chinese beginner to intermediate in 6months. a non polyglot's journey to adequate language learning.

is learning chinese impossible? i'm not fluent yet, and i'm not a polyglot but i've gone from beginner to intermediate in 6 months. if you want to see how i've learned a language efficiently, stick around!
thank you ‪@mattvsjapan‬ and ‪@Refold‬ for starting me on the right foot!
this video is not sponsored by any brands or items listed in my kits. the links provided are affiliate links, so I may make a small percentage off the sale of qualifying items at no extra cost to you :)
how I shoot my videos: kit.co/bianca.learns/bianca-s...
favorite textbooks: kit.co/bianca.learns/bianca-s...
favorite graded readers: kit.co/bianca.learns/bianca-s...
stationary (lefty friendly heh): kit.co/bianca.learns/bianca-s...
check out my socials!
patreon: / biancalearns
website: biancalearns.wordpress.com/
instagram: @bianca.learns
tiktok: @bianca.learns
timestamps c:
0:00 who am I?
0:29 is this clickbait :o
1:39 6 month progress!
2:13 standard vs expedited learning timelines
4:07 why don't I speak in mandarin?
5:56 listening skills?
6:43 disclaimer - goals?
7:37 my method!
8:54 refold! language acquisition in an nutshell
11:28 textbooks?
12:43 srs active recall ft anki
13:21 acquisition tldr
13:50 byebye ~

[@minglifeng2862]

Honestly watching TV shows and immersion is the way to go to learn an language for me, but if you wanna write formal essays in that language later on then I do think learning about grammar helps.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

definitely! for me, learning grammar helps me acquire the language. i would rather not try to brute force my way to memorizing and regurgitating grammar though, so immersing and acquiring grammar is the way to go for me! once i'm fluent, I should know most of the grammar, and can learn any other advanced structures that could help me sound more eloquent! in the beginning and intermediate stages, getting so stuck on learning and applying grammar could be a hindrance for some, while it could also be a huge help to others!

[@ringotheflamingojohnson7261]

How do you learn it from just watching TV shows

[@teresita.lozada]

Yes.

[@adapienkowska2605]

For me, it is completely useless. My brain ignores what it doesn't understand, and I just read subtitles. My English listening comprehension improved dramatically when I started watching simple series without subtitles, but at the time I was after 6 years of school education and had a pretty solid grasp on the language.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

I think studying grammar and memorizing grammar rules could be thought of as two different exercises (the former being more influential than the latter). Just looking at a sentence won’t help too much. But learning how the different components work together is incredibly helpful. Studying that “was” is a verb that talks about something you did in the past can be really helpful for pattern recognition and retention. But learning how grammar works doesn’t mean that we need to go through declension tables in isolation of sentences or memorize every single conjugation a word can use before encountering it in our immersive content. So studying grammar to help you recognize what you see while immersing in content is an amazing tool to increase comprehension. But memorizing grammar rules is super tedious and could actually be much harder to do, especially if done in isolation of compelling and comprehensible content!!

[@g.s.3450]

Great video! I’m 70 years old and just began studying Chinese last month and it's going well. I’ve learned four European languages and tested out at either the B2 (high intermediate) or C1 (proficient) levels. I appreciated the somewhat technical way that you learn and I’m glad you mentioned Stephen Krashen. I study five hours/day plus, take in as least three hours/day of comprehensible input. I agreed with everything you said in your video. However, I do want to point out some alternative resources. The HSK book series is systematic, rigorous and highly respected. However, if anyone is looking for an alternative try the Integrated Chinese series Vol. 1 - 4. These are used at many American universities and each volume is equivalent to one semester. For some reason, I did not connect with the HSK books and returned them for a refund. The Integrated Chinese books, while equally as rigorous as the HSK series, seemed more approachable to me. Plus, the online content seemed to be programmed better. Also, you mentioned Anki which is great and I used that on my prior languages. However, for Chinese, I switched to Brainscape. It’s the same technology but a different interface which I found more useful and a bit more user friendly. Well, I’m looking forward to your future videos. You certainly nailed it on this on - thanks!

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

thank you for watching and the great suggestions!! I actually did try integrated Chinese but felt it focused too much on the grammar. shows how learning is so personal!! good luck on your journey! :)

[@stardust9117]

It's great to see a video from a more down to earth perspective

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

aww thank you! although I do spend a lot of time studying myself, I try to show realistic language learning. everything I show, I actually do and have done for a decent amount of time! I also love hearing how others study too, because we all can learn from each other!

[@renslog]

This was the most well put together explanation video on language learning that I have ever seen. I can tell that you really know what you're talking about, and you did proper research. (I think it helps that you study the brain) Thank you so much for this video. I have been self studying Korean for 3 years and have hit such a painful plateau, and my skills are lacking immensely. I at first came to this video for advice on Chinese, but I think I'm going to fully focus on Korean and put this method into action. I absolutely cannot wait to see what other videos you make, you have truly inspired and helped me. Thank you!

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

Aww I’m so glad it’s helpful!!! I think just being able to read through scientific papers does help parse through what is evidence based versus just tips and tricks. You can’t really hack your way through a language, but there are more efficient ways than others! The most important thing though is always motivation. No point in knowing exactly what to do if you can’t get yourself to do it daily! I hope your Korean journey goes really well and you’ll break that plateau soon! Maybe sentence mining could help out with that. Korean in particular is super difficult to wrap your mind around unless you really dive deep into immersion, especially for an English speaker. I learned a pretty decent chunk from kdramas but I always need to get back into a Korean mindset if I even want to stand a chance at understanding it. That’s actually part of the reason why I’m just focusing on Chinese right now. I wanted to learn both at the same time, but my brain got too fatigued trying to figure out two completely different grammatical structures at once!

[@CAMC_17]

This is such great information! I’m about to start learning in January and I had no idea where to start, but this video was so helpful! There are so many “scam” videos out there, but I really liked your approach and honesty! It really helps us newbies avoid setting ourselves up for failure and disappointment!!

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

awww i'm so glad!! I found it super frustrating when I first started too, so i'm trying my best to show what someone can learn in a realistic manner! even though I study pretty intensively, I try to show the receipts (I guess you could call them receipts HAHA) to not mislead anyone! language learning is a process and takes time, but it's so fun and fulfilling! good luck on your journey :)

[@tylerdurden4285]

I've desperately searched video after video on youtube to find something that works for me and this video really helped a lot. Don't give up on these, please. Keep your unique approach coming because you're the first one to point me in the right direction.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

aww thank you!! if you're interested in some more videos behind the theory behind language acquisition, check out mattvsjapan and steven krashen. i'll def make more in depth videos about it in the future, but it may take some time! trying to do a mix of language planning informative videos and fun stuff you discover while learning!!

[@Junior-zf7yy]

One of the best videos I’ve watched in a long time. I love the edit quality. You’re clearly very hardworking!

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

aw thank you!! I'm constantly trying to make my videos better, and this was my first video I ever made! quality was definitely not the best but I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@ComprehensibleMandarin]

Thanks for sharing a really grounded, realistic perspective on learning Chinese through immersion methods, & the importance of acquiring through context & lots of native material. It's unfortunate that there hasn't been more comprehensible input available for beginners, but it's great to see that this learning style is really starting to become more popular in the last couple of years.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

Yeah I totally agree with you! It was super hard to find anything remotely interesting yet still comprehensible. Mandarin companion does a fairly good job at that though! Hopefully that’ll change in the future!

