Hello everyone,
Welcome back to my channel!
I’m Grace.
Today I’m going to share with you 3 things
that helped me improve my English a lot.
I’m sure these tips can empower you
to make great progress in your Chinese learning as well!
Let’s get started!
This means that at the beginning of learning Chinese,
don’t rush to learn a variety of words, expressions,
and sentence structures.
You need to give yourself a period of time
to master the basics of Chinese.
For example, how to accurately pronounce the consonants and vowels in Chinese
is one of the important things.
Also, take some time to get used to
the words and sentence structures you’ve learned.
Try to know how to use them correctly and practice them more.
When you’re building your solid foundation,
it will seem like you’re growing very slowly.
But trust me, at this moment,
all you need is
enough patience and to believe in yourself.
The reason why I found building a solid foundation so important
when I was learning English
is because of my personal experience --
I was trying to learn a lot of words and sentence structures
when I was learning English at school,
however, I couldn't really speak and use this language
even though I knew a lot of vocabulary.
So I was determined to reinforce my fundamental skills in English
and I started learning how to pronounce English consonants and vowels
and also got used to the basic grammar and common words.
After I learned English this way,
gradually I developed the ability to speak and use English
and this gave me lots of confidence and kept me moving forward.
And according to my experience,
I can tell you that you’ll grow very fast
after you have a solid foundation.
An essential element for successful language learning is
having the right mindset and attitude.
I know you might think this is not directly related to language learning,
but this is actually a critical part,
it determines whether you can keep moving forward,
and we all know that persistence is a key factor
to acquiring a language successfully.
So here we are going to discuss two questions
that can help you reflect your current thoughts:
The first one is “How do you perceive learning Chinese?”
Is it only for passing a test and getting a good job?
or is it that learning Chinese opens a door for you
and exposes you to a different world and culture?
These thoughts will unconsciously affect the actions you take
and whether you have the passion to keep learning.
Personally, I perceive learning English as a way
to communicate with more people, receive more information
and achieve more things.
So this motivates me to keep moving forward and keep on learning English.
You can think about what is your motivation for learning Chinese
and make sure that these reasons are strong enough to push you forward.
The second question is
“What builds your self-confidence when learning Chinese?”
The reason I ask this question
is because having self-confidence can help you achieve your goal
and to not give up on it even if you encounter some setbacks and obstacles.
Let me tell you my own story.
I was very bad at English.
When I was in college, we had a graduation requirement
that we had to pass an English test.
I failed twice
and finally passed the third time.
But during this period of time,
I didn’t lose faith in myself,
and quite the opposite –
I gradually built my self-confidence and momentum of learning English.
You might wonder why that is.
The thing is I didn’t base my self-confidence on passing the test.
Instead, I built my self-confidence on achieving my daily tasks for learning English
and you know although I failed at passing the tests,
during this time I didn’t fail any mission I gave myself,
so I knew I was improving, I was growing,
and the sense of achievement like this really boosted my confidence
and made me believe that I would learn English well anyway.
So thinking about this question
“What builds your self-confidence in learning Chinese?”,
you might be surprised at how much impact this can have
in your Chinese learning.
To keep improving your Chinese,
finding suitable materials is one of the most important things.
You might ask what kind of material is suitable,
here let me explain it to you.
When you are choosing a book, a podcast or a TV show
to enhance your Chinese,
make sure it is at a level where you can learn
and acquire new words, new phrases, and new grammar.
The best material should
allow you to understand 80-90% of the content
with 10-20% having new vocabulary or expressions.
In this case, you can acquire those new words
and expressions by context.
You might still need to check the meaning,
but this is the most effective way to increase your level.
And as I mentioned in another video,
the content of the material also plays an important role.
You have to enjoy watching it or listening to it,
which means that the content should be something
that you’re truly interested in.
And since the content appeals to you,
you will be willing to read or listen to it every day,
so gradually you’ll form a habit of it.
Then after several months,
you’ll realize how much you have improved
with these habits you have established.
OK, that’s what I have for you today.
Hope you enjoy today’s video!
I’ll see you next time
bye!