massive gap between reading and listening comprehension

[nicostouch]

So, my Chinese studies have gotten off to a good start. I just finished the introductory paper I took in summer school and got an A. Really didn't enjoy the classroom learning experience but that helped reinforce that, for me personally, learning through engaging in native media (music, drama, texts) combined with SRS really works best.

That being said...

I just finished watching my second drama (死神少女）and with the Chinese subs I was really surprised to find my comprehension at about 70%. I was able to follow all the complex plot elements including the political and medical scenes. Occasionally I would pause to read the subs if I feel I wanted to really catch all the info but for the most part I just tried to keep up at native speed. I'm only a few months into my studies and It's so good being able to dive into drama and be able to enjoy it straight away!

On the other hand...

I'm able to get such high comprehension for reading quickly because I'm fluent in Japanese. Where this doesn't help me is my listening skills. Now I know that reading is always easier than listening from experience but... I'd say without subs comprehension is maybe 15%? Compared to about 70% with them. Haha. Though, I notice that the more I vocab I pick up and sentences I put into SRS while watching drama that my listening comprehension is also steadily rising (though more slowly than reading of course).

I was just curious... what are your experiences of reading comprehension vs. listening comprehension?

[gato]

I have a big gap between reading and listening in French. Does that count?

You'll need to practice listening more to

Improve your listening. No short cuts.

[abcdefg]

I was just curious... what are your experiences of reading comprehension vs. listening comprehension?

For me, it's the other way around: conversation is easier than reading. It's both a blessing and a curse.

[msittig]

Until I went to China for a summer, I had the same massive gap. This was one of the big differences between my study of Japanese and Chinese: with Japanese I found the listening very easy, being able to pick apart the syllables and imagine the kana as the person spoke. On the other hand, with Chinese I hardly had time to put the pinyin for one word together before the next word started. In fact I really couldn't even pick out individual words from the stream of language coming from native speakers' mouths.

[OneEye]

Why are you trying to spell in your head while people are talking? Do you do that in your native language?

[imron]

Do you do that in your native language?

I do, and I find it happens naturally and without thinking - if anything, effort would be required to stop doing that.

I would love to reach the same level of Chinese where this happens with characters, but that's a long way off...