There are several basic greetings in Mandarin Chinese. In this lesson you will learn how to greet people you meet for the first time and also people you have not seen for a long time. You can start learning Mandarin Chinese from this lesson! To download ALL 200+ lessons with full PDF transcripts and worksheets, please sign up at www.melnyks.com.
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Thank you for listening in. I will continue the lessons. I have made a curriculum for one year, after which you can hopefully be alble to communicate in Chinese on some basic level.
Olá Serge,
thanks, very good. It seems very useful. keep on going!!!
Hope to learn a lot,
Paulo Marques, Portugal
Thank you very much, These lessons are great for a beginner. Thanks again
David
hi!!!
oh my god, finally!!this is what ive been looking for since i first signed up for a mandarin group class in berlitz.im abbey and im from the philippines.this is to say “xie xie” to your brilliant effort to share your mandarin knowledge online. more power to you and your website. keep it up!!!
Of all the learn Chinese podcasts, this series is by far the most user friendly. Thanks Serge.
hi Serge,
Thank you so much for this chinese learning program, it’s really helpful and very successful. Today was my first time here and when I started the 1st lesson I felt a big joy because i finaly found the best way to learn Mandarin, it’s free, well-made and I can come here whenever i want.
Thank you for your great efforts.
Soundous
This course is wonderfull thanxxxxxxx a lot!
Iris
I have been studying Chinese in China for about a year and was close to giving up when I found your website. I recognized immediately that you possess the tools I need to improve my Mandarin skills. I am happy to pay the fees. They can, in no way, compensate you for the service (hope) that you are giving me.
hi serge
I just had found your place, I only can say it’s great, easy to learn, and very useful.
Thank you a lot for your great job and dedication in developing this.
Guillermo Rivero, Lima, Peru
thanks so much! This will be great! Any chance of a lesson on football talk?! As i often play football with a chinese friend! Thanks!
Hey ! This website is good !! I liked the lessons !!! I hope God bless you who made this website to help people that want learn chinese mandarin !
Merci beaucoup ! There’re no such lesson in France ! Thank u man ! Wo hen xihuan ni ! Xiexie ! ^___^
Xie xie! This is a great site! I’m now taking Mandarin level1 class for my coco subject, and this site is really helpful for me to learn more . and I will use it to improve my Mandarin skills in the future. ok keep on going! Xie xie once again.
hi
I have been searching for such a web site for learning zhong wen. Really, it is fantastique!
Hi Sam,
Do you have iTunes? Why don’t you subscribe to a feed(automatic MP3 files downloads)?
There is a button for iTunes and another “feed” button next to it. If You click on that orange button, you will get a list of all Mp3s on one page.
Best,
Serge
Thanks, Serge. I mean “xie xie”
Hello Serge,
Thanks for the site. I’ve been listening for around six months to the podcasts – now I have subscribed to start learning from the transcripts and worksheets also.
I speak French and German and my mother tongue is English. I’m finding that Mandarin is not like learning a European language – so I am carefully planning my time to dedicate to learning. Hopefully I will be able to visit Great China -or Taiwan again in the next couple of years – either for business or for a holiday.
I’m hoping that the next six months will bring me some serious progress!
Kind regards
Alan
Lancashire, England
Wo hen gan xie, Serge! Me and my friend are learning together, since we have a chinese class next year in school. What I wanted to do most was to go to the Shaolin Temple in china and study their’ martial arts. I already know enough japanese to be able to teach my own form of martial arts in japan when I get older. So, I only have thanks to say to your detailed and great lessons!
In japanese, all I have to say is Arigato Gozaimasu!
I can’t get the worksheets when I log in and I don’t know how to put the
lessons on Itunes.
Please help.
Rachel
Dear Rachel,
Let’s work it out, it’s quite easy.
So first, let’s get access to the transcripts. I have sent you an email after you signed up with the instructions, probably you did not get it.
You will need your user name and password and to follow these steps.
