Recent articles about how to learn Mandarin Page 52
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Using search engines to study Chinese
Studying on your own comes with certain problems I think all language learners have encountered many times. If you encounter a concept you don’t know how to say in the target language, you have to look it up. The first natural thing would be to look in a dictionary or a corpus, but some kinds of questions can’t be answered in this way. Asking a search engine is a very powerful but often neglected tool that I use on a daily basis.
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Anki, the best of spaced repetition software
Of all the various websites and programs out there to help you learning Chinese, Anki is probably the most important one. There are numerous software to handle vocabulary learning, but in my experience, none of them are as versatile and dynamic as Anki.
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Chinese listening ability, a matter of practice?
Many people have asked me how to improve listening ability, not only when learning Chinese, but when learning any language. The problem is that there seems to be no tactic to employ and no smart tricks; to get better at listening, you simply need to practice. Is this really the case? Is listening ability simply about listening a lot? Can’t you hack it?
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Spaced repetition software and why you should use it
Spaced repetition means that you review words you want to learn in certain intervals to maximise learning efficiency. Since this involves keeping track of much data, a computer program is needed to handle it properly. Spaced repetition software is very powerful and can be used for many things, but learning vocabulary and characters are perhaps the most important applications.
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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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Learning Chinese through social media
People spend lots of time every day using social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Communicating with native speakers in a relaxed way is a very good way of learning a language, especially if it doesn’t feel like studying. Apart from the global social media, China also has its own variants that can be very useful for language learners.
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Making mistakes in Chinese is necessary to adjust your mental models
Everybody knows that making mistakes is part of learning and that you have to live with it. Some of you might even have heard that mistakes are good, as long as they are genuine. Very few, however, live according to this maxim. In this article I talk about making mistakes and that a healthy attitude towards mistakes is of great importance when trying to learn Chinese.
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Learning Chinese is easier than you think
Natives and foreigners alike tend to spread the myth that Chinese is impossible to learn. This isn’t true. If you have the correct attitude and approach, Chinese isn’t all that difficult to learn, at least to a conversant level. This post is meant as encouragement for those of you who think or believe that Chinese is impossible to learn.
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A pre-launch plea for help
Since I started studying Chinese, I’ve realised that there are many things to learn that no textbook and few teachers will tell you. I’m not talking about things in ordinary books here, but on how to study Chinese. As you probably know, I’ve written extensively about this on my website for many years, but I’ve now decided that it’s time to write something more serious about it. To start with, I’m going to launch a new website called Hacking Chinese, but my goal is ultimately to write a book about learning Chinese.
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Requirements to be met before site launch
Even though the site is available from now on, there are a few things I want to accomplish before launching the site officially. If you feel something is missing in this list or have any suggestions of any kind, please let me know! This article simply summarises what I have left to do before launching the site officially.
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