What are good ways to learn how to speak Chinese?

Chinese is a language spoken by over 1.2 billion people over the world. The earliest Chinese written records are Shang dynasty-era oracle bone inscriptions, which can be dated to 1250 BCE. Standard Chinese, based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin, was adopted in the 1930s and is now an official language of both the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China on Taiwan, one of the four official languages of Singapore, and one of the six official languages of the United Nations. The written form, using the logograms known as Chinese characters, is shared by literate speakers of unintelligible dialects. Since the 1950s, simplified Chinese characters have been promoted for use by the government of the People’s Republic of China, while traditional characters remain in use in Taiwan, Singapore and other countries with a significant amount of Chinese speaking populations such as Malaysia.

Watch Chinese TV, Talkshows, Movies, and videos. You can watch movies on some Chinese DVDs (with subtitles), watch Chinese cartoons online, or search YouTube for Chinese-speaking YouTubers. This is an easy, entertaining way to get a feel for the sound and structure of the Chinese language. 

Memorize simple vocabulary. The wider the vocabulary you have at your disposal, the easier it is to speak a language fluently. Familiarize yourself with as many simple, everyday Chinese words and phrases as possible to help you start your first conversation.

Learn via the Immersion approach. Attach little Chinese labels to objects in your house. This way, you’ll remember the words better by associating them with the object directly rather than translating them from English to Chinese! 

Study the basic grammar. In order to speak any language correctly, it is necessary to study the grammar particular to that language. Chinese grammar can appear quite daunting initially but once you get the hang of the grammar you’ll find that Chinese is a very direct and expressive language! Read through the noun, verbs thoroughly.

Don’t be discouraged! Learning a new language takes time and practice. It won’t happen overnight. 

Find a native speaker. One of the best ways to improve your new language skills is to practice speaking with a native speaker, who will be able to correct any grammar or pronunciation mistakes and can introduce you to more informal or colloquial forms of speech that you won’t find in a textbook. Find a native Chinese speaker in and around your neighbourhood you could also look for one online on websites such as Hello Talk, Tandem, Languagepartners, Conversationpartners Italki etcetera.

Consider signing up for a language course. If you are a serious language learner and wish to take it a step ahead into formally learning Chinese I suggest you sign up for a language course online or offline.

Chinese is notorious for being one of the toughest languages to master. While that notion isn’t completely untrue, that doesn’t mean its impossible to master. It just requires more time, effort and dedication than other languages. But if a language that offers a variety of great benefits requires you to be a little more dedicated, then it does not seem that difficult anymore. 

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