Just poking my head in...
frank
October 05, 2008, 08:41 AM posted in General DiscussionHiya, folks! I just wanted to stop in and say a friendly hello to everyone. I've been lax in my studies these past few months (since I gave up writing the Newbie Blog), and it's taken me a good long time to get back here. I'm glad to see so many familiar faces (and so so so many new ones!). I'm back to studying every day and I've been pleasantly surprised to see how much stayed with me.
Anyway, hi. Nice to meet you/see you again.
Now get off my lawn, you crazy kids!
frank
October 06, 2008, 06:20 PMsebire - I actually shoot and edit video for places like NBC's upcoming Travel Channel. They've got me shooting locally right now, but if they'd foot the bill for a trip overseas, I'm all over it!
lunetta
October 05, 2008, 12:18 PMGood to have you back, Frank!
I too haven't been around much on the conversations page the last couple of months and I have been taking lots of breaks.
During this time I've really changed the way I use Cpod. Before I did a lot of listening , downloading the new lesson every day no matter the level. Now I only listen regularly to Dear Amber, Qing Wen and News & Features. Basically I unscribed to all the feeds except those three shows.
Instead I've begun bookmarking lessons according to themes. Right now I'm doing a theme I call food. Using lessons from all the channels I'm trying to familiarize myself with all the contexts involving food, eating and drinking, vocabulary and patterns. I'm including both lessons new to me and studied lessons from my archive and use labels to keep track of what I'm doing.
Earlier on I kept all the dialogues and audio reviews from my bookmarked lessons on my mp3-player but only had a few of the most recent lessons on it. Now I have all the dialogues and audio reviews from the lessons included in my theme, and all the included intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced lessons because I want to move away from using English to build up my understanding of the language and try to understand by listening to the explanations in Chinese.
frank
October 05, 2008, 10:35 PMKen - Hello to you, good sir! Life here is in progress, as always. The video production business allowed me to leave my full-time employer shortly after I saw you last, and it's allowing me to throw all my energies into creative pursuits. I am rather blessed in that regard. :-)
light487 - My current study "regiment" is anything but. I study as the mood strikes me, the way I did in the beginning. One of the reasons I burned out was that I was taking it too seriously, putting too much pressure on myself to learn, learn, learn. It stopped being fun. So now I listen to a lesson or two a day, go through the expansion stuff if I'm in the mood, but more than anything, I still believe that the stuff you'll really need to know won't take much effort to learn. That's because it's the high-frequency stuff. If it doesn't sink in the first time I hear it, I no longer try to force it. I just accept that I'll get it next time. Or the time after that. :-)
Lunetta - Ciao! Nice to see you, too! I think studying by topic is a great way to go. I'd love for you to share your list of food-related podcasts. It's a subject close to my heart... by way of my stomach, of course. ;-)
light487
October 05, 2008, 10:50 PMHrmm.. yeh..
You don't use flashcards or anything? Set aside time for pure study? I'm wondering how students of formal study do it.. I mean they are expected to be fairly good by the end of their courses.. I want to get to a basic level.. every time I think I am at a basic level, something simple comes out of nowhere and confuses me again..
frank
October 05, 2008, 11:11 PMlight487 - I've been studying Chinese for nearly three years now (if my math is correct). At one point I was listening to Intermediate lessons here and doing all right. But, man... as a Newbie, it's easy to get overwhelmed by all the stuff you don't know. Having pretend conversations in my head (which I still do), I'd find I couldn't say anything I wanted. Oh, sure, I could say 你好 or 你好吗？, but if they answered with anything other than 我很好, I was lost.
But here's the thing... if you push yourself to the point of burnout, you'll set yourself back more than you pushed yourself forward. If you're a formal student, then different rules apply. But you're going to be on this road a long time. Fluency won't come overnight. Try to think of it as a marathon instead of a sprint race. Pace yourself and try to enjoy the scenery on the way!
frank
October 05, 2008, 11:15 PMlight487 - One more thing... you asked "You don't use flashcards or anything? Set aside time for pure study?"
