Hacking Chinese

A better way of learning Mandarin

Articles published in May 2024

  1. 24 great resources for improving your Mandarin pronunciation

    Using the right resources is important when learning anything, but it’s essential when learning Mandarin pronunciation. In this article, I share my favourite resources, most of which are completely free!

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  2. Chinese listening challenge, May 2024

    Enrol in this month’s Chinese listening challenge, starting May 10th! Listen more and learn more through daily practice and friendly competition. This article contains more information about the challenge, as well as tips for what to listen to and how to get the most out of it.

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  3. Student Q&A, May 2024: Understanding strangers, listening with transcripts, and which podcasts to avoid

    Why is your teacher is so much easier to understand than anybody else? Should you read transcripts or subtitles before, during or after listening? And why do I refuse to recommend certain podcasts?

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  4. Beyond tīng bu dǒng, part 6: Why is listening in Chinese so hard?

    Many people assume that the hardest part of learning Chinese must be the characters or the tones, but it turns out that most learners struggle more with listening comprehension. Why is that, and what can you do about it?

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