every single resource i've ever used to learn chinese
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 มี.ค. 2022
- watch me drain my bank account with every and all resource i’ve ever used to learn chinese.
links to every resource in the description. check them out and see if they'll work for you and your learning style. giving up on resources isn't a negative thing, it just shows that you're learning your target language and need new resources to keep you engaged!!
note: i've always used resources in conjunction with other ones, so it's not in a linear progression or in chronological order. also I won't list anki since i'm still using it and will keep on using it for the time being hahah
learning apps i've used and given up on:
duolingo (gave up after 1 month)
hellochinese (gave up after 1 week)
skritter (gave up after 2 months)
learning programs i've used and given up on:
busuu (gave up after 2 months)
lingQ (gave up after 2 months)
textbooks i've used and given up on:
living language learning chinese (didn't even open up the package)
integrated chinese (gave up after chapter 5 of the first book)
HSK (gave up after ～2 years at HSK5 (i'm SUPER PROUD of this one though)
podcasts i've used and given up on:
speak chinese naturally (gave up after 3 months)
ximalaya (podcast app but still put it in this category - 2 months)
chinese coloquialized (gave up after 1 month)
bear talk (gave up after 1 week)
聊聊东西 (talk to me in chinese) (gave up after 2 months but i'm listening to it again now and can understand ~50% of the dialogues!!!)
reading comprehension tools i've used and given up on:
mandarin companion (gave up after level 1 - also super proud of this one!!)
du chinese (used it for a solid 4 months)
the chairman's bao (also used it for around 4-5 months)
readibu (used it for 2ish months, content was great, but it was really hard to read on my phone since I prefer physical books)
tools i'm currently using:
tv shows - working through who's the murderer season 1 (check out my patreon for the free deck for episode 1 - / biancalearns )
books - working through the little prince (but I have tons more books coming in the mail from my haul HA)
check out standard mandarin weekly for some great articles across any topic you'd like from HSK1-HSK4! www.themandarinweekly.com/
this video is not sponsored by any brands or items listed in my kits. the links provided are affiliate links, so I may make a small percentage off the sale of qualifying items at no extra cost to you :)
favorite textbooks: kit.co/bianca.learns/bianca-s...
favorite graded readers: kit.co/bianca.learns/bianca-s...
stationary (lefty friendly heh): kit.co/bianca.learns/bianca-s...
check out my socials!
website: biancalearns.wordpress.com/
instagram: @bianca.learns
all icons used are from flaticon.com - บันเทิง
3 year Japanese learner here. Fully agree on resources: some things pan out, others don’t, some we are just not ready for them yet. Lot of trial and error. We just need to remember that even if we feel we’re not making progress, actually we are. I am able to do job interviews in Japanese now. Not just 3 months ago, I never would have thought I would be able to by this point.
One important thing about resources for beginner to intermediate: it is MUCH EASIER to get something out of the material if you already know what it’s about. So don’t be afraid to "spoil" you’re brain by first understanding what the story is about in your mothertongue. By far the hardest for me is to understand content that I absolutely cannot relate to.
100% agree!!!! everything is trial and error, which can be frustrating for some, but I've learned to embrace the failures! I can always come back to something I "failed" at before, or I can just try to find something that better suits my level!
i found your channel a couple weeks ago and I have been powering through all your videos. I love your editing, your video aesthetics, and your teaching style! I got the HSK 1 this week and downloaded your anki deck. I want to get good enough where I can understand content and talk to other users on douyin 🕺
woohooo that sounds like an amazing goal!! thank you for watching my videos :)
Hello and thank you for all the great videos, they have been a huge help and eye opener when it comes to how I approach learning. One question I have is, how much did you focus on writing characters when it comes to learning? I know you mentioned you did write them but not obsessively, so did you just write to assist in learning but not to memorize how to write the actual character? I finished HSK1 around 3 months ago by using anki to memorize all of them as well as how they are used, and also didn't consider a character "learned" until I could write it from memory. I started school and had no time to study and when I finished and came back to Chinese, I found I remember all the characters and can recognize them, but could only write maybe 20 of the characters. I think this is a debate that is very widely talked about in Chinese as to whether characters are worth learning to write or not as some say it's good for memorizing but both sides agree writing isn't prevalent for most people in 2022. Writing seems to help me memorize it easier sure, but it slows the process down drastically. Just wanted to know what you think :)
I made a video recently about writing characters!! I have all my thoughts there :)
A Chinese book club - YES!
