Articles in the ‘Vocabulary’ category Page 4
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Student Q&A, September 2023: Listening more than once, assessing pronunciation and the merits of flashcards
Is it good to listen to the same passage more than once? How do you assess progress with pronunciation? And are flashcards really all that good for learning Chinese?
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Should you throw away your Chinese textbook?
Many students rely on textbooks to learn Chinese, but is this a good idea? Some people say that to unleash your full potential, you should throw your textbook away.
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How narrow reading and listening can help you bridge the gap to real Chinese
Varying your diet of Chinese reading and listening practice is often considered good, indeed necessary, for your learning, but this could be wrong. In some cases, variation makes things too difficult, and then narrow reading and listening is a better option!
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Skritter review: Boosting your Chinese character learning
Skritter is a modern tool for learning ancient characters. It combines research-based methods such as active recall and spaced repetition with great Chinese-specific tools and content. While it’s not a free resource, it has enough edges over more generic, free services to be worth it in my opinion.
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Vocabulary lists that help you learn Chinese and how to use them
Learning new characters and words from a list is rarely a good idea, but there are exceptions! Let’s have a look at five types of vocabulary lists how to use them to learn Chinese.
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Should you learn Chinese vocabulary from lists?
Students often rely on lists to learn new Chinese characters and words. This can be useful in some situations, but there are also many problems with this approach.
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Learn Chinese by playing Mahjong (麻将, májiàng)
Playing games is a wonderful way of learning Chinese, and 麻將 (májiàng) works for all beginners and advanced students alike! Apart from the numbers 1-9, you only need a handful of extra words to play. The game is extremely popular and as such, it can open up many doors, both cultural and social.
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Kickstart your learning with the Skritter Character Course
What’s the best way to learn Chinese characters as a beginner? The Skritter character course is my best attempt at answering that question.
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Hacking Chinese Podcast two-year anniversary Q&A
This is a Q&A to mark the second anniversary of the Hacking Chinese Podcast! How do you stop translating in your head? Is it worthwhile to study a Pinyin chart? And how do you learn traditional characters after learning simplified?
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How to learn Chinese characters as a beginner
Whole books have been written about how the Chinese writing system works, and understanding how Chinese characters really work is a lifelong project, but what do you do as a beginner when asked to memorise a list of characters and words? Here are eight easy-to-follow strategies!
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