Chinese learning tips for busy people during the holiday

The much anticipated holiday season is here. We are saying goodbye to 2025, and saying hello to 2026! It’s time to update one of our most read posts on learning tips for holidays.

Got plans? Travelling? Planning multi occasions for drinking and eating? Having time reserved for binge watching? There is also of course playing video games, shopping and what not. I hope it’s going to be a great holiday for you!

What about learning Chinese? Good news! We have added another tool — MSL Master e-courses — to expand your toolkit for learning.

Here I have some learning tips for you to do just a little bit of Chinese while enjoying yourselves during the holiday break.

A little bit of learning goes a long way. It helps you stay on the right track. When the break is over, you won’t feel that you’ve forgotten everything you’ve learned.

Tip #1: Take a few minutes at a time.

Expecting yourself to block a whole hour each day for learning Chinese is asking too much. You are needed during the holidays, and you are going to get involved in many celebrations and errands all the time. 

Dedicate a few minutes instead. It’s easier to find a few minutes to do some Chinese, during your morning coffee/tea, right after you get out of the bed, or before you go to sleep. Find those few minutes, and make a habit of it.

If you have a copy of Learning Chinese Well Organised (LCWO), you probably find it easier to find those few minutes, as the sole purpose of LCWO is to help people find time and space amid all the distractions. 

It is listed here: https://www.mslmaster.com/index.php/chinese-textbooks/add-on-materials 

Tip #2: A short vocabulary list is better than your Chinese textbooks.

Prepare a short Chinese vocabulary list which you think is important. For example, select a few key words from each lesson, and build a nice one-page vocabulary list. Use those few minutes to review these key words and try to recall what the lesson is about. You can have a quick mental review of an entire lesson in a flash.

Alternatively, use a Spaced Repetition Software (SRS) to help you stay fresh with your vocabularies. A few minutes a day and you can easily stay on top of everything. 

Tip #3: Write something occasionally.

Send a text message in Chinese, write a Facebook post in Chinese, send a tweet in Chinese, keep a journal in Chinese, or simply throw in some Chinese words to your normal writings.

Write about the activities you have done, people you have met, the good food you have eaten, some quality me-time you’ve enjoyed, or how many bottles of beer you have drunk.

All these writings will keep your Chinese active, and increase your knowledge retention. 

If you have a copy of LCWO, use it to doodle some of your thoughts. If you don’t, any notebooks will do the job. 

Tip #4: Listen to your audios.

Let your Chinese audios put you to sleep when possible. 

Some experts say that our brain continues to function and be more receptive when we are asleep. And this is the best time to learn subconsciously. We may not realise it after we wake up, but our learning is already there.

These experts may have a point.

If you are working on Mandarin Express textbook series, either Intro Level or Basic Level, there are dozens of audio lessons available for you to listen to. 

Listening to these Mandarin audio lessons can definitely put you to a sound sleep, and you wake up the next day fresh with energy.

Sample audio lessons are published here: https://mslmaster.com/index.php/mandarin-lessons

Tip #5: Do some light reading on Chinese

If you prefer to read a few pages to relax before sleeping, try our Easy-to-Read Chinese Short Stories series.

We have four books in this series. Every story or poem is written with only 320 unique Chinese characters. You won’t have many character roadblocks, and that makes reading enjoyable. Try to read one or two stories a day, and you can finish a book or two during your holiday. 
Better still, each book has an audio version that is free for all to listen to. 
Check out these books here: https://www.mslmaster.com/index.php/chinese-textbooks/easy-to-read-series 

Tip #6: Take a trip to China

China has implemented a new visa-free policy for many countries. If you can enjoy this privilege, a quick trip to China will be nice. Experience the people, the food, the language, and the environment all at once. 

Make sure you ride the high speed rail, order something that will be delivered by drones, or take a ride in the driverless cars. People have not been disappointed.

If you’d like to share your travelling experience, write to me, and don’t hide those bad experiences if there are any!

Tip #7: Read an MSL Master e-course

This year is a remarkable year in the sense that I have written four new e-courses, trying to build some bridges between the treasure chest of Chinese classic texts and people whose Chinese is not yet proficient to read them. Two e-courses focus on selected texts from The Analects and the other two on I Ching. 

The ancient teachings and wisdom have already proven themselves to be very relevant to our modern society. It is a pity that so many people don’t know them because of a mere language barrier.

Every e-course is free to barter, or priced at HKD 29.9. 

Details are here: https://www.mslmaster.com/index.php?view=article&id=249:msl-master-e-courses&catid=11 

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Hope you find these learning tips helpful, and use them to stay on track with your Chinese study.

Here at MSL Master, I wish you a splendid holiday ahead!