The 2011 Aims and Objectives Progress Thread

[Meng Lelan]

2. Enter a wushu competition in 2011.

Yay. Accomplished this today. I'll post the vids in my blog after I get them from someone who had a videocam.

[edelweis]

@Meng Lelan : so where is the video?

Update:

Went to 5 more polyglot meetings. I talked in Chinese mostly with older Chinese guys from the Beijing area who have the patience to speak slowly and hardly speak any French. (Understanding the fast-talking students with or without heavy southern accent is out of my reach for now).

Chinese people commented that I speak _very_ slowly so I will be making an effort to speed up a little. I've also been told I have a heavy Pekingese accent (都怪 the "Chinese with ease" audio tracks )

Feeling somewhat motivated to study textbooks related to spoken Chinese, and even perhaps to try and improve my ability to understand fast speaking people through some radio record listening (I mean, seriously listening with the intent to understand as much as possible and parrot even what I can't understand, as opposed to idly watching 家有儿女 while having breakfast or listening to slow cslpod while doing the dishes).

I have restarted adding new hsk4 words to my SRS file - for now I'm just ignoring the backlog, perhaps it will just go away slowly.

I have also restarted studying grammar, and borrowed some books from the Chinese Cultural Center. I need to check out the public library in "China Town" as well (but it's closed for two weeks due to renovations).

Wubi practice: up to 1025 characters. (well, 1050 this weekend). But I find I am forgetting the earlier ones, also knowing how to write a character does not mean I remember what characters a word is made of... I should restart writing full sentences by hand or wubi-typing.

I have been reading less lately, need to keep up with that.

I've more or less given up on going to China this year - technically I could go, but is it worth the hassle? I've come to realise that I like languages much more than I like travelling. Lots of introspection lately. Really. It's not just because of Fukushima =*

Spanish: no progress. I'll do better in April. (I half heartedly browsed the Spanish novels section at the bookshop, but not really interested in serious literature - where is the sci-fi??)

English: practiced at polyglot meetings, but no serious pronunciation study.

Arabic: reviewed the alphabet. No kidding.

[Meng Lelan]

Yes, the vids, I just got them and am trying to stick them to my blog.

I've more or less given up on going to China this year - technically I could go, but is it worth the hassle?

Right, same reason I decided not to do China this year. Going to francophone Canada instead. And I'm going to make myself speak French with them there.

[OneEye]

Chinese:

My spoken Chinese still sucks. I've noticed some improvement though. I've put some production cards into Anki (English-->Chinese), and I'm trying to make myself think in Chinese more. So when I have a thought (which is rare these days ), I'll try to translate it into Chinese. It usually takes a few tries to get it right, but it's getting easier. For listening, I've been listening extensively to podcasts. I have several hundred on my iPod, and I just keep it on shuffle.

I'm also using the new HSK vocab list, and adding example sentences from Tatoeba using the new words. It seems to help me to retain the new words, since I'm seeing them both standalone (in the vocab deck) and in a sentence. I'm also learning other new vocab words from the sentences, since many contain an additional word or two that I don't know yet.

History reading:

I've slacked off a bit on what I was reading since I'm writing a paper to use as a writing sample for MA applications. So my reading has been focused on the paper topic (the history of the Chinese writing system). Super interesting stuff.

GRE:

I'm taking the GRE May 17. I'm mainly working on the math section because I'm pretty confident about the verbal section. I am still drilling vocab words, though.

Going to China:

My wife and I have plane tickets to Shanghai for August 15! What city we end up living in is still up in the air since it depends on whether I get the CSC scholarship or not, but it's a sure thing that we're going. If I get the MOE scholarship for Taiwan instead, we'll just spend a couple days in Shanghai and then hop down to Taipei before the semester starts.

French, etc.:

Still working on French some, though not as much as I'd like. I've nixed Russian in favor of continuing with German (final answer), but German isn't getting much attention right now. Come mid-May, I should be done with both the paper and the GRE, so I'll have more time for my other languages. In the meantime, I am of course choosing to focus on Chinese.

