tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22408198.post4076465775244770227..comments2023-09-12T10:30:18.485+00:00Comments on Mandarin Student (普通话学生): Chinese vocabulary listsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04553675424803911693noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22408198.post-50900211785244017692010-04-08T16:04:32.193+00:002010-04-08T16:04:32.193+00:00Sometimes I thought that it was the Chinese teache...Sometimes I thought that it was the Chinese teachers and Chinese classes made Chinese language so difficult to learn. <br />A couple weeks ago I was shocked by the course stuff given by one student in other class......Dawn @ SunnyChinese.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10732946698291936281noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22408198.post-13427419481651078102010-03-19T00:41:54.420+00:002010-03-19T00:41:54.420+00:00Great article, I actually remember several languag...Great article, I actually remember several language lessons that involved fruit, and probably half of my meager Cantonese vocab revolves around the fruit scenario from Colloquial Cantonese that Keith mentions.<br /><br />One of the most shocking things I learned when I was taking Mandarin classes in China, was that there were some people that could just blather on about seemingly any topic with native speakers, and seemed to hold their own, even though they knew vastly less vocabulary than I did. There I was, a complete expert in being attacked by various fruits, but these people could some how avoid knives and guns with ease ;)<br /><br />Of course, I've since found that the best way for me to learn all the "good" words is to just read and watch native materials, since the good words are usually more frequent and I'll catch onto them faster naturally. No more textbook chapters full of fruit for me.Pete Lypkiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09281076282773595801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22408198.post-37899110785982697102010-02-27T18:22:46.541+00:002010-02-27T18:22:46.541+00:00I ought to point out in the comment above that &qu...I ought to point out in the comment above that "conversations about many things" doesn't have to mean native level, but it means understanding enough to be able to reply, to put new ideas across to occasionally make someone laugh (deliberately) etc. <br /><br />As opposed to looking blank and going "errrrrrrrrrr ..." ;)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04553675424803911693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22408198.post-23781408490537545142010-02-27T18:18:02.509+00:002010-02-27T18:18:02.509+00:00Hi Keith, not sure it may be Colloquial Cantonese ...Hi Keith, not sure it may be Colloquial Cantonese I don't have it to hand, will let you know later, I have been given a lot of material by people when then find out I am learning Chinese, I play with some of it sometimes but never get hooked. Not really important though, it just triggered the comparison to the Monty Python video, there are plenty of examples of this type of approach around.<br /><br />The evening class mentioned was about two years ago, the students (9 or 10 of them) had been studying Chinese about two years (similar to me) but I wouldn't call have called them serious learners they were happy to follow along with the pace of the weekly lessons I suppose. I contacted one of the teachers and teacher suggested I joined in at this level to see how I got on, I was curious to see what happened in a language class. I believe teacher assumed I would be significantly challenged being a self-learner etc. but it quickly became apparent that I had much more capability to talk and understand than they did, she tried pushing her students a little in a couple of areas but they got lost. Don't get me wrong I still have a long way to go, but I could have conversations about many things, they couldn't (unless it was in a very restricted context). After lesson teacher conceded the class wasn't for me.<br /><br />I will be disclosing more about evening classes etc. at some point for example remember when we discussed the woeful state of Japanese in a couple of people I had met (one of whom had apparently studied for three years at school when younger and then two years evening class). <br /><br />These are evening classes in England, as expected it would probably take about 10years to get somewhere useful in a non-European language unless the student took off on their own steam.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04553675424803911693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22408198.post-26518292427234402112010-02-27T13:54:36.900+00:002010-02-27T13:54:36.900+00:00First lesson, a fruit hawker? Sounds like Colloqui...First lesson, a fruit hawker? Sounds like Colloquial Cantonese. <br /><br />The evening class was an experiment? Yours or the teacher's? Were you invited so that the teacher could compare you to her students? At what point in your studies were you? And how long had the students been studying?Keithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02533265523359409077noreply@blogger.com