Podcast Episodes

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

Season 1 Episode 55

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…

Published on 4 years, 2 months ago

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

Season 1 Episode 54

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 characte…

Published on 4 years, 2 months ago

53 - Boosting your Chinese character learning with Skritter

Season 1 Episode 53

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 edge…

Published on 4 years, 2 months ago

52 - Hacking Chinese Podcast one-year anniversary Q&A

Season 1 Episode 52

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 Chines…

Published on 4 years, 3 months ago

51 - Chinese language logging, part 3: Tools and resources for keeping track of your learning

Season 1 Episode 51

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 log…

Published on 4 years, 3 months ago

50 - Chinese language learning in the twenty-first century: Towards a digital ecosystem? Interview with Julien Leyre

Season 1 Episode 50

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…

Published on 4 years, 3 months ago

49 - The benefits of using Wikipedia to look up words when learning Chinese

Season 1 Episode 49

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 t…

Published on 4 years, 3 months ago

48 - How to get past the intermediate Chinese learning plateau

Season 1 Episode 48

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 makin…

Published on 4 years, 4 months ago

47 - The new HSK 3.0: What you need to know

Season 1 Episode 47

On July 1st, 2021, a new Chinese proficiency standard took effect. This will have big consequences for the HSK, the most widely used proficiency test for non-native speakers. What are these changes a…

Published on 4 years, 4 months ago

46 - Learning to understand regionally accented Mandarin

Season 1 Episode 46

As soon as you leave the classroom, you will notice that people don't speak Chinese the way your teacher and textbook do. Why is that, and what can you do to learn to understand regionally accented M…

Published on 4 years, 4 months ago