Comments on: Enjoying the journey while focusing on the destination

By: Learning Chinese efficiently vs. learning quickly - Hacking Chinese

Learning Chinese efficiently vs. learning quickly - Hacking Chinese — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 07:37:17 +0000

[…] This article is not meant to be about motivation (which I will cover in an upcoming article), but research generally shows that more internal motivation is usually better and longer-lasting than external, which I think most are aware of intuitively. This menas that you should strive to find ways of studying we that you find interesting and enjoy, something I’ve written more about in Enjoying the journey while focusing on the destination: […]

By: David Feigelson

David Feigelson — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 08:16:44 +0000

My greatest improvements in Chinese come about when I forget about the language and just focus on meaning. That means I don’t stress out when I don’t know every word in a conversation or movie or song. I try to enjoy what I understand and tell myself that if I am patient enough, things will make more sense with time.

By: Learning efficiently vs. learning quickly | Hacking Chinese

Learning efficiently vs. learning quickly | Hacking Chinese — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 20:58:36 +0000

[…] stress that our main motivation for learning (at least in the short-term) should be pleasure. We should strive to find ways of studying we thoroughly enjoy, because only then will we be able to spend enough time to reach our long-term goals. Also, leading […]

By: The 10,000 hour rule – Blood, sweat and tears | Hacking Chinese

The 10,000 hour rule – Blood, sweat and tears | Hacking Chinese — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 20:05:30 +0000

[…] and tears, not talent. Of course, if you’re wise, you’ll find ways to bleed, sweat and cry that you actually enjoy or at least think is worthwhile, but hard work is still what will propel you forward, not some […]

By: Sara K.

Sara K. — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 03:39:00 +0000

I agree with this entire post.

My motivations for learning Chinese have changed over time. The first time I tried Mandarin I gave up in a week – I was mainly motivated by curiosity at that time, and the introductory materials I encountered were boring, so I moved on to a more interesting pursuit. However, I had wanted to live abroad for a long time, and [insert long story] I ended up picking Taiwan as the place I wanted to be, that’s why I started to seriously study Chinese. Of course, once I got past the beginning stage, I started to actually enjoy studying Chinese in its own right – reaching intermediate level certainly opens up quite a few paths on the metaphorical mountain.

My two favourite ways of studying Chinese are manhua and music. I have been reading comic books ever since I could read, so manhua was the obvious way to practice reading (and there is some great stuff that is available in Chinese which has never been published in English). And I have discovered that I really like Taiwanese pop music from the 70s and 80s. I mostly listen to Mandarin-language Taiwanese pop (for obvious reasons), but I plan at some point to expand my collection of Taiwanese pop music in languages other than Mandarin, whether or not I ever study those languages.

It is very sweet when, after listening to a song many times, I suddenly realize – “Hey – I actually understand what the singer is saying!” (I look up lyrics when it’s a song I really love, but usually I prefer to sit back, listen, understand whatever I understand, and enjoy).