Learn Chinese Online

The Journey is the Reward

There is an age old Chinese proverb that says 'the journey is the reward'. We will take you on journey of learning as we introduce you to one of the oldest and culturally rich languages of the world.

The destination is not important. You may want to work or study in China, or just chat with Chinese friends. You may want to learn a little Chinese to get more from a holiday or business trip to China. Or you may just want to increase your knowledge and understanding of new languages and cultures. No matter how far you choose to take your study of Chinese, your learning is a treasure that will follow you everywhere.

Now it's within everyone's grasp!

It's Free. Our first 10 lessons are available to everyone for free and always will be. So everyone can enjoy a fun and easy to use introduction to Mandarin Chinese. Each of our chapters contains a multimedia lesson along with fun and challenging exercises for you to show off your newly acquired prowess in Chinese. We also have a glossary which serves as a useful reference for the new words and phrases in each chapter. We hope you'll enjoy this free service so much that you'll tell all your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc. etc. :)
No sign up required. You can jump in to any of our lessons and exercises right now! You have the option to set up your learning profile with us if you would like to keep track of your progress. You can earn gold, silver or bronze trophies in each of our lessons and exercises depending on your scores. Keep coming back until your trophy cabinet is full of gold, then you will be a true master!

It's all in the "Cloud". CDs and DVDs, remember them?! Our service is entirely internet-based so that you can log on from any computer anywhere in the world and instantly resume your learning where you left off. We know you don't want to wait for a package to get delivered, install software or fumble with CDs!

Our Approach

An Immersion Experience. It is well documented that we all learn languages best when immersed in the local environment. We have aimed to recreate that feeling of immersion as you follow the journey of Leo on his trip in China. You are met in the arrivals hall in Beijing by Dani who will guide you along your journey in learning Chinese. You'll also learn interesting facts about Chinese culture along the way. With the help of our rich multimedia lessons you'll soon feel like you've just stepped off the plane in Beijing airport yourself!

Learn from a native speaker. If you want to learn a new language, go straight to the source. Dani Wang is a native Mandarin Chinese speaker from Beijing, and she will teach you to speak just like a local. Mandarin has many distinct dialects as you travel throughout China, but the Beijing dialect is known as Standard Mandarin. You can be confident that you are learning Chinese from the best source available.

Real life scenarios. From the very beginning, we teach you what you want to know in order to start communicating in Chinese. Each lesson is focused on a real life scenario that you will encounter in China. In fact, we've organised our lessons to flow in the order that would might encounter these situations on a trip to China. In lesson 1, you arrive at Beijing airport and Dani teaches you to greet somebody in Chinese. The following lessons deal with ordering a coffee, getting a taxi from the airport, checking in to your hotel etc. We know that you don't want or need to learn as a child would. Instead of teaching words like 'apple' and 'dog', our focus is on teaching you how to communicate effectively in Chinese in a vacation or business trip setting.

What about the Chinese writing?

Chinese Characters. This writing system is as old as China itself, and each Chinese character is full of rich historical and cultural significance. To gain competence in Chinese writing requires a lot of dedicated study, even for Chinese students! Thankfully this is not required to start learning and communicating in Chinese.

Using the English alphabet. Pinyin is the method of writing Chinese in the letters of the English alphabet. It is the starting point for millions of Chinese schoolchildren every year as they start their formal education. Our approach to teaching Chinese is also based on using Pinyin. This allows you to focus your efforts on listening to and speaking Chinese from the beginning. You might be surprised at how soon you can be reading and writing Chinese.

The tones. You might have heard about the 4 tones in Chinese. A word in Chinese may have different meanings depending on the tone of your voice as you say the word. You already know how to use the tone of your voice to change the meaning of a sentence. For example the sentence "You're going to China" is a simple statement of fact. By changing the tone of your voice you can also create two new meanings. By raising your tone and saying "You're going to China?", you are changing the sentence into a question. By sharpening your tone and saying "You're going to China!", you are now giving an order.

Tone marks. The 4 tones are shown in Pinyin by using one of the 4 tone marks over a vowel. Dani will explain these in more detail in Lesson 2, which is all about tones. You can easily type the tone marks on this website with our simple number system. By pressing a number key from 1 to 4, your letter will automagically show the respective tone mark above it!

Why learn Chinese?

The world's most spoken language. Mandarin Chinese has 845 million first language speakers mainly in China, Taiwan and Singapore. There are also significant numbers of people who speak Chinese as a second language throughout the world. China is blessed with some of the richest lands in the world, and is home to one of the world's oldest civilisations. Today China is the most populous country in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population.

Large and growing economy. China is the world's third largest economy after the US and Japan. China is poised to overtake Japan as the world's second largest economy in 2010. China has been the fastest-growing major economy for the past 30 years with an average annual GDP growth rate above 10%. China is increasingly becoming a nation of consumers with many international companies moving to gain a foothold in the Chinese domestic market.

Develop your skills. As China shifts towards spending its vast foreign currency reserves domestically, many top international firms are securing contracts in the fields of engineering, energy, transportation, healthcare, information technology, financial services and others. Being able to show some conversational ability and awareness of Chinese culture will give you a competitive advantage in the eyes of many employers.