Okay, here we go! Onto my 4th posting. The title in Chinese basically states that "I need to practice my Chinese everyday" or "Every day I need to practice my Chinese".
If you are serious about learning Chinese, then you REALLY NEED to take this to heart!
I'm finding that if I don't practice my writing everyday, I forget it quite easily. Part of the reason is that my whole day is surrounded with English, except at night when I want the Chinese News or any of the Chinese dramas.
I bought the Rosetta Stone in Mandarin, but have only used it once since I need to physically sit down with in on my netbook. If it was available on the iPad, it would be a little more convenient. I hope to get back on track with that soon.
But I truly believe with Chinese or any language is that, "If you don't use it, you lose it!". You don't lose all of it, but certain components of it. Every time I stop and resume my Chinese studies, it's a little rusty at first, but it seems to improve as well. But I think if I were to continue studying a little bit each day, it would progressively get better and better without having to relapse. Chinese is one of those languages where sometimes you just have to memorize it for what it is. Just because. And that's all I can say.
I've recently started to learn more about parts of words and their meanings and how they create words and their meanings. Sometimes I feel like it's similar to learning Greek and Latin roots. Prefixes and Suffixes. Once you learn those, you can usually decipher a word. (But there are some words that don't follow that, it is what it is. Have you ever watched the National Spelling Bee Competition? Some if not most of those words are really hard! But usually you will see each contestant ask for the word origin. By doing so, they can figure out a spelling pattern).
Okay, back to practicing every day. Over time, I have noticed that some of my friends can understand their native language, but can no longer speak it. This was always puzzling to me. But I came to realize that if you didn't continue to speak a language, your body forgets. It's like, "How do I make that sound?" of "How do I say that word?". I was lucky enough that my grandma had no choice but to speak her native language since she didn't speak much English. Even though it's been less that a year since she's passed away, I wonder if I will lose some of my Taishanese because I am not speaking it everyday. I know when I went up to San Francisco Chinatown back in February, I could still understand and speak it.
So writing in Chinese everyday seems to help things stick better. Why? Well when you are writing, you are in a sense reading it silently/subconsciously to make sure it make sense or sounds right. By writing, you are remembering how the word looks, how to write it correctly, and how the word is used.
My ultimate goal would to be able to read a Chinese Newspaper one day. At the current moment, I can read the date and parts of headlines...
Since my last post was about PinYin, here are two links that are from a Children's Chinese Newspaper that has Traditional Chinese text and Pinyin right above it. So if you can read the Pinyin and have a general understanding of Chinese words and vocabulary, then you can figure out the meaning. It took a little adjustment, but I got the gist of it. Then I decided to re-read it for more practice. I think writing it out would be even more beneficial.
If you want, you can always print it up and take with you to practice your reading.
http://blog.huayuworld.org/gallery/8542/pdf1.pdf
*The title in Chinese translates to: Why do I want to learn Chinese now? Referring to a young adult like me who learned some when they were younger, but not enough to really get anywhere with it.
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http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/MLN002-520.pdf
*This is an 8 page pdf that was created by the Mandarin Learning Newspaper. Too bad they are no longer in print. Otherwise I would have subscribed! But this is a great resource to learn more vocabulary instead of just the basic repetition exercises of "How are you?" (你好嗎?) and what not. It's still good practice as kids learn through repetition and patterns as well. Just think how preschoolers and young children learn through songs and stories with a pattern. =)
(P.S. If you want to print this up, make sure you have it "fit to page", otherwise the borders will be cut off!).
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http://blog.huayuworld.org/MLNUSA
*This is the main website of the publications above. Feel free to search the site for other things to read in Chinese. I tried e-mailing them for more information, but it seems like it doesn't work. If anyone has any updated information about that site, please let me know!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Chinese Pronunciation: PinYin (Romanization) or ZhuYin (BoPoMoFo)
I went to Chinese school and was taught the Taiwan system of ZhuYin or BoPoMoFo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ). This is basically the way where you learn how to pronounce and read words in Chinese. It was good in that there was a way to learn how to pronounce it. But for me, it made become dependent on it (which means I can't read a lot of words without it). But once again that was due to the lack of reinforcement and studying at home and the variations between Cantonese and Mandarin (often times they don't even coincide), but I didn't learn the differences until an adult). Part of my quest in learning more Mandarin now is the remember words with out the PinYin.
