Hacking Chinese

A better way of learning Mandarin

Articles in the ‘Advanced’ category

  1. Should you use an efficient method for learning Chinese even if you hate it?

    Methods for learning Chinese can be good because they are efficient, because they to focus on the right content, or because they are enjoyable, allowing you to spend more time. But no method is good in all these ways at once, so what should you do if you just don’t like the most efficient method?

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  2. Don’t try to improve everything at once when learning Chinese

    To communicate in Chinese, many skills need to work in unison, but trying to improve all of them at once is a recipe for frustration. Instead, limit your focus to make progress and stay motivated!

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  3. Chinese reading challenge, March 2023

    It’s time for a Chinese 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, as well as some advice about improving reading ability in Chinese.

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  4. Hacking Chinese Pronunciation: Speaking with Confidence is now open!

    Hacking Chinese Pronunciation: Speaking with Confidence is now open for enrollment again! Take this opportunity to boost your pronunciation and improve your ability to communicate in Mandarin. The courses closes again on midnight Tuesday, January 18th.

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  5. Can ChatGPT pass the HSK?

    Robot reading. Created with Stable Diffusion and some GIMP editing for the book cover.

    ChatGPT has been all over the news for its remarkable ability to interact in a human-like manner, understand questions and respond in a meaningful way. It has even been used to pass university exams. But how good is it at Chinese? Can it pass the HSK?

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  6. Chinese writing challenge, February 2023

    It’s time for a Chinese writing challenge! It starts on February 10th, so enrol, set your goal and write 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 writing ability in Chinese.

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  7. Using the HSK as a roadmap to learning Chinese

    For some students, the HSK is not just a proficiency test, but also a roadmap to learning Chinese. Is treating it as such a good idea? And if you do, what should you keep in mind?

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  8. Chinese listening challenge, January 2023

    Enrol in this month’s Chinese listening challenge, starting January 10th! Listen more and learn more through daily practice and friendly competition. This article contains more information about the challenge, as well as tips for what to listen to and how to get the most out of it.

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  9. Learn Chinese efficiently, not quickly

    Learning Chinese efficiently is a better goal for most people than learning Chinese quickly.

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  10. Beyond tīng bu dǒng, part 4: Learning to process spoken Mandarin quickly and effortlessly

    Our ability to consciously process spoken Mandarin is limited; the only way forward is to listen so much that processing becomes automated.

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