[@TravisHawaii]

your hair looks good on you. that's a perfect length. it highlights your beautiful smile. thanks for the video!

[@avapom]

This was so helpful! Thanks Bianca! 🙌

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

So glad it was helpful!! hehe c:

[@JessicaGrey]

your editing is so cute ☺️ thanks for all the info, I just bought hsk 1 ! excited !!

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

Aww thank youu I really appreciate it :)

[@jeanniethewooh]

b! this was so entertaining w the cute graphics + funny subs - i'm inspired to keep learning mandarin after an ongoing plateau!! :)

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

hehh PRACTICE WITH ME! 让我们一起学习汉语吧！

[@rubygarcia652]

I just ordered the book you recommended and i’m so excited for this journey !

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

yayy!!! excited for your future progress!! :)

[@mayanlogos92]

This episode is gold Thank you very much Congrats and keep up the good work I'll follow your advices

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

aww thank you!! I really appreciate it!! Hopefully you can find more useful things on my channel! Good luck with your language studies :)

[@wrigleyextra11]

You break down language acquisition so clearly! I guess that is what you're trained in, especially how our brains handle it. Also thanks for doing the leg work with all of Matt vs Japan videos and breaking down how he learned how he did!

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

Aww thank you! I really appreciate that! I found Matt’s videos so helpful when I first started out, but I did have to get through around 10 hours of content first HA. His early videos were pretty lengthy but chock full of very important things!

[@wrigleyextra11]

@@bianca.phdinprogress omg u replied I ADORE ur channel Bianca!! I have been learning Spanish since Corona started and am at an intermediate level now (from 0 Spanish or romantic language knowledge) and your channel has hit all the things that I am doing wrong and need to improve/change!! I guess you didn't make most of your videos when I started so your channel is a timely godsend! I am really encouraged by your methodology and WILL learn mandarin (maybe not right away, need to nail Espanol first, but definitely in the next 5 years )!

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

Woww this is so amazing!! I feel so warm inside heheh. Spanish is such a fun language!! I used to know it at a high conversational level back in high school. The content available for immersion is SO GOOD. Im confident you’ll be able to progress super quickly and hopefully enjoy the process :) the journey is more important than the final destination in my opinion!

[@wrigleyextra11]

@@bianca.phdinprogress thank you so much bianca, independent learning, especially of a foreign language, is at most times a lone endeavor so your encouragement is secret energy I have for my language travels.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

Aww I definitely feel that. Especially with a more immersion based learning method, it’s mostly just me and my content. But it’s nice being able to talk with others and see how they’re doing on their journey! We learn languages to communicate and connect with others right? :)

[@parisurieltorresayala2630]

Your channel has BLESS me, I haven't had a good and efficient Chinese routine. Till today, that I've found your channel I've solved a lot of doubts. Love you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

So glad it’s helpful!! Good luck with your studies :))

[@cosine_thetaaa]

I have never subscribed and enjoyed so much in channels with less than 100k subs, I am shocked that you give out the aesthetics and information just as great

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

woww thank you so much for this comment!! i'm still trying to figure out the best way to convey the information and figure out my style (first time making videos), but i'm so glad that you enjoyed it!!! c:

[@smallpotato0406]

I love this video!! So realistic and helpful

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

thank you!!! really appreciate it :)

[@kk4764]

perfect video for those new to refold! U deserve a bigger fan base! Keep up the good work.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

aww thank you!! really appreciate it :)

[@dairtobefalco52]

you’re so awesome. Thanks for the video

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

aww thank you!! I hope it's helpful :)

[@thengsokunth]

My first time to see your channel. I love the way speech you do!

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

thank you so much!! really appreciate it :)

[@alicejoly4268]

You’re voice is so soft omg 🥰💕💕

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

Aw thank you!!!

[@fratira7271]

Great work Bianca! Your channel will blow up in the near future :)

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

aww thank you for the lovely comment!! Let me know if there’s anything in particular you think would be cool to make!

[@a-sam8151]

Thank's Bianca for sharing this I can relate much to your experiences of learning mandarin it's really not that easy and simple. I admire your diligence. 我们一起加油 吧！

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

谢谢！！ I'm at the point now where it's getting easier to learn new words and I'm itching to dive into more native content!! I bought 6 native novels to try out soon LOL

[@ClowdyHowdy]

Great video! I'm a fan right away.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

Thank youu! I appreciate it heheh c:

[@samheartnet]

As a video editor and a Mandarin learner, this was an amazing video full of useful information. I really love the way your videos are edited, even your recent ones are amazing. Learning Mandarin is also a great choice because this language is becoming more and more universal. Keep up the good work, 谢谢

[@MagnaAnima]

I hope you have a fun journey, I’m learning too. Learning mandarin is a long long journey for non natives. Especially people who want to reach high levels.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

Yep!! I’m in it for the long haul and it’s been so fun so far! Definitely challenging, but worth it for me. I hope you enjoy your own journey as well :)

[@kenosako8191]

The moment you said you want to speak Chinese without having the need to directly translate from English, I honestly felt you on this dilemma. I experienced a *very hard time removing this when I was at an intermediate level with my Japanese. There were many times when I was talking with my pen pal, I could somehow feel my brain cells undergo processes of firstly spewing out English words (cuz for the record, I learnt Japanese from English, so I was kinda more comfortable with English) and then they would translate them to Japanese. Why couldn't I just instantly speak some Japanese without having English to assist me? :(( And this is one of those bad habits that one must get rid of, especially if you're planning to become decently conversational.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

Completely agree! Have you been able to transition out of English->Japanese translations? And if so, how did you do it?

[@amateurobserver8581]

11:16 I love the part where you talk about what you do when putting together a sentence. I thought I was good at grammar and had good handle on the composition of a sentence. Then I started studying to be a middle school Language Arts teacher and realized there was a lot I did not know. I certainly agree that dialogues and stories are much better than isolated words for learning vocabulary. Thanks for the video. Lots of great advice.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

Grammar is a whole other beast and there’s two ways to approach it. 1) learn every single thing about every single grammar point 2) learn what you need to know to make it comprehensible! I prefer the second option and I’ll leave the first option for the linguists!!

[@shuguangli1133]

@@bianca.phdinprogress agree with you as it is the same thing learning English I do.

[@ThisIsNotInUseOkay]

WOW, I really appreciate all the editing and organization that went into this video! You explained Refold very well and it seems like you have made amazing progress in a relatively short amount of time. Congrats!

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

aww thank you for much for the kind comments!! i'm hoping to speed even faster ahead now that I have the first 1.5k words under my belt. Are you also learning chinese, or another language?

[@ThisIsNotInUseOkay]

@@bianca.phdinprogress Nice! Daily practice is definitely the most important. I want to learn Chinese one day! I'm American as well. Grew up speaking only English. I speak German relatively fluently. I'm learning French and Spanish at the moment and will start learning Polish soon. All for different needs in my life at the moment. Haha. Trying to find the right way to balance it all!

