Anyway, Friday my Chinese class had a guest who has been studying Chinese for 50 years. He gave us a lot of advice that I'd like to share.
- Be a 4 year old.-Basically, your new at learning the language so don't be too hard on yourself. Speak elementary Chinese if you have to!
- Open your ears- listen to everything and mimic the natives.
- Memorize- he specifically mentioned writing characters a bunch of times and building your vocabulary.
- Read the Newspaper - he specifically said the newspaper because they use set terms and write to the masses.
- Absorb everything, go with the flow - he specifically mentioned learning sayings and the history. Apparently, to understand some of the sayings you need to understand the history. You also need to know some Chinese poetry and literature.
- Geography- this one I added from another guest we had earlier. He said knowing the geography sets you apart from other Westerners because it shows an added interest in the country. It also would certainly help you when trying to get around or understand somethings.
- Take on a Chinese Persona! - He said if you act Chinese you're more believable and you pick up more. He said it was a lot like acting.
One girl asked about how to reorganize your thoughts because some Chinese phrases aren't put together like ours or you have to have them in a different order. He said the only thing to do was "drill, drill, drill."
But what was most interesting to me was the fact he was not taught characters for two months in his first language classes. He said they used a textbook but focused on pronunciation and pinyin. Overtime his class slowly learned characters.
This goes back to my theory of why on earth are we taught everything at once (reading, writing, listening, speaking) when we naturally learn a language through listening and speaking first. It honestly must be because of a time crunch. I see no other good reason when I can't think of one person who learned everything at once and is fluent in the language.
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