Learn Chinese Mandarin
with Ling

The FSI classifies Chinese as a category IV language, which means it will take the average learner 2200 hours to reach proficiency.

Learning how to speak Chinese will be easier if you know the following:

• Grammar: Modern Chinese relies on syntax and has few inflections. There are no grammar rules on gender, tenses, voices, or numbers, and only a few articles.
• Vocabulary: Lexicons in Chinese are various since there are 20,000 Chinese characters. Chinese also borrowed words from early Indo-European languages and scientific etymologies.
• Speaking/Listening: Chinese Mandarin is a tonal language with four tones, so the meaning of each word can change depending on its pronunciation.
• Reading/Writing: Chinese letters require knowing all eight stroke orders. Zhōngwén (the written version of Chinese) is done from top to bottom and from left to right.

Is Chinese something you’ve always wanted to learn by yourself, but it seems impossible? Well, it is possible to teach yourself Chinese and skip paying for expensive classes!

Low-cost options are available for beginner Chinese lessons if you have limited resources. Learn Chinese free with Ling – a language learning app that can teach you how to read, write, listen, and speak Chinese.

In addition to using Ling, here are some suggestions to kick off your Chinese fluency:

• Speak Chinese for an entire day. Challenge yourself to only talk in Chinese for one whole day!
• Surround yourself with audio lessons in Chinese: Ever tried listening to Chinese pop music? It’s an excellent approach if you want to learn Chinese pronunciation. You might even find your new favorite song!
• Learn the Chinese strokes using the Ling app. Did you know that you can use Ling to practice writing Chinese characters? With Ling’s cutting-edge technology, you can trace the Chinese characters on the screen with your finger!

The Foreign Language Institute says it will take the average learner 2200 hours to reach proficiency in Chinese. In other words, a total of 3 years if you studied for two hours every day!

Another measure is the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK), the standard Mandarin Chinese proficiency test. According to the HSK, you need to learn at least 2000 to 3000 Chinese characters, or HSK 5 level, in order to read an average newspaper. This level will take at least 4-5 hours of studying daily for 2-3 years!

Even though Chinese has a reputation of being one of the hardest languages out there, it’s not impossible. Fluency will only come with dedication and commitment to learning the language.

Nowadays, there are plenty of ways to learn Chinese. If you don’t have the budget or time to attend traditional Chinese classes, you can always learn Chinese online or with the help of language learning apps, like Ling!

When people think of Chinese they automatically think that it’s the official language spoken in China. To clarify, Chinese is an umbrella term for all languages related to China and its people. Mandarin is the standard form of Chinese.

Get to know Chinese better with these facts:

• The most popular Chinese language is Mandarin, with over 1.2 billion native speakers
• The most popular Chinese dialects are Mandarin, Cantonese, Wu, Min, Yue, and Jin
• Chinese Mandarin is the official language in China, Taiwan, and one of the four official languages in Singapore
• Mandarin and Cantonese are not mutually intelligible

Want to learn how to speak Mandarin? Now you can with the Ling Chinese app! With over 200 Chinese lessons, you can achieve your goal of fluency in no time!