LingQ Review: It’s Alright – A Detailed And Honest Opinion After Using It For A Month

June 2, 2018 by Nick Leave a Comment

Quick Review

Summary: LingQ is a language learning platform that makes it easy to read and listen to interesting content at varying difficulty levels. As you read, words will be marked as known and LingQ tracks the total number of words you “know”. The content comes from lots of different places with very little of it being original. They also make it very easy to upload your own content which has been my favorite feature.

Quality

Reading on LingQ is really easy though there are some features I’d like to see improved or removed

Thoroughness

Although there isn’t much original content, there’s still a lot of material to read regardless of your level

Value

The price is fitting for the value provided

I Like…
It’s easy to add your own content which makes reading more fun.

The content is quite diverse and comes from lots of different places.

Looking up words is quick and easy.

I Don’t Like…
Reviewing words is chaotic. Every word you look up gets added to a huge queue that quickly becomes unmanageable.

The extra features are overpriced and can be found other places for cheaper.

Very little of the content is original. Much of it was uploaded by users from other places.

The free version is extremely limited.

Price: A Premium subscription to LingQ costs $10/month.

Languages: Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, English, Korean, French, Russian, German, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish, Dutch, Greek, Polish, Esperanto, Latin, Ukranian. There are also 11 additional languages in Beta.

Alternatives: If you’re studying Chinese, I’d recommend Du Chinese or The Chairman’s Bao. For most other languages, LingQ seems to be the best option for practicing reading.

Visit LingQ Now

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How To Learn Mandarin Online – My Advice For Getting Started

December 14, 2017 by Nick 6 Comments

How should I start learning Chinese?

Most people start studying Chinese with whatever resource they happen to stumble upon. It’s hard to know what you should focus on and where to find quality materials. This post will help give you a clearer path forward.

The beginning may feel like a daunting, exciting and confusing place to be. But don’t worry, everybody started where you are now. There are tons of courses, apps, and websites out there that will make learning Chinese much easier.

This isn’t a long-term study plan. It’s a guide to take you from knowing absolutely nothing or very little and get you up to the lower intermediate level.

For some, this may only take a couple of months. Others will lose motivation and never get beyond this stage. Before we begin, you’ll need to think about a few questions.

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Yoyo Chinese Review – The Best Online Courses?

October 1, 2017 by Nick Leave a Comment

Quick Review

Summary: Yoyo Chinese is probably the most established and popular website for finding online Chinese courses. This website offers video based lessons with interactive quizzes. This review will focus on three of their courses – Beginner Conversational Course, Intermediate Conversational Course, and Chinese Characters Course.

Quality

Video lessons and interactive quizzes will help you learn Chinese.

Thoroughness

The content is explained very clearly and covers a wide range of topics.

Value

Courses are more expensive than most online Chinese courses, but the price is justified.

I Like
The lessons explain the topic very clearly with plenty of explanations and quizzes provide opportunities to practice.
Yoyo Chinese provides structure needed for people learning Chinese independently that is hard to find elsewhere.
The lessons are short and can be entertaining. The host will often interview random people and includes lots of interesting cultural information.

I Don’t Like
There is too much English used in the lessons. You may have to rely on other resources like ChinesePod to get enough listening practice.
The Chinese Characters Course isn’t as good of value as the other courses. I’d prefer to use Zizzle and Du Chinese or The Chairman’s Bao as a means of learning Chinese characters.

Price: The Beginner Conversational Course costs $129. The Intermediate Conversational Course and Chinese Characters Course cost $149 each. You can also buy individual levels of a course but the overall price ends up being higher in the end.

You can save 20% on any course at Yoyo Chinese by using the promo code “10NRES”.

Visit Yoyo Chinese

Alternatives:

ChineseFor.Us has exceptionally thorough online courses, but don’t go past the beginner level yet.

This post outlines many different online Chinese courses.

Since writing this review, Yoyo Chinese have released two new courses – Upper Intermediate and Chinese Characters 2.

If you’re looking for an online Chinese course, you’ll eventually come across Yoyo Chinese. It’s one of the few established courses where you can independently study Mandarin online.

It’s quite possibly the best course as well. That’s not to say it’s perfect or that it’s the only tool you’ll need to learn Chinese.

Yoyo Chinese is actually comprised of a few different courses. The three main courses are Beginner Conversational, Chinese Characters, and Intermediate Conversational. There are also two smaller and cheaper courses – Chinese Grammar and Chinese Learning Tips.

This review will focus on the three main courses.

All of these courses are comprised of short videos, audio reviews, flashcards, and quizzes. The host, Yangyang, does an excellent job of explaining the material in an easy to understand way but also with depth.

First, I’ll discuss the Beginner Conversational Course and Intermediate Conversational Course together because they’re very similar to each other.

Afterward, I’ll talk about the Chinese Character Course.

I’ll let you know what I think Yoyo Chinese does well and where it falls short. I’ll give you all the information so that you can decide for yourself if it’s worth purchasing.

