Learning Chinese with Dilligence

I was chatting with some Mandarin Level I class students after our final exam back in June and I was dismayed to know that not only was the exam tough, but my classmates were not prepared enough to know the material in general. We’ve been learning for nine months now, minimum one class per week, one hour per class and I worked through the exam, but I guess some of my fellow classmates were struggling with it.

It led me to write this post on learning in general. I really do believe in the learning pyramid. In order to be the best we can be on a subject, we need to live and breathe in that world. When I am learning Mandarin, I must ideally live and breathe in the world of Mandarin. Perhaps, I take learning too far, but this is the way I would ideally live my life. I’ll never stop learning and I’ll never give up.

I’m sure everybody knows that they need to study or immerse themselves into the language more, but there are unlimited excuses that stop us from reaching our goal. Even if I do complain, I shouldn’t complain too long. 

Here are my suggestions from the learning pyramid as it relates to Mandarin. The more you do the things on the list, the more you will learn. Also, if you do these items sporadically, you will learn sporadically. If you want to learn faster, I suggest making good use of time. More importantly, go have fun with it! I might edit this list from time to time if I have any more suggestions. If you know any more that you would like to share, leave a comment.

Lecture 0-10% student retention rate

• Do not skip classes.
• Be on time to your classes
• Ignore distractions and do not be one yourself (students eating, drinking, texting, Facebooking, phone calls, etc.
• Ask questions if you have one. If it’s still complicated, see if you can meet with another student or teacher privately or after class to have the question resolved. If not, do further research by Google or contact others.
• If you are a note taker, re-read your notes an hour later after class or at your earliest convenience to reinforce the information you learned. The same applies to recording devices.
• If you cannot explain what you learned to another person, then you did not learn anything. You need to review the lesson ASAP (As Soon As Possible).
• If you have any questions during your study, trying Googling your answer. You may additionally write it down, email or talk to your teacher or a knowledgeable person to have it answered. As long as you have a doubt in your mind, you have not reached your full learning potential.
• When speaking to fellow students, keep the language in Mandarin (or Cantonese) as much as possible.

Reading  10-20% student retention rate

•  Master pinyin if you are learning Mandarin or master Jyutping if you are learning Cantonese first. Do not take what you read as correct if you cannot pronounce the Romanization. Don’t be lazy about this as it will affect your speech and credibility every time you open your mouth to speak Chinese.
• When you have mastered pinyin and/or jyupting Romanization, start reading characters (simplified, traditional, or both)
• Do all the exercises in the chapter
• Create your own sentences with the vocabulary
• If your textbook comes with an audio CD, use the audio CD as well.

• Read the dialogues out loud to yourself. Try to make your voice sound as native as possible.  
• Take notes of anything you do not understand so you can research it or ask somebody later.
• Review as often as possible.
• You can never read too many books. Every book has its flavor. You may find another book more interesting than the previous book. Read some Chinese children’s books, comic books, magazines, newspapers, and anything you can get your hands on. If the book difficulty level is too high, try to find words you already know. I like to do this with newspapers and guess the words I do not know. If you plan to learn a certain writing system (Simplified or Traditional), make sure you are being exposed to the correct writing system.
• Read the CantotoMando, of course!

Audiovisual 20-30% student retention rate

• If your textbook comes with a CD or an audio medium, listen to it when you are doing leisure activities like washing dishes, jogging, driving, working out, free time, etc.
• Listen to the local Chinese radio station (radio, Internet, or phone app)
• Watch a Chinese TV program (TV, Internet, Youtube, etc. preferably a program with English and Chinese subtitles where you can listen and read along at the same time.
• Eavesdrop on other Chinese’s conversations (without being too obvious, of course!)

Demonstration 30-50% student retention rate

• Practice your Chinese with somebody
• If possible, use hand gestures or perform the action when speaking to help yourself remember
• Mimick other people in action (privately as others might be offended by this)
• Join an acting, dancing, performing club in Chinese or do it solo
• Learn some Chinese lyrics to a song line-by-line
• Act out what you are saying in Chinese

Discussion 50-75% student retention rate

• Find somebody who already speaks the language and try to engage that person in conversation using what you learned
• Eavesdrop on other people’s discussions (conspicuously)
• Form or join a study group if possible

Practice Doing 75-90% student retention rate

• Speak Chinese whenever possible
• Write and practice your pinyin or jyutping. If you’re really advanced, write the characters as well. Do it often. I usually have scrap paper just for this reason.

Teaching Others 90-100% student retention rate

• Teach somebody else what you have learned. It definitely forces you to know the material.
• Blog about it!

Good luck to my experts!