Final Reflection of sorts:

So its the end of the year for me, and I guess I kinda have to go back and look at what i have accomplished during the course of this class. The highlights of this class for me I guess really boil down to the massive amount of information that I took in in such a short amount of time. The sheer difficulty of the undertaking was really an achievement in and of itself. I guess the main problem that I had through out this class was also the difficulty of the language itself. That was the hard part. in order to really and honestly learn a language, you have to be immersed in it 24\7. You can have other things in your way, like school, or any other kinda deal. You have to be completely able to give yourself over to the topic that you are trying to learn. And that is not possible in a lot of circumstances. So, I think that both Ben and I did the best we could under the circumstances that were presented to us. That being said resources such as the tutor down at Ga State University and Chinese pod were really helpful. That eased a good percentage of the stress and tension that were originally in the air. However, the difficulty level was still extremely high and thats what made this an independent study class. In conclusion, I guess what I should end up saying is that I believe that i have learned alot and my presentation tonight will show that. It was a good semester.

Chinese pod update so far:

So, far Chinese pod has gone really well. i don't think its beneficial to either of us if i just post links, so what i have been doing, is lining the work that my tutor gave me with the lessons that I get on Chinese pod. this is providing to be very helpful with regards to my progress. so quiz me, this afternoon.

First day of working chinese pod!!!!!!

So, today is my first day of actually working on Chinese pod with all the content available to me. Im gonna jump right into it and i will let you know how it goes in tomorrow's post.

Monday's Plan:

Today, I'm going to review the things my tutor gave me since the Chinese pod issues have not been worked out as of yet. I also found nifty website run by the B.B.C, that has some very useful information on it as well. Just talked to Mrs. Newman and she is going to set up all the information today, so I will be up and running tomorrow. Awesome.

How my tutoring went and what my homework is now:

my session with the tutor went really well. She quizzed me on colors, all the basic phrases I showed you on the first page of that packet and numbers 1-100. The thing with numbers in Chinese is that they are really quite easy, 1-10 are very simple. 11-20, is just any number 1-9 and add the word 10 after it. Then for all numbers after that, 21 would be er shi er. Which translates into 2 10 1 or 21. So, its actually kind of easy. I'm also beginning to learn the names of some basic animals as well. Like dog, cat, and the so forth. She also gave me a larger list of colors to know, seeing as how I only had to know 3 last time, so know I have a list of 10.

My plan for Today and Wednesday.

Today is going to be spent mostly reviewing my home work assignments for tomorrow's lesson with my tutor. i have most of the colors down, not memorized completely but I can pronounce them all correctly. The counting is coming along as well, though I'm still having problems remembering 6,7, and 8. I will try to get those sorted out tonight, and be ready for tomorrow. I am also practicing writing numbers as well, since that was an additional part of my assignment as well. I will also try to get in touch with Mrs. Newman, She is not in the library currently and I realized that I don't know her first name, so i sent my email to the wrong Newman. other than than, Im feeling very positive about the progress that i am making with Mandarin, and ben and i can discuss a date this afternoon for us to present.

Weekend plan.

I'm going to over, the weekend review the home work assignments that my tutor gave me in preparation for next Wednesday. I have counting pretty much memorized, so if you want to quiz me on that next Tuesday, quiz away. I am still having some difficulty with colors though, so I will attempt to get that all cleared up by Wednesday as well. I also sent Mrs. Newman an email again, just to be sure, though i might have sent it to the wrong first name. I will check on that as well.

Post- Spring break update.

So, I'm back from spring break and hitting the Mandarin again. my plan for the next two weeks anyhow is the following:

i'm going to start using the Chinese pod like have have been, except i will speak to Mrs. Newman and get her to set up my account hopefully. I am also continuing to complete the lessons which my tutor has given me, which are right now focusing on basic words. Colors, shapes, foods, and household objects. I'm also rehearsing my speaking skills at home, just mostly because it would be quite odd to be saying Mandarin in the library. So, its back to the usual routine, and Ive got a meeting with my tutor for next Wednesday.

