Hacking Chinese

A better way of learning Mandarin

Student Q&A, December 2023: How many words to learn, if it’s good to learn radicals, and whether to learn simplified or traditional characters

  • How many words is reasonable to learn in a day?
  • Will focusing on radicals make learning characters easier?
  • And should you learn simplified or traditional characters?

This week’s podcast episode (number 174) is a reader and listener Q&A, where I answer three questions sent to me about Chinese vocabulary.

Tune in to the Hacking Chinese Podcast to listen to the related episode:

Available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Overcast, Spotify, YouTube and many other platforms!

Links to things mentioned in the introduction

Chinese vocabulary challenge, December 2023

Links for question #1: How many words to learn

Analyse and balance your Chinese learning with Paul Nation’s four strands

Links for question #2: If it’s good to learn radicals

The building blocks of Chinese, part 1: Chinese characters and words in a nutshell

Links for question #3: Simplified vs. traditional characters

https://www.hackingchinese.com/are-simplified-characters-really-simpler-to-learn




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