How to Learn Mandarin Chinese

Mandarin Chinese (referred to as Chinese) is a rather complicated language, especially for people in Latin-speaking countries. However, with determination and daily practice, you will surely conquer that language. You can study on your own from textbooks, study with Chinese-speaking friends, or join the available online Chinese courses. Continue reading the steps below for an overview of the most important things you need to know when learning Chinese.

Table of Contents

Master the basics

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Practice pronouncing the four tones in Chinese. Chinese is a tonal language, different tones change the meaning of a word, even though the pronunciation and spelling of these words are the same. To speak Chinese correctly, you need to learn these tones, specifically as follows:

The first tone is high and equal. The sound produced is flat, not low-pitched. For example, with the word “ma”, the first tone is represented by the symbol above the letter a as follows: “mā”.
The second tone is the low to high tone. Pitch from low to medium, like when you say “huh?” or “huh?” to ask someone to repeat something. The second tone is represented by the symbol: “che”.
The third tone is the low tone. The pitch goes from medium to low and then to high, like when you play the question sound in Vietnamese. When two words with the third tone are next to each other, the pronunciation from the back is preserved, the word in front changes to the second tone. The third tone is represented by the symbol: “mǎ”.
The fourth tone is the one from high to low. The pitch goes from high to low, shorter and heavier than the profound sound as well as longer and lighter than the heavy bar in Vietnamese. The sound of this tone is similar to when you read a book and find something new and interesting and say “huh”. The fourth tone is represented by the symbol: “that”.
Very easy isn’t it? Don’t worry if you find it difficult. You should hear these tones directly from a native speaker, because you can hardly imagine the pronunciation just from the above explanations.

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Memorize simple words. Whatever language you’re studying, the sooner you’ll become fluent the more words you know. So the next step is to memorize a few useful Chinese words.

A few vocabulary categories suitable for beginners include: time of day (morning: zǎo shang , afternoon: xià wǔ , evening: wǎn shang ), body part (head: tóu , feet: jiǎo , hand: shǒu ), food (beef: niú ruu , chicken: jī , chicken eggs: jī orchestra , noodles: miàn tiao ), color, date, means of transport, weather, etc.
When you hear a Vietnamese word, think of the corresponding Chinese word. If you do not know the word, you should write it down to look up the meaning later. For convenience, you should have a small notebook for this purpose. You can also put Chinese labels (with letters, pronunciation and pronunciation) on objects around the house, such as mirrors, coffee tables, and sugar bowls. Seeing these words often will make you absorb them without even realizing it!
While it’s good to have a wide vocabulary, in Chinese, accuracy is much more important. Knowing the word but not pronouncing it correctly, without correct tone also has no effect, because as mentioned above, the same spelling but different pronunciation will lead to different meanings. For example, saying the wrong tone (pronounced mā instead of cheek ) also leads to different meanings, as in Vietnamese “I am a bug” and “I am a cow” in Vietnamese.

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Learn to count. Fortunately, the number system in Chinese is quite simple and reasonable, as long as you learn how to count to 10, you can count up to 99 yourself.

Here are the numbers from 1 to 10 in Chinese, accompanied by Chinese pinyin and correct pronunciation. Make sure you practice pronouncing each word with the correct tone.
- One: written as (一) or yī , pronounced [yiii]
- Two: written as (二) or èr , pronounced [arr]
- Ba: written as (三) or sān , pronounced [saan]
- Four: written as (四) or sì , pronounced [monk]
- Year: written as (五) or wǔ , pronounced [ủ]
- Six: written as (六) or liù , pronounced [liao]
- Seven: written as (七) or qī , pronounced [chi]
- Eight: written as (八) or bā , pronounced [paa]
- Nine: written as (九) or jiǔ , pronounced [chieu]
- Ten: written as (十) or shí , pronounced [shù]
Once you’ve counted from 1 to 10, you can count two-digit numbers by starting with the tens digit, followed by the word shí , ending with the units digit. For example:
The number 48 would be written as sì shí bā , meaning “four times ten plus eight”. The number 30 will be written as sān shí , literally translated as “three times ten”. The number 19 would be written as yī shí jiǔ , which literally translates to “one time ten plus nine” (however in spoken Mandarin, the yī at the beginning of numbers 11 to 19 is often omitted as unnecessary).
The word meaning “hundreds” in Chinese is (百) or baǐ , 100 is written as yī baǐ , 200 is written as èr baǐ , 300 is written as sān baǐ , etc.

Improve your language skills

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Learn basic grammar. People often mistakenly believe that Chinese has no grammar, but this is completely wrong. Chinese grammar rules do exist, they are only very different from European languages or the rest of the language systems. Unlike the above languages, Chinese is an analytic language, which is both convenient and difficult for learners.

For example, Chinese does not have complicated rules about verb conjugation, subject-verb correspondence, word prepositions, plural nouns, or word tenses. Most words have only one syllable, many syllables combine to create compound words. Thus, the sentence structure is relatively simple.
However, Chinese has a separate set of grammar rules that are not available in English or other European languages. For example, Chinese has grammatical features such as quantification, subject-biased language, and form priority. These features are not present in English and will be relatively complicated for learners.
Although there are many differences, Chinese sentences often have the same word order as Vietnamese, namely subject – verb – object, which makes it easier to translate word by word. For example, the Vietnamese sentence “he likes cats” can directly translate to “tā (he) xǐ huan (like) māo (cat).”

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Learn to use Pinyin (pinyin). Pinyin is the system used to write Chinese using Latin letters. The Chinese Pinyin is the most commonly used romanization method, widely used in textbooks and other teaching materials.

