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The Flashcard tool can be used in multiple ways to test your understanding. If you’re interested in learning characters, see how well you can recognize the characters in the lessons text. You can also choose to test your listening only or choose to work backwards from English back to Chinese. What you may find is that while you may be very good in one method, a different method may challenge you. Find your weakness and challenge yourself to improve in this area.

In the early stages of learning Chinese, tones represent one of the biggest problems with non native Chinese speakers. However, with practice and lots of exposure, you will soon find yourself naturally being able to absorb them. At some point, you won’t consciously find yourself having to remember what tone a word is. When you first hear it, your brain will automatically associate it with the right tone. This is similar to how expert wine tasters can taste the fine nuances between different wines that regular lay people can’t. So if you are still having problems with tones, it just means that your brain isn’t familiar with them. Keep working on them, knowing well that one day you’ll be able to “get it” and move on to other aspects of learning the language.