The Defense Language Institute (DLI) is probably one of the finest foreign language schools in the world. I checked out their online database for Chinese.
The American Army takes foreign language acquisition seriously. Some of you may have heard about the Defense Language Institute (DLI). This institution has been providing first-class language education to the US army since 1954. It operates the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC), one of the hardest and most successful foreign language schools in the world.
DLIFLC mainly teaches languages that serve American interests in the world. In their online database you can find the following languages (including Chinese-Mandarin):
The DLIFLC approach to foreign languages is unique in the world. Olly Richards made this highly interesting video explaining how they achieve outstanding results. He illustrates how the DLIFLC language programs train U.S. Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Navy to native-like proficiency in a matter of months. Richards also covers special techniques like “iso-immersion” and “scream & scribble”.
DLIFLC online database
In their database, the Global Language Online Support System, you can find more than 900 free Chinese lessons for listening and reading. These lessons primarily concern “serious” topics like Chinese politics, history, military, technology, cybersecurity, finance and economics. The website doesn’t look very up-to-date, but the database covers recent issues like corona vaccines and other pandemic related things.
There are eight levels: 1, 1+, 2, 2+, 3, 3+, 4, 4+. I couldn’t figure out how they correspond to HSK levels, but what I can tell is that these lessons are challenging. I’d say you need at least HSK 4 level to start with level 1 lessons.
What I like about it
What I like about the DLI online resources for Chinese is that the lessons are carefully put together by competent and experienced teachers. This means each lesson is a unit complete with transcript, answers and teacher’s notes to guide you through and highlight points of interest. You can browse the database looking for lessons that suit your level and interest you. Others might not, however I enjoy the seriousness of these materials. If you put effort into it, you really learn something.
Warning: This is not a laid-back kind of learning, you have to use your brains, read and listen carefully and answer questions. The topics can be complex, the vocabulary completely unfamiliar and the audio recordings puzzling at first.
Some stuff could be improved: The website’s interface is outdated. You can’t create your own account to save your learning history, notes and track your progress. But then again, this is a free resource provided by the DLI to the world, so we should count our blessings and not be too critical.
I hope you enjoyed this post! : ) If you have any learning resources for Mandarin you’d like to recommend, feel free to share them in the comments down below.
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