Ideal Brand New Study Plan

[learn1]

Hello All,

I have quite a bit of time reading through many of these topics and there is a lot of information but it is a little segregated and I was looking for some comprehensive answers from experienced learners in hindsight. Basically I am wondering what, looking back, you would design as your ideal way to study the language from the start. I will be using the Integrated Chinese books as a self study course, and I have access to a private Mandarin tutor. I am living in Shanghai.

Ideally, how would you break out your time, between text book work, character writing, listening activities... etc. How would you make the most use of the technological programs that are available to help (and what are the best resources) ? Basically what do the experienced learners think is the best and most effective way to start from a comprehensive standpoint. I am sorry if it is a loaded question to ask but it seems so many people take fairly different approaches and it is hard to piece it all together into something complete from the more specific questions that get answered on the board. Also, do you think writing characters is something that can be put off until much later, focusing on reading/recognition and the ability to type in chinese on computers/phones. Thanks, hope everyone has a great day.

James

[querido]

My link to the "imron master post".

He's the guy I most wish *I* had listened to.

Good luck.

1. I spent too much researching how to study.

2. I grossly overestimated flashcarding; I spent too much time making all kinds of cards.

3. I waited too long to seek real, live communication with Chinese-speaking people.

Once I developed a real-life friendship with a Chinese-speaking person my studies took off in a very different direction. My progress has not been as measurable (I can't count it in flashcards) but it has had every real dimension that flashcarding lacks.

Try to coordinate your vocabulary and subject matter with your tutor so that your time is spent at a higher level than getting stuck on individual words; words can be studied well at home with the flashcard program, but I found that a higher magic happens when I really exchange words with someone.

I think Integrated Chinese is great.

I and others have a lot more to say. Don't waste too much time on this.

[lechuan]

One thing I'm glad I did was spend the vast majority of my time during the first few months of study on getting my tones/pronunciation as accurate as possible. This paid dividends because; 1) It doesn't matter how good your vocabulary/grammar is if people can't understand you, 2) It's a lot easier to hear/distinguish sounds once you know how to make them, 3) It's much harder to correct pronunciation problems after years of drilling the wrong thing in your head vs doing it correctly from the beginning.

I wish I had started to learn characters sooner. I highly recommend the Tuttle's "Learning Chinese Characters" as a starting point, then after you're done that switch to "Heisig Vol 1 and 2" which is more comprehensive. Just a warning, Heisig doesn't bother to provide mnemonics for pronunciation (which I think is important, thus I recommended the Tuttle book to learn a good mnemonic system). Also I think it's good to hold off on using any Mnemonic system until you have pretty much mastered your tones/pronunciation (otherwise, I would anticipate that the mnemonics are going to interfere with the aquisition of proper pronunciation). I use Pleco SRS flashcards to test myself on characters as I learn them.

As for writing vs reading, after I learned about 600 characters using the Heisig Method, I got an iPad to use Skritter to practice writing. This has really helped to solidify my recognition of characters, and helped to banish the characters that I used to easily mix up; you quickly realize which characters you really know the shape for and which ones you don't. I only spend about 20 minutes a day on Skritter, and it's a fun experience at that (I once tried writing out characters over and over on paper, but seemed to quickly develop ADD after a few minutes of that).

Not sure if you went to Shanghai just to learn Mandarin, of if you are there for other reasons, but take advantage of the fact that you there are plenty of people all around to talk to. Get out there and use it as much as possible! If you just wanted to sit in a library and study Chinese, you could do that at home.

[lechuan]

Most recent regret: Not having read @imron's posts, that @querido posted above, earlier on.

[Silent]

I am sorry if it is a loaded question to ask but it seems so many people take fairly different approaches and it is hard to piece it all together into something complete from the more specific questions that get answered on the board.

An ideal, complete plan does not exist. It depends strongly on your personality, goals and situation. As learning a language means a lot of work however it's most important to do things that you can keep up doing on a daily basis for an extended period of time. Basicly that means something that motivates you.

[renzhe]

There's no perfect plan that works for everyone. What you probably want is to design a study routine which addresses all the major skills you need, and then tweak it as you progress. I usually recommend the following:

- a good textbook (Integrated Chinese is fine)

- SRS software for vocabulary and character retention (such as Anki)

- a tutor for nailing the pronunciation down early. This is very important. Find somebody with good, standard pronunciation. Later you will need a tutor for conversation practice

- reading material like comics and stories, as soon as you're ready (something from here)

- listening material like podcasts and TV series, as soon as you're ready (something from here)

That's the skeleton. Everything else will be obvious as soon as you start getting into it. You'll need a good online dictionary (I like nciku.com) and a good paper dictionary (I like Oxford Concise and New Century).

It's important to get into it instead of waiting until you have a perfect programme. There is no perfect programme, we're all learning as we go along.