Chinese from Scratch!
Decided to learn Chinese? Great choice! Over 1.3 billion people speak Chinese – more than any other language in the world. Our course is based on Mandarin (Putonghua) – the official language of the PRC, understood throughout China.
About the Chinese Course on the Site
These online lessons are based on a Chinese self-study guide
- Step-by-step lessons – from tones and pronunciation to grammar and characters.
- Character animations – visually demonstrate the stroke order for correct writing.
- Lesson audio – practice pronunciation and train your ear to recognize tones.
- Exercises with answer keys – input fields for answers to test yourself.
Go to → the list of lessons ← (Click)
Is Chinese Hard to Learn?
The Chinese language is structured completely differently from European languages, which can be intimidating at first glance. However, it has some unexpected advantages: there are no verb conjugations, no declensions, no grammatical gender, and not even a plural form in the traditional sense. In many ways, Chinese grammar is simpler than, for example, Russian or German.
The main difficulties are the characters and the tone system (Mandarin has four tones + a neutral one). That is exactly why our course starts with tones and pronunciation, while the character animations help you master the correct stroke order. Step by step, you will get used to this system, and it will no longer seem difficult.
Why Learn Chinese?
- The #1 language in the world by number of native speakers. Over 900 million people speak Mandarin Chinese. That’s one in eight people on the planet.
- Career and business. China is the world’s second-largest economy and the largest trading partner for dozens of countries. Professionals with Chinese language skills are in high demand in business, logistics, trade, diplomacy, and IT.
- A unique culture. Over 5,000 years of continuous history. The philosophy of Confucius and Laozi, Tang dynasty poetry, calligraphy, the tea ceremony – all of this can only be truly understood through the language.
- Travel. China is a vast country with an incredible diversity of landscapes and cultures. Outside major cities, few people speak English, so knowing Chinese dramatically changes the quality of your trip.
- Brain training. Learning characters and the tonal system engages areas of the brain that are not activated when learning European languages. Studies show that people who know Chinese use both hemispheres of the brain to process language.
- Competitive advantage. Many people study Chinese, but few reach fluency. Even basic knowledge of the language will make you stand out from the competition.
Interesting Facts About the Chinese Language
- There is no alphabet in Chinese. Each character represents a syllable or a word. You need to know about 2,000–3,000 characters to read a basic newspaper, and there are over 50,000 in total.
- The same syllable pronounced with different tones has completely different meanings. For example, mā (妈) – mother, má (麻) – hemp, mǎ (马) – horse, mà (骂) – to scold.
- Chinese characters are the oldest writing system continuously used to this day. The earliest examples (oracle bone script) date back to around 1200 BC.
- There are no words for "yes" and "no" in the traditional European sense in Chinese. Instead, you repeat the verb from the question (in an affirmative or negative form).
- To type characters on a computer or phone, Chinese people use the Latin transcription pinyin (pīnyīn) – they type the word using Latin letters, and the system suggests the correct character.
Start Learning Chinese Right Now
Chinese is a language that opens doors to one of the world’s greatest cultures and the planet’s largest economy. Our course will guide you from tones and your first characters to reading texts and understanding grammar. Character animations and audio will help you every step of the way. Everything is free, everything is online.
Go to → the list of lessons ← (Click)