SENSIBLE CHINESE · THE ARCHIVE
Pronunciation
Don’t get me wrong, pinyin is a god-send for early Chinese language learning. You can use pinyin to get up and running and communicating in basic Chinese much faster than if you had to rely on characters. However, the fact that pinyin looks like English...
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Language Toolbox
If I was allowed to only use one practice method to learn Mandarin Chinese tones it would be this: tone pairs. Tone pair drills are simply the most powerful way to get a intuitive grip on Chinese tones. Unfortunately they are woefully underused. I want...
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Reviews
Today we are happy to be able to share Shannon Kennedy’s excellent review of WaiChinese and how it helped with her Chinese tones. Shannon Kennedy is a language lover, traveler and musician sharing her adventures and language learning tips at...
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Pinyin Course
This is part of our Sensible Pinyin Course. To see an overview of the course check out this Sensible Pinyin Course homepage! The basic pinyin consonant set in Chinese is: B, p, m, f, d, t, n, l Why am I calling these consonants “basic”?...
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10 Things I Wish I Knew
You’ve just started learning Chinese and are ready to talk – this article gives you a basic script (with recordings) as well as suggestions for a Chinese name. You’ll learn how to speak Chinese today, right now, if you follow through...
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10 Things I Wish I Knew
This is part of our How to Learn Chinese. Check out the How to Learn Chinese homepage to get a lot more tips on how to learn Chinese. How to speak Chinese is a question that baffles learners early in their Chinese journey. Often we wait until we think...
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10 Things I Wish I Knew
Chinese Tones are one of the most challenging aspects of Chinese. The good news is that with enough practice, like any skill, you’ll be able to master Chinese Tones. Additionally, you already use tones in English, just in a very different way to...
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