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  • Want to Learn More Mandarin? Study Less

    Want to Learn More Mandarin? Study Less

    Most Mandarin learners I speak to aren’t short on resources. They’re drowning in them.

    Three flashcard apps. Two textbooks. A grammar course they’re halfway through. An HSK vocab list, a character-writing app, a tone trainer, a YouTube playlist saved “for later”, and a podcast they listen to on 1.5x speed while doing something else.

    And after all that, they still freeze when someone asks them a simple question in Mandarin.

    Here’s the slightly counterintuitive idea behind this post: if you want to learn more Mandarin, you probably need to study less. Not less time, necessarily, but far fewer things. Pick the few activities that actually get the results, and put almost all of your time into them. That’s the secret to a Mandarin study routine that actually works.

    Simple Mandarin study routine: input, study and output

    The resource overload trap

    There has never been more stuff out there for learning Mandarin. That’s great, but it comes with a hidden cost.

    Every new resource feels like progress. Downloading an app, buying a course or building a new study plan gives you a little hit of motivation. It feels productive. But setting up your learning isn’t the same as learning.

    The more things you try to do, the more of these problems creep in:

    • Your time gets spread thin. Ten minutes here, fifteen minutes there. Nothing gets enough repetition to actually stick, and repetition is key for successful learning.
    • You spend more time managing than learning. Keeping streaks alive across five apps becomes the goal, rather than understanding and speaking Mandarin.
    • You never find out what works. When you’re doing everything at once, it’s impossible to tell which activity is actually making you better.
    • You burn out. A Mandarin study routine with ten moving parts is hard to keep up. One busy week and the whole thing collapses.

    I see this all the time with students I work with. They’re working really hard, but a lot of that effort goes into activities that barely touch the thing they actually want, which for most people is to understand native speakers and hold a real conversation. I’ve even seen students ‘procrastinate’ by doing things that seem easier, e.g. practicing calligraphy when they know they should be speaking, because speaking ‘feels harder’.

    The 80/20 rule for learning Mandarin

    You’ve probably heard of the 80/20 rule (the Pareto principle): roughly 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts.

    It isn’t a precise law of nature, but it’s a surprisingly useful way to think about language learning. Out of everything you could be doing to improve your Mandarin, a small handful of activities account for most of your progress. The rest are nice-to-haves at best, and distractions at worst.

    So the goal isn’t to find more things to do. It’s to:

    1. Find your 20%: the few activities that genuinely make you better at understanding and speaking.
    2. Put the majority of your time into them.
    3. Cut, or heavily reduce, everything else.

    This is where most learners get it backwards. They keep adding resources, hoping the next one will be the breakthrough, when the breakthrough is usually doing the boring basics consistently, day after day.

    Part of the problem is that everything in language learning is marketed as the one and only breakthrough, but very few things actually live up to that expectation. I’ll openly admit I have a course based on learning Chinese in chunks, and a bit of software (it’s called the Fluency Trainer) that helps you learn to construct natural sentences out loud. But as great as they are (and I use my Fluency Trainer daily), if you’re already swamped with resources, don’t just add them to the pile. If you are going to get a new app/course etc, use them to replace something else, not as one more thing to do.

    My simple Mandarin study routine

    People are often surprised by how simple my Mandarin study routine is. There’s no complicated system. It has three parts: input, study and output.

    1. Input: listen and watch a lot

    I listen to podcasts (like Tea Time Chinese, 大叔中文 Dashu Mandarin and Mandarin Corner early on in my learning, and now things like 霓达播客 and 大人的Small Talk) and audiobooks, and I watch TV shows in Mandarin. That’s it.

    This is where most of my time goes, and it’s the easiest part to fit into a busy day. Commuting, cooking, going for a walk, winding down in the evening: all of it can be Mandarin time.

    Lots of input is what lets you keep up with native-speed speech. It also exposes you to how people actually talk, which is often quite different from the textbook.

    2. Study: note down useful sentences and review them

    While I’m listening or watching, I note down useful sentences. Not individual words, but whole sentences or chunks that I can imagine myself saying.

    Then I throw them into my Fluency Trainer for review. Because I practice building and saying those sentences out loud, they don’t just sit in my head as things I recognise. They become things I can actually say. (If you’re wondering how this compares with flashcards, here’s my Anki vs. Fluency Trainer comparison.)

    This is the bridge between input and output. Input gives you the raw material, and review makes sure it sticks.

    3. Output: have regular conversations

    Finally, I have regular conversations in Mandarin with friends.

    This is where everything comes together. The sentences I’ve been reviewing start popping up naturally, and I quickly find the gaps: things I wanted to say but couldn’t. Those gaps become the next sentences I note down, and the cycle starts again.

    Why it works

    Each part feeds the next:

    • Input gives me new language in real context.
    • Study turns the most useful bits into something I can produce.
    • Output puts it to use and shows me what I’m still missing.

    No grammar workbooks, no five different apps, no complicated schedules. Just three activities, done consistently.

    If you want to see how this fits into an actual day, I break it down in How to Speak Mandarin Confidently: A Simple Daily System That Actually Works.

    How to build your own Mandarin study routine

    Your 20% might not look exactly like mine, and that’s fine. Here’s how to work it out.

    1. Get clear on your goal. If you want to speak Mandarin confidently, your time should mostly go into things that build listening and speaking. Hours of handwriting practice won’t get you there, however satisfying it feels.

    2. List everything you’re currently doing. Every app, course, book and habit. Be honest. Most people are surprised by how long the list is.

    3. Ask one question about each item: does this directly help me understand real Mandarin at native speed or say what I want to say? If the answer is “sort of” or “not really”, it’s a candidate for the chop. You need to be a bit more brutal with what you’re doing with your time if you want to make real progress.

    4. Look at what’s actually made you better. Think back to the moments you noticed real progress. What were you doing at the time? That’s a strong clue to your 20%. e.g. I noticed that conversations with friends grew my speaking and listening abilities massively, I also noticed that things I put in my Fluency Trainer just naturally work their way into my future conversations, finally, audiobooks have significantly boosted my vocabulary and motivation. So these are the cornerstone of my routine.

    5. Cut ruthlessly, then double down. Drop or pause the low-value activities, and move that time into the high-value ones. You’ll probably end up studying a similar number of hours, but far more of them will count.

    6. Stick with it. The hardest part isn’t choosing a simple routine. It’s resisting the urge to add the shiny new app you see next month. Give your new Mandarin study routine a few months before you judge it. I would recommend taking some inspiration from my routine, as I’ve found it to work for many others too. I go into more detail in my video Day in My Life Learning Mandarin While Writing My PhD Thesis.

    FAQ

    How many hours a day should I study Mandarin?

    Consistency matters more than hours. A routine you can keep up every day beats a heroic study session once a week. Most of that time can be easy input, like podcasts on your commute, with a short daily review and regular conversations on top. I want to set you the challenge of getting in 1 or 2 hours of Mandarin a day (that sounds hard, but if you use time like your commute, cooking, cleaning, it’s much easier than you think).

    What’s the best Mandarin study routine?

    Focus on the few activities that build real listening and speaking: lots of input, reviewing useful sentences, and speaking with real people. Cut the activities that don’t directly help you with your listening and speaking (if these are your main goals)/

    How many resources should I use to learn Mandarin?

    Fewer than you think. One or two sources of input you enjoy, one tool to review (e.g. my Fluency Trainer) what you’re learning, and one way to practice speaking is plenty.

    Learn more Mandarin by doing less

    Learning Mandarin isn’t about doing everything. It’s about doing the right few things, a lot.

