I'm a good listener. Meaning I don't talk much. My girlfriend might question the listening part too.
Talking in a different language takes more brain work than just listening to it. That makes talking all the more important. I think that exercising the talking part of the new language brain will really help the rest of the learning process.
I really really appreciate the patience that I've found in the people who have braved sharing their language with me.
The experience has been fantastic so far. I'm rediscovering the culture I fell in love with in the early 80s. I'm slowly getting my Mandarin legs back. I'm helping other people with their English language skills. And I'm making new friends. Very cool.
Well, I'd better listen to more ChinesePod so I can talk with my friends better.
I found all of my contacts through Mixxer.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Learning Chinese
二十年以前我在大学学习中文。
I've tried to pick it back up over the years. But it's hard to do here on the Canadian Prairies once you're out of university.
But then along came podcasting and skype. http://www.chinesepod.com is excellent. Mandarin on your terms. Perfect.
Over the last almost two months, I've quickly regained a lot of ground lost over the last twenty years. I've been very encouraged by finding other people, such as Chris ( Mandarin Student (普通话学生) http://friedelcraft.blogspot.com/ ), who are interested in learning Chinese. Power of the web - making connections between people - in action.
I haven't tried exchanging languages with Skype yet. I'm very familiar with the technology, but not in this way. I've found a few people willing to chat. I'm just waiting for this weekend try it out.
I've tried to pick it back up over the years. But it's hard to do here on the Canadian Prairies once you're out of university.
But then along came podcasting and skype. http://www.chinesepod.com is excellent. Mandarin on your terms. Perfect.
Over the last almost two months, I've quickly regained a lot of ground lost over the last twenty years. I've been very encouraged by finding other people, such as Chris ( Mandarin Student (普通话学生) http://friedelcraft.blogspot.com/ ), who are interested in learning Chinese. Power of the web - making connections between people - in action.
I haven't tried exchanging languages with Skype yet. I'm very familiar with the technology, but not in this way. I've found a few people willing to chat. I'm just waiting for this weekend try it out.
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