Hacking Chinese

A better way of learning Mandarin

Articles tagged with ‘Challenge’

  1. 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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  2. How to survive and thrive in a difficult Chinese course

    How do you survive a Chinese course that’s too hard for you, regardless if you ended up there on purpose or because of circumstances? What are the key strategies to ensure you stay afloat and learn as much as possible?

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  3. Is taking a Chinese course that’s too hard good for your learning?

    Chinese has a reputation for being hard to learn and it can be even harder if you take a course that is above your level. But why would you do that? What are the potential pros and cons of deliberately seeking out a learning environment where just keeping your head above water will be hard?

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  4. Learn Chinese faster by leaving your comfort zone

    If you want to learn Chinese faster, you have to make sure you leave your comfort zone and challenge yourself as much and as often as you can. There are many things of doing this, including immersing yourself in language above your current level or putting yourself in situations that demand a higher level of performance. Leave your comfort zone!

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  5. Sensible character learning challenge 2014: Milestone #3

    The second milestone in the 2014 sensible character learning challenge has now been reached! This is also the last opportunity to join the challenge if you haven’t already. If you have, it’s time to report you progress in May. This article also contains information about prizes (character posters, free extensions and Chinese learning products) for the third milestone, as well as my own reflections of my character learning.

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  6. Sensible character learning challenge 2014: Milestone #2

    The second milestone in the 2014 sensible character learning challenge has now been reached! This is a good opportunity to join the challenge if you haven’t already, and if you have, it’s time to report how the five weeks have gone. This article also contains information about prizes (character posters, free extensions and more) for the second milestone, as well as my own reflections of my character learning.

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  7. Sensible character learning challenge 2014: Milestone #1

    The first milestone in the 2014 sensible character learning challenge has now been reached! This is a good opportunity to join the challenge if you haven’t already, and if you have, it’s time to report how the first few weeks have gone. This article also contains information about prizes (character posters, free extensions and promo codes) for the first milestone, as well as my own reflections of my character learning.

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  8. Sensible Chinese character learning challenge 2014

    The 2014 sensible Chinese character learning challenge starts soon! This article introduces the challenge and how you join us. Apart from learning a lot of characters and improving the way you learn characters, you also get a discount and free extensions on Skritter, as well as a chance of winning character posters from Hanzi WallChart!

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  9. Sensible Chinese character learning revisited

    In a way, learning Chinese characters is very much like learning vocabulary in any foreign language and much of the efficient methods developed there works well for Chinese as well. However, characters are also fundamentally different from words in English and this influences how we should learn them as well. This article is a recap of how to learn Chinese characters in a sensible way. It is also a prologue for the upcoming character learning challenge.

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  10. Chinese reading challenge: Read more or die

    You don’t read as much in Chinese as you should and January is the month that will change. The challenge starts on January 1st and the goal of reading as much as possible in Chinese in one month. This article contains not only more information about the challenge, but also lots of tips and tricks for reading (more) in Chinese!

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