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Q: best way to learn Chinese
I found listening to CDs just put me to sleep. How can I learn Mandarin ( I guess) by myself. i think the language has a different structure than English, which i have not understood yet. How do I understand the structure, even enough to write with an online translator?
12 years 31 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
Talk to as often and to as many people you possibly can in Chinese. Try to avoid speaking English when possible. Learn basic things first and put them into practice, Learn about fruit for example then go to the market to buy apples. The locals will laugh and will like you for trying. They will correct you and probably make friends with you. Try to stay away from Pinyin and focus on real Chinese characters. Use your CD only to distinguish the different tonal sounds, that's about all it is good for. Always ask Chinese friends how to say things. Read and study a lot. Most of all be patient, very patient: it will come in time.
I remember a saying useful from Newton (maybe wrong) I think:
The key to overcoming a problem is to keep it present in your thoughts at all times.
That got me through University, it should get you through Chinese.
Find a Chinese partner and learn by over exposure from the confort of the bedsheet.
it worked for me for 2 languages so far (English & Nepalese).
TedDBayer:
can i borrow your teacher, LOL ? have her scrubbed and sent to my room.
I'm in the states, and have very little opportunity to speak with anyone who speaks Chinese. I've been picking words that I think would be useful to get started/around etc and learning those words and characters, and translating them at different online sites/tools that I have found. I might not be fluent, or even close, but will theoretically have a decent baseline.
Some of these sites also have pronunciation examples, which I find useful.
http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=flashcard
http://www.mandarintools.com/
http://www.nciku.com/ <== is my favorite.. you can create vocab lists and see others' lists.
But the best way is to have someone to practice with. I wish I did.
Hey, I just found this one too. It's tapes, textbook and workbooks, with tests for each module. I haven't tried it yet, but I will be. It's courtesy of the US and Canada. Learn Chinese like an American diplomat for free. (stop laughing!) 
http://fsi-language-courses.org/Content.php?page=Chinese
Standard Chinese: A Modular Approach
"This course is designed to give a practical command of spoken Standard Chinese. Nine situational modules form the core of the course. Each core module consists of tapes, a student textbook, and a workbook. In addition to the core modules, there is a resource module and eight optional modules."
HugAPanda:
OK, it's old, but damn if it isn't the best explanation/practice of tones I've found thus far.
chinesepods the lessons are short and current. download from torrent
HugAPanda:
Ha! Every time I try to DL Chinesepod from any of the torrents, it tells me its going to take days to do it. Stupid lack of peers and seeds and stuff make it almost impossible.. and I am NOT a patient woman :P
crimochina:
by the way those estimates are nott always accurate sometimes longer sometimes shorter
HugAPanda:
It finally finished.. thanks. But is there a program to run all the MP3s and PDFs? I can play the mp3s, but cant open the pdfs.
Live somewhere you have to use it. Like Qinghai or Guizhou. Also live somewhere you can hear it used. Guangdong is bad because most people speak Cantonese which is really different. Also there is no easy way. If you want to learn, whatever method you employ, you will just have to put the hours in. Hard work will get you far.
Happy Days!
Friendly speaking, you should find a experience tutor intead of listening CD yourself, maybe Mandarin Garden is usefull for you.
the website is www.mandaringarden.org
http://sexymandarin.com/intl/ It is the Best. Mandarin. Lessons. Evar! 
philbravery:
that sure beats the usal way. how long did it take you to find this Gem? sorry I can only give you 1 thumbs up but I think it will be the first of many
Xpat.John:
It popped up today as a link in my RSS feed. They lessons are a lot of fun. I just wish there was more of them.
u should to find a chinese friend to do further communicate.
learn language is just for communicating with those who speak chinese.
when u keep contacting with them ,u will make a good progress in chinese language learning.
just like if some one donot know any english actually,ane he can speak english well then he go to a english-spoken country for several months.
so ,please keep in touch with ur chinese friends usually.
if u wanna make more friends with chinese,message me!
Jíliú.hé:
Second paragraph
just like if some one donot know any english actually,ane he can speak english well then he go to a english-spoken country for several months.
Just like if someone do not know any English actually, and he can speak English well then he go to a English-spoken country for several months.
make some chinese pengyou and you will learn it better than you learn in school and its free also
I know this is an old post, dragged up by this website plugger, but I do learn Chinese myself, and my advice is, get a beginner book, go through it, then get another beginner book and go through that. Get your basics strong. Besides that do a minimum of 20 minutes a day building vocabulary. And learn the characters from day one, don't just study pinyin, or like me, after a few years you'll find yourself going back to the beginning to learn stuff you've already studied. Above all you need to cultivate a genuine interest or it'll be uphill all the way.
