Hi, my name is Niel, otherwise known as Confused Laowai. I blog about my exciting, yet often confusing adventure learning Chinese.
Benny’s 3-Month Mandarin Mission: A Follow Up
Benny’s Mandarin mission ended about two weeks ago. Here is his post and interview with John from Sinosplice. I did a big post when he started his mission, detailing my thoughts and concerns about learning Chinese in 3 months. Like many others, I was skeptical. Why wouldn’t one be? I talked about specific Chinese problems, but I also detailed my thoughts on why I think it’s hard to compare learning methods and an inherent paradox [...]
Your Mandarin Learning Experience
So, 2011 is in full force. I’m back at University, however it is a bit different this time around. I’m doing a Master’s degree in Hypermedia for Language Learning. For info on my degree you can go read this page. The interesting thing is, I have no classes. All my assignments are done online. However, I got a nice bursary and am working at this lab. It is filled with awesome people and awesome opportunities. [...]
Blogs and Dictionaries
First things first. I have found this excellent new dictionary site that pulls examples from the internet! It has a really slick interface. Go check it out. In other news, I’m still actively developing Social Mandarin. A recent new feature that has been added, is the possibility to have your own blog on Social Mandarin. This will allow other users to more easily share their personal stories and anecdotes on learning Mandarin. Read more info on it [...]
Welcome 欢迎!
Welcome to Confused LaoWai (糊涂的老外). This blog will document my misleading adventures in learning Mandarin. Hopefully this will help you, and in turn I hope I can help myself (please!?). So, please join in on the posts and let’s get Mandarin a run for it’s money. I think this post by Simon Pettersson sums up the attitude everyone needs to have: You’re afraid, aren’t you, Mandarin? You’re starting to feel it; the cold sweat trickling [...]
