Li Nuo's Self Evaluation

This week I gave a presentation.  I felt that it went pretty well.  There were a few spots when I had to stop and think about what to say, but I felt like I conveyed my meaning fairly well.  Then the presentation ended and it turned out nobody understood the most important concept I was trying to talk about.  I was slightly dismayed, but not too much because it’s a really complicated concept.  Actually, it took me a while to understand it in English.  Afterward, Dai Laoshi suggested I use a simple metaphor to explain.  My example didn’t really work, but I didn’t think of something after class.  I really need to become better at explaining what I study using Chinese, but I think I’ve made progress over the semester.  Honestly, I felt this had been my best presentation because I struggled so much earlier to even get through a presentation.  To be able to speak on a topic with only one problem area (I hope it was only one) was encouraging.

This week I had a few problems with the article I read.  It was longer than the previous ones I had read, and also more difficult to understand.  After meeting with my language partner, she felt that the article actually was poorly written and vague.  I was hoping for a more specific opinion on sustainable development as it relates to China and the CDM, but apparently this happens a lot with government written articles.  Regardless, it revealed that I have a trouble with sentences using 将 and 由.  I find the word order confusing, but hopefully I can get it as I continue to read.  I also did not know the sentence pattern 为…以.  I understand it now, and think it will be useful in the future, it seems like it’s used a lot in Chinese articles.

When meeting with Jiyang on Wednesday, I found it easier to talk with her than when in class.  I think it really helped for prepping me for my presentation too.  After talking with Jiyang, I felt more comfortable talking about the subject and I think it showed.

Lastly, I have started reading out loud to help practice my rhythm.  Dai Laoshi brought up the face that it is sometimes hard to follow what I am saying because I pause in awkward locations.  After meeting with her on Friday, I found out that speaking Chinese with a proper cadence is not easy.  I have a hard time understanding what I am saying when I’m focusing on speaking, so the rhythm of my speaking gets thrown off.  Sort of a vicious cycle.  I think that next time it will be easier for me if I make sure I understand all of the article beforehand.  This was a difficult article for me, so maybe with an easier one, I’ll have a better time.

This week, I tried a new strategy for organizing my Chinese homework.  I decided to read a new article, blog, and then present instead of article, present, blog.  I think it really worked out pretty well.  By the time my presentation came, I was much more familiar with the article and, therefore, the vocab.  I know that I still didn’t talk at normal pace during my presentation, but I felt more confident.  Unfortunately, we’re switching to a new style of class where I’ll be presenting on Thursday, so I’ll have to rework my schedule again, haha.  I feel confident in my ability to come up with something that works for me again.

I did encounter some more grammar problems, though.  This week, I had trouble making comparison sentences.  This is disappointing because it’s something you learn in first or second year Chinese.  Like last week, the problem is with long sentences.  In the article I read the author wrote: 未来发达国家将需要比第一承诺期大得多海外减排量指标,以完成自身的减排义务.  I’m not exactly sure what’s being compared here.  Is it “future demand will be larger than first commitment period because of lowering emissions overseas standards”?  The English sentence I wrote doesn’t even make sense :P.  I also had this problem when writing a response to another blog post.

If you can find any grammar mistakes in my Friday blog post I’d be curious to hear about them.  Thanks.

This week I noticed several problems I’m having with Chinese grammar.  First, when writing longer sentences, I tend to mess up the word order.  This is very much related to choosing the correct conjunction for each sentence.  In last semester’s term-paper, there were a few times I could’ve chosen better grammar patterns or conjunctions.  Once I did that incorrectly, I put words out of place.  Another problem I discovered is the use of non-directional prepositions.  For instance, “I pointed out a few problems in her Chinese grammar.” Is 我指出了她某些中文语法的问题 OK?  I’m not sure.

I had a few problems speaking over the course of the week, but I also added some more speaking time in general.  I felt like my presentation could’ve gone a lot better.  I needed to pause quite a bit.  My language partner session went fairly well, but when I went to her hot pot dinner party, I felt a little overwhelmed.  People at the party started talking about Tibet and wasting resources (not in the same conversation), and I had a pretty hard time keeping up.  It was difficult for me to both participate in the conversation and keep up with the whole conversation.  I felt like whenever I could’ve made a comment it took me too long to respond, so someone else started talking.  Very frustrating.

Interesting week.  I met a few setbacks that I wasn’t expecting.  The first of which was how much my listening comprehension was affected this week when I was feeling tired.  I have a problem, I think it’s common among language learners, in which I start out strongly and then reach a point when listening comprehension becomes noticeably more difficult to me.  Unfortunately it happened in both classes this week; I would be OK for this first half of class, and then once the second half started, my comprehension dropped.  I’ve been trying to expose myself to more Chinese by meeting with my language partner and being with Chinese friends.  Maybe I should try to listen to more news clips during the week to help.

Consistency is something I need to work on for my speaking.  This week there were times I felt like Chinese flowed quite well, and other times I paused quite frequently.  One thing that should help in this area is discussing the same topics multiple times.  As I become more familiar with topics, my speech should become more fluid (I hope).

Lastly, I need to study vocab more.  This isn’t that complicated and I need to figure out different times during the week that I can dedicate to looking over what I’ve learned so far.  This should improve my speech fluidity as well.

Ah, I lied.  One more thing.  I’m happy with the way my reading speed is improving.  I don’t feel as frustrated as I used to.  I’m still in more of a “deciphering” mode than an “interpreting ideas” mode, but I feel like I’m making that transition.

Test

Not a bad week.  Overall, I was pretty happy with the way class progressed and my language partner sessions went.  In terms of positives, I think that my listening comprehension was good enough to keep up with discussions in class and those with my language partner.  The only time I found myself struggling was when Rajeev (spelling?) came to speak.  Not being able to understand about half of that talk was disappointing as it would’ve given me more insight into the coming semester.  I also noticed that listening to Chinese was becoming taxing at the end of class.  Not having spoken with anyone over break made this more of strain, but I think that feeling should dissolve as I’m exposed to more Chinese over the semester.

I feel like I was able to incorporate more new vocabulary with my language partner, but still struggled to keep a natural flow in the conversation.  I would say this is one of my biggest weaknesses, at least when talking about environmental policy, so I’d like to improve on that over the semester.

Lastly, my reading and writing speed could use improvements.  Writing in Chinese for me is still mostly focused on how to translate what I’m thinking rather than on how to write well.  I hope over the semester I can move more towards a point where I can focus more on quality of writing over translating.