From kanji to hanyu! (total noob problem)

jaydoxx

Hi all! I have a question regarding hanyu. I am starting a course in chinese this september and want to get a bit of a foundation down before I start. I studied Japanese for my leaving cert and loved writing and reading the kanji but when I found out Chinese also uses simplified characters i leapt at the chance to study it. I'm aware the languages are very different but I'm wondering as a beginner would it be wise(or unwise?) to incorporate my knowledge of the characters in my studying from the get go?

Also, where exactly do I begin? I've never learned a language outside a school enviroment so I'm completely lost with what to do. I'm working on pinyin and pronunciation at the moment but next?

Thanks for any information you can give(especially in regard to learning with my character writing/recognition ability).:D

Lanaier

Yes, absolutely yes.

One of things that became apparent during my time studying mandarin in China was that the Japanese students, while sometimes terrible in their pronunciation had a strong and easy grasp on the writing.

As for where to go next try here:
http://www.chinese-forums.com/

I haven't visited in a while but 6ish years ago that was the best online English speaking community dedicated to Chinese language.
It's probably even better these days.

Be sure to sign up for the forums and do a search.

jaydoxx

Lanaier wrote: »

One of things that became apparent during my time studying mandarin in China was that the Japanese students, while sometimes terrible in their pronunciation had a strong and easy grasp on the writing.

Thats great to know, better look out for my pronounciation tho:D

And thanks for the link too, it should make the process a whole lot less overwhelming:)