Mandarin Lessons

5 Golden Rules To Learn To Speak Mandarin Chinese

by admin on 29/09/09 at 8:10 am

So you want to learn to speak mandarin Chinese? If you’ve spoken to any native speakers, or non-natives who are learning mandarin, you’ll have probably been given more advice that you know what to do with.

To save you from becoming dizzy with confusion, we’ve put together 5 golden rules every beginner should follow when they learn to speak mandarin Chinese:

1. Get The Best Learning Materials Available

Your learning materials form the foundation of your language learning – if you’re materials aren’t good, you won’t be learning in the most effective way. If you are planning to learn with a private tutor then be sure to check out what materials they will working with before getting started (search around on Google, you’ll find plenty of reviews).

If you’re planning on learning online and/or by yourself, the best resource out there is ChinesePod. This community helps you learn to speak mandarin Chinese by offering a combination of learning methods including podcasts, videos, interactive tests and a vibrant community of fellow learners. Sign up for the free 7 day trial to see what ChinesePod is all about.

2. Learn Characters From The Start (Or Regret It Later)

Many of the people we speak to want to avoid learning characters and just learn pinyin (Romanized script) to enable them to speak. This is fine if you only plan to learn a few phrases to impress friends or use whilst visiting China. However, if you’re serious about gaining a level of fluency and using mandarin practically, then learning characters is a necessity.

Why not learn them once you’ve got a good grasp of speaking? Trying to learn characters once you can speak Chinese is a frustrating task, and only serves to slow down your overall mastery of the Chinese language. It also limits your understanding of the words themselves, and takes out one of the most fun elements of learning mandarin.

3. Master The Tones Early

Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language where a change in tone leads to a change in meaning, rather than just emphasis or display of emotion. It’s very easy to get into bad habits early on that will quickly make your Chinese incomprehensible when you speak to others. Be sure to spend time practicing your tones and have them verified by a native speaker – it can be repetitive at first, but you’ll be glad you spent the time mastering it in future.

4. Enjoy The Journey And You’ll Reach The Goal Quicker

Learning to speak mandarin Chinese is hard, but it’s also a lot of fun! Too many beginners get so caught up in their end goal of fluency that they create mental obstacles for themselves, dwelling too much on the “problems” that lie ahead of them. By seeing the learning process as a challenge (rather than a problem) you will enjoy the journey a lot more and ultimately get to your goal a lot quicker.

You’re not going to become fluent overnight – that just means you have more time to enjoy learning!

5. Language Exchanges Friends & Fellow Learners

“Practice makes perfect” would be the ideal Chinese proverb for learning mandarin, but we’re pretty sure the phrase is a British invention. Nevertheless, finding people to practice with is essential if you want to learn to speak mandarin Chinese well. Get yourself to your local university or browse Craigslist (or similar) to find a language exchange partner who will correct and perfect your spoken Chinese.

You will also want to surround yourself with fellow learners for motivation, venting your occasional frustration and sharing knowledge. Now you’ve signed up for your free 7 day trial at ChinesePod (mentioned above) you can get involved in an active community filled with learners of all levels from across the world, benefit from other people’s experiences and maybe even contribute yourself!

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If you’ve got some top learning tips of your own please share them by leaving a comment on this post.