My learning schedule over the years

[lordsuso]

I apologize for the length, I wrote this throughout the years to keep track of my progress, but I actually enjoy this kind of posts (planning is more fun than doing) so I wanted to share it in case anyone else does. As a disclaimer, this is not advice, it's a very flawed and personal schedule so follow any of it at your own risk!

 

MY BACKGROUND
In my final year of university I decided to pick up Chinese as an optional course. After ~6 months of basic Chinese classes, I spent the next ~6 months as an exchange student in Shanghai and passed the HSK3. Then I completely abandoned the language for about 3 years, although I did travel to China a couple more times as a tourist and was able to get around for the basic needs. 

 

MY GOALS
Learning Chinese is purely a hobby, other than the occasional vacation to China I don't expect to ever need it. My main objective is reading and listening comprehension to enjoy Chinese media (books, audiobooks, movies, tvshows, podcasts...). It would also be nice to speak somewhat fluidly, or at least be able to have basic thoughts in Chinese. Also, I don't want to spend any money (other than buying media), and I don't have any interest in hand-writing or calligraphy.

 

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PHASE 1 (~1 year): BASICS
Like I said in the background section, I was lucky to learn with a teacher (and partly in China), and we did tons of listening, speaking, grammar and hand-writing.

 

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PHASE 2 (~4 months): VOCABULARY
When I decided to re-start learning Chinese (after a 3-year gap), I first tried to consume content at my level: graded readers, short articles, TV shows for kids, etc. However, it was boring as hell, so after a couple of failed attempts I gave up. I was only motivated by native content for adults, and since the main obstacle was a lack of vocabulary, I decided to focus entirely on flashcards for a while (~4 months).
    
    Flashcards (~1h30min/day).
    At the end I had reviewed ~7k words, including all the HSK 2.0 words. I definitely didn't "know" them at this point, the objective was crude memorization so that I could read native books without constant look-ups. Once you encounter the words a few times in the wild, that's when they seem to move into your long-term memory.
    
    Grammar.
    I manually made ~500 grammar flashcards from the content on the Chinese Grammar Wiki website. I still review them from time to time.

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PHASE 3 (~1 year): IMMERSION (MOSTLY READING)
This is where the fun started. I practiced reading and flashcards consistently, never skipped a day. Listening on the other hand... I probably missed more than half the days.

 

    Reading (~1h30min/day).
    I replaced my usual reading time with reading in Chinese only. I recommend an e-reader for intensive reading, the pop-up dictionary and translation tool are very handy to avoid frustrations. Still, the first chapters of the first book were brutal, it took me forever to read a single page. For extensive reading I recommend comics, you can't use a pop-up dictionary so it forces you to keep going, and you can guess most of the meaning from the visual cues. I strongly recommend sub-vocalization (or even reading out loud), it helps to internalize the sounds and practice quick tone changes.
    
    Semi-passive Listening (~30min/day).
    I also started listening to podcasts, mainly while cooking/workouts. Listening was very frustrating in the beginning, my advice is to simply plough through and eventually your brain will adapt to the speed.
    
    Audiobooks.
    Once I was able to read at a decent speed without too many dictionary interruptions (around book 5 or so), I started to read while listening to the audiobook version. I don't do this for every chapter/book, but I really recommend it because it forces you to maintain focus and read faster, while getting some extra listening practice. If you don't want to bother getting actual audiobooks, I recommend the Microsoft Edge TTS, it's honestly very good. One advantage of TTS over humans is that you can adjust the speed while maintaining normal diction (no sped-up or drawn-out syllables). For those interested, I will now describe my personal setup. I still read on my e-reader, but I listen to the audiobook on my phone (which I can pause with my headphones). I use the app TTS-server (https://github.com/jing332/tts-server-android), which uses the aforementioned TTS engine and has some neat options (e.g. having a separate voice for narration and dialogues). Then you can simply open the epub file with any reader that supports TTS, I use Legado (https://github.com/gedoor/legado).
    
