Why Am I Writing This?
I've been learning Chinese since I was a child. But being in the language environment I was in, I wouldn't consider myself as a native speaker of Chinese. Even now, I find it difficult to converse very fluently with native Chinese people from China. I have the tendencies to always put in some English vocabulary or terms that I can't express in Chinese without a moment's thought. However, my knowledge about Chinese is still good as I majored in Chinese in university and I've been giving tuition to many for quite a few years.
During these years, I've come to know that to master Chinese, you really would need to be equipped with three things. You need enthusiasm, the proper techniques and good learning tools. I have my individual way of thinking when it comes to Chinese language learning. It often irritates me whenever I observe how schools within my homeland are educating the students in the wrong manner, either by continuously lowering standards, or reducing the learning of important aspects of the language such as writing.
So here I am, hoping to write an article that would help others learn some correct concepts about Chinese that would help them in their learning!
Sounds, Form, Meaning and Usage
Most non native speakers who ever tried learning Chinese or are currently learning Chinese never fail to complain that Chinese is a very difficult language to learn. These people often concentrate on mastering Chinese in the spoken form.
However, they don't realize that due to the language's linguistic features, there exist a very close relationship between Chinese sounds, Chinese characters and their relevant meanings. When we chose to ignore learning the form and the meaning so that we can tackle the speaking part more efficiently, we actually are increasing the difficulty for ourselves. Let me explain, Chinese sound variants are very limited, and so the language turns to its symbols to encode the various different meanings, or semantics in the language. The result is that one sound, including its tone, can actually mean many, many things. For example: ji1 (first tone of the pronunciation "ji" in Chinese pinyin) can mean "small table", "hit", "chicken", "accumulate" to name a few. How do we know what someone is referring to when we hear the sound? We do this by learning the Chinese characters when we learn the corresponding pronunciation. When put into context, we would be able to call to our minds just what "ji" refers to. Do note that if we mispronounced the first tone into a 2nd tone, we would actually be meaning another set of very different things.
I have always been an advocate of memorizing the basics when it comes to Chinese learning, as oppose "creative learning". It's not that I don't believe that creative learning doesn't work, because I believe it does. I only know that you can't apply creative learning to Chinese language learning and don't expect the students to memorize and still get proficient in Chinese. I mean, memory even affects the score of IQ tests, not to say learning a foreign system where there is grammar rules, pronunciations, meanings and contextual usage all jumbled together.
The greatest obstacle anyone can encounter in the course of learning Chinese characters is that they have no clue what different words mean when familiar characters come together. Although all these characters are the highest appearing characters and the student has already learned about it, they still do not know what different combinations of these characters mean.
Well actually for me, I would advice that you don't need to memorize every single word that you come across, because that would be impossible. (I forgot to mention that in Chinese, words and characters are two separate concepts, because usually a word would consist of two or more characters, also not necessarily so.) However, what you do need to do is to memorize those characters that have the highest frequencies of occurrence and understand their individual root meanings. This will immensely speed up your absorption of new words as these new words are formed by the characters you already know, and you would be able to fairly accurately guess their meanings when combined.
Of course there would be words that you won't be able to guess, but most of them would have some form of derived relationship from the root words that you have learned. There is one fact I have to clarify though. Most characters in Chinese have multiple root meanings, and it's important to keep expanding your understanding of these meanings. It's not impossible, when you compare it with trying to remember every word you come across. Isn't that equating to memorizing the dictionary already?
Next, to actually using the stuff you learn. My take is simple, which is to try to engage as many of your senses as possible, exposing them to all things Chinese, and then creating links and relationships between concepts, forms, sounds, grammar and images. My brain remembers better when it takes in more information. Sounds unbelievable? Try making up ten things you have done from the morning till the evening, then try saying them out backwards. Try the exercise again, only that this time round the ten things should be really stuffs you experienced. You will find that the latter is easier. That's because made up stuff are just like memorizing Chinese vocabulary, they are only words and concepts in your mind, like the stuff you made up in your mind. However, experiences engage with your whole being. You see, you hear, you touch, you remember when you thought about at that moment, you listen, and all these come together to form a strong linkage in your mind, so you don't forget easily. Learning and using Chinese is the same, you have to use it, listen to it and see the images relevant to the word to experience its use in different contexts.
How to Keep the Fire Burning
Some people never really finished learning the language they set out to learn. The blame it on the language, they find excuses that it is just too time consuming, or that there wasn't anyone to practise with.
