Recently, videos of an American guy speaking Chinese started to pop up in my Youtube feed. He speaks it fluently and since then, I really want to learn it and speak it. How can I start and what are some good sites that help with learning the basics of Chinese on my own?
If you want to start with apps (they can be a good place to start), HelloChinese is much better than Duolingo.
Eventually, iTalki can be really good for speaking practice. There are also many good books on amazon (that aren't too expensive) that will help you learn the basics.
Could you recommend any books on Amazon?
I use the HSK official Hanban books as workbooks ( I didn't start using them until HSK 3 though), but I've heard that the Integrated Chinese books are also good.
There are also graded readers you can check out! The popular ones are the Mandarin Companion series and the Chinese Breeze series. They come in different levels with different numbers of characters. The Mandarin Companion books start at a 'breakthrough' level with 150 characters. The Chinese Breeze level 1 books start at 300 characters.
Thanks for this! It was helpful for a beginner because they have listening and focus on characters. Is this essentially a dead sub? I have so many beginner questions about the language (where the main Chinese sub is not appropriate), but no one seems to be updating this one, and I can’t post anything new.
r/chinese and r/chineselanguage are super active
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Ah thank you! 😊
Hi, It’s a compulsory course in my university and I just wondered if I need good grades. I have to excel and learn it on my own as well. My teacher is indeed a wonderful person but still I want to excel. The problem is, he’s not teaching us characters but pinyin. And doulingo or any other app i’ve seen on google makes you learn characters. Is there any app that lets you learn pinyin? Or any youtube channel? Any idea how and where to start?
Also, i’m from Pakistan. An app would be more helpful since I can use it everyday.
Hi Everyone,
If you are looking for a place to practise Chinese, join the Chinese English Conversation Club! We connect English-speakers who want to learn Chinese with Chinese speakers (who may be international students, immigrants or students studying in Chinese universities etc...) wanting to learn English via Zoom. Members will be placed in groups of 4 and we will have 30 minutes of conversations in each language to learn a language. There’s no specific level of proficiency in English or Mandarin required and it's totally free to participate in this exchange for members. We have weekly meetings on Saturday from 8pm to 9pm MST, please adjust it to your own time zone.
If this is something that you are interested in participating, please signup on our facebook page or send me an email at [xli8@ualberta.ca](mailto:xli8@ualberta.ca). Our facebook page link is: (https://www.facebook.com/cnengclub2020). There is no better way to learn Chinese than to have casual conversations with native speakers while helping them to learn English.
I just started learning Mandarin and I would have loved to join but I'm in the UK so these meetings are in the middle of the night for me! Do you have any other timings?
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Thanks for your detailed feedbackbabout the course! Ive been really enjoying their video on YT. How is your Chinese now? How long was the course and what level are you aiming at?
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Hey sorry, one question, is it a one time payment? Or its a subscription, and every month I will be charged? Thank you very much
i am chinese native speaker .if you want to communicate with me you can send message for me.（i am chinese undergraduate，i really want to make some friend ，i will happy if you contact with me）
Hi! I could really use your help. Can I contact you?
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hi～ I speak Chinese and want to practice oral English. How could I contact you？😁😊
me gustaria hablar contigo
Hy, can we converse
As a native speaker, my advice would be try to not focus too much on the grammar. Get the accent down first and keep talking with native speakers. I think you can easily find a cheap native speaker coach from Asian countries who would be willing to talk to and teach you for less than 10$/ hr. You could find coaches from mandarin speaking countries that are outside of China or you could play the VPN game. If you goal is to just be able to carry out conversation with a native speaker, then I would stick with my advice. But if your goal is to fully understand the language, then you might want to invest in some books or courses
If you're serious about learning Chinese characters, you'll need a course using memorization techniques (a bit similar to what memory champions like Dominic O'Brien use to remember thousands of playing cards).
The best one I've found so far is Loci Chinese on Traverse, which is quite innovative in that it uses flashcards with spaced repetition integrated in a mindmap
hello, when learning words, do i have to memorize by heart every new word (let say i start with 5 words) before moving on to other new words?
i have a very difficult time memorizing words. when im learning I feel confident that I memorize the 5 words a day. after 3 days or a week i forget them.
Do i have to move on even though i forget most of the things i learned and hope to recall them by looking at a dictionary?
i practice 30mins every day. reading - pinyin, hanzi and eng translation. i also write the words on paper in pinyin, hanzi and eng translation.
I only have duchinese app as material. i read and listen and learn the words that i dont know.
what should i improve?
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Yess it was!! I have been doing duolingo lessons for like 2 weeks now :)
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Upsettingly motivating
Are you still practicing chinese?
lemme guess, it's Xiaoma isn't it?
that ben shapiro guy?
I thought ChinesePod was great for listening practice when I was getting started. Once I felt decently comfortable with that, iTalki was a great resource (I also just looked for people looking to study English and had language exchanges with then, but this was back when I lived in China which made it a lot easier of course!)
To be honest, get a Chinese friend must be the fastest way.
Pimsleur is GREAT for Chinese.
hi e～ I speak Chinese and want to practice English. Maybe we can help each other😊
I’m a native English speaker, i want to learn Chinese. We could help each other.
Still learning? Have you become fluent?
What would any of you's recommend, HelloChinese or Duolingo?
Learning Chinese can be a rewarding journey! To start, I recommend focusing on foundational vocabulary and phrases that are practical for everyday conversations. Apps like PrettyFluent can be incredibly helpful as they offer personalized lessons and immersive roleplays that cater to real-life scenarios, making the learning process engaging. Additionally, consider watching Chinese dramas or listening to music to enhance your listening skills.
我是中文母语者，你如果想要学习中文，我可以给你一些建议，可以联系我的iMessage 地址，copyright1996@icloud.com
冲就完事了
You are welcome: https://lukesmith.xyz/articles/learn-chinese/ tldr: The Yale series by John DeFrancis
Well, I believe in your learning mode, like do you prefer to learn by yourself or with a teacher. If you prefer to learn by yourself, video courses are good materials, second textbooks with audio or videos. I don't suggest you learn a language just from paperback. If you would like to have a teacher, private lessons are better than group lessons. One thing is it'll be better to try different teachers before you decide to follow a suitable teacher.
I can teach you