Getting back in the saddle

[Zhoule]

I am currently working in China (although in an almost 100% English speaking environment working with our US office preparing to open an office here in the next few months and continuing my US based work remotely in the interim). I speak a passable amount of Chinese and can read a little bit. My wife is also ethnically Chinese and is fluent, so I am not usually forced into using Chinese to handle many of the daily living issues as I did back when I was a student in China.

Of course my Chinese is still improving daily just by living here, buying groceries (read: beer:lol:) but I am becomming a little impatient with the slow progress and have decided to get "back on the saddle" per se in actively trying to improve my Chinese. As my hectic schedule tends to preclude me from taking any organized courses, I am looking for another approach to study.

Is anyone else in a similar situation, or have any tips as the best (i.e. most efficient) way to approach this?

I am thinking of just getting some text books and starting at page 1, quickly moving through until I hit the level where I am not too comfortable with the material. and getting more in depth with my study at that point.

I also want to find a way to improve my pronunciation (tones) as I don't have much problem understanding others, but when speaking my tones seemed to have gotten lost somewhere in the past few years that I've been out of China.

Any suggestions for study methods or recommendations for materials would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[renzhe]

I would do exactly what you suggest -- fast track it through a good textbook until you find your level, and other than that, it's exactly the same as with any other self-studying person, and there are many threads on that (EDIT: like this one)

As for the tones, talk to a native speaker and have them ruthlessly correct every tone mistake you make by repeating what you said.

[Lu]

Given that you're married to a native speaker, you could explain the situation to her and ask her if she wants to help you, for example by speaking Chinese for half an hour each day, and have her correct you. (Mind that you explain and ask first, and not assume she'll help and then get annoyed at her not helping, as happens sometimes.)

You could also ask her to let you handle certain situations or problems by yourself (if the situation is not serious or very important, of course), so you can practice.

Or you could get yourself a language partner or find a non-English-speaking friend, and talk to them regularly.

[monto]

According what you said, You had already 入门了(inside the door) and in the job you do,you don't have the need to "boost" your Chinese (boost always give me the idea of rapid decline). My advice then:

Just read classics (classic, not traditional alone) in Chinese and discuss with your wife for anything you don't understand well.

The particular value of Chinese is its written one.

A fluent oral Chinese is not and should not be, by far, the goal of high education or learning.

[woliveri]

I tend to like the free resources: ChinesePod, Chinese with Serge Melnyk, etc.

Then pick up some good books on the HSK. The one I like the best is:

HSK in 30 days (or something like that) HSK考前冲刺30天——阅读篇

ISBN 7-301-08188-X/H

From Beijing University Press.

I would also use tools such as a Character writer tablet. I have found this very useful when trying to find what a character is.

Oh, btw, how is it you are working in China. I have found it very difficult to get a job other than teaching English.

Thanks.

[dsrguru]

I highly recommend working through the FSI course. It was made by the American and Canadian governments to quickly train diplomats and spies to speak fluently, and the course is really amazing. It's now in the public domain and completely free to use. It helped my pronunciation tremendously (prior to FSI my tones were "correct" per se, but they sounded so unnatural and un-native), and it teaches about 2500 words in total. The course provides a lot of comprehension practice, in addition to pronunciation, which is very useful. The one main negative is that the course is close to 30 years old, so a little bit of the vocabulary will be out of date, namely calling everyone "comrade" in the PRC. Since you live in China, ironing out any differences between the vocabulary of 1980 and 2008 shouldn't be a problem.

[simonlaing]

I can related to your problem. Like Lu said you need to have teacher to correct your tones.

I use lots of materials but I find making time 2 classes a week at least makes the lasting improvement. I use a tutor and find it is the best way as they can tailor the difficulty to your level and you can work on tones or reading.

I find it is difficult to make the time, figuring I am watching a chinese movie with no english subtitles, that's just as good right. But it is not active and one does not have the feedback of the tutor.

Anyway,

Good luck,

Simon

[Zhoule]

Wow, wasn't expecting so many replies so quickly, I will check out the suggested materials. I also considered getting a tutor and think I will do that now, I think it will be better with a designated person at a designated time, as with a spouse it seems to always be something that is planned but never regularly takes place. Anyways thanks for the suggestions, now just time to get after it

[LaoLiang]

"The one main negative is that the course is close to 30 years old, so a little bit of the vocabulary will be out of date, namely calling everyone "comrade" in the PRC. Since you live in China, ironing out any differences between the vocabulary of 1980 and 2008 shouldn't be a problem."

Why do you reckon it shouldn't be a problem? If I learn new material it's not really possible to know if it's current or not, it would also be much harder to change it later on than just getting it right in the beginning.

[Lu]

I can related to your problem. Like Lu said you need to have teacher to correct your tones. (...)

Now I don't disagree with this, but at the same time I didn't say this, or at least not here.

[dsrguru]

Why do you reckon it shouldn't be a problem? If I learn new material it's not really possible to know if it's current or not, it would also be much harder to change it later on than just getting it right in the beginning.

There's not a lot that's changed with the language. No longer addressing every PRC citizen as tóngzhì is the main one. The problem is that FSI teaches how to say "transistor radio" rather than "computer" and things like that. Since the OP is living in China, he won't have a problem picking up the few important words (e.g. "computer" and "cell phone") that weren't common in 1980. There are several other threads on this subject. The benefits from FSI combined with the fact that it's freely obtainable more than make up for the few occurrences of outdatedness.