Practicing different ways of saying the same thing

[suMMit]

I'm putting this under grammar, but its in the context of speaking where question it.

 

My teacher has a habit of asking me the same question or having me answer a question in multiple ways. This is could be with grammar that I am struggling with or just learning, or grammar that I'm very familiar with. I'm on the fence on whether it makes me stronger by getting used to multiple patterns or if its confusing me. I sometimes wonder if it would be better to have one pattern completely nailed before changing it up. Here are a couple examples from todays lesson:

 

小月打电话给方新了吗？
小月给方新打电话了吗？

(The second one is more natural for me. This is easy grammar I know, but somehow when speaking, throwing in the two proper names make it tougher than 我给你打电话。）

 

方新是什么时候开始上班的？
方新是什么时候开始到钱贵的公司上班的？

方新是什么时候开始到钱贵的公司去上班的？

 

 

[abcdefg]

 

Quote

My teacher has a habit of asking me the same question or having me answer a question in multiple ways. 

 

I think it is a good method of teaching, even though it used to frustrate me during my own early years. Otherwise, you wind up in a groove of just knowing one "formula" and will be thrown for a loop in the real world. 

 

Using different phrasing forces you to think fast and not just react automatically like a parrot. 

[道艺]

Right, if you aren't prepared for that, you will be shocked when you go out and hear:

你是哪里的

你是哪里人

你是哪个国家的

你来自哪里

你是哪个国家的人

你是（国籍）人吗？

你不是中国人

or

你的中文很好

你国语说得很好

你的中国话说的挺好的

你普通话不错

你的汉语很标准

I'm sure there are at least 20 more I'm forgetting

[889]

You should treasure a tutor who doesn't just stick to the book like a machine but puts a lot of work into creating pattern variations for you. The DeFrancis books are great, but require a teacher who uses the patterns as a starting point, then invents endless variations for your response, the more rapid the better. Like any kind of exercise: if you're not sweating when it's over you're not working hard enough.

[Nick Fisher]

I know it's frustrating. You want to feel like you're constantly moving forward, and learning one expression feels "faster" than learning three.

 

But this will definitely help you in the long term. Learning or mimicking specific phrases is fine for "travel Chinese" (like I would learn Spanish on the plane to Spain). But if you want to speak fluently, you need to internalize a whole range of expressions and understand what makes them unique, even when they're asking the same thing.

 

It takes longer in the short term, but will definitely help in the long term. Be patient. 

[Flickserve]

I don't think you need to learn how to say many combinations of the same thing. However knowing and understanding when someone says one of those combinations to you is the main point.

[suMMit]

Here are the sentences that broke my back the other day actually.  The 了 the 个 the 的 where to put the 多:?

 

tā xiān zuò le fēi jī ， rán hòu zuò le qì chē 。

她 先   坐  了 飞  机 ， 然  后  坐  了 汽 车  。

 

tā xiān zuò le shí ɡè duō xiǎo shí de fēi jī ， rán hòu zuò le liǎnɡ ɡè duō xiǎo shí de qì chē 。

她 先   坐  了 十  个 多  小   时  的 飞  机 ， 然  后  坐  了 两    个 多  小   时  的 汽 车  。

 

tā xiān zuò le shí ɡè xiǎo shí duō de fēi jī ， rán hòu zuò le liǎnɡ ɡè xiǎo shí duō de qì chē 。

她 先   坐  了 十  个 小   时  多  的 飞  机 ， 然  后  坐  了 两    个 小   时  多  的 汽 车  。

 

But, yes thanks for your replies. She's and amazing amazing teacher , so I don't like giving her any negative feedback and I couldn't decide if this was a positive or a negative. I agree with you and I will push through.