Study Online
Learning a language online would be great if you had all the necessary resources available to learn effectively. Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot of websites advertising for schools, books, and other learning materials, but none purely for online learning. Go ahead and search for yourself. There are a few online Chinese dictionaries and not much else. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Chinese language schools start going online, but for now, it's just a dream that has yet to come true.
- Advantages: Multi-media learning from the comfort of home would be great.
- Disadvantages: Unless you have some direct social interaction and a well organized learning system, it would be no more effective than buying a book and a tape.
Study/Live Abroad
This is probably the fastest way to learn a language; if you're a young student. Go live in China and enroll in Chinese courses at almost any university in Beijing. You will be having simple conversations within a year and almost fluent within two. If you're the shy or undisciplined type, then enroll in a language course, but if you're a social butterfly, then just living there and interacting with people should suffice; unless you spend all your leisure time drinking beer with other non-natives and expats. You can even teach English to make some extra cash, but beware! Teaching English will have you speaking English all day, everyday, and your Chinese will not improve much. Chinese people love to talk to foreigners, so you will not lack for opportunities to apply what you learned in the classroom in real life situations.
- Advantages: Immersion makes you learn fast and you get a wonderful travel experience in China.
- Disadvantages: Not for people with a busy life back home and could be costly if you study in a Chinese University with tuition, living and other costs.
Study with a Tutor/ Language Partner/ Girlfriend/ Boyfriend
This kind of one-on-one language exchange beats the classroom environment because you get non-stop speaking time. You get the practice while being able to talk about deeper and more personal topics, which by the way also helps develop a deeper relationship with whomever your language partner may be. Whether he/she be a friend, language tutor, or something more, if you want to make significant progress, you have to avoid letting the conversation get too lazy. What I mean is that you should have a book, DVD, or other material that will supply the conversations with fresh vocabulary, phrases, structures, and topics. Nothing is worse than getting too comfortable with the limited broken Chinese you have already learned and just 'getting by' with that. Have some structure. Start with some Q&A about a movie, but be free enough to let it flow into natural conversation. Then after your study session, you can review and practice on your own with the material you used.
- Advantages: Non-stop talking is essential for fast progress.
- Disadvantages: Easy to get sidetracked or develop lazy speaking habits.
Study at Local University
Chinese is getting to be a popular language to study and more universities are opening language courses and majors. If you have the time, money, and if the local university or community college offers Chinese courses, then this is a good option for people who need the classroom environment, structure, and discipline. The only problem is that once you leave the classroom, you leave the Chinese environment. If you only practice Chinese for 2-4 hours a week, don't expect to get much from the class. The class option is only for the most serious of language learners. For them, the classroom is just a supplement to their own language study. The other drawback is that if you are that serious about learning Chinese, then you don't want to be stuck in a classroom full of people who struggle to keep up while not getting much of the teacher's time and attention for yourself. So if your goal is to become fluent, then find a serious university program, go for a degree in Chinese, and dedicate yourself fulltime. University training looks better on your resume anyway.
- Advantages: Close to home and a structured learning environment for the not so disciplined.
- Disadvantages: Needs time, money, and commitment; like anything in life.
Study on Your Own
Needless to say, this approach is for the self starters. First you buy the books, dictionaries, and DVDs, then you look for online Chinese chat rooms and Chinese language partners, and finally you get tired, bored, and lazy and you quit. If you're going to study on your own, you had better have a strong incentive to learn Chinese. Plan a trip to Beijing to take the HSK (Chinese Proficiency Examination) or get a job in a Chinese company and have the pressure of feeling like an idiot because you can't understand what people say to you (My personal favorite). This will give you a goal and make your language study purposeful. Of course, for some the sheer enjoyment of learning another language is enough. If you enjoy what you do, then you need no other incentive.
- Advantages: Study at your own pace in your own way.
- Disadvantages: Unless you have a good reason to learn Chinese, you will probably get bored and quit.
Study with a Digital Learning Device
There are many electronic dictionaries and translators on the market. One that I have, called the Express Chinese NC200, is designed to teach Chinese language to non-native speakers. It has step by step courses, animated pinyin and character teaching programs, dictionaries of course, and a ton of other PDA and multi media functions. That's all great, but how is it going to help me learn Chinese? Learning to speak and write any language is difficult, but Chinese characters can really slow you down. Imagine if you had a device that allows you to look up characters in every possible way: by pinyin (or pinyin keyboard), by radical, by stroke count, by drawing the character on the screen with the stylus, or by English definition. You would never get stuck because you couldn't look up and find a character that you read, heard, or tried to translate. I don't mean to sound like a salesman, but having this device allows me to find any character or word on the fly and takes all those other logistical and personal obstacles out of the way. Even without all the other functions and lessons, just being able to pick any word or character off the screen and collect them in a self-built dictionary saves me a lot of paper and time searching over and over again for previously learned characters that I forget (which is most of the time). It's the ideal complement to the above mentioned options because you can take it with you anywhere you go. I take articles in Chinese from the internet, load them onto the device, throw the device in my bag and go to the café to study and translate. It's fast, convenient, and definitely worth getting if you travel, do business, translate, or just enjoy learning Chinese.
- Advantages: Multimedia courses, multidirectional character searching, and portable.
- Disadvantages: Like all new tech products in a new market, it has its shortcomings, but none that hinder language study.
So I guess you know which one I prefer. It's not really a choice between this way or that way. It's more a matter of committing yourself to learning Chinese and then giving yourself the proper tools and resources to reach your goal. Chinese is really no more or less difficult than any other language. Just remember: 不积跬步，无以至千里，不积小流，无以成江海。)
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