How to improve Chinese speaking?
The last type of immersion is called two-way (or dual) immersion. This model was first developed in Florida’s Dade County schools and is still evolving. Two-way immersion is designed to serve both English and non-English speakers. The latter group will usually make up 25 to 50 per cent of the student body. Children from each language group are mixed in the same classroom. The goals of two-way immersion are for both language groups to become bilingual, succeed academically, and develop positive inter-group relations. Two-way immersion programs, as one-way, differ in the amount of time spent in the two languages per grade level. In the upper grades, instruction is typically half in Spanish and half in English. In theory, two-way immersion allows English speakers to learn Spanish while continuing to develop their English skills. Spanish speakers learn English while becoming literate and maintaining oral skills in their native tongue.
About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the world’s population) speak a variety of Chinese as their first language.
It is a language rooted in central Mandarin, however, the total amount of languages spoken in China is 302, according to the last Ethnologue survey. This is also the national language.
71% of Chinese speak a variety of Mandarin also call “Putonghua”(Also adopted as a second language by those who speak other Chinese dialects), which is close to being a lingua franca in the Mandarin-speaking parts of China(Northern China, in Sichuan, and, actually, in a broad arc from the northeast (Manchuria) to the southwest (Yunnan), use various Mandarin dialects as their native language, as well as the rest of the mainland, though less so. The mountains and rivers of southern China may have promoted linguistic diversity.
To most people improving Chinese skills is a daunting task! I have been advocating quite openly in all of my blogs that the best way to learn any language is through Immersion methods. Starting from Travel immersion to Full classroom to Partial classroom immersion learning methods. Travel immersion allows you a chance to experience a locale, like a local by embedding yourself in the culture of a destination, rather than simply viewing it from a comfortable distance. It often includes getting to know the people who live there, knowing their day today routines, way of life, religious priorities, sharing meals, learning the language, or and lending a hand at work, which may not be possible for everyone. Agreed, there are many obstacles to immersion learning, but don’t let these hold you back. Chinese learners need to learn more than just a few numbers and parroting sentences on ‘how to introduce themselves’! A full immersion experience gets language learners to communicate about diverse and necessary topics, when they are immersed in a language, as their brain is forced to become accustomed to listening and breaking apart sound to make meaning actively. For most who do not know – immersion methods of learning activate different parts of the brain in multitude of ways faster than any traditional teaching method.
That’s probably the reason why bilingual learners score higher on cognitive ability and executive function tests.
In full-time immersion programs, learners start out knowing very little of the language to having a full conversation in just a few weeks. While it’s true that time and hard work is going to help you improve, there are also some fun easy steps that you can take to improve your skills without making it feel like work!
Partial or two-way (or dual) immersion aims to teach language learners by means of using both English and the target language partially as the medium of instruction. Some institutes aim at larger bilingualism abilities by mixing both English and non-English speakers, in the same classroom.
Here are some easy tips to improve your Chinese speaking skills:
Start to write a journal or diary to capture all new day-to-day used words you hear in Chinese audio, movies that can be a great addition to your vocabulary list. Remember, One of the best ways to improve your speaking is to improve your vocabulary
Learn the basic alphabets
Empower yourself to read small two-letter, three letter words, with children books so can get confident with the written language. This will further strengthen your vocabulary as it will enable you to read; speak aloud as you read!
Read aloud. If you’re listening to a lesson and reading along, read out loud. Then re-read and speed up your speech. Do this again and again until you can speak faster. Try your best to pronounce words correctly, but don’t exhaust yourself over it.
Find a conversation partner to converse and seek feedback from
Look for conversation partners around you, in your neighbourhood, any community near you; if you don’t find one I suggest going online on Conversationpartner, Tandem, Languagepartner, Italku, Hello Talk etc
Watch Chinese TV shows/ Movies/Talk Shows. One of the hardest things, once you start speaking with native speakers, is following along with the speed at which they are speaking. Watching Chinese TV shows will help you to learn natural speech patterns. Watch English movies with Chinese subtitles and Chinese Movies with English subtitles.
Use Shadowing to repeat dialogues
You can also turn on subtitles so that you can follow along and speak with the actors. TV shows are also a great way to learn colloquialisms that you may not learn in a formal learning environment.
Listen to Chinese songs. Music plays an immensely important part in our life. It is so evident from the fact that Alzheimer patients who forget names of their loved ones, situations, have been known to recollect song lyrics and tunes! Song lyrics can also help you to improve your vocabulary. Also, singers tend to pronounce the words more clearly than people. By memorizing songs, you will learn the pronunciation better!
Listen to Chinese talk radio/podcasts/ audiobooks/audio clips/news/radio stations. There are many reliable audio resources online these days that you can tune into and learn from. A learner who wishes to learn to Chinese should listen to Chinese news as it is spoken more formally and clearly. They are also a great way to add new vocabulary words to learn!
Gather the Right Materials to learn to speak right
Old Chinese wasn’t a tonal language but it became one as it evolved over time. Therefore, I suggest you get yourself the right resources that help you learn to speak Chinese properly.
As an example, you can see how variations in a word yield new words.
妈 (mā) — mother
骂 (mà) — scold
马 (mǎ) — horse
吗 (ma) — the equivalent of a question mark (?) for formal questions
麻 (má) — hemp
Review again and again. After you are confident about your pronunciations and accent, I recommend you talk aloud and record yourself. Then hear yourself again and correct your mistakes, to re-record yourself. You may continue doing this until you get the right pronunciations in one recording
Practice, practice, practice! In the end, it is only practice that is going to help you learn the language. Try the Pomodoro technique! Spending 45 minutes at spaced intervals, 3 times a day, every day, rather than spending long hours at a stretch on the weekends.
Utilise your spare time whether it will be waiting in a queue, walking your dog, washing your car etc. Use all such time to listen to the podcast, audio clips, basically any audio resource you can lay your hand on, to be able to gather more vocabulary and correct accent.
Finally,
Learning Chinese can be hard, but it can also be fun! As you can see, there are a lot of simple ways to improve your speaking while you are on the path to learning Chinese! One thing you’ll find is that if you spend some time every day, you’ll see improvement. It’s like training for a sport: if you only train for 8 hours on Saturday rather than one hour every day, you’re going to struggle. Make a plan, spend at least 10 minutes a day and focus on whatever you want to improve most.
There’s an amazing new way to learn Chinese! Want to see what everyone’s talking about!