    For me, that’s lots of input, reviewing useful sentences, and talking to real people. Simple, but it works, and it’s the Mandarin study routine I’ve stuck with for years.

    If you want a simple way to handle the study part, give my Fluency Trainer a try: add the sentences you come across and practice saying them out loud until they come out naturally in conversation. You can also sign up to my free email course for more tips like this.

    And I’m curious: what’s in your current Mandarin study routine, and what could you cut? Let me know in the comments here or over on my YouTube channel.

  • Mandarin Word Order: How to Learn It Naturally (Without Memorising Grammar Rules)

    Most Mandarin learners hit the same wall. They can read. They can understand some of what they hear. But when it’s time to speak, it all falls apart.

    The Mandarin word order comes out completely wrong. It feels like you’re translating from English in your head, and not doing a brilliant job of it.

    That isn’t because you don’t know enough words or grammar rules. It’s because you’ve been training yourself to learn Mandarin word order the wrong way. Fix this one thing and you’ll learn to speak fluently much faster, and much more naturally.

    Two common mistakes when learning Mandarin word order

    Most learners try to fix this in one of two ways.

    1. Learning more grammar rules. For example, memorising a formula like subject + time + location + verb + object. The problem is that speaking isn’t a formula. It’s not a maths equation. By the time you’ve recited the formula in your head, the conversation has already moved on.

    2. Translating word for word from English. This can feel productive, but you aren’t training your Mandarin brain. You’re building a slow translation machine that will struggle to keep up in a real conversation.

    Quick note, you can watch the video version of this blog post here.

    Internalise Mandarin sentence patterns, don’t memorise grammar rules

    Here’s the small shift that fixed this for me, and that has been working for a lot of the students I help with their speaking.

    Think about how you learned word order in your native language. You never sat down and learned subject, verb, object. You absorbed thousands of example sentences until the patterns became automatic. Now things simply feel right or wrong.

    Trying to learn Mandarin word order by memorising grammar rules is like learning to ride a bike from a physics textbook. You could memorise every equation about torque and balance, recite them perfectly, and still fall off every time. Balance isn’t something you learn through equations. You learn it by feeling it.

    Mandarin word order works the same way. Instead of asking yourself where the time phrase goes in a sentence, you expose your brain to the same pattern again and again until you instinctively feel where it belongs. When you put it in the wrong place, you can feel that too. Eventually, putting words like [add example words] in the right part of the sentence becomes automatic.

    It’s just like English. When you say “I’m going to the store”, you don’t think about where the verb goes. It just sounds right.

    So the goal isn’t to know the rule. The goal is to get so good that you don’t need the rules at all.

    Sentence-level practice: how to drill Mandarin sentence structure

    Internalising these patterns doesn’t happen by staring at rules on a page. Nor does it happen by memorising huge blocks of Mandarin text. It comes from a specific type of practice.

    The key distinction is this: most learners spend ages on word-level practice, memorising individual words. What you need is sentence-level practice.

    Think about touch typing. I’m okay at it: I can type without looking at the keyboard. I didn’t learn that by memorising how to type “because” or “beautiful”. I gradually learned where every key is, until I could feel it. Because I learned that underlying motor pattern, I can type words I’ve never typed before.

    Sentence-level practice does the same thing for Mandarin:

    1. Take a sentence structure that puts the time, place and verb in the right positions.
    2. Drill variations of it, swapping in different subjects, verbs and places.
    3. Keep going until you feel the pattern intuitively.

    This builds the muscle memory to construct sentences on the spot. You learn the shape of the sentence instead of memorising it by brute force. You could never memorise every sentence you’ll ever need; that would be like reciting a script every time you have a conversation.

    Memorising one sentence gives you one word typed correctly. Internalising the pattern behind it gives you a feel for the whole keyboard. Do this across enough sentence patterns and speaking becomes a matter of swapping things in and out, which makes it a whole lot easier.

    The missing ingredient: feedback on your Mandarin speaking

    There’s one more ingredient. Miss it, and you could be drilling the wrong thing for years without knowing. It made a huge difference to my own Mandarin.

    Imagine you’re learning golf. I don’t know much about golf, but I’m fairly sure there’s a right way to swing the club. You could practice that swing for ages, get really consistent, and be doing it wrong the entire time, because nobody who actually knows golf has given you feedback. Do that for long enough and the mistakes become very hard to undo.

    Speaking practice without feedback is the same trap. Don’t be scared of mistakes; treat them as chances to correct yourself and recalibrate your sense of what sounds natural in Mandarin. Combined with sentence-level practice, feedback builds that instinct for whether your word order is right or wrong.

    That’s why it worries me when learners say they have no one to practice speaking with. Feedback is what helps you consistently produce correct repetitions, so your Mandarin becomes fluent, natural and automatic instead of deeply ingraining mistakes.

    The fix doesn’t have to be complicated:

    • native-speaker friends
    • a native-speaker tutor
    • AI, which can now give you feedback too

    You want every rep to move you forward, not ingrain the wrong way of saying something.

    Recap: 3 steps to master Mandarin word order

    To get Mandarin word order right and speak naturally and confidently, you need to:

    1. Internalise, don’t memorise. Focus on patterns rather than brute-force memorising everything, especially grammar rules.
    2. Drill at the sentence level, so you develop a real feel for what sounds right and wrong.
    3. Get feedback, so you keep recalibrating and get closer to what a native speaker would actually say.

    Put these together and within a few weeks, or perhaps a few months, something will start to shift. You’ll hesitate less, and natural Mandarin will come out that bit more easily.

    Mandarin word order FAQ

    What is the basic word order in Mandarin Chinese?

    Like English, Mandarin is broadly subject-verb-object. The big difference is that time and place usually come before the verb, not at the end of the sentence. That’s exactly the kind of pattern that’s easier to internalise through sentence-level practice than to memorise as a rule.

    Why do I keep getting Mandarin word order wrong when I speak?

    Usually because you’re translating word for word from English, or trying to apply a grammar formula mid-conversation. Both are too slow for real speech. Drilling sentence patterns until they feel automatic fixes this.

    How long does it take to get Mandarin word order right?

    With regular sentence-level practice and feedback, most learners notice a shift within a few weeks to a few months: less hesitation and more natural sentences.

    How can I practice Mandarin speaking without a partner?

    You can drill sentence patterns out loud on your own, and use AI to get feedback on what you say. A native-speaker tutor or friend is ideal, but they aren’t the only option.

    Try it yourself with the Fluency Trainer

    I spent a long time building my Fluency Trainer around these exact principles: internalising patterns, drilling at the sentence level, and recombining chunks in different ways so you learn to speak naturally. It also gives you feedback on every sentence you say out loud.

    Check out the Fluency Trainer here

  • The 5 Most Common Chinese Pronunciation Mistakes (From 1,000+ Student Recordings)

    I listened to over 1,000 recordings from my Chunking Chinese students, and the same handful of Chinese pronunciation mistakes came up again and again.

    These weren’t beginner-only problems. Plenty of intermediate learners, with good vocabulary and solid grammar, were still tripping over the same sounds and tones. The good news? Once you know what to listen for, every one of these is fixable.

    Here are the five most common Chinese pronunciation mistakes I heard, with real example phrases so you can check whether you’re making them too:

    1. Mixing up u and ü
    2. Forgetting the tone change on 一 (yī)
    3. Forgetting the tone change on 不 (bù)
    4. Confusing j and zh
    5. Confusing x and sh

    Mistake 1: Mixing up u and ü

    The single most common Chinese pronunciation mistake I heard was confusing u and ü (often typed as v). And it goes both ways.

