I'm at a point where chinese becomes very hard for me. I'm at university and the texts are very specific now (for exemple text on statistics, tea ceremony or media stuff).

So my teacher always makes us learn by heart all paragrah of texts, but i'm not sure if a method like that will do good. I mean eveytime we have to do french into chinese, he tells us "you need to make your sentences more chinese".

I'd like to know if you in here use this kind of method and i would like to know what do you think of it.

(sorry for my english)

I can see how learning individual sentences more or less by heart can help, especially if there is a particular focal point to them (eg, to learn a particular word, or structure). Learning whole passages? Without a language point? Difficult to do, impossible to retain.

It's probably another case of an incompetent Chinese teacher. I'm yet to meet one I would consider really good.

I can second that - it does help you become more familiar with proper grammer structure and sound but recall on the spot? Unlikely. I've spent alot of time and money learning from native Chinese and I'm also wondering if it's worth it.

Sounds like the teacher is using some pretty outdated teaching methods. I will agree with Byzanti that individual sentence memorization can be very useful for both grammatical and lexical comprehension, but whole bodies of text seems to take that idea too far. As a teacher I would much rather hear a student using their own language to give an account of what they just read, rather than memorize material. It that way they are actual displaying comprehension rather just memorization.

Yes i'm not sure i would even benefit from it in real situation.
for exemple an extrait from last week :
人感染情流感后的治疗原则与普通的流感病人的治疗相同。一旦被怀疑为H1N1病毒感染，应马上住院治疗，防止病情恶化和转染扩散。(...)
(it's about how to cure someone who has bird flu)

As you can see it's very shumianyu. The comprehension is not very a problem actually since we do study those texts in different way (comprehension, grammatical and conversation).

Now the problem is learning the vocabulary on those kind of text, i find it very difficult, even using SRS. Maybe i should do more skritter (i'm getting a little bored with srs stuff haha).

In your opinion, should i just focus on SRSing with maybe using sentences from the text as an answer (so i get the meaning more) ?

Sorry my ideas are very confused but it just how my chinese is these days : confused.

I believe that that will do you no good, and you will end up wasting your time.

I studied using this method in college for Japanese. In my humble opinion what your teacher is having you do is a waste of time. There are times when doing full sentence repition drills can be very useful but you shouldn't be focused on memorizing every sentence. Rather you should just get used to the grammar, flow and intonation to the point you can use it without problem. If you hear something you like you will probably remember it for a long time without trying but a sentence that you are forced to learn and holds no interest for you will quickly be forgotten. The longer the conversation the more likely you will forget something. Think about how many full conversations you can recall in your native tongue. I bet it's not many. Now think about what you like talking about and what your friends like talking about. I bet you can think of many things. People aren't tape recorders, we usually just remember the main points and forget the rest. The time you are spending memorizing whole conversations could better be used for learning new vocabulary. Although I must say I fully support learning new vocabulary with example sentences so you can get of feel of how to use it in a sentence. I just don't think you should be forced to memorize the sentence if you understand how to use the word.

Our teacher (I study Japanese) recommends us to learn dialogues (and some texts we read in class) by heart. She says, it is a good way to remember the way of native sentence construction. But as far as I am not fond of learning texts by heart :), I've just used a dictaphone during lessons, and then listened to class recordings every evening, and every free minute too. It really helped! And especially it helped to learn some new grammar, because those difficult sentences I listened not understanding them suddenly became clear with new grammar. I felt really exited about it!
(Sorry for my English too)

Most people (myself included) can't memorize more than a sentence (in a foreign language) at a time, so I agree with the above; learning dialogues, stock phrases, sayings, proverbs, etc. is useful, but a whole paragraph will probably be a waste. What I find most useful is talking to or writing to people in the other language. Actually using it helps me better than reading it. Of course, that requires a recipient, which is often hard to find.

I spent a lot of time memorizing stuff in Spanish - phrases, sentences, up to long paragraphs - and now I kind of regret it, as it takes a long time to memorize a big chunk of text. The only things longer than a sentence that I would memorize now are songs and poems, things I really want to learn for cultural or aesthetic reasons.

James

I'm going to have to go against most of comments here and disagree: memorizing large chunks of material is immensely beneficial. The benefits are too numerous to enumerate.

Many Islamic people memorize the entire Koran! That's an entire book.

I can barely speak a few words of Japanese naturally but I can do a long self-introduction simply because I have memorized multiple sentences that I string together.

@Kuini
Your English, with the exception of your punctuation, is fine.

@icecream

Could you enumerate why you think it is useful? (And a better use of time than other methods!) And your level of Chinese and/or Japanse?

@icebear
Your brain can only process so much information at one time: we all have cognitive constraints. New information, especially, is cognitively demanding. Memorizing decreases this burden and allows us to push these constraints back a bit.

Memorizing basically automates thinking.

I mean just think about it logically: The only way you could possibly comprehend what I am currently writing is if you, at one time, memorized every single letter of the alphabet. You simply don’t have to think about what the letters mean anymore and instead focus on the meaning of the text. The same phenomenon occurs with words and sentences and paragraphs and papers. Eventually you get to the point where it takes you the same amount of time to memorize a paragraph as it did for you to memorize a word.

I teach English. I live in Japan. I personally don’t think I understand much Japanese. Today, however, I received an email in Japanese from my new coworker (who is Japanese) in Japanese instead of English because she thought I had intermediate to advanced Japanese based on our first meeting. This occurred simply because I was able to memorize lots of simple sentences and respond instantly. Instant reaction – a byproduct of memorization – is the key to passing off as bilingual.

