Not sure if you're learning enough?

[Joshmakesnoise]

Sorry in advance if I have posted in the wrong section.

 

I have been self studying mandarin for a year and a half now and still constantly feel that I am not making enough progress and that I should be better than what I am.

 

Does anyone else get this feeling?

 

For me I am okay with conversation mandarin and I can admit my typing and reading is a lot better than my spoken/listening.

 

I'm currently looking for some kind of inspirational podcasts to listen to and maybe find a way to get out of my non-studying rut that I've dug myself into.

 

I've been to casual on the whole learning mandarin for too long now and I think it's time to get some inspiration and start making progress.

 

Does anyone think maybe I should get a teacher maybe to push me along?

 

Thanks to anyone in advance who does reply.

 

Josh

[renzhe]

Does anyone else get this feeling?

Yes. Everybody.

If you're not following a textbook series, I'd recommend doing that. Even if you are rather advanced, it will give you some structure and sense of progress, and you typically do learn things.

If you're conversational, try to find a Mandarin corner and talk to people. Or a language exchange partner. There are things that only a lot of practice can solve. I'd recommend agreeing on a topic beforehand, and looking up some tricky vocabulary you might need ahead of time. Then take a notebook to jot down important things as they come up, so you can review them later and try again some other time.

[eion_padraig]

Josh,

 

A lot depends on where you are studying and what your goals are for learning Chinese. What is fast enough? What is too casual? Do you have opportunities to use the language in a useful way every day? Weekly? Monthly? I was studying for two years on my own with a weekend class back in the US before moving back to China two years ago. Coming back meant I had some many more opportunities to use the language in meaningful ways. There is really no comparison in how much I've learned back in China for these two years compared to those two years even though my time studying the language is about the same 5 - 8 hours per week. Have you set short term, medium term, and long term goals that are reasonable?

 

I find having teachers who I'm paying to teach me does motivate me to prepare for class and review the material following my meetings. Some people are not as motivated by that.

 

I do find my Chinese language learning involves times when my language skills plateau for a time (sometime long stretches) followed by fairly rapid improvement in a much short period of time. It's important to keep at it during the plateaus so that you'll get to the times where you language skills improve rapidly.

 

Good luck.

[Flickserve]

Self studying and getting to conversational level is very good!

The part about plateaus seems to be my experience as well. I did remember reading about it on the forum elsewhere.

I am concentrating on listening skills but soon have to go back to pronunciation. I am saying a lot of words which I half know and half guess. Of course it comes out rather wrong but sometimes understandable...

A teacher is good for the interaction.

[Shelley]

I think the thing about plateaus is common, I had a similar question and started a topic here http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/48254-whats-your-plateau-busting-advice/

 

There was some very good advice, have a read.

[Joshmakesnoise]

Thanks for all the replies, it's really so much appreciated.

 

I think I should jump into setting myself some realistic goals and maybe look for a teacher to get me on track. As I said I have been learning for a year and half and it's been an enjoyable experience and it just resulted in me getting a little lazy.

I have friends that study mandarin as a degree in which they have been studying 2 years and I am roughly the same level as them with reading, listening and speaking.

 

I guess after a year and a half I kind of feel I should be better and still not constantly asking questions about how to say certain things etc. However, this is the way of learning and if we don't ask we'll probably never know or find out the longer and harder way.

 

Since last night I started to look at some podcasts and practise some listening and writing a few flashcards to get me by. I also started to watch a 2 chinese shows which I enjoy.

 

So hopefully it can be onwards and upwards from here. That forever ending feeling of not learning enough is really soul destroying at times