Articles in the ‘Listening’ category
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Learning to hear the sounds and tones in Mandarin
As infants, we perceive the world without categories. Learning our first language forms sound categories, aiding understanding but losing other sound distinctions. As adults learning a second language, we need to regain this ability. But how?
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Hacking Chinese Pronunciation: Speaking with Confidence is now open!
Hacking Chinese Pronunciation: Speaking with Confidence is now open for enrollment! Take this opportunity to boost your pronunciation and improve your ability to communicate in Mandarin.
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Chinese listening challenge, May 2024
Enrol in this month’s Chinese listening challenge, starting May 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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Student Q&A, May 2024: Understanding strangers, listening with transcripts, and which podcasts to avoid
Why is your teacher is so much easier to understand than anybody else? Should you read transcripts or subtitles before, during or after listening? And why do I refuse to recommend certain podcasts?
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Beyond tīng bu dǒng, part 6: Why is listening in Chinese so hard?
Many people assume that the hardest part of learning Chinese must be the characters or the tones, but it turns out that most learners struggle more with listening comprehension. Why is that, and what can you do about it?
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Interview: Insights from Skritter’s Complete Guide to Learning Chinese
If I wrote a comprehensive guide to learning Chinese with a special focus on vocabulary, what would it look like? Now you can find out – for free!
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Chinese speaking challenge, April 2024
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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Is speaking more important than listening when learning Chinese?
What languages do you speak? Do you speak Chinese? We often use speaking to represent language ability in general, but does that mean that speaking is more important than listening?
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The best podcasts for learning Chinese in 2024
Podcasts let you create your own Chinese immersion experience, with level-appropriate stories and authentic conversations. Learn flexibly on the go with the best podcasts for beginners, intermediate and advanced students!
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Real communication: What it is, why you want it and how to get it
A language is a structured system used for communication, so the idea to focus on communication when learning Chinese sounds obvious, but it’s surprisingly new and rarer than you think!
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