How would it be easiest for YOU to practice?

mccorvic
 July 30, 2008, 01:36 PM posted in General Discussion

Do you use Skype or MSN?

Do you prefer to use voice or just type online?

What works for you and how do you want to practice? Practice makes perfect. 

I personally prefer skype and would love to voice chat with anyone!  I feel my largest weakness is oral/listening, so I'd really like to buff up on that.

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matthiask
 July 30, 2008, 01:49 PM

actually, typing is more useful to me, as I can do speaking at home ;-)

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daynah
 July 31, 2008, 01:58 AM

I, personally, think typing isn't that useful for my situation. Whatever way you go about it, you're typing pinyin and I'm learning characters.

On the other hand, my speaking skills are horrible. Unlike lucky matthiask, I don't have anyone but myself to talk to in Chinese at home. Do you have a Chinese speaker at the house? 

I prefer skype.

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nickcripps
 July 31, 2008, 05:35 AM

I prefer voice... I've done a lot of typing!

I'd love to practice my speaking too... here are my details:

nicholas.cripps (skype and g-mail)

nick_cripps@hotmail.com

 

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nicolenanjing
 November 07, 2008, 05:33 PM

I'm a native speaker. In my opinion, voice chat is the most useful way. Because the most difficulty is the 4 tunes in pronunciation. BTW, movies and songs are good teachers. You will make a great progress as long as you adhere to the practice a period of time.

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mark
 November 08, 2008, 07:16 AM

Voice practice is necessary, but I also have learned a lot by text messaging.  There are times when I can't afford the time and full concentration for a voice conversation, but slipping in a few text messages is convenient.  Also, it helps with learning the written language, and the additional think time allows me to carry on a more advanced conversation than I could by voice.

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aucaman
 December 05, 2008, 05:39 PM

Is Mark talking about cell phone text messages in Chinese? I don't have patience to do that in English, let alone using Chinese characters.

Voice practice is definitely necessary and I would love to try that. How does Skype work?