Tuesday's lesson: Can you use chopsticks

No matter how long you have lived in China, and no matter how well you speak Chinese, people will be amazed to see that you have learned how to put food into your mouth with sticks. Tune in to today's podcast to learn about the question every foreigner has answered dozens of times. This lesson is about your ability to use chopsticks.

here is the link to the audio conversation:
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/can-you-use-chopsticks/discussion

here is the link to the vocabualry:
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/can-you-use-chopsticks/vocabualry

here are the expansions activities:
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/can-you-use-chopsticks/expansion

here are the exercises:
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/can-you-use-chopsticks/excercises

Monday's Lesson: Good morning at the Office

Here is a Chinese lesson for all those morning people out there that we love to hate. A few chipper 'good mornings' to start off the day. You can shout them out your window to those neighbors who love to rise at the screech of dawn for a powwow outside your window. In this lesson, learn all kinds of greetings a la Mandarin. You'll be hello-ing and beyond in no time! The lesson for today is about saying Good morning in Mandarin.

here is the link to the audio conversation:
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/morning-at-the-office/discussion

here is the vocabulary for the lesson:
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/morning-at-the-office/vocabualry

here are the expansion exercises for the lesson:
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/morning-at-the-office/expansion

And here are the exercises for the section as well:
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/morning-at-the-office/exercises

Friday's lesson:

The elevator doors are closing. What can you do? If you only knew how to ask the people inside to wait a bit. In today's podcast, you'll find out. When you learn Mandarin with ChinesePod, you're always going up! So, as they obviously said, this lesson is about telling someone hold the elevator for you in Mandarin.

here is the link to the audio conversation:
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/hold-the-elevator/dialogue

Here is the link to the vocabualry for this lesson:
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/hold-the-elevator/vocabulary

here is the link to the exercises for the lesson:
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/hold-the-elevator/exercises

And here are the expansion exercises:
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/hold-the-elevator/expansion

My tutor also gave me some very useful worksheets as well as an assignment that I am working on for next time. She also started to teach me some basic writing skill for characters as well. So, Thats a pretty good end to the week right there.

how Wednesday went, and Thruday's lesson.

Wednesday: my session with the tutor went very well and was very productive. She gave my an assignment for the next time we meet, which will help me to gain further understanding as well. it wen very well, the only downside was MARTA, which was very very late. other than that went well.

Thursday's lesson:
Today's lesson is about how to tell a taxi driver where you want to go, or as the website calls Taxi Destination. it basically gives all the different directional phrases as well as general destination phrases as well.

here is the link to the audio conversation:
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/taxi-destination/discussion

here is the vocabulary that goes with it:
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/taxi-destination/vocabulary

here are some expansion exercises that basically go more in depth with the topic:
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/taxi-destination/expansion

here are the exercises that go with the lesson as well:
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/taxi-destination/exercises

Tuesday's lesson and what I am doing.

Today's lesson is about getting in and how to deal with a street argument. kinda unique. Since I can not copy and paste directly, I will post the links like yesterday as well.

here is the pertinent vocabulary:
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/street-argument/vocabulary

here is the audio conversation:
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/street-argument/dialogue.

They also have exercises that you can do as well to strentheng your understanding, here's the link:
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/street-argument/exercises

How to learn a extremely difficult language

I thought that it would be useful to find an article or two to illustrate how difficult it is to in fact try to gain some understanding of such a difficult language as Mandarin or Russian for that matter. here is a link to a blog of a English educator in China who is now fluent in mandarin, both speaking and writing. it took her almost two year in speaking and almost 4 in writing. Ben and I only have a semester, so it seems to be a little more challenging then some people realize. The other helpful thing, is on this website she broke down her method for how she became fluent and I will try to put some of those aspects into my study. keeping in mind, she was in China while she did this.

http://thelinguafranca.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/how-long-does-it-take-to-learn-fluent-mandarin/

Missing work or any assignments i need to make up.

I will talk to you after school tomorrow but in case you see this before the end of the day. I would like to know what post or thing I can make up to boost my grade, because my progress was a lot lower then I would like and in my opinion for the quality of work and the amount of time that I have been putting in to this class. Thank you.

Monday's lesson plan and what I did today.

Today, I'm learning how to say good morning and the response to that. The website wont let me cut and paste it, so I will post the link to it.
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/intro-1-good-morning/dialogue

Its a basic lesson on how to say good morning and the response one would give it the particular instances. I posted the link to the vocabualry as well, for some reason the site will not let me cut and paste, its odd but whatever.

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/intro-1-good-morning/vocabulary

In addition to learning this particular conversation set, I'm also meeting with my tutor on Wednesday, though Im not sure why I have to have a tutor and Ben does not. Seems a tad bit uneven to me. I will also continue to review on my own. This will ensure that I continue the learning pace to which I am accustom.

My plans for the week.

