Comments on: Listening Skills http://www.chineselearnonline.com/learning-insights/2007/08/08/listening-skills/ Tips, tricks and cultural insights on learning Mandarin Chinese Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:19:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: Adam http://www.chineselearnonline.com/learning-insights/2007/08/08/listening-skills/#comment-46 Adam Thu, 23 Aug 2007 05:56:38 +0000 http://www.chineselearnonline.com/learning-insights/2007/08/08/listening-skills/#comment-46 You are right that most study materials out there don't necessarily follow this approach. I'm hoping to differentiate my material by using my own experience learning Chinese which has come from what I've learned myself while living in Taiwan. Things I hear often tend to stick, while things I don't tend to get forgotten (I'll elaborate more on this in a future blog post). If you go through the characters in the site you mentioned, you will find most of them turning up a lot within lessons (since they are the common ones). You can go through the word bank entering different characters to see how many times they have turned up in the past. Then try to guess the context of the example sentences by picking out the characters you do know. You are right that most study materials out there don’t necessarily follow this approach. I’m hoping to differentiate my material by using my own experience learning Chinese which has come from what I’ve learned myself while living in Taiwan. Things I hear often tend to stick, while things I don’t tend to get forgotten (I’ll elaborate more on this in a future blog post).

If you go through the characters in the site you mentioned, you will find most of them turning up a lot within lessons (since they are the common ones). You can go through the word bank entering different characters to see how many times they have turned up in the past. Then try to guess the context of the example sentences by picking out the characters you do know.

]]> By: Steven http://www.chineselearnonline.com/learning-insights/2007/08/08/listening-skills/#comment-45 Steven Thu, 23 Aug 2007 02:50:07 +0000 http://www.chineselearnonline.com/learning-insights/2007/08/08/listening-skills/#comment-45 Hmm...interesting strategy. It makes sense to concentrate on words that are used a lot. Surprisingly a lot of study materials out there don't seem to recognize this point. There is this site, and I can't remember if I found out about it here--but it lists the most frequent characters: http://www.zein.se/patrick/3000char.html I wonder then--would it make sense to create learning materials and lessons based on these characters as a way to learn Chinese efficiently? Hmm…interesting strategy. It makes sense to concentrate on words that are used a lot. Surprisingly a lot of study materials out there don’t seem to recognize this point. There is this site, and I can’t remember if I found out about it here–but it lists the most frequent characters:

http://www.zein.se/patrick/3000char.html

I wonder then–would it make sense to create learning materials and lessons based on these characters as a way to learn Chinese efficiently?

]]> By: Adam http://www.chineselearnonline.com/learning-insights/2007/08/08/listening-skills/#comment-36 Adam Sat, 18 Aug 2007 09:32:48 +0000 http://www.chineselearnonline.com/learning-insights/2007/08/08/listening-skills/#comment-36 I would say as a general rule, you only need to understand 70-80% of a lesson to continue, since as I said earlier, the important stuff will come up again. This is easier to do pre level 3 since it's only a few words per lesson that you have to worry about. This 70% figure may be harder to achieve in level 3, since there is a lot more content to go through. In the past few weeks I've had the pleasure of working with users of my course on an individual level (part of an upcoming addition to CLO) which has given me further insight on this matter. Some listeners are content to proceed to newer lessons even if they haven't "mastered" older content. Whereas other listeners, who I would consider to be at a much higher level, prefer to dwell on earlier lessons to make sure they understood 100% of the content before proceeding. I guess at the end of the day it comes to your own learning style and what goals you hope to achieve. Some might choose to focus on acquiring vocabulary or grammar, whereas others might instead focus on pronunciation. I'm happy to see that all these types of users seem to find value in the course. In the future, as I figure out more areas of weakness among my listening audience (through comments like this), I hope to be able to offer more options for users to be able to more specifically focus on their desired area of importance. I would say as a general rule, you only need to understand 70-80% of a lesson to continue, since as I said earlier, the important stuff will come up again. This is easier to do pre level 3 since it’s only a few words per lesson that you have to worry about. This 70% figure may be harder to achieve in level 3, since there is a lot more content to go through.

In the past few weeks I’ve had the pleasure of working with users of my course on an individual level (part of an upcoming addition to CLO) which has given me further insight on this matter. Some listeners are content to proceed to newer lessons even if they haven’t “mastered” older content. Whereas other listeners, who I would consider to be at a much higher level, prefer to dwell on earlier lessons to make sure they understood 100% of the content before proceeding.

