10 essential tips for beginners

Welcome to our guide on mastering Mandarin Chinese for beginners! Whether you're just starting your journey or looking to enhance your skills, these 10 essential tips will help you navigate the complexities of learning Mandarin Chinese with confidence and success. From mastering tones to building vocabulary and understanding grammar, we've compiled key strategies to accelerate your language learning process. Let's dive in and embark on this exciting linguistic adventure together!

Understand the principles of Chinese characters, write them by hand, and increase memory points

Chinese characters seem difficult? In fact, Chinese characters are like building blocks, composed of various parts. Learning radicals and parts can help you analyze the meaning and pronunciation of Chinese characters. Although most of modern society uses online media for communication, handwriting Chinese characters can help you remember Chinese characters and distinguish the differences between Chinese characters. So pick up your pen and practice with the stroke order!

Stroke Order Dictionary https://www.twpen.com/ (Enter a single Chinese character to get stroke order animation and step-by-step stroke order for reference.)

Tone is important! Listen and read along

Tone is important! Listen and read along: the same pronunciation, but different tones, have completely different meanings! Each syllable may have 4 tones, and a different tone changing the tone changes the meaning! You don’t want to tell the waiter at a dumpling shop that you’re going to sleep ;) The best way to practice intonation is to listen a lot and consciously follow the correct intonation. You may not be able to hear it at first, but don’t give up! With continued practice, you will find that you can tell the difference in tone. You can use this website to practice listening to tones. Pinyin Practice

Immerse yourself in Chinese speech

Find a Youtube channel or podcast program that interests you, and familiarize yourself with the "sound" of Chinese. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it. The key is to get your ears used to Chinese speech. This can help you learn natural and authentic pronunciation subconsciously.

Example: Travel Podcast "Unlocking the Earth".

Find a professional teacher or join a course

There are many tools online for self-learning, but if you want to learn efficiently and correctly, learning from a professional teacher will get twice the result with half the effort! Especially for Chinese intonation, only by following the guidance and training in the early stage can we lay a solid foundation.

Use flashcards

A certain amount of vocabulary may help you organize sentences and communicate with others. You can use the following websites to learn at every moment in your life through online flashcards, and let the vocabulary enter your long-term memory.

Increase the fun of learning

You can use the following websites to learn and review through games, making learning Chinese fun!

Quizlet Kahoot! Quizizz

Practice at least 10-15 minutes every day

Learning a language takes time, so make some time every day that is most suitable for learning, at least 10 or 15 minutes. Also let your family and friends know your plan, and you will be more motivated to stick to it.

Find an interesting topic to strengthen your motivation to learn

If you are interested in Mandarin music, movies or TV series, Taiwanese culture and art, etc., you will be more motivated to learn Chinese. Or make a friend who speaks Chinese and practice together to give yourself the opportunity to use the language.

Have patience and perseverance, and don’t be afraid of making mistakes

Mandarin Chinese is a special and beautiful language. In addition to pronunciation (especially the tones), Chinese characters also take some time to become familiar with. So don't be too hasty. In addition, learning is not always successful. Don't be afraid of making mistakes, and don't be discouraged when you make them. Learn from your mistakes and persist, and you will definitely perform better and better.

Test yourself in life

When you learn a new word, try to use it in your life. You can talk to yourself and describe today's weather, surrounding environment, or even the food you’re eating. The more you use it, the faster you will remember it. If you find that you have forgotten how to say some things, that's fine. Look it up in a dictionary or ask your teacher. You won't be able to forget it even if you want to.