How Do You Study ChinesePod?
jjcarson
August 28, 2008, 04:06 AM posted in General DiscussionI've started ChinesePod almost a month and a half ago. I'm still trying to figure out the best to study this material for me. However, it's almost always easier to take an idea from someone else and build off that instead of blinding trying things until it works.
What have you guys found to be effective ways to study Chinese using ChinesePod? What have you found to not work very well? What would you recommend to a Newbie like me? 谢谢 in advance.
jjcarson
August 28, 2008, 12:21 PMThank Auntie. I started off using Rosetta Stone before coming to ChinesePod, but I was finding myself only learning to read and didn't really pick up on the spoken stuff very well. I guess I could mix the two together. You are right; I was beginning to pick up on what was being said based on a couple characters or sequence of characters. I guess if I go to the intermediate level and pick out the things I know like you suggest, I'd get that same feeling where I kind of know what's going on. Thanks for the advice; I'll be sure to try it out.
auntie68
August 28, 2008, 12:59 PMJust try it. Don't worry too much about understanding anything, just listen (although you will probably notice words popping out here and there, as you get your ear tuned). The fact that the sentences are longer in Intermediate really does seem to make a real difference; it sort of gives you more time to train your ear to process the sounds of Chinese. I recommend "Getting Reimbursed" as a good place to start, John Pasden and Jenny did a really good job in that lesson.
andrew_c
August 28, 2008, 01:18 PMIn my opinion the most important thing in the beginning is to be able to distinguish and pronounce the various sounds of Mandarin. The most difficult ones for me were:
- zh vs. j
- ch vs. q
- x vs. sh
- ri (like in 日本 - Japan)
- n vs. ng at the end of certain words like in mingtian 明天
For me, I never found it useful to get used to sounds from material that was spoken fast, like Intermediate lessons, TV shows etc. I need to hear the nuances of each sound the first few times around, otherwise I never grasp them.
Therefore, as a beginner I would focus on listening to and reproducing words in the Audio Review, as well as the dialogue and expansion tab. They pronounce words very clearly and slowly. I find that this is done most effectively when following along with the Pinyin, which is in the PDF file for the vocabulary and dialogue sentences and in the HTML file produced by WLCP for the expansion sentences. When practicing sentences, it's extremely important to focus on the overall pronunciation of the sentence, and not the individual characters.
To pick up on the meaning of words and sentences for each lesson, the first place to start is to pay attention to the explanation of Ken and John. After that, when reviewing the vocabulary and sentences, I suggest paying attention to both the literal and idiomatic translation. Otherwise, if I only pay attention to the idiomatic translation it's hard for me to see the individual contribution of each character contribute to the overall idiomatic meaning. A literal and idiomatic understanding of each sentence, in my opinion, increases one's ability to think in Chinese
helenhelen
August 28, 2008, 08:14 PMIf you're on a premium account, the review and condence strategy could work for you. Try for a lesson a day, throwing the full complement of study tools at it, and repeating everthing aloud. After a few days, go somewhere nice with an mp3 player full of dialogues and 'fixes'. At the end of the month, go somewhere nicer, with the 30-odd dialogues.
auntie68
August 28, 2008, 04:39 AMHi. Helping your ear to get "tuned" to the sounds of Mandarin is very useful because means that you will get that much more out of anything you listen to.
Eg. instead of hearing a string of unintelligible sounds when you listen to a new podcast for the first time, you'll be able to zero in on the new vocab.
One way to achieve that is to start listening to Intermediate lessons, even if you are only a Newbie. Just listen to the sounds. I find that the longer, more complex sentences at that level tend to convey a better sense of the rhythms of the language, the intonation (not the same thing as tones, of course), which is what you need.
And it's a nice feeling when you start to recognize some of the high-frequency words -- eg. ni3, wo3, hao3de etc -- which you learned in the Newbie/ Elementary levels. In an intermediate lesson. For some users, this is a nice reminder that the language you are learning at Newbie/ Ele is just as real and valid as the language being taught at higher levels. Just be gentle with yourself, don't push yourself too hard, but by all means do try this tactic and see if it helps you.
Another piece of "advice" is to start exploring Chinese characters as soon as possible. For some people, granted, it is too much to handle, but for others (and that could be you), the visual clues in the characters actually make things easier, with a bit of practice and exposure, those visual cues/ clues can become like useful subtitles. I myself find it difficult to read chunks of text written only in hanyu pinyin, because there are so many homonyms.
Character recognition is actually quite a manageable goal, you may find it worth your while just to explore and see how it works for you. Don't get bogged down by the grind of actually learning to write the characters, which requires a considerable investment in terms of time and effort. There are nice pages explaining Chinese "stroke order" and "radicals" at zhongwen.com .
Hope this helps. Good luck!