Hacking Chinese - New website about how to learn Chines

[Olle Linge]

Hi everybody!

During the past year or so, I've spent a lot of time creating a website about how to learn Chinese. It's called Hacking Chinese and deals with how to study Chinese, something I think is grossly overlooked in textbooks and classrooms. The articles on the website are almost exclusively about how to think when studying Chinese, how to organise your studying and how to overcome various problems you might encounter. Some articles also deal with topics related to living in China or other aspects of studying Chinese.

I need your help! My perspective is only one of many, even though I have of course talked to lots of other people about studying Chinese. I know there are lots of people on these forums with vast experience of studying Chinese and I'd be grateful for any kind of feedback, comments or discussions. I hope that this website can become a repository for people who not only strive to learn Chinese, but want to do so efficiently. Welcome!

Olle Linge

凌雲龍

http://www.snigel.nu - Personal website

http://www.hackingchinese.com - Website about learning Chinese

[Hugh]

Are you aware that a similar website with a similar name already exists? Chinese Hacks. But it's good to see more Chinese resources appearing online. Good luck with it.

[Olle Linge]

After browsing through the articles on Chinese Hacks, my conclusion is that although the names are similar, the focus of the websites are quite different. I only write about how to learn Chinese, I don't try to teach you Chinese. Most articles on Chinese Hacks are about Chinese itself, teaching you useful vocabulary, grammar and idioms. This is also a much needed resource, but something I will never write about. If you look at my articles, I don't teach you any vocabulary, grammar or idioms, but rather how to think when you want to learn these. There might be overlapping articles, but I haven't found one yet. So, even though the sites look different, I think they have different focus.

Regarding the name, I wasn't aware of Chinese Hacks when I chose the name. Rather, I was inspired by Benny Lewis' book The Language Hacking Guide, an excellent guide to language learning. Reading that book inspired me to choose the name, because much of what I'm doing is similar to what Benny Lewis is writing about, only that it's entirely focused on learning Chinese. I think the word "hacking" and "hacks" are quite common today in many different contexts. There is a very nice website called Study Hacks, for instance.

Still, thanks for pointing this out. I think the two sites are complementary and after reading some articles on Chinese Hacks, I'm quite impressed. My aim is not to write articles about the Chinese language, simply because I know that other people can do that better than me. I claim to be good at learning and/or teaching Chinese, which isn't necessarily the same as being very good at Chinese.

[xuefang]

I have to admit that Chinese Hacks came to my mind too when I read about this new website Hacking Chinese. But I agree, as Snigel said, that the websites are really different from each other. Both are very good for learning Chinese or learning how to learn Chinese and I read both of them.