Learning Chinese was not a New Year’s Resolution but I’m so glad that I started and I’m keen to continue. My learning methods have slowly evolved since I started 4 months ago and my top tips are as follows: 1) Use stories to learn (I’m currently testing out Olly Richard’s’ program Story Learning and have found some Graded Readers with text and audio that I haven’t yet purchased but I’ve found the previews quite good and am working on purchasing one to try - let me know if you’ve tried them yourself and if there’s any other recommendations). 2) Get lots of Comprehensible Input (I’ve used Channels on YouTube with teachers who use this method as well as the Mini Stories on the free version of the app LingQ. I also listen and read the articles on The Chairman’s Bao according to my level). I used to listen to some podcasts on here at iTalki but due to lack of time I haven’t kept it up and have gone off the app to other sources. Which leads me to my next tip 3). Find what interests you. This can be hard as a total beginner and beginner because there’s so many words we don’t know. Therefore the material we can understand may be limited and not exactly suited to our taste and the things we are interested in are written or produced at a level we’re not yet at. But there are options out there. You just have to look. Let me know in the comments if you’re having trouble looking for interesting material and what you’re interested in (i.e. reading, podcasts, music, etc) and I’ll see if I can help. Sorry in advance if I can’t. 4). If you have the time don’t waste it on flashcards. There are better ways to learn new words that don’t involve you sitting there memorising words in isolation. See above for some options. This may be controversial so take it with a grain of salt. It’s just based off my experience. I have a limited amount of time and motivation😄 so I’d rather spend it on something that will generate more motivation in me and have results. Continued in comments…