Motivation plays a vital role in ensuring that learning continues to be fun, so that we don't give up. Steve Kaufman, a polyglot who have learned ten languages revealed the secret to language learning as engaging in motivating and interest-triggering content.
He believes that we must find that piece of article that is interesting to us, that would encourage us to find ways of finishing the article, that story, or any piece of writing for that matter. That is the motivation that will help us learn. The rest is just up to the brain. If you're curious and interested enough, you will definitely find the resources to acquire the knowledge. People actually learned Japanese just so that they can understand Japanese anime (a form of cartoon). Most who didn't would also prefer to watch the cartoon in Japanese without being dubbed in English. Another great example is the Korea show "Running Man" and the song "Gangnam Style", most teenagers are learning Korean just so that they can feel more "engaged" to their Korean idols.
Of course, other than great content to keep you interested. The other usual factors play a part. Find a partner to learn the language with you, keep setting small goals and reward yourself when you have reached your goals or certain milestones. Keep a progress updates that you know that things are moving and you want to keep them that way. The secret to motivation is to make yourself feel good. If learning can be associated to feeling good by your mind, you will be less likely to give up. It's also interesting to know that there is such a thing known as "mental muscles". Studies have shown that when we endured on a little bit and achieve our targets, every time our will gets stronger with every target accomplished. These all add up to make up strong determination in people. Go find that TV show that you like, and try going through some conversations to see if you can act out the part in their native language!
Resources and Tools
You need the right tools to get the right job done, and done well. The same can be said for Chinese language learning.
For example, you cannot do with at least one dictionary for you to look up your unfamiliar words, or a couple of audio tapes so that you can listen to the correct way of pronouncing the various sounds in Chinese. You will need to get assessment books to do some written exercises so that you know where your standard is at, or at least complete some tests to see if you have absorbed what you have learned. Go through resources so that you make sure that every aspect is more or less touched upon, from speaking and writing, to usage and grammar. Also make sure some "survival topics" are taught. You wouldn't be considered knowing Chinese unless you know something about Chinese culture and Chinese food, and how to order your Chinese food in Mandarin Chinese!
I've been learning Chinese since I was a child. But being in the language environment I was in, I wouldn't consider myself as a native speaker of Chinese. Even now, I find it difficult to converse very fluently with native Chinese people from China. I have the tendencies to always put in some English vocabulary or terms that I can't express in Chinese without a moment's thought. However, my knowledge about Chinese is still good as I majored in Chinese in university and I've been giving tuition to many for quite a few years.
During these years, I've come to know that to master Chinese, you really would need to be equipped with three things. You need enthusiasm, the proper techniques and good learning tools. I have my individual way of thinking when it comes to Chinese language learning. It often irritates me whenever I observe how schools within my homeland are educating the students in the wrong manner, either by continuously lowering standards, or reducing the learning of important aspects of the language such as writing.
So here I am, hoping to write an article that would help others learn some correct concepts about Chinese that would help them in their learning!
Sounds, Form, Meaning and Usage
Most non native speakers who ever tried learning Chinese or are currently learning Chinese never fail to complain that Chinese is a very difficult language to learn. These people often concentrate on mastering Chinese in the spoken form.
However, they don't realize that due to the language's linguistic features, there exist a very close relationship between Chinese sounds, Chinese characters and their relevant meanings. When we chose to ignore learning the form and the meaning so that we can tackle the speaking part more efficiently, we actually are increasing the difficulty for ourselves. Let me explain, Chinese sound variants are very limited, and so the language turns to its symbols to encode the various different meanings, or semantics in the language. The result is that one sound, including its tone, can actually mean many, many things. For example: ji1 (first tone of the pronunciation "ji" in Chinese pinyin) can mean "small table", "hit", "chicken", "accumulate" to name a few. How do we know what someone is referring to when we hear the sound? We do this by learning the Chinese characters when we learn the corresponding pronunciation. When put into context, we would be able to call to our minds just what "ji" refers to. Do note that if we mispronounced the first tone into a 2nd tone, we would actually be meaning another set of very different things.
I have always been an advocate of memorizing the basics when it comes to Chinese learning, as oppose "creative learning". It's not that I don't believe that creative learning doesn't work, because I believe it does. I only know that you can't apply creative learning to Chinese language learning and don't expect the students to memorize and still get proficient in Chinese. I mean, memory even affects the score of IQ tests, not to say learning a foreign system where there is grammar rules, pronunciations, meanings and contextual usage all jumbled together.
