Karaoke–or KTV as it’s known in China–is an exceptional way to improve your Mandarin. If you won’t take that as the gospel truth, then do I have an article recommendation for you. But even if you agree wholeheartedly, you’re left with a serious problem. What are the songs you can actually sing?

Finding an appropriate one for your level is easily the biggest hurdle, so we put together a list to help you out. These are our top 5 favorite Karaoke songs for learning Mandarin–sorted by level to find the best match for your abilities.

We dug deep to give you a feel of each song before you listen, provide context and background on the artists who made them, and most importantly, give you some juicy data on the actual Chinese you’ll need to learn.

Below each song is a table showing how many characters there are in total, the number of unique characters, and a breakdown of each by HSK level. We’ve also included our take on whether it’s an entry level, beginner, or intermediate challenge!

1. I Want Your Love—Grace Chang

我要你的爱 (Wǒ yào nǐ de ài)

This classic, most famously sung by Hong Kong actress and singer Grace Chang, was re-popularized in the 2002 blockbuster Crazy Rich Asians. Solidly in the genre of old school swing, the song has nevertheless been remixed and re-sung several times in more modern genres.

The big band energy and lively tempo makes for one heck of an earworm. Nevertheless, it’s a fantastic song for entry level Chinese students, as the Mandarin is short and sweet. In fact, the hardest part by far is the English!

In case you thought I was exaggerating; you’ll be happy to know there are only 10 unique Chinese characters in the entire song. All but two are in the HSK 1 vocabulary list, and the missing duo, 要 and 为, are so common you’re likely to have already encountered them well before reaching the HSK 2 level.

If you are just beginning your Mandarin journey, this is the song for you.

Character Count
Total: 101 | HSK 1: 76 | HSK 2: 25 | HSK 3: 0 | HSK 4+: 0
Unique: 12 | HSK 1: 10 | HSK 2: 2 | HSK 3: 0 | HSK 4+: 0

2. The Moon Represents My Heart—Teresa Tang

月亮代表我的心 (Yuèliàng dàibiǎo wǒ de xīn)

Teresa Tang is synonymous with Chinese Karaoke. And that’s barely hyperbole. You do not go out for KTV in the Mandarin-speaking world without hearing a rendition of at least one of her songs, and the “Moon Represents My Heart” is no exception.

Originally sung by Chen Fen-Lan, Tang’s 1977 rendition practically introduced pop music to China. It found a place in the hearts of people all over the country and simply never left.

While living in China myself, I must have heard the song half a dozen times before even knowing what it was called. Naturally wanting to identify it, I hummed the tune to a work friend. Before he had a chance to respond with a name, every single one of our local coworkers within earshot spontaneously picked up the song in the same place with nothing short of joy in their eyes.

With 82.5% of the characters in HSK 3 or below, I’d recommend this for higher level beginner or lower intermediate Mandarin learners. The total number of characters is also quite low, making it an easier song to get a handle on. And if you ever go to China and try the Karaoke, this is the song to sing. They’ll love it.

Character Count
Total: 193 | HSK 1: 136 | HSK 2: 18 | HSK 3: 16 | HSK 4+: 23
Unique: 40 | HSK 1: 20 | HSK 2: 8 | HSK 3: 5 | HSK 4+: 7

3 I’m a Girl—Yuki Hsu

我是女生 (Wǒ shì nǚshēng)

Straight off Yuki Hsu’s first album, “I’m a Girl” should have been lost to the many catchy hits that the turn-of-the-millennium singer’s talent produced. That better future never came to be, however, as her career ended abruptly a mere three years later in 2003, only for the artist’s star to flare once more in 2007 with her final album, Bad Girl.

“I’m Girl” is representative of the upbeat optimism and quirky relatability of Hsu’s early discography, standing in stark contrast with the tragic trajectory of her career as a whole. English-language sources on the story are scarce, describing allegations of breach of contract and blackballing, legal action, and financial ruin.

Delving into the details would likely require using Mandarin to read the original news articles or better yet finding Mandarin forums or blogs examining the topic.

Fortunately, learning this wonderful song requires far less Mandarin skill and time invested than the story behind it. The chorus is catchy and easily memorized and the rest of the lyrics repeat multiple times throughout the song. That said, there are a large portion of HSK 3 and above characters.

This song is great for intermediate learners.

