So The Tones Will Have To Be Mastered But How
Speak everything slowly and exaggeratedly. At first you will not understand is my voice going up or down? Keeping at the same height or gone somewhere? So exaggerate: if its a falling tone, let it start with a squeaky falsetto and slowly fade into a gloomy bass. If there is an even high tone, then let it last four times longer than that of the announcer. Sing it like an opera soloist the final note. Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Dont be afraid to overdo it. To the Chinese ear, we all speak monotonously bububu, and in the Chinese, even in the most restrained speech, the amplitude jumps a lot. Then your speech will subside on its own into something more natural. If you immediately try to speak smoothly with a barely noticeable change in pitch, you will get Russian intonations and no tones.
Learn the word immediately along with the tone. Its easier than retraining later.
Now You Are Ready To Start Learning Chinese
Chinese is a very rewarding language to learn, and its a lot easier than you may realize.
Not only is learning Chinese is a rewarding process that opens doors for your career, it also enables you to make meaningful connections with the people around you be it on your travels in China or in your local community at home.
When you learn Chinese, youre learning more than just a new language.
Youre learning about a unique culture different from your own.
Youre gaining an insight into an ancient country thats becoming a modern global power.
And youre opening yourself up to communicate in a meaningful way with millions of people across the globe who speak the Chinese language.
All your hard work and determination will pay off big time when youre having real, life-altering conversations with Chinese people you could never have communicated with before.
So what are you waiting for? There is no better time than now to get started!
I hope youve found this post helpful!
If you have a friend learning Chinese, please take a moment to share this post with them, it would mean a lot to me!
I know this is a long post and its difficult to take everything in all at once. Thats why Ive created a special PDF version which you can download and refer to any time you need it! And if you download the PDF, Ill send you even more tips to help you as you continue learning Chinese.
Study With Music Videos
Using music is one of the best ways to learn a new language because its fun and interesting!
But why use music videos instead of just listening to Chinese songs? Well, sometimes whats going on in the music video can give you context to better understand the song, and other times its a great peek into the culture. The biggest benefit is that you can have a preview of the Chinese characters and follow along with the lyrics.
Watching music videos will really help you become familiar with pronunciation, as intonations are learned over time with more exposure.
So choose the genre that best suits your taste. Not sure where to start? Weve gathered the best Mandopop songs and karaoke classics for you. If these work out well and you want more, check out youku.com or tudou.com, which have really comprehensive lists of videos.
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Dont Stop Use Dead Time
Learning Chinese is like climbing a mountain whilst on skis! So as soon as you stop learning, you start going downhill again. There are many apps out there that slowly build vocabulary every day, the best thing about them is that they provide 10-minute bite-sized exercises so you have no excuse to keep on top of your Chinese. This also makes it easier when you are busy and dont have an hour to spend studying. Use up dead time and turn it into a language learning opportunity, download podcasts, watch YouTube videos, the options are endless, there are many resources out there!
Free Online Chinese Classes:
There are a number of free online Chinese classes that are available which provides learners with basic Chinese lessons and also offers free practical vocabulary. Learners can also learn the foundation required for conversational skills by means of listening and repeat formula through online classes. There may be few words which would be tough to pronounce, but with repeated practice and good capability to recognize sounds, it becomes easy.
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Group New Words By Theme
Once youve learned how to introduce yourself, introduce your family and your pet.
Done making introductions? You can talk about your favorite food, and while youre at it, you might as well learn some other common foods in Chinese.
You can then learn how to order food in a restaurant. How do you get to the restaurant? You might need to learn how to give directions.
Congratulations! From just that little journey, you now know some new vocabulary surrounding family, food and directions. You also know basic sentence structures for making introductions, describing your favorite things and giving directions.
Learning in themes and topics enables you to flow through your learning with ease and structure, rather than picking random words to learn each day that have little correlation to one another.
Learn The Chinese Characters
Once you have learned the Pinyin and tones and you can pronounce some phrases in Mandarin, you will need to start working on learning the characters.
You might wonder why learning Chinese characters is essential. Even if you do not know any Chinese characters, you can learn some sentences. However, if you choose this method, you will almost lose the ability to comprehend and identify many Chinese words, such as homonyms.
If you do not know these characters, you can’t be an expert in Chinese.