    Flashcards and pronunciation (45min/day).
    I practice throughout the day on small chunks of time (breakfast, commute, poop, waiting in general). I do the last 15min in the evenings at home, where I also review my pronunciation: I say out loud the words and example sentences, and I compare against the TTS sound from the app if I have doubts. I use an app that I made as a personal project, I doubt it's any better than the popular ones so I don't have any particular recommendation. I have two decks, a "current" deck (~150 words) and a SRS deck. Every day I review the current deck twice (once from hanzi, once from English definition) + 100 SRS words (from hanzi). Every day I remove a few words from the current deck (the ones that I feel I already memorized, usually ~30) and replace them with new words. I also add a couple of words to the current deck from the SRS reviews. So on average I go through 150+150+100+30=~430 flashcards/day.
    
    Flashcard maintenance (~1h/week). 
    Regarding the vocabulary, I add words from frequency lists (low priority) + words I highlighted in the ebooks (high priority). The process is completely automated: the highlights get exported from the ebook (alongside the sentence if I also highlighted it, otherwise a script selects a random Tatoeba sentence if available), and a python script generates a text file with the definition and pinyin (CEDICT + hycihai dictionaries), the pinyin of the sentence (google translate API), and the translation of the sentence (DeepL Translate API), which I can then import into the app. Although I don't really spend any time making the flashcards, I do notice errors while reviewing, which I note down and fix manually (it takes ~1h/week). 

 

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PHASE 4 (~1 year): IMMERSION (READING & LISTENING)
I never skipped a day of reading, but wasn't as disciplined elsewhere, probably missing around 25% of the flashcards and listening days, and more than half of the output days.

 

    Reading (~1h/day).
    When listening to audiobooks, I tried to focus exclusively on the audio from time to time: listen (without reading) > read and check what I misunderstood > listen again (without reading).
    
    Semi-passive Listening (~30min/day).
    
    TV Shows (~45min/day).
    Once I was able to read fast enough (around book 10 or so), I started watching tv shows (with Chinese subtitles), one episode per day. At first I relied completely on the subtitles, and I gradually tried to focus more and more on the audio (same procedure as the audiobooks).
    
    Output (~10min/day).
    At this point I felt ready to start practising output, so I gradually shifted my internal voice towards Chinese. I started doing this in the evenings, because I read just before bedtime and my brain usually rambles on in Chinese while falling asleep. Also, I talked to ChatGPT Voice for ~10min/day, right after my evening flashcard-pronunciation session. I like to have casual conversations with it, also role-playing scenarios. I probably should have spoken with tutors instead, but I am very cheap and shy so this works for me.
    
    Flashcards and pronunciation (30min/day).
    Slightly different routine than phase 3, every day I reviewed the current deck only once (~100 words) + 150 SRS words + ~30 new words. At the end I had reviewed ~37k words containing ~4.6k unique hanzi, which is probably around the low-end estimation of what an educated native knows, including ~30k frequent words (from multiple frequency lists) + ~3k chengyu + ~4k non-frequent words from media. Again, I don't know all these words, and probably never will. I estimate I currently know (passive written recognition) ~3.5k hanzi, ~25k words and ~1k chengyu.
    
    Flashcard maintenance (~1h/week).

 

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PHASE 5: MAINTENANCE
As I write this I am starting this phase. I am mostly satisfied with my current level (I wish my listening was better, my personal assessment: B1 speaking, B1~B2 listening, B2 reading), so I will just engage with Chinese naturally (the same way I do with English) and hopefully keep improving and reach my ultimate long-term goal of B2-C1-C1 some day.

 

    Immersion.
    I will continue to read books in Chinese (but not exclusively, I will rotate languages), listen to podcasts/audiobooks, and watch tvshows/movies from time to time.
    
    Output.
    I will continue to think in Chinese and chat with ChatGPT Voice. I won't put pressure on myself to chat with ChatGPT daily, just whenever I feel like it. If I ever decide that I want to boost my speaking skills, I'll probably resort to tutors.
        