    PhrasePinyinWhat I often heard
    路上小心点儿lù shang xiǎoxīn diǎnr路 said as lǜ (like 率)
    考虑kǎolǜ虑 said as lù (like 路)

    路 lù (road) and 率 lǜ (rate, as in 效率) are completely different syllables. So are 虑 lǜ and 路 lù. Swap them and your listener has to guess what you meant.

    How to fix it:

    • u is made with rounded lips pushed forward and the tongue pulled back, closer to the “u” in “pull” than to British “food”, but held longer with tightly rounded lips.
    • ü is made with the tongue forward, as if saying “ee”, then rounding your lips without moving your tongue.
    • Try this: say “eeee”, keep your tongue still, and slowly round your lips. That’s ü.

    Watch out for the spelling trap. After j, q, x and y, ü is written as plain u (句 jù, 去 qù, 需 xū, 鱼 yú). It’s still ü. Only after l and n do you see the two dots: 绿 lǜ, 女 nǚ.

    Mistake 2: Forgetting the 一 (yī) tone change

    Most students learn 一 as yī (first tone) and then say it that way everywhere. But in real speech, 一 changes tone depending on the syllable that follows it. This is called tone sandhi.

    The rule:

    • Before a 4th tone → 一 becomes 2nd tone (yí)
    • Before a 1st, 2nd or 3rd tone → 一 becomes 4th tone (yì)
    • On its own, when counting, in numbers or as an ordinal (第一) → it stays yī
    PhraseNext syllableSay it as
    一天tiān (1st)yì tiān
    一年nián (2nd)yì nián
    一起qǐ (3rd)yìqǐ
    一下xià (4th)yíxià
    差一步bù (4th)chà yí bù

    Pay special attention to 一下 yíxià. Because it’s so common (等一下, 看一下, 注意一下), getting it right makes you sound more natural instantly.

    Tip: Textbooks often print 一 as yī no matter what. Don’t trust the written tone mark; look at the next syllable, this way you won’t fall into the trap of making this common chinese pronunciation mistake.

    Mistake 3: Forgetting the 不 (bù) tone change

    不 follows a similar pattern, and it’s even simpler:

    • Before a 4th tone → 不 becomes 2nd tone (bú)
    • Everywhere else → it stays 4th tone (bù)
    PhraseNext syllableSay it as
    不是这样的shì (4th)bú shì zhèyàng de
    不要yào (4th)búyào
    不喜欢xǐ (3rd)bù xǐhuan

    Why does this happen? Two falling 4th tones back to back are awkward to say quickly, so Mandarin softens the first one into a rising tone. Native speakers do it without thinking.

    If you say bù shì instead of bú shì, people will still understand you, but it’s one of the clearest signs that someone learned Chinese from a textbook rather than by listening.

    Mistake 4: Confusing j and zh

    To English ears, j and zh both sound a bit like the English “j” in “jump”. To Chinese ears, they’re clearly different, and mixing them up changes the word.

    PhrasePinyinWatch for
    这句话zhè jù huàzh in 这, then j in 句
    你住在哪儿nǐ zhù zài nǎr住 is zh, not j
    注意一下zhùyì yíxià注 is zh, not j
    具体jùtǐ具 is j, not zh

    How to fix it:

    • j is a flat-tongue sound. Rest the tip of your tongue behind your lower front teeth and press the middle of your tongue up against the roof of your mouth. Lips slightly spread.
    • zh is a curled-tongue (retroflex) sound. Lift the tip of your tongue and curl it back slightly, just behind the ridge above your upper teeth.

    Notice the link with Chinese Pronunciation Mistake 1: 句 jù and 具 jù are really jü, while 住 zhù and 注 zhù use a plain u. So if you get j vs zh right, the vowel usually falls into place too. The pair 这句话 (zhè jù huà) is a great drill because it puts both sounds side by side.

    Mistake 5: Confusing x and sh

    This is the same problem as j vs zh, just with a hissing sound instead. x and sh both sound like the English “sh” to beginners, but they’re made in different parts of the mouth.

    PhrasePinyinWatch for
    学生xuéshengx first, then sh
    先生xiānshengx first, then sh
    小时xiǎoshíx first, then sh
    休息xiūxiboth are x
    时候shíhoush, not x

    How to fix it:

    • x uses the same flat-tongue position as j: tongue tip down behind your lower teeth, lips spread, as if smiling. It sounds lighter and higher.
    • sh uses the same curled-tongue position as zh: tongue tip lifted back behind the upper gum ridge. It sounds deeper and darker.

    Shortcut: j, q and x are a family (flat tongue). zh, ch and sh are a family (curled tongue). Fix one sound in each family and the others usually follow.

    Words like 学生 and 先生 are perfect practice because you have to switch from x to sh mid-word.

    How to check your own pronunciation

    You can’t fix a mistake you can’t hear. This is the routine I recommend to my students:

    1. Record yourself saying every example phrase in this post.
    2. Listen back the next day, with fresh ears, and compare to a native speaker recording.
    3. Pick one mistake to focus on for a week. Trying to fix everything at once rarely works.
    4. Practise in chunks, not single words. Tone changes like 一下 and 不是 only show up in real phrases.

    Frequently asked questions

    What is the most common Chinese pronunciation mistake? From over 1,000 student recordings, the most common was mixing up u and ü, for example saying 路 (lù) like 率 (lǜ), or 考虑 (kǎolǜ) with a plain u.

    When does 一 change to yí? Before a 4th-tone syllable, such as 一下 (yíxià) and 一样 (yíyàng). Before 1st, 2nd and 3rd tones it becomes yì.

    When does 不 change to bú? Only before a 4th tone, such as 不是 (búshì) and 不要 (búyào). Otherwise it stays bù.

    What’s the difference between j and zh in Chinese? j is made with the tongue tip down behind the lower teeth. zh is made with the tongue tip curled up behind the upper gum ridge.

    How do I tell x and sh apart? x uses a flat tongue and spread lips and sounds lighter. sh uses a curled-back tongue and sounds deeper.

    The Chunking Chinese Fluency Trainer

    These five Chinese pronunciation mistakes were found when I listened to student recordings from our Chunking Chinese Fluency Trainer. If you want to improve your pronunciation to speak Mandarin more clearly and train yourself to speak in ‘chunks’ to speak Mandarin more naturally and confidently in conversation, I highly recommend checking it out.

  • FluentU vs. Chunking Chinese Fluency Trainer: Comprehension vs. Production

    You’ve just finished watching a video. You understood almost every word, you clicked through the subtitles a few times to check a phrase you weren’t sure of, and you felt, genuinely, like you were making progress. Then a friend asks you something in Mandarin, and the sentence doesn’t come as easily as you’d expect. Not because you don’t know the words. You’ve understood them plenty of times. You just haven’t had much practice producing them yourself.

    That’s not a flaw in any particular tool. It’s because comprehension and production are two genuinely different skills, and most learners end up needing dedicated practice for both.

    Two Different Skills, Two Different Tools

    FluentU teaches through real video and audio content, with interactive subtitles you can pause on and click through, and a pop-up dictionary giving you definitions, pronunciation, and example sentences for whatever word you’ve stopped on. Around the videos sits a reinforcement layer: fill-in-the-gap exercises, translation matching, and spaced repetition flashcards for vocabulary drawn from clips you’ve watched.

