The 2008 Aims and Objectives Progress Thread

[roddy]

Guess what I just remembered . . .

I don't even want to look at mine, I suspect it would be depressing. Anyone else want to review their 2008 in these dying days of the year? Any appetite for a similar topic for 2009?

[renzhe]

I was going to do both, but once again, you were faster.

1) Be able to read 3000+ hanzi, including all HSK chars (I'm at about 2100 now)

2) Build a vocab of 4000+ words, up to HSK level 3 (I'm at about 2000 now)

3) Finish NPCR book 6 (I'm at the start of 4 now)

4) Be able to lead conversations FLUENTLY on a range of topics. My upcoming one-month trip to China should help me there.

5) Take over the world

1) I've passed 3400, I should reach 3500 characters by the end of the year (holiday starting tomorrow)

2) Done. I have 4000+ multi-character words from the HSK list. If you count the single-character words, it's more than 6000 vocabulary items, plus there's non-HSK vocab.

3) Finished book 5, and I don't think I'll wait for 6 to come out. Switched to reading instead.

4) This has improved a lot, at least with regular, everyday chitchat, but I don't get enough practice. I've had several Chinese acquaintances and sinologists jump at me with unexpected Chinese conversations and I was surprised how well I could talk and follow.

5) This is delayed until 2009.

Some goals I hadn't set, but ended up doing anyway:

6) Lots of TV watching, great for both listening and speaking. More than a hundred hours of Chinese language material in total

7) Read 2000+ pages of comics

Read the Wang Xiaobo BotM plus some short stories by well-known authors

9) Read more than 600 pages of the Condor Heroes. Should hit half the novel by the end of the year

10) Learned the 500+ traditional characters I posted in that other thread. I've been reading some traditional character texts from time to time, and find that I can read most of them without trouble. I haven't really invested much time in this, and still the payoff was great.

I've worked my arse off this year, and I'm very happy with the results. 2009 should be the year when I make the leap and finally "get it".

[character]

- Stay caught up with Chinese class and homework. The past few weeks have been spent trying to get caught up.

I did this, more or less. Also worked partway through Shaum's Chinese Grammar by Ross on the bus.

- Struggle through a wuxia novel (probably Gu Long's Lu Xiao Feng Chuan Ji).

Made it through The Lady and the Painting, which is not at all the same thing.

Given the small amount of time I can devote to Chinese study, I continue to make small amounts of progress and don't seem to forget too much. Definite progress on listening comprehension. Biggest problems remain putting sentences together on the fly and pronunciation, both of which seem to require more intense instruction or interaction with fluent speakers.

[gato]

I've worked my arse off this year, and I'm very happy with the results. 2009 should be the year when I make the leap and finally "get it".

Congrats on a very good year!

[sukitc]

Hi Renzhe, you have had a very impressive year (and there are still 12 days to go). So, congratulations and well done. With your current skill set, could you easily and quickly go through a Chinese newspaper? The reason I am asking is that while I can read novels okay, I do struggle badly with newspapers and business journals. Many thanks.

[renzhe]

Not easily and quickly. I can wade my way through it, but I have to admit that I've never really practiced this much, nor tried to specifically improve this skill. I've just had a quick go, and I can get the main idea, but I notice I'm missing some needed vocabulary.

At this point, I can get through easier novels just fine (like the recent BotM), and through more challenging novels at a decent pace (like the Condor Heroes).

[rob07]

I've worked my arse off this year, and I'm very happy with the results.

Congratulations Renzhe! Having read and enjoyed all of your First Episode posts, I've got some idea how hard you worked.

As for myself, my goal for the year was to read 红楼梦 in full without any recourse to an English translation, and I achieved it. Watching quite a bit of Chinese TV was an unexpected bonus, since I can't speak or understand the oral language, but I found I could get by on the subtitles.

[wushijiao]

1) Continue to listen to RFA, BBC, (and sometimes 德国之声 and Chinesepod) podcasts daily (I think my listening really, really went up in 2007 because of this).

2) Thoroughly read my 亚洲周刊's (have subscription/ I think it is a great magazine).

3) Read more great magazines like 争鸣，开放 and the like.

4) Try to do at least a book a month.

I think my reading and listening skills are as strong as they have ever been, but my writing and speaking might be sliding a bit, so:

5) Do more writing (not sure in what form yet)

These were my goals, but I have to admit that I only did them to a very limited degree.

Congrat renzhe! I think, like you, I need to set more firm, measurable goals.

I

[simonlaing]

Hey Guys,

Sorry I was away being need-lessly busy at my new PR job. Here is my new year recap.

BYW- I think this was a good thread as at the end of Spring and Summer it was good to remind myself of what my goals were.

First the resolutions

1. Read 1-3 chinese news articles weekly -> only about 1-2 a week mostly for work

2. tutor class 1-2 times a week. -> first have of the year was 2 a week, these days it is 1 a week. Though sitting through long CHinese meetings is improving my listening.

3. Do more Chinese writing. (Left vague because I am not sure if would be better as a diary or summaries of articles that I have read.) -apart from about 1 medium length translation every 2 weeks for work I didn't really do. (Plus it was always chinese to english with didn't help my Chinese writing much. I regret not doing now)

Other non chinese goals-

1. Continuing to go to the Gym 4-5 times a week - most of the time did this. since the new job in november I have to go in the morning for 1 hour versus 1hour 40 minutes. I was buff for my wedding.

2. Walk up stairs several times a week. -did this for like 3 days then decided the gym was more interesting.

3. Play sports on the weekend when the snow goes away. -This I did , The nanjing ultimate frisbee and Baseball teams are going strong. I did more for the former than the later but still it's a good time.

Bonuses- Preparing and saying wedding vows in Chinese

Random trips to the KTV to sing Chinese Songs

Dealing with a boss whose oral english is poor.

Roddy Send out another thread for 2009- I am here for the long term Chinese learning Haul, it was good.

have fun,

Simon:)

[yersi]

edit: nm, posted this in the wrong thread

Edited December 26, 2008 at 01:32 PM by yersi

[Guest realmayo]

i) learn to write 50 hanzi a week for the next 30 weeks (though I should already know the first couple of hundred)

ii) don't stint on vocab either

iii) listen to chinesepod etc rather than music on my ipod on my commute.

Ha! the first resolutions that I've even remembered by the end of the year....

i) I didn't start this until around May, but am now up to about 2,000 characters so that's got to be marked as a success!

ii) didn't stint, much.

iii) well, did this sometimes.