Drafting a new personal study scheme...

Hello, guess I would take a moment to list the work that I have done, and what I am trying now...

Up until last week I was focusing on the reading of chinese characters, so therefore my study consisted of two means

- The study of 15 new words and word combination characters each day using flashcards

- The study of 1 or 2 podcasts each day.

Using this approach, I found that my reading far outpaced my speaking ability. The speaking is much more difficult for me, so therefore less enjoyable. I know that I probably should have done more work, but I also didnt want to burn myself out on chinese learning. The reading seemed to catch on quicker than speaking, and I like how I am able to read some of the dialogues now.

My new approach is as follows as I have to scale back on account of increased demands in other areas of my life.

- scaling back from 15 to 10 new terms each day (might have to cut to 5).

- continue 1 to 2 podcasts per day

- do some writing of characters that I have learned

- practicing memorization of the pinyin chart, I should have it mastered in about 3 months.

there are English edition 红楼梦，you can read chinese 红楼梦 after you read English edition. thus you can understand it much easyer.

loveu,
it is almost impossible, but in a concerted group effort with one sentence at a time and lots of input from advanced students it kind of goes - and it helps immensely. Here you go.

You are reading 红楼梦？It is hard for most natives too.I have read it 3 times, but just understood part of it.

dozeedoats,
33 months...

Henning, you've come a long way in six months. Hats off to you (and CP). I've maybe gone from intermediate to upper intermediate in about as much time.

Henning, you have someone to practise with at least!

I think most of the Chinese I hear around is Cantonese. Though I did eavesdrop on some Mandarin-speaking people on the train discussing whether I looked Italian or not. That was amusing.

ah;thanks mate.Wasn't meaning to pry.I meant to clarify that the reason I asked was that EnglishPod had a conference where 20 Poddies had a live video Conference practicing their English with the hosts about a month ago ,and Marco from EnglishPod mentioned something about a similar thing on CPod but I never saw any mention of it here.Perhaps it was invite only for the higher levels or something or hasn't happened yet.I dunno.Just curious ,because my levels not high enough anyway,but it may have been something to aim at in the future.

babardwan,
no it was an IS research conference in the US with a big share of German collegues, but I also met Chinese there (usually employed by US universities).

henning,

I'm interested in your mention of conference.Was that something personal,or was it something related to CPod?

I started with CPod April 2006 at an Lower Intermediate / Upper Elementary level and it has been my primary ressource although I have complemented it with others in the last 6 months. I can roughly follow most of the Advanced lessons on first hearing, but need to work through them afterwards to capture many of the details.

On the conference last week I was able to conduct both reasonable professional and personal conversations in Chinese. Not always with full fluency, sometimes looking for words, and making obvious mistakes, but it worked. And unlike last year the conversation partners did not attempt to switch to English.

I still have lots to do and I know my weaknesses. But that was really motivating and showed me that yes, it can be done.

Sebire,

Good question. We are the guinea pigs. Ask me again in 3 years.

I want to know what kind of level one can realistically achieve without actually living in China. I listen to intermediate lessons, but I cannot create a grammatical sentence much beyond Subject-Verb-Object to save my life.

If it is of any help: I'm learning Chinese for about a year now. Started as a Newbie and moved to intermediate (speaking and writing). Passive language use (listening and reading) sometimes if I'm lucky I can get upper intermediate lessons now. BUT, this is mainly because I live in China and I am very curious what people around me are saying hahaha. It is really different if you do not hear Chinese ALL the time (if you like it or not :-) ) Besides Cpod, I also have a private class and a university class weekly. In total now I get 10 to 20 hours a week of study (first half year twice as much). I think it will take a lot of time to move to the highest levels though, but it does not seem impossible....

Thanks Mark, that offers encouragement.

amesburygeorge, I think I have successfully advanced through one or two CPod levels.  (Intermediate to advanced, if you want to be generous.  Elementary to intermediate, if your standard is what lessons I can understand on first hearing without preparation.)  I do have other resources, but CPOD is the main one. ( I never took a typical university style class in Chinese, and I don't live in China.)

I agree with Adam, especially since CPod has only been around for 3-1/2 years. 

I don't think many people can become fluent in that amount of time, unless the majority of their time is spent learning Chinese and living somewhere that Chinese is the primary spoken language.

And I think it would be impossible to become fluent in 3-1/2 years, only learning from ChinesePod.  Like Adam says, you need other learning sources (especially for grammar).

But hey, many years ago nobody believed that a mile (1.6 km) could be run in less than 4 minutes.  Now it's a standard.

I think it's great and necessary to set goals, but personally I don't think it's good (or realistic) to expect to reach fluency in Chinese quickly.  I think you just need to dedicate yourself to studying it for the rest of your life...and when you reach fluency, then 干杯！

No offense to Cpod but i doubt its the only resource that will get you to fluency in Chinese. It takes a myriad of resources including actually speaking to real chinese people to be successful!

Now Cpod is my main focus BUT i use many other online resources, books, flashcards, and native speakers  for supplemental learning. Also, that just makes the learning process more interesting and diverse.

I personnally am stepping up to the intermediate level this year...am i ready? Nope not really, but i am ready for the challenge and i believe cpod and help me do it!

just my 2 cents...

