Feedback on my study plan.

[Gune]

Hello guys, been lurking around this forum from time to time and finally made an account to get some feedback on my study plan.

 

First some background. I am a 24 year old guy from Sweden studying Chinese from home, I work from home as well so time is not an issue. My Chinese girlfriend lives with me and is fluent in the language. I do not believe I have the time to hire a private tutor at this time.

 

So, here is what I do on a weekly basis, any feedback would be good. Am I moving too fast? Too slow?

 

* Monday: New chapter, text + review the new words(NPCR)

* Tuesday: Chinese pod lessons.
* Wednesday: Pronounciation drills & Conversation practice(NPCR).

* Thursday: Phonetics + Grammar(NPCR).

* Friday: Chinese pod lessons.

* Saturday: Re-read chapter text and review the new words again(NPCR).

* Sunday: Workbook lesson for this week's chapter(NPCR workbook).

 

Supplementary: I repeat each new word I learn every week about 20 or so times, 10 per day, in a week I will have covered all of them. My girlfriend and I go over the text and she makes sure I pronounce it correctly, I also use her to ask a few grammatical questions when needed. I talk to various Chinese people that wish to learn English through the application "HelloTalk"(Fantastic application by the way). I do flashcards in the evenings when I have time(Anki loaded with NPCR).

In total I study about 2.5 - 5 hours per day. I am currently on Lesson 12 with NPCR 1.

 

My question is, am I doing this too slow or too fast? A common issue I am having is that I remember almost all new words and I can read the characters fine, but I am having issues writing them free-hand, is that a common problem?

 

Any feedback would be great.

Stefan Larsson.

[Demonic_Duck]

My question is, am I doing this too slow or too fast? A common issue I am having is that I remember almost all new words and I can read the characters fine, but I am having issues writing them free-hand, is that a common problem?

 

If by "common" you mean "ubiquitous", then yes! Don't worry, everyone experiences this. Even native speakers who use the written script every day of their lives often suffer from a phenomenon called “提笔忘字” (raise-pen-forget-characters), because they use pinyin input methods on their phones and computers all the time. This is more pronounced in young people for obvious reasons.

 

There are two ways of looking at this: the optimistic/lazy way is that you don't really need to remember how to write every character you'll need to use, when you have sophisticated modern technology at your control for almost all of your daily needs. This frees up more of your time to concentrate on learning to recognise more characters. The pessimistic/hardworking way is that you'll still be missing out an important part of the language, even if you can type wonderfully eloquently-written essays on your laptop.

 

Neither of these approaches is any more correct or incorrect than the other, it just depends on your needs, priorities and interests. I tend to try for some kind of middle-road - I like to know how to write characters and I always use them to scrawl my notes (rather than cheating and using pinyin/English), but I don't stress too much about it if I can't write every character I've learnt, and I always write essays on my laptop, unless the teacher specifically requests a handwritten copy.

 

*Made-up statistics.

[Gune]

 

If by "common" you mean "ubiquitous", then yes! Don't worry, everyone experiences this. Even native speakers who use the written script every day of their lives often suffer from a phenomenon called “提笔忘字” (raise-pen-forget-characters), because they use pinyin input methods on their phones and computers all the time. This is more pronounced in young people for obvious reasons.

 

There are two ways of looking at this: the optimistic/lazy way is that you don't really need to remember how to write every character you'll need to use, when you have sophisticated modern technology at your control for almost all of your daily needs. This frees up more of your time to concentrate on learning to recognise more characters. The pessimistic/hardworking way is that you'll still be missing out an important part of the language, even if you can type wonderfully eloquently-written essays on your laptop.

 

Neither of these approaches is any more correct or incorrect than the other, it just depends on your needs, priorities and interests. I tend to try for some kind of middle-road - I like to know how to write characters and I always use them to scrawl my notes (rather than cheating and using pinyin/English), but I don't stress too much about it if I can't write every character I've learnt, and I always write essays on my laptop, unless the teacher specifically requests a handwritten copy.

 

*Made-up statistics.

I see, thank you, that does make me feel a bit better about it:) I do want to be able to write them free-hand so I may try repeating forgotten characters at the end of each week and see if that helps.

 

Would you say I am studying enough? I know it's highly subjective and that it will differ from person to person, but I just don't want to end up studying for months only to realize I've been doing too little haha.

