Chinese Characters Are “Drawn”

When it comes to the method of creating Chinese characters, it cannot be separated from the “Four Books” in the “Six Books“, which include pictographs, symbols, meanings, and phonograms.

The creation of Chinese characters using both pictographic and referential methods often involves depicting the image of objects, which can easily create the impression that Chinese characters are “drawn” for international students studying in China. In the process of introducing pictographs to international students, such as introducing the character “sun (日)“, the shape of the sun can be depicted; When introducing the word “moon (月)“, because the moon is not circular for most of the time, there is a saying that “the moon has its ups and downs(月有阴晴圆缺)“. The ancient people chose to use the curved crescent shape to express “deficiency” here.

Introducing pictographic character formation to international students studying in China can not only help them understand the characteristics of Chinese characters, but also increase the fun of learning Chinese characters through tracing their origins.

Symbol characters are symbols added to pictographs to represent the characteristics of things. For example, drawing a horizontal line as a reference and drawing a short horizontal line above it to indicate “up (上)“; Draw a short line below the horizontal line to indicate “down (下)”. Similarly, draw a horizontal line above the pictographic character “wood (木)” representing trees to indicate “tree top“, which is the “end (末)” of the tree; Draw a short horizontal line below “wood (木)” to indicate “tree root”, which is the fundamental “root (本)”.

Chinese Characters Are “Combined” Together

The Chinese characters created using both pictographic and referential methods are individual characters, while the characters created using the two methods of meanings and phonograms are composite characters.

For example, the word ‘pick (采)‘ in picking, with the upper part representing the hand and the lower part representing the tree and its fruit. Taken together, the word ‘picking‘ refers to picking by hand on a tree. Its original meaning is to gently pick with your fingers or fingertips, and later extended to mean collecting, adopting, and so on.

Similarly, the pictographs “human (人)” and “wood (木)” signify “rest (休)“, indicating that a person rests on a tree; The movements of “hand (手)” and “eye (目)“, knowingly placing the hand over the eyes to “see (看)“; “Knife (刀)” and “clothing (衣)” can mean the basic “beginning (初)“, indicating that the “initial” step in clothing making is to use a knife to cut fabric, allowing students to experience the meaning of modern Chinese as a newcomer or newcomer.

The “pictophonetic” method of creating characters is a method of combining the pictophonetic elements representing meaning with the phonetic elements representing sound. In the teaching of Chinese characters, various structural types of pictophonetic characters retained in modern Chinese characters can be explained through tracing their origins, such as “wealth (财)”, “leadership (领)”, “bamboo pole (竿)”, “marriage (娶)”, etc.

At the same time, modern technology uses characters and some transliterated characters, often using the form sound method to create characters. Typical examples include the transliterated words “coffee (咖啡)” such as “co (咖)” and “ffee (啡)“, as well as the pictophonetic characters in the periodic table of chemical elements such as “recognizing characters by recognizing the halves of them“.

Interpreting the Story of Chinese Character Creation

Chinese characters are both drawn and combined. How to follow the teaching of Chinese characters for international students in China based on their understanding of Chinese character formation, around the theme words “painting” and “combination” according to the situation?

Firstly, pictographs and symbols do have elements of description and “drawing“, but due to the evolution of Chinese character forms, the circular lines have become square and straight strokes. Therefore, cultivating the “stroke perspective” of international students is an important part of Chinese character writing.

This stage not only includes the direction and position of the strokes, but also involves the addition, subtraction, and combination of the strokes. For example, “mouth (口)” cannot be painted as “0“, “bamboo head (竹字头)” is not “KK“, and the horizontal strokes of “soldier (士)” and “earth (土)” are different in length… Interpreting the meaning of horizontal and vertical strokes can help international students transition from the confusion and helplessness of “drawing” Chinese characters to gradually developing a good habit of “writing” Chinese characters.

Secondly, the combination of meaning and form sound is a combination of multiple character components, but this combination strictly follows the rules of block character structure. According to the layout principle of “top”, “bottom”, “left” side “,” right “side”, “inner” heart “,” outer “box”, and “waist”, the beauty of the form of square Chinese characters is reflected.

To cultivate the awareness of “component” word formation among international students, it is not only necessary to pay attention to the teaching of component names and positions, but also to highlight the teaching of comparison between similar components. Emphasize that “stay (呆)” and “apricot (杏)” are two words; Looking at the “part (部)” of the component in a mirror, it becomes a “companion (陪)” accompanied by another word… It makes international students fall in love with Chinese characters and fall in love with Chinese characters in the character composition game of each component.

Explaining the structure of Chinese characters and telling Chinese character stories to international students in China not only shares the magical beauty of Chinese characters, but also allows students to experience the cultural charm of Chinese characters.

There are many options for short-term non-degree Chinese language study in China, including summer camps, winter camps and intensive language courses. These programs typically last 2 to 12 weeks catering to a wide range of Chinese proficiency levels from beginner to advanced.

The summer camps usually run during July and August when the universities are off semester. The winter camps take place around December to February during the winter break.

These camps often include activities beyond language learning such as cultural trips, networking events and outdoor activities. The intensive language programs can start at any time and focus primarily on classroom learning.

Many prestigious universities in China offer short-term language programs, such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, etc. There are also private language schools in different cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, etc.The variety of learning locations allows international students to experience distinct regional cultures while studying Chinese.

These non-degree programs have flexible application requirements. You typically only need a high school diploma and a passion to learn Chinese. The tuition fees usually range from $500 to $3,000, depending on the program length and type. Accommodation and cultural activities are sometimes included in the program fees. Many schools also offer scholarships for language summer/winter camps.

