I'm reading 夜半衣寒 (part 4 out of like 33 still).
And its a reread, last time I resd everything but the last 3 chapters because I tend to stop stuff I love right before its over. So yeah, I'm rereading. So as expected, the actual amount of totally brand new hanzi i see is fairly low. I've read this before intensively (looking up nearly all unknown words) and extensively (looking up an occasional new word but guessing mostly). So I am fairly familiar with the vocabulary the fic uses, though I forgot the pronunciation of some of these words.
Well like. Its a wild experience noticing how much I comprehend this time around. I am extensively reading, looking up 1-6 words a chapter (for pinyin or to double check I guessed or remembered a word correctly). I am reading it faster than last time. I notice this time around I simply know a lot more words, which makes me think I definitely improved vocabulary in between reading this last time and rereading it now. Because I do NOT remember recognizing this many words even when I was reading intensively in the past and looking most words up. I also do NOT remember details being THIS Clear to me when reading. Aka I remember a lower overall comprehension of what was going on. Last time, I remember I grasped wu xie was a singer/radio host kind of thing in a sucky apartment building that was moist, creepy sad music was heard, he met xiaoge the security guard etc.
1. More aware of details im missing like "is this moist or damp? The teacher is standing either at a podium or platform but I'm not sure. The window was described but I'm not sure if that's about paper covering the window or a curtain I will look it up."
2. I am comprehending way more generally than last time - now im grasping specific details much easier like "wu xies bed is in this portion of the bedroom, there's 2 windows, the windows were sealed so wind couldn't have knocked the paper, the room had moistness despite tightly sealed windows, xiaoge is being accused of being the late night singer but says he didn't sing and wu xie is not grasping that xiaoge did not grasp he was being accused, so wu xie thinks he's being blatantly lied to. Wu xie is not just IN a class lecture (which I grasped last time) but also sick, red nose, blowing nose, teacher is annoyed he's sick and talking to friends trying to encourage him to go to school doctor, wu xies sneakily glancing at internet instead of listening to lecture on western architecture (so i can tell what the lecture is about, WHY the teachers mad, what specifically his friends versus him are saying about being sick, what specifically wu xie is doing on his phone - things I could not grasp last time beyond simply "He's in a lecture and sick and friends asking something and teacher mad.") So as you can imagine, in a way it feels like reading it for the first time all over again. I have the prior reading experience to roughly inform me if my guess of an unknown word is likely close enough (now that I can remember wu xie is Sick in the lecture it's easier to guess the paper is a tissue and not school related text, the lecture being done by a teacher means I can now guess easier that the architecture word is related to the class subject instead of describing the rooms appearance, knowing wu xie has Z kind of apartment with Y furniture means when I do see an unknown I can be fairly sure it's a cupboard or window-accessory etc).
I am very much enjoying it, as its making this both an easier read and more fun to catch all these details I missed last time. I think for me, the way I tend to read and reread has its benefits sometimes and here is definitely one of those times.
I want to eventually be one of those people who has read like X number of books in chinese ToT. Alas I've read 20-100 chapters in several things but not actually finished much. I finished The Little Prince, 4 graded readers, 2 children's novels about wild cats in the city, then read some chapters of a couple dozen other things. I would love to say I've read 1 priest novel... 3 ;-;.... all the ones on my bookshelves. Oh the day I can read can ci pin ;-; ....
It's also a bit fun and surprising to be reading again after nit being able to study Chinese for a few months for various reasons. In one part because I've been sick and focused study has been rare to impossible, and in other part because I've been focusing mainly on Japanese when I Do have energy since I'm trying to get my Japanese good enough to play an imported game I've never played before once it comes in. Also whenever I'm playing Japanese games (and I'm playing yakuza games rn) my urge and motivation to study Japanese skyrockets. Hearing Japanese nonstop for like several weeks because of those games definitely has motivated me lol. Also I just bought a Nintendo famicon and Final Fantasy VI in Japanese so... one day I'll be playing that.
But yeah, my chinese study has been neglected for a good 3 months. So it's interesting to see what I've retained versus what I had not learned solidly enough and therefore lost or struggle to remember now. Certain sounds I seem to be rusty at making, and maybe that's partly Japanese study interference. Remembering pronunciation in General of hanzi I only vaguely knew is what seems to have taken the worst hit. When I read, most hanzi I can recall SEEING before (so I remembered the radicals combo as familiar) and can recall at least roughly what it meant (so I see 颤抖 Chandou and forget the pronunciation, forget if it specifically means tremble, but can recall it means roughly tremble/shake/shudder which are rough synonyms which tend to make sense in the places I see the word. I can recall the second hanzi might be dou based on the radicals but cant quite recall Chan when I see it unless I look up the word again). There's a Lot of words and hanzi I had learned vaguely before my study break, and I mostly still recognizd them in reading but the sound info and specifics is foggy or gone. Then there's words I specifically remember where I learned them (words I learned from zhenhun in particular lol I have a really strong recall of since I reread those words a Lot and Heard them a lot) and they tend to recall very solid and I'm certain when I see them. (Related note, I watched 4 eps of guardian lately, 2 without English subs then 2 not even looking at the screen and just playing in the background while working and.... if there was ever a show I learned from So Much I follow everything lol its that). My point is... I retained a lot more reading skill than I expected. I'm really happy about that. While my listening skills weakened, and that's a big goal for me eventually, this is nice at least. Also my writing/speaking skills tanked like wild, but I suspect it's a short term effect of being so japanese study focused I just can't remember much chinese active vocabulary at the moment. That's happened with French plenty of times and it just means usually I need to start Using the language again and it will mostly come back (except for the words I only vaguely learned to say... which will need to be more actively restudied to put into active vocabulary longer term).
