How to Learn Chinese (Mandarin) On Your Own for FREE
Summary
TLDRIn this video, Brian Wilds shares an effective strategy for self-learning Mandarin, emphasizing the creation of a daily routine covering tones, vocabulary, grammar, listening, speaking, reading, and writing. He recommends free resources like Mandarin Corner and HSK textbooks, and tools like Anki for vocabulary building. For speaking practice, he suggests language exchanges or tutoring platforms like Preply. Listening skills are honed through podcasts and TV shows, while reading skills are developed with graded readers and apps like Du Chinese. Writing practice is optional, but apps like Daily Mandarin and Scrito can be helpful. The video concludes with a suggested daily routine tailored to different HSK levels.
Takeaways
- π Start with a core understanding of Mandarin using free resources like Mandarin Corner and HSK curriculum.
- π Use official HSK textbooks for structured self-study and gauge proficiency with standardized tests.
- π Master tones early with the help of videos and practice, as they are fundamental to Mandarin pronunciation.
- π£οΈ Improve speaking skills by interacting with native speakers, either locally or through online language exchanges.
- π¬ Utilize platforms like Preply for one-on-one tutoring to refine pronunciation and conversational skills.
- π Build vocabulary with flashcards, especially those aligned with the HSK curriculum, using tools like Anki.
- π Use Pleco dictionary with live OCR for quick definitions of new words encountered during learning.
- π Keep grammar study minimal; focus on practical usage, but refer to resources like Chinese Zero to Hero for clarity.
- π Develop listening skills with podcasts like Learning Chinese through Stories, starting post-HSK level one.
- πΊ Incorporate Mandarin TV shows and movies at an advanced level, ensuring to use only Chinese subtitles.
- π For reading practice, use graded readers and apps like do Chinese and The Chairman's Bao, focusing on HSK levels.
- βοΈ Writing by hand is not necessary for fluency; learn to type in Pinyin for practical communication.
Q & A
What is the recommended approach to learn Mandarin according to Brian Wilds?
-Brian Wilds recommends creating a daily learning routine that covers tones, vocabulary, grammar, listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, and using free resources based on the HSK curriculum.
What is the HSK curriculum mentioned in the script?
-The HSK curriculum is a program based on six standardized tests that help learners gauge their proficiency in Mandarin Chinese.
How many standard tones does Mandarin have, and what is the neutral tone?
-Mandarin has four standard tones, and there is one neutral tone that is spoken with less emphasis.
What are pinions and how are they used in Mandarin?
-Pinions are marks used to notate the tones in Mandarin, which is a tonal language.
What platform does Brian Wilds recommend for language tutoring?
-Brian Wilds recommends using Preply as his favorite language tutoring platform.
What is the recommended tool for building vocabulary in Mandarin?
-Brian Wilds suggests using flashcards, specifically through a program called Anki, to build a wide vocabulary of Mandarin words and phrases.
What is the role of grammar in learning Mandarin according to the script?
-The script suggests that grammar is relatively straightforward in Mandarin and that learning it is not necessarily a part of the daily routine. Instead, using other resources will intuitively build an understanding of Mandarin grammar.
How does Brian Wilds suggest improving listening skills in Mandarin?
-Brian Wilds recommends starting with podcasts like 'Learning Chinese through Stories' after completing HSK level one, and using voice-to-text features to understand new words or phrases.
What are graded readers and how do they help in learning Mandarin?
-Graded readers are short books and stories designed for students at various levels. They help in learning Mandarin by providing reading material that matches the student's proficiency level.
Why does Brian Wilds suggest not learning to write Chinese characters by hand?
-Brian Wilds suggests not learning to write Chinese characters by hand because it is a daunting task and not necessary for becoming fluent in speaking and reading Mandarin. Typing using Pinyin is sufficient.
What daily routine does Brian Wilds recommend for a beginner learning Mandarin?
-For a beginner, Brian Wilds recommends setting aside at least 1 hour daily to study Mandarin, focusing on HSK level one resources, and potentially having one lesson per week with an online tutor.
Outlines
π Introduction to Learning Mandarin
Brian Wilds introduces a video aimed at teaching viewers the best methods for self-studying Mandarin. He proposes creating a daily routine covering all aspects of the language, including tones, vocabulary, grammar, listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Brian recommends free resources and suggests using the HSK curriculum as a guide. He also mentions the availability of HSK textbooks in libraries and the need for those interested in traditional characters to follow the TFU curriculum.
