new friends

[ablysstic]

I have been hanging out with some Korean folks recently and oddly I feel this is going to be a huge boost to my Chinese. They are at the university to study Chinese and their English is pretty much for crap, so we pretty much only talk in Chinese, cause I have NO IDEA how to speak Korean. It works out well because we all really want to improve our

Comments

Re: great tactic...

[tropical_hermit]

well, i lived with germans remember... so i heard it constantly. and also... that play i did, that was like a practice to a finale or something, you know? 'cuz 1st off, it was "experimental" some germans didn't get the concept (and i was just having fun)... 2nd i didn't know what most of the words- sounded like or meant. :) So, I sat with my friend for hours upon hours as she prononciated very CLEARLY and her accent became something i could hear without her speaking. It was extrememly kind of her to do that but i made her laugh so you'll have to throw your practice buddy a bone, you know!

do you dream in chinese yet? that's kinda key, i think. well, since i learned german 1st by hearing it, I began to log an innate understanding of what the words meant. does that make sense? and when i was trying to remember german once i got home, after no exposure for a year or so, i would try to recall conversations i had, and i could listen to them in my mind and hear how the words sounded and it all came back like a flow. yeah, i went something like 8 years with no exposure and then enrolled myself in german IV, taught completely in german. :o and there were only 5 of us! nowhere to hide!!! but, for that... while i was at the office i would listen to german talk radio on the internet and just hearing the constant sound brought back this context of skills i'd lost. you can keep it. but i think the writing and speaking is different with chinese. that's another alphabet so you might have to take different approaches to retaining both. what i do now? try to read german books and chat with the germans i know/meet... not many. :) MARTIN! :) He was such a cool guy, huh? yeah, he was from cologne and had the funniest accent and biggest heart. i really liked him, he made that place ok sometimes. i do see the other one upon occasion... he used to have me call him mr. t. :o that old, old guy... anyway last year i saw him at max's and he busted out with, 'hey, you wanna come swim in my pool? call me ziggy'... isn't that funny/gross! ziggy. i guess, his name is siegried. yeah, i wanna come swim in your pool! ha! gosh...

Re: great tactic...

[ablysstic]

That's funny you should ask about the dreaming in Chinese...I am thinking in it all the time, so much in fact that sometimes I will slip up and use it instead of my English to my students, which is bad, very bad. I would prefer that they not know that I could even speak ANY Chinese so that they are constantly forced to think in English, but I really want to improve my Chinese so I am constantly thinking it it ya know.

No I have never really had a whole dream in Chinese, but only just parts or sayings that were part of the whole English speaking dream. I did have a English student tell me about a dream that she had in English. She was totally freaked out. It was a great story to hear her tell.

I did not know that you enrolled yourself in German IV, my that was bold of you at the time eh, RIGHT ON KEL! You do have have an awesome memory though, I have the oddest trouble remembering the oddest day to day stuff.

Mr. T's POOL....that's creepy :P