# Learning Chinese quickly and easily.



## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)

I'm finding this technique for remembering to be very effective. I was actually taken back by how quickly I had committed it all to mind - the following day of my first go at it and I was writing down Chinese characters that native speakers easily recognized.

Here's the official site for it: Chineasy

There's also a book, which I've already ordered in for myself.

I'll be trying out some new mobile apps as well, and so far I'm liking "Chinese" (picture of a book with a Chinese flag), and "ChineseSkill" (cute panda pic). Apparently Chineasy is developing apps as well, which I'll check out too. So far you can get all of this for free (aside from the book, which wasn't expensive), so that's also a bonus.

If you know of any other good sources for learning Chinese Mandarin, I would appreciate it. We can share sources and help eachother learn the language fast and effectively. Share anything that has worked for you - Youtube clips, books, apps, techniques...I'm eager to learn as quickly as I possibly can.


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## LoneBreeze (Nov 9, 2015)

I find speaking the language makes it much easier to pick up. I think the difficult part about chinese isn't the speech though, it's remembering how to write the characters. But once you grasp how chinese characters were formed, its actually fairly easy to remember them. I took this from the british council website:

"Another major difference is the characters. Let’s take 人 (ren) as an example. A single 人 means a person, a human being. Two 人 make a new character, 从 (cong), which means to follow (one person followed by another person). Three 人 make 众, which means the masses or a crowd. Likewise, a single 木 means a tree or wood. Two 木 make 林, meaning woods. Three 木 make 森, which means a forest. *We can build more complex Chinese characters by learning basic components and single-structure characters step by step*" - This is the key to learning and recognizing Chinese characters.


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## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)

UnicornRainbows said:


> I find speaking the language makes it much easier to pick up. I think the difficult part about chinese isn't the speech though, it's remembering how to write the characters. But once you grasp how chinese characters were formed, its actually fairly easy to remember them. I took this from the british council website:
> 
> "Another major difference is the characters. Let’s take 人 (ren) as an example. A single 人 means a person, a human being. Two 人 make a new character, 从 (cong), which means to follow (one person followed by another person). Three 人 make 众, which means the masses or a crowd. Likewise, a single 木 means a tree or wood. Two 木 make 林, meaning woods. Three 木 make 森, which means a forest. *We can build more complex Chinese characters by learning basic components and single-structure characters step by step*" - This is the key to learning and recognizing Chinese characters.


True, I found that in China I was picking up the language so quickly, but back in Australia it went so slow.

Chineasy has an approach like that British counsel site, but makes it very visual, so it's a lot easier to remember. It's amazing how much easier something can be to remember with a visual aid.


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## PandaBoo (Apr 29, 2015)

Lang-8

I highly recommend using this site. You can write simple Chinese characters and have other people correct your words, grammar, and sentences by native speakers. You can also help other people improve on their English, so it's a win-win situation.

It's for free, and you can practice writing and learning Chinese characters every day. Best of all, there's an abundance of native Chinese speakers and not enough English speakers, so everything you write will be seen for sure and corrected really fast.


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## LoneBreeze (Nov 9, 2015)

By the way, I'm a native Chinese speaker. So if you ever need help, feel free to drop me a message .


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## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)

RedPandas said:


> Lang-8
> 
> I highly recommend using this site. You can write simple Chinese characters and have other people correct your words, grammar, and sentences by native speakers. You can also help other people improve on their English, so it's a win-win situation.
> 
> It's for free, and you can practice writing and learning Chinese characters every day. Best of all, there's an abundance of native Chinese speakers and not enough English speakers, so everything you write will be seen for sure and corrected really fast.


Cool, thank you. I'll get right into this...



UnicornRainbows said:


> By the way, I'm a native Chinese speaker. So if you ever need help, feel free to drop me a message .


That's great! I'll send you a PM shorty...


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## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)

This site looks helpful too: http://www.standardmandarin.com/


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## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)

I was suggested another website for learning Chinese: YellowBridge Chinese Language and Culture

Additionally, I bought a game on Steam called "Influent": Influent | Language Learning Game
Seems pretty good so far. You can learn hundreds of words from a bunch of different languages, but each language you have to pay separately.


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## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)

Need some motivation to learn Mandarin Chinese? Have a watch of this clip...






There's some very good reasons to learn the language!