When I sit down to do the expansions, I'm wholly focused on the task at hand. I work at it. I'm not skipping through a field of butterflies with my mind somewhere else. I just don't treat it like I'm going to be tested on it in class tomorrow.
Take your cue from the instructors. Listen to them. They're not trying to drill words into your head through rote memorization. They're having fun. You should, too!
sebire
October 05, 2008, 11:27 PMHey Frank, good to see you back!
light487
October 05, 2008, 09:08 AMHey Frank! :)
I'd be interested to know your daily study regime too. :)
azerdocmom
October 06, 2008, 02:38 AMHi Frank! Nice to see ya. Glad to know you are back on task : ) How's the movie-making going? Did you see CPod just celebrated 1000 lessons?!
And, hi to lunetta, too : )
frank
October 06, 2008, 03:22 AMHi, Doc! Yes, I did see that. Such a proud achievement for them! That was actually the lesson on which I returned.
The film business is good, but slow. The 30-minute short film I was working on had to cease production entirely and I'm onto other projects. The movie I spoke about on Dear Amber is still in the works, though, and I'm hoping to get back to Shanghai to shoot that sometime in 2010. We'll see!
RJ
October 06, 2008, 08:51 AMLight - I have to agree with Frank - hello Frank - you should have fun. Sometimes I wish I could do this full time but I cant. As long as you know more today than you did yesterday, you are going in the right direction. This is going to take a while. If you dont realize this now, you will once you travel to China. I can remember the first few times I tried to use Chinese in China and got the blank stares. Now they understand me (progress) and reply back, but often its my turn to stare blankly :-). Someday I will be able to keep it going in both directions, but for now Im happy that I can make my needs known. At some point it will all crystallize and you and I will surprise ourselves. I hope. Im in it for the long haul and I expect it to take years. I plan to enjoy every minute of it. Dont set yourself up for a disappointment.
Having said that I do study at least 2 hours a day. I find the expansion sentences very valuable. Flash cards got really boring so I work through all the elementary and intermediate lessons as they come and try to memorize all the new characters and words as presented. Over time this will increase my knowledge of characters and Im getting the ones that are actually used frequently. I have a grammar book for when there is extra time. I had a once a week tutor for a short time for pronounciation but she moved. This I recommend at least periodically if you cant live in China. Cpod offers some services that serve the same purpose.
henning
October 06, 2008, 08:56 AMLight,
you said:
every time I think I am at a basic level, something simple comes out of nowhere and confuses me again
Does this ever stop?
Think of it as a video game with incredible value for money - every time you finish a level a new one opens and brings even mightier foes and riddles. And it is still all in the "Basic Tier". Sometimes I do wonder how the boss level looks like. Maybe John knows?
sebire
October 06, 2008, 10:15 AMIt was fantastic! I had so much fun. I have definitely been bitten by the travel bug, however I have pretty much spent everything I own, so no travelling for a while yet!
I'm looking forward to your big movie project. Hope it all goes to plan!
frank
October 06, 2008, 04:51 PMrjberki - Hello to you, too! And yes, I remember when I used to devote two hours a day to my studies. I actually loved it. It's effortless sometimes, especially when you're listening to the playful banter of Ken and Jenny on your daily commute to and from work. Hell, that was an hour right there!
henning - John IS the boss level. And his kung fu is strong.
sebire - That's awesome. I loved your pictures. And yes, the travel bug bit me hard and crawled inside. I am now convinced that I only work for a living so that I can support my travel habit. :)
sebire
October 06, 2008, 05:45 PMHmm, I'm wondering if I can get a job that will pay me to go interesting places, but I bet they are hard to come by.
frank
October 06, 2008, 01:11 AMHey sebire! Great to see you, too! How was your trip?
kencarroll
October 05, 2008, 09:03 AMHey Frank!
Always a pleasure to bump into you around here. Tell us more about what's happening in your life.