Well, I was out on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. So, what I have decided to do is to mainly focus on a strictly reading based approach for this week. I have several online as well as textbook resources that I will use to catch up on during the end of this week. I will also use the ipod lessons that i have on my ipod to supplement my reading based learning. The audio will help me make sure I'm staying on target with the tones and general pronunciation. I know, I'm also a tad bit late on posting some of my lesson plans, so I hope you have not deducted for that. I will get them all up by Friday of this week. So thats the basic run down for this short week.

My plans for the upcoming 4-day week.

This four day week, my main focus will be to shore up any gaps that my tutor and I see that I have at the moment. After that I will schedule a meet with my tutor as well. Wednesday seems to be the day for right now, probably the 18th of next week. I'm also going to start using more video and audio resources so that i am able to have a clearer understanding of the subject as i work on it. I will also post some more links to different sites and pod casts that I'm am currently utilizing as well. The thing I'm beginning to realize more and more as I study this language is that progress at all is a good sign. The just immense task of learning this language at all is well, immense. So, the small amount of progress that I have made thus far in my studies, I am extremely proud of. having said that, I do understand however that I have a lot in front of and am going to try to tailor my plans from now on to maximize time and learning while minimizing wasted effort. So, this weekend i will begin to put together a series of lesson plans that will allow me to do what i said I wanted to accomplish in the above sentence.

This short week and what I plan to do.

Due to really unforeseen circumstances, this week has been a little interesting. So, My goals for this week, while kind of limited will be no less the same as always. instead of focusing on speaking this week, im going to take a little detour and look into some of the cultural aspects and related subjects surrounding Mandarin culture. I took a page out of Ben's book and got some ipod lessons and thing of that nature. I also by a happy coincidence found some free music and I order some old martial arts movies that were made in China off Netflix. This will all allow me to absorb the various sounds and nuances while also having a little bit of fun with it as well. Here is the link to the BBC website that is my focal learning tool for the moment. Here is a like to address different generations in your family as well.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/real_chinese/work/
http://www.kwanfamily.info/familytitles/familytitle.html

I will also put up some various things from my ipod lessons too. So i can show "visible progress" of my learning. Right?

For next week: I will do much of course.

Figure out some way to get feed back from tutor on correction with regards to my pronunciation and my speaking in general. I Will take care of that end.

intersting links and things.

here is a link to a website, that has mandarin slang expressions. This will be useful.

http://www.chinese-tools.com/chinese/slang/?abc=M

Here is a great website that the BBC is running that is very helpful and user friendly.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/real_chinese/start/

Simple sentences for the week.

Greetings 问候语

Hello! / Hi! - 你好！nǐ hǎo

Good morning / afternoon / evening! - 早晨（下午/ 晚上）好！zǎo chén (xià wǔ / wǎn shàng) hǎo

What is your name? - 你叫什么？nǐ jiào shén me

I'm Kathy King - 我是凯西·金 wǒ shì kǎi xī jīn

Are you Peter Smith? - 你是彼得·史密斯吗？nǐ shì bǐ dé shǐ mì sī ma

Yes, I am. / No, I'm not. - 是，我是。/ 不，我不是。shì, wǒ shì. / bù, wǒ bú shì

How are you? - 你好吗？nǐ hǎo ma

Fine, thanks. And you? - 很好，谢谢，你呢？hěn hǎo, xiè xie, nǐ ne

I'm fine, too. - 我也很好。wǒ yě hěn hǎo

I have to go now. - 我必须走了wǒ bì xū zǒu le

See you later. - 待会儿见 dāi huǐ er jiàn

Expression In Class 课堂用语

May I come in? - 我能进来吗？wǒ néng jìn lái ma

Come in, please. - 请进 qǐng jìn

Sit down, please. - 请坐 qǐng zuò

It's time for class. - 上课时间到了 shàng kè shí jiān dào le

Open your books and turn to page 20. - 打开书，翻到第20页 dǎ kāi shū fān dào dì èr shí yè

