Advanced Chinese Learning Tactics

Over the past month, I’ve taken some ideas from Gabriel Wyner’s Fluent Forever and applied them to learning Chinese. Today, I’m going back to the book one last time (for now) to share a few advanced strategies for learning Chinese.

Find the Right Amount of Challenge

Studies show that if what you’re studying feels too easy, it won’t help you learn much. You’ll get bored, and maybe even lose motivation to keep learning Chinese.

On the other hand, if what you’re studying feels way too difficult, you’ll end up stressed, tired, unable to focus, and maybe even tempted to give up.

That’s why it’s so important to find the right level of challenge. This is when your brain works best. With just the right amount of stress (not too much, not too little), you’ll feel stimulated, be able to study longer without getting bored or exhausted, and you’ll find it easier to memorize and actually keep things in your long-term memory.

Now, I know what you might be thinking: easier said than done. So here are a few actionable steps you can try to find that sweet spot.

Study Duration

One way to adjust the level of challenge is by changing how long you study. In the beginning, keep it short. Even 5 minutes is better than nothing. The key is not to skip days, especially not two or more in a row.

If you notice you’re skipping often, shorten your daily study time. If you’re consistent and not skipping at all, then try to gradually increase the time until you feel like you’ve found the right balance and built a solid habit.

A great way to build that habit is to create a cue. For example, every time you make your morning coffee, you could spend 5 minutes on your flashcard app. James Clear talks about this in Atomic Habits, which I highly recommend, but I’ve also shared how his ideas can be applied to Chinese learning.

Graded Readers

To figure out your vocabulary level, graded readers are one of the best tools. I’ve recommended some in earlier newsletters (and you can also find more under Add-ons → Graded Readers in Pleco).

Try a sample page at the level you think fits you. If you can understand about 85–95% of it, that’s your sweet spot.

If you’re running into 3 or more unknown words in every sentence, that’s a sign the book is too hard. Drop down a level and test again.

And remember, this isn’t just for graded readers. If you find them boring or too easy, try something else, like novels (Harry Potter in Chinese is a popular choice). Again, aim for that 85–95% comprehension rate. If it’s too tough, go back to easier material or even books written for kids and teens.

Audiobooks

Gabriel Wyner suggests resisting the urge to constantly check your dictionary when reading. Instead of looking up 50 words per page, read along with an audiobook.

This works especially well in Chinese. Even if you can guess a character’s meaning, you might have no idea how to pronounce it. The audio clears this up right away. One place to find audiobooks in Chinese is Ximalaya.

Of course, you don’t have to use audio all the time. If you prefer reading quietly, that’s fine too. Just try not to interrupt the flow by looking up every single word. It’s okay to check a few, but don’t let it ruin the experience. The goal is to learn naturally, and to keep reading enjoyable.

Monolingual Dictionaries

Once you hit intermediate level, you can start trying monolingual dictionaries. They’re often more helpful than bilingual ones, because they explain subtle differences and nuances that get lost in translation.

That said, looking up unknown characters in a physical dictionary can be tricky. One of the most popular ones still used in schools across China is the 新华字典 (Xīnhuá Zìdiǎn).

But honestly, these days there are faster ways. If you’re reading a physical book, use Pleco’s Live OCR, just point your camera at the word, and you’ll get the pinyin instantly (or just draw the character in Pleco yourself). From there, you can look it up in your preferred monolingual dictionary. Pleco even has its own monolingual add-on (the Xiandai Hanyu Guifan Cidian), which is very affordable and can help you find characters faster.

Alternatively, if you’re reading on your computer, you can use the Zhongwen browser extension to check how to read an unfamiliar character, and then look it up in a monolingual dictionary.

Movies, TV Shows and Everything Else

I titled this part Movies, TV Shows and Everything Else because it’s ultimately up to you what tools you want to study with. Anything you’ve read in these newsletters over the past months isn’t a rule set in stone, just suggestions to help you figure out what works for YOU. If you try monolingual dictionaries and find them boring or too much work, then they’re probably not for you, just forget about them. If you like learning words with an SRS app, that’s great. But if you never feel like picking up your phone to review, then try something else you actually enjoy more.

Similarly, if you like watching movies and TV shows, then watch them in Chinese as often as you can. If that’s not your thing, maybe try video games, novels, or comic books. The goal is to immerse yourself in Chinese in the most natural way possible, doing the things you already love. Nothing will get you there faster than enjoying the process. So if someone tells you that playing video games can’t help you learn a language, don’t listen. If they say you’re learning “wrong” because you didn’t start with IPA, don’t let it get to you. Language learning doesn’t have to be a pain — it can actually be fun if you do it the way that works for you. In these newsletters, I try to give you different tips and suggestions that might help, but it’s always up to you to decide which ones really do.

Thank you for reading my newsletters. Let me know if you enjoyed the tips and information I’ve shared over the past months about Fluent Forever, and if you’d like to see more topics like this in the future. Next week, I’ll be back with a Taiwanese TV show recommendation. Until then, happy learning!

Sandy