i'm starting by now..

moniqueferreras02
 June 15, 2008, 02:51 PM posted in General Discussion

now i know it's not that difficult to study mandarin but still im confuse with the pronounciation, and the characters... OMG! i don't know how to start studying about it...

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mayor_bombolini
 June 15, 2008, 05:36 PM

It was recommended to me to learn to speak a little first, before worrying about characters.  I think this was good advice.

What worked for me was listening then repeating and trying to imitate the sound not worrying too much about what I was saying. 

You'll also want to start to learn pinyin.  This site has good tools for pinyin and pronunciation (see Resources Section).  Using CPOD Newbie lessons you can read along in pinyin. 

I did not worry about characters until I reached the Elementary level. 

When it comes time to learn to read, you can focus on the 50 very high frequency characters first.  Learn to write the "pictographic" characters (ie 大 da4, means big). Then learn the top 20 radicals and their meaning.  You'll start to notice a logical pattern.  Relate high frequency root charaters to their pinyin pronunciation.  You'll be reading in no time.