You Speak It. Now Read It.
If you heard Mandarin at home growing up, often alongside Hokkien or Hakka, you probably understand more than you can say, and you may read little or no Chinese. That is a common result of growing up between languages. This page is a way to begin from where you actually are.
Why the beginner path wastes your time
Standard beginner courses assume you know nothing: no sounds, no tones, no vocabulary. Many heritage learners are the other way round. Your ear is ahead, so the early lessons on greetings and basic listening repeat what you already know.
What lags behind is smaller and more specific: recognising characters, and the labels for tones and sounds that you can hear but may never have been taught by name. A good route spends your time there.
A suggested route
Take it in order or skip around. Each step stands on its own.
- Step 1
See where you are
A short reading quiz and two questions about how much you follow by ear. It suggests a starting point, not a verdict.
Take the placement check - Step 2
Refresh Zhuyin (注音)
Many heritage learners met Zhuyin in weekend Chinese school and half-remember it. A short refresher gives you a way to read sounds in the script used in Taiwan.
Open the Zhuyin hub - Step 3
Read first
Your listening already runs ahead of your reading, so study by reading. Characters whose sound and meaning you already know stick quickly.
Start where you are - Step 4
Family and professional register
Learn the words for relatives and the more formal language of work, so reading carries into the conversations you care about.
Read the kinship terms guide
Explore
- Learning to read when you already speak it A reading route that begins with the words you know by ear: Zhuyin, homophones and a routine that lasts.
- Learning Taiwanese Mandarin What to check in a course, app or textbook if the Mandarin of Taiwan is your target: script, vocabulary, readings and audio.
- Relearning Zhuyin after Chinese school A short way back into ㄅㄆㄇㄈ, and the spellings that catch out people who learned Mandarin by ear.
- Talking with parents and grandparents Phrases for calls, video chats and LINE, and questions that turn a check-in into a longer conversation.
- Mandarin at home vs in Taiwan 台灣國語, the s/sh merger, Hokkien loanwords and the 有 + verb pattern, put plainly.
- Business Mandarin for heritage speakers The words that shift between home and office, 貴 and 敝, and the phrases in almost every work email.
- Heritage speakers and the TOCFL How the TOCFL scores uneven skills, and why your reading, not your listening, usually settles which band to sit.
- Programs in Taiwan for overseas Taiwanese The Love Boat study tour, OCAC Mandarin courses, FASCA and the Huayu scholarship: ages, fees and who may apply.
- Taiwanese surname directory Look up a surname and see its characters, Zhuyin, Pinyin, Wade-Giles and the Hokkien and Hakka readings.
- Why is my name spelled Hsieh? Wade-Giles, Tongyong, Hanyu Pinyin and MPS II set side by side, with Zhuyin.
- Heritage placement check Find a sensible place to begin reading, with Zhuyin or at your level.
- Chinese family kinship terms What to call each relative on your mother's and father's sides.
- Chinese name generator Explore Chinese names with characters, Zhuyin and Pinyin.
- Taiwanese vs mainland Mandarin The vocabulary, pronunciation and script differences you may have noticed at home.
- Zhuyin hub Interactive tools for the 37 Zhuyin symbols.
- TOCFL placement test A short quiz that estimates your TOCFL level, if you would like an exam-based measure.
Start where you actually are
Zhong teaches Traditional Chinese with Pinyin or Zhuyin as you prefer, native audio and spaced repetition. There are no streaks to keep alive. You study when it suits you.
Start free