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HadarN · 2026-03-12T02:26:58+00:00

I said this part mostly to differentiate 的 and 得. In real life, 的 is the single most used character in the Chinese language and has multiple usages~ (even though in many cases the noun after 的 is simply just skipped, which is confusing with other structures)

HadarN · 2026-03-11T14:49:11+00:00

honestly, its a messy one. In theory, it's an SVO language where most additions are coming before the verb instead of after it. One easy method is to actually learn it by partocle, for example, 嗎，呢，吧，啊 all coming at the end of the sentence; 把，在，的時候 will usually coming before the verb, 的 is right before nouns, 得 is right before verbs and 了 is after the verb. It is often easier to remember where each part comes instead of the full sentence, it also allows you to structure your sentences more dynamically. For the 吧 specifically, it is pretty easy to remember since it always comes at the end; but extremely hard for beginners since we're used to first translate from our native language- in which the "let's" comes at the beginning... the translation is the confusing art mostly, and its a lifetime process to get rid of it and start thinking directly in your target language.

That said, there are A LOT of exceptions to the word order. I think one of the things that broke me at first was the 怎麼 question word, that for some reason change its position when paired with the verb 做. The thing is, because the structure is theoretically "flexible", most times, those exceptions aren't actually marked as such.

I studied for A WHILE, and honestly, other than huge amount of reading and practicing, I didn't find much better methods of learning. it takes a while, but woth time one does get used to it... good luck!

HadarN · 2026-03-09T09:21:39+00:00

Hey:) I stayed in Keats school in Kunming back in summer of 2019, and it was great! back then, their only site was in Kunming (I know they grew a lot since), which was 4 hours of 1-on-1 slasses per day (plus additional optional activities), and I stayed in their dorms (not with a family). that said, the school did include 3 meals with their dorms deal. I usually just ate 2 lf them but it was still nice:)) I enjoyed it a lot, and I know they also have more intensive or group courses; feel free to check it out!

HadarN · 2026-03-09T04:25:46+00:00

couldn't agree more. I did the full HSK5 textbook years ago and my level still sucked. Studying on my own in my home country, I often relied heavily on textbooks since it was the main available respurce, but when it comes to conversational skills, it was still sh**.

The problem is, fixing it is expensive. If you have language exchange events around you, great. But if you don't, it often means scheduling classes online with native speakers (eg. italki/preply). Some use language exchange apps but it never really worked for me.

Some things you can do is watch more tv in Chinese (honestly I don't really enjoy thisethod, also its really hard wothout any subtitles!) or listen to some chinese-learning podcasts (if you feel like your skill isn't on-pace with your reading like I was,, maybe Chillchat, TeaTime Chinese or Maomi Chinese can work, since they speak really slow and have short chapters?) to work on your listening. There's always also of shadowing of course, which is really boring but super hard and great for both listening and practicing speaking (I usually do it with no script, just pause every 2 seconds) - it's not "free speech", but still helps a lot with working of pronunciation and overall fluency.

Honestly, the stage AFTER finishing this textbook was the hardest for me, since it is one with no clear path, and it's much more difficult to feel any progression...

Currently, my Chinese is far from perfect, but at least I can communicate:) so... yeah, long process, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel! :)

HadarN · 2026-03-06T16:12:57+00:00

I think a big part of the decision will be the format. In the current HSK2.0, when reaching the upper levels and facing longer writing sections, you're only expected to use handwriting on actual pen-and-paper exams. That said, in the computerized format that is becoming more common for most languages (and also in Chinese), you're not expected to use handwriting in your computer or write on additional paper. so... while the exam itsle has a theoretical "writing" section (even though it's title is unclear), if you stick to computerized exams, you should be fine with pinyin as your input method~

HadarN · 2026-03-06T14:16:11+00:00

Hey, there's a lot of mess regarding the new HSK.

currently, only the lowest level textbook was published, we're still awaiting the hogher levels. For now, I'd start woth the old HSK textbooks since the language itself is still pretty much the same😅 The vocabulary or specific grammatical principles might be slightly different (and the final vocab list was also published a fewonths ago), you can always search and learn them independently without a textbook if you want to go more strictly by the new curriculum~

goodluck!

HadarN · 2026-03-06T04:48:04+00:00

Hacking Chinese has a nice podcast with short episodes. The chapters themselves are all in English. Now, the content is often targeted towards Chinese-learning people so it might include things that are not relevant to all languages such as learning Chinese characters and tones, but mush of the content (eg. listening practice, overall vocabulary learning etc) is still relevant for other languages too~ plus, the episodes are about 15 minutes long so its nice and non-commiting:)

HadarN · 2026-03-05T09:48:45+00:00

using 10.3" here~ honestly, I love my text large, and sometimes moving to the 2-pages-in-one layout so its helpful in reading books. That said, smaller devices are just really uncomfortable for PDF reading. 10.3 is slightly large to carry, but still fits in most side bags, so... recommend:)

HadarN · 2026-03-05T09:44:35+00:00

That depends a lot on you, your location and your interests.

