Keen New Leaner

[m000gle]

I'm currently on my summer break from university, from now until October. In my next (and final..) year of university, I am planning on taking Beginners Mandarin.

I feel kind of bad, since my initial reaction, after reading this, was: and what will that do to your GPA??? =P ... I'm only kidding, though. Language classes at my home university were notorious for bringing down GPA's, while this is not the case at other schools.

One, more positive thing which popped into my mind was: why not graduate, do a bit of self-study on the side and then either apply for a Chinese Government scholarship, or self-finance some study abroad? It may sound ambitious, but nothing beats the cultural experience and pace of language acquisition when exposed to said language constantly.

[ThomasSmith]

Hihi m000gle

Hopefully my GPA would not be effected, after all, my degree is my biggest priority , i'm not looking for a highly-paced learning progression, in fact my initial reasons for wanting to study Chinese was that so many of my friends were describing how enriching it is to learn a language, and how it feels like a break from the degree work. So it'd be nice to just have a slow progression (if I can)

I think if all goes well, I will be attempting to accumulate some money to self-finance a trip to China, as that's what appeals to me most. As for the government ideal, i've already got my mind set on certain ambitions with graduate schemes, however, I don't have to start applying for them until November time or so - so Chinese abroad schemes may become more appealing to me!

After all, the more and more I learn from reading and this forum, the more fascinated I seem to become, never know, my ambitions might alter.

[ThomasSmith]

I started on the grammar book, seem to spend endless amounts of time drawing/writing the symbols, and so progress is super slow. Everything is so intricate - anyone thats actually managed to remember this and become fluent; i commend you!

Also find it strange learning no vocals, given that you normally tend to speak in your head whilst reading, which i obviously can't do if i don't have a clue how to pronounce it lol

But shall continue tomorrow >.<

[rezaf]

;) told you

[anonymoose]

It is slow at the beginning. But after you get used to the shapes and recurring patterns in the characters (after a few months), it gets a lot easier.

As for pronunciation, the site I recommended earlier also has audio, so you can find out how to pronounce the characters from that.

[renzhe]

Get used to the feeling, it will stay with you for quite a while. It does start making sense after a while, but it's important to stay patient and keep working on it every day.

Chinese doesn't really reward you with amazing breakthroughs regularly. After a while, you will look back and see that you can do things that looked impossible when you started (like read a book), and you won't remember the exact point at which this transition happened.

[Scoobyqueen]

Your motivation will make you achieve your goal I am sure. motivation is half the battle.

You talk about the quickest route, nothing wrong with that. I am reminded though of Imron, a chinese learning expert on this forum, who quoted someone having said something similar like "after five years I still cannot speak Chinese, but I have learnt patience" (Imron please correct if this is quoted incorrectly). I think you need patience in the process but are keen enough to achieve your goals. Good luck.

[Iqbar]

I have found Rosetta Stone unbearably slow. I would suggest trying out your university languages centre. Oxford University's Language centre has several series of textbooks, loads of audio resources and even recorded news and other programs in many languages, including Mandarin Chinese. Try googling "<university name> language centre". Your university almost certainly has something, so if you live locally to that you can get started with all sorts of resources without spending too much.

[imron]

The quote comes from an excellent article by actual Chinese expert David Moser:

Someone once said that learning Chinese is "a five-year lesson in humility". I used to think this meant that at the end of five years you will have mastered Chinese and learned humility along the way. However, now having studied Chinese for over six years, I have concluded that actually the phrase means that after five years your Chinese will still be abysmal, but at least you will have thoroughly learned humility.