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

@@ThisIsNotInUseOkay wow!! that's amazing!! english is actually my second language (romanian being the first). but i learned in school since I grew up in the states, which has made me realize that learning as a child is farrr easier than as an adult!! haha I can barely make enough time for a full time job, studying chinese, making youtube videos, and everything else life entails. props to you for finding so much time to do all the things you're interested in!! it seems like you're already balancing it pretty well c:

[@ThisIsNotInUseOkay]

@@bianca.phdinprogress Everyone has different life circumstances and goals, etc. I don't know if I'm balancing it all well, but I try! Very cool that you speak Romanian as well! I'm sure your studying of the brain might be helping you learn Chinese ;) Do you think so?

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

Definitely, but more so because I can read through scientific papers that talk about how to learn according to brain chemistry and anatomy. It helps me to find methods that already have support by the science, so I don't need to spend as much time doing trial and error!

[@chaaawe]

you are great... really really helpful :)

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

So glad it’s helpful :)

[@stephenreiss7181]

Fascinating and you nailed me as the guy who studies 30 min a day from apps but will try the HSK route and Anki now…thank you!!

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

hopefully you've seen progress!!

[@LevelFoxGaming]

I greatly appeciate all of your Chinese learning videos. I took Chinese for 5 Semesters prior to Covid before taking a break from College... 2 years later im going back for my degree and minor in Chinese but have to start back up at the last semester of "Advanced" Chinese (HSK 3 at best.) Your videos are very helpful in the best way to re-learn/recall and solidify all that I have learned in the course of 2.5 years within a much shorter period of time. If you have or plan to take the actual HSK exam, would love to see a video on it. Thank you for your videos!

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

thanks for watching and for the comment!! glad that my videos are helpful :)

[@okorolina]

I love this and it solidifies why I've been trying to learn Chinese and don't feel like Ive learned much..appreciate this video so much. I'm a kinesthetic learner so this was an excellent discussion to me

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

so happy that it was helpful!!

[@seasonsinchaos7738]

Excellent video and good information. I've been using HelloChinese and Drops to learn Chinese and I'm quite happy with the progress so far. I also listen to Jay Chou often 😌

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

Thank you!!! Love hearing about progress!! Jay Chou is also so good! Although I don’t have too much time to listen to music hahaha

[@JDVRadio]

well done ! i have been learning chinese inconsistently since 2018. I only discovered Anki late last year and have been kicking myself since! the progress has been immense

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

太棒了！！consistency and excitement are pretty much the main things for successful language learning. Once you got those two things, incredible progress will follow!! Is there anything that’s been particularly helpful for you??

[@JDVRadio]

@@bianca.phdinprogress i think using Anki was a huge step because before that i was meandering. I even wrote and passed HSK3 without flash cards. if i had started earlier i’d probably be level 5/6 of the old HSK model by now. i suggest youtube channel Mandarin Corner. they’ve got really helpful podcasts and insightful looks into chinese life from a chinese perspective. each video comes with a pdf for a nice follow along

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

@@JDVRadio Yeah! I use mandarin Corner as well for some of my active listening. I definitely agree with the anki. For the early levels, its pretty easy to just get by without using and SRS since it's not a crazy amount of words. 600 total isn't the worst in terms of memorization through reading and listening. But going to the HSK4+ it definitely gets more challenging with the HSK2.0 framework. Currently working through HSK5 of the old framework right now while waiting for the new 3.0 books to come out hahaa

[@JDVRadio]

@@bianca.phdinprogress same, i've just started HSK 5. hopefully the adjustment to the new program won't be too difficult. I've subscribed and will be waiting for more updates lol. best of luck!

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

@@JDVRadio 谢谢！and you as well!! one thing i've noticed about HSK is that the first chapter of each new level hits you like a brick, but after that it's pretty manageable. hopefully HSK5 is the same for both of us! thank you for the subscribe c:

[@btsguardianangel5164]

Very informative, thank you 🌸

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

so glad it was helpful!!! :)

[@ohopin]

Hey,do you want a language exchange?I can teach you Chinese if you want

[@nickgarrison4832]

I am currently learning spanish with the same method. After spanish I plan on learning Mandarin. I am really excited for it because it looks and sounds so beautiful.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

I love how methods can be used with so many languages!! good luck with Spanish and welcome to mandarin learning!

[@C00ltronix]

Just a note, HSK 1 (the old version) has 150 characters, that's correct. But you build about 4-500 words with this characters. A learner need to know the words. Otherwise you can't read. OK, you CAN read a HSK 1 text perfectly, but you will not understand what you read. On top, I find it easier to work out words rather than individual characters. Flashcards are OK, but graded readers are really the best way. And if you do not have the audio to any book - have the text OCR by google lens, then put it online, like on an online notepad, and have browser read it to you. Edge has a Read Aloud function (and you can control the speed, and record it with Audacity or similar).

[@danielaaguilar9783]

You have such a nice voice, you speak very clearly

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

thank you!!

[@donotseemecricket]

This is a great video, and I really like your approach. It is similar to how I went about teaching myself. The one key difference I will note is, early on I met with a Chinese teacher in my city, and showed her what I was doing to teach myself. When she wanted to assess my speaking skills she realised it was very limited. The reason being to that point I had not practiced speaking with anyone. She gave me excellent advice, and it was to make sure that I practice speaking as much as possible. She said I had to get out the words I was taking in - that is start to use them. She told me to imitate and repeat after native speakers, and if possible have conversations with native speakers and get feedback from them. It was at that point I found Chinese speaking friends on Hello Talk and made some language exchange partners. I was pretty limited on finding Chinese speaking friends where I lived, so this was the best option. I did have a local friend who studied in Taiwan and had taken 9 years of Chinese in school, so I practiced with him in person as much as I could. Sure, he spoke with an accent, but I think when learning a language, making sure you can speak it is the most important thing. Training your ears and mouth to listen and repeat is such a key part of developing good speaking ability. I would drill myself on pronunciation and phrases every day for like 15 minutes to half an hour. Eventually I got to where I could have several hour long conversations with my Chinese friends on video chat. Sure, the topics I can talk about are limited, but had I not started practicing speaking I wouldn't have been able to get this far having never lived in a Chinese speaking country. Yes, like you, my speaking skills are inferior to my reading, texting, and listening skills, (I have sorely neglected my writing in the past few years) as I have less opportunity to practice speaking, but it is important that you not neglect speaking, at least in my opinion. Of course if you only plan to text or read material in the target language, speaking may not be required.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

so true!! my speaking is definitely the worst, but luckily I'm able to practice with my chinese speaking friends :)

[@saveround]

very helpful, thanks

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

You’re welcome!!! Glad it was helpful :)

[@chinesevoicegarden]

I'm learning right along with you

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

so awesome to see other language learners!!! do you have any specific tips based on your own experience with learning chinese?

[@RadicalPersonalFinance]

Great overview.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

thank you!!

[@Otawee]

amazing video

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

thank you for watching!!

[@grantcarver6866]

interesting. You just opened up my eyes to something so new, to be completely honest with you. So, I have been speaking and learning spanish for a couple years. I used apps, vocabulary sites, google, grammar helpers, Italki (which helped me immensely), LingoPie (TV shows in target languages subscription), apps on my phone, and so much more to learn. I'm still not completely fluent, but can still speak and understand, but finding that I need to remain consistent to maintain. But thank you so much for the things that you mentioned in this video because this will possibly save me quite a bit of money next time I learn another language.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

glad that it was helpful even if you're learning a different language!! you can def spend a crazy amount learning languages, but there's also so much free content on the internet!