[Gleaves]

I suppose it is time for an update.

1. Three hours of conversation/speaking practice a week.

I'm failing at this. I only get an hour or two a week of practice. I'm going to switch this to 20 minutes of speaking practice a day and see if that works better.

2. Finish ten TV shows.

3 out of 10 so far. I just finished a show called 沉默的证人. Good stuff.

3. Beat five video games in Chinese.

I've played some Cave Story in Chinese, but that's about it over the past few weeks.

New goal--

4. Increase my reading speed to 300 characters a minute.

I figure the faster I can read the more I can read and the more I will read. I want to get the point where I am reading news articles at the clip of about 300 characters a minute. I'm at about 150 characters a minute right now on my first read of a news article.

I want to read about a book a month this year, which is a pace I've been keeping up with, but I don't want to make it a set goal (in case I decide to read some really long books or go on a comics tear or something).

I also want to set some not Chinese goals this year. I downloaded Typing of the Dead, which is an awesome remake of House of the Dead (that light gun game in arcades) where you have to type to kill zombies. It's gotta be the best educational video game ever. So it is my goal to beat that. My typing is abysmal.

[imron]

Goal 1) Continue to read at least one book a month.

So far this year I've made it through

《圈子圈套3》

《射雕英雄传》(1)

《射雕英雄传》(2)

《射雕英雄传》(3)

《射雕英雄传》(4)

《狼图腾》

Even though for a variety of reasons I've been doing a reduced amount of reading the last two months, I'm still ahead of my one book a month target.

Goal 2) Finish and release a new software program I've been working on to help learn Chinese.

Recently handed in my resignation at work, and will move to working on this full-time beginning late May

[Meng Lelan]

You resigned!?!?

[imron]

Yep, I plan to start my own company. There was no practical way for me to do that and do my job and do my hobbies. One of them had to give, and I didn't want to give up my hobbies, nor did I wish to give up on my ideas, and so that only left my job

[jbradfor]

Wow, respect to you to follow your dream like that!

[edelweis]

Update:

All that newfound enthusiasm described last month gave poor results in April due to family reunions and the yearly "museum weekend".

So, only 1 or 2 polyglot meetings and a full week without any studying at all (flat was a pigsty and mum coming over => emergency spring cleaning).

I did more or less keep up with wubi practice (up to 1100 characters), which I intend to supplement with character reading - both in single characters and words composed of characters I already know...

I did restart textbook and grammar learning and added a few new words to my SRS file and read a little.

Even corrected someone else's article on Lang-8 two days ago - but I've yet to restart writing myself.

Other languages: no progress. I'm thinking 15' each per week might be my new goal.

Somehow my routine is getting organised around 8-10 skills or study areas. I aim to get 15' of study in each area and then count successful ones and give myself a daily score (for now averaging 5 out of 10, i.e. about 1h15 of study per day).

Listening: Polyglot meetings, listening to cslpod when doing dishes, and parroting radio records qualify.

Speaking: Polyglot meetings, studying kouyu textbooks, and ChineseTeachers lessons qualify.

Reading: Anything - alternating easy (hanyufeng) and hard. Should read in traditional characters at least once a week...

Writing: on Lang8 and/or for PostCrossing. (correcting other people's writing = 1/2 point).

Grammar: from grammar book. Perhaps FSI drills?

Vocabulary: from HSK list and/or textbook lessons and/or reading.

Characters: Wubi practice and/or character reading.

SRS: at least one 15' session.

All Chinese All The Time: this one is still a little fuzzy... I think listening to 家有儿女 while having breakfast might qualify... but there are lots of moments in the day I could have Chinese tracks on and don't... ah well. I'll think about it.

Other Languages: watching American TV shows does NOT qualify even if they are in English.

