Like most languages, learning how to speak Chinese Mandarin can be accomplished many ways. Whether it’s group courses, immersive cultural experiences, computer-based lessons or online coursework, it’s really up to the student to find a method that is most comfortable for him or her.

Learning how to speak Chinese Mandarin is not difficult, but it does take time. Like any foreign language, you have to be willing to put time and effort into the process if you want to become fluent.

Following is a comparison of the more popular ways of learning how to speak Chinese Mandarin, along with the pros and cons for each. This should help you make an informed choice regarding your own education.

Group courses

Many students enjoy learning in a group environment. In many communities, local colleges or private institutions offer basic or intermediate Chinese courses. These classes can be a great way to learn the language. However, you have to move at the pace of the average student in the class, so if you’re a fast learner or get stuck on a particular lesson, it’s easy to become frustrated. Plus, many students don’t feel comfortable pronouncing words before a bunch of strangers and pronunciation is very important when learning how to speak Chinese Mandarin.

Immersive study

Of course, learning the language in China is the best way to learn the language. Living in the country immerses you in the language as well as the culture. It is by far the best way to learn how to speak Chinese Mandarin. That said, studying abroad can be out of the reach of many in terms of budget and time away from home. Plus, immersive study can be a sink or swim proposition. If you don’t adapt well, the stresses of living in a country where everything is foreign to you, including the language,

When you get older, you soon start to realize that learning to speak different languages can come in extremely useful. It could be that you have people from another country working with you and you need to learn the language in order to easily communicate with them. Or perhaps you have to travel on business or you would like to travel to a different country for a holiday?

Whatever the reason, learning the local language is definitely worthwhile and one particular language which you may want to focus on is Chinese.

Learning Chinese – The Easiest Way

Most cities today are multicultural and so it often helps to be able to speak several different languages. Chinese may not be your first choice of language to learn, but it can still come in really useful. However, there are a number of ways in which you can learn the language and not all of them are easy.

Books can show you what you need to say and they can also attempt to tell you how to say them. However, it is impossible for you to get a good grasp of the language from a text book alone. You need to actually hear the words being said in order to understand them properly, and that is where audio books prove to be invaluable.

Why Choose Audio Books?

Audio books are ideal because they allow you to learn pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary quickly and easily. They use tried and tested methods and it is guaranteed that you will learn at a much faster rate than you would with an ordinary book.

Actually listening to the sounds of the words, as well as seeing them can make all of the difference. It is just like the method that was used to teach you your own language as you grew up. With audio books you can:

• Listen to them whenever you want. It could be first thing in the morning, in the car on your way to work or last thing at night before you go to sleep. Whenever you have time, you can listen to tape

• Pick the language up quicker than you usually would as you actually get to hear the words being spoken.

• You can learn at your own pace and still learn quickly. It is a lot easier to listen to a tape than it is to read a book and so even when you are going at your own pace, you are still likely to learn quicker than if you were reading a book.

Learning Chinese can be difficult if you do not use the right method. Audio books are fantastic and they really do help you to get a good grasp of the language. You will no longer have to worry about whether you are saying something right as you will know the way that the words are usually pronounced.

The best way to undertake the contest of learning Chinese is to identify your reason and motivation for learning the language, as this will help you focus on the things that you should look out for. The psychological trigger of paying for books, resources, lessons, teacher all motivate the student to put in a certain amount of effort. However, learning this way can become slightly monotonous.

The benefit of this method is that you can gain formal assessment for your study efforts, and can take something away from the course that will help further advance your studies. On the other hand, it doesn’t necessarily suit the style and pace of everyone.

The established way of studying Chinese is to enroll in a course. For example, the business owner wanting to learn Chinese has different needs to the traveler going over for a two week trip, and so you have to direct your learning to achieve the best results. Of course, perhaps a combination of methods would work best for you, but first let’s look at some of the popular approaches today.

A pioneering ways to study Chinese is to join a chat room or virtual reality environment. The design of software programs have allowed the use of multi-lingual input and output, along with speech and voice recognition to offer users a much richer learning environment even in the absence of direct human face-to-face contact. Chat programs such as QQ up being rapidly taken up by the Chinese populations, and foreign users always attract curious Chinese locals that want to offer language exchange through the translation and dictionary functions of the program.

Instead of traveling to the country, it might also be worthwhile considering making friends with Chinese people who have made the trip to your country. Perhaps enquire about how you can host foreign exchange students, or join language exchange programs with local English language schools or organizations. Nevertheless, whatever method you choose to learn Chinese1, the thing of paramount importance for any beginners is to work out your motivation for learning the language (it is one of the most difficult and greatest learning curve). When you have figured that out, you will want to adjust your learning style to the method of learning.

