The ninth rule in 20 Rules for Formulating Knowledge is “avoid sets”. What does this mean in terms of study methods, and how can it be applied to language learning?
Category: Chinese Grammar
Graphical deletion and audio deletion for learning Chinese
Cloze deletion is a well-known language learning technique, but a lot of learners limit it to deleting words from sentences. As described by Rule #8 in the 20 Rules for Learning, though, there’s more to cloze deletion than just words in sentences.
Use mnemonics
Rule #7 in the 20 Rules for Learning is “use mnemonics”. This is such a fundamental part of effective learning that it is covered in several articles on this site and elsewhere. Rather than reiteriting that here, this post gathers together a set of trail-starters on using mnemonics and how they can help you to learn Chinese.
The minimum information principle
When learning with flashcards, a rookie mistake is to put too much content into individual flashcards. This really hampers your learning efficiency, and the solution is to follow the minimum information principle.
Use imagery to learn Chinese
Many courses use images for teaching basic vocabulary in the early stages of learning Chinese, but after that most learners do not make much use of imagery in their studies. This is unfortunate, because imagery can be a powerful tool for learning Chinese.
Cloze deletion for learning Chinese
Cloze deletion is one of the classic methods for using flashcards effectively. It’s recommended in SuperMemo’s 20 rules because it’s straightforward to use and produces great results for all kinds of knowledge.
Build upon the basics
The third rule in 20 Rules For Formulating Knowledge is “build upon the basics”. This is an interesting rule when it comes to learning Chinese, because it is fundamental to the learning process, but it’s not the only approach we should incorporate into our studies.
Learn before you memorise
Memorisation of material is a big part of many people’s approach to learning Chinese. Some aspects of memorisation are essential: seeking out ways to enforce and retain what you’re learning in the long term is important. If you don’t do that, learning Chinese will be like trying to hold a growing quantity of sand in your hands. In other ways, though, memorisation can be a bad approach.
Use the rabbit hole effect to learn Chinese
“The rabbit hole effect” is another aspect of complementary memory and defeat in detail. There is a lot of overlap between these three concepts, but each offers its own insight into effective language learning.
Defeat in detail
“Defeat in detail” may sound like a military strategy, and that’s because it is. The concept can also be applied to learning languages, though.
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