If your asking this question you’re already going about it the wrong way before you even start. Sure, learning Chinese is not a simple task for native European speakers, but that’s just because at first glance the language seems so different from what we know. When you break it down though, and set your mind to learning some of the basics you soon realise it’s not so alien as you first thought. The first hurdle is to get over your fears of learning a new language and have confidence in your own abilities. Giving up with a laugh and saying “I just don’t have the brain for languages” is not going to get you anywhere.
I’m particularly passionate about this because I see how much of a difference it makes when foreign tourists, students and interns make an effort to communicate with their Chinese friends and colleagues in Mandarin. Relationships in China are key to success in every walk of life. Even a simple sentence like “where are you from?” in Chinese demonstrates that you are open minded and eager to learn about your surroundings and the people you meet (even if you do not understand a word of the response!).
So, how do you begin to tackle the mountainous task of speaking Chinese? Where there is a will there is always a way. You just need to find the best way to make your memory work, this has to be personal to you I believe.
As inspiration for you all I’m going to give you a little insight into how my memory works…
Step 1. Start with the things that matter (i.e. food in my case). Choose a few of your favourite foods and cement those sounds in your mind with some word association.
Have you ever tried a ròu jiā mó (肉夹馍) for example? It’s a delicious stewed meat filled flatbread that sounds suspiciously like Roger Moore (otherwise known as 007):
Step 2. Next most important for me is something to wash the food down with, and since I live in Qingdao nothing can be better than a nice bottle of Tsingtao Beer. If you can’t find a single word to remember something by then start building a story to remember the sounds.
For example, Joe likes to drink beer. Sigh, but then he always needs to pee.
Pee Joe! Beer = pí jiǔ (啤酒)
Step 3. Once you’ve learned a few key words then you’re ready to start expressing your needs. Make yourself heard! When your colleagues are too busy trying to finish off their emails before lunch and your stomach is starting to growl with impatience it’s easy enough to let your imagination run wild…
Imagine Ursula the evil sea Queen from the Little Mermaid flipping her lid. I need food NOW! I’m starving = è sǐ le (饿死了)
Step 4. Then after a while you’re going to have to start recognising some of the more regular responses you hear in shops and bars in China.
The most frequent of these is méi yǒu (没有) meaning don’t have. “Do you have any Mayonnaise?” the foreigner asks with desperate hope in their eyes. “Meiyou” responds the shopkeeper with a incredulous laugh.
So you see! Easy, you just learned 4 things in the space of a few minutes.
I hope this encourages you to come out to China and try learning the language for yourself. It helps to get a good grounding in the basic grammar and pronounciation from a native Chinese speaker to get you started.
You can sign up for classes here in Qingdao, or in Chengdu, Dalian and Zhuhai too. Send an email to info@internchina.com for more information.
Happy learning!
Mandarin Chinese. Notoriously one of the hardest languages in the world to learn, but you’ve put that aside and you have brought yourself to the other side of the world for the internship of a lifetime.
So in order to get you on your way, we are going to give you some essential words and phrases.
First let’s cover some of the basics:
As you know, Mandarin is a tonal language made up of four tones. These can’t be ignored. So when speaking Mandarin it is better to exaggerate them than to ignore them completely.
The First Tone:
This tone is a flat sound. In English, it is the same sound as when you don’t know something and you say ‘Eerrrrr’. This is the flat tone that you want.
The Second Tone:
The second tone is a rising tone. In English this tone sounds similar to how you would raise your voice at the end of a question e.g “Why?”
The Third Tone:
The third tone is a tone that falls and then rises again. This is a hard tone to master for English speakers. Imagine your friend has just told you something shocking and you reply with “Really!?”. Aim for a strong falling and rising sound.
The Fourth Tone:
The fourth tone is known as the angry tone. A short, sharp sound as if you were angry and telling someone “No!”
Pinyin
So you now recognise the tones but don’t understand the words being said to you?
There is a way to make sense of the Chinese words that you will hear, into words on a piece of paper that you can then read and visa versa.
This is known as Pinyin. This is the phonetic translation of Mandarin pronunciations of Chinese characters, into a Latin alphabet.
