Game in the Brain

problems in mandarin with:
1- multi tone sequences. One thing to learn to identify the tone its another to do it at under a second, and to pronounce it under a second. and to shift between different tones (up to 5 to 8) in the course of a whole sentence.  

2 – context – a syllable can be pronounced in 5 different tones, or can refer to 2-3 different words that have the same syllable and tone. then there is 2-9 different meanings per character (a character is the narrowest tone and syllable)

3 – then my competitive nature – i’m in a class which has a much fresher memory of the last lecture ( mine is 2 years ago), there is a skilled polyglot, and the class ace. My only advantage is I’ve drilled the languages and listened to all the newbie chinese pod to exhaustion.

Which is also great, more motivation.

Observing the polyglot and the ace is kinda interesting: –

the polyglot picks it up so differently than the ace (with so much less effort). The ace is armed with a ton of listening and speaking tools (songs, tv shows, and tutorials), and then theres’ me lolz

I use writing exercises and storytelling. This is an old technique, the way it works is each character is made up of sub characters that tell a story.
Example

• The word for study 学 is made up of a character that looks like a table full of books and the character of child sleeping under with his hands outstretched. 
• fire 火 is the symbol of a man, ren, ON FIRE 
• Gong or Public 公 is a sad eyes but smiling face
• While small is also is sad eyes and a big nose 小

etc. writing and thinking about the base characters allow me to use story telling mnemonics as well as learn sub  characters. Inter-relational memory technique, I dont know precisely the mnemonic of it.