(ah yes - and I went again to the Chinese Cultural Center, borrowed books from their library, and visited the Robert Huang painting exhibition. You can have a look at some of his paintings on this site: http://www.rosemuseum.com/page02.htm)

[OneEye]

So, I've been accepted to the MTC program at NTNU (國立台灣師範大學), and I got the Taiwan Ministry of Education's "Huayu Enrichment Scholarship!" Just found out today. So I'll be heading to Taiwan in August instead of somewhere on the mainland like I thought. We're still flying in to Shanghai (bought a non-refundable ticket :angry: because it was cheaper), but then we'll be continuing on to Taipei the next day. We will take some time toward the end of our stay to tour the mainland. On to the goals.

Chinese:

Same as before. My spoken Chinese sucks. I have noticed a definite improvement in my ability to put sentences together, however. I'll be immersed soon, and I'm sure I'll be making much better progress then.

I'm also using the new HSK vocab list, and adding example sentences from Tatoeba using the new words.

Same, but replace "HSK" with "Practical Audio-Video Chinese". That's what they use at the MTC program, so I figured I'd get a head start. I should be able to start on PVAC 4 or 5 by the time I get to Taiwan, and since I've got all the vocab pre-loaded, it should help with all the cramming I've heard takes place in these courses.

Reading:

Still reading for the paper. It's coming along well. I've organized my time a lot better lately and so I've been able to pick the history books back up. Almost finished with Hansen's The Open Empire, then on to Spence's The Search for Modern China.

GRE:

Coming up May 13th (not 17th like I said before). My studying is going well. I've almost finished reviewing all the math concepts, and I have finished reviewing the Verbal stuff, so it will be on to test-taking strategy, etc. I feel pretty good about the test.

Going to China Taiwan:

See above. Now begins the job search for my wife and the apartment search. I have a friend in Kinmen/Quemoy (金門) who has some friends in Taipei, so I'll be trying to get in touch so we have some contacts. Hopefully I can find a Taiwanese friend that will be willing to help us negotiate for an apartment. My wife is finally getting excited about the trip, which is of course a good thing.

Etc.:

French is coming along very well lately. German too. After May 13th I can ditch GRE study, so I'll have more time to devote to writing that paper. It's taking longer than I thought, but that's OK. As long as I can do all the reading for it by the end of June, I can spend July actually writing and polishing it. I'll be living in FL without any other responsibilities (job) for most of July, so I'll have time.

That's all!

[JenniferW]

I feel as if I started off the thread for 2011 a long, long time ago, and it's only April still (well, just still April). A lot feels as if it's happened - and I think some of that has just been as a result of making myself go public with some aims and objectives. And then admitting to myself as well as to whole world, that some of them were pie in the sky.

I'm studying on my own (in the UK) and I've taken an exam each of the 3 years I've now been working like this. I entered for the New HSK Level 4 exam (at Sheffield) in May, and at that point looked at the list of characters and the sample paper. Immediately I thought I didn't stand a chance of passing! I'd been planning a trip to China at some point in the spring, and for the first time since leaving China, I took the decision to use the majority of my time there in Chinese classes. I'd been thinking of doing that, but hadn't made any final decision - partly because it would push up the cost in comparison to past trips back to China.

But I've just come back from the best part of a month in Beijing, with classes 5 days a week at Live the Language, and I now think I stand a chance of passing the exam - though I might also fail to make the grade. However, if I do fail, it won't be the end of the world because I'm retired and this is all a personal project with no study or work connections, and I'll also know it's not just because I'm only a part-time student who this year bit off a bit more than could be chewed. What I really hadn't thought much about was the fact that the steps up between the levels (not just of the HSK exams) means you really need to plan longer periods of study in between. Sounds obvious, but when you've no teacher and you're working this all out for yourself, it's easy to make the wrong assumptions!

The plus in all this is that had I not felt the sinking stomach when I read the sample paper, I'd not have booked myself in for the intensive one-to-one course, and that's been fantastic - something I plan on doing again next year. It maybe wasn't cheap, but it cost me no more than other people would spend on lying on a beach somewhere, and for me, this was just the sort of thing I get off on. And as well as learning a lot more Chinese, I came back knowing the way I've been studying on my own has actually been working, so it leaves me feeling more confident about tackling the next phase on my own.

