While I am exhausted from learning and don't want to do it anymore I listen. I make some food, go on YxuTxbe and type in Mandarin Chinese News. This is great for practice in listening, it is especially good if there is Chinese subtitles, so you can follow along with the characters you know. Not to be offensive, but it feels good, just in this short amount of time to transform a lot of noise into something real. It's funny that when you know nothing of a language it sounds so alien and obscure. Just learning the small amount I have, I hear the words I know and can even distinguish word breaks.
That has to be my number one reason for learning another language. To open up a different world that otherwise would not exist. Not to mention Chinese girls are very beautiful. Which - No - that is not my reason for learning Chinese. I could be fluent in Spanish in 4 months and be surrounded by beautiful senoritas if that was my motivation.
Another thing that is fun to do. Pick out an article from Wxkxpxdia in Mandarin Chinese. Read that article everyday and after a month read it again. It feels good to mark your progress by being able to read an article you had no clue about 30 days ago.
This blog is about me attempting to obtain working knowledge of Chinese within a one year time frame. I wish to be able to leave the house on a daily basis without speaking English.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Repeat and Do It Some More
A few years ago I was study for an important event. While speaking to a friend, who studied in college to become a teacher, he told me you need to repeat something about 200 times before it is set in permanent memory. However, even permanent memory is not forever. So that is the basis of my new study habit. During the time I am not learning new characters and when free time permits, I will be writing sentences. Over and over. Not the same sentence 200 times in a row like I did after school when I was younger, because from my experience that makes you not enjoy it. Just grabbing random words and forming simple sentences. Over and over and over. While writing the sentences I speak each word as I write it down. Then when I finish I read the sentence. Sometimes I even start with one word and add one word and start over such as:
I. I have. I have a. I have a red. I have a red apple. For some reason it helps my speech flow easier.
I. I have. I have a. I have a red. I have a red apple. For some reason it helps my speech flow easier.
66 and Counting
So far I have learned 66 Simplified Chinese Characters. They are the following.
我你他们要有没吃看只
猫苹果一个条鱼辆车二
两三鸡蛋红色的白黑在
住哪里本书男孩子人女
是这些四五韩国北京多
少公寓报纸明治支笔六
份手机张床球
I find it easy to learn the characters because I spend hours each day writing them in different ways. I want a car. I want a black car. I have a red car. I have your cat. You have a dog. etc. I just write and write and write. Whenever I get free time throughout the day, I write sentences. The whole paragraph I am writing doesn't need to make sense nor does it need to tell a story. I just make sure each of my sentences are grammatically correct.
我你他们要有没吃看只
猫苹果一个条鱼辆车二
两三鸡蛋红色的白黑在
住哪里本书男孩子人女
是这些四五韩国北京多
少公寓报纸明治支笔六
份手机张床球
I find it easy to learn the characters because I spend hours each day writing them in different ways. I want a car. I want a black car. I have a red car. I have your cat. You have a dog. etc. I just write and write and write. Whenever I get free time throughout the day, I write sentences. The whole paragraph I am writing doesn't need to make sense nor does it need to tell a story. I just make sure each of my sentences are grammatically correct.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Keeping Busy
I have been reading, writing and mixing basic Declarative Sentences. When I started learning Chinese I thought writing would be miserable. However, I am an artist and I love writing. In the past week I have probably wrote hundreds of sentences using basic nouns in Declarative Sentence format.
我有一只猫。这只猫是白色的。我有一只白色的猫。我的只猫是白色的。我的只猫有一个苹果。我的只白色的猫有一个苹果。我的只猫有一个红色的苹果。我的只白色的猫有一个红色的苹果。这只白色的猫是我的。这一红色的苹果是他的。
In English this means. I have a cat. The cat is white. I have a white cat. My cat is white. My cat has an apple. My white cat has an apple. My cat has a red apple. My white cat has a red apple. The white cat is mine. The red apple is his.
There really is no use for this little paragraph, but think of the possibilities. You can plug is any color and any noun. These 10 sentences can turn into 100's of sentences just by learning a few verbs.
You can also replace the Classifiers 只 and 个 with 些 and make the noun plural.