1) Login from the sidebar and arrive at your Website membership area. ( you need your own login name and password )
2)In that area(control panel), in the left upper corner, there is a link that says ” 6 months”, it’s under the “Your Subscription” title.
3) Click on it and you will see a page with links to all transcripts and worksheets on it.
I just did so using your user name and everything works.
Now about the iTunes and iPod. So I assume, you have an iPod and would like to download and transfer all lessons to it. In order to do so, the first thing you need to make sure is that iTunes is working properly.
What’s your version of iTunes? Is it very old? Does it have a “title” “Podcasts” on the left bar when your iTunes is open? Because in very old versions, I guess before 2005, there is no such item. If you need iTunes, you can download a new version of this program for free from http://www.apple.com/itunes/
So, let’s assume you got iTunes working. Go to my Website https://www.melnyks.com and click on the iTunes icon on the sidebar. Your iTunes program will start to launch. Once it finishes opening up, you will see my podcast page with a photo, description and a list of lessons at the bottom, all in the iTunes now.
On top, next to my photo, there is a small button that says ” free Subscribe”. Click on it.
Now you need to click on the “Podcasts” title on the left of your iTunes screen that I mentioned earlier. You will see that iTunes automatically downloaded the latest lesson, let’s say Lesson 103 and under it, in grey color, there is a long list of all lessons, lesson1 to lesson 102.
Look at the very top of the list. You will see a small button “get all”. Click on it and iTunes will start downloading all lessons. This may take a while, depends on your internet speed.
When this process is finished, you will see that all lessons are downloaded and they are now in black color not in grey as before.
If you plug your ipod now, your iTunes should synchronize with it, this is enabled by default. iTunes will create an exact copy of itself in your iPod, so all lessons will be transfered to the iPod. If you delete smth from iTUnes, it will be automatically deleted from your iPod as well.
After the transfer of files is done, you will be able to find all audio lessons in your iPod under “Podcasts”-“Language Courses” section.
I really hope you can work it out. Please let me know how it goes.
Best,
Serge
Hi Serge!
Thank you for the Chinese lessons you have made availabe on the webside. I enjoy listening and learning from your way of teaching. I hope that in a year or so I will be able to speak and understand basic Zhongwen. Esterina
P.S any suggestions?
Hello, Serge
Like others here I would like to sincerely thank you for creating these lessons. I have completed lesson one and I truly enjoyed it. your teaching style is very pleasant and “down-to-earth”or comfortable. I hope that within a year I will gain an understanding of basic Chinese.
Thank you,
Dian from The Bahamas
Ni hao Serge! First I have to say your pronunciation is amazing! You sound
like a native speaker to me. I am teaching Chinese is Britain. I’ve found
my students are struggling with pronunciation and tones, especially the
young ones. We just doing it bit by bit every lesson. Anyway I want to say
thanks for the programme because it has given me more ideas about how to
teach Chinese. I think you could write a book for foreigners learning
Chinese.
Xie xie.
Hi Serge,
I’m am just completing lesson 55 and I wanted to say its been an absolute pleasure to learn Chinese using your lessons. I really appreciate the thought you put into them. If I’m being honest, there are times when I look at the subject of the lesson and think “I don’t need to learn that” but I do the lesson anyways. There has NOT been one time that I have didn’t learn something that I can use everyday, whether it be new useful vocabulary or some interesting sentence structure. I am now surprising my Chinese Fiancee, her friends and her family on a daily basis with my knowledge of Mandarin. Previous to finding your lessons I tried Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone, Instant Immersion, and Chinese Pod and none of them were right for me. Your lesson structure and progression is a perfect fit. Anyone serious about learning Mandarin needs to strongly consider your lessons. I feel very prepared for my trip back to China for Chinese New Year. I can’t thank you enough, I will be renewing my subscription very soon.
