DLI is the sperg capital of the world

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Internet VFW > DLI is the sperg capital of the world

iceslice: May 20, 2005

Hagetaka posted:

I can't even imagine what it's like for SF candidates there if they have to sit in the same classes as these retards

I didn't think SF candidates went to DLI. they just do it for select languages?

# ¿ Jun 25, 2010 00:16

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 13:44

iceslice: May 20, 2005

I start Chinese here at Ft. Bragg pretty soon. I'm a little bummed out I don't get to experience DLI, but it sounds like a horrible place. Any suggestions for being successful with a totally foreign language?

# ¿ Oct 19, 2010 00:35

iceslice: May 20, 2005

QingLaiXiguaba posted:

I just wrapped up Chinese about 3 months ago...

Thanks for posting this. I'm starting Mandarin at Fort Bragg (6 month course) Jan 3 so you'll probably be getting a ton of questions from me starting then. I'm required to pass with a 1/1, but really want to get a 2/2 so I can get paid. How realistic is that given the length of my course?

# ¿ Nov 29, 2010 16:47

iceslice: May 20, 2005

Dirk Digglet posted:

I've been in just shy of 5 months and could easily see swinging a 1-1 with the right teaching team. The poo poo is very difficult but if Ft. Bragg is anything like DLI by way of workload per-day you can pull it off.

2-2 loving forget about it. The difference from 1 to 2 is VERY substantial and 2-2 is considered passing for those of us in the 63 week course. And many have trouble even with that. Best of luck to you, post here when you start up class i'll dump all my knowledge on this thread.

Class started. Almost 2 weeks in. Covered pingying and moving on to grammar right now. Its pretty freaking hard, but enjoyable. I'm having a hard time keeping up with the sheer amount of memorization required. Pronunciation isn't too bad, but the complexity of each word/phrase kinda blows my mind.

# ¿ Jan 12, 2011 23:50

iceslice: May 20, 2005

Dirk Digglet posted:

After just listening to them speak ceaselessly for a few weeks tones and word memorization wont be a problem at all. 23 weeks in and I still write all my tests in Pinyin, it'll be one of your best friends next to this website...
http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php

Grammar is another issue. After 5000 years of language the Chinese people put words pretty much wherever the gently caress they feel like. There is a basic structure you'll get used to, but get in to the habit of asking lots and lots of questions if you can say this v.s. that. You're going to hear words used in ways that dont make sense (like "dui", which means correct can also mean "towards" like "wo dui ta shuo" or I towards him spoke) but dont let it get to you, thats actually one of the things i really dig about this language.

Finally I guess just go over the vocab CONSTANTLY. at 23 weeks we're well over 1500 words and if you just plain forget a character (which you will) it can completely gently caress you over in reading a passage. There's a story that gets passed around here about four native speaking chinese professors with PHDs in their language trying to remember the character for "sneeze".

I'll post more on grammar in a bit. Im hungry.

All of our writing is done on a computer so we have to only be able to recognize characters, write out names, and be able to write Pinyin. I've been using ArchChinese.com, but that site looks even better. They're telling us we should be approaching 2500 words by the time we're done with our 6 months, which is pretty nutty. Its not like DLI, we have to OPI at a 1/1 to pass which I'm told isn't difficult. We spent the week covering the basics of grammar and even our instructor was telling us that things just sorta go in a general format and the only real reason to use one order over another is either because it "just sounds right" or emphasis on the thing you're talking about first.

I gotta say its a pretty cool language.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2011 02:02

iceslice: May 20, 2005

Nice! We're about to take our semester 1 exam in a few days, although its not the same as DLI. We'll have a written exam Thursday, and then a fake OPI with a DLI instructor some time next week. Chinese is freaking hard.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2011 03:12

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 13:44

iceslice: May 20, 2005

If you are serious about needing to take an OPI I'd be gladto answer questions via PM. I'm studying for an OPI (from DLI) right now and would be happy to share the general info about what we've been going over.

# ¿ Feb 27, 2011 03:48

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Internet VFW > DLI is the sperg capital of the world