Articles in the ‘Intermediate’ category Page 38
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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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The question you have to ask about your Chinese teacher or course
The most important question you should ask yourself about your current teacher or course is what you won’t learn. Since this isn’t something most teachers and schools like to talk about, it’s typically something you need to figure out on your own. This article discusses this question from various angles, highlighting the importance of being aware of what you need to study on your own.
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Is your flashcard deck too big for your own good?
If you use spaced repetition software like Anki for learning Chinese and do so for a few years, you will end up with a very large flashcard deck. Some people advocate deleting the deck if it becomes too big. This article looks closer at the pros and cons of keeping large decks and why you might want to consider starting over from scratch.
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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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14 extra songs to learn Chinese and expand your horizons
This is the fourth and possibly final article about Chinese music. As before, the goal this time is to expand your horizons a bit and help you find music you like. Music is useful because it’s fun and is a relaxed way of learning. We need learning of all kinds if we want to learn fast, so music fulfils a really important function.
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21 essential dictionaries and corpora for learning Chinese
There are many online resources for looking up Chinese characters and words, so many that it might be very hard for new learners to find what they need. This article introduces 21 dictionaries and corpora for Chinese learners, including what they should be used for in addition to some pros and cons.
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Horizontal vocabulary learning in Chinese
The normal thing to do when we learning characters or words is to focus on deepening our knowledge, researching components and understanding more about what we’re trying to learn. Some problems can’t be alleviated this way, however, instead they call for horizontal vocabulary learning, i.e. to putting the character or word into context and to compare it with similar characters or words. Only then can we grasp the bigger picture.
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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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Improving your Chinese by translating from another language
I think translation is one of the best ways of improving writing ability. Translation forces you into linguistic environments you wouldn’t have ended up in if you wrote the article yourself. This article is about how translation can be used to improve your written Chinese.
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How to create mnemonics for general or abstract character components
Anyone who has tried mnemonics for learning Chinese characters knows that some components are easier to link together than others. This article discusses in detail how to deal with abstract or general character components and how to handle components with the same or overlapping meaning, an essential skill if you’re serious about character learning.
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