An English teacher tackles learning Chinese.
BY HARRY ADAMOPOULOS
Learning any new language is by far no small task. Some languages are so intertwined that it is easier to pick them up (ie: French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and some other 12 languages all based on Latin.) There are also other languages with the same roots. Yet, unlike most languages spoken around the world, Chinese is the one spoken by more people than any other. (As a first tongue I mean).
English is considered a ‘global language’ among second language speakers as it is the most common language spoken and practiced. I guess everybody has their own reasons for wanting to study English. I know here in Taiwan, there is heavy competition for jobs, so knowing English has become an essential part of everyday life. People start learning English when they’re in elementary school.
However, while teaching English is my main job, I have a hard time living in a place and not understanding what people around me are saying. From day one, I started picking up Chinese words and expressions and learning as much as I can. Now, I have procrastinated a lot, and I do want to enroll in school, but as always I tell myself I don’t have enough cash or time.
So, I do my best to learn whatever I can. Here are the tips I use to help me learn more and more Chinese without ever taking one class.
1. Practice your BO PO MO FA. This pronunciation technique helps master the pronunciation and tone of the Chinese language. Or, if you use Pin Yin, practice that as well. Pinyin, of course, is the written translation of Chinese characters into English words. Pinyin is great to learn the language although expats in Taiwan are always encouraged to learn the characters too. It helps master the language.
2. Always ask people, friends or girlfriends, to tell you the meaning of words that you hear all the time. This has helped me a lot.
3. Make use of the recently learned vocabulary everyday. This is crucial in assuring that you will be able to retain what you pick up.
4. Try and remember words by association. This has worked wonders for me. For example, when I think of be careful, I think small heart, because if you say small heart in Chinese, it actually means BE CAREFUL!
This works with so many things in Chinese, that I can honestly say I have learned more words this way than any other way. Here are more examples translated from Chinese into English.
Hungry fish= crocodile
listen say= heard
big lighter=turkey
zero money=change
plus tons more
Personally, I think getting to learn common verbs, numbers, colors, and some animals is a good way of building your vocabulary.
There are of course many other tips I can offer, but these are the general techniques I try to use to enhance my Chinese without ever taking classes. The real drawback is that I make mistakes with my tones. The five tones that make up the Chinese language can be mastered using BO PO MO FA. But, if you basically want to be able to communicate in simple ways, try those tips and see if they work!
Last thing to mention before taking a Chinese class is get a language partner who speaks Chinese (language exchange). Make sure they don’t take up all your time trying to learn English from you. One hour English, one hour Chinese, twice a week! Cheers and good luck! iT!
Harry Adamopoulos is currently living and teaching English in Taiwan.
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Hey, Harry. Your ideas are really great. Thanks for giving your suggestions, and I hope that you will write a follow up article!
Don’t forget http://www.chinesepod.com as a way to learn Chinese. It’s free to download the mp3 files, and you can listen to your own level, newbie, elementary or intermediate while you ride the bus. Each lesson runs about 10 minutes and they talk pretty fast, but they do give good explanations, so if I listen to the lesson a few times I find that I’ve learned a lot.