I’m glad you’re excited!! What type of stuff would you like to see in a book club? Livestreams? Update videos? Going through one book, or each person picks their own?
@@bianca.phdinprogress Livestreams, and I think going through one book would be a good idea :)
I will definitely see how I can incorporate that!! thank you for the suggestionnn
Bianca you should check out the Rainbow Bridge Graded Readers too. They have many different levels from beginner to HSK 6. I think all of their graded readers come with the audio book for free that can be downloaded. Plus they are usually pretty cheap.
Will check it out!! If I like it I’ll make a review :)
@@bianca.phdinprogress That would be awesome !!!
I really like this channel 💞 .it's like a Oxygen for language learner . I have really been with you from starting.noe I'm really good at Chinese now .and btw I'm preparing for medical exam
Alll the best💞
Awww thank you so much!! Really appreciate the kind worlds :)) I love hearing about progress!! Gives the rest of us something to look forward to in our own studies! Good luck on your medical exam!
@@bianca.phdinprogress 谢谢你。 姐姐 ：）
不谢不谢 :)
I’m wearing my blue version of your sweater while watching this video in solidarity! 😆 Thanks for the content 👍🏾
PS. I have Lil Prince and Old Man & The Sea in my target language (2 of my all time fav books, i will be joining your Book Club for those def). Hopefully you will consider getting The Alchemist as well- which I compare to a young adult version of the Lil Prince. Same feels, same vibe, so good. ⚡️
Woohooo what would you like to see in the book club?? Livestreams? Update videos? Going through the same book? Each person pick and choose their own book? Trying to gather ideas!!
@@bianca.phdinprogress I think weekly Shorts ⚡️ would be a great way to check-in! I fear having a whole month without any reading updates I personally would fall off and lose my motivation. So maybe weekly shorts with an update on your own progress and any hiccups, and then ONCE you’ve finished the book, a Livestream with all of us to chat about the book overall and how we found the process- might be a nice culmination! Whatcha think?! You could even take suggestions and top 3 options for next month’s book which we could do a TH-cam poll on after the Livestream to Vote 🗳! ✅
ooooh such a great idea!!! actually, after going through a few chapters of the little prince, I realized that my "not intense" reading plan that I posted on my community page was actually still too intense HAHAHA. Even though the chapters are only a few pages long, there's still around 50 new words per chapter (sometimes more, sometimes less). so i'll probs just start fresh in april as the official book club start with a revised plan. I think regular updates would also be very useful and a monthly livestream is a great idea!!
@@bianca.phdinprogress lololol Bianca, when I saw ur calendar 🗓 I was like! 🙀😳. Hahah. I was like, maybe I’ll just be there for chapter 1 🥴
LOL yeah well this is part of the process of starting to read native novels. Starting and then realizing oh shoot maybe not HAHA
yes! i love a good book tour!
book tourrrrr.. spent way too much on books recently XD
Can you review the trainchinese app and their TH-cam channel i want to know what are your thoughts about it. 😊 anyways, great video!
Will put that on my list of videos!!
Hi Bianca, are you on the chinese refold server active? I also bought a lot of textbooks the entire new practical chinese reader series. After having gone through it halfway i just decided to do immersion, so right now i am only watching youtube for streamers and am watching other channels such as netflix for dramas. I got a lot of channels subscribed on spotify and i also know bear talk, but to my tast its to advanced. I also tried chinese colloqualized and went all the way through it. 加油
I used it when I first started language acquisition, but I don’t really know how to use discord too well, so I kinda stopped. I just kinda did my own thing LOL
Bianca, did you say Book Club? That would be so awesome! I watched so many of your videos, you are so honest and analitycal; love your approach. I never write comments, but here i just wanted to show you that the interest for Book Club would be there, i'd love to join such group for sure.