If you start with easy characters, you will discover that learning isn’t as difficult as you think, especially once you have passed the initial phase.
The Chinese characters are divided into four, and mastering the primary characters will provide a solid foundation for your future studies.
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Rich Culture And History
China is one of the oldest nations in the world. With over 8,000 years of history, theres no doubt why people across the globe are taking a special interest in its rich culture and history.
The Chinese language is a piece of art in and of itself. Youll be amazed at how the characters were formed or how each character relates to a specific object. Learning the language will help you untangle the many mysteries of Chinese culture. Youll get a glimpse of it, and then youll surely want to keep on unraveling them.
Mimic Native Chinese Speakers
When learning a language, you need to mimic the way native speakers and the way they speak.
A good technique for pronunciation and speaking practice is to play an individual recorded sentence and then try to repeat it yourself.
Try recording yourself on your phone and compare how you sound to native speakers. Donât try to say things really fast as a beginner though! Try to repeat things that are recorded slowly.
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Use A Chinese Language App
Once you know what youre looking for, you can start searching for a suitable learning app or a Chinese online course.
Both options are very helpful, especially if you dont have an opportunity to take traditional language classes.
With a language-learning app, you can learn anytime, anywhere.
And thats usually a less expensive option than hiring a private tutor or going to a language school.
Plus, Mandarin learning apps can be quite effective. They use modern online study tools and research-proven methods.
In other words, they are designed to help you learn in an easy and efficient way.
They wont overwhelm you with too much information.
And they will help you retain what you learn with spaced repetition technique, digital flashcards, and other useful features.
The best Chinese learning apps also use a speech recognition engine. And thats really important if you want to work on your pronunciation.
Rocket Chinese from Rocket Languages is one of the platforms that have good speech recognition software. And it combines audio tracks, interactive exercises, and video clips.
The Rocket Chinese app is well-structured and easy to use.
Its focused on all main language skills: speaking, reading, listening, and writing.
And the Rocket Chinese culture lessons will help you familiarize yourself with everyday Chinese life, culture, and values.
The app is great for beginners because it offers linear lessons that can take your skills to the next level.
How Lingo Bus Helps Your Children To Learn Chinese
As an online one-on-one immersive Chinese teaching platform, Lingo Bus is dedicated to helping children aged from 5-12 years old with their Chinese.
The structured curriculum offered by Lingo Bus is designed to meet the Standard for Language Learning and the 21st Century Skills for World Languages. All of the material that Lingo Bus uses is in accordance with the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines and YCT .
Teachers are always the key element to education. All teachers at Lingo Bus have a minimum bachelors, over one-year experience, plus the Mandarin secondary level A certificates ! Also, the training process never ends. Teachers are constantly being trained from the start of recruitment. After they start teaching, they will continue to receive training and other support from Lingo Bus.
Lingo Bus does not only teach Chinese but also helps a student improve comprehensive multidisciplinary skills. In this 100% immersive program, students can learn both language and communication skills. Whats more, each phase of the curriculum is designed with interdisciplinary themes to promote students curiosity for the Chinese language and promote cultural exploration, with the goal to develop and enhance their multiple areas of intelligence and learning styles. Studies have shown that students attending bilingual program tend to perform better than students that havent attended such programs.
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The Best Sequence To Learn And Speak Chinese
When you start HSK1, you need to learn Pinyin and tones. When you are doing HSK1 and HSK2 learning, you are enhancing your Pinyin and tones as well. After HSK1 and HSK2, you can start learning Hanzi. And at the same time you can review your HSK1 and HSK2 vocabulary and grammar as well. When you finish HSK 2 and Hanzi, it will be much easier for you to start HSK3 learning. From there you can progress into HSK4 all the way into HSK6, or head into more spoken rather than written courses. GoEast Mandarin offers all these courses.
Best Ways To Learn Chinese
Yes, Mandarin Chinese is not one of the easiest foreign languages to learn.
If youre accustomed to the Latin alphabet, youll probably find Chinese characters a bit complicated.
The tonal nature of the language also makes speaking a bit tricky. Chinese is considered a tonal language because the words meaning is affected by the tone. So, words in Mandarin Chinese can be pronounced in four different ways.
But dont let that discourage you everything will make more sense once you start with your lessons.
