I've been studying Mandarin since my sophomore year of high school. Here are some things that might help you start or continue learning!
Websites and Apps
- Hanzi Smatter - This is not really a learning resource per say, but a blog where people send in photos of their tattoos to get evaluated for accuracy. It's a fun way to familiarize yourself with what NOT to do when it comes to Hanzi tattos. It hasn't updated in a couple of years, though.
- Mandarin Tools - A free web-based collection of various tools, including character encoding tools, a dictionary, and a Mandarin name generator.
- Clozemaster - This one I haven't used in a long time. Some features are paywalled, but this is good for translation practice. Accessible via web and mobile.
- Infinite Chinese - This one is more for beginners. It's more of a game than a lesson app, and it teaches you basic Chinese words like numbers, colors, etc., and expands a little more to stuff like fruit and transportation. It also has in-app purchases but, I don't think you're missing out on much to be honest. I was never frustrated by the paywall. Mobile only.
- Pleco - Pleco is a Chinese dictionary, and it's super useful because it lets you search with characters, English or pinyin(that's Chinese written with the Latin alphabet). Though many of the cooler features are paywalled, it comes with a few free additional dictionaries and fonts, and also does text-to-speech and shows tones. Contains tons of example sentences. You can use this to see the difference between traditional and simplified characters as well. Probably the best English - Mandarin dictionary I've ever found. Mobile only.
Bands
Now this is where I can make some good recommendations! Music has been one of my favorite ways to acclimate my accent in Mandarin. The bands here reflect my personal taste in music, but hey, it's my website!! All links direct to YouTube.
- Inhuman Band / 非人物種 - Taiwanese rock band. Very noisy and shouty.
- Hedgehog / 刺猬 - Mainland Indie band. They're very big on the Chinese indie scene, and their drummer is so cool.
- Xie Tian Xiao / 谢天笑 - Grunge musician from mainland i think? I love his lyrics.
- Zhao Jia Bang / 肇嘉帮 - Shanghai rock band. They sing in French sometimes though, and only have a few songs out, but they're good ones. They’re working on an EP.