Best approach to studying w/out schooling

[xuechengfeng]

I've completed my Chinese degree now and studied for 2 months in Qingdao, at the "4th year level." I just graduated and this past quarter I only had access to a Classical Chinese course, so I feel like I'm losing it. What's the best way to maintain my ability and learn more? Right now I'm just making my way through Pimsleur II and III, but so far, II seems too simple. I'm also listening to Chinese Podcasts as well as going through the Read Chinese 3 book. I'll be going back to China in January-February, but a large part will actually be in Russia and I'm not going for schooling, just vacation. Any suggestions?

[Strawberries513]

do what the rest of us self-studiers do. Watch mandarin TV, listen to mandarin radio, get some books in Chinese or find a chinese bf/gf

[roddy]

Yeah, just take a look at what you like doing in English, and start doing it in Chinese - could be movies, music, debating the finer points of philosophy. That should arrest most of the downhill slide.

It might also be worthwhile spending some time thinking about which of your skills you still want to improve and then focusing on those - ie perhaps you never really learned to write characters, or you think you might need to read newspapers on a regular basis in the future and want to get a head start on that.

[tuxoar]

Xuechengfeng-

Long time no see. Hope everything is going well for you back in the states. I agree with roddy here, the best way to learn is to take your interests and turn them into Chinese. Many people complain about the "quality" of Chinese TV but you can really learn a lot from them. Ultimately for me, the most useful progress has come from language exchange (coupled with personal studying which it sounds like you are already doing). Get back in contact with some of the Chinese friends that you met this summer in Qingdao or look for others on the net via skype, etc.

[xuechengfeng]

ahh xiao xinlai, how is taiwan? i was considering getting jobs with chinese and learning more of it, i asked pei laoshi. he told me to ask you how you get your scholarship over there..

i e-mailed 李明杰 and i think i'll meet up with him when i go back to qingdao for a few weeks. i just need to figure out how to get access to chinese tv.

how do you go about using those and radio for methods of study? a lot of times i can only briefly pick up parts. do you just download then analyze, analyze, and re-analyze what is being said? almost like our methods of movies at osu?

[tuxoar]

Things are going great here in Taiwan, I am very happy with the decision to come here. At the same time though I miss the mainland bad. Things are a world apart down here, but that is for another post....

The scholarship I was awarded was the "Mandarin Enrichment Grant" offered by the Taiwanese Ministry of Education. See here for more details: http://www.edu.tw/EDU_WEB/EDU_MGT/BICER/EDUANDY001/english/TS_intro.htm?open

It is a very generous scholarship that can be used for up to 1 (academic) year at any of the 12 language centers on the island here. Check that web page for eligibility details since you are already graduated, there might be some differences.

Alternately the PRC government also offers scholarship, but to the best of my knowledge you have to be associated with a university, you cannot individually apply.

If you have trouble finding money to study in China you might consider saving up and just going yourself. A few thousand US$ goes a long way in the PRC and if you pay your cards right, it will pay off in the end. Talk to 卜爱文 who is working in China right now. You can make some money teaching english or something.

As far as studying goes, there are a ton of ways in which you can keep up with your Chinese. There are dozens of Chinese language radio streams and video streams. If you are sitting at your computer just log on and check them out. You can find some streams from the links section of this forum, my blog here, or also at here. Some of them may have transcripts which can be read as you listen, if a video stream there is almost always subtitles.

Now, my method of studying... is actually derived from that of Eric Sheperd. The key is to keep listening, even if you only understand a small part. Take a tv series such as 生活秀 and very intently study a single episode or maybe two. The first step is to watch it straight through, get a feel for the characters, try and pick up as much language as you can, and just familiarize yourself with the story. Write down the names of the characters, try and figure out the relationship between them, etc. If you use that particular show, pay a lot of attention to the behavior, that show is a good representation of contemporary life in China. Beyond that, take a 5 minutes sections of it and try and understand it to the point where you can write it out. This takes a lot of time to check all the vocab, etc but you have to force yourself. The highest level is the point at which you can fluently mimic the character's speech as you are watching the dvd. It sounds like a lot more work that it is, but just give it a shot.

Alternately, you can learn plenty about Chinese from music Get in touch with 李明杰 and have him recommend some artists. Most songs and lyrics can all be downloaded at mp3.baidu.com.

Lastly, I am a HUGE supporter of using skype to do language exchanges. For a site that you can find people to chat with on, go to www.cafemecx.com.

If you have any other questions let me know, I am sure others here may be able to add more or be of more help. If you are in the neighborhood be sure to drop me a line.

肖新来