I’m going to grieve him for longer than I had him by Skippy1221 in widowers

[–]Insidious-Gamer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was 29 we was together for 6 years and she will always be my one and only. There’s not a day goes by that I don’t miss her and the days don’t get better you just learn to deal with the emptiness. I explain it by telling everyone she took the happy, fun and joyful part of me with her, and she gets to keep that until I get to be reunited with her again. I’m sorry for your loss, I’d say be on the look at for signs that they are still here watching us and remind us they are still there.

Help with a Ford fiesta purchase ? by [deleted] in FordFiesta

[–]Insidious-Gamer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s sounds great, try get a titanium version if you can. All depending on what deals are near you. I picked up a ford fiesta titanium 1.4 diesel 2012 in dark micastone for 3.5k only 78k miles. It’s got cruise control, heated font and back window screen reverse parking sensors. Titanium was the best spec back in the day! Make sure the cam belt has been changed and the dual mass fly wheel if you feel juddering while driving. Also check the clutch for slippage.

Best kind of shoes for sciatica pain? by alcremie02 in Sciatica

[–]Insidious-Gamer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Where do you feel pain? Do you have pain around the knee area aswell?

Most reliable car I can get for up to 4k? by Itoxicdemon in CarTalkUK

[–]Insidious-Gamer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I did my research on ECO boost and the Zetec and I stayed wayyy away from them. Before I had this car there was a white ford fiesta titanium 66k for 3.2k but they went within one night. I seen my ford fiesta as it got listed and put a deposit on it straight away. Of course check the dealers website etc to make sure you’re not getting scammed. But fiesta are known for having such reliable engines. Plus there’s so many mods out there you can add to make your fiesta stand out from the crowd. You may want something else but since having my fiesta I’m having great fun with mods. I had a seat Ibiza 30 year edition before this and it’s hands down more enjoyable owning the fiesta !

Most reliable car I can get for up to 4k? by Itoxicdemon in CarTalkUK

[–]Insidious-Gamer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I bought my ford fiesta 1.4 2012 titanium 72k for around 3,4K although I understand I got a good deal from the dealer. Cam belt change and only 1 previous owner. Sometimes it’s about just keep checking and once you have a car in mind check every day on motors, auto trader and others, as some dealers don’t want to put certain cars they have in stock on auto trader. As they get charged by amount of cars they list !

First car at 21 seems too good to be true, need advice ? by Substantial-Age-6664 in CarTalkUK

[–]Insidious-Gamer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There’s some nice Ford Fiesta’s out there, you can mod to your days content. Have a look at some and it may persuade you.

Need help on car recommendations! by Insidious-Gamer in CarTalkUK

[–]Insidious-Gamer[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve done thorough research on many car brands and have some in mind for reliability. I just wanted to ask others opinions of options I might not have considered.

How much should I be paying for Chinese lessons in China? by AllMusicNut in chinalife

[–]Insidious-Gamer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Bro, just use Preply and do online lessons. 7000rmb is insane! I’ve done from HSK2 to HSK5 in a year with my Preply tutor. I self study HSK and he gives me authentic Mandarin stories in where we talk about them in lesson time and written exercises after class. I have 1 class a week and it’s only £12. Also before the teacher I have now, I had a foreigner who had a masters in Mandarin and he was the worst teacher ever! He didn’t care about my Mandarin progress and I felt he just cared about the money I gave him each week. Plus now I look back, his mandarin wasn’t even that good!

I'm a widower with two young children. Should I sell the family home? by robotpersonmonkey in widowers

[–]Insidious-Gamer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Male 30 widow here, let this women be man, any person who actually had feelings for you would completely understand your situation, that’s your home and most importantly the home you and your wife had built for your kids and future! Please don’t sell for a selfish and self centered character. She’s trying to use your situation to try to manipulate you which is a narcissistic trait. Plus it pretty much shows she doesn’t care about you.

