How I am learning Chinese

[website]

I am not sure where to put this, but I

just wanted to share my experience on how I am learning Chinese.

I started learning Zhongwen in 1996 when I married my Taiwanese wife. She had no patience teaching me Chinese so I learned very little. I attended two years of Chinese classes at an American college and learned some basic phrases, grammar, speaking, writing, reading, and writing

about greetings, weather, numbers, colors, health, time, food, shopping, etc.

After my divorce, I came to China in 2002 to practice my Chinese and look for a new wife. I have been mostly self-taught. I spent most of my time learning vocabulary and phrases from the locals and my dictionary at first. Most of the phrases I say

are my own construction. For example, "da cuole" is "wrong number", but if I didn't know that, I would say "cuole haoma". My Chinese is like reverse Chinglish. I speak Englese or Chinese

with English grammar. English-speaking Chinese have no trouble understanding me, but non-English

speaking Chinese sometimes do. I haven't spent much

time on tones, reading, writing, or listening, either. I have also spent a year confusing my Chinese by traveling around

Asia learning a bit of Thai and Vietnamese

as well. I have also returned to the USA a few times for extended periods since 2002 and I did not practice Chinese at all while I was away.

Sometimes I tire of studying so I slack off for awhile in China, too. Now I am spending more time learning Chinese on the web and practicing listening and reading by watching Chinese TV. I understand many words, but feel underwhelmed by the flood

of vocabulary even if the speaker speaks slowly. Yesterday I watched a simple game show and all I heard were bits like "Hao mei!", "Hen kerai", "chunzi", "xiexie", and "pixie".

Overall, I think my Chinese level is poor. I can talk about many subjects in Chinese, but my listening skills

are not good. If I stay in China, I think will need

one year each of intense study of listening, tones, polishing my speaking, reading, and writing, I estimate that I will need about five more years before I am fluent in Chinese. I read that

one guy spent 12 years studying Chinese and still cannot understand the news. Hearing that was a little discouraging. I doubt Chinese students can ever stop studying. The characters, tones, and listening are difficult. I sometimes feel like I need to hear and practice every single dialogue for every little situation so that I have the words and phrases to communicate. Eating is no problem, but

if I need to discuss government

aid programs for flood victims, I am lost.

Anyway, why are you studying Chinese? What's your story?

http://web12.cri.com.cn/english/2002/Sep/70997.htm

[Guest Yau]

i think pimsleur's method is most efficient to learn new vocab for beginners: to remember the sounds of vocab, and try your best to pronounce it exactly the same as native speak, then make repetitions more than you need in different ways.

If you live in China or know any chinese friends, you may use this method in learning Putonghua too. What you need is a recorder (or mp3 player), prepare a list of vocab you want and a native speaker.

Here is my experience in acquiring french vocab:

1, I bought a vocab book (with graphics)

2, I picked up one page, let say, the names for fruits.

3, I asked my friends to pronounce la pasteque, le citron, l'orange, la peche, la prune, le melon, les kiwis...blah blah blah.

Then, my friends pronounced every word in different ways. Take la pastèque (don't know how to type accent symbol) as an example.

First he said 'la pasteque', then 'te', then 'pas', and again, 'la pasteque'. Finally, he may make a simple sentence like 'je Je voudrais acheter une pasteque.'

The problem with this method is that your friend must be very patient. Moi, I've done it a few times, but after my mp3s were accidentally lost, I gave up but always look for the opportunity to start it again.

[zackzhou]

Doing a language exchange is a good way to improve your Chinese. it's not difficult to find a partner in the states. suggest you post a thread on your local forums to look for a partner and try to make some Chinese friends. Once you enter their circle, you can also have a chance to hook up with Chinese girls. hope you can develop a romantic story.

btw, have more faith in yourself, I met a lot of white people (your Canadian cousins) who can speak fluent mandarin.

[Jose]

And what about studying a little grammar? In my opinion, learning phrases and idioms by heart is not a good method if you really want to be proficient in Chinese.

Also, I think you should pay more attention to pronunciation. If you disregard tones altogether, it will be much harder for you to learn them at a later stage. Being able to differentiate the tones is a must when you speak Mandarin.

[geraldc]

I actually think basic grammar is more important than tones. If the grammar is there, the listener can fill in the gaps left by the incorrect tones. If you have incorrect grammar then the meaning is often completely lost.

