The one book has a chapter on how to write about a sequence of events, like cooking a recipe or describing a series of events.
For example, it says

“In describing procedures and processes, the following expressesions are often useful:

首先 first of all
然后 then
随后 soon afterwards
最后 finally

They also then nicely introduce,

“When presenting one’s point of view…it is more forceful to list them…by using the following words and phrases

首先 first of all
其次 secondly
除此之外 besides
不仅如此 not only that

Here’s what REALLY bugs me. I just DON’T GET it. I got in a pretty big argument/discussion with a Chinese person about how my viewpoint was wrong, almost offensive. WHY is there no pinyin? If I already know the word, well then I sure do hope I know how to use it.

If the authors think that I don’t know how to use these words, and they don’t since they are explaining their usage to me, then how do they expect me to know the sounds for the word? I think they are just LAZY, the book publishers want to keep the total pages to a minimum, I don’t know but it’s batty.

Why do authors feel like they need to mix up memorization and recall with explanations? It’s like explaining to me how to tie my shoes while spinning me around.

I’m used to studying online, where I can do this:

首先 然后 随后 最后 首先 其次 除此之外 不仅如此
shǒuxiān ranhou suihou zuihou shouxian qici chucizhiwai bujin ruci

via sites like ADSO: http://www.adsotrans.com/new/

A sentence which is easier in Chinese than it is in English

I will prove that Chinese is easier than English. First let’s start off with a thought, imagine that you have entered a classroom, you have taken off your shoes. Express this statement in Chinese and English. Which is easier to do?

wǒ tuō le xié zǒujìn jiàoshì。
我脱了鞋走进教室。

I-took off-shoes-go-enter-classroom
I took off my shoes and walked into the classroom.
I took off my shoes and entered the classroom.

A: Chinese version

我脱了鞋走进教室

In this Chinese sentence the only variable is the progression of time and the sequence of events. There is virtually no conjugation or tricky word forms. Just subject, verb and actions, and nouns. The verbs do not need conjugation, there are no tricky connector words. It’s about as simple as one could make it. There are about 15 components making up the hanzi, and about 7 words.

我 ….. subject, ( I )
脱了… first action, completed action, (remove)
鞋…… noun, (shoe)
走…… second action (go)
进…… third action (forward/into)
教室… noun, (classroom)

I-took off-shoes-go-enter-classroom
wǒ tuō le xié zǒujìn jiàoshì。

B: English version

I took off my shoes and walked into the classroom.

In the English version we are see that at almost every point in the sentence it’s necessary to make modifications and choices. Imagine doing this all in rapid-fire conversation, how can one do this?! When do I need a ‘the’? Why don’t I say “my pair of shoes”? There are 19 different letters and about 10 words several of which have irregular conjugations; take-took, I-mine-my, in-into, the classroom-a classroom-classroom.

I………… subject, must be converted, ie. from me, mine.
took off…. first action, must be made past tense, doesn’t follow ‘ed rule, exception. Plus this verb requires ‘off’.
my……… possession, need to add this as English is not context sensitive, must determine if it should be I, me, mine, my.
shoes……. noun, must be made plural of shoe, no need to indicate ‘pair’ of shoes in this situation
and……… this must be added because in English verbs can not just be strung together one after another
walked….. first action, must be made past tense to match first verb
into……… must be added to indicate direction
the………. must be added in front of noun, consideration of whether it is ‘a’, ‘the’, or nothing necessary. I don’t know why really, but you have to have ‘the’.
classroom…. 9-letters compared to 9 basic components within the Chinese hanzi 教室. Why two ’s’ and not one? Why is it not ‘class room’?

Proof: Since in this Chinese sentence I only require one variable, the progression of time and actions, and in the English sentence I require 8 modifications, I conclude that Chinese is an easier language than English.

Ref: A Crash Course in Chinese–Sentence Construction Patterns in Mordern Chinese. Ding Haosen. Shanghai 2004.

In fact, if one clearly defines one’s goals for the Chinese language it is quite easy to incrementally learn each of these skills and maybe one day even be able to fit them all into a phrase like “Learning to write in Chinese wasn’t too hard.”

• print handwriting, this is what is usually taught in an academic program or by Chinese teachers. Take a pen or pencil and trace/copy that character onto a piece of paper. Do this 10 x. Do this until your hands hurt. There is value to this activity when you first start learning, but the method clearly degrades in usefullness when looked to as a memorization aide. The characters you write here are ’standard’ print-type of style. It is slow to write and few adults continue to write Chinese in this way. Why? Because it’s too slow.
• cursive handwriting, this is what most native Chinese eventually gravitate to in their handwriting. It’s that flowing scribble that doesn’t look anything like the print that teachers made you write ad infinitum. It’s the only way to really write quickly enough so that the writing flows as quickly as your thoughts. You’ll have to find a patient friend or calligraphy teacher to teach you the basic principles of the flowing strokes so that you can intuitively convert and convert properly a square-print style character into a cursive script.
• typing, this is the act of using some tool to generate characters. Usually it involves pinyin and a pick-list of characters. SMS, IM, mobile phones, typing online all use this method.
• composition, this refers to the act of taking Chinese text and reviewing it for proper grammar, style, typos, etc.

Utilizing the resources that are available online today makes learning easier, flexible to suit your schedule, repeatable and at your own pace. Teach yourself Chinese with the internet, this site will show you how.

Whether you want to first start with pronunciation, writing characters, reading, daily or travel phrases, with video, thru podcasts, thru Skype or instant messaging, all these tools and resources are now readily available on the web. Learning Chinese today can be really done efficiently and with great success.

The growing interest in China has created a huge market for summer courses, year-long study abroad programs at Chinese universities (Such as the Beijing Language and Culture department typically referred to as BLCU, or programs in Hanzhou, Shanghai or Hainan), martial arts courses in kung-fu and tai-chi, culture courses such as Chinese calligraphy, Chinese painting and even Peking Opera. Learning this way in some ways is a convenient foot-in-the-door to learn about China, but today it’s not necessarily the fastest, most convenient and effective way to gain proficiency in speaking, writing and reading the Chinese language.