I don't know how I should be structuring my learning because I don't have a lot of money

[teddy00]

Hi, this is my first post (sorry if I break some sort of rule or etiquette with this)
I am a beginner, I have been using HelloChinese (its an app like duolingo but better) for a couple months to learn. I have Anki, Pleco, and some other apps to help me out too. I've managed to get up to the point where I can recognize all of the hsk1 characters and some hsk2 characters, but I really feel like just using HelloChinese for vocabulary alone is not good enough for gaining real proficiency.
So I looked up some youtube videos about people's study routines, and a lot of them mention using the HSK standard course books, or paying for private tutors.
This is kind of not possible for me in my current situation, in particular getting the textbooks is really expensive, I live in New Zealand and without buying it from overseas it would be ~$60 for just one textbook, and around ~$30 for its corresponding workbook. I would prefer for people to not ask questions about this if that is okay
What would be a good study schedule for someone with limited resources, in order to get in enough vocabulary + listening in? Like, any suggestions of more free/cheap resources or unconventional ways of learning? I have a very real drive and motivation to learn, I just don't know how I should be learning.
Any help is very much appreciated, thank you

[Jan Finster]

Learning Chinese does not have to be expensive at all. There are tons and tons of free materials on Youtube (ChinesePod, MandarinCorner, etc) and elsewhere (e.g. https://chinese.littlefox.com/en). You can search this site (chinese-forums) and find more links to free resources than you will ever use.

One way to do it is google "site:www.chinese-forums.com/ free resources"

 

If you have only ~100$ to invest, I would put it into TheChairMansBao. Currently a 2-year subscription costs 140$, but there are often discounts. 

With TheChairMansBao you can reach at least a 15000 word profiency in reading and listening.

(https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/50831-the-chairmans-bao/page/8/)

 

 

[大块头]

I do think it's important to structure your learning around a textbook during the early stages, but I don't think you need to use the HSK textbooks unless you really need to focus on passing the lower level HSK exams for some reason. Perhaps you could borrow a textbook from your local library? I see some copies of the New Practical Chinese Reader in New Zealand libraries when I search on Worldcat.

 

Another resource I'd recommend asking your friendly neighborhood librarian about is the Pimsleur audio lesson program, which can be good for developing basic oral proficiency. To make sure your pronunciation isn't way off I would meet regularly with language exchange partners.

 

When you have questions about grammar or usage that stump your language exchange partners and defy googling, HiNative and Chinese Stack Exchange (as well as this forum) are good places to get high quality answers for free.

[mungouk]

Another great free resource: Chinese Grammar Wiki https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Main_Page

 

And its newer cousin, Chinese Pronunciation Wiki https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/pronunciation/

 

For more on software and other resources, check out this mega-list: https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/51989-a-short-list-of-resources-for-studying-chinese/#comment-400150

 

Welcome to the forums @teddy00 ?

 

[becky82]

There are many resources available online for learning Chinese, and a fair number of them are free.  In addition to Pleco and Anki, I suggest making use of Tofu Learn, a browser popup dictionary, and the Chinese Grammar Wiki.  The advice at the Hacking Chinese blog is also valuable.

 

My impression is that languages are 80% vocabulary.  If you just learn the words (such as the HSK vocabulary), reviewing a lot of example sentences (such as from Jukuu or YouDao), it makes a huge improvement.  Up to HSK4, my impression is that people find the content useful in general (afterwards, not everyone finds the HSK syllabus suitable).

 

There are many YouTube videos following the HSK syllabus, so they reinforce each other, and you can choose whichever works for you.  Many of them read aloud the content from the HSK textbooks.

[abcdefg]

On 3/7/2022 at 12:12 AM, teddy00 said:

I have a very real drive and motivation to learn, I just don't know how I should be learning.

 

I think it's important to clarify your learning goals (even if you broaden or change them later.) Why you want to learn will influence how it would be best to go about it. 

 

I learned Chinese because I enjoyed traveling there and wanted to be able to talk to people. So I adopted a strategy for doing that. You might want to learn Chinese in order to read Chinese books. A different strategy would be more efficient for that. 

[Flickserve]

Good advice given

 

There's also this thread which has a lot of good advice.

 

https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/43939-independent-chinese-study-review/

 

Certainly, it would be helpful to have a language partner to help you. Signing up on hellotalk app will allow you to access a lot of people. However, do insist that the first half of the exchange be in devoted to you for chinese learning and strongly stick to that as you'll find the whole thing descends into solely english. If they want to use english to help go through material in Chinese, I think that's acceptable for beginners.

[TaxiAsh]

On 3/7/2022 at 6:12 AM, teddy00 said:

and a lot of them mention using the HSK standard course books,

Welcome! Lots of great advice so far. 

 

Another thumbs up for Chinesepod and especially Mandarin Corner (probably my favourite channel)

 

This I found is good for the coursebooks. You don't need to buy them. He goes through every grammar point. I know you said can't afford lessons, and this guy is almost like a real lesson teaching you personally.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0y1G9L7gHWzOgQKIDTYSOQ/playlists

 

This is not a bad series (100 hundred 15 minute episodes) https://youtu.be/63l48RwRqyg

 

I think some structure is very important. Try and mix things up to keep things interesting. 

For example, perhaps

- do one grammar lesson every day (like the above link),

- learn some flashcards everyday (I use TOFU app - free and fantastic) I have mine set at 10 new words and 50 reviews every day (HSK1-6), but if you look at the full 'card', it has example sentences, and lists other words where you find the same character, this is useful for grasping a little bit more meaning of the characters. 

- watch a TV show for listening practice

- Perhaps find something like conversation exchange / hellotalk or something to practice speaking to someone

 

 

 

[Jan Finster]

Here are some more channels with free lessons:

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB6Okp3lWoEpN17bY1y15gg/videos

https://www.youtube.com/c/ShuoshuoChinese说说中文

https://www.youtube.com/user/chineseclass101

 

Here you will find the texts of all HSK standard textbooks:https://www.youtube.com/c/VitalChinese/videos