Feedback on my study plan.

[Gune]

Hey again everyone, thanks for all the feedback! I have revised my schedule a bit since 1 week per lesson was a bit too stressful for me, even when spending 4 hours a day on it. The workbook lessons proved I didn't retain all I should have so I will now try studying 1 lesson per 2 weeks.

 

Here's the revised schedule, applicable for NPCR1.

Monday - Text + write all the new words once on paper.

Tuesday - Notes/Key sentences/Master the phrases/Pattern drills(NPCR chapter sections).

Wednesday - Rest.

Thursday - Read text without the use of pinyin. (Repeat and rewrite any characters/words that have been forgotten or hasn't stuck yet)

Friday - ChinesePod.

Saturday - Rest.
Sunday - Do all exercises until the "Grammar" section.

Monday - Do the grammar section and read til end of chapter.

Tuesday - Text without pinyin. (Repeat and rewrite any characters/words that have been forgotten or hasn't stuck yet)

Wednesday - Rest.

Thursday - Do half of the workbook chapter.

Friday - ChinesePod.

Saturday - Rest.
Sunday - Do the remaining half of the workbook chapter.

In addition to this. Write 6 characters per day from the new chapter while pronouncing them as I write them. 6 per day will cover all new words by the end of the 2 week period. Daily practice with Anki loaded with NPCR, set the new word limit to 6 to avoid words I have not yet learned from coming up.

Let me know what you guys think, anyone using NPCR feel free to try this as well.

One thing that helps me is to write my schedule on a piece of paper, and each day when I am done I put a little checkmark on it, may seem stupid but it helps me keep motivated.

 

PS. How do you guys feel with taking breaks from studying on certain days? In my case I'll still be doing Anki + writing down 6 new words on those days, but still.

 

Again, thanks for the help!
Stefan.

[xiaokaka]

I think it looks good, but I think it is better to not have any days off. Try to study a little every day (even weekends). It doesn't have too be much, but at least review some flashcards, and listen to some podcasts you've already listened to before or read a short text.

Lycka till! 加油！

[Gune]

 

I think it looks good, but I think it is better to not have any days off. Try to study a little every day (even weekends). It doesn't have too be much, but at least review some flashcards, and listen to some podcasts you've already listened to before or read a short text.

Ah yea, in my case I will still be doing Anki flashcards + writing down 6 more characters from the new lesson even on my "Rest" days. My week is also split into Chinese and Swedish days where my girlfriend and I alternate between using different languages at home, so hopefully that will be enough!

 

 

Lycka till! 加油！

Tackar! Detsamma detsamma!

[Shelley]

They say a change is as good as rest, so perhaps this is the way to go. Doing flashcards and writing is still doing some study so it won't be "lost" time.

 

You may want to do some more passive listening. I watch CCTV documentary channel usually for a few hours a day, this has a mixture of English and Chinese audio and subtitles, it is also usually interesting, I don't try to understand every word I hear, and I do use the subtitles but it is good just to hear Chinese being spoken, sort of tunes your ear. Depending on where you are and what you can get, it might be an idea to have some listening that is not part of your study but keeps your ear in as it were.

 

I don't have such a rigorous study routine as you do, I study for pleasure and have no time goals and I am not taking any exams so I study when I want through out the day fitting it in around daily life.

 

I think taking it bit easier will be better especially as the lesson progress in difficulty, you don't want to burn yourself out

 

 

 

 

[Gune]

 

You may want to do some more passive listening.

Good idea, I might try this out some more.

 

The reason I changed it is because Chinese was starting to feel like a chore, so I was afraid I might stop liking it entirely if I push on too hard.

We'll see how it goes!

[naijahusker]

"And I am afraid I may end up not learning something I should have because I got stressed etc."

 

I remember having this same mindset when I was just starting out (2yrs and 3 months ago) Trying to make sure I didn't' miss anything. You will miss, you will forget. But they will come around again. You will do well to relax, find a steady pace. Don't be afraid to switch and change if you get bored with something.

Some of the things I tried to force into my brain in the beginning it just wasn't ready for them. Some words, ideas, structures etc will stick first time you see them, others will not and may take weeks, months, years and many many times of encountering them for your brain to finally make sense of them. Your brain has it's own schedule, and it's own order learning things that it prefers. This is all going on subconsciously. Your job is to keep exposing it to Chinese and it will work it's magic and surprise you if you don't quit.  For example yesterday I was listening to a Chinesepod Upperintermediate podcast (which i can't believe I'm able to understand now) and they were explaining the meaning of the word 发愁 fachou. It means to worry or fret. As soon as I heard it, it sounded familiar and Bam! I knew it from watching Toy story in Chinese which I've seen many times.  I saw that movie for the first time about a year and half ago and this was the first time I'm consciously encountering that word in a different place. It is now stuck in my brain. I just finally learnt it. So keep at it and try to relax.

[Gune]

 

I remember having this same mindset when I was just starting out (2yrs and 3 months ago) Trying to make sure I didn't' miss anything. You will miss, you will forget. But they will come around again. You will do well to relax, find a steady pace. Don't be afraid to switch and change if you get bored with something.

