The 2010 Aims and Objectives Progress Thread

[chaiknees]

It’s never too late to fix some goals. I started learning systematically 12 weeks ago. Not as a necessity, just as a hobby besides full-time job. Until the end of the year it is still 16 weeks.

Current status:

NPCR lesson 18

can read and write 650 unique Hanzi

866 facts in Anki

having read 2 Chinese Breeze volumes (Level 1)

Targets:

NPCR lesson 30

can read and write 1100 unique Hanzi

2000 facts in Anki

read 4 Chinese Breeze volumes (Level 2)

further optimize schedule to increase learning efficiency

practise speaking to make it less halting

skim over the whole Routledge Grammar just for overview

use more opportunities to speak Chinese in daily life

use a food delivery service without any help ;-)

[teresap989]

Good advice! I started reading through the television thread yesterday. It's a bit tough for me to understand, but I watched the first episode of 奋斗 yesterday and I think I'll keep watching it. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the vocabulary lists and transcripts--what a great idea! Very helpful!

[querido]

I'd like to report some qualitative progress.

It's beginning to feel like real language; the simplest phrases pop up automatically and speaking them doesn't feel fake.

Finishing 2nd grade, and conversation at a minimal level (but natural and real-feeling), could happen this year.

[edelweis]

My routine is completely disorganised heh.

都怪postcrossing! (well some minor health issues are also having an impact).

Some days I don't study at all, some days I barely spend 45' to 1h on vocabulary and grammar. But on the other hand I do get a lot of practice reading and writing "real" Chinese (with a purpose).

I am forgetting how to write some characters due to neglecting SRS review, but on the other hand I am also learning to write new characters that are frequently used when writing postcards.

Ah well. Perhaps in October I'll settle down into a new study routine

[Gleaves]

How the 囧 is it the middle of October already...

My status update:

1. Read 6 books this year.

Just got through book number three for the year (a translation of a book of scifi stories by Ted Chiang, very cool, but very tough for me at times). I'm in the middle of three other books that I have been tag-teaming. I am really going to need to sprint at the end of the year here to finish this off.

2. Watch 4 TV episodes and 2 movies a week.

I'm averaging slightly less than this, but on the plus side I have been squeezing in other forms of listening practice.

[edelweis]

Although this month is starting with a week of tiredness and grumpiness and not feeling much like studying due to that stupid daylight saving thing, I'm rather satisfied with my current progress - slow but steady.

0) don't let Chinese eat up all my energy and free time - leave a little time for my other projects and some energy for the work I get paid to do

Some motivation for my job reappeared after a much needed training (I could write pages of rant on that topic) and realizing I can start reading technical documents in Chinese (of course it's awfully slow, and requires a mouse-over dictionary, but still it gives me a wonderful feeling knowing that I can practice reading and learn something which may be immediately useful at work at the same time).

Mostly on track although frequency varies:

3) finish the 1033 word HSK vocab list

4) finish the study of "chinese grammar without tears"

5) submit at least one written exercise per week on Lang-8

6) keep watching chinese TV and listening to Chinese Breeze or cslpod etc.

10) learn to type in zhengma and wubi and stop using pinyin input methods

11) learn the 1000 most frequent characters (in words, not by themselves).

I'm quite certain the grammar book won't be finished by December, but that's all right (I just found out I can now -almost- read the Chinese version of the explanations! woohoo!). Also I certainly can't stop using pinyin input methods yet, there are still too many characters I want to use that I can only read and not (hand or wubi-) write.

Mostly on hold:

2) spend 15' per day learning/reviewing character writing

7) finish the assimil "Chinese with ease" books

8 ) study one of my Talk Chinese books

9) start traditional characters reading (I bought the NPCR1 textbook in traditional characters for that purpose)

I think I might restart textbook learning someday soon, since my knowledge of characters has much improved (mainly due to wubi drills on the most frequent characters) it should be somewhat easier. Or something.

[joshuawbb]

I'm in the process of reading through everyone's goal progress in this thread, and it's been great to read it all so far. Sorry for jumping into this thread with my own - I'll have the whole thread read through soon enough and will have something to say about it all then. All the best for everyone's aims and objectives so far!

The pressure's really on for me this winter.

1. Get HSK Level 6 in this November exam. I was disappointed to receive a 5 from the October exam since I really need the 6 now. It HAS to happen this time, otherwise 5 is not a strong enough grade to justify the proficiency I've described on my UK university application (and perceive to have). The HSK grade needs to match up with my personally perceived level of Chinese, otherwise my university application doesn't have the extra strong Chinese boost I'm hoping for it to have. I'm currently making this application as one of two options - choosing between staying in China for my degree, or returning home for it.

