What are the best resources to learn Chinese?

Mandarin is the most often used spoken form in China. Knowing Mandarin will allow you to converse with nearly everyone in China and Taiwan. Chinese is the world’s oldest written language, going back over 4000 years. There is no Chinese alphabet, as there is in other languages. Instead, the Chinese language employs Chinese characters known as hàn z. Mandarin is China’s official language in other Asian nations. Mandarin is taught in public schools around the country. Mandarin is the primary language of the media, officials, and the government. When typing in Chinese, you utilise a phonetic system known as pinyin, which correlates to the Mandarin pronunciation. In addition to China, Mandarin Chinese is an official language in a number of other Asian nations. It is also one of the United Nations’ six official languages. Chinese nationals are taught the same official language: Mandarin.  Mandarin is the first language of more than 70% of the Chinese population. The remaining 30% now frequently learns both their regional languages and Mandarin in order to connect with everyone.

Online Support

Apps

Duolingo is one of the most popular free online language learning resources that claims to effectively teach Chinese in just five minutes a day. The website teaches a variety of languages, including Chinese. Duolingo is known for presenting really good, well-organized lessons that are effective as suggested by many users. It offers extensive written lessons and dictation, as well as gamification to make learning more enjoyable. There is also a paid version available. 

Memrise website claims to use science to make learning easier and more enjoyable. They promise to teach you “all the Chinese vocabulary and grammar you need to be conversational in Chinese” in their A1 Chinese course.

Classes

eChineseLearning

eChineseLearning’s one-on-one approach to learning how to read, write and speak Chinese is definitely helpful. They offer online live lessons with professional teachers available 24/7. Learners can also utilize their free assessment test to assess their language proficiency. It’s a very easy user-friendly platform and one could sign up for a free trial. Their prices are up to $25 for a fifty-minute one-on-one lesson, and they offer greater discounts with more classes besides a limited period money-back guarantee!

Coursera is a great place for MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). Created by the prestigious Peking University, the course offers a firm understanding of Mandarin phonetics and daily expressions. One can also connect easily with your peers for study time outside of class. While Coursera is a great resource for conversation, Chinese learners must ensure that they engage themselves with a learning aid that helps them focus on Chinese reading or characters. 

Busuu

Busuu offers a wonderful Chinese course in just $13 a  month, with their well-presented lessons. Busuu emphasizes how to speak, read and listen in Mandarin. Their unique review system and social networking feature make learning a great experience.

Udemy 

Udemy offers multiple Chinese language classes through native teachers at different prices. A learner can select courses as per their needs;  short or long, for beginners or intermediate level,  focused on writing or speaking. The possibilities are pretty endless and most of these courses are around $10.99. One course that’s very popular on Udemy is “College Mandarin Chinese Course on Your Own — Beginning Level” by Hong Zeng. For $10.99, you can learn all of the basics of tones, characters, conversational dialogue and grammar.

That’s Mandarin

That’s Mandarin offers Mandarin Chinese courses for both adults and youth alike, through certified teachers, and classes that fit your schedule. Their app is very easy to navigate no matter your age and their customer support is fantastic. That’s Mandarin offers many benefits such as a free version to learn, an app that’s simple to use, and teachers who will walk you through every step of the process. That’s Mandarin also prepares you for HSK exams.

Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone is an award-winning language software; an age-old language-learning platform that has stood the test of time over years. Rosetta Stone finds application in Chinese language university classes, for both beginners and advanced level learners. They cover all levels of fluency, boast of some of the best accent and pronunciation-perfecting technology besides super helpful live tutors. Learners can access phrasebooks and literature outside of Rosetta Stone’s Chinese courses to make practice time a bit more enriching. It is available at about $80 for three months of courses.

LearnChineseEZ

Is the simplistic ultra-basic learning software, that has pages and pages of words and phrases, all accompanied by pinyin and audio files to help you get the tones just right. It is a helpful resource for beginners to supplement language-learning lessons, especially if you need help getting tones right. There aren’t any Chinese characters on this old school website, but as a beginner, you can definitely learn quite a bit about the spoken language 

Reading 

The Chairman’s Bao is the most comprehensive online Chinese news site for Chinese learners. Each news story on the site is graded by ability, and over 1,600 new lessons are added every year.

Children’s Books

Reading is a great way to learn a new language, as you’ve probably heard. And, when you’re just starting out, reading children’s books is the best thing you can do. 

