Hacking Chinese

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  1. How to use mnemonics to learn Mandarin tones and pronunciation

    Memory is a skill that can be practised, learnt, and mastered. By using the right method, remembering even abstract things like tones and pronunciation in Mandarin becomes possible, even easy!

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  2. Don’t use mnemonics for everything when learning Chinese

    Mnemonics are clever memory techniques you can use to learn and remember more, but this doesn’t mean that you should always use them. If you do, you will end up spending more time on mnemonics than you do engaging with the Chinese language.

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  3. Are mnemonics too slow for Chinese learners?

    Mnemonics are very effective for certain types of learning, but how effective are they for learning Chinese? This article is the first of two that looks at the effectiveness of mnemonics, focusing on the question of speed. Are mnemonics too slow to be really useful in the context of using a foreign language?

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  4. How to create mnemonics for general or abstract character components

    Anyone who has tried mnemonics for learning Chinese characters knows that some components are easier to link together than others. This article discusses in detail how to deal with abstract or general character components and how to handle components with the same or overlapping meaning, an essential skill if you’re serious about character learning.

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  5. Using memory aids and mnemonics to make Chinese easier

    Remember almost anything is a skill that can be learnt. In fact, some of the methods I talk about in this article have been known for thousands of years. Most mnemonic methods use the power of association to enable us to remember things. In this article, I discuss how we can use this to help us learn Chinese much more efficiently than if we rely on conventional methods.

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  6. Chinese characters and words that refuse to stick: Killing leeches

    How long does it take to learn a Chinese character or word? It varies, but some vocabulary just refuses to stick, no matter what you do. These are called leeches, and if you don’t deal with them, they’ll suck you dry.

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  7. Cultivate your Chinese flashcard garden… or burn it down and start afresh

    Flashcards are powerful, but what if your deck feels more like an overgrown thicket than a carefully cultivated garden? Do you clear away the weeds and bring it back under control, or burn it all down and start afresh?

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  8. Hacking Chinese: The Dragon Collection

    This page contains a list of all articles in Hacking Chinese: The Dragon Collection for ease of reference, clickable links and access to podcast episodes. Best of Hacking Chinese 2024 8 great ways to scaffold your Chinese listening and reading Listen more and learn more by building a personal Chinese audio library The Hacking Chinese guide […]

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  9. Same building blocks, different characters: How component placement changes meaning in Chinese

    Chinese character components are usually placed in predictable ways. If you remember the components, you can often write the character. But not always. Some characters share components but differ only in how they’re arranged.

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  10. 16 myths about learning Chinese that are holding you back

    Believing the wrong things about learning Chinese can waste time and lead you astray. Let’s explore 16 myths that might be holding you back!

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