Articles in the ‘Attitude and mentality’ category Page 10
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Why you need goals to learn Chinese efficiently
Learning without goals might seem like a reasonable choice at first, but after a closer look, it isn’t such a good idea. First, it’s hard to imagine not having any goal at all, so setting goals is more about making your implicit goals explicit. Second, focusing only on having fun will lead to some very unusual learning strategies.
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How to get good grades when studying Chinese
Ideally, we would study Chinese just because we want to and in any manner we see fit, but this isn’t how it works for most students. Instead, we need to care about tests and grades, an extra layer added on top of our own personal goals and ambitions. This article is about studying Chinese when those tests and grades really matter, a kind of basic survival guide for both exams and courses.
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Hacking Chinese: Contradictory and provoking?
This article is a reflection on my own writing on Hacking Chinese. I sometimes deliberately contradict myself, exaggerate a certain point or approach a question from a certain perspective. In short, critical thinking is essential, regardless if you read my articles or listen to other people’s advice.
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Learning how to learn Chinese through self-experimentation
Rigorous scientific research typically requires large sample sizes, otherwise it isn’t possible to draw any conclusions about the population at large, which is the goal of most studies. However, experimenting with yourself as the only participant might not be relevant for other learners, but it’s highly relevant for you. This article is about how to use self-experimentation to learn Chinese.
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You might be too lazy to learn Chinese, but you’re not too old
Children learn languages neither quickly nor effortlessly, but there’s still a lot we can learn from them. You might be too lazy, but you’re definitely not too old to learn Chinese.
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Immersion at home or: Why you don’t have to go abroad to learn Chinese
You don’t have to go abroad to learn Chinese. The main difference between staying at home and going abroad is that it requires less effort to learn once you’re there (although it still requires quite a lot of effort). This means that you can learn Chinese at home, provided that you are determined enough and create an immersion environment yourself. This article gives suggestions and advice on how to achieve that.
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You shouldn’t walk the road to Chinese fluency alone
The road to Chinese mastery is long, but fortunately, you don’t have to walk it alone. This article describes four different kinds of people and how they will help you to master Chinese: the local, the traveller, the supporter and the guide. They all have their different strengths and you should learn what they are in order to make the journey as smooth as possible.
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The Cthulhu bubble and studying Chinese
What does learning Chinese have to do with the Cthulhu Mythos? Quite a lot, actually. This article is about your bubble of safety and what happens when monsters (weird, difficult cases) appear and what you should do to avoid insanity. In short, don’t poke the monster in the eye; when encountering strange cases, either ignore them or memorise them, don’t waste time understanding everything you hear or see.
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You can’t learn Chinese characters by rote
My conclusion after years of learning characters is that rote learning is useless. Spaced repetition software is good, but it’s still not enough. If adult foreigners are going to learn to write Chinese by hand, we really need another method. We need mnemonics, we need active processing, we need to quit rote learning and stop using SRS mechanically.
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Have fun learning Chinese or else…
Having fun while learning, or at least making the best of every situation, is essential. Learning a language requires a lot of time and if we don’t enjoy the process, we aren’t likely to invest the time we need to master a language.
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