So, a third of the way through the year I now think I'm making good progress as regards the year's aims and objectives. Not feeling smug - surprised, more.

[BaoMiHua]

Here is my update on progress so far... Got to say I'm not impressed. :blink:

- Listening to tones

- Speaking with correct tones

- Try to improve pronunciation

Semi-success here, been listening more Chinese than before, and sometimes even trying to mimic while listening.

Although not nearly as much as I wanted.

- Keep reading every day something in Chinese

- Start reading more technical stuff

- Change one computer OS to Chinese

Reading some Chinese everyday, read one user manual in Chinese, didn't change any computer to Chinese... So not going well on these either.

- Write more by hand

- Start writing blog or diary dailyish to help tracking progress (or lack of it...)

- Learn some character based input instead of pinyin input.

This is probably biggest failure of all the goals. Virtually wrote nothing by hand.

Decided that wubi is the new input I'm learning, also decided that will write blog only by using wubi. This was working well for the first 3 days, after that I wrote first 20mins using wubi, and rest of the entry using pinyin input, for the next 3 days. After that no more blogging or wubi practice. Definitely grade this as F.

- Continue Russian studies using Chinese materials

- Continue Spanish studies using Chinese materials

- Learn to play guitar

- Learn QT/QML.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I have not had so much extra time as I had hoped. So the QT/QML is out for good. Guitar has also been quite slow and probably not helping any.

Studying some other language using Chinese seems to be quite refreshing, so will definitely try to invest more time for this. Only negative is to see how much easier it is to progress in the easier languages

“lose weight”, “exercise more” and “live more healthy lifestyle”

I think everybody can guess how well these went.. :rolleyes:

So overall progress much worse than I had hoped, but I guess it could have been even worse.. I promise I will make more effort before next update... B)

[OneEye]

Just to update, I took the GRE today. Did quite well on it, though I was hoping for a slightly higher Verbal score. Still better than 90th percentile, so I'll take it. I'll find out the Analytical Writing score in a few weeks, though to my understanding it isn't as important to most admissions committees.

[jiminchina]

my aim 2011: HSK 3 by the end of the year.

I think from my spoken Chinese I have a chance, but my characters are not up there yet. I bought "Learning Characters with Ms. Zhang" and plan to get through the book by July and then take the exam in September, so if I fail I still get a second shot this year

I like this thread, at least I will be embarassed if I (again) slag off and dont do anything.

Wish me luck!

And give me a virtual kick if I dont do my homework ;)

[querido]

My skill-set was so insanely unbalanced that I tried to clear my mind and start over.

I have language-exchange partners now, real human beings. It has been really, really rewarding.

This year, I can aim for competence at the simplest conversation, with the type of vocabulary found in "Elementary Spoken Chinese" (red) and CSLPod, and at the level of, say, the three volumes of "red". Currently, my grammar is HORRIBLE. It's nonexistent! I'll try to fix that.

My friends have been amused and delighted when I've shared Chinese children's poems *from their own past* One of them exclaimed something like "We sang songs and played games to that poem!". So, goodness gracious yes I'm glad I studied 100+ of those. But no more.

I'm definitely racing against advancing age now. It's making everything sortof more precious and urgent. Good luck everybody! <3

[heifeng]

So the the last quarter started off strong, but slowed down b/c I caught a cold and work is driving me (well I'm sure many other people not just me) into the ground.

Anyway, here is the haps on the 2011 Year of the Rabbit Study Goals:

1) Leisure reading: Complete reading a book every 2 months:

-Include reading at least one Chinese 'classic' (TBD)

I've decided to read 三国演义. At first I was a bit uber-ambitious and took really good notes, started to list & make links in a file to all of the hundreds of story characters, etc. (Wanted to put a nice thread up here b/c this is such a great forum) but unfortuately that was sort of preventing me from just plowing on through it. It's an exciting read though and seriously has really filled in some of my random character gaps for words that I knew merely from rote memorization but never actually encountered while reading. And, also for looking up the 4th definition of a commonly used words, etc. The only bad point here is I need to pick up the pace more if I plan to get through it this year. My kindle says I'm less than 10% done, and that's not good...hmm.

