Advanced level learning strategies

[davoosh]

Hello,

 

Since this forum is full of wonderful ideas and advice, as well as generating interesting discussions, I thought I'd ask here about any experiences or advice for advanced-level learning stategies and methods.

 

As a disclaimer, the language I currently consider myself 'advanced' in is not Chinese but it is still interesting to hear other's advice and opinions. I am at the stage where I can comfortably read a novel written for adults in the L2 without too much stopping and checking. Of course there are specific vocabulary items and the odd sentence which throw me, but in general I can keep up enough pace to enjoy the book. For listening, I am able to listen to the news and most shows without too much difficulty. I have never really stuck to textbooks, relying mainly on reading and listening native material a lot, I am also lucky to have a lot of exposure and opportunity to practice (which sadly isn't the case with my Chinese).

 

When people reach this level, or are near this level, do you still use textbooks, or do you find consuming native material is more effecient? Of course, text books are able to point out things you might otherwise miss and provide more structure, but 'real life' material is probably more challenging, and well, real. You also have the freedom to choose your own areas of interest this way. What type of text-books do you use?

 

 

[Guest realmayo]

I'm not that advanced. But recently I've found myself using textbooks very happily. These are mostly readers, with essays or stories that were written for native speakers and haven't been edited at all. But they are well-chosen, they have the trickier vocabulary bolded, and explained on the opposite page, and certain grammar patterns highlighted. I've got a similar series for reading newspapers too.

 

In terms of efficiency, they are much more efficient than just reading a novel. Each text will be of roughly similar difficulty, so there's no hassle of starting a book and realising it's too difficult. You don't have to choose what to read, you just do the next chapter and know it will be useful. You're not wasting time looking up words. You can easily find and come back to the same text a few weeks later for a quick re-read, which I think is helpful for reinforcing what you learned the first time.

 

I've also started using Listening Comprehension textbooks, with a 'teachers' book too which has a transcript. It's actually more difficult than listening to a random portion of real-life audio. But it's more efficient because you've got good quality audio and the transcript at your fingertips, and usually some of the vocabulary is given too.

 

Of course sometimes efficiency isn't the goal, you just want to add exposure, perhaps increase reading speed or just spend an hour or two listening to Chinese, and that's where reading a novel or watching TV comes in.

 

Then there's a middle ground, of creating your own material for yourself out of native materials. Say I want to be able to read news stories in Chinese about Syria: after reading a few I can take out specialised vocabulary, learn that, and then feel comfortable reading articles on the topic in the future, as more real life stuff happens and more news is published.

 

Or for listening, TV shows like 《锵锵三人行》 which have transcripts, I like to turn those into mp3s and loop sections of audio until I understand them.

 

The DIY approach means you can choose material that you're interested in, but textbooks mean that it's all hassle-free.

 

Personally, at the moment I think that as long as there are textbooks which aren't too easy for me, I should be using them, for intensive work. While continuing to read regular books and watch TV, for extensive work. Low on motivation? Real-word stuff. Low on time? Textbooks!

[somethingfunny]

davoosh, do you feel like your ability is lacking in any particular aspect?  Is there some part you want to improve in particular?  Personally I feel that if you don't have too much trouble watching TV (news, dramas, films) and reading (novels, newspapers, textbooks) then it's pretty much time to put your feet up and enjoy the good times, stopping every now and again to ask a native speaker to quickly explain something you're not familiar with.

[davoosh]

In my 'advanced' L2, speaking is probably the lowest of my abilities, but I'm not going to have much chance for regular speaking practice at the minute, so it's also low on my priorities. For Chinese, I'd like to improve every aspect ideally, but probably going to concentrate on reading - I like the sound of the textbooks realmayo mentioned, could you recommend any?

[Luxi]

I can recommend subtitling films or TV series in a Fan internet group/channel. It is easier than one thinks, especially with a good dictionary like Pleco, and is wonderful for vocabulary and pronunciation.

 

I use Viki.com, it has many Chinese and Taiwanese series and it's very easy to join in. Subtitling in Viki is done online, the software they use is quite user friendly. Other hosts use offline software and at least some offer some training, Most of the Chinese videos have Chinese subtitles already, I often translate from the subtitles rather than the audio.

 

It seems hard when one starts, but soon gets easier. As it's done in teams, there are always people able to help or fill in gaps.

 

I'm not very advanced and have few occasions to practice conversation in "real life" as opposed to on-line. Subtitling has helped me get back into Mandarin after many years of not practising. 

[RY101]

@realmayo

 

How are you turning 《锵锵三人行》into MP3 audios?

What particular program or website are you using to do this?

 

My preferred choice would be one that is Mac compatible and can be used in China without using VPN.

[耳耳语语]

@ronay yi

For the transcripts and MP3 of 锵锵三人行, check http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/10639-chinese-podcasts-w-transcripts/page-7#comment-265143

Remarks :

- Seems there are no more transcripts after August 2014 ?
- Form me, I just search the videos on youtube (with date) and turn it into MP3 with http://www.clipconverter.cc/fr/

[Geiko]

@耳耳語語 for transcripts of QQSRX after August 2014, read this post.

[Luxi]

Another TV program for advanced practice is CCTV1  < 焦点访谈 > (jiaodian fangtan), apparently one of Chinese TV most popular programs. I've seen the title translated as "Focus" or "Focus Interview"

 

It includes a huge number of short reports from news items or related, and covers a big variety of interesting topics, more on social issues than on political/military stuff or the "blame Japan" malarky.  The narration transcripts are in the lower part of the page, the interviews are subtitled in Chinese. I haven't been able to find any English translation of these videos. The video clips are only around 10-15 minutes or less, which is quite good for multiple repetitions and the topics are easy to vaguely understand if one follows Chinese news more or less regularly. 

 

This is its home page:  

http://cctv.cntv.cn/lm/jiaodianfangtan/index.shtml   

The video clips from this site are terminally slow to stream in Chrome. The new Edge browser seems to work better.

 

Here are at least couple of You Tube channels dedicated to it, probably more.   

https://www.youtube.com/user/jiaodianfangtan    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsZOE57UgfY    

They play a lot faster than the official site but lack the transcripts.

 

There is also a free app for IOS, Search for cntv 焦点访谈 in the Apple store. This is the easiest way for me to watch, the streams are smooth and the videos sharp and clear in the Ipad, but it may vary depending on where you are. I haven't tried to find a similar app for Android, there must be one.