What to do when there isn't a bunch of beginner material?

[Mymar]

I think I've said at some point along the way that with French I'm also learning Chinese when I can spare the time for it. The way I began reading in French was I found an app made by RDS (a Canadian French sports outlet), and started trying to piece together stories, only to realize that was far too advanced for me, then I scaled it back finally to headlines which helped me tremendously with my reading. When I search for beginner material in Chinese, most of it seems to be far far too long for what I can do. I'm probably on the level of a kids understanding of the language. I have a decent grasp of the grammar and syntax, and a couple of hundred words (at the most), but it's nowhere near what I'd need to read whole long paragraphs, and making the stuff myself just doesn't seem right. So, what do you do when you want to learn the language, and don't have the funds to go there, and need beginner material to help you advance?

[lingua]

I have this problem with Thai. I decided to translate & read a cookbook since food and cooking is my other passion outside of languages. Additionally, I've purchased a couple of children's ebooks on amazon so you might see if you can find some children's books online to buy or possibly free ones to read online.

Is something like this appropriate for your level?
http://www.echineselearning.com/blog/idiom-stories-diao-hu-li-shan-to-lure-the-tiger-out-of-the-mountains

[Mymar]

Something that short or shorter would be ideal. Preferably I'd like an e-book or something, but don't know enough Chinese, to actually make sure I'm getting something that is on my level. I really don't want to do dual language, and prefer looking up the words myself then working out the meaning on my own.

[DangerDave2010]

There is no shortage of beginner materials for Chinese. Try finding something here:
http://csulb.learningchineseonline.net/

If you are learning simplified, you may try some 轻小说:
http://www.wenku8.com/novel/2/2178/78991.htm
http://qitawenku.360dxs.com/chapter_51720279.html

[smallwhite]

So, what do you do when you want to learn the language, and don't have the funds to go there, and need beginner material to help you advance?

Not because I don't have the funds to go there or that there isn't a bunch of beginner material, but just out of personal preference - I often read several different beginner's textbooks, one after another. They tend to teach &/ use the same vocabulary and grammar, so I get slightly varied repetition. Less boring than re-reading the exact same textbook several times. In your case, likely they'll all use HSK1 vocabulary in their examples.

When that isn't an option, I would:
- (briefly) cram around 3000 words using Memrise or Quizlet so I can start to read simple native texts;
- read with LingQ;
- read tourist phrase books;
- (haven't tried this but I might) read Tatoeba sentences.

The last 2 are actually a kind of parallel text.

But there are plenty of graded Chinese readers on the market, no?

Or maybe read HSK1 past papers?

[Adrianslont]

I was surprised to discover the language in question is Chinese. Surely all the major language learning publishing houses have a book with audio? I don't study Chinese so I can't make specific recommendations but why not Assimil or Teach Yourself?

[rdearman]

If you want short text, then social media is your friend.

The scale of China's domestic Twitter rival, Sina's Weibo.com, puts Twitter itself in true perspective

Short text with limited character. Mainly in simplified hanza.

[Serpent]

Yeah I was also going to recommend parallel texts and twitter/social networks. In general this article has some ideas not all apply to Mandarin.