我有一只猫。这只猫是白色的。我有一只白色的猫。我的只猫是白色的。我的只猫有一个苹果。我的只白色的猫有一个苹果。我的只猫有一个红色的苹果。我的只白色的猫有一个红色的苹果。这只白色的猫是我的。这一红色的苹果是他的。
In English this means. I have a cat. The cat is white. I have a white cat. My cat is white. My cat has an apple. My white cat has an apple. My cat has a red apple. My white cat has a red apple. The white cat is mine. The red apple is his.
There really is no use for this little paragraph, but think of the possibilities. You can plug is any color and any noun. These 10 sentences can turn into 100's of sentences just by learning a few verbs.
You can also replace the Classifiers 只 and 个 with 些 and make the noun plural.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Our Interesting, Creative, Remarkable, Lively, Clever, Elegant Language
We have a colorful language that allows us to speak about the same emotion/feeling or characteristic for hours without repeating the same Adjective. That's all good in 4 years from now, when I get bored of being so proficient in Chinese that I can just sit around and find new words to replace the ones I have already learned. For now, I will stick to the basics.
I have narrowed my Adjective list down to about 137 words. This includes 11 Basic Colors and 4 words without opposites. I sat and debated for a little while about whether or not I should include certain words. Each word I picked has an antonym. Some of the adjectives can simply be used with "Not" to give its opposite. However, if you were having a nice day at the zoo, I don't think it would be correct to say "Today was not painful". Other words can be tricky to define in a foreign language.
In English we have Tall/Short and Long/Short. We see 3 different words, but when translated they might be used differently. Tall/Short is referring to height while Long/Short is referring to length.
I have narrowed my Adjective list down to about 137 words. This includes 11 Basic Colors and 4 words without opposites. I sat and debated for a little while about whether or not I should include certain words. Each word I picked has an antonym. Some of the adjectives can simply be used with "Not" to give its opposite. However, if you were having a nice day at the zoo, I don't think it would be correct to say "Today was not painful". Other words can be tricky to define in a foreign language.
In English we have Tall/Short and Long/Short. We see 3 different words, but when translated they might be used differently. Tall/Short is referring to height while Long/Short is referring to length.
Weary of Others Lists
As I have previously mentioned I have found some sources which say you need to learn well over 50,000 words to become fluent in a language. I started thinking about my lists that I am creating. I thought i'd have a lot of Nouns, less Verbs and even less Adjectives. Just think in your mind for a moment. How many ways can you describe something you don't like.
Food: In General
Gross, disgusting, nasty, unedible, trash, garbage, terrible, not good
Food: Specific
Undercooked, overcooked, burnt, raw, chewy, greasy
I am coming up with a new theory. It is the "Layered Adjective" approach. You have two ways of describing something. In General and Specific. In General tells wheather you like it or don't like it and Specific tells exactly why you do or do not like it.
You really don't need to learn every single adjective out there. I'd say you could live with using 100 Adjectives. When you think about, most mean the same exact thing. Although some express different levels of emotion, such as: I Don't Like You compared to I Hate You.
After doing some research I have found that the English language has many more ways to express negativity than positivity, but that is neither here nor there. The bottom line is, if you read or hear that you need to learn 100's and 1,000's of words...adjectives to be precise...take it with a grain of salt.
Once you have a solid foundation of adjectives that allow you to express yourself without limitations, then you can proceed to add more complex "Synonyms".
Food: In General
Gross, disgusting, nasty, unedible, trash, garbage, terrible, not good
Food: Specific
Undercooked, overcooked, burnt, raw, chewy, greasy
I am coming up with a new theory. It is the "Layered Adjective" approach. You have two ways of describing something. In General and Specific. In General tells wheather you like it or don't like it and Specific tells exactly why you do or do not like it.
You really don't need to learn every single adjective out there. I'd say you could live with using 100 Adjectives. When you think about, most mean the same exact thing. Although some express different levels of emotion, such as: I Don't Like You compared to I Hate You.
After doing some research I have found that the English language has many more ways to express negativity than positivity, but that is neither here nor there. The bottom line is, if you read or hear that you need to learn 100's and 1,000's of words...adjectives to be precise...take it with a grain of salt.
Once you have a solid foundation of adjectives that allow you to express yourself without limitations, then you can proceed to add more complex "Synonyms".
