Hacking Chinese

A better way of learning Mandarin

Articles in the ‘Learning outside class’ category Page 2

  1. 12 ways chatting online will improve your Chinese

    Chatting is an excellent way of learning a language. Some people think chatting online is a waste of time, but in this article I list and explain a dozen reasons why this is wrong. In fact, chatting offer many advantages that are very hard to find elsewhere.

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  2. How to best use flashcards to learn Chinese

    Flashcards; some people love them, some people hate them. The goal of Hacking Chinese is to go beyond the black and white, and figure out how things work so we can use them to our advantage.

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  3. Why flashcards are terrible for learning Chinese

    Flashcards are often viewed as a silver bullet, promising swift mastery of characters, words and more, but relying on flashcards too much has serious drawbacks, and if you’re not careful, they can hinder more than they help.

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  4. Chinese vocabulary challenge, December 2023

    It’s time for a vocabulary challenge! It starts on December 10th, so enrol, set your goal and learn as many characters and words as you can before the end of the month. This challenge is sponsored by Skritter, so there are also prizes on the line! This article contains more information about the challenge, some important things to keep in mind as well as some advice about learning Chinese characters and words.

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  5. Student Q&A, December 2023: How many words to learn, if it’s good to learn radicals, and whether to learn simplified or traditional characters

    How many words is reasonable to learn in a day? Will focusing on radicals make learning characters easier? And should you learn simplified or traditional characters, or maybe both?

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  6. Why flashcards are great for learning Chinese

    The humble flashcard: A key component in a successful strategy, or a distraction from what truly matters? Few things have sparked as much debate as the use of flashcards for learning a foreign language.

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  7. The 10 best free Chinese reading resources for beginner, intermediate and advanced learners

    Reading is the best way to expand vocabulary and learn new things in Chinese. What are the best free resources out there for beginner, intermediate and advanced learners? This article collects and introduces the ten best free reading resources in each category!

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  8. Student Q&A, November 2023: Reading Pinyin or characters, comprehensible vs. compelling content and reading tools

    How do you transition from reading Pinyin to reading characters? Are compelling texts better than comprehensible texts? And which tools should you use when reading Chinese?

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  9. You won’t learn Chinese simply by living abroad

    A widespread myth about learning Chinese is that you will master the language simply by moving abroad to live in an immersion environment. However, how much you learn is determined by how much you engage with the language, not by your geographical location.

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  10. 100 hours of Chinese listening in 3 weeks: What I learnt and how to apply it

    The more you listen, the more you learn. That’s why I listened to one hundred hours of Chinese in just three weeks. Here’s what I learnt and how you can apply that to your own learning.

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