2. Finish NPCR6 by January 16th - the day I return home for a 2 week visit. Currently nearing the end of NPCR5, and hoping that it's realistic to finish book 6 by that time.

3. After finishing NPCR6, start a Boya textbook on a somewhat more relaxed and less stressful pace, to allow plenty more time and opportunity for reading authentic material (e.g. trying to work through a novel in Chinese such as Twilight or 1Q84), enjoying ChinesePod, and generally putting my Chinese to proper everyday use instead of focusing primarily on intense textbook study.

4. Speak more - a lot more. My spoken fluency isn't overly bad, but it's behind my reading, writing and listening and needs to be brought more into balance. I aim for significant improvement hopefully by January through shadowing material and speaking in more detail to Chinese people.

5. Once my Chinese has reached the upper intermediate level, start learning traditional characters from going through the traditional texts in the NPCR books. I aim to do this gradually, not too slowly but not intensely. This is out of both personal interest and because most UK university Chinese courses teach traditional alongside simplified characters in the later course stages.

6. Finally, when my Chinese is much higher, start slowly learning Japanese from the Chinese versions of the Minna no Nihongo series. This is a somewhat naive experiment to see if I can slowly pick up Japanese (another interest of mine) whilst still building and maintaining a high level of Chinese. I aim to start this next summer at the earliest. Another motivation is the textbook cost - buying the entire Minna no Nihongo series (1 and 2) in Chinese costs under Y200 (GBP20) in China, whilst only the first textbook in the UK costs that or more. The whole textbook series in English could cost over GBP100; enough to pay for an evening course that might get you close to a similar level.

Well, here goes. Time to get that HSK sorted first.

[edelweis]

Quick update:

November was decidedly not a good month for study (there were actually good reasons - mostly unrelated to Chinese study - for me to feel angry and sad, but possibly I could have made an effort to keep going anyway.)

I did count the characters I can read, about 1000. 800 of these are in the most frequent 1000. Which means

1) I will not reach my goal of being able to read the 1000 most frequent characters before Dec.31.

2) I have learnt to read less than 500 characters in a year.

Possibly I was disappointed by this. On the other hand, it's better than nothing.

Confucius institute and another private school said they have no "computer science specialist" to teach me (which, for the private school at least, just means their Chinese teachers can't type Chinese).

Half heartedly looking for a language partner.

[JenniferW]

Nobody's said anything on this topic for a while - and the time for New Year resolutions is on the horizon!

[jbradfor]

I'm waiting 'til Dec 31 to maximize my achievements

But you're right, we need a volunteer to start the 2011 thread.

[Gleaves]

Edelweis has done a good job with updates and joshuawbb joined in, so there has been a little bit of action. I'm gonna wait til the end of the year for my final update (I am totally guilty of cramming).

I'm looking forward to the 2011 thread. Currently mulling over my list of aims.

[querido]

End of 2010.

I seemed to do very well in '09 but spent all of this year consolidating. In fact, quantitatively my '11 goals are probably going to look just like '10. So, I hope I gained qualitatively.

I hope some of you enjoyed my posts in "resources". I think I'm done collecting materials/tools; I have everything now, extending far beyond where I will ever really go. Looking at my proven rate of learning, and the number of fertile years I'm likely to have left, the "writing is on the wall" in that regard. I don't mind not knowing much; above all I want it to sink in and feel like usable language, as I've said many times. But I dread, frankly, the necessary live human-on-human work, so maybe I'm doomed. Oh well.

See y'all in the '11 thread.

[jbradfor]

There is a great company called Despair, Inc. As you can guess by their name, they sell despair. Their deconstruction of the hated (by me at least) work "motivational" posters is the stuff of legends. At one point, not sure whether it is still the case, their slogan was "Increasing Success by Lowering Expectations". Highly recommended.

Why is this apropos? Because, taking their slogan to heart, I had successfully lowered my expectations for 2010 to the point that I successfully met -- and even exceeded!! -- most of my goals.

* Learn hiragana and about 25-100 food words in Japanese.

Met expectations.

I had about 130 food words on my anki list, most of which I "knew", and I could pronounce (very slowly) hiragana, somewhat, but I didn't really learn any katakana.

Turned out that learning the words was not as necessary as I feared. We managed to find mostly places with English menus, or just pointed at the great plastic models. That, and we ended up buying food to go from 7-11 a lot. ["Hiss boo", I know. But with a 2-year-old that was transitioning away from naps, after a full day touring in a foreign country where we don't know the language, a sit-down meal took more energy than we had.]

