A Step by Step Guide for learning Mandarin

STEP 1

• Learn proper pronunciation of Mandarin Chinese.
• Learn the four tones, along with the neutral tone.
• Familiarize yourself with the Pinyin writing system.  Do not bother with Chinese characters for now.
• Begin building a vocabulary of high-frequency words.
• Learn high-frequency phrases, and then work on the basic construction of simple sentences.

STEP 2

• Begin studying Chinese grammar, starting off from simple sentence structure, and eventually moving on to more complex patterns.
• As you achieve a strong grasp of Pinyin, begin familiarizing yourself with Chinese characters, namely the ones most frequently used.
• Expand your vocabulary to include words that will serve your improving grammar.

STEP 3

• Learn to read (and write) Chinese characters.  It’s best to start by learning characters you know will be used on a fairly regular basis as part of your growing vocabulary.
• Further expand your knowledge of grammatical patterns.

STEP 4

• At this stage, it’s a matter of persisting with the progress acquired in the previous steps.
• As you familiarize yourself with more and more Chinese characters, you will come to notice some important links stemming from the characters’ radicals.  These links will in turn help you remember previously learned characters, as well as help you to deduce the meaning of new ones.  This process occurs over extended periods of time.