The 2014 Aims and Objectives Progress Thread

[EricJMa]

 

In August 2010 I decided to moved to Guangzhou for one year. Four years later, I work part time as an tutor and English teacher at Guangdong Pharmaceutical University. Learning how to teach a language has taught me a wealth of information. And while teaching English isn't my dream job it certainly is my wife's dream. She teaches academic writing to English and translation majors at Guangzhou University. She absolutely loves her job here. She is respected by her students and foriegn English teachers alike as she is "the real" English teacher at GZ . lol.

 

I made the decision to invest more time and hard work studying Chinese since we chose to live here long term. I decided to study for the HSK 3. Surprisingly, I actually passed with a 91 in listening, 88 in reading, and a 96 in writing. This was the make or break my desire to learn Mandarin further. I am now studying for the HSK 4 and eventually 5.

 

During this journey I realized that it has never been easier to learn Chinese. Even though language learning still requires tons of diligence and hard work, with tools like Chinese Forums, Chinese Grammar Wiki, Pleco, and others, I believe learning Chinese has never been more easily achievable than in it is today in 2014.

 

My goals for 2014:

 

Pass HSK 4 by August and  HSK 5 by December with a score of 272 or higher. I want an A, not this I barely passed with an 180 score.

 

To achieve this I will do two 30 minute SRS flashcards daily. I use Sticky Study app.

Do one practice mock HSK test Monday though Friday.

Continue doing the e-Putonghua daily dialogue on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX-YkTWRPEVVA_U2XO0GX_g

Go to three Chinese classes a week.

 

All of these I'm already doing. I'm a bit hungry to learn.

[roddy]

Welcome to the site, Eric, and good luck with the goals!

[studychinese]

I am doing lessons through italki, one hour per day. I am trying to change my 'environment' to Chinese for at least an hour a day.

[Alicia Janis]

Hi!

Now that it's summer, I've got lots of time to catch up on my Chinese!

I teach English during the school year, so I rarely get to focus on my Chinese.

I've mostly learned through shopping and chitchatting.

 

I want to invest at least 4 hours a day to improving my Chinese.

 

Here are some of my ideas for studying over the summer:

a. go through one chapter a week in QingSong HanYu first book (dialogues)

b. learn one sentence a day using e-Putonghua daily dialogue on youtube, review at the end of the week.

c. watch the same movie clip everyday for one week then change the movie clip for the next week (dialogues)

d. write characters for 30 minutes, twice a day (handwritting)

e. play chinese games and apps, like Pleco, for 30 minutes, twice a day

f. take HSK 3 practice test once a week

 

I've never thrown myself into studying Chinese, but now I feel I have a good understanding of tones (even though I still struggle with hearing the 3rd tone) since I've lived in China 3.5 years. My husband and friends will tutor and correct me, so I'm not alone : )

 

I'm excited to see how much I can grow in the next few months.

[tysond]

As June is nearly over and I have a busy looking week ahead, here's my June update:

 

Overally June was a super busy work month due to some new project and planning for the next 12 months.  A lot of time I used to have to self-study seemed to evaporate this month.  Fortunately my work more and more involves reading, listening, and speaking in Chinese so my overall level continues to improve due to exposure, and solidification of skills.

But some of the things I wanted to do this month, like drilling Glossika sentences, or making big progress on HSK4 vocabulary, have been a bit haphazard.

 

Yesterday I finished my textbook and now have the next one in the series (Short Term Spoken Chinese - Pre intermediate).  This is where the textbook drops English in the grammar/exercise sections.  

 

Chinese Vocabulary Progress:

- I have been trying to improve vocabulary and made some progress this month, 100 HSK4 words left to learn.

- Definitely notice that the vocab I am learning is still quite high frequency.  I will watch a movie or whatever and still notice words I have recently learned popping up.  

- Chinese Vocab Analyzer is now sitting at 2400+ words.  Most texts that I try out with it are 75%+ known.  Often the challenge is names (which tend to high frequency - perhaps as much as 5%) then a few key words that I should learn because they are pretty common (maybe 10%) and then 10% is lower frequency stuff that's more of the "long tail" of Chinese.

