Comments on: The importance of counting what counts when learning Chinese https://www.hackingchinese.com/about-the-importance-of-coutning-what-counts/ A better way of learning Mandarin Mon, 02 Mar 2026 10:01:49 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Why flashcards are great for learning Chinese | Hacking Chinese https://www.hackingchinese.com/about-the-importance-of-coutning-what-counts/#comment-147680 Mon, 02 Mar 2026 10:01:49 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=1283#comment-147680 […] Measurable progress and increased motivation – Flashcards make learning visible. You can see how many cards you have created, how many you have learnt and how many you have reviewed. This gives you highly measurable progress, which can also be gamified to motivate you to learn more. Naturally, this is a double-edged sword, because not everything that can be measured counts, and not… […]

]]> By: The illusion of advanced learning and what to do about it | Hacking Chinese https://www.hackingchinese.com/about-the-importance-of-coutning-what-counts/#comment-109682 Tue, 20 Jun 2023 18:56:21 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=1283#comment-109682 […] This is only a problem because courses are often more about superficial progress than real progress. If it can be shown that students are able to finish a certain HSK level after so and so many months, and that they reach book four after only two semesters, that makes the school look awesome, but that relies on the assumption that the right things are being measured, which almost certainly i… […]

]]> By: Should you learn Chinese vocabulary from lists? | Hacking Chinese | Hacking Chinese https://www.hackingchinese.com/about-the-importance-of-coutning-what-counts/#comment-108318 Wed, 05 Apr 2023 10:42:06 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=1283#comment-108318 […] not only Chinese characters and words. I’ve written two articles about this problem already: The importance of counting what counts when learning Chinese and Measurable progress is a double-edged sword. Yes, you’re making a lot of progress if you […]

]]> By: Julien Leyre https://www.hackingchinese.com/about-the-importance-of-coutning-what-counts/#comment-1107 Fri, 25 Jul 2014 07:10:54 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=1283#comment-1107 Yep yep yep! I actually wrote a post once on how bad evaluation methods made me quit a language class in Nanjing (but then I’m the rebellious type). http://julienleyre.me/2014/03/12/why-i-quit-class-trust-and-teaching-institutions/

In the specific case of Mandarin, there’s one element that particularly bugs me: should we entirely get rid of ‘handwriting skills’? That’s a real question I’m asking myself.
I’d be now on the ‘advanced’ spectrum. I have read a number of books, I’ve had meetings of all kinds entirely in Mandarin, social conversations with multiple people, I’ve made appointments over the phone, and written emails and wechat messages which, if not the height of style, did the purpose. I don’t know that I can handwrite 400 characters, though, and would probably fail at any text that requires handwriting (in Australia, that would include year 12 Chinese). Do you have any thoughts on this – alternatives and importance of evaluating ‘writing’.

]]> By: Chinese reading challenge: Read more or die | Hacking Chinese - 揭密中文 https://www.hackingchinese.com/about-the-importance-of-coutning-what-counts/#comment-1106 Fri, 27 Dec 2013 06:09:45 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=1283#comment-1106 […] another article, I have explained why the way we count things like this really matters. Here is what I would do if I couldn’t participate in the challenge on Twitter (if you do, […]

]]> By: nommoc https://www.hackingchinese.com/about-the-importance-of-coutning-what-counts/#comment-1105 Sat, 09 Nov 2013 00:09:23 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=1283#comment-1105 The Einstein quote was good.

]]> By: The question you have to ask about your Chinese teacher or course | Hacking Chinese - 揭密中文 https://www.hackingchinese.com/about-the-importance-of-coutning-what-counts/#comment-1104 Wed, 10 Apr 2013 06:35:43 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=1283#comment-1104 […] only have written exams. This phenomenon isn’t limited to teachers, of course, which is why I’ve written an entire article about it here. It’s frighteningly common among teachers to be unaware of how their choices of examinations […]

]]> By: Federico Smanio 牛飞 https://www.hackingchinese.com/about-the-importance-of-coutning-what-counts/#comment-1103 Sat, 24 Mar 2012 15:16:03 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=1283#comment-1103 Thank you Sara. Great article and useful advice.

]]> By: Sara K. https://www.hackingchinese.com/about-the-importance-of-coutning-what-counts/#comment-1102 Fri, 23 Mar 2012 13:16:26 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=1283#comment-1102 In reply to Federico Smanio 牛飞.

Olle’s already written an article about this:

http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=781

]]> By: Federico Smanio 牛飞 https://www.hackingchinese.com/about-the-importance-of-coutning-what-counts/#comment-1101 Thu, 22 Mar 2012 23:11:01 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=1283#comment-1101 Hi Olle,
very interesting as usual. I was just wondering if there’s an actual method to measure one’s language learning improvements.
I am not referring to something ethereal but a real metric, an index that is built for the purpose of measuring the student’s improvements.
I know it might sound odd, but I work in marketing and now everyone has become obsessed by the measure of performance. So I was just thinking that it could be interesting to create an index,taking into consideration the amount of time spent or the number of words memorized… I don’t know… that could be monitored to see our path to language learning. A Language ROI. The return on Investment of the language learning. (Roil)
What do you think?

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