Learn Chinese Fast

Do you want to learn Chinese fast? Maybe you are going to China and want to get a good start on the language, or for whatever reasons you are interested in learning Chinese. There are a lot of programs to help you.

Many Chinese language software programs are available -- see the menu for the ones I review here. They vary in what they emphasize. Some are more for spoken Chinese and others may include pinyin, which is the standard way of romanizing Chinese writing. The Chinese themselves use it for typing into computers and cellphones, and they also teach it to schoolchildren. Not too many of these programs include learning Chinese characters.

I do want to say that you will not learn Chinese fast in the sense of becoming truly fluent in a short time. For one thing, you didn't exactly pick the easiest language in the world for a native English speaker to learn.

My father, who spoke pretty good Mandarin, used to say that to become completely fluent in Chinese would probably take him about 200 years! He would then usually add that to become fluent in Arabic, which he knew a smattering of, would probably require 400 years. He stuck with Mandarin.

So when I say "learn Chinese fast," in my mind that is shorthand for "Find a method to help you get a good start on learning Chinese, do it diligently, and within a few weeks or months you may be pleasantly surprised at your (still quite basic) ability to converse and get around in China or anywhere you have a chance to speak Chinese."

YMMV, of course -- that is internet shorthand for "your mileage may vary." How good at languages you are, how regular you are in doing your lessons, how much attention you put on the lessons while doing them, whether you review your lessons, and other factors will all influence how much you learn. The good news is that most of these factors are under your control!