Recommended Mandarin Chinese Language Sites

This post is for sites that I believe are useful to learn the Mandarin Chinese language along with a description. I will update it when and if I find other sites to share. Feel free to to share anything in the comments below that you would like to see on this list!

Last Updated: 2015.09.15

1. Chinese Reading Practice 

A site to read little stories in Chinese with English translation. Has beginner, intermediate and advanced readings.

2. Just Learn Chinese

Another site with stories in Chinese. Has beginner, elementary, intermediate and advanced readings.

3. Allsetlearning Chinese Grammar Wiki

A useful grammar wiki. Has A1, A2, B1, and B2 grammar points. C1 is currently being worked on.

4. Hacking Chinese

A Chinese site/blog by Olle Linge who has been learning Chinese for quite sometime. Has useful tips to learn Chinese. He also has a Chinese resources site here.

5. FluentU 

FluentU is a site that helps you learn a language through videos. Their Chinese content is most up to date and structured than the other languages.

6. Learn Chinese Online

A site that has a little variety of Chinese lessons. Also teaches Cantonese.

7. University of Cambridge – Chinese Basic

The University of Cambridge has a program opened to the public to learn basic Chinese. Requires download. Also has an Anki deck listed.

8. Chinese HSK Blog

A blog/site about Chinese language and culture. There are apps available(Android only).

9. SHChinese

A great site to study for the HSK. Has apps available(Android and iOS).

10. Ninchanese

A great and cute site to learn Chinese. In beta stage right now in which you can give them your e-mail on the home page and they’ll send you an invite. Free for now, might become paid in the future.

11. Chinese Tests 4 You

Practice your Chinese through various tests. Has beginner and intermediate levels.

12. ChinesePod

A popular site to learn Chinese with a lot of various lessons. You can sign up for a free account and try the free course. Have to pay to get access to more content(Basic, Premium and Premium+).

13. YoyoChinese

Another good site to learn Chinese. You can sign up for a free account and watch videos that have ‘free’ on it. Have to pay to get access to more content.

14. Memrise

Goes directly to the Mandarin Chinese simplified page for English speakers courses. There are more dialects and content on the left hand side when you scroll down a little bit. Most courses are user made.

15. Duolingo

Goes directly to the English for Chinese speakers page. You can try this if you want to learn Chinese if you know English but it may be harder since it expects you to know Chinese already.

 

[Update/Languages] Change of major!

I have recently decided to change my course of major!

I am now a Chinese major. I won’t be taking any Chinese classes until I transfer in the fall of next year, but I will be self studying as much as I can to prepare beforehand!

I am still minoring in Korean. The only reason that I picked a Chinese major(I still love Chinese and want to learn it) is because the Korean major program is not set up yet and I don’t know if it’ll be ready when I transfer/ while I attend the other university. If it does, however, I switch my major to Korean and then minor in Chinese.

But for now, I’m a Chinese major and to celebrate it, I’ll make a list of sites to learn Chinese! I haven’t made a list of sites in a certain language for a while and I think it’s time for another one. What a perfect opportunity to do so! This list is likely to be Mandarin only. I’m not sure whether or not I want to make sub-categories for the other dialects or make separate posts for them.

Until next time!

[Languages] Suggestions Please!

Hello everyone! I hope you’re having a great weekend. ^-^

I already asked this question on Twitter, but I know a lot of you don’t follow me there so I figured I’d ask on my blog too.

Does anyone know any good sites to learn Turkish(preferably for free)? Anything besides Duolingo, Memrise and Babbel as I already have those covered. I prefer grammar sites, but anything that’s good will do!

Thank you so much! \^-^/

P.S. My birthday is this Sunday. >w< -gives everyone a piece of cake-

Recommended French Language Sites

This post is for sites that I believe are useful to learn the French language along with a description. I will update it when and if I find other sites to share. Feel free to to share anything in the comments below that you would like to see on this list!

Last Updated: 2015.03.30

1. Open Learning Initiative – A site that has open courses for any one to take free of charge. They have Elementary French I and Elementary French II.
2. Learn French at About – About.com is pretty famous for it’s various of topics. They have a French section that covers a variety of topics.
3. Bonjour de France – A site to learn many things about the French languages from beginner to advance. The site is in French. (There is an English version, but after picking a lesson, it always turns back to French, at least for me)
4. ielanguages French – ielanguages has a lot of grammar explanations. It’s definitely one of the languages that has the most lessons out of the languages they teach.
5. Talk in French – A good site with a lot of things about the French language. Also has a few ebooks to purchase.
6. Lawless French – A site that the old about.com French author created.
7. Frenchpod101 – A French Podcast site for absolute beginners to advanced learners. Tons of lessons. You get more out of the site if you become a premium member.
8. Conjugaison – French conjugation site.
9. Comme une Francaise – An awesome site with some awesome videos to explain French expression and culture. You can go directly to the Youtube page here.
10. Lingvist – A flashcard site to learn vocabulary. They currently have French available for free while they’re in beta. This could mean it could become a paid site in the future. Use it for free while you can!
11. Duolingo – This goes directly to the French for English speakers course on Duolingo.
12. Memrise – This goes directly to the French courses page on Memrise.