    That’s a genuinely good design for what it’s aimed at: building listening comprehension and a real feel for how Mandarin is actually used, anchored in content that’s more engaging than a textbook dialogue. Recognising vocabulary in context, picking up natural rhythm and intonation from real speakers, and building the kind of implicit understanding that makes fast native speech less intimidating, that’s a real and valuable part of learning a language, and it’s the part FluentU is built around.

    Production is a different exercise, and it’s the part Chunking Chinese Fluency Trainer is built around instead. Rather than recognising vocabulary in a video you’ve already watched, you get an English prompt and construct the Mandarin sentence yourself, using chunks you’ve actually learnt, in a context you haven’t seen before. Because there are usually several legitimate ways to phrase the same idea in Mandarin, the Fluency Trainer is built to recognise more than one correct answer, rather than expecting you to match one fixed sentence the way a fill-in-the-blank exercise would. And because production also depends on how you say something, not just what you say, we’ve recently built in character-by-character pronunciation and tone feedback when you speak a sentence out loud.

    Everything underneath is built around the same idea: you learn in chunks (e.g. sentence starters, fixed phrases, sentence patterns), new chunks are introduced before you’re tested on recombining them, and exercises specifically target whatever you’re currently weak on rather than depending on whichever words happened to show up in a video. You can also add your own sentences, from your own life, your own conversations and from videos you watch.

    Which One You Actually Need

    If your current focus is comprehension, understanding fast native speech, picking up vocabulary in real context, building a genuine feel for the language, FluentU is a strong, well-designed tool for exactly that, and it’s worth using on its own terms rather than as a stand-in for speaking practice.

    If your current focus is production, being able to construct and say a new sentence on the spot rather than recognise one you’ve already seen, that’s a distinct skill that needs its own dedicated practice. That’s what Chunking Chinese Fluency Trainer is built for.

    Most learners genuinely benefit from both at different stages, and there’s no conflict in using FluentU for comprehension alongside something built specifically for speaking. If production is the piece you’re missing right now, the Fluency Trainer is live and ready to use today. Spaces in each new batch are limited, so if you want hands-on support as you build toward actually speaking Mandarin, join the waiting list here.

  • Glossika vs. Chunking Chinese Fluency Trainer: The Best Glossika Alternative for Learning to Speak Mandarin

    If you’ve been learning Mandarin seriously for a while, there’s a good chance Glossika has come up. It’s one of the few tools built specifically around full sentences rather than isolated vocabulary, and its listen-and-repeat method has a loyal following. If you’re reading this, there’s also a decent chance you’re weighing it up against other options, including Chunking Chinese Fluency Trainer. So here’s an honest look at how the two actually work, where they overlap, and where they don’t.

    How Glossika Works

    Glossika is a mass-sentence, listen-and-repeat training system. Each session gives you five new sentences, and you work through five repetitions of each, twenty-five reps in total: hear the sentence, hear the native-speaker audio, repeat it back. Its spaced repetition engine (Glossika calls it GSR) schedules your reviews around which sentences you’re most likely to be forgetting.

    A typical rep looks like this:

    • You hear an English (or your native-language) sentence.
    • You hear the Mandarin translation, spoken by a native speaker, usually twice.
    • You repeat it, or in full practice mode, type it out and record yourself saying it.

    There’s a lot to like about this. Full sentences give you word order, natural rhythm, and context that isolated vocabulary never can, and Glossika’s native-speaker audio is genuinely useful for pronunciation and listening speed. Its spaced repetition engine is also solid: it’s the same underlying principle Anki and most serious language tools use, applied here to full sentences rather than single words.

    The main limitation is on the production and feedback side. The exercises are built around recognising and reproducing sentences that already exist in Glossika’s bank, so you’re not asked to build new sentences of your own or in new contexts. And in full practice mode, while you can record yourself speaking, the recording is saved without any correction, so you don’t get told whether your pronunciation or tones were actually right. Each sentence in the bank also has one fixed form, so there’s no way for the system to recognise a different, equally correct way of phrasing the same idea.

    Where Chunking Chinese Fluency Trainer Takes a Different Approach

    I built the Fluency Trainer to focus specifically on the piece I just described: taking language you’ve learned and actually producing new sentences in different contexts with it, rather than reproducing sentences you’ve been given. A few of the specific ways that shows up:

    Sentences are constructed, not repeated. Instead of hearing the Mandarin answer and echoing it, you get an English prompt and build the Mandarin sentence yourself, using chunks you’ve already learnt, in contexts you haven’t seen before.

    Chunks are typed by role. Every chunk in the database is tagged as an opener, a question, an opinion, an action, and so on, and I’ve written and organised every chunk and example sentence myself, with native speakers checking them, so the way they combine reflects how they’re actually used in real conversation.

    Alternative correct answers are recognised, not just one fixed sentence. There are usually several legitimate ways to express the same English sentence in Mandarin, depending on register and which chunks you reach for. The Fluency Trainer is built to recognise more than one correct construction for a given prompt, rather than grading against a single fixed answer.

    Pronunciation and tone feedback is character-by-character. We’ve recently built this in directly: when you speak a sentence, you get feedback down to the individual character and tone, rather than just a saved recording.

    Chunks are introduced before they’re tested, and new exercises specifically target the chunks you’re weakest on, rather than moving through a fixed, generic sequence.

    Your progress is shown as a connected network rather than a list of separate items, so you can see how a new chunk links up with what you already know.

    You can add your own sentences. Glossika’s sentence bank is fixed and curated centrally, so everything you train on is generic by design. In the Fluency Trainer, you can add your own sentences, ones from your own conversations, your own life, things you actually want to be able to say, so you’re not limited to material someone else chose for you. You can customize and personalise your learning experience, which played a big role in my Mandarin when I was using Anki, and continues to to do as I use the Fluency Trainer daily. (You can see a comparison of Fluency vs Anki here)

    None of this makes Glossika a bad tool. It’s built to solve listening comprehension and pronunciation exposure, and it does that well. The Fluency Trainer is built to solve a different problem: getting you from recognising Mandarin to actually producing it under a bit of real pressure with instant, flexible feedback so you know where to improve.

    Where Glossika Is a Genuinely Good Fit

    If your current bottleneck is pronunciation, listening speed, or getting your ear used to natural sentence rhythm, especially once you already have a base of vocabulary and grammar, Glossika’s shadowing format is well suited to exactly that. It covers 65 languages, which is useful if Mandarin isn’t the only one you’re working on, and I especially like that it offers a programme for rarer/minority languages that most tools ignore entirely. (In fact, it very generously offers these for free!)

    Where it’s less suited is training flexible sentence construction: holding a real conversation, answering a question you didn’t anticipate, or saying something about your own life that isn’t already sitting in its sentence bank. That’s a different skill, and it’s the one the Fluency Trainer is built around.

    Choosing Between Them

    These two tools are honestly solving different problems, so the more useful question isn’t “which one is better” but “which gap are you trying to close.” If it’s pronunciation and listening speed, Glossika is a solid choice, and plenty of learners use it well. If it’s the ability to construct your own sentences and actually speak in real conversations, that’s what I built the Fluency Trainer for: a chunk database, pattern-based exercises, sentence construction with feedback, synonym-aware grading, and character-level pronunciation feedback, all aimed at production rather than repetition.

    Spaces in each new batch are limited, so if you want hands-on support as you build toward speaking Mandarin in real conversations, join the waiting list here.