Pinyin helps Chinese learners to focus on pronunciation and read and write without having to learn complicated Chinese characters. Although the Pinyin system uses the Latin alphabet, learners will not be able to directly rely on it to know how to pronounce the characters. Therefore, it is necessary to learn Pinyin carefully before putting it into use.
For example, the letter “c” in Pinyin is pronounced like the “ts” in the English word “bits”, the letter “e” is pronounced similar to the “ô” in Vietnamese, and the letter “q” is pronounced like the “ch” sound in Vietnamese. Because of these differences, you need to learn the correct pronunciation of Pinyin before using this system.
Although learning the pronunciation of Pinyin system is extremely hard, this content is especially beneficial for your learning process and is still much easier than learning to distinguish traditional kanji.

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Practice reading and writing Chinese characters. The ultimate challenge in learning Mandarin Chinese is learning to read and write traditional Chinese characters. This stage can take a long time (even years) for you to master, as the only way to learn is through memorization and constant practice.

According to the BBC, Chinese currently has 50,000 characters, but most of them are rarely used. An educated Chinese person will know about 8,000 words, but to read newspapers only need about 2,000 words. ^{[2] X Research Source}
When you write Chinese, you first need to learn the 214 “bai bai” – the parts that make up all Chinese letters. Some decks can stand alone to form their own letters, others only appear in complex letters.
The other important thing is that you need to follow the order of strokes when writing letters. You need to implement a specific set of rules about stroke order, such as left-to-right, top-to-bottom, and horizontal front and back.
You can buy a lot of Chinese practice books to learn about the correct structure of a word. These books are usually intended for students, but will also be of help to anyone who is learning Chinese characters.
Another big benefit from learning Chinese characters is that you have access to Cantonese, Japanese, Korean and other materials, as they use a lot of traditional or simplified Chinese characters, although although the spoken language is completely different.

Immerse yourself in the language

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Find a native speaker. One of the best ways to improve your new language skills is to practice speaking with a native speaker. They can easily correct your grammar and pronunciation mistakes for you; They can also introduce colloquial or everyday expressions that you can’t find in books.

It’s good if you already have a Chinese speaking friend ready to help! However, when you don’t have any Chinese-speaking friends, you can advertise in newspapers or online, or search for existing Chinese-speaking groups in your area.
If you can’t find any Chinese speakers near where you live, try finding someone via Skype. They may be willing to exchange 15 minutes of Chinese talk with 15 minutes of English, provided you know English.
If you can’t find anyone via Skype, try QQ (you just need to search QQ on Google, the first link is QQ). QQ is a popular online chat software in China. Through QQ, you can find many foreign language learning rooms/groups, mostly English. They will be happy to talk to you in English. You can join the group with the login number (ID) is 229776426 on QQ, hope you can find a friend to study with you.

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Consider enrolling in a foreign language course. If you need some extra motivation or think you would do better in a more formal setting, sign up for a Chinese course.

In the United States, the rise of the Asian diaspora has led to the emergence of volunteer-led language classes. Annual tuition fees are typically $300 to $500 or more, excluding other costs. Alternatively, you can also try taking an online Chinese class.
Look for language courses at universities or colleges in your area.
If you’re nervous about taking a class alone, ask a friend to sign up with you. You’ll have more fun and also have someone to practice with between classes!

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Watch Chinese movies or cartoons. Buy some Chinese DVD movies (with subtitles) or watch Chinese cartoons online. This is an easy and entertaining way to get a feel for the sounds and structures of Chinese.

If you’re feeling particularly “energised,” try pausing the movie after a few simple sentences and repeating them. Your Chinese pronunciation will be somewhat more realistic!
If you can’t find a Chinese movie, rent it from a video rental store as they often have foreign films. Alternatively, ask your local library for Chinese movies or have them search for you.

Advice

You can also use Wechat to get acquainted with native speakers, because this is the most popular social networking software among the Chinese community, similar to Twitter in Western countries.
If possible, you should take an introductory Chinese course at a high school or university to confidently communicate, as well as have correct pronunciation and intonation. Mastering the basic knowledge will be a springboard for you to improve yourself. Ideally, make sure the course is completely delivered in Chinese and not Vietnamese.
Most Chinese are proud of their culture and are also happy to help foreigners learn their language. Don’t be afraid to ask a native speaker for help or practice with you.
Persistence is key! Even if you think you already know a lot, make sure you review it all the time; otherwise, you will quickly forget this knowledge. It can be frustrating to have to go back to school just because you don’t study enough at least four times a week.
Although there is much disagreement about the romanization of Chinese characters and the use of these systems, learning Pinyin will be of great value if you want to write Chinese characters with a Latin keyboard.
Tone and pronunciation are very important in Chinese. When learning new words (especially for beginners), spend extra time practicing tone. For example, 3 tones “ma”, “ma?” and “ghost!” In Vietnamese it seems to be just one word, but in Chinese it is three completely unrelated words.
Don’t skip a day or a week of studying just because you don’t have the time. You will forget everything and have to start over from 0.
If you need to learn quickly, use some software (such as Rosetta Stone, or the free mobile software Dupingo) or new flashcards to study before bed. You will enjoy learning to speak, write and read Chinese in this fun interactive way.
Although Taiwanese Chinese is quite similar to Mainland Chinese, there are subtle differences between the two in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar, similar to American and British English.

Warning

If you learn some offensive sayings, you should only use them when joking, because many curse words in Chinese can have a very strong effect.

Steps

Master the basics

Improve your language skills

Immerse yourself in the language

Advice

Warning

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