Getting started with Chinese

[PlanetLockdownFilm]

Hi,

 

I'd like to start learning Chinese. I'm a pretty studious person, and I'm good with visuals and concepts. Is there any online course you can do by yourself or do you need a tutor? I'd prefer to find an online version and some books.

 

Thanks!

[PerpetualChange]

There are a lot of options: 

• Private tutoring on Preply or iTalki
• Flexi classes through LTL Language School (haven't used personally but the founder is pretty active here)
• Check your area for Chinese classes at the local college and/or Chinese school 
• Chinesepod (probably the best holistic 'app' experience, i.e., one app with many different features and learning paths)

Plenty of fine books to get started... if you're interested in taking a class, I'd just look for one and then see what materials they use to get started. 

[TaxiAsh]

On 3/4/2022 at 11:43 AM, PlanetLockdownFilm said:

Hi,

 

I'd like to start learning Chinese. I'm a pretty studious person, and I'm good with visuals and concepts. Is there any online course you can do by yourself or do you need a tutor? I'd prefer to find an online version and some books.

 

Thanks!

Finding this forum is a good start! 

 

I didn't have any plans, and have spent 2 years learning, and perhaps the whole first year was learning very little. Get a plan together, I'll write some things I would tell myself 2 years ago! 

 

I actually just bought books and youtube learning, but this way, it's a slow process learning all the best things to do, and places to find. 

 

I recently bought the yoyochinese.com course (which although the first part of it is way too basic for me) is fantastic. It starts from zero knowledge. It's about £150 ($us200 ish). But has about 1000 short lessons, with tests, downloads etc.) You can youtube her basic lessons and watch for free to see if it's to your liking.

 

If I could go back 2 years I would tell myself to purchase it, and I would be far further ahead than now. 

 

Other advices. 

First: Learn how to read and speak pinyin. Then... (not ness in order)

1. Download Pleco on your phone, or a good dictionary - I haven't found one better than this, and it's free.

2. Watch youtubes, plenty of beginner lessons on there to see if you like it (someone mentioned Chinesepod, and yes I agree. They generally have a native speaker, and also an English speaker. Great set of free videos on youtube)

3. Even when learning pinyin, at least look at the characters as you read the pinyin. You'll see the same ones over and over, and better to start learning them ASAP. I totally did this wrong and thought I could learn it using pinyin, but you can't! 

4. Don't worry if it seems impossible at first. Everyone thinks that. Actually, reading is no where near as hard as it looks. (it is hard though! haha) but get easier and easier as you learn. Chinese grammar is far easier than latin and germanic languages (IMO)

5. Join something like hellotalk on your phone, so you can interact with others, if you don't know any Chinese people near you. 

6. Look at the sections in here, as there is more advice in this forum than anywhere I have found. 

7. Speak as much as possible, right from the start. 

8. Listen to tv programmes on youtube (even though you don't understand a thing) just read the english subs. Get used to how it is spoken. Listening is (certainly for me) the hardest skill, so get right into it from the start! 

9. If you can afford it, go to something like italki, and get proper lessons, or see if there are classes in your town. 

10. when watching youtubes, don't just repeat in your head... say out loud, and listen to how the teachers use tones... you have to get your voice used to using tones as early as possible. 

 

Edited March 6, 2022 at 01:47 AM by TaxiAsh
added 10 th!

[suMMit]

If I were starting from scratch again, I would:

 

-Find a good text book pronunciation course and patiently work through it with a good one on one teacher who knows how to teach pronunciation. The best pronunciation guide I've personally seen is from the textbook series Chinese Made Easier(2007 ish), but i'm sure there are others.

 

-Start the Hsk Standard course(whether you plan on taking the hsk test or not) series from book 1 with a teacher(on italki) and supplement it with Chinese Zero to Hero videos https://www.zerotohero.ca/en/zh/online-courses

 

-Skip handwriting characters altogether, only focusing on being able to read them. 

 

-Use some other listening materials to suppliment (chinese pod, beginner you tube videos, etc)

 

[Flickserve]

Chinese is one language where you must try to get a good grasp of listening and pronunciation early on. Some other languages you might be able to start learning and using phrases early on but unfortunately less so Chinese - to be more precise, you can learn phrases but it would be very difficult to understand what you are  saying.

 

I would thoroughly recommend you spending more than a few months on pronunciation as well as book work.