My Language Learning--Out in the Open

All right, here we go. I really want to refresh and improve my language skills. To help me along with it, I will post about my learning experiences here, on Language Love, for all of you to follow (and to kick my ass if I slack).

This week, I want to begin with laying open my Chinese (Mandarin) skills. Since I haven't used it in quite some time, I have forgotten almost everything I knew. I still know about the four tones and the pronunciation, and I think I still know in which order to write the signs. I even remember how to say a few basic sentences, but there's about where it stops. Even writing down those few sentences would be a problem; I have forgotten how to write most of the (few) signs I once knew. It is a lot easier on my laptop since it gives me possible signs when I type in the spelling in pinyin, but I still need to know how the sign looks to choose the right one. Well, here's some of what I remember (written down without the help of a dictionary):

我是德国人。我学中语。你好吗？ (I am German. I learn Chinese. How are you?)

I know, it's not much. I remember a few more sentences but am not able to write them down without looking up some signs. It's a shame how much knowledge gets buried in our heads if we don't use it every now and then.

My goal for this week is simple: Write down a simple dialogue in Chinese and memorise the signs and words. Baby steps to get into the language again.

If you can think of a good goal for the week (or the week after), please leave me a comment. Is there anything you are particularly interested in? Let me know, and I'll try to include it in my studies.

I will post my results here next week, including an English translation.

So far,

再见