{"id":3145,"date":"2013-01-01T18:54:37","date_gmt":"2013-01-01T10:54:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/?p=3145"},"modified":"2016-06-02T19:19:13","modified_gmt":"2016-06-02T18:19:13","slug":"chinese-character-challenge-towards-a-more-sensible-way-of-learning-to-write-chinese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hackingchinese.com\/chinese-character-challenge-towards-a-more-sensible-way-of-learning-to-write-chinese\/","title":{"rendered":"Towards a more sensible way of learning to write Chinese"},"content":{"rendered":"

Learning to write thousands of Chinese characters is a daunting task, but fortunately, character writing is also one of the most hackable parts of the Chinese language. This means that if you use the wrong method, it will take forever and be quite boring (see last week’s post<\/a>), but if you use the right method, it’s neither impossible nor boring.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This article is a challenge which is meant to make students use more sensible strategies to learn characters and take you out of the boring, monotonous loop that helps you pass your tests, but isn’t very good in the long run. Before we go into details about the challenge itself, let’s look at the contents of this article to make it easier for you to find what you want.<\/p>\n

Navigation<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. About the challenge<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. The problem<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. The solution<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. What sensible character learning looks like<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. Everybody can participate<\/a><\/li>\n
  6. What tools you need to participate<\/a><\/li>\n
  7. Skritter extended trial and discount<\/a><\/li>\n
  8. The rules of the challenge<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  9. How to join the challenge<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
  10. List of brave participants<\/a><\/li>\n
  11. Possible problems and how to cope with them<\/a><\/li>\n
  12. Mnemonic month on Twitter, discussion group on Facebook<\/a><\/li>\n
  13. Spread the word<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    <\/a>
    \nArticles published about sensible character learning<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Chinese character challenge: Towards a more sensible way of learning to write Chinese<\/a><\/li>\n
    2. You can\u2019t learn Chinese characters by rote<\/a><\/li>\n
    3. Remembering is a skill you can learn<\/a><\/li>\n
    4. Sensible character learning: Progress, reminders and reflections<\/a><\/li>\n
    5. How to create mnemonics for general or abstract character components<\/a><\/li>\n
    6. Don’t use mnemonics for everything<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      <\/a>
      \nThe problem<\/strong><\/p>\n

      The problem with how most students approach character learning has already been addressed; the following is a summary for those who haven’t read that article, but I still recommend that you read the full article here<\/a>. There are many problems of course, but the most serious one is undoubtedly that many rely on rote learning, i.e. repeating a character until it sticks without actually understanding what they’re learning or deepening their knowledge of the language. This is almost useless if you lack a systematic approach, but if you use spaced repetition programs, it actually works to a certain point.<\/p>\n

      This is problematic, because when you reach that point, you’ll find that you need something more than mere repetition. Native speakers can rely on repetition because they spend more than ten years in school mastering their own language. They write characters every day for many, many years. Thinking that this will work for you is naive. Most native speakers also combine a fairly well-developed knowledge of components with massive repetition.<\/p>\n

      Symptoms of bad character learning<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

        \n
      • When you’ve forgotten a word, you just keep repeating it until it sticks<\/li>\n
      • You tend to forget the difference between similar characters<\/li>\n
      • You’re reading ability is okay even though your handwriting sucks<\/li>\n
      • You need to rely heavily on context to understand characters<\/li>\n
      • You have no idea how to write characters like \u5c34\u5c2c (T: \u5c37\u5c2c)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        <\/a>
        \n\u00a0The solution<\/strong><\/p>\n

        Even though I think SRS is part of the problem (people tend to misuse it<\/a>), I also think it’s part of the solution. The problem is that when we review something mechanically (i.e. just looking at something without really processing the information actively), we’re not really learning anything new, we’re not expanding our knowledge of Chinese. Apart from this, it’s also quite boring and leads to poor results in the long run.<\/p>\n

        Still, using SRS, especially if the program is geared specifically towards character learning (see my introduction to Skritter below) is the most efficient way of learning, you just have to pay attention to what you’re doing, which is the point of this challenge.<\/p>\n

        The alternative to rote learning is to work actively with the characters we forget and make sure that we’re learning something instead of blindly repeating the same mistakes over and over. It’s notoriously difficult to learn things that don’t mean anything to us, so the first thing we should do is really understand the characters we’re learning. If it takes more time, then so be it, it will definitely pay off in the long run<\/a>. Most native speakers have pretty good grasp of character components, but many foreigners don’t.<\/p>\n

        These things you can learn from a competent teacher. The next key to more sensible character learning is something I have never heard mentioned in a classroom, probably because it requires that the teacher has actually used the method to be able to teach it. Everybody will tell you to create stories (mnemonics) to remember characters, but few are able to or can be bothered to explain what kind of mnemonics work and why. I can and I have. See this article about learning character components<\/a> (and the following articles in the same series).
        \n        <\/a>
        \nWhat sensible character learning looks like<\/strong><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Understand<\/strong> what you\/re learning (learn the components<\/a>)<\/li>\n
        2. Combine<\/strong> the meaningful parts in a clever way (mnemonics<\/a>)<\/li>\n
        3. Use SRS<\/strong> to reinforce your knowledge and identify weak links<\/li>\n
        4. Avoid rote learning<\/strong> at all costs (and make learning fun again<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          <\/a>
          \nWho can participate in the challenge<\/strong><\/p>\n

          Students at any level can participate and it doesn’t matter if you study Chinese two hours or week or twenty hours a day. The challenge will remain open as long as I feel it’s relevant, which is likely to be indefinitely. The Skritter discounts mentioned below will only be valid for a limited amount of time, however.<\/p>\n

          <\/a>
          \nWhat you need to participate
          \n<\/strong><\/p>\n

          The following challenge is for anyone with an interest in learning characters (that should be most visitors to Hacking Chinese, I think), regardless if you’re a beginner, intermediate or advanced learner. I’m going to join the challenge as well and follow the same rules as everybody else. A list of participants is included below.<\/p>\n

          <\/a><\/p>\n

          \"\"<\/a>Before you join, you need to choose software. I’m going to use Skritter<\/a> and I recommend that you do too, mostly because it’s specifically geared towards handwriting and that it has excellent resources attached if you need to expand your knowledge about characters and components).<\/p>\n

          Participants receive an extended free trial of Skritter and 33% off subscriptions<\/strong><\/p>\n

          If you register and join the challenge<\/a>, use the coupon code SENSIBLE, which will double the length of the free trial as well as give you 33% off the price if you like the software and keep using it. If you register and later go for a paid subscription, I will receive a small commission, so please use the links included here if you want to help me out a bit, too. You have to use the coupon code when you register! Click “alternative payment methods” and enter the coupon code.<\/p>\n

          If you don’t know what Skritter is, you can check this brief demonstration on YouTube:<\/p>\n