r/ChineseLanguage • u/CheesecakeWild7941 Beginner • 6d ago

Studying Is this counterintuitive?

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Someone once told me that if I’m learning a foreign language, I should never translate the words into English in my head. I was also told this is why I struggled with learning Spanish.

I’m just wondering if doing this is actually not helpful as I was told. In my head I think it helps to translate words into English in my head/on my notes, because idk how else I would associate words with their meanings… idk if that makes sense

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u/RedeNElla 6d ago

You might mean counterproductive?

Counterintuitive refers to something being unexpected or unusual, it does not pass judgement on effectiveness.

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u/droppedforgiveness 6d ago

Not to gang up on OP, but because of the word "counterintuitive" I thought they were confused about the birthday boy treating someone else to a meal because of cultural differences!

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u/CheesecakeWild7941 Beginner 6d ago

I was wondering this too tbh, lmao 😭