Where to start learning Chinese on your own. Chinese for beginners. What are tones

Is it possible to learn Chinese at home from scratch on your own, and for free? Not everyone will dare to learn Chinese at home, but only the most desperate. However, nothing is impossible here either.

Read us and find out where to start studying Chinese language yourself and how to do it with minimal moral and financial losses.

What's so complicated about that?..

Chinese is one of the ancient languages worldwide. And taking into account the fact that every fifth inhabitant of the planet speaks it, it is also the most widespread. Agree, this is quite a good reason to understand why you need to learn Chinese.

Despite the fact that Chinese is one of the world's major languages, it is very difficult to master. Learning Chinese on your own is difficult not only because of the hieroglyphs (and there are a lot of them!), but also because of the phonetic features.

But don't be afraid. If “I want to learn Chinese on my own!” - this is your dream, then nothing is impossible! And we will tell you where to start and how to deal with all the pitfalls.

By the way! For our readers there is now a 10% discount on any type of work

Learning Chinese from scratch on your own: techniques

Competently, and most importantly – free of charge, you can start the learning process by choosing the optimal methodology. By choosing the right one, you will achieve maximum results in the shortest possible time.

And here are the most effective methods: choose, study, get down to business.

Method No. 1

Learning to speak.

We collect the main skeleton of semantic words and learn them by heart . Here we talk about the simplest and most important words that will form the basis of future communication. Leave grammar and sentence rules for later. The first thing you should pay attention to is increasing your vocabulary.
Learning stable expressions . Once you have the basic words in your head, you can start learning the most commonly used expressions that will help you carry on a conversation.
Working on tones . They are what make Chinese so unique and at the same time complex language. What's the point? Depending on different pronunciations, the same word can have different meanings. If we take the Northern Chinese language as a basis, then there are 4 main tones:

First. A high, even tone that is pronounced with a relative increase in voice. The sounds should be without hesitation.
Second. A quickly rising, short tone, when pronounced, the voice should be raised from a low timbre to a high one. The intonation is similar, as if you are asking again.
Third. Descending-rising tone, in which the voice first decreases and then rises. It sounds like you are asking the question in confusion.
Fourth. A short tone descending quickly from top to bottom, similar to the pronunciation of a categorical order.

Practicing pronunciation skills . Check out Youtube channels to help you practice tones and practice pronunciation.
Learning grammar and learning how to build sentences . If you think that Chinese has little grammar, you are greatly mistaken. Yes, there are no conjugations, agreement and tenses of verbs, as well as plural nouns Due to the fact that Chinese is an analytical language, here the sentence is structured according to the type: subject - action - object. But there are classifiers, topic-comment structure and types. But all this should be learned only after completing the basics.

One word can have completely different meanings depending on the pronunciation of the tone. For example, confusing "mā" and "má" is the same as confusing sentences " I want a cupcake" And " I want coke» . Not quite the same, is it?

List of the most important basic words:

An example of basic expressions that are best to start learning Chinese from scratch on your own:

Method No. 2

System Features:

Ideal for dummies who don't know how to quickly learn Chinese on their own. The system allows you to learn Chinese reading and writing without the help of hieroglyphs.
There are nuances that Latin letters cannot fully reflect due to phonetic features. Therefore, it is better to still find video and audio materials if there is no experienced assistant nearby.

So, as for reading hieroglyphs , then you will need knowledge of only a few of them. The rest can be taught as additional education or a closer acquaintance with Chinese culture.

To read the average Chinese newspaper, you need to know about 2,000 characters.

To communicate freely, a person needs to know about 5,000 hieroglyphs. BUT! By learning these complex ancient symbols, you can open up many paths to learning other languages. So, Japanese, Cantonese and Korean languages A simpler version of Chinese characters is used.

Having learned hieroglyphs, you will probably want to learn them write . And here, more than ever, great patience and creative skills will be needed.

First, you will have to carefully study the table of radicals - the individual strokes that make up the hieroglyphs.

There are a total of 214 radicals in the Chinese language. Some of them are full-fledged, that is, they themselves have some meaning. Others can only gain meaning when used in conjunction with additional ones.

The direction of strokes in writing is extremely important. For example, strokes in the direction from top to bottom, left to right and horizontal are written before vertical ones. Otherwise, the hieroglyph is considered to be written with an error.

