Recent articles about how to learn Mandarin Page 49
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Hacking Chinese 2011/2012: What was and what will be
2011 has ended, 2012 has just begun. This is an excellent time to review what’s happened during Hacking Chinese’s first year online. It’s also an opportunity to talk a little bit about the future. In what direction do you want Hacking Chinese to move?
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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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Chinese reading speed: Learning how to read ten lines at a glance
Reading quickly is useful when taking tests and in any situation where you want consume large volumes of test. However, simply reading a lot is not the most efficient way to reach high speeds, you actually need to focus on reading speed to do that. In this article I discus various methods, tips and tricks, along with some thoughts on goals and problem analysis.
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Mapping the terra incognita of Chinese vocabulary
When it comes to vocabulary, it is sometimes difficult to cover all the necessary areas. If we move on to more advanced levels, we need to make sure that we actively strive to plug the holes that might exist on more basic levels. This article is about strengthening the foundations and expanding vocabulary.
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The tones in Mandarin are more important than you think
Tones are more important than most people think. Just because native speakers reduce tones and speak quickly, it doesn’t mean that you can do the same and get away with it. Don’t be fooled by people who say that tones in Chinese aren’t as important as all that, because they’re wrong.
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Reading manga in Chinese for more than just pleasure
This article is about reading manga (comics) in order to improve your Chinese. Manga serves two important functions apart from being enjoyable in itself. Firstly, it gives us access to language we would otherwise hardly ever see in written form. Secondly, it lowers the threshold for reading books in Chinese. Reading manga just for fun is fine, but if you think about it, you’ll see that it can be very useful as well!
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Triggering quantum leaps in Chinese listening ability
Listening ability is mostly a matter of practise, but the level of difficulty of the input also matters. My theory is that most people listen to Chinese that is too easy for them and would benefit from challenging themselves more, even if they spend the same amount of time practising listening ability.
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About opening doors and the paths beyond
Hacking Chinese is about opening doors and showing the paths beyond, but what does that mean? Why is it useful to read other people’s advice? In this article I argue that it’s essential to familiarise oneself with many different methods, not to find the correct way of doing something, but to find better ways and provide contrast to one’s own learning process.
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The Chinese-Chinese dictionary survival guide
This article is about using Chinese-Chinese dictionaries, both from a personal point of view and in a more general sense. The goal is to provide tips and tricks for using Chinese-Chinese dictionaries, traps to avoid and other things that will be helpful for learners who intend to move from English-Chinese to Chinese-Chinese.
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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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