Snowflake's Mandarin Log - Continued

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snowflake
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Re: Snowflake's Mandarin Log - Continued

Postby snowflake » Tue Aug 13, 2019 1:04 am

I just returned from Taiwan and am recovering from jetlag. While there I talked with several people about my Mandarin. The native speakers felt that my speaking skills had improved. This was a surprise given that the people in my current local group tend to immediately switch to English when I pause to think about vocabulary or grammar. The end result is that I’ve had less speaking practice. It’s possible that the people in Taiwan are keying in on my replies generally being more automatic due to better listening comprehension. This trip I also found myself having to sometimes interpret for my group of American friends.

An American friend who lives in Taiwan felt the only way to really advance is to converse with someone whose English is pretty much non-existent.

Was talking there with someone who I thought said cuo4jue2 (错觉)for frustrated but now realize I heard wrong….they said cuo4zhe2 (挫折). This made me think about working on my own pronunciation, which coincided with the release of a new Outlier course. An US Taiwanese friend felt the sample lesson was “really good” though reminded me that I would still need to practice, practice, practice..... all along getting enough practice has been an issue for me.
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Re: Snowflake's Mandarin Log - Continued

Postby rdearman » Tue Aug 13, 2019 6:53 am

Do you do language exchanges via skype or other online system?
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snowflake
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Re: Snowflake's Mandarin Log - Continued

Postby snowflake » Wed Aug 14, 2019 12:39 am

rdearman wrote:Do you do language exchanges via skype or other online system?


Yes, though those are erratic due to schedule....real life gets in the way.
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snowflake
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Re: Snowflake's Mandarin Log - Continued

Postby snowflake » Sun Oct 13, 2019 2:07 am

Checking in….there’s still a lot going on in my RL so I haven’t been doing much other than the usual listening to music, attending my local Mandarin speaking group, and reading a lot of text messages in WeChat and the like.

My local Mandarin group has regular meetings during the week using WeChat for what is essentially a conference call. I usually miss these though try to monitor the associated chat. This week someone wrote, “我下了 我有一难受(emoji).” I didn’t have a clue what 我下了meant and asked a Taiwanese friend who wasn’t sure and was guessing based on the context. He thought it might be regional usage. It was also sent to another Taiwanese friend who felt it was a typo as he’d never heard that before. The latter has spent a lot of time in mainland China on business so he’s had to become more familiar with mainland usage. I ended up asking a Hebei person in the group. She said it was go offline, 我下线了. I gravitate towards Taiwanese Mandarin though that doesn’t help me as much with this group. My last group mostly identified themselves as southerners whereas people in this one tend to identify themselves as northerners or north easterners. And the people in this group seem to use more colloquiums or spoken vernacular which can only be learned through usage.

Bang head here ==> X
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snowflake
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Re: Snowflake's Mandarin Log - Continued

Postby snowflake » Sat Jan 04, 2020 11:19 pm

Checking in….4th quarter 2019 was stressful with health issues and changes at my job so doing things in Mandarin was put on the back burner. I continued listening to Mandarin music (CDs purchased in Taiwan and download purchases) and sporadically attended the local Mandarin speaking group. I decided to continue visiting my friends in Taiwan during the summer instead of switching to Chinese New Year’s. Towards that, I’m starting to think about what to do to spiff up my Mandarin. My motivation is extremely low, so I started listening to Mandarin music radio out of Singapore (radiosingapore.org) and have been resisting getting apps to listen to Taiwan and mainland China radio stations. I’m again watching “The New Legends of Monkey” (Australian production), this time in Mandarin without any subtitles. I missed attending the local conference held between Christmas and New Year’s Day which is typically 90-99% in Mandarin…no motivation plus some family were here visiting for the holidays. The job will continue to be stressful for a while so anything done for Mandarin will be very low key. I’m still erratically doing language exchanges with my long time Taiwanese chat partner (started in 2010).

Btw, on the previously posted "我下了 我有一难受(emoji)." After understanding what was meant, my Taiwanese chat partner who originally had no clue what was intended said it was too abbreviated and that he’d say, "我下线了, 我有些难受."

I was in the local Chinatown this week buying pastries and decided to order in English rather than think through how to say things. Interestingly I automatically ordered in Mandarin and then got stuck on the name of a cookie that I don’t typically buy.
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Re: Snowflake's Mandarin Log - Continued

Postby snowflake » Sun Jun 07, 2020 10:52 pm

At work I’ve been going through a lot of changes and also doing overtime. The upshot is that I’m tired and Mandarin is taking a back burner. Given the Covid-19 situation I will not be going to Taiwan this summer, originally had planned to go there early February…. good thing I didn’t.

