The article outlines the steps in learning to speak Mandarin. Some doable learning methodologies are provided in the end.
If you want to learn to speak Mandarin,
you must know that it is not an easy process. In fact, learning to speak the language should not be done in a hasty manner otherwise you will end up learning the language erroneously.
Here are some of the steps that you may follow in order to learn to speak Mandarin properly.
First, you have to break the language learning goals into smaller, more achievable and realistic goals. Generally, the learning process is processual, wherein there are no cutting corners towards achieving your learning goals. The same philosophy should be applied to learning to speak Mandarin. You must create short term wins. For instance, you should start learning the characters before learning the words and afterwards, learning the phrases. These short term wins will definitely lead you to achieving the bigger goals of learning to speak the language.
For one, there are thousands of characters involved in the Mandarin language. It would be best to break down the number into smaller modules that you have to learn on a daily basis. The goal is studying one or a few characters at a time. Master each character if you must, with which comes mastering the entire Mandarin language.
Second, you have to consider having a language buddy who is also learning the Mandarin language. This person may be English or other non-English speaker. Nevertheless, figures show that the latter is more efficient in learning to speak Mandarin than English-speaking individuals. Perhaps, the reason behind this is the wide difference in the English and Chinese languages.
If English is your mother tongue, and you language buddy’s is not, you will not be tempted to fall back in communicating in English. Your partner will not understand what you are saying as well, and you will be left with no choice but to converse in Mandarin language. So, choose a non-English speaking language buddy, that is, if you are serious to learn to speak Mandarin. With this, you will become more fluent in speaking the language eventually.
Considerably, you will not be ashamed of the mistake that you are going to make since your language buddy may make the same mistake as yours.
Third, you have to learn to speak Mandarin using the most appropriate method for you. Again, generally, learners have different characteristics and thus, different learning styles. The same with learning Mandarin, there is no right method for each learner wherein one method may be effective for a learner, but not for another learner. Put simply, the learning method that works for other language learners may not necessarily work for you. Thereby, learning to speak the language is not universal.
If you must, develop your own learning strategy, integrating different language learning methods in your strategy. Some of these methods are reading Mandarin comics or books, watching Mandarin shows or listening to Mandarin dramas on the radio. You actually have a lot of choices that you may try, and then choose which among them will work for later.
These are the three basic steps that you must follow. In no time, you may determine the difference between a broken and a fluent Mandarin speaker.
