How to say "at the start of the year" in this context? I'm currently trying to figure out how to begin a sentence in Chinese with, "at the start of the year", my friend told me... etc. 

I've heard that "at the start of the year" is 今年伊始。But can you really say, "今年伊始", or do you need to say, "今年伊始的时候?"

Thanks in advance to whoever can solve this one!
'伊始' is mostly used in literal form, a classical counterpart of a common phrase '開始'(begin)

[伊始] 开端;开始。伊,助词,无实义
[伊始] 'start; begin.  [伊] auxiliary word, no real meaning

&quot;At the start of the year,&quot; should be translated as:

&quot;在年初&quot;(at the start of the year)

&quot;今年初&quot;(at the start of this year).


&quot;今年開始的时候&quot; is grammatically correct but, too wordy for day-to-day speech.

&quot;今年伊始&quot;, or do you need to say, &quot;今年伊始的时候?&quot;

&quot;今年伊始&quot; = &quot;at the start of this year&quot;
&quot;今年伊始的时候&quot; = at the time this year begun&quot;
You can use either.