 

Progress on Chinese Skills

 

- Listening - although improving slowly, it's improving.  I am definitely able to eavesdrop a lot more effectively, I can understand better what little kids say in their high pitched weird voices, thick accents are easier.  Actually the wife was complaining about how thick a taxi drivers accent was and she couldn't understand him but I hadn't noticed a particularly thick accent (we used to have the same trouble on this one).   As I am able to effectively follow 70%-90% of work conversations (depending on topic) it actually allows me to sit in on more listening - probably gives me another 4 hours a week of listening practice in Chinese.  

 

- Reading has improved a lot.  Advertising in my lift, text messages, emails from Amazon.cn, flyers from stores - this stuff is becoming much easier to understand and gives me much more reading time every day.  In just one month I can feel an improvement in reading aloud skill as well particularly for easier text with little new vocab.  Also, as I have added new vocab I can pronounce much more of the common characters so can guess from context a lot a word's probable pronunciation and meaning.    I've been reading fairly regularly different levels of text - graded readers in every room, random websites, books and short stories.  I sample more than complete anything.  Also I've bought children's C-C dictionaries and randomly flip through and read definitions which is quite fun and useful.  I remember doing this with English dictionaries as a child!

 

- Speaking - continues to improve and I'm using a lot of new vocabulary in my speaking.  I gave my first work presentation in Chinese recently, which was for 10 minutes but completely unprepared (not ideal but anyway), and managed to get my points across.  Some sounds are a little problematic but improving and I am catching my own mistakes more often.  

 

- Writing - I write neater and faster than before.  My sentence writing skills are not great, it's something I don't often practice, and might spend more time on in future as it would be nice to write more emails in Chinese to get some extra practice.

 

Forest Gump in China

 

I buy quite a few western movies with Chinese dubbing on DVD - they are cheap in China and it's a good way to get some practice listening.  Recently quite a few older movies have been released (Scent of a Woman, Edward Scissorhands, One Flew out of the Cuckoo's Nest, etc) so I picked them up.  I am not sure how these are being released actually as I don't think they ever got a cinema release.  

 

While watching Forrest Gump I quite enjoyed the movie but noticed a big gap in the movie.  He doesn't go to China!  Forrest comes back from Vietnam, gets asked to join the army Ping Pong team, then suddenly meets president Nixon, and then is back in Alabama with $25,000 but we don't know how he got the money.  Also, he doesn't get to meet John Lennon and tell him about China and inspire the song "Imagine".   I guess it was considered too sensitive to include in the movie but it leaves the plot with a big gaping hole.  It's a bit strange because the whole Nixon going to China and the Ping Pong diplomacy thing is a matter of historical record.  I was really looking forward to the scenes in China actually... 

 

That's all I have to say about that.

[imron]

I guess it was considered too sensitive to include in the movie

I haven't seen the movie in ages but I don't recall anything particularly sensitive happening - just playing ping pong.  Not sure what could be so bad about that.

[洋人丹]

I'll throw in my goals for fun:

 

Get 一乙，but will be more than happy with 二甲 on the 普通话水平测试

 

Improve my translation and simultaneous interpreting abilities.

 

Finish my Ming/Qing literature reading list: 3/10 finished. Roughly halfway through the 4th.

 

Apply for grad school.

 

Going to need to work hard over the next six months!

[tysond]

Re: Forrest Gump... here's the only thing I could find that was possibly not nice about China.

 

我以为我要回越南去但他们又觉得

I thought I was going back to Vietnam, but instead they decided

我对付共产党的最好办法是打乒乓球

the best way for me to fight the Communists was to play Ping-Pong

 

... later ...

 

你能不能告诉我们 嗯 中国是怎么样的?

Can you tell us,um, what was China like?

在中国大陆…人们差不多什么都没有

In the land of China...people hardly got nothin'at all.

没有财产?

No possessions?

在中国 他们不去教堂

And in China,they never go to church.

也没有宗教?

No religion,too?

难以想象

Hard to imagine.

嗯 只要你肯试着想象 迪克

Well,it's easy if you try,Dick.