When answering the question whether it is possible to learn Chinese on your own, it is important to follow two main rules:

Read texts in Chinese as often as possible. You should devote at least 20 minutes to this activity every day. Any sources are suitable for this, starting with children's books and textbooks, which are often printed in Pinyin. Even signs and labels and menus in Chinese restaurants are suitable for reading. Once you have mastered this, you can start studying newspapers. This will allow you to become one step closer to the culture of this country.
Write as often as possible. Writing practice is the best way to learn Chinese on your own at home. For this purpose, you can keep a diary in which you describe the weather, plans for the day, how you feel, or your usual activity. A great way to master writing is to find a Chinese pen pal who will point out mistakes and teach you something new. Make simple lists of products, to-dos, things, verbs, etc. more often.

Method No. 3

Let's dive into language environment.

The best example of how to start learning Chinese on your own is to immerse yourself in the language environment. And here are tips on how to do it:

Practice with a native speaker . Communicating with a Chinese person is the best way to master the language. Practical communication will help you master pronunciation and learn colloquial expressions. All this is not in textbooks. It is enough to do an hour or two a week to see results within a couple of months. By the way, this is also beneficial for the other side: the Chinese will be able to improve their Russian at your expense or will be happy to sit down with coffee/tea for free (not for you, of course). Don't know any Chinese people? No problem - go online! There are a lot of representatives of the Celestial Empire there, dreaming of making friends among Europeans. Don’t forget also about courses or tutors via Skype.
Listening . You can listen to audio materials in Chinese even on the road, while jogging or while cleaning. Try to speak while doing this. It's okay if it doesn't work out. Listen carefully and remember the most important things. At first you will not understand anything, but over time you will succeed.
Watching movies in Chinese . These could be cartoons that are familiar to you, while watching which a person is immersed in the language environment. You also practice not only comprehension, but also tone pronunciation and sentence construction skills. You should start with short films and cartoons. Let there be subtitles, but from time to time try to recognize speech without their help. Regularly stop the film and repeat what was said with the same intonation.

Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Fear is the main inhibitor when studying foreign language. Accept from the start that you are bound to make mistakes. But the sooner you commit them, the sooner you will learn to avoid them. Your goal is not to speak perfect Chinese. It is enough to simply understand the interlocutor and be able to speak out on any issue. You will improve later, but for now, make healthy mistakes!

Ideally, of course, you need to go to China. This increases motivation many times over – the reason why we need to start learning a foreign language in the first place. The area's vibrant bustling streets and the mesmerizing majesty of the Great Wall of China, strange delicacies and epic battle sites will help you understand things you didn't understand before. Here everyone finds something of their own and understands Chinese culture in their own way.

If you go to China with a minimum set of knowledge, get ready for the fact that no one will understand you. Locals will constantly be distracted by your appearance, strange accent and incorrect pronunciation.

Is it difficult to learn Chinese on your own? Still would! But it's worth it. And here are the recommendations of professionals to help you, with whom this process will become less painful:

Be prepared for this to be a long process. It's unlikely to happen quickly.
Read aloud as often as possible. This way you can not only hone your understanding, but also your pronunciation skills.
Find a Chinese learning partner. There are a huge number of free sites where people share their language experiences.
Watch Chinese films, TV shows, cartoons, listen to the radio. You need to devote at least 1 hour to this every day.

Well, if you need knowledge of Chinese as part of your studies, you can always order a test, translation or coursework written in Chinese from specialists. They will solve your problem, and you won’t have to learn in a short time something that will never be useful to you again. Or you'll just save a lot of time researching what you really like or might need.

Today we will talk to you about how to build a process independent learning Chinese and where to start online study Chinese language. If you are looking for secret methods to learn Chinese in one day, this is NOT the place for you. In the article I tell you my personal experience of self-study, which helps me in basic level communicate while living in China. Obviously, this article will not be written in one day. As new ones are received useful knowledge about independent learning of the Chinese language, I will supplement the existing sections. Good luck in learning the beautiful and interesting Chinese language!

Contents of the article "Online learning Chinese":

Why are you studying Chinese?

As in any business, before you start, you need to understand why are you doing this?. Learning a foreign language can be exciting, or it can be unbearable torture. Decide why you need Chinese and set specific goals. Without a clear understanding of what you want to achieve in the end, the process of learning any language can drag on for many years. And remember, learning a language is state of mind. Receive pleasure from the process, then the results will not keep you waiting.

Polyglot program with Dmitry Petrov

You may know that the Culture channel has been filming and publishing episodes of the Polyglot program for a long time. The essence of the project is that people with zero knowledge of a particular foreign language “sit down at their desks” and within 16 lessons gain basic knowledge of the language they are learning. In the summer of 2016 it was mounted and presented online Chinese language course.

