If you’re using LingQ to learn Chinese, you’ve probably noticed that saving single words often doesn’t help much. Words get their true meaning from context, and the more contexts you see them in, the more complete your understanding becomes. Instead of just collecting words, I focus on saving phrases in a way that keeps the full meaning intact. Here’s how:
When saving a phrase (limited to 9 words), I don’t just write a definition—I copy the entire original sentence (even if it’s 30, 40, or 50 words long) along with its AI-generated translation.
If the full sentence + translation doesn’t fit in one meaning field, I split them into multiple fields—one for the sentence and another for the translation.
And here’s the coolest part! If the text I’m reading has an embedded YouTube video, I take it one step further. In sentence mode, there’s a small video player at the top. By right-clicking the video, I can select Copy video URL at current time. Then, I paste this link into the meaning field. This way, when I review the phrase later, I can instantly jump back to the exact moment in the video where the phrase is spoken! 
Now, here’s where it gets even more powerful:
LingQ has a vocabulary review database, and I currently have over 74,000 saved phrases—yes, just phrases! Nearly two-thirds of them include the exact timestamp of the video they come from, and in many cases, they also have the full sentence for complete context. This makes the vocabulary review page incredibly useful.
I used to hate reviewing vocabulary with flashcards—I found them boring and rarely used them. But with this method, when I come across a word I still don’t fully understand, I just search for it in my database. LingQ will instantly pull up multiple phrases containing that word—sometimes three, sometimes 20, sometimes even 40 depending on the word’s frequency. Reviewing in this way is not just effective, it’s actually fun!
I don’t like studying grammar. But interestingly, when I search for a word or phrase in my vocabulary, the sentences that appear often reveal clear grammatical patterns. Sometimes I already have a vague intuition about them, other times I don’t—but either way, they start to settle in naturally. I don’t need to “study” them explicitly; I just absorb them over time.
This approach has completely changed how I study. Right now, I find myself needing sentence mode less and less. Instead of analyzing every single phrase, I read full-page mode most of the time, only switching to sentence mode when something is unclear. As a result, my listening hours have skyrocketed—not just in LingQ, but also in videos and podcasts. Since I encounter fewer “bumps in the road” (words or phrases I don’t understand that break my comprehension), my speed and fluency are increasing naturally.
I hope this helps others too! If you’ve ever felt stuck memorizing words or struggling with grammar, this method might give you a new perspective. The more phrases you collect and the more real-life examples you absorb, the smoother your learning journey will become!
the Bigger Picture
After these years of studying Chinese, I’ve realized something important: words lose their impact when you focus on them in isolation. The key is to avoid getting too caught up in the details at the start. When you focus on the details, you lose sight of the bigger picture. What matters is the whole context, the big picture of how everything fits together.
It’s like looking at a tree: You don’t start with the roots; you begin with the branches, the leaves, and the air around it. You explore the tree from the outside, and as you move closer, you start to understand how it works. When you eventually reach the roots, you finally comprehend everything that’s been happening. The word, which is like the root, makes sense only after you’ve seen the tree as a whole.
This is why I believe that starting with the general context and gradually getting into the particulars leads to deeper understanding. You understand the word much better when you see it in the bigger context of the sentence or phrase.
A Thought on Language Learning: From Baby Steps to Big Picture
When we’re young, we don’t use dictionaries to learn our first language. We understand words little by little, as if they were empty steps that fill up with meaning over time as they appear in various contexts. Every time a word appears in a new context, it’s like a drop of water filling up a glass. Trust the brain, not just the memory, to establish those connections in a natural way. Slowly, the glass starts to fill up.
I’ve been trusting this approach for a while now, even though at first, I wasn’t sure if it would work. But it’s been incredibly effective, and now I believe in it completely. My brain is magically making these connections—without effort—just by being exposed to content.
The same thing happened with writing Chinese characters. I can barely write any, and I haven’t made much of an effort to. What matters to me is recognizing them when I read. Everything I’ve learned through reading has slowly stuck with me, without me having to do anything extra. The biggest challenge for me is finding interesting, well-suited content—that’s the real obstacle.
It’s also true that, the further along I get, the smaller the “waves” feel. It’s like I’m gaining speed as I go. The more I understand, the fewer “bumpy roads” I hit—those moments when I don’t understand something and it interrupts the flow of comprehension. And the more fluent I become, the easier it is to keep moving forward.
