Please review http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/blog-63133-21588.html and the post linked there as well for some context.I apologize for writing this in English, but once again I have found myself dealing with the one thing that seems to be able to interfere with my study of the Chinese language - death.This time it was the death, due to ovarian cancer, of my best friend. She died on June 6, 2015 and I learned of her death when I arrived in China a week later. She specifically left instructions for my colleagues in China not to tell me of her death (she knew she was dying) until I was in China so I would be with them when I was given the news. Even when dying, she cared about my well-being and wanted to be sure I would be with friends who could comfort me in my loss.Wenhui was not only my dearest friend, but she was also a wonderful help in my learning Chinese. She was the one with whom I was talking when I accidentally said "If I have a question, I will kiss you" instead of "If I have a question, I will ask you." (the words for "to kiss" 吻 and "to ask" 问 in Mandarin sound the same except for the tone, for those reading who do not know those words.) She and I had been through quite a bit together - the deaths of my uncle, who raised me like a father would because my father left, my grandfather, her mother, and my older brother. We've been through personal problems together and over the ten years that we knew each other we always were there for each other, supporting and encouraging each other.Our ten years of friendship were not without rough spots - we had many misunderstandings, sometimes simply due to language issues and other times because of cultural differences, but we always worked things out and never remained upset with each other for very long - in fact, never even for 24 hours.I started learning Chinese before I met her, but she became my main inspiration for quite some time. She became my best friend and my confidante, and my 知己, a wonderful word that does not translate into English. She taught me to laugh and smile when I thought there was no hope or happiness left. She encouraged me. She taught me the truth about China when I had grown up during the 1970s thinking that China was a backward, repressive country. She taught me patience by being patient with me while I learned about her country and slowly realized that much of what I thought was true about the world was not correct. She taught me to persevere. She taught me to believe in myself when those closest to me did not.Learning Chinese became intimately connected with her in my mind and in my heart. We would communicate via QQ every day, using both languages. We would help each other study each other's language. We would open our hearts and our lives to each other. And in all of that, I developed a deep appreciation for China and China's culture. I wanted to learn more about the environment that produced such a wonderful person.She's gone now. There is nothing that can change that, but her legacy lives on. She taught me to persevere. She inspired me to continue learning.It is hard to recover from the loss of someone so special, but I cannot fall apart and let this loss destroy me. She wanted me to succeed, and I will honour her memory by working hard to succeed.I do not know how one honours the dead in China, so I would appreciate any information so I can honour her memory in a way that fits with her culture, but one thing that I am doing to honour her is to continue my study and my work that we started together in memory of her. I look at her picture almost every day, and I think about her every day.I've mourned her since her passing, and while I will never forget her, I must move on with my life. She would not want me to be crushed by this. I will continue as a way of honouring her.

If you have not read it yet, please read this earlier entry first.August 1, 2014 will mark the one-year anniversary of my brother's death. That was a day that changed my life forever, because my older brother was no longer in this world as of that day in 2013. As the anniversary approaches, I find myself still mourning his death in some ways. It is finally starting to seem real to me that he is truly gone.I want to do something to strengthen my memory of him, to honour him somehow. I keep in touch with his girl-friend, who is like family to all of us, but I need to find something more.He never understood my desire to travel to other countries and learn other languages. He never understood what it was like to walk in a foreign city and see how things were the same and how they were so different, or how people are people no matter where they are but yet how cultural differences can make friendships so enriching. I felt sorry for him because he closed himself off to such wonderful experiences.This December I plan to take my youngest child to China so that finally all of my children will have been to a foreign country. I want my children to know the joys and frustrations of trying to communicate in a foreign language and trying to live in a foreign land, even if it is only for a short period of time. I want them to understand that "different" does not automatically mean "bad" or "good", but that it is simply different. My brother thought that "foreign" was somehow "not good enough" (except when it came to cars and motorcycles, for some strange reason).My brother always admired my academic abilities, and in light of that and in light of the anniversary of his death I have a renewed sense of purpose to study Chinese and pass the HSK. In some ways, it is to carry on our disagreement. In some ways it is to continue doing the things that made him proud of his younger brother. Tom did not agree with my love for China, but he respected my right to make my own decisions about such things. We had a healthy respect for each other even when we disagreed about things.My brother also taught me to ride a motor-cycle and how to drive a car with a manual transmission. I hope to pass both of those skills on to my children and tell them of how Tom taught me those things.I think that the best legacy that you can receive from the passing of a relative is to continue to be the person that he or she loved and respected. Focus on those things instead of miring yourself in sorrow and self-pity. Honour their memories by being the best YOU that you can be. Be yourself, because that is the person that your departed family member loved.

