Mandarin learning resources
Beginners
Real Chinese
Real Chinese is made up of 10 short units: greetings, asking for directions, ordering drinks, etc. It will take you about 15 minutes to complete each unit.
Learn to write Characters
The animated character in UTF-8 codes will appear on this website and you can view the stroke order of each character.
Pinyin Pronunciation for Mandarin
A website for improving pinyin skills.
Free Online MIT Course Materials
Here are some links to Chinese courses offered by MIT. We suggest you click on the links on the left hand side of the web page rather than downloading zip files to access more easily the contents of the courses provided because some zip files may not work:
Chinese I (Regular) Spring 2006
Chinese II (Regular) Spring 2006
Chinese I (Streamlined) Fall 2005
Chinese II (Streamlined) Spring 2006
Chinese I (Regular) Spring 2006
Chinese II (Regular) Spring 2006
Chinese I (Streamlined) Fall 2005
Chinese II (Streamlined) Spring 2006
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Intermediate
Online Chinese tools
The website provides DimSum Chinese Reading Assistant, Character Flashcards, and the Chinese/English dictionary to help people study and use Chinese.
Free Online MIT Course Materials
Here are some links to Chinese courses offered by MIT. We suggest you click on the links on the left hand side of the web page rather than downloading zip files to access more easily the contents of the courses provided because some zip files may not work:
Chinese III (Regular) Fall 2003
Chinese III (Regular) Fall 2005
Chinese IV (Regular) Spring 2004
Chinese IV (Regular) Spring 2006
Chinese VI (Regular): Discovering Chinese Cultures and Societies Spring 2003
Chinese III (Streamlined) Fall 2005
Chinese IV (Streamlined) Spring 2004
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Advanced
My Mandarin.com
The website introduces sounds of Mandarin through pin-yin, stroke order, 199 most common phrases in business, travel and everyday life.
Free Online MIT Course Materials
Here are some links to Chinese courses offered by MIT. We suggest you click on the links on the left hand side of the web page rather than downloading zip files to access more easily the contents of the courses provided because some zip files may not work:
Chinese V (Regular): Chinese Cultures & Society Fall 2003
Chinese VI (Streamlined) Spring 2005
Smashing the Iron Rice Bowl: Chinese East Asia
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Dictionaries
Worldlingo Free Online Language Translator
Chinese Character Dictionary
An English-Chinese and Chinese-English dictionary on-line. It has a large number of Chinese characters and many input methods for character searches.
Chinese Characters Dictionary Web
It can only be used for checking Chinese characters. It also has a link to OCRAT animated Chinese characters.
The People’s Chinese Dictionary
This website enables Chinese learners to do some searches by Pinyin, Radical and FourCorner.
NCIKU
This is a very user-friendly Chinese-English dictionary with some Chinese character writing content. It also has audio and video resources for learning Chinese Characters. The ‘Chinese Conversation of the Day’ is recommended for all Mandarin learners.
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Culture
Dimsum - the British Chinese Community website
This website offers information on cultural representations of 'Chineseness' and the Chinese community in England.
Classical Chinese Art, Calligraphy, Poetry, History, Literature, Painting and Philosophy
The website offers information on classical Chinese art, calligraphy, poetry, history, literature, painting and philosophy.
Chinese Films
"Chinese Films" is a joint project between China Radio International and the Film Bureau of China. As the first English website to focus on Chinese films, their aim is to introduce exceptional domestically produced films to the outside world and provide the most efficient and convenient way to learn about the film industry in China.
Danwei
With frequent reference to and translations from Mainland Chinese media, Danwei publish fresh information about China that you won't find anywhere else. It also produces original video shows and audio podcasts about China. Using extensive Chinese language sources, it keeps tabs on a wide variety of subjects including legal and business stories, media and entertainment gossip, and the environment.
China Culture.org
This website has lots of information about Chinese Culture and Arts as well as information about China, both in English and Chinese. It is useful for Mandarin learners at all levels.
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Media
Sina
People’s Daily
BBC China
China Daily
China Post
Taipei Times
www.cntv.cn
Chinese television
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Podcasts
CRI ENGLISH
CRIENGLISH.com is the official English website of CRI (China Radio International), providing comprehensive information on both Chinese and international topics. Through the website users can read program transcripts, view illustrations and hear their English radio programs.
ChinesePod
ChinesePod has podcasts of Mandarin conversations. The topics are very interesting and useful for Mandarin learners at all levels. You can also download the podcasts and transcripts. It is hosted by a Mandarin native speaker and an English speaker who also speaks Mandarin. It is not a free resource but you can subscribe for a week's free trial to experiment with.
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General
Centre for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, University of Oxford
There is a wide range of learning resources available for learners of Chinese of all levels.
Centre for Chinese Studies, University of Manchester
Some good quality resources for learners of Chinese, for example, Chinese sounds and conversation, Chinese movies, Chinese songs and music, Chinese MTV, and Chinese news, are provided on this website.
Confucius Institute Online
Confucius Institute Online is a comprehensive website for Chinese learning. It is devoted to satisfying the needs of people who are interested in Chinese learning all around the world, promoting the understanding of Chinese culture, as well as enhancing the educational and cultural cooperation between China and the world. Suitable for all levels of Mandarin learners.
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