Hacking Chinese

A better way of learning Mandarin

Articles tagged with ‘Translation’

  1. Student Q&A, August 2024: Avoiding mental translation, untranslatable words and why practising translation is good

    How can you stop translating in your head? What are some Chinese words that can’t be translated? And why is translation a worthwhile learning activity?

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  2. Chinese translation challenge, August 2024

    It’s time for a translation challenge! It starts on August 10th, so enrol, set your goal and improve your Chinese by translating to/from Chinese 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 using translation as a method for learning Chinese.

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  3. 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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  4. 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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  5. What to read to improve your Chinese and why

    Reading in Chinese has many benefits, but why you read should also inform your choice of what to read.

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  6. Lost in transcription: Saylaw, Ice Island and Aristotle

    Names of people and places can be quite different in different languages, sometimes so different that it causes headaches for second language learners. Do you know the world’s best footballer, Saylaw? What about Yàlǐshìduōdé? Or are you lost in transcription too?

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  7. 20 tips and tricks to improve your Chinese writing ability

    Writing is one of the four basic language skills, and one that learners of Chinese struggle with a lot. Good writing is based on lots of reading, but beyond that, there are plenty of other things you can do to improve your writing ability in Chinese beyond the characters themselves. Here are twenty tips and tricks!

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  8. The beginner’s guide to Chinese translation

    Translation from you native language to Chinese is not easy. The most serious problem for many beginners is that they stay too close to the original, which leads to incorrect word order in Chinese. This article presents a method for beginners and lower intermediate students, designed to avoid this problem and improve your translations.

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  9. Advanced listening and reading with Skeptoid Chinese

    Skeptoid is a podcast about popular myths, using science and research to examine them critically. The Chinese version is excellent practice for advanced learners, with both text and audio!

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  10. How to become a Chinese-English translator and what it’s like to be one

    This is an interview with Carl Gene Fordham about how to become a Chinese-English translator and what it’s like to work as one. The questions were collected from readers and combined into this interview!

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