Hi everyone! I'm back!I was not able to access my account for quite some time, but I'm back and still studying Mandarin for the HSK. I'll post more notes about my study in the next few days.

"Expect the unexpected."That rather odd quote (how can you expect something if it is unexpected?) contains a great deal of wisdom. Make sure that your plans are flexible, and plan for problems even if you do not know what the problems are. Allow yourself extra time to do something.This applies to plans to learn a language as much as to anything else. This blog entry is about what to do when you fall behind in your plan for whatever reason.There are three main things that can happen to make you fall behind in your plan to do something: Your timeline was too aggressive You have lost interest or motivation Something else happened that took your time for whatever reason.I am sure someone can come up with other reasons, but these are the three that came to mind for me.Reason number 2 is the simplest. For whatever reason, you have no motivation to continue your efforts toward your goal. In that case you should reconsider if it is still worth it to you to continue.Numbers 1 and 3 have essentially the same solution: re-work your timeline. Don't give up. You need to figure out if you've lost ground somehow and determine where you are in your plan so you can restart from where you are. Recognize that things outside of your control happen. The phrase "outside of your control" is important for people dealing with reason #3. Also understand that you cannot change the past. If your reason #3 was a decision that you made to spend your time otherwise, then regardless of how you feel about that decision you need to recognize that it is in the past. You cannot change what has already happened. All you can do is decide how you are going to spend your time and effort NOW and then do it.Rework your timeline and do not be too hard on yourself. 5 years from now it most likely will not matter if it took you 1 year or 2 years to do whatever it is you are trying to do. The goal is to finish it, whatever it is.My older brother was found dead on his kitchen floor on August 1, 2013, at about 6PM. He was not sick, so this was quite a shock and completely unexpected. He was only 51 (three years older than I am). This loss has caused a great deal of stress in my life, and it has interfered with my ability to study and do other things. I am still recovering.Grieving is natural and necessary in a case like this. I will never completely be over this, because he was my brother and my friend, but I need to resume my life as much as I can. He was always proud of my academic accomplishments, and I want to continue to be the person I was before he died.If your timeline was too aggressive, this is a good chance to learn a little more about yourself and your priorities. Make sure you give yourself enough time to do what you need to do.I know this is a very short entry, but I hope it will be of some help to someone who is struggling to reach a goal due to unexpected circumstances.

In previous blog entries, I have discussed how to set goals (English) and a bit on how to help make sure you are making progress (Chinese).In this blog entry, I would like to spell out in greater detail some of the steps that have worked for me in working toward a goal. This will repeat some of the information in the second link I just gave you, but this time it will be in English instead of Chinese.As discussed in how to set goals, your goal needs to be measurable and time-bound so you can know that you have reached your goal and you have a schedule. Chances are that the goal you have set is a large goal. In order to reach that large goal, you may need to break it down into smaller sub-goals, each of which still needs to be a SMART goal. Some tools that I have found helpful in this is a spreadsheet and a notebook (or some other type of "log", which I will explain later.).For my study in preparation for the HSK-5, I have first rounded up materials that should prepare me for the test. I have a series of textbooks with the accompanying workbooks, audio CDs, and answer keys so I can check my work. I also have a flashcard program on my iPhone (available on Android, too) that is quite flexible and allows me to test myself in various ways so I can work on vocabulary. I have the complete official vocabulary lists for all six levels of the HSK, and I have a complete set