Creating My Lists
Within one week I have collected the following:
60/100 Nouns
28/100 Verbs
12/100 Adjectives
I am supposed to have 300 words all together, but I am kind of short by 200. I have a feeling - due to using Rxsetta Stxne in the past - that the next few units are going to start having a lot of adjectives. Skinny, fat, short, tall, hungry, thirsty, cold, hot, sick, healthy, strong, weak, fast, slow etc. The thing I like most about learning any Adjective is learning its complete opposite.
It would be very nice if I could keep up at this 100 words a week pace for an entire year. I'd have a great vocabulary of 4,800 words within 12 months. However, that will not happen. The more you learn, the easier it is to forget the old stuff. That is why it is so important to keep track of what you HAVE learned. This way you can review it each day. Once I get to the 600 word level, I think I will start each day reading each word out loud in reverse order from which I learned them.
60/100 Nouns
28/100 Verbs
12/100 Adjectives
I am supposed to have 300 words all together, but I am kind of short by 200. I have a feeling - due to using Rxsetta Stxne in the past - that the next few units are going to start having a lot of adjectives. Skinny, fat, short, tall, hungry, thirsty, cold, hot, sick, healthy, strong, weak, fast, slow etc. The thing I like most about learning any Adjective is learning its complete opposite.
It would be very nice if I could keep up at this 100 words a week pace for an entire year. I'd have a great vocabulary of 4,800 words within 12 months. However, that will not happen. The more you learn, the easier it is to forget the old stuff. That is why it is so important to keep track of what you HAVE learned. This way you can review it each day. Once I get to the 600 word level, I think I will start each day reading each word out loud in reverse order from which I learned them.
Easy Character Exercise
What I do when I get bored is I will goto Gxxgle Images. I type in the Simplified Chinese characters I am learning and see what results I get. Then I continue to combine them. Pretty much Gxxgle is acting as your typing tutor. If you are correct, you will get images of what you want, if you are not correct you need to fix what you typed. So it is an easy and fun way to learn.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Amount
As I have been putting together my lists for 100 Verbs, 100 Nouns and 100 Adjectives I came to the total of 69 words so far. This is not including the Pronouns or Articles. This is about 9.8 words a day. I still don't know all of them perfectly. I'd say I know about 50-75% of them. My goal is 3.4 words a day. I am almost going 3x faster than needed. This is certain to stop within the next week as you learn the most when you first start. I don't believe I would be able to keep learning 10 words a day anyway.
Actually, I am sure I would be able to learn 10 words a day of another language, but with Chinese I need to constantly go back and make sure I am pronouncing with the correct tone. Otherwise I am just wasting my time. Once I gather my lists, I will learn those until 100% perfect as I slowly learn the Traditional Characters.
My main goal is to be able to have basic working knowledge of the language to the point that I can leave the house on a daily basis without speaking English. I want to obtain this within 1 year. I am on week 1.
Actually, I am sure I would be able to learn 10 words a day of another language, but with Chinese I need to constantly go back and make sure I am pronouncing with the correct tone. Otherwise I am just wasting my time. Once I gather my lists, I will learn those until 100% perfect as I slowly learn the Traditional Characters.
My main goal is to be able to have basic working knowledge of the language to the point that I can leave the house on a daily basis without speaking English. I want to obtain this within 1 year. I am on week 1.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Active and Passive
I learned a technique which holds true with what it has set out to create. Transferring information from your short-term to long-term memory. Active learning is the process of drilling countless hours to achieve perfection. Passive learning is the process of utilizing what you have learned in real world scenarios.
This can be done in conjunction with another language you are learning or not. I have been learning Tagalog so here is an example of how I will do it.
Week 1 and 2: Study Chinese for long hours and learn as much as possible. Go out and speak the Tagalog you already know.
Week 3 and 4: Study Tagalog for long hours and learn as much as possible. Go out and speak the Chinese you already know.
This actually makes sense, because during the time I was only learning Tagalog, I found I got my best results when I stopped learning for a week or two. Just completely ignored the learning part of it and just used the small amount I knew. Then when I went back to hit the books, my mind was ready for new input.
This can be done in conjunction with another language you are learning or not. I have been learning Tagalog so here is an example of how I will do it.
Week 1 and 2: Study Chinese for long hours and learn as much as possible. Go out and speak the Tagalog you already know.
Week 3 and 4: Study Tagalog for long hours and learn as much as possible. Go out and speak the Chinese you already know.
