[Arado]

Tones are important. Perhaps teachers used to speaking with students will understand without tones, or if (like in the shuijiao example) There is clear context. But in general, tones are key and you won't be taken seriously without them.

On another note I found a great podcast called "Important Chinese things with Jenny Zhu" it has content in 50% Chinese and 50% English so useful for intermediate and above, very interesting topics - there was a recent episode on dating that seemed pretty fair.

[clever alias]

the overwhelming majority of people that study chinese wont get more than half their tones right half the time, and most converation wont move past the basic shit, its not worth the time investment for most people to master them

[clever alias]

Funny article about 对外汉语 from a Chinese perspective (Mandarin)

http://www.zhihu.com/question/19793676/a...are_button

[FretDancer]

(01-24-2015 10:49 PM)clever alias Wrote:  

Funny article about 对外汉语 from a Chinese perspective (Mandarin)

http://www.zhihu.com/question/19793676/a...are_button

Nice article. The 了 particle is an interesting one for sure, and can be a real pain in the ass when starting to learn.

[clever alias]

(01-26-2015 10:09 PM)FretDancer Wrote:  

(01-24-2015 10:49 PM)clever alias Wrote:  

Funny article about 对外汉语 from a Chinese perspective (Mandarin)

http://www.zhihu.com/question/19793676/a...are_button

Nice article. The 了 particle is an interesting one for sure, and can be a real pain in the ass when starting to learn.

差点也对初学来说有点复杂。楼主用的暴走很搞笑。

[Rang off the Pipe]

Hah. I remember the "le" particle very well. One of the most versatile and useful things in Mandarin.

[southamerica]

Even though Chinese grammar seems simple, mastering the different particles and constructing native-like sentences is not. These particles have no equivalent in western languages and can be difficult to explain to a complete beginner.

You have to accept some things as they are when learning a different language, especially if it has no relation to the ones you are comfortable with. Repeatedly asking questions can slow down your progress.

If any of you guys wants to practice Chinese, let me know. Mine is getting rusty.

[clever alias]

在贴吧上, 好几个人要学汉语, 他们却还没发帖。。。

Seriously, all the talk about learning Chinese and nobody posts here?

[southamerica]

那我们来说中国美女。

[clever alias]

你们高估中国女生

[Papi Rico]

(01-30-2015 10:55 PM)clever alias Wrote:  

你们高估中国女生

Ha ha - I'm also learning to get access to top Chinese pussy.

Wǒ xǐhuān zhōngguó nǚshēng.

On a serious note, sticking with a Chinese study schedule when you're not actually in China/Taiwan is proving to be a pain in the ass.

I'm looking for someone to hold me accountable on a weekly basis. In exchange, I would do the same for my partner, and could alternatively push him on Russian or Spanish.

This could involve a weekly 20 min Skype session (10 minutes each side), every week until the end of 2015 without fail, in which both partners justify their progress through conversation.

At the end of the conversation, both sides must clearly state what they will do that week to progress towards conversational fluency. Failure to comply with a weekly study plan would be punishable by public humiliation on RVF.

Success is inevitable with such an arrangement.

Whomever is interested, let me know.

[Global Entry]

What time zone are u in, Papi? I'd be into this, but I'm in the USA, mountain time.

[clever alias]

你要傍富婆吗? 你连长得很帅都没关系, 何况会汉语呢?

[Suits]

(02-03-2015 02:35 PM)Papi Rico Wrote:  

On a serious note, sticking with a Chinese study schedule when you're not actually in China/Taiwan is proving to be a pain in the ass.

In my experience, time outside of China is best dedicated to memorizing characters and getting them on lockdown.

Decent comfort speaking the language can be achieved in half a year to one year easily if you practice with locals every day, but learning to read and write is a multi-year task minimum.

So, the best plan is just learning a certain determined number of characters each week.

Of course, even with this, it's hard to stay motivated.

[Papi Rico]

(02-04-2015 10:34 PM)Suits Wrote:  

(02-03-2015 02:35 PM)Papi Rico Wrote:  

On a serious note, sticking with a Chinese study schedule when you're not actually in China/Taiwan is proving to be a pain in the ass.

In my experience, time outside of China is best dedicated to memorizing characters and getting them on lockdown.

Suits, my sole objective is to be able to speak at an intermediate level. I want to achieve this with zero character study.

Let's assume I have no shortage of motivation, electronic resources, and Chinese friends.

Anything in particular you'd suggest?

[Suits]

(02-05-2015 01:08 AM)Papi Rico Wrote:  

(02-04-2015 10:34 PM)Suits Wrote:  

(02-03-2015 02:35 PM)Papi Rico Wrote:  

On a serious note, sticking with a Chinese study schedule when you're not actually in China/Taiwan is proving to be a pain in the ass.

In my experience, time outside of China is best dedicated to memorizing characters and getting them on lockdown.

Suits, my sole objective is to be able to speak at an intermediate level. I want to achieve this with zero character study.

Let's assume I have no shortage of motivation, electronic resources, and Chinese friends.

Anything in particular you'd suggest?

Move to China.

[Papi Rico]

(02-05-2015 04:49 AM)Suits Wrote:  

(02-05-2015 01:08 AM)Papi Rico Wrote:  

(02-04-2015 10:34 PM)Suits Wrote:  

(02-03-2015 02:35 PM)Papi Rico Wrote:  

On a serious note, sticking with a Chinese study schedule when you're not actually in China/Taiwan is proving to be a pain in the ass.

In my experience, time outside of China is best dedicated to memorizing characters and getting them on lockdown.