The curriculum of the programs incorporates interactive activities to maximize learning within a short time. Students take Chinese language classes as well as lectures on topics like calligraphy, tai chi, paper cutting, etc. Field trips to cultural attractions are frequently organized to enhance cultural learning. Some programs also include homestay experience with a Chinese host family.

By the end of the programs, students can generally expect to gain a beginner to intermediate level of proficiency in listening, speaking, reading and writing. You will build a basic foundation in Chinese language and get to know the Chinese culture on a deeper level through various activities and interactions. Participating in these short-term language programs in China allows for an immersive learning experience that is both intensive and extensive.

Studying abroad in China, even for a short time, can inspire life-long interests in the Chinese language and culture. The rewarding experience will open you to a different perspective of this ancient, modern fast-changing society.

By visiting China to learn Chinese, you take a step further to connect with a world that is both familiar and distinct. This opportunity for cultural exchange through language study is truly invaluable in today’s global community.

Every year there will be plenty of Non-degree Chinese Language programs for international students, and you are welcome to apply and study anytime.

If I reflect on what I did, I find that there were six things that helped me learn faster than other students who were studying with me. Below I list each of these tips on how to learn Chinese which you may want to apply to your studies.

My Six Tips on How to Learn Chinese:

Listen to Mandarin as Often as Possible

The first month or maybe two, just focus on listening.

Start out by focusing on listening. Just get used to the sounds. You should read whatever you are listening to, but do so using a phonetic writing system, such as Pinyin, in order to get a better sense of what you are hearing. You will have to learn the characters eventually but you can leave the characters out at first, and instead, try to get a little momentum in the language.

It’s too difficult to start learning characters when you don’t have any sense of the words, what they sound like, or how they work together. A new language can sound like undifferentiated noise at the beginning. The first step is to become accustomed to the individual sounds of the language, to learn to differentiate words from each other, and even to have a few words and phrases reverberating in your brain.

My first introduction to Mandarin was listening to Chinese Dialogues, an intermediate text with no characters, just romanization, in this case the Yale version of romanization. Today Pinyin, developed in China, has become the standard form of romanization for Mandarin. In Chinese Dialogues, the narrator spoke so fast I thought he was torturing us. But it worked. After a month or so I was used to the speed and had a sense of the language.

As an aside, I think it is a good idea to begin learning a language with intermediate level texts that include a lot of repetition of vocabulary, rather than overly simple beginner texts. Podcasts and audio books are great for this. The Mandarin Chinese mini- stories at LingQ are an example of the kind of point of view stories, with a great deal of repetition of high frequency verbs, that are available today. These were not available to me 50 years ago. Watching movies and TV shows is another excellent way to get lots of Chinese listening in.

With a sense of this exciting new language and some aural comprehension, my motivation to learn the characters grew. I wanted to know the characters for the words that I had been listening to and getting used to.

So that is tip number one, to focus on listening and Pinyin for the first month or two.

Devote Time to Memorizing Characters

The study of Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, is a long term project. It will bring you in touch with the language and the culture of well over 20% of humanity and a major influence on world history. For this reason, I always recommend learning Chinese characters if you are going to learn the language.

Once you decide to study Chinese characters,  work at them every day. Devote half an hour to an hour a day just on learning characters. Use whatever method you want, but set aside dedicated character learning time every day. Why every day? Because you will forget the characters almost as quickly as you learn them, and therefore need to relearn them again and again.

You may want to use Anki or some other modern computer based learning system. I developed my own spaced repetition system. I had a set of 1,000 small cardboard flashcards with the most frequent 1000 characters. I had sheets of squared paper to practice writing these characters. I would pick up one card, and write the character 10 times down one column on the squared paper and then write the meaning or pronunciation a few columns over. Then I would pick up another flashcard and do the same. Soon I ran into the meaning or sound of the previous character that I had written there. I then wrote that character out again a few times, hopefully before I had completely forgotten it. I did this for the first 1000 characters. After that I was able to learn them by reading, discovering new characters,  and randomly writing them out by hand a few times.

As we progress, learning new characters becomes easier because so many elements repeat in the characters. The characters all have “radicals”, components which give a hint of the meaning of a character. There are also components of the characters which suggest the sound. These radicals are helpful to acquiring the characters, although not at first. As with so much in language learning, too much explanation upfront is a distraction to acquiring the language. I found that the efforts of teachers to explain these radicals and other components at the early stages of my learning were not to great avail. I didn’t understand them. Only after enough exposure did I start to notice the components and that sped up my learning of the characters.

Tip number two is to really put a constant and dedicated effort into learning characters.

Recognize Patterns Rather than Rules

Focus on patterns. Don’t get caught up in complicated grammar explanations, just focus on patterns. When I was studying we had a wonderful book by Harriet Mills and P.S. Ni. It was called Intermediate Reader in Modern Chinese. In every single lesson they introduced patterns and to me that’s how I sort of got a sense of how the language worked. The patterns were the frames around which I could build whatever I wanted to say.

I have absolutely no sense of Chinese grammar, or grammar terms, yet I am quite fluent. I have seen books that introduce special grammar terms for Chinese. I don’t think they are necessary. It is better to get used to the patterns that Chinese uses to express things that we express in English using English patterns. Chinese has a rather uncomplicated grammar, one of the pleasures of learning Chinese. There are no declensions, conjugations, genders, verb aspects, complicated tenses or other sources of confusion that are found in many European languages.

