subject: Collection of Chinese Study Methods by Konall Culture Exchange Students [print this page] Collection of Chinese Study Methods by Konall Culture Exchange Students
Different people learn in different ways and it's important to find good study methods that work for you. Below are some various methods that past and present Konall Culture Exchange students have found useful while studying Chinese.
Flash cards Carry around some small cards with Chinese characters on one side and the definition with PinYin pronunciation on the back. Test yourself throughout the day. There is also a lot of good flashcard software with pre made word lists which can be downloaded and used on your computer for free. Tryhttp://www.mnemosyne-proj.org/ orhttp://ichi2.net/anki .
Group new words by categories, e.g. foods, clothing etc: or according to the situation in which they would be used e.g. shopping, at a bank etc.
Browse around markets talking to the vendors, asking prices etc. Even if you don't buy anything this is still good practice. Make friends and converse with your local shop keeper/restaurant staff. They'll treat you well if you keep going back and will usually have a lot of questions to ask you.
Some people like to hand write new characters many times over to help them stick' in your mind. Some students also recommend visualizing characters in your mind and writing them with your eyes closed or pronouncing the character aloud while visualizing to help with character memorization.
Carry around your Chinese study notes and practice new words and phrases you have learnt with people on the street. Most Chinese people will be quite surprised to find a foreigner speaking Chinese and a lot of them will take a few minutes to practice with you.
Children's T.V programs and sitcoms with simple dialogues and themes are good for listening practice.
Try thinking of different situations where you might have to use Chinese and what you'd say e.g.: Think to yourself if a man asked me how to get to the train station right now what would I say.
Try to limit your time spent on the internet reading English articles and watching English movies etc. It's easy to get carried away and spend more time on the net than you originally planned. Have a set time each day for catching up on news etc.
Buy an MP3 player, download some Chinese music or podcast lessons and carry it around with you at all times.
Don't be afraid to make mistakes when speaking. Making errors and being corrected is a natural part of the learning process for any language. Don't feel disheartened if someone doesn't understand you the first time you say something, just repeat yourself slowly and hopefully they'll catch your meaning the second time around.
Use gesture to help get your meaning across.
Constantly review characters you have learnt. If you can learn a Chinese character in one day and remember it forever you are a genius. Most people need to keep reviewing periodically until the character is burnt' into your brain.
Try to find supplementary learning materials like magazines, short articles etc to see words used in context.
Keep a daily journal or diary. This will really help build a solid foundation in the most frequently used characters. Describe your day, write a short story or even make something up, doesn't matter what as long as you're doing it!
