I think learning Chinese is not different from learning any other languages. In order to learn it, you need to dive into language, create as much opportunity to practise as you can. So how to make it happen? By making it more fun, and engaging.
Adding tongue-twisters and songs is a good way - it helps a lot with improving your pronunciation. Yeah, singing songs in Chinese is a great way to go. I'm dead serious.
Practising calligraphy and traditional Chinese drawing is a fun addition to writing routine. Using ink, brushes and special paper creates a special mood and makes the writing process less boring. I will show some tricks to make kids more engaged in writing. Just don't forget that consistency is very important, and practice really makes perfect.
Learning the history of some characters also helps, especially when you just started learning the characters and it is hard to remember them, then the story or the picture might help to remember.
You can spend some time and learn the basic keys (radicals) first so it would be more fun to decipher new characters when you know the meaning of its keys.
Adding tongue-twisters and songs is a good way - it helps a lot with improving your pronunciation. Yeah, singing songs in Chinese is a great way to go. I'm dead serious.
Practising calligraphy and traditional Chinese drawing is a fun addition to writing routine. Using ink, brushes and special paper creates a special mood and makes the writing process less boring. I will show some tricks to make kids more engaged in writing. Just don't forget that consistency is very important, and practice really makes perfect.
Learning the history of some characters also helps, especially when you just started learning the characters and it is hard to remember them, then the story or the picture might help to remember.
You can spend some time and learn the basic keys (radicals) first so it would be more fun to decipher new characters when you know the meaning of its keys.
Flash cards, stickers on everyday items help to remember the characters.
Chinese riddles and jokes for kids. If you are interested in something, try to learn about it in Chinese.
Read books or listen, watch cartoons and news, they usually speak very clearly if it is news or anything designed for kids. If you want to make it more difficult - try Chinese TV series, but without English subs.
I believe those who watch movies with subs in their own language or familiar language could just watch them in English. It is no use in it in terms of learning the language, only Chinese with Chinese subs is useful. Our brain is lazy, whenever it has an easier solution it just uses the easiest way, so if there is a choice your brain would get information from the subs, and you will not listen to the actors or remember much Chinese after watching. Try it with Chinese Chinese and...that's where the brain just has to practice all that you've learned.
Creating the environment is not that hard, you just need to be creative. Switch your computer or phone or iPad to Chinese for one day. Quite a challenge, seriously, just try. You will notice how easily annoyed you'd be, that's because the brain is lazy, but if you tolerate it just for one day it would get easier and you might learn a lot.
Chinese riddles and jokes for kids. If you are interested in something, try to learn about it in Chinese.
Read books or listen, watch cartoons and news, they usually speak very clearly if it is news or anything designed for kids. If you want to make it more difficult - try Chinese TV series, but without English subs.
I believe those who watch movies with subs in their own language or familiar language could just watch them in English. It is no use in it in terms of learning the language, only Chinese with Chinese subs is useful. Our brain is lazy, whenever it has an easier solution it just uses the easiest way, so if there is a choice your brain would get information from the subs, and you will not listen to the actors or remember much Chinese after watching. Try it with Chinese Chinese and...that's where the brain just has to practice all that you've learned.
Creating the environment is not that hard, you just need to be creative. Switch your computer or phone or iPad to Chinese for one day. Quite a challenge, seriously, just try. You will notice how easily annoyed you'd be, that's because the brain is lazy, but if you tolerate it just for one day it would get easier and you might learn a lot.
Using Chinese apps is a fun way to go. If you want to find a native speaker to talk to, try to upload wechat, qq or start a blog on Chinese weibo.
Reading books about traditions, food, history - might help to understand the language better. Try to listen to Chinese online radio while going to school or work. Here are some of the popular radios.
http://fm.kugou.com
https://fm.qq.com/
https://douban.fm/
Explore Chinese online video platforms like:
http://www.youku.com
http://www.tudou.com
http://www.soku.com
http://v.baidu.com/
I also like to add sayings (俗语), proverbs (成语) and slang - it is fun.
There are plenty of textbooks and there is no a right way or a wrong way to learn something. just try everything to find out what works best for you and don't give up. Try to get your friends or family into the learning process as well, whenever you have such a support it would be much harder to give up or get a language buddy to learn the language with.
Diversify your knowledge and implement it. Practicing language is vital, you cant master the language without actually trying to use it in real life, and by that, I mean talking.
If you learned a new word but not sure how to use it, try
I hope that was useful. ^_^
http://ce.linedict.com/dict.html#/cnen/home
This website has lots of examples, where you can see the characters in the sentences and you can also see the translation to English for each example given.
The last, but not least is setting goals and becoming motivated. Think why would you need to learn Chinese, how it may improve your life. Get motivated. Divide your big goal into smaller ones and don't forget to reward yourself for achieving the goals and accept that sometimes it might need an extra effort to achieve some of the goals.
I usually suggest the easily noticeable goals like..mastering first 20 characters, 50, 100, 300, 600, 1000,1500 and so on. There would be the time when you stop counting them. but in the beginning, it helps to track the progress.
And try not to overdo, everyone is different and learn with different speed. Some people can learn very fast and forget fast, some people are slower learners, but when they learn - they remember. Some are good at writing, but not too good at speaking and vice versa. It is also important to not compare yourself with others, but rather with yourself. Not always easy but worth a try.
PS
I've recently started creating products on www.teacherspayteachers.com
If you are interested, check my store by clicking the link. I would be happy to hear the feedback
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Yulia-Store
Reading books about traditions, food, history - might help to understand the language better. Try to listen to Chinese online radio while going to school or work. Here are some of the popular radios.
http://fm.kugou.com
https://fm.qq.com/
https://douban.fm/
Explore Chinese online video platforms like:
http://www.youku.com
http://www.tudou.com
http://www.soku.com
http://v.baidu.com/
I also like to add sayings (俗语), proverbs (成语) and slang - it is fun.
There are plenty of textbooks and there is no a right way or a wrong way to learn something. just try everything to find out what works best for you and don't give up. Try to get your friends or family into the learning process as well, whenever you have such a support it would be much harder to give up or get a language buddy to learn the language with.
Diversify your knowledge and implement it. Practicing language is vital, you cant master the language without actually trying to use it in real life, and by that, I mean talking.
If you learned a new word but not sure how to use it, try
I hope that was useful. ^_^
http://ce.linedict.com/dict.html#/cnen/home
This website has lots of examples, where you can see the characters in the sentences and you can also see the translation to English for each example given.
The last, but not least is setting goals and becoming motivated. Think why would you need to learn Chinese, how it may improve your life. Get motivated. Divide your big goal into smaller ones and don't forget to reward yourself for achieving the goals and accept that sometimes it might need an extra effort to achieve some of the goals.
I usually suggest the easily noticeable goals like..mastering first 20 characters, 50, 100, 300, 600, 1000,1500 and so on. There would be the time when you stop counting them. but in the beginning, it helps to track the progress.
And try not to overdo, everyone is different and learn with different speed. Some people can learn very fast and forget fast, some people are slower learners, but when they learn - they remember. Some are good at writing, but not too good at speaking and vice versa. It is also important to not compare yourself with others, but rather with yourself. Not always easy but worth a try.
PS
I've recently started creating products on www.teacherspayteachers.com
If you are interested, check my store by clicking the link. I would be happy to hear the feedback
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Yulia-Store
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