I guess at the end of the day it comes to your own learning style and what goals you hope to achieve. Some might choose to focus on acquiring vocabulary or grammar, whereas others might instead focus on pronunciation. I’m happy to see that all these types of users seem to find value in the course. In the future, as I figure out more areas of weakness among my listening audience (through comments like this), I hope to be able to offer more options for users to be able to more specifically focus on their desired area of importance.

]]> By: parrot http://www.chineselearnonline.com/learning-insights/2007/08/08/listening-skills/#comment-35 parrot Sat, 18 Aug 2007 08:34:31 +0000 http://www.chineselearnonline.com/learning-insights/2007/08/08/listening-skills/#comment-35 Thanks Adam. There's seldom any problem with clarity, and if there is it's easy to get a good answer to a question, as you say. It's mainly an issue of how well it is remembered, and knowing how much is enough for now. I think I've fallen into both extremes in the past, and would like to become more efficient than that. The cumulative vocabulary and reuse of words provide a nice safety net, allowing both extremes of study depth to still work, but now I'm looking for some way to recognise a more reasonable midpoint. It's hard to see it clearly when you're standing in it. Thanks Adam. There’s seldom any problem with clarity, and if there is it’s easy to get a good answer to a question, as you say. It’s mainly an issue of how well it is remembered, and knowing how much is enough for now.

I think I’ve fallen into both extremes in the past, and would like to become more efficient than that. The cumulative vocabulary and reuse of words provide a nice safety net, allowing both extremes of study depth to still work, but now I’m looking for some way to recognise a more reasonable midpoint. It’s hard to see it clearly when you’re standing in it.

]]> By: Adam http://www.chineselearnonline.com/learning-insights/2007/08/08/listening-skills/#comment-34 Adam Sat, 18 Aug 2007 05:19:19 +0000 http://www.chineselearnonline.com/learning-insights/2007/08/08/listening-skills/#comment-34 Good point (and good suggestion for a future blog post!) I don't recommend spending excessive time on any particular task. Sometimes the brain functions better on a good rest, so move on to something completely different. The site and lessons are designed to allow you to easily return to an earlier lesson at a later point if necessary. If a concept isn't clear, you can either post a question in the comments, or move on without worrying about it. If it's important enough, it will be revisited in a future lesson at which point it should hopefully become clearer. Good point (and good suggestion for a future blog post!) I don’t recommend spending excessive time on any particular task. Sometimes the brain functions better on a good rest, so move on to something completely different.

The site and lessons are designed to allow you to easily return to an earlier lesson at a later point if necessary. If a concept isn’t clear, you can either post a question in the comments, or move on without worrying about it. If it’s important enough, it will be revisited in a future lesson at which point it should hopefully become clearer.

]]> By: parrot http://www.chineselearnonline.com/learning-insights/2007/08/08/listening-skills/#comment-33 parrot Sat, 18 Aug 2007 02:30:48 +0000 http://www.chineselearnonline.com/learning-insights/2007/08/08/listening-skills/#comment-33 I find it hard to tell when I've "finished" a lesson and it's time to move on to the next one. I know that doing all of the tasks once isn't enough for my slow brain, but spending excessive amounts of time on a single lesson can have a negative effect too. Any tips? I find it hard to tell when I’ve “finished” a lesson and it’s time to move on to the next one. I know that doing all of the tasks once isn’t enough for my slow brain, but spending excessive amounts of time on a single lesson can have a negative effect too. Any tips?

]]> By: Karan Misra http://www.chineselearnonline.com/learning-insights/2007/08/08/listening-skills/#comment-31 Karan Misra Fri, 10 Aug 2007 03:02:22 +0000 http://www.chineselearnonline.com/learning-insights/2007/08/08/listening-skills/#comment-31 That is a really good way of learning I think. I'm using sort of the similar techniques whenever I get a chance to interact with people who speak Chinese. When my Chinese colleagues at work speak, I literally cannot a single word they're saying. I don't know if that's because of the way they speak, the amount of slang or background knowledge involved or because they talk really, really fast. However, there is a Chinese gentleman who goes to the gym at the same time as I do and I can usually understand everything he says and reply back to him in Chinese. It's very rewarding when I understand something and can reply back, and I feel very good about myself. That is a really good way of learning I think. I’m using sort of the similar techniques whenever I get a chance to interact with people who speak Chinese. When my Chinese colleagues at work speak, I literally cannot a single word they’re saying. I don’t know if that’s because of the way they speak, the amount of slang or background knowledge involved or because they talk really, really fast.

However, there is a Chinese gentleman who goes to the gym at the same time as I do and I can usually understand everything he says and reply back to him in Chinese. It’s very rewarding when I understand something and can reply back, and I feel very good about myself.

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