I play the slow Chinese podcast in the background while I’m in the office.  No matter what, I’m dedicated to creating a simulated Chinese immersion experience!

Keeping a Chinese Diary

I’ve been writing at least 4 sentences in my Chinese diary every day.  Right now, these are very basic sentences along the line of  “My name is…,” “I live in…,” and “I am studying Chinese.”  I’ve been using the actual characters instead of pinyin.  I am a visual and hands-on type of learner, so the Chinese diary has been a very powerful learning tool for me.

There’s this song that I’ve become quite fond of at http://garymusic.mypodcast.com/2009/08/Nothing_in_My_Eyes-228647.html.

Since I started writing, I’m recognizing more and more characters every time I look at the lyrics.  I’ve used Google translator, but I want to try to interpret the song myself.

Anyway,  as part of my simulated Chinese immersion which has included watching movies in Mandarin Chinese, listening to Chinese pop, and reading short stories,  I have started a Chinese journal.  My entries are about 4 sentences now, but I will increase a sentence per day.

More later.

What if you aren’t located near a Chinese community?  I alluded to this before without getting too much into it, but I’ll expand on it now.  The solution is a simulated Chinese immersion experience.  A simulated immersion is surrounding yourself with the media of your chosen language.  Part of the 90-Day Chinese Challenge is to expose yourself to as much Chinese media as possible.  That means listening to podcasts, listening to internet radio, watching Chinese films, and connecting with live online Chinese teachers.  Read a Chinese newspaper.  Even if you don’t understand the characters, pay attention to ones that occur repeatedly.  This is what I mean by a a simulated Chinese immersion.

Don’t let the simplicity of this approach fool you.  It is not uncommon for people groups such as the Dutch, Romanians, and Icelanders to acquire their English-speaking skills from watching American movies with subtitles and listening to various English programs.  Without a native English speaker in tow, they somehow manage to acquire grammar skills in the process.  The same thing happens to us when we are toddlers.  At some point, we begin to internalize the words and sounds. If toddlers and foreigners can learn another language through passive means, could it be possible to speed up the process by engaging oneself in active conversation with native speakers?  You bet.  Many Chinese speakers are amazed that I have only been learning Chinese for 3 months or so.

Like I said, it is possible to become fluent without a native speaker helping you along but it sure helps!  The longer you expose yourself to periods of total simulated immersion, the more powerful these methods are to becoming fluent in Chinese.  If you can’t listen to Chinese throughout the day, then set aside “zones” or a set number of hours to focus on Chinese.  When I’m at work, I have Chinese radio playing in the background in my office.

When I first sat down to listen to something in Chinese, I wondered how anyone could understand this!  A Chinese friend of mine said she felt the same way about English.

I started listening to Chinese sermons online.  I noticed that everything said stopped becoming a blur and became individual sounds.  Soon, I was able to pick out some words like “mei guo ren” which said in the proper tone means American.  There was another word I kept hearing over and over.  It was “yin wei.”  I looked it up and found that it means “because.”  Now every time I hear “yin wei” I don’t have to think about what it means because it is now a part of me.  Whoot!  This is language learning people!  The more words I distinguish and pick out the more I understand what is being said.  Sure it’s only a few words or phrases, but just one word can take you closer to your goal.  It’s a wonderful feeling!

Now go forth and immerse!