Pros and cons of learning Chinese online with Polyglot:

Dmitry Petrov, as a person fluent in several languages and a teacher with many years of experience, works according to a well-proven program.
No water. Only studied useful phrases and popular expressions.
The lessons are divided by topic, which helps you master the material.
The program involves 8 other people, creating a feeling of group study.
Some lessons are taught by a guest native speaker from China. There is an opportunity to be sure of the correct pronunciation.
Free training

Hieroglyphs are practically not studied. There is only one lesson.
Most of the lessons are taught by Petrov himself. As a non-native Chinese speaker, he does not have perfect pronunciation. You need to check your pronunciation using third-party methods.

I highly recommend Polyglot to start. Of course, after 16 lessons you will not learn to speak fluently, much less understand, Chinese. Nevertheless, after completing half the course, with the proper approach, you will be able to write short texts about yourself, will you be able to introduce yourself?, tell about your family, ask for directions to the desired location, etc. At first, in China, the knowledge I gained here was really useful to me.

Petrov talks about many nuances of learning the Chinese language from scratch, gives analogies and associations. The main thing is that he presents the material in such a way that it is easier for us, Russian people, to understand it. After all, the Chinese and Russian languages have little in common, don’t they?

You can independently check the methods of online learning Chinese from scratch using Petrov’s method. Here is the first lesson in his series. At the end of the article you will find an archive with all course materials.

A textbook for learning Chinese from scratch Assimil Chinese

Collection of Assimil Chinese materials for me recommended by foreigners, on this moment living in China and studying Chinese on their own. I really liked the manual, the training was structured logically, step by step. Note, this benefit for English language . Assimil Chinese materials include:

Assimil Chinese With Ease Vol 1-2 (2005). These are two books where you step by step understand the meaning and pronunciation of Chinese sounds and words, do written exercises, and also learn dialogues in Chinese.
Assimil Writing Chinese With Ease. This manual outlines the method of writing hieroglyphs.
Audio. A selection of audio podcasts that complement Assimil Chinese With Ease Vol 1-2 (2005).

The essence of the method of learning Chinese on your own using Assimil

In this guide, we start with the basics and step by step go deeper into learning the Chinese language. What I like about this manual is that learning the Chinese language goes in several directions at once. Studying popular words and phrases, performance writing exercises, audition audio podcasts from native Chinese speakers. If you wish, you can simultaneously analyze the textbook on hieroglyphs, then add writing to the listed skills. All audio podcasts are duplicated in textbooks in English and pinyin(transliteration system for Chinese characters, highlighted in the screenshot below).

Assimil developers emphasize that the optimal method for self-learning Chinese from scratch is to study about 30 minutes every day, from time to time returning to the material covered, repeating it. It is also recommended to download audio materials to your player or phone and, if possible, listen to them and repeat them as often as possible. Thus improving your Chinese speaking skills. The manual contains more 100 audio podcasts. You can download all the necessary materials at

Useful phrases in Chinese

As far as possible, I will fill the article with common phrases in Chinese that may be useful to you both when traveling around China and just for reference. All audio files are read by a Chinese woman, so you can be sure of the correct pronunciation. However, it is worth remembering that China has many dialects and the same phrases may sound differently in different regions of the country. You can download phrases and numbers in Chinese at. Chinese characters are described in

Useful phrases for traveling in China

Hello. - 你好 (nǐ hǎ o)

How are you? - 你好吗？ (nǐ hǎ o ma？)

Goodbye. - 再见 (zài jiàn)

What is your name? - 您贵姓 (nín guì xìng)

You have.. - 有没有 (yǒ u méi yǒ u)

I would like.. - 我要 (wǒ yào)

What is the price? - 多少钱 (duō shǎ o qián)

It's too expensive. - 太贵了 (tài guì le)

Big. - 大 (dà)

Small. - 小 (xiǎ o)

Today. - 今天 (jīntiān)

Tomorrow. - 明天 (míngtiān)

Yesterday. - 昨天 (zuótiān)

I do not need it. - 不要 (bú yào)

Agree or true. - 对 (duì)

Disagree or incorrect. - 不对 (bú duì)

Yes. - 是 (shì)

No. - 不是 (bú shì)

Thank you. - 谢谢 (xiè xiè)

My pleasure. - 不用谢 (bú yòng xiè)

Where is.. - 在哪里 (zài nǎ li)

Toilet. - 厕所 (cè suǒ)

