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Hey guys,
I want to talk a bit about some changes I have made to my studying plan. I have, for the time being, dropped the Japanese learning. I did this in order to focus more on the Chinese. In my last entry, I wrote that I decided not to renew Chinesepod, but I had a change of heart. A few days ago, I did a practice HSK 4 exam. It was a humbling experience, but I learned a little bit about my abilities. I have areas that I am really strong, and I have areas that I need to work. I felt that it was a bit hard, and I don't know how the exam is scored, so if I had to guess, I would say that either I barely passed it, or barely failed it. I did good with writing, it was a piece of cake, but I had some trouble with the listening. I felt caught off guard, and felt that, although I understood most, the questions were difficult to answer, and I needed more time to think. For the reading, I knew almost all the characters I saw, but I didn't know all the words. There were a few words that appeared on the exam more than once that I don't think I had ever seen. To sum up the experience, I felt that the way that I am learning Chinese is not really matching the curve of the HSK. In some aspects, I might be a strong level 5, in others, maybe a 3.... if you know what I mean. Couple this experience with a meeting I had with a potential tutor, I feel that a change was needed in the way I was studying. Ive been meeting with people to find a potential tutor. The process has not been easy, and I have met with many excellent, seemingly qualified people who are willing and eager to help me improve my Chinese. Choosing one is not easy, and I have more people to meet with. The day after taking the practice exam, one of the interviewees suggested I use a system to learn Chinese. I am thinking that maybe she is right, but it would be hard to find a good system to jump onto at my level.  Anyhow, taking a practice HSK is an eye-opening experience. In light of this, here are the actions that I am taking to learn Chinese....
1. Suspend Japanese (mentioned this already)
2. Suspend learning traditional characters for the time being.
3. Renew my subscription to Chinesepod.
4. Try to spend at least an hour per day diligently working on listening to difficult stuff.
5. Still using the paper flashcards, grammar textbook, and reading books, but backing off a little on these to focus more on Chinesepod.
6. Really drill down using Chinesepod, especially doing the hard stuff. The harder the lesson, the better I feel. Oh, by the way.... I am listening to Advanced lessons on Chinesepod now....
So yeah, increase my listening and vocab (not necessarily individual characters) using Chinesepod. I am working on grammar using a textbook and Chinesepod. I use Anki to learn and review individual characters. I will find a tutor to help me improve my speaking, to become more accurate and natural. I have a reader that I use to help me improve my reading.
Thats all for now.