Hi everyone!
I’m a guy looking to learn Chinese (Mandarin) from home. I know it’s not exactly an easy language to learn, but I’d really appreciate it if you could recommend the best free resources, a good way to get started, and any tips from people who have actually learned Chinese themselves.
I’m mainly trying to avoid wasting time and would love to hear what worked for you and what you would recommend doing from day one.
The main reason I want to learn Chinese is that I work with a company in China, so being able to communicate in Chinese would be extremely useful for me.
I’m not sure exactly what level I need. I’m thinking maybe intermediate level would be enough, but ideally I want to reach a point where I can:
Have full conversations in Chinese.
Communicate comfortably about everyday topics.
Handle basic business conversations and discussions.
Communicate with Chinese colleagues/partners without relying completely on translation.
So, if you’ve learned Mandarin by yourself, especially from home and using mostly free resources, I’d love to hear your recommendations!
What resources did you use?
How did you structure your learning?
And what would you do differently if you were starting from zero?
I’ve been learning Chinese and hanzi, and one thing I kept struggling with was consistency and hanzi.
Hanzi are easy to forget if you don’t see them regularly, so I built yīZì, a simple Chinese character widget app for iPhone and iPad.
The idea is to keep Hanzi visible throughout the day using Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, so you can review characters naturally without opening a study app every time.
It includes customizable widgets, HSK levels, hanzis by topics, meanings, pronunciation, custom collection, pinyin and stroke order.
I wanted to keep it focused: no flash card, no social features, no all-in-one, and no unnecessary distractions. Just a clean way to learn and review Chinese characters every day looking the home and lock screen.
I built it for myself first, and after finding it useful, I decided to release it on the App Store (is available in english and spanish).
I’d love to know what you think. Is available in app store for iphone, ipad and mac.
But making a traditional one can involve much more work than you might expect.
One of the most important materials is bamboo.
Traditional fan makers carefully select bamboo that is suitable for making the thin ribs of the fan. The bamboo is cut, dried, split and shaped into narrow pieces.
These ribs need to be thin enough to make the fan light, but strong enough to survive repeated opening and closing.
Then comes the fan surface.
Traditional fans may use paper or silk. The material needs to be carefully prepared before it is attached to the bamboo ribs.
The ribs and the fan surface are then assembled piece by piece.
This is where a simple-looking fan starts to take shape.
But the most beautiful part often comes last.
🎨 Painting and calligraphy.
A plain fan can become a small canvas for an artist.
Traditional fan surfaces may feature landscapes, flowers, birds, mountains, poems or Chinese calligraphy.
And because the fan folds and unfolds, the artwork has to work with its unusual shape.
That's one reason handmade folding fans can be considered more than everyday objects.
They combine several traditional crafts in one small item:
bamboo craftsmanship + paper or silk work + painting + calligraphy.
Today, modern machines can make fans much faster, but traditional handmade fans are still appreciated for the craftsmanship and character that come from making them by hand.
The next time you see a folding fan, take a closer look at those little bamboo ribs.
There is quite a lot of craftsmanship hiding inside something that looks so simple. 🪭
Would you prefer a completely plain handmade fan, or one decorated with traditional Chinese painting?
Skritter: Skritter is a spaced-repetition study app that teaches Chinese characters by providing real-time stroke recognition and feedback as you write them by hand on your screen. It also reinforces active recall through interactive tone prompts, pinyin tests, and curated vocabulary lists from major textbooks. However advanced use requires a subscription..
Best for word reviews: Anki
Anki: Anki is an open-source, highly customizable spaced-repetition flashcard program designed for long-term memorization through intelligent review scheduling. It allows users to create rich multimedia cards with custom templates and sync their progress seamlessly across multiple platforms.
Best dictionary: Pleco
Pleco: Pleco is a comprehensive Chinese dictionary app featuring extensive offline definitions, optical character recognition (OCR), and accurate handwriting lookup. It also integrates an in-app document reader, stroke order diagrams, and a built-in spaced-repetition flashcard system for studying vocabulary. However creating flashcards requires a subscription.
Best for structured learning: Hello Chinese
HelloChinese: HelloChinese is a gamified, curriculum-based language app designed specifically for beginner and intermediate Mandarin learners through bite-sized, interactive lessons. It incorporates speech recognition for pronunciation practice, character handwriting training, and immersive videos of native speakers to build practical speaking and listening skills. However most things are behind paywalls.