    Flashcards and pronunciation (15min/day).
    After 2+ years of pretty intensive reviews, I am finally done with frequency lists. I will continue doing SRS reviews (110 words/day) and will only add new words and chengyu from books, which I don't anticipate to be more than a few hundred per year. I might also switch to traditional characters for a while, from what I've heard the transition should be easy enough. 
    
    Flashcard maintenance (1h/month?).

 

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FINAL THOUGHTS
A few points I would like to discuss in more detail. Thanks for reading and I hope you found something helpful!

 

    - Motivation is king. Regardless of whether a schedule is more or less efficient, my advice is to find a routine that you will actually stick to. For instance, I know I should have done more listening and less flashcards, but I did what worked for me.
    
    - On flashcards. You are probably thinking that ~37k flashcards are way too many, and I agree, especially if your goal isn't reading novels. But just to reassure the beginners that might be reading this, learning new words gets exponentially easier. Also, while for most cards I expect to recall the exact definition, for some of the newer and rarer ones I don't: is it a fruit/flower/insect/mineral? is it an archaic/wuxia/scientific term? is it a name/transliteration/loanword? can I make a close-enough guess of the pronunciation? I view flashcards as a tool to quickly make connections between components-characters-words, and I believe volume to be very beneficial because more data allows your brain to make more connections. For example, 过敏 (allergy), 敏感 (sensitive) and 敏捷 (quick) will no longer be three independent words with three different meanings, but rather you'll see the similarities and gain a nuanced understanding of 敏. So in the end, I prefer to review many words with a lower retention rate, rather than fewer words more often. Regardless of how many flashcards you have, what I do recommend is to actively focus on these connections: When you review a word, actively remember words that share the same characters, characters that share radicals/components, different readings/meanings of the characters, etc. Now, having said all this, anything beyond the 25k-th card was most likely useless, but I would never admit that publicly.
        
    - Native novels are easier than you think. I think many beginners see native novels as a rather distant goal, but the truth is that nowadays you can give it a try pretty early on with the help of a pop-up dictionary (probably at some point during your second year, once you know 3k words or so). Maybe you like wuxia like me, check out Gu Long. Webnovels?, check out the heavenlypath website. Old-school romance?, check out Qiong Yao. Mystery?, check out translated Japanese authors. There are entry-level novels for every genre, and the first novel will always be pretty hard regardless of when you start.
    
    - Listening practice is ruthless, you either understand the audio or you don't, and you won't for a loooong time. Like I said in phase 4, most people recommend active-listening drills of the form "listen > listen + read > listen", but to be honest I didn't really keep up with them (I hate repeating stuff). My guess is that my current approach (semi-passive listening + listening while reading) will eventually get me to an advanced level (advanced podcasts and strong accents still sound like complete gibberish to me), but it will take much longer. So if you want faster results and have loftier goals do some active listening!
    
    - Beware of the mental exhaustion. I was prepared for the big time investment (I estimate I've spent ~3000h in total), but I wasn't ready for the energy investment. I basically had to set aside any other hobbies that required any mental focus. Engaging with Chinese doesn't "hurt" anymore, which is liberating. That being said, I did not expect that learning Chinese would be as fulfilling as it has been, I would do it all over again even if it costed twice the amount of time and effort.
    
    - Breakthrough moments. Looking back on phase 2, even though I didn't retain most words, I remember having a big "aha" moment: "oh so this is how you combine hanzi to make words". The next breakthrough came in phase 3, tones just "clicked" and went from being the most daunting thing to an obvious never-thought-about-again thing, I still don't know what happened there. I've had two more gradual breakthroughs since. One concerns grammar, at some point I just became much better at parsing sentences into words, and seeing what each word was doing (including the tricky particles such as 了 or 才). I realized this when I was able to easily spot proper nouns that I didn't know (names of cities, people, etc). The other concerns listening, it's a great feeling when you go from understanding random words to complete sequences.
    
