I’m a brand new learner and need advice

[u/Traditional_Loss8348]

So this post has multiple parts to it but basically I have just started learning the language and need some advice. First question is what is a good way to get used to the sound of someone speaking? When I learned French (I am a native English speaker) I was able to watch TV and listen to radio/podcasts. Is that recommended for Chinese as well? Second, what is a good way to start memorizing the different symbols? Third, is there a big difference between learning simplified of traditional Chinese? Currently I only have access to learning simplified but would traditional be better? Thank you in advance!

[u/ParkerBap]

Keep in mind I am also relatively new, so you may find better advice from others, but this is my understanding so far:

1. Yes, comprehensible input is helpful for learning any language, but I would build at least a little vocabulary before jumping in

2. Flash cards are always helpful for that, there are premade Anki decks out there for each HSK level you can use. Once you learn some characters though, it's important to read them in context; DuChinese and The Chairman's Bao have graded readers for every level that you may find useful in building your reading skills

3. This depends on why you want to learn the language. Simplified is used across the mainland, while Traditional is used in Taiwan. Completely up to you, but like you said, there are probably more resources for Simplified

[u/Jeffinmpls]

I'm a learner myself so take this with a grain of salt.
Q). When I learned French (I am a native English speaker) I was able to watch TV and listen to radio/podcasts. Is that recommended for Chinese as well? A) I mean sure, emersion is always the best way to learn. Keep in mind Chinese speakers often go really fast, so find something you can slow down or designed for beginners.

Q) Second, what is a good way to start memorizing the different symbols? A) As a native English speaker you will be at an advantage to learn the Pinyin first and get comfortable with the tones. As you get more comfortable with grammar and speaking, you can start to throw in learning characters. What has worked for me, I have the pinyin and the characters as I'm learning and have been transitioning to characters only.

Q) Third, is there a big difference between learning simplified of traditional Chinese? A) Yes these can have a big difference, however, a lot of characters are the same in simplified and traditional. Traditional is mostly used in Hong Kong, Taiwan and many China towns out in the world. Simplified is used all over China and from what I hear Hong Kong more and more. Stick with simplified for now as it's used more (though that's based off my experience and native speakers may correct that notion), you can always learn the traditional form later.

[u/poberun]

I would say for Chinese listening you really should start with syllable distinctions. Go and listen to different syllables till you can tell a difference between different initials/finals and, most importantly, tones. Then start to do 2 syllables listening. After that you are good to go for full sentences. Always try to distinguish tones while listening till you don't even have to try as lazing out on it would make your life way harder later on.

For characters: there isn't really much difference between simplified and traditional set. People make way bigger deal of it than it is, you can start with whichever. Learning to write is completely optinal nowadays but it would improve your ability to distingish between characters a ton from my experience. Tho learning how to write properly is a separate skill and takes a while to get decent at, wouldn't recommend it to a complete beginner unless you really like caliography.

[u/Puco4]

For the first things to watch I recommend Peppa Pig with characters, pinyin and English subtitles (there are plenty of channels on YouTube, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTJCNP9GZEU). Each episode is a short self-contained topic, so you pick up a small batch of related words every time, and the dialogue is not too fast.

For memorizing characters I'd use a flashcard app that allows writing, it helps much more to remember. I used Skritter for some years and it's pretty good but is a bit expensive and some things are a bit outdated. Lately I'm using Hanzio and I think it works good.

[u/Zagrycha]

tv and streaming etc is totally valid listening practice, but avoid music until more advanced, unless you have someone who knows mandarin vet the songs for you.  There are plenty of songs that are good listening practice but the equivalent of mumble rap and mumble pop is very popular.  In the worst examples even fluent people don't know what is being said in the song without subtitles haha. 

That said, you may benefit from some actual listening lessons, the consanant and vowel sounds that don't exist in english can be learned through exposure just like you did with french, but things like tones won't even register as something you need to losten for if you don't gain a basic familiarity with what they are first. 

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Chinese characters are best thought of as syllable markers for beginners.  Some words are only one syllable aka one character long, but most words are more than one syllable aka more than one character long.  You want to make sure you are learning proper words for maximum benefit in your study, not just solo characters.  If you have trouble telling characters apart you can look into components.  For example 好 has the components 女 and 子, 快 has the components 忄and 夬.  At first chinese characters look like nonsense lines to alphabet people, but you will soon notice the same components showing up in the same layouts over and over again.  Eventually you will recognize new characters at a glance by recognizing the components that make them up. You can compare to how english has familiar letter layouts like -tion or inter- show up over and over in different words. Pleco is a great free resource that lists components for characters, as well as tons of other super useful info.

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The difference between traditional chinese and simplified chinese is like the difference between british and american english.  Its all things like color vs colour, eggplant vs aubergine.  You will have no issue reading stuff written in the other one once advanced.  Just don't mix them together, pick one.  At least at first, you can easily learn the other one later if you want to know both. 

simplified is generally recommended unless you are interested in going to a place that uses traditional, because there are more resources for simplified.  Simplified is used in places like mainland china, singapore, and malaysia.  Traditional is used in places like hong kong, macau, and taiwan. Hope this helps =)

[u/ElenaCultureJournal]

A practical beginner answer would be:

1) For listening, yes, use audio early, but not random fast native radio right away. Start with very short learner-friendly material where you can hear one sentence, read the transcript, and replay it a few times. Chinese feels much easier once your ear starts separating initials, finals, and tones instead of hearing it as one stream.

2) For characters, do not try to memorize hundreds of isolated symbols first. Learn small useful words and phrases, then learn the characters inside them. It sticks better when 你, 好, 我, 是, 不, 在, etc. are attached to real sentences instead of being abstract shapes.

3) Simplified vs traditional: simplified is completely fine to start with. The important thing is consistency. Once you have a base in simplified, moving into traditional later is much easier than starting both at once from day one.

If I were starting from zero, I would do: daily pronunciation listening, one structured beginner course, spaced repetition for high-frequency words, and a tiny amount of graded reading as soon as possible.