Sono Inglese di Gerrards Cross: a language learner's blog

Sui Dynasty 隋朝

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trying to make sense of language learning

ニール、聂, Neil
東京 TOKYO, 日本 JAPAN, Japan
This blog is a journal of my language learning where I try to improve my language learning techniques and generally share thoughts about the whole process. The languages are Mandarin Chinese and Japanese. (Scroll to the bottom to find out why the blog's title is Italian.)
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blog archive

  • ▼  2021 (1)
    • ▼  March (1)
      • Ticking off all the Japanese grammar points with a...
  • ►  2020 (2)
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  • ►  2012 (6)
    • ►  September (1)
    • ►  July (3)
    • ►  April (1)
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  • ►  2011 (25)
    • ►  November (1)
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    • ►  July (2)
    • ►  June (4)
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  • ►  2010 (42)
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    • ►  September (5)
    • ►  August (7)
    • ►  July (3)
    • ►  June (5)
    • ►  May (10)

my blog list

  • the Beijinger Blog
    Do You Know Any BJ Tweens Who Drink and Smoke?
    4 hours ago
  • China Digital Times (CDT)
    Minitrue Plus Five: January 21, 2020 – Coronavirus, Benz in Forbidden City, Hospital Attack
    5 hours ago
  • The Mozilla Blog
    Supercharge your day: Firefox features for peak productivity
    16 hours ago
  • China Rhyming
    Her Lotus Year- Thomas Cook’s 1924 Peking Guide
    20 hours ago
  • Fluent in 3 months
    200+ Turkish Words for Everyday Conversations
    1 day ago
  • Tokyo Times
    Showa era Tokyo shops and businesses
    1 day ago
  • The Linguist - Learn English, Learn Languages Online
    Effective Learning Strategies: Insights from “Making it Stick”
    1 day ago
  • Life of a Japanese Polyglot in Singapore
    Read "Talent is Overrated"
    1 week ago
  • Steve Pavlina's Personal Development Blog
    Engage 7: How to Reach a Stunning New Level of Freedom
    4 weeks ago
  • nihao你好=hello
    真金不怕火炼 - True Gold Does Not Fear Fire
    4 weeks ago
  • Imagethief
    Who Wants to Be On the Death Panel?
    5 weeks ago
  • carlgene.com/blog
    Lecture #5: Professional Development: An Ethical Notion
    4 months ago
  • Langology
    Hướng Dẫn Các Bước Cài Đặt App 1.1.1.1 Truy Cập Nhanh Chóng
    4 months ago
  • The China Beat
    Nhận định soi kèo Man City vs Luton lúc 21h00 ngày 13/4/2024
    9 months ago
  • Harujapan's Weblog » E.L.E writing assignment 3/4
    manipulate with a carrot and stick 飴と鞭
    10 months ago
  • World's Strongest Librarian
    สล็อตคนยุคใหม่ สล็อต888
    1 year ago
  • Shanghai Shiok!
    Beberapa Jenis Hewan Yang Hidup Di Dalam Tanah
    2 years ago
  • Chinese Blog
    Chinese Blog Greatest Hits: Volume 2
    2 years ago
  • Laowai Chinese 老外中文
    I Know Your Name 我知道你的名字
    2 years ago
  • VISUAL THOUGHTS 视觉观点
    Free Cellphone Wallpapers
    3 years ago
  • Ghostwriter Dad
    Sterling & Stone Bestseller Fat Vampire TV Adaptation Sold to NBC/Universal
    3 years ago
  • Learn Chinese - ChinesePod
    Best Cell Phone Plans 71
    3 years ago
  • 世論 What Japan Thinks
    The most successful anime adaptations
    3 years ago
  • China Media Project
    Selling China’s Anti-Poverty Model
    3 years ago
  • All Japanese All The Time Dot Com: How to learn Japanese. On your own, having fun and to fluency.
    How To Turn a YouTube Video into a Permanent Learning Tool [i.e. a Series of Awesome Multimedia SRS MCD/MXD Cards]
    4 years ago
  • The Useless Tree
    The Dao of Pandemic
    4 years ago
  • Chengdu Living
    Life with Coronavirus in Chengdu: a Q&A
    4 years ago
  • 莫斯科浮遊録
    С Новым 2020 Годом !
    5 years ago
  • chinaSMACK
    Young Woman Commits Suicide After Photoshoot Scam
    5 years ago
  • Silicon Hutong
    Upgrading Apple for 5G
    5 years ago
  • ChinaHush
    6 Reasons to Visit China
    5 years ago
  • China blog | ChinaGeeks
    How to Get a China Travel Visa
    5 years ago
  • Doubting to shuo
    Learning from my own book
    7 years ago
  • Practice Chinese with the best teachers
    Learn Chinese through Game of Thrones Quotes
    7 years ago
  • 慢速中文 Slow Chinese
    #194 共享经济时代
    7 years ago
  • tang dynasty times
    rumer godden (notes)
    7 years ago
  • Jottings from the Granite Studio
    See you over at Slow Boats and Caravan Trails
    7 years ago
  • Beyond Bounds Blog
    5 Reasons You Need Solitude
    7 years ago
  • Chinese Hacks
    A common LINE scam in Taiwan
    7 years ago
  • About.com Japanese Language: Most Popular Articles
    Feature Articles (1)
    7 years ago
  • About.com Japanese Language: What's Hot Now
    Expressions used in Japanese Letters - How to...
    7 years ago
  • Lost Laowai China Blog
    China’s First World War — Part Two: The Battle of Tsingtao
    8 years ago
  • Warp, Weft, and Way
    More jobs: Job opening at HKU
    8 years ago
  • LATEST
    Intermediate Chinese - Chinese People in San Francisco
    8 years ago
  • KeropokMan's - Singapore Daily Photo
    2 Pieces of the Berlin Wall in Singapore.
    8 years ago
  • Sinoglot
    Major bug fix
    8 years ago
  • Shanghai Scrap
    Making Everest Safe Makes it Unsafe.
    8 years ago
  • Japan Probe
    Five Line sticker creators who deserve more attention
    8 years ago
  • Speaking of China
    Can Interracial and Intercultural Relationships Be a Transcendental Experience?
    9 years ago
  • an imperfect pen
    Stories and Legends: Yunnan's Torch Festivals
    9 years ago
  • マンガで英会話
    No 182 Can I trust you?
    9 years ago
  • Indonesia
    Looking Around
    9 years ago
  • Hao Hao Report - Submitted news - China Travel
    Reuters Is The Latest News Organization To Get Blocked In China
    9 years ago
  • Hao Hao Report - Submitted news - China Pics
    Reuters Is The Latest News Organization To Get Blocked In China
    9 years ago
  • Hao Hao Report - Submitted news - Learning Chinese
    Reuters Is The Latest News Organization To Get Blocked In China
    9 years ago
  • Yearlyglot - Fluent Every Year
    Experiment 2015: The French Connection
    9 years ago
  • 井底之蛙
    We’ve moved
    10 years ago
  • Road To Polyglotism
    A Hundred Days Around Glossika Swedish
    10 years ago
  • LingQCentral
    Help spread the word about LingQ!
    10 years ago
  • About.com Japanese Language
    Word of the Day: Buji
    10 years ago
  • JapanSoc
    Pascal Burel has been missing for nearly a week around Kita-dake, Japan's second...
    11 years ago
  • Street-Smart Language Learning™
    Personal English-learning materials
    11 years ago
  • China Rises: Notes from the Middle Kingdom
    Postcards from the National People's Congress
    11 years ago
  • 林凯文的博客
    南山政府关于我的文章 Nanshan District gvt. Article on me.
    11 years ago
  • Tae Kim's Blog
    Finding time in a busy life
    12 years ago
  • china/divide
    chinaSMACK vs. Tea Leaf Nation: Which Do You Prefer?
    12 years ago
  • Tokyo Portraits
    Southern california sunshine
    12 years ago
  • About.com Mandarin Language
    Exchanging Gifts In Mandarin
    12 years ago
  • Learn Chinese
    Chinese Conversation -Good news to an accountant- Learn Mandarin online
    13 years ago
  • I'm Learning Japanese
    Tools for building consistency
    13 years ago
  • V10 Japan
    find me on YouTube!
    13 years ago
  • The Art of Audacity
    An Ode to Road Rash
    13 years ago
  • Discovering Mandarin
    Learning Mandarin: Pronunciation Debacles: x & q vs. sh & ch
    14 years ago
  • China Advertising and Marketing Insight | littleredbook.cn
  • No-sword
  • learn mandarin chinese with peter
  • Stir Fried China
  • Sono Inglese di Gerrards Cross
  • Danwei 2.0
  • CHINAYOUREN
  • Aimee Barnes
  • Jing Daily :
  • Smart.fm Blog
  • China Translated
  • Learn Chinese Blog
  • The World of Chinese
  • 古瀬絵理OFFICIAL BLOG -古瀬絵理のNEWSえりごのみ
  • CN Reviews
  • The Everyday Language Learner
  • A Ku Indeed!
  • Social Mandarin - Published news
  • Chinese Reader
Show 10 Show All

