Hacking Chinese Podcast

The third tone in Mandarin causes problems for many learners. Are you sure you are pronouncing it correctly? Original article: Learning the third tone in Mandarin Chinese More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at Hacking Chinese ( www.hackingchinese.com ) Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis, 2020 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3...

Pronunciation is one of the most overlooked areas of learning Chinese. Here's my attempt to fix that problem! In this week's episode, I share the first episode of my pronunciation course, which is open for registration until February 5th. If you listen to this after February 5th, you can still sign up to the waiting list to get notified when the course comes around next time. Enjoy! More informati...

Learning to pronounce Mandarin is not easy, but many students make it a lot harder than it needs to be. Original article: The most serious mistake students make when learning Mandarin pronunciation More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at Hacking Chinese ( www.hackingchinese.com ) Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis, 2020 - Licensed under Crea...

I published 47 articles on Hacking Chinese in 2020. Here is a summary of the most popular ones, as well as my own favourites. Original article: Best of Hacking Chinese 2020 More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at Hacking Chinese ( www.hackingchinese.com ) Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis, 2020 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution...

Guidance can make learning Chinese easier, but if used incorrectly, it can actually make you learn less. Original article: Can too much guidance make you learn less Chinese? More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at Hacking Chinese ( www.hackingchinese.com ) Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis, 2020 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution...

A new year, a new beginning, the perfect time to commit to levelling up your Chinese and achieve greatness! Or is it? Original article: How to not fail with your New Year resolution to learn Chinese More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at Hacking Chinese ( www.hackingchinese.com ) Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis, 2020 - Licensed under Cre...

Around this time of year most institutions take a break from teaching Chinese, but that doesn't mean that you should stop learning. Original article: 7 things Chinese students should during the winter vacation More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at Hacking Chinese ( www.hackingchinese.com ) Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis, 2020 - License...

Learning to pronounce Mandarin can be tricky, and if you misunderstand the link between spoken sounds and Pinyin spelling, it gets a lot worse. Original article: 9 answers to questions about Pinyin and pronunciation More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at Hacking Chinese ( www.hackingchinese.com ) Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis, 2020 - L...

Setting long-terms goals is easy, but sticking to them over months and years is much harder. Why is that, and are there any alternatives? Original article: The forking path: A human approach to learning Chinese More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at Hacking Chinese ( www.hackingchinese.com ) Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis, 2020 - Licens...

I think most of us evaluate our own language proficiency all the time, but is such intuitive self-assessment useful? And are there any good alternatives? Original article: How good is your Chinese? More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at Hacking Chinese ( www.hackingchinese.com ) Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis, 2020 - Licensed under Crea...

We've all heard that reading is great for language learning, but what if I told you that most Chinese learners are actually going about it the wrong way? Original article: An introduction to extensive reading for Chinese learners More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at Hacking Chinese ( www.hackingchinese.com ) Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Tr...

10 years. 472 articles. 650,000 words. It's hard to believe, but I've been writing articles on Hacking Chinese for more than a decade now! Original article: Celebrating ten years of Hacking Chinese More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at Hacking Chinese (www.hackingchinese.com) Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis, 2020 - Licensed under Creati...

I prefer listening over reading in many cases, which is partly why I created the Hacking Chinese Podcast. But why should you listen to it? Will it improve your Chinese? Original article: Tune in to the Hacking Chinese Podcast! More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at Hacking Chinese (www.hackingchinese.com) Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis,...

When we first start learning Chinese, each new character is hard to learn, but as we learn more, it gets easier. But a new problem soon appears: Mixing up similar characters we have already learnt. Original article: Dealing with Chinese characters you keep mixing up More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at Hacking Chinese (www.hackingchinese.com) Mu...

Spaced repetition software is designed to delay reviews as long as possible without letting you forget. For learning Chinese, though, barely remembering something is not enough. #learnchinese #vocabulary #srs #flashcards Link to the article this podcast episode is based on: When spaced repetition fails, and what to do about it: ⁠https://www.hackingchinese.com/when-spaced-repetition-fails-and-what-...

Learning Mandarin pronunciation is not easy, so some people use English words to approximate Chinese pronunciation. This is a really bad idea. Original article: Why learning Chinese pronunciation by using English words is a really bad idea More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at Hacking Chinese Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis, 2...

When learning a foreign language, some things might appear weird or even stupid. But does a negative attitude towards Chinese make it harder to learn? And if it does, how can you adopt a more positive approach? #learnchinese #attitude #motivation #stupid Link to article on Hacking Chinese: Chinese is fascinating and exciting, not weird and stupid: ⁠https://www.hackingchinese.com/chinese-is-fascina...

Mnemonics are clever memory devices designed to make it easier to remember things, but considering that they take time both to create and retrieve, are they really that useful for learning Chinese? Link to article: Are mnemonics too slow for Chinese learners? https://www.hackingchinese.com/are-mnemonics-too-slow-for-chinese-learners/ #learnchinese #mnemonics #characters #memory #vocabulary 5 level...

Feedback is important for learning, because it can show you how to not use the language and highlight things you hadn't noticed before. But getting honest feedback on your Chinese is harder than you might think. Link to article: How to get honest feedback to boost your Chinese speaking and writing: https://www.hackingchinese.com/the-art-of-being-corrected/ #learnchinese #feedback #correction #...

How is it possible to spend 80 hours a week learning Chinese? And what can you learn from that, even if you find it hard to find any time to study whatsoever, with work and family taking up most of your time? Link to article: Diversify how you study Chinese to learn more: https://www.hackingchinese.com/diversified-learning-is-smart-learning/ #learnchinese #immersion #busylife Learning Chinese in t...

Everybody knows that having a large vocabulary is important, but how important is it for Chinese learners? And how should you go about learning more characters and words? Link to article: Learning Chinese words: When quantity beats quality: https://www.hackingchinese.com/the-importance-of-knowing-many-words/ #learnchinese #words #quantity #vocabulary All about vocabulary on Hacking Chinese: https:...

When you first start learning Chinese, everything is new. There is so much to learn, so many questions. What are the most common challenges beginners face and how can you overcome them? Original article: The key to unlocking your first semester of Chinese More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at Hacking Chinese Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Tra...

Most people agree that immersing yourself in the language is the best way to learn, but what if I told you that delaying your trip might actually be good for your Chinese? Link to article: ⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ Why not going to China now could actually be good for your Chinese: https://www.hackingchinese.com/why-not-going-to-china-now-could-actually-be-good-for-your-chinese/ #learnchinese #china #immersion #begi...

I started learning Chinese well over a decade ago, and I have encountered many great teachers. But I have also seen truly terrible teaching, especially when it comes to Chinese characters. #learnchinese #hanzi #chinesecharacters #reading #delay Link to article on Hacking Chinese: ⁠How to not teach Chinese characters to beginners: A 12-step approach: https://www.hackingchinese.com/how-to-not-teach-...

HSK is one of the most widely used proficiency tests for Chinese, and many students strive to learn the vocabulary associated with each level. But what important words are missing HSK? Link to article: What important words are missing from HSK? https://www.hackingchinese.com/what-important-words-are-missing-from-hsk/ How to get good grades when studying Chinese: https://www.hackingchinese.com/stud...