The greatest obstacle anyone can encounter in the course of learning Chinese characters is that they have no clue what different words mean when familiar characters come together. Although all these characters are the highest appearing characters and the student has already learned about it, they still do not know what different combinations of these characters mean.
Well actually for me, I would advice that you don't need to memorize every single word that you come across, because that would be impossible. (I forgot to mention that in Chinese, words and characters are two separate concepts, because usually a word would consist of two or more characters, also not necessarily so.) However, what you do need to do is to memorize those characters that have the highest frequencies of occurrence and understand their individual root meanings. This will immensely speed up your absorption of new words as these new words are formed by the characters you already know, and you would be able to fairly accurately guess their meanings when combined.
Of course there would be words that you won't be able to guess, but most of them would have some form of derived relationship from the root words that you have learned. There is one fact I have to clarify though. Most characters in Chinese have multiple root meanings, and it's important to keep expanding your understanding of these meanings. It's not impossible, when you compare it with trying to remember every word you come across. Isn't that equating to memorizing the dictionary already?
Next, to actually using the stuff you learn. My take is simple, which is to try to engage as many of your senses as possible, exposing them to all things Chinese, and then creating links and relationships between concepts, forms, sounds, grammar and images. My brain remembers better when it takes in more information. Sounds unbelievable? Try making up ten things you have done from the morning till the evening, then try saying them out backwards. Try the exercise again, only that this time round the ten things should be really stuffs you experienced. You will find that the latter is easier. That's because made up stuff are just like memorizing Chinese vocabulary, they are only words and concepts in your mind, like the stuff you made up in your mind. However, experiences engage with your whole being. You see, you hear, you touch, you remember when you thought about at that moment, you listen, and all these come together to form a strong linkage in your mind, so you don't forget easily. Learning and using Chinese is the same, you have to use it, listen to it and see the images relevant to the word to experience its use in different contexts.
How to Keep the Fire Burning
Some people never really finished learning the language they set out to learn. The blame it on the language, they find excuses that it is just too time consuming, or that there wasn't anyone to practise with.
Motivation plays a vital role in ensuring that learning continues to be fun, so that we don't give up. Steve Kaufman, a polyglot who have learned ten languages revealed the secret to language learning as engaging in motivating and interest-triggering content.
He believes that we must find that piece of article that is interesting to us, that would encourage us to find ways of finishing the article, that story, or any piece of writing for that matter. That is the motivation that will help us learn. The rest is just up to the brain. If you're curious and interested enough, you will definitely find the resources to acquire the knowledge. People actually learned Japanese just so that they can understand Japanese anime (a form of cartoon). Most who didn't would also prefer to watch the cartoon in Japanese without being dubbed in English. Another great example is the Korea show "Running Man" and the song "Gangnam Style", most teenagers are learning Korean just so that they can feel more "engaged" to their Korean idols.
Of course, other than great content to keep you interested. The other usual factors play a part. Find a partner to learn the language with you, keep setting small goals and reward yourself when you have reached your goals or certain milestones. Keep a progress updates that you know that things are moving and you want to keep them that way. The secret to motivation is to make yourself feel good. If learning can be associated to feeling good by your mind, you will be less likely to give up. It's also interesting to know that there is such a thing known as "mental muscles". Studies have shown that when we endured on a little bit and achieve our targets, every time our will gets stronger with every target accomplished. These all add up to make up strong determination in people. Go find that TV show that you like, and try going through some conversations to see if you can act out the part in their native language!
Resources and Tools
You need the right tools to get the right job done, and done well. The same can be said for Chinese language learning.
For example, you cannot do with at least one dictionary for you to look up your unfamiliar words, or a couple of audio tapes so that you can listen to the correct way of pronouncing the various sounds in Chinese. You will need to get assessment books to do some written exercises so that you know where your standard is at, or at least complete some tests to see if you have absorbed what you have learned. Go through resources so that you make sure that every aspect is more or less touched upon, from speaking and writing, to usage and grammar. Also make sure some "survival topics" are taught. You wouldn't be considered knowing Chinese unless you know something about Chinese culture and Chinese food, and how to order your Chinese food in Mandarin Chinese!
About the Author:
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