Tip number three is to focus on patterns, write them out, say them to yourself, use them when speaking or writing, and watch for them when you listen and read.

Read More than You Can Handle

Read a lot. If I learned faster than my fellow students 50 years ago, it is because I read everything I could get my hands on. I read much more than other students. I am not just talking about special texts for learners, but rather a wide range of material on subjects of interest to me. I was helped by the fact that the Yale-in-China had a great series of readers with glossaries for each chapter. We started with learner material using something called Chinese Dialogues, then graduated to a graded history text called 20 Lectures on Chinese Culture.

20 Lectures was a fascinating opportunity for me to learn about Chinese history and culture while learning the language. The book consisted only of texts and a glossary, no complicated explanations, no quizzes. When I look at some of the text books available today aimed at intermediate and even advanced learners, they are full of boring content about fictional people in China, somebody at university who met his friend or went to the barber or went skating, followed by explanations and drills. Not a good idea unless you are interested in these subjects.

I graduated from 20 Lectures on Chinese Culture to Intermediate Reader in Modern Chinese out of Cornell University. This was a reader with authentic texts from modern Chinese politics and history. Each lesson introduced patterns and kept drills and explanations to a minimum. Or maybe I just ignored them.

Yale had a wide collection of readers on politics, history, and literature, all with word lists for each chapter. This was my learning material. The availability of word list per chapter meant that I didn’t have to consult a Chinese dictionary. Before the advent of Alec Tronic or online dictionaries, it was very time-consuming and painful to consult a Chinese dictionary. Since we forget most of the things we look up in the dictionary, this was a tremendous waste of time.

I built up my vocabulary using these readers with word lists and finally was able to read a book without vocabulary lists, just ignoring the characters and words that I did not know. After seven or eight months I read my first novel, Rickshaw Boy or 骆驼祥子, which is a famous novel of life in present day Beijing during the turbulent first half of the 20th century, written by Lao She.

Tip number four is to read as much as you can. This is much easier to do today. You can find material on the Internet, use online dictionaries and apps like LingQ.

Get the Rhythm of the Language to Master the Tones

Focus on listening. I tried to listen to whatever content I was reading. Reading helps you learn vocabulary, but listening helps you connect with the language and get prepared to speak. Listening comprehension is the core skill necessary in order to engage in conversation with people.

One  of the challenges of Mandarin is the tones. We learn the tone of each character as we acquire vocabulary, but it is difficult to remember these when speaking. It is important to internalize the tones as part of phrases. Listening helps you do this. The intonation and rhythm of Mandarin, or any other language, can only come from listening to the native speaker. You can’t learn it theoretically.

In particular I found listening to traditional Chinese comic dialogues, Xiang Sheng, 相声, a great way to get the rhythm of the language and of the tones, since these performers exaggerate the intonation. Nowadays you can find these online, including the transcripts and even import them into a system like LingQ. This was not available to me 50 years ago.

In fact, there is a tremendous array of listening material available for download on all possible subjects, or you can buy CDs if you are in China. In our modern world, all the material you find on the Internet, or material you may find in CDs, can be converted into downloadable audio files which you can have with you wherever you go on an MP3 player or a smart phone. Constant listening, even for short periods of five or 10 minutes while you’re waiting somewhere, can dramatically increase the time available for learning any language, including Mandarin Chinese.

This was not available to me 50 years ago. I literally had to sit in front of my open reel tape recorder with my earphones on. The situation has changed dramatically. I had to search bookstores for audio content to listen to on my tape recorder. Today there is no limit to the material you can find, and there is no limit to where and when you can listen.

Take advantage and listen whenever you can. That is tip number 5.

Speak a lot and Don’t Second Guess Yourself

The individual sounds of Mandarin are not difficult for an English speaker to make. The tones are a different story. You will need to practice a lot, both speaking to yourself and speaking to others. Practice imitating what you are listening to. Find texts for which you have the audio. Listen to a phrase or sentence, then try to imitate the intonation, without worrying too much about individual sounds. You may even want to record yourself to compare. If you can get “infected” with the rhythm of the language, not only will your control of tones improve, but your choice of words will also become more native like.

When you speak, don’t second guess yourself on tones, or any other aspect of the language. Just let the words and phrases you have heard and practiced flow out, mistakes and all. Every time you use the language you are practicing and getting used to it. If you enjoy interacting in Chinese, if you enjoy getting in the flow, singing to the rhythm, then your Mandarin will continue to improve.

Don’t worry about mastering pronunciation at the beginning. We cannot pronounce what we don’t hear, nor imitate sounds and intonation that don’t resonate with us. In order to build up the ability to hear the language and to feel the music of the language, we simply have to listen to hundreds or even thousands of hours and allow the brain to get used to the new language. You can’t rush this process. Instead you should trust the fact that you will gradually and naturally get better. Therefore whatever stage you are at in Mandarin, just speak without fear and trust your instincts. If you continue your reading and listening activities, and if you continue speaking, your speaking skills will naturally improve.

Here you can read about: The best way to learn a language.

So my sixth and last tip is just go for it and you’ll get the rhythm.

Good luck!

I never felt satisfied however. How can you? My old teacher C.C. Sun, used to point out that you could study just Confucius for sixty years and still never claim claim to have read everything. On the other hand China has such a massive corpus of literature that for an educated Chinese, everything has been written, said, or painted. It’s simply not possible to be original.