1000 Most Common Chinese Words. Start learning Chinese by learning the 1000 most common Chinese words if you want to get the most bang for your buck. A list of those words can be found here.

Listening 

ChineseClass101 is a great Chinese course, especially for developing listening skills. With ChineseClass101, you start by selecting your level, and the audio course that suits you, taking up more complex courses gradually as you progress. ChineseClass101 goes right from absolute beginner to intermediate and advanced levels and covers all relevant levels.

YouTube

Listening to music is an excellent way to learn any language. Look for fun and easy-to-understand children’s songs, even if you’re just starting out with Chinese. Several songs are available on YouTube.

Writing

Skritter is an app that teaches you to write Chinese characters. You can use it to improve your traditional or simplified Chinese in a gorgeous interface. All characters are presented in a spaced repetition system.

Speaking 

Conversation CountdownCC – Have your first conversation in Chinese in just seven days. This is one of my most popular courses, and with good reason, because you’ll get results fast.

MasterMandarin, John Fotheringham’s guide for Mandarin learners, is a gem that cuts through the piles of Chinese-learning resources on the Internet and tells you straight which you need and how to use them. If you’ve wished for just one place to go for all the best info on learning Chinese Mandarin, this is it.

italki:  The best way to learn a language is to speak from day one. That’s why I love italki  — because it means you can find an affordable Chinese tutor for one-to-one lessons, and start speaking right away.

For the sake, of reference- To clarify doubts or lookup

WCIE Why Chinese is Easy, is an in-depth language guide to Chinese. It’s not a course, but it will give tips and hacks so you can learn Chinese faster and smarter.

Yoyo Chinese is all about learning Chinese as it is actually spoken in the real world — not as you’d learn it from a textbook. “ Yoyo Chinese is perfect for those who want to work at their own pace. It’s incredibly thorough in scope with the way the material is broken down.

Google Translate is a free online translation service. Google Translate allows you to enter text in one language and have it translated into another language of your choice. Collins Free Online Translator is another option.

Forvo. If there is a word in your target language that you are unsure how to pronounce, simply go to the Forvo website type the word you’re looking for into the Forvo search bar in Chinese, and you’ll hear it spoken by a native speaker. Forvo is the Internet’s largest pronunciation guide website, and it was named one of Time Magazine’s 50 best websites of 2013.

LineDict Line Dictionary is very simply the best dictionary for sample sentences in Chinese.

Pleco is a must-have mobile dictionary. It uses optical character recognition (OCR) to read and translate any Chinese text you scan with your phone. Essential if you’re visiting or living in China.

Chinese Vocabulary and Grammar

Glossika uses audio repetition training with Artificial Intelligence (AI) to make sure you’re learning Chinese at the pace that feels right for you. I especially like Glossika’s focus on listening and speaking. You get to watch your fluency progress live with each audio “rep”.

To practise 

Lang-8 is a social network for language exchange that is completely free. Submit text in any language you’re learning, and a native speaker will correct it as well as leave helpful comments and feedback.

LingQ immerses you in a world of compelling Chinese content – with 1000s of hours of Chinese podcasts, audiobooks, interviews, courses and more. Then anytime you come across a word you don’t know, you can save it for review using LingQ’s SRS learning tools.

Anki is an excellent SRS app that will assist you in memorising vocabulary words faster than traditional memorization techniques. Quizlet is another online flashcard programme that allows you to play games while learning and take tests to track your progress.

Clozemaster Pro is the logical next step after Duolingo? Clozemaster helps you rapidly expand your vocabulary by learning Chinese in context. You’ll use the Cloze method to fill in the missing word for thousands of sentences in Chinese. The sentences you’ll learn are much more relevant to the real world than those you’ll learn on Duolingo.

The Chinese language is intriguing and one-of-a-kind. Unlike most other languages, Chinese has a written form as well as numerous spoken versions. Traces of written Chinese have been discovered dating back to the Shang period (1600 – 1066 BC). The Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) is responsible for the Chinese language that is used today in China. The Chinese language is really a language family. There are several dialects of spoken Chinese. These many Chinese languages are sometimes referred to as dialects. It is estimated that there are around 200 dialects in China. These dialects are the result of China’s 56 ethnic communities. These Chinese languages share a tonal method for distinguishing homonyms. Other Chinese languages may have more tones than Mandarin Chinese. They also all write in the same language: Chinese characters. Despite their close relationship, these distinct languages are mutually incomprehensible. 

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