Student Q&A, February 2024: Typing or handwriting, using new words in texts, and how to use AI to improve your writing

• Should you write your Chinese texts by hand or is typing better?
• How do you use unfamiliar words when writing?
• How can AI help you improve your Chinese writing ability?

This week’s podcast episode (number 182) is a reader and listener Q&A, where I answer three questions about writing ability in Chinese.

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 writing challenge, February 2024
• Hacking Chinese Challenges
• Courses on Hacking Chinese
• 20 tips and tricks to improve your Chinese writing ability

Chinese writing challenge, January 2025

Links for question #1: Handwriting or typing

• Do you have to learn to write Chinese characters by hand?
• Skritter review: Boosting your Chinese character learning
• Why spaced repetition software is uniquely well suited to learning Chinese characters

Do you have to learn to write Chinese characters by hand?

Links for question #2: Looking up how to use words

• How to look up Chinese characters you don’t know
• 21 essential dictionaries and corpora for learning Chinese
• Should you learn Chinese vocabulary from lists?
• Vocabulary lists that help you learn Chinese and how to use them

How to look up Chinese characters you don’t know

Links for question #3: Using AI to improve writing ability

• Review: The Outlier Linguistics Dictionary of Chinese Characters
• Chinese language logging, part 1: Why and how to track your progress
• Can ChatGPT pass the HSK?

Can ChatGPT pass the HSK?