of test preparation books (HSK 1-6) with audio CDs and I also have HSK4-6 with audio CDs for a different set of test books, so I have ways to test myself to see if I'm ready for the actual exam before I take it.My ultimate goal is to take the HSK-5 before my 50th birthday, which will be in November of 2015. The textbooks have two levels. Level 1 has two parts and a total of 23 lessons. Level two has one part and a total of 20 lessons. According to a university web site that I found, finishing Level 1 should prepare you for HSK-3, and finishing the first half of Level 2 should prepare you for HSK-4, so I am guessing that finishing all of level 2 will be a good start toward HSK-5. Therefore, I should make sure I have time after finishing the level 2 book so I can evaluate my progress and work on any weaknesses that I identify in the practice tests.The textbook says that each lesson can be completed in a week with a teacher, so in my spreadsheet I have allowed myself TWO weeks for each lesson since I am working alone and must rely on Weixin, QQ, and email for help from friends when I do not understand something.Thus, when I started studying, I set up the spreadsheet to track start and end dates of each lesson and I had it calculate the date on which I should finish if I take two weeks per lesson and it came out with the following dates:Start Date: 2013-05-31Finish Level 1: 2014-04-18Finish Level 2: 2015-01-08Since I plan to take the test before November of 2015 and from the HSK web site (they don't have the 2015 schedule out yet), they seem to offer the test nine times each year for the written test and four times per year for the speaking test. Since I was not aware of the speaking test, my goal only covers the "written" test, which includes listening, reading, and writing.Therefore, I could have several months after finishing the Level 2 book to prepare for the rest of the test. That should be plenty of time to prepare.But, since I know how to program spreadsheets, I added a few features: running projections.I have two sets of running projection columns, one at two weeks per lesson and one at one week per lesson. They both track the latest completion date for a lesson and recalculate a projected finish date based on that information. This gives me a running estimate of when I could finish the books. Currently, my projected end dates at two weeks per lesson is about a month ahead of the original projected dates, and the projected end dates at one week per lesson have me finishing level 2 in March of 2014.Beyond the spreadsheet, I keep a written log of my activities toward my goal. This is something that I started while working on my doctoral thesis and this is something I advise my doctoral students to do.Every day (Monday through Friday, and weekend days if I study on the weekend) I will write down an entry in my log. This log can be a physical notebook or it can be a document on your computer.Each log entry is in the same format:DateWhat I did that day.What problems I encountered.What I plan to do to address the problems.What I plan to do the next day.Any other notes that may be important.Having this information readily available is especially helpful when doing something more complicated such as a thesis because you can see what worked and what did not work so you don't repeat the same mistakes and waste time. It helps me in my language learning efforts because I can keep track of what seems to help.In the case of my language learning, each individual lesson is a mini-goal. Mastering the vocabulary and the grammar of each lesson brings me on step closer to being ready to take the HSK-5. I will admit that I do not have the plan worked out yet on when I will use the practice tests, but I will incorporate that into my plans as I come closer to being ready to take the test.The daily tracking also helps me stay focused on reaching my goal and helps me see the progress I am making. It also reminds me that I need to make some progress every day so I can record something that is actual progress toward my goal, and the log format that I have also helps me prepare for the next study period by planning my next steps.I hope that this information will help someone out there reach a goal. I know many people reading this are trying to learn a language, most likely English or Chinese. If you have any questions, please post them here as comments so other people can benefit from your questions.Thank you!

