duolingo for chinese 🇨🇳🦜 how I use it + the pros & cons

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

add me on duolingo @darbova :) www.duolingo.com/profile/darbova

[@abefroman53]

Thank you so much for letting people know you can turn off pinyin!!! I just started learning mandarin on duolingo 2 weeks ago, and I've been having such a hard time with memorizing the hanzi. Turning it off helps so much because you can just focus on learning to associate the word with the character without the distraction of the pinyin. Great advice!

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

@@abefroman53 exactly! I’m glad it’s helped you :))

[@MacksChinese]

Yeah, definitely. I just realized that you can turn off Pinyin in Duolingo after you mentioned it in your video. I personally like to look at each unit’s words. It gives you a list of words specific to the unit you’re currently on; it’s well-organized, and all you have to do is memorize it. It also includes the stroke order, so I usually just scan all of the characters, not necessarily memorizing them right away but familiarizing myself with them. It’s like it’s inputting the information into your brain, so after countless encounters with the words, you’ll naturally memorize them over time. Just take it slowly and don’t rush it. Great video!

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

@@MacksChinese thank you for your comment! I didn’t realise it gave you a vocabulary list per unit, I only saw the handbook with grammar and stuff- where can I find it? I’m glad we both learnt something new 😁😁

[@MacksChinese]

@@dashasdigitaldiaryy No problem! And yeah, I’m using an iPad, so for me, it’s at the bottom, second from the bottom left. There is a ‘文’ icon, and when you click on it, you’ll see two options: Pinyin and Hanzi. Just press Hanzi, and you can see the characters. It won’t show every character; it will only display the units you’re currently learning or have already learned.

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

@@MacksChinese ohhh yes, i knew about the hanzi page, but didn't realise it was split into units! super interesting regardless, 谢谢 :)

[@MacksChinese]

@@dashasdigitaldiaryy没关系

[@fabian1019]

I think Lingodeer is waaaay better for learning Chinese and not just Chinese but also Japanese and Korean. It was created first for these languages.

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

i've never heard of it before! i'll check it out :)

[@kamifaye]

Yess its so important when learning a new alphabet or reading system, to not use [edit] too many English translation or phonetic aids at all, especially for characters you've learned. When I was learning Russian at university my professor absolutely emphasized that, and it helps you pick it up sooo much faster! I'm so glad I know that while I'm learning Chinese now 💗🙏

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

@@kamifaye interesting, how do you learn the pronunciation in that case? I can turn pinyin off on duo but I still hear the way it’s pronounced when I click on each word. I feel like with Russian, if you know how each letter is pronounced, you have a pretty good shot at pronouncing the whole word correctly. but obvs Chinese has different tones, so I think would struggle with absolutely 0 phonetic aids or audios

[@kamifaye]

@@dashasdigitaldiaryy Omg, I wrote it wrong- I meant not using it for characters I've learned haha 💓😂🙏 Apologies! We did use translations for new words, but for reading text we didn't use them- and specifically we could have translations available but never "easily," they would be in a different page than the text so our eyes can't form a habit of going to them.

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

@@kamifaye hahahahaha okay that makes more sense!! i agree, i still use pinyin in my notes but i try to limit the english or else i automatically go to it. i'm trying to limit my pinyin in preparation for hsk 3 but most of my hsk 2 resources include the pinyin 🥲

[@XuanYesoCastillo]

Duolingo teachs you some useful sentencez for daily life but I think it is not the only source of learning and neither the most complete. The good new is that they added some grammar and spelling hints in the hanzi practice section. Learning Chinese is a long-term commitment so the advice is to take it easy and stay curious as well constant.

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

@@XuanYesoCastillo agreed!

[@dylangoike9439]

You and i seem to be near the same units (im a beginner as well) and tell me why 玛丽和我都有历史课 gave me a whiplash reaction.

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

HAHAHAH 你不喜欢历史课吗？😩

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

comment down below your personal experience with duolingo - i'd love to know

[@yousraboudada]

U can't imagine how much i enjoy watching your shorts and videos !!!! please make videos ....show us your copy books of learning chinese and what did u write in them cuz iam learning chinese too and i want to take some new ideas in this field ...love u'r videos so much

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

@@yousraboudada I’ll make a notebook flip through some point soon :)

[@yousraboudada]

@@dashasdigitaldiaryy i will be waiting ❤❤❤

[@lampenfieber]

I have the same issue with the speaking lol..... Since ive also turned off the pinyin (cause i noticed how i wasnt actually looking at the characters) i sometimes need more time to actually say the whole sentence but that damn app STRESSES me out cause i gotta say it so fast

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

lmaoo they give you 10/10 when you’re only halfway through the sentence 🤣🤣 and it’s like wait what ….

