Hacking Chinese Podcast

When learning to pronounce Mandarin, you need to learn both the sounds and how they are written, usually with Pinyin. Did you know that many student errors actually come from a poor understanding of Pinyin, rather than the sounds themselves being difficult? Welcome to my guide to Pinyin traps and pitfalls. Link to article: A guide to Pinyin traps and pitfalls: Learning Mandarin pronunciation : htt...

Pronunciation is usually limited to the first few weeks of a Chinese course, which is a pity, because clear pronunciation is important, whether or not you’ve studied for a week or a decade. Link to article: Two reasons why pronunciation matters more than you think : https://www.hackingchinese.com/two-reasons-why-pronunciation-matters-more-than-you-think/ Tags: #learnchinese #pronunciation #tones #...

Learning to read and write Chinese is a complex task with many layers, and there’s a risk of not seeing the forest for the trees, so let’s zoom out a bit and look at the bigger picture! Link to article: My best advice on how to learn Chinese characters https://www.hackingchinese.com/my-best-advice-on-how-to-learn-chinese-characters/ Tags: #learnchinese #characters #components #words #vocabulary Re...

What if I told you that there is a game that helps you speak Chinese more fluently, is great for improving communicative ability and works well regardless of your current level? What if I said that the game is also fun and free to play? Link to article: How to improve fluency in Chinese by playing word games https://www.hackingchinese.com/playing-word-games-to-practise-fluency/ Tags: #learnchinese...

How many characters do you need to know to be able to read Chinese? The truth is that characters only provide a foundation, so regardless of how many you know, you won't be able to read much unless you also know many words. Link to article: The building blocks of Chinese, part 6: Learning and remembering compound words https://www.hackingchinese.com/how-to-learn-words-really-fast/ Tags: #learnchin...

How many characters do you need to know to be able to read Chinese? The truth is that characters only provide a foundation, so regardless of how many you know, you won't be able to read much unless you also know many words. Link to article: The building blocks of Chinese, part 5: Making sense of Chinese words https://www.hackingchinese.com/the-building-blocks-of-chinese-part-5-making-sense-of-chin...

While spaced repetition software can be very useful, it also has some serious drawbacks. Fortunately, most of them don't apply to learning to write Chinese characters! Link to article: Why spaced repetition software is uniquely well suited to learning Chinese characters https://www.hackingchinese.com/why-spaced-repetition-software-is-uniquely-well-suited-to-learning-chinese-characters Tags: #learn...

The best way to learn to read in Chinese is to read texts you can understand without constantly using a dictionary. As a beginner, such texts aren't easy to find, but let's have a look at the best reading resources I know for beginners. Link to article: Should you learn the names of the strokes in Chinese characters? https://www.hackingchinese.com/should-you-learn-the-names-of-the-strokes-in-chine...

The best way to learn to read in Chinese is to read texts you can understand without constantly using a dictionary. As a beginner, such texts aren't easy to find, but let's have a look at the best reading resources I know for beginners. Link to article: The 7 best Chinese reading resources for beginners https://www.hackingchinese.com/beginner-chinese-reading/ Tags: #learnchinese #reading #beginner...

When learning to read Chinese you will encounter several challenges, some of them unique to Chinese. What are these challenges, what do they mean for you as a student and how can you overcome them? Link to article: 6 challenges students face when learning to read Chinese and how to overcome them : https://www.hackingchinese.com/6-challenges-students-face-when-learning-to-read-chinese-and-how-to-ov...

Some people think enrolling in a course is the best way to learn Chinese, but others say that courses are useless, and swear by the effectiveness of self-studying. So should you enrol in a Chinese course or are you better off learning on your own? Link to article: Should you enrol in a Chinese course or are you better off learning on your own? https://www.hackingchinese.com/should-you-enrol-in-a-c...

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?  Link to article: Learning to read handwritten Chinese https://www.hackingchinese.com/learning-read-handwritten-chinese/ Tags: #learnchinese #handwriting #reading #fonts Listen to this and other episodes on your...