 

Dialog doesn't seem so bad, not sure what the video was like it has been over a decade since I saw it.

[OneEye]

Goals for June: finish school (and do well), study Japanese, don't go crazy, get ready for the move to Tokyo.

 

Finished school. Did well. I have one paper to finish, but it shouldn't be a big deal. I mostly maintained my Japanese, didn't really study much though. I did spend some time planning for how I'll be studying in Japan. Managed not to go crazy, as far as I know. And we're now moved out of our apartment and into a friend's place until we move to Tokyo at the end of July. All I really have left to do is ship my stuff. So, a successful month altogether.

 

I finally started my programming project back up. Well, not really programming yet I guess. I'm working on learning Unix and shell scripting, as well as regular expressions. Those will be the most useful things for me right now.

 

Goals for July: finish the paper for my dialectology class, enjoy my remaining time in Taiwan, study some Japanese. Once I get settled there, I'll have a better idea of how my days will go as far as work and study.

[edelweis]

oh, it's the end of the month already...

 

In June,

Chinese: about 10 hours, mainly SRS and listening. And in addition, passive listening and toying with chengyus a little. I also started reviewing/learning the 100 most common surnames and I intend to learn/review some place names after that.

Other languages: almost nothing.

 

I should be done with HSK5 vocabulary recognition this summer and then I'll have to think about where to go from there. On the one hand, I really should consolidate and practice active skills such as writing and speaking. On the other hand, is it really a good idea to stop something that goes reasonably well? my current system for HSK5 words will work as well for HSK6 words...

Also I have been thinking about selecting one textbook and keeping at it until I reach the last page... also not one of my strong points. In my dreams, in finish my 科普汉语听记 book, and then a 报刊阅读 book and a 新闻听力 book and a 写作 book...

 

About culture classes at a university in the fall: my big worry is that throughout my studies, history and geography (and that mandatory philosophy class...) were my worst subjects. I'm afraid I just don't know how to learn such subjects and write the exams in the format required by the French education system... so it might not be worth it to spend money and vacation days on that.

 

Anyway, in July I really need to get back on track with Spanish and English, a little bit everyday, and see whether I can stick to a Chinese textbook.

And read "Un chino en bicicleta" which is supposed to be "la historia más hilarante que se ha escrito sobre la inmigración china en Argentina". But I'm afraid it may be somewhat above my level from the first few pages I read. It had better get very very funny very very quickly.

 

Now I should study a little bit and go to bed at a decent hour. Unfortunately I'm afraid I'm just going to have to watch Germany vs Algeria and go to bed at midnight or later

[laurenth]

Time for yet another quarterly update (see posts #18 and #120 for previous instalments).

 

 

READING: I will try to read 10 novels in 2014, or about 2 million characters

 

 

I'm probably behind such a grand objective, but I've read a lot, on an almost daily basis, which is the point, so I'm satisfied with my accomplishment to date. For the record, since my last update, I've finished 璇儿's 万灵节之死, read Gu Long's "流星•蝴蝶•剑" and started 璇儿's 天方夜谭. I've read anywhere between 216 and 268 pages/month since January.

 

 

LISTENING: I will try to log 10 hours of listening per week

 

 

Total failure again, so let's say that this objective is dead, ok? The perversity of a failed objective is that, because of the discouragement, there was a period when I tended to do even *less* than before I'd set this foolish goal. Fortunately, 3 weeks ago, I started using two Android apps that have helped me restart some serious work:

 

- WorkAudioBook

- Don't Break the Chain

 

I've been using several podcast series with transcripts (mainly Slow Chinese and BBC's 新闻播客). Not every day, though. More like 4-5 days/week. But if I can maintain that rate, I can consider it a victory. This is my official new objective as far as listening is concerned.

 

 

VOCAB: Skritter (characters) and Pleco (words)

 

 

Studying Pleco lists has been a daily routine for months and months now. However, I've had to decrease the daily dose of new words to about 10/day, because there were several times during the quarter when I was overwhelmed. The same applies to Skritter: I've had to stop adding characters for a time, as I was about to sink. It's back under control now.

