this is how I learn Chinese
(make friends discover music watch TV learn and practice more)
make friends
instant message applet and the world's second biggest social network with over 800 million users. Offer to exchange "QQ numbers“ with your Chinese friends and you just may make them faint with your cultural understanding.
a near exact jack of facebook with similar features and color scheme. Registering is free, but American users may have to fib about what high school in China they "went to." For extra authenticity points, call it by it's original name "xiaonei" when you swap contact info with your new mates from the middle kingdom. They'll freak.
another way to keep track of your friends comes in the form of this Chinese microblogging site. It's just like twitter and it's an excellent way to keep up with China's movers and shakers as well as your not so movey-shakey amigos. Get an account, start following your fav China celebs, and learn a few new words in the process.
discover music
you may be like me and shed a Yangtze River of tears when you realized you couldn't seed Chinese artists on Pandora. Dry your eyes with these free and (probably) legal sites for music discovery. Each gives you the option to "heart" songs you like and skip songs you don't.
watch TV
After Google gingerly pulled it's fingers out of China's delicious but censorship-laden pie, Baidu arrived to fill the internet power vacuum. The web-giant is about as multifaceted as google, but with features even the land of the free won't allow. I use Baidu's Video site to watch TV shows. Search for a program and you'll get a well organized list of all the show's episodes. Don't know where to start? I'm hooked on 裸婚时代 (Luo Hun Shi Dai, "Naked Wedding") which is about a cash-strapped, young couple who scoff the usual Chinese pre-marriage requirements of a house and a vehicle to follow their hearts.
Chinese youtube, plain and simple. Find music videos, comedy routines, anything to tide you over until tomorrow's Chinese 102 class. Many of the videos come with Chinese subtitles to help you follow along.
learn and practice
Chinese-English Dictionary for iOS and Android devices. The Dictionary is free, but you're cheating yourself if you don't spring for some of the paid add-ons like voice recordings, a fool-proof handwriting recognizer, and the most advanced flashcard app you've ever seen. Spring for the $35 basic bundle of add-ons and you won't regret it. The guys at Pleco have created an incredible learning tool.
Super awesome add-on for Google Chrome. Install it and enable it and it will give you instant pinyin transliterations and English translations of Chinese just by hovering your mouse over a character or word. It picks up proper nouns, multiple pronunciations of syllables and even gives you historical background for some words.
more
Arm yourself with the Zhongwen Popup Dictionary and go crazy with this Wikipedia-like Chinese site. It's excellent for learning about anything Chinese as well as anything worldwide (from a Chinese perspective). I love it for it's detailed explanations of Chinese idioms and popular internet phrases.
It's never been a better time to learn Chinese. The resources are endless.
What about you?
What products, sites, or apps do you recommend?
What about you?
What products, sites, or apps do you recommend?
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