Hacking Chinese

A better way of learning Mandarin

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  1. How to use mnemonics to learn Mandarin tones and pronunciation

    Memory is a skill that can be practised, learnt, and mastered. By using the right method, remembering even abstract things like tones and pronunciation in Mandarin becomes possible, even easy!

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  2. Don’t use mnemonics for everything when learning Chinese

    Mnemonics are clever memory techniques you can use to learn and remember more, but this doesn’t mean that you should always use them. If you do, you will end up spending more time on mnemonics than you do engaging with the Chinese language.

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  3. Are mnemonics too slow for Chinese learners?

    Mnemonics are very effective for certain types of learning, but how effective are they for learning Chinese? This article is the first of two that looks at the effectiveness of mnemonics, focusing on the question of speed. Are mnemonics too slow to be really useful in the context of using a foreign language?

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  4. How to create mnemonics for general or abstract character components

    Anyone who has tried mnemonics for learning Chinese characters knows that some components are easier to link together than others. This article discusses in detail how to deal with abstract or general character components and how to handle components with the same or overlapping meaning, an essential skill if you’re serious about character learning.

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  5. Using memory aids and mnemonics to make Chinese easier

    Remember almost anything is a skill that can be learnt. In fact, some of the methods I talk about in this article have been known for thousands of years. Most mnemonic methods use the power of association to enable us to remember things. In this article, I discuss how we can use this to help us learn Chinese much more efficiently than if we rely on conventional methods.

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  6. Will Hacking Chinese help you learn Mandarin?

    Is it worth spending time learning how to learn Chinese, or should you focus all your effort on engaging with the language more directly? The answer is that it depends, but the longer your time frame, the more important it becomes to tweak your method.

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  7. 7 kinds of tone problems in Mandarin and what to do about them

    Tones in Mandarin are tricky, and students face many different kinds of problems. Identifying the type of problem is important for fixing it.

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  8. Student Q&A, December 2024: Learning similar Chinese characters, polyphonic characters, and flashcards vs. reading for building vocabulary

    How can you remember the difference between similar Chinese characters? Are flashcards better than reading for building vocabulary? And how do you learn polyphonic characters?

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  9. How to learn Zhuyin (Bopomofo) in two hours

    Many people believe that learning a new script is challenging, but mastering systems like Zhuyin (Bopomofo) or Japanese kana is surprisingly easy. With the right approach and resources, you can do it in just a few hours!

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  10. The Hacking Chinese guide to Mandarin tones

    Learning tones is a unique challenge for most learners of Chinese. What are tones? How important is it to learn tones? And how do you learn to both hear and pronounce them?

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