asked about the 8 Steps to Mastering Mandarin Chinese, so I decided to revise and clarify the roadmap. This isn't just for Jan—it's for everyone learning Mandarin Chinese.
Master the 5 Chinese tones ( including Neutral tone )
Master word stress and sentence rhythm
FLOW: put step 1-3 together
Listening: As we start developing our FLOW, we can add listening to our attack list. This is where tone changes, weak forms, blending, and linking come into play.
Daily Chinese: As we work on LISTENING, we can start to grasp what 'Daily Chinese' is. It's also the stage where listening to Chinese news or watching Chinese TV shows starts to become genuinely effective.
Vocabulary: Eventually we'll realize that our vocabulary is FINE, we also realize exactly WHAT vocabulary we need to study.
Grammar: Finally if you follow all of these steps, join the live class as we prescribe, join the lessons, complete the assignment, our grammar problem disappear without even trying. Don't complicate yourself with grammar in the beginning. For grammar, a lot of the time there aren't any hard-and-fast rules. The more you read and the more you listen to Daily Chinese, the more your grammar will naturally improve. Just focus on getting lots of input instead of trying to force every grammar rule.