But it was great fun learning a bit of Japanese, it was interesting learning the Japanese names for various dishes I had been eating for decades, and it made the trip a bit more relaxing knowing that we had a back-up. Plus, it did pay off once: our last (full) day there, we were looking for a place to eat, and I saw a sign for "おこのみやき" down a side-street. Since I tried hard to learn to recognize it, as I wanted to try it, we took a look. While they did have an English menu, I don't think we would have looked closely were it not for reading the sign. And the food was great! A true mom-and-pop place, just two people working. Each table had a small stove built-in, so they served the food freshly cooked and it stayed warm. Yes, it was a bit slow, but we were happy for the chance to sit down and reflect.

* Vocabulary: Learn another 1000 words.

Exceeded expectations!

I finished going through the HSK B list (about 750 new-to-me words), SlowChinese lessons 1-19 (about 700 new words), plus about 500 other words (from comics, Business Chinese, etc). So I figure now I'm up to about 3000+ words "known".

For now, I think I'm going to skip the HSK C word list. [These are the old lists.] Brute-force memorization of the HSK A and HSK B word lists were very useful. However, I think I've reached the point of diminishing returns for just learning words, without any context. Instead, learning words as part some other context (e.g. SlowChinese, comics, etc) seems to be more beneficial as I have a better idea how they are used.

* Reading: Probably not much.

Exceeded expectations!

Thanks to feihong for setting up the Great Comics Projects ("Thanks feihong!"), I got much more reading done this year than I expected. And thoroughly enjoyed it.

* Listening: Listen to most Slow Chinese lessons.

Below target.

The only time I listen to Chinese is when I'm exercising, and my exercise was also below target for this year.

* Speaking: I realized recently that due to disuse, I no longer feel comfortable speaking Chinese. So I'm going to try to address this by reading out loud more. I think I'm going to start with something simple (e.g. Chinese Breeze), where I can focus on the reading and not on trying to understand the meaning. I don't expect this to improve my accent, all I want is to regain the feeling of speaking Chinese naturally. We'll see how this goes. I'm also kicking around the idea of hiring a tutor to practice with, but that would involve money, and hence a level of commitment I need to consider first.

Mixed.

I ended up not doing this at all. Instead, my company started a "Chinese Language Mentoring" program (aka free Chinese lessons from non-professionals). I had only about 10 hours of "lessons", which, while useful, wasn't enough to regain my fluency. However, it made me really eager to work more on this part in 2011.

* Writing: Probably nothing this year

And I met that goal exactly!

* Culture: Read Journey to the West. In English.

Below target.

I apologize if I insult anyone with this, but I actually found this book somewhat boring. I realize that it is the basis for a lot of stories and references in Chinese culture, and I can see that it would make great plays, movies, etc. But to actually read it cover-to-cover, well, I didn't. Maybe it's the translation, which is a bit dry, and the original language is just fun to read for the writing. Chapters 23-86, in which they cross the wilderness, is pretty repetitive: 玄奘 (三藏) gets into trouble, usually due to not listening to 孫悟空 , and gets captured. After a great and bloody battle, and often with external help, 孫悟空 is triumphant. Repeat. I stopped at chapter 42, and then picked up again at chapter 87, when they entered India, until the end.

[trisha2766]

I don't remember exactly what my goals were now, but I'm pretty sure I didn't meet them. I have been studying Chinese because we were waiting to adopt from China and I didn't want our daughter to lose that part of her culture. The last we had heard was the earliest the adoption would go through would be spring next year - but we got matched this summer and traveled in Sept. I spent much of the summer finishing paperwork and didn't have much time to study.

I was quite disappointed in my ability to communicate with people while in China. I think I'm weak in all areas - vocabulary, tones, pronunciation in general and listening skills.

Recently we've gotten a little more settled in and I am starting to have time to study again. I don't know the specifics for my goals for next year, but I plan to really work on my listening skills and vocabulary on my own, and pronunciation including tones whenever I have an opportunity to get some help from someone.

[roddy]

Nobody's said anything on this topic for a while - and the time for New Year resolutions is on the horizon!

Would be great if any keen student wants to start the 2011 topic - just include a link back to this one and maybe a bit of explanation about the general idea. If nobody goes ahead in the first couple of weeks of 2011 I guess I'll start one, but might have to scrabble around for some aims and objectives.

[renzhe]

I think I'll pass. This year has been one gigantic failure when it comes to learning and that would be a poor start for such a thread!

My main accomplishment was not losing much of the reading and conversation fluency despite very little maintenance. Next year I'm hoping to do more.

[gato]

Therefore 水浒? Hehe.

[renzhe]

You have to start with grand plans.

By March, my plans will have shrunk down to getting past the first chapter before November

Besides, the girl who brought the book over has complained that the weight of the book meant that she had to leave a curtain behind, and now she has no curtain. If I don't read the book, I'll never hear the end of it. I think that reading it is less trouble in the long run....

[roddy]

Feel free to take the lead yourself, Gato B)

[JenniferW]

I'll have a go at starting it.