Missed a Newsletter? Here’s Every One I’ve Sent

Author

Sandy Cheng
March 31, 2025

When I started writing these weekly newsletters over a year ago, my main goal was simply to help you learn Chinese. Over time, the newsletter has gone through a few changes, so I thought it would be a good time to explain them a bit. Since the topics vary from week to week, I know it can sometimes be tricky to find exactly what you're looking for on the website. So, in the second half of this newsletter, I’ll include a summary with links to past issues to make things easier to navigate. Be sure to save this newsletter so you can easily refer back to it later!

One of the biggest changes you may have noticed is that the newsletter is now mostly in English. That’s because very few readers were actually using the Chinese section, and writing everything in two languages—plus recording audio—took a lot of extra time. But if you found the Chinese part helpful and would like to see it return, just let me know! You can reply to this email or message me on Instagram—I’d be happy to bring it back if enough people are interested.

This year, I also plan to share more movie recommendations, since those newsletters seem to be among the most popular. I’ll continue to provide downloadable flashcards and update my Quizlet page more frequently so you can use the flashcards for interactive learning.

And of course, if you ever need more help with learning Chinese, feel free to reach out! I also offer a free call if you’re considering studying with me—you can book it here: thechinesespeaker.com.

If 1:1 lessons aren’t the right fit for you, I’m also planning to start small group classes for beginners (max. 3-4 people), so let me know if you'd like to be on the waiting list.

Now, here’s a full list of past newsletters in case you’d like to revisit any topics:

THE ESSENTIALS

PLECO : in this newsletter I talk about the most essential app on your phone, which is basically a Chinese-English dictionary, but with some important other functions as well.

ZHONGWEN : in this I’ll talk about a browser pop-up dictionary that makes your Chinese reading much faster than any other tool out there. Best used together with Pleco to save the characters that you aren’t familiar with.

QUIZLET : boost your Chinese skills with this interactive gamified learning app

LANGUAGE REACTOR : another browser tool that can provide Chinese subtitles to YouTube and Netflix videos

HSK RESOURCES : lots of different great resources here

CHINESE READING PRACTICE : an awesome website with lots of reading material for different levels

LANGUAGE LEARNING TIPS

How to Build Better Habits That Help You Learn Chinese : based on James Clear’s Atomic Habits

MOVIE RECOMMENDATIONS

TV SHOW RECOMMENDATIONS

CHINESE HOLIDAYS

OTHER CULTURAL TOPICS

OTHER TOPICS

DOWNLOADABLE STUDY CARDS FOR MOVIES AND TV SHOWS

MY VIDEO TRANSCRIPTS

(I’ve also stopped doing video transcripts, but if you’d like to see them return—whether in the newsletter or as Instagram carousel posts—just let me know!)

I hope today’s newsletter helps you navigate through my previous writings and that at least some of them provide you with interesting and useful information or recommendations. As always, if you have any feedback on what you’d like to see more or less of in these newsletters, feel free to send me your thoughts!

Sandy