I've written several blog entries about making progress toward goals, having help achieving goals, and persevering in pursuit of your goals, but I've never written anything really clear on how to set goals. What is your goal? Are you working toward a measurable goal?One of the amusing things about English (and other languages that use alphabets) is that we can create acronyms to help us remember things. An acronym is a word or set of letters where each letter represents a word. Several English words are actually acronyms, such as LASER, RADAR, and SONAR.A good acronym for setting goals is SMART.S = SpecificM = MeasurableA = AttainableR = RelevantT = Time-BoundFirst, we'll discuss what each of these means and then we'll work through a few examples, including my own goal for learning Chinese.S = Specific. You need to be very specific in how you set your goal. Simply saying "I want to speak English fluently" is not specific enough, because what exactly does "fluently" mean? I am a native English speaker, but I cannot discuss certain topics intelligently in English simply because I do not know anything about those topics. I have two doctoral degrees, so I am considered an expert in certain areas. My goals in learning Mandarin are eventually to be able to read a newspaper, watch a movie or TV, and to be able to speak the language well enough that I could live in a Mandarin-speaking country easily. One way to help make a goal specific is to make it measurable as well. Another way to make it specific is to be as clear about it as possible.Some goals are pretty clear in and of themselves, such as "I want to lose weight." But I've spoken with people who have had "goals" such as "I want to learn a foreign language." or "I want to be able to play an instrument." Those are far too vague by themselves, but they are not entirely hopeless - they just require an interim objective of selecting the language or instrument before the goal can become a SMART goal.M = Measurable.How do you know when you've reached your goal? That depends on the goal itself. If your objective is to learn a foreign language, a good way to measure your success is to use one of the standardized tests available. This also links in to the "Attainable" and "Relevant" criteria which will be discussed later in this blog entry.Some goals are, by definition, measurable. I know runners and cyclists who want to reduce their times on running or cycling certain distances. The measurement IS the goal. Losing weight is often the same thing - the measurement (weight) is the goal, though you can also measure your weight loss by something that is not the weight itself, such as you want to fit into a dress you wore when you graduated high school, or you want to fit into your wedding dress again.The point is that there must be a clearly defined, objectively measurable way to tell that you have reached your goal. That way you will know when you've reached it.A = Attainable.Be reasonable. Don't set goals that you know are impossible to reach or you will only set yourself up for failure. Now, it is good for goals to be a stretch and a challenge, but you need to know the difference. For example, I would love to be an astronaut. However, I'm far too old to start the training and I have a minor heart condition that would exclude me from the program. Therefore, being an astronaut is not an attainable goal for me. Neither would being an Olympic gymnast, especially in what I consider to be the most interesting event - the uneven bars. I'm too old and I'm male. Uneven bars is a women's event only.The attainability of a goal is also linked to the last criterion - "Time Bound". The deadline for the goal must be reasonable. If I wanted to run a marathon next week, there's no way I would be able to do it because I can't even run more than a few miles right now.Attainable also means setting reasonable checkpoints and interim steps in your goal, as I've discussed in previous blog entries but I will discuss a little more later in this one.R = Relevant.Learning something simply for the sake of learning something is great, but doesn't lend itself toward a good goal. There has to be some reason for reaching the goal, there has to be a benefit to you for it. You have to have some motivation for reaching that goal.Be very clear as to WHY you're working toward that goal, and the WHY can't just be a reward you will give yourself when you reach it. It needs to be a benefit of reaching that goal.T = Time Bound.This ties back to Attainable in that the deadline must be reasonable. If I wanted to take the HSK 5 next month and pass it, I could certainly take it, but there's no way I'd be able to pass it. (Actually, I'm not even sure I could take it next month since I do not know how far in advance you need to sign up for the test. I don't need to worry about that quite yet, so I can look into it later.)Having the goal be time-bound is very important to ensure that you will make progress. If the goal is open-ended (no deadline) you will be tempted to put off working toward the goal. If it is too far in the future, you will be tempted to put off working on it unless it is such a large goal that there are clearly-defined checkpoints (intermediate goals) toward which you can work during your progress toward the main goal.Setting a deadline is difficult for many people, including myself. I want to be sure I succeed, so I tend to be generous in my timelines. However, I also am a bit sentimental and I will often use certain fixed points in time as deadlines.You also have to be willing to make changes in the timeline when you realize that it is unreasonable for some reason. Life happens, and you may need to change your timeline.Now, let's take some vague goals and turn them into SMART goals:Example 1. Learning MandarinI want to be able to speak, read, and write Mandarin "fluently", at a level comparable to a native speaker with a similar educational background to my own.That's pretty specific, but it's not really measurable in that form.Given that I have two doctoral degrees, that's a pretty tall order and I'm not entirely sure exactly how to reach that goal, so I need to find something that is clearly headed in that direction that I can measure. Enter the HSK. The HSK has six levels, with level 6 being the highest. Wikipedia describes HSK level 6 as being "Designed for learners who can easily understand any information communicated in Chinese and are capable of smoothly expressing themselves in written or oral form."That sounds pretty much like "fluent" to me, so HSK 6 is my ultimate goal. Passing the HSK 6 is certainly measurable, so it passes the "Measurable" test.Next one is "Attainable". HSK 6 is attainable. I'm sure other people who did not