Chinese is a language spoken by more than 1.3 billion people word wide. Mandarin is the most commonly used and widely spread dialect of the Chinese language group, and the Official language of the People’s Republic of China.

China is an economy which enjoys a high annual growth and continuously attracts the interest of businesses around the world. Listing Chinese on your resume, is a skill valued by most employers, extremely useful in getting a good job or even if you want your own business to expand with activities in China.

The following hand picked online resources will get you started in the study of Chinese. I’ve used them as well, and highly recommend them. Valuable educational material, well planned courses and learning tools, available freely online.

Wikibooks

The Chinese Mandarin Wikibook is a free - constantly developed and enhanced FREE online textbook. Every online student of Chinese should have this one bookmarked.

• Chinese (Mandarin)

Wikipedia

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, has some very informative and well written articles that will give you an introduction to the language and culture of China. Excellent reading for someone interested in learning the language.

• Chinese language

• Standard Mandarin

• Chinese grammar

• Pinyin

Learn Mandarin Chinese with Online Tutors

ChineseHour.com, the world leading online Chinese school, provides self-paced courses and one-on-one instructions to non-native Chinese speakers, and free multimedia learning resources: Pinyin (video), Chinese dialogues (audio with texts), learn Chinese characters, flashcards and living pictures, cartoon mini-novels, Chinese folksongs. Their Chinese learning blog provides “Hot Chinese Words of the Month” and other interesting nature of mandarin Chinese learning.