It’s important to learn how to pronounce the sounds of the Pinyin alphabet accurately, so it would be best to get the assistance of a Chinese teacher to learn the fundamentals as most don’t sound as you might expect them to be pronounced. In the same way that ‘J’ is pronounced differently in English and Spanish.
Above the pinyin, the tone that the word should be said in is always indicated to help you.
The great thing about pinyin is that you can then type it into a mobile dictionary like ‘Pleco’ and it will show you the meaning of the word and the Chinese characters.
Now that we have the basics down, let’s give you some essential phrases:
Apply here, to put your language skills to practise!
Aller Anfang ist schwer! Das wissen all diejenigen unter uns, welche Chinesisch lernen, nur zu gut. Nichtsdestotrotz stürzen wir uns auf unsere Lehrbücher und kommen mit jedem Kapitel unserem Ziel, Chinesisch zu meistern, einen Schritt näher. Jedoch scheinen die meisten Lehrbuchautoren der Meinung zu sein, dass, nachdem man mit den vier Tönen im Chinesischen konfrontiert wurde und sich endlich vorstellen kann, es Zeit ist über Peking Oper und Teezeremonien zu sprechen. In meinen sechs Monaten in China habe ich jedoch kein einziges Mal mein Vokabelwissen zum Thema Peking Oper oder klassische chinesische Instrumente anwenden können.
Viel hilfreicher waren die Vokabeln, die ich mithilfe der Seite: https://www.new-chinese.org/ gelernt habe. Das Motto der Seite ist „Büffel statt Büffeln“.
Warum Niú Zhōngwén…
Der chinesische Begriff 牛 (niú) steht entgegen der meisten Wörterbucheinträge nicht nur für „Rind“, „Kuh“ oder „Büffel“, sondern wird in der Umgangssprache auch als Adjektiv im Sinne von „cool“ „echt fett“ oder „voll geil“ verwendet. Genau dieses Motto ist bei new-chinese.org Programm!
New Chinese bietet verschiedene Rubriken wie zum Beispiel: Musik, Filme, Nachrichten, absolut Kouyu und „meine Lieblingsrubrik in 20 Worten“. In dieser Rubrik werden zu verschiedenen Themen wie Hochprozentigem, Smartphones, Tablets und co. jeweils 20 nützliche Vokabeln vorgestellt. An einem Lehrbuch wird man jedoch nicht vorbeikommen, da New Chinese keinen strukturierten Sprachkurs bietet, sondern vielmehr dabei hilft die Lust am Lernen beizubehalten.
Süßigkeiten 50 shades Smog Hoch- Beim Friseur Selfies
Wer Lust auf mehr hat geht einfach auf https://www.new-chinese.org/ und findet seine eigene Lieblingsrubrik. Ich wünsch euch allen viel Spaß und Erfolg beim Chinesischlernen!
When we study a new language or travel to a foreign country, one of the first few things that we have to do is learning to count numbers as it is useful in daily life such as buying foods. The way we count numbers, however, is quite different from that in western countries in terms of the pronunciation and how they are represented in gestures. Hopefully, after reading this blog, it will be easier for you to count numbers in China.
Pronunciation
Since Chinese is generally based on pronunciation, it is rather difficult for non-native speakers. Therefore, there will be both phonetic spellings and pronunciation guides for each number.
- Zero (零): [líng]Ling with an upward inflection.
- One (一): [yī] Ee with a long “e” sound.
- Two (二): [èr] Are with a downward inflection for the letter “r”.
- Three (三): [sān] San without an inflection.
- Four (四): [sì] Suh. This word is hard to be represented by using English letters; however it is closest to “suh” with a downward inflection.
- Five (五): [wǔ] Woo with a downward-up inflection.
- Six (六): [liù] Lee-yoo. When you say this, you partially omit the “y” so that the “ee” blends into the “oo”. It sounds pretty similar to “Leo”. It is pronounced with a downward inflection.
- Seven (七): [qī] Chee without an inflection.
- Eight (八): [bā] Bah without an inflection.