The PinYin (Romanization) system is the method used in China where there is an English equivalent pronunciation in a sense. But you must first learn the sounds first before you put them together to form a word. As you study and learn more Chinese, you will start to understand the similarities and differences in sounds. It's complicated at first and takes time to master some of these sounds. But that's only because you weren't used to making those sounds. If you already had some background in Chinese, this should be easier for you to pick up.
If you think about it, English is similar in some ways. There is the 26 alphabet that we learn to form words and to eventually read them. After a while, we get used to spelling patterns and are able to read. But we also learn to expand our vocabulary which is an essential component of reading comprehension.
In both methods, there are consonants, vowels, and of course, always exceptions to the rules.
Check out this link that explains the correspondence between the two.
http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~nsw/chinese/pinyin.htm
So learning the way to pronounce and say words is one thing, but now you have to learn what it means. So in Chinese, we have many (and I mean MANY) different words with similar sounds! That makes it challenging at times. But once again, practicing is essential. Easier said than done...
This past weekend, I started learning about the PinYin system and how it works. For me, it's an easy adjustment with all the books I purchased this year to learn Chinese. It comes a little bit quicker than using the ZhuYin method simply because I am so used to reading in English! But if you were to ask me to "spell" something in either method, I wouldn't be able to do much.
Over time, you just get used to reading it in that language.
Another way that I have found to improve my Chinese reading comprehension and speaking pronunciation is to translate or find PinYin translations of my favorite Chinese pop songs. Not only will you learn to sing it, you will start making sense of more Chinese words and phrases! There are so many Chinese songs where I like the melody and what not, but only have a vague idea of what they were singing. After I translate it, the songs makes much more sense! It's like an, "Ah-ha!" moment. =)
The PinYin (Romanization) system is the method used in China where there is an English equivalent pronunciation in a sense. But you must first learn the sounds first before you put them together to form a word. As you study and learn more Chinese, you will start to understand the similarities and differences in sounds. It's complicated at first and takes time to master some of these sounds. But that's only because you weren't used to making those sounds. If you already had some background in Chinese, this should be easier for you to pick up.
If you think about it, English is similar in some ways. There is the 26 alphabet that we learn to form words and to eventually read them. After a while, we get used to spelling patterns and are able to read. But we also learn to expand our vocabulary which is an essential component of reading comprehension.
In both methods, there are consonants, vowels, and of course, always exceptions to the rules.
Check out this link that explains the correspondence between the two.
http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~nsw/chinese/pinyin.htm
So learning the way to pronounce and say words is one thing, but now you have to learn what it means. So in Chinese, we have many (and I mean MANY) different words with similar sounds! That makes it challenging at times. But once again, practicing is essential. Easier said than done...
This past weekend, I started learning about the PinYin system and how it works. For me, it's an easy adjustment with all the books I purchased this year to learn Chinese. It comes a little bit quicker than using the ZhuYin method simply because I am so used to reading in English! But if you were to ask me to "spell" something in either method, I wouldn't be able to do much.
Over time, you just get used to reading it in that language.
Another way that I have found to improve my Chinese reading comprehension and speaking pronunciation is to translate or find PinYin translations of my favorite Chinese pop songs. Not only will you learn to sing it, you will start making sense of more Chinese words and phrases! There are so many Chinese songs where I like the melody and what not, but only have a vague idea of what they were singing. After I translate it, the songs makes much more sense! It's like an, "Ah-ha!" moment. =)
Sunday, July 8, 2012
What does the HSK Level Mean?
It never occurred to me what HSK actually meant. I saw it all the time and eventually figured out that it just meant the level of difficulty. But today I decided to find what the acronym stood for as many of the words I am finding online to study are often HSK Level 1 or 2, which translates to the most basic levels. However, I am ready to move beyond Level 1 and 2.
HSK stands for: Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi 漢語水平考試. Its literal translation means: Chinese Proficiency Test. According to Wikipedia, it is the equivalent to the English TOEFL test. This is China's standardized test for non-native speakers (foreign students, overseas Chinese, and ethnic minority Chinese).
