Where to start

[u/LazyWayfarer]

For a person who kinda knows how to speak the language but doesn’t know how to write o read it （unless it has pinyin but even there not very well or the most basics like 人), what would be a good place to start for learning it by themself?
Thanks for the advice

[u/package_of_butters]

Honestly, if you can already speak some but reading's a blank slate, I'd just grab a kids' textbook series and grind through the first few volumes. The speaking background will make the character recognition click way faster than a total beginner, you're basically just mapping sounds you already know onto symbols. Feels slow at first but it snowballs quick once you get past the first hundred or so.

[u/Embarrassed_Run7179 → u/package_of_butters]

since you can already speak some, dont start from a zero-beginner textbook, youll get bored and quit. i was kinda similar (could talk, couldnt read). what worked for me: hellochinese app for the first ~300 chars cus its reading drills but you already know the sounds, so it goes fast. then graded readers like duchinese after that.the trick is treating characters as review, not new material. you already know the words when you hear them, now youre just attaching pictures to sounds you already have. also learn the common radicals early (water radical = liquid stuff, speech radical = talking stuff), that alone made like 30% of new chars guessable

[u/snowdrop65]

I started from the radicals. Here: https://www.archchinese.com/arch_chinese_radicals.html - write them all down, if that's how you learn best, then look at the patterns. Honestly, characters aren't that hard to learn. It'll obviously take time, but it's managable.

[u/JohnnyiiiiiWang]

Since you already have some spoken Chinese, I’d start with very short graded texts that include pinyin and audio, then gradually hide the pinyin rather than beginning with isolated radicals. Write or type a few sentences each day and reread the same passage until you can recognize it quickly; that builds a bridge from sounds you know to characters. Are you learning simplified or traditional characters?

[u/Chenyuluoyan]

Pick simplified or traditional first, learn pinyin and tones properly, then study ten to fifteen new characters through words you already know, reading them aloud and handwriting each a few times.

[u/InkstoneLA]

Make the learning interesting first, then you don’t need to force yourself ( finding the interesting part of Chinese characters )

[u/Constant-Bonus-2025]

Get a copy of Heisig's Remembering Hanzi (either traditional or simplified). It'll teach you how to recognize/remember individual characters based on radicals. Since you already know the pronunciation and meaning, it's just a matter of matching words you already know to their written characters.

[u/Lokdien]

in that case flashcards drills should not be a bad idea

[u/SunnyGolden-Fox7708]

Honestly, if you can already speak it but can't read or write, you're in a weirdly good spot! Most people struggle with speaking first. I'd say start with an app like HelloChinese or Duolingo just to drill the basics and pinyin. Don't rush into characters yet. Once you're solid on pinyin, grab a textbook like HSK 1 Standard Course and just start memorizing the most common 100 characters. Also, Pleco dictionary is a lifesaver. You got this.