[My Students] Jacob Goldman's Comment

I graduated from the University of Texas (Austin) with a B.A. in Linguistics and shortly there-after came to Taiwan. When I was looking for a Chinese tutor, I decided to on Peter because his email that he sent me in reply to my post on tealit.com was well-organized, with many links to his page and others. He seemed to language exchanges, relationships come from it, and I was serious about learning Chinese. Peter is serious about teaching it.
我從美國的德州大學語言學系畢業之後就到台灣來了。我找中文家教的時候，因為Peter寄的email跟另外家教寄的比起來，我覺得他寫的比較好。聽說語言交換有時候會帶來愛情，不過我很認真想要學習中文，所以我決定跟Peter學，因為他也很認真教書。

Peter is a great tutor. He started off with a free trial lesson and then we discussed how I might go about studying Chinese. I ended up using the Shida books. They are a good series, but it’s really good to have the guidance of someone to help you through them.
Peter是非常棒的家教。我們開始的時候，他給我一次免費的課。後來我們討論我怎麼在最短的時間學好中文。我選的書是師大國語中心用的書，雖然它們很好用，可是上家教課對你中文的學習更好也更有幫助。

Peter is great because he adjusted to my schedule, as well as my level and pace of learning the language. He helped me achieve some of the goals I had for learning Chinese and pushed me when I was slacking. In the 10 months that I have studied Chinese with Peter, I have finished the first two books and I’m currently on the last lesson of the third book – while working full time during the day and trying to maintain a social life outside of work and study. It’s hard, but it is possible.
我的工作很忙，但是Peter還可以安排方便的時間跟我見面上課。如果我要學快一點，他教快一點。如果我不懂的話，他教慢一點。他幫助我達到自己的目標，還有我不想寫功課或是什麼都不想做的時候鼓勵我加油。我跟Peter學了十個月的中文課，我已經學完了三本書了，從《實用視聽華語1》，到《實用視聽華語3》。我一邊上家教課，一邊我也要上班。另外，有時候我試試看跟台灣的朋友見面聊天。雖然這麼做有一點麻煩，但是如果你要的話當然有可能。

Above being a great tutor, he is a great person. He is amiable, patient and a good friend. He took me to a few places aside from our tutor sessions and I got to know Taipei a little better.
他除了是一個好老師以外，他的人很好，友善，有耐心，是一個好朋友。

I was recently accepted into the National Cheng Kung University in Tainan to study a degree plan. Peter was very helpful when I was filling out the application, as well as writing my autobiography in Chinese, which he helped me correct and improve. By his recommendation, I was also able to receive a scholarship for full tuition and room. I can’t recommend Peter enough for being a top-notch tutor.
我今年申請的時台南的成功大學。我申請的時候，Peter幫我寫了一張很好的推薦信。我需要寫一篇中文自傳，他也幫我改我寫錯的字。我最近被成功大學通知錄取了。由於他的推薦信，我成功申請到成功大學的獎學金。

Learning can be quite difficult for speakers of western languages. There are many difficult aspects (writing, tones, pronunciation) but the best advice I can give is broken down for each part. I do not think that reading is very difficult for one reason, writing is much harder. The easiest way to learn to read is to learn to write it, no question! WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE! I practice writing while I am watching television programs, sometimes. It is a mindless task of repetition and repetition of the word as you write, but your remember much more, much faster this way. For tones, the most I can offer is practice. I personally cannot hear tones (that takes a separate type of practice) but I can produce them and that is more important I think for a non-native speaker, so a native speaker can understand you. For pronunciation, I am not talking of tones, I am talking about the sounds of the language, a very important part that must be distinguished at the beginning. If not done at the very beginning, it can be harder to hear later. Since Chinese has a much more limited soundscape than English and many other western languages, I would suggest practice the sounds a lot. And because the sound is similar, try not to slip back into the normal sound of your own language, but try to get the right sound from the start.
中文的學習對西方人可能是困難也很麻煩的。中文的學習有很多方面，寫字，發音，聲調什麼的，所以我跟你們各個分享我的學習的經驗。我覺得寫字跟看字比起來，寫字比較難，因為如果你可以寫字，就會看字。練習寫字最好的方法是寫字，寫字，寫字！！！ 有時候我練習寫著，看電視。是一個不用想太多的做事，只要記住！你寫的越多，你寫的越快。中文的聲調很難也很麻煩。我覺得我聽不清楚中文的聲調，但是我會發音，會發音對母語是中文的人者比較重要。中文語言裡能發的音跟西方語言的比起來，中文真的比較少。 所以你得常常練習。很重要的是記得這不是你的母語，所以如果妳的母語有很像的音，可能是不同的發音。最好是從你開始學的時候，試試看不用你母語的音說中文字，好不好。

最重要是我推薦PETER!!!!!!