Tones — basic Chinese pronunciation

The number of sounds in the Chinese language is limited, while the number of homophones — the same sounding words — is very large. In order for the words to somehow differ, a special system for changing the pitch of the voice, that is, tones, has developed in the language.

While learning pinyin and the basics of phonetics, you will inevitably get to tones. And it is better to immediately give them due attention so that later you do not have to retrain. After all, if you completely ignore the tones, you will be misunderstood or not understood at all. For example, the words «soup» and “sugar” are pronounced with the same sounds, but in different tones — tāng and táng, respectively. Therefore, if in a restaurant you ask for soup, but use the wrong tone, the waiter will bring you sugar or will not understand at all what you are asking. Occasional mistakes are fine, but in order for them to stay rare, you still need to know the tones.

There are four tones in total, and the fifth is neutral — rather, it indicates the absence of a tone. You don’t need an ear for music to master them. Intonation in English works in a similar way — you already change your tone of voice when you ask a question or exclaim. There are three steps you need to take on the path to practicing tones.

Learn to hear tones

If you are just starting to learn the language, you will likely find it difficult to hear the difference between tones. After all, the brain of a person speaking a European language is not sculpted from early childhood to recognize such changes in voice. This skill needs to be taught.

Chinese tones Try saying the word «yes» in a declarative tone. Imagine answering confidently: “Have you completed the task? — Yes.” And then say it again, but as a response: “John, can you come here for a moment? — Yes?” Continue with an exclamation: “Do you want a promotion? — Yes!” Feel the difference? Now do the same, but with the Chinese syllable ma. Hear how the same syllable is pronounced in different tones in the table. Feel the similarities with what you were doing just now? You can practice here.

Once you get used to it, move on to words with two syllables. It is better to listen to how the tones are pronounced together, one after the other. In context, they can be more difficult to distinguish, so they should not be studied in isolation. For training, use resources like FluentU. There you can listen to how words are pronounced by native speakers.

Practice pronunciation

As you listen, repeat the sounds after the recording. Do this slowly and in an exaggerated manner, so that you can better feel the difference between the words. With a neutral tone, do the opposite — you don’t need to highlight it at all. Over time, the muscles of the mouth and lips will get used to the new sounds, and then you will not have to put in as much effort.

Ideally, you should find a native speaker who can correct you and explain what you are pronouncing incorrectly. This can be done using various services such as italki or Speaky.

If you can’t find a teacher, try recording your voice. Compare the recording with the pronunciation from the sample recordings, so the difference will be easier to spot. In general, if you hear that you speak differently from the examples, that’s good. This means that you can feel the difference between the tones. You will get better eventually and your pronunciation will become more natural.

Memorize the tones

Words must be memorized in conjunction not only with the spelling but also with the tones. This is very important, as a word spoken with the wrong tone can have a completely different meaning. Memorizing may seem tedious, but remember that the more effort you put into learning the tones in the beginning, the less you will have to relearn later. To make the associative bridge between written and spoken words stronger, say them out loud whenever you learn, and repeat them several times.

Basic words

It is best to practice pronunciation using basic words. This way, you will kill two hawks with one arrow — you will both learn the tones and become able to, for example, introduce yourself, or make an order in a restaurant. A list of the most common words with pronunciation can be found here.

Expand the list of topics gradually. Learn to talk about your family, hobbies, favorite food, or whatever interests you. Words combined into groups are much better remembered. If you study from a textbook (more about those a little later), then there you will also find such a system. The apps Duolingo and Memrise are also great for expanding your vocabulary. Finally, words can be taken from ChinesePod podcasts.

Resources

What is a Chinese character

Once you have mastered the basics of pronunciation and vocabulary, you can move on to learning writing. First of all, figure out what a hieroglyph is. This will help you memorize them most effectively.

How many hieroglyphs are there in Chinese?

A hieroglyph is a symbol that, unlike a letter, not only contains a sound, but also a meaning. Moreover, a hieroglyph is not always equal to a word. Most often they consist of two characters.