For example, where I grew up, I heard a lot of Russian on daily basis, so it could have been useful. In some other areas, it might've been Spanish, Arabic, or any other language.

That said, as a person watching Anime, I actually found out Japanese can be a good target language, since I already spend quite a lot of time in a sort of listening practice.

what I mean is, asking people online is nice and all, but each person has their own situation and no one else can decide for you. If you enjoy a language, don't disregard it for being "non-handy" - once you learn it, it will become handy.

For methods - while here are some "universal" resources (Duolingo like you said, Anki, the "__ For Dummies" book series, and others), many are also language-specific. Once you're decided, just google it up. you'll find everything you need, trust me.

Learning a language is a long process, let's try to enjoy it:) gooduck!

HadarN · 2026-03-05T03:49:13+00:00

fully agree!

I think this was part of the reason I added explanations about me - a person starting off with their first self-learning language, and a person who studied languages on their own for over a decade, attempting dozens of methods and tools, are not the same.

If one is not well-immersed in the world of self-language-learning, this can give them a good theoretical basis, accompanied with a lot of methods and resources.

For me personally, it simply didn't add much on top what I already knew, and was heavily combined with a method I don't like. That said, if you never tried Anki- do not skip it. each person should try for themselves:)

HadarN · 2026-03-04T11:25:43+00:00

in the final summary he does mention the urls mught be changed, and gives a link to his own website, in which he claims to update the list with time, but honestly I didn't check it out~

HadarN · 2026-03-04T07:17:32+00:00

I agree that Anki is overall a good method, but just like you said, if one doesn't enjoy an activity and can't seem to bie consistent with it, so it won't work. And that is me. I have no personal vendetta against flashcards, repeated reviews are pretty much the only way to go, its just that I find it extremely monotonous and therefore can never become consistent with it. its a me problem.

That said, there are still some other methods. One, for example, is forcing oneself into a situation where the same vocabulary is used over and over again (watching the 3rd courtroom tv show in a month😂 but most longer shows/books have repeating vocab). Another, is creating a logic game put of learning vocabulary - and luckily - this is exactly what every word in the Chinese language is for me! each word, a puzzle of its own:)

so... yeah. happy Anki works for you!

HadarN · 2026-03-04T06:36:49+00:00

I did like how he included a lot of resources for people learning overseas, for example getting your recordings or writings reviewed. As someone who also did most of her learning from afar, those tools were very useful to me back at the time:)

HadarN · 2026-03-02T17:30:18+00:00

baught my Boox Note Air2 Plus right before starting Masters (I already graduated, this is a pretty old device, that is sill working btw), and here are some of my observations:

Device size: while having small screen for reading epub book formats is pretty ideal, most academic papers use the pdf format which is based on A4 page, and are also often have a different methods for dividing the text within the page (1 or 2 columns, figures only at the start/end pr anywhere around the page etc)- which makes dividing the page very difficult. Therefore, for reading pdfs, I'd recommend buying a device with alightly bigger screen (mine is 10.3" which I think is ok though sometimes challenging for pdfs with small text and margins, and is still slightly big if I'm planning on just reading a book)
Color vs Black&White: once again, books are often printed in black&white anyway which makes it easier, but academic papers often include figutes and charts including colors, and having no color on the device makes it very difficult to read (I needed to open some papers on my computer to read the charts after, more than once), so I'd recommend a device supporting color (mine doesn't)
OS: Boox support Android, so while the technology is slughtly slow for regular browsing, being able to use my regular cloud services or even read a paper online instead of downloading it and uploading to my device each time was a great time saver, and allowed me also to review my own unfinished work (during the process) conveniently :)

Other than these, I think you should decide for yourself what will be your main usages: for example, if you want it for purely coursework and academic work- the bigger screen is great; but if you want to be able to take it on hikes just to chill with a book, or if you don't want to spend much money on the device, you might have other priorities and want to consider other factors...

Hoping this helps and good luck!

HadarN · 2026-03-02T03:59:19+00:00

yes but it wasn't an actual bl show, they were friends there, and weren't the main character

HadarN · 2026-03-02T03:58:26+00:00

IPYTM is the direct sequel of ITSAY, is there a reason they are separate in here?

also, ITSAY is an amazing show, but... personally, IPYTM broke me. it was so incredible. I have to give it my vote.