Also, my words of advice for any forum members (if, like me, you haven't read classical (-ish) Chinese in a while) is the beginning might be a bit shocking as it gets into the setting, (I had to look up quite a bit of some of the historical references) but literally after the first 5 chapters everything sort of repeats itself in terms of vocab, etc and is smooth sailing.

2) News Reading:

-Read newspaper a minimum of 30 minutes daily

-Read more articles from Mainland newspapers

-Also keep up 2010 momentum and still read in Traditional characters when reading from other websites, books, newspapers. ie. don't automatically default into simplified mode just b/c there is 'the option'

I still read the newspaper just about daily. I've been a bit lazy on the fantizi front for online materials but local media is basically all in traditional，such as the issue of 火麒麟杂志 and HK Cosmopolitan which somehow made their way into my reading materials for vocab studying purposes only (of course) :blink: (I am an equal opportunity reader, anything and everything goes, it's all for the love of knowledge!)

3) Vocab

- Remember the Chengyu I do come across in reading & practice using them. (Refer to goal 7 & write each one 100x's while practicing my handwriting )

- Continue to improve legal and health related vocab to include more specialized terminology (more so than on visa forms and dr. office forms. enough to go through a forensics report, etc.)

Well I haven't done the above but my knowledge of quality assurance and process verification vocab has skyrocketed.

4) Listening

-Watch news daily & find some new soap operas or other programming to watch more often.

Ok, so as much as it causes me to giggle I've been making a good effort to watch the local Chinese news a few times a week since it's on at a reasonable hour and has both Mainland and Taiwan news. I suppose it's a good ear work out...especially in light of all those linguistic differences.

Also I've watched 2.5 tv series : 女法官，媳妇的幸福时光，刑警本色 (need to find & watch disc 2 still)。 女法官，媳妇的幸福时光 were just ok and I think they are from the same script but then someone had the bright idea of making two stories: one can attempt to be a comedy and one can be sort of preachy and over-acted, and wala, two average soap operas were born. So I'm going to play frisbee with the dvd's now b/c I'm not going to be watching them again, that's for sure. Well actually they weren't that bad ( I mean I actually did stay up late watching them and finished 'em), but I can't really claim they are the type of series you might want to re-watch someday.

5) Pronunciation & general speech:

Recording & Self-correction

- Continue to frequently langdu (~1 time/day)

- Increase recordings of non-read items (i.e. sight interpreting, answering questions, etc)

- Every weekend give self practice PSC & grade it & make sure to follow up on words that I get wrong during remainder of week. (did this during 2010 but I discovered some characters were not truly in my long-term memory & if the same character popped up a few months later I still forgot the correct tone **Drats**! So I seriously need to fix this!)

I have been good about this, maybe there were 2 weeks where I skipped it b/c I could only cough and squeak, but so far so good. My new strategy (which is anything but rocket science) is everytime I forget the proper tone for some character is to remember it in a sentence. Just this week I confused the tone for 拷 as the same tone as for 铐 (What's that, such an obvious, elementary mistake you say ). So then I read the article (up on the 朗读-a-day thread) about 高三女生“微博救父”拷问问责机制， and hopefully drilled it into my brain. Problem solved. (I hope)

6) Interpreting:

-Continue to study for state Court Interpreting Oral Exam.

Since I finished the language program I was in last year, I need to continue studying at home & in study group/with classmates on a regular basis.

Actually pass the exam w/in 1 year from now, which allows for 2 more test sittings. (I'll know how likely this is based on when I eventually get my 1st exam results, but not getting discouraged & just working on problem areas is another general goal)

-Find interpreting work or volunteering opportunities for the weekends.

