Dylan95's log

[Dylan95]

I've now had about a week of Chinese classes and I have to say, it is quite difficult. We are moving at a pretty fast pace, which is nice, but it's a bit overwhelming. I'm at the point where I can easily distinguish tones when listening to one syllable at a time. However, as soon as I hear a few syllables in a row, it completely throws me off. All of that is challenging enough, but actually speaking and replicating all the new sounds and using the tones properly is on a whole different level.

In class, we do a lot of drilling. Typically this involves the professor saying something and then asking us to repeat after them. Some students focus heavily on the tones, making sure to use the correct tones, but speaking almost painfully slowly and awkwardly. Other students try to copy the professor speaking at roughly the same speed etc. It sounds more natural and less robotic, but they trip up more with the tones. I'm not sure which is a more effective way of participating in these drills and tend to do a mixture.

[Dylan95]

In class, we do a lot of drilling. Typically this involves the professor saying something and then asking us to repeat after them. Some students focus heavily on the tones, making sure to use the correct tones, but speaking almost painfully slowly and awkwardly. Other students try to copy the professor speaking at roughly the same speed etc. It sounds more natural and less robotic, but they trip up more with the tones. I'm not sure which is a more effective way of participating in these drills and tend to do a mixture.

When I took piano lessons a lifetime ago, my instructor told me to start playing the piece slowly, being sure to get every note/key right. Once I was able to play it close to perfect slowly, then I could increase my speed. He didn't want me practicing mistakes. If you play too fast and hit the wrong keys, play too fast again hit the wrong keys again, etc. those mistakes are being reinforced. A lot of piano playing is muscle memory, so I'm not sure how my instructor's advice translates to Chinese tones, but reading about the drills in your class triggered my memory of that advice!

That makes a lot of sense. I think that's what I'm going to start doing.

[Dylan95]

I haven't posted here, but I figured I would in honor of this being the fourth anniversary of my entrance into this forum! I signed up on February 29th, so this is technically my first "anniversary."

Four years ago, I would say I was an A2 in Russian, an A2 in Italian, and an A2 in French. Now I would describe myself as C1 in Russian, A2-and a B1 in Ukrainian. I remember a lot of bits and pieces of the Romance languages I studied, but not in a way that is of any real use.

I tried learning Chinese, but I had to give it up because it was taking up too much of my time - I was taking an intensive class at my university for credit, so there wasn't a lot of flexibility. I'm still thinking about going back to it on my own at some point, but I'm not sure. On the one end, it would be so helpful to my research, and I really do like traveling to China. On the other end, I just don't care for it as a language in the way that I truly appreciate other languages. This would be less of a problem if it were a category 1-3 language on FSI, but but it's a category 5 language, so it takes so much more perseverance.

I'm in the process to applying for some jobs in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, so I'll likely begin studying either Azeri, Turkish, or Uzbek at some point in the near future, but at this point it's not clear to me what will happen. Turkish might seem like the most logical option, but Uzbek is so much more applicable to my planned dissertation topic that I think that would make more sense for me.

[Dylan95]

Just finished an 8-week intensive Uzbek program. According to my instructor I'm somewhere between B1 and B2, so I'm thrilled by the results. I think that's an overestimation of my abilities, but I'm probably a low B1, which is about what I hoped to achieve. I plan on continuing my studies independently, so hopefully I will continue to improve.

[dklinker]

Hi Dylan,

I'm new to the forum and see that you are learning Uzbek. If you don't mind my asking, how are you planning to use it? Do you expect to be in Uzbekistan in the future.