Sooner or later, most students realise that their Chinese isn't as good as they think it ought to be. Why is that and what can you do about it? Link to article: Why your Chinese isn't as good as you think it ought to be : https://www.hackingchinese.com/why-your-chinese-isnt-as-good-as-you-think-it-ought-to-be Tags: #learnchinese #progress #failure #success Chinese language logging, part 2: A healt...

The key to learning Chinese compound characters is to learn the building blocks and how they fit together, including both the function of each component and the structure of the compound. Add some clever memory techniques and you'll be able to dramatically increase the speed and efficiency of your learning! Link to article: The building blocks of Chinese, part 4: Learning and remembering compound...

A vast majority of Chinese characters are compounds, and understanding how the components fit together and which function they have, will make learning and remembering characters a lot easier.  Link to article: The building blocks of Chinese, part 3: Compound characters https://www.hackingchinese.com/learning-chinese-characters/ ‎ Tags: #learnchinese #characters #compounds #sound #meaning Lin...

People who have't spent a lot of time with different languages sometimes think that learning a new language is mostly about relabelling the world with new words. This mentality is especially bad when translating to Chinese from another language. Link to article: The beginner's guide to Chinese translation https://www.hackingchinese.com/the-beginners-guide-to-chinese-translation/ Tags: #learnchines...

Being able to have a conversation is a goal for most students of Chinese, be it with loved ones, for professional purposes or for travel, but what if you think conversations are too scary, too difficult or just impractical? Link to article: Using voice messaging as a stepping stone to Chinese conversations https://www.hackingchinese.com/using-voice-messaging-practise-speaking-listening/ Tags: #lea...

Speech recognition has improved immensely in recent years and talking to one's phone has become more common. Some apps also rely on this technology to check your pronunciation, but how good is speech recognition as a learning tool? Link to article: Using speech recognition to improve Chinese pronunciation, part 1 https://www.hackingchinese.com/using-speech-recognition-to-improve-chinese-pronunciat...

It's often hard to assess one's own pronunciation when learning Mandarin. People around you might understand what you are saying, but that doesn't necessarily mean your tones are good. Simply asking people if your pronunciation is good won't work either, because they will often tell you that your pronunciation is good even if it's not. So how can you find out how good your pronunciation really is?...

Understanding spoken Chinese can be hard, but the solution is simple: listen more. That is not always easy to do, though, because it's hard to both find the time to listen and to actually get started. Here are seven ideas for smooth and effortless Chinese listening practice. Link to article: 7 ideas for smooth and effortless Chinese listening practice https://www.hackingchinese.com/make-sure-that-...

Hacking Chinese can seen as a very long response to the question of what I would have done differently if I could go back in time and learn Chinese again from scratch. However, most people don't want to read 800,000 words to get the full picture, which is why I have distilled all that into a few courses. Getting the most out of your learning with Hacking Chinese https://www.hackingchinese.com/back...

Most Chinese characters are compounds consisting of two or more components, but some components are in themselves compounds that can be further broken down. But how do you know where to stop? And how do you learn and remember the most basic building blocks? Basic characters, components and radicals: The building blocks of Chinese, part 2 https://www.hackingchinese.com/the-building-blocks-of-chines...

Learning to read and write Chinese is a daunting task, but the challenge becomes more manageable if you focus on learning the building blocks, learning how components form characters and how characters form words. The building blocks of Chinese, part 1: Chinese characters  and words in a nutshell https://www.hackingchinese.com/the-building-blocks-of-chinese-part-1-chinese-characters-and-words...

Skritter is a modern tool for learning ancient characters. It combines active recall and spaced repetition with Chinese-specific tools and content. While it's not a free resources, it has enough edges over other solutions to be worth considering. Link to article: Skritter review: Boosting your Chinese character learning (2021 edition) https://www.hackingchinese.com/skritter-chinese-review-boosting...

How do you study Chinese when you're busy with other things? How do you cope with a Chinese course that is too hard for you? And are translated texts okay to use for reading practice?  Hacking Chinese Podcast one-year anniversary Q&A : https://www.hackingchinese.com/hacking-chinese-podcast-one-year-anniversary-qa/ Tags: #learnchinese #podcast #faq #questions Listen to this and other episo...