Comments on: How to Learn Fluent Mandarin Chinese http://thelinguafranca.wordpress.com/2007/10/14/how-to-learn-fluent-mandarin-chinese/ Cross Cultural Communications in Greater China Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:33:10 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: truettblack http://thelinguafranca.wordpress.com/2007/10/14/how-to-learn-fluent-mandarin-chinese/#comment-308 truettblack Tue, 12 May 2009 01:30:25 +0000 http://thelinguafranca.wordpress.com/2007/10/14/how-to-learn-fluent-mandarin-chinese/#comment-308 Hi Victor. Thank you for your comments. Feel free to use my ideas in your syllabus if they are helpful to your students. The DeFrancis series is still widely available (try amazon.com) and the John McNaughton writing text I recommend is sold all over Taiwan. I'm not sure what you mean when you write "Taiwanese have horrible tones and poor pronunciation" and "Taiwanese...can’t read...characters well." That has not been my experience. In Taiwan, there is often flexibility given in which tones are used (the second and third tone in particular), but I would certainly not characterize Taiwanese pronunciation as "poor," and I've seldom met Taiwanese who couldn't read characters well. Hi Victor. Thank you for your comments. Feel free to use my ideas in your syllabus if they are helpful to your students. The DeFrancis series is still widely available (try amazon.com) and the John McNaughton writing text I recommend is sold all over Taiwan.

I’m not sure what you mean when you write “Taiwanese have horrible tones and poor pronunciation” and “Taiwanese…can’t read…characters well.” That has not been my experience. In Taiwan, there is often flexibility given in which tones are used (the second and third tone in particular), but I would certainly not characterize Taiwanese pronunciation as “poor,” and I’ve seldom met Taiwanese who couldn’t read characters well.

]]> By: Victor http://thelinguafranca.wordpress.com/2007/10/14/how-to-learn-fluent-mandarin-chinese/#comment-307 Victor Mon, 11 May 2009 17:42:47 +0000 http://thelinguafranca.wordpress.com/2007/10/14/how-to-learn-fluent-mandarin-chinese/#comment-307 Excellent comments here. I am a Chinese teacher in Japan and loved your comments on the study of Mandarin. I really love to read and write in Chinese and teaching speech patterns. I do not particularly enjoy speaking it. Your comments of Taiwanese reactions to foreigners is quite true. I would only add here that you will have to be very flexible with them. Taiwanese have horrible tones and poor pronunciation. I have fought with a number of Taiwanese teachers on correct pronunciation. So, learners will need to know zhuyin to help correct Taiwanese as they can't read standard pinyin or characters well. You certainly have excellent ideas here for building fluency. I did not have the two years to devote to the study of Chinese nor the years of college to study it. I would say it was out of my desire to teach that motivated me. I am a Japanese teacher in Japan, but to keep my job in Japan, I was asked to teach Chinese (Mandarin). It took about 4 months to learn something I was not able to do after 1 1/2 years of intense study in Taiwan. I now take my students to Taiwan and China every year for practice and cultural exploration. I am also interested in the materials that you mentioned here to teach Chinese with. I have not heard of any of them. When I lived in Taiwan, there were no materials at the book shops like there are today. In China there are huge selections of readers and other books for improving reading and speaking. But I would suggests books from Hong Kong for study as they come with traditional characters (making learning more faster) and standardized pinyin. The learner will find an array of romanization all over Taiwan (a fun game I play with my students when we go there). Again thanks for the ideas! I will have to revise my beginning Chinese syllabus with some of these ideas if that is OK. Excellent comments here. I am a Chinese teacher in Japan and loved your comments on the study of Mandarin. I really love to read and write in Chinese and teaching speech patterns. I do not particularly enjoy speaking it. Your comments of Taiwanese reactions to foreigners is quite true. I would only add here that you will have to be very flexible with them. Taiwanese have horrible tones and poor pronunciation. I have fought with a number of Taiwanese teachers on correct pronunciation. So, learners will need to know zhuyin to help correct Taiwanese as they can’t read standard pinyin or characters well.
You certainly have excellent ideas here for building fluency. I did not have the two years to devote to the study of Chinese nor the years of college to study it. I would say it was out of my desire to teach that motivated me. I am a Japanese teacher in Japan, but to keep my job in Japan, I was asked to teach Chinese (Mandarin). It took about 4 months to learn something I was not able to do after 1 1/2 years of intense study in Taiwan. I now take my students to Taiwan and China every year for practice and cultural exploration.
I am also interested in the materials that you mentioned here to teach Chinese with. I have not heard of any of them. When I lived in Taiwan, there were no materials at the book shops like there are today. In China there are huge selections of readers and other books for improving reading and speaking. But I would suggests books from Hong Kong for study as they come with traditional characters (making learning more faster) and standardized pinyin. The learner will find an array of romanization all over Taiwan (a fun game I play with my students when we go there).
Again thanks for the ideas! I will have to revise my beginning Chinese syllabus with some of these ideas if that is OK.