grow up speaking the language at home have passed HSK 6. I doubt the HSK 6 would have lasted very long is no-one could ever pass it.So far, I've handled the first three criteria - Specific, Measurable, and Attainable. The next one is Time-Bound, which may impact "Attainable".I need to set a deadline that is not too far in the future. I decided that since I'm 47 years old now, I would use my 50th birthday (November of 2015) as my deadline. Thus, the new goal is "Pass the HSK 6 before I turn 50".The timeline impacts the attainability. I am not so confident that I could be ready for the HSK 6 by then, as the standard for the HSK 6 includes learning over 2600 characters (not words - characters) and over 5000 words, which is nearly 1000 characters and 2500 more words than the HSK 5.Therefore, let's look at the HSK 5 for a moment: "Designed for learners who can read Chinese newspapers and magazines, watch Chinese films and are capable of writing and delivering a lengthy speech in Chinese."That is not "fluent" but is certainly more than adequate for being able to live in China. I am not abandoning my eventual goal of the HSK 6, but instead I am trying to be reasonable given the timeline that I have, so my goal is now:"Pass HSK 5 before I turn 50."I can always alter the goal (either to HSK 6 or HSK 4) as I make progress when I determine how realistic the goal is, since I am using my 50th birthday as a fixed deadline. Remember, the ultimate goal of HSK 6 remains.Now I've addressed Specific, Measurable, Attainable, and Time-Bound. I skipped "Relevant" until now because for me "Relevant" is the easiest one in this case. I travel to China twice each year to lecture at universities, collaborate in research, and consult. Being able to get along on my own without always needing a friend or colleague to interpret for me would be a great benefit for me. Also, understanding the language will help me understand the culture better.Thus, I have a SMART goal - a goal that is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. In this case, I took my original goal (HSK 6) and my original deadline (50th birthday) and realized that the two were not compatible, so I needed to change one or the other. I decided on a more attainable goal (HSK 5) on the same deadline (on or before 50th birthday). Once I reach that goal (HSK 5), I can determine when I would be able to reach the ultimate goal, passing HSK 6.Next example: Learning EnglishI am doing this one specifically because I know that many of the readers here are trying to learn English for various reasons, so I am going to work through how I worked though this with a friend of mine to help her set her goal for learning English.This friend of mine is a 13 months younger than I am, so her 50th birthday will be in December of 2016. She also decided to chose her 50th birthday as her deadline. With this type of goal, reaching the goal before the deadline is perfectly acceptable.Her initial goal was similar to mine - she wants to be able to speak English at a level comparable to a native speaker with a similar educational background. She's a CPA and has a master's degree (MBA), so she's well educated. She is also a talented musician, so she would like to be able to discuss music in English as well. (That's a minor sub-goal that we'll discuss during this process.) She is Chinese, and lives in China.Note that the decisions are not always made in the S.M.A.R.T. sequence, as you will see with my friend's example.S = Specific. Her goal is fairly specific in the final outcome, but it is not readily measurable in that form.M = Measurable.How can we measure her goal? That was the tricky part for her. The CET and TEM are not available to her because she is not a college student. That leaves several other tests, such as the BEC (Business English Certificate), TOEFL, IETLS, and CATTI. She's a business person, so the BEC may be a good bet for her.So far we've decided that a standardized test would be a good measure for her to use. We'll determine which one later.A = Attainable.Can she do this? It depends on the test, but her English is quite good so I don't think she'll have much trouble reaching a reasonable goal. We'll have to revisit this one when we decide which test she is going to take.R = RelevantShe's a business person, so the BEC seems like a logical fit. Then we looked at the BEC. She had 15 years work experience working for a Canadian company and often needed to use English in her daily work. She is the person who handles all of my business arrangements when I'm in China, and she's served as an impromptu interpreter for me on numerous occasions. She's also handled business arrangements for me in English when we've traveled to other countries where Mandarin was not spoken (such as Thailand and Malaysia). When I looked at the BEC I determined that it is too easy for her. She could already pass it. So we decided to look at the other exams. The TOEFL and IETLS are both primarily college-entrance exams used to determine if your English is good enough for you to attend college in English. She's not planning to go back to college, so those are not really useful for her. Then we looked at the CATTI - the Chinese Assessment Test for Translators and Interpreters. This test requires a broad-range of English knowledge in order to be able to function as an interpreter in various situations. The lowest level, CATTI-3, requires general vocabulary and good oral language skills. The CATTI-2 and CATTI-1 require increasing levels of technical and scientific vocabulary. Based on the fact that she is a business person and not a technical person or a scientist, we decided that the CATTI-3 would be a good starting point for her because she often functions as an interpreter for me and because the test requires a broader knowledge of English than the BEC. Thus, the CATTI-3 is relevant even though she is not a professional interpreter.Now we can go back to the Attainable and Measurable criteria. It is certainly measurable - either you pass or you don't pass. Is it attainable? Certainly. She makes grammatical errors in her English but she is understandable. Preparing for this test will help her improve her grammar as well as her oral language skills.T = Time-BoundShe wants to do this before her 50th birthday, which is in December of 2016. I think it will be easy for her to do it by then, so the timeline reinforces the "Attainable" criterion.Also, the time line and finally determining exactly which test (CATTI-3) have made the goal very specific, so she now has a SMART goal.I hope that this will help the readers determine how to set realistic goals, and then with the tips in my other blog entries you will be able to develop a plan for how to reach those goals.

