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Learn Chinese Online



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Learn Chinese Using Foreign Service Institute (FSI) Method and Material

Loquella developed the Chinese language course based off the well-respected Foreign Service Institute's language lessons. The method Loquella uses to teach you Chinese is not new, the Foreign Service Institute has been using this method for over 30 years to teach thousands of serious language students Chinese. Loquella simply developed the technology that makes it a great deal easier to use the Chinese language course. Using the language tool you can use the lessons and learn at your own pace, reading and repeating with ease.

Watch a sample video of the Learn Chinese Lessons here.

For more details about each section, visit the Becoming Fluent In Chinese page.

You can also find detailed descriptions of each Chinese level and lesson here: Chinese Level I, Chinese Level II, Chinese Level III, Chinese Level IV.

Learn Proper Chinese Pronunciation

As you start using the Chinese lessons the first thing you will focus on is learning proper pronunciation in Chinese. The first Chinese lesson includes detailed charts and images contained within the "grammar tips" area inside the Chinese language tool. These images are used to help you visualize how to pronounce each word properly in Chinese. Due to the nature of the way the Chinese language is spoken, it is especially important when learning Chinese that you repeat each word out load clearly. As you will learn in the first Chinese lesson, proper pronunciation is extremely important to Chinese vocabulary because improper pronunciation will result in the incorrect word being spoken.

Learn To Read Chinese Characters and Pinyin

The original DLI course material, which is used in the Chinese language tool, emphasizes pronunciation as essential for making yourself understood in any language. At Loquella, we agree that pronunciation is essential, but we have also enhanced the course material in the Mandarin Chinese lessons by synchronizing all spoken material with Pinyin and Chinese characters. The Chinese characters are put directly under the Pinyin text so that it is easy to learn them while you go through the material.

Starting the Chinese Lessons

The first Chinese lesson introduces the four tones of standard Chinese. To help you focus on the tones, these Chinese lessons make use of only the simplest and most obvious consonants involved. The images in Chinese lesson one, sentence one are displayed in the traditional order of the four tones and are used to help you visualize the sounds and tones used for pronouncing each Chinese word.

Learn Chinese Using Language Drills

As with the other language lessons on Loquella, the Chinese language tool focuses on teaching Chinese pronunciation and vocabulary through extensive language drills. You will hear and say each Chinese word several times in a row throughout the same Chinese lesson. This is to ensure proper pronunciation is developed early on, and that vocabulary is thoroughly memorized. Make sure you repeat each Chinese word or sentence out load as many times as necessary to memorize it. One thing to note, if you have previously used Loquella's Spanish or French lessons you are probably used to learning extensive amounts of new words and sentences early on in each lesson. When learning Chinese, proper pronunciation is so important that the early drills focus almost completely on teaching pronunciation rather than vocabulary.

Using The Chinese Language Course Tool

Use the REPEAT button to repeat the same sentence as many times as necessary, or use the NEXT button to follow along with the pre-determined flow in the language tool. Use the BACK button to go back to previous sentences. You can also use the JUMP TO menu on the top left hand side of the language tool to jump to a different lesson or sentence. On the top right hand side of the language tool is an area that shows which Chinese sentence you are currently on.

If you have IE7, we recommend that you use the magnifier option in the bottom right hand corner of IE to increase the font size on your screen to 150% or more to make it easier to view the Chinese characters inside the language tool.

Having Problems Using The Language Tool?

Learn more about how the online language tool works.If you are having problems loading the Chinese lessons, make sure you have the most recent version of Flash installed on your computer.

If you are still not able to view the Chinese learning tool you may need to enable Javascript.

The Chinese lessons featured on this site were originally created by the Defense Language Institute (DLI), Foreign Service Institute (FSI) and other government agencies to teach foreign diplomats and officials Standard Chinese Mandarin. Loquella has re-formatted these Chinese lessons to make them fit into one easy to use language tool. The patent pending language tool used for teaching Chinese on Loquella combines the text, audio and images used in the books and tapes created by DLI. Loquella has enhanced the Pinyin and added Chinese characters to these lessons.

If you are still not sure why you should learn Chinese, here is a short article about how learning Mandarin Chinese is becoming increasingly important in our global economy. Why Learn Chinese?



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