This actually makes sense, because during the time I was only learning Tagalog, I found I got my best results when I stopped learning for a week or two. Just completely ignored the learning part of it and just used the small amount I knew. Then when I went back to hit the books, my mind was ready for new input.
Refined Method
I have been learning Chinese for 7 days. During this time I have had the opportunity to see what is easy and what is hard. I have also been able to figure out how to focus on the very simple aspects of the language and learn a large amount in a short time. The tones and pronunciation are difficult but become easier each day, almost to the point where I can see a word written in Pinyin and pronounce it correctly.
I have decided to come up with a new refined method for learning which is altering my original plan. The original plan I had was to pretty much stay on course with Rxsetta Stxne. Work with 4 Lessons and learn everything in it to include the Simplified Chinese characters. What I have found is - without trying - I am picking up the characters as I go without studying sheets of paper for hours. Which, by the way, is a deterrent for learning, because you spend so much time learning very little.
First a little background information. The question I ask myself is how many words do I need to know to get by at a basic high school level. At that level you have working knowledge of the language and a good vocabulary. In English the average person is far from knowing every single word in the language. You don't need to know every single word. A doctor or scientist is going to have extensive vocabulary pertaining to their profession, but it is unlikely they each know the others "special" language. I have read several sources that say you need to know anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 words. One source I read said 60,000 words. I cannot imagine that being anywhere near the truth. Other sources say 4,000 to 6,000 for a college graduate.
A good experiment would be to write down every single word you speak for a week straight. Only write each word once. Type it into a database on the computer or excel. Put each word in alphabetical order. You can use that as your "Everyday" vocabulary. Then you need to consider there is "Special" vocabulary for events that do not occur every day.
My new plan of action is the following. Make several lists to include:
100 Verbs
100 Nouns
100 Adjectives
I believe these lists will take me a month to complete. After that I am going to write sentences that combine different parts. I am also signing up for a Chinese Social Network so I can get some friends and try this out. The more you use it, the better you learn. I will also find a few friends I can get on microphone/webcam with.
After using this list for 2-3 months, I am again going to make new lists with 100 of each. Let's say 300 words every 3 months. That will be 1200 words a year. About 3 words a day. I am sure this plan will be refined once again.
I have decided to come up with a new refined method for learning which is altering my original plan. The original plan I had was to pretty much stay on course with Rxsetta Stxne. Work with 4 Lessons and learn everything in it to include the Simplified Chinese characters. What I have found is - without trying - I am picking up the characters as I go without studying sheets of paper for hours. Which, by the way, is a deterrent for learning, because you spend so much time learning very little.
First a little background information. The question I ask myself is how many words do I need to know to get by at a basic high school level. At that level you have working knowledge of the language and a good vocabulary. In English the average person is far from knowing every single word in the language. You don't need to know every single word. A doctor or scientist is going to have extensive vocabulary pertaining to their profession, but it is unlikely they each know the others "special" language. I have read several sources that say you need to know anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 words. One source I read said 60,000 words. I cannot imagine that being anywhere near the truth. Other sources say 4,000 to 6,000 for a college graduate.
A good experiment would be to write down every single word you speak for a week straight. Only write each word once. Type it into a database on the computer or excel. Put each word in alphabetical order. You can use that as your "Everyday" vocabulary. Then you need to consider there is "Special" vocabulary for events that do not occur every day.
My new plan of action is the following. Make several lists to include:
100 Verbs
100 Nouns
100 Adjectives
I believe these lists will take me a month to complete. After that I am going to write sentences that combine different parts. I am also signing up for a Chinese Social Network so I can get some friends and try this out. The more you use it, the better you learn. I will also find a few friends I can get on microphone/webcam with.
After using this list for 2-3 months, I am again going to make new lists with 100 of each. Let's say 300 words every 3 months. That will be 1200 words a year. About 3 words a day. I am sure this plan will be refined once again.
Ate. Eating. Will Eat. Nevermind.
I have found one major weakness in Chinese. You do not conjugate verbs. You learn one form of a verb and you are done. Forget Past, Present and Future. Learn one form and use it. This is usually how I figure out how to learn the most of a language immediately. Find the weakness that makes it so simple.
I am going to find a list online of the Top 50 or Top 100 verbs, Then translate it into Chinese using Gxxgle, Rxsetta Stxne, Yxu Tube, Chinese Friends and any other source. I will be cross checking these to make sure they are correct. This will be in my back pocket at ALL times. When I speak aloud or even in my head, anytime I use a verb I will say it in Chinese. When I do use a verb, I will highlight it on my list to know which I actually use.
