Learn Chinese is not as hard as you think

Napoleon Hill once wrote in his top-selling book Think and Grow Rich. There’re no limitations to the brain except all those we acknowledge. 

Do you say yourself? 

I am too young, old, weak-minded, or uneducated to learn a new language or insert any sort of formidable-sounding things.

Realize this sort of negative talk is self-defeating and that you’re your own worst enemy.

There does not need to be a big practical reason why you want to learn a new language?

Spoken 2nd language itself is made to be an active communicative line among 2 or more persons. People do not speak to each other solely because it is the hot language of the month, it is a business benefit that one needs to have, it is the only technique to stand out in the piles of university applications, and so forth.

If you feel like learning Chinese, let your heart embrace it, feel it, and then do it.

Let’s breakdown learning the Chinese language, shall we?

Here’re the top ways to get you to start to say “Ni hao ma?” instead of the common, “Sup dawg. I am feeling some baozi and bubble tea currently, want to hit up China town? Thought that surely is also naturally and useful.

Tones in Mandarin are no limiting. You are.

Chinese, a stress-timed language has four tones whereas Cantonese, a syllable-timed language, has six. Vietnamese has six tones on the Northside and it is depending on other areas, it’d have just five. The JULHOAN language of Africa has some thirty-click consonants. There’re several more tonal languages in the world.

So in all honesty, language tones are not a real issue here. Do you’ve some faith in yourself?

Even if you completely mess up on asking where the bath is, the locals will probably be capable to decipher bits and pieces of your jumbled Chinese, enough to mark you to the hole in the ground before you pee your pants and seem like a fool.

The Four tones in the Chinese language are:

1. Level Tone (ping) –> —
2. Rising Tone (Shang) –> /
3. Departing Tone (Qu) –> V
4. Entering/Stop-Final Tone (ru) –>

So, if we write a sentence in Pinyin (the official system for Chinese characters in the Roman alphabet) to say, Hello, my name is benny, you are very pretty, I’d write it as, Ni3, Hao3, Wo3 Jiao4 BENLING. Ni3 Hen3 Piao4 Liang4, which, by the way, you’re. Do not you just love how that worked out?

Now, what this means for you is tones matter when learning how to speak the Chinese language. One word in Mandarin can mean different things when you change the tones. 

Let me clear with an example:

A friend of mine for her first oral test at BFS University wanted to tell her professor that she went to Wang FujingNight Market and ate fried chilly scorpions. Final Verdict: try it sometimes. Not as disgusting, creepy, scary as you might think.

Scorpion in Chinese is xie1 zi. But actually, she said xie2 zi, which means boots or shoes.

After she was done with her slight discussion, she realized her teacher had a funny look on her face and she asked, so went to Wang Fujiing and eat fried boot or shoe?

Oops!

Tones matter a lot here. But do not be limited by them. Have a great sense of humor and take it simple on yourself when you mess up.

Know your most favorite and best-learning source. Then utilize it and be in it properly.

My favorite way to learn mandarin, and as an outcome, the CCHATTY tools and Chinese Culture itself, is to be immersed in the country where it originates. Chinese is the main spoken language in Mainland China as well as in Taiwan. You’ll also notice at your city’s Chinatown, that the owners and workers there’ll speak either Chinese or Cantonese, usually.

What is your favorite mandarin learning medium?

Are you a classroom textbook contextual student-teacher learner? Perhaps signing up for Mandarin courses at your local community institute is a great choice. 

Are you a 1 on 1 private student? Perhaps finding a teacher to speak Chinese with is a viable option.

Are you a drop me on the Great wall from a plane and see if survive the type of person? Aka deep and immediate immersion? Then perhaps living in Mainland is the preferred choice.

You know yourself more than anyone; you also know how you learn a new language the best. And even if you do not, try all the various learning ways out there. See what works great. It is never too late to start learning Mandarin in whatever way you prefer never.

Practice is Key

Like with any challenges in our lives, it takes time and habitual practice to get rid of immersion challenges and thrive on your success over them. The Practice of speaking Chinese doesn’t need to be like pulling teeth. You can practice speaking by:

• Going to China town and eating at local places there 

You know the ones. It is the places with menus all in Mandarin and nothing is in the English Language. Most of the patrons are Mandarin folks too. These areas are normally great options and have tastier, more authentic meals. Go there.

• Hanging out with Mandarin Friends and asking them to speak the Mandarin language with you

Even a five-minute discussion with simple greetings is better than nothing. The best buddy who does not mind speaking with you is all you actually need. Treat her or him to a simple food or bubble tea, chart it up for a while, and if you do that enough times, you might begin to realize you can speak more than you imagine you’d.

