Articles in the ‘Beginner’ category Page 39
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Dealing with tricky vocabulary: Killing leeches
Leeches are words or characters that you keep forgetting and therefore consume much more time than other words or characters. Rather than trying to hammer these words into your brain, a specific strategy is needed to kill the leeches. This article deals with just that, how to handle difficult vocabulary you keep on forgetting.
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Escaping the convenience trap to learn more Chinese
We like to spend time doing what we’re already good at, which might be a good thing if we’re aiming for excellence in a very narrow field. However, learning a language is not so narrow and requires us ta learn a variety of skills. In this article, I explore the tendency to focus on what we’re already good at and some of it’s negative consequences. I also propose some hands-on tips to escape the convenience trap.
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Spaced repetition isn’t rote learning
Spaced repetition might on the surface look like it’s rote learning, but I argue that it isn’t. Firstly, spaced repetition isn’t about learning as such. You’re supposed to use smarter methods to learn the words first and then simply review to keep the knowledge fresh. Secondly, spaced repetition won’t degenerate to rote learning if you are alert and avoid cramming of any kind.
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Goals and motivation for learning Chinese, part 4 – Micro goals
This is the fourth article in my series on goals and motivation. This time the topic is micro goals and how to use them to enhance your studying. In essence, you will need to have goals on many different levels to make sure that you are moving in the right direction. Links to previous articles are presented at the beginning.
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Goals and motivation for learning Chinese, part 3 – Short-term goals
This is the third article in my series on goals and motivation. This time the topic is short-term goals and how to use them to enhance your studying. In essence, you will need to have goals on many different levels to make sure that you are moving in the right direction. Links to previous articles are presented at the beginning.
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Goals and motivation for learning Chinese, part 2 – Long-term goals
This is the second article in my series on goals and motivation. This time the topic is long-term goals and how to use them to enhance your studying. In essence, you will need to have goals on many different levels to make sure that you are moving in the right direction. Links to previous articles are presented at the beginning.
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Goals and motivation for learning Chinese, part 1 – Introduction
I think everybody knows that motivation is something you need to succeed at any task. I’m naturally going to assume that you are motivated to learn Chinese (otherwise, why are you reading this?), but that’s not going to be enough. Do you know why you want to learn Chinese? Are you the ambitious entrepreneur? The curious student? The involuntary learner? The Chinese culture aficionado? The linguistics nerd?
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Anki, the best of spaced repetition software
Of all the various websites and programs out there to help you learning Chinese, Anki is probably the most important one. There are numerous software to handle vocabulary learning, but in my experience, none of them are as versatile and dynamic as Anki.
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Chinese listening ability, a matter of practice?
Many people have asked me how to improve listening ability, not only when learning Chinese, but when learning any language. The problem is that there seems to be no tactic to employ and no smart tricks; to get better at listening, you simply need to practice. Is this really the case? Is listening ability simply about listening a lot? Can’t you hack it?
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Spaced repetition software and why you should use it
Spaced repetition means that you review words you want to learn in certain intervals to maximise learning efficiency. Since this involves keeping track of much data, a computer program is needed to handle it properly. Spaced repetition software is very powerful and can be used for many things, but learning vocabulary and characters are perhaps the most important applications.
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