In a previous blog entry, http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/blog-63133-9340.html, I talk about trying to learn Chinese alone.In English, the phrase "working without a net" means that you are working without any safety checks or any help - that is, if you make a mistake there's no way to recover from it. That's how I feel sometimes trying to learn Chinese.The audio CDs for my textbooks and workbooks arrived today so I can use the audio to do the workbook exercises. It's comforting to find that the "normal speed" dialogs actually feel slow to me after going to China so many times, and even the "fast speed" dialogs are not too fast for me to understand.Because I am a college professor (though in a completely different field), I managed to convince the publisher of the textbook I am using to learn Chinese to send me the answer keys. I promised to keep the keys to myself, so please don't ask me to share them. So, now I have the answer keys and the audio needed for the workbooks so I can finally check my work! However, that alone is still not enough. I'm not worried about pronunciation, because I have been told by many people that my pronunciation is excellent. I am worried about knowing if I am learning correctly. One problem with written answer keys and checking your own work is that there is often more than one way to say something, especially in Chinese. I can try to avoid some of that by making sure I only use words that have been covered so far in the textbook, such as using 可是 because it is used in the book even though I've learned from my friends that 但是 would be more natural in most of those situations.For example, one exercise in my textbook gives me phrases and asks me to arrange them in order to form a sentence. The sentence is something along the lines of "I'd like to invite you to dinner tonight, how about it?" (Not exactly natural English phrasing, but it communicates the Chinese syntax well.) I interpreted that to mean that I was asking the person to join me tonight for dinner, so I wrote *我请你今天晚上吃饭，怎么样？* (the ** indicate that something is or may be incorrect). The "correct" answer in the answer key is 今天晚上我请你吃饭，怎么样？ Can anyone tell me if or why the placement of the 今天晚上 matters? To my English-speaking mind, placing 今天晚上 first indicates that I asked you this evening (the time when I asked the question was this evening), while placing it after 你 (again, to my English-speaking mind) indicates that I am asking you about eating dinner this evening.Does anyone have any suggestions for how I can know when the differences between my answer and the book's answer is just a minor difference and when it is significant? What is the scope of 今天晚上 in either sentence (that is, how much of the sentence does it directly modify)?The approach I am going to take for now is to note the differences and to ask my Chinese friends and colleagues for help when I'm stuck. This goes back to my previous blog entry http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/blog-63133-10315.html where I talk about having help with reaching goals. There are some things that are just much easier to learn with help, but not all of us can afford the time or money to take a year off from work and go study a language full-time.Does anyone else have any ideas on how to deal with these issues in language learning?

