When you search the internet for “how to learn Chinese” or “how to learn a second language,” you’ll find numerous websites that offer various tips and tricks for learning a foreign language. However, if we analyze all the tips and tricks, we can categorize them into two main approaches to learning new languages.

The first approach is to learn naturally, like a baby (natural language acquisition). This approach involves listening, repeating, and speaking without questioning the reasons behind certain phrases and sentence structures.

The second approach is to treat the new language as a subject. This involves delving into its grammar to understand why it is used in certain ways, comparing the new language to your native language, practicing what you’ve learned, and even taking exams to assess your progress and proficiency.

Depending on your goal for learning a language, you can choose one of these two approaches or even combine them. Based on our teachers’ experiences at AL Language Cafe, the natural language acquisition approach is more suitable for certain languages, including Mandarin Chinese. In other words, “listen and repeat” is an effective way to learn Chinese. (Click here to learn more.)

As a result, AL Language Cafe publishes a series of useful Chinese phrases for various real-life situations, such as talking with friends and family, short and commonly used phrases in conversational Chinese, and useful phrases for traveling in China.

In each video lesson, we focus on repeating each phrase at a slow pace and then at a normal speed, without explaining the grammar. With this natural language acquisition approach, you can easily listen, repeat, and learn Chinese with us!

Additionally, we classify our lessons based on different Chinese levels and real-life situations. You can easily find the class you need with the roadmap below.

How to use the roadmap in 3 easy steps:

Step 1: Choose between “I don’t know any Chinese” and “I’ve been studying Chinese for a while.”
Step 2: Consider your goal for learning the language. Do you want to “learn the language and practice more” or do you want to “communicate right away in specific situations”?
Step 3: Check out the class options and note down the number of the class that interests you. You will find links to each class below the roadmap.

1 – 111 Basic Phrases for Beginners

For learners who are new to Chinese and want to start their language journey with easy and useful phrases that they can use right away.

2 – 150 Essential Words With Example Phrases – HSK 1 Course

A beginner course that is suitable for beginners who want to study Chinese from scratch systematically. It is also very helpful for learners who are reviewing or preparing for the official HSK exam.

In this course, we start by learning the essential words first, then we build sentences with the new words. This way, you are not simply learning how the word is used but also gain exposure to sentence structures in Chinese.

It is the perfect course for beginners who want to study Chinese step-by-step and gain a solid foundation in the language.

3 – Listening Practice – 100 Starter Level Phrases (HSK 1)

This video course is for beginners who want to practice Chinese listening comprehension skills (HSK 1). If you don’t know any Chinese or haven’t studied the HSK 1 Vocabulary, we recommend you study the second course in this list first.

4 – 100 Most Used Phrases When Traveling in China – The 100 Most Spoken Phrases (Speaking Edition)

If you don’t know any Chinese and want to learn basic conversational phrases for traveling purposes in China, or you have already been studying Chinese for some time but you haven’t learned useful expressions for your traveling trip to China, then this video is perfect for you.

In this video, you will learn useful and practical traveling phrases that you can use right away for your trip to China. You will learn phrases used in different situations. For example:

• Greetings (Hello and Goodbye)
• Apologizing and Expressing Thanks
• Shopping and Bargaining
• Ordering food at a restaurant
• Taking the bus, subway, or high-speed trail
• Asking others for help, asking for directions and more.

5 – 100 Most Commonly Used Phrases When Traveling in China The 100 Most Heard Phrases (Listening Edition)

If you don’t know any Chinese and want to learn some basic phrases to communicate when you travel in China, or maybe you have been studying Chinese for some time but you haven’t learned useful expressions for your trip yet, then this video will come in handy.

This video lesson teaches you 100 basic mini dialogues in Mandarin Chinese to quickly help you get a conversation going with native speakers when you travel to China.

After mastering these 100 short and practical dialogues, you will be able to have short conversations to say hello and goodbye, express thanks and apology, use public transportation, bargain to get a better deal, order food in a restaurant, visit interesting places, and more.

6 – 100 Mini Dialogues for Traveling in China

This video lesson teaches you 100 basic mini dialogues in Mandarin Chinese to quickly help you get a conversation going with native speakers when you travel to China.

After mastering these 100 short and practical dialogues, you will be able to have short conversations to say hello and goodbye, express thanks and apology, use public transportation, bargain to get a better deal, order food in a restaurant, visit interesting places, and more.

7 – HSK 2 Course – 150 Words with 150 Phrases as Examples

This course is designed for students who have studied materials from HSK 1. If you haven’t already, please click here to take that course first to build a solid foundation before continuing with HSK 2, which is the next level after HSK 1.

In this course, we are going to learn 150 essential words with examples for every word. The words are from the official HSK 2 vocabulary list.

The structure is the same as the HSK 1 course where we learn the words first, then a sentence with only words from the HSK 1 and HSK 2 vocabulary list. The lessons are structured this way to help you review words from HSK 1 and build your Chinese sentences confidently because you will only be working with words that are either already in your vocabulary bank or are new in this course.

8 – Listening Practice – 150 Basic Level Phrases (HSK 2)

Practice your listening comprehension with sentences from the HSK 2 course. If you find the sentences difficult, we recommend watching the foundational HSK 2 course where we start learning the words first and then build sentences with them.

9 – 100 Useful Phrases to Communicate with Friends and Family

It doesn’t matter if you don’t know any Chinese or you’ve already been studying Chinese for a long time, this is the course for you if you want to communicate with your Chinese friends or family members.

We are going to learn 100 phrases that are widely used in conversations between couples, parents, children, etc.

Each phrase is repeated multiple times at both slow and natural speeds. This style makes studying easy. All you need to do is listen, repeat, and remember.

COMING SOON

The following courses are coming soon. Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

10 – 100 Short and Useful Phrases to Keep the Conversation Going (This course hasn’t been published yet, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss it when it comes out)

11 – 100 Phrases to Communicate with Coworkers (Workplace Chinese)

(This course hasn’t been published yet, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss it when it comes out)

12 – Business Chinese – 100 Useful Phrases for Exhibitions and Trade Fairs (This course hasn’t been published yet, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss it when it comes out)

13 – 100 Most Commonly Used Phrases for Online Chatting (This course hasn’t been published yet, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss it when it comes out)

14 – HSK 3 Course – Essential Words and Phrases (This course hasn’t been published yet, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss it when it comes out)

15 – Listening Practice – Essential Intermediate Level Phrases (HSK 3) (This course hasn’t been published yet, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss it when it comes out)

16 – 100 Useful Phrases for School/Campus Life

(This course hasn’t been published yet, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss it when it comes out)

17 – 100 Phrases for Meeting New Friends (This course hasn’t been published yet, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss it when it comes out)

18 – Most Commonly Used Phrases for Writing Emails in Chinese (This course hasn’t been published yet, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss it when it comes out)