Podcast Episodes

282 - Diversify how you study Chinese to learn more

Season 1 Episode 282

How is it possible to spend 80 hours a week learning Chinese? And what can you learn from that, even if you're busy juggling work, family and other commitments?

#learnchinese #immersion #busylife

Link …

Published on 2 days, 11 hours ago

281 - Reading is a lot like spaced repetition, only better

Season 1 Episode 281

You can build vocabulary in Chinese with flashcard apps and spaced repetition, but reading is more effective and more enjoyable. It helps you recognise words, understand how they work in context and …

Published on 1 week, 2 days ago

280 -Chinese characters and words that refuse to stick: Killing leeches

Season 1 Episode 280

How long does it take to learn a Chinese character or word? It varies, but some vocabulary just refuses to stick, no matter what you do. These are called leeches, and if you don't deal with them, the…

Published on 2 weeks, 2 days ago

279 - Learning Chinese words: When quantity beats quality

Season 1 Episode 279

Everybody knows that knowing many words is important, but how important is it? And how should you expand your vocabulary in Chinese?

#learnchinese #vocabulary #words #characters

Link to article on Hack…

Published on 3 weeks, 2 days ago

278 - A minimum-effort approach to writing Chinese characters by hand

Season 1 Episode 278

Chinese characters are beautiful and fascinating, but learning to write them by hand is time-consuming. If you want to learn to write Chinese characters by hand with the least possible time investmen…

Published on 1 month ago

277 - Cultivate your Chinese flashcard garden... or burn it down and start afresh

Season 1 Episode 277

Flashcards are powerful, but what if your deck feels more like an overgrown thicket than a carefully cultivated garden? Do you clear away the weeds and bring it back under control, or burn it all dow…

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago

276 - 4, 3, 2, 1: Fluency! A great technique to boost your Mandarin speaking ability

Season 1 Episode 276

Do you want to speak Mandarin fluently, no matter what your level is? Use the 4/3/2 technique to build confidence and flow!

#learnchinese #fluency #fluent #432 #speaking #paulnation

Link to the article…

Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago

275 - How to talk about Chinese characters in Chinese

Season 1 Episode 275

How do native speakers talk about Chinese characters?

The writing system is not phonetic, so you can't spell out words, but it is still possible to talk about Chinese characters.

Let's explore how!

#lea…

Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago

274 - Why not going to China now could actually be good for your Chinese

Season 1 Episode 274

Going abroad to learn Chinese in an immersion environment can be great, but unless you plan to stay for years, you might be better off delaying your trip.

#learnchinese #immersion #travel #abroad #hom…

Published on 1 month, 4 weeks ago

273 - What a big Rubik’s Cube taught me about Chinese characters

Season 1 Episode 273

How small can Chinese characters be while still being legible? How much information do they contain per unit area? And what can a big Rubik’s cube teach us about Chinese characters?

#learnchinese #han…

Published on 2 months ago