What is the first step to learning Chinese?

[Dieselfit]

I would like to know what is the first step to learning Chinese. I've read some quick phrases and words on random pictures but nothing too serious. Pronunciation and such is hard. Has anyone ever learned Chinese from scratch being a bit older than a child? I know a child can learn quicker than an adult. So maybe someone with some fresh memory on how they started and what got them going on learning it.

[Baburra]

I suggest getting acquainted with the alphabet first, after that, you can practically read any Chinese word that has the alphabetical translation, and as long as you understand the basics of how they combine, you should have a relatively easier time teaching yourself how to pronounce individual words.

[pandandesign]

The first step to learn Chinese would be Pinyin, which is similar to alphabets in English. Pinyin is the foundamental key to pronounce any Chinese words, and it is important to know the Chinese alphabet before you start learning strokes. One.thing to keep in mind is that Pinyin is the alphabetical version of Mandarin, which is the primary dialogue for learning.

[linguaholic]

I suggest getting acquainted with the alphabet first, after that, you can practically read any Chinese word that has the alphabetical translation, and as long as you understand the basics of how they combine, you should have a relatively easier time teaching yourself how to pronounce individual words.

There is no alphabet in Chinese Baburra. Therefore, I agree with pandadesign that you should start with Pinyin. It is really useful for beginners to get a good grasp of the language. However, it is crucial that you start studying the characters pretty early on as well, as it will really help you in your understanding of the language and the culture. When it comes to studying characters, one should first focus on the radicals. I will start a new thread soon where I'm going to upload a file with all the radicals (the list contains 214 radicals..the number of radicals has been broken down many times throughout history..there used to be lists with about 500 or even more..but 214 will definitely do the trick).

[phoenixinsky]

I think the reason the kids can learn a language faster the adults is they can focus on practice, again and again. If you really want to read chinese charaters right, you can look for a native chinese speaker as your tutor or partner.Pratice makes perfect.（熟能生巧） :grin:

[linguaholic]

hi phoenixinsky

I am so happy to see another Chinese language speaker in here. 我是马赛尔。我是个瑞士人。我现在在苏黎世大学学汉语。我真爱中国。我最喜欢的地方就是南京。我2008的时候在南大学过中文。这个城市太美了。Hope you will have a lot of fun in the forums here and hopefully you can also help some members here to learn/improve their Chinese skills.

[phoenixinsky]

hi phoenixinsky

I am so happy to see another Chinese language speaker in here. 我是马赛尔。我是个瑞士人。我现在在苏黎世大学学汉语。我真爱中国。我最喜欢的地方就是南京。我2008的时候在南大学过中文。这个城市太美了。Hope you will have a lot of fun in the forums here and hopefully you can also help some members here to learn/improve their Chinese skills.

Nice to meet you. 马赛尔，我是中国人，职业是图书编辑，同时也是IMCPI汉语讲师（Mandarin tutor）。I am in Beijing now, and sometimes I go to chinese corners in Beijing and help the other foreign students. Nanjing is really beautiful and it's a famous historical city. Next year I maybe travel there, at that time I wish to have more interesting experience to share with you.

[linguaholic]

认识你我很高兴。你是个汉语讲师吗？你说真的吗？真棒！你因该来瑞士教汉语。工资好的很， 因为在瑞士越来越多的人喜欢学中文。

[DonnieDarko]

I also think stroke order is a crucial part of learning, memorizing characters is so much easier when you arent just trying to memorize an entire thing but rather a series of strokes and really helped me early on when i was learning. Also be really comfy with pinyin because that will follow you pretty much forever, when you are typing on a computer it is absolutely necessary for you to understand pinyin and tone of words.

[MegaZero]

Pinyin is one of the most important aspects of Chinese. Without it, Chinese would not be chinese. After that, you can move on to learn the words and then finally learn how to pronounce it. Grammar is not important for beginners as you can learn that later on.

Pinyin is like trying to learn the alphabets!

[polaroidsredwine]

What, so much focus on learning pinyin, but none on tones?  When I first started learning, along with focusing on pinyin, I listened to a lot of audio so that I would have tones engraved in my head.  I'd also record myself to make sure I was saying everything right!  I think both pinyin and tones are very important to focus on at first.