User Comments - Keth

Posted on: Facing Bankruptcy

When you are reading the Chinese how can you tell whether   还  will pronounced as hai 2   or huan2 ?   I read  the start as   hai2 qian . Is it just through experience that you instinctively know this?

Posted on: Merry Christmas!

Could we have people talking about their ways of communicating with each other in China. In England we use e mail all day, and at work we check our e mails all the time throughout the day. I know my Chinese friends don’t use  email in China  but QQ.

I have set up QQ for myself in England but a few lessons in Chinese on the features and how to use it would be  great.

Also how to set  up your own space on  百度空间. So that you could join in and add comments to your friends sites etc.

I really enjoyed the question and answer sessions in Chinese and I would like to hear more of those . The repetition doesnot matter,it is just the opportunity to hear lots of native speakers answer in their own accent, speed etc that makes it interesting as well.

Posted on: Keeping and Leaving

or this would be better ?

 请(qǐng) 你(nǐ) 留(liú)着(zhe) 我(wǒ) 一(yí)个(gè) 位(wèi)子(zi)。

Posted on: Keeping and Leaving

So if I was in  cafe and it was crowded and I was going to leave my place and then return I could say "Please save me a seat."  

 请(qǐng) 你(nǐ) 留(liú) 我(wǒ) 一(yí)个(gè) 位(wèi)子(zi)。

Posted on: All About the Lesson Content

No I just dont look at the English. However sometimes if it is a character that I cant recognise , I glance at the English and then the Chinese word pops into my head. Or I click to hear the sentence spoken .

Posted on: All About the Lesson Content

I tend to listen to the podcast but pause and listen again to the dialogue to try and translate it before John and Jenny give the translation. Then continue  none stop to the end. Then I try read the dialogue from just the Hanzi.then the vocab , extension and finally the exercises.

Each week I listen to a continuous stream of dialogues. If I don’t understand then I might make a note of that dialogue to look at it again and sort out which bits I couldn’t understand.

I used to listen to the audio review very frequently and I  never listened to just the dialogue , but as I have progressed I have found this reversed. I only listen to the audio review once in a while now.

I try and write something everyday in Hanzi either on a blog or just for my own diary.Just trying to say what I have done or what I think about something is a really helpful way to learn how to think and wrote in Mandarin.

Posted on: Making people do things with 让，令，and 使

请问骄傲比较自豪又什么差别。

Posted on: August, Study Tips and Expo Insights

I totally disagree with the above comments. 2^nd Language learning is complex because not only is very little understood about how we learn but also everybody’s learning style is different. Add to that obviously a beginners needs starting out to learn Mandarin will be very different than an experienced learner. Yet all must be catered for on one site.

So it seems to me  a gathering together a mix of known research and experience is a no brainer.

Beginners.

1.     I would recommend SpeaChi type programme because it gives a visual aid as to how your tone and pronunciation compares.

2.     Pinyin Chart and guidance on Chinesepod :excellent.

I think Stephen Krashan’s Thoery of 2^nd Languages Acquisition is excellent.

http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html

I was very sceptical about his claim that just reading everyday could improve your speaking etc.I thought this may work with Romantic Languages but not with a writing system so different as Chinese. However  I gave it a try and I definitely think this has helped me improve. In this respect Chinesepod is very good. I can read the characters and check immediately on my pronunciation. I have plenty of material to read and all of it at levels to suite my current ability. Having  tried  other systems such as Recognising Hansi . Just reading works great for me.

I was interested to read recent research done by University Northumberland

Which casts doubt on Chomsky’s claim that we instinctively understand grammar.

http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/browse/ne/uninews/grammargrimmer 

If the findings of this research are replicated by other people then this could have big implications on how we teach 2nd Languages. It might mean that we begin to look seriously at ways in which we can teach grammar earlier and with more relevance than we have done in the past.

Does it undermine Stephen Krashens Theory of 2nd Language acquisition? And if it does , does that mean that other aspects of his theory could also be in error?

I would like to see some learning facility that allows students at Chinesepod to interact live with their speaking. ( I know that we can do even better and skype with a Teacher . This I personally think is of immense value.) In this respect I think the  University of Michigan’s Rich Internet Application programme is outstanding.

http://clear.msu.edu/clear/professionaldev/summerworkshops.php

I recommend Record Audio with Your Computer  and Audio Dropboxes.

Time is precious and the learning process long and difficult, however we can  be more focused on learning and discard traditional ideas held about language learning, only by engaging  in and sharing our ideas and being open minded about different ideas. 

Posted on: Fans at Andy Lau's Concert

Can I say this ?

你有机会的话你因该去他的演唱会。

ni3 you3 jihui4dehua4ni3yi1gai1 qu4 ta1de yan3chang4hui4.

If you have the opportunity you should go to his concert.

Posted on: Some uses of 些

Quite fortuitously today I came across 某些  。那么我可以说  “中文的教育比英文的教育某些方面不一般”

or 

"中文的教育比英文的教育这些方面不一般”