Our School was invited to be made the lecture "How to learn Chinese "Good mornign in INN monthly meeting ,and our experienced teacher Xia li Bao made a very humor speech and useful tips for the new comer expats .This is his speech and i hope it is also useful for another expats who want to learn chinese .

Everybody:

My name is xia libao ,I am a Chinese teacher from bridge school,welcome to learn chinese in Beijing

Today I will be giving some tips on learning Chinese .

I think today is a good opportunity to share with you some of my experience.

One thing I can recommend is ,once you have started learn chinese , try to think in Chinese as much as you can in your daily life, lg,when you see  a curtain,you should think about how to say curtain in Chinese ,if you  want your ayi put fruit into refraigerator ,you shoud think how to say that in Chinese, or if you are shoping somewhere ,just continually think about “how to say this in Chinese ,how to say that in Chinese?”in the begining ,it will be with simple words or phrases ,but later you will disvover that your sentences will become longer and longer .now you are in china ,try  not think in your own languagethen translate into Chinese.just think in Chinese ,and speak it directly.or just hearthen repeat,hear thenrepeat ,do not be afraid to make mistakes, all Chinese people that you speak with will appreciate your efforts. If you are able to conquer your nervousness, then your Chinese will improve very quickly. Thinking in different way makes a huge difference.

My another  suggestion is :

Review your Chinese within the first 15 minutes after class,studies have shown that students can remember learned material  more easily if they review  it briefly just after class. Reviewing as  soon as possible ,can save you time and improve your   effienicy . when you review your lessons ,the most important thing is to hear the sentences in your CD and repeat them out loud .donot study silently, this way you can practice your speaking and find those words you have not  mastered yet .

A third suggestion  is

Studying a little every day is more effective than studying for a long period then putting your studies aside for a long time. It is impossible to learn a language only once per week or per month ,even if the study period is very long .studying everyday will make it easier for you to communicate with native speakers .

To learn new vocabulary ,using several short sessions is more effective than using one long session. You can review new words while riding the subway or taxi ,waiting for class to begin, waiting in line at the supermarket and even walking around park .you do not have to spend a very long time each time ,since it is easy to get tired and bored. Just study for short perids frequenty every day if possible.

When It comes tolearning  Chinese characters: the only way to learn Chinese characters is to memorize them.Writing will help you to recall characters, if you do not practice writing ,characters can be quickly forgotten, and it is not necessary to write one character many times  at once ,you can write it one or two times ,and then take new one .until you have done all the characters in the lesson. then write all characters in the lesson one or two more times .this will help you to recall how to write and recognize. it can also put them more firmly in your memory .another method is to play games on the internet designed to help you learn chinese characters. these are fun and pleasant. and can help you to recognize characters ,but the best way to learn and recognize remains the physical act of writing .witing them in your own hand.                    as everybody knows:

Learning Chinese is hard, but not too hard.

Especially if you know the mistakes to avoid. So the second part of my  talk will be about some mistakes to avoid when learning chinese.

Mistake #1: thinking chinese language tones are not important

If you speak Chinese without  proper tones you are not really speaking chinese.  Almost no one is going to understand you except your friends  who  you study chinese with or your teacher, because he or she used to listening  to foreigners.  Once you step outside the warm cocoon of the classroom, everything changes.

But Chinese people can guess what you’re trying to say, right?

Wrong.

The reason is simple, because  most  languages do not have  four tones. in chinese  different tones have different meanings,pronouncing the different tones correct is as important as pronouncing  the vowels between the consonants in english.

Speaking  Chinese, if you get the tones right people can easily understand you.  If you have a lot of vocabulary ,but you do not know to pronounce the right tones, people will have a difficult time understanding  you ,especially when you have just started to learn chinese.

The second thing to avoid is : Not learning characters

Very often people believe skipping learning chinese chracters can help make your chinese fluent more quickly,right?

Sure,  especially in the beginning.

Pinyin is easier, after all, and you will have more time to practice conversation.

But characters are necessary ,they help you look at street names ,things in stores to buy, look at newspapers and magzines, watch TV, get around town, and do everything much better without assistance. they also help you to understand the roots of the words ,if you know one character,you can remember and guess some other characters.

That’s a good feeling.

If your goal is just simple conversations , you don’t need to learn characters. But  If you want to reach  a higher level,characters will  take you where you want to go.

Mistake #3:trying to be perfect instead of focusing on your grddually improved

Having great goals on learning Chinese is fine ,But people often give up learning long before reaching their destination.

That’s becauseIt’s easy to get discouraged when you make mistakes or don’t see rapid progress.

So what can you do that is better?

First, accept that you are not Chinese, you are not  a native speaker, and even after years of hard study you’re still going to make some mistakes. it does not matter,because for most of people ,language is just a communication tool,you do not have to be perfect.if you can communication smothly,it is enough.

so enjoy the journey - make your goal using Chinese instead of mastering it.  Focus on today, not where you want to be next year.

That doesn’t mean abandoning long term goals or not setting them at all.  It means focusing on  here and now ,being happy with your current level of Chinese, and continuing to work to improve it .

Ok, those are my tips . Thank you for taking the time.