After doing this for about 2-3 months I should be setup for success. I will publish a list as soon as I compile one. As of right now I only have about 15-20 verbs. This should get me started.
I am going to find a list online of the Top 50 or Top 100 verbs, Then translate it into Chinese using Gxxgle, Rxsetta Stxne, Yxu Tube, Chinese Friends and any other source. I will be cross checking these to make sure they are correct. This will be in my back pocket at ALL times. When I speak aloud or even in my head, anytime I use a verb I will say it in Chinese. When I do use a verb, I will highlight it on my list to know which I actually use.
After doing this for about 2-3 months I should be setup for success. I will publish a list as soon as I compile one. As of right now I only have about 15-20 verbs. This should get me started.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Back Track
I just started Lesson 3 and realized two things. First, I remember the Chinese i've been taught already, but I am having trouble with speaking it. When I was learning for hours a day I could pronounce it pretty good and without a problem. So I am going back to basics and I am going to redo Lesson 1 and 2. Tomorrow morning I will redo Lesson 1 and 2 again and continue onto Lesson 3 and 4, spread throughout the whole day. Then the following day I will redo Lesson 3 and 4. I think I will stick with these 4 Lessons for another week until I fully grasp everything 100%.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
English Chinese Comparison
Keep the following in mind:
Tā - He/She | Tāmen - They | Zài - Is/Are | Pǎobù - Running.
Méi - Not | Yǒu - Has/Have | Yī Fèn - A | Bàozhǐ - Newspaper.
He/she is running.
Tā zài pǎobù.
他在跑步。
He/she is not running.
Tā méi zài pǎobù.
他没在跑步。
He/she has a newspaper.
Tā yǒu yī fèn bàozhǐ
他有一份报纸。
He/she does not have a newspaper.
Tā méiyǒu yī fèn bàozhǐ
他没有一份报纸。
They have a newspaper.
Tāmen yǒuyī fèn bàozhǐ.
他们有一份报纸。
Tā - He/She | Tāmen - They | Zài - Is/Are | Pǎobù - Running.
Méi - Not | Yǒu - Has/Have | Yī Fèn - A | Bàozhǐ - Newspaper.
He/she is running.
Tā zài pǎobù.
他在跑步。
He/she is not running.
Tā méi zài pǎobù.
他没在跑步。
He/she has a newspaper.
Tā yǒu yī fèn bàozhǐ
他有一份报纸。
He/she does not have a newspaper.
Tā méiyǒu yī fèn bàozhǐ
他没有一份报纸。
They have a newspaper.
Tāmen yǒuyī fèn bàozhǐ.
他们有一份报纸。
This Is About Day 四
So after 4 days of study, I believe I am getting this whole tone thing. It is actually easier than I thought. What I like to do after an intense 1 hour Lesson - which is only the tip of the iceberg for the whole study day - I record myself speaking the sentences and words that I have learned. Then I listen to it and pick out any mistakes I make. This serves two purpses. First, it corrects my pronunciation. Second, it gives me the ability to listen.
In order of difficulty I think the following way. Reading is by far the easiest part of language learning. Speaking is the next easiest and in my opinion listening and figuring out what someone is trying to say in a foreign language is the hardest. I can speak and read a fair amount of Tagalog. However, when someone is speaking Tagalog to me I sometimes get lost. It is my weak point. This is only my opinion though.
So back to RS. I have been taught some bare bones vocabulary including some common Nouns, Pronouns and Verbs. What RS does with each language is teaches you simple stuff then combines them in different ways.
Boy, Girl, Man, Woman, Cat, Dog, Horse, Fish, Car, Bicycle, Milk, Water, Tea, Coffee, Sandwich, Apple, Rice, Run, Walk, Swim, Drive, Sleep, Eat, Drink, Read, Write, He, She, They. I am sure I missed a few, but these are the first words you will ever learn no matter what language you take through Rxsetta Stxne. It will also teach you how to Negate using 没。
Then you continue to switch nouns, pronouns and verbs until you can use any combination with success. My head is spinning, but this is fun business.
