Chinese

Chinese
Information
Language autonym	中文（中国大陆）
Created by staff?	true
Courses teaching Chinese	• •
Phase 1 Chinese courses	•
Status	Available
Navigation
Learnable courses	• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Mandarin Chinese is spoken natively by an estimated 960 million people predominantly in China.

Notes

The course is now officially under development.

Input methods

Main article: Guide to keyboard layouts and input methods

Pinyin input methods

Pinyin is a phonetic romanization of Mandarin Chinese that is also widely used for inputting Chinese characters. Pinyin input methods generally let the user type a word or phrase in pinyin and show the user a list of possible words or phrases using Chinese characters that match that pinyin, from which they can choose the correct one. This last step is often necessary because many Chinese characters share their pronunciation, and therefore their pinyin representation, with other characters. For example, the characters 是 (to be) and 事 (thing, matter) are both pronounced the same and written in pinyin as shì.

There are a variety of pinyin input methods and implementations available. Major operating systems include their own pinyin input methods, which can be installed using these instructions. Pinyin input is also available using some Google Input Tools and via the Google Pinyin Input app for Android devices.

Grammar tips

There are currently no grammar tips for Chinese here. If you've got any, click the "Edit" button for this section to add them.

External resources

Courses

• Lingopalm - A semi Duolingo-like Chinese course
• Ninchanese - A gamified app to learn Chinese
• Hello Chinese - A Duolingo-like course
• ChineseSkill - Also Duolingo-like lessons, free games and exercises
• Skritter - Vocabulary and character study via apps and website, many different features
• Learn Yu - An adaptive online course
• Chinese for Beginners - A free Coursera course by Peking University
• CRI English - Learn Chinese
• Several Chinese courses hosted at edX
• Mandarin is Awesome - A Mandarin course hosted on Youtube
• Shawn's Mando Chinese - Another Mandarin course hosted on Youtube
• Growing Up With Chinese - Another Mandarin course hosted on Youtube

Learning characters

• Chineasy - A course on the Chinese writing system
• Du Chinese - Another course on the Chinese writing system
• HSK Academy - Very helpful for those learning Chinese characters. Aimed mainly for those seeking the HSK (similar to TOEFL) tests, but still good to learn new words, phrases. There is a short introduction to Chinese grammar also.

Learning Pinyin

• Yabla Chinese pinyin chart with audio

Dictionaries

• Zhongwen.com - Online Chinese dictionary
• MDBG - Online Chinese dictionary
• Perapera Chinese Popup Dictionary - Popup dictionary for Firefox
• Zhongwen: A Chinese-English Popup Dictionary - Popup dictionary for Chrome
• Chinese-English Dictionary - Popup dictionary for Chrome
• Soba Talking Chinese Popup Dictionary - Popup dictionary for Firefox

Grammar references

• Chinese grammar on Wikipedia

General/multiple resources

• Chinese stackexchange - Resources for learning Mandarin Chinese.
• Chinese Learning Resource - Antosch & Lin Mandarin Learning Resource

Chinese-language content

• Chinese Wikipedia
• Sublearning - Movie subtitle flash card quiz in Chinese and many other languages
• WeChat - a free Chinese app for smartphones that you can use to find native Chinese speakers to talk to. Can type using characters with a downloaded keyboard or use it as a walkie-talkie where it saves messages to be listened to and replied to. Basically a delayed phone call but will give practise speaking and listening.