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New method for learning Chinese

GoK Moderator (5096 posts) • 0

I followed this up before. Really it is overly simplistic, the books are not cheap and from what I saw of the samples are not much more than flash cards would be.
How the hell she ever got invited to do a TED talk I will never know, based on what I have seen.

Ouyang (243 posts) • 0

Nothing new, but still effective. If your school isn't doing something similar when teaching/previewing vocabulary then you should find a new school.

Save your money, and just search online for "mnemonics."

Tonyaod (824 posts) • 0

While this method might be a useful tool for learning Chinese characters, there's nothing revolutionary about it as tiger has said. Another problem I have with it is that while you learn to recognized characters, you still won't be able to understand the meaning behind it, just like when my students memorize vocabulary but only associate it with the primary meaning so that when a word is used in an different way, they cannot comprehend the passage.

I suppose if the purpose is to learn some characters so that when one is traveling in China they won't be completely lost, then it might be a good technique. However, if the purpose is to be function in that language, learning written text is only one aspect. There is understanding the context in which the words appear, the proper usage, the common usage, etc. And that's not even mentioning listening and speaking.

Another drawback would be, even if you mastered the characters she has taught, it is only useful in Taiwan/HK because she is teaching traditional Characters instead of the Simplified characters used widely in China.

GoK Moderator (5096 posts) • 0

Learning characters is of limited use. Learning words is much more useful if you wish to be functional. Knowing the individual components (characters) of a word often helps but it is just that, a helper.

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