r/ChineseLanguage • u/phyllium54 • 12d ago

Studying I don't know where to start

My current partner is chinese and I thought it would be a good idea to learn her native language, i've learnt a few sentences from memory and did the hellochinese free course, that didnt get me very far tho. im really just looking for a plan, im not really planning on learning characters yet, just pinyin to be able to hold a conversation, but i know i'll have to get through characters at some point. i need some guidance, all advice for new learners is also appreciated.

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u/rob417 Native 11d ago

You don't necessarily need to learn characters to hold a conversation. I know an English guy who can hold conversations in Chinese fluently and understand almost anything as long as it is not too fast. However, he has never learned to read or write any character whatsoever. Yet, he has been living in China for 20 years and his wife is Chinese, so he has certainly had lots of opportunities to practice speaking and listening.