You can read more about it here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanyu_Shuiping_Kaoshi
Here's a website with test information, vocabulary, and practice tests for each level as well. There is also an audio portion in the test. The materials on this site include the pdf practice test and mp3 audio files. This is definitely good test prep!
http://www.chinaeducenter.com/en/exams.php
In the US, if you want to become authorized to teach Mandarin or any other foreign language, you will need to pass the CSET. It's probably not as intense as the HSK, but it is still difficult. Trust me! You basically need to show that you can read, write, speak, and understand (listening) Chinese... But I'll cover the CSET stuff in another post.
On my quest to find more ways to study a few Chinese vocabulary words a day, I found a Chinese vocabulary web feeder that puts up 10 Chinese vocabulary words a day with the definition. If you have gmail (which most people do I think), you can add it to your Google Reader and just check it daily. It also has the previous days vocabulary words. I'm not sure how far it goes back, but so far it seems to go back to the first day I subscribed. **What's also great is that you can pick the HSK Level words that you want. If you only want level 3, you can get that. If you want ALL 6 levels, you can get that too. I chose all 6 levels and every day I get words from various levels.
This is the site with instructions the explanation of the web feed and how to use it.:
http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=feedhowto
This is the site if you would like to receive the "10 Chinese words per day web feed". I think I already have 100+ words on my Google Reader! A lot of the words are actually new to me since I have been studying the easier words. But lately I've been getting a lot of HSK Level 5 & 6 words. Hmmm. I wonder if I should just do one or two levels at a time. What do you think?
http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=feeds
HSK stands for: Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi 漢語水平考試. Its literal translation means: Chinese Proficiency Test. According to Wikipedia, it is the equivalent to the English TOEFL test. This is China's standardized test for non-native speakers (foreign students, overseas Chinese, and ethnic minority Chinese).
You can read more about it here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanyu_Shuiping_Kaoshi
Here's a website with test information, vocabulary, and practice tests for each level as well. There is also an audio portion in the test. The materials on this site include the pdf practice test and mp3 audio files. This is definitely good test prep!
http://www.chinaeducenter.com/en/exams.php
In the US, if you want to become authorized to teach Mandarin or any other foreign language, you will need to pass the CSET. It's probably not as intense as the HSK, but it is still difficult. Trust me! You basically need to show that you can read, write, speak, and understand (listening) Chinese... But I'll cover the CSET stuff in another post.
On my quest to find more ways to study a few Chinese vocabulary words a day, I found a Chinese vocabulary web feeder that puts up 10 Chinese vocabulary words a day with the definition. If you have gmail (which most people do I think), you can add it to your Google Reader and just check it daily. It also has the previous days vocabulary words. I'm not sure how far it goes back, but so far it seems to go back to the first day I subscribed. **What's also great is that you can pick the HSK Level words that you want. If you only want level 3, you can get that. If you want ALL 6 levels, you can get that too. I chose all 6 levels and every day I get words from various levels.
This is the site with instructions the explanation of the web feed and how to use it.:
http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=feedhowto
This is the site if you would like to receive the "10 Chinese words per day web feed". I think I already have 100+ words on my Google Reader! A lot of the words are actually new to me since I have been studying the easier words. But lately I've been getting a lot of HSK Level 5 & 6 words. Hmmm. I wonder if I should just do one or two levels at a time. What do you think?
http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=feeds
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Learning Chinese is not the easiest thing in the world...
Here begins my new quest for learning Mandarin!
Yes, Chinese is not the easiest language in the world to learn... but it can be done! Chinese (Taishanese, Cantonese, and Mandarin) are all tonal languages with a logographic writing system. What does that mean? Before the English Romanization system came about, you either knew the word or you didn't. Not only that, you also had to say it right!
There are 4 tones in Chinese (sometimes there is a 5th neutral tone). Anyway, the most common example is the "ma" sound. Depending on how you say it, it could mean: mom (媽), hemp (麻), horse (馬), scold (罵), or a question particle (嗎).
So this is not the language where, "You say potato, I say "potato".
I grew up in a bilingual family where English was not my first or second language.It was actually my third. My grandparents are from Taishan 台山, from the Guangdong Province in China. So my first language was Taishanese, followed by Cantonese which my parents spoke. Then I went to preschool and began learning some English. I also remember watching Sesame Street on PBS.
I know I was delayed in speaking, but that was only because I was trying to process and understand 3 languages at an early age. However, this would not be an issue later on as my early exposure led to me be more aware of sounds that were similar yet different.
