Traditionalism

TweetI consider myself to be a futurist in many areas. But when it comes to Chinese characters, I am a traditionalist. John had a post last week about Simplified versus Traditional Chinese. A week later, there are more than 50 comments! (Of course, some came from the same individuals).

Popular or Official?

TweetWe often choose a language to learn based on its usefulness. But how can we actually measure it? Last week, I was involved in a rather fierce discussion in a language forum. Someone was planning to move to Toronto and wanted to learn some Chinese. He was wondering which language he should pick, Mandarin or [...]

Importance of Repetition

TweetRepeat, repeat, repeat…. Just echo what you have heard. Repeat it many times. This is the key to improving your speaking skill. Watch this hilarious video clip by Max. He recommends and demonstrates a great drill that you should try. This example applies to learning Mandarin tones. But it can be easily generalized into learning [...]

Support from the Blogosphere

TweetAre you currently feeling discouraged? Write it out in your blog. This was what Jeremy did. About 2 weeks ago, he started a blog to track his Mandarin learning progress. Then 2 days later, he felt discouraged: “I woke up this morning thinking about my progress so far. I was very discouraged. I’ve never been [...]

Feeling Embarrassed to Speak

TweetIn a thread from a Cantonese Learner’s forum posted a few days ago, several learners expressed their fears and frustrations when attempting to practice their learning language in public. Here are some excerpts: “If … there is a big line behind me … I feel paranoid that people behind me are getting angry.” “I once [...]

« go back — keep looking »

  • Subscribe

  • Search This Blog

  • Categories

  • Archives

  • I am a LingQ member







  • Recent Comments

  • My Tweets

    • Switch to our mobile site