waveofsuccess
Paul/波利
25 y.o. Major in ESL, Master of Arts (International Relations), study nomad of 汉语, living my best life
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My Escape to Sanity
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my friend and i were going to study a language together and wound up having to cancel our plans due to scheduling pressures, but! through research we came across a really cool resource for reading in a TON of languages: bloom library!
as you can see, it has a lot of books for languages that are usually a bit harder to find materials for—we were going to use it for kyrgyz, for example, which has over 1000 books, which was really hard to find textbook materials for otherwise. as you can see it also has books with audio options, which would be really useful for pronunciation checking. as far as i can tell, everything on the site is free as well.
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Mandarin Update + New Study plan
It's official, I just completed HSK1 level and now plan to develop new strategy in learning Mandarin.
So for the rest of April, I will try some mock tests for HSK1 and starting from May, will divide my study in two parts:
1) HSK 2 Standard Course - self study
2) New Concept Chinese 2 for study at 孔子学院. This book contains more practice-oriented grammar and lexics, so it would be great addition to HSK 2
I will also concentrate on some topics:
Listening - to improve, I will start with some easy topics for HSK 1 level on Youtube
Writing - just want to make my writing more clear and be able to write in speeder manner at the same time. So, grinding character has a new friend here - rewriting from books and some other sources.
So.. that's it for now, I will update if I find any useful sources and new books to explore.
拜拜・ω・
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Some notes for mock interview for next Mandarin lesson
Please let me know if any of these sentences sounds odd/incorrect, I used some extra words out of my vocabulary to express some points. Thank you in advance ～
special thanks to @don-dake for some improvements, I will list them throughout the text
大家好！
我叫波利。 我二十五岁了。我是俄罗斯人。我住在【secret】。我一家有两口。我没有孩子。
Not sure about 口 now! In Pleco and HSK1 standard cource it's translated as measure word for family members. Solved in the comment section!
我家有两口人 (student book's version) - same as 我一家有两口。
我学习汉语因为我想去中国。我没去过中国。
去 - is incomplete action, 去过- indicates to complete action (already visited)
我最喜欢春季。我喜欢吃饺子和包子。我喜欢喝黑咖啡。我的爱好是台球。我不喜欢跳舞。我爱看英文书。我常用小红书app和抖音app。
我爱看书 - indicates preference, 我看书 - indicates action（I read books）
英文 - written language，英语 - spoken language. Since I use 《English》 as book language, 英文 is more suitable.
我朋友不多，我最好的朋友是我的丈夫。
Indeed sound more natural!
谢谢你的关注 \ (•◡•) /
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Super long character practice: biáng and huáng
The first is often considered the character with the most strokes and refers to a type of noodle (biangbiang mian).
The second has more strokes but isn’t really a word. It’s considered an artistic representation of heaven, in character form.
I feel like biáng was actually possible to get somewhat decent, but huáng was just incredibly difficult to get the spacing right 😂
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Best Mandarin Comprehensible Input channel on Youtube
This woman has some kind of magical power (aka she's an incredible teacher) ! Even when I don't look at the subtitles and don't know half the words she's using, I can still get a sense of what she's talking about and even understand words in context !! She's doing an incredible job so go check her channel out !
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Just took my 汉字 out to the 咖啡店
I'm getting embarrassed that I want to speak Mandarin, but got very angry because my speaking abilities are limited ಠ_ಠ
I know some cool people follow my blog, may I ask you a favor? Can you share sources you used during HSK1 level? I feel like the one I used are not enough...
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That's exactly the reason I don't post there too recent
They should invent a part time job that pays like a full time job so I can actually enjoy life.
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I passed with 100 percent score \ (•◡•) /
太好了～
Our teacher gave us hawthorn sweets she brought from Asian store. 好吃 ・ω・
Adult girl problems:
- Working during severe hangover and not complaining
- Remember to prepare for test on Mandarin grammar next Tuesday
- Start preparing at 10 pm
Back to the test, I just got what topics are included today. Due to overloaded week, will break preparation into 3 days:
今天 - look though the notes I made in handovers, write down in one place (be define, not spread over, be concisely laconic)
Topics to cover today:
- Numbers 1-100
- Date and age
- Currencies and asking about price
- Measure words
- Modal verbs 可以，能，会，要，想
- 有/没有 usage
明天 - reciting words from the glossary, hometask (describe any picture in 11 sentences minimum and write down)
星期二 （test day) - read through notes left today, plus recite glossary.
Soo, that's it for today~ 拜拜 (ᵔᴥᵔ)
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今天的成语 An Idiom I Learned Today
recently learned about a new idiom and thought i would share! not sure if it counts as a 成语 per se, since it is 8 characters instead of 4. nonetheless here it is.
三天打鱼，两天晒网
sān tiān dǎ yú, liǎng tiān shài wǎng
literally: fish for 3 days, sun-dry the net for 2 days
figuratively: to lack perseverance; to not earnestly work toward something
example:
你要是三天打鱼两天晒网，那你永远不会进步。
If you "fish for 3 days but sun-dry the next for 2," then you won't ever improve.
it's the idea that if you work towards something for 3 days but then rest for 2, you're basically wasting your time and not putting in as much effort as you could—since you could be putting that effort in all 5 days.