[@caitlingibbons2246]

Hi Bianca. Thank you for creating this channel. Since I am enrolling in my first two semesters of Mandarin in college this summer, I am eager to watch more of your content!

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

Wooo that so awesome!! I hope you enjoy your journey as much as I have enjoyed mine!!

[@TheGretaoto]

There is also some channels that help Chinese learners to learn for free, like 理查老师的中文直播课 -Richard Chinese Language. I have been studying Mandarim some years now. Videos like yours also help me keep motivated! :)

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

Aww thank you!! Yep definitely! Honestly, whatever helps keeping you learning is the best method! Something that’ll keep you learning daily is ideal!

[@jenniferbirsan7725]

You go girl

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

😁 hehe thank you!!!

[@shuguangli1133]

讲得很好。从你的讲解中向你学习英语。Chinese is my mother tone.

[@Adam-yu5zj]

4:30. That is an incredible mindset. I will do the same. Thanks

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

thank you for the comment!! hope your studies go well!! :)

[@ringotheflamingojohnson7261]

Your mannerisms are very interesting I keep reminding to see them again

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

hahaha never knew that they were different than others!

[@umibooozu]

Very useful, thx

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

glad it was useful!!!

[@AshinAsia]

You're ahead of me, however similar timescales. I started learning in April 20 during lockdown, but only to learn a few phrases. I loved it though, and still learning. I passed hsk 1 and 2 on the same day after 3 months, then hsk3 after 8 months. HSK is ok for grammar and structured learning. When I passed 3 in December, I gave myself a year to pass 4. Not going to happen though! I just read natural conversations now and I'll do 4 next year. Good luck in your studies!

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

That’s so awesome!!! I love hearing about other people’s studies! You’re progressing so quickly :) I hope you continue to find interesting content to learn!! Cheers to both of our future progress!

[@AshinAsia]

@@bianca.phdinprogress thanks, all the best in your learning too! I never liked learning languages at school (French, German and Latin), starting Chinese is a completely different journey. A hugely enjoyable one. I don't find it a chore at all like I did with other languages. I will put some language films on my channel one day. I don't have your confidence yet!

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

@@AshinAsia yeah, I felt the same way! I just got lucky that the school languages were so similar to my language spoken at home (romanian).. I didn't have to study and I did well because I could extrapolate from romanian hahaha. but I hated studying in school (maybe cuz of the format, maybe I was too young, maybe I just didn't have enough motivation to learn those languages). what i've found though, is that if you have the motivation to learn a language you actually want to learn, then progress will go more smoothly!!

[@AshinAsia]

@@bianca.phdinprogress Ah Romanian, great advantage learning Latin languages! I'm no language expert, but would I be close, saying either Romanian, or some remote village in Italy, is classed as the closest resemblance to Latin? I think I saw that somewhere. Yeah, like you, I had no motivation, and lessons were just grammar lessons. your last line reminded me of a passage I learned the other day. 知之者，不如好之者，好之者，不如乐之者 I saw it on LearnChinese on FB. I practised it on HT, and I loads lots of people saying how it should be said. (one cannot not love Chinese history and culture (even though that the most boring and predictable thing that everyone says!!) haha!

[@VeekaysJourney]

Hello Bi! I'm also a language learner and I'm learning Japanese. I'm around 5 months in so we both started our journey around the same time. I'm currently at the stage where I recognize multiple words per sentence, and sometimes even full sentences alone, understanding about maybe 10-40% based on the content. I try to use Japanese subtitles only and look up common words that come up a lot, but for the most part, the meaning of sentences are still out of my reach. My question to you is how comprehensible do you think input should be? Sometimes I find myself doubting my current immersing methods debating whether or not listening to things that don't I don't understand is actually doing me good or not. hehe sorry i'm not sure if any of that made sense but, Amazing editing and video quality. I'm sure the algorithm will do you justice soon. Best of luck with your channel and Mandarin :) 頑張って！

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

谢谢！！I personally think it depends on your own ability to handle less comprehensible input. Many people in the field suggest 98% comprehension, but that seems like a fairly difficult bar to reach, especially early on. I feel that the more important factor is how enjoyable your input is. For me, i'm more likely to continue with a resource that I really enjoy, even if the comprehensibility level is between 30-60% on a good day. If it's boring but I understand the majority of it, it's pretty hard for me to stay engaged. Reading comprehensibility seems to be more important than listening comprehension in the beginning. You may not be able to understand most things, but as your reading comprehension increases, you'll be able to naturally pick those words up. And even if you aren't able to understand the majority of the content you're listening to right now, you'll be able to subconsciously pick up phrasing, speed, word characteristics, and later on pitch accent (for japanese specifically). But regardless of what resources you use, their comprehensibility levels, the most important thing still is daily immersion. If you're able to immerse frequently and extensively then you'll be way ahead of the game!! c: 加油！

[@stephtab922]

OMG glad I'm not the only one who can speak on HSK 2 level but has an HSK 4 reading comprehension! I am revamping my language learning methods and hoping it will help improve my speaking. Through learning other languages I have seen where my language learning weaknesses lie. 加油！

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

don't feel too disheartened by that! reading and listening comprehension come much earlier than speaking ability! you can only speak about things that you've already internalized through reading and listening! (: what other languages have you learned??

[@stephtab922]

@@bianca.phdinprogress Currently learning Mandarin, Mongolian and Russian. Also kinda slowly starting Italian and Vietnamese.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

Oooh that’s so awesome!! Good luck towards all your learning! They’re really awesome languages :)

[@myownway07]

4:39 5.5 months later, I'm finally able to read and totally understand this sentence. ...I can now confirme what is said in this video, it's definitely possible to go from Zero to over 1.200 words (HSK4) in less than 6 months. But, without any Flashcards, Textbooks, Notebooks, Reviews, Desk, or any other tedious things like that.. (unless you want to expose yourself to the risk of burnout and potentially quit). Note: Not intermediate level though. HSK4 is like A2. That one would be HSK5, 2.500 words (A1). ...The Chinese system has been intentionally made this way for us Chinese learners, in order to boost our egos and help us stick with this beautiful, wonderful, and extraordinarily rewarding (long) journey. And trust me, it works. Just take the first step. ...Here is the formula for risk free language learning: Your bed (the only desk you need) +KZbin +DuChinese +KZbin +Shadowing +KZbin +TV series +KZbin... ...+KZbin+KZbin+KZbin.......

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

completely agree! HSK considers HSK4 as intermediate but its more beginner level vocab. HSK5-6 is intermediate, I would say. But whatever gets us to keep learning!

[@analogpark8059]

Great video! Thanks for sharing your experience. 11:20 I see you also use Mandarin Companion books. I'm working through my first one now (Hua Ma), and it seems really useful- lots of repetition. I've also found the Shuoshuo Chinese channel a super helpful resource; she's a really good teacher, and does funny skits, stories, etc.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

I loved hua ma! I used mandarin companion for a decent amount of time (got through all the books in breakthrough and level 1), but stopped after that. They’re really great for easing into the habit of regular reading!

[@jdeebz303]

I just signed up for the Mandarin Blueprint. I will be doing an intense 6 months of acquisition at a minimum of 6 hours a day. I will break the sessions up an not just use the blueprint. I will use graded reading and immersion as much as possible too. I am thinking of filming my progress and seeing what is truly possible if you go almost full time study. I know my motivations and I will have to keep reminding myself of them, but I think its possible. Im not expecting fluency by any stretch, but I think I could take it quite far.

