11/6/2025
Learning Mandarin Chinese can seem like an impassable mountain for a lot of beginners. The misconception that this language is reserved for an elite or that it would require years of learning is often discouraging before even starting. However, the reality is quite different: with the right approach, Mandarin becomes a language that is accessible to all.
And there are so many reasons to learn Mandarin today! This language is not only the most spoken in the world, with nearly one and a half billion speakers, but it also opens doors professionally and culturally. Whether it's to work internationally, travel or simply take on a personal challenge, mastering Mandarin is a real asset.
Chez Mandarin Master, we are of course convinced of this and we have developed a simple and effective learning method that makes Chinese accessible: a few minutes a day will be enough for you to progress at your own pace.
In this article, we'll show you the 10 mistakes we encounter most often among Chinese beginners, and give you practical tips on how to avoid them.
One of the first difficulties faced by beginners in Mandarin is the pronunciation of Tones. Unlike European languages, where intonation is often used to express emotions or ask questions, in Mandarin, the pitch and variation of the voice completely change the meaning of a word.
It exists four main tones :
In addition, there is a neutral, lighter tone that is often used for grammatical particles.
Why is it a common mistake?
Many beginners think that the pronunciation of tones is only a secondary detail and prefer to focus on written vocabulary or grammar. However, poor pronunciation can make your speech incomprehensible to a native speaker, even if the word used is correct.
How to avoid it:
💡 MandarinMaster tip: create a daily routine with about 10 minutes to practice tones, strengthen your ear and your pronunciation.
When starting out in Mandarin, it's tempting to focus only on Pinyin, the official phonetic transcription of the Chinese language using the Latin alphabet. Pinyin seems more accessible and allows you to quickly learn to pronounce words without worrying about complex characters. However, this approach can become a trap if character learning is neglected.
Why is it a common mistake?
Pinyin is a great oral learning tool, but it's still limited. Indeed, Chinese is a language where Many words have the same pronunciation but are spelled differently (the Homophones). For example, the word Shi can mean “to be” (), “ten” (), “ten” (), “house” () or even “business” (), depending on the context and the character used.
Limiting yourself to pinyin can therefore lead to confusion and make reading impossible in the long term. No Chinese newspaper is written in Pinyin and those who believed that characters would soon disappear are still waiting.
How to avoid it:
💡 MandarinMaster tip: associate each character with a mental image or story to make it easier to remember. For example, the character PEOPLE (rén — person) resembles a walking person. On its Instagram account, MandarinMaster regularly offers Zooms to tell the story behind the main Chinese characters.
Writing Chinese characters may seem artistic, but it's actually based on strict rules that determine The order of the strokes. Each character is composed of one to several strokes to be written in a specific order, a rule that is often ignored by beginners who focus only on the final form. However, learning the order of strokes from the start allows you to better memorize characters and improve your writing.
Why is it a common mistake?
Many newbies think that the main thing is simply to replicate the shape of the Chinese character, no matter how. However, the order of the traits is not arbitrary: it helps to structure the character, to understand its construction and facilitates visual recognition. A bad habit from the start can make writing slower and more difficult to correct later on.
How to avoid it:
💡 MandarinMaster tip: learn to write 2 to 3 new characters per day. And MandarinMaster tells you which ones! These few minutes of daily practice will be enough for you to make rapid progress.
One of the most common pitfalls for beginners is to Translate directly from French to Chinese using the same grammatical structure. However, Chinese has its own logic, which is very different from European languages. Translating word for word can not only produce incomprehensible sentences, it can also slow down your learning.
Why is it a common mistake?
French uses conjugations, articles, and prepositions that don't exist in Chinese. For example, the phrase “I am a student” literally translates to “Wshì xuéshēng” (Wshì xuéshēng”). However, in many contexts, the Chinese will simply say “Wxuéshēng” (My School), without the verb “to be.”
Beginners often have a tendency to want copy the structure of their native language, which results in clumsy or incomprehensible sentences.
How to avoid it:
💡 MandarinMaster tip: practice using simple everyday phrases, like “I want coffee” (Wyào kāfēi —), to integrate the natural structures of Chinese.
Chinese grammar is simpler than French grammar because it doesn't have No conjugation, no grammatical gender, no plural. While this simplicity attracts a lot of beginners, it can also lead to a common error: completely neglecting grammar. However, Chinese has very specific syntax rules for structuring sentences.
Why is it a common mistake?
Without conjugation, it is tempting to think that word order can be flexible, as in some European languages. Now, in Chinese, Word order is strict and in a way replaces conjugation. For example, to indicate the past tense, we simply add a particle like (the) without changing the verb:
Moreover, unlike French, Chinese does not use grammatical gender for nouns, but classifiers to count objects, which can be confusing at first.
How to avoid it:
💡 MandarinMaster tip: create model sentences that you can reuse in different situations. For example: “Wyào yī bēi kāfēi” (Could you have a cup of coffee).
When you start learning Chinese, it's natural to want Memorize as many vocabulary words as possible to feel more comfortable. However, accumulating words without understanding how they are used in a sentence can slow your progress and make communication difficult.
Why is it a common mistake?
Chinese is a language where context plays an essential role in the meaning of words. The same word can have several meanings depending on the situation. For example, the word “Shi” (Yes) means “to be” in an affirmative sentence, but it can also be used to emphasize information in other contexts:
In addition, Chinese people often use ready-made phrases and commonly used words that do not translate directly into French.
