Recent
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Learning the second tone in Mandarin Chinese
Many students of Chinese struggle with the third tone, but almost as many also have problems with the second tone. So how should the second tone be pronounced, and what are the most common learner errors?
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Chinese input methods: A guide for second language learners
There are many different input methods available for Chinese characters, including phonetic typing, non-phonetic typing, handwriting and speech recognition, but which method is best for people who study Chinese? And why?
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Chinese speaking challenge, April 2021
It’s time for a speaking challenge! It starts on April 10th, 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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Opening the gates to the Hippo Campus*
On this very special day, I’m proud to announce the opening of the Hippo Campus, a collaboration between a prestigious teacher of Mandarin and Hacking Chinese, offering an online classroom experience suitable for everyone, everywhere!
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The 10 best free Chinese reading resources for beginner, intermediate and advanced learners
Reading is the best way to expand vocabulary and learn new things in Chinese. What are the best free resources out there for beginner, intermediate and advanced learners? This article collects and introduces the ten best free reading resources in each category!
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6 things in Chinese that are harder to learn than they seem
It’s hard to gauge the difficulty of something without having mastered it first. When something is easier than you think, that’s not very serious, but if you think something is much easier than it actually is, it can feel quite bad and decrease motivation. This article is about things that are harder than they seem when learning Chinese.
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Chinese reading challenge, March 2021
It’s time for a reading challenge! It starts on March 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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Learning science in Chinese with 李永乐老师
李永乐老师 is a science teacher who has published many hundreds of video lessons online, for free. While the fast speech and speedy handwriting are a bit daunting at first, this is an excellent way of learning about science in Chinese. This article introduces 李永乐老师’s videos, along with a number of tips and tricks for how to make them approachable for students who want to be able to deal with science in Chinese.
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My best advice on how to learn Chinese characters
This is an overview of how to learn Chinese characters, including understanding how they work, how to learn to read and write them, as well as how to remember the characters you have learnt. Tools and resources related to characters are also covered!
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20 tips and tricks to improve your Chinese writing ability
Writing is one of the four basic language skills, and one that learners of Chinese struggle with a lot. Good writing is based on lots of reading, but beyond that, there are plenty of other things you can do to improve your writing ability in Chinese beyond the characters themselves. Here are twenty tips and tricks!
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