The 2019 Aims and Objectives Progress Topic

[imron]

4 hours ago, Geiko said:

As I said back then, I'm experiencing a lack of motivation in studying Chinese

As I like to say - habits are more important than motivation.  They'll keep you going even when motivation wanes.

[∞保罗∞]

Hi guys quick update.

 

Want to write a bigger update about my time in Taiwan and Shanghai this year but will use Chinese and need some time to put it together.

 

I've been studying HSK 4 for the last 6-7 months at this stage and I think alot of it is becoming fairly active, because i'm not really rushing it and still haven't finished the HSK4b 课本 . I did a HSK 4 mock exam today and got 93/100 in audio (may have been a fluke - did second paper shortly afterwards - just the audio secton and only got 73.5/100 - assuming you get 2.5m per question., reading section got about 70/100 and writing 5/10 of the rearrange the sentences 86-95 questions). Not quite sure how to score the last 5 sentences so honestly don't know if this would have got a passing grade. I'm fairly confident I can pass this paper shortly, after more mock exam practice.

 

Listening to the audio over the last couple of months on the way to and from work has made a difference and I'm going to start now with HSK 5 audio. Watching literally tons of Chinese TV series, but reading lagging behind listening. Plan to start reading the mandarin companion readers to my son each night before bed and hoping the outlier linguistics course will help with writing.

 

My original goal was to do an insane amount per week, in reality it worked out more like 3 hours per day (except at weekends - when I can normally fit 3-5 hours - some of it structured but alot of it just watching chinese tv shows etc.).

[Tomsima]

Half year update time for me too:

 

Goal 1: Watch 新聞聯播 every single day of 2019. To date, 100% on this goal, but I after day 74 of 新聞聯播 I was really not learning much beyond 一帶一路 every. single. day. So I switched to 國際財經報道 (also part of CCTV news), the content is much more varied and more importantly faaar more interesting. I've been watching this every day for the last few months. Listening ability has improved massively. Very happy!

 

Goal 2: 30 mins Chinese cursive practice every day. Also 100%. But 30 mins has turned into a good 1 1/2 hours every evening before bed now. This has unexpectedly become my obsessive hobby, love it so much. I've learnt so much in researching and compiling information, images, books, databases, you name it. I can now read a lot of inscriptions on painting, and can now read pretty much the whole of 書譜 in its original form. Again, really happy!

 

 

(stats from my anki deck for learning 草書, it says 60 hours, 24.5mins/day, but thats a bit of an understatement, as it sits on the edit screen for another additional hour or so as I edit each entry. Im using the Heisig order for learning characters, as it nicely builds up your knowledge of shortcuts, so that by the time you reach complex characters, 7 or 8 times out of 10 you can guess how to write it correctly even if you've never seen the supercursive form before)

 

(^ regular handwriting, speed fairly average, this is a page of me writing out an essay from 思想與社會 that I've learnt by heart. Not pretty, just trying to build speed.)

 

 

(^ what learning how to write looks like, slow speed, again, very ugly to look at, but its not about looks, its about getting that muscle memory drilled in)

 

 

(^ the latest entry from today. You can see in the middle some Hiragana. Yes, Im finally beginning to learn some basic Japanese in order to access some great resources on 草書 and 書法 in general. Luckily the Hiragana forms are proving pretty easy to learn, as theyre all based on 草書 anyway. Thanks to @Gharial for recommending some great books on this!)

All in all, my two goals have served me well. Cant wait for what the next six months may bring!

 

[querido]

I'm in serious mental decline. 

-Did language studies slow the progression, as the news article from 2007 (which got me started on Chinese) suggested? I'll never know. I guess the sitting negated some of the benefit.

-A major hobby during this period was ping pong, and it helped me make Chinese friends too. The physical activity and social engagement were probably helpful but I quit playing about a year ago and I'm really feeling it, and so resolve to start again.

-Now, I suddenly started playing guitar again for the first time in decades, bass this time (only four strings). I intend to learn music theory on this, *this time*, which should also be helpful.

 

So, its Cantonese, ping pong, and music theory. I intend to restart all three now. Wish me luck.

[Tomsima]

8 minutes ago, querido said:

Wish me luck.

Good luck! Look forward to hearing how you get on. Music theory is such a massive barrier to getting into musical instruments for me, so massive respect!

[querido]

Thank you.

Oh, you can make a lot of convincing noise and even be a pro without knowing any theory, depending on the instrument and genre, so don't let that stop you. (But I admit that growing up in the '60s - and so having those noises ingrained - was helpful in this regard.)