How to avoid it:
💡 MandarinMaster Tip: Focus on the essential words. In their basic course, MandarinMaster students must memorize a maximum of 10 words per day. He is invited to locate each of these words in a sentence in accordance with the rules of syntax. To take into account the specificity of the Chinese language and the negative effect of wanting to learn too much at the same time, MandarinMaster imposes a maximum pace of 1 lesson per day. A student who sticks to it can reach level C1 in 3 years, which is excellent!
Chinese has several sounds that don't exist in French, which can make pronunciation difficult for beginners. Sounds like Zh, Ch, X, and R are particularly complicated to master, because they have no direct equivalent in French phonetics. For example, “Zh” looks like a “J” French but with slight suction, and “x” Pronounced like a “ch” soft but closer to the English “sh”.
Why is it a common mistake?
Beginners often tend to pronounce these sounds like their French equivalents, which can lead to misunderstandings. Improper pronunciation of these sounds can make your speech difficult for a native speaker to understand, even if the rest of your vocabulary is correct. For example, “zhī” (— to know) can easily be confused with “Shi” (Teacher — master) if the pronunciation is incorrect.
How to avoid it:
💡 MandarinMaster Tip: When you encounter a word that contains these more difficult sounds, repeat it slowly and clearly a few times out loud, focusing on each sound. MandarinMaster offers you a native teacher to train you in oral practice if you encounter particular difficulties.
One of the most common pitfalls for beginners is not to practice regularly. Many people start learning Chinese with enthusiasm, but motivation can quickly wane, especially if the results aren't immediate. However, learning a language, especially Mandarin, requires constancy and long-term efforts.
Why is it a common mistake?
The Chinese language, with its characters, grammar, and tonal pronunciation, can seem overwhelming. It's easy to fall into the trap of wanting to learn intensively for a few days and then take a break for several weeks. This episodic method slows down language acquisition and leads to a loss of momentum, making it more difficult to maintain language skills.
How to avoid it:
💡 MandarinMaster tip: each day, set aside 5 minutes to review the vocabulary learned in the previous days before moving on to the new lesson. MandarinMaster flashcards are made for that. In addition, the MandarinMaster method offers you a path interspersed with weekly and monthly reviews. Just follow the guide!
One of the biggest barriers to learning a language, especially for French people and especially for Mandarin, is fear of making mistakes while talking. Many beginners hold back from practicing their Chinese because of the anxiety of mispronouncing words, making grammatical mistakes, or not being understood. This fear can seriously hamper progress and limit opportunities to practice.
Why is it a common mistake?
The fear of making mistakes can make learning much more difficult. One of the keys to progress in a language is to practice actively, even if that means making mistakes. By not talking, you lose the opportunity to improve yourself and correct your mistakes as you go. Also, native speakers will appreciate your efforts and will often be very understanding, even if you make a few mistakes.
How to avoid it:
💡 MandarinMaster tip: repeat everything you learn by simply following the method, validate your pronunciation and assess your progress every day. Rehearsal every day is the best way to overcome your fear of speaking up. If you want, a native teacher will help you personally.
While manuals and applications are useful for building a solid foundation, they do not always reflect the real use of language. Native speakers often speak more quickly, use informal expressions or abbreviations that are not always taught in traditional courses. This can create a gap between what you learn and what you encounter in real life.
How to avoid it:
💡 MandarinMaster tip: start with videos or podcasts with subtitles in Pinyin or Simplified Chinese so you can follow along while learning new words and real structures.
The MandarinMaster platform was designed to support you in learning Chinese in a progressive and intuitive. It is based on an innovative method that was developed by a Franco-Chinese team to adapt primarily to French-speaking people. Thanks to this progressive approach, you learn step by step, without pressure, by first mastering the basics and then approaching more advanced concepts.
The MandarinMaster platform places particular emphasis on The oral, with a system of speech recognition efficient and innovative that helps you perfect your pronunciation. This system allows you to correct your mistakes immediately and improve quickly, while helping you overcome the fear of speaking up.
For writing, MandarinMaster offers fun videos that show you how to draw characters, respecting the order of the lines and making learning more visual and enjoyable. By learning 2 to 3 characters per day, you easily memorize them thanks to repetitions and to contexts that help you integrate them into your daily life.
To strengthen retention, the MandarinMaster platform also offers you flashcards And revisions, allowing you to work regularly and keep your memory active. Finally, to go further, you can Talk to MandarinMaster native speakers via language exchanges, allowing you to improve your speaking skills through authentic and useful conversations in a relaxed environment.
With MandarinMaster, you benefit from a complete and adapted method to learn Chinese effectively and at your own pace, while taking advantage of innovative tools to work on every aspect of the language.
Learning Chinese may seem daunting at first, but with the progressive and innovative method of Mandarin Master, it is becoming easy and pleasant to embark on this extraordinary linguistic adventure. By combining speaking exercises, fun writing videos, regular reviews and the opportunity to communicate with native speakers, you develop your Chinese skills comprehensively and effectively. Thanks to a tailor-made approach, you learn at your own pace, overcoming the obstacles that beginners often encounter. So don't wait any longer to start speaking and writing in Chinese — with MandarinMaster, every day brings you one step closer to mastering this fascinating language!