How to start learning Chinese?

As I’ve read many comments on page, I learned that many of you are currently in the process of learning Chinese or wanting to start, but doesn’t know where? In this post, I want to share a few apps, dictionaries that I find very useful in Chinese learning.

Apps for Chinese learning

1. HSK Online

What is HSK? HSK is a Chinese Proficiency Test. This is similar to earning a TOEIC or IELTS in english, this test determine your Chinese’s language understanding, there are a total of 6 HSKs level, of course, 1 being the lowest-beginner and 6 being the highest.

So, is this app a test? No, this app is not a test. This app provide self-study lessons ranging from HSK 1-6. If you don’t know what is your level, there is a test yourself option to determine which level you are at. Aside from this app, there are textbooks and workbooks available to advance your practice.

This app is mainly to help you familiar yourself with the HSK material to prepared yourself future exams.

2. Super Chinese

If you’re familiar with Duolingo, then Super Chinese is no different from that. This app provides beginner-intermediate-advance lessons, and similar to Duolingo, there will be speaking, reading, and self-study lessons.

Before entering your lesson, you can either test yourself to advance to your current level, or start from the very beginning to familiar yourself with Chinese. This app mainly focuses on your speaking and grammar.

3. Hello Chinese

This is one of my favourite app when learning Chinese. As it being no different from Super Chinese, but one of the thing that I love about this app, it is provide you an opportunity to learn writing.

In every lesson, you will be provided with different words, and in between that lesson, there will be a portion where they show you how to write certain word, helping you familiar yourself with the stroke orders. At the end of your lesson, there will be a review part where they gathered all the stuff you’ve learned or make mistakes on, it help you review them and get you to practice them more.

Both Hello Chinese & Super Chinese provide very detailed explanation on Chinese grammar, they provide you proper formula to followed, and make literal translation so you know how Chinese grammar structures are like

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Other essential apps

Aside from learning Chinese, we need to familiar ourselves with writing, verbs, noun and other things, and what can help us with that?

1. Pleco [Dictionary]

Pleco is an English-Chinese dictionary that could be use both ways. Pleco give examples, and define if the word is a noun, verb, adjective or others.

2. LINE Dictionary

LINE dictionary is another good essential learning tool for Chinese. This is an English-Chinese dictionary. What I like about this, aside from being a dictonary, every day, it has this ‘today’s quote’ section where you exposed yourself to more Chinese, and just enjoy reading it.

Another part that I love about LINE dictionary is that they provide a writing portion. You can search up a word you want to know, then at the bottom of that word, there are steps on how to write it, and if you click on stroke, it is a quick video of step by step on writing that word, how great?

You can either use it on your computer or on phone, I will provide a link for anyone interested.

3. Stroke Order

Judging from the name, you can already tell this is a writing app. This app complied vocabulary words from each HSK level and demonstrate you how to write them. Aside from learning how to write it nicely, in Chinese, writing it in order is also very important.

These are all the apps that I find very essential and useful for Chinese learning, if you are currently learning Chinese and are using other apps, or tools, please do leave a comment and share your learning experiment with other people so they can successfully learn the language they love.