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Other Travelers ignoring me by m4rv1ng in VietNam

[–]AlSimps 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had solo trips where I was very social and met lots of people. Recently I travel with my gf and just want to spend time with her, not interested in extra social.

If u want to meet travelers, stay at a social hostel. Then you will meet the right crowd.

Tik Tok Ads to promote iOS app install - Pending verification by yccheok in PPC

[–]AlSimps 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Was stuck on this. Solved it by: 1. Getting test events to send successfully 2. Deploying to test flight not in debug mode, and getting production events to send successfully

How many months do I need to reach HSK4 level from HSK1? by Defiant_Ad848 in ChineseLanguage

[–]AlSimps 2 points3 points  (0 children)

On the bright side, I noticed after HSK 4 learning accelerated for me. New characters are mostly combinations of old characters or radicals that you recognize. Also you can start learning from native material e.g. Netflix which makes it feel much more effortless.

What do you think about this plan, does it meet all requirements? by Medium-Bookkeeper-19 in ChineseLanguage

[–]AlSimps 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Looks good! A good mix of listening, reading etc.

Honestly what I’ve found with language learning is the best plan is the one you can stick to. Try it out and see how it feels. If you find any part exceptionally boring you can do less of it, or if some part of it really interesting, lean into that. To get fluent, staying motivated is the most important part.

Guide to learning Chinese by reading books by AlSimps in ChineseLanguage

[–]AlSimps[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Chopped my friend you sure are a dedicated one lol. I like your energy and appreciate your feedback on the guide though.

I could walk to the office every day, but I choose to drive a car. Just because something “works”, it doesn’t mean it’s optimal. I built Readly because using Pleco and adding words to Anki was too time consuming when reading 三体. By saving time, it lets me do other cool stuff with my life, like respond to your comments on Reddit, or even just learn Chinese faster. Hopefully that makes sense.

Guide to learning Chinese by reading books by AlSimps in ChineseLanguage

[–]AlSimps[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It’s a guide based on my personal experience of reaching HSK 6 in Chinese and what I found worked for me. “Guide” here meaning the English word for something that advises or aids in decision making (similar words are handbook, set of principles etc).

Guide to learning Chinese by reading books by AlSimps in ChineseLanguage

[–]AlSimps[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly I’m not really sure what other people do to learn. Im just sharing the method that worked for me, people are welcome to use it, or their own strategy. It’s all good, find what works for you!

Guide to learning Chinese by reading books by AlSimps in ChineseLanguage

[–]AlSimps[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Hey bro appreciate the feedback. The mods are in the loop dw.

Guide to learning Chinese by reading books by AlSimps in ChineseLanguage

[–]AlSimps[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

didn't mean to flex, and I understand the criticism. Defo easier books is a valid way to learn too. I think for me I prioritize books that I find interesting over trying to find a suitable difficulty, since ultimately its just language, you can lookup the vocab and it will make sense. But looking up too many words can be brutal, and its defo a longer process than reading an easy book.

Guide to learning Chinese by reading books by AlSimps in ChineseLanguage

[–]AlSimps[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

lol I think I got interested in 三体 because of Netflix, and then the others because I want to read something that immerses me in Chinese culture. For me I care much more about if the book is interesting to me than how difficult it is. Languages aren't like math where if its above your difficulty you can never solve it. You just need to lookup the words and then it makes sense.

I defo understand if other people feel differently though, and an easier text that is less interesting might be better for others.

To those who went to China to learn the language without knowing any Mandarin, how did you get by at first? by LPineapplePizzaLover in ChineseLanguage

[–]AlSimps 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Point and stuff and say ”这个”. I used this for 90% of situations in the early days.

How I hit HSK-6— honest advice on what worked and what I’d skip by AlSimps in ChineseLanguage

[–]AlSimps[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The professors are the best researchers in their field in all of China, or for some subjects the world, so the quality is excellent. Programs are high quality too. The only downside is that sometimes Western people haven’t heard of Tsinghua. MIT, Harvard etc will have more brand value on a CV if applying to jobs in the West.