[@kazziko4378]

Hi Bianca , i am also learning chinese and its been 3 months and i am glad that i have maintained consistency but for HSK 3 sometimes it feels like learning jas become slow. So i just record my self every week about progress and what hardship i am facing that motivates a lot.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

wow thats so awesome!! in the future, you can also look at those videos to see how far you've come!

[@kazziko4378]

@@bianca.phdinprogress May be one day we can have conversation in chinese on your you tube channel😃

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

@@kazziko4378 yes!! that is definitely in the works! c:

[@ana3942]

Can you tell me how much months taken to clear hsk 4?

[@nehadhurwey503]

I see half video and subscribe and continue watching video because of editing, the relatableness and the tips, I really don't like reading text books, because I gave up on korean and Japanese texts, but I am still Learning those languages including mandarin. Thanks for reading you had a great day.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

aww thank you!! the cool thing about doing immersion learning is that you don't need a textbook! I use it because it's easier to find easy words to learn at the start of the language journey, but you don't have to use it! You can also just watch tv shows and find/review vocabulary from that! I can make a video in the future about how to approach language learning if you don't like using textbooks if you think it could be helpful :)

[@SuperHeedictator]

the thought about 'lost in translation' is so good. I'm so frustrated with myself. Because after years of learning I am on level 5 of TOPIK (Korean language), but my speaking skill just as low as it was during level 3. My listening and reading skills just on level 6, but my sentences' structure doesn't have a flow of Korean and just awkward cuz I still translate from my native language into Korean. Still don't think as a Korean person would have. Hopefully after all those errors I'll be able to learn from my mistakes and study a new language properly and more faster and sufficient. Thank you for the video!~

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

try not to stress too much about it!! I would say increase your input of native material and focus less on producing language right now. The more of your target language you have under your belt, the easier it'll be to notice when you're formulating sentences in an english manner! I do my best not to translate full sentences from chinese to english now that i'm at an intermediate stage, which has helped me to internalize chinese without the english framework!!

[@SuperHeedictator]

@@bianca.phdinprogress Thank you for the advice 🙏 and for the encouragement 🥰🥺

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

hehe no problem!!!

[@chadbailey7038]

I knew you must be a fan of Matt vs Japan once you started talking abt building sentences like a native 😂! I love his content also

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

He definitely was very helpful when I first started my journey!

[@hisblueandgrey5623]

I’m planning to learn mandarin because I really want to read chinese novels😭

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

there's tons of amazing novels out there! such a great goal!

[@user-xq3ob6bz3i]

I decided to learn Chinese this year and full of expectations and dreams started my journey..like last week. Found your channel and after I watched this video, I got so inspired. Bought books yesterday, but today I found out that starting this year HSK gonna have 9 levels...And for 1st lvl you have to know 500, then for 2nd - 1272, and for the 3rd - 2245 words! Ending with level 9 and 11092 words for it.. Like...ok..my journey just got a little bit complicated .. ok...

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

so i've been waiting for those textbooks since they were announced a few years back HAHA. It will probably take some time, but don't worry about the old books versus the new books. Ultimately, we're trying to learn a language, not finish textbooks. The textbooks help us to learn the language. So what does that mean? Everything you study in your current textbooks is helping you to learn chinese. So if you do decide to swap over to the new textbooks, you'll have a head start! If you don't want to use the new textbooks, that's fine as well! At around HSK5 (2.0), you'll know enough to start with native content :) just study what you can with the resource you currently have and know that you'll learn so much from it!! 加油!!

[@skysurfer4547]

Thanks for sharing. I'm also learning mandarin chinese for one month now.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

so awesome!! I love seeing others learning as well! I hope you're enjoying your journey so far! the beginning is filled with a lot of confusion but you end up learning so much!!! c:

[@ohopin]

Do you want to have a language exchange?I can teach you Chinese if you like🥰

[@imanupead]

Hey for your Anki cards, do you put your target language on the front and translation on the back or vice versa?

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

i'm actually coming out with a video this week of exactly how I structure my cards!! there will be a little surprise in that video as well :)

[@Erraiad]

would you recommend singing up for an online ono-to-one class ? Every time I'm trying to start learning by myself I feel lost and overwhelmed so even though online teaching my follow the traditional way it may be better than nothing but I'm afraid to obtain bad habits from these schools after watching your video . what's your input on that?

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

Regardless of what is “better” or “worse”, the best study routine is one that will keep you studying. If that means going to a one-on-one class to keep yourself accountable, then do it! You don’t have to stick to one study method for the entirety of your studies, so if you need that motivation boost right now and you feel that a class will help, do it! But if you think you can have enough motivation in 6months to swap over to another type of studying, then you can do that too! You can also try to incorporate some immersion based acquisition principles in your one-on-one class too! I use a textbook (which is a tradition language learning approach) but I try to utilize it like novels so that it resembles immersion!

[@AfroLinguo]

Wow!! Your editing is really good!! Do you have a video in which you speak in chinese?

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

thank you!! I appreciate it :) I just posted on this week were I speak in chinese!

[@RingsOfSolace]

That time frame that they suggest is wild. I'm a month in and only three hundred words, though I can only consistently recognize half those characters, and obviously I've had no speaking or listening practice. But I can say really basic things in the most unnatural way imaginable so yayyyyy

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

woohoooo!! recognition of characters will get better as you keep reading and learn more!! I would def get in listening practice from the beginning to help with pronunciation and ear training, but you should be proud of any and all progress, even if it's unnatural at first! we all have to start from somewhere :)

[@captchagod64]

I've been learning vietnamese on and off for 18 months. I looked at my anki stats, and apparently i only know 250 words. That's probably not totally accurate because i don't put every word i learn into anki, but its still a little discouraging. I think my goal is to get to 1000 words in 2024. I also do a lot of immersion, but its hard to find anything comprehensible at my level, so i think learning more words will make my immersion more effective. Once i get to a decent level, i might go for chinese next! Good luck to all language learners!

[@Rinndery]

Even the Chinese people don’t know all the carters .. in my opinion that isn’t the right pat to go .. since 1) you can’t not speak with it and 2) I think the best way of learning a language is to start like a kid would .. a.k.a .. listening to people speaking it , watching Tv , movies .. or lessens about what the words mean bettering your pronunciation /which usually it’s a result of how people around you speak it , mainly / and after you feel sufficient to speak it to start with learning the characters and then writing them .. I speak 3 languages already fluently / Chinese is not one of those , but I’m not sure 100% yet if I want to learn it / .. I mean in my opinion this is the easiest way to learn languages , instead of getting lost in details and in the end get overwhelmed and leave everything as it is , knowing characters that you may not even use / if you start by the characters , or even in some languages the grammatical part , kids don’t start writing first and then speaking , so yeah .. you were a kid once .. so it’s pretty logical you will get better results if you do what you have done when you were new born in this case / even the indigenous people developed language fist , then writing .. so yeah .. also im not saying you can’t learn fist how to write and then how to speak , but form evolutionary perspective it would be harder and basically the end result in the best case would be the same as if you started with the language first. but “loosing” more time. And also no “the bad habits” form translating from English to the other language will disappear once you start using it more often. Since if you don’t have a base from which you can’t get reference you will need way more time that in my opinion is a waste since that habit will disappear later I mean to get references from other existing words in your main language or another language depend on if you know more than one may be more useful to remember words at first , even for the pronunciations some times .. it’s kind of like remembering syllables-acronyms at school that mean something else .. I mean if you didn’t had the basis of knowing what those main letters mean / that are there to remind you the thing itself / how you imagine to remember the full meaning of them ?

