One of the main differences between learning a language as an adult and as a child is that adults benefit a lot more from explanations. Understanding what you’re doing is therefore an essential part of …
語源: Origin of words
The etymology of a word, or origin of a word, is not only interesting to research when learning Japanese but sometimes essential. The word for etymology is 語源 （ごげん）, translating directly to “word origin”. When …
Dealing with font issues when learning Chinese
Have you ever noticed that there are sometimes slight differences between how Chinese characters are displayed on different devices? Or that some characters in printed books are different from those you use on your computer? …
Think before you write
Credit: Mikko Kapanen The more actively you process the language you’re studying, the more you learn. If your learning is automatic and passive, what you study is less likely to stick. Therefore, it’s important to …
Recent changes to Skritter’s newsletter mailing list
Each month, we send out a newsletter with information about things you probably don’t want to miss. Normally, the newsletter includes summaries of important blog posts and language challenges from our social media channels. There’s …
Hacking the most difficult Chinese characters (with examples)
Which characters do you find most difficult to remember? The answer to that question will of course vary between learners. Personally I remember finding 疑 really hard. The best way of learning these tricky characters …
Skritter goes virtual*
Writing Chinese and Japanese has been a difficult and time-consuming task for thousands of years, and the learning tools have stayed roughly the same throughout history. Since the turn of the century, however, research into …
Understanding Chinese characters: Components and radicals
It’s common for beginners and sometimes even more advanced students to lack an understanding of how Chinese characters are structured. This includes misconceptions about components and radicals. In this article, I’m going to address some …
Japanese tongue twisters （早口言葉）
Tongue twisters, or 早口言葉 (はやぐちことば), translating literally to “fast mouth words”, are quite a lot of fun in Japanese and also a great way to practice speaking speed. There are a lot of common 早口 …
Can you pronounce these Chinese words correctly?
Chinese pronunciation is systematic and relatively simple, especially when it comes to spelling (Pinyin). In theory, it’s possible to teach a class of beginners almost everything they need in a week. Naturally, it will take …