Situation: You can understand and produce language about personal or familiar topics and you can communicate with natives about most topics on a basic level, albeit haltingly. You can handle language which is directed to you and adjusted to your level. This is roughly equal to CEFR B1. On this page, the focus is on intermediate Chinese and how to best continue learning in an efficient way.
Goal: Be able to understand general, non-specialist content produced by native speakers for native speakers. Be able to communicate with native speakers about similar topics, albeit not necessarily completely correctly.
Here are some typical questions belonging to the intermediate level:
- I feel that I can communicate in Chinese, how do I keep improving?
- How do I deepen my knowledge and broaden my vocabulary?
- How do I take the step from intermediate to advanced?
If you’re new to Hacking Chinese, I’d like to recommend my free crash course in how to learn Mandarin. It will give you a summary and introduction of the most important things to keep in mind. You can sign up here:
Now, let’s move on to intermediate Chinese. It’s relatively easy to write suggestions for beginners, simply because their situations tend to be similar. Reaching the intermediates level, however, students have already trod wildly different paths and general recommendations become very hard to produce. Thus, if you feel that you’re having problems with a specific area, I suggest checking the pages about listening, speaking, reading and writing.
You can also browse articles relevant for intermediate learners:
- The importance of tones is inversely proportional to the predictability of what you say
- Lost in transcription: Saylaw, Ice Island and Aristotle
- Chinese vocabulary challenge, June 2021
- Chinese language logging, part 2: A healthy, balanced diet of Mandarin
- Chinese language logging, part 1: Why and how to track your progress
- Hacking Chinese Pronunciation: Speaking with Confidence is now open!
- Chinese listening challenge, May 2021
- What’s the difference between Chinese pronunciation and Pinyin? Does it matter?
- Learning the second tone in Mandarin Chinese
- Chinese input methods: A guide for second language learners
- Chinese speaking challenge, April 2021
- The 10 best free Chinese reading resources for beginner, intermediate and advanced learners
- 6 things in Chinese that are harder to learn than they seem
- Chinese reading challenge, March 2021
- Learning science in Chinese with 李永乐老师
- My best advice on how to learn Chinese characters
- 20 tips and tricks to improve your Chinese writing ability
- Chinese writing challenge, February 2021
- Learning the third tone in Mandarin Chinese
- The most serious mistake students make when learning Mandarin pronunciation
- Best of Hacking Chinese 2020
- How to not fail with your New Year resolution to learn Chinese
- 7 things Chinese students should do during the winter vacation
- 9 answers to questions about Pinyin and pronunciation
- Are simplified characters really simpler to learn?
- Chinese pronunciation challenge, December 2020
- An introduction to extensive reading for Chinese learners
- Review: Learning Chinese by video immersion with FluentU (2020 edition)
- Why learning Chinese pronunciation by using English words is a really bad idea
- 7 mistakes I made when writing Chinese characters and what I learnt from them
- 7 ideas for smooth and effortless Chinese listening practice
- Should you learn the names of the strokes in Chinese characters?
- How to not teach Chinese characters to beginners: A 12-step approach
- Why not going to China now could actually be good for your Chinese
- Review: The Outlier Linguistics Dictionary of Chinese Characters
- All the resources you need to learn and teach Chinese stroke order
- Chinese translation challenge, August 2020
- Diversify how you study Chinese to learn more
- What important words are missing from TOCFL?
- What important words are missing from HSK?
- Improving your Chinese while watching TV shows
- Training your Chinese teacher, part 4: Writing ability
- Should you learn to speak Chinese before you learn Chinese characters?
- How to get honest feedback to boost your Chinese speaking and writing
- Are mnemonics too slow for Chinese learners?
- Learning Chinese words: When quantity beats quality
- When spaced repetition fails, and what to do about it
- Chinese is fascinating and exciting, not weird and stupid
- Dealing with Chinese characters you keep mixing up
- Text adventure games and how to use them in the Chinese language classroom
- Skritter review: Boosting your Chinese character learning (2020 edition)
- How to figure out how good your Chinese is
- The simple trick I used to double the amount of Chinese I listen to
- 5 levels of understanding Chinese characters: Superficial forms to deep structure
- The forking path: A human approach to learning Chinese
- Does using colour to represent Mandarin tones make them easier to learn?
