Articles in the ‘Advanced’ category Page 14
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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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The most serious mistake students make when learning Mandarin pronunciation
Learning to hear and say the sounds of Mandarin can be tricky, but it’s made much more difficult by the way many students go about it. By focusing on reading over listening, they are making themselves a big disservice!
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Best of Hacking Chinese 2020
Happy New Year! Much happened on Hacking Chinese in 2020, and this article summarises the year that was by highlighting the best articles, both ranked by popular vote and by editor’s choice (my own humble opinion). It also discusses some upcoming projects and ideas for 2021!
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How to not fail with your New Year resolution to learn Chinese
A new year, a new beginning, the perfect time to commit to levelling up your Chinese and achieve greatness! Or is it?
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7 things Chinese students should do during the winter vacation
What should Chinese students do on the winter vacation? Apart from recharging batteries, there are a number of things you should consider if you want optimal long-term results!
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9 answers to questions about Pinyin and pronunciation
Pronunciation is best learnt by listening attentively and mimicking, but it’s also necessary to be able to learn Pinyin properly. This article answers nine questions about Pinyin and Chinese pronunciation.
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Are simplified characters really simpler to learn?
Are simplified characters easier to learn? They have fewer strokes, but quicker to write doesn’t necessarily mean easier to learn! The simplified vs. traditional characters debate has been going on for a long time, mostly based on emotion. In this guest article, Ash Henson from Outlier Linguistics strives to add reason to the mix and answer the question of whether simplified characters are actually simpler to learn.
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An introduction to extensive reading for Chinese learners
Too many students of Chinese spend most of their time reading a small number of difficult texts, whereas they would actually be much better off reading a larger number of easier content. Are you focusing on extensive reading enough?
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Review: Learning Chinese by video immersion with FluentU
FluentU offers authentic as well as learner-oriented videos for learning Chinese. A neat interface allows you to use an excellent pop-up dictionary and other useful features to watch and learn from videos. This is an in-depth review of FluentU Chinese.
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7 mistakes I made when writing Chinese characters and what I learnt from them
Learning Chinese characters is an ongoing challenge that never really goes away. Even after studying Chinese for more than a decade, I make mistakes and forget characters. In this article, I analyse seven mistakes I’ve made recently and share what I learnt from these mistakes.
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