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## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)

I got the book from Chineasy, and have been studying it. It was actually worth getting, and I can recommend it to others who want to learn Chinese. Thumbs up from me, and now considering buying the flash cards as well...


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## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)

Also, found a catchy song to help you remember the colors...


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## with water (Aug 13, 2014)

UnicornRainbows said:


> By the way, I'm a native Chinese speaker. So if you ever need help, feel free to drop me a message .


Can I as well?


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## LoneBreeze (Nov 9, 2015)

Cagnazzo said:


> Can I as well?


Sure, but not too complicated of things! I'm not always able to check the forum..


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## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)




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## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)

Practicing basic responses...

Not yes - Bu shi - 不是
Not - Bu - 不
Yes - Shi - 是
It is - Shi de - 是的
Correct - Dui - 对
Good/Ok - Hao - 好
Good good - Hao hao - 好好
That's good - Hao de - 好的
Want - Yao - 要
Want that - Yao de - 要的
Who - Shei - 谁
Whose - Shei de - 谁的
Maybe - Ye xu - 也许
What - Shenme - 什么

There's some interesting ones that I don't have the character extra for...

When someone says "Hao a", "Ni hao a!" or "Shei a", expressing emotional emphases in what is being said, is there a character for this throw in sound, or is it just assumed?


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## Enxu (Dec 14, 2012)

I always get excited when foreigners want to learn Chinese. While I have zero experience in pedagogy, feel free to ask me if you need help on any Chinese idioms, words etc. I too, am a native Chinese speaker.


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## Enxu (Dec 14, 2012)

He's a Superhero! said:


> Practicing basic responses...
> 
> Not yes - Bu shi - 不是
> Not - Bu - 不
> ...


Hao a - 好*啊* - Sure!/Of Course!
Ni hao a - 你好*啊* - Hey there!
Shei a - 谁*啊*？- Who is it?

The "a" is an expression of excitement/exaggeration/emphasis, much like the effects of an exclamation mark (unless it is used in the case of a question).


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## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)

Enxu said:


> Hao a - 好*啊* - Sure!/Of Course!
> Ni hao a - 你好*啊* - Hey there!
> Shei a - 谁*啊*？- Who is it?
> 
> The "a" is an expression of excitement/exaggeration/emphasis, much like the effects of an exclamation mark (unless it is used in the case of a question).


谢谢你！


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## Mr. Demiurge (Jun 18, 2014)

@He's a Superhero!

Before I recommended Anki to you, a spaced repetition system. If you haven't tried using it yet, you really should. Particularly since it has a number of additional features directly targeted at Chinese language learners.


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## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)




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## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)

Can anyone suggest tv shows and movies in Mandarin Chinese?


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## OutOfThisWorld (Nov 4, 2013)

Ugh, I wished they had something like this in Cantonese:exterminate:


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## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)




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## SicIndigo (Feb 2, 2016)

this is so amazing, I wonder if it works with most pictograph languages.


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## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)

Here's a number rap to help you memorize the numbers...


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## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)

Here's a Youtube channel designed to help people learn Mandarin Chinese: https://www.youtube.com/user/FluentUChinese


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## HAL (May 10, 2014)

给你推荐一个APP

There's a mobile app called "Hello Talk" which is absolutely amazing.

You basically enter the language you're learning, and can then connect to native speakers who want to learn your language.

China as you're aware has _tons_ of people who want to practise English. It also has tons of people on Hello Talk!

Download the app and you'll be inundated with language buddies in no time. I have tons of 'friends' on there who I chat with regularly, send voice messages to, etc. It's great.


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## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)

Bought some posters to hang up on my wall that have basic Chinese words. I already know most of them, but it will help with drilling them into my memory.


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## SummerHaze (May 18, 2016)

Chinese is not so difficult as it seems. Well if you have a good tutor I tried to learn it by myself but it didn't work. Then I started to study with a tutor, found one on https://www.tutoronline.net/ . With such help I hope to speak fluent in 2 years


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## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)

SummerHaze said:


> Chinese is not so difficult as it seems. Well if you have a good tutor I tried to learn it by myself but it didn't work. They N started to study with a tutor, found one on https://www.tutoronline.net/ . With such help I hope to speak fluent in 2 years


I still have trouble with the tones...The tones are quite difficult. After studying Chinese for a full year now, I would have to agree with those who say it's a difficult language to undertake. I don't regret it one bit, and I plan to get fluent as soon as possible, but I don't think it's likely be fluent in just 2 years, unless you live in China or Taiwan for the 2 years, and take on a 2 year long intensive course while you are there - that's the only way I think one could get fluent in such a short amount of time. Really, becoming fluent in even especially easy languages usually requires significantly more time than just 2 years for most people.
That being said, if you think you can manage this, that is great! I wish you luck with this. When you succeed, please let us know which strategies helped you the most.