- How to get past the intermediate Chinese learning plateau
- How important is reading speed on tests like HSK and TOCFL?
- Can too much guidance make you learn less Chinese?
- Why is listening in Chinese so hard?
- Training your Chinese teacher, part 3: Listening ability
- Two types of pronunciation problems and what to do about them
- The nine principles of learning (and the mistakes from failing to follow them)
- Review: Mandarin Companion: Easy to read novels in Chinese
- 101 questions and answers about how to learn Chinese
- The most common Chinese words, characters and components for language learners and teachers
- 7 things you were taught in Chinese class that are actually wrong
- How good is voice recognition for learning Chinese pronunciation?
- The cheapest and most convenient way to improve your spoken Chinese
- Using speech recognition to improve Chinese pronunciation, part 1
- Training your Chinese teacher, part 2: Speaking ability
- The beginner’s guide to Chinese translation
- Tone errors in Mandarin that actually can cause misunderstandings
- Why using a good dictionary can be bad for your Chinese reading ability
- Free and easy audio flashcards for Chinese dictation practice with Anki
- Reading is a lot like spaced repetition, only better
- Training your Chinese teacher, part 1: Introduction
- Review: Language Empowerment: Demystify Chinese culture and fire up your Mandarin + interview with the author
- 36 samples of Chinese handwriting from students and native speakers
- How to improve your Chinese handwriting
- The Hacking Chinese guide to Mandarin tones
- Focusing on Mandarin tones without being distracted by Pinyin
- Cramming vs. spaced repetition: When to use which method to learn Chinese
- How and why to learn and teach Chinese through games
- 866 digital textbooks for expanding your Chinese
- New text game for Chinese learners: The Magistrate’s Gallery
- Learning Chinese as an introverted student
- Learning to unicycle, learning anatomy and learning Chinese
- Can you learn Chinese faster by making it harder?
- Five text games for Chinese learners
- Should you focus on learning Chinese words or phrases?
- Vocabulary lists that help you learn Chinese and how to use them
- Should you learn Chinese vocabulary from lists?
- Chinese reading speed revisited
- Training and testing your ability to hear Mandarin sounds
- Get to know your own Chinese voice
- Advanced listening and reading with Skeptoid Chinese
- Task based Chinese learning and teaching
- Let’s play 迷霧中 (Into the Haze)
- How long do you have to study Chinese to make it useful?
- Learning (or not learning) Chinese slang
- Playing Codenames to learn Chinese
- Into the Haze: A new text adventure game for Chinese learners
- How narrow listening and reading can help you learn Chinese
- Comprehension-based listening vs deep end immersion
- 8 great ways to scaffold your Chinese learning
- How to become a Chinese-English translator and what it’s like to be one
- 10 ways of using games to learn and teach Chinese
- A student’s guide to comprehension-based learning
- The benefits of a comprehension-based approach for teaching and learning Chinese
- An introduction to comprehension-based Chinese teaching and learning
- How to fake sounding like a native Chinese speaker
- Spaced repetition is not limited to flashcards
- Looking up how to use words in Chinese the right way
- Why you should preview before every Chinese lesson
- Three factors that decide how much Chinese you learn
- Obligatory and optional tone change rules in Mandarin
- Learn Chinese implicitly through exposure with a seasoning of explicit instruction
- Mimicking native speakers as a way of learning Chinese
- 7 kinds of tone problems and what to do about them
- Learning Chinese by playing board games
- Expanding your Chinese with 一步一个脚印
- Overcoming the problem of having too many Chinese words to learn
- Learning to read handwritten Chinese
- Transcribing Chinese audio as an active form of listening practice
- Escape: A text adventure game for Chinese learners
- Are you practising Chinese the right way? Is your method valid?