[Languages] Learning Korean in French

I have recently taken the challenge to learn basic Korean in French.

Since I have a little bit more basic knowledge in French now, I want to try to apply it to my basic knowledge of Korean. I am currently doing this course on Memrise to learn the basics of Korean over again but in French instead of English. I actually already did this course in English here, the main difference (besides language) is the English one is a no typing course while the French one is a typing course.

The simple stuff is the easiest part. Bonjour -> 안녕하세요, oui -> 네, etc. It’s the sentences that are going to be a little bit of a challenge, such as je ne comprends pas -> 저는 이해하지 못했습니다. Since I already did the course in English,  I can have a general idea of what both the French and Korean says. Though, I’m trying to think French -> Korean and vice versa, not English -> French/Korean -> Korean/French and so on.

But I’m enjoying this little challenge so far. I think it’s fun to play around with basic knowledge of both languages and see how far I can go. ^^

Do you like to learn a language in a language you’ve already learned or are currently learning? Let me know~

Until next time! 안녕~ à bientôt~

[Languages] Goodbye French I, Hello French II!

Saluuuuuuut~

I haven’t made a language post in such a long time. Since midterms/finals are over, I think it’s the perfect time to say I am now a French II student!

Earlier this year, I said I was taking two semesters of French in one semester. My French classes are basically accelerated. We learn one semester worth of stuff in half the time.

Last Wednesday, March 18th, I took my final for the French I class. This Monday, March 23rd, I’ll be starting the first day of French II. So far, basing on the time in the first class, the pace was fine. There were some times that it felt like it was going fast, but I’ve been doing surprisingly well. I think this pace is good for a class that is supposed to be accelerated.

If the intermediate French classes do the same thing next fall, I’ll definitely do it again. Just thinking of getting four semesters of French down in only two semesters sounds amazing to me.

Anyway, I’ll find a way to post more about my language adventures soon, especially Korean. Until next time~ à bientôt!

[Preview] Various Languages Books #3

Hello! It’s been a while since I posted something about languages. Since I got a couple new language books a while ago, I’d thought I would share. ^^

Also, I’m writing this post with the WordPress iPad app. This is the first time I’ve done this and I want to see how the post turns out. I’m sorry if this post looks weird on the desktop version. ><

These are the language books I’ve ordered on Amazon last month! Easy French Step-by-Step and Swedish: Essentials of Grammar. I have looked through them but haven’t actually used them yet. I’ll get back to you guys when I do. ^^

I got the French book for self study. Even though I’m taking French classes now, I think this book will be a great review and to learn new things. I got the Swedish book because I’m self studying Swedish. There are not very many Swedish sources out there, but this one I got had great reviews. I trust those reviews, so I hope this book doesn’t disappoint. ^^

I’m a little behind on posting currently. I have quite a few things I want to post about and I hope to get those up soon, even if it means I have to write them now and put them in a queue!

You guys will have an awesome weekend, right? Valentine’s Day is coming, so I hope you’ll have a great time with a loved one, family or friends. ^^ Have a good weekend~

[Languages] Loads of Language Fun in 2015

I’m honestly looking forward to 2015. I have a few things that I want to try and things that I want to change. But I’ve just realized that 2015 is going to be filled with languages, which makes me very excited!

Starting January 21st, I’ll be taking my first French class in college. French is one of the languages I want to be fluent in. I’ll be taking both French 1 and 2(first class is January-March, second class is March-May). Along with the classes, I’ll be self-studying the language through Duolingo and Memrise. I’ve already studied French for a while, so the first couple weeks or so of class may be easy for me. Of course I plan on taking intermediate French 1 in late 2015 during my fall semester. Three French classes in one year? Bring it on!

I also plan on getting more serious with my Korean studies. I’ve been self studying the language for a while, but I still feel like a beginner. A huge part of that is my fault because I would study for a while then take a few days to a few weeks off. I’ve recently bought a subscription for KoreanClass101.com in hopes to start improving my listening skills. I’ve started the first lesson yesterday and it seems great so far. I have a few books on my desk that I would like to finish in a couple months, giving that I do at least one or two lessons a day. I’ve also been learning Hanja on and off, mainly for fun. I plan on minoring in Korean when I transfer universities, but that won’t happen for a while still. I’m in no rush to master Korean at the moment, but getting a head start is always nice.