Character Count
Total: 331 | HSK 1: 208 | HSK 2: 42 | HSK 3: 34 | HSK 4+: 47
Unique: 67 | HSK 1: 30 | HSK 2: 8 | HSK 3: 13 | HSK 4+: 16

4 Look Over Here, Girl—Richie Ren

对面的女孩看过来 (Duì miàn de nǚ hái kàn guò lái)

You couldn’t ask for a better song if you’re as much an aspiring guitarist as you are an aspiring Mandarin speaker. Released in 2002, Richie Ren’s cover of “Girl, Look Over Here” is mellow yet energetic and reminiscent of the works of Western bands like the Head and the Heart.

Another artist from Taiwan, Ren’s music career had the rather humble origins of working in a store that sold musical instruments. During this time, he was also practicing guitar, an instrument that would become a defining characteristic of his musical career.

The song itself is about a lonely guy trying, and seemingly failing, to catch the attention of a girl he likes—or any girl, for that matter. The chorus and refrain are catchy, relatively simple, and easily memorized, but there’s definitely some higher level language throughout the song.

With the high proportion of HSK 3 and higher characters, this is ideal for intermediate and upper intermediate Chinese speakers.

Character Count
Total: 323 | HSK 1: 178 | HSK 2: 61 | HSK 3: 32 | HSK 4+: 52
Unique: 103 | HSK 1: 37 | HSK 2: 20 | HSK 3: 16 | HSK 4+: 30

5 Chengdu—Zhao Lei

成都 (Chéng dū)

Released in 2016 by Chinese singer-songwriter Zhao Lei, “Chengdu” is a heart-wrenchingly beautiful song that proved a hit both within and beyond the artist’ home country. Its lyrics are as much a tribute to the Chinese city of Chengdu as it is a tribute to romantic nostalgia and longing.

Like much of Zhao’s music, this original may draw on the artist’s personal experience. Before his career truly took off, Zhao took to the roads and traveled his country as a wandering musician. It wasn’t long until he was performing at festivals and national tours. He even participated in China’s Singer, a renowned competitive music show, and performed “Chengdu” to the delight of the audience.

The lyrics are a bit more complex than some of the other songs on this list, with more advanced vocabulary and sentence structures. However, the song’s slow and melodic pace makes it easy to follow along.

Upper intermediate and advanced speakers will do best with this song.

Character Count
Total: 395 | HSK 1: 158 | HSK 2: 73 | HSK 3: 70 | HSK 4+: 94
Unique: 102 | HSK 1: 25 | HSK 2: 19 | HSK 3: 19 | HSK 4+: 39

No matter whether you’ve set your sights on Grace Chang’s “I Want Your Love” or rise to the challenge of Zhao Lei’s “Chengdu,” you’ve set yourself up to do something pretty darn special. You’re learning Mandarin Karaoke. (Or Mandarin KTV if you’re feeling cultured!) This is an opportunity to take a swan dive into real Chinese culture as it exists today, not to mention an incredible way to polish your fluency. So, get some practice and go out there and sing.

If you have a favorite song for KTV, let us know in the comments!

Shhka-shhka-shhk.

Step into China’s nightlife, and this is the sound you’ll hear. Laughter bounces around the tables, occasionally interrupted by the venue’s favorite band. They play every night, again and again, but no one seems to mind. Everyone’s focus is on one place—the hiss and rattle of dice. Fortuitous ivory bouncing in a felted cage.

Shhka-shhka-shhk.

This is Liar’s Dice. A game of bravado and numbers. A game that—despite its simplicity—captured a nation’s attention. It’s fun, fast-paced, and (if you’re the legal drinking age) a superior bar game. The vocabulary is simple, too—barely more than one through ten.

In other words, it’s the perfect game to learn Chinese numbers.

Why is Liar’s Dice so good for learning?

Simply put: Focused vocabulary, constant repetition, and visual aids.

Every time you play, you’re using a small set of numbers again and again. The dice themselves show what you’re listening for. And using your hands to count is the standard in a noisy bar. All these factors create the perfect conditions for immersive learning.

With Liar’s Dice, you can learn (or practice) Chinese numbers without a word of English. This works with native Mandarin speakers, fellow learners, or even friends and family with no interest in the language. All you need is someone who’s willing to play.

That said, things will go a little more smoothly if you learn the rules of the game first.

Liar’s Dice: How to Play

Game Objective: Correctly call an opponent’s bluff and they drink; get it wrong and you drink!

What you need:

• 2+ players
• 1 dice cup* per player
• 5 six-sided dice per player
• Your drink (or other penalty) of choice

*Plastic cups work too! Just make sure they’re not see-through.