π Mastering Mandarin Tones and Listening Skills
The video emphasizes the importance of mastering Mandarin tones, which are crucial for accurate pronunciation. Brian suggests starting with two specific videos to familiarize oneself with the tone system. He also advises learning with a native speaker to improve speaking skills, either in person or through online language exchanges. For listening practice, he recommends waiting until one has completed HSK level one before engaging with podcasts, and then suggests specific podcasts for different proficiency levels. Additionally, he talks about the use of TV shows and movies with Chinese subtitles for advanced learners.
π Building Vocabulary and Grammar Proficiency
Brian discusses the necessity of building a robust vocabulary through the use of flashcards, recommending the Anki program and specific flashcard decks aligned with the HSK curriculum. He also introduces Pleco, a dictionary app with live OCR for quick word lookups. For grammar, he suggests that consistent use of other resources will naturally build an understanding, but for those who prefer a structured approach, he recommends free playlists from Chinese Zero to Hero and the book 'Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar'.
π Enhancing Listening and Reading Comprehension
This section focuses on improving listening skills, which are vital for mastering tones and understanding real-world usage. Brian advises against podcasts until HSK level one is completed but then recommends 'Learning Chinese through Stories' and other podcasts for higher levels. He also touches on the benefits of watching TV shows and movies in Mandarin for advanced learners, emphasizing the use of Chinese subtitles. For reading skills, he acknowledges the challenge of learning thousands of characters and suggests using Anki flashcards and HSK course books to learn characters in context.
βοΈ Developing Writing Skills and Daily Routine
Brian addresses the topic of writing Mandarin, stating that it's not necessary to learn to write characters by hand to become fluent. He suggests using Pinyin for typing Chinese characters. For those interested in handwriting, he recommends specific apps like Daily Mandarin and Scrito. The video concludes with advice on building a daily routine for Mandarin study, with recommendations for time allocation and resource use based on HSK levels. Brian encourages viewers to reach out with questions and thanks them for watching.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Mandarin
π‘HSK curriculum
π‘Tones
π‘Pinyin
π‘Flashcards
π‘Grammar
π‘Listening skills
π‘Reading skills
π‘Writing skills
π‘Daily learning routine
Highlights
Brian Wilds shares the best way to learn Mandarin on your own.
Creating a daily learning routine covering tones, vocabulary, grammar, listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.
Recommendation of Mandarin Corner's comprehensive video course for core learning.
Introduction to the HSK curriculum and its standardized tests for proficiency gauging.
Official HSK textbooks available in most US libraries for self-study.
For traditional Chinese characters, a curriculum based on the TFU tests is recommended.
Mandarin is a tonal language with four standard tones and one neutral tone.
PinYin marks are used to notate tones in Mandarin.
Two recommended videos for beginners to familiarize with PinYin and tones.
Importance of learning with a native Mandarin speaker for accurate tone reproduction.
Preply as a favored platform for one-on-one language tutoring.
Using flashcards with Anki to build vocabulary, aligned with the HSK curriculum.
Pleco dictionary with live OCR for defining new words quickly.
Mandarin grammar is simpler than English, and learning it intuitively is possible.
Chinese Zero to Hero's free playlists for grammar questions.
Listening skills are key to fluency, especially for understanding the tone system.
Learning Chinese through Stories podcast recommended for improving listening skills.
Use of Netflix's Mandarin content search feature for language learning.
Reading skills are challenging due to the need to memorize thousands of Chinese characters.
Anki flashcard decks and HSK course books help with character recognition.
Graded readers for intermediate learners to practice reading in context.
Do Chinese and The Chairman's Bow apps for building reading skills.
Daily Mandarin routine suggestions based on HSK levels and learning goals.
