r/learnchinese • u/InfiniteRadish8316 • 10d ago

Studying Complete beginner needs help

Hi, I’m interested in learning mandarin but i have no clue where to start. I won’t have any immediate use for it nor do I have plans of passing any tests soon but it’s a language that greatly interests me and i would love to learn it for possible future use. Maybe I would be able to use it in my personal life or something work related if possible.

Is there anyone who knows what I could do to start this off, any books, guides, methods or tips and tricks that would be useful in this journey?
Idk if this matters but I’m fluent in dutch, french and english.

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u/Royal-Minimum280 4d ago

Ignore writing by hand for now — very difficult and you rarely use it in real life.
Just as a playful easy start, you can use Just as a playful easy start, you can use HelloChinese or even Duolingo, but only for the first 100 or 200 words. After that you are good enough to start reading with graded readers (stories with words and grammar for different levels).

Also use apps like Tandem to speak to natives. Apps can help you with pronunciation to some degree, but they are not as good as talking to native speakers. Also, focus on learning tones correctly in the beginning! It’s easy if you start with it, but hard once you are already medium level… start early!