Basic play

To begin with, every player should have 1 cup and 5 dice.  Next, you sit in a circle. Turn the cups upside down so they cover the dice.

A round begins with everyone rolling the dice inside their cup. Once those dice are nice and rolled, peek inside—but don’t let anyone else see!

^{If none of your rolled dice show the same number (you have no pairs) or one die lands on top of another, this is a  顺子 “shùn zi”. Typically, you announce “shùn zi” and reroll.}

The first player calls out a set of dice. This combination includes a number of dice and their shared face value, e.g., “three 2s” or 三个二. A call of “three 2s” declares there are at least three dice showing the number 2.

But here’s the twist! Players base their calls on every rolled dice on the table, including what they can’t see in other players’ cups. So every call, including the first, is really based on what the caller thinks is on the table.

Play moves clockwise from the first player. The next calls out a second set of dice, increasing either the quantity of dice or face value of the dice, e.g., “three 3s” or 三个三.

Continuing clockwise, each subsequent call again increases either the quantity of dice or the face value of the dice (or both!). The quantity of dice may never go down. However, the face value may go down if the quantity of dice increased from the previous call.

Eventually, someone will bluff—either by choice or necessity. For example, someone might call a set of “twelve 6s” or 十二个六 when there are barely that many dice. When this happens, any player may say “open” or  开.

Everyone then opens their cups. All the dice are checked to see if the last set called does indeed exist. For example, if someone had called “twelve 6s,” then there must be at least twelve dice showing the number 6 for the call to be accurate.

If the call was true, the person who said “open” loses and must take a drink. If the call was incorrect, however, the bluffer loses and must take a drink.

In some ways, it’s a lot like the card game Cheat (or as you might know it—BS). However, you can never be sure if the call you’re making is accurate or not, and at the end of a good round, the tension gets far higher than any game of Cheat you’ve ever played.

  Making a Call

Okay, you rolled your dice and took a peek. How do you make a call?

^{Traditionally, the oldest player makes the first call of the first round. In every round after the first, the loser of the previous round goes first.}

There are two numbers you have to think about. The number of dice and the number on the dice. Every call will have those two elements. You say the quantity of dice first and the face of the dice second. Some calls you might hear in a game include “four 4s,” “six 2s” or “seven 3s.”

Since this is a bluffing game, you can call almost any two numbers you want. However, the second number will never go above 6, since a die only has 6 sides. And the first number shouldn’t go above the total number dice on the table.

Typically, players will go at it cautiously, using the smallest quantity of dice they’re legally allowed in a call. Sometimes, however, it’s a good idea to bet big and force your opponent into an easily called bluff. Regardless, you’ll often want to base your calls on the dice you actually have. Take a look at this hand.

You could start by calling “three 4s” or 三个四. This means there are a minimum of three dice that have the number 4 showing. In this case, you have exactly three in your own hand, so the call definitely isn’t a bluff.

Remember, though. You’re playing every single die on the table, not just your own. Calling “three 5s” or 三个五 might look like a bluff from your perspective, but chances are, there’s at least two other fives on the table. It’s probably a safe call.

Importantly, 1s are wild! You can use any 1 in your hand—and in everyone else’s hands—as any number you want.

Here, you have both three 5s (三个五) and four 6s (四个六) in your own hand, since the 1s are wild.

^{In normal play, 1s can represent any number except, ironically, 1! You can only use 1s as themselves in the first call of a round. If that happens, 1s are no longer wild for the remainder of the round.}

^{—You can safely ignore this rule while learning the game, however.}

For a while, figuring out how many dice there are will seem like complete guesswork. If you play often enough, though, you’ll learn what’s likely based on the number of players. Like in poker, you can also glean information from other players’ habits and tells.

Legal Calls and Illegal calls

Differentiating between a legal call and an illegal call can be the hardest part of the game to start with, but it becomes second nature once you’ve figured it out.

The first call follows a simple rule to keep the game moving. The quantity of dice must be at least one more than the number of players. So, if there are two players, the first call must have three or more dice in it.

Every call after the first follows a slightly more complicated rule. One of the two numbers in every subsequent call has to go up, and the quantity of dice can never go down.

Let’s say the person right before you called “four 3s” or 四个三.

That first number, the “four,” can never decrease. It must go up or stay the same. 

However, if you decide to raise the number of dice, the second number (the number on the dice) can be anything you want, even a number that is less than the previous call.

Raising the quantity of dice

Previous call was “four 3s”or 四个三

You are allowed to keep the quantity of dice the same. If you do that, however, the second number must increase.