Suits, my sole objective is to be able to speak at an intermediate level. I want to achieve this with zero character study.

Let's assume I have no shortage of motivation, electronic resources, and Chinese friends.

Anything in particular you'd suggest?

Move to China.

Ah really? I also want to study Russian history, Muay Thai, French cuisine, and Argentine tango.

I guess I have a tough choice to make.

[Suits]

(02-06-2015 12:36 AM)Papi Rico Wrote:  

(02-05-2015 04:49 AM)Suits Wrote:  

(02-05-2015 01:08 AM)Papi Rico Wrote:  

(02-04-2015 10:34 PM)Suits Wrote:  

(02-03-2015 02:35 PM)Papi Rico Wrote:  

On a serious note, sticking with a Chinese study schedule when you're not actually in China/Taiwan is proving to be a pain in the ass.

In my experience, time outside of China is best dedicated to memorizing characters and getting them on lockdown.

Suits, my sole objective is to be able to speak at an intermediate level. I want to achieve this with zero character study.

Let's assume I have no shortage of motivation, electronic resources, and Chinese friends.

Anything in particular you'd suggest?

Move to China.

Ah really? I also want to study Russian history, Muay Thai, French cuisine, and Argentine tango.

I guess I have a tough choice to make.

To put the challenge of Chinese into perspective, I have a friend in Beijing that studied Chinese for four years in the USA while completing his undergrad. He majored in it. During that time, he amassed a good vocabulary (larger than mine) and read various classics.

I've studied Chinese formally in China for 3 months (at a rate of 12 class hours a week) and 4 months intensively. I've also lived in China for more than three years and spent a lot of that time speaking Chinese at least at some point each day just to get what I needed done.

I have conversations in Chinese that last hours and hours.

My friend, despite having 4 years of education under his belt and more than a full year in China now, doesn't speak with anywhere near the confidence that I do and his pronunciation is painful to listen to.

He communicative, but he still needs to put in a lot more time with the language to become comfortable.

Keep in mind, he's been speaking it regularly in China for coming up to a year and a half now.

There is no substitute for in-country experience with a language that has a pronunciation system as different as Chinese.

[clever alias]

Good bit of a cracker speaking the China hua

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QzzpQWSU354

[clever alias]

Chinese internet users invent a new word "duang" after a Jackie Chan shampoo commercial spoof. The word has no pre-existing pinyin combination, and nobody is totally sure what it means, but everyone is using it everywhere on weibo.

[ball dont lie]

(03-01-2015 05:36 PM)clever alias Wrote:  

Chinese internet users invent a new word "duang" after a Jackie Chan shampoo commercial spoof. The word has no pre-existing pinyin combination, and nobody is totally sure what it means, but everyone is using it everywhere on weibo.

I've been working at a university for 10 years now in PRC and these kinds of things are so stupid. Its always something.

人性，有钱。 蓝翔挖掘机。 I get tired of otherwise intelligent people echoing this junk. I haven't heard about this duang (maybe 粤语 there is pinyin) but the semester begins now and I bet the mindless ocean of Chinese kids will be saying it all now.

[Agreddor]

It's in cantonese I.e jyutping

[Mochihunter]

Can anyone give me any advice on character writing? I'm studying Mandarin at University (which was a mistake) and how they conduct class is retarded. We spend the entire class learning a single word, the going over how to read characters. The problem is there is no time to practice oral speaking and we're expected to know how to write thirty characters every two weeks. Does anyone have any tricks on how to remember how to write characters and how I can improve my oral Chinese speaking skills solo?

[Suits]

(09-28-2016 08:33 PM)Mochihunter Wrote:  

Can anyone give me any advice on character writing? I'm studying Mandarin at University (which was a mistake) and how they conduct class is retarded. We spend the entire class learning a single word, the going over how to read characters. The problem is there is no time to practice oral speaking and we're expected to know how to write thirty characters every two weeks. Does anyone have any tricks on how to remember how to write characters and how I can improve my oral Chinese speaking skills solo?

I feel your pain. University language training is generally taught in a manner that fits the academic format most conveniently and not with methods that result in the best learning.

My advice would be to finish this semester and see if there is an option to test out of future courses (preferably for credit). Then come to China for two semesters (which will be super cheap compared to studying in the US and countries with similar university pricing) and learn not only how to write, but also how to speak.

Memorizing characters is hard. My method was always to write the pinyin on one side of a flashcard and the character on the other side. I'd look at the pinyin and try to write the character.

I'd rotate two cards until I could write both characters, then rotate another two cards and then rotate all four cards. Once I could write all four, I'd do the same with four new words and then test myself on all eight words together.

It took me a lot of time to memorize new characters and I'd forget them almost as soon as I stopped practicing them daily.

[atlant]

(09-28-2016 08:33 PM)Mochihunter Wrote:  

Can anyone give me any advice on character writing? I'm studying Mandarin at University (which was a mistake) and how they conduct class is retarded. We spend the entire class learning a single word, the going over how to read characters. The problem is there is no time to practice oral speaking and we're expected to know how to write thirty characters every two weeks. Does anyone have any tricks on how to remember how to write characters and how I can improve my oral Chinese speaking skills solo?

Skritter for writing

Obviously you can't improve your skills solo but unless you are in bumfuck nowhere there should be some Chinese around? Maybe some exchange students? Or get Tantan (or Wechat lookaround) and see if you can find any Chinese (girls) that way. Also if you are not constantly around native speakers, make sure to get lots of input (watch some Chinese/Taiwanese TV series, movies, radio etc), which is something that is usually overlooked.