Today i wanted to talk about my chinese learning journey. what tools i’ve been using and resources. For me, Mandarin chinese has became a hobby, a passion and some of the beautiful things i love doing everyday. It’s been 2 years now that i have started and the more i study it the more i fell in love with it. Well , I can not deny that there are so many difficulties, but it’s the process that make you happy at end. When you see how far you’ve come and how much progress you’ve made, then, at this point nothing matters.
Since i’ve started learning chinese, i’ve been trying so many ways , apps and platforms to improve my language skills and get more understanding of that target language. Many of them was so helpful and easy to work with. they are as follow:
HSK
Hsk is basically one of the best apps that i ever used. It is a structured learning Program with 6 distinct levels formed by china’s Ministry of Education. It almost contain every things you will need to improve your vocabulary, reading and listening skills.
Listening!! as a way to get more familiar with the target language.
Recently my main focus is listening, I try as hard as possible to be more familiar with chinese speaking, chinese sounds and tones, as well as being able to understand what native speakers say and talk about. And honestly, one of the best recommended resources is a podcast series by a taiwanese lady under the name of “Inspire Mandarin ” and it’s available in spotify.
Onther good and helpful podcast that i’ve been listening to is “Coffee Break Chinese”. This one is represented by a native mandarin speaker who tries in an enjoyable and easy way to help Mark as a language learner to identify how the language works. The good thing is that through all the episodes, Mark asks question and make mistakes, and through crytstal’s explanations , corrections and pronunciation tips we start to undestand and speak the language.
What i really think was helpful about those podcasts is that i was on the one hand listening to them as many times as i need to, and on the other hand, i was trying to transcribe every word i hear. When i finish i would go to a beautiful and amazing platform, that was created by the wonderful Robin macpherson. I put the the transcipted text and then i get reviews and correction from other people. Lately this is my favorite method ever. Because it helps not only improve my listening skills but aslo improve my writing skills, since i make a similar text depending on the topic of the podcast.