In order of difficulty I think the following way. Reading is by far the easiest part of language learning. Speaking is the next easiest and in my opinion listening and figuring out what someone is trying to say in a foreign language is the hardest. I can speak and read a fair amount of Tagalog. However, when someone is speaking Tagalog to me I sometimes get lost. It is my weak point. This is only my opinion though.
So back to RS. I have been taught some bare bones vocabulary including some common Nouns, Pronouns and Verbs. What RS does with each language is teaches you simple stuff then combines them in different ways.
Boy, Girl, Man, Woman, Cat, Dog, Horse, Fish, Car, Bicycle, Milk, Water, Tea, Coffee, Sandwich, Apple, Rice, Run, Walk, Swim, Drive, Sleep, Eat, Drink, Read, Write, He, She, They. I am sure I missed a few, but these are the first words you will ever learn no matter what language you take through Rxsetta Stxne. It will also teach you how to Negate using 没。
Then you continue to switch nouns, pronouns and verbs until you can use any combination with success. My head is spinning, but this is fun business.
Best Time of Day and Lesson Plan
There are two schools of thought. Many people say you should learn information when you first wake up because your mind is rested and ready for new input. The other school says learn before you go to sleep because you will dream it into your mind while you sleep. Both sound like good advice. So I have combined them into studying Chinese when I first wake up and also before I go to sleep. The problem with this is the fact that I have made no clear distinction between when I first wake up and when I am about to sleep. So I have been just learning Chinese for hours and hours each day.
I am still working with Rxsetta Stxne and have complete about half of the first Unit. The way RS is broke down is as follows. Levels, Units and Lessons. Each Unit has 4 Lessons. Each Level has 4 Units. The Chinese language has 3 Levels. So the math comes out to 48 Lessons. I am on Lesson 2.
My plan is to do 2 Units a month. That is 8 Lessons - 30 minutes each - and 60 Sub-Lessons - 10 minutes each - which include Pronunciation, Vocabulary, Grammar, Reading, Writing and Reviews. That is a total of 4 hours worth of Lessons and 10 hours worth of Sub-Lessons. I am not just going to study 14 hours for the whole month though. I will be drilling atleast 1 hour a day.
I have currently been learning for 5 hours a day which I am going to ease back on, or atleast have "heavy" and "light" days so I am not overwhelmed. I could learn 1 hour every other day, but then I wouldn't be able to redo each lesson multiple times. However, a positive about Rxsetta Stxne is the fact that you never really "ditch" old grammar and vocabulary. As each Lesson progresses you simply continue to add to what you already know. So technically each Lesson I do I WILL be redoing and relearning.
I am still working with Rxsetta Stxne and have complete about half of the first Unit. The way RS is broke down is as follows. Levels, Units and Lessons. Each Unit has 4 Lessons. Each Level has 4 Units. The Chinese language has 3 Levels. So the math comes out to 48 Lessons. I am on Lesson 2.
My plan is to do 2 Units a month. That is 8 Lessons - 30 minutes each - and 60 Sub-Lessons - 10 minutes each - which include Pronunciation, Vocabulary, Grammar, Reading, Writing and Reviews. That is a total of 4 hours worth of Lessons and 10 hours worth of Sub-Lessons. I am not just going to study 14 hours for the whole month though. I will be drilling atleast 1 hour a day.
I have currently been learning for 5 hours a day which I am going to ease back on, or atleast have "heavy" and "light" days so I am not overwhelmed. I could learn 1 hour every other day, but then I wouldn't be able to redo each lesson multiple times. However, a positive about Rxsetta Stxne is the fact that you never really "ditch" old grammar and vocabulary. As each Lesson progresses you simply continue to add to what you already know. So technically each Lesson I do I WILL be redoing and relearning.
Tones
As you saw in the last post these - ǒ à é ō - are just a few of the special characters used in Pinyin. Chinese is a Tonal Language. That means you can have the spelling "zhi" but different meanings depending on how you pronounce it. The easy part is that the shapes above the letter dictate the pitch of your voice.
Examples:
ǒ You start at normal voice level, get deep and back up to where you started at.
à You start at normal voice level and go deeper.
é You start at a deeper voice level and go higher.
ō Just normal voice. No inflection whatsoever.
There are better examples on the internet of exactly what I am talking about for those who are truly interested. Just type "Chinese Tones" in Gxxgle. So I am giving Chinese an additional negative, but possibly a positive. It depends on how you look at it. I am a musician. When I play music I am listening to tones and creating tones and making stuff work together.
