Hello jose,

After I had been learning Chinese for a couple of years, I achieved

a mental breakthrough. (in my mind anyway!!)

I finally felt that I was starting to 'get' Chinese.

I know this probably sounds like a bit of an exaggeration, but you've got no idea how much
of a turning point it was.

It was no longer a huge struggle to open my mouth and actually speak Chinese.

I didn't have to struggle to think of every word, and then rack my brains to figure out
how to put the words together in the right order.

Whereas before I was only able to parrot phrases in the most basic way, I now felt that
had control over what I was saying.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't able to say everything or talk about complicated technical
topics, but I had the everyday stuff down.

I had enough vocabulary to talk about everyday life topics, and enough practice to be
able to manipulate the language without a huge effort.

Imagine what it would feel like for you, to get to that 'breakthrough stage' as well, and break
through the beginner plateau....

I started my site back in 2013 for exactly that reason - because I wanted to help people
like you to achieve a similar breakthrough, enjoy speaking Chinese, get to know people
and get closer to Chinese friends, travel around China and do all the great things that you
can do when you've started to unlock the language.

But the truth is, in my case it wasn't easy to get to that stage.

I had to try countless courses and methods. I had a lot of failures, false starts, going to
China and feeling humiliated at not being able to say even fairly basic things and get them
right.

And I don't want you to have to go through all of that, so that's why I wanted to develop an
easier solution - to break down Chinese sentences and give you the vocabulary and the
examples you need on a plate.

And so Chinese Sentence Mastery was born :-)

I wanted to bring together all the ideas I've been teaching you about so far:

- Breaking Chinese sentences down into the individual character/word 'blocks'

- Using keywords and sentence patterns to build longer sentences

- Getting loads of practice asking questions, so you can easily keep a conversation flowing.

I've loved working on this project; I'm so excited about putting it out into the world.

Of course, I understand that a paid course won't be for everybody, but if you sign up, I want
to give you the training so you can reach that same 'epiphany point' that I reached, all
those years ago.

And as an extra incentive, I'm offering the course at a special launch price, for a limited
time only.

You can get a full $20 off if you sign up by Feb 14, so it's worth taking action now.

Click here to find out more about Chinese Sentence Mastery and try it out for yourself.

This is not a series of lectures that you sit back and watch - because that won't get
you really speaking Chinese.

It's a system to drill you in how to put Chinese sentences together, and a huge collection
of examples. Through a lot of practice and examples, you'll learn the fundamental
vocabulary you really need to know, pick up Chinese grammar and get the practice
you need to speak the language confidently.

And the biggest difference between this course and other courses is that every single
sentence example is broken down into all the component parts and also translated
literally, so you figure out instantly how Chinese 'works'.

I think you're going to like this new resource, but I don't want anybody to feel bad about
their purchase if it's not working out.

So, as always, there's a 30-day money back guarantee.

You can give it a try, and if you find that it's not for you then just let me know, delete the
files from your computer and I'll give you a full refund.

Learning to unicycle, learning

anatomy and learning Chinese
When discussing a topic as complex as language learning, we
often use metaphors to help us make sense of the learning
process.

We’re trying to use what we already know to understand how to

tackle a new challenge.In other words, we hope that what we know
about learning something else will transfer well to learning
Chinese.

In this article, I will explore two ways of looking at language

learning. This is somewhat oversimplified, but I hope that it will
illustrate that which metaphor you use matters and learning
languages isn’t really like learning anything else.

Learning to unicycle and learning

anatomy
I have chosen two areas unrelated to learning Chinese, which I
will use to highlight some important aspects of learning
languages. As we shall see, they do have some things in common,
but language learning can be said to be a combination of both.

 Learning to unicycle is actually not as hard as most

people think; it’s just that few people give it a serious try and
most who do go about it the wrong way. Regardless of what
method you use to learn, the key to success lies in practising
the exact activity you want to improve: unicycling. Reading
books about it won’t help at all, and having someone give
you advice might help, but only if you also practice a lot.
Looking at other people unicycle can help, but is similarly
limited. You improve by trying over and over. When
developing skill like this, nothing beats deliberate practice,
where you deliberately challenge yourself and do your
 utmost to improve. Compare this to repeatedly doing things
you’re already good at or practising without a clear goal. See
the references to Ericsson’s work below under further
reading for more about this.
 Learning anatomy is in a sense the opposite. Learning
from books, or studying real and artificial models is the way
to go. You learn by observing, reading, listening or whatever
you prefer. You don’t learn by doing, except if the doing is
something done to reinforce what you have already learnt.
The tricks you learn to remember all the names of muscles,
bones and tendons, along with how they interact, can be
easily applied to most other knowledge-based
subjects. Meaningful/holistic
learning, mnemonics and so on. In fact, I often use
anatomy as an a analogy for remembering things, because
it’s a good example of where it really helps to have a skeleton
to attach everything to! The main point is that you learn
anatomy by absorbing and retaining.

These activities can be said to make up the extreme ends of a

spectrum running from skill-based to knowledge-based. While
there might be some knowledge in unicycling and some skill in
anatomy and, they are very different. The first is about practising
and doing, the other is about absorbing, understanding and
retaining.

