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赫杰 -

Hi all,

After working hard this past six months on getting my listening skills caught up with my speaking
skills, I have recently noticed during conversations my listening skills have not only caught up
with my speaking, but passed it. (So happy) So now I got good confidence in my speaking and
listening, I am ready to turn the emphasis back to speaking. I find that my ways to express myself
has also improved, but I have lost a little of that "fluidity" that I had previously (due to
countless hours of watching tv and news and not interaction).

I have seen some great suggestions on the site, most notably finding a "brutal" chinese
friend/tutor to correct you, also saw some more good study material from Roddy.

So besides these methods and the obvious need to talk as much as possible with peeps, what other
tips do you guys suggest? Here are some of my thoughts:

Despite being fortunate enough to pick up the basic speaking aspect quickly early in my studies, I
personally believe speaking (as well as writing papers) will eventually prove to be the most
difficult aspect to really grasp for all chinese students, because it is more of a "thought"
problem, I must admit I usually do use chinese to think these days, but that does not mean I think
in authentic chinese, so when I speak even if the grammar is correct, it still just sounds
weird...and I think my thoughts in chinese are too "simple" when I speak my thoughts I always want
to expand them to make it sound better...ughhh...which sometimes leaves me at a loss...

I was thinking of making a small list of topics, nothing too deep, just conversational material
and then spend everyday just speaking my thoughts (to myself) on the topic and coming up with
counter questions or something, just trying to find a feeling that I don't know how to express in
Chinese, and trying to use appropriate and authentic expressions to express myself.

What do you guys think?


Thank you

HJ



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WoAiJolinTsai -

Can you explain how you improved your listening skills? I'm in the same boat as you were.

Thanks










adrianlondon -

I have great listening skills; I just don't understand what's being said :-)

OK, crap joke, but ... simply listening to other people chat in Mandarin, even if you don't
understand what they're on about, helps. You'll suddenly get taught something which you heard one
of your friends say in conversation, and you'll therefore know what it sounds like when spoken at
"normal" speed. Also, you get to pick up certain phrases after a while and, if you think you can
parrot it back, can ask your friend what it meant.










赫杰 -

Improved listening by basing studies first around news radio and then cctv.

please see
http://www. /showth...highlight=cctv

no tips on speaking? 555










Long Zhiren -

(1) Watch some movies or documentaries in Chinese. I like the IMAX documentaries (can talk all
about Alaska, polar bears and glaciers in Mandarin! woo-hoo!) However, I'm O.D.'d on movies now
and can't watch any more.
(2) Join an appropriate Toastmasters group.
(3) Practice tongue twisters, singing, etc. http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/zh.htm










xiaojiang216 -

If you have some free time on your hands, why not go on www.chinesepod.com? You can listen to some
of the broadcasts that may be above your comfort level. If you listen to them a few times, you
will definitely get much more comfortable with the content.

I hope John Pasden does some more podcasts! I love his charisma!










imron -

The best way I've found to improve speaking, is to record myself and compare it to a native
speaker saying the same thing.

As your listening skills are already quite high, I'm sure you can tell when someone is speaking
good Chinese or bad Chinese, and so why not apply this on yourself

So, first, download a program like Audacity which allows you to record/edit yourself on the
computer.

Then, take a sound recording of a native speaker that you have and that you are already quite
familiar with - for example, the CRI broadcasts, or if you think they might be a bit too formal
for speaking practise then you could try recordings from one of the TV shows.

In the beginning, just take a small portion of it (maybe even 5-10 seconds), and record yourself
saying the same thing - without using the script as an aid. Make sure you understand what you're
saying and try to match it as close as possible with speed and tone to the native speaker. Then,
compare your recording with the original version, making note of where your recording was
different and how to correct this difference. Then continue recording, comparing and correcting
until you decide that your Chinese is close enough to what you define as acceptable.

Then gradually start to increase the length of time of your recordings, 10 seconds, 20 seconds, 1
minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes etc.

As the length of time increases, and because you're not using the script as an aid, you'll be
starting to internalise various speech patterns, and this will then be reflected in the way you
speak about other things.










赫杰 -

Thanks imron! I like this idea! I am scared to listen to myself speak though haha

Another exercise that I remember that helped my speaking back when I was based my studies around
conversations, is reading aloud texts and dialogues and trying to match the speed and rhythm of
like the news reporters and stuff. This seemed to help a little, and definately helped my
listening.

So I think I will try this method out, supplement it with that method that I previously said, and
start watching a little more of speaking relating dramas and less of investigative reports and
news and stuff. hmm, the more I think about the method of creating some common questions the more
I like it.

Any more suggestions?

Thanks










Language Guy -

I remember when I was studying for the French Advanced Placement Test for college. There was an
oral part, and fluidity was was more important than correctness.

So what I did is while I was walking around the house or outside, I would talk to myself about
what I see out loud and what I think of what I'm seeing. Usually your mind will sidetrack and
you'll start talking about other things entirely. All this is great for your vocabulary.

But I must admit, seeing the same thing day after day (like inside your home) or a drive to work
or a walk to the store can get very old. When those got old, I would talk to myself about
political issues or something, where there are alot of points and information to touch upon.

I hope this helps a little bit with speaking practicing.










Hero Doug -

I've used this teaching english, but it can be applied easily to any language.

The idea is to get you thinking quickly and speaking very quickly.

Get small pieces of paper, and write a word or phrase on each one, then, make a story using the
words/phrases as a guide. You always want to be speaking and never taking a moment to think. Just
look at the new word/phrase, and incorperate it in within a few sentences, pick a new word/phrase,
and incorperate that as quickly as possible, and so on and so on.












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