Grammar Patterns

rambobender
 July 08, 2011, 12:33 PM posted in General Discussion

Hi,

I'm a new subscriber to ChinesePod, so I wanted to ask people for advice on how to use the service better. So far, I've been listening to the advanced lessons, and while I find that they often include vocabulary I don't know, the basic format of dialogue generally means that the grammar used is beginner or intermediate level at best. As a result, the dialogues turn out not to be particularly good practice for listening comprehension--they just become ways of learning and remembering new words. But they are of little help in learning to understand and formulate the kinds of complicated sentences that are used in actual Chinese conversation to express complex ideas. Previously I attended a Chinese program in Beijing that gave its students listening materials that were for their third-year course far advanced of what is offered in ChinesePod's advanced section.

So my question is, is there a higher level of difficulty than "advanced" on this site? Or if not, can I suggest that in the future advanced lessons begin to incorporate more complicated grammar patterns and longer sentences?

Sorry if this is a question that is easily answered or has been answered previously. I only have access to the internet very sporadically, and haven't had the time to do a comprehensive search of the site.

 

Thanks,

Luke

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babyeggplant
 July 08, 2011, 03:40 PM

Have you checked out the media lessons?

Also, do you have an example of these "complicated sentences that are used in actual Chinese conversation to express complex ideas"?

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zhoudage
 July 08, 2011, 05:44 PM

I'm also a bit confused by these "complicated sentences that are used in actual Chinese conversation to express complex ideas". I've been living in China for three years and with a Chinese family for two and a half. I don't notice much difference between the advanced lessons and the conversations I hear and have everyday.

If what you really mean is stuff like newscasts or 相声 or other more culture dependant/higher register forms of speach then I would second babyeggplant's suggestion and check out the media lessons.

Lastly, I'm not sure there is such a thing as "advanced" grammar in terms of conversational Chinese. If you're talking about literature then certainly. But I find conversational Chinese to be very light and fluid in terms of grammar. There really aren't too many rules or structures or exceptions to rules that must be learned in order to hold high level conversations that I can see.