One Day My Brain Will Finally Be Empty
Yesterday, LingQ had a huge interface update which changed a lot of things, and I was really excited to talk about some of the changes that were made to the site. Considering LingQ is something that I use everyday without fail, I feel this update impacts me a lot, and therefore am a good authority … Continue reading LingQ Update – First Impressions
Immersion has proven to be the most effective way to learn a language, however doing it from ground zero is definitely not easy. When I first started learning mandarin it took me about a year before I could give up flashcards and material for language learners and just immerse with content made by natives, for … Continue reading Mandarin Immersion Guide for Beginners
I have criticised the Pokémon anime in the past, but recently I've gone back to watch the original Pokémon anime in mandarin, and I've been enjoying a lot. Approaching the series with the additional aspect of learning a language has made it more interesting for me, and allowed me to appreciate the better aspects of … Continue reading Revisiting the Pokémon Anime
If you spent many years studying languages in school, only to leave, look back, and realise that you don't remember anything, you are not alone. I strongly believe that this has very little to do with your skill and natural talent, and rather the methods used to teach in schools. If I told you that … Continue reading Why You Couldn’t Learn a Language in School
Since I wrote my post about the importance of immersion 6 months ago, I have learned nearly 4 thousand words, that's 2 thousand words every three months (double what I was learning when I wrote that post in the first place) - however if numbers alone don't convince you of the effectiveness of immersion, then … Continue reading Why I Can’t Stop Learning Chinese
Learning 1000 words in any language is certainly an achievement to be proud of, and on the face of it, achieving this goal is quite doable - simply learn 10 words a day or more until you reach the 1000 mark. This is definitely a challenge, but still possible if you work hard. So how … Continue reading How I Learned 1000 New Chinese Words in Three Months Without Trying!
我学中文学了一年了，现在我的中文怎么样？对我来说我的中文还是非常差，但是我的进步很快。我今年用了很多时间学听力和阅读。因为我很少学口语和写作，所以我的听力和阅读能力比写作和口语好。我还没考HSK4是因为新冠病毒，我要是去考试肯定会通过。 如果我很少说中文，很少写汉字，我怎么学习？看电影，看电视剧, 看书。现在我一边写中文一边听有声小说，叫“查理和巧克力工厂” 因为我的中文水平不错，所以我可以看各种中国的娱乐节目和书，但是我并不是都明白。这是我学习的方法。看电影的时候，如果我不明白，我就查那个我不知道的词的意思。我不会去试图记住这个词，只是想明白我现在看的句子。因为翻译很快，我可以享受中国电影，所以学习不会让我感觉太烦。 学习的开始最难了，因为每个词你都不知道，所以你必须要学基础的词。可是一但你学完基础的词和语法你可以更多享受学习。我看过 ‘Well intended love’, ‘Accidently in Love’ and ‘Take my brother away’ (这个电视剧在Netflix上所以不知道中文名）都比学基础的东西有有意思，而且有用。 虽然这些节目很有意思，但是看它们还是让我累了。大部分的中国电视剧都是45分钟。因为我有工作，工作以后难以看45分钟的电视剧，所以我用‘LINGQ’看书。 你想要学中文的话，我最推荐看书。首先书很方便。你有5分钟或者5个小时的话都可以看书。不用看完45分钟的节目，你在想看的时候可以随便看书。中文口语是中文的一部分。书里不仅有中文口语，还有比较复杂的句子，描述的句子很多。还有，看书很慢，如果你想，就可以花时间让你明白每一个句子！ 现在我的方法不是每天试图记住很多生词。我就是享受用中文接触各种的有意思的中国的视频和书。虽然我没有试图记住词，但是我还渐渐学会了新的词。你看书的时候会看到同一个词很多次，因为你看过这个词很多次，你自然会记住那个词。多有意思和好玩的方法！ 我自信有一天可以说流利的中文。在我达到那个水平之前，我打算继续享受学习中文！ 谢谢你们来看我的博客文章！如果你有学习的建议请告诉我！ 我差不多每年发一个中文博客文章，如果人们喜欢的话，我可以发更多的文章！谢谢！
The last time I reviewed the normal version of Duolingo based on the Chinese version, now I will review Duolingo+ based on the Spanish version and talk a little bit about the Spanish course itself! So what does Duolingo+ offer? Well a couple of things. The first one that surprised me quite a lot, was … Continue reading Duolingo+ Review – Spanish
When learning a language for the first time, mistakes in your methods seem inevitable, after all you don't know where to start, and even when you follow good advice from people who have become fluent, it's still possible to make mistakes and mess things up. So that's why I'd like to talk about my mistakes … Continue reading What Mistakes I Made In Language Learning (Chinese)
On Saturday I took the HSK3 exam at my university after 9 months of studying the language. Normally I discuss my general thoughts on the HSK exam itself - difficulty, studying for it, difference between previous HSK's and etc however before that post is released I would like to discuss something different, the exam process … Continue reading The HSK3 Exam Process Has Some Problems
For those who don't know Memrise is a very useful tool for free education of language learning. It's a spaced repition software which helps you learn words by exposing you to them over long periods of time, helping them to stick in your long term memory. It's actually very useful. When Memrise made their change … Continue reading The Tragedy of Memrise Removing Decks
