01 year 31 week into study

Hello everyone,
Another week has gone by with good progress. I even had a good weekend of flashcard study. Most nights, I had studied an hour of speaking and listening. I plan to continue this work. I bought two books to hopefully fill in the gaps that Chinesepod does not seem to cover. I wanted to learn more about writing and grammar, and the two books I bought address these topics. I will discuss the books. The first book, Schaum's Outlines: Chinese Grammar, by Dr. Claudia Ross, will obviously address grammatical issues in the Chinese language. My other new book, Reading & Writing Chinese: Simplified Character Edition, by William McNaughton, will help me learn stroke order for the simplified Chinese Characters.
I started with McNaughton's book today, and I devoted 20 minutes to the study to help ensure that I don't get burned out too quickly. The characters are difficult to write. Over the next week or so, I am going to see how I can fit my new study resources into my study to diversify my work. As noted in previous entries, my strongest area is reading chinese characters. I am improving in speaking and listening, but remain very week in other areas of study. I am determined to continue, and I am about to step out to do an hours or so worth of spoken study.

01 year 30 weeks into study part 2

Hello everyone,
I tried an elementary lesson today, and it was significantly harder than the newbie level lessons. Right now, I wish there was a level between the two. I did learn the vocabulary in the audio review, but I don't really feel that I mastered the lesson in the same way that I pick up the newbie lessons. I am going to stick to studying an elementary lesson every 5 or so lessons. I am sure that I will improve.

Here is my latest stack photo. It does not look tremendously larger than the previous stack photo, but there are nearly 50 more cards in the latter photo.

01 year 30 weeks into study

I must say, that it has been a good week overall for Chinese studying. I feel like I hit a good rhythm. In the past, the speaking and listening had been the weakest area, but I feel that the work I had done in those areas had reached parity with my flashcards. I don't do much studying on weekends on account of work, but I do much during the weekday. I will normally learn 3 podcasts per day at newbie level. I know that I forget much of what I learned, but the podcasts have much repetition. This means that when the vocabulary comes up again, I remember that I had learned it before, and I relearn it very quickly. My plan is to incorporate more elementary lessons into my daily speaking and listening routine. The newbie lessons are beginning to be too easy.
The flashcards are going good as well. It is frustrating that I typically forget many that I had learned, so I do much review.

Not much to say this week, no real changes to my methodogy besides my plan to include more elementary lessons. That is all for right now.

01 year 29 weeks into study

Hello everyone,
I have returned from a trip down to Georgia and Florida, so I plan to step up my studying. I have done more speaking practice than I was before, but I am not really sure that I am getting better. I am learning about 3-5 new words per day for speaking, and 5 new characters for reading. The water damage that I discussed in last week's entry turned out not to be significant, the cards are still usable, even if they do have water stains on them (groan).
I don't have much to discuss this week, so I guess that is it for right now.

01 year 26, 27, and 28 weeks into study

These past few weeks have been mixed in terms of effort that I have placed in Chinese studying. During most days, I have put at least some effort into studying. I have done well in the past few days especially, really studying the verbal part. I experienced a setback concerning my flashcards. When I went to Florida, I had accidentally left my bag with my flashcards at my sister's house. I asked someone to grab my bag, and while the bag was en route, it got wet. Many of my flashcards got wet, and I am less than thrilled (gross understatement). I am also missing four flashcards as well, and I am hoping that they turn up. I understand that I am probably more angry than I should be about them, but I did put a lot of work into making them, and I am trying hard to learn Chinese.
Chinese is proving to be a very difficult language to learn. I do keep at it, but sometimes I don't feel that I am making progress. Other times, I feel that I will never learn the language because I am too old (I think I have discussed this in an earlier entry, but the thoughts continue to arise). I plan to continue to study, I have lots of time until I leave for China. Currently, my plan is to hopefully be able to speak enough Chinese to get my basic needs met. Well, that is all that is on my mind right now (I feel like I am beginning to sound like Phil DeFranco).
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13jun09-1633h... edit
Here is my latest stack photo;