  • Anki vs. Chunking Chinese Fluency Trainer: The Best Anki Alternative for Learning to Speak Mandarin

    If you’ve been learning Mandarin for more than a few weeks, chances are you’ve already got Anki installed. It’s the default recommendation in almost every language-learning community, and for good reason: spaced repetition works, and Anki is the most flexible, battle-tested spaced repetition system out there. But if you’re reading this, there’s also a decent chance you’re looking for an Anki alternative, because you’ve noticed the same thing a lot of learners eventually do: Anki gets language into your head, but it doesn’t teach you to speak Mandarin.

    I used Anki for years, and I still think it’s a genuinely excellent tool. But over years of teaching Mandarin learners, I’ve seen the same pattern come up again and again: students who can recognise thousands of words and chunks instantly on a flashcard, and still freeze up mid-conversation trying to produce a sentence they “knew.” Recognition and production are different skills, and Anki, by design, is built almost entirely around the first one.

    That gap is exactly why I built Chunking Chinese Fluency Trainer. Not to replace everything Anki does well, but to fix the part it was never designed to do: turn chunks you’ve memorised into sentences you can actually say, on demand, under pressure.

    Here’s an honest breakdown of the two, and why I think most serious Mandarin learners will eventually outgrow Anki alone.

    What Anki Is Actually Built For

    Anki is a general-purpose spaced repetition engine. You feed it cards, it schedules your reviews, and it’s ruthlessly effective at getting information into long-term memory. That’s an enormous strength, and there’s no shame in using it.

    But look at what actually happens on a typical Anki review:

    • You see a card (often a word, a chunk, or a cloze deletion with a blank).
    • You try to recall the answer.
    • You flip the card and grade yourself: again, hard, good, easy.

    That’s recognition-and-recall in a vacuum. There’s no sentence construction, no feedback on whether the sentence you’d actually produce is grammatically correct or natural, and no sense of how a chunk combines with other chunks you already know. Anki doesn’t know what a chunk is in the linguistic sense; a card is just a card to it, whether it’s a single character, a whole idiom, or an entire sentence.

    That’s not a criticism of Anki as software. It’s simply not what spaced repetition, on its own, was ever designed to solve. You can bend Anki into rough approximations of production practice (English-to-Mandarin cards, cloze deletions, sentence mining decks), and I did that for years. It helps. But you’re the one doing all of the design work: deciding what counts as a chunk, tracking which chunks you’ve actually internalised versus just recognise, and manually engineering new contexts so you’re not staring at the same three example sentences every single review.

    What the Fluency Trainer Does Differently

    Chunking Chinese Fluency Trainer starts from a different question: not “how do I remember this piece of language,” but “how do I get to the point where I can produce a sentence with it, from scratch, when someone’s actually talking to me.”

    That reframing changes everything about how the tool works underneath:

    It knows what a chunk is, and what job it does. Every chunk in the database has a role, like an opener, a question, an opinion, or a way of describing an action. I’ve written and organised every chunk and example sentence myself, and had them checked by native speakers, so the way chunks are grouped and combined reflects how they’re actually used in real Mandarin, the same way you’d instinctively combine them in a real sentence, instead of treating every card as one more disconnected fact to memorise.

    It generates exercises, not just reviews. Instead of showing you the same static card over and over, the Fluency Trainer produces new sentence-construction prompts that force you to recombine chunks you already know in contexts you haven’t seen before. That’s the actual skill: not recognising 对我来说 in isolation, but reaching for it, unprompted, to build a sentence about your own life.

    It grades your output and tells you what’s wrong. When you construct a sentence, you get feedback on it, specifically. Not a binary right/wrong, but a sense of what’s off and why. Anki has no concept of this at all; it can’t, because it doesn’t know what you typed, only whether you clicked “good” or “again” on yourself.

    It tracks mastery, not just review intervals. Anki’s scheduling is about when you’re statistically likely to forget a card. The Fluency Trainer tracks something closer to whether you can actually produce a chunk correctly and flexibly, and it specifically resurfaces the chunks you’re weak on, rather than drilling everything with equal weight regardless of how well you’ve actually got it.

    New chunks are introduced in a controlled sequence. One of the quiet failure modes of a self-built Anki deck is testing yourself on a chunk before you’ve properly learnt it, or in combinations that don’t make sense yet. The Fluency Trainer enforces the order: you’re introduced to a chunk before you’re tested on recombining it, so every exercise is actually achievable rather than a guessing game.

    It has a Speak Mode, so you’re actually speaking, not just typing or clicking. You can speak your sentence directly into the app instead of typing it out, which is a much closer match for what you’ll actually need to do in a real conversation. Anki has no equivalent to this at all; every review there happens silently, in your head or on a keyboard, which is a big part of why typing or recognising a chunk on a flashcard doesn’t automatically mean you can say it out loud when it counts.

    It shows you the network, not just a pile of separate cards. Chunks stick when they’re connected to other chunks and other sentences, not when they’re sitting on their own in a deck. The Fluency Trainer visualises how everything you’re learning links together, so you can actually see a new chunk join up with the ones you already know, rather than trying to keep that web of connections in your head. Anki has no way to show you this at all; every card lives in its own isolated slot, with no sense of how it relates to anything else you’ve learnt.

    None of this is about Anki being a bad tool. In fact, it’s very good at what it does, and I personally used and recommended it for years. It’s about the fact that sentence construction, a chunk-based speaking curriculum, chunk recombination practice, and targeted mastery tracking are a different kind of system entirely, and building that system by hand on top of a general flashcard tool is a lot of ongoing manual work. Work I did for years before I decided to just build the tool I actually wanted.

    Where Anki Still Wins

    I want to be straight with you here, because I still think Anki has a real place, even for someone using the Fluency Trainer.

    Anki is unbeatable for raw, high-volume vocabulary acquisition: characters, or anything where recognition genuinely is the goal (like reading comprehension, where you need instant recall of thousands of items). It’s also infinitely customisable if you’re the kind of learner who enjoys building your own system, it’s free and open source, and its ecosystem of shared decks and add-ons is enormous.

    If your goal were purely “read as much Mandarin as possible, as fast as possible,” Anki alone might be enough. But that’s not most people’s actual goal. Most people learning Mandarin want to speak it, in real conversations, under the kind of mild pressure that a flashcard never replicates.

    The Real Answer: They’re Not Really Competing for the Same Job

    The honest version of this comparison is that Anki and the Fluency Trainer are optimised for different outputs. Anki optimises for retention of discrete facts. The Fluency Trainer optimises for the ability to produce natural, correct Mandarin sentences on demand, which is a fundamentally harder and more specific problem, and one that recognition-based review was never going to solve on its own no matter how well-scheduled your reviews are.

    That’s why I built the chunk database, the pattern-based exercise generation, the sentence grading, and the weak-chunk targeting directly into one system, instead of trying to hack sentence production on top of a tool built for something else. If your bottleneck right now is remembering that a word exists, Anki will serve you well. If your bottleneck is opening your mouth in a real conversation and finding that the words won’t come out in the right order, that’s the exact gap Chunking Chinese Fluency Trainer was built to close.

    I still think spaced repetition, in some form, belongs in every serious learner’s routine. But repetition alone was never going to be enough to get me speaking, and I don’t think it’s enough for you either. If you’ve been searching for an Anki alternative that’s actually built to get you speaking Mandarin, not just remembering it, the Fluency Trainer is live and ready to use today.

    Spaces in each new batch are limited, so if you want hands-on support as you make the switch from recognising Mandarin to actually speaking it, join the waiting list here:

    JOIN THE FLUENCY TRAINER WAITING LIST

  • How to Speak Mandarin Confidently: A Simple Daily System That Actually Works

    Struggling to speak Mandarin confidently, even though you’ve been studying for a while?