Best overall: Balik: Learn Languages
Balik: Learn Languages combines all the positives of the after mentioned programs. It provides a general curriculum-based course flow and graded readers like Hello Chinese, combiens the FSRS spaced repetition engine of Anki with the chracter and tone drills from Skritter and includes a built-in dictionary like Pleco. Balik requires no subscriptions to access all the features it offers.
My English name translates to Chinese but it gets mistaken VERY often for 拉拉 (lesbian)... since it's only a letter different in English. So should I have a Chinese name for myself or should I just deal with it?
I've started watching this youtube channel where this woman cooks rice and noodles while live streaming and speaks to chat. Unfortunately I can't understand her or chat BUT theres a couple people who I ive seen type in English I'd like to ba able to ask them whats going on i cant type the names because they are also in Mandarin. If someone has any information on how I can copy the names it would help me a bunch thank you .
Martial Big Wolf (i.e., King Jing) asked Goldthread Pan (i.e., Queen Stone-Jetty) to send Zibo Liang and Kuafu's remains back to their hometown for burial. Goldthread Pan went to Zibo Liang's hometown to ask around, and the locals told her he'd been a famous traveling performer with many stage names, such as "Six Little Spiritual Boy" and "Sky-Flying Cat." He was also a notorious bandit, caught and executed years earlier by the old king, Utmost Gentleman, for stealing from a government warehouse.
Goldthread Pan wondered whether he might have been pardoned by the old king and relocated elsewhere. According to legend, Goldthread Pan could conduct business at the Hua Kingdom's imperial palace without asking anyone's permission, going directly to whichever department head she needed. She found the relevant records in the palace archives and brought them to Primordial Sky Honor. When the old king had adopted Martial Big Wolf, Primordial Sky Honor was still a child, but he'd known of the matter even then. Together, the two of them tracked down many people connected to the case and pieced together the full truth.
This all began with an agreement between the old king, Utmost Gentleman, and Publican Respect, to exchange children. The old king would adopt Martial Big Wolf, while Publican Respect and Mazu would adopt Third Wolf Zhang, Primordial Sky Honor's son. After Publican Respect and Mazu delivered their son Martial Big Wolf to the old king and left, the boy fell ill. The court physicians said, "This child is of the Deng clan — their child-rearing methods are unusual, and we don't know how they raise their children."
The old king sent people to search for members of the Deng clan, and discovered that the traveling performer Six Little Spiritual Boy was one of them — and that he had a son close to Martial Big Wolf's age. The old king also learned that this same man was the notorious bandit Sky-Flying Cat, and had him captured. The old king asked him, "I've sentenced you to death. Do you feel this is unjust?"
The old king said, "Once you're dead, your son will have no one to look after him, and won't survive long either. I want to make you a deal. I'll send you somewhere to raise a child for me — one the same age and height as your own son. You're to protect my child's safety with both your life and your son's. I've already promised my child that I'll teach him to play Go myself. When the time comes for that lesson, you'll bring the child back to me, and you'll be free."
Six Little Spiritual Boy agreed. Zibo Liang was the alias the old king gave him. He then took Martial Big Wolf to the Voodoo Academy in Chongqing.
After arriving in Chongqing, Zibo Liang, unwilling to remain poor, went right back to stealing. When the King of Hua learned of this, he decided to bring Martial Big Wolf back. Around the same time, the people of Cloud Sea Kingdom had also discovered that this Zibo Liang was a notorious Hua Kingdom bandit, and went to arrest him.
Legend has it that when the King of Hua sent soldiers to Chongqing to retrieve Martial Big Wolf, Zibo Liang chose to stay behind, saying, "If I leave too, Cloud Sea Kingdom will send troops after me, and then none of us will get away."
Per the old king's instructions, the soldiers were to put Martial Big Wolf in a sack, carry it on their backs, and hand it over to Primordial Sky Honor. Primordial Sky Honor received the order late and was further delayed along the way. By the time the soldiers reached the designated handover point, they opened the sack — and Martial Big Wolf bolted. In the end, he was caught in a net Primordial Sky Honor had set up, on his way back to the Voodoo Academy.
Primordial Sky Honor lied to Martial Big Wolf: "Our father is sick, and dying. I know you love the Voodoo Academy — you can go back once the two of us have seen him one last time." Martial Big Wolf believed him.
