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

This week’s podcast episode (number 200) is a reader and listener Q&A, where I answer three questions about vocabulary acquisition in Chinese, including both characters and words.

This time, I’ve picked three questions:

1. How much time should I spend on flashcards?
2. Is Remembering the Hanzi by Heisig & Richardson good for learning characters?
3. What resources are best for learning about the Chinese writing system?

Tune in to the Hacking Chinese Podcast to listen to the related episode:

Available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Overcast, Spotify, YouTube and many other platforms!

Links to things mentioned in the introduction

• Chinese vocabulary challenge, June 2024⁠
• Skritter review: Boosting your Chinese character learning⁠

Links for question #1: Time on flashcards

• Analyse and balance your Chinese learning with Paul Nation’s four strands⁠
• How to become fluent in Chinese
• Why flashcards are great for learning Chinese
• Why flashcards are terrible for learning Chinese

Links for question #2: Remembering the Hanzi

• ⁠Phonetic components, part 1: The key to 80% of all Chinese characters
• 5 levels of understanding Chinese characters: Superficial forms to deep structure⁠
• Learn Chinese character meaning and pronunciation together⁠

Links for question #3: Writing system resources

• The building blocks of Chinese, part 1: Chinese characters and words in a nutshell⁠
• Kickstart your learning with the Skritter Character Course⁠
• Outlier Chinese Character Masterclass review: Understand more, learn faster, remember longer⁠
• Review: The Outlier Dictionary of Chinese Characters⁠