Is learning Chinese on the cards? Or you always wanted to learn Chinese? But how does it feel like taking up language which has no roots in your present context? Wondering to start some totally different alien language right from scratch?

But, one need not worry if determined and devoted to learning the language. Get rid of all your fears and misconceptions about this language and embrace learning Chinese as a beautiful experience. Explore the rich culture of Chinese while learning the language. Trust me, you will learn and retain more than usual.

So now when you know what approach to be applied for learning the language.

Learning Stroke order

The Chinese language has stroke order for how their characters are supposed to be written, like how we write letters in English but strokes are entirely different from English letters. The order of strokes is extremely important if someone wants to learn how to write Chinese. It is the quickest, easiest and simplest way to learn to handwrite Chinese characters.  Each character can be separated into different little sections, and putting them together in a structure is not a straightforward task. Learning Stroke order will assist you in structuring the Chinese character in a more systematic manner, it additionally helps you to learn Chinese in a better way.

Focus on Tones:

As it’s known that Chinese is a tonal language. Chinese is said to have four main tones. If you can sing a song, no matter good or bad singing, you can speak intones. Attempt to spend enough time in listening and identifying these four distinct tones, and try to practice these tones aloud. In the beginning, it does not matter if you are saying a word in various tones, what is more important is you are putting efforts to get used to it. The importance of learning tones lies in the fact that these four main tones inflect a change in relative pitch and using the incorrect tone can be detrimental to communication and may hamper the meaning of the communication and cause a lot of confusion. As a beginner to learn this language, it’s easy to just glance over tones and not give them the required amount of attention they deserve. But if you do so, you will face a struggle in understanding Personalities and be understood. Without tones, the Chinese language becomes meaningless.  Try to listen to the tones. The more you listen to the tones and recall, the better and the more fluent you will become. 

Start simple by watching how Chinese numbers are told, which are relatively easy to learn, later maybe you can hop on to simple words and then phrases. Chinese Numbers from 1 to 10 comprise all four tones. Learning through the numbers will give you a good foundation in the future.

Time to learn Chinese characters:

Let’s start learning the basic simplest characters in Chinese, ranging between one and seven strokes. Like words in English, some Chinese characters are confined to 2-3 strokes. Is it not exciting to know when to start Chinese learning. An easy way is to break down the characters into their components, like the word ‘析’ comprises two words ‘wood’ and ‘axe’. Associating meanings to the components of a character will enhance your learning and retention.

Focus on Pinyin system:

The Chinese language is not just limited to the characters. Pinyin is just as important, which uses roman letters to be written, and thus it makes it much more convenient to type on any device with a keypad, so be it your phone, laptop, or tablet. Thus, it is important to make sure you study the pinyin of the characters you’re learning.

With so many options available for websites and apps catering to a variety of language requirements of a learner, it’s possible to learn on your own too. Maybe now is the time to put that extended screen time to good efficient use. 

i) Multibhashi: It is an ed-tech platform and a one-stop solution for all your learning needs. It attempts to facilitate your online learning experience in a good, effective, and innovative manner. Chinese courses offered can accommodate your learning requirements, be it focussing on speaking or any other aspect of language learning.

ii) YoYo Chinese: This forum has all the interactive tools needed to improve not just your colloquial Chinese, but your overall skills in the language, in general. The lessons are short and crisp, structured and fun-filled, and the courses, they offer, assures you of getting you speaking Chinese confidently in around six months.

iii) Zizzle app: Zizzle uses the magic of visualized storytelling to improve Chinese reading and writing skills.

Now you must have got the idea that learning Chinese and even mastering it is not a difficult task. So now why is the delay. Start your journey today.

Happy Learning!