Learn Chinese Online - Beginner Lessons

Beginner Lesson - Chinese Podcast - Survival Chinese - Are you free?

If you want to do something with a friend, invite them for a drink or go to a movie together, you need to know how to ask them whether they are free. In today's lesson we teach you how to do that. And if you are on the receiving end of an invitation but you need to decline it, we also teach you how to politely decline.

If you want to consolidate what you have learned, why not try the exercises for this lesson? Please Chinese test to try the exercises now.

Beginner Lesson - Chinese Podcast - Survival Chinese - Going Home after the Party

One Friday night, Emil hung out with his friends in a bar, where they drank, ate and talked. They didn’t feel like going until one of they became too tipsy to move. It was already really late at night, or rather, early in the morning. The only public transportation was the taxi. Emil supported the drunk guy and waved to a coming taxi. He was going to bring his friend home. In the taxi, Emil and the driver had a small conversation:

A: Do you usually walk home?
B: yes, it doesn’t take so much time.
A: But I also take subways, there are 5 stops.
B: Oh, I see.
A: How long have you been learning Chinese?
B: About two years.
A: Do you drive?
B: No, it is hard to find place for parking.

If you want to consolidate what you have learned, why not try the exercises for this lesson? Please Chinese test to try the exercises now.

Beginner Lesson - Chinese Podcast - Survival Chinese - How to sing Happy Birthday in Chinese

This podcast is dedicated to those whose birthday is coming up. We want to sing you a happy birthday song! Not just any happy birthday song. We want to sing a happy birthday song in Chinese specially for you. Tune in with Teresa and Amy and let the concert begin.

If you want to consolidate what you have learned, why not try the exercises for this lesson? Please Chinese test to try the exercises now.

Beginner Lesson - Chinese Podcast - Survival Chinese - You only swiped once?

How many of us unwillingly deceived a bus driver by forgetting to drop the coin or in some cases forget to swipe the correct number of times? Maybe you can get away with that where you live, but not here. LIsten to this podcast and find out how the bus driver reacted.

What you will learn today:
- How to say - To swipe a card: 刷卡
- How to apologise, show embarrassment: 不好意思

If you want to consolidate what you have learned, why not try the exercises for this lesson? Please Chinese test to try the exercises now.

Beginner Lesson - Chinese Podcast - Survival Chinese - Can I have a menu please?

He goes to a restaurant sits on a table and shouts: "Can I have a menu please?"... Ten pass after he looks 100 times at his watch... and still no menu on his table. He again shouts with a touch of indignation in his voice "Can I have a menu please!!!?" Once again, nobody seemed to notice him. Only if he had known he would have gone to another more expensive restaurant. There they certainly quickly serve him a good meal. When he was just about to leave a lady on the table next to him said: "Why don't you speak chinese? I don't think anyone here understands english...
Perhaps you have been in a similar situation then if that is the case you should listen to this podcast and learn some very simple sentences on how to get your menu and how to order your food in a chinese restaurant.

What you will learn:
How to get the attention of a waiter: 服务员！
How to ask for a menu: 我要酒水菜单
Showing initiative, paying for the bill - 慢慢吃, 不着急，我买单.

If you want to consolidate what you have learned, why not try the exercises for this lesson? Please Chinese test to try the exercises now.

Beginner Lesson - Chinese Podcast - Survival Chinese - What would you like to buy?

Friend Matt was born in Germany and grew up in France, moved to England at the age of 20 and spent seven years there before moving in China a couple of months ago. He can speak four languages but still is quite dull in Chinese. He once asked one of his friends how one should master this language that is full of complicated characters. The friend suggested him “买些中文杂志吧”. He accepted the advice and set off for the small stands in search of all kinds of Chinese magazines. It is necessary for foreigners to know how to get what they want, especially when the owners of the small stands don’t speak English. The lesson this time will talk about how to buy the magazines, books, newspapers you want on the small stands. After this lesson, you will be able to distinguish 汉语and 中文；the reason why we use 没有 not 不有 and…why don't you find out yourself？

If you want to consolidate what you have learned, why not try the exercises for this lesson? Please Chinese test to try the exercises now.

Beginner Lesson - Chinese Podcast - Survival Chinese - Going to the restaurant

Ali can’t remember when he began to go to restaurants so often. Before a certain moment he was really obsessed with home-made food and liked, all the time, to cook each meal by himself. It seems that now, he was getting lazier. He only wants to sit in a comfortable chair, waits for the cooked food to be brought just in front of him. In fact, Ali is not alone.

