01 year 33 week into study part 2

Hello everyone,
I have been doing some thinking the last few days, and I wanted to take a moment to offer some suggestions and words of encouragement for the newcomer to ChinesePod.

Podcasts:

• I originally studied the podcasts in any order in which I desired, without keeping track of which lesson I studied and which I had not. I don't recommend this, I had better success when I organized the lessons and started keeping track of those lessons I studied
• At the beginning, the learning was very difficult. It often took me over an hour to master a newbie lesson when I first started. This is because I didn't know any of the words. If you are experiencing this, take heart! it does get better. I found that as I continued to study, I knew many words in subsequent lessons. This means that I might only need to learn a few new words per lesson, instead of every single word in a lesson.
• Do the lesson until you are able to pronounce each word. After reaching this level of proficiency, move onto the next lesson. Don't freak out if you find that you forget words, as they are repeated in subsequent lessons, and you can always go back and refresh on old lesson.
• Ken Carrol from ChinesePod frequently points out that it is best to learn language in chunks, and also says that learning different contexts for words is helpful too. My experience supports this idea. Listening to the entire podcast is helpful even if you know all the words because it provides the use of these words in different context, and I feel it helps me remember the terms better. At the very least, each podcast give a little insight to Chinese culture, which is important to someone like myself who has never been to China.
• I make good use of the 'audio fix' in each lesson. I use the reviews to test myself on the vocabulary. At first, I couldn't make much use of 'now lets use these words in context' portion of the review. I suggest you listen to them even if you cannot get it right, like I mentioned already, greater context helps me remember. As your Chinese skills improve, you will find that you can do the context exercises. To me, this shows that, not only am I learning the vocabulary, but I am also able to produce Chinese.
• Using the listening test has been helpful to me in showing that I am learning the language. Lately, I typically test at either newbie or elementary level. This is good because I think that is about what my proficiency level is.
• I find that I have a better study session if I am walking around rather than sitting when listening to the podcasts. I believe this is because my heartrate is faster, and blood is flowing quicker. I also find that I get tired if I try to sit for an hour listening to podcasts.

I hope these tips are useful. Please let me know abit about the study methods that you use in the comment section, or what you think of what I suggested.
Thanks

01 year 16 & 17 weeks into study

Hello everyone,
Well, I must say that essentially, no Chinese studies happened while I was in Spain. It was just too much. I was struggling to recall the little bit of Spanish that I learned years ago, and the Chinese was frustrating that effort. Well, it was for the first few days anyway. I resumed my Chinese studies in full swing upon my return to Massachusetts on Saturday. The 10 new characters per day totally fell flat, so I am back to the 5 per day.
I feel mixed right now about my progress. For the positive, I scored at elementary (low) on the listening test on the Chinesepod website. I feel that testing at elementary is an important milestone, and performing as such indicates that I am making progress. For the negative, I just struggle with the feeling that this Chinese studying is pointless, and that I will never master the language. I feel this way despite the overwhelming evidence to the fact that I am learning the language. I have been studying since November, but I am where I should be if I were studying since January. It's cool though, I am just going to continue to work at it everyday and trust that I will improve.
I hope to be able to speak enough Chinese to be able to express my most basic needs when I arrive in August. My trip to Barcelona, and the frustration resulting from the language barrier has demonstrated to me the types of things I will need to learn in order to communicate in a foreign language. Perhaps I should have traveled to China for the break, but I cannot take back the past, and I have to live with decisions that I have made.
My studying routine is the same routine that I have outlined in the update in week 16. If you are reading these blogs, I would really be interested in knowing about your presence. Please feel free to become a follower or comment.
thanks