Comments on: Learn by exaggerating: Slow, then fast; big, then small

By: The Hacking Chinese guide to Mandarin tones | Hacking Chinese | Hacking Chinese

Fri, 19 Jan 2024 19:02:01 +0000

[…] – Speak slowly and clearly when you focus on tones. This goes for both you and your teacher. It’s very easy to speed things up and make differences smaller once you’ve learnt the b…, but it’s almost impossible to slow down and speak clearly if you started out with rapid […]

By: Learn Chinese efficiently, not quickly - Hacking Chinese

Learn Chinese efficiently, not quickly - Hacking Chinese — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 17:56:17 +0000

[…] particularly true if you set short-term goals, such as learning a few hundred characters by rote or impressing non natives by speaking quickly. If you care about speed, you risk neglecting basic skills that will be hard to go back and rebuild […]

By: Standard pronunciation in Chinese and why you want it | Hacking Chinese - 揭密中文

Thu, 15 Aug 2013 12:27:12 +0000

[…] be very, very careful with doing it the other way around. This is related to the old concept of learning by exaggeration; laying a good foundation is important for pronunciation and if you feel like being more relaxed […]

By: The Everyday Language Learner Interview Series: Alan Park of FluentU | The Everyday Language Learner

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:06:10 +0000

[…] Hacking Chinese (and the Slow Then Fast article) […]

By: Orachat

Orachat — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 12:26:11 +0000

Hi!
I just want to say that this articles is the best suggestion I’ve ever read about learning Chinese. Your writing is superb for how you eapxplained why fundamental of learning Chinese is a must. It confirmed me from what I’ve been doing on learning Chinese. I remembered when I showed the book (the one with empty square template) of my practicing Chinese characters, a staff at the chinese school call lots of staff in the office to see. I am a self-learner of writing Chinese and I practiced each character so many times and looked up for accurate stroke order. Thank you for such a great article!

By: Wai Man Chan

Wai Man Chan — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 06:46:43 +0000

Great post! Learning Chinese does take a lot of time and effort, even for the natives (when they first learned the language). There really is no shortcut to it; time and effort will always be a part of the equation.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 02:47:15 +0000

Great and helpful post Olle!
When I try to speak fast with my Chinese friends, I often get a blank look. Realise that I’m not getting the tones right. Slowing down should help make me more conscientious about using the right tones.

By: Sara Jaaksola

Sara Jaaksola — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 09:32:54 +0000

I’ve thought about this a lot recently. I think I didn’t start the right way and have to fix the holes now. I hope my first Chinese teacher would have made us learn the pronunciation and tones better, i hope I would have done it better myself.

Right now it feels like a step back to speak slower and exaggarate tones, but it looks like that it’s the move I should make in order to make my pronunciation better.

Beginners should always take their time with pronunciation at the beginning if they are serious with learning Chinese.

By: Learning efficiently vs. learning quickly - Hacking Chinese

Learning efficiently vs. learning quickly - Hacking Chinese — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 03:39:34 +0000

[…] Learn by exaggerating: Slow, then fast; big, then small […]

By: steve

steve — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 13:37:40 +0000

Slow then fast has been used successfully in other endeavors as well, like learning a musical instrument, a sport. It is a timeless, classic piece of advice that should be given (and practiced) more often. Thanks.