The total number of characters in the Chinese language exceeds 80 thousand. But do not be alarmed, for fluency in the language (level C1) it is enough to know 3000-3500. More than 3000 will be required only if you are studying classical literature or historical chronicles.

Stroke

The most basic element of a hieroglyph is the stroke. There are 24 types of them. You need to learn how to write them at the very beginning.

The strokes of a hieroglyph are written in a specific order, according to the rules. There are eight of these rules, and it’s best to remember them. Here’s why:

Types of strokes

Pictographic hieroglyphs

Pictographic hieroglyphs are the simplest type. Initially, they were schematic representations of objects in the surrounding world. The connection between their look and meaning can still be traced. In the hieroglyph 魚, for example, a fish with a head, body, and tail is recognizable, in the hieroglyph 山 — mountains, and in 人 — a person with two legs. Such characters are very easy to remember, but, unfortunately, in the total volume of hieroglyphs, they are an insignificant minority.

Evolution of Chinese characters

Grapheme — a component of a hieroglyph

The rest of the hieroglyphs consist of parts — graphemes. The hieroglyphs are made up of them, as in Tetris, only there are about three hundred shapes instead of seven. It seems like a lot, but you will quickly realize that it is actually quite possible to remember them. You will learn to recognize graphemes as you study the characters. By the way, the role of graphemes is often played by the already familiar pictographic hieroglyphs, so each component has a meaning, which will make it even easier to memorize them.

«Complex» hieroglyphs

Among the more complex hieroglyphs, two large groups can be distinguished.

The first is ideographic hieroglyphs. Don’t be intimidated by complicated names, you don’t have to memorize them. The main thing is to understand the essence, and this is the following: the meaning of ideographic hieroglyphs consists of the meanings of their constituent parts.

The hieroglyph 男 means «man» and consists of two parts: 田 — “field” and 力 — “strength.” The main task of a man in an agrarian society, and this is exactly what ancient China was, is to work in the field, so everything is logical. Such hieroglyphs are very easy to remember. But unfortunately, like pictograms, they are in the minority. Here are some more examples:

The second large group of hieroglyphs is the phono-semantic compounds. They make up about 80% of the total number of hieroglyphs. The constituent parts in them are not connected in meaning, and the writing of such a hieroglyph has almost nothing to do with the designated object.

Phonoideograms consist of two parts:

Chinese dialects Radical shows approximately to which range of meanings the hieroglyph belongs. Again, only roughly. Let’s take the already familiar hieroglyph “mother” 妈 (mā). The radical is 女 — “a woman.” Now let’s consider the whole hieroglyph together: it is read as “horse” — 马 (ma) and refers to the range of meanings of “woman” — 女. The result is “mother.” See the logic? Neither do we. But the ancient Chinese did.

Over the centuries, the radical lost more and more function in determining the meaning of the hieroglyph. Now its main task is dictionary navigation. The hieroglyphs in them are divided by radicals. There are 214 radicals in total, and it is better to learn them. Memorizing hieroglyphs from them is much easier, and using a paper dictionary too (if you ever happen to do this).

Traditional and simplified writing

In modern Chinese, writing exists in two versions — traditional and simplified. Traditional is the one that the Chinese have been using for the past two thousand years. And simplified hieroglyphs were introduced in 1956 in China to raise the general level of literacy. In addition to China, simplified hieroglyphs are common in Singapore and Malaysia. The traditional ones, for historical reasons, are still used in Hong Kong and Macau. Therefore, the choice of which hieroglyphs to learn depends on the country you want to visit or live in.

If you learn the traditional hieroglyphs first, it will not always be possible to «automatically» recognize the simplified ones — most will have to be learned from scratch. There are 2236 simplified hieroglyphs in total. For details on how they were simplified, see here.

However, you can also find your reasons for studying traditional hieroglyphs. You will definitely need them if you plan to study Chinese philology, literature, art, and history. In addition, in mainland China, traditional hieroglyphs are considered a sign of intelligence. Modern Chinese hipsters write on WeChat using traditional hieroglyphs.

