Tag Archives: rote learning
Learning a language: Western vs. Asian style
There are large differences in Western and Asian styles for learning languages. This post elaborates on what I think are some of the roots of these differences. Continue reading
Filed under language school, Learning, Singapore
Learn a language in 3 months – realistic?
Is it really possible to learn a language in three months? People have done it before. In this post I share some of the practices they have used. Continue reading
Learning Chinese through recital (背书)
A common criticism on Asian education systems has to do with rote learning – simply learning facts by heart, being able to recite entire lists of facts or verses, but not being able to apply them. While I do agree that memorization alone is not going to lead to much learning, I have found memorizing parts of text a great way to increase my Chinese fluency. Continue reading
Filed under Learning
Don’t learn Chinese in China (?)
Newsweek featured an interesting article about learning Chinese in China a while ago. It basically argued that though learning Chinese in China might be cheaper learning it at a language institute at home, the teaching methods in China are so … Continue reading