PS. Not sure how to quote a person directly, is there a button?

Stefan.

[Demonic_Duck]

Sounds like you're studying plenty, many people would kill to have that much study time on their hands. Also seems you're covering all major parts of the language, assuming your studying of NPCR includes both listening and reading, and your use of HelloTalk includes some voice-chatting and text-chatting. If you find one aspect is lagging, you can always adjust the amounts of time you spend on different activities.

 

If your current level is good enough to write extended pieces of writing, you might also want to sign up for a website such as GoVoluble or Lang-8. The former is my new favourite toy and has a number of other functions aside from writing, though I guess some of the others are also covered by HelloTalk.

 

Pleco is also a highly recommended app. If you add some flashcards and play around with the flashcard settings, you can also use handwritten input to answer them.

[Lu]

You can use Anki for practicing writing, and I also read a lot of good things about Skritter, although I don't use it myself. It looks like you're studying plenty, you look like a very hard-working student. Keep it up! Generally, whatever amount of time is workable for you is the right amount of time, although of course the more time you have, the more progress you make. If you only have 2 x 1 hour in a week, use that; if like you, you have several hours every day, use those.

 

Good luck!

[studychinese]

Unconventional possibility - brain supplements for studying languages.

 

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/44564-brain-supplements/

[Gune]

 

You can use Anki for practicing writing,

I do use Anki whenever I can, some days I run out of time though:(

 

 

If your current level is good enough to write extended pieces of writing, you might also want to sign up for a website such as GoVoluble or Lang-8. The former is my new favourite toy and has a number of other functions aside from writing, though I guess some of the others are also covered by HelloTalk.

I am not yet at that level I'm afraid, for now all I can do is say things that are already in the book or modify them slightly through substitution.

 

Thanks everyone for your answers, I feel a bit better about it now! It's nice to have people to ask that are in the same situation, since I do self-study I didn't really have that option before!

 

Stefan.

[stapler]

Just from what I've seen on this forum it's becoming pretty clear to me that there really is no magic bullet to studying Chinese besides putting in lots of time. All the people here who I think have had great success have been people that spend hours each day speaking Chinese, the people who study multiple textbooks at once during a course and make it intensive, the people who sit down and spend hours watching and analysing movies. It's pretty hard to make a bad study plan. What kills Chinese students seems to be lack of discipline, consistency, and commitment. As long as you're doing a few hours a day it seems like you're doing okay.

 

I think maybe it was OneEye who said something about the Internet being filled with polyglots marketing all sorts of methods but in the end it's all just about the grind. He said it much more elegantly than I however haha.

 

Anyway you're definitely on the right track.

[Angelina]

What kills Chinese students seems to be lack of discipline, consistency, and commitment.

 

Depends. I have managed to learn some Chinese despite my lack of discipline. 

 

My suggestion is to have a study plan that works for you. We are not the same, what works for me might not work for you. Also, if you see you are not making much progress, feel free to modify your study plan. 

 

You can try to include exposure to the real language: when your girlfriend is watching a Chinese movie, join her; when she is reading something, try to look for the hanzi you are familiar with. You can try to talk to her family and friends, it's easier to practice the language if you have your circle of Chinese friends. 

 

Good luck Stefan (nice name)!

[mackie1402]

I wish I could get in 2-5-5 hours a day studying!

 

Personally, I think that's plenty of studying time. Take an intensive course at a University in China and they're usually 3.5 hours a day in a class of about 20 students.

 

I like the way you have seperated your lessons such as grammar on different days. I think this will help. On the grammar days I would reccommend learning the new grammar structure and writing a new list of sentences with that same grammar.

 

I agree with what Stapler said too, it's all about the grind. Sometimes I feel like I've spent more hours researchinh how to study Chinese and making new study plans than actually studying!

[Gune]

 

You can try to include exposure to the real language: when your girlfriend is watching a Chinese movie, join her; when she is reading something, try to look for the hanzi you are familiar with. You can try to talk to her family and friends, it's easier to practice the language if you have your circle of Chinese friends.

I do this too some days, although at my current level I can't recognize too much. "对不起！ HE SAID 对不起！ I KNOW THAT WORD!" etc.

[Gune]

 

I like the way you have seperated your lessons such as grammar on different days. I think this will help. On the grammar days I would reccommend learning the new grammar structure and writing a new list of sentences with that same grammar.

