Have started learning mandarin could need some tips!

[fiddefisk]

Hi there I'm a 18year old boy from Sweden who's thinking of moving to China next year (I'm 99.9% sure it will happend I got the economy for it etc.)

Anyways, I started studying mandarin some days ago, I bought a character book, a pinyin book and a grammar book. I would consider myself as an easy learner and I have already learned close to 150 characters + some "combinations" words.

But the thing is that I don't know how I should continue my studying. I mean I'm studying all alone and it feels pretty hopeless to get the right pronunciation of words when I don't got a teacher correcting me.

So wouldn't i be logical for me to focus almost everything I got on the characters and grammar? And leave the speaking until I get to China (where I'm planning to take chinese classes).

Spending my time in China sitting in my room studying characters dosen't seem like a big hit either.

So what are you saying?

[renzhe]

Get a good textbook, like the New Practical Chinese Reader.

Get some elementary lessons from chinesepod.com

Learning characters and vocabulary is important, but on its own, it's a fairly pointless exercise.

And Sweden is full of Chinese people, try a university. Somebody might be able to help you with your pronunciation from time to time, especially if you help them with Swedish.

[magnusgren]

Hi, I'm also Swedish. I studied Chinese for one year at Lund university before moving to China, where I now have spent close to one year at Beijing Normal University. I suggest you to consider taking a basic university course in Sweden before coming to China for continued advanced studies. The basic year can be studied with pretty much the same result in China as abroad (with a qualified teacher). Furthermore, studying in China is a very intense experience, I have met people who studied from scratch at a Chinese university, reaching the second year many of them are pretty much tired of staying here and go back for a break. If, on the other hand, you study a year in Sweden, you can spend your 2 years in China on more advanced study. Of course, this all depends on how serious you are, and on how many years you plan spending on full time language study.

If you still decide to study from scratch in China, I suggest you do just that, spend your time before leaving with studying the parts of Chinese culture you are interested in, read translations, history, etc. This will help you a lot later when learning the language, probably more so than learning what a few characters look like. Regarding spending time in your room studying hanzi, that will be your main task for at least 1.5 year. Good luck in you studies!

[Lu]

I think it's very useful if you already have some basic Chinese when you arrive in China. So it's a good plan to study some already if you're planning to move there in a year. I also agree that it's next to impossible to get the pronounciation right without a teacher, and the most obvious solution is to get yourself a teacher. Unless you live in a really remote place, chances are there are some Chinese around who could help you. Or you could take a summer course in a university.

Good luck!

[dsrguru]

You might want to try the pronunciation and romanization module on FSI Chinese before committing to a university. FSI Chinese is a now free Mandarin course created by the U.S. and Canadian governments in around 1979. If you use it by itself to learn to speak the language, note that a few words (most notably 同志/tóngzhì) are outdated. If you just use it to learn proper pronunciation, that's not relevant anyway.

[fiddefisk]

我谢谢你们

Unfortunately I won't be able to take any university classes because I will be busy working my ass off at my shitty storage job It only gives me 2400$ each month after taxes, stupid politicians taxing my ass off.

Anyway, I will try to nail as much mandarin into my head as possible on my own.

PS: I think I've found an old chinese lady at my job. But I bet she's from south china = cantonese .

[fredrik_w]

Hi. Im also swedish. Dont worry if you dont have the possibillity to take a university course. I have only study Chinese by myself and Im happy with the results.

Before arriving to China, I believe speaking and listening comprehension is most important. Dont ignore characters if you are determined to become fluent one day but dont give it too much time. This is what I propose you to do:

- Start with Pimsleur Mandarin, download trancripts and learn pinyin from the beginning.

Also in an early stage, listen to P&R module of FSI (see reply by dsrguru). Try to stick to 80 % understanding, thats enough since the parts that you miss will be repeated in next step (in a slightly different way)

- After Pimsleur (try to complete in three months) you should move on to FSI. Yes, its old, a little dry and have typewrited pages but its what you need, trust me.

- Maybe at Module 4 of FSI, you should start to take some on-line lessons. You will think: Im not ready for this but just force yourself to do it. Later on you will realize its very useful.

- After finishing FSI (it will take a year if you study every day for 1-2 hours), you have reached an Intermediate level. Im not sure how this level is defined but you will be able to talk to Chinese people (that dont speak one word english) for half an hour as long as you can choose topic (but it wont be easy neither for you nor the Chinese guy). I believe this is a good level to be at before arriving to China.

Once in China, my advice is to take private 1-1 lessons. I have done that at TLI and I cant think of a better way to learning Chinese. I would stay away from classroom teaching.

Thats my two cents.

[fiddefisk]

But I thought it would be a good idea focusing on the characters back here at home.

So I can focus more on the speaking/listening part when I'm at place in China.

But I will give it a try. I refuse to stop studying characters doh it's way to much fun for that.

[imron]

In the beginning I would recommend spending some time making sure you have a good understanding of Chinese pronunciation. Spend a couple of weeks getting to know the tones and all the initials and finals, and how they are written in pinyin. Even if you can't say them correctly you should at least be able to hear them correctly (there are plenty of resources on the web to help with this). Then you can get on with all the character work if you like. It's no good learning the characters if you are learning the incorrect pronuncation. That sort of thing will only come back to haunt you later.

[fiddefisk]

That sounds reasonable, thank you.

[fiddefisk]

I have now finished the resource module of the FSI.

And I have also listened to this crap on my I-pod for hours.

It feels like I'm standing on the verge of insanity. But I think I've finally started understanding it. Crazy Chinese pinyin songs did the trick.

[skylee]

I think the first youtube link that fiddefisk posted would be very helpful to beginners, especially those studying on their own without a teacher.