    You’re not alone. Most learners hit a wall where they understand more than they can say. The problem isn’t knowledge, it’s lack of speaking practice.

    The good news? You don’t need a tutor, a partner, or hours of free time.

    You just need the right system.

    What You’ll Learn in This Guide

    • A proven method to improve Mandarin speaking skills alone and learn to speak Mandarin confidently
    • Daily exercises to build speak Mandarin confidently
    • How to sound more natural without memorizing scripts

    Quick tip here, if you prefer learning systems like this one in video format then click here.

    Step 1: “Shadow Speaking” – Practice Without a Partner

    If you want to speak Mandarin fluently, you need to start speaking daily, even if you’re alone.

    Think of this like shadow boxing. Before sparring, boxers train by practicing movements repeatedly on their own, effectively ‘punching air’.

    On the outside it looks crazy, but boxers rave about the speed, agility and fluidity shadow boxing builds.

    You can do the same with Mandarin.

    Let’s do some “Shadow Speaking” – sorry I couldn’t come up with a better name for the following exercises.

    Let’s get into it…

    Exercise 1: Name Objects Around You

    This is the fastest way to build active vocabulary.

    Walk around your home and name everything in Mandarin:

    • Table
    • Phone
    • Window
    • Door

    Don’t know a word? Write it down and look it up later.

    Why it works:

    • Reinforces memory through real-world context – you’re literally connecting a physical real-life object with the corresponding Mandarin
    • Trains fast recall (essential for conversations)
    • Builds confidence quickly

    Exercise 2: Narrate Your Daily Life

    This is where real progress happens.

    Start describing your actions out loud:

    • “I’m making coffee.”
    • “I’m going to work.”
    • “I’m watching a video.”

    At first, it will feel slow and awkward. That’s normal.

    But over time:

    • You stop translating
    • You think directly in Mandarin
    • Your speech becomes automatic

    This is how you move from knowing Mandarin to actually using it.

    Step 2: Use the “Imitate Line-by-Line” Technique

    If your goal is to sound natural in Mandarin, this step is essential.

    How it works:

    1. Listen to a native speaker
    2. Pause
    3. Repeat exactly what they said

    This technique helps you:

    • Improve pronunciation
    • Develop natural rhythm
    • Learn real sentence patterns (not textbook language)

    🔧 Tools You Can Use

    The method doesn’t matter, consistency does.

    Step 3: Record Yourself Speaking Mandarin

    Want to accelerate your progress?

    Start recording yourself.

    Yes, it feels uncomfortable. That’s why it works.

    What to record:

    • Short daily updates
    • Practice conversations
    • Mini “podcasts”

    Why this is powerful:

    • Simulates real conversation pressure
    • Highlights mistakes you don’t notice
    • Tracks your progress over time

    If you can speak confidently on camera, real conversations will feel easy.

    I genuinely think that some of my success in Mandarin learning is down to making so many videos in Mandarin.

    Your 15-Minute Daily Mandarin Speaking Routine

    If you want to improve your Mandarin speaking fast, follow this:

    Daily:

    • 5 minutes – Name objects around your house
    • 5 minutes – Say 5 sentences about your day
    • 10 minutes – Imitate native speech

    Weekly:

    • Record yourself speaking Mandarin (any topic) and save them so you can keep track of your progress over time

    FAQ: Speaking Mandarin Confidently

    How can I practice speaking Mandarin by myself?

    Use techniques like naming objects, narrating your life, and imitation. These simulate real conversations without needing a partner.

    How long does it take to speak Mandarin confidently?

    With daily practice, most learners notice improvements in confidence within a few weeks.

    Why do I understand Mandarin but can’t speak it?

    Because passive knowledge (listening/reading) doesn’t automatically become active speaking ability, you need deliberate speaking practice.

    Final Thoughts: Speak First, Improve Faster

    Most learners delay speaking because they want to be “ready.”

    But here’s the truth:

    You become ready by speaking.

    Not by memorizing more words.
    Not by studying more grammar.

    And definitely not by waiting to be ‘ready’.

    We all want to feel ready before we start speaking Mandarin…

    But you actually learn to speak Mandarin confidently, by speaking an awful lot.

    It’s one of those things where you just have to take the plunge and go for it.

    So if you want to speak Mandarin confidently, start today:

    • Speak out loud
    • Make mistakes (don’t be scared of them – as we’d say in Mandarin 失败是成功之母 – failure is the mother of success!)
    • Build consistency

    Do that, and fluency will follow.

    If you’re ready to start building real fluency in Mandarin and speak Mandarin more naturally and confidently in as little as 50 days then click here to get access to my exclusive system.

  • Stop Memorising Vocabulary: 5 Mandarin Sentence Starters That Instantly Make You Sound Fluent

    Most Mandarin learners obsess over expanding their vocabulary. But very few focus on mastering Mandarin sentence starters, which are the real key to sounding natural. New words, flashcards, endless lists. But here’s the truth: vocabulary alone won’t make you sound fluent.

    The real struggle? Starting your sentences.

    That awkward pause. That hesitation. That moment where you know what you want to say, but can’t quite begin.

    In this post, you’ll discover a simple shortcut: mastering natural sentence starters. These are the phrases native speakers rely on to structure thoughts, add nuance, and sound effortlessly fluent.

    Let’s dive into five powerful Mandarin sentence starters that can transform your speaking instantly.

    By the way guys, if you want to check out the video version of this blog post click here.

    1. 随着… (suízhe…) — “As… / With time…”

    This phrase expresses gradual change over time. It’s incredibly useful when describing development, progress, or evolving opinions.

    Example:

    • 随着时间的推移，我对中国文化的理解越来越深。
      (As time has gone on, my understanding of Chinese culture has deepened.)

    Why it works:
    It adds sophistication and flow to your sentences, making your speech feel more structured and natural.

    2. 到目前为止… (dào mùqián wéizhǐ…) — “So far…”

    Perfect for summarising progress or results up to a certain point.

    Examples:

    • 到目前为止，我已经学了1000个汉字。
      (So far, I’ve learned 1000 Chinese characters.)
    • 到目前为止，一切都很顺利。
      (So far, everything has gone smoothly.)

    Why it works:
    It signals clarity and organisation, great for storytelling or giving updates.

    3. 说实话… (shuō shíhuà…) — “To be honest…”

    Use this when you want to be direct, soften criticism, or share a candid opinion.

    Examples:

    • 说实话，这个有点难。
      (To be honest, this is a bit difficult.)
    • 说实话，我不太喜欢这个方法。
      (Honestly, I don’t really like this method.)

    Why it works:
    It makes you sound more natural and conversational, just like a native speaker easing into a potentially sensitive point.

    4. 以我的经验来看… (yǐ wǒ de jīngyàn lái kàn…) — “In my experience…”

    Ideal for giving advice, insights, or personal opinions.

    Examples:

    • 以我的经验来看，多听多说最有效。
      (In my experience, listening and speaking more is most effective.)
    • 以我的经验来看，这个方法很好用。
      (From my experience, this method works well.)

    Why it works:
    It positions you as thoughtful and reflective, adding authority to your statements.

    5. 回过头来看… (huí guò tóu lái kàn…) — “Looking back…”

    Great for storytelling and reflection.

    Examples:

    • 回过头来看，那段时间真的很难。
      (Looking back, that time was really tough.)
    • 回过头来看，我其实进步了很多。
      (Looking back, I’ve actually improved a lot.)

    Why it works:
    It adds a narrative quality to your Mandarin, making your speech more engaging and expressive.