If I had to enumerate the benefits I would run out of room on Skritter.

I'm of the opinion that memorizing set phrases/structures has value, but am very skeptical of the merits of memorizing large texts. A good use of large texts is 朗读, reading aloud, for which there are good programs and resources online to get you started. I think 朗读 is also good in that it is helpful to students at all levels, and is a way to improve your speaking abilities even without a partner (with limits, of course).

@icecream - I strongly disagree. Your description isn't compelling - I don't see value in tricking people into thinking I speak at a high level if I can only understand the introductory text I've memorized; I think it'd be better (at a low level) to memorize some set phrases and interchangeable vocabulary - the chances of a native speaker adjusting to your level (and thus being comprehensible) are better in that case, too.

Also, I think your analogy with learning letters in English is flawed - its not typical that native English students memorize long passages. Set phrases and grammar patterns, yes, but rarely paragraphs, if at all.

I agree that your brain has limits, which is why I would advocate using that brain power on learning material that is useful in a wide variety of contexts, as opposed to just memorizing a long text, after which one has trouble producing, comprehending, or responding to any further discussion.

My personal opinion is that learning long passages to fool native speakers concerning your ability is a parlor trick which won't take you very far.

@icebear

I think you’re misinterpreting what I’m writing. What you advocate – memorizing set phrases and interchangeable vocabulary – is exactly what I am doing. It’s the level where I am. Just by doing that I have fooled people into thinking I am at a high level. I have attempted, and failed, to memorize large chunks of text. That doesn’t mean I don’t think it’s one of the best ways to learn a language.

I love to read. If you read good literature you can see many allusions and references to other books inside them. The only way this is possible is if the author memorized – or at least can remember – other books and relate them. The difference is that the memorization is so subtle that most people aren’t aware of it. Some words in the English language are the names of titles of books. Have you ever heard of Catch-22? Sure you can get the gist of the word by reading the definition but in order to truly understand the word you have to read the entire book.

@icebear

All analogies are slightly flawed. It's in their nature.

@icecream,
Just saw your second (and third post) as I was writing. So not sure if this comment is as relevant, but w/e.

I don't think the goal should be passing off as bilingual, but rather having comprehension in a language. Memorizing every single letter in the alphabet is much different than using a language to convey and create meaning. Kids don't learn this way, they are creating new sentences all the time, even though they've never heard them before. Memorizing every possible response to every single situation that might present itself during any given day sounds like a lot more work that taking the time to understand how a language works and then make it your own. That isn't to say that memorization doesn't have its place in a language learners toolbox, but it can't be the only tool you use. I mean come on, it's not duct tape!

This actually reminds me of a joke my Chinese teacher told me back in 2007.

A young girl had a dream of learning English, so one day she decided to go to cram school and take some classes. On the very first day the teach walked in and started drilling with the class.

"How are you?" the teacher would ask, to which every student would respond "I'm fine thanks, and you?"

Day after day the teacher would come in and ask how the students were doing, and every day they would respond: "I'm fine thanks, and you?"

Eventually the young girl wanted more, so she packed her bags and headed to New York. When she arrived she was amazed at how exciting and lively the big city was. While walking and taking in the new sights and sounds she stepped too quickly out into the street.

WHAM!

Before she knew what happend she found herself thrown to the ground by a taxi that didn't see her in time. Leg broken and bloody she lay there crying in pain. A passerby who saw the event ran over to help and asked

"miss, miss, is everything okay?"

She responded to the question the only way she knew how:

"I'm fine thanks, and you?"

@SkritterJake

That's not a joke. That's reality. Every single JHS I've been to starts class off that way.

@icecream - I differentiate memorizing set phrases and patterns with complementary vocabulary from rote memorization of entire passages (on statistics, for example). The OP is concerned about studying using the latter method. Our argument is tending towards semantics, which to me is always a sign that it's not worth pursuing (at least online). Also, understanding the meaning of catch-22 (the phrase) hardly requires memorization of the entire book. Many people are aware of the concept without knowing much, if anything, about the book.

@SkritterJake - Agreed.

It's nice to know everyone has his opinion on that.
I would say the only good thing about it (for me) is that my writing speed increased a lot, but i'm still bad at creating sentenses in the good order.

加油 !

@SkritterJake

I agree with you in thinking of the way a kid approaches language. I've been studying Japanese for a long time and I would become so frustrated with myself if I forgot a word I wanted to use. This would stop me mid sentence if I was trying to speak.

I then was at a martial arts retreat and a fellow practitioner's daughter that was only 3 or 4 was describing to a few people a woodpecker she just saw in a tree a few minutes before.

The girl happily told her story about the bird saying, "The bird was hitting the tree with it's nose!"

This was a huge ah-ha moment for me. The girl didn't know or care that there was a word for beak.

I started approaching my speaking a lot differently as well as the words that I put priority on learning. I certainly don't speak like a native, but I can use proper grammar that I learned in school with words I am comfortable with to convey an idea when speaking in Japanese.

@Kuini

It sounds like you are quite far along in your studies considering the topics you are reading about. I have found that different things have been exactly what I need at different times in my study.

I would say that if -you- are frustrated with the method, try something different. The best progress will happen when you are motivated and enjoying yourself. There are so many tools available on the internet, you should be able to make your language study fun.

Good luck. :-)