- Nine (九): [jiǔ] Jee-yoh. This is similar to saying 6, where the “ee” blends into the “oh”. This is pronounced with a downward-up inflection.
- Ten (十): [shí] Shure with an upward inflection.
Gestures
Using one hand to represent the numbers one through ten is helpful when you forget how to say it in Chinese. It is also useful to distinguish numbers with similar pronunciation such as four [sì] and ten [shì]. The representations vary in practice from one region to the other. For example, the gesture for number eight below means seven in some regions such as Guangdong and Hong Kong.
More numbers
Double-digit numbers are composed of saying one single-digit and another. For example, 11 would be “Shee-ee (shi-yi)” and 85 would be “Bah-Shee-Woo (ba-shi-wu)”.
Numbers larger than 99 have special words such as hundred (百, [bǎi]) and thousand (千, [qiān]). In addition, there are some special rules regarding when to use zero for larger numbers as well. For instance, you have to say “Lee-yoo-Bai-Ling-Chee (liu-bai-ling-qi)” for 607 but “Lee-yoo-Bai-Chee-Shure (liu-bai-qi-shi)” for 670.
Want to practice this new skill and get some work experience at the same time? Apply now to come and join us! Internship places available in Qingdao, Chengdu and Zhuhai.
Sources:
https://www.wikihow.com/Count-to-10-in-Chinese
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_number_gesturesto-10-in-Chinese
My time with InternChina Chengdu
Tomorrow is my last day with InternChina. I have been interning in the Chengdu office, in a marketing/business development role for the past two months. Whilst I have been to China before, especially Chengdu, for travel/study and so on. This time round has been a real eye-opening experience for me. I was given the chance to study Chengdu’s unique business environment and in the process I have learned lots useful and transferable skills.
The marketing side of my internship was very interesting. I learned how social media plays an exciting and ever-changing role in reaching out to people, appealing to their interests or simply sparking interesting conversation that leads on to greater things. Thinking of your own ways to deliver content to a wide audience through social media always challenges your creativity and is exciting.
For the business development side of my internship, I have regularly been going out for meetings with or without my colleagues. Some highlights have been a mixer and an annual meeting held by the British Chamber of Commerce as well as several other business-social events held in local venues.
Aside from marketing and business development I was assigned several ad-hoc tasks as well, such as a video editing and blog editing/writing. Its been rewarding learning how to balance one’s time and efforts.
Most importantly, I have enjoyed using my Chinese for business purposes. Even though I am passionate about Mandarin and Cantonese language and culture, before the main purpose of speaking Chinese was to get a degree and to communicate with my Chinese friends. This time round I have used my Chinese in meetings, events and general business tasks. I would say my Chinese is already proficient, but having the chance to learn new professional vocabulary has been a real plus.
I will be coming back to Chengdu to intern with a local company here, which will hopefully turn into full employment after 6 months. I am therefore very grateful to InternChina for providing me a platform from which to develop my prospective career. I was given time to not only learn new things that will help me later on, but also to establish more connections here. Business in China is all about who you know. Good-old guanxi (關係).
If you would like to know more about a short-term interns role in the Chengdu Office, my intern interview will be uploaded shortly to YouTube. For information specific to Chengdu, as in living/nightlife….our blog is packed with useful information and first-hand experience for your reference.
If you are looking to garner some real, professional experience, why not do an internship with InternChina. It may just give your CV that boost you need, helping you stand out for future employers! Apply Now!
Chinese Drinking Games – 吹牛/青蛙青蛙跳等
If you have lived, studied or worked in China you may have seen Chinese people playing different drinking games in KTVs, bars and clubs. There are lots of different games and they are actually quite fun. If your a foreigner and you go out with a group of people you are not well acquainted with, or perhaps you are a little shy; it’s a kind of Chinese way of breaking the ice. I’d like to list a few and how to play them.
