Hacking Chinese

A better way of learning Mandarin

Articles in the ‘Reading’ category Page 3

  1. Outlier Chinese Character Masterclass review: Understand more, learn faster, remember longer

    Mastering Chinese characters, whether you find them enchantingly beautiful or overwhelmingly complex, is essential for literacy in Chinese. Outlier Linguistics will help you understand how the Chinese writing system works, making it easier to learn!

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  2. 8 great ways to scaffold your Chinese listening and reading

    Listening and reading in Chinese can be a challenge, especially when your level is not high enough. To understand more and thereby also learn more, use scaffolding!

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  3. 12 ways chatting online will improve your Chinese

    Chatting is an excellent way of learning a language. Some people think chatting online is a waste of time, but in this article I list and explain a dozen reasons why this is wrong. In fact, chatting offer many advantages that are very hard to find elsewhere.

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  4. How to best use flashcards to learn Chinese

    Flashcards; some people love them, some people hate them. The goal of Hacking Chinese is to go beyond the black and white, and figure out how things work so we can use them to our advantage.

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  5. Student Q&A, November 2023: Reading Pinyin or characters, comprehensible vs. compelling content and reading tools

    How do you transition from reading Pinyin to reading characters? Are compelling texts better than comprehensible texts? And which tools should you use when reading Chinese?

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  6. Student Q&A, October 2023: Expanding vocabulary quickly, learning by watching videos and nailing dictation tests

    How do you build a broad vocabulary in Chinese quickly? How do you best use video-sharing platforms to boost your learning? And how should you study to nail all your 听写 or dictation?

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  7. Should you throw away your Chinese textbook?

    Many students rely on textbooks to learn Chinese, but is this a good idea? Some people say that to unleash your full potential, you should throw your textbook away.

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  8. Hacking Chinese Podcast three-year anniversary Q&A

    This is a Q&A to mark the third anniversary of the Hacking Chinese Podcast! Should you drop everything you’re doing to learn Chinese for one year? How should you approach reading at an intermediate level? And how do you choose the best resources for learning?

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  9. Insights from the new HSK 7-9: Interview with Sara Jaaksola

    Are you curious about the new HSK? Do you want to know what it’s really like to take and pass the advanced level? And how should you prepare to ace your own exams?

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  10. How narrow reading and listening can help you bridge the gap to real Chinese

    Varying your diet of Chinese reading and listening practice is often considered good, indeed necessary, for your learning, but this could be wrong. In some cases, variation makes things too difficult, and then narrow reading and listening is a better option!

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