 

 

WANDERLUST (hopefully a controlled form thereof):

 

I've more or less stopped practicing my other languages, but it seems I just can't focus entirely on Chinese, even if my time is very, very limited. So as I had installed Don't Break the Chain on my phone anyway, two months ago, I wiped the dust that had gathered on my guitar and started playing again, applying certain principles that seem to work for learning Chinese, i.e. "if you want to learn a certain skill, you should practice that skill", enjoying the ride rather than obsess about the objective, isolating difficult parts to design focussed drills, trying not to skip too many links in the "(don't break the) chain", etc. 

[Basil]

Hi.

 

My goal for the next few months is to read another few books and book myself in for a HSK exam. I have never got round to doing one before, so still trying to decide which level to go for. 

[eshton]

Been absent a while (my dumb unicom connection), my attempt at reading one of skylee's short novels was an epic fail but I've been reading the school paper (does that count?). My spanish has made a comeback thanks to portugese so there's still some hope.

 

I manged to hack a video player together in the winter break but I haven't touched it months, probably need to join an open source project to keep occupied on that end.

[Bird in a Forest]

Hello everyone,

My aims and goals are (for Chinese ):

• Acquire 3000+ Vocabulary (It's at ~2000 now). Aiming for finishing HSK 5 Vocabulary list.
• Start talking more in Chinese to my Chinese friends
• Make the most out of a trip to mainland China this year for a few weeks
• Start listening to Chinese podcasts more (I can finally understand most of it)
• Start reading some Chinese texts
• Start watching Qin's Moon (Looks awesome!)
• Think more in Chinese
• Incorporate some Cantonese into my otherwise Mandarin conversations (with those who know Canto. of course )
• I'm thinking of starting a language blog and forcing my friends to read it

Probably the most important is getting confident speaking in another language. I have the vocabulary to express myself for many situations (I know because I think of what to say) but cannot bring myself to say anything out of fear of embarassment. 很丢脸 XD

[Meng Lelan]

Back in San Antonio for a week to attend a conference. A colleague from Taiwan is attending also and will be staying in my house after I get her at the airport tomorrow. Not much Chinese studying going on with my internship still in progress. I am interning in Louisiana which has the highest concentration of deafblinds in the US so the internship has been absolutely magical, now that I am teaching the deafblind to travel with a white cane and not depend on others so much. I dread August 17th when it all ends and I go back to San Antonio. Still Skrittering and reading 三國演義 in the original, and found a very top drawer kungfu school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. So I am learning 南棍 and  南刀 there. The school is so good that I have decided to spend one weekend a month out there for kungfu and maybe teach a few deafblind clients as well. Also I have started learning Chinese braille in my hopes of being prepared for someday when I start a foundation for the deafblind in Taiwan and maybe the mainland too. 

[Basil]

Just totted up the character counts from the books I have read in the last year.

 

I have reached the quota of my six month plan of one million characters per period for the previous two six month periods. Hitting this target included no recycling of old books, theft of others reading totals, misreporting to higher authorities or other similar reactionary or actionary actions. Books in this period include 家、春、人生、围城、一九八四、美丽新世界、我们、第七天 as well as other books of differing lengths and myriad complexities that are currently misplaced in my databanks.

 

In light of this great triumph, magnificent harvest and the various attendant glories it brings to the leadership and masses of the democratic dictatorship of the proletariat of the mind, it has been deliberated, discussed, decided and announced that quotas will rise by a minimum of 50% for the next period. 

[imron]

it has been deliberated, discussed, decided and announced that quotas will rise by a minimum of 50% for the next period.

I'm not sure what your reading speed is like, but It might be worth spending some time trying to increase your reading speed.  A 50% increase in reading speed (quite doable for most people) would enable you to hit your target without spending any extra time on reading.

[Basil]

Thanks Imron,

 

Reading speed is coming along, it's really very dependent on tiredness, difficulty of text and interest in text.

 

I'll have a go at your regimented exercises.

 

My main problem at the moment is more blocking out external interference, ie. reading in a room with conversation and tv on rather than needing to be by myself in another room. Once I can do that, I'll be much happier. Reading is intrinsically an anti-social activity, especially if surrounded by non-readers.

