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One day at a time

Bigdumogre

Entry posted by Bigdumogre

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Welcome one and all to my blog. I am running this to keep me accountable on my studying and to share my learning experience with others. I have been studying for a year on and off so still beginner level and fed up with the on and off immersion. So hopefully a few of you will follow along and critique my daily updates of my studies. My studying plan is not set in stone but I have some direction.

Today's studies are - pimsluer mandarin 2 lesson 5 - did this while at the gym via Bluetooth streaming through my phone. Just started this lesson and plan on listening to it daily for at least a week before I move on.

Npcr book 1 chapter 5- I did the full audio session today and really need to practice on my C and Z pronunciation- anyone have any ideas in open :) Hoping to go through the chapter completely today as a rough go through. Just doing all the practice excersises verbally. Will be repeating this lesson daily plus reviewing last lesson every other day.

Flash cards - I have Npcr lessons 1-5 on pleco and will be going through them whenever I have down time at work. This is the part I'm really struggling with and open to any ideas at learning a easier way to memorize characters. I have tried writing and it looks terrible and I feel like I did not learn anything writing them over and over. Maybe write in full sentences? In pinyin and simplified?

Did Chinese pod lesson on train - break up lesson. I have done this lesson before just wanted to make sure my pronunciation was good.

Open to any ideas what I should add or ways to study better. I study mostly on train then a hr at work when I have a break which is right now so time to get my nose back in the book lol

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Johnny20270

Johnny20270 143

Posted

hi mate, I have done pimsleur series about twice. Its good but its worth jumping around lessons after you finish a CD.

 

e.g. If on CD two, just pick a lesson at random from CD one. Remember topics in real life don't  come sequentially as pimselur presents them

 

Are they still talking about bowling. Never heard that even once mentioned in China :)

 

As for memorizing characters I'm afraid there really is not easy way. Its debated regularly and some one always seems to invent a new technique. Some tips though:

Frequency is hugely important, i.e. every day and not leave it all to the weekend

Read the texts over and over the characters will eventually stick

Look for markers in the character, I personally find looking at radicals and components on so useful, have your own method and eventually the method will fall away and you will know the characters

 

 

I too listen in the gym but start to switch off after 15 mins. Useful while running etc but weight training is difficult as I lose count of reps :)

 

As for flash cards, you will soon realize its hard to learn every character you come across and especially with NPCR several are dated. I'd suspend them for now and concentrate of the most useful ones. You can always unsuspend them later if you wish. 

Bigdumogre

Bigdumogre 40

Posted

Still not up to the lesson on bowling lol but it's prob there. I like pimsluer for the sentance structure more than anything and for learning the use of "le". Yea daily use of reading the characters seems like the best bet. I pretty much only weight lift 95% of the time but I stopped counting reps long time ago just go to failure. And when I'm on a cardio machine I usually do a video lesson from YouTube or EdX ATM.

Thanks

Johnny20270

Johnny20270 143

Posted

Yea daily use of reading the characters seems like the best bet. I pretty much only weight lift 95% of the time but I stopped counting reps long time ago just go to failure. 

 

 

 

well done, just back from a gym session here too, also go to failure and include drop sets. I tried to listen to a CD but concentration lost amongst the feelings of wanting to die lol

Bigdumogre

Bigdumogre 40

Posted

Yes that is a problem I face too while in the gym. My concentration is not 100% while listening in the gym. Between lifting and background noise it does get lost. Chinese pod is another good one that I stream through the gym especially since there is wifi.

Also while I'm there I try and use in my head as many mandarin words I can think of. Simple things like bench,weights,walking,running.........

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