[@sugarnely]

I also use duolingo! I turned off the pinyin as you did and i use it for practicing the stroke order of the characters

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

ohhh yes i think the stroke order practice feature is super cool but i personally find it TOO repetitive and i get bored :/// I wish it was a bit quicker

[@BAREBRAIN]

I use it for copying how they say they words so pronunciation practice and for learning hanzi. For learning tones i use yt and I'm gonna start using anki for vocab that ill take from the HSK book but I dont have it yet so imma take it from Duo

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

awesome approach! there's loads of HSK sets on anki made by other users btw, you just have to search it up. or if you want to make your own set, then you can find the vocab online. just search for example 'HSK 1 vocab list' and looooads of sites will come up :)

[@BAREBRAIN]

@@dashasdigitaldiaryy ok ill do that then ty

[@senacimcn]

hi! i just started learning chinese yesterday, what is your opinion on duolingo's pinyin and hanzi? do you think it is a good idea to study them on duo? what resources would you recommend? thank you for the vid! ❤

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

@@senacimcn to be honest I find the hanzi feature a bit boring and repetitive, but it’s good if you want to learn the stroke order 😅 as for pinyin, I really like that I have the option to turn it off because learning hanzi is really important for me! so if you want to learn hanzi i think doing lessons on Duolingo is a low-pressure way to do it and better than using the actual hanzi feature. I hope that made sense 🥲 are you casually learning Chinese or wanting to do the HSK exams? 💓

[@senacimcn]

@@dashasdigitaldiaryy casually learning! i don't really have a time pressure or anything, i just wanted to learn a language on my own as i just got into college and i'll study english in prep class for a year. my english is not really bad so i wanted to learn another language! do you like the chinese pronouncation in duo? what other resources are you using?

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

@@senacimcn i think it’s fine. for pronunciation I just repeat any text-to-speech audios I hear, whether that’s on duo or Quizlet (this technique is called shadowing)

[@iagoisrael4393]

I was enjoying but now I saw the update they did and I really hate it. Too many word - there isn't enogh time to learn tgem. And not so usefull words... Why I need to know basketball in chinese? Or train station? I thinking to quit, only looking for an alternafive app before..

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

To be honest, I think the way they reorganised everything in the newest update is bad for complete beginners. It was okay for me because I already had a foundation of knowledge, but I definitely remember thinking “I would’ve struggled with this 2 months ago”!!!! As for 火车站, I think it’s a very useful word to know 😝 but maybe not for a beginner!

[@_lilinana.languages]

Super interesting:) I don’t really use Duolingo 😅😅

[@_lilinana.languages]

And by the way what camera are you using ?

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

ohh really how come?? and my iphone 15 pro :)

[@_lilinana.languages]

@@dashasdigitaldiaryy i just didn’t like it but I tried it out when it was still new 😅😂😂😂 and now Witze the paid subscription I am just broke 😂

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

@@_lilinana.languages hahahahah, you can definitely use it without the paid subscription, i just hate the ads on the free version 🤣🤣 but tbh i think your chinese is probably too advanced for it now anyway!

[@Feelo6194]

Hey whats your profile on duolingo.I am also a learner,

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

@darbova :)

[@Bruh-cg2fk]

hello

[@Bruh-cg2fk]

does it have stories? :(

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

no

[@Bruh-cg2fk]

you use anki?

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

i use quizlet

[@yousraboudada]

your voice in the videos is a bit low . please make it higher !! so i can hear you better

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

@@yousraboudada thank you sm for the feedback!! do you specifically mean the background music is too loud? or that when your turn your volume up you still can’t hear the audio that well? 🫶🫶

[@yousraboudada]

@@dashasdigitaldiaryy no ! it's not about the music . i was talking about the audio yeah .😄

[@StrawberryJamJam29]

@@dashasdigitaldiaryy I hear you well on my new MacBook pro and with my new bose headphones.

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

@@StrawberryJamJam29 I suspect it may have been a volume issue 🙈

[@yousraboudada]

can i ask u where do u live now !

[@dashasdigitaldiaryy]

@@yousraboudada the UK :)