Hacking Chinese

A better way of learning Mandarin

Articles published in February 2016

  1. Learn Chinese character meaning and pronunciation together

    Phonetic components in Chinese characters

    A large majority of all Chinese characters look the way they do because of how they are pronounced. You can use this to your benefit if you learn Chinese character meaning and pronunciation together.

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  2. How I learnt Chinese, part 2: Learning Mandarin in Sweden

    Chinese beginner textbooks

    My first year of learning Chinese was spent in an intensive but conventional university environment in Sweden. While I learnt a lot, many things were also left out!

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  3. Listen before you read: Improve your listening ability

    Listen before you read

    Listening ability is often overlooked when learning Chinese. Make sure you get the most out of the listening resources you do have and improve your Chinese listening ability.

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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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