How can I learn Mandarin(a form of chinese language) fluently fast, and how long would it take?

8 Comments

1. San Fran tourist says:

   August 20, 2009 at 12:05 am

   depends on how much time u have, and whether u have people to practise it with.

   the grammar is not hard. there aren’t many cases like gender cases or like nominative/prepositional casing, i think. even the orientation of it is somewhat like english…subject verb object.

   i think mandarin is all about memorizing. it’s doesn’t use alphabets or syllabaries. so just memorise memorise memorise. all about vocabulary.

   a few months should give you an idea of the strokes, the sentence structure, the basics. maybe 2 years of learning new vocab and practise will get you comfortable.
2. mamamia says:

   August 20, 2009 at 12:05 am

   The best way is to actually learn from a fluent person in Mandarin

   have daily conversations – for example if you went to china you would be forced to learn some Mandarin..because they will not speak english..do the same here. Learn the basics and get a translation book from English to Mandarin
3. Chris says:

   August 20, 2009 at 12:05 am

   Go to China , the best and fastest way.
   I’m Chinese,and learning English.I listen English songs and watch English teleplay.
   If you really want to learn mandarin,We can chating.
4. cld says:

   August 20, 2009 at 12:05 am

   It’s practically memorization, and each word you put in the front of the other may change the whole meaning, even with repeated characters may add to or reverse the meaning of the word.

   for example:
   Adding to-
   人(ren) = person
   人人(ren ren)=people, everyone
   人山人海(ren shan ren hai)=it’s crowded with people

   Change of Meaning-
   將軍(jiang jun)= general(military)
   將死(jiang si)= checkmate(chess)

   basically, you can learn the vocabulary from the dictionary, and try speaking it in SVO format.
5. CkJim says:

   August 20, 2009 at 12:05 am

   Chinese is not that hard, in fact it’s pretty easy.
   By learning Pinyin, a 2-or-3-year effort may enable you speak fluently fast Chinese.

   But Characters not count. Learning characters will cost you several times longer than that.

   I’ve seen some guys, who can speak pretty good Chinese, can’t read or write Chinese characters.
6. Breeze says:

   August 20, 2009 at 12:05 am

   One-on-One living Immersion Based Training has been proven to be the fastest, easiest and most effective way to learn the Chinese language and culture, for all ages and levels
   So why not learn chinese with a online tutor at 77chinese.com
   3 trail lessons, one-on-one,as low as 9.5$ per lesson
   really convenient and effective
7. echineselearning says:

   August 20, 2009 at 12:05 am

   Trust yourself, Chinese is not so difficult. Don’t be afaid to make mistakes.
   Speak more, pratice more, and you will improve rapidly.
   I guess every language is best learned in this way.
   You can make some native Chinese and take some free courses on line.
   There is a "Nihao Chinese" program which is a free trail on line
   Visit http://www.echineselearning.com/nihao
   you will find a surprise.
8. homeyhomey says:

   August 20, 2009 at 12:05 am

   Learn from movies.

   I’ve been in Shanghai for 4 years learning Chinese and working here. I’ve been to two different universities here, had a few different tutors, and did the lame language exchange thing too. I find that no matter how good the schools are here and no matter how educated your teachers/tutors are, they still stink at teaching. Don’t get me wrong tho , Chinese people are great to PRACTICE your chinese with.

   I suggest your pick your favorite chinese movie and learn from that. That’s what i did and I made a website about it too and made my own subtitles (chinese, pinyin, and english) which made it super easy for me too memorize pretty much all the lines in the movie.

   Check it out: http://www.mandarinclassesblog.com . It’s totally free and I put a lot of effort into this. Well worth a look.