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Q: What's the best way to learn Chinese part-time?
If you don't have that much time, between work, family etc. What is the best method? Working through a text book? Podcasts? Hiring a private tutor?
10 years 9 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
it depends on what type of learner you are:
visual / aural / kinesthetic ?
only you can say which style of learner you are and then chose the appropriate method to maximise your time.
if you don't know, is there a teacher (even a foreign teacher) who should be able to help you determine your preferred style of learning
also, can you use the time you have traveling to and from work?
brother1818:
I'm more of a learn by doing person. Is that kinesthetic? Ya, I take the subway for about 1.5 hours a day so I could get some podcasts or tingli practice on my ipod...
sorrel:
begin with phrases you will use in every-day situations.
if your wife can't practice with you to help with pronunciation and tone, maybe get a
teacher for this
brother1818:
Thanks Sorrel, although I enjoy the assumption that I have a Chinese wife, I don't. Although many on this forum do so it's not such a long shot.
Learning to read Chinese will help you remember and understand the grammar of Chinese so welllll, many are too scared to try and lazy, but I am telling you that passed a HSK 3 test in one year due to studying the reading first, if you can read it then you can remember how to use it, after that you only need to learn the nouns and expressions. It's a day by day gig, 45 minutes will be enough, don't over load you brain with too much at one time. This is a slow deal, so relax and start step by step..
This is the best place to buy books for study, they have EVERYTHING!!! You'll need a Chinese friend to help you order it maybe unless they've updated their system...
Read as much as you can and pick a few words each day to learn, find a way to use them in everyday conversation....
Podcasts worked & is working for me a lot. There's a big time gap for transportation going from one place to another so I repeat & repeat each class until I got the right pronunciation. Always when I meet any chinese buddy I just try practicing the new phrase & vocabulary I just learned, I also do it to confirm my pronunciation is right.
Try podcasts, I think will be very useful.
The Pimsluer method is good, but a bit expensive.
If you have a smartphone/tablet, you can download Mandarin flashcards on Brainscape. It's premium content though.
Horizontally 
I haven't learned much Chinese, but I am have a lot of fun !