Raising the face of the dice

Previous call was “four 3s”

Initially, this will feel complicated. Once you’ve played around a bit, though, the rule becomes so easy you won’t even have to think about it.

Calling a Bluff

As a round progresses—and the calls get higher and higher—a player will inevitably be forced to bluff. When someone says there are more 5s (or any other number for that matter!) on the table than you think is likely, that’s a good time to say “open.”

When this happens, all players open their cups, not just the person whose likely-bluff you called out. All the relevant dice should be counted. So, if someone had called any number of 5s, count all the dice on the table showing the number 5.

Remember, though, 1’s are wild and should be counted too!

If there are less 5s than the number called, the bluffer loses. If there are at least that many 5s, the call was not a bluff. Instead, the person who said “open” or 开 loses.

For example, let’s say someone calls “eight 5s” or 八个五 and you think that’s a bluff. After the cups are open, you see that there are only seven (including 1s, which are wild). You were right, and your opponent loses the round.

In an alternate reality, however, there were eight 5s—maybe even nine or ten. In that case, you were wrong. As the person who said “open,” you lose the round.

Ending a round, beginning the next

Whoever lost the round, takes a drink! It’s as simple as that. While you’re still in the process of learning, it might help to take a sip rather than a shot, but the choice is yours.

This ends the round. Every player then puts the dice back under their cup and rerolls them, restarting play exactly how it began. Whoever lost makes the first call of the next round. All the following calls are made going clockwise, as before.

^{At the end of a round, it’s a great idea to state the quantity of relevant dice you have in Chinese. Not only will this speed up your language acquisition, it’s a lot easier than squinting across the table to see everyone else’s hand.}

If you prefer an alcohol-free version of the game, the loser can instead remove one die from their hand. This keeps the odds of the game in a state of flux, preventing play from becoming too boring or predictable.

Using Chinese to Play!

Once you have a basic grasp of the rules, you can start incorporating Chinese into the game. As mentioned before, it’s entirely possible to learn your numbers while playing—especially if you have a more experienced Mandarin speaker to play with.

Don’t fret if all your friends are beginners, though. The game works just as well as a group study tool. Keep a crib sheet with the Chinese vocabulary on hand as you play and substitute the English words with the Mandarin equivalents. As you practice saying and hearing the numbers, you’ll need to refer to the crib sheet less and less.

No matter who you’re playing with, the key is showing calls with your fingers alongside saying them aloud. If you want to call “three 5s,” for example, flash three fingers when you say 三 “sān” and then five when you say 五 “wǔ.”

^{If you’re feeling adventurous, look up the Chinese hand gestures used to count to ten on one hand. Learn how to do this and you’ll be right at home in any Shanghai bar.}

This not only ensures that everyone can understand what’s being said, but also strengthens your brain’s recognition of the words through visual aids. Looking at other players’ dice, and your own, at the end of a round only helps reinforce your learning.

If you really want to impress your friends, you can teach them how to play the game in Chinese. Teaching someone who doesn’t know the first thing about the language is entirely possible over just a few drinks.

Simply use Chinese yourself and show the numbers on your hand as you should be doing anyway. As the game goes on, encourage your friend to start using Mandarin, supplying the words as needed. Teaching others goes a long way in reinforcing what you’ve learned and deepens your understanding of the language.

Liar’s Dice: Vocabulary and Grammar

Vocabulary: Numbers 1–10: yī, èr, sān, sì, wǔ, liù, qī, bā, jiǔ, shí

Measure word: ge 个

Grammar: [number] + ge + [number]

Vocabulary: 1–10

Making calls in Chinese is simple. First, you need to replace the numbers with the Mandarin equivalent. Take a look at the table below for the numbers you’ll need for most games.

If you want to say six, you instead say liù. If you want to say eight, you say bā. Pretty simple right? However, if you wanted to say “six 6s,” you wouldn’t say 六六s “liù liùs.” Mandarin doesn’t quite work that way.

Instead, you would say 六个六 “liù ge liù.”

Vocabulary: Measure words

Measure words are used to indicate quantities of things. The word 个 “ge” is the most common measure word in Chinese, and it’s the only one you need to know for Liar’s Dice. To indicate the quantity of something (like dice) you put the number first and follow it with 个 “ge.”

When you say “liù ge,” for example, you are saying there are six of something. 六个六 “Liù ge liù” simply means there are six 6s.

