Learning Chinese: Help on Finding Sources

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Hey everyone,lately I have had the real desire to learn chinese.I intend to buy the Rosetta Stone program when I have the money but from what I have learned Rosetta Stone will only help teach me to speak chinese, not write and read (though I haven't fully looked into the program yet).

Might anyone have some advice on where to start? Literally anything practical that would be of help is appreciated.

[farleft]

My girlfriend and I have a knocked off download version 3 of Rosetta Stone. We also lived in China just over a year teaching English, she is learning Chinese, I picked up some while I was there.

Rosetta stone is a very good program but to a large extent you are right, it doesn't do much on reading and writing.

The voice recognition aspect is very good though make sure you have a good microphone otherwise you will need to be in a 100% silent room so it doesn't pick up background noise.

There are many books that come with CD's to help read, write, speak and listen. Peking University Press have good material that can set you up from Elementary level book 1 right up to taking the Mandarin proficiency test.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

The voice recognition aspect is very good though make sure you have a good microphone otherwise you will need to be in a 100% silent room so it doesn't pick up background noise.

I will be sure to get a good microphone.Currently I have none so this is something I will need to look into.

Do you have any suggestions for microphones? Any specific states that I should be aware of when buying?


There are many books that come with CD's to help read, write, speak and listen. Peking University Press have good material that can set you up from Elementary level book 1 right up to taking the Mandarin proficiency test.

These sound great but I have never heard of this press.Could you link me to the books?:)

[farleft]

It's not book 1 but this link is book 2 (still elementary level) here (http://www.purpleculture.net/new-standard-chinese-elementary-level-2-books-2-books-5-cds-p-177/). It's the New Standard Chinese books.

She tried several mics which were awful, she has a logitec mic now which is really good, a bit more expensive but well worth it. She says anything by logitec should be sufficient.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Good thing you're buying it. Because if you downloaded it for free online instead of paying hundreds of dollars that would be illegal.

You should also avoid downloading Pimsleur's Chinese program and all the other stuff available free of charge.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Good thing you're buying it. Because if you downloaded it for free online instead of paying hundreds of dollars that would be illegal.

Of course,after all, we all follow the law here ;)


You should also avoid downloading Pimsleur's Chinese program and all the other stuff available free of charge.Ah,then I shall stay clear of this program, but just so I can warn my friends what is this program about?

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pimsleur_language_learning_system

Pimsleur came out a while ago. It was the "big thing" before Rosetta Stone. It's actually not bad. It gives you some basics that can help you develop the language a lot more when you are immersed in it. It helps you build a framework.

It's basically made up of audio tracks. They'll let you listen to a part of a conversation, then break it down, explain it, have you repeat it, have you answer questions as a part of a hypothetical conversation, etc. It's better than it sounds.

I find it especially useful for Mandarin (assuming that's the "Chinese" you're going to be learning) because it helps a lot with tonal pronunciation -- I'm sure you've already learned that in Mandarin there are four tones (or "four tongues"), which change the meaning of each syllable.

I wouldn't focus too much on reading and writing at first. It's not very useful to know what words means if you don't know how to say them. For example, you can learn the Korean alphabet in a single day. But what good is it to read a word like "No - Rae- Bang" if you don't know what that means?

It can help for signs and directions though. So if I were you, I'd just look online for lists of hanzi, practice with hanzi, etc. Some of the basics will help you understand more complex hanzi too. You'll also find that this will give you a little bit of a basis if you ever want to get into learning Japanese... and even some extent Korean.

[Nox]

Hey everyone,lately I have had the real desire to learn chinese.I intend to buy the Rosetta Stone program when I have the money but from what I have learned Rosetta Stone will only help teach me to speak chinese, not write and read (though I haven't fully looked into the program yet).

Might anyone have some advice on where to start? Literally anything practical that would be of help is appreciated.

You can download it for free, easily from thepiratebay.

