Hi Guys,

Since most WG speak Mandarin and from most reports speaking mandarin to them gets the best service, what is the best way to learn the language without living in china for a year. I understand only very basic mandarin but can speak cantonese(can't read chinese) and english(best language) well. I've looked into courses but don't have the time to attend all the classes. Anyone did any online course or have any programs to help? Thanks

[ Last edited by  pornaddy at 24-1-2010 00:43 ]

Can't comment on the online courses, but one can learn a language fast if they are forced to use it (ie the environment is pure mandarin).

Working with people who speak mandarin certainly helped me, and aided with some pinyin operation on the PC, it makes proununciation of the chinese characters in mandarin slightly easier.

a friend of mine went to Bejing for 3 months - intensive course ... he now speaks fluently because like aaa888 said
the environment forced it upon him

I have the same problem of finding time.  

There are many ways to learn Chinese but you need to find the time. It's one of the hardest languages to learn in the World.  It is much harder to learn than English. You can buy software and there are some basic online courses.  

Can I ask where do you live ? The best way are classes at many large cities in the USA and Canada at universities and colleges.  Have you tried summer school because it's only around 2 months long.  The problem with summer school, it is fast and intense.  After taking a language, you need to constantly pratice it.  I told 3 years of a language in high school and now I forgot most of it because I never pratice it. There is also another thread about learning Mandarin, look there for more info.


For software, do a search on the web.


Some free online websites.

http://www.chinese-tools.com/learn/chinese


http://learnchinese.elanguageschool.net/course/view.php?id=3

[ Last edited by  Weelock at 24-1-2010 10:48 ]

find a WG who is patient and willing to teach you and tell her in return you'll bang her for free.

if you know Cantonese already, I'm willing to bet that it'll be much easier for you to learn Mandarin than the average person.  You already know 55% of the words already, because 55% of the words are the same.  Figuring out that all sounds that begin with x in Cantonese means y in Mandarin will get you another 20-25%.  After that, the hard part is putting the words together in a speaking mode.

I would say one of the best ways of learning, short of taking a course or buying software, is to take a Cantonese movie(s) that you know well, and watch it in dubbed Mandarin.  Or watching a movie in Mandarin with English subs.  If you don't like that route, there's plenty of software, books, and courses out there.

I want to learn cantonese caouse I love cantonese language.but time problem

I've heard positive things about Rosetta Stone - but I can't say from personal experience whether or not it's any good. Still you might look into it, and it's downloadable from any of the P2P sites.

http://www.rosettastone.com/

to be honest, learning mandarin is not that difficult. If you really put your mind to it, I can honestly say you can speak intermediate mandarin within 6 months- 1 year. That is if you put in 1-2 hours everyday listening to words and learning new words daily. by six months you can hvae a vocab of about 900 words just learning 5 new words everyday. Of course you would have to remember them and use them to make the most use of it but like i said, if you are truly interestd in learning it then thats what it takes. Good luck

Try logging onto Craigslist where you live and check under SERVICES and sub titleESSONS.
There are Chinese students who live in the states that like to earn a few dollars on the side by teaching mandarin.  Some teach both Canto and Mando.
A good guide would be 15 to 20 per hour in the states.

Good luck

I agree that it's def mainly an attitude thing.  You could go abroad to do an intensive immersion program, but if you don't take it seriously, you're not going to get anything out of it.  Having said that, nothing beats immersion if you're serious.  It's the best way.

Where do you currently live?  Finding an environment where native speakers congregate is important.  If you don't live in Asia, you may have to find God and volunteer in those churches that cater to the immigrants, (of coz, going punting after finding god can really mess up your mind :hmm).  Or the local chinatown community centers.

I've heard of a computer program called the Rosetta Stone.  It's over $300 dollars US but, I've heard it's a good way to learn a foreign language.  I should be taking this and learning some languages but caution if you don't constantly use the language you forget it.

There are podcasts available, a quick Google will suffice but here are a couple of links to get you started:

http://freelanguage.org/learn-ma ... earn-online-podcast

http://chinesepod.com/

http://www.learnchineseez.com/lessons/mandarin/

http://www.melnyks.com/

When I first arrived in China I was told the easiest way to learn Mandarin was to get myself a long haired dictionary. Naiively I asked what the fuck one of those was, a Chinese girlfriend was the answer!

Wow thanks everyone for all the help. I live in Australia and working fulltime so any intense course is out of the question. But I will definitly give those programs a shot. My wife speaks mandarin but is lazy as ass to teach me. And i can't really tell her the reason i want to learn can i .. hahaha

The term I was told in reference to a girlfriend was 'finding a sleeping dictionary'.  Not as obvious as your slang.

I think you have to express to your wife that you want to learn Mandarin because eventually she will find out about your mandarin language learning software or podcasts.

Possible reasons you can use to convince her to teach you.
1) You want to get along with her relatives better esp. granny.
2) You want to provide your future kids with a total Chinese environment at home.
3) You want to understand her better by learning the language and the culture behind it.
4) You want to eventually start a biz that services the Chinese community.  (I know a white contractor who services the Chinese community in California.  His Chinese wife brings all the contacts and builds the relationship and he provides reliable, quality service.  Apparently he does well and most of his biz is with the Chinese community)
5) You want to be able to order from the secret menu that is only provided to Chinese speakers who go to Chinese restaurants in the West.

All of the above reasons will give you some good conversational ability that will serve you well in China.

If you have an iphone or ipod touch:

I recently bought like over a dozen apps for my iphone to learn mandarin (both verbal and written) and after testing them all out I found these most effective and together form a "complete package" for my Chinese learning purposes.

http://appshopper.com/education/chinese-character-flashcards
http://appshopper.com/education/chinese-bigram-flashcards
http://appshopper.com/education/ ... -chinese-characters
http://appshopper.com/reference/dianhua-dictionary

I think you might find the first two more useful since you don't appear to care about writing out chinese characters out by hand.  The first two has spoken words so it is really helping me build my vocabulary.  The last one is free and the others all have trial (free) versions.

Also, there are audio MP3 courses like Pimsleur, Living Language, and others for learning mandarin just by listening.

Do NOT use chinesepod.com because one of the teachers (the MAIN GUY) is a "gweilo" and has a "gweilo accent" in his mandarin to boot.

[ Last edited by  ultratoad at 26-1-2010 02:51 ]

i love your reply, just fucking outstanding..! so funny that one

thanks mate for all the points. Just on point 1 though, she will know that is total crap if i said that coz we both hate her family lol