sean Posted December 15, 2010 THE BEST RESOURCES TO LEARN CHINESE Last updated: 2010-12-18 CHINESE DICTIONARIES: nciku http://www.nciku.com/ Chinese dictionary with many features. Chinese handwriting recognition (lookup characters by drawing them with your mouse). zdic.net http://www.zdic.net/ Chinese dictionary. The English is terse but useful. What's amazing is the Chinese part. It basically collapses all the major dictionaries of the ages [first one was compiled around 500 BC] into one giant dictionary. (thanks Owl) Lin Yutang's Chinese-English Dictionary http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/Lindict/ Chinese dictionary that covers classical Chinese terms (thanks exorcist_1699) LEARN CHINESE ONLINE: Skritter http://www.skritter.com/ Learn Chinese characters. Practice writing characters, stroke order. Grades you. italki http://www.italki.com Learn Chinese online by connecting with other students and teachers on this social network. ActiveChinese http://www.activechinese.com/index.jsp Hello! Mandarin http://www.hellomandarin.com ChinesePod http://chinesepod.com CHINESE LANGUAGE TOOLS: Pleco http://www.pleco.com Learn Chinese with this amazing iPhone app. (thanks Todd) Dictionary, Flashcards, plus lookup Chinese characters in real time with your camera. Check this out: Pinyin Sogou Cloud http://pinyin.sogou.com/cloud This is a browser extension that lets you type pinyin into any text field and it looks up matching Chinese characters for you on the fly. Zhonwen https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/kkmlkkjojmombglmlpbpapmhcaljjkde Translate Chinese characters instantly in your Chrome browser with this instant Chinese-English popover Chrome extension. CHINESE LANGUAGE ARTICLES: How to Learn Fluent Mandarin Chinese http://thelinguafranca.wordpress.com/2007/10/14/how-to-learn-fluent-mandarin-chinese/ Good article on learning Mandarin Chinese with lot's of other resources mentioned. Why Chinese Is So Damn Hard http://www.pinyin.info/readings/texts/moser.html In case you want to see if you can be talked out of this treacherous path of learning the Chinese language. Please reply and add your favorite Chinese language learning resources. Barring a sudden attack of complete laziness (which I am prone to) I will continue to edit and organize this first post here with the best resources for learning Chinese. What are some of your favorite books, courses, tools for learning Chinese? Best, Sean 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sean Posted December 18, 2010 I've decided to dip the tip of my right big toe in the giant ocean that is the Chinese language. I'm still not sure what exactly I am getting myself into, especially after reading Why Chinese Is So Damn Hard BUT -- I'm going to brave it. At least for the next 3-6 months I'm going to play with Mandarin Chinese at home and if I fall in love then sometime in the next few years I will plan to move to Taiwan for a year or two and do a full immersion. In the meantime, I'd like to start organizing resources for learning Chinese. Please post your favorite Chinese language learning resources and I'll add the best ones to the list above. Sean Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
宁 Posted December 18, 2010 This year - the third - we've started using a pretty cool software called Wenlin, which allows one to instantly translate words and expression in a text by pointing your mouse at it. Sean, I think it could be a welcomed addition to your learning kit. Good luck on your jurney, mastering Chinese as a foreigner would be a pretty impressive achievement. Although I must confess I'm aware of multiple other functions of this software, that I quite don't know how to use. Is anybody out there using it? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