On December 1st I took my HSK2 exam after roughly six months of preparation, I knew beforehand that I would pass, as even months before that I found that I could pass the HSK2 exam, and I had only learned more since then. My test results came back, so how did I do? Well pretty … Continue reading From HSK2 to HSK3 – Thoughts on HSK, And The Different Methods of Language Learning
With university going on you have to ask the question, how are you able to keep up with learning Chinese when your so busy? The first thing I have to say is that you do have to prioritise. I have sacrificed my free time in order to learn. When I am not eating, cooking, studying, … Continue reading How I’m Learning Chinese At University
今天我刚记得我应该吃了月饼，但是我太迟到了！中秋节是两个星期前！当中秋节的时候你只可以买月饼！ 好的,好的,好的 我为什么忘了？ 你知道了我是英国人吗。。。好的， 你知道了。 在英国找月饼非常难！我有一些中国朋友们但是，他们都住在谢菲尔德。 当中秋节的时候我住在了诺丁汉，我这个周开始住在谢菲尔德! 我不认为它很重要， 但是我还要尝 哈哈哈哈 因为明天是中华人民共和国国庆日所以我要写一个中文博客文章！ 如果我的中文不好，对不起。我四个月前开始学习！请有耐心！如果我有错，请告诉我！ 我以后要写很多的英国博客文章，可是我也要写一些的中文博客文章！ 你认为什么？请告诉我！ 再见！
Memrise premium is something that is advertised to you a lot whenever you complete your daily target, you always get a 20% discount off. But is it worth it? The short answer is no, yet I bought it anyway. Why? I feel like free education is a good thing. And memrise has helped me so … Continue reading Why I Bought Memrise Premium
I don't know if I'll release this, but I just want to write about the difficulties of mandarin. Because I'm stressed about it right now, which is something I haven't felt ever towards language learning. Before this the most primary difficulty was with Japanese, which I found fun at first but just became a problem. … Continue reading Mandarin Is Really Difficult
I've never really been a fan of the tactic of immersion for language learning, that by simply watching media in the language your learning you will pick up on it and start to understand the language better. Granted this includes taking notes and things like that. So today what I'm going to do is what … Continue reading Testing Immersion For Language Learning
You can't learn a language fast without a good method. So what methods have helped me that could also help you? I'll start with the most obvious, so feel free to skip if you already use techniques already. Also please comment with tips if I didn't include anything that you do already! Flashcards An easy … Continue reading Methods For Language Learning
I'd argue that the most difficult thing about learning a language, is not the grammar, nor the words, but finding the motivation to learn it day after day. It can be difficult, and I don't want to claim that I'm perfect when it comes to learning my second language, it's just that these things help … Continue reading Advice For Staying Motivated For Language Learning
I had heard of this for a while but never really considered using it until recently. I thought that there was no harm in checking it out so I did! What I found was surprisingly great. HelloTalk is a way to find language partners without meeting them in person, it's genuinely as simple as saying … Continue reading HelloTalk Review – Find Language Partners Easily!
If you want to see my thoughts on HSK 1 you can find that here. So it's been 20 days since then (as I write this, waiting for my 30 day challenge to finish before releasing) and in this time I have done two HSK 2 tests. I wanted to do this early so that … Continue reading Thoughts on HSK 2
When learning a language one of the challenges you face is learning vocabulary, and a lot of it. So how do you learn so much so quickly? Well SRS or spaced repetition systems are the answer. But what are they, and why are they useful? Here is a graph to demonstrate When you learn new … Continue reading Spaced Repetition – Language Learning
As you know already, I have been studying Chinese seriously for just over four weeks now. While I did have lessons, they were two years ago, very basic, I didn't care about them, and I had forgotten nearly everything. But it did give me a head start. When I was doing these lessons I passed … Continue reading Thoughts On HSK 1 – Chinese Exam
I don't know if 304 words sounds like a lot for three weeks, after-all 14-15 words a day sounds doable. However I must also specify that this was alongside a lot of grammar study and hanzi memorisation. As well as that, this only accounts for words used by memrise, I didn't actually use it very … Continue reading How To Use Memrise Effectively – Or How I Learned Three Hundred and Four Words in Three Weeks (at least)
My Brain Is Completely Empty 