Read native Chinese with confidence.
Practical, no-fluff guides on overcoming the intermediate plateau, reading native web novels, automating Anki sentence mining on macOS, and choosing the right reading companion.
Pleco for Mac (2026): Is There a Mac App, and What to Use Until Then
Pleco still has no Mac app, and the developer ties it to the 4.0 release. Here is the dated timeline, how iPhone Mirroring and emulators work as stopgaps, and which Mac tools fill the gap.
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How to Make Anki Cards from Hardcoded Chinese Subtitles
Chinese dramas and donghua often burn their subtitles into the picture, which stops subs2srs and asbplayer cold. Here are the two workflows that still get you sentence cards with audio.
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HSK 3.0 vs 2.0: What Changed, Level by Level, Down to the Word
We compared the HSK 2.0 and HSK 3.0 word lists word by word. Here is what moved, what disappeared, and what it means for your textbook and Anki deck.
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The Art of Chinese Sentence Mining: How to Pick, Filter, and Retain High-Yield i+1 Sentences
Sentence mining is transformative, but mining the wrong sentences is the #1 reason Chinese learners burn out on Anki. Here is how to find, filter, and format high-retention i+1 cards from native media.
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The Best Chinese Reading & Dictionary Tools for macOS: Zhongwen vs. Pleco vs. Zhenzhu
Browser popup extensions are wonderful for web articles, but what happens when you read a PDF, Kindle book, subtitle, or Discord chat? Here is a practical comparison of the leading Mac tools for Chinese learners.
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How to Read Native Chinese Web Novels (Danmei & Xianxia) as an Intermediate Learner
Transitioning from HSK 4/5 textbooks to native Chinese web novels feels like hitting a brick wall. Here is the exact strategy, vocabulary prep, and reading setup to make native immersion enjoyable.
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The Frictionless Chinese-to-Anki Workflow for macOS: Mine Words While You Read
Sentence mining is the single most effective way to retain intermediate and advanced Chinese vocabulary. But if card creation is slow, you will quit. Here is how to automate the entire process on Mac.
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HSK 2.0 → 3.0 level checker and Anki re-tagger
Paste words or upload an Anki export to see each word’s old and new HSK level and add HSK3 tags. Runs in your browser.
Open the toolReady to read without interruption?
Zhenzhu gives you instant selection lookups, on-device OCR for images and PDFs, pinyin, and 1-click Anki export right from your macOS menu bar.