How to increase my shengci?

[Chinesemoon]

Da jia hao!

I've been studying chinese for 1 1/2 years... not always efficiently, and I studied 6 months in China. I find that my speaking is decent, but my reading is terrible. I go to college full-time in PA (major not related to Chinese, sadly) but I really want to keep working on my chinese by myself. I can only say a limited amount of words, and I can't get my true feelings across in Chinese. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas/suggestions about how to increase your character knowledge/general vocabulary? I was sort of going through chinese textbooks and making hand-made flashcards for myself, but this is a lonnnnng process... and very frustrating! Should I keep doing this or try something else?

Help.

[muyongshi]

Read a lot of books..... (A LOT)

[L-F-J]

the only way to increase vocabulary is to constantly come in contact with the language and the same words in many different contexts. in order to do that there are two things to be done, reading and listening.. A LOT.

find some topic you like and listen to audio on it and if you can find transcripts read it also. i like xiangsheng performances. as your vocabulary increases you can read books and listen more casually. slowly it'll build up.

[peterlkj]

My advice is get a good flashcard program and the HSK vocabulary lists, and do as many flashcards every day as you can - don't waste time making and trying to manage them - that's the advantage of live in the 21st century!

I absolutely love plecodict (with whom I have absolutely no connection), which you can use on a number of different pdas - and you can find all the HSK files on their website too. Otherwise you can probably find some free ones just to use on your computer, but maybe not as convenient as using a pda/smartphone to study.

Good luck!

[dsrguru]

Flash card software, preferably an SRS, can help you learn new vocabulary, but you might learn faster by just watching Chinese movies and television shows if your Mandarin comprehension is good enough to understand what's going on. That's also got to be a more fun method of learning.

[imcgraw]

I say this on every thread with a similar question but: handwriting recognition dictionary (available free online) and a comic book (Doraemon would work for your level). Makes for an enjoyable way to pick up new characters.

Flashcards are nice, especially with spaced repetition (I use Anki now and find it quite useful), but if you're looking to stay motivated / unfrustrated you MUST encounter the language in a somewhat enjoyable setting... i.e. not one of rote memorization.