Ready to feel real clarity about Chinese characters?
How to Master Chinese Characters with our 8 Top Tips
Free Webinar
Works for simplified AND traditional
Starts immediately
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Who is it for?
Serious Chinese Students
Beginners through intermediate learners who want clarity on Chinese characters. Advanced learners who still find characters baffling. If you're serious about learning Chinese, we're your people.
Non-native and heritage speakers
Native speakers and teachers often default to a "just memorize it" approach. "Why does it look like that" isn't even a consideration. Our material is designed specifically for the needs of non-native and heritage speakers who want to understand, not just memorize.
Busy Adults & Lifelong Learners
The training will dramatically reduce the amount of time it takes to learn characters! By learning characters according to their real underlying logic, you're learning in the way that your brain prefers. No more leaky brain syndrome!
See why learners can’t get enough
We’ve helped thousands of students learn Chinese characters more effectively. Here’s what they say:
There are lots of methods out there that rely on made-up stories without digging into the actual components, which is ok for quick memorisation but doesn't build real understanding and long term learning like your approach does.
Allanah K.
I really enjoyed the Character Masterclass and it gave me so many valuable and fascinating insights that really help me in my understanding and learning of Characters
David K.
The advantage of the Outlier method of learning what the characters ACTUALLY mean and how they evolved is it scales remarkably well. Using Outlier methods I can guess the sound AND meaning with around 80 and 90% accuracy respectively. Thank you!
Eric E.
I have the Outlier Dictionary in Pleco, and look at it almost every day. It really helps me to remember & understand new characters over time.
Kien C.
READY TO GIVE US A TRY?
Supercharge your character learning in just half an hour!
Meet Your Hosts
Dr. Ash Henson, MSc
Co-Founder
To say that Ash is a language enthusiast is an understatement. He speaks Dutch, Mandarin, Cantonese and German, all in varying states of decay. In addition to these, he has learned to some level or another another 7 languages and is currently working on Japanese and European Portuguese. He sees language learning as a chance to experiment. The goal is to find a better way (either getting the same result in a way that takes less time, or getting a better result). And he’s been at it for 30 years! He got his Ph.D. in Chinese at National Taiwan Normal University in paleography and historical linguistics. He was also in the P.hD. program for Teaching Chinese as a Second Language for six years.
John Renfroe
Co-Founder
Before co-founding Outlier, John studied Linguistics and Paleography in the Graduate Institute of Chinese at National Taiwan Normal University. He co-founded and later ran the Taipei Classical Chinese Reading Group, a weekly reading group consisting mostly of graduate Sinology students from western universities. He also taught classical Chinese to members of the group who had no previous instruction in the language. His coursework and research focused on excavated Warring States bamboo texts, historical Chinese character morphology, and the Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字 and its commentaries and criticism. He has taught courses on Classical Chinese, Early Chinese History and Archaeology, Paleography, Calligraphy, and more.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it really free?
Yes. 100% free. No hidden charges, no credit card required. We do have paid courses (and we'll offer you a discount on some of them near the end of the video), but this training is completely free for you to enjoy, with no obligation to buy anything, ever.
How much time will this take?
This video is about half an hour long. It's chock full of information, so be prepared to take notes!
Do I need any background in Chinese?
No. We start from first principles. But if you’re further along, you’ll also benefit (maybe even more so!) from learning the real system underlying Chinese characters.
Is anything required in order to watch the training?
Just a device with an internet connection and the ability to watch video. You don't need any third-party apps or any of our paid products in order to watch the training.
READY TO GIVE US A TRY?
Supercharge your character learning in just half an hour
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