- The benefits of using 语文/國文 textbooks to learn Chinese
- Accessing Chinese culture through cartoons
- How to talk about Chinese characters in Chinese
- Don’t forget to consolidate the Chinese you have already studied
- The best Twitter feeds for learning Chinese in 2016
- How going shopping can help you learn Chinese
- The 5 best Chinese reading resources for beginners
- Why you should start blogging in Chinese today
- How technology can stop you from learning Chinese
- How technology can help you learn Chinese
- Which Chinese language course should you take?
- I have published a book!
- Should you learn the pronunciation of radicals?
- Learning Chinese through comprehensible input
- ChinesePod review: Your companion to Mandarin fluency
- What your Chinese course will not teach you
- Learn Chinese character meaning and pronunciation together
- Listen before you read: Improve your listening ability
- Learn Chinese faster by leaving your comfort zone
- Using voice messaging to practise Chinese speaking and listening
- Can you use English learning materials to study Chinese?
- Learning tones in Mandarin is not optional
- Are there any shortcuts for learning Chinese?
- The Hacking Chinese tone training course
- Learning to hear the sounds and tones in Mandarin
- How to verify that you use the right Chinese font
- Chinese character variants and fonts for language learners
- Learning to pronounce Mandarin with Pinyin, Zhuyin and IPA: Part 3
- The real challenge with learning Chinese characters
- Improving pronunciation beyond the basics
- Which words you should learn and where to find them
- Can native speakers be wrong about Chinese grammar and pronunciation?
- Learning Chinese characters through pictures
- Panning: How to keep similar Chinese characters and words separate
- Zooming out: The resources you need to put Chinese in context
- Zooming in: The tools you need to break down and understand Chinese
- Chinese learning tools and resources worth paying for
- The illusion of advanced learning and what to do about it
- Why you should read Chinese on your phone
- Learning to pronounce Mandarin with Pinyin, Zhuyin and IPA: Part 2
- Chinese listening practice with 锵锵三人行
- Learning to pronounce Mandarin with Pinyin, Zhuyin and IPA: Part 1
- Learning Chinese through audio books
- Bite-sized learning isn’t enough to learn Chinese
- Review: Mandarin Companion graded readers (Level 1)
- The best Twitter feeds for learning Chinese in 2015
- Hone your Chinese writing ability by writing summaries
- Learning Chinese by playing Mahjong 麻將 (májiàng)
- Will a Chinese-only rule improve your learning?
- Using Chinese textbooks to improve reading ability
- The new paperless revolution in Chinese reading
- A minimum-effort approach to writing Chinese characters by hand
- How to adjust your Chinese listening to the right level
- Three steps to more and better Chinese listening practice
- What you intend to write is more important than the character you actually write
- How learning some basic theory can improve your pronunciation
- 24 great resources for improving your Mandarin pronunciation
- How to find a suitable Chinese name
- Focus on initials and finals, not Pinyin spelling
- How knowing your best performance in Chinese can help you improve
- How translation to another language can help you learn Chinese
- Is Chinese difficult to learn?
- Hacking Chinese Pronunciation course now open for registration
- How to find the time and motivation to read more Chinese
- Learning how to ask for and receive directions in Chinese
- Why you should think of characters in terms of functional components
- The 10 best free listening resource collections for learning Chinese
- Launching Hacking Chinese Challenges
- Learning to write Chinese characters through communication
- Focusing on communication to learn Chinese
- Change your attitude to enjoy life and learn more Chinese
- 250+ resources for learning Chinese
- How long have you studied Chinese? 290 years or 58 992 hours!
- About cheating, spaced repetition and learning Chinese
- Study more Chinese: Time boxing vs. micro goals
- 7 ways of learning to write Chinese characters
- How long have you studied Chinese?
- Is speaking more important than listening when learning Chinese?
- Focusing on radicals, character components and building blocks
- Improve your pronunciation with the Hacking Chinese pronunciation check
- Language learning with a Chinese girlfriend or boyfriend
- A learner’s guide to TV shows in Chinese, part 2
- Sensible character learning challenge 2014: The Big Finish
- How to reach a decent level of Chinese in 100 days
- Launching Hacking Chinese Resources
- A learner’s guide to TV shows in Chinese, part 1
- Sensible character learning challenge 2014: Milestone #3
- How and why to use television to learn Chinese
- How to find out how good your Chinese pronunciation really is
- The three roads to mastering Chinese
- How to Approach Chinese Grammar
- Sensible character learning challenge 2014: Milestone #2
- Handwriting Chinese characters: The minimum requirements
- Learn to read Chinese… with ease?
