FINALLY someone who can explain how I choose sentences to study/keep. I’ve tried explaining it to people but I never could, you put it perfectly! It’s not that I don’t understand the sentence, I just want to KEEP it and want to know how to express it the way they did. Another great video! I also recently (from your recommendation) went and picked up one of the MandarinCompanion Ebooks, gonna Check it out later this week. I got the Level2 Sherlock story ^_^
I tried a method similar to this when I first started learning French but I found that I was burning myself out because of how poorly I was taking notes, even though I did notice a remarkable increase in my vocabulary acquisition. I really enjoyed your fresh look on the method and I think it's time to try to retry it in order to break out of the intermediate plateau! Great video!
With your example about the pattern you noticed with reading in Chinese, and how reading can stitch knowledge together. I had the exact same experience with German, such as "um... zu". I knew what it meant in a grammatical sense. But it didn't truly connect with the rest of my language knowledge until I started reading in German.
Oh oh YES! Ahh I forgot to mention that, which is actually a very important point! I almost *always* read out loud in foreign languages, even when in public haha I'll be very quiet but still make the sounds.
I know right? I was like dang that would look good on a character I'd like to draw lol that widow's peak is adorbs 💕very romance novel lol 😄 (sorry to look at you like that Robin! You are very handsome don't get me wrong but this look is different and it looks good on you, just saying. Sorry if it made you uncomfortable in any way but creatively speaking it was inspiring (and so you might be my artistic muse/ model one day lol) 😅)
Man, I am always so warmed and happy to see your content! I’ll have to check out Skritter for 日本語！ I haven’t heard of it. Keep up the fabulous work in both your pursuit of Mandarin and creating great content! Quick question, do you think you will learn Korean eventually? As you have said in other videos, related languages reinforce and slow deterioration of one’s level in them. With Korean, many Grammar points are word for word in both Japanese and Korean and they share the same SOV structure. Further, Korean have even more use of Chinese origin words. So it’s quite cool because I am able to recognize words in Korean because many Chinese loan words, Just like Kanji, correspond and line up with the Japanese words. All without 漢字！I was thinking of possibly learning Korean in the future and was wondering about your perspective!
Thank you Robin! I’m currently reading graded readers in thai and I’ve been thinking about how I can develop an approach to make sure my learning is the most effective it can be! Your systematic approach will help me be much more consistent and get the most out of the content 🙂
Great video! I was actually thinking of doing something similar to this just the other day 🤯 I love how that works! 😆 It's like we're on the same language acquisition frequency 😁 Currently I'm learning Japanese and my character/ vocab look up resources are good with the app I use (Kanji Study) which has the ability to send the vocab to anki (and the card also has a hyper link that goes back to the app.) I'm learning kanji at the moment. Although, I've spent 3 yrs in college learning it and got excellent grades, my understanding is still low because I stuck to what's taught and not much else. Therefore I can't read native content very well so that's why it's my priority at the moment. But I still immerse. Currently, it's mostly shows and various audio sources. But when I immerse, or even when I read a sample sentence of the vocab I just learned, I'll occasionally find those little gems you speak of. I usually write them down or if it's from an online source (like in a chat group etc) I'll copy it to my digital notes. However, I usually never look at them again unless I think "oh I've seen/ heard it before but where?" And then look at my notes. How often do you reread your notes? Do you ever? Or do you eventually put them in a SRS app? I also enjoy the act of taking notes and writing in Japanese. I'm currently learning kanji, and although learning kanji is a bit of a chore, I do enjoy the process especially when writing them down. In any event, I realized I want to consume content, like reading graded readers but not spend much more time "studying." My active study time is already at capacity especially with being a mom of 2 during these times. But, not doing anything with books I've read and vocabulary I learned seemed like such a waste. And so I decided, once I figure out what part of my day I can fit it in, I would like to try the Gold List method. Have you heard of it? I sounds like it would be great for something just like this, and in a way it's kinda what you're doing. Just writing down those little nuggets of interesting phrases and useful vocabulary found in context. But then you review your "notes" and filter out what's known and unknown every 2 wks and repeat. It seems simple enough. Plus it sounds like a comfortable way to enjoy the language without too much effort. Especially if it's done while drinking a cup of coffee or tea. ^_^