Once I began elementary school, my parents signed me up for Chinese school. It was on Friday afternoon, Saturday morning, and Sunday morning (later I switched to a different school that was only on Saturday mornings). It wasn't initially too bad. I started to dread it when I could no longer sleep in on Saturday mornings and had to miss my Saturday morning cartoons. I guess the only perk was stopping off at the donut to get ANY donut of my choice before going to Chinese school.
Believe it or not, I attended Chinese school up until my sophomore year in high school. I came to the realization that my learning had reached a plateau and that my reading was still heavily dependent on the pinyin method. AKA: the Zhuying or Bopomofo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ) system.
Even though Chinese school seemed like a drag, I'm thankful that I stuck with it. My dad also reminded me of the importance of knowing more than one language. I only wish (and most others would agree if they went to some sort Chinese school) that I studied harder.
But studying is only half the battle! For me, I think it was my lack of reinforcement at home, plus the fact that there are many similarities in Cantonese and Mandarin, but so MANY differences as well.
Ok, enough of that.
Onto my purpose for this blog. I am now a graduate student and wanting to obtain my Bilingual Authorization so that I can teach in Mandarin as well. After traveling 4 times to Asia in the last decade has also sparked a desire to get my Mandarin better than just the basic conversational level.
So basically this blog is to share my progress in Mandarin as I use the Rosetta Stone program, online resources (that I have found helpful and insightful), books I have bought and used, and a tutor. My main focus is to improve my reading comprehension.However speaking, writing, and listening is just as important! Time to boost my Chinese vocabulary! 我要學中文了!
Enjoy!
P.S. I'll probably post some things about Chinese culture as well...things like holidays, traditions, and food!
Yes, Chinese is not the easiest language in the world to learn... but it can be done! Chinese (Taishanese, Cantonese, and Mandarin) are all tonal languages with a logographic writing system. What does that mean? Before the English Romanization system came about, you either knew the word or you didn't. Not only that, you also had to say it right!
There are 4 tones in Chinese (sometimes there is a 5th neutral tone). Anyway, the most common example is the "ma" sound. Depending on how you say it, it could mean: mom (媽), hemp (麻), horse (馬), scold (罵), or a question particle (嗎).
So this is not the language where, "You say potato, I say "potato".
I grew up in a bilingual family where English was not my first or second language.It was actually my third. My grandparents are from Taishan 台山, from the Guangdong Province in China. So my first language was Taishanese, followed by Cantonese which my parents spoke. Then I went to preschool and began learning some English. I also remember watching Sesame Street on PBS.
I know I was delayed in speaking, but that was only because I was trying to process and understand 3 languages at an early age. However, this would not be an issue later on as my early exposure led to me be more aware of sounds that were similar yet different.
Once I began elementary school, my parents signed me up for Chinese school. It was on Friday afternoon, Saturday morning, and Sunday morning (later I switched to a different school that was only on Saturday mornings). It wasn't initially too bad. I started to dread it when I could no longer sleep in on Saturday mornings and had to miss my Saturday morning cartoons. I guess the only perk was stopping off at the donut to get ANY donut of my choice before going to Chinese school.
Believe it or not, I attended Chinese school up until my sophomore year in high school. I came to the realization that my learning had reached a plateau and that my reading was still heavily dependent on the pinyin method. AKA: the Zhuying or Bopomofo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ) system.
Even though Chinese school seemed like a drag, I'm thankful that I stuck with it. My dad also reminded me of the importance of knowing more than one language. I only wish (and most others would agree if they went to some sort Chinese school) that I studied harder.
But studying is only half the battle! For me, I think it was my lack of reinforcement at home, plus the fact that there are many similarities in Cantonese and Mandarin, but so MANY differences as well.
Ok, enough of that.
Onto my purpose for this blog. I am now a graduate student and wanting to obtain my Bilingual Authorization so that I can teach in Mandarin as well. After traveling 4 times to Asia in the last decade has also sparked a desire to get my Mandarin better than just the basic conversational level.
So basically this blog is to share my progress in Mandarin as I use the Rosetta Stone program, online resources (that I have found helpful and insightful), books I have bought and used, and a tutor. My main focus is to improve my reading comprehension.However speaking, writing, and listening is just as important! Time to boost my Chinese vocabulary! 我要學中文了!
Enjoy!
P.S. I'll probably post some things about Chinese culture as well...things like holidays, traditions, and food!
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