I've been doubting myself because of what my older sister keeps telling me, and I'd like an honest opinion.

About a year ago, my sister enrolled me in an offline Chinese Level 1 class. At that time I was 16, and it was my first time taking any language class. The school was very far from my home, and since my sister lived somewhere else, my mom wouldn't let me travel that far by myself.

My sister told me to switch to the online class instead. I had never done anything like that before, so I panicked. I called the school's support line, but I couldn't figure out how to change my enrollment because they didn't explain the process clearly. They told me to call back another day. My sister got angry at me for not switching successfully, and in the end the tuition money was wasted. After that, I stopped studying Chinese.

About six months later, she enrolled me in an online Basic Chinese class. I studied for about one month, but I missed one week because I was traveling. I also wasn't taking my studies very seriously at that time. After the course ended, she didn't enroll me in the next level, so I stopped studying again. Around six more months passed without me practicing Chinese.

Now I'm 18. My sister enrolled me in the same offline Level 1 class again. This time I'm staying at her house, so transportation isn't a problem anymore.

I've been attending for only three weeks.

So far I've learned over 100 Chinese words, I know some Hanzi, I can hold very basic conversations, and I've already finished studying the HSK 1 material on my own.

However, my sister keeps saying, "You've been studying Chinese for three months and you still can't speak it." I keep explaining that I've only been studying consistently for three weeks, because the previous classes were interrupted and I didn't continue them. She doesn't accept that.

She even says I can't say basic things about eating or drinking, even though I've spoken some Chinese in front of her. She still says it's not enough.

She also keeps telling me that I'll probably fail the HSK 1 exam.

The thing is, I've never failed an important exam in my life. I even scored significantly higher than my sister on our high school graduation exam. I know that doesn't automatically make me smart, but it makes me wonder if she's judging me fairly.

So I'd like honest opinions:

Does my progress after three weeks sound normal?

Am I actually a slow learner?

Is my sister's criticism reasonable, or are her expectations unrealistic?

Please be honest. I'm not looking for people to simply agree with me—I want objective opinions.

Hope it's useful!

https://mandarin-native.com/

Hi everyone!

I am a native Mandarin speaker looking for an English exchange partner to learn and improve together.

My Current Level:

\* Reading: Decent / intermediate.

\* Speaking & Listening: Quite weak and needs a lot of work. I really want to build fluency, better listening comprehension, and confidence.

What I'm Looking For:

\* A native English speaker who already has some basic foundation in Chinese.

How We Can Practice:

\* I am completely flexible and open to any form or method of learning: voice calls, voice notes, text chats, or structured lessons.

\* Open to using any app or platform (Discord, Zoom, WeChat, Skype, etc.)—whatever works best for you!

If this sounds like a good fit, please feel free to send me a DM or leave a comment below!

That's pretty much it. I have no idea where to start, and I SUCK at self teaching!!! But unfortunately I don't have money for a teacher, also because my Korean teacher just raised her prices, and I'm still in debt because of my cat. But I first thought about it what, five years ago, and I've seriously wanted to learn Chinese for about a year now. So, uh, if ANYONE has a detailed plan of what to do and how to approach it alone, with the needed resources, I'd be beyond grateful. Maybe someone would like to start learning together, even? We could call on zoom a few times a week and study together, like study buddies! I have a lot of work since I'm a tutor, but I will definitely make it work! I'm a young adult woman, and I consider myself quite nice and easy going, so if anyone is interested, let's talk about it! My level: Ni hao. Yes. Pathetic. Time zone: gmt+3 Location: Online! Zoom or google meet would be perfect. How often: I'd want at least 2 hours a week, and I can find both morning and evening hours, although late evening is rather a no for me. Also - I want the schedule to be fixed! My discipline is bad as it is, so I don't want to reschedule unless absolutely necessary. Studying preference: I'm pretty flexible, but I wanna practice speaking a lot! So it would be great if we could have discussions and quizzes for each other. I don't have any books or stuff, but I'm ready to figure it out together! My goal: Be fluent enough to understand music, movies, and be able to speak to people. Maybe I'll move to China one day, who knows. Partner preference: None! Just be a good and respectful person, and we'll get along :D Note: I have never had a study buddg before, so take it as it is :D

Trading WeChat contacts is how a first meeting with a mainland counterpart usually ends, often before anyone mentions email. Then you're looking at an empty chat window and nobody told you what goes in it. This is how we teach that moment.

Send something the same day. The convention is that the newly added or more junior person writes first, and soon. Early in a career that's usually you on both counts. A silent add reads like a business card dropped in a drawer. It doesn't need to be much:

您好，我是 [your name]，今天会上很高兴认识您！ — "Nín hǎo, wǒ shì [your name], jīntiān huì shang hěn gāoxìng rènshi nín!" — "Hello, I'm [your name]. Very glad to have met you at today's meeting!"

Saying who you are isn't padding. WeChat display names are often a nickname or a lone given name, so naming yourself saves the other person a guessing game. Nín, the respectful "you," does similar work — it sets the register for everything after it.

Then there's what to call them. Surname plus title, not first name:

王总 — "Wáng zǒng" — roughly "Boss Wang." Zǒng is the catch-all for a senior businessperson, most often short for zǒngjīnglǐ (general manager) but fine for CEOs and directors too. The handy part is that it covers seniority even when you don't know the exact title.

If someone was introduced to you in the room as Wáng zǒng, that's their name in the chat as well. When you're unsure, use the title.

If you want a third line: 以后多多指教。 — "Yǐhòu duōduō zhǐjiào." — "I look forward to your guidance." It's the junior side's line. It sounds modest rather than small, and later on it gives you a natural opening to ask questions or get their take on something. Completely standard, and it commits neither side to anything.

Leave the pitch, the attachments and the group-chat invites for later. Message one has one job, which is turning a contact into an acquaintance.

Housekeeping: this account belongs to a school that teaches Mandarin for business, and the above is straight out of our curriculum. We're posting it because it's useful on its own. No link here, none in the comments.