My personal goal is to be fluent in Chinese after 4 years (daily study, and spending periods of time living in China). Someone I know of was able to reach a level of fluency it in about 4 years doing similar, so I hope I can as well. Learning Chinese has become a main focus in my life, and I've been studying Chinese in some way or another every single day, but I don't think I'll be fluent after just one more year of it...I'm going to need more time.


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## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)

Turns out that if you speak English, chances are that you already know a few Chinese words, perhaps without knowing it. There has been a fair amount of Cantonese influence, but some Mandarin influence too on the English language. Learning about these, and how the Chinese pronounce them, is an encouraging little dose to help you on your journey to becoming fluent in this awesome language! Here's the examples I've dug up thus far...

So here it is: Chinese you likely already know/use...
*
China* - from "Qin", as in the Qin Dynasty.
*Feng shui* - "wind water", which is aesthetic balance.
*Yin* and *Yang* - two opposite forces that compliment eachother. Male and female, darkness and light, for example.
*Chi* or "*Qi*" - the energy of life.
*Ping pong*, which is pronounced as "*ping pang*" in Chinese - table tennis.
*Tofu* (well actually this one is of Japanese origin, but the Chinese use this word too, but they say "*Doufu*" instead).
*Typhoon* - the Chinese say "*Taifeng*", but it sounds very similar, and means cyclone/hurricane.
*Tao/Taoism* - in Chinese, it's "*Dao*", meaning "path".
*Tai chi* - in Chinese it's pronounced "*Tai ji*", and is a form of martial arts.
*Pinyin* - Chinese writing in Latin letters. 你好 is "ni hao" in pinyin...Much easier to read!
*Han fu* - traditional Chinese clothing.
*Shih tzu* - "*Shizi gou*" meaning "lion dog", and not necessarily the little white dog that we all know.
*Guanshi* or *Guanxi* - it means relationship(s), but in English is more focused on social networking that benefits businesses.
*Gung-ho* - in Chinese it's "*Gong he*", meaning "teamwork", but in English it means "very enthusiastic".
*Kung fu* - "*Gong fu*", meaning "effort" or "skill", but in English it's specifically to do with martial arts.
*Tea* or *Cha*, and it turns out that these are both from languages in China. "Cha" is Mandarin, and "Tea" is Hokkien dialect.

A couple of names you probably have heard of...

*Confucius - "Kongzi".
Lao Tzu - "Laozi".*


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## KattyLu (Dec 1, 2016)

my dream is to learn chinese. it's so hard


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## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)

KattyLu said:


> my dream is to learn chinese. it's so hard


Yes it is hard, but entirely possible. I know someone who managed to become relatively fluent in just 4 years - which is impressive for any language, let alone harder ones. (personally I'm aiming for 3 years - that's another 2 years for me, as I've been learning for one year now)

It's worth the effort, and you will find that it's also quite an enjoyable challenge!


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## Penny (Mar 24, 2016)

He's a Superhero! said:


> Can anyone suggest tv shows and movies in Mandarin Chinese?


I don't know if anyone recommended this already or not but have you seen the movie Shaolin with Andy Lau and Jackie Chan? Definitely Mandarin with subtitles. Great movie too. 



Ip Man- another good one- story about Bruce Lee's teacher.


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## He's a Superhero! (May 1, 2013)

There are heaps of words in Chinese that have been taken from English, and these words are easier for English speakers to memorize. Here's some of them...

Kafei - coffee
Shafa - sofa
Bufei - buffet
Baibai - bye bye
Katong - cartoon
Qiaokeli - chocolate
Ku - cool
Kupeng - coupon
Yimei'r - eMail
Motuo - motor
Feilin - film
Jita - guitar
Ningmeng - lemon
Modeng - modern
Shala - salad
Pisa - pizza
Saiyinsi - science
Suda - soda

And there are many more! This is a good way to widen your vocabulary quickly.


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