So I am sort of shooting myself in the foot on this one. Mostly b/c I don't know if I care about state certification much anymore since I am trying to plan my escape from here anyway. Also I am extremely frustrated by the fact I originally took the exam in January to gauge my current skill level in an attempt to prepare for the later June exam. Now, lo and behold it's almost June and somehow my exam is still NOT scored yet. (Scores were due 3/31 and all of my classmates receive their scores then!) I think I'll be thinking twice before dishing out more moolah for an exam in a certification process that has already left a lot to be desired in the way it is designed and administered. (cough cough the whole let's just randomly throw 繁体字 onto a 简体字 exam incident).

That being said none of this is an excuse for me not to study even if I decide not to retake the exam. So I definitely still need to keep practicing to keep up my skills. So this will be an area I need to work on a bit more this summer and actively set aside some time each day. Maybe I'll just do more CATTI practice texts instead which focus more on diplomacy and policy. I'm sort of burned out on crime and court related articles these days anyway. :o

I still need to do some volunteer work though (don't worry, not due to community service or anything mandatory like that, purely from the goodness of my shrivelled lil' heart). So, there is a definite need for me to 'put my language to work' a little bit in this area.

7) Translate: continue doing some freelance translation work.

Lucky for me, this still pops up now and again through no active marketing on my part.

8 ) Penmenship

-Finish the 席殊3SFM实用硬笔字60小时训练 book within first 1/2 of year(I finished 1/3 of it long ago and it was already really helpful, but now I need to actually complete the rest of the book..heh)

-Practice writing out random things so hand doesn't forget how to hold a pen...

So I've completed up to lesson 32 which I think is fairly good progress with the remaining 1/2 of the year to go. Usually I just try to practice an hour or two on Saturday nights. Yes, it's just a wild party at my place.

9) Here's a new one: Improve Knowledge of Chinese History:

-So I feel very rusty on Chinese history & related references when they pop up. In fact I never really studied very much Chinese history beyond one required Chinese civiliation course when I was in school so it's a bit of a weak point. Therefore, although, I do try to look these things up as soon as I come across them especially references to historical figures or events I know this area could use some improvement. And, therefore other than relying on soap operas to fill in this void I need to do some actual work in this area. I will take recommendations and am fairly open to suggestions. Although, I think it will be pretty easy to find 'study materials'. The goal is more a matter of me following through!

So I may need to take some recommendations...seriously this time for some good books. I may not get to it if I just amp up my 三国 reading, but we'll see. It's still a big long term goal that I need to get cracking on....but at least 三国 is a historical novel B)

Other

1) Prepare for state Professional Engineering license exam in October.

I bought my books and then started panicking b/c I've been out of school for a while and other than working I just study Chinese and sleep. The longer I do my job the less technical it seems. Then I have started to wonder would I really want to put my stamp on something...I use to read the PE publications on people who were subject to disciplinary action for miscalculations...oh god. And why am I in the only (?) state that makes you declare the afternoon specialty session prior to the exam when other states let you flip around and then decide. I feel the impending doooooooom. Ok, moving right along.

2) Work out a minimum of 2 times/week.

Luckily I have been able to do this fairly consistently. Mostly to keep the nervous energy at a minimum.....figit figit figit.

3) Actually write to friends more & keep in touch w/ people...

Ok, I'm a terrible person. The forum members hear more from me than people who actually know me...sigh.

4) Figure out a 'master plan' to return to China before or by the year of the Dragon arrives!

I'm thinking about this quite a bit now. I guess the big answer is what do I do when I get there. I sort of can't think of anything I want to do right now other than take a week off to sleep. Maybe I should do that and then the path will suddenly become very clear B)

[edelweis]

I haven't been studying this past month for various reasons. Possibly this break was a good thing, who knows - I did think about my past and current routines and some things that need to change if I want to progress. I wish I could say for sure that I will get back on track in June but the future is a little uncertain right now.

Anyway - I did take part in some China related activities:

- saw a 曲艺 show at the Chinese Cultural Center (parts of it had subtitles or a translated summary). The artists were from 河北. Two young boys made a rhythmic commentary of all the things you can do or see in Hebei. A woman sang 我的家乡在河北. Two women sang a rather disjointed story which started about oxen and pillars but ended into something else entirely. There was also a demonstration/explanation of 双簧, and of course some 相声 (of which I did not understand much except that they said 法国人 a lot - and the Chinese part of the audience laughed every time. That part of the show was not translated )

And there were several other numbers...

