Student Q&A: May, 2025: Learning Chinese characters and words with flashcard apps

Should you focus on many words superficially or few words well? How do you stay motivated when flashcards get boring? And how can you tell if you really know a word?

This week’s podcast episode is a reader and listener Q&A, where I answer three questions about learning vocabulary. This time, all questions come from Skritter users, but my answers will be relevant no matter what app you’re using. Learn more about Skritter in my in-depth review.

Tune in to the Hacking Chinese Podcast to listen to the related episode (#248):

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

Links to things mentioned in the introduction

• Chinese vocabulary challenge, May 2025
• This month’s challenge is sponsored by Skritter

Skritter review: Boosting your Chinese character learning

Links for question 1

• Learning Chinese words: When quantity beats quality
• Should you learn Chinese vocabulary from lists?
• Which words you should learn and where to find them

Learning Chinese words: When quantity beats quality

Links for question 2

• How to best use flashcards to learn Chinese
• Do you have to learn to write Chinese characters by hand?
• Should you use an efficient method for learning Chinese even if you hate it?

How to best use flashcards to learn Chinese

Links for question 3

• Are you practising Chinese the right way? Is your method valid?

Are you practising Chinese the right way? Is your method valid?