[@cutegamergrill5698]

0:00 A legend was born.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

HAHA idk if I would consider myself a legend, but I’ll do my best XD

[@fraserlau1854]

You are smart.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

idk how smart I am, but I do try a lot!

[@Love_N_Let_Live]

Super fun! I just started learning Chinese about a month ago. I am using an app, and really like it. 🤷‍♂️ It only teaches simplified characters, but I want to do it twice, once with Pinyin and once with just Hanzi. It may not be the most efficient way, but it's really fun and I'm not in a rush.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

that's awesome!!! yeah, as long as expectations are tempered on how far one can get with solely using apps, they're not bad! and ultimately, the best resource is the one that you'll keep using!! 加油！

[@Love_N_Let_Live]

@@bianca.phdinprogress I'll do a lot more than this app, but it's just what I'm starting on. I'll move on to native content after I finish the course once and am doing it again. At least that's my plan as of now. I'm only spending about 15-20 hours a week studying. I'm definitely not trying to do what you're doing. More power to ya!

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

15-20 hours a week is amazing!! native content is incredibly challenging (i'm doing that now l o l ), so take it slow and go through stuff you really enjoy. you'll see so much progress :)

[@Love_N_Let_Live]

@@bianca.phdinprogress I have a job where most days, depending on what machine I'm operating, I have several hours during my 12 hour shift that I can be studying Chinese. 🕶️ Edit- I've not done much native content at all aside from random KZbin channels and other news clips about China/the CCP.

[@ohopin]

Do you want to have a language exchange?I can teach you Chinese if you like🥰

[@nguyenthanhthu443]

Really like your voice

[@jmel-nw6pc]

sorry for asking, but how will you gonna practice your speaking? (im just curious cuz im studying chinese too)

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

I practice with my chinese friends!

[@vertigohan]

Hi Bianca, I want to learn so bad Mandarin Chinese but I don't know where to start. I see many YT channels & apps that now I am so confused that I don't know how to choose the right fit. My great grandfather was Chinese and my goal is to visit China in 2 years and maybe have a decent conversation. Did you only use those textbooks as your sources? What about the right pronunciation? What source do you use for that? You don't purchase any program to measure your pronunciation skills? Thanks for uploading this video.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

I personally didn't want to take a course or purchase programs, but I've heard that other people have had success from them! It really depends on the course, how much time you have, your preferred learning structure, and your learning goals. I've only used textbooks (HSK) and tv shows to learn so far! I get a variety of dialects from tv shows, and it helps me to understand people's speaking cadence more alongside comprehension practice. I do have a Chinese speaking boyfriend who does help me with my pronunciation, but with mandarin, you'll have to be okay with sounding pretty bad for awhile! As long as you work on it, it'll get better :) But ultimately, you can spend as much or as little as you want on your learning. Courses can be amazing but they won't get you fluent. Textbooks can be amazing but they also won't get you fluent. The thing that helps you get there is time and consistency. The resource matters so much as you enjoy using it. So find something that you love using, something that will make you excited to study every day, and that will get you to where you wanna be!

[@prasanth2601]

Are hsk materials enough for a timepass learners to learn basic level of mandarin?

[@languagelearningdabbler]

I got so excited when you said that you studied the brain! Are you familiar with Dr. Caroline Leaf? I love her work! OK, back to the video lol

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

haven't heard or her!! my area of research is neurodegeneration, not neurocognition, but i'll take a look! thank you for the recommendation :)

[@user-pinna88]

If someone wants to learn Chinese, we can have a simple conversation. I'm learning English😉😉

[@ZadenZane]

You know the exact number of words you know? Wow! I bought a 1970s Chinese course yesterday (3 books, one booklet introducing the characters, 10 cassettes). The entire vocabulary of 30 lessons amounts to about 2700 words! Even though the course doesn't claim to teach the script, all the dialogues are written out in Pinyin and hanzi. Of course I barely understood a word I heard at first, I did understand a bit of what I read.... thanks to years meandering away at Japanese. I'm still at a higher basic level in Japanese and can only understand scattered words from Japanese TV. But I can read enough characters to understand a lot of the common street signs and stuff like that. By the way you're lucky with Chinese because yes you can pretty much ignore grammar. I'm also learning Russian which is highly inflected and without grammar ー declensions and conjugations ー you just won't understand who is doing what when how or why! PS I'm only officially learning 2 languages at beginner's level, Japanese and Russian. The Chinese is for later!

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

I only know the number of words because I have an ANKI plug in that counts every work in my deck!! I tried learning japanese for a bit and got wrecked by the alphabet LOL didn't even want to think about the grammar o.o so props to you! Japanese and Russian are incredibly hard languages to learn! good luck!!

[@elenaekanathapetrova2282]

Nice) I'm call my process as a learning language but in reality i try internalising and acquire language too)

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

I think we all subconsciously try to learn by internalization and acquisition, but many of us have only been taught languages in a traditional course, so often times we only consider that type of structure as a "language learning method"!

[@yearsofsophie]

As a fellow HSK 4, keeping my speaking skills up to par with my listening and reading is really important to me. I’m curious-I understand the “I don’t want to form bad habits” mentality, but is that the only thing preventing you from practicing speaking?

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

I practice speaking stuff that i've learned is correct, but the other reason is just that I would rather spend my time learning more at this point in my learning! I have limited amounts of time in my day, so I want to focus on reading/listening first! i'll incorporate more speaking as my comprehension increases

[@EmadBerno]

Subscribed❤️

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

Thank youu!! :)

[@EgdeFilms]

What do you do if you can’t us anki? I’ve tried so many times to get it going, I’m just not a flash card guy. Hopefully I can over come this.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

it's okay if you're not a flash card guy! people still learned languages before the days of Anki, computers, and flash cards. in your case, you may want to repeatedly write, and rewrite your notes to get the frequency required for memorization! watch a ton of tv shows or listen to tons of podcasts and you'll be good! you will probably forget more words than the average Anki user, but just keep reviewing it by reviewing your notes, rewatching the content, and you'll be just fine!

[@lydiara2547]

miss u Bianca!! sending love from Korea ₍ᐢ⑅•ᴗ•⑅ᐢ₎♡

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

miss you too!!!

[@deaddeal0073]

我爱你

[@iuciaeus]

I'm Japanese and I'm studying chinese. I really like your video and you!😊

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

thank you!!! how long have you been studying chinese?? c:

[@iuciaeus]

honestly, I started studying Chinese in 2016, but I was being too lazy:( So I would say it's for about 6months in total. now I'm impressed with you and I will study as hard as you do. For me, memorizing words is the hardest part of learning because there are a lot of similar sounds in Chinese lol

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

@@iuciaeus 加油！！and yeah! I was interested in the differences between hanzi, hanja, and kanji, and I was amazed as how similar, but also how different the characters are! it's amazing how different languages grow and evolve!

