THE BEST RESOURCES FOR LEARNING CHINESE
On this page, you'll find our list of the best resources for learning Chinese, organized into different categories. Browse through these resources to learn Chinese and click on a title or image to try one out. Happy learning!
Memorizing Vocabulary
Techniques and apps for learning words and phrases
Chinese Tools is an online platform that is rich with resources and learning tools. The site also has a great Chinese-English dictionary. It's well adapted to the particularities of the Chinese language, with each word broken down according to its ideograms. Audio recordings even let you listen to a word's pronunciation.
The Pleco app gives you quick access to a dictionary, even offline. The app's dictionary and translator are free, and easy to use for beginners and advanced learners alike.
This website has a simple interface but provides you with a wealth of learning material when you search a word, including common phrases, expressions, and collocations.
Listening Comprehension
For a great way to practice your Chinese listening comprehension, the BBC releases a new podcast every day on their website. They're free to access, but each episode is only available for a limited time.
A podcast created by two Taiwanese students who talk about their daily lives in a very relaxed manner. This is a great resource for learning everyday language. Available on YouTube, Spotify, and iTunes.
Chinese Central TV has a number of series dedicated to learning Chinese, including Growing up with Chinese, designed to help you improve your listening comprehension and learn more about Chinese culture. At the time of writing, the links to shows on the website are broken, but there's a simple fix: just replace "english.cntv.cn" at the beginning of the URL with "cctv.cntv.cn" and you'll find the episode you're looking for.
PPTV is a content sharing platform open to the public (like YouTube). Anybody can broadcast their own content, and you'll find lots of videos, often with Chinese subtitles.
Come check out our YouTube channel for tons of videos with tips and tricks to improve your language learning skills. Don't forget to turn on your notifications (click the bell icon) to stay up to date on new videos!
If you've spent some time studying Chinese, you may already know this YouTube channel. But if not, you're going to thank us. The host, Yangyang, has hundreds of videos with great hacks and tips for learning Chinese. The videos are presented in a fun and clear way, so it's easy to follow along.
This YouTube channel features lots of videos for learning Mandarin, separated into clear categories and by level of difficulty. Browse through and you're sure to find something at your skill level.
Youku isn't a YouTube channel, but it's more or less the Chinese equivalent. The content and layout are very similar to YouTube, although there are also features like on-demand videos. The interface is entirely in Chinese.
Tudou is similar to Youku (a platform that anyone can post videos on), but the target audience is younger.
Mango TV is just one of many national TV channels by the Hunan Broadcasting System, and is very popular in China. Its programs are all available to watch directly on their website.
Speaking
This useful article was written by Lance Devore, a guest blogger who began learning Chinese in 2012. In 2018, he married his wife, a Chinese citizen from Guanxi, where they live today. Read it for important tips and advice for finding a Chinese conversation partner (plus, his thoughts on whether a romantic partner is a good choice of language partner!).
Find lots of Chinese speakers who are interested in forming language tandems—partner up and chat with someone who wants to learn your native language in exchange for teaching you Chinese.
Book affordable paid lessons with a tutor. Over 15,000 teachers are registered on the app and website, and you can even book a trial session to make sure you click with the tutor before you commit to a full Chinese lesson.
Chatting with a language partner online might be the most entertaining and overall best way to learn Chinese. Work on various skills, from speaking and pronunciation to vocab and listening, and even culture and confidence. We tested the most popular language exchange websites and created a guide to help you decide which one is best for you.
Forvo is a pronunciation dictionary that lets you listen to the pronunciation of almost any word in a given language, including Mandarin Chinese. The recordings come from users on the website, so you can get a feel for different regional accents.
Pinyin is the transcription system for Chinese characters into Latin characters (like what you're reading right now). It is ubiquitous in Chinese language learning, and knowing the corresponding phonetics is essential for correct pronunciation. On the same site, you'll also find a tool that can transcribe pinyin into Chinese characters and vice versa.
This is the main site for China News, one of the primary national newspapers. News stories are delivered in a concise manner, and the paper covers a wide variety of topics.
The official journal of the Communist Party of China. This online newspaper covers a variety of popular topics, as well as developments from the CPC.
The website of the 2nd most popular Chinese newspaper. It mainly targets Chinese residents of Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and Chinese expats living around the world.
A Chinese newspaper that focuses on the Taiwanese region and the Taiwan Strait.
The online version of the eponymous newspaper, inspired by the UK's Financial Times. This journal takes an in-depth look at financial and economic news in China.
The online portal for this biweekly magazine, which gives in-depth reviews of current events. Recommended for advanced learners since there is no English site.
A full library of classic Chinese literature with English translations. Each individual character of a text is analyzed and explained. You can put your mouse over any character to see its translation.
Skritter is an app that uses a spaced repetition system (like MosaLingua) to help you memorize Chinese characters and learn how to use them.
Other Useful Chinese Resources and Guides
So You Want to Learn Chinese… Here’s How
Especially if you’re a beginner, delving into the Chinese language can be a scary—but very exciting—prospect! We share a few reasons why someone might want to learn Chinese, and explain how to get started in the easiest possible way, so that you’ll be communicating in Chinese in no time.
MosaTraining: How to Learn Any Language
This course was designed to give you the tools, techniques, and best resources for learning Chinese (or any other language!). Learn the secret techniques used by polyglots, practice the most effective learning methods, and stock your proverbial toolbox with every resource you could possibly need to learn Chinese quickly and have fun doing it.
China Culture
You can discover more about Chinese culture on this website, and learn the ins and outs of Chinese medicine, art and calligraphy. There are free language classes covering everything you need to know for the HSK (Chinese Proficiency Test). More advanced levels are paid.
Chinese for Europeans
Created in partnership with the European Union, this site has free online courses in Chinese, broken up into categories based on your learning goals: travel, studies, business, etc.
We hope these free online resources for learning Chinese will be of a big help to you. We’re constantly searching for the best resources to help you improve your Chinese skills and updating this page, so be sure to come back from time to time. And finally, if there are any great Chinese tools or resources we didn’t mention but that deserve to be on the list, click here to let us know about them.