My eyes lit up when you said you're a mom of 2. Have you ever speak Japanese to your children just to annoy/tease them? That'll be so funny lol (unless they're fluent in Japanese, then... nevermind. Lol)
@@ReReChan lol I've teased my kids in various ways. My favorite is when my kids are trying to ignore me I would sing/ talk to them to them to the tune of "Do you want to build a snowman." Once I learned the lyrics in Japanese I couldn't help but sing it that way whenever my daughter played the song lol she thought it was funny the first time. 😶😁 That said they've been really supportive. They get a kick out of watching some anime I've introduced to them. My son can read the subtitles and he's like whoa cool. My daughter at 5 yrs old (now 7) thought it was fun to practice hiragana. Nowadays it's "kanji." They've been so supportive. Extra supportive if they can get a TV show if I need just a lil more time 😏😅
i never forget your podcast Robin, great heart great dedication till the end to learn lenguages, tres tres bien mon ami, molto bene mio caro, sehr gut mein freud, muy bien mi amigo Robin
thanks for the tips Robin, I moved to Germany, and i am learning German, B1. i am using books specifically for this level. My problem is this: for each unknown word i create a sentence, in a way that i would use the word in my everyday life, then i add it to my flashcards and i repeat them daily while i am on the go from home to work. (100-150 new words/week).I am doing this a year and a half now, since A2 level and although it is effective into learning the words, i feel so tired of the same and same way of learning and repeating, of the same sentences that are popping out again and again, my motivation is going down slowly and steady.. And i was wondering regarding the Flash card App, how could i make my cards more interesting, which parameters should i adjust, in order to make it joyful, how could i create them better but not time consuming.
You can just make a list (the flashdeck) and look for the words when you really need it, i mean when you read or hear that turn of phrase or word that you know it's inside the deck but you don't remember the meaning. I did it with French because reading the same cards everyday was too repetitive and annoying and I was at C1 level in 2 years. I'm starting again that way with English and i begin to feel "comfortable" with It (I started two months ago so I know I'll make mistakes) but the point is that it works for me. Maybe you can try it out in case it suits you
So would you recommend transcribing and episode of easy French and continually listening and speaking that episode until you can speak listen and understand it easily?
Blackcat (with CD audio): French, German, Spanish, Italian and English. Lidel: European and Brasilian Portuguese. You will generally find graded readers in large bookshops with several floors, and in some cities there are bookshops specialised in foreign languages (such as in London: the European Bookshop and in Milan: Hoepli International).
@@rncrrd3282 Thanks for the advice :) I just posted a similar question. Good to know that there are also readers for European Portuguese. Have only found Brazilian so far.
it does for me, so I am avoiding reading prataeritum it until I'm more comfortable with perfekt. Although there are a couple of words that will be used often in speech in prateritum, I think it might be the modal verbs plus haben and sein???
Hi Robin, may I ask you the title of your book? My daughter attends a language school, they study English, French, German and Chinese and I'd like to help her in improving his Chinese. Thanks for your interesting and useful tips. Greetings from Italy
The book he's using is Emma from the Mandarin Companion series. They have lots of other books, some that use only 150 characters, 300 characters, and then a few that use 450. You can buy them as paperbacks or ebooks. Some of them also have audiobooks available as well!
FINALLY someone who can explain how I choose sentences to study/keep. I’ve tried explaining it to people but I never could, you put it perfectly! It’s not that I don’t understand the sentence, I just want to KEEP it and want to know how to express it the way they did. Another great video! I also recently (from your recommendation) went and picked up one of the MandarinCompanion Ebooks, gonna Check it out later this week. I got the Level2 Sherlock story ^_^
I tried a method similar to this when I first started learning French but I found that I was burning myself out because of how poorly I was taking notes, even though I did notice a remarkable increase in my vocabulary acquisition. I really enjoyed your fresh look on the method and I think it's time to try to retry it in order to break out of the intermediate plateau! Great video!
I went through a similar process! I was amazed by the amount of knowledge you get when you start writing down phrases, texts conversations... 10/10
Your enthusiasm is infectious :D Thank you so much for sharing your notes. Super helpful!
