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Before introducing how to learn the Chinese language easily, I would like to point out a few common wrong thoughts about language learning because when your thought and cognition are in the wrong mode, your behavior must be wrong. If you apply the wrong way of thinking in language learning, then the result will be either poor performance or learning in the wrong direction.
For example, many Chinese learn English for the college entrance examination. So what exactly is the language used for? The fundamental purpose of language learning is to open up a new world for you, allowing you to get in-depth exposure to a new culture. Therefore, the purpose of language learning is to understand what others say, understand what others write, and express one’s thoughts orally and in writing.
For example, many people who learn French will confuse it with English. The spelling methods of many words in these two languages are very similar, but the pronunciation is quite different, so it is easy to cause confusion. But if the proper learning method is applied at the beginning of learning, you wouldn’t have to face this problem.
What is the proper learning method, then? When learning a new language, turn off other language systems. It’s like imagining yourself like a computer, each language is an operating system, and each is independent of the other.
Most people think that daily life and work are already busy enough to deal with, so there is no extra time to learn a second language. In fact, with the proper and professional instructions, you would achieve the purpose of simple communication in less than one year or two years. Language learning is an accumulation process, but it won’t take forever.
After sorting out these wrong thoughts, we can start explaining how to learn the Chinese language easily. Which rules can be followed to help you learn Chinese with less effort?
Pinyin is fine to most Mandarin learners. However, when it is related to the Chinese characters, many people just intend to skip the part of learning, but this shortcut method will cause difficulties in subsequent learning.
For example, in Chinese sentences with complex context, many homophones will be confused. At the same time, due to the vagueness of Chinese grammar in daily communication, if you cannot successfully recognize Chinese characters, it will greatly impact communication.
Learning Chinese characters well can lay a solid foundation for you and can facilitate your learning later. Checking out this blog about THE 500 MOST COMMONLY USED CHINESE CHARACTERS, you can learn some skills about mastering characters.
How to learn listening? The trick is to listen as much as possible, even when you are new to the language in the first place.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand because your purpose at the beginning is not to understand but to have an overall sense of the sound of the language. If you listen a lot, you can naturally capture the laws of pronunciation and even know what a certain pronunciation means.
The best way of practicing your listening skill is to watch movies and listen to speeches, choose your favorite movies and speeches, and learn languages while having fun.
Why should pronunciation be such important when learning to speak Mandarin Chinese? If you ignore pronunciation, then even if you may seem to be learning a language, it is very likely that, in the end, you have actually learned an imperfect language.
Because a language is actually divided into written and spoken language. The two are closely related. For example, when you are in class, you can take notes while listening to write down what you hear, but if your written and spoken language are out of sync, it will be a mass.
How to practice pronunciation?
The best way is to imitate. Not only imitate the sound you hear but also imitate the mouth shape of the pronunciation. When we imitate pronunciation, we are also imitating the shape of the mouth. If the shape of the mouth is wrong, the pronunciation must be wrong too. The shape of the mouth includes the closure of the teeth, the curling of the tongue, and the position of the root part of the tongue.
Every language has dozens of fixed pronunciations, and each word is composed of these pronunciation elements. After remembering these pronunciation elements, the pronunciation of each word is just simple recombination for you. The way of learning pronunciation is very similar to listening: watching video materials, observing mouth shape and pronunciation, and then imitating.
Recognition means when you see a word, you can remember and know what the word means. How to perform effective Chinese character recognition?
The human brain usually only remembers meaningful things; if this thing is meaningless to you, you will quickly forget it. This is actually a way of human existence. Because there is too much information, the brain automatically filters out meaningless things. So we have to give this word meaning when we recognize it. The way to give meaning is through association.
Studies have shown that an “immersive learning environment” is more effective for a language learner under the correct guidance and instruction than in a traditional classroom environment. Only by learning Chinese through an immersive environment can learners speak authentic oral grammar like locals.
Language environment is the key point of language learning.
Well known about this, Keats School developed its most popular language program, the intensive One-on-one Chinese program, in 2004. You could fully immerse yourself in the authentic Chinese culture and its language. And the best length of time for you to improve your Chinese proficiency would be one year. Please check out the Keats blog for more details about why you should take a one-year Chinese language course.
In addition to following the above rules about learning the Chinese language easily, you should also develop a sound study plan and stick to it. One of the most critical parts of language learning is persistence. As long as you can persist, you can slowly accumulate and gradually achieve qualitative changes.
I’ve had an amazing time at Keats. I am amazed at how much I’ve learned over the last 3 weeks and I will be really sad to go. We are already planning on our next trip of coming back because we had such a fantastic time here. They really tailor the Chinese language course to you and your individual needs.
Kunming’s scenery is very beautiful. It is the best place to study Chinese in China. My favorite learning method at Keats School is one-on-one because it is suitable for everyone. My teacher is very good, very caring, and lovely. My life when learning Chinese in Kunming is very good and the weather is very good. The air is very good. It is good for the elderly’s body.
The teachers at Keats know how to read the students and how to help students learn Chinese language easily. They know the level of the students. I am a slow learner, but they managed to adapt to my learning. They made the class very fun, very exciting. I am pleased that not only I got to learn the culture and the language, but I also got to make amazing friends, really unbelievable, Chinese friends and European friends, American friends, from all over the world.
Last year I started studying Chinese at University. The reason that I came here is that currently, I’m preparing for the HSK 5 test. Also, I heard that this is one of the best schools to study Mandarin in China. After I came here I realized that Kunming is a pretty cool city to live in and with regards to the teachers’ teaching methods, I think they’re very professional. And I think the language environment is good so now I’m ready to take the HSK 5.
All teachers are really lovely. The teaching level at Keats is so much higher. I really love the city. It is very comfortable to get around. I fully recommend Keats. It is a great place to study Chinese in China. We are looking forward to coming back again later this year.
It has been notable because I have met a lot of people who I met first time last year like me to come back to Keats this year. The teaching has been fantastic. The teachers carefully prepare each lesson. I think this one-on-one approach is really a great way to rapidly increase your level of Chinese and increase your confidence and fluency with the language.
At Keats, I have a lot of opportunities to practice what I have learned. I really like this school, because I can learn Chinese in one-on-one style, so I think this is the best immersion program in China and my teacher is the best teacher. I feel that without my teacher, my Chinese will definitely not improve so much. I’m very happy because, at Keats, I have improved my Chinese significantly.
We use a lot of games to learn grammar and new words. We have really good teachers, really patient. She helps us a lot. Our class is really nice and we have people from all over the world, different countries. We often discuss topics in Chinese in our class. I live in the dorm of Keats. It is very convenient. I don’t have to spend time traveling. You can just focus on learning Chinese.