When it comes to my level - i do not practice talking (yet!), Rather i have focused on reading and am trying with listening. I also went through all breakthrough and level 1 of Mandarin Companion, and high comprehension of last 3-4 books from L1 encouraged me to start with level 2 (i have just started with Great Expectations). For me the graded readers seem like a good path for now (following completion of highly interesting MC series and having read a lot on DuChinese - i also recommend this source - Iwanted to try other more advanced graded readers). So please reach out once you have an idea on Book Club, I'd love to help on it :)
Thank you so much for this comment!!! Hearing about your progress is so encouraging :)
What would you like to see in a book club? Live streams going over progress? Doing one book or do a pick your own? Trying to gather interest from my viewers as to what would be helpful and enjoyable :)
@@bianca.phdinprogress hi Bianca, as much as possible it would be cool to interact with your viewers. Then i know that at first live streams might be challenging (i myself live in eastern Europe, but many of your viewers would be from US, Australia, so to have a proper "session" where we as viewers could ask questions and interact is probably pre-mature at this point).
Instead for me as a learner it would be really cool to get your perspective (after reading some book) for what level do you believe this book is for (i know that in the world of ppl learning Chinese it is not easily measurable, but maybe you could give examples of words/characters that are appearing frequently in the position you've read).
Another idea would be to hear you sharing on how easy/difficult it was for you to go through some chapters/books and what was your main problem or what grammatical constructions you acquired while reading. Definitely not to do the "grammar study" during video but share for instance why 就 is so important character. As an example from my journey in learning English, i can share that when I started encountering "though" at the end of sentences, i couldn't get my head around it. When I read how it is being used and I started purposefully using this word in my communication in English, it just stayed with me and is very natural now. My English is still far from perfect... THOUGH :)
Another suggestion would be to share with your viewers whether books which have on left page Chinese characters text and on right side English text are anyhow helpful and whether books you bought which you knew (like amazing Little Prince) were actually easier to grasp because you knew the content more or less, or maybe it is actually more engaging to read the stories you did not know in the past. Plus your review of different Grader Readers would also be cool to watch (one episode = one series), as we all for sure do not want to spend money on series which may prove to be simply poorly made.
Last thing is about any advices for reading itself. For instance - at the moment i much more prefer to read on my iphone or Android phone as i have built in apps which i can use in case I don't get some word (on iphone especially nice to use in Kobo app or in iBooks with built in iOS translator). I read about YouDao Pen 2 / 3 however for reading books in paper if do not want to constantly go and check the words in pleco (i recommend you to at least check it, as the concept is quite cool).
P.s. of course if in the future you could organize some actual forum for those who would like to exchange their suggestions and recommendations, that would be awesome as well (i myself was already searching on Reddit and quora for suggestions from other learners for the time when i am done with Mandarin Companion series). But i get this is outside TH-cam and you may prefer to leave such extra side-projects for later :)
Apologies for this looong answer, but i really would like to add perspective of your fan and fellow learner and help you in your awesome journey :) good luck!
thank you SO much for this comment filled with so many great ideas!!! i'll do my best to incorporate as much of them as I can :) I think I can include a lot of them during book clubs and others after book clubs, so i'm very excited about that!!!
the forum idea is really awesome, but there's already other forums available (refold has a discord that also has chinese), and i'm not the most well versed in that realm XD
For listening, i am a crazy beginner for actually choosing mao er fm 😂🤣 i guess i can suggest this to advance chinese learners. It's actually an app full of audio dramas. There are also people doing audio streaming there. It's a very cute app.
ooh that sounds so cool! will check it out!
Would you reccomend i make my own deck as a beginner if I feel overwhelmed with not knowing majority of the hsk 1 words I come across?
So generally, making your own decks is the best way to learn words. It’s easiest if you review words in the context of where you first encountered them because you can recall back on that memory. You can also choose words that you want to learn. Usually pre-made decks also include words that are too hard while trying to make a coherent sentence (I encountered that when I first used premade decks). But for many people, making their own decks are really challenging. Using anki is a learning curve and making decks can be a huge stress for people, which can lead you to give up.
