How to learn Chinese? - A guide for beginners

The best way to tackle the challenge of learning Chinese is to identify your reason and motivation for learning the language, as this will help you focus on the things that you should look out for. For example, the business owner wanting to learn Chinese has different needs to the traveler going over for a two week trip, and so you have to direct your learning to achieve the best results. Of course, perhaps a combination of methods would work best for you, but first let’s look at some of the popular approaches today.

The traditional way of studying Chinese is to enroll in a course. The psychological trigger of paying for books, resources, lessons, teacher all motivate the student to put in a certain amount of effort. However, learning this way can become slightly monotonous. The benefit of this approach is that you can gain formal assessment for your study efforts, and can take something away from the course that will help further advance your studies. On the other hand, it doesn’t necessarily suit the style and pace of everyone.

Nowadays, with the widespread use of technology as a learning tool, many possibilities have been created for those who prefer a different approach to learning languages. Of course, the traditional method of learning has evolved to keep pace with technology, with many institutions offering distance or online courses or modules to tailor to individual needs. However, there have been some interesting new ways to learn languages that are just been explored recently.

One of the most innovative ways to learn Chinese is by joining a chat room or virtual reality environment. The design of software programs have allowed the use of multi-lingual input and output, along with speech and voice recognition to offer users a much richer learning environment even in the absence of direct human face-to-face contact. Chat programs such as QQ up being rapidly taken up by the Chinese populations, and foreign users always attract curious Chinese locals that want to offer language exchange through the translation and dictionary functions of the program. Virtual reality worlds such as Second Life and HiPiHi have also opened up new communication channels for users to interact with each other, and several linguistic and language interest groups are emerging and embracing the new medium for communication and exchange of ideas/information.

Despite all the convenience of technology, any language enthusiasts will tell you the difference between learning the language and experiencing the language (i.e. travel to the country). To be immersed in the language beats any method of learning, but the costs of travel and accommodation tends to entice only those who find it a financially viable means of learning, or those die hard culture/language enthusiasts.

Instead of traveling to the country, it might also be worthwhile considering making friends with Chinese people who have made the trip to your country. Perhaps enquire about how you can host foreign exchange students, or join language exchange programs with local English language schools or organizations. That way, you can bring the people to you, rather than having to go to the people to learn the language.

Anyway, which ever way you decide to learn Chinese, the important thing for beginners is to work out your motivation for learning the language (it is one of the most difficult and greatest learning curve). When you have figured that out, you will want to adjust your learning style to the method of learning. If all goes well, then your motivation for learning Chinese, combined with an efficient and enjoyable method of learning, will go a long way to ensure that the experience will be a rewarding, even if slightly challenging one.

Some useful resources:
1) Learn Chinese Toronto

2) Learn Chinese Vancouver

3) Learn Chinese Shanghai