Daily Study Routine

[笨笨德]

Hey guys,

Having lived in Taiwan for over a year now, I realised I had become somewhat complacent in my studying, mainly because I reached a level where I can chat with friends and discuss and write about the topics I am interested in. However, I got caught out the other day when i was reading the newspaper and on one specific article I realised I couldnt even work out what it was about... 唉

So... I decided to start studying again like a madman again... which brings me to this post... whats you daily study routine? Here's what I get up to everyday....

1-2 hours in the morning using flashcard software to learn/review vocab. I look at the english, then write and pronounce the word. If I get a stroke/tone wrong, then I consider it wrong.

1 hour on reading and writing grammar and sentence patterns. I always spend this time writing stuff that Im not too sure about and try to get it marked and corrected by someone.

1 hour reading a novel which is a little above my current level, (adding new words to flashcard software as I go along)

1 hour studying chinese on those specific topics I can converse well in in English.

The rest of the day allocated to chinese, is just annoying my friends in conversation, watching TV etc...

I just wondered how many other people use this type of daily routine, Im sure most people find it very tedious and dry, but I dont seem to be able to learn chinese from conversation and passive reading. They only work as ways to consolidate information for me.

So what do you guys get up to, or did you get up to when u were still actively learning chinese?

[imron]

Normally with my studying, I'll use Chinese to study Chinese rather than English. So when learning new words I'll write down the Chinese meaning instead of the English one. If you're reading novels then your vocab is probably up to doing this. This is great way to consolidate existing vocab, however occasionally it means that you end up groping for the English word sometimes if translating.

[笨笨德]

yeah, good idea writting a chinese defination of the word... i was just in the habit of writting english... I think i will start to try this method out... cheers