Susan Lee asked:


Many people faced with the task of how to learn mandarin fly into a absolute panic. The symbols look so strange to none Chinese speakers, and the words sound nothing like the languages we may be accustomed to. But there are shortcuts to learning Chinese that will have even the most rookie student speaking this unique language in no time.

You can overcome the first issue – those strange-looking but beautiful symbols by separating speaking Chinese from the act of reading it. Admittedly Mandarin doesn’t use the Roman alphabet, or technically, any alphabet at all. Those symbols are called characters, and there are a lot of them. But fortunately, many English speakers learn to speak beginner Chinese without learning Chinese symbols, because Mandarin can be written in a Western alphabet called Pinyin. This greatly helps people like you not speaking Chinese with how to learn the Chinese language faster!

The second stumbling block – the sound of Mandarin words themselves can be explained by realizing that Mandarin is very dependent on pitch and tone. For example, the sound “ma” said in a high-pitched tone could mean “mother” in a different tone, it could mean “horse.” Thus, it’s very important that learners concerned with how to learn Chinese approach this mysterious language in a way that allows them to hear the words and phrases pronounced. Rocket Mandarin is a excellent language learning program for this reason; it will help you learn the Mandarin language in the quickest and most effective way and you could learn to speak basic Mandarin within 8-weeks.

When deciding how to learn Chinese, you must know which type of Chinese you need to study. There are quite a few variations of Chinese; whether these are dialects of a single language, or related but separate languages like Thai and Korean, for instance, is difficult to say. Two of the most commonly used variants of Chinese are Mandarin (the standard language of both the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan), and Cantonese (more commonly spoken in Hong Kong). But each language variant is totally unique from the others, and a Cantonese speaker cannot be understood by a someone who speaks only Mandarin.  

In addition to practicing with a good audio-based program such as Rocket Chinese, it helps a lot to befriend a native speaker to chat with. This is true when learning any new language, but it’s a very important factor in how to learn Chinese. Have you ever heard someone say an unfamiliar name on the phone, and failed to understand what they were trying to say to you? This is because you can’t see the movements of their mouth as they say the words. With so many Chinese words dependent upon tone and the slightest variation of pronunciation, it helps so much to have a native Chinese speaker to watch as well as hear.

You say you don’t know any native Chinese speakers? I’ll bet you do! Is there a Chinese restaurant nearby? If its proprietors speak the variant of Chinese you want to study, make them your new best friends, because they’ll definitely will help you on how to learn Chinese! Is there a Chinese community in your area? In all likelihood, there will be Chinese people there. Look on the Internet for forums and meet-ups featuring Chinese language and culture. And as a last plan, you can learn a great deal from viewing Chinese movies.

Practice at least 30 minutes a day! You’ll never sound like a native Chinese speaker, but before you know it, you’ll be able to speak conversational Chinese with ease. And your friends will never know that only a few weeks ago, you had no idea how to converse Chinese!  Finally pay a visit to www.ecpod.com and you can make a lot of Chinese friends to test your Mandarin.

 

David Stevens asked:


Today, the most standard form of Chinese that is spoken is known as Standard Mandarin or Mandarin Chinese, which is based on a dialect spoken in Beijing. It is also the official language now used by the people of China.

Now lets look closely at how to learn Mandarin Chinese either online or somewhere else. Most of the dialects now spoken by the Chinese people will often consist of words spoken by their ancestors, back when China was made up of various different ethnic groups. It was only after these groups had come together under the Chinese empire, did they start to unite the languages that they spoke. However, as the Chinese use a standard formal written language, no matter what dialect they speak, often people will regard these dialects as being equal. But in fact, they are like any other country, their own individuals; they just use a standardized form of writing.

It was during the latter part of the 19th Century that Beijing Mandarin became the more standard form of Chinese language to be use. But it was at this time many Chinese did speak variations of Mandarin, though they were very limited.

However, things changed when the education system in China was based on Standard Mandarin, and was to be used as the language for carrying out instructions. Today, nearly every person in mainland China speaks Mandarin.

It is important to note that the various different dialects of spoken Chinese use tones. Some areas of China (in the North) will only use as many as 3 tones, while in Southern China, they can use between 6 or 10 tones as they speak.

When it comes to learning Chinese, the first thing anyone should do is learn Chinese Pinyin. It is this which contains the Chinese phonetic alphabets that are used to pronounce the Chinese characters. Also, learning Pinyin will help you to distinguish the 4 different tones that are used in the Chinese language.

You will need to spend time listening, as well as practicing, both simple Chinese sentences, as well as vocabulary, so that you can memorize it.

Below are some tips which should help you to achieve your goals :

a. If you are able to, take a local community Chinese class as well as carrying out practice drills with a study partner. The more you are able to speak the language, then the easier it will get.

b. Get yourself a good dictionary, and ensure it is one which has the right phonetic spellings of each word.

c. If you can, find someone whose native language is Chinese, and spend time with them conversing in their own language. There are a lot of Chinese students now coming to the US on exchange programs that

would like to spend time with Americans learning English, and will in return provide Americans with chances to learn and speak Chinese.

d. Get hold of some tapes where you have to listen to, and then repeat out loud, what they have said. Also, try and get hold of some Chinese newspapers and magazines so that you can read what is

contained within out loud.

e. Sing some Chinese songs. Go to your local library, or purchase online some tapes, and then listen to them frequently until such time as you are able to speak the words and the sentences on your own.

f. It is important that you review all the other words you have learned previously on a regular basis so that they become fresh in your memory again.

Today, more and more people are looking to learn Mandarin online or at a Chinese language school in the Western hemisphere of the world. Up until about 10 years ago, it was proving to be extremely difficult to find someone who could teach others this language.