• Watching Mandarin Shows and Movies 

Though I do not watch television, this is one of the finest ways to continually hear Mandarin being spoken. You need to hear the right tones, hear it in context to the storyline and in connection to the human engages being made, in order to really encompass more of the language as a whole. Just reading about mandarin would not make you start speaking it like a native speaker. You need to hear it also.

• Listening to Mandarin Songs 

I listen to some of my favorite Chinese artists because I think Mandarin is truly beautiful. You can learn a lot by listening to famous songs. On top of that, try some karaoke! Do not let the embarrassment of messing up or your flog as sound prevents you from a fun night out with a small group of buddies at the Mandarin Karaoke Bar. It is truly entertaining and the best way to learn mandarin.

• Traveling and Visiting throughout Mainland 

Absolutely fun and an amazing way to experience the country itself, backpacking through Mainland will leave you wanting more besides, being forced to speak Chinese, realize that simply by being in the local element, you’re already learning, each and every minute, and single day. It is a procedure, not a destination. You are not aiming to speak correct Chinese so you can be an interpreter for the UN or a secret agent for the CIA. You are aiming to experience mandarin in entire its majestic beauty, food, language, people, Chinese culture, and all.

• Teaching English while living in Mainland 

Several foreigners enjoy teaching English in these areas, where they’re supported by the organization and school they’re teaching for, also taking mandarin classes all the while. This is the best way to combine immersion in the state while still supporting yourself. Various programs abound, it is depending on your place you want to teach at. On top of that as your companions who have done it for their opinions, experiences, and thoughts about it. But do not let their views solely examine your decision to apply and go. Do it just if you desire to do it.

Never stop learning Mandarin 

The moment you stop learning mandarin is the time you start dying. People mistake learning for what they did while the information process. This is the short-sighted point of view, for learning is a daily procedure, a daily habit, a daily activity, a daily discovery, and exploration. Your thirst for learning is only secondary or what the knowledge contains. And that’s the potential power it has to change your life, your world.

Learning Chinese is no exception. There’s always space for improvement, sure. 

But is that all we goal for? To have absolute perfect pitch, tone, accent? Or is it feel at once with the mandarin? To feel easy speaking Chinese, conversing with the natives?

Learn by trying, learn by doing and learn by making mistakes but not letting those mistakes stop from continuous learning. Once you trust you cannot speak Chinese, cannot do something without sounding like a bumbling tone-deaf idiot once you believe in this beating self-failure, you would not ever to able to grow, you would not ever be able to learn.

Empty your head, I’m ready to pour 

I’m reminded of a very beautiful Zen tale that I want to share with you:

In the past, there lived a Zen Master Named Nansen. Nearby also lived a teacher of philosophy and Nansen was on foot wearily in his travels and came across his small house.

He invited the teacher into his house and said, wait a moment.

The teacher looked to be in a little hurry, but he said, I’ll prepare tea for you, you seem tired. Wait a moment, rest a little, and have a cup of tea. And then we can converse.

He started boiling the water and at a similar time seemed over to the teacher. While the water was boiling, Nansen saw the teacher was boiling within too. Not only was the teakettle making sounds as the water boiled, but the teacher was also making more sounds within, chattering, and regular talking. The teacher was preparing herself – how to ask, what to ask, and from where to start.

He smiled to himself while watching the teacher and thought. This man is too complete, so must so that nothing can add him. The replay can’t be given because there’s nobody to receive it. The guest can’t enter the home – there’s no room.

Out of compassion, he wanted to become a guest in this teacher. Nansen knocks from everywhere but there’s no door. And even Nansen breaks down to the door, there’s no room. The teacher was so complete, he can’t even enter within himself, and he sits outside of his own, just on the steps, not able to enter.

Nansen poured the tea; the teacher becomes uneasy as he continuously poured the tea into a cup. It was overflowing, soon, it’d be spilling onto the floor. The teacher then said, Stop!

What are you doing Nansen? This cup can’t hold any more tea, not even a one drop, what are you doing? Are you mad?

Nansen smiled at the teacher and replied, the similar is the case with you, you’re so alert to observe and become very aware that the cup of tea is full and can’t hold any more, why are you not so aware of yourself? You’re overflowing with philosophies, opinions, scriptures, doctrines. You know very much already, I can’t provide you anything.

Before coming to me, you’d have emptied your cup of tea, and then I’d pour something into it.

What he was saying to the teacher was, empty your mind, I’m ready to pour.

Don’t assume your know all. Don’t assume you know everything until you have tried things out yourself. You learn through experience, through experiments, through self-exploration. Empty your mind with preconceived notions of what learning Chinese ought to be so that you can complete received.

Leave all the adjustments at the door, leave whole criticisms where you found them. Take up nothing from the past so that you’re ready to acquire in full in the present.

This is how you learn mandarin, this is how Chinese actually easy, rather than hard. This is the reason you can and will do it. 

So, take it easy and I believe in you, do you?