That's all for today. - 今天就讲到这里 jīn tiān jiù dào zhè lǐ

Could you say it again? - 你能再说一遍吗？nǐ néng zài shuō yí biàn ma

Identifying Objects 辨别物品

What's this? - 这是什么？ zhè shì shén me

It's a pen. - 是支笔 shì zhī bǐ

Is this your handbag? - 这是你的手提包吗？ zhè shì nǐ de shǒu tí bāo ma

No, it isn't. / Yes, it is. - 不，它不是。/是的，它是 bù, tā bú shì / shì de, tā shì

Whose pen is this? - 这是谁的笔？zhè shì shuí de bǐ

It's Kate's. - 是凯特的 shì kǎi tè de

Is that a car? - 那是一辆小汽车吗？ nà shì yí liàng xiǎo qì chē ma

No, it isn't. It's a bus. - 不，那是一辆公共汽车 bù nà shì yí liàng gōng gòng qì chē

What do you call this in Chinese? - 这个用汉语怎么说？ zhè gè yòng hàn yǔ zěn me shuō

About Belongings 关于所有物

What's this? - 这是什么？zhè shì shén me

It's an air-conditioner. - 这是空调 zhè shì kōng tiáo

Is this yours? - 这是你的吗？ zhè shì nǐ de ma

Yes, it's mine. - 是的，是我的 shì de, shì wǒ de

Where are my glasses? - 我的眼镜在哪儿？wǒ de yǎn jìng zài na er

Over there. - 在那边 zài nà biān Here are the sentences that im going to be learning over the next two weeks. Wish me luck!!

My lesson plan for this week.

This week, I'm going to begin to focus on simple sentences. However, This will only be a part of the focus as I will also continue to reinforce my knowledge of the basics as well. 4 tones, and mainly pronunciation. During the middle of the week, I will also begin to use audio resources as well. That will help to further my understanding and cement the words further into my understanding. I will post specific lesson plans tomorrow.

List of resources so far.

http://www.chinese-outpost.com/language/

http://learnchinese.elanguageschool.net/

http://www.mahalo.com/How_to_Speak_Mandarin_Chinese_for_Beginners

http://mandarin.about.com/od/pronunciation/l/blsounds.htm.

Here are some of the websites that I have been using to teach myself and that have also been suggested by tutor. I will post more as they come.

Simple Phrases continued

English	Chinese	Tones
Hello	Ni hao	2 3
How are you?	Ni hao ma?	2 3*
Have you eaten yet?	Ni chi le mei?	3 1* 2
Good morning	Zao an	3 1
Good night	Wan an	3 1
Goodbye	Zai jian	4 4
Thanks	Xie xie	4 4
You're welcome	Bu ke qi	4 1 2
Excuse me	Dui bu qi	4 4 2
My name is...	Wo jiao...	3 1
What is your name? 1	Nin gui xing?	2 1 4
What is your name?	Ni jiao shenme mingzi?	3 1 2* 2*
Do you speak English?	Ni hui jiang yingyu ma?	3 4 3 1 3*
I'm from the US	Wo shi mei guo ren	3 4 2 3 2
I'm from England	Wo shi ying guo ren	3 4 1 3 2
Where is/are...?	...zai na li?	4 3*
Welcome	Huan ying	1 3
Here	Zhe li	4*
There	Na li	4*
Who?	Shei?	2
What?	Shen me?	2*
When?	Shen me shi hou?	2*
Where?	Na li?	3*
Why?	wei shen me?	4 2*
How?	zen me...?	2*
One	Yi	1
Two	Er	4
Three	San	1
Four	Si	4
Five	Wu	3
Six	Liu	4
Seven	Qi	1
Eight	Ba	1
Nine	Jiu	3
Ten	Shi	2
How much?	Duo shao	1 3
Want	Yao	4
Don't want	Bu yao	2 4
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy	Zai xing xi mian fei da cheng ta ren bian che de shou ce	4 1 4 3 4 4 2 1 2 4 1* 2 4

---

Here are more simple phrases

SImple phrases.

你	nǐ	(pro)	You
好	hǎo	(adj)	good, well
你好！	nǐhǎo!		Hello, How are you?
再	zài	(adv)	again
见	jiàn	(v)	see
再见！	zàijiàn!		Goodbye!

māma 妈妈 : mum	àiren 爱人 : husband, wife
bàba 爸爸 : dad	háizi 孩子 : child, children
gēge 哥哥 : elder brother	guānxi 关系 : relation
dìdi 弟弟 : younger brother	xièxie 谢谢 : thank you
jiějie 姐姐 : elder sister	kèqi 客气 : polite
mèimei 妹妹 : younger sister	xiūxi 休息 : have a rest

对不起	Duì bù qǐ		I'm sorry!
没	méi	(adv)	not
关系	guānxi	(n)	relation
没关系	Méi guānxi!		That's all right
谢谢	Xièxie		Thank you !
不	bú	(adv)	not
客气	kèqi	(adj)	polite
不客气！	Bú kèqi !		You're welcome !
明天	míngtiān	(adv)	tomorrow
见	jiàn	(v)	see
明天见！	Míngtiān jiàn!		See you tomorrow!
休息	xiūxi	(v)	have a rest
一会儿	yíhuìr	(n)	a moment
休息一会儿！	xiūxi yíhuìr!		Have a rest!
好	hǎo	(adj)	good
好吧！	hǎo ba		All right!

here are some simple words and phrases that i am learning right now.

