Some students claimed they have learned 1500 characters in 4 weeks using this method. A Mandarin speaker would probably have no clue what a Cantonese speaker was saying to him, but if he wrote it down, it would be perfectly clear! (assuming the Mandarin speaker had knowledge of the Traditional character set…) This course teaches the meaning of each of the character and links it to a little story so it is not forgotten. The way each character is pronounced by these different dialects is completely different. “Written Chinese” is almost identical whether it is Mandarin, Cantonese, Wu, Hakka, Min, Xiang or Gan ( some of the mutually unintelligible dialects of spoken Chinese). This is something completely foreign to me, a native speaker of English, where a word’s pronunciation is forever linked with its written form! I had always wondered why Chinese programming is always broadcasted alongside Chinese character subtitles. This is INTENTIONAL for the method to work. My main critique of this method is that it does not teach the “sounds” associated with each character, only the “meaning” of the character.
I have been resistant to using this method but so many of my peers have enthusiastically recommended it, that I decided to take a look at it. This book teaches the most common 1500 characters using stories and mnemonics so as to cement the meaning and method of writing each character in the students’ heads. I have also been resistant to a well known method of learning the Chinese writing system called : Remembering the Hanzi: How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Chinese Characters by James W. That is about 65% of the way through the entire course which should give me a pretty good command of spoken Mandarin by this Summer. My goal is to master a MINIMUM of one unit a week x 26 weeks which would put me at Unit 33 in July. I’m starting with Unit 7 which is about the same corresponding level to where I left off with the FSI course. The DLI Basic Course tapes consist mostly of a relentless barrage of Mandarin spoken at natural speed (read: FAST!!!) with various accents of varying intelligibility to my novice ear. Recall the minimum 2400 hours of study required for competence in a “Level IV” language such as Chinese. So, for the standard 80 week program, the homework tapes would bring them from a total course-load of 2400 hours (assuming 30 hours a week) to 3600 (assuming 45 hours a week).
#Happy new year in chinese plus
Thus, they were able to increase their exposure from 6 hours a day (classroom alone) to around 9 hours a day (classroom plus tapes). These recordings were developed for the DLI officers so they could immerse themselves in Mandarin outside of class. Here is where the DLI Basic Course comes through. With such little time to devote to daily language studies, I need it to count! I need to be immersed in Mandarin, not English. The overwhelming majority of the FSI/DLI Standard Chinese recordings are in English whereas the DLI Basic Course recordings are almost all in Mandarin. The major difference that I have found is in the recordings. The material between the two is nearly identical until the latter half of the DLI course where it really takes off in terms of depth compared with the Standard course.
Why you may ask? The DLI course is slightly more current (1989 compared with 1983) but has better quality recordings. I am, however, moving away from the FSI/DLI Standard Chinese, a Modular approach and substituting the DLI Basic Course ( available here: ). I’m still plugging away at finishing a lesson every day or two until I am finished with all 90 lessons. Well, not so much “new” goals, but I am changing my approach a little bit. So “Happy New Year” in English is “New Year Happy” in Chinese: Xīn Nián Kuài Lè! ? Kuai le (快樂) is happiness, joy, delight, or rejoicings.
Xīn Nián Kuài Lè (新年快乐) everyone! Xin Nian (新年) is “New Year”.