Where Can You Get the Best Chinese Lessons Online? The motivations for learning Chinese are as diverse and compelling as the language itself. Perhaps you're fascinated by the rich history and culture of China, eager to read its classical poetry or modern literature in its original form. Maybe you're looking to expand your business skills and communicate directly with the vast Chinese market. Or, you might dream of traveling through China, exploring everything from bustling cities to serene landscapes, all while engaging with locals in their native tongue.
Best Option
Rocket Languages, a leading language learning company, was founded by friends Jason and Mark in 2004 to help people like you master new languages. As a Chinese learner, you'll appreciate their approachable video lessons that simplify the Chinese writing system, their friendly audio lessons that feel like casual conversations, and their platform's design that clearly displays your progress. They also include cultural lessons that enhance your understanding and appreciation of Chinese culture.
Three different course packages starting at $149.95
Rocket Chinese provides you with three tiers of courses to guide your Chinese language learning journey. If you're a beginner aiming to achieve an advanced level of conversation, the comprehensive package, including Levels 1, 2, & 3, is suitable for you, priced at $449.85. For those targeting a very good conversational level, you can opt for the Levels 1 & 2 package costing $299.90. For beginners hoping to attain a good conversational level, Level 1, priced at $149.95, is your best bet. Each package comes with an array of features: voice recognition phrases, audio and language lessons, cultural insights, practice conversations, writing lessons, a free survival kit, a 60-day guarantee, and lifetime access. We think it'd be great if Lifetime Access included all of the languages on their platform like some of Rocket Languages' competitors in our review, but we can understand why they don't - each course provides a lot of value and is clearly the product of a whole lot of time, energy, thought, and research.
Flexible payment and refund options
After purchasing your course, you can try it out for 60 days and if it's not right for you, you can contact the Customer Support Team for a full refund, no questions asked. There's a payment plan available for the 3-level package of Rocket Chinese, which includes Levels 1, 2, and 3. Using the code ROCKETDEAL, you can save $28 per month, paying just $47.00 for six monthly payments. Remember, you can cancel anytime. If you're interested in purchasing individual levels, you can also buy Rocket Chinese Level 2 and Level 3 separately. To start your free trial of Rocket Languages' Chinese course, all you need to give them is your name and your email address.
Each course is custom-made for the language
There are 3 levels of the Chinese course which are broken down into 7 modules and a Survival Kit in each. Level 1 has 29 Audio lessons, 30 Language & Culture lessons, 28 Writing lessons, and 10 Survival Kit lessons. Rather than reusing the same template over and over, Rocket Languages creates their courses with a special focus on each language's unique aspects - which we're really happy to hear for a language like Chinese that uses a different writing system than the Romance languages. The time and care they've put into their Chinese course is evident right from the start. Rocket Languages makes sure that your course content is practical, related to the language, and useful for you.
Audio lessons let you role-play conversations
You'll start with audio lessons that range from 15 to 40 minutes. These lessons, centered around Chinese conversations, offer you ample opportunities to practice speaking. In your first lesson, you'll learn how to greet in Chinese. Rocket Chinese also features a voice recognition tool, Rocket Record, to help you speak Chinese accurately. You can engage in a "Role Playing" activity that simulates real-life Mandarin conversations in a relaxed setting. Moreover, there's a "Lesson Vocabulary" section where you can practice words and phrases that aren't part of the lesson's conversation. Besides these, you have access to extras like flashcards, quizzes, and specific exercises for listening, speaking, writing, and composing in Hanzi.
Get a handle on Chinese culture through language
The Language and Culture lessons aim to deepen your understanding of Chinese language and culture. As you embark on your first lesson, you'll be introduced to the basic elements of the Chinese language. You'll learn how to pronounce Chinese words by reading pinyin, a system that translates Chinese characters into the Latin alphabet. The lessons will also provide you with different ways to greet people in Chinese, offering a glimpse into the social customs of the culture. Also, you'll gain an understanding of Mandarin Chinese's place within the broader Chinese culture. There's a helpful explanation that Chinese is not an alphabet-based language, but one that uses characters (Hanzi). Each character represents a syllable and takes up one full space on your digital device. You'll be introduced to "morphemes" (yusu), the smallest meaningful units of a language, which can consist of one character or more. We really love these practical examples and real-life applications, and we think it would be hard to get bored with these lessons.
Tool to learn history and stroke order of Hanzi
Unlike many language learning platforms, Rocket Languages recognizes the importance of being able to write in Chinese, not just speak it - after all, no native speaker would consider you fluent if you couldn't read and write. Rocket provides you with writing lessons and a helpful tool called the "Hanzi Writing Tool." With this tool, you can see animations of the correct stroke order for each character and then practice drawing the characters yourself. If you find it difficult, don't worry: the tool provides hints after a few unsuccessful attempts. They also provide mnemonics and historical context for each character to help you remember them better. For instance, when you're learning the character Zi (Son), you can visualize a baby with its arms outstretched making little gurgling noises. We also really enjoyed seeing how the characters evolved from Archaic script forms (or "oracle bone" script), the oldest extant Chinese characters.
