Do you need a model?

[XiaoMa]

Hi folks,

this question is for you when you are not chinese.

Do you need a model which learned chinese a lot and can speak well?

I mean, a person you see as a model in speaking chinese which learned chinese by courses or him/herself and you can look up to.

I mean, i got a chinese girlfriend and i am practising chinese for 1,5 years now, and i still can't understand the most things she or her friends talk to me.

Strange..

is it unlearnable?

What are good learning methods, i meet my girlfriend every day, and she is trying to talk to me. But i can't understand and she switches to my native language (she learned it in 1,5 years and can speak complicated sentences now, german language, i heard it is also hard)

Which way should i learn with my girlfriend?

Greets,

XiaoMa

[imron]

Well, assuming that you're both living in Germany (based on what you've listed as your location), of course it's easier for her to learn to speak your native language. She's surrounded by it everyday, and apart from speaking with you, she has to use it in her everyday life.

Try going to China for a year or two :-) It'll do wonders for your Chinese.

[Guest Yau]

Have you taken any courses? You just can't learn any language efficiently without a proper textbook. And a formal course will help you get the basics too.

Don't surrender to feminist! Our dignity and glory of men is at your hands!

[XiaoMa]

I took 6 month of chinese lessons (2h a week, cheap, chinese teacher), and i own the german version of 'practical chinese reader' (i think so)..bol link: Please use the url tags for long links. Roddy

.. but i think it is very time expensive to learn reading/writing and speaking..

do you think i should not learn to read and write, and just learn to speak/listen?

Greets

[Jose]

Xiaoma, Chinese is a diffcult language. In my experience, for speakers of European languages it takes a much longer time to acquire a certain level of proficency in that language than in another European language. If you are really interested in the language, you should persevere, but be warned that it is not like learning English or Spanish. Unless you go to China, it will take you years of study before you can have some fluency.

[Guest Yau]

I think xiaoma can try the pimsleur method.

Learn some phrases first, repeat them to your girlfriends, and then keep learning more, and make enough repetition again.

You just remember the sounds of every word, try to imitate all of them as the best as you can. Then you've already got some basic vocab, and you can make a different combination of all these vocab to deliver a message.

If you feel uncomfortable with the chinese character, just skip them at this stage, put all your concentration on speaking/ listening. An iliterate person can master everyday converstation, and the implication is that learning sounds is less difficult than imagined. If you're afraid of forgetting these sounds, write them down in pinyin.

I found this method is quite useful for a beginner. And i'm learning french by this method too. i believe your girlfriend can give you a great help too.

Good luck!

[freenumen2000]

I have been taking lessons in Chinese here in Beijing for the last two months. It's really amazing how much you can learn when you have a wonderful teacher and one-on-one lessons. My teacher has helped me so much with my pronunciation and practical use of Chinese in every day life. I speak from experience because I am an English teacher from the United States.

A great website for you to check out is: website removed until I'm convinced this post isn't spam. Roddy

[roddy]

All about freenumen2000

Joined: 23 Jul 2004

Total posts: 1

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Find all posts by freenumen2000

Location: China

Website:

Occupation: Engineer

Interests: Movies' date='Travel

Languages: [b']Chinese native[/b], English in progress

taking lessons in Chinese

My teacher has helped me so much with my pronunciation and practical use of Chinese

I am an English teacher from the United States

A great website for you to check out is

So what's a native Chinese speaker doing taking Chinese lessons? And how do you manage to be an English teacher in the US with English in progress?

Roddy

[Jive Turkey]

Ah, the benefits of having a moderator.

[trooper]

Check out the incorrect usage of "every day" as well.

practical use of Chinese in every day life

[roddy]

I've sent freenumen a pm requesting a response. Nothing so far, but lets not jump to any conclusions

The stupid thing is that if they signed up as weteachyouchineseformoney and made maybe one post introducing their services and then spent their time helping people with questions and put a link in their signature, I'd be happy. Pretending to be foreign and leaving bogus recommendations is a) pathetic and B) not so easy to do - and if that's the preferred method of getting custom, they're not getting any money from me.

Maybe I should have a list of companies that have done this - name and shame them. Can only think of two off-hand though.

Roddy

[roddy]

Well, I received an email this morning. It turns out it was all a terrible misunderstanding caused by 一位美国老师 using freenumen's account.

Yet again, American imperialism encroaches on Chinese sovereignty.

I hope to hear from the 一位美国老师, as I believe an apology for this unwarranted intrusion in Chinese internal affairs is called for. I also hope he can tell me if I spelt sovereignty correctly, as I suspect I didn't.

Roddy