[@iuciaeus]

Thanks!! yeah That's very interesting. btw why did you start studying Chinese and why do you want to achieve a native-like level as you said in the video? I also want to speak and pronounce English and Chinese in the near future :)

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

@@iuciaeus i'm actually going to make a video about this in the future! but long story short, i've always been interested in languages and history (also speak romanian fluently!). I especially loved ancient history (roman, greek, chinese, japanese) and calligraphy. I kept hearing that chinese was impossible to learn, especially for someone who primarily speaks romance languages (learned spanish and latin in school). So I thought that if I could learn chinese, I could do anything with enough effort! And now i'm just obsessed with learning it and I find it so beautiful to read and listen to! As for the native-like level, I'm an all or nothing type of person. Either I do my best and get as good as I possible can get, or I don't have enough motivation to continue. It helps that my boyfriend is also chinese so I can practice with him heh c:

[@cleofaspintolimalima1627]

for the love of god help me with subs2srs for anki i managed to make subtitles and movies for my anki but now i can't do it man everything is up to date the apps do you think it is ??

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

to be quite honest, I couldn't even figure out how to use subs2srs. that's why sentence mining in the traditional mass immersion approach was always a pain in the butt and I never really got around to doing it. There are other programs that are less glitchy but require more work, including Knowclip (you just have to download the timestamped subtitle files and import it in).

[@cleofaspintolimalima1627]

@@bianca.phdinprogress this ok 👍

[@MLBB_Luin]

How do u learn reading, is it only learning words and learning individual characters? Im very beginner idk where to start. help pls

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

so learning to read is just learning how to string words together. you start off with learning words, then grammar, then comprehension. for example, let's say we want to learn how to read "I like dogs". 1) learning the words: I = 我 (wǒ) like = 喜欢 (xǐhuan) dog = 狗 (gǒu) 2) learn how the words work together (chinese grammar) chinese sentences can be very similar to english (especially with beginner sentences). if you use a textbook, they'll explain how the grammar works (but don't worry if grammar is confusing, you'll pick that up over time!) Just like in english, this sentence in chinese would also put phrase it like this "I (我) like (喜欢) dog (狗)". so the chinese sentence would be 我喜欢狗. notice though that there is a difference between english and chinese. in the english sentence, we say "dogs" (as in multiple dogs). in chinese, they don't need to clarify that it's dogs broadly. They just say "I like dog". So these are little nuances you'll learn over time. 3) learn how to comprehend the sentence sometimes, you'll know all the words, you'll know how the grammar works, but you still can't understand what the sentence means. usually this is for more advanced sentences, but it can be due to cultural differences, or interpretations, or just chinese ways of saying things. for example, in english we would say "turn on the light" but in chinese it would be "open the light". understanding these differences is where the figurative comprehension comes in. but learning how to read is simple. 1) learn words 2) learn they work together 3) learn the figurative meaning. This is similar to a positive feedback loop, where the more you go through steps 1-3, the more you'll be able to read!

[@MLBB_Luin]

@@bianca.phdinprogress thankfully i did reasearch before planning to start. i learn that its useless to memorize chinese characters.. thanks for very informative explanation 😍👋👍😁😄😇💪

[@paulwalther5237]

You’ve sold me on the HSK books. Only problem is that I’m studying Korean right now 😂.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

HAHAHA they’ll always be there for you if you ever do want to learn mandarin!

[@abhinavchauhan7864]

7:43 as soon as she said Stephen krashen i was like..... THATS MY GIRL

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

LOLOLOL gotta give credit to the GOAT

[@abhinavchauhan7864]

@@bianca.phdinprogress hehehe😁

[@SunSaiko]

Im not a polyglot(its actually linguist) but I know so much stuff in so many languages people find it surprising I do not I want to reach a level of fluency with other languages as I have with english and even then 3 languages is not much I want more but I have like an A level of fluency in german,spanish,russian(which I learnt more of in 1 week than years in school with german)I also know a lil japanese and a couple of words in chinese/madarin but from my experience with russian I say it takes dedication and practice if you have those you'll learn extremely fast

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

so true!!

[@mayanlogos92]

Hey. Does anyone knows any tips on how to learn to match like naturally without struggling too much the character whith the sound and tones they have? Ith its super hard. Ive read an article but I don't know if I got the topic that I really need and it's huge for me and hard to understand and I get a pain only when I think about it. I'll let the link at the reply if anyone wants to look into it or just to be here

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

For me, I learned the what the character looked like, it’s meaning, and it’s pronunciation (sound and tone together) all at once. It’s almost impossible to learn the sound of a word but not learn it’s tone, so they honestly need to be learned together. The way to make it easier to learn is just listening and reading that vocab as often as possible! If you hear it and read it a few times, it’ll be hard to remember. But if you hear it and read it 100 times, it’s easier to remember! I find that it’s easier to remember words in a sentence too, so I never learn a word just by itself. I also found that the first few hundred words were hard to memorize, but the words you learn, the more quickly you’ll learn new ones! A lot of words are built upon other ones, so as you keep learning, it’ll be easier!!!

[@mayanlogos92]

@@bianca.phdinprogress yeah that's how I started to recognise and know a few already, although it's too little it's already sth... but ig there is nothing more special than that :)

[@mayanlogos92]

@@bianca.phdinprogress thank you very much. All the best.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

Yep! It’ll just take time!! You’ll see progress throughout though!

[@breaththrou]

How exactly do you know that you know around 860 words? It just seems like such a specific number. I've been studying Korean with the Refold method for about ~7 months now, and I should know something over 3.5K+ words but I don't have a specific or exact number for it that I could really guess.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

So I’m basing it on the number of flash cards I made with a very high recall interval at time of recording! I said around 860 because I’m sure I added an extra card or two here and there. To reinforce recall, I also write down all the characters in a notebook, so I have a log of all the words I’ve ever encountered. Prior to recording I also went through my notebook and noted the ones that I could actively recall with no problem, which I considered known words!

[@breaththrou]

@@bianca.phdinprogress Unfortunately, I'm not sure if you already mentioned this in your video, but do you consume native content in the form of books, articles, etc.? Things that are like pure reading - no pictures and no audio. For me, this is probably one of the biggest reasons that I can't really give a specific number. Alot of things you can pick up from reading without ever putting it in SRS.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

Yeah!! That’s a great point! I do that as well and if I’m being honest, prefer books without pictures. I use graded readers for extensive reading and articles or short stories from Readibu for intensive reading. I’ve probably been exposed to 2-3k words at least once at this point from my reading and watching tons of tv (seeing a new word and looking it up, but not necessarily making a flash card if it’s not i+1) but if I’m giving a definitive number to people on the internet, I want to make sure that I only say the amount of words I can for sure say that I know/actively recall! I would rather potentially downplay the amount I know than accidentally give unrealistic expectations for what one can learn in 6 months!

[@wanderingdoc5075]

How many hours per day of active study do you put in daily? Loved the video

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

@WanderingDoc i'm actually coming out with a video on sunday where I take you through my day! but on average, between 7-9 hours a day, split between active and passive studying fairly evenly. it may seem like a lot, but since 4ish hours are passive, I can handle other responsibilities or hobbies while also immersing passively in chinese!

