These language learning tips have been repeated many times. That’s because they work. Take time to internalise the ideas below and you will find yourself improving faster than you thought possible.

Embrace mistakes

Embarrassment that arises from making mistakes can often discourage students from speaking. The way to get around this is by seeing mistakes as opportunities to learn. Mistakes are essential to learning any language and the sooner you are comfortable with making them the faster you will improve.

Steps to overcoming embarrassment:

    • Aim to make more mistakes: by making more mistakes you will become more comfortable with them. Once you detach your errors from the feeling of embarrassment your desire to speak will skyrocket.
    • View mistakes as progress, after a mistake then note down went wrong. Through reflecting upon mistakes we can avoid repeating them.

Remain consistent

Consistency is the key to learning. Even languages that are considered “easy” take a long time to learn.

Steps to remain consistent:

  • Allocate some time each day to studying. Stick to this schedule religiously! If you keep a schedule going for a couple of months then it will become a habit – hard to break.
  • It is best if you have a schedule where you study a little and often, rather than studying for long periods of time all in one go.

Remain motivated

An important part to maintaining consistency is to be motivated to study. One way to be motivated is to remind yourself why you want to learn Chinese.

Here are two reasons to learn Chinese:

  • People who speak Chinese (as a 2nd language) are relatively rare. This makes Chinese a very attractive language to have on your C.V. By learning this language, even to a moderate level, you will be more employable.
  • You can make new friends. China has a big population (understatement). Each person has interesting stories to tell. Simply put, by learning Chinese, you will be able to make new friends.

Some ideas to help you stay motivated are:

  • Watch Chinese movies/TV shows that interest you. We made a list of  Chinese TV shows you might enjoy watching. 
  • Listen to Chinese music and follow the lyrics.
  • Read about things that you find personally interesting. If you enjoy reading about history then you will have no problems working through a hard passage on this subject.
  • A simple change of scenery can be motivational. Instead of working indoors you can head to the park with a book or go to a coffee shop to finish your homework.

Always review

Reviewing has been shown by many studies to be effective. It has been shown that those students who carry reviews of what they have been taught are able to retain the information much better. Do not wait until the day before your next class to review, review straight after class.

  • A good review starts with looking over notes from class. Then read any texts you have studied recently. Follow this up by finishing any homework you might have relating to the topic.
  • At the end of every week take note of what was hard. Make it a goal to review it again. Do not just review things that are easy!

Find more time!

Time is a precious commodity in language learning. One of the traits that good language learners have is the ability to find more time.

Some of the best suggestions are:

  • Change your alarm clock to give you a morning wake up call in your target language.
  • Look at flashcards while commuting and listen to a narrated book/podcast while driving. Take listening even further – listen to Chinese while doing the dishes, walking your dog or filling out paperwork.
  • Create paper flashcards for times where you cannot use your phone.
  • Describe things around you (internally of course). When you are waiting in line for a coffee at Starbucks you might start describing the people in front of you.

加油！

I wish you good luck with your language learning goals.