Why is it so hard to study spoken and written Chinese?

[Leiya]

 I have studied Basic Mandarin I & II in my college years, enrolled in a language school about 14 yrs ago, and this 2013 took a Basic Mandarin II again at Confucius Institute in my country.

Compared with Korean (I used to teach ESL with Koreans for almost 3 yrs.) characters. To those whom I have talked to watching movies, listening to Chinese music (mandarin) will help me.

But I really don't see any progress. Your thoughts in studying Chinese and your advice. Thanks!

[Hofmann]

It seems that you aren't satisfied with your progress from watching movies and listening to music. I don't expect you to make much. These things are useful to some extent, but if you've only studied for 2 years (in a college course, which is slower than self study) you won't be proficient enough for movies to be useful.

[Flickserve]

I remember first arriving in Hong Kong. Locals said you can pick up Cantonese by watching movies and people speaking to you. MASSIVE failure.

Progress improved a lot when I found a private tutor. I did try a group class after that because of the cost. Although meeting other learners was nice, progress was still unsatisfactorily slow.

[Shelley]

I recommend using a text book, start with no.1 and work steadily through the lessons. I use New Practical Chinese Reader (first version), its quite popular and has textbooks, workbooks, audio mp3s and video on YouTube.

 

IMHO to learn chinese you really need to follow a course, its no good dipping here and there with movies and conversation. All these things are good as extras to a well rounded, well paced course.

 

Have a look at my blog here http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/blog/108/entry-602-learning-schedule-for-npcr/

 

This shows how I use NPCR, you might find the rest of my blog useful to help you see what is out there to help you learn, it is by no means definitive but it is things I have used successfully.

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

[Leiya]

Flickserve - you bet! You know what I joined Toastmasters the Chinese group by they also speak English. Well it didn't help me.. I just got to meet Chinese people or part Chinese people. They did their speech in Chinese while I did mine in English. The only benefit I got was belonging to the only bilingual speech club in the country. I did not renew my membership thereafter.

 

Plus, the Filipino-Chinese people I know their dialect is Fujianwa or Fookien/Fukien coz' most of them came from Fujian province. Most Filipino-Chinese their ancestors origin was there. They are not fluent either, and some dont have an interest in learning Mandarin. I guess you dont really appreciate what you have. 

 

Shelley - Thanks I have that book thats the one we used at Confucius Institute. Wow is that you on the video. Thanks again

[Shelley]

What video? I am not on any videos.

 

Glad you have the book, now start using it If you do the lessons completely with all the work books and really spend time listening and speaking you should make progress.

 

You might like to try HelloChinese, it a great app for android or iOS, have a look here http://www.hellochinese.cc/

 

Its free, ad free and no in app purchases, try it.

 

 

[Leiya]

Shelley- Sorry I thought you were the woman on the video.

[Shelley]

I am still curious as to what video you thought I was in.

[Leiya]

Since thats your blog and youre a woman, I thought you were the woman in the video... funny me. 

[Shelley]

Oh, those videos, no they are nothing to do with me. I am not as young as that!!!

[crisgee]

@Leiya

 

Can you tell me about how you practice? With whom do you usually (try to) communicate in Chinese?

[Leiya]

Well, haven't really got someone to practice it with. Before I try to text in Chinese (pinyin through my phone--input the pinyin and it turns into Chinese characters) with a Filipino-Chinese friend but which is of no use also since he is not that fluent and Mandarin... and he even jokingly said that my Chinese is better than his.

[艾墨本]

As far as learning Chinese methodology goes, Olle Linge has your back at http://www.hackingchinese.com/

 

He also has a searchable resource collection: http://resources.hackingchinese.com/

 

He's got loads of informations on approaches to learning Chinese. I agree with the others, though. The idea that you can learn Chinese like a sponge just doesn't work, especially if your native in English. 

 

If your looking for someone to just deliver your to the Chinese gods, www.popupchinese.com offers a nice comprehensive program (especially if your willing to drop the big $$$)

[crisgee]

 

Well, haven't really got someone to practice it with. Before I try to text in Chinese (pinyin through my phone--input the pinyin and it turns into Chinese characters) with a Filipino-Chinese friend but which is of no use also since he is not that fluent and Mandarin... and he even jokingly said that my Chinese is better than his.

 

 

You'll have to find more actual Chinese-speaking humans to interact with! Language acquisition is dependent on real human communication.

[Leiya]

艾墨本 - Thanks for the the resources and links. 

Crisgee - Yeah I agree with what you're saying. It's I just wasted money because I studied mandarin here in the Philippines with no one to practice it with, so as time goes by what I have learned deteriorates. Well I was thinking that to really learn and apply a foreign language one must go to a country where people are native speakers. But that is impossible for me right now, or not practical (since I have a permanent job here). I was thinking if I would enroll again in a language school... if time will permit me. If I can't really be an expert in the language, maybe I should immerse myself more with Chinese studies (history,culture of the Chinese) Btw, I noticed your signature are you by chance Filipino or Filipino-Chinese? 

[calibre2001]

Try getting yourself an online conversation partner from China/ TW.

[GaoJinJie]

Here are a couple of things that I have found useful:

 

Written Chinese. It was mentioned earlier in this thread but grab a textbook and work through the chapters. A textbook will progressively introduce new words and will require you to read those words in texts. You'll find that each new chapter will include words that you've learned in previous chapters, so you'll be refreshing your knowledge and improving your reading all the time. 

 

Spoken Chinese. I am a big advocate of speaking from the start. The best way to improve your speaking and listening is to find someone who speak Chinese, speak to them, and make lots of mistakes! There might be a psychological barrier to overcome, so just make sure you find somebody that you're comfortable around and you won't feel so self-conscious.

 

Hope that helps!

[艾墨本]

If your looking for a way to practice speaking Chinese: www.italki.com is frequented by a lot of Chinese native speakers. I had language exchange partner from inner mongolia and another from taiwan for a few months. Both of them were great and helpful. Just jump around and don't feel bad about ignoring people if you don't feel your both gaining from the exchange. 

[Leiya]

  Thanks for the tips.

GaoJinJie - I am using a textbook - New Practical Chinese Reader I, this is what we used before at Confucius Institute I also discovered that there are videos on YouTube about the chapters on the book. Im also planning to buy the common Chinese characters poster for me to be familiarize with the Chinese characters. If I study again at Confucius Institute I'd be level 3 in Basic Mandarin but I still feel that my comprehension is poor. Maybe because I have no one to practice it with

[Shelley]

If you want something to help you practice speaking, reading, writing and listening you could try HelloChinese app for android or iOS.

 

It is free, ad free and in app purchase free.

 

Have a look here http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/49944-hellochinese-%E2%80%93-new-chinese-mandarin-learning-app-learn-chinese-speak-chinese/

 

I also have no one to practice with and have found this app very useful for making me open my mouth and speak