Language Learning, Optimized
Lingwave is a story-based Mandarin Chinese course that teaches students–from beginners to advanced learners–how to understand and reproduce native-level speech and writing. There’s no need for rote memorization or grammar drills–instead, you’ll learn Mandarin the way your brain is naturally wired to learn language. Lesson by lesson, you’ll develop the ability to understand Chinese characters and speech. In combination with sessions from our Approved Tutors, Lingwave is a complete solution for developing fluency in Mandarin.
The Lingwave Difference
Mandarin is one of the most difficult languages in the world. Chances are, if you’re learning it, you don’t want to waste time with inefficient learning techniques. Most language learning textbooks are dry and boring, and few are optimized for retention, comprehensible input, or true language mastery.
Lingwave was engineered as a tool to help achieve deep language mastery. Our course isn’t for those who just want to be able to change money at the Shanghai airport or buy dumplings; it’s for those who want to be able to have meaningful conversations with native speakers. In order to achieve this, we’ve created a new approach based on computational linguistics and the science of language learning. We genuinely believe that the combination of all these features makes ours the best way to learn Mandarin.
The Lingwave Course
Lingwave is a story-based sequence of lessons that gradually introduces new Chinese vocabulary, grammar structures, contexts, connotations and slang. As you learn, you’ll be following the story of Josh Crandall as he explores China, makes new friends and enemies, encounters disasters, and falls in love.
Each lesson consists of a dialogue or narrative–in both audio and text–into which new words and grammar, as well as any items that need to be reviewed, are seamlessly and naturally integrated. We use Chinese writing as well as English translations.
Pedagogical Principles
i+1
i+1 means that every lesson in your progression consists only of words and grammar that you have already learned, plus a few more. In the lesson will be a dialogue or other content that has a few hundred words that you know plus 20-25 new Chinese vocabulary words or grammar structures. It also means that no lesson will have words that are too advanced for you.
Spaced Repetition
There are few things more boring than reviewing vocabulary. That’s why we’ve designed our lessons to provide automatic reviews that are seamlessly and naturally integrated into our content. After you learn new words and grammar structures, these are repeated in the lesson sequence according to a schedule that maximizes retention. Over time, the words need to be reviewed less and less frequently. So for example, if you learn the Chinese characters 学习 in Lesson 1, this word will then be integrated naturally into Lessons 2, 5, 14, 32, etc.
High-Frequency Chinese Vocabulary
Almost every language course ever created spends significant amounts of time teaching their students useless or rare words. With Lingwave, however, the order of words we teach is determined by a Mandarin Spoken Frequency List, which is a list of common words from highest frequency to lowest frequency. You’ll learn the most common 3000 words in the first 150 lessons. The introduction of these words will enable you to grasp the fabric of the language much quicker than otherwise, since the most common 3000 words represent approximately 90% of all speech and nearly 70% of Chinese writing.
Multi-Context Learning
Each time a word appears, it will be used in a slightly different context. This will enable you to develop a real understanding of how words are used, as well as their connotations and implications.
Real-Life Language
Our lessons are written in real-life language, not formal textbook speech. Too many language learners end up sounding like robots when they go a country that speaks their target language. We teach all levels of formality, but we focus on everyday language you’d use with friends and colleagues.
Captivating Stories
This is one of the most important facets of language learning. Nobody cares about Mr. Wang changing money at the bank, or about Ms. Chen buying a subway ticket unless there is a reason, like that Mr. Wang has to change money to pay off the mob or Ms. Chen is buying a ticket to go on a date with her true love.
Simple topics like changing money are useful for those just learning survival Chinese, but we know you need more. At Lingwave, we’re focused on language mastery, and that requires that the you find our courses interesting for the long term. Our writers work hard to provide you with only the most entertaining, funny, scary, exciting, mysterious, or romantic stories.