Transcripts
my name is Brian wilds and in this video
I'm going to show you the best way to
learn Mandarin on your
own together we're going to create a
daily learning routine that covers all
the major elements of learning Mandarin
tones vocabulary grammar listening
speaking and reading and writing skills
I'll show you the best free resources
for building each of these skills based
on your current level of Mandarin and
then we'll create a daily learning
routine that meets your goals and needs
as a student let's get started core
learning at the outset it's important
that you develop a core understanding of
how Mandarin works as a language and to
do that I recommend that you use this
comprehensive video course for Mandarin
corner it's free it's high quality and
it follows something called the hsk
curriculum what's that it's a program
based on six standardized tests that
help Learners gauge their Proficiency in
Mandarin and as you'll see throughout
this video it's a very useful ladder for
building your comprehension there's also
an official set of hsk textbooks that
can be very handy for reviewing and
studying on your own and most Library
systems in the US keep a handful of
these books in stock and I'll also
mention that for anyone specifically
interested in learning traditional
Chinese characters I.E the ones that are
used in Taiwan Hong Kong and most of the
Chinese diaspora there's an excellent
curriculum based on the tful tests and I
would recommend using this series of
textbooks if you plan on taking those
exams mastering tones as you're probably
aware Mandarin is a tonal language which
means that words and syllables are
pronounced with a specific pitch ma ma
ma ma ma as you can see or hear Mandarin
has four standard tones and one neutral
tone that's spoken with less emphasis
and these marks called pinion are used
to notate those tones in Mandarin
Learning Materials as a beginner you'll
want to start familiarizing yourself
with pinion and the tone system from day
one and to do that I recommend using
these two videos they'll guide you
through pronouncing the various p
patterns individually and help you start
to string words and sentences together
as you'll see the tone system isn't
complicated you can learn the ropes in
about 10 minutes what makes it
challenging is all physiological
learning to distinguish between the
various sounds and reproduce them
accurately and that can take months so
give yourself time to adapt speaking
skills as you develop your ear for tones
it's extremely useful to learn with a
native Manner and speaker someone who
can correct your mistakes and help you
start to make real conversation and to
do that you can seek out a native
speaker in your area or do a language
exchange online I.E you teach them and
they teach you or learn with a tutor and
my favorite language tutoring platform
is preply lessons on preply are one to
one it's just you and your tutor for 50
minutes which means that you're learning
at exactly your pace and your
level and if you use one of the hsk
courses that I mentioned earlier your
tutor will be able to guide you through
every question and every moment of wait
what the heck is this or you can take
the more free form approach and simply
start making conversation together learn
to introduce yourself or order food at a
restaurant or talk about movies food
culture whatever each session is about
your current needs as a student which
means you'll learn much faster and in my
experience enjoy the process a heck of a
lot more if you want to try prep Ley use
the code Brian 50 and get half off your
first lesson and then afterwards leave a
comment below and let me know how it
went vocabulary if you want to speak
fluent Mandarin it's essential that you
build a wide vocabulary of words and
phrases and the simplest way to do that
is by using flashcards there are
thousands of flashcard tools out there
but I recommend that you use a program
called Anki it's completely free on a PC
or Mac and you can use the browser
version for free on your phone like the
courses we talked about Mandarin
flashcard decks are often aligned with
the hsk curriculum and to build your
vocabulary you should use this series of
flash card decks based on your current
level each card includes native audio
and pinion so you can practice proper
pronunciation as you memorize new words
I would also recommend that you use this
dictionary pleco to Define any new words
that you come across pleco has a very
useful feature called live OCR that lets
you use your phone's camera to scan
Chinese characters and Define them
individually trust me this will save you
an unbelievable amount of time in both
the short run and the long run for
reasons that we'll talk about in the
reading and writing section of this
video mastering Mandarin grammar one of
the pleasant surprises of learning
Mandarin is that believe it or not the
grammar is actually quite
straightforward and much simpler than
what you find in say English and look
studying grammar rules does not need to
be a part of your learning routine at
all if you consistently use the other
resources that I talk about in this
video you'll intuitively build an
understanding of how Mandarin works as a
language that said it can obviously be
frustrating when a phrase or a sentence
just doesn't make sense
and with that in mind I would recommend
using one of these free playlists from
Chinese Zero to Hero for when you have
questions about Mandarin grammar as with
the programs I mentioned earlier
everything is tied to the hsk curriculum
so it's easy to find the exact lesson
you're looking for and if you prefer
using a book for reference my favorite
is modern Mandarin Chinese grammar which
is appropriate for both beginner and
intermediate level students listening
skills in my opinion listening is the
key to fluency when it comes to learning
Mandarin for two reasons one it's the
only way to develop your ear for the
tone system which is probably the
biggest obstacle for most Learners and
two it's the best way to understand how
Mandarin is used in the real world now
given the challenges of the tone system
I wouldn't recommend listening to
Mandarin podcasts until you've completed
hsk level one which should take
somewhere between 2 and 4 months but
once you've got the basics under your
belt I highly recommend checking out
learning Chinese through stories this is
a wide ranging podcast with nine
different levels of listening content
for Mandarin Learners and again it's
completely free in theory the lowest
level of lcts 1.1 is appropriate for
novices but I think that's kind of
Bonkers in my opinion 1.1 is at least
the high beginner level so don't be
discouraged if the material seems
challenging at first now lcts is pretty
