Welcome to the Unit 1 of SKMLifeStyle’s Mandarin Chinese learning course for the beginners. After discussing various aspects of Chinese culture and language in Unit 0, now we are ready to plunge in learning new Chinese characters and associated words. Although each lesson is like a self-contained package and can be studied independently, I’d personally recommend the readers (particularly the beginners) to follow the lessons in sequence from the very beginning.
How to learn Mandarin Chinese – UNIT 1 Index
- Lesson 1 – Let’s learn first few basic Mandarin Chinese characters. In this lesson we will learn directions (North, South, etc.). I’ll also introduce you to a set of new Chinese words derived directly from these characters.
- Lesson 2 – Chinese geography – We’d learn Chinese language while going through some of the very important geographical features of China.
- Lesson 3 (Unit 1 – People, Fire, University) – do you know how to learn Chinese fast? Well, that’s the focus of this lesson.
- Lesson 4 (Small, Center, Fire, Train, Stations)- lets learn Chinese Language. In this lesson we’ll learn more about the derived words revolving around fire 火 (hǔo). Let’s learn Mandarin online.
- Lesson 5 (Unit 1 – Continents Names & Mandarin Language Basics). Let’s learn Chinese language with Mandarin language basics.
Mandarin Chinese learning course for the beginners – tips on how to learn Mandarin Chinese
I personally know quite a few foreigners who started learning Chinese with a great enthusiasm. However, as the language proved to be rather complicated, eventually they lost motivation and nearly gave up on Mandarin learning.
I firmly believe that as beginner your initial goal should be to sustain the motivation to learn Mandarin. My advice to the beginners would be to not try very difficult Chinese characters/words in the very beginning. You’d better start from the simple Characters and gradually move to learning complicated Mandarin characters. After all, mandarin is a complex language.
You know, when I was pursuing a PhD in Singapore, I realized that there were many students who came from the mainland China to Singapore to study Chinese. For example, some of these students majored in Chinese philosophy, some in Chinese history, some in language, calligraphy, etc.
Imagine, if the native Chinese speakers are learning Mandarin, how much could be in the store to learn for the foreigners? Well, there’s a lot! There is simply too much to dig when you are learning an ancient language like Mandarin.
As a non-native beginners of Mandarin, I’d urge you to not rush at any point of this Mandarin learning journey. You’d rather build a strong foundation first, and gradually you can build a very robust building on the well-established foundation.
That’s all in this index page of Mandarin Chinese learning course for the beginners.
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Happy learning Chinese.
Cheers!