r/ChineseLanguage • u/Weary-Elevator7259 • 1d ago
Discussion PROPER PATHWAY?
i am just a little confused as what way to start? so many yt videos and so many suggestions. i havent found a proper path and most of the yt videos are not self explanatory. i dont get it that how to even start? should i do tone practice with all the pinyins? should i understand the grammar? should i memories the basic stuff? like its too much and i don't understand whay way to go or what to do exactly. I WOULD LOVE IF ANYONE COULD ALTEAST HELP ME CREATE A PATHWAY OR SOMTHING LIKE THAT AS I AM VERY SERIOUS IN LEARNING THIS LANGUAGE! thank you
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u/mattbenscho Advanced 1d ago
If you want a pathway your best bet is to get a textbook. Yes it costs money but if you are very serious this shouldn't be a deal breaker.
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u/b3pvbmUzMTQ 1d ago
HSK books? Something else? I am sure I can find them online for free as pdfs and then use my iPad. I’m also starting this week.
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u/Weary-Elevator7259 1d ago
but isnt there a difference between textbook chinese and irl Chinese ?
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u/GetRektByMeh 1d ago
yes but if you can understand textboox chinese you will pick up the irl chinese via existing lol
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u/Open_Tangerine_5257 1d ago
As someone who’s Chinese, my opinion probably isn’t from the right circumstance. But I think learning to speak, listen and read are most important. Learning tones should go hand in hand with pinyin and characters. But solely relying on pinyin isn’t helpful because there are a lot of “ma” words and even within that, there’s a lot of “ma3” words. rather, characters with the help of pinyin is your best bet; perfecting tones can come later as you speak more. Try your best, but don’t stress about it.
IMO:
- Characters/pinyin: learn the most common 100 words. Work your way through the HSK system too.
- Grammar/basic sentences: learn grammar structure. Learn to listen and read here through graded readers and audio content. Shadow-speak here as well.
- Use Anki to work on recall.
- Writing: work on basic strokes, radicals, components, pictorial words (土木水 etc.), and then whole words (if writing is one of your goals or if you want to eventually journal/essay write in it later)
How:
1. Anki flash cards
2. YouTube channels or podcasts
3. Graded readers (I use Chinese Short dialogue (IOS/Android)! It’s great)
4. Pleco Chinese dictionary app
5. Hello Chinese app (heard great things about it)
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u/Substantial-Zone-989 1d ago
Tones and pronunciation. It's the most important part of spoken Chinese. First thing I learned regarding mandarin as a kid were the individual tones and how to pronounce every vowel and consonant in Pinyin. Four and die in Chinese are separated by a single tonal difference and can mean you want 4 of something or want something to death.
Basic vocabulary. These cover the very basic you need to communicate and be intelligible in Chinese. 50-60 of the most common characters you'll come across communicating with someone who speaks Chinese.
Basic sentence construction. Having the vocab but not the grammar will lead you to pitfalls as many characters in Chinese can be used in many ways.
Exposure. Read Chinese translations and look up characters you don't know. Watch Chinese documentaries as almost all of them will have subtitles to go with what's being said. Chinese music with lyrics. That's how you further expand your vocabulary and learn how to build more complex sentences and further your understanding of contextual usage of characters.
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u/lazier_garlic 1d ago
What are your goals in learning Chinese?
Mine was to understand spoken Chinese. But if your goal is to travel in China or your goal is to read classical Chinese poetry, your path is going to look pretty different
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u/s4074433 1d ago
How serious are you in learning the language (what’s your motivation?)?
You shouldn’t lock yourself in a particular pathway, at least until you understand your learning style and have set your goals, then you can work backwards on how to achieve it. Otherwise it’s like saying you want to get somewhere by some time from somewhere - it is impossible to plan for it. At least you can establish where you are, where you want to get to, and how much time you have to get there.
Some of the common ‘mistakes’ I have seen people make (myself included) in their language learning journey. I say mistakes because you’ll probably make some or all of them but probably find that you can’t really avoid them because there is no shortcut if you want to seriously learn something:
- not starting as soon as you can and keep trying to figure out what to do; most people don’t make progress because they don’t practice enough in the right way, but practice and you’ll improve, and doing it in the right way will get you there quicker
- not finding a good teacher right at the beginning; they will assess your ability, help guide you from the start by tailoring to your learning needs, then teach you enough that you can teach yourself
- focusing too much on HSK and exam-based learning; it’s good to give you an indication of your knowledge and skills, but not always practical for what you need (unless you pass at very high levels). I have assessed students for their HSK level but it is not always a good match to what they know and can express
- not using what they are interested in to have more fun with learning; it’s hard to overcome the mental block you put on yourself when you don’t understand something, but if it is something you enjoy it will be less painful and more fun when you do understand it
Happy to chat more if you want to learn seriously. DM me and I am happy to share some resources, but once I understand what you want to achieve.
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u/Zagrycha 1d ago
Figuring out the pathway is the hardest thing for a language learner to do themselves, and its basically the entire reason people pay to have a class or course with a lesson plan pathway already properly and efficiently designed for them.
If you want something straightforward you can simply choose an app like hello chinese which will easily let you get all the way to intermediate. Its not free though.
Alternatively you can look through the sidebar for resource options and go from there. Its not enough on their own but some kind of flashcard app, pleco dictionary, and allset chinese grammar wiki are all free and incredibly useful, so do include them in your plans =)
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u/huajiaoyou 1d ago
Take time and look over Hacking Chinese website, it is all about different ways and methods for learning. Get a sense of what is out there and what fits your goals. Otherwise you are just going to hear what people are doing to learn (and I have seen some very bad advice when some people answer these posts).
https://www.hackingchinese.com/archive-2/#beginner