Hi,

I think you got some really good input already but I'll add my two cents from the point of view of someone who has studied the language for a little over a year. So I remember the beginning phase and I know how I got the ball rolling.

I started out with using some apps like duolingo to get some basics. I also recommend ChinesePod101 and especially their Say it Right Series for learning the pronunciation. I myself put in a lot of effort into learning to hear the tones, and now I actually can, but also the initials and finals are tricky and require meticulous practice. I know many students who sound terrible with pretty much everything in their pronunciation wrong and I don't think you'll want to be like that. So the best thing is to put in a loot of effort into pronunciation in the beginning. About this, you might want to take a look at a little project that I started a while ago and I'm currently talking with two Chinese teacher about it. We might actually have a first version out at some point within the next month or so, depending on how busy the teachers are. You can find full description here https://www.italki.com/discussion/220044

Also for a complete beginner there are two audio books, that helped me a lot, available in Audible called "Learn Manadarin Chinese with Paul Noble" and "Next Steps in Mandarin Chinese with Paul Noble". Those really kick-started my studies. Highly recommended!

The next tip would be to do a lot of Hanzi study starting with the most common radicals and their meanings, and the HSK1 characters. When you have about 400 or so characters under your belt, you can get Mandarin Companion graded readers, that only use those characters, in print and audio book versions, which really helps since you'll be able to read and listen to real Chinese that's appropriate to your level.

Do some study every day, talk with teachers, ask lots of questions, get exposure (movies, music, TV, whatever) and try to talk as much as you can.

Hi Laurie,

I learn Korean by myself and I worte an article for beginner, shared some good resource , feel free to check it.

<a href="https://www.italki.com/discussion/219467" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.italki.com/discussion/219467</a>;

Hello Laurie, I am a Mandarin teacher myself and I would like to say that regular Chinese textbooks and audiobooks are absolutely useful, as well as watching a variety of shows in Chinese (since they can help you train your ear, in order to help you get used to the rhythm in this language. Yes you don’t have to understand everything at this phase). Another technique I would recommend is to use the words you learn as many times as possible (at least 7 times): create your own journal and write them down, or use them during any possible scenarios of conversations. As for resources, I would also like to recommend you to use “yellow page Chinese dictionary”. It is a powerful tool which offers you the meaning, pronunciation, pinyin, the way how to write certain characters, other related words and etc. Much better than any other dictionaries to learn Mandarin.

Here’s the website: https://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/dictionary.php

And most importantly, be free to make mistakes. You have to make mistakes before getting your language level truly improved.

If you have any other concerns or questions, feel free to contact me and I’d be glad to hear from you!

Hey Laurie,

Starting with a textbook is a reasonable way to get into learning Chinese. Doing some extra work on it with a tutor in your own time (and perhaps allowing the teacher to expand a little on the things you're covering in class) also seems like a reasonable thing to do. So well done!

A couple of things that helped me at your stage:

-I would recommend trying to listen as much as possible. If your texts come with recordings them use those. If not, ask your tutor to record them for you. That'll really help get the language in you.

-As for supplementary material, when I was a beginner learner I used a series of graded Chinese readers. I used the "Chinese Breeze" series 《漢語風》, but there are a number of different series/book available. They were really good for expanding my vocabulary and getting me reading characters.

-I had a couple of Chinese friends that I would text. I figured that the language they were using was the stuff I needed to learn, and learnt a lot of vocabulary (and a lot of stuff about China) that way.

-Keep up with learning the characters. I used the old-fashioned pen and paper method and just drilled them by rote, but there are now more innovative ways to do it, such as using Skritter and other apps. I still maintain that the pen and paper method is best though.

Best of luck! Let me know if you have any questions

Laurence