What are /r/learnchinese's favorite Products & Services?

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If you'd like to learn to read and write, I highly recommend getting this book: Reading and Writing Chinese:... https://www.amazon.com/dp/080484299X?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

It will teach you what a radical is, how characters are constructed and will get you on the way to learning them in a systematic way.

I don't think textbooks help much for self studying. There is no audio, no interaction, only explanations.

If you have a smartphone, then try out some app which uses an interactive way to teach you. HSK 1 is very easy to pass. With a good tool, you only need at most 2 months with 20 minutes a day.

I recommend HelloChinese .

https://itunes.apple.com/app/hellochinese-learn-chinese/id1001507516

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hellochinese

Good luck!

I personally use this app. While I'm doing the lessons, I have a pen and paper and I copy down the characters, pinyin and translation of the sentences and phrases.

I also have a pinyin keyboard because the app calls for input of Chinese characters sometimes.

I'm still working on finding a tutor. Until then, just practice and learn at least a new word each day.

That's a great site - I had no idea it existed. I'll be taking a look at that - thank you for the link :)

Another link I found was this one:

https://immortalmountain.wordpress.com/glossary/wuxia-xianxia-xuanhuan-terms/

... and I think I'll be printing this out. But the nice thing about some of my textbooks is that they also give the historical background to each character which is a help in learning them. Eg this book, which I'm finding very useful. So I was wondering if there might be one that dealt with words from more fantasy type subjects.

I initially came to this sub-reddit to post about my project, but I saw your post and felt sorry for you. I've felt the same and put this together to get back on track.

As I recall the pleco dictionaries are sourced from real dictionaries, which I reckon would be available online. Check out a relevant one.

Also http://tatoeba.org/eng/ is handy, not sure how much it has for chinese though.

/u/baozichi's suggestion is fantastic. I've been like the OP in looking for the next level, and this is great advice for me too, so thanks!

OP, for rapid verbal acquisition I glowingly endorse Michel Thomas (http://www.amazon.com/Mandarin-Chinese-Michel-Thomas-Method/dp/1444138030). I've tried all of the verbal courses I could find, and this one was the best. I think ChinesePod will pan out for me in the long term, but in a 5+min episode there is just so much english and bullshit and not enough drills (actual speaking of Chinese).

Check out hanzicraft. You can search a character and get a whole bunch of crazy info about it including a list of words that use the character. Learn the high frequency words list first.

If you want a book, you could get a simple one like this one because it lists some words using the character. If you search around a bit more, you will find books whose aim is to teach the words that certain characters appear in. I had a good one once but don't remember the name of it.

I studied in China as well as taught English but I have a bunch of friends that work in other fields there.

If you want to get some major use out of your Chinese and really want to learn it to a deep level, you will have to learn to speak it eventually.

It is just one conversation at a time so don't worry about messing up or looking stupid, everybody who has ever learned a second language knows what it is like. Start with your friends and have a good time. What is most important is building confidence and momentum.

Totally recommending this game for Android users because it's so much fun. I linked to the free version but there's also a premium version too.

Characters fall from the top of the screen and you have to tap them and then write them as fast as possible with the correct stroke order to get points. Mad fun, mad educational.

1. Native children learn Pinyin first. But only take several lessons. The purpose of Pinyin is to label the pronunciation of characters. Chinese never use Pinyin to write in daily life.
2. Then they start to learn dialogues or small texts which are all a mix of both, that is, learn characters labeled with Pinyin for their pronunciations.

I personally recommend HelloChinese App. It teaches Pinyin first and then quickly start to teach vocab and grammar. It also teach speaking and handwriting in an interactive way. IOS: https://itunes.apple.com/app/hellochinese-learn-chinese/id1001507516 Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hellochinese