In continuation of the previous post, I have to decide what to do about my Chinese acquisition during this period of concentration on Japanese. What do you think I should do? Here are the options that I am able to come up with right now.
Option A) Stop watching Chinese TV completely. We don't know how long it will be until I will be able to return my focus to Chinese acquisition. Until then, I could forget about the Chinese language and we'll use it as an experiment to see what happens. Will the Chinese language continue to grow inside my head during a period of non-contact? Or will it remain about the same? If my absence from the language is 3 months or more then this could become a significant test. If I don't choose this option, am I being negligent in my responsibility to find a new job which will most likely require good Japanese language ability?
Option B) Watch Chinese TV only when I can't watch Japanese TV. Because I don't have any DVDs or video files in the Japanese language, I could choose to watch Chinese when I am not at home by bringing my portable DVD player (PLAID) with me wherever I go. I do not have a one-seg capable mobile phone either. If I did have such a phone, then I could watch Japanese on the go. But I don't know if I'll be getting one or not. So this option is to keep in contact with the Chinese language but not at the expense of the Japanese language. This is the option one would choose if worried about language atrophy.
Option C) Forget about Japanese and just watch Chinese. Should I get a job where Japanese isn't required so I can focus on Chinese? Maybe I could find an ALT job where I could help students continue the wrong way to learn a language. If I am unemployed long enough, I'll have to consider just about anything.
If you have any other options for me to consider, please let me know. Otherwise, please leave a comment telling me which one to choose. I will have to spend a lot of time job searching and exhausting all avenues of possible employment. But usually there comes a point when you don't know where else to look or what else to do. Then I will have a lot of time available. Time which could be spent on language acquisition!
I would either go for #1 or #2. If you really need Japanese for your career, I wouldn't risk it.
ReplyDeleteAs for forgetting Chinese: well, unless you are planning to watch Chinese TV forever, if you don't use your Chinese you are going to forget it after your TV watching quest anyway.
This is no different.
Perhaps it's just time to start putting your Chinese into practice through other means (I wouldn't rule out a job that requires using Chinese as well). Otherwise, why not just put it aside?
I think it really depends on where you want to use your Chinese and what are your goals for learning it in the first place.
Keith, I would say, do whatever you feel is best for you. But, please, do not sacrifice your Chinese project. And by that, I mean don't go studying it or something like that. My recommendation is to do both languages. I've heard that many wonderful things happen with simultaneous language acquisition. So, just watch Chinese when you can't watch Japanese. And, as for a job, I would do your best to pick whatever you can that suits your needs. Be it ALT or database programmer, just find something that works. As they say, you just need to worry about putting food on the table and have a roof over your head.
ReplyDeleteIf you feel a pressing need to stop Chinese for a few months to really concentrate I certainly will not hold it against you. Although I would have liked to see you get to fluency with it. If you can manage it, I bet getting to the point where you can speak the language and then putting it on hold might be best. In this way you might maintain it through inner-monologues.
I won't be so selfish to say "give up on Japanese completely" because survival is more important in this case.
Whatever you do, I'd like to know. So keep us posted. :)
Focus on work comes first, especially for someone with lesser opportunities, as a foreigner would have. Learning a language would be difficult if worrying about your next meal. Also, taking a break from Chinese may,in fact, be beneficial by allowing all that input to settle in and let the mind do its thing.
ReplyDeleteFocus on Japanese, but make time to watch one hour (or one drama episode) of Chinese a day.
ReplyDeleteYo,
ReplyDeleteMan, hang on. You'll do great.
I think you should focus on Japanese for now, but I'm also with the guys here, whatever you chose do, give at least a few minutes to Chinese everyday.