Game 1 – 吹牛
First of all, there is show-off 吹牛, it has many different names but this is the easiest one to remember. This is perhaps the most common game all around China as the standard rules can vary between the provinces and cities and there is no limit to the amount of players at one time. Each person has a plastic cup with 5 dice inside, each number is representative of its real value except for one which is random (anything you want it to be). The aim of the game is to guess the amount of dice that everyone has together by only looking at your own, although you can lie. However you are not allowed to have 5 dice of different values, there must at least be two of a kind. As a quick example, if there are only two people playing (10 dice), and I have a two 1’s, two 4’s and a 3 – I can say four fours as adding in the one I have four fours (as well as the unknown amount in my opponent’s cup). They may not believe that I have that many and can open (開!), but of course they have lost and they must drink. Similarly, if in the same situation I called 5 threes, and they opened as there cup did not have any three’s inside, then I have lost as I only have 3 threes (adding in the one). So, the aim of the game is to guess whether the other person is bluffing and catch them out or to guess the correct collected amount of dice. Although, Here is an OK explanation of the rules as I am sure many people are confused.
There are also some very specialised rules, for example when playing 吹牛, you can say two/three/four/five …. 1’s. Whenever, you say 1, it can no longer be a wild/random dice and it is only one. This rule continues to be in effect until someone doubles the amount of their next call. For example If player 1 calls four 1’s (three players), and the next person says five sixes only (栽)….that means that if player 1 or 3 were to open player 2’s cup, the collected amount of dice must total five sixes discounting one. However, if player 3 believed that five of the 15 die were sixes he could say 7 sixes flying (飛), as the wager has jumped from 5 to 7, they can now include one.
There are also lots of other rules, like reversing the order, playing with dead dice (nothing is the same), not looking at your dice/or only looking once, and jumping the queue but they are hard to explain at most Chinese people play with the standard rules. Another thing to remember is when the club/bar/ktv is noisy many people will use hand signs to denote their wager….
Game 2 – 青蛙青蛙跳
There are so many other games I could talk about – like 十五二十 (15/20), 美女/警察/流氓 (Beautiful woman/Policeman/Vagabond), 蘭州拳 (Lanzhou fist), 007啪 （007bang), 大西瓜/小西瓜 （big/small watermelon), lucky, clapping rock/paper/scissors, 過反 (pass/reverse),….in fact I think I know around 20 different games. However, I’d like to share one I learned recently, its really easy to play. Its called 青蛙青蛙跳 – froggy froggy jump. No matter the amount of players, each person puts one hand palm face down on the table with their fingers flat, whoever decided to call first must say 青蛙青蛙跳 and then raise one of their four fingers on their thumb whilst keeping the others pressed down on the table. If any one else raises the same finger or thumb as the person who called, they lose and must drink. Then it is their turn to call. Easy.
This is just a brief introduction to the thousands of games that are played throughout China, there a lots of different games and some people even mix the games together (for example 大戰遊戲 – big war game). If you learn just a few, you can have a really great time.
Come to China and experience real Chinese culture, Apply Now for an internship in Chengdu, Zhuhai, Qingdao!
Coffee and Beer just like Home!
Lots of us foreigners get home sick when we arrive in China. We miss the everyday things, things you get in the supermarket and local shops. Having read Sebastian’s blog on the Chengdu’s wine/foods fair last week, for Germans it’s beer and whiskey! For the french, Cheese and wine and for us Brits a decent cup of tea/coffee, and maybe a bickie on the side. So, I would like to say a few words on the subject and some of the new changes I think overlay China’s new cultural impetus.
With China’s continued economic expansion and the raising of living standards, many small business owners and hopeful entrepreneurs have decided to import foreign products. Not just the standard foreign food and drink/luxury items that you see in Carrefour/TrustMart/Ito Yokado. But also niche products, such as random selections of German supermarket beers or British Dark Chocolate, French Cognac etc. This is perhaps one of the best ways of showing China’s new cultural linkages with its western counterparts. Similarly, it is a stark contrast to the China of 10/20 years ago.
