{"id":41,"date":"2026-05-26T16:16:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T16:16:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.nadia-sofia-fernandes.ch\/?p=41"},"modified":"2026-05-26T19:45:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T19:45:22","slug":"self-experiment-learning-chinese-mandarin-day-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.nadia-sofia-fernandes.ch\/?p=41","title":{"rendered":"Self-experiment: Learning Chinese (Mandarin), Day 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Learning Korean changed the way I experience language, culture and even identity. Now, for the first time in years, I’m starting again from zero with Mandarin Chinese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I never really documented my Korean learning progress. Therefore, it\u2019s hard to trace back when I used which learning strategies. But I can remember the methods that helped me the most. And those are the ones I want to transfer to learn a new language. I\u2019m convinced that it needs a healthy mixture of cultural inputs<\/strong> and discipline<\/strong>. That\u2019s why as a first step I\u2019ve created a clear learning structure. Each day I\u2019m learning and repeating new vocabulary. I\u2019m using Anki<\/a>\u2019s algorithm, which was created by Gabriel Wyner, the author of \u201cFluent Forever\u201d \u2013 a book I\u2019d recommend to everyone who\u2019s interested in languages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, I\u2019m consuming Mandarin through music <\/strong>and movies<\/strong> daily to get used to the sound and to be able to pick up on words and sentences. Those are the main points that helped me with learning Korean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this time I\u2019d like to take one step further and train my pronunciation from day one. Mandarin is a tonal language and that\u2019s why it\u2019s important to remember the right pronunciation<\/strong> from the beginning. I\u2019m using a pronunciation chart which I practice daily to remember each sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interactive Pinyin Chart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a mistake I had made while learning Korean, which is using the wrong keyboard<\/strong>. That’s why I want to get used to the system that is most commonly used in China. Which means I\u2019m not focusing on being able to write words by hand but to recognise and correctly use them on the computer. Hence, I\u2019m not copy-pasting words but typing each sign in by myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m creating a vocabulary list out of basic vocabulary that can be found online and from songs that I\u2019m listening to daily. By using songs I use a creative way to simultaneously remember the sounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion, my focus this week will be: Pronunciation and repetition.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But why Mandarin?<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

If there\u2019s a language that is at least as hard for us German speakers to learn it must be Chinese. But at the same time it\u2019s also a language that can come in handy in a lot of areas. Plus, I\u2019ve always had a fascination for the language and have been consuming Chinese entertainment. I also would like to travel to China someday. And if I\u2019m lucky my Korean skills might help me during my learning process. Korean and Mandarin are two very different languages but as far as I know they also have some similarities. Once I get into the language I will see how much my Korean will help me in reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, I’m simply excited to slowly make the language feel familiar, one sound, one sentence and one song at a time.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Learning Korean changed the way I experience language, culture and even identity. Now, for the first time in years, I’m starting again from zero with Mandarin Chinese. I never really documented my Korean learning progress. Therefore, it\u2019s hard to trace back when I used which learning strategies. But I can remember the methods that helped…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-language-inputs","category-learning-mandarin-language-inputs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.nadia-sofia-fernandes.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.nadia-sofia-fernandes.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.nadia-sofia-fernandes.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.nadia-sofia-fernandes.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.nadia-sofia-fernandes.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blog.nadia-sofia-fernandes.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73,"href":"https:\/\/blog.nadia-sofia-fernandes.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions\/73"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.nadia-sofia-fernandes.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.nadia-sofia-fernandes.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.nadia-sofia-fernandes.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}