The good thing is that I can carry out my life principle of 活到老，学到老。I intend to continue studying as long as I live. I have only two years to go before I should automatically do the right thing without thinking about it according to the Master. I look forward to that.

Tsinghua University really is a top top place to study and live, and just walking around the campus on the first day makes you realize this. The campus is HUGE (compared to most places in crowded Beijing), and it is almost a city within a city. Nearly everything that a person might require is available on campus, which is an absolute privilege in a jammed city such as Beijing.

Everyone in the campus is in a rush, all the time. It is a common joke on campus that the people who walk are definitely tourists, and weirdly enough, it is true. To go about 200m, people on campus still prefer to bike just to save some ten seconds. One thing that happens to everyone in campus during Tsinghua life is, their biking skills improve at an astronomical rate. The speed breakers in Tsinghua all have about 5 cm of space for bikers to avoid, and within three weeks of living on campus, all students avoid these with extreme precision without a single hand on the bike handle (maybe an exaggeration, but only a slight one!).

The campus is delicately organized, and is very different from the neighbouring universities. There are no small stalls or carts in campus, which keeps the campus very clean. There are some supermarkets in campus but they are mostly near the dormitory areas, which makes it slightly annoying when someone is in the touristy part of the campus and suddenly wants to get a drink. Nevertheless, the shops within the campus are well equipped and sell almost everything that a student might need.

The only places to eat in campus are the cafeterias, which run on strict schedule. This can be a little troublesome if you are not very disciplined. In my first few weeks, I often missed out on dinner because of this. The cafeterias offer extremely delicious and cheap Chinese food. There are many different Chinese cuisines offered in different cafeterias but non-Chinese food is almost non-existent (aside from Korean food).

There are also lots and lots of sporting opportunities within the campus. They have lots of tennis courts, badminton courts, football fields, basketball courts and surprisingly (to me, at least) places to play Baseball, Cricket, Field hockey and even Rugby! There is a good gymnasium and an amazing swimming hall within the campus.

The libraries in campus are some of the best libraries in China. They are all well equipped, and well managed. Unlike many other universities in China, students can’t just leave their stuff to hold a couple of seats in the library; everyone has to book seats electronically.

Classes in Tsinghua are generally very good. In my experience, I have found all the classes either insanely intense or an insult to intelligence, with almost nothing in between. With so much competition in the campus (with regards to GPA), this ends up with many many students choosing jokes for classes and scoring high for doing the absolute bare minimum. However, the “good” classes are extremely good and interactive, which is to be expected with world-class professors that Tsinghua is blessed with.

Research, on the other hand, is excellent in my experience. Nearly every professor is a forerunner within his/her field, and most labs consistently publish and present their works in top journals and conferences. Tsinghua professors are usually invited all around the world to give talks, and gets a lot of academic talks from top academics in campus. The labs are well-equipped and there really is no dearth of academic knowledge in Tsinghua.

Finally regarding the students/classmates, I have found that most of the students in our campus end up in amazing jobs. I know that most of the people that graduated from our lab are either in Stanfords and MITs or have joined top tier IT companies (Google/Baidu/Microsoft) in both application and research departments. The people, generally, are extremely competitive but are extremely friendly once you get to know them. In the beginning, it is often terrifying to see your peers know so much more than yourself, but in a friendly-competitive environment, it is often the fear of being left behind that drives the students (at least that’s what drove me!).

All in all, Tsinghua is great for both learning new things and making genius friends. I have absolutely no regrets about coming here, and would recommend anyone with the opportunity to take it with both hands.

What I did do though, was spent hours every night, weekend, and often during class time trying to prove everything I was taught wrong. When we were taught relativity, for example, I spent literally hundreds of hours tearing apart the equations to find out “where Einstein got it wrong”, or trying to devise alternate explanations, or when we were doing electricity and magnetism, I spent hours designing an earth-sized electrical generator, figuring out how much copper would be required to generate enough electricity for the whole world, how fast it would need to rotate, how to get the electricity back to the ground, etc. For biology, I wrote short novels based on fantasy worlds, where I described in great details the ecosystems and drew animals and described their biology and evolution. I invented a new model for light (neither wave nor particle) when we were learning about that. I invented a new language and alphabet (was a massive Tolkien fan!), etc, Etc.

So, by only using my textbooks and teacher as a resource when I needed to know something for my next design, invention or “proof wrong”, I ended up knowing all the work far more intimately than anyone, often including my teachers 🙂

That was my only “study” method – it came naturally to me. I wasn’t trying to do anything, I was just ridiculously curious and couldn’t help myself…

When I went to university, studying piano, I had a one hour commute on the train. While on the train I would memorize my scores (as a concert pianist you must play just about everything from memory). Visualizing / “auralizing” every note until I knew the whole piece by heart, before ever touching the keys. To achieve this, I would set a strict timetable, mapping out the piece before starting to learn it, with a certain amount to be learned every day. I would switch between 3-4 pieces, spending several minutes on each one alternately.

In (mostly) this way I memorized over 24 hours of complex classical piano music in four years, along with countless popular songs.

At 30, I stopped being a musician and became a programmer. I applied the same approach to learning this. I examined and played with source code, not so much reading tutorials, and definitely no attending school again to learn stuff. There was no “study”, only trying to quench my curiosity.

Now, I’m directing a non-profit, developing a new model to eliminate poverty through entrepreneurship – I’m learning about how to chair a meeting by chairing meetings (and noticing how others do it well), how to fundraise by actually fundraising, etc. When problems arise – I find someone (or a book, or a website) and look for the answer to the problem.

