Back to Mandarin...
Contrary to any impressions that may have been given, this site was not going to become all-Egyptian all-the-time. Still, because there's so little out there about the language, especially that's useful, I think it was worth diverting that way to think a little bit more about language and language learning and how we actually learn.
I've been reading The Linguist's book, and found it interesting. The central problem it points to, though, is that for all the stuff that's out there for French, or Spanish or even Mandarin, finding quality stuff is a major problem. It's a problem because we all have different motivations for learning. It's a problem because we have different levels of motivation in learning. We have different interest. And then we go to the bookstore and, invariably, everything we find of any size has the same things.
I realize, of course, that Mandarin is Mandarin and French is French. To some extent, things will be the same because the word for "why" is not going to be different depending on which book you get (we hope). At the same time, there is an assumption that we all need to learn how to say the same things. As somebody learning Mandarin for the helluvit, the most useful book I've got is David Starr's tome on the Dao, with every character deciphered and explained. In Spanish and German, I've got the "social" section from the Rick Steve's phrasebooks, but wish they were longer. Because I want to be able to say a few completely off the wall things and a few serious things and, should I run into a German speaker, come across as interesting enough that it's worth talking to me till I start to catch on in the language. "It's certainly cold today" - "It was still colder yesterday" - ain't gonna cut it for that.
What I found with the TravelLinguist's Speak Chinese course was that having 101 specific things to know was helpful. If I were starting a language from scratch, I'd love it, and I may get the Thai version for that reason. But as someone who speaks badly broken Chinese, it seems like the choices out there are to further solidify my knowledge of broken Chinese or take the plunge toward proficiency. Because unless I get one of the big books, I'm just going to learn the next 30 or 40 things I don't really care to say anyway. So then, ni hao, wo hen hao, ni ne, and wo hui shuo yi dian dian... Off to read from the Dao. Maybe next month when I go to Chinatown, I'll be able to have an intense discussion about the concepts of duty and perserverance. I just hope they don't ask about the weather...
I've been reading The Linguist's book, and found it interesting. The central problem it points to, though, is that for all the stuff that's out there for French, or Spanish or even Mandarin, finding quality stuff is a major problem. It's a problem because we all have different motivations for learning. It's a problem because we have different levels of motivation in learning. We have different interest. And then we go to the bookstore and, invariably, everything we find of any size has the same things.
I realize, of course, that Mandarin is Mandarin and French is French. To some extent, things will be the same because the word for "why" is not going to be different depending on which book you get (we hope). At the same time, there is an assumption that we all need to learn how to say the same things. As somebody learning Mandarin for the helluvit, the most useful book I've got is David Starr's tome on the Dao, with every character deciphered and explained. In Spanish and German, I've got the "social" section from the Rick Steve's phrasebooks, but wish they were longer. Because I want to be able to say a few completely off the wall things and a few serious things and, should I run into a German speaker, come across as interesting enough that it's worth talking to me till I start to catch on in the language. "It's certainly cold today" - "It was still colder yesterday" - ain't gonna cut it for that.
What I found with the TravelLinguist's Speak Chinese course was that having 101 specific things to know was helpful. If I were starting a language from scratch, I'd love it, and I may get the Thai version for that reason. But as someone who speaks badly broken Chinese, it seems like the choices out there are to further solidify my knowledge of broken Chinese or take the plunge toward proficiency. Because unless I get one of the big books, I'm just going to learn the next 30 or 40 things I don't really care to say anyway. So then, ni hao, wo hen hao, ni ne, and wo hui shuo yi dian dian... Off to read from the Dao. Maybe next month when I go to Chinatown, I'll be able to have an intense discussion about the concepts of duty and perserverance. I just hope they don't ask about the weather...
2 Comments:
I'm not sure how far you'll get with a translation of the Dao, but www.chinesepod.com is designed for someone with your needs. Try it.
I'm actually a big fan of ChinesePod, and find their podcasts extremely helpful for the spoken language. Taken as a whole, their content comes as close as anything I've seen to what I'm looking for. More generally, however, there's a paucity of good material for making the hop between rank amateur and real pro. The readers assume very solid Chinese and the beginners' books assume none at all. It would be nice to find something that leads you by the hand to the next level the way the beginner's books lead you by the hand through the first phases.
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