Learning Chinese Online: The Best Sources

Nowadays chinese language is a problem which has to be dealt with, and even if you can still afford to ignore it,your sons will probably be obliged to decide otherwise. The problem is: HOW to deal with it?
I know that's quite a big problem : China and chinese language represent and have always represented what we define as "Different", chinese characters look like nonsense ancient symbols and their spoken language sounds even less understandable. Actually you're not wrong at all but it doesen't matter anyway, for today we do have a golden opportunity: and that's the internet.

Once it used to be a quite hard job,that's for certain, but i can't believe that even today everybody seems to be unaware of the chinese-online courses and of their benefits. As a matter of fact i can tell you that ,aside from the written language,if you do know what to do,you could learn how to communicate in mandarin chinese(Official language in China) in less than a year without attending expensive universities or quitting your own job. Nowadays that's possible. I'm not fooling you,believe me:i'm a university student,i lived in China and i can tell you that i still learn more things about every single aspect of the language from the very internet, past all doubt.

And since i believe the time has come for our western society to learn how to communicate with this giant( and rather quickly) let's see what you can do with your own pc or notebook. I think that amongst the best online courses ever, you ought to go for Chinesepod or CLO (Chineselearnonline):they became pretty famous ,hence you'll find them with no difficulties by typing their names on your search engine's search-bar. How do they work? Well that's pretty simple. Think of them as a sort of radio whose podcasts can be downloaded whenever you have time to do it. Chinesepod's center is in Shanghai,while CLO's is in Taiwan but they work in similar ways: they both update their lessons daily,they both provide their subscribers with the best teachers and they both create something only if it's really worth creating. Basically,you'll find practical lessons about everyday-life, the chinese teacher will present a dialogue and ,together with the english speaking teacher, will break every single sentence down for you.

Plus you'll be given expansions ,samples, videos, useful links, skype practice conversations(!),members' discussion areas, and grammar notes. If you have an mp3 player(I bet you do) you could even listen to the podcast wherever and whenever you want and the text of the lesson will be directly displayed on your mp3 player's screen(If you have an ipod or a zen). Let's talk about the costs now: how much? Well, it depends on which plan you choose. For instance,if you're already acquainted with the language or if you think that listening to the mere podcasts without any written support will be enough,that's for free. Yes, no kidding, absolutely for free. On the contrary if you do want to take advantage of the aforementioned supports,you'll be charged 243$ per year( for chinesepod) and 149$ per year (for CLO). Is that a lot of money?

I'm attending university in Venice right now and i pay 2000$ per year.I'm still doing it because it's my passion and i want to learn about writing,chinese history and philosophy,economics and so on,but frankly from the speaking- point of view the online school is far better than the traditional one. Plus i think you should enrich your understanding of the language by having a look at language forums where you can ask directly and for free your questions to hundreds of mothertongue users.

I think you'll agree with me if i say that this opportunity is remarkable. Actually is what we need. I guess learning has never been so easy and online courses (forums as well) could even change your life sometimes. So think about it,there's nothing to lose, and if you are wondering: "How the hell could i be motivated to do such a thing?" just think that there are 1.500.000.000 chinese persons out there ,and sooner or later (Yes,very soon) you'll need to communicate with them. As far as i am concerned, that's a good reason.