Tips on How to Learn Mandarin!

It is very popular among people that if you are looking to learn a language you will have to submerge yourself in those customs, completely encircle yourself by the language and you’ll be smooth in no time. 

So how does it come about so frequently that even by religiously following this rule, we end up being at the verge of only limiting our Chinese speaking abilities to ordering the same dish at our much-loved restaurant and asking where the restroom is? Well, if you are an avid learner, you would know that this piece of advice is actually not bad, it does work but it definitely is incomplete because it takes a lot of other things as well.  

You can think of it in this way, if you want to be a master of Chinese Cooking, just attending a food talk in China isn’t going to help; you will have to go to China. And what will you do once you reach there, you will get into the kitchen and start cook for all the obvious reasons. Well, the concepts are the same as learning a language also. Here are a few commands to get you into the kitchen and start learning Mandarin Chinese.  

1. Keep talking to yourself: There are a lot of times we are encircled by a language we get difficulty in understanding and we don’t know where to start from. You don’t have to stress yourself too much with loaded information, you can start by having simple conversations like learning ‘hi’, ‘how are you’, ‘I’m fine, thanks’, ‘do you have plans tonight?’, or ‘No, want to grab dinner together?’.  If you are unable to translate all these properly, you will at least know where to start from and you can practice more and more accordingly. 

2. Do a lot of practicing every day: Cramming Chinese can come in a lot of diverse forms, mainly when you are residing in China. You will have to be practicing every day, whether it is hardcore coffee shop mugging for hours, or learning by heart just one word on the subway, make sure you do something, anything, each and every single day, until it becomes a habit.

3. Make reading a habit: If you are living in a major Chinese city, chances are you are going to come across a lot of people who speak in English and this is going to take you away from speaking the language, don’t do that. Be in habit of either speaking the language or reading a book. Don’t be too harsh on yourself, start from reading children’s playbook, so that you do not go out of the habit of being in touch with the language. You can also stay in touch by watching Chinese movies or listening to their music.  

4. Think in Chinese: it is very simple, once you have learned to think I Chinese; your learning speed will increase tremendously. Ask yourself the simplest questions in a day like; what do I want to order, or what route I have to travel on, or what time it is, but all in Chinese. Thinking in Chinese is going to help your fluency and your tones as well.  

So there you have it. If you are looking to learn the language, you don’t necessarily have to live I the same place but do stay in touch with the language. It helps you learn the language much more quickly.