Desperate help needed with study strategy!

jckeith

January 31, 2010, 06:54 PM

Here's the routine I've had success with:

1. Pick 2 Intermediate, 2 Elementary, 1 Newbie, and 2 Qing Wen lessons to study for a week.

2. Listen to each one every day, once a day. I'll typically listen to them without the transcript first, and then do it with the transcript until I have the dialogue down.

3. Add vocab from the lessons to Anki throughout the week. In case you don't know, Anki is the flashcard program I use.

4. At the end of the week, add a few expansion sentences from each lesson to Anki. This step is extremely important. It's much easier to remember words when they are attached to phrases.

Additionally, every night I review the flashcards that are due and say everything out loud to get some extra speaking practice.

Finally, I study reading/writing separately from what I learn on CPod. I'm using Heisig's Remembering the Simplified Hanzi. I learn 1-2 characters per day from that book and add them to a separate deck in Anki. I review that every night. I'm more concerned with reading, so I don't put much effort into writing; when I'm reviewing I just trace the character over my palm with my finger a few times.

As an elementary learner, you might replace one of the intermediate lessons in the rotation with another elementary one. Whatever works for you. When I started to get comfortable with elementary lessons, I would listen to one intermediate per week for an extra listening challenge. And it was hard; don't get discouraged! The jump from elementary to intermediate is a tough one to make.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

EmmaLouise1

February 01, 2010, 09:42 PM

hehe yeah, I can't wait! Hopefully it'll happen! ^^ Just got to convince my mum it'll be totally fine and then convince my Dad's crew/company that I'm not sneaking onto their plane to do anything bad! :S He said I should be able to come but he can't remember if you have to be over 16 or over 18 to fly alongside family for security stuff :S I'm over 16 but not 18 so let's hope the former applies rather than the latter!

I think I'll have words with him when he comes back from his next trip. Hopefully we can then organize something, let the airline know, have time to persuade my mum :P and let the school know. Gah! So much to think about >.< If not, back-up plan is going to Hong Kong to stay with the relatives and go to work with them! XD Would love to go back so either way is fine by me, as long as I get to have an independent adventure! Eeeeeee, can't wait! XD Will definitely have to look at learning some more Chinese then! :S

BEBC

January 31, 2010, 07:12 PM

I'd better change my avatar. It'd be really embarrassing for the monster if I gave her a fright !

:-)

orangina

January 31, 2010, 07:15 PM

ok, doodlemonster, time for a chill pill. Deep breathe... exhale....

ok. Go to the Home page, at the top of the "My Lessons page there is a box that says "Welcome to ChinesePod. To get started..."

I know you've been around here for a while and may have looked at it already, but it might be worth a second look. I recently upgraded to premium and had a look at it recently because I was feeling a bit like you are now. And I've been here for a year. But all these new tools! The nature of chinesepod is that there isn't a "right way," and I have a feeling that bothers you. Well I know it does. You told us. ;-)

I might be wrong, But I think you have too many resources. Grammar books are fine, and necessary. Just don't become a slave to them, or anything else. You are the boss, not the books!!!

Learning Chinese is a marathon not a sprint. Don't wear yourself out before you get started.You gotta keep yourself healthy and balanced if you are going to enjoy the race, let alone finish it. The great thing here is that you have all of us in it together. I'm sure some others will stop by and give their advice (probably more specific that mine.) So take it all in, but remember that whether you like it or not... you are the boss of your own learning!

