(@Parth37955 not sure what subforum is the best place for this) What is the Elementary-Intermediate Chinese Study Group? This is a self-study group dedicated to reading a short passage in Chinese every week. We each find something to read online appropriate for our own level and do a series of exercises to solidify the vocabulary we encounter in the passage. I started this thread because I don't have the opportunity to take IRL classes in Chinese, but I still want to improve my reading comprehension in Chinese. My goal is to eventually get to a point where: (1) I don't need to use a dictionary all the time, (2) I can read just as fast in Chinese as I can in English, (3) ultimately make my translations faster/better. Having a group is helpful because we can depend on each other for critiquing/advice. Furthermore, I'm the type of person who works better with deadlines and other people to keep me accountable. At least for myself, I'd like to approach this with the serious mentality that this is real "homework" or a "class" -- and I'd like to develop a habit of doing this every week. To participate in this group, you should also have enough experience in Chinese that you can at least read and understand really basic Chinese (e.g. 2nd grade or 3rd grade level) -- meaning this isn't a group for learning Chinese from scratch. How do I participate? You can just go ahead and do the exercises, but if you're anything like me, this group will probably be most effective if you set a date when "homework" is due every week (or whatever interval is best for you) and try to adhere to that. I recommend finding a buddy to help you remind you to do your homework. If you notice that your buddy hasn't turned in their homework on the agreed day every week (or vis versa), you can bother each other to keep each other motivated. So what do I do every week? 1. Find a passage close to your level to read online I'm currently reading elementary-school-level 儿童故事 at this website, but feel free to find anything you think is suitable for your level. It's also okay to do the same passages that other people have done if you think it's a good level for you. 2. Read it several times (preferably out loud) without any assistance or tools! If you're pinyin dependent or a semi-MTL-er or the kind of person who depends a lot on software plugins or audio (or who knows what), put away the tools you normally use and go completely vanilla. You're not allowed to use anything other than an ordinary dictionary! It'll be hard and slow, but that's the point! If it's too difficult, you may need to find something that's easier than what you're currently reading. 3. After you've understood the passage, mark the phrases and vocabulary you weren't comfortable with. The exercises you do are up to you, but I'll be doing these for each vocabulary term I wasn't comfortable with: Write 10 times by hand on actual paper. Find two example sentences online that also use the term (I really like using www.ichacha.net for this). Understand them, then copy the example sentences. Construct your own original sentence for that term. 4. Re-read the passage and translate At this point, when you re-read the passage, everything should be a pretty fluent read and you should understand everything. At this stage, translate the passage into English without any tools. 5. Post your homework in this thread Post a link to the passage raw. Post your translation of the passage. Post the exercises that you've done. If you did 造句 or 组词 exercises, bold them. At this point, we don't have anyone dedicated to grading homework, but if someone stumbles upon something that's wrong (particularly exercises like 造句 or 组词), definitely let the original poster know. Critiquing each other is good!
Week 1: @selkie (for 1-10-2016) Story Link: http://www.tonghua5.com/ertonggushi/29719.html Translation: "Little Monkey Watches the House" by Zhao Xuechao After lunch, Monkey's dad went to work. Monkey's mom wanted to go grocery shopping, and just before leaving, she warned Little Monkey: "Mommy's going shopping, so be a good boy and watch the house." "Don't worry, mum! You can hurry and go." Little Monkey patted his chest and promised. ((work in progress)) Vocabulary Exercises: 临走时, 叮嘱, 保证, 急促, 敲, 细听, 狐狸, 顿时, 警觉, 轻易, 出于, 拎, 精致, 踢, 夸奖, 丈二和尚, 摸不着头脑, 轻信, 赶往, 派出所, 报案 Spoiler: Exercises 1. 临 - lin2 我临考前急得不得了。 临走前，我想感谢你为我们做的一切。 造句：临睡之前，他一定会洗澡。 2. 叮嘱 - ding1 zhu3 母亲一再叮嘱我上学不要迟到。 已经特别叮嘱过你不要吃鱼。 造句：爸爸一直叮嘱我把文章写好。 3. 保证 - bao3 zheng4 我保证不把这事告诉任何人。 我向你保证，小姐，我认为他们是傻瓜。 造句：我保证今晚不会迟到。 4. 急促 - ji2 cu4 你好想呼吸很急促。 就在这时，我听见楼梯响，接着是急促的敲门声。 造句：我急促地向前跑。 5. 敲 - qiao1 她用铅笔嗒嗒嗒地敲着桌子。 她向房门走去，轻轻地敲着门。 造句：好呀好呀，不用再敲了！ 6. 侧耳细听 - ce4 er2 xi4 ting1 他侧耳细听，什么也没听见。 他几乎没有注意听讲些什么，担当提到工资时，他却侧耳细听。 造句：老师提到考试的事，大家侧耳细听。 7. 狐狸 - hu2 li4 你是把狐狸放在鸡舍里。 狐狸跑的时候不断地改变方向。 造句：那只狐狸特别聪明。 8. 顿时 - dun4 shi2 他一讲话，大家顿时安静下来。 南希顿时觉得无言以是，只是点了点头。 造句：他一看到好友，顿时跑到他的身边。 9. 警觉 - jing3 jue2 那只猫对任何响动都很警觉。 飞行员必须警觉天气变化。 造句：听到他的话，我更加警觉起来。
Week 1: @lalalyly I'll play Story: http://www.gushi365.com/info/12428.html Translation: The Little Yellow Dog and the Big Yellow Dog Winter has come. The North wind blows with a hoo~ hoo~. It was very cold outside. The little yellow dog and the big yellow dog crouched by the fireplace and warmed themselves by the fire. The little yellow dog had just finished gnawing on a bone that the master had brought back; he was so happy! "Oh? What is this?" The little yellow dog looked at the window and discovered that there was a layer of something glistening on top. He used his paws to gently scratch at it. "Ah? It's actually a beautiful little frost flower!" The little yellow dog looked at the beautiful little frost flower and gave it a lick. Then, he said happily to the big yellow dog next to him, "Look! What a pretty frost flower! Like a beautiful plum blossom!" The big yellow dog lifted his head and glanced at the window and gruffly said, "What's there worth looking at? It's so ugly, like your gnawed leftover bone fragments." Oh? Why is the big yellow dog unhappy? As it turns out, today the master had only brought the little yellow dog a bone. In contrast, the big yellow dog got nothing; of course he wasn't happy! The little yellow dog didn't know why the big yellow dog was unhappy. He continued to argue, "Pretty! Pretty just like a little plum blossom!" The big yellow dog wasn't willing to show any weakness, and barked, "So ugly! So ugly, like bone fragments!" Just like this, the little yellow dog and the big yellow dog continually fought. In the end, they woke up their master. The master pet them both on the head and said, "Don't fight. Don't fight. As long as you both are happy and don't fight, everything you see will be beautiful!" 听了主人的话，小黄狗和大黄狗不再争了，它们又去看了看小霜花，这一次小大黄狗觉得小霜花真的很美丽，它和小黄狗一起叫道：“小霜花真美丽，我们都很喜欢你！” Hearing their master's words, the little yellow dog and the big yellow dog stopped fighting. They went to go see the little frost flower again. This time the [little] big yellow dog felt that the frost flower was truly very beautiful. The little yellow dog and he yelled together, "The little frost flower is really beautiful! We both like you a lot!" Homework: 蹲 -- dun need to write 10x.