Many foreigners in China bare witness to the countless nouveau-riche, with their children studying abroad and their Gucci Iphone cases. For this upper class money is but numbers on a piece of paper, prices and telephone numbers are one in the same. Yet, the rise of imported niche products evidences China’s rising middle class. Where increased incomes have fueled a quest to understand foreign cultures not just for monetary gain. Even students from less privileged backgrounds, who have enjoyed their generation’s increased access to education are now taking risks to start up small coffee shops or bars. Not just catering to foreigners, but also providing their generation with better access to new ideas/new concepts for their own character and society’s development. I’m always surprised when I hear a Chinese local mention their love of IPA ale or their love of After Eights. Of course you still get locals who mix Lafayette with Sprite or give you attention seeking glances as they smoke Dunhill Cigarettes in the lift, but their is a sense of change in the air.
For me personally, greater access to different types of coffee has been fantastic. Having lived, studied and now am interning in China I have long abandoned my desire for a decent cup of tea. The teabags are not the problem, the problem lies with China’s fledgling dairy industry and a Chinese preference for Soy Milk. So fresh milk can be hard to come by and is usually fatty. Anyway back to the point……My friend recently opened a Coffee shop, selling 25 different types of coffee beans. Importing beans straight from central and South America as well as North Africa he is a quintessential example of someone trying something different. Moreover, small businesses like his who rely on great personal interest from their owners are a pleasure to visit. The minute you walk in, you really feel welcome. Unlike some places in Beijing, where you order a latte after 10 am and the Chinese/Italian sea-turtle* behind gives you a look of disgust! You should know that, reputation is important for Chinese people, but sometimes image is even more important. Eating sichuanese food in IKEA instead of eating it in the local mama and papa shops and having Louis Vuitton patterned car mats backs up your blowing cows*. So for me, access to a variety of different coffee without a pretentious owners has been bliss!
I think the point I’m trying to make is that, China is not just changing what it eats and what it drinks to look fancy, of course that is still widespread. Rather, China’s attitude towards increased cultural exchange is changing, especially for younger generations. Current economic trajectory may be creating a tiered society, but at least increased awareness of foreign concepts and ideas is reducing friction for everyday conversation, everyday living etc. There is a hopeful sense that the miasma of pretentiousness surrounding imported goods is slowly being sucked out.
China is becoming more and more livable for westerners, so for all of you interns are thinking of coming here…… know that the longer you spend in China the more you will experience increased ease of access to the things you miss from back home! Hope that helps!
Apply now for an internship, experience the real China!
——–
sea-turtle – 海龜 – refers to a Chinese national who has studied abroad and is now back in China.
blowing-cows – 吹牛 – literally translates as blow (v) and cow (n) but it means to brag or talk big about oneself.
I thought I’d write a small piece on idioms and my thoughts on them.
A Chengyu (成語) is a form of idiomatic expression. They usually consist of four characters, but of course some are longer. Many Chengyu are used in everyday conversation, these examples are common and could be viewed as catchphrases. Here are some examples;
自由自在 – zi4 you2 zi2 zai4 – lit. free and easy; carefree/leisurely
首屈一指 – shou3 qu1 yi1 zhi3 – second to none/outstanding
一分爲二 – yi1 fen1 wei2 er4 – lit. one divides into two; there are two sides to everything/to see both sb’s good points and shortcomings
There are thousands of phrases like these ones. They are great if you are looking to improve your oral Chinese as after you have learned a few you will begin to listen out for them in daily conversations. I used to learn one a day, and jot down new ones in a little notepad. There is usually an interesting story behind the most common chengyus that can help you remember.
Others Chengyus are used in works of literature to enrich the imagery and conveyance of stylistic expression. Some Chinese families even hang them as works of calligraphy on their walls, or etch them into their paintbrushes and adopt them as personal maxims. It’s also not uncommon to see Chinese businesses adopting a chengyu they feel represents their company’s image.
The best thing about Chengyu’s is many of them can be translated to English phrases, sometimes not directly but there is usually an equivalent English phrase. For example:
集腋成裘 – ji2 ye4 cheng2 qiu2 – lit. many hairs make a fur coat; many a mickle makes a muckle.
雨過天晴 – yu3 guo4 tian1 qing1 – lit. sky clears after the rain; every cloud has a silver lining.