Learning Chinese is like learning to

unicycle
There are many aspects of learning Chinese which are more like
learning to unicycle than learning anatomy. For example,
pronunciation is largely a skill that you have to develop. Naturally,
it’s not only about motor skills and being able to move the right
parts of your speech apparatus the right way, but it’s still more
similar to learning to unicycle than learning anatomy.

Knowing the definition of an aspirated affricate (such as Pinyin

“c”, “ch” and “q”) and the names of the involved parts of your
mouth won’t enable you to pronounce it correctly. It will help a
little bit, but only if you also practice a lot. Just like advice
about unicycling only works if you pair it with tons of practice.
The same thing can be said about some other areas of learning
Chinese, such as handwriting (not including remembering the
components and composition of the characters) and to a certain
extent also speaking (fluency) and writing (composition). They do
of course rely on knowledge as well, but constructing new
sentences based on what you already know is closer to learning to
unicycle than it is to learning anatomy and you will benefit from
the same type of practice.

Learning Chinese is like learning

anatomy
Then there are many aspects of learning Chinese that are like
learning anatomy. Some of the more obvious ones are basic
vocabulary and grammar patterns, not including actually using
them in conversations.

Here you can make use of the same strategies that are valid for
learning anatomy, so connecting things together, understanding
what you’re learning and using mnemonics will work well.

The goal is to create an interconnected web of knowledge where

each new thing you learn is connected to something you already
know, in a manner that makes sense, preferably based on how the
language actually works.

You can zoom out, zoom in and pan around to see how each
piece fits together with the whole, how it can be broken down into
familiar components and how it related to other similar nodes in
the network. Such a web still needs maintenance, but that’s true
for skills as well.

Language learning is a combination of

both
I find that one of the most fascinating aspects of learning
languages is that it combines skill and knowledge to such a large
extent. As we have seen, none of the metaphors work well for all
aspects of learning, but can say something about some of them. I
think most people would agree that learning Chinese is not only
skill like unicycling, but neither is it knowledge-only like anatomy.

Different people probably put effective language learning on

different points on the spectrum. Those who advocate speaking
from day one and think it’s important to always interact with
native speakers would probably say that it’s the procedural aspect
of learning that is the most important part. You learn by doing
and if you can’t do something with what you learn, it’s useless.
Many polyglot bloggers are in this camp. I think this is a valid
argument.

But then there are people who think that learning a second
language should be done more like learning a first language,
where we spend a significant amount of time listening before we
speak and, later, reading before we write. How can you learn
something new by speaking yourself? You can only say things your
brain has collected enough data about to be able to say, so saying
it is the result of learning, not the cause of it (see Krashen for
more about this). This group also has a point. I don’t mean to say
that language learning is like exactly learning anatomy; obviously
it involves more than just absorbing things.

So, which is it, unicycling or anatomy?

I’ve tried to place myself in this debate for a long time, but have
found it difficult to come to a conclusion. I think both arguments
are valid, but simply saying that and placing myself squarely in the
middle is very unsatisfactory and doesn’t really explain anything.

Using the analogies of unicycling and anatomy above, I think I can

give a better answer, and one that fits my own experience and
knowledge. This is simply that language learning is combination
of skill and knowledge, and that different aspects therefore require
completely different approaches. It’s not that language learning is
somewhere on the spectrum, it’s that different aspects of learning
are on different parts of the spectrum.
A balanced approach
For example, it seems blindingly obvious to me that in order to
achieve clear pronunciation, you have to practice. No amount of
input is going to enable you to say things correctly as an adult
unless you also practise. The same can be said about using
grammar patterns, finding words quickly enough to speak fluently
and negotiating your way around linguistic hurdles when you
interact with native speakers. These areas are, among others, very
much like learning to unicycle. You won’t get there if you don’t
practise.

However, there are also many areas where simply doing is not
enough. If you spend most of your time speaking, you stand little
to no chance of achieving good pronunciation either, because you
need large amounts input too to figure out how things are actually
pronounced.

The same is true for grammar as well. No amount of speaking

Chinese will give you a good intuitive feel for how grammar
patterns and words are used, that comes from listening to other
people or reading. Conversations are useful in this regard, but
mostly because they also provide you with listening practice.

Input is more important than output

That being said, as time goes by and I learn/teach more, the more
I have moved towards the input camp. It’s not that I think that
what I said above is not true, some aspects rely more on practice
and some rely more on input, it’s just that the need to practise
usually comes after the need for input, and the need for input is in
general much larger (takes more time).

I’ve also found that these aspects of learning Chinese take a lot
longer to master. Asking questions in Chinese is much easier than
understanding the answers. I addressed this in my article
about which was more important, listening or speaking,
when learning Chinese.
Conclusion
So, what should you take with you from this article? I think the
most important part is to realise that language learning is a very
complex process and that different parts of it require different
approaches. Learning Chinese is a little bit like learning a new
sport, but it’s also a little bit similar to studying a subject like
anatomy.

When learning vocabulary and sentence patterns, you can borrow

freely from other knowledge-based subjects such as anatomy, but
if you want to speak more fluently, approaches learned from
practising other skills such as unicycling will be more useful.

Where do you place yourself on this spectrum? I realise that not

all readers will buy the idea that the spectrum even looks the way I
have described it here, or even that there is a spectrum in the first
place, but if so, I’d be interested in hearing what you think!