- The grand listening cycle: Improve your Chinese listening ability
- Three ways to improve the way you review Chinese characters
- Sensible character learning challenge 2014: Milestone #1
- Why good feedback matters and how to get it
- Sensible Chinese character learning challenge 2014
- Sensible Chinese character learning revisited
- Asking the experts: How to learn Chinese grammar
- Flashcard overflow: About card models and review directions
- Learning how to fish: Or, why it’s essential to know how to learn
- Two reasons why pronunciation matters more than you think
- Habit hacking for language learners
- Focusing on tone pairs to improve your Mandarin pronunciation
- Easing yourself into reading novels in Chinese
- A language learner’s guide to wuxia novels
- Wuxia, a key to Chinese language and culture
- 25 books I’ve read in Chinese, with reviews and difficulty ratings
- Chinese reading challenge: Read more or die
- Chinese immersion with Carl Gene Fordham
- Role-playing to learn more Chinese and avoid frustration
- Review: The Geography of Thought: How East Asians and Westerners Think Differently… And Why
- Learning to read aloud in Chinese
- Improving your spoken and written Chinese by focusing on the process
- Asking the experts: How to bridge the gap to real Chinese
- How to improve your Chinese writing ability through focused reading
- Drills and exercises aren’t only for beginners
- Preparing for rainy days and dealing with slumps
- Your slumps affect your language learning more than your flows
- About fossilisation and improving your Chinese pronunciation
- What’s your next step to master Chinese?
- 5 websites to help answer your questions about Chinese
- Reading aloud in Chinese is really hard
- Phonetic components, part 2: Hacking Chinese characters
- Phonetic components, part 1: The key to 80% of all Chinese characters
- Why manually adding and editing flashcards is good for you
- Standard pronunciation in Chinese and why you want it
- Why you need goals to learn Chinese efficiently
- Do you really know how to count in Chinese?
- 5 insights from the first year of a master’s program in Taiwan
- How to get good grades when studying Chinese
- The get-back-up-to-speed summer challenge
- Role-playing as a way to expand your Chinese
- Dealing with near-synonyms in Chinese as an independent learner
- What research can and cannot tell us about learning Chinese
- If you think spaced repetition software is a panacea you are wrong
- Learning how to learn Chinese through self-experimentation
- Using Audacity to learn Chinese (speaking and listening)
- Adding tone marks (w/o Pinyin) above characters to practise tones
- You might be too lazy to learn Chinese, but you’re not too old
- Immersion at home or: Why you don’t have to go abroad to learn Chinese
- Learning the right chengyu the right way
- The question you have to ask about your Chinese teacher or course
- Is your flashcard deck too big for your own good?
- You shouldn’t walk the road to Chinese fluency alone
- 14 extra songs to learn Chinese and expand your horizons
- 21 essential dictionaries and corpora for learning Chinese
- Horizontal vocabulary learning in Chinese
- The Cthulhu bubble and studying Chinese
- Improving your Chinese by translating from another language
- Don’t use mnemonics for everything
- How to create mnemonics for general or abstract character components
- Sensible character learning: Progress, reminders and reflections
- Remembering is a skill you can learn
- Towards a more sensible way of learning to write Chinese
- You can’t learn Chinese characters by rote
- Why you really should use a Chinese notebook
- Measuring your language learning is a double-edged sword
- Have fun learning Chinese or else…
- RTI, my favourite radio station
- 13 more songs to learn Chinese and expand your horizons
- Is it necessary to learn to write Chinese characters by hand?
- Learning Chinese in the shower with me
- Chat your way to better Chinese
- Learning styles: Use with caution!
- Vocalise more to learn more Chinese
- A guide to Pinyin traps and pitfalls: Learn Mandarin pronunciation
- Don’t just read about language learning methods, try them!
