Hey hey, I just returned from two weeks on vacation in China and I’m returning seriously embarrassed about how bad my Mandarin is. I live in the US and have very little experience learning Mandarin so far and my pronunciation is horrible. I want to work to improve my vocabulary and pronunciation. The 4 tones are very hard for me, as my hearing is not great to start.
Any ideas for a complete beginner would be greatly appreciated. For instance, will I learn faster with a teacher / in person lessons, or is online learning good enough these days?
I have experience learning other languages, FYI, including Spanish and French and a little Dutch. Cheers for keeping this community alive!
Great tips, thanks! I am goingb to need to listen for the tones a lot! That “spacial” idea should help.
I found this video, talking about the tones - I hope this is correct, ha. She says, for instance, that tone 1 is not really as high as the carts usually shows, which is very helpful for me.
https://youtu.be/eIP8yVcDZRI
Yes, I came here to recommend you this video, but I’ve seen that you’ve found it. It’s a great resource, she 100% nailed it