How to learn Chinese characters

Learn systematically

When you memorize a hieroglyph, learn everything at once: spelling, meaning, and reading with tone. Two out of three won’t work. Without memorizing the tone, you will not be able to reproduce the word correctly in oral speech, and you will not be understood. On the Internet, there are people who do not learn reading, only the meaning and the written form of characters. The utility of such exercises is just incomprehensible. Please don’t.

Start with basic hieroglyphs

Learn pictograms first. They are simple and are part of the rest of the hieroglyphs, so it will be easier to memorize them. Here you will find 20 of the most basic characters. Along the way, it is worth learning the radicals. Usually, they are included in all courses on hieroglyphics (you will find them in the table below).

Use mnemonics

Mnemonic or memorization techniques allow you to create a strong associative connection between the writing of a hieroglyph, its meaning, and reading. As you already know, hieroglyphs are made up of component parts — graphemes. On their basis, you can come up with whole stories.

For example, the hieroglyph 眺 (Zhào) — «look into the distance» consists of parts 目 — “eye” and 兆 — “trillion.” From this, we get some juicy imagery: “a trillion eyes look into the distance.” Of course, not all hieroglyphs can be memorized this way, but at least some of them can.

Learn hieroglyphs together with words

Learn hieroglyphs not separately, but together with the words where they are used. Depending on the word, a hieroglyph can take on different meanings. For example, 会 (huì) means «to know how to,» “to be able to,” “to meet,» and “unification.”

To remember better, make sentences from words, see the use of words in context using corpus dictionaries. Learning a word without context is often meaningless. As a result, you will not understand in what situations they are used and how they join other words.

Use cards

It doesn’t have to be paper or cardboard cards. You can install an application to practice. One of the most famous is Anki. It uses the Spaced Repetition System (SRS) to keep you from forgetting a character or word. The first time you repeat the word after a few minutes, then after a few hours, days, and so on. This method of memorization is considered the most effective.

Another popular app is Quizlet flashcards. It does not use a spaced repetition system, but it has a nice design and different game modes for learning. You can try both and decide which one works best for you. Both apps have ready-made sets of words and characters, so you don’t have to create your own.

Write hieroglyphs

Yes, it really helps to better remember hieroglyphs and words. When you write by hand, the fusiform gyrus of the brain is exercised. Because of this, you begin to better reproduce and recognize the symbols. So write, and the more the better.

Drawing Chinese characters is quite a meditative activity, and that is why many people like it. If writing characters becomes a stress reliever, you will again kill two hawks. This makes four already.

Resources

Chinese Textbooks

Learning a foreign language from scratch is very difficult: beginners often do not know where to begin. Textbooks will help to deal with this because the course in them is thought out so that you master the information gradually.

If words and hieroglyphs can be learned using additional resources, in the case of grammar, textbooks will become the main source of information. You need to understand it, otherwise, you will not be able to combine words into phrases and sentences. For a detailed guide on what to learn, look here.

Good textbooks not only provide grammar materials, but also explanations of pinyin, basic pronunciation, and hieroglyphics. Therefore, you can study them from scratch. Just keep a few tips in mind:

Below we have selected four good beginner tutorials.

中文听说读写 | Integrated Chinese 中文 听说 读写 | Integrated Chinese

One of the most popular Chinese textbooks in the world. In many colleges in the United States, it is used as the main teaching aid in Chinese studies programs. Good for learning the language from scratch.

Developing Chinese: Two-part Beginner Course Developing Chinese: Two-part Beginner Course

This tutorial is recommended by the Chinese Ministry of Education. There are many tasks for speaking practice, so it is especially suitable for group work. The complexity of the texts increases gradually: first, the hieroglyphs are signed with pinyin, then only the tone designations remain, and then they also disappear.

Contemporary Chinese

Recommended by the Confucius Institute. The series consists of three books: a general textbook, a collection of exercises, and a textbook on hieroglyphics.

Road to Success Road to Success

The textbook is well suited for slowly starting to learn: you will not be getting large amounts of information, all the explanations are very accommodative and include pictures. If you’re afraid of getting overwhelmed, try this tutorial.

