Hi there, and welcome to the 4th issue of this newsletter. I hope this past week of learning Chinese didn’t drive you completely nuts. Before I dive into today's main topic, let me quickly reflect back on 3 Body Problem one last time.

嗨！感谢你打开我的第四封推文邮件。在进入今天的主题之前，我想再聊聊看完网飞版《三体》的感受。

Final thoughts: Two weeks ago, after watching the first two episodes of the latest Netflix adaptation, I mentioned that about one-third of the TV show is in Mandarin. However, while this was true for those episodes, the rest of the series unfortunately barely had any Chinese lines. Additionally, I felt like the quality of the series did not live up to my expectations. Sometimes, I felt like the pace of the series was too fast, and I wished the writers would have fleshed out the characters a bit more. On the other hand, there were times when I felt like the episodes were dragging a bit too much, with many characters acting irrationally. However, this didn’t stop me from using it as an inspiration for my latest silly short video, that I hope you already checked out! Season Rating: 6/10

我的《三体》影评：看完整部网飞版《三体》后，我想收回两周之前对它的好评。第二集后面的故事有时跳跃有时又很拖沓，而且很多事情发生得莫名其妙。由于后来的剧情发展和中国这个背景之间关系不大，所以基本也没再出现过普通话。总而言之，这部片并不如我期待得那样好看。不过还是感谢它给了我拍摄视频的灵感。评分：6/10

Let’s jump into our main topic, which is a big one. You might be familiar with James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits, one of the most popular recent books that offers tips on how to break your bad habits and build better ones. Today, we’re going to take a look at his recommendations and how you could apply his tips when learning Chinese.

今天我想聊一聊好习惯的养成。这个话题你肯定很熟悉，也可能会觉得老生常谈。但是我看完 James Clear 的《掌控习惯》后收获颇多，很想和你分享他书里讲到的养成好习惯的方法。毕竟好习惯也一样可以让中文学习事半功倍。

How to Build Better Habits That Help You Learn Chinese

James Clear mentions 4 laws when it comes to habit building:

关于好习惯的养成 James Clear 提到了四条法则

1. Make it obvious

   让它显而易见

2. Make it attractive

   让它有吸引力

3. Make it easy

   让它简便易行

4. Make it satisfying

   让它令人愉悦

Make it obvious: You have to create cues in your life that will help you build a habit. Here are some examples that can assist you:

让它显而易见：在日常生活中给自己设置明显的提示。下面是我结合中文学习总结出的一些可行方法。

1. Sign up for a language exam: Knowing that this challenge is ahead of you will help push you to create the habit of learning.

   报名语言考试：利用考试的压力迫使自己养成学习习惯。

2. Use flashcards and place them all around your room where you will definitely encounter them. Tape them on your wall, place them on the dining table, or even hang them on your bathroom door. If you live with other people, this might be annoying to your roommates, but why not convince them to try learning together?😜 .

   将中文卡片放在房间里显眼的地方：墙上，餐桌上，洗手间的门上。如果你和别人一起住，是不是会担心室友嫌弃自己？可能你邀请他/她一起学，他/她就没有理由这样做了😜。

3. Learning with other people will also give you the extra push and make you accountable when it comes to learning.

   找到学习的同伴，互相监督，互相加油。

4. Download Pleco (or other language learning apps) and use them. Place them on the home page of your phone so they can keep reminding you to open them and learn.

   下载Pleco或者任何你喜欢的中文学习软件，把它放在手机的开屏页上。这样每次拿起手机，就能一眼看到它在召唤你学习。

Make it attractive: You’ll have to figure out how to make learning Chinese more attractive to you, and what better way to achieve it than by connecting it with other things that you already enjoy doing.

让它有吸引力：将中文学习和你自己感兴趣的事情结合。

1. If you regularly go to the gym, listen to Chinese podcasts or watch Chinese language videos and TV series while using the treadmill, bike, etc. Between reps, test yourself with Pleco (or other Chinese learning apps).

   如果你喜欢健身，可以边跑步边听中文播客或者看中文视频，电视剧。在锻炼间隙用 Pleco (或其他学习软件) 测试自己的学习成果。

2. If you enjoy playing video games, check if the game is available in the Chinese language.

   如果你喜欢打游戏可以尝试把语言设置为中文。

3. Watch Chinese language movies, TV shows, and listen to Chinese songs.

   看中文的电影，电视剧，听中文歌。

4. Join a Chinese language group/community, where you are encouraged to learn. In a few months, I’ll be launching my own community, and if you’re interested, you are in the perfect place because you’ll hear about it here first.

