The level between Intermediate and Upper-Intermediate
helandou
February 18, 2010, 01:18 PM posted in General DiscussionAfter living almost 16 months in China, I learned to speak intermediate Chinese. With Chinese pod I am trying to get to the upper-intermediate level. I still find myself hanging in between those two levels. I find most of the Intermediate lessons too easy (with only a few unfamiliar words that you can make out from the context), but most upper-intermediate lessons too difficult (especially because there are too many words I don't know and because the explanation of Jenny and John is in more difficult Chinese as well). I asked CP if they could send me some lessons that fell something in between those two levels and they send me the following titles:
Upper Intermediate - Hiring a Courier
Upper Intermediate - When the Taxi Takes the Long Way
Upper Intermediate - Turbulence
Upper intermediate - Getting Internet at your Apartment
Upper Intermediate - Saved by the Gong: History
Upper Intermediate - Missing Persons in Jizhou
Upper Intermediate - Arrival in Jizhou
Upper Intermediate - A Jizhou Child's Warning
Upper Intermediate - An Anonymous Tip in Jizhou
Upper Intermediate - Familiar Face in Jizhou
Upper Intermediate - The Final Jizhou Pieces
Upper Intermediate - Jizhou Mental Breakdown
I think I'm not the only one with this problem, so I hope it will be of some help to you too!
Karen
tvan
February 18, 2010, 08:13 PM@helandou, jumping between levels seems to be a common problem. I haven't heard a good answer yet other than to keep plugging away at the harder level. Maybe someone else has a better solution.
bababardwan
other than that the best solution I have seen is the QW episodes on podcast language,but I think they were probably more aimed at the jump from Ellie to Intermediate.
Karen,have you tried following the UI transcripts [see transcripts with tal group ] while listening to the podcasts? Hopefully they contain some recurring language not covered in the QW's as well as allow to follow the explanations.
helandou
February 18, 2010, 08:37 PM@pretzellogic: well, I came back to Holland december 2008 and haven't studied hard enough since then, so my level hasn't changed, if it didn't fall back a little.. But I assume you mean how much Chinese I knew when I came to China, right? That's easy to answer: the only phrase I knew was 'ni hao'.
My problem of not learning the language faster was that there were so many westerners living in Hangzhou (where I lived the whole time) . I tried to speak Chinese with my Chinese friends, but I spoke English with my foreign friends (which was the majority). What about you?
pretzellogic
I've found partly the same thing; that there are enough westerners around to speak English with. The Chinese that are around get my mediocre Chinese, so that's been improving. What I am finding a challenge is pushing myself out into unfamiliar territory to speak with local Chinese using the lesson dialogues.
I was also just interested in hearing how far you've come in your language studies. It sounds like you went from newbie to upper intermediate in about 16 months. Pretty good!
bababardwan
February 19, 2010, 12:00 AMother than that the best solution I have seen is the QW episodes on podcast language,but I think they were probably more aimed at the jump from Ellie to Intermediate.
Karen,have you tried following the UI transcripts [see transcripts with tal group ] while listening to the podcasts? Hopefully they contain some recurring language not covered in the QW's as well as allow to follow the explanations.
suxiaoya
February 19, 2010, 01:42 AMHi, halandou
Thanks for sharing this list. I'd like to mention that we are keenly aware of the need to better facilitate the jump between academic levels - and that we are currently looking at ways to do so.
As I understand it, this is mostly an issue of content re-organization/categorization, but there are obviously also gaps that can be filled with "transition" lessons - perhaps review lessons too? - to help with this.
Moving from Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate is a big step, and it will always take a chunk of time. Nevertheless, please be assured that we are actively working to make it easier in 2010.
pretzellogic
February 19, 2010, 03:03 AMI've found partly the same thing; that there are enough westerners around to speak English with. The Chinese that are around get my mediocre Chinese, so that's been improving. What I am finding a challenge is pushing myself out into unfamiliar territory to speak with local Chinese using the lesson dialogues.
I was also just interested in hearing how far you've come in your language studies. It sounds like you went from newbie to upper intermediate in about 16 months. Pretty good!
helandou
February 21, 2010, 12:11 PMsounds great and can't wait! :)
pretzellogic
February 18, 2010, 02:00 PMinteresting. When you arrived in China, did you speak any Chinese at all? What level would you say you were at 16 months ago?