It seems hard to believe that I've only been doing these flashcards for about a month and a half. It feels like a lot longer.
This may be because I have been doing flashcards of one sort or another for a lot longer, it's just that I've only been using this method for about a month and a half.
It's great though. I can feel the improvement in my pronunciation when I speak. Having the audio file attached is a great help in this respect. Being able to listen and repeat after every card is a great advantage.
I've just got back from a few days holiday in Hong Kong, and despite it being a Cantonese speaking area, I was able to put my Mandarin into practice on a couple of occasions. I found that the people I spoke to were able to understand my pronunciation, which is what most learners of Chinese say is the most frustrating thing, so I took a lot of encouragement from that. The biggest problem for me was not knowing enough vocabulary.
Hopefully, six months or so more of the flashcards and this won't be so much of a problem.
Can't wait!
Tuesday 30 November 2010
Tuesday 16 November 2010
The importance of having options
I think it's important to have a lot of different studying options to hand when you are learning a language, especially in the early stages anyway. It's very easy to get bored with what you're doing quickly, so having a number of different styles of study you can turn to when you get bored with one thing is important.
Today, I've been struggling a bit, I've mentioned this before: if the motivation dwindles it's difficult to get yourself going. But I've been flicking between things tonight, trying to get something done, and I must have accumulated at least one hours worth of useful study I think.
Back when I started studying Japanese three or four years ago, one hour in an evening was a really good achievement, because it meant sat slogging my way through a textbook. Now I have flashcards, podcasts, blogs, music, reading websites, youtube... basically any sort of contact with the language is good in my book now, and I can keep myself interested and occupied. Now one hour is a bad night, which bodes well for my language development over the next few years.
Today, I've been struggling a bit, I've mentioned this before: if the motivation dwindles it's difficult to get yourself going. But I've been flicking between things tonight, trying to get something done, and I must have accumulated at least one hours worth of useful study I think.
Back when I started studying Japanese three or four years ago, one hour in an evening was a really good achievement, because it meant sat slogging my way through a textbook. Now I have flashcards, podcasts, blogs, music, reading websites, youtube... basically any sort of contact with the language is good in my book now, and I can keep myself interested and occupied. Now one hour is a bad night, which bodes well for my language development over the next few years.
JLPT test voucher
I've finally received the test voucher for the Japanese Proficiency Test (JLPT).
I say finally, because I actually applied for the test around August/September time, and what with the amount of paperwork and the stamp address envelopes and registered mail things I had to sign seal and approve to get the thing sent off, I was expecting a pretty quick reply—-at least a 'thanks for applying, we'll be in touch' card or something.
When I didn't get this, I began to wonder if my application had actually been lost in the post, along with my 5000 yen, and I must admit, I actually had a bit of a chuckle to myself about the irony of it all. (I'm not sure why, but secretly I actually love it when the Japanese bureaucracy machine grinds to a halt. I guess it's the part of me that's filled out one too many forms just to justify my right to stay here.)
But anyway, the fact of the matter was I wasn't actually that bothered about my application getting lost. To be honest, since applying I've hardly spent any time studying Japanese. (I have a class every week that I still attend.) And my initial intention in applying was only as a sort of dry run, before taking the thing for real next year.
However, now I have a test centre, and a date and time to focus my mind, so I guess I better do something about it. I have two and a half weeks!!
I say finally, because I actually applied for the test around August/September time, and what with the amount of paperwork and the stamp address envelopes and registered mail things I had to sign seal and approve to get the thing sent off, I was expecting a pretty quick reply—-at least a 'thanks for applying, we'll be in touch' card or something.
When I didn't get this, I began to wonder if my application had actually been lost in the post, along with my 5000 yen, and I must admit, I actually had a bit of a chuckle to myself about the irony of it all. (I'm not sure why, but secretly I actually love it when the Japanese bureaucracy machine grinds to a halt. I guess it's the part of me that's filled out one too many forms just to justify my right to stay here.)
But anyway, the fact of the matter was I wasn't actually that bothered about my application getting lost. To be honest, since applying I've hardly spent any time studying Japanese. (I have a class every week that I still attend.) And my initial intention in applying was only as a sort of dry run, before taking the thing for real next year.
However, now I have a test centre, and a date and time to focus my mind, so I guess I better do something about it. I have two and a half weeks!!
Monday 8 November 2010
Getting immersed
I haven't written a post for ages, and there's an excellent reason for that. All my time has been taken up studying and blogging in Chinese. It's great! I got caught up in the whole flashcards thing, and that has been keeping me busy, but now I've also got myself up and running on China's version of twitter. Come and check it out at:
http://t.sina.com.cn/easterngrean
All good for getting immersed. Also getting into some Chinese music through this search engine.
And even started watching a bit of TV and listening to the radio here.
There are no excuses anymore!
Tweet
http://t.sina.com.cn/easterngrean
All good for getting immersed. Also getting into some Chinese music through this search engine.
And even started watching a bit of TV and listening to the radio here.
There are no excuses anymore!
Tweet
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