Understanding spoken Chinese can be hard, but the solution is simple: listen more. That is not always easy to do, though, because it's hard to both find the time to listen and to actually get started. Here are seven ideas for smooth and effortless Chinese listening practice.

Link to article: 7 ideas for smooth and effortless Chinese listening practice

Tags: #learnchinese #listening #practicaltips #immersion

Listen to this and other episodes on your favourite podcasting platform, including Apple Podcasts, Breaker, Google Podcast, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify and YouTube: https://www.hackingchinese.com/podcast

More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at https://www.hackingchinese.com

Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis, 2020 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3.0)

Hacking Chinese can seen as a very long response to the question of what I would have done differently if I could go back in time and learn Chinese again from scratch. However, most people don't want to read 800,000 words to get the full picture, which is why I have distilled all that into a few courses.

Getting the most out of your learning with Hacking Chinese

Tags: #learnchinese #courses #unlockingchinese #pronunciation #strategy

Link to Unlocking Chinese (for beginners): https://www.hackingchinese.com/courses/unlocking-chinese-ultimate-guide-beginner/

Link to Practical Guide (for all learners): https://www.hackingchinese.com/courses/practical-guide-to-learning-mandarin/

Link to pronunciation course (for all learners): https://www.hackingchinese.com/courses/mandarin-chinese-pronunciation-course/

Listen to this and other episodes on your favourite podcasting platform, including Apple Podcasts, Breaker, Google Podcast, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify and YouTube: https://www.hackingchinese.com/podcast

More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at https://www.hackingchinese.com

Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis, 2020 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3.0)

Most Chinese characters are compounds consisting of two or more components, but some components are in themselves compounds that can be further broken down. But how do you know where to stop? And how do you learn and remember the most basic building blocks?

Basic characters, components and radicals: The building blocks of Chinese, part 2

Tags: #learnchinese #characters #vocabulary #buildingblocks #components #radicals

Link to The Outlier Linguistics Dictionary of Chinese Characters (use code "hacking25" for 25% off):

Link to Skritter (will give you 10% off):

Listen to this and other episodes on your favourite podcasting platform, including Apple Podcasts, Breaker, Google Podcast, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify and YouTube: https://www.hackingchinese.com/podcast

More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at https://www.hackingchinese.com

Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis, 2020 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3.0)

Learning to read and write Chinese is a daunting task, but the challenge becomes more manageable if you focus on learning the building blocks, learning how components form characters and how characters form words.

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

Tags: #learnchinese #characters #vocabulary #buildingblocks #writing #reading

Listen to this and other episodes on your favourite podcasting platform, including Apple Podcasts, Breaker, Google Podcast, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify and YouTube: https://www.hackingchinese.com/podcast

More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at https://www.hackingchinese.com

Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis, 2020 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3.0)

Skritter is a modern tool for learning ancient characters. It combines active recall and spaced repetition with Chinese-specific tools and content. While it's not a free resources, it has enough edges over other solutions to be worth considering.

Link to article: Skritter review: Boosting your Chinese character learning (2021 edition)

Direct link to Skritter for 10% off any subscription: https://www.hackingchinese.com/skritter-discount

Tags: #learnchinese #characters #vocabulary #skritter #app #review

Listen to this and other episodes on your favourite podcasting platform, including Apple Podcasts, Breaker, Google Podcast, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify and YouTube: https://www.hackingchinese.com/podcast

More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at https://www.hackingchinese.com

Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis, 2020 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3.0)

How do you study Chinese when you're busy with other things? How do you cope with a Chinese course that is too hard for you? And are translated texts okay to use for reading practice? 

Hacking Chinese Podcast one-year anniversary Q&A: https://www.hackingchinese.com/hacking-chinese-podcast-one-year-anniversary-qa/

Tags: #learnchinese #podcast #faq #questions

Listen to this and other episodes on your favourite podcasting platform, including Apple Podcasts, Breaker, Google Podcast, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify and YouTube: https://www.hackingchinese.com/podcast 

More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at https://www.hackingchinese.com 

Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis, 2020 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) 

Logging you language  learning can be very useful, and there are many tools and resources out there to help you, but which are the best and how do you use them? 

Link to article: Chinese language logging, part 3: Tools and resources for keeping track of your learning

Tags: #learnchinese #logging #progress #tracking #resources 

Listen to this and other episodes on your favourite podcasting platform, including Apple Podcasts, Breaker, Google Podcast, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify and YouTube: https://www.hackingchinese.com/podcast 

More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at https://www.hackingchinese.com 

Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis, 2020 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3.0)

Digital resources have made learning Chinese considerably easier than it used to be, but another problem has appeared: How can we make sense of and navigate the vast number of resources and find what's best for us? 

Link to article: Chinese language learning in the twenty-first century: Towards a digital ecosystem?

Tags: #learnchinese #resources #research #phd #ecosystem #digital #interview 

Please check the article for more details, but here's a brief list of resources mentioned in this episode: 

Listen to this and other episodes on your favourite podcasting platform, including Apple Podcasts, Breaker, Google Podcast, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify and YouTube: https://www.hackingchinese.com/podcast 

More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at https://www.hackingchinese.com 

Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis, 2020 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3.0)

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a dictionary, but did you know that it can be better than a dictionary for looking up words when learning Chinese?

Link to article: The benefits of using Wikipedia to look up words when learning Chinese

Tags: #learnchinese #wikipedia #dictionary #wiktionary

Listen to this and other episodes on your favourite podcasting platform, including Apple Podcasts, Breaker, Google Podcast, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify and YouTube: https://www.hackingchinese.com/podcast

More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at https://www.hackingchinese.com

Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis, 2020 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3.0)

When you start learning Chinese, your ability to communicate increases with every word you learn, but as your level improves, this feeling goes away and you it might feel  like you're no longer making progress. Welcome to the intermediate plateau!

How to get past the intermediate Chinese learning plateau

Tags: #learnchinese #podcast #intermediate #plateau #progress

Listen to this and other episodes on your favourite podcasting platform, including Apple Podcasts, Breaker, Google Podcast, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify and YouTube: https://www.hackingchinese.com/podcast

More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at https://www.hackingchinese.com

Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis, 2020 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3.0)