01 year 13 & 14 weeks into study
Purrfecdizzo
February 22, 2009, 08:13 AM posted in General DiscussionWell, I must confess. After my last update, I simply stopped studying Chinese. I felt burned out, plus I was thinking that I might not go to China after all. I wanted to get back into the studies, but I just feel too drained with the Chinese. I guess I am saying that I am through with the Chinese learning for right now, and maybe I will pick it back up at some point.
pearltowerpete
February 23, 2009, 01:19 AMHi amesburygeorge
Chinese deserves its fearsome reputation. And it's not useful or interesting for everyone. But it would be a shame to give up completely after you've studied this long.
My advice to people whose interest is flagging is to get out of the grammar books/vocab lists, and try your best to focus on culture and exchange. This is, after all, the point of learning a language (unless you are one of those rare creatures who simply loves a challenge). Check out movies, songs, poetry (with English translations) , etc.
In my experience, nothing makes you want to learn more than the inability to express yourself as you wish, or the inability to understand something that is obviously fascinating to others.
Whatever direction you go, CPod is here to help you as best we can.
bababardwan
February 23, 2009, 02:15 AMThis reminds me of the old saying:
slowly slowly catchee monkey
man4 man4 na2 hou2zi [how's that sound in Chinese?]
hang in there mate and you'll get there.Good luck :)
changye
February 23, 2009, 03:06 AMHi amesburygeorge
I guarantee that you will feel much more comfortable with learning Chinese when you start it again in the (near?) future. You need to take a pause before you completely burn out, but don't worry. What you've learned so far would definitely help you learn Chinese again.
Purrfecdizzo
February 23, 2009, 03:25 AMThanks everyone.
As I pointed out in the initial post, I may not be going to China. If that is the case, it is very difficult for me to find motivation to learn a language that there is a strong chance I will never have any use for.
I should have an answer to whether I am going or not very soon, perhaps I will know within the week. If that is the case, I will resume the Chinese studies. I think I will take Pete's suggestion about avoiding the vocab lists, and working more on exchanges ( Im guessing he means speaking exchanges). Perhaps what I will do is review the stack of words that I have learned so they become very strong, and put a greater emphasis on the speaking which is my weakest area.
Purrfecdizzo
February 25, 2009, 05:26 PMI am going to China after all, so therefore I will resume the Chinese studies. I feel much better about it than I did before. I plan to start again today. Thanks for all your encouragement.
RJ
February 25, 2009, 07:05 PMI will alert the media.
All kidding aside George, that is a great opportunity. Dont push so hard. Your cpod foundation will help you learn faster once you are immersed. I am truly happy for you. Even though I am giving you a hard time.
RJ
February 22, 2009, 10:58 AMBe sure and keep us updated on your efforts to not learn Chinese. I see you like the changes, more nice features for you not to use while you are not studying Chinese. The nice thing about choosing to not learn a language is, you can not learn a whole bunch of them at once.