Thanks for the help, 谢谢你帮助我 你太好了,
Benjamin 本杰明
Dear Serge
Even though I have spent many years at university and am used to studying on my own, your podcasts and transcripts are the difference between me learning Mandarin or not. One can learn a European language on one’s own, I learned German and Spanish that way before learning to acquire it fluently in the relevant countries but I think one cannot possibly learn Mandarin that way; the grammar is easier but the sounds are just so different and often so much softer than anything the Western ear is used to. I have listen to your podcasts on trains in Finland, in cafes in Milan, on the beach in Nice, in the dessert in Syria and walking my dog every night in Ireland. I cannot say how much I appreciate your programme.
Rest assured Serge that there are many people learning Mandarin who would not be doing so without your efforts.
Thank you again and I wish you ever success.
Sincerely,
Timothy
Серж, это просто супер!
Большая благодарность за ваши уроки китайского! Они очень удобные и понятные. Изучаю китайский для работы.
На днях подпишусь для получения транскрипций.
Богдан из Киева
Eureka!! I finally found you, I’m from an Argentina’s little town, a friend gave me your firsts lessons but latter I couldn’t find your website anymore… Now I’ll begin with complete lessons, xié xié!
just found your podcast on my blackbery playbook.
it looks like i can now listen to your podcasts no matter where i am.
certainly the most intelligent thing i have downloaded on my tablet !
Serge, I can’t tell you how much I have enjoyed listening and learning. Of course as you probably well know, everyone swears that Rosetta Stone is the best, but I think your method is working very well for me. I have really impressed my Chinese coworkers and friends when I speak some Chinese to them. I have gotten so may double takes, and turned many heads. They are so impressed that I am speaking some Chinese, albeit very basic so far. My son currently lives in Hefei teaching English at a couple of colleges, as well as to some young children. I am going to visit China next month and hope to utilize what I have learned. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Jonas
Ni hao Serge!
Your podcasts are amazing!!!! Thank you soo much for posting them up! They will help me a lot in learning Mandarin and also save me money! Keep up with the great work!! I really appreciate what you are doing!!-best Priscila
Thank you so much, it was so hard to find a user friendly audio :)
Hey Serge!
I also just want to thank you for all your work. It really helped me and still is. I actually still have a long way to go, but currently living and working in Suzhou should help with that. ;-)
I listened to the podcasts while going for a walk or running back in Viennan, now the perfect time is after work when I prepare/eat dinner, don’t need any additional time and only need my ears. :-) Very convenient!
Keep up the good work!
Pascal
Lesson 65 grammar review is really great! I own several grammar books but they contain too much information for my level.
In lesson 65 I can find all the grammar points that are relevant to my level.
谢谢
Serge,
I think I just plain missed something important.
How do you indicate a objects as plural? For example, I ate some apples or I like libraries?
Thanks.
Dawei
Hi Dawei,
You can tell from the context. There is no plural form in Chinese grammar.
E.g. by saying ‘some’ you will imply it’s plural: yi4xie1(一些)-some, yi4xie1 ping2guo3(一些苹果)-some apples.
Otherwise, library or libraries are all the same: tu2shu2guan3(图书馆). You can say, hen3 duo1 tu2shu1guan3(很多图书馆)-many libraries.
There is suffix men2(们), but it’s mostly used with pronouns like wo3（我）, wo3men（我们）, ni3（你）, ni3men（你们）. If you see it’s used with something else, it’s the indication of ‘humanification’ on that object, that is speaking of it as of a person.
Best,
Serge
Thanks. That is what I’ve been looking for. Congratulations for the creation of this website that so far has been of great help. I will, in return, tell others who are interested in learning Mandarin about this website.
Hey,
Thank you so much for your Mandarin lessons. I have been waiting for something like this to come along for a long time. I’m an American and have always been fascinated by Chinese culture, language, history and philosophy, yet, I work and do not have time for classes. It is great to listen to your podcast and I hope you continue it–your lessons are well-thought out and easy to follow.
Thank you again for this wonderful opportunity.
Sincerely,
Anthony (“Tones”)