That's a good idea, to write some example sentences. I'll try that this week! Thanks!

[Angelina]

"对不起！ HE SAID 对不起！ I KNOW THAT WORD!" etc.

 

Great, try to build on that and one day you will realize you can speak Chinese. 

 

The problem with grammar books is that they usually teach through examples, without adequate explanations. Some exercises are made well, some not so well, and beginners can't tell the difference. Be careful not to start thinking Chinese is hard if you see a 'difficult' exercise. 

[Gune]

 

The problem with grammar books is that they usually teach through examples, without adequate explanations. Some exercises are made well, some not so well, and beginners can't tell the difference. Be careful not to start thinking Chinese is hard if you see a 'difficult' exercise.

Yea I know what you mean. Recently I tried to understand when to 了, but I got a little overwelmed and decided to wait with that for a while, the book had not gotten into explaining it yet anyway so it may be a bit too early to learn that still.

 

Also the NPCR teaches grammar a bit weird sometimes. It uses grammatical terms to explain parts of the grammar which can get a bit confusing, especially if English isn't your native language. Other than that it's a great book so far!

[Lu]

I do this too some days, although at my current level I can't recognize too much. "对不起！ HE SAID 对不起！ I KNOW THAT WORD!" etc.

Awesome feeling isn't it! I remember getting out of class one day (in Holland) and hearing two Chinese women talk to each other. One of them said something something 有没有, and I was so happy to understand it and to discover that this grammatical thing I had just learned the other week did indeed appear in actual Chinese.

[Gune]

 

Awesome feeling isn't it! I remember getting out of class one day (in Holland) and hearing two Chinese women talk to each other. One of them said something something 有没有, and I was so happy to understand it and to discover that this grammatical thing I had just learned the other week did indeed appear in actual Chinese.

Haha so true. When I started speaking Chinese I didn't think it sounded like Chinese at all actually. The Chinese I had heard before that was when my girlfriend spoke it and it sounded so non-logical and fast.

[OneEye]

I don't think I've ever been accused of being eloquent before. (I also don't remember saying that, but it does sound like the sort of thing I'd say)

 

It is true, though, that there's no shortcut. There are things you can do to make your learning more efficient, but it's going to take a lot of work no matter how you slice it. Looks like OP is headed down the right path.

[Gune]

 

t is true, though, that there's no shortcut. There are things you can do to make your learning more efficient, but it's going to take a lot of work no matter how you slice it. Looks like OP is headed down the right path.

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I knew going into this it'll be a lot of work. Just googling "Chinese self-study" will get you a bunch of people explaining why Chinese is so difficult. Unfortunately I think attitude like that may end up making some people not want to study it but at least it paints a picture of how much effort you gotta put into it.

[Shelley]

I think you are doing really well to get through one chapter of text and workbook in a week. It takes me 2 weeks and sometimes a few days more.

 

i start each lesson reading the text. Then I spend an hour or so inputting all the new words into Pleco, I start a new category for each lesson so my flashcard list is not huge and overwhelming. I can at anytime revise previous lessons.

 

I then review the new words in Pleco and then reread the text and using the notes and grammar points make sure i really understand the text. I then watch the video on YouTube and listen to the audio for the the text.

 

i then do the substitution exercises. I write these out completely for each substitution as I find this helps with writing and remembering the sentence patterns.

 

I then study the character structures and input the new words into Hanzi Grids and then print out the grid and spend some time practicing writing and use the grids in the text book.

 

I am alongside this also working my way through the different permutation of Pleco flashcards, some per day.

 

I then work through the workbook lesson listening to the audio and writing and reading. This takes a few days.

 

So I put in about 2 hours a day, I don't do it solidly for 2 hours, 20 mins here, 30 mins there, I find it get too intense all in one go.

 

I think you are doing well. I am on lesson 9.

 

 

[Gune]

 

I think you are doing really well to get through one chapter of text and workbook in a week. It takes me 2 weeks and sometimes a few days more.

I am actually thinking of making it 10 days per lesson instead of 7. 2 of the 7 days almost always takes ~5 hours, which does put a bit of a strain on me. And I am afraid I may end up not learning something I should have because I got stressed etc.

 

May look into those NPCR videos, thanks for the tip!

 

Stefan.