Well justified motivation for learning Chinese2, along with the efficient learning methods, will go a long way to ensure that the experience will be a rewarding, even if slightly challenging one.Some useful resources:

1) Learn Chinese

2) Learn Chinese in Vancouver

3) Chinese class Toronto

In 1980s America, students were offered language courses as young as 12 years old. Move on to the year 2000, and this decade’s children are way ahead of the game. Schools across America have made foreign language a requirement to graduate and also start the students as young as 5 years old. Beyond that, they aren’t just offering the usual French, Spanish, Italian and German – they’re offering the language of the present, and certainly the future – Mandarin Chinese.Learning Mandarin Chinese at an early age has shown that children grasp the language more readily. This is because at a young age, the brain has the ability to compartmentalize various languages correctly. This allows the child a greater chance to attain the native pronunciation and grammar. Not only has research shown that learning a foreign language enhances cognitive development, but overall basic skills performance in elementary school children as well. There’s an overall lack of self-consciousness when learning a language at an earlier age. Children are more apt to try out new words and phrases then when they are older, when there is the tendency to be afraid of pronouncing the words incorrectly. The spontaneity leads to learning to speak Chinese with a quicker fluency.If you’re looking for additional ways to assist your child in learning Chinese, new types of technology which weren’t available in the past can help students outside the classroom. The Nintendo DS, for example, has a product which guides you through a Chinese language tutorial. And with the innovation of the web, it’s become easier to learn Mandarin online.

At NextStepChina we understand that China can sometimes be intimidating for all who visit. People passing through on a short visit might not feel it as much as those who do business with our country or those who come to study. One of the main reasons for stress on your visit to China could be because of the language barrier. Our organization aims at helping visitors with issues such as these. We highly recommend that you learn Chinese if you are visiting China. Our team will be more than happy to assist you with Chinese Language School Beijing should you choose to learn Chinese. To give you a better perspective, here is an overview on how most of the schools in Beijing work. The general aims of the programAny Chinese Language School Beijing that our team would recommend would have similar aims. The language program at these schools includes learning to speak, listen and read Chinese. You are also taught how to write the language. Effective communication in Chinese is the end result that all of the schools will aim at. In addition to just studying the language, a lot of the schools that we recommend also take you through an in-depth journey of the Chinese life as you are leaning the language. The available packages and facilitiesOur services include advising you on the various kinds of courses and study programs that a Chinese Language School Beijing has to offer. Most schools offer a wide variety of courses from beginner to advanced levels. In addition to this all the schools that we suggest emphasize on classroom interaction. They also have highly qualified teachers. Over and above all of this, if you feel that you need extra lessons we can help organize that with the school. All of the schools also have very supportive and friendly staff who speak English.SchedulesOnce we have helped you decide on a Chinese Language School Beijing, you will be placed in a class depending on the level that you need to start at. Most of these schools require you to clock a 20 hour week for a core course. If you have signed up for an intensive course then the number of hours that you have to put will vary accordingly. A lot of the schools also have the option of electives. These electives can be taken during the afternoon sessions and are basically aimed at introducing you to the art, culture and local life of the Chinese people.Entry testsPlacement or entry tests are very important for any Chinese Language School Beijing. It is only after you have taken this test that you can be placed at the right level before beginning the course. All schools will have such a test.

With businesses now rushing to People’s Republic of China (Mainland) and many Chinese immigrants establishing their business and life in foreign countries, the influence of Chinese culture is obvious in all the major cities of the world.

People’s Republic of People’s Republic of China (Mainland) is experiencing rapid economic transition, one built upon the back of a phenomenal “catch-up”, but which has also triggered a chain of social and cultural changes that will be on display for the world to see as we approach the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The novelty of the new Chinese immigrant speaking fluent English has worn out, and now it is the Westerners that must tackle the language barrier and avoid wearing the tag of speaking broken Mandarin Chinese. While the Chinese people overseas and at home have had to live with their notorious Chinglish, many second-generation Chinese immigrants have shed the image of the broken English and now speak as fluently as the native speakers.

There are many reasons why someone want to learn Chinese1. Many second and third generation Chinese immigrants also want to join the club of learning Chinese, because in their swiftness to learn English, they have deserted their own mother tongue – Mandarin Chinese.

So what are the top motivations for many of us who want to learn Chinese2? We compiled some top motivations here for you:

For the businessmen/businesswomen – the savvy and culturally sensitive generation of business people realize

- the advantage of having capturing information and data from the source of origin, thus avoid the ‘Chinese Whisper’ effects. Small businesses and websites have also taken advantage of technology improvements to

For translators/interpreters – the influx of immigrants to places such as America, Australia, England and other countries now means that

- bring the research of Chinese academics to the Western world, much in the same way that Russian research has been translated and published in Western journals.