With your example about the pattern you noticed with reading in Chinese, and how reading can stitch knowledge together. I had the exact same experience with German, such as "um... zu". I knew what it meant in a grammatical sense. But it didn't truly connect with the rest of my language knowledge until I started reading in German.
I looked at your notes and I have to say that you have such beautiful handwriting!!
Today you look like a language guru.
Great hair! I love the naturally calm look you have in this video. Good for you for letting the hair down today. Have a great week Robin.
Are you reading out loud when you're reading this book?
Oh oh YES! Ahh I forgot to mention that, which is actually a very important point! I almost *always* read out loud in foreign languages, even when in public haha I'll be very quiet but still make the sounds.
Diggin' the hair.
I know right? I was like dang that would look good on a character I'd like to draw lol that widow's peak is adorbs 💕very romance novel lol 😄
(sorry to look at you like that Robin! You are very handsome don't get me wrong but this look is different and it looks good on you, just saying. Sorry if it made you uncomfortable in any way but creatively speaking it was inspiring (and so you might be my artistic muse/ model one day lol) 😅)
Man, I am always so warmed and happy to see your content! I’ll have to check out Skritter for 日本語！
I haven’t heard of it. Keep up the fabulous work in both your pursuit of Mandarin and creating great content!
Quick question, do you think you will learn Korean eventually? As you have said in other videos, related languages reinforce and slow deterioration of one’s level in them. With Korean, many Grammar points are word for word in both Japanese and Korean and they share the same SOV structure. Further, Korean have even more use of Chinese origin words. So it’s quite cool because I am able to recognize words in Korean because many Chinese loan words, Just like Kanji, correspond and line up with the Japanese words. All without 漢字！I was thinking of possibly learning Korean in the future and was wondering about your perspective!
A bit redundant, sorry. Hah
Thank you Robin! I’m currently reading graded readers in thai and I’ve been thinking about how I can develop an approach to make sure my learning is the most effective it can be! Your systematic approach will help me be much more consistent and get the most out of the content 🙂
9:52 great advice
Interesting you are doing the writing also. Not just the recognition.
I hear you need to already know 80-90% of the words to begin with to be affective. How did you get to that stage to begin with?
Great video! I was actually thinking of doing something similar to this just the other day 🤯 I love how that works! 😆 It's like we're on the same language acquisition frequency 😁
Currently I'm learning Japanese and my character/ vocab look up resources are good with the app I use (Kanji Study) which has the ability to send the vocab to anki (and the card also has a hyper link that goes back to the app.) I'm learning kanji at the moment. Although, I've spent 3 yrs in college learning it and got excellent grades, my understanding is still low because I stuck to what's taught and not much else. Therefore I can't read native content very well so that's why it's my priority at the moment. But I still immerse. Currently, it's mostly shows and various audio sources. But when I immerse, or even when I read a sample sentence of the vocab I just learned, I'll occasionally find those little gems you speak of. I usually write them down or if it's from an online source (like in a chat group etc) I'll copy it to my digital notes. However, I usually never look at them again unless I think "oh I've seen/ heard it before but where?" And then look at my notes. How often do you reread your notes? Do you ever? Or do you eventually put them in a SRS app?
I also enjoy the act of taking notes and writing in Japanese. I'm currently learning kanji, and although learning kanji is a bit of a chore, I do enjoy the process especially when writing them down. In any event, I realized I want to consume content, like reading graded readers but not spend much more time "studying." My active study time is already at capacity especially with being a mom of 2 during these times. But, not doing anything with books I've read and vocabulary I learned seemed like such a waste. And so I decided, once I figure out what part of my day I can fit it in, I would like to try the Gold List method. Have you heard of it? I sounds like it would be great for something just like this, and in a way it's kinda what you're doing. Just writing down those little nuggets of interesting phrases and useful vocabulary found in context. But then you review your "notes" and filter out what's known and unknown every 2 wks and repeat. It seems simple enough. Plus it sounds like a comfortable way to enjoy the language without too much effort. Especially if it's done while drinking a cup of coffee or tea. ^_^
My eyes lit up when you said you're a mom of 2. Have you ever speak Japanese to your children just to annoy/tease them? That'll be so funny lol (unless they're fluent in Japanese, then... nevermind. Lol)
@@ReReChan lol I've teased my kids in various ways. My favorite is when my kids are trying to ignore me I would sing/ talk to them to them to the tune of "Do you want to build a snowman." Once I learned the lyrics in Japanese I couldn't help but sing it that way whenever my daughter played the song lol she thought it was funny the first time. 😶😁
That said they've been really supportive. They get a kick out of watching some anime I've introduced to them. My son can read the subtitles and he's like whoa cool. My daughter at 5 yrs old (now 7) thought it was fun to practice hiragana. Nowadays it's "kanji." They've been so supportive. Extra supportive if they can get a TV show if I need just a lil more time 😏😅
Your hair looks so awesome!!
