Study Strategy - ChinesePod – Newbie Level

ncmuck

July 29, 2009 at 07:26 AM posted in General Discussion

Objective

I define the objectives of Newbie level as the following

To learn the basics of the language.
To be able to make simple day-to-day conversation.
To get to know the tones of Chinese. Chinese is a tonal language, which makes it very different from all other Indo-European languages.
To complete 100 hours to Chinese learning sessions. (This doesn’t include time taken to revise and practice).
To be able to read around 1000 Chinese Characters. (If can able to write / type, then it’s great).

The Modular Methodology of Learning

I recommend a modular approach. Take 300 lessons (or 200, 250 etc if you are busy) and divide them into four sections. That would be 75 lessons per section, if you have chosen 300 lessons.

At the time of this post, there are 312 Newbie lessons, if you consider the time duration for each lesson is about 20 minutes (12-15 minutes of Podcast and 5-8 minutes for us to digest), then you have over 100 hours of learning.

With these four sections of lessons, you can study in five phases. Here is how you can go about.

Phase I – Rhythm of the language

The objective of this phase is to feel the rhythm of the language.

In this phase, listen carefully to the Section One lessons. Try to understand these lessons and get to know the differences between the tones.

Use the Pinyin (Romanized Chinese characters) in this phase. It is easier than Chinese characters and it is also good for remembering the tones. You may scan the Chinese Characters, but do not try to memorize them.

Do not over analyze in this phase.

Do not add vocabulary to your collection.

Do not check out the Expansion part of the lesson.

Phase II – Add more vocabulary

The objective of this phase is learn Section Two lessons and to add more vocabulary to your skill.

Having felt comfortable with the rhythm of the language in phase I, it is time to focus on vocabulary and Chinese character.

In this phase, listen carefully to Section Two lessons. Try to understand the lessons as you did in phase I and continue of learn the tones using Pinyin characters, but pay bit more attention to the Chinese characters.

Add “Key Vocabulary” to your collection. Do not add “Supplementary Vocabulary” as they may be overwhelming at this phase, moreover these will be covered in other Newbie lessons.

For every five lessons, Use the “Launch Flashcard” option under your vocabulary (tab) and practice (memorizing) Chinese characters.

Do not check out Expansion part of the lesson.

Phase III – Expand your skill

The objective of this phase is to learn Section Three lessons and to check out the expansion part of the lesson.

With more vocabulary in your bag, it is time to learn more sentences.

In this phase, listen to Section Three lessons.

For the transcript, use the “Dialogues” tab rather than the PDF file. This will lower down your dependency on Pinyin. However when required, roll-over the mouse over the Chinese characters and reinforce the tone with Pinyin.

Add “Key Vocabulary” to your collection, however do not add “Supplementary Vocabulary”.

For every five lessons, Use the “Launch Flashcard” option under your vocabulary (tab) and practice (memorizing) Chinese characters. You may remove older (and familiar) worlds if required.

Check out the Expansion part of the lesson. Listen to each sentence. Do not feel discouraged, if you do not understand each and every word. This is quite normal and you will master them pretty soon.

If you have time, listen to the review Podcast.

Phase IV – Explore the language

The objective of this phase is to learn Section Four lessons and explore the language with your on-hand Chinese knowledge.

In this phase listen to Section Four lessons.

Use “Hide Translation” option in the setting and try to lower down your dependency on English. You may roll-over the mouse over the Chinese characters and reinforce the tone with Pinyin.

In this phase too, try to use the “Dialogues” tab rather than the PDF file for the transcript of the lesson.

Add both “Key Vocabulary” and “Supplementary Vocabulary” to your collection.

For every five lessons, Use the “Launch Flashcard” option under your vocabulary (tab) and practice (memorizing) Chinese characters. You may remove older (and familiar) vocabulary if required.

Try out the Expansion part of the lessons. The importance of “Hide Translation” option will be felt in these Expansion dialogues. Listen to each sentence if required.

If you have time, listen to the review Podcast.

Phase V – Revisit

The objective of this phase is to master the Newbie level.

In this section you will revisit the Section One and Section Two lessons. Listen to the review Podcast for these lessons.

Add “Key Vocabulary” (for Section One lessons) and “Supplementary Vocabulary” to your collection.

Try out the Expansion part of the lessons.

Use the “Launch Flashcard” option under your vocabulary (tab) and practice (memorizing) Chinese characters. You may remove older (and familiar) vocabulary if required.

Few more points…

Using MP3 Player

Do not dump all the lessons at once into your MP3 player, even if you may have a 30GB MP3 player.

Try to upload 10 lessons (or 15 lessons) at a time, once you complete them then add more (and you may delete the older lessons). This is more like keeping shorter milestones and completing them, than looking at the end when you are run for a marathon.

Regarding Exercises

You may try out the exercises of each lesson whenever you feel comfortable.

Final thoughts

Learning (any) language requires perseverance and patience. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts. You have to practice, practice and practice.

So find your motivation which will help you keep active in this lengthy learning cycle.

Also enjoy these lessons. Remember, if you are not happy with your journey, you will not feel the accomplishment at your destiny.

Happy Learning!

Message was orginally posted in my personal blog Study Strategy - ChinesePod – Newbie Level

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