Additional Resources

What to read in Chinese

If you want to learn a foreign language, be sure to read, and as much as possible. Most of the materials are available online, many are free. In addition, reading will help you with several things:

Pinyin texts

You can read at a very basic level, even before you start learning hieroglyphs. For this, there are pinyin texts. Most often, these will be children’s books, so they have a limited range of topics and vocabulary. You can also read classic European fairy tales in Chinese, for example, Snow White.

Pinyin texts are also a good way to practice your tones. Just be sure to read aloud. If in doubt, check how the word sounds in the dictionary.

Adapted Texts

Once you have mastered the basic hieroglyphs, move on to using them. The best place to start is with adapted texts. In them, words match the reader’s level, and if necessary, there are also readings of hieroglyphs in pinyin. You can find such texts in both printed and electronic forms.

Newspapers

The unadapted press is designed for a higher level, but don’t be afraid. At B1, you can already partially understand it. Here are five tips to help you overcome the fear of newspapers:

Fiction

China is famous for its long literary tradition. Classical Chinese novels — «Romance of the Three Kingdoms,» “Water Margin,” “Journey to the West,” “Dream of the Red Chamber” were written in the XIV-XVIII centuries. Therefore, it is rather difficult to read them even at a high level of language proficiency. But there are also more modern books that are better suited for language learning. For example, works by authors such as Gao Xingjian (高行健), Ma Jian (馬 建), Yu Hua (余華), Zhu Wen (朱 文), Wang Anyi (王安忆). However, it is difficult to read fiction unadapted. This way of acquiring the language will become available when you reach the B2-C1 level.

What to listen to and watch in Chinese

Because of the many similar words, difficult tones, and dialects, listening becomes the most difficult part of the language for many. But you shouldn’t worry. Listening to speech is the same skill as any, it can also be trained. And you don’t even have to be Chinese for that.

Podcasts

Podcasts are a great language learning tool. Thanks to them, you will learn to comprehend Chinese speech, enrich your vocabulary, and just learn a lot of interesting things. Podcasts exist for all levels, many come with printed scripts of the episodes. Such podcasts are especially good for pronunciation practice: read the text aloud along with the speaker, copying all intonations. When choosing podcasts, remember a few simple rules:

Songs

Songs will not only help you in learning the language but also bring you closer to native speakers. The lyrics can be translated as an exercise (which can be very interesting, by the way). Here are three more reasons why you should try listening to Chinese music:

TV shows can make learning a language more fun. But if you want them to be of some use, viewing alone will not be enough. TV shows need to be turned into study material. How to do it?

Where to learn Chinese?

There are four main options for where to learn Chinese:

We wrote in detail about the advantages and disadvantages of each method here.

The World Is Yours: 15 Effective Tips to Learn Chinese by Yourself

Learning Chinese on your own is a difficult task and it’s hard to know exactly where to start to improve your Chinese language skills.

That’s why I’ve put this guide together for you: To help you navigate the wide variety of resources on the web, from pinyin all the way to chengyu.

So it’s time to channel your inner superhero and get pumped up to start your journey to learn Chinese by yourself.

Contents

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

1. Learn the Chinese Tones

As you may already know, Chinese is a tonal language. Before you panic, know that if you can sing a song (bad singing counts too), you can speak in tones.

In Chinese, there are four tones and one neutral tone… which could arguably mean there are five tones. But, there are four tone markings:

As you study, you’ll learn what each marking means, as well as how to pronounce and hear every tone.

Spend a good amount of time listening to and identifying the four distinct tones, and practice them out loud. At this stage, it doesn’t matter whether you’re just saying “Ah” in various tones, the most important thing is to get used to it.

Why? Well, because speaking without correct tones could land you in a lot of confusion—and sometimes even in trouble! You don’t want to be talking about a horse (third tone) when you’re really referring to your mother (first tone).

2. Become Familiar with the Pinyin System

Pinyin is a fantastic invention that should be forever honored as the bridge that connects the English speaker to the world of Chinese. It’s the official phonetic system for transcribing the pronunciations of Chinese characters into the Latin alphabet.

