This could be an IMHO thread, but I figured that its answer is basically factual, so I’m putting it here.
The question is simple. I’m a beginner in Mandarin Chinese. I have a textbook and a workbook, so I’m fairly well-equipped. I have plenty of opportunity to learn to read and write the characters. However, much of the writing is simply translation from pinyin, which does little to improve my grasp of the language.
Basically, I’m looking for lots of opportunities to translate from English to Chinese at a beginner level, with the correct translations available to check my answers. My workbook only has about five sentences per chapter, which means I only have one or two opportunities to apply each new grammatical concept. This was fine when we were doing easy stuff, but as the sentences get more and more complex, I’m needing more and more practise. So, I turn to you all. Are there any good practise websites or books that would give me a chance to do lots and lots of exercises?