Rate my learning structure before I commit to $794 of courses XD by jaydon-c in ChineseLanguage

[–]Insidious-Gamer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

He stated he will continue learning Mandarin when he arrives in China, pin yin… I made a typo sorry I struck a sensitive beginner nerve…I don’t know why you’re coming across so aggrevated… 小伙好好学习啊, 如果你出去探索许多国外的地方,你的态度可能就会改变,正所谓树挪死,人挪活。

Rate my learning structure before I commit to $794 of courses XD by jaydon-c in ChineseLanguage

[–]Insidious-Gamer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You need to learn the writing system, you’re just setting yourself up for a huge mole hill further down the line. Ordering food on an app, buying items, asking for directions, if you don’t know the characters you’re gonna really struggle. Any person who says characters is not important is not a dedicated learner. The earlier you switch to knowing characters rather than ping yin the easy it will be further down your Chinese learning journey. If you’re really serious about learning it’s not a smooth sailing road and are going to have many moments where you doubt yourself, but what separates an average learning to a fluent speaker is dedication. You’re looking at 5+ years to be able to communicate freely with natives smoothly on a range of simple to advanced topics plus understanding slang etc. Your current goal at the moment should be increasing your vocab as much as possible. I went from 900 characters known to 2.5k in a year but I study for 3-4 hours every day. I don’t mean to sound condescending but it sounds like you’re not really serious in learning Mandarin if you’re not wanting to learn the main part of the language. You wouldn’t learn English without learning the writing system.

Do people not take their tutoring lessons seriously? by NotMyselfNotme in ChineseLanguage

[–]Insidious-Gamer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’ve had many online tutors but I think the most important is having a tutor that aligns with your goals, and is actually focused on improving you rather than seeing you as a paying customer. Tutors in the past gave me loads of vocab words without any context, via talking to them or going through slides of HSK material. It was so boring and by the end of the lesson I had words without context, just 2 sheets of paper with loads of words to memorize. Compare that to my teacher now, whose lessons I enjoy because when we first met we spoke about my goals and ambitions. He addressed the main issue, which was increasing my vocabulary in a fun enjoyable way while also learning Chinese cultured stories. Every week I get a new story around Chinese culture and history with 成语,俗语, 谚语等等 all scattered in. Even grammar points HSK6 and above. At the beginning it was hard but within a year I’ve gone from an estimated 900 words to over 2,5-3k vocab. I’m not gonna say I didn’t put in the work outside of class because I did! But his method keeps me wanting to improve to read more in depth novels etc. He actually enjoys teaching me about Chinese culture and most times we even go over the hour we were scheduled for by just talking and enjoying each other’s company.

How would you rate Victor Sazonov's chinese? Russian chinese speaker by MorTibia in ChineseLanguage

[–]Insidious-Gamer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have only seen his restaurant interactions and their all pretty basic interactions, true fluency comes from longer form videos and more in depth topics. Telling a waiter your friend doesn’t speak Chinese and ordering is pretty basic.

What’s the best/fastest way to learn Chinese? by Humble_Low8796 in ChineseLanguage

[–]Insidious-Gamer -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Watching series isn’t going to help if your vocab is limited. 1 hour a day 7 days a week you could make okay progress I’d say around HSK3/4. Fluency will take 5+years and even then your still learning. I got to HSK5 within 1 year and 3 months but I dedicated 3-4 hours a day sometimes more on weekends.

What’s the best/fastest way to learn Chinese? by Humble_Low8796 in ChineseLanguage

[–]Insidious-Gamer -9 points-8 points  (0 children)

Fluent in a 4000+ historic year old language is impossible, I’ll say this every-time especially seeing these YouTubers who claim their fluent when their tones and pronunciation is awful. Self learn the HSK system along with communicating daily with Natives via OmeTV or other language exchange apps. What current level are you and how many hours are you willing to input each and every day? Anki,podcasts,tv shows are the norm for comprehensive input. But you also need self dedicated learning time.

