The Real CZ's Korean, Japanese, Mandarin Log

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Dr Mack Rettosy
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16180
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Re: The Real CZ's Korean, Japanese, Mandarin Log

Postby Dr Mack Rettosy » Sun Apr 24, 2022 9:11 pm

The Real CZ wrote:So in the first week being free from school and an overbearing work schedule, I've been easing myself back into language study. I have been going through the Teach Yourself Complete Mandarin Chinese course that I have. I am on lesson 10 and notice that past few lessons have ramped up the amount of new words and sentence constructions. For now I am just going through each lesson once , hoping to get through the first pass of the book by the end of May. Then I plan on going back to things that gave me trouble while working through other courses.

In addition to textbooks, I have started reading Mandarin Companion's The Prince and Pauper. I feel like I am at around 90% comprehension, so not at the 98% they expect for extensive reading as there are words/characters here and there that I don't understand that they expect you to know going into the books. I try to read a page or two a day and want to try to increase that as I get more comfortable reading in Mandarin.

I have also been going through the beginner lessons on Mandarin Bean. I find the site to be pretty helpful even with all of the free stuff. I am focused on trying to read and the audio helps a lot in getting down the reading of the characters as well.

I have been addicted to the Taiwanese drama on Netflix called "Light the Night". I finished the first season/part and will start the next one soon!


Congrats on finishing your degree! Extra time for language learning, huh? Sounds like you are making the most of your new-found time with a multi-track approach. If you're enjoying Mandarin Companion and want more, there is a bundle package on the Pleco app that includes all of their published books. I think it is more cost effective than buying the ebooks individually, but you might want to double check. I just checked out Light the Night, I think I'm going to like this.. Thanks for sharing that here!
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Mandarin goals:
Read: 2146000 / 10000000 /10,000,000 汉字
Study: 2006 / 5000 / 5000 hours

The Real CZ
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Re: The Real CZ's Korean, Japanese, Mandarin Log

Postby The Real CZ » Sat Apr 30, 2022 4:55 pm

Xenops wrote:I didn't notice this before, but congrats on the masters! :D


Thank you!

Dr Mack Rettosy wrote:Congrats on finishing your degree! Extra time for language learning, huh? Sounds like you are making the most of your new-found time with a multi-track approach. If you're enjoying Mandarin Companion and want more, there is a bundle package on the Pleco app that includes all of their published books. I think it is more cost effective than buying the ebooks individually, but you might want to double check. I just checked out Light the Night, I think I'm going to like this.. Thanks for sharing that here!


Thank you! I actually buy the books in physical format. I actually prefer to study using textbooks, grammars, and books and really just use technology to read online (thanks to pop up dictionaries and online dictionaries). Therefore I do plan on buying the rest of the Level 1 and 2 Mandarin Companion books in physical format before moving to an intermediate textbook.
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druckfehler
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Re: The Real CZ's Korean, Japanese, Mandarin Log

Postby druckfehler » Wed May 11, 2022 1:41 pm

Good to see you're active again as well! Reading from you immediately made me reminisce of the good old times with TAC East Asian Team :D It's so cool that you're getting to use your Korean! Also, congratulations on your degree and good luck with your Mandarin studies!
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The Real CZ
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Re: The Real CZ's Korean, Japanese, Mandarin Log

Postby The Real CZ » Fri Jun 10, 2022 9:44 pm

druckfehler wrote:Good to see you're active again as well! Reading from you immediately made me reminisce of the good old times with TAC East Asian Team :D It's so cool that you're getting to use your Korean! Also, congratulations on your degree and good luck with your Mandarin studies!


Thanks druck! I'm reminded of the old days as well, although I don't see Evita as active and I don't think Warp ever came over to this forum.

----

While I haven't posted, I actually have done quite a bit since my last post. I got up to chapter 19 of Teach Yourself Chinese and took a break as this is where there was a huge spike in difficulty in introducing so many new words for the last four chapters. I then started going through the Living Language Chinese books and went through the Beginner and Intermediate books, and now am on the Advanced book. The advanced book is the bridge between high beginner and lower intermediate. I've been forcing myself to read all of the sentences with the Chinese characters to get more practice now than waiting until the intermediate stage, and I found this has helped me retain words much easier, as I am not doing any specific vocabulary work like I used to.

