Mandarin Lessons

Why You Will Fail At Learning Mandarin Chinese Online

by admin on 29/09/09 at 3:07 pm

Learning mandarin Chinese Online is a great option for those who either; a) don’t have the time to spend a couple of years in a Chinese-speaking country, or b) don’t have the money to hire a private tutor. Unfortunately many of those who pursue learning mandarin Chinese online find themselves frustrated by a lack of progress and are likely to give up after just a couple of months.

The main reasons people fail to learn mandarin Chinese online are:

1.    They don’t get any practice speaking Chinese.
2.    They don’t have anyone to correct their early mistakes in pronunciation and tone.
3.    They lose motivation after the initial honeymoon effect wears off.

Sounds grim doesn’t it? Thankfully there are solutions to each of these issues that can enable you to learn effectively online. They may not be as effective as spending a few years in China or paying for long-term private tuition, but they can still make you a proficient mandarin speaker and allow you to enjoy the process too!

So here’s how we solve those problems:

No Practice With A Native Speaker & No Correction Of Early Tone/Pronunciation Mistakes

Unless you live in a remote desert or underground cave, you’ll easily be able to find Chinese speaking people in your area, whether they’re students or ex-pats. Most Chinese speakers living overseas are keen to improve their language skills, so why not consider a language exchange? You’ll help them to improve their English (or other language you speak) and in return they’ll help you to practice mandarin.

Alternatively, the wonders of the Internet allow you to connect with people in China via Internet telephony programs such as Skype and VOIP. This is another opportunity for you to engage in a language swap, or you can pay by the hour for a tutor in China or Taiwan (search oDesk for language tutors from just $4/hour).

Loss Of Motivation After The “Honeymoon Period”

Learning mandarin Chinese online is super-convenient… but it can get pretty lonely talking to your PC all day. The best way to drive yourself forward and keep up your enthusiasm is to connect with other people who are learning mandarin online – sharing your problems (and triumphs) is mutually beneficial. By far the best community (and online learning resource) is ChinesePod; a mandarin learning portal that provides daily lessons via podcast, interactive activities and a HUGE community of fellows mandarin learners.

Get yourself involved in the community and utilize the various methods of learning ChinesePod offers and you’ll manage to maintain the buzz of learning Chinese for a long time. The subscription fees are very reasonable and vary depending on how much time you want to spend learning Chinese online.

How To Get Started Right Now

Here’s how you can get started learning online effectively RIGHT NOW:

1.    Search about on your local classifieds website (e.g. Craigslist, Gumtree, Kijiji) for someone to practice with, or find yourself a language-exchange partner (or cheap remote tutor) online.
2.   Sign up at ChinesePod and get involved – they have a 7 day free trial so there’s no excuse not get to started and get involved right now!

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If you found this post helpful, be sure to come back and tell us whether you’ve succeeded in learning mandarin Chinese online – we’d love to have some success stories to show that learning online really does work!