Language Learning

Chinese is an imposing language, very different from English. There is no alphabet, you can't really see how pronounce a character by looking at it (but as you get more experienced, you see patterns which hint at how to say a character) and the language itself is tonal. This means that the word itself has a different meaning depending on the pitch you use. Mandarin Chinese has 4 different tones (5 if you count 'no tone'). For example, the word "ma" can mean "mother" (妈), or "horse" (马), or "scold or swear at" (骂) depending on the intonation you use. Context also helps, though.

Big scary characters (from public domain pictures)

You might have noticed that those 3 Chinese characters all have the symbol "马" in common, which hints that it's pronounced "ma" in some tone. But that's no guarantee, for example 闯 (to charge in) is pronounced "chuang" but also has the "马" symbol.

In any case, I like to think that my Chinese level is intermediate - I can speak, read, and type Chinese with reasonable fluency but I've been told I have a heavy American accent... Quite frankly it's a depressing thought because I can't quite hear it in myself. But it's a huge improvement from before I took a course in college.

Language can sometimes seem like, uh, a great wall (from Wikimedia Commons)

So if others are interested in how I got to intermediate level, I would plan out learning another language in general in two phases. The first is the formal part, where you join a class or have a private teacher. This surprises nobody. Language is a medium of communication, therefore to learn it, it's logical to learn from or with an expert. I would say this was one of my more useful course series from college, with clear knowledge gain that I can demonstrate after college.

But after taking several months of a language course, what's next? Keep taking the course, or strike out on your own?

Honestly, Chinese teachers can also be old fashioned so striking out on your own means you can find a lot more modern feeling resources (from good free photos... the photos are good, and free!)

In my case, I chose to stop studying it formally. Even though I liked learning the language, it was pulling down my grades a little and I'd forever be worrying about having the wrong grammar for reasons like I did have the wrong grammar. So I struck out on my own, and as it turns out, once you know the basics, you can self-study fairly effectively and enjoyably!

However, finding resources for self-studying a language is quite an adventure, because good resources are scattered around the Internet. I list a few below.

iTalki is perhaps the one I wished I knew first because it links you to teachers and other students. You can pay to be taught, or you can just practice writing for free and get feedback from native speakers. But I didn't know of this site until well after I adjusted to other websites. Usable for free.

HelloTalk is a mobile app I also used to connect to native speakers, I practice Chinese, they practice English. But my Chinese was good enough that they just slipped into speaking Chinese, too... more practice for me I guess. This app was how I met some especially valuable language partners. Completely free.

FluentU is a way to watch curated videos with captions. As you watch videos, you can also save new words you see and quiz yourself on it. But it costs money to unlock all videos and I chose to not subscribe, I was lucky enough to check it out in beta, though, and it's really nice.