Podcast Episodes

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 2 days, 3 hours 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 week, 2 days 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 2 weeks, 1 day 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 3 weeks, 2 days 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 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, 1 week 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 1 month, 1 week ago

272 - Learning (or not learning) Chinese slang

Season 1 Episode 272

Slang and swearing often top the list of what people want to learn in a foreign language. But is this curiosity actually helpful for learners, or just a fun distraction?

#learnchinese #slang #vocabula…

Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago

271 - 7 ways to learn to write Chinese characters

Season 1 Episode 271

Learning to write characters is an integral part of learning Chinese, but how do you practise writing them? Do you type? Write on paper? Or… on the canvas of your mind?

#learnchinese #chinesecharacter…

Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago

270 - How to not teach Chinese characters to beginners: A 12-step approach

Season 1 Episode 270

I started learning Chinese well over a decade ago, and I have encountered many great teachers. But I have also seen truly terrible teaching, especially when it comes to Chinese characters.

#learnchine…

Published on 2 months ago