"Well I think we got away with that, eh pooch!" ~Wallace

EmmaLouise1

January 31, 2010, 07:46 PM

Thank yooooooou! All your advice is just what I've been looking for! XD

@orangina - I think I've calmed down a bit now! haha (My panic might have something to do with me drinking 2 litres of lemonade earlier today... :P) 

I think you totally hit the nail on the head; I DO have too many resources! I also know I am THE world's biggest procrastinator, slightly OCD and a little cynical... Doesn't set me up with the best odds of learning Mandarin! haha Also, I love buying things, particular books! :P I think that comes under the 'too many resources' heading! The OCD-ness might have something to do with me HAVING to have a plan before I embark on anything too. I know in the Summer I probably wasted countless hours since all I did was write out a LOT of vocab lists in my notebook for all kinds of topics. Of course it didn't help me at all, since I've already got printed vocab books plus I remember none of what I wrote! However, at the time it made me happy because I felt like I was doing something to progress haha

I will definitely go to the 'get started' page, as soon as I've written this post (part of my new plan to stop procrastinating! :P) I'll then evaluate what resources I do have, how much realistic time I can dedicate to Chinese a day and actually come up with a plan I'll STICK TO (the hard part o.O) and one I can EFFECTIVELY learn from! I'm fed of procrastinating my weekends and after-school hours doing absolutely nothing constructive >.< I've got some seriously time consuming hobbies (Chinese and I also do a lot of illustrating/painting) a ridiculous amount of coursework from school, mostly Spanish and art o.O, I'm taking my GCSEs in Summer so I reeally need to start revising for those, plus I'm then starting Japanese lessons in September alongside still learning with CPod, starting my A Levels and reeeally having to step up the amount of work I do in Spanish and Art lessons/extra work!!!! O.o 

Sorry for the rant! But I feel slightly better now ^^ I think its panic and stress setting in from being reeeeally busy with school and not achieving much in Chinese and my illustrating o.O Gah! I think a major schedule/plan is needed for everything plus a HUUUUGE  kick up the backside because I'm very lazy and, quite frankly, I'm fed up with being lazy >.< It's time to actually start achieving the things I dream of! ^^

EmmaLouise1

January 31, 2010, 10:39 PM

Anymore advice/study plan guides would be much appreciated! ^^

pretzellogic

February 01, 2010, 02:29 AM

As was mentioned before, there are many study strategies and all are likely effective for the individual using them.

I would suggest learning any lesson/set of lessons that forces you to learn 5-15 words a day, but if you're a complete newbie, then you're probably doing that at the newbie/ele level. I think you hit it on the head; being effective/efficient is the challenge, and one I struggle with as well. I noticed that you have a lot of interests that you mentioned (Spanish and so on). 

You might want to think about the trade you are making between lots of activities vs. one activity.  I've got lots of interests as well on my plate (piano/guitar playing, traveling,)  but with a full time job, and a family, my time is limited.  Maybe you should cut back on the other activities not related to Chinese?  Just a thought.

 

BEBC

January 31, 2010, 07:09 PM

Hi Monster,

I can only tell you what I did, the rest you have to figure out for yourself, because everyones' study strategy is a bit different and you have to find the one which suits you. Before I started CPod I'd worked through all 3 Pimsleur Mandarin CDs, and these really gave me a great foundation on which to build. You don't learn a heck of a lot of vocab, but the basics of Mandarin areVERY effectively drilled into you. Price is a problem, but they may be available 2nd hand.

After Pimsleur I started on Newbie lessons, but the only new things I learned were bits of vocab, so I quickly went onto Ele lessons, and still found, because of the Pimsleur foundation I gave myself, that there wasn't a lot in terms of grammar which I was unfamiliar with. My problems started with Intermediate lessons. I listen to the lessons 2 or 3 times at home, studying the details, and reinforce this by listening to the lessons in the car whilst commuting. I usually manage 2 lessons a week, and that amounts to quite a bit of study. Every now and again I review the lessons via the dialogues. I don't bother much with the exercises on the CPod site, but have a go at the 'fix' several times, and don't get myself discouraged if I don't get a lot of answers correct. The main thing for me is going through the lessons themselves.

