Different people approach learning Chinese with different goals in mind, but all beginners should consider beginning to learn conversational Chinese first, and then moving on to master other parts of the language. The fact is that all languages are in essence spontaneous and creative. Languages are meant to be spoken and are defined by the ways that people use them in conversation.
Even if your end goal is to learn to read and write Chinese characters in order to study literature, you will build a better foundation if you learn conversational Chinese first and then carry the rules you learn into the rest of your study. When you begin to learn conversational Chinese, put everything else on the back burner and do only two things. Speak, and listen to the way that others speak in order to copy it. These are my top three tips for people beginning to learn conversational Chinese.
1. Put Everything Else Aside
Learning Chinese can be overwhelming. You might think that you have to worry about tones, pinyin romanization, grammar, syntax, memorize idioms etc. Put all of that aside. The first step on your language learning journey is to empty your mind of all the concerns you have and just listen and speak. If you don't happen to have a native speaker around (or you haven't arranged a language exchange through Skype), than listen to some audio lessons and repeat what you hear out loud, whether it's in the car on the way to work or in front of the mirror at home. If you are really serious about learning conversational Chinese fast, than you won't care about how crazy you look.
2. Choose Situational Vocabulary
Most language learning programs take care of this for you anyway, but it's something especially important to think about if you're learning Chinese for free from the Internet, or piecing together different programs or tutorials. If you try to learn conversational Chinese by memorizing random vocabulary words and trying to make sentences out of them, than it is very likely that you'll become frustrated and stop.
When you start speaking in Chinese, you need something to talk about. Most language programs begin with the basics like "what is your name", and "how old are you?" etc. Once you've mastered this, try to choose vocabulary modules that interest you. For instance, if you'd like to learn conversational Chinese in order to travel to a Chinese speaking country, you can focus on travel oriented vocabulary lessons. If travel isn't your thing, learn the words that help you express something you want to talk about, whether it's words about your family, your job, or your hobbies.
3. Dive into a Language Exchange
Most people wait until they've been trying to learn conversational Chinese for several months before they try to have an actual conversation. This is ridiculous! It's never too early to start learning from a teacher, or arranging a language exchange. Language exchanges are actually easier than ever because hundreds of people are willing to teach you Chinese via Skype over the internet in exchange for a short English lesson. Native speakers don't mind teaching you the absolute basics, and you'll build a relationship that will hopefully last as you progress.
If you want to learn conversational Chinese fast, you need to dive into speaking practice without ever looking back. Think about the way that children learn languages. They're not embarrassed at all by their mistakes, and they make every attempt to speak as much as possible. It's no secret - that's the best way to learn a language. So follow this approach for your first month or more of learning Chinese and see how it helps you. If you progress in your conversational fluency, you'll discover that the rest of the language learning process all but takes care of itself.
Justin White lives in Jhubei Taiwan, and frantically works at learning Chinese.
Want to learn Chinese (or another language) quickly? Don't make the common mistakes that keep people struggling. Learn to avoid the pitfalls, and go to Learn Chinese Fast for tips, tricks and strategies to improve the speed with which you learn Chinese, and decrease the amount of time it takes you to reach fluency.
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