Learning Chinese Update
- Posted by Shaun on December 11th, 2006 filed in Chinese
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It’s been a couple of weeks of recovery, but I’m feeling good enough to get back on the wagon learning Chinese. I simply didn’t have any desire to do it when sick, but now I’m back. I spent plenty of time this past weekend listening to and enjoying all of the Chinesepod podcasts that I downloaded.
Their podcasts are fairly helpful, but you can’t learn Chinese using them alone. I use them mostly to get more exposure to spoken Chinese, but I still rely on my “kids” books for learning characters. The “kids” books I’m using are actually first or second grade text books. They are simple, but cover all the common words.
I’ve tried other Chinese language podcasts, but they just don’t compare. Some are just plain dry and boring; poorly scripted and poorly done overall. Others just lack energy. I even checked out the Japanese podcasts (that seem to be a complete rip off of Chinesepod) and I thought I was going to get sick. It was so corny.
Okay enough boosting Chinesepod’s ego. After a couple weeks of no study I feel like I actually lost some knowledge. So, after I get all that back it is back to the grind. I enjoy learning the language and I’m determined to learn something. Enough to talk a little. The one thing I haven’t done just yet is set some goals. That might help.
I do have a little distraction now. I’m making my way through Phantom by Terry Goodkind. It is an excellent book. I’ve been reading crap (Kurtz) for so long that I forgot what it was like to read a good book. I feel revitalized. It’ll only last for a little while though. I usually fly through good books and this one is lucky to last three days. So, I guess a little distraction is okay.