nine tailed fox Posted September 22, 2015 Guys I wanna learn Chinese Where should I start from ? ?? I wanna learn Chinese because I wanna read Chinese books, I am not interested in speaking and writing Chinese as much, as I am interested in reading it Though it would be nice to be able to speak and write it too Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Basher Posted September 22, 2015 Learning Mandarin is also on my "to-do" list, but I'll need to speak it too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
manitou Posted September 26, 2015 The back of the fortunes in the fortune cookies is a good place to start. I learned how to say Watermelon - but I can't remember it now. Funny, I've been thinking about the same thing - only I would do it to try to keep my old brain alive. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ell Posted September 26, 2015 Add me to this list. Like nine tailed fox, I've been interested in learning to read and write Chinese, not quite as much to speak it. I took nine or ten of a series of brief instructions that are up on iTunes U. They were good, slow, but good, and I began to at least recognize some characters. Ultimately, I decided that for my learning style I need it in a hard copy book, something I can mark up, put book marks in, review, review, review. And that's kind of where my journey with it stands at the time being, as I've just not got around to finding said book.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dust Posted September 26, 2015 (edited) http://thedaobums.com/topic/37718-chinese-efficient-methods-of-learning/?p=611191 http://thedaobums.com/topic/37727-how-do-i-learn-chinese-well/ Any aspect of the language is made infinitely easier to grasp if one is, at the same time, able to grasp all other aspects. It can be broken up if necessary, into reading/writing and speaking/listening -- I know of researchers who can read ancient Chinese fluently but speak no word of modern Mandarin -- but I wouldn't go any further than that. Edited September 26, 2015 by dustybeijing Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dawei Posted October 2, 2015 My wife is chinese but I only seem to learn all the bad words/curses/phrases Immersion is best... live among the people, go to a school, etc... or find one in the US with chinese language. Here is the kicker: If you just learn it in the US you will learn proper chinese but not sure you will learn colloquial speaking. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Miffymog Posted October 2, 2015 Dawie is totally right. I was good friends with a Mandarin teacher and immersion is best - BUT - there are so many different regional variations, what are your goals? But good luck on this - I respect any westerner who can converse in Chinese!!! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
