Chinese languagehas been the most sought out language, at times outcompeting English. About one in five of the world’s population speaks a form of Chinese. Mandarin is the official language of the People’s Republic of China and by far the most widely used version, with over 800 million speakers. Chinese is also spoken by large communities around the world, from Singapore to London to Vancouver due to the ever growing interests and developing business relations as such. Standard Chinese which is known as “Putonghua” is a standardized form of spoken Chinese based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin. It is the official language of China and Taiwan, as well as one of four official languages of Singapore. It is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.
Just like any other language, mastering Chinese language wouldn’t be your cup of tea. To get through, a few simple rules would have to be instilled in your everyday life. Only then you’d be rewarded with the talent of being familiar with a foreign language. So, what are the steps required?
First and foremost, courage and willingness are required. Willingness to make mistakes means being ready to put yourself in potentially embarrassing situations. This can be scary, but it’s the only way to develop and improve.
Connect with as many native speakers as possible. The best way to learn a new language is to speak it. Repeatedly, people spend all of their time studying grammar and memorizing lists of words instead of actually going out there and putting what they've learned into practice. Speaking with a real, live person will help you to feel much more motivated about learning the language and how can you do that? Try to find a friend or colleague who speaks the language you wish to learn and who'd be willing to sit down with you and help you practice. Or you could try putting ads in online or newspapers to find someone to tutor you or participate in a language exchange.
Another tip is to study Chinese every day. There are many cases where people often claim to have studied a language "for five years" and still not be fluent. But when they say five years, they probably mean that they studied the language for only a couple of hours a week over that entire time period. To master a language, one should have to be utterly committed to be thorough.
Hands down the most suitable way is to carry a dictionary at all times. Carrying a dictionary will save a lot of time and frustration, so invest in one as soon as possible! It could be physical or even an app. Within moments notice, you’d be able to figure out the meaning of the desired words and even skim through on the go.
Watch, listen, read and write in Chinese. Immersing yourself in a language means doing all of the activities you would normally do in your native tongue, through your new language -- whether that's reading, writing or listening.
Possibly the easiest thing you can do is watch Chinese television shows or movies. And it would really help much better if subtitles are best avoided, as you will tend to rely on them. To make things easier, try to watch shows or movies whose plots you are already familiar with -- like kids' cartoons or dubbed versions of English movies -- knowing the context will help you to interpret the meanings of words and phrases.
Get a newspaper or magazine and attempt to read one article a day -- looking up any words you don't understand in your dictionary. You should also try to write a few simple things in your new language.
Listen to songs in that language. Try to learn the lyrics, and then check what they mean. That way, if you hear it again, you can tell what the conversation is about at that point.