冰山一角 – bing1 shan1 yi1 jiao3 – tip of the iceberg
The thing about learning Chengyus is they are all about personal preference. Different strokes for different folks. For me personally, some of chengyus make little sense as they express a meaning that is unique in Chinese culture. Yet, they are good for ‘showing’ off your Chinese. You can whip out a few at a business dinner or at a meeting to impress.
Some chengyus have variants, depending on where you go in China and dialects etc. For instance, the Chengyu 一成不變 (yi1 cheng2 bu4 bian4) meaning stuck in a rut/always the same, changes its meaning when translated into Cantonese. Cantonese speakers, especially Hong Kong residents use 一生不變 (yi1 sheng1 bu4 bian4 – yat sung bat bin) which conveys a good meaning of permanence and stability.
Learning the many different chengyus is a difficult task, so 加油！
只要成功夫深鐵杵磨成針 – If you work at it hard enough, you can grind an iron bar into a needle.
Kick start your China experience with an internship in Qingdao, Zhuhai or Chengdu and join in the adventure. Apply Now!
Sources:
https://www.yac8.com/news/4262.html
https://fangzi604.blog.163.com/blog/static/1280782022009817115850867/
www.nipic.com
New Chengdu Office Intern
Hi Everyone 大家好！
I’m Tim, I am 22 y.o. from Oxfordshire. I am the new marketing intern with the InternChina Chengdu office. Having recently graduated (last year), I am spending 8 weeks interning here.
Having studied and lived in Chengdu before I am fairly familiar with life here, but it is always great to be back doing new things, meeting new people.
Even though I arrived just 2 days ago, I am already getting straight into the internship. The first day was great, I got to meet the other interns working here; Brigitte, Helen and Kenny who is our full-time customer relations manager. I also met two new interns who will be studying with companies around the city. I can’t wait to meet more of the interns working here; to hear about their experiences and absorb more information about InternChina’s role in Chengdu. I’m really excited about organising and taking part in some of the activities to come, as well as the nightlife!
It’s a bit colder than I expected this time around but it’s warming up and the sun is out and shining today. There is usually a rather ethereal fog that hangs over Chengdu, but as the locals say, “Eat more chilli”. The chilli helps you sweat and cleanse your body.
Sounds gross, but it really does make a difference. That’s another thing you’ll need to get used to if you come here. The spiciness! The food in Chengdu is always full of chilli （辣椒）and Sichuan pepper （花椒）. You can always ask your waitress to add less chilli, or hold the Sichuan pepper . However, the cuisine here revolves around the local ingredients and if you want a really authentic experience you should copy the locals. When in Rome…..
I had BBQ last night with some of my old university friends. The BBQ’s (燒烤) are great in Chengdu, you can eat lamb kebabs （羊肉串）from the west or seafood (海鮮串) treats from the East. All with a good dousing of dried Chilli powder. In fact there is a really good set-up for midnight snacks (夜宵) here. Chengdu is the food city, so don’t be afraid to put on a few pounds!!!
If you are not in the mood for a snack, you can always kick back and relax in a tea-house. You can sit by the river and drink your favourite teas. It’s also a good opportunity to learn some Mah-jong（麻將） or Dou di zhu (斗地主) if you’re into learning card games. I know when I first came here, I learned how to play Dou di zhu (literally: fight the landlord). It opened up new ways to make local friends and understand the local culture. Best of all a cup of tea will only set you back around 5 yuan (50p). At some tea houses the board games and card games are free. The locals are friendly as well; you can crash a game if you are up for it!!
Even though I haven’t had a chance yet, I am really looking forward to going for Jing-Luo （經絡）. It’s a type of medical massage that uses pressure points and trigger points in your nervous system to relax your muscles. It’s great if you’ve had a long day or simply if you are in the mood. Pricing can vary but it’s usually around the 50 to 100RMB mark (5-10 pounds). It’s always good to go to the outer ring roads for better prices.
So even though I’ve only been here a few days I still have lots of things planned. Check my next update for more info!
Hope you have the chance to join us in Chengdu.
Tim a.k.a夏天夙
Useful phrase: 請少放點辣椒。Qing shao fang dian la jiao! Please don’t add so much chilli!