With regard to reading/writing, I started off with a lot of ambition, memorising 40 or50 characters a week - writing then out loads of times, and using home-made flashcards for recognition. But it didn't take long to discover that I'm much better at forgetting things than remembering them, and I think this applies to most people. Instead of memorising the characters used in the lessons, which quite often are characters which you might not see in lessons for another several weeks, even months, I decided to learn the most commonly occuring characters - the ones you keep seeing again and again. I searched around for resources on the Internet to help me do this, and by doing an half hour of reading and practising characters each day I now have about 600 characters in my long-term memory. I learn about 10 new ones each week. If I had carried on with my old method, I would have been able to vaguley recognise maybe 2000 characters - but I wouldn't have been sure if I was right.I imagine that it takes a chinese child longer than 10 years to know 5000 characters, and they are surrounded by the language and the script, so don't worry if your progress seems to be slow in this department.I think it's better to have a solid foundation on which to build; slowly slowly catchee monkee.

Initially I tried working my way through grammar books, doing all the exercises, but, again, if I wasn't meeting examples of the patterns and structures on an almost daily basis, then I soon forgot a lot of what I learned. Now I just dip into grammar books when I need some point elucidating.

Forget about gimmicks and the magical plan which will make it all so much easier. It's just hard work. But fun !

Hope this helps.

pretzellogic

February 01, 2010, 07:45 AM

i'm a procrastinator also. But if you don't have time, then you don't have time.

I noticed on your profile you were planning on coming to China. If that's the case, you'll definitely wish you had prioritized Chinese language learning much higher, based on my experience.

hedainian

February 01, 2010, 01:11 PM

My best suggestion is to limit the amount of input you do. Learning a language is a lot like losing weight in that it requires a long-term committed attitude to succeed. 

For example, start the day off by weighing yourself.  Then, go for a quick 2 mile jog.  Grab a light breakfast that includes scrambled eggs and a glass of OJ, and limit your lunch to a salad.  When you get home, eat some veggies (maybe even hot pot!), and finish the day off with a nice 1 mile run.  If you weigh yourself again, it's highly likely that your weight will be exactly the same as it was in the morning.  Try this weight loss plan for too long, and you'll likely burn out and undo any progress that you've made.  The exact same can be said for Chinese study.

Set achievable goals and enjoy the long and winding road to high Chinese proficiency!

EmmaLouise1

February 01, 2010, 06:13 PM

Yeah, I think you're right. I might not be coming to China anymore :( I was originally going to Beijing with friends but my parents weren't happy with the idea :'( Now I might be able to come to Shanghai with my Dad for work experience XD (he works in Shanghai often ^^) Hopefully ChinesePod won't mind me popping in or maybe even do a few days work experience for them! ^^

But yeah, regardless whether I go or not, I think Chinese is going to be my priority from now on. (Aside from revision >.< I might hate to do it but I'll never be able to study Chinese at university if I get bad grades :P Every little helps!)

EmmaLouise1

February 01, 2010, 06:16 PM

Oh that's a great way to put it! I never thought of learning Chinese like that but it sounds so true. I suppose I'm pretty impatient which doesn't do me any favours learning languages :/ I guess I'll just have to make realistic goals and STICK TO THEM. That's my biggest hang up; never being able to finish anything because I'm such a huge procrastinator >.< 

pretzellogic

February 01, 2010, 07:19 PM

Coming to Shanghai with your father sounds like a trip to China to me! If/when you pin him down on a date for you to actually fly, you'll focus on Chinese learning much more effectively.

For discussion's sake, if you end up having to take care of yourself while you're dad's working, I would highly recommend the Directions lessons. Great for when you have to figure out where to tell the taxi driver where to go, and when you get there, how to get back to your hotel....start thinking about this now, unless your plan is that your dad hires a guide for you in Shanghai.

EmmaLouise1

February 01, 2010, 07:38 AM

Thanks pretzellogic! ^^ Yeah, I think I'm trying to cram too many interests into the day when there aren't enough hours! Like you said, I think about cutting back and maybe prioritise more. Also, I think if I stopped procrastinating about everything, then I'd find there's more hours in the day! haha