雨霏

study blog for my journey to become fluent in Chinese in 6 months

[rainyhanyu]

About me

Hello! My name is Sophia (雨霏), and I am determined to become fluent in Chinese in 6 months.

I'm currently a physics PhD student in Hawaii. You may be wondering, how could I possibly do both of these things? Well, I decided to drop out soon, so I'm not going to class. Just studying 汉语 over here!

Most importantly, why do I need to become fluent in Chinese so soon? My beautiful lesbian girlfriend (soon to be fianceé) is from China, and I already travel there often to see her. I'm staying with her parents for half the year in 2026, and I would love to be able to connect with them more.

and yes, I am not starting from zero. I am currently sitting at around an A2 level. I'm going to focus on speaking and listening because that is my biggest weakness. Right now, I often need my girlfriend to type out sentences she is saying for me when we are together because my reading is much better than my listening. I desperately want to speak freely as soon as possible!

So if you're studying Chinese, studying something else, or just want to see how this turns out, give me a follow :) I'll just be documenting my journey here. Inbox is open for questions of any kind!

[rainyhanyu]

November 19, 2025

characters learned：史，使，便，石，硬，连，辆，较，轻，经，与，士，任，豆，搞，亭

words learned：随便，大便，小便，石头，汽车，打车，自行车，比较，年轻，年轻人，听写，提高，经过，听写，女士，信任，土豆，提高

notes

mostly a review day [⁠ᓀ⁠˵⁠▾⁠˵⁠ᓂ⁠]

[rainyhanyu]

November 18, 2025

characters learned：免，象，像，实，特，告，洗，角，解，当，扫

words learned：国家，老家，大象，不像话，好像，回头，头发，木头，舌头，其实，实话，老实，买单，买卖，外卖，特别，特点，了解，解决，当时，打扫，事情，事儿，出事，怎么回事

notes

ok ooh! today didn't seem productive until I wrote out all the words (⁠・⁠∀⁠・⁠)

almost done with the graded reading section of my course! I'll be starting to read longer stories in a couple days, and that's my last section before I want to switch to a speaking/listening focus

[rainyhanyu]

November 17, 2025

characters learned：灯，烦，重，乍，窄，丰，青，情，表

words learned：公里，重要，运作，请进，情况，表情，发生，您贵姓

notes

had my first group call with other Chinese coached students today. it went well, but I'm not sure if this coach was worth all I paid. at least it's making me more consistent :)

[rainyhanyu]

November 16, 2025

characters learned：者，孝，教，广，应，亥，该，孩，冰

words learned：或者，老公，语法，外语，语言，口语，书店，自学，学院，小孩，冰水，反应

notes

I also did not study today as much as I wanted to. if anyone has any advice on how to not feel like a sluggish zombie all day, I would greatly appreciate it (⁠｡⁠ﾉ⁠ω⁠＼⁠｡⁠)

[rainyhanyu]

November 15, 2025

characters learned：草，药，宽，采，受，共，借，收，改，数，古，苦

words learned：菜单，点菜，受不了，一共，借口，收到，收入，改变，叫做

notes:

got woken up early by the lovely Honolulu streets so another lazy day ╮⁠(⁠╯⁠_⁠╰⁠)⁠╭ but maybe I'm just hard on myself

deciding between grueling through vocab and listening/speaking practice equally or just prioritizing vocab until I hit the words needed for basic fluency and then switching gears from there

[rainyhanyu]

November 14, 2025

characters learned：介，召，绍，照，至，井，进，片，亦，变，田，课，单

words learned：介绍，至少，照相机，拍照，没想到，进来，进去，进步，进一步，出来，出去，出发，出现，变化，上课，下课，单身，简单

notes

again, not as productive as I'd like, but I'm building good habits!

[rainyhanyu]

Here's a beautiful private hot spring I got to stay at a few weeks ago with my girlfriend in Beijing (⁠｡⁠♡⁠‿⁠♡⁠｡⁠)

[rainyhanyu]

November 13, 2025

characters learned:：约，合，拿，穴，穿，空，深，式，试，刀，份，切，划，班

words learned ：红包，约会，大概，合法，天空，空间，空气，正式，刀子，分手，分开，过分，月份，一切，计划

Notes:

I went to my university's Mandarin workshop today! I never took a class in Chinese after high school, so I wasn't sure which "course number" section to go to. I picked the highest one and was a bit scared as it was taught entirely in Chinese, but it was actually right at my level! Feeling very proud of myself (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠) A word I learned was even in my self taught lesson later (切).

[rainyhanyu]

November 12, 2025

characters learned：甘，某，其，期，厂，厌，厅，近，诉，厚，反，饥，江，左，右

words learned：某个，某些，其他，讨厌，听力，听话，以后，后来，最后，后天，反正，相反，员工

notes:

another busy teaching day, but I did get to study for around three hours. I hope to have more time tomorrow for review, as well as learning roughly the same amount of words (⁠・⁠∀⁠・⁠)

[rainyhanyu]

November 11, 2025

characters learned：夕，够，歹，吵，步，员，贵，页，首，直

words learned：另外，国外，外边，以外，吓死，看见，见面，明天见，发现，现金，一直，认真

notes

I felt really really lazy and sluggish today for some reason 😴. It was a university holiday and a rainy day, so I mostly lounged around. but I still got a few hours of studying in (⁠◔⁠‿⁠◔⁠)

Hopefully tomorrow will be more productive when I'm not teaching class!

[rainyhanyu]

November 10, 2025

characters learned: 全，报，服，元，远，玩，园，完，院，定，安，宝，匕，比，此，些

vocabulary learned: 衣服，说服，好玩儿，公园，完美，完全，一定，不一定，决定，安全，宝宝，匕首，比如，一些，有些，这些，那些，能力，可能，地铁

notes:

some here are new, but I already passively knew most of these. today I committed their tones and radicals to memory, rather than just recognizing them

did some speaking/listening practice with all these words, too, but I hope to do more on the other days this week

practiced reading/listening some dialogues with these words

couldn't study as much as I had hoped to (only two hours) because I teach a lot on Mondays, but I think this was still a solid day

signed up for a language workshop this week! nervous but we'll see how it goes (⁠；⁠^⁠ω⁠^⁠）