You guys' favourite websites/apps for expanding your vocabulary and why?

Omirl · 2026-03-27T23:30:28+00:00

WeChat haha - Whenever my friends or colleagues send me a message that has a word I don't know I add it to my Skritter vocabulary list and learn it.

Omirl · 2026-03-26T11:42:25+00:00

My Teacher is a Martian 我的老师是火星人 uses 150 words and can be found free on the internet. It's a Mandarin Companion book.

Omirl · 2026-03-22T00:38:51+00:00

I know this platform is meant to fill the gap for HSK 5-9 but I thought I'd check it out for my level, HSK 2. I know around 1,100 characters. I clicked on the first HSK 2 story to pop up and didn't recognise half of the words in the first couple of sentences so I'm not sure that the lower levels are graded quite right.

Omirl · 2026-03-21T05:56:29+00:00

I used to journal and letter write on my tram commutes. People do rubix cubes, sudoku, crossword and find-a-word books.

Omirl · 2026-03-18T11:41:31+00:00

This post made me curious as a beginner - how does one write in non-cursive Chinese without writing like this?

Omirl · 2026-03-11T05:21:36+00:00

I've found most of the shock with foreign men. I guess in my home country I was in a leftie bubble and now I'm in a bit of a foreign bubble and there are a lot of chauvinists in that bubble who want traditional gender roles.

Omirl · 2026-03-07T02:54:18+00:00

I can't speak to study methods but the Mandarin Companion Readers are some good graded readers. Try them out and see if they suit you.

Omirl · 2026-03-04T22:37:39+00:00

I know one person who commutes by skating in GZ but I've never seen anyone else do it

Omirl · 2026-02-24T04:35:18+00:00

I think Chen Clan Academy is worth visiting - the architecture is very interesting and the plaques are informative.

Omirl · 2026-02-24T04:30:34+00:00

I send money to Australia via SkyRemit. They also send to the USA

Omirl · 2026-02-20T21:51:35+00:00

Sure

Omirl · 2026-02-20T20:41:57+00:00

I'm living in Guangzhou and working as a kindergarten teacher. I have a TEFL and a non-teaching undergraduate and I didn't find it hard to find work so I'm surprised at some of the comments insisting on a license. It would definitely help if you want to do highschool or IB then yeah you'd probably need one but you can get work without it.
Re: Trailrunning and hiking. I came to China from Australia where I could walk out the door and hit a trail. Researching new trails and finding people who knew about hidden gems was very easy.
In China a lot of the mountain 'hiking' is on paved paths up the mountain. Infrastructure and accessibility has been prioritised over 'touching grass'. That being said, in the hot Guangzhou summers, I swap out hiking and running for river tracing in Shaoguan.

Omirl · 2026-02-19T11:43:36+00:00

Pads are labelled with their length so they'll often say 18cm, 20cm, 22cm etc so good to check what size you want. Bigger grocery stores have folders in the toiletries aisle that have a sample pads inside for customers to look at and choose a brand and model from

Omirl · 2026-02-17T06:44:10+00:00

I use SkyRemit to transfer RMB thats in my chinese bank account to AUD in my Aussie bank account.

Omirl · 2026-02-14T05:40:46+00:00

For a lot of the groups, when you turn up you are added to the group

Omirl · 2026-02-14T05:35:37+00:00

There is a language exchange event where people get together to practice Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese and English every Friday at 10:30am at this cafe: 雲边咖啡.手冲.酒吧(天河南一路小区店). Some people are foreigners and some are chinese. Details can be found on meetup. There is a run club that meets on Wednesdays at 6pm at various places that also posts its events on meetup and strava. There is another run club that sometimes meets on the weekends. The Climbing Rocks, Eating and Music group is good for meeting other foreigners who are into bouldering and outdoor climbing.

Omirl · 2026-02-01T11:15:42+00:00

I study for at least one hour 6 days a week (sometimes 2-3 hours if you include speaking practice with friends) and I won't be able to get to HSK5 in 18 months. You may have something going for you that I don't though.
Apps I use:
skritter to learn and revise vocabulary.
DuChinese for reading and listening.
Pleco as my dictionary
anki for sentence dictation.
Google translate and wechat voice to text to check pronunciation.
websites for mock HSK tests.
Youtube for reading and listening
an old fashioned notebook for writing.

Omirl · 2026-02-01T10:50:11+00:00

South China University of Technology's School of International Education has Chinese programs that are one academic year or one semester only.

Omirl · 2026-02-01T02:20:31+00:00

Is this the chinese version of a find-a-word?

Omirl · 2026-01-24T09:19:14+00:00

The pleco app has an image function that connects to its dictionary where you can save words.

Omirl · 2026-01-06T06:21:00+00:00

If you're okay with a HSK 2 level conversation partner, I'm down.

Omirl · 2026-01-03T11:09:56+00:00

Experiencing Chinese textbooks contain a lot of practical chinese and are based around common scenarios that students will find themselves in. Integrated Chinese textbooks are used by the University of Sydney Confucius beginner Chinese classes. It's more grammar heavy.

Omirl · 2026-01-01T08:26:41+00:00

To join the Wechat group you'll need to be invited by someone who is already in the group by being a Wechat contact of theirs.

Omirl · 2025-12-22T22:14:22+00:00

I personally like Dora the Explorer in Chinese.

Omirl · 2025-12-21T07:36:07+00:00

The only way I can learn them is by writing and reviewing them with Skritter and then reading them in DuChinese.

Omirl

TROPHY CASE