[murrayjames]

4 minutes ago, querido said:

Now, I suddenly started playing guitar again for the first time in decades, bass this time (only four strings). I intend to learn music theory on this, *this time*, which should also be helpful.

 

By music theory, do you mean learning to read staff notation, learning the elements of music (melody, harmony, etc.), or learning bass from a method book? If you mean one of the first two things, consider Understanding Basic Music Theory by Catherine Schmidt-Jones. It's the best entry-level online music theory textbook I've seen.

 

https://cnx.org/contents/KtdLe6cv@3.74:_GmJ4ENa@7/Understanding-Basic-Music-Theory-Course-Introduction

 

Two tips for learning a music instrument:

1. Find a teacher when starting out. They will introduce you to basic fingerings, the role of the bass, how to get a halfway decent sound, tuning, etc.
2. Practice every day.

[querido]

To murrayjames:

Thank you for that recommendation and link. Looking at the table of contents at that link, yes, that's the beginning of it.

By "music theory" I meant a lot of things, beginning with memorizing my way around the instrument.

Later, I would like to write (and thus keep, and master) anything that sounds good to me.

[∞保罗∞]

This came up on wechat yesterday (June 30th). I think it applies to everyone following this thread trying to get shit done this year...today is the first day of the second half of the year.

 

 

过完今天， 这周就结束了

过完今天，这个月就结束了

过完今天，上半年就结束了

下半年， 继续努力！！！！

 

辛苦您们了, 加油。

[murrayjames]

On 1/6/2019 at 9:47 AM, murrayjames said:

I resolve to read one million or more Chinese characters in books and articles in 2019.

 

UPDATE TIME:

 

I have read over 500,000 characters in books and articles this year. I am halfway through a long book that will bring me close to my million-character goal. Confident I will make it to a million by the end of the year.

 

I keep a blog on Chinese Forums to chronicle my progress and review the books I read: One Million Characters blog

[Weyland]

On 12/31/2018 at 8:01 PM, Tomsima said:

be able to write confidently and fluently using 草書

Do you have any study resources you could recommend? Or is it just limited to Anki? Surely there must be books for Chinese teachers to learn proper handwriting when writing on a blackboard.
 

 

On 1/1/2019 at 12:57 AM, anonymoose said:

I'm a regular on HelloTalk

Message me on @me_archie 

 

On 1/1/2019 at 2:00 AM, Shelley said:

Make Tofu part of my regular routine.

The food? 

[Weyland]

Excluding Golden Week there are still 100 days left till 2020.

My plans for the remainder of the year： 

Studying Chinese
Pronunciation - Use the 普通话学习 app to learn the fundamentals of Chinese pronunciation. Finishing up at least the 必须声母练习, 韵母实战练习 and 备考声调练习 chapters in the 基础学习 section. And start practicing tongue twisters.
Writing - Finish up the rest of my Chinese Grammar dictionary. 10 pages a day. Read it over twice. Start reviewing my "useful" vocabulary, review the contents of HSK6 in 24 words a day chunks. 
Listening - Start listening to "每天读点故事“s' app audio books/stories instead of English podcasts when I'm partaking in mindless busywork such as folding clothes and cooking dinner.
Media Consumption - Stop reading Chinese non-fiction, especially political pro-CPC works. I don't like watching TV programs or movies because of the speed, but it's essential for understanding social ques. 
HSK - Maybe retake the exam, the written one this time. Last time I only barely passed it. Though, depends on my future employer and whether they think it's necessary.

Exercise + Food + Sleep
Burn 600,000 calories. Watch 3 episodes of whichever Chinese series per day while on my exercise bike. 
Cook. 
Sleep for (hopefully) at least 4 hours a day without requiring the use of medication. If I'm not content with my progress throughout the day my body will keep me awake for days if it has to.


Maybe get a job. But, probably not. Depends on whether relinquishing the nationality I previously entered China with resets the employment history.

Update (27.09.2019) Well, the same day I posted this I started developing a ear infection. Now on morphine for pain relief. Will take another week before I can get back to business. 

[Shelley]

10 hours ago, Weyland said:

On 1/1/2019 at 1:00 AM, Shelley said:

Make Tofu part of my regular routine.

The food? 

 

Haha no, Tofu Learn, its a character learning app. Its free and excellent.

 

More info here  https://www.tofulearn.com/

[Weyland]

On 9/17/2019 at 2:00 PM, Shelley said:

As I don't do any of these things it really isn't worth my while. I never eat out, have no chinese friends and no friends on wechat. I don't buy ebooks or apps.

I'm just asking it here, to not hijack the other discussion. 

