For the individual language learner, science and associated statistics is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, scientific enquiry can tell us much about the language we’re studying and how we should go about learning it. On the other hand, we must recognise the fact that what is statistically relevant for a large group of people might not be relevant for any given individual within that group.
I think we can divide scientific enquiry into two parts. First, studies on language learning itself tend to be of limited importance. Each learner is unique, each situation is unique and each language is unique, and chances are that the situation tested in a study is not the same as your own situation. Still, being aware of what generally seems to work is of course an indicator of what might work for you as well, but science is never an infallible guide.
I say that this is a double-edged sword because you can’t look at a study and say that “this study proves that method A is better than B”. You can say that for a majority of the people in that study, method A was slightly better than B, but only under very specific and well-defined conditions (usually very short-term). These might not be the conditions under which you study.
The importance of N=1
Still, a scientific approach to studying is essential. N is simply the number of subjects that participate in a scientific study. Normally, a single participant is not interesting for scientists, teachers or legislators because they want to be able to say something in general about the subject their doing research into and not about an individual.
For an individual learner, however, N=1 (one single participant, yourself) is enough to conduct experiments. You don’t need to care about that the method you use doesn’t work for 95% of the other learners. If it works for you, that’s good enough. Conducting scientific experiments on yourself is an excellent way of expanding your horizons and evaluating your own study method.
Scientific descriptions of Chinese
The second type of research is that into the Chinese language itself and this is much more useful. For instance, scientific enquiries into the difference in dialects might tell us that roughly one third of all tones in Standard Chinese are reduced to neutral tones in natural speech, but that this is not the case in e.g. Taiwan. This is helpful if we try to make sense of the way Chinese is used.
Furthermore, linguists have also produced frequency lists and other useful analyses of the Chinese language, all which might come in handy for the industrious student. The same can be said about grammar, syntax, phonology and much more.
Science not directly related to Chinese
I spent one year studying nothing but psychology, including memory and cognition. This opened the door for me into a different world and sparked my interest in learning how to learn. Studying how we learn, how we remember and similar topics gives you a deeper understanding about the process of language learning. Even though not all methods might be directly applicable to learning Chinese, having a basic understanding of the psychology of memory and learning is essential if we want to make sense of our own and others’ experiences of learning Chinese.
Articles in the science and research category:
- Habit hacking for language learners
- Learning to hear the sounds and tones in Mandarin
- How to learn Chinese in the long term with intrinsic motivation
- Outlier Chinese Character Masterclass review: Understand more, learn faster, remember longer
- Beyond tīng bu dǒng, part 5: Becoming a better listener as a student of Chinese
- 6 benefits of learning Chinese through sports
- Beyond tīng bu dǒng, part 4: Learning to process spoken Mandarin quickly and effortlessly
- Beyond tīng bu dǒng, part 3: Using what you already know to aid listening comprehension in Chinese
- Beyond tīng bu dǒng, part 2: From sound to meaning in Mandarin
- Beyond tīng bu dǒng, part 1: A guide to Chinese listening comprehension
- How to become fluent in Chinese
- Analyse and balance your Chinese learning with Paul Nation’s four strands
- The building blocks of Chinese, part 6: Learning and remembering compound words
- The building blocks of Chinese, part 5: Making sense of Chinese words
- 6 challenges students face when learning to read Chinese and how to overcome them
- Chinese language learning in the twenty-first century: Towards a digital ecosystem? Interview with Julien Leyre
- Chinese language logging, part 2: A healthy, balanced diet of Mandarin
- Learning the second tone in Mandarin Chinese
- Learning the third tone in Mandarin Chinese
- The most serious mistake students make when learning Mandarin pronunciation
- 9 answers to questions about Pinyin and pronunciation
- Are simplified characters really simpler to learn?
- Review: The Outlier Dictionary of Chinese Characters
- Should you learn to speak Chinese before you learn Chinese characters?
- How to get honest feedback to boost your Chinese speaking and writing
- Are mnemonics too slow for Chinese learners?
- Does using colour to represent Mandarin tones make them easier to learn?
- 101 questions and answers about how to learn Chinese
- The most common Chinese words, characters and components for language learners and teachers
- How good is voice recognition for learning Chinese pronunciation?
- Using speech recognition to improve Chinese pronunciation, part 1
- Reading is a lot like spaced repetition, only better
- Cramming vs. spaced repetition: When to use which method to learn Chinese
- How and why to learn and teach Chinese through games
- Whom should you trust for advice about learning Chinese?
- Obligatory and optional tone change rules in Mandarin
- The Hacking Chinese free tone training course
- Learning to pronounce Mandarin with Pinyin, Zhuyin and IPA: Part 3
- Review: The Geography of Thought: How East Asians and Westerners Think Differently… And Why
- What research can and cannot tell us about learning Chinese
- Learning how to learn Chinese through self-experimentation
- Learning styles: Use with caution!
- Review: The Phonology of Standard Chinese
- The 10,000 hour rule – Blood, sweat and tears
- Use the benefits of teaching to boost your own Chinese learning
- The tones in Mandarin are more important than you think
- Triggering quantum leaps in Chinese listening ability
- About opening doors and the paths beyond