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.