Quicksets Ways to Learn Mandarin Chinese

My journey to mastering Mandarin Chinese was anything but easy. Unlike most foreign languages, Chinese is actually pretty hard and complex. Trying to piece together how Chinese characters are turned into phrases, and how these become grammatically right Chinese sentences is not something you’d expect to accomplish in a matter of weeks.

It takes too much patience, time, and effort to learn how to read and write Chinese properly, let alone speak it fluently.

If there is anything that my Chinese learning experience taught me, it is everything can be made easy using the right system. Through trial and mistake, I managed to create proper systems of techniques. Any Chinese learner, whether a newbie or advance learner, will definitely find them helpful.

These are the ways that helped me improve my Chinese gradually, but continuously, and I’m living proof that they’re one hundred percent efficient. 

Interested?

If so, read on to see the quickest ways to learn the Mandarin Chinese language.

Choose a Mandarin Chinese System

Mandarin writing exists for 2 months. The primary system uses conventional characters that usually contain more strokes than their simplified versions. You would be wrong to think that one of them is a niche system. While traditional Mandarin Chinese characters are native to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau, the more recent simplified system is the main writing way in the mainland in China as well as in Singapore.

What does this mean for a learner?

You’ll have to decide whether you wish to learn the simplified system or the conventional system first. This is because taking them entirely at once in the starting just is not advisable. Simplified Chinese was introduced in the 50s and 60s and it’s the most commonly utilized version of written Chinese outside of the Asian continent.

Traditional Chinese, on the other hand, is known for its rich history and beautiful script. The decision to choose 1 system over the other is completely yours to make because most learners just go with their personal preference.

Set detailed Goals 

Once you picked a Chinese Mandarin writing system that you would like to learn, the next vital part is to set good goals. This is extremely vital because when I was starting, I made the big mistake of setting vague and non-specific goals. I’d say things like I need to enhance my spoken mandarin by the last of the year, and I’d be able to write and read Chinese by the time and so on, but alas, I never made any big progress.

Goals should not be vague, they’d very extremely specific. It’s much simpler to accomplish a detailed aim than it has to attain goals with no specifics. So instead of setting some general goals, I decided to be slightly more detailed.

I started setting goals like I’d listen and dissect a minute of this mandarin podcast by the last of the week and I’d learn 10 different Chinese characters and how to utilize them in phrases by the last of the month. This way, I knew exactly what to do to get better at Chinese, and it works a peach!

When you are setting goals for learning Mandarin Chinese, the more detailed they are, the less you will flounder and hesitate when it comes to learning the language as well as practicing what you have learned.

Sign up for an intensive Chinese Mandarin Program 

If you are really serious about learning Chinese, then you absolutely have to invest in a Chinese learning course. There is no way around this. You have a solid base before you can delve into the intricacies of mandarin, and this is what most learners tend to ignore.

Let’s take 4 tones for instance.

To an English speaker, those tones might as well be child talk, because they make clearly no sense, and they all sound very same. Though, learning how to make and distinguish these Chinese tones from each other is part of the foundation of learning Chinese. This is also true mastering the Pinyin, which is a part of the basics of understating Chinese. This is also true for mastering the Pinyin system, which is essential when pronouncing logographic characters.

Basics are everything when it comes to learning Chinese. This is an outcome I made after observing 2 of my buddies who also wanted to learn the Chinese language.

The first friend, we call her best friend A, watched Chinese teaching videos 2 times a week for few hours. Friend B bought a learning course plan and registered for a Chinese mandarin class that he attended for 3hrs a day, 3 days a week. At the last of the 8 months, friend A had not made any big progress in both his writing and speaking skills. In contrast, friend B could easily speak and write Chinese at a rudimentary level.

The lesson?

Do not waste your time on free Chinese learning tools, or resources. Get a professional program CCHATTY if you want to make some real progress.

Get some Mandarin language buddies 

I credit my language buddies for the pace at which I got better at speaking mandarin. Language buddies are vital when familiarizing yourself with some strange dialect. A tip that I’d have really used during my initial days learning Chinese is picking language buddies who did not have English as their native languages.

This is because we had no other common language to chit-chat with. Hence stuttered and blundered our path through the slight spoken mandarin we learned every day slowly – slowly, chit chat became longer and further fluent.

You too much practice for familiarizing your mouth with the forms and tones of Chinese words. I was lucky enough to get somebody I’d practice with at last of every class when the less was still fresh in mind. Finding a language buddy will enhance your confidence also pronunciations over time, so I extremely recommend this for newcomers.

