· 7 min read
Learn Chinese for Free: Where to Start
By Language Lab editorial team
Learn Chinese for free with The Open University's four beginner Mandarin courses, the BBC's Real Chinese archive and official HSK mock tests. What each covers.
You can start Mandarin Chinese for free with university and public-broadcaster material. The Open University's OpenLearn has four free beginner courses: Beginners' Chinese: a taster course, which takes 4 hours and explains pinyin, the four tones and how characters work, and Getting started with Chinese 1, 2 and 3. The BBC's archived Real Chinese offers video lessons with audio, vocabulary and grammar explanations, plus a tone game. The official HSK site has mock tests and the test syllabus. Start with the sound system: pinyin and the tones. For scale, the US State Department allows 2,200 class hours for Mandarin, so treat free courses as the first stage of a long project.
The free resources at a glance
| Resource | Who makes it | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Beginners' Chinese: a taster course | The Open University | Varieties of Chinese, pinyin, tones, characters, greetings, names, nationalities and numbers; 4 hours of study |
| Getting started with Chinese 1 | The Open University | Hello, goodbye and thanks, personal pronouns, counting from 0 to 99, pinyin spelling; 8 hours of study |
| Getting started with Chinese 2 | The Open University | More essentials of reading, writing, speaking and listening for everyday contexts |
| Getting started with Chinese 3 | The Open University | Essential vocabulary and expressions for everyday situations |
| Real Chinese | BBC (archived) | Video lessons with audio, games, vocabulary, grammar explanations and exercises |
| Tone game and pronunciation guide | BBC (archived) | Practice in hearing and saying the tones |
| HSK mock tests and syllabus | Chinese Tests Service Website | Practice for the official test, level by level |
Step one: pinyin and tones
Pinyin is the system for writing Chinese sounds in the Roman alphabet. The Open University explains that it was adopted as the official system in the People's Republic of China in 1958 and is now the standard in schools and the media. The Open University's course uses pinyin to teach pronunciation, which is why it comes first.
Chinese is a tonal language. Mandarin has four tones, five if you include the neutral tone, and the same syllable with a different tone is a different word. The Open University's example: wáng with the second tone means king, while wàng with the fourth tone means to forget.
| Tone | How the Open University describes it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | A high level tone | mā |
| 2nd | Rises from medium to high | má |
| 3rd | Falls from low medium to low and then rises to high | mǎ |
| 4th | Falls from high to low | mà |
| Neutral | Low and flat with no stress | No tone mark |
Step two: a first course
The taster course is the place to begin. It is introductory material for absolute beginners, and its stated outcomes include understanding how pinyin and tones work, knowing that there are simplified and traditional characters, and basic vocabulary for greetings, numbers, names and nationalities. Completing it earns a free statement of participation.
Then take Getting started with Chinese 1, 2 and 3 in order. The first teaches you to say hello, goodbye and thank you, to use personal pronouns including the polite nín, and to count from 0 to 99. The second and third build the skills needed to speak and understand simple Mandarin in everyday contexts.
Step three: characters
Do not let characters stop you starting. The Open University puts the numbers in proportion: the total number of Chinese characters is estimated at about 50,000, of which roughly 3,000 are used for everyday purposes. Its courses teach simplified characters, which the Chinese government introduced in the 1950s to increase literacy. About 2,000 characters were simplified; traditional forms are still used in Hong Kong, Taiwan and other overseas Chinese communities.
Step four: measure yourself
The HSK is the official Chinese proficiency test, and its site offers mock tests. Level 1 is designed for beginners with fundamental listening and reading skills: 40 questions in about 40 minutes, passed with 120 out of 200. One thing to know before you plan: the organisers have announced that a new version, HSK 3.0, launches worldwide on 13 December 2026, so use the syllabus for the version you will sit.
A free weekly plan
- Every day, 10 minutes: tones. Listen and repeat the four tones, then test yourself on which is which.
- Four days, 25 minutes: one section of an Open University course, with its audio and activities.
- Two days, 15 minutes: recall. Write out last week's words in pinyin with tone marks from memory.
- Once a week: a few new characters, written by hand.
- Once a week: say your name, nationality and phone number aloud in Mandarin.
This follows the research. A 2013 review of learning techniques rated practice testing and distributed practice as high utility, and rereading and highlighting as low.
What free courses leave out
Free beginner courses take you through the foundations, not to fluency, and recorded lessons cannot tell you whether your tones are right. For that you need a listener. Language Lab's Chinese course is built around voiced real-life scenarios with an AI tutor, so you get to speak and be answered.
Frequently asked
Can I learn Chinese for free?
You can cover the foundations for free. The Open University's OpenLearn has four free beginner Mandarin courses, and the BBC's archived Real Chinese has video lessons with audio and exercises.
What is the best free Chinese course for beginners?
Start with The Open University's Beginners' Chinese: a taster course. It takes 4 hours and explains pinyin, tones and characters before teaching greetings, names, nationalities and numbers.
Should I learn pinyin first?
Yes. Pinyin is the official system for writing Chinese sounds in the Roman alphabet, adopted in the People's Republic of China in 1958, and beginner courses use it to teach pronunciation.
How many tones does Mandarin have?
Four, or five if you include the neutral tone, according to The Open University's beginner course.
How many Chinese characters do I need?
The Open University says the total is estimated at about 50,000, of which roughly 3,000 are used for everyday purposes.
Is there a free Chinese test?
The official HSK site offers mock tests. The real HSK is a scheduled exam that you book; level 1 has 40 questions and takes about 40 minutes.
Sources: The Open University, OpenLearn, Beginners' Chinese: a taster course and Getting started with Chinese 1, 2 and 3; BBC Languages, Chinese (archived); Chinese Tests Service Website (CTI), HSK and HSK Level 1; US Department of State, National Foreign Affairs Training Center, Foreign Language Training; Dunlosky et al., Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2013. Checked on 13 October 2026. Photo: Bronze lion in the Forbidden City, Beijing, CEphoto, Uwe Aranas / CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons).
