This post is about micro goals. To see the introductory article about goals and motivation in general, please follow this link. Micro goals Just...
Year: 2026
Goals and motivation for learning Chinese, part 3 – Short-term goals
This post is about short-term goals. To see the introductory article about goals and motivation in general, please follow this link. Short-term...
Goals and motivation for learning Chinese, part 2 – Long-term goals
This post is about long-term goals. To see the introductory article about goals and motivation in general, please follow this link. Long-term...
Goals and motivation for learning Chinese, part 1 – Introduction
Image credit: sxc.hu/profile/zandi2000 I think everybody knows that motivation is something you need in order to succeed. I’m naturally going to...
Free and easy audio flashcards for Chinese dictation practice with Anki
A poll I did a few years ago here on Hacking Chinese revealed that listening ability was perceived as the hardest skill when learning Mandarin. That...
Four key principles to improve your Mandarin listening comprehension
Listening comprehension is the most powerful skill to develop in Mandarin. Strong listening skills let you engage in conversations, connect...
Triggering quantum leaps in Chinese listening ability
Image credit: Roey Ahram Immersion comes with certain problems, which I’m sure that everyone who has tried it has experienced at some point. If you...
Focusing on tone pairs to improve your Mandarin pronunciation
Tones are, without doubt, one of the hardest parts of Chinese to master, and many students struggle with them even long after leaving the beginner...
Focusing on radicals, character components and building blocks
Language learning can be divided into two major “directions”: bottom-up and top-down. Bottom-up learning means that you focus on the parts, then...
Focusing on Chinese tones without being distracted by Pinyin
When reading a text in Chinese with Pinyin shown on top of characters, what do you look at? Most students look at the familiar letters, and you need...