^{Watch out for two, however! When you are talking about the 2 on the face of the dice, you say 二 “èr.” When you want to say there are two dice, you instead say 两个 “liǎng ge.” Two 2s, therefore, is 两个二 or “liǎng ge èr.”}

While there are many measure words in Chinese, the only one you need to know for Liar’s Dice is 个 “ge.” Luckily, it’s something of a catch-all measure word, which means what you learn playing the game can be used in almost any other situation.

Grammar: Counting dice

The complete structure for making a call in Chinese is [number] + ge + [number].

This expression indicates how many dice of any one number you are calling. You say the number of dice in Chinese first, followed by ge, followed by the number showing on the face of the dice.

Six 5s would be 六个五 “liù ge wǔ.” Seven 2s would be 七个二 “qī ge èr.” Can you figure out what “three 6s” would be? Take a look at the following table and see if you can translate calls from one language to another.

Practice calls

Fill in the blank!

^{The Mandarin used to tell another player to open their cup is 开 “kāi.”  Give a try saying  that if you want a fully fluent experience.}

Once you’ve figured that out, you’re more than ready for a game. Of course, the best way to learn is often by doing. If you can, grab a friend who’s up for playing while you get a handle on the Mandarin and have at it. You can even get some dice and a cup and practice on your own. You only have to grasp a small set of vocabulary to play the game fluently. Then, the next time you’re headed to a bar, KTV or a party, think about bringing some dice. The only thing left is impressing your friends.

Once again you’ve found your way back to the Asian market. But, today, you’re on a mission. You’re going to find someone to practice Chinese with even if it kills you. Hold on. There, that’s an opportunity for a conversation if you’ve ever seen one. You approach and, as courageously as a lion, you squeak “nǐ hǎo.”

You’re in luck! Your new acquaintance is happy to talk. If only he’d slow down. Or at least speak up a little. And wait, is this even Mandarin? After a minute, you’ve lost any sense of language at all. Now you’re nodding your head along and thinking . . .

This might be a little more challenging than you thought.

Listening in Chinese is hard. No two ways about it. Most classes do a fantastic job teaching vocabulary and grammar, but listening as a skill in its own right is too often neglected. Thankfully, there are a variety of scientifically backed strategies you can use to up your game. But not every challenge is internal. Sometimes finding the right person to practice with is as important as the practice itself.

There is, in a word, an ideal speaker. Finding someone with the right traits went a long way toward improving my Chinese listening skills. You can help yourself too. All you have to do is learn who to look for. So then, who is this amazing person I’m raving about?

How to improve your Chinese listening skills 

The ideal speaker:

1) Slow and measured

“Qǐng nǐ shuō dé màn yī diǎn” is an incredibly useful phrase. Unfortunately, asking someone to speak a little more slowly doesn’t always work. As a beginner, you need enough time to differentiate each word, define them, and work out a complete translation. Many native speakers will already be on the third sentence by the time you’ve translated the first.

2) Clear spoken

This criterion is straightforward, but boy-oh-boy is it important. I’m a mumbler myself. And I regret to inform you that there are many of us—so many, in fact, we could easily take over the world. If only we could understand our own dastardly plans. Try to find someone who enunciates. If you cannot hear what someone’s saying, you don’t have a shot at comprehending it.

This is a real quote from Winston Churchill. Listen for yourself.

3) On the younger side

Aging does a number on our bodies, and the parts necessary for clear speech are no exception. Changes to the vocal cords, larynx, and chest can weaken a person’s voice, hurting comprehension. Fortunately, these issues only begin to arise very late in life. However, older generations are also more likely to use provincial dialects and non-standard Chinese.

4) But not too young!

Children have a lot to teach us. Mandarin listening skills aren’t among them.  While older kids might outshine your speaking abilities many times over, the very youngest are still learning themselves. Unless you’re willing to double check everything you pick up from your kindergarten mentor, it’s probably best to stick with an adult.

5) A female speaker

Generally, women are easier to understand in a second-language context. There are many exceptions, to be sure, and even the research is mixed. Nevertheless, I’ve found men are more likely to express the speaking habits that stump learners, such as mumbling or an unintelligible tone of voice.

6) Non-accented standard Mandarin

A heavy accent is a major barrier to comprehension. That’s only amplified when someone uses non-standard Chinese. In South China, for instance, there’s a tendency to pronounce “shi” as “si” regardless of the tone. Working out that “sì sì sí sì kuài” is supposed to mean “it’s forty-four yuan” might be more of a challenge than you’re looking for. 

7) Neither too formal . . .