My personal view is that if it feels like “study”, then you’re doing it wrong. It has to be so much fun that you jump out of bed each day, breathless to learn more, wishing you could sleep less so that you could find out the answers sooner…

Enjoy 🙂

That’s why I’ve put this guide together for you: To help you navigate the wide variety of resources on the web, from pinyin all the way to chengyu.

So it’s time to channel your inner superhero and get pumped up to start your journey to learn Chinese by yourself.

1. Learn the Chinese Tones

As you may already know, Chinese is a tonal language. Before you panic, know that if you can sing a song (bad singing counts too), you can speak in tones.

In Chinese, there are four tones and one neutral tone… which could arguably mean there are five tones. But, there are four tone markings:

• tone 1: lē
• tone 2: lé
• tone 3: lě
• tone 4: lè

As you study, you’ll learn what each marking means, as well as how to pronounce and hear every tone.

Spend a good amount of time listening to and identifying the four distinct tones, and practice them out loud. At this stage, it doesn’t matter whether you’re just saying “ah” in various tones, the most important thing is to get used to it.

Why? Well, because speaking without correct tones could land you in a lot of confusion—and sometimes even in trouble! You don’t want to be talking about a horse (third tone) when you’re really referring to your mother (first tone).

2. Become Familiar with the Pinyin System

Pinyin is a fantastic invention that should be forever honored as the bridge that connects the English speaker to the world of Chinese. It’s the official phonetic system for transcribing the pronunciations of Chinese characters into the Latin alphabet.

You can learn how to pronounce Chinese words with pinyin, which gives you the phonetic reading as well as the tone of the word. This BBC language guide is a good place to start your pinyin journey.

You can also look at the alphabet broken down by consonants and vowels. I recommend memorizing the sound of each letter in the alphabet before moving on to full words.

Vowels are usually easy to pick up, but foreigners may struggle with the correct articulation of the consonants—like “zh,” “ch” and “j.” Invest a good amount of time getting your pronunciation right because a strong foundation will take you a long way.

3. Start with Chinese Greetings

Now you’re ready to learn the basics. As with learning any other language, being able to greet others and introduce yourself is pretty much your first priority.

This is where you bring together what you’ve learned about tones and pinyin. Try reading the pinyin and pronouncing some greeting words on your own, and then listen to an audio clip and see if it matches. If it does, you’re on the right track. Well done!

One helpful tip is to learn the meanings of individual words as you go along. For example, the word 你好—which is a greeting that’s equivalent to “hello”—can be broken down to 你 (you) and 好 (good). Learning individual words in phrases will make things easier since you’ll be able to see the logic and, of course, expand your vocabulary.

Chinese Tools has a good guide for starting to learn basic Chinese words and phrases.

4. Group New Words by Theme

Once you’ve learned how to introduce yourself, introduce your family and your pet.

Done making introductions? You can talk about your favorite food, and while you’re at it, you might as well learn some other common foods in Chinese.

You can then learn how to order food in a restaurant. How do you get to the restaurant? You might need to learn how to give (and receive) directions.

Congratulations! From just that little journey, you now know some new vocabulary surrounding family, food and directions. You also know basic sentence structures for making introductions, describing your favorite things and giving directions.

Learning in themes and topics enables you to flow through your learning with ease and structure, rather than picking random words to learn each day that have little correlation to one another.

5. Tackle Chinese Characters

Knowing pinyin is essential for knowing how to speak and listen to Chinese. But if you want to develop other skills, such as reading and writing, memorizing characters is crucial.

Apps, websites and books are all great tools for learning to associate characters with definitions and pronunciation.

If you want to go with an old-school tactic, you can create flashcards. Make one flashcard for the pinyin and its definition. Then one for the character and its definition. And finally, one for the character and its pinyin.

You can also label objects in your home with Chinese Post-its. It’s a great way to remember that 桌子 (zhuō zǐ) is “table” and that the characters for “window” are 窗子 (chuāng zǐ).

Make sure to rearrange the sticky notes after about a week. If you don’t change their positions, you’ll get used to them and simply stop reading them!

Labeling actual items is a hack for beginning learners, but advanced learners can place Post-its of words, phrases, idioms and full sentences around the house as well. This way, every time you look in the mirror, there’s a vocabulary word (or something more complex) staring back at you.

6. Form Your Own Sentences

I won’t lie to you—Chinese sentence structure can be weird. Sometimes there’s no subject. Sometimes there’s no verb. Sometimes there’s neither! It’s very different from the English language or any romance languages you may have learned in school.

The good news? The rules surrounding sentence structure and grammar are consistent. Once you start to pick up the patterns, you’ll be able to continue making all different types of basic sentences with the words you’ve already learned.

Memorizing stock phrases and pre-formed sentences is definitely a good way to start talking right away. But once you’ve learned enough words and have some basic grammar concepts under your belt, you should start trying to form your own sentences.

These can be pretty simple. For example, if you learned about food this week, perhaps you could form the sentence, “The fish is delicious.” Next week, when you learn how to give directions, you could expand on the sentence to say, “You can eat delicious fish in the restaurant at the end of this road.”

Take a look at this explanation from FluentU and this guide by Written Chinese about Chinese sentence structure.

To further build on the words and sentence structures that you’re learning, try writing a journal in Chinese. Writing in a journal—especially writing in one by hand—is a great way to reinforce and practice your character writing skills, as well as your vocabulary.

7. Try Coursera’s Mandarin Courses

Some Coursera courses can be done on your own schedule, so if you’re trying to learn Mandarin from home, it’s one of the best resources out there for online Chinese classes.