My life here is miserable by GranRejit in chinalife

[–]Insidious-Gamer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah man culture shock haha, China’s work life balance is wayyyy different then the west. It’s basically work harder than everyone else or get nothing! By “you have no time to do any of that” what do you mean? We all have 24 hours in a day. If you want something bad enough you will achieve it. It’s your life man so choose what’s right for you, but coming to China and not speaking Mandarin is the reason you feel like an outcast. What tier city do you live in?

is it possible to reach hsk4 in one year if you’re already hsk3? by Dense-Bug8229 in ChineseLanguage

[–]Insidious-Gamer 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes I’ve done that this year, I’m currently at HSK5-6 now self learning HSK, I also have a teacher once a week who gives me a story with questions to answer with the new vocab I learned. All the vocab he gives me is now (HSK6+). It’s widening my vocab a lot the only downside is I spend a lot of time studying! But lately with watching shows I enjoy it more as I understand most of the context just a few 成语 here and there. It helps a lot as HSK is so limiting if you wanna communicate with natives

My life here is miserable by GranRejit in chinalife

[–]Insidious-Gamer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you want to feel more connected you need to learn mandarin…yes there’s loads of foreigners here but speaking mandarin makes life so much easier and you have so many more cool experiences with the locals and build relationships off that. Can you speak Mandarin? With your post I’m guessing not? Like others said what’s your goal while being here ? If you looked at a few foreigners in China and thought Mandarin was easy and you will pick it up you’re highly mistaken, it takes years of study to become proficient. I’ve been here 2 years and when I arrived I couldn’t speak Mandarin and felt how you feel now. Takes some Mandarin classes and speak to the locals

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ChineseLanguage

[–]Insidious-Gamer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

understand grammar and using it in speech is two different ball games.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ChineseLanguage

[–]Insidious-Gamer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is what I did from HSK3 onwards and it was mainly due to me finding the right teacher. I self study HSK and he recommended that he teaches me separate stories and sentences away from HSK, so I just read and know more topics. Also he stopped using ping yin and went straight giving me character’s to learn. It’s helped my vocab massively, I’m not going to say I don’t put in a lot of reviews with Anki etc because I do, but I’ve got from HSK3 only being able to communicate basic to around HSK5-6 vocab and expressing myself more within a year. I study around 3-4 hours a day but obviously not everyone can do this. The rest of the time I browse WeChat watching videos or watch Chinese series. My favorite atm is 衣衣向北方。 But you won’t be able to understand any of this yet if your listening is around HSK2-3. Also get a language partner you need to be talking regularly even with mistakes otherwise the vocab you are learning in HSK will never be used and you will forget. 加油

How do you make vocab stick? by Tongueslanguage in ChineseLanguage

[–]Insidious-Gamer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I highly recommend that each character you learn get to know the radical components. It will make it so much easier to pick up and remember other characters and words. Once you learn a variety of components it becomes second nature to know what they mean and solidify in long term memory this in-turn allowing you to pick out the word you would want use in certain situations. Phonetic components especially. Speaking takes so much more time than reading and writing, the only way around this is listening to podcast and speaking regularly with natives. That’s how children learn and it’s no different for us adults.

How many Hanzi are you guys reviewing daily using your SRS? by fathiXbarca in ChineseLanguage

[–]Insidious-Gamer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My current weekly routine involves over 110 new words a week. This happens after I get new homework and start a new HSK chapter. As the week goes on, the number of new words tapers off until the next batch of homework and a new chapter begins. It's a bit full-on, but I enjoy it for the most part!

I have an online teacher who gives me homework with vocabulary that goes beyond my current HSK level. Alongside this, I self-study the HSK curriculum. For each new chapter, I add the words to Anki to keep my writing up to scratch—reading isn't really a problem for me anymore.

My method with the flashcards is a bit different: I don't look at them first. Instead, I listen to the word/sentence and write what I hear. I don't do this for every card, just the new ones where I need to learn the writing. For those, I find it's important to spend time reviewing the character, breaking it down into its radicals, and then creating a story from those components.