Notes from Abroad
What Language Apps Taught Me About Copy
I’ve been learning Chinese through group classes, private lessons, and apps over the last few years, and each tool works differently because each tool serves a different kind of need. Copywriting has the same problem.
Learning Chinese Taught Me How to Write for People Who Don't Speak Your Language
When I started learning Chinese, I couldn’t say very much. I knew a few random nouns and verbs and could count to 10. There was no way I was building a sentence. But living in Shanghai, I learned something surprising. A single correct word, placed correctly, worked better than a dozen guessed ones. “Water” got me water. “Bathroom” got me pointed in the right direction. “Zhège” while pointing to a menu got me fed. The precision mattered more than the quantity of words.