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BOOKS (In reading order. I am not proud of it, but I currently "find" the ebooks online.)
R review
D difficulty
* still reading
1  - 流星·蝴蝶·剑 by 古龙 (1973, R 4/5, D 3/5, #hanzi: 230k)
2  - 秃秃大王 by 张天翼 (1933, R 4/5, D 2/5, #hanzi: 35k)
3  - 卻上心頭 by 琼瑶 (1981, R 3/5, D 3/5, #hanzi: 70k)
4  - 多情剑客无情剑 by 古龙 (1968-1969, R 4/5, D 3/5, #hanzi: 400k)
5  - 聚散兩依依 by 琼瑶 (1980, R 2/5, D 3/5, #hanzi: 75k)
6  - 白馬嘯西風 by 金庸 (1961, R 4/5, D 4/5, #hanzi: 60k)
7  - 秃鹤不是一只鹤 by 曹文轩 (1997, R 3/5, D 3/5, #hanzi: 15k)
8  - 血鹦鹉 by 古龙/黄鹰 (1974, R 3/5, D 3/5, #hanzi: 205k)
9  - 活着 by 余华 (1993, R 4/5, D 3/5, #hanzi: 80k)
10*- 金刚经说什么 by 南怀瑾 (1992, R /5, D 4/5, #hanzi: 180k)
11 - 病毒 by 倪匡 (1995, R 2/5, D 3/5, #hanzi: 60k)
12 - 射鵰英雄傳 by 金庸 (1957-1959, R 4/5, D 5/5, #hanzi: 780k)
13 - 呐喊 by 鲁迅 (1922, R 5/5, D 5/5, #hanzi: 60k)
14 - 解忧杂货店 by Keigo Higashino (2012, R 3/5, D 3/5, #hanzi: 130k)
15*- 神鵰俠侶 by 金庸 (1959-1961, R /5, D 5/5, #hanzi: 810k)
16 - 猫城记 by 老舍 (1933, R 4/5, D 4/5, #hanzi: 75k)

 

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MANGA (In reading order. I buy them from the bilibili manhua app.)
R review
D difficulty
* still reading
1* - Doraemon (1969–1997, R 5/5, D 2/5, #volumes: 45)
2  - Dragon Ball (1984–1995, R 5/5, D 1/5, #volumes: 42)
3* - One Piece (1997–, R 5/5, D 2/5, #volumes: 100+)
4  - Yugami (2012–2019, R 4/5, D 3/5, #volumes: 16)
5  - Mob Psycho (2012–2017, R 5/5, D 4/5, #volumes: 16)
6  - Gunnm (1990–1995, R 3/5, D 3/5, #volumes: 9)
7  - A Silent Voice (2013–2014, R 4/5, D 2/5, #volumes: 7)
8  - DDDD (2014–2022, R 4/5, D 4/5, #volumes: 12)

 

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TV SHOWS (In watching order. I usually find them on youtube or bilibili video.)
R review
D difficulty
* still watching
1* - 虹猫蓝兔七侠传 (2006, R /5, D 2/5, #episodes: 36)
2  - 开端 (2022, R 3/5, D 3/5, #episodes: 15)
3  - 摩天大楼 (2020, R 4/5, D 3/5, #episodes: 16)
4  - 软弱 (2003, R 4/5, D 4/5, #episodes: 20)
5  - 七种武器之孔雀翎 (2011, R 3/5, D 3/5, #episodes: 21)
6  - 过把瘾 (1994, R 4/5, D 4/5, #episodes: 8 )
7  - 岁月 (2010, R 4/5, D 3/5, #episodes: 23)
8  - 四世同堂 (1985, R 5/5, D 4/5, #episodes: 28)
9  - 俞净意公遇灶神记 (2008, R 3/5, D 5/5, #episodes: 8 )
10 - 漫长的季节 (2023, R 5/5, D 5/5, #episodes: 12)
11 - 成吉思汗 (2004, R 4/5, D 5/5, #episodes: 30)
12 - 河西走廊 (2015, R 4/5, D 4/5, #episodes: 10)
13 - 山海情 (2021, R 4/5, D 4/5, #episodes: 23)
14 - 隐秘的角落 (2020, R 3/5, D 4/5, #episodes: 12)
15 - 外乡人 (2009, R 4/5, D 5/5, #episodes: 43):
16*- 琅琊榜 (2015, R /5, D 5/5, #episodes: 54):