Business meetings, weddings, and speeches are great examples of situations where your textbook cannot save you. This is the land of jargon, poetic language, literary references, and infrequently used vocabulary. If you’ve been lucky, you might know a tiny fraction of what’s going on. Beginners stay away—there are better ways to improve Mandarin listening skills.

8) . . . nor too informal

Likewise, overly informal language hinders comprehension. This is often why movies and songs help less than you’d hope. They don’t always use that textbook language. For better or worse, informal language abounds in run-of-the-mill social situations, too. The bar, the game, a night of KTV. Expect informal language. But that’s not to say you shouldn’t go.

9) A person, not a group

An individual can tailor their language and word choices. As someone gets to know you, they’ll build a sense of your abilities and make Mandarin listening easy. Good teachers are adept at grading their language like this, but you’ll find others who can do it, too. In a group, however, people aren’t just speaking to you. They’re speaking with everyone. Language grading goes out the window.

Essentially, we’re looking for a young or middle-aged woman who speaks slowly and clearly; uses standard, non-accented, and textbook Mandarin; and does so in a one-on-one setting. Some of you might have noticed I just described your Chinese tutor. It’s no coincidence. These traits can make a great teacher. They’ll also make for a great partner to practice  with.

The next time you’re in the Asian market, on the web, or wherever you happen to look, remember the aforementioned traits. They’ll give you a leg up in finding someone to practice with. Maybe more importantly, they’ll help you recognize the places and people you should go back to. Try striking up a conversation with your waiter at a few different restaurants. Chances are, before too long, you will find someone who, not only is easy to understand, but also enthused to talk with you.        

But what then? Even after you’ve found the ideal person to practice listening in Mandarin with, you’re going to want strategies to maximize your conversations. Check out the second part of our listening series, “Help I Can’t Understand a Thing!” where we answer the all important question—how to improve Chinese listening skills—with a focus on listening strategies and specific techniques.

So. You’ve scoured the menu at your local Chinese restaurant and found something you can read. Fingers crossed, it’s something you’d actually like to eat, too. You place the order. Your Mandarin’s perfect—you’ve hit every tone and syllable like a championship boxer. And then . . . then the waiter replies. Years of study evaporate from your brain in a moment. You cannot, for the life of you, understand a word.

If you’ve been there, you’re not alone. But you’re not without hope either.

Listening is a skill in itself—one that second-language research shows is understudied and under-supported in most classes. Not every teacher recognizes this, monopolizing instructional time with yet more reading, vocabulary, and grammar. Likewise, too few students know how to help themselves.

So, what can you do to improve your listening skills?

The best listeners adopt specific strategies—cognitive, metacognitive, and socio-affective.  If you’re struggling with listening comprehension, the smartest thing you can do is to learn these strategies, build techniques around your individual needs, and implement them.

Cognitive Strategies

Cognitive listening strategies involve manipulating language to make it easier to understand. In other words, it’s about simplification. Any method that requires using your mind consciously and actively to solve a listening challenge qualifies, but—and this is a big one—you really have to do it consciously and actively. 

I know, I know. Listening seems like the single most passive task imaginable. But you need to change listening from something that happens to something you do. You see, you’re already using cognitive strategies, specifically bottom-up cognitive strategies. These involve using your senses to take in the smallest blocks of language and build them up towards meaning. This is incredibly useful, even necessary. The problem is one of overreliance.

Advanced learners use top-down­ cognitive strategies to understand spoken Chinese better than their peers. Rather than stubbornly clinging to every single sound, they use outside information to establish and modify theories. In other words, their listening starts in the brain and flows down toward the senses.

Putting your brain ahead of your ears might sound crazy, but it will help you overcome common listening challenges, like the speed of native speech. Your first step, then, should be identifying which strategies work. Here are the five I’ve found most helpful in improving my own Mandarin listening skills.

 Cognitive Strategy #1: Listening for Gist and Detail

The beginner’s most common mistake is a toxic love affair with word-for-word translation. That is, translating. every. single. word. into English and then cobbling them back together into a meaningful sentence. Trying to understand everything is a guarantee for mental overload.

Instead, you should focus on what’s useful. This is what listening for gist, the broader meaning, and listening for detail, such as key words, is all about. These strategies allow you to manipulate complicated language into something simpler. All they require is changing your focus based on what really matters in a conversation.

Take listening for detail. When you need specific information, that’s where your focus should be. If you need to hear a number, listen only for numbers. Paying a cashier is an obvious time when putting this to practice will help. Even if you hyperfocus on numbers to the exclusion of everything else, you can still pay what you owe.