Universities in China and Taiwan use Coursera to post classes they offer online. While each course costs money, you can apply for financial aid to help cover the costs.

Some popular Mandarin courses include:

• Chinese for Beginners – This course from Peking University tackles all the beginner concepts, from basic grammar to tones to vocabulary words.

• Mandarin Chinese for Intermediate Learners: Part 1 – Are you stuck in the weird limbo of being neither a beginner Chinese speaker nor an advanced one? This course from Shanghai Jiao Tong University is for you.

• Learn Chinese: HSK Test Preparation Specialization – If you want to pass the HSK (Chinese Proficiency Test) for levels one, two or three, this Peking University course will help you ace it.

8. Use Language Apps

Language apps are definitely taking over the language-learning industry, and many of them are totally free to use. Use them to supplement your other study methods for greater success!

Here are a few favorites:

• Duolingo (Android/iPhone) – This free language app has a simple interface, self-pacing feature and pleasant visuals.

• Busuu (Android/iPhone) – Similar in form to Duolingo, you’ll get a more substantial Chinese education but for a higher price.

• HelloTalk (Android/iPhone) – Connect with other Chinese speakers for the purpose of language exchange in simple, SMS-style chat rooms.

• Hanping Chinese Lite (Android) – This has to be one of the best app-based English-Chinese dictionaries out there.

9. Combine Interests into Learning

It may seem like common sense, but learning Chinese through things that you find interesting will make the learning process more fun.

Don’t keep your learning so serious to the point that it becomes a burden to you. Learning should be enjoyable, so try to match it with your interests!

If you’re into music, for example, use music to learn Chinese. If you love reading, check out some interesting Chinese novels. If you’re a fan of movies and TV shows, then use the Chinese counterpart.

You can get even more niche, like finding a Chinese-speaking Discord group that plays your favorite game, or joining a subreddit that shares recipes in Chinese.

There are so many avenues of learning available for you to discover!

10. Go to Chinese Events Locally

If you live in a medium-sized or larger city, chances are good that there’s a Confucius Institute associated with one of the local universities. I’ve been to Autumn Festival celebrations and a discussion of the legacy at Deng Xiaoping at my Confucius Institute—which is just to say that there’s a huge variety of activities.

These events attract local people in the Chinese community, teachers at the Confucius Institute and non-Chinese people who, like you, are interested in Chinese language and culture.

Perhaps there are Chinese-language churches or places of worship nearby, too. Try going to a religious service at a Chinese-language church to really immerse yourself in the local Chinese community. A religious service is a great language experience—it’s all about reading and listening, right?

Or, look up your city’s local Chinese cultural center. In cities with a substantial Chinese or Taiwanese immigrant population, you’ll likely find a Chinese cultural center.

Typically, these centers have restaurants, places to shop and services for Chinese speakers who don’t know much English, plus tons more.

Many Chinese cultural centers even offer Mandarin classes for free (or at least for a very low cost)!

11. Meet Regularly with a Conversation Partner

When I was taking Chinese in Beijing, I was fortunate enough to have a language partner. I got to learn Mandarin from her while she learned English from me: a win-win situation! We got to cover more areas than the ones taught in class, like Chinese slang and various expressions.

Language exchange helps you become familiar with the real language.

So if you have a friend who’s good at Mandarin, see if they’re willing to help you out. If not, is there a university near where you live? Maybe there’s a library offering classes or a meetup group of Chinese speakers? Those are all good places to find a language partner.

You can also look for a Chinese conversation partner online. Check out mylanguageexchange.com or conversation exchange. You might also find language exchange groups near you via Facebook!

12. Use the Internet in Chinese

To start, change your smartphone’s language setting to Chinese. Instead of saying November 1, your phone will now display 11月1日.

This hack is great for reinforcing things like dates, times, everyday vocabulary and technology-related vocabulary (which, nowadays, is our everyday vocabulary).

Next, change Google’s default language to Chinese. This is a good way to practice words that are related to the internet and computers.

Changing your language to Chinese in Google’s Account Settings means your basic Google text will change, so instead of “images” it will say 图片 (tú piàn). It also means that your associated Gmail, YouTube and Google+ accounts will all be displayed in Chinese. Be prepared to do some trial-and-error clicking at first!

It also means that you’re more likely to see results in Chinese. But if you really only want to see search results in English, make sure you go into Search Settings and tell Google your results preferences after changing your Account Settings.

Lastly, browse or join Weibo. If you create an account on Weibo (a Twitter-like social media platform popular in China), you can participate in the chatter or just browse through other people’s conversations.

Write about what you had for breakfast, or your profound thoughts on the state of the world, in Chinese. And remember to engage! Practice your vocabulary and use the slang words you’ve been itching to try. See if your breakfast post gets any comments. Respond. Respond to others’ comments.

13. Watch Chinese Shows with Subtitles

Once you’ve covered the basics, watching Chinese shows is the next step. Whether it’s dramas or variety shows, you’ll be exposed to new characters and vocabulary.

While you should definitely pick the genre you love the most, I personally think that Chinese romantic comedies and light dramas make good learning tools. They often feature realistic (if overly dramatic) dialogue that’s pretty easy to follow along with.

Whatever you choose to watch, look for options that have subtitles. Mainstream options like Netflix and Hulu are starting to host more Chinese content, from TV shows to movies. In some streaming services, subtitles are even available in Chinese—Netflix is especially good about this, though the subtitles are sometimes auto-generated, leaving room for error.

