Hacking Chinese

A better way of learning Mandarin

Student Q&A: May, 2025: Learning Chinese characters and words with flashcard apps

Should you focus on many words superficially or few words well? How do you stay motivated when flashcards get boring? And how can you tell if you really know a word?

This week’s podcast episode is a reader and listener Q&A, where I answer three questions about learning vocabulary. This time, all questions come from Skritter users, but my answers will be relevant no matter what app you’re using. Learn more about Skritter in my in-depth review.

Tune in to the Hacking Chinese Podcast to listen to the related episode (#248):
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and many other platforms!

Links to things mentioned in the introduction

Skritter review: Boosting your Chinese character learning

Links for question 1

Learning Chinese words: When quantity beats quality

Links for question 2

How to best use flashcards to learn Chinese

Links for question 3

Are you practising Chinese the right way? Is your method valid?

 




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