You can learn how to pronounce Chinese words with pinyin, which gives you the phonetic reading as well as the tone of the word. This BBC language guide is a good place to start your pinyin journey. You can also look at the alphabet broken down by consonants and vowels. I recommend memorizing the sound of each letter in the alphabet before moving on to full words.

Vowels are usually easy to pick up, but foreigners may struggle with the correct articulation of the consonants—like “zh,” “ch” and “j.” Invest a good amount of time getting your pronunciation right because a strong foundation will take you a long way.

3. Start with Chinese Greetings

Now you’re ready to learn the basics. As with learning any other language, being able to greet others and introduce yourself is pretty much your first priority.

This is where you bring together what you’ve learned about tones and pinyin. Try reading the pinyin and pronouncing some greeting words on your own, and then listen to an audio clip and see if it matches. If it does, you’re on the right track. Well done!

One helpful tip is to learn the meanings of individual words as you go along. For example, the word 你好—which is a greeting that’s equivalent to “hello”—can be broken down to 你 (you) and 好 (good). Learning individual words in phrases will make things easier since you’ll be able to see the logic and, of course, expand your vocabulary.

Chinese Tools has a good guide for starting to learn basic Chinese words and phrases.

4. Group New Words by Theme

Once you’ve learned how to introduce yourself, introduce your family and your pet.

Done making introductions? You can talk about your favorite food, and while you’re at it, you might as well learn some other common foods in Chinese.

You can then learn how to order food in a restaurant. How do you get to the restaurant? You might need to learn how to give (and receive) directions.

Congratulations! From just that little journey, you now know some new vocabulary surrounding family, food and directions. You also know basic sentence structures for making introductions, describing your favorite things and giving directions.

Learning in themes and topics enables you to flow through your learning with ease and structure, rather than picking random words to learn each day that have little correlation to one another.

5. Combine Your Interests with Your Learning

It may seem like common sense, but learning Chinese through things that you find interesting will make the learning process more fun.

Don’t keep your learning so serious to the point that it becomes a burden to you. Learning should be enjoyable, so try to match it with your interests.

If you’re into music, for example, use music to learn Chinese. If you love reading, check out some interesting Chinese novels. If you’re a fan of movies and TV shows, then use the Chinese counterpart.

You can get even more niche, like finding a Chinese-speaking Discord group that plays your favorite game, or joining a subreddit that shares recipes in Chinese.

There are so many avenues of learning available for you to discover!

6. Tackle Chinese Characters

Knowing pinyin is essential for knowing how to speak and listen to Chinese. But if you want to develop other skills, such as reading and writing, memorizing characters is crucial.

Learning pinyin and tones teaches you pronunciation. When you learn to associate that pronunciation with characters, the learning process really starts to speed up.

Apps, websites and books are all great tools for learning to associate characters with definitions and pronunciation. If you want to go with an old-school tactic, you can simply create flashcards. Make one flashcard for the pinyin and its definition, one for the character and its definition and finally, one for the character and its pinyin.

7. Form Your Own Sentences

I won’t lie to you—Chinese sentence structure can be weird. Sometimes there’s no subject. Sometimes there’s no verb. Sometimes there’s neither! It’s very different from the English language or any romance languages you may have learned in school growing up.

The good news? The rules surrounding sentence structure and grammar are consistent. Once you start to pick up the patterns, you’ll be able to continue making all different types of basic sentences with the words you’ve already learned.

Memorizing stock phrases and pre-formed sentences is definitely a good way to start talking right away. But once you’ve learned enough words and have some basic grammar concepts under your belt, you should start trying to form your own sentences.

These can be pretty simple. For example, if you learned about food this week, perhaps you could form the sentence, “The fish is delicious.” Next week, when you learn how to give directions, you could expand on the sentence to say, “You can eat delicious fish in the restaurant at the end of this road.”

Take a look at this explanation from FluentU and this guide by Written Chinese about Chinese sentence structure. Then, build on the words and sentence structures that you’re learning as you go along.