   加入适合自己的中文学习小组/社区。不久的将来我也会组织自己的中文学习社区，欢迎你来！

5. The important thing here is to do what you like. Don’t enjoy learning at the gym? No problem, just disregard my first tip here. Don’t enjoy any Chinese music? Don’t force it. Get rid of the things that make you want to learn less. Focus only on those things that you enjoy.

   无论任何形式，最重要的是找到你自己喜欢的方法，并为此坚持下去。

Make it easy: A lot of people think that learning a new language, especially Chinese is difficult. But we can make it easier on ourselves.

让它简便易行：很多人觉得掌握一门新的语言很难，中文更是难中之难。但是换个角度思考，也许事情会变得更简单。

1. If you think about how many characters there are in Chinese and how different it is from English (or from your mother tongue), you may start to feel overwhelmed and want to give up before you’ve learned your first 100 characters. Instead, think like this: you don’t need to know everything, especially not when starting out. Start small. Learn just 5 minutes every day. If you can study for longer periods without feeling like it’s a chore, you can extend your study time, but the point is not to push yourself so hard that after a study session, you refuse to touch your Chinese books for a week. If you don’t enjoy character writing, avoid it in the beginning. If you can’t figure out the tones right away, you'll have plenty of time to practice them later.

   如果在学习中文之前，你就已经开始想中文里无数个长相各异的汉字，以及它和英文（或者和你自己的母语）的差异之大，那下一秒你肯定只想放弃。可是要知道，你并不需要知道关于中文的所有知识。尤其作为中文的初学者，最重要的是把学习中文这件事付诸行动。不要考虑太多，先从每天五分钟的学习开始。如果你觉得汉字很难可以先从口语开始，也不需要害怕听起来很抽象的声调，其实大多数时候即使声调不准确别人一样可以明白你所表达的内容。所以，慢慢来，别着急。

2. When you start to see some results and feel more confident, you can increase the amount of time you spend studying. Eventually, you'll become more efficient.

   当你在学习中文这件事中找到自信和成就感时，就可以增加学习内容和时长。由易到难可以让你的中文学习更有效率。

Make it satisfying: When forming new habits, it’s important to make them satisfying so that you'll repeat them again and again.

让它令人愉悦：要开始一个新的习惯一定要保证自己享受其中，这样才可以长久地坚持下去。

1. Reward yourself after your achievements. Did you pass a test? Time to celebrate with friends! Did you learn another 50 characters? Buy yourself an ice cream!

   定时地奖励自己。比如通过考试后找朋友一起庆祝，记住50个新汉字后奖励自己一个冰淇淋。

2. Keep track of your progress; again, Pleco is a great tool where you can track how many characters you have already learned. Skritter is another great app which is excellent for character writing.

   记录自己的学习过程。比如，如果你用Pleco学习汉字, 可以随时查看已经掌握的单词。看到自己的成就会给你更多坚持下去的动力。Skritter 也是一个很好用的练习写汉字的手机软件。

3. Never miss your scheduled tasks twice. Once in a while, if you skip a study session or don’t finish your homework, it's fine. But if you skip them twice in a row, then it’s the beginning of forming a new bad habit.

   偶尔一次没完成当天的学习任务没问题，但是千万不要给自己第二次这样做的借口。因为一旦有了第二次，随之而来的就是无数次。

That’s it for today. I hope you realize that learning a language can be fun and easier than you think. But a lot depends on you. You know yourself the best, you know what you enjoy, what triggers you, so ultimately it’s in your hands to figure out which way of learning is best for you. There isn’t just one way when it comes to learning a language, and the key is to find your way that can keep you interested in learning Chinese for a long time. Do the things you like more, and forget the rest.

这就是今天的所有内容。希望通过我的分享会让你发现学习一门新语言也可以很简单。当然没有人比你更了解自己，只有你知道哪种学习方法更适合自己。选择自己喜欢的学习方式，保持对中文的兴趣和热情，坚持下去！

Next week, I’ll be back with more entertainment recommendations so you’ll have more options to choose from when learning Chinese!

下周我会继续分享中文的影视剧，敬请期待！

Until then,

Sandy

Do you want more help with learning Chinese? Check out my private online classes:

💡thechinesespeaker.com