How to learn to speak fluent Chinese (Mandarin) Part 1

[madallig]

thanks ... for your videos ... do you know where i can find any site that show technical mandarin for manufacturing & engineering ? which shows pinyin and audio / charactors/

[VanillaSnow23]

What do Chinese think of Koreans?

[gomacs1]

Chinese Pin Yin does NOT use the English alphabet. It uses the Latin alphabet.

[16Brandan]

Great video. 

[doyoufeelloved]

I'm really glad I found your video, it will definitely come in handy, as I'm moving to Shanghai next month and I can't hardly speak mandarin. Thanks for all the useful information. And nice accent, by the way. Will be missing UK for sure.

[MagicMaximo]

Thanks for this very helpful video. And a special thanks for these GREAT resources!

[ted2924]

gaoyoude1, have you heard of the Rosetta Stone language software? Do you think the Rosetta Stone Mandarin-learning software is helpful?

[64Albere]

@ted2924 I am right there behind you. From the look of the commercials showing the Rosetta Stone language software >>> it seems to be a top choice like that feature where one speaks , via a pc headphone mike, the language into the computer and the software gives the speaker instant / quick  feedback as to the whether language was spoken correctly or not.

[gaoyoude1]

@ted2924 I have tried the rosetta stone software, I think it's not bad and it is quite a natural learning process, but it is quite limited in its coverage and I think in the same amount of time you could get a lot further with the FSI course. Just my personal opinion... give it a try and see what you think

[Verabadthings]

Very interesting!!!!! Thanks a lot!!! :)

[americaninkorea]

I have gone through all three of Pimsleur Mandarin courses. It's good, but it pales in comarison with the Michel Thomas Mandarin course. Possibly THE BEST way to get your feet wet in a new language is with Michael Thomas courses--in my humble opinion.

Glad you reminded me about using Anki. And to think I was actually going to go buy flashcards and do it the old-fashioned way! 祝你学习成功

[gaoyoude1]

@americaninkorea Glad you've found a course that works for you! Which beginners course you choose is really a matter of personal preference, but in any case, it's only something to get you started. No beginners course is exhaustive.

[agent11d7]

@americaninkorea What deck did you use on Anki? Also where can i access the Michel Thomas Mandarin Course? Thank you

[64Albere]

@americaninkorea @@@ YouTube user AmericaninKorea.... I have just read your comment >> I will be checking out Pimsleur product line online but I was wondering what is your opinion of the language software called Rosetta Stone ? It seems to be good but only customers who have brought and used this software would know. either way I amazed at how many options one has for learning a foreign language unlike back in the 80s when I was going to high school.

[americaninkorea]

@64Albere I wouldn't bother with Rosetta Stone. I've tried the Chinese course, but they use the same script for all their language courses, so you don't get to focus on those language patterns and idioms that are uniquely Chinese. Why don't you just download the FSI Chinese course, available free online? (google it) This course is vastly superior to Rosetta Stone.

[64Albere]

@americaninkorea I just read your comment; Okay I got the message and I will Google the FSI CHINESE course software to try it. Your comment also reminds me of the fact where ever I buy a product and / or a service... I should have a does of skepticism to see if my needs are being truly met. In addition; I see there quite a bit of YouTube choices for the Chinese language learning; My favorite happens to be YouTube channel ChineseCorner.

[misterdragonboy]

@americaninkorea I'm about 3/4 of the way through Michel Thomas Mandarin, i've heard a lot of negative comments by youtubers about the teacher and its comparison to pimsluer, but i really find him good (sometimes funny). I get a little frustrated at the students (especially the girl GRR) as they muck me up with their mispronunciation and confusing questions, but other then that I've already mastered over 100 words :D I'm getting the fluency pack next!

[poliglotta80]

This is a really interesting video. Very clear and well conceived..Plus, it is more or less the way I learned Chinese :-) Luca

[gaoyoude1]

@poliglotta80 Thanks for your comment Luca! Glad so see we share some of the same ideas. I will be making a video about learning to read and write characters in the next few days, to share a lot more of my ideas.

[tomrely]

thanks for this, very helpful!

[rsloma71]

Thank you for the video. It's very informative and the links are great.

Greetings from Poland.

[MsLVCC]

thanks so much for sharing this info, it´s very useful. you provided a very great guide with tools to learn chinese.

[marichan44]

also thank you for upload most useful so far ! Will use pinyin once i understand a bit more. im totally new, but got all answers correct , hehe !

[marichan44]

Hello I am in the u.k, i am using the Fsi language course online with tape, and finding this the most useful, but do you have any suggestions on a good book i could buy? so i can learn when im out and about, not always on internet. I like to learn when im having breaks from my dissertation =)

[glaatraa]

I personally like Chinesepod - especially intermediate and above, since almost everything is in Chinese (the dialogue and the discussion). Having lived in China for the last 3 years I have decided that pinyin is a mistake for beginners. I've had to rework most of what I learned in the early stages when I relied too much on pinyin (I was too lazy). Now I focus almost totally on listening - once I have the real sound ringing in my mind I know that the pinyin won't distort my pronunciation.

[houlmouth]

@glaatraa So if you don't use pinyin in the beginning stages, what do you use for typing online?

[gaoyoude1]

@glaatraa I agree that it is not a good idea to 'rely' on pinyin, and I would advice everybody at least to learn to read characters as soon as possible. However, I think it is useful to learn at the beginning because 1) most textbooks and dictionaries use it 2) it is the most convenient way to type and use mobile phones.

[bill08bill08]

Great strategies, thanks!

[Pentowe]

This is probably the best video on youtube for language learning! Thank you so much! I really appreciate that you posted this video.

[aftermyhat]

Thanks so much for this lesson plan. Chinese has so many aspects to it that it is bound to be confusing, but your method makes things quite a bit easier to process.

[professorfoxtrot]

謝謝你!

[daylightmontes]

Gracias amigo:D

[mh89488]

Thank you for all the links!