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Recognize Patterns Rather Than Rules
Focus on patterns. Dont get caught up in complicated grammar explanations, just focus on patterns. When I was studying we had a wonderful book by Harriet Mills and P.S. Ni. It was called Intermediate Reader in Modern Chinese. In every single lesson they introduced patterns and to me thats how I sort of got a sense of how the language worked. The patterns were the frames around which I could build whatever I wanted to say.
I have absolutely no sense of Chinese grammar, or grammar terms, yet I am quite fluent. I have seen books that introduce special grammar terms for Chinese. I dont think they are necessary. It is better to get used to the patterns that Chinese uses to express things that we express in English using English patterns. Chinese has a rather uncomplicated grammar, one of the pleasures of learning Chinese. There are no declensions, conjugations, genders, verb aspects, complicated tenses or other sources of confusion that are found in many European languages.
Tip number three is to focus on patterns, write them out, say them to yourself, use them when speaking or writing, and watch for them when you listen and read.
If you would like a free grammar resource to help supplement your learning, then I recommend LingQs Chinese grammar resource.
Stay Motivated With Specific Goals
Whats your main motivation for learning Chinese?
Maybe its for business, for travel or just because. Whatever your reasons are, use them as motivation to continue learning.
Try to gear your lessons toward these goals. If youre learning for travel purposes, acquaint yourself with basic Chinese travel words and shopping phrases.
Its easy for solo learners to feel demoralized if they dont feel like theyre making consistent progress with their Chinese. When you feel discouraged, think of your reason for learning the language to get you back on track.
If you need a specific goal to aim for, use HSK character/word lists to give your learning a clear direction.
Each level of the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi the preeminent Chinese examinationhas an associated vocab list comprised of hundreds of characters and words. Once you work out what level youre at, you can aim your self-study at learning the material needed to pass the next level of the HSK test.
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S For Quick Learning:
Learning the basics is the first step that is to be followed as varied tones can change the meaning of the word. So learning the tones, basics are important in order to learn Chinese correctly. The first, second, third and fourth tone must be learned in the right manner in order to learn perfect Chinese language.
What You Might Already Know
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Study Of Foreign Languages
English has been the most widely-taught foreign language in China, as it is a required subject for students attending university. Other languages that have gained some degree of prevalence or interest are Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian. During the 1950s and 1960s, Russian had some social status among elites in mainland China as the international language of socialism.
In the late 1960s, English replaced the position of Russian to become the most studied foreign language in China. After the Reform and Opening-up policy in 1988, English was taught in public schools starting in the third year of primary school.
Russian, French, and German language classes have been made widely available in universities and colleges. In Northeast China, there are many bilingual schools , in these schools, students learn languages other than English.
The Economist reported in 2006 that up to one fifth of the population was learning English. Gordon Brown, the former British prime minister, estimated that the total English-speaking population in China would outnumber the native speakers in the rest of the world in two decades.
There have been a growing number of students studying Arabic, due to reasons of cultural interest and belief in better job opportunities. The language is also widely studied amongst the Hui people. In the past, literary Arabic education was promoted in Islamic schools by the Kuomintang when it ruled mainland China.
Record Your Own Study Material
A major problem that many learners face when teaching themselves Chinese is speeding up their word recognition. This method is a great way to improve this.
Every day, record ten Chinese words that you have recently learned.
Use the best pronunciation and tone as possible, and record yourself saying the words that you learned recently. After each word, wait five seconds and then say the English meaning of the word. Make a second recording of the opposites, with the English first and then the Chinese five seconds later.
Play it back whenever you have time to study. The aim is to be able to remember the English meaning before the answer is said five seconds later. Repeat this process until you can remember the words with 100% accuracy.
This will help you improve the pace of your Chinese. To keep up with real-world conversations, youll need to be able to recall words and form sentences at a fast rate. Practicing faster recall means you will be better prepared for the stresses of speaking Chinese with others.
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How To Learn Chinese Language Free And Fast: 24 Tips
The Chinese language is one of the favorite languages desired to be learned by many people across the globe. Almost many speakers worldwide know to speak Chinese. When you take a survey of the people Republic in China or Taiwan, a complete count of about 1.3 billion people speaks Chinese. English speakers can find Chinese a bit complex to learn, but with involvement and daily practice, it is quite easy to learn Chinese. Lets glimpse through a few hints about how to learn Chinese language free and fast.