Evaluation of Language Studies | Month Nine
1) Preaching. The goal for this month was to preach for 20 minutes but I came in a little short around 18 minutes and 45 seconds. But this month still was a giant leap forward because I prepared my entire sermon in Chinese. I didn’t write out my thoughts in English first and then translate them, I wrote them down directly in Chinese. Also, I used my notes a lot less this time during preaching, making it more natural and comfortable. Instead of adding five minutes, I will try to preach for the full 20 minutes in month ten.
2) Translating. I have actually learned a lot through translating this month. First, I worked on translating the entire song book (with a friend) that we use in the church, so that I could understand all of the songs and the vocabulary. Second, we have been spending a little time translating menus for places the we frequent often (Chinese names for food and dishes is quite complex and hard.)
3) Reading. I finished reading through a book (with my teacher) of Chinese Contemporary short stories. This has been helpful to introduce new vocabulary, learn the ranges of how some words are used, grammar and some cultural insight. We have started reading the second book in the series which contains about 3,000 different words.
4) Characters. This month I started a soft approach to learning characters. I consider it a soft approach because:
- I want to have at least one year of spoken language study completed before I dive into the characters.
- I am mainly learning to read and recognize the characters and putting little to no emphasis on writing them right now (writing is the last stage).
- I only have a goal to learn about 18 a week.
- I only use one hour out of my 26 hours of class time to be taught characters.
- Most of the characters I am learning are easy, common, or everyday characters that I choose.
- For the most part, I already know the meaning, tone, and pronunciation; so I am just adding the symbol.
The goal right now is to slowly become more familiar with the characters and use them for practical purposes.
5) Prayer Request. Please continue to pray as we continue to learn. Pray for our tones, pronunciation, grammar, and listening skills to develop stronger and stronger. Pray for opportunities for us to confidently share the Gospel and interact using the level of Chinese that we already currently at.
Read last Month’s Evaluation: Evaluation of Language Studies | Month Eight
06.30.11
What is one of the hardships of living here?
I was recently asked about the hardships of living here. Moving to China has definitely been one of the most challenging and hardest things that I have done.
The hardest thing for me, thus far, has been the language (and a lot of the other hardships come out of this). Language is everything and without it there are many frustrations.
It is a roller-coaster ride of emotions. One moment everything seems to be going as planned and the next moment you are wondering how you will ever learn this language. It is a lot of work and patience. Both of those are hard, especially patience. I wish I could just put some change into the vending machine and press a button to obtain what I want, but it doesn’t work like that.
Everything else that might seem hard, such as weather or food, doesn’t even compare with not being able to fluently or comfortably speak, especially when you are a communicator.
So at this point in the game, language is the hardest thing for me.
Question:
If you are a missionary, what are some of hardest things for you on your mission field?
| Posted in Amazing Journey, Culture Shock, Language Learning, Missionary Life | 2 Comments »
Evaluation of Language Studies | Month Six
1) Preaching. We set a goal for me to attempt and preach for five minutes at the end of my sixth month of language school. So this being our sixth month, I preached my first sermon in Chinese for about 6 minutes! This doesn’t mean that I am close to where I need to be, but it is a sign of progress! Praise the Lord! Here is how I prepared for it:
- First, I wrote out about five minutes worth of material in English. (This was everything I wanted to say, including the introduction and closing prayer.)
- Second, I translated my text from English to Chinese the best I could. Looking up new words, trying to use things I learned, and guessing at what I didn’t know.
- Third, after translating the text I gave the text to my teacher (Chinese person) and he helped me correct it. After trying to figure out what I wanted to say, he then took it, made it better and more Chinese sounding (better fluency, corrected words, and added his own spin to it).
- Fourth, I re-read the text figuring out the changes and learning the new words and trying to understand all the grammar and why it was arranged like it was.
- Fifth, after understanding the text fully I started memorizing it and becoming familiar with it. I practiced preaching it with my teacher. He would correct my pronunciation, fluency, inflection, and tones.
- Finally, I preached it on the last Wednesday of the month! (I was so nervous it felt like I was preaching for my very first time again.)
Though we have a long way to go it is exciting to be able to speak the Word of God in this new language!
2) Tones & Pronunciation. My tones and pronunciation are coming along and there is definite improvement from my first month until now. But as sentences are combined and get more complicated the pronunciation and tones get harder. It feels like after you finally get this word’s tone and pronunciation down, you run unto another problem and seems as if you are moving backwards. This month I had a noticeable problem with third tones followed by second tones (going from the lowest pitch to the highest).
3) Grammar. I didn’t get around to reading much more of a grammar book this month, but I did learn a lot about grammar. It seemed that I was asking “why” this month more than normal (Why this word? What is this used for?). As different things came up, I would understand the whole sentence except for this or that? A simple person like me has to have it explained many times over before I finally get it.
4) Improvement. More Focus needs to be put in the same areas as last month. Speaking with people in longer than an introduction settings and improved listening. Opportunities for this should be more available as the weather is warming up and more people are lingering about.
5) More School! Sometime in month seven I should be applying for another school due to needing a new visa. Pray that we find the right school, we can get visas for our whole family through it, and the added hours of school will be beneficial (I will be enrolled in two schools full time).
Read last Month’s Evaluation: Evaluation of Language Studies | Month Five
| Posted in Amazing Journey, Language Learning, Preaching | No Comments »
| Posted in Amazing Journey, Language Learning | No Comments »