Learn Chinese: Online Language Lessons for All Levels
Chinese is a group of language varieties that form the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages, spoken by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the world’s population) speak a variety of Chinese as their first language.
The Chinese lessons and comprehension exercises are ranked according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), which describes six levels of language proficiency.
- A1 is beginning Chinese, consisting of everyday language like greetings and personal details.
- A2 is low-intermediate Chinese, consisting of survival language: family, shopping, routines.
- B1 is intermediate Chinese, consisting of practical language for work, school, and travel.
- B2 is upper-intermediate Chinese, consisting of conversational language that allows for in-depth discussion, opinions, and spontaneity.
- C1 is advanced Chinese consisting of proficient language: complexity, sub-text, near-fluency.
- At the C2 level, there are no lessons – you just need to talk and read and listen to native speakers to perfect your Chinese. (Near-Native Chinese)
Learning Chinese and looking for free Chinese lessons to help you get started? Free online Chinese lessons are ideal if you want to pick up on the basics without any risk. To make you aware of the huge amount of free Chinese lessons you can select from, I’ve rounded up a list of the best ones below. You won’t have to pay anything for these resources (though some do offer a paid or premium option).
Take a look at the free lessons we’ve listed below to help you increase your confidence in the Chinese language.Besides the basics of Chinese grammar these free lessons will help you build on your existing Chinese knowledge with the fundamentals.
The Bangalore based educational platforms offer a wide range of language learning opportunities at your convenience where all are where the choice is yours. The platform is exclusively online. You can get a classroom-like atmosphere from here with lively interaction from the language expert and your classmates. The classes are of two types, Group webinar class and one on one class. The duration of the courses is 30 min per class. The minimum number of classes that you can take is 30 classes. It can be increased according to your preference. You can take the group class provided by Multibhashi or, if you prefer learning alone then you can take one class also. The fee structure of both classes is different. The timings of the classes are also flexible and is up to you to decide. Plus point here in Multibhashi is that you can take a free demo class before deciding where to join.The result will be satisfactory!
Chinese for us
Chinese For Us is an exceptionally thorough series of courses for beginner and lower-intermediate Chinese learners. In fact, it’s so thorough that even higher-level students may benefit from taking these courses to fill in gaps in their knowledge. The syllabus takes a tortoise rather than a hare approach to learning Mandarin, preferring a comprehensive curriculum to fast progress. If you’re hoping to reach fluency or live in a Mandarin-speaking territory, it will give you an excellent base.
Mandarin Blueprint
it starts off with a pronunciation course, Mandarin Blueprint’s main focus is learning characters and words. Each character is taught with the Hanzi Movie Method, a technique that encourages you to create a coded story about the hanzi character. These codes should tell you the initial and final sounds, tone, and meaning. You have to put in a lot of work to understand these methods and create memorable stories. It takes hours of studying before you can begin actually using the language. Some learners can find this frustrating. However, others find that this method allows them to better recall the characters. And as the lessons build up from single characters to words, then sentences, and finally full stories, they feel that they’re reaping the benefits of their initial investment of time.
Coffee Break Chinese
Worried that Mandarin is too challenging? Give Coffee Break Chinese a go. This unintimidating course will help you to feel comfortable learning the language. Coffee Break Chinese consists of two parts: a free podcast and a premium course. In the free podcast, you’ll listen along as Crystal teaches Mark Mandarin in an unscripted (but planned!), pressure-free way. You’ll learn important phrases, grammar, cultural norms, and more. Invest in the premium course and you’ll get access to lesson notes, a video version of the course that also contains the written (pinyin and hanzi) forms of the words, an ad-free version of the podcast, and a bonus audio lesson with additional vocabulary and translation exercises.
Pimsleur
If you feel swamped by flashcards and Mandarin vocabulary lists, the Pimsleur Method might be a good choice for you. It’s backed up by scientific research and has won over lots of language learners. And much of it centers around how to better remember vocabulary. It’s made up of four principles: never teaching too much at a time, learning new vocabulary in context, revisiting that vocabulary after increasingly longer intervals, and giving the listener (you!) time to formulate the correct answer before providing the answer. Each Pimsleur course contains 30-minute audio lessons in which you’ll listen to new vocabulary being used in conversation, hear brief explanations, and then practice saying and creating the sentences yourself. It also uses a technique called back chaining to help you better pronounce tricky sounds.
Goeast Mandarin
Ever completed a lesson or unit and felt like you still hadn’t practised the material enough? Maybe you understood it all but didn’t know if you’d be able to use it in conversation, or perhaps you simply wanted more drilling to help you remember it.
With GoEast Mandarin, you’ll get plenty of practice with the material. First, you can study the lessons at home, not only by going over the target vocabulary and grammar but also by doing a range of practice activities: flashcards, grammar quizzes, listening comprehension, fill-in-the-blank activities, and even speaking tasks. There are plenty of self-study options for each lesson.
Finally,
Now that you’ve got this huge selection of free Chinese lessons you’ve just got to start practising.
Learn the basics in Chinese until you know them competently and revisit themes and topics with these free lessons.
I recommend you use the free lessons listed here as a foundation from which you can build further knowledge so you can understand each aspect of the Chinese language well.
All the best!!!