Rosetta Stone is very good. I'd reccommend you go through the Chinese course using pinyin, then go through it again using simplified Chinese characters. That way, you learn a decent amount of writing as well as being able to speak fluently.

It does take a lot of dedication though. Each 'lesson' is anywhere from 10 minutes to 45 minutes and there are at least 40 of them in each unit, with 4 units in each level, and 3 levels if you pirate it. Also, it's quite repetitive although the way they make you learn the language is very very good, when I'm using Rosetta Stone I actually think in Chinese if that makes sense.

Source: I'm currently using a pirated version of Rosetta Stone to learn Mandarin Chinese.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

WHO GIVES A SHIT?

Why should anyone follow some bullshit bourgeoisie law that exists solely for the purposes of defending businesses?

How can you be a Communist yet stand up for laws that are made to solely defend business interests?

He was being sarcastic...

[Potato]

Hey everyone,lately I have had the real desire to learn chinese.I intend to buy the Rosetta Stone program when I have the money but from what I have learned Rosetta Stone will only help teach me to speak chinese, not write and read (though I haven't fully looked into the program yet).

Might anyone have some advice on where to start? Literally anything practical that would be of help is appreciated.

nnnnooooooo :(

Don't waste your money on Rosetta Stone. I guess some people like it alright, but I've never really liked it. It doesn't really teach you basics of the grammar, just gives you sentences and vocab while it really doesn't prepare you to actually use the language that well. Rosetta Stone is not actual immersion even though that's how they love to market it and I'd start studying the language by just buying some good book set with enough exercises and good explanations of grammar and cultural concepts linked with the language. Rosetta Stone has none of this. Adequate audio material is crucial too, of course, but you should get in touch with natives instead of relying on Rosetta Stone, which in case of Chinese actually courages you to speak pretty unnaturally.

Starting to study a language demands, in my experience, requires lots and lots of tedious study before you can move on to immersion. Watch as many Chinese movies as you can, listening to Chinese music and try and understand some Chinese texts. It's the best kind of immersion without actually going to China, in my opinion. But many people claim achieving tremendous results with Rosetta so ehh this really is just my opinion on the matter, I just can't stand it.

It's also expensive as fuck, at least pirate it first

[farleft]

As a language teacher I say balls to grammar, it's the least important aspect of learning a language.
Listening and speaking.
I speak English perfectly yet I don't know grammar and it's the same in all countries, we learn as a child by listening to our parents etc and repeating, not asking 'what does third person plural present indicative mean?'
Some of my fellow teachers agree and some disagree, this is just my personal/professional opinion.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

nnnnooooooo :(

Don't waste your money on Rosetta Stone. I guess some people like it alright, but I've never really liked it. It doesn't really teach you basics of the grammar, just gives you sentences and vocab while it really doesn't prepare you to actually use the language that well. Rosetta Stone is not actual immersion even though that's how they love to market it and I'd start studying the language by just buying some good book set with enough exercises and good explanations of grammar and cultural concepts linked with the language. Rosetta Stone has none of this. Adequate audio material is crucial too, of course, but you should get in touch with natives instead of relying on Rosetta Stone, which in case of Chinese actually courages you to speak pretty unnaturally.

Starting to study a language demands, in my experience, requires lots and lots of tedious study before you can move on to immersion. Watch as many Chinese movies as you can, listening to Chinese music and try and understand some Chinese texts. It's the best kind of immersion without actually going to China, in my opinion. But many people claim achieving tremendous results with Rosetta so ehh this really is just my opinion on the matter, I just can't stand it.

It's also expensive as fuck, at least pirate it first

Okay,I guess I will not be getting Rosetta Stone anytime soon.

What sort of books do you recommend to learn Chinese (Mandarin)?

Any sites where I could possibly print out worksheets to help me learn to write,and understand, Mandarin?

[Tablo]

You should get a Chinese friend and, if you have a smart phone, a Chinese keyboard app for texting. I don't know any Chinese, but texting my friend and my penpal in Korean has helped me a good bit because they will correct me and I get used to reading it.

