First Mandarin video
May. 30th, 2025 09:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
disappointed_lesbianI finally decided to take a brief break from Mandarin textbooks, and I've just finished creating the flahcards for the vocab from my first Mandarin video. Actually, it's not the first; it's the first that I've ever finished, not counting a couple of simple fifteen-second videos I studied in between quitting Pimsleur and starting with textbooks. The video is only about two minutes long but includes about sixty-seven terms that are new to me, so I had to split it up phrase by phrase, with at least one flashcard per phrase, and that, along with looking up the definitions and pronunciation, took hours. That huge time commitment was a major reason why I hadn't done this sooner. Given how much of the video I could understand without looking anything up, this is a small milestone for me.
I don't know how well I'll do in terms of retaining this new vocabulary. One of the best things about the textbooks is that they reinforce vocabularly by re-using it in successive lessons, but there are no successive lesons for individual videos. I'll just have to gorge on isolated pieces of Mandarin content to increase my chances of coming across the terms again. Most of them were fairly basic, so I'll likely come across them in my textbooks.
I tried to reorder my dermatological treatment today but the prescription has expired. To get it renewed, I must get an appointment with the dermatology clinic. To get that appointment, I need to request a referral from primary care, and to make the request, I need an appointment with primary care. It's frustrating.
The company that makes my shoes is out of my size, so I'm stuck with holey shoes for a bit longer. I also was not able to find any affordable and attractive sandals. Xero shoes has some cheap minimalist sandals (minimalist shoes are the only ones I'll wear), but the ones that'll fit me are ugly, feminine colors. Xero gets on my nerves, and the loud colors for women's shoes isn't the only reason. I'd prefer to never shop with them again, but minimalist shoes are so difficult to find that I check them out on occasion. Now that I'm reminded of my previous shopping experiences, sandals are the only shoe I'd ever buy from Xero because all their other shoes, including at least one pair that were supposed to be waterproof, take on water even if there is no rain and the street is merely wet.
I need a better Chinese-French dictionary. There is a rather extensive one available on Pleco, but it costs sixty bucks. Plus using a smart phone to look up vocab is less convenient than looking it up on the desktop (where I create the flashcards that require the translations).
I am unhappy but I'm trying to focus on improving things in my life one-by-one.
I don't know how well I'll do in terms of retaining this new vocabulary. One of the best things about the textbooks is that they reinforce vocabularly by re-using it in successive lessons, but there are no successive lesons for individual videos. I'll just have to gorge on isolated pieces of Mandarin content to increase my chances of coming across the terms again. Most of them were fairly basic, so I'll likely come across them in my textbooks.
I tried to reorder my dermatological treatment today but the prescription has expired. To get it renewed, I must get an appointment with the dermatology clinic. To get that appointment, I need to request a referral from primary care, and to make the request, I need an appointment with primary care. It's frustrating.
The company that makes my shoes is out of my size, so I'm stuck with holey shoes for a bit longer. I also was not able to find any affordable and attractive sandals. Xero shoes has some cheap minimalist sandals (minimalist shoes are the only ones I'll wear), but the ones that'll fit me are ugly, feminine colors. Xero gets on my nerves, and the loud colors for women's shoes isn't the only reason. I'd prefer to never shop with them again, but minimalist shoes are so difficult to find that I check them out on occasion. Now that I'm reminded of my previous shopping experiences, sandals are the only shoe I'd ever buy from Xero because all their other shoes, including at least one pair that were supposed to be waterproof, take on water even if there is no rain and the street is merely wet.
I need a better Chinese-French dictionary. There is a rather extensive one available on Pleco, but it costs sixty bucks. Plus using a smart phone to look up vocab is less convenient than looking it up on the desktop (where I create the flashcards that require the translations).
I am unhappy but I'm trying to focus on improving things in my life one-by-one.
