play platform.     I tried a variation of it with AI, it was great! Except the part where I have to constantly keep sharing screenshots with it and explain the situation, which is exhausting. With real players it should be a lot more fun. Let me know if you're interested 😃 -Alice  

I did some research before applying and found out that many people have to wait months at a time just for their status to change from "submitted" to "in progress". However, I submitted my application just a few days ago and it's already changed to "in progress" today. Is that significant? Does it mean anything? According to your own experiences and what you've learned through other people, how long does it take to go from one application phase to the next for Type B.

I applied for a type B scholarship on the CSC website a few days ago and just today my status changed from "submitted" to "in progress". However, I checked other peoples experiences and saw almost everyone also submitted an application on the university portal. My main issue is that even though the university I applied to has a website as well as instructions on applying to online portal, there's no proper link to the portal. The only available link is for 2022 applications and shows up with the "powered by CUCAS" at the bottom of the page and doesn't show my program that I applied for at the CSC portal.  I'm confused now. Why would CSC show a program for my preferred university if it's not on their official portal or is the portal no longer available? The rule for applying on both portals was also published in an article on their website in 2022. My guess is that there's no update since then because it's no longer required and also because they've already changed my status to "in progress" but I'm not sure. Please share your thoughts and experiences.

Hi guys, trying to read this seal, to try to know who's the maker, anyone there that can shine a light?

So, there's a minor meme called "Be the American Japan believes you are!" Since memes are meant to spread, I'm stealing it and mutating it.   But it got me to thinking, what does this mean , exactly?   The Japan meme is just a bunch of funny photos of  a broad-chested, necktied politician called "Armstrong" who, true to his name, has strong arms and does a lot of strong man things and shouts a lot.  I mean, I'm an American, I've certainly heard my share of this, but I find myself at a loss here. I find myself doing something I don't do much of, getting philosophical. After all, I am an adult man who has pretty much decided that China is my life. It's replaced much of my personality such that I feel like a bore when talking with folks from back home because every topic just becomes "but in China blah blah blah" and I'm sure probably nobody cares.   But later this year I'm applying for my permanent residency and if I get that then it's on.   I'm not the kind of laowai who longs to be Chinese or says cringe stuff like 我是新中国人. I had already accepted that I'll never be Chinese and probably shouldn't want to be, either.  I had hit on the idea of "be the est   laowai you can  be" already.   And this is no joke. I am talking about a slogan and a thesis statement for life.  Well, my life, anyway.  I am a Texan, and one of the reasons I got into barbecue cooking was to be as stereotypical as possible, in the most positive way possible.  I mean, who doesn't like showing up to a backyard barbecue with mouthwatering meats cooked to perfection?  Well, besides the local laowai, who mostly no-showed after promising to attend over and over, which is one of the reasons I quit  doing them a while back.  It was just discouraging to go to all this work only to have people treat it like an unwanted chore they had to complete that day.   Chinese people liked it, sometimes.  And I liked doing it, it gave me a great way of paying people back for all the wonderful hospitality Chinese are famous for without it being overly familiar indoor cooking they might have been to shy to attend. And let's be honest, it's a roll of the dice to attend any random foreigner's home-cooked meal. I've had some food that I was promised was the best in the world only to find out that it was...well, edible.  But barbecue, everyone knows what that is.  And I got to be pretty danged good at it. Let's face it, meat and flame aren't really that hard to get right. Add a few techniques like brining or smoking and you've got a winner. But back to the point, what does "be the American China thinks you are" actually mean?  Or, perhaps a better question  would be "what would it mean to live your life in a way that fulfills (in a non-ridiculous, welcome way, positive Chinese stereotypes about Americans? I don't mean wear a cowboy hat every day and import a block-long Cadillac like Otto in " Fish Called  Wanda".  (although I did once know a Chinese man who did that).   Now that I think of it, Kevin Kline provides a good negative example of what I'm talking about. He was specifically cast in the movie to be an ass and an unsympathetic buttmonkey that the audience gets to feel superior to. Jamie Lee Curtis' lecture to him about the central message of Buddhism not being "every man for himself and the London Underground  not being a revolutionary movement resonated so well with Hollywood that Kevin Kline won a rare Best Supporting Actor Oscar for a comedic role.   I'm talking about the polar opposite of that.   And a follow-up question would be, what would I have to do to achieve these dual goals?   Be the best laowai I can be and be the American China expects me to be? 1. Get a lot better at Chinese, of course.  2. Study more about China, I do that too.   4. Shout a lot. Pass. 3. Be a big strong man. Well, all of us can use more physical fitness but if I was going to be a muscle man I could have been that by now, so I think we can strike this one off the list. Maybe I really should split this into two threads but I've talked enough already.   And for any of you who are wondering about what a weird question this is and if I have recently suffered a head injury?  Yes, you are right.  I recently had a concussion (I received prompt medical treatment and have mostly recovered, thank you!) and have been rather off lately.  But whatever, I am embracing the madness.   it's true, it really is liberating.  I can see why the Joker likes it so much. So if anyone has any good answers I would really appreciate them. Especially from this crowd, this site has got some of the best, most veteran posters of any discussion board of any kind I use.    

I'm making good progress on vocabulary learning and am now looking for Chinese internet slang. Anyone know where I can get a list of actually used colloquial or internet slang? I'm looking for commonly used slang for colloquial spoken Chinese (while trying to avoid slang like in English that is extremely outdated, regional, or just not actually used). 

Hey everyone,   I am a college student in the US planning to study abroad in China (maybe Taiwan) this summer. Due to scholarship and school restrictions I am really hoping to have program that runs sometime from Early June to late December (even early January). Being above 25 weeks long is important for scholarship reasons. I also need it to be an established program with a transcript and clear schedule with hours/week (no private tutors). Does anyone have recommendations of schools or programs. I really value good community and teachers who care their students. Last summer, I was at the international Chinese language program (ICLP). I really enjoyed my time there, but the price was a little bit high and I would like to try something new this summer (like a new country). I also want more of a work life balance this time. For this reason, I am pretty sure I don’t want to go to tsinghua or the IUP. The mandarin training center MTC at 师大seems like a good option, but I would still prefer to go to China. I also think a lot of places like silk Mandarin or LTL language school are way too expensive for me. I would prefer being in a somewhat urban environment so any tier 1 or tier 2 city would work. I am really big on speaking and engaging in class. I am currently looking at many of the universities in China like Peking university, Shanghai Jiaotong, Fudan university, and more. The issue is, I don’t think they have any summer programs though, or if they do, they are only 4 weeks long. I am looking for something like a summer and winter quarter back to back. I appreciate any and all suggestions! My DM‘s are also open if you have any personal experience that you want to share.

Hello friends of Chinese culture,   I dont know, if this is the right place for showing of my calligraphy, but i didnt find any real calligraphy forum in the english internet. It seems retarded for a Westerner to try calligraphy in a language you dont write and speak, but i decided a year ago to give it a try, because i´m very fascinated by Chinese culture, paintings and history. A year ago, i wanted to buy a calligraphy, but then i thought in my childish mind to do it myself saving money, because it must be kind of easy. Very bad mistake, but i´m still there practising!   But sadly no feedback given by any experts, because i´m from Germany and i dont know anyone who does Chinese calligraphy.   If anyone would kindly but honestly say something about the calligraphy i did recently, it would be very pleasant for me. Thank you.   Kind regards!   shak