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Posted

I know a lot of Chinese and can hold conversations. The problem is that when I am speaking Chinese in real time, I forget grammar structure and words that I already know well. I think if I keep a diary and only write in Mandarin this will help me out a lot of recalling words and keeping flow in normal conversation. Is this a good method?

Posted

I have tried to do this 2 or 3 times , because it seems like a good way to practice talking about the past, telling stories of the days events, etc.  However, I have always got bored with it and haven't found a way for it to hold my attention. I also found it tricky to get it 'corrected'. Maybe going over the weeks diary entries with a teacher could be very worthwhile? 

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Posted

I think that keeping a diary is a good way to sort out the language organization. At the same time, I suggest that you need a teacher to help you revise the composition and point out the inappropriate parts. After such a long time of practice, you should make progress.

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Posted

From a language learning perspective, writing a diary is not to get things fixed but just to practice output. It is a good “fluency” exercise (as opposed to accuracy). It works well if you already enjoy writing a diary but don’t expect yourself to suddenly enjoy writing a diary in a new language if you don’t enjoy it in your first language. If you’re grammar is wrong, no problem. What you’ll probably find is that the process of thinking through what is right and wrong will prep your brain to notice details of grammar and language that you didn’t pick up on before. 

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Posted

On lang-8.com  you can submit journal entries for correction by native speakers. You correct their English or whatever and they correct your Chinese. I only tried it once, but I got feedback right away.

 

There is also a brand new service called Journaly at journaly.com which is a similar language community which uses journaling as language exchange. It was started by polyglot Robin Macpherson and I'm not sure whether it's free or a subscription service. 

 

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