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Fluenz Mandarin Review – Don’t Waste Your Money

September 9, 2017 by Nick 3 Comments

Quick Review

Summary: Fluenz is an old-school (CD’s) course for learning Chinese. It’s made for absolute beginners and designed to teach you the basics. But, it’s not very good and is one of the most expensive products you’ll find.

Quality

You can download after purchasing or get the CD version. It’s obviously dated.

Thoroughness

The content only covers the absolute basics and doesn’t even include Chinese Characters.

Value

It’s old enough that you might find a copy for cheap at a garage sale or free from the library. Otherwise, it’s far too expensive.

I Like
Maybe it’s better than Rosetta Stone? I don’t know or care.
You could learn basic Chinese from using it.

I Don’t Like
Extremely expensive and not as good as free products.
Doesn’t cover much content and moves very slowly. It doesn’t even introduce you to Chinese Characters.
The course is clunky and dated. It’s obviously quite old.
It has an odd emphasis on typing pinyin.

Price: Fluenz Mandarin 1 + 2 + 3 costs $298 on their website. It’s slightly cheaper on Amazon.

View Fluenz Mandarin on Amazon

Alternatives: I’m not going to bash a product without at least providing some alternatives. ChineseFor.Us has the most comprehensive beginner course for learning Mandarin. Yoyo Chinese is one of the most popular and best-designed websites for online Chinese courses. Their courses go from beginner up to the intermediate level. ChineseSkill and HelloChinese are two free apps that are better than Fluenz and will provide a nice introduction to learning Chinese.

Fluenz is one of those leftover products from an earlier generation of language learning that, in my opinion, is extremely overpriced and not particularly effective.

Ten years ago, Fluenz may have been one of the best products for learning Chinese on the market. However, in 2017, there are better free resources. Not to mention the countless affordable apps, websites, podcasts and tutors that will help you learn Chinese much quicker.

They spend a fair amount of effort comparing themselves to Rosetta Stone and explaining why they’re better.

I don’t know if Fluenz or Rosetta Stone is better and I don’t particularly care. Both are very expensive for what you get. I wouldn’t recommend either of them.

Let’s find out why I’m not a fan of Fluenz and what would be better to use in its place.

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Ninchanese Review – Playing Games to Learn Chinese

July 10, 2017 by Nick 2 Comments

Use the coupon code “ALR15OFF” to get 15% off any plan.

Quick Review

Summary: Ninchanese is one of the most unique resources for learning Chinese. It’s a mixture between a course and a game and manages to do quite well in both regards – being both fun and extensive. You’ll need to use a few other resources to cover a few gaps that Ninchanese has. However, it’s one of the best tools for learning Chinese that I’ve come across.

Quality

Works great as an app or online. I was pleasantly surprised by the speaking practice component.

Thoroughness

Lessons go from absolute beginner all the way to an advanced level.

Value

Extremely good value. $10/month is an absolute steal.

I Like
The lessons are very thorough. You’ll learn new words, grammar, practice speaking, and listening.
The lessons tie together very well based around a story. The vocabulary words you learn will be reinforced in other sections.
It’s one of the most fun ways to study Chinese.

I Don’t Like
The audio is recorded by text-to-speach. This is the biggest issue currently, but there are plans to add human recordings soon.
You’ll want to use other resources for a few gaps like pronunciation and extra reading practice.
Lessons can start slow and you may initially get demotivated in the “Learn Words” section. It’s worth pushing thru though.

Price: You can try Ninchanese for free. A one-month subscription costs $10, a half-year costs $54, and a full year costs $96.

Use the promo code “ALR15OFF” to save 15% on a subscription to Ninchanese.

Try Ninchanese Free

Alternatives:

This post outlines several different Chinese courses.

Don’t judge a book by its cover.

Or, in this case. Don’t judge an app based on the cat in the logo.

I seriously underestimated Ninchanese. I had reviewed around 25 Chinese learning resources before finally getting around to trying it out. I’m honestly not sure what took me so long. I had the app downloaded on my phone for months. I even opened it up and played around for five or ten minutes before getting bored and moving on. I gave up on it far too soon.

It’s much better than I expected. I thought it was a silly game but really it’s so much more than that. It’s one of the best resources for learning Chinese.

Ninchanese is fun. Many apps try to use points and gamification techniques but for the most part, it doesn’t help much with motivation. Ninchanese actually feels like a game. It’s fun and somewhat addicting. I found myself studying more than I otherwise would have in an attempt to climb the leaderboards.

Don’t let the fact that it’s a game lead you to not take Ninchanese seriously. It’s extensive. Seriously, there is an absurd amount of content. Many resources claim they can take you from absolute beginner to fluent. Generally, this is BS. Ninchanese comes as close to following through on that claim as anyone could hope to.

I usually hate it when resources take a broad approach. It almost never works. LingQ, Rocket Chinese, and many others have tried to do too much and they end up doing nothing well.

Ninchanese takes a broad and deep approach and they manage to pull it off quite well. The lessons cover vocab, grammar, speaking, listening and typing characters. They don’t just skim over these topics. Everything is very in-depth. That’s not to say Ninchanese is perfect or that it’s the only resource you should use. There’s quite a bit of room for improvement. But, they do a lot of things well and at a very affordable price.
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