Reviewing Trains Your Brain
Lately I have been reading many books on mental fitness. In Making a Good Brain Great: The Amen Clinic Program for Achieving and Sustaining Optimal Mental Performance, Dr. Daniel G. Amen writes:...
View ArticleThe One Advantage of Being an Adult Language Learner
Learning Chinese is tough, especially for us older people. Our brains simply aren’t forming connections at the same rate as when we were children and adolescents. I started learning Chinese at age 24,...
View ArticleWhat’s more important? Discipline or Talent?
I stumbled upon a fascinating article about the founder of SuperMemo, Piotr Wozniak. As you know, I am a believer in optimized repetition to lock characters and words in our brains. It’s interesting to...
View ArticleTest the Accuracy of Your Chinese Pronunciation with NTU Chinese
When I was studying at ICLP from 2006-2007, they were conducting test trials of a new Chinese speech analysis software. Basically, you listen to a native speaker say a sentence, and then you try to...
View ArticleSkeletons
How one introduces, connects, and concludes thoughts makes one sound fluent. Stories sound natural as one sentence glides easily to the next. Many foreign speakers of Chinese can communicate their idea...
View ArticleHow To Read And Understand Long Articles in 30 Minutes
When I was studying at ICLP, one of my courses was “Selected Business Readings.” My teacher would select one article a day from Taiwanese Newspapers, Business Periodicals, the Economist, etc, which I...
View ArticleYou’ve Hit the Wall. Now What?
I bumped into one of my classmates at the track this afternoon. He was visibly upset and exercising to let off some steam. He told me that he had received his oral grade for the quarter. Even after two...
View ArticleHow to Pick the Right Chinese Language Program
Many friends of friends have asked me where they should go if they want to study Chinese in China for a few months. The key to selecting the right school for you is: (1) knowing your Chinese level I...
View ArticleSpeak English to Sound More Chinese
Have you ever wondered why all Chinese accented English sounds very similar? It’s because Chinese people are using “Mandarin” positions of their mouth and tongue to speak English the same way we use...
View ArticleTry Jerry Seinfeld’s Method to Build Momentum
This year over a billion Chinese around the world are celebrating the New Year – the Year of the Tiger. Here in Singapore, it’s great to see everyone put work aside and rejoice with family and...
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