5 Essential Resources for Learning Chinese
So, you want to learn Chinese, and don’t know where to start. Or maybe you’ve started, but you’re having trouble finding good resources to help you on your journey.
Let me tell you, been there.
When I was first starting to learn Chinese, I was at a loss for how to progress. It seemed like, for other languages, there were countless resources than you could use. For Chinese? Nothing. After trying out whatever I could get my hands on, here are the five best resources I’ve found for learning Chinese.
1) Pleco
Number one. Number one. Number one. Hands down, this is the most useful resource for learning Chinese, and congrats! It’s free! Pleco is an app dictionary. Now, there are a ton of these app translation dictionaries, but Pleco is by far the best for a few reasons
It has both pinyin and characters. For some reason, most dictionaries only have one or the other. If you’re really learning the language, you need both. But also, if you’re looking something up to show a Chinese person what you mean to say, they’ll need to see the characters (not just the pinyin) to know what you’re talking about.
The app is also completely off line, which is good if you’re traveling or don’t have service.
Once you’ve looked up a work, you can save it as a flashcard. GENIUS. That means you can save your vocabulary words and work through the flashcards to learn them. It’s a dictionary and review game all in one!
You can customize your display preferences. If you’re learning Chinese, you know that Chinese has four tones. These tones are pretty easy to mix up when you’re first learning. I’ve customized my Pleco so that each tone appears in a different color. In the long run, it also makes it easier for me to memorize and remember tones in new words because our brains often attach to something we can visualize as well. I know the word for “No” “不” is fourth tone, because in my brain, I can see it written in the color purple, and I know purple= 4th tone
2) Chinese Pod
When I was first starting my Chinese language journey, this was my foundation for learning in a traditional way. Whereas Pleco helped me learn words and phrases while I was out and about in daily life, Chinese Pod helped me understand how the Chinese language works. My favorite thing about Chinese Pod is that it’s not vocabulary based. Instead, it’s conversation based. I loved that Chinese Pod had concise lessons that allowed me to listen to a conversation, practice repeating it, learn grammatical rules, study vocabulary, and understand a bit about culture all within a 10-minute lesson. Each lesson was broken down into bite-sized-pieces which made it easy to not only fit into my busy schedule, but also helped me remember things better, since I wasn’t trying to digest 50 words at a time from a vocabulary book. A few years ago, it was completely free, but now their membership starts at $14 a month. They do have a free trial if you want to try it out first and see if it’s a good fit for you.
Visit their website at: https://www.chinesepod.com
3) Chinese Skill
This is an app I discovered after I’d already been studying for a while, but it’s one I wish I had found earlier. Like Chinese Pod, Chinese Skill’s lessons are broken into small units. Unlike Chinese Pod, however, it is vocabulary based, instead of conversation based. The app is set up similarly to DuoLingo, but I’ve found the lessons and topics seem to be more practical and logical. You can learn for free, but Chinese Skill also offers a variety of paid plans as well.
You can download the app in your App Store or visit the website: https://www.chineseskill.com
4) Chineasy
Talk about something that blew my mind! A Tawaiianese entrepreneur named ShoLan Hsueh came up with a new, innovative way to teach Chinese characters to her children and realized it’s a method that works for any learner. Let’s face it—those characters are not easy. The Chinese language is based in pictorial representations, much like hieroglyphics were. Chineasy helps you connect that ancient pictorial meaning to the character today. It starts slow and simple and helps you understand the formations from the ground up. Not only does it help you learn and memorize the characters, but it is also helps you identify patterns (which is crucial to learning Chinese characters).
They do have an app available on the App Store. You can purchase the books on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=aps&k=chineseasy&ref=nb_sb_noss&url=search-alias%3Daps or visit their website here: https://www.chineasy.com
5) HSK Materials
The HSK is the official test for measuring a foreigner’s Chinese ability. There are multiple levels (6 at the time of writing this), and the materials are designed to correspond with each level. If you prefer a more traditional way of learning, there are official HSK textbooks, but there are also tons of apps and vocabulary lists online. The HSK books work through topics in a traditional way, with small vocabulary exercises and a chance to read conversations. I personally find their grammar explanations to be a little bit confusing, but others have told me it’s okay for them. Even with that, I still learn and use HSK books. I love that the curriculum is streamlined and contains only the most necessary and practical things. Sometimes I feel that apps just throw tons of vocabulary at you, regardless of how common that word might actually be used in real life. And, once you’ve mastered a level, you can go for the test to prove your ability!
You can purchase the books on amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=hsk+textbook&crid=11BGX4FFSLLL5&sprefix=ask%2Caps%2C1082&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_5_3 or visit their website here: https://hskonline.com/en/
Whether you’re just getting started learning Chinese or you’ve been learning for a while, I hope these five resources will help you conquer this language. Good luck! 好好学习天天向上！
*None of these resource mentioned were sponsored or gifted. These are my personal opinions. I receive no monetary value for mentioning them.