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 …
Common mistakes when writing Characters
Just starting to learn how to write Chinese characters? Or thinking about taking up the brush and starting to learn? Then this article is just for you! We asked Cōngmíng, one of our most experienced …
Standard references for Skritter Chinese
Even though Skritter is mainly a language learning tool and not a dictionary, we still run into the same problems that dictionary editors and compilers do. There might be many different ways of writing, pronouncing …
JLPT N5-N1 Lists
The JLPT N5 through N1 lists are now updated and available for study! These together cover a total of roughly 8,500 words and 2,200 kanji, guiding you all the way from the easiest exam (N5), …
Confusing Mandarin pronunciation, part 1: The final “-ing”
Learning to distinguish and pronounce the sounds in Mandarin can be difficult, even more so if you rely too much on transcription system or don’t learn them properly. In some cases, there are also variations …
The Chinese Neutral Tone: Is it the same tone as in English?
Intro: Some basic information about the neutral tone While the Chinese Neutral Tone may seem simple at first, this tone often causes great confusion for most learners of Mandarin. In the beginning, many westerners might …