For interest groups/people – with the loosening of media and technological regulations and restrictions, the Chinese language and culture has been opened up to more interest groups than ever before. People who are fascinated by the

- trying to recover their language and culture origins, lost when they were busy trying to integrate with their new environment. Also, second/third generation migrants who have retained their language skills want to give their children a head start by teaching them the language early, and wish to let their children learn Chinese.Some useful resources: 1) Learn Chinese Shanghai

2) AP Chinese

3) Chinese schools in Toronto

1. Chinese, is a group of different dialects of which Mandarin is one. It is the most widely spoken language on the planet. Today they are around 900 Million native speakers of Mandarin alone, add in the other dialects and you come close to 1 BILLION speakers. Compare this to Spanish, which is the next most widely spoken language in the world with around 400 million speakers. 2. You don’t have to learn Chinese characters to learn to speak Chinese. Pinyin is a method of writing Chinese in the roman alphabet. Hanyu pinyin spells the sound, and includes tone marks to help give the correct pronunciation. 3. Chinese literature. Although the dialects are not interchangeable the written language is shared between them all. Although you do not need to learn to read Chinese characters to speak the language, by doing so you open the door to an enormously diverse and rich literature. Some of the earliest recorded books were written in forms of Chinese. 4. As we all know now, the Chinese economy is the fastest growing economy in the world. . In the work environment even speaking a little Chinese will give you a competitive edge , if your company invests in China or is considering doing so. 5. Culture and language are linked and learning something of the Chinese language will help give an appreciation of the cultural heritage of China. 6. As China opens her borders for business with the West, it has never been easier for foreign visitors to travel the country, but to make the most of this opportunity for travel, it is vital to learn Chinese since very few people outside of major cities speak English. Mandarin is spoken throughout China. 7. China has now been firmly established as one of the worlds superpowers and with her huge population will undoubtedly be one of the worlds greatest economic powers in the near future.8. Food. Of course, you can eat in tourist restaurants and in hotels but for a true taste of China you need to try local eating houses for a culturally different and sensory eating experience.9. China will host this years Olympic Games. In 2008 many foreign visitors will descend on China to watch the Olympics. It is an ideal opportunity, if you are lucky enough to be going, to stand out from the crowd by being one of the few who has learnt Chinese.10. You can get started with a few words and phrases in Mandarin, enough to be polite without spending years in further education

If you want to learn the Chinese Language, some Learning Chinese Software can help you. Some integrated learning Chinese softwares with words, sounds, pictures, animations and music. These Learning Chinese Softwares are user friendly designed, content rich, comprehensive tutorial program. These interactive learning Chinese programs will make you enthusiastic about learning Chinese.
Chinese Practice 3.0.2, This program helps you learn Chinese. It offers text-to-speech synthesis or recorded voice, multimedia features, merging and editing lessons, skinning support, vocabulary organizing, a Brain Flash feature, talking Chinese-English-pinyin dictionary and Chinese text reader.
ABCconcept ABC Chinese Learning Tools 1.0, animated Chinese Characters, Radicals – stroke by stroke; Mandarin pronunciations (Pinyin); Cantonese pronunciations (Jyutping); More than 20,000 characters; Chinese-English, English-Chinese dictionaries.
Learn Chinese and Speak Mandarin 2.6, users guide themselves through over one hundred lessons. Each lesson contains a real world conversation between two native speakers. Conversations are broken down into individual sentences, pronunciation, meaning, pinyin, characters and the literal translations of the words that make up the sentences.
Learn Chinese 6.0, It includes pronunciation for all sentences, characters, words and phrases in real natural audio. Text-To-Speech is not used, so you can hear the changes in intonation. All Chinese characters, words and phrases are shown with tone marks, Pinyin, for reference. There are 66 lessons and 95 sense dialogues which cover normal situations such as daily life, working, study, traveling and hospitalization. There’s an English-Chinese double language dictionary which includes over 12,000 Chinese words and phrases. You can search the new words with Englishor Chinese as well as strokes of the Chinese character or Pinyin. There is a Chinese characters writing demo, featuring over 3,500 of the most common words. There is a Chinese phonetic alphabet whichincludes the 1,300 Chinese Pinyin. There is an Examination Module. You can test your understandingof Chinese and Pinyin. Speech Chinese can help you to read texts on Web sites or your clipboard in English, simplified and traditional Chinese. You can convert texts to WAV or MP3 files.
EzChinese Road 1.0, This is an oral textbook for short-term training programs focusing on daily communication. It’s adapted to the latest choice textbook Road: Chinese Conversation For Foreigners, which is published by Beijing Language and Culture University Press. Each Chinese character, word and sentence in this software is recorded by professional announcer. It covers more than 30 communicative functions, approximately 900 new words, as well as more than 100 basic key points of language and explanations of daily words and phrases.
One good Chinese Software is a good start for Chinese learners. These multimedia programs are fully interactive, using the most contemporary language learning technique. From teaching modern Chinese PinYin phonetic system to writing Chinese character stroke by stroke, learn Chinese interactively.

