Evilado's Textbook TAC 2016(Zh, Es)

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evilado
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Evilado's Textbook TAC 2016(Zh, Es)

Postby evilado » Wed Dec 30, 2015 8:06 pm

After a busy and unfocused 2015, I'm looking to spend 2016 working on grammar and textbooks. Not the funnest plan around, but I do plan on alternating my focus between Spanish and Mandarin so I can always relax in one language while I focus on the other. The major outline of the year will be getting my Mandarin up to the task of a half Super Challenge starting in May, then switching over to C1 Spanish test prep(probably won't actually take the exam) for the remainder of the year while doing a full Super Challenge in Spanish.

Spanish
I've been learning Spanish for over 3 years now, and it's high time that I got around to fixing all the little errors and finer points of usage that I've been able to skip over. I'd like to work through El Cronometro C1 book this year, find a good test prep tutor, and work towards a possible C1 exam in November. I doubt I'll sign up because there are no test centers near me, but it's a good way to provide some structure to the plateau I'm currently on. I still have tons of books that I'm excited to read, and I will continue working through my memrise idioms course.


Mandarin
I'd say I've been stuck around A2 for a while, but my reading is absolutely atrocious. This year, I want to work my way through the NCPR Volume 2 or 3, depending on how easy it is, and start reading simple books and the news. Since I should be familiar with the vocab in Volume 2-3, I'll also be working my way through my HSK4 memrise course and the TDrama Just You(就是要你爱上我).I'm not crazy about TDramas in general, but it's something to watch with my wife and try out the sub2srs method. I'll re-evaluate my goals in May, but I want to finish the duolingo English for Chinese speakers course in January while I work on choosing the right textbook.
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Dani
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Re: Evilado's Textbook TAC 2016(Zh, Es)

Postby Dani » Thu Dec 31, 2015 5:55 am

Good to see somebody else planning to take on the Super Challenge for Chinese in 2016! 加油!
It seems that there has been quite the influx of Mandarin enthusiasts over the last month; the more the merrier. I'll definitely be reading your log.

[edit] fixed grammar
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Corrections are always welcome!

2016
Writing
● Speaking
: 0 / 75000
: 9 / 3000 min
● Reading
● Watching
: 25 / 10000 pages
: 0 / 0 min

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evilado
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Re: Evilado's Textbook TAC 2016(Zh, Es)

Postby evilado » Sun Jan 10, 2016 4:59 pm

Spanish
Una semana divertida de estudios españoles. Leí los dos capítulos de Como agua para chocolate del club de lectura, y para no leerlo demasiado rápido, empecé a leer Cien años de soledad. Lo leí en ingles hace 5 años y me gustó, pero ya no me acuerdo de mucho. Intentaba leer este libro hace un año, pero después de unas paginas de tantas plantas, animales, y otras palabras desconocidas, lo dejé. Ahora no solo conozco más, pero tengo una edición ebook donde se puede buscar rápidamente. La mayoría de las palabras son de la naturaleza, la alquimia o química, o de artilugios antiguos que no se usan con frecuencia en el siglo 21, y puedo seguir leyendo sin este sentimiento vago que tenía antes que no entendía todo.

Además, vi tres pelis con mi esposa.
Carnacho : Una película de suspense de Argentina. No nos gustó tanto, pero es un buen ejemplo del suspense moderno, un género que no me gustó tan como los clásicos.
Un novio para mi esposa : Comedia argentina, nos gustó mucho. Graciosa sin zarandajas, personajes interesantes y creíbles, muy recomendable.
La primera noche de mi vida : Comedia española. Demasiadas personajes y historias por una peli de 84 minutos, pero tiene y escenas divertidas.

Qué pena me da escribir, tengo que hacerlo más. Y estoy pensando que sería mejor estudiar Gramática de uso del Español con mis compañeros de La Manada, en lugar de El Cronómetro.

Mandarin
Like Spanish, not a very serious week of studies, but I've been working through my HSK4 memrise course and am always adding more words to my Duolingo course when as I encounter them. Vocab is always an issue, so it's always nice to encounter sentences with context. I've got 11 units left in Duolingo, and shouldn't have a problem finishing the course by the end of the month like I planned. Overall it's not the best tool out there, but I do feel motivated to do it every day and I'm close to finishing. I'm now gonna write a bit in mandarin about my favorite resource this week, the Chinese Breeze 500 word level graded reader & CDSecrets of a computer company, corrections welcome. I hope to read a couple more at the 750 word level before I move into more advanced reading, but it's really encouraging to use graded readers even if the prose is really redundant and simple.

