Leaving China study plan

[Lingjian23]

I'm interested in finding out how other people have coped with living / studying in China for an extended period and trying to maintain and even improve their Chinese after they leave. Any study plans / tricks that they feel have come in useful?

I am trying to prepare a reasonable study schedule that I can stick to. Luckily my Chinese is good enough now that I don't have to read textbooks to improve and can watch movies, read newspapers, BBS forums, etc. But the task of improving even when I return home seems a bit hopeless from this standpoint. Any uplifting stories?

[imron]

and can watch movies, read newspapers, BBS forums, etc.

There's your study plan right there :-)

[woliveri]

You have to get out there and interact. It doesn't matter how many classes you have, until you get out there on the street it will all go by the wayside when you leave. I had many classes but until I got out and forced myself to speak it was nearly worthless. Oh, I could understand a lot but I couldn't speak. Speak at every chance you have, even if your by yourself. I used to say "Shuo, shuo, shuo, shuo... (say/speak) by myself in my room until my mouth got inline and followed up.

Most, if not all, of my former classmates in the states still cannot speak because they didn't force themselves to do it. Now, I can pick it right up after not speaking for 6 or 12 months.

After speaking then get into writing. IMandarinpod, etc are good for this.

[JenniferW]

I lived in China for 6 years - working there. In that time I sometimes went to part-time classes, but most of the time didn't because on top of a job which left limited free time, it wasn't my priority. I learnt enough Chinese to get around and cope with all my day-to-day needs, and much of what I learnt related to that sort of need. When I came back to the UK (I retired), I decided to carry on learning Chinese. I live somewhere there are no classes, so I'm doing this on my own.

I think sorting out your own way of studying, the ways which suit you and which work in the context of your own life, is the hardest part. There's no shortage of materials. I have one or two trips to China each year and buy materials while I'm there - books and DVDs. On top of that, there's a wealth of good material available on the Internet.

To set myself goals, I'm also taking exams. At the end of the first year of doing this I took a UK exam, the lowest level one for Chinese, GCSE. This year (next week) I'm taking the basic level HSK exam, which I can do at a couple of places in England. Setting the exams as definite targets has worked well - and HSK would serve you up to the highest level as an annual sort of goal, plus there may be other exams available in whichever country you're in.

On trips back to China so far, I organised some language classes while I was there, but I'm not sure how well that really worked. By the time the teacher there gets sorted out what your needs and priorities really are, on a short course, you're finished before you feel you're getting a lot of benefit.

This forum's also helped me. Through this I found out about Anki, which is invaluable. But on top of that, it also lets me tap into a network which can give ideas and encouragement as well as answers to problems.

[HashiriKata]

watch movies, read newspapers, BBS forums, etc.

In all aspects of learning a foreign language away from the classroom and the country where the language is spoken, I think the most difficult one is to maintain a strong interest in it, which also means to mantain a strong interest in the country, the people and the culture. Without such interests, no matter how many movies, newspapers, forums,... there are, you'll just not be motivated enough to touch them, and to touch them regularly.