Yes... you read that correctly. Success in individual goals is often a team effort. While it is certainly possible to succeed alone in individual goals, it is usually much easier to succeed with help. Therefore, I would suggest that when you set a goal, especially one that is difficult or may take a while to achieve, that you tell people that you can trust. For the purpose of this discussion, we're going to assume that you have a goal and a plan to reach it. Some of my other blog entries discuss those issues if you don't have them yet.This is important for a few reasons:1. EncouragementYou will become discouraged from time to time. You may have times when you don't feel like working toward your goal. You may have times when you feel like giving up entirely. These are times when your friends can come along side and remind you of how far you've come and of the benefits of reaching that goal. They'll remind you why you're doing it, and they may be able to help you along.2. Peer pressureUsually considered to be a negative thing in Western cultures, peer pressure can be a positive thing. I've told my friends (and my readers here on CD) that I plan to take and pass the HSK at least level 4, preferably level 5, before I turn 50, which will happen in November of 2015. If I fail or give up, I will lose face and disappoint my friends. This gives me extra encouragement to study and work hard to learn.3. Support and HelpIn the case of my trying to pass the HSK, the friends I told are all native Mandarin speakers and most have at least a 4-year degree. One has a Master's, and several have Ph.D.s, including two with Ph.D.s in computer science (my field). These friends understand my goals and my work, since one of my side-goals related to passing the HSK 5 is to be able to deliver lectures in Mandarin in my field, and they help me with my study. On my last trip to China, my colleagues there picked up some books with audio CDs for me to help prepare for the test, and they agreed that when we're not discussing technical matters (since my Mandarin is not good enough yet), that we will speak mostly in Mandarin. We will discuss technical matters in English when we're working to help them with their English and to be sure we can communicate effectively until my Mandarin is up to that level. (I did receive a promise from the boss that the interpreter will not be sent away when my Mandarin skill is up to the appropriate level. He's a nice guy and a good friend.)4. Help you set REASONABLE goals.A good friend who knows you well will not let you set yourself up for failure. My Chinese colleagues agree that HSK 5 is possible for me given my current skill in the language and my talent for learning languages. If I told them I planned to take HSK 5 this December (2013), the would have told me that it was not possible, but by the end of 2015 is reasonable with a good bit of hard work and with help.When picking the friends to have encourage and help you, you need to be careful. You need to pick people who are not going to mock you and shoot you down for every setback, but you also need people who are going to push you if you start to falter. Pick people who have succeeded at difficult things on themselves, people who know how to work hard toward a goal. That's one reason why most of the people I've told have college degrees - I've picked an academic goal, so I want people who have achieved significant academic goals. If I were an athlete with an athletic, I'd pick other athletes as my support people for an athletic goal. If your goals are business-oriented, find people who are successful in business.Write down your goals. Set a schedule by which to reach your goal and set up a plan with measurable steps along the way. In my case, my initial process for preparing for the HSK is to work through some textbooks that I have that are based on the HSK's requirements. I'm working from level 1 lesson 1 to learn vocabulary that I do not completely know - these are words that I know how to say and I know the meaning, but I don't remember how to WRITE the character, for example.For goals that are based on a test, there are additional things you can do:1. practice taking the test2. Push yourself beyond the goalAlso, push yourself beyond the goal when studying. The HSK is mostly multiple choice, so you have the correct answer sitting right there in front of you. All you have to do is recognize the correct answer. Recognition is easier than production, so train yourself to PRODUCE rather than simply recognize. Multiple choice tests are, in my opinion, too easy. They are easier to grade, but they are also easier to take because the correct answer is there for you to see.I have study materials all the way through the HSK level 6, and I plan to use them in conjunction for preparing for the HSK level 5. That way I push myself beyond what is needed for the test that I plan to take so that when I take the level 5 test it will not be so hard.This is like the story of the first US Olympic team. They did not know much about the games or the rules for some of the track and field events, so they improvised based on what they knew. It turned out that their weights for the discus, shot put, and javelin were all too heavy. They trained with these very heavy items and when they arrived at the first Olympic games in which the USA participated, they did very well because they trained for something much harder than the real thing. In my martial arts studies when I was younger, I managed to obtain a 2m long iron rod about 5cm in diameter. It weighed about 20 kg. Needless to say, that was much heavier than the normal wooden staff we used in preying mantis kung fu. I trained with that staff and then the regular one was so light that I could train with it for a very long time, and the metal one helped increase my strength.This is the same concept. Push yourself beyond your goal so that when test time comes, you're comfortable.I hope that this helps people who are working toward long-term goals.

