The fastest way to learn 
Taiwan Mandarin is to spend most of your study time on Taiwan Mandarin you can mostly understand. It's known as comprehensible input. The plan below pairs each level with lessons and free Taiwan sources, and shows how to split an hour of study.
What Should You Do at Each Level?
Find the level that sounds like you. Its bar shows how to spend an hour of study.
- First Steps
I can't read zhuyin yet.
Learn zhuyin 20 min. Listen 40 min.
Zhuyin writes Mandarin sounds with 37 symbols and five tone marks. Learn the symbols first, and listen to easy Taiwan Mandarin while you do, so the tones start to sound familiar.
- Level 1
I'm just starting out and can't read much yet.
Read and listen 35 min. Review 15 min. Speak 10 min.
Read short scenes with zhuyin over every character, Taiwan audio, and a translation. Hear each one twice, copy a line out loud, and review the words you saved.
- Level 2
I can read basic characters and simple sentences.
Read and listen 40 min. Review 10 min. Speak 10 min.
Read dialogues about drinks and snacks with the translation hidden, and look up only the word that stops you. Review the words you saved in short sentences.
- Level 3
I follow conversations on familiar topics.
Read and listen 40 min. Review 5 min. Speak 15 min.
Turn zhuyin off for the characters you know, and read short articles from a children's paper printed with zhuyin. Talk about what you read with a teacher or a friend from Taiwan.
- Level 4
I understand most content but miss some nuance.
Read and watch 45 min. Review 5 min. Speak 10 min.
Watch short news videos from Taiwan on topics you already know, and read the story that goes with each one. Keep a Taiwan dictionary open for names and new words.
- Level 5
I read complex topics but rare words slow me down.
Read and watch 50 min. Speak 10 min.
Read full news reports and longer lessons, and guess new words from the paragraph before you look them up. Retell each story in a few minutes of speech.
- Level 6
I read at near-native level.
Read and watch 50 min. Speak 10 min.
Read Taiwanese novels, essays, and opinion pages, and talk about them with friends for the fun of it.
These splits are a starting point. When a level's lessons start to feel light, step up, and step back if a story loses you within three lines.
How Long Does It Take to Learn Taiwan Mandarin?
A standard term class (普通班) at National Taiwan Normal University's Mandarin Training Center, which calls itself Taiwan's largest Mandarin teaching center, is 15 hours a week for three months. Those hours are 10 hours of language class and 5 hours of other language training, and the first two weeks add big classes on pronunciation and zhuyin.
For a longer view, the U.S. Foreign Service Institute puts Mandarin in its hardest group for English speakers. Its students take about 2,200 class hours, or 88 full-time weeks, to reach level 3 in speaking and listening on the ILR scale, which the U.S. government uses for professional work. That figure is for Mandarin as a whole, and FSI gives no separate figure for Taiwan Mandarin.
| Study Per Week | Hours in a Year | Years to Reach 2,200 Hours |
|---|---|---|
| 3½ hours | About 180 | About 12 |
| 7 hours | About 365 | About 6 |
| 14 hours | About 730 | About 3 |
| 28 hours | About 1,460 | About 1½ |
These hours describe full-time classes with homework on top, so use the table as a rough picture of the workload. It doesn't promise the same result from studying on your own.
What Slows Taiwan Mandarin Learners Down?
- Learning Simplified FirstStarting with simplified characters means relearning many of them for Taiwan. Read in traditional characters from your first lesson.
- Tones Left for LaterA word said with the wrong tone can become a different word. Copy each new word's tone from the audio as you meet it.
- TOCFL Lists AloneA TOCFL word list or a “top 500 words” list gives you meanings, but not how to use the words or hear them in a quick chat. Meet them in sentences you understand, then review those sentences.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Taiwan Mandarin App Should a Beginner Choose?
If you are serious about learning Taiwan Mandarin, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. Our Taiwan Mandarin app comparison also covers Taiwan courses such as Glossika and ChineseSkill, dictionaries with Taiwan readings, and handwriting practice.
Can I Learn Taiwan Mandarin in Three Months?
You can learn zhuyin and enough Mandarin to order at a night market and talk about yourself. At 14 hours a week, three months is about 180 hours, which is under a tenth of the FSI's 2,200 class hours for Mandarin, so measure your progress by tasks you can do.
How Much Should I Study Taiwan Mandarin Each Week?
Aim for three to five hours a week of Taiwan Mandarin you can follow, in sessions of at least 15 to 30 minutes. A longer sitting lets a story pull you in, and a steady week of study counts for more than a long streak of short sessions.
Is Taiwan Mandarin Hard for English Speakers?
Yes, by the FSI's measure, since Mandarin sits in its hardest group with Japanese, Korean, and Arabic. Most of the time goes into characters and tones, while the grammar is fairly simple, with no verb endings to learn.
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.
Sources
- Ministry of Education (Taiwan), 國語注音符號手冊 (the zhuyin handbook)
- NTNU Mandarin Training Center, term courses (學季班) (15 hours a week: 10 hours of language class and 5 hours of other language training; zhuyin and pronunciation classes in the first two weeks)
- U.S. Department of State, Foreign Language Training (FSI language categories and class hours)
- TaiwanCards
- Mandarin Daily News (國語日報)
- PTS News (公視新聞網), Taiwan's Public Television Service
- Pleco forums, Taiwan pronunciations in the Cross-Straits dictionary
- NTNU Mandarin Training Center, introduction (Taiwan's largest Mandarin teaching center)
