Time to get going

I didn't get a chance to start using Skritter yet but I will do in the next hour or so. I need to decide on what list to use.  I am back to college next week, 2 evenings  - 3 hours each way so its time to start doing a bit of revision today.

Here are my textbooks along with a few Christmas presents I got for my self.

I'm toying with the idea of using the Usborne First Thousand Words in Chinese book and start with the first page and work from there.  There's about 40 or so new words which roughly equate to about 80+ characters.  Quite a lot in that alone, so I might use these as my character challenge.   When I'm confident enough I will complete the next page and so on and so forth.  There is about 55 pages of really nice pictures  obviously done with children in mind but a great resource for beginners nonetheless.  A certain realisation hit me of how little knowledge I actually possess when it comes to knowing words not to mention characters for everyday items i.e mirror, tap , toilet and so on.  I think this book will be a good purchase and not to mention the great animations contained within.

Time to get started.....

Skritter

Well I just signed up for the free trial of Skritter with the recent Hacking Chinese discount but I wont get a chance to really get stuck into it until later today, maybe later tonight.. could be fun after a few glasses of Vino :)  Its getting very good reviews so I'm really looking forward to trying it out.  I don't have a tablet' or iPhone so I'm relying solely on using it through my laptop or PC.

I will also be starting back at 大学/Dàxué/college next week so I need some major revision on the New Practical Chinese series.  I will use Skritter to brush up on my characters and possibly integrate this into the Character Challenge that I signed up for.

So  - college , character challenge, Skritter, revision, work and family life.

Next week I will be very busy.

忙 - máng - busy 

我很忙 / Wǒ hěn máng / I am very busy 

This is quite a useful word and I have used it quite a lot, its particularly useful when describing your work environment etc.  It's one of the early words you learn when starting out and a very easy character t remember.

Later!

日历 - Rìlì - Calendar

日历 - Rìlì - Calendar

Its that time of year again when there's calendars a plenty, however there are few as nice as the one shown above.  This little beauty was dropped in to the letterbox at my mothers house from her local Chinese restaurant.  It now takes pride of place in my utility room...nice graphics too.

Rebel Mandarin: And so I begin...

Today heralds the day I create my first ever blog.  I have decided to log my experiences of attempting to learn Mandarin Chinese through various different methods and at times simultaneously.  Please bear with me while I get to grips with this whole blogging experience, its all new to me.  I welcome all comments.

I am lucky enough to be working full time so getting the time to study requires a lot of structure after work and some very late nights...yawn....!  I have to say for me I really enjoy leaning Chinese but sometimes get extremely frustrated with how easy one can lapse particularly with character recognition, stroke order, sentence structure, grammar etc.,  it really only takes a few days of a break to fall behind... . characters you have spent hours practising can just vanish from your memory bank...and unfortunately they don't come flooding back.

Therefore, as an added incentive to increase my character recognition I have decided to take on Olle Linges Chinese Character Challenge over on Hacking Chinese.

I attend a night course at a local University which has an accredited Certificate which is a great driving force to make you commit.  I really enjoy it.
我是大学夜校的学生！我喜欢的！

It's primarily based on the New Practical Chinese Reader series.  The textbooks and workbooks are excellent at introducing you to sentence patterns, new words etc.  I would highly recommend this series even if you were doing it on you're own.  The textbooks and workbooks are found on many online sources like amazon etc at a good price and come with an Audio CD.   I have also flirted on and off with various online leaning sites i.e. Chinesepod, Busuu and so many more over the last 2 years. While I found them great I also felt I needed a little more structure like a University course that I could actually attend in person and interact with people. 

Anyway that's just a start to the blog ....lets see how things progress!    

再见