Chinese Practical Reader

Chinese is hard especially for a someone outside China and with no channels of Chinese to use it in. Diligence is key but proper assistance and coaching even more important.

That said, I recently picked up the New Chinese Practical Reader. It comes with a book plus audio so you have a sounding board. I can then use Skype, which was recently purchased by eBay and talk to friends overseas. They can correct and coach me further. I hope this methodology works out in the long run.

I have went through the first 16 chapters already. With my foundation of Chinese it was not hard; but, it was not easy either and has become gradually more difficult with each chapter.

Another Sunday wakeup.

What is the first thing I do when I wakeup? Yeah, you guessed it a pair of audio lessons in Mandarin Chinese. First lesson here. Second lesson here. This completes my lessons within the LiveMocha Mandarin Chinese 101 class. I know, thank you! Now onto LiveMocha Mandarin Chinese 102.

The description for these classes are as follows:

Mandarin Chinese 101

For students starting with the basics with little or no exposure to the language.

Time: 50 hours

* First nouns
* 1st, 2nd, 3rd person
* Verb "To Be"
* Negative
* Actions
* Numbers
* Time/Date

Mandarin Chinese 102

For students who can start putting sentences together. Students should be able to introduce themselves and understand some instructions.

Time: 50 hours

* Is/Was
* Interogative pronouns
* Directions
* Prepositions
* Present simple verbs
* Travel vocabulary
* Shopping vocabulary

As you can see, based on the class I am taking my skill level is not that high. So, I must fight hard.

Update: 10/12 - I also did a few more lessons in the evening. Here is one of the oral lessons.

Audiorama.

One, no two is the number of audio recordings I submitted this today.

I admit, I did not study the words as hard. My pronunciation is probably rougher than the roads in Mongolia.

I recently, finished studying 450 characters in detail. I will now study those same 450 characters each day 5-10 characters at a time. This will reinforce their standing in my mind.

Well, that is the idea!

Renewed approach.

So in the past 2 days, in addition to today. By the way, that makes three. I have and will be studying the makeup of the Chinese character. Breaking it down into its components to gain a understanding of why and how the character is written in such a way. Hopefully, this shortens my learning curve to a considerable degree.

My teacher shared with me this website: Chinese etymology.

Climb the ladder of learning.

Another day, another audio lesson.

What are you wearing?

Another audio lesson knocked down. Just keep going right? I know, all my Chinese skills need work big time.

Poems | Wakeup

我早晨醒来,面带微笑
我拥有全新的,二十四小时
我发誓,要充分利用,每一刻
并且,用激情的眼光,看着所有人

I studied this today. To say it, I said it about 40 times. I will try to master this and say it each morning.

Idiom | 种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆

I thought, it would be a good idea to study idioms.

An idiom is an expression, that is a term or phrase whose meaning cannot be deduced from the literal definitions and the arrangement of its parts ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idioms

So I taught my friend Do Thi Ha the English idiom;

Out of the blue

the definition I gave her was

something sudden and unexpected

The idiom she then offered in return; since, we have a semi quid pro quo relationship was;

种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆

The definition she gave and I modified was

the price we pay we will get back in return

I am not very sure about this answer because Do Thi Ha was not so sure herself.

Oral Lesson: Episode 4

New study material

钱包里有买食物和糖果的钱。 女人坐在轿车里，男人坐在沙发上。 食物放在餐桌上，糖果放在盒子里。 女孩坐在椅子上，男孩睡在床上。 我在建筑物旁边，管理员坐在桌子旁边。 灯放在桌子上。 咖啡也放在桌子上。 女孩在公共汽车上，男孩在门口。

Updated: OK, thanks to Jerry, I got new Chinese software that helps my learning greatly. I do not know its name; although, it seems that Google developed it jointly with a Chinese firm.

Here is my oral lesson.

Oral Lesson: Episode 3

Oral Lesson: Episode 3

This is what I studied and tried to record:

我是学生。 我不是医生。 他是医生。 他不是公共汽车司机。 她是技工。 她不是护士。 他不是警察。 他是管理员。 你是教师。 你不是厨师。

Oral Lesson: Episode 2

有五栋房子。 有两个男人。 有七个女孩。 有一个钱包。 有一块毛巾。 有八只狗。 有八个蛋糕。 蛋糕上有三支蜡烛。 三个男孩个子高。 一个男孩个子矮。 五个女人很年轻。 两个女人上了年纪。 六个男人很有钱。 四个男人很穷。

This will be my second installment of my oral lessons. My previous oral lesson got　so-so reviews.

This one will probably be more of the same. Here is the link. Oral Lesson: Episode 2

Oral Lesson: Episode 1

I am studying the following set of words and sentence in Chinese. Reading them out loud or reciting them beneath my breath. Typing them out here and there. I'll later record an audio feed of it for native and other Chinese speakers to give me feedback by.

那个男人秃顶了。 那个年轻男人没有秃顶。 她有一头黑色卷发。 我有一头棕色长发。 那个男孩的头发不是红色的。 她有一头金发。 那个男人留着红胡子，是八字胡。 那个女人没有胡子。 她有一头黑色短发。

At times, I feel encouraged and think I can do anything but there are low periods where my confidence takes a dip. I need to think of ways to keep my focus and energy high.

Update: OK, so I recorded the audio of this lesson. Here is a link to it; see how others rated me as well. Oral Lesson: Episode 1

Hello World

你好吗？

Introductions are in order, this will, be a blog about my journey. A journey towards learning how to read and write Chinese. Over the years, my motivation has its ebbs and flow. If I, were to document my journey from this time period on, it can only place a positive factor over my studies. If you follow my plight, then you can participate with comments, in doing so, you'd contribute to my path. Lets go to the East together; the land of enchantment and mystery.

阮清皇