我是蝙蝠侠 (and learning Mandarin)

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Batman
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我是蝙蝠侠 (and learning Mandarin)

Postby Batman » Fri Apr 28, 2017 9:33 am

Hello, I am Batman. I mean, 我是蝙蝠侠, and that's pretty much is my current level of Mandarin (I googled how to write Batman in Mandarin and copy-pasted it, so...). I decided to learn it seriously roughly a year ago but wasn't really working much on it. And I have a lot of languages buried on my personal Language Cemetery: German, French, Finnish, Hebrew, Nahuatl, Lakota, Chechen... There is a place for Chinese on this cemetery too, but I will fight for it's life with all strength that I have, with all experience that I have now, after losing so many languages...

Anyway, I decided to seriously learn Chinese on May 2016, I guess. I found some friends on Wechat, I found a lot of resources for learning the language and... I basically failed it so far. The only app that I work with more or less seriously is Memrise, I even payed for a pro version. But to be honest it is "less seriously", there were months were I wasn't doing anything at all. I also was listening to Michel Thomas audio course, while running, it helped a lot in the beginning. I was using Hello Chinese app too (love it, helped me a lot).

Chinese friends helped a lot, especially with tones. Actually, I think that I generally don't have much problems with tones. But my level is too basic, so maybe I will be still proven wrong about it (one thing is to say a sentence, and another is to speak freely). But back to my Chinese friends - most of them are from Shenzhen, - there is a group of young people learning English there, - and some of them are very helpful (and I can't return the favor back, because I am not the native speaker, you can see that my English is a bit weird, right? Correct my mistakes in English, please, if you can). Also, there was a girl from Xi'an, and we had like 10-15 hour-long lessons, she was teaching me for free and I am grateful a lot for that, her lessons helped. I was trying with her to learn by heart the poem of Taras Shevchenko in Chinese ("當我死後 // 請將我埋葬吧 // 在遼闊的烏克蘭平原中...", and I didn't succeed, it was our last 2-3 lessons, and I was too busy with thinking about earning money to pay my bills, and ...), Now she's too busy and we barely talk.

I still didn't improve much in a year, because I committed very little time to studying. So, with this log I am trying to change it. Plan is to post at least ones per week.

Other than that - I wan't to change my approach to Memrise (to add some work on characters without app), I wan't to seriously start working on Glossika (I started recently, but just listened couple times to first 50 sentences on GMS). I also want to develop stable and consistent schedule of studying Mandarin.
Ok, that's it for now.
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Re: 我是蝙蝠侠 (and learning Mandarin)

Postby Snow » Fri Apr 28, 2017 11:35 am

你好, Batman.
Batman wrote:And I have a lot of languages buried on my personal Language Cemetery: German, French, Finnish, Hebrew, Nahuatl, Lakota, Chechen... There is a place for Chinese on this cemetery too, but I will fight for it's life with all strength that I have, with all experience that I have now, after losing so many languages...

You're funny. :D Don't let Mandarin be buried alive!
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Re: 我是蝙蝠侠 (and learning Mandarin)

Postby shandra » Fri Apr 28, 2017 3:37 pm

Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman then always be Batman.
I'd like to speak Batmanese :o
Last edited by shandra on Sun Jun 25, 2017 8:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 我是蝙蝠侠 (and learning Mandarin)

Postby Batur » Sun Apr 30, 2017 2:00 pm

你好,蝙蝠侠。你很努力,我相信你一定会成功的。请不要放弃,加油!
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Re: 我是蝙蝠侠 (and learning Mandarin)

Postby Batman » Sun May 07, 2017 7:48 pm

I can't believe that 10 days passed from my first post here.

