Using Weibo for learning Chinese?

[Kanin]

So, just got back to Sweden after a year in China. Can't describe how weird it is to start using your native language on a regular basis again, and to write essays about things more advanced than what i ate for lunch yesterday!

Anyway, have been thinking about how to continue my Chinese studies from Sweden, and have been thinking about Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. Does anyone have experience using the service for practicing their Chinese? Maybe there even are some people you can follow that focuses on teaching non-natives Chinese? Would like to get some advices about where to start!

[Lu]

If your Chinese is up for it, personally I think longer texts are better for reading practice and learning. You can get 'into' a longer text, so that you don't have to figure out for each sentence separately what the subject is this time and what the author is trying to say about it. You'll get exposure to longer sentences and more grammar, and will encounter the same words more often so that you get a better grip on their meaning and use. (Not to mention that in my view at least, microblog grammar can be rather challenging. Ai Weiwei can make four-character sentences that I get the meaning of but not why he choose to put the characters in that particular order.)

That being said, using Weibo for writing practice might not be such a bad idea: you can participate in the conversation without having to painstakingly put essays together.

[Sarevok]

I've registered an account some weeks ago, but I started to use it actively only recently... and I must say it's highly addictive :ph34r:

It's just 140 characters, which is not much for serious reading practice. But the "tweets" (or how should I call it?) often contain links to full-fledged articles, which I do read sometimes. Articles which I might not have otherwise found. Depends on who you follow - I am interested in smartphones and mobile technology in general (and Android in particular), so I follow several tech channels and get updated on the latest gadgets etc. in Chinese. It's great for vocabulary acquisition from particular fields.

You also get to know the latest popular internet lingo, which I find quite useful. 有木有！

And as for writing practice, 微博 totally rocks, especially for somebody as lazy as me. I tried to write a diary in Chinese, a blog... and failed miserably after a few entries. But writing messages or comments on 微博 is much easier - not only because it's short, but mainly because I don't have to force myself to do it. Sure, writing an essay and a short message of 140 characters at maximum are two different things, but it also requires thinking in the language, using particular sentence structures... and being brief at the same time (which is not that easy sometimes).

[skylee]

But the "tweets" (or how should I call it?)

"bowen" perhaps?