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PODCAST

Will I ever learn Chinese

Is it even possibly to learn Chinese? Linguistics professor Jeanette Sakel tried it out, telling us about her successes and failures along the way.

education language learning

All Episodes

16:28

How a linguist would learn a new language

Will I ever learn Chinese ·

2024/10/30

Send us a textIn this final episode of ‘Will I ever learn Chinese’ I discuss how I would approach learning a new language in future, outlining the techniques, materials and approaches for different languages of the world. Then, I reflect back on my own learning of Chinese and what I would do differently. How would I advise other people to learn Chinese, based on my experience? How does a linguist learn languages?Thank you all for listening to my podcast, giving me feedback and telling me abou...

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20:25

Language learning methods and approaches

Will I ever learn Chinese ·

2024/10/28

Send us a textWe’re coming to the end of the first series of ‘Will I ever learn Chinese’. In these last two episodes, I am looking at language learning techniques and summarise my process of learning Chinese. In this episode, I’m looking at different approaches to teaching and learning languages and how these have changed over time. I’m looking at learner profiles and the different reasons for language learning. To me language learning is not just my work, a hobby, my research, but ultimately...

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19:26

Language learning and linguistic fieldwork: the...

Will I ever learn Chinese ·

2024/10/26

Send us a textI love puzzles, be it crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles or the puzzle that is learning or analysing another language. My PhD thesis, for example, is a grammatical description of the small Amazonian indigenous language Mosetén. I was working with speakers of the language to record and then analyse the language and its structures. During that process, I learnt to speak Mosetén as well. I realised that I was using many techniques I had learned during my fieldwork in the Amazon when...

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14:02

Linguistic relativity: thinking differently in Chinese

Will I ever learn Chinese ·

2024/10/24

Send us a textI’m always amazed by how similar the languages of the world are when I’m learning a new language. Languages are able to express the same concepts, often in strikingly similar ways. The apparent differences in lexicon, grammar, sound and so on, that are so obvious, are often far less stark below the surface.Yet, those subtle differences between languages are not to be underestimated, because it is here that really interesting things happen, because they can make us think differen...

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17:32

Speaking Chinese in China: the real deal!

Will I ever learn Chinese ·

2024/10/22

Send us a textIn this episode I’m talking about traveling to China for the first time and using my newly acquired language in the real world. Wherever I travel, I like to be able to speak at least a little bit of the local language and communicate with locals and to make my own arrangements. Being able to speak more than rudimentary Chinese was key to many of my wonderful experiences. Also, I started to gain new insights into a country I had, admittedly, known very little about before startin...

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22:01

Researching Chinese

Will I ever learn Chinese ·

2024/10/20

Send us a textLearning Chinese gave me a new understanding of language acquisition, and a new direction for my research. By going through the process myself, I experienced the mechanisms of language learning subjectively, with my own feelings and experiences. I found topics I wanted to study in more detail, objectively and using robust research methodologies. By pairing my own experiences with my research, I was able to look at learning from a different perspective and certain processes caugh...

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26:28

Language immersion and conforming in another language

Will I ever learn Chinese ·

2024/10/18

Send us a textIn this episode I reflect on my immersive learning approach, surrounding myself by the language and using the language in a lot of different environments. Immersion made a big difference to my learning, it helped me ‘see’ myself as a part of the language community, partaking in everyday life in Chinese, without being in China. What types of immersion are there, and does immersion ultimately mean ‘conforming’, fitting into the society the language is spoken in? In this episode I’...

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17:28

Language attrition: the other side of the coin

Will I ever learn Chinese ·

2024/10/16

Send us a textWhen looking at language acquisition and learning, we rarely consider the other side of the coin: language attrition. This means a language is disappearing, the speaker can’t speak it as well as before. The speech becomes slow and less complex. Attrition happens, and when a language, even a first language, is spoken less, there are small sign of attrition right from the start. It’s frustrating, especially when one has put in a lot of effort learning a language, for it then to di...

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16:02

How much Chinese did I learn in a year?

Will I ever learn Chinese ·

2024/10/14

Send us a textDuring the first few months of learning Chinese, I wanted to turn my learning into an experiment: how much Chinese would I be able to learn in a year? This motivated me greatly, but of course I did not stop after a year. But where was I, a year into studying Chinese in a highly immersed way? I was able to speak quite a lot, more than I initially thought I would, but there were also many aspects of the language that I had only just started exploring and I was making a lot of mist...

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13:21

Artificial intelligence for language learners

Will I ever learn Chinese ·

2024/10/12

Send us a textA hot topic in second language learning and teaching circles, artificial intelligence proved to be a game-changer for my learning of Chinese. I suddenly had that ‘friend’ who would happily correct my writing. The results were not always perfect, but usually passable. Then, I realised that I could ask questions about expressions I had only half understood and AI would usually give me good suggestions. It would help me put together examples of grammatical structures I was learning...