"Has anybody successfully advanced thru the CP grades newbie to advanced for eg?"

Choam

That is something I am curious about as well. Has anyone ever progressed from newbie to advanced using CP alone or at least as a primary learning tool? I think I will be at elementary level soon myself.

The last months have been uncomfortably busy at work with weekend and night shifts being the rule rather the exception. I only pursued a reduced scheme (with a particular heavy emphasis on my soft spot "writing"). Right now I am preparing for a two week internet-free (!!) holiday/conference-bundle, so I will stay silent for a while

When the semester is over mid February I hope to master a full restart based on the scheme.

Hi All, I have Rosetta Stone but I dont think its worth too much -- it was actually freely given to me by someone who gave up on it. I agree with the Pimsleur comments as they force you to remember and vocalise, hard to stay focused for the 30 min stretches though!

Any tips I can glean here would be great -- I think your schedule would be too grueling for me tho Henning! I've been studying for over a year but am having trouble finding something that works (in fact I think I have gathered too many resources instead of applying them) -- I even have a Chinese wife and our 2 your old son is now overtaking me! 

Has anybody successfully advanced thru the CP grades newbie to advanced for eg?

I was waiting to hear about Henning's new learning programme and am really impressed by what he's drawn up for himself. A lot of different "modules" seem to be the key on the one hand to combat getting in a rut or getting bored. Don't think I could tackle quite as much even if I had 2 hours a day (I'm more on like 1 hour a day). Unfortunately, at least 30 min. are easily "wasted" discussing strategy on the net but it's quality time on the other hand listening to you guys. I definitely think talking aloud at least 30 min. a day (like billm says) - even if it's only to yourself - and listening to spoken Chinese is ultimately going to be the big key (even if the result is not immediately measurable unlike doing exercises and getting them right (or wrong!!). In the long run, that is what language is about and you pick up what is typical language/grammar by just listening and imitating. Anyway, Henning, good luck with the new programme - off I go to my books now, having no Chinese native speaker in my vicinity at the moment .......

I confess I never did much with the Rosetta Stone sound input, but I don't think it would much resemble a conversation with someone.

The way R Stone works is that they show four pictures and you have to match the correct picture to the recordinng, printed language ...  For the sound input part I think you have to speak the phrase that corresponds to the picture exactly (or close enough to a recorded phonetic profile)

thank you Mark and Bill for your comments. I have used pimsleur 1, 2, and 3 and still own the cd's. In fact I have copied all 3 to my ipod. Pimsleur is on top as far as CD's go but not as good as cpod. I saw the Phelps tv ad for Rosetta but you notice he doesnt speak in Chinese at all. Im not convinced that the Rosetta method would help much. I was mildly interested in the voice recognition technology but I think listening is my biggest weakness, followed by putting sentences together in proper syntax. Study study study, and some day it will all come together, I hope.

Mark,

Hi.  I feel it's important to speak Chinese at least 30 minutes a day.  Does Rosetta Stone prompt one to speak? 

There's a big media blitz now with Michael Phelps pumping up the "Stone"....and they make a big deal about voice recognition (which has been around awhile with other softwares).

Thanks for any comment or info you can provide.

RJ,

If you haven't done all the Pimsluer (1,2, and 3) it is a must do (great for forcing verbalization..prompted in English...not so good (or rather limited) for listening ability).

Best regards,

Bill M.

I used Rosetta Stone before I discovered CPod.  I found it helpful but limitted.  After you get through the 20 lessons, you can review, but there is not much of anywhere else to go with it.

I think it would be best for someone at Elementary or early Intermediate level.

Is it worth the money?  I guess that depends on how much your money is worth to you and how much you like studying Chinese.  I have no regrets, 但是我是怪人。If my budget only had room for CPod, or Roseta Stone, I would easily choose CPod.

I was mildly annoyed that Rosetta Stone requires a physical CD to work.  I think that is their licensing protection, but it means I have to have a computer with a CD drive handy to use it; a bit to big to fit in my pocket.

Has anyone tried Rosetta Stone as a supplemental study tool? I have no intention of abandoning cpod but I do like to add other things and I tend to rotate them. Im just not convinced this one (Rosetta Stone) is worth the money. Anybody tried it?

Henning - let us know how your new Chinese diet works out. I too need a change.

RJ

hape,

5-7 tasks, actually, each between 10 and 20 min. (5,86 tasks average, #12-13 are outside the schedule). And yes, cutting down Conversations and surfing are cornerstones of that plan.

Let's see if it works out. I will informed you guys as soon as I abandon this overambitous plan and switch to the next [overambitous plan].

I am impressed!

What wonders me most:
8-12 tasks in 2 hours, plus the CPod conversations that are sometimes very time-consuming!

Such a schedule needs a lot of discipline that I don't seem to have - although I am German like you ;-)

The key to success seems to cut down surfing the internet in general.

Henning,

I too was pretty impressed with your heavy schedule and dedication.I just hope someone has put out a Mandarin dubbed version of Star Trek so you can combine the too :)

Hi henning,

I'm worried that you won't have enough time to see Star Trek.