Unanswered Questions
53 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
9
votes
0
answers
76
views
Online course or resources on speed reading in Chinese
In a comment to my previous question about the transfer of speed reading skills to other languages, someone wondered whether this would be affected by the writing system. This is very plausible. In ...
- 3
8
votes
0
answers
220
views
Learn alphabet by replacing letters in native text
I've read before somewhere about a way to quickly learn how to read a foreign alphabet. You take an unfamiliar letter and put it in English words where the sound of that letter makes sense. That ...
CommunityBot
- 1
6
votes
0
answers
59
views
I want to train myself to use the Chinese grammar particle 了 correctly: how do I go about doing that?
Motivation: In Chinese grammar, there's a particle 了 which has two main uses: completion 了 (post-verb) and change-of-state 了 (end of sentence). I'm bad at using this particle (see How does someone ...
- 2,843
6
votes
0
answers
92
views
What is the proper etiquette for a nonnative speaker who wants to practice Mandarin at a Chinese supermarket in the US?
There is a Chinese supermarket in the US I often shop at. I often hear the staff speaking Mandarin or Cantonese, and occasionally Hakka or Fujianese, amongst themselves and to Chinese customers. I can ...
- 993
6
votes
0
answers
58
views
Is it more advantageous to learn the writing system or the spoken form of a language first?
There are several primary aspects of a language, including both the writing system and the spoken form of a language. What does scientific research say about the order to learn these two factors when ...
- 9,035
6
votes
1
answer
235
views
Evidence that learning radicals speeds up character learning in Japanese?
Characters — in Chinese or Japanese (or Korean Hanja) — can be learnt in various ways, and it is plausible that paying attention to radicals helps memorization and retention. But is there any hard ...
- 4,927
5
votes
0
answers
64
views
Learning the Navajo Language
My colleague is really interested in the Navajo and their language. He is tying to learn the language for some time now and has done all the courses he could find on the internet, only those were only ...
- 151
5
votes
0
answers
478
views
High-qualilty videos for New Practical Chinese Reader
新实用汉语课本 or New Practical Chinese Reader is a series of textbooks for learning Standard Chinese published by Beijing Language and Culture University Press. There are six textbooks, containing 70 ...
- 19.9k
5
votes
1
answer
815
views
Resources for learning the Silbo Gomero (Gomeran Whistle)
Here's a fascinating video on the Silbo Gomero, or whistled tongue of the island of Gomera in the Canary Islands of Spain. Today, it's essentially used as an encoding of Spanish that can be carried ...
CommunityBot
- 1
5
votes
0
answers
82
views
What are general cognitive principles that could explain why Heisig's method works?
This is a follow up to this question on Remembering the Kana.
James Heisig is author of a famous series of books involving learning Chinese and Japanese characters. These books are
Remembering the ...
- 5,115
5
votes
0
answers
156
views
How to overcome language learning fatigue when learning Standard Chinese?
An acquaintance of mine has been learning Standard Chinese in his spare time for a number of years. He passed the HSK3 test with a very high score and started preparing for HSK4. However, he recently ...
5
votes
0
answers
59
views
What can teachers do to promote or increase mastery of 把 structures in Standard Chinese?
Each lesson in the Chinese series of texbooks New Practical Chinese Reader contains a section entitled "Master the following phrases". Below are a few examples from lesson 16 (in volume 2):
现在就去 - ...
- 19.9k
5
votes
0
answers
117
views
Learning second sign language after first sign language
If I have learned a sign language, will it fasten my acquisition on other sign language?
This is because I learned that various sign languages have different syntax and such, and worried if there's ...
- 228
5
votes
0
answers
49
views
required standards for US domestic foreign language education
In reference to my earlier post, I'm going to be teaching foreign languages in some capacity and was advised by a board of education that I ought to understand and incorporate foreign language edu. ...
CommunityBot
- 1
4
votes
0
answers
222
views
How many words give 98% coverage in Mandarin?
For Chinese characters, Jun Da's dataset implies 1566 characters gives 95% coverage, 2285 characters gives 98% coverage, and 2838 characters gives 99% coverage. I'm wondering if there's a similar ...
- 2,843