8. Meet Regularly with a Conversation Partner

When I was taking Chinese in Beijing, I was fortunate enough to have a language partner. I got to learn more Mandarin from her while she learned English from me: a win-win situation! We got to cover more areas than the ones taught in class, like Chinese slang and various expressions. I became familiar with the real language.

So if you have a friend who’s good at Mandarin, see if they’re willing to help you out. If you don’t, you can look for a conversation partner elsewhere. Is there a university near where you live, a library offering classes or a meetup group of Chinese speakers? Those are all good places to start.

You can also look for a Chinese conversation partner online. You can check out mylanguageexchange.com or conversation exchange for online conversation partners.

9. Watch Chinese Shows with Subtitles

Once you’ve covered the basics, watching Chinese shows is the next step. Whether it’s dramas or variety shows, you’ll be exposed to new characters and vocabulary.

While you should definitely pick the genre that you love the most, I personally think that Chinese romantic comedies and light dramas make good learning tools. They often feature realistic (if overly dramatic) dialogue that’s pretty easy to follow along with.

Talk shows or variety shows are equally entertaining, but there’s a tendency for you to feel lost in their conversations. If you’re not that familiar with Chinese current events and culture, you might not fully understand what their humorous statements are all about.

Whatever you choose to watch, look for options that have subtitles. Mainstream options like Netflix and Hulu are starting to host more Chinese content, from TV shows to movies. In some streaming services, subtitles are even available in Chinese—Netflix is especially good about this, though the subtitles are sometimes auto-generated, leaving room for error.

The FluentU website and language learning iOS and Android app is a good place to find video clips with accurate subtitles. On FluentU, you’ll find short videos featuring authentic Chinese content, including TV shows, commercials, inspirational talks and more.

Every video has interactive subtitles in English, Chinese and pinyin that allow you to hover over any word to see an in-context definition and native pronunciation. You can also see other videos where the word appears in that context, for a deeper understanding of the right situations in which to use the word. From here, you could make flashcard decks by turning any word in a video into a flashcard.

Watching with subtitles will significantly improve your character recognition skills. You can reinforce them further with FluentU’s quizzes, which test you on your understanding of the vocabulary in each video or in your own vocabulary lists. These exercises also let you improve your speaking and typing skills through various types of questions.

Whether you watch clips or full movies, make sure you’re watching actively. This might mean that you look up definitions to unknown words if you’re using FluentU or write them down in a notebook if you’re just watching.

10. Study with Music Videos

Using music is one of the best ways to learn a new language because it’s fun and interesting!

But why use music videos instead of just listening to Chinese songs? Well, sometimes what’s going on in the music video can give you context to better understand the song, and other times it’s a great peek into the culture. But the biggest benefit is that you can have a preview of the Chinese characters and follow along with the lyrics.

Watching music videos will really help you become familiar with pronunciation, as intonations are learned over time with more exposure.

So choose the genre that best suits your taste. Not sure where to start? We’ve gathered the best Mandopop songs and karaoke classics for you. If these work out well and you want more, check out youku.com or tudou.com, which have a really comprehensive list of videos.

11. Listen to Audiobooks

If you’ve noticed, all the references I’ve listed here so far target both your listening and reading skills. That’s because it works best that way. You won’t get the most out of your learning if you merely target one of them. It’s for this exact reason that audio books will really help you out. Merely reading a book won’t do: You have to listen to the words at the same time.

For starters, you can download Chinese course textbooks. Most of these have an accompanying audiobook, so it’ll help you grasp the basics of the language. But if you wish to stick to novels and comics, there is a wide range of topics and titles available on websites like Audible, Kobo and websites geared toward kids like Huayu World.

You can also check out these Chinese novels, but they’re only recommended if you’re already in the intermediate level. These novels are purely Chinese characters; there’s no pinyin to help you out.

12. Listen to Podcasts

If you know where to look, podcasts can become your new on-the-go best friend. There’s a great variety of topics, as well as numerous podcasts focused on teaching Chinese basics to beginners.

