What do you need to know who wants to learn Chinese from scratch yourself?

Beginning with the study of the Chinese language, one should immediately accept the fact that it will be necessary to form a completely new language picture of the world, which differs significantly from the usual system of thinking. However, due to sufficient motivation, properly selected materials for training, as well as diligence and diligence, it is entirely possible to learn Chinese from scratch independently.

Hieroglyphs

In Chinese, there are about 80 thousand hieroglyphs. For a free understanding of the press, it is enough to master 4,000, and to read fiction in the original it will take at least 6-8 thousand.

There is a clear procedure for writing features and keys. The key is a kind of simplest hieroglyph that has a certain semantic meaning. Some of them are used in pure form, but in most cases the keys are part of a whole character. Starting to learn Chinese from scratch on your own, you need to remember them. A good base will allow the successful development of this system.

According to certain rules for writing hieroglyphs, each line is written from left to right and from top to bottom. In order to learn the Chinese language from scratch (independently) was successful, it is important to learn the correct order of the outline from the very beginning. This will help you navigate the dictionary, because in Asian languages there is no familiar alphabet, the words are arranged in a certain order of appearance of hieroglyphic elements.

Of course, to remember the Chinese words, you need to spend a lot of time prescribing the hieroglyphs. But there are also original ways of remembering. Chinese words are not just code, it's an image. Many hieroglyphs depict the object or phenomenon, the meaning of which they hide in themselves.

The translation is as follows: the first line is fire, tree, sun, moon; The second line - a man, a mouth, a door, a mountain.

Sound system

Learning Chinese from scratch (independently) will require much more effort than working with a Romano-Germanic group. One of the features that distinguishes Chinese from the rest: intonation is not an emotional function, but a meaningful difference. There are four tones plus one neutral:

• 1 tone is pronounced with a high even and long intonation;
• 2 tone reminds interrogative intonation, it is pronounced from below upwards;
• 3 tone is also called low: intonation first decreases, then rises;
• 4 tone falls, starting from a high note;
• Neutral is also called light and usually falls on unstressed vowels.

In some cases, tones may change. For example, if two third tones are placed side by side, the first syllable acquires a second tone of intonation. For example, in the word níhǎo (hello).

The same combination of sounds, pronounced with each of the above tones, has a different meaning. To get used to such a system, it is important to listen as much as possible to native speakers and try to repeat it aloud. For this reason, studying the Chinese language from scratch on its own is quite difficult. The best option would be immersion in the language environment, combined with intensive training (many hours daily classes with representatives of the PRC). Such a study would bring tangible results within two years.

Grammar

Anyone who starts to learn Chinese from scratch on his own, you have to face a completely new system. In this language there are no usual conjugations, declensions. And the line between times is not always subtle. However, syntax plays a very important role. The same word can assume the role of different parts of speech, depending on its location in the sentence.

Dialects

In Chinese, as in many others, there are many dialects. Each of them has its own peculiarities. And the differences are sometimes so significant that representatives of different regions of China can hardly understand each other's speech. If you do not set a goal to move to a particular city, the best option is to study the general literary dialect, called Putonghua (普通话).

Pinyin

Anyone who wants to learn Chinese from scratch on their own, will encounter a system called pinyin (拼音). This is a transcription of the Latin alphabet, which was created to facilitate reading of hieroglyphs. In addition, over each syllable a corresponding tone is prescribed. In time, you will learn to read the original texts without pinyin, but at the beginning of learning transcription is extremely necessary.

Learn Chinese from scratch yourself

Here are some tips to help you get closer to your goal.

• One of the important principles of successful learning is willpower, diligence and regularity of classes. There are no secrets of how to learn Chinese from scratch from scratch without special difficulties, simply does not exist. This goal can only be achieved through sincere interest in the subject and diligence.
• Another tip: knowledge is better fixed in memory with intensive training. A couple of lessons per week will not give good results. This also applies to other languages.
• To get used to speech, besides working with textbooks, you also need to watch TV shows and listen to audiobooks and songs in the original. Do not worry that some phrases remain misunderstood. It is very important to get used to the sound.
• Do not be afraid to ask help from the Chinese. Many of them are happy to help foreigners learn the language.
• For self-examination it is recommended to pass an international exam for foreigners, called HSK (Hànyǔ Shuǐpíng Kǎoshì). The exam is divided into six levels. To successfully complete the first level requires knowledge of 150 words, and the sixth stage implies the possession of 5 thousand words.

Anyone who has decided to learn Chinese from scratch on his own, will have to make a lot of efforts. However, this is a great opportunity to plunge into an amazing world, different from what we are accustomed to.