What is the best way to learn Chinese at home?

[Oiler1]

Proper full communication is vital in a relationship. I am trying to learn as much Mandarin as I can, but it is difficult. I do have a Chinese background so it make sit a little easier as I know their way of thinking.

Does anyone hae any recommendations how to learn if one is outside of China? I heard of Rosetta Stone and otgher software so I am searching for ways to learn better. I could take classes at the local Chinese community center in Canada but I find their pace is too fast and their book is mostly in Chinese characters.

[ttwjr32]

NEW CONCEPT MANDARIN is also a good way. i am using them in Guangzhou
                                   and they start out simple and progress to different
                                   levels. their is a cost involved but as you know if
                                   you want something good you must pay for it.

[mustfocus]

There are a number of ways to learn mandarin.  You can always buy or borrow books (I find the local college books a good place to start).  You don't mention if you speak any chinese dialects (cantonese or hokkien/minnanhua most likely).  That may or may not help your study of mandarin.

If you do have a chinese dialect under your belt, listening to chinese music can help.  Start with some simple songs with singers who enuciate well (watching their videos on youtube so you can see how they pronounce the words doesn't hurt).  Good examples are Teresa Teng and Richie Ren.

Also watching mandarin shows doesn't hurt (Talentvision is a good station to start with as the majority of their programming is supposed to be in mandarin).  Listening to it often enough and you will be able to pick up some of the words at first and it'll grow from there.  That's assuming you do speak another dialect of chinese.

[brett]

Taking a class helped me get started. Listening to music is a good tip - I love Jolin Tsai :heart:!

I think I'll put my Mandarin learning on hold until I find a lady - it's much easier to practice once you have somebody to talk to.

For reading Chinese the Tuttle Flashcards are great, although now my brain is more used to memorising the characters the Heisig method brilliant for learning the characters very quickly.

[Willy The Londoner]

There are some good videos of chinese lessons on  www.cctv.com/english

Willy

[Arnold]

Yes Willy , you know MARK ROWSWELL ( Da Shan ) is very well know in China for his mastery of the chinese language . I watch him all the time and Qing knew of him of course . I am really jealous of this Guy .. dreaming I could ever ..... :-/

[ttwjr32]

marrying a chinese lady also helps with learning:icon_cheesygrin:

[Rhonald]

Darn - Ted beat me to the obvious answer 1st :s

[Hans]

I'm with Mike O on this one. Take evening classes, day classes or whatever suits your situation best. The best way in my opinion is to learn to speak and write at the same time. We have people in my class who have Chinese parents and still they come to the evening class because they want to know more about the grammar and the characters. I've had a classmate who speaks daily to her cat just to be able to speak some Chinese.

I've only studied for a bit over a year but it gets easier after the first 500 characters or so (although I would not mind if all the measure words were place with a simple ??:-). Just give it time!  :exclamation:

I'm using the Contemporary Chinese (Dangdai Zhongwen, ?) books and I think they're pretty good (although I have not studied any other language at the university so I have nothing to compare with). The first two volumes includes a text book, a character book (showing all the strokes in the correct order) and CDs. From the third volume we're supposed to know the stroke order. What is good about it is the difficulty level, which rises slowly and deliberately.

http://www.chinesemall.com/cochvoone.html

[Willy The Londoner]

All well and good for you youngsters but when you get to my age what you read does not stick in your mind!  You spend an hour learning something.  You have it in your head and then 30 minutes later its gone.:@

Willy

[ttwjr32]

earplug will work for that Willy  keeps it from going out :icon_cheesygrin:

[Oiler1]

All my relatives speak Cantonese, so I am most familiar with that dialect. Having said that, Mandarin is the most useful dialect as I can use it all over China. Some Cantonese words have similiar sounds but most do not.

There isn't that many places where I live to go to a class to learn mandarin however so I must learn it on my own somehow. I think there was an excellent online course with real teacher chat help available but I lost the web page.

[mustfocus]

All my relatives speak Cantonese, so I am most familiar with that dialect. Having said that, Mandarin is the most useful dialect as I can use it all over China. Some Cantonese words have similiar sounds but most do not.

There isn't that many places where I live to go to a class to learn mandarin however so I must learn it on my own somehow. I think there was an excellent online course with real teacher chat help available but I lost the web page.

Oiler,

Are you talking about livemocha.com?  I think some of our members are on there.  Not sure how helpful it is.

You should be able to find a class at your local college...  I'm assuming you're in Alberta (based on your nick), but no clue which city you're in...but Edmonton or Calgary should have something.

[Bee964]

Mike O,

Could you please PM me the private school information as I have been trying to get into the mandarin class here in Windsor at the local college. There is not the population base to support the class every semester so they have been cancelling it every time I register for it. Then again maybe it is just me. :icon_cheesygrin: I am moving a lot closer to Toronto in the next couple of months and I'm still looking for instruction. Thanks in advance for any help and information.

Dave CWilly,

Love the avatar. I had my first chinese dumplings the other day. I see why you like them so much!! I want to go back to the stall for some more. The sisters that work there were very nice to me too!! :icon_cheesygrin:

Dave C

[odysseus007]

Mike O,

Could you please PM me the private school information as I have been trying to get into the mandarin class here in Windsor at the local college. There is not the population base to support the class every semester so they have been cancelling it every time I register for it. Then again maybe it is just me. :icon_cheesygrin: I am moving a lot closer to Toronto in the next couple of months and I'm still looking for instruction. Thanks in advance for any help and information.

Dave C
Willy,

Love the avatar. I had my first chinese dumplings the other day. I see why you like them so much!! I want to go back to the stall for some more. The sisters that work there were very nice to me too!! :icon_cheesygrin:

Dave C

Hmm, if you marry them, you have dumplings AND mandarin lessons for life ! Problems solved !!! :icon_cheesygrin: I can see it now... "Dave's Dumplings" stalls burgeoning all over the island...