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.