]]> By: truettblack http://thelinguafranca.wordpress.com/2007/10/14/how-to-learn-fluent-mandarin-chinese/#comment-306 truettblack Tue, 05 May 2009 16:04:07 +0000 http://thelinguafranca.wordpress.com/2007/10/14/how-to-learn-fluent-mandarin-chinese/#comment-306 Thanks for the note Dan. I'm glad you're enjoying the DeFrancis series, and it's always nice to get a little recognition. It's tough to say what's overkill. If you split those lessons up into two, two-hour sessions, you're likely to gain more from them. If you find that four hours a day is too much, you can always trim back, right? You'll be encountering words and situations you haven't seen yet just by living there, and you'll have a lot of fodder from your daily life that you can clarify and expand on in your tutoring sessions. Be sure to spend plenty of time out and about, talking with people in Mandarin. Socialize with normal people--never turn down a dinner or karaoke invite from regular people. If you can find something to do where you need to speak Mandarin (e.g. a volunteer position somewhere, a sales job) that will probably allow you to make more progress than anything else you do. Best of luck to you. Thanks for the note Dan. I’m glad you’re enjoying the DeFrancis series, and it’s always nice to get a little recognition.

It’s tough to say what’s overkill. If you split those lessons up into two, two-hour sessions, you’re likely to gain more from them. If you find that four hours a day is too much, you can always trim back, right? You’ll be encountering words and situations you haven’t seen yet just by living there, and you’ll have a lot of fodder from your daily life that you can clarify and expand on in your tutoring sessions.

Be sure to spend plenty of time out and about, talking with people in Mandarin. Socialize with normal people–never turn down a dinner or karaoke invite from regular people. If you can find something to do where you need to speak Mandarin (e.g. a volunteer position somewhere, a sales job) that will probably allow you to make more progress than anything else you do.

Best of luck to you.

]]> By: dsumarto http://thelinguafranca.wordpress.com/2007/10/14/how-to-learn-fluent-mandarin-chinese/#comment-305 dsumarto Tue, 05 May 2009 14:15:06 +0000 http://thelinguafranca.wordpress.com/2007/10/14/how-to-learn-fluent-mandarin-chinese/#comment-305 Hi Truett, I've been learning Mandarin on my own for a little while and am currently reading Intermediate Chinese Reader by John DeFrancis. I like giving credit where credit is due, so I am personally thanking you for the advice you provided on this blog. The DeFrancis series has so far greatly improved my grammar, vocabulary, and reading. Although I also use other resources, I've yet to find any series of books that comes close to providing such an effective (and rewarding) learning experience. I am wondering if I may have your opinion on something: I'm planning on spending about a year in Mainland China to further my language studies, and have decided on 1-on-1 lessons for the first five months (I have yet to plan out the remainder of my stay). Is four hours a day, five days a week for five months overkill? Will I potentially plateau before the five months are over, or is this a good initial approach upon my arrival in China? Thank you again, Dan Hi Truett,

I’ve been learning Mandarin on my own for a little while and am currently reading Intermediate Chinese Reader by John DeFrancis. I like giving credit where credit is due, so I am personally thanking you for the advice you provided on this blog. The DeFrancis series has so far greatly improved my grammar, vocabulary, and reading. Although I also use other resources, I’ve yet to find any series of books that comes close to providing such an effective (and rewarding) learning experience.

I am wondering if I may have your opinion on something: I’m planning on spending about a year in Mainland China to further my language studies, and have decided on 1-on-1 lessons for the first five months (I have yet to plan out the remainder of my stay). Is four hours a day, five days a week for five months overkill? Will I potentially plateau before the five months are over, or is this a good initial approach upon my arrival in China?

Thank you again,
Dan

]]> By: truettblack http://thelinguafranca.wordpress.com/2007/10/14/how-to-learn-fluent-mandarin-chinese/#comment-246 truettblack Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:07:11 +0000 http://thelinguafranca.wordpress.com/2007/10/14/how-to-learn-fluent-mandarin-chinese/#comment-246 John, My condolences. He wrote a great, very useful book. Every Sinologist I know considers it a seminal work for learners. True John,

My condolences.

He wrote a great, very useful book. Every Sinologist I know considers it a seminal work for learners.

True

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