Learning from 漫画

[Hedge]

Ive been studying Mandarin on and off for two years, mostly with a private teacher. Our current method is using a textbook, where my teacher will also write up several example sentences for each 生词. In class we go over these sentences and when we have covered all the new vocab, we do the corresponding lesson in the book. My "homework" is reviewing said vocabulary which I do by adding the example sentences to Anki. My problem is that I find it quite boring spending several hours working with these sentences after having studied them for two hours in class as well.

Lately I have been reading alot of Naruto (火影忍者) which is awsome. I have no problem spending time looking up words I don't know and adding them with examples to Anki. In fact, last night I sat up until two in the morning doing exactly that. Its much more motivating and fun because for each new word I learn, I deepen my understanding of the story and I also know that subsequent volumes will be easier to read. I also remember the words more vividly.

So I have been thinking about scaling back the amount of time I use on reviewing class stuff and spending more time on the stuff I really enjoy. My question is, is it a viable way of learning Mandarin or is it better to suck it up and focus on my class materials?

[abcdefg]

Perhaps you can use some of your paid teaching time discussing your outside reading together. That's part of the beauty of having a tutor instead of being in a class. You can modify the sessions to suit your interests as they change.

[sukitc]

I also self-study, using no textbooks at all because I do not find them interesting. I don't read 漫画 but do read novels, wuxia, biographies, etc. I am not sure whether this is the right way to learn but at least I do find it more enjoyable.

However, I find that this method does not work so well with newspapers and news articles. Due to many specific terms, classical chinese words, self-study is just too frustrating. This is where my private tutor comes in. I spend 3 hours/week with him, reading through webnews, news articles, etc. With his help, I am becoming more confident with newspaper reading ability.

[Mouseneb]

I think it's great. Anything that will keep you interested and motivated is wonderful. I'm using Harry Potter for that, and I don't force myself to learn every new word I encounter, either. Just the ones that seem interesting, doable, and right for my current level.

[gato]

Yes, motivation is very important. Whatever you enjoy in your native language, be it comic books or novels, you might also enjoy in the language you are learning and could provide good source of practice material outside of textbooks.

[Daan]

I agree you should try to make sure you actually enjoy whatever you are reading to study Chinese. Poring over boring texts won't help you learn Chinese. It might help you study it, but to really learn it, have it become a second nature, you have to feel an urge to know more about the subject in itself. That helps you absorb the language used to talk about that subject. You should see the language as a tool, rather than as the final goal.

For example, if you have me read texts on biology, physics, science etc in Dutch/English, I'll generally have no clue either what they're going on about. And I think most native speakers of English who flick through The Economist's finance and economics section will come across quite a few words they've never seen, either, unless they are interested in the subject and read related materials.

Of course, you should make sure to study a textbook as well, to make sure your Chinese skills remain balanced. But other than that? Everyone "specialises" in subjects they like in every language, even their native language, so I would say go for it

[roddy]

I'll echo and emphasize what Daan says about balance. Doing stuff you enjoy is great, and I'm all for it. But as an extreme situation, someone who absolutely loves wuxia movies and spends all day watching them with a dictionary is liable to have slight problems when it comes to buying a ticket for the airport bus.

Which is fair enough, if watching and discussing wuxia is what you want to do, and you're willing to sacrifice a bit of day to day competence for that. But make sure it's a deliberate strategy, rather than a tendency to do what is fun rather than what is practical. If the text you use for 'general' Chinese is boring, it might be wiser to change the text.

[Magnus1977]

I totally agree with the Author of this question. A lot of times the classes and textbooks are BORING and old. That's why the stuff on line is much better since it can be new, different and actually fun and funny.

This led my wife and I to making our site which contains 3 comics per week in English and Chinese. It's a great way to test your reading and understanding and practice. We've posted now 200+ comics and believe me, I've learned so much making the comics and writing them in Chinese. So with a good online Chinese dictionary, you can read our comics and learn more about everything China. Little bit by little bit.

our site is: http://www.chinesecomicsonline.com