I believe that attitude and mentality is the single most important thing in life. This isn’t limited to language learning, but since learning Chinese is what this website is about, the articles here are mostly about language learning. Attitude is something that can be changed over time and if we want to master Chinese, we need to have a healthy attitude both towards the language itself and towards learning it.
When I say attitude, I mean attitude towards everything related to learning Chinese, the general mentality we adopt when learning. This includes attitude towards others, how we approach native speakers, teachers and fellow students, how we ask questions, how we receive feedback and much more. It also includes our attitude towards ourselves. Accepting and embracing failure and mistakes as a way of learning is perhaps the most important lesson, but there are of course many others. We need to believe that Chinese can be learnt, but we also need to understand that it won’t happen overnight and that we need to invest long-term in order to reach our goals.
Here are all articles on Hacking Chinese related to attitude and mentality (scroll down to see all of them in a text-only list):
- Three things I wish I had known as an advanced student of Chinese: The time machine, part 3
- Three things I wish I had known as an intermediate student of Chinese: The time machine, part 2
- Three things I wish I had known as a beginner student of Chinese: The time machine, part 1
- Why you should preview before every Chinese lesson
- The three factors that determine how much Chinese you learn
- Habit hacking for language learners
- Chinese character learning for all students
- Interview: Insights from Skritter’s Complete Guide to Learning Chinese
- Student Q&A, April 2024: Learning chengyu, listening to yourself and using role-playing games to learn Chinese
- Is speaking more important than listening when learning Chinese?
- How to learn Chinese in the long term with intrinsic motivation
- Listen more and learn more by building a personal Chinese audio library
- How to best use flashcards to learn Chinese
- Student Q&A, December 2023: How many words to learn, if it’s good to learn radicals, and whether to learn simplified or traditional characters
- Is learning things by heart good for improving your Chinese?
- You won’t learn Chinese simply by living abroad
- 100 hours of Chinese listening in 3 weeks: What I learnt and how to apply it
- Student Q&A, October 2023: Expanding vocabulary quickly, learning by watching videos and nailing dictation tests
- How long do you have to study Chinese to make it useful?
- Should you throw away your Chinese textbook?
- Is Chinese difficult to learn?
- Insights from the new HSK 7-9: Interview with Sara Jaaksola
- Learning Chinese is more like walking a thousand miles than running 100-metre dash
- Should you use an efficient method for learning Chinese even if you hate it?
- Using the HSK as a roadmap to learning Chinese
- Learn Chinese efficiently, not quickly
- How to study Chinese when you don’t feel like it
- Are there any shortcuts for learning Chinese?
- Take responsibility for your Chinese learning now
- How to learn from your mistakes and errors when learning Chinese
- On accuracy, communication and comprehensibility when learning Chinese
- Are authentic texts good for learning Chinese or is graded content better?
- What to read to improve your Chinese and why
- How to learn Chinese pronunciation as a beginner
- How to start learning Chinese again after a break
- How to survive and thrive in a difficult Chinese course
- Is taking a Chinese course that’s too hard good for your learning?
- Why spaced repetition software is uniquely well suited to learning Chinese characters
- 6 challenges students face when learning to read Chinese and how to overcome them
- Should you enrol in a Chinese course or are you better off learning on your own?
- Why your Chinese isn’t as good as you think it ought to be
- Chinese language logging, part 3: Tools and resources for keeping track of your learning
- Chinese language logging, part 2: A healthy, balanced diet of Mandarin
- Chinese language logging, part 1: Why and how to track your progress
- What’s the difference between Chinese pronunciation and Pinyin? Does it matter?
- 6 things in Chinese that are harder to learn than they seem
- 20 tips and tricks to improve your Chinese writing ability
- The most serious mistake students make when learning Mandarin pronunciation
- How to not fail with your New Year resolution to learn Chinese
- 7 things Chinese students should do during the winter vacation
- How to get honest feedback to boost your Chinese speaking and writing
- Chinese is fascinating and exciting, not weird and stupid
- The forking path: A human approach to learning Chinese
- How to get past the intermediate Chinese learning plateau
- Can too much guidance make you learn less Chinese?
- The nine principles of learning (and the mistakes from failing to follow them)
- 101 questions and answers about how to learn Chinese
- Training your Chinese teacher, part 1: Introduction
- 8 tips for learning Chinese as an introverted student
- Learning to unicycle, learning anatomy and learning Chinese
- Is it necessary to learn the stroke order of Chinese characters?
- Task-based Chinese learning and teaching
- How I learnt Chinese, part 6: Graduate program in Taiwan
- Learn Chinese faster by leaving your comfort zone
- The real challenge with learning Chinese characters
- Can native speakers be wrong about Chinese grammar and pronunciation?
- Will a Chinese-only rule improve your learning?
- Three steps to more and better Chinese listening practice
- What you intend to write is more important than the character you actually write
- How knowing your best performance in Chinese can help you improve
- How to find the time and motivation to read more Chinese
- Change your attitude to enjoy life and learn more Chinese
- How long have you studied Chinese? 290 years or 58 992 hours!
- About cheating, spaced repetition and learning Chinese
- Study more Chinese: Time boxing vs. micro goals
- How long have you studied Chinese?
- Language learning with a Chinese girlfriend or boyfriend
- How to reach a decent level of Chinese in 100 days
- How to find out how good your Chinese pronunciation really is
- The three roads to mastering Chinese
- How to Approach Chinese Grammar
- Asking the experts: How to learn Chinese grammar
- Learning how to fish: Or, why it’s essential to know how to learn
- Chinese immersion with Carl Gene Fordham
- Asking the experts: How to bridge the gap to real Chinese
- Preparing for rainy days and dealing with slumps
- Your slumps affect your language learning more than your flows
- What’s your next step to master Chinese?
- Why you need goals to learn Chinese efficiently
- How to get good grades when studying Chinese
- Hacking Chinese: Contradictory and provoking?
- Learning how to learn Chinese through self-experimentation
- You might be too lazy to learn Chinese, but you’re not too old
- Immersion at home or: Why you don’t have to go abroad to learn Chinese
- You shouldn’t walk the road to Chinese fluency alone
- The Cthulhu bubble and studying Chinese
- You can’t learn Chinese characters by rote
- Have fun learning Chinese or else…
- The 10,000 hour rule – Blood, sweat and tears
- Making progress in Chinese in spite of praise
- Can you become fluent in Chinese in three months?
- Enjoying the journey while focusing on the destination
- Achieving the impossible by being inspired
- Escaping the convenience trap to learn more Chinese
- What native speakers know and what they don’t
- Making mistakes in Chinese is necessary to adjust your mental models
- Learning Chinese is easier than you think