comprehensive but once you reach an
intermediate to advanced level of
Mandarin say hsk4 you're ready to start
listening to Native podcasts and two of
my favorites are bu which is hosted by a
lighthearted Chinese couple and D the
small talk which is basically a
Taiwanese self-help podcast the audio
quality is excellent in both shows the
accents are pretty neutral and the
content is interesting I'll leave a few
more recommendations in the description
box below but if you know of any other
great manarin podcasts please leave a
comment and let everyone know now no
matter what your level you want to make
sure that you're using podcasts
effectively that means when you hear a
word or a phrase you don't recognize you
should use the voice to text feature in
pleco or Google Translate to get a
definition in your native language and
then later on you can review any new
words by looking through your
translation history TV shows and movies
can watching TV and movies in Mandarin
be part of your learning routine
absolutely although I wouldn't recommend
relying on TV and movies for learning
purposes until you're at a pretty
advanced level hsk4 or above at that
point you can use this search feature on
Netflix or I'll leave a link below to a
data base of Mandarin language content
for various streaming services the key
however is that while you're watching
you should only use Chinese subtitles
being immersed in Mandarin will force
your brain to adapt quickly but having
English on screen will totally Short
Circuit the process so with that in mind
feel free to find shows and movies you
like and make watching them a part of
your daily routine just remember to look
up new words and phrases whenever you
hear them reading skills learning to
read Chinese characters is in my opinion
the toughest aspect of studying Mandarin
and that's because you'll need to
memorize thousands of them if you want
to read native text comfortably and if
you're serious about learning the
language that should absolutely be one
of your goals but don't sweat I've got
you covered the anky flash card decks
that we mentioned will help you learn to
recognize individual characters as you
build your vocab and the hsk course
books that I mentioned do a good job of
introducing those same characters in
context so that you learn to read full
sentences again everything is tied to
hsk and that's very important because
what you don't want to do is learn some
characters in Anie learn different
characters in a textbook and then learn
different characters again in a video
course as a beginner level that's just
too much to take in for most people but
once you reach hsk level three you can
also start to make use of graded readers
these are short books and stories that
are designed for students and of course
they have various levels I'll put links
to my favorite graded readers in the
description box below but you should
also keep the following in mind if you
use a Kindle or tablet to read your
stories you can tap on any words you
don't know and get a definition
instantly if you read the paper version
of a book you'll want to use that live
OCR feature that I mentioned on the
Pleco app this will let you scan the
character with your phone and get a
definition instantly without that you'll
need to look the word up via the radical
and the various Strokes which can be an
interesting exercise but is extremely
timec consuming I don't recommend it and
finally if you're looking for an app to
build your reading skills my favorites
are do Chinese and the Chairman's bow
they both have tons of content at
various levels they're easy to use and
word definitions are clear and
informative Du Chinese is focused more
on short stories and TCB is based
largely on news articles so pick the
content that works for you writing
skills now let me just start by saying
that you absolutely do not need to learn
to write Chinese characters by hand you
can become a completely fluent speaker
and reader of Mandarin without learning
to write a single character many people
have because what you will learn if you
use the resources I've recommended is
how to use pinion to type Chinese
characters on your phone or computer
essentially you type a Word in pinion
and then your computer or phone
generates the appropriate character in
that sense learning to typee Chinese
characters is actually pretty
straightforward so if you're considering
learning to write by hand I would first
ask yourself why because it's a daunting
task and I don't know about you but I
barely write anything by hand even in
English anymore okay ran over if you
want to practice writing Chinese
characters I recommend using one of
these two apps daily Mandarin which is
100% free and scit which requires a
subscription both apps have character
lists tied to the hsk curriculum and
they're both excellent scrit however has
a better training system and better
stroke recognition try them both and see
what works for you your daily routine so
we've covered all the bases now let's
talk about how to build a daily learning
routine that focuses on the skills you
need to develop first of all set aside a
fixed amount of time every day for
studying Mandarin ideally it should be
at least 1 hour but you can of course
adjust the timing to suit your needs if
you're a total beginner you should use
the hsk level one resources that we
talked about and break down your time
like this if possible I also highly
recommend that you do at least one
lesson per week with an online tutor
it's very easy to develop bad
pronunciation habits early on and a
tutor will keep you moving in the right
direction once you complete hsk level
three you can also start to add the
podcasts that we talked about to your
learning routine but take it slow
because this will definitely be a jump
in terms of difficulty after you finish
hsk level four you have two real options
if you want to focus on speaking
Mandarin I would recommend that you stop
following hsk and make podcasts the main
engine for your ongoing learning if you
want to focus on reading Mandarin you
can follow hsk all the way through level
six and add both graded readers and
eventually Chinese literature into the
mix and there you have it all the tools
you need to learn manderin if you have
any questions please let me know and as
always thanks for watching
Browse More Related Video
How to Learn Japanese On Your Own (Fast!)
The Best Language Learning Apps (and Why Most Donβt Work)
How to write in a foreign language (even as a beginner)
Become a Polyglot in 2024: How to learn a lot of languages fast
How I Got Fluent In French In 30 Days (Full 8-Hour Daily Routine)
How to learn a language FAST and never forget it
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)