Mandarin Chinese can seem overwhelming at first: tones, characters, sentence patterns, not to mention that mysterious “third tone” everyone talks about but no one seems to pronounce the same way. So, where do you even begin? Whether you’re in a classroom, working with an online Chinese teacher, or trying to learn Mandarin online in your pajamas, your first steps matter: they can absolutely be enjoyable.
Starting Mandarin is like arriving in a new city with no map. You don’t need to know every street name right away, but it helps to learn how to say “hello,” “thank you,” and “Where’s the bathroom?” You want enough vocabulary and structure to move, explore, and ask questions without getting stuck. That’s why, instead of memorizing hundreds of characters on day one, it’s better to start with building blocks of actual interest and relevance to you personally: greetings, numbers, essential verbs, simple sentence patterns like “I like…” or “I want…” – the things you’d actually use in a real-life conversation.
The other part of starting Mandarin is learning pinyin, the Romanized system used to write Chinese pronunciation. It looks friendly enough, but don’t be fooled, as words like “xi” or “zhuo” will surprise you. Still, pinyin is your anchor. It lets you read menus, write on your phone, and even sing along to pop songs before you’ve memorized a single character. If Mandarin were a video game, pinyin is level one. You want to get good at it.
And then there are tones—the musical aspect of Mandarin that gives the language its rhythm and also its headaches. You’ll mess them up. Everyone does. But that’s part of the fun. The word for “mother” (mā) sounds nearly identical to the word for “horse” (mǎ) if you miss the tone. This has led to many entertaining classroom moments, including a few students confidently shouting “I ride my mom!” instead of “I ride a horse.” Mistakes like these aren’t failures, well, they’re progress.
In modern Mandarin, new words and expressions show up faster than you can say “内卷” (nèijuǎn, “involution”). That’s why even beginners benefit from hearing casual, current Mandarin early on. Watching short videos, listening to music, or chatting with a native speaker—even if it’s just saying “666” (liùliùliù, meaning “awesome”)—helps you get used to the natural pace and vocabulary of real conversations.
Often language schools like GoEast Mandarin can really help. Courses may be based on the interests of the students and let you learn in a way that feels relevant. Such schools come with flexible scheduling, making it easy to keep learning, even if you’re juggling work – or trying to convince your kids that Chinese is cooler than TikTok. And oftenthey have classes specifically for kids too, with games and stories that make learning feel more like play.
The real trick to beginning Mandarin is this: don’t aim for perfection, aim for play. Try saying things out loud, get it wrong, laugh, and try again. Ask your Chinese friend if you just ordered “tea” or accidentally said “rabbit.” Learn to say “不好意思” (bù hǎo yì si – “sorry/excuse me”) early, and use it often.
Because one day soon, something will click. You’ll read a menu and recognize a dish. You’ll hear someone say “你去哪儿?” and you’ll know they’re asking where you’re going. That’s the moment Mandarin stops being foreign and starts being yours.
So what should you learn first? The things you want to say. The things that help you connect. And the things that remind you that every language—Mandarin included—is just another way to be human. And that’s something worth learning.