(I’ll post some more useful phrases as I go along).
Apply now with InternChina and discover the wonders of Chengdu!
I have lived in Qingdao for almost 5 months now and although my Chinese is still not at a good level, I am trying to improve my basic Chinese language skills day by day. The nice thing about being in China is that there are so many opportunities to improve your language skills, even if you don’t have a lot of spare time to study it.
Of course, the most efficient way of getting to a decent level in Chinese is to do a few hours of one-on-one language classes after work. With a nice teacher it can be lots of fun and as it is a private lesson you can immediately acquire new vocabulary by asking your teacher to teach you the vocabulary you were lacking during that day/week.
If you aren’t interested in studying after work or want to take a break from your usual Chinese lessons, there are lots of different ways of improving your Chinese language skills.
The first and I guess most convenient way is to improve your Chinese is online. There are hundreds of different courses available to choose from. Just type it in into Google and get started!! A famous website to study Chinese is https://chinesepod.com, which offers audio lessons, written examples and exercises from beginners to advanced.
Another way of improving your Chinese language skills is to watch a Chinese movie or TV show with English subtitles. Some of you might not like to read along whilst watching a movie, but this method can really improve your feel and grasp for the language. You can learn a lot of daily phrases or slang, which won’t appear in your usual exercise books. I think it is quite important that you get used to listening to the Chinese language, because in my eyes Chinese people tend to talk way too fast, which I find happens a lot! At times I do know the vocabulary to ask a question or give an answer but I become so overwhelmed by the speed at which they speak that I start to stare at them with a puzzled look on my face and no Chinese passing my lips. But since I started to watch some Chinese movies, I feel that I am now starting to get used to the speed. My confusion has decreased rapidly and after a few seconds I am actually able to give an answer to what I think the question is.
For some Chinese movies and TV shows, have a look at www.youku.com, which is the Chinese version of YouTube.
But of course it is not enough to only be surrounded by the language. In order to learn a language you always have to make some kind of effort to sit down and learn some vocabulary. Even though I have learned a lot of vocabulary I find it hard to construct sentences with newly acquired vocabulary. This is why instead of learning single words; I have now started to learn sentences as a whole. It might take more time to memorize a whole sentence but I think it is much more useful as you immediately learn how to structure your sentences. For example, the words “nuli” – diligent and “xuexi” – study, if I was to put the words in the wrong order and say this to a Chinese person “ xuexi nuli”, they might just start to grin and think “if she would make an effort with her Chinese studies she’d know that it is “nuli xuexi”.
Hence my advice for you is to have a look on YouTube for Chinese sentences, and combine your vocabulary with memorizing whole sentences. My current favourite podcast is “3800 useful Chinese phrases”.
Another way of improving your Chinese is to use the mobile app “Pleco”. Whenever I am walking around in Qingdao I will add random words that I come across into my Pleco dictionary and then I will try to memorize it.
Unfortunately, in the Chinese language some words are used only in certain situations and therefore it is quite easy to choose the wrong word. During my first months in China, I was convinced that “wo bu mingbai” means I do not understand and I was quite generously throwing this sentence around. Unfortunately “wo bu mingbai” is not “ I don’t understand”, instead it means “I do understand your Chinese, but I do not understand the context”. Which is why there are probably a bunch of Chinese people out there who think that I am too dumb to understand that there actually is a connection between coffee and sugar or that I simply do not know where I am from.
Another method I have to share with you is to listen to some Chinese music, but unfortunately for me I need to be in the right mood to be able to cope with one hour of super romantic Chinese love songs. Whenever I do feel in the mood and start listening to it, I could not be more proud of myself when I actually recognize some of the words!
When you are in China on your internship, the best way of all to learn Chinese is to get your nice Chinese colleagues to teach you 3 words everyday during your lunch break! There is no better teacher than a Chinese native friend.
Hence, even though you might not be interested in studying Chinese at a school or after work, there are enough possibilities to improve your skills day by day without making a big effort. Give it a try! 🙂
Apply for an internship now and come to China to improve your Chinese language skills with your Chinese colleagues!