[@vihodanyet]

@@bianca.phdinprogress wow how do you manage to fit 7-9 hours in , outside of your college studies? .. maybe some time management tutorial is needed 😸😸

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

@@vihodanyet so I actually did make a video about that, which goes into everything I do and how long it takes me per day!! it's a little old though, and my studying process has changed since may, so i could make an updated video! kzbin.info/www/bejne/pKDdnZqbg7lpgck my split is usually 50:50 between active language learning (aka putting my entire focus on it, like working through a textbook chapter or book), and passive learning (putting on a podcast or the audio of something i've studied while doing other things). This allows me to take advantage of commute time and time while i'm at work to actually study! this video is a little outdated now (my study regimen changes when my level improves!), but I still spend on average 4ish hours of active study and between 5-6 hours of passive studying a day (2 of those hours are my commute!)

[@guylenepokamtakukam2141]

Please where do you get your hsk text books?

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

I purchased mine from amazon! Amazon link: smile.amazon.com/HSK-Standard-Course-SET-Textbook/dp/B07PRPG8QV/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=hsk+textbook&qid=1629663363&sr=8-2

[@MrsKoldun]

2:36 When you study Chinese full time at uni (20h of Chinese a week) these time frames are laughable. We did HSK 1 after 1 month and HSK2 after the first semester. 😄 And we didn’t even focus on HSK in the courses.

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

LOL I kno.. i'm always shocked when I see them. I found that HSK1 took me longer than HSK2 personally. Not because of the difficulty of the words, but rather just getting my mind to comprehend chinese structures. After I learned how chinese tends to sound like (at that beginner level), all the other books were definitely more of a breeze... except that they increased exponentially in word and vocab difficulty starting from HSK4 HAHA

[@mikkins85710]

Typically, a Chinese course at uni might meet for 45 min 5 days a week and you probably wouldn't have to do more than 5 hours of study outside of class, many students do only 1 or two hours of extra study per week. This assumes you are also taking a full course load of other subjects. That's for first year. Second year probably will require more study time outside class, and you would e lucky if you had 5 class sessions per week, more likely you would only have 3 classes per week. By third year you would only have 3 classes but would maybe need as much as 15 hours of work outside class.

[@NinPossible]

Thank you for sharing this. I'll check out Refold. For me, I just can't stand spaced repetition. It's not fun at all. If I need to review, I'll just watch or listen the whole thing again. I love the concept of acquiring a language. I'm glad to see many people supporting the comprehensible input method. However, I'd prefer the ALG method where it encourages the learner to listen a lot before starting speaking (like babies do). I've tried all methods (I guess) and I still can't reach the native level (English). Even I can understand you 100% but I still can't speak naturally. I just translate everything so fast. And if I don't know how to say something, I'll make one and it'll sound unnatural. Sometimes I even see the text in my mind when I listen to anything (I'm like a speech recognition software). So for now I'll stick with listening for a while (watching lots of series with no subtitles). I believe it will work (going by faith here) because it's the last thing I haven't tried. Have you tried the comprehensible input videos? There are Chinese ones on KZbin too! Search "comprehensible input Chinese". Have a good one! I hope this can help you. I don't want you to stuck at the intermediate level like me. Hope you understand what I'm trying to say! 😭

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

Thank you so much for the comprehensive comment!! It's amazing how far you've gotten in English! I think one of the main things to remember though when people like us have the goal of learning a language to native like fluency is that there will always be more to learn. Even in our native languages, we're still constantly learning new words, or sentence structures, or phrases every day. So don't be discouraged if you feel like you're not there yet! Even native speakers make grammar mistakes, say things in unnatural ways, learn new words, especially when talking about slang! From my own experience, I find that listening and reading are the best ways to acquire the natural speech. Spaced repetition is also not needed for these two activities if you don't like using it! When you listen, things can slip through the cracks in terms of sentence mechanics. You can understand the sentence meaning without understanding the individual components because our brains are so good at filling in the cracks! By reading, you can slow yourself down and really learn the correct phrase or sentence to express the thing you're trying to convey. You can also read different ways of expressing that depending on the context. Are you trying to say it with family and friends, or in a more professional setting? It can be easier to pick up and acquire those context dependent nuances in reading. But ultimately combining both is the way to go. Listen to a lot of different things. Read a lot of different things. Through time you'll get there! The final piece of the puzzle is just speaking a lot. You can't get better at speaking until you practice, but my philosophy on speaking (I think you may agree with this as well!) is to speak once you're already fluent. Fluency doesn't necessarily mean native fluency, but rather you know enough to understand the majority of the stuff that you consume. I also think that we should predominantly listen and read for the majority of our studies and speaking should come up all the way at the end. But one can understand things fluently but still not be able to speak fluently! I can read and listen to Romanian (my first language) fluently, but after living in America, i've lost my ability to speak it. That's because I haven't practiced speaking in 20 years! It'll take time, but since i'm already fluent, I know what I should sound like, so once I start practicing, i'll pick up the skill of speaking once again! With a new language, that process will take longer because you're still acquiring new speech while figuring out how to speak. But that's all part of the process!

[@NinPossible]

@@bianca.phdinprogress Thank you so much for sharing this. I agree with you 100% Maybe I just need to read and listen to different kinds of materials. And practice speaking more! You're not American!? You sound like one! 😊

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

@@NinPossible refold likes to call them domains. A domain is a different topic or area of language, aka can you talk about sports or about school life or about politics? Most native speakers can't discuss all the topics in depth (that's what specialization does), but they can definitely talk about most domains broadly. I found that learning a language can make you an expert in one domain but it takes time to familiarize ourselves with all the domains that native people can speak about! So I was born in America but my parents are immigrants from Romania. They spoke only Romanian with me, so Romanian was actually my first language! I only learned English when I started going to school. The sad thing is that once I started learning english and using it at school, I felt less of a need to speak in romanian because my parents could understand me well enough. I lost the motivation to keep speaking, so now although I can read and understand romanian fluently, my speaking is that of a middle schooler with tons of grammar errors. I'm getting back into it, but it'll just require a lot of immersion hours in romanian and active speaking practice to get back to where I was as a kid!

[@NinPossible]

@@bianca.phdinprogress Ah, I totally get the picture of domains. I'm not a fan of sports so I can't really discuss about it. I'm familiar with movies and TV shows. I can talk about it all day. Seems like I need to finish Refold's roadmap first and extend my domain. Your life is the same as the example in ALG! Children with the first language can speak the second language like a native when they go to school and immerse themselves with the target language. However their parents can't speak like that. This is very interesting... I hope you'll get your Romanian back to fluent soon! Have a good one. Thanks again for sharing this. I appreciate it. 😊

[@bianca.phdinprogress]

@@NinPossible the ALG example is exactly the case with me and my family! I think that it has to do with the amount of immersion one gets. For me, before I started school, my entire life was in Romanian so I spoke it as well as a child can speak it haha. Once I went to school, the majority of my day was now in English. I had to learn English to "survive" and do well in my classes, so I immersed even more in English. The only time I would immerse in Romanian was when I was with my parents. But my parents also wanted to learn English, so it became easier for me to speak back to them in English. They spoke in Romanian, I spoke in English. And now my Romanian immersion was cut even more! It makes sense from an immersion/acquisition perspective why my English is miles better than technically my first language, although I don't think I can call myself a native Romanian speaker anymore. The more I got good at English, the less need I had for Romanian as someone living in America!