Learn French: La calligraphie est difficile à moins que tu ne travailles sans hâte. - Calligraphy is difficult unless you work without haste.

Hâte is an abstract noun following the preposition sans (without). In French, when prepositions of manner like avec, sans, or par are followed by an abstract noun to describe how an action is performed, we drop the article. You are working without haste, rather than without the haste.

Why is there a ne before travailles if the meaning is not negative?

This is the ne explétif. It does not make the sentence negative, which is why there is no pas. It is a stylistic choice often used after certain conjunctions like à moins que (unless) or avant que (before). It is mostly found in written or formal French and is frequently dropped in everyday speech.

Is travailles in the subjunctive mood here?

Yes! The conjunction à moins que always triggers the subjunctive mood. Because travailler is a regular -er verb, its tu form looks exactly the same in both the present indicative and present subjunctive, but it is grammatically in the subjunctive in this sentence.

Should I pronounce a liaison between sans and hâte?

No. The word hâte begins with an aspirated h (h aspiré). This means you cannot link the final s of sans to it. You must pronounce them as two distinct words without making a z sound between them.