My Five-Step Guide to Learning Chinese

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Once upon a time, there was a

girl who lived in a small town. She went to school and often dreamed. She constantly dreamed about being an interpreter, and one day, when she awoke, she found herself on the other side of the continent. It took many years for her to get that scholarship and study in China for a Master degree, and it definitely wasn't an easy road.

by Kristina Lee

She didn't want to forget the interpreter profession that she dreamed about, and she let herself choose one that would allow herself to avoid the fate of an unhappy person. She kept trying and kept on fighting until one day, she went to the University. And our story begins here…

Hello guys, my name is Christina. I know 8 foreign languages and I'm currently studying for my Masters, in the North of China.

MY FIVE-STEP GUIDE TO LEARNING CHINESE

By Christina Lee

During my first year of studying for my Bachelors, in Moscow, my major was Chinese language. At the time, I didn't know anything about that amazing language and always looked up all the words that I heard from native speakers and kept my language notebook on me. It helped me not feel lost in the heap of new words and colocations.

Now I'm studying Japanese in Chinese language and I think that it's an absolutely incredible experience! I learned a lot from other cultures through foreign languages. It also helped me increase my chances of getting a good paying job and still have the opportunity to get other scholarships in different languages all over the world!

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My language learning method relies on several stages:

Begin by learning

STEP 1 pronunciation, then memorize 1000 simple words using pictures or cards. Next, use those words to learn the grammatical system of your language ( I prefer to start with verbs), and never stop speaking because language is our communication tool and we constantly use it to communicate with each other. Try to make some new friends from other cultures and speak to them. However, don’t search for friends because of you are studying languages, but study new languages to communicate with them. Make your own language environment for the foreign language and make yourself be interested in that process!

Sometimes, you might do

STEP 2 something wrong, so allow yourself to stop worrying about everything. It'd be wiser to look for something what will help you become better in your future. Be brave and don't be afraid of making mistakes!

Don't wait too long, just start

STEP 3 now. Nothing will come to you easily. Do you want to speak foreign languages fluently? Search for opportunities to speak. Do you wanna go abroad? Search for opportunities to go. Start right now! Be motivated and don't forget about your goals.

Eat, pray…and read. The more

STEP 4 you read, the quicker you improve your language skills.

Just read books that you definitely like.

My morning routine includes

STEP 5 30-40 minutes of chatting in the Internet with native speakers and searching for some new slang and memes in different languages.

Get creative. I always try to write down something interesting that I've heard before. And, yes, I have a habit to illustrate all of my notes in different languages using frames, shapes, bullets, pins and flags. There are so many kinds of fonts to choose from! Or you still can try to create a legend draw symbols in margins. It helps you review! Learn a bit every day because practice makes perfect.

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