看得懂，听不懂
Huseng
June 12, 2011, 10:58 AM posted in General DiscussionFor a number of years now I've studied Chinese both in its modern form (Traditional and Simplified characters) as well as Classical Chinese.
The odd thing is that I can read a book in Chinese, but have problems reproducing the same vocabulary in speech. I also have poor listening comprehension. Even simple conversations. I download some dialogues here and listen to them first before looking at the dialogue. I don't really catch much, but then looking at the dialogue I understanding everything.
Is there anything else I need to do besides continual listening practice and conversation practice with my tutor, I wonder?
tingyun
June 12, 2011, 11:42 AMI'd suggest phrase by phrase speaking along with dialogues or tv shows. Let them say half a sentence, pause, then repeat back what they said. Then, after going through a bit like this, rewind and repeat the whole bit, you'll probably have almost total listening comprehension, as well as having practiced your speaking ability. I prefer this to memorizing certain passages, as you can cover alot more material, and I think this works your language organization ability better.
Running off to a trip to China pretty soon, so I won't be wasting time on the internet until I return (end of July) - so I apologize for dropping a message and then leaving the discussion, but I won't see any replies.
bodawei
June 12, 2011, 02:37 PM'repeat back what they said'
I do this while watching TV - I think it nearly drives my wife mad. :)
RCK
June 12, 2011, 11:34 AMHi Huseng,
I have the same problem. In fact I am pretty sure almost every language learner has the same problem!
Two things you can do:
1) Memorize passages/dialogues etc you like. It sounds tedious (and it is) but try to do one sentence a day. It adds up fast! When you go to speak with someone in Chinese pretty soon you will startle yourself at how you just grab clips from what you have memorized and spit them out like a native!
2) Watch more TV/Movies and listen to the radio. It is daunting, but it will improve your listening ability tenfold. Spend a lot more time listening to the dialogues on cpod than you do reading them. Make mixes of the dialogues with music so when you walk around you can always be studying but get to listen to music at the same time.
I really should follow my own advice more than I do!