How long in time.. - 多久 (duō jiǔ)

Here. - 这里 (zhè lǐ)

There. - 那里 (nàli)

Go straight. - 前 (qian)

Turn left. - 左 (zuǒ)

Turn right. - 右 (yòu)

Stop. - 停 (ting)

I don't understand. - 我听不懂 (wǒ tīng bù dǒ ng)

Numbers

30 (etc. according to meaning)

Days of the week

Monday. - 星期一 (xīngqī yī)

Tuesday. - 星期二 (xīngqī èr)

Wednesday. - 星期三 (xīngqī sān)

Thursday. - 星期四 (xīngqī sì)

Friday. - 星期五 (xīngqī wǔ)

Saturday. - 星期六 (xīngqī liù)

Resurrection. - 星期天 (xīngqī tiān)

How to say I love you in Chinese?

People often ask how to say I love you in Chinese. Very simple. To say I love you in Chinese, just say the following:

I love you. - 我爱你 (wǒ ài nǐ)

Chinese language characters. Getting Started Materials

Learning characters turned out to be much more difficult and quite boring than learning spoken Chinese. Every day I try to study 1-2 characters in order to understand Chinese writing at least at a basic level. As for me, speaking is much more important, however, knowing what is written on store signs and being able to explain in writing what you want is also not superfluous knowledge. In addition, hieroglyphs are an excellent workout for the brain. So, how did they advise me to learn Chinese through hieroglyphs and what materials do I use to study hieroglyphs?

It is probably logical to start studying hieroglyphs with this table. In front of you 214 most popular hieroglyphic keys. Having studied them, even with a complete lack of knowledge of hieroglyphs, it will be possible to general outline understand the meaning of what is written in Chinese. Not all of the hieroglyphic keys are used independently, so it is better to concentrate on the spelling and meaning. It is not necessary to know how they are read. Keys can be memorized while learning spoken Chinese.

It is important to immediately remember the order in which hieroglyphic keys are written. They are written from left to right, top to bottom. Subsequently, when studying Chinese characters, it will be much easier for you. Alternative spellings can sometimes be seen to the right of the main key images. This is also worth remembering. This is what the table of hieroglyphic keys looks like, and you can download it from the link in:

Chinese language characters. Assimil tutorial

Learning hieroglyphs by Assimil Writing Chinese With Ease involves learning 800 most common elements of Chinese characters. Step by step, you will study the elements and put in your head the meaning of certain hieroglyphs. This book is recommended after completing the first two. In my opinion, if you have experience in studying a foreign language on your own, you can study the materials at the same time. Depends on your abilities, mood and time. The textbook explains the basic rules for the structure of hieroglyphs, maintaining a balance of size and other components.

Other materials for self-studying Chinese

Below I will tell you about materials on self-learning Chinese from scratch, which were recommended by people, but which I myself have not yet used. didn't use it. At this stage, I have enough materials for independent online learning of the Chinese language from scratch, but I haven’t gotten around to the rest yet. It is likely that some of them may be quite useful.

Speshnev's phonetic course and Textbook of spoken Chinese speech 301

One of the advantages is that both textbooks in Russian. But how to study Chinese using Speshnev’s course is a mystery to me. Dry presentation, two audio podcasts of an hour and a half each, where clearly a non-native speaker draws sounds... in general, I was not impressed.

A Practical Chinese Grammar for Foreigners 《外国人实用汉语语法》 Beijing Language and Cultural University Press
HSK Exam Grammar 《 HSK应试语法》 The Peking University Press
Road to Success 《成功之路》 Beijing Language and Cultural University Press

Applications for self-paced online learning of Chinese

I haven't gotten to the apps yet. One guy from New Zealand, currently living in Chengdu, recommended the application Pleco. Judging by the description, the application can be useful for staging speech and developing common expressions. There are also functions for independently writing a particular hieroglyph, after which the application shows the meaning of the hieroglyph. It's a useful thing.

Website busuu.com I have recommended it many times to my friends for online learning of a particular language. At the moment, in the arsenal of the developers of the site busuu.com 12 languages studied. The learning process itself is not without its disadvantages, but there are obvious advantages. One of the main ones is a large reach of the target audience and the opportunity to receive corrections of written exercises directly from the Chinese, as well as communicate with them for free via video.

Link to download materials for self-study of the Chinese language

That's all for today. I hope you found something useful for yourself and it will help you get started self-study Chinese language.

