Need help with my situation. What is the best way to utilize my one hour of studying Chinese per day?

[Ness]

For years I've been trying to study and learn Chinese as a second language. Unfortunately I've never been as dedicated to learning as I would have like to been. Hopefully this time it changes. What I know of Chinese is two semesters worth in college from a few years back, which isn't that much. I've studied various times on my own since then, but I only get so far before I start neglecting my study habits. Then I forget. I'm also learning traditional, not simplified.

With my situation now I've studied for about an hour for at least a month plus or so. Took me a while to get back to where I was where I usually fall off, but I've made it. After looking into alternate ways of study I think I found one of the issues I'm running into.

First off I don't really have a native level speaker with me to practice a lot. I'm living in Macau right now where there are a lot of people that speak Mandarin, but no one I know that I get to spend a lot of time with, but I do try to practice if I meet someone outside. I've also tried doing small communication things like ordering food with a little success at public places. I do like studying on my own though.

With my current situation I can usually spare one hour a day of dedicated study time. It used to be an hour and a half, but other priorities in life are taking up more time. I'm not sure how to best spend my hour of studying though. The biggest hurdle I'm having is writing memory. I've tried to just cram characters in my head, but I can only get so far before the total I can remember I start to forget how to write. I looked further into it and realized that the way I'm studying is really dumb. I was directed to Skritter, which I'm sure you've heard of it. Fortunately it has my textbook within it's database, and I'm using their SRS method to get back to learning the characters at the point in the book I stopped. Even so, I'm learning the characters, but I'm not really applying the characters in contextualized situations. Like reading paragraphs (which my books has with sample conversations). I really like that and find that it helps my reading memory (not so much my writing memory though). So I'm testing out Skritter for about a half hour. The other half hour the last few days I've tried either looking at the 100 most common radical list and/or tried testing out a new online program called Remembr.It Chinese. It's basically flashcards with an SRS setup designed to help your memory for recognition. Read a good review on it, and while it can help you remember a good amount of characters, it won't really help your writing memory or teach you words with the characters. It's a free trial though so I'm looking into it for a while. So that's my entire hour for now. Problem is I don't feel that is enough. I think I should study grammar points a lot more, because that is something else that is an issue for me as well. Grammar I don't understand. Even in my own language English.

Should I make a schedule and study a certain aspect of Chinese every second day? That is what I was thinking of doing. So grammar on Monday, and then character study on Tuesday, grammar on Wednesday, etc.

[abcdefg]

The biggest hurdle I'm having is writing memory.

 

Is being able to write the characters really that important to you? Since your time is limited, maybe you should give it a lower priority, behind being able to read and hold a practical, daily-life type conversation.

 

Macau is a difficult place for Chinese language learning in my opinion. I go there several times every year and always have trouble. Even if local people can talk Putonghua 国语, they don't know whether to use it with me even when I have used it to ask them a question.

 

It seems that they are shuffling the deck mentally, trying to decide between English, Cantonese and Putonghua. They have too many options. It's much easier on the China mainland where local people usually just speak Putonghua plus maybe a local dialect.

[Angelina]

It seems that they are shuffling the deck mentally, trying to decide between English, Cantonese and Putonghua

 

 

​and Portugese 

 

 

I remember I met some Portuguese people (from Portugal, not Macau) studying Mandarin in Beijing on a scholarship from the Macau government. The stipend they got was higher than the CSC. 

 

Have you considered full-time study? 

 

BTW Their Macau school was the Polytechnic. You can try to meet other people learning Mandarin there and practice speaking with them, or see if there are any books available. 

[Flickserve]

Wow, if I did an hour day of active studying, that would be good.

 

It's difficult to just 'talk' to people, especially in a language one has only an elementary grasp of.

 

Macau should have quite a lot of Mandarin speakers with various accents.

 

 

Have you looked at these threads? Some great detail on study process. One thing I should have done much earlier myself is to record and review my conversations.

 

 

 

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/43939-independent-chinese-study-review/

 

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/42254-ideas-wanted-how-would-you-improve-this-study-process-for-new-vocabsyntax-acquisition/

[Shelley]

I think you need to get a textbook and follow the lessons in your one hour of study. A good textbook/course should be well designed and cover writing, speaking, reading, and listening in the appropriate amounts and at the correct times.

 

Using a textbook would give structure to your study.

 

I would recommend New Practical Chinese Reader which I am sure is available in traditional, I know Book 2 is because I researched it.. But I would start with Book 1 if it is available.

 

I am actually using DeFrancis Beginning Chinese which is traditional, and although a bit dated is still considered a well paced and comprehensive course. If you can find a set of these they would be very good.

 

I also suggest you have a look at Pleco as a dictionary and for flash cards (requires smart phone or tablet) and if you have a device you might like HelloChinese, 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/

 

This is a great app for practising listening and speaking, and you learn grammar and there is character writing practice. Well worth a look, it is free and has no in app purchases  You can use this in the 10 minutes spare you might have here and there.

 

I think learning to write is a good idea and to do it as you learn from the beginning is in my opinion the best way to do it. Have a look at Hanzi Grids for pen and paper writing which is really good for developing "muscle memory".  Its free but well worth the small cost to enable further features. https://www.hanzigrids.com/

 

As for speaking, maybe try getting someone to chat with once a week or so, maybe put up a notice in your local store, and try some informal chatting. For more structured speaking perhaps think of getting a tutor.

 

Being able to do an hour a day is better than lots of hours in one go as a little and often is the best way.

 

If you are interested in more of the way I study and the study materials I use, have a look at my blog here http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/blog/108-my-chinese-learning-blog/

 

Hope your studies go well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[edelweis]

@Ness

I'm curious to know how you are getting on. Did you make changes to your daily study routine?