Primer to Chinese learning from scratch

How to start learning Chinese?  The beginning is always the hardest...

I'm going to take a break from my usual topics and write a few installments on how to start learning Chinese from ground zero.

I know what you're thinking, 'in previous posts, didn't he just say that there is a reason that the actual method is not as important as the mentality behind it'?  And you would be true, but I have noticed through discussing Chinese learning with many people who have no base in the language that people feel hung up on 'how to start' from a tactical level rather than a principle/self-motivation level.

So this posting series will establish a primer for beginning to learn the Chinese language.  It will cover pronunciation, basic character recognition (and the fastest way to do it), listening, reading, and how to learn grammar (which is much easier than it sounds).  In the basic character recognition section I also want to elaborate in further detail the importance of learning both character sets, simplified and traditional, and how beginning Chinese learning with this mindset will vastly improve your experience with the language.

So how should you take my advice?  I would say that in addition to what I am saying it is a good idea to cross reference other foreign language learning blogs.  Antimoon, AJATT, and Japanese Level Up are three great places to start thinking about your language learning journey.  They are not Chinese specific blogs, but they have extensive materials posted on learning foreign pronunciations, learning characters, and integrating into a foreign culture.

All in all, your foreign language journey is your own.  It is up for you to walk out, and only you know how long, how far, and in what direction you want to go.  All we are here to do is facilitate and attempt to help to guide you.

But it's your road to walk.

I'll see you next time.