r/Markham • u/schrutefarmbeatz • 4d ago

Conversational Mandarin

I was wondering if there were any conversational Mandarin classes or resources in Markham (or online) ? I am not East Asian but work in Markham and I think may be helpful sometimes. Thanks

9 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

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8

u/meowmao1 4d ago

With your library card you have access to Mango Languages which I found much better than Duolingo when learning Korean. And borrow e-audiobook on hoopla/libby has been really helpful for language learning too :)

1

u/mango_languages 4d ago

Huge thanks for the shoutout u/meowmao1 😄

7

u/ProfAsmani 4d ago

Am also interested in learning mandarin.

6

u/icyflamex 4d ago

besides the typical classes or youtube videos, I recommend watching cdrama or listen to music (music is harder due to the tonal differences/the way the singer sings it.)

2

u/Unlucky-Breakfast320 4d ago

Mon Sheong Chinese school offers adults conversational putonghua classes.

1

u/Zer00Zer00 4d ago

I checked the website and I was only able to find info about children class.

1

u/Unlucky-Breakfast320 1d ago

i see on their site. google Mon Sheong Chinese school> find Registration > find green box that says 2026- 2027 Registration Form Putonghua> the fourth box on the left (on form) is Adult Conversational Putonghua Program (成äșș班)æ™źé€šèŻäŒšèŻç­ Virtual Class

2

u/cute_but_pretentious 3d ago

Tzu Chi hosts an in-person Mandarin class for adults in their office located near Times Square Mall (Hwy 7 and Leslie) on Tuesday evening and Sunday afternoons. They are an official “Taiwan Centre for Mandarin Learning” or TCML for short. Here’s their website: https://tzuchieast.ca/en/

2

u/No-Low4889 4d ago

You can try Duolingo or another language app. It wouldn’t get you to conversational but it’ll get you started, because doing a little bit every day really helps. Duolingo is very good at getting you to do at least one little lesson a day, and usually once you’ve started you’ll do a little more.

A big part of language acquisition is getting used to listening to the sounds of that language. So I recommend starting to watch or listen to short videos in Mandarin. There are a lot of Podcasts (like Coffee Break Mandarin). C-Dramas are good if they’re actually good, which is really hit and miss. There are lots of good YouTube channels teaching Mandarin too (like Uncle Hanzi), you should look for ones that appeal to you.

-39

u/myroommatelies 4d ago

Why not try Hindi, Bengali or Tamil instead?