Learning Chinese? 11 BLOGS you should know about

When learning Chinese blogs are a great source for ideas, tips and inspiration. These are my favorite Chinese learning blogs.

Blogs come an go and some of them have already turned into online fossils. So when I made this top 10, I looked for four things:

  • Engaging and fresh content
  • Relevance
  • Passion
  • Integrity

Top 11 blogs for learning Mandarin

ONE: Hacking Chinese

Hacking Chinese blog by Olle Linge from Sweden
Hacking Chinese is a blog by Mandarin expert Olle Linge from Sweden who has studied for four years in Taiwan and teaches Chinese and English. Having a solid background in linguistics, he answers almost all questions related to successfully learning Mandarin Chinese. His main advice for language learners: “If you don’t take responsibility and think for yourself, it will take ages to reach a decent level, but if you become aware of how to learn and study efficiently, fluency is within reach.” Olle also organizes the “monthly extensive reading challenge“. The main goal here is not “intensive reading” but reading as much Chinese as you can below or at your current level.

TWO: Sinosplice

Sinosplice blog by John Pasden
This is a great blog by John Pasden, a Mandarin expert “who’s been around” for a long time. He has published a great series of graded readers for Mandarin learners. Check out his list of resources and inspiring podcasts. It’s a great starting point by someone who knows every obstacle on the way, but maybe a little too nerdy and old-school for some.

THREE: The Linguist Blog

The Linguist Blog by polyglot Steve Kaufmann
You’re learning but you feel a little stuck? Visit Steve Kaufmann’s blog for inspiration and tips. Steve is probably one of the most experienced language learners out there. He speaks Mandarin as well as 19 other languages.

FOUR: Chinese Zero to Hero

Chinese Zero to Hero website
Chinese Zero to Hero is not a blog, but a very useful website for Chinese learners. Lots of interesting resources for listening, reading and grammar and the Zero to Hero team keeps improving and expanding the website. I’ve grown very fond of the transcribed YouTube videos and their music database. You can even adjust the website’s settings to your personal taste (show / hide Pinyin, simplified / traditional characters etc.). Great work.

FIVE: alllanguageresources.com/chinese/

All language resources blog
Looking for the best learning tools and apps for learning Mandarin? Or a quick overview of what’s out there? All Language Resources is all about reviewing learning resources for Mandarin Chinese and giving you their best recommendations. The author takes his time for testing and knows what he’s writing about.

SIX: Keats Blog

Keats learn Chinese blog

This is the corporate blog from the Keats Chinese school in Kunming, China. Here you find anything from the latest HSK-updates to practical learning advice like the do’s and dont’s of self-studying Mandarin Chinese, but also relevant information about living in China. My personal favorite is their series about China’s major cities.

SEVEN: Outlier-Linguistics Blog

Outlier linguistics blog
You may have heard about their Chinese dictionary add-on for Pleco. These guys are Hanzi experts who want to share their knowledge with the world. Want to ease your suffering studying Chinese characters? This is the place to look for new ideas and efficient study methods.

EIGHT: FluentU

Fluentu Mandarin Chinese language and culture blog
FluentU is more like a corporate blog which has a team of (freelance) writers blogging for them. They don’t always share the most practical advice, they do post a lot of relevant tips and ideas though. If you’re wondering what apps you might want to use and which Chinese movies to watch, this is the right place.

NINE: Chineasy Blog

Chineasy Blog
This is another corporate blog and similar to FluentU you’ll find a broad variety of topics here, not everything directly related to learning Mandarin, but interesting and engaging articles nonetheless. If you’re a fan of the Chineasy approach to character learning, you’ve come to the right place. What the blog lacks, is a categorization of content by topic, level, date etc.

TEN: Sapore di Cina

Sapore di Cina: traveling or living in Asia blog
This website as well is a lot broader than just focusing on mastering Mandarin. I included it because of its practical tips for foreigners interested in traveling or even living in China.

ELEVEN: Mandarin Monkey

The Mandarin Monkey corporate blog has an impressive variety of articles focused on Mandarin learning to offer. Some are practical like “21 Tips to Make More Time to Learn Mandarin“, some inspirational like “7 Quotes From the Stoics That Are Useful for Learning Mandarin“. Mandarin Monkey is an online language school that blends English and Chinese to teach Mandarin.

What’s your favorite Chinese learning blog? Please feel free to comment down below.

Graded Chinese readers

Graded Chinese Reader 500 Words: Selected Abridged Chinese Contemporary Mini-stories
Graded Chinese Reader 1000 Words: Selected Abridged Chinese Contemporary Short Stories
The Rise of the Monkey King: A Story in Simplified Chinese and Pinyin 600 Word Vocabulary Level
The Sixty Year Dream: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers Level 1 (Chinese Edition)
The Dwarfs 小矮人 Xiǎo ǎi rén (HSK3+Reading): Chinese HSK Graded Reader
The Prince and the Pauper: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers Level 1,
Chinese Breeze Graded Reader Series Level 1(300-Word Level): Wrong, Wrong, Wrong!
Graded Chinese Reader 3000 Words: Selected Abridged Chinese Contemporary Short Stories

Disclosure: These are affiliate links. They help me to support this blog, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.

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9 thoughts on “Learning Chinese? 11 BLOGS you should know about

  1. Great list, thank you for putting this together!

    It’s sad to see that some of these wonderful blogs haven’t been updated for a long time or are not updated frequently. I hope to see fresh posts from their authors soon.

    As an avid Chinese learner, I’m always in search of new blogs and resources to supplement my study. One of my recent findings is Hack Chinese blog – https://www.hackchinese.com/blog. I came to this blog looking for some tips to improve my Chinese vocabulary, and I immediately fell in love with it. This blog is run by Daniel Nalesnik, a guy who moved to Hong Kong from the US and dedicated over 10 years to studying Chinese. Daniel shares his practical advice on how to expand your vocabulary, improve pronunciation, and other important aspects of learning Chinese.

    This blog has earned a lasting place among my favorite blogs for learning Chinese. I hope other language learners will enjoy it too.

  2. Have you heard of TUTOROO?
    You can learn the Mandarin language by hiring a private tutor and TUTOROO can help you connect with them. You can also choose your own Mandarin tutor from their for online and in-person classes. Check out their website for more information. Hope this helps!

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