The easiest way to learn Chinese is to learn pinyin, which spells Chinese sounds with letters, and then read and listen to short, easy Chinese about things you already like, checking the translation when you need it. Leave handwriting and long word lists for later, because easy Chinese keeps showing you the most common words and characters. Below are the first steps in order, and some easy Chinese to start with.
Is Chinese Easy to Learn?
Chinese is easy to start, and it takes a long time to learn well. You can learn pinyin in your first week, while characters and tones take much longer, and the U.S. Foreign Service Institute puts Mandarin Chinese in its hardest group for English speakers. Our guide to the fastest way shows how long it takes.
Three things make the start easier than it looks.
- Sounds Spelled With LettersPinyin spells every Chinese sound with letters you already know, plus a mark for each of the four tones.
- Verbs That Never ChangeChinese verbs have no endings to learn, so 吃 (eat) stays the same in 我吃 (I eat) and 他吃 (he eats).
- Words You Already KnowSome Chinese words come from English, such as 咖啡 (coffee) and 巧克力 (chocolate).
What Is the Easiest Way to Start?
The easiest way to start is to learn pinyin, then spend your time on short Chinese you enjoy, one small step at a time.
- Learn Pinyin FirstLearn the sounds and tones with Bubblegum's free Pinyin course, or its Zhuyin course if you are learning
Taiwan Mandarin. - Read About What You LoveRead short dialogues about food, music, or anything else you already enjoy.
- Listen While You ReadPlay the audio as you read, so each word's sound, tone and characters go together.
- Hide the TranslationKeep the English hidden, and check it only when a line stops you.
- Save a Few WordsSave only the few words you want to keep from each lesson.
- Say a Line Out LoudRead a line aloud whenever it feels fun, and copy the tones you hear.
Bubblegum is a language app for reading and listening to Chinese at your level, with pinyin or zhuyin over the characters and lessons that Poppy, its AI tutor, writes about the things you like. Words you save come back inside new lessons through Regenerative Review™, so reviewing them means reading more Chinese.
What Makes Chinese Feel Hard, and How Can You Make It Easier?
Four parts of Chinese feel hard at first, and each one gets easier when you meet it again and again in easy Chinese.
| What feels hard | The easy fix |
|---|---|
| Thousands of characters | Jun Da at Middle Tennessee State University found that the 1,000 most common characters make up about 89 percent of modern Chinese text. Easy reading shows you those again and again, with pinyin over them until you know them by sight. |
| Four tones | 买 (buy) and 卖 (sell) differ only in their tone, so learn each new word from its audio. Saying lines out loud as you hear them makes the tones feel normal. |
| Measure words like 个 and 杯 | Chinese puts a measure word between a number and a noun, as in 一杯咖啡 (a cup of coffee). Easy dialogues use the common ones many times, so they start to feel normal. |
| Simplified and traditional characters | Learn the set used where you'll use Chinese: simplified in mainland China and Singapore, and traditional in Taiwan. Many characters are the same in both, so the other set is easier to pick up later. |
What Is Easy Chinese to Start With?
Easy Chinese to start with is short and slow, and it is about something you enjoy.
| What | Why it's easy | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Lessons about greetings | Level 1, Bubblegum's easiest level, uses short lines with pinyin, audio and a translation. | Free on this site |
| Lessons about night markets in Taiwan | Simple lines about street food in Taiwan, in traditional characters, starting at Level 1. | Free on this site |
| Du Chinese | Short readings are sorted into six levels and read by voice actors, and some lessons are free. | duchinese.net |
| Mandarin Bean | Free graded stories in simplified or traditional characters, once you know some words. | mandarinbean.com |
If a new word shows up in almost every line, switch to something easier.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the easiest way to learn pinyin?
Learn a few sounds at a time, and say each one with its tone as you hear it. Bubblegum's free Pinyin course works this way in your browser, with audio for every syllable, and its Zhuyin course teaches the sound symbols used in Taiwan.
Do I have to learn to write Chinese characters by hand?
Not to start. You can type Chinese by spelling a word in pinyin and picking its characters from a list, so reading and typing can come first. When you want to write by hand, Skritter gives you feedback on each stroke you draw.
Can I learn Chinese just by watching C-dramas?
Not at the start, because most of an episode goes by too fast for a beginner to learn from. Shows help more once you can follow a simple conversation, especially with Chinese subtitles on. Bubblegum's lessons about C-dramas start at Level 1, so you can learn words from the shows you like before you watch.
Which Chinese app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Chinese, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. For courses, tutors and speaking practice, see our comparison of Chinese apps.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn. It holds lessons that other learners asked Poppy for. A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons.
The Pinyin and Zhuyin courses and the Chinese lessons on this site are also free and need no account.
