Filling in the "Gap"

xuexiansheng

October 08, 2009, 05:34 PM posted in General Discussion

I'm an American that took one year of Chinese in my local University.  Then left for a year of studying Chinese in China.  I enrolled in the 2nd year class in Chinese, as I found the 1st year and 'ma1, ma2, ma3, ma4' a little below my level.  But 2nd year was way over my head!  My teacher spoke nothing but Chinese and trying to describe complex grammatical structures in a foreign language was, often times, more confusing.  I managed to struggle through the year (still had an amazing time!)  and left feeling fairly comfortable with conversations, but was in no way a 'passing 2nd year' student.  After a few years back in the states, I'm starting to practice formally in my local University.  I find the 2nd year class here perfect, because its filling in on all the rules to usage I've used 'unconsciously' while speaking.

Anyone having a similar experience?

 

A great article by John P. (of CPod) talks about learning Chinese. 

http://www.sinosplice.com/lang/stages-to-learning-chinese/

I'm currently plateaued at Level 3.  Watch out Level 4!  Here I come!