You Need A Plan

I'm lucky that I live in China, which is of course the best place for learning Chinese. One thing that I find helpful is always carrying around something where I can write down something that I see on a sign or something.

Some people carry around a notebook but I'm a little more high tech. Wherever I go I carry my mobile phone, and my iPod. I'm always prepared so that if I hear or see a new word or something that I feel that I should remember, I can write it down. If I watch the TV I always put on the subtitles, and have my phone nearby so that I can write something down. If I'm online, I have a word document open where I can copy/paste portions of foreign languages so that I can remember them.

These things that I've written down usually get transferred to little flashcards. These are all in my iPod, have a look at them here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6AisYnJ8yU

So whenever I hear a new word, I usually 1) write it down somewhere, 2) make a flashcard 3) keep the flashcard in my iPod so that I can revise it later.

Anyway, the main idea behind this post is to Have A Plan. I have a friend who has been in China for much longer than I have, but whose Chinese is only very basic. He has "picked up" some Chinese from taxi driver etc, but I've never seen him write anything down. I'm sure if he had a plan he would speak much better than he does. I'm not saying that my Plan is the best, but I definitely think that everyone needs one. I hope all my Talk With The World readers have one! :)