Summary

Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar divides into two parts; Part A focuses on the major features of Mandarin grammar and is intended to be a reference guide for forms or structures. Part B shows you how to use the language — sections are organized by the function of the grammar point, such as “expressing additional information” or “expressing speaker attitudes and perspectives.” These two parts cross-reference each other, giving you a broader perspective of the different sentence patterns. Each grammar point is accompanied by both simplified and traditional characters, plus examples that can be applied to modern communication. The first few sections elaborate on basic concepts, such as pronunciation, two-syllable words, common suffixes, and word-specific tone changes. They briefly explore the Chinese writing system and then dive into structural topics like phrase order and modal verbs. Later sections in Part B become a fun reference for the question “what do I want to express now?” With the accompanying workbook (purchased separately), you can expand your range of self-expression one section at a time. You may want to get the hard-copy version, as some reviewers have complained that it has not yet been formatted for e-book form. If you’re not ready to invest in a textbook, you can check out Chinese Grammar Wiki for a free guide to Chinese grammar.

Summary

With Hanzi Grids you can create your own Chinese character worksheets to download as PDFs, print, and practice writing. Gone are the days of buying Chinese character books that dedicate the same amount of space to practicing ”了“ as “健康”! The customization features on this site allow you to change the background guides, headers, row spacing, character size, column spacing, and grid colours. Although the free version is usable on its own, for a one-time fee of about $7 USD, you can also access multiple fonts and automatically convert between simplified and traditional characters. As long as you have access to a printer, Hanzi Grids is an excellent resource to improve your character writing skills.

The current rating is our best estimate. We haven’t had the opportunity yet to more thoroughly evaluate this resource, as we do for our full reviews.

Summary

Everyday Chinese provides a free YouTube channel and purchasable courses. The teachers ensure that you learn how real-life mandarin is spoken, even in the most basic lessons — you will hear the voices of Chinese speakers ranging from 7 to 60 years old so you can train your ear to different vocal ranges and accents. On the YouTube channel, you can explore idioms, cultural nuances, HSK content, and more. Some of the videos seem like a list of words or phrases, but most contain valuable tidbits or grammar points. For beginners, they have 39 free intro lessons that seem to lead up to the Everyday Chinese 101 course that you can buy on their site. The videos may not always be as engaging as those in YoYo Chinese or Mandarin Corner, but they cover a lot of grammar and vocabulary words. They also mainly use Chinese in the upper-level videos to help with your listening comprehension, which is not always the case in other videos.  On the website, there are free MP3s, quizzes, and PDFs that accompany the YouTube videos. There, you can also purchase the courses, which contain videos, quizzes, word reviews, dialogues, grammar points, language tips, and cultural notes. The HSK courses, in particular, seem to be well done, although you do end up paying about $60 for only 20 days of content.

Summary

Chinese Boost provides grammar articles and Chinese learning blog posts. You can search the Chinese grammar articles by HSK or CEFR level, keywords, characters, parts of speech, functions, and several other tags. They also have over 40 blog posts that focus on improving the effectiveness of your Chinese study techniques. The site only has about 50 grammar articles. The articles themselves have lots of examples, but they seem more lengthy than they need to be. In contrast, the website Chinese Grammar Wiki appears to say more with fewer explanations, relying on examples and context to clarify different grammar points. Chinese Boost could be used as a supplemental resource to Chinese Grammar Wiki if some concepts require more explanation.  Other than the grammar explanations, Chinese Boost’s Chinese learning blog has some useful tips to add to your language-learning toolbox. They also have a Hanzi Chinese Characters to Pinyin Conversion tool, which can be very helpful when making Anki flashcards or other self-study resources.

Summary

Shuo is a native Chinese speaker and teacher who lives in Thailand. Every week she uploads YouTube videos exploring Chinese vocabulary, grammar, and culture, showing you how to use simple concepts to make your Chinese sound more advanced (like in this video). She diversifies her videos by adding video clips and images, dressing up as different characters, and reenacting scenes from her life. She makes the lessons fun, and if you pay close attention you’ll notice that she also has an excellent sense of humour.  Shuo mostly uses English to explain different concepts, but she has videos dedicated to listening practice with subtitles and translations. She also identifies the level of HSK vocabulary words she uses. Although Shuo does not have the hundreds of videos that other channels may have accumulated, the quality of her videos is reflected in the over 66k subscribers she seems to have accumulated in less than a year. Her channel has material from HSK 1-6, so learners of all levels can find some gems of knowledge. She understands Chinese learners’ potential missteps and clearly explains how to avoid them — even the beginner videos contain concepts that an upper-intermediate learner may not have considered, so check them out!