Social Mandarin

[Tian Li]

Since starting to learn Mandarin back in 2008, I've always felt this need to connect with other Chinese learners. Chinese-Forums is the probably your best bet, and I've been a lurker here for quite a while, but I felt that there was a gap between the users and the online content. There are numerous, if not countless bloggers and sites providing excellent personal learning resources, but somehow these were decentralized over the web. That's why I created Social Mandarin. A Place where people can share online resources with each other: be it blog posts, videos or websites. Even Chinese-Forums has been mentioned on there, 'cause it's bloody good online resource.

I set out to create the site, 'cause I wanted such a site myself. I knew all these blogs, these sites, the videos, these resources, but I knew there were others. Most of the posts on Social Mandarin comes from the blogging community. It's personal accounts. The same people going through the same things we do.

I guarantee that you will find something there that will improve your Chinese. If you have a blog and want to share your language learning escapades please do! Or even if you just discovered a cool Mandopop tune. Share it.

Some highlights include:

- 20 Actually Useful Idioms

- Chinese Blogs written by Foreigners

- Chinese Tongue Twisters

- 21 Creative Chinese Band Posters

- Enter Zon: Chinese Learning MMORPG

- Open Chinese Course by MIT

- How to Order Tea In Chinese

- Five Popular Songs at Chinese Weddings

I hope you'll find something of worth and please do share some online resources if you have some.

Zaijian,

Niel (Confused LaoWai/Tian Li)

P.S. - Admins, I sincerely hope I'm not stepping on some toes. If you guys have a problem, please let me know.

[roddy]

P.S. - Admins, I sincerely hope I'm not stepping on some toes. If you guys have a problem, please let me know.

No problem, but why not ask this first?

[Tian Li]

Roddy,

I was just too excited to share the site with others. I'm on a Mandarin high at the moment with high levels of motivation，and I'm proud (and excited) of how the site has progressed. I thought it wouldn't be an issue, but I should've queried first.

My due apologies if this caused concern.

Regards,

Tian Li

[roddy]

No, I'm just always amused by the number of people who get that the wrong way round. Best of luck with the site.

[Gleaves]

Interesting site. Taking a look reminded me of some sites that I've neglected or didn't know about.

I think a system of voting like this could work well for posting native Chinese language stuff like news articles and blog posts (as read and commented/voted on by learners), so I hope it expands in that direction.

Best of luck with it.

[deathtrap]

@roddy

"No, I'm just always amused by the number of people who get that the wrong way round. Best of luck with the site. "

It's easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission ;)