If you're brand new to Chinese, this level is for you. In our Newbie lessons, hosts Jenny and John (or Jenny and Ken) focus on delivering the most useful phrases for practical situations. Lessons are mainly in English, and when Jenny introduces Chinese words she speaks slowly and clearly. The dialogues are repeated three times, and your hosts then provide linguistic insights to help you learn. Newbie is the best place to start, whether you’re aiming to master the language or you just want a few phrases under your belt for a trip to China.

- A newbie's opinion about the ''Mandarin can't be learned unless you invest 20 years of study'' comments

Ok, then I guess I disagree? Although i'm noticing that when I first started learning Chinese, If someone said I would spend 3 years in China, I would have thought my Chinese would have been great, I'd be able to watch almost all Chinese language TV programs,...

(4)   new comment by posted January 22, 2012

- ni hao, first time learner

that depends...do you plan on going to china? if so then i would study them at the same time..they have great resources on this site...and make sure to review the characters you've memorized from time to time or you'll forget

(3)   new comment by posted December 9, 2011

- Best Newbie Business

I'm a brand new learner and would like to say a massive thankyou i'm learning for work and once i know enough i think it will give me a fantastic edge!!    i love it!!

(3)   new comment by posted October 26, 2011

- New Newbie from the Netherlands

Marjati, If you have a Chinese character test, as you have a premium account, in case you haven't discovered it yet, you can try the writing practice in the vocab section of each lesson and if you save the vocab, you can then go to tools....vocab and practice...

(4)   new comment by posted September 28, 2011

- Newbie

Hi banana8, I'm curious who these "officials" were that gave you a great Chinese name. I'd also love to hear what it was if you're happy to sure. You might also be interested in this recent BST lesson on Chinese names: http://chinesepod.com/lessons/chinese-n...

(1)   new comment by posted September 7, 2011