When most of us think about learning a language, especially one as difficult and complex as Mandarin, we rely on “traditional” language learning techniques. When it comes to learning new words, unfortunately, memorization is the route that most of us traverse.
The problem is memorization is a terrible way to learn Mandarin.
There are problems with this approach that I’d like to explain:
1) You won’t remember.
Words without context will not be remembered. Trying to remember a single word off of a list is like trying to memorize a meaningless string of numbers. If you want to learn Mandarin words effectively, you will have to avoid using this antiquated method. A long list of words simply won’t be retained in your memory because it lacks context. Ideas that lack context, lack meaning.
2) You only have one form of input.
By learning a word only through its writing you are skipping out on using multiple modalities to learn Mandarin more effectively. The writing will not stay in your brain as well as an image or sound. The brain has a much larger area devoted to images and visual memory. When you don’t incorporate an image into your learning it will be much harder to learn Mandarin.
3) You are trying to learn too many words.
You will not memorize 300 words from a list. It simply won’t happen and even if you attempt to learn 300 Mandarin words through sheer brute force you won’t remember them. Your recall will be terrible and you will effectively waste all of your time. Giant lists of words don’t work. I’ve seen it time and time again with people trying to learn Chinese. The teacher gives you a list of words and expects you to learn them.
How Can I Learn Mandarin More Effectively? Use Flashcards.
Flashcards allow you to take the boring task of memorizing and turn it into a trivia-like game. Using software like ANKI (a free flashcard program available on Mac and Android), you can learn much more effectively and in a way that ensure you will be able to remember most words. By using flashcards you can avoid all of the three problems I explained above.
So the next time your teacher gives you a giant list of words to study, input them into a flashcard program and let your computer assist you in developing an awesome vocabulary.
The problem is memorization is a terrible way to learn Mandarin.
There are problems with this approach that I’d like to explain:
1) You won’t remember.
Words without context will not be remembered. Trying to remember a single word off of a list is like trying to memorize a meaningless string of numbers. If you want to learn Mandarin words effectively, you will have to avoid using this antiquated method. A long list of words simply won’t be retained in your memory because it lacks context. Ideas that lack context, lack meaning.
2) You only have one form of input.
By learning a word only through its writing you are skipping out on using multiple modalities to learn Mandarin more effectively. The writing will not stay in your brain as well as an image or sound. The brain has a much larger area devoted to images and visual memory. When you don’t incorporate an image into your learning it will be much harder to learn Mandarin.
3) You are trying to learn too many words.
You will not memorize 300 words from a list. It simply won’t happen and even if you attempt to learn 300 Mandarin words through sheer brute force you won’t remember them. Your recall will be terrible and you will effectively waste all of your time. Giant lists of words don’t work. I’ve seen it time and time again with people trying to learn Chinese. The teacher gives you a list of words and expects you to learn them.
How Can I Learn Mandarin More Effectively? Use Flashcards.
Flashcards allow you to take the boring task of memorizing and turn it into a trivia-like game. Using software like ANKI (a free flashcard program available on Mac and Android), you can learn much more effectively and in a way that ensure you will be able to remember most words. By using flashcards you can avoid all of the three problems I explained above.
- You will remember the words as you are occasionally tested on them.
- You have will have multiple inputs for each Chinese word making it a lot easier to learn Mandarin.
- You can actually try to learn too many Mandarin words by having multiple decks and not getting burnt out.
So the next time your teacher gives you a giant list of words to study, input them into a flashcard program and let your computer assist you in developing an awesome vocabulary.
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