Ten useful tips for Learning Chinese

[chinese@home]

A lot of people ask me about how to learn Chinese faster. Frankly speaking, there is no shortcut in learning language, but I have some useful tips for you on how to learn Chinese easier. Making all these tips a habit of your daily study will definitely lead you to success with less time.

1. Practice as much as you can. When you walk by your house, try to practice your Chinese with everything you meet, such as chair, table, bed, door and so on. Ask yourself “Are you hungry?” or “What time is it now?’’ in Chinese and repeat the sentence patterns and phrases you learned.

2. Pay attention to communication in Chinese, not merely voice. When talking with Chinese people, try to observe their shape of mouth and how they use their tongue to pronounce. Sometimes you find it difficult to distinguish what one says, but you may understand the meaning by watching, because some people use body language to communicate.

3. Keep track with news in China everyday. Keep an eye on what happens in China everyday no matter what the source language (It is better in Chinese) is. On one hand you could directly practice your Chinese in this process, on the other hand you could expand you knowledge of China which is very helpful for one to better understand Chinese. By doing this you will find it more effective than studying for a long period at one time.

4. Find your own way of learning Chinese. Buy some Chinese language DVD’s and watch them with English subtitles, then watch them again later with Chinese subtitles. If you are an advanced learner, I recommend you watching these movies without subtitles. Although you could not completely understand, you may become more sensitive when using it.

5. Make friends with Chinese people. If possible, try to find a study partner to do your practice drills. It is not only a good way to expand your social life, but also an effective way to learn Chinese. Learning Chinese by chatting with your language partner is faster than merely learning in the class.

6. Make vocabulary flashcard. First of all, writing words on the flashcard is a good learning process. Second, it will be convenient for you to remember some words during your spare time.

7. Listen to Chinese as much as possible. Get yourself in Chinese speaking environment. My recommendation is finding a radio channel online and listening to it whenever you have time.

8. Review what you have learned before go to sleep. Someone find it difficult to memorize all he learned on the class. It a good habit to review your previous learning. But if you do not have time to do so, be sure to review the outline and key points of what you have learned before going to sleep.

9. Read your study material loudly. When you are to read the textbook dialogue, newspapers, novels, magazines or articles on the Internet, do so by reading out loud, rather than silently. Don’t be shy and worry about saying them correctly. It will perfect your tones and enrich your vocabulary rapidly.

10. Memorize Chinese characters by splitting into component. Each Chinese character can be broken down into component parts. Identify the components and use these to build an image of the characters meaning. And the phonetic component will give you a hint to how the word is sounded.