Would Like Some Advice!

[Jdmflcl]

So I need some help. My mother is Shanghainese and my father is American. When I was younger, I was only taught rudimentary Shanghainese and NOT Mandarin. I'm going to be a junior in the fall @ my University and have currently finished book 1-4 in the New Practical Chinese Reader series. Luckily, speaking, listening, and tones are not a problem for me, albeit I speak Mandarin with a heavy shanghai accent.

My problem stems primarily from reading. While I have no issues studying characters or remembering them after what seems to be countless hours of practice, I feel that I have a massively deficient vocabulary. To compound matters, I am currently interning at a large newspaper's office in Shanghai and whenever I pick up a newspaper, I feel like I'm trying to decipher Egyptian heiroglyphics - not Chinese. The usual culprit is a character whose character I recognize, but has different radicals attached to it.

I've studied most of the radicals, but I feel like I just don't have a large enough vocabulary. Any advice on how to solve this problem? I plan on finishing all 6 books in the NCPR series and taking the HSK test eventually, but I'd like to find some way to accentuate what I am already learning.

Is there a good book series just for this?

[renzhe]

Honestly, your best bet is to just read, and read a lot. The speed and familiarity comes with practice, and if you've finished NPCR4, you should be more than ready to read proper books. It sounds like you are fine with everyday vocab and grammar, and need to expand your vocabulary and the best way to do this is to read.

Get something interesting and long, preferably over 1000 pages and spend an hour or two each day on it. Then get another one. Read some newspaper articles daily just to expand on your vocabulary. Note words that you encounter more than once

or twice and put them into a flashcard program.

Don't worry about newspapers, they are notoriously difficult and extremely compressed. It will also come with time.

[anonymoose]

Get something interesting and long, preferably over 1000 pages and spend an hour or two each day on it.

Interesting. If you're anything like me, I'd suggest don't get a 1000 page book. I don't have enough patience to read such a long book, even in English, let alone Chinese. If it's just reading practise you're after, you could also try magazines (such as 读者) because each article is relatively short, so there's no worry about 半途而废ing. But anyway, that's just me. I'm impressed that Renzhe gets through 1000-page books.

[jbradfor]

My problem stems primarily from reading. While I have no issues studying characters or remembering them after what seems to be countless hours of practice, I feel that I have a massively deficient vocabulary. To compound matters, I am currently interning at a large newspaper's office in Shanghai and whenever I pick up a newspaper, I feel like I'm trying to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics - not Chinese. The usual culprit is a character whose character I recognize, but has different radicals attached to it.

I'm not trying to be rude here, but it sounds like you need to improve your vocabulary. A character you recognize, but with a different radical, is a different character with a different meaning (usually).

For this, I'm a big fan of SRS-based flashcard software, focusing on words, not characters. If you're pretty decent at remembering them, spending 30 minutes a day you should be able to get through 2000-3000 words in a year, which should put you in pretty good shape as a start.

As an aside, IMHO, a Chinese newspaper is NOT a good place to learn to read, or to judge your reading ability. Web forums, or fiction, is probably better.

[Jdmflcl]

Yeah, no offense taken. I'll look into the cards.

I study words the old school way.

Write it 10 times with a Maobi

Write it 20 times on grid paper

Recite strokes as I write the characters

Recite the word after I finish it

Any other options for expanding my vocabulary? Any Easy Novels? I've been watching TV shows (Rom-coms, 3 kingdoms, Gundam dubbed into Chinese w/ Mandarin Subtitles (lol)), but while it has helped my reading speed, it really hasn't done much for my vocab. Same goes for CCTV.

China must have those elementary school level Novels. Right?

[skylee]

A character you recognize, but with a different radical, is a different character with a different meaning (usually).

I agree.

[dumdumdum]

find something that is just a notch higher than ur present to keep the challenge up. take a simple dictionary, with 800-1500 words/definitions. anything harder, not found in it, thats beyond ur present stage. for that size you can bring it anywhere you go. u can start with short passages too. 300-500 words, get the storyline, and learn how they present it in chinese. you can get one with english translations. start with the translations, but slowly let yourself read without the translations, like after 10 stories or so. also try to start writing and speaking in short sentences. get them right, instead of making long ones that none understand what you are trying to say.

oh, and try some simple classical chinese as supplement. classical chinese has more flexible grammar and would kill any modern chinese grammar test if you can get the feel of it.

[anonymoose]

classical chinese has more flexible grammar and would kill any modern chinese grammar test if you can get the feel of it.

What does that mean?

[jbradfor]

I study words the old school way.

Write it 10 times with a Maobi

Write it 20 times on grid paper

Recite strokes as I write the characters

Recite the word after I finish it

That is pretty old-school. I'd highly recommend using a computer program instead. Much more efficient. Search these forums for "anki" or "ZDT" for examples.

Any other options for expanding my vocabulary? Any Easy Novels? I've been watching TV shows (Rom-coms, 3 kingdoms, Gundam dubbed into Chinese w/ Mandarin Subtitles (lol)), but while it has helped my reading speed, it really hasn't done much for my vocab. Same goes for CCTV.

China must have those elementary school level Novels. Right?

I hate to disagree with renzhe, but I find reading to be a poor way to improve my vocabulary. Increase my reading speed, yes. Reinforce words I already learned, yes. Learn new words, no. The basic issue is that in general, I don't see the new words often enough, and at the right intervals, for maximum learning.

That said, I'm not sure of suggestions as I don't know your level. You might want to look at links in this thread to get an idea of how many characters you know. You also might want to look at this thread for some book ideas.

[PanShiBo]

So I need some help. ..but I'd like to find some way to accentuate what I am already learning.

Is there a good book series just for this?

I find this book pretty good, at least it worked for me much better than any other printed stuff.

Computer programs can also help.

Anki- the site has intro videos.

Simple online things like this online quiz may also be good.

[renzhe]

Interesting. If you're anything like me, I'd suggest don't get a 1000 page book. I don't have enough patience to read such a long book, even in English, let alone Chinese. If it's just reading practise you're after, you could also try magazines (such as 读者) because each article is relatively short, so there's no worry about 半途而废ing. But anyway, that's just me. I'm impressed that Renzhe gets through 1000-page books.

You do make a good point. I suggested something long because I feel that volume is important. You will need over 1000 pages, whether it's a set of shorter books or one very long one. Personally, I read a couple of really long ones, and found that the story kept me interested and coming back. Reading a few shorter stories would work just as well.

I hate to disagree with renzhe, but I find reading to be a poor way to improve my vocabulary. Increase my reading speed, yes. Reinforce words I already learned, yes. Learn new words, no. The basic issue is that in general, I don't see the new words often enough, and at the right intervals, for maximum learning.

Hehe, you're saying the things that I usually say

I do think that reading is a good way to improve vocabulary, if your level is high enough and you make note of new words you encounter (e.g. make flashcards out of them). A flashcard program is a good recommendation either way.

TBH, if the OP has finished NPCR4, he should be ready to dive in into a real book. That's basically what I did (with Jin Yong), and while I had to fight my way through the first few hundred pages with a dictionary, it was a really great experience.

[Jdmflcl]

Alright. I asked my Biaojie to find me some easy novel's. Will report back soon!

I've also just started NCPR5. Whoa. They REALLY increased the word count

On the online test, I got "1100" words on advanced intermediate. I didn't outright know about 10% of the characters I got right, but I figured them out by looking at the radicals and characters.