Survival Kits for relevant vocabulary
In Rocket Chinese, there's a feature called "Survival Kit Lessons" that's designed to equip you with the kind of vocabulary you'd need to converse if you were in particular scenarios. Although the free trial doesn't give access to these lessons, some of the topics you can expect include "Clothing and More," "Life in the City," "Around the House," "Talking about Tones," and "Parts of the Body," among others. We think Rocket Languages is doing a great job of balancing practicality and depth in this course.
Compete against other users and ask for help in forums
You can also find the popular gamified learning experience in Rocket Chinese, with leaderboards located under the "Tools" section on the desktop version. The leaderboard tracks your learning points and ranks you among other learners. This adds a fun, competitive aspect to your learning, but the lessons remain high-quality and thorough - it's not quick dopamine junk-food for the brain like some other language apps that rely too heavily on the gamification aspect. You can also find community forums under "Tools", which offer a place for you to ask questions and get help from tutors and other learners on topics like grammar, Chinese culture and travel, conversation in Chinese, and more.
They're the best
We're big fans of Rocket Languages' Chinese course. Not only does Rocket teach you stroke order for Hanzi, it also teaches you the history behind them as a mnemonic strategy, which is absolutely amazing for retention, and can even help you guess the meaning of characters you've never seen before. While the Chinese course is linear and structured if you want it to be, you can also jump around based on what interests you - you're not locked out by tests you have to pass first. All of the audio is spoken in clear, natural Mandarin Chinese; no choppy AI audio here. We love the opportunity for friendly competition with other Chinese learners, and that you can download your audio lessons as MP3s, which means you own them forever. Basically, we see no significant downside to Rocket Chinese. These lessons earn our highest rating of 5 stars.
Continued from above...
The motivations for learning Chinese are as diverse and compelling as the language itself. Perhaps you're fascinated by the rich history and culture of China, eager to read its classical poetry or modern literature in its original form. Maybe you're looking to expand your business skills and communicate directly with the vast Chinese market. Or, you might dream of traveling through China, exploring everything from bustling cities to serene landscapes, all while engaging with locals in their native tongue.
Learning Chinese, however, presents a unique set of challenges unlike those found in learning languages like Spanish or French. For one, there's the intricate system of Chinese characters, each carrying its own meaning and pronunciation, which can seem daunting at first glance. Then, there's the tonal nature of Mandarin Chinese, where the meaning of a word can change dramatically with the pitch of your voice.
But don't let these hurdles deter you. With commitment and the right resources, you're on your way to fluency. Mastering Chinese opens up a universe of cultural, professional, and social opportunities, allowing you to connect with over a billion speakers worldwide.
Online Chinese lessons offer a variety of approaches to suit different learning preferences. For auditory learners, there are programs focused on immersive listening practices, helping you attune your ear to the nuances of the language. If you're game for a challenge, gamified learning platforms make acquiring new vocabulary and grammar points engaging, rewarding your progress with points and badges.
For those who prefer a more structured learning path, comprehensive courses provide a blend of video lessons, interactive quizzes, and writing exercises, ensuring you develop a well-rounded skill set, from character recognition and writing to speaking and listening.
And if personal interaction is what drives your learning, tutoring services connect you with native Chinese speakers for real-time conversation and cultural exchange, enriching your study with authentic experiences.
Feeling overwhelmed by the options? Here's what to consider as you begin your journey to learn Chinese:
To guide you to the best Chinese lessons for your goals and preferred learning style, our team at Top Consumer Reviews has tested today's leading options and provided honest feedback on what each one offers. So, what are you waiting for? Embark on your Chinese learning adventure today!
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Why Should You Learn Chinese?
In this day and age there are lots of reasons to invest in learning different languages. But what are the reasons to learn Chinese specifically? You might be questioning which language you want to learn next, and if so Chinese would make an excellent choice. There are many reasons to learn the language of such an illustrious culture, and this list will only be an abbreviated version, but it's something to strongly consider if you are up to the challenge.
One reason to learn Chinese is probably the easiest to understand - do it for the culture! China is a country with a beautiful and fascinating history, and learning the language is one more way to learn about the culture. If you ever visit China, you'll be glad you took the time to learn the language, and it'll help you understand more while you're there. And even if you never visit China, it can be a fun experience for yourself that also gives you a peek into a whole different part of the world.
Another, more specific reason for learning Chinese is for the future. Right now, China has connections with almost every country across the globe, and learning the language to communicate could be very helpful. From being a translator, to hoping to work in business, a smart language to learn would be Chinese. China works with a lot of countries, and is a massive producer of various items, so learning how to negotiate and talk to people in their own language would go a long way towards making a good impression.
Chinese is a very difficult language to learn, and there are many different ways you can communicate with it. That being said, learning Chinese could open several new doors for you. You could impress people with your knowledge, and even expose yourself to Chinese pop culture. You would see a whole different side of the world through Chinese movies and literature; things so easily get lost in translation, but by cutting out the middleman and doing it yourself, you make sure you are hearing everything correctly. You must look at the challenge of learning the language as an invitation instead of an obstacle. You are bringing yourself to new heights, and perhaps you will inspire more people to join you, by learning Chinese as a second language.
For these reasons and many more, learning Chinese is a great decision. Use your time and money to learn a new skill that could be invaluable to you for a variety of reasons. As long as you remember to respect the culture it comes from, learning Chinese can be a very healthy and exciting goal to work towards achieving. Join millions today in learning a whole new world through the language of China.
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