    Why Mandarin Sentence Starters Are the Real Fluency Hack

    Here’s the key insight: Fluency isn’t about knowing more words, it’s about using what you know more effectively. By mastering a few core Mandarin sentence starters, you can dramatically improve how you sound.

    Sentence starters:

    • Reduce hesitation
    • Help you organise thoughts
    • Make you sound natural instantly
    • Give you time to think while speaking

    Instead of freezing at the start of a sentence, you’ll have a reliable way to begin using natural Mandarin sentence starters.

    How to Use Mandarin Sentence Starters in Real Conversations

    Don’t try to memorise all five Mandarin sentence starters at once. Instead:

    Practice Mandarin Sentence Starters Daily

    1. Pick one or two phrases
    2. Use them in real conversations
    3. Repeat them daily until automatic

    Fluency comes from repetition, not perfection.

    Final Thought

    Next time you struggle to speak Mandarin, don’t reach for more vocabulary.

    Start with a better beginning.

    Master these Mandarin sentence starters, and you’ll notice something surprising:
    You’re not just speaking more, you’re sounding more like a native.

    If you want to go further, build a personal list of sentence starters and practice them daily. It’s one of the fastest ways to unlock natural, confident Mandarin.

    If you want to learn more sentence starters and sentence patterns that will help you unlock natural sounding Mandarin then check this out.

  • 17 Mandarin Learning Mistakes That Are Slowing Your Fluency (And How to Fix Them)

    Learning Mandarin is an incredible journey, but it’s also very easy to make the following 17 Mandarin learning mistakes that quietly slow down your progress.

    Looking back on my own journey, from sounding like a complete robot in Mandarin to doing interviews and speaking comfortably on YouTube, there are a lot of things I would do differently if I started again.

    In this article, I want to share the biggest Mandarin learning mistakes I made, so you can avoid them and reach spoken Mandarin fluency much faster.

    Some of these mistakes slowed my progress for months. A few slowed me down for years.

    Let’s start with one of the most common.

    Mistake #1: Translating Everything in Your Head

    One of the biggest Mandarin learning mistakes beginners make is constantly translating between English and Mandarin.

    At first, this is normal.

    It’s a bit like riding a bike with stabilisers.

    The stabilisers help you stay balanced in the beginning, but if you keep them on too long, they actually stop you from learning how to ride properly.

    The same thing happens with translation.

    If every sentence goes through this process:

    Mandarin → English → Response → Mandarin

    your conversations will always feel slow and unnatural.

    To reach spoken Mandarin fluency, you eventually need to start thinking directly in Mandarin.

    When you do, two big things happen:

    • Your responses become faster
    • Your listening comprehension improves dramatically

    So don’t leave this transition too late.

    The sooner you start learning to think in Mandarin, the smoother your conversations will become.

    Mistake #2: Ignoring Cultural Context

    Another one of my Mandarin learning mistakes is focusing only on vocabulary and grammar while ignoring culture.

    I learned this the hard way.

    The first time I went to China, I had a conversation with someone and said something that sounded perfectly fine when translated directly from English.

    But culturally, it was very inappropriate.

    What I meant to say was something caring and polite.

    What I actually said sounded awkward and slightly offensive.

    That experience taught me something important:

    Mandarin isn’t just a language.
    It’s deeply connected to Chinese culture and social norms.

    If you want to:

    • build friendships
    • have natural conversations
    • avoid awkward situations

    you need to expose yourself to authentic Mandarin content like:

    • TV shows
    • podcasts
    • conversations with native speakers
    • books and online content

    Cultural awareness is a huge part of speaking Mandarin naturally.

    Mistake #3: Learning Individual Words Without Context

    Early in my Mandarin learning journey, I made terrible flashcards.

    I recently found one from years ago.

    Front: 猫
    Back: Cat

    That was it.

    No context. No example sentence. No pattern.

    Looking back now, it seems ridiculous.

    Words have nuance and usage patterns that only make sense in context.

    A much better approach is learning language in chunks.

    Chunks are short pieces of language like:

    • sentence patterns
    • common phrases
    • sentence starters

    For example:

    • 我很好奇… (I’m really curious…)
    • 说实话… (to be honest…)
    • 对我来说… (for me personally…)

    These chunks act as the real building blocks of spoken Mandarin.

    If you’d like examples to start with, I’ve put together some free PDFs with sentence patterns and sentence starters that you can download and start practicing immediately. You can check them out here.

    Mistake #4: Not Taking Mandarin Tones Seriously

    When I first started learning Mandarin, my tones were terrible.

    Even worse, my speech sounded robotic.

    I remember sending voice messages on language exchange apps like Tandem, and people genuinely couldn’t understand what I was saying.

    It was embarrassing.

    If I could start again, I would focus on tones much earlier (not doing so is one of the most common Mandarin learning mistakes I see when working with my students!).

    A good approach is to practise:

    Tone pairs

    For example:

    • má → mǎ
    • mǎ → mà

    Whole sentence imitation

    Once you’re comfortable with tones individually, start copying the rhythm of full sentences.

    This is where pronunciation really starts to improve.

    You can do this easily with my Speak Mandarin with Me playlist.

    Mistake #5: Not Doing Enough Listening Practice

    For the first four months of learning Mandarin, I spoke every day with a friend.

    My speaking improved quite quickly.

    But my listening comprehension was terrible.

    The problem?

    I wasn’t getting enough input.

    Speaking practice is important (something that a lot of people on the internet simply don’t emphasise enough!) , but listening is what builds your internal language system.

    Everything changed when I started:

    • listening to podcasts
    • watching TV shows every night
    • surrounding myself with Mandarin audio

    Within a few months, my listening ability improved dramatically.

    So from day one, try to listen to as much Mandarin as possible, especially content that is close to your level.

    Mistake #6: Believing You Need 8 Hours of Study Per Day

    A lot of learners think Mandarin requires extreme study routines.

    Eight hours a day.

    Perfect discipline.

    Non-stop studying.

    But that’s not how most people succeed.

    During the busiest period of my medical degree, I only had:

    • 20–30 minutes of focused study per day
    • regular listening throughout the day
    • occasional speaking practice

    And that was enough.

    Consistency beats intensity.

    A sustainable Mandarin routine might look like:

    • 20–30 minutes focused study
    • passive listening during the day
    • occasional speaking practice

    That combination can take you very far.

    Mistake #7: Searching for the “Perfect Method”

    Many Mandarin learners spend months jumping between methods.

    New apps.
    New systems.
    New study routines.

    I did this constantly.

    Whenever something felt difficult, I assumed the method was wrong.

    But eventually I realised something important:

    There is no perfect Mandarin learning method.

    The best system is the one that works for your life and your goals.

    What matters most is consistency and adaptation.

    Mistake #8: Not Prioritising the Right Vocabulary

    Mandarin is enormous.

    There are:

    • over 20,000 characters
    • hundreds of thousands of possible words and phrases

    Trying to learn everything is impossible, and doing so is one of the top Mandarin learning mistakes.

    Instead, prioritise language based on your goals.

    If your goal is daily conversation, focus on:

    • conversational vocabulary
    • common sentence patterns
    • everyday expressions

    Don’t waste time memorising niche vocabulary you’ll never use.

    Prioritisation completely transformed the way I learned Mandarin.

    Mistake #9: Making Terrible Flashcards

    Another major Mandarin learning mistake is creating ineffective flashcards.

    Many learners make cards like:

    Chinese → English

    But these cards don’t train real language usage, they just train receptive abilities and recognition.

