Learn Chinese Chinesimple YCT1

How many apples are there? How old are you? With just a few words in Chinese, you can already talk about things you know.

Chinesimple is Khanji School’s app for taking your first steps in Mandarin Chinese. YCT 1 is for children and young learners starting from scratch. Pictures, audio and explanations in English help you recognise a word, hear it in a sentence and try saying something about yourself.

ONE APPLE, TWO CHARACTERS

Look at the picture of an apple and listen to the word 苹果 (píngguǒ). The letters in brackets are pinyin. They show you how to pronounce the word written in Chinese characters. Listen again and try saying it yourself. The next time you see 苹果, can you picture the apple?

Now listen to 她有三个苹果 (“She has three apples”). You already know the last word. Can you hear 三 (sān), meaning “three”, too? Swap 三 for 五 (wǔ), meaning “five”, and say the whole sentence aloud. You’ve changed how many apples she has by changing just one word.

YOUR TURN TO ANSWER

Listen to the question 你几岁？ (“How old are you?”). This time, you get to choose the number. If you’re eight, for example, you can say 我八岁 (“I’m eight”). Try it with your own age. At home or in class, take turns asking and answering.

PLAY WITH WORDS AND COME BACK TO THEM

Practise with flashcards for animals, food and parts of the body. Look at a picture, try to remember the word, then listen to how it sounds. If two characters look alike, follow the stroke order for one of them and try writing it yourself.

Is there a word you recognise when you see it but can’t remember when you speak? Save it to your flashcard deck for your next review. You can also look it up in the Chinese dictionary and listen to it before you try again.

GET READY FOR YCT 1

Taking the YCT 1 exam? Practise with words, sentences and exercises from this level. Start with the sentence about the apples. Listen without looking at the text. Can you tell which fruit she has and how many?

GET STARTED

Try Chinesimple with 苹果. Listen to the word, pick it out in the sentence and change the number to say something new. You can do it all in one app.