This was written back in January but not posted…..My Mandarin language skills are deteriorating due to disuse. The people in my current local Mandarin speaking group generally are unused to waiting for someone to work through vocabulary/grammar (my pauses) so they quickly switch to English and then sometimes insist on continuing in English. The insistence makes me hesitant to try to speak with them in Mandarin. They probably think they are being accommodating though the upshot is that I’m not exercising my Mandarin. What to do, what to do…... a conversation with an American friend living in Taiwan comes to mind. He felt that the only way his Mandarin improved was being forced to use it. Since I live in the US, finding native Mandarin speakers who are willing to stick to Mandarin without switching to English can be difficult. I’m back to looking at iTalki community tutors. Things that come into play is that I’m generally introverted so speaking continuously for say a ½ hour can be a strain. Also I’m physically slowing down due to age so energy levels can sometimes be a concern. But the bigger issue has always been my motivation given the aspects of Chinese language and culture that I’m not so fond of. This current local Mandarin group has pretty much crushed whatever motivation I previously had. Lately people have been encouraging me to speak in Mandarin, but the damage has been done. From time to time I end up doing projects with various groups composed of native Mandarin speakers, so I was trying to focus on those groups. But not surprisingly, since I have more interaction with the local group that overshadows everything related to continuing with Mandarin.

Current thoughts…..wondering if I can find a Chinese novel that is engaging enough to work through. I’m not the type to motor through say text books. I did find an online book that is pretty hilarious (豪门女配不想拥有爱情) and am wondering if that might work.

Gotta love it…..I gave a book to the 13 yo daughter of a friend by passing it to the father. The mother sent a text, 谢谢你送的书,都在读. I wasn’t sure whether that meant the mother and father were also reading the book or that the daughter was poring through it. So I asked my overseas Taiwanese chat partner. His answer was, “I’m not sure either. Her meaning is vague. It can be her child or herself.”

And an apparent mainland/Taiwanese difference… a friend from Shanghai texted 最近多有动荡 which my Taiwanese chat partner found to be weird. I think he changed it to 最近有很多动荡.
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snowflake
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Re: Snowflake's Mandarin Log - Continued

Postby snowflake » Mon Jul 13, 2020 12:45 am

A language exchange I had last month with my long-time overseas Taiwanese chat partner very plainly illustrated how much my spoken Mandarin has slipped. To get back in the swing of things, I plan to chorus the old Glossika material while walking in the park. I trotted out the audios and played a few sentences to a friend from Shenyang in Liaoning province which she described as the city on the chicken’s beak. That was the first time I heard about the chicken shape thing and then yesterday saw it in an online novel, “….停在中国地图的鸡尾巴上”. Anyhow, she said the audio was very native. If anyone is wondering, I played something from mainland Fluency 2. I also asked about her non-English speaking mother, who lives with her, hopefully being willing to chat so I could practice speaking. Thankfully her mother agreed so when school starts for her grandchildren I should be able to chat with her for ½ hour once a week. This will be in addition to the chats that I have with my long time Taiwanese chat partner, which when we’re on schedule is 1 hour once a week.

I signed up for a 30-Day Speaking Challenge at https://hugginsinternational.com/30days ... challenge/ and then immediately got sick afterwards so will have to try again in August.

: 3 / 104 : 0 / 104 : 0 / 104 Glossika Fluency 123
: 360 / 90000 Chorusing Using Glossika – Goal is 90,000 Repetitions (start July 2020)
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Re: Snowflake's Mandarin Log - Continued

Postby snowflake » Thu Sep 10, 2020 2:13 am

Checking in. Real life has been doing a number on my schedule and ability to focus. I’ve been doing virtual exercise challenges which have been location focused, through Ireland, etc. My frustration level has been very high due to my job situation, an illness in the family, and aspects of Chinese culture that I don't like which can be seen in interactions with the local speaking Mandarin group...the exercise lets me blow off steam. So now I’m wondering about doing a virtual walk/ride around Taiwan and using that for Mandarin language exchange topics. .... need to plan that out. In the mean while I’m trying to figure out conversation topics for chatting with my friends’ mother...this is the person from Shenyang in Liaoning. I casually threw out the idea of a virtual tour through Shenyang and my friend immediately jumped on that. I have concerns about severely lacking vocabulary so will see how that goes.

I had some starts/stops with chorusing Glossika that affected my motivation. To help, I plan to get myself a little bronze medal for finishing F1, silver for F2, and gold for F3.

: 93 / 104 : 0 / 104 : 0 / 104 Glossika Fluency 123
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Re: Snowflake's Mandarin Log - Continued

Postby sillygoose1 » Thu Sep 10, 2020 6:27 pm

snowflake wrote:aspects of Chinese culture that I don't like which can be seen in interactions with the local speaking Mandarin group


As someone who is getting ready to take the next step in Mandarin, I would be curious as to what these aspects are and what I should expect if you wouldn't mind sharing.
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snowflake
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Re: Snowflake's Mandarin Log - Continued

Postby snowflake » Thu Sep 10, 2020 10:18 pm

sillygoose1 wrote:As someone who is getting ready to take the next step in Mandarin, I would be curious as to what these aspects are and what I should expect if you wouldn't mind sharing.

Well, I’m an older ethnic Chinese woman who was born and raised in the US. Native Mandarin speakers will often place expectations on me which would not necessarily apply to other Mandarin learners. The cultural dynamics you come across may be extremely different from what I encounter.
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