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18:52

Accent and dialect

Will I ever learn Chinese ·

2024/10/10

Send us a textIn this episode I’m looking at accent and dialect. Many learners have a distinct foreign accent. Is that inevitable, or are their ways to work on your accent (and if so, is it necessary)? I’m talking about various techniques, such as shadowing and working on individual sounds, as well as how sounds that initially seem familiar may be the ‘problem areas’ where an accent persists, just because the learner does not realise that the pronunciation is slightly different, while totally...

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11:52

Free-styling it

Will I ever learn Chinese ·

2024/10/08

Send us a textMy spoken Chinese was getting more and more ‘fluent’, in that I could have uninterrupted conversations in real life, using my online conversation lessons with teachers to iron out any issues in my pronunciation and expression. All of a sudden, Chinese just ‘clicked’. I could watch a video and would suddenly understand everything that was said. My approach to learning changed, and I explored new materials. I now also enjoyed speaking Chinese more frequently with people I didn’t k...

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15:39

Working with Chinese teachers

Will I ever learn Chinese ·

2024/10/06

Send us a textThis episode is about me, finally, finding teachers to Chinese. At first I was learning in a vacuum at home, building confidence in understanding the language, but now that I had taken the plunge and had started to speak to others, I wanted to work on my conversation skills, because… well, they needed quite a lot of work. Working with online Chinese teachers really helped to boost my confidence, talk through topics I wanted to discuss in a safe environment, while learning a lot ...

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17:10

Finding Chinese speakers

Will I ever learn Chinese ·

2024/10/04

Send us a textIn this episode I’m finally taking the plunge, looking for more speakers of Chinese to talk to. I’m considering tandem language exchange programmes and finding Chinese friends, eventually finding a group dedicated to learners and speakers of Chinese in my town. Joining the group was fun, especially just relaxing and chatting away in my improving Chinese. Not yet great, but good enough to get started. I also started talking to more Chinese people around me, though I realised quic...

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13:56

What does 'fluent' mean?

Will I ever learn Chinese ·

2024/10/02

Send us a textWould I ever be able to speak Chinese fluently, and what would that mean? I had reached a stage where I was starting to speak more coherently, but on some days it felt like I was not able to speak at all. Crucially, my speaking lagged well behind my understanding and I would often have to stop to search for words when speaking. What level was I at now? Could I use descriptors for language proficiency to identify my current level of Chinese?Support the show

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25:15

Revision time and starting to speak 'for real'

Will I ever learn Chinese ·

2024/09/30

Send us a textIn this episode I explain how I initially learnt and revised vocabulary, and how I prepared for the next stage of my learning journey: speaking for real. Well, I had a number of attempts at trying to speak for real and not really succeeding at first. Eventually, I decided to speak Chinese to my ever-so-patient cat and tried out AI programmes. But then, finally, I got to speak Chinese to actual speakers of the language, while on a work trip to the US.Support the show

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38:12

Intermediate Chinese: all those wonderful tools!

Will I ever learn Chinese ·

2024/09/28

Send us a textIn this episode I explore how I honed my different Chinese language skills: understanding, speaking, reading and writing. I look at all those wonderful tools, most of which are free, that are available to the intermediate learner. In my own learning, Chinese podcasts for learners, as well as Chinese television dramas started to play in increasingly important role. This was time well spent and I was taking in the language in a fun and engaging way to kept me motivated, coming bac...

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23:12

HSK: to test or not?

Will I ever learn Chinese ·

2024/09/26

Send us a textIn this episode I'm looking at language tests and certificates. Would that be a goal for me, and which test should I aim for? Would preparing for a test really motivate me?I try to find ways to make my language learning at the intermediate stage fun and greatly motivating. Looking at implicit and explicit learning, I investigate the role of memory in language learning. How does one develop 'native-speaker intuition'? Is it okay to make mistakes while learning or should one alway...

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21:26

How do you write a text message in Chinese?

Will I ever learn Chinese ·

2024/09/24

Send us a textHow do you even write Chinese text messages when you don't have a keyboard with 5000 or more characters? In this episode I look at ways in which Chinese is used today, and at some of the changes to the written language within the last 100 years. Is the traditional Chinese writing system really more beautiful than the simplified system? What if you have to look up an uncommon character in a Chinese dictionary? How complex do Chinese characters get and how do you distinguish betwe...

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14:29

The Chinese writing system

Will I ever learn Chinese ·

2024/09/22

Send us a textIn this episode I'm looking at the history of the Chinese writing system and why it is so successful that it is still used today. In my own learning, once I knew enough characters and had built up a basic understanding of how the system worked, I was suddenly able to decipher the words (and characters) I came across for the first time.Support the show

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30 results

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