电脑公司的秘密关于一个男人,叫放心, 和 他的女朋友,叫新月。 他们在他们自己的公司做软件。他们的软件非常好,非常有名,可是竟然有的问题。买电脑的人比以前更多,但是买软件的人比以前少。 为什么? 当然在中国有的盗版软件。警察还不找到做盗版的人。放心新月可以侦探一下。

Dani, I agree, the more the merrier. We need as much help as we can get.
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Re: Evilado's Textbook TAC 2016(Zh, Es)

Postby Expugnator » Sun Jan 10, 2016 5:33 pm

We are reading the same book :D fortunately your Chinese paragraph had no spoilers :lol: it's well-written.
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evilado
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Re: Evilado's Textbook TAC 2016(Zh, Es)

Postby evilado » Thu Jan 14, 2016 5:15 pm

Thanks Expugnator! I figured anything on the back cover was fair game for spoilers. :D

Have you read other Chinese Breeze titles? I've read a few of the 300-word level ones, including 你最喜欢谁? , a story related to this one. I've also read Green Phoenix, which I liked less than this one, but it was also my first 500 word level text.
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Re: Evilado's Textbook TAC 2016(Zh, Es)

Postby Expugnator » Thu Jan 14, 2016 8:01 pm

Yes, I'm reading all the ones I can find. I think I've read 3 or 4 from level 1 (I really want to find her, Wrong, Wrong, Wrong and the other ones I forgot), 3 from level 2 and today I started my first one from level 3. I think the change from level 1 to level 2 feels more daunting. Today's level 3 felt just like level 2, not much more challenging.
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evilado
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Re: Evilado's Textbook TAC 2016(Zh, Es)

Postby evilado » Sat Jan 16, 2016 8:07 pm

Spanish

Bueno, no hice mucho fuera de lo normal esta semana. Leí los capítulos de Como agua para chocolate y escribí mi reseña de los que leí la semana pasada. Todavía tengo que escribir más para cumplir mi reto de enero con mi equipo La Manada, pues voy a hacerlo en seguida. Además de sigo leyendo Cien años de soledad, Por ahora no hay este montón de nombres y personajes que me dio tantas problemas cuando lo leí por primera vez en inglés.

Y también vi una película mexicana bastante mala, Cilantro y perejil (1998)l La trama no fue terrible, pero tiene un estilo claramente de los años 90, pasado de la moda y ridícula.


Mandarin

Still on track to finish my duolingo course, decided to step up my HSK4 course on memrise to 6000 points a day. It can get annoying, especially with single character definitions, but HSK4 is still pretty high frequency stuff that I need to know if I want to read anything. I got a version of Great Expectations adapted to 500 word level by Mandarin Companion. So far so good, but it is fairly easy. Since almost all the releases from this series are the 300 level series, I'll probably get back to Chinese Breeze after I finish the two volumes of this.

我很喜欢 就是要你爱上我, 一个台湾的电视剧。我刚看完了 莫非,这就是爱情,一个别的台湾电视剧。 莫非和这个一样的,可是这个更搞笑。
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evilado
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Re: Evilado's Textbook TAC 2016(Zh, Es)

Postby evilado » Fri Jan 22, 2016 5:09 pm

Español
Nada fuera de lo normal esta semana. Sigo leyendo Como agua para chocolate y Cien años de soledad. Me gustan ambos, y siempre cuando cambiar de uno al otro, pensaba que sería mejor continuar con solo uno, pero después de unas paginas yo di mi cuanta de que así esta bien. Descargué HelloTalk, y mi meta por la semana que viene es charlar 2 veces por las mañanas, antes de ir trabajo.

Voy a empezar escribiendo mis aportes como hace Stelle, actualizaciones por cada lenguaje en aportes distintos.
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evilado
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Re: Evilado's Textbook TAC 2016(Zh, Es)

Postby evilado » Fri Jan 22, 2016 5:14 pm

Mandarin
Looking to add more comprehensible audio to my life. I'm really enjoying Just You, but the subtitles and the level make it hard to stay in listening mode. Still reading Great Expectations from the Mandarin Companion series. My plan is to finish that, tackle a 750-word level Chinese Breeze title, and then start working my way through 丁丁, or Tintin. I really enjoyed Tintin when I first read it in French, and I think being familiar with it and the pictures should help a ton. Plus they're actually fairly affordable on Amazon.
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evilado
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Re: Evilado's Textbook TAC 2016(Zh, Es)

Postby evilado » Fri Jan 29, 2016 1:59 am

Mandarin
Finally finished my duolingo project, still have about 200 words from the course to learn via my memrise course, but it was a good way to keep in touch with the language while I had other priorities.

I'm tiring of my HSK4 course, it is poorly organized and poorly maintained, I'm on the verge of abandoning it and going straight to the HSK6 course for my context-free vocab acquisition.

I'm now looking for transcripts of my favorite Taiwanese Dramas to use with LWT, but coming up mostly empty. I've made a pretty good deal with my wife, I'll watch anything she wants as long as it's in Chinese, and there are a number of TDramas that are entertaining. Since finishing the superb Just You, we tried a couple before landing on Love, now! It's only 45 minutes long, which is so much more manageable than the feature-length episodes of most Tdramas. I'm also considering dipping my toes into learning some traditional characters, if only because I often feel completely lost when reading some pretty common characters.

Warning: Spoilers for Love, Now! Ahead
真爱趁现在的故事的开始有一个太笨的计划 :楊奕茹工作太多。她从没放假。所以,她的家庭决定骗她。他们把假的文件给她。假的文件告诉她有癌:六个月以后,她一定将会死了。她决定去菲律宾。在她的酒店里,她的家庭送给她一张信,告诉她他们骗她,她的病是假的。但是,当然她不去在他的酒店。她跟一个很帅的男人爱上。因为她六个月以后本来会死了,他们结婚。一点以后,她发现她家庭的信,她非常生气,她就回家。她还没告诉她的丈夫为什么她去了。
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