So it’s up to you really if you want to make your own decks or utilize pre-made decks. Both have pros and cons.
But one option is also using a premade deck that corresponds to your learning materials. I did make a deck for all the words in HSK1-4 that uses the sentences from the textbook, so it kinda gets a bit of both worlds! Check it out if you’re interested :)
@@bianca.phdinprogress Thank you so much for your help I will check it out!
No problem!!
Is it okay to go through the HSK1 textbook + workbook in 15 days if I already know the words? Or will I forget it all? (Doing a chapter every day)
going through the book isn't as important as regularly reviewing the words! If you go through it fast but review the content that you learned, you won't forget it!
Yes, it’s good to go through a beginner phase more fast, so you can comprehend much more resources.
But supplement your study with reading books and listening to audio made for Chinese learners, so that you can recognize newly learned words and don’t forget them:3
15:59 what's this specific book called? Cuz I'm learning French and Chinese so it'll be helpful
It’s called “the little prince”! I bought it off Amazon!
@@bianca.phdinprogress thank you so much!!
You’re welcome :))
spoiler: the chinese learning curve is a cliff. you will eventually get to a point wher you will know all the characters and can listen to complex speech without subtitles.
after you beat yiur skull into that cliff so hard and often you dont notice that each bang was mario.
and there it is 黄金的硬币！
hopefully I can get to that point soon!! excited to keep getting better with my reading and listening comprehension!
Hey. I got Hsk 4 but I can’t speak Chinese. What can I do to improve my speaking. I couldn’t find any resource for speaking🙁
So speaking is a WHOLE other ball game than reading and listening. I’m at HSK5 and it’s still hard for me to speak. People have different opinions about when to speak as well. If we reduce it to two camps (kinda simplistic but eh) it would come out to
1. Speak from day one
2. Speak when your reading and listening comprehension is at a really high degree
Regardless of which path you choose, the first step is really to memorize set phrases/sentences and the context in which you can use it. Ultimately, speaking is just using sentences you’ve heard before and adapting them to your specific thought. Easier said than done though HAHA.
But the most streamlined way to start speaking if you don’t want to wait till your reading/listening comprehension is near fluency, is with a few stages.
1. Chinglish - start incorporating Chinese words into English sentences (works best if you have Chinese speaking friends. Teachers may not approve of this method l o l)
2. Simple sentences - find simple sentences you would personally say in tv shows, books, podcasts, any learning material. Keep it short and more tangible. It would be especially useful if it’s something you can use in your everyday life. For example, choose a sentence like: “what do you want to eat today” instead of “what’s your perspective on philosophical theories”.
3. Slowly increase the amount of sentences that you know in simple topics and insert them into your conversations when it fits.
4. Slowly increase the amount of topics you can talk about.
All of these are easy in concept, difficult in practice. So give yourself time and be okay with making mistakes :)
@@bianca.phdinprogress Can I learn Hsk 1-4 textbook dialogues? I think they useful for every topic? I think it will also can help to improve speaking .
You definitely can! Some are more relevant than others though. As you get into more advanced books, their utility in everyday life starts to go down. Another thing about the HSK is that they’ll teach you a lot of different things, but not enough about a particular topic. So you’ll learn a few things about school, but not everything. You’ll still have to find those sentences in other content!
@@bianca.phdinprogress so what should I use beside Hsk textbooks?
@@bianca.phdinprogress this comment itself deserves a video on it :) maybe also in a form of short interview with someone who went through option 1 (like Dan whom you have interviewed already) and someone who learned proper fluency through reading (like Jared Turner from You Can Learn Chinese podcast/Mandarin Companion series)?
Did you use the Hsk workbooks?
I used to use the workbooks, but then it became harder to use since I don't have a tutor. It'll be more helpful if you have a native speaker check over your work!
I don't get it, there has always been art in any Little Prince book because it was written that way.
(...)Hua ma is great :D
It was a great book :)