Learning to distinguish and pronounce the sounds in Mandarin can be difficult, even more so if you rely too much on transcription system or don’t learn them properly. In some cases, there are also variations …
The Chinese Neutral Tone: Is it the same tone as in English?
Intro: Some basic information about the neutral tone While the Chinese Neutral Tone may seem simple at first, this tone often causes great confusion for most learners of Mandarin. In the beginning, many westerners might …
Gaijin speaking Japanese
I’m probably not the only one who finds it interesting to see other non-natives speaking foreign languages, in this case Japanese. Here is a list of videos I’ve compiled of mostly celebrities speaking Japanese: Steven …
When small changes make a big difference, part 3
This is the last and final post about confusingly similar Chinese characters. In the first article, there was a quiz where you could check how many of these characters you know, so if you haven’t …
When small changes make a big difference, part 2
Last time, I wrote a post about how small changes could make a big difference in the meaning of some Chinese characters. I also wrote about how difficult it is as a beginner to figure …
When small changes make a big difference, part 1
Some strokes that make up Chinese characters are very important, drawing them just a bit too long or with the wrong angle will change the meaning of a character completely. Other strokes are not so …
Tending your vocabulary garden
Image source: https://www.flickr.com /people/40563877@N00 If I could go back in time and change the way I learnt languages in general and Chinese in particular, there are many things I would do …
Kana is here! Now available for the Android app.
Attention Japanese Skritterers: After 5000 lines of code and countless coffees later, we are excited to announce kana handwriting support is finally available for our Android app. We said we won’t stop making Skritter better …
Study Smart, Not Hard
Most who start studying foreign languages become infatuated with learning new words and expressions, and seeing the differences and similarities compared to their native language. Unfortunately after time though, sometimes these exciting feelings begin to …
What should you do when you forget a word?
Image source: http://archive.wired.com/ medtech/health/magazine/16-05/ff_wozniak A spaced repetition program such as Skritter is built around efficiency. The goal isn’t to make you remember everything, it’s to make sure that each minute you invest will give you …