Hacking Chinese

A better way of learning Mandarin

Articles tagged with ‘Context’

  1. Insights from my recent trip to China: The importance of top-down listening

    Understanding Chinese involves more than just knowing words and phrases; it’s about using context to interpret meaning. My recent trip to China highlighted the crucial role of top-down listening in navigating dialects, speech patterns, and unexpected questions.

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  2. Beyond tīng bu dǒng, part 6: Why is listening in Chinese so hard?

    Many people assume that the hardest part of learning Chinese must be the characters or the tones, but it turns out that most learners struggle more with listening comprehension. Why is that, and what can you do about it?

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  3. Beyond tīng bu dǒng, part 3: Using what you already know to aid listening comprehension in Chinese

    Listening comprehension is not only about extracting information from the spoken Mandarin you hear, it’s also about applying what you already know and expect.

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  4. Zooming out: The resources you need to put Chinese in context

    In order to learn efficiently, it’s important that you integrate your knowledge. This means being able to break down Chinese in order to understand it, as well as looking at context and sorting out confusing cases. In this second article, I introduce tools for zooming out and putting things in context.

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