My plan for this and next week. Final tones

Finals

In modern Chinese, there are 38 finals besides the above-represented 21 initials.

	i	u	ü
a	ia	ua
o		uo	üe
e	ie
er
ai		uai
ei		uei (ui)
ao	iao
ou	iou (iu)
an	ian	uan	üan
en	in	uen (un)	üen
ang	iang	uang
eng	ieng	ueng
ong	iong

• ie like "ye" in "yes"
• e like "e" in "her"
• er like "er" in "sister" (american pronounciation)
• ai like "y" in "by" (light)
• ei like "ay" in "bay"
• ou like "o" in "go"
• an like "an" in "can" (without stressing the "n")
• -ng (final) a nasalized soung like the "ng" in "bang" without pronouncing the "g"
• uei, uen and iou when preceded by an initial, are written as ui, un and iu respectivly.

Here are the final tones as well, these combined with initial tones allow for the creation of simple words and phrases.

My lesson plan for this week. Initial Tones.

Initials

A syllable in Chinese is composed of an initial, which is a consonant that begins the syllable, and a final, wich covers the rest of the syllable.

b	p	m	f
d	t	n	l
g	k	h
j	q	x
z	c	s
zh	ch	sh	r

• m, f, n, l, h and sh are pronounced as in English.
• d like "d" in "bed" (unaspirated)
  j like "g" in "genius" (unaspirated)
  z like "ds" in "beds"
  zh like "j" in "job"
  b like "p" in "spin" (unaspirated)
  g a soft unaspirated "k" sound
  x like "sh" in "sheep" but with the corners of the lips drawn back
  r somewhat like "r" in "rain"
• Particular attention should be paid to the pronunciation of the so-called "aspirated" consonants. It is necessary to breath heavily after the consonant is pronounced.
  p like "p" in "pope"
  t like "t" in "tap"
  k like "k" in "kangaroo"
  q harder than "ch" in "cheap"
  c like "ts" in "cats"
  ch (tongue curled back, aspirated)
• Distinction between certain initials:
  b / p d / t g / k j / q z / c zh / ch

This is teaching me how to pronounce the different initial letters in mandarin. Once i master this, I will go on to the final tones, which when you combine the two together, you get words.

Long term Goals:

As of right now, my long term goals for the semester are:


1. By the end of the semester, have a legitimate start on the language. be able to pronounce simple words and phrases with relative ease.

2. I have made an executive decision that I am just going to focus on the spoken, not the written part of the Mandarin language.

3. Referring to the above number, This will allow me to really focus on one specific part of the language. This will also allow me to really increase mt ability in this particular part. Not just knowing a little bit of everything but knowing a lot of one will ultimately serve me better in the long run I believe.

This is all for now. Again, I reserve the right to update this at my discretion.

Short Terms plans for the moment.

I have decide that my short term goals will apply for most likely every two to three weeks.  So, my goals for the next two to three weeks are as follows: 

1. Find a time for meeting with my tutor that works for the both of us. 

2. After number 1, begin meeting probably once every two weeks.

3. Study at home as well using the various materials that I have acquired and so forth.

4.   This is pretty much it for now. i might update this later.

Update for New Year. Also plans for what im going to do.

Well, Here is 2009. And yes I'm obviously continuing with Mandarin, so here is what I have done so far and also what I am planning to do.

What I have done so far:
I have gotten more books and audio tools to reinforce learning. I also took a page out of Ben's book and got some Mandarin music and am currently trying to find some mandarin dubbed movies. I think on of the ways that will help me learn more easily is if I immerse myself in the language more often, so that is what I'm going to attempt to do.

What I am going to do:
I am trying to get back in touch with my tutor and set up a good and convenient meeting time for the both of us. After that is set up, I will probably go once a week or once every two weeks depending on my schedule. I will also do extensive prep work and reviewing at home on my own.

In Conclusion:
That is my plan so far, I will post my short and long term goals later after I have refreshed Mandarin some more in my head.