Podcast Episodes

200 - Student Q&A, June 2024: How much time on flashcards, Remembering the Hanzi, and resources for learning characters

Season 1 Episode 200

How much time should you spend on flashcards? Is Remembering the Hanzi good for learning Chinese characters? And what resources should you use if you want to understand the writing system better?

#le…

Published on 9 months, 1 week ago

199 - Chinese character learning for all students

Season 1 Episode 199

Learning to write Chinese characters by hand takes a lot of time, but in today's digital society, is handwriting even necessary? Let's explore the role of handwriting when learning Chinese as a secon…

Published on 9 months, 2 weeks ago

198 - Learning to hear the sounds and tones in Mandarin

Season 1 Episode 194

As infants, we perceive the world without filters. Learning our first language, we form categories of sounds, aiding understanding but losing the ability to hear sounds we don’t need. As adults learn…

Published on 9 months, 2 weeks ago

197 - 24 great resources for improving your Mandarin pronunciation

Season 1 Episode 197

Using the right resources is important when learning anything, but it's essential when learning Mandarin pronunciation. Here are 24 great resources, most of them completely free!

#learnchinese #pronu…

Published on 9 months, 3 weeks ago

196 - Student Q&A, May 2024: Understanding strangers, listening with transcripts, and which podcasts to avoid

Season 1 Episode 196

Why is your teacher is so much easier to understand than anybody else? Should you read transcripts or subtitles before, during or after listening? And why do I refuse to recommend certain podcasts?

#…

Published on 10 months ago

195 - Why is listening in Chinese so hard? Beyond tīng bu dǒng, part 6

Season 1 Episode 195

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…

Published on 10 months, 1 week ago

194 - Chengyu, a magic key to Chinese language and culture, or a waste of time?

Season 1 Episode 194

Chengyu are idioms linked to ancient literature. Are they the key to Chinese language and culture or a waste of time?

#learnchinese #chengyu #idiom #vocabulary

Link to article:⁠⁠⁠ Chengyu, a magic ke…

Published on 10 months, 2 weeks ago

193 - Interview: Insights from Skritter’s Complete Guide to Learning Chinese

Season 1 Episode 193

If I wrote a comprehensive guide to learning Chinese with a special focus on vocabulary, what would it look like? Now you can find out - for free!

#learnchinese #studyguide #skritter #vocabulary

Link…

Published on 10 months, 3 weeks ago

192 - Student Q&A, April 2024: Learning chengyu, listening to yourself and using role-playing games to learn Chinese

Season 1 Episode 192

Is recording and listening to your own Chinese useful for improving your speaking ability? How can you use chengyu to expand your repertoire? And how can role-playing games be utilised to improve you…

Published on 11 months ago

191 - Is speaking more important than listening when learning Chinese?

Season 1 Episode 191

What languages do you speak? Do you speak Chinese? We often use speaking to represent language ability in general, but does that mean that speaking is more important than listening?

#learnchinese #sp…

Published on 11 months, 1 week ago