Do your first lessons
Once you have familiarized yourself with what HanziHero is and have registered for an account, you are ready to start learning!
When you first register or log in, you will be directed to the dashboard. It looks something like the picture below.
The dashboard gives you an overview of what you need to do as well as your progress in the application. You can learn more about the dashboard here.
The Lessons button is colored blue to indicate that there are 10 lessons waiting for you.
Click on the Lessons button to start your first lessons.
Lesson carousel
When you click on a button, you are lead to the lesson carousel. It’ll look something like the picture below.
You can navigate through the lesson carousel by pressing the arrow keys (← →) or clicking on the arrows at either side of the screen. You can also press Enter to move forward. These arrows or keybindings all allow you to navigate through the items that the lessons teach, as well as the various tabs of information for each item.
Your first lessons will consist of sound, components, and character items.
Sound lesson
A sound is the phonetic aspect of a Chinese character. Each character in Chinese is pronounced with a single syllable. That single syllable can be further divided into its pinyin initial, pinyin final, and pinyin tone.
Pinyin initial lesson
A pinyin initial is the first half of a pinyin syllable. HanziHero associates a fictional character to each pinyin initial, which you will be asked to memorize. That association will later be used to help you learn Chinese characters.
The initial of the pinyin syllable bā is b- , whose lesson is pictured below.
In the Pronunciation tab, you can find some information about how it is pronounced. You can click on the play sound button to hear it as well.
In the Association tab, you will find information about the initial’s associated fictional character. The associated fictional character - in this case, Bart Simpson - will be used in character mnemonics. Like 八 bā for example (you can view that mnemonic here if you’re curious).
Pinyin final lesson
A pinyin final is the second half of a pinyin syllable. HanziHero associates a setting to each pinyin final, which you will be asked to memorize. That association will later be used to help you learn Chinese characters.
The final of the pinyin syllable bā is -a , whose lesson is pictured below.
In the Pronunciation tab, you can find some information about how it is pronounced. You can click on the play sound button to hear it as well.
In the Association tab, you will find information about the final’s associated setting. In this case, -a is associated with the setting of an auditorium. It’s worth taking the time to visualize what an auditorium looks like!
Pinyin tone lesson
A pinyin tone is one of the five tones of Chinese. HanziHero associates a location to each pinyin final, which you will be asked to memorize. That association will later be used to help you learn Chinese characters.
In the Pronunciation tab, you can find some information about how it is pronounced.
In the Association tab, you will find information about the final’s associated location. In the case of bā the tone used is 1, which means the location is outside the entrance.
When combined with -a , the story shall take place outside the auditorium.
Component lesson
A component is a group of strokes within a character. HanziHero has identified and named hundreds of components which you will be asked to remember. Knowing the names of the components will help you later when you begin to learn characters.
The character 八 bā has the component ハ fins within it, whose lesson is pictured below.
In the Mnemonic tab, you can find a mnemonic to help you remember the name of the component.
In the Examples tab, you can find some characters or some components that contain the component you’re learning. You’ll be learning some of those soon!
Character lesson
A character is what is used to write Chinese. Each character has its own pronunciation and meaning, which you will learn via HanziHero. They combine to form words, which you will learn in later lessons.
The top section of the carousel for a character will show the character.
Above the character will be its pinyin. For this character it is “bā” which we nearly always type as “ba1”.
Below the character will be the primary meaning of the character. For this character it is “eight”.
The Composition tab shows the various components and sounds that make up the character.
The Mnemonic tab is perhaps the most important one of the bunch. Here you can see the mnemonic for remembering the character. The mnemonic will incorporate the components, sounds, and character meaning into one story.
The Examples tab shows future words you will learn that include that character. Think of it as a little preview of what’s to come!
Starting the quiz
Once you navigate to the end of the carousel, you’ll see a prompt for starting the quiz.
If you’re not ready, you can go review a bit more by clicking the Review more button. Otherwise, click Begin quiz to move onto the lesson quiz.
Lesson quiz
The lesson quiz will quiz you on items you just learned from the carousel. It will ask you questions for each of the items you just learned.
Layout
At the top with the colored background is the item you are being quizzed on.
Beneath that with the black background is the question itself. In this case, it is asking for you to type in the meaning of the component.
In the top right are some indicators for what percentage you’ve gotten correct, the number you’ve gotten correct, and the number of items left.
For more information, check out the lesson quiz docs.
Submitting answers
Once you type in the answer to a question, you can press ENTER to submit it. If the answer is correct the input will turn green and a sound will play.
If the answer is incorrect, the input will turn red.
After answering a question either correctly or incorrectly, you can view the answer for the question and the mnemonic for that item by clicking on the Item info tab that is below the input box.
You can move onto the next question at any time by pressing ENTER once more.
To learn more about the lesson quiz and its questions, check out the lesson quiz documentation.
Finishing up
Once you’ve answered all of the questions, a modal will display congratulating you on your success.
You can continue learning more lessons for the day by clicking Learn more. Otherwise you can go back to the dashboard by clicking Return home.
Waiting for more lessons and reviews
Once you’ve finished 10 lessons within a day, you will have no more waiting for you. In that case, you’ve done all you can for the day, and won’t have anything else to study or review until tomorrow.
Tomorrow you will not only have 10 more lessons to do, but you’ll also have 10 reviews for each of the lessons you completed today. When you log back in tomorrow, be sure to do your first reviews! The documentation will be here to guide you. 🤓