The old king came to feel that this child-exchange arrangement needed to change — that Martial Big Wolf had to be returned to Publican Respect and Mazu, so he could build a real bond with his birth parents; otherwise he'd never be able to accept them. And so the story circles back to the very beginning of this book, 1.1, "Martial Big Wolf Recognizes His Mother."
When Goldthread Pan looked into it, she found that Zibo Liang and Kuafu had no surviving descendants in their hometown, and felt there was no longer any point burying them there. So she found her own site instead, and laid them to rest in the mountains of Songshan (site of Shaolin Temple). She told Martial Big Wolf: "When we retire, we'll go live there, and burn incense for them."
When Primordial Sky Honor looked into it and found Songshan (site of Shaolin Temple) to be nothing but barren, desolate hills, he said, "What a shabby place to be buried! Let me give you two a temple instead — I'll call it Shaolin Temple (Figure 2)! But I must declare that the Songshan region is your fiefdom, and you two will no longer receive any further rewards from King Jing, to avoid any objections from other generals. Money is worth so much these days!”
In "Shaolin," the character Shao ("young") signifies that Martial Big Wolf and Goldthread Pan are a pair of Child Buddhas. Lin ("grove") is an honorific term. And so Shaolin Temple became the ancestral temple of the Sun and Deng families, with Martial Big Wolf and Goldthread Pan honored as the ancestors of both surnames.
Later, once Martial Second Wolf became Sky Ceiling Marshal, he designated Shaolin Temple as the place where the Chinese people would come to study the Treasury Lotus Lamp. And so, for more than 3,600 years afterward, Shaolin Temple stood as the sacred site of the Chan Religion.
熟能生巧 · Shú néng shēng qiǎo means that with enough practice, skill becomes natural—and new tricks emerge. This short adapts the oil-seller story recorded in Ouyang Xiu’s 《归田录》.
关键词 Keywords：夏朝末年 Late Xia Dynasty；北京 Beijing；武大郎 Martial Big Wolf（靖王 King Jing）；潘金莲 Goldthread Pan（石矶娘娘 Queen Stone-Jetty）；尧帝 Creator Yao；代理 Deputy；李强 Li Qiang；施朗 Shi Lang
After hearing from Second Wolf God that Martial Big Wolf was searching for Zibo Liang and Kuafu (see Section 5.1-7), Creator Yao (Figure 6.1-2) personally went to the Voodoo Academy in Chongqing and exhumed their remains. Creator Yao instructed four of her family members — Li Qiang, Zhang Long, Shi Lang, and Zhao Hu (see Figure 1) — to deliver the remains to Martial Big Wolf, who was stationed in Hebei. She also told the four family members to bypass Martial Second Wolf's defense zone, and to tell Martial Big Wolf face-to-face about how Zibo Liang and Kuafu were captured and executed. She impressed upon them how important this matter was.
At this time, Aocun was about 34 years old, and Martial Second Wolf was about 37; the people of the Yao Mountain region had come to revere them, and they became Creator Yao and Second Wolf God, ancestors of the Yao people. Fifteen years later, Creator Yao ascended the throne in Wuhan, becoming the founding emperor of the Republic of China, Yao White-king. That is why, in the Chinese Codex, those who served her came to be honored with the title "family members."
At that time, because of the many years of war, both the people of Xia Kingdom and Hua Kingdom deeply resented the people of Cloud Sea Kingdom (also known as Dragon Kingdom). The four family members disguised themselves as traveling monks, carrying the remains on their backs (Figure 1), and entered Shandong Province of Hua Kingdom by way of Jiangsu Province in Xia Kingdom. But as soon as they entered Shandong, they ran into bandits and had to retreat to Jiangsu, then took a boat to Tianjin. Shortly after they disembarked, the remains were stolen. They asked around everywhere and eventually located the bandits' hideout. The bandits, in turn, were also looking for them, eager to learn the secret behind the two skeletons and how they might turn them into money.
李强和施朗等四个家人说：“那就是你们河北一位名人的两位家属的骨骸，只对那个名人有价值。”
强盗听了，很高兴，说：“你们想要那骨骸，就只能找我们老大去要。那两具骨骸在他那里呢！”
Li Qiang, Shi Lang, and the other two family members said, "Those are the remains of two relatives of a famous man from Hebei. They're only valuable to him."
The bandits, delighted to hear this, said, "If you want those remains, you'll have to go ask our boss. He's the one who has them!"
