Five Tips to Learn Chinese

Learning Chinese is definitely not an easy task; however, more often than not people tend to focus on the difficult aspects of the language. Learning Chinese is not for everyone, just in the same way that Chicken feet potluck parties are not for everyone - if you don't like it, don't do it. For the rest of us here are 5 ways to make learning Chinese easier.

1) Don't learn to write Chinese characters

I talked about this in another article, but I'd like to emphasize my point. Learning to write Chinese characters is for masochists and the Amish. Get digital, learn Pinyin, and save yourself 1000s of hours of horror.

2) Learn sentences not words

Ditch your word deck in favor of a sentence deck - and let's hope you go digital. Any language can be broken down into sentences and still remain complete, thus for every item that you study, you gain additional exposure to grammar, syntax, and more. This way you don’t separate your grammar and vocabulary – you do them at the same time. It’s always easier to remember things in context and if you learn everything in context, you will always know how to use it – 一举两得! (yi4ju3liang3de2 – solve two problems with one action) Let’s take an example: The word: Front: “给力” Back: Gei3li4 – means “cool / awesome / exciting”. That’s a lot of meanings for one word. Even if you remember it, you probably won’t be able to use it. The sentence + Context: Front: They scored a goal in the last minute to win the game, 太给力了！Back: “gei3li4” - “cool / awesome / exciting” Native level fluency comes at around 10,000 sentences, while at just 2000-3000 you will gain fluency. Learn 20 a day and get there in just over 3 months! Just don’t forget to review daily.

3) Use grammar guides only as a starting point and reference

If all of your learning focuses on full sentences rather than singular words, you will absorb and understand the grammar naturally over time. If you focus on grammar rules and learn vocabulary separately to be used as “building blocks” then you will stumble in real life situations where you don’t have the time to put the blocks together. You’ll be stuck in your head, rather then fluidly speaking. Instead, use grammar as a beginning point to get you going so that you can start to understand the language that you are exposed to and dissect the sentences as you review. Use grammar guides as reference when you are writing and have the time to make corrections and choose the right words.

4) Massive Exposure + Don’t Use English Subtitles

With the internet and online media, you can learn Chinese from the comfort of your home. Watch 3 hours of Chinese TV dramas a day for 30 days while taking notes and you’re sure to notice huge improvement. If you don’t like Chinese TV, then watch dubbed American shows. One school of thought suggests 800 hours of exposure to the language before you even start to talk; I wouldn’t go that far, but massive exposure is essential. You don’t learn when you use the language; you learn when you are exposed to it. In the language learning jargon it’s called input vs. output. Output – speaking and writing – makes you faster and more fluid with what you already know. Input – listening and reading – teaches you new things as long as you are paying attention.

5) Make Chinese friends and Use the Language Daily

If you never speak, you will never be able to speak. You get better at things when you do them. Also, Output driven Input is the most useful input. Learning what you need to learn is motivating and useful, and knowing what you need to learn only comes from using the language. So many people I know have very few or no Chinese friends and they wonder why their Chinese is a jumbled mess.

Locals can give you feedback on your knowledge of the language. If you say something incorrectly and aren’t aware of it, at least they will notice. Output – feedback – change – output is a great way to improve.

Finally, language is a tool of communication. If you don’t communicate with locals and aren’t interested in doing so, then learning Chinese is going to be like pulling fingernails: you’ll dread and avoid it everyday.

Let's learn Chinese in Beijing at the Bridge School China together.