I have to admit, I’m not entirely sure what Learn Chinese from Movies is or how it works. But it sounds intriguing… The site says it uses “magic subtitles” that will “learn Chinese for you”. I like the sound of that! Here’s a link to the site. Let me know if you try it. I’d [...]
Rocket Chinese is a Fun Course! – RECOMMENDED
I started using Rocket Chinese in February (when I first began my Chinese studies) and it has helped me enormously. I highly recommend it to both beginner and intermediate students looking for fun, interactive lessons. Each interactive lesson lasts about a half an hour. I do about 3 or 4 lessons a week. I prefer [...]
Xiao Li is, to say the least, unconventional in her approach to teaching Chinese. Her YouTube video lessons seem more like music videos or art films than Mandarin lessons. They are strange, creepy, intriguing, compelling and possibly effective. Frankly, I’m not quite sure what to make of it all. Watch the example below and you be the judge.
In this video Xiao Li teaches us a few phrases related to being hungry.
It’s cool to speak Chinese. And if you don’t believe me, watch this video. It’s loaded with famous actors like Keanu Reeves and Bruce Willis speaking snippets of Chinese in different movies, sometimes with hilarious results. Don’t miss the final clip near the end of the video. It’s priceless (Warning: It contains plenty of swearing.)
So you decided to learn Chinese. Fantastic. Are you ready for your very first Chinese lesson? Sure you are. Let’s go for it…
Your first Chinese lesson needs to be fun and easy and practical. You want to learn the most basic things like how to say “hello” or “thank you”.
I think the best and easiest first Chinese lesson I’ve seen is a video called Learn Chinese (Mandarin) with YangYang 001. You can watch it below.
As if learning Chinese wasn’t challenging enough, the poor, struggling student has to contend with countless unique dialects spoken across the vast nation of China. One of those dialects is Shanghainese.
Shanghainese, as you might guess, is the dialect spoken in and around Shanghai.
To help you learn a few words or Shanghainese, China Daily, the largest English-language newspaper in China, has produced a series of video lessons.
Although I haven’t learned much from these videos, I do find them highly entertaining — and slightly absurd. In fact, sometimes I wonder if the producer is playing a joke on us, or on whomever funded the project.
As of this writing, twenty video lessons are available for you to view. Themes range from “Who’s going to pick up the check” to “How to ask a girl out for coffee.”
The Confucius Institute is an organization funded by the Chinese government to promote the Chinese language and culture throughout the world. They offer courses in dozens of countries and even have an online institute where you can find free video lessons.
Some of the online video lessons seem a bit peculiar to me. Even the website’s “about us” information is a bit off:
“The Confucius Institute is devoting to satisfy the need of people who are interested in Chinese learning all around the world, promoting the understanding of Chinese language culture, enhancing the educational and cultural cooperation between China and the world, developing the friendship between China and other countries, to help developing a multicultural environment and building up a harmonious world.”
Nevertheless, the website does have some useful lessons and resources like flashcards.
I have not yet met anyone who has studied in-person at a Confucius Institute and I am extremely curious about the quality of their courses, what textbooks they use, and whether the courses are good value for money. If you have studied at a Confucius Institute, I’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment below.