This is supposed to be one of the hardest things about Chinese. The fact that we as English speaks use inflection to define our mood. Such as a teenaged girl saying Hiiiiii as her voice slowly gets to a higher pitch to express her surprise and/or happiness. That game is over, you can not do that with Chinese. It will be a bad habit to break, but all in time.
Examples:
ǒ You start at normal voice level, get deep and back up to where you started at.
à You start at normal voice level and go deeper.
é You start at a deeper voice level and go higher.
ō Just normal voice. No inflection whatsoever.
There are better examples on the internet of exactly what I am talking about for those who are truly interested. Just type "Chinese Tones" in Gxxgle. So I am giving Chinese an additional negative, but possibly a positive. It depends on how you look at it. I am a musician. When I play music I am listening to tones and creating tones and making stuff work together.
This is supposed to be one of the hardest things about Chinese. The fact that we as English speaks use inflection to define our mood. Such as a teenaged girl saying Hiiiiii as her voice slowly gets to a higher pitch to express her surprise and/or happiness. That game is over, you can not do that with Chinese. It will be a bad habit to break, but all in time.
Characters
I have installed the Chinese keyboard so I am able to start learning how to type these characters. Which is easier than I imagined. All you do is type the word using "Pinyin" then selected the correct character.
As I have previously mentioned Chinese has three ways of writing. Pinyin, Traditional Chinese characters and Simplified Chinese characters. What I did not mention is that you need to learn about 3,000 of these characters to be at a decent level and about 5,000 to be very fluent in a vast amount of subjects. There is actually about 50,000 characters, but most are not used - thankfully.
This has nothing to do with speaking/listening. People can easily speak and listen to a language without being able to read/write it. However, I don't want to be illiterate. So now I need to narrow 5,000 characters down to small groups. Divide and conquer. My first post I mentioned learning in "Areas of Interest", shopping, order food etc. However, Rxsetta Stxne does not have the ability to do that for me. The whole "grouping" of words is something I need to do on my own, but since I am using that program and have no control over what it tells me to learn, I will base my character progression off of what it teaches.
I am in the process of creating a chart that lists the characters I have run into so far - which is 47. This does not mean I know 47 words. Sometimes, most times characters are combined to create a single word, though each character usually has a meaning behind it.
As an example: 果汁 means "Juice", but it literally means "Fruit Juice".
The character 果 means "Fruit" and 汁 means "Juice". So with that, I know 2 words, but when combined I then know only 1 word. I have a feeling though, it is going to come down to how many characters I know, not how many "words". Because it seems they are "Force Multipliers". You can continue to combine them in different ways and come up with new meanings.
As I have previously mentioned Chinese has three ways of writing. Pinyin, Traditional Chinese characters and Simplified Chinese characters. What I did not mention is that you need to learn about 3,000 of these characters to be at a decent level and about 5,000 to be very fluent in a vast amount of subjects. There is actually about 50,000 characters, but most are not used - thankfully.
This has nothing to do with speaking/listening. People can easily speak and listen to a language without being able to read/write it. However, I don't want to be illiterate. So now I need to narrow 5,000 characters down to small groups. Divide and conquer. My first post I mentioned learning in "Areas of Interest", shopping, order food etc. However, Rxsetta Stxne does not have the ability to do that for me. The whole "grouping" of words is something I need to do on my own, but since I am using that program and have no control over what it tells me to learn, I will base my character progression off of what it teaches.
I am in the process of creating a chart that lists the characters I have run into so far - which is 47. This does not mean I know 47 words. Sometimes, most times characters are combined to create a single word, though each character usually has a meaning behind it.
As an example: 果汁 means "Juice", but it literally means "Fruit Juice".
The character 果 means "Fruit" and 汁 means "Juice". So with that, I know 2 words, but when combined I then know only 1 word. I have a feeling though, it is going to come down to how many characters I know, not how many "words". Because it seems they are "Force Multipliers". You can continue to combine them in different ways and come up with new meanings.
Side Note
Yes I understand I am in South Korea. This is the perfect time to learn Korean. Yada yada. I started learning Tagalog first. Then I got to Korea and began learning Korean. I figured if I am going to learn a difficult language it might as well be Chinese. Look at the way the world is heading. Chinese people are not rushing off to learn Korean or Japanese. Japanese and Koreans are rushing off to learn Chinese.