[rita_w]

most of all, I'm the indonesian born chinese.Yet, I speak chinese but not mandarin (zhongwen), it is the mother language called "tio ciu". I speak my chinese language only if I have a friend in conservation also speaks the language, that is friends come from the same province as I do, that is Pontianak, west borneo. Here in Jakarta, I spent most of my days speaking bahasa, since bahasa is the only language to communicate with friends at office. Yes, most of them are chinese, but unfortunately mostly can only speak bahasa and not chinese. I've learned zhongwen years ago, from the television show and from the movies i've watched. But in speaking and listening???hmmm...hmmm...How do I suppose to be good in zhongwen if I speak bahasa most of days?? This question had made me in becoming one of the forum member..and made me much more interested in learning zhongwen straight in china.

[Up Country]

Website,

This is my first posting to this forum and I think your experience learning Chinese--isn't unusual. I too have a Chinese wife, and although she does answer my specific questions about Mandarin, a great deal of what I have learned has really been through studying my books, listening to my tapes, reading flashcards, and listening to television and radio and generally interacting here in China with Chinese people. I've lived here four years, and I have found the following obstacles to learning Mandarin:

1. Chinese people--I'm not talking about Chinese people who have known me for a long time, but I am talking about Chinese people who I may meet in public for the first time, or even those I meet occasionally. Although I find myself, sometimes, understanding their conversation in a contextual sense, and sometimes, a few times, in a literal sense, the fact is, they speak it too fast for me, it doesn't measure up to those handy nifty language Cds and cassettes. Trying to find a Chinese who is patient enough to engage me in a conversation is a true rarity, and when I do find one, I treasure him or her.

2. Learn Mandarian, yes, but the fact is, that the majority of the masses are speaking their native dialect. This one observation can quickly lead the ardent learner to becoming despondent--depending on where they are living here in China.

3. Accept my limitations, get practical, and stop comparing myself to other whiz kids--like Da Shan.

At one point during my study, I did reach the point of saying, "To hell with it." But when I did, it seriously affected my attitude and even increased my sense of isolation. So, now, I study everyday--some days harder than others, and sometimes, I rotate it--that is, today, I will concentrate on learning more characters, tommorow focusing on pronunciation, the next day, listening, and the next ,reading. I have found that this pace keeps me interested and less prone to burn out and frustration. It's going to take a lot of time, maybe a lifetime, and I've come to accept that, and I am really doubtful when I hear of a foreigner claiming to be "FLUENT" . Sorry, but dialects are still there, ready to send that second language speaker of Putonghua into a tailspin.

4. I never had any formal classroom instruction in Mandarin. I wish I had, but I didn't, and I had to learn this way. What about my level? Is it poor, average, whatever? I don't know. I just keep on striving. I have an interest, and I milk that interest.

I think this forum offers a great deal of helping anyone with that interest, and let's face it, learning everything about a second language, the culture, the vocabulary, the grammar, well everything--will always come up short when faced with a native speaker's ability in the language we choose to learn.

I accept my limitations, but realize I have an interest, and I keep struggling. That's how I deal with my experience of learning Chinese.

[xuechengfeng]

I'm still a beginner/intermediate level, but I agree with what you say, Up Country. After a few listens I can fully grasp every word of a recorded dialogue, and after a lot more, I can figure out what exactly they are saying, but when I go into the classroom and the native Chinese ask me questions regarding the dialogue, they speak entirely too fast, and a lot of it sounds muffled to me, I have a hard time even understand what they are saying. And, that may be the longest sentence in the history English.

[Wenming Hu]

hi, website,(i'm sorry to write the wrong person for the first time )

1st, i strongly recommend u'd better learn chinese by typing chinese characters rather than pinyin, if so, u can improve yourself in chinese every day. :-)

as we know, pinyin is the pronounce of chinese chars, if one learns english by its pronounce instead of alphabeta, does he/she learn it well? i don't think so.

2nd, i suggest that u learn chinese by its phrase, not word, as i learn english by its phrase, too.

for example, u said, can u understand me, can't u?

if u translate it as below:

你听不懂我, 吗？

most of chinese ppl can understand u, but they feel strange.

that's all, wish u happy in china. ;-)

[Bob Dylan Thomas]

hello website

How's the search for a wife going? are you going to be able to afford one? i heard you can get some great offers online these days, try www.povertywivesforwesternlosers.com.