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Sometimes I fear that my writings and suggestions make me seem like a super man, or seem like I do everything right. Other language blogs I read are often written by extremely motivated and accomplished Chinese learners. Sometimes, that can be an inspiration, but other times it might be a bit discouraging, too. But don’t …

Since I started blogging about learning Chinese, quite a few blogs have popped up, shown some promise, and then, to my dismay, disappeared. Thankfully, there are blogs like East Asia Student, by Hugh Grigg (a.k.a. 葛修远). If you are looking for consistently good explanations of grammar, translations of classical poetry and texts, or even a …

Week 2 of 52 Weeks of Chinese Seeing one’s progress is an essential part of learning Chinese. The lack of progress is one reason that people give up on their resolutions or stop in the middle of a study plan. Recently I thought of a super simple way to track your Chinese progress.

I first heard about Olle and Hacking Chinese a few months ago. Reading it made me a bit sad: Olle was writing about the same things that I want to write about (Learning how to learn Chinese), but he did it better: it’s more systematic and complete. I strongly encourage you check it out. Hacking …

Week 1 of 52 Weeks of Chinese Creating goals is the first step to finishing 52 Weeks of Chinese. Goals are important, which is why I blog about them a lot. If you don’t set any goals, you probably won’t advance as mush as you want. The new year is a great time to rededicate …

A new year gives us the chance to think about changes we want to make and ways we want to grow. For a while now, I’ve been thinking about my own Chinese. As time goes by, I’ve become less satisfied with my level. So I’ve come up with a plan for how I’d like to …

.question {color:#888;} syz (a.k.a. Steve) is responsible for two of my favorite blogs: Sinoglot (where he writes alongside Kellen Parker, et al.) and Beijing Sounds. If you love discussing Chinese, there’s no better place than on Sinoglot. And if you’re having trouble understanding local Beijingers, Beijing Sound will help you by break the conversation down. …

What makes listening in Chinese so hard? What makes it so frustrating? It’s the lack of control.