Memrise
I was working all this days only on Memrise, - I had 3 courses there (Mandarin Chinese 1, Mandarin Chinese 2, 222 - Radicals) that I were working everyday on, but only for 5 minutes on each one course. Then, on Saturday, I missed a day (I realized that the day is over only after midnight), and lost all my streak there.
Recently I added some other courses (A Lesson Pinyin (my pinyin knowledge aren't really good), Chinese provinces and their capitals (I really want to have geographical understanding, feeling of China), Chinese Sex Vocabulary (sex is always interesting), Drinking Alone with the Moon by Li Bai, and two courses with HelloChinese vocabulary). I have little idea how to work on all of this yet.
I have also two other courses there, Mandarin Reading Survival and HSK level 1 - Introductory, and these courses were the first that I started learning with, but I haven't touched those for a long time. I installed 35 min for the first course and 15 for the second one, and I rarely was working that much on those courses.

But my goal was to change my work with Memrise. I wanted to start adding work on these characters, words and sentences outside of Memrise. Because I started to be good with recognizing and guessing characters in Memrise, but not outside of Memrise. So, I wanted to start working a bit differently. For example, I had 疋 (pi3) in my 222 - Radicals course, so I googled it and I found out that there different pronunciations for this radical, different etymologies; I found the list of different characters with this radical, found it on Pleco, tried to write it and so on. I created connections in my brain with this radical outside of Memrise.
I was hoping to do a lot of work of this type, but that was the first time I was doing it, today. I want to work like that much more often.

Glossika
I just didn't start working on Glossika seriously. I will start tomorrow.

Other
Batur helped me with some words and sentences. We were playing guessing game on Wechat: he was saying something and I was trying to understand what he was saying. He helps a lot.

I also think about listening to Chinese music more. And about watching TV shows. And about reading something very simple in Chinese.
I also subscribed to a lot of great channels on Youtube, and I am not working enough (or at all) on their videos. I like, for example, these channels: eChineseLearning, Chels teaches Chinese, and many other great channels.

Also, I am trying to learn Java now, and I found course on Edx on Java in Chinese. With subtitles, audio and other stuff. And there are a lot of other courses on Chinese and in Chinese there. That's amazing how much Mandarin materials is on the Internet!

Goal
I want to pass brilliantly HSK6 in the end of 2017. I am not sure how real is this goal. I understand that it is definitely not real if I gonna keep being as lazy as I am. I am sure that if I will work as hard as I want too, it is totally possible for such a talented Batman as I am.

Anyway, that's a "low effort" update, just to write something. I am not satisfied with my "learning" process, and I will improve it a lot next week. Promise.

And guys, thank you for your comments, they help me feel responsibility =) Snow, I will not let Mandarin be buried alive! shandra, I am Batman and I am learning Mandarin, so if you want to learn Batmanese, just improve your Mandarin!
Batur, I hope you will start your own log on this forum!
Also, 麻雀 (máquè), I mean Moineau, I hope to see an update from you soon.
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Re: 我是蝙蝠侠 (and learning Mandarin)

Postby Batur » Sun May 07, 2017 11:57 pm

Batman, you reminded me when I began to pick up my English. I jumped into python tutorial of English. I learned both English and programming at the same time. I am sure Chinese materials are far less than English. But the amount and quality of Chinese materials will become better. These days, <人民的名义>(In the name of People) is very popular. People are talking about it everywhere. It's a TV show like <House of Cards> in America. But I didn't watch it, lol.

Recently, I have been to English training club for few times. The fee is very expensive. For instance, learning 2 and half years, it's about 7000 US dollars, 50,000 RMB. After I went there, I did meet some people who learn English seriously and passionately. The learning experience is not bad. But I don't think the product is deserved the price. There are plenty ways to learn English well, and cost much less. What makes me curious is that students in the training club seems satisfied and think learning there helps a lot. Sure it's because they cannot access the infomation I owned. Actually, it's a good investment for them to improve their English, no matter how much it costs.

