Dumbfounded about Chinese Symbols

Liz
 March 15, 2011, 08:07 AM posted in General Discussion

Hi,

I just joined today and have never had any kind of lessons in Chinese. Although I love the recorded lesson, I'm finding the exercises very difficult. In the exercised it's asumed that we know how to recognize the Chinese symbols and to be honest, so far they all look about the same to me. Is there an introduction to the symbols anywhere or any recommendations on how to tell them appart? I don't even know how to type them out on my keyboard...

I feel like I've been thrown in the deep end. 

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John
 March 15, 2011, 08:53 AM

Liz,

You always want to start with pinyin first.  I recommend you check out ChinesePod's Pinyin Chart and Pinyin Program, and switch over to pinyin for the exercises (there's a link at the top right of the exercises page).