Go shopping in Chinese

Seek out any local immigrant people that speak Chinese and find the stores they use. This might be a convenience store, an ethnic food market, a coffee shop or café, etc. visit these areas when you run errands and you will not only be forced to read a few Chinese labels, but you might also get the big chance to practice with natives speakers and make some native speakers.

Listen and watch Chinese music and shows 

This was one of the most exciting aspects of learning mandarin. I got to watch several Chinese shows and listen to their songs, all in the name of learning Chinese. Turning to Chinese pop culture is truly not a bad idea, because it assists you to build a better Chinese vocabulary and also tests your listening ability of the language.

To make it simpler for yourself, though, choose one show that you love and stick with it. Some of my favorite television dramas were Lost in 1949, The Way We Were and Patriot, and many others.

Over time, as I started to recognize the different voices that the Chinese characters had, I’d understand what they were saying without having to seem at the subtitles. You also understand too much about intonation and how to pronounce Chinese characters from listening and watching Chinese media.

Practice in front of the mirror 

This way offers more of a psychological boost than an educational one. Most of the learners I studied with tended to shy why from speaking Chinese in public. This is because they were slightly afraid that they’d look and sound a little weird. A legitimate concern, without any doubt, but one that is totally unfounded. I was shy also at first until I started practicing Chinese spoken in front of the mirror.

After that, I was easily rattling off mandarin phrases without worrying about the movements of my mouth and how I sounded characters. What I learned from the way is that as important as understanding the Chinese vocabulary is when learning Chinese, confidence is just as vital. It was much simpler to speak fluently once that level of confidence.

Take HSK Exam 

Since I aimed to learn how to write and speak Chinese, I decided to set an end target. The key purpose of this was to connect my learning progress also give me some general idea of the academic needs of mastering mandarin. The HSK proficiency tests your Chinese prowess. It starts to form the very basic level of achievement, which tests your knowledge of 150 Chinese words to the advanced exam that encompasses up to 5,000 Chines words in total.

The main reason I took this exam was that I desired to concentrate on the goal that I’d work towards. At the last of it, I was immensely very happy that I had made that great decision. The HSK test allows you to really grade just how fine your mandarin is. It tests not your written Chinese, but also your speaking, listening, and composition skills.

The test helps you decide whether you advance to the next part of learning mandarin or to provide yourself a pat on the back because you have achieved perfectly what you desired. Though it is not free to take, I can tell you right now that it was worth each penny.

If I had followed these ways when I first started learning Chinese, I’d have a lot of progress much quicker. These tips and techniques can help you skip several steps as well as avoid common pitfalls that either slow down your progress that either slow down your learning progress or frustrate you endlessly.

Some Additional Tips 

• Volunteer in Chinese - Look for some ways to get involved in your community with people who speak your target language. Non-profits organizations, schools, places of worship, libraries, immigration services, medical clinics, ESL classes… and so on. These are the best ways to meet some native Chinese speakers to both practices and make a huge difference.
• Label your office or home – Do you wish to get organized and practice your mandarin skills at a similar time? Put some Chinese labels on the main things you regularly use. Post-it notes or uses masking tape label as many items as possible, and before you understand to make learning Mandarin Chinese a part of your daily life.
• Keep up on Current events – One of the best ways to sound like a native speaker is to know what to talk about. Keep up on current events and hot news in Mandarin-speaking states and not only will you be able to start some conversations, but you will also learn very useful words and valuable Chinese cultural knowledge.
• Change your language setting – While you understand that you are not living in Chine, your PC and mobile do not need to know that! Improve yourself in the language day by day and learn technical characters by changing your PC and mobile, Cam, or Television set to Chinese.
• Keep a journal in Mandarin – write your way to a happier life while practicing your mandarin skills by keeping a journal in Mandarin. This can be used to take notes, write some short stories, discuss your whole day, or simply keep track of your Mandarin Chinese learning process.
• Have fun in Mandarin – Make Chinese mandarin a part of your hobbies. If you like to read books in Chinese (kid’s books are the best way to start for a newbie). If you love to listen to songs, download some Chinese top charts. If you love to sing in mandarin. If you like to play games, search for games in mandarin or link with mandarins speaking persons when playing. Play mandarin board games with fellow learners or native Chinese speakers. You can even look for your mandarin Chinese blogs and videos related to your hobbies.

By doing this, you can be a native speaker quickest possible time. Before you understand it, you will on your way to learning Chinese as quickly as possible and having the best time while doing it.