Sensible Chinese

Learning Chinese Characters | Different Methods

Other experts have come up with their own answers to the question of “how to learn Chinese characters”. There are a number of ways to learn Chinese characters that are already out there. All have good points and weaknesses. Rather than follow...

sensiblechineseFeb 084 Comments

Sensible Character Learning System

Learn Chinese Characters | Sensible Character Learning System Introduction

There are a number of existing systems to help you learn Chinese characters. They all have their own strengths and weaknesses. None of them present a complete system for how to learn Chinese characters. We’re going to mix and match, taking the best...

sensiblechineseFeb 05 characters, reading, writing 3 Comments

Sensible Character Learning System

Sensible Character Learning System – Welcome!

Hi there! This page is now out of date. Check out the Chinese Character Learning System in all its glory on these pages: Introductory video and blog posts or Direct to the ~7 hour step-by-step video course Welcome to the Sensible Character...

sensiblechineseFeb 05 beginner, characters, reading, writing 4 Comments

10 Things I Wish I Knew

Black Magic! Phono-Semantic Chinese Characters

This is part of our How to Learn Chinese. Check out the How to Learn Chinese homepage to get a lot more tips on how to learn Chinese. If you are a native English speaker learning a European language for the most part you can look at writing in that language...

sensiblechineseFeb 03 10 things I wish I knew, beginner, characters, reading, writing Comments Disabled

10 Things I Wish I Knew

All Chinese characters are made up of the same 200 Chinese radicals!

This is part of our How to Learn Chinese. Check out the How to Learn Chinese series to get a lot more tips on how to learn Chinese. Every single character in Chinese, both Traditional and Simplified, is made up of around 200 small “pieces”...

sensiblechineseFeb 03 10 things I wish I knew, beginner, characters, reading, writing 26 Comments

10 Things I Wish I Knew

Pattern Based Chinese Grammar

This is part of our How to Learn Chinese. Check out the How to Learn Chinese homepage to get a lot more tips on how to learn Chinese. Chinese grammar is highly “pattern-based”. Learn these patterns and you’ll be able to communicate much...

sensiblechineseFeb 03 10 things I wish I knew, beginner, grammar 4 Comments

10 Things I Wish I Knew

Pronunciation and Pinyin – The Foundations of Chinese

This is part of our How to Learn Chinese. Check out the How to Learn Chinese homepage to get a lot more tips on how to learn Chinese. Update: Our free Sensible Pinyin Course is now available. First read through this article to see why Pinyin is so important...

sensiblechineseFeb 03 10 things I wish I knew, beginner, pinyin, pronunciation, tones Comments Disabled

10 Things I Wish I Knew

Why learn Chinese? Why are YOU learning Chinese?

This is part of our How to Learn Chinese. Check out the How to Learn Chinese homepage to get a lot more tips on how to learn Chinese. Why learn Chinese? Specifically, why are you learning Chinese? Do you have a good reason? Starting to learn Chinese...

sensiblechineseFeb 03 10 things I wish I knew, beginner, motivation, study habits Comments Disabled

10 Things I Wish I Knew

Day 1 Speaking Script – How to Speak Chinese Today

You’ve just started learning Chinese and are ready to talk – this article gives you a basic script (with recordings) as well as suggestions for a Chinese name. You’ll learn how to speak Chinese today, right now, if you follow through...

sensiblechineseFeb 03 10 things I wish I knew, beginner, speaking 1 Comment

10 Things I Wish I Knew

How to speak Chinese? Talk from Day 1

This is part of our How to Learn Chinese. Check out the How to Learn Chinese homepage to get a lot more tips on how to learn Chinese. How to speak Chinese is a question that baffles learners early in their Chinese journey. Often we wait until we think...

sensiblechineseFeb 03 10 things I wish I knew, beginner, speaking Comments Disabled

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All Chinese characters are made up of the same 200 Chinese radicals!

This is part of our How to Learn Chinese. Check out the How to Learn Chinese series to get a lot more...
Common Chinese Characters you’ve been Reading Wrong!

Kyle@Sensible: This is a guest post by John Renfroe of Outlier Linguistics. They are working on a very...
Tone Pair Drills: The Single Best Method for Learning Chinese Tones

If I was allowed to only use one practice method to learn Mandarin Chinese tones it would be this: tone...
Sensible Character Learning System – Welcome!

Hi there! This page is now out of date. Check out the Chinese Character Learning System in all its glory...
Learning Chinese Characters | Different Methods

Other experts have come up with their own answers to the question of “how to learn Chinese characters”. There...