Embarassment...

[naruto494]

Well, i've been learning chinese for just under three years now and i'm completely hopeless at it. Maybe because i don't enough "drive" or maybe because i don't have enough "passion"...but now its really starting to get to me...yes i'm chinese and i can't speak my own language >.<...can anyone help please?

[gato]

Can you give us some background (the language you grew up with; how you've been studying; your current speaking/reading/listening level; etc)? What do you mean by "hopeless"?

[naruto494]

Okk lets see..backgroundd..

Well i grew up my entire life around cantonese speakers, but i mostly spoke english since my parents always spoke to me in it.

Around 2 years ago i started going to a chinese school where...its pretty humiliating for me since i'm in a class full of small kids. And adding to that, they speak as if they were natives T.T Before that, i was getting lessons at someones house...but it didnt prove too useful...

Welll chinese school is once a week...and yeh we get a considerable amount of work....but i have no idea of how i should practice my listening and speaking skills...usually when i speak at school...i have to repeat myself 3 times in chinese and if they still don't understand...in english

My reading isn't soo bad...but most of the time...i usually can't understand what i'm actually reading...

My listening well is preliminary in my opinion...sometimes...i have to pretend i understand in class just so i don't look like a fool >.< ...

Wellll yeh...thats pretty much how hopeless i am in chinese...i'm stuck...and i have no idea how i should get better...

[smalltownfart]

naruto, pls don't feel discouraged - it takes a while. I've been through

something similar.

Do you understand Cantonese? You didn't say if you were learning

Cantonese or Mandarin. I suggest you create other opportunities

to immerse yourself in Chinese. For example, see if you can

watch Chinese TV (TV dramas or comedies from HK, TW or the mainland)

on a regular basis ( either thru satellite, cable or downloads from bittorrent, eMule etc)

especially on things that interest you. It is easy to get hooked

You may also like to chk out Chinese music, music from mainland China has

been getting extremely interesting in the past decade, there is stuff to suit

any flavour. Seems like a lot of the kids over there grew up on Nirvana

If you make things fun for yourself, it will make it much easier to absorb and retain

info. An hour or so a week just from regular lessons will not be enough, IMO.

You might also like to try to force yourself speak to always

speak to your parents/relatives in Chinese, whenever possible.

[naruto494]

oh yehh....i'm learning mandarin...and thanks smallfart...i've been waiting for a reply for heappsss long ^ ^ neways . . . its just at the moment i want to study chinese but i'm too sure how . . . i like the TV part but can it really take me that far?

As in can it teach me anything . . .

[johnmck]

I have found that trying to speak a language is the best way to learn it. I am English and have been living in France for ten years. For the first five years I spoke at work and at home in English. I did study French and listened to French TV but I was hopeless at it, so every one at work insisted on speaking to me in English. Then five years ago I changed jobs for one that required I speak French, it was hell at the beginning but my French improved very quickly.

I know it is very difficult to force yourself to speak Chinese at home when you have always spoken to your parents in English, but it is the best way to learn. In England the Royal family have the rule that one speaks only French (English is forbidden) at the dinner table, this way they practise their French every day. I do this at home with my children (they are French so I insist they speak English at the dinner table). I suggest you try this rule as a start.

John.

PS. I have been studying Chinese now for over two years and I am still at the clueless stage, I still have some work to do before I reach hopeless ;) But I know with my experience learning French that eventually it will come, it is just a question of hanging in there.

[gato]

Naruto,

Try listening to Mandarin dialogs for practice (both pinyin and English are available):

http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/2432/more/2406/2406more_5.htm

More from Chinese learning material from China Radio International

http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/ce_chinese/

What books/CDs have you been using to learn Chinese? Maybe they're not right for you. It'd also help if you can find a native Mandarin-speaking conversation partner to practice with on a regular basis. Are you in school?

[naruto494]

thank you for the encouragementt ^^

Well anyways...in reply to gato...well yes i'm still in school...and the books we use are provided by the chinese school...i think they come from taiwan...andd well thats all i've really used at the moment...i'm not too sure what else i should use

[geek_frappa]

1. don't be embarrased.

2. it's not hopelessness. it's boredom. maybe we can skype and i can give you a few cantonese lessons... as long as you don't give up. keep your hopes up. you'll get better.

PM me if you're interested.

[outcast]

Well, i've been learning chinese for just under three years now and i'm completely hopeless at it. Maybe because i don't enough "drive" or maybe because i don't have enough "passion"...but now its really starting to get to me...yes i'm chinese and i can't speak my own language >.<...can anyone help please?

Why do you want to learn it? If the answer is "I don't know" or "Because it is my own language" or something like that, then that is why you are having so much trouble with it.

Chinese is not an easy language. You need to really want to do it in order to do it.

[wushijiao]

naruto- Keep up the hard work! It'll come around sooner or later.

Whenever I feel discouraged about my progress, I try to make micro-mini goals. For example, you could say, today my goal is to learn a) these 5 radicals B) work on Chapter 7 in my listening book for 20-30 minutes c) learn 20 news words d) spend 20 minutes writing characters....etc. Then at the end of the day, you can check off the things you did, and review the things you learned. This will hopefully give you a sense of achomplishment because you can verify your progress via these small steps.

[geek_frappa]

yes, yes, to them you must listen...

[tigerx9]

hey naruto494... that's probably the reason why u're finding it difficult to learn the language. u really need the interest and a reasonable amount of motivation to learn a language. cause alot of times u will need to study it and it can get repetitive at times, and there's no easy way around it. i agree with outcast that u need a certain amount of drive within yourself to get the results. i mean, u can listen to as much chinese as u want, or read and learn from as much textbook as u want, at the end of the day, u have to be able to feel it and give it 110% in terms of really understanding it inside, not just your mind, but with your heart as well. confidence and optimism helps too. i mean, if u just purely listen and study, etc, u'll still get a bit out of it. but if u want better results, then u must want it enough to really understand it inside. have some sort of focus or goal as to why u want to study chinese so much... i hope i make sense here and not getting too deep...

btw, have u ever travelled to chinese speaking places, e.g. china, hong kong, taiwan, singapore? the buzz of being immersed in a total chinese environment for a month is so so much more beneficial than a year's intense self-study from listening to radio or learning from textbook. and i know what ya mean about being stuck in a class with all these kids, they are so *evil*! heh heh... seriously though, if u go there for travels, i think u will find it fascinating and motivating enough to find the answers...