On the topic of study methods, I want to share a post made by readibu on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/cnmg7u/chinese_reader_app_for_discovering_and_reading/
They made an app called Readibu, which is free. It is basically a reader with a click-dictionary for any word you need translated (much like Pleco Reader). The benefit of using the Readibu app over another Reader app is that it links to sites to discover chinese webnovels. And that seems to be the main reason the creator made it.
If youāre like me, and you know where to find chinese webnovels... then another reader might suit you better. Still, I really support what the creator set out to do, think itās a fantastic idea, and for many people this is going to be a very useful app!
Some other free alternatives are Idiom app (which has very basic definitions, is just a simple web reader, benefit is it supports a TON of languages), Chinese Zero To Hero websiteās Reader (simple paste-text reader, good definitions, adds pinyin). Pleco Reader costs a one time fee, itās my personal favorite (reads websites, clipboard, txt files, PDFs, pictures, has thorough dictionary, audio feature, flashcard making feature, bookmarks) - the free version of Pleco has a basic clipboard paste reader with the same audio/flashcard/dictionary features if you want to use the free version, it just canāt handle files/pictures/bookmarking.
I stumbled on this post a while back and one particular thing really stuck out to me. This creator said they learned to read chinese mostly through using Plecoās E-Reader to read cnovels, at first only recognizing 2 out of 10 characters, and now recognizing 8 out of 10.
This experience was the first time Iād seen someone (besides Steve Kaufmanās marketing his lingQ app) who had actually studied a language primarily by just reading and looking up works over and over. Not a ton of flashcards, not a textbook or classes. Just - like me - they really were passionately into cnovels and wanted to read them. And so they started trying to. And eventually, they got much better at it. They said it took them 4 years, to get to the point where they recognized 8 out of 10 characters, just through reading and looking words up using a reader.
This creatorās experience is what motivated me to start trying to read and watch chinese from very early on in my studies. And to continue trying to every couple of weeks. In the long run, that was something Iām very glad I did, and I have this creator to credit.
I imagine if a learner is doing other things to support their efforts besides just reading like this creator, they might improve a bit faster. Regardless, this personās story was at least one example of someone actually learning vocabulary and hanzi by primarily reading and looking up words, and successfully improving to a significant degree. 2 out of 10 characters, to 8 out of 10 characters recognized, sounds like a progression of beginner to intermediate. That isnāt bad at all.
So anyway, I take the creator of Readibu as an example that if you want to learn words from reading, it is entirely possible and will happen over time. Using a reader with a click dictionary does improve your vocabulary over time. Yeah, you can probably use other study methods to speed up progress. But at the end of the day, if you want to utilize this method, it does work.
Also, if you happen to be interested in cnovels: I think Readibu is a great idea to help people find things to be interested in and motivated to read. The more someone is motivated, is interested, the easier it will be for them to keep studying and progressing. And it will give them some fun tangible goals - reading a story they like. And then the next time they read a story, having the satisfaction of it being just that bit easier to read the next one etc.