So I watched a movie last night (Eat Drink Man Woman, which I’ll review in a future podcast), and aside from it being a fantastic movie, I’m getting more and more jazzed about my listening comprehension.
Hey, listen. Are you a Newbie learner? I haven’t been an Elementary Guy very long, and I still listen to every Newbie lesson that comes out. That being said, trust me when I tell you that if you come here every day, even for just a half and hour or 20 minutes at a time, if you listen to the dialogues, if you dig down into the expansion areas… you will get better. LOTS better.
I’ve been studying Mandarin with ChinesePod for, oh, about a year and a half now. Last night I watched a movie in Mandarin where nobody was trying to take it easy on me. Nobody was hyper-annunciating or slowing down. And I understood more of it than I ever would have imagined.
I studied Spanish for five years back in high school and middle school and I already know more Chinese than I ever knew Spanish. This is just a method that really works for me.
I know sometimes I come here and I sound like an a paid advertisement for ChinesePod. I can’t help it. I get honestly excited by the progress I’ve made. Even these past few months, when I’ve been too busy to give my studies more than a few minutes every couple of days, I see how all the vocab and new grammar just starts to gel.
So my message for the day is to just keep plugging away at it. Stick to your guns. Vary your routine, too! Don’t get stuck in a rut! Listen to the lessons, watch movies, download some C-pop, learn a poem. Keep your neural pathways guessing!
The most important lesson I can give you? Give yourself permission to suck. It’s likely to take you years to get where you want to go. Might as well enjoy the journey while you’re at it. 
Frank, you’re preaching to the choir!
Haha! I know! But I keep on preachin’ anyway.
Hi Frank!
Just dropping by to say a quick hello. I’m in Beijing now, my classes have started and I’m loving almost every second of it
All the best!
Hi Kaixin! Thanks for dropping in! I am SO JEALOUS of you right now. Send pictures, won’t you? I’m sure my readers would love to share in your journey!
Hi Frank.
Words of wisdom, as ever. In an effort to vary my approach I’ve just enrolled at a local university (unfortunately, unlike Kaixin, not in Beijing!)for a part time beginner’s class in Mandarin. ‘Bout time I opened my gob and started yakking! The one area of my learning which lags behind is the spoken part. At least this way I’ll find out if my tones suck; I find it fairly easy to identify and replicate ‘em, except for the second - it’s a killer. Lord knows how people learn Cantonese with its… 6 tones, is it?
As ever, it’s great to read about your progress/breakthroughs. And yes, it IS fun, otherwise what’s the point in doing it?
Thank you Frank
You can see my photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/13424067@N02/
The explanations are in Finnish, but I’m sure you get the point of them anyway.
I have never been able to focus on learning the language as here. It is really hard, but also great. I only have problems with speaking at class, it is somehow very intimidating for me. I can talk to the people at restaurants and shops, but making a sentence in my 口语 class is still a bit difficult. Like Barry, I’m really worried about my tones and pronounciation. But that will be fixed at the 正音(pronounciation) class that starts next week (or at least I hope so!)
Now I have to start studying, next week we have an another 听写…
加油！
Hey Frank!
Now that you let the cat out of the bag about your five years studying Spanish why don’t you join us on SpanishSense? You can still keep up with your Mandarin (like yours truly does) and by listening to the SpanishSense lessons and participating in the lesson comments and forum you can brush up a bit. I’m throwing down the glove Frank. Allá te espero”.
Saludos,
Mexico Bob
Kaixin - loved the photographs, but one difficult language is enough to decipher okay! (btw, my fave composer, Sibelius, comes from Finland)
Barry - Hey there! Thanks, as always, for coming by. I’m equally interested in hearing about your progress! I like to see and hear what my fellow learners are succeeding and failing at. And yeah, that second tone is rough. LOL Let me know how that course works out for you. I found that the night class I enrolled in last years was a waste of my time. I really should have started in the advanced class. ChinesePod had prepared me too well!
Kaixin - WOW! So awesome! But you never told me you were such a cutie! Yowza!
Mexico Bob! Que pasa, amigo? Man, I gotta tell ya… there’s no way I’m picking up that gauntlet. LOL I am busting my rear just trying to learn Chinese and all the new film software. I can’t handle anything else.