大厜弽ďź
One of the hardest parts of learning Chinese is not the language itself, but itâs our mindset around learning.
Many learners struggle with losing motivation, being inconsistent, and giving up because they donât have the right mindset.
Unfortunately, many traditional classrooms and textbooks overlook the mental aspect of language learning, causing many learners to feel isolated and give up prematurely.
Today, Iâll share how I built a healthy mindset to help me learn fluent Chinese while enjoying the process.
Letâs dive in.
BTW Iâm helping a few students get converational this month for a case study with 1-on-1 feedback. If you want help message me or email me at danyopang@gmail.com.
1. Start with WHY
The most important step when learning Chinese or any language, is knowing why you want to learn the language.
When I first started learning Chinese I did not have a clear goal. I thought it was cool to be fluent in Mandarin but I was just dabbling.
I would study inconsistently and without any clear direction. So I didnât see much progress.
I told myself âIâll learn when I have more timeâ. I unconsciously self-sabotaged my learning because it wasnât a priority.
It wasnât until I had a clear goal to learn Chinese that I knew what I was studying for and my progress skyrocketed.
My goals were to:
Travel to Taiwan
Order bubble tea
Have conversations with locals
Make new friends
Try to answer these questions (do it now!):
What motivates you to learn? What drives you?
What is your dream outcome?
In what situations do you see yourself using the language?
Living in China?
Ordering a meal?
Making new friends?
Listening to podcasts?
Watching TV?
Working in an office?
Be as specific as possible. Answering these questions will help direct your learning and will serve as a reminder when you feel lost (it will happen).
2. Apply
The main benefit of clearly defining your goals is that you can start working towards them right away.
For example, when I first started my goal was to learn how to order bubble tea in Chinese. So I learned simple vocabulary and phrases around this topic and tried to apply this with language exchange partners and in real life.
But this made me realize that I lacked knowledge about how to talk about sweetness, flavors, ice level, etc. Then I realized I had to learn about general greetings and payment. This made me realize I needed to learn a specific grammar point.
Do you notice the pattern?
When you start with a goal in mind and apply what you learn, your learning will naturally blossom and fill in the knowledge gaps that are relevant to you. This is important.
Start big (goals, interests) and then dive into the weeds (specific vocabulary, grammar points, etc.) through application.
This is opposite to many traditional methods that teach you vocabulary lists without context or with little application.
The most common mistakes I see learners make is that they are really good at studying Chinese but they miss the application part.
But the truth is, we learn best by doing.
3. You won't feel ready
If there is one constant when learning Chinese, itâs that you wonât feel ready.
We think weâre not ready to listen to âadvancedâ material
We think we donât have enough vocabulary to speak
We think our pronunciation is not ready yet to have a conversation
We think others will judge us if weâre not ready
But let me let you in on a secret: youâre precisely right, you arenât ready.
But the best learners I've met continue to challenge themselves and apply what they learn despite not feeling ready. They challenge their speaking and listening with more advanced material despite not âbeing readyâ.
They focus on their goals, apply quickly, figure out the gaps, pivot, and try again.
You canât take away the feeling of âlooking sillyâ. That is an integral part of learning. So you might as well do it anyways.
4. Stay on course
The journey of learning Chinese is not linear.
You will feel down and demotivated at times. You may compare yourselves to others (donât).
Youâre going to feel frustrated because you donât understand a specific grammar point or because your tones donât sound perfect.
This is when knowing your why is important. It will bring you back to your center. Your North Star.
These are some helpful questions to ask when you feel lost or overwhelmed:
Is this important to my goal?
Is this important right now?
Can I learn this later?
Knowing your âwhyâ prevents you from feeling overwhelmed when you get lost in the weeds.
Whenever you veer off course, your âwhyâ will be there to guide you back on course.
In Practice
To recap, 4 tips that helped me to build a healthy mindset to learn Chinese more effectively are:
Figure out my âwhyâ
Apply what I learn
Be ok with not feeling ready
Stay on course
Remember, learning Chinese is a marathon, not a race. Itâs the slow and steady tortoise that will win the marathon of learning Chinese, not the speedy but inconsistent hare. You win when you keep going, by not giving up.
Iâm helping a few students this month with a case study to get you conversational in Chinese. If you want personalized feedback message me âSPEAKâ here or email me at danyopang@gmail.com.
If youâre looking for something self-directed, check out the Copy Paste Speaking Course.
垪ĺşć¸čżďź
Danyo
PS Here are some other ways I can help you level up your Chinese:
Copy Paste Speaking Course: The self-directed system I used to learn to get conversational, improve my listening and pronunciation and speak Chinese like native speakers
Language Learner OS: This is a digital system to help organize your language studies, track vocabulary, build connections, stay productive, and learn faster!Â
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