Unless you’re a complete beginner, though, I recommend that you pick podcasts that are geared towards specific interests and Chinese culture. This will expose you to a wider range of vocabulary—words that aren’t normally covered in educational material.

For a start, try podcasts with short episodes. Stories like the ones on Chinese Folk Tales or Grandma’s Story in Chinese are especially fun and easy to listen to. A podcast like BBC news offers detailed updates on politics, but be forewarned, you have to possess some intermediate level of Chinese to listen to them. News has a totally different lingo.

If you’re looking for podcasts aimed at specific interests like sports, movies and science, you can check out the iTunes store or Google podcasts.

13. Stay Motivated by Having Specific Goals

What’s your main motivation for learning Chinese? Is it for business, for travel or just because?

Whatever your reasons are, use them as motivation for you to continue learning.

There will always be a time when you feel discouraged or out of sorts. When that time comes, think of your reason for learning the language to get you back on track.

You can also gear your lessons toward these goals. If you’re learning for travel purposes, acquaint yourself with the basic Chinese travel words and shopping phrases. Once you see the practical applications of the language, you’ll want to keep on learning.

14. Choose Your Study Method(s)

So, how do you learn best? With quick, handy apps? With textbooks that explain grammar concepts in depth?

Whether you prefer websites and apps, textbooks and stories, movies and TV shows or something else, tailor your studying around what you like.

Choose resources that fit your learning style. And remember, you can choose multiple strategies to keep things interesting!

Of course, if you find yourself losing steam, switch up your learning methods. You may find that your study tastes have changed.

15. Practice Every Day

Never stop practicing.

No matter how busy life gets, set aside time to practice the things you’ve learned.

Only have five minutes during your coffee break? Whip out an app and review.

Running late in the morning? Put on some Chinese songs in the car and sing along.

Daily practice will help you remember what you’ve already learned, and encourage you to keep going. And the more you practice, the more it’ll become a part of your routine.

And once Chinese becomes a part of your life for good, the path to fluency really opens up!

Why You Should Start Learning Mandarin Chinese

Are you still on the fence about whether you should dedicate the time and effort toward learning Chinese with these tips? Then these three features of the Chinese language will definitely help you cement that decision:

Global Phenomenon

More and more people are learning Chinese. It’s the very reason why there are a lot of online Chinese courses cropping up. Or the fact that there is a huge spike in the number of foreign students enrolling in Chinese language courses in Beijing and Shanghai. Learning Chinese has become a global phenomenon!

Practicality

The sudden interest in the Chinese language is mainly due to its applicability. When China opened its doors to foreign trade, investors and entrepreneurs started flowing in. But English is not widely used in the country, so the most practical solution is to adapt to the locals. How? By learning their language.

Today, one out of every five companies has a satellite office or at least an external working relation in China. Most likely, the corporation you’re a part of has a Chinese shareholder—be it a supplier, client or a director. So it’s quite obvious that learning Chinese will give you a huge advantage in the business world.

Rich Culture and History

China is one of the oldest nations in the world. With over 8,000 years of history, there’s no doubt why people across the globe are taking a special interest in its rich culture and history.

The Chinese language is a piece of art in and of itself. You’ll be amazed at how the characters were formed or how each character relates to a specific object. Learning the language will help you untangle the many mysteries of Chinese culture. You’ll get a glimpse of it, and then you’ll surely want to keep on unraveling them.

Where to Learn Mandarin Chinese

Learning is everywhere and anywhere. Of course, the most rapid and effective way is to live abroad in China or Taiwan for a good couple of months to immerse yourself in the language and culture. You could choose an intensive study program, or actually live and work there.

But if that’s not feasible right now, then you’d be glad to know there are many ways to learn effectively right where you are.

Where to Learn Chinese Offline

Don’t be too quick to dismiss the textbook as an old and uncool method of learning. They may be old-school, but textbooks offer a really solid foundation to your learning—especially if you want to learn how to write Chinese.

