I left for Beijing
in 2007 with the intention of learning Mandarin and doing some research on the
antiques market in China
I
couldn’t be more wrong. We were introduced to at least 60 new words by our
tutors every day. I ended up spending 3 hours a day just learning how to write
these characters! Aside from that, I also had to learn how to construct
sentences with these new words. Needless to say, I was overwhelmed. So, what
did I do? I found myself a language partner....
Having
a helpful, dependable language partner really helped. We worked specifically on
a few things:
1. Conjunctions
Ø
Conjunctions are used to combine sentences. As such,
they are widely used in both written and spoken Mandarin. By mastering
conjunctions, I was able to construct longer, more interesting sentences for my
essays.
2. Grammar (Sentence Structure)
Ø
If Mandarin or Japanese were your first language, you’d
know that sentences are structured differently in English. I must admit that learning
to construct simple, proper sentences in Mandarin was one of the most
challenging things I had to learn as far as language was concerned.
3. Most Common Words Seen on Menus
Ø I found this by far the easiest of the three to learn. All I
had to do was associate these Chinese characters with English words. Of course,
it was no surprise I started by learning all the words of my favourite food! Needless
to say, my experience at restaurants gradually improved.
Learning another language requires discipline and consistency. In order to master any language, one must be prepared devote a certain amount of time every day or every week to learn something new.
Learning another language requires discipline and consistency. In order to master any language, one must be prepared devote a certain amount of time every day or every week to learn something new.
