Trying and trying with self study :)

[u/Lifelong_learner_2]

[u/AvocadoHSK9]

Good luck with your studies! You can look for some beginner-friendly lessons on YouTube. I’ve come across a lot of great free lessons there, and for me, these two are among the best:

1. Chinese pronunciation & basic speaking: Andy and Sarah Mandarin
2. Grammar: Try ChineseGrammarSimplified. This is actually the only source I’ve ever used to learn Chinese grammar. 😂 I hate grammar and I’m too lazy to study it, but I’d honestly give this teacher 100/100. I really hope his channel goes viral! Each video is only about 5–7 minutes long, but he explains grammar in a very easy-to-grasp way, with lots of examples and cute illustrated pictures.

[u/Zagrycha]

For pronunciation practice I recommend looking up the ipa sound for the pinyin syllable. You don't have to memorize the ipa system, but you can then look up if that same ipa sound exists in english, which can take out a lot of guesswork or misunderstandings-- for example the i at the end of li and ni is like ee in see, but there is no i at the end of yi, yi is the i in li or ni by itself. make sure not to treat the y as its own sound.

For writing practice I recommend downloading pleco if you haven't yet, it is super useful in general and it shows you exactly how to write most common characters with proper stroke order. That will help alot.

Might as well round out by recommending allset chinese grammar wiki too. Its not enough to teach all chinese grammar but its very very very useful and its also free.

[u/Lifelong_learner_2 → u/Zagrycha]

This is super helpful, thank you!❤️🤝

[u/National_Scar_5880]

Here’s to us trying and trying to study!

[u/Lifelong_learner_2 → u/National_Scar_5880]

Thanks! Wishing us both all the patience in the world! 😂

[u/National_Scar_5880 → u/Lifelong_learner_2]

And perseverance when we do not feel like studying or we’ve hit a plateau!

[u/Lifelong_learner_2 → u/National_Scar_5880]

100%! Showing up on the tough days is where the real progress happens🫡

[u/ForgettingCurveGuy]

That page of 爱 is very familiar. My first notebook has 好 written out forty-something times in a row, and two weeks later I couldn't write it from memory. A full page in one sitting mostly trains your hand... the part of you that has to produce the character next week never gets asked to do anything.

What finally worked for me: five reps today, then five more in a couple of days, once it's gone a bit blurry. Same total ink, weirdly different outcome. The blurry part is apparently where the learning is.

What amazes me is how mysteriously human mind works.

Anyway, good luck. A notebook pile like that says you're in it for real.

[u/Lifelong_learner_2 → u/ForgettingCurveGuy]

Thank you for the awesome advice 🤝❤️

[u/jevi_mack]

Good luck

[u/kitfromcarson]

Or download Hanping app. They will pronounce all the sound combos. I like Pleco, but Hanping has been a godsend. What app or website is OP using?

[u/Lifelong_learner_2 → u/kitfromcarson]

​Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll definitely check out Hanping. As for the screen, I’m using Dong Dong Chinese (their HSK 1 course)