My name is Mark, and I’m a Language Specialist for the Chinese (Simplified) to English language pair.
Although Chinese is a tough language to master, as Chinese learners, we are lucky to have many resources available to help us. This post will share some great ways to improve your Chinese and useful resources when you are translating from Chinese.
Apps
There are lots of great apps to help you learn Chinese. One of the most popular choices for practicing reading (and listening) to Chinese is Du Chinese. Du Chinese has over 2,500 lessons covering a wide range of topics, and new lessons are added every week. English translations of individual words and sentences are also provided in case you get stuck.
Podcasts
There are also hundreds of free podcasts for Chinese learners available on Spotify or podcast apps. One of the most popular Chinese learning podcasts is ChinesePod, which offers more than 4,000+ lessons in easily digestible 10–20 minute podcasts suitable for all levels. Also, check out the Slow Chinese podcast that delivers short stories and news in slow and clear Chinese.
YouTube
YouTube has lots of channels aimed at Chinese learners. Check out Shuo Shuo Chinese, Learn Chinese with Yimin, and Mandarin Corner. If you’re feeling more adventurous, YouTube is a great place to immerse yourself in Chinese content, including music videos, movies, and TV shows.
Online groups
Joining online communities is a great way to meet fellow learners and find answers to your learning Chinese questions! The most popular group on Facebook is the Learn Chinese group. On Reddit, check out r/ChineseLanguage. Another popular online gathering place for Chinese learners is Chinese-forums.com.
Immerse yourself in the language
When learning a language, nothing can replace immersion for achieving fluency. Spending time in China and interacting with native speakers is a great way to quickly improve your speaking and listening skills. But if you can’t travel to China, then all is not lost! There are communities of Chinese learners and native speakers in many countries around the world that organize regular meet-ups, and many schools also offer Chinese immersion programs.
Dictionaries
Besides regularly practicing and improving your Chinese, to make sure that you produce high-quality translations every time, a good dictionary is indispensable. The best dictionary app out there is Pleco, which offers access to multiple dictionaries and loads of useful functions, including handwriting input, OCR lookup, and flashcards. Also, don’t forget Wikitionary. Its Chinese dictionary is regularly updated with the latest slang and buzzwords by the online community, and you can often find new terms that have not yet appeared in other dictionaries.
Online search
Research plays a crucial role in the translation process. A useful trick when searching online is to enter the Chinese term and any part of the English translation that we already know. For example, say we encounter the term “网络喷子”. We know that “网络” is “internet”, but we are not sure what “喷子” means. By searching for “网络喷子” and “internet”, we can easily find that “网络喷子” means “internet troll”. If you can’t find what you’re looking for when searching in English, try searching in Chinese on Baidu. Enter the term you are looking for followed by “意思" to search for articles in Chinese that explain the meaning.
There are many more resources for Chinese learners and translators out there! What resources have you found useful when learning and translating Chinese?
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