Learn Chinese Online Free

China has launched a Web site offering free Chinese lessons and materials to promote the study and use of its language abroad.

The site, called Linese, includes audio-visual presentations, interactive exercises and advice for teachers of Mandarin Chinese, with photographs and descriptions of cultural icons such as the Great Wall, kung fu actor Jackie Chan and basketball star Yao Ming.

The launch of this site comes as a move from China to try and expand its cultural influence along with its growing economic power in the world. China is also setting up a network of “Confucius Institutes” around the world to promote its culture.

The Web site is only in Chinese and English for the time being, but versions in Japanese and Korean are being developed.

Interesting move by the Chinese government that claims that over 30 million people are now learning Chinese as a foreign language and that more than 2,500 universities in 100 countries offer Chinese courses.

I wonder when Arabs will even think about doing something similar. A simple website that teaches Arabic online and a number of cultural centers around the world would be great, but unfortunately, it seems the promotion of our Arabic language and Arab culture is not on any Arab countries priority list.

Published by

Mohamed Marwen Meddah

Mohamed Marwen Meddah is a Tunisian-Canadian, web aficionado, software engineering leader, blogger, and amateur photographer.

18 thoughts on “Learn Chinese Online Free”

  1. Hello,
    I’m Moroccan (so we’re brothers Marwen, aren’t we? :-). Yes I agree with you that Arabs should do something similar. But don’t you think that we should use our language first before spreading it to the world. All arab countries use French or English in higher education. So how can we spread a language we don’t use and we’re not proud of.
    Concerning Chinese,I would like to share some useful resources to learn Chinese (I’m the owner of the website) :

    Learn Chinese
    http://www.clearchinese.com/learn-chinese/index.htm
    Free Mandarin Chinese lessons. Each of the 15 units contain easy to understand dialogues, usage and grammar notes and a practice page.

    Chinese-English dictionary
    http://www.clearchinese.com/chinese-english-dictionary.htm
    An easy-to-use dictionary with over 34,000 entries. The dictionary can be searched by Chinese characters, Pinyin, or English. Audio Chinese pronunciation is available.

    Chinese in the news
    http://www.clearchinese.com/chinese-language-news/index.htm
    News articles about the Chinese language. The list of articles is continually updated from sources around the Internet.

    Good luck مروان 🙂

  2. It’s actually not really sure whether this site is an “offical Chinese government – Learn Chinese” site. From what I understand it’s a private company working out of the Beijing Language and Culture University. I wrote my own review of Linese – http://www.chinasnippets.com/2006/07/17/learn-chinese-sites/ which is not that positive. There are better sources available.

    I do like your thoughts about a similiar iniative for the Arab language. Mind you, I already struggle enough with Chinese for the moment:)

  7. Some new features on Chinese-Tools.com:

    – Learn Mandarin: 40 audio Chinese lessons
    – Learn Chinese Characters: stroke order, etymology, examples
    – Chinese songs: lyrics in Chinese + pinyin + english annotation
    – Chinese dictionary: 70 000 entries
    – Chengyu dictionary: first online English Chinese Idiom dictionary

    Along with some more entertaining figures:
    – Chinese name: your name in chinese calligraphy
    – Chinese painting: learn to paint with step-by-step models
    – China travel, plan your trip to China…

    Hope you’ll like it!

  10. There is a Chinese Practice Corner for foreigners to learn Chinese and Practice Chinese. I met and made some Chinese friends when I visited Beijing last time. The corner is in a bar and they hold Chinese Learning party every evening. The bar is located in San Li Tun of Chao Yang and very close to American Embassy and the other countries embassies. You can ask taxi driver where is San Li Tun and most of drivers and Beijing people know there. Very interesting place to learn mandarin. If you cannot visit Beijing, you also can join from their website ‘Voice Connecting China‘. You can join party online through phone call or skype.

  17. plz tell me d specific url or website on which i’ll get the basic knowledge of calligraphy …………………….

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