Swedish! Swedish is a language I’ve always wanted to learn. Ever since Swedish came out in Duolingo, I’ve been learning at least two lessons a day. I’ve also been using Memrise to expand my vocabulary and the FSI site to improve my listening and speaking. I plan on finishing my Swedish tree on Duolingo in 2015, and it would be the first tree I will ever complete since the two years I’ve been on the site. That is my big goal in Swedish for now!

Lastly, Spanish. Spanish was honestly one of the last languages I would learn. I would learn it eventually, but it wouldn’t be my first choice. But suddenly within the last few weeks or so, my heart changed. I’ve been using the free trial on a site called Fluencia. Ever since, I loved the site and want to keep going. Spanish, for now, is something I’m learning for fun. But since I live in Texas, it could be good for job opportunities since there’s a large Spanish-speaking population here. I do not have a set goal for Spanish right now. I just go to it when I’m bored and want something to do.

2015. Year of languages. Sounds good to me! We’ll see how far my Korean, French and Swedish(and maybe Spanish) are by the end of the new year.

Do you have 2015 goals for languages, or just anything in general? Feel free to leave a comment below~

Happy New Years and have a blessed 2015!

Recommend Korean Language Sites

This post is for sites that I believe are useful to learn the Korean language along with a description. I will update it when and if I find other sites to share. Feel free to to share anything in the comments below that you would like to see on this list!

Last Updated: 2015.03.25

1. TalkToMeInKorean

Talk To Me In Korean(TTMIK) is a VERY useful and FREE site for Korean learners beginner through advanced. They have many grammar lessons along with other various lessons. They’re working on making their grammar lessons into books and are making other books/digital purchases on their shop here.

• HaruKorean – TTMIK’s paid site. You DO NOT have to use this along with the free site. It’s basically the same thing as the free site but you get corrections from native speakers. It also does have a few extra lessons that are not on the free site. If you want extra practice + the extra lessons, then this will be useful.

2. KoreanClass101

One of the most popular language podcast sites has Korean on the list. Definitely use this if you want to improve your listening. I believe when you create your account, you get 7 days free and then you have to choose a subscription plan.

3. How to Study Korean

A good site to help you with Korean. It has an option to buy printable worksheets for each unit.

4. Sogang Korean

Sogang University has some Korean lessons for free on this site from novice to intermediate.

5. Easy to Learn Korean

This site post illustrations of various topics to teach you Korean vocabulary. Very useful for those who are visual learners and those who want to expand their vocabulary. They also have a book with the list of sites you can buy it from here.

6. Memrise

Memrise is a useful site to learn many languages. This link goes directly to the Korean courses. Everything is free and you do not need the premium membership to use the site.

 7. KOCW

KOCW is a Korean Open Course Ware website. This site does have some good courses for those who want to learn Korean. Here’s some for listening, speaking and reading. You can do these courses in Korean or English. Everything on the site is free.

[Languages] Swedish is Now on Duolingo!

image from here

Finally! On Monday, Team Swedish has released their Swedish for English speakers course into beta!

Out of all of the courses in the incubator, the ones I was most excited about were Swedish and Esperanto(but of course I’m excited for the rest of them!). I would have been very happy with whatever one got released first. 😀

I had a little knowledge of Swedish as you may have seen from my Babbel post previously. With that knowledge, I’ve gotten through the first couple of skills pretty quickly. Once I got to the first ‘food’ skill, I started slowing down a little bit…just a little. But for the most part, it’s pretty easy and it’s going well. ^^

According to a native Swedish speaker who decided to test the course, Swedish hardly had any missing translations or mistakes. To know that the Swedish course is already in good quality in the beta phase made a lot of us happy. So, there is a possibility that Swedish may graduate beta sooner than usual, but that’s just my guess. ^^ I know they said that voice that was selected for the Swedish words are terrible(such as it’s pronouncing ‘de’ /de/ instead of /dom/) and they’re looking into a new one.

I have yet to complete a language tree on Duolingo since I’ve made my account. A part of me has a feeling that Swedish may finally be the one that I’ll actually complete! Apart from Swedish, I’m also learning French and Dutch. I’m looking forward to Esperanto, and I’m patiently waiting for them to add any Asian language for English speakers(preferably Korean, which I hope they’ll add once English for Korean speakers exits beta~ :D). ^^

Do you use Duolingo? What language tree are you working on? What language are you looking forward to that’s currently in the incubator? What language are you waiting for Duolingo to add to the incubator? Let me know~

Until next time! Have a nice day. ^^