As we all know that learning a foreign language, regardless of the language, requires keen interest and focus, as well as rapt concentration. It also requires more exposure to the language as much as possible. But still each language has its own uniqueness in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary as well as its grammar. So here are some very usable tips on the best way of learning Chinese:
Tip 1: Chinese is a tonic language. Its four tones are distinctive in meanings. So the learner must have this basic awareness in order to learn Chinese properly.
Tip 2: The tones are important and essential, but that doesn’t mean you need to think about the tones when you are actually speaking the words. Most people find it really hard to remember the tones as it seems there are no rules for them to refer to. This really drives them crazy. The truth is this : when you first meet the new words, pronounce them slowly and exactly with the right tones and then turn the tones in your mind. When you start talking, just focus on the meaning you are trying to make instead of focusing on what tone each word has.
Tip 3: A Chinese word is mono-syllabic, but compound words—combination of words, are more common. So always treat the compound words as one word in English.
Tip 4: The most common way to create a Chinese word is to use a base word, and then add a modifier to this base word to form a new vocabulary.
Tip5: Chinese grammar is very simple, basically following the same pattern of Subject +Predicate + object (just like in English), but we put time expression before the predicate instead of after it.
So, “ I go to work at 8:00AM “ in Chinese will be “ I at 8:00AM go to work”
Tip 6: I think everyone will love Chinese verbs because they are always the same regardless of its gender, tense, forms-singular or plural.
Tip 7: Chinese characters, some call it symbols are made up of lines. They are pictographic. Knowledge about the symbolic meaning of the patterns is helpful and essential in understanding the structures and meanings of the characters.
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