With more and more restaurants opened everywhere in the city, people prefer to take a pause from the busy work and enjoy the food in restaurants. That makes everything easier. Of course, when we have the served food, why bother to ponder over about cooking? We can simply choose a restaurant, ask for the menu and order whatever that fascinates you to satisfy your grumbling stomach. Ali just returned from work, lay himself down on the bed, then called his girlfriend. He spoke in his lame Chinese, “想上饭店吗?” Then they started their short dialogue about where to go for the dinner.

If you want to consolidate what you have learned, why not try the exercises for this lesson? Please Chinese test to try the exercises now.

Beginner Lesson - Chinese Podcast - Survival Chinese - Getting married

It was April 20th, 2009; Jane Jackson was going to get married in a couple of days. She was so excited that she couldn’t sleep. Jane lived in China currently and loved this country. So she decided to hold her wedding in a local church. Jane had a best friend who was a Chinese lady. Jane was thinking perhaps she could also invite the girl’s parents since whenever she visited the girl, her parents would always cook great food for her and treated her as if she were their own. Jane rang the girl and asked if her parents could tag along on the wedding day.

"Certainly, they would be really much willing to do that.” Replied the girl at this proposal. “But it would be better if I can write an invitation to them. That may sound more formal.” Said Jane, “The problem is ….I don’t think your parents read English?” The Chinese girl smiled and nodded, “No, They can’t understand a single word…so sending them an invitation won’t make any sense” .Jane was silent, kept her head lower, eyes staring down on the feet. Then she looked up, with delight swimming in her eyes. “I can try writing the invitation in Chinese instead, and then they will possibly understand.” Her friend beamed, and replied, “That’s really a fantastic idea. Do you need any help from me?” Jane rejected the offer. She claimed that a dictionary will work.”

If you want to consolidate what you have learned, why not try the exercises for this lesson? Please Chinese test to try the exercises now.

Beginner Lesson - Chinese Podcast - Survival Chinese - Telling the time in Chinese

Learn how to tell and ask the time in Chinese. If you already know how to say the chinese numbers from 1-24 then telling the time in chinese is really easy! Of course there are a few complications to it. You can't just merely say the current time as numbers. There are a few rules and sentence patterns that you need to use. But they are not complicated and after you listen to this podcast you will understand how to tell the time in different ways.

What you need to know:
1) If you want to ask what time is it in chinese you can say 现在几点? You could answer for example - 现在11点.
2）If you want to ask the time for a certain event, for example going to the class room you can just say - 你几点上课？And to reply：我9点上课

If you want to consolidate what you have learned, why not try the exercises for this lesson? Please Chinese test to try the exercises now.

Beginner Lesson - Chinese Podcast - Survival Chinese - This is my friend

Someone knocked at the door early morning. Mike was not happy but he still dragged himself out of bed and opened the door. It was the postman who had an envelope for him, asking, “你的?” Mike took a glimpse of the name and nodded, thanked him and returned to his bed. Mike lazily tore the paper open, pulled the letter out and began to read it. It was a book fair invitation from one of his friends, who hoped that he could tag along for the fair book fair, 8 o’ clock the next day.
It was raining heavily when Mike set off. He waved a taxi to stop and told him the place. The taxi driver nodded to show he understood, started the engine and went off. It was silent in the first few minutes but the driver broke the silence by asking: “你是哪国人?” Mike replied proudly: “瑞典” “工作吗?” continued the driver. “我是留学生”.
The book fair was, fortunately, not cancelled. Instead the hundreds of books and tables were moved indoors. Mike managed to find his friend and they decided to take the eastern gate. Floods of people tried to stream through the small doors and everyone was squeezing each other in order to be the first ones to take a look at the books on sales. Mike was strong, but his friend was falling behind. When they found a quieter place inside the fair, Mike realized that his wallet was gone. Mike jumped up and searched around, complaining. “这是你的吗?” Asked a girl with a wallet in her hand. “Mike!” Yelled his friend to him ,as he said to the girl,” 不是我的，这是他的, 我朋友的”.

If you want to consolidate what you have learned, why not try the exercises for this lesson? Please Chinese test to try the exercises now.