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