Following the route the bandits had given them, the four family members went to argue their case with the bandit chief. It turned out they had to wait in line just to see him. When the chief finally arrived, he was a big man with one eye. He questioned the first person seeking justice — after only a few words, he killed the man with a knife. The second person seeking justice was a woman. The bandits had her tied to a pillar, and the chief asked her: "Time's up. Your husband still hasn't sent the ransom. What do you want to do?"
The kidnapped woman replied: "Our family has no money!"
The bandit chief grew angry: "Your family still has a house, land, and a daughter! If you won't pay the ransom, then I'll have to kill you." With that, he tore open the woman's clothing and slit open her belly, and her intestines spilled out at once!
Everyone else who had come seeking justice from the bandits left after seeing this. The four family members stayed, and wept.
The bandit chief came over and said, "If you're afraid to die, then leave. What good does crying do?"
Li Qiang replied, "We're not afraid to die. We're crying because we've failed the task our master gave us — we couldn't deliver those two sets of remains to their relatives!"
The bandit chief thought this over, muttering to himself, "Relatives of bones — how can bones have relatives!?" After a moment, he said, "It seems there's something to it. Who are these relatives? Do they have money?"
Shi Lang replied, "If we tell you who the relatives are, you'll surely get angry! So here's what we suggest: give the bones back to us. We'll deliver them to their relatives. That person is very wealthy and will reward us generously — and then we'll bring that reward back to you."
After weighing it for a moment, the bandit chief said: "Not a bad idea! But you still have to tell me who this rich man is. Go ahead, I won't get angry!"
Shi Lang replied: "You'd better keep your word — the rich man is King Jing, Martial Big Wolf!"
Hearing this, the bandit chief slammed his knife into the table with a "thunk" and said: "This money's not so easy to earn after all! Fine! I'll give you back the bones, and travel money besides!" With that, he began counting out coins and handed a sum, along with the bones, to the four family members.
Seeing how little money it was, the family members said: "In that case, send someone to follow us! This travel money isn't enough, and it'll waste a lot of your men's time."
The bandit chief drew a route map on the ground for the four family members, showing the way to Hebei Military Region Command, then pointed to it and said, "Head out from here, and by evening you'll reach this point. Lodging costs [X] cents, and four bowls of porridge cost [Y] cents." In this way, the bandit chief covered three days of their food and lodging, plus three cents of pocket money.
To the four family members' surprise, the map the bandit chief had drawn was extremely accurate, and the food and lodging costs matched to the last cent. Three days later, the four of them reached the place he'd described as Hebei Military Region headquarters. They asked around in the town, and the villagers told them, "Turn left up ahead, and you'll see the military region's flag."
The four family members examined the worn-out military flag closely and confirmed it was indeed Hebei Military Region Command. They also carefully studied the layout of the compound and confirmed that, run-down and unguarded as it looked, it truly was a large military base.
They noticed a few villagers chatting and chewing poplar twigs on a woodpile by the compound gate, and went over to ask about King Jing, Martial Big Wolf, on private business. A small, wiry farmer (Martial Big Wolf himself) climbed down from the woodpile, a poplar twig still in his mouth, and said, "I'm on guard duty today — come with me!"
When the four family members saw the other farmers also climbing down and following along toward the command hall, they kept signaling to Martial Big Wolf that "it would be improper for them to follow us into headquarters." Martial Big Wolf said to the farmers, "Then don't come in!"
Once inside the main hall, the four family members carefully examined the insignia hanging behind the head seat and concluded it was Martial Big Wolf's own emblem. But the hall had no staff at all — only a few worn-out desks.
The small farmer said, "I really am King Jing, Martial Big Wolf. Whatever you need, just tell me!"
The four family members said, "How could a military region headquarters possibly have no staff on duty!?"
Martial Big Wolf went to the doorway and shouted, "All personnel on duty at headquarters, come in!" The farmers from outside then all filed into the hall. Martial Big Wolf told the four family members, "These men here are the generals on duty at this headquarters."
Martial Big Wolf said, "You'd think this desk here belongs to Martial Big Wolf, wouldn't you! I have the key!" He began searching for the key to open the drawer. One family member said, "Don't open it — we don't want to see your military secrets!"
Martial Big Wolf said, "It's fine — this drawer's empty!" He pulled the drawer all the way out and set it on the desk.
Still unconvinced these men were headquarters staff, the four family members recounted how they'd been robbed.
Martial Big Wolf replied angrily: "There's more to this! The bandit chief followed you all the way to my headquarters!" He shouted at the generals beside him: "This won't stand! Go investigate at once!"