    A better approach is using cloze deletion flashcards or using cards that also go English to Chinese. These two types of flashcard helped train recall. You can automate the production of flashcards using my tool Chunk Deck.

    This keeps the language in context and helps you remember patterns more effectively.

    Mistake #10: Not Recording Your Mandarin Progress

    One thing I regret is not recording my progress earlier.

    Many of my students regularly record:

    • speaking practice sessions
    • short Mandarin monologues
    • conversation clips

    When they look back at old recordings, they can clearly see their improvement.

    This is incredibly motivating.

    Even if you never share them publicly, recording yourself speaking Mandarin is a powerful learning tool.

    Mistake #11: Not Learning Mandarin in Chunks

    This is probably the biggest Mandarin learning mistake of all.

    When I started learning Mandarin in chunks, sentence patterns, templates, and common structures, everything changed.

    For example, if you learn one sentence pattern like:

    既然…那就…

    you can suddenly create thousands of sentences.

    That’s the leverage effect of chunking.

    Instead of memorising individual words, you’re learning ready-made building blocks of the language.

    Mistake #12: Ignoring Mandarin Rhythm

    Natural Mandarin speech isn’t just about tones.

    It also has rhythm and flow.

    When learners focus only on individual words, their speech sounds robotic.

    Practicing full sentence imitation helps you develop more natural rhythm and pacing.

    Mistake #13: Not Having a Clear Learning System

    Eventually, I realised that effective Mandarin learning needs a system that connects:

    • pronunciation
    • listening
    • speaking
    • memory

    When these pieces work together, your speaking ability improves much faster.

    Mistake #14: Overestimating Your Ability

    There’s a psychological phenomenon called the Dunning-Kruger effect.

    At a certain stage, learners often overestimate their ability.

    I definitely went through that phase, and it’s a big Mandarin learning mistake and not very culturally appropriate.

    But as your Mandarin improves, you become more aware of how much there still is to learn.

    Staying humble keeps you improving.

    Mistake #15: Trying to Help Everyone

    When I first started teaching Mandarin online, I tried to help every learner.

    But over time, I realised I care most about helping intermediate learners who feel stuck.

    Once I focused on that group, both my teaching and my content improved dramatically.

    My goal here at Chunking Chinese is to help intermediate Mandarin learners speak Mandarin naturally and confidently.

    Mistake #16: Not Practising Speaking Through Video

    Recording videos in Mandarin, even just for yourself, can dramatically improve:

    • clarity
    • sentence structure
    • confidence

    You don’t have to publish them.

    But the act of explaining ideas in Mandarin forces you to organise your thoughts clearly.

    Mistake #17: Using Content You Don’t Enjoy

    Finally, one of the worst Mandarin learning mistakes is forcing yourself to study boring content.

    If the material doesn’t interest you, Mandarin becomes a chore.

    But when you find the right content, topics you genuinely enjoy, you can become almost addicted to learning.

    That’s when real progress happens.

    Final Thoughts on Avoiding Mandarin Learning Mistakes

    Every Mandarin learner makes mistakes.

    I certainly did.

    But if you can avoid these common Mandarin learning mistakes, you’ll progress much faster and enjoy the journey much more.

    Focus on:

    • thinking in Mandarin
    • learning chunks instead of individual words
    • listening as much as possible
    • prioritising useful language
    • staying consistent

    Do that, and Mandarin becomes far more manageable, and far more fun.

  • How to Collect High-Quality Mandarin Chunks (Without Overwhelming Yourself)

    In the last post, we looked at why the lexical approach works so well for spoken Mandarin and the four main types of Mandarin chunks native speakers rely on.

    But there’s a question that always comes next:

    “Okay… but where do I actually get these chunks from?”

    And just as importantly:

    “How do I know which chunks are worth learning?”

    Because not all chunks are created equal.

    In this post, I want to show you how to collect high-quality Mandarin chunks from real input, without drowning in notes, flashcards, or resources.

    The Real Goal: Mandarin Chunks You Can Actually Use

    Before we talk about where to collect Mandarin chunks, we need to clarify the goal.

    You are not collecting Mandarin chunks to:

    • understand grammar better
    • sound impressive on paper
    • memorise lists

    You are collecting Mandarin chunks to:

    • speak more smoothly
    • think less while talking
    • sound natural in real conversations

    That one filter alone will save you a huge amount of time.

    Where High-Quality Mandarin Chunks Come From

    The best chunks don’t come from textbooks.

    They come from how Mandarin is actually used.

    Here are the most reliable sources.

    1. Real Conversations (The Gold Standard)

    If you only choose one source, make it this.

    Pay attention to:

    • phrases people repeat
    • reactions that appear again and again
    • sentence starters natives use without thinking

    Examples you might hear constantly:

    • 原来如此
    • 说实话
    • 对我来说
    • 难怪你这么说

    If multiple native speakers say the same thing in similar situations, that’s a chunk worth keeping.

    2. Podcasts and YouTube (Especially Casual Speech)

    Scripted news Mandarin is fine, but spoken fluency lives in casual content.

    When listening, don’t ask:

    “Do I understand every word?”

    Ask instead:

    “What keeps showing up?”

    That’s where the chunks are.

    3. TV Shows (But Only If You’re Selective)

    TV can be very useful, if you focus on:

    • everyday situations
    • realistic dialogue
    • modern settings

    You’re not watching for entertainment alone.
    You’re watching for reusable language.

    How to Spot a “Good” Chunk

    Here’s a simple test.

    A chunk is high-quality if it meets at least two of these conditions:

    1. You hear it often
    2. It works in many situations
    3. You could imagine yourself using it
    4. It would be hard to translate word-for-word
    5. It feels “complete” when spoken

    For example:

    • 在我看来……
    • 把……当成……
    • 说白了……

    These aren’t just sentences.
    They’re tools.

    What Not to Collect (This Matters)

    One of the biggest mistakes learners make is collecting:

    • rare vocabulary
    • overly specific sentences
    • impressive but unnatural phrases

    If you’ve never heard a chunk used naturally, don’t prioritise it.

    Fluency comes from high-frequency usefulness, not novelty.

    How Many Chunks Should You Learn?

    Less than you think.

    A small number of well-chosen chunks will:

    • outperform hundreds of isolated words
    • reduce hesitation
    • improve accuracy automatically

    Focus on:

    • A few chunks a day
    • using them repeatedly
    • seeing and encountering them in different contexts

    Depth beats quantity every time, especially when learning Mandarin with the Chunking Chinese Method as an intermediate learner.

    How to Practice Chunks So They Stick

    Here’s a simple, sustainable approach:

    1. Notice the chunk
    2. Write down one natural example
    3. Say it out loud
    4. Change one element
    5. Use it again later

    For example:

    对我来说，这个不太重要
    对我来说，现在最重要的是时间

    You’re not memorising, you’re training patterns. I call this practice sentence transformations and this is exactly the kind of practice I teach my students to do in Chunking Chinese.

    Why This Feels Easier Over Time

    At first, chunk learning feels slow.

    Then something clicks.

    You stop asking:

    “How do I say this?”

    And start thinking:

    “Which chunk fits here?”

    That’s when Mandarin stops feeling like a 1000 piece puzzle without the picture and starts feeling like a system you can actually use. In fact, those are the exact words of one of my students.

    Final Thought

    Spoken Mandarin isn’t built word-by-word.

    It’s built chunk by chunk.

    If you collect the right chunks and with enough base vocabulary to swap in and out of them, practice them lightly but consistently, and hear them often enough, fluency becomes a by-product, not a struggle.

    And that’s exactly how native-like Mandarin is really learned.

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