these online resources have been of great help in my studies so far:

  • All Japanese all the time
  • Anki
  • Lang-8
  • LingQ
  • Lingt
  • Mnemosyne
  • nciku Chinese dictionary
  • Reveiwing the Kanji
  • Rhino Spike
  • Smart FM
  • Tangorin Japanese dictionary
  • Tatoeba

these books have proven to be useful too:

  • Genki 1
  • Genki 2
  • Remembering the Kanji
  • 中級から学ぶ日本語
  • Conversational Chinese 301
  • どんな時どう使う日本語表現文型辞典

My Lang 8 journal

Chinese History

  • Qing Dynasty 清朝
  • Ming Dynasty 明朝
  • Tang Dynasty 唐朝
  • Sui Dynasty 隋朝

About this blog

Sono Inglese di Gerrards Cross is my account of my journey to learn a foreign language. Being able to speak a foreign language is something I've wanted to be able to do since I was quite young, but only decided to really pursue in my late 20s.

"Sono Inglese di Gerrards Cross" is a quote from a Monty Python sketch which I like because it reminds me of the way I used to be taught foreign languages in classrooms in the UK. (5 years of French at school, and 2 years of Spanish evening classes after graduating from Uni.)

Anyway, I can't speak French or Spanish, so now I'm taking different approaches to two completely different languages. Let me know if you have any comments on my ideas or blog writings, or any questions about what happened in the classroom that made me delay my journey for about 10 years!!

Early Autumn, Qian Xuan

Early Autumn, Qian Xuan
An example of Chinese Bird-and-flower painting (花鸟鱼虫 huā, niǎo, yú, chóng) from the 13th century. I like this painting because it has hidden meaning. Apparently the painter, Qian Xuan, was making a veiled attack against his government. The stagnant pond with insects buzzing over it represents the decay of Chinese society under the Mongols.
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