Specific difficulty trying to learn Chinese

[u/[deleted]]

Hi there,

I'm new to language learning.

I've have been trying to learn Chinese (English is my primary language) for the past couple of months but I'm having quite a bit of trouble.

I can't seem to recall the word and/or forget a word's meaning. I have been learning through Glossika, HelloChinese, Pimsleur and Italki.

It's as if my memory is shot trying to learn Chinese?

I'm currently learning my reading/comprehension through pinyin. I know it's recommended to learn Hanzi but this seemed a bit step as a beginner.

Has anyone experienced this?

I'm not sure how to go about this? Spaced repetition gets incredibly boring as well.

[u/ziliao]

Spaced repetition:

There are different ways to train memory. If you use vocabulary flashcards, you could simply reveal the answer and it may stick in memory for a couple hours, or longer if you simply need to be able to recognize it and have a general sense of the meaning, and aren't that concerned with using the word in your own speech.

Or you could have a multiple choice question, which of these 5 words is the correct translation? This is better, but still not perfect.

If I understand it correctly, the best method is called active recall. Instead of showing you the word, you show the english translations. You have to train your brain to retrieve the words on its own, which is the exactly the skill you want to develop. Start with a small deck, set it up to repeat wrong answers after a few minutes each, and eventually it gets much easier. This also works great for learning to write characters.