My 90 Day Mandarin Challenge

[roddy]

BREAKTHROUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kherith]

How can you speak Chinese so well after only a week ? I'm doubtful

[zander1]

Can I just ask which school you were at in Taiwan? Maybe I'm just being dense but can't seem to find it ... Would love to study with Fiona Tian.

[Flickserve]

I am really interested in the three month progress report. Especially as the OP is living in a Mandarin environment.

Hmm, as much as I would like to meet Fiona, I would have serious inadequacy issues rendering me speechless.

[Flickserve]

Three month progress report has been posted. Well done to Simon for persevering.

[abcdefg]

Not bad for three months, Simon. Congratulations!

 

Here's the link: http://www.dawnoftruth.com/speak-chinese-in-90-days-final-update/

 

Glad you have sorted through the vast array of possible hacks and assembled your personal customized tool kit. Glad you have formed study habits that will allow you to continue learning over the long haul. Your materials and methods may change over time, but you have a good place from which to start "The Long March."

 

So now it would probably be helpful for you to formulate a loose general strategy for building on your foundation. Perhaps call it your personal "Five Year Plan." Don't have to share it with us, but at least write it down someplace at home. (I've used a blackboard for this in years past. Put it on one wall where I would see it often. That way I could refine the wording as needed to more clearly convey the meaning.)

 

Well done!

[simon taiwan]

Hello everyone.

Yes the challenge is over but the study continues.

 

http://www.dawnoftruth.com/speak-chinese-in-90-days-final-update/

I am beginning another intensive study in January and just doing a little everyday until that begins.

It has given me a better foundation and much better idea about how to plan my studying approach when I begin again in January.

Hope the videos were at the very least a little entertaining.

For those who had a look and sat through them a big thanks.

Good luck everyone in your studies.

 

@abcdefg - Appreciate the info that is some good advice, the march begins

[AdamD]

Plus for some I could be a 10 year veteran and they would still want to sit me down go through my tones. So I think its just the way some people are here and also depends on the area.

As someone who made a point to work on tones from the beginning, and who is now a 15 year veteran, I never come across this issue in interactions with Chinese speakers (either from the mainland or Taiwan).

Sorry to leap into this thread so late. I've had the same experience as imron, in that I smashed the tones hard from day one and nobody has ever tried to sit me down and teach me. That's not to say my tones have always been stellar, but any confusion has come from my mispronunciation of specific words rather than an attempt to correct my fundamentals.

 

simon taiwan: Having looked at your site (congratulations on finishing the challenge, by the way!) it looks like you're aware of your tonal mistakes, which is great; it also looks like you've recognised that your awareness of your mistakes grows along with your knowledge. That's something I wish someone had told me when I started. You do get to the point where that self-perception dies down and you get a clearer perspective of your ability, but it can take years.

[Flickserve]

http://www.dawnoftruth.com/glossika-scheduler-speak-chinese-5-month-challenge/

 

Wonder how Simon got on after five months. It must have been tough.

 

I noticed that he seems to be a martial arts teacher in Taiwan. Wouldn't that help improve Chinese in trying to teach and interact in Chinese?