Recent articles
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Chinese translation challenge, December 2018
It’s time for a translation challenge! It starts on December 10th, so enrol, set your goal and improve your Chinese by translating to/from Chinese as much as you can before the end of the month. This article contains more information about the challenge, some important things to keep in mind as well as some advice about using translation as a method for learning Chinese.
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36 samples of Chinese handwriting from students and native speakers
This article features 36 samples of Chinese handwriting. The same text was written by native speakers and students with varying backgrounds and time spent learning Chinese.
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Chinese handwriting challenge, November 2018
It’s time for a handwriting challenge! It starts on November 12th, so enrol, set your goal and improve your handwriting ability as much as you can before the end of the month. This article contains more information about the challenge, some important things to keep in mind as well as some advice about improving handwriting in Chinese.
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How to improve your Chinese handwriting
Learning to write Chinese by hand is a complex task. This article gives an overview of what it means to write by hand, answering questions like: “Do I need to learn to write by hand?”, “What skills does handwriting in Chinese require?” and” How do I improve my handwriting?”
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The Hacking Chinese guide to Mandarin tones
Learning tones is one of the major challenges of learning Mandarin and other Chinese dialects. This guide describes what tones are, why they are important and how to learn them. The article collects information and advice from more than twenty articles about learning tones, along with resources and references for further reading.
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Chinese speaking challenge, October 2018
It’s time for a speaking challenge! It starts on October 15th, so enrol, set your goal and improve your speaking ability as much as you can before the end of the month. This article contains more information about the challenge, some important things to keep in mind as well as some advice about improving speaking ability in Chinese.
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Focusing on Mandarin tones without being distracted by Pinyin
It’s a well-known problem that if Chinese characters and Pinyin appear together, most students will look only at the Pinyin. However, rather than removing all scaffolding, keeping information about tones can be very useful. This article details two methods of doing this, either through colour or through using tone marks only.
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Chinese reading challenge, September 2018
It’s time for a reading challenge! It starts on September 10th, so enrol, set your goal and read as much as you can before the end of the month. This article contains more information about the challenge, some important things to keep in mind as well as some advice about improving reading ability in Chinese.
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Back-to-school Hacking Chinese course discount
The start of a new semester is the right time to accelerate your learning with Hacking Chinese – A Practical Guide to Learning Mandarin. Get $10 off the video/audio/text course and extra content until the end of Friday, September 9th!
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Cramming vs. spaced repetition: When to use which method to learn Chinese
Cramming and spaced repetition are viable but opposite methods of reviewing Chinese characters, words and expressions. When should you use which? And Why?
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