Greetings all. Newbie here. no . not niu bi.

long time resident in Beijing from America who never studied chinese but, finally reached a point where I want to start it and think that i should ask some questions and get to know you all.

I have a basic understanding of the tones, pinyin and can speak enough to order some foods, get around on buses or taxis and piss people off if need be. .hehe

so my first question is this.

1. how much time do you spend studying? and what methods do you suggest to begin?

thanks

guitarist in beijing

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/2009 02:30PM by Olive.

Hi.
I think you need several things.

1. A good bilingual teacher. I prefer a teacher who knows both languages really well so they understand the path between English and Chinese. Just being a native does not make a good teacher. Check our different ones. Get a trial lesson. If you don't enjoy the class and the approach, move on. Till you find someone who is smart, competent and caring.
2. Good written and audio materials. As a beginner you can use Pimsleur - good but pricey. the Michel Thomas Mandarin series is really great to build a foundation with speaking the tones. Any good combination of grtammar and vocab building book with audio practice. Google learn Mandarin and you will find a lot of free and paid resources.
3. chineseLingq and chinesepod both are great companies that help you develop your comprehension fast. Serge melnik is a westerner who teaches chinese through podcasts. He is good too. You can find lingq and melnik on itunes for free as well.

So I would study the grammar and vocab seriously, find a really compatible teacher and also listen to a lot of recordings and podcasts. Good luck. Chinese is great fun to learn.

想学汉语就找个中国人说话，这样才有提高，光看书根本不行。
to learn chinese efficiently, you should chat with chinese daily, it would be great help to you!!

of course, to learn chinese, at first, I think you should know something about our culture, and after that,you will know more about chinese language and it will be easier for you to learn chinese.
actually, I have been seeking for a chance to chat with someone for a long time to improve my listening english, it's very hard to find one in english learning forum, but I think it's easy in chinese learning forums,lol.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/2009 04:16AM by Oliver815.

A Chinese girlfriend will speed up your learning as well!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/2009 02:30PM by Olive.

Hi, firtly, you should know your objective to learn chinese and which level would like to arrive. Different level, different objective need different time.
I'm working at a Chinese language school. Hope you come to our school, take a free text and make a detail learning plan. Our teacher will give you more detail suggests as you wanted.

our website: www.gentagram-chinese.com

I prefer to expect all guys here who seeking for good advices of learning chinese don't need to pay for something, thus, ad post here will be not noticed so much!

study chinese in language school is just a good advice.
for chinese learner it's also a good choose to make their learning more efficient.

study in a good and professional language school can make your chinese learning in an efficient way and it can save you a lot of time.i introduce you a very good school at pentagram chinese institute.
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