Some of the things I tried to force into my brain in the beginning it just wasn't ready for them. Some words, ideas, structures etc will stick first time you see them, others will not and may take weeks, months, years and many many times of encountering them for your brain to finally make sense of them. Your brain has it's own schedule, and it's own order learning things that it prefers. This is all going on subconsciously. Your job is to keep exposing it to Chinese and it will work it's magic and surprise you if you don't quit.  For example yesterday I was listening to a Chinesepod Upperintermediate podcast (which i can't believe I'm able to understand now) and they were explaining the meaning of the word 发愁 fachou. It means to worry or fret. As soon as I heard it, it sounded familiar and Bam! I knew it from watching Toy story in Chinese which I've seen many times.  I saw that movie for the first time about a year and half ago and this was the first time I'm consciously encountering that word in a different place. It is now stuck in my brain. I just finally learnt it. So keep at it and try to relax.

Ah nice story! Thanks for the encouragement. Yes I agree with not being too worried, I try not to be. They way I see it, if I can't learn something in 2 weeks of studying, 3 weeks isn't gonna make it happen. So I just plan on studying everything to the best of my abilities and move onto the next lesson, no need to dwell on old things. I do wanna get pronounciation down early though, as that's something I can't really be lacking in.

 

Stefan.

[Jay]

@Gune I hope you don't mind. I'm going to steal your study plan and use it as I learn Chinese. I as a little lost as to where to go now (just finished learning pinyin and tones). Your plan looks great, can't wait to get started!

 

J.

[Gune]

 

@Gune I hope you don't mind. I'm going to steal your study plan and use it as I learn Chinese. I as a little lost as to where to go now (just finished learning pinyin and tones). Your plan looks great, can't wait to get started!

 

J.

Sure, go ahead!

 

There are 2 study plans in this thread, one for 1 lesson per week and another for 1 lesson per 2 weeks. I recently switched to a 1 lesson per 2 weeks due to me not being able to retain everything in just 1 week. So try it out and see what fits best!

 

Stefan.

[Jay]

Sweet. Yeah I'm going to try the 2 week plan, but with flashcard revision during the rest days. Thanks for this thread man!

[renzhe]

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.

I did the same thing you're doing with NPCR, but my vocabulary (and character knowledge) was more advanced than the lessons I was going through, so maybe switching to a 14-day schedule is a good idea.

One thing that helped me was to always go through each lesson twice. On Saturday, I would go over the last week's lesson, then I'd attack the new lesson on Sunday. This sort of continuous over-exposure is really helpful.

Two things that are important (I'll mention these because you seem to have a good plan sorted out already) are keeping up with it daily and not burning out. A little bit every day is better than binges on the weekend. Find a way to do a tiny little bit of listening or vocab revision every day, even if it's minimum, your brain will really work more efficiently that way.

You will know that you are going too fast if you start hating it. This will set in after a while, especially after the initial enthusiasm wears off. When that happens, find ways to spend more of your "Chinese time" doing fun things like watching videos, talking with people, or reading comics. And less stuff like flashcards, drills and the like. If you feel like you simply need more and can't get enough of Chinese, it's time to ramp it up again.

The Secret to Learning Chinese is finding a way to be productive over long periods of time (years) without burning out. If you manage to cover all bases (reading, listening, speaking, grammar) and keep chugging away, you will succeed.

[Gune]

 

I did the same thing you're doing with NPCR, but my vocabulary (and character knowledge) was more advanced than the lessons I was going through, so maybe switching to a 14-day schedule is a good idea.

Yea I started to dread having to study, so I slowed down. Now I do maybe 1.5-2 hours a day instead.

I go over the text and words about 3 times in that 2 week period instead of my earlier schedule where I only did it once a week, so hopefully I can retain more now.

 

And in regards to getting exposure, me and the girlfriend switch between Chinese and Swedish(What she's learning) depending on the day of week, so that helps as well!

[renzhe]

That's a good plan, we've had success with "Chinese Saturdays", it really forces you to get out of your comfort zone.

Just be careful, it does wear thin after a while. It helps to prepare in advance. Pick a topic, look up the vocabulary ahead of time, so when the time comes you can actually practice speaking instead of muttering and saying "这个那个" and waving your arms around, which is what inevitably happens 3 minutes after "Good morning, how was your day?"

[Gune]

 

Just be careful, it does wear thin after a while. It helps to prepare in advance. Pick a topic, look up the vocabulary ahead of time, so when the time comes you can actually practice speaking instead of muttering and saying "这个那个" and waving your arms around, which is what inevitably happens 3 minutes after "Good morning, how was your day?"

Hah very true. I don't know enough to have long meaningful conversations yet other than what I've seen in the book so I use those days as a mean to expand my vocabulary. "How do I say ... " - "What's the word for ... " etc. And then try to say it in a sentece, she corrects me if I'm wrong and I usually retain those phrases a lot better since I've used them in an actual conversation.