I just returned from China with some encouragement from my colleagues there and some very special gifts: study guides for the HSK (汉语水平考试). My colleagues there have been wonderfully helpful with my efforts to learn Mandarin and Cantonese, and they have appreciated my help with their English. Our current plan of action is that we'll use Mandarin for non-business matters (e.g. hotel, dinner, sight-seeing, etc.) and English for the technical matters since their English is better than my Mandarin. It's working so far, and they've noticed a significant improvement in my Mandarin since my previous visit in December.But as I've stated in a previous blog entry (http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/?63133), in order to reach a goal there needs to be a way to know that you've reached that goal (the goal must be measurable) and you need a plan. Ideally, the plan will have measurable steps along the way so you can tell that you're making progress.One problem I've had in studying Chinese is the lack of available textbooks that are correct and that have answer keys available. I have plenty of HSK test prep books with answer keys, but they are mock tests. I'll use those when I'm ready for the test to practice. I have one textbook that has answers, but I've shown it to several Chinese colleagues here and in China and they've said that the material in the book is just wrong. It is not how people speak - it is quite outdated, so I'm not using it.I don't have a good textbook with an answer key. (If anyone can obtain an answer key for the China Panorama series - both Approaching Chinese and Intermediate Chinese, or for "Integrated Chinese, second edition" both levels 1 and 2, please let me know!) However, I can't let that interfere with my studies because if I do, I'll never get anywhere.So - I've set up a schedule for studying the lessons in the book including time to learn vocabulary and do the written exercises. I'm intentionally starting at the very beginning of the books even though my Chinese is better than that because there are vocabulary items that I need to pick up along the way so I'll be able to use the later chapters in the book. With my current plan, I should finish both levels of Integrated Chinese in January of 2015. I have an older edition of the book (second edition), but according to the publisher the first half of level two is enough to prepare for HSK level 4. I'm hoping that all the way through level 2 will be enough for HSK level 5, but I will have time after finishing the book to study and prepare. My goal is to take the HSK and pass at least level 4 if not level 5 before I turn 50, which will be in November of 2015. There is nothing special about turning 50 other than it is a deadline, and it is easier to reach a goal when you have a reasonable deadline.In my usual bordering-on-OCD manner, I've set up a spreadsheet with each lesson in the books, a planned start date and a planned end date, actual start date and actual end date, number of vocabulary items in the lesson, running total, number of "new"* (see below) vocabulary items in the lesson, and running total.If there is someone out there who is preparing to take the TOEFL or the IELTS and wants to exchange language help, please send me a private message so we can work out how to help each other. I have QQ and 微信.*new = in this case, I count a vocabulary item as "new" if I cannot do any of the four things one must be able to do with a word to know it: recognize it when written, recognize it when hearing it, say it, and write it from memory.

Learning a foreign language is a challenge. I've learned many languages in my lifetime and Chinese has been by far the most challenging. One of the biggest problems I have is making sure I am learning things correctly. The textbooks that are considered the best for learning the language do not have the answer keys available to students, so I cannot check my answers myself.I want to be sure that I learn it correctly, so I am rather nervous about working with textbooks where the answers are not available for me to be able to review. When I try to review the questions and answers with friends, they are often not entirely sure what the answer should be.I'm always nervous when I speak because I'm afraid that I have the wrong tones and I don't want to say something that would upset or offend my Chinese friends and colleagues. I'm afraid when I write sometimes because I want to be sure I am understood.Another problem I have is that I have very few opportunities to speak Mandarin. I have a few Chinese co-workers, but they're from Hong Kong and don't speak Mandarin. When I travel in China, many of my colleagues speak English much better than I speak Mandarin or Cantonese, so we will often end up speaking English. I plan to tell them of my plans to take the HSK in hope that they will help me more with my Mandarin. They are quite supportive of my efforts to learn the language, so I think this will help, but I am only in China a few times each year.So, my question to all of you is "How can I be sure I am learning correctly?"What resources are available to help a student learn to hear the language and understand it at normal conversational speeds? Are there CCTV news reports, for example, with transcripts in Mandarin and English that I could use to try to learn? TV shows? I need to be sure that I am learning correctly so I can be sure I can communicate effectively. My Chinese friends, you are heirs to one of the most fascinating cultures on Earth, and I want to know it better. There is so much to learn from your culture and your language is the key to learning it.Please help me learn your language.