How do I Improve Oral Comprhension?

[Rai]

大家好！I've been studying Mando a little over six years. Current doing a year of study abroad in Taiwan at 政大. My oral skills have always been my weakest point and as result I decided to spend this year in Taiwan to be surrounded by the language, and to improve my pronunciation and oral comprehension.

Speaking and comprehending what my friends tell me is not the problem. I conversational enough to articulate my thoughts completely but sometimes I have to beat around the bush frequently because I would lack sufficent vocabulary about some subject matter.

My problem is, being immediately thrown into a conversation and being able to orally comprehend it and understanding more advanced grammatical structures oral is something I forever have problem dealing with and overcoming.

For example 連⋯都⋯ I understand the meaning gramatically but I will need maybe 5 seconds to understand the sentence wrotten on a piece of paper. Also, speaking using this complex grammatical structure I will usually have to pause mid-conversation to formulate an original though, otherwise because I speak mandarin daily I almost somewhat "memorize" sentences and this "memorization" is think is a huge problem for me.

I recently took my final and the oral section I completely had no idea what they were saying. I studied religiously, listened to my audio tapes for each chapter we had covered during the semester, and yet I could not comprehend the sentences said during the test. Furthermore the night before I though I would hang out with my Taiwanese friends and just speak mandarin just so I could further prepare myself and I understood everything.

The problem was during they quickly said 2 or 3 sentences and then I had to choose the most suitible answer. But my studying It became most memorization of my textbooks texts rather than truly improving my language comprehension.

I'm just after 6 years want to improve, but I'm truly at a loss. If I use my audio CD's it doesn't seem to help. Speaking the language all day everyday does not seem to help. Listening and living the language as well also doesn't seem to help. I don't want to complain about the difficulty of the test, probably me and all my classmates did horribly and they will scale the test but they originally expected me, their student, to competely orally Comprhend this section of this test. Also I've alrwst studied all the content of this particular Chinese level, so this entire semester was almost entirely review and yet I have such great difficuly.

If you have any ideas of improving my oral listening please feel free to comment below. Thank you for your time

[etm001]

This statement is contradictory:

 

 

Speaking and comprehending what my friends tell me is not the problem. I conversational enough to articulate my thoughts completely but sometimes I have to beat around the bush frequently because I would lack sufficent vocabulary about some subject matter.

You cannot articulate your thoughts completely if you have to "beat around the bush frequently". You note that you lack sufficient vocabulary about some subject matters. This is normal for a non-fluent speaker of any language. There's no easy answer or solution. Simply continue to learn new vocabulary and incorporate that vocabulary into your daily life.

 

 

 

Also, speaking using this complex grammatical structure I will usually have to pause mid-conversation to formulate an original though, 

If you have to pause, then you haven't internalized this grammatical structure sufficiently yet to use it without thinking. You need to continue to review the grammar, practice speaking it, and practice writing it. In time - and perhaps for some grammar (or vocabulary), it will be quite a long time - it will come to you naturally.

 

 

Furthermore the night before I though I would hang out with my Taiwanese friends and just speak mandarin just so I could further prepare myself and I understood everything.

 

The speaking you hear in a test is quite different than the way people speak in real life (or, perhaps more specifically, the way you're friends are speaking to you). I can understand how frustrating this is - to feel like you can competently speak Mandarin in your daily life, but fail taking a test. 

 

 

Listening and living the language as well also doesn't seem to help. 

It's probably helping more than you realize!

 

Honestly, I'm much happier to hear you say that you have no problem listening/speaking Mandarin with people in your real life. You may need to pass a test in order to advance in your schooling, but it's real life that matters. 

 

From my own experience, I can tell you that there are certain words and grammar patterns that I first learned a long time ago, and that for a long time I didn't actively use when speaking. Then one day - without any apparent cause - I found myself using those words/patterns or understanding them effortlessly. All the while I do my best to expose myself to as many sources of Mandarin speech/text as I can: TV, real life conversations, online chatting, textbooks, novels, etc. 

 

One final thought: you might want to consider one-on-one tutoring with a professional tutor (if you are in Taipei, consider the Taiwanese Language Institute). You may benefit from sessions that concentrate on certain aspects of Mandarin grammar/vocabulary. Also, how much long-form writing do you do in Mandarin? Although if often feels (and is) laborious, writing a short essay every week can do wonders for internalizing vocabulary and grammar.

 

加油！