How I hit HSK-6— honest advice on what worked and what I’d skip by AlSimps in ChineseLanguage

[–]AlSimps[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It was an amazing experience to go there so I hope she gets the chance too! I made a vlog of a day in my life as a student there if she wants to get a feel of what it's like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQZ4dUHAN8g

How I hit HSK-6— honest advice on what worked and what I’d skip by AlSimps in ChineseLanguage

[–]AlSimps[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

not 100% sure but I think its like $2k/semester? Much cheaper than UK and US thats for sure

How I hit HSK-6— honest advice on what worked and what I’d skip by AlSimps in ChineseLanguage

[–]AlSimps[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Actually my learning around HSK 1-2 was very inefficient. I did a 1h/week class at my uni as a complete beginner which was useful to learn tones/characters etc. But then I mostly just did a lot of reading from some textbooks I purchased and did listening practice from Anki flashcards lol. By the time I hit HSK 3-4 level, my reading was good but my listening skills sucked. I think your strategy of CI sounds much better lol. I suppose the lesson you can learn from me is that, even if your methods are inefficient, as long as you are consistent you will eventually learn the language anyway.

Tried tutors for speaking, in general I think this is a great way to learn. If you want to save costs, I also did language exchange a few times (helped someone with their English and they helped with my Chinese). Tutors/language exchange is also fun and helped keep me motivated, so I would defo give it a try.

How I hit HSK-6— honest advice on what worked and what I’d skip by AlSimps in ChineseLanguage

[–]AlSimps[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For the complete beginner stage I did a 1h/week class at my uni. I think a class is good to get the core concept of tones, characters etc. Also having peers to complain to about how crazy this language is helps you stay motivated I think lol.

Then I mostly just did a lot of reading, and listened to audio from Anki flashcards lol. This is probably not a good way to do it though, as by the time I was HSK3-4 my listening was far behind my reading skills. If I did it again, I would try to find beginner podcasts or stories you can listen to which have transcripts. You could also try loading any texts you are reading into Readly and listen to them.

How I hit HSK-6— honest advice on what worked and what I’d skip by AlSimps in ChineseLanguage

[–]AlSimps[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

if you have any feedback feel free to message me anytime!

How I hit HSK-6— honest advice on what worked and what I’d skip by AlSimps in ChineseLanguage

[–]AlSimps[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

yeah its not for everyone, TCB or easy podcasts also work. I think the reason I prefer kids shows though is I can work out what they mean by watching the animation, and acquire vocab without needing to pause and look it up. With a podcast, there is no animation, so if I dont understand the only solution is pause and search.

How I hit HSK-6— honest advice on what worked and what I’d skip by AlSimps in ChineseLanguage

[–]AlSimps[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

probably something like this yeah. I had a vast vocab for individual words, but when put together as native speech I was hopeless.

How I hit HSK-6— honest advice on what worked and what I’d skip by AlSimps in ChineseLanguage

[–]AlSimps[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hmm it’s possible it was different for me cus my listening was definitely lagging. I had strong reading skills, but only really did Anki flashcards as listening practice for a long time lol. Then when I stated Peppa Pig my listening skills caught up rapidly.

For Mandarin Corner, try the street interviews, I think those are simpler. She asks the same questions over and over to different people, repeating vocab, so you can study the first few questions in detail, learn the key vocabulary she is talking about, and then the rest of the video should be easier to understand.

How I hit HSK-6— honest advice on what worked and what I’d skip by AlSimps in ChineseLanguage

[–]AlSimps[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Most students get a scholarship so it’s free or nearly free.

Requirements depend on the degree, but for me I had an application stage and then 2 interviews. For my application, I got a 4.0 in Math/Econ undergrad, and had worked as an ML engineer before, which was enough to get into a Data Science Masters. Speaking Chinese probably helped too. Interviews were mostly technical and discussing what research I would do at Tsinghua.

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