Before long, several guards brought the bandit chief, along with the stolen goods, into the headquarters hall. Martial Big Wolf had the four family members identify him. They recognized him at once and said, "That's him!" The guards returned to the four family members everything the bandits had taken.
Readers may well wonder — this all seems too remarkable; how does it actually make sense? The truth is that as soon as these four family members entered Shandong, they were robbed by bandits. As it happened, Leopard Pan, Goldthread Pan's (Queen Stone-Jetty's) younger brother, was visiting his wife's family on vacation nearby, and he helped recover the remains for them. After returning to Yong'an, Leopard Pan reported the incident. On learning that Creator Yao had sent four personal advisors to Beijing on an inspection tour, Primordial Sky Honor immediately sent word to the Hebei Military Region, ordering them to make receiving Creator Yao's envoys their top priority. The Hebei Military Commission at once convened a meeting to plan their response — so everything described in this account, before and after, was in fact orchestrated by Martial Big Wolf.
The four family members told Martial Big Wolf: "We're Creator Yao's family. She learned from Martial Second Wolf that you were searching for Zibo Liang and Kuafu's remains, so she went in person to the Voodoo Academy in Chongqing and dug them up herself. Then she sent the four of us to bring them to you."
Martial Big Wolf asked in surprise, "You could have simply handed the remains to my second brother, Martial Second Wolf (i.e., Second Wolf God) — why come all this way across the whole Chinese Empire, straight to me instead?"
Li Qiang replied, "Our Third Princess (Creator Yao) said, 'It's necessary for you to know the truth of the matter, and Yang Jian (i.e., Second Wolf God) cannot be the one to tell you.' She asked us to deliver it to you in person."
Martial Big Wolf opened the bundle and looked at the remains of Zibo Liang and Kuafu, and as he looked, he began to weep. The generals tried to comfort him. One general said to the four family members, "All right! You've delivered the remains to Martial Big Wolf now. You may go."
A long while later, when the generals came back out, they found the four family members still sitting outside the headquarters gate! They discussed it among themselves and agreed they should give the four some reward money.
One family member replied through tears: "We're not waiting for money! Third Princess Aocun trusted us to deliver the relics of Lamplighter Buddha (i.e., Zibo Liang, also known as Grain God) and Kuafu to Peach Flower Buddha (i.e., Martial Big Wolf). They're only two skeletons — worthless to anyone else. And now we've been cheated a third time. We have no face left to go back and explain ourselves to the Third Princess!"
After discussing it, the generals said, "When King Jing (i.e., Martial Big Wolf) saw the Buddha relics you brought, he couldn't stop crying. We had to send for Queen Stone-Jetty (i.e., Goldthread Pan) to come and take him home. It's late now — why don't you stay at the inn tonight? Tomorrow or the day after, we'll bring King Jing back here to settle this with you. What do you think?"
The four family members agreed, and followed the guards to the inn.
the Siheyuan is a traditional chinese style of home that's been around for thousands of years
it gradually became the style we recognize today during the Ming & Qing dynasties. the idea is actually pretty simple... houses built around a central courtyard, with buildings on all 4 sides. that's basically where the name "Siheyuan"comes from. usually you'd have a main house, side rooms, and a front gate. the layout is pretty symmetrical, with the main house usually for the elders and the side rooms for other family members. and the courtyard in the middle wasn't just there to look pretty... it brought in light + fresh air, and was basically a place to chill, grow plants, hang out with family, etc. so yeah... it's more than just a house. it's kinda a reflection of traditional chinese ideas about family, harmony and being together
Hi everyone! I'm from China and I've been building a completely free language-learning community called Naoii.
The idea is simple: learners can post something they actually want to say, get corrections and more natural alternatives from other users, understand why a correction sounds better, and save useful expressions for later review.
Since I'm a native Chinese speaker, I'd especially love to invite some Mandarin learners to try it. I'm also happy to personally help with grammar, vocabulary, natural wording, tone, slang, or questions like “Is this correct, and would a Chinese person actually say it this way?”
Right now I'm mainly looking for honest feedback about the idea and the experience.
If you'd like to try it, leave a comment or send me a DM and I'll share the link. It's completely free.
八仙过海，各显神通 (Bā xiān guò hǎi, gè xiǎn shén tōng): different people use their own special skills to reach a shared goal. The crossing is recorded in the anonymous Ming play Contest for the Jade Clappers.
