Recent articles about how to learn Mandarin Page 41
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Why good feedback matters and how to get it
Teachers give feedback in many different ways, some terribly bad, others very good. The bad ones let you struggle for hours just to correct your essay, not necessarily learning much on the way. The good ones not only allow you to correct your essay, you also feel that you’re learning a lot and won’t make the same mistakes again. This article sets down some guidelines for how to give good feedback, useful for both students and teachers.
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Improving Foreign Language Pronunciation: Interview with Hacking Chinese on Language is Culture
This is a 70-minute interview with me done by David Mansaray of Language is Culture. In the interview, we talk mainly about learning how to pronounce a foreign language as an adult. I share some of my own knowledge, thoughts and opinions and there’s probably something for everyone in this interview. Listen to it directly or download it to your phone for later listening!
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Sensible Chinese character learning challenge 2014
The 2014 sensible Chinese character learning challenge starts soon! This article introduces the challenge and how you join us. Apart from learning a lot of characters and improving the way you learn characters, you also get a discount and free extensions on Skritter, as well as a chance of winning character posters from Hanzi WallChart!
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Sensible Chinese character learning revisited
In a way, learning Chinese characters is very much like learning vocabulary in any foreign language and much of the efficient methods developed there works well for Chinese as well. However, characters are also fundamentally different from words in English and this influences how we should learn them as well. This article is a recap of how to learn Chinese characters in a sensible way. It is also a prologue for the upcoming character learning challenge.
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Hacking Chinese meet-up in Taipei 2014-03-22
It’s been way too long since the previous meet-up and it’s time to get together again to talk about Chinese, life, the universe and whatever else you want to talk about. About a dozen people usually turn up and this is an excellent occasion to get to know some other serious learners and talk about Chinese for a few hours. The main language is English (i.e. you don’t have to be good at Chinese to join), but Chinese is of course also great.
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Asking the experts: How to learn Chinese grammar
How should we learn Chinese grammar? This article collects the best answers from more than 15 experts and experienced learners.
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Flashcard overflow: About card models and review directions
The question of how to design flashcards is faced by all learners who use them. What should you put on the front? What should you put on the back? Should you add single characters or whole words? Or perhaps sentences are better? The general answer is that it depends and this article discusses some of the factors the answers depend on.
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Learning how to fish: Or, why it’s essential to know how to learn
Learning how to learn Chinese is an essential skill for any student, regardless if you study on your own or in a course. This article explains why going to class is not enough.
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Two reasons why pronunciation matters more than you think
Good pronunciation matters, whether you like it or not. In general, students (and teachers) tend to stop caring about pronunciation much earlier than they should. You don’t need to aim for native-like pronunciation, but clear and easily-understood Chinese should be the goal of all students. In this article I present two arguments: one about the fact that pronunciation and communication are closely linked, one about how pronunciation reflects both you as a person and your other skills.
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Hacking Chinese 2013/2014: What was and what will be
2013 was a good year on Hacking Chinese, even though I didn’t publish any of the e-books I have in the pipeline. In 2013, another 56 articles were published, reaching more than twice as many readers as last year. This article details some of the most important developments in 2013, as well as my thoughts on the future of Hacking Chinese.
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