Best learning resources

[ianwat]

Hi,

As an absolute beginner to the chinese language, any suggestions as to the best place to start learning as there are so many resources out there…..

Thankyou in advance

ian

[Kelby]

First off, warm welcome to the forum!

 

My constant companion throughout my years of learning Chinese has been the University of Iowa's collection of 900 lessons (beginner's level linked) which is covered in another forum post here. There's audio, reading, vocab, and tests there which should fix one of the biggest problems learner's have; running out of material to study.

 

Another, recent discovery of mine is the Allset Grammar Wiki, which has awesome explanations of Chinese's dreaded grammar rules. It's split up into various levels of grammar, so keeping the beginner section with you as you start your study should help you with any confusing things you run into. Lots of examples and material to keep you going there too ;)

 

I'd be interested in hearing a little more about your goals for learning Chinese and what sort of learner you are. Are you currently taking Chinese classes or are you an 'independent' learner? What brought you to Chinese?

 

Anywho, welcome to the forum and happy studying!

[Shelley]

Hello

 

Well done for joining Chinese forum, its a big step in the right direction.

 

The advice and resources Kelby has suggested sound good. It would nice to have a little more background about you, no specifics just some general stuff to help us narrow down the best things to suggest to you.

 

For example are you a techie person, do you have a tablet or smart phone or do you prefer paper books? Are you in a position to attend classes of some description, are you doing this on a shoestring budget,  have you got access to a good library etc?

 

Its not necessary this info, I am sure you will get some good stuff , but when I started to think about a response my first thoughts were the above questions.

 

My favorite text book is the New Practical Chinese Reader there are also workbooks, answer books audio and YouTube video.

 

I highly recommend Pleco https://www.pleco.com/

 

I would also recommend Skritter http://www.skritter.com/

 

I spend time watching CCTV (Chinese TV) not sure what TV you can get, CCTV news and Propeller TV are available on Sky.

 

I also use as many other things as I can to add variety.

 

Hope this is of some help.

[Bad Cao Cao]

I assume you mean Mandarin Chinese?

 

If so:

 

1. Have a read of Scott Young's tips at the link after the next sentence. Pay most attention to points 2, 3 and 4 in the "Methods I Found Most Useful" :

 

http://www.hackingchinese.com/how-to-reach-a-decent-level-of-chinese-in-100-days/

 

2. Go to a serious language learning site and look at how serious Mandarin learners operate, for example :

 

http://www.lingq.com/forum/6/23662/?page=1#post-165797

 

3. Finally, have a ponder over some of the wisdom in this, and subsequent posts, here :  

 

http://polydog.org/index.php?threads/how-to-learn-mandarin.234/

 

You will find some points of disagreement amongst these three well-considered viewpoints. But the points of difference are minor, and are best served to stimulate your learning experience.

 

All the best on your journey.

[ianwat]

Hi there, 

Thanks for all the advice,

Background, I am an English bloke, thats really interested in the chinese culture & the chinese people, I run my own business working mostly 7 days (6 full days) so I am pretty much tired most of the time, but would love to learn the language on a self study basis, I have bought a few character books & 1 chinese breeze graded reading book, the chinese with mike course (although I can't seem to get on with his style) & ordered flashcards although I have (on here) since been advised to use Skritter, This looks quite good so I bought a magic trackpad & pen to use with Skritter but I can't seem to follow the character (on the demo) without having to click the pad & draw a line then when I lift pen up to draw another line I have to click again & draw, is there anyway round this with trackpad, I also made a couple of chinese friends on Facebook so I could look at there statuses with the aim of eventually picking out some characters but as Facebook is banned in china this was harder than I thought, I think the 2 friends I have maybe don't live in china now….

Thanks again for all the help & info & the warm welcome to the forum.

regards

Ian

[Shelley]

Hello and thanks for the info,

 

Glad you tried Skritter, how is it if you use your mouse and follow the character. If  I use a mouse it I have to keep the left button held down while writing. I use a wacom tablet and pen on my pc and then I don't have this problem, but i much prefer using skritter on my android tablet.

 

I would probably give up with mike Chinese course and start with something more watchable. As I said in my earlier post I use New Practical Chinese Reader text book. This comes with audio (as mp3) and video available on YouTube

 

They are available from Amazon.

 

The word lists are supported in skritter (and other apps)so you use it as you progress through the course.

 

I think you have made a good start, if you can mange to attend an evening class even if only for a short time i think its very good in the beginning to have some guidance at the start.

 

Have a good browse round the forums, there is lots of info about how and with what to learn with.

[ianwat]

Thanks for that i will checkout the reader text books & probably order a wacom tablet & get on skritter & give it a go...

Here goes...

Thanks again for reply

kind regards

Ian