Hacking Chinese

A better way of learning Mandarin

Articles published in October 2021

  1. Why your Chinese isn’t as good as you think it ought to be

    Sooner or later, most students realise that their Chinese isn’t as good as they think it ought to be. Why is that and what can you do about it?

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  2. The building blocks of Chinese, part 4: Learning and remembering compound characters

    The key to learning Chinese compound characters is to learn the building blocks and how they fit together, including both the function of each component and the structure of the compound. Add some clever memory techniques and you’ll be able to dramatically increase the speed and efficiency of your learning!

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  3. The building blocks of Chinese, part 3: Compound characters

    A vast majority of Chinese characters are compounds, and understanding how the components fit together and which function they have, will make learning and remembering characters a lot easier. This article explains the most important types of compounds you’ll encounter and how you can use that knowledge to learn characters more easily.

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