List of files for download:

All episodes of the video course "Polyglot" with Dmitry Petrov
Assimil Chinese manual and audio podcasts for it
Table of hieroglyphic keys
Numbers and common phrases in Chinese

How do you learn Chinese and what successes have you achieved?? Tell us in the comments!!!

About the sights of Guangzhou there is

2.5 (23 voted. Vote too!!!)

Title: Self-instruction manual of modern Chinese.

Here is a self-instruction manual for the Chinese language - one of the most common languages in the world. The advantage of the Self-Teacher is the completeness of information and accessibility of presentation for beginners in learning Chinese. With some effort, but in a reasonable amount of time, you will learn to conduct conversations on everyday topics and read simple Chinese texts, which will allow you to feel quite comfortable in the Chinese language environment.
The self-instruction manual is equipped with a language laboratory course.

The Chinese language self-instruction manual is intended for a wide range of readers. This publication has been developed as a guide for schoolchildren, students, teachers and others interested in beginning to study the Chinese language. The self-instruction manual consists of a theoretical part, conversational lessons and educational texts.
When learning any language, you need to pay special attention to pronunciation, Chinese is no exception. The main difficulty of Chinese pronunciation is the abundance of palatal and aspirated sounds, which are unusual for us, and the presence of tones. The Chinese language is very melodic, so the presence of musical abilities and hearing greatly facilitates the process of mastering Chinese pronunciation, however, even in the absence of special musical talents, but subject to systematic study and listening to audio materials, it is quite possible to master Chinese phonetics. Another difficulty of the Chinese language is the hieroglyphic letter (“Chinese letter”), which is extremely difficult for people accustomed to alphabetic writing. The hieroglyphics section contains a table Chinese keys, the study and memorization of which is essential in order to learn to read and write in Chinese. One of the best ways to memorize Chinese characters is to practice calligraphy and systematically write down the characters and their individual elements (see the corresponding section).

Content
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION TO CHINESE LANGUAGE
Pronunciation
Chinese phonetic alphabet
Tones
Changes in tones Hieroglyphics
Rules for writing hieroglyphs
Key Table Grammar
Parts of speech
Order of words in a sentence
Grammatical constructions
SPEAKING PRACTICE
Lesson 1. Greetings
Lesson 2. Getting to know each other
Lesson 3. Age. Family
Lesson 4. Study. Language
Lesson 5. Seasons. Weather
Lesson 6. Shopping. Shop
Lesson 7. In a restaurant. Food
Lesson 8. Clinic
Lesson 9. Sports
Lesson 10. At your leisure
Lesson 11. Traveling around China
Answers to exercises
EDUCATIONAL TEXTS with grammatical comments
Text I. Sincere Concern
Text 2. Shanhaiguan
Text 3. The Peasant and the Snake (parable)
Text 4. Da Yu controls the elements (parable)
Text 5. Excursion to Xiangshan
Text 6. Letter
Text 7. At a sports festival
Text 8. Yu Gong moves mountains (parable)
Text 9. Wallet
Text 10. An inconspicuous bird (parable)
APPLICATIONS
Appendix No. 1
A quick overview of grammar
Grammar test
Answers to a grammar test
Appendix No. 2
Minimum dictionary
Appendix No. 3
Chinese syllable table
Correspondence table between Russian and Chinese transcriptions (according to Palladium)
Appendix No. 4
Table of hieroglyphic keys (radicals)
Appendix No. 5
Chinese calligraphy

Download the e-book for free in a convenient format, watch and read:
Download the book Self-instruction manual of the modern Chinese language. Shenshina M.A. 2006 - fileskachat.com, fast and free download.

Download zip
Below you can buy this book at the best price with a discount with delivery throughout Russia.

