So, you want to learn Chinese now. Congratulations! Knowing the language used by 1.4 billion people will definitely benefit your career and business. Also, getting to know the language and its associated history and culture will be a lot of fun. So the question is: How to learn Chinese? Don’t worry, all roads lead to Beijing. For example, you can marry a Chinese, hire a Chinese nanny, listen to Chinese radio or watch Chinese TV, work in a Chinese restaurant. However, very few people are successful with these methods. Here we summarize some more main flow methods for your reference.
1. Take Chinese language courses offered by schools or universities. However, since there are not enough qualified Chinese teachers, very few schools have Chinese courses available. Even if they do offer, it will be so popular that many students will be left out. Meanwhile, for adult learners who take classes on weekends or at night, it’s always a challenge to navigate work-to-school traffic, organize travel to avoid scheduling conflicts, and manage family responsibilities. As a result, and in addition to other reasons such as class size and lack of practice, most students barely get past Elementary Chinese 101. For a language, it means a waste of time and money if you stop at this point.
2. Buy a CD, book or software, or join an online class and teach yourself. One of the cheapest ways to learn. You can control your own pace and you don’t need to worry about your awkward pronunciations. However, the challenge for the method is staying motivated after the initial honeymoon stage. Just like diet plans, many people bought loads of different CDs, software, or books and tried to start over each time. Without exception, busy life pushes learning again and again. They ended up as perpetual beginners. Also, without someone correcting the pronunciation, the weird accents will remain there.
3. Go to China and take an immersion class. It is the most effective way to learn Chinese. Almost all fluent Chinese speakers have mastered the language in China until now. For example, Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd began his Mandarin journey at the Australian National University, majoring in the Chinese language. However, he only mastered the language after spending years living in Taipei and Beijing. If you have time and money, the best way to learn Chinese is to go to China. You can take an immersion class, such as the one offered by ChineseSession.com in collaboration with the Communication University of China. Learning Chinese in class, living with Chinese neighbors, and interacting with regular Chinese on a daily basis. Then you will master the language in no time. By the way, another great advantage is that you can build a network there with local Chinese and other Chinese learners.
4. Hire a tutor and teach you face to face. Set a time and then you can meet with your tutor regularly and start exploring Chinese. It’s more manageable than going to China and you can still learn authentic Chinese if you can find and pay for a good tutor. The tutor could also open the door to the local Chinese community for you. One drawback is that it is difficult to find a native Chinese speaker who is willing and able to teach Chinese outside of certain areas. In addition, you or your tutor must negotiate traffic to meet at class time. In metropolitan areas like New York City or Los Angeles, it often means traveling on the road for hours. It’s even worse in inclement weather. Another drawback is that the available time slot may be limited. You don’t like to drive or take a bus at midnight, do you?
5. One on one online tutor. A completely new method thanks to the proliferation of the Internet and multimedia. One of the pioneers is ChineseSession.com. Like the previous method, it provides face-to-face tutoring or teaching, but through the Internet using video conferencing software, such as Skype, MSN Messenger, etc. It provides several unbeatable advantages that make it the method of choice in the near future. First, as a personal tutor, it’s one-on-one, so you’ll receive personalized attention from your teacher. Second, since the teaching takes place over the Internet, it can be done anytime, anywhere as long as there is broadband Internet access. No rushing through the subway or highway, and no worries about snow or storms. Third, the schedule can be very flexible to fit your work and family schedule. Late night or early morning is never a problem and in fact it is preferable due to the time difference between China and the US. Last but not least, it is affordable. Given the relatively low cost of living in China, tuition is typically half to a quarter of the asking price of a tutor in the United States. Plus, by eliminating commutes, you can save some on increasingly expensive gas and help protect our environment. By the way, Bill Gate used to take his Chinese class using this method. Of course, just use MSN Messenger. We will have more options than him.