i never forget your podcast Robin, great heart great dedication till the end to learn lenguages, tres tres bien mon ami, molto bene mio caro, sehr gut mein freud, muy bien mi amigo Robin
thanks for the tips Robin, I moved to Germany, and i am learning German, B1. i am using books specifically for this level. My problem is this: for each unknown word i create a sentence, in a way that i would use the word in my everyday life, then i add it to my flashcards and i repeat them daily while i am on the go from home to work. (100-150 new words/week).I am doing this a year and a half now, since A2 level and although it is effective into learning the words, i feel so tired of the same and same way of learning and repeating, of the same sentences that are popping out again and again, my motivation is going down slowly and steady..
And i was wondering regarding the Flash card App, how could i make my cards more interesting, which parameters should i adjust, in order to make it joyful, how could i create them better but not time consuming.
If you are using anki, you could try another app called "Quizlet" just to switch things up. It has different "learning modes".
You can just make a list (the flashdeck) and look for the words when you really need it, i mean when you read or hear that turn of phrase or word that you know it's inside the deck but you don't remember the meaning.
I did it with French because reading the same cards everyday was too repetitive and annoying and I was at C1 level in 2 years. I'm starting again that way with English and i begin to feel "comfortable" with It (I started two months ago so I know I'll make mistakes) but the point is that it works for me. Maybe you can try it out in case it suits you
So would you recommend transcribing and episode of easy French and continually listening and speaking that episode until you can speak listen and understand it easily?
Salutes from Alvorada/Brasil!
Does anybody have tips for books like this in other languages? I'd be particularly interested in English, Portuguese and Dutch.
Hi, How often do you revise those notes? Thanks! :)
How can I find graded readers in other languages?
Blackcat (with CD audio): French, German, Spanish, Italian and English. Lidel: European and Brasilian Portuguese. You will generally find graded readers in large bookshops with several floors, and in some cities there are bookshops specialised in foreign languages (such as in London: the European Bookshop and in Milan: Hoepli International).
@@rncrrd3282 Thanks for the advice :) I just posted a similar question. Good to know that there are also readers for European Portuguese. Have only found Brazilian so far.
@@anaisaerksen www.lidel.pt/en/catalogue/european-portuguese-as-a-foreign-language/reading/
Reading in german are mostly in prataeritum. Could this creates confusion?
it does for me, so I am avoiding reading prataeritum it until I'm more comfortable with perfekt. Although there are a couple of words that will be used often in speech in prateritum, I think it might be the modal verbs plus haben and sein???
Boy, do graded readers make you happy!
Good morning everyone
Hi Robin, may I ask you the title of your book? My daughter attends a language school, they study English, French, German and Chinese and I'd like to help her in improving his Chinese. Thanks for your interesting and useful tips. Greetings from Italy
The book he's using is Emma from the Mandarin Companion series. They have lots of other books, some that use only 150 characters, 300 characters, and then a few that use 450. You can buy them as paperbacks or ebooks. Some of them also have audiobooks available as well!
Where can you find a graded reader?, I'm learning spanish
parce te ves como un científico loco cool jajaj
I feel like "pondering the meaning of things" is the only thing I've been doing of late... 😪
Why the way you speak in English is very easy to understand but when i watch a movie it's more difficult to understand???
haha damn man. How can i get a hair like that xD nice vid
Haha thanks John!! I love that I was worried about my hair and then 90% of the comments are about my hair, but very positive! xD