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chi_ren -

... well almost. Hi guys!! i am starting my degree in Modern & classical Chinese in September, and
would like some advice as to where to start, before I get there. I spent 3 months in Shanghai
earlier this year. so its not all totally new to me, but I have never formally learnt any Mandarin
AT ALL! So where to begin? (I know this is a broad, vague question, that might be difficult to
answer, but suggestions are very appreciated!) Thanks!



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Lu -

I'm assuming you're going to take this degree in a university not in China. Does the university
offer the classes of your program at your level, ie complete beginner? If so, don't worry, just
make sure you go with the program, try to never miss class, do your homework, and you should be
fine for quite some time. That's really the best advise I can think of for your situation. If you
are worried, maybe you can call the people of the program and ask what they will expect of you.

The only thing that might be useful to do in advance is buying a good dictionary. For classical
Chinese, I'd recommend the Mathews (big, black and Wade-Giles, but good for wenyan), for modern
Chinese the bilingual Contemporary Chinese Dictionary, or else the Far East Chin-Eng dictionary.
Other people will have other recommendations.

I hope this helps, if you have more specific questions, feel free to post them.










chi_ren -

Thanks so much for your reply!!

Well, I;m going to SOAS (in London) and yes, they teach from scratch, so I know I'll be OK so long
as I put the work in. I've bought two books from the reading list, and I'm going to check out some
dictionaries, including your suggestions. Many thanks!










Lu -

SOAS, oh wow, I'm jealous now... :-) Make sure to check out their library, I heard it's really
great.










chi_ren -

haha, yea i checked it out already, its AMAZING! can't wait!










Ari 桑 -

I agree, a good, highly interactive class is by far the best way to begin. Once you absorb the
basics, things get fun, and you get to start exploring on your own. But a good teacher is where to
start.










lozolo -

u'd better make a friend who from china,begin with talking,then u will know what should study










OneEye -

The most effective thing I've come across in studying the characters is using an SRS program. SRS
stands for Spaced Repetition System and is like flashcards on steroids. This is a better
explanation than I could hope to give.

I've been copying and pasting the most common 3000 characters, their pronunciations, and meanings
into Mnemosyne and the program automatically chooses when to bring each character up again based
on how well I've done on that character in the past. It also automatically makes me learn new
characters at a rate of 20 per day (or whatever I choose to set it to), provided I actually make
myself do so. Very easy to do, and very effective.










madizi -

SOAS. I enyy you. (for others, check this out: http://www.soas.ac.uk/)

It is also useful to write characters on a paper. This way you memorize them better and also learn
how to write them and which parts (radicals or phonetics) are combined together in particular
character.










chi_ren -

Thanks for your answers guys! I'm defintiely gonna check out that SRS thing, never heard of it
before!












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