Hacking Chinese

A better way of learning Mandarin

Articles tagged with ‘Goals’ Page 2

  1. 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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  2. Don’t just read about language learning methods, try them!

    When reading about ways of learning languages, it’s easy to just nod or shake one’s head in approval or dismissal. This is not enough if we want to master the art of learning a language. We need to identify the methods or ideas that have potential and actually try them. Only then can we know if they are helpful or not.

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  3. If you want to master Chinese, make long-term investments

    It’s easy and perhaps natural to spend the minimum amount of effort to overcome a problem, but this will bring problems in the long run. If we want to reach long-term goals such as mastering Chinese, we need to adopt a long-term approach. What makes sense to pass your next exam isn’t necessarily what makes sense if you want to really learn what you’re studying.

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  4. Enjoying the journey while focusing on the destination

    Everybody has different reasons for studying Chinese, but whatever the final goal is, it is important to make the journey interesting as well. Enjoying studying isn’t simply a cliché, it’s quite necessary if you want to invest the time needed to master a language. This article discusses the journey, the destination and the relationship between them. To put it briefly: don’t forget to look at the view.

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  5. 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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  6. 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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  7. 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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  8. 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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  9. The virtues of learning Chinese through language exchange

    A language exchange is simply a relationship between two people who want to learn each other’s language. It is useful because it allows you to focus fully on language without having to worry that your ordinary friends think it’s taxing to be with you because you always ask so many questions.

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