Over the last week I’ve been hosting Justin, an old friend from the DC area, and his girlfriend Rachel in Chengdu. They’ve been in China for just over a month and are taking their first steps on the journey of learning the Chinese language. Since I rarely run into people who don’t speak Chinese these days, they’ve reminded me what it’s like to just start out learning Mandarin. It’s not easy!

I wrote this for them and people like them who’re just starting out learning Chinese: Tips to Master Basic Chinese.

Master Basic Chinese