 

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FILMS (I watch with English subtitles.)
R review
mandarin 
- Ju Dou by Zhang Yimou (1990, R 3/5, minutes: 95)
- The Assassin by Hou Hsiao-hsien (2015, R 4/5, minutes: 105)
- So long my son by Wang Xiaoshuai (2019, R 5/5, minutes: 185)
- Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains by Gu Xiaogang (2019, R 3/5, minutes: 150)
- Ash Is Purest White by Jia Zhangke (2018, R 4/5, minutes: 136)
- Mountains May Depart by Jia Zhangke (2015, R 3/5, minutes: 131)
- A Touch of Sin by Jia Zhangke (2013, R 3/5, minutes: 130)
- Long Day's Journey into Night by Bi Gan (2018, R 4/5, minutes: 138)
- Swordsmen in Double Flag Town by He Ping (1991, R 4/5, minutes: 91)
- Farewell My Concubine by Chen Kaige (1993, R 4/5, minutes: 171)
- The Blue Kite by Tian Zhuangzhuang (1993, R 3/5, minutes: 140)
cantonese
- Wing Chun by Yuen Woo-ping (1994, R 3/5, minutes: 93)
- Come Drink with Me by King Hu (1966, R 3/5, minutes: 91)
- Project A by Jackie Chan (1983, R 4/5, minutes: 105)
- Drunken Master by Yuen Woo-ping (1978, R 4/5, minutes: 110)
- In the Mood for Love by Wong Kar-wai (2000, R 5/5, minutes: 98)
- The Killer by John Woo (1989, R 3/5, minutes: 110)

 

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PODCASTS
intermediate 
- Dashu Mandarin Podcast
- 锵锵三人行
- 打個電話給你 One Call Away
advanced
- 看理想圆桌
- 发发大王
- 观篮高手NBA
- 不明白播客
- 软件那些事儿
- 故事FM

 

[Jan Finster]

Thanks for this. 

 

Just some tips: you and others could probably have greatly benfitted reading on Lingq.com.  Not only can you look up words, phrases and parts of sentences in a click, but it will also generate the audio tts if desired. Plus it stores and remembers which words you know. You can create anki flashcards or review vocabulary on Lingq. 

Second would be using Language Reactor app on Vhrome or Firefox, which makes listening to native content so much easier. Not only does it show bilingual subs, you can replay individual sentences at any speed you like. You can also upload audiobook files to it if you have a way to create "subtitle text for them" (eg transcribeAI) 

[lordsuso]

Thank you @Jan Finster. I've always been intrigued by Lingq, but as far as I know you cannot use it on e-readers so it's not really an option for me. The listening tools I definitely should have used. The issue is that I don't really like listening in the first place, so I try to make it as acommodating as possible (I don't mine any vocabulary while listening, I try to repeat stuff as litlle as possible, etc). Otherwise I fear I simply would avoid listening practice. But I definitely would approach listening differently If I could do it all over again.

[Tomsima]

Thanks for sharing, 3000+ hours and I bet you that + is worth another few thousand too. Listening never stops being scary in my opinion, especially if you deal with people from all over different regions of China - you never know what accent is going to hit you, always throws me off initially.

 

How did you find 猫城记? Been meaning to read for a while now. 

[lordsuso]

On 1/9/2025 at 8:02 PM, Tomsima said:

How did you find 猫城记?

I highly recommend it, I dont know if he writes likes this in every book but I really liked Lao She's style, very readable. It is a pretty straight-forward story but it's short so it never dragged or got boring for me.

 

 

[pinion]

Hope you're enjoying 琅琊榜! It's actually the show that started me on my own Chinese-learning journey.

[lordsuso]

On 1/10/2025 at 2:29 AM, pinion said:

Hope you're enjoying 琅琊榜

I am only a couple of episodes in, and am a bit overwhelmed by the amount of characters and places... but I am very hyped it's actually the first show I tried to watch but it was waaay too hard, it seems doable now but still hard