Am I learning the wrong way?

[imron]

Has anyone expecience this?

Yes, everyone who has ever learnt Chinese.

[hedwards]

@Lu, what do you mean? Are you suggesting that you have to write them to learn them? Because that's definitely false. On the other hand, you are correct in that just reading the characters and seeing them in context does not guarantee that they'll go from passive recall to active recall.

 

One does have to have some method of recalling the character from meaning in order to be capable of writing. And the big downside of typing is that it makes the process of writing a sentence far easier by reducing it to an exercise in identifying which particular jin1 you're wanting rather than having to figure it out from scratch.

[roddy]

For reference, Hedwards, if you ever think Lu's said something that's definitely false, you've misunderstood her. 

[hedwards]

@Roddy, that's more or less my presumption here. And considering that she didn't explicitly say that writing is necessary, I'm hoping for clarification.

[Lu]

Writing them is one way to actively learn them; you can also consciously go over which components they consist of, or another similar method. I agree that writing is not strictly speaking necessary (it's the most obvious way of going about it, but certainly not the only one). But just reading is not enough.

[hedwards]

@Lu, thanks for the clarification there.

 

Writing is a great way to keep a person honest and will generally work for most people, but I've always found it to be less efficient then just laying out the components and radicals in my head.

[querido]

Incidental to the last few posts:

While doing flashcards I could see the characters well-formed as I (always) wrote them mentally, but my actual handwriting was never that good. Chances are my handwriting would be better if I had actually written them, at an arguable additional cost in time.

Edit:

To a new learner: There are a lot of "dialects" and accents in China. Handwriting can bridge the gaps in a pinch. I understand almost nothing of what one of my friends says even when he is supposedly speaking Mandarin. Funny, I can't read his writing very well either. But when I write to him he understands perfectly because I write in textbook-print style. I can't write any other way, but it could be counted as a *courtesy* to write (and speak) clearly. That must be worth something.

[Tommie C.]

 

 

What am I doing wrong?

 

Nothing, but you may wish to expand your process a bit. 

 

Try the following:

 

Only text and programs are okay but a good book that puts the characters in context can be valuable. One work that I find useful is McNaughton & Li (1999) Reading & Writing Chinese. The text delivers 1020 commonly used characters and 2000 others.

 

You can try visiting a sit-down Chinese restaurant and tell the staff you are trying to learn Mandarin. Most Chinese people are very eager to help new language learners. So you should be able to get a bit of free practice.

 

Look into online and offline resources including sites like www.italki.com (language partners).

 

Try reviewing the many Chinese tutorials on www.youtube.com

 

This process will immerse you in the language but to put everything in context you will likely need to find a Chinese person with whom you can speak. Language is used to transmit cultural ideas and your study should rapidly improve if you can get involved in the community. So if you are near a big city (assuming you are not in China), check out the local china town for community centres or language schools (many will typically provide an initial free class).