Best book/way to learn mandarin chinese (standard chinese)?

[logiosasuna]

Hey

I know both spanish and english, the top 2 and 3 most spoken languages in the world, and I have been wanting to for a long time to learn mandarin chinese (standard chinese). First spoken, then Ill move on to written. I mean being able to speak to over 1977 million people is great for jobs and such.

Thanks

[Bioran]

Learning chinese from books won't be a good method. It's a very complex language and the best way would be to be taught + practicing it.

[mrchetsteadman]

Get Rosetta Stone. It's awesome. I learned Spanish pretty easily using it and I am about to learn Arabic for my trip to Dubai later this year.

[linsook]

Conversing is probably the best way to pick it up fast. You can find language learning partners to do that with.

language learning websites:

http://italki.com - i recommend

http://www.livemocha.com/

http://chinesepod.com/ - chinese lesson podcasts not sure if they have free lessons anymore.

http://laowaichinese.net/

http://popupchinese.com/lessons - like chinesepod but with a beijing twist

http://www.bjshengr.com/bjs/ - love this site, funny recordings and casual research into 北京话- 儿化音

http://www.zein.se/patrick/3000char.html - 3000 of the most commonly used chinese characters. good for learning to read and write.

during the chats you may have with chinese people online, you may need help translating; lingoes is good desktop dictionary with cursor translation and its free. I've used it personally and has helped me tremendously learn along the way especially while chatting.

There are online based ones such as:

http://us.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php

http://jukuu.com/ - fantastic search to help learn how to use characters in phrases good for both English and Chinese learners (van be used in lingoes with an addon)

[mrchetsteadman]

Conversing is probably the best way to pick it up fast. You can find language learning partners to do that with.

language learning websites:

http://italki.com - i recommend

http://www.livemocha.com/

http://chinesepod.com/ - chinese lesson podcasts not sure if they have free lessons anymore.

http://laowaichinese.net/

http://popupchinese.com/lessons - like chinesepod but with a beijing twist

http://www.bjshengr.com/bjs/ - love this site, funny recordings and casual research into 北京话- 儿化音

http://www.zein.se/patrick/3000char.html - 3000 of the most commonly used chinese characters. good for learning to read and write.

during the chats you may have with chinese people online, you may need help translating; lingoes is good desktop dictionary with cursor translation and its free. I've used it personally and has helped me tremendously learn along the way especially while chatting.

There are online based ones such as:

http://us.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php

http://jukuu.com/ - fantastic search to help learn how to use characters in phrases good for both English and Chinese learners (van be used in lingoes with an addon)

Wow, awesome links! +rep for that!

[linsook]

Wow, awesome links! +rep for that!

Thanks. I started learning in Nov 2007 and have come across a ton of resources. But these are a good start.

Another aspect of learning and learning well is to understand the culture. Got a whole set of other links for that.

[phend-one]

I'm currently using Rosetta Stone. It seems good so far, but it gets difficult quickly. I've tried attending Chinese classes in the past while I was younger, but it seems this way is a good way to learn by yourself. This software won't help too much in the writing area (besides you scribing what they put on the screen), it focuses on speaking primarily. I just started Unit 1 Lesson 2 and it is already a lot harder than Lesson 1. There are 4 lessons per unit, and 4 units per Level (3 levels on 3 discs in total). Each unit teaches something different (on this current disc I'm on it's Basics. Greetings and Introductions, Work and School, Shopping are the next units).

One thing I like is the ability to switch from traditional, simplified and pinyin characters easily in the interface. Unfortunately sometimes I have to guess what is going on in the activity as there is not much to indicate what they are trying to get you to do. Another thing I dislike is they don't really teach you much about the tones in the language or anything about pronunciation etc, rather according to their method of "immersion learning" is to just throw you in with the sharks and hope you swim. That can be a bit of a stretch for someone looking to learn a language with no background at all.

You learn by viewing pictures, listening and using the microphone to repeat what it says or answer a question etc. Not sure how accurate it is, but I think it's okay. One thing I would have liked to see is if they play back your recording right after they say it to see how you sound like.

I've not tried other language software besides this. Overall, I think it's good, but I wonder how much of this knowledge can be retained without constant practice. Maybe I was a sucker for the commercials. It is definitely pricey though, you could get a tutor/school for a few semesters at the price of all 3 levels. If you buy it from them, there is a 6 month money back guarantee when you buy directly from them. Not sure if they will honor this without certain "conditions".

If you have a friend you can speak with on an ongoing basis, it will be very useful.

[linsook]

'Pimsleur's Mandarin Chinese' audiobooks is also a very good way for beginners to pick up conversational ability in a short period of time.

I've tried Rosetta Stone to see how it was. IMO it's good for beginners to pick up some basics but thats about it. Would be good to use in conjunction with live practice conversations.

[SMELTN]

Get Rosetta Stone. It's awesome. I learned Spanish pretty easily using it and I am about to learn Arabic for my trip to Dubai later this year.

I was thinking about getting Rosetta Stone for Spanish myself. How long does it take to get decent at it?

btw Happy B-Day!

[spmccord]

Watch Firefly...

:D

[jon9china]

software and book suggestions:

There are a lot of good books out there. Boya Chinese, I think is a good series. Make sure any book you get comes with a cd!

But software is also a good way to go, and can be more interactive than a book. And you don't have to shell out all that money for sth as expensive as Rosetta Stone to get something really good, either.

For example, you can check out 'No-Limit Chinese' which besides being very affordable, you can use for 3 months for free. It has some very advanced and friendly features and includes podcast-style lessons.

They are at: http://www.nolimitchinese.com

It's new software and the features are not just 'fluff' like some products I've used, but really can help you to build up your skills.

[tiagosilva29]

We have a lot of Chinese members. Try to find someone around your parts and ask him/her out!

[evo0o]

I think you should get a teacher/ go for some basic classes.

Knowing fundamentals of chinese well will help you learn the language faster.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

i used Rosetta Stone for about a year and a half to learn spanish. i think it's a great program, but you have to be dedicated. i'd do 1 or 2 lessons each day, every day. after a while it became a burden... i just lost interest b/c it was so monotonous.

for me, rosetta stone gave me a good platform, or basis, to know and understand the language. if you want to become fluent you have to be immersed in the culture and language. my gf is Colombian so we try to speak spanish, but it just turns into spanglish b/c im not fluent yet. i can understand most of what she says but i have a hard time expressing what im trying to say w/o completely butchering it.

[T3X4S]

1.) Immersion
2.) Rosetta Stone, then immersion
3.) Rosetta Stone

[+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹]

i know this was resurrected by a promotion/spam post, but i think this thread is cool, so lets keep this going and not close it! mods...

couple of links that might prove useful

http://fourhourworkweek.com/2007/11/07/how-to-learn-but-not-master-any-language-in-1-hour-plus-a-favor/

http://fourhourworkweek.com/tag/how-to-learn-chinese/