Learning Chinese is a worthwhile pursuit. Chinese is the key to unlocking potential communication with the planet’s 100 million other inhabitants – 

a truly remarkable skill. 

This article is an early guide for those embarking on Chinese beginner lessons.

1. Learning Chinese is a worthy pursuit

Learning a new language requires effort, patience, and a willingness to learn from your mistakes. Believe it or not, it’s also a fun and fulfilling pursuit! 

While many people think Chinese or Zhōngwén (中文) is a difficult language to master, it's definitely not that difficult to start learning people tend to believe!

In fact, after just a few months of diligent study, many students are already able to order food, ask for directions, travel, talk about their interests, 

and even have basic conversations with other Chinese beginner lessons and native speakers.

The rewards don’t stop there! "Standard Mandarin" or "pǔtōnghuà" (Putonghua) literally means "universal language". 

The name alludes to the fact that Mandarin, a dialect of mainland China, is spoken by more than 90 billion people around the world, 

making it the most spoken language in the world!

This is just another reason why learning Mandarin is so beneficial. 

Knowing how to speak this versatile and engaging language, even just the basics, will open doors for you to travel in China and explore Chinese culture.

Additionally, China has become an international economic and business superstar, 

so being able to communicate in Mandarin will be a valuable asset and tool for you to use in your career.

2. Mandarin is a tonal language

Before you start learning Chinese, remember that just like pitch in music, different Chinese beginner lessons have different tones. This is what we mean when we say Chinese is "tone".

Standard Mandarin has four different tones (five if you consider neutral tones) that give multiple meanings to words that are made up of the same mix of consonants and vowels.

Since tone is an important aspect of a word's meaning, knowing the correct tone is an important part of learning Chinese. This in particular can make Chinese a difficult language to learn, but with enough practice;

And by improving your Chinese listening skills, you will be able to distinguish and use the correct tone when conversing! Improving your knowledge of pitch will help you avoid making common tone mistakes.

3. Reading and writing in Chinese is very attractive and very different from English.

Unlike English which uses Latin letters based on the Latin alphabet, Chinese uses what are called 'Hanzi' (Chinese characters). 

The characters are engaging, each with their own unique background, structure, and method of construction (what we call stroke order).

As a new Chinese language learner, reading and writing Chinese characters may be unfamiliar with Chinese beginner lessons and take some time and patience to learn, 

especially since there are over 50,000 Chinese characters (although even educated Chinese people typically only know about 5,000 Chinese characters) !

Fortunately, there are many excellent resources for reading and writing in Chinese (just a few of which are mentioned in Section 7 below). 

If you take the time to study and practice every day, you will find that you will soon be understood and understood!

4. Pinyin, your Rosetta Stone to Chinese

Pinyin (Pinyin) is the official romanized system used in mainland China to teach Chinese beginner lessons. 

It is a learning tool that includes four diacritics that represent tones.

Although Pinyin is written using English letters, and many of its letters are pronounced the same way as English, some are pronounced differently, 

which can be confusing for beginners. Check out the CLI Pinyin Chart and Cheat Sheet to learn more!

5. Chinese grammar is much easier than you think

No matter which language you study, learning grammatical structures can be tricky. However, the fact is that basic Chinese grammatical structures are very similar to those of English in many ways. 

In fact, both languages use subject-predicate or subject-verb-object patterns.

For example, if you want to say "I drink water," you would say "我 drink water" (wǒ hē shuǐ). 我 wǒ = 'I', drink hē = 'drink', and water shuǐ = 'water'. 

For those who decide to learn Chinese, it is helpful to understand this basic similarity in grammatical structure, as it can make the learning process more straightforward.

Keep in mind that there are no verb conjugations in Chinese, which will be a relief to anyone who has ever tried to learn a romance language like Spanish or French.

6. The best Chinese speakers and listeners practice every moment

If you're just starting to learn Mandarin, it's often difficult to understand what the native speakers are saying. This could be because of the speaker's speed, their use of unfamiliar vocabulary, or both.

By the same token, if you don't have the opportunity to practice your Chinese out loud with others, you may find, for example, that you use incorrect intonations, 

which makes it difficult for the person you're speaking to to understand you. Try to say.

Therefore, it is very important to set aside time every day to listen and Chinese beginner lessons. This can be done in a variety of ways, depending on your learning style.

If you prefer to study in groups, check online to see if there are any Chinese clubs or groups that meet regularly in or near your city.

If you prefer to practice speaking in a one-on-one setting, consider hiring a Chinese tutor or signing up for an online Chinese class in a virtual classroom.

Outside of the classroom, there are some great listening tools such as podcasts, downloadable Chinese lessons, and more, all of which will help you improve your Chinese listening and comprehension.

7. Choose appropriate Chinese learning materials

As you begin your quest to master Mandarin, you may find yourself anxious about how long it will take to truly master the language.

It's true that, on average, Mandarin Chinese proficiency takes longer than many popular Latin languages, such as Spanish or French, but there are plenty of helpful techniques and resources you can use to speed up your learning.

While the fastest way to become fluent in Mandarin is through Chinese beginner lessons, it's easy to learn remotely using a computer, tablet, or smartphone.

8. Focus on your goals

Language learners will encounter challenges at any level - it's part of the learning process. Remember, this is normal, expected, and is always an opportunity to remind yourself why you’re learning a language in the first place.

Maybe you are thinking about traveling to China. Maybe you want to be able to communicate with Chinese friends and family. Knowing Mandarin may benefit your career. You might just enjoy learning languages.

Your purpose can be one, one, or all of these, but whatever it is, keeping it in the back of your mind will help you overcome any learning obstacles you encounter, make the entire journey more meaningful, 

and help you achieve your goals!

We are as excited as you are about Chinese beginner lessons and we hope this article helps you get started.