This app was mentioned in 10 comments, with an average of 2.50 upvotes
Hanping Chinese Dictionary is the best dictionary app on Android.
HelloTalk is an awesome way to practice and have native speakers correct your grammar. You can either chat with people, or you can use it like Twitter and post about your day. Native speakers will see your posts and correct them for you.
on PC, i use mdbg.net
on android, i use hanping ce
they're both excellent.
edit: both will put Taiwan specific pronunciations in brackets
Hello OP! Self-studying Mandarin here for 10 months already.
Actually sa YouTube pa lang madami ka nang pwedeng mahanap na materials (mga Chinese documentaries tsaka mga drama, ganyan). Tsaka may mga podcasts sa Spotify na pwede mo ring pakinggan. Advice ko na rin na mag-install ka ng learning apps sa mobile device mo (Pleco and Hanping Lite yung ginagamit ko). Pero feel ko mas effective talaga kapag may kaibigan kang Chinese na pwedeng kausapin on a regular basis kasi mas madali talaga matuto ng isang bagong lengwahe kapag everyday mo nagagamit.
Links for Hanping Lite and Pleco Apps:
I honestly doubt books can help you much, other than for the syllabus you are studying.
You have to start speaking, reading, listening and writing in the language in general. Not extremely religiously, it would just be good to try familiarising yourself with the language at least once a day, slowly but surely. Use the determination you have to be curious about the language. Download a Chinese dictionary app (with handwrite) so you can find out words you are unsure of anytime.
If Channel 8 is not for you, Channel U should do the trick. Hopefully there is some 'young people' content in Chinese that you would be interested in (various music competition programmes in China, Korean dramas with Chinese dub).
Source: Personal experience. Used to do below average in primary school, almost about to fail (I was better at English). But then it all kinda turned around in ~P6 by liking the language more, conversing with my parents in Chinese too. Also because I was into Taiwanese idol romance dramas at that time.
No matter the advice you read on here, and the changes may not come so quickly, but I'm sure you can do it. Hopefully getting better at the subject motivates you to go further. 加油!
For Android users, Hangping Dictionary and Camera are a good offline substitute for Google Translate. Costs money tho.
Copying and pasting really is the simplest solution. I've been studying for years, and this is still the easiest way. You'll get used to it.
If you're on PC, copy it and paste it into MDBG
If you're on phone, copy it and paste it into your dictionary app. I use Hanping CE
I was using Pleco, but found another handy app on Android called Hanping Lite. You don't have to pay for handwriting, which is good for those who don't want to pay for extras but the dictionary doesn't have examples like Pleco has. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.embermitre.hanping.app.lite&hl=en
Just google the Chinese name of the series plus 漫畫 (manga in Chinese). You can easily find stuff posted for free.
e.g. Google: 七龍珠 漫畫
If you can't understand basic stuff, you might want to start with a beginner textbook or children's picture books before diving into advanced reading like manga or novels.
In terms of how to learn, you want an app or website that lets you search by writing characters, since most reading materials won't have pinyin or zhuyin.
On mobile, I use Hanping Chinese Dictionary. A lot of people recommend Pleco.
On PC, I use MDBG