 

What I have been doing to up the speed have been mainly things like, finish this chapter before end of lunch break, before I can smoke etc. It works quite well.

 

For the first several chapters of 平凡的世界，你是我地小苹果 was on loop (I was on a train), even though the book is quite easy, I found myself having to read certain sections again, if just to check that nobody talking actually said 你是我地小苹果。。。

[imron]

Reading speed is coming along, it's really very dependent on tiredness, difficulty of text and interest in text.

That's definitely true, which is why choosing the right content is important when doing those drills, but the effect of these things is also dependent on your baseline speed.  E.g. if you can read at 400 cpm normally but are tired, your speed might drop to 200, whereas if you normally read at 200 cpm then it might drop to 100.

 

My experience has been that upping your baseline will generally have a positive effect on reading speed, even in sub-optimal conditions.

[tysond]

July Update:

 

Work is again busy, but I had time time off at the end to relax (and sleep).   Due to generally feeling busy and stressed, study schedule was pretty lax in July for a while, and I started to lose my habit of study in the evenings.

 

However, I changed the way I did my Anki reps, and setup a better schedule around listening to podcasts, which worked a lot better, and actually allowed me to catch up on a lot of backlog.

 

Chinese Vocabulary Progress:

- I learned around 80 HSK4 words, and also went through my entire backlog of 1000 Anki cards, which had a lot of vocab I had started to learn many months ago.  

- Have only about 20 HSK4 words left to go.  Accumulated quite a few other words too - 2600+ words in CTA now.  

 

Progress on Chinese Skills

 

- Listening - definitely improving.  Following discussions is getting easier as I can focus on guessing unknown words.   Have been listening to a lot of Upper Intermediate ChinesePod which is 99% in Chinese (lately, only native speakers which is even better) .  I try to listen a new lesson few times to try to understand the entire dialog and discussion before reading it.  Also have been fitting in more video and TV in Chinese - including funny things on the news, random videos on the front page of youku, whatever.  Was very pleased to put on some old 爱情公寓 and really understand large amounts of dialog that I simply could not follow before.  All the new vocab is helping a lot.  And I have squeezed in a lot of listening drills via WorkAudioBook or just VLC video player and the shift-left arrow button.

 

- Reading - Keeps improving as well.  Have finished a few One Piece comic books this month.  This is starting to reinforce/introduce new vocabulary a lot more now that the speed is a bit better.  Had a genuinely enjoyable time with one of the stories where I understood the plot well enough to understand and enjoy a big plot twist and emotional moment for a character - I forgot I was reading in Chinese long enough to start to get lost inside the story (major win).   Also, my subtitle reading speed is much improved, almost able to scan along the sentences as they are spoken, picking out any words that are unclear (I also read all the chinese subtitles when watching TV in English, better than nothing!).  Reading out loud is improving a lot, but it's still really hard!  I try to spend time reading articles in Chinese, from wikipedia, newspapers, magazines, or online forums.    

 

One thing I have started doing also is reading children's books with pinyin + characters (Ok, so it's Iron Man short stories).  I find these are interesting for getting exposure to new vocabulary quickly, I don't look up anything, but can easily see the pinyin for words I don't (or only sort of) know.  I try to subvocalize while reading the characters and check against the tones, and guess at the meaning of new words (but I don't guess at their pronunciation).  I used to *hate* pinyin in books because it was so distracting, but now I can see it has it's uses at certain phases. 

 

- Speaking - I do a lot of speaking at work now, including giving short presentations, introductions, explanations, doing short meetings, etc.  My new textbook has a lot of role-play scenarios which I really love, especially the challenge of making an interesting scenario, working in required phrases as well as anything else I've learned recently, and trying to make a few jokes along the way.  Because I've pretty much memorized a lot of sentences and phrases, my fluency (and pronunciation accuracy) in role-play is actually much better than grammar exercises or reading from a text.  

 

- Writing - Nothing exciting to report.  I make steady progress on being able to write characters.  I don't prioritize writing sentences yet.