Boosting Conversation Skills

December is my final official month of learning Chinese. 😲 I know, it is over way too fast. But while you all have been following along for a couple of months, I've been at this for a whole year. I will continue working on it less intensely for years to come. At this point, I am definitely still at a beginner level, MAYBE advanced beginner in some areas, so I still have a lot of work to do. Lucky for me, I have a snow day tomorrow so I have some extra learning time! How the weather has changed since last week! (If you didn't get to see last week's weather video, click here).

So how am I going to bring my conversation skills up to speed this month?

1. Listen to podcasts every day on my drive home from work. This is a pure listening activity. But I do try to repeat some of the sentences to practice my intonation and pronunciation. Right now I am listening to one called "Slow Chinese." They discuss various, interesting topics related to Chinese culture, but just use slower speech. As of now, I am just beginning to be able to follow along. Before, while listening, it was really just to get some auditory input to get used to the rhythm and tones.

2. Watch Chinese T.V. shows. Again, this one is a listening activity. It is also reading as I have the Chinese characters for subtitles while I watch. This helps me with my comprehension sometimes. Right now, I am watching a show called Still LaLa. I really like it. I like the actress a lot, and the show is about things that happen in most people's lives.

3. Talk with natives! How does one go about finding a native Mandarin speaker? There are many different websites where you can do this, but I am currently using italki. It's a platform for language-learners to meet other learners around the world. You can also sign up for tutoring sessions or a 1:1 class with a professional teacher. The fee per class is usually very small and varies with each teacher. I have taken lessons from a teacher on here, but now I am currently using it to do language exchanges. (This is FREE!) You find someone on there that is learning your native language and you can chat using tools such as Skype. This month I have one language exchange partner lined up for every Friday morning. This will probably continue into next year too I think, because I've found it is SUPER helpful. It also makes me work a little harder, so I don't feel like a total idiot when we talk.

4. Continue daily lessons with my various phone apps (ChineseSkill, Mango, Duolingo, Memrise) and refresh old vocabulary.

5. Practice with friends who speak Chinese? Go to a Chinese market or restaurant? We will see if these things happen this month, because December can get pretty busy. But I will keep you all posted on how it goes if it does happen!

Well, hopefully this helps some of you who are learning a foreign language. I've provided links for resources above to make it easy for you. You can start learning another language TODAY. And I mean today. Like right now. It will only take 5 minutes to start 😊 Ok... tell me when you do...

Catch up with you all next week!