[kitsune]

Fun With Chinese Characters, three volumes.

James W. Heisig & Timothy W. Richardson: Remember Simplified Hanzi & Remember Traditional Hanzi
I don't know a lot about Heisig's method. Some people love it, some don't like it at all.

http://hanzi.koohii.com/learnmore

Anki is a great memorization tool, useful for learning radicals, hanzi and phrases. It's sort of an electronic flash card system that remembers how frequently you need to be reminded.
http://ankisrs.net/

List of hanzi in simple to more complex, as taught in Taiwan
http://residence.educities.edu.tw/wei3128/currinstruc/wordclause/generwordgrd9.htm

Same list with pop up definitions
http://www.popjisyo.com/WebHint/AddHint.aspx?d=9&e=Big5&r=e&s=0&du=http%253a%252f%252fwww.m-w.com%252fcgi-bin%252fdictionary%253fbook%253dDictionary%2526va% 253d&u=http%253a%252f%252fresidence.educities.edu.tw%25 2fwei3128%252fcurrinstruc%252fwordclause%252fgener wordgrd9.htm

http://www.zein.se/patrick/3000char.html


As a language teacher I say balls to grammar, it's the least important aspect of learning a language.
Listening and speaking.
I speak English perfectly yet I don't know grammar and it's the same in all countries, we learn as a child by listening to our parents etc and repeating, not asking 'what does third person plural present indicative mean?'
Some of my fellow teachers agree and some disagree, this is just my personal/professional opinion.

I agree. It is very important is to get a lot of input. This is important for learning any language, but especially for a tonal language. You have to give your brain's auditory and visual processing centers a lot of data before they can start making sense of it. You have to hear thousands and thousands of hours of that language. You become more and more familiar with the sound. Watch movies and television, listen to music and radio, visit news and entertainment sites.

The same is true for reading. Once you know something like 500-750 hanzi, start reading. You'll come across a lot of unfamiliar hanzi at first, but that's okay. It's part of the learning process. You'll be looking up a lot of new hanzi and discovering new terms and phrases. Popjisyo is helpful for this.

http://www.popjisyo.com/WebHint/Portal_e.aspx

Music, movies, radio, TV, etc:
http://www.qiyi.com/
http://www.pptv.com/
http://dianshiju.cntv.cn/
http://tudou.com/
http://youku.com/
http://www.56.com/
http://www.ku6.com/
http://www.mogo.com.cn/
http://video.baidu.com/
http://www.google.cn/music/
http://radio.smgbb.cn/
http://bbtv.smgbb.cn/

News:
http://www.mitbbs.com/news/mitbbs_news.php
http://www.nfdaily.cn/
http://xmwb.news365.com.cn/
http://www.lifeweek.com.cn/
http://news.baidu.com/

Books
http://book.sina.com.cn/
http://read.dangdang.com/
http://www.readnovel.com/

There's a lot of content on youtube, as well. I often post Chinese music videos in the "What are you Listening to" threads.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

You should get a Chinese friend and, if you have a smart phone, a Chinese keyboard app for texting. I don't know any Chinese, but texting my friend and my penpal in Korean has helped me a good bit because they will correct me and I get used to reading it.

Ah,unfortunately I have a prepaid phone so that would be difficult,if not impossible to find.Plus I would have to find a Chinese friend who has the same phone capabilities.

Alas,it was a good idea though,

[Tablo]

Ah,unfortunately I have a prepaid phone so that would be difficult,if not impossible to find.Plus I would have to find a Chinese friend who has the same phone capabilities.

Alas,it was a good idea though,
Even so, talking with anyone in Chinese will be a lot of help.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Even so, talking with anyone in Chinese will be a lot of help.

I absolutely agree.If I should ever come across a app capable phone than the first thing I shall do is find that app and a willing Chinese person.

In the meantime I still need sources to help me read and write Mandarin.