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How to Learn Mandarin Chinese Part 2

Many English speakers found that Mandarin Chinese is quite a complex language to learn. However, with commitment and daily practice it is certainly possible to successfully master. After 6 years of teaching Mandarin Chinese I have some suggestions on how best to learn this surprisingly easy language.

Part 2 of 3: Advancing Your Language Skills

1. Memorize simple vocabulary

No matter what language you're learning, the more words you have at your disposal, the sooner you will become fluent. Therefore, the next thing to do is to memorize some useful Chinese vocabulary.

•Some good vocabulary lists to start off with include: times of day (morning: zǎoshàng, afternoon: xiàwǔ, evening: wǎnshàng) body parts (head: tóu, feet: jiǎo, hands: shǒu) food (beef: niúròu, chicken: jī, egg: jīdàn, noodles: miàntiáo) along with colors, days, months, transport words, weather, etc.

•When you hear a word in English, think about how you would say it in Mandarin. If you don't know what it is, jot it down and look it up later. It's handy to keep a little notebook on you at all times for this purpose. Attach little Chinese labels (with the character, the pinyin and the pronunciation) to items around your house, such as the mirror, the coffee table and the sugar bowl. You'll see the words so often that you'll learn them without realizing it!

•Although having a wide vocabulary is good, remember that in Mandarin, accuracy is more important. It's no good learning a word if you can't pronounce it properly, using the correct tone, as different pronunciations could have entirely different meanings. For example, using the wrong tone (using mā instead of má) could be the difference between saying "I want cake" and "I want coke" - two completely different meanings.

2. Learn some basic conversational phrases

Once you have a basic grasp of vocabulary and pronunciation, you can move on to learning basic conversational phrases which are used in everyday Chinese speech.

•Hello = Nǐhǎo（你好。）

•What is your surname (family name)? = nín guì xìng？（您贵姓？）

•What's your name? = nǐ jiào shénme míngzi? （你叫什么名字？）

•Thank you = Xièxiè.（谢谢。）

•You're welcome = Bú yòng xiè.（不用谢。）

•Excuse me = Duì bu qǐ.（对不起。）

•I don't understand = Wǒ bù dǒng. （我不懂。）

•Goodbye = Zài jiàn.（再见。）

To be continued•••