I also started getting back to Japanese and Korean and lately most of the media I have been watching has been Japanese (I am a huge fan of the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise and have been watching a lot of it the past month due to Hathaway's Flash and other Gundam media being available on Netflix.)

I am making good progress with my goals in getting through textbooks, with the hope that by the end of the summer I am working through grammar books for all three languages (already there with Korean just due to the higher base knowledge I had) and then focus and reading and listening and getting conversation practice when I can!
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Ymer
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Re: The Real CZ's Korean, Japanese, Mandarin Log

Postby Ymer » Sun Jun 26, 2022 6:48 pm

Nice to have you back, been following since 2011 since I'm also (still) working on Korean :D.
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The Real CZ
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Re: The Real CZ's Korean, Japanese, Mandarin Log

Postby The Real CZ » Sun Aug 28, 2022 4:23 pm

Ymer wrote:Nice to have you back, been following since 2011 since I'm also (still) working on Korean :D.


Thank you! I hope your studies go well!

---------

An update since I last posted. I've made some decent progress in Mandarin, as I have gone through all three books of the Living language Chinese series. The last book is "Advanced" but it's really high beginner/low intermediate. I do plan on going through the books again on the side to reinforce what I learned. What I started doing the last few chapters instead of just reading the sentence out loud and then reading the English translation, I started reading the Mandarin sentence out loud a second time. I have found this helps me solidify my understanding of the sentence, but gives me extra practice reading the sentence in characters (as I don't have to use the pinyin as a crutch for the words I couldn't read the first time) and more practice saying the words out loud.

I have been able to start producing more sentences using some of the structures I have learned in the intermediate and advanced books in the course, so I am betting on when I go through the course again that these structures will be even easier for me to use.

My next plan is to wrap up the last few chapters of Teach Yourself Mandarin as the last four lessons have been on hold due to the big difficulty jump (at the time I didn't know the majority of the words, and now that number should be much fewer than before).

I bought a textbook called Chaoyue, an intermediate textbook that should get me to a higher intermediate level. This book has the characters in both traditional and simplified, but does not have any pinyin, so this will really force me to get better at reading. I think I'll have to take a different approach with this book and repeat lessons and periodically review to cement things I learn.

I started listening to podcasts from Speak Chinese Naturally and my fiancée (who is from Beijing) says the host's pronunciation is really accurate and she believed the host was from Beijing until one podcast where the host was talking about being from Nanjing. As I have to start commuting to work again, I listen to these podcasts and try to pick out as many words as I can. I don't understand the majority of what she is saying yet, but just hearing more and more Chinese is helping a bunch.
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The Real CZ
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Re: The Real CZ's Korean, Japanese, Mandarin Log

Postby The Real CZ » Sun Sep 18, 2022 7:13 pm

Lately I have been listening to the podcasts from Speak Chinese Naturally. I generally listen to these when I drive to work or any other place. They are very well done and I plan on becoming a paying member when my level gets higher. Right now the material is too difficult for me to benefit from it as there are too many unknown words when I listen. However, simply listening to a lot more Chinese is helping me a lot.

I have been focusing on reading the beginner and intermediate articles on Mandarin Bean. My new Chinese textbook, Chaoyue, is too too difficult for now, so I need to just keep reading material closer to my level. Chaoyue is purely in Mandarin, which is great for what it is intended for, but I still need English translations at my level. They only give definitions to words they expect the learner to not know yet.

I am also working through my Chinese grammar books to solidify what I have already learned and trying to get more used to making Chinese sentences.

Last night in the DC area I attended a meeting at 민족문제연구소 and we discussed this article here.

https://www.joongang.co.kr/article/25061831#home

It was really interesting, as this group talks about Korean history and Korean society. Everything was all in Korean, so while I could understand, I couldn't talk as much as this material is more advanced and my lack of speaking Korean lately. However, as I start studying Korean again and having people to speak it with, things will come back.
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The Real CZ
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Re: The Real CZ's Korean, Japanese, Mandarin Log

Postby The Real CZ » Sun Oct 02, 2022 4:01 pm

I finished reading a book in English (1Q84), so now I have time to read books in Korean again. I read all of the Korean books I own (roughly 20-30) back in the early 2010s when my Korean was at its highest level in terms of reading/listening, so I am starting reading again. I am starting with 완득이. I have found that I am understanding better than I thought, and as it is a physical book, I am reading without looking anything up/writing anything down. I try to understand through context and if I don't a word or phrase, I just move on. I'll learn it eventually.

