Independent study suggestions

[TheWind]

Hi everyone, 

 

I'm hoping to get some sound advice on how to properly independently study.

 

I'm familiar with many of the popular podcasts, and some apps like Pleco I will use too. But I just can't really figure out the way to go about studying or what I should be studying — it all becomes overwhelming and then I just don't study. Should I have some kind of study regimen? like a workout one? 

 

The worst part is, I'm in China! Unfortunately like many foreigners, I spend my time teaching English. All my Chinese friends moved away after college. So the only practical practice I get is when I use it in my English class to help translate, talking on WeChat with friends, and going to a store/restaurant/etc...

 

All help is appreciated. 

 

 

[Shelley]

I am in the UK and have taken some private lessons, evening classes at our local university, and now study on my own.

 

Today I start a another 6 week edX course here http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/50261-edx-basic-mandarin-chinese-course-level-2-starting/

 

I highly recommend using a textbook, in my blog I describe how I use my favourite textbook New Practical Chinese Reader.

 

I find a schedule works best but with a little wiggle room to allow for life. As I am studying for pleasure I don't have any deadlines or exams to take. This is one reason I like taking edX courses, it gives me some structure to my learning.

 

Have a look at my blog for the details http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/blog/108-my-chinese-learning-blog/

 

 

[Flickserve]

Follow the structure of a textbook. The information out there is too overwhelming otherwise.

I haven't tried the edx course but it sounds good.

[li3wei1]

We need to know what sort of level you're at to give you better advice. Beginners need different things from more advanced. Also, are you more interested in reading, talking, or a balanced approach?

[ChTTay]

If you're in China, I'd recommend trying to find a tutor to teach you one on one. It won't be very expensive.

Follow a good textbook. I used BOYA when I started but I know a lot of people like "Road to succss" for beginners/speaking.

You might also consider studying the HSK words for your level. Even if you don't want to take the test any time soon, a lot of words in there can be useful / frequently used or seen.

[TheWind]

li3wei1

 

 

We need to know what sort of level you're at to give you better advice. Beginners need different things from more advanced. Also, are you more interested in reading, talking, or a balanced approach?

 

 

 

Well I studied 1 year at  university in the Zhejiang province. The last 6 months, It has been self studying — I have plans to re-enter university next semester. 

 

Right now I guess I'm just focused on speaking, listening and reading in that order. My writing is not even on the same level and abilities are much worse. So I figure I'll just wait for university for that? 

 

I'd say I'm more of a beginner than anything, but I'm about a 3 as far as HSK level (This is just based off of the avg amount of the Pleco flash cards I remember)

 

[imron]

I agree with Flickserve.  At the moment you have no structure, so you do nothing.  Find something that has a structure and follow that.  A textbook is good.  Something like the edX course might also be useful.

[Flickserve]

From the original post, it sounds like the OP already has a little knowledge of Chinese but not enough to be called an intermediate learner. Maybe advanced beginner. Although going through a book sounds unappealing, with some background knowledge, you can go faster through the book and chapters. With each chapter finished, there is a sense of progression.

If listening to podcasts and narration, from my experience, it helps tune the ear to sounds and tones. For actual increase of listening skills, you need real life interaction, teachers and reading a variety of different readers.

[eion_padraig]

To start with it might be helpful to know why you're studying Chinese. Do you have short, medium, or long term goals associated with learning the language? Since you've studied formally in university I'm guessing it's more than a hobby for you. I'd say those may be ways to guide your learning. My study of the language has been to help me get by in China easier, to be able to make Chinese speaking friends, and as a hobby to engage my mind so there's not much form or focus to my studies.

 

Below are a few things that helped me a lot.

 

Though you prioritized it last, I found Graded Readers helped me quite a bit with reading. The Chinese Breeze series might be a good place to start, though you might be most appropriate for their level 3 books. They're easy to find in China, on Taobao, if you can't find them in a local bookstore. They each come with a CD that you can use to practice listening too. They are listed at 16 RMB, but you could probably find them for even less.

 

I have also used the FLTRP Graded Readers - Reading China. They're formatted more in a textbook form with a short article, language points, and exercises. It also comes with a CD of the short passages for listening practice. They run about 40 RMB each as well.