HSK - Chinese language test

Anyone who has ever started learning Chinese sooner or later comes across this simple abbreviation. What's behind these letters? When it becomes clear to us why we started learning Chinese, these letters take on a very real meaning. And it happens that our life begins to revolve around them: “Where can I find preparation courses for HSK?”, “What is your HSK level?”
HSK is State exam on knowledge of the Chinese language for foreigners (as well as for national minorities of the PRC, Chinese emigrants Huaqiao, etc.). This abbreviation stands for the Chinese name of the exam - Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi, sounds like Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi. Simply put, it is an attempt to bring our knowledge of the Chinese language into line with other Chinese scholars around the world.
The HSK Chinese language assessment may be useful for:
- admission to a university - at the moment, all universities in China adhere to HSK results when recruiting students to study in their specialty;
- job searches. HSK has existed for almost twenty years - many former Chinese translators have now become directors and heads of departments. For them, HSK is not an empty phrase, but an opportunity to objectively assess your level of Chinese.
- to assess your level: your strengths and weak sides- writing, listening, speaking, presentation. HSK is the most standardized and closest to objectivity way to find out your language level.
- so that teachers can assess students’ knowledge when teaching;
The insert itself indicating the points earned - Score Report or ChengJiDan - is valid for two years. This is the amount of HSK time that the university will accept upon admission. Your result is stored in the HSK results database for the same amount of time - and it can be easily restored if lost. Well, the HSK certificate itself (HSK ZhengShu), in which not points are written, but general level, valid without expiration date.
The tests of the new HSK (let's call it that for now) are now taken in two equivalent versions - written and oral. The written exam involves separate testing in one of six degrees: 1-2nd degree is the initial level, 3-4 is average level, 5-6 - highest.
Oral exams are divided into only 3 levels - beginner, intermediate and advanced. In this case, the total passing score for each test (oral or written, for each individual degree) is 180 points, that is, if the student scores less, he will have to try again.
There is an inconvenience in this form of HSK - the test taker must decide at the time of registration which degree of which level he will take. However, despite the apparent complexity new form exam, it makes life much easier for students taking it: written and oral exams are independent of each other. This means not only that the oral and written parts are paid separately, but also that you can only pass written part, but do not take the oral test, and vice versa. What is so good about it? According to reviews from those who have already experienced this themselves, this approach significantly saves the effort spent on preparation, and, of course, money too.

A very short Chinese-Russian phrasebook

Here we present the minimum set of words a tourist needs to communicate in China at the most basic level. We deliberately do not use the Russian transcription of Palladium, because it greatly distorts the actual sound of the syllables; instead, we boldly write a translation that is as close to reality as possible, according to the principle “as it is heard, so it is written.”

Note: To display hieroglyphs correctly, you must have Chinese language support installed in your browser.

Hieroglyph	Meaning	Transcription	Pronunciation
你好再见谢谢请中国俄罗斯不要多少好不好户照北京莫斯科钱行李火车飞机饭店出租汽车一二三四五六七八九十我我的你你的他他的买这个给	Hello Goodbye Thank you Please China Russia no need, no need How many? ok, good bad, not suitable passport Beijing Moscow money baggage train airplane restaurant Taxi one two three four five six seven eight nine ten I my, mine you you your He his buy this, this give	ni hao zai jian xie xie qing zhong guo e luo si bu yao duo shao hao bu hao hu zhao bei jing mo si ke qian xing li huo che fei ji fan dian chu zu qi che yi er san si wu liu qi ba jiu shi wo wo de ni ni de ta ta de mai zhe ge gei	ni hao tsai jien ce se rank zhongguo Elos pu yao tuo shao hao pu hao Hu Zhao Pei Jing mosikhe chien Xing Li huo chae fei ji Fan Dien chhu tzu chi chhe And er san sy woo Liu chi pa jiu shi in in de neither neither de tha tha de May zhe ge Kay

Hello. Today I want to discuss a topic that I think will be interesting for those who are learning or are just thinking about learning Chinese. I think the question of where to start learning Chinese worries many, so I decided to draw up a small plan of actions that should be followed at the initial stage of learning.

First - educational materials or books

My first book was " Beginner course Chinese language" Taken from Huang Shuying, which I bought in an online store. Naturally, before purchasing, I downloaded it from the Internet electronic variant, but, to be honest, I quickly changed my mind and decided to purchase the paper version. Firstly, I like paper books more, and secondly, I noticed that it is easier for me to remember and assimilate material that was obtained from a regular book than from an electronic one.

Second, get to know the pronunciation.

Fourth – communication or feedback

In order to understand in which direction you are moving, you need conversational practice; without it, it is impossible to learn Chinese. Having learned a couple of words and expressions in English, we can be sure that if we pronounce them somewhere in an English-speaking country, in most cases we will be understood. With Chinese it’s the other way around. We can never be sure whether we have learned a particular Chinese word correctly until we pronounce it and receive feedback from a native speaker.

Naturally, not every one of us has the opportunity to go to China or Taiwan and learn the language there, but with the help of the Internet we can easily solve this issue. There are quite a lot of sites on the Internet that provide the opportunity to find people who are interested in language exchange. That is, you can quite easily find someone online who would teach you Chinese for free in exchange for your Russian. One of the most popular sites that provides this opportunity is italki.com.

P.S. Before you start studying, ask yourself the question: “Why or why do I want to learn Chinese?”

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