How to Learn the Mandarin Chinese Language
Given growing business ties between Eastern and Western cultures, your interest in mastering Mandarin Chinese could position you for the career of a lifetime. Learn the language and you'll show honor and respect for people with whom you come into contact, and the lengths to which you went to learn the language will speak volumes about your dedication. Mandarin Chinese consists of unique combinations of tones and strokes. It's not an easy language to learn, but once you get the hang of it, your appreciation for this ancient culture and mother tongue will be boundless.
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Instructions
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Enroll in an entry-level Mandarin Chinese class offered by a high school, technical school or community college. Explore simple written and spoken Chinese to see how your brain adapts to a tonal, character-based language. Expand your exposure to Chinese by finding native speakers with whom you can practice inflections and pronunciations.
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Supplement your classes by borrowing or purchasing audio programs with lessons in Mandarin Chinese. Play the CDs when you drive, during the day and also when you hit the pillow at night, as listening to language tapes is recommended by a body of foreign language experts who believe nocturnal listening helps internalize a spoken language.
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Contact a local university or Chinese cultural society to see about hiring a native-speaking tutor. Make certain you stipulate a Mandarin speaker, as this is the dialect spoken by Han Chinese, the largest and oldest population. Accidentally hiring a Cantonese coach or tutor---or someone whose language skills originated in one of the minority regions of China---could impede your progress.
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Invest in language training software to accelerate your mastery of Mandarin Chinese. Ask whether you can sample an introductory course with a 30-day money-back guarantee before you commit to buying a multi-level program. Find websites offering free Mandarin Chinese lessons. Use their online tutorials to help bolster your skills.
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Follow in the footsteps of diplomats whose jobs require fast language mastery by opting for immersion learning. Get immersion resource recommendations from the U.S. Department of State. Expect these small, intensive experiences to cost a lot. Be prepared to read and converse exclusively in Chinese for the duration of the program, as this learning method requires that no other language be spoken or read.
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Tap your savings and head for Beijing to explore the language for at least 6 months. Live among the people who speak Mandarin predominantly (don't choose Shanghai, for instance, where Cantonese is spoken by most folks) and devote much of your time to language classes. Practice your skills when you pay for meals, ask for directions, attend theater performances and negotiate day-to-day language exchanges.
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Use entertainments and hobbies to help hone your language skills. Watch Chinese TV programming and listen to popular Chinese music lyrics to monitor the rate at which you're picking up words and sentences. Explore games and books, starting with Chinese books written for children before tackling adult fiction and nonfiction.
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References
- Photo Credit a neon sign of tea in chinese - learn chinese image by Gary from Fotolia.com
