Skip hanzi, completely

[wantttt]

I’ve been learning Chinese for a while now, and one thing I realized is that just reading or listening isn’t enough — I would forget new words almost as fast as I learned them.

What really made a difference for me was actively typing and listening at the same time. That’s why I started using https://typingmandarin.com — it’s a free site where you hear short Chinese sentences (sorted by HSK level) and type exactly what you hear, tone marks included.

Typing forces me to recall characters and pinyin from memory, not just recognize them. It’s like muscle memory for your brain. When I listen, type, and then see the correct sentence instantly, the repetition locks the pattern in my head.

It also helps me notice word order, tone patterns, and small grammar points that I’d usually miss in passive listening. After a few days, I started remembering whole phrases instead of isolated words.

If you’re struggling to retain vocabulary, I highly recommend trying something interactive like this — it turns listening practice into active recall, and it’s surprisingly fun!

[lrai]

wannt:

YES, I couldn't have said it better! As a teacher I know that some kids need the kinetic input for learning anything. When they can do it, they can learn it. I am also a kinetic learner (learn by doing) so doing the hanzi practice for me has been essential. I will check out the link you suggested so I can dive deeper. Thanks.

[MrMeowPuss]

I’ve been learning Chinese for a while now, and one thing I realized is that just reading or listening isn’t enough — I would forget new words almost as fast as I learned them.

What really made a difference for me was actively typing and listening at the same time. That’s why I started using https://typingmandarin.com — it’s a free site where you hear short Chinese sentences (sorted by HSK level) and type exactly what you hear, tone marks included.

Typing forces me to recall characters and pinyin from memory, not just recognize them. It’s like muscle memory for your brain. When I listen, type, and then see the correct sentence instantly, the repetition locks the pattern in my head.

It also helps me notice word order, tone patterns, and small grammar points that I’d usually miss in passive listening. After a few days, I started remembering whole phrases instead of isolated words.

If you’re struggling to retain vocabulary, I highly recommend trying something interactive like this — it turns listening practice into active recall, and it’s surprisingly fun!

Does it still require learning Hanzi or can you do Pinyin only? Sadly I had to stop learning after a year due to this app forcing Hanzi.

[McGonnagle]

I would like to introduce the famous tonal tongue-twister poem “The Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den (Shī shì shí shī shǐ)” was created by the linguist Zhao Yuanren (Zhào Yuánrèn / 趙元任).

The poem humorously showcases the complexity and playfulness of Chinese tones.
Amazingly, every single word in the poem is pronounced “shi.”
Without the Chinese characters, even native speakers would find it almost impossible to understand.

It is often used as a tongue-twister game to read aloud, but even in the Chinese character version, it remains quite a challenge for native speakers.　　

Pinyin Version:
Shī shì shí shī shǐ　　
1 Shí shì shī shì Shī shì, shì shī, shì shí shí shī.
2 Shí shí shì shì shì shī.
3 Shí shí, shì shí shī shì shì.
4 Shì shí, shì Shī shì shì shì.
5 Shī shì shì shì shí shī, shì shǐ shì, shǐ shì shí shī shì shì.
6 Shī shì shí shì shí shī shī, shì shí shì.
7 Shí shì shī, Shī shì shǐ shì shì shí shì.
8 Shí shì shì, Shī shì shǐ shì shí shì shí shī.
9 Shí shí, shǐ shí shì shí shī shī, shí shí shí shī shī.
10 Shì shì shì shì.　　
　　
Chinese Characters:
施氏食獅史　
1. 石室詩士施氏，嗜獅，誓食十獅。
2. 時時適市視獅。
3. 十時，適十獅適市。
4. 是時，適施氏適市。
5. 施氏視是十獅，恃矢勢，使是十獅逝世。
6. 施氏拾是十獅屍，適石室。
7. 石室濕，施氏使侍拭石室。
8. 石室拭，施氏始試食是十獅屍。
9. 食時，始識是十獅屍，實十石獅屍。
10. 試釋是事。
　　
English Translation:
Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den　(Literal translation: The Story of Mr. Shi Eating Lions)
1. In a stone den lived the poet Shi, who loved lions and vowed to eat ten of them.
2. From time to time, he would go to the market to look at lions.
3. At ten o’clock, ten lions happened to arrive at the market.
4. At that time, Shi happened to be at the market.
5. Shi looked at the ten lions, and relying on his skill with arrows, he caused all ten lions to die.
6. Shi collected the carcasses of the ten lions and brought them back to the stone den.
7. The stone den was damp, so Shi had his attendants wipe it dry.
8. After wiping the den, Shi began to prepare to eat the ten lion carcasses.
9. While eating, he realized that the ten lion carcasses were actually made of ten stone lions.
10. Thus, the matter was explained.

[lrai]

Love it, my students love to do this tongue twister when we do English ones and they then do a Chinese one. This is a hoot. Love the link!