I know a lot of great resources, but if I don't make most of them, it won't make any sense. Those students spent so much money on English, compare with them, I didn't pay anything, it makes me wonder if I don't learn English very seriously. So I made a decision. I won't choose to go training club since I know better ways, but I am willing to pay money for better resources.
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Re: 我是蝙蝠侠 (and learning Mandarin)

Postby Batur » Tue May 09, 2017 2:49 pm

I have watched this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MkwromabsY for several times. But Batman told me that I didn't watched it. I did watch it. :-) I don't make plans every time I go traveling, so that's why I always screw up. I agree that it's important to make plan in advanced when traveling, and it's good to make more restricted plan than it at home.

The environment has changed when traveling, we're inclined to skip our routines. However, we may have some new ideas to try in the new environment. So I think I can try to eat fruit at night instead of normal food. It's also a plan in advanced. :-)

I learn English using two Apps, "英语流利说“ and ”百词斩“, one for practice spoken English, and the other for building vocabulary. I would finish the task in the morning, so I feel satisfied at the beginning of the day. I am going to write my English learning log here. I would try my best to keep updating this post.
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Re: 我是蝙蝠侠 (and learning Mandarin)

Postby Batman » Sun May 14, 2017 10:36 pm

Tough week. I started actively, but then close relative got sick and I basically failed most of my commitments.
And it's not like I don't have time, I have some time. I just can't concentrate on anything, constantly worried and horrified by life.
I keep telling myself, that whatever happens, I should do what I have planned to do (or change my plans to new ones, and proceed with new plans). Anyway, I am in some kind of limbo, I am not sure about next day, but I was able to keep working on Memrise - there's not much too do in lines in Ukrainian hospitals. I had two good sessions with Glossika too. That's basically it.

I saw Asian-looking couple in supermarket, they were talking in broken English. Sadly, I was too shy to speak with them in Chinese (and if they are not Chinese, I am a master of broken English too).

Lame update, I know. I'll try to reassess my situation (with everything) in the next couple days.
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Re: 我是蝙蝠侠 (and learning Mandarin)

Postby Batman » Sun May 21, 2017 11:52 pm

OK, so that was pretty rough week too, and I was basically just keeping my Memrise practice.
I was busy, I was worried, but in the end of the week (two last days) it became better. I was even doing my favorite activity - searching for a words, etymologies... I love just posting some word on Google Images search, it is very helpful; or to search in Google Books. I am not sure how useful it is, but it is very interesting.
I met two pretty Chinese people in supermarket and tried to talk with them. My first talk in Chinese with Chinese! It was embarrassing, but nice. I barely managed to say 对不起, 你是中国人吗?and 我会说一点中文。Their Chinese was so better than mine, almost intimidatingly better. There's clearly a problem, - it was hard and slow for me to say 我会说一点中文。 That surprised me, I say this phrase much easily to myself.
And I couldn't even ask them who they are and what they're doing in 基輔 :oops:

I asked how to say 我决定不吃面包 ( or 我戒了面包 ) in the Wechat group. And 间歇性节食! Knowing this, I am able to find videos like that one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMPqcCiQZss Also made a poster for myself with 不要提建议! (That's my problem: I am always telling people what to do and I don't like that about myself. Especially, considering that I don't myself practice what I preach.)
Also just now asked how to say 我决定间接性禁食,一天吃饭, 一天禁食。Batur is a great help.

And yes, I need to say that - no Glossika this week :oops: I will really-really try to do it this week. Честное слово!
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Re: 我是蝙蝠侠 (and learning Mandarin)

Postby Sol » Mon May 22, 2017 6:20 am

Hello!

I wish you luck with Mandarin! I want to get around to it some day. Just wanted to mention that on Viki (a site for watching TV shows), on some shows there is a thing called "Learn Mode" where it's basically Chinese subtitles above the English that you can click on to get an explanation for the word. It might be useful for you!

What are the main resources you're using? When I looked into Mandarin I couldn't find any good ones online :( Or maybe I'm just spoiled from all the awesome resources Korean has :D

PS. I'm also impressed by your ability to walk up to people and speak to them in Chinese!
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