Podcast Episodes

17 - How good is your Chinese?

Season 1 Episode 17

I think most of us evaluate our own language proficiency all the time, but is such intuitive self-assessment useful? And are there any good alternatives?

Original article: How good is your Chinese?

M…

Published on 4 years, 6 months ago

16 - An introduction to extensive reading for Chinese learners

Season 1 Episode 16

We've all heard that reading is great for language learning, but what if I told you that most Chinese learners are actually going about it the wrong way?

Original article: An introduction to extensiv…

Published on 4 years, 7 months ago

15 - Celebrating ten years of Hacking Chinese

Season 1 Episode 15

10 years. 472 articles. 650,000 words. It's hard to believe, but I've been writing articles on Hacking Chinese for more than a decade now!

Original article: Celebrating ten years of Hacking Chinese

M…

Published on 4 years, 7 months ago

14 - Why you should listen to the Hacking Chinese podcast

Season 1 Episode 14

I prefer listening over reading in many cases, which is partly why I created the Hacking Chinese Podcast. But why should you listen to it? Will it improve your Chinese?

Original article: Tune in to t…

Published on 4 years, 7 months ago

13 - Dealing with Chinese characters you keep mixing up

Season 1 Episode 13

When we first start learning Chinese, each new character is hard to learn, but as we learn more, it gets easier. But a new problem soon appears: Mixing up similar characters we have already learnt.

O…

Published on 4 years, 7 months ago

12 - When spaced repetition fails, and what to do about it

Season 1 Episode 12

The goal of spaced repetition software is to schedule reviews efficiently, delaying as long as possible, but not so long that you forget. But when it comes to language learning, this is often not eno…

Published on 4 years, 8 months ago

11 - Why learning Chinese pronunciation by using English words is a really bad idea

Season 1 Episode 11

Learning Mandarin pronunciation is not easy, so some people use English words to approximate Chinese pronunciation. This is a really bad idea.

Original article: Why learning Chinese pronunciation by …

Published on 4 years, 8 months ago

10 - Chinese is fascinating and exciting, not weird and stupid

Season 1 Episode 10

When learning a foreign language, some things might appear weird or even stupid. But does a negative attitude towards Chinese make it harder to learn? And if it does, how can you adopt a more positiv…

Published on 4 years, 8 months ago

09 - Are mnemonics too slow for Chinese learners?

Season 1 Episode 9

Mnemonics are clever memory devices designed to make it easier to remember things, but considering that they take time both to create and retrieve, are they really that useful for learning Chinese?

L…

Published on 4 years, 8 months ago

08 - How to get honest feedback to boost your Chinese speaking and writing

Season 1 Episode 8

Feedback is important for learning, because it can show you how to not use the language and highlight things you hadn't noticed before. But getting honest feedback on your Chinese is harder than you …

Published on 4 years, 9 months ago