Hacking Chinese

A better way of learning Mandarin

Articles tagged with ‘Chinese characters’ Page 3

  1. Should you learn to speak Chinese before you learn Chinese characters?

    The question of whether or not to delay learning Chinese characters in favour of the spoken language is an interesting one many arguments in favour of both approaches. For most people setting out on their Chinese learning journey, focusing on important aspects of the spoken language, such as pronunciation, is certainly more important than learning characters.

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  2. Dealing with Chinese characters you keep mixing up

    The more Chinese characters you learn, the harder it becomes to keep similar characters distinct. If you’re not careful, a pair or group of characters can generate a lot of extra work and frustration. The solution is to trace your errors and figure out why you get the characters wrong and, then deal with them decisively!

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  3. 5 levels of understanding Chinese characters: Superficial forms to deep structure

    How much do you need to care about the actual composition and meaning of a Chinese character when learning it? In general, better understanding means it’s easier to learn, but is there a limit to how closely you should stick to actual etymology? This article explores the spectrum from using superficial images to real etymology from the perspective of a language learner.

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  4. How to look up Chinese characters you don’t know

    Looking up an unknown character in Chinese is much trickier than looking up unknown words in most other languages. This article discusses various ways of looking up Chinese characters, including paper dictionaries, handwriting input, OCR and more.

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  5. 7 things you were taught in Chinese class that are actually wrong

    Some things your Chinese teacher tells you or you read in your textbook are well-meant simplifications. This is okay, because the whole picture might be overly complicated and not very helpful. Some other things your Chinese teacher tells you or you read in your textbook are just wrong, though. This article lists seven examples of things that are often taught in Chinese class, but are actually incorrect.

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  6. Chinese handwriting challenge, November 2018

    It’s time for a handwriting challenge! It starts on November 12th, so enrol, set your goal and improve your handwriting 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 handwriting in Chinese.

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  7. How to improve your Chinese handwriting

    Learning to write Chinese by hand is a complex task. This article gives an overview of what it means to write by hand, answering questions like: “Do I need to learn to write by hand?”, “What skills does handwriting in Chinese require?” and” How do I improve my handwriting?”

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  8. Is it necessary to learn the stroke order of Chinese characters?

    Stroke order can feel difficult and pointless for beginners, but if you want to be able to write Chinese characters, it’s important to get it right from the start. Instead of taking my word for it, let me explain why stroke order matters!

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  9. Chinese character challenge, October 10th to 31st

    Let’s learn characters together! If you need to expand your knowledge of characters, fight you ever-increasing review queue or just learn more of them, this challenge is for you. Enrol, set a goal and learn as much as you can before the end of the month!

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  10. Learning to read handwritten Chinese

    Everybody struggles with writing Chinese characters by hand, even if handwriting can often be avoided in a modern, digital society. But what about reading other people’s handwriting?

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