As many of you probably already know, there are two sets of Chinese characters: simplified and traditional. As the names imply, the former is a simplification of the latter. Character simplification was promoted in Mainland …
The confusing stroke order of 车 and 牛
Are you confused about the stroke order of 车 and 牛? If not, it’s either because you haven’t noticed the unique behaviour of these two characters, or because you have noticed it and been able …
Mystery: 撮ったのかよ or エーアイアイ ?
The way the ear hears things can be very different, an interesting concept regarding listening comprehension in general. There’s a sound clip that roughly half of people hear one way, while the other half hears …
Learning 10,000 Chinese Characters with Skritter
I recently saw Skritter user Emil Persson mention that he had learnt 10,000 Chinese characters. This is certainly out of the ordinary, so I contacted him and asked him a few questions about his journey …
The Chairman’s Bao, now with Skritter integration
Understanding is important when learning a second language. If you don’t understand what you listen to or read, you’re less likely to benefit from it. Naturally, if the things you listen to are too easy, …
Cultural Post: Japanese Monsters
Like Valentine’s day and Christmas, Halloween has recently started gaining popularity in Japan, something which could be completely expected if thinking about some of monster folklore that’s popular in Japanese culture. 日本の古来の文化を紐解いていくと、日本にハロウィンが定着したのは当然だ。 When you take …
Skritter 2.0: Building a better character teaching tool
Since its inception Skitter has been a fantastic tool for character review and retention. The blank canvas of each writing prompt is a wonderful execution of the active recall principle–stimulating memory recall during the character …
すげぇ！ Slang in Japanese
To master a language, slang eventually becomes part of the equation. It’s important to be familiar with what’s used, even if you don’t plan on using it– that way you aren’t left in the dark …
Hacking the most difficult Chinese characters (7-9)
We all have some characters that just refuse to stick and that we keep forgetting over and over. The best way of learning tricky characters in Chinese is to deal with them decisively. For more …
Which stroke order is correct? Does it matter?
In my previous article about stroke order, we looked at why learning correct stroke order is a good idea. In this follow-up article, we’re going to discuss what “correct” stroke order means anyway. Remember that …