Chinese Study

Hmm... this week seems to be short two questions. (How mysterious!)

The solution seems clear to me: extra recs!

So my sister marcicat is learning Spanish, which means I was able to convince her to watch funny language learning videos with me last night. (We literally typed "funny language learning" into Youtube and watched at least four of them before getting distracted by "dramatic husky" videos instead.)

I liked this one by Language Simp: Language Learning SUCKS, which uses the first half of the video to list a lot of hard things about learning any language (including choosing one!) and spends the second half of the video encouraging you to do it anyway.

Marci liked one about the Duolingo owl breaking the door down when you make a mistake in your lesson. Unfortunately I can't find that one again, but my search for it led me to spend an hour watching videos by Language Jones instead, including this one (Is everyone WRONG about Stephen Krashen's "comprehensible input" theory?) where Taylor Jones speculates on neurodivergent language learning. Specifically, that a relaxed and somewhat chaotic "comprehensible input" program might work particularly well for ADHD language learners, while autistic language learners may prefer a more formal study program including careful grammar and structure review.

What about you? Did you find, learn, or otherwise engage with something interesting recently?

Hooray, a week of writing in the new year! More or less!

A bit less, in my case, at least relative to what I planned. A neat thing I learned about instead: a search for "easy Chinese karaoke songs" led me to a UK band called Transition 前進樂團 that's been singing in Mandarin for more than 10 years. Not only are they popular in Taiwan, their music is used in classrooms to help Chinese learners absorb language through music.

Their website is down right now, but here's their wikipedia page, and a song that's particularly relatable to Chinese learners: Dui Bu Qi 對不起我的中文不好 (YouTube link).

What about you? Did you read, write, or listen to anything interesting this week? New lessons, old TV shows, that one trailer you've been ignoring forever? Any new apps, conversation partners,* or humorous revelations?

*I mean, I've been reading aloud to my dog, which maybe counts. She's a forgiving if not particularly attentive audience.