I am continuing with "The Prince and the Pauper" by Mandarin Companion. I am about 4/5 of the way through now. I should finish soon, and then I plan to read it again in near future. I have "Emma" by them as well, but as I am in the process of moving (my fiancee and I got a house!), I don't know exactly where it's at right now.

With all three languages (Mandarin, Korean, and Japanese), I am continuing with my daily routine of reading out loud sentences in the grammar books. This is helping my Korean come back faster. When I last met with some Koreans a couple of weeks ago, I had a hard time conversing as it has been a while since I last talked to anyone in Korean.

As stated before, I generally find this as a good method for learning grammar, vocabulary acquisition, and production practice. I have started reading more and more in my target languages again, so when I am not speaking, this practice helps me by repeating correct sentences. In Mandarin and Japanese I have started reading each sentence twice to reinforce the pronunciation of the characters.

For some good resources, I'll post some below that I have come across last night/this morning for Korean and Mandarin.

Sapiens Studio - https://www.youtube.com/c/%EC%82%AC%ED%94%BC%EC%97%94%EC%8A%A4%EC%8A%A4%ED%8A%9C%EB%94%94%EC%98%A4

This is great if you have an interest in Korean history and Korean culture. I am biased being half Korean, so I have an intrinsic interest in Korean history and culture, and I have watched some videos last night. In particular, this video about Jang Hee Bin was very interesting, and I was able to follow along much better than expected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdzKDjldlbI

Sys Mandarin - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUjFsQAUUS1IFM7oyUXeB1g/videos

They do short stories, songs, speeches, etc. and break down the words and grammar fairly well. I find learning words through their videos entertaining, and at the low intermediate level this is the type of content I need.

Little Fox Chinese - https://chinese.littlefox.com/en

The videos have short stories (and there are series) by level. I haven't checked out too much yet, but I watched a level 2 video and was able to learn some new words from a 2-3 minute video. They have a separate tab/page for the words.
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The Real CZ
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Re: The Real CZ's Korean, Japanese, Mandarin Log

Postby The Real CZ » Fri Oct 07, 2022 2:01 am

요즘에 내가 한국어를 더 배운 것이다. 매일 아침에 한국어, 일본어, 중국어 문법을 배우며 소리로 문장을 말한다. 사피엔슈디오 영상을 재미있게 보고 유명하고 화려한 인물에 대해 많이 배운다. 약혼자와 범인은 바로 너라는 예능 프로그램을 중국어 자막으로써 같이 본다. 나는 완들이라는 소설을 매일 조금씩 읽는다.

I finished "The Prince and the Pauper" from Mandarin Companion and I felt so excited after finishing it! I plan on going through it again soon, but for now I am focusing on going through grammar and practicing sentences. I try to read some stories on Mandarin Bean every day and have moved up to the intermediate level in order to push myself more.

Japanese is currently the third wheel still. I am brushing up on grammar, but not putting too much of a focus on it as I put the majority of my focus on Korean and Mandarin.
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Ymer
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Re: The Real CZ's Korean, Japanese, Mandarin Log

Postby Ymer » Fri Dec 02, 2022 9:20 pm

What's your opinion on doing SNS past intermediate level? Unless you're preparing for an exam I'm starting to think it's not that effective. My reasoning is that there will be so many words that you so rarely use or see in everyday life or while watching dramas/movies so it will be really hard to remember them because the only situation you see the word is when doing SNS.

For example
단어: 대책
예문: 집안에 문제가 생기면 가족이 모여서 대책을 세운다
뜻: 어려운 상황을 이겨낼 수 있는 계획.

words like these I see so seldom and so irregularly (during my Korean consumption time) I find them very hard to remember. Thus making it hard to continue doing SNS for those kind of words.

Is it just me or is it less effective doing SNS after a certain point? Maybe my cards became too complicated and I should start fresh or maybe I should just try and grind it out and hopefully it will stick after a while?
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