it's definitely a very chinese concept 😅 i'm pro resting myself LOL
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I've been meaning to post this for a while now. It is aimed at language teachers, specifically if you're an English teacher as a foreign and/or second language. I found these resources here and you can find more articles and ppt presentations on the same website. I hope this is helpful for you! :)
Teaching Grammar for Communicative Competence
Understanding and Teaching Generation Y
Formative Assessment Strategies for the Student-Centered Classroom
Using Visible Thinking Routines in the Language Classroom
Meeting EFL Learners Halfway by Using Locally Relevant Authentic Materials
Minimizing the Chaos through Cooperative Classroom Management
Task-Based Reading Activities Using Authentic Materials and Skills
Drama-Based Activities to Improve Student Confidence and Motivation
Language Teaching through Critical Thinking and Self-Awareness
Encouraging Critical Reading in the EFL Classroom
Developing Grammar Proficiency Through Communicative Activities
Promoting Gender Equality in the English Language Classroom
Strategic Corrective Feedback in the EFL Classroom
Brain-based Strategies and Critical Thinking to Maximize Vocabulary Acquisition
Student-Centered Teaching in Large Classes with Limited Resources
Developing Teacher Leadership Skills
Climate Change Communication and English Language Teaching
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Adult girl problems:
- Working during severe hangover and not complaining
- Remember to prepare for test on Mandarin grammar next Tuesday
- Start preparing at 10 pm
Back to the test, I just got what topics are included today. Due to overloaded week, will break preparation into 3 days:
今天 - look though the notes I made in handovers, write down in one place (be define, not spread over, be concisely laconic)
Topics to cover today:
- Numbers 1-100
- Date and age
- Currencies and asking about price
- Measure words
- Modal verbs 可以，能，会，要，想
- 有/没有 usage
明天 - reciting words from the glossary, hometask (describe any picture in 11 sentences minimum and write down)
星期二 （test day) - read through notes left today, plus recite glossary.
Soo, that's it for today~ 拜拜 (ᵔᴥᵔ)
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Preparation for the test notes
I leave them there, because as soon as I'm able to produce the rules, I can use it in practice.
HSK 1 Unit 10
- Ask about thing located somewhere:
【桌子上】 有什么？
【桌子】有【两本课本】。
- Ask where subject is:
【手机】在哪儿？
【手机】在【沙发上】。
- Answer where you work:
我在【医院】工作。
- Answer where you are from:
我住在【北京】。
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my Mandarin teacher has been giving us tongue twisters recently to help our pronunciation so I thought I'd share them:
first the classic:
四是四，十是十，
十四是十四，
四十是四十，
他们不是四十四
(sì shì sì , shí shì shí,
shí sì shì shí sì,
sì shí shì sì shí,
tā men bùshì sì shí sì)
four is four, ten is ten,
fourteen is fourteen,
forty is forty,
they are not forty-four
and then these two specifically focused on nasal finals:
青青山上一根藤，
青藤底下挂铜铃，
风吹藤动铜铃动，
风停藤停铜铃停
(qīngqīng shān shàng yì gēn téng,
qīng téng dǐ xià guà tóng líng,
fēng chuī téng dòng tóng líng dòng,
fēng tíng téng tíng tóng líng tíng)
On a green mountain there is a vine,
Under the green vine hang copper bells.
The wind blows, the vine moves, the copper bells move.
The wind stops, the vine stops, the copper bells stop.
扁担长，板凳宽,
扁担要绑在板凳上，
板凳不让扁担绑在板凳上，
扁担偏要绑在板凳上。
(biǎn dan cháng, bǎn dèng kuān,
biǎn dan yào bǎng zài bǎn dèng shàng,
bǎn dèng bú ràng biǎn dan bǎng zài bǎn dèng shàng,
biǎn dan piān yào bǎng zài bǎn dèng shàng）
The bamboo pole is long, and the wooden bench is wide,
The bamboo pole wants to be tied to the wooden bench,
The wooden bench doesn't let the bamboo pole be tied to it,
But the bamboo pole insists on being tied to the wooden bench
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It's pure revolt of creativity of learning foreign language with spam messages!
the chinese spam texts i get -> free reading practice
transcipt + translation:
Hi! Anna, 你近期要来 San Francisco
Hi! Anna, you're coming to San Francisco soon
出差一段时间，
on a business trip for a while
什么时候出发呢？
When are you setting off?
vocabulary + notes below:
近期 (jìn qí) can mean soon OR recently--the word itself doesn't specify past or future. tread carefully and consider the context!
出差 (chū chāi) just means business trip
San Francisco in chinese is 旧金山 (jiù jīng shān) or 三番 (sān fān)
三番 is casual (slang?), while 旧金山 is the official (and i think ～cooler～) name
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I love Saturdays for really silent mornings and no rushing. You just wake up, have morning coffee, and doing your stuff.
As soon as I left parents' home I never did clean-up on Saturday (I do it on Thursday lol) because I wanted to relax all day. Now Saturday is quite great day for self-reflection, trying new hobbies and learning new things.
Today I have read great little book for children in Chinese 五颜六色 about colors. It accidentally appeared that after learning Mandarin for 5 months, I know only 红色/绿色 because it's tea names.
I think it's great opportunity for starters to learn from children books about basic words and construction. I did the same when I was learning English at school.
That's it for today, 拜拜 ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ
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I'm back!
Bad stuff aside, I've been missing learning Chinese so much so I'm trying to distribute my personal and learning time so they don't interfere so much.
Yesterday I had so much fun during speaking practice with one of the students (to ask for price and tell the price) so we ended by bargaining all the phones in the class. I think it looked fun from the side because still we have limited vocab.
New things to learn：
- HSK Standard Course Unit 8
- Time of the day: 早上，上午，中午，下午，晚上
- Modal verb: 想 and its usage
- New phrases:
1) 你想做什么？
2）【这个杯子】多少钱？
【这个杯子】【6】块钱。
That's it for today, 拜拜 ～
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Seems like I have experienced another burnout in studying. Took a small break from studying, stopped learning new things and focused mostly on reciting the things I already learnt.
Let me share with you later how I would change my study pattern.
Another thanks to all the people here who inspire me not to stop despite of the pause!
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