Winnie Lui
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4 Best Resources for Learning Chinese Speaking at Home
Learning to speak Chinese while staying in my comfiest house clothes for bumming around?
Yes, please. Sign me up for that!
When you don’t have to immediately come face-to-face with a native Chinese speaker, the whole process becomes infinitely more relaxed. Learning at home allows you to absorb and practice spoken Chinese more naturally than ever.
Your study buddy can be the house pet. Simply pour yourself a drink in your favorite mug and find a comfy study spot on the couch or bed.
It’s not only totally possible to learn Chinese at home—it’s as easy as rolling out of bed.
You can be well on your way to becoming a polyglot without ever leaving your front door.
Contents
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
How to Learn Chinese Speaking at Home
Learning Chinese speaking at home can be easy and enjoyable when you find the right tools and methods. Here are three quick tips:
1. The key to effective learning is to receive smaller, digestible pieces of information. During each study session, focus on a bite-size piece of information that you can easily take up and retain.
2. Use tools that are appealing. Attractive platforms greatly aid the learning process
3. Develop consistency. Stick to it, and your Chinese knowledge and abilities will increase over time.
Here are some of my favorite tools for learning Chinese speaking at home.
1. Learn a Crazy Fresh Chinese Phrase Every Day
You can learn to speak trendy, relevant Chinese phrases right away using Crazy Fresh Chinese.
Crazy Fresh Chinese is hosted by the amazing Jessica, a “bubbly blonde blogger” from the U.S. who’s fluent in Mandarin. (Her accent is quite impressively native.)
Jessica teaches how to speak hip Chinese terms like “fashionista,” “life hack,” “nerd,” “twerk,” “selfie” and “swag.”
You can even learn how to order a medium soy latte in Chinese.
She’s even re-done parts of some pop songs in Chinese, such as “Rude” by MAGIC!
Let’s look at a few phrases from Crazy Fresh Chinese that you can start speaking today:
a. 你为什么这么粗鲁? (nǐ wèi shén me zhè me cū lǔ?)
Why you gotta be so rude?
b. 真的吗？(zhēn de ma?)
For real?
c. 不会吧！(bù huì bā！)
No way!
Through exaggerated expressions and cute antics, Jessica makes her phrase of the day easy to remember and fun to learn. She also encourages learners to send her video clips of themselves using their newly-learned phrases.
Learn to Speak: Memorize a phrase from Crazy Fresh Chinese. Pick one that interests you, one that you can use right away. Say it out loud a few times. Practice it in context, or record and send Jessica a clip of you speaking the new phrase.
2. Learn Chinese Conversation in Context with Viddsee
A great way to learn to speak conversational Chinese is through Viddsee.
Viddsee is a collection of Asian short films from Singapore, Taiwan and other countries.
There’s a good selection of Mandarin short films–best of all, they include both English and Chinese subtitles.
Learning Chinese speaking through Viddsee is great because it allows you to observe Chinese conversation in a variety of contexts: family, dating, school, conflict, etc.
The dialogue and expressions in these films are like the ones you would hear and use in real life.
“怀念红豆汤” (huái niàn hóng dòu tāng) is only four minutes long. In this Singaporean short film, a man speaks out his life’s regrets, and there’s a surprise ending.
Learn to say something from this film:
好喝就喝多一点啊。(hǎo hē jiù hē duō yī diǎn a)
If you like it, have some more.
“团圆” (tuán yuán) is another Singaporean short film, revolving around the very Chinese tradition of a big family dinner. In it, you can learn common household phrases like:
吃饭！(chī fàn)
Let’s eat!
Learn to Speak: Observe the culture and dynamics behind the language. For example, notice that at the beginning of a family dinner, the youngest family member first encourages everyone to eat (addressing each person by their title) before anyone starts to eat. Notice that younger people—especially in the family context—address older people by their title (e.g. uncle, older brother) and not by their first name.
Picking up these social protocols and cultural nuances will help you learn how to speak Chinese. After all, you could have all the right vocabulary and still fail to speak well if you don’t know the proper courtesies.
3. Learn Chinese Speech Through Real-world Videos
Watching music videos is a fun way to learn. My favorite is the music video “My Sky” by NZBZ. The music is so catchy, and I love the lyrics:
在无尽的黑夜 (zài wú jìn de hēi yè)
In the boundless night
所有都快要毁灭 (suǒ yǒu dōu kuài yào huǐ miè)
Everything is destroyed
至少我还有梦 (zhì shǎo wǒ hái yǒu mèng)
Yet I still have my dreams
Learn to Speak: One of the best ways to study authentic videos is with a program like FluentU. This immersive program uses video clips from Chinese media to teach you key words, phrases and expressions as they’re used in real life.
Each video comes with interactive subtitles, a personalized vocabulary quiz and other learning tools so you can build your vocabulary while being entertained by the same content that native Chinese speakers consume.
4. Learn from China’s Influential People on Yang Lan One-on-ones
Did you know China has its own Oprah? Yang Lan is perhaps the leading female interviewer and talk show host in China. She’s even earned a right to speak at TED.
For decades, Yang Lan has interviewed the elite and influential in China. Businessmen, athletes, actors and societal leaders alike have sat down for a one-on-one with Yang Lan.
Yang Lan recently interviewed Wang Nan, a table tennis player who was ranked #1 by the International Table Tennis Federation for four years. The topic was 怎样走过人生低潮 (zěn yàng zǒu guò rén shēng dī cháo), how to overcome life’s low points.
Learn to Speak: Observe how Yang Lan asks questions. For example, she may ask:
你对成功的定义是什么？ (nǐ duì chéng gōng de dìng yì shì shén mē？)
What does success mean to you?
你怎样能够突破难关？(nǐ zěn yàng néng gòu tū pò nán guān？)
How do you overcome challenges?
Learn and memorize one or two ways of asking open-ended questions. These will help you in your speaking and allow you to have great conversations in Chinese.
With excellent resources such as these, learning Chinese speaking at home is easy.
The only difficult choice will be whether to sit in the living room or at the desk, and whether to have chai tea latte or green tea while studying.
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
And One More Thing...
If you want to continue learning Chinese with interactive and authentic Chinese content, then you'll love FluentU.
FluentU naturally eases you into learning Chinese language. Native Chinese content comes within reach, and you'll learn Chinese as it's spoken in real life.
FluentU has a wide range of contemporary videos—like dramas, TV shows, commercials and music videos.
FluentU brings these native Chinese videos within reach via interactive captions. You can tap on any word to instantly look it up. All words have carefully written definitions and examples that will help you understand how a word is used. Tap to add words you'd like to review to a vocab list.
FluentU's Learn Mode turns every video into a language learning lesson. You can always swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you're learning.
The best part is that FluentU always keeps track of your vocabulary. It customizes quizzes to focus on areas that need attention and reminds you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. You have a 100% personalized experience.
Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)
