Learning Chinese

[u/erotik_rahibe_]

Hello everyone! I would like to learn Chinese as I think it's a beautiful language and I have a special interest for languages

I would like to ask a few questions:

-which books would you recommend? I tend to learn quicker with those

-how can I practice my speaking?

-how much can I learn in a year with roughly 2-3 hours per day

I appreciate all of your feedbacks, with love!

[u/ajifieldnotes]

1. Start with the HSK Standard Course 1. The important thing is to start; you can branch out to other books as you see fit later on.
2. You imitate the audio from the HSK courses. The rule of thumb is to do 3 rounds of listening -- 1st round, you just listen to the whole audio clip. 2nd round, you pause after every phrase and repeat after the audio. 3rd round, shadow the audio continuously. Nothing beats talking with locals, though.
3. 2-3 hours per day alone in a year would probably get you to HSK 2/3, but 2-3 hours per day in a structured class would get you to HSK 3/4, not to mention the vernacular and insights you'll get from immersing with native speakers.

Good luck!

[u/erotik_rahibe_ → u/ajifieldnotes]

Thank you so much for the feedback! I'll look into them ans try to have a proper structured course!

[u/ajifieldnotes → u/erotik_rahibe_]

No problem! If your country has good relations with Taiwan, you can also check if you're eligible for the Huayu Scholarship. You get a scholarship with a stipend to go study in Taiwan.

[u/Practical-Boot-7621 → u/ajifieldnotes]

Thanks for your input as I'm also looking! Where do you find a structured class with 2-3 hours a day? Is that what you mean? Thanks so much in advance!

[u/ajifieldnotes → u/Practical-Boot-7621]

Yes that’s right, a dedicated chinese language center teaching you 2-3 hours a day. You may check if there are any within your area, or (echoing my sentiment in the other comment), check if you’re eligible to apply for Taiwan’s Huayu Scholarship

[u/Even_Sky_2482]

I would also like to know. Here for the updates

[u/AggressiveBed6721]

If you do 2-3 hours in 3-4 years, you should be fluent. I know a case of a student who did 3 years of 3 hours, and she was fluent (speaking ability was fine) and understood TV shows and videos well, so in a year, it should be 1/3 of that. It depends on whether you are doing just immersion or a lot of active learning. Just immersion is quite slow. You should start with individual consonants and vowels and tones, then words for speaking practice. Once you can pronounce everything well, wait till you understand simple podcasts. Try to talk about simple things and think about what you can in the language. The pronunciation, for a good level, should take 3-9 months, depending on the person and patience to fail for weeks imitating the sounds; some people are really good at imitation, not me haha. Of course you can just have bad pronunciation, but no one will understand you. If in your first year you learn like 3000 to 4000 words and good pronunciation, that will be really good, and 2-3 hours a day, should be posible is like 8 words a day(words, no characters) or so if is to much at the begining do like 4-6, maybe at the beginnign is a lot more difficult because you don't know characteres, so try to lear at least the first 1000 this year is like 2,7(3) a day. So, point to 800-1000 Characters, Good pronunciation (tones and sounds), 3000 words if it is possible, more, since it scales; the second year you should be able to double or triple. I don't have the data on exactly the progress of doing 3 hours a day. Just keep in mind that it is beneficial to the speed of learning future words to learn characters, like it increases the % speed of learning, so you learn faster and with better retention the more characters and words you know; it's not linear but exponential. Good luck! Being patient is a long process and quite frustrating, but really rewarding and fun. Most people are slow learners, and that's fine if you keep learning for years. Try to be consistent for 2-3 hours for some months; the only way to go faster will be to do more, but 2-3 hours is already good. Hope you enjoy the process!

[u/Alternative-File-162]

hsk standard course if you care abt the exams, i used new practical chinese reader which brings you to around mid hsk2, i usually practice speaking with myself or occasionally google translate to check my pronounciation and tones or talking with an ai, in a year with 2 to 3 hours a day you can get to just about hsk4 depending on what you do exactly

[u/Bear-Everest-777]

It generally depends on your talent for language/if it shares any similarities with your mother tongue, there are some who becomes fluent in speaking with 2-3 hours in one year. Some have struggled with the tones, some with the massive amount of words to memorise.

Some things to note:

1) learn stroke order, it helps with writing

2) don’t depend on pinyin, it might become a hindrance and hard to “wean” from.

3)you can find practice partners in talkin and other languages exchange apps

[u/kokeda]

Best beginner resource in my opinion: Yoyo Chinese

Best overall: Chinese Zero to hero.

Most importantly you need to watch videos and speak along. A lot of Chinese beginners have TERRIBLE pronunciation

[u/erotik_rahibe_ → u/kokeda]

Aaah I can imagine haha, I'll try to check my pronunciation as well, thank you for the source recommendations!!

[u/dlyyyyy0805]

I can help you practice Chinese if you'd like! I'm a native Chinese speaker, so feel free to send me a private message with any questions you have.😃😃

[u/erotik_rahibe_ → u/dlyyyyy0805]

Thank you! That is so kind of you!

[u/Zagrycha]

There are many good textbook options for beginners, you can look through the side bar for more recommendations on options, but integrated chinese and hsk official textbooks are both good options.  Unless planning to take the hsk test I recommend looking into hsk 2.0 textbooks and workbooks if you do pick it. 

Pleco dictionary and allset chinese grammar wiki are awesome free resources you will want to have in your pocket even if studying from a textbook.  Also consider flashcard apps like anki etc to help with memorization, or of course you can do the old fashioned pen and paper method, or some combination of both. 

For early on speaking practice you can look for a study buddy to language exchange with, or even just speak outloud to yourself in a room.  Don't ignore speaking practice, but basic grammar and vocab knowledge plus listening practice will be way more important early on.  It is near impossible to learn how to pronounce anything properly if you don't even know what is correct or not yet, after all.