If you don't have Chinese friends, don't have anyone on WeChat (meaning, supposedly, that you never use your Chinese). Don't use (assuming here) Chinese apps or buy books. Don't enjoy eating out in Chinese restaurants. 

Then my next question should be obvious; Why study Chinese? You've been on these forums for 10 years by now, made close to 5000 posts and ... I'm not judging you. Honestly baffled by the answer you gave me. A certain frustration beset me just now, as studying Chinese over these 10 years without making a single Chinese friend; to me is the antithesis of why I started studying Chinese. Do you use it to order parts for business from China? Do you really like watching Chinese series about ancient China. Or..? Please do tell me, if you wouldn't mind. 

[Shelley]

It might be helpful if you have a read of my post on the Why Chinese topic here https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/43982-why-chinese/page/2/

 

The short version is - it is my passion. I appreciate chinese characters from an artistic point of view and linguistic. The fact that with practice you can read 8000 year old texts. I like the continuity this must have brought the chinese people.

 

I was born in Montreal, Canada and had to learn French, my mother was bilingual in German and English ( she did simultaneous translations at the UN in the 50's) as I wanted to learn another language I felt another european romance language or germanic one would be a bit boring so I decided to have a look further afield. My grandfather on my mother's side was a language professor who could read,write and speak 7 languages and read and write another 7, he was at the university of Bonn between the wars (this is why my mother spoke two languages) and as he was Arabic/Greek I thought about Arabic, but I was drawn to Chinese characters and have ever since been absorbed in learning chinese.

 

I don't believe you need a purpose to learn a language - just a passion will do. 

 

P.S. I have actually been studying on and off for 35 years. I have attended University classes, private lessons for years achieved a diploma at 2a level at the university but mostly studied on my own. Exams are not the end off everything, I don't mind just plodding along enjoying my learning.

 

 

[Weyland]

3 minutes ago, Shelley said:

It might be helpful if you have a read of my post on the Why Chinese topic here

I haven't visited all the entire forum yet, and have yet to figure out how to see someone's entire activity/threads. 

 

4 minutes ago, Shelley said:

I don't believe you need a purpose to learn a language - just a passion will do. 

 

5 minutes ago, Shelley said:

The fact that with practice you can read 8000 year old texts.

Ahh, I see! You view Chinese the same in the way someone who studies Ancient Egyptian/Latin does of their respective language studies. Although those language scholars would be more than delighted if they found someone speaking Ancient Egyptian in their native tongue, though for you it doesn't really matter as you're not in it to communicate with other people. Am I saying that right?

[道艺]

This year I did my first online class teaching two middle-aged Chinese office workers English (from zero) using Chinese. It was really fun for me. I'd like to pick up another consistent gig that requires me to speak Chinese to perform the task. 

 

My current job is an integrated middle school. Some staff have working professional English, and some....don't. This means all meetings, emails, and school announcements are 100% in Chinese (to my 外教 collegaues' dismay). I want to more regularly attend meetings and read every email sent to us. This might be a pipedream, though, as the other day they sent a 10-page long document about fire hazards and safety procedures, and I just didn't have a single desire to keep translating those extremely subject-specific characters after page 4.

 

My last goal is public speaking! I was asked to host our schools' 教师节 ceremony along with three other 中教. Again, 98% of staff are Chinese, and only a small handful have good enough English. This meant that the show was all in Chinese, including my script. The first time going on stage, holding my little card with 汉字 on it (with a few tone markings scattered throughout) in my left and, and the microphone in my right, endlessly shaking from the nerves of seeing hundreds of staff awaiting this 老外 to open his mouth and speak 国语. After getting through a few rough lines, it felt really exhilerating to pull it off. I'm dying to get on stage and do it again! If I could do one more before the end of the year, I'd be happy.

[Shelley]

I didn't expect you to have visited the entire forum, I doubt if thats possible in one person's' lifetime 

 

Yes you have got it sort of right, but I don't regard it as dead language,  I do hope to speak to people, but where I am it probably won't happen.

[道艺]

12 minutes ago, Shelley said:

where I am it probably won't happen.

Where are you in the world that doesn't have Chinese people?!

[roddy]

On 2/4/2019 at 4:11 PM, roddy said:

I am trying to get my running at least back to where it was after a couple of lazy years. Aiming for 3 times a week and 1,000 km - modest, but much better than I've done the last two years.

Nailing it. At 936 km for the year, on course for 1300+ km, been running 4 times a week for the last 6 months and getting PBs for 5k and below. Less consistent on other goals, but still doing fairly well.