On the other hand, if someone approaches you out of the blue, you don’t know what you’re listening for. That can be a sign you need to cognitively back up and listen for gist. Don’t get bogged down in every word. Don’t even worry too much about what they’re saying. Instead, focus on what they’re trying to communicate. 

The difference is subtle, but it’s more about understanding the message than the vocab and grammar. Figuring out this person is lost is far more important than the specific phrasing they used. Because now, you can focus on the productive part of the conversation, where they need to go. Think about it this way. You’re trying to read the plot summary instead of all the dialogue in a script.

Cognitive Strategy #2: Context

Another cognitive tool advanced listeners use is context. This requires you to consider what’s happening, who’s talking, and where the conversation’s taking place. Once again, it’s less thinking on the language itself. This time, however, it’s more thinking on everything around it.

To use this strategy, take a moment to consider your current circumstances. What are people holding or gesturing at? What do they likely want from you at that moment? When you stiff your waiter on the tip and they’re angrily waving the check in your face, even the words you don’t know start making sense. Sometimes the meaning just falls into place.

But when a stranger’s talking a mile a minute, differentiating specific words and structures can be hard. Maybe you misheard a tone. Or maybe that next syllable wasn’t a separate word, but part of the first. In situations like this, even basic words can grow more heads than a hydra and threaten to devour you. 

Well, fear not, Hercules. Context can still save the day. One of its main benefits is cutting down the number of possibilities. Restaurant vocabulary, for example, is tens of thousands of words less than the entire language. It’s the same with doctor’s visits and shopping trips. Think about context, and you’ll better know where to focus.

Cognitive Strategy #3: Co-text

Thinking about co-text—the conversation so far—is also a huge help. Longer chats and truly conversational uses of the language move away from immediate demands and surroundings. When that happens, you can fill in the blanks by referring to what’s already been said.

Like other cognitive strategies, co-text relies on critical reasoning. However, you’re not drawing on completely prior knowledge. Nor are you looking at your surroundings to make sense of things. Instead, you need to consider the natural flow of a conversation. Based on what you heard previously, what’s likely being said now?

Suppose you made a cute new friend at the bar, and you got things started showing off your Chinese skills. You’ve held your own in a full-blown Mandarin conversation for quite a while, but now you have a problem. The only words you’ve understood in two minutes were “dǎ zhēn,” meaning to give a shot.

That’s not a lot to go on. So, what do you do? Rather than simply trying to listen harder, you think back. Just a little while ago, you were talking about this person’s dog. A theory starts to form. One more word and it clicks. Your new friend is taking their dog to the vet on Friday—so, no, they can’t take you up on that date.

Cognitive Strategy #4: Forecasting

Forecasting is knowing what someone’s going to say before they say it. Even a presidential address can be a cakewalk when you’ve divined every word of Mandarin ahead of time. Sounds handy, right? But how do you do it?

You make pre-emptive use of other strategies. It’s doing your homework the night before instead of the morning of. Before you go somewhere to practice Chinese, think out the context and the co-text, details and gist. And yes, do it ahead of time. With critical thinking and a little effort, you can anticipate much of a conversation before it happens.  

Returning to the restaurant, there’s a pretty set course of events, isn’t there? The waiter asks if you’re ready to order. You are, so you tell them. Then they ask how you’d like your meal prepared or what kind of rice. Somewhere in there, they’ll ask what you want to drink. Keep going and you can think through every major conversation beat from entering the door to walking out of it.

You can go one step further, and in my experience, you probably should. Don’t stop at the English— “Are you ready to order?” Think out the Chinese: “Nǐ zhǔnbèi hǎo diǎn cài le ma?” If you don’t know it, look it up beforehand. Then, when your waiter asks, your brain is already primed to recognize it.

Cognitive Strategy #5: Guesswork

Sometimes, every other technique fails. When this happens, just guess. Yup. I’m completely serious. Just take a guess. While it may not seem like it, this is a legitimate cognitive strategy. In fact, you may have noticed the prior cognitive strategies all rely on some degree of guesswork.

The key is phrasing guesses in a way that will keep the conversation going and elicit something you can understand. Try gauging reactions to see if your guess was accurate or if you’ve led the conversation astray. Ask clarifying questions. But ask pointed ones. Don’t just default to “what did you say” and “can you repeat that?”