I have however learned Hangul and pick up a few words and phrases here and there. Which helps a LOT when you are drunk in Itaewon and just wanna get to the train station 빨리빨리.
Also, let me take the chance to say I am also still learning Tagalog at this point in time. For the next 4 or 5 months I will be juggling languages and on the 6th month I will be in full Chinese mode. Which by that time I figure I will have a decent vocabulary and know quite a few characters.
I have however learned Hangul and pick up a few words and phrases here and there. Which helps a LOT when you are drunk in Itaewon and just wanna get to the train station 빨리빨리.
Also, let me take the chance to say I am also still learning Tagalog at this point in time. For the next 4 or 5 months I will be juggling languages and on the 6th month I will be in full Chinese mode. Which by that time I figure I will have a decent vocabulary and know quite a few characters.
The Journey Begins
I just started learning Chinese a few days ago. For the most part I will be using Rxsetta Stxne. I am also developing what I call "Variable Shells". A Variable Shell is pretty much a "Fill In The Blank" sentence that is flexible and practical for everyday use. Any time you learn a language there is some memorizing, but I try to keep that to a minimum. The reason for this is because the second you try to say something similiar, you will stutter and need to stop and think about it.
An examples of a Variable Shell include:
I Want __________.
I Need __________.
I Have __________.
I Like __________.
I Study __________.
I Watch __________.
You get the point. What else I do, is create negations to each shell.
After I get a firm grasp of these shells, I start building my vocabulary. Most books, software, internet sources just throw random nouns and adjectives at you. Which is fine, but I like to learn words in similiar groups. Such as NOUNS you would find inside of a house or NOUNS you would find in a store.
This is the point where I start to "Plug and Play" and start looking crazy because I talk to myself in public without regard to the people around me. I want apple. I want lettuce. I want milk. I want bread. I need cigarettes. This makes for good practice.
If you need to ask why "Group" your words. Why not just learn random nouns and adjectives? The reason is so you can become 100% fluent in a language in a certain area of study. This has 2 benefits. You will feel accomplished and it will keep you learning because you will want more.
I think the method I am going to use with Chinese is going to start with being able to "Order Food and Operate Within a Restaurant" and "Shop At A Store". These are the two most common things people do when they leave the house. Eat food and go to stores.
In my opinion Chinese has 3 negatives and 1 positive about it. It has a different alphabet (Pinyin), it has characters(Simplified Chinese) and different pronunciation. The positive is that it is a SOV language just like English. Which by the way, I am learning the Simplified Chinese characters. This process is going to be hard enough, I don't need to mess with Traditional Chinese characters. From what I have read so far, Traditional Chinese is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, on Chinese food menus and Simplified Chinese is used on the mainland.
So let's begin.
An examples of a Variable Shell include:
I Want __________.
I Need __________.
I Have __________.
I Like __________.
I Study __________.
I Watch __________.
You get the point. What else I do, is create negations to each shell.
After I get a firm grasp of these shells, I start building my vocabulary. Most books, software, internet sources just throw random nouns and adjectives at you. Which is fine, but I like to learn words in similiar groups. Such as NOUNS you would find inside of a house or NOUNS you would find in a store.
This is the point where I start to "Plug and Play" and start looking crazy because I talk to myself in public without regard to the people around me. I want apple. I want lettuce. I want milk. I want bread. I need cigarettes. This makes for good practice.
If you need to ask why "Group" your words. Why not just learn random nouns and adjectives? The reason is so you can become 100% fluent in a language in a certain area of study. This has 2 benefits. You will feel accomplished and it will keep you learning because you will want more.
I think the method I am going to use with Chinese is going to start with being able to "Order Food and Operate Within a Restaurant" and "Shop At A Store". These are the two most common things people do when they leave the house. Eat food and go to stores.
In my opinion Chinese has 3 negatives and 1 positive about it. It has a different alphabet (Pinyin), it has characters(Simplified Chinese) and different pronunciation. The positive is that it is a SOV language just like English. Which by the way, I am learning the Simplified Chinese characters. This process is going to be hard enough, I don't need to mess with Traditional Chinese characters. From what I have read so far, Traditional Chinese is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, on Chinese food menus and Simplified Chinese is used on the mainland.
So let's begin.
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