 

The Graded Reader series that I'm using now is Graded Chinese Reader: Selected Abridged Chinese Contemporary Short Stories from  Singolingua. They also come with CD's of the stories. Again, they are about 40 RMB each. They have a 500 word, 1000 word, 1200 word, 1500 word, 2000 word, 2500 word, and 3000 word versions depending on your level.

 

Also I think tutors can be very helpful and you should be able to hire a tutor for not much money. I pay 125 RMB an hour and that's in Guangzhou. I suspect there are smaller cities where you could hire someone for 75 RMB an hour. I recommend graduate students studying teaching Chinese as a pretty good option for quality/price as they usually want experience. Having to prepare for a meeting with a tutor has been pretty good for motivating me. My current tutor has a program she has made/appropriated that is topic based around daily needs (getting a hair cut, shopping, dating, etc). We use that sometimes, but I regularly bring her min-topics I want to discuss or grammar points I'm interested in learning about.

 

Honestly, making new Chinese friends whose English (I'm figuring it's your native language) is worse than your Chinese level is a good tactic. I've starting spending a lot more time with Chinese friends who either don't speak English at all or who have very low level skills. When there is something I want to be able say, but I can't articulate well I take it back to my tutor. I have a notebook that I carry around with things I want to discuss later.

 

I've used the WeChat option Find People Nearby to chat with people in Chinese sometimes when I'm bored. This has helped my reading and writing (not handwriting though) a lot.

 

Within the last year and a half, my Chinese level has improved tremendously to the point that I'm starting to reconsider watching or listening to tv/radio shows as a way to improve my reading.

 

Traveling with China has often allowed me to solidify language skills and forces me into new situations where I use my language skills. If you have the time and money, it can be a great way to force you to grow in your language use.

 

Good luck.

[H.Beno]

Hello,

 

I personnaly surrounded myself with Chinese : Post-it With words, post it with characters, listening to chinese music + watching chinese movie , ads and random videos in Youku.
I believe listening is the most powerful tool to learn a langage. I persisted in doing so, don't really caring about pronoucing well, and then I started to get it well

 

Regards

[TheWind]

imron

Posted Today, 02:02 AM

I agree with Flickserve.  At the moment you have no structure, so you do nothing.  Find something that has a structure and follow that.  A textbook is good.  Something like the edX course might also be useful.

 

Did you have any suggestions as for structure? I guess when I hear you say this I think to myself like...

monday:

read 5 pages in Chinese

Vocab flash cards

 

Tuesday:

Write hanzi

and so on and so forth.

 

As far as textbooks go, I hear new New Practical Chinese Reader is a good series. So do you mean like 1 chapter a week or something? Because I feel like I should be doing more than just following a text book.  I don't know, maybe I expect to much from myself. 

 

[roddy]

You probably should be doing more than following a textbook - but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be following a textbook. The textbook gives you a backbone, it makes sure you don't miss out any major grammar points, and it relieves you of the really rather massive issue of what to study next. 

 

By all means diverge from it. Chapter on 把 confusing and boring - look online for something more interesting. Listening based on dull and out of date news report from 1996 - go turn on CCTV and get a dull and up to date one. Instructions to discuss festivals in your home country with classmates tedious beyond belief - phone up your classmates and see if they want a beer. My further thoughts on this are here.

 

You could even just use it as the outline of a syllabus. Ok, next chapter is on possessive 的 - you go and spend however long with online resources and whatever you have handy. Then you come back and do the exercises and see how effective that was. 

[imron]

Did you have any suggestions as for structure? I guess when I hear you say this I think to myself like...

monday:

read 5 pages in Chinese

Vocab flash cards

 

Tuesday:

Write hanzi

and so on and so forth.

That's a study schedule, but it's not what I was referring to by structure.

 

Read which 5 pages?

Write which hanzi?

 

This is the problem you have - and there are so many options that you are overwhelmed.

 

A text book series gives you a clear, structured path forward so you don't need to think about this.  You just slowly keep making your way through it (stopping every now and then to go back and revise), and supplement it with other material (podcasts, graded readers etc) as needed.

 

 

 

or what I should be studying — it all becomes overwhelming and then I just don't study

Hence the beauty of the textbook.  Just study the next page, then the next chapter and so on until you finish.  What to study next has already been organised and arranged for you.  Everything in there you'll need to know eventually (assuming you want a decent level of Chinese) so it's just a matter of knuckling down and doing it.