Podcast Episodes

230 - What native speakers know about Chinese (and what they don't)

Season 1 Episode 230

You say something in Mandarin, a native speaker corrects you, and you adjust. The next day, another native speaker tells you to revert to your original phrasing. What's going on?

#learnchinese #nativ…

Published on 2 months, 1 week ago

229 - Don’t use mnemonics for everything when learning Chinese

Season 1 Episode 227

Mnemonics are clever memory techniques you can use to learn and remember more, but this doesn't mean that you should always use them. If you do, you will end up spending more time on mnemonics than y…

Published on 2 months, 2 weeks ago

228 - Benchmarking progress in Chinese to stay motivated

Season 1 Episode 228

The more Chinese you learn, the less noticeable your progress becomes. Benchmarking can make your improvements more visible and help you stay motivated!

#learnchinese #benchmarking #progress #profici…

Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago

227 - Can English learning materials help you learn Chinese?

Season 1 Episode 227

You step into a bookshop, exploring the Chinese section, only to find a few textbooks and a 'Learn Chinese in Your Car.' But in the English section, shelves overflow with resources for Chinese speake…

Published on 3 months ago

226 - Student Q&A, December 2024: Learning similar Chinese characters, polyphonic characters, and flashcards vs. reading for building vocabulary

Season 1 Episode 226

How can you remember the difference between similar Chinese characters? Are flashcards better than reading for building vocabulary? And how do you learn polyphonic characters?

#learnchinese #vocabula…

Published on 3 months, 1 week ago

225 - Which Chinese learning resources are worth paying for?

Season 1 Episode 225

Thanks to the internet, learning Chinese is now more accessible than ever, and you can do it completely for free. Just because you can doesn't mean that you should, however. If you have money to inve…

Published on 3 months, 2 weeks ago

224 - Welcome to The Fluent Listener, a new course from Hacking Chinese!

Season 1 Episode 224

Want to understand Mandarin naturally, at any level? This course guides you in building an immersive listening environment and equips you with essential listening strategies.

Strengthen your listening…

Published on 3 months, 3 weeks ago

223 - Four key principles to improve your Mandarin listening comprehension

Season 1 Episode 223

Listening is the cornerstone of language learning, yet many students struggle to improve their Mandarin listening comprehension. Fortunately, making progress isn’t as difficult as you might think; ju…

Published on 4 months ago

222 - Student Q&A, November 2024: Pros and cons of digital tools for Chinese reading, and the struggle to find comprehensible and interesting texts

Season 1 Episode 222

Is reading digitally in Chinese better than on paper? What are the best digital tools for reading? And what should you do if you can’t find texts that are both interesting and at the right level?

#le…

Published on 4 months, 1 week ago

221 - How to learn Zhuyin (Bopomofo) in two hours

Season 1 Episode 221

Many people believe that learning a new script is challenging, but mastering systems like Zhuyin (Bopomofo) or Japanese kana is surprisingly easy. With the right approach and resources, you can do it…

Published on 4 months, 1 week ago