I've mostly been reading manhua instead of thicker texts. Does not probably help with my goal of read A LOT to improve (and read thru the novels I want to lol), but its fun. I'm reading 破云，你的距离，19天. It's relaxing to read manhua tbh right now, in part because I know most words so I really can just guess and move on, and I'm in a comic reading mood even in English lately (I read a 500 page beast recently in English and am still reading some dense fanfic, so books wise my brains been like legs read junji ito slowly... and manhua slowly... and death note slowly.. and ranma 1/2 slowly...) also I've been drawing again lately, so no doubt seeing the art styles is helping me with ideas a bit.
I am probably not learning Korean. In my little attempt around a month ago I learned hangul a bit again, and some real common basic stuff. Got a bit less horrific at recognizing hangul spelling. But I just do not engage with Korean much. (Also I unfortunately did not find a learning resource that did what I wanted, the only ones I did were more suitable for intermediate learners which I am not). Maybe one day.
I am also I think a bit spoiled in that like... the other languages I mainly focus on I am upper beginner or higher in and have been for a While so they just do Not ever feel as hard... Japanese I can read with a dictionary, it's only like lol my level of Chinese at 8 months but it's still eons better than total beginner. French I can read extremely solid in so its only ever listening practice of words I Should Know already when I pick it up again, chinese I can read and watch and talk/write if I make myself so it's not a matter of being functional it's more a matter of improvement (my listening skills need WORK but with my reading skill where it is, like French it's mostly a matter of learning to hear and follow what I can already read). Spanish and Italian I am very weak at study wise, but I can read technical texts fairly well in both and have already prepped learning resources ideal for my learning style so when I do rarely have time to study them I know exactly what to sit down and use. My German is probably the weakest, despite 2 years of school for it lol, but like Italian and Spanish I already have all the resources prepared I prefer to study from for German so it's again just a matter of using them. Whereas for korean... I had no study plan, no resources already found and suitable for my learning style and absolute beginner level. And probably most importantly... just no urgent need. My French never got very good besides reading because I only needed it for reading when I studied it a lot. My chinese is probably the furthest along because thanks to authors and shows I Really enjoy, there's an actual need for me to be able to consume non translated media that keeps me eventually making myself study again and again. My Japanese stalled once I could play kingdom hearts 2 in Japanese cause that had been my goal since age 11 ToT. And it wasn't until recently with more actual untranslated Novels I want to read and untranslated games i want to play that the motivation to study again has kicked in gear. For me an urge to be able to understand stuff I cannot find translated (or know enough to tell where the translations are a bit odd) tends to motivate me a lot.
Fairly unrelated. I found a list that ranks cdramas based on how easy/hard they are to watch for learners. And I found it funny Ice Fantasy was ranked as easy - I AGREE wholeheartedly. While my cdrama watching is fairly doable for anything without English subs if I have chinrse subs, Ice Fantasy in particular is something I can follow without having to pay any more attention than if I was watching with English subs. So very low intensity, comprehensible, doable. I could do that about 2 years into study so probably a solid 2000-3000 vocabulary knowledge is plenty to make that show with chinese subs feel as easy as any eng sub show. Word of Honor is marked as Difficult, and I would say while I could follow it about 1.5 years into learning Chinese, it definitely required way more focus to follow the plot than Ice Fantasy. So their difficulty rating matches up fairly well to my experience.
I do think maybe vocabulary density though would make faster improvements if you watched though. For me, the more dialogue and range of vocabulary, the more I tend to pick up and learn now. But as a beginner, action genre was easier and one of the only doable ones (because action context is clear and many lines are literally what actions people are doing). Along with detective murder mystery genre, specifically because I am very familiar with episode structure for that genre and words related to it so I could use context to help me. Whereas word of honor was a major challenge when I watched for the poetic things wen kexing and a few others said, and the in depth plot that was more complex than just cases of the week.
I recommend checking out this site! If you click the Words next to each entry, it downloads a word list with hanzi pinyin and definitions. I can do it on my phone, then open in Moonreader+ and look at the list. It would be very helpful for review or pre-study before watching a given show. Word of honor has about 8000 words and I'm glancing at the list now. I think the list can also be imported to Pleco (possibly as a flashcard set). The list has word list download tools, difficulty ratings, and may also be useful for finding a new drama to watch for practice.
Graded Watching makes watching TV series more approachable for Chinese learners by offering a list of Chinese TV shows on Netflix and Youtub
