学习中文 How do you know you're learning correctly?
2013-04-23
Learning a foreign language is a challenge. I've learned many languages in my lifetime and Chinese has been by far the most challenging. One of the biggest problems I have is making sure I am learning things correctly. The textbooks that are considered the best for learning the language do not have the answer keys available to students, so I cannot check my answers myself.I want to be sure that I learn it correctly, so I am rather nervous about working with textbooks where the answers are not available for me to be able to review. When I try to review the questions and answers with friends, they are often not entirely sure what the answer should be.
I'm always nervous when I speak because I'm afraid that I have the wrong tones and I don't want to say something that would upset or offend my Chinese friends and colleagues. I'm afraid when I write sometimes because I want to be sure I am understood.
Another problem I have is that I have very few opportunities to speak Mandarin. I have a few Chinese co-workers, but they're from Hong Kong and don't speak Mandarin. When I travel in China, many of my colleagues speak English much better than I speak Mandarin or Cantonese, so we will often end up speaking English. I plan to tell them of my plans to take the HSK in hope that they will help me more with my Mandarin. They are quite supportive of my efforts to learn the language, so I think this will help, but I am only in China a few times each year.
So, my question to all of you is "How can I be sure I am learning correctly?"
What resources are available to help a student learn to hear the language and understand it at normal conversational speeds? Are there CCTV news reports, for example, with transcripts in Mandarin and English that I could use to try to learn? TV shows? I need to be sure that I am learning correctly so I can be sure I can communicate effectively. My Chinese friends, you are heirs to one of the most fascinating cultures on Earth, and I want to know it better. There is so much to learn from your culture and your language is the key to learning it.
Please help me learn your language.
That's a great idea, Ron, but I live in South Carolina. I'll see if there's anyone here in the Upstate area but I doubt it.
I spend most of my time here in South Carolina, where I live. There are very few Chinese people here. I'm not worried about "losing face" because as far as I am concerned, I am learning the language and I can't really "lose face" from that. :-) And I figure it can't get much worse than making a mistake with tones and talking to my female colleague and saying 吻 instead of 问。Fortunately, she has a good sense of humour and told me what I did and smiled about it. (She's SERIOUSLY cute, too.)
go on and look for an area in the country that you spend most of your time in that has lots of Chinese people and spend lots of your time with them and as it has been said by one of the others who have commented on this article, be prepared to lose face, it happens to anyone learning a new language.
Querist Have you tried creating a profile on SharedTalk website. I have had a profile there for years and meet people learning English. I have done exchange turoring with some people. One I set up where we met for two hours three times a week the first hour I tutored him in English and the second hour he tutored me in Chinese. This worked very well except that my Chinese was only in the early stages of learning. We set an agenda and prepared our sessions one topic we discussed for a series of sessions was idioms. I get more requests for exchange partners than I can manage. I found it a very educational and rewarding experience.
Thanks, Kevin! I'm trying to find opportunities to speak Mandarin more often.
you should try to speak in Mandarin as often as possible. it is the best way to learn chinese. Indeed, Mandarin is very difficult for foreigners, I still remember that when I was in scholl and helped my foreign friends learn chinese, it is so hard for them to use those words which have different meanings in different occations correctly. but I am sure you will learn it well soon.
Thanks for the encouragement. I'm doing what I can. You're right that it's one of the most difficult languages for a foreigner to learn.
Easier said than done, Denny. There are not very many Chinese people where I live.
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