The FluentU website and language-learning iOS and Android apps are a good place to find video clips with accurate subtitles. On FluentU, you’ll find short videos featuring authentic Chinese content, including TV shows, commercials, inspirational talks and more.

Every video has interactive subtitles in English, Chinese and pinyin that allow you to hover over any word to see an in-context definition and native pronunciation. You can also see other videos where the word appears in that context, for a deeper understanding of the right situations in which to use the word. From here, you can make flashcard decks by turning any word in a video into a flashcard.

Watching with subtitles will significantly improve your character recognition skills. You can reinforce them further with FluentU’s quizzes, which test you on your understanding of the vocabulary in each video or in your own vocabulary lists. These exercises also let you improve your speaking and typing skills through various types of questions.

Whether you watch clips or full movies, make sure you’re watching actively. This might mean that you look up definitions for unknown words if you’re using FluentU or write them down in a notebook if you’re just watching.

14. Study with Music Videos

Using music is one of the best ways to learn a new language because it’s fun and interesting!

But why use music videos instead of just listening to Chinese songs? Well, sometimes what’s going on in the music video can give you context to better understand the song, and other times it’s a great peek into the culture. The biggest benefit is that you can have a preview of the Chinese characters and follow along with the lyrics.

Watching music videos will really help you become familiar with pronunciation, as intonations are learned over time with more exposure.

So choose the genre that best suits your taste. Not sure where to start? We’ve gathered the best Mandopop songs and karaoke classics for you. If these work out well and you want more, check out youku.com or tudou.com, which have really comprehensive lists of videos.

15. Listen to Audiobooks

If you’ve noticed, many of the references I’ve listed so far target both your listening and reading skills. That’s because it works best that way. You’ll get the most out of your learning if you target multiple skills at a time.

It’s for this exact reason that audio books will really help you out. Merely reading a book won’t do. You have to listen to the words at the same time.

For starters, you can download Chinese course textbooks. Most of these have an accompanying audiobook, so it’ll help you grasp the basics of the language.

Or stick to novels and comics! There is a wide range of topics and titles available on websites like Audible and Kobo, or websites geared toward kids, like Huayu World.

16. Listen to Podcasts

If you know where to look, podcasts can become your new on-the-go best friend. There’s a great variety of topics, as well as numerous podcasts focused on teaching Chinese basics to beginners. 

Unless you’re a complete beginner, I recommend that you pick podcasts that are geared towards specific interests and Chinese culture. This will expose you to a wider range of vocabulary—words that aren’t normally covered in educational material.

For a start, try podcasts with short episodes. Stories like the ones on Chinese Folk Tales or Grandma’s Story in Chinese are especially fun and easy to listen to. A podcast like BBC news offers detailed updates on politics (be forewarned: you have to possess an intermediate level of Chinese to listen to them).

If you’re looking for podcasts aimed at specific interests like sports, movies and science, check out the iTunes store or Google podcasts.

17. Record Your Own Study Material

A major problem that many learners face when teaching themselves Chinese is speeding up their word recognition. This method is a great way to improve this.

Every day, record ten Chinese words that you have recently learned.

Use the best pronunciation and tone as possible, and record yourself saying the words that you learned recently. After each word, wait five seconds and then say the English meaning of the word. Make a second recording of the opposites, with the English first and then the Chinese five seconds later.

Play it back whenever you have time to study. The aim is to be able to remember the English meaning (or the Chinese pronunciation) before the answer is said five seconds later. Repeat this process until you can remember the words with 100% accuracy.

This will help you improve the pace of your Chinese. To keep up with real-world conversations, you’ll need to be able to recall words and form sentences at a fast rate. Practicing faster recall means you will be better prepared for the stresses of speaking Chinese with others.

18. Stay Motivated with Specific Goals

What’s your main motivation for learning Chinese?

Maybe it’s for business, for travel or just because. Whatever your reasons are, use them as motivation to continue learning.

Try to gear your lessons toward these goals. If you’re learning for travel purposes, acquaint yourself with basic Chinese travel words and shopping phrases.

It’s easy for solo learners to feel demoralized if they don’t feel like they’re making consistent progress with their Chinese. When you feel discouraged, think of your reason for learning the language to get you back on track.

If you need a specific goal to aim for, use HSK character/word lists to give your learning a clear direction.

Each level of the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK)—the preeminent Chinese examination—has an associated vocab list comprised of hundreds of characters and words. Once you work out what level you’re at, you can aim your self-study at learning the material needed to pass the next level of the HSK test.

19. Choose and Organize Your Study Methods

So, how do you learn best? With quick, handy apps? With textbooks that explain grammar concepts in depth?

Whether you prefer websites and apps, textbooks and stories, movies and TV shows or something else, tailor your studying around what you like.

Of course, if you find yourself losing steam, switch up your learning methods. You may find that your study tastes have changed.

Even when studying in enjoyable ways, however, solo learners may easily lose focus and motivation.

To maintain motivation, create a study plan each week with clearly defined goals to be achieved. Plan out exactly how much time you’ll spend doing which activities.

Here’s an example of such a plan:

Goals:

• Learn 70 new characters.

• Spend 2 hours listening to Chinese radio.

• Watch one episode of a Chinese TV program.

• Write one 300-character essay.

• Learn 3 new grammar rules.

Daily Plan (with Sunday as an intentional rest day)

Monday: Write out each of the new characters twice, and then add them to flashcard software. Finish study with 1 hour of Chinese radio.

Tuesday: Spend 30 minutes reviewing new character flashcards, then watch a Chinese TV show episode.

Wednesday: Focus on grammar. Learn some new grammar rules outlined in the goals.

Thursday: Write a Chinese essay, then practice writing the new characters.

Friday: Listen to another hour of Chinese radio.

Saturday: Test yourself of your recall of the new characters and rules.

20. Practice Every Day

No matter how busy life gets, or if you don’t complete a single one of the goals you set for yourself, never stop practicing.

Only have five minutes during your coffee break? Whip out an app and review.

Running late in the morning? Put on some Chinese songs in the car and sing along.

A little language practice is always better than none at all.

Daily practice will help you remember what you’ve already learned, and encourage you to keep going. And the more you practice, the more it’ll become a part of your routine.

And once Chinese becomes a part of your life for good, you’ll see the path to fluency is in reach—even for a solo learner like you!

Why You Should Start Learning Mandarin Chinese

Are you still on the fence about whether you should dedicate the time and effort toward learning Chinese with these tips? Then these three features of the Chinese language will definitely help you cement that decision:

Global Phenomenon

More and more people are learning Chinese. It’s the reason why there are a lot of online Chinese courses cropping up. Or the fact that there is a huge spike in the number of foreign students enrolling in Chinese language courses in Beijing and Shanghai. Learning Chinese has become a global phenomenon!

Practicality

The sudden interest in the Chinese language is mainly due to its applicability. When China opened its doors to foreign trade, investors and entrepreneurs started flowing in. But English is not widely used in the country, so the most practical solution is to adapt to the locals. How? By learning their language.

Today, one out of every five companies has a satellite office or at least an external working relation in China. Most likely, the corporation you’re a part of has a Chinese shareholder—be it a supplier, client or a director. So it’s quite obvious that learning Chinese will give you a huge advantage in the business world.

Rich Culture and History

China is one of the oldest nations in the world. With over 8,000 years of history, there’s no doubt why people across the globe are taking a special interest in its rich culture and history.

The Chinese language is a piece of art in and of itself. You’ll be amazed at how the characters were formed or how each character relates to a specific object. Learning the language will help you untangle the many mysteries of Chinese culture. You’ll get a glimpse of it, and then you’ll surely want to keep on unraveling them.

Where to Learn Mandarin Chinese

Learning is everywhere and anywhere. Of course, the most rapid and effective way is to live abroad in China or Taiwan for a good couple of months to immerse yourself in the language and culture. You could choose an intensive study program, or actually live and work there.

But if that’s not feasible right now, there are many ways to learn effectively right where you are.

Where to Learn Chinese Offline

Don’t be too quick to dismiss the textbook as an old and uncool method of learning. They may be old-school, but textbooks offer a really solid foundation to your learning—especially if you want to learn how to write Chinese.

Chinese storybooks are also a great way to learn, so don’t be shy to pick up children’s books. However, be sure that you’re reading books in simplified Chinese, as they do in China. Of course, if you want to learn traditional Chinese characters (which are beautiful, by the way), that’s another level of commitment altogether.

Make friends with Chinese people! It shouldn’t be too hard since Chinese communities exist almost everywhere in the world. Nothing substitutes face-to-face conversation. Strike up a conversation on the streets, and you may be surprised to learn that people are generally helpful when they see your sincere intentions to learn. When you head to a Chinese restaurant, order in Chinese and chat up the waiters.

Where to Learn Chinese Online

There are lots of online resources for you to pick up Chinese, many of which are even free. Audio and video tools are abundant, and so are podcasts, as I mentioned earlier. The advantage is that you could easily learn on the go with these online resources. Turn your hour-long commute (or any form of waiting time) into a Chinese lesson.

Apart from learning through formal tools online, one way that would really boost your learning is to watch Chinese television, movies, and listen to songs online. These methods help you learn Chinese the way that it’s actually spoken, and also give you a great insight into Chinese culture.

There are tons of movie and music streaming platforms to get that exposure to Chinese in real-life, from Netflix to Hulu.

Lastly, if you can’t seem to find a Chinese community where you live, you could always make a friend online via a penpal website and start chatting in Chinese! It’s not quite the same, but as a learner, you’ll have to seize every opportunity you get.

Can You Learn Chinese Really Fast?

You may have heard of people who have developed techniques that allow them to understand and converse in any foreign language within a short period of time—some as quickly as three months.

You can’t expect to become fluent in a short time. Even getting to true intermediate level—the point at which you can comfortably have everyday conversations and talk about certain topics at length—will take longer than a few months to get to.

It’s important that your learning goals are realistic when you start. But even knowing all that, it is possible to learn the basics of Chinese quickly so you can hold very simple conversations within a few months or even weeks. It will take some intensive learning and a concentrated effort.

If you’re really serious about learning quickly, then you may want to read up about how some individuals have managed to hack Chinese. One resource is Hacking Chinese, and it details some methods that a Westerner has used to learn the language quickly.

The real takeaway, though, is that everybody has their own way of learning. So while you may get some great insights from these sites, don’t necessarily expect the same results—that would only give you unnecessary stress along the way.

Learning Chinese, as with anything in this world, is about patience, dedication and pushing your limits appropriately. But don’t forget to have fun with it, too! Because if it’s not enjoyable, why learn?

And that completes the list! All these ways are sure-fire steps to learning Mandarin Chinese by yourself.

Remember that you already have the superpowers within to make your mark in the world, so use that power to learn Chinese on your own—and enjoy the journey!