Scaling the Great Wall of Chinese: Things I Couldn't do Without

So, if you're already a student of Chinese, you're no doubt familiar with the many 方法 (methods) of cramming the water-like Chinese language into your already quite full, sponge-like brain. Between writing and re-writing characters out until you're thoroughly sick of them and cornering some poor, fresh-eyed Chinese/Taiwanese student into being your best friend so you can repeat the six sentences of Chinese you know at them on a bi-weekly basis, there are few things you can do to improve or even maintain your level of Chinese early on. However, I've found a few things that I certainly couldn't do without.

First of all, my dictionaries. I have three. A little excessive I know, but in my opinion completely necessary. I've got a pocket one, a more extensive paper one and an electronic one. DO NOT make the mistake of thinking that because you're a beginner, you can make do with the dictionary at the back of your textbook, cos trust me that ain't gonna cut it. First of, learning to use a paper dictionary is a pain, so learn early and get some sort of guide to learning what radicals are [if you don't understand now, you soon will]. Also, get a paper one before getting an electronic one. They're all the rage [especially among the dreaded Asian rivals, but we'll get to that in a later post!] and extrodinarily useful. I insisted on getting one with bells and whistles [it's got Tetris - that's how you know it's awesome] and it is of course a BESTA - from what I've heard the only brand worth getting. They're relatively easy to get on the net, but they tend to be addictive, in the sense that you become too lazy to go through the arduous process of looking up a character in a paper dictionary. My paper one is just a Collins one, but i would always recommend Collins for any language.

Secondly, NPCR videos on youtube! If you're using New Practical Chinese Reader in lessons or personally, you'll be very familiar with the main characters Ma Dawei, Lin Na, Xiao Yun and, of course, Ding Libo, along with some other native Chinese characters. Well, apparently someone made a DVD of all the episodes, with passable enough actors, and someone else went through the trouble of uploading at least the first three volumes onto youtube! If you do use NPCR, you're probably crying with joy if you've just discovered this. If not, whether you're self-taught or not, i suggest checking these videos out. They give good examples of basic grammar - and while the vocab isn't extemely ranged it's quite practical. It's also a good way to hear people speaking Chinese at a decent speed, if you don't have this luxury in your everyday life.

Note: I recommend watching the videos by Chinese080808 (http://www.youtube.com/user/Chinese080808), as this seems to be the most extensive collection i can find.


Next is online resources. Mainly, my favourite online dictionary http://www.nciku.com/. It's genuinely great. You can draw the character you want to search for if you don't know the pronunciation, it gives multiple translations, word breakdowns and working examples! It even translates whole sentences. Honestly, my 2nd year would have been a complete fail without it! You can also post questions, as it's a resources for Chinese speakers as well. You can compose vocab lists and, if you're interested in perfection, look up the stroke order of characters to improve your own calligraphy! *breathes* - I'm a big fan. Just check it out for yourself :P.
I'm also a fan of chinesesavvy, as you can type in pinyin and have the characters come up to create sentences [it also has other resources]. But you can do this on googletranslate - just beware of the translations you're given!
For revision, check out http://www.chinese-course.com/ for flashcards and random conversations/lessons etc.

Finally, and a bit randomly, I recently procured as a present from a close friend "Usborne First Thousand Words in Chinese". Now, if you're a university student in any language, but especially in Chinese, you'll understand the frustration at the lack of nouns taught. Now, this may sound strange to the causal reader, but I kid you not, after a year and a half of learning chinese, I could talk about my new hair cut (useless, i never cut my hair) but I couldn't order food in a restaurant, name the furniture in my house or even all the limbs on my body. Hmmmmmm...priorities anyone? But this book (presumably aimed at children, now that I look at the pictures) is an associated learners dream come true. Its image upon image of nouns! Heaven! So if your concerned about your lack of vocabulary, check it out, I was not disappointed!

Comments & Questions ^.^                   xx