Chinese storybooks are also a great way to learn, so don’t be shy to pick up children’s books. However, be sure that you’re reading books in simplified Chinese, as they do in China. Of course, if you want to learn traditional Chinese characters (which are beautiful, by the way), that’s another level of commitment altogether.

Make friends with Chinese people! It shouldn’t be too hard since Chinese communities exist almost everywhere in the world. Nothing substitutes face-to-face conversation. Strike up a conversation on the streets, and you may be surprised to learn that people are generally helpful when they see your sincere intentions to learn. When you head to a Chinese restaurant, order in Chinese and chat up the waiters.

Where to Learn Chinese Online

There are lots of online resources for you to pick up Chinese, many of which are even free. Audio and video tools are abundant, and so are podcasts, as I mentioned earlier. The advantage is that you could easily learn on the go with these online resources. Turn your hour-long commute (or any form of waiting time) into a Chinese lesson.

Apart from learning through formal tools online, one way that would really boost your learning is to watch Chinese television, movies, and listen to songs online. These methods help you learn Chinese the way that it’s actually spoken, and also give you a great insight into Chinese culture.

There are tons of movie and music streaming platforms to get that exposure to Chinese in real-life, from Netflix to Hulu.

Lastly, if you can’t seem to find a Chinese community where you live, you could always make a friend online via a penpal website and start chatting in Chinese! It’s not quite the same, but as a learner, you’ll have to seize every opportunity you get.

Can You Learn Chinese Really Fast?

You may have heard of people who have developed techniques that allow them to understand and converse in any foreign language within a short period of time—some as quickly as three months.

You can’t expect to become fluent in a short time. Even getting to true intermediate level—the point at which you can comfortably have everyday conversations and talk about certain topics at length—will take longer than a few months to get to.

It’s important that your learning goals are realistic when you start. But even knowing all that, it is possible to learn the basics of Chinese quickly so you can hold very simple conversations within a few months or even weeks. It will take some intensive learning and a concentrated effort.

If you’re really serious about learning quickly, then you may want to read up about how some individuals have managed to hack Chinese. One resource is Hacking Chinese, and it details some methods that a Westerner has used to learn the language quickly.

The real takeaway, though, is that everybody has their own way of learning. So while you may get some great insights from these sites, don’t necessarily expect the same results—that would only give you unnecessary stress along the way.

Learning Chinese, as with anything in this world, is about patience, dedication and pushing your limits appropriately. But don’t forget to have fun with it, too! Because if it’s not enjoyable, why learn?

And that completes the list! All these tips are sure-fire steps to learning Mandarin Chinese by yourself.

Remember that you already have the superpowers within to make your mark in the world, so use that power to learn Chinese on your own—and enjoy the journey!

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

How to Learn Chinese Language 4+

Read listening china alphabet

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Vocabulary is all-important, it’s the building blocks on which all the skills are designed. It doesn’t matter how good you are in distinguishing shades, character writing and syntax; if you don’t know what, you won’t have the ability to communicate in Chinese.

For many people, learning a fresh language is incredibly effort. Although there is absolutely no shortcut to learning the sentence structure, vocabulary, and pronunciation of the entirely different vocabulary system, this online flashcards app provides definitely some learning methods that are better than others. Flashcards is an attempted and excellent way to see your fast improvement in learning Mandarin Chinese language.

This application gives you a straightforward, easy to check out, step-by-step process to study HSK vocabulary. We offer Hanzi (Chinese character) with pinyin as well as meaning for each word.

To begin with, pick the best level you want to review. Then simply choose learn button to become acquainted with each term. Once you think you will be ready to test yourself, just choose test button. The very best thing is that you can absolutely simply choose Bookmark option for words that you would like to keep training. Most of them will be shown and structured in your collection.

You won’t ever progress as fast as you need to do when studying for around 30 minutes daily. It doesn’t matter when you rstudy, so long as you do this daily, but many people think it is more beneficial to study at exactly the same time every day in order that they automatically enter the habit from it and can simply go into research mode. Understand that lack of planning is the primary reason that lots of Chinese language-learners fail the test even though they think they are prepared.