About Hanzi Garden 汉字花园漢字花園
Hanzi Garden is a free study companion for everyone learning Chinese — from your very first 你好 to advanced exam preparation.
Who is this site for?
Everyone who wants to learn Chinese, especially reading and writing. There are plenty of good learning apps out there, but this site lets you put your own writing exercises together and learn at your own pace. The HSK and TOCFL word lists give your studies a clear path, and when you want to show off to the locals, there are the four-character idioms Chinese speakers genuinely use all the time, plus a collection of classical poems everyone knows by heart.
Who is behind this website?
Me :P born and raised in Germany, but I grew up watching TVB and speaking Cantonese with my parents. I'm a software engineer, I have two kids, and right now the whole family is learning Chinese together. Which is exactly why this site exists. When I'm not working, being a family guy or practicing hanzi, I love to cook (that's how a vocabulary site ended up with a recipe section) and I sign up for all kinds of sporting events: Hyrox, trail runs, obstacle course races, triathlon, or just a plain run.
Why another Chinese vocabulary website?
Now that I'm learning Chinese, I'm conflicted. As a Cantonese speaker I “should” go for traditional characters, but I'm learning Mandarin because it's one of the world's major languages, and Mandarin is written in simplified. At the same time, it would feel strange to end up knowing Mandarin better than Cantonese. So this website got created: it lets me switch between Mandarin and Cantonese, and between traditional and simplified, whenever I like. Coupled with the text reader and printable writing practice sheets, I hope it offers all the basics you need to learn Chinese. Also, running a Chinese learning website is excellent motivation to keep improving my own Chinese :)
Get in touch
Feedback, corrections and ideas are always welcome at info [at] waibytes.net .