- saw a traditional music show (also at CCC). A group of six women played Chinese tunes on Chinese instruments (琵琶、古筝、月琴、二胡、扬琴, and flutes). I just love plucked strings but unfortunately they had no CDs for sale at the end of the show. A presenter gave a short explanation of the themes and instruments in French between pieces.

- libraries: at CCC and the public library in "chinatown". I borrowed some books about Chinese for foreigners and a few all-Chinese books which title I could understand such as 新手上网 and comics. Hope it can inspire me to "read" again. ("read bits and pieces of sentences and skip most of the text since I know too few characters to actually read" ah well.)

[OneEye]

So I may need to take some recommendations...seriously this time for some good books. I may not get to it if I just amp up my 三国 reading, but we'll see. It's still a big long term goal that I need to get cracking on....but at least 三国 is a historical novel

Valerie Hansen's The Open Empire: A History of China to 1600 is good, and fairly easy going. For Chinese history since 1600, I'd recommend Jonathan Spence's The Search for Modern China. Those two will give you a good overview. Jacques Gernet's A History of Chinese Civilization is also a classic.

Another option for imperial history, which I've enjoyed quite a lot, is Harvard's new History of Imperial China series. The first three, covering Qin-Han, middle period, and Tang history respectively, were written by Mark Lewis. The fourth book (Song history) is by Dieter Kuhn, the fifth (Yuan-Ming) is by Timothy Brook (who is also the general editor of the series), and the sixth (Qing) is by William T. Rowe.

For pre-Qin history, it's hard to recommend a single volume survey, but there's the Cambridge History of Ancient China. It's massive and expensive, so it's best gotten from the library, or through Inter-library Loan. But if you're interested in this period further than what your average survey-type book offers, it's great.

For more specific periods or topics, there are of course all kinds of options. Fortunately, the "Suggested Readings" or "Further Readings" sections of history books, as well as bibliographies, will generally point you in the right direction.

For reading original documents in translation, the standard is Sources of Chinese Tradition by William deBary. Spence's book mentioned above also has a companion volume called The Search for Modern China: A Documentary Collection. For translations of the Confucian classics, look for James Legge, Arthur Waley, and (more recently) Burton Watson. The former two are a bit old school, but they're quite approachable as compared to, say, Ed Shaughnessy's translation of the Yijing/I Ching (which is based on the Mawangdui text, not the received text).

I've rambled too long. Hopefully some of this is helpful.

[OneEye]

Sorry to post twice in a row, but oh well.

Chinese:

Spoken Chinese still needs work, but it's coming along nicely. I feel confident enough that I'll be able to get around when we first get to Taiwan, and we're going to try to find a friend that can help us negotiate a deal on an apartment.

Still cramming vocab, but not as much as before. Trying to get ready for the move is taking up a lot of time.

Reading:

Currently reading through Harvard's "History of Imperial China" series.

GRE:

Done, as I said earlier. I got a 760 on the math and a 640 on the verbal. I've gotten in touch with some professors at different schools, and it seems my scores are good enough for anywhere I'd want to go, so I won't need to retake it.

Going to Taiwan:

We've started selling our stuff and packing up. We're leaving Austin at the end of this month, and then we'll be in Florida visiting our families until August 15, when we fly to Taiwan.

Etc.:

French is still coming along well. German not so much, but that's ok. Like I mentioned I've been in touch with some professors from PhD and MA programs that I'm interested in, and they've given me some guidance on my application, including my writing sample. Still working on that. I'll actually have two samples, since departments vary so much in how long they want the paper to be. Some want no more than 7 pages, and some want no less than 10. I'm doing an annotated translation of the 千字文 for the longer paper, and expanding a book review I wrote a while back for the shorter one.

加油！