{"id":183248,"date":"2014-12-31T19:02:25","date_gmt":"2015-01-01T00:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/how-to-learn-mandarin-chinese-by-yourself\/"},"modified":"2025-05-26T10:26:57","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T14:26:57","slug":"how-to-learn-mandarin-chinese-by-yourself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/chinese\/how-to-learn-mandarin-chinese-by-yourself\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Learn Chinese By Yourself: My 15 Best Tricks and Techniques"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chinese can seem especially intimidating<\/a> for English speakers, and even more so when you’re learning it on your own. But a solid learning plan will banish any fears or hesitations, and I’m here to tell you the steps that worked for me.<\/p>\n

Following a step-by-step approach means you don’t need to pick and choose what to focus on blindly\u2014I’ll walk you through the most important things to know plus resources so you can learn Chinese all by yourself.<\/p>\n

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1. Learn Pinyin and the Chinese Tones<\/h2>\n

Pinyin is Chinese written phonetically in the Latin alphabet.<\/strong> It’s a fantastic invention that helps connect English speakers to the world of Chinese.<\/p>\n

You can learn how to pronounce Chinese words by learning pinyin here<\/a>. I recommend memorizing the sound of each letter in the alphabet before moving on to full words. You can also use\u00a0this pinyin guide<\/a> from BBC to make sure you get it.<\/p>\n

Additionally, I recommend printing out a pinyin chart<\/strong> and taping it to the front of your notebook. Here’s one from Purple Culture<\/a> and one from CLI<\/a>. Don’t be afraid to refer to the chart(s) for help as you continue learning!<\/p>\n

But pinyin doesn’t only tell you the phonetic pronunciation of Chinese words\u2014pinyin also tells you the tone of each syllable.<\/p>\n

As you probably already know, Chinese is a tonal language<\/a>. There are four tones and one neutral tone<\/strong> (which could arguably mean there are five tones). Here are the four tone markings:<\/p>\n