- 12 songs to learn Chinese and expand your horizons
- Learning Chinese with StarCraft 2
- Extending mnemonics: Tones and pronunciation
- The time barrel: How to find more time to study Chinese
- Study according to your current productivity level
- Why learning Chinese through music is underrated
- Chinese listening strategies: Diversify your listening practice
- 31 Twitter feeds to help you learn Chinese
- A language learner’s guide to reading comics in Chinese
- Approaches to reading in Chinese
- Recording yourself to improve your Chinese speaking ability
- Chinese Language Learner Interview Series – Olle Linge
- Chinese listening strategies: Deliberate practice and i+2
- Chinese listening strategies: Improving listening speed
- Language is communication, not only an abstract subject to study
- Chinese listening strategies: Active listening
- Using Lang-8 to improve your Chinese
- Playing computer games in Chinese: Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2
- Chinese listening strategies: Passive listening
- Practising sports to learn Chinese and make friends
- Chinese listening strategies: Background listening
- Chinese listening strategies: Problem analysis
- Chinese listening strategies: An introduction
- Don’t try to improve everything at once, limit your focus
- Chinese language question triage: General guidelines
- Answer buttons and how to use SRS to study Chinese
- Defining Language Hacking: Lessons Learned From Hacking Chinese
- The importance of counting what counts when learning Chinese
- The 10,000 hour rule – Blood, sweat and tears
- Use the benefits of teaching to boost your own Chinese learning
- Understanding regionally accented Mandarin
- When perfectionism becomes an obstacle to progress
- Making progress in Chinese in spite of praise
- Learning simplified and traditional Chinese
- Learning Chinese efficiently vs. learning quickly
- Learn by exaggerating: Slow, then fast; big, then small
- Can you become fluent in Chinese in three months?
- If you want to master Chinese, make long-term investments
- Chinese reading speed: Learning how to read ten lines at a glance
- Mapping the terra incognita of Chinese vocabulary
- The tones in Mandarin are more important than you think
- Playing word games in Chinese to practise fluency
- Reading manga in Chinese for more than just pleasure
- Triggering quantum leaps in Chinese listening ability
- About opening doors and the paths beyond
- Time boxing Chinese: Get more done in less time
- The Chinese-Chinese dictionary survival guide
- Enjoying the journey while focusing on the destination
- Benchmarking progress in Chinese to stay motivated
- The kamikaze approach to learning Chinese
- Learning Chinese the holistic way: Integrating knowledge
- Achieving the impossible by being inspired
- Don’t be a tourist if you want to learn Chinese language and culture
- How to find more time to practise Chinese listening
- Growing up in Chinese as a foreign adult
- Different types of mistakes when learning Chinese: Problem analysis
- Using memory aids and mnemonics to make Chinese easier
- Chinese vocabulary in your pocket
- Improve your conversations by listening to the listener
- Dealing with tricky vocabulary: Killing leeches
- Time quality: Studying the right thing at the right time
- Memorising dictionaries to boost Chinese reading ability
- Escaping the convenience trap to learn more Chinese
- Review: Chinese Synonyms Usage Dictionary
- Spaced repetition isn’t rote learning
- You won’t learn Chinese simply by living abroad
- Goals and motivation for learning Chinese, part 4 – Micro goals
- Goals and motivation for learning Chinese, part 3 – Short-term goals
- Goals and motivation for learning Chinese, part 2 – Long-term goals
- Goals and motivation for learning Chinese, part 1 – Introduction
- Why you should use more than one Chinese textbook
- Using search engines to study Chinese
- A smart method to discover problems with Chinese tones
- Anki, the best of spaced repetition software
- Take responsibility for your language learning now
- Pros and cons with travelling to learn a language
- Chinese listening ability, a matter of practice?
- Learning Chinese words really fast
- Creating a powerful toolkit: Characters and words
- Spaced repetition software and why you should use it
- The virtues of learning Chinese through language exchange
- Creating a powerful toolkit: Character components
- Learning Chinese through social media
- Making mistakes in Chinese is necessary to adjust your mental models
- Learning Chinese is easier than you think