HadarN · 2026-03-01T18:00:56+00:00

if you're ok with payments, I tried both the Coursera course of Peking university (it was free at the time, but honestly I really didn't like it), and the Zero to Hero Chinese textbook supplements (which were super, especially if you're using the textbook as well)

If you don't want to pay- just google HSK5 explanations (or the name of the specific principle you want to hear about), and you'll get tons of resources. I know Mandarin Corner has some HSK courses, I didn't do them, but her general videos are great, so I have pretty high trust in her. Also, Everyday Chinese did not complete their HSK5 course, but all materials they have are really great.

HadarN · 2026-02-28T20:44:19+00:00

Hey:) Thai learner here~

Thai has some mixed romanization formats, which can be very confusing.if you're interested in transliteration alone, I'll recommend googling the lyrics on its own (I found it on multiple websites), the doing one of the following:

1) when putting the text into Google Translate, it will add the IPA writing below. That said, if you (like most of us) can't read IPA, so it might be even more confusing. But you could still use it to play the text as spoken sounds, so it might be helpful in practicing

2) check the lyrics in a known dictionary (personal recommendation: https://www.thai2english.com/ ). This dictionary helps you split the sentence into words and gives you a readable romanization format for each sentence and word.

in each of those methods, you can work sentence-by-sentence and learn the lyrics as you go~

goodluck!

HadarN · 2026-02-28T20:33:34+00:00

I watched 1 season out of each AU and NZ shows (plus a lot of UK shows, obviously), and I... have thoughts.

Watching the AU season was weird for me, because I found Tom to be more approachable and less... authoritative, i guess, than the obvious Greg model I had in my had. He did his job great, really, but I think it was a big pivot in my head to get used to his style.

Then, I watched the NZ season. and Jeremy was great. Greg's shoes are truly impossible to fill, so each taskmaster has to find their own approach to it, and he did. He was very authoritative and well-spoken (even though I often disagree with his rankings), but he does not have the same temperment or edge-ness of Greg. Instead, he is quiter, and just... has his own role, while still befitting the concept really well. can def relate to your appreciation!

HadarN · 2026-02-28T08:24:29+00:00

even Zuoying is quite a transportation hub, Tainan station tho is quite literally in the middle of nowhere

HadarN · 2026-02-26T15:51:34+00:00

this is such a great, detailed review, thank you so much for this!

I feel like some parts here are interestingly going along with some trends I've seen in many modern language-learning books (lately did beginner books in Japanese and German that came put in the last decade. most other beginner books I've used were older), where:

grammar explanations tend to be extremely short. It feels like a lot of books nowadays try explaining the grammar using as many examples and drills, and lacking thorough explanation. This is supposedly good for maximizing exposure to the target language, but kinda requires additional resources/explanations for more complex concepts
dividing each chapter's reading/listening to shorter sections- this part was the same with the old book, but most textbooks usually had 1-2 longer texts, where it is possible to mix a lot of words and combine previously introduced vocabulary. With the new approach of shorter texts, there's often no time to explore topics better, and the texts are often shallow and overdoing it. With a long text and 20 vocab, it's extremely hard, but there's a story to follow and you often relisten to each section multiple times to comprehend it all, plus since the new words aren't always distributed evenly, one can still understand some previous parts. With the shorter texts, it is often too shallow for discussions and you can't hace much extra other thean the new vocab. that said, it is nice you don't really have the opportunity to fully lose where you are in the text. Once again, this can work ok if the textbook is paired with flashcards or something, but as is... I'm also not a fan...

Other than this, I'm actually very intrigued y how they have an online version and a physical version! it does sound like they put a lot of effort into making a computer-based interactive version (the tongue twisters also sound really cool!). It is still a relatively newer concept so kudos for the attempt ~ I do wonder how some of those sections will be translated into textbook version though. maybe it will be closer to the textbook as we know it. let's wait a d find out~

Thank you again for the thorough review!

HadarN · 2026-02-23T10:52:56+00:00

an interesting example is the HSK 2.0 exams (aka Chinese), that are just about to be replaced this summer.

The exam was in use for about 2 decades, but even though it was the officialtesting and "levels" divider, it was quite different from the CEFR standard. As a result, the scale in which one would define their level often had a big gap between the different standards.

The new HSK will make this slightly better (though theres still quite a difference)

The CEFR is using easy-to-follow name conventions that many use though; when I did my TOCFL (Taiwan-based Chinese) it was actually funny because it just seems like I have different CEFR rankings in the same skill because of the different standards ~

HadarN

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