Recently, I was approached in a local dim sum joint. I knew it was food related and nothing else. So, I guessed. I gestured to my empty plate and declared “tèbié hàochī!” The food was “especially good,” but the manager talking to me looked confused and disappointed.

Words she’d said, but I hadn’t made sense of yet, ran through my head—next, chicken, pot. It clicked. She was suggesting I order the chicken hot pot next time. In Chinese, I asked if that was the case. The manager’s face lit up. She continued enthusiastically, clarifying that I should try the chicken dry pot. Guesswork works, if in sometimes unexpected ways.

Metacognitive Strategies

Meta-cognitive strategies are how you bring it all together. These entail thinking about how you learn and planning around that. To a large degree, it’s also recognizing the specific challenges of different scenarios, as well as thinking on the cognitive strategies that will best help you in those moments. But perhaps most of all, it’s about reflecting on yourself.

Consider your Mandarin listening experiences thus far. Have you ever noticed anything specific you struggled with? Perhaps you’ve used Duolingo or a similar app, and you breezed through the early content. But somewhere along the line, you stopped understanding even a single word. Ask yourself what happened. Look for the specific change.

This happened to me, and asking those questions helped me realize that I could easily understand six or seven syllables at a time. But stick in one more, and my brain just couldn’t move fast enough. I was relying way too much on word-for-word translation. You might have noticed something like this in your own studies.  

Before I tell how I addressed my problem, here’s an exercise to get you started on metacognitive thinking. What would you recommend? What would you do in my shoes? Developing metacognitive strategies requires questioning yourself and the scenarios you encounter. It asks you to examine different cognitive strategies and pick the one that’s going to be most effective.

Ultimately, I settled on forecasting. After all, apps like Duolingo categorize language into blocks. They repeat related vocabulary and phrases over and over again. Instead of trying to pick apart these sentences with my ears in real time, I took the text and wrote it down. I practiced saying them myself, repeating them in my head. When I came back to listen some time later, the number of syllables didn’t matter.

Whenever you go out to practice, take some time afterwards to reflect. Consider what went well and what didn’t. Determine what was due to vocabulary shortages, what was due to an overreliance on the wrong strategy, or what was due to nervousness. Which brings us to . . .

Socio-affective Strategies

Your state of mind is the final piece of the puzzle. Not everything is logic and cleverness. There’s a critically important emotional component—anxiety. Anxiety shuts the mind down. It’s why even basic exchanges can leave you grasping for the simplest of words. Everyone gets nervous when practicing a new language. The best listeners respond with socio-affective strategies.

Simply put, these encompass stress reduction and confidence building. Everyone makes mistakes when learning a second language. You will too, and that’s okay. The important thing is finding a way to move past the anxiety. You might not have time for a meditation session in the middle of a conversation, but you can take a slow breath to regain control. Self-affirmation, recalling accomplishments, and thinking positively about outcomes all build confidence.

Personally, the thing I’ve found most helpful is reframing your mistakes. Every single one is a learning freebie. After all, nothing is quite so easy to remember as embarrassment. Accidentally proposition someone while trying to ask for office supplies, and I guarantee you’ll remember every word of both sentences for the rest of your life. Mistakes can motivate you to do research afterward, and as previously mentioned, recognizing them mid-conversation can narrow down correct interpretations.

Eventually, though, even the best mistakes can wear on you.  Pay attention to your emotional state when you’re struggling and note when your confidence starts to flag. You might have gone out too far and found yourself in learning content that’s simply too difficult . It’s okay to swim back to shallower waters and rebuild your confidence before setting out a little further once more.

Final Thoughts

In the end, there’s no one strategy to improve Chinese listening skills. There are many. Getting better relies on using the ones that work best for your individual struggles and skills. But there is a clear path of progression. Start by learning as many cognitive strategies as you can, like the five listed here. Focus on the so-called top-down learning strategies.

Simply by knowing what these strategies are and how they work, you’ll have begun the process of meta-cognitive thinking. Afterward, make a habit to examine yourself and examine these strategies. Implement the ones that work and discard the ones that don’t. As Bruce Lee said, “It is not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away the unessential.”

And if there’s one thing I’d like to stress above all else, don’t give up. It’s too easy to postpone your studies, to stop practicing with strangers after a failed attempt, even to tune out mid-conversation when you can’t follow. Be aware of when that happens, and go back in with twice the passion. 

If you’re looking for help with that, check in with John and Jared at the You Can Learn Chinese podcast. In Improving your listening skills (Part 2 of 2), they break down these critical skills with a thoroughness that could give a Socratic dialogue a run for its money.