Articles in the ‘Vocabulary’ category Page 15
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Why learning Chinese through music is underrated
Learning Chinese through music is underrated. Music is a very efficiently way of improving your Chinese in an enjoyable way that won’t interfere much with other things you’re doing (simply decrease your exposure to music in English and replace it with Chinese). This article contains five songs I like, but there will be much more in future articles.
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Answer buttons and how to use SRS to study Chinese
Spaced repetition is very powerful compared to massed repetition, which is why software utilising the spacing effect is growing ever more popular. In this article, I discuss how to review vocabulary using SRS, including how to use the various answer buttons and some other functions commonly available.
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Use the benefits of teaching to boost your own Chinese learning
Teaching is a very powerful way of learning. Explaining complicated topics with simple language helps you grasp them and remember them. If you don’t have someone to teach, you can imagine that you have and teach yourself. Making simple explanations explicit works almost as well as real teaching.
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When perfectionism becomes an obstacle to progress
Perfectionism is usually regarded as something positive, perhaps even necessary. Scoring 100% on an exam is good, isn’t it? No, it’s not. In this article, I explain why perfectionism is bad when learning a language. Aiming for 90% is far better than aiming for 100%. This is being smart, not lazy.
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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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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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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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Learning Chinese the holistic way: Integrating knowledge
Holistic learning is about integrating what you learn into a web of things you already know and thus making it much easier to learn and remember. This is in contrast with traditional education methods which often emphasise isolated facts and don’t make proper use of what learners already know.
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Chinese vocabulary in your pocket
Having vocabulary with you so that you can study anywhere isn’t merely a handy trick, it’s essential. You don’t want to waste high quality time at home in front of your computer doing something you might as well do in the super market queue or while waiting for the bus. Study the right things at the right time!
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