From Chinese movies to Chinese foods and to Chinese people all over the globe, China has surely expanded in importance. Aside from being a country with rich history, China also has beautiful and scenic spots and sumptuous foods. Everywhere you go, you see a lot of Chinese people, Chinese stores, Chinese restaurants and even Chinese schools. When you hear them talk and you do not understand their language, you may think that it sounds like gibberish. However, once you get to learn their native tongue, you will appreciate the country and its culture.
The Language of a Quarter of the Earth’s Population
The country of China has been very well known in almost every corner of the world. They are considered as great businessmen, plus, they are also known as very frugal people. In the United States, Chinese communities are scattered all over the country. It is the language of almost a quarter of the population of the whole world. This is a reason enough for you to learn the country’s language. Though it may sound complicated, but with great patience and discipline, you will be able to learn it in no time.
Understand and Experience a Diverse Culture and Tradition
If you learn the Chinese language, you will be able to experience the wonderful traditions and festivals of the country without wondering why they are celebrating it. Additionally, you will also be able to know more about their culture and their history. The writing system of China is unique, which requires great comprehension and logic. The country’s grammatical structure is associated with their way of thinking. If you have knowledge over the language and how it is written, you will also gain information on one of the ancient civilizations of the world. When you allow yourself to learn China’s language, you will be provided with a unique glimpse of this large and enticing country.
Join One of the Largest Global Markets
The economy of China is considered as among the world’s fastest growing. The global market of the country is regarded to have high potential. Various job fields offer great opportunities to people who know how to speak the Chinese language. If you are proficient with the language, you will have a great opportunity within the following fields:
- information technology
- foreign language education
- international relations
- business
- tourism
- government
These job opportunities are just some of the several jobs that are being offered to people who are good with the Chinese language. Among the other foreign languages which are being offered in colleges and universities, this certain language has the highest rate of enrollees.
Learn Chinese Online
If you want to learn the language, you have several options and, among one of these is over the Internet. There are some sites which offer foreign languages online for free. A professional teacher will teach you how to speak, write and read the language of China.

Learning Chinese can be a difficult task if not dealt with properly. It requires a lot of practice while reading, listening and pronouncing the language in the right way using the right tools. Thus when you learn a language, any language for that matter, and especially Chinese, the proper technique has to be learnt. Since the advent of the internet, people are getting more interested in online language learning programs as they offer the flexibility of learning at your own time and convenience. Loquella is probably the best website in this field. This site not only offers extensive and in depth studying of various languages. But it also offers some unique and innovative methods and techniques.

While a person is learning Chinese from this online website, Loquella emphasizes greatly on learning the proper pronunciation, while learning Chinese. It is because of the fact that in any language and especially in Chinese the proper pronunciation helps to make you understood. Learn Chinese is itself a difficult task and thus it requires a lot of listening. The more you listen to the audios, the better you can adapt the language. Since this language has a distinctive pronunciation it also requires a lot of speaking and definitely with the proper accent and pronunciation.

Since Loquella offers some innovative learning tools and techniques for its learners, it becomes much easier for everyone to learn and understand the language properly and thoroughly. In order to help the learners, Loquella has arranged all the foreign language courses into four different options. The learner can choose each of these options according to his/her own suitability. The first option is the default option which enables the learner to have a look at the order in which Loquella would recommend him/her to learn the language. Here the learner has the flexibility of going by each module according to his/her wish.

The option two or the second option enables the learner to listen to the audio first and then take a look at all the sentences. The third option at the Loquella learning site enables the learner to view the English sentence first, then listen to the audio and lastly read those sentences in the foreign language. Thus a learner who is willing to Learn Chinese can take up this option first to learn the language. This will provide the English version of the Chinese sentences as well as the audio part which will help him to learn the proper pronunciation and the accent of the language.

Unlike the other languages Loquella offers, the Chinese lesson starts with the introduction of the four standard tones of Chinese. Loquella focuses on teaching the appropriate Chinese pronunciation as well as the vocabulary using extensive language drills. The audio clips help enormously while learning any foreign language. Continuous listening to the audio files help the learner to adapt the language promptly and correctly.

With their entire course of learning Chinese, Loquella offers the best online language learning guide for students, officials and travelers. This language course is meant for everyone who wishes to learn Chinese properly.