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In-Depth Reviews And Recommendations - Without The BS

Chinese Zero to Hero! Review – A Structured and Affordable Online Course

by 5 Comments

Quick Review
Summary: I like Chinese Zero to Hero! a lot. Their courses cover HSK1-6 of the HSK Standard Course textbooks. While it’s not in-depth enough to be the only resource you use, few courses are. It’s a great option for those looking to add structure into their independent study routine or are preparing for the HSK tests. It isn’t meant to be a replacement for a textbook, but those with textbook phobia would really benefit from this course.

Quality 
The videos are very well made while limiting the amount of English and using appropriate vocabulary.
Thoroughness 
You’ll need to use other resources for additional practice.
Value 
The Ultimate Bundle is absurdly good value.
I Like
It’s perfect for someone like me that likes to study using lots of different resources but wants to add some structure.

The videos are well-made with clear explanations. They don’t rely too heavily on pinyin or English.

Great value at a low price.

Covers everything from HSK1 to HSK6.

I Don’t Like
If you don’t use other resources with this course, you’ll struggle to get enough practice.

 Works best used alongside the HSK Standard Course textbooks and not as a standalone course.

Price: Each of the HSK1-3 level courses have 2 sections and each of the HSK4-6 levels have 4 sections. Each section can be purchased individually for $17. Alternatively, each level from HSK1-3 can be purchased for $25 each and levels HSK4-6 cost $49 each. There’s also an Ultimate Bundle which includes everything and costs $179.

Use the promo code “ALR15” to save 15% on a subscription to Chinese Zero to Hero!

Visit Chinese Zero to Hero!

Alternatives:

ChineseFor.Us and Yoyo Chinese are two other popular online Chinese courses.

Complementary Resources:

ChinesePod would be a great complement to Chinese Zero to Hero! because it’ll provide lots of listening practice to reinforce the vocabulary and grammar points you’ll learn in this course.

The Chairman’s Bao or Du Chinese – Both of these apps provide articles you can use for reading and listening practice. They’re organized by difficulty level, making it easy to find interesting content that fits your interests.

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Memrise Review – Useful But Don’t Overuse It

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Quick Review
Summary: Memrise is one of the most popular language learning apps around. It’s basically a gamified flashcard app. It’s a good way to help build vocabulary and beginner students would benefit the most from it. While it can be very useful, it’s important to not try to use it as your main tool for learning a new language.

Quality
The app is extremely well designed, but courses are user-made, so quality can vary.
Thoroughness
There are courses covering tons of topics, but you’ll need to use additional resources.
Value
Free and very useful. Awesome!
I Like
It uses spaced-repetition software making it easy to learn new words and review them periodically.
It’s a bit more fun than traditional flashcard apps.
There are tons of different courses to choose from.
I Don’t Like
 I personally prefer other flashcard apps that are less gamified (Anki or Pleco for Mandarin).
It should be used with other resources, not in isolation.

Price: It’s free. The Premium Plan costs $9 per month or $59 per year.

Visit Memrise
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italki Review – The Good, The Bad, & The Just Alright

by 1 Comment

Quick Review
Summary: italki is the most flexible and affordable place to find a tutor for the language you’re learning. They have a huge number of teachers offering classes to students of over 100 different languages. As a learner, you’ll be able to find a tutor that best fits your learning style, schedule, and personality. Teachers are able to set their own prices and make their own schedule.

Teacher Quality 
You’ll find everyone from long-time professionals to brand new teachers.
Platform 
The overall platform has tons of useful features but also some room for improvement.
Value 
Huge number of teachers, low prices, and flexible scheduling.
I Like…
There are large numbers of teachers available even for less common languages.

You can find skilled teachers even at low prices.

The flexibility to schedule lessons whenever convenient. The huge number of teachers guarantees you’ll find someone to fit your schedule.

The extra features like answers, notebook, and language partners makes it easy to ask questions, get your writing checked, and find a free language exchange partner.

I Don’t Like…
You have to load money onto your account before paying for a class. You can’t simply pay one class at a time without buying credits first.

You may need to try several tutors before finding one that fits your learning and personality style.

It’s easy to not take classes as often as you should.

Price: The prices vary by teacher and language with some being as low as $4 and others as high as $60 per hour. Most will fall somewhere near the $10 per hour range.

Visit italki Now
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How To Learn Mandarin Online – My Advice For Getting Started

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Start learning Chinese with this resource guide.

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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Fluenz Mandarin Review – Don’t Waste Your Money

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Is Fluenz Mandarin worth paying for?

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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