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Q: Is there a pinyin forum to talk with people somewhere?
I suck at reading chinese character but i really wanna improve my chinese... I learned english by typing and chatting alot but in chinese i have the shear problem that i cant read anything :/
so is there somewhere a website (for idiots like me) who wanna chat in pinying? 
nope, chatting in pinying doesnt work because, a wordin pinying has tooo many meanings. Chinese is messed up like that where in english words that are the same will usually be verbs and nouns but rarely both. But in chinese one word can have like 5 different nouns, so you can only tell by the chinese character.
For example if you used pinying to say
gei wo na ge bei zi
it could mean, give me that cup or give me that blanket. only the chinese character can do it.
Besides why would you wanna ,earn something half way?? Chinese characters are hard, but it will make it that much cooler when you can read shit.
dom87:
because my brain cant remember so many weird characters... i need more or less oral chinese but i dont need to write it. but for me it worked always the best if i write something down.
problem if i write down the chinese signs i cant link a connection to the pinyin translation
thats why its very hard for me :/
mike695ca:
well hell, if you dont wanna put the work it, then fine, i dont need it, is the most common excuse, so your set! although saying you remember better by writing is a wierd excuse as that kind of visual learning is perfect for chinese characters. My advice is to start with a common easy word that you can remember 人 ren, people, then focuson changes to that one word. put a line through the top 大 da, big. then put a comma on the bottom , 太 tai, very, or too much. then these basic ideas with help you remember. It will also help you learn that not always, but many times it will help you guess what a word is based on its similar to what you know. for example 太 tai.... now if you learn that one character , the next time you see a complicated one that looks similar it could help you to guess and read, as 太 钛 汰 汏 呔 酞 are all pronounced tai. and you can easily see what is common there. another example is 中 zhong, you see this all the time, its center, most commonly used in china 中国 . now many many times youll see that zhong, jt will have the same pronunciation. 中 种 钟 仲 祌 all is zhong! another times youll see that the charactors are close and the pronunciation is different but the meaning are similar like 水 shui, water and 冰 bing, ice. thepoint is that its not as random as it seems, look for connections and it becomes alot easier!
tsonj:
OMG! Mike! Can you teach me Chinese. You sound like an awesome teacher. Seriously!!
mike695ca:
haha arent you in hangzhou? perhaps a chinese person would be a better teacher for you. im forever learning. but if i can help in any way just ask
Robk:
Most Chinese actually suck at teaching Chinese because they can't explain it very well in English. Not only that, they use traditional methods that are boring and easily forgotten with foreigners.
In my experience, if a foreigner can speak decent Chinese they can teach other foreigners better than a Chinese national could. Strange but true.
If you want to learn Chinese, the last thing you want to do is to get stuck into pinyin.
It might look easier, but it will make your overall learning path significantly harder. You WILL regret it.
dom87:
its not like i want to but i live here and i have to talk with the people. I have no interest and actually no need to learn the signs. writing pinyin would just be additional practice to my oral chinese.
the biggest problem actually is on computer these signs are so small i have to take a magnifier to see the difference
mArtiAn:
I think pinyin's the best place to start for the first year to concentrate on the tones, then get stuck into the characters. I made the mistake of sticking with pinyin for the first four years though, then I had to go back to square one once I realized how important knowledge of the characters would become. Real arrested development.
Hey, If you really want to write the pinyin to your Chinese friend , you might have to explain more about it . Cos same pronunciation could mean different things . plus, you need to make sure your tones are correct . So my suggestion is learn pinyin first ( the foundation for typing the right pronunciation) , and recognize characters (make sure the characters you select are the correct one ) .
Actually , Chinese characters is not that hard ! There are some rules .
Besides, you can learn more about Chinese culture through the characters .
Anyway , if you need to learn Chinese , maybe i can help you . I myself , a Chinese teacher too .
Hey, If you really want to write the pinyin to your Chinese friend , you might have to explain more about it . Cos same pronunciation could mean different things . plus, you need to make sure your tones are correct . So my suggestion is learn pinyin first ( the foundation for typing the right pronunciation) , and recognize characters (make sure the characters you select are the correct one ) .
Actually , Chinese characters is not that hard ! There are some rules .
Besides, you can learn more about Chinese culture through the characters .
Anyway , if you need to learn Chinese , maybe i can help you . I myself , a Chinese teacher too .
dom87:
lets say i would like to learn it but i have no teacher and in my city are no teachers available. then again i have to learn chinese through my second language and not my native.
i have a program to type pinyin tones so yeah writing the right tones is also why i wanna practice writing because it also improves picking the right tones in oral chinese
if you have tips, helpful websites or something would be happy to receive your pm
sevenyan:
Well, I guess the best way to improve is talk more and practice more with your Chinese friends . Have someone to guide you will be perfect . Where are you then ?
If you are in Shenzhen, maybe I can help you . By the way, here's my we-chat ID: seven15019290328 . Feel free to contact me if you have any Chinese problems.
I have been learning pinyin for 3 years to prepare for a move to China, Most Chinese on the website Shared talk will type with you using pinyin, You can also learn using fluentu,it costs me 18.00 monthly, It is more important for me to speak first then learn characters later. it does have some disadvantages because characters do a play part but Chinese is still a contextual language , so many words are the same spelling only with different tones, I will study characters later,Many Chinese people will tell you they cannot understand other Chinese people, what good is it to be able to read but not be able to speak
rsm1:
P.S. I also have many Chinese friends on skype which allows me to practise what I learn
