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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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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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Chinese translation challenge, October 2021
It’s time for a translation challenge! It starts on October 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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Using voice messaging as a stepping stone to Chinese conversations
Being able to have a conversation is a goal for most students of Chinese, be it with loved ones, for professional purposes or for travel, but what if you think conversations are too scary, too difficult or just impractical? Try using voice messaging as a stepping stone to better conversations in Chinese!
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Hacking Chinese Pronunciation: Speaking with Confidence is now open!
My pronunciation course is now open for enrollment again! It was first launched in January, and after surveying students and making a few updates, I’m excited to open the doors again. The course is open for registration until midnight on Tuesday, September 28th.
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A smart method to discover problems with Mandarin sounds and tones
It’s often hard to assess one’s own pronunciation when learning Mandarin. People around you might understand what you are saying, but that doesn’t necessarily mean your tones are good. Simply asking people if your pronunciation is good won’t work either, because they will often tell you that your pronunciation is good even if it’s not. So how can you find out how good your pronunciation really is?
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Chinese listening challenge, September 2021
It’s time for a listening challenge! It starts on September 10th, so enrol, set your goal and listen 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 suggestions for what to listen to.
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Back-to-school Hacking Chinese course discount 2021
Hacking Chinese can seen as a very long response to the question of what I would have done differently if I could go back in time and learn Chinese again from scratch. However, most people don’t want to read 800,000 words to get the full picture, which is why I have distilled all that into a few courses. Get $10 off for a limited time!
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The building blocks of Chinese, part 2: Basic characters, components and radicals
Most Chinese characters are compounds consisting of two or more components, but some components are in themselves compounds that can be further broken down. But how do you know where to stop? And how do you learn and remember the most basic building blocks?
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The building blocks of Chinese, part 1: Chinese characters and words in a nutshell
Learning to read and write Chinese is a daunting task, but the challenge becomes more manageable if you focus on learning the building blocks, learning how components form characters and how characters form words. This article is the first part in a series helping adult students make sens of Chinese characters.
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