Tag: Vocabulary

“出马”原义是骑马出战杀敌，引申为亲自出面去做事。”出马(chūmǎ)” originally meant riding to the war field to kill enemies. It now means attending to the matter personally.

Chinese Language

As one of the six official languages used by UN (United Nations), Chinese now has earned itself greater status in the World. The official language of China is the Mandarin (Standard Chinese).

Chinese in English 出口的汉语：细数英语中的中文

“露一手(lòu yì shǒu)”means to exhibit one’s unique or rarely shown skills or abilities to others or show off some skills or abilities to others.

每日一词：掌上明珠（zhǎngshàng míngzhǔ）a beloved daughter

“掌上明珠(zhǎngshàng míngzhǔ)” literally means a valuable pearl in one’s palm. It is a metaphor to refer to the child, usually the daughter, who is dearly loved by his/her parents.

Chinese grammar Rule #5: Chinese is logical

2020-01-20

Finally, we come to the most general rule about Chinese grammar. One of the joys of studying Chinese is that on the whole it’s a very logical, consistent language. This is very true in Chinese vocabulary, as you can usually see very clearly the logic behind most words. It’s also true in Chinese grammar rules, which tend to be consistent and reusable once you’ve learned them.

The importance of context in Chinese flashcards

The sixteenth rule in the 20 Rules for Formulating Knowledge is “Context cues simplify wording”. Dr Wozniak explains that you should feel free to include personalised context hints in your flashcards to simplify them. A key point to take away is that your flashcards are for you and should be as personalised as possible, so having your own individual notes and context prompts is a good thing.

Personalise your Chinese learning

The fourteenth rule in the 20 Rules for Learning is “personalise and provide examples”. Dr Wozniak makes the valuable point that it’s easier to retain material long term when you include personal examples for it in your learning.

Refer to other memories

Knowledge doesn’t exist in isolation, and this is especially true for language learning. To get good at Chinese, it’s important to build 语感: a natural sense for the language.

5 ways to optimise your Chinese flashcards

What makes an optimal Chinese flashcard? Rule #12 in Dr Wozniak’s 20 Rules for Formulating Knowledge is “optimize wording”. This concerns making flashcards for general knowledge acquisition. While it does apply somewhat to language learning